Paraguay Pitches Argentina, Brazil on Natural Gas Pipeline Plan
Paraguay is lobbying Argentina and Brazil to sign agreements signaling their political support for a proposed natural gas pipeline linking the three countries, according to a senior official in the landlocked South American nation.
Mauricio Bejarano, deputy minister of mines and energy, is optimistic that memorandums of understanding can be signed this year and a task force created to formally study Paraguay's plan for a 1,050-kilometer (652 mile) conduit.
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Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Supreme Court strikes down Mexico's lawsuit against US gun manufacturers
The United States Supreme Court has rejected a lawsuit from the government of Mexico that argued American gun manufacturers like Smith & Wesson failed to prevent illegal firearm sales to cartels and criminal organisations. In one of a slew of decisions handed down on Thursday, the top court decided that the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act shielded the gun manufacturers from Mexico's suit. The court's decision was unanimous. Writing for the nine-member bench, Justice Elena Kagan explained that even 'indifference' to the trafficking of firearms does not amount to willfully assisting a criminal enterprise. 'Mexico's complaint does not plausibly allege that the defendant manufacturers aided and abetted gun dealers' unlawful sales of firearms to Mexican traffickers,' Kagan wrote (PDF). 'We have little doubt that, as the complaint asserts, some such sales take place — and that the manufacturers know they do. But still, Mexico has not adequately pleaded what it needs to: that the manufacturers 'participate in' those sales.' The Mexican government's complaint, she added, 'does not pinpoint, as most aiding-and-abetting claims do, any specific criminal transactions that the defendants (allegedly) assisted'. The case stems from a complaint filed in August 2021 in a federal court in Boston, Massachusetts. In that initial complaint, the Mexican government — then led by President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador — argued that the sheer volume of firearms illegally smuggled into its country amounted to negligence on the part of gun manufacturers. Those firearms, it said, had exacted a devastating toll on Mexican society. The country has some of the highest homicide rates in the world, with the United Nations estimating in 2023 that nearly 25 intentional killings happen for every 100,000 people. Much of that crime has been credited to the presence of cartels and other criminal enterprises operating in Mexico. The Igarape Institute, a Brazil-based think tank, estimated that Mexico's crime cost the country nearly 1.92 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) from 2010 to 2014. The US is the largest arms manufacturer in the world — and also the largest source of illegally sourced firearms. The stream of firearms that pour into Mexico and the broader Latin America region, for instance, has been dubbed the 'iron river'. Nearly 70 percent of the illegal guns seized in Mexico from 2014 to 2018, for instance, were traced to origins in the US, according to the Department of Justice. That has led countries like Mexico to demand action from the US to limit the number of firearms trafficked abroad. In its lawsuit, Mexico targeted some of the biggest names in gun manufacturing in the US: not just Smith & Wesson, but also companies like Beretta USA, Glock Inc and Colt's Manufacturing LLC. But the firearm companies pushed back against the lawsuit, arguing they could not be held responsible for the actions of criminals in another country. The Supreme Court itself cast doubt on some of Mexico's arguments, including the idea that the gun manufacturers designed and marketed their products specifically for cartel buyers. 'Mexico focuses on production of 'military style' assault weapons, but these products are widely legal and purchased by ordinary consumers. Manufacturers cannot be charged with assisting criminal acts simply because Mexican cartel members also prefer these guns,' Justice Kagan wrote. 'The same applies to firearms with Spanish language names or graphics alluding to Mexican history,' she added. 'While they may be 'coveted by the cartels,' they also may appeal to 'millions of law-abiding Hispanic Americans.'' On Thursday, an industry trade group, the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), celebrated the Supreme Court's decision as a 'tremendous victory' against an unfair charge. It had filed an amicus brief in support of the defendants in the case. 'For too long, gun control activists have attempted to twist basic tort law to malign the highly-regulated U.S. firearm industry with the criminal actions of violent organized crime, both here in the United States and abroad,' the group's senior vice president, Lawrence G Keane, said in a statement. Keane added that he and others in the firearm industry felt 'sympathetic to plight of those in Mexico who are victims of rampant and uncontrolled violence at the hands of narco-terrorist drug cartels'. But he said the issue was about 'responsible firearm ownership', not the actions of gun manufacturers.
