Americas

According to a report of the consortium of Brazilian media companies consortium released on February 24, Brazil exceeded the mark of 250 thousand deaths due to Covid-19.

The death toll was reached amid the lack of a vaccination campaign and with new variants circulating. Experts cite the fast pace of transmission and deaths due to the lack of isolation measures and restrictions imposed by the State.

Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador quietly rocked the agribusiness world with his New Year’s Eve decree to phase out the use of the herbicide glyphosate and the cultivation of genetically modified corn. His administration sent an even stronger aftershock two weeks later, clarifying that the government would also phase out GM corn imports in three years. The ban would include not just corn for human consumption but yellow corn destined primarily for livestock. Under NAFTA, the United States has seen a 400% increase in corn exports to Mexico, the vast majority of genetically modified yellow dent corn.

The bold policy moves fulfil a campaign promise by Mexico’s populist president, whose agricultural policies have begun to favour Mexican producers, particularly small-scale farmers, and protect consumers alarmed by the rise of obesity and chronic diseases associated with high-fat, high-sugar processed foods.

Following heavy criticism and public outrage over last week's mass power outage in Texas, six board members of ERCOT (Electric Reliability Council of Texas) will hand in their resignations after receiving relentless harassment and criticisms from victims of the outage.

The outrage was made worse when last week, it was reported that a portion of the board of directors for ERCOT lived outside of the state of Texas.

ERCOT officials have since removed personal information about the directors who did not live in Texas due to the growing harassment.

The United States Food and Drug Administration could grant emergency use authorization to Johnson & Johnson's single-dose Covid-19 vaccine as early as Saturday, bringing a third vaccine manufacturer to the United States. J&J submitted Covid vaccine data shows a 66% effectiveness overall (72% in the United States and 64% in South Africa) and prevents 100% of hospitalizations and deaths.

Colombian military officers executed and falsely represented young civilian men as Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) combatants.

The found figures exceeded the number previously reported by the government by almost threefold.

According to a former senior administration official, former President Donald Trump offered orth Korean leader Kim Jong Un a ride home on Air Force One following a summit in Hanoi, Vietnam in 2019.

"President Trump offered Kim a lift home on Air Force One. The president knew that Kim had arrived on a multi-day train ride through China into Hanoi and the president said: 'I can get you home in two hours if you want.' Kim declined," Matthew Pottinger, the top Asia expert on Trump's National Security Council, told the BBC.

On Monday, the USA crossed the sad threshold of half a million Covid-19 deaths. According to data from Johns Hopkins University, there were 500,071 deaths after infection - more than in any other country in the world.

"Today I ask all Americans to remember. Remember those we lost and remember those we left behind," President Biden said.

Brazilian markets plunged on Monday after President Jair Bolsonaro removed the head of state-controlled oil company, the latest sign that his government is rolling back market-friendly policy initiatives to shore up his sinking popularity.

Bolsonaro's decision on Friday to replace the University of Chicago-educated economist at the helm of Petroleo Brasileiro SA after a feud over fuel prices surprised even his inner political circle, according to two government officials familiar with the episode.

Bolsonaro's popularity is dropping to near record lows after a program of cash handouts expired in December, with an MDA poll published Monday showing his approval rating fell 8 percentage points to 32.9% over the past four months.

Former President Donald Trump will speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, Florida, on February 28th. Trump is set to speak about the future of the Republican party and attack President Biden's migration policies.

The speaking engagement would mark Trump's first public appearance following his departure from the White House last month.

The lineup of speakers at the event so far consists of vocal Trump allies, including Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Gines Gonzalez Garcia, Argentina's health minister, resigned on Friday following reports that people had been able to use connections to access Covid-19 vaccines to which they were not entitled.

Garcia said in a letter posted on Twitter that individuals were able to sidestep proper procedure for vaccinations due to "unintended confusion" in his office while he was away.

Earlier this month, Peru's health and foreign ministers quit and its former president was placed under criminal investigation after reports of hundreds of Peruvian officials and others receiving vaccine doses outside of clinical trials and before the national immunization program began.

The United States has agreed to join talks to revive the "Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action" nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, after former President Donald Trump withdrew the US from the deal in 2018.

