• Mexican journalists' sons killed; seven bodies found near Mexico City

    By Gabriel Stargardter, Reuters

    MEXICO CITY — Gunmen executed the sons of two prominent Mexican journalists in the northern city of Chihuahua, a spokesman for the state attorney general's office said on Sunday, and police found seven bodies dumped in a Mexico City suburb.


    Alfredo Paramo, 20, and Diego Paramo, 21, were shot dead in Chihuahua early on Saturday after being chased through the streets by gunmen in a car, said spokesman Carlos Gonzalez.

    They are the sons of well-known Mexican financial journalist David Paramo, who hosts a radio show, appears on TV Azteca and has a national newspaper column, and Martha Gonzalez, the editor of the local El Peso newspaper.

    "We still don't know what they were doing there," Carlos Gonzalez said. "But this has nothing to do with the professional activities of their parents."

    Mexican journalists are often targeted and killed by drug cartels for reporting on their activities. The Committee to Protect Journalists, a New York-based advocacy group, says 25 journalists have been murdered in Mexico since 1992.

    In a separate incident, authorities found seven bodies dumped in a car in a Mexico City suburb on Sunday morning, a local police official said.

    Two of the men were found naked. Police have identified three of the men, who ranged in ages from 14 to 42, the official said.

    It appeared all seven men, who were found in the suburb of Ecatepec, had been shot, the official said.

    Last year, police discovered eight corpses dumped in the down-at-the-heels suburb of 2 million people.

    Ecatepec lies in the State of Mexico, which borders the capital to the north and where more than half the population of greater Mexico City lives.

    Until 2011, Enrique Pena Nieto, now the president of Mexico, was the governor of the State of Mexico.

    He has vowed to take a different tack than his presidential predecessor, Felipe Calderon, who sent in the troops to tackle the warring drug cartels. Pena Nieto has focused instead on stopping kidnapping and extortion.

    Roughly 70,000 people have died in drug-related killings since 2006, when Calderon launched his military-led campaign. More than 4,200 have died in the first four months of Pena Nieto's term, a slower pace than early 2012.

    Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

  • Venezuela's Hugo Chavez unlikely to be preserved 'for eternity'

    Miraflores Palace / Handout / EPA

    Mourners file past the body of the late Hugo Chavez at the Military Academy in Caracas, Venezuela, on Wednesday, Mar. 13.

    By Mario Naranjo, Reuters

    CARACAS — Venezuela's government said on Wednesday it may not be possible to embalm the remains of late leader Hugo Chavez as planned because the process should have been started earlier.

    Chavez died last week aged 58 after a two-year battle with cancer. His body has been on display in a glass-topped coffin at a grandiose military academy in the capital Caracas, where millions of people have filed past to pay homage.

    The government had said it planned to embalm Chavez's remains "for eternity" in much the same way as was done with the remains of Soviet leaders Lenin and Stalin and communist Chinese leader Mao Zedong after they died.

     

     

     

    "Russian and German scientists have arrived to embalm Chavez and they tell us it's very difficult because the process should have started earlier ... Maybe we can't do it,'' acting President Nicolas Maduro said in televised comments on Wednesday.

    "We are in the middle of the process. It's complicated, it's my duty to inform you."

    Government sources said they expected a formal announcement to be made later this week that, despite the efforts of the team involved, it had not been possible to embalm Chavez.

    World leaders and celebrities paid a last tribute to the flamboyant late Venezuelan leader at his funeral last week. On Friday, his body is due to be transferred from the military academy to a museum on a hilltop overlooking the Miraflores presidential palace.

    Chavez's death has brought an outpouring of emotion in Venezuela, especially among his millions of mostly poor supporters, many of whom viewed him almost as a religious figure even before his death.

    Detractors say the adoration of Chavez is over-the-top and ignores his confrontational style and bullying of opponents.

    They accuse the government of manipulating emotions around his death to help Maduro win an election scheduled for April 14.

    Slideshow: Hugo Chavez: 1954 - 2013

    Francisco Gomez / Spanish Royal / EPA

    Supporters of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez mourn his death and gather for his funeral.

