MEXICO CITY

Federal police open fire on U.S. vehicle, wound two

MEXICO CITY – The Mexican Navy said Friday that federal police opened fire on a U.S. Embassy vehicle carrying two U.S. government employees, after the vehicle entered an area where the Mexican officers were conducting anti-crime operations.

The two U.S. Embassy employees were hospitalized, one with a wound to the leg and the other hit in the stomach and hand, according to a government official who spoke on condition of anonymity. The U.S. Embassy said it could not release details of the shooting or the names of the victims.

The Navy said at least four vehicles opened fire on the Americans’ sport utility vehicle on a road south of Mexico City, but did not make clear if any of the four carried federal police officers.

The shootings appeared to have been the result of a confused running gun battle that broke out on a rural road in a mountainous area that has been used by common criminals, drug gangs and leftist rebels in the past.

Advertisement

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti

Island expects punishing rains, but not a hurricane

Tropical Storm Isaac strengthened as it swirled toward an expected landfall on Haiti’s southern peninsula Friday night, threatening the impoverished nation with punishing rains but unlikely to gain enough steam to strike as a hurricane.

Forecasters said the storm would likely stay below hurricane force until it reached the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday. They shifted its track back eastward and said it remained a possible threat to Tampa, Fla., where the Republican National Convention starts Monday.

MEXICO CITY

Bird flu epidemic leaves Mexicans short of eggs

Advertisement

The Mexican government is battling an egg shortage and hoarding that have caused prices to spike in a country with the highest per-capita egg consumption on Earth.

A summer epidemic of bird flu in the heart of Mexico’s egg industry has doubled the cost of a kilo — 2.2 pounds, or about 13 eggs — to more than 40 pesos, or $3, a major blow to working- and middle-class consumers in a country that consumes more than 350 eggs per person each year. That’s 100 more eggs per person than in the United States.

Egg prices have dominated the headlines here for a week, spurring Mexico City’s mayor to ship tons of cheap eggs to poor neighborhoods and the federal government to announce emergency programs to get fresh chickens to farms hit by bird flu and to restock supermarket shelves with imported eggs.

— From news service reports


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.