DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A soldier for Yemen's exiled government opened fire on Saudi troops as they exercised in eastern Yemen, killing two of them and wounding another in a rare insider attack during the kingdom's nearly decadelong war there, officials said Saturday. The assault in eastern Hadramawt province comes as a yearslong cease-fire between Saudi Arabia and Yemen's Houthi rebels largely has held despite the militants' ongoing attacks against shipping in the Red Sea corridor. While the Houthis did not claim the attack, at least one Houthi official praised it as being "the beginning and an indication of a harsh future awaiting the invaders." Meanwhile, U.S. warplanes carried out new strikes targeting Houthi positions that lasted into early Sunday morning, the American military said. The strikes come after the militants likely shot down yet-another American reconnaissance drone over the country. The attack on the Saudi troops took place Friday night in Seiyun, a city some 500 kilometers east of Sanaa. As troops worked out at a Saudi-led base there, the soldier opened fire, killing an officer and a noncommissioned officer, the state-run Saudi Press Agency said, citing a military statement. "The Joint Forces Command underscores that this 'Lone Wolf' cowardly attack does not represent the honorable members of the Yemeni Ministry of Defense," the statement added. The dead and the other wounded Saudi solider have been brought back to the kingdom, it added. Aidarous al-Zubaidi, the leader of Yemen's successionist Southern Transitional Council, identified the soldier who carried out the attack as belonging to the First Military Region, which is based out of Seiyun. Police in the area published pictures of the soldier, saying there was a 30-million-Yemeni-rial reward for information leading to the soldier's arrest. That's worth around $15,000 on the black market. Authorities offered no motive for the attack. Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, the militant group's Yemen branch, long has operated around Hadramawt. However, the group did not immediately claim the attack. A recent United Nations expert report has said that the al-Qaida group and the Houthis have begun to "coordinate operations directly with each other." The Houthis meanwhile did not claim the attack either. However, Houthi official Hamid Rizq praised the attack in a message on the social platform X, claiming it came from "the feeling of oppression" over Saudi troops being stationed in the area. "The heroic operation is the beginning and an indication of a harsh future awaiting the invaders," Rizq wrote. Yemen has been mired in a decadelong war since the Houthis swept into Sanaa from their northern strongholds in September 2014. A Saudi-led coalition entered the war on behalf of Yemen's exiled government in 2015. The war further internationalized, with Iran backing the Houthis with weapons and support that cemented the conflict into a yearslong stalemate. The war has killed more than 150,000 people, including fighters and civilians, and created one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters, killing tens of thousands more. A cease-fire that expired in October 2022 largely has held in the time since, however, even as the Houthis have seized on the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip and Israel's invasion of Lebanon. On Saturday night, Houthi-run media reported U.S. airstrikes targeting areas around Sanaa. The airstrikes continued into Sunday morning and also included sites in Amran province just outside of the capital, the Houthis said. The rebels offered no immediate damage assessment from the strikes. The U.S. military later told The Associated Press on Sunday it conducted airstrikes "on numerous Iran-backed Houthi weapons storage facilities within Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen." It described the sites as housing advanced conventional weapons used to target military and civilian ships in the Red Sea corridor but offered no other immediate details. The U.S. military has targeted radar stations, military bases and drone and missile launch sites since beginning its ongoing airstrike campaign against the Houthis in January. 

Paris — Paris police said Sunday that 4,000 officers and 1,600 stadium staff will be deployed for a France-Israel soccer match to ensure security in and around the stadium and on public transportation a week after violence against Israeli fans in Amsterdam.  France and Israel are playing in a UEFA Nations League match Thursday.  “There's a context, tensions that make that match a high-risk event for us,” Paris police chief Laurent Nuñez said on French news broadcaster BFM TV, adding authorities “won't tolerate” any violence.  Nuñez said that 2,500 police officers would be deployed around the Stade de France stadium, north of the French capital, in addition to 1,500 others in Paris and on public transportation.  “There will be an anti-terrorist security perimeter around the stadium,” Nuñez said. Security checks will be “reinforced,” he added, including with systematic pat-downs and bag searches.  Nuñez said that French organizers have been in contact with Israeli authorities and security forces to prepare for the match.  Israeli fans were assaulted last week after a soccer game in Amsterdam by hordes of   young people apparently riled up by calls on social media to target Jewish people,   according to Dutch authorities. Five people were treated at hospitals and dozens were arrested after the attacks, which were condemned as antisemitic by authorities in Amsterdam, Israel and across Europe.  On Sunday, Dutch police detained several people for taking part in a demonstration in central Amsterdam that had been outlawed following the violence targeting Israeli fans, a local broadcaster reported.  French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau confirmed Friday that the France-Israel match would go ahead as planned.  “I think that for a symbolic reason we must not yield, we must not give up,” he said, noting that sports fans from around the world came together for the Paris Olympics this year to celebrate the “universal values” of sports. 

