The World Surf League (WSL) announced Thursday that Brazilian big wave rider Maya Gabeira beat her own world record this year when she rode a 22.4-meter wave at Portugal’s Nazare, the same place she set the record in 2018.Gabeira broke her previous mark by nearly 2 meters during a big wave competition at Nazarre on February 11. Not only was the wave a new women’s record, but the WSL says it was the biggest wave ridden by a man or woman in 2020.FILE – Surfer Maya Gabeira arrives for the 27th anniversary Sports Spectacular at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles, May 20, 2012.The record is particularly sweet for Gabeira, who broke her ankle and nearly drowned in the same spot in 2013.The WSL says its big wave awards are presented months after the rides because video and other data from all potential award-winning wave rides need to be submitted and analyzed by an independent team of scientific experts. The team included members from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the University of Southern California’s Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, among others.The experts examine video and still photos, consider the angles that video or pictures were taken from, and environmental conditions, including tides, sunlight and wave formation.In recent years, Nazare has become a global focal point for big wave surfers. Scientists say big waves form there usually in the winter months, between October and March, when the harsher weather generates larger swells.When those swells come from the west to northwest, they interact with a deep, underwater canyon off the coast of Nazare that, scientists say, can magnify wave height by three to five times.The largest documented wave ever surfed was at Nazare, a 24.38-meter wave in 2017.
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Seven civilians are dead in the Colombian capital Bogota and nearby satellite city Soacha after protests against police brutality turned violent overnight. The demonstrations were sparked by video that went viral of a Colombian man being repeatedly shocked with a stun-gun by police before dying shortly thereafter.  
 
Nearly 100 police officers and 55 civilians were injured during the protests, some 70 protesters were arrested, mostly in the capital city.
 
Demonstrators were on the streets Wednesday night to protest the recent death of 46-year-old lawyer Javier Ordonez. Footage captured by Ordonez’s friend shows officers holding down the father of two and subjecting him to excessive electric shocks as he pleads, “Please, no more.”  
 
Law enforcement officials say that in the early hours of Wednesday morning, officers found Ordonez drinking alcohol in the streets with friends, a violation of the area’s social distancing rules enacted to help curb the spread of the coronavirus.
 
Friends and family allege that Ordonez suffered further abuse after he was taken to the local police station after being apprehended by officers. He later died in the hospital, sparking anger among civilians over the use of excessive force by law enforcement.  
 
Hundreds of protesters gathered outside of the police station where Ordonez was held, some using trash cans, rocks, and sticks to batter the building’s windows. According to the national police, two police stations were set on fire and three others were attacked in different areas of Bogota. A number of public vehicles were damaged.  
 
The two officers involved have been suspended from their duties pending an investigation, the government said. An autopsy is pending.
 
Authorities said they have begun investigating the deaths of the seven civilian participants in the protests — five in Bogota and two in Soacha. Reports confirm that the dead include a 17-year-old boy.
 
Leftist Bogota mayor Claudia Lopez took to social media to advocate for justice and social reform. Lopez also expressed criticism against the Colombian police force, saying the violence “isn’t about bad apples.”
 
She urged the protesters to refrain from further violence.  
 
Critics have questioned her level of authority over law enforcement.  
 
President Ivan Duque denounced the officers’ abuse of authority, but he called for Colombians not to “stigmatize” the police.  
 
In an effort to contain the protests, the Defense Ministry said Bogota’s police will be reinforced with 1,600 more officers—more than half of whom will come from other regions—and 300 soldiers.
 
Police involvement in civilian deaths is infrequent in Colombia but not unheard of. Anti-police sentiment is still sometimes expressed around the nation about the death of Colombian student Dilan Cruz, who was killed in November during mass anti-government demonstrations after being struck by a police projectile. Transgender Colombians regularly accuse police of violence against the community.
 