    Launch slideshow

  • Women in India's 'rape capital' speak out

    Mansi Thapliyal / Reuters

    Richa Singh, 24, who works for an online travel portal, says, "women are seen as objects in this city, it doesn't matter what I wear, I still get stared at by men on the streets."

    By Jon Sweeney, NBC News

    Since the death of a medical student who was gang raped on a bus in New Delhi the issue of women's security has been under the spotlight as never before in India. Mansi Thapliyal, a female Indian photographer working for Reuters, interviewed a variety of women in New Delhi to find out how they feel about their safety since the rape.

    Reactions were strong and wide ranging, from women who now feel they need to arm themselves or take self-defense classes, to others who are scared to go out alone at night.

    "My city is known as the so-called rape capital of the country," Thapliyal wrote in a blog post on Reuters.com. "They say it’s unsafe, it’s dangerous, and it’s full of wolves looking to hunt you down." Read her entire blog post on Reuters.com.

    Thapliyal decided to focus her camera on the city’s women to find what they think about their security, and how they are protecting themselves. Below is a collection of her photos shot earlier this month, and made available to NBC News today. 

    Aanchal Sukhija, 19, studying fashion media communication, said that whenever she hires an auto rickshaw she has to send a short message to her father giving details of the auto in order to feel secure.

    Mansi Thapliyal / Reuters

    Aanchal Sukhija waits for an auto rickshaw outside a metro station in Gurgaon on the outskirts of New Delhi.

    Nalini Bharatwaj, 37, chairperson of a management institute, says "Half of the time I am alone with my children and sometimes I have to travel late at night from work. It's enough to shut up anyone trying to molest me or even pass a comment if I flaunt my gun." 

    Mansi Thapliyal / Reuters

    Nalini Bharatwaj, holds a gun while posing in her office in New Delhi.

    Deepshikha Bharadwaj, 24, who works for an advertising agency, has posted the notice that reads, 'Sorry I am not staying late now,' on her desk and said she wanted to send a message to her colleagues that she is not going to work late in the office anymore.

    Mansi Thapliyal / Reuters

    Deepshikha Bharadwaj stands inside an elevator in her office on the outskirts of New Delhi.

    Sweety, 22,a student, travels four hours every day from her village to the city to learn karate and taekwondo. She said, "boys in my village are scared to tease me after I beat up one boy who was passing lewd comments on me."

    Mansi Thapliyal / Reuters

    Sweety, takes a self defense class in New Delhi.

    Simrat, 24, who works for a non-profit arts organization, said, “I made the decision to use public transport as my primary way of moving through the city because I really believe that it is my right to be able to use public space, just as much as it is of any man."

    Mansi Thapliyal / Reuters

    Simrat travels in the women's compartment of a metro in New Delhi.

    Chandani, 22, who works as a cab driver for a social enterprise which claims to provide safe and secure cab services for women driven by women, said demand for their cabs has increased.

     "I am doing a very unconventional job for women,” she said. “Given that I do night shifts, I carry pepper spray bottle and I'm trained in self-defense. Initially I faced a lot of problems but driving cabs at night has helped me to overcome my fears.”

    Mansi Thapliyal / Reuters

    Chandani sits inside her car on a street in New Delhi.

  • Reuters cameraman wounded by Syrian sniper

    Ahmed Jadallah / Reuters

    Ayman al-Sahili, a Reuters cameraman, receives first aid after he was shot in the leg by a sniper loyal to Syrian President Bashar el-Assad while filming on the front line in Syria's north city of Aleppo on Dec. 31.

    By Reuters

    A Reuters television cameraman was shot in the leg and wounded while filming on the front line in Syria's northern city of Aleppo on Monday.

    Ayman al-Sahili, a Libyan citizen working as part of a Reuters multi-media reporting team, was hit by a rifle bullet fired from a distance. He was treated in Syria and then driven across the border to Turkey. His injury was not life-threatening.

    The ambulance transporting Sahili to Turkey encountered an air strike in Aleppo and maneuvered into an alley until it was safe to continue the journey.

    Syria was by far the most dangerous country for journalists in 2012, with 28 killed there during the year according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, a watchdog group. Read the full story.

