Earthquake hits Mexico City

Earthquake hits Mexico City

MEXICO CITY (CNN) A moderately strong earthquake rocked Mexico City on Friday afternoon, shaking the earth in the sprawling capital.

The U.S. Geological Survey measured the quake at magnitude 5.7, and placed the epicenter near the city of Puebla, about 85 miles southeast of Mexico City. It hit at 2:24 p.m. local time.

The Mexican seismological service measured the quake at 5.9.

People in the city reported the earth and buildings shaking. Thousands of panicked people streamed into the streets as stopped cars snarled traffic. Parts of the city were without electricity Friday afternoon but there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

Earthquakes are a frightening experience for the 20 million residents of Mexico City, where thousands of people perished in a massive quake in 1985. The city, built on volcanic ash and clay, is particularly vulnerable to temblors.

Aldo Pontecorvo of the humanitarian agency World Vision said the shaking lasted about 20 seconds. It came out of nowhere and "without any warning," said Pontecorvo, who said he was in his office when the quake struck.

Earlier this month, a moderate earthquake was measured off the coast of Mexico's western Baja California peninsula.

Read More

Mexico imposes swine flu measures

Mexico imposes swine flu measures

Mexico City has banned restaurants and cafes from serving all food except takeaways in a bid to help prevent the spread of the deadly swine flu virus.

Schools across Mexico have closed and public gatherings are restricted, after more than 150 people are believed to have died from swine flu.

The number of cases globally is rising, though no-one outside Mexico has died.

The UN has called on countries to check their contingency plans for a possible global epidemic, or pandemic.

The UN's World Health Organization (WHO) chief Dr Keiji Fukuda said a pandemic was "a very serious possibility, but it is still too early to say that this is inevitable".

As officials in Mexico City announced the latest measures to stop the virus spreading, the city's chamber of trade estimated restrictions in the city were costing businesses there at least 777 million pesos ($57m or £39m) a day.

US cases confirmed

After Mexico - where the outbreak started - the US has the highest number of confirmed swine flu cases with 64.

President Barack Obama has asked Congress for an additional $1.5bn (£1bn) to bolster the US response.

In California, where there have been 11 cases, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has declared a state of emergency as a precautionary measure but stressed there was "no need for alarm".

In another development, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation is sending a team to investigate claims that industrial pig farms in Mexico were the source of the outbreak in humans.

The agency's chief veterinary officer, Joseph Domenech, told the BBC that the FAO had to act following rumours that people had been falling ill last month near some intensive pig farms .

Other countries around the world to have confirmed swine flu cases are Canada, New Zealand, Spain, Israel and the UK.

Several other countries are investigating suspected cases including Australia, Brazil, France, Chile and Denmark.

The WHO says it is "critical" that travellers from Mexico who might be infected be identified, but it has advised against countries imposing border restrictions or travel bans, saying such measures do no work.

Some countries in Asia, Latin America and Europe are screening airport passengers for symptoms, while tour operators in France and Germany have suspended trips to Mexico.

Flights stopped

Cuba also suspended flights to and from Mexico for 48 hours from Tuesday and a Canadian tour operator, Air Transat, said it was also halting flights to Mexico until 1 June.

The WHO raised its pandemic alert status to level four on Monday - two levels from a full pandemic - after concluding there had been sustained transmission between humans.

Levels five and six are reserved for when there is widespread human infection.

In almost all cases outside Mexico, people have been only mildly ill and have made a full recovery.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Tuesday it may abandon the term swine flu because some people wrongly think they can catch it from pork.

Pork producers in the US and Brazil are pushing for the name 'swine' to be changed , saying it is damaging their business.

China, Russia and Ukraine have all banned pork imports from Mexico and parts of the US since the outbreak began.

By BBC/Ap

Read More

Mexico flu 'a potential pandemic'

Mexico flu 'a potential pandemic'

A new flu virus suspected of killing up to 60 people in Mexico has the potential to become a pandemic, the World Health Organization's chief says.

Margaret Chan said the outbreak was a "serious situation" which needed to be followed closely.

Ms Chan cut short a visit to the US and returned to Geneva for urgent talks.

Health experts say tests so far seem to link the illnesses in Mexico with a new swine flu virus that sickened eight people in the southern US.

The WHO's new emergency committee is now meeting - though health officials say it may be premature to advise against travel to Mexico.

