Baby among rescued kidnap victims in Mexico

(CNN) -- Ten kidnap victims, including a 7-month-old infant, were rescued over the weekend in an operation in northern Mexico, the country's navy said Monday.

Marines triangulated the location of the safehouse where the captives were being held, thanks to a cell phone call one of the victims was able to make, according to a navy statement.

They were being held in the city of Altamira, on the Gulf Coast near Tampico.

The marines found five men, four women and the baby boy at the site. They were believed to be migrants heading north. Three of the captives were Mexican, four were Colombians, and there were two Salvadorans and one Ecuadorian.

Three Altamira police officers suspected of being the kidnappers were arrested, the navy said. The officers showed up at the scene of the raid and acted suspicious, according to the navy, and the victims stated they were kidnapped by police.

More than 65 marines formed part of the operation, the navy said.

A luxury sedan and weapons were seized from a separate address indicated by one of the detained officers. The officers' two patrol cars were also seized.

Altamira is in the state of Tamaulipas, the same state where 72 Central and South American migrants were found killed in August.

CNN

Israel seizes Hamas funds, military says

Jerusalem (CNN) -- Israeli security forces seized money and property belonging to a convicted Hamas financier overnight, the Israel Defense Forces announced Monday morning.

But Ali Dadu's son and his lawyer denied that he was linked to the Islamist group, and rejected Israel's authority to seize the property.

Ali Dadu was convicted by a military court in August of transferring "enemy" money into the West Bank, the IDF said. During his trial, his son admitted the money came from Hamas, the military said.

Ali Dadu said he got $620,000 from Hamas, while his son said it was about $900,000, according to the IDF.

He was sentenced to nine months in prison and 12 months' probation, and fined 15,000 Israeli shekels (about $4,090).

But his son called the overnight raid "official theft under the threat of guns," saying the military had not produced a court order, and that the property was registered in his name, not his father's.

"They have confiscated forklifts, merchandise, etc. ... Last night was not confiscation, it was destruction," said Bara Dadu, the son.

"They took stuff and broke stuff that did not matter to them," he said.

Bara Dadu said his father was a wealthy carpet merchant whose store was badly damaged in violence between Hamas and the secular Palestinian nationalist group Fatah three years ago.

Both sides gave him money in compensation, he said. Ali Dadu used the money to settle debts and has not done business since then, his son said, adding that he now ran the business.

CNN

Conde declares 'a new era' in Guinea

Conakry, Guinea (CNN) -- Alpha Conde said Monday in a speech to supporters at his home here that his victory in last week's presidential runoff will result in "a new era" for Guinea.

"Tonight marks a new era for our country, the hour of change that millions of Guineans have strived for years to achieve," he said in a victory speech in the Mafonco neighborhood of Conakry.

He delivered the speech shortly after the president of the Independent National Electoral Commission declared he was the victor in last week's tightly contested presidential election, the first in the West African republic's 52-year history.

Outside Conde's residence, hundreds of cheering supporters surrounded his house in jubilation. About eight soldiers who made up his security contingent fired their AK-47s into the air in celebration.

The announcement capped a day of violence in the capital city of Conakry during which supporters of Conde and challenger Cellou Dalein Diallo claimed victory in the November 7 runoff election.

Shortly after Conde declared he had won, Diallo said he was the winner. In the melee that followed, security forces fired on of Diallo in the Bambeto area of Conakry, killing three people, a spokesman for the military police said.

CNN

13 FARC guerrillas killed in airstrike

(CNN) -- The Colombian military on Monday killed at least 13 FARC guerrillas in an airstrike in southern Colombia, officials said.

Two other guerrillas were captured, Colombia's defense ministry said.

The predawn operation was the result of police intelligence, the defense ministry said. It led to the bombing of a guerrilla camp in the municipality of Ipiales, near the border with Ecuador.

Among the FARC, or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, rebels who survived, was a minor from Ecuador, the defense ministry said. He and another survivor were treated and hospitalized.

The operation was "a very powerful blow to one of the most important structures of the FARC in the south of the country and wonderful news in the context of the first 100 days of the administration of President Juan Manuel Santos," Defense Minister Rodrigo Rivera said.

Authorities recovered five rifles, one machine gun, a grenade launcher and other "war items," the defense ministry said. Intelligence documents were also seized.

The bombing was against one of the most important units of the FARC, known as Front 48.

According to officials, about 35 rebels were at the camp. They are led by a guerrilla known as "Euclides," who is accused of shipping 25 metric tons of cocaine from Colombia to Central America and Europe.

