- Murders linked to organized crime dropped 33 percent in Mexico last year, official figures showed Friday, as the country struggles with a bloody drug war.

Apatzingan - A new armed group is on the rise in Mexico's violence-wracked Michoacan state. It's called Los Viagras, and its members say they are fighting for "social causes".

Cuernavaca - A suspected member of a Mexican gang was arrested as part of an investigation into the disappearance of 43 students, authorities said Friday.

- Mexico's government Wednesday slammed as "baseless" military wrongdoing alleged by the parents of 43 college students missing and feared dead, rejecting the possibility of an investigation.

Toluca - Twenty central Mexico state officials are being investigated over allegations that witnesses of the suspected execution of gang suspects by soldiers were tortured, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Iguala De La Independencia - Students and relatives of 43 missing aspiring teachers stormed a Mexican military base on Monday in the city where they vanished, prompting soldiers to repel them with tear gas.

A genetic analysis of ancient and modern maize has revealed the crop’s complex domestication history. It began as a Mexican wild grass and developed into the plant capable of being used to produce corn porridge and tortillas.

Veracruz - Prosecutors want to speak to a Mexican mayor as part of an investigation into the kidnapping of a journalist by gunmen a week ago, authorities said Friday.

- Scenes of mayhem have flared up again in Mexico's troubled western state of Michoacan, putting the security spotlight back on a restive region that the government has struggled to tame.

Puerto Vallarta - Grupo Vidanta, the largest and most luxurious group of resort properties in Mexico, celebrated its 40th anniversary last year and 2015 is shaping up to be another grand year of expansion, especially at the Nuevo Vallarta location.

Acapulco - At least 10 decapitated bodies and 11 heads have been discovered in unmarked graves in violence-plagued Guerrero state in southern Mexico, authorities said.

- The wife of the ex-mayor of Iguala, the Mexican city where 43 college students went missing in September, has been ordered jailed indefinitely for organized crime, prosecutors said Monday.

In a talk with Miguel Rivera of boxingscene.com, Mexican star Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez put a positive spin on his September 2013 loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr., saying it was a shock to lose but that he is past it. He wants to make boxing history.

Tijuana - Chased by police and surrounded, a drugged out Tijuana man deemed he had but one chance of escape—to jump for it! A local bystander caught the nail-biting plummet on video.

Jorge Linares, Manny Pacquiao's former sparring partner, scored a fourth round knockout win over Mexican Javier Prieto at the Metropolitan Gym Tuesday in Tokyo, Japan.

Despite popular public clamor for top caliber, equally-matched and entertaining bouts, fight fans usually end up getting mismatches and robbed of their sports budgets as promoters, advisers, including fighters take their interest first over public clamor

Morelia - The leader of one of Mexico's first anti-crime vigilante groups was arrested along with 26 supporters over a shootout that killed his son and 10 others, authorities said.

The mystery of the demise of the 3,000 year old Mayan civilization has baffled historians and archaeologists for decades. However, new research at the Blue Hole of Belize lends weight to the idea that catastrophic drought brought the empire to its knees.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. very much wants to fight Manny Pacquiao and various reports have suggested the two sides were negotiating a date of May 2. But Pacquiao's manager Bob Arum, who once managed Mayweather, appears to have nixed that idea. Yet again.

Altamirano - A kidnapped priest in the violence-plagued Mexican state of Guerrero was found dead in an alley on Christmas day, the third such killing in the region in 2014.