Page 12 - Mexico

Mexico's poverty rate falls to 43.5% in 4 yrs as remittances almost double

The poverty rate in Mexico has declined from 49.9 per cent of the population in 2018 to 43.5 per cent in 2022, according to a study published Thursday by the country's poverty analysis agency. The study by the agency, known as Coneval, showed a decline in a key measure of poverty over the four-year period. The reduction means there were 5.7 million fewer people who reported incomes below the market basket for basics like food and clothing. It was unclear what was behind the reduction in poverty. President Andrs Manuel Lpez Obrador took office in December 2018, and since then has more than doubled the country's minimum wage. The minimum wage was equivalent to about $4.50 per day in 2018, and now buys about $12, in part due to the appreciation of the Mexican peso against the dollar. But remittances the money sent home by Mexicans working abroad have also almost doubled in the same period, going from around $33.5 billion in 2018 to an annual rate of about $60 billion in 2023, based

NCB busts 'biggest' darknet LSD cartel operating in India, arrests 3

The Narcotics Control Bureau on Tuesday claimed to have busted the "biggest" darknet-based LSD cartel operating in India with the seizure of more than 13,000 blots and Rs 26 lakh in cash and the arrest of three persons. The cartel named 'Zambada' has a "high volume of business and supply chain" of this hallucinogenic category of drug and is also operating in the UK, the US, South Africa, Canada, Russia, Spain, Portugal, Greece and Turkiye, NCB Deputy Director General (operations and enforcement) Gyaneshwar Singh said. The cartel was being operated by young educated men in the age bracket of 21-25 years, he said. It is the second LSD trafficking cartel busted by the agency in the last about three months, officials said. The federal anti-narcotics agency had seized a cache of 15,000 LSD blots, the highest-ever catch in one operation, and arrested half-a-dozen people in June. LSD or lysergic acid diethylamide is a synthetic chemical based-drug and is categorised as a hallucinogen. It

Hundreds of migrants in southern Mexico form group to head toward US

Nearly a thousand migrants that recently crossed from Guatemala into Mexico have formed a group to head north together in hopes of reaching the border with the United States. The group, made up of largely Venezuelan migrants, walked along a highway in southern Mexico, led by a Venezuela flag with the phrase Peace, Freedom. SOS. The men, women, children, and teenagers were followed by Mexican National Guard patrols. Migrants said they crossed into Mexico illegally through a river dividing the two countries. They said they decided to organise the group and start out because many had been sleeping on the street and had run out of money to buy food. We just want to move forward, to fulfill our American dream and work, because we're all workers here, one Venezuelan, Roseli Gloria said while taking a brief rest along the highway. She carried a backpack and a piece of rolled-up foam for sleeping. She said she had been in Mexico for a week before joining the group. Participants in the gro

Gas platform explosion off Mexico kills 2 workers, injures 6, 1 missing

An explosion and fire have destroyed an offshore gas platform in the Gulf of Mexico, while two workers died, six were injured and one was missing, officials said. The state-owned oil company, Petroleos Mexicanos, said the disaster happened on the Nohoch gas transfer platform that it operates on Friday. It said the dead and missing workers were employed by a subcontractor. It did not specify who the six injured worked for. The company's statement said seven ships evacuated a total of 321 workers from the platform. Photos distributed by the company showed several fire boats pumping streams of water onto the still-smoking platform. Octavio Romero, director of Petroleos Mexicanos, said the platform "was totally destroyed" but that several other nearby, linked platforms did not catch fire. There appeared to be little risk of an oil spill, though it was unclear whether the accident might force the company to increase flaring of gas, a process of burning excess gas that pumps large amount

After Mexico, Brazil, India signs MoU on electoral cooperation with Panama

The Election Commission and the Electoral Tribunal (ET) of Panama on Friday signed a memorandum of understanding in Panama City to establish institutional framework for their ongoing cooperation in the field of election management and administration. With this, the Election Commission (EC) has expanded its electoral collaboration with more nations. Earlier, it had signed similar MoUs with Brazil, Chile and Mexico. A three-member EC delegation led by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar held interactions with Presiding Magistrate, Electoral Tribunal of Panama, Alfredo Junc Wendehake, on strengthening collaboration and knowledge exchange between the two election management bodies. Eduardo Valdes Escoffery, the first vice presidential magistrate, and Luis A Guerra Morales, the second vice presidential magistrate, of the ET of Panama were also present, the poll panel said. Speaking on the occasion, CEC Kumar said that the MoU reflects the EC's ongoing commitment to engage with

China ramps up flood control preparations amid growing El Nino threat

China on Tuesday ramped up its flood control and disaster relief efforts to safeguard people's lives and properties amid the growing El Nino threat

Canada joins US in hearings against Mexico's proposed ban on GM corn

Canada said on Friday it will join a trade dispute panel that the United States requested over Mexico's proposed limits on imports of genetically modified corn. The US government asked that the dispute process be formally opened on June 2, after talks with the Mexican government failed to yield results. The panel of experts would have about half a year to study the complaint and release its findings. Trade sanctions could follow if Mexico is found to have violated the US-Mexico Canada free trade agreement. Mexico wants to ban GM corn for human consumption, and perhaps eventually ban it for animal feed as well, something that both its northern partners say would damage trade and violate USMCA requirements that any health or safety standards be based on scientific evidence. Canada shares the concerns of the US that Mexico's measures are not scientifically supported and have the potential to unnecessarily disrupt trade in the North American market, Canada's Ministry of Agriculture and

