#Gold headed for a weekly decline as a war-driven surge in #US inflation fuels expectations for higher interest rates

Pemex CEO Víctor Rodríguez Padilla is stepping down as head of the state oil company and will be replaced by Juan Carlos Carpio, Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum said in a video posted on X

U.S. law enforcement charges 13 in connection with gun trafficking into #Canada. “This tracking network allegedly exploited border geography and reservation corridors to move firearms into Canada while attempting to avoid law enforcement detection,” said U.S. Attorney for New Hampshire Erin Creegan at a news conference in Concord, N.H. on Thursday.

Court documents said members of the Akwesasne reservation in New York travelled to Vermont, where they enlisted Justin Jackson to purchase firearms on their behalf.

The documents allege that since Jackson was prohibited from purchasing firearms, he got Melissa Longe, Dustin Tuttle, Caleb Wilcott and Doug Mulligan to buy guns from licensed dealers in New Hampshire -- a scheme known as “straw” purchasing.

“The allegations paint a troubling picture of how straw purchasing fuels violent criminal networks across the northeast and into Canada,” Creegan said.

The firearm trafficking began in 2021 and ran until at least 2024, the documents said.

Jackson, Longe, Tuttle, Wilcott and Mulligan pleaded guilty to federal firearms offences earlier this year.

Eight others, all of whom are residents of the Akwesasne Mohawk Indian Reservation, were indicted by a federal grand jury in connection to international firearms trafficking earlier this month.

Four were brought into custody this week during a multi-agency takedown. U.S. law enforcement said Jonathan Hart, Io-Rateka Swamp and Blade Oakes are considered fugitives at large.

U.S. law enforcement tracked 51 firearms that may have been trafficked through the ring. Several were subsequently recovered in Canada at scenes of crimes -- including one kidnapping and one attempted murder.

Creegan said the takedown of the sophisticated trafficking network was possible because of co-ordination between U.S., Canadian and tribal law enforcement agencies.

Thomas Greco, a special agent with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said the investigation shows the growing complexity of cross-border firearms trafficking.

Canadian authorities recover approximately 17,000 to 20,000 crime guns a year, Greco said, and up to half of them are smuggled into the country from the United States.

“In the major metropolitan areas of Canada, between 78 per cent and 90 per cent of handguns recovered are sourced and smuggled from the United States,” Greco said.

He said the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives expanded its partnerships with Canada in 2023, with an emphasis on Ontario and Quebec. That has led to a significant increase in the ability of Canadian authorities to trace guns used in crimes, Greco added.

Chief Supt. Mike Stoddart of the Ontario Provincial Police said the investigation shows the “value of integrated enforcement teams and strong international partnerships.”

“Our collective efforts help prevent firearms and drugs from reaching our communities and underscore the shared responsibility we have for border security,” Stoddart said in a news release.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 14, 2026.

Kelly Geraldine Malone, The Canadian Press

#Iran holds World Cup send-off for national #football team

President Ruto: Why we have not re-opened Kenya-Somalia border

#US relaxes #visa bonds for World Cup fans

Six #hantavirus cruise passengers head to #Australia

Sheinbaum rejects allegations of #CIA assassination outside Mexico City, CNN reported Tuesday that the CIA facilitated a targeted assassination of a member of the Sinaloa cartel on a highway outside Mexico City, fueling a firestorm in Mexico. The New York Times later reported that Mexican forces carried out the attack and the CIA provided planning and support.

Sheinbaum called the CNN report a “lie.” Asked about the New York Times report during her morning press briefing, she called it “a fiction the size of the universe.”

Liz Lyons, a spokesperson for the CIA, also lambasted the CNN report, posting on X that “this is false and salacious reporting that serves as nothing more than a PR campaign for the cartels and puts American lives at risk.”

A CNN spokesperson said the CIA had been presented with details of the report prior to publication and had declined to comment. While the network did not directly address Sheinbaum’s statements, it said it stands by its reporting.

“After publication, CIA spokesperson Liz Lyons released a statement to CNN saying, `This is false and salacious reporting that serves as nothing more than a PR campaign for the cartels and puts American lives at risk,’ without specifying what aspect of the reporting is false,” the CNN spokesperson said.

The New York Times also stood by its reporting, with Charlie Stadtlander, executive director of media relations and communications, saying in an emailed statement that the publication “remains confident in the accuracy of what we reported.”

While Sheinbaum’s mentor and predecessor, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, regularly attacked journalists in his morning news briefings, going as far as to dox critical reporters, Sheinbaum has taken a more measured tone in the face of criticism.

But the president has been plagued by scandals involving the United States in recent weeks as she comes under pressure to maintain a strong relationship with Washington in the face of renegotiating a free-trade agreement and threats by U.S. President Donald Trump to take action on cartels.

Sheinbaum has underscored Mexico’s sovereignty, a narrative that increasingly has been questioned.

Last month, two CIA agents were killed in a car crash along with local Mexican investigators on their return from an anti-narcotics operation in the northern state of Chihuahua. Sheinbaum said she had no knowledge of the operation, and Mexican and U.S. authorities contradicted themselves for days.

A week later, a New York court charged Sinaloa’s governor -- a high-ranking member of Sheinbaum’s party and ally of Lopez Obrador -- with drug trafficking and weapons offenses, accused of aiding in the massive importation of illicit narcotics into the U.S.

Megan Janetsky, The Associated Press

#Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva scrapped a tax on imports valued at $50 or less, a measure likely to boost his popularity less than five months before the election

#FBI Director Kash Patel denies drinking allegations in heated U.S. Senate exchange