Mexico Drugs Boss Quintero Freed Over Blunder

US officials have expressed outrage after a Mexican drugs baron who ordered the killing of an American agent was released early from prison.

Caro Quintero was jailed for 40 years over the 1985 kidnapping - but he has walked free after 28 years because of a ruling that he was tried in the wrong kind of court.

The US Department of Justice said it found the decision "deeply troubling".

Mexico's relations with Washington were soured when Quintero, now in his 60s, ordered US Drugs Enforcement Agency agent Enrique Camarena kidnapped, tortured and killed.

The agent was snatched in Guadalajara, a major drug-trafficking centre at the time.

His body and that of his Mexican pilot were found a month later in shallow graves.

Quintero, who was apparently angry at Mr Camarena over a raid he sanctioned on a marijuana plantation, was eventually hunted down in Costa Rica.

High security at the Jalisco state prison where Quintero was held

His release was ordered after a decision that his trial had improperly taken place in a federal court.

He still faces charges in the US and is believed to have continued controlling the laundering of drug money from behind bars.

The Department of Justice said it continues to seek Quintero's extradition.

The Association of Former Federal Narcotics Agents in the US said it was "outraged" and it blamed corruption within Mexico's justice system for the early release.

It said: "The release of this violent butcher is but another example of how good faith efforts by the US to work with the Mexican government can be frustrated by those powerful dark forces that work in the shadows of the Mexican 'justice' system."

Quintero is considered the grandfather of Mexican drug trafficking.

He helped establish a powerful cartel based in the northwestern Mexican state of Sinaloa that later split into some of Mexico's largest cartels, including the Sinaloa and Juarez cartels.

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Japan Floods: Five Killed In Severe Weather

At least five people have been killed in severe floods and mudslides that struck in northern Japan.

Torrential rain led to widespread flooding in the town of Yahaba, in the Iwate prefecture, with residents forced to wade through waterlogged streets.

Some 300 people were evacuated on Friday.

Buildings were damaged in storms and mudslides

In the city of Senboku, in Akita prefecture, officials said three people were found dead on Saturday after a mudslide crushed two houses.

Two people remained missing and a major search was under way.

In Hanamaki, a mudslide killed one person and another person was found dead in a river in the town of Nishiwaga.

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Chinese Human Trafficking Ring Bust In Europe

Spanish and French police have busted a human trafficking ring smuggling Chinese migrants into Europe and the US.

A total of 75 suspects, including two "main operatives" based in Barcelona, were arrested, the authorities said on Saturday.

Officers in Spain arrested 51 people and the other 24 were picked up in France, according to a police statement.

The string of arrests follows a two-year, joint investigation in the two countries.

Police said the traffickers charged 40-50,000 euros (£34-43,000) per person to provide "false identities and transport Chinese citizens to the United States and countries such as Spain, France, Greece, Italy, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Turkey".

Items including a handgun and fake passport paraphernalia were found

Spanish police seized 81 fake passports from Asian countries such as Taiwan, South Korea, Malaysia, Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore.

They were found in two lodgings owned by the ring in Barcelona, whose airport was allegedly used as the gang's main European hub.

Some of the people trafficked ended up in the sex trade, Spain's Interior Ministry said.

The investigation into the trafficking ring, which police described as a "perfectly structured, hierarchical organisation", started in July 2011.

The "kingpin" remained in China and had independent cells working separately in different countries, according to the authorities.

A police officer holding cash discovered at the Barcelona property

The traffickers would accompany their clients to Spain, which served as a last stop or "trampoline" to the final destination - usually the UK or the US, they said.

Mainly from China and Malaysia, they were "thorough connoisseurs" of the European airports and cities along the route and had the "complete confidence" of the ringleaders.

They would return home as soon as they had completed each operation to make it harder to track them down.

Migrants were also given precise instructions on how to avoid detection at customs controls, for example by mixing in with a group of tourists.

Fake custom stamps were also taken from the safe house

The route from China was "changed constantly" according to how each trip unfolded to avoid discovery, the police statement said.

Once they arrived in Barcelona, they would be met by operatives and taken to safe houses before continuing their journeys.           

At the lodgings in the Spanish city, police found equipment for forging documents including portable computers, scanners, fake custom stamps and a magnifier.

A handgun, mobile phones and bundles of cash, both euros and yuan, were also seized in the operation.

