Human-rights group blasts Mexican military

Human-rights group blasts Mexican military

MONTERREY, Mexico — Human Rights Watch said Wednesday that the Mexican army is failing to hold soldiers to account for possible human-rights abuses including killings, torture and rape.

The New York-based organization said the suspected violations are undermining Mexico’s attempts to curb drug-related violence.

The Defense Department and Attorney General’s Office could not be immediately reached to comment but have said in the past that they are trying to improve rights safeguards and purge abusive officers from their ranks.

Human Rights Watch said in a report that it investigated 17 cases of suspected abuse by the Mexican military involving more than 70 victims from 2007 and 2008.

Bus driver in fatal crash had hit woman in 2005

SOLEDAD, Calif. — Police reports show that the driver of a tour bus that crashed in central California, killing himself and four others, struck a woman in a Las Vegas crosswalk a little more than three years ago.

The Monterey County Coroner’s office on Wednesday identified the bus driver as 69-year-old John Egnew of Corona.

Cmdr. Scott Ragan says Egnew died of head and neck injuries after he was thrown from the bus, which overturned Tuesday on a freeway overpass in Soledad.

In the 2005 accident, Egnew admitted not seeing 71-year-old Joan Smith of Delton, Mich., before the bus he was driving hit her.

5 die in Kansas flooding

WICHITA, Kan. — The death toll from days of heavy rain in Kansas rose to five Wednesday when authorities found the bodies of two people in a car submerged in a flooded creek.

A 26-year-old Parsons man and a 22-year-old Springfield, Mo., woman were found by Labette County deputy sheriffs in Pumpkin Creek in southeast Kansas, the state Division of Emergency Management said.

The couple had been reported missing Tuesday evening. Authorities believe they were traveling west on a road and were swept into the creek at a low-water crossing.

The five storm-related deaths have occurred in northeast, southeast and south-central Kansas since Saturday. More rain was expected today, and flood warnings were posted for communities along several eastern Kansas rivers.

Lawmakers strip power from opposition mayor

CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuela’s National Assembly has approved a law that gives control over the budget of an opposition-run city to an official appointed by President Hugo Chavez.

Under the law passed by the predominantly pro-Chavez assembly late Tuesday, nearly all of Caracas Mayor Antonio Ledezma’s budget and services will be transferred to a new federal authority in Venezuela’s capital.

The new law will go into effect after its approval by the president, the assembly said in a statement.

Ledezma criticized the move Wednesday, calling it unconstitutional and accusing Venezuela’s judicial and legislative powers of following orders from Chavez.

Pakistani army says it has retaken main town

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan’s offensive to push Taliban militants from a district near the capital drew little criticism from local politicians and clerics — a sign that insurgents may have gone too far in trying to expand their reign in the region.

But despite that tacit acceptance, the nuclear-armed country remains far from consensus on the seriousness of the extremist threat it faces — and how best to fight it.

The army said Wednesday that it has retaken the main town in Buner, a district 60 miles from Islamabad, which Taliban fighters overwhelmed this month in the wake of a peace deal that established Islamic law in the Swat Valley. The military said more than 50 Taliban fighters and one member of the security forces died in the offensive launched Tuesday amid U.S. pressure.

Emergency landing

SEATAC, Wash. — A Boeing 777 has landed safely at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport after its crew reported flames shot out of one of the two engines.

Airport spokesman Perry Cooper said Asiana Airlines Flight 271 turned around soon after takeoff Wednesday afternoon. Witnesses on the ground reported hearing explosions.

Cooper says it’s unclear what might have caused the flames. The plane dumped fuel over Puget Sound before landing.

Associated Press