■UNITED STATES
Nazi suspect to be deported
A judge on Monday cleared the way for John Demjanjuk, a Nazi-era war-crimes suspect, to be deported to Germany. The US Immigration Court in Arlington, Virginia, lifted a stay on the deportation that it had issued on Friday. The court action means that Demjanjuk could be deported as early as today. John Broadley, Demjanjuk’s attorney, said they would file an appeal for a further delay. Demjanjuk, who turned 89 on Friday, had filed a last-minute court motion to stop his deportation, arguing that he was too ill to travel and stand trial. His bid to stay in the US was to avoid likely prosecution for his role in the killings of 29,000 Jews.
■NICARAGUA
Gunman shoots Ortega ally
A gunman shot and lightly wounded the attorney general while he was exercising near his home in the capital on Monday, police said. Hernan Estrada, a close ally of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, was grazed by bullets when a man on a motorcycle fired at him, said police chief Aminta Granera. “This was a criminal act,” Granera told a news conference, flanked by Estrada, who was taken to a hospital by his neighbors and discharged after being treated for a light neck wound. Granera declined to give a motive for the attack, but Estrada said it was politically motivated. He blamed “some religious leaders” and “some media outlets” who he said had been inciting violence against Ortega, a former foe of the US.
■UNITED STATES
Bronze duckling stolen
The duckling’s goose may be cooked. A bronze duckling named Pack has been swiped from the beloved Make Way for Ducklings sculpture in Boston’s Public Garden. Police say Pack was snapped off at his webbed feet. The theft was discovered early on Monday by a park ranger. Pack is the next to last of the eight ducklings lined up behind Mrs Mallard in the sculpture inspired by Robert McCloskey’s children’s book Make Way for Ducklings, in which a family of ducks walks across a highway to get to the Garden. But he’s not the first to be stolen. Quack, Mack and Jack have gone missing over the years. All were recovered or replaced.
■ECUADOR
China to lend US$1bn
The government plans to borrow US$1 billion from China’s development bank to finance energy and infrastructure projects and will use oil shipments to repay most of that sum, a top economic official said on Monday. The loan, China’s most significant investment in Ecuador to date, will bring “enormous relief” to cash-strapped public spending programs and will help to finance oil, natural gas and potential hydropower projects that could boost energy production, Economy Minister Diego Borja said. Ecuador, a member of OPEC, sells about 300,000 barrels of oil a day abroad, using the proceeds to finance nearly 40 percent of its budget.
■MEXICO
US man arrested for rape
A Texas man has been arrested for allegedly raping 19 women in Ciudad Juarez, authorities said. Jorge Alberto Mendez, 42, was arrested on Saturday while trying to cross into Mexico from El Paso, Texas, where he lives, regional Deputy Attorney General Alejandro Pariente said on Monday. Pariente said the investigation began in April last year with the rape of a 15-year-old girl. Similar cases were subsequently reported. One of the victims managed to write down the license plate number of her assailant, which eventually led to Mendez’s arrest, Pariente said.
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