13 killed in Mexico gun attack

Gunmen sprayed bullets into a family birthday party in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez, killing 13 people and wounding 15.

Gunmen sprayed bullets into a family birthday party in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez, killing 13 people and wounding 15, authorities said.

It was the second massacre at a party this month in Ciudad Juarez, which borders El Paso, Texas, and is one of the world's most violent cities as drug cartels battle security forces and each other over smuggling routes into the United States.

The celebration was for a boy's 15th birthday.

At least one of the people killed was 16 years old and a 9-year-old boy was wounded, the government of Chihuahua state said in a statement.

'A group of heavily armed men arrived in two minivans. At least 10 men burst into the party,' Carlos Gonzalez, a spokesman for state prosecutors, told the Reforma newspaper.

It was not clear whether the shooting was related to Mexico's drug war, which has killed more than 6,900 people in Ciudad Juarez alone since early 2008.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon is under pressure to show the military-led campaign he launched against the powerful drug cartels in December 2006 is working.

With the death toll at nearly 30,000 people over the last four years, Washington and foreign investors are on edge as the violence escalates.

Earlier this month in Ciudad Juarez, gunmen raided a party and killed six people.

After that shooting, Mr Calderon flew to the city to inaugurate parks and hospitals as part of the government's plan to increase social spending and rebuild the depressed city.

Tropical storm in Pacific strengthens off Mexico

LOS CABOS, Mexico – Tropical Storm Patricia strengthened Monday as it inched closer to the tip of Baja California, prompting Mexico's government to issue a tropical storm watch for the resort-dotted southern part of the peninsula.

Forecasters at the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said Patricia's center was about 200 miles (320 kilometers) south of the southern tip of Baja California on Monday evening.

Patricia was moving north-northwest at about 6 mph (9 kph), with maximum sustained winds of 60 mph. Some strengthening was expected over the next 24 hours, and the storm could be very near the peninsula by Tuesday afternoon, the center said.

Patricia became a named tropical storm late Sunday.

Tropical storm force winds extended outward up to 90 (150 kilometers) from the center. The Mexican government issued a tropical storm watch — meaning tropical storm conditions are possible within the watch area — from La Paz to Santa Fe in Baja California Sur state.

The port of Cabo San Lucas was closed to small craft. Mayor Rene Nunez said officials were evaluating whether to evacuate families in low-lying areas.