International

Brazil firms, NGOs urge Biden to create forest fund

AFP

Hundreds of Brazilian companies and environmental groups urged President Joe Biden to make good on US climate pledges as lawmakers in Washington prepared to debate a measure Thursday on launching a $9 billion anti-deforestation fund.

The AMAZON21 bill, aimed at helping developing countries protect their forests, “would represent an important expression of commitment by President Biden and the US Congress regarding the fight against climate change by targeting one of the main sources of greenhouse gas emissions,” the Brazilians wrote in a letter to Biden and congressional leaders.

The US House Foreign Affairs Committee will hold hearings Thursday on the legislation, introduced after Biden promised at the UN climate summit in Glasgow last November to provide that amount to fund projects that fight deforestation.

Home to around 60 percent of the Amazon rainforest, Brazil is a key player in the battle to stop the advancing destruction of the world’s forests, which is accelerating global warming by turning them from carbon absorbers to carbon sources.

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The letter, dated Tuesday, highlighted recent studies finding that more than three-quarters of the Amazon has been losing its resilience since the start of this century, and that the world’s biggest rainforest is approaching a “tipping point.”

The document was signed by a broad-based list of 23 coalitions representing more than 300 companies and organizations, ranging from agribusiness firms that are themselves accused of fueling deforestation — top beef exporter JBS and soy exporter Cargill, for example — to environmental and indigenous-rights groups.

Brazil’s government has long argued wealthy nations should contribute financing for developing countries to protect their forests, to offset the revenue lost by not developing the land.

The letter was addressed to Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other top-ranking members of Congress.

To be effective, it said, the bill needs to establish a “simple and transparent financing system.”

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It should also lay out “clear rules” for funding projects that bring in government, the private sector, universities and organizations; allocate resources based on results; and prioritize funds for indigenous peoples and others who live in and protect forests.

International

One Dead, Three Injured in Shooting at Cree Nation in Saskatchewan

One person was killed and three others were injured in a shooting reported early Tuesday in the Big Island Lake Cree Nation, in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, according to local media.

Police said they were alerted to the incident in a remote area located approximately 392 kilometers northwest of the city of Saskatoon. Authorities issued a dangerous persons alert for two suspects, who were described as armed.

Saskatchewan police urged residents to seek shelter immediately, lock their doors, and avoid the area while the situation remains under investigation. Officers are working to determine whether the shooting was a targeted attack or a random act of violence.

As a precautionary measure, seven health-care facilities in the surrounding area were placed under lockdown, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe said in a post on X.

International

Mexico’s President Visits Victims After Train Derailment Kills 13 in Oaxaca

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum visited on Monday the victims injured in a train accident that left 13 people dead in the southern state of Oaxaca and announced financial assistance for those affected by the derailment of the Interoceanic Train, which was inaugurated in 2023.

The train, carrying 241 passengers and nine crew members, derailed on Sunday while traveling along the Interoceanic Corridor, a major infrastructure project that connects the Pacific coast with the Gulf of Mexico across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. The corridor was one of the flagship initiatives of former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s administration (2018–2024).

Sheinbaum visited three hospitals in the neighboring towns of Tehuantepec and Salina Cruz, where around 20 injured passengers remain hospitalized. She also went to a funeral home to accompany the families of those who lost their lives in the accident.

According to Mexico’s Navy Secretary, Raymundo Morales, the accident occurred when one of the locomotives derailed, causing all four railcars to leave the tracks.

International

Six killed, including baby, in armed attack near tourist beach in Ecuador

Six people, including a baby girl about two years old, were killed on Sunday in an armed attack near a tourist beach in southwestern Ecuador, police said. The shooting, carried out with rifles, also left three people wounded.

The incident took place in the coastal town of Puerto López, in the province of Manabí, a popular tourist destination known for whale watching. The attack occurred amid a surge of violence over the weekend that left at least nine people dead nationwide, according to local media reports.

“There are six fatalities and three injured,” Colonel William Acurio, the local police commander, told reporters on Sunday. He confirmed that one of the victims was a baby “approximately two years old.”

Authorities have not released further details about the motive behind the attack or whether arrests have been made.