Tehran, Iran — Iran's foreign ministry is calling for an arms embargo on Israel and the expulsion of its arch-foe from the United Nations, following a deadly strike in Syria.  Foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said Tehran "strongly condemned the aggressive attack carried out by the Zionist regime against a residential building" in the Damascus area.  The strike on an apartment Sunday belonging to the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, killed nine people including a Hezbollah commander, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said.  Baghaei called for measures against Israel, including "an arms embargo" and its "expulsion from the United Nations."  Regional tensions have soared since the outbreak of the Gaza war in October 2023, triggered by the Palestinian Hamas militant group's unprecedented attack on Israel.  The conflict has drawn in Tehran-aligned militants in the region and included rare direct attacks between Iran and Israel.  Since Syria's civil war broke out in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria, mainly targeting army positions and fighters including from Hezbollah.  Israeli authorities rarely comment on the strikes but have repeatedly said they will not allow arch-enemy Iran to expand its presence in Syria.

Dakar, Senagal — The CEO and two executives of Australian gold mine Resolute in Mali have been arrested while in Bamako to discuss ongoing disputes with authorities, the company confirmed Sunday. CEO Terence Holohan and his two colleagues "were in Bamako to discuss with mining and tax authorities the company's business practices in Mali generally and to make progress on ongoing claims against Resolute, which continues to claim they are unfounded," Resolute said in a statement posted on its website. "Unexpectedly, the three employees were arrested after the end of these meetings on Friday," she reported. The three executives were taken the same day to the unit specializing in the fight against corruption and economic and financial delinquency — and were placed in police custody in a case of alleged forgery and damage to public property, AFP learned Saturday from a judicial and industrial source. Four employees of the Canadian company Barrick Gold, also in dispute with the Malian authorities, were detained for several days at the end of September, then released. Foreign mining companies are subject to increased pressure from the junta that came to power by force in 2020 and pays particular attention to the juicy revenues of the mining industry. "Resolute is working to reach an agreement with the Malian government that secures the long-term future of the Syama gold mine; at the same time its top priority remains the safety and well-being of its employees," the company said. The executives benefit from the support of the embassies and consulates of the United Kingdom and other countries present in Mali, she said. Resolute holds 80% of the shares in the subsidiary that owns the Syama mine, with the remaining 20% in the hands of the Malian state, according to the company's website. The Malian authorities have made the fight against corruption and the restoration of national sovereignty over natural resources their mantras. Mali, one of the poorest countries in the world, faces jihadis and a multidimensional crisis, and is also one of the leading gold producers in Africa. Gold contributes to a quarter of the national budget and three quarters of export revenues. The increased pressure on foreign companies coincided with the junta's strategic pivot toward Russia.

Taipei, Taiwan — Taiwan on Monday said it had closed a probe into pagers that exploded in Lebanon in September and caused a deadly blow to Iran-backed Hezbollah, saying no Taiwanese citizens or companies were involved. Israeli media reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed responsibility for the attack during a cabinet meeting, telling ministers that senior defense officials and political figures were opposed to the detonation of the pagers but that he went ahead with the operation. Security sources have previously said the pagers carried the name of Taiwan-based Gold Apollo, a company which has asserted that it did not make them. Taiwan's government has also said the pagers were not made in Taiwan. Taipei prosecutors, who were investigating the case, said in a statement the AR-924 pager model that exploded in Lebanon was manufactured, traded, and shipped by a firm called Frontier Group Entity, and made outside of Taiwan. They added, however, that Gold Apollo had authorized the company to use the Apollo trademark. "There is no evidence indicating that any domestic manufacturers or individuals were accomplices in the relevant explosions, violating the Counter-Terrorism Financing Act, or engaging in other illegal activities," the prosecutors said in a statement. "No concrete evidence of criminal activity has been discovered in this case, nor have any specific individuals been implicated in any criminal activity, following a comprehensive investigation." Prosecutors have previously confirmed that they questioned Gold Apollo's president and founder Hsu Ching-kuang and a woman called Teresa Wu, the sole employee of a company called Apollo Systems Ltd. In their statement, the prosecutors said Wu acted as a liaison with Frontier, but there was no evidence she "had prior knowledge or participated in any conspiracy or collaboration related to the explosion incidents." The prosecutors said there was some information they did not know, including the exact identities of the Frontier employees Wu communicated with. It said one person was called "T" and was presumably the head of Frontier, while another was called "M" and was presumably the sales director. Gold Apollo told Reuters it had also just seen the prosecutor’s statement, and that it was not immediately able to comment further.

