Category Archives: Americas

Jair Bolsonaro surrenders passport in coup attempt investigation

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Police seize passport as agents carry out 33 searches and four arrests across Brazil, targeting allies of far-right former president

Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro has surrendered his passport as part of a police investigation into the attempted coup on 8 January 2023, which sought to keep him in power, his lawyers have said.

In operations that also targeted key allies of the former far-right leader, federal police agents carried out 33 searches and four arrests across Brazil on Thursday morning.

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Exxon plan for Guyana oil exploration risks raising tensions with Venezuela

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President of ExxonMobil Guyana confirms plan to drill two new wells off Atlantic coast as territorial dispute simmers

ExxonMobil has insisted it will explore for oil in a region bitterly contested by Guyana and Venezuela, despite the dangers that the move is likely to escalate tensions between the two South American neighbors.

Relations between the two countries have reached an all-time low in recent months following a series of announcements by the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, suggesting that he could take the Essequibo region by force.

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UK to send specialist assistance to Turks and Caicos after surge in fatal shootings

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It is the second time in less than two years the Caribbean archipelago is seeing escalating violence, attributed to warring drug gangs

The United Kingdom is sending specialist assistance to the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) following a surge in shooting deaths in the Caribbean archipelago.

Four men were found dead from gunshot wounds on the island of Providenciales on 1 and 2 February, and two more were killed during January.

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Monarch butterfly numbers dip to second lowest level in Mexico wintering grounds

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Experts say the endangered insect numbers fell by 59% this year, blaming pesticide use and climate change for the reduction

The number of endangered monarch butterflies at their wintering areas in Mexico has dropped by 59% this year to the second lowest level since record keeping began, experts said, blaming pesticide use and climate change.

The annual butterfly count doesn’t calculate the individual number of butterflies, but rather the number of hectares they cover when they clump together on tree branches in the mountain pine and fir forests west of Mexico City. Monarchs from east of the Rocky Mountains in the US and Canada overwinter there.

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Minister ‘pissed off’ as Canadians’ family members blocked from leaving Gaza

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Immigration minister Marc Miller frustrated by impasse over list of about 1,000 people trapped in Palestinian territory

Canada’s immigration minister, Marc Miller, has said he is “pissed off” that extended family members of Canadians are being blocked from leaving war-torn Gaza.

Ottawa last month provided a list of about 1,000 people approved to come to Canada to Israeli and Egyptian authorities, who jointly control the only border crossing out of the Palestinian territory, at Rafah.

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Brazil starts mass vaccination amid upsurge in dengue fever

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Emergency measures taken as 364,855 cases of mosquito-borne infection reported this year, a fourfold increase on year before

Dengue fever has surged in Brazil’s hot rainy season, forcing health authorities to take emergency measures and start mass vaccination against the mosquito-borne illness.

In the first five weeks of this year, 364,855 cases of infection have been reported, the health ministry said, four times more than dengue cases in the same period of 2023.

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Former Canadian police intelligence head sentenced to 14 years for leaking secrets

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Cameron Ortis was convicted of passing secret material in a case that shocked the Canadian intelligence community

The former head of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police intelligence unit has been sentenced to 14 years in prison, months after he was found guilty of leaking state secrets.

Justice Robert Maranger delivered what he said was a “a fit and just” sentence on Wednesday after a jury convicted Cameron Ortis for violations of the country’s Security of Information Act.

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Former Chilean president Sebastián Piñera dies in helicopter crash

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Minister says Piñera’s body recovered from scene of crash in lake near southern town of Lago Ranco

Chile’s two-time former president Sebastián Piñera has died in a helicopter crash at the age of 74.

According to preliminary reports, Piñera was piloting a helicopter with three passengers onboard over Lago Ranco, a lake in southern Chile where he had a home, but no further information regarding the incident was immediately given.

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Chile wildfires death toll rises to 131

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Fires in Valparaíso said to be country’s deadliest disaster since 2010 earthquake

The death toll from wildfires that ravaged central Chile for several days has risen to 131, and more than 300 people remain missing as the blazes appear to be burning themselves out.

The fires in the Valparaíso region are said to be Chile’s deadliest disaster since an earthquake in 2010. Officials have suggested that some of the fires could have been lit intentionally.

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‘Like a war zone’: Chile wildfire death toll reaches 123 amid race to clear rubble

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Death count for Chile’s worst natural disaster in years expected to climb as official two-day mourning period begins

Helicopters dumped tonnes of water on wildfires raging across central Chile, as emergency crews said they were still finding bodies three days after the blazes took hold.

The official death count from Chile’s worst natural disaster in years increased to 123 on Monday according to Marisol Prado, the director of Chile’s forensic medical service. That number was expected to climb as residents, firefighters and military raced to clear rubble.

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Nayib Bukele re-elected as El Salvador president in landslide win

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Voters reward Bukele for gang crackdown that has transformed security in central American country

El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, has won a thumping victory in elections after voters cast aside concerns about erosion of democracy to reward him for a fierce gang crackdown that transformed security in the central American country.

Provisional results on Monday morning showed Bukele winning 83% support with just over 70% of the ballots counted. Bukele declared himself the winner before official results were announced, claiming to have attained more than 85% of the vote.

