Category Archives: Americas

Homeland security apparently used British man’s tattoo to identify alleged gang members

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‘Average man from Derbyshire’ shocked to find photo of tattoo celebrating child’s birth was used to deport migrants

A British man was shocked to discover that a photo of his tattoo was included in a US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) document used to identify alleged members of a notorious Venezuelan criminal gang, Tren de Aragua (TdA).

Earlier this week, 44-year-old Pete Belton, who lives in the English county of Derbyshire, told the BBC that he was stunned to find a photo of his forearm tattoo featured in a DHS document among nine images of tattoos intended to assist in “detecting and identifying” TdA members.

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Mexico to send water to Texas farmers as US treaty threat grows

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Mexico’s failure to keep up 81-year-old water-sharing treaty has sparked a diplomatic spat with the US

Mexico will make an immediate water delivery to Texas farmers to help make up its shortfall under a treaty that has strained US relations and prompted tariff threats by Donald Trump, said Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, on Friday.

Mexico is looking for alternatives to comply with the 81-year-old water-sharing treaty with the US, Sheinbaum said in her regular news conference. A proposal had already been sent to US officials, she said.

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Supreme court orders US to help return man wrongly deported to El Salvador

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Justices uphold judge’s order and say Trump officials must ‘facilitate’ return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia to United States

The US supreme court upheld on Thursday a judge’s order requiring Donald Trump’s administration to facilitate the return to the United States of a Salvadoran man who the government has acknowledged was deported in error to El Salvador.

US district judge Paula Xinis last week issued an order that the administration “facilitate and effectuate” the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, in response to a lawsuit filed by the man and his family challenging the legality of his deportation.

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US judge allows White House to require noncitizens to register with government

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Trump administration says it’s enforcing existing mandate applying to people age 14 and older without legal status

A federal judge is allowing the Trump administration to move forward with a requirement that noncitizens in the US must register with the federal government, in a move that could have far-reaching repercussions for immigrants across the country.

In a ruling on Thursday, judge Trevor Neil McFadden sided with the administration, which had argued that they were simply enforcing an already existing requirement for everyone in the country who wasn’t a US citizen to register with the government.

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US extradites Canadian citizen to India for alleged role in deadly Mumbai attacks

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Tahawwur Hussain Rana, 64, to stand trial for plotting multiday slaughter carried out by 10 Islamist gunmen

A Pakistan-born Canadian citizen wanted for his alleged role in the deadly 2008 Mumbai siege has landed in New Delhi after his extradition from the United States.

Tahawwur Hussain Rana, 64, arrived at a military airbase outside the Indian capital under heavily armed guard late on Thursday, and will be held in detention to face trial.

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Italy investigates possible mistaken-identity killing of scientist in Colombia

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Rome prosecutors expected to send team to Santa Marta where body of Alessandro Coatti was found dismembered

Prosecutors in Rome have opened an investigation into the murder of an Italian scientist in Colombia, with one theory being that he could have been killed by warring criminal clans in a case of mistaken identity.

Alessandro Coatti, who until late last year worked at the Royal Society of Biology (RSB) in London, was last seen leaving a hostel in Santa Marta, a port city on the Caribbean coast, on 3 April.

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UK adventurer apologises for record trek claim after Inuit backlash

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Camilla Hempleman-Adams, who says she is first woman to traverse Canada’s Baffin Island solo, accused of ‘privilege and ignorance’

A British adventurer has apologised after her claims to be the first woman to traverse Canada’s largest island solo were dismissed by members of the Inuit population who criticised her dangerous “privilege and ignorance”.

Camilla Hempleman-Adams, 32, covered 150 miles (240km) on foot and by ski while pulling a sledge across Baffin Island, Nunavut, in temperatures as low as -40C and winds of 47mph during the two-week expedition last month.

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Dominican Republic ends search for survivors after nightclub roof collapse

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An official statement said “all reasonable possibilities of finding more survivors” had been exhausted in a disaster that has killed at least 184 people.

Rescue workers in the Dominican Republic on Wednesday ended the search for survivors of a nightclub roof collapse as the death toll surpassed 180 in the Caribbean nation’s worst disaster in decades.

Emergency personnel late Wednesday reported 60 more deaths compared to the morning’s count, with the total confirmed tally reaching 184.

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Judges take steps to block removals of five Venezuelans held in Texas and New York

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Actions allow the detained men to fight the government’s attempt to remove them under rarely invoked law

Federal judges in New York and Texas on Wednesday took legal action to block the government from moving five Venezuelans out of the country until they can fight the government’s attempt to remove them under a rarely invoked law that gives the president the power to imprison and deport noncitizens in times of war.

The men were identified as belonging to the Tren de Aragua gang, a claim their lawyers dispute.

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Tributes to ex-London scientist after body found dismembered in Colombia

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Alessandro Coatti described by former colleagues at Royal Society of Biology as ‘passionate and dedicated’

Tributes have been paid to a “passionate and dedicated” scientist after parts of his dismembered body were found in a suitcase in Colombia.

Alessandro Coatti, who worked at the Royal Society of Biology (RSB) in London, was discovered on the outskirts of Santa Marta, a port city on the Caribbean coast. The 42-year-old molecular biologist was travelling and conducting research in South America after working in London for eight years.

