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Mexican Zookeeper Reflects on Caring for Latin America’s Last Panda

Xin Xin, a 35-year-old Mexican-born panda, eats bamboo stalks in her enclosure at Chapultepec Zoo in Mexico City, Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025. (AP)
Xin Xin, a 35-year-old Mexican-born panda, eats bamboo stalks in her enclosure at Chapultepec Zoo in Mexico City, Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025. (AP)
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Mexican Zookeeper Reflects on Caring for Latin America’s Last Panda

Xin Xin, a 35-year-old Mexican-born panda, eats bamboo stalks in her enclosure at Chapultepec Zoo in Mexico City, Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025. (AP)
Xin Xin, a 35-year-old Mexican-born panda, eats bamboo stalks in her enclosure at Chapultepec Zoo in Mexico City, Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025. (AP)

After a decade of caring for camels, lions, lynxes and lemurs, Joel Frías joined the team handling the Chapultepec Zoo’s star attraction: the giant pandas.

It was 2000, and Mexico City’s zoo, nestled in its massive forested urban oasis, had been the first outside China to successfully breed giant pandas.

Xin Xin, the last panda born from that program, was 10 years old then. Now she’s 35, elderly by captive panda standards, and the last giant panda in Latin America.

Every morning, Frías arrives early to quietly check on her breathing before preparing a breakfast of biscuits, cooked rice, carrots, and crushed apples.

“Even if it’s raining ... even if it’s really cold, I’d rather be checking the animals than be at a desk,” said the 60-year-old zookeeper, who wears small panda buttons pinned to his vest.

Giant pandas like Xin Xin have an average life expectancy in the wild of 15 years. In captivity, they’ve lived as long as 38.

The pandas that once were at risk of extinction have rebounded thanks to conservation programs and now number some 2,300, with about 500 of those in zoos around the world.

Mexico’s program started in 1975, when China gave it Pe Pe and Ying Ying, a pair that yielded seven cubs, four of whom reached adulthood. One of those original offspring was Xin Xin’s mother Tohui.

Xin Xin has outlived her parents, aunts and uncles, but she never had cubs, so Mexico’s panda run could end with her.

The Mexican government has not said what it will do when Xin Xin dies. China now charges $1 million a year to loan pandas for 10 to 15 years.

Caring for an aged panda When Frías joined the team caring for the pandas, he started by sitting with Xin Xin and speaking to her so she would grow accustomed to his voice. He made sure to wear the same fragrance each day so that she would recognize his scent.

Eventually, he gained her trust to the point that he could get close enough to touch her.

Now, after 25 years caring for her, Frías can easily figure out what she wants.

“When she’s hungry and nervous, she starts with the stereotypical (behavior) of getting up and walking from one side to the other,” he said. “That means she wants out or that she’s hungry.” In addition to the fruits and veggies she gets twice a day, she eats about 28 pounds (13 kilograms) of bamboo branches.

Xin Xin sleeps about 15 hours a day, so for several years now, Frías has led her through daily exercises of no more than 10 minutes at a time, where she will sit, open her mouth, extend her paw and lie down. The routine allows her veterinarians to regularly check her heart, breathing and take blood samples.

Zoo Director Alberto Olascoaga said that despite Xin Xin’s advanced age, “she’s completely in good health.” Her teeth and joints aren’t in great shape, but that’s normal for an elderly panda.

On a typical day, Xin Xin’s flock of fans mill about outside her leafy enclosure oohing and ahhing at the fluffy bear munching bamboo on the other side of the glass.

After hearing of Xin Xin’s most recent birthday in July, Jazmín Montoya, a 23-year-old lawyer from the Gulf coast state of Veracruz, convinced her mother and two sisters to drive to Mexico City to visit the panda.

“We’re not ready yet” to say goodbye, Montoya said. It will be “a great loss for the nation.”

Frías isn’t ready for that day either.

Watching her outside the enclosure, the zookeeper grew emotional recalling how when she was young Xin Xin would do somersaults and run around when they released her into her enclosure in the mornings.

“She has already given us 35 years well lived. In fact, physically she’s doing better than I am,” he said, collecting himself. But her departure will also close a chapter for the zookeeper. “If she goes, I will too.”