45 bags filled with human remains found in Mexico; search continues

Authorities stated that some of the human remains found in the bags matched the characteristics of some of the missing young people

US sanctions Chinese, Mexican companies over pill making machinery

The United States Treasury sanctioned more than a dozen people and businesses in China and Mexico Tuesday that allegedly helped provide machines used to make counterfeit prescription drugs in the latest efforts to confront trafficking of the deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl. Those targeted for sanctions were all involved in one or another with the sale of pill press machines, molds and other equipment drug cartels use to produce counterfeit pills. "Treasury's sanctions target every stage of the deadly supply chain fuelling the surge in fentanyl poisonings and deaths across the country," Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson said in a statement. Among those sanctioned were Chinese pill press supplier Youli Technology Development Co., Ltd. of Huizhou, China and three affiliated Chinese citizens. Treasury said the company had shipped pill press machinery to people in the US involved in making counterfeit pills. The US sanctions also .

India, Mexico 'Best Structural Stories' in emerging markets: Global X

India is also in "prime spot" to benefit from the shift in supply chains away from China, he said

Country-based quota behind long Green Card wait time for India: Official

The long and agonising wait for green cards for people from India, China, Mexico and the Philippines is mainly due to the country-based quota system in its allocation which can be changed only by the US Congress, a senior official has said. A Green Card, known officially as a Permanent Resident Card, is a document issued to immigrants to the US as evidence that the bearer has been granted the privilege of residing permanently. The per-country caps are numerical limits on the issuance of green cards to individuals from certain countries. Immigration law provides for approximately 140,000 employment-based green cards to be issued each year. However, only seven per cent of those green cards can go to individuals from a single country annually. Douglas Rand, the Senior Advisor to the director of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), said the annual limit established by Congress on family-sponsored preference green cards is 2,26,000 for the whole world while the ..

Kia to build new electric vehicle plant in Mexico, likely to invest $1 bn

Hyundai Motor and Kia aim to sell around 2 million and 1.6 million all-electric vehicles, respectively, by that year

At least 3 killed, others wounded in New Mexico shooting, says police

At least three people were killed and several others, including two police officers, were wounded on Monday in a northwestern New Mexico community before law enforcement shot and killed the suspect, authorities said. The shootings occurred at around 11 am in Farmington, a city of about 50,000 people that serves as a modern-day trading post to the adjacent Navajo Nation reservation and is a supply line and bedroom community to the region's oil and natural gas industry. The city's police department said in a Facebook post that at least three members of the public were killed and that officers confronted and killed a suspect at the scene. It also said two officers, including one of its own and a State Police officer, were wounded and were in stable condition at the San Juan Regional Medical Centre. "The suspect's identity is unknown and there are no other known threats at this time," police said, adding that city, San Juan County and State Police were involved. Police did not release

2 people killed, 5 others injured in US-Mexico border city shooting

Two people were killed and five others injured in a shooting in Yuma, a US-Mexico border city in Arizona, authorities said.

US often didn't screen workers at Mexico border migrant centres: Watchdog

The federal Health and Human Services Department often failed to perform required background checks on workers at emergency holding centres for migrant children who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border alone during a surge in 2021, the agency's internal watchdog has found. The inspector general's report released Thursday raises questions about how better-prepared authorities will be for the next emergency, especially with coronavirus pandemic-related asylum restrictions scheduled to end this coming week and expected to result in more arrivals. The report, based on a sampling, found that 200 workers did not have background checks for child abuse or neglect and only 29 did, though 20 of those were not done in a "timely manner." Investigators found 174 did not have FBI fingerprint background checks while 55 did, but 25 of those were not done in a "timely manner." Checks against the Justice Department's sex offender registry, which were required less often, were not done on 42 workers and wer

Police arrests Deepak Boxer: All you need to know about Delhi's most-wanted

Boxer has been heading the infamous Gogi gang after its leader, Jitender Gogi, was shot dead by rivals inside Rohini Court in 2021

As their population explodes, Colombia plans to fly hippos to India, Mexico

Colombia is planning to fly dozens of its "cocaine hippos" -- the descendents of late drug trafficker Pablo Escobars private menagerie

Mexico's economy logs 3% growth in 2022 with push from 3 sectors: Report

The Mexican economy expanded by 3 per cent in 2022, thanks to its three major productive sectors, the National Institute of Statistics and Geography said in a preliminary report

Tech Mahindra opens Google Cloud Delivery Center in Mexico's Guadalajara

Facility will enable customers to modernise infrastructure and manage workloads

Joe Biden was paid $1 mn a year to teach but never taught a single class

US President Joe Biden was employed by the University of Pennsylvania after leaving the vice presidency and was paid one million dollars a year as a professor but never taught a class