Month: June 2023

CNN  —  Brazil’s highest electoral court has barred former President Jair Bolsonaro from running for political office until 2030, after finding him guilty of abusing his power and misusing public media during last year’s election campaign. Five out of seven judges found the former president guilty, effectively ending any hope of a political comeback in the forthcoming 2026 election. Two of the judges voted against the decision, which prevents Bolsonaro from running for public office for eight years. The case stems from a meeting Bolsonaro held with foreign ambassadors in July 2022, in which he spread false information about Brazil’s electoral system and brought its credibility into question ahead of last year’s fractious election. The meet...

Editor’s Note: Find the latest coverage here. CNN  —  “Presumed human remains” were among the debris and evidence recovered from the seafloor where the doomed Titan submersible’s remnants were found, the US Coast Guard said Wednesday. The remains were recovered “within the wreckage” of the submersible, the Coast Guard said in a news release – an announcement coming nearly a week after authorities determined the Titanic-bound vessel had imploded in the North Atlantic, killing all five men aboard. The presumed remains, which the military branch said will be analyzed by US medical professionals, were among the evidence from the submersible that arrived at a Canadian pier Wednesday. The company that owns th...

CNN  —  At least 112 people have died in Mexico as a result of “natural extreme temperatures” since March, according to the country’s health secretariat. The Mexican state of Nuevo León was hardest hit, with 64 deaths confirmed, according to the report. Dozens of deaths were also reported across Tamaulipas, Veracruz, Tabasco, Oaxaca, Quintana Roo, Sonora, and Campeche. At least 1,559 people received medical treatment for temperature-related problems in the same period, the report also said. Over the past ten days in particular, Mexico has seen record-breaking temperatures, with some locations seeing monthly or even all-time records: temperatures have topped 45 degrees Celsius in places (113 degrees Fahrenheit). In ...

CNN  —  Canada has officially marked its worst wildfire season on record, with smoke from the blazes crossing the Atlantic Ocean and reaching western Europe on Monday. Canada has had a dramatic start to wildfire season, with at least 19,027,114 acres already charred across the country. Wildfire activity in Canada typically peaks from June to August, leaving more than half of the peak season still to come. As a result of the unprecedented start to the wildfire season, this year has become the worst fire season on record, surpassing the previous benchmark set in 1989 for the total area burned. In 1989, at least 18,254,317 acres were burned in the country, according to fire statistics from the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre. ...

CNN  —  Guatemalans head to the polls on June 25 to pick a new president, as regional watchers warn of a downward spiral of kleptocracy and weakening rule of law in Central America’s most populous nation. Social democrat Sandra Torres, the right-wing Zury Ríos and center-right Edmont Mulet lead the pack of more than 20 presidential hopefuls in the general elections. Other candidates have been blocked from running, including leftist indigenous leader Thelma Cabrera, and most recently, former frontrunner Carlos Pineda – sparking accusations of political meddling against the country’s electoral court. “One thing we can say about Guatemala right now is this Supreme Electoral Tribunal has a very suspicious pattern of eliminating...

CNN  —  Uruguay, grappling with a multi-year drought and high temperatures, is running dry. The situation has become so bad that residents are being forced to drink salty tap water and workers are drilling wells in the center of the capital to reach the water beneath the ground. On Monday, President Luis Lacalle Pou declared a “water emergency for the metropolitan area.” The situation is sending shockwaves through this relatively wealthy South American nation, which has long defined access to water as a human right. It’s also a warning sign for countries’ vulnerability in the face of drought, which is set to become more frequent and intense as climate change accelerates. The impacts in Uruguay are stark. Canelón Grande, a vi...

CNN  —  One week after the Titan submersible started what became a catastrophic underwater voyage to the Titanic wreckage – killing all five people aboard – US officials laid out their next steps in investigating the disaster. The US Coast Guard announced Sunday it convened a Marine Board of Investigation to probe the implosion – the “highest level of investigation the Coast Guard conducts,” US Coast Guard chief investigator Capt. Jason Neubauer said. The panel will be tasked with determining what caused the tragedy and offer possible recommendations “to the proper authorities to pursue civil or criminal sanctions as necessary,” Neubauer said at a Sunday news conference. The Coast Guard probe – one of several announced...

CNN  —  The search for the Titan submersible that captivated the world came to an abrupt and grim end this week after fragments of the vessel were detected on the ocean floor near the Titanic. The discovery led the US Coast Guard to announce the ship likely imploded, killing all five passengers aboard. But questions remain about what exactly happened to the ill-fated vessel, whether recovery of the bodies or the submersible is possible, and what consequences the disaster may have for Oceangate, the company running the excursion to see the Titanic off the coast of Canada. Here’s what you need to know about next steps for the Titan and the investigation into what happened. The multinational rescue effort has now turned into...

CNN  —  A father and son gave up their seats on the ultimately doomed Titan submersible out of safety concerns just weeks before its catastrophic implosion, they have told CNN. Investor Jay Bloom and his son Sean said they were both worried about the submersible and its ability to travel deep into the ocean ahead of the planned voyage. Their seats ultimately went to Shahzada and Suleman Dawood, the father and son who were onboard when the vessel imploded and were among five passengers that perished. “I saw a lot of red flags. It was only meant for five people. I just did not think that it can survive going that low into the ocean,” Sean, 20, told CNN’s Erin Burnett on Friday evening. He recalled seeing a video of ...

CNN  —  A 24-year-old student has been charged with stabbing three people during a gender studies class at the University of Waterloo in Canada this week in what police are calling a “hate-motivated incident.” The suspect, Geovanny Villalba-Aleman, is an international student who recently graduated from the university, Waterloo Regional Police Service Chief Mark Crowell said during a Thursday news conference. Villalba-Aleman is accused of targeting the gender studies class, and “investigators believe this was a hate-motivated incident related to gender expression and gender identity,” according to a news release from the Waterloo Regional Police Service. He has been charged with three counts of aggravated assault; four counts of assault wi...