Latin America

Allegations of misconduct between two justices threaten to pull court into political battles ahead of upcoming election.

Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Andre Mendonca has ordered the suspension of federal police chief Andrei Rodrigues and the force’s intelligence chief Leandro Almada amid growing divisions that have tested the credibility of the country’s highest court.

The suspensions were announced on Tuesday. Mendonca, appointed by former right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro, has accused Rodrigues and Almada of producing six illegal reports on the activities of justices.

The move was backed by a majority on one of the high court’s five-member panels.

But it is likely to be challenged by the government, possibly pulling the administration of leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva into a political battle ahead of October’s presidential election.

“Investigating possible evidence of crimes is correct,” Institutional Relations Minister Jose Guimaraes, a top aide to Lula, said in response to the decision on social media. “But this measure smells electoral to me. That cannot happen.”

Polls show Lula and Jair Bolsonaro’s eldest son, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, in a tight race ahead of the first round of voting on October 4.

The Supreme Court has been roiled by mutual accusations of wrongdoing between Justice Alexandre de Moraes, appointed under centre-right President Michel Temer, and Mendonca, a Bolsonaro appointee.

De Moraes has become a prominent target of right-wing criticism, particularly after he oversaw the case against Jair Bolsonaro for plotting a coup after the 2022 election.

A report detailing possible links between de Moraes and disgraced banker Daniel Vorcaro was made public by Mendonca last week.

De Moraes, however, responded by accusing Mendonca of abusing his power, citing federal police intelligence reports and urging the court to investigate him. Mendonca has now challenged the legality of those reports.

The Vorcaro corruption scandal has widened to include powerful political figures on both the left and right.

Vorcaro was arrested in 2025 for allegedly overseeing one of the largest bank fraud schemes in the history of Brazil, leaving billions in owed money.

Flavio Bolsonaro has also faced scrutiny for his ties with Vorcaro, after he approached the banker for assistance in funding a film about his father. Jair Bolsonaro is currently serving a 27-year prison sentence.

The right-wing senator used Tuesday’s suspension to push his claim that the prosecution of his father was a political “witch-hunt”. The Federal Police had recommended charges be brought against the elder Bolsonaro in November 2024.

“Lula’s special group in the Federal Police officially unmasked,” Senator Bolsonaro wrote in a social media post. “May the honourable and glorious Federal Police regain its autonomy to go after criminals, and not Lula’s political adversaries.”

William Marcel Murad, the federal police’s executive director, released a statement saying that Rodrigues has the agency’s “full confidence” and that agents “will not be shaken by attacks”.

Jamaica’s campaign for reparations from the United Kingdom is part of a broader push for countries to pay for their roles in the transatlantic slave trade and hundreds of years of slavery.

Momentum is building. In March, a United Nations resolution said the claims represent a step towards a remedy for the descendants of enslaved people. Most Western countries abstained from the vote, and the United States opposed it.

In June, African and Caribbean nations met in Ghana – where hundreds of thousands of people were forced onto slave ships. They put together a plan for reparatory justice, which would include debt relief and other support for African nations.

Last month, a UN committee said governments are obliged by law to consider paying damages.

So, will the legal argument boost the case for reparations?

Presenter: Dareen Abughaida

Guests:

Hilary Beckles – vice-chancellor of the University of the West Indies and chairman of the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM) Reparations Commission

Lawrence Goldman – emeritus fellow in history at St Peter’s College, University of Oxford, and former editor of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

Patrick Vernon – British historian and social commentator knighted in 2026 for his services to racial equality and social justice

Sept. 8, 2026 7:54 AM PT

MIAMI — Secretary of State Marco Rubio begins a three-nation tour of Latin America on Tuesday, visiting U.S.-aligned conservative leaders as the Trump administration steps up military operations to combat drug trafficking and seeks further inroads in the Western Hemisphere aimed at improving America’s energy standing and combating illegal migration.

Just a week after sealing a massive oil deal with Venezuelan leaders after a U.S. military operation in January deposed then-leader Nicolás Maduro, Rubio was traveling to neighboring Colombia to meet President Abelardo de la Espriella. Colombia’s new leader has embraced President Trump’s policies on issues ranging from drugs to immigration and energy.

De la Espriella is one of a new generation of right-wing conservatives to win election and show support for Trump’s muscular approach to a region that had tilted leftward in recent decades.

In announcing the trip last week, which also will take Rubio to Ecuador and Peru, the State Department said Rubio and all three leaders would be discussing “enhanced cooperation in the shared fight against narcoterrorism, which threatens our hemisphere.”

Rubio visits as Latin American allies help expanded efforts to fight drug trafficking

The trip comes a day after U.S. forces intercepted and sank another Ecuadorian vessel that Washington accuses of links to the criminal group Los Choneros.

It was the latest action by the U.S. against boats and vessels in Latin America that it says are involved in drug trafficking. Expanded operations in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean began a year ago, coinciding with an extreme crackdown on migrants in the U.S. illegally, many of them from Latin America.

The vessel sunk Monday was the fifth targeted by U.S. forces in the region in less than two weeks — in most cases with the cooperation or at least tacit support of the conservative leaders with whom Rubio will meet.

But unlike strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats in Latin American waters that began in September 2025, those on board the vessel were removed and transferred to Ecuadorian authorities. It appears to be a shift after a series of strikes on boats over the year have killed at least 227 people, which the Trump administration accuses of being “narcoterrorists” but without providing evidence.

The U.S. military carried out at least two of those deadly strikes last month before starting to intercept floating refueling stations that it says support illicit drug trafficking operations at sea.

Colombia’s president vows to crack down on drug trafficking and immigration

Colombian Foreign Minister Omar Bula said in a video released Tuesday that Rubio’s visit marks the beginning of “rebuilding a strategic alliance with the United States, our main partner in the region.” He affirmed that Colombia will focus on discussing security, which includes combating drug trafficking, trade, and the defense of “shared values.”

De la Espriella has promised to take a hard line against drug traffickers and pledges to deport thousands of migrants who are in Colombia without residence permits, mainly Venezuelans, as he tries to make significant changes to the nation’s immigration policies that he says will reduce crime.

After taking office last month, De la Espriella brought Colombia into the Americas Counter Cartels Coalition and strengthened long-standing security cooperation with the United States, following strained relations during the 2022-2026 administration of progressive Gustavo Petro.

In just a month in office, De la Espriella has carried out at least three bombings against illegal armed groups and increased military operations. However, several minors have died during the bombings, which has drawn criticism from opposition leaders.

As part of his security strategy, he has focused his efforts on showcasing the results of military operations. However, there was criticism from the opposition and the state-run Ombudsman’s Office after De la Espriella displayed the bodies of alleged criminals wrapped in white bags on the ground alongside seized ammunition.

After winning the election, De la Espriella identified several leaders of Colombia’s illegal armed groups as “military targets.” Last week, he announced that the first of these, Naín Andrés Pérez Toncel, alias “Bendito Menor,” one of the leaders of the Self-Defense Forces of the Sierra Nevada, an illegal armed group in the north of the country, had been killed by police.

