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Gisèle Pelicot calls on victims to ‘never have shame’ in her first TV interview

Gisèle Pelicot, who became a global symbol of courage during the trial of her ex-husband and the dozens of men who raped her while she was unconscious, has called on victims to never be ashamed. In her first TV interview, on the channel France 5, Pelicot said: “Shame sticks to you, it sticks to your skin. And that shame is a double sentence, it’s a suffering you inflict on yourself.” She added: “I said to myself that fighting against that on an individual level was also fighting for the collective. I said if I could do it, other people could too … My message of hope to all victims is never have shame.” Earlier, she described her shock when police first showed her images of the crimes, likening herself to a “rag doll”. In extracts from her forthcoming memoir, A Hymn to Life, Pelicot, 73, describes her shock when police told her of the actions of her ex-husband Dominique, whom she considered “a great guy” and had shared her life with for 50 years. She tells of her world falling apart on 2 November 2020 when she was first told her then husband had been drugging and raping her and inviting strangers to rape her, in extracts in Le Monde from the French-language version of the book that will be published simultaneously across the world in 22 languages next week. Dominique Pelicot had been summoned by police for questioning after a supermarket security guard caught him secretly filming up women’s skirts. Gisèle Pelicot had accompanied him to the police station and was completely unprepared for the bombshell delivered by the officer, Laurent Perret. He said: “I am going to show you photos and videos that are not going to please you. That’s you in this photo.” Pelicot said she did not believe the inert woman lying on the bed was her. “I didn’t recognise the individuals. Nor this woman. Her cheek was so flabby. Her mouth so limp. She was a rag doll,” she writes in the book. “My brain stopped working in the office of Deputy Police Sergeant Perret.” Pelicot became known internationally last year when she waived her right to anonymity in the trial that shocked the world. Dominique Pelicot had for over almost a decade crushed sleeping tablets and anti-anxiety medication into her mashed potato, coffee or ice-cream and invited dozens of men to rape her in the village of Mazan in south-east France, where the couple had retired. She had been in a state akin to a coma. A total of 51 men were found guilty of rape or sexual assault. In the book extracts, Pelicot describes her decision to make the trial public. She said if she had kept the trial behind closed doors – as usually happened in such cases – it would have protected her abusers and left her alone with them in court, “hostage to their looks, their lies, their cowardice and their scorn”. She wrote: “No one would know what they had done to me. Not a single journalist would be there to write their names next to their crimes … Above all, not a single woman could walk in and sit in the courtroom to feel less alone.” She said if she had been 20 years younger: “I might not have dared to refuse a closed-door hearing. “I would have feared the stares. Those damned stares a woman of my generation has always had to contend with, those damned stares that make you hesitate in the morning between trousers and a dress, that follow you or ignore you, flatter you and embarrass you. Those damned stares that are supposed to tell you who you are, what you’re worth, and then abandon you as you grow older.” The launch of Pelicot’s book, co-written with the French author Judith Perrignon, is considered a major publishing event as it is released simultaneously across the world on 17 February. The British actor Emma Thompson will narrate the audiobook in English. In a social media post, Thompson said the “absolutely extraordinary” story was “difficult to read out loud” but that it inspired “courage and compassion but also crucially demands change”.

Tumbler Ridge school shooting: police identify suspect in Canada attack as 18-year-old local resident – as it happened

