Americas

Canada is scrambling to deal with a punishing third wave of the pandemic as several provinces have broken records for new daily cases of Covid-19 and hospital and ICU admissions.

President Jair Bolsonaro has said it’s a long held “dream” to release indigenous reserves for mining.

The shift in power away from Cuba’s Raul Castro is finally afoot.

Nixon Valera, a 42-year-old Venezuelan migrant selling empanadas in the streets of Bogota, does not want to receive vaccination against Covid-19.

“One year ago, 22 Canadians were senselessly killed and three more were injured when a gunman went on a rampage in small towns across Nova Scotia,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a statement commemorating the tragedy.

Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador will propose a new migration agreement between the countries of North and Central America this week, he announced on Sunday.

For days now, as the Covid-19 case count mounted and hospital admissions surged, Canadians seemed dismayed and asked: How could this happen here, where most people dutifully followed public health guidelines?

Read CNN’s Fast Facts about Raul Castro, the former President of Cuba and the brother of former President Fidel Castro.

Brazil has warned women to postpone pregnancy until the worst of the coronavirus pandemic has passed, saying that the variants of the coronavirus in Brazil have been more aggressive in pregnant women.

When Raul Castro announced three years ago that he would step down in 2021 as head of Cuba’s all-powerful communist party, he surely envisioned the island on firmer economic footing and the transition to a new generation of leadership nearly complete.

Read CNN’s Fast Facts about Leopoldo López, a Venezuelan opposition leader who was imprisoned on charges of inciting anti-government protests.

It was supposed to be Latin America’s bright spot in the fight against Covid-19.

Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro has called for Joe Biden’s “personal engagement” in fighting deforestation in the Amazon rain forest, in a letter sent to the US President on Wednesday.

The Brazilian government has presented a new official goal for fighting deforestation in the Amazon — a first for the administration of President Jair Bolsonaro. But critics say it’s hardly enough.

A Canadian politician has apologized after being spotted in a state of undress during a parliamentary video call on Wednesday.

More than a year into the pandemic and as cases resurge in Latin America, two recent elections suggest that popular political views on how to escape the crisis remain deeply polarized — at a time when cohesion is most needed.

For the sixth month in a row, the city of Rio de Janeiro has seen more deaths than births — a devastating indicator of the nation’s unceasing Covid-19 crisis.

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) singled out Russia and China as particular causes for concern.

Last week, Brazil saw its deadliest day since the start of the pandemic, with 4,195 people killed in just 24 hours. The state of Sao Paulo and the city of Rio de Janeiro rank among the worst in the country for Covid-19 deaths. Yet both plan to ease movement restrictions starting on Monday.

World leaders meet virtually on Thursday to discuss climate issues in a summit convened by US President Joe Biden. Most highly anticipated perhaps is what the leaders of some of the world’s most environmentally consequential countries — including Brazil, China, India — have to say. But critics ranging from Brazilian environmentalists to American celebrities are warning the world not to listen to one: Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro.

Here are some Cinco de Mayo Fast Facts from CNN about the holiday which commemorates the Mexican victory at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862.

Habla español? Visit CNN en Español for all the latest news and updates in Spanish.

There has been a massive power outage on the Caribbean island of St. Vincent where La Soufrière volcano began erupting Friday, St. Vincent and the Grenadines National Emergency Management Organization reported Sunday.

“This is not about the past: The real problems will be in the future. It’s about an ecological risk, because these are animals of huge size with the capacity of changing the ecosystem.” This warning, from a Colombian biologist specialized in aquatic mammals, is what prompted me to investigate the hippopotami’s story.

Protests broke out Sunday night in Montreal after the city’s latest curfew went into effect due to spikes in Covid-19 cases.

Read CNN’s Fast Facts to learn more about how the Mexican government has been fighting against drug traffickers since December 2006.

Authorities in San Diego responded to reports of a shooting in the city’s downtown late Thursday that resulted in one fatality and at least one arrest, a report said.

