Latin America

Violence remains widespread in Haiti, where powerful armed gangs have surged amid political and economic chaos.

The United Nations has said that efforts to address widespread economic and political dysfunction and debilitating violence in Haiti are falling far short, with a UN response plan receiving the lowest funding of any in the world.

In a briefing on Tuesday, coordinator Ulrika Richardson said that the UN hopes to raise more than $900m for Haiti this year, but that effort is just 9.2 percent funded.

“We have tools, but the response from the international community is just not at par with the gravity on the ground,” Richardson said.

The lacklustre funding numbers underscore concerns over flagging international efforts to assist the Caribbean island nation, which is reeling from violence as powerful armed gangs jostle for control of territory and resources amid political and economic instability.

Richardson said that a $2.63bn appeal for Ukraine is 38 percent funded and that a $4bn appeal for the occupied Palestinian territories is 22 percent funded, by comparison.

More than 1.3 million people have been displaced by the violence in Haiti, and more than 3,100 people have been killed this year.

Armed gangs, some with links to powerful political and economic figures, have taken control of large swathes of the capital of Port-au-Prince since the assassination of former president Jovenel Moise in July 2021.

The UN has said that cutting off the supply of arms pouring into the country, largely smuggled from the US state of Florida, is a key step towards staunching the violence, along with applying sanctions on networks connected to the gangs.

“Haiti can quickly spiral up again, but the violence needs to end,” said Richardson.

But international efforts to address the fighting thus far have little to show, and some Haitians are sceptical of such efforts given a long history of destructive interventions by outside powers.

A UN-backed policing mission, staffed largely by Kenyan security officers, has failed to bring stability to the country or tackle the gangs. Haiti’s government also declared a three-month state of emergency earlier this month, covering the West, Centre and Artibonite departments of the country.

President Javier Milei of Argentina has proposed a new $1m initiative to strengthen relations between Latin America and Israel, ahead of an anticipated visit from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

On Monday, the Genesis Prize Foundation — a group that offers an annual award to members of the Jewish community — announced that Milei, its most recent winner, would use his prize money to launch a new nonprofit, the American Friends of the Isaac Accords (AFOIA).

“AFOIA is a vehicle to promote Milei’s bold vision and encourage other Latin American leaders to stand with Israel, confront antisemitism, and reject the ideologies of terror that threaten our shared values and freedoms,” Genesis Prize co-founder Stan Polovets said in a news release.

The statement explained that the new nonprofit was inspired, in part, by efforts under United States President Donald Trump to normalise relations between Israel and its Arab neighbours.

During Trump’s first term, from 2017 to 2021, countries like Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates agreed to establish diplomatic relations with Israel in a series of deals known as the Abraham Accords.

Milei’s efforts, meanwhile, come as Israel faces growing condemnation in Latin America over its war in Gaza, which United Nations experts have compared to a genocide.

Countries like Colombia and Bolivia have severed diplomatic ties with Israel since the start of the war in 2023, and Brazil recently became the latest nation to join a case against Israel brought by South Africa before the International Court of Justice.

“The Isaac Accords aim to mirror the success of the Abraham Accords by fostering diplomatic, economic, and cultural cooperation between Israel and key Latin American nations,” the news release said.

Pushing against a regional trend

The nonprofit will initially focus its efforts on three Latin American countries: Uruguay, Panama and Costa Rica. The news release credits regional analysts as saying those countries are “primed for enhanced cooperation with Israel”.

“These nations stand to benefit significantly from Israeli expertise in water technology, agriculture, cyber defense, fintech, healthcare, and energy,” it said.

But the Isaac Accords nonprofit ultimately aims to expand its mission to Brazil, Colombia, Chile and potentially El Salvador by 2026.

Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, applauded the establishment of the nonprofit and praised Milei as “setting an example for his neighbors in the region”.

But he acknowledged that several high-profile Latin American leaders have spoken out against Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.

“Given the hostility toward the Jewish state from some nations in the region, support of Israel by Latin American countries which are now on the sidelines is very important,” Danon said in the release.

Top leaders like Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva have forcefully denounced the human rights abuses unfolding in Gaza, where more than 61,500 Palestinians have been killed and many risk perishing from hunger.

The enclave is under an Israeli blockade that restricts the amount of food, water and essential supplies reaching residents. Last month, the UN warned of “mounting evidence of famine” and “catastrophic hunger” in Gaza.

“We cannot remain indifferent to the genocide carried out by Israel in Gaza, the indiscriminate killing of innocent civilians and the use of hunger as a weapon of war,” Brazil’s President Lula told the BRICS economic alliance in July.

Milei embraces Israel

But while left-wing Latin American leaders like Lula take steps to distance themselves from Israel, Milei, a libertarian, has taken the opposite approach.

In June, for example, Milei confirmed his intention to move Argentina’s embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem by 2026, despite conflicting Israeli and Palestinian claims on the city. Trump made a similar decision in 2018.

Milei has also praised Israel for its human rights record, including in a social media post this past May honouring the 77th anniversary of its establishment in 1948, which resulted in the mass displacement of Palestinians.

“I congratulate the State of Israel on its short but glorious 77 years of existence,” the Argentinian president wrote. “Like Argentina, Israel is a beacon of FREEDOM and DEMOCRACY.”

Milei, a Catholic, has even expressed interest in converting to Judaism, which would be a first for an Argentinian president.

His selection as the 2025 Genesis Prize winner is considered a first for a non-Jewish person, and it is tradition for winners to give the cash award to a cause they support.

But Milei’s pro-Israel stance has prompted public backlash in Argentina. On Saturday, thousands of protesters flooded the streets of the capital Buenos Aires to condemn Israeli actions in Gaza.

“We not only demand the opening of borders and the entry of humanitarian aid: We support the fight for a #FreePalestine. Zionism is not Judaism,” one group involved in the protests, JudiesXPalestina, posted on social media.

A test for the International Criminal Court

Many demonstrators also voiced opposition to reports that Netanyahu would visit Argentina in the coming weeks.

The Israeli prime minister’s arrival would test Argentina’s commitment to the International Criminal Court (ICC), of which it is a member.

