Two police officers died in a shootout with alleged criminals Thursday in the violence-plagued southern state of Guerrero, the government said. Security forces killed 17 members of a criminal group that later attacked the military in the same area, Public Security Minister Omar Garcia Harfuch told a news conference, three more than previously reported. Eleven suspects were arrested, he said. "These groups, as we can see, have a very important firepower," including light machine guns, he added.

Further north on Thursday, in Guanajuato state, a car bomb detonated outside a police station, wounding three officers. A second explosion was reported later in the same region, causing material damage. Asked whether her government viewed the attacks as "narcoterrorism," Sheinbaum told reporters that the violence "cannot be classified as terrorism."

Guerrero and Guanajuato are two of the Mexican states most affected by criminal violence. Guerrero, home to the beachside resort city of Acapulco, has endured years of bloodshed linked to turf wars between cartels fighting for control of drug production and trafficking. Guanajuato is a thriving industrial hub and home to several popular tourist destinations, but it is also now considered Mexico's most violent state.

Mexico has suffered more than 450,000 drug-related killings since the government started using the military to fight the cartels in 2006.

Sheinbaum, who took office on October 1, has pledged to continue her predecessor's "hugs not bullets" strategy of using social policy to tackle crime at its roots, while also making better use of intelligence.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva attended the signing of the deal over the November 5, 2015 collapse of a tailings dam at a mine in the southeastern town of Mariana, which triggered a giant mudslide. The river of mud swamped villages, rivers and rainforest, killing 19 people on its way to the sea.

"I hope the mining companies have learned their lesson: it would have cost them less to prevent (the disaster), much less," Lula said at the ceremony attended by representatives of Brazil's Vale and Australia's BHP, co-owners of the Brazilian company Samarco that operated the iron mine.

The agreement, which Lula declared to be the biggest environmental payout in modern history, comes on the fifth day of a separate mega-trial in London over BHP's role in the dam's failure. More than 620,000 complainants, including 46 Brazilian municipalities and several Indigenous communities, are seeking an estimated £36 billion ($47 million) in damages in the civil trial.

BHP denies responsibility. The company said Friday that the agreement reached in Brasilia did not end the lawsuits pending against the companies, nor prevent others being taken.

The dam's failure released a torrent of over 40 million cubic meters of highly toxic sludge, the equivalent of 12,000 Olympic swimming pools, which coursed through the Doce River all the way to the Atlantic Ocean, over 600 kilometers (373 miles) away.

"The agreement marks a new moment of hope for the people," said Brazil's Attorney General Jorge Messias, who represented the Brazilian state and local authorities in the negotiations. But some of the victims said they felt the mining giants got off too easily.

In London, the head of the law firm representing the complainants, Tom Goodhead, said the agreement "only serves to underline exactly why the proceedings in the English courts are so critical." "The victims have not been consulted about the agreement and part of the reparations will be spread over 20 years," he said.

BHP says it cannot be held responsible because it did not own or operate the dam.

The number of hospitalizations has risen to 22, though no additional deaths have been reported beyond that of an elderly patient in Colorado, according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

One child and one adult developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, a serious condition that damages blood vessels in the kidneys. Investigators have yet to confirm a specific ingredient as the contamination source, though they are assessing whether slivered onions or beef patties could be the origin.

McDonald's restaurants in the 13 impacted states have temporarily pulled Quarter Pounders from their menus, though other items, including other beef burgers, remain available.

The CDC advised those who consumed a Quarter Pounder and developed symptoms of E. coli poisoning -- such as diarrhea, bloody diarrhea, a fever over 102 degrees Fahrenheit (38.9°C), and vomiting -- to seek medical attention. Symptoms typically begin three to four days after exposure, and most individuals recover within five to seven days without treatment. However, some cases can become severe and require hospitalization.

McDonald's said in a statement Tuesday it had taken "swift and decisive action" and that food safety was its "top priority."

An offensive launched a year ago Sunday has seen opponents of the military seize much of the 480-kilometre-long (300-mile) route that connects second city Mandalay to China, Myanmar's biggest trade partner. Control of the road denies the junta lucrative taxes, threatens its bases in the central plains, and is a huge morale booster for its opponents as the civil war grinds through its fourth year.

More than $2 billion worth of trade passed through Muse in the 2023-2024 financial year, according to the junta's commerce ministry. Analysts say much more goes through off the books.

Around 30 kilometres further on is the town of Kutkai, infamous for the production of methamphetamine and normally home to around 50,000 people. The fighting that has pushed the military out has scattered many of its residents and scarred the town. Rubble littered across an open patch of ground was all that remained of the main market, flattened by a military airstrike.

Roughly halfway along the highway, the city of Lashio embodies the biggest defeat the junta has suffered since it seized power in 2021. Its four-lane toll gate was riddled with bullet holes and several panels were hanging loose, remnants of fierce fighting for the city where around 150,000 people lived before the offensive. Lashio was famous as the terminus of the "Burma Road" built by the British usng local labour to supply Chinese forces battling Japanese invaders during the Second World War. The military is trying to keep people away, and on Wednesday launched its latest airstrike on Lashio, according to local media and a rescue group.

The United States has brought hundreds of thousands of children from abroad to be adopted by American families.

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SpaceX capsule touches down carrying three Americans and a Russian who were scheduled to return in August

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US only nation likely to be able to persuade Netanyahu to drop plan condemned by 123 member states

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A New Hampshire woman faces a sentence of over 50 years to life in prison in the death of her 5-year-old son, who was beaten, starved and exposed to drugs.

Kyiv’s project "I Want to Live" calls on North Korean soldiers to surrender to Ukrainian forces in the new video in Korean language, as the first Pyongyang troops have arrived in the combat zone in Russia's border region of Kursk.

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“People will either agree with that conviction or they won’.”