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Americas | The Guardian

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Brazil’s Lula launches historic fourth term bid – but son of jailed Bolsonaro stands in his way

President, 80, vows to keep far-right from power as Flávio Bolsonaro tells supporters he will ‘fight this system’ Brazil’s leftwing president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has launched his campaign for a historic fourth term and vowed that as long as he lived he would not allow the “shameless” right to return to power. Addressing a sea of supporters in São Bernardo do Campo, the industrial city…

Ontario free to axe Toronto bike lanes, region’s top court rules

Win is significant for region’s premier, Doug Ford, who blames protected zones for city’s traffic ills The Ontario government is now free to rip out Toronto’s bike lanes on its busiest streets after the region’s top court ruled in favour of the province on Friday, overturning a lower court’s decision that decreed removal would violate constitutional rights. The win is significant for Ontario’s…

Canadian plasma clinics pause collections after deaths of two donors

Grifols, which runs private chain of clinics, to temporarily stop taking donations after new government investigation A chain of private plasma donation clinics in Canada has said it is pausing collections after the deaths of two donors and a new government investigation into potential unsafe practices. Grifols, a Spanish healthcare company which runs 17 clinics in Canada and is the country’s only…

BP to develop offshore gasfield in Venezuela with firms linked to Trump administration

Move will be one of first large-scale foreign investments in country since US ousted leader Nicolás Maduro in January BP has answered Donald Trump’s call for oil companies to help rebuild Venezuela’s fossil fuel industry with new plans to develop a large offshore gasfield. BP will partner with two oil firms with close links to the Trump administration to develop the second phase of the Loran…

Killer fungus: how a disease threatening bat species has spread to northern Canada

Bat experts were shocked at how fast white-nose syndrome had reached Canada’s northernmost colonies from the US. Now, the race is on to find a cure before species disappear Crawling through a narrow passage in a cave beneath a boreal forest near Fort Smith in Canada’s Northwest Territories in May, two biologists spotted a lifeless bat on a limestone ledge, its body covered in a spindly white…

‘Everyone is scared’: flood-hit Porto Alegre braces for another El Niño

Two years after southern Brazil’s worst climate disaster ravaged the city, and with poor areas still recovering, many fear official neglect has left them exposed once again In the backstreets of Porto Alegre, a state capital in southern Brazil , you can still see signs of the devastating flood that swept through the city two years ago: scattered debris, waterlogged homes and destroyed businesses.…

Former Mexican governor charged in case of 43 students who vanished in 2014

Ángel Aguirre indicted in case that rocked Mexico and became symbol of its brutal cartel violence The former governor of Guerrero state in Mexico has been formally charged over his alleged involvement in the disappearance of 43 students in 2014, a case that has become a symbol of the country’s brutal cartel violence and government impunity. Ángel Aguirre, who was arrested last week , is accused of…

Canadian airline WestJet agrees to settle flight attendants’ sexual harassment class action

Female staff alleged company failed to maintain safe workplace, after allegations of sexual assault against pilot The Canadian airline WestJet has agreed to pay C$4.5m (£2.4m) to settle a decade-long sexual harassment class action lawsuit levelled by its female flight attendants, who alleged the company failed to maintain a safe workplace. The suit followed allegations by Mandalena Lewis, a former…

Humpbacks return to Rio: the whales are back from the brink of extinction – but will tourism help or hinder?

