Mexican officials investigate whether priest accepted drug money

Mexico City, Mexico (CNN) -- Mexican federal authorities are investigating whether a Roman Catholic priest received money from a top narcotrafficker to build a chapel, a church official said Monday.

The inquiry centers on whether the head of the notorious Zetas drug cartel, Heriberto Lazcano, donated money to a church in Hidalgo state, the government-run Notimex news agency reported, citing Mexican archdiocese spokesman Hugo Valdemar.

News reports said a plaque naming financial donors to the chapel lists Lazcano.

The federal attorney general's office and the archdiocese of Mexico are investigating, the news outlet said.

The priest who reportedly accepted the money, whom church officials declined to identify, has been suspended pending the outcome of the investigation, Notimex said.

Mexico's bishops eagerly support jailing any priest who takes money from drug traffickers, Valdemar said, according to Notimex.

The church spokesman said there is no sector of Mexican society that can escape the narcotraffickers' "corrupting tentacles". The government, military, police and media also have been infiltrated, church officials say.

"They are very isolated cases," Valdemar said. "We can't talk about the church in general. And, of course, these cases fall under the responsibility of those priests, communities that have received this type of aid".

Another archdiocese spokesman said priests cannot accept dirty money under any circumstance, no matter what the intent.

"The church can never accept narcotrafficking money even if it is for a good cause," the Rev. Jose de Jesus Aguilar told CNN en Español. "The aim of narcotrafficking is always destruction, even if it is disguised as goodness".

CNN

Colombian police raid drug assets office

Police in Colombia have raided the offices of the government body which controls assets seized from drug traffickers.

Officials said serious anomalies had emerged in the agency's book-keeping.

The government has taken control of the National Narcotics Office while the allegations are being investigated.

Police became suspicious after drug traffickers were found to be in possession of properties which had officially been seized by the agency.

Colombian Minister of Justice German Vargas Lleras said he had ordered the intervention after "hundreds of irregularities and many serious anomalies" had surfaced at the National Narcotics Office.

The government announced the contracts of 100 employees would not be renewed, and all remaining employees would come under close scrutiny.

'Not in order'

National Narcotics Office director Juan Carlos Restrepo said he would turn the agency "into a goldfish bowl with total accountability".

Mr Restrepo took over the leadership of the agency in September.

His predecessor, Omar Figueroa, was asked to resign from his post after it was found that the person put in charge of managing the property seized from an infamous drug dealer had links to the dealer's cartel.

Mr Restrepo said that the officers who raided the National Narcotics Office had found evidence that its accounting system had been tampered with.

"There are indications that lead me to believe that the agency's inventory is not in order," he said.

But, he said, Tuesday's raid would be the start of a new era for the agency, which in future would become known for its transparency and accountability.

BBC News

GOP piles up election victories; Tea Party faves Paul, Rubio win

Washington (CNN) -- A Republican wave appeared to be forming Tuesday as early returns in the most expensive midterm election in history showed voters overwhelmingly concerned about the economy strongly backed GOP candidates in congressional and governors' races.

CNN projected Tea Party-backed Republicans Rand Paul in Kentucky and Marco Rubio in Florida will win their Senate races, while another GOP candidate, John Boozman, will defeat incumbent Democrat Blanche Lincoln in Arkansas. The projections were based on CNN analysis of exit poll data.

In Indiana, conservative Republican Dan Coats is the projected winner to take over the Senate seat held by retiring Democrat Evan Bayh. The projected victories by Coats and Boozman gave Republicans their first two pick-ups of the night in the Senate.

However, Democrat Chris Coons was the projected winner over Republican Christine O'Donnell, another Tea Party-supported candidate, in Delaware's Senate race for the seat formerly held for decades by Vice President Joe Biden. In Connecticut, Democratic Attorney General Richard Blumenthal will defeat Republican Linda McMahon, the former professional wrestling executive, for the Senate seat held by retiring Democrat Chris Dodds.

Another big Democratic victory came in West Virginia, where Gov. Joe Manchin was projected to win the Senate seat formerly held by the late Democratic Sen. Robert Byrd, who died earlier this year.

Other projected early winners included veteran senators such as Republicans Jim DeMint in South Carolina and Richard Shelby in Alabama, and Democrats Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Barbara Mikulski of Maryland.

The victories by Coons, Manchin and Blumenthal were vital for the Democrats' chances to retain its majority in the Senate.

Republican Rob Portman, the former budget director under President George W. Bush, will win his Ohio Senate race to fill the seat held by retiring Republican George Voinovich, according to the projections. In New Hampshire, the GOP's Kelly Ayotte is the projected winner to fill the Senate seat held by retiring Republican Judd Gregg.

