■ UNITED STATES
Preparing for space aliens
A Denver man who wants the city to be prepared for space aliens is proposing a commission to deal with the matter. Jeff Peckman says the 18-member commission would form a strategy “dealing with issues related to the presence of extraterrestrial beings on Earth.” His proposal is slated to be discussed next week during a “review and comment” meeting. The assistant city attorney says he doesn’t know what officials will ask about it. The 54-year-old Peckman needs 4,000 signatures to get his proposal on the November ballot.
■ COLOMBIA
Rebels kill five soldiers
The military says five soldiers have been killed in the country’s northeast in combat with leftist rebels. The local commander, General Paulino Coronado, says the five were killed on Friday in a rural area of Tibu, a hotly contested coca-growing region near the Venezuelan border. Coronado said on Saturday his troops mounted the offensive in Tibu against the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in February. Military command said the FARC blew a hole in the Cano Limon oil pipeline in the area last Wednesday, spilling 4,000 barrels of crude into the Tibu River.
■ MEXICO
Police recover remains
Police have recovered the remains of seven men who were killed and dumped along a road. The bodies were found on Friday along a road in the town of Garcia de la Cadena in the northern state of Zacatecas. Town administrator Rafael Martinez says the men were shot to death. Meanwhile police in Mexico City said a federal agent has been shot and killed. A statement said federal police agent Jose Gomez was shot twice before dawn on Saturday as he dropped off a woman in a neighborhood in southern Mexico City. The country has suffered a wave of organized crime and drug-related violence that killed more than 2,500 people last year. Several top-ranking police and federal officials have been targeted.
■ CANADA
St John bursts its bank
Wild animals, including elk and moose, were seen in large numbers on the highway along the St John River in eastern New Brunswick fleeing the worst flooding in 35 years, authorities said on Saturday. Swollen by heavy rains and melting ice packs that accumulated over the winter, the river burst out of its bank last Monday in several areas of the province, sweeping away homes. The downtown area of the provincial capital, Fredericton, closed down on Wednesday. Hundreds of homes and buildings were flooded along the long river and some 800 people were forced into Red Cross refugee shelters. While floodwaters were receding in the north of New Brunswick and Fredericton, in the south the river was expected to crest soon.
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