"The United States would accept an invitation from the European Union High Representative to attend a meeting of the P5+1 and Iran to discuss a diplomatic way forward on Iran's nuclear program," State Department spokesman Ned Price said.

Cruz said in an earlier statement Thursday that he accompanied his family to Cancun a day earlier after his daughters asked to go on a trip with friends, given that school was cancelled for the week.

"Wanting to be a good dad, I flew down with them last night and am flying back this afternoon," Cruz wrote.

"My staff and I are in constant communication with state and local leaders to get to the bottom of what happened in Texas," he continued. "We want our power back, our water on, and our homes warm."

Cruz told reporters Thursday night that he returned to the U.S. because he realized he needed to be in Texas. He said he had originally been scheduled to stay in Mexico through the weekend.

Millions of people in Texas are facing water shortages as the unprecedented cold front caused pipes to burst and water pressure to fall. Those who have running water are advised to boil their tap water before consumption for safety.

Texan hospitals have seen an increase in patients, especially in their emergency rooms, while facing short water supply and some are forced to transfer patients to other facilities.

Rush Limbaugh died Wednesday after a battle with cancer. He was 70 years old.

Limbaugh, a conservative media icon who for decades used his perch as the king of talk-radio to shape both the Republican Party and nation's politics, had been diagnosed in February 2020 with advanced lung cancer. He continued to host his show while undergoing treatment, and he told listeners that he remained hopeful he would defeat the disease.

Rudy Giuliani is not representing his long-time client Former President Donald Trump in legal matters at this time, according to Trump's spokesman Jason Miller.

In a tweet, Miller added: "Simply that there are no pending cases where Mayor Giuliani is representing the President. The Mayor remains an ally and a friend."

Forbidden to cross the border that separates the Brazilian city of Assis Brasil from Iñapari, Peru due to the Covid-19 pandemic, hundreds of Haitian migrants on February 16th, headed to the neighbouring country where the group was suppressed by riot police as soon as they entered Peru.

"Affected by the Brazilian economic crisis, they are seeking to return to their country or go to another country in the region," said journalist Nacho Lemus. He explained that migrants from the Caribbean country warned that there is no chance of survival in Brazilian asylums during the coronavirus pandemic.

On Monday, the mayor's office of Assis told reporters that the governor of Acre, Gladson Cameli, contacted the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to "manage a humanitarian nature request through diplomatic channels" that authorizes the entry of the migrants into Peruvian territory.

After finish negotiating the purchase of 38 million doses of the Chinese vaccine Sinopharm, the Peruvian ex-president Martín Vizcarra and authorities were vaccinated. Pilar Mazzetti, head of the Health Minister, and Foreign Minister Elizabeth Astete left their offices.

On Twitter Astete announced her resignation on Twitter and admitted that it was a "serious mistake". They claim they were part of the clinical trial, but they are not registered as volunteers.

An unprecedented winter storm has left roughly 4.3 million Texans without electricity due to a surge in demand, with people not having electricity for over 24 hours. Other states, including Kentucky, Mississippi, Alabama, Oklahoma and Oregon, were also affected by the severe weather conditions.

Texas Governor Gregg Abbott has urged "all Texans to remain vigilant against the extremely harsh weather" and air travellers were warned that they should expect delays or cancellations.

says Congress will establish an "outside, independent" commission to investigate "the facts and causes" of the January 6 attack on the US Capitol by Donald Trump's supporters, so US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

"As we prepare for the Commission, it is also clear from General Honoré's interim reporting that we must put forth a supplemental appropriation to provide for the safety of Members and the security of the Capitol," Pelosi wrote.

Across the United States, 38 million people have received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, though many states face vaccination supply shortages.

"The vaccine supply coming to San Francisco's healthcare providers and the Department of Public Health (DPH) is limited, inconsistent, and unpredictable, making vaccine roll out difficult and denying San Franciscans this potentially life-saving intervention," officials reported Sunday. "The City has the capacity to administer more than 10,000 vaccines per day but lack the vaccine supply."

Carlos Menem, 90 years old, has died after battling long-term health problems.

Menem took office in July 1989 and promoted laws to reform the government and the economy after his predecessor, Raúl Alfonsín, resigned in the middle of a deep financial crisis caused by hyperinflation. Menem privatized some companies that had been under state authority until that point and was able to get inflation under control.

