Mexico captures reported drug lord, savage assassin ‘the Barbie’
MEXICO CITY (AP) — A former Texas high school football player and petty street dealer who allegedly rose to become one of Mexico’s most savage assassins became the third major drug lord brought down by Mexico in less than a year, and could provide intelligence on even bigger kingpins.
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Three Russians kidnapped in Darfur freed by security forces
KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) — Three Russians abducted by gunmen in Sudan’s restive Darfur region were freed by security forces after a clash with their kidnappers, a Sudanese news website reported Tuesday.
Security forces fought with the kidnappers Monday night before freeing the men, who worked for a company transporting food for the U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur, the Sudan Media Center reported, quoting provincial Governor Abdel-Hameed Moussa Kasha.
The three Russians — two pilots and an engineer — were kidnapped Sunday after leaving an airfield in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur province, and soon afterward the military said they had identified where they were being held.
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German bishops expand sex abuse guidelines
BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s Roman Catholic church introduced new guidelines Tuesday on handling reports of sexual abuse that require prosecutors to be informed of any suspected case unless the victim objects.
The expanded guidelines come in response to hundreds of allegations of abuse at the hands of clergy that emerged earlier this year and rocked the church in Germany, Pope Benedict XVI’s homeland.
Most cases date back years, if not decades, and the statute of limitations has passed on the majority of them.
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Obama ends Iraq combat effort:   ‘It is time to turn the page’
WASHINGTON (AP) — Declaring no victory after seven years of bloodshed, President Barack Obama on Tuesday ended the U.S. combat mission in Iraq, telling millions who were divided over the war in his country and around the world: “It is time to turn the page.”
From the Oval Office, where President George W. Bush first announced the invasion that would come to define his time in office, Obama said bluntly: “Our most urgent task is to restore our economy.” It was a telling sign of the domestic troubles weighing on Obama’s nation and his own presidency that he would put such emphasis on the dire state of U.S. joblessness in a major war address. Even in turning control of the war over to Iraqis — and trying to cap one of the most divisive chapters in recent American history — Obama is escalating the conflict in Afghanistan.
He pledged anew that the United States would keep up the fight in that war, the longest one since Vietnam. And in Iraq, for all the finality, the war is not over. More Americans are likely to die. The country is plagued by violence and political instability, and Iraqis struggle with constant shortages of electricity and water.
Obama is keeping up to 50,000 troops in Iraq for support and counterterrorism training, and the last forces are not due to leave until the end of 2011 at the latest.
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Texas man slits throat in court after sentenced to 40 years, lives
DALLAS (AP) — A suburban Dallas man used a thin blade from a safety razor to slit his throat in an apparent suicide attempt Tuesday in the courtroom where a judge had just sentenced him to 40 years in prison.
Marcial Anguiano, 47, of Duncanville, was taken from the Dallas County courthouse on a stretcher with his neck covered in bandages, state District Judge Larry Mitchell said.
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Melancon pushes for TV debates in Senate race with Vitter
(AP) — Democratic Senate candidate Charlie Melancon pressed Republican U.S. Sen. David Vitter on Tuesday to face off in a series of five TV debates around Louisiana before the November election.
Vitter appeared unlikely to agree to Melancon’s request for a series of town hall-style match-ups without pre-screened questions and held in five locations around the state.
Luke Bolar, a spokesman for the senator, said Vitter has agreed to several types of forums and debates, though only one on the list he provided was slated to be televised, on WWL-TV in New Orleans.
Melancon, a congressman from Napoleonville, and 10 other candidates are challenging Vitter in the Nov. 2 general election. Vitter is seeking a second term and holds a double-digit lead in most polls. He’s in his first election since a 2007 prostitution scandal.
 
 
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