We’re now pausing our live coverage of the Tumbler Ridge shootings that left nine dead yesterday. Earlier today, the Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, told the remote British Columbia community that “all of Canada stands with you” in an address to parliament that followed a minute’s silence in memory of the victims of one of the country’s deadliest mass shootings. In the days ahead, there will be “important questions” and “difficult conversations” to have, Carney said, but for now it’s time for grieving and remembrance. Here’s a brief recap of what we learned from police today about the victims, the suspect, and how the country’s worst mass shooting in decades came to pass. Police revised the death toll down to nine people, including the suspect, after a female victim with significant injuries survived (she remains in critical condition). A 39-year-old found deceased at the suspect’s family residence was the mother of the suspect, and the 11-year-old victim was the suspect’s step-brother. The deaths at the private residence occurred first before the suspect went to the high school. Police were called to the home after they had been called to the school, by a female youth who is related to the suspect and victims. Those killed at the school were a 39-year-old teacher, three 12-year-old female students and two male students aged 12 and 13. One victim was found in the stairwell, and the others were located in the school’s library. Two firearms were recovered at the scene – a long gun and a modified handgun. Police are still working to determine their origins and role in the incident. The suspect had a firearms license that had expired in 2024 and did not currently have any firearms registered to her. The suspect had dropped out of Tumbler Ridge secondary school about four years ago and was not currently a student there. There is no information at this point to suggest that any of the victims in the school were specifically targeted. Police had attended the suspect’s family residence on multiple occasions over the past several years, dealing with mental health concerns of the suspect. This included one police attendance to the home approximately two years ago where firearms were seized under the criminal code. The lawful owner of those firearms petitioned for them to be returned, and they were. The suspect was born as a biological male who had started transitioning about six years ago and identified in public and on social media as female. The suspect is believed to have acted alone. Police don’t yet have an idea as to what the suspect’s motive was.

Canada shooting: Nine dead including suspect in attack on Tumbler Ridge high school, police say

Nine people have been killed and dozens injured after an assailant opened fire at a school in western Canada, in one of the deadliest mass shootings in the country’s history. The suspect was later found dead from what appeared to be a self-inflicted injury. Police found six people dead inside the high school in the remote town of Tumbler Ridge in British Columbia, with a further two bodies found at a residence believed to be connected to the incident. Another person initially believed to have died on the way to hospital was later said to have survived, but remained in critical condition. The suspected shooter was found dead at the school, police said, adding they did not believe there were any more suspects or an ongoing threat to the public. Prime minister Mark Carney said he was “devastated” by the shootings. “I join Canadians in grieving with those whose lives have been changed irreversibly today, and in gratitude for the courage and selflessness of the first responders who risked their lives to protect their fellow citizens,” he said. “Our ability to come together in crisis is the best of our country – our empathy, our unity, and our compassion for each other.” The prime minister’s office said Carney had suspended plans to travel to Germany on Wednesday for the Munich security conference. More than two dozen people have been hospitalised – two with life-threatening injuries – in what British Columbia’s premier, David Eby, called an “unimaginable tragedy”. “It’s hard to know what to say on a night like tonight. It’s the kind of thing that feels like it happens in other places and not