Dear readers,
In 2023, there were 77,813 outlets in the US where guns could be purchased legally. That is a number similar to the combined amount of McDonald’s, Burger King, Subway, and Wendy’s restaurants in the entire US. In Mexico, on the other hand, there are only 2 centers for legally acquiring firearms, both administered by the Secretariat of National Defense. Still, the most conservative studies estimate there are 17 million firearms circulating illegally in Mexico, and the country’s Foreign Ministry calculated two million weapons were trafficked in the last decade. Weapons in Mexico have not only served to kill. Their most profound impact is that they have functioned as vectors for the expansion of criminal networks in the region, leaving the authorities facing a very different criminal problem than it did 15 years ago. (...).
This week we interviewed former U.S. vice-president AL Gore, who has become a leading figure in the struggle to combat the effects of climate change and a bête noir of the fossil fuel industry, which the Nobel laureate cites as being the main actor responsible for climate change and global warming. (...) […] We can’t destroy our home, we only have one and we have to protect it. We’re not going to get rocket ships and go to Mars.”
We also reported on a growing global phenomenon and one that has hit the Portuguese capital Lisbon particularly hard: over-tourism and the flight of local residents from city centers in the face of encroaching real estate investors. Lisbon has lost 30% of its population since 2013 and today 60% of properties in the city are tourist apartments. Last year, 700,000 cruise ship passengers descended on Lisbon, where long-standing business and cultural institutions are struggling to survive amid a sea of tuk-tuks and souvenir shops. (...)
We hope you enjoy this selection of stories.
You can also read:
- Trump could go to jail... and still be president
- ‘Back to Black’: Amy Winehouse, always back to black
- Lisbon, a city dying from its own success
- Taylor Swift, an undeniable goddess whose kingdom is better than her songs
- Distress can be deadly, especially if you’re a woman
- Mariángel Vargas, from migrant shelter to chess champion
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