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The third phase of human trials for a vaccine against the coronavirus is underway in Peru.On Wednesday, Chinese pharmaceutical giant Sinopharm began testing about two dozen people, with the long-term goal of vaccinating a total of 6,000 people between the ages of 18 and 75.The participants will receive one of three injections, consisting of a virus strain from Wuhan, China; a Beijing strain; or a saline water placebo.The Associated Press reports the Peruvian government is in talks with six laboratories to determine the best course to buy the vaccine.Peru is one of the hardest-hit countries by the coronavirus in Latin America, with more than 696,000 COVID-19 infections and more than 30,000 deaths.So far, Sinopharm has given 30,000 doses to volunteers and another 10,000 participants have received double doses in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. Additional testing is planned for Morocco and Argentina.
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The Mexican National Guard said Wednesday that two people had died in a gunfight with military police near a protest at a dam that diverts water away from an area hit by drought to the United States.Mexican officials said farmers were upset over water from La Boquilla dam being transferred across the border of Chihuahua state and initially threw rocks and Molotov cocktails at officers Tuesday night.The National Guard said officers were shot at when suspects allegedly possessing tear gas and gun ammunition were being arrested and taken in for processing.The statement said the National Guard “repelled the aggression” and one person died at the scene and a second person died at the hospital.During a news conference Wednesday, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador called in the incident “regrettable,” saying he would ask the Attorney General’s Office to investigate the case.Farmer Irma Gandara said the water transfer will create a significant economic problem for the state.Gandara said they are not going to allow the biggest dam in Chihuahua, Boquilla, to be emptied.The protest comes amid plans to divert more to the United States due to a “water debt” Mexico has accrued under a 1944 water-sharing treaty between the countries.Lopez Obrador also said, he is asking the attorney general to investigate his country’s responsibilities but warned that Mexico could face sanctions if it did not divert water, after accumulating a deficit by receiving more water than it has provided.
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Amid busy construction crews racing to build an airport in Mexico, scientists are unearthing more and more mammoth skeletons in what has quickly become one of the world’s biggest concentrations of the now-extinct relative of modern elephants.More than 100 mammoth skeletons have been identified spread across nearly 200 excavation sites, along with a mix of other Ice Age mammals, in the area destined to become the Mexican capital’s new commercial airport.Lead archeologist Ruben Manzanilla explained on Tuesday that around 24,000 years ago mammoth herds reached this spot where sprawling grasslands and lakes would have enticed them to reside.”This place was like a paradise,” he told Reuters, noting that as the last glaciers melted a wide range of mammals — including ancient species of camels, horses and buffalo — lived along what would have been an extremely muddy shoreline.”Then over many years the same story repeated itself: The animals ventured too far, got trapped and couldn’t get their legs out of the muck,” said Manzanilla.Ruben Manzanilla Lopez of the National Anthropology Institute shows the skeleton of a mammoth that was discovered in the construction site of Mexico City’s new airport, Sept. 3, 2020.He speculates that most of the mammoths died this way, though he adds that there is some evidence that around 10,000 years ago early humans may have also hunted the 20-ton beasts with flint arrows and spears, or dug rudimentary shallow water pits to snare them.But the sheer amount of bones, including long, curling tusks — technically the animal’s front two teeth — have come as a shock.”We had the idea that we’d find mammoth remains, but not this many,” he said.Once the excavations are finished, Manzanilla said the site, located about 30 miles (50km) north of downtown Mexico City, could rival others in the United States and Siberia as the planet’s biggest deposit of mammoth skeletons.He noted that a museum-style mammoth exhibit is being planned for the airport’s main terminal.The series of inter-connected lakes that once covered the Valley of Mexico were deliberately drained by Spanish colonial masters beginning in the 1600s in an effort to tame annual flooding.Today, the mostly dry landscape is dominated by the working-class neighborhoods and highways that spill out from Mexico City.
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Venezuela’s opposition leader Juan Guaido is urging military leaders to support a boycott of the country’s December 6 legislative elections.
 
In an address Monday on social media, Guaido said he values each sector of society and invited the Armed Forces to a “unity pact” of opposition forces to block the upcoming poll and escalate international pressure on President Nicolas Maduro.  
 
He said his team is willing to sit down once again with those who are needed to achieve a transition.
 
Since Guaido declared himself interim president last year, accusing Maduro of rigging the vote to win the 2018 election, he has been unable to muster enough support inside the country to remove the president from office.  
 
Additionally, some well-known opposition figures, including Henrique Capriles, a two-time presidential candidate, have rejected Guadio’s boycott of the December election.
 
