SAO PAULO/BRASILIA (Reuters) - Antonio Galvan, head of soybean grower lobby Aprosoja, is part of a group of 10 people under investigation for their alleged role in a conspiracy against Brazilian institutions including the Supreme Court, according to court records seen by Reuters. According to authorities, the people under investigation have incited the population through social networks to practice criminal and violent acts on the eve of the Sept. 7 national holiday, when Brazilians observe Independence day. Supporters of President Jair Bolsonaro have called for protests at the Supreme Court that day, and officials fear they might try to force their way in to occupy the building. Brazil s powerful farm lobby helped elect Bolsonaro in 2018, supporting his law-and-order stance, his opposition to environmental protections and indigenous land claims. Galvan is head of an organization representing some 240,000 farmers. The federal police carried out 29 search and seizure warrants on Friday,
By Sangmi Cha and Minwoo Park SEOUL (Reuters) - Jin-hui, a cream-coloured Pomeranian, was buried alive and left for dead in 2018 in the South Korean port city of Busan. No charges were filed against its owner at the time, but animal abusers and those who abandon pets will soon face harsher punishment as South Korea plans to amend its civil code to grant animals legal status, Choung Jae-min, the justice ministry s director-general of legal counsel, told Reuters in an interview. The amendment, which must still be approved by parliament, likely during its next regular session in September, would make South Korea one of a handful of countries to recognise animals as beings, with a right to protection, enhanced welfare and respect for life. The push for the amendment comes as the number of animal abuse cases increased to 914 in 2019 from 69 in 2010, data published by a lawmaker s office showed, and the pet-owning population grew to more than 10 million people in the country of 52 million. S
By Steven Grattan NECOCLI, Colombia (Reuters) - After traveling for more than a year by ship, bus and car from Africa in hope of reaching the United States, Simon Gyamfi found himself stuck in a remote tourist resort on the coast of Colombia with thousands of other migrants. The 42-year-old carpenter, a Christian, fled his home in Ghana because of a dispute with his late wife s Muslim family, he said, and took a month-long ocean voyage to Brazil. The closure of borders due to the coronavirus pandemic left him stranded there for months. Now, after the frontiers finally reopened, he has made his way by road to the northern Colombian town of Necocli, a gateway for migrants heading northward into Central America. Every year, thousands of migrants pass through the small town, looking to catch a boat across the Gulf of Uraba toward the jungles of the Darien Gap on the isthmus of Panama. There, people smugglers guide groups across the wild, road-less region, one of the most treacherous barrie