Page 11 - ATD 05 DEC,2015

WORLD NEWS A11
Mexico: 3 highway
crooks held on killing
Australian tourists
CULIACAN, Mexico (AP) —
Three suspects have been
detained in connection
with the presumed killing of
two Australian tourists who
went missing last month,
prosecutors in Mexico’s
Sinaloa state said Friday.
State prosecutor Marco
Antonio Higuera said the
three men were robbing
motorists on a stretch of
highway leading south
through Navolato, Sinaloa.
He said two other suspect-
ed members of the rob-
bery gang remained at
large.
The three were arrested
on low-level drug-dealing
and weapons charges, but
Higuera said he expects
homicide charges to be
filed against them soon.
“This is just a gang of five
people who committed
highway robberies. They
don’t have links to drug
cartels,” Higuera said.
One of them had previous-
ly been investigated for the
killing of a man in a similar Recent polls say that the
robbery, prosecutors said.
The gang is alleged to have
killed Adam Coleman and
Dean Lucas after Coleman
resisted the robbery just af- of elections that could
ter midnight Nov. 21. The
thieves allegedly shot the
two Australians to death,
then doused their van with
gasoline and set it afire.
Two charred bodies found
inside the van the next day
have not yet been positive-
ly identified. Tests are con- SAN SALVADOR, El Salva-
tinuing. But the van’s ve-
hicle identification number
matched one registered to
Coleman in Canada.
Evidence presented at a
news conference showed
the arrested men had rifles,
a shotgun, pistols, 124 small babies.
bags of methamphet-
amine and jackets with po-
lice logos on them.q
Saturday 5 December 2015
Argentina, Brazil to closely watch Venezuela election
MAURICIO SAVARESE he would pressure Merco- called for closer commer- “was very calm” despite
Associated Press sur to apply its democratic cial relations between the the beginning of im-
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — clause and suspend Ven- two neighbors that have peachment proceedings
Argentina’s president-
elect Mauricio Macri said A supporter of the ruling party cries as she is overcome by emotion, during the closing
Friday that he and Brazil’s campaign rally in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Dec. 3, 2015. As Venezuelans get ready to
President Dilma Rousseff vote on Dec. 6, in congressional elections, polls show the opposition coalition holding a 30 point
will be “closely observing” lead, buoyed by voters defecting from the socialist party because of high crime, widespread
Sunday’s election in Ven- shortages and triple-digit inflation.
ezuela.
Macri has made it clear (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
that he’s against the pres-
ence of the politically po- ezuela because of ac- been at odds over trade against her this week, not-
larized Venezuela in the cusations of rights abuses barriers. ing that “she explained
South American trade there. “Both countries are suf- what was happening.”
bloc Mercosur — princi- But Rousseff, a big Ven- fering from a recession. Later, the president-elect
pally because he says it ezuela supporter, has de- We want to strengthen met businessmen in Sao
has violated the group’s manded evidence that our trade relations,” Macri Paulo and insisted that
democratic clause. the government has vio- said. “If Brazil does better, Brazil and Argentina need
Macri is visiting Brazil on his lated democratic rules. Argentina will do better, to cooperate more to
first international trip after During his short meet- too.” overcome their economic
winning last month’s vote. ing with Rousseff, Macri Macri says that Rousseff crises.q
In a press conference in
Brasilia, in which Rousseff
didn’t participate, Macri
said that he and the em-
battled Rousseff are “hop-
ing that the tension that
Venezuela is living today
will subside.”
“What Mercosur will do
(with Venezuela) is related
to what happens on Sun-
day,” he said.
opposition to leftist Ven-
ezuelan President Nicolas
Maduro leads by about 30
percentage points ahead
change control of the
country’s congress for the
first time since 1998.
Shortly after winning in Ar-
gentina, Macri said that
El Salvador: 295 suspected cases of dengue-like Zika
The assistant minister of being taken, because such of Zika in El Salvador, and
dor (AP) — Public health health says authorities will measures are the same for after that about 295 sus-
authorities in El Salvador increase protective pre- Zika and dengue. pected cases have been
are seeing an increase in natal monitoring and other Those measures include reported.
cases of Zika, a mosquito- measures. spraying and eliminat- Scientists in Brazil have
borne, dengue-like virus Eduardo Espinoza said Fri- ing mosquito breeding linked Zika infections to
that has been linked to day that preventive mea- grounds. cases of babies being
malformations in newborn sures to stop the spread In late November, authori- born with small heads, or
of the disease are already ties confirmed three cases microcephaly.q