So far, international sanctions against Maduro’s government, including U.S. sanctions against 150 Venezuelans or persons linked to Venezuela, have not produced any discernible impact on the socialist leader’s standing.
 
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Authorities in southern California have identified the bodies found in a well in northern Mexico as American tourists Ian Hirschsohn and Kathy Harvey.In a statement, the Baja California state prosecutor’s office said the retirees were reported missing last Wednesday. Local media reports say both are from nearby San Diego, California.The remains of the victims were recovered over the weekend after searchers covering an area south of the port city of Ensenada spotted human remains at the bottom of the well.Authorities have not released any details of the circumstances surrounding their deaths.Separately, the Associated Press reports 65-year-old Craig Harrison was found stabbed to death on the beach in Cabo Pulmo over the weekend.Harrison, a longtime resident of Cabo San Lucas, held dual citizenship in South Africa and Canada.Harrison had been missing since August 29.
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Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness has announced new measures aimed at containing the spread of the novel coronavirus on the island nation. In an address Monday inaugurating his second term in office, Holness announced new curfew hours of 8:00 pm to 5:00 beginning September 8 through September 23. He said Jamaica is also reducing the permitted number of people in public gatherings from 20 people to 15. Senior citizens 70 and older are now only permitted to leave home just once a day for critical necessities. The government will continue to permit religious groups to conduct normal services as long as they follow protocols.  Funerals are still not permitted, and burials are allowed with no more than 15 people, including mourners. Prime Minister Holness’ administration also urges business owners to allow their staff to work from home if possible.  
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Bright green stalks of weeds are sprouting from the ground where planes were supposed to take off at a new Mexico City airport as officials let nature take over in their bid to transform the marshy swath of an ancient lake into a giant park. The ghostly skeletons of a partly built control tower and flight terminal are recognizably in the style of Norman Foster, the British architect commissioned by Mexico’s last president to build a futuristic international airport at a cost of $13 billion on 4,800 hectares just east of the capital. Upon taking office in December 2018, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador axed the project, citing the results of an informal referendum, after arguing it would be costly to prevent sinking on the waterlogged soil. Instead of the slick design from Foster, whose award-winning glass and steel weblike buildings dot the globe, Lopez Obrador opted to expand an existing military airport. Workers prepare native plants at the garden center near the canceled airport zone as part of a project to conserve 12,200 hectares of land in Texcoco on the outskirts of Mexico City, Mexico, Sept. 3, 2020.The abandoned construction zone is now part of a project to conserve 12,200 hectares of marsh on what was once massive Lake Texcoco before Spanish colonizers in the 1600s began draining the water to prevent flooding in their burgeoning settlement. About half that area is slated for public use, including sports and events space more than twice the size of New York’s Central Park. Architect Iñaki Echeverria, who is overseeing the project, aims to open a portion of the park by March next year and offer full access by 2024. “The restoration began the moment the construction stopped. This shows nature’s incredible resiliency,” he said. Officials point to recent flooding as proof that maintenance would have been difficult and say less than 20% of construction was completed. They paid about $603 million to cancel more than 600 contracts left in limbo. During a recent visit, a moat of green water had risen around a flying-saucer-like building where a control tower juts 20 meters high, less than a third of its intended height. Unfinished parts of the flight terminal at an abandoned construction site of a Mexico City airport are now flooded by summer rains, in Texcoco on the outskirts of Mexico City, Mexico, Sept. 4, 2020.Birds glided in a pond beneath columns of crisscrossing steel bars that were meant to become a terminal greeting 70 million passengers a year. The steel will be sold as scrap. Conservation efforts in the area date to the 1970s, when the government grappled with how to contain dust storms that swept from the dry lake basin over Mexico City. The current project has been hailed by Lopez Obrador as a “new Tenochtitlan,” referring to the centuries-old Aztec capital built in the middle of a sprawling lake, where Mexico City is today. Part of Echeverria’s work is convincing city dwellers that the wetlands are worth visiting. “People who think there’s nothing there, don’t know it well,” he said.   
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Suellen de Souza could no longer endure the confinement. After six months of precautions, the Brazilian nursing technician decided that Sunday would be her first day at the beach since the pandemic began.
