High security, protesters expected at today's 'Walk with Israel' event in Toronto
A pro-Israel march is set to take place today in Toronto amid heightened security and a related protest.
A mayoral candidate and five other people were killed when gunmen opened fire at a campaign rally in the violence-wracked southern Mexico state of Chiapas, officials said.
State prosecutors said a young girl was among the six people killed in the gunfire late Thursday, along with mayoral candidate Lucero Lopez Maza. Two others were injured, they said.
"A confrontation broke out between armed civilians during a political campaign event," prosecutors said in a statement.
It was unclear whether Lopez Maza was the intended target of the attack, because shootings have become so common and widespread in the area.
The mass shooting took place at a crossroads in the rural town of La Concordia, Chiapas, about 80 miles (125 km) from the border with Guatemala.
The area near the Guatemalan border is a major smuggling route for drugs and migrants and Mexico's two main drug cartels have been fighting for control of the region.
On Sunday, 11 people were killed inshootings in a village in the township of Chicomuselo, Chiapas, a few dozen miles (kilometres) away from La Concordia. The killers wiped out one entire family and burned their bodies.
On Friday, the Roman Catholic Church said drug gangs had carried out the killings in Chicomuselo because residents there had refused to leave their homes or refused to work for the gangs.
"These men and women refused to leave their homes, despite violence, threats and harassment by criminal gangs to make them join their ranks," according to the statement by the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Cristobal de las Casas.
The church statement said the heavily indigenous state of Chiapas "is awash in violence generated by (fights for) territorial control, and the interest on the part of some criminal groups to continue mining."
It did not specify what mines the cartels were trying to run, but the accusation is not outlandish or unprecedented in cartel-dominated regions of Mexico. In 2013, authorities in the western state of Michoacan acknowledged that the Knights Templar cartel had basically taken over iron ore mining in the state. They said exporting ore to China was one of the cartel's main sources of income.
The surge in violence in Chiapas proved embarrassing for President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador as he visited the border state Friday for a meeting with Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo.
As usual, Lopez Obrador -- who has refused to confront the drug cartels -- sought to minimize the problem of violence.
"There are those who maintain that Chiapas is on fire, no, as I've explained, the problem is in this region and we are going to solve it," the president said during a news briefing in Tapachula, Chiapas.
Thursday's killings also cast a spotlight on the fact that the runup to Mexico's July 2 elections has been marred by violence, with about 20 candidates killed so far in 2024.
On Friday, the old ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party confirmed that two of the five dismembered bodies found scattered on a street in the resort city of Acapulco on Thursday belonged to a candidate for a town council seat in the nearby town of Coyuca de Benitez and his wife.
"We demand justice for this atrocious crime," the party said of the murder of Anibal Zuniga and his wife, Rubi Bravo.
Again, Lopez Obrador sought to downplay the violence and depicted those who report the killings as "vultures" seeking to smear his administration.
"Fortunately, there have been fewer attacks than in other elections, but nowadays there is a lot of sensationalism, it is very unfortunate, there are a lot of people seeking to profit from the killings and the human suffering," he said. "This is a time of vultures."
A pro-Israel march is set to take place today in Toronto amid heightened security and a related protest.
Estate planning can seem daunting, especially if you think it requires hiring a lawyer. In his latest column for CTVNews.ca, personal finance contributor Christopher LIew covers practical tips to simplify the process.
In a span of less than 48 hours this past week, U.S. first lady Jill Biden shuttled from a Normandy ceremony marking the 80th anniversary of the D-Day invasion in France to the front row of a Delaware courtroom, where Hunter Biden is on trial in a gun case, and then back to Paris for an elaborate state visit at Élysée Palace.
An Ontario man says he’s still considering selling his house, despite this week’s interest rate cut, with his mortgage payments set to leap over $2,000 next month.
For 55 years, Raymond Patten says he had treasured a small ceramic goat that his great-aunt gave him on his 21st birthday. The gift was not just any pottery piece. In fact, a future king made it.
Former U.S. president Donald Trump 's campaign is hiring extra medics, loading up on fans and water bottles and allowing supporters to carry umbrellas to an outdoor rally Sunday in Las Vegas, where temperatures are expected to exceed 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.8 degrees Celsius).
South Korea on Sunday resumed anti-North Korean propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts in border areas in retaliation for the North sending over 1,000 balloons filled with trash and manure over the last couple of weeks
Netflix was sued on Thursday for at least US$170 million by a Scottish woman who said she was defamed over her portrayal as a stalker in the hit mini-series 'Baby Reindeer.'
The Olympic rings were mounted to the iconic Parisian landmark on Friday to mark 50 days until the sports world gathers in the French capital for the quadrennial sports festival.
Showing off the latest purchase in his Eaton's collection, Corey Quintaine joked he is rebuilding the former flagship store that used to sit at 320 Portage Avenue one Facebook Marketplace purchase at a time.
After learning about food security at school, 11-year-old Violette Ferguson wants fresh eggs and to change the rules around chickens in the city.
An Ontario powerlifter caught a mild cold last year. Six days later, he was fighting for his life in the ICU.
Marking a milestone, Lakeshore resident Olga White celebrated her 107th birthday in style Wednesday.
The municipality of Tantramar, N.B., is holding a sale to get rid of surplus items it acquired after the Town of Sackville amalgamated with smaller communities last year.
For several weeks, a mysterious social media user has apparently been leaving $50 bills hidden across Metro Vancouver.
A statue dedicated to the Royal Regina Rifles Regiment has been officially unveiled in France just ahead of the 80th anniversary of D-Day.
A Cape Breton is this year's recipient of the McEuen Scholarship, which gives him basically a full ride to the medical school at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.
Mounties in Kelowna nabbed a would-be burglar with an apparent sweet tooth over the weekend.