In brief: Gay-rights foes, activists arrested

Moscow – Moscow police arrested more than 30 people trying to hold two unauthorized gay-rights demonstrations in the capital Saturday.

Opponents of gay rights scuffled with the demonstrators and with police. A police spokesman, Maxim Kolosvetov, told Russian news agencies that 18 pro-gay activists and 14 opponents were arrested.

Moscow authorities routinely ban gay-rights demonstrations. Although homosexuality was decriminalized in post-Soviet Russia, anti-gay sentiment is high and authorities justify the bans on the grounds of trying to prevent fights.

Museum to honor dictator’s victims

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic – A new museum honoring the more than 50,000 people who died under former dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo is scheduled to open today, a day before the 50th anniversary of his death.

Officials expect to unveil for the first time what is believed to be a comprehensive list of those killed during Trujillo’s 1930-1961 regime. The $2.7 million museum, located in a renovated colonial home in the capital, Santo Domingo, also will feature a re-creation of a prison torture chamber, along with audio of some of the actual torture sessions.

Nearly 50 detained as cartel suspects

Morelia, Mexico – Mexico’s federal police detained nearly 50 members of two major drug cartels, including suspects in the recent armed attack on a police helicopter, authorities said Saturday.

The suspects include 36 members of the La Familia cartel and 10 members of the Zetas drug gang, the federal police said in a statement.

La Familia gang members were detained in connection with the attack on a federal police helicopter Tuesday that wounded two officers and forced the craft to land. The statement said 11 other alleged cartel members were killed during the operation Friday night in the Pacific Coast state of Jalisco.

Authorities added that the 10 Zeta members were detained Friday at a ranch in Cancun, where a kidnapping victim was found and released.