Mexico City, Jan 27 : Nissan Motor Co. announced plans to invest $2 billion in building a third manufacturing facility in Mexico.The new plant in the central state of Aguascalientes will generate 3,000 jobs and spur the creation of around 9,000 other positions, Nissan's vice chairman of operations in the Americas, Bill Krueger, said.

Mexico City, Oct 9 - Television should bear witness to current events with fiction series being a "mirror of reality and not a hole in which to hide from it", said Mexican producer Epigmenio Ibarra.

He believes that in the Mexican market reality and small-screen productions have always been at two opposite and contradictory ends of existence.

"What happened is that Mexican television started off with its back to the country and on bended knee to power, so a story portraying the true aspects of power was obviously a mortal sin," Ibarra told EFE Friday.

Miami, Sep 11: The Miss Universe 2011 pageant in Brazil will be a bittersweet moment for Mexico's Ximena Navarrete, who is getting ready to hand over the crown to her successor.

"Giving up the crown isn't easy, because wearing it has been an honour and also symbolises a very special year in my life, but it's also beautiful to give that chance to another girl," the 24-year-old said.

Mexico City, Aug 31 - Mexican band Motel this week will release a special edition of its most recent album, "Multicolor", which includes three never-before-recorded songs.

It will also have a new version of the hit "Entre caminos" performed with Spanish singer Bimba Bose.

"We found ourselves with this song, which now is the album's first single, and we decided to do it with someone like Bimba because it's a happy, positive song to make you feel good," lead singer Rodrigo Davila Chapoy told EFE Tuesday.

Sao Paulo, Aug 30 : Puerto Rican singer Ricky Martin met in Sao Paulo with the reigning Miss Universe, Mexico's Ximena Navarrete, and admitted to her that he had rooted for her during last year's international beauty pageant.

"Last year, I went crazy hoping for you, you were my favourite," Martin told Navarrete during a quick meeting in Sao Paulo, according to the website Terra.

Mexico City, Aug 5 : Mexico's manufacturing activity has started to reflect the economic slowdown in the US, with a further drop in activity likely if the US economy remains lacklustre, a business group said.

"If the slowdown in the United States is prolonged, manufacturing growth in Mexico could be seriously compromised," said the Mexican Finance Executives Institute, or IMEF.

The business group, which includes executives and specialists from financial institutions in Mexico, said its IMEF Manufacturing Index fell by 3.1 points in July to 50.4.

His state will host a meeting of U. S. and Mexican border governors that was canceled by Arizona amid a threatened boycott, says New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson.

The Albuquerque Journal reported on Friday that Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer canceled the annual meeting, scheduled for June 30, in response to a planned boycott by Mexican border state governors upset by Arizona's immigration law.

The newspaper has said that Richardson said he would offer to hold the meeting in Santa Fe in late September.

Officials have said that students in Mexico City and other locations are being taught to deal with gang violence rampant throughout Mexico.

The Arizona Republic reported on Thursday that at least nine shooting incidents have occurred in Mexican school areas since October. The military battled drug gang gunmen for an hour June 15 60 feet away from a preschool in Taxco.

The Republic further reported that a number of Mexican states have begun to require shootout drills and will teach drill methods during summer teacher-training courses.

The Mexican administration has declared the end of the health alert for the deadly virus A/H1N1 after 14 months in which 1,289 people lost the lives in this country and 72,000 cases were recorded.

Health Secretary Jose Angel Cordova Villalobos announced this at a press meet on Tuesday.

The decision was taken unanimously by the General Health Council after monitoring the progression of the outbreak that caused its last casualty during the last month (May 2010) and in agreement with WHO and the Pan American Health Organization.

The Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster should not interfere with long-term oil exploration, said Steve Westwell, chief of staff of British oil giant BP.

"We must not let it (the oil spill) deter us from the wider, longer-term task of providing secure, sustainable, affordable energy for people around the world," said Westwell, giving a speech in London after BP Chief Executive Officer Tony Hayward pulled out due to a busy schedule.

He will issue an order reinstituting a moratorium on Gulf of Mexico deepwater oil drilling, said U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Tuesday.

It has been also reported that Salazar's announcement followed one by the White House that the Obama administration will appeal the order by a federal judge in New Orleans granting a preliminary injunction to block the six-month ban.

The moratorium was ordered after the Transocean Deepwater Horizon rig leased by BP exploded April 20 and sank two days later, spewing oil unchecked into the gulf ever since. Eleven oil rig workers were killed in the explosion.

It has been reported that Moscow's decision to halt delivery of powerful S-300 air-defense missiles to Iran, citing the new U. N. sanctions on the Islamic Republic, may be politically convenient but it could carry a hefty cost for Russia in the Middle East.

Largely because of U. S. and Israeli pressure, the Kremlin has been delaying delivery of five S-300PMU batteries under a $700 million contract in 2007.

But Russian leaders have now found a valid excuse to deny the Islamic Republic the weapons it wants to protect its nuclear facilities from attack.

They moved to another state after a Verizon Wireless bill collector threatened to blow up their house, a couple who formerly lived in New Mexico has said.

ABC News reported on Thursday that Al Burrows, 45, formerly of Las Cruces, said a second bill collector threatened him after a first collector had already given him 90 days to pay a $308 bill.

ABC News also said that Burrows has filed a lawsuit against Verizon in a New Mexico court.

Authorities have said that a former Cancun mayor running for higher office has been arrested on money-laundering charges and linked to drug runners.

McClatchy Newspapers have reported that the Mexican Attorney General's Office alleged Wednesday George Sanchez Martinez, a candidate for governor of Quintana Roo, the Caribbean state where Cancun is located, has ties to the Beltran Leyva and Los Zetas drug cartels. Sanchez was arrested at the resort city's airport on Tuesday, the office said.

It will name an independent mediator to review claims arising from the Gulf of Mexico oil rig disaster, British oil producer BP said on Wednesday.

It has received more than 26,000 claims and made payments exceeding $36 million, BP has said on its Web site.

According to official reports, Mexicans went to the polls Sunday in the southern state of Yucatan in local elections expected to favor the opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party.

The Los Angeles Times has reported that pre-election polls showed the PRI poised to nearly sweep the conservative National Action Party of Mexican President Felipe Calderon in elections for 106 mayors and 25 state legislators. That includes Merida, the old colonial capital, where Calderon's PAN party has held power for 20 years.

According to official reports, business owners in Mexican towns and cities along the Texas border plan a "Day Without Mexicans" to protest Arizona's immigration law.

The Laredo Morning Times has reported that they also hope the protest, scheduled for May 25, will discourage Texas from similar legislation. They have asked Mexicans to stay on their own side of the border that day and especially not to shop in the United States.

Officials have informed that gunmen killed one person at a wedding and kidnapped the groom and three others Friday at a Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, church before escaping.

CNN has reported that Chihuahua State Attorney General's Office spokesman Carlos Gonzalez said "It's unclear if this was gang or drug related."

Gonzalez further said that the shooting victim, described in his 20s, was shot in the back in the church's parking lot while running from the scene.

Officials have informed that as crude oil makes its way inland from the Gulf of Mexico, the U. S. government has set up equipment to monitor air and water quality.

Since the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico April 22, the agency has been monitoring and responding to potential public health and environmental concerns, officials of the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency said.

BP has said that a containment dome officials hope will trap oil leaking into the Gulf of Mexico was lowered Thursday to the seabed 5,000 feet below the surface.

CNN quoted BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles as saying, "If all goes according to plan, we should begin the process of processing the fluid and stop the spilling to the sea on Monday. It's very complex, and it will likely have challenges along the way."