US man dies after being electrocuted in jacuzzi in Mexico resort town

Death of man and injuries suffered by a woman were due to ‘possible electric discharge’ when both were in the jacuzzi

An American man has died after being electrocuted in a jacuzzi at a resort in Mexico, local officials have confirmed.

The 43-year-old man, identified by police as Jorge N, died after being electrocuted in a jacuzzi he was sharing with a woman. The woman, identified by police as Lizeth N, was taken to the US for medical treatment for her life-threatening injuries.

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Maya twins myth may have influenced child sacrifices, study suggests

​DNA testing on 64 skeletons shows related boys were probably chosen as offerings in ancient city of Chichén Itzá

Genetic analysis of the skeletons of 64 infant boys who are thought to have been sacrificed in the ancient Maya city of Chichén Itzá more than a thousand years ago may shed light on the symbolic role twins played in the myths and rituals of their civilisation.

In 1967, the remains of more than 100 children were found in a repurposed chultún, or underground cistern, near the sacred sinkhole at the ceremonial centre of the pre-Columbian city, which was one of the largest and most influential Maya settlements between AD600 and 1000.

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Battlefield deaths from global conflicts hit 30-year high, study finds

Since 2021, the overall number of deaths, including of civilians, has risen to the highest level in three decades, Peace Research Institute Oslo reports

Deaths from civil conflicts and battles across the world over the past three years have risen to the highest level in three decades, according to a new report.

Research by the Peace Research Institute Oslo (Prio) showed that while the number of battlefield deaths fell compared with the previous two years, since 2021 the overall number of conflict-related deaths, including of civilians, has risen to the highest level in 30 years.

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‘Greed’: John Deere rolls out hundreds of US layoffs and sends work to Mexico

Agricultural equipment company plans to move production out of the country in move condemned by workers

US workers at John Deere plants have accused the company of acting on “greed” as America’s most famous agricultural equipment company plans to shift more production to Mexico.

The company – famous for its green tractors and leaping deer logo – has announced layoffs of several hundred workers over the last several months with more layoffs planned for later this year.

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Biden’s migrant order is recipe for chaos at US border: ‘It will only cause suffering’

With high levels of people seeking asylum, and after failed attempts to pass reforms, Biden has presented his most aggressive restrictions yet

Joe Biden on Tuesday signed an aggressive new immigration order suspending asylum rights, signalling that “securing the border” was a central tenet of his re-election bid.

At the southern US border, the policy is set to cause chaos and hardship for those seeking the protection of the United States.

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Mexico’s Claudia Sheinbaum poised to secure supermajority after historic win

The leader of the Morena party could pass legislation and budgets unopposed through congress

Claudia Sheinbaum seems poised to cement her historic victory as Mexico’s first female president with a supermajority in congress that would let her party pass legislation and budgets unopposed – and perhaps even change the constitution without need for compromise.

Sheinbaum, a 61-year-old climate scientist and former mayor of Mexico City, won the presidency with 59.5% of the vote, according to a rapid sample count by Mexico’s electoral authority.

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Mexico elects Claudia Sheinbaum as its first female president in landslide victory

Former Mexico City mayor’s Morena party also on track for possible two-thirds super majority in Congress

Claudia Sheinbaum has won a landslide victory to become Mexico’s first female president, inheriting the project of her mentor and outgoing leader, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, whose popularity among the poor helped drive her triumph.

Sheinbaum, a leftwing climate scientist and former mayor of Mexico City, won the presidency with between 58.3% and 60.7% of the vote, according to a rapid sample count by Mexico’s electoral authority.

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British ambassador to Mexico sacked after pointing gun at embassy employee

Clip on social media showed Jon Benjamin aiming assault rifle at colleague in region rife with drug gangs

The British ambassador to Mexico was quietly removed from his post earlier this year after he pointed an assault rifle at a local embassy employee, it emerged when footage of the incident was posted on social media.

The Financial Times reported that Jon Benjamin was on an official trip to Durango and Sinaloa, two states with strong organised crime groups, when he looked down the gun’s sights at a colleague, who gestures uncomfortably in the five-second clip.

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Amlo promised to transform Mexico, but he leaves it much the same

Many voters are better off, but the Mexican president failed to solve bigger problems like violence and corruption

Six years ago, Andrés Manuel López Obrador broke Mexico’s traditional parties’ grip on power to become president, promising to reshape a country wracked by inequality, corruption and violence.

The self-described “Fourth Transformation” – which put López Obrador’s project on a level with the Mexican Revolution and the war of independence – has fallen short of its lofty goals. But López Obrador’s approval ratings remain rock solid, at about 65%, and his party, Morena, seems sure to retain the presidency.

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Stage collapses at Mexico campaign rally leaving nine dead

Wind causes part of stage to fall at event for presidential candidate Jorge Álvarez Máynez in San Pedro Garza García

Nine people were killed and at least 50 others injured when a stage structure collapsed at a campaign event for the Mexican presidential candidate Jorge Álvarez Máynez, local officials have said.

Mexico’s president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, said a gust of wind caused the accident in the city of San Pedro Garza García in the northern state of Nuevo León.