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Varieties

British Writer John Harrison Wins 2026 Booker Prize for ‘The End of Everything’

British author John Harrison poses after winning the 2026 Booker Prize for his novel "The End of Everything" at the awards ceremony in London, Britain, 09 November 2026. (EPA)
British author John Harrison poses after winning the 2026 Booker Prize for his novel "The End of Everything" at the awards ceremony in London, Britain, 09 November 2026. (EPA)
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British Writer John Harrison Wins 2026 Booker Prize for ‘The End of Everything’

British author John Harrison poses after winning the 2026 Booker Prize for his novel "The End of Everything" at the awards ceremony in London, Britain, 09 November 2026. (EPA)
British author John Harrison poses after winning the 2026 Booker Prize for his novel "The End of Everything" at the awards ceremony in London, Britain, 09 November 2026. (EPA)

British author ‌John Harrison has won the 2026 Booker Prize for his novel, "The End of Everything," a dystopian satire that the prize says probes the limits of human understanding, becoming the oldest winner in the literary award's history at age 81.

Harrison's 13th novel follows Phillip Tennent and his elderly aunt Marnie on England's south coast years after social order has broken down ‌and mysterious entities ‌known as the iGhetti have arrived.

The ‌Booker ⁠judges unanimously selected ⁠the 198-page book, saying it "turns you upside down, raises a wry smile and, surprisingly, given the subject matter, leaves you with a twinge of optimism."

The victory was the first Booker Prize for Harrison, whose career as a ⁠novelist and critic spans six ‌decades and includes acclaimed science ‌fiction and fantasy works.

His win also marks ‌a rare triumph for speculative fiction.

Mary Beard, ‌chair of the judging panel, described the book as "the politics of now seen through the lens of the future", saying it depicts a society grappling ‌with a catastrophe its inhabitants do not fully understand.

Accepting the £50,000 ($67,235) prize at ⁠a ⁠ceremony in London, Harrison said literary awards remained important in a "landscape of industrialized fiction."

Speaking to the Booker Prize in August, Harrison said his novel was inspired by the 2008 financial crisis and asks what happens when "all of our expectations and explanations of the world become an ongoing disaster, but we still have to make a life."

Harrison beat a shortlist that included former Booker winners Douglas Stuart and Marlon James.

Varieties

Fossil Fuel Emissions Fall Due to Iran War, Renewables, Research Finds

Vessels at the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman, November 9, 2026. (Reuters)
Vessels at the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman, November 9, 2026. (Reuters)
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Fossil Fuel Emissions Fall Due to Iran War, Renewables, Research Finds

Vessels at the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman, November 9, 2026. (Reuters)
Vessels at the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman, November 9, 2026. (Reuters)

Global fossil fuel emissions are projected to fall slightly in 2026 due to the expansion of renewable energy and the oil price shock sparked by the Iran war, researchers said Tuesday.

Emissions from the burning of oil, gas and coal -- the main drivers of climate change -- rose by 0.9 percent per year on average in the past decade, hitting a record high in 2025, according to the Global Carbon Budget report.

But they are expected to drop by 0.4 percent in 2026, according to the research, published as nations meet at the UN's COP31 climate summit in Antalya, Türkiye.

It would be the first annual drop since 2020, when the Covid pandemic paralyzed the global economy, trade and transport.

This year, the US-led war in Iran and closure of the Strait of Hormuz played a role in driving emissions down as it caused a drop in oil consumption amid soaring crude prices, the researchers found.

The deployment of solar panels, wind farms and electric vehicles also contributed to the drop. Two thirds of the increase in global energy demand is being met by solar and wind power and electric vehicles, the report found.

"A decline in fossil CO2 emissions is encouraging, but a reduction driven partly by geopolitical shocks is not a sustainable climate solution," said Pierre Friedlingstein, director of the Global Carbon Budget Office at the University of Exeter in Britain.

"The long-term answer remains the rapid deployment of clean energy technologies," said Friedlingstein, who led the study published in the journal Earth System Science Data.

- Rebound looms -

Corinne Le Quere, a climate change science professor at the University of East Anglia, noted that emissions rebounded when economies recovered following shocks such as Covid or the global financial crisis.

A rebound is likely "when the oil tensions go away", she said in a media briefing.

Oil-related emissions are projected to drop 1.9 percent last year but it was "likely a short-term response to the energy shock triggered by the Iran conflict", the researchers said.