“This week it was very hot … the truth is I really wanted to come” to the beach, said the 21-year-old at Rio de Janeiro’s Ipanema beach, which is technically still closed to sun-bathers though few respect the prohibition and authorities seldom enforce it.
Under a burning midday sun, she had difficulty finding an empty space in the sand as thousands crowded the famed beach, which was dotted with hundreds of umbrellas and families sunning themselves. Beach-goers were packed close together with few wearing face masks.
With tentative signs the coronavirus pandemic is easing, Brazilians exhausted with quarantine measures and social distancing are increasingly relaxing precautions and flooding beaches as if the pandemic were over. They are being urged to do so – and violate the recommendations of health experts – by President Jair Bolsonaro, who has resisted many lockdown measures and pressed for a return to normal life from the beginning, famously calling the novel coronavirus a “little flu.”
“It is like a rain that is going to reach you,” Bolsonaro said of the virus on July 7, the day he confirmed his own infection from which he has since recovered.
In Rio, recommendations by health experts to remain isolated are being challenged even by people like Souza, a nursing technician who worked in a field hospital for coronavirus patients.
“The coronavirus is being controlled a little more, that gave me security to go out,” she said.
The same scenario is playing out in Sao Paulo, Brazil’s worst-hit state with more than 855,000 confirmed infections and 31,000 deaths. Thousands of residents took advantage of the long weekend to travel to the coast.
“If you stay indoors for a long time, you will go crazy. I was like that. The moment I found out the beach was open, I decided to come,” said Josy Santos, a 26-year-old teacher who spent the day in Guarujá, a seaside resort an hour from Sao Paulo.
With more than 4,100,000 confirmed infections and 126,000 deaths from the virus, Brazil has the second highest totals in both figures behind only the United States. In recent weeks, Latin America’s largest country has left a new case number plateau that had dragged on from almost three months and started seeing a reduction in the number of new confirmed cases. But with an average of 820 deaths per day, its numbers are still considered high by health experts.
Patricia Canto, a pulmonologist at Brazil’s premier biomedical research and development lab, the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, or Fiocruz, warned that if Brazilians are negligent the country could see a repeat of what happened in Europe, especially Spain, where second waves of new cases were seen.
“Spain controlled the pandemic, but there were new outbreaks when many young people were negligent during the summer,” Canto said. If Brazil’s “population is not conscientious and continues to frequent beaches and bars without precautions, it might mirror this.”
Geraldo Tadeu, political scientist and coordinator of the Center for Studies and Research on Democracy, said the lack of coordination among levels of government in the COVID-19 fight demoralized many Brazilians.
“After six months, no one can stand to stay indoors seeing how there are no clear guidelines for fighting the virus,” said Tadeu. “As there is no serious policy, the population is exhausted. People head out to the streets when they see that others are not complying and the effort of staying home is no longer worth it.”
More than 6 months after the start of the pandemic, Brazilians seem increasingly relaxed about taking precautions to fight the virus’ spread. Some attribute this to Bolsonario’s denial rhetoric.
Souza said many do not believe in taking precautions because “Bolsonaro did not believe in the disease … He did not set an example.”
But Sao Paulo Gov. Joao Doria, who clashed with Bolsonaro over quarantine measures, does not think this is necessarily the case. The congestion and vehicle flow on Sao Paulo’s highways this weekend exceeded that seen during Carnival in February.
“We see the same problem (of full beaches) in Spain, the United States and England, which do not see these speeches against social distancing,” Doria told The Associated Press.
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El Salvador President Nayib Bukele vehemently denied allegations of collusion Friday after a report circulated by the online media outlet El Faro said his government had been engaging in talks with one of the country’s most prolific gangs.El Faro reported Friday that it had obtained a cache of government documents, including prison logs and prison intelligence reports, that show government officials engaging in talks with members of the MS-13 gang since last June.The report alleges Bukele’s involvement with the gang stems from an effort to lower the country’s notoriously high murder rate and boost support for his campaign before the midterm elections in exchange for privileges in prison.Attorney General Raúl Melara, whose office is independent of the Bukele presidency, said in an interview with a local television station that his office would be investigating the claims.The 39-year-old former businessman won the race for the presidency in 2019, despite not being from either of the country’s historically dominant parties, after