Guddiga Doorashooyinka iyo xuduudaha dowlad goboleedka Jubaland ayaa doortay Guddoomiye, Guddoomiye kuxigeen iyo xoghaye. Guddiga doorashada…

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Madaxweynaha Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky ayaa ku dhawaaqay isniintii in ciidamada Ukraine ay isku dhacyo kula jiraan…

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Xildhibaanada kumetela Puntland Baarlamaanka federaalka ayaa soo saaray warsaxaafadeed ay sheegeen in aysan qeyb ka aheyn…

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Jawiga siyaasadeed ee Soomaaliya ayaa muddo dheer ahaa mid jaahwareersan  oo cakiran. Saddex xilli ayaa la…

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In Somalia’s complex political landscape, the tenure of Prime Minister Hamse Abdi Barre presents a compelling…

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Ra’iisul Wasaaraha Xukuumadda Jamhuuriyadda Federaalka Soomaaliya, Mudane Xamsa Cabdi Barre, ayaa gelinkii danbe ee Salaasada ku…

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boston — A federal judge on Tuesday sentenced a Massachusetts Air National Guard member to 15 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to leaking highly classified military documents about the war in Ukraine.  Jack Teixeira pleaded guilty earlier this year to six counts of willful retention and transmission of national defense information under the Espionage Act following his arrest in the most consequential national security case in years. Brought into court wearing an orange jumpsuit, he showed no visible reaction as he was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani.  Before being sentenced, he apologized for his actions.  "I wanted to say I'm sorry for all the harm that I brought and caused," Texeira said, referencing the "maelstrom" he caused to friends, family, and anyone affected overseas. "I understand all the responsibility and consequences fall upon my shoulders alone and accept whatever that will bring," he said, standing as he addressed the judge.  Afterward, Teixeira hugged one of his attorneys and looked toward his family and smiled before he was led out of court.  The security breach raised alarm over America's ability to protect its most closely guarded secrets and forced the Biden administration to scramble to try to contain the diplomatic and military fallout. The leaks embarrassed the Pentagon, which tightened controls to safeguard classified information and disciplined members found to have intentionally failed to take required action about Teixeira's suspicious behavior.  Earlier in Tuesday's hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jared Dolan argued that 200 months — or a little more than 16 1/2 years — was appropriate given the "historic" damage caused by Teixeira's conduct that aided adversaries of the United States and hurt the country's allies. He also said that the recommendation by prosecutors would send a message to anyone in the military who might consider similar conduct.   "It will be a cautionary tale for the men and women in the U.S. military," Dolan said. "They are going to be told this is what happens if you break your promise, if you betray your country. ... They will know the defendant's name. They will know the sentence the court imposes."  But Teixeira's attorney Michael Bachrach told the judge in court Tuesday that 11 years was sufficient.  "It is a significant, harsh and difficult sentence, one that will not be easy to serve," Bachrach said. "It will serve as an extreme deterrent to anyone, particularly young servicemen. That is enough to keep them deterred from committing serious conduct."  'His intent was to educate' Teixeira, of North Dighton, Massachusetts, had pleaded guilty in March to six counts of the willful retention and transmission of national defense information under the Espionage Act. That came nearly a year after he was arrested in the most consequential national security leak in years.  The 22-year-old admitted that he illegally collected some of the nation's most sensitive secrets and shared them with other users on the social media platform Discord.  When Teixeira pleaded guilty, prosecutors said they would seek a prison term at the high end of the sentencing range. But the defense wrote in their sentencing memorandum earlier that the 11 years is a "serious and adequate to account for deterrence considerations and would be essentially equal to half the life that Jack has lived thus far."  His attorneys described Teixeira as an autistic, isolated individual who spent most of his time online, especially with his Discord community. They said his actions, though criminal, were never meant to "harm the United States." He also had no prior criminal record.  "Instead, his intent was to educate his friends about world events to make certain they were not misled by misinformation," the attorneys wrote. "To Jack, the Ukraine war was his generation's World War II or Iraq, and he needed someone to share the experience with."  Prosecutors, though, had countered that Teixeira does not suffer from an intellectual disability that prevents him from knowing right from wrong. They argued that Teixeira's post-arrest diagnosis as having "mild, high-functioning" autism "is of questionable relevance in these proceedings."  Teixeira, who was part of the 102nd Intelligence Wing at Otis Air National Guard Base in Massachusetts, worked as a cyber transport systems specialist, which is essentially an information technology specialist responsible for military communications networks. He remains in the Air National Guard in an unpaid status, an Air Force official said.  Authorities said he first typed out classified documents he accessed and then began sharing photographs of files that bore SECRET and TOP SECRET markings. Prosecutors also said he tried to cover his tracks before his arrest, and authorities found a smashed tablet, laptop and an Xbox gaming console in a dumpster at his house.  The leak exposed to the world unvarnished secret assessments of Russia's war in Ukraine, including information about troop movements in Ukraine, and the provision of supplies and equipment to Ukrainian troops. Teixeira also admitted posting information about a U.S. adversary's plans to harm U.S. forces serving overseas. 