In 2024, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former defence minister, Yoav Gallant, on the basis that there are reasonable grounds to believe they had overseen war crimes in Gaza.

The ICC, however, relies on member countries to carry out such arrests. Argentina’s decision to welcome Netanyahu may therefore be seen as a rebuke to the court’s authority, further weakening its power.

Around 20,000 passengers have been affected by flight cancellations, delays and rerouting.

Torrential rains have forced Mexico City’s main airport to suspend numerous flights for multiple hours for a second consecutive day, causing chaos in one of Latin America’s busiest travel hubs.

Authorities at Benito Juarez International Airport said on Tuesday that all runways were operating again by midday, after all flights were suspended for at least four hours earlier that day. Around 20,000 passengers were affected by flight cancellations, delays and rerouting.

The Mexican capital is experiencing one of its heaviest rainy seasons in years, leading to constant flooding in other parts of the city.

Passengers have reported numerous cancellations and delays this week as heavy rains fall on the capital.

Alicia Nicanor, 69, said her Sunday flight to the northern city of Tijuana was cancelled, and when she returned Tuesday morning for her early morning flight, it was also cancelled.

“I told them I have to go because I have an important appointment with my doctor, but they didn’t listen,” she said.

Mexico City Mayor Clara Brugada said heavy rains on Sunday flooded the city’s main plaza, known as the Zocalo, with more than 76mm (3 inches) of water, much of which poured down in just 20 minutes. It broke a record set in 1952.

Meanwhile, videos from the city’s south showed cars floating on flooded streets. The flooding has fuelled criticism by some in the capital, who call it a sign of larger infrastructure failures by the city’s government.

Water polo players briefly left the pool after shots were fired near an Under-20 World Cup game in Brazil.

Brazilian police have said there were no injuries after shots were fired near an Under-20 World Cup water polo women’s game between China and Canada in the city of Salvador.

China won 12-8 on Sunday – the opening day of the tournament – but footage showed the game being briefly interrupted as players got out of the pool, lay down and took cover by a small barrier after hearing gunshots outside the water polo venue in the Pituba neighbourhood. China led Canada 3-2 at the time.

“The match stopped for about a minute. Our team saw that the police were taking care of it,” Marco Antonio Lemos, head of the Bahia state water sports federation, said in a statement on Monday.

Police said the cause of the shots was a confrontation with an alleged local thief who was outside the venue and tried to escape. No more details were given.

Spectators were told about the incident after the game had resumed.

Brazil is hosting the 16-team tournament for the first time.

MIAMI — When Republican Sen. Bernie Moreno visits Colombia this week as part of a three-nation tour of Latin America, it will be something of a homecoming.

The Ohio senator, who defeated an incumbent last year with the help of Donald Trump’s endorsement and the highest political ad spending in U.S. Senate race history, was born in Bogota and has brothers who are heavyweights in politics and business there.

Moreno has emerged as an interlocutor for conservatives in Latin America seeking to connect with the Trump administration.

In an interview with the Associated Press ahead of the trip, he expressed deep concern about Colombia’s direction under left-wing President Gustavo Petro and suggested that U.S. sanctions, higher tariffs or other retaliatory action might be needed to steer it straight.

The recent criminal conviction of former President Alvaro Uribe, a conservative icon, was an attempt to “silence” the man who saved Colombia from guerrilla violence, Moreno said. Meanwhile, record cocaine production has left the United States less secure — and Colombia vulnerable to being decertified by the White House for failing to cooperate in the war on drugs.

“The purpose of the trip is to understand all the dynamics before any decision is made,” said Moreno, who will meet with both Petro and Uribe, as well as business leaders and local officials. “But there’s nothing that’s taken off the table at this point and there’s nothing that’s directly being contemplated.”

Elected with Trump’s support

Moreno, a luxury car dealer from Cleveland, defeated incumbent Democrat Sherrod Brown last year and became Ohio’s senior senator on practically his first day in office after his close friend JD Vance resigned the Senate to become vice president.

In Congress, Moreno has mimicked Trump’s rhetoric to attack top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer as a “miserable old man out of a Dickens novel,” called on the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates and threatened to subpoena California officials over their response to anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles.

On Latin America, he’s been similarly outspoken, slamming Petro on social media as a “socialist dictator” and accusing Mexico of being on the path to becoming a “narco state.”

Such comments barely register in blue-collar Ohio, but they’ve garnered attention in Latin America. That despite the fact Moreno hasn’t lived in the region for decades, speaks Spanish with a U.S. accent and doesn’t sit on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

“He’s somebody to watch,” said Michael Shifter, the former president of the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington. “He’s one of the most loyal Trump supporters in the senate and given his background in Latin America he could be influential on policy.”

Moreno, 58, starts his first congressional delegation to Latin America on Monday for two days of meetings in Mexico City with officials including President Claudia Sheinbaum. He’ll be accompanied by Terrance Cole, the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, who is making his first overseas trip since being confirmed by the Senate last month to head the premier federal narcotics agency.

Seeking cooperation with Mexico on fentanyl

Moreno, in the pre-trip interview, said that Sheinbaum has done more to combat the flow of fentanyl into the U.S. than her predecessor and mentor Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who he described as a “total disaster.” But he said more cooperation is needed, and he’d like to see Mexico allow the DEA to participate in judicial wiretaps like it has for decades in Colombia and allow it to bring back a plane used in bilateral investigations that López Obrador grounded.

“The corruption becomes so pervasive, that if it’s left unchecked, it’s kind of like treating cancer,” said Moreno. “Mexico has to just come to the realization that it does not have the resources to completely wipe out the drug cartels. And it’s only going to be by asking the U.S. for help that we can actually accomplish that.”

Plans to tour the Panama Canal

From Mexico, Moreno heads to Panama, where he’ll tour the Panama Canal with Trump’s new ambassador to the country, Kevin Marino Cabrera.

In March, a Hong Kong-based conglomerate struck a deal that would’ve handed control of two ports on either end of the U.S.-built canal to American investment firm BlackRock Inc. The deal was heralded by Trump, who had threatened to take back the canal to curb Chinese influence.

However, the deal has since drawn scrutiny from antitrust authorities in Beijing and last month the seller said it was seeking to add a strategic partner from mainland China — reportedly state-owned shipping company Cosco — to the deal.