On the House side, Republicans picked up a Democratic seat in Virginia, while Democrats won a Republican seat in Delaware, according to the projections. Republicans were running strongly in a number of other races, leading Republican National Chairman Michael Steele to tell CNN that he expected his party to gain 55 House seats to take majority control of the chamber.

CNN

Discovery's last flight delayed -- again

(CNN) -- NASA announced Tuesday it has delayed the launch of the space shuttle Discovery yet again, this time due to a circuitry glitch to the backup systems that was found earlier in the day.

The launch was pushed back 24 hours, until about 3:30 p.m. ET Thursday, NASA said.

"The Prelaunch Mission Management Team wants to give engineers more time to look deeply into two electrical issues from a main engine computer controller that cropped up this morning," NASA said in a statement on its website.

"Therefore, the launch of space shuttle Discovery on STS-133 has been delayed until at least Thursday. Mike Moses, chair of the MMT, said the problems are believed to be tied to a circuit breaker in the shuttle's cockpit. Rather than rush the shuttle launch team through an analysis and launch cycle quickly, Moses said he opted to let the engineers work throughout the night on the issue without having to worry about an early morning tanking and Wednesday afternoon launch".

The management team is to meet again at 2 p.m. Wednesday to decide whether to launch Thursday. A liftoff Thursday would be at 3:29 p.m.

Last Friday, NASA officials at the Kennedy Space Center said the launch on what is to be Discovery's final flight was being delayed from Monday.

Engineers found two seals leaking in the shuttle's right side orbiter maneuvering system pod. The leaks of nitrogen and helium were in the pressurization system. Nitrogen and helium are used to force fuel through the lines.

The OMS pod engines are used to steer the shuttle in space.

CNN

Guinea violence, intimidation displaces thousands, officials say

Dabola, Guinea (CNN) -- Violence and voter intimidation in Guinea's eastern region has forced the displacement of thousands of ethnic Peul who support presidential candidate Cellou Dalein Diallo, according to an official for the Red Cross in Guinea and local officials of Diallo's party.

The West African nation's long-awaited, much-delayed second round presidential runoff between Diallo and Alpha Conde is scheduled for Sunday.

But more than a week of violence and intimidation that has forced thousands of people to leave their homes in the towns of Siguiri, Kouroussa and Kissidougou in eastern Guinea has soured what would be the nation's most credible democratic presidential vote in its 52-year history.

Ananie Kashironge, head of media relations for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Conakry, the nation's capital, told CNN on Tuesday that 2,800 people were displaced on October 22 and 23 alone.

In addition, commercial trucks filled with ethnic Peul and all their possessions have been leaving the eastern towns of Siguiri (about 800 kilometers from Conakry) and Kouroussa (about 580 kilometers from Conakry) every day for the past 12 days, and local officials for Diallo's UFDG party say a total of 15,000 to 20,000 Peul have been displaced around the country.

Most of the displaced people have traveled west to the Fouta Djallon region, where they have relatives, the officials say.

After a rally for Conde in Conakry on October 22 in which dozens of supporters fell sick after drinking contaminated water and yogurt, ethnic Malinke people attacked Peul in Upper Guinea, especially in Siguiri and Kouroussa, for days. Those displaced spoke of Malinke men looting and burning Peul-owned businesses and demolishing homes where Peul lived in Siguiri.

Officials for Diallo's party said they registered the deaths of three Peul in Siguiri, one who had been fatally beaten and two who had died after being struck by stones.

Conde, whose father is from the Malinke ethnic group, draws much of his support from the majority Malinke region of Upper Guinea, where most of the violence happened.

Diallo, an ethnic Peul, has his base of supporters in the northwestern Fouta Djallon region.

Sabo Camara, the campaign director for the UFDG party in Dabola, a town on the border of the Fouta Djallon and Upper Guinea regions where many Peul have stayed or passed through, said the violence seemed planned.

"They don't want [the Peul] to vote and we heard that they even put out a communique on local radio saying that if [the Peul] stay there until election day they will kill all of them," Camara told CNN on Monday.

CNN

No terror link so far in UPS crash in Dubai, official says

Washington (CNN) -- Investigators so far have failed to turn up any evidence that terrorism was involved in the September 3 crash of a UPS cargo plane in Dubai, a U.S. government official told CNN Tuesday.

White House counterterrorism chief John Brennan told CNN Sunday that the United States was "looking very carefully" at that crash -- in which the two pilots were killed -- to see if it could be related to the recent terror threat involving cargo aircraft.

