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Mexico elects Claudia Sheinbaum as first woman president
Claudia Sheinbaum has been elected as Mexico’s first woman president in an historic landslide win.
Mexico’s official electoral authority said preliminary results showed the 61-year-old former mayor of Mexico City winning between 58% and 60% of the vote in Sunday’s election.
That gives her a lead of about 30 percentage points over her main rival, businesswoman Xóchitl Gálvez.
Ms Sheinbaum will replace her mentor, outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, on 1 October.
The election of a woman to the highest office was an emotional moment for some [BBC]
Ms Sheinbaum, a former energy scientist, has promised continuity, saying that she will continue to build on the “advances” made by President López Obrador, further building on the welfare programmes which have made the outgoing president very popular.
But in her victory speech she also highlighted what has set this Mexican election apart from previous ones. She told cheering voters: “For the first time in the 200 years of the [Mexican] Republic, I will become the first woman president of Mexico.”
She said it was an achievement not just for her but for all women. “I’ve said it from the start, this is not just about me getting [to the top office], it’s about all of us getting here.”
She added: “I won’t fail you.”
Ms Sheinbaum also thanked her rival, Xóchitl Gálvez, who has conceded victory.
Prior to running for president, Ms Sheinbaum was mayor of Mexico City, one of the most influential political positions in the country and one that is seen as paving the way for the presidency.
Ms Sheinbaum, whose Jewish maternal grandparents immigrated to Mexico from Bulgaria fleeing the Nazis, had an illustrious career as a scientist before delving into politics. Her paternal grandparents hailed from Lithuania.
Both of her parents were scientists and Ms Sheinbaum studied physics before going on to receive a doctorate in energy engineering. She spent years at a renowned research lab in California studying Mexican energy consumption patterns and became an expert on climate change.
That experience and her student activism eventually earned her the position of secretary of the environment for Mexico City at the time when Andrés Manuel López Obrador was mayor of the capital. In 2018 she became the first female mayor of Mexico City, a post she held until 2023, when she stepped down to run for president.
The election, which pitted Ms Sheinbaum against Ms Gálvez, has been described as a sea change for women in Mexico.
Edelmira Montiel, 87, said that she was grateful to be alive to see a woman elected to the top office. “Before, we couldn’t even vote, and when you could, it was to vote for the person your husband told you to vote for. Thank God that has changed and I get to live it,” she told Reuters news agency, referring to the fact that women were only allowed to vote in national elections in 1953.
While the fact that the two front-runners were women was widely celebrated, the campaign was marred by violent attacks.
As well as a new president, voters were also electing all members of Mexico’s Congress and governors in eight states, the head of Mexico City’s government, and thousands of local officials.
And it was local candidates in particular who were targeted in the run-up to the vote. The government says more than 20 were killed across Mexico, although other surveys put the total at 37.
Ms Gálvez harshly criticised the government and her rival in the presidential race for the violence which blights large parts of Mexico.
She promised to be “the bravest president, a president who does confront crime” if elected, but failed to provide many details about how she would tackle the powerful criminal cartels which are behind much of the violence.
After Ms Sheinbaum’s lead became unassailable, Ms Gálvez called her. “I told her I saw a Mexico with a lot of pain and violence. I wished that she could solve the severe problems our people have,” Ms Gálvez said of the call.
How to tackle Mexico’s violent cartels is going to be one of the many challenges facing Ms Sheinbaum when she takes up office. She has said that it is important to tackle what she says are the roots of the violence and has promised to invest in welfare programmes to prevent poor young Mexicans from being recruited by criminal groups.
On relations with Mexico’s northern neighbour, the United States, which at times have been testy under her predecessor in office, she said she would ensure there would be “a relationship of friendship, mutual respect and equality”.
But in a reference to the many Mexicans living and working in the US, she promised to “always defend the Mexicans who are on the other side of the border”.
Relations between the US and Mexico suffered under Mr López Obrador, who has been in power since 2018. The outspoken leader was barred from running for a second term under Mexico’s constitution, which limits presidents to a single six-year-term.
He threw his weight behind Ms Sheinbaum instead.
Having the backing of the popular president, who has an approval rate of close to 60%, gave Ms Sheinbaum’s campaign a huge boost. Many of those voting for her said they backed Morena’s programme to alleviate poverty and wanted to see it continued.
[BBC]
A new strain of mpox, previously called monkeypox, has been detected in a person in England, say UK health officials.
The virus is a mix of two major types of the mpox virus, and was found in someone who recently returned from travelling in Asia.
Officials say they are still assessing the significance of the new strain.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) says it is normal for viruses to evolve. Getting vaccinated remains the best way to protect against severe disease – although an mpox infection is mild for many.
The new virus strain contains elements of two mpox strains, called clade Ib and clade IIb. It currently has no name.
UK health officials recently encouraged gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men to make sure they were vaccinated against mpox.
That call came as a strain called ‘clade Ib’ showed early signs of local spread in some European countries.
‘Clade IIb’ is linked to a global outbreak of mpox in 2022 which affected many countries worldwide.
In the UK, vaccination is available for groups of people at highest risk of catching mpox:
- those who have multiple sexual partners
- those who engage in group sex
- those who visit sex-on-premises venues
Health officials say the vaccine is 75-80% effective at protecting against mpox.