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South Dakota tribe bans governor from reservation over US border comments

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Oglala Sioux tribe banishes Republican Kristi Noem after she spoke about wanting to send razor wire to Texas

A South Dakota tribe has banned the state’s Republican governor, Kristi Noem, from one of the US’s largest reservations after she spoke this week about wanting to send razor wire and security personnel to Texas to help deter immigration at the southern border with Mexico.

The Oglala Sioux tribe president said Noem’s ban from the Pine Ridge reservation resulted from the fact that many arriving at the US border with Mexico are Indigenous people from places like El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico, who come “in search of jobs and a better life”.

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‘Deeply alarming’: sevenfold increase in sexual attacks at Darién Gap, says Médecins Sans Frontières

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More than half a million people made treacherous, weeklong trek in 2023, facing horrors including mass rapes by armed bandits

A sevenfold increase in sexual attacks against people crossing the Darién Gap is compounding the misery for people trekking one of the world’s most dangerous and underreported border crossings, said Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).

Complete impunity for armed gangs in the lawless stretch of jungle that links South and Central America meant one person became a victim of sexual violence every three and a half hours in December, the overstretched medical organisation said.

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At least 112 dead as authorities struggle to contain forest fires in Chile

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People told to evacuate homes as quickly as possible and curfews declared in cities most heavily affected

Firefighters are wrestling with huge forest fires that broke out in central Chile on Friday. Officials have extended curfews in cities most heavily affected by the blazes and said the death toll has increased to 112 killed.

The fires have been burning with the highest intensity around the city of Viña del Mar, where a botanical garden founded in 1931 was destroyed by the flames. At least 1,600 people have been left without homes.

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Forest fires in Chile cause multiple deaths and widespread destruction

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At least 46 people reported dead as dozens of fires sweep across central and southern regions, with Valparaíso worst affected

At least 46 people have died from forest fires raging in central Chile, President Gabriel Boric has said, warning that the death toll is likely to rise.

Earlier on Saturday, Chile’s interior minister, Carolina Tohá, said there were currently 92 forest fires in the centre and south of the country, where temperatures were unusually high. More than 1,000 homes have been destroyed.

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Aston ‘Family Man’ Barrett, bassist with Bob Marley and the Wailers, dies aged 77

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Influential musician also co-produced group’s albums and mentored many Jamaican artists

Aston “Family Man” Barrett, bassist for Bob Marley and the Wailers, has died aged 77.

The news was confirmed on Saturday by Olivia Grange, Jamaica’s minister for culture, who wrote on X (formerly Twitter): “I share with you my deep regret at the passing of Aston Francis Barrett, popularly known as ‘Family Man’ or ‘Fams’ … He died at the University of Miami Hospital in Florida in the United States early this morning.”

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Argentina’s lower house votes for Javier Milei’s sweeping reform package

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Far-right president’s measures aimed at tackling the country’s severe economic problems passed easily despite public protests

Argentina’s lower chamber of deputies has given overall approval to libertarian president Javier Milei’s sweeping “omnibus” reform bill in a vote on Friday after days of debate, paving the way for a decisive vote in the Senate.

The controversial reform package was approved on a vote of 144 votes in favour and 109 against.

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Raccoon plunges parts of Toronto into darkness after mishap at power utility

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Mammal ‘made contact with equipment’, disrupting a subway line and shutting off water in latest escapade of city’s ‘trash pandas’

A lone Toronto raccoon was able to cut power to nearly 7,000 people in the city’s downtown core on Thursday night, highlighting the fraught coexistence between residents of Canada’s largest urban centre and the divisive “trash pandas”.

Hydro One, Ontario’s power utility, said a raccoon “made contact with equipment” at a downtown station on Thursday night, plunging swaths of the city in darkness. The loss of power also temporarily disrupted service on a key subway line and shut off water. Toronto’s fire service said the power outage also left residents trapped inside elevators.

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Indigenous reporter fears more journalists will be targeted after arrest as police cleared Canada camp

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Brandi Morin was charged while reporting at encampment authorities arrived at to dismantle and could face two years in jail

A journalist in Canada who was arrested and charged while reporting on a police operation to clear an encampment for unhoused Indigenous people says she fears the charges will chill further reporting of marginalized groups.

Brandi Morin, an Indigenous journalist, was arrested on 10 January while documenting police efforts to dismantle the camp in the city of Edmonton.

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Murder charges upgraded for Canada man who allegedly sent ‘suicide kits’

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Kenneth Law now faces 14 counts in Ontario of first-degree murder and 14 counts of counselling and aiding suicide

Prosecutors in Canada have upgraded murder charges against the man who allegedly mailed “suicide kits” and is allegedly linked to more than 100 deaths in several countries.

Kenneth Law, who is due to appear in court on Thursday, now faces 14 counts in Ontario of first-degree murder and 14 counts of counselling and aiding suicide in the province. Canada’s criminal code punishes anyone who “counsels or abets” a person to die by suicide with a sentence of up to 14 years in prison. The victims range in age from 16 to 36.

In Canada, Crisis Services Canada can be contacted at any time on 1.833.456.4566, or via text on 45645 from 4pm-12am ET. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org

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