Heidi Slyker, a Boston-area musician, said the disappearance had consequences beyond the mere loss of property.

A California defendant is expected to get life in prison without parole after pleading guilty Thursday to first-degree murder in the 2016 shooting death of a sheriff’s deputy.

A California man pleaded guilty Thursday to first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department sergeant in 2016 in what Sheriff Alex Villanueva called an execution-style killing.

A Michigan woman nearly lost her vision last week after she mistook a bottle of nail glue for eye drops, according to reports.

Protesters and rioters gathered around New York City’s Central Park Thursday night and splashed red paint on the iconic statues leading into the park before marching uptown along Eighth Avenue to deface property.

At least 11 children are currently missing in East Texas since March and 145 children have been reported missing across the state so far this year, according to a report.

A federal judge is set to hear arguments on whether Virginia prosecutors can bring manslaughter charges against two U.S. Park Police officers accused of fatally shooting an unarmed motorist in 2017

Today in History Today is Friday, April 23, the 113th day of 2021. There are 252 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On April 23, 1969, Sirhan Sirhan was sentenced to death for assassinating New York Sen. Robert F. Kennedy. (The sentence was later reduced to life imprisonment.) On this date: In 1616 (Old Style calendar), English poet and dramatist William Shakespeare died in Stratford-upon-Avon on what has traditionally been regarded as the 52nd anniversary of his birth in 1564. In 1789, President-elect George Washington and his wife, Martha, moved into the first executive mansion, the Franklin House, in New York. In 1898, Spain declared war on the United States, which responded in kind two days later. In 1940, about 200 people died in the Rhythm Night Club Fire in Natchez, Mississippi. In 1943, U.S. Navy Lt. (jg) John F. Kennedy assumed command of PT-109, a motor torpedo boat, in the Solomon Islands during World War II. (On Aug. 2, 1943, PT-109 was…

William Shakespeare dies; Sirhan Sirhan is sentenced to death for assassinating New York Sen. Robert F. Kennedy; YouTube uploads its first clip.

A whistleblower painted a grim picture of conditions on the U.S.- Mexico border Thursday in an exclusive “Hannity” interview with Fox News contributor and investigative reporter Sara Carter.

Edward Wagner, 28, who prosecutors said had been in a custody dispute over his daughter, apologized for the Rhoden family murders.

Amal Clooney is doing what so many people have been doing during the pandemic — watching “ER.”

Addressing leaders at a virtual summit meeting he convened, the president cast the fight against global warming as an economic opportunity for the world.

A version of this article first appeared in the “Reliable Sources” newsletter. You can sign up for free right here.

A Pentagon panel recommended that commanders no longer be involved in prosecuting cases involving sexual assault in the military.  

The parents of missing California college student Kristin Smart have sued the father of the man charged with killing their daughter nearly 25 years ago

A former owner of a salon in New Mexico has been indicted on 24 felonies, including fraud and practicing medicine without a license, according to reports, after authorities discovered at least two patrons contracted HIV after getting a “vampire facial.”

A Georgia mom is going viral after she grilled school board members for making young children wear masks and socially distance despite there being little evidence that kids are severely at risks of contracting COVID-19.

More than three months after Maya Millete went missing from her Chula Vista home, the police department announced that they are now partnering up with the FBI, NCIS and the San Diego County District Attorney in the search for the missing mother of three. 

Chicago police exchanged gunfire with a suspect believed to be connected to the fatal shooting of a 7-year-old girl as she sat in a car with her father in a McDonald’s drive-thru

In 1966, he found heat-resistant bacteria in a hot spring at Yellowstone National Park. That led to the development of the chemical process behind the coronavirus test.

The research adds to a growing number of findings suggesting the Pfizer and Moderna shots are protective against the variants identified so far.

