- Sweeping Vietnam internet law comes into force
- Pope kicks off Christmas under shadow of war
- Catholics hold muted Christmas mass in Indonesia's Sharia stronghold
- Japan's top diplomat in China to address 'challenges'
- Thousands attend Christmas charity dinner in Buenos Aires
- Demand for Japanese content booms post 'Shogun'
- As India's Bollywood shifts, stars and snappers click
- Mystery drones won't interfere with Santa's work: US tracker
- Djokovic eyes more Slam glory as Swiatek returns under doping cloud
- Australia's in-form Head confirmed fit for Boxing Day Test
- Brazilian midfielder Oscar returns to Sao Paulo
- 'Wemby' and 'Ant-Man' to make NBA Christmas debuts
- US agency focused on foreign disinformation shuts down
- On Christmas Eve, Pope Francis launches holy Jubilee year
- 'Like a dream': AFP photographer's return to Syria
- Chiefs seek top seed in holiday test for playoff-bound NFL teams
- Panamanians protest 'public enemy' Trump's canal threat
- Cyclone death toll in Mayotte rises to 39
- Ecuador vice president says Noboa seeking her 'banishment'
- Leicester boss Van Nistelrooy aware of 'bigger picture' as Liverpool await
- Syria authorities say armed groups have agreed to disband
- Maresca expects Man City to be in title hunt as he downplays Chelsea's chancs
- Man Utd boss Amorim vows to stay on course despite Rashford row
- South Africa opt for all-pace attack against Pakistan
- Guardiola adamant Man City slump not all about Haaland
- Global stocks mostly higher in thin pre-Christmas trade
- Bethlehem marks sombre Christmas under shadow of war
- NASA probe makes closest ever pass by the Sun
- 11 killed in blast at Turkey explosives plant
- Indonesia considers parole for ex-terror chiefs: official
- Global stocks mostly rise in thin pre-Christmas trade
- Postecoglou says Spurs 'need to reinforce' in transfer window
- Le Pen says days of new French govt numbered
- Global stocks mostly rise after US tech rally
- Villa boss Emery set for 'very difficult' clash with Newcastle
- Investors swoop in to save German flying taxi startup
- How Finnish youth learn to spot disinformation
- South Korean opposition postpones decision to impeach acting president
- 12 killed in blast at Turkey explosives plant
- Panama leaders past and present reject Trump's threat of Canal takeover
- Hong Kong police issue fresh bounties for activists overseas
- Saving the mysterious African manatee at Cameroon hotspot
- India consider second spinner for Boxing Day Test
- London wall illuminates Covid's enduring pain at Christmas
- Poyet appointed manager at South Korea's Jeonbuk
- South Korea's opposition vows to impeach acting president
- The tsunami detection buoys safeguarding lives in Thailand
- Teen Konstas to open for Australia in Boxing Day India Test
- Asian stocks mostly up after US tech rally
- US panel could not reach consensus on US-Japan steel deal: Nippon
Submerged homes, heat waves fuel Mexico climate angst
Waves wash over abandoned homes in a Mexican village slowly being swallowed by the sea -- a symbol of the climate change effects being felt by the major fossil fuel producer.
The school where Adrian Perez used to attend classes in the community of El Bosque in the southern state of Tabasco now stands in ruins.
Each time he passes it going fishing, he is reminded of what has been lost to the sea.
"It's hard. I studied there and look at what it became," the 24-year-old said.
"The climate's destroying us," he added.
This year, heat waves have sent temperatures soaring in Tabasco and much of Mexico, stoking the climate change debate as the country prepares for a June 2 presidential election.
According to environmental group Greenpeace, El Bosque is the first community in Mexico to be officially recognized as displaced by climate change.
In February, the Tabasco state congress approved its relocation.
"We hear about climate change all the time but we never thought that it would come to us," said 34-year-old Cristy Echeverria, who lost her home.
According to the World Meteorological Organization, ocean warming as well as the melting of glaciers and ice sheets caused the global sea level to reach its highest point on record last year.
Around 700 people once lived in El Bosque, which sits on a small peninsula jutting out into the Gulf of Mexico and exposed to Atlantic storms and hurricanes.
In the waters offshore, rigs extract the oil and gas on which Latin America's second-largest economy so heavily depends.
Down the coast, the government of outgoing President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has built a major new oil refinery in Tabasco, his home state -- part of his efforts to achieve energy self-sufficiency.
- Records melt -
Tabasco is one of the areas of Mexico hit hardest by this year's heat waves, with temperatures in the state reaching 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).
Since March, 48 heat-related death have been registered across the country, according to the government.
Even Mexico City -- whose altitude has traditionally given it a temperate climate -- recorded its highest-ever temperature of 34.7 degrees Celsius on Saturday.
The heat and below-normal rainfall last year have stirred fears of worsening water shortages.
The average annual availability of water per capita in Mexico has already fallen by 68 percent since 1960, according to the Mexican Institute of Competitiveness.
Despite international pressure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Lopez Obrador has promoted fossil fuel production during his six-year term in a bid to ensure energy independence.
The government says it is offsetting the impact by planting one million hectares of trees, which Lopez Obrador has called "the world's most important reforestation program."
Pablo Ramirez, a climate campaigner at Greenpeace Mexico, warned that there was "no public policy that can address the serious impacts that climate change is having and that are going to get worse."
- Clean energy plans -
Claudia Sheinbaum, the ruling party candidate leading the race to replace Lopez Obrador, has promised to invest billions of dollars in clean energy while also supporting state oil company Pemex.
"We're going to promote the energy transition," said Sheinbaum, a scientist by training who was a contributing author for the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Sheinbaum would take a different approach to Lopez Obrador on energy, according to Pamela Starr, a professor at the University of Southern California.
"She's going to encourage much more active investment in clean energy," Starr told AFP.
Opposition presidential candidate Xochitl Galvez has said that Mexico needs "to end our addiction to fossil fuels" and proposed to close some refineries.
The campaign promises give little comfort to Echeverria.
"We're not responsible for everything that's happening, but we're paying for it," she said.
"We're not going to be the only ones."
S.F.Warren--AMWN