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Volcano: Deaths As Indonesia's Rokatenda Blows

Lava spewing from a volcano killed six people sleeping in a beach village in Indonesia as hot ash and smoke shot up to 2,000m (6,560ft) in the air.

Mount Rokatenda, on Palue island, erupted early on Saturday, when more than 3,000 people were evacuated from the area.

The victims included three adults and two children who were swept away by lava, an official from the National Disaster Mitigation Agency said.

The age of the sixth casualty is unclear.

The children's bodies have not been recovered from Ponge beach, in Rokirole village.

Rokatenda has been rumbling since October 2012.

Indonesia sits along the Pacific Ring of Fire - the name given to a horseshoe-shaped series of fault lines that leave the region prone to earthquakes and volcanic activity.

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Malaria Jab a Step Closer After Vaccine Trial

Tests on a new malaria vaccine have raised hopes the battle is being won against the disease which kills hundreds of thousands of people every year.

The experimental drug, which is known as PfSPZ and is made from living Plasmodium falciparum parasites, has proved highly effective in early-stage clinical trials.

Although the "proof of concept" trial was small - involving 40 adults - it could pave the way for the first vaccine offering 100% protection.

Manufacturing the vaccine was itself an achievement for researchers.

2010: 90% of all malaria deaths occurred in the poorest parts of Africa

Scientists first exposed sterile mosquitoes to malaria-infected blood before irradiating them to weaken the malaria parasites. Then the mosquitoes had to be carefully dissected to extract the parasites to make the serum.

"This was something that everybody said was not possible; and here it is," said Navy Captain Judith Epstein, one of the researchers from research company Sanaria, in Rockville, Maryland.

"We're in the first stages now of really being able to have a completely effective vaccine," she said, adding she hoped to see licensing of the vaccine within three to five years.

Early results of the vaccine are promising though not yet a breakthrough

Malaria infected 219 million people in 2010 and killed an estimated 660,000, according to the World Health Organisation - the equivalent of one child in Africa dying every minute.

"It's an important proof of concept," said Dr Anthony Fauci, director of America's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, adding that the results were the most promising yet of any experimental vaccine, though he resisted calling the trial a breakthrough.

"There are several more steps before you can feel comfortable that you have something that might be ready for prime time," he said.

"So we're really not there yet, but it's encouraging to see these very favourable results."

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Oprah Winfrey 'Victim Of Racism' In Swiss Shop

Oprah Winfrey has said she recently became a victim of racism when a shop assistant in Switzerland refused to show her a £24,477 handbag saying it would be "too expensive" for her.

The US chat show host, who is one of the richest women in the world, was in Zurich for Tina Turner's wedding when she decided to go shopping alone.

Winfrey told Entertainment Tonight: "I was in Zurich the other day, in a store whose name I will not mention. I didn't have my eyelashes on, but I was in full Oprah Winfrey gear. I had my little Donna Karan skirt and my little sandals. But obviously The Oprah Winfrey Show is not shown in Zurich.

"I go into a store and I say to the woman, 'Excuse me, may I see the bag right above your head?' and she says to me, 'No. It's too expensive.'"

The bag was apparently in the shop window behind a security wall.

When Winfrey insisted again, the woman replied: "No, no you don't want to see that one, you want to see this one because that one will cost too much. You will not be able to afford that."

Trudie Goetz arriving at Turner's wedding. Pic:Tinaturnerblog.com

The assistant then started to show the media owner smaller bags before she asked for a third time and was refused again.

"She said, 'Oh I don't want to hurt your feelings' and I said, 'Ok thank you so much you're probably right I can't afford it.'" said the 59-year-old.

Winfrey, who is the world's only African-American billionaire, then walked out of the shop calmly.

She said: "I could've had the whole blow-up thing and thrown down the black card but why do that but that clearly is you know … it (racism) still exists, of course it does."

Blick newspaper reported that Trudie Goetz, the owner of the boutique Trois Pommes, had apologised for the incident.

Ms Goetz, who is believed to have also attended Tina Turner's wedding, said there had been a "misunderstanding" caused by the assistant's failure to recognise Winfrey.

"We don't have any facial recognition here," Blick quoted Ms Goetz as saying.

Oprah had been asked on the US TV show whether anyone had ever called her the 'N- word'.

