Category Archives: Americas

Police search for woman who escaped Panama hotel where US deportees are being held

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Zheng Lijuan fled Panama City hotel as 170 of deported migrants were transported to dense, lawless region

Police are searching for a Chinese woman who escaped from a downtown Panama City hotel where she was being held following her deportation from the US under Donald Trump’s intensified campaign against immigrants.

Zheng Lijuan was one of 299 migrants – from China, Afghanistan, Iran and other countries with which the US lacks extradition agreements – who have been flown in shackles to Panama since last Wednesday. Panamanian authorities say they believe that Zheng was aided by locals who had been “prowling” outside the Decapolis hotel in the capital city where the deportees had been held.

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Brazilians hail strength of democracy as Bolsonaro is called to account

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‘In Brazil coup-mongers go to jail. In the US they get back into the White House,’ says one leading politician

Brazilian democrats have celebrated the strength of their country’s judiciary and institutions after the former president Jair Bolsonaro was left facing political oblivion and jail time for allegedly plotting a coup, in stark contrast to the US’s failure to bring Donald Trump to justice for his anti-democratic acts.

“In Brazil coup-mongers go to jail. In the US they get back into the White House,” said Marcelo Freixo, a leading leftwing politician on Wednesday after the attorney general formally accused Bolsonaro of engineering a sprawling conspiracy to cling to power following his defeat in the 2022 election.

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US adds Mexican cartels to list of foreign terrorist organisations

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Six cartels added to list as part of Trump’s plan to ‘wage war’ on drug trafficking groups to address fentanyl crisis in US

The US has added six Mexican cartels to its list of foreign terrorist organisations (FTOs), as it calls for the “total elimination” of the criminal groups trafficking drugs to the US.

Mexico’s two biggest organised crime groups, the Jalisco New Generation and Sinaloa cartels, were among those added, as were Tren de Aragua and Mara Salvatrucha, groups with ties to Venezuela and El Salvador.

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Bolsonaro indictment leaves Brazil’s tropical Trump staring at prospect of jail

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The ex-president faces charges of a murderous conspiracy while his US counterpart has surged back to power

At the height of Jair Bolsonaro’s haywire presidency, Brazilian activists projected their deepest desire on to the Tower of London, where Guy Fawkes once languished after plotting to blow up parliament and assassinate the king.

“Jail Bolsonaro,” their wordplay read.

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British journalist missing in Brazil for 11 days

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Foreign correspondents’ association urges authorities to step up search for Charlotte Alice Peet, 32

A British journalist has been missing in Brazil for 11 days, a foreign correspondents’ association in the country said on Tuesday, urging authorities to step up their search efforts.

Charlotte Alice Peet, 32, last communicated with a friend on 8 February, according to a statement from the Rio de Janeiro-based Association of Foreign Press Correspondents (ACIE).

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Jair Bolsonaro charged over alleged far-right coup plot to seize power in Brazil

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Former president has denied breaking the law, while attorney general alleges plot included a plan to poison Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva

Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro has been charged with allegedly masterminding and leading a far-right conspiracy to cling to power through a military coup.

The South American country’s attorney general, Paulo Gonet, levelled the charges against the radical rightwing populist and several key allies on Tuesday night. He accused Bolsonaro and six key associates of leading a criminal organization with an “authoritarian power project”. The alleged plot, he wrote, included a plan to poison Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and shoot dead Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, a foe of the former president.

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Six soldiers in Guyana injured in clash with suspected Venezuela-based gang

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Guyana plans to ‘take all necessary measures’ for security as tensions likely to further rise between the two countries

Six soldiers in Guyana have been injured after armed men in neighboring Venezuela opened fire, in an attack expected to further heighten tensions between the two South American countries.

Two of the soldiers are in critical condition following Monday’s attack, according to the head of Guyana’s army, the chief of staff Brig Gen Omar Khan, who blamed suspected gang members.

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New footage shows Delta plane flipping over in fiery crash landing in Toronto

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Accident at Pearson, Canada’s busiest airport, sent 21 to hospital including three in critical condition on Monday

Footage has emerged of the fiery plane crash at Toronto’s Pearson airport on Monday, showing the Delta Air Lines jet skidding along the runway and then flipping over, as a wing rips off and the tail is engulfed in flames. The crash, which occurred at Canada’s busiest airport, sent 21 people to the hospital, including three in critical condition.

Soon after the crash, mobile phone clips captured the harrowing moments when passengers escaped through the plane’s upside-down doors and into the bitter cold. Blasts of fire retardant hung in the air and some of the passengers stood dazed in the snow. Others unleashed a string of expletives as they processed the unfolding chaos.

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Brazil mayor was shot in ‘fake attack’ for election boost – but still lost in landslide

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José Aprígio da Silva was seriously hurt in October by assailants with assault rifles but police say it was faked

As campaign strategies go it was unorthodox and illegal: buy an AK-47, hire a pair of phony hitmen, and stage a fake assassination attempt against the mayor that would generate public sympathy and help him win a second term in power.

That, Brazilian police claim, was the gameplan last October when, on the eve of the local election, an armoured vehicle carrying José Aprígio da Silva came under fire in Taboão da Serra, a town on the outskirts of São Paulo.

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Argentina opposition calls for impeachment of Javier Milei after cryptocurrency collapse

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President endorsed $Libra crypto token on Friday before it collapsed, leading some to call it a financial ‘rug pull’

Opposition politicians in Argentina have called for the impeachment of president Javier Milei after he touted a cryptocurrency which quickly collapsed and reportedly led to millions of dollars in losses this weekend.

