Drug violence kills 24 in Mexico

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico: At least 24 people were killed in separate incidents in northern Mexico Sunday as the country reeled from a wave of drug-related violence. In Ciudad Juarez, gunmen drove up to a house where a high school party was in full swing and opened fire killing 14 people and wounding 17 others, the city public safety agency said. Separately, 10 people were killed and 11 were wounded when gunmen attacked a bar in the city of Torreon, in the northern state of Coahuila. The war waged by several powerful drug cartels in Mexico has already left 15,000 people dead. The government has deployed 50,000 troops and thousands of police in an effort to put the violence under control.

Rival Koreas’ talks sputter

SEOUL: The two Koreas failed to make a breakthrough on the operations of a joint factory park in talks on Monday that came days after Pyongyang rattled the region by firing artillery near a disputed sea border. North Korean artillery, which last week fired hundreds of rounds into its waters on its side of the sea border off the west coast, was silent over the weekend. Envoys from the South crossed the heavily armed border for talks over the Kaesong industrial park, the last joint project between the states, where South Korean firms use cheap North Korean labor and land to make goods. The two failed to agree on steps that would enhance the park, Yonhap news agency quoted a government official as saying.

Ransom paid to Somali pirates

MOGADISHU: A ransom was air-dropped Monday onto a Greek-owned cargo ship captured by Somali pirates in November but the vessel was not immediately freed, pirates said. The Marshall Islands-flagged MV Filitisa and its crew of three Greek officers and 19 Filipinos were seized in the Indian Ocean on Nov. 10 and the vessel is currently anchored near the pirate lair of Hobyo. Pirates in the region explained that the gang holding the ship received the money and went back to shore but left another crew of pirates onboard to foil any retaliatory military action against the original hijackers. The MV Filitsa is one of 12 ships and more than 250 seamen still held by Somalia’s pirates.

- Compiled by Arab News