Politics

• Wednesday, December 22nd 2021 - 19:10 UTC

  Brazil: Deforestation in protected areas up 79% under Bolsonaro

  

  A report by the Socioenvironmental Institute (ISA) released Wednesday has shown a 138% increase in degradation in indigenous lands and 130% in Conservation Units, (CUs) compared to three years before President Jair Bolsonaro took office.

• Wednesday, December 22nd 2021 - 13:01 UTC

  Biden outlines new COVID-19 situation in the US amid Omicron

  

  US President Joseph Biden Tuesday said the new Omicron variant of SARS-Cov-2 was something “we should all be concerned about,” but it was nothing to panic for those fully vaccinated. ”If you got your booster shot, you’re highly protected,” he added.

• Wednesday, December 22nd 2021 - 12:04 UTC

  Japan carries out three executions in one day

  

  Japanese judicial authorities Tuesday hanged three death row inmates in the first executions since Dec. 26, 2019 -when a Chinese citizen convicted in the 2003 killing of a family of four in Fukuoka was put to death-, and the first under Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. Justice Minister Yoshihisa Furukawa said he gave the order to resume capital punishment.

• Wednesday, December 22nd 2021 - 11:29 UTC

  Áñez's daughter seeks help from Bachelet regarding her mother's arrest

  

  Carolina Ribera, daughter of Bolivia's former interim President Jeanine Áñez, Tuesday sought assistance from the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, to help put an end to the “torture” her mother is allegedly enduring while incarcerated pending trial.

• Wednesday, December 22nd 2021 - 10:35 UTC

  Former GACH expert against Uruguay's easing on COVID-19 measures

  

  Uruguayan COVID-19 expert Rafael Radi, a former coordinator of the Honorary Scientific Advisory Group (GACH), has said in an interview that eliminating the second PCR test for those arriving into his country was a “somewhat bold” measure he would have not recommended.

• Wednesday, December 22nd 2021 - 08:33 UTC

  France's First Lady to sue those who say she is a transgender woman

  

  France's First Lady Brigitte Macron Tuesday said she would sue all those who have spread fake news about her being in fact a transgender woman, who has allegedly changed her sex and birth name of Jean-Michel Trogneux.

• Tuesday, December 21st 2021 - 20:34 UTC

  British PM says no lockdown before Christmas, but maybe later

  

  British Prime Minister Boris Johnson Tuesday admitted there will be no lockdown before Christmas in the United Kingdom, but at the same time, he admitted no course of action could be ruled out post-Dec. 25 in the fight against COVID-19.

• Tuesday, December 21st 2021 - 20:23 UTC

  Peru's Congress passes motion of censorship against Education Minister

  

  Peru's Congress Tuesday passed a motion of censure against Education Minister Carlos Gallardo who must now turn in his resignation. President Pedro Castillo has 72 hours to accept it.

• Tuesday, December 21st 2021 - 09:58 UTC

  Lula-Alckmin ticket more likely after dinner with anti-Bolsonarists

  

  Former political rivals Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva and Geraldo Alckmin Sunda had dinner and agreed to join forces to drive incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro out of the Planalto Palace in next year's elections.

• Tuesday, December 21st 2021 - 09:49 UTC

  Chubut Governor backtracks on mining law following large scale protests

  

  The Governor of the Argentine Province of Chubut Mariano Arcioni Monday announced he would repeal the mining zoning law passed last week after riots throughout the district's capital turned out to be too clear a sign of disapproval among the population.