Silvia Arce and Alberto Sánchez, who were kidnapped on Wednesday, freed unharmed
Two of three journalists recently kidnapped in southern Mexico have been freed unharmed, the journalists’ international free-speech group Article 19 said in a statement on Saturday.
Silvia Arce and Alberto Sánchez, who lead the digital RedSiete platform, were released during the early hours of the morning, the organisation said.
Continue reading...Pollution has tamped population density by 99.5%, but scientists think cultural icon could aid in tissue repair and cancer recovery
Ecologists from Mexico’s National Autonomous University on Friday relaunched a fundraising campaign to bolster conservation efforts for axolotls, a native, endangered fish-like type of salamander.
The campaign, called Adoptaxolotl, asks people for as little as 600 pesos (about $35) to virtually adopt one of the tiny “water monsters”. Virtual adoption comes with live updates on your axolotl’s health. For less money, donors can buy a virtual dinner for one of the creatures, which are relatively popular pets in the US.
Continue reading...Kurt P Villani and Monica Villani of Buffalo, New York, died when their Bentley flew through air and exploded into flames
The investigation of a car crash and explosion at a Niagara Falls, New York, border checkpoint on Wednesday – which killed the married couple inside the vehicle – is examining whether mechanical or medical issues were to blame, according to reports.
That detail surfaced as officials identified the Rainbow Bridge crash victims as Kurt P Villani and Monica Villani, both 53. The Villani family owns several hardware stores as well as a lumber business around the Buffalo, New York, region.
Continue reading...Producers take advantage of new shipping options, including government-owned Trans Mountain pipeline, to boost exports
Oil and gas producers say they will drill 8% more wells in Canada next year as they look to take advantage of new shipping options, including a controversial government-owned pipeline.
Amid forecasts that Canada is not on target to reach its emissions reductions goals, on Friday the Canadian Association of Energy Contractors (CAOEC) predicted nearly 500 more wells next year, to 6,229 projects.
Continue reading...Néstor Isidro Pérez Salas provided protection for sons of Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán and allegedly fed rivals to pet Bengal tigers
The US president, Joe Biden, and his top justice department official have welcomed the arrest in Mexico of Néstor Isidro Pérez Salas, known as “El Nini”, allegedly the notorious head of security – and assassination – for the Chapitos wing of the Sinaloa cartel.
The security chief is accused of leaving a trail of murder and torture, including feeding rivals to pet Bengal tigers, and running a security operation known as Los Ninis, “a particularly violent group of security personnel for the Chapitos”, according to the US government, whose members “received military-style training in multiple areas of combat, including urban warfare, special weapons and tactics, and sniper proficiency”.
Continue reading...Rainbow Bridge was closed on one of year’s busiest days after vehicle reportedly en route to Kiss concert exploded on Wednesday
A car crash at the US-Canada border that killed two people, injured a border officer and jangled nerves ahead of the busy Thanksgiving holiday travel period is not believed to be terrorism, according to the FBI.
The agency had handed over its investigation to local officials, who are looking into why a luxury vehicle sped towards a border checkpoint, crossed a median, launched into the air, hit a building and exploded into a fireball.
Continue reading...Correspondence taken from 130 captured ships reveal details of the stories of seafarers and their families in the 1700s
A letter from a reproachful wife to the husband who seemingly abandoned her after travelling to the Americas, which remained unopened for nearly 300 years, is among thousands of papers from 18th-century Spanish ships captured by the British that are now being made available online.
Francisca Muñoz in Seville wrote to her husband, Miguel Atocha, in Mexico on 22 January 1747. The letter was among 100 others from Spanish women to their husbands detailing the emotional and economic challenges faced in their partners’ absences, and found on La Ninfa, a registered ship trading between Cádiz and Veracruz, Mexico that was captured by the notorious British privateer squadron known as the “Royal Family”.
Continue reading...‘Momentous’ breakthrough as trial finds treatment for nail infections to be highly effective for neglected tropical disease
A cheap and easily taken drug used to treat fungal nail infections has been found to work against a devastating flesh and bone-eating disease found across Africa, Asia and the Americas.
Researchers say the breakthrough offers hope to thousands of patients who have suffered decades of neglect and can face amputations if the disease is left untreated.
Continue reading...New York governor says ‘no indication of terrorist attack’ as officials investigate incident at Rainbow Bridge near Niagara Falls
A speeding car crashed in flames on the bridge linking New York state and Ontario at Niagara Falls on Wednesday, killing two people in the vehicle and sparking a security scare that closed four US-Canadian border crossings.
Hours later, federal and state authorities said investigators had found no evidence of an act of terrorism, though circumstances surrounding the crash on the Rainbow Bridge remained murky, leaving it to be determined whether it was accidental or intentional.
Continue reading...Cameron Ortis from RCMP convicted of violating Security of Information Act in one of Canada’s largest ever security breaches
A jury has found the former head of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police intelligence unit guilty of leaking state secrets, the first time a Canadian has been convicted under the country’s Security of Information Act
On Wednesday afternoon, jurors said Cameron Ortis was guilty of three counts of violating the act and one count of attempting to do so. They also found him guilty of breach of trust and fraudulent use of a computer.
Continue reading...Two people who were in the car have died, police say, as New York governor says there are no signs of terrorist activity
Four border crossings between the US and Canada were closed after a vehicle exploded at a checkpoint on a bridge near Niagara Falls, reportedly killing two people.
New York governor Kathy Hochul said after a preliminary investigation there was “no indication of a terrorist attack” in the explosion which happened on the US side of the Rainbow Bridge.
Hochul added: “The world is watching to find out what’s happening here”, citing “high stress” around the Israel-Hamas war. “Based on the preliminary investigation there’s no sign of terrorist” activity in the crash, Hochul said.
