FEATURE: US border fence has many loopholes, some them deadly By Franz Smets, dpa Eds: First of two stories on illegal immigration from Mexico into the United States, second in series to move early Saturday; epa photo 00000400854516 available =

Nogales, Mexico (dpa) - The United States has stepped up efforts over the last two years to contain the inflow of illegal immigrants across its southern border from Mexico and Central America.

Mexico City - The pilot of the plane that crashed last week in Mexico City killing Interior Minister Juan Camilo Mourino and 13 others did not keep enough distance from another plane, which may have caused the crash.

Mexican Transport Minister Luis Tellez said Friday that there were indications that the resulting turbulence "may have been a factor that contributed to the fall of the plane," but the investigation is ongoing to prove what he now called a "solid hypothesis."

Mexico City - Mexican President Felipe Calderon said Friday that he was going to the G20 financial summit in Washington with "moderate expectations," because he expects it to be just a "starting point" to tackle the global crisis.

"It would be desirable to have, towards the end of the meeting, mechanisms, working teams, with concrete tasks assigned that allow us to prepare and work in later G20 meetings," Calderon said as his goal, just before he left for the United States.

Mexico City - A journalist reporting on organized crime was shot and killed in a town on Mexico's border with the United States, adding to a climate of fear as many media outlets refuse to cover drug-related violence.

Armando Rodriguez was shot and killed Thursday by unidentified gunmen as he dropped his daughter off at school in the northern city of Ciudad Juarez, the El Diario newspaper said on its website.

Rodriguez had worked more than 14 years for the paper in an increasingly fearful environment as gangland violence increases, making Mexico one of the world's most dangerous countries for journalists.

Mexico City - Mexican President Felipe Calderon on Monday named lawyer Fernando Francisco Gomez Mont as his new interior minister to succeed Juan Camilo Mourino, killed in a plane crash six days earlier.

Gomez Mont, like Calderon, belongs to the National Action Party, in which he has served in a number of posts.

Under the Mexican constitution, the interior minister is Mexico's second-highest government official after the president.

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