■BRAZIL
Thousands protest abortion
About 4,000 people took to the streets on Saturday in peaceful protest “against abortion and for life” in front of the Se Cathedral, seat of the archdiocese of Sao Paulo. The crowd stood in silence for several hours in Cathedral Square in the country’s largest city starting at 10am while waving Brazilian flags and wearing t-shirts promoting their cause. Abortion is illegal except in cases of rape or if the woman’s health is in danger. But a million women still seek clandestine abortions in operations that kill thousands each year, officials said. The abortion debate reached a new high earlier this month when archbishop Jose Cardoso Sobrinho excommunicated the mother and doctors of a nine-year-old girl who had an abortion after allegedly being raped by her stepfather. The excommunication was promptly denounced by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil.
■MEXICO
Chihuahua police chief quits
The police chief of the state hit hardest by drug violence has resigned after a group of armed men released a suspected cocaine smuggler from police custody, officials said on Saturday. Javier Torres, the top officer in the northern border state of Chihuahua, said in his resignation letter he did not want to be a burden to the police force. A dozen men armed with automatic rifles raided a Chihuahua City hospital where Crispin Borunda, a suspected drug smuggler, had been transferred from a local prison for treatment of a heart ailment, police said.
■UNITED STATES
Triathletes run heart risk
Warning to weekend warriors: Swim-bike-run triathlons pose at least twice the risk of sudden death as marathons do, the first study of these competitions has found. Each year several hundred thousand Americans try a triathlon, said Kevin Harris, a cardiologist at the Minneapolis Heart Institute at Abbott Northwestern Hospital. Statistics show that for every 1 million triathlon participants, there will be 15 deaths, much higher than for marathon participants, with a rate of four to eight deaths per 1 million. Almost all occurred during the swim portion, usually the first event.
■UNITED STATES
‘Dumbest criminal’ arrested
A retired police chief says he was robbed by “probably the dumbest criminal in Pennsylvania” at a police officers’ convention attended by 300 narcotics officers. John Comparetto said that as he came out of a stall on Friday in the men’s room, a man pointed a gun at his face and demanded money. Comparetto gave up his money and cellphone. But when the man fled, Comparetto and some colleagues chased him. They arrested 19-year-old Jerome Marquis Blanchett of Harrisburg as he was trying to leave in a taxi.
■ARGENTINA
UK dismisses Falkland talks
Britain on Saturday dismissed a fresh Argentine demand for sovereignty talks over the disputed Falkland Islands, saying the issue was not up for discussion. Argentine President Cristina Fernandez on Saturday demanded the talks when she met British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on the sidelines of a pre-G20 summit in the Chile. Her call came a day after Brown said publicly he would not discuss the issue. An official said the two leaders did agree on the need for further discussions on the issue of commercial flights between the islands and mainland Argentina, which have been blocked for years.
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