Category Archives: Americas

Canada wildfires: 81 million Americans under air quality alerts as blazes rage

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Hundreds of fires across Canada and parts of the US prompt alerts in 14 states from Great Lakes region to the north-east

Hundreds of wildfires continued to burn across Canada and parts of the US on Tuesday sending smoke from the blazes across the region and reducing air quality in both countries.

US air quality tanked from the Great Lakes region to the north-east, making skies hazy from Minneapolis to New York City and even prompting a ground stop at Boston’s Logan international airport due to “low visibility” on Monday. Detroit, New York City and Chicago continued to record some of the worst air quality in the world on Tuesday, according to IQAir, ranking fourth, 10th and 11th respectively.

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US steps up efforts to help Bolsonaro avoid jail over alleged coup plot

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State department condemns judge’s decision to place former Brazil president under house arrest as trial proceeds

The US has intensified its campaign to help Jair Bolsonaro avoid punishment for allegedly masterminding a failed coup, with the state department denouncing the decision to place Brazil’s former president under house arrest.

“Let Bolsonaro speak!” the department’s bureau of western hemisphere affairs tweeted on Monday night after the far-right populist was confined to his mansion in the capital, Brasília, and police seized his mobile phone.

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Canada wildfires prompt severe air quality alerts across country and US

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More than 700 active wildfires burning across Canada and about two-thirds are currently out-of-control

Billowing smoke from hundreds of out-of-control wildfires – most of which are in the Canadian Prairies – have caused severe air quality alerts across Canada and the United States.

Detroit, Michigan, and the Canadian cities of Montreal and Toronto, recorded some of the worst air quality in the world on Monday, according to a ranking by IQAir, a Swiss air quality technology company.

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BP makes its biggest oil and gas discovery in 25 years off coast of Brazil

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Company to carry out more tests on its Santos basin find as it continues shift from renewables back to fossil fuels

BP has made its largest oil and gas discovery of the past 25 years off the coast of Brazil as it continues to shift its focus away from renewables and back to fossil fuels.

The Santos basin oil and gas discovery, which is located in deep waters, is the company’s 10th oil discovery of the year and could be its largest since its discovery at the Shah Deniz gasfield in Azerbaijan in 1999.

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Body found in collapsed Chile mine as search continues for trapped miners

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At least 100 people involved in rescue operation at El Teniente copper mine, which partially collapsed after ‘seismic event’

One of five miners trapped after a partial collapse at the world’s largest underground copper mine has been found dead, Chile’s state-owned Codelco group announced on Saturday, as rescuers continued their search for survivors.

The collapse took place on Thursday at the El Teniente mine in Rancagua, 100km south of Santiago, after a “seismic event.”

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Three Grenadian men sentenced to decades in prison for killing of US couple in Caribbean

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Ralph Hendry and Kathy Brandel were sailing their catamaran last year when they were attacked and killed

Three men from the eastern Caribbean island of Grenada who were convicted of killing an elderly US couple last year after hijacking their catamaran have been sentenced to decades in prison. They had escaped after their arrests but were recaptured shortly thereafter.

Ron Mitchell, a sailor in his 30s who was accused of being the ringleader, received two life sentences late on Wednesday in the killings of Ralph Hendry, 66, and Kathy Brandel, 71.

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Three Grenadian men sentenced to decades in prison for killing of US couple in Caribbean

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Ralph Hendry and Kathy Brandel were sailing their catamaran last year when they were attacked and killed

Three men from the eastern Caribbean island of Grenada who were convicted of killing an elderly US couple last year after hijacking their catamaran have been sentenced to decades in prison. They had escaped after their arrests but were recaptured shortly thereafter.

Ron Mitchell, a sailor in his 30s who was accused of being the ringleader, received two life sentences late on Wednesday in the killings of Ralph Hendry, 66, and Kathy Brandel, 71.

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Brazil judge hits back at ‘cowardly and treasonous’ plot behind US sanctions

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US put sanctions on Judge Alexandre de Moraes as an apparent move by Trump to help his ally Jair Bolsonaro

The supreme court judge presiding over the trial of Brazil’s ex-president, Jair Bolsonaro, has said a “cowardly and treacherous” plot is afoot to pave the way for another attack on the South American country’s democracy.

Judge Alexandre de Moraes was put under sanctions by the US on Wednesday, as part of an apparent push by Donald Trump to help his ally Bolsonaro escape punishment for allegedly masterminding an attempted coup after losing the 2022 election to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Trump also slapped a 50% tariff on Brazilian imports in response to what he called the “witch-hunt” against the far-right former president.

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Opposition leaders say ‘democracy in El Salvador has died’ after scrapping of presidential term limits

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Legislation allows rightwing president Nayib Bukele to seek unlimited terms, sparking fears of dictatorship

Activists and opposition leaders have that warned El Salvador is following Venezuela’s path towards dictatorship after the Central American country’s congress scrapped presidential term limits, paving the way for Nayib Bukele to seek indefinite re-election.

“Democracy in El Salvador has died,” opposition congresswoman Marcela Villatoro declared late on Thursday as the legislature – in which Bukele’s Nuevas Ideas party controls 90% of seats – approved the highly controversial constitutional reform, by 57 votes to three.

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Family of Briton murdered in Jamaica seek answers over UK officials’ ‘indifference’

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Delroy Walker’s relatives say they were initially told ‘your brother’s not British, or not British enough’ to receive help

The family of a “generous and loving” British man who was murdered in Jamaica are demanding answers over the British government’s “indifferent” response after the tragedy.

