In brief: Guatemala’s leader seeks drug reform

GUATEMALA CITY – U.S. inability to cut illegal drug consumption leaves Guatemala with no option but to consider legalizing the use and transport of drugs, President Otto Perez Molina said Monday, a remarkable turnaround for an ex-general elected on a platform of crushing organized crime with an iron fist.

Perez said he will try to win regional support for drug legalization at a summit of Central American leaders next month. He got his first public support Monday at a security meeting with El Salvador President Mauricio Funes, who said he too is willing to consider legalization.

Perez’s proposal comes as drug cartels have taken over large swaths of Guatemala and other Central American countries, fueling some of the highest murder rates in the world.

U.N. council begins mission in Haiti

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – The U.N. Security Council began a four-day mission in Haiti on Monday to review the terms of its mandate and evaluate earthquake reconstruction efforts in the Caribbean country.

The 15-member delegation led by U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice plans to meet with senior Haitian officials, tour the future site of a job-generating industrial park and visit a police academy in the capital.

The delegation will also visit a treatment center for cholera patients. Haiti now has the world’s highest cholera rate.

Taliban announce official’s death

KABUL, Afghanistan – A top Taliban official died in a Pakistani prison, the Taliban announced Monday, saying the death occurred almost two years ago.

Mullah Obaidullah Akhund died in March 2010 in Karachi, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said in a statement.

Obaidullah had been a senior lieutenant of Mullah Mohammed Omar, the movement’s supreme commander, and served as the Taliban defense minister during its reign over Afghanistan in the 1990s.

Australian fined for mooning queen

BRISBANE, Australia – A Sydney man has been fined $800 for mooning Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip during a royal visit to Australia.

Barman Liam Lloyd Warriner was sentenced today in a Brisbane court on a charge of creating a public nuisance for baring his buttocks to the 85-year-old British monarch and her 90-year-old husband in October.

Warriner admitted holding an Australian flag clenched between his bare buttocks and running as the royal couple’s motorcade drove past well-wishers.