Honduras: At Least 14 Massacred on Football Field

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras -- A carful of attackers armed with assault rifles drove up to a football field in a poor Honduran neighborhood Saturday and opened fire, killing at least 14 people.

Armando Calidonio, vice minister of security, said the gunmen shot from point-blank range at the victims, who were known to gather there to play football.

Ten were killed at the scene and four died as they were being taken to the hospital. More were wounded -- some gravely, Calidonio said, though the number was not clear.

The attackers numbered about five, but police did not have any suspects.

"We still do not know the motive of this tragedy," Calidonio told reporters.

The massacre took place in Colonia Felipe Zelaya, a crowded, violent neighborhood in the northern city of San Pedro Sula that is home to hundreds of gang members.

Mass shootings are not uncommon in Honduras. "Maras" -- street gangs that grew out of Los Angeles and spread to Central America -- are blamed for rampant violent crime, extortion and more recently acting as enforcers for drug cartels.

In September, gunmen mowed down 18 shoe factory employees in San Pedro Sula in a shooting blamed on gang rivalries.

Six youths were slain in a home last month, also in San Pedro Sula. Authorities linked that massacre to the drug trade.

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Clinton Says U.S. Has a Stake in Asian Security

HANOI, Vietnam -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton waded into a fresh spat between China and Japan on Saturday, saying the United States has a key stake in territorial disputes between Beijing and its neighbors and will remain a major power in the Asia-Pacific region.

In a speech to East Asian leaders in Vietnam, Clinton declared that America has a direct national security interest in seeing peaceful resolutions to competing claims over islands that have led to a spike in animosity between China and other countries in the region, notably U.S. ally Japan.

"The United States has a national interest in the freedom of navigation and unimpeded lawful commerce," Clinton told a meeting of the East Asia Summit in Hanoi. "And when disputes arise over maritime territory, we are committed to resolving them peacefully based on customary international law."

Her comments come as China and Japan's damaged relations took a fresh hit, dimming hopes for talks between the two regional powers and highlighting tensions that have rattled nerves across the Asia-Pacific.

Sino-Japanese relations appeared to be mending when Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and his Japanese counterpart Seiji Maehara met on the sidelines of the summit on Friday, paving the way for expected talks between the countries' two leaders.

But at the last minute, China called off the meeting and blasted Japan, accusing it of making untrue statements about islands in the East China Sea, claimed by both nations. The territory is at the heart of the dispute, following a collision there last month between a Chinese fishing trawler and two Japanese patrol boats.

The row that followed included protests, canceled meetings and Chinese restrictions on key metal exports that drew international concern, including from the United States.

Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Hu Zhengyue told reporters in Hanoi that Japan was turning the contested islands -- called Diaoyu in China and Senkaku in Japan -- into a "hot topic" on the sidelines of the summit hosted by the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, by talking to the media and holding discussions with other countries prior to the meeting.

"The Japanese side should take responsibility for ruining the atmosphere for leaders of the two countries," he said.

The U.S. has appealed for the two countries to resolve the matter peacefully but has made clear it sides with Japan in the current imbroglio. After meeting with Japan's foreign minister in Hawaii on Wednesday, Clinton said the islands are covered by a U.S.-Japan mutual security pact, although Washington takes no position on their ultimate sovereignty.

That infuriated Beijing, which on Friday said it was "strongly dissatisfied" with her comments and lashed out at both the U.S. and Japan.

Southeast Asian countries have become increasingly rattled in recent months following a number of aggressive maritime moves by the Communist giant.

Clinton's message, while couched in diplomatic niceties, was clear: China must not use its growing economic and military strength to bully its neighbors. Previous similar remarks from Clinton and other U.S. officials have drawn tough criticism from the Chinese, who claim sovereignty over vast swaths of territory in the East and South China seas.

She praised China for taking some steps to engage with its neighbors about setting up a formal and binding code of conduct in dealing with the disputes, which extend to other strategic and potentially oil-rich islands in the region. But aides said her remarks were a signal to China that the U.S. is looking for far more.