Menem left office in 1999 after unsuccessfully trying to modify the constitution to run for a third term. He ran again for the presidency in 2003, obtaining the highest percentage of votes during the first round of elections, but ultimately decided against advancing to the second round.

New York will allow large sports stadiums and entertainment arenas to reopen at 10% capacity this month. Patrons will need to produce a negative Covid-19 test result to enter and mandatory masks and social distancing measures must be enforced.

The US could have averted 40% of the deaths from Covid-19, had the country’s death rates corresponded with the rates in other high-income G7 countries, according to a Lancet commission tasked with assessing Donald Trump’s health policy record.

Almost 470,000 Americans have died from the coronavirus so far, with the number widely expected to go above half a million in the next few weeks. At the same time some 27 million people in the US have been infected. Both figures are by far the highest in the world.

The commission condemned Trump’s response to Covid, but emphasized that the country entered the pandemic with a degraded public health infrastructure. Between 2002 and 2019, US public health spending fell from 3.21% to 2.45% – approximately half the share of spending in Canada and the UK.

The commission also noted that historical advances usually follow a period of conflict and struggle and included recommendations for healthcare workers to advance progress in the wake of Trump’s presidency.

Jessica Watkins, the leader of American far-right anti-government militia organization Oath Keepers who planned and led the US Capitol siege, "indicated that she was awaiting direction from President Trump", the Justice Department reports.

The filing states: "As the inauguration grew nearer, Watkins indicated that she was awaiting direction from President Trump. Her concern about taking action without his backing was evident in a November 9, 2020, text in which she stated, 'I am concerned this is an elaborate trap. Unless the POTUS himself activates us, it’s not legit. The POTUS has the right to activate units too. If Trump asks me to come, I will. Otherwise, I can’t trust it.'"

President Joe Biden has announced that the United States "purchased enough vaccine supply to vaccinate all Americans" and his administration was working "to get those vaccines into the arms of millions of people". A total of 200 million vaccine doses will be delivered by Moderna and Pfizer by the end of July, months sooner than initially planned.

"While scientists did their job in discovering vaccines in record time, my predecessor -- I'll be very blunt about it -- did not do his job in getting ready for the massive challenge of vaccinating hundreds of millions of Americans. He didn't order enough vaccines. He didn't mobilize enough people to administer the shots. He didn't set up the federal vaccine centers where eligible people can go and get their shots," Biden said. "When I became president three weeks ago, America had no plan to vaccinate most of the country. It was a big mess."

Former President Donald Trump is banned permanently from Twitter even if he would run for office again in 2024, according to Twitter Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal.

“The way our policies work, when you’re removed from the platform, you’re removed from the platform — whether you’re a commentator, you’re a CFO, or you are a former or current public official,” said Segal. “Remember, our policies are designed to make sure that people are not inciting violence, and if anybody does that, we have to remove them from the service and our policies don’t allow people to come back.”

US senators have declared the impeachment process against former President Donald Trump constitutional. In a vote on Tuesday, 44 senators voted against continuing the process. Fifty-six senators declared the process constitutional in the vote. This means that debate on impeachment can begin on Wednesday, which is expected to drag on for several days.

A member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Republican Ron Wright, has died after being infected with the coronavirus. This was announced by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi. The 67-year-old congressman from the state of Texas had declared on January 21 that a corona test on him had turned out positive. Wright is survived by three children and nine grandchildren, according to Pelosi.

Virginia is one of the US states with the most executions, but that could soon come to an end. The Virginia Senate passed a bill on Wednesday that would end the death penalty.

Twenty-one senators voted in favor of the bill, 17 senators against, which is in line with the majority of the Democrat-controlled Senate. Now the House of Representatives is also expected to confirm the bill, where the Democrats also have a majority over the Republicans. Democratic Governor Ralph Northam has also said he supports the bill.

According to a draft of the proposed legislation, obtained by the Review-Journal but not yet introduced in the Legislature, Innovation Zones would allow tech companies like Blockchains, LLC to effectively form separate local governments in Nevada, governments that would carry the same authority as a county, including the ability to impose taxes, form school districts and justice courts and provide government services, to name a few duties.