Nicknamed “El Tigre,” or The Tiger, the president has shifted the country’s security policy, closing the peace negotiations initiated by Petro during his administration, which he considers a failed effort that only increased violence in Colombia.

Colombia grapples with illegal armed groups vying for control of territories strategically important for drug trafficking and illegal mining, despite the fact that a decade ago the state signed a historic peace agreement with the FARC rebel group.

After meeting De la Espriella in Barranquilla on the Caribbean, where he will sign a civil nuclear cooperation deal and a critical minerals agreement, Rubio will make a brief stop in Quito.

He will meet Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa whose government has steadily increased counternarcotics operations conducted with the U.S. military.

Rubio will round out the visit with a stop in Lima, Peru, where he will meet new President Keiko Fujimori — the daughter of former leader Alberto Fujimori — as the government also has taken a rightward turn.

Lee and Suárez write for the Associated Press. Suarez reported from Bogota, Colombia.

Rightward shift in Latin America comes as Washington pledges to grow influence, take militaristic approach to cartels.

United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio is travelling to three South American countries whose recently elected leaders have closely aligned with President Donald Trump’s administration.

Rubio will travel to Colombia on Tuesday to meet with newly elected President Abelardo de la Espriella. He will then visit Ecuador to meet with President Daniel Noboa before going to Peru, where he will meet with another newly elected leader, Keiko Fujimori.

The State Department has not yet released a more in-depth agenda for the trip, saying only that Rubio will discuss “US support for Colombia’s earthquake response; enhanced cooperation in the shared fight against narcoterrorism, which threatens our hemisphere; and the benefits of deeper commercial relationships between our countries”.

The trip comes amid a rightward shift in Latin America that has seen several Trump-aligned leaders take office. Beyond the three countries, Trump also backed Honduran President Nasry Asfura, who won the presidency in November, and Bolivia’s Rodrigo Paz, who won in October.

Beyond the new leaders, Trump has also closely aligned with Argentina’s Javier Milei, who took office in 2023, and El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele, who became the leader in 2019.

US influence over Western Hemisphere

Rubio’s visit comes as the Trump administration has pledged to assert more influence over the Western Hemisphere in what Trump has referred to as the “Donroe Doctrine”, a reference to the 19th-century Monroe Doctrine that opposed European interference in the Americas.

It has shifted to a militaristic approach to security in Latin American countries, while broadly reframing efforts to combat drug trafficking as a war against “narco-terrorists”.

In August, Colombia’s de la Espriella upped cooperation with the US by joining the Trump administration’s so-called “Shield of the Americas”.

The 19 members of the group have jointly pledged a “commitment to using lethal military force to destroy the sinister cartels and terrorist networks”.

Unlike his predecessor, leftist Gustavo Petro, de la Espriella has also praised US military strikes on alleged drug smugglers in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. At least 227 people have been killed in those strikes, in what rights groups have condemned as extrajudicial killings.

Family members of those killed have charged that the targets were fishermen, not drug smugglers.

The US has proven a major supporter for de la Espriella in the wake of a devastating earthquake in Colombia last month in which at least 330 people were killed and thousands left homeless.

In March, the US military announced it was collaborating with Ecuador, under Noboa’s leadership, to target drug trafficking groups in the country.

Ecuador’s Interior Minister John Reimberg defended the US strikes on vessels allegedly carrying drugs in an interview with broadcaster Teleamazonas last week.

Peru’s Fujimori, the daughter of former leader Alberto Fujimori, who notoriously dissolved the country’s Congress and Supreme Court to consolidate power during his government from 1990 to 2000, has also pledged closer ties with the US and a military crackdown on criminal groups.

Conservative shift

Rubio’s visit comes after the US announced a controversial agreement with Venezuela’s interim leader, Delcy Rodriguez. The deal, struck in the wake of the January 3 US abduction of Venezuela’s ex-President Nicolas Maduro, grants US companies access to 65 billion barrels of crude oil reserves over the next 100 years.

It also comes as Washington has continued to up its pressure campaign against Cuba, with Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez on Monday rejecting any talks with the US despite its ongoing fuel blockade of the island.

Brazil and Mexico remain the only regional powers with leftist leaders. Rubio has called the region’s conservative lurch an “extraordinary achievement”.

The shift has accompanied the strengthening of ties between Israel and several Latin American countries since Trump took office.

Brazilians will go to the polls in October, when Flavio Bolsonaro, a son of former right-wing leader Jair Bolsonaro, seeks to unseat Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Trump has remained a staunch ally of the elder Bolsonaro, who has been sentenced to 27 years in prison for leading a conspiracy to hold onto power.

The US president has also shown strong support for the younger Bolsonaro, including inviting him to the White House in May.

Petition to King Charles questions the legality of slavery under English law and UK’s responsibility for reparations.

A Jamaican delegation to the United Kingdom has said it will file a petition addressed to King Charles III to seek legal guidance on the question of slavery reparations.

This is the first time a British Commonwealth state will use this legal route “for the cause of reparatory justice”, the Jamaican delegation said, as the visit to London kicks off Monday.

Jamaica’s Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport said its minister, Olivia Grange, will lead the delegation “to advance Jamaica’s push for reparations for the African ancestors who suffered under hundreds of years of enslavement”.

The ministry added that it will meet with the British Museum to discuss “the repatriation of cultural artefacts taken from Jamaica”.

The petition will ask the king, Jamaica’s head of state, to answer three questions on the transatlantic slave trade to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, the Caribbean island’s highest court of appeal based in London.

Under the Judicial Committee Act of 1833, the UK monarch has the authority to refer legal matters to the court for an advisory opinion.

The questions include: whether the enslavement of Africans in Jamaica was legal under English common law, whether it violated international law, and whether the UK has a legal obligation to provide a remedy for the harm caused by slavery.

Grange said she would not speculate on whether Jamaica was asking the UK to pay reparations for the slave trade.

“We want the answers. Once we get the answers, or once we get a response to those questions, then the next steps will be determined,” she said.

“We understand the Jamaican government is seeking a petition to be heard before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council,” a Buckingham Palace spokesperson said in response to Jamaica’s inquiry.

The palace acknowledged the king’s constitutional role in the petition as Jamaica’s head of state but said he had no role in deciding the substance of the claim.

British merchants enslaved and forcibly transported 600,000 to 1 million Africans to Jamaica between the 17th century and the early 19th century.

Shortly after abolishing slavery in 1833, the UK paid slave owners $27m in compensation, amounting to 40 percent of the Treasury’s annual income. To raise the cash, the government took out considerable loans, finally paying off its debts in 2015.

The Jamaican government estimates that the country is owed about $10bn, but the UK has repeatedly refused to pay for historical slavery.

It has been dormant for decades, but the row between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the Falkland Islands has been revived.

It started with a joint British-Israeli oil exploration project off the archipelago’s north coast, to which Buenos Aires vehemently objected.

