Honduran escapee is suspect in DEA killing
Tegucigalpa, Honduras A 16-year-old boy accused of killing a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent has escaped from a juvenile prison for the fifth time in three years.
Herlan Colindres, a street gang member implicated in 16 other killings, slipped out of the crumbling juvenile center in the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa on Friday.
Colindres and his 13-year-old bodyguard were arrested in July in the killing of Michael Timothy Markey, a DEA agent who was shot to death July 29 while visiting a temple outside of Tegucigalpa.
It was Colindres’ second escape in less than four months. After his Aug. 7 escape, the government built him a brick-walled cell with a private bathroom, watched by six guards. It was unclear how he broke out of that cell.
Detainee stopover possible, Romania says
Bucharest, Romania American planes carrying detainees from the U.S. prison for terror suspects in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, may have made refueling stopovers in Romania, the country’s former defense minister suggested in an interview published Saturday.
It was the first time a senior Romanian official who would have had access to information about U.S. military activity in Romania has acknowledged that prisoners may have passed through the country.
In his remarks to the daily Evenimentul Zilei, however, Ioan Mihai Pascu indicated that any such stopovers would not amount to evidence that the CIA was running a secret prison for al-Qaida suspects on Romanian soil, as has been alleged.
Prince Albert takes throne in Monaco
Monaco A solemn Prince Albert II formally ascended to Monaco’s throne Saturday in ceremonies that mixed royal pomp with an emotional remembrance for his late father, Rainier III.
The festivities started with a Mass in the cliff-top cathedral where Rainier married Hollywood beauty Grace Kelly in 1956 and where he was buried beside her in April when he died at age 81, ending a 56-year reign.
Wearing a royal ceremonial military uniform, Albert blinked back tears after kneeling to receive a blessing at the end of the Mass, which was led by the archbishop of Monaco, Monsignor Bernard Barsi.
Sri Lanka’s leader opposes split
Colombo, Sri Lanka Sri Lanka’s new president, sworn in Saturday, promised to renew peace talks with Tamil Tiger rebels but reiterated his opposition to their demand for an independent state on the Indian Ocean island.
“I affirm my government’s continued commitment to the cease-fire,” President Mahinda Rajapakse said of the Norwegian-brokered 2002 truce that brought an end to fighting after nearly two decades of civil war.
But his hardline stand on the guerrillas’ homeland demand puts him at odds with the rebels who claim the country’s 3.2 million ethnic Tamils can prosper only away from the domination of the 14 million-strong Sinhalese majority.