A man has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder after a sword attack in Canada’s Quebec City on Halloween night. Carl Girouard, 24, was also charged with five counts of attempted murder.

Police said an initial probe found that Mr Girouard, who wore medieval clothes during the attack, was not affiliated with any extremist groups. The two victims were named as François Duchesne, 56, and Suzanne Clermont, 61. Five people were injured. The attack took place in the historic Old Quebec neighbourhood of the French-speaking capital of the Quebec province. Police chief Robert Pigeon said the attack was thought to have been premeditated, adding that the suspect, from the Montreal suburbs, came to the city with “the intention of doing the most damage possible”.

“Dressed in medieval costume and armed with a Japanese sword, everything leads us to believe he chose his victims at random,” Mr Pigeon said.(BBC)…[+]

The number of fires blazing in Brazil’s Amazon region in October 2020 was more than double those in the same month last year, satellite data suggests. The Institute of Space Research said there were 17,326 fires in the Amazon, compared to 7,855 in October 2019. Satellite data also suggests that there was a record number of fires in the Pantanal wetlands last month.

Campaigners say the government is failing to stop the rise in fires, but the government denies it is to blame. In July, the government imposed a 120-day ban on setting fires and deployed the army to badly hit areas, but the latest figures from Brazil’s National Institute of Space Research (Inpe) suggest the measures have not curbed the blazes. Data released by Inpe on Sunday suggests there were 2,856 fires in the Pantanal region in October, the biggest monthly figure since records began over 30 years ago.(BBC)…[+]