Witness reports and Iran’s systematic use of punitive psychiatry to undermine dissent contradict government claims that the woman had a mental health crisis and was not protesting enforcement of the country’s mandatory dress code.

Some people may have been killed as a powerful explosion on Tuesday, rocked the city of Jos, the Plateau State capital, sending shockwaves through surrounding communities. Witnesses said the blast occurred around 10:30 am near the densely populated Terminus market area. Initial reports indicate that several people were injured in the blast, with some sources […]

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… Seek targeted relief measures to save media, nation’s economy The Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), arising from the three-day All Nigeria Editors Conference (ANEC) in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State Capital, has called on the federal government to urgently mitigate the negative impact of fuel subsidy removal and the exchange rate volatility on the economy. […]

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– Owanari Duke Retires from Group Board United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, has announced the appointment of Henrietta Ugboh as a Non-Executive Director on the Group’s Board. The appointment, according to a statement from the bank, has been duly approved by the relevant regulatory bodies including the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) whose approval […]

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The naira on Tuesday continued to depreciate against the dollar at both official and parallel foreign exchange markets. According to data from FMDQ, the local currency fell to N1689.88 per dollar on Tuesday from N1681.42 exchanged on Monday, recording N8.42 depreciation. Similarly, at the black market, the naira lost N5 to close at N1740 on […]

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London — Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, head of the Church of England and spiritual leader of the global Anglican Communion, resigned Tuesday after an investigation found that he failed to tell police about serial physical and sexual abuse by a volunteer at Christian summer camps as soon as he became aware of it.  Pressure on Welby had been building since Thursday, when release of the inquiry's findings kindled anger about a lack of accountability at the highest reaches of the church. Helen-Ann Hartley, the bishop of Newcastle, said Monday that his position was "untenable" after some members of the church's national assembly started a petition calling on Welby to step down because he had "lost the confidence of his clergy."  "I believe that stepping aside is in the best interests of the Church of England, which I dearly love and which I have been honored to serve," Welby said in a statement.  The strongest outcry came from the victims of John Smyth, a prominent attorney who abused teenage boys and young men at Christian summer camps in Britain, Zimbabwe and South Africa over five decades. Andrew Morse, who was repeatedly beaten by Smyth over a period of five years, said that resigning was a chance for Welby to start repairing the damage caused by the church's handling of historical abuse cases more broadly.  "I believe that now is an opportunity for him to resign,'' Morse told the BBC before Welby stepped down. "I say opportunity in the sense that this would be an opportunity for him to stand with the victims of the Smyth abuse and all victims that have not been treated properly by the Church of England in their own abuse cases."  Welby's resignation comes against the backdrop of widespread historical sexual abuse in the Church of England. A 2022 report by the Independent Inquiry Child Sexual Abuse found that deference to the authority of priests, taboos surrounding the discussion of sexuality and a culture that gave more support to alleged perpetrators than their victims helped make the Church of England Church of England "a place where abusers could hide." 

