Mexico elite feel wrath of social media

MEXICO CITY - Those who resent the powerful ruling class of this country have coined colorful slang phrases for the rich and entitled. The sons of the elite are called "juniors," or worse papaloys, a Spanish language contraction of the words "papa" and "lords."

Obama laments US immigration system, appeals for reforms

MEXICO CITY - President Obama on Friday delivered an impassioned appeal to change U.S. immigration rules so that "immigrants get on the right side of the law."

Crisis in 3-party pact imperils Mexico reform

MEXICO CITY - A vaunted three-party alliance that sustains President Enrique Peña Nieto's drive to enact major changes in Mexico is severely fraying, casting a shadow over pending overhauls in tax collection, finance and energy production.

As US tightens rules, recycling of batteries moves to Mexico

CIENEGA DE FLORES, Mexico - When an American replaces the battery in a car, likely as not the old battery will be shipped to Mexico rather than trucked to a modern U.S. recycling plant.

253K guns smuggled to Mexico annually

MEXICO CITY - Some 2.2 percent of all U.S. gun sales are made to smuggling rings that take firearms to Mexico, a scale of illegal trafficking that's "much higher than widely assumed," an academic study released Monday found.

Middle class in developing world growing at unprecedented pace

MEXICO CITY - The middle class is growing - just not in the United States or Europe - but in the far reaches of the globe, a change that very likely will move power away from the world's current centers of prosperity, a United Nations study released Thursday concludes.

Mexico facing diabetes crisis

MEXICO CITY - Mexico is hurtling toward what health experts predict will be a public health crisis from diabetes-related disease.

In Mexico, the underpinnings of the drug war begin to shift

MEXICO CITY - Bills to legalize marijuana have come before Mexico's Congress in the past, and sunk almost without debate. But lawmaker Fernando Belaunzaran Mendez thinks this time is different.

As violence ebbs, sense of security ticks up in Mexico

MEXICO CITY - Gradually but notably, the mood of Mexicans has brightened about their personal security and the broader war on crime, a shift in this country's state of mind that coincides with a sharp reduction in bloodshed in once violent regions.

Mexican navy becomes go-to branch

MEXICO CITY - When a naval unit recently gunned down the leader of the feared Zetas crime group, the clash took place in the dusty town of Progreso, 70 miles from the Texas border and far from any area where one would expect a modern navy to operate.

Subpar schools shackle Mexico

LA CHIRIPA, Mexico - Teacher Blanca Isabel Banuelos instructs her pupils in semidarkness. The power has been cut to her one-room school for lack of payment.

Concern as Mexico pursues deep-water oil

MEXICO CITY - Two years after the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history, Mexico's state oil company is about to test its hand at drilling at extraordinary depths in the Gulf of Mexico.

Mexican town creates new currency; feds aren't happy

ESPINAL, Mexico - Organizers in this verdant hill town in Veracruz state have coaxed a tiny economic experiment on the citizenry: They created an alternative local currency.

Honduras besieged by violence

SAN PEDRO SULA, Honduras - In a city that's just earned the title of the most dangerous in the Americas, few people dare go to the police with complaints. Rather, they view police officers with fear, scorn and disgust.

Slayings raise questions about journalists' loyalties

The front page of the Notiver newspaper in Veracruz, Mexico, on Aug. 10; two of its journalists have been slain since June.

Slayings raise questions about journalists' loyalties

VERACRUZ, Mexico - After decades of poking around crime scenes, digging into conspiracies and hanging out with cops and politicians, columnist Miguel Angel Lopez had earned his stripes as journalistic alpha dog of the crime and corruption beat in this steamy port on the Gulf of Mexico.

Cocaine lab found in Honduras signals big drug-operation shift

SAN PEDRO SULA, Honduras - Counter-narcotics agents in Honduras discovered a major cocaine-processing complex last month tucked in mountainous triple-canopy jungle near the border with Guatemala, a worrisome sign that Colombian drug lords are shifting their operations to the weaker countries…

US, Mexico reach deal to end trucking fight

MEXICO CITY - Mexico and the United States agreed in principle Thursday to open U.S. highways to Mexican long-haul trucks, ending a lingering safety dispute that prompted Mexico to impose more than $2 billion in retaliatory tariffs on U.S. exporters.

Free trade costs many Mexican corn farmers their livelihood

SAN JERONIMO SOSOLA, Mexico - Look around the rain-fed corn farms in Oaxaca state, and in vast areas of Mexico, and one sees few young men, just elderly people and single mothers.

Killing of Juarez cops rarely makes news, and hardly anyone mourns

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico - When gangsters kill a police officer - or even three of them - it rarely makes news in this violent border city.

Killing of Juarez cops rarely makes news, and hardly anyone mourns

A federal agent holds a case with a badge and shirt belonging to a slain officer, Erika Silva, together with her photo. She was killed by gunmen Dec. 6, and like most police slayings, her murder remains unsolved.

Once a smog poster child, Mexico City makes inroads

MEXICO CITY - Slowly and steadily, this sprawling city is cleaning up its air.

Death lurks at Mexico's drug clinics

CULIACAN, Mexico - As narcotics addiction soars in Mexico, drug rehabilitation centers have become killing zones and recruitment centers in the country's escalating drug war.

Experts: Vacuum of key info in Mexico alienating many

MEXICO CITY - As the death toll has climbed from drug-related violence in Mexico, it's fallen largely to newspapers to keep the count.

Mexico City begins bike-share effort

Commuters in Mexico City can use shared bicycles from 85 docking stations in four downtown districts.

As sun sets on Beijing, spotlight shifts to London

BEIJING — The most expensive and lavish Olympic Games in history came to a close Sunday as Beijing officially passed the Olympic flame to London, and the countdown started for the 2012 games that the British say will be frugal but fun.

Chinese often pressed by employers to give for earthquake relief

BEIJING — Chinese citizens have opened their wallets to the victims of last month's savage earthquake, but not all their generosity has been voluntary.

Chinese alter noses on teddy bears

SHANGHAI, China — Coming soon to a toy store near you: plush teddy bears with altered noses.

Your vitamin likely is from China

SHIJIAZHUANG, China — If you pop a vitamin C tablet in your mouth, it's a good bet it came from China. Indeed, many of the world's vitamins are now made in China.

Japan's new arch-conservative PM

TOKYO — Japan's ruling party on Wednesday chose Shinzo Abe, an ardent conservative who is unapologetic about Japan's wartime past, as its new leader, ensuring that he'll succeed retiring Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi this week.

Sanctions vs. N. Korea sought

WASHINGTON — Japan, backed by the United States and Britain, pressed Wednesday for U.N. Security Council sanctions against North Korea's weapons programs in retaliation for a battery of missile tests that has rattled markets around the world.