In her comments to the summit, Clinton said the U.S. had no intention of relinquishing its role as a dominant power in the Asia-Pacific, asserting that "we will continue to leverage the strength of our bilateral relationships (and) continue expanding our emerging partnerships with a wide range of countries."

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French Airline Flies Into Baghdad From Paris

BAGHDAD -- A French airline flew into Baghdad's international airport Sunday morning, becoming one of the first passenger carriers to fly into the capital direct from western Europe since before the Gulf War.

The inaugural flight by France's Aigle Azur, which touched down shortly after 6 a.m. local time, consisted of French officials and was largely ceremonial. The airline won't begin regularly scheduled flights for another two to three months but if successful, the flights would mark an important milestone in Iraq's economic development.

Some carriers, such as Austrian Airlines, fly from western Europe to the Kurdish city of Irbil. Regional airlines such as the Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways, Bahrain's Gulf Air, the Beirut-based MEA airline and Turkish Airlines fly to the Iraqi capital.

But there are no direct passenger flights between Baghdad and western Europe. The Stockholm-based Nordic Airways launched commercial flights to Baghdad from Copenhagen, Denmark in January 2009 but its operating license was revoked later that month.

The lack of major European carriers flying to Baghdad shows the difficulties the country is having attracting major foreign investments in anything but the surest economic bets. Although some western companies bid on the country's first round of oil licensing last year, it was only for the biggest and safest fields.

Attempts by Iraq's national carrier, Iraqi Airways, to launch flights to London last April were swiftly squashed when lawyers for neighboring Kuwait tried to confiscate the inaugural plane after it touched down in London to settle debts from the 1990 invasion by Iraq of Kuwait.

The Aigle Azur flight landed Sunday morning at Baghdad International Airport after taking off late Saturday from Paris. A delegation of French business leaders planning to attend the Baghdad International Fair, an annual showcase designed to attract businesses to Iraq, was on board.

Airline officials said regular commercial flights won't start for another two to three months, and tickets will go on sale soon. The French airline plans to fly into Baghdad twice a week from Charles de Gaulle.

Aigle Azur is a French carrier that flies from Paris's Orly and Charles de Gaulle airports to locations mainly in Africa, such as Algeria, Mali, Morocco and Tunisia. They also operate flights to the French cities of Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Mulhouse and Toulouse.

The German carrier, Deutsche Lufthansa AG, was slated to begin regular flights between Munich and Baghdad Sept. 30 but canceled them due to a lack of customer interest.

The news was a blow to Iraq's hopes to reconnect Baghdad with international capitals since most western airlines discontinued flights to the city following the 1991 Gulf War.

For years, many of the regional and western carriers shied away from Iraq due to safety concerns. The few airlines who did fly into and out of the airport formerly named after Saddam Hussein performed a tight corkscrew when landing, a spiraling maneuver designed to protect them from missile attack.

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Mexican Prison Warden Nabbed for Alleged Drug Ties

MEXICO CITY -- The director of a maximum-security federal prison notorious for the escape of Mexico's top kingpin was arrested for alleged ties to drug gangs, authorities said Friday.

Francisco Javier Gomez Meza was arrested Thursday on suspicion of links to organized crime while he was a top official at the federal Attorney General's Office, according to a statement from the Public Safety Department. It did not elaborate on the allegations or give any indication that Gomez engaged in corruption as director of the Puente Grande prison in the western city of Guadalajara.

Between 2001 and 2008, Gomez was in charge of police deployments at the Federal Investigative Agency, a now-defunct police force tied to the Attorney General's Office. Before that, he was in charge of arrests and federal prison transfers.

An official at the Attorney General's Office said Gomez left the agency in 2008 because he was under investigation as part of "Operation Clean House," a sweeping corruption probe that led to the arrest of several top security officials for allegedly protecting the Beltran Leyva drug cartel. It was not clear if Gomez, who had not been charged at the time, resigned or was fired.