The committee will be discussing whether to declare a public health emergency, and whether to raise the global pandemic alert level.

The WHO says it does not know the full risk yet.

It is advising all member states to be vigilant for seasonally unusual flu or pneumonia-like symptoms among their populations - particularly among young healthy adults, who seem to be the most affected in Mexico.

Read More

Top Mexican drug cartel suspect arrested, officials say

Top Mexican drug cartel suspect arrested, officials say

Mexican authorities arrested Vicente Carrillo Leyva, a leader of the Carrillo Fuentes drug cartel, officials announced Thursday.

Carrillo Leyva was arrested as he exercised in a park in a residential area of Mexico City, where he had been living under the alias Alejandro Peralta Alvarez, officials said.

The federal attorney general's office told reporters he was tracked through his wife, who did not change her name.

Carrillo Leyva "is considered one of the heirs to the criminal organization known as the Juarez Cartel, after the death of his father, Amado Carrillo Fuentes," said Assistant Prosecutor Maricela Morales.

His father died in July 1997 while undergoing plastic surgery to alter his appearance in an effort to avoid capture. Amado Carrillo was known as "El Senor de los Cielos," the "Lord of the Skies," because of the fleet of jetliners he used to transport cocaine from Colombia to Mexico.

Carrillo Leyva, 32, was presented at the news conference, surrounded by black-clad, hooded law-enforcement officials. He wore dark-frame glasses and a white jogging suit with double black stripes on the sleeves. His dark hair was long and shaggy.

Last month, federal officials offered a reward of up to $2.16 million (30 million pesos) for information leading to his arrest. The same reward has been offered for his uncle, cartel leader Vicente Carrillo Fuentes, also known as "El Viceroy" and "El General," who remains at-large.

Rewards of $2 million apiece have been offered for 22 other leading cartel suspects.

Wednesday's arrest was the fourth detention of a top drug cartel leader in recent weeks. Last week, officials announced the arrest of Hector Huerta Rios, also known as "La Burra" or "El Junior," a top lieutenant of the Beltran Leyva cartel. He was arrested in the city of San Pedro Garza Garcia in Nuevo Leon state, along Mexico's border with the United States.

The previous week, Mexican authorities announced the arrest of Sigifredo Najera Talamantes, a drug-trafficking suspect accused of attacking a U.S. consulate and killing Mexican soldiers. Talamantes, also known as "El Canicon," also is suspected in attacks on a television station in Monterrey in Nuevo Leon, the state-run Notimex agency said.

That same week, the Mexican military also arrested the son of a top drug cartel lieutenant.

Authorities on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border blame drug cartels for a surge in violence in the region.

Despite the violence, Mexican officials say the country is generally safe and that tourist areas such as Cancun and Acapulco are heavily patrolled.Video Officials from Acapulco city hall, the Guerrero state government and the Mexico attorney general went so far as to sign a statement in early March assuring students wanting to go there on spring break that efforts had been taken to ensure their safety.

In a speech in mid-March, Mexican President Felipe Calderon said 93 percent of the 6,500 deaths attributed to organized crime in 2008 occurred among the criminals. Most of the rest were law enforcement authorities, officials have said.

Few civilians are killed, the president said.

In that same speech, Calderon ridiculed those who say Mexico is unsafe.

"It is absolutely false, absurd, that anyone indicate that Mexico does not have control over one single part of its national territory," he said. "I challenge anyone who says that to tell me what part of the country they want to go to and I will take that person there."

Analysts point out that most of the violence is occurring along the U.S. border, particularly in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua and Tijuana. Drug cartel violence is also found on Mexico's western coast.

"The situation in Ciudad Juarez is of special concern," the U.S. State Department said in a February 20 travel alert. "Mexican authorities report that more than 1,800 people have been killed in the city since January 2008. Additionally, this city of 1.6 million people experienced more than 17,000 car thefts and 1,650 carjackings in 2008." The State Department advisory tells U.S. citizens how best to remain safe.

"While millions of U.S. citizens safely visit Mexico each year (including thousands who cross the land border every day for study, tourism or business), violence in the country has increased recently. It is imperative that travelers understand the risks of travel to Mexico, how best to avoid dangerous situations, and whom to contact if one becomes a crime victim. Common-sense precautions such as visiting only legitimate business and tourist areas during daylight hours, and avoiding areas where prostitution and drug dealing might occur, can help ensure that travel to Mexico is safe and enjoyable."

Read More