Written By Unknown on Sabtu, 13 Desember 2014 | 16.15
Mexico's drug trade is worth between $19 and $29bn (£12.1 and £18.5bn) a year in cash - but takes an immeasurably greater toll in human lives and misery.
Some 90% of the cocaine bound for the US goes through the country, which shares a long border with its northern neighbour.
The narcotics industry makes up between 3-4% of the country's GDP, and employs half a million people.
Murder - even mass murder - is relatively commonplace. On average, someone dies a drugs-related death every half an hour.
There have been more than 132,000 kidnappings since 2006, and the government lists a total of 22,322 people as missing.
Video:Where The Gangs Get Their Guns
There are 10 firearms deaths per 100,000 people - more than twice the rate of the US - despite the fact there is just one legal firearms dealer in the entire country.
Even amid this carnage, the recent abduction of 43 college students made headlines not just nationwide but around the world.
The victims were attacked by officers in the southern city of Iguala after demonstrations there.
Prosecutors say they were handed over by corrupt police officers to a drugs gang that killed them and burnt their bodies.
A Palestinian has thrown acid at an Israeli family, including children, after being given a lift in their car in the West Bank, the army has said.
The man attacked them near a checkpoint outside Bethlehem and close to the Gush Etzion settlement, the military said in a statement to AFP news agency.
A man and four children were hurt, Israeli police and the military told Reuters.
The suspect was shot in the leg by a civilian after getting out of the car and he has since been arrested, AFP reported.
The family was attacked near the Gush Etzion settlement
"A vehicle carrying a family with four girls picked up a hitchhiker," the statement from the army said.
"The hitchhiker threw acid on the passengers, injuring them lightly."
Video:10 Dec: Palestinian Minister Killed
The attack comes after Palestinian minister Ziad Abu Ein died in a confrontation with Israeli troops in the West Bank on Wednesday.
He was taking part in a tree-planting demonstration in Turmus Aya when he was confronted by Israeli soldiers and tear gas was fired.
Witnesses also said the cabinet member was involved in a scuffle with an Israeli soldier and there were claims he was hit on the chest by an Israeli soldier's helmet and a rifle butt.
He then began to experience breathing problems, and died while he was being taken to hospital by ambulance.
Video:Soldier Row: What Footage Shows
The Palestinian leadership blamed Israel for Ziad Abu Ein's death and threatened to retaliate.
"We are open to taking up any option against the other side," Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said.
Israeli ministers called for calm and US Secretary of State John Kerry will meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday as part of attempts to defuse tensions.
By Stuart Ramsay, Chief Correspondent, in Mexico City
A Mexican hitman, who claims to have killed as many as 900 people, has told Sky News how the police and the military are often involved in the planning and execution of his murders.
"Carlos" has been a paid killer for more than 25 years - working for drug cartels, politicians and the military.
We met the hitman in Tepito market - one of the most dangerous places in the whole of Mexico City, despite being at the heart of its smartest district.
The assassin said the network of cartel power is so entrenched in society and powered by so much money that it is unstoppable.
"On some occasions, we have to go to places where weapons are not allowed and then they (police) meet us.
Video:Narco State: Mexico's Drugs War
"They take us to a hotel and they provide all the weapons that we may need, money and everything so that one can do the job one has to do."
The abduction of 43 students last September has forced Mexico into confronting its crime problems.
Carlos believes that the students are already dead, and uses a chilling example from his own experience to explain why he is so certain.
Video:Sky News Talks To A Mexican Hitman
"Let me tell you a story. Some protestors came. We let them in and then we closed the road, we closed the entrance, we closed the exit. When they were stuck in the middle we killed them all," he recounted.
"Then a (rubbish) truck from the army came and collected them all. Then street sweeper machines went past. They opened the road again, as if nothing had happened.
"The students are dead, it is more convenient. For kidnapping you get 160 years, for killing its 35. It's a huge difference, don't you think?"
Video:Where The Cartels Get Their Guns
Mexico is described by many as a "Narco State", where government and civil society appear powerless against drug money, cartels, corruption and terrible violence - committed on an almost daily basis.
This country bordering the United States and Central America has become a transit point for drugs across the world.
The revenues are mind-blowing - tens of billions of dollars a year.
Video:Mexico City's Tepito Market
The demand for what it can deliver to affluent societies is insatiable.
