Bodies found in pits in 2 Mexico states
VERACRUZ, Mexico -- At least a half-dozen bodies have been found buried in shallow pits in the northern Mexico state of Sonora, while in the Gulf Coast state of Veracruz, experts and police uncovered at least three burial pits in a tropical mangrove island, authorities said Thursday.
Prosecutors in Sonora said a volunteer search team first found the clandestine burial site in the town of Cajeme, which police and experts then excavated. Two corpses and four sets of skeletal remains were recovered from the pits, which were near a formal graveyard.
[Gallery not loading above? Click here for more photos » arkansasonline.com/220graves/]
In Veracruz, investigators from the National Search Commission found three pits containing human remains. The number of bodies there has not yet been determined.
Veracruz has been the scene of some of the largest clandestine burial pits in recent years. The sites are often used by drug gangs to dispose of the bodies of rivals or kidnapping victims.
Lucia Diaz, an activist whose Colectivo Solecito group has led police to other Veracruz burial grounds in the past, said she was surprised that criminals had taken the trouble to use the isolated mangrove swamp to get rid of bodies.
Diaz said that because the site is so watery and alkaline, it may be hard to get DNA samples to identify the bodies.
Netanyahu heralds another embassy
JERUSALEM -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday that Equatorial Guinea would move its embassy to Jerusalem in the latest sign of improving ties with African nations.
It would become the third country to move its embassy to the contested city, after the United States and Guatemala. Kosovo and Malawi have also announced plans to open embassies in Jerusalem.
Israel captured east Jerusalem in the 1967 war and annexed it in a move not recognized internationally. The Palestinians want east Jerusalem to be the capital of their future state. Because of the city's contested status, most countries maintain embassies in Tel Aviv.
During his term as president, Donald Trump broke with decades of U.S. policy by moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem in 2018 and recognizing the city as Israel's capital. The Palestinian Authority condemned the move and cut off contacts with his administration in response.
Netanyahu said he spoke to Equatorial Guinea's President Teodoro Mbasogo by phone and was told that the country would be moving its embassy to Jerusalem.
China seeks to boost flagging birthrate
BEIJING -- China is weighing additional measures to increase its flagging birthrate, more than four years after ending its controversial one-child policy.
For decades, China enforced strict controls on additional births in the name of preserving scarce resources for its burgeoning economy. But its plunging birthrate is now seen as a major threat to economic progress and social stability.
On Thursday, the National Health Commission issued a statement saying it will conduct research to "further stimulate birth potential."
It said the initiative will focus first on northeastern China, the country's former industrial heartland that has seen a major population decline as young people and families depart for better opportunities elsewhere. The region comprising the three provinces of Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang saw its total population decline for the seventh straight year by 427,300 in 2019 over 2018.
Authorities said last week that registered new births fell 15.3% in 2020 to just 10 million.
3 Indian officers killed in gunbattles
SRINAGAR, India -- Anti-India rebels in Indian-controlled Kashmir on Friday killed two police officers in an attack in the disputed region's main city, officials said. Elsewhere in the Himalayan region, three suspected rebels and a policeman were killed in two gunbattles.
The violence came a day after diplomats from more than 20 countries stationed in India's capital concluded a two-day visit to the region.
[Gallery not loading above? Click here for more photos » arkansasonline.com/220kashmir/]
Police said militants sprayed bullets at two policemen near a police station in Srinagar city. Both later died at a hospital.
A short video of the attack circulated on social media shows a man in a pheran, a Kashmiri tunic worn during the winter, taking out what appears to be an automatic rifle and shooting at the policemen. He then quickly runs away.
Police and soldiers searched the area and later detained a young man for questioning.
No rebel group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
In a separate incident, a gunfight broke out shortly after scores of counterinsurgency police and soldiers launched an operation late Thursday in a village in southern Shopian district after a tip that three militants were there, Inspector-General Vijay Kumar said.
All three were killed in an exchange of gunfire early Friday, Kumar said.
In another gunbattle, militants killed a policeman and injured another in western Beerwah area early Friday, Kumar said.
