■ MEXICO
City desperate for cops
The border city of Ciudad Juarez is sending police recruiters across the country and will keep 175 officers who have used drugs in the past as it tries to replace nearly half a police force gutted by firings and retirements. The city has seen several policemen killed and dozens of people murdered in bloody drug gang turf battles in recent months. More than 900 policemen have been fired, resigned or retired since the start of year — including 334 who were ousted on Friday after they failed psychological, background and other checks as part of a clean-up campaign meant to root out officers who are corrupt or cooperating with drug traffickers.
■ UNITED STATES
Researcher wins millions
A jury has ordered a Mobile, Alabama-based chemical manufacturer to pay a retired researcher US$192 million for stealing his ideas. The Mobile jury ruled on Friday that Ineos Americas LLC and Ineos Phenol profited by patenting Sven Peter Mannsfeld’s invention after he had retired, the Press-Register reported. Mannsfeld created a process for transforming hazardous waste into building products in the manufacture of tires and other items. Mannsfeld came up with the idea in the late 1990s. He filed his lawsuit in 2006 after realizing the company had filed patents using his idea in Europe and the US.
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