President Javier Milei has now threatened to sanction companies operating there.

His push to reclaim the islands was bolstered by United States President Donald Trump’s comment that he may reconsider Washington’s position on the territory.

Britain and Argentina went to war over the islands more than four decades ago.

Could the dispute escalate into another armed confrontation?

Presenter: Cyril Vanier

Guests:

Diego Guelar – Former Argentinian ambassador to the US, European Union and China

Christopher Sabatini – Director of the Latin America programme at Chatham House

Javier Farje – Journalist and historian specialising in Latin American affairs

Colombian authorities blame ELN rebel group for attack that reportedly included drones dropping explosives on compound.

Colombian authorities have said that at least three soldiers have been killed and several more injured after an attack on a military compound by an armed group that included drones used to drop explosives.

The Colombian army said on Saturday that the attack had been carried out by the rebel National Liberation Army (ELN) the night before in the municipality of Ocana, which is in the area bordering Venezuela. Two soldiers were killed in the clashes, along with a third who died after receiving medical attention. Four were injured.

“To the ELN I say with absolute clarity: for every police officer or soldier you kill, I will bring down on you the full weight and legitimate force of the State,” President Abelardo de la Espriella said in a statement on social media condemning the attack.

Authorities said that drones dropped explosives onto the compound in the department of Norte de Santander before fighting took place within the facility. The news service AFP reported that at least 20 drones loaded with explosives were utilised in the attack, citing an unnamed security official.

De la Espriella won office pledging to return Colombia to militarised confrontation with armed groups and criminal organisations that have jostled for influence across the country, despite concerns that it could lead to surging violence and possible rights abuses.

Deadly attacks by armed groups have continued to rattle the country since his inauguration.

The attack on Friday took place in the northeastern Catatumbo region, where the ELN is based and where the government has carried out military raids against armed groups.

De la Espriella has also promised closer ties with the United States, which has sought to expand its military involvement in the region under the so-called “Shield of the Americas” initiative.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is set to meet with de la Espriella, a former lawyer who previously represented leaders of paramilitaries, in the Caribbean city of Barranquilla next week.

At the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Bishkek this week, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian received precisely the kind of political support he had hoped for. The SCO condemned the military attacks against Iran, described them as violations of international law and the UN Charter, reaffirmed Iranian sovereignty and territorial integrity, and called for the conflict to be resolved through political and diplomatic means.

But the organisation did not offer to defend Iran. That distinction between political solidarity and collective defence is important. It tells us something not only about the Iranian experience with the SCO, but about the international order that is emerging around it.

For years, discussions about multipolarity have often suggested that the US-led international system would gradually be challenged by an alternative bloc centred around China, Russia and organisations such as BRICS and the SCO. From the perspective of middle powers, joining both institutions seemed to fit neatly into this transformation. Integration into non-Western organisations was supposed to make them less vulnerable to Western isolation and pressure.

The US-Israeli war on Iran has made clear that none of these alternative relationships can produce a security guarantee comparable to those provided by formal military alliances. The lesson is not that multipolarity has failed middle powers. It is that the emerging multipolar order may work differently from what many expected.

Rather than replacing one alliance system with another, it is producing an increasingly dense network of overlapping partnerships in which states gain diplomatic and economic options without necessarily acquiring new security guarantees.

For middle powers, this may be one of the defining characteristics of the emerging order: more room for manoeuvre, but less certainty about who will stand beside them when their security is threatened.

Turkiye provides a particularly revealing example. It has been a member of NATO for more than seven decades and remains embedded in the Western security architecture. Yet Ankara has increasingly demonstrated that alliance membership does not require automatic political alignment with Washington. Turkiye has maintained relations with Russia despite the war in Ukraine, expanded its engagement with China and participated in the SCO as a dialogue partner. At the same time, its differences with the US and Israel over the future regional order in the Middle East have become increasingly visible.

This does not mean Turkiye is abandoning NATO or moving into a Chinese- or Russian-led bloc. Quite the opposite. Ankara’s strategy depends precisely on avoiding such a binary choice. Its NATO membership provides security benefits that the SCO could not replicate. Its relationships with Russia, China, Iran, the Gulf states and other regional actors, meanwhile, expand its diplomatic and economic options.

Brazil represents another good example. Unlike Turkiye, Brazil is not bound to the US through a formal military alliance. But it has traditionally operated within a US-dominated hemisphere where Washington has expected considerable political alignment from regional governments.

Brazil’s refusal to join the US-led Americas Counter-Cartel Coalition (ACCC), together with its positions on the Iran war and other recent international crises, reflects its reluctance to accept that regional proximity should translate into automatic strategic alignment.

Yet Brazil is not simply switching sides. Its participation in BRICS, its extensive economic relationship with China and its calls for reform of the international system coexist with important political and economic relations with the US and Europe. Brasília’s objective is not to exchange dependence on Washington for dependence on Beijing, but to preserve the ability to cooperate with both, and disagree with either.

This may be one of the most consequential opportunities that multipolarity offers middle powers. The rise of alternative centres of economic and political influence reduces the cost of saying no. For decades, weaker states often confronted a difficult choice when facing pressure from a dominant power: comply, resist and risk isolation, or seek protection from a rival bloc.

The proliferation of partners and institutions complicates that calculation. A government that disagrees with Washington may deepen relations with Beijing without becoming a Chinese ally. A state dependent on China economically may strengthen security ties with the US without fully aligning with Washington. Membership in BRICS does not prevent cooperation with Western institutions, just as membership in a US-led security framework does not necessarily preclude engagement with China or Russia.

India has made this logic almost an organising principle of its foreign policy. New Delhi participates in the Quad with the US, Japan and Australia while simultaneously belonging to both BRICS and the SCO. At Bishkek, India supported the SCO declaration defending Iranian sovereignty while Prime Minister Narendra Modi also stressed to Pezeshkian the importance of preserving freedom of navigation and commerce through the Strait of Hormuz.

The Gulf Cooperation Council member states are pursuing their own version of this diversification. Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, for example, continue to depend heavily on their relationships with the US for security, while simultaneously expanding economic and diplomatic ties with China, India and other Asian powers and participating in new regional and international arrangements.

None appears eager to replace Washington with Beijing. They want relationships with both. This suggests that the most significant consequence of multipolarity for middle and smaller powers may not be the emergence of a new bloc to which they can attach themselves. It may be the declining necessity of attaching themselves exclusively to any bloc at all.

But greater autonomy comes with a cost. The same flexible arrangements that allow states to avoid choosing sides also provide fewer guarantees when crises become existential. BRICS does not have an Article 5. Neither does the SCO, which explicitly defines itself as a non-military organisation.

Strategic partnerships can provide weapons, investment, diplomatic backing and political support without obligating partners to go to war for one another.

The emerging international system is therefore unlikely to resemble a simple transition from a US-led order to a Chinese-led one, or even a confrontation between two clearly defined blocs. The older alliance system is not disappearing.

