Heidi and Spencer didn't get marriage license before Mexico ceremony
New York Daily News Nov 27, 08 9:58 AM CST
(Newser)
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Publicity-loving Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt—whose love for faking it ranges from photo ops to “reality” TV—aren’t really married. The Hills couple remembered the cameras for their Cabo elopement but forgot the marriage license, the New York Daily News reports. Details are for later, Pratt says, but Los Angeles County says it’s unlikely to recognize their bond without proper documentation.
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Americans urged to focus on treatment, prevention, gun sales
Los Angeles Times Nov 27, 08 8:42 AM CST
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America is treating the symptoms rather than the disease of drug use, and its war on drugs will continue to fail unless it changes course, a new report by an influential Washington think tank finds. The report urges the US to develop stronger ties in the Caribbean and Latin America, where drug-interdiction efforts have suffered under the Bush administration, the LA Times reports.
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Brazil, Argentina say use is rising as supply grows
CNN Nov 26, 08 8:16 AM CST
(Newser)
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Mexico holds the distinction of being the world's biggest marijuana producer—no big surprise there. But little landlocked Paraguay is turning heads after hitting No. 2 on the UN's list of top pot-growing countries, CNN reports. Paraguayan officials aren't surprised: Raids are difficult to orchestrate, marijuana fetches 500% the selling price of a traditional crop, and great soil means everything grows like, well, weeds.
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Villainous camera-hounds hitched on beach near Cabo
PerezHilton.com Nov 24, 08 2:08 PM CST
(Newser)
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Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt, the villainous couple many fans of MTV’s The Hills love to hate, got married in a spur-of-the moment ceremony in Mexico last week, PerezHilton.com reports. Montag, 22, and Pratt, 25, tied the knot in a 15-minute ceremony on a beach near Cabo San Lucas, but the celeb blogger is suspicious of the publicity hounds: “They probably hatched this scheme all along as a way to make money by selling the wedding pictures!!!!”
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Festival recognizes cross-dressing 'muxes,' crowns a queen
Reuters Nov 23, 08 7:06 PM CST
(Newser)
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Indigenous gays and transvestites partied into the wee hours last night in a southern Mexican town, Reuters reports. The annual bash for so-called "muxes" ended today with a parade that crowned a trannie queen and celebrated the harvest, as it has done for decades. But only recently has gay pride inspired them to publicly cross-dress in this macho society.
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Former head of elite 'corruption-proof' unit accused of passing info to drug cartels
Wall Street Journal Nov 22, 08 7:26 AM CST
(Newser)
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The former chief of Mexico's anti-drug operations has been arrested on suspicion of taking massive bribes from drug cartels, the Wall Street Journal reports. Noe Ramirez, accused of pocketing $450,000 for passing information on investigations to drug kingpins, is the highest-ranking official arrested so far in "Operation Cleanup," the Mexican campaign to root out corruption that has already fingered 35 high-ranking law enforcement officials.
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Nearly 200 American cities affected by cartels
Los Angeles Times Nov 17, 08 8:40 AM CST
(Newser)
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Mexico’s drug violence has been creeping northward into the US for the past several years, and officials now say that cartel-related crime has hit 195 American cities spanning every state except Vermont and West Virginia, the Los Angeles Times reports. Atlanta has emerged as a trafficking hub, but the kidnappings, deaths, and related violence have spread from Honolulu to Boston.
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Not quite large enough for jewelry, but crystallized vapor has industrial uses
Guardian (UK) Nov 13, 08 11:19 AM CST
(Newser)
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Mexican scientists have discovered that their national drink is good for a lot more than margaritas, the Guardian reports. Tequila contains hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon in exactly the right proportion to form diamonds when it is heated to a vapor and left to crystallize. The extremely thin tequila diamonds are way too small for rings, researchers say, but have many industrial uses.
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League claims 20M fans south of border, but path to pro ranks is a tough one
Los Angeles Times Nov 7, 08 1:42 PM CST
(Newser)
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Mexico isn’t known for loving football—the pigskin kind—but the sport is gaining popularity there, the Los Angeles Times reports. The NFL estimates it has 20 million Mexican fans, and with the game catching on at the high school and college level, players are pushing for more attention from the American league, where just five Mexicans are on practice squads.
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Eight dead, 40 injured after jet plunges into Mexico City traffic and explodes
Los Angeles Times Nov 5, 08 4:00 AM CST
(Newser)
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The second-highest official in Mexico's government died with seven others when his plane crashed into rush-hour traffic on a major road in Mexico City last night, reports the Los Angeles Times . Dozens of people were injured when the plane carrying Interior Minister Juan Camilo Mouriño and his entourage exploded. The crash, which also killed one of the country's top anti-narcotics commanders, appears to have been an accident, officials said.
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Mexican salamander suffers in polluted canals and lagoons
Associated Press Nov 2, 08 6:18 PM CST
(Newser)
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Mexico’s “water monster"—a mere foot long but once central to the Aztec legend and diet—is close to dying out, the AP reports. Axolotls have long endured in the polluted Venice-like canals of Lake Xochimilco in Mexico City, but baby-gobbling fish and ebbing water quality are killing them off. Scientists are in a rush to save them, but can't agree on how.
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Top anti-drug agents accused of passing information to traffickers
Los Angeles Times Oct 28, 08 10:48 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Two senior officials from an elite Mexican anti-drug unit have been arrested and charged with spying for drug cartels, the Los Angeles Times reports, and dozens of agents have been fired following a tip-off from a captured informant. Prosecutors say the officials leaked information to the gangs they were supposed to be targeting in return for hundreds of thousands of dollars a month.
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Crackdown aimed at drug, human trafficking
Los Angeles Times Oct 21, 08 3:10 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Mexico agreed yesterday to deport Cubans passing through the country to reach the US, the Los Angeles Times reports. Increased US patrols in the waters between Cuba and Florida have smugglers using land routes through Mexico to transport would-be immigrants. Mexican authorities have arrested 2,000 undocumented Cubans this year, three times more than last year and 10 times more than 4 years ago.
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