Relatives and friends of Andrew Brown Jr. say he had a smile that belied a lifetime of loss and troubles with the law

Staff from the Florida Keys-based Turtle Hospital have released a rehabilitated loggerhead sea turtle back to the ocean to mark Earth Day

With four killings in the past four months, many residents in Ohio’s capital feel victimized by their Police Department, which has received a litany of misconduct complaints.

Cook County’s top prosecutor says she bears the responsibility for not viewing the footage of 13-year-old Adam Toledo’s fatal shooting or reviewing the misleading description of his killing by Chicago police before it was read by prosecutors in court

A Chicago murder suspect connected to the killing of a 7-year-old girl was shot by police officers multiple times Thursday during an attempted carjacking on a busy freeway in rush hour traffic, authorities said. 

A federal lawsuit filed by a Georgia librarian says white officers used excessive force on the Black woman during a May 2019 traffic stop in North Carolina

An Ohio man pleaded guilty Thursday to his role in the grisly 2016 murder of his child’s mother and seven of her family members – a crime that sparked terror in the community before authorities determined it revolved around a custody dispute.

A Chicago man has been charged in the shooting of a 22-month-old boy in the head during a road rage incident earlier this month, police said Thursday.

A former Atlanta police officer’s attorney says his client didn’t get a chance to defend himself before he was fired for fatally shooting Rayshard Brooks last June

A man who killed a Los Angeles County sheriff’s sergeant five years ago in what prosecutors called an execution-style shooting has pleaded guilty to first-degree murder

NOAA has been without a Senate-confirmed leader for the longest period since it was created in 1970.

The other individuals involved in the confrontation that ended in the fatal officer-involved shooting of 16-year-old Ma’Khia Bryant were all adults, a spokesperson for Columbus Police Department told Fox News Thursday. 

Hitting the targets could require a rapid shift to electric vehicles, the expansion of forests nationwide, development of complex new carbon-capture technology and many other changes, researchers said.

Working to avoid being cut out of the process, they presented a $568 billion blueprint that is a fraction of the size of President Biden’s proposal.

Attempted murder charges have been filed against a suspect in a road-rage shooting on Chicago’s Lake Shore Drive earlier this month that critically wounded a toddler

The DOJ’s investigation into Minneapolis police will impact policing across the entire nation, former NYPD Lt. Joe Cardinale argues.

The Pasquotank County Sheriff’s Office said that a deputy who was executing a search warrant and an arrest warrant fatally shot Andrew Brown Jr. in Elizabeth City. Residents gathered at the scene to demand answers.

A New York City father who pulled his daughter out of The Brearley School says she “recognized” the private school was “trying to make her feel guilty” about her “skin color.”

The U.N. Security Council is expressing concern about humanitarian conditions and human rights in Ethiopia’s wartorn Tigray region

A gender reveal celebration that involved more than 80 pounds of explosives rocked a New Hampshire neighborhood and beyond Tuesday night. 

The Rev. Al Sharpton delivered the eulogy for Mr. Wright, the 20-year-old Black man who was shot and killed by a police officer in Brooklyn Center, Minn., last week.

Daunte Wright was remembered at his funeral Thursday as a dedicated father whose life was ended too soon at the hands of police

A man has pleaded guilty in the murders of his child’s mother and seven other members of her family in southern Ohio

Police video shows a Louisiana police officer using a stun gun on a handcuffed, seated 67-year-old man and saying, “Scream again.”

A Pew poll shows that the party’s voters increasingly oppose measures that would expand access to the ballot.

Top federal health officials said in interviews this week that the number of rare blood clotting disorders in recipients of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine has remained small.

Derek Chauvin is already locked away in Minnesota’s only maximum-security prison, but it will be two months before he is sentenced for murder in George Floyd’s death

A detention center psychiatrist who has observed the man who killed five people at the Capital Gazette newspaper will be limited to testifying about her personal observations

Authorities have finally identified two homicide victims who were found in the Southern California desert in 1980 and linked to a man imprisoned for murder in Mississippi

As demand for tickets recovers, airlines are calling back workers, adding flights and planning for a summer they say could be normal.

