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'We cannot give up': Hong Kong journalists navigate fear, surveillance, and shrinking space

3 May 2026 at 06:56
Hong Kong’s government on Friday slammed foreign media and press freedom groups, rejecting claims of a crackdown on press freedom as “slander” after jailed media tycoon Jimmy Lai was awarded a free speech prize in Germany. Press freedom in the city has sharply declined since a 2020 National Security Law clamped down on dissent. Journalists face visa denials, surveillance, self-censorship and legal threats, while independent outlets struggle to survive.  

Middle East war live: Trump says he 'can't imagine' Iran's latest peace plan is acceptable

3 May 2026 at 05:06
US President Donald Trump said Saturday he was going to review a new Iranian peace proposal but said he doubted it would be acceptable, saying that Tehran had "not yet paid a big enough price".  Trump’s comments came after Iran's Tasnim and Fars news agencies said Tehran had submitted a 14-point proposal to mediator Pakistan. Follow our liveblog for all the latest updates.

  • ✇El País in English
  • Fraudsters are fleecing Americans like never before Isaías Alvarado
    Scammers targeting U.S. victims have perfected their methods. They pretend to be relatives in distress, lawyers about to file lawsuits, salespeople with incredible offers, or feared immigration officers. They’ve gone so far as to open call centers, develop strategies, write scripts, hire English-speaking operators, and demand ever-increasing results from them. They also use artificial intelligence and have accomplices who collect and send money. Many have achieved their goals of defrauding peopl
     

Fraudsters are fleecing Americans like never before

3 May 2026 at 04:00

Scammers targeting U.S. victims have perfected their methods. They pretend to be relatives in distress, lawyers about to file lawsuits, salespeople with incredible offers, or feared immigration officers. They’ve gone so far as to open call centers, develop strategies, write scripts, hire English-speaking operators, and demand ever-increasing results from them. They also use artificial intelligence and have accomplices who collect and send money. Many have achieved their goals of defrauding people with almost business-like precision.

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© CEDIDA

US authorities are collaborating with agencies in each country to locate and arrest suspects.

Internal purges and external tutelage: Venezuela’s Chavista regime rebuilds its faith on Maduro’s ruins 

3 May 2026 at 04:00
A woman holds a sign with images of Nicolás Maduro and former First Lady Cilia Flores, during the peace march in Caracas on April 9, 2026. 

For months, Venezuela’s Chavista regime prepared to die, but not to emerge badly wounded. Of all the scenarios considered during Donald Trump’s offensive against Nicolás Maduro, the president being captured alive wasn’t on anyone’s radar. “I had never held a pistol or a rifle in my life... and I prepared myself [for] months to face any situation that might arise. But [I didn’t expect] this one,” says a prominent member of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), founded by former president Hugo Chávez, who governed from 1999 until his death in 2013.

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A woman holds a sign with images of Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores at the peace march.Jorge Rodríguez at the Legislative Palace in Caracas, Venezuela, on April 10, 2026. Dairobi Orta Brito, pictured in downtown Caracas, Venezuela, on April 15, 2026. 
  • ✇El País in English
  • Beaten and persecuted: The hell of three women who broke with the Mennonites in Argentina Delfina Torres
    “This is the last trip. I ask for your forgiveness, but get me there quickly.” Elizabet Bueckert whispered these words to her chestnut horse at dusk on January 17, 2026. Her cart sped along the dirt roads of the Orthodox Mennonite colony of La Nueva Esperanza (“The New Hope”), in the rural Argentine province of La Pampa. That day, she had spent hours away from her husband’s house, sheltering with her two young daughters in a shed, attempting to avoid his insults. The 33-year-old woman decided th
     

Beaten and persecuted: The hell of three women who broke with the Mennonites in Argentina

3 May 2026 at 04:00

“This is the last trip. I ask for your forgiveness, but get me there quickly.” Elizabet Bueckert whispered these words to her chestnut horse at dusk on January 17, 2026. Her cart sped along the dirt roads of the Orthodox Mennonite colony of La Nueva Esperanza (“The New Hope”), in the rural Argentine province of La Pampa. That day, she had spent hours away from her husband’s house, sheltering with her two young daughters in a shed, attempting to avoid his insults. The 33-year-old woman decided that the moment she had fantasized about so many times had finally arrived.

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Traditional cart and tourist van in the La Nueva Esperanza Colony, La Pampa.Milk jugs and clothes drying in the sun, in the La Nueva Esperanza neighborhood.The dress that Elizabeth Bueckert wore on the day she left the colony.

Photography:

Anita Pouchard Serra

Design and layout:

Mónica Juárez Martín and Ángel Hernández

Visual editing:

Gladys Serrano and Mónica González

Translation:

Avik Jain Chatlani

© Anita Pouchard Serra (Anita Pouchard Serra / El Pais)

Katherina, 30, fled the Mennonite community and now lives with her children in a hotel room in Santa Rosa.

© Anita Pouchard Serra (Anita Pouchard Serra / El Pais)

María has been granted legal custody of her 15- and 12-year-old daughters, but they are currently living in the colony.

© Anita Pouchard Serra (Anita Pouchard Serra / El Pais)

The children of Katherina and María in Santa Rosa, La Pampa.

© Anita Pouchard Serra (Anita Pouchard Serra / El Pais)

Santa Rosa Lagoon, La Pampa, where Katherina and her children live.