Delroy Walker, from Birmingham, was stabbed to death weeks after retiring to the Caribbean island where he was building his dream home. The 63-year-old charity worker was murdered by a “jealous” tradesman he employed to help decorate the property in preparation for a family visit in summer 2018.

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Panama files lawsuits against owner of ports at centre of US-China struggle

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Comptroller general lodged two cases in country’s supreme court after failed attempt to sell to consortium

Panama’s comptroller general has lodged two cases with the country’s supreme court against the owners of two ports at the centre of a geopolitical struggle between the US and China, in a move likely to be seen as a victory for Donald Trump in his attempt to rid the Panama canal of Chinese influence.

The decision follows a failed attempt to sell the ports to a consortium headed by the US investment fund BlackRock and Swiss shipping firm MSC.

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‘Classic tinpot dictator’: Trump exports his assault on democracy to Brazil

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US president seems to be weaponizing tariffs to punish Brazil for its coup trial against his ally Bolsonaro

Over the past six months, Donald Trump has been accused of rapidly dragging the largest democracy in the Americas towards authoritarianism. Now, the US president seems bent on undermining the region’s second largest democracy too.

Since early July, Trump has launched an extraordinary attack on Brazil’s institutions, slapping 50% tariffs on imports from the South American country and sanctions on a supreme court judge – partly in retribution for what he called the political persecution of his ally, Jair Bolsonaro, who is on trial for allegedly masterminding a failed coup.

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Canada braces as tariff deadline looms and talks with US ‘chaos machine’ drag

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Ottawa is still trying to find a trade deal with Washington to avoid heavy tariffs as 1 August deadline approaches

After months of tariff threats from the US and escalating trade tensions that have sowed anger in Canada and fractured a once-close alliance, the country is now fast approaching a 1 August deadline to reach a deal with the Trump administration – which has shown no signs of backing down.

And observers are keeping a close eye on negotiations this week to determine whether too large a chasm has grown between the countries, resulting in what could be an explosive end to what was decades of free-flowing trade.

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Trump threatens Canada on trade deal after Carney moves to recognise Palestine

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Trump says recognising Palestine statehood ‘rewards Hamas’ and US deal with Canada would now be ‘very hard’

Donald Trump has threatened Canada after it moved to recognise a Palestinian state, reacting to Mark Carney’s announcement by saying that signing a US trade deal would now be “very hard”.

The Canadian prime minister said on Wednesday that if the Palestinian Authority promised to meet certain conditions, including demilitarising and holding elections without Hamas, Canada would join France, the UK and other allies in formally recognising a state of Palestine at the UN general assembly in New York in September.

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Sheinbaum demands return of Mexican citizens held at ‘Alligator Alcatraz’

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Mexican president said citizens held at controversial Florida immigration jail ‘should be repatriated immediately’

Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, has said that the country is demanding the repatriation of at least 30 of its citizens currently being held in the controversial Florida immigration detention center known as “Alligator Alcatraz”.

The Mexican leader said on Wednesday that a note had been sent to US authorities “demanding that any Mexicans who might enter this detention center should be repatriated immediately”.

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Justin Trudeau and Katy Perry spotted dining together in Montreal

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Restaurant Le Violon confirms former Canadian prime minister and singer visited but saw ‘no signs of PDA’

Justin Trudeau and Katy Perry were seen dining together in Montreal this week.

A communications consultant for the restaurant Le Violon confirmed that the former Canadian prime minister and the singer spent about two hours at the fine-dining spot on Monday evening. Photos of the meetup published by TMZ led to speculation of a budding romance.

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President Lula hits back as Trump tariffs threaten US-Brazil trade showdown

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Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva says he won’t be cowed by Trump ahead of 50% tariffs set to hit Brazil

Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has said he does not fear getting on the wrong side of Donald Trump, as South America’s largest economy braces for the introduction of 50% tariffs.

Trump announced plans to slap Brazil with tariffs on 1 August earlier this month, partly in retaliation for a supposed political “witch-hunt” against his far-right ally Jair Bolsonaro. The former Brazilian president faces decades in jail for allegedly plotting a military coup to stop Lula from taking office after the former lost the 2022 presidential election.

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UN holds emergency talks over sky-high accommodation costs at Cop30 in Brazil

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Concerns poorer countries could be priced out of negotiations in Belém as room rates soar amid shortage

The UN climate bureau has held an urgent meeting about concerns that sky-high rates for accommodation at this year’s Cop30 summit in Brazil could price poorer countries out of the negotiations.

Brazil is preparing to host Cop30 this November in the rainforest city of Belém, where representatives of nearly every government in the world will gather to negotiate their joint efforts to curb the climate crisis.

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Colombia’s former president Álvaro Uribe found guilty of witness tampering

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Ex-leader convicted over efforts to sway testimony in case tied to country’s armed conflict

A Colombian court has found the country’s former president Álvaro Uribe guilty of witness tampering.

The 73-year-old, who served as president from 2002 to 2010, was convicted on Monday of trying to persuade witnesses to lie for him in a separate investigation. He faces a 12-year prison sentence in a case that has become highly politicised.

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Men freed from El Salvador mega-prison endured ‘state-sanctioned torture’, lawyers say

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Venezuelans back home under Maduro-Trump deal tell of isolation, beatings and dirty water – ‘a living nightmare’

Venezuelans that the Trump administration expelled to El Salvador’s most notorious megaprison endured “state-sanctioned torture”, lawyers for some of the men have said, as more stories emerge about the horrors they faced during capacity.

When José Manuel Ramos Bastidas – one of 252 Venezuelan men that the US sent to El Salvador’s most notorious mega-prison – finally made it back home to El Tocuyo on Tuesday, the first thing he did was stretch his arms around his family.

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