It is the root of the problem of course, and widespread poverty, combined with the need to make a living, are the crumbling foundations of a state teetering on the edge of disaster.
Mexico is in trouble. It is failing. A black market culture where anything can be bought is all-pervading. Nobody is above this. Absolutely nobody.
Written By Unknown on Jumat, 12 Desember 2014 | 16.15
Mexico's drug trade is worth between $19 and $29bn (£12.1 and £18.5bn) a year in cash - but takes an immeasurably greater toll in human lives and misery.
Some 90% of the cocaine bound for the US goes through the country, which shares a long border with its northern neighbour.
The narcotics industry makes up between 3-4% of the country's GDP, and employs half a million people.
Murder - even mass murder - is relatively commonplace. On average, someone dies a drugs-related death every half an hour.
There have been more than 132,000 kidnappings since 2006, and the government lists a total of 22,322 people as missing.
Video:Where The Gangs Get Their Guns
There are 10 firearms deaths per 100,000 people - more than twice the rate of the US - despite the fact there is just one legal firearms dealer in the entire country.
Even amid this carnage, the recent abduction of 43 college students made headlines not just nationwide but around the world.
The victims were attacked by officers in the southern city of Iguala after demonstrations there.
Prosecutors say they were handed over by corrupt police officers to a drugs gang that killed them and burnt their bodies.
The CIA's spymaster has disavowed abusive techniques used by his agency in interrogating suspects after 9/11, while staunchly defending his officers.
During a rare news conference at the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, John Brennan said: "In a limited number of cases, agency officers used interrogation techniques that had not been authorised, were abhorrent and rightly should be repudiated by all.
"And we fell short when it came to holding some officers accountable for their mistakes."
But he said the "overwhelming majority" of his interrogators acted appropriately and "did what they were asked to do in the service of our nation".
Mr Brennan was addressing a Senate report that detailed the US intelligence agency's "brutal" treatment of al Qaeda suspects in a network of secret prisons around the world.
Video:Dick Cheney Slams Torture Report
He told Thursday's news conference the programme was ordered at a time when the US feared more terrorist attacks.
"There were no easy answers," he said.
"And whatever your views are on EITs (enhanced interrogation techniques)… the agency did a lot of things right during this difficult time to keep this country safe and secure."
Sky News' Dominic Waghorn in Washington says the spymaster chose his words carefully, but they will sound mealy-mouthed and disingenuous to CIA critics.
For instance, Mr Brennan said it was "unknowable" whether EITs managed to extract useful intelligence from terrorism suspects.
But he also said the interrogations did help locate Osama bin Laden, while arguing it was unclear if such intelligence could have been gleaned without such methods.
Mr Brennan said that as far as he was aware only three detainees were waterboarded, though the Senate report asserted the number could have been higher.
As he spoke, Senator Dianne Feinstein went online to issue a point-by-point rebuttal of his arguments.
Video:Torture Produces Bad Intelligence
"No evidence that terror attacks were stopped, terrorists captured or lives saved through use of EITs. #ReadTheReport," she tweeted.
Under the programme, detainees were beaten, repeatedly waterboarded and subjected to medically unnecessary "rectal feeding" and "rectal rehydration". One detainee froze to death.
President Barack Obama, who halted his predecessor George W Bush's programme when he came to office, has said the practices were contrary to US values.
But Mr Bush's Vice President Dick Cheney robustly defended the programme on Wednesday night.
"The report's full of crap," he told Fox News, while conceding he had not read it.
The Senate intelligence committee concluded in Tuesday's report that the CIA deliberately misled Congress and the White House about the value of the information its interrogators were gathering.
China and Iran, whose own human rights records have often been criticised by Washington, denounced the abuses, but so did some close US friends like Germany.
By Stuart Ramsay, Chief Correspondent, in Mexico City
A Mexican hitman, who claims to have killed as many as 900 people, has told Sky News how the police and the military are often involved in the planning and execution of his murders.
"Carlos" has been a paid killer for more than 25 years - working for drug cartels, politicians and the military.
We met the hitman in Tepito market - one of the most dangerous places in the whole of Mexico City, despite being at the heart of its smartest district.
The assassin said the network of cartel power is so entrenched in society and powered by so much money that it is unstoppable.
"On some occasions, we have to go to places where weapons are not allowed and then they (police) meet us.