CNN

Pacquiao promoter targets Mayweather

(CNN) -- Manny Pacquiao's promoter plans to make another attempt to set up the long-awaited boxing showdown with Floyd Mayweather Junior.

The Filipino became the first fighter to win world titles in eight divisions on Saturday night after claiming the vacant WBC super-welterweight belt from Antonio Margarito in a brutal bout that left his opponent needing facial surgery.

The 31-year-old is running out of new opponents following two failed attempts to seal a deal to fight Mayweather, who is his main rival for the title of the world's best pound-for-pound boxer.

Mayweather last fought in May, beating Shane Mosley, but has since been embroiled in domestic violence claims by his former girlfriend and faces criminal charges in court in January.

Pacquiao's promoter Bob Arum told reporters after the Margarito fight in Arlington, Texas that his staff at the Top Rank organization would begin sounding out Mayweather about a fight next year.

"I will have Todd Duboef place a call directly to Floyd. Todd will ask one question and one question only, and that is whether Floyd wants to fight Manny," Arum said in quotes carried by sports website FanHouse.

CNN

Leaders call for genital mutilation ban

UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 15 (UPI) -- Political leaders from 42 countries have called on the United Nations to adopt a resolution banning female genital mutilation worldwide, officials said.

In an international appeal published today in the International Herald Tribune, parliamentarians, political leaders and civil society activists from countries concerned urged the adoption by the 65th session of the United Nations General Assembly of a resolution to ban the practice, a release from the group No Peace Without Justice said Monday.

A U.N. resolution would change the perception of female genital mutilation to a clear human rights violation against millions of women around the world instead of merely a cultural, religious or public health issue, the NPWJ release said.

"A United Nations General Assembly resolution to ban FGM worldwide would step up and signal the international community's universal condemnation of this blatant human rights violation, with important implications worldwide," Alvilda Jablonko, FGM Program Coordinator of No Peace Without Justice said.

"It would serve to strengthen laws that currently ban FGM and provide new impetus for those nations that currently do not have such laws on the books," she said.

UPI

USDA: Food 'safety net' remains vital

WASHINGTON, Nov. 15 (UPI) -- U.S. federal nutrition assistance food programs are providing a valuable safety net for the most vulnerable Americans, a report says.

The report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture found that 17.4 million households in America had difficulty providing enough food due to a lack of resources, about the same as in 2008, a USDA release said Monday.

In more than a third of those households, normal eating patterns were disrupted due to limited resources, the report found.

The fact that the numbers did not increase, despite a significant increase in unemployment and poverty in the United States between 2008 and 2009, underscores the important role of Federal nutrition assistance programs in helping to prevent food insecurity, the USDA said.

"This report highlights just how critical federal nutrition assistance programs are for American families in need," said Kevin Concannon, USDA undersecretary for food, nutrition, and consumer services.

UPI

At least 32 killed in building collapse in Indian capital

New Delhi, India -- At least 32 people were killed and another 40 were hurt when a five-story residential building collapsed Monday night in the Indian capital, an official said.

Rescue efforts were under way to free another two dozen people who may be trapped, Delhi Fire Service Chief R.C. Sharma told CNN.

But numbers were unclear: Police Commissioner B.K. Gupta told CNN sister network CNN-IBN that 89 people were injured in the collapse. And New Delhi municipal spokesman Deep Mathur said fire officials estimated that as many as 20 people could still be trapped.

Video from the scene showed residents digging through debris with construction equipment. Rescuers carried dust-covered victims to waiting vehicles.

The building apparently collapsed because its foundations had weakened after exposure to water from this year's heavy monsoons, said City Municipal Spokesman Deep Mathur and Chief Minister of New Delhi Sheila Dikshit. The structure was situated closely to the Yamuna River that flows through New Delhi.

CNN

Protests over Haiti's cholera outbreak turn violent

Port-Au-Prince, Haiti (CNN) -- Protesters angry over the government's handling of the cholera outbreak clashed Monday with peacekeepers in Cap Haitien, residents and officials in the northern coastal city told CNN.

Schools and banks were closed, and gunfire ricocheted through the streets, they said.

Vincenzo Pugliese, a spokesman for MINUSTAH, the United Nations' stabilization mission in Haiti, said anti-riot police were coping with the demonstrations, which he said began in the morning in at least two separate locations and had not caused any fatalities among peacekeepers or the population. "Apparently, some people were injured by bottles or stones," he said.

"We are facing the consequences of a cholera epidemic and in two weeks the elections, so the population is scared," he said. "It's a volatile situation".

