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How Trump is meddling in Brazil’s election – explainer
Brazil will head to the polls on 4 October for the first vote in its presidential race. The incumbent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, is neck-and-neck with Flávio Bolsonaro, the son of the former president Jair Bolsonaro, who is in prison for plotting a military coup. There are fears and accusations that the US is interfering in the election, and these follow similar allegations in a string of elections across Latin America which were won by Donald Trump-backed candidates in what is being called 'the orange wave'.
- The Americas Read
For the first time Latin Americans prefer China to America
Donald Trump’s interventions are unpopular, but tough talk on security resonates
Top Trump figures push to direct human rights funding to rightwing causes
Support for white Afrikaners, anti-communism and others reveals how US redefining what qualifies as human rights
‘So much uncertainty’: Michigan’s Arab American businesses navigate Trump’s Canada trade war
Arab communities on both sides of the border grapple with ongoing tensions as US-Canada relations continue to sour In Dearborn, Michigan, home to the largest community of Arab Americans in the US, one industry has risen above all others in recent years: Yemeni cafes. At the forefront is Qahwah House, a powerhouse in the burgeoning Yemeni cafe world with 32 branches open across the country. Three of those are here in Dearborn, with more on the way, and they attract people from near and far. Continue reading
‘We’re afraid of dying’: Brazilian news site will not cover upcoming elections after threats
Co-founder of independent website Tapajós de Fato said decision was made to protect journalists and their families Four years ago, during Brazil’s last presidential election, the tyres were slashed on the pickup truck used for reporting by Tapajós de Fato, an independent journalism website in the Brazilian Amazon. Days later, a cat’s severed head was left next to the car park, alongside a note bearing the name of one of the site’s founders, Marcos Wesley Pedroso, and a warning that he would be next. Continue reading
How gold surpassed cocaine as Peru’s most profitable criminal industry
As gold prices surge, illegal mining has laid waste to swathes of Tambopata National Reserve’s rainforest
John Oliver on Brazil’s Flávio Bolsonaro: ‘Fearmongering and flagrant daddy issues’
The Last Week Tonight host digs into Brazil’s election, with current leader Lula faces a disgraced former president’s son
Mighty Sparrow, the Trinidad and Tobago singer known as the ‘calypso king of the world’, dies aged 91
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. Continue reading
Hurricane Nolo still threatens Hawaii as Mexico’s Baja braces for Hurricane Polo
Hurricane Nolo moving away from Hawaiian islands but the threat of heavy rain, flash floods and strong winds persists
Formerly enslaved people in Guyana embraced collective action | Letter
Letters: We should learn about emancipated people’s extraordinary capacity for mutual endeavour, writes Prof Kathryn A Monk, in response to an article in the Cotton Capital series
‘Viscerally dedicated to social issues’: behind Lula’s drive to win final term in Brazil’s crunch election
Longtime friend tells of president’s obsession with social justice and fears for country’s future under another Bolsonaro presidency
Melbourne man’s mysterious disappearance on popular Peru hiking trail prompts widespread search
Loved ones describe Jordan Yap, 30, as an experienced hiker who set out for a 10-day solo trek Peru before falling silent
Hawaii braces for powerful winds and flash flooding with Hurricane Nolo
Preparation begins for extreme conditions as Nolo bears down on areas still recovering from previous storms
US strikes on Ecuadorian fishing boats raise humanitarian concerns but Trump admin not wavering
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. Continue reading
‘It’s just getting worse’: anger in Maine over Trump’s trade war with close neighbor Canada
President’s tariffs have hurt fishers, loggers and others in a state with deep bonds to Canada – will voters show their displeasure in the midterms? It was an ideal summer to cut trees. The weather in Maine’s Penobscot county – one of the most heavily forested counties in a state dense with trees – was warm and dry. Yet even as the county’s wood had grown to an ideal size to harvest, the machines Molly London typically uses sat idle. Continue reading
The truth behind Donald Trump’s ‘biggest oil deal in world history’
The US’s oil deal with Venezuela faces multiple legal and logistical problems, including questions about whether it can be implemented
Lula bans fixed-odds sports betting a week before Brazilian elections
President’s ‘hard, drastic and necessary measure’, likely to attract widespread public support, polls suggest 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. Continue reading
Michigan CEO loses job after posting AI-made image of her family in ‘Lake America’ sweaters
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
Alberta’s ‘rat patrol’ ramps up operations as vermin makes inroads in province
‘Rat-free’ Canadian province recently took a verminous hit when a dead rodent turned up in town of Bowden 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. Continue reading
‘Birdwatching is close to rapture’: Margaret Atwood on why she has given C$1m to avian research
Canadian novelist has celebrated her late partner’s love of birds with a C$1m gift to a university to establish the Graeme Gibson chair in avian biology
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