Video:Sky News Talks To A Mexican Hitman
"They take us to a hotel and they provide all the weapons that we may need, money and everything so that one can do the job one has to do."
The abduction of 43 students last September has forced Mexico into confronting its crime problems.
Carlos believes that the students are already dead, and uses a chilling example from his own experience to explain why he is so certain.
Video:How The Cartels Get Their Guns
"Let me tell you a story. Some protestors came. We let them in and then we closed the road, we closed the entrance, we closed the exit. When they were stuck in the middle we killed them all," he recounted.
"Then a (rubbish) truck from the army came and collected them all. Then street sweeper machines went past. They opened the road again, as if nothing had happened.
"The students are dead, it is more convenient. For kidnapping you get 160 years, for killing its 35. It's a huge difference, don't you think?"
Video:Mexico City's Tepito Market
Mexico is described by many as a "Narco State", where government and civil society appear powerless against drug money, cartels, corruption and terrible violence - committed on an almost daily basis.
This country bordering the United States and Central America has become a transit point for drugs across the world.
The revenues are mind-blowing - tens of billions of dollars a year.
Written By Unknown on Senin, 08 Desember 2014 | 16.15
By Ian Woods, Senior Correspondent, in Batangas
More communities in the Philippines are being evacuated as Typhoon Hagupit moves across the country, causing flooding and power cuts, but relatively minor casualties.
At least 21 people have been killed and around a million people fled their homes fearing another disaster on the scale of Typhoon Haiyan the year before.
More than 7,000 died in the biggest typhoon ever recorded on land, but the latest storm weakened as it closed in on the Philippines.
The driving wind and rain will cause problems for several days as the slow moving storm makes its way across the country, now travelling at only 6mph (10kph).
In Batangas City, a normally busy port south of the capital Manila, hundreds of trucks are parked up at the side of the road because it is too dangerous for ferries to operate.
The authorities in the city have opened 14 shelters to look after some of its poorest residents who live in shanty towns close to the sea.
Video:Typhoon Forces Families To Flee
The chief emergency coordinator, Superintendent Romel Tradio, told Sky News: "These families were situated in the so-called high-risk areas - low-lying areas.
"We have to evacuate them in anticipation of storm surge and flash floods. We are very happy that these people were very cooperative."
People are used to emergency evacuations during typhoons but are ever more willing to comply this year after seeing what happened in last year's catastrophe.
1/13
Gallery: Typhoon Hagupit Strikes The Philippines
Hours before Typhoon Hagupit made landfall, the city of Legazpi was deserted
A judge is delivering her ruling on whether the case against Shrien Dewani, who is accused of plotting to murder his wife Anni on their honeymoon, should be dropped.
Judge Jeanette Traverso has to decide whether the prosecution has presented enough evidence to implicate the 34-year-old British businessman of involvement in his wife's death in South Africa in 2010.
She is currently setting out the legal issues that come into play when deciding whether to halt a case at this stage.
Beginning her remarks, Judge Traverso said: "If the court is of the opinion there's no evidence the accused committed the offence ... (it) may return a verdict of no guilty."
Should she dismiss the case, Dewani is expected to be granted permission to return to the UK as a free man.
Video:CCTV Footage Of Dewanis In Hotel
Sky's Alex Crawford, who is in court, has tweeted: "Anni's sister looks heartbroken and horribly concerned as she listens to this."
Dewani is showing no visible reaction, simply staring ahead at the judge, she adds.
Three men have been convicted over their roles in the killing, which prosecutors say was organised and paid for by Dewani to get out of the marriage.
Video:Family News Conference
The prosecution alleges that Dewani plotted with cab driver Zola Tongo, Mziwamadoda Qwabe and gunman Xolile Mngeni to kill Anni, a 28-year-old engineer.
Judge Traverso said Tongo's evidence is "riddled with contradictions", but he added that credibility of evidence plays a limited role at this stage.
Dewani has denied charges of murder, conspiracy to commit kidnapping, robbery with aggravating circumstances, kidnapping, and defeating the ends of justice.
