Football fans are celebrating the tournament coming to Guadalajara. But with a brutal crime syndicate holding sway there, what are the risks for fans – and the government?

Excitement is mounting in Mexico as the World Cup opens in Mexico City, then heads to the city of Guadalajara.

Mexican journalist Leon Krauze is a fan. He was there the last time the World Cup came to Mexico and will be watching again. The city of Guadalajara has a mythical footballing past: “Pele’s Brazil played there in 1970, then Zico and Socrates played there in 1986. There is a real football memory there, a love affair between Guadalajara and football in general, and I expect it to be a wonderful party.”

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With matches in 16 cities across the US, Mexico and Canada, players and fans face an array of weather-related challenges

With the 2026 World Cup now under way, all 48 teams face a common opposition: summer weather across North America. Matches will be played in 16 cities, from southern Mexico to Canada, with a range of weather risks possible at each venue.

Thunderstorms disrupted play before the tournament had even begun. England’s warm-up against Costa Rica in Orlando was delayed by about an hour after storms brought lightning and heavy rain that waterlogged the pitch. Safety regulations at US venues mean play is suspended when lightning is recorded within roughly 8 miles of a stadium, not resuming until 30 minutes after the last strike.

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Please be aware... Photos are purely for entertainment. I am no expert. Titles are from recognition - what I was told - or a quick search. Polite comments or corrections are welcome.

In each photograph by 37-year-old Citlali Fabián, you can find the story of an encounter, as well as an attempt to portray memory with dignity. For her series Bilha, Stories of My Sisters, the artist — who hails from the Yalateca Indigenous community in the Mexican state of Oaxaca — was named Photographer of the Year at the 2026 Sony World Photography Awards, run by the World Photography Organization. This is one of the most prestigious recognitions in her field.

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The journalist Roxana Berenice Guzmán was inside her home when armed men showed up and smashed the door. Like in a nightmare, they did not succeed immediately: they broke the glass and then began hammering at the lock. Blow after blow, up to a dozen. A man inside asks them to wait, but one of the attackers silences him, sticking a rifle through the broken glass and taking aim. They begin to kick at the door. The kicks are combined with the hammer blows. The man inside the house pleads again: “There’s a baby, calm down!” But, as in nightmares, the squad finally manages to break a piece of the door and enter the house. “Get on the floor!” one of the hooded men shouts, before grabbing the phone that is recording him. There are no images after that, but the attackers took the founder of the local media outlet Pulso Informativo del Sureste. The recording has shaken a country used to attacks on its journalists.

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Teachers in Mexico have launched a nationwide strike that is bringing mounting pressure on President Claudia Sheinbaum’s government ahead of the start of the soccer World Cup.

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“Where do the disappeared people in Mexico come from?” That is the question Dr. Luciano Valenzuela, a biologist, posed as he opened the workshop the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team (EAAF) organized to explain a new search method. It will be part of a project carried out over the next three years in Mexico and Central America to shorten the search for migrants who have disappeared on Mexican territory.

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