“Cosco you might as well say is the actual communist party,” said Moreno. “There’s no scenario in which Cosco can be part of the Panamanian ports.”

‘We want Colombia to be strong’

On the final leg of the tour in Colombia, Moreno will be joined by another Colombian American senator: Ruben Gallego, Democrat of Arizona. In contrast to Moreno, who was born into privilege and counts among his siblings a former ambassador to the U.S., Gallego and his three sisters were raised by an immigrant single mother on a secretary’s paycheck.

Despite their different upbringings, the two have made common cause in seeking to uphold the tradition of bilateral U.S. support for Colombia, for decades Washington’s staunchest ally in the region. It’s a task made harder by deepening polarization in both countries.

The recent sentencing of Uribe to 12 years of house arrest in a long-running witness tampering case has jolted the nation’s politics with nine months to go before decisive presidential elections. The former president is barred from running but remains a powerful leader, and Moreno said his absence from the campaign trail could alter the playing field.

He also worries that surging cocaine production could once again lead to a “narcotization” of a bilateral relationship that should be about trade, investment and mutual prosperity.

“We want Colombia to be strong, we want Colombia to be healthy, we want Colombia to be prosperous and secure, and I think the people of Colombia want the exact same thing,” he added. “So, the question is, how do we get there?”

Goodman and Smyth write for the Associated Press. Smyth reported from Columbus, Ohio.

Presidential hopeful Miguel Uribe was shot in Bogota on June 7 during a rally and underwent multiple surgeries before his death.

Colombian presidential hopeful Miguel Uribe, who had been fighting for his life since he was shot in June during a campaign event, has died, according to his family.

Uribe, a 39-year-old senator and a potential presidential candidate from the right-wing opposition, was shot in Bogota on June 7 during a rally and underwent multiple surgeries before his death.

“I ask God to show me the way to learn to live without you,” his wife, Maria Claudia Tarazona, wrote on social media. “Rest in peace, love of my life, I will take care of our children.”

Uribe enjoyed a rapid political rise, becoming a recognised lawmaker for the Democratic Centre party. He was seeking to run in the 2026 presidential election.

A 15-year-old boy was arrested at the scene with a “9mm Glock-type firearm” and has pleaded not guilty after being formally charged on June 10 with attempted murder, the prosecutor’s office said.

More soon.

We are midway through summer in the Northern Hemisphere, and we are witnessing another severe wildfire season. In May, wildfires were burning throughout Russia’s Far East. Last month, wildfires broke out throughout Turkiye, Greece, Cyprus and Bulgaria. Fires continue in Portugal, France and Spain. In Canada, the blazes have not stopped since April.

Satellite data show that fires burn on average about 4 million square kilometres (1.5 million square miles) of the planet’s surface each year, including forests. And the number of wildfires is expected to increase by 50 percent by the end of the century.

There are two main reasons for the rise in wildfires.

First, the changing climate is driving protracted and frequent heatwaves and droughts that dry out forests, providing an immediate source of tinder and fuel. In a self-perpetuating cycle, wildfires themselves then billow carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, contributing further to the climate crisis. Fires emitted an estimated 6,199 megatonnes of carbon dioxide globally in 2024.

Second, the way we live and use land today means we are increasingly encroaching on forests and elevating the risk of wildfires. Many of these fires are started by humans for different reasons – such as carelessness and clearing land for agriculture and settlements. And urban infrastructure is edging closer to nature, increasing the danger that fire poses to human lives.

There is no doubt that the costs of wildfires for people and the planet are immense. Wildfires destroy property, crops, businesses and livelihoods and can be especially devastating for developing countries.

But not all fires are bad.

Fires have been part of the Earth’s ecosystem for hundreds of millions of years, occurring naturally on every continent except Antarctica. They can help generate and stimulate the replenishment of ecosystems. They can clear away the layers of litter on the forest floor and add nutrients to the soil, allowing new shoots to grow that provide food for birds and animals. For some plant species, seeds even depend on fires to germinate.

Conducting controlled fires – often during cooler months – is a vital way for people to prevent destructive wildfires before they begin.

For many Indigenous peoples, prescribed burning has been an integral part of land management for millennia, helping to curb dangerous wildfires, encouraging ecological diversity and procuring food by promoting new growth and attracting grazing game animals.

A recent study into the return of Indigenous fire burning in Australia’s Kimberley region showed that the annual massive wildfires in the region had reduced to once-in-a-decade events since the practice was reintroduced by the traditional owners of the land.

The use of fire for sustainable resource management is also one of the recommendations that the organisation I work for, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, is recommending as part of its integrated fire management approach.

Other preventive measures against wildfires are also needed, and community engagement is a key strategy. The practical experience and knowledge held in communities must shape integrated fire management strategies and policies from the ground up. This is essential. Actively engaging communities in decision-making, leveraging local knowledge and practices, and building capacity for fire prevention, preparedness and control can reduce wildfire risks and build long-term resilience.

Another layer of defence is fire early-warning systems. By incorporating drought indices, local traditional knowledge of weather and climatic influences, such systems predict fire-danger conditions and help with planning well before the wildfire season.

Some fires are simply inevitable, however, and having better monitoring mechanisms to detect fires and an appropriate fire extinguishing capacity at the ready is necessary if we are to contain wildfires before they become dangerous. In this way, suppression action can happen before fires grow beyond the possibility of containment. Certain countries already do an excellent job of fire monitoring, but the practice is yet to become standard in others.

Maintaining biodiversity and diverse landscapes – rather than monotonous, fire-prone, human-created landscapes – can also reduce the risk of fire spreading and causing damage and loss.

People must learn to live harmoniously with nature, not simply bend it to their will. That means inappropriate development in fire-prone ecosystems must be discouraged, given that the building of new infrastructure adjacent to wild spaces may play a central role in causing wildfires.

These strategies may sound onerous, but they take up far fewer resources, not to mention fewer lives, than battling uncontrollable wildfires.

With the right measures, humans can coexist with fire.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators have held rallies and marches in cities around the world in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, demanding an end to Israeli attacks on the besieged and bombarded enclave as Israel-imposed starvation engulfs the entire population.