The gigantic aquatic acrobats are exciting Brazil’s tourists as numbers recover from whaling. But some marine biologists question how booming tourism and conservation can coexist The anticipation is palpable onboard the Boaventura II as the yacht sets off from Rio de Janeiro at sunrise. Once beyond the Cagarras Islands, rocky outcrops just three miles off Ipanema beach, the group gathers at the…

In Ohio, Haitians’ American dream shatters as ICE prepares to deport them

US immigration has ramped up operations against Haitians, whose temporary protected status was removed by Trump When Monsanto Maler walked out of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement ( ICE ) facility in Blue Ash, Ohio , at 9.15am on Sunday with an ankle monitor freshly attached to his left leg, he put his hand over his face, burst into tears and fell to the ground. He had come to the US in June…

Canadian airline cancels flight after child refuses to wear seatbelt

Flight from Victoria to Toronto forced to return to terminal after repeated attempts to secure child in seat failed A Canadian airline cancelled a flight from Victoria to Toronto after a child refused to wear a seatbelt. The child was standing in their chair as the 6 August Porter Airlines flight taxied towards the runway, the airline said. Repeated attempts by an accompanying parent and crew to…

The US tried to stop cartel money-laundering. It devastated mom-and-pop businesses instead

Small businesses pay hidden toll after money-transfer rule change to curb illicit activities near the US-Mexico border Last April, the Trump administration rolled out its latest tool in the fight against Mexican cartels: an aggressive crackdown on money transfers near the US-Mexico border . The administration said that, in an effort to stop money laundering and other illicit activity, it would now…

Scores dead in Colombia after powerful earthquake strikes west of country

Quake of 7.4 magnitude collapses and severely damages buildings in several major cities, including Cali and Pereira More than 100 people died after a powerful earthquake struck western Colombia, collapsing and severely damaging scores of buildings in major cities including Cali and Pereira. The US and Colombian geological surveys reported that a 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck at 7.34am local time…

Colombia quake leaves more than 110 dead – as it happened

This blog is now closed – a full report is here People remain trapped in Cali, one of Colombia’s largest cities, ​after more than two dozen structures ‌collapsed, mayor Alejandro Eder said. ‌ He added that the city had asked authorities in Bogota and Medellin to send disaster teams ‌to support rescue efforts. Continue reading...

This Is Ballroom review – pulsating documentary tells story of Brazilian ballroom

Paris is Burning gets a South American update in a film that shows the Brazilian scene as a space of solidarity and tension Originating among the Black, Latin and trans communities in 1960s New York, queer ballroom culture has not only entered the mainstream but also travelled well outside the United States. In recent years, a movement has flourished in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro and its…

Invisible poison: living with mercury pollution in the Colombian Amazon – in pictures

Rainforest communities face a silent crisis as mercury from gold mining contaminates their food and water Continue reading...

‘Shoved the tube so hard it tore my nose’: Kurdish film-maker recounts ‘inhumane’ ICE force-feeding

Gabar Choli tells of how, for months, he was shackled, pinned and forcibly fed – and the physical and emotional scars the ordeal has left In June 2025, a sluggish and thin Gabar Choli, with sunken temples and bones visible under his skin, braced himself for the immigration detention center guards to charge into his cell once again. Choli was in a solitary confinement medical cell inside the Port…

Kurdish hunger striker says ICE force-feeding ‘mentally broke me’

Exclusive: Film-maker Gabar Choli describes how he endured coercive treatment over eight months in detention in Texas A Kurdish man who was force-fed over the course of eight months while on hunger strike in US immigration detention has spoken out about it for the first time, describing how much the process harmed him physically and psychologically. Gabar Choli, a film-maker and activist now…

‘Reaching 50 is a success story’: how one trans woman survived HIV and stigma in Latin America

Erika Castellanos has beaten the life expectancy of 35 for a transgender woman in the region, but warns aid cuts and a rollback in human rights risk reversing efforts to end Aids Erika Castellanos has outlived what she describes as one of the cruellest statistics in Latin America. The life expectancy of a transgender woman in the region is estimated to be 35 years. “I am 50 years old. A lot of…

Canadian government steps in as ‘out of control’ wildfires force thousands to flee

British Columbia battling 102 fires day and night across province, as breakneck speed hampers firefighters’ efforts Canada’s federal government has announced it will provide urgent assistance to British Columbia after an onslaught of unprecedented fast-moving wildfires that killed one person and forced about 22,000 people to flee their homes in frantic evacuations. A total of 102 wildfires were…