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Colombia’s Presidential Hopeful Dies Two Months After Being Shot

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Colombian presidential candidate Miguel Uribe has died two months after being shot at a campaign rally, his family said Monday, as the attack rekindled fears of a return to the nation’s violent past.

 

The 39-year-old conservative senator, a grandson of former president Julio Cesar Turbay (1978-1982), was shot in the head and leg on June 7 at a rally in the capital, Bogota, by a suspected 15-year-old hitman.

Despite signs of progress in recent weeks, his doctors on Saturday announced he had suffered a new brain hemorrhage.

“To break up a family is the most horrific act of violence that can be committed,” his widow Maria Claudia Tarazona said at his wake Monday, where she thanked her husband’s medical team for their efforts.

She attended the state ceremony at Congress in Bogota, where Uribe’s body will remain for public viewing until Wednesday.

Authorities have arrested six suspects linked to the attack, including the alleged shooter, who was captured at the scene by Uribe’s bodyguards.

Following a nationwide manhunt, police announced the arrest of an alleged mastermind behind the attack, Elder Jose Arteaga Hernandez, alias “El Costeno.”

Police have also pointed to a dissident wing of the defunct FARC guerrilla group as being behind the assassination.

The attack on Uribe, a leading candidate ahead of the 2026 presidential election, has reopened old wounds in a country wracked by violence.

His own mother, journalist Diana Turbay, was killed in a botched 1991 police operation to free her from cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar’s Medellin cartel.

Four presidential candidates were assassinated during the worst phase of violence in the 1980s and 1990s under Escobar, who terrorized citizens of Bogota, Medellin and elsewhere with a campaign of bombings.

Writing on X, left-wing President Gustavo Petro, of whom Uribe was a fierce critic, said the government’s role was to “repudiate crime… regardless of ideology” and assured the safety of Colombians was his top priority.

‘Evil destroys everything’ 

Miguel Uribe Londono (C), the father of late Colombian presidential candidate Miguel Uribe Turbay, puts his hands on the coffin lying in state at Congress in Bogota on August 11, 2025. (Photo by Raul ARBOLEDA / AFP)

 

“Today is a sad day for the country,” Vice President Francia Marquez said on social media.

“Violence cannot continue to mark our destiny. Democracy is not built with bullets or blood, it is built with respect, with dialogue.”

Uribe had fiercely criticized Petro’s strategy of “total peace,” based on engaging all of Colombia’s remaining armed groups, including drug traffickers, in dialogue.

He announced in October that he would seek to succeed the term-limited Petro in the May 2026 election.

Uribe was elected to Bogota’s city council at age 26, later becoming its youngest-ever chairperson and then the mayor’s right-hand man.

In 2019, he unsuccessfully ran for mayor of Bogota, but three years later, he was elected a senator — receiving the most votes of any candidate in the country.

He took a seat with the conservative Democratic Center party, founded by former president Alvaro Uribe, no relation.

“Evil destroys everything, they killed hope. May Miguel’s struggle be a light that illuminates Colombia’s rightful path,” former president Uribe wrote on X.

In recent months, Petro, a former left-wing guerrilla, has been accused of dialing up the political temperature by labelling his right-wing opponents “Nazis.”

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a frequent critic of the leftist Petro government, demanded justice following the announcement of Uribe’s death.

“The United States stands in solidarity with his family, the Colombian people, both in mourning and demanding justice for those responsible,” Rubio said.

Uribe leaves behind a young son and three teenage daughters of his wife, whom he had taken in as his own.

 

 

AFP

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5 Key Players Barca Will Let Go This Summer

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Barcelona are set to let five key players leave the club this summer, as they plan a squad overhaul, according to reports.

 

The Blaugrana are currently sitting nine points clear at the top of LaLiga, and are set to romp to a second consecutive title ahead of rivals Real Madrid.

However, after more disappointment in the Champions League, in which they were dumped out by Atletico Madrid, Hansi Flick and the board at Barcelona are preparing to rebuild their squad at the end of the campaign.

Spanish media outlet Marca are reporting that there are five players who have ‘completed a cycle at the club’ and will likely be moved on come the summer.

Marcus Rashford is one of those players. Barcelona can buy the 28-year-old, who is on loan from Manchester United, for £26million under the terms of the deal, but reports have emerged that they are not willing to exercise that option.

The 28-year-old has contributed 12 goals and 13 assists this season to help the Catalan giants run rampant in LaLiga, and as recently as last week, it was believed that Barca would like to keep him.

However, they have made a failed bid to renegotiate the £26m fee with United, who are refusing to budge on the clause which expires on June 15 – four days after the World Cup kicks off in North America.

It means there is a strong chance that Rashford will be forced to return to his boyhood club following England duty if he is selected for the tournament this summer.

Another attacker who seems set for the exit door is none other than Robert Lewandowski.

The Pole, who joined Barcelona from Bayern Munich in 2022, is out of contract in the summer, and there has been little indication that he will sign a new deal at the club.

It is believed that both Lewandowski’s ‘age and recent physical problems’ have thrust his future at Barca into doubt.

Barcelona are said to be looking at freeing up some financial legroom, and for that reason, they want to offload stars on big wage packets.

One of those players is Frenkie de Jong, who is understood to be on just under €400,000 (£348,000) per week, and Marca suggest that he could be sold to ‘ease the financial burden’ on the Spanish giants.