In London, the Metropolitan Police said it arrested more than 466 people at a protest on Saturday against the British government’s decision to ban the group Palestine Action.

British lawmakers proscribed Palestine Action under anti-terrorism legislation in July after some of its members broke into a Royal Air Force base and damaged planes as part of a series of protests. The group accuses the UK government of complicity in what it calls Israeli war crimes in Gaza.

Protesters, some wearing black-and-white Palestinian scarves and waving Palestinian flags, chanted, “Hands off Gaza” and held placards with the message “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.”

In Turkiye’s Istanbul, thousands of protesters demanded more aid be allowed into the Strip, with organisers calling on the international community to take urgent action to end the humanitarian crisis.

Many also took to the streets in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, to protest against the blockade and Western support for Israel, demanding the immediate and unrestricted delivery of aid into Gaza.

Several pro-Palestine rallies were also held across Spain, including in the capital, Madrid, to protest Israeli attacks and the starvation in the enclave. Carrying Palestinian flags, protesters shouted, “End to genocide”.

In Switzerland’s Geneva, thousands gathered at the Jardin Anglais to protest against famine and malnutrition-related deaths in Gaza resulting from the Israeli blockade. The crowd staged a sit-in, shouting in English, French and Arabic to demand an end to international support for Israel’s oppression of Palestinians.

Large rallies showing support for those suffering in Gaza have also been held in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur.

Protesters in major cities around the world have marched to oppose Israel’s plan to occupy Gaza City, its campaign of starvation, and its genocide of Palestinians. Demonstrators say the 22-month war of extermination must end.

From a festival celebrating the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples in El Salvador to solemn commemorations marking the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombing in Japan and the ongoing Israel-induced starvation and malnutrition crisis in Gaza, here is a look at the week in photos.

Government says move aims to boost ‘fight against insecurity’ as armed gangs continue to carry out attacks across the country.

Haiti’s government has announced a three-month state of emergency in several parts of the country as it battles surging gang violence.

The measure will cover the West, Centre and Artibonite departments, the latter of which is known as Haiti’s “rice basket” and has experienced an increase in attacks by armed groups in recent months.

In a statement on Saturday, the government said the state of emergency would allow the Haitian authorities to “continue the fight against insecurity and respond to the agricultural and food crisis”.

“Insecurity has negative effect both on the lives of citizens and on the country’s different sectors of activity. Given the scale of this crisis, it is imperative to decree a major mobilisation of the state’s resources and institutional means to address it,” it said.

Haiti has reeled from years of violence as powerful armed groups, often with ties to the country’s political and business leaders, have vied for influence and control of territory.

But the situation worsened dramatically after the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise, which created a power vacuum.

Nearly 1.3 million people have been displaced across the country, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said in June, while the United Nations estimates that 4,864 people were killed from October 2024 to June of this year.

Efforts to stem the deadly gang attacks, including the deployment of a UN-backed, Kenya-led police mission, have so far failed to restore stability.

While much of the focus has been on Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, where up to 90 percent of the city is under the control of armed groups, the violence has also been spreading to other parts of the country.

Between October 2024 and the end of June, more than 1,000 Haitians were killed and 620 were kidnapped in the Artibonite and Centre departments, according to the UN’s human rights office.

In late April, dozens of people waded and swam across the Artibonite River, which cuts through the region, in a desperate attempt to flee the gangs.

Meanwhile, the government on Friday appointed Andre Jonas Vladimir Paraison as interim director of Haiti’s National Police, which has been working with Kenyan police officers leading the UN-backed mission to help quell the violence.

“We, the police, will not sleep,” Paraison said during his inauguration ceremony. “We will provide security across every corner of the country.”

Paraison previously served as head of security of Haiti’s National Palace and was on duty as a police officer when Moise was killed at his private residence in July 2021.

He replaced Normil Rameau, whose tenure of just more than a year was marked by tensions with a faction of the Transitional Presidential Council, notably Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aime.

Rameau had repeatedly warned about the police force’s severe underfunding.

The change comes as Laurent Saint-Cyr, a wealthy businessman, also took over this week as president of the Transitional Presidential Council, which is charged with holding elections by February 2026.

Lula approved the controversial bill easing environmental licensing rules, but struck down or altered 63 articles.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has signed into law a bill easing environmental licensing rules, but bowed to pressure from activist groups as he vetoed key provisions that would have made it easier for companies to secure environmental permits.

Lula approved on Friday what detractors have dubbed the “devastation bill”, but struck down or altered 63 of its nearly 400 articles, his office’s executive secretary, Miriam Belchior, told reporters.

The president had faced mounting pressure from environmental groups to intervene in the bill, which was backed by Brazil’s powerful agribusiness sector and focused on rolling back strict licensing rules that had kept the destruction of the Amazon rainforest in check.

A previous version of the bill adopted by lawmakers last month would have meant that for some permits, all that would have been required is a simple declaration of the company’s environmental commitment.

Lula’s revisions, however, reinstated the current strict licensing rules for strategic projects.

Belchior said the new proposal sought to preserve the integrity of the licensing process, ensure legal certainty, and protect the rights of Indigenous and Quilombola communities.

She added that Lula will introduce a “Special Environmental Licence” designed to fast-track strategic projects while filling the legal gaps created by the vetoes.

“We maintained what we consider to be significant advances in streamlining the environmental licensing process,” she said.

Nongovernmental organisation SOS Atlantic Forest, which garnered more than a million signatures calling for a veto of the law, hailed Lula’s move as “a victory” for environmental protection.

Lula’s environmental vetoes

Of the provisions struck down by Lula, 26 were vetoed outright, while another 37 will either be replaced with alternative text or modified in a new bill that will be sent to Congress for ratification under a constitutional urgency procedure.

Securing support for the amendments is far from guaranteed for the leftist leader. Brazil’s conservative-dominated Congress has repeatedly defeated key government proposals, including overturning previous presidential vetoes.

Lawmakers aligned with embattled ex-president Jair Bolsonaro are also blocking legislative activity amid an escalating political standoff, as they call for the former president’s charges around an alleged failed coup attempt in 2022 to be dropped.

