Mom sold baby to buy car, police charge

MIAMI (Reuters) – A Florida woman was charged with trying to sell her infant son in order to pay for a new car, police said Tuesday.

The baby's grandmother brokered the deal and initially demanded $75,000 but agreed to cut the price to $30,000 when told the prospective buyer could not get a bank loan, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) said.

The mother of the eight-week-old boy, Stephanie Bigbee Fleming, 22, of Bradenton, Florida, was to receive $9,000 of the proceeds, the FDLE said.

"Fleming planned to purchase a new vehicle from the money received," an FDLE spokeswoman said.

Fleming also needed money to pay court costs for an unrelated probation violation, the arrest documents said.

Fleming was arrested Tuesday. The grandmother, Patty Bigbee, 45, was arrested last week with her boyfriend Lawrence Works, 42, both of Holly Hill, Florida. All three were charged with the illegal sale of a child, and Bigbee was also charged with communications fraud, the department said.

The arrest report said Bigbee offered to sell the baby to a female relative in October, explaining she had been caring for her grandchild but "was not mother material."

The relative alerted police and worked with them during the negotiations. Bigbee and Works were arrested when they collected a $30,000 cashier's check and handed over the baby to an undercover agent in a Daytona Beach parking lot, police said.

The baby remains in state custody.

World War Two bombs found on Galapagos Islands

QUITO (Reuters) – Fishermen have found a dozen bombs believed to be from World War Two buried on the Galapagos Islands, a local government official said Tuesday.

The bombs were found on Bartolome Island, one of the Galapagos group located about 600 miles off South America's northwestern coast.

The islands are a province of Ecuador, which let the United States set up a military base on one, Baltra Island, during World War Two due to its strategic location southwest of the Panama Canal.

Luis Martinez, chief of operations for Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz Island, told Reuters that the bombs posed no danger to the public but that the Ecuadorean navy had been informed as a precaution.

"This military equipment that was found dates from the Second World War and was buried. It was not in sight of the beaches, nor close to them," Martinez said.

He said the authorities were considering making a more thorough search of the area on Bartolome Island in case there were any other wartime explosives to unearth.

The volcanic Galapagos Islands are visited by thousands of tourists from all over the world every year thanks to their vast array of native species, many of which are endangered.

British naturalist Charles Darwin developed his evolution theory in the 19th century after studying the wildlife there.

39 killed in Mexico shooting attacks as drug war rages on

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico — Gunmen brought terror to two towns in northern Mexico, killing at least 39 people, police said Friday, as the country struggles to tackle the scourge of powerful and violent drug cartels.

In Chihuahua, the capital of northern Chihuahua state, more than 30 armed men stormed a drug rehabilitation center overnight, killing 19 people and wounding four others.

Meanwhile, an unknown number of gunmen carried out a series of armed attacks and executions across the town of Madero, in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas, police said.

In Chihuahua, the gunmen arrived in six trucks around midnight on Thursday and stormed the second floor of the Templo Cristiano Fe y Vida (Christian Faith and Life Temple).

Firing large-caliber weapons at patients and employees, they killed 14 immediately and then fatally shot another five people before depositing a threatening message and fleeing.

The raid lasted little more than 10 minutes, according to residents living next to the center.

Shortly afterward, police and soldiers surrounded the area searching in vain for the perpetrators, and ambulances ferried the wounded, including four reportedly in serious condition, to local hospitals.

In Madero, a gang of gunmen killed scores of people in a series of armed confrontations and shootings in at least five different locations in the city.

So far, "20 bodies have been found in different parts of the city," a federal police officer told AFP.

The attacks reportedly began Thursday, with confrontations between police and a group of gunmen moving around the city in vans.

Authorities then received reports Friday that bodies had been discovered on a local beach and in other locations throughout the town.

There was no immediate information linking the incident to drug violence, but Tamaulipas has been caught in the crosshairs of a bloody confrontation between the Gulf cartel and their former allies, Los Zetas, which was formed by former elite military personnel.

Chihuahua has also long been the scene of gruesome trafficking-related violence and authorities say rehab centers are often targeted because of small-scale drug dealing or the presence of individuals seeking refuge from violence or rival gangs.

In September 2009, two similar attacks in nearby Ciudad Juarez left a total of 28 dead.

Police said the rehab center targeted overnight may have housed members of the "Los Mexicles" gang linked to the Sinaloa cartel, which is warring with "Los Aztecos," affiliated with the Juarez cartel.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon condemned the violence in Chihuahua and expressed his condolences to the families of the victims.

