Mexico cartel dominates, torches western state
22 May 2013 - The State of Michoacan is burning. A drug cartel that takes its name from an ancient monastic order has set fire to lumber yards, packing plants and passenger buses in a medieval-like reign of terror. The Knights Templar cartel is extorting protection payments from cattlemen, lime growers, and businesses such as butchers, prompting a backlash in the western agricultural states. The Mexican army was met with cheers when it arrived to fight the cartel on Monday night. Federal Interior Secretary Miguel Osorio Chong promised that the offensive this time would have better coordination, cooperation, and intelligence to be successful. But federal forces are up against a deeply rooted local mafia that, with at least a decade of state and local government tolerance, exerts almost governmental power. The last time the federal government truly went after the cartel, then known as La Familia, was in 2010. La Familia's leadership fell apart, but one branch of the cartel evolved into the Knights Templar, which has consolidated control. 'It's like a monster with a thousand arms, that wants to control everything, the way you live, the way you think,' said a young patrolman. 'You cut off one arm, it grows another.' (more)

UN warns of 'mounting reports' of Syria chemical arms use
22 May 2013 - The United Nations is receiving increasing reports of the use of chemical weapons in Syria's 2-year-old civil war as the violence escalates, a senior UN official said on Wednesday. A team of UN-led chemical weapons experts has been ready for more than a month to enter Syria to investigate the allegations, but has been held up by diplomatic wrangling and safety concerns. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged Syria to give the experts unfettered access to investigate all alleged chemical arms incidents. But Assad's government only wants the UN team to probe the Aleppo attack, not Homs. UN diplomats say UN-Syria negotiations on access have reached a deadlock. A senior Western diplomat said on condition of anonymity that there have been 'new incidents' of chemical weapon use by Assad's government since April. He declined to elaborate. (more)

Congo fighting persists as UN chief arrives
22 May 2013 - M23 rebels fired two rockets into the eastern Congo city of Goma, killing one person and wounding four, officials said, in an apparent spillover from three days of fighting raging north of the city. The attack underscores the heightening tension in Congo and comes as UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon arrived in Congo's capital far to the west for a two-day visit. He is expected to visit Goma, where a new UN military brigade is being formed to attack rebel groups and bring stability to the mineral-rich region. The two rockets exploded in Goma's Ndosho neighbourhood, civilians were among the casualties. Congo, an enormous country the size of Western Europe, has endured decades of conflict, especially in its mineral-rich east. An investigation by UN experts found that Rwanda and Uganda have backed M23, which both governments deny. UN peacekeepers were widely criticised for failing to stop the rebel advance into Goma last November. (more)

US: Sugary drinks tied to kidney stone risk
22 May 2013 - Adults who drink at least one sugar-sweetened drink a day are slightly more likely to develop kidney stones than people who rarely imbibe them, according to a new study. Researchers found that 159 out of every 100,000 people who drank a sugar-sweetened non-cola beverage, such as clear soda, less than once a week developed kidney stones, compared to 306 out of every 100,000 who drank soda daily. After accounting for other factors, that translated to a 33 per cent greater chance of developing kidney stones. Frequent punch drinkers also had an 18 per cent higher chance of developing kidney stones. Dr. Gary Curhan, the senior author of the study, said that while the numbers of people developing kidney stones in each group are not enormously different, the increased risk spread across an entire population is quite big. 'Sodas are so commonly used that even though the absolute rate doesn't look that different, if there's a huge number of people consuming it, then the magnitude on the public health can be quite substantial,' Curhan told Reuters Health. (more)

Guatemala's top court annuls Rios Montt genocide conviction
21 May 2013 - Guatemala's highest court on Monday overturned a genocide conviction against former dictator Efrain Rios Montt and reset his trial back to when a dispute broke out a month ago over who should hear the case. Rios Montt, 86, was found guilty on 10 May of overseeing the killings by the armed forces of at least 1,771 members of the Maya Ixil population during his 1982-83 rule. He was sentenced to 80 years in prison. However, in a ruling on Monday, the country's Constitutional Court ordered that all the proceedings be voided going back to 19 April. Ana Caba, an ethnic Ixil who survived the civil war after fleeing her home, was stunned by the Constitutional Court's decision. 'I'm distressed,' she told Reuters. 'I don't know what's happening. That's how this country is. The powerful people do what they want and we poor and indigenous are devalued. We don't get justice. Justice means nothing for us.' (more)

Mexican town besieged by drug cartel worries the army may not be enough to help
21 May 2013 - Residents of a western Mexico area who endured months besieged by a drug cartel cheered the arrival of hundreds of Mexican soldiers Monday. The town's supplies had been blocked after the Knights Templars cartel declared war on the hamlet. The cartel dominates much of the state, demanding extortion payments from businessmen and storeowners, and even low-wage workers. The idea that troops might come in and seize a town's weapons, or stay only a few weeks, worried people throughout the crime-ridden area. So in town after town along the main highway through Michoacan's hot lowlands known as the Tierra Caliente, self-defense squads welcomed the army's arrival, but vowed to keep their guns. Rafael Garcia Zamora, mayor of Comoalacan, said residents welcomed the arrival of troops, but worried the force might soon leave again and expose the town to the cartel's wrath. 'The government should have mobilized the army to do this 10 or 12 years ago,' he said. (more)

Drowsy young drivers have increased crash risk
21 May 2013 - Young adult drivers who usually get less than six hours of sleep per night are more likely to crash than those who sleep in, according to a new study from Australia. Researchers found that drivers who got less than six hours of sleep were still at a 21 per cent increased risk of a crash. Martiniuk and her colleagues also found that sleeping less was tied to more accidents occurring between 8 PM and 6 AM. 'That should open the discussion of bans on nighttime driving,' Martiniuk said. According to the National Sleep Foundation, teens need between 8.5 hours and 9.25 hours of sleep per night. Adults need between 7 hours and 9 hours. (more)

Attacks kill 95 in Iraq, hint of Syrian spillover
20 May 2013 - Iraq's wave of bloodshed sharply escalated Monday with more than a dozen car bombings across the country, part of attacks that killed at least 95 people and brought echoes of past sectarian carnage and fears of a dangerous spillover from Syria's civil war next door. The latest spiral of violence -- which has claimed more than 240 lives in the past week -- carries the hallmarks of the two sides that brought nearly nonstop chaos to Iraq for years: Sunni insurgents, including al-Qaida's branch in Iraq, and Shiite militias defending their newfound power after Saddam Hussein's fall. But the widening shadow and regional brinksmanship from Syria's conflict now increasingly threaten to feed into Iraq's sectarian strife, heightening concerns that Iraq could be turning toward civil war. (more)