Teenager in critical condition with Canada’s first human case of bird flu

British Columbia teen had no underlying health conditions and had been exposed to dogs, cats and reptiles, officials say

A teenager is in critical condition in a British Columbia children’s hospital, in what is believed to be Canada’s first human case of bird flu.

“This was a healthy teenager prior to this, so no underlying conditions,” said the provincial health officer Bonnie Henry in a news conference on Tuesday.

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US bans Haiti flights for 30 days after Spirit jet hit by hail of gunfire

Move by US authorities comes after plane was shot at on Monday, injuring attendant and forcing airport shutdown

The US Federal Aviation Administration has banned civilian flights into Haiti for 30 days after a jetliner was shot at on approach to Port-au-Prince.

Bullets hit the Spirit Airlines plane when it was about to land on Monday, injuring a flight attendant and forcing the airport to shut down.

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Canadian minister says ‘not everyone is welcome’ amid Trump migrant threat

Immigration minister Marc Miller’s comments come as country braces for migrant rise when Trump takes office

Canada’s immigration minister has said “not everyone is welcome” in the country as officials brace for an increase of migrants when Donald Trump returns to the White House with a pledge to carry out mass deportations.

The minister’s warning, seven years after Justin Trudeau promised that “Canadians will welcome” asylum seekers, reflects a stark shift in tone amid waning support for immigration and refugee resettlement in the country, according to migration experts.

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Airlines halt flights to Haiti after plane hit by gunfire

Spirit Airlines flight heading from Florida to Port-au-Prince diverted to Dominican Republic after flight attendant was grazed by bullet, amid broader violence in Haiti’s capital

Haiti’s international airport shut down on Monday after gangs opened fire at a commercial flight landing in Port-Au-Prince, prompting some airlines to suspend operations as the country swore in a new interim prime minister who promised to restore peace.

The Spirit Airlines flight headed from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to Port-Au-Prince was just hundreds of feet from landing in Haiti’s capital when gangs shot at the plane, striking a flight attendant who suffered minor injuries, according to the airline, the US embassy and flight tracking data.

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Rays’ Wander Franco arrested in DR over incident in which ‘guns were drawn’

  • Shortstop held by police over incident on Sunday
  • Player facing separate charges over sexual abuse claims

Police in the Dominican Republic have arrested Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Wander Franco after an altercation involving firearms.

ESPN reported that authorities held Franco and an unnamed woman for questioning on Monday after an incident in the parking lot of an apartment complex on Sunday “in which guns were drawn.”

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Haiti appoints new prime minister as security crisis mounts

Entrepreneur Alix Didier Fils-Aimé replaces Garry Conille as country rocked by worsening gang violence

Haiti’s transitional presidential council has appointed the entrepreneur and former senate candidate Alix Didier Fils-Aimé as the new prime minister, according to the official gazette in the country.

The businessman replaces Garry Conille, who was named prime minister in May. The shake-up is the latest blow to political stability amid soaring levels of gang violence.

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Police in Antigua charge suspect over fatal stabbing of politician

Alexta Francis, 26, was arrested two days ago after MP Asot Michael found dead at his home on Caribbean island

Antigua police have charged a man over the fatal stabbing of a member of parliament in his seaside home.

Police on the Caribbean island charged Alexta Francis, 26, two days after the landscaper was arrested and questioned about the killing of Asot Michael. Francis was due to make his first appearance in court on Monday.

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Crypto businessman killed in apparent assassination at São Paulo airport

Three injured as victim named as Antônio Vinícius Lopes Gritzbach, who had been threatened by top crime syndicate

A Brazilian businessman has been killed and three people injured in an apparent gangland assassination at São Paulo’s international airport in Guarulhos.

The victims were caught in a hail of bullets when a gunman with a rifle opened fire from inside a black car parked outside the airport’s terminal 2, which is mainly used for domestic flights.

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Canada braced for migrants as Trump reiterates mass deportation vow

Police say plans in place to deal with rise in border crossings as US president-elect pledges to remove 11m people

Canada is bracing for a surge of migrants to its southern border after Donald Trump doubled down on his pledge to conduct the largest mass deportation in American history.

On Thursday, Trump told NBC News there was “no choice” but to proceed in removing some of the estimated 11 million undocumented people in the United States.

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Outrage against Canada’s Marineland theme park after fifth beluga dies

Most recent fatality marks 17th beluga to die at Niagara Falls, Ontario, aquarium since 2019

A fifth beluga has died at Canada’s Marineland, as questions mount over the future of both the controversial theme park and one of the world’s largest populations of captive whales.

The most recent fatality marks the 17th beluga to die at the Niagara Falls aquarium since 2019.

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Weather Tracker: Hurricane Rafael triggers nationwide blackout in Cuba

Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica and Nicaragua also reeling after fifth major hurricane of season causes landslides and flooding

Hurricane Rafael became the 17th named storm of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season this week, reaching the minimum expectation of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Back in May, Noaa warned of an above-average level of activity, predicting 17-25 named storms, in comparison with the average of 14.