She said no one in their right mind would call her that to her face, but that racism showed itself in other ways.

"It shows up for me this way. Sometimes I'm in a boardroom or I'm in situations where I'm the only woman, I'm the only African American person within a 100-mile radius and I can see in the energy of the people there, they don't sense that I should be holding one of those seats.

"I can sense that. But I can never tell is it racism, is it sexism, because often it's both. I mean the sexism thing is huge. The higher the ladder you climb it gets huge, because men are used to running things."

Oprah has just been awarded America's highest civilian honour - the Presidential Medal of Freedom - which she will receive from President Barack Obama at the White House later in the year.

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Vietnam: 'Jungle Men' Found Hiding From War

A father and son have been found living in the jungle more than 40 years after they fled US bombing during the Vietnam War.

Ho Van Thanh left his home village with his baby son Ho Van Lang in 1971 after a mine blast killed his wife and two of his children.

The pair apparently survived by foraging for fruit, lived in a timber treehouse and wore loin cloths made from tree bark.

The authorities were alerted after locals searching for firewood spotted the men deep in the forest in Quang Ngai province's Tay Tra district.

A team was set up to look for the pair - now aged 82 and 41 - and found them after a five hour search.

When found, Ho Van Thanh was too weak to walk and had to be taken out of the jungle on a stretcher.

Ho Van Thanh on the stretcher

The father could speak a little of the region's Cor language but the son only knew a few words.

The pair have been checked by doctors and a decision must now be made on how to reintegrate them to society.

Ho Van Thanh is believed to have lived a normal life in the hamlet of Tra Kem, but fled into the jungle after the explosion that decimated his family.

The men are thought to have grown their own food and even cultivated tobacco during their time in the wilderness.

Another son, Ho Van Tri, told Vietnamese newspaper VnExpress that he found them hiding out around two decades ago but could not convince them to return home with him.

The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era conflict that claimed millions of military and civilian lives and left surviving soldiers and victims traumatised.

The US dropped millions of tonnes of bombs on Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia during the war, which ended in 1975 with the fall of Saigon to North Vietnamese forces.

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Tapir Attack: Toddler Mauled During Zoo Visit

A Brazilian tapir has attacked a young girl and her mother during a trip to a zoo.

The attack happened during a supervised visit within one of the enclosures at Dublin Zoo. The child's mother was injured when she went to save her child.

The zoo says the incident was "an unfortunate accident" and said an investigation was under way.

A tapir is a large usually docile mammal, which looks a bit like a cross between a long-nosed pig and a small horse.

The zoo said a first aid team went to the scene immediately. The girl was taken to Dublin's Temple Street Children's Hospital. Her mother went to the Mater Hospital.

The youngster suffered deep abdomen and arm injuries and is understood to have had surgery.

In June, staff at Dublin Zoo celebrated the birth of a baby tapir to mother Rio, which is believed to have attacked the child.

Rio's female baby is called Jenny and her father is called Marmaduke. Marmaduke is not thought to have been involved.

The tapir is normally vegetarian and many species are endangered in the wild in South East Asia and Latin America.

Related to rhinos and horses, the tapir's long, flexible snout helps collect leaves, shoots, fruit and small branches to eat.

They have strong jaws and sharp teeth which they use to defend themselves if under threat.

The tapir family at Dublin zoo: Jenny, Rio and Marmaduke

Dublin Zoo said the attack happened on Thursday during one of its regular supervised animal visits.

A spokeswoman said: "The welfare of our visitors and animals is of paramount importance and all steps are taken by our experienced staff to ensure optimum safety.

"Management at the zoo has launched an investigation into this regrettable occurrence and is reviewing all of its procedures with respect to supervised animal visits.

"Dublin Zoo would like to underline this was very much an isolated incident."

The spokeswoman said the zoo understands the mother and toddler who were injured are recovering well.

Attacks on humans by tapirs are not unknown. Although shy, when scared they can defend themselves.

In 1998, a keeper at a zoo in Oklahoma City was mauled and had an arm severed after opening the door to a female tapir's enclosure to push food inside.

The tapir's two-month-old baby was also inside the cage at the time.

In 2006, a Costa Rican politician became lost in the one of the country's national parks and was found by a search party with a "nasty bite" from a wild tapir.

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Zimbabwe: Mugabe Claims Victory A Blow To West

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has declared his election victory an "enemy blow" to the "British and their allies".