NATO remains central to European and Turkish security, while US security relationships remain indispensable across much of Asia and the Gulf. What is emerging alongside it is another layer, a more fluid landscape of overlapping institutions, selective partnerships and transactional relationships.

Multipolarity, in other words, may not require states to choose a new camp. That gives middle and smaller powers greater agency. But it also places greater responsibility for their own security upon them. The world they are entering may offer more partners, more bargaining power and more freedom to say no. What it may offer less frequently is certainty about who will say yes when they ask for protection.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

The United Nations General Assembly has voted to back a resolution spearheaded by several African countries to adopt a map that shows the continent as much bigger than it is on conventional world maps.

On Friday, the resolution aimed at “a more accurate representation” of continental landmasses on the globe was supported by 164 countries, while the United States voted against it and six other states abstained.

The new map – known as the Equal Earth cartographic projection – “is a relevant option for improving the accuracy of the cartographic representation of the world”, the resolution stated.

Foreign Minister Robert Dussey of Togo, which drove the resolution, said maps “guide education, nourish the imagination, and influence collective perceptions”.

“The resolution adopted today reaffirms African reality,” he added.

But how does the new map differ from the traditional version, and why did the US object?

What has the UN decided?

The UN has urged member states to adopt a new map in place of the centuries-old, traditional Mercator projection, which was designed for maritime navigation by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator in 1569.

That projection focused on accurate depictions of the shapes and angles of land masses, but their relative sizes were often inaccurate – in part because of the challenge of rendering a three-dimensional globe onto a two-dimensional surface.

It inflated northern regions and compressed equatorial ones, making Europe and North America appear much larger, while shrinking Africa and South America.

How big are Africa, Latin America, South Asia and Oceania?

It does not look like it on the conventional Mercator map, but Africa is a giant among the world’s continents at about 30.3 million square kilometres (11.7 million square miles).

It is large enough to contain the US, China, India and most of Europe, yet on a Mercator map it looks roughly the same size as Greenland, which is actually about 14 times smaller than the continent.

Latin America covers roughly 20 million sq km (7.7 million sq miles), of which South America accounts for 17.8 million sq km (6.9 million sq miles).

Oceania spans about 8.5 million sq km (3.3 million sq miles), almost all of it Australia.

South Asia is the smallest of the four at about 5.1 million sq km (2 million sq miles), though it is home to about a quarter of the world’s population.

Combined, the four cover about 64 million sq km (24.7 million sq miles), more than 40 percent of the world’s land surface.

Europe, by comparison, is 10.2 million sq km (3.9 million sq miles).

What has the response to the change of maps been?

Largely positive.

France, which co-sponsored the resolution in support of the new map, announced on Friday that it would abandon the Mercator projection.

In that map, “the United States, Russia and China take on a disproportionate visual prominence compared to Africa, Latin America or Southeast Asia”, while “Greenland appears almost as big as Africa,” Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said.

“Changing maps obviously doesn’t change the world,” he added. “But correcting a distorted representation is already an act of truth.”

Only the US voted against it, while six other countries – Serbia, Estonia, Georgia, Lithuania, Moldova and Ukraine – abstained.

US representative Yaryna Ferencevych said before the vote that the resolution is “the reason this institution is losing its credibility”.

“Instead of focusing on genuine problems … this body is debating map projects from the 16th century,” she said.

What is Equal Earth?

Equal Earth was launched in 2018 by three cartographers – Bojan Savric of the Environmental Systems Research Institute, Tom Patterson of the US National Park Service, and Bernhard Jenny of Monash University.

“Equal Earth preserves the relative surface areas of continents and, as much as possible, shows their shapes as they appear on a globe,” Savric told the AFP news agency in 2025.

The UN resolution encourages governments and institutions worldwide to adopt the Equal Earth projection.

Will the world map actually change?

Friday’s resolution is not binding, but is intended to encourage changes to maps used by default around the world.

The UN said in its report that it is not banning the Mercator projection or imposing a replacement, but is merely encouraging the use of the Equal Earth projection.

Authorities say seven people are still missing after deadly explosions at a facility storing pyrotechnic material.

Two explosions at a military facility in the Bolivian city of Viacha have killed at least 10 people and injured dozens of others, authorities said.

The blasts occurred on Friday in an area used to store pyrotechnic material, about 30km (18 miles) from the administrative capital, La Paz, Bolivia’s Ministry of Defence said.

Viacha health director Rita Nebraska told a local television station that between 10 and 15 people were believed to have been killed and 62 others were injured.

She said 14 of the wounded were transferred to hospitals in La Paz, including a girl with third-degree burns.

Fireworks were stored at the military facility, but the cause of the explosions remains under investigation, police spokesman Roger Roca said. He added that seven people were still missing.

Firefighters warned that a heat source remained at the site, Nebraska said, urging residents to stay at least 150 metres away because of the risk of another explosion.

Police said dozens of nearby homes were damaged and that many civilians were injured by shattered glass.

About 50 civilians and six military personnel injured in the explosions “have been treated … by the different medical centres of Viacha”, Deputy Minister of Defence Ernesto Justiniano Urenda said in a statement.

An investigation is under way to determine the cause of the explosions, how the pyrotechnic material was stored and whether anyone was responsible, he added.

Footage posted on social media showed one of the explosions shattering windows in nearby buildings and sending debris into the air as thick black smoke rose from the facility.

Costa Rican President Laura Fernandez has suggested that United States military operations in the country’s territory could bring national security benefits.

But she added caveats. In an interview published on Friday, Fernandez emphasised to the news service Reuters that such measures would require approval from the national legislature.

She also added there were no plans in the works for US forces to operate in the country.

“It would obviously be very good for national security if it were about pursuing a common objective against transnational crime, transnational drug trafficking, transnational terrorism,” said Fernandez, a right-wing populist who took office in May.

Fernandez succeeded her mentor, former President Rodrigo Chaves, after a February election in which concerns about security and rising violence in the Central American country played a prominent role.

Though she ran on a tough-on-crime platform, Fernandez has said that she is not currently considering a state of emergency to address the problem.

Such emergency declarations typically suspend key constitutional rights, in favour of giving police or the military added powers to crack down on violence.

That model has been popularised under the right-wing president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele.

But critics point out that the states of emergency are meant to be short-term measures, not permanent ones. El Salvador has been under an emergency declaration since 2022, with the government extending it dozens of times.

Crime has become a top voter concern in Costa Rica. The Central American country’s homicide rate has doubled in the last decade, reaching 17.2 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2023.

That figure still places the country’s average well below many others in the region, but the change, partly attributed to increased drug trafficking activity, has startled many residents.

Fernandez’s remarks also reflect growing pressure from the US to reduce crime across the Western Hemisphere.

Since returning to office for a second term, US President Donald Trump has pushed to expand his country’s influence across Latin America, notably through military engagements.

Earlier this year, he launched the “Shield of the Americas”, also known as the Americas Counter Cartel Coalition (ACCC), to bring together right-wing leaders across the region to address drug trafficking.