campaigning as a law-and-order candidate. He quickly earned recognition for the steady decline of El Salvador’s murder rate.Imprisoned gang members, wearing protective face masks, look out from behind bars during a media tour of the prison in Quezaltepeque, El Salvador, Sept. 4, 2020.El Salvador’s homicide rate has declined steadily from 104 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2015 to 36 per 100,000 in 2019. The 2019 rate is still seven times the rate of the United States, according to U.S. State Department data.Bukele took to Twitter to proclaim his innocence and target his critics, who he said “invented a novel” with the story after exhausting other attacks against him. As a means of disputing the allegations of collaboration with the gangs, Bukele cited criticisms that his administration was a dictatorship that has committed human rights violations against gangs in the region.“The Salvadoran people are happy that after a civil war and 30 more years of crime, they can live in a much safer country than before,” he tweeted Friday. Bukele says his critics are just changing the narrative. “Now, the government is not bad with the terrorists, but good.”The allegations against Bukele’s administration are not the first time Salvadoran officials have been accused of engaging with the country’s gangs. Former President Mauricio Funes was granted asylum in Nicaragua in 2016 after facing similar accusations. Funes has denied he negotiated with MS-13.On Friday, Melara said on a local news show, “There are politicians and ex-politicians prosecuted for negotiations with the gangs. Rumors have arisen that this situation is happening again, and we are going to investigate. No one can take advantage of the institutionality to negotiate with terrorists.”
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Four Venezuelans are under arrest in Colombia for their alleged roles in a botched attempt to remove Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro from power a few months ago.Colombian officials announced Thursday the suspects are accused of arming and training mercenaries who in May invaded Venezuela by boat.The amphibious attacked dubbed “Operation Gideon” was carried out by three former U.S. Special Forces soldiers acting as mercenaries.Venezuelan soldiers arrested former Green Berets Luke Denman and Airan Berry, who were sentenced to 20 years in prison in Venezuela.The third former soldier is back in the United States.  Jordan Goudreau, who operates a Florida security firm, has claimed responsibility for the failed attack. 
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Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness’ Jamaica Labour Party won a decisive victory in Thursday’s general election, retaining power by claiming 49 seats compared to the People’s National Party’s 14 seats in the preliminary tally.The final ballot count from all 63 constituencies will continue Friday.Speaking from the JLP’s headquarters in Kingston, Holness said the opposition leader, Peter Phillips, conceded the election and congratulated him on the landslide victory.The prime minister attempted to strike a unifying tone, urging supporters of the People’s National Party to join in celebrating the country’s victory.He also warned members of his party not to take the citizens for granted after winning the election in which many Jamaican did not participate for various reasons, including fear over the coronavirus.The JLP’s victory marks the first time the party has won consecutive elections in more than 50 years. 
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When Juan José Hincapié opened his small pizza restaurant on his street corner, the 46-year-old achieved his lifelong dream.But after five months of quarantine in Colombia, his dream, like those of many people in this nation still recovering from decades of civil war and cartel violence, is in danger of evaporating.The country is beginning to emerge from one of the world’s longest coronavirus quarantines, which has had devastating effects in regard to poverty, mental health, violence, the economy and small businesses like Hincapié’s.Now, health experts warn it will have to strike a careful balancing to not spiral out of control.Two months ago, Hincapié made a snap decision to transform his restaurant in Medellín, Colombia’s second-largest city, into a fruit and vegetable stand. He replaced heavy stoves and tables with plastic bins holding piles of tomatoes, pineapples, potatoes, avocados and other produce.“If we didn’t make that change, we would have had to close because our sales dropped 80% — even more,” he said. “We couldn’t sustain our staff with that.”He watched as neighborhood shops around him shuttered for good, “for rent” signs began to pop up, and a growing number of people walked the streets begging for money from apartments looming above.Unemployment has surged and Colombia’s economy Passengers sit on a bus at the terminal for long-distance travel in Bogota, Colombia, Sept. 1, 2020. Airports, land transport, restaurants, and gyms are reopening in most of Colombia this week.But Colombia, along with other nations with emerging economies in Latin America, faces a set of challenges that makes the pandemic all the more difficult to control.Extending the quarantines pushed poorer and working-class Colombians to the brink in large part