1/7
Gallery: Key Players In The Dewani Trial
Anni Dewani was murdered during her honeymoon in Cape Town in 2010
Her husband Shrien Dewani is on trial accused of organising her murder
Written By Unknown on Minggu, 07 Desember 2014 | 16.15
Typhoon Hagupit Slams Into Philippines
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Video:Typhoon Hagupit Reaches Philippines
A powerful typhoon has slammed into eastern Philippines, where 650,000 people have fled to safety in one of the largest peacetime evacuations in the nation's history.
Gusts of 130mph have been recorded alongside sustained winds of 109mph.
The typhoon made landfall on Saturday night in central Eastern Samar province - but the centre of the storm remains several hours away.
The winds, as well as pounding rain, has knocked out power lines and toppled trees in the town of Dolores.
The military is on full alert as the centre of the storm sweeps in
Senior Inspector Alex Robin said: "We are totally in the dark here. The only light comes from flashlights."
The Philippines' 120,000-strong military is on alert to respond to a possible catastrophe.
1/11
Gallery: Philippines Braces For Huge Typhoon
People take shelter inside a church after evacuating their homes due to super-typhoon Hagupit in Tacloban city, central Philippines
Ports are shut, leaving thousands of travelers stranded, and some local authorities ordered forced evacuations as super-typhoon Hagupit swept towards eastern coasts of the island nation
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Meteorologists from the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) monitor and plot the direction of super typhoon Hagupit
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Known locally as Ruby, the storm will bear down on the Philipinnes this weekend
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Residents with their belongings wait for a government vehicle to bring them to the evacuation center in Tacloban city
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General Gregorio Pio Catapang said: "We're on red alert, so the entire armed forces is being mobilised for this typhoon."
Meanwhile, Interior Secretary Mar Roxas tried to calm anxious families, and urged for as much preventative action to be taken as possible. The winds are strong enough to trigger deadly storm surges and landslides.
In a televised address, he said: "This is it. I know you are tired, not enough sleep, not enough food, too much coffee. But this is our last push. Every person we can save now is one less we have to look for after the typhoon passes."
Troops have been deployed to supermarkets and major roads to prevent looting and clear debris.
The UN says the evacuation is one of the largest in Philippine history.
Nearly 100 domestic flights have been cancelled and inter-island ferry services suspended, leaving thousands of people stranded.
1/24
Gallery: Before And After Images
View of the entrance to San Roque Elementary School in Leyte, Philippines
The same view one year on
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The region is still haunted by the destruction wrought by Typhoon Haiyan, which left 7,300 people dead or missing last November.
Eastern Samar province representative Ben Evardone said: "Everybody is in fear because of what happened during Haiyan. We can already feel the wrath of the typhoon. Everybody is praying."
Forecasters had been predicting that the typhoon would follow a more southern route, and have warned that its path is unpredictable.
Blanche Gobenciong, a regional disaster-response director, said: "We have a zero-casualty target. Just one loss of life will really sadden us all and make us wonder what went wrong."
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Typhoon Hagupit Slams Into Philippines
We use cookies to give you the best experience. If you do nothing we'll assume that it's ok.
Video:Typhoon Hagupit Reaches Philippines
A powerful typhoon has slammed into eastern Philippines, where 650,000 people have fled to safety in one of the largest peacetime evacuations in the nation's history.
Gusts of 130mph have been recorded alongside sustained winds of 109mph.
The typhoon made landfall on Saturday night in central Eastern Samar province - but the centre of the storm remains several hours away.
The winds, as well as pounding rain, has knocked out power lines and toppled trees in the town of Dolores.
The military is on full alert as the centre of the storm sweeps in
Senior Inspector Alex Robin said: "We are totally in the dark here. The only light comes from flashlights."
The Philippines' 120,000-strong military is on alert to respond to a possible catastrophe.
1/11
Gallery: Philippines Braces For Huge Typhoon
People take shelter inside a church after evacuating their homes due to super-typhoon Hagupit in Tacloban city, central Philippines
Ports are shut, leaving thousands of travelers stranded, and some local authorities ordered forced evacuations as super-typhoon Hagupit swept towards eastern coasts of the island nation
]]>
Meteorologists from the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) monitor and plot the direction of super typhoon Hagupit
]]>
Known locally as Ruby, the storm will bear down on the Philipinnes this weekend
]]>
Residents with their belongings wait for a government vehicle to bring them to the evacuation center in Tacloban city
]]>
General Gregorio Pio Catapang said: "We're on red alert, so the entire armed forces is being mobilised for this typhoon."
