Colombia's government claimed the rate of destruction of its Amazonian rainforest fell 25% in the first nine months of 2025 compared to that period in 2024. The state body monitoring deforestation, IDEAM, noted the removal of some 36,300 hectares (or 363 square kilometres) of forest canopy between January and the end of September, compared to 48,500 hectares the previous year, Bogotá's Radio Santa Fe reported on 31 December. Almost all deforestation in Colombia happens in the departments of Meta, Caquetá, Guaviare and Putumayo, and mainly caused by the expansion of farming, cattle farming or coca cultivation into the rainforest. The report attributed the partial success to a range of initiatives including reforestation programs and collaboration with local communities.
Friday, 2 January 2026
Mexico City gentrification said to have shuttered beloved boutique
One of Mexico City's emblematic shops, established in 1935, was to shut after a sudden rent hike neighbors blamed on "gentrification" and ruthless speculation. The shop, Artículos ingleses (English Articles), was reputed for selling English-style clothing and accessories "not to be found anywhere else in the city," the newspaper La Jornada reported on 31 December. It was located in a busy avenue of the historical district, at the heart of the city's vast tourist economy. Local shopkeeprs told the daily Artículos regularly paid its monthly rent of around 78,000 pesos (well over 3,000 euros) a month, but that a "mafia of brokers" or real estate agents were offering landlords up to four million pesos to change for higher paying tenants that tend to be big brands or retail chains. The capital witnessed protests in July 2025 over the steeply rising cost of home rentals, largely due to tourism and the proliferation of short-term rentals for visitors.