close to home,” Eby told reporters. A police active-shooter alert sent to people in the area described the suspect as “female in a dress with brown hair”. Police Supt Ken Floyd later confirmed at a news conference that the suspect described in the alert was the same person found dead in the school. Police did not say how many of the victims were minors. The District of Tumbler Ridge issued a statement on Tuesday afternoon, calling the shooting a “deeply distressing” incident for a community of less than 2,500. “We recognise that many residents may be feeling shocked, scared and overwhelmed,” the district said. “In the days ahead, we know this will be difficult for many to process. Please check in on one another, lean on available supports, and know that Tumbler Ridge is a strong and caring community.” Tumbler Ridge is a remote town in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in northern British Columbia, approximately 1,155km northeast of Vancouver. Tumbler Ridge secondary school has 160 students in grades 7 to 12, roughly ages 12 to 18, according to its website. The school will be closed for the rest of the week and counselling will be made available to those in need, school officials said. “There are no words that can ease the fear and pain that events like this cause in a school community,” the Tumbler Ridge Parent Advisory Council said in a statement. “We want families to know that the safety and wellbeing of students and staff are paramount, and we are grateful to the first responders and emergency personnel who acted quickly and professionally.” Officials said the town’s small police force was on the scene within two minutes of receiving a call, and that victims were still being assessed hours after the incident. British Columbia’s public safety minister, Nina Krieger, said at a press conference: “Speed and professionalism saved lives today.” Earlier, Krieger, said online that news of the shooting was “sending shockwaves through the community and the entire province”. Police initially issued an emergency active shooter alert on Tuesday afternoon after receiving reports of a shooting at the secondary school at about 1.20pm. The alert told residents to shelter in place, lock their doors and refrain from going outside. The RCMP alert was lifted at 5.45pm. Supt Floyd told reporters the scene of the shooting was “very dramatic” with extensive injuries. He said all remaining students and staff at the secondary school, numbering about 100 people, had been safely evacuated from the school. Floyd said police wouldn’t comment on a possible motive. “We’re following all leads to try to determine the connection to the shooter,” he said. “I think we will struggle to determine the ‘why’, but we will try our best to determine what transpired.” The town’s health centre was placed on Code Orange, signifying a mass-casualty incident or large-scale emergency response. But given the rural nature of the community, at least two victims were airlifted to larger hospitals. Shock Trauma Air Rescue Service (STARS) said one of its aircraft from Grande Prairie, Alberta, was requested for the incident. Because of Canada’s strict gun laws, which make it difficult to own both handguns or “assault-style weapons”, the country has experienced far fewer instances of mass violence compared with the United States. Still, the shooting is the second-deadliest school shooting in Canadian history. In 1989, a gunman killed 14 students at Montreal’s L’Ecole Polytechnique in an attack that targeted women. In 2016, five people were killed in a series in La Loche, Saskatchewan. Speaking to reporters, Eby, a father of three, said news of the shooting “makes you want to hug your kids a little tighter”. “Wrap these families with love. Not just tonight but tomorrow and into the future. This is something that will reverberate for years to come,” he said. He later added: “This is the kind of thing that feels like it happens in other places, and not close to home in a way that this feels like for many British Columbians and Canadians.” • This article was amended on 11 February 2026. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police initially said a person had died on the way to hospital, then later clarified the person had survived, but remained in critical condition.