Manila, Philippines — Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said the International Criminal Court (ICC) should 'hurry up' with its probe of his war on drugs, remaining firm in his defense of the brutal campaign as he said the investigation should start immediately. "I'm asking the ICC to hurry up, and if possible, they can come here and start the investigation tomorrow," Duterte said in a congressional inquiry on his war on drugs. "If I am found guilty, I will go to prison." According to police data, more than 6,200 people died in anti-drug operations under Duterte's presidency, during which police typically said they had killed suspects in self-defense. Human rights groups believe the real toll to be far greater, with thousands more users and small-time peddlers killed in mysterious circumstances by unknown assailants. "I assume full responsibility for whatever happened in the actions taken by law enforcement agencies of this country to... stop the serious problem of drugs affecting our people," said Duterte, who served as president from 2016 to 2022. The ICC last year cleared the way for an investigation into the several thousand deaths and other suspected rights abuses. The Philippines withdrew from the ICC in March 2019. Appeals judges at the ICC subsequently ruled prosecutors still had jurisdiction over the alleged crimes because they occurred when the Philippines was an ICC member.

In a tragic incident in Rawalpindi’s Shah Khalid Colony, three siblings, 2-year-old Zohan, 6-year-old Saira, and 7-year-old Faria, lost their lives after being confined in a box. The children were left alone at home, intensifying the sorrow of the situation. According to reports from a Rescue spokesperson, the parents, who were employed in different jobs—the ... Read more

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A caravan of approximately 3,000 migrants set off on Tuesday from southern Mexico, headed toward the United States on the day when U.S. voters were deciding between U.S. presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. Immigration has been a key issue in the U.S. election campaign. Before heading northward, the migrants gathered in Tapachula, the capital of the southern Chiapas state, carrying banners with messages such as "NO MORE MIGRANT BLOOD" and images of the Virgin of Guadalupe, an important religious and cultural symbol in Mexico, according to Reuters witnesses. "We want U.S. authorities to see us, to see that we are people who want to work, not to harm anyone," said Honduran migrant Roy Murillo, who joined the caravan with his two children and his pregnant wife. In recent years, several caravans with people hoping to enter the United States have attempted to reach the U.S.-Mexican border, traveling in mass groups for safety. Most have dispersed along the way. "I'm afraid to travel alone with my family. Here, the cartels either kidnap you or kill you. ... That's why we're coming in the caravan," Murillo said. Murillo recounted his unsuccessful attempts to secure an asylum appointment through a mobile app developed by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency. Tapachula, a mandatory crossing point for tens of thousands of migrants, has become one of Mexico's most violent cities in recent months, with migrants frequently targeted by organized crime, according to official data. "I feel suffocated here. That's why we decided to leave," said 28-year-old Venezuelan migrant Thais, who spoke on condition that her surname not be used due to safety concerns. She joined the caravan with her husband and 3-year-old daughter. "I wish Mr. Trump and Ms. Kamala would see that we are human beings, that we want to live and support our families," she added. Voters cast ballots on Tuesday in the race between Vice President Harris, a Democrat seeking to become the first female U.S. president, and Trump, a Republican immigration hard-liner aiming to regain the presidency.

