Category Archives: Americas

‘No one disrespects Our Lady’: fears for Brazil’s patron saint grip country ahead of election

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Speculation that Flávio Bolsonaro will try to strip Our Lady of Aparecida of position could become deciding factor in run-up to Sunday

A row of Biblical proportions has erupted in the run-up to Brazil’s presidential election, with the country’s patron saint, Our Lady of Aparecida, emerging as an unlikely kingmaker in the deadlocked race.

Ahead of Sunday’s vote, the two frontrunners – the leftwing president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and his far-right challenger, Flávio Bolsonaro – are level in the polls.

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Mighty Sparrow, the Trinidad and Tobago singer known as the ‘calypso king of the world’, dies aged 91

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Slinger Francisco, who performed as the Mighty Sparrow, died on Sunday surrounded by family in New York

Slinger Francisco, known on stage as the Mighty Sparrow and dubbed the “calypso king of the world”, has died aged 91.

Francisco, who got his breakthrough in calypso music with his 1956 hit song Jean and Dinah, died peacefully surrounded by his family in New York on Sunday, his family said in a statement.

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Hurricane Nolo still threatens Hawaii as Mexico’s Baja braces for Hurricane Polo

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Hurricane Nolo is moving away from Hawaiian islands but threat of heavy rain, flash floods and strong winds persists

Hurricane Nolo was moving away from the Hawaiian islands on Sunday, but the threat of heavy rain, flash flooding and strong winds persisted in areas of the island chain still recovering from previous storms.

Nolo was about 365 miles (585km) south-south-west of Honolulu and moving away from the Big Island at about 12mph (19km/h). But the Hawaii county civil defense agency said a high wind warning, wind advisory and high surf advisory remained in effect for parts of the island through Sunday evening as Nolo’s maximum sustained winds rose to 115mph.

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Melbourne man’s mysterious disappearance on popular Peru hiking trail prompts widespread search

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Loved ones describe Jordan Yap, 30, as an experienced hiker who set out for a 10-day solo trek Peru before falling silent

Loved ones of a missing Australian trekker who was last seen nearly two weeks ago on a remote South American hiking trail are urging local authorities to help with the search.

A wide-scale sweep by a private rescue crew has so far failed to find any trace of 30-year-old Jordan Yap, who last made contact with friends and family on 14 September ahead of a planned 10-day solo trek along Peru’s Huayhuash mountain range, 400km north-east of Lima.

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US strikes on Ecuadorian fishing boats raise humanitarian concerns but Trump admin not wavering

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Attorney says fishers ‘losing their livelihoods’, but Marco Rubio maintains US still willing to ‘blow up ships if need be’

While the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, was being decorated in Quito by Ecuador’s president for “helping to promote peace in the region”, 10 Ecuadorian fishers whose boat had been blown up by US forces were adrift in the eastern Pacific.

On 8 September, a day before Rubio arrived, a US patrol vessel intercepted the fishing boat Don Rufo in international waters near Ecuador.

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Lula bans fixed-odds sports betting a week before Brazilian elections

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President’s ‘hard, drastic and necessary measure’, likely to attract widespread public support, polls suggest

The Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has signed an order banning fixed-odds sports betting just over a week before the first round of the presidential election, in a move he said was designed to tackle the pervasive problem of families falling into debt.

The decision ends the operation, offering, intermediation and advertising of betting.

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Michigan CEO loses job after posting AI-made image of her family in ‘Lake America’ sweaters

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Jane Smith reportedly used ChatGPT to edit photo to show name Trump ordered US agencies to use for Lake Ontario amid trade war with Canada

The CEO of a Michigan credit union is no longer employed there, according to the organization, after she posted on social media what appeared to be an AI-generated image of her and her family wearing sweaters emblazoned with the Donald Trump-associated words “Lake America”.

In the statement recently announcing that Jane Smith would no longer be its CEO, Family First Credit Union also apologized “for the concern, disappointment and pain this situation has caused”.

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Alberta’s self-image as world’s only rat-free region shattered by discovery of rat

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Province’s rat patrol called in to investigate as town of Bowden announces discovery of dead vermin

For more than seven decades, residents of Alberta have shared something in common with Antarctica and the high Arctic: all locations are officially free of rats.

But on Thursday the Canadian province’s reputation as a firewall against rodent infestation took a hit when the town of Bowden announced the discovery of a dead rat and called on the province’s “rat patrol” to investigate.

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Lula says Trump wants to ‘colonise’ and capture Brazil’s resources by meddling in election

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A TV spot claims the US president is trying to sway October’s presidential vote in favour of Lula’s far-right opponents

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s presidential campaign has accused Donald Trump of wanting to “colonise” Brazil in order to capture its natural resources by meddling in next month’s presidential election.

The accusation came in a campaign advert that was published on social media on Thursday night by Lula’s team and will air on television on Friday amid growing fears over the impact alleged US interference could have on the vote.

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Democratic lawmakers accuse Trump administration of interference in Brazilian elections

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Legislators sent letter to Marco Rubio saying US interference is weakening Brazil’s democratic institutions

A group of 31 Democratic members of the US Congress has sent a letter to the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, criticising the Trump administration over “an apparent effort to interfere with, and potentially undermine” Brazil’s elections.

Latin America’s largest country will hold the first round of its presidential election on 4 October, with polls showing a technical tie between the incumbent leftist president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and the far-right senator Flávio Bolsonaro.

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Milei threatens at UN that Argentina will take ‘matters into our own hands’ on Falklands

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Argentinian president accuses United Nations of being filled with ‘parasites’ in bellicose general assembly speech

Javier Milei has condemned the UN as he warned that Argentina would take “matters into our own hands” in its dispute with Britain over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands.

