MC urged children to strip
Authorities in Puebla state detained a master of ceremonies (MC) on Thursday who allegedly offered children money to strip in front of a crowd at a town fair last month. Prosecutors said Leonardo Julian Hidalgo would be charged with corrupting minors and public indecency. A video posted online showing part of the Nov. 29 festival in the town of Hueytlalpan shows children being called into the center of an improvised bullring by someone speaking over a loudspeaker. Prosecutors said there is evidence the children were then asked to take their clothes off. “Several children participated, of whom at least two stripped completely,” the state attorney general’s office said in a statement. Media reported that the boys were 12 and 13 years old, and that they were offered about 150 pesos (US$11.30).
■ MEXICO
Kidnap toll released
More than 15,000 people have been kidnapped nationwide since 1986, the Citizen’s Council for Public Security and Justice said on Thursday, as prosecutors said they had identified the remains of a girl abducted last year. “The explosive growth in the number of kidnappings can be explained by the participation of security forces, directly or indirectly, by selling protection, as well as negligence or incompetence,” said Jose Antonio Ortega, head of the independent watchdog group. Since 1971, 856 kidnap victims have been killed, Ortega said. The state prosecutor’s office said on Thursday that a body found last week in Mexico City had been identified as that of the daughter of the former director of the National Sport Commission, who was 19 years old when she was kidnapped in September last year. Official figures show 954 kidnappings from Jan. 1 to Nov. 30 this year, but rights groups say there are two to three more cases to each one reported.
■ MEXICO
FBI director meets officials
US FBI Director Robert Mueller met with top officials in Mexico City on Thursday to coordinate the joint fight against drug traffickers, the US embassy said. Bilateral efforts to dismantle drug cartels and mafias on both sides of the border are reinforced by such meetings, US Ambassador Antonio Garza said in a statement.
■ UNITED STATES
Sect leader testifies
The leader of a religious sect testified in Taos, New Mexico, on Thursday that he lay in bed with and touched the sternums — but not the breasts — of naked 14 and 16-year-olds. Wayne Bent said he was careful that the healing exercises with the two sisters in 2006 were not of a sexual nature. “I never touched any fleshy part of the breast,” Bent said during about one hour on the witness stand. Bent, 67, a self-described messiah and leader of The Lord Our Righteousness Church, is charged with criminal sexual contact of a minor and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. He said he was very cautious to avoid any sexual activity with the girls. They were unclothed “because that’s what they requested of me.”
■ UNITED STATES
Boston bans cigar bars
Boston officials approved some of the toughest anti-tobacco rules in the country on Thursday, extinguishing cigar bars and hookah bars and ending the sales of tobacco in pharmacies and on college campuses. The Boston Public Health Commission, however, decided to give the bars 10 years before they would have to close. The rules will take effect on campuses and pharmacies in 60 days.
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