President Felipe Calderon

Mexico's World Cup team got a visit from the president Saturday, part of a whirlwind of farewell ceremonies that concludes Sunday when Mexico meets Chile in front of a sellout crowd of more than 100,000 at Estadio Azteca. In an hourlong ceremony at the team's training center on the edge of Mexico City, President Felipe Calderon presented a Mexican flag to goalkeeper Memo Ochoa then challenged the team to play "like warriors" in next month's tournament in South Africa. "Putting on the jersey of the national team is an honor, a great privilege, an enormous responsibility.

MEXICO CITY —Former Mexican President Miguel de la Madrid, who led the country amid economic meltdown and natural disaster in the 1980s but laid the groundwork for freer markets and political opening, has died. He was 77. De la Madrid died Sunday morning at a Mexico City hospital where he was admitted several weeks ago for lung disease. A smoker, he died of complications from the disease, the semi-official Notimex news agency reported. His death was also reported by President Felipe Calderon and the Foreign Ministry, as condolences poured in from politicians across the political spectrum.

Carmen Aristegui, one of Mexico's best-known news hosts, likes to stir the pot. But did she go too far by saying the president should answer unsubstantiated rumors of a drinking problem? Aristegui, a veteran anchor on radio and television, was fired after telling her audience last week that President Felipe Calderon should respond formally to leftist lawmakers who hoisted a banner in Congress calling him a "drunk. " Those lawmakers offered no proof, and Calderon's public conduct has never suggested inebriation.

WASHINGTON - President Obama hosted the leaders of Mexico and Canada on Monday in a White House summit aimed at boosting the region's growing economic ties, but the scourge of drug violence in Mexico muddled the message and highlighted friction between the neighbors. Obama met with Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and the three announced an initiative to cut regulations that constrict trade across the northern and southern borders. But Mexico's drug war, which has killed tens of thousands of people, dominated a Rose Garden news conference.

MEXICO CITY —Former Mexican President Miguel de la Madrid, who led the country amid economic meltdown and natural disaster in the 1980s but laid the groundwork for freer markets and political opening, has died. He was 77. De la Madrid died Sunday morning at a Mexico City hospital where he was admitted several weeks ago for lung disease. A smoker, he died of complications from the disease, the semi-official Notimex news agency reported. His death was also reported by President Felipe Calderon and the Foreign Ministry, as condolences poured in from politicians across the political spectrum.

Singing, strumming guitars and trying to shield themselves from a searing sun, tens of thousands of Mexican Catholics came together Saturday nearly 24 hours before an open-air Mass with Pope Benedict XVI. They walked miles and took up positions in Bicentennial Park, a short distance from a hilltop monument that honors the 1920s Cristero War by Catholic counter-revolutionaries. But as religious fervor was on display in Silao, in central Mexico's Guanajuato state, a sexual-abuse scandal involving a notorious Mexican priest threatened to cast a pall over the pope's first visit to the Spanish-speaking Americas.

"The Team" aired for three short weeks and never scored high ratings. It proved one thing, though. Amid sharpening divisions over Mexico's drug war, even a mediocre cop drama can be fuel on the fire. The TV series debuted on the private Televisa network in early May and ended Friday, capping 15 prime-time episodes. But the controversy around it may outlast the reruns. Was the series, featuring a coed team of elite (and muy attractive!) federal officers on the trail of drug traffickers, just an ordinary crime drama?

A day after tens of thousands of Mexicans joined in anti-violence protests, President Felipe Calderon offered Monday to meet with organizers to explain a government drug war that has produced growing worry as deaths climb. In televised comments, Calderon said talks could help bridge the gap between his administration and leaders of Sunday's March for Peace, which drew crowds of violence-weary people to the streets to appeal for a new crime strategy. Calderon offered no sign of backing away from his administration's military-led crackdown against drug cartels.

The claim has floated around for months, circulating among academics and critics of President Felipe Calderon's military-led war on Mexican drug gangs. It goes like this: Army and police operations that have included massive arrests, confiscation of drug shipments and numerous deadly shootouts, have left the largest and most powerful of the cartels relatively unscathed. The so-called Sinaloa cartel, based in the drug-rich Pacific state of the same name, has been allowed to escape most of the government's firepower and carry on with its illegal business as usual, according to this theory.

Mexican Interior Minister Francisco Ramirez Acuna is resigning, a source close to the government said. President Felipe Calderon is expected to give details today. The Interior Ministry was not immediately available to comment on the resignation, also reported on the website of the Mexican daily El Universal. Heading the Interior Ministry is one of Mexico's toughest posts because the government is battling powerful drug cartels.

