Canada: Beheading suspect
TORONTO — A man accused of stabbing and beheading another passenger on a Greyhound bus in Canada pleaded Tuesday in court for someone to "please kill me," and was ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation.
Prosecutor Joyce Dalmyn revealed new details about the attack Wednesday night. She said Vince Weiguang Li had a plastic bag containing his victim's ear, nose and part of his mouth in his pocket when officers arrested him. The only response officers received from him was, "'I have to stay on the bus forever,"' Dalmyn said.
In an interview with police after his arrest, Li declined to speak for the most part, said Dalmyn. On four occasions, however, he did indicate in a low voice that he is guilty, she said.
Chile: Tribesman dies
SANTIAGO — Alberto Achacaz Walakial, one of the last surviving members of the nomadic Kaweskar tribe that once plied the waters off Chile's Patagonian coast, has died of blood poisoning, local media reported on Tuesday.
Government documents listed Achacaz's age at 79, but some believe he was close to 90.
Experts estimate that only about a dozen full-blooded Kaweskars — or Alacalufes — survive, and the group appears destined to disappear in the near future as there are no women of fertile age left.
Mexico: Scientists tag sharks
ACAPULCO — Scientists say they have begun tagging thousands of sharks off Mexico's Pacific Coast in the hopes of preventing new attacks on humans.
Shark expert Leonardo Castillo says scientists will attach transmitters to two sharks and track them by satellite.
Castillo says that 15 other sharks will get sonar transmitters and 2,000 more will get plastic tags that can be tracked by fishermen.
Sharks recently killed two surfers and wounded a third near the southwestern resort of Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo, about 240 miles north of Acapulco.
Venezuela: Blacklist upheld
CARACAS — Venezuela's Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that a list barring hundreds of candidates suspected of corruption from running in elections is constitutional, despite complaints that it singles out opponents of President Hugo Chavez.
The list — released by the country's top anti-corruption official in February — prevents 272 mostly opposition-aligned politicians from running in November's state and municipal elections.
Comptroller General Clodosbaldo Russian, a close Chavez ally, had argued that Venezuelan law gives him the right to impose restrictions on potential candidates suspected of corruption.
But opposition leaders said the ban violated Venezuela's constitution, which upholds the political rights of all citizens unless they have been charged with a crime and sentenced by a court. None of those on the list has been formally sentenced.
Canada: Beheading suspect
TORONTO — A man accused of stabbing and beheading another passenger on a Greyhound bus in Canada pleaded Tuesday in court for someone to "please kill me," and was ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation.
Prosecutor Joyce Dalmyn revealed new details about the attack Wednesday night. She said Vince Weiguang Li had a plastic bag containing his victim's ear, nose and part of his mouth in his pocket when officers arrested him. The only response officers received from him was, "'I have to stay on the bus forever,"' Dalmyn said.
In an interview with police after his arrest, Li declined to speak for the most part, said Dalmyn. On four occasions, however, he did indicate in a low voice that he is guilty, she said.
Chile: Tribesman dies
SANTIAGO — Alberto Achacaz Walakial, one of the last surviving members of the nomadic Kaweskar tribe that once plied the waters off Chile's Patagonian coast, has died of blood poisoning, local media reported on Tuesday.
Government documents listed Achacaz's age at 79, but some believe he was close to 90.
Experts estimate that only about a dozen full-blooded Kaweskars — or Alacalufes — survive, and the group appears destined to disappear in the near future as there are no women of fertile age left.
Mexico: Scientists tag sharks
ACAPULCO — Scientists say they have begun tagging thousands of sharks off Mexico's Pacific Coast in the hopes of preventing new attacks on humans.
Shark expert Leonardo Castillo says scientists will attach transmitters to two sharks and track them by satellite.
Castillo says that 15 other sharks will get sonar transmitters and 2,000 more will get plastic tags that can be tracked by fishermen.
Sharks recently killed two surfers and wounded a third near the southwestern resort of Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo, about 240 miles north of Acapulco.
Venezuela: Blacklist upheld
CARACAS — Venezuela's Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that a list barring hundreds of candidates suspected of corruption from running in elections is constitutional, despite complaints that it singles out opponents of President Hugo Chavez.
The list — released by the country's top anti-corruption official in February — prevents 272 mostly opposition-aligned politicians from running in November's state and municipal elections.
Comptroller General Clodosbaldo Russian, a close Chavez ally, had argued that Venezuelan law gives him the right to impose restrictions on potential candidates suspected of corruption.
But opposition leaders said the ban violated Venezuela's constitution, which upholds the political rights of all citizens unless they have been charged with a crime and sentenced by a court. None of those on the list has been formally sentenced.