Trump used the inaugural meeting to encourage Latin American governments to embrace a military-driven approach to crime, despite concerns about human rights.

He has also carried out and threatened military operations in sovereign countries, on the premise of combatting crime.

Some countries, such as Mexico, have baulked at the prospect of US military forces carrying out operations on their territory. Critics point to Washington’s long record of interventions and rights abuses in the region.

But other countries have been more receptive. US forces, for instance, have recently carried out military operations with the right-wing government of Ecuador, in an effort to lower crime rates.

Ecuador’s armed forces, however, have been accused of crimes such as torture and enforced disappearance, abuses that experts warn could be worsened by support from the US.

A July report from Human Rights Watch warns that the military collaboration between Ecuador and the US has already had dire consequences.

Ecuadorian fishermen have reported facing attacks at sea, and in one case, Ecuadorian soldiers allegedly detained and tortured four Colombian farm workers, using methods such as mock executions, beatings and electric shocks.

That incident reportedly took place during a raid near the border carried out with US support.

“The two countries’ security relationship is deepening at a moment when both governments have engaged in serious human rights violations fueled by their insistence on framing their confrontations with organised crime groups as a kind of war,” the report says.

Those raids come after Ecuadorian voters rejected a referendum last year that would have allowed foreign countries to set up military bases in the country.

Argentina’s president accused of political machinations as he eyes shifting US stance on Las Malvinas.

Argentine President Javier Milei has threatened sanctions against companies drilling for oil near the Falkland Islands.

In a televised address on Thursday, Milei said he would seek approval of urgent legislation to toughen penalties for companies operating near the islands without approval from Buenos Aires. Argentina claims sovereignty over the South Atlantic archipelago, which it calls Las Malvinas,

Milei’s hardened stance is viewed as a bid to revive support for his libertarian presidency, with the Falklands issue one of the few that cuts across political lines.

The sanctions would target the Sea Lion project, a deep-sea oil field about 140 miles (220 kilometres) north of the islands being developed by the UK’s Rockhopper Exploration and Israel’s Navitas Petroleum.

Milei said the sanctions would extend beyond the two firms to suppliers, shareholders and directors and that companies involved could be barred from operating in Argentina altogether.

Argentine war veterans and environmental lawyers have already filed a lawsuit seeking to halt the project, which Milei said violates a United Nations resolution urging Argentina and the UK to avoid unilateral action around the islands.

Britain’s Defence Secretary, Wes Streeting, said on Friday that Milei’s statement “tells us more about domestic politics in Argentina than it does about the Falkland Islands”.

“The Falklands are British because Falkland Islanders choose to be British,” he added. “Our commitment to the Falklands is absolute and unshakeable.”

London frequently refers to a 2013 referendum in which the roughly 4,000 islanders voted overwhelmingly to remain British in response to questions over sovereignty.

Rockhopper said in a statement that it does not expect the latest development to have a “material effect” on the Sea Lion project. The company hopes to start drilling this year, with production by 2028.

Milei’s revival of the dispute is seen as a bid to overturn domestic criticism of his relations with United States President Donald Trump, which some have called subservient.

However, the Argentine president hopes to show that the relationship has the potential to reap rewards, with Trump having hinted that Washington could alter its neutral stance on the Falklands to turn it in Argentina’s favour.

Trump recently declined to say whether the US would back the UK in a future Falklands conflict, criticising Britain instead for not doing more to support the US-led bombing campaign against Iran.

Britain and Argentina fought the 1982 war over the islands that killed more than 900 people from both sides. The conflict still shapes Argentina’s national identity and remains one of the few issues that unites its otherwise divided political class.

Milei has faced accusations from opposition MPs that he is exploiting the dispute for political gain as his approval ratings slump to 34 percent.

Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Buenos Aires, Teresa Bo, said the timing owes as much to domestic politics as to Washington.

“Milei’s approval ratings have been falling as Argentines feel the impact of his harsh austerity plan,” she said.

“And the Malvinas are one of the few issues capable of uniting Argentines across the political spectrum.”

Haitian foreign minister says renewal is necessary to ensure safety ahead of elections scheduled in December.

Haiti’s Foreign Ministry has called on the United Nations Security Council to renew the mandate of an internationally backed security force meant to tamp down the powerful armed groups controlling parts of the country.

On Thursday, Foreign Minister Raina Forbin reiterated her view that the Gang Suppression Force (GSF) needed to be fully deployed to her country, with support from the international community.

Its mandate, however, is slated to expire on September 30, unless the UNSC acts to extend its mission.

“We need technical, financial, logistical and safety support that is up to the challenge,” said Forbin. “We must now move from solidarity to action.”

Her remarks came at a meeting of the Organisation of American States (OAS), focused on the continued gang violence in Haiti.

Forbin gestured to a pressing need in her country. This year alone, in the three months from April to June, an estimated 1,408 people were killed in Haiti, with 656 injured. Much of that violence was attributed to gangs.

Haiti is also pushing ahead with long-postponed general elections. Critics, however, fear that the violence could disrupt the elections and weaken public confidence in the outcome.

Political instability in Haiti has been heightened since the assassination of former President Jovenel Moise in 2021. Armed groups have flourished in the vacuum, assuming control over large swaths of the capital of Port-au-Prince and displacing more than one million people.

Authorities have struggled to address either the out-of-control violence or the deeper causes of instability in the country, including poverty and government corruption.

The upcoming elections, the first in a decade, are currently scheduled to take place on December 13. But officials have questioned whether they will take place, given conditions on the ground.

OAS Secretary-General Albert Ramdin said that the regional body would deploy an Electoral Observation Mission to help support a credible vote, urging greater assistance for Haiti’s provisional electoral council.

He added that about one million identity cards must also be produced and distributed before voting can take place.

“Haiti is at a critical juncture,” Ramdin said in a statement on Thursday. “Our responsibility is clear: to strengthen security efforts, advance electoral preparations, fulfill existing commitments and ensure that international cooperation translates into tangible improvements in the daily lives of the Haitian people.”

But international assistance efforts have also drawn criticism, with many Haitians sceptical of outside interference in their country.

Officials within such international forces have also bemoaned a lack of steady support. Before the GSF, Kenya had led a Multinational Security Support (MSS) to support Haitian police, only to withdraw in April, after failing to meet its funding and deployment goals.

The UN Security Council voted to create the GSF task force in October 2025 as a replacement for the MSS. The mission was given a 12-month mandate.

The GSF is authorised to pursue “counter-gang operations to neutralize, isolate, and deter gangs”, either independently or in cooperation with Haitian police and its military.

Human rights advocates, however, note that such international support has been lacking for Haitians fleeing the violence.

Many Haitians have been forcibly returned to the country after fleeing for safety. A UN official informed an emergency meeting of the UNSC last week that nearly 200,000 people have been sent back to Haiti during the first eight months of this year.

That amounts to a 20,000 increase over the same period last year.

As many as 20 million children in 21 countries have experienced online sexual abuse or exploitation each year, according to new findings from the United Nations children’s agency, UNICEF.