Speaking at a Friday news conference in the capital, Brasilia, Environment Minister Marina Silva maintained a positive tone, telling reporters that Lula’s vetoes would ensure that “the economy does not compete with ecology, but rather they are part of the same equation”.

“We hope to be able to streamline licensing processes without compromising their quality, which is essential for environmental protection at a time of climate crisis, biodiversity loss and desertification,” said Silva.

Silva said a previous version of the bill, approved by Congress last month, threatened the country’s pledge to eliminate deforestation by 2030 and described it as a “death blow” to Brazil’s licensing framework.

But, she said, Lula’s revised version meant Brazil’s “targets to reach zero deforestation” and its goal to “cut CO2 emissions by between 59 percent and 67 percent remain fully on track”.

Lula’s environmental credentials are under close scrutiny in advance of the annual UN climate summit in November in the Amazon city of Belem.

Mexican officials say sportswear giant took design idea from Indigenous community in country’s southern Oaxaca state.

Mexico’s government is seeking compensation from Adidas, accusing the sportswear giant of cultural appropriation for launching a new shoe design strikingly similar to traditional Indigenous footwear known as huaraches.

Adidas’s new Oaxaca Slip-On was created by United States fashion designer Willy Chavarria, who has Mexican heritage.

But the footwear has drawn strong pushback from officials in Mexico’s southern state of Oaxaca, who say no authorisation was given by the Indigenous community, in the village of Villa de Hidalgo Yalalag, behind the original design.

“It’s collective intellectual property. There must be compensation. The heritage law must be complied with,” Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum said during her regular news conference on Friday.

“Big companies often take products, ideas and designs from Indigenous communities,” Sheinbaum said.

“We are looking at the legal part to be able to support them,” she said.

The government said that Adidas representatives had agreed to meet with Oaxaca authorities.

In a public letter to Adidas, Oaxaca state governor, Salomon Jara Cruz, criticised the company’s design – which has a sneaker sole topped with the weave of huarache sandals – saying that “creative inspiration” is not a valid justification for using cultural expressions that “provide identity to communities”.

“Culture isn’t sold, it’s respected,” he said.

Mexican news outlet Periodico Supremo said the country’s National Institute of Indigenous Peoples will launch a legal challenge over the Adidas design, and asked followers on social media: “Are you going to buy them?”

🔴 Están “padres”….🩴

Gobierno de #México defiende propiedad intelectual indígena, en contra de la reconocida marca ADIDAS (@adidas)

El INPI (@INPImx) reclamará legalmente el uso indebido del diseño tradicional de guaraches originarios de Villa Hidalgo Yalálag, #Oaxaca

¿Vas a… pic.twitter.com/KPtrfZMLGC

— PERIÓDICO SupreMo 🔴 (@Diario_Supremo) August 8, 2025

Translation: The government of Mexico defends Indigenous intellectual property, against the well-known brand ADIDAS. The INPI will legally challenge the improper use of the traditional design of huaraches originating from Villa Hidalgo Yalalag, Oaxaca. Are you going to buy them?

The controversy is the latest instance of Mexican officials denouncing major clothing brands or designers using unauthorised Indigenous art or designs from the region, with previous complaints raised about fast fashion juggernaut Shein, Spain’s Zara and high-end labels Carolina Herrera and Louis Vuitton.

Mexico’s Deputy Culture Minister Marina Nunez confirmed Adidas had contacted Oaxacan officials to discuss “restitution to the people who were plagiarised”.

Neither Adidas nor the designer Chavarria, who was born in the US to an Irish-American mother and a Mexican-American father, immediately responded to requests for comment from reporters.

Chavarria had previously told Sneaker News that he had intended to celebrate his cultural heritage through his work with Adidas.

“I’m very proud to work with a company that really respects and elevates culture in the truest way,” he said.

Handicrafts are a crucial economic lifeline in Mexico, providing jobs for about half a million people across the country. The industry accounts for approximately 10 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) of states such as Oaxaca, Jalisco, Michoacan and Guerrero.

For Viridiana Jarquin Garcia, a huaraches creator and vendor in Oaxaca’s capital, the Adidas shoes were a “cheap copy” of the kind of work that Mexican artists take time and care to craft.

“The artistry is being lost. We’re losing our tradition,” she said in front of her small booth of leather shoes.

The president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, has denied that her government has any evidence linking Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro to the Sinaloa Cartel, a criminal network based in her country.

Sheinbaum’s statements on Friday were prompted by an announcement one day earlier that the United States would double its reward for information leading to Maduro’s arrest, putting the current reward at $50m.

The administration of US President Donald Trump claimed Maduro was “one of the largest narco-traffickers in the world” and that he had direct ties to the Sinaloa Cartel, as well as two other Venezuelan gangs.

Sheinbaum was asked about those allegations in her morning news conference on Friday. She answered that this week was the first time she had heard of such accusations.

“On Mexico’s part, there is no investigation that has to do with that,” Sheinbaum said. “As we always say, if they have some evidence, show it. We do not have any proof.”

A history of ‘maximum pressure’

Mexico has long maintained diplomatic relations with Venezuela, while the US has broken its ties with the government in Caracas over questions about the legitimacy of Maduro’s presidency.

Instead, the US has recognised candidates from Venezuela’s opposition coalition as the country’s rightful leaders, and it has also heavily sanctioned Maduro and his allies.

Trump, in particular, has had a rocky relationship with Maduro over his years as president. During his first term, from 2017 to 2021, Trump pursued a campaign of “maximum pressure” against Maduro, which included an initial reward of $15m.

That amount was later raised to $25m during the final weeks of President Joe Biden’s presidency, in reaction to Maduro’s hotly contested re-election to a third term in 2024.

Election observers said that the vote had not been “democratic“, and the opposition coalition published raw vote tallies that appeared to contradict the government’s official results.

But as Trump began his second term on January 20, critics speculated that the Republican leader would soften his approach to Maduro in order to seek assistance with his campaign of mass deportation.

Venezuela has a history of refusing to accept deportees from the US.

Since then, Trump has sent envoy Richard Grenell to the Venezuelan capital of Caracas and secured deals that saw US citizens released from Venezuelan custody. Venezuela has also accepted to receive deportation flights from the US in recent months.