He pointed to the fact that demonstrations began in separate areas as evidence that the outbreak was not spontaneous.

CNN

Springboks rugby duo banned over positive drug tests

(CNN) -- Two South African rugby players were sent home from their national team's tour of Europe on Monday after testing positive for a banned drug.

Mahlatse "Chiliboy" Ralepelle and Bjorn Basson were provisionally suspended from all rugby after the South African Rugby Union was informed of the results late on Sunday.

Winger Basson and forward Ralepelle were found to have used the stimulant methylhexaneamine after being randomly tested following the Springboks' 23-21 win over Ireland on November 6.

"The players have the right to request that their 'B' sample be tested," the SARU said on its website.

"The pair returned an adverse analytical finding for methylhexaneamine, a "non-specified stimulant" on the prohibited substances list of the World Anti-Doping Agency. It is scheduled to be re-classified as a "specified stimulant" from January 1, 2011".

Basson missed Saturday's 34-12 win over Wales with an ankle injury suffered in Dublin and was due to leave the tour anyway.

Ralepelle, who became the first black player to captain South Africa in a warm-up match earlier in the tour, came on the field as a substitute in Cardiff after not being used against Ireland.

CNN

Mueren 13 guerrilleros de las FARC en un bombardeo del Ejército cerca de Ecuador

Al menos 13 guerrilleros de las FARC murieron al ser bombardeado su campamento, situado en el suroeste de Colombia cerca de la frontera con Ecuador, informaron este lunes fuentes oficiales.

Uno de los dos guerrilleros heridos es de nacionalidad ecuatoriana y menor de edad, según un comunicado del Ministerio de Defensa.

El ataque conjunto de la Fuerza Aérea y el Ejército contra el campamento de las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) se registróen una zona rural de la localidad de Ipiales.

Tras el bombardeo y el ingreso al lugar de tropas y agentes de la unidad policial de elite Jungla fueron hallados los cadáveres de los 13 rebeldes, ylos dos heridos fueron detenidos.

Las tropas colombianas se incautaron de cinco fusiles, una ametralladora y un lanzagranadas, así como otros elementos y materiales de guerra y documentos de interés para la inteligencia militar, añade el informe.

En el campamento había 35 guerrilleros del frente 48, al mando de alias 'Euclides', acusado de tráfico de estupefacientes y responsable del envío de unas 25 toneladas de cocaína a Centroamérica y Europa, añadió el ministerio de Defensa.

Las Fuerzas combinadas y la policía prosiguen las operaciones de registro en la zona para tratar de localizar a los demás miembros de ese grupo.

El Mundo

El agujero negro recién nacido

Los astrónomos de la NASA han hallado indicios del agujero negro más joven encontrado hasta ahora: tan sólo tiene 30 años. Su descubrimiento supone una oportunidad única para que los científicos puedan estudiar el nacimiento de un objeto de estas características. Este gran hallazgo astronómico ha sido posible gracias a Chandra, el telescopio de rayos X más potente del mundo.

Según la NASA, se trata de la primera vez que logran identificar con tanta precisión la edad de un agujero negro.

Este sumidero cósmico podría ayudar a los científicos a comprender mejor cómo explosionan las estrellas masivas y cuántos agujeros negros hay tanto en nuestra galaxia como en otras.

"Si nuestra interpretación es correcta, se trata del ejemplo más cercano en el que ha sido observado el nacimiento de un agujero negro", afirmó Daniel Patanaude, del Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics de Cambridge, Massachussets.

El objeto hallado es un vestigio de SN 1979C, una supernova situada en la galaxia M100, aproximadamente a 50 millones de años luz de la Tierra. Los científicos creen que SN 1979C, que fue descubierta por un astrónomo aficionado en 1979, se formó cuando una estrella 20 veces más másiva que el Sol hizo explosión.

Chandra, el observatorio más potente

Está investigación será publicada en la revista New Astronomy en un 'paper' firmado por Daniel Patnaude, Abraham Loeb y Christian Jones, del Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

El observatorio espacial Chandra fue lanzado en 1999. Tiene una resolución ocho veces superior y es capaz de detectar fuentes 20 veces más débiles que cualquier otro telescopio de las mismas características.

Se trata de una valiosa herramienta para estudiar física de manera detallada en un laboratorio único, el Universo, cuyas condiciones no pueden ser reproducidas en la Tierra.

El Mundo

Un taxista de Nueva York estafa casi 800.000 dólares a un millonario hongkonés

Un taxista de Nueva York estafó casi 800.000 dólares al millonario hongkonés y maestro de feng shui Tony Chan, famoso por su relación con una de las mujeres más ricas de Asia, Nina Wang, afirma este lunes 'The New York Post'.