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China fires back after Pete Hegseth calls country a threat to Panama canal

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Chinese government asks: ‘Who represents the real threat?’ after US defense secretary vows to keep canal secure

US secretary of defense Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday that the Panama canal faces ongoing threats from China but that together the United States and Panama will keep it secure.

Hegseth’s remarks triggered a fiery response from the Chinese government, which said: “Who represents the real threat to the Canal? People will make their own judgement.”

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World Series champion Octavio Dotel killed in Dominican Republic nightclub collapse

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Former Major League Baseball pitcher Octavio Dotel was among the dozens killed when the roof of a nightclub in the Dominican Republic collapsed during the early hours of Tuesday morning.

At least 58 people died and 160 were injured at the nightclub in Santo Domingo where a crowd that included athletes and politicians were attending a merengue concert.

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More than 70 people dead after roof collapse at Dominican Republic nightclub

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Crews search for survivors after more than 160 injured at Jet Set in Santo Domingo

More than 70 people have died and about 160 others injured in the Dominican capital early on Tuesday after the roof collapsed at a nightclub where politicians, athletes and others were attending a merengue concert, authorities said.

The death toll reached 79 by the late evening as crews continued to search for survivors in the rubble at the one-storey Jet Set nightclub in Santo Domingo, said Juan Manuel Méndez, director of the Center of Emergency Operations.

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Caribbean is friend of US, not an enemy, tariff-hit regional leaders tell Trump

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Barbados PM and Caricom chair calls on Washington to engage in talks to ‘keep prices down for all of our people’

The Caribbean is a friend, not an enemy, leaders in the region have told Donald Trump after the US president’s imposition of worldwide import tariffs.

The prime minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, invited Trump to talk with leaders in the region and “work together to keep prices down for all of our people”, adding: “I say simply to President Trump: our economies are not doing your economy any harm in any way. They are too small to have any negative or distorted impact on your country.”

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Brazil judge claimed English ancestry and used false name: Edward Albert Lancelot Dodd Canterbury Caterham Wickfield

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Elaborate deception was only recently discovered when judge visited government office to renew his ID card

Police in the Brazilian state of São Paulo have uncovered that a judge spent 23 years working under a false identity – and a distinctly British one.

Born José Eduardo Franco dos Reis – a name fairly typical in a country once colonised by Portugal – he entered law school and served for over two decades as a judge using the false name Edward Albert Lancelot Dodd Canterbury Caterham Wickfield.

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DoJ lawyer put on leave after not backing erroneous deportation of Maryland man

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Erez Reuveni no longer on Kilmar Abrego Garcia case after not ‘vigorously’ defending Trump administration

A federal justice department attorney has been placed on leave by the Trump administration for purportedly failing to defend the administration vigorously enough after it says it erroneously deported a Maryland man to El Salvador, which a US judge called a “wholly lawless” detention.

The action against justice department lawyer Erez Reuveni came after US district judge Paula Xinis had ordered that Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran immigrant who lived in the US legally with a work permit, be returned to Maryland despite the Trump administration’s position that it cannot return him from a sovereign nation.

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Federal judge rules return of Maryland man mistakenly deported to El Salvador prison

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White House has said US courts can’t order return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whose wife has been protesting outside court

A federal judge on Friday afternoon ordered the US to return a Maryland man mistakenly deported to an El Salvador prison after a Trump administration attorney was at a loss to explain what happened.

The wife of the man, who was flown to a notorious Salvadoran prison had earlier joined dozens of supporters at a rally before a court hearing on Friday, where his lawyers had asked the judge – Paula Xinis – to order the Trump administration to return him to the US.

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Activist takes case over Trinidad’s homophobic laws to UK’s privy council

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Legislation was repealed in 2018 but Caribbean country’s supreme court last week recriminalised the act after appeal

The privy council in London will soon be called upon to make the final decision on a court case to remove homophobic laws in Trinidad and Tobago.

The laws were repealed in 2018 in a high court judgment that struck from the statute book the “buggery law” that had criminalised consensual anal sex since an act passed in 1925 under British rule. However, last week Trinidad’s supreme court upheld a government appeal against the ruling and recriminalised the act, dealing a hammer blow to LGBTQ+ rights in the Caribbean country and prompting the UK Foreign Office to update its advice for LGBTQ+ travellers.

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Canada to counter ‘unjustified’ US tariffs with 25% taxes on US cars, says Carney

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Canadian prime minister says country will impose taxes on US vehicles not compliant with continental free trade deal

Canada will retaliate against “unjustified, unwarranted” tariffs imposed by the United States with a 25% tax on US vehicles, says Mark Carney.

On Wednesday, Donald Trump announced wide-ranging tariffs on dozens of countries, but did not add new trade levies to Canada or Mexico. Despite the reprieve, however, the US has placed 25% taxes on Canadian steel, aluminum and vehicles.

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Canada Trump tariff exemption ‘like dodging a bullet into the path of a tank’, says business leader

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Automotive industry and prime minister Mark Carney note that 25% tariffs on Canadian steel, aluminum and automobiles will still come into effect within hours

Canada’s exemption from Donald Trump’s global tariffs was “like dodging a bullet into the path of a tank”, say business leaders as other levies are poised to hit key industries that drive the country’s economy.

In a theatrical unveiling of tariffs on countries with “unfair” practices on Wednesday afternoon, Canada was noticeably absent, alongside trade ally Mexico.

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