Brockville, Ontario
Secret U.S. plane spotted: A 36-year-old Canadian has recorded and posted to the Internet footage of an American spy plane that was launched amid intense secrecy last April. Kevin Fetter, an amateur astronomer who lives with his mother, recorded what experts say is the X-37B, an experimental U.S. spy satellite. Sky watchers who have been monitoring the plane for the website Heavens-above.com say its orbit takes it over Afghanistan, Pakistan, North Korea, and Iraq about every 90 minutes. “Even if you want to keep it a secret,” said space enthusiast Ted Molczan, “if the guys with binoculars can find it, so can anyone.” NASA had no comment.
Kingston, Jamaica
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Showdown in the slums: Thousands of police and soldiers stormed one of Jamaica’s most violent slums this week, searching for Christopher “Dudus” Coke, the nation’s most notorious drug lord. After Prime Minister Bruce Golding agreed last week to extradite Coke to the U.S. on drug charges, masked gunmen loyal to Coke began massing in the slums. The clashes between government forces and gangsters left at least three officers and 44 civilians dead, and the government announced a state of emergency. “This will be a turning point for us to confront the powers of evil that have penalized the society,” Golding said, “and earned us the unenviable label as one of the murder capitals of the world.”
Guatemala City
Adoptions to resume: International adoption of Guatemalan babies will resume in June, Guatemalan authorities said this week, but critics expressed concerns that the system was still vulnerable to abuse. For several years, Guatemala was the second-largest supplier of babies to U.S. families after China. But it suspended adoptions in 2007, after reports mounted that thousands of so-called orphans had in fact been stolen from their mothers. Going forward, authorities said, DNA tests will be performed on all babies offered for adoption. Some human-rights activists were skeptical of the new measures, saying the country still had a network of corrupt lawyers and doctors willing to profit from the trafficking of children.
Lima, Peru
American freed: A 15-year nightmare for imprisoned American Lori Berenson ended this week when a Peruvian judge granted her parole, rejecting a prosecutor’s warning that she’s a “dangerous” terrorist. An MIT dropout, Berenson, now 40, was arrested in 1995 after she gained access to the Peruvian Congress using fake press credentials. A military court found her guilty of collaborating with the Marxist rebel group Tupac Amaru to plan a terrorist attack, a charge she denied. Amnesty International and many other human-rights groups have long considered her a political prisoner. While in prison, Berenson married Anibal Apari, a former Tupac Amaru rebel who is now her lawyer, and she gave birth to their son last year. “This is an incredible, incredible feeling,” said her father, Mark Berenson. “It will be topped only when I see my daughter and grandson in freedom.”