"These are outrageous acts that reinforce the conviction of the need to use all out forces to fight criminal groups engaged in such acts of barbarism," Calderon said in a statement from Johannesburg, where he was attending the start of the World Cup.

Some 23,000 people have died in surging, drug-related violence following the launch of a military clampdown on organized crime, involving some 50,000 troops, at the end of 2006.

The conservative president has staked his term in office on tackling the drug cartels, deploying soldiers to the worst-affected parts of the country to do the job of often-corrupt police.

The profitable trade in illegal drugs has allowed cartels to arm themselves with the latest and most deadly weapons available.

Those weapons often come from the United States, and Calderon last month urged US lawmakers to strengthen gun laws, warning that over 90 percent of the guns used by drug traffickers in Mexico come from north of the border.

"Believe me, many of these guns are not going to honest American hands. Instead thousands are ending up in the hands of criminals," he said.

Calderon has scored some victories, including the arrest of top cartel leader Jose Antonio Medina, dubbed the "King of Heroin" and the death of Arturo Beltran Leyva, known as the "chief of chiefs."

But he also faces growing resentment from residents in the worst-affected parts of Mexico, who are angry at his failure to stop the violence and accuse the troops he has deployed of committing abuses.

Thai government tells US it's in charge

WASHINGTON — A special envoy from Thailand on Friday sought US support in the country's political crisis, discouraging the kingdom's longtime ally from trying to mediate in the wake of bloody street protests.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva dispatched Kiat Sittheeamorn to Washington to make the case that so-called Red Shirt protesters who occupied central Bangkok for weeks included armed and Marxist elements.

Kiat, who met with members of Congress and President Barack Obama's administration, said that the Thai government welcomed US "suggestions" but was pursuing its own reconciliation plan.

"We ourselves also see some difficulties in negotiating and discussing with the Red Shirts," Kiat told AFP. "If the US extends a helping hand, I don't know if it will have different results."

"There is also the risk that it might complicate the issue even further," said Kiat, who is Thailand's trade negotiator.

Kiat recalled Thailand's reaction to the September 11, 2001 attacks when "our friends were in trouble."

"Do we have concern that from now on we should advise our people not to come to the United States? Are we concerned that the United States government cannot handle the situation? Certainly not," he said.

"We always respect the decisions of any government; it's their right. But obviously it would be nice to see that... when your friends are in difficulties, we get all the support you can," he said.

The army broke up the Reds' rally on May 19 after weeks of protracted negotiations broke down. The clashes left 89 people dead.

During the crisis, Thailand summoned the US ambassador to protest after Kurt Campbell, the assistant secretary of state for East Asia, met Red Shirts on a brief visit to Bangkok.

Kiat said that while "the intention of Mr. Campbell is good," he believes that the State Department has since gained a "better understanding" of the situation.

Kiat said that some Red Shirts had "legitimate grievances," but they did not constitute a "straight-forward demonstration" as they included armed groups and "Marxist-Leninist ideologists."

The Red Shirts include rural Thais who say they are disenfranchised by the political system. Some 36 buildings were torched in the mayhem last month, including the stock exchange.

Mugabe defends sale of foreign firms to locals

BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe — Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe on Saturday defended new rules to give locals a majority shareholding in big corporations at a lavish 86th birthday party, as the country battles to recover from 10 years of economic crisis.

"Our indigenisation policy, like the land reform programme, is meant to correct historical imbalances in the ownership of our resources," Mugabe told thousands at the celebrations in Zimbabwe's second city of Bulawayo, south west of the capital.

The huge party at an exhibition centre was attended about 7,000 people including Mugabe's ZANU-PF supporters, party officials, government ministers, diplomats while no prominent partners in the inclusive government were present.

The organisers said they raised 300,000 dollars for the party, falling short of the target of 500,000 dollars.

The party was preceded by an all-night music bash with performers including Jamaican reggae star Sizzla Kalonji who performed a rendition of Bob Marley's song, Zimbabwe, as well as artistes from South Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Namibia.

Hotels reported brisk business with the majority of them fully-booked as guests arrived in their hundreds in the usually-serene city.

Jovial party supporters stuck their heads out through windows and sang as they arrived in buses from the country's 10 provinces, while officials drove to the venue in luxury cars. Three large cakes were at the centre-stage with banners saying: "Long live our President."