More than one in five children aged 12 to 17 in countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Eastern Europe have been targeted on digital platforms, according to the UNICEF report released on Thursday.

Researchers surveyed 21,000 children aged 12 to 17 who used the internet across 21 countries between 2020 and 2021, and then again between 2024 and 2025. They also conducted in-depth interviews with 100 young people who have experienced childhood abuse.

Social media facilitated more than half of the abuse cases, according to UNICEF, which cautioned that figures could be inaccurate due to underreporting by children. Less than 1 per cent of all abusive incidents were reported to authorities, the researchers found.

Last week, US social media giant Meta agreed to a landmark $18bn settlement in a major US federal case accusing the company of endangering children. Meta has faced an avalanche of legal cases this year, most arguing that it has deliberately designed its platforms to be addictive and that they have harmed children. The company has now agreed to make major changes to the features of its social media platforms.

What are the key findings of the UNICEF report?

The report estimated that in the periods studied, more than 15 million children were exposed to unwanted sexual content, nine million were asked to engage in sexual conversations or share sexual images against their will, and four million children had sexual images of themselves shared without their consent.

UNICEF said the issue is compounded by the fact that children often don’t recognise abuse or know who to report it to, and fear repercussions if they do. Formal systems can feel distant, complex or intimidating, the report noted.

“The report reveals a painful reality. More than 20 million children across the countries studied were subjected to unwanted explicit sexual content or exploitation online, often in the digital spaces where they learn, play, and connect with friends,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. “These experiences cause profound emotional and mental distress. Many children suffer in silence, unsure where to turn for help. We cannot look away.”

Where was data collected?

Information for the report was based on nationally representative survey data collected between 2020 and 2025 from approximately 21,000 internet-using children from the following countries:

• Eastern and South Africa: Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania and Uganda 
• Southeast Asia: Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam
• Latin America and the Caribbean: Brazil, Colombia, the Dominican Republic and Mexico 
• Eastern Europe: Armenia, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia
• South Asia: Pakistan

Where are children being abused?

Abuse often begins in public spaces, such as in schools or local neighbourhoods, before moving to digital spaces which can further facilitate harm.

Social media and messaging platforms enable different stages of abuse, “including initial contact, relationship-building, sexual solicitation, image-sharing, coercion, blackmail and the continued circulation of sexual content”, the report said.

Sometimes abuse takes place solely online.

According to the report’s findings, more than 60 percent of cases occurred on social media platforms, with the majority on Facebook (50 percent), WhatsApp (29 percent), Instagram (24 percent), SnapChat (13 percent) and TikTok (12 percent).

Do children report abuse?

Most children do not seek help if they are being abused. Less than one percent of cases are reported to the police, a social worker or a helpline, while more than four in 10 cases not being disclosed to anyone at all.

“Children are not failing to report; they have correctly worked out that there is nowhere to report to,” Nighat Dad, executive director of the Pakistan-based Digital Rights Foundation, told Al Jazeera.

Dad, whose NGO works to provide safe online spaces in Pakistan, noted that incidents repeatedly occur online because of a “design problem – the message request, the move to a private chat, the reshare, the ability to return after being blocked”.

Many children minimise their experiences or do not recognise when they’ve been abused, she said.

Even when children do speak out, to a close friend, sibling, or parent, doing so may not necessarily stop the abuse or bring perpetrators to account.

UNICEF emphasised that its research interviews were the first time many of the children it interviewed had spoken to someone about the abuse they were subjected to.

Dad also cautioned that Pakistan, for example, is a “low-disclosure country” where notions of family “honour” and other cultural barriers prevent children from disclosing the harm they’ve experienced.

“A girl who speaks risks her phone, her schooling and sometimes her safety, and a boy is expected to cope in silence,” Dad said.

How does gender factor into online abuse?

Perpetrators often play on gender norms when exploiting children. Stigma and blame are used against girls to keep them silent, while boys are expected to cope alone, or threatened by perpetrators.

“Peer cultures and harmful norms around gender or masculinity can further normalise behaviours that cause significant harm, making abuse harder to recognise and address,” UNICEF noted.

What kind of impact does online sexual abuse have on children?

The repercussions are severe, UNICEF said: Children exposed to technology-facilitated sexual abuse and exploitation are four times more likely to have suicidal thoughts and to self-harm, along with higher levels of anxiety.

In Mexico or North Macedonia, for example, the risk of suicidal thoughts or behaviours was more than eight times higher among children who experienced abuse, while in Pakistan the risk of self-harm was more than seven times higher than average, the report found.

Abuse extends well beyond the digital sphere, seeping into children’s everyday lives, schooling and relationships.

What should be done about this?

UNICEF said the onus to protect children online must be placed on governments and technology companies, which must change how online spaces are designed and regulated.

It also highlighted that while children often take steps to protect each other, societies, schools and families must work to shift the burden of protection away from children.

Citing Meta’s recent settlement, Dad acknowledged that design changes, such as better age verification and parental controls, can and should happen.

“For years those of us working outside the US were told these defaults would break the product. Meta has now shown the product can change.”

A spokesperson for Meta told Al Jazeera, “This report is based on surveys from as far back as 2020, before we introduced the protections UNICEF recommends, like automatically defaulting teens into private accounts and preventing adults from messaging teens they’re not connected to.

“While the report doesn’t provide any specific evidence of abuse, we’ll continue to fight child exploitation aggressively across our apps and support law enforcement in prosecuting the criminals behind it.”

The spokesperson also pointed out that Meta-owned WhatsApp is a private messaging service rather than a social media platform. “We don’t have algorithms that make a piece of content more or less likely to be viewed, and you need someone’s phone number or exact username to connect with them for the first time.”

Snapchat and TikTok have not responded to requests for comment for Al Jazeera.

Ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has urged a United States judge to dismiss the criminal drug trafficking charges against him, arguing he should be immune from prosecution as the head of a sovereign country.

Maduro’s lawyer, Barry Pollack, made the appeal in a Manhattan district court on Wednesday.

His legal team has petitioned District Judge Alvin Hellerstein to dismiss the case, which will test the willingness of US courts to apply international law to criminal cases.

Maduro was abducted and imprisoned on January 3, after US President Donald Trump authorised a military raid in Caracas. The former Venezuelan leader, who has been held in a Brooklyn federal jail, has pleaded not guilty and is scheduled to go on trial on June 1, 2027, if his effort to dismiss the case is unsuccessful.

The principle that sitting heads of state are immune from prosecution abroad is a longstanding tenet of international law, seen as fundamental to diplomacy.

Judge Hellerstein had given Pollack a Wednesday deadline to file his motion to dismiss the case.

Pollack has argued that Hellerstein lacks jurisdiction, both because sovereign heads of state enjoy complete immunity and because the acts that Maduro is accused of would have been part of his official duties.

“This unprecedented prosecution violates the absolute immunity from criminal jurisdiction to which heads of state and foreign officials acting in their official capacities have been entitled for hundreds of years,” Pollack wrote.

