Category Archives: Mexico

Lost Maya city with temple pyramids and plazas discovered in Mexico

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Archaeologists draw on laser mapping to find city they have named Valeriana, thought to have been founded pre-AD150

After swapping machetes and binoculars for computer screens and laser mapping, a team of researchers have stumbled on a lost Maya city of temple pyramids, enclosed plazas and a reservoir, all of which had been hidden for centuries by the Mexican jungle.

The discovery in the south-eastern Mexican state of Campeche came about after Luke Auld-Thomas, an anthropologist at Northern Arizona University, began wondering whether non-archaeological uses of the state-of-the-art laser mapping known as lidar could help shed light on the Maya world.

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Crash between cargo truck and bus in Mexico kills 19 and injures six

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Collision occurred when a container filled with corn fell off truck, causing bus carrying 25 people to overturn

A cargo truck collided with a passenger bus in northern Mexico on Saturday, leaving at least 19 people dead and six injured, authorities said.

Officials adjusted the death toll after initially reporting 24 deaths, citing information from first responders.

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Schools in Mexico have six months to ban junk food sales or face heavy fines

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Rules targeting fruit drinks, chips and artificial pork rinds come as UN calls child obesity in country an emergency

Schools in Mexico have six months to implement a government-sponsored ban on junk food or face heavy fines, officials said on Monday, as authorities confront what they call the worst childhood obesity problem in the world.

The new rules target products that have become staples for two or three generations of Mexican school kids: sugary fruit drinks, chips, artificial pork rinds and soy-encased, salty peanuts with chili.

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Spanish-language hockey announcer reveals he fled death threats in Mexico

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Jesus Lopez says radio post as play-by-play narrator for Las Vegas Golden Knights came after cartel threatened family

One of the few radio broadcasters to call professional hockey games in the US in Spanish embarked on his career after fleeing death threats from a notorious drug cartel in his native Mexico, he revealed in a new interview.

In a compelling conversation with the Nevada news station KSNV that was published Saturday, Jesus Lopez said the danger he endured before becoming the play-by-play narrator of Las Vegas Golden Knights games on the radio made calling the team’s Stanley Cup championship in 2023 one of the most memorable moments of his life.

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Mexico navy seizes more than eight tonnes of illicit cargo in record drugs bust

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Six boats among impounded assets worth at least $100m off country’s south-west coast, navy says, after arresting 23 people

Mexico’s navy has said it arrested 23 people in its largest-ever drugs bust, seizing over eight tonnes of illicit cargo in an operation off the country’s south-western Pacific coast.

“Navy personnel seized 8,361 kilograms of illicit cargo, which represents the largest amount of drugs seized in a maritime operation, unprecedented in history,” a statement from the ministry of the navy said on Friday.

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Mexican official who led war on drugs jailed for 38 years for accepting bribes

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Genaro Garcia Luna was accused of taking millions of dollars from the Sinaloa cartel for shielding members

Genaro Garcia Luna, the official who for several years led Mexico’s fight against the country’s violent drug trade, was sentenced to more than 38 years in US prison for accepting bribes from the cartels he was supposed to fight.

The US district judge Brian Cogan announced the sentence at a hearing in Brooklyn federal court on Wednesday.

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Migrant deaths in New Mexico have increased tenfold in last two years

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In 2020, nine bodies were found near US-Mexico border. In the first eight months of 2024, there were 108.

Ten times as many migrants died in New Mexico near the US-Mexico border in each of the last two years compared with just five years ago.

During the first eight months of 2024, the bodies of 108 presumed migrants, mostly from Mexico and Central America, were found near the border in New Mexico, according to the most recent data. Many of the bodies were discovered less than 10 miles (16km) from El Paso.

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Anger and disgust in Mexico over beheading of newly sworn-in city mayor

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Country’s new president to set out public security plans after murder of Alejandro Arcos Catalán in Chilpancingo

Mexico’s new government has been shaken by the murder of a city mayor who was attacked and beheaded days after taking office.

Alejandro Arcos Catalán was sworn in as the mayor of Chilpancingo, the capital of the southern state of Guerrero, on 30 September, a day before Mexico’s first female president, Claudia Sheinbaum, took power herself.

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Floridians warned ‘you are going to die’ if they don’t evacuate as Milton nears

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Thousands of evacuees clog highways as storm projected to hit Tampa Bay on Wednesday restrengthens to category 5

Florida’s western coast was making emergency preparations on Tuesday for the impact of Hurricane Milton, with thousands of evacuees clogging highways, contending with fuel shortages, and the mayor of Tampa warning residents bluntly “you are going to die” if they stayed behind.

The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said Milton would retain major hurricane status and “expand in size” as it approached Florida after passing the Mexican city of Mérida before swerving north towards the US.

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US supreme court will rule on $10bn suit Mexico filed against US gun makers

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Mexico argues negligence from makers such as Colt and Glock has led to gun trafficking to drug cartels and criminals

The US supreme court said on Friday it will decide whether to block a $10bn lawsuit Mexico filed against US gun manufacturers and distributors that argues that their negligent and illegal commercial practices have unleashed bloodshed in the country.

The lawsuit, filed in Boston in August, names Smith & Wesson, Barrett Firearms, Beretta, Colt and Glock, as well as Boston-area wholesaler Interstate Arms.