But the Trump administration has maintained it has no intention of recognising Maduro’s government.

Legitimising claims of an ‘invasion’

The accusations against Maduro further another Trump goal: legitimising his sweeping claims to executive power.

Since returning to office in January, Trump has invoked emergency measures, including the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, to facilitate his policy goals, including his campaign of mass deportation.

Trump was re-elected on a hardline platform that conflated immigration with criminality.

But in order to use the Alien Enemies Act, a wartime law, Trump had to show that either the country was engaged in a “declared war” or that it faced an “invasion or predatory incursion” from a foreign nation.

To meet that requirement, Trump has blamed Venezuela for masterminding a criminal “invasion” of the US.

On Thursday, Trump’s Attorney General Pam Bondi also accused Maduro of working hand in hand with the cartels to profit from their drug-smuggling enterprises.

“Maduro uses foreign terrorist organisations like TdA [Tren de Aragua], Sinaloa and Cartel of the Suns to bring deadly drugs and violence into our country,” Bondi said in a video.

“To date, the DEA [Drug Enforcement Administration] has seized 30 tonnes of cocaine linked to Maduro and his associates, with nearly seven tonnes linked to Maduro himself, which represents a primary source of income for the deadly cartels based in Venezuela and Mexico.”

But in May, a declassified intelligence memo from the US government cast doubt on the allegation that Maduro is puppeteering gang activity in the US.

“While Venezuela’s permissive environment enables TDA to operate, the Maduro regime probably does not have a policy of cooperating with TDA and is not directing TDA movement to and operations in the United States,” the memo said.

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil responded to Bondi’s claims on Thursday by calling them “the most ridiculous smokescreen ever seen”.

A United States appeals court has thrown out a lower judge’s determination that the administration of President Donald Trump could face charges for acting in contempt of court during the early days of his mass deportation drive.

The ruling on Friday undid one of the most substantial rebukes to the Trump administration since the start of the president’s second term.

The appeals court, however, was split two to one. The majority included two Trump-appointed judges, Gregory Katsas and Neomi Rao. The sole dissent was Judge Cornelia Pillard, an appointee from former President Barack Obama.

In a decision for the majority, Rao ruled that the lower court had overstepped its authority in opening the door for Trump officials to be held in contempt.

“The district court’s order attempts to control the Executive Branch’s conduct of foreign affairs, an area in which a court’s power is at its lowest ebb,” Rao wrote.

But Pillard defended the lower court’s decision and questioned whether the appeals court was, in fact, eroding judicial authority in favour of increased executive power.

“The majority does an exemplary judge a grave disservice by overstepping its bounds to upend his effort to vindicate the judicial authority that is our shared trust,” she wrote.

Trump administration celebrates decision

The appeals court’s decision was hailed as a major victory by the Trump administration, which has long railed against the judicial roadblocks to its agenda.

“@TheJusticeDept attorneys just secured a MAJOR victory defending President Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport illegal alien terrorists,” Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote on social media.

“We will continue fighting and WINNING in court for President Trump’s agenda to keep America Safe!”

The court battle began in March, when US District Court Judge James Boasberg, based in the District of Columbia, heard arguments about Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelan men accused of being gang members.

That law allows for swift deportations of foreign nationals — and has, prior to Trump, only been used in wartime.

Boasberg ruled to pause Trump’s use of the law and ordered the administration to halt any deportation flights, including those that may already be in the air.

But two deportation flights carrying about 250 people nevertheless landed in El Salvador after the ruling.

The Trump administration maintained it was unable to safely reroute the flights and expressed confusion about whether Boasberg’s verbal order was binding.

It also questioned whether Boasberg had the authority to intervene. Trump went so far as to call for Boasberg’s removal, writing on Truth Social in March: “This judge, like many of the Crooked Judges’ I am forced to appear before, should be IMPEACHED!!!”

Weighing penalties for contempt

In April, Boasberg determined that the Trump administration’s actions showed a “willful disregard” for his ruling. He concluded that “probable cause exists to find the government in criminal contempt”.

A contempt finding can result in various sanctions, including fines and prison time, although it remains unclear what penalties the Trump administration could have faced.

“The court does not reach such conclusion lightly or hastily,” Boasberg continued. “Indeed, it has given defendants ample opportunity to rectify or explain their actions. None of their responses has been satisfactory.”

Trump’s Department of Justice, for its part, maintained that Boasberg had tread on the president’s executive power in issuing the order.

Also in April, the US Supreme Court lifted Boasberg’s temporary restraining orders against using the Alien Enemies Act to deport alleged gang members.

But it nevertheless ruled that the targeted immigrants “are entitled to notice and an opportunity to challenge their removal” before their deportations.

The Trump administration has faced persistent scrutiny over whether it was complying with that order, as well as other decisions from lower courts that interfered with its deportation campaign.

Critics have accused the president and his allies of simply ignoring rulings they disagreed with, raising questions of contempt in other cases, as well.

Inside Friday’s appeals court ruling

But the two Trump-appointed judges on the appeals court, Katsas and Rao, upheld the Trump administration’s position that Boasberg’s rulings had gone too far.

“The district court’s order raises troubling questions about judicial control over core executive functions like the conduct of foreign policy and the prosecution of criminal offenses,” Katsas wrote.

He compared Boasberg’s order to recall the deportation flights to a district court’s order in July 1973 that sought to halt the US bombing of Cambodia. Within hours, however, the Supreme Court upheld a stay on that opinion, allowing the bombing to proceed.

“Any freestanding order to turn planes around mid-air would have been indefensible,” Katsas wrote, citing that 1973 case.

But Pillard — the Obama-appointed judge — offered a counterargument in her dissent, pointing out that the US is not currently at war.

She also noted that the Venezuelan men who were deported on the March flights had, by and large, not faced criminal charges. Yet, the US had chosen to deport them to El Salvador for imprisonment in a maximum-security facility with a history of human rights abuses.

“Whatever one might think about a Supreme Court Justice’s emergency order superintending an ongoing military operation, the authority of a federal district court to temporarily restrain government officials from transferring presumptively noncriminal detainees to a foreign prison without any pre-removal process is well recognized,” Pillard wrote.

