Russia OKs envoy visits for American
MOSCOW -- The Russian Foreign Ministry said Paul Whelan, the American detained in Moscow on suspicion of spying, may receive visits from diplomats from the three other countries whose citizenship he holds.
When Whelan was arrested in late December, he was identified only as an American. Last week, it emerged that he also holds British, Irish and Canadian citizenship. U.S. Ambassador Jon Hunstman Jr. visited him in prison last week.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Maria Zakharova said on state news agency RIA-Novosti that the other countries have applied for consular visits and "if the arrestee confirms that he wants these visits they will be arranged."
Whelan's twin brother, David, said on Monday that "the U.S. Embassy has indicated it will continue to lead on consular efforts, since Paul entered Russia on a U.S. passport."
Embassy vandals pursued in Greece
ATHENS, Greece -- Greek police detained 10 people and formally arrested two of them Monday after the U.S. Embassy in Athens was vandalized with paint.
Police said the 10 were detained after a group of people on motorbikes threw red paint at the embassy's parking entrance at around 3:30 a.m. local time. An anarchist group known as Rouvikonas claimed responsibility for the attack in an Internet post.
It cited "American imperialism," as well as Greece's deal with neighboring Macedonia for the latter to change its name to North Macedonia in return for NATO membership, and the recent U.S. decision to pull out of Syria.
Rouvikonas has carried out similar paint attacks in the past against embassies, Greek state organizations and political party offices.
U.S. Ambassador to Athens Geoffrey Pyatt condemned "this morning's silly and senseless vandalism" in a Twitter post.
Bar gunfire leaves 7 dead in Mexico
MEXICO CITY -- Seven men were killed in a shooting attack at a bar in Mexico's Caribbean coast resort city of Playa del Carmen, authorities said Monday.
State and local police said the attack occurred late Sunday at the Las Virginias bar in a low-income section relatively far from the beachside tourist zone. Six men were found shot to death in the bar, and another died at a hospital.
One man was wounded but survived. He told police he was drinking beer with friends when gunshots broke out. The attackers have not yet been identified.
Playa del Carmen is on the coast facing the island of Cozumel, Mexico's leading cruise ship destination. Once a quiet fishing and ferry town, Playa del Carmen has grown exponentially in the past two decades.
The resort is midway between Cancun and Tulum in the coastal state of Quintana Roo, which has seen homicides more than double in the past year, with 688 killings in the first 11 months of 2018, compared with 322 in the same period of 2017. At that rate, Quintana Roo could end 2018 with a homicide rate of about 50 per 100,000, on par with El Salvador.
The Caribbean coast had long been largely spared the drug violence affecting other areas, but that no longer appears to be the case. Local sources report that the Jalisco cartel has moved into the region, disputing control with local gangs.
The U.S. Embassy in Mexico issued a brief travel warning for Playa del Carmen in March. A February 2018 blast on a ferry apparently caused by an explosive device injured 26 people, including several Americans.
That has sparked fears that the Caribbean resorts could come to resemble the faded Pacific coast resort of Acapulco. The bloody violence in Acapulco that flared in 2006 eventually earned it a level-four "do not travel" warning from the U.S. Department of State.
Still, violence in Playa del Carmen is far from Acapulco levels. In 2017, Acapulco had a homicide rate of 103 per 100,000 inhabitants.
-- Compiled by Democrat-Gazette staff from wire reports
A Section on 01/08/2019