by forcing informal workers – street vendors or laborers who survive on day-to-day wages – to go to work or go hungry.At the same time, densely populated cities and ill-equipped medical systems fueled pessimism from the beginning about Colombia’s ability to contain the spread of the virus.As the months went by, the quarantine was lengthened while enforcement grew more flexible and more sporadic. Some cities took a militarized approach, enlisting the help of police to contain the spread, while others experimented with phased lockdowns.The country is now set to begin reopening this month. Hernández worries about the consequences of relaxing measures too early.In Medellín, the government announced it would reopen churches, gyms and motels, including some that charge by the hour, this month. Local leaders in Cartagena, a coastal city popular among tourists, have called for the resumption of international flights.To reopen or not reopenHealth experts warn that the moves could fuel a surge in cases.“We’re at this epidemic peak. If they open too fast, we’re going to have another epidemic peak that’s worse than the first one,” he said.Meanwhile, some of the quarantine’s ripple effects may have longer-term implications.Already, cases of domestic violence have surged, and armed groups have taken advantage of an absence of security forces in key drug routes to wage territorial wars. In recent weeks, rural Colombia has seen a growing wave of massacres, suggesting the country could be reversing significant gains it made over the past two decades in combating drug violence that traumatized generations of Colombians.Regression?A man wears a face mask and shield in the Chorro de Quevedo tourist area in Bogota, Colombia, on Sept. 3, 2020, amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.Single mother Nataly Uribe Franco lives with that anxiety every day.The 34-year-old works at a family’s ice cream business, Cremas Doña Alba, in Medellín’s Comuna 13. The neighborhood was once ravaged by violence, but in recent years has become a hub for tourists. That tourism provided a key economic lifeline for many working-class families in the zone.It allowed Uribe Franco’s family to leave their jobs at a plastic bag factory and start their own business. With it, she was able to support herself and two children, now 14 and 16 years old.But that disappeared along with the tourists.“There are weeks and months where we don’t sell a lot, so I have to ask the owner of our house to wait for me to pay rent,” she said. “I’m so stressed, and I try not to stress too much, because that only makes things worse.”Painful futureAnalysts like Ariel Ávila, deputy director of the Colombian research group, the Peace and Reconciliation Foundation, say while the country struggles to establish its new normal, the quarantine’s effects will span far beyond it.“The next year is going to be a very tortuous one,” Ávila said, “for the government and all of Colombian society.”Uribe Franco, too, dreads what lies ahead.The family had to cut their staff from 15 to five. Promised government aid never arrived, she said. Food distributions from large companies and NGOs that came at the beginning of the pandemic slowly trickled away. Uribe Franco has watched helplessly as other members of the community go hungry.“People lose hope, they don’t know what to do or how to get out of this,” she said. “With a quarantine so long, you begin to feel hopeless.”  
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Mexican police are seeking the gunmen who stormed a funeral service late Tuesday and opened fire, killing at least eight people and wounding more than a dozen others in the city of Cuernavaca.Interior Minister for Morelos State Pablo Ojeda said according to the initial witness accounts, the gunmen arrived in different vehicles, with weapons that are for the exclusive use of the armed forces.The mass shooting is the latest in a country plagued by drug-related gang violence.Mexico’s murder total reached a record 34,582 last year, more than 1,000 more killings than the previous year.Reuters reports the number of murders in Mexico was up slightly, 1.6%, the first seven months of this year compared to the same period in 2019.  
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Mexican authorities say three people are under arrest after the navy intercepted a speedboat allegedly carrying 2.9 tons of cocaine east of Mahahual, Quintana Roo.The Mexican navy released video of Tuesday’s dramatic high-speed drug bust, during which Mexican Marines were lowered from helicopter onto the speedboat.The navy said, the boat was stopped because it was being driven in an erratic manner at a high speed.Authorities say the drugs were concealed in 74 packages.The military did not reveal details about the origin of the drugs or its expected destination.  