Tumbler Ridge shooting: key questions answered about deadly attack in Canada

Canada was in mourning on Wednesday after nine people including the suspect were killed, including six children, and dozens more injured in one of the deadliest mass shootings in the country’s history. The country’s prime minister, Mark Carney, was visibly emotional as he told reporters that it was a “difficult day” for the nation following the attack in Tumbler Ridge, a remote mining town in western Canada. “Parents and grandparents, sisters and brothers in Tumbler Ridge will wake up without someone they love. The nation mourns with you,” said Carney. “Canada stands by you.” He said he had asked that the flags at government buildings across the country be flown at half-mast for the next seven days. “We will get through this,” he said. “But right now it is a time to come together, like Canadians always do in these terrible situations. To support each other, to mourn together and to grow together.” Here’s what we know so far about the attack: Where did it take place? The attack unfolded in the small town of Tumbler Ridge, home to about 2,400 residents. The close-knit community sits in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in north-eastern British Columbia. Many residents in the town – which lies about 730 miles (1,170km) north of Vancouver near the border of the province of Alberta – work in the mining, quarrying and hydrocarbon industries. How did it unfold? Police said they received a report of an active shooter at the Tumbler Ridge secondary school on Tuesday afternoon at about 1.20pm. The school has 160 students in grades seven to 12, roughly ages 12 to 18, according to its website. Minutes later, officers arrived at the school, according to officials. “Upon arrival, there was active gunfire, and as officers approached the school, rounds were fired in their direction,” Dwayne McDonald of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police told reporters on Wednesday. Six people – a teacher, 39, and five students – were found dead in the school. Police said the students killed were three girls, all of them 12, and two boys, ages 12 and 13. About 25 people were injured. The presumed shooter was also found dead at the school with what was believed to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said. Police initially said one victim had died on the way to the hospital but later said that the victim was instead among the two people who had been airlifted with serious or life-threatening injuries. Police said on Wednesday that both were in critical but stable condition. About 25 others were treated for injuries at a nearby medical center. All remaining students and staff were safely evacuated from the school. Images broadcast on Tuesday showed students being led out of the school, some of them with their hands raised. Police said that before the shooting at the school, a woman, 39, and a child, 11, were killed at a residence linked to the suspect. The two were believed to be the mother and step-brother of the suspect, police said, while another sibling who was present at the residence at the time had managed to alert a neighbour of the shooting. Police said on Wednesday that they believed the suspect had acted alone and no other suspects were being sought in connection with the shooting. What do we know so far about the suspect? More than 24 hours after the mass shooting unfolded, officials identified the suspect as local resident, Jesse Van Rootselaar, 18. “Two firearms, a long gun and a modified handgun, were recovered by responding officers,” said McDonald. Police had attended the residence where the two family members had been found dead on multiple occasions in recent years after “concerns of mental health with respect to our suspect”, he said. “I can say that on different occasions the suspect was apprehended for assessment and follow-up.” Van Rootselaar had dropped out of school about four years ago, he said. He said that police had identified the suspect as they had chosen to be identified in public. “I can say that Jesse was born as a biological male who approximately, with the information that I have, approximately six years ago began to transition to female and identified as female both socially and publicly.” He added: “It’s too early to say whether that has any correlation in this investigation.” The suspect’s motive remained unclear, he said, and police were still investigating whether the victims were connected to the suspect. Police said the suspect had a firearms license that had expired in 2024 and did not have any firearms registered to her. How common are shootings like these in Canada? Mass shootings in Canada are rare, particularly compared with the neighbouring United States. Analysts have long pointed to Canada’s stricter gun laws, which make it difficult to own handguns or “assault-style weapons”, to explain the difference. Tuesday’s attack is the second deadliest school shooting in Canadian history, behind a 1989 tragedy that saw a 25-year-old man claiming to be “anti-feminist” burst into a Montreal school. He killed 13 female students and a secretary before taking his own life. The country’s deadliest shooting took place in 2020, when a man disguised as a police officer went on a shooting and arson rampage in the eastern province of Nova Scotia, killing 22 people. The government later banned 1,500 models of assault weapons in response to the attack.