In a caustic speech at the general assembly in New York, the Argentinian president criticised the UN for being ineffective when it came to the long-running tensions over the British overseas territory in the south Atlantic known in Argentina as the Malvinas.

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Delcy Rodríguez poses with Trump in New York as Maduro languishes in jail nearby

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Venezuela’s interim president hails ‘historic meeting’ and does not say whether she will visit snatched predecessor

Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, has celebrated a “historic” meeting with Donald Trump in New York, posing for a smiley photo with the US president, less than nine months after he ordered the abduction of her boss, Nicolás Maduro.

The former foes met at a five-star hotel a few blocks from Trump Tower in Manhattan late on Tuesday on the sidelines of the UN general assembly. The hotel is about 7 miles from the Brooklyn prison where Maduro has been held since he was snatched during a special forces raid on Caracas in January.

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Jamaica hails King’s decision to refer slavery reparations petition to privy council as ‘really big deal’

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The move comes after Jamaica’s culture minister Olivia Grange travelled to the UK earlier this month to lodge the historic petition

King Charles has referred a landmark slavery reparations petition from Jamaica to a high-level UK appeals court for legal advice, Jamaica’s culture minister announced in parliament on Tuesday.

Referring to the move as a “really big deal”, Olivia Grange told Jamaica’s MPs the monarch had confirmed that their legal questions have been passed on to the London-based privy council – the final court of appeal for UK overseas territories and some Commonwealth countries.

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Hurricane Polo, rapidly intensifying from strong El Niño patterns, rages off coast of Mexico

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Polo, with sustained winds of 165mph, is churning 215 miles south of Zihuatanejo but is unlikely to directly hit Mexico

A tropical storm off the south-west coast of Mexico has intensified into a category 5 monster in fewer than 24 hours, fueled by stronger than usual El Niño weather patterns in the Pacific Ocean.

Hurricane Polo was sending out maximum sustained winds of 165mph (266km/h) on Tuesday as its center churned about 215 miles (346km) south of the coastal city of Zihuatanejo, in Guerrero state.

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Trump’s threat to annihilate Iran to UN general assembly is stunning, even for him

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US president may have upstaged the ghost of Soviet leader Khrushchev by musing destruction of fellow member state

Donald Trump has a habit of discomfiting delegates to the United Nations general assembly. But this year, he may have upstaged the ghost of Nikita Khrushchev by openly contemplating the annihilation of a fellow UN member state.

Eleven minutes into a 40-minute address, the US president announced he had “a big decision to make” over Iran, which has staged a much more determined resistance than Trump anticipated when he decided to go to war against the country in February.

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British Columbia sues OpenAI and Sam Altman over Tumbler Ridge mass school shooting

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Canadian province alleges deadly attack could have been prevented if company had warned police of shooter’s ChatGPT use

British Columbia has sued OpenAI in California, saying a mass shooting at a school in the province could have been prevented if the company had warned local ⁠law enforcement that the shooter ⁠had used ChatGPT to ​plan the massacre.

The lawsuit filed in San Francisco federal court on Monday names OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, as defendants. It is seeking damages to fund recovery efforts in the province after the February attack, as well as an order directing changes to the way the company handles ChatGPT conversations that could lead to violence.

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Colombia declares public calamity as wildfire threatens popular tourist area

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Wildfire forces evacuations and burns through mountains surrounding Villa de Leyva in the north-east

Colombian authorities declared a public calamity as a wildfire burned through mountains surrounding one of the country’s best-known colonial towns in the north-east, scorching large swaths of vegetation and forcing evacuations.

Nearly 20 active fires are burning across the South American country. Dry conditions have increased fire danger in Colombia as it braces for the effects of El Niño, which can help wildfires spread.

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US strikes on alleged drug boats may constitute ‘crimes against humanity’, UN expert says

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Dozens of US attacks on boats in the Pacific and Caribbean have killed more than 230 people since September 2025

A special rapporteur for the UN human rights council has concluded that there are “reasonable grounds to believe” that the United States attacks on boats allegedly carrying drugs in the Pacific and Caribbean “constituted crimes against humanity”.

The boat strikes, carried out since September 2025 on the stated grounds of stopping drugs being trafficked by sea to the US, have killed more than 230 people. The latest, on Saturday, killed four people in the Caribbean.

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Man and police officer wounded in exchange of gunfire near Ontario synagogue

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Officials say man was critically injured and officer was wounded in Yom Kippur incident near Belleville synagogue

A police officer and a man were wounded in an exchange of gunfire on Sunday near a synagogue in Ontario as members of the Jewish community marked Yom Kippur, authorities said. The man was hospitalized in life-threatening condition.

The Canadian province’s special investigations unit said the exchange of gunfire happened near the Sons of Jacob Synagogue in Belleville, Ontario, about 110 miles (160km) east of Toronto. Belleville police said the officer encountered the man at about 7.10pm and that both were taken to a hospital.

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Macron and Carney announce closer France-Canada ties amid Trump tensions

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Two leaders meet in French territory off Canada as Ottawa seeks stronger relations with EU while fighting trade war with US

The leaders of France and Canada have pledged closer ties to grapple with rising geopolitical tensions, climate change and the erosion of democratic values, after ⁠they met in a ⁠French territory off Canada’s Atlantic coast.

The two leaders’ visit to Saint-Pierre ​and Miquelon – the first by a French president since 2014 and the first by a Canadian prime minister – came just weeks ⁠after Donald Trump posted an image showing the islands, as well as all of Canada and other countries in North America, covered by the US flag.

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