The feast was held as the country struggled to recover from a crisis which saw inflation peaking at 321 million percent and supermarkets running out of food.

The crisis forced Mugabe and his rival Morgan Tsvangirai to form a power-sharing government to mend the economy and ease political tensions in the aftermath of a presidential run-off election in which Mugabe was sole candidate.

But economic recovery has not been as fast as anticipated while political tensions persist.

Civil servants are on strike after they rejected the government's offer to increase their 150-dollar allowance by seven to 21 dollars.

Mugabe said the indigenisation regulations which have been rejected by the prime minister were not meant to nationalise huge corporations.

"This policy is not meant to straighforward nationalise companies but to broaden ownership of our resources. We will need partners from outside, partners of our choice, not imposed on us," he said.

"Yesterday we were downtrodden. There was slavery... Back home the people were colonised and turned into slaves and semi-slaves to do work for masters who had colonised us. It was slavery in the colonies and that is what created the imbalances."

The youth empowerment and indigenisation ministry published regulations three weeks ago to give local a 51 percent share in large companies. The passing of the regulations exposed discord in Zimbabwe's unity government as Tsvangirai said the regulations were crafted behind his back and passed without his approval.

According to the new regulations, to become effective beginning on Monday, Zimbabweans should own 51 percent shares in main companies while foreigners get the remainder.

Mugabe said the indigenisation regulations were like his controversial land reforms launched land reforms 10 years ago which led to the seizures of nearly 4,000 white-owned farms in what Mugabe said was a correction of colonial land ownership imbalances.

The often violent and haphazard land reforms were blamed for a slump in food production in the former regional breadbasket as the majority of the beneficiaries lacked the means and skills to farm.

Ukraine frontrunner claims makeover with glitzy rally

KIEV — The dancers jived in skimpy dresses, the blond pop stars belted out their rousing anthems and thumping bass echoed around the Ukrainian capital.

Amid the tumult, the announcer bellowed: "Welcome to the people's president of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovich!" Thousands of supporters, waving blue and yellow flags, roared their approval.

Glitzy rallies have not usually been associated with the pro-Moscow Yanukovich, ingloriously defeated in 2004 presidential polls that swept the pro-Western Viktor Yushchenko to power.

Those elections had been re-run after people took to the streets in the Orange Revolution and a court found vote-rigging in Yanukovich's favour, leaving him with a tainted image abroad.

But half a decade on, slick PR techniques have become a prime part of Yanukovich's political weaponry as he seeks revenge in the first round Sunday of presidential elections on his pro-Western opponents.

The rally in the final hours of legal campaigning late Friday saw thousands of Yanukovich supporters cram into the historic Sofivska Square in central Kiev to see their candidate and enjoy a glitzy concert.

Performers included Ukrainian pop stars like singing sensation Taisia Povaliy who braved the sub zero temperatures in a tinsel dress and lavished praise on the presidential candidate.

Five years before, it was the leaders of the Orange Revolution who brought change by holding mass rallies in central Kiev serenaded by songs from Ukraine's best known musicians.

In 2004 it was the song "Myla Moya Vstavai" (Rise Up My Dear) by Okean Elzy, the country's best known rock band which became the unofficial anthem of the uprising and inspired protesters deep into the night.

Yanukovich's imagemakers ensured the crowds were well supplied with the flags of Ukraine and his Regions Party, creating a graphic spectacle against the golden domes of the Saint Sophia Cathedral.

"He will win the election. I am voting for him because I am have faith in him. The Orange Revolution is history and we are going to say no to Yushchenko," said pensioner Valentina Georgieeva.

Bearing a bouquet of flowers for the singer Povaliy, Yanukovich declaimed his speech without notes surrounded by dozens of young party activists holding the banner of the Regions Party.

"January 17 will be the judgement on the authorities who were not capable of effectively managing the country," he said from the concert stage.

"They started optimistically with all the fanfares of 2005 and much was promised but it is all ending very badly."

Despite being seen as a pro-Russia figure, Yanukovich has over the last four been helped in sharpening his image by US political consultant and lobbyist Paul Manafort.

He has also made a more concerted effort to snare votes in the Ukrainian speaking west of the country, away from his traditional heartland of the heavily industrial east where Russia is the main language.

At the rally, Yanukovich gave his address in Ukrainian.

Yanukovich's mimicking of the techniques of his opponents shows his style has changed dramatically since 2004, although analysts say it remains to be seen how his ideas moved on.