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Monkeys ‘falling out of trees like apples’ in Mexico amid brutal heatwave

High temperatures in Mexico have been linked to dozens and perhaps hundreds of deaths of howler monkeys

It’s so hot in Mexico that howler monkeys are falling dead from the trees.

At least 83 of the midsize primates, who are known for their roaring vocal calls, were found dead in the Gulf coast state of Tabasco. Others were rescued by residents, including five that were rushed to a local veterinarian who battled to save them.

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Fans queue round the block as tiny Mexican taco stand wins Michelin star

There was more business than usual and some bemused regulars after El Califa de León was rewarded for its ‘exceptional’ offering

El Califa de León, an unassuming taco joint in Mexico City, measures just 3 metres by 3 metres and has space for only about six people to stand at a squeeze. Locals usually wait for 5 minutes between ordering and picking up their food.

All that changed on Wednesday, however, when it became the first Mexican taco stand ever to win a Michelin star, putting it in the exalted company of fine dining restaurants around the world, and drawing crowds like it has never seen.

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Teen who texted 911 rescued after she was trafficked to California from Mexico

In texts received in Spanish and translated to English, the girl tried to describe her location, though she did not know where she was

Authorities rescued a 17-year old girl after she was trafficked to Ventura county, California, from Mexico two months ago and texted 911 for help.

On Thursday, the Ventura county sheriff’s office announced that on 9 May authorities rescued the girl after she sent messages to 911. The text message correspondence began with a call taker at a 911 communication center, according to the sheriff’s office, which added that the messages were received in Spanish and translated into English.

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Mayoral candidate and five others killed in shooting at campaign rally in Mexico

Young girl was among six people killed in gunfire in an area of Chiapas where shootings have become common and widespread

A mayoral candidate and five other people have been killed when gunmen opened fire at a campaign rally in the violence-racked southern Mexico state of Chiapas.

State prosecutors said a young girl was among the six people killed in the gunfire late on Thursday, along with the mayoral candidate Lucero López Maza. Two others were injured, they said.

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Painting by surrealist painter Leonora Carrington fetches $28m at auction

Late British painter’s Les Distractions de Dagobert, ‘the apotheosis of Carrington’s oeuvre’, was inspired by Hieronymus Bosch

The auction record for British surrealist Leonora Carrington was smashed at Sotheby’s in New York on Wednesday night, marking a new high point for the artist, who lived in Mexico for most of her life and was until her death in 2011 one of the last surviving participants of the surrealist movement of the 1930s.

Carrington’s 1945 painting Les Distractions de Dagobert was auctioned for $28m with fees, soaring over a presale estimate of $12m-$18m after 10 minutes of bidding. The sum fetched is nine times Carrington’s previous auction record of $3.2m.

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Weather tracker: Geomagnetic storms trigger northern lights

Strong solar flares produce breathtaking displays across Europe and the US, with southern lights illuminating skies in New Zealand

Night skies were lit up around the world by a spectacular display of the northern lights on Friday, with sightings seen widely across Europe, the US and even New Zealand (as the southern lights). The lights occur when charged particles emitted from the sun reach the Earth’s atmosphere and collide with gases around the magnetic poles triggering breathtaking night-time auroras.

In the US, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued a “severe” G4 geomagnetic storm event, but by Friday evening it announced conditions had reached “extreme” G5 levels, the highest level on the space weather scale, for the first time since October 2003.

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Vulnerable Biden tries to straddle both sides with new asylum rules

The president is under pressure from Republicans and progressives as humanitarian crisis builds and immigration remains a key voter issue

The Biden administration has said its proposed changes to asylum standards, unveiled on Thursday, that would fast-track some deportation will enhance security and speed up a backlog of cases amid record numbers of arrivals at the US-Mexico border.

The changes will also, by Biden’s own admission, be limited in scope and only affect a “small” number of people who have been convicted of serious crimes or may pose a national security risk.

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Disease and hunger soar in Latin America after floods and drought, study finds

Climate chaos is threatening food production, trade and lives, says World Meteorological Organization

Hunger and disease are rising in Latin America after a year of record heat, floods and drought, a report by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has shown.

The continent, which is trapped between the freakishly hot Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, probably suffered tens of thousands of climate-related deaths in 2023, at least $21bn (£17bn) of economic damage and “the greatest calorific loss” of any region, the study found.

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Parents of murdered Perth brothers say world a ‘darker place’ after Mexico tragedy

The parents of Callum and Jake Robinson travelled to Mexico to identify the bodies of their children

The parents of two Australian brothers murdered while on a surfing trip in Mexico say the world has become a darker place since their deaths.

Originally from Perth, Callum Robinson, 33, and his brother Jake, 30, were on a surfing trip with their American friend Carter Rhoad, 30, in the state of Baja California when they failed to check in to a pre-arranged accommodation near the city of Ensenada.

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Missing surfers died from gunshots after attempted robbery, Mexican officials say

Families of two Australians and American who went missing in Baja California have identified the bodies, officials say

Mexican authorities have identified the three dead bodies found in a well in Mexico as Australian brothers Callum and Jake Robinson and their travelling companion, Jack Carter Rhoad.

The trio, who went missing in the Pacific coast state of Baja California, were killed with gunshots to the head, Mexican authorities said on Sunday.

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