The action is a stark change in policy at HUD, where then-Secretary Ben Carson once expressed concerns about “big, hairy men” gaining access to women’s shelters.

Welcome to the Oscars edition of Pop Life Chronicles. Even before the envelopes are opened, the 93rd Academy Awards already have made their mark with some historic firsts.

India recorded 312,731 new infections, making its outbreak the worst measured in the world.

A southwest Virginia man has pleaded guilty to a federal offense in connection with the burning of a cross last summer on the front lawn of a Black teenager who had recently organized a civil rights protest

New Jersey authorities say they are reviewing an incident captured on video showing police handcuffing a Black youth and confiscating his bike

Many new Boeing 737 Max jetliners are still grounded by an electrical problem in a backup power-control unit

The bipartisan vote was the first legislative action either chamber of Congress has taken to bolster law enforcement’s response to rising attacks on the Asian-American community.

A sex therapist in Utah who has publicly challenged her faith’s policies on sexuality has been kicked out of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

The senator from South Carolina said he would deliver an “optimistic vision” for the country focused on economic growth and “empowering working families.”

Man pleads guilty in killings of 8 from Ohio family, says he’d testify against his 3 relatives charged in the murders

US stocks tumbled Thursday over investors’ worries about higher taxes.

The bill would allow the state to hire contractors to kill the wolves, which supporters say are threatening the livelihoods of Idaho’s ranchers.

Chicago is taking a big step toward building its long-awaited first casino

U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar is calling for legislative change to ensure “true justice” following the police killings of Daunte Wright, George Floyd and more

The vote reflected broad support among Democrats. But Republican opposition could stall the measure in the Senate.

The oil company is arguing against efforts to restrict its involvement in a gas operation in Myanmar that provides funding for the junta there.

With a Democratic president in the White House, Senate Republicans have a newfound zeal for austerity, foreshadowing spending fights to come.

A man convicted in federal court for the 2017 terror bombing attack in a New York City subway station was sentenced Thursday to life in prison.

The court, which has for years been cutting back on harsh punishments for juvenile offenders, changed course in a 6-to-3 decision.

Car dealer lots have only a fraction of the vehicles that they typically have — both new and used. It’s helping send prices to record levels.

As the Biden administration seeks to get most adults vaccinated by summer, men are holding back.

Federal authorities say they’ve arrested three New York men Tuesday on money laundering conspiracy charges in connection with an elaborate, international bank robbery operation that netted more than $30 million over several years.

A district attorney in the Bay Area charged the officer, Andrew Hall, in a fatal 2018 shooting. He was on leave after his involvement in a separate shooting last month.

It was not immediately clear what sanctions, if any, Sébastien Lemire would face after he acknowledged taking a nude photo of William Amos during a Zoom call.

President Biden’s climate summit on Earth Day features high-profile speakers and attendees, including Pope Francis.

Patients who were not sick enough to be hospitalized still had a significantly greater risk of dying within six months than people who were not infected.

Taco Bell is testing a new meat alternative taco ahead of an expected launch of new offerings featuring Beyond Meat.

Bitcoin and its many peers have surged to new levels of popularity over the past year, but they’re still a mystery to many investors.

The effort seeks to rally more than $1 billion for countries that can show they are lowering emissions by protecting tropical forests

Poor nations would be particularly hard hit, but few would escape, Swiss Re said. The findings could influence how the industry prices insurance and invests its mammoth portfolios.

Thursday: Reducing and recycling can still go a long way. Plus, a surprising pandemic shortage.

Officers in the United States don’t get as much instruction as police in other rich countries.

We’re looking at two Covid questions people may have heading into summer.

Don’t skimp on doing your own research, and be aware that ‘green’ certificates aren’t always all they’re cracked up to be.

Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt signed a bill Wednesday granting immunity to drivers who unintentionally injure or kill protesters while attempting to flee and which stiffens penalties for demonstrators who block public roadways, according to the Oklahoma State Legislature.