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Tropical Storm Nana barreled westward Wednesday just off the coast of Honduras on a collision course with the Central American nation of Belize, where thousands of people were stocking up on food, water and construction materials.Long lines stretched through supermarkets and hardware store shelves were nearly bare as Belizeans bought materials to board up windows and doors ahead of Nana’s expected landfall late Wednesday night or early Thursday, possibly as a hurricane.The U.S. National Hurricane Center reported that Nana was located about 160 kilometers east-southeast of Belize City with maximum sustained winds of 95 kph. The storm was moving at 24 kph and was expected to strengthen throughout the day.Belize issued a hurricane warning for its coastline. Nana was 80 kilometers north-northwest of the Honduran island of Roatan, a popular tourist destination.Heavy rains were expected in Belize, as well as in northern Honduras and throughout Guatemala as the storm crosses the isthmus Thursday.Local leaders in rural villages in the southernmost district of Toledo were awaiting word from the National Emergency Management Organization to open hurricane shelters.As evening approached, dark clouds hung on the horizon as uneasy residents awaited the storm’s arrival. 
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The United States and Mexico plan to hold talks within 90 days to discuss U.S. concerns that imports of Mexican fruits and vegetables could be harming U.S. farmers. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer’s office announced Tuesday the United States wants to specifically look at imports of strawberries, bell peppers and other seasonal perishable goods, and that the review could lead to the imposition of tariffs. “President Trump recognizes the challenges faced by American farmers and is committed to promoting and securing fair trade and a level playing field for all American producers,” Lighthizer said in a statement. Mexico’s economy ministry committed to participating in the talks and, in a statement, said it wants to “find mutually satisfactory solutions to the concerns raised by the agricultural industry of both countries.” Mexico also said it would seek to “defend the preferential access of Mexican agricultural exports to the United States.” The two countries, along with Canada, began a new trade deal called the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement two months ago, replacing the North American Free Trade Agreement that had governed trade in the region for 26 years. 
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The U.S Geological Survey says a strong 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck near the coast of Northern Chile early Tuesday.   Initially, local media reported some minor damage near the epicenter.  There are reports of people living along the coast being evacuated as a precaution, but  no immediate word of anyone being injured.The earthquake was felt in the western region of neighboring Argentina.The earthquake has already produced more than a dozen aftershocks.Chilean authorities say the earthquake posed no threat of a tsunami.
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Trinidad and Tobago have adopted a stringent face mask policy to prevent the spread of the coronavirus in the Caribbean.  Starting Monday, anyone eight years of age and older caught not wearing a mask in public without good reason faces a $1,000 fine. The penalty increases to $2,000 for a second offense and $3,000 if someone is caught a third time without a mask. Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley’s poignant advice for those who cannot afford the fines is to put their mask on. Rowley said the burden is on everyone to abide by all measures that aim to slow the spread of the coronavirus.  So far, Trinidad and Tobago have confirmed more than 1,700 COVID-19 cases and 22 deaths. 
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Roberto Marrero, the chief of staff to Venezuela’s opposition leader Juan Guaido, has been released from prison in Caracas hours after the government announced President Nicolas Maduro pardoned more than 100 opposition politicians. Venezuelan Communication Minister Jorge Rodriguez said the government’s intention is to deepen the process of national reconciliation so that political issues are settled by peaceful and electoral means. Guaido, the self-declared acting president, and leading opposition figures have vowed to boycott the election, fearing a lack of transparency.Opposition leader Juan Guaido waves to supporters during a rally at Bolivar Plaza in Chacao, Venezuela, Feb. 11, 2020.The head of Venezuela’s oldest party, Henry Ramos Allup of the Democratic Action party, is among those pardoned, as well as individuals with outstanding court cases and exiled opposition lawmakers. The pardons also follow the release from house arrest of lawmaker Juan Requesens, who was jailed for two years and accused of participating in a failed attack on President Maduro with two drones that exploded during an outdoor military ceremony. It is unclear if the pardons will impact Guaidó’s ongoing effort to remove Maduro from power. 