The Boeing 747 -- operated by UPS -- went down in Dubai, where one of two toner cartridge bombs was recovered just seven weeks later. The other was recovered on a plane in the U.K.

But as investigators in the United States and the United Arab Emirates continue to explore the cause of the crash, they say that at this time, there is no evidence of terrorism.

Government investigators have reviewed the cargo plane's manifest, a U.S. government source said. The official said that there were "a few -- not many, but a few -- packages (on the UPS plane) that originated in Yemen".

"However, they (investigators) have a basic idea of what part of the plane the fire started and these were nowhere near there," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the investigation.

Also, officials in the United Arab Emirates have said -- and a U.S. official confirmed -- that the plane's cockpit voice recorder has been examined and nothing on it indicates an explosion. Explosions have distinctive sound signatures, and that would have been recorded on the device, the official said.

The UAE said it has "eliminated the possibility of an onboard explosion, following a detailed onsite investigation of the wreckage". U.S. authorities aren't going that far, saying only that the investigation is continuing. The official noted that a fire caused by an incendiary device, rather than an explosive device, would not have been recorded by the plane's cockpit voice recorder.

CNN

Virus puts African flocks at risk

More than 50 million sheep and goats in 15 countries across southern Africa are at risk from a virus with a death rate that can approach 100 percent, the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization said Tuesday.

While the Small Ruminants' Plague does not infect humans, the U.N. agency said it could have a devastating economic and social impact across the region.

"Sheep and goats are critical to food and income security for pastoral communities. The presence of the disease directly affects a family's wealth," the FAO's chief veterinary officer, Juan Lubroth, said in a statement.

The disease broke out in Tanzania early this year, the FAO said. It is easily spread as animals make contact in pastures and in markets, according to Adama Diallo, who led a recent FAO-sponsored emergency mission to Tanzania.

Diallo recommend an emergency vaccination program around outbreak sites and herding routes, especially along borders with Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia, and that authorities not allow herders to move their flocks.

The disease has previously infected western, eastern and central Africa. It is also found in the Mideast and parts of central Asia, the FAO said.

CNN

Blast in Yemen damages pipeline operated by Korean firm

Sanaa, Yemen (CNN) -- An oil pipeline struck by an explosion in a volatile region of southern Yemen Tuesday is operated by a South Korean company, Yonhap news agency reported, citing local authorities and company officials.

Officials believe attackers might have carried out a strike that caused a leak in the 204-kilometer pipeline operated by the state-owned Korea National Oil Corp (KNOC).

The blast took place in an oil field in Shabwa province that produces 10,000 barrels of oil a day, the agency reported. Explosives were found near the site and news reports are linking al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) to the incident.

Yonhap says KNOC has been developing oil fields on four sites in Yemen since 2007, and the Korean Embassy in Yemen says it is working with local authorities to come up with a cause of the blast.

U.S. officials believe that AQAP is behind the recent plot to send bombs from Yemen to the United States and the pipeline incident comes as troops attempt to capture U.S.-born militant Anwar al-Awlaki in the Shabwa region.

The group is based in Yemen, which has emerged as a major operating base for al Qaeda and other terror groups.

CNN

Woods wants to win 'crowning jewel of Asian golf'

(CNN) -- Tiger Woods is looking forward to the chance to immediately win back his world No. 1 golf ranking at this week's WGC-HSBC Champions event in China.

The American returns to action on Thursday for his first outing since the Ryder Cup in early October, having seen Englishman Lee Westwood end his 281-week reign on Sunday.

Woods, No. 3 Martin Kaymer and defending champion Phil Mickelson can all claim top spot in Shanghai this weekend.

"To be number one in the world you have to win regularly, and I haven't done that lately," Woods told reporters. "As in every event I play, I'm here trying to win.

CNN

San Francisco bans Happy Meals

By Sharon Bernstein, Los Angeles Times

San Francisco's board of supervisors has voted, by a veto-proof margin, to ban most of McDonald's Happy Meals as they are now served in the restaurants.

The measure will make San Francisco the first major city in the country to forbid restaurants from offering a free toy with meals that contain more than set levels of calories, sugar and fat.

The ordinance would also require restaurants to provide fruits and vegetables with all meals for children that come with toys.

"We're part of a movement that is moving forward an agenda of food justice," said Supervisor Eric Mar, who sponsored the measure. "From San Francisco to New York City, the epidemic of childhood obesity in this country is making our kids sick, particularly kids from low income neighborhoods, at an alarming rate. It's a survival issue and a day-to-day issue".

