■ UNITED STATES
Suspects may get lawyers
Fourteen "high-value" terrorist suspects who were transferred last year to the US military prison at Guantanamo, Cuba, from secret CIA prisons have been given legal forms to request lawyers, the Washington Post reported on Friday. The move could allow the prisoners, including the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, to join other detainees in challenging their status as enemy combatants in a US appellate court, the report said. The prisoners have not had access to lawyers during their year at Guantanamo Bay or while they were held at the secret CIA sites abroad, the newspaper said. The Post said Defense Department officials confirmed the move.
■ BRAZIL
Asylum granted to athletes
The government granted asylum to two Cuban athletes on Friday, nearly two months after being criticized by the opposition for hastily returning two boxers to the Caribbean nation. Rafael Capote, a handball player, and Michel Fernandez Garcia, a cyclist, had abandoned the Cuban delegation during the Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro in July. Capote said he was seeking better professional opportunities in the country. Both were granted their request for asylum, a justice ministry spokeswoman said on Friday. The government's swift deportation in August of two internationally acclaimed Cuban boxers caused concern among human rights group and led Congress to launch an investigation.
■ PUERTO RICO
Visitors rescue stray dogs
Some visitors to the country are leaving with an unusual souvenir -- one of the thousands of scrappy abandoned dogs that roam the island's beaches. Hundreds of abandoned canines are being scooped up and flown to the US; some by tourists unexpectedly touched by their plight, others as part of an expensive organized rescue effort. But critics say the canine airlift does little to reduce the problem of stray dogs in Puerto Rico and ends up fueling overcrowding at the US shelters, where many of the dogs end up.
■ MEXICO
Drug queen arrested
The country's highest-profile female suspected drug trafficker and her Colombian drug boss lover have been arrested by federal agents in Mexico City, the government said. Sandra Avila Beltran, dubbed the "Queen of the Pacific" and reputed to play a key role in shipping cocaine from Colombia to Mexico for the Sinaloa cartel, was arrested on Friday outside a restaurant in the capital's south, Assistant Public Safety Secretary Patricio Patino said. Avila Beltran, 45, was in charge of the cartel's "public relations" and facilitated the movement of cocaine from Colombia to Mexico, including 9 tonnes confiscated from a ship in Manzanillo in 2002.
RSS