Mexico City — Mexico and the United States said they have reached an agreement they hope will help Mexico to be timelier with its water-sharing payments in the Rio Bravo watershed, also known as the Rio Grande.  The agreement announced Saturday provides Mexico with tools and flexibility to deliver water earlier in a five-year cycle under the 1944 U.S.-Mexico water treaty, according to the bilateral International Border and Water Commission.  The proposed tools include better coordination on water conservation, re-use, alternative water sources and other measures.  The treaty moves in five-year cycles and allows Mexico to run a water debt in the first four years, if it can make it up in the fifth. That has led Mexico to fall behind, hoping a hurricane or other heavy rains will dump water in the border area.  That has frustrated Texas farmers, who need a predictable supply of water. When a hurricane or tropical storm hits the region, Mexico can play catch-up but at that point, the water isn't needed, and that doesn't always happen. Mexico has long used that wait-and-hope strategy, but it has led to problems in the past, both at home and in the U.S.  Mexico is obliged to deliver 430 million cubic meters of water per year, or about 2.15 billion cubic meters over five years. An acre-foot of water is enough to flood a one-acre field with one foot of water. The United States, in return, gives Mexico even more water from other water sources farther west.  But in the current cycle, which began in 2020, Mexico has so far delivered only about 525 million cubic meters overall, or about one-quarter of what it owes for the five-year period, which ends in October 2025.  Mexico has to release water from dams on tributaries feeding into the Rio Grande but that angers Mexican farmers, who want it for themselves and call it "our water." The treaty gives the United States rights to one-third of the flows from six Mexican tributaries.  In 2020, a dispute over water payments to the United States boiled over into violence, with angry farmers pushing back National Guard troops guarding a dam, because Mexico had fallen behind on payments in that cycle and had to deliver water quickly to the United States.  Mexico dispatched National Guard officers to protect the La Boquilla dam, but hundreds of farmers pushed them back hundreds of yards in a failed bid to take over the dam's control room.  Before that, farmers took over another dam near the border town of Ojinaga. Both dams are near the Texas border, west of the Big Bend area.  During the 2020 conflict, Mexican farmers also burned vehicles and blocked railway lines. In the end, the United States allowed Mexico to transfer rights to water held in joint international reservoirs, in a face-saving solution. 

MEXICO CITY — Cassandra Garduño squinted in the sunlight, her pink boots smudged by dirt as she gazed out over her family's chinampa — one of the islands first built up by the Aztecs with fertile mud from the bottom of a lake that, later drained, would one day become Mexico City. Food from these islands has fed people for hundreds of years, but the chinampas are under threat from urbanization. The produce grown here doesn't fetch much money, and many families are abandoning the ancient practice to rent out or sell their land for more lucrative uses such as soccer fields. "People don't want to farm anymore," said Garduño. "They don't see it as a necessity, they don't want to produce, and people don't want to buy the products." Some of those remaining, like Garduño, are banding together to preserve and promote the traditional use of the chinampas. "None of this can exist without human hands, the hands of those who worked here and created the chinampa a thousand years ago," she said on a recent morning as the smell of celery growing nearby filled the air. The gardens crisscrossed by canals in the capital's southern Xochimilco borough are built up from layers of dredged soil, held together by tall, thin ahuejotes — a kind of willow tree — planted around their perimeter. Xochimilco has more than 2,500 acres of protected land owned by generations of local chinamperos, as those who farm the islands are known. Garduño's earliest memories of her family's chinampa came from peering through her grandparents' window at the plot of land and watching canoes weave in and out of the canals. Even then, she saw how the chinampas were deteriorating under pressure from urbanization and as some farmers began to drop the practice. When her grandfather died in 2010 and her uncles didn't want to carry on, Garduño took it upon herself to learn and conserve generations of farming. Her neighbors and relatives were skeptical at first, but she bought land for her own chinampa from a friend's uncle in 2020 and now grows an assortment of produce, including sunflowers, eggplant, and the Mexican marigold "cempasuchil." Now the 32-year-old Garduño is one of the growing collective called Chinampa Refuge, started by the National Autonomous University of Mexico, and she and other famers encourage chinamperos to preserve their land. They follow ancient growing techniques but are trying new commercial approaches to compete with cheaper produce grown on massive farms elsewhere in Mexico. That includes a special tag — Etiqueta Chinampera — that tells buyers the produce came from a chinampa, and may tout things like water quality or the chinampa's status as a biodiversity refuge. "Change comes with educating the new generations," said Garduño. "Talking about the origins and efforts to conserve and why it's important to do it." Luis Zambrano, an ecologist from the National Autonomous University of Mexico who has worked in Xochimilco for decades, said the fields are largely self-sustaining. Nourished by the lake, they can produce three to five crops of vegetables a year without the need of chemicals or irrigation, he said. Moreover, the ecosystem of Xochimilco benefits the sprawling city. Many different species of birds and fish thrive there, and the extensive canals help reduce the city's overall temperature, he said. But now, on weekends, it's common to see more soccer players boating to islands in their jerseys and cleats than farmers tending their crops. The soccer fields stretch for miles along the canals after what Zambrano called "a massive increase" over the past two to three years. In Xochimilco, many people are reluctant to talk about transforming their chinampas to soccer fields. One landowner who declined to be identified for fear of legal or community backlash said keeping the chinampas productive required more work and financial investment and yielded less revenue. Instead, she has established multiple businesses on her land — a soccer field for weekend games, a food stand and kayaking tours for foreign visitors. "If you do well (farming) you could earn $5,000 to $10,000 (100,000 to 200,000 pesos) a year," Garduño said. "In the tourist area you could have that within a couple of weekends." But converting the agricultural fields carries ecological impact. While traditional farming methods avoid insecticides and fertilizers, the soccer fields are another story. "It doesn't look that detrimental because there's no construction," said Zambrano. But "it's just as damaging because the amount of chemicals that are used, the amount of pollution that is generated is very, very large." The chinampas are among the significant features that led Mexico City's historic center and Xochimilco to be recognized as a world heritage site by UNESCO. But any protective measures are up to federal, state and local authorities. Carlos Vasquez, director of the Natural Protected Areas under Mexico City's Environmental Department, said they are working on proposals to address the soccer fields. "Many are counter to the conservation of the ecosystems," he said. "We're looking to regulate these activities." After a long day's work out in the sun, Garduño and some neighboring farmers congregate under Garduño's makeshift hut for a feast of chicken and tortillas. They catch up on their tasks and outline what's left to do. Juan Ávalos, 63, and his brother Salvador Gonzalez Ávalos, 55, have been working on chinampas all their lives. Their family has several plots in Xochimilco's San Gregorio neighborhood. A year ago, after some convincing by Garduño, the brothers joined Chinampa Refuge to adopt a more holistic approach to their farming. Salvador said the approach is a continuous reminder of his family's legacy in maintaining the ancient practices — something they want to pass on to their grandchildren. "That's something we need to work on as grandparents," he said. "That they integrate themselves with a taste for this earth." 

