Mexican officers charged in 8 killings
MEXICO CITY -- Prosecutors in northern Mexico have filed arrest warrants against several state police officers accused of executing eight people in the border city of Nuevo Laredo, across from Laredo, Texas.
Prosecutors said Tuesday that the officers are charged with homicide, abuse of authority, making false statements and carrying out illegal searches.
Police initially said the five men and three women were suspects killed in a shootout.
The independent Nuevo Laredo Human Rights Committee says it has collected statements from witnesses saying that police transported people to a home, made them dress in military fatigues, shot them and placed guns with their bodies to make it appear that there was a shootout.
One witness told investigators that police towed in a truck to make the scene look more authentic.
Japan snubs S. Korea for naval review
TOKYO -- Japan announced Tuesday that it is not inviting South Korea to a multinational naval review it is hosting next month because their ties are badly strained over history, trade and defense.
Japan's navy said Tuesday that it will not invite the South Korean navy for the review, scheduled for Oct. 14 at Sagami Bay, west of Tokyo.
The head of the navy, Adm. Hiroshi Yamamura, said the decision was made because "We don't have an adequate environment to invite South Korea, considering the severe condition of current Japan-South Korea relations."
In Seoul earlier Tuesday, South Korean Defense Ministry spokeswoman Choi Hyun-soo said that South Korea did not receive an invitation and that it's up to the hosts to decide the participants.
Tensions between the Asian neighbors have escalated since July, when Japan tightened controls on exports to South Korea.
The two countries have had long-running disputes over Japan's actions during its 1910-1945 colonization of the Korean Peninsula, including sexual abuse of Korean women at military brothels and the use of forced laborers.
Japan says all compensation issues were settled under a 1965 peace treaty with South Korea and has accused Seoul of violating international law by not stopping a Supreme Court decision ordering Japanese companies to compensate former Korean forced laborers.
Indonesia riot toll 32 after bodies found
JAKARTA, Indonesia -- The death toll from violent protests in Indonesia's restive Papua province has risen to 32 after several bodies were found under burned buildings, officials said Tuesday.
An angry mob torched government buildings, shops and homes and set fire to cars and motorbikes in Papua province's Wamena city in a protest Monday by hundreds of people sparked by rumors that a teacher had insulted an indigenous student.
Papua police spokesman Ahmad Musthofa Kamal said Tuesday that 12 more bodies were found in and around the burned-out wreckage of buildings set afire by rioters. Seventy-two other people were hospitalized, many with burns or head injuries.
Kamal said the number killed is expected to rise as authorities search through affected areas in Wamena.
Police spokesman Dedi Prasetyo said earlier that police were questioning 733 university students involved in another protest in Jayapura.
The students' protests turned violent on Monday as a mob of students attacked a soldier and several police officers with machetes and rocks, resulting in security forces responding with gunfire, killing three civilians. The soldier died on the way to a hospital. At least five police officers were in critical condition.
Kamal said police have named five students as suspects in the officers' assaults. They could face 5½ years in jail if found guilty.
Police also arrested two men suspected of orchestrating the violent protests, Kamal said.
He said about 5,000 people fled to temporary shelters at police and military headquarters in Wamena after their homes were burned in the riots.
National Police Chief Tito Karnavian said at a news conference that the situation was brought under control Tuesday after more police and soldiers were deployed to restore security in Papua province.
Fire at Algeria hospital kills 8 newborns
ALGIERS, Algeria -- Eight newborns were killed Tuesday in a fire in the maternity wing of an Algerian hospital near the border with Tunisia, authorities said.
The Algerian health minister said the blaze is under investigation and may have been caused by a defective anti-mosquito device.
The national emergency service said in a statement that the fire was under control but not yet extinguished. It said 11 newborns, 37 mothers and 28 employees were evacuated after the blaze broke out at 4 a.m. in the town of El Oued, 360 miles southeast of the capital, Algiers.
Three babies died of burns and five of asphyxiation, the emergency service said.
A Section on 09/25/2019