World in brief: Dutchman admits guilt, police say

LIMA, Peru – Dutchman Joran van der Sloot, long the prime suspect in U.S. teen Natalee Holloway’s 2005 disappearance in Aruba, has confessed to killing a young woman in his Lima hotel room last week, a police spokesman said.

Police Col. Abel Gamarra, head of the Information Directorate of Police, told the Associated Press late Monday that Van der Sloot admitted that he killed 21-year-old Stephany Flores.

Dozens of bodies

found in old mine

TAXCO, Mexico – At least 55 bodies have been recovered from an abandoned silver mine that became a dumping ground for apparent victims of Mexico’s drug violence, authorities said Monday.

The search for more victims ended over the weekend at the mine on the outskirts of Taxco, a colonial-era tourist town famous for its silver jewelry, said Albertico Guinto, attorney general for the state of Guerrero.

Most of the bodies have not been identified, but prosecutors recently said one was a recently kidnapped prison director. At least 15 people have been detained in the case.

Police discovered the mass grave in late May based on a tip after the arrest of an organized crime suspect in the nearby city of Iguala.

Twelve Americans

taken into custody

WASHINGTON – Yemeni authorities have 12 Americans in custody, and the arrests may be linked to a joint U.S.-Yemeni anti-terror campaign, a State Department spokesman said Monday.

The spokesman, P.J. Crowley, declined to provide details about the case, except to say the State Department is aware of the arrests and is seeking information about the individuals being held.

The revelations come as the U.S. government continues to encourage Yemen to move against al-Qaida-linked militants in the country who officials fear may be involved in plots to attack America or other Western interests. U.S. officials worry that Yemen is becoming the next significant terrorist staging ground and say insurgents are training in camps in Yemen’s vast undergoverned spaces.