Canadian police identify suspect in school massacre that left nine dead

Canadian police have identified the suspect who carried out a school massacre in remote British Columbia as an 18-year old woman with a history of mental health problems. Six people, including a teacher and five students, were killed in the attack on Tuesday in the town of Tumbler Ridge, in foothills of the Rocky mountains. The victim’s mother and step-brother were later found dead at the family home, police said. The body of the shooter was also found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The incident was one of the worst mass casualty events in Canada’s recent history. “This is a deeply distressing incident where nine individuals have senselessly lost their lives,” said Dwayne McDonald, deputy commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, at a briefing on Wednesday in which he revised the death toll down to nine from the initially reported 10. In a somber update to a tragedy that has shaken the country, McDonald said one of the victims believed to have succumbed to her injuries had survived but remains in critical condition. According to police, the shooter, Jesse Van Rootselaar, arrived at a Tumbler Ridge secondary school on Tuesday afternoon, armed with a long gun and a modified handgun. The shooter opened fire on staff and students, killing one teacher and five students, whose ages ranged from 12 to 13. Police arrived within two minutes of the shooting and were fired upon. When they entered the school, they found the victims in a stairwell and a classroom. The body of the shooter was also found. Police later visited the family home and found Van Rootselaar’s mother, 39, and 11-year-old step-brother dead from gunshot wounds. McDonald said police had responded to Van Rootselaar’s home for mental health-related calls over the last several years, with some of the calls concerning weapons. He said that, on at least one occasion, firearms had been seized from the home, and the lawful owner of the firearms had petitioned to have them returned. Amid questions over how Van Rootselaar was described in alerts, McDonald said police “identified the suspect as they chose to be identified” in public and in social media. “I can say that Jesse was born as a biological male who, approximately six years ago, began to transition to female and identified as female, both socially and publicly,” he said. McDonald cautioned that the investigation remained in its early stages and police could not yet comment on a possible motive. The prime minister, Mark Carney, said: “What happened has left our nation in shock and all of us in mourning. “These children and their teachers bore witness to unheard-of cruelty. I want everyone to know this: our entire country stands with you, on behalf of all Canadians,” he said in an emotional address following a minute of silence in parliament. Speaking to lawmakers in the House of Commons following the moment of silence, Carney said: “Tumbler Ridge … is one of the youngest towns in the great province of British Columbia, carved out of the wilderness in the 1980s, built on the promise of the resource economy and by the determination of its residents. It’s a town of miners, teachers, construction workers, families who have built their lives there, people who have always shown up for each other there.” Carney, who had already suspended plans to travel to Germany for the high-level Munich security conference, said he had ordered flags on all government buildings be flown at half-mast for the next seven days. “We will get through this. We will learn from this,” he told reporters earlier in the day, at one point looking close to tears. “But right now, it’s a time to come together, as Canadians always do in these situations, these terrible situations, to support each other, to mourn together and to grow together.” The attack has left people reeling in Canada, where mass shootings are rare, especially compared with the US. While the country has relatively high levels of gun ownership, it has imposed much stricter laws than its southern neighbour, including a ban on assault-style firearms and a freeze on the sale of handguns. Carney said he was also dispatching the federal public safety minister, Gary Anandasangaree, to the small community of Tumbler Ridge, an isolated town of fewer than 2,500 residents, more than 1,000km (600 miles) north-east of Vancouver by road. At least two other people were hospitalised with serious or life-threatening wounds, and as many as 25 people were being treated for non-life-threatening injuries, police said. The town’s mayor, Darryl Krakowka, said the small community was like a “big family”. “I broke down,” Krakowka said. “I have lived here for 18 years. I probably know every one of the victims.” British Columbia’s public safety minister, Nina Krieger, has said “speed and professionalism” had saved lives, and that a small detachment from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police had “responded in two minutes”. A 12-year-old girl was said to be “fighting for her life” in a Vancouver hospital after being shot in the head and neck, according to a widely shared Facebook post local media said was written by the girl’s mother, Cia Edmonds. “She was a lucky one, I suppose. Condolences to the other families during this tragedy,” the post read. “This doesn’t even feel real.” The district of Tumbler Ridge issued a statement on Tuesday afternoon, calling the shooting a “deeply distressing” incident. “We recognise that many residents may be feeling shocked, scared and overwhelmed,” the district said. “In the days ahead, we know this will be difficult for many to process. Please check in on one another, lean on available supports, and know that Tumbler Ridge is a strong and caring community.” The Tumbler Ridge secondary school has 160 students in grades seven to 12, roughly ages 12 to 18, according to its website. The school will be closed for the rest of the week and counselling will be made available to those in need, school officials said. “There are no words that can ease the fear and pain that events like this cause in a school community,” the Tumbler Ridge parent advisory council said in a statement. “We want families to know that the safety and wellbeing of students and staff are paramount, and we are grateful to the first responders and emergency personnel who acted quickly and professionally.” The attack is the second-deadliest school shooting in Canadian history. In 1989, a gunman killed 14 students at Montreal’s L’Ecole Polytechnique in an attack that targeted women. In 2016, five people were killed in a series of shootings in La Loche, Saskatchewan. After the country’s deadliest mass shooting attack, which left 22 people dead in Nova Scotia in 2020, Canada banned about 1,500 models of assault weapons. British Columbia’s premier, David Eby, called Tuesday’s attack an “unimaginable tragedy”. As a father of three, Eby said news of the shooting “makes you want to hug your kids a little tighter”. “Wrap these families with love. Not just tonight but tomorrow and into the future. This is something that will reverberate for years to come,” he said.