Amitav Ghosh, writer: ‘The doomsday shelter industry in the United States has become very big’

3 May 2026 at 04:00
Amitav Ghosh, at the CaixaForum in Madrid, last week.

The Bengali writer Amitav Ghosh, 69, says that lifeboat ethics is a racist theory that claims someone already aboard a lifeboat has the right to stop others from climbing in to avoid sinking.

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Amitav Ghosh during the interview in Madrid.Amitav Ghosh on April 24.Amitav Ghosh in Madrid.

Amid questions of US interventionism in Mexico, 25-story Ciudad Juárez surveillance tower comes under scrutiny

3 May 2026 at 04:00
Interior of the Sentinel Tower in Ciudad Juárez, on January 15, 2026.

Its detractors call it the Eye of Sauron, and its defenders, “the guardian of Chihuahua.” The Sentinel Tower is a multi-million-dollar investment, a borderland’s bet on security. It’s the tallest building in Ciudad Juárez, that which best represents the fear of mass surveillance. And this week, it became a new battlefield in the political war between Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum’s left-wing administration and the state government of the right-leaning political party PAN’s Governor Maru Campos. At 25 stories, the tower has come under scrutiny after the brutal car crash in which two CIA agents and two officials who were part of Chihuahua’s State Investigation Agency were killed. The death of the foreign agents, whose presence was unauthorized by the federal government, has led to the latest battle between the Morena administration and one of the few states still governed by an opposition party in Mexico. Since then, there’s been one question on everyone’s minds: how far is Donald Trump’s reach via operatives in Mexico, thanks to the country’s state governments?

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‘Water‑sowing’: When science and ancestral knowledge join forces to fight drought in the Venezuelan Andes

3 May 2026 at 04:00
'Water sower' Ligia Parra and farmer Jorge Luis Santiago hold hands during the water sowing ceremony in Venezuela.

© Andrea Hernández Briceño

Ligia Parra, who leads the “water sowing” efforts, walks toward a new wetland that farmers have discovered in the Andean páramo of Venezuela. These ecosystems absorb rainwater to feed rivers and lagoons, regulate the climate, combat drought, and preserve biodiversity at more than 3,000 meters above sea level.

© Andrea Hernández Briceño

During the ritual on March 28, a group of farmers, parents, and children forms a circle around the spring to begin the “water‑sowing” ceremony. It is an environmental conservation strategy that protects the Andean ecosystem and secures water supply from two fronts: ecological measures and community‑spiritual practices.

© Andrea Hernández Briceño

Children, their parents, and several farmers watch as Ligia Parra, the water‑sowing practitioner, sprinkles brown sugar onto the soil during the ceremony, standing beside Caroly Higuera.

© Andrea Hernández Briceño

Crops in Venezuela’s páramos, mainly in Mérida and Táchira, are centered on cold‑climate vegetables such as potatoes, carrots, garlic, and strawberries. They are grown at very high altitudes.

© Andrea Hernández Briceño

Ligia Parra has spent 24 years protecting, tending, and reforesting the wetlands, while also preserving the ancestral knowledge of Venezuela’s Indigenous communities.

© Andrea Hernández Briceño

During the ceremony, Parra and the children offer green coconut, sea salt, and flowers to Mother Earth. “Water‑sowing used to be practiced in secret,” she recalls. Andean communities are deeply religious and tend to reject any activity that falls outside Christian norms. “My nonna [grandmother] taught me how to do it. She was of Misintajeo Indigenous origin.”

© Andrea Hernández Briceño (EL PAÍS)

Camilo Peña rings the small bell as part of the ceremony. The high‑páramo region of the Venezuelan Andes was once a site for hunting and for the magical‑mystical rituals practiced by pre‑Hispanic Indigenous communities.

© Andrea Hernández Briceño

Biologist Raquel Romero closes her eyes during the “water‑sowing” ritual. She also works to protect the micro‑watersheds that supply local communities. She explains that the cattle grazed in the páramo trample the wetlands, compact the soil, and affect the diversity of the plants that capture mist to retain water.

© Andrea Hernández Briceño

According to participants, the “water‑sowing” rituals help connect communities with the wetlands and protect the páramo ecosystem from drought.

© Andrea Hernández Briceño

Antonella Ramírez arranges the flowers in the wreaths for the “water‑sowing” offerings in Misintá, Venezuela.

© Andrea Hernández Briceño

“For us farmers it’s even more important, because if we have soil and seeds but no water, there is no life,” says Néstor Monsalve. In the image, a child carries a basket with the flower wreaths, honey, and sea salt used in the ceremony.

© Andrea Hernández Briceño

Children in the community are included in the ritual so they can learn to care for and respect the environment.

© Andrea Hernández Briceño

Farmers become “guardians” of the water to foster collective awareness of the value of wetlands. In the image, water‑sowing practitioner Ligia Parra.

© Andrea Hernández Briceño

Farmer Jorge Luis Santiago washes his hands before lunch after taking part in the ceremony.

© Andrea Hernández Briceño

The water‑sowing ritual is only held during the waxing crescent moon.

Petra Collins, the photographer who inspired the ‘Euphoria’ aesthetic

3 May 2026 at 04:00

If you see a photograph taken by Petra Collins, it will likely look familiar, even if you don’t specifically associate it with a particular person. The Canadian artist’s work has become a key reference point in Gen Z aesthetics: a pioneering and intimate portrait of the female gaze that addresses taboos and anxieties, from eroticism to violence.

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© Ronan Gallagher / Gucci

The artist Petra Collins in an undated photograph.
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