Former Chelsea defender Andreas Christensen and La Masia graduate Marc Casado are also said to be on the proverbial chopping block.

Christensen played 161 games in six seasons with the Blues before making the move to Catalonia in 2022 on a four-year deal. That deal is now set to expire, and there are no plans for an extension at this moment in time.

Casado, however, still has two years left on his contract, but due to a lack of minutes, could be forced to find a new club.

The defensive midfielder has failed to break into the team ahead of Pedri, Eric Garcia, and Gavi, and has started only one of the last eight LaLiga games.

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Gunman Kills Tourist, Injures Six In Mexico

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A gunman killed a Canadian tourist and wounded six other people on Monday at Mexico’s famed Teotihuacan archaeological site, authorities said.

 

The gunman killed himself after opening fire at the heavily visited destination in central Mexico, home to pre-Aztecan pyramids, according to a security official.

The shooting occurred on the Pyramid of the Moon, a 45-meter (nearly 150-foot) high monument visitors are allowed to climb using steep steps carved of volcanic rock.

Six people were wounded by gunfire and taken to local hospitals, including a Canadian woman, a Colombian woman and child, a Brazilian and two Americans.

Seven other people were injured in the scramble for safety and were treated at the scene after the gunman — identified as Julio Cesar Jasso Ramirez of Mexico — opened fire.

The midday shooting stunned tourists at one of Mexico’s most visited pre-Hispanic sites, less than two months before the 2026 World Cup kicks off with games in Mexico, the United States and Canada.

AFPTV footage showed a body wrapped in a white sheet being walked down the steps of the pyramid.

State authorities at the scene seized a firearm, a knife and unused ammunition and evacuated tourists from the premises.

More than 2,000 years old, the pyramid city near Mexico City attracted over 1.8 million visitors in 2025, tourism officials said.

Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand in a post on X called the attack “a horrific act of gun violence.”

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum called for a thorough investigation, and said she sent personnel to the site to provide assistance.

“What happened today in Teotihuacan deeply pains us,” Sheinbaum posted on X.

 ‘Send security’

Forensic experts and members of the Red Cross transport a body on the Pyramid of the Moon at the Teotihuacan archaeological zone following a shooting in Teotihuacan, State of Mexico, on April 20, 2026. Photo by YURI CORTEZ / AFP

 

Located about 50 kilometers (31 miles) from the capital Mexico City, Teotihuacan draws domestic and foreign tourists to see its pyramids and its Avenue of the Dead.

Federal security officials said police and the national guard were dispatched to the area following the attack.

Videos on social media showed the gunman firing periodic shots from a pistol about halfway up the Pyramid of the Moon while some tourists took cover behind stairs below and others fled.

“A person is opening fire on us, take care friends, send security,” a voice from one video, which AFP has not verified, can be heard saying.

Other videos show authorities examining the pyramid in a complex cordoned off with crime-scene tape.

Designated as a World Heritage site of “outstanding universal value” by the United Nations, the monuments at Teotihuacan were built in the pre-Hispanic Classic period — a golden age of Mesoamerican history — between the first and seventh centuries.

Mexico’s nearly 200 archaeological sites are popular with tourists, and although accidents have been reported, this is the first reported case of armed violence in decades.

While Mexico continues to struggle with frequent drug gang-related violence, untargeted mass shootings are relatively rare, especially compared to the country’s northern neighbor, the United States.

Mexico expects over 5.5 million visitors for the World Cup in June, when the popular football contest hosts national teams from around the world.

American tourist Anna Durmont, a 37-year-old art historian, told AFP she was walking towards the pyramid when she was startled by the sight of emergency vehicles and police.

“It actually felt extremely calm,” Durmont said, explaining she hadn’t heard gunfire.

“It was very measured. The park is full of souvenir sellers and they hadn’t left. It wasn’t clear to us until we got closer that there was a serious emergency,” she said.

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Snakebite Victim Dies After Family Immerses Him in River

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‎A 13-year-old teenager in India tragically lost his life after his family kept him immersed in the Ganges River for 12 hours following a snake bite instead of seeking medical help, the country’s media reported.

 

‎The death of the young boy recently caused outrage throughout India and reignited the heated debate regarding the potentially deadly consequences of superstition and the denial of proper medical care.

‎Acting on the instructions of a ‘witch doctor,’ a rural family kept their 13-year-old son immersed in the holy Ganges River for 12 hours, instead of taking him to a hospital after he got bitten by the poisonous snake.

‎The boy, whose name was given simply as Amit, a Class 4 student from Pitampur village in Uttar Pradesh, was bitten by the snake last week Thursday.

‎He immediately told his family what happened, but instead of rushing him to a hospital, they decided to consult a witch doctor.

‎The man reportedly told the family to tie Amit to bamboo poles and keep his body immersed in the Ganges River, so that the holy water of the river could cure him.

‎Indian media reported after 12 hours, the family noticed that Amit had become unconscious, and then they finally decided to take him to a medical doctor, but by that time, there was nothing to be done.

‎Even after learning of Amit’s death, the family allegedly tried to throw his body into the Ganges, hoping for a miracle.

‎Dr. Shashank Chaudhary of the health centre in the village told reporters that he and his colleagues routinely conduct awareness-raising campaigns, urging people to come to the hospital immediately after getting bitten by snakes, as every minute counts.

‎Amit’s preventable death sparked outrage on social media, with many asking that his parents should face consequences for their negligence.

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