Marwan Barghouti’s son calls on UK to put father’s release at heart of Palestinian renewal

The son of Marwan Barghouti, the Palestinian prisoner often described as the Nelson Mandela of the Palestinian movement, has called on the British government to put his father’s release at the heart of Palestinian democratic renewal. Arab Barghouti warned the UK government that its recent recognition of a Palestinian state risks providing nothing but false hope unless it follows through by using diplomatic channels to secure his father’s freedom. “Simply saying ‘we support a two-state solution’ without doing anything about it is deepening the problem, because you are just giving the Palestinian people false hopes,” he said. Barghouti also insisted that nothing in law would prevent his father from standing in the Palestinian parliamentary elections due on 1 November, even if the Israelis keep him in jail. A cross-party group of British MPs have been campaigning for the release of Barghouti, arguing he is a unifying figure who can hasten a two-state solution, the peaceful political outcome he has championed from inside jail. Successive opinion polls have shown he remains the most popular candidate to become president of the Palestinian Authority in succession to Mahmoud Abbas. The Foreign Office has so far declined to back the calls for his release. Barghouti, a member of the Fatah party central committee, has been held in jail for 22 years after being given multiple life sentences in September 2003 for five murders, at a trial that a lengthy Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) inquiry found failed to meet the standards of fairness. Barghouti, during the second intifada, said he opposed the targeting of civilians inside Israel, but defended the right to resist the occupation. Israel has released more than 500 Palestinians serving life sentences in the last 15 years, but has always excluded Barghouti. His son warned a meeting in London: “The UK recognition of Palestine is going to be seen as symbolic in the history books as long as there are no actual steps being taken on the ground.” He said: “Current Palestinian politics is dysfunctional and that can only be changed with democratic renewal, including a new leadership that really represents the people. We have not had elections for 20 years.” “My father does not have a magic stick, he cannot change everything overnight, but people look at my father as a source of hope,” he said. Barghouti said his father, freed from jail, would be in a position to sell any agreement to Palestinians, and so represented the best route to a non-violent solution, adding: “The reason he is not being released is because the Israeli government does not want a legitimate Palestinian leader, because it does not want a two-state solution.” He said his father has been kept in solitary confinement since the 7 October attack on Israel and has been assaulted multiple times, most recently in October, leading to broken ribs. He said: “If that is not an invitation to speak out against the violations of international law, I don’t know what is. I would expect the UK government, as an upholder of international law, to go further and call for his release. He can change the status quo, Palestinian politics, and take us on a path to where there is real hope for a political settlement. “We have not yet had brave enough British politicians when it comes to the highest level of politics.” Labour MPs said there is a growing sense of frustration that the UK government has sat back after the recognition of Palestine, and that France and Spain have been more proactive. Asked if the UK supports Barghouti’s release, the Foreign Office in written answers states it supports the International Committee of the Red Cross having access to Palestinian prisoners. With some MPs reluctant to back Barghouti on the basis that he was found guilty by an Israeli court of organising the murder of four Israelis, and one Greek monk, the Barghouti campaign has been working to reassure MPs about his innocence and the many flaws in the Israeli judicial process. The author of the 2003 IPU inquiry, Simon Henderson, told the Westminster meeting he compiled his highly critical report after full conversations with the Israeli attorney general. He said he discovered that, of the 96 witnesses, only 21 were in a position to testify to his involvement, and yet none did so, while 12 of them explicitly exonerated him. Israel claims that at the time of the second intifada Barghouti helped found the armed wing of Fatah, and that the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade had claimed him as its leader.