Gas emissions are set to fall 0.3 percent while those from coal use will rise 0.6 percent.

Overall, fossil carbon dioxide emissions are expected to reach 38.2 billion tons in 2026.

Including emissions from land-use change such as deforestation, total CO2 emissions are projected to rise to 43.3 billion tons, from 42.8 billion tonnes last year.

The researchers said land-use emissions are projected to rise partly due to peat fires and forest degradation in southeast Asia, associated with drier conditions linked to this year's exceptionally strong El Nino climate pattern.

The report found that the world's carbon budget -- the amount of CO2 that can be emitted before global warming exceeds 1.5C above pre-industrial levels -- stands at 150 billion tons.

The researchers calculated that at the current, the carbon budget would be exhausted in less than four years.

Nations agreed at the 2015 UN climate talks in Paris to keep global warming "well below" 2C above pre-industrial levels, while pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5C.

But the United Nations declared in September that the long-term 1.5C target would be missed in a matter of years.

Scientists say it is crucial to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels to limit the period of "overshoot" above 1.5C and bring temperatures back down as quickly as possible.

Varieties

Food Industry Pushes Back on WHO Guidance for Products with Added Color, Sweeteners

Around 11 million deaths a year are linked to unhealthy diets, according to the agency, based on data from a global study. (Getty Images)
Around 11 million deaths a year are linked to unhealthy diets, according to the agency, based on data from a global study. (Getty Images)
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Food Industry Pushes Back on WHO Guidance for Products with Added Color, Sweeteners

Around 11 million deaths a year are linked to unhealthy diets, according to the agency, based on data from a global study. (Getty Images)
Around 11 million deaths a year are linked to unhealthy diets, according to the agency, based on data from a global study. (Getty Images)

Governments should consider regulating foods that include added colors, flavors or sweeteners designed to make the product more appealing to consumers, according to new draft World Health Organization guidance that has sparked swift pushback from the food industry.

The WHO draft aims to help governments identify which foods should be consumed in moderation as part of a healthy diet – and which products could be subject to measures like warning labels or taxes, depending on national priorities.

The new draft food-profiling model, published last week, marks the first time the UN health agency has included this type of ‌ingredient in its guidance, ‌previously only focused on nutritional content, including fat and salt.

“This draft ‌goes ⁠beyond traditional nutrient ⁠profiling by recognizing that foods may need to be considered not only for their nutrient content, but also for other aspects of their formulation” in order to prevent diet-related disease, said Katrin Engelhardt, technical officer at the WHO's department of nutrition and food safety.

Around 11 million deaths a year are linked to unhealthy diets, according to the agency, based on data from a global study.

The proposed new model is also the WHO’s attempt to guide member states through an increasingly polarized debate ⁠about ultra-processed foods (UPFs), a class of food or drink made using processing ‌techniques, additives and industrial ingredients, which often contain little ‌whole food. Examples include carbonated soft drinks or instant noodles.

BEYOND NUTRIENTS ALONE

Many food scientists say UPFs pose ‌numerous health risks but others – and the food industry – say they are defined too widely, ‌which risks demonizing healthy products.

The International Food and Beverage Alliance, an organization representing major multinational food and beverage companies, said it was concerned the proposed approach shifts attention away from nutritional quality and could capture more products for potential regulation.

"Of particular concern is the potential to undermine established nutrition priorities and reformulation ‌efforts,” said IFBA Secretary General Rocco Renaldi.

Other concerns for the food industry are higher costs from reformulating products or stringent labelling requirements, as well ⁠as the risk ⁠of class-action lawsuits as seen in the United States, and higher taxes for processed food companies.

Broadly, the WHO said the model covers “industrially-produced foods to be consumed in moderation” and is a bridge between its healthy diet recommendations and government policy on individual food products.

Lindsey Smith Taillie, co-director of the Global Food Research Program at the University of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, said the point of the model was to target unhealthy foods, combining both nutrients and UPFs.

“These two frameworks have never been mutually exclusive and can and should be used by policymakers as the starting place,” she said, adding that healthiness is measured by multiple criteria.

Kraft Heinz CEO Steve Cahillane last week told Reuters that industry players should have a say.

"We're in the food business and we care about consumers deeply," Cahillane said. "And so we ought to have a seat at the table as these discussions evolve."

The WHO proposal is out for consultation until November 27.