Milei endorsed the little-known cryptocurrency token $Libra on Friday evening, announcing on X that the project was “dedicated to boosting the growth of the Argentine economy by funding small businesses and entrepreneurs”. His post linked to a website where the digital coin could be bought, the domain name of which included Milei’s popular catchphrase “long live freedom”.

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Brazil asks UN to ditch proposed levy on global shipping

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Those supporting the deal hope it will raise billions to help poor countries deal with climate breakdown

Brazil has asked the UN to throw out plans for a new levy on global shipping that would raise funds to fight the climate crisis, despite playing host to the next UN climate summit.

The proposed levy on carbon dioxide emissions from shipping will be discussed at a crunch meeting of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) that begins on Monday. Those supporting the deal, including the UK, the EU and Japan, are hoping the levy will raise billions of dollars a year, which could be used to help poor countries cope with the effects of climate breakdown.

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Shakira cancels Lima concert after being hospitalised during global tour

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The Colombian star went to the emergency room in Peru’s capital on Saturday night, days after launching her first worldwide tour in seven years

Shakira cancelled her concert in the Peruvian capital on Sunday after being hospitalised with abdominal pain, a setback that comes days after she launched her first worldwide tour in seven years.

The 48-year-old Colombian star posted on her social media accounts that she had gone to the emergency room on Saturday night and remained in hospital.

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Contraception for capybaras: Buenos Aires suburb’s rodent plan stirs debate

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Government in Nordelta approves plans to control numbers of world’s largest rodent – but not all are in agreement

A contraception debate is gripping one of Argentina’s most notable luxury neighbourhoods – not for its wealthy residents, but for its original occupants, the capybaras.

In recent years, the lovable rodents have been accused of overrunning the Nordelta, a meticulously landscaped and manicured suburb north of Buenos Aires.

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‘I closed my eyes to brace for impact’: the man who escaped a whale’s mouth

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Adrián Simancas encountered a humpback off Chile’s coast – but scientists say he was never at risk of being swallowed

Adrián Simancas had been paddling for two hours in the calm but icy seas of the Strait of Magellan, off the coast of Chilean Patagonia, when something massive emerged from the water and dragged him under.

“I saw dark blue and white colours before feeling a slimy texture brush against my face,” the 24-year-old told the Guardian. “I closed my eyes to brace for impact, but it was soft, like being hit by a wave.”

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US deports 119 immigrants of varying nationalities to Panama

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People from Afghanistan, Iran, China and other countries flown out as Trump’s deportation effort intensifies

The US has sent undocumented immigrants from several Asian countries whose governments have refused to accept them to Panama, in a move signalling an intensification of the Trump administration’s deportation effort.

A military plane carrying 119 immigrants from countries including Afghanistan, Iran, Uzbekistan, China, Sri Lanka, Turkey and Pakistan flew from California to Panama City on Wednesday in what was expected to be the first of three migrants flights to the country.

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Mexican president blasts US for harboring drug cartels

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Claudia Sheinbaum gives riposte to Trump’s accusation of ‘intolerable alliance’ between Mexican government and gangs

Mexico’s president has accused the US of harboring drug cartels and American citizens of working with organized crime groups in Mexico, in a riposte to Donald Trump’s allegation of an “intolerable alliance” between traffickers and her government.

“There is also organized crime in the United States and there are American people who come to Mexico with these illegal activities,” Claudia Sheinbaum said during her morning press conference on Thursday. “Otherwise who would distribute fentanyl in the cities of the United States?”

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UK shipping firm used enslaved workers in Caribbean after abolition, study finds

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Postal Museum says research featured in new exhibition shows how global postal service was ‘tool of empire’

A British shipping company that became the largest in the world at the height of empire continued to use the labour of enslaved people after the abolition of slavery, research has found.

The Royal Mail Steam Packet Company (RMSPC), which received a royal charter from Queen Victoria in 1839, used enslaved workers on the tiny island of St Thomas, which was a Danish colony at the time and is now part of the US Virgin Islands.

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Love rats: Canadians get chance to feed rodents named after old flames to owls

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Program is meant to help the endangered northern spotted owl – and it’s only C$5! – but rat lovers are not amused

Revenge, they say, is a dish best served cold. And for an endangered owl breeding program in Canada, it’s also a dish best served dead.

For the price of a coffee, spurned and disgruntled lovers can revel in the satisfaction of having a dead rat named after an ex, before it is fed to a northern spotted owl.

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Canada and Mexico tariffs risk inflating US housing crisis, Trump is warned

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Exclusive: Dozens of congressional Democrats urge president to reconsider threatened import duties on US’s two largest trading partners

Pressing ahead with steep tariffs on Canada and Mexico risks exacerbating the US housing crisis and threatening the broader economy, dozens of congressional Democrats have warned Donald Trump.

The US president, after threatening to hit imports from the US’s two biggest trading partners with a 25% tax, is weighing how to proceed after approving a one-month delay.

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Trump’s disdain for South American allies is China’s gain

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The US is targeting its own allies and its withdrawal from the region has left a power vacuum for China to fill in

While Donald Trump and his Colombian counterpart, Gustavo Petro, were engaged in a very public row over the deportation of migrants last month, China’s ambassador to Bogotá was enthusiastically tweeting that diplomatic relations between China and Colombia had reached their “best moment”.

After Petro refused to receive a plane from the US carrying handcuffed deported Colombians, Trump retaliated by doubling tariffs and revoking visas for Colombian government officials.

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