Author: Reporter

Pedro Meraz said that living in Colima, Mexico, was like living in a war zone, with shootings, burning cars and dismembered bodies being left outside of schools. When his wife Rocio Gonzalez, a 28-year-old lawyer who worked with abused women, began receiving death threats from a cartel and the local authorities ignored her pleas for assistance, they knew they had to leave. “They knew where we lived and what car we drove,” said Meraz, 41, who taught at The University of Colima, near the Pacific Coast and about 300 miles (485 kilometers) west of Mexico City. “Feeling that you...

A coalition of conservative-leaning states is making a last-ditch effort to keep in place a Trump-era public health rule that allows many asylum seekers to be turned away at the southern U.S. border. On November 21, the 15 states filed what is known as a motion to intervene — meaning they want to become part of the legal proceedings surrounding the public health rule referred to as Title 42. The rule, first invoked by Trump in 2020, uses emergency public health authority to allow the United States to keep migrants from seeking asylum at the border, based on the...

As millions of people travel the interstates over the holiday season, many will encounter patches of traffic at a standstill for no apparent reason, no construction or accident. Researchers say the problem is you. Human drivers just do not do a good job of navigating dense traffic conditions, but an experiment using artificial intelligence in Nashville recently means help could be on the way. In the experiment, specially equipped cars were able to ease rush hour congestion on Interstate-24, researcher Daniel Work said in late November. In addition to lessening driver frustration, Work said less stop-and-go driving means fuel...

Western governments are aiming to cap the price of Russia’s oil exports in an attempt to limit the fossil fuel earnings that support Moscow’s budget, its military and the invasion of Ukraine. The cap is set to take effect on December 5, the same day the European Union will impose a boycott on most Russian oil — its crude that is shipped by sea. The EU was still negotiating what the price ceiling should be. The twin measures could have an uncertain effect on the price of oil as worries over lost supply through the boycott compete with fears...

American consumers and nearly every industry will be affected if freight trains grind to a halt in December. One of the biggest rail unions rejected its deal on November 21, joining three others that have failed to approve contracts over concerns about demanding schedules and the lack of paid sick time. That raises the risk of a strike, which could start as soon as December 5. It would not take long for the effects of a rail strike to trickle through the economy. Many businesses only have a few days’ worth of raw materials and space for finished goods....