The appeals court’s decision comes just days after the Department of Justice announced it had filed a formal complaint against Boasberg, accusing him of misconduct for public comments he made criticising the Trump administration’s approach to the judiciary.

Critics have called the complaint a blatant retaliation and evidence of an increasing politicalisation of the Justice Department.

India is signaling it may seek to rebalance its global partnerships after Trump’s salvo of tariffs on Indian goods.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio “Lula” da Silva have spoken by phone, their offices said, discussing a broad range of topics that included tariffs imposed by the United States on goods from both countries.

Lula confirmed a state visit to India in early 2026 during the call on Thursday, which occurred a day after the Brazilian leader told the news agency Reuters that he would initiate a conversation among the BRICS group of countries on tackling US President Donald Trump’s levies, which are the highest on Brazil and India.

The group of major emerging economies also includes China, Russia and South Africa.

“The leaders discussed the international economic scenario and the imposition of unilateral tariffs. Brazil and India are, to date, the two countries most affected,” Lula’s office said in a statement.

Trump announced an additional 25 percent tariff on Indian goods on Wednesday, raising the total duty to 50 percent. The additional tariff, effective August 28, is meant to penalise India for continuing to buy Russian oil, Trump has said.

Trump has also slapped a 50 percent tariff on goods from Brazil, with lower levels for sectors such as aircraft, energy and orange juice, tying the move to what he called a “witch hunt” against former President Jair Bolsonaro, a right-wing ally on trial for an alleged coup plot to overturn his 2022 election loss.

On their call, Lula and Modi reiterated their goal of boosting bilateral trade to more than $20bn annually by 2030, according to the Brazilian president’s office, up from roughly $12bn last year.

Brasilia said they also agreed to expand the reach of the preferential trade agreement between India and the South American trade bloc Mercosur, and discussed the virtual payment platforms of their countries.

Modi’s office, in its statement, did not explicitly mention Trump or US tariffs, but said “the two leaders exchanged views on various regional and global issues of mutual interest.”

India is already signalling it may seek to rebalance its global partnerships after Trump’s salvo of tariffs on Indian goods.

Modi is preparing for his first visit to China in more than seven years, suggesting a potential diplomatic realignment amid growing tensions with Washington. The Indian leader visited Lula in Brasilia last month.

US Attorney General Pam Bondi says Venezuelan president one of the world’s ‘largest narco-traffickers’.

The United States has offered a $50m reward for information leading to the arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, doubling an earlier reward of $25m set by the Trump administration in January.

The US has accused the Venezuelan leader of being one of the world’s leading narco-traffickers and working with cartels to flood the US with fentanyl-laced cocaine.

In a video posted to social media on Thursday announcing the “historic” increase in reward money, US Attorney General Pam Bondi accused Maduro of collaborating with Venezuelan crime syndicates Tren de Aragua, Cartel of the Suns and the notorious Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico.

“He is one of the largest narco-traffickers in the world and a threat to our national security. Therefore, we doubled his reward to $50 million,” Bondi said.

“Under President Trump’s leadership, Maduro will not escape justice, and he will be held accountable for his despicable crimes,” she said, before giving the public a hotline phone number where they can report tips.

Bondi also said that the US Department of Justice had so far seized more than $700m in assets linked to Maduro, including two private jets, nine vehicles, and claimed that tonnes of seized cocaine had been traced directly to the president.

Today, @TheJusticeDept and @StateDept are announcing a $50 MILLION REWARD for information leading to the arrest of Nicolás Maduro. pic.twitter.com/D8LNqjS9yk

— Attorney General Pamela Bondi (@AGPamBondi) August 7, 2025

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil responded on the Telegram platform to Bondi’s announcement, saying it was “the most ridiculous smokescreen ever seen” and designed to distract attention from the Jeffrey Epstein controversy in the US.

“It does not surprise us, coming from who it comes from. The same one who promised a non-existent ‘secret list’ of Epstein and who wallows in scandals of political favours,” the minister said.

“Her show is a joke, a desperate distraction from her own miseries. The dignity of our homeland is not for sale. We reject this crude political propaganda operation,” he said.

Maduro was indicted in a US federal court in 2020, during the first Trump presidency, along with several close allies, on federal drug charges.

At the time, the US offered a $15m reward for his arrest. That was later raised by the Biden administration to $25m – the same amount the US offered for the capture of Osama bin Laden following the September 11, 2001, attacks.

In June, a former director of the Venezuelan military intelligence pleaded guilty to drug trafficking and narco-terrorism charges in the US, a week before his trial was set to begin.

Hugo Carvajal, who served in the government of the late President Hugo Chavez from 2004 to 2011, admitted guilt in four criminal counts, including narco-terrorism conspiracy, conspiracy to import cocaine and weapons charges.

US federal prosecutors had alleged the former major-general, along with other high-ranking Venezuelan government and military officials, led a drug cartel that attempted to “flood” the US with cocaine.

Carvajal had served as a diplomat representing Maduro’s government before breaking with him to support the country’s US-backed political opposition. He was extradited from Spain to the US in July 2023 following more than a decade-long campaign by the Justice Department.

Despite the US rewards, Maduro remains in power after his re-election as president in 2024 in a vote that was condemned as a sham by Washington, the European Union and several Latin American governments.

Last month, the Trump administration struck a deal to secure the release of 10 Americans jailed in Caracas in exchange for Venezuela seeing the return home of dozens of people deported by the US to El Salvador under the Trump administration’s new immigration crackdown.

Shortly after, the White House also reversed course and allowed US oil giant Chevron to resume drilling in Venezuela after it was previously blocked by US sanctions.

Haiti has appointed businessman Laurent Saint-Cyr as the head of its transitional presidential council as the country continues to battle rampant gang violence, corruption and economic insecurity.

Saint-Cyr’s inauguration ceremony took place on Thursday at the Villa d’Accueil, a colonial-style mansion in a suburb of the capital, Port-au-Prince.

“We must restore state authority,” Saint-Cyr said at the ceremony. “The challenges we face are certainly linked to insecurity, but they also are the result of our lack of courage, a lack of vision and our irresponsibility.”