"This is the man who organized the fraud five years ago that sparked the Orange Revolution. In some ways it is depressing to see him still around," said Andrew Wilson of the European Council on Foreign Relations.

Although Yanukovich remains a vehement opponent of Ukrainian membership of NATO, he favours EU membership for Ukraine and describes his foreign policy as neutral and not pro-Kremlin.

Yuriy Yakymenko, director of research at the Razumkov Centre think tank in Kiev said Yanukovich had become more receptive of what people think about the country abroad over the past five years.

"Let's wait and see. He has certainly become a more pro-European politician -- at least on the outside," he said.

Afghan militant attacks set pace for a bloody 2010

KABUL — Afghanistan's war exited 2009 on a sour note for an international community that has committed thousands of troops and billions of dollars into transforming the country into a peaceful, modern democracy.

And there is only likely to be more violence in 2010, analysts said.

As tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians flood into Afghanistan in a surge aimed at turning the tide of the eight-year conflict, attacks such as those that killed a dozen North Americans will become more common.

"With more foreign forces, whether military or civilian, without doubt it will have a negative impact on the cost of the war, in the number of casualties as well as the financial expense," said Afghan political analyst Wahid Mujda.

The Taliban on Thursday claimed responsibility for a suicide attack on a US base in the east that killed seven CIA agents.

In the south, a roadside bomb detonated beneath an armoured vehicle killing five Canadians including a 34-year-old woman journalist -- an attack also claimed by the militants.

It was one of the deadliest 24-hour periods for foreigners in Afghanistan since the US-led invasion pushed the Taliban regime from power in late 2001, leading to the insurgency that claimed more than 500 foreign troops in 2009.

Over the course of 2010, the number of foreign forces battling the Taliban is set to rise to around 150,000 with the addition of 30,000 US troops and around 7,000 from NATO partners.

Thousands of civilian experts are also arriving in Kabul and fanning out to the provinces to assist in development and aid.

They are part of the counter-insurgency strategy devised by US General Stanley McChrystal, commander of the international forces, to drive out the Taliban while winning over the population on behalf of the Afghan government.

Combat troops will be concentrated in populated areas where Taliban influence is greatest, military officials said.

Civilians are being billeted on military bases to ensure territory taken is held and benefits from the aid money that is pouring in.

Much of the combat will be in southern Kandahar and Helmand, long-time militant strongholds and the source of most of the world's opium and heroin, which helps fund the insurgency.

Western drugs experts say the Taliban are becoming increasingly enmeshed in the drugs trade, worth about three billion dollars a year, providing protection for smuggling routes and intimidation of farmers who grow opium poppy.

This nexus of rebellion and smuggling is helping fuel the insurgency, a Western diplomat said, with profitable commodities such as opium and sugar going one way, into Pakistan, and weaponry and militants coming the other.

A Western military official said the presence on the bases of large numbers of civilians would not exacerbate the security threat, though larger numbers of troops would attract militant attacks like "bees to honey".

"When those 37,000 troops come in we can expect more action and more casualties, but greater results -- everything grows exponentially," he said on condition of anonymity.

Kabul University law professor Nasrullah Stanakzai said if militants start habitually targeting foreign civilians, ordinary Afghans will also suffer.

This would have the double negative effect of turning Afghan public opinion against the presence of foreigners and Western public opinion even more sharply against continued commitment to Afghanistan, he said.

"If there is a rise in civilian casualties of either Afghans or foreigners, as well as a higher death rate among the foreign forces, then first, it will increase the distance between the Afghan people and their government, and second, Western public opinion will demand a withdrawal," Stanakzai said.

Military officials and Western diplomats in Kabul agreed the injection of more troops -- which has prompted Taliban promises of a surge of their own -- will inevitably lead to more deaths, on all sides.

"But I think people are already used to that idea, and that it would have been a very important factor in (US President Barack) Obama's decision" to send more troops, the Western diplomat said.

New Year firecrackers - keep pets on leash says website

SOFIA, Bulgaria — Pet owners should walk their animals on a leash during the New Year's firecracker season to prevent a surge in the number of lost animals, a Bulgarian pet-finding website urged on Wednesday.

The website www.bezdom.info, which finds homes for stray animals and reunites lost pets with their owners, said it was bracing for the traditional flood of ads for lost and found animals during the holiday.

