11 found shot to death

11 found shot to death

MORELIA, Mexico — Eleven people were found shot to death around Mexico on Saturday, some bearing signs of torture and left with threatening messages emblematic of drug violence.

Four of the victims were found in a car in the western city of Apatzingan, along with a message threatening the Zetas, a group of hit men for the Gulf drug cartel. The message was signed La Familia, a drug gang battling for territory in western Michoacan state.

Another slain man was found in the western port city of Lazaro Cardenas, also with a threatening message from La Familia to the Zetas.

U.N. worker unharmed

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — An American U.N. worker abducted more than two months ago turned up unharmed Saturday, lying alongside a road in western Pakistan with his hands and feet bound and pleading “Help me, help me,” the man who found him said.

John Solecki was discovered Saturday evening abandoned in a village some 30 miles south of Quetta near the Afghan border after his captors called a local news agency to tell them where to look, officials said.

Solecki made no public comment. Police and U.N. officials declined to discuss what led to his release.

Solecki’s release was a rare piece of good news amid intensifying violence here that has raised international alarm over the nuclear-armed country’s stability. On Saturday, a suicide bomber attacked a paramilitary base in the capital, killing eight.

Winds delay rocket launch

SEOUL, South Korea — Strong winds may have done what a flurry of diplomacy couldn’t: stop North Korea from launching a rocket the U.S. and other nations suspect is a cover for a long-range missile test, at least for a day.

Preparations for sending “an experimental communications satellite” into space were complete, North Korea’s state-run media said Saturday morning, announcing: “The satellite will be launched soon.”

But winds around the launch site in northeastern North Korea were “relatively strong,” state radio announced at midday, possibly too high for the launch of the long-range Taepodong-2 rocket, analysts said.

Cops: Hand over the pillow

DETROIT — Police in Detroit have ruffled some feathers after they cracked down on an organized pillow fight at a downtown park.

The Detroit News reports that police at Campus Martius Park prevented the feathery fight Saturday by disarming pillow-toting participants. The bout was part of a worldwide event organized on social networking Web sites.

Michael Davis of Hamtramck says police confiscated the 32-year-old man’s pillows but returned their cases. He says he was told that he needed a permit.

Detroit police spokesman James Tate says cleanup was the issue.

Slain siblings laid to rest

BOSTON — Family members chose to remember the good side of a Massachusetts man who fatally stabbed two of his sisters, describing him as a “great big brother” before burying all three side-by-side Saturday.

Mourners packed the Jubilee Christian Church in Boston’s Mattapan neighborhood, where the coffins of 5-year-old Bianca Revelus and 17-year-old Samantha Revelus were displayed with the coffin of Kerby Revelus, who was killed by police as he attacked a third sister.

In a funeral program, the family described the 23-year-old as a doting brother to baby Bianca, showering her with hugs and kisses and listening to her tell stories as she sat on his lap.

Adviser paid by hedge fund

WASHINGTON — Lawrence Summers, President Barack Obama’s top economic adviser, earned millions over the past year as managing director of the hedge fund D.E. Shaw Group and through speaking fees, some from financial institutions now at the center of the government’s rescue program.

Financial disclosure reports released by the White House show that Summers received $5.2 million from D.E. Shaw. He also reported payments for appearances before institutions such as J.P. Morgan, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers.

Overall, Summers was paid $2.7 million for more than 40 appearances before various organizations and companies, including financial institutions.

Obama has enacted strict rules against hiring lobbyists for administration positions that would have influence over their former clients. A White House official said Summers will not work on issues specifically related to D.E. Shaw for two years. The official noted that Summers was not an adviser or an employee of the firms that paid him to give speeches.

Associated Press