When the world gets closer.

We help you see farther.

Sign up to our expressly international daily newsletter.

Already a subscriber? Log in.

You've reached your limit of one free article.

Get unlimited access to Worldcrunch

You can cancel anytime.

SUBSCRIBERS BENEFITS

Exclusive International news coverage

Ad-free experience NEW

Weekly digital MagazineNEW

9 daily & weekly Newsletters

Access to Worldcrunch archives

Free trial

30-days free access, then $2.90
per month.

Annual Access BEST VALUE

$19.90 per year, save $14.90 compared to monthly billing.save $14.90.

Subscribe to Worldcrunch
WHAT THE WORLD

Police Bust Mexican Drug Gang For Recruiting Boys Via Video Games

The three victims, 14 and younger, were contacted while playing the online game Free Fire, and promised paid work.

Photo of two police members in Veracruz, Mexico

Municipal Police in Cordoba

OAXACA — Police in Mexico have intervened to rescue three minors, aged 11 to 14, from recruitment into a drug gang that had enticed them through online gaming.

A top Mexican police agency official Ricardo Mejía Berdeja, said the gang had contacted the youths in the south-central city of Oaxaca, chatting through a free-to-download game called Free Fire, which involves shooting at rivals with virtual firearms.


Calling himself "Rafael," another player of the same age, the suspected gang member offered one of the youths work "checking radio frequencies and watching out for police presence" in Monterrey, northern Mexico, reported national daily El Heraldo de México. The pay was unusually good — 8,000 pesos (almost $400) every two weeks — and the youth called two friends who also wanted to get in.

Criminals use gaming and social networks

The three boys were set to take the bait, but an anonymous Mexican intelligence agent following the exchange while also posing as youth playing Free Fire, ultimately led police to a safe house in Santa Lucía del Camino, outside Oaxaca. The three were held before their transfer to Monterrey. Authorities arrested a woman who was supposed to take them there.

Gangs recruit youth who like these game, firearms and adrenaline.

Mejía said "this is an important case for interweaving the virtual and real worlds," with criminals operating "through online games and social networks." The recruiter, he said, "pretends to be young, invites [youngsters] to private meetings early in the morning or when the parents are working, when there is no proper oversight."

He said recruiters were interested in youngsters they discerned as "interested in this type of game, in firearms and adrenaline, and gradually draw them in through communication."

screenshot of the fire fire online game

Screenshot of Free Fire

Emulator PC

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

Society

The Real Splash At Next Year's Paris Olympics? The River Seine, Reimagined

The Seine, the backbone of Paris' Olympic celebrations, is being reclaimed as a recreational and transport hub. Does it mean Napoleon's dream of a "Greater Paris" stretching all the way to the sea will finally happen?

Simulation of the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games Paris 2024, staged on the Seine

Simulation of the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games Paris 2024, staged on the Seine

Stefano Lupieri

PARIS — "Groundbreaking" ... That's likely the word that best applies to the next Olympic Games opening ceremony, scheduled for July 26, 2024 in the French capital. That is not to say that previous ceremonies have been lackluster or short on special effects. But they all took place in a stadium. This time, however, the events artistic director Thomas Joly will be using the Seine river as his creative space. No less than six kilometers of it, from the Pont d'Austerlitz to the Eiffel Tower. Enough to dazzle the lucky few who manage to buy a paying ticket, or find a seat at the top of the freely accessible platforms.

For them, and a billion or so television viewers, the Seine will undoubtedly be one of the stars of the ceremony. And, let's face it, it will be one of the markers of the success of the 2024 Olympic Games. Because far beyond the opening show, this legendary waterway – known the world over and celebrated by so many artists – is omnipresent in the Olympic Games Organizing Committee’s (CoJo’s) project. From the Olympic village built on the banks of the Saint-Denis and Saint-Ouen rivers to the open-water swimming events, the Seine's presence was a decisive factor in the triumph of Paris' candidacy.

This global event is also expected to symbolically kickstart a major movement to reclaim the river. Riverbank residents will soon be able to bathe in it again, thanks to the major clean-up work carried out in the run-up to the Olympic Games, and all the economic players will become increasingly aware of the untapped potential of river transport in a time of ecological transition.

Keep reading...Show less

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

Already a subscriber? Log in.

You've reached your limit of one free article.

Get unlimited access to Worldcrunch

You can cancel anytime.

SUBSCRIBERS BENEFITS

Exclusive International news coverage

Ad-free experience NEW

Weekly digital MagazineNEW

9 daily & weekly Newsletters

Access to Worldcrunch archives

Free trial

30-days free access, then $2.90
per month.

Annual Access BEST VALUE

$19.90 per year, save $14.90 compared to monthly billing.save $14.90.

Subscribe to Worldcrunch

The latest