Of these 17-25 storms, Noaa predicted that eight to 13 would become hurricanes, four to seven of which would be classified as “major”, meaning category 3 or higher. Both of these predictions are also above average, and these thresholds have already been reached, with Rafael being the 11th hurricane and fifth major hurricane of the season.

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Three people charged in connection with Liam Payne’s death in Argentina

Prosecutors say they charged someone who was close to the singer, a hotel employee and a suspected drug dealer

Three people have been charged in connection with Liam Payne’s death in Argentina for supplying narcotics and the abandonment of a person followed by death.

Toxicology tests found that when he died, Payne had traces of alcohol, cocaine, and a prescription antidepressant in his body, prosecutors said in a statement on Thursday.

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‘The first thing I did was poke it’: Canada beach blobs mystery solved by chemists

Newfoundland Memorial Univeristy team find white masses are likely material used to clean pipes in oil industry

When the chemist Chris Kozak finally got his hands on a sample of the mysterious blobs that recently washed up on the shores of Newfoundland’s beaches, Project Unknown Glob officially began.

At his disposal, Kozak and a team of graduate students had the “gorgeous” new science building and “world-class facilities” of Newfoundland’s Memorial University to run a battery of tests on the white, doughy blob.

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Cuba reels as Hurricane Rafael knocks out power grid and destroys homes

Some 50,000 people took shelter in Havana after storm made landfall as category 3 on Wednesday

Cuba has been left reeling after a fierce category 3 hurricane ripped across the island, knocking out the country’s power grid, downing trees and damaging infrastructure. No fatalities were immediately reported.

Hurricane Rafael crossed a western portion of Cuba on Wednesday evening about 45 miles (75km) west of Havana, where José Ignacio Dimas returned home from his night shift as a security guard to find his apartment building in the historic center of the city had collapsed.

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Severe drought puts nearly half a million children at risk in Amazon – report

Warming climate has caused rivers used for transport to dry up, leaving children with little food, water or school access, says Unicef

Two years of severe drought in the Amazon rainforest have left nearly half a million children facing shortages of water and food or limited access to school, according to a UN report.

Scant rainfall and extreme heat driven by the climate crisis have caused rivers in what is usually the wettest region on Earth to retreat so much that they can no longer be traversed by boats, cutting off communities.

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Cuba hit by second nationwide blackout as Hurricane Rafael makes landfall

Island’s national power company says strong winds from category 3 hurricane caused disconnection

Cuba’s national power grid has suffered a country-wide blackout as Hurricane Rafael made landfall on the island’s south-west coast as a powerful category 3 hurricane.

In a brief statement on Wednesday, the country’s national power company, Union Eléctrica, said: “Strong winds caused by the powerful Hurricane Rafael have caused the disconnection of the national electrical system. Contingency protocols have been applied.”

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Sheinbaum tells Mexicans stunning Trump win is ‘nothing to worry about’

President reassures her country as threat of US tariffs and deportations looms

Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, has reassured her country that “there’s nothing to worry about” after Donald Trump’s stunning victory in the US presidential election.

But Trump’s extreme campaign promises have left Mexico bracing for punishing tariffs, mass migrant deportations – and even the far-fetched but alarming suggestion of US military strikes on organised crime groups in Mexican territory.

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With Trump re-elected, this is what’s at stake

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Mexico to pursue judicial elections plan after top court fails to block reform

Reform requires elections to be held in June 2025 to replace wide range of judicial positions, and reduce supreme court

The Mexican government will press ahead with a controversial reform to elect all judges by popular vote after the supreme court fell one vote short in a bid to invalidate part of it.

After several hours of debate on the constitutionality of the judicial reform, only seven of the court’s 11 justices voted late on Tuesday to support a measure to roll back some of the reform’s key elements – one vote short of the eight required to pass it.

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Guyana citizens to receive £370 each in payouts from ‘mind-boggling’ oil wealth

Country has been enjoying historic growth in economy, which has tripled since it started crude oil extraction in 2019

Hundreds of thousands of Guyana citizens living at home and abroad will receive a payout of around £370 each after the country announced it was distributing its “mind-boggling” oil wealth.

The grant of 100,000 Guyanese dollars will be available to any citizen of the South American country over the age of 18 with a valid passport or ID card. Guyanese citizens who normally live abroad will be eligible but must be in Guyana to collect the payment.

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Hurricane Rafael intensifies to category 3 as battered Cuba braces for new storm

More than 70,000 people reportedly evacuated and military mobilised with hurricane close to making landfall

Hurricane Rafael has intensified into a category 3 hurricane as it nears the coast of western Cuba, which is still reeling from a recent blackout and Hurricane Oscar.

Early on Wednesday it was about 160 miles (260km) south-east of Havana and packing winds of 99mph (160km/h), making it a category 2 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale. Five is the strongest.

Guardian staff contributed reporting

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