Pollack added that Maduro was falsely accused and “vehemently denies” the allegations.

A spokesperson for the Manhattan US Attorney’s office, which brought the charges, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Maduro faces uphill battle

Legal experts have told the Reuters news agency that Maduro faces an uphill battle.

Washington has not recognised Maduro as Venezuela’s president for years, due to disputed elections. Courts tend to defer to the US president and his cabinet in disputes over who is recognised as a foreign country’s leader.

US criminal cases involving heads of foreign states are extremely rare, but precedent offers little encouragement for Maduro. In 1990, a federal judge in Miami rejected former Panamanian military leader Manuel Noriega’s attempt to assert head-of-state immunity, in part because he never officially held the title of president.

The US stopped recognising Maduro in 2019, when he was inaugurated for a second time after a 2018 election that critics say was rigged. Washington also called his 2024 re-election fraudulent.

Maduro says both votes were fair and has long accused the US of seeking his ouster to gain control of the South American country’s oil wealth.

Pollack, however, wrote that Washington’s assessment that Maduro lacked legitimacy was not relevant.

“Unlike in Noriega, the Executive Branch does not dispute that Mr Maduro was Venezuela’s head of state, but instead merely claims that, after 2019, he did not occupy that position legitimately,” Pollack wrote.

Venezuela run by Maduro’s vice president

Since Maduro’s abduction, his former vice president and socialist ally, Delcy Rodriguez, has run Venezuela as its interim leader.

She has also increased cooperation with the Trump administration. Last month, the two countries reached an unprecedented deal that would see the US take over about one-fifth of Venezuela’s oil reserves.

Pollack wrote that it was “incongruous” for the US to recognise Rodriguez, who was appointed by Maduro, and not Maduro himself. He pointed to statements by Rodriguez and officials in her government, made in January and February, indicating that they still considered Maduro Venezuela’s legitimate head of state.

Rodriguez’s government has since gone silent on the matter. Some murals of Maduro in Caracas have been painted over in recent months.

Prosecutors have until October 2 to respond to Maduro’s motion to dismiss the indictment, and Hellerstein will hold a hearing on the dismissal effort on November 17.

Argentina international Enzo Fernandez signs for Manchester City in a deal from Chelsea worth 125 million pounds ($169m).

Manchester City equalled the British transfer fee record for a player when they signed midfielder Enzo Fernandez from Chelsea on deadline day for deals in Europe.

The 25-year-old Argentina international, who was part of his country’s team that reached the 2026 World Cup final, had long been linked with a move away from Stamford Bridge.

The deal, however, was stretched to the final few minutes of the summer transfer window, which shut at 22:00 GMT on Tuesday.

City confirmed the deal with a video on the social media platform X, with the fee matching the 125 million pounds ($169m) that Liverpool paid Newcastle for Alexander Isak last summer.

The deal seemed to have been agreed upon between the clubs hours before the window shut, allowing for the player to complete a medical, but doubts about the deal started to emerge with the clock ticking on the deadline.

Fernandez himself had taken to his Instagram page ahead of the deadline on Tuesday to bid farewell to Chelsea fans.

“I want you to know that these have not been easy days for me. Writing this is not easy either. The truth is, I haven’t been in a good place,” Fernandez wrote in a message directed to fans of the London club.

“Three years ago, Cobham [the club’s training ground] and Stamford Bridge became home for me and my family.

“Believe me when I say that, from the moment I arrived, I became obsessed with winning and with bringing this club every trophy that its history deserves.

“We suffered, we cried, I got angry many times, but we also celebrated titles and unforgettable victories. Together, through the good times and the difficult ones.”

Fernandez was part of the Chelsea side that won the UEFA Conference League in 2025 before going on to claim the expanded FIFA Club World Cup that year.

City boss Enzo Maresca worked with Fernandez at Chelsea before taking on the daunting task of succeeding Pep Guardiola at the Etihad.

The Italian was a driving force behind the deal to land Fernandez after the recent sale of influential World Cup winner Rodri to Barcelona, as well as the departures of fellow midfielders Bernardo Silva, Nico Gonzalez and Tijjani Reijnders.

The 25-year-old will partner with England international Elliot Anderson and Moroccan Ayyoub Bouaddi in City’s revamped central midfield at a cost of more than 300 million pounds ($405.4m).

“Every player wants to be part of a club like this, because everyone knows how well-run City are,” said Fernandez in his statement released by City upon completion of the deal.

“This is a club built for success. If you look across the squad, City have quality in every area. I want to learn from my new teammates and become a better player.”

Fernandez, who signed for Chelsea from Benfica for 106 million pounds ($143.2m) in 2023, angered the Blues last season by expressing interest in joining Real Madrid, and was dropped for two matches as a result.

He scored twice in Argentina’s run to the World Cup final, including a stunning strike against England in the semifinal.

But his tournament ended with a red card in the final as Argentina were beaten 1-0 to miss out on retaining their status as world champions.

“He is a complete midfielder: technically gifted, hardworking, tenacious, and a goalscorer,” said City’s director of football Hugo Viana.

“To have played in two World Cup finals and won major trophies in multiple countries at just 25 says everything you need to know about his mentality, professionalism and technical quality.

“We are delighted to bring him here, and feel very strongly he will improve our team.”

Venezuela’s National Assembly voted to back the 65-billion-barrel oil deal, despite no details being publicly released.

United States Energy Secretary Chris Wright is set to travel to Venezuela, after the South American country has approved a deal that will see the US seize effective control of a large portion of its oil reserves.

An anonymous US official told reporters that Wright will travel to Venezuela on Tuesday, as the administration of President Donald Trump presses forward with the controversial energy deal.

“First and foremost, it furthers the national interest of the United States,” the official said, adding that it is “critically important” for the US to be able to “to buy oil at cost reliably”.

Details are still emerging about the arrangement, likened by critics to deals imposed by colonial powers.

Still, the interim government of Venezuelan President Delcy Rodriguez has defended the agreement as a boon to her country’s beleaguered economy. The National Assembly, led by her brother Jorge Rodriguez, voted to back the measure on Tuesday.

“Support for the binational energy treaty between the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and the United States of America … is approved,” Jorge Rodriguez said.

But even within the National Assembly, there was pushback. Some opposition lawmakers abstained from the vote and denounced the fact that the terms of the agreement have yet to be published.

“We need and are obliged to know what is written in the fine print,” lawmaker Luis Emilio Rondon said, calling for “the full and complete text of what has been agreed”.

While details about the arrangement are still emerging, the deal is slated to give the US access to 65 billion barrels of proven oil reserves in Venezuela, about one-fifth of the country’s total.

As part of the deal, the US is expected to enter into a partnership with a private company to extract fuel from 17 large Venezuelan oil fields. The lease over the oil fields will run 100 years, according to reports.

The White House confirmed on Monday that it is partnering with North American Blue Energy Partners (NABEP), helmed by Venezuelan businessman Alejandro Betancourt who is a former ally of the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

The agreement would create a new company, wherein the US Defence Department would take a 35 percent ownership stake and the State Department would have the right to buy 20 percent of the oil produced at cost.