Singing, strumming guitars and trying to shield themselves from a searing sun, tens of thousands of Mexican Catholics came together Saturday nearly 24 hours before an open-air Mass with Pope Benedict XVI. They walked miles and took up positions in Bicentennial Park, a short distance from a hilltop monument that honors the 1920s Cristero War by Catholic counter-revolutionaries. But as religious fervor was on display in Silao, in central Mexico's Guanajuato state, a sexual-abuse scandal involving a notorious Mexican priest threatened to cast a pall over the pope's first visit to the Spanish-speaking Americas.

The mayor of Monterrey is feeling the squeeze. His brother is in police custody. His own party wants him to step down. And the horrific fire that killed 52 people in a casino in his city last month has become fodder for some election-season mudslinging. The Aug. 25 arson attack has proved a debacle for Mayor Fernando Larrazabal and, by extension, for his National Action Party, or PAN, which also happens to be the party of Mexican President Felipe Calderon. Larrazabal has been on the defensive since days after the blaze, when videos turned up showing his brother, Jonas, accepting wads of cash at another gaming center.

The dead were mainly mothers and grandmothers, middle-aged women who routinely stopped by the Casino Royale for an afternoon game of bingo or a shot at the slot machines. At least 52 people were killed Thursday when armed men set fire to the gaming hall in a busy commercial center of Mexico's wealthiest city. The attack, carried out in broad daylight, was the deadliest to target Mexican civilians in nearly five years of bloody drug warfare. "Mexico has witnessed one of the most terrible acts of barbarism in memory," President Felipe Calderon said Friday as he declared three days of national mourning.

Mexico received more bad economic news Friday with a report that shows poverty is steadily on the rise. The number of Mexicans living in poverty grew to 52 million in 2010, up by more than 3 million people from two years earlier, the report says. That means 46.2% of the population lives in poverty. Within that group, 11.7 million people live in extreme poverty, a figure that held steady over the same period. The report was produced by the National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy, an autonomous but federally financed agency, and represents the state's most comprehensive study of poverty to date.

Four men were convicted Thursday in last year's killing of 15 people at a teen party in the border city of Ciudad Juarez. A three-judge panel delivered guilty verdicts on several counts after a two-week trial in Juarez, which in recent years has been the deadliest zone in Mexico amid spiraling drug violence. President Felipe Calderon set off national outrage when he referred to the victims of the Jan. 30, 2010, massacre as gang members. He backpedaled after it turned out they were promising students and athletes.

Which country holds the record for the tallest artificial Christmas tree? Mexico. The biggest taco? Mexico. The greatest number of people kissing each other for the longest period of time? The most people dancing together to Michael Jackson's "Thriller"? Mexico and Mexico. You could view this obsession with getting into the Guinness book of world records as a charming national idiosyncrasy. But there is also a more disturbing explanation. As a people, Mexicans shun genuine competition.

Leftist lawmakers who seized both chambers of Congress said they would not move until a national debate was held on an oil reform bill backed by President Felipe Calderon. A small group of lawmakers spent the night in Congress in blankets and sleeping bags after seizing the Senate and lower house chambers the day before. They accuse Calderon of trying to privatize the industry. Calderon says Pemex, the state oil company, would remain in Mexican hands but that some restrictions would be relaxed to allow outside help to boost sagging production.

Public dismay over Mexico's drug violence mixed with election-season jockeying have put President Felipe Calderon on the defensive amid finger-pointing over the carnage. Following the slaying of a poet's son and discoveries of hundreds of bodies in mass graves in northern Mexico, critics have stepped up charges that the conservative Calderon is the author of a failed anti-crime strategy. A massive demonstration to protest the country's rampant violence is planned Sunday in Mexico City.

"The Team" aired for three short weeks and never scored high ratings. It proved one thing, though. Amid sharpening divisions over Mexico's drug war, even a mediocre cop drama can be fuel on the fire. The TV series debuted on the private Televisa network in early May and ended Friday, capping 15 prime-time episodes. But the controversy around it may outlast the reruns. Was the series, featuring a coed team of elite (and muy attractive!) federal officers on the trail of drug traffickers, just an ordinary crime drama?

A day after tens of thousands of Mexicans joined in anti-violence protests, President Felipe Calderon offered Monday to meet with organizers to explain a government drug war that has produced growing worry as deaths climb. In televised comments, Calderon said talks could help bridge the gap between his administration and leaders of Sunday's March for Peace, which drew crowds of violence-weary people to the streets to appeal for a new crime strategy. Calderon offered no sign of backing away from his administration's military-led crackdown against drug cartels.