US: Countries must punish UN troops for sexual abuse

US: Countries must punish UN troops for sexual abuse

UNITED NATIONS

U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley on Thursday urged all countries that provide troops for U.N. peacekeeping missions to hold soldiers accountable for sexual abuse and exploitation, an appeal that came after she cited an Associated Press investigation into a child sex ring in Haiti involving Sri Lankan peacekeepers.

She also warned that “countries that refuse to hold their soldiers accountable must recognize that this either stops or their troops will go home and their financial compensation will end.”

Former U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon recommended that U.N. peacekeepers accused of sexual abuse and exploitation be court martialed in the countries where the alleged incidents take place and said the U.N. would withhold payments to peacekeepers facing credible allegations.

4 dead of injuries consistent with gang methods

CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y.

Four young men found dead in a park from injuries inflicted by a sharp-edged object were killed in a way that is consistent with the methods of the MS-13 street gang, according to police, who declared war against gang violence in the suburbs of Long Island.

The victims, ranging in age from 16 to 20, were discovered in a wooded area near a soccer field in Central Islip, Suffolk County Police Commissioner Timothy Sini said. He said the bodies had “significant trauma” wounds, and he believes all the victims were killed there.

He did not definitively say the killings were the work of the MS-13 gang but said the tactics – using sharp instruments and extreme violence – were consistent with the gang, which has been gaining a foothold on Long Island for years.

Man suspected of shooting US border agent arrested

PHOENIX

A Mexican fugitive accused of pulling the trigger to kill a U.S. Border Patrol agent was captured more than six years after a slaying that exposed a bungled gun-tracking operation by the federal government.

Mexican authorities arrested Heraclio Osorio-Arellanes on Wednesday as the U.S. government has pushed hard to prosecute the suspected marijuana bandits involved in the 2010 death of 40-year-old Brian Terry.

His December 2010 killing uncovered the Fast and Furious operation, in which agents from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives allowed criminals to buy guns with the intention of tracking them to criminal organizations.

But the agency lost most of the guns, including two that were found at scene of Terry’s death. The operation set off a political backlash for the Obama administration and led Terry’s family to sue.

World near Saturn top contender for life beyond Earth

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.

A tiny, ice-encrusted ocean world orbiting Saturn is now a hotter-than-ever candidate for potential life.

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has detected hydrogen molecules in the geysers shooting off the moon Enceladus, possibly the result of deep-sea chemical reactions between water and rock that could spark microbial life, scientists announced Thursday.

NASA and others are quick to point out this latest discovery does not mean there’s life on Enceladus, but that there may be conditions favorable for life.

Associated Press