But even the location of Saint-Cyr’s inauguration was a sign of the instability Haiti faced. The federal government has been largely displaced from downtown Port-au-Prince, where gangs control nearly 90 percent of the city.

On Thursday morning, one prominent gang leader, Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier, even pledged to disrupt Saint-Cyr’s inauguration.

“We have decided to march on the premier’s office and the Villa d’Accueil to end it all,” Cherizier said in a video posted online.

He called on Port-au-Prince’s residents to assist him and his fighters in their approach of the mansion: “People of Haiti, take care of yourselves and help us.”

But Cherizier was ultimately not successful. A security mission backed by the United Nations and led by Kenya issued a statement explaining that police officers had increased their patrols in the area.

“Armed gangs had plotted to disrupt national stability and render the country ungovernable,” the statement said, asserting that law enforcement had successfully deterred those efforts.

Saint-Cyr’s appointment, however, has drawn scrutiny for what it symbolises in the conflict-torn country.

Both Saint-Cyr and Haiti’s prime minister, Alix-Didier Fils-Aime, are light-skinned, mixed-race businessmen who made their fortunes in the private sector. Saint-Cyr worked in the insurance industry, while Fils-Aime led an internet company.

The majority of Haitians, however, are Black, with only 5 percent of the population identifying as mixed race. The country itself is the poorest in Latin America.

Some critics fear the leadership of figures like Saint-Cyr could herald a slide backwards for Haiti’s government, where power has long been concentrated among the rich and lighter-skinned.

The country has not held a presidential election since 2016, and turmoil in the country increased following the 2021 assassination of Jovenel Moise.

Criminal networks have exploited the power vacuum to expand their own influence, while denouncing the remaining government leadership as inefficient and corrupt.

Though the presidential council was only formed in April 2024, by the end of that year, three of its members had been accused of corruption, though they denied wrongdoing.

The transitional presidential council is considered to be widely unpopular, and its nine members have been rotating into the leadership position.

Saint-Cyr is meant to be the final head of the council before it completes its task of holding a presidential election on February 7, 2026. At that point, Saint-Cyr and the council are expected to hand off power to the election’s victor.

Elections for roles in the federal government are expected to unfold in three stages, starting in November and ending with February’s presidential race. But critics warn gang violence could thwart those plans.

The United Nations estimates that 4,864 people in Haiti were killed from October 2024 to June of this year.

Threats of violence have forced essential services to shut down, including hospitals and roadways, and nearly 1.3 million people have been displaced from their homes.

The humanitarian situation in Haiti is considered among the most dire in the world, and Saint-Cyr called on the international community to respond with further resources.

“I invite all international partners to increase their support, send more soldiers, provide more training,” Saint-Cyr said at Thursday’s ceremony. “I am asking the security forces to intensify their operations.”

Ambassadors from several foreign countries were in attendance. He directed some of his remarks at them.

“Our country is going through one of the greatest crises in all its history,” Saint-Cyr said. “It’s not the time for beautiful speeches. It’s time to act.”

A majority of people in five nations – Brazil, Colombia, Greece, South Africa and Spain – believe that weapons companies should stop or reduce trade with Israel as its onslaught on Gaza continues, a poll released on Thursday reveals.

Spain showed the highest support for weapons deals to be halted, with 58 percent of respondents saying they should stop completely, followed by Greece at 57 percent and Colombia at 52 percent. In Brazil, 37 percent of respondents believed arms companies should completely stop sales to Israel, while 22 percent believed they should be reduced. In South Africa, those levels stood at 46 and 20 percent, respectively.

Commissioned by the Global Energy Embargo for Palestine network, endorsed by the left-wing Progressive International organisation, and fielded by the Pollfish platform last month, the survey comes in the wake of a call by Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territory, on countries to slash financial relations with Israel as she decried an “economy of genocide“.

“The people have spoken, and they refuse to be complicit. Across continents, ordinary citizens demand an end to the fuel that powers settler colonialism, apartheid and genocide,” said Ana Sanchez, a campaigner for Global Energy Embargo for Palestine.

“No state that claims to uphold democracy can justify maintaining energy, military, or economic ties with Israel while it commits a genocide in Palestine. This is not just about trade; it’s about people’s power to cut the supply lines of oppression.”

The group said it chose the survey locations because of the countries’ direct involvement in the import and transport of energy to Israel.

More than 1,000 respondents in each nation were asked about governmental and private sector relations with Israel to measure public attitudes on responsibility.

Condemnation of Israel’s action in Gaza as the humanitarian crisis escalates was the highest in Greece and Spain and lowest in Brazil.

Sixty-one percent and 60 percent in Greece and Spain respectively opposed Israel’s current “military actions” in Gaza, while in Colombia, 50 percent opposed them. In Brazil and South Africa, 30 percent were against Israel’s war, while 33 percent and 20 percent, respectively, supported the campaign.

To date, Israel’s genocide in Gaza has killed more than 60,000 people – most of them women and children. Now home to the highest number of child amputees per capita, much of the besieged Strip is in a state of ruin as the population starves. As the crisis worsens, arms dealers and companies that facilitate their deals are facing heightened scrutiny.

In June, as reported by Al Jazeera, Maersk divested from companies linked to Israeli settlements, which are considered illegal under international law, following a campaign accusing the Danish shipping giant of links to Israel’s military and occupation of Palestinian land.

On Tuesday, Norway announced that it would review its sovereign wealth fund’s investments in Israel, after it was revealed that it had a stake in an Israeli firm that supplies fighter jet parts to the Israeli military. In recent months, several wealth and pension funds have distanced themselves from companies linked to Israel’s war on Gaza or its illegal occupation of the West Bank.

Responding to the poll, 41 percent in Spain said they would “strongly” support a state-level decision to reduce trade in weapons, fuel and other goods in an attempt to pressure Israel into stopping the war. This figure stood at 33 percent in Colombia and South Africa, and 28 and 24 percent in Greece and Brazil, respectively.

“The message from the peoples of the world is loud and clear: They want action to end the assault on Gaza – not just words,” said David Adler, co-general coordinator of Progressive International. “Across continents, majorities are calling for their governments to halt arms sales and restrain Israel’s occupation.”