Three out of four of the US-Canada crossings, the Lewiston, Whirlpool and Peace Bridge, have been reopened after being temporarily shuttered. The Rainbow Bridge remains closed.
US Customs and Border Protection said it was working closely with the FBI and federal, state and local partners and the White House said it was watching the situation closely.
Law enforcement officials have identified the registered owner of the vehicle involved in the explosion at Rainbow Bridge, according to authorities who spoke to CNN. Hochul said in a press briefing that it was an individual local to western New York.
The New York City police department has sent NYPD officers upstate to “support efforts on the ground” following the explosion.
Several services were paused or otherwise halted. International arrivals and departures have been halted at the Buffalo Niagara international airport, CNN reports the Federal Aviation Authority saying. Amtrak suspended its services between New York and Canada.
A witness that saw the crash said the vehicle involved looked like it was traveling “over 100 miles an hour”.
Continue reading...This live blog is now closed. You can read the latest stories below:
Here is testimony from a witness on the Rainbow Bridge explosion.
Describing the movement of the vehicle involved in the explosion, the witness said:
“My wife and I were walking down Main Street here and the car was coming … over 100 miles an hour. We could hardly see him, he was going that quick.
There was a car in front of him, he swerved around it and then it looked like he hit the fence and this fire started. And then all of a sudden, he went up in the air and then it was a ball of fire like 30, 40 ft high… [The car] was going towards Canada.”
Continue reading...Adolfo Enríquez shot dead in Guanajuato city of León, which has third highest number of homicides in Mexico
An activist who documented murders in one of Mexico’s deadliest cities has himself been shot dead.
Adolfo Enríquez was killed in the city of León, in north-central Guanajuato state. The city has the third-highest number of homicides in Mexico, trailing only the border cities of Tijuana and Ciudad Juárez.
Continue reading...As record numbers make the perilous journey between Colombia and Panama, Médecins Sans Frontières is treating far more survivors of sexual violence, including children
Armed bandits are exploiting the record number of people crossing the Darién Gap – a 100km stretch of jungle connecting Colombia and Panama – to kidnap and rape desperate migrants, according to Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).
The organisation said it treated 397 survivors of sexual violence this year – many of them children – once they safely reached Panama. There have been reports of “group rapes in tents set up for that purpose in the mountainous rainforest and swampland”.
Continue reading...Airline and armoured car company locked in bitter lawsuit over who is to blame for one of Canada’s largest ever heists
A brazen gold heist at Toronto’s main airport, in which thieves seized nearly C$24m ($17m) worth of gold bars and cash, is still unsolved after more than half a year.
But the airline and armoured car company that handled the cargo are now locked in a bitter lawsuit over the theft, with each saying the other is to blame for one of Canada’s largest ever heists.
Continue reading...Newly elected president and far-right libertarian has vowed to repeal country’s 2020 landmark legalisation of abortion
Three years after Argentina made history as the first large Latin American country to legalise abortion, women’s rights campaigners are gearing up to again go to battle after the election of Javier Milei as president.
“It’s a very bleak picture,” said Soledad Deza of the Fundación Mujeres x Mujeres. “This is a government that is promising us greater inequality and – from the first minute – that the autonomy, sovereignty and independence of our bodies is not going to be supported by the state.”
Continue reading...Freed detainee Michael Spavor says he unknowingly passed intelligence to Michael Kovrig, who then told Canadian officials
A simmering diplomatic feud prompted by China’s detention of two Canadian citizens has been reopened after one of the men claimed he was arrested for unknowingly passing on intelligence to Canada and its allies.
The Globe and Mail reported Michael Spavor is seeking a multi-million dollar settlement from Canada’s federal government, alleging he “unwittingly” provided intelligence on North Korea to fellow Canadian Michael Kovrig, who then shared that information with Canada and Five Eyes allies.
Continue reading...‘El Loco’ wins landslide victory in Argentina that experts say shows scale of frustration with Peronist status quo
Luminaries of the global far right are in raptures over Javier Milei’s thumping election victory in Argentina which experts predict will turn Buenos Aires into a new stomping ground for the populist radical right.
Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro led the merrymaking after their Argentinian ally trounced his rival, the Peronist finance minister Sergio Massa, by nearly 3 million votes in Sunday’s presidential election. The former US president predicted Milei would “truly make Argentina great again” while Brazil’s ex-president applauded a victory for “honesty, progress and freedom”. Bolsonarista and Mileísta activists predicted Milei’s win would be the first in a trio of rightwing conquests that would see Trump and Bolsonaro reclaim power in 2024 and 2026.
Continue reading...President-elect’s idea is a gamble that is likely to crash an economy paying the price for mistakes of his predecessor
Javier Milei’s bigger-than-expected victory in the Argentinan presidential election suggests voters in South America’s second biggest country have willingly opted for shock treatment to sort out the country’s deep economic malaise.
It is perhaps not hard to see why 56% of the electorate backed the rightwing libertarian: Argentina may have the world’s best football team but its economy has performed disastrously in recent years. Inflation is running at 140% and a three-year drought has led to a sharp fall in agricultural production. Two out of five people live in poverty and the currency has lost 90% of its value in four years.
Continue reading...Victory for TV celebrity-turned politician catapults South America’s second-largest economy into an unpredictable future
Javier Milei, a volatile far-right libertarian who has vowed to “exterminate” inflation and take a chainsaw to the state, has been elected president of Argentina, catapulting South America’s second largest economy into an unpredictable and potentially turbulent future.
With nearly 99% of votes counted, the Mick Jagger impersonating TV celebrity-turned politician, who is often compared to Donald Trump, had secured 55.7% of the vote compared to Massa’s 44.2%.
Continue reading...