There have been no studies on how well the vaccine protects against this latest strain, although it’s thought there will be a high degree of protection.
Dr Katy Sinka, head of sexually transmitted infections at UKHSA, said genomic testing had allowed it to be detected.
“It’s normal for viruses to evolve, and further analysis will help us understand more about how mpox is changing.
“Getting vaccinated is a proven effective way to protect yourself against severe disease, so please make sure to get the jab if you are eligible,” she said.
Prof Trudie Lang, director of the Global Health Network at the University of Oxford, said there were “excellent systems” to identify cases and control onward infection in the UK, but in other parts of the world, in more vulnerable populations, “this is harder to achieve”, where access to vaccines is not as reliable.
Prof Lang said if further cases of this strain appeared in the UK and elsewhere, it would be important to understand how it’s being spread and how ill it makes people, in order to assess whether it’s more or less dangerous than previous strains.
There have been nearly 48,000 confirmed cases of mpox globally in 2025, and 2,500 in the past month, with most occurring in central Africa.
Dr Boghuma Titanji, assistant professor of medicine at Emory University, said the new strain is what experts feared would happen if mpox continued to spread worldwide.
“The more mpox circulation we permit, the more opportunities the virus has to recombine and adapt, further entrenching mpox virus as a human pathogen that is not going away,” she said.
Mpox can be a unpleasant illness.
Common symptoms are lesions or a skin rash, which can last for two to four weeks, plus fever, headaches, back pain, muscle aches and tiredness.
The virus spreads from person to person through close physical contact, coughs or sneezes and touching infected clothing, bedding or towels.
UK Health officials say anyone who thinks they might have mpox, should contact NHS 111 for advice on what to do.
[BBC]
A powerful earthquake has struck off Japan’s coast, triggering a tsunami alert, according to local media reports.
An initial report by Japan’s Meteorological Agency put the magnitude of the quake on Monday at 7.2.
It said the earthquake struck off the coast of Aomori and Hokkaido, adding that a tsunami as high as three metres (10 feet) could hit Japan’s northeastern coast
Residents on both sides of Thailand’s and Cambodia’s border evacuated in droves on Monday as fresh clashes erupted, killing at least five people.
Both sides have each accused the other of starting the violence, which is the most serious confrontation between the two countries since they agreed to a ceasefire in July.
Thailand’s Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul says his country “never wanted violence” but will “use necessary means to preserve its sovereignty”, while Cambodia’s former leader Hun Sen accused Thai “invaders” of provoking retaliation.
Since May, escalating tensions between the neighbours have led to more than 40 deaths, as well as import bans and travel restrictions.
On Monday, the Thai army said its troops had responded to Cambodian fire in Thailand’s Ubon Ratchathani Province, including by launching air strikes along the disputed border; while Phnom Penh’s defence ministry said it was the Thai forces that attacked first, in Cambodia’s Preah Vihear province.
At least one Thai soldier and four Cambodian civilians have been killed, and about a dozen wounded as a result of Monday’s fighting, according to officials on either side.
For Thai teacher Siksaka Pongsuwan, though, there are other, hidden victims of the clashes: the children living near the border, he warns, are “losing opportunities and… precious time” compared to their peers living in relatively peaceful cities.
Nearly 650 schools across five Thai provinces have been ordered to shut for safety reasons, Thailand’s education minister said, following the fresh tensions that have simmered since Sunday.
Meanwhile, videos on social media show chaotic scenes at schools in Cambodia’s border provinces as parents rushed to take their children home.
And this is not the first time these children have had their education interrupted in recent months.
In July, in the midst of the children’s examinations, five days of intense fighting broke out between the two nations.
In the aftermath, Pongsuwan’s school switched to online classes, but not all students could access them – some lived in households with no internet, while iPads distributed by the schools did not reach everyone.
In Cambodia, former journalist Mech Dara shared several clips of children frantically running out of their schools on his X account.
“How many times [do these] kids have to suffer the shocking environment?” he wrote. “The nonsense fighting bring kids [a] horrible nightmare.”
He also shared a picture of a boy, still in his school uniform, having some food in an underground bunker. “Why does the kid and his family have to eat their meal in the bunker…?” he wrote.
Meanwhile, Pongsuwan told the BBC that he and his neighbours are now torn about whether to evacuate – even as gunfire can be heard every now and then in his village.
“If you ask whether we’re scared, yes we are… Should we leave? Will it really be safer? Or should we stay?” he tells the BBC.
A century-old dispute, reignited
The century-old border dispute between the South East Asian nations dramatically escalated with a Cambodian rocket barrage into Thailand on the morning of 24 July, followed by Thai air strikes.
Days later, Bangkok and Phnom Penh agreed to an ‘immediate and unconditional ceasefire’ brokered by Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.
In October, both sides signed a ceasefire agreement during a ceremony with US President Donald Trump in Malaysia. At the time, Trump claimed a historic achievement in ending the border conflict.
But just two weeks after that signing, Thailand said it would suspend the implementation of the agreement, after two of its soldiers were injured in a landmine explosion near the Cambodian border.
Cambodia, which nominated Trump for a Nobel peace prize for his role in brokering the ceasefire, has repeatedly claimed it is committed to the deal.
Thailand and Cambodia have been contesting territorial sovereignty along their 800km land border for more than a century, since the borders of the two nations were drawn after the French occupation of Cambodia.
[BBC]
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