New York calls in old debts, Egypt dodges a tasty plague

Mexican villagers lynch policemen

Federal agents stormed the village of San Juan… Mexican villagers lynch policemen

Federal agents stormed the village of San Juan Ixtayopan, Mexico, last week after two undercover police officers were lynched by an angry mob, which mistook them for kidnappers preying on children at a local school.

The Associated Press reported that several hundred people were involved in the attack in the village, situated in the southwestern suburbs of Mexico City.

While local police took several hours to arrive on the scene, many members of the press witnessed the murders. The events were broadcast in graphic detail on the national television news. Images showed young men and women hitting and kicking the officers, who were lying on the ground. TV reporters interviewed the agents during a lull in the attack, and images showed their disfigured faces streaming with blood. The officers lost consciousness after the attack, were doused in petrol and set on fire.

Another officer survived being dragged through the village and tied to a bandstand in the center square of the village. At this point, hundreds of riot police descended on the scene, rescued the officer and occupied the village. A double-murder inquiry is pending.

Individual officers in the Mexican police force have been linked to kidnapping gangs in the past, but in this case, there appears little doubt that the three agents were engaged in an undercover operation to combat small-scale drug trafficking.

The officers were photographing a house on the same road as a primary school from which two girls were rumored to have been kidnapped.

Residents were unable to give details about the abducted children, raising the suspicion, according to the Associated Press, that the traffickers started the story in an attempt to ward off the investigation.

“It all got out of control,” Martha Patricia Lopeza, a resident, later told reporters. “But we were just trying to defend our children.”

United States collects on international parking debts

Faced with an enormous – and soaring – budget deficit, the U.S. Congress approved a measure last week to collect unpaid parking tickets amassed by foreign diplomats stationed in the United States.

The bill, sponsored by New York Democratic Sens. Hillary Clinton and Charles Schumer, aims to cut aid to the diplomats’ countries by 110 percent of the amount they owe in unpaid fines.

The Guardian reported that Egypt is the worst offender, owing $1.9 million. The runners-up – Nigeria, Indonesia, Morocco and Brazil – owe a combined $2.9 million.

“It is simply outrageous for these individuals to park illegally and blatantly ignore paying their parking tickets,” Schumer said in a statement. “New Yorkers face severe penalties if they do this, and so should diplomats.”

Locusts swarm southern Israel

Swarms of locusts devoured lawns and palm trees throughout southern Israel last weekend. Only days earlier, Egyptian farmers were counting their lucky stars after a fierce rainstorm diverted the pests from their crops.

According to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, the red locusts travel from West Africa, but are especially prevalent this year after prolonged periods of heavy rainfall in previous months.

The insects can be extremely damaging to crops. They live for two to six months, and can eat their weight – about 0.07 ounces – in crops every day. They can travel 120 miles a day.

Residents of Eilat woke up to find their lawns blanketed with red insects. The Associated Press reported that children questioned their parents if darkness, the ninth biblical plague after locusts, would follow.

According to the Book of Exodus in the Old Testament, the Egyptians suffered 10 plagues before the Pharoah agreed to free the enslaved Israelites. Locusts were the eighth plague.

The Israeli newspapers Yediot and Maariv ran “A Plague of Locusts” as their headlines. Both papers reported the delight of Thai farm workers, who consider locusts a delicacy.

Yediot included directions for readers curious about the culinary potential of the insects, instructing them to grill the locusts “until they yellow.”

Report highlights plight of child soldiers

The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers released a report last week detailing the plight of more than 100,000 children recruited in the last three years to fight in Africa’s numerous, long-running civil wars.

Teen-age boys and girls abducted and forced to join militias are subjected during an indoctrination process to sexual abuse and physical and psychological torture, according to the report.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, more than 30,000 child soldiers are fighting in militias and acting as bodyguards for the government’s army commanders. Girls are kidnapped primarily to be gang-raped by soldiers, who use them as entertainment and rewards for bravery.

The Independent reported an interview with “Martin,” a child solider abducted at age 13 by the Lord’s Resistance Army. The LRA has fought an 18-year guerrilla war against the Ugandan government, seeking as its main goal to make the Ten Commandments the national law.

“Early on, when my brothers and I were captured, the LRA explained to us that all five brothers couldn’t serve in the LRA, because we would not perform well,” Martin said.

“So they tied up my two younger brothers and invited us to watch. Then they beat them with sticks until two of them died. They told us it would give us strength to fight. My youngest brother was 9 years old,” Martin said.

Geoffrey Oyat of Save the Children, part of a coalition of charities, said these tactics are used “to turn children from victims into perpetrators.” In this vicious circle, children grow up and return to villages like their own to abduct more children to fight in the war.

The report criticizes the use of child soldiers in the civil wars in Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Pakistan. It is noted that in the Middle East, Palestinian groups have accepted children who request to be suicide bombers.

The United States was also singled out for criticism by the coalition for detaining 15- and 16-year-olds in Guantanamo Bay as “enemy combatants.”

The coalition has called upon the U.N. Security Council to apply sanctions against those countries that allow children to be used as soldiers.

Policeman robs bank, plays backgammon

A policeman was arrested in southern Greece last week after allegedly robbing a bank, then visiting a nearby coffee shop to play a game of backgammon.

Authorities said last Wednesday that the officer, who was not named, was arrested in the southern town of Kato Achayia, after allegedly snatching more than $6,500.

The Associated Press reported that the officer, wearing a crash helmet, allegedly threatened staff at a branch of the Alpha Bank with his police handgun.

“He left his car outside the bank, and a girl was in the vehicle waiting for him,” local police chief Dimitris Tsiouvaras said. “Then they went for coffee.”

Woman auctions metal cane, father’s ghost

A woman in Hobart, Ind., has placed her father’s “ghost” on the online auction site eBay, after her son said he was afraid it might return in the future.

Mary Anderson, who posted the item with “This isn’t a joke” written as her description, explained her son’s story.

“I always thought it was just normal kid fears, until a few months ago he told me why he was so scared. He told me, ?Grandpa died here, and he was mean. His ghost is still around here.'”

The Associated Press reported that Anderson has placed her father’s metal walking cane up for auction so she would be able to send something to the winning bidder. By Monday morning, bids had reached $78.

Anderson made one request of the winner.

“I would like to ask you to write a letter after you’ve received the cane (and the ghost) to my son, letting him know that he’s there with you and you’re getting along great.”

Subway opening delayed, escalator stolen

The South China Morning Post reported last week that the opening of a subway station in the city of Shenzhen has been delayed, after an armed gang stormed the construction site and stole the escalator.

Gouwugongyuan station was raided last Thursday by more than 20 armed men, who spent the afternoon removing building materials, including the entire escalator.

According to workers, theft at subway sites in the city has become increasingly commonplace, with a recent incident involving robbers who “sent in a crane to lift their loot on to trucks.”

“It’s completely lawless,” one worker said.