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Canada reached an agreement in principle on Monday with both Novavax and Johnson & Johnson for millions of doses of their experimental coronavirus vaccines, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said. Canada’s two agreements follow separate deals with Pfizer and Moderna announced weeks ago, and are the latest example of countries rushing to secure access to vaccines. Canada is also in “the final stages of negotiations” to secure AstraZeneca’s potential vaccine and is in talks to secure more doses of the Pfizer vaccine candidate, Procurement Minister Anita Anand said. “What we are trying to do is make sure that when a vaccine is developed, we are at the front of the line,” Anand told reporters. Canada has a population of about 38 million, and the four vaccine agreements signed so far “give Canada at least 88 million doses with options to obtain tens of millions more,” Trudeau said when he announced the deals in Montreal. More doses possibleAll four agreements announced so far have options to purchase more doses if needed, officials said. Trudeau also said the government will invest C$126 million ($96.7 million) over two years to build a biomanufacturing facility at the Human Health Therapeutics Research Centre in Montreal capable of producing up to 2 million doses of a vaccine per month by next year. Last week, Canada’s National Research Council said it had ended its partnership on a coronavirus vaccine with China’s CanSino Biologics because the company lacked the authority to ship the vaccine. Help for businessesSeparately, Canada extended to the end of October a program to provide loans of up to C$40,000 ($30,666), a quarter of which is forgivable, to small businesses struggling amid the pandemic. It had been due to expire Monday. Novavax said it expects to finalize an advance purchase agreement to supply doses of the vaccine, beginning as early as the second quarter of next year. Novavax has agreed to supply up to 76 million doses of its experimental vaccine, while Johnson & Johnson will supply up to 38 million doses of its vaccine candidate. Both agreements are subject to the vaccines obtaining licenses from Health Canada. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Shares of Novavax were up 1.7% at $109.59 and Johnson & Johnson shares were little changed at $153.72 on Monday afternoon. 
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Canada reached an agreement in principle on Monday with both Novavax and Johnson & Johnson for millions of doses of their experimental coronavirus vaccines, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said. Canada’s two agreements follow separate deals with Pfizer and Moderna announced weeks ago, and are the latest example of countries rushing to secure access to vaccines. Canada is also in “the final stages of negotiations” to secure AstraZeneca’s potential vaccine and is in talks to secure more doses of the Pfizer vaccine candidate, Procurement Minister Anita Anand said. “What we are trying to do is make sure that when a vaccine is developed, we are at the front of the line,” Anand told reporters. Canada has a population of about 38 million, and the four vaccine agreements signed so far “give Canada at least 88 million doses with options to obtain tens of millions more,” Trudeau said when he announced the deals in Montreal. More doses possibleAll four agreements announced so far have options to purchase more doses if needed, officials said. Trudeau also said the government will invest C$126 million ($96.7 million) over two years to build a biomanufacturing facility at the Human Health Therapeutics Research Centre in Montreal capable of producing up to 2 million doses of a vaccine per month by next year. Last week, Canada’s National Research Council said it had ended its partnership on a coronavirus vaccine with China’s CanSino Biologics because the company lacked the authority to ship the vaccine. Help for businessesSeparately, Canada extended to the end of October a program to provide loans of up to C$40,000 ($30,666), a quarter of which is forgivable, to small businesses struggling amid the pandemic. It had been due to expire Monday. Novavax said it expects to finalize an advance purchase agreement to supply doses of the vaccine, beginning as early as the second quarter of next year. Novavax has agreed to supply up to 76 million doses of its experimental vaccine, while Johnson & Johnson will supply up to 38 million doses of its vaccine candidate. Both agreements are subject to the vaccines obtaining licenses from Health Canada. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Shares of Novavax were up 1.7% at $109.59 and Johnson & Johnson shares were little changed at $153.72 on Monday afternoon. 
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The 2020 Tango World Cup, an annual event held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, was held virtually this year because of the coronavirus pandemic.For the champions of the stage category Valentín Arias Delgado and his dance partner, Diana Franco Durango of Colombia, training was a challenge because of COVID-19 restrictions.”For us it didn’t matter that it was virtual, but it was the world cup organized by the city of Buenos Aires so it was super important and worthy of respect,” he said. “Of course, we had to change a little our way of preparing because we had spent five months without dancing together due to the worldwide pandemic, but when we started training, we did it full speed.”Louise Junqueira Malucelli and Marcos Esteban Roberts of Argentina won the salon category.Instead of competing at the Luna Park stadium in Buenos Aires, where the event has been held each year since 2002, competitors were required to send a video of their dances to the organizers.Among the finalist were couples from Argentina, Colombia, the United States, Russia, Italy and Norway.More than 91,000 people from the general public voted online to crown the champs.
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