Unions and chiefs applauded the guilty verdict against Derek Chauvin, but rank-and-file officers were left feeling anxious.

New video and 911 calls shed light on what led to the fatal shooting of 16-year-old Ma’Khia Bryant, who the police said was wielding a knife when an officer fired four shots at her.

Years before he won a murder conviction for the death of George Floyd, Mr. Ellison, the Minnesota attorney general, was a young civil rights lawyer taking on police misconduct.

Canada is the only G7 nation whose greenhouse gas emissions have increased since the Paris Agreement. The main reason: its oil sands.

The superintendent of Broward County Public Schools, Robert W. Runcie, was arrested as part of a criminal investigation following the Parkland school shooting in 2018.

One day after two four-star military commanders told Congress they did not have problems with extremists in their ranks, the top adviser on the issue to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin took a different view and stated plainly that he believes the opposite.

Three months into President Joe Biden’s term, the candidate fields are taking shape and the first early data is emerging about the fight for control of the chamber that will ultimately determine how successful he can be.

The Senate on Wednesday confirmed Vanita Gupta to be associate attorney general in a narrow 51-49 vote after Sen. Lisa Murkowski joined with Democrats in support of President Joe Biden’s Justice Department nominee.

The Biden era has prompted Brazil to take steps to repair its record as an environmental scoundrel — for which it’s seeking billions of dollars from the international community.

The GOP-led Arizona House on Tuesday passed legislation that would make changes to the mail-in voting process in the state, including stopping some voters from automatically receiving ballots.

The ruling exempts English-speaking schools and effectively allows provincial legislators to wear turbans or head scarves, but it angered civil liberties advocates as discriminatory.

The number of children arriving in Mexico seeking to cross into the United States increased ninefold from January to March 2021. About 275 arrive each day.

How Biden viewed the start of America’s post-9/11 wars may inform his future decisions on the use of force.

If Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin seeks reelection, the race could be a key test of Trumpism’s viability in a swing state.

Raúl Castro has stepped down as head of Cuba’s Communist Party, leaving Cubans without a Castro to lead them for the first time in over 60 years.

CNN’s Brianna Keilar and John Berman list the everyday locations in which mass shootings — where four or more people are shot — have taken place in the US.

Most marijuana producers in Canada are still reporting staggering losses two and a half years after legalization.

Beth Van Duyne was at the center of a controversy over Sharia law. Now she represents a congressional district Biden won.

Mr. Castro said he will step down and pass on control of the party to Cuba’s younger generation. His departure will leave Cuba without a Castro at its helm for the first time in over 60 years.

Canada inched ahead of the United States on new daily coronavirus cases per capita and officials warned that worse is to come.

For people like me, who have social anxiety, videoconferencing can be easier than in-person interactions.

For birders across the United States, it’s a rite of spring: heading out to woodlands and waterways to track down a favorite warbler, vireo, tanager or other bird, many of them migratory.

Khaleel Seivwright built himself a wooden shanty while living on a West Coast commune. Then he started building similar lodgings for homeless people in Toronto to survive the winter.

An estimation of the iconic predator’s total population can teach us things about dinosaurs that fossils cannot.

Paraguay desperately needs Covid-19 vaccines, which China could supply. That has led the South American nation to reconsider its relationship with Taiwan, which precludes it from dealing with Beijing.

The assault of a 13-year-old girl in Venezuela and the arrest of her mother and a teacher who helped her end the pregnancy have forced a national debate about legalizing abortion.

An inquiry found that systemic discrimination interfered with efforts to catch a murderer who targeted gay men, mostly of Middle Eastern or South Asian descent.

Pedro Castillo, a far-left former union activist and teacher, is leading, according to election officials.

A global outcry fueled by a sketch on a Chilean comedy show reflected a growing sensitivity to racist, particularly anti-Asian, speech.

Peruvians head to the polls at a moment that many are calling one of the lowest points in the country’s young democracy, and many plan to cast empty ballots.