The official, who was not authorized to comment publicly about the case and spoke on condition of anonymity, said Gomez was appointed director of the Puente Grande prison in early 2010.
Officials at the Public Safety Department -- which oversees the federal prisons -- declined to comment on how Gomez was named to such a high-profile post.

Puente Grande has in the past been notorious for scandals including the 2001 escape of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, the leader of the powerful Sinaloa cartel. Guzman, one of the world's most powerful drug traffickers, broke out of the prison by hiding a laundry truck. Several guards have been convicted of helping him.

The prison holds several infamous inmates including Rafael Caro Quintero, a drug cartel leader who is serving a 40-year sentence for the torture-murder of a Drug Enforcement Administration agent.

Corruption at all levels has been a relentless obstacle in Mexico's drug war, despite continuous attempts to purge municipal, state and federal police forces.

President Felipe Calderon replaced the Federal Investigative Agency with the 30,000-member Federal Police in an attempt to create a new, better-trained force.

Some 3,200 federal police have been dismissed this year for failing routine background checks and other tests designed to detect corruption, and the government touts the firings as evidence that it is rigorously trying to keep the new force clean.

Gomez's arrest came at the end of a particularly violent week in Mexico's drug war. More than 50 people were killed in five apparently unrelated massacres, including the shooting of six young men in a gritty Mexico City neighborhood -- an attack that fueled fears of the capital falling prey to the cartel-style violence has terrorized other parts of the country.

The bloodshed continued Friday with the discovery of a man shot to death and left in the Pacific resort city of Acapulco, according to a police report. He was found with a threatening message -- two days after Mayor Jose Luis Avila Sanchez warned people to stay indoors after dark because of rising violence in Acapulco.

Six people were killed in the city Wednesday, including three men and a woman found with their hands bound and tied.

Authorities in Acapulco are also investigating the disappearance of a Canadian businessman who disappeared there last week.

In western Michoacan state, meanwhile, soldiers arrested five people traveling in two cars with weapons and marijuana. Among those detained was the former mayor of the town of Tzitzio. A Defense Department statement said they are suspected of having ties to La Familia drug cartel.

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Yemen Authorities Arrest Explosive Parcel Suspect

Published October 30, 2010

| Reuters

SANAA, - Yemeni authorities arrest woman suspected of sending explosive parcels to the United States, according to Yemen security officials.

Yemen security forces surrounded a house where the suspect who is believed to have sent explosive packages headed to the United States was hiding, Yemen's president said on Saturday.

"National security are sealing off a house in which there is a woman believed to have sent the packages," Ali Abdullah Saleh told a news conference, but he did not give the location of the house or any further details.

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Indonesian Volcano Unleashes Biggest Blast Yet

MOUNT MERAPI, Indonesia-- Clouds of gray ash rumbled down the slopes of Indonesia's most volatile volcano Saturday in its most powerful eruption of a deadly week, prompting soldiers to force reluctant villagers to evacuate amid fears of a larger blast.

On the other side of the archipelago, storms again prevented aid deliveries to increasingly desperate survivors of a tsunami -- including a teenage girl with an open chest wound -- that killed 413 people in the Mentawai islands. Relief workers found some comfort, however, when the number of missing dropped by half to 163 as searchers discovered more survivors and villagers who had fled to the hills returned home.

The simultaneous catastrophes have severely tested the emergency response network. Indonesia lies in the Pacific "Ring of Fire," a cluster of fault lines prone to earthquakes and volcanic activity.
Mount Merapi, which sprang back to life early this week, unleashed a terrifying 21-minute eruption early Saturday, followed by more than 350 volcanic tremors and 33 ash bursts, said Surono, chief of the Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation.

The latest spewing of the notoriously unpredictable volcano forced the temporary closure of an airport and claimed another life, bringing the death toll this week to 36.

At least 47,000 people have fled the mountain's wrath, according to the National Disaster Management Agency. Government camps well away from the base were overflowing with refugees, including most of the 11,000 people who live on the mountain's fertile slopes. They were told Saturday, with signs the danger level was climbing, that they should expect to stay for three more weeks.