Mr Mugabe accused his main rival Morgan Tsvangirai, who declared the election null and void, of being a tool of the West.

The president's re-election last week marks a 33-year unbroken run in power but there have been allegations of vote-rigging and election fraud.

Mr Mugabe, Africa's oldest leader at the age of 89, said his ZANU-PF party's two-thirds majority victory had "dealt the enemy a blow".

He added: "But now they, even as the whole of Africa is sending us messages of congratulations to say 'well done', they say the elections were not free. And where are they talking? London and Washington and Ottawa."

Voters were sent to the wrong polling stations and turned away

Mr Mugabe reminded Western governments that they had pledged to consider lifting sanctions if the elections were found to be free and fair.

Mr Tsvangirai has announced that his MDC party will challenge the outcome of the July 31 election in court, alleging vote-rigging and intimidation by ZANU-PF party officials.

The African Union and the Southern African Development Community have declare the elections "free" and "credible" but refused to go so far as to say they were fair.

This, despite, monitors finding evidence of "irregularities" including people being sent to the wrong voting stations and two million more voting cards being printed than necessary.

Some two million too many voting cards were printed

Foreign Secretary William Hague has voiced "grave concerns" over activities that "call into serious question the credibility of the election".

He said there was no evidence that the roll of eligible voters was made available for all parties to scrutinise ahead of the vote.

He added: "We also have concerns over reports of large numbers of voters who were turned away, particularly in urban areas, the very high numbers of extra ballot papers that were printed and additional polling stations apparently added on election day itself."

The United States, which maintains sanctions against Mr Mugabe, has said it does not believe Mr Mugabe's re-election was credible.

Morgan Tsvangirai will challenge the legitimacy of Mr Mugabe's victory

The European Union, which has been looking at easing sanctions, has also expressed concerns over alleged serious flaws in the vote.

Mr Mugabe, indicated his critics should not expect any let-up in economic nationalism policies, such as the violent seizure of white-owned farms after 2000, that have also earned Western disapproval.

He said: "Our task is to look ahead. What we say we shall do, we will do."

The Zimbabwe stock exchange's main Industrial Index shed 1% on Wednesday, following a 1.7% fall on Tuesday and an 11% drop on Monday, the first trading day after Mr Mugabe's re-election was formerly announced.

Investors fear that ZANU-PF's boosted majority could embolden it to pursue even more radical economic nationalism.

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Big Baby: Brit Mum Has Heaviest Born In Spain

A British woman has given birth to the biggest ever baby born naturally in Spain, a hospital has said.

Maxime Marin, 40, did not even need an epidural - a painkiller delivered into the spine during childbirth.

The baby girl called Maria Lorena Marin weighed 13lb 7oz (6.095kg) which is about twice the size of an average baby.

Hospital Marina Salud in the Mediterranean city of Denia said she was in "perfect health" following the straightforward delivery.

Ms Marin said she expected the baby, born after 41 weeks, to be "big but not that big" as her three older children each weighed more than 9lb 14oz (4.480kg) at birth.

She brushed off the five-hour labour as "simple", while the newborn's Colombian father, Jaime Marin, said everything went well.

Dr Javier Rius, head of gynaecology at the hospital, said in his 40 years of practice he had never known a baby born naturally to weigh so much.

Earlier this year, a Californian woman gave birth to a child weighing even more than Maria.

Mum Maxime Marin and her newborn Maria (Pic: Hospital Marina Salud)

Jayden Sigler was 13lb 14oz (6.293kg) when he was delivered by Caesarean section.

And George King became one of the heaviest babies born naturally in England when he was delivered earlier this year weighing 15lb 7oz (7.002kg).

Almost two-thirds of babies born in England and Wales in 2010 weighed between 6lb 9oz (2.976kg) and 8lb 13oz (3.997kg), according to the Office for National Statistics.

Of the 700,000 children born during that year, more than 460,000 were in this range.

The heaviest baby ever born weighed 23lb 12oz (10.773kg) in Canada in 1879, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.

But the baby, whose mother Anna Bates had giantism - a condition characterised by excessive growth and height significantly above average, died 11 hours later.

In 1955 a baby boy weighing 22lbs 8oz (10.206kg) was born to Carmelina Fedele in Aversa, Italy.

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