"It's always the same reason -- animals get stressed out and panicked by the loud noises of traditional fireworks and crackers on New Year's Eve," the website said.

"Walk your pets on a leash only and during the daytime," it advised.

"If you lose your pet, do not leave the place where you last saw it, as chances are it will soon come back."

Colombia to Chavez: Maybe 'spy plane' was Santa

BOGOTA — Colombia's defense chief joked Monday that Venezuelan troops might have mistaken Santa's sleigh for a spy plane, dismissing accusations by President Hugo Chavez about drones flying over Venezuela.

Chavez on Sunday accused the United States of violating Venezuela's airspace with an unmanned spy plane and ordered his military to be on alert and shoot down any such aircraft.

The Pentagon has declined to comment on Chavez's accusations.

Colombian Defense Minister Gabriel Silva and armed forces commander Freddy Padilla told reporters Monday that Colombian aircraft couldn't fly the kind of espionage mission described by Chavez.

"Colombia doesn't have that capability," said Silva. He quipped that perhaps "Venezuelan soldiers mistook Father Christmas' sleigh for a spy plane."

Padilla said Colombia has only small, unmanned surveillance planes that it uses to monitor pipelines and other installations against sabotage by rebel groups.

"They don't have any firepower and what they do is observe to prevent attacks on electrical towers," Padilla said.

Silva and Padilla did not discuss U.S. military capabilities at Colombian bases.

Chavez has accused Colombia of allowing the United States to use its military bases to prepare a possible attack on Venezuela.

Both the U.S. and Colombia have denied such allegations in the past, saying the U.S. military presence is for the sole purpose of giving support to Colombia in combatting drug traffickers and rebels.

Tensions between Venezuela and neighboring Colombia have been high for months amid Chavez's accusations of warmongering and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe's allegations that Venezuela has harbored Colombian rebel leaders.

Chicago man accused in terror plot denied bond

CHICAGO — A federal judge on Tuesday declined to release on bond a Chicago man accused of planning to attack a Danish newspaper and of knowing beforehand about last year's terrorist attacks on Mumbai.

Magistrate Judge Nan Nolan said 48-year-old businessman Tahawwur Rana has the means and know-how to flee the country to avoid a possible 30-year prison term if released pending a trial.

"He has substantial financial resources," she said.

Rana, dressed in an orange jumpsuit with a gray beard, remained impassive at the news he would remain in jail.

Rana is charged with providing material support to terrorists in a planned attack on the Danish newspaper. The paper, Jyllands-Posten, published a dozen cartoons in 2005 that depicted the Prophet Muhammad and set off protests in the Muslim world.

Prosecutors say Rana, who owns a number of businesses including an immigration service and a goat farm, made travel arrangements for an alleged coconspirator, David Coleman Headley, as he moved around the world to plan the Denmark attack.

In a court filing Monday, prosecutors alleged that Rana was in Mumbai days before the Nov. 26 attack by members of a Pakistani group, Lashkar-e-Taiba. They said Rana was told about the plan to attack the city when he flew from India to the Persian Gulf city state of Dubai.

Defense attorney Patrick Blegen attacked the government's conclusion that Rana was briefed in advance about the Mumbai attack, saying it was based among other things on preliminary transcripts of Rana's interrogation following his arrest and poor quality recordings made by federal investigators.

"The unintelligibles — there are more of them than the intelligibles," he said. He said the government wouldn't vouch for the accuracy of the transcripts.

Blegen acknowledged that Rana was in the Indian city days before the attacks, but said Rana had brought his wife along, and that he wouldn't have put her in harm's way if he had known an attack was pending.

"They're saying he knew about some terrorist plan and took his wife along on some sort of jaunt," Blegen said. "I say that's absurd."

He said the government took statements made by Rana after his arrest out of context. He said prosecutors' allegation that Rana knew about the Mumbai attack was based on vague statements Rana made after his arrest.

"All he said to the agents was that there are bad things happening all over the place all the time," Blegen said.

Rana, a Canadian national who once served in the Pakistani military, is not charged in connection to the Mumbai attacks.

Headley, the 49-year-old son of an American mother and Pakistani father, is charged in both the Danish and Mumbai cases.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Collins said the government is trying to enhance a recording of a conversation between Rana and Headley, but that enough of it is intelligible to understand them clearly to be talking about Mumbai.

"There's no question what they are talking about," Collins said.

Also charged separately with planning the attack in Denmark is a former Pakistani military man, Abdur Rehman Hashim Syed.