Two Mexico kidnap victims are sons of drug traffickers
MEXICO CITY – The mothers of two of the 11 young people kidnapped from a Mexico City bar acknowledge that the youths’ fathers are serving prison sentences for drug-related crimes.
But both mothers say the fathers’ arrest in 2003 had nothing to do with Sunday’s mass abduction.
Seven young men and four young women haven’t been seen since they visited a bar, where they were apparently abducted.
The mothers said Friday that nobody who wanted revenge for their husbands’ past crimes would wait 10 years to attack the families.
The case shocked Mexico because it happened just blocks from police headquarters and the U.S. Embassy.
Balance of power in Syria shifting to Assad’s regime
BEIRUT – As hopes for a Syrian peace conference fade and the opposition falls into growing disarray, President Bashar Assad has every reason to project confidence.
Government forces have moved steadily against rebels in key areas of the country during the last two months, making strategic advances and considerably lowering the threat to the capital, Damascus.
With army soldiers no longer defecting and elite Hezbollah fighters actively helping, the regime now has the upper hand in a two-year civil war that has killed more than 70,000 people.
In back-to-back interviews with Lebanese TV stations this week, Assad and his foreign minister both projected an image of self-assuredness, boasting of achievements and suggesting that the military’s offensive would continue regardless of whether a peace track is in place.
Woman freed from Mexican jail heads home to U.S.
NOGALES, Mexico – An Arizona woman held in a Mexico jail for a week after federal police said they found 12 pounds of marijuana under her bus seat was freed and returned to the U.S. after a court reviewed her case, including key security footage, and dismissed all the allegations.
Yanira Maldonado, 42, walked out of the prison on the outskirts of Nogales, Mexico, and into her husband’s arms late Thursday and crossed through the Nogales port of entry into Arizona. After spending the night in a hotel, she drove away with a police escort at midmorning Friday and was expected to return to her Phoenix-area home to be reunited with her children.
Maldonado spoke briefly after her release, thanking U.S. State Department officials, her husband, her lawyers and prison workers who made her stay comfortable.
Maldonado also said at a news conference later that she still loves Mexico, and the experience will not stop her from returning in the future to visit family there.
The family’s lawyer in Nogales, Jose Francisco Benitez Paz, said a judge determined Thursday that Maldonado was no longer a suspect. All allegations were dropped.
Pakistan may be next in line for an IMF bailout
ISLAMABAD – With foreign reserves diminishing fast, Pakistan is on the brink of an economic crisis that may force its new government to ask for an unpopular bailout from the International Monetary Fund requiring a sweeping overhaul of the country’s economy.
The troubles could inject a new element of instability into the nuclear-armed nation of 180 million people that Washington is relying on to combat Islamic militants at home and to help negotiate an end to the war in neighboring Afghanistan.
Pakistan’s foreign currency reserves stood at just $6.4 billion as of May 17, down from more than $14 billion two years ago. That is only enough to cover about 1.5 months’ worth of imports while the IMF considers adequate foreign reserves for any country enough to cover three months of imports.
Bottoming out could bring painful consequences: A run on the banks by panicked citizens anxious to convert savings into dollars amid fears of a devaluation, a withdrawal from the stock market, a collapse of economic activity and higher unemployment.
Associated Press
