Subscriber Services |

In the World

One of the dogs captured near the site of maulingsis held at a Mexico City pound. (DARIO LOPEZ-MILLS / AP)

GALLERY: One of the dogs captured near the site… (DARIO LOPEZ-MILLS…)

Posted: January 10, 2013

Feral pack may have killed girl

MEXICO CITY - A 15-year-old girl found fatally bitten by dogs outside a Mexico City park in mid-December may have been the first victim of a feral pack suspected of killing at least four other people over the last month, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Authorities began capturing dogs in the park this week after a mother and her infant boy were found dead and covered in dog bites on Dec. 29 and the bodies of a teenage couple were found covered in fatal bites from as many as 10 dogs a week later.

The four were believed to have been the only victims until the mother of 15-year-old Ana Gabriela Nataret Ramirez told Milenio Television late Tuesday that their daughter had died after being found covered with apparent dog bites near the Cerro de la Estrella park in the poor southeastern Mexico City district of Iztapalapa on the night of Dec. 16.

Animal control officers swept the park for feral dogs again Wednesday after capturing 36 animals over the last two days. Borough president Jesus Valencia said that 33 dogs were captured, but his office said later that 36 dogs had been caught. - AP

Iraqis close Jordan crossing

BAGHDAD - Iraqi authorities citing security concerns closed the country's only border crossing with Jordan on Wednesday, cutting a key route through a part of the country where antigovernment protests have been raging for weeks.

Residents of Anbar province, the center of the Sunni-led demonstrations, rejected the closure and accused the government of trying to pressure them to end their protests against Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Shiite-dominated administration.

"The closure . . . serves only one purpose, and that is to damage the image of the protesters and depict them as troublemakers who want to make the lives of Iraqis more difficult," one of the protest organizers, Saeed Humaim, told the Associated Press.

Many Sunnis in Iraq complain of discrimination by the Shiite-led government. The mass protests in Anbar - and increasingly elsewhere in the country - are the largest and most sustained demonstration of Sunni discontent since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. - AP

Killer whales trapped in ice

MONTREAL - A community in Quebec's Far North is calling for outside help to free about a dozen killer whales trapped under a vast stretch of sea ice.

Local residents in Inukjuak said the mammals have gathered around a single hole in the ice - slightly bigger than a pickup truck - in a desperate bid to get air.

Mayor Peter Inukpuk urged the Canadian government Wednesday to send an icebreaker to crack open the ice and help them find open water.

- AP