Alleged drones in El Paso airspace cast spotlight on Mexican cartels’ growing arsenals

An alleged incursion by Mexican cartel drones into US airspace and the sudden closure of El Paso’s airspace has drawn renewed attention to the use of high-powered weapons by organized crime groups in Mexico. There were conflicting accounts on Wednesday about whether the city’s airspace was shut down due to cartel drones or a disagreement over the Pentagon testing of counter-drone technology, but experts say the use of drones by drug gangs at the border has become increasingly common. Veronica Escobar, a Democratic congresswoman representing El Paso said forays by Mexican drug-trafficking groups into American airspace was “nothing new”. “There have been drone incursions from Mexico going back to as long as drones existed,” Escobar said at a news conference. As Mexico’s cartels have grown more moneyed and powerful, they have also become increasingly well armed: drug traffickers and hitmen are no longer just wielding pistols and rifles, but also drones that drop bombs, improvised explosive devices, armored vehicles, landmines and grenade launchers. “The cartels are preparing for war,” said Eduardo Guerrero, a Mexican security analyst. “They have a lot of money and the capacity to bring into Mexico a large amount of state-of-the-art weaponry.” According to Guerrero, the cartels have become so well-armed that they have surpassed the capabilities of Mexican authorities, which must go through a complex bureaucratic process to obtain weapons. “The criminals are much more up-to-date, much more technologically advanced,” he said. “They don’t face any bureaucratic hurdles. They simply bribe officials or bribe vendors, and with money, they get what they want. And they have very advanced weaponry.” Among that weaponry, drones have become a key part of the drug gangs’ arsenal. “The drone is fundamental,” Guerrero added. “If you have a good drone strategy, and you can acquire them quickly on the black market, and you combine that with artificial intelligence, forget about it. You become incredibly powerful.” First weaponized in 2017, drones are used by Mexican cartels for reconnaissance, the delivery of drugs and, increasingly, to bomb rivals and sow terror in rural communities, according to Vanda Felbab-Brown, an expert on non-state armed groups at the Brookings Institution. “We have seen activities by the cartels such as carpet bombing of rural areas in Michoacán [state] with the purpose of driving populations out of an area,” said Felab-Brown. “The reporting in Michoacán has been of tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people displaced as a result of the scorched-earth policy through drones by [the Jalisco New Generation cartel].” The use of drones has also given crime groups a significant advantage in attacking their rivals. “On the battlefield one of the big implications is the ability to conduct crime as well as warfare over greater and greater distances,” said Felbab-Brown. Increasingly, that long-distance capability of drones has been used by cartels to cross the US-Mexico border. In July, Steven Willoughby, director of the counter-drone program at the US Department of Homeland Security, testified before Congress saying that cartels were using drones to conduct surveillance and convey drugs across the border “nearly every day”. In the last six months of 2024, Willoughby said, more than 27,000 drones were detected within 500 meters of the southern border. In October, according to Willoughby, customs officials seized a drone carrying 3.6 pounds of fentanyl pills. Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, disputed Willoughby’s allegations the next day, saying during her morning news conference that “there is no information on any new drones currently at the border”, adding: “There’s nothing, let’s say, in particular to be alarmed about.” On Wednesday, Sheinbaum again rejected claims of a drone incursion in El Paso: “There is no information regarding drone use at the border,” she said. “If the FAA or any other US government agency has any information, they can ask the Mexican government.” But whether or not there was a drone incursion on US airspace this week, Guerrero warned that, if cartels do use drones to strike targets on US soil, the Trump administration could use it as an excuse to launch its long-threatened ground attack on Mexico to tackle the country’s drug gangs. “Here in Mexico, cartels have been using drones for some time to attack state and municipal police,” he said. “But if they tried to do something like that in the United States, that would be the perfect pretext for the US to launch a ground offensive against Mexico.”

‘No words that capture the horror’: small Canada town shattered by mass school shooting

