Drug violence hits Acapulco, but visitors keep coming
ACAPULCO, Mexico – Four gunmen are dead and several policemen are seriously injured after a convoy of jeeps manned by heavily armed men opened fire on a police checkpoint. Bullet holes scarred a church and storefronts along one of the main avenues into the resort town.
In the past, the granddaddy of Mexican tourist towns was hardly touched by the gangland carnage seen elsewhere in the country. But this year, the city of more than 720,000 has been shaken by 15 execution-style slayings, four grenade attacks on police stations and the Jan. 27 shootout.
Federal investigators link the violence to a turf war between drug gangs in northern Mexico for lucrative smuggling routes into the United States.
The bloodshed in Acapulco poses one more headache for President Vicente Fox, whose administration already has been rattled by drug-related violence on the U.S. border. Acapulco lies on a major drug route to the United States, and Mexicans worry for the nation’s nearly $12 billion foreign tourism industry.
Protesters rally on Iraq war anniversary
NEW YORK – Thousands of anti-war protesters took to the streets around the world Saturday, marking the third anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq with demands that coalition troops leave immediately.
Wael Musfar of the Arab Muslim American Federation addressed more than 1,000 people who gathered in Times Square near a recruiting station, which was guarded by police.
“We say enough hypocrisy. Enough lies. Our soldiers must come home now,” Musfar said from a parked flatbed truck. Participants chanted, “Stop the U.S. war machine, from Iraq to Korea to the Philippines.”
Protests also were held in Australia, Asia and Europe, but many events were far smaller than organizers had hoped. In London, police said 15,000 people joined a march from Parliament and Big Ben to a rally in Trafalgar Square. The anniversary last year attracted 45,000 protesters in the city.
Alabama mad cow case raises alarm
WASHINGTON – Investigators may never figure out where the Alabama cow with mad cow disease was born and raised, in part because the U.S. lacks a livestock tracking system that the Bush administration promised two years ago.
After a case of mad cow disease in December 2003, the government pledged to get a nationwide program into place quickly so officials could track cows, pigs and chickens from their birth to the dinner taable. Today, however, the system is a long way off.
Alabama officials saw the need firsthand last week as they tried to discover where the infected cow came from. However, with 9 billion chickens, pigs and cows in the country, the task is proving difficult.
The animal had no ear tags, tattoos or brands, and she spent less than a year on the farm where she died. The trail seems to have gone cold at an auction where she was sold last year.
The goal is to pinpoint a single animal’s movements within 48 hours after mad cow or a different disease is discovered.
Wife jailed, banned from contacting young husband
GAINESVILLE, Ga. – Lisa Lynnette Clark, 37, was sentenced to nine months in jail after pleading guilty to the statutory rape of her 15-year-old husband. She was arrested on charges of child molestation and enticing a minor, in addition to statutory rape, last November.
Clark will also be prevented from contacting her husband until he reaches the age of 17.
At the time of their marriage, Georgia law stated children of any age could marry if the bride is pregnant. Clark gave birth to the boy’s son on Feb. 11.
Georgia lawmakers have since voted to set the minimum marriage age at 16 unless juvenile court permission is obtained.
Judy Hayles, grandmother of the young husband, said the boy would seek a divorce and undergo intensive counseling.
Clark will remain on probation until 2010.