Meanwhile, Interior Secretary Mar Roxas tried to calm anxious families, and urged for as much preventative action to be taken as possible. The winds are strong enough to trigger deadly storm surges and landslides.
In a televised address, he said: "This is it. I know you are tired, not enough sleep, not enough food, too much coffee. But this is our last push. Every person we can save now is one less we have to look for after the typhoon passes."
Troops have been deployed to supermarkets and major roads to prevent looting and clear debris.
The UN says the evacuation is one of the largest in Philippine history.
Nearly 100 domestic flights have been cancelled and inter-island ferry services suspended, leaving thousands of people stranded.
1/24
Gallery: Before And After Images
View of the entrance to San Roque Elementary School in Leyte, Philippines
The same view one year on
]]>
The region is still haunted by the destruction wrought by Typhoon Haiyan, which left 7,300 people dead or missing last November.
Eastern Samar province representative Ben Evardone said: "Everybody is in fear because of what happened during Haiyan. We can already feel the wrath of the typhoon. Everybody is praying."
Forecasters had been predicting that the typhoon would follow a more southern route, and have warned that its path is unpredictable.
Blanche Gobenciong, a regional disaster-response director, said: "We have a zero-casualty target. Just one loss of life will really sadden us all and make us wonder what went wrong."
At least one of the 43 college students abducted in Mexico has been identified among charred remains found near a landfill site, an official has confirmed.
Forensic specialists from Argentina and Austria have been examining body parts found in mass graves and a rubbish dump in southwestern Mexico.
The disappearance of the 43 students has sparked fury in Mexico
The remains are reported to be those of Alexander Mora.
Fellow student Omar Garcia, who was with Mr Mora's father when he learned the fate of his son, said: "He will never give up.
Video:Sky Special: Where Life Is Cheap
"He will never get over his pain, but what he wants to tell all of you, and what we all want to say is this: We want justice."
The trainee teachers went missing on September 26 after clashes with police in the southern city of Iguala, that claimed the lives of six people.
The attorney general has said they were attacked by officers on the orders of the city's mayor Jose Luis Abarca, who has since been arrested.
Prosecutors say the 43 students were then handed over by corrupt police to a drug gang, that killed them and burnt their bodies.
Three suspected gang members have confessed to carrying out the massacre.
Investigators have recovered only small fragments of bones to identify the victims.
The disappearance of the students at the hands of a corrupt public official, and the slow response of the federal authorities to the outrage has sparked a furious backlash cross Mexico.
Tens of thousands have taken to the streets in protest, with some calling for President Enrique Pena Nieto to resign.
The case has come to signify the abuse of authority and corruption which is rife in Mexican society.
North Korea has denied involvement in a cyber attack on Sony Pictures, but hailed it as a "righteous deed", possibly carried out by its supporters in protest at an upcoming film about Kim Jong-Un.
The interview, a comedy involving a fictional CIA plot to assassinate the leader of the isolated communist state, has infuriated Pyongyang, which has previously declared it an "act of war", and warned of "merciless retaliation".
The attack, by a group calling itself the Guardians Of Peace, crippled key systems at Sony Pictures, led to the disclosure of personal information about 47,000 employees, and saw blockbuster movies, including Second World War drama Fury starring Brad Pitt, being leaked online.
There has been speculation that the attack was Pyongyang's retaliation for the Sony movie.
North Korea's top military body, the National Defence Commission, rejected reports of its involvement as "false rumour", but criticised Sony for "abetting a terrorist act while hurting the dignity of the supreme leadership of the (North)".
Video:2 Dec: Did North Korea Hack Sony?
It told the state-run news agency: "The hacking into the Sony Pictures might be a righteous deed of the supporters and sympathisers with the (North) in response to its appeal."
Meanwhile, forensics experts hired by Sony to investigate the massive cyber attack at its Hollywood studio said the breach was unprecedented, well-planned and carried out by an "organised group".
However, no indication is given of who was behind the hacking campaign.
The company has faced accusations of poor security in the wake of the attack, underlined by the revelation that the media giant saved thousdands of internal passwords in a folder called 'Passwords'.
1/28
Gallery: Kim Jong-Un Inspecting Things
North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un makes regular public appearances across the country
The state media follows him as he enjoys visits to factories, military installations and construction sites. Continue through for more pictures