Within moments of receiving reports that there was a shooter nearby, Stacie Gruntman, the principal of Tumbler Ridge secondary school, did what educators are increasingly trained to do: she put the school in lockdown. Gruntman rushed through the tiny school in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in northern British Columbia, checking that classroom doors were secured. Teachers shut off the lights and huddled with their students. Darian Quist, a grade 12 student, told CBC Radio that he and his classmates initially thought the lockdown was a drill. But then they began to receive “disturbing” photos from other parts of the school, and the fear set in. “We got tables and barricaded the doors,” he said. In the gymnasium, older students comforted younger children. Loud bangs echoed throughout the building. In a town with only three police vehicles, officers arrived less than five minutes after the alarm was raised – coming under fire as they did so, police later said. Their quick response is credited with saving countless lives, but by then six people had already been killed at the school: a 39-year old teacher, three 12-year old girls and two boys aged 12 and 13. One victim lay in a stairwell; the rest were in a classroom. More than two dozen people were injured. The suspected shooter, Jesse Van Rootselaar, 18, was also found dead. Her mother, 39, and an 11 -year old sibling believed to be a step-brother were later found dead at a nearby home. On Wednesday morning, both schools in the mountain village of Tumbler Ridge were closed and police tape blocked roads. Dozens of officers, flown in from other parts of the province, continued what will be a harrowing and emotionally turbulent investigation. As accounts of one of Canada’s deadliest mass shootings trickle out, stories of heroism and tragedy have laid bare the scope of devastation that has left the small town and nation in shock and grief. “There are no words in the English language that capture the horror of what happened,” said provincial lawmaker Larry Neufeld. The remote coalmining community of just 2,700 people is encircled by thick forest and is prized for its proximity to nature. But daily routine was shattered on Tuesday when an emergency alert blared from phones, warning residents of an active shooter. Parents were notified the two schools had been placed on lockdown, but given little information. Hours later, images circulating on social media showed frightened students exiting the school, their hands in the air. Tumbler Ridge’s mayor, Darryl Krakowka, said that when he first heard the death toll, he “broke down”. “I have lived here for 18 years,” he said of the community that he described as a “big family”. “I probably know every one of the victims.” Chris Norbury, a town councillor whose wife is a teacher at the school, said his “heart and soul are heavy” as residents struggled to make sense of the tragedy. “I cannot stop thinking about the children, the teachers, and the first responders who had to live through such a terrifying experience,” he said in a social media post. “Like many in our community, I felt the fear, the kind that sits in your heart and soul that doesn’t let go. The fear that I lost a loved one. It is something none of us should ever have to experience.” Rhen-Rhen Reyes Ceredon said her son was one of the students who endured the hours-long lockdown. “It’s just so traumatic for him what he witnessed in their school. My fellow parents, I know this situation is very terrifying and shocking. We need to talk our children for their mental health, what they feel, and what’s going on to their lives,” she posted on social media. “Comfort them and let them feel that you are always there for them. This tragedy will always be in their mind. We need to help them overcome this trauma.” The shooting – Canada’s deadliest mass killing since 2020, when a gunman in Nova Scotia killed 13 people and set fires that left another nine dead – has left the country grief-stricken and in shock. Political leaders were openly emotional in their responses. Mark Carney, who spent his early years in a small west Canadian town, said Tumbler Ridge was bracing for a “very difficult” day. “Parents, grandparents, sisters, brothers in Tumbler Ridge will wake up without someone they love. The nation mourns with you; Canada stands by you.” He said flags at government buildings would be lowered to half-mast. He also cancelled a trip to Germany. Pierre Poilievre, the Conservative leader of the opposition, said: “As a father, I can’t even imagine the phone calls that parents might have received. I can’t imagine the heartache and hell that they’re living through at this moment.” Both schools in Tumbler Ridge will remain closed for the rest of the week. “There is no timeline for how each of us will process this grief and immense loss, both individually and as a community,” the school district said in a statement. “While words often feel inadequate in the face of such loss, coming together can help reduce isolation and remind us that we are not alone.” Trent Ernst, publisher of the local Tumbler RidgeLines newspaper, said he had been so overwhelmed by media requests that he hadn’t yet written a story on the shooting. Reflecting the nature of many small towns in the region, where people juggle different jobs, Ernst previously had worked as a substitute teacher in the school. “As somebody who has worked there, who knows the people there, and who knows a lot of the kids, this is really hitting me hard. This is hitting the community hard,” he said. “Stay safe, be warm, love your neighbours, love your family, and just know that my heart is there with you.”