Mexico City — Gunmen in a truck pulled up to a bar in central Mexico and opened fire, killing 10 people, authorities said, in an area that had been spared the worst of the country's raging criminal violence.  Security camera footage published by local media showed the perpetrators leaping from the vehicle and bursting into the venue as terrified customers fled or dived to the floor.   The attack late Saturday on Los Cantaritos bar in Queretaro's downtown district left 10 people dead and at least seven injured, according to the city's public security department chief Juan Luis Ferrusca.   "Emergency services arrived at the scene and confirmed that at least four people armed with long weapons had arrived on board a pickup truck," Ferrusca said in a video on social media.  One suspect was detained and the vehicle used in the attack was found abandoned and set on fire, he said.  The victims included three women, according to the Queretaro state prosecutor's office, which said forensic experts were examining the scene of the attack and the vehicle.  Queretaro, the capital of Queretaro state, is considered one of the safer cities in Mexico, which has been plagued by years of drug cartel-related violence.  "The entire security system of Queretaro is mobilized to find the criminals" behind the attack, state governor Mauricio Kuri said on social media platform X.  "We will continue to shield our borders and maintain the security of our state," he said, adding, "Those responsible for this brutal act will be punished."  Queretaro, a city known more for its colonial architecture than for its crime, is around 200 kilometers northwest of Mexico City.   Across Mexico, spiraling violence, much of it linked to drug trafficking and gangs, has seen more than 450,000 people murdered since 2006.   Tackling the murders and kidnappings that are a daily occurrence is among the major challenges facing President Claudia Sheinbaum.  The former Mexico City mayor, who became the country's first woman president on October 1, has ruled out declaring "war" on drug cartels.  Instead, she has pledged to continue her predecessor's strategy of using social policy to tackle crime at its roots, while also making better use of intelligence.   The northwestern cartel stronghold of Sinaloa has seen a surge in violence since the July arrest of drug lord Ismael Zambada in the United States unleashed a wave of gang infighting.   There has also been a spike in bloodshed in the southern state of Guerrero, the scene of long-running gang turf wars.   Authorities said Thursday that the bodies of 11 people, including two minors, were found abandoned in a pickup truck in the state capital Chilpancingo.  They were part of a group of 17 people -- reported to be traveling merchants -- who were declared missing last month.         

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