Betancourt has faced criminal investigations for alleged money laundering in Spain and Switzerland.

But a US official who spoke anonymously defended the partnership, arguing that Betancourt is not facing any criminal charges in the US.

“I’m not nominating anyone for sainthood here,” the official said. Instead, the official framed the deal as “a geopolitical opportunity to secure fields that primarily had largely been under the influence of Chinese and Russian companies”.

Asked about the possibility of democratic elections in Venezuela, the official said they were not feasible in the immediate future.

Periods of transition, the official added, “almost invariably requires you to work with elements of the existing structure, even as you are creating a new one”.

Separately, oil giant Chevron is expected to sign an agreement to expand operations in Venezuela on Wednesday.

Venezuela’s energy sector has become dilapidated, with critics blaming heavy US sanctions and government mismanagement.

While the Trump administration has pushed for greater international participation in Venezuela’s oil sector, some companies have expressed scepticism about investing there.

The 65-billion-barrel oil deal was announced on August 27 in a post on Trump’s Truth Social platform.

His administration has exercised increasing influence over Venezuela’s government, since it launched a January 3 military operation to abduct and imprison Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

Trump and Maduro had frequently clashed. In the wake of Maduro’s abduction, Trump backed the socialist leader’s vice president, Rodriguez, to take over Venezuela’s government, holding her up as a model of cooperation.

Buenos Aires, Argentina – In the La Boca neighbourhood, home to the Boca Juniors stadium and a place which lives and breathes football, people are taking turns to be photographed in front of huge murals depicting football legend Lionel Messi holding the 2022 World Cup.

Across the city, monuments have been illuminated in Argentina’s blue and white in honour of the national hero, who has announced his retirement from international football after two decades during which he was transformed from young prodigy to national icon.

On Monday, football clubs around the country were singing songs for Messi and mounting banners showing him holding the World Cup he helped to win for his country. The Argentine Football Association is planning a farewell match to thank him for his extraordinary service.

Messi announced his departure from the national team this week on social media with a handwritten letter that he says he wrote two days after losing the World Cup final against Spain this year. He said he had “nothing else to give”.

“It was a decision that hurt – and still hurts deep down – but I understand that the time has come,” he wrote on Instagram on Monday.

While the news has not come as a total surprise – Messi is 39 years old and has recently lost his father, Jorge Messi, who played a crucial role in his career – fans are nevertheless devastated.

“We are going to continue loving Messi, not just for football but for his humility, for who he is; that’s the most important thing about Messi,” fan Sebastian Luna tells Al Jazeera. “It’s football; it’s over, but Messi will always be in our hearts”.

Some are calling for his number 10 jersey to be retired along with him. Alas, the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) rules won’t allow it – the team has already tried.

‘Like a bucket of cold water’

Messi played six World Cups for Argentina, and for years, he struggled with constant criticism for failing to win one.

The ⁠former Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain forward, who now plays ⁠for Inter Miami, has been repeatedly compared unfavourably with the football legend Diego Maradona – who also helped Argentina win one World Cup in 1986. But that all changed when Argentina won in Qatar, propelling Messi to the status of national symbol for all Argentinians across political and social divides. Now, they have two heroes to celebrate.

“I saw Maradona; I saw many players – Kempes – but Messi is superlative,” says fan Carlos Sciata in Buenos Aires. His retirement is “like a bucket of cold water, but well, it was something that could happen, especially after his father’s death. But we are going to miss him a lot. There is no one else like him,” he adds.

The record eight-time Ballon d’Or winner became his country’s record appearance maker and scorer, with 125 goals in 207 games, ⁠having transformed a complicated relationship with the national team into a story of redemption and triumph.

Tributes have poured in since his announcement on Monday.

Angel Di Maria, who played alongside Messi in their FIFA 2022 World Cup triumph in Qatar, said it was “so hard” to know fans will not be able to see the talismanic forward in the sky blue and white colours of Argentina any more.

“I only know that I was born in the right century to be able to see you, enjoy you, and on top of that, to share all these years with you on the national team,” Di Maria declared.

Rodrigo De Paul, Messi’s Argentinian teammate at his Major League Soccer club Inter Miami, applauded the record eight-time Ballon d’Or winner’s “unconditional love” for the country.

“Just thank you, the greatest of all time, thank you for making us so, so happy, you can’t imagine how many smiles you brought!!” he added.

“You are eternal.”

Enormous void

Despite hoping for a final triumph at the World Cup this year, Argentina lost 1-0 to Spain in the final.

Now, Argentina is preparing for what comes next.

Messi’s departure leaves an enormous void for football fans, and questions are being raised about the future of coach Lionel Scaloni and the team he built around the star player.

Off the pitch, Argentinian football is facing problems of its own, with the Argentine Football Association (AFA) under investigation amid serious allegations of corruption and financial irregularities.

But for today, it is all about saying goodbye at the end of an era. Messi represents a collective source of happiness in a country that has endured economic and political upheaval.

The one man who makes all Argentinians proud summed it up in his farewell message on Monday: “I leave with the ‌peace ‌of mind and pride of having given you – alongside my teammates – moments we once only dreamed of,” he wrote.

Rights groups warn that armed groups are increasingly recruiting children to their ranks through social media.

Three minors were among those killed in a Colombian military air strike on cocaine-trafficking rebels last week, authorities said, as President Abelardo de la Espriella intensifies operations against armed groups.

The August 27 bombing in the southern Guaviare department was the deadliest military operation since de la Espriella took office earlier this month. The National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences said that 10 people in total were killed in the operation. The Ministry of National Defence reported that two of the victims were 15 and another was 16.

The victims allegedly belonged to a dissident faction of the defunct Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, that rejected a 2016 peace agreement with the government.

De la Espriella, a right-wing leader and ally of United States President Donald Trump, said on Monday that another bombing in the same area killed eight members of a FARC dissident group led by commander Ivan Mordisco. It is not known whether any minors were among the dead.

“The bandits, who for decades have recruited minors to turn them into combatants or human shields, must pay for these crimes that violate International Humanitarian Law,” he wrote on X.

The Defence Ministry said on Monday that 24 suspected rebels have been killed in military operations since de la Espriella took office.

The strikes come as child recruitment by armed groups is again rising in Colombia, according to a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report published last week.

At least 1,500 children have been recruited by armed groups since 2021, with 625 cases reported in 2024, according to the report.

The watchdog said that criminal and rebel groups are using social media to recruit children, including to carry out increasingly dangerous tasks, such as operating drones loaded with explosives. They also reported that algorithms on platforms including Meta and TikTok “appear to have actively promoted” content encouraging children to join rebel groups.

“Armed groups in Colombia are recruiting children with impunity,” said Juanita Goebertus, HRW’s Americas director. “Protection systems are failing, and social media platforms have become a more effective recruiting ground.”

Meta and TikTok told HRW that they prohibit content promoting violence and had removed accounts flagged by the organisation.