Despite such warnings, many people have returned to their land to check on precious crops and livestock. The new eruption triggered a chaotic pre-dawn exit, killing a 44-year-old woman who was fleeing by motorcycle, said Rusdiyanto, head of disaster management office in the main city of Yogyakarta.

For the first time Saturday, more than 2,000 troops were called in to help keep villagers clear of the mountain. Camouflaged soldiers stood guard in front of ash-covered homes and local television showed one woman who refused evacuation orders being carried away as she screamed in protest.

Still, the villagers may be later allowed to go back for a few hours a day if the volcano appears to be calm, said Djarot Nugroho, head of the Central Java disaster management agency, adding that they must return to the camps immediately if a new alarm is raised.

"Once the sirens go off, no excuse, everyone has to get back to the camps," he said.

The eruption temporarily forced the closure of the airport in Yogyakarta, 12 miles south of the volcano, because of poor visibility and heavy ash on the south of the runway, said Naelendra, an airport official.

Despite earlier hopes that Merapi's activity might be waning, scientists warned Saturday the worst may be yet to come.

High-pressure gas appeared to be building up behind a newly formed thick magna dome in the crater, "setting the stage, potentially, for a more explosive eruption," said Subandrio, who heads the nearby volcanology center.
"It's a bad sign," he said.

In the tsunami zone, where more than 23,000 people have been displaced, government agencies were forced to pull back boats and helicopters that had been ferrying noodles, sardines and sleeping mats to the most distant corners of the Mentawai islands because of stormy weather and rough seas.

The death toll climbed to 413 Saturday, but officials halved the number of missing people after a total of 135 people were found by searchers or returned home after fleeing to the hills. Volunteer searcher Patigor Siahaan said three children -- aged 6, 7 and 8 -- were discovered in the rubble of their collapsed house, where their parents died. Most of the others were found in small groups.
Rescue workers had hoped to airdrop aid using a plane and four helicopters Saturday, but storms made it too dangerous, said Ade Edward, an official with the provincial disaster management agency.

He said navy ships on their way to the devastated area had been halted by 18-foot waves and were stranded in the port of Padang on Sumatra, one of Indonesia's main islands.
At an overwhelmed hospital in Sikakap, the main town on Pagai Utara island, doctors said they need medical supplies to help about 150 injured survivors. The hospital's swelteringly hot rooms were filled with the moans of patients with flushed, sweat-coated faces.

We need morphine," said Dr. Alyssa Scurrah, who flew in from Sydney, Australia. She said the hospital was desperate for a generator, antibiotics and a chest drain.

One of Scurrah's patients was a 12-year-old girl who was struggling to breathe due to an open chest wound. She clenched her teeth and cried out as a doctor applied cotton pads to the gash along her rib cage.

The doctor said the girl needs to go to Padang for surgery, but no one could get off the island Saturday because of the weather.

"If she stays here, she may not live," Scurrah said.

One bright spot amid the misery: A baby girl was born at the hospital on Friday. The mother was caught in the wave as it slammed into her village, doctors said, but her injuries were not severe and she and her baby were expected to be fine.

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Somali Pirates Seize Cargo Ship With 24 Aboard

Published October 30, 2010

| Associated Press

NAIROBI, Kenya-- The European Union's anti-piracy naval force says Somali pirates have seized a cargo vessel with 24 crew members aboard.

The owners of MV Polar confirmed early Saturday that pirates control the ship, the EU force said in a statement.

Pirates seized the Liberian-owned ship some 684 miles east of the Indian Ocean island of Socotra. It belongs to Yemen but is close to the tip of northeastern Somalia.

The ship has 24 crew members: one Romanian, three Greek nationals, four Montenegrins and 16 Filipinos.

Somali pirates usually seize ships using the Gulf of Aden, one of the world's busiest waterways.

They earn multimillion dollar ransoms with little risk because Somalia has not had an effective government for 19 years.

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