Just after the vote, McDonald's spokeswoman Danya Proud said, "We are extremely disappointed with today's decision. It's not what our customers want, nor is it something they asked for".

The ban, already enacted in a similar measure by Santa Clara County, was opposed by San FranciscoMayor Gavin Newsom, who was vying to be lieutenant governor in Tuesday's election. But because the measure was passed by eight votes — one more than needed to override a veto — his opposition doesn't matter unless one of the supervisors changes his or her mind after the promised veto.

Under the ordinance, scheduled to take effect in December 2011, restaurants may include a toy with a meal if the food and drink combined contain fewer than 600 calories, and if less than 35% of the calories come from fat.

Over the last few weeks, the proposed ban caused a stir online and on cable television, with supporters arguing that it would help protect children from obesity, and opponents seeing it as the latest example of the nanny state gone wild.

Supervisor Bevan Dufty, whose swing vote provided the veto-proof majority, said critics should not dismiss the legislation as a nutty effort by San Franciscans. "I do believe the industry is going to take note of this. I don't care how much they say, 'It's San Francisco, they're wacked out there'".

Proud, the McDonald's spokeswoman, said the city was out of step with the mainstream on the issue.

Los Angeles Times

Bulgaria's Gabrovo Says Dilma Rousseff Win Big Inspiration

The citizens of Gabrovo, a hard-luck but endearing Bulgarian town at the foot of the central Balkans, where the father of Brazil newly elected president Dilma Rousseff was born, say her victory inspires them to change their lives for the better.

"In these times of crisis, it is very important that we seek occasions to take pride in, cheer up and find inspiration to change the world around us. Dilma Rousseff victory in the presidential race is just such an occasion," mayor Nikolay Sirakov said as he opened a photo exhibition, revealing details of the Bulgarian genealogy of Dilma Rousseff.

Rousseff's Bulgarian relatives say they hope she will visit Gabrovo as President of one of the world's greatest nations, and "recover her roots".

Peter Rousev was born in 1900 in the town of Gabrovo, but left Bulgaria for both economic and political reasons (he was a communist), looking for a better job and a brighter future.

A century later the small town in central Bulgaria has been caught up in the excitement of the presidential run-off in far-away Brazil, which Dilma Rousseff won.

True to their inventive and funny nature, the citizens of Gabrovo are already planning how to profit from Rousseff's link to the town, saying Brazilian investors may learn a lot from them about crisis management. The mayor has even suggested cooperation between Gabrovo spring carnival of humor and the carnival in Rio.

Novinite

Ferguson: Champions League beats World Cup

(CNN) -- Manchester United boss Alex Ferguson has hailed the Champions League as the best football tournament on the planet, describing the World Cup as worse than a trip to the dentist.

The Scot was replying to suggestions that Europe's top club competition was losing its appeal ahead of the English side's trip to Turkish champions Bursaspor on Tuesday night.

Critics of the UEFA-run event claim that there are too many meaningless games and mismatches in the group stage, with the real excitement not starting until the second round when two-leg knockout ties begin.

"The important thing is the Champions League has proved itself since its inception," two-time tournament winner Ferguson told reporters ahead of United's match against a side who have lost all three group games so far.

CNN

Bale torments Inter in Tottenham win

(CNN) -- Champions League holders Inter Milan crashed to a 3-1 defeat at English club Tottenham on Tuesday night as the Italian side were again tormented by young winger Gareth Bale.

The 21-year-old, who scored a hat-trick in the London team's 4-3 defeat at the San Siro two weeks ago, again embarrassed the much-vaunted Inter defense to set up second-half goals for strikers Peter Crouch and Roman Pavlyuchenko after Rafael van der Vaart's opener.

The result put tournament debutants Tottenham top of Group A on goal difference, having joined Inter on seven points from four matches.

Dutch champions Twente boosted their hopes of reaching the second round with a 2-0 win at German club Werder Bremen, moving onto five points.

Tottenham started the game boosted by the presence of key midfielder Van der Vaart, who injured his hamstring in Saturday's 2-0 defeat at Manchester United.

The Dutchman again had to go off at halftime, but made a vital contribution in the 18th minute as he timed his run to perfection to collect Luka Modric's clever pass and beat stand-in Inter goalkeeper Luca Castellazzi with a clinical left-foot shot.

It should have been 2-0 soon after but Crouch opted to try an ambitious volley from Bale's teasing cross when Van der Vaart was unmarked inside him.

Carlo Cudicini started in goal for Tottenham in place of the suspended Heurelho Gomes, sent off early at the San Siro, and the Milan-born keeper kept the score level at halftime with a superb save from Wesley Sneijder's right-foot free-kick.

CNN