New York Times
2 hours ago
- New York Times
Donald Trump's travel ban undermines Gianni Infantino's World Cup vision
Gianni Infantino could scarcely have been more emphatic when taking to the stage at the FIFA Congress in Asuncion, Paraguay, last month. A meeting had been held with the White House Task Force in the preceding days, and assurances had seemingly been given that hardening immigration policies would not carry a price for the looming Club World Cup and the 2026 World Cup. Advertisement 'The world is welcome in America,' said Infantino, FIFA's long-serving president. 'Of course, the players, of course, everyone involved, all of us, but definitely also all the fans.' Infantino might well have delivered that promise in good faith, but it has not taken long for that cheerfully optimistic assessment to appear misguided. Any notion of the world being welcome must now carry an awkward asterisk. A travel ban against 12 countries was signed by U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday, halting movement into the United States for those deemed to be from high-risk territories. Citizens of Afghanistan, Myanmar (Burma), Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen will be banned from entering the U.S. starting on Monday. 'Nothing will stop us from keeping America safe,' Trump said in a video announcing the executive order. And least of all, it seems, a World Cup that the U.S. will share with neighbours Canada and Mexico next summer. Although the new ruling will continue to permit entry to athletes, coaches and support staff who attend major sporting events — initially, only the World Cup and Olympics were specifically cited, but the White House clarified to The Athletic on Thursday that the Club World Cup and Concacaf's Gold Cup also fall into this category — fans will not be granted entry. Only 'immediate relatives' of those involved can hope to be exempt. Trump has outlined his reasons, rooted in national security, but the policy shift has given FIFA and Infantino a headache. Iran are already assured of a place at the 2026 finals, extending a run that has seen them travel to Brazil (2014), Russia (2018) and Qatar (2022). A fourth consecutive qualification was secured in March with a 2-2 draw against Uzbekistan. Head coach Amir Ghalenoei and his players, including Inter Milan forward Mehdi Taremi, will be allowed entry into the United States, but the first indications are that their supporters will not. Fans of Haiti, whose only previous World Cup experience came at the 1974 tournament in Germany, would also be subject to travel bans if their team was to continue its promising qualification campaign in Concacaf, as would Libya should they upset the odds and qualify as one of Africa's nine teams when that process is concluded in the autumn. Advertisement Infantino now finds himself in a diplomatic pickle. A close relationship with Trump and his administration was supposed to have its benefits, smoothing the path towards the first of 104 games to be played in the U.S., Canada and Mexico a year and a week from now. The bond was projected on multiple occasions, with Infantino even a guest at Trump's inauguration. He delayed his arrival at the aforementioned FIFA Congress as he wanted to be with Trump on his visits to Qatar and Saudi Arabia – a decision that caused members of the European delegation to leave the event early in protest. But now Infantino is left confronting a policy that threatens to undermine the values of a World Cup he has so often championed. 'It's obvious when it comes to FIFA competitions, any team, including the supporters and officials of that team, who qualify for a World Cup need to have access to the country, otherwise there is no World Cup,' Infantino told reporters in 2017, a year that had seen Trump ban travel from a number of predominantly Muslim countries during his first term in office. The inference was that any country unwilling to open its doors to all supporters could be prevented from hosting a World Cup. Fans of all competing nations were welcome in Russia and then in Qatar, two countries without America's reputation for freedom and openness. Iran were among those backed by thousands of their supporters at both tournaments. Infantino had been confident that the U.S. would be no different, but the guarantees he told the world that FIFA had last month have since disappeared. Trump indicated there is time for this to change ahead of next summer with the list of banned nations 'subject to revision based on whether material improvements are made.' That the Club World Cup and Gold Cup, both starting this month, have now been included in the list of 'major' sporting events might also indicate a willingness to add flexibility to a hardline stance. Advertisement It is nevertheless a problem that will take some spinning. Either Infantino knew the travel ban and its implications were in the post, but just did not want to let on in his public comments last month, or Trump's capricious nature has caught another supposed ally off guard. The latter feels more probable but still does not reflect well on Infantino after all the meetings, the gifts and photo opportunities of the last six months. Infantino remains that most voraciously political animal who maintains politics have no place in football's harmonious little world. Yet Trump's gear shift on immigration is a reminder about how that vision remains as fanciful as ever.
CBS News
2 hours ago
- CBS News
Milford, Massachusetts teen held by ICE faces first deportation hearing Thursday
Marcelo Gomes, the Milford, Massachusetts teenager detained by ICE last weekend, will have his first deportation hearing Thursday afternoon. Gomes, an 18-year-old junior at Milford High School, is originally from Brazil. He has been held at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office in Burlington since his arrest on May 31. Agents were looking for his father, but when they found Gomes's student visa had expired several years ago, he was taken into custody. The introductory hearing at 1 p.m. in Chelmsford Thursday will start the deportation process. Gomes will appear via video from Burlington. The judge could decide that Gomes can be released from custody during the process. If he's granted bail, and can post it, he would be allowed to leave the Burlington office. Gomes met with his two attorneys in person for the first time Wednesday evening. They said he described the conditions in the Burlington office as "abhorrent" and that he's been sleeping on the floor and has had little food. ICE wanted to move Gomes to a detention center in Central Falls, Rhode Island, where they said a bed was available, but his attorneys opposed it and a judge agreed. Gomes was driving to volleyball practice with some of his teammates Saturday morning in his father's car when he was pulled over by several ICE agents. Gomes was detained immediately because of the lapsed visa. His attorney Robin Nice said Gomes came to the U.S. lawfully from Brazil when he was 7 years old and should not be detained. Gomes's father, Joao Paulo Gomes-Pereira, is still wanted by ICE. He appeared in a video with his family earlier this week, pleading for ICE to release his son.