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At least 64 dead and millions without power after Helene devastates south-eastern US

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Flooding and landslides strike southern Appalachians after hurricane pummeled region and wreaked havoc

At least 64 people have been confirmed dead and almost 3.5 million were without power on Saturday, after strong winds and torrential rain from Hurricane Helene wreaked unprecedented havoc across large swathes of the south-eastern United States.

Historic flooding continued over parts of the southern Appalachians on Saturday, as first responders worked to reach stranded communities in trying conditions while local authorities began to assess the scale of the damage and displacement.

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At least 22 reported dead as storm John weakens over Mexico

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Residents from Michoacán to Oaxaca evacuate after storm ravages Pacific coastline, bringing floods and landslides

Residents in south-western Mexico on Saturday evacuated from homes flooded by the remnants of Hurricane John that ravaged the Pacific coastline for a week, bringing deadly floods and landslides that left 22 people reported dead.

In Guerrero, the worst-hit state and one of Mexico’s poorest, 18 people were killed, according to local media, many due to mudslides that crushed houses. To the south, local media reported three deaths in Oaxaca, and a young boy died in a river to the north in Michoacán state.

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Weather tracker: Flooding in Mexico and India as Europe prepares for cold spell

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Hurricane John is moving along Mexico’s north-east coast, while India experiences monsoon levels of rainfall

On Monday, Hurricane John hit the southern Pacific coast of Mexico, having intensified from a tropical storm to a category 3 hurricane in less than 24 hours.

John made landfall with sustained winds of 120mph, causing destructive storm surges. However, it quickly weakened back to a tropical storm, with sustained winds falling to 50mph by Tuesday morning. John moved relatively slowly, leading to more than 400mm of rainfall in a few days. This rain brought widespread flooding, leading to mudslides in which two people are reported to have died.

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‘Zombie’ storm Hurricane John regains strength as it returns to coastal Mexico

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South-western Mexico has seen mudslides, closures and at least five deaths before the storm’s return

Hurricane John has strengthened once again, hurling rain at Mexico’s south-western coast dotted with ports and tourist hotspots, an area already soaked by the slow-moving storm system over the past several days.

John has churned menacingly near the stretch of coastline since Monday, weakening and strengthening again as it affected major cargo ports, temporarily shutting local airports as well as claiming at least five lives, mostly due to mudslides.

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Mexico’s snub to King Felipe rekindles colonialism row with Spain

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President-elect refuses to invite Spanish king to her inauguration after lack of apology for crimes of conquest

A festering diplomatic row between Mexico and Spain has been reopened after the Latin American country’s leftwing president-elect refused to invite King Felipe to her inauguration because of his failure to apologise for crimes committed against Mexico’s Indigenous people during the conquest 500 years ago.

In 2019, Mexico’s president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador wrote to King Felipe and Pope Francis, calling for them to apologise for the “abuses” of the conquest and the colonial period.

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Biden declares emergency as Florida braces for Tropical Storm Helene

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Storm developing over Caribbean could become category 4 hurricane by Thursday as evacuations ordered in Florida

Joe Biden declared a state of emergency for Florida on Tuesday afternoon as the state braced for the prospect of Tropical Storm Helene swelling into a powerful hurricane heading for the state’s Gulf coast.

The US president ordered federal assistance to supplement state and local responses. The action authorizes the Department of Homeland Security and Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) to coordinate all disaster relief efforts to alleviate hardship and suffering, the White House said.

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Two die in mudslide as Hurricane John makes landfall in Mexico

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Tropical storm intensified to category 3 hurricane before weakening as slow pace threatens severe flash flooding

Two people have died after former hurricane John barreled into Mexico’s southern Pacific coast, blowing tin roofs off houses, triggering mudslides and toppling scores of trees.

It came ashore near the town of Punta Maldonado late on Monday as a category 3 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 120mph (190km/h). It weakened back to tropical storm status early on Tuesday with maximum sustained wind speeds of 50mph (85km/h) and was expected to weaken rapidly.

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Hurricane John poised to slam Mexico’s Pacific coast with 100mph winds

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Chiapas, Oaxaca and Guerrero brace for impact as ‘life-threatening’ category 2 storm to make landfall Tuesday

Mexico’s southern coast was bracing for flash floods and storm surges as Hurricane John quickly intensified into a category 2 storm on Monday afternoon.

Originally forecast as a tropical storm, Hurricane John “rapidly strengthened” into a category 2 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 100mph (160kmh), according to the US National Hurricane Center, which warned of “damaging hurricane-force winds, life-threatening storm surge and flash flooding”.

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Former CIA officer sentenced to 30 years for sexually assaulting scores of women

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Brian Jeffrey Raymond of California was found guilty of drugging and raping women in his government apartments

A former CIA officer who drugged and sexually assaulted dozens of women was sentenced to 30 years in prison on Wednesday, the Department of Justice announced.

Brian Jeffrey Raymond, 48, of La Mesa, California, drugged more than two dozen women and performed nonconsensual sexual acts or made sexual contact with at least 10 women, the justice department said in a press release.

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London’s fourth plinth artwork aims to ‘unite trans community around the world’

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Trafalgar Square piece by Mexican artist Teresa Margolles is made of masks depicting faces of transgender and non-binary people

A towering cuboid made of more than 300 masks depicting the faces of transgender and non-binary people, this year’s fourth plinth artwork, has been described as a piece designed to “unite the trans community around the world”.

The Mexican artist Teresa Margolles was flanked by members of her country’s trans community as Mil Veces un Instante (A Thousand Times in an Instant) was unwrapped in Trafalgar Square on Wednesday.

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