El millonario fue supuestamente engañado por Peter Rahhaoui, conductor del taxi que en una ocasión tomó para trasladarse desde el aeropuerto de Teteboro, Nueva Jersey, hasta la isla de Manhattan, de acuerdo con los documentos presentados ante la Justicia estadounidense de los que este lunes se hace eco ese rotativo.

El taxista utilizó durante varios meses el número de la tarjeta de crédito de Chan para realizar compras que llegaron a elevarse hasta 19.000 dólares en un solo mes.

El diseñador de feng shui, que habíaviajado con su helicóptero privado hasta el aeropuerto de Teteboro, pagó unos 65 dólares por el recorrido de 20 kilómetros entre el aeropuerto y Manhattan.

Según el diario, el hongkonés no reparó en los cientos de miles de dólares que Rahhaoui le había estado robando hasta que unespecialista en seguridad bancaria le avisó de los cargos sospechosos en su tarjeta de crédito, que finalmente se elevaron a 749.986 dólares y por los que el taxista neoyorquino fue detenido.

Los problemas con la Justicia que enfrenta el propio Chan en su país de origen por haber intentado hacerse con la herencia de Nina Wang, la que fuera una de las mujeres más ricas de Asia, complican este caso, según afirma el diario neoyorquino.

En febrero de este año, un juez de Hong Kong desestimó la pretensión del diseñador de hacerse con la fortuna de unos 100.000 millones de dólares de su amante, al invalidar un testamento supuestamente firmado por Wang antes de su muerte y en el que hacía heredero universal a Chang.

El Mundo

Un choque entre armados y militares causa 4 muertos en Tamaulipas

(CNNMéxico) — Al menos cuatro personas murieron durante un enfrentamiento entre presuntos criminales y soldados en Ciudad Mier, en Tamaulipas, el municipio que ha sido abandonado por sus habitantes que, afligidos por la violencia, buscan refugio en comunidades aledañas.

En este estado al norte de México, uno de los más afectados por la violencia que genera el crimen organizado y su combate, un grupo de militares que mantienen una presencia permanente en las calles fueron agredidos a balazos cuando realizaban tareas rutinarias de reconocimiento.

Según un comunicado de la Secretaría de la Defensa Nacional(Sedena) citado por la agencia Notimex, los militares "en defensa de su integridad física y de la ciudadanía", respondieron a la agresión matando a cuatro de los agresores.

El texto indica que en el lugar se aseguraron siete armas largas, un arma corta, 39 cargadores para cartuchos de diferentes calibres y 650 cartuchos.

Al menos 100 familias han dejado el municipio, e incluso las autoridades del vecino Miguel Alemán han abierto albergues para recibirlos.

La alcaldía del municipio Miguel Alemán, fronterizo con Estados Unidos, solicitó la solidaridad de otras poblaciones mexicanas y de Texaspara la manutención de los cientos de personas que han sido desplazadas por la violencia entre los cárteles del narcotráfico.

Desde el mes de marzo, el estado de Tamaulipas y su vecino Nuevo León sufren una "guerra" que protagonizan dos grupos rivales de la delincuencia organizada, el Cartel del Golfo y el grupo criminal de Los Zetas.

CNN México

Un trío de bacterias mata a 11 recién nacidos en un hospital de Brasil

(CNN) — Once bebés han muerto en los últimos 40 días en un hospital público de Brasilia, Brasil, por tres bacterias que fueron detectadas en una unidad de cuidados intensivos, informó la prensa estatal este lunes.

Este brote infeccioso surgió en el Hospital Regional da Asa Sul, donde seis recién nacidos fueron aislados y otros 24 se encuentran bajo observación, reportó la estatal de noticias Agencia Brasil.

Las autoridades médicas han adoptado tres medidas para combatir el brote mortal, dijo Alberto Henrique Barbosa, director de la unidad de cuidados intensivos neonatales. Las autoridades hospitalarias reducirán el número de niños ingresados, ampliarán el uso de equipos hospitalarios y aumentarán el número del personal que trabaja en cada turno.

"La gente cree que el brote ha disminuido", dijo Barbosa. "Ahora, ¿cuánto tiempo tardará en producirse? No tenemos datos precisos".

Las bacterias han sido identificadas como Klebsiella, Serratia yStaphylococcus, mencionó la Agencia Brasil.

Barbosa descartó que haya alguna infección por la superbacterias conocido como Klebsiella pneumoniae Carbapenemase.

CNN México