    Ahmed Jadallah / Reuters

    Ayman al-Sahili is carried on a stretcher after he was wounded by a sniper loyal to Syrian President Bashar el-Assad in Syria's north city of Aleppo on Dec. 31.

    Ahmed Jadallah / Reuters

    Ayman al-Sahili is carried away in Syria's north city of Aleppo on Dec. 31.

    Ahmed Jadallah / Reuters

    A Free Syrian Army fighter pulls a boy off the street as a sniper fires during fighting with forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar el-Assad in Aleppo city on Dec. 31.

    Previously on PhotoBlog:

    Slideshow: Syria uprising

    Muhammed Muheisen / AP

    A look back at the violence that has overtaken the country

    Launch slideshow

     

  • Reuters journalists: Israeli troops assaulted us, forced us to strip in street

    Dozens of Palestinians faced off with Israeli soldiers in the West Bank city of Hebron. The confrontation came after the shooting death of a 17-year-old by Israel's paramilitary border police force. NBCNews.com's Alex Witt reports.

    By NBC News staff and wire reports

    HEBRON, West Bank -- Israeli soldiers have been accused of punching two Reuters cameramen and forcing them to strip in the street, before letting off a tear gas canister in front of them, leaving one of them needing hospital treatment.

    Israel's military said Thursday it took the allegations seriously. 

    "The regional brigade commander was ordered to open an investigation," Israeli Defense Forces spokeswoman Avital Leibovich said in an email.

    Yousri Al Jamal and Ma'amoun Wazwaz said a foot patrol stopped them on Wednesday in the heart of Hebron as they were driving to a nearby checkpoint where a Palestinian teenager had just been shot dead by an Israeli border guard.

    Their car was clearly marked "TV" and they were both wearing blue flak jackets with "Press" emblazoned on the front.

    The soldiers forced them to leave the vehicle and punched them, striking them with the butts of their guns. They accused the journalists of working for an Israeli NGO, B'Tselem, which documents human rights violations in the occupied West Bank, the Reuters cameramen said.


    Locals say B'Tselem has given a number of Palestinians video cameras so they can film soldiers and settlers who live in this divided city. The NGO was not immediately available for comment.

    The soldiers did not let the men produce their official ID papers and forced them to strip down to their underwear, making them kneel on the road with their hands behind their heads, the cameramen said.

    Two other Palestinian journalists working for local news organizations, including a satellite television station affiliated to the Islamist group Hamas, were also stopped and forced to the ground.

    One of the soldiers then dropped a tear gas canister between the men and the IDF patrol ran away, according to the cameramen. The four journalists scrambled clear and Jamal and Wazwaz got to their car, which had rapidly filled up with tear gas, they said.

    More Israel coverage from NBC News

    They tried to drive away, but said they only got around 200 meters before they had to stop and exit the vehicle because of the gas. The soldiers then fired more tear gas in their direction, the cameramen said.

    Wazwaz was overcome by the fumes and was taken to hospital by ambulance. He was released later the same night.

    'Mistreatment'
    The Israeli soldiers allegedly took two gas masks and a video camera from their car. The undamaged camera was later found abandoned further up the road, according to the Reuters journalists.

    "We deplore the mistreatment of our journalists and have registered our extreme dismay with the Israeli military authorities," said Stephen J. Adler, editor-in-chief of Reuters News.

    Paul Danahar, the chairman of the Foreign Press Association in Israel, said on Twitter that the organization would soon issue a statement on the attack.

    There “must be a limit (on) how many times (the) IDF can say this stuff is usual behavior,” he wrote.

    Complete World coverage on NBCNews.com

    Tensions have been running particularly high in Hebron in the past week following repeated clashes between stone-throwing youths and soldiers.

    Muhammad al-Salameh, 17, was shot dead close to his house in the heart of Hebron on Wednesday evening after an altercation with border guards at a nearby checkpoint. Israeli police said he had brandished a gun, which later proved to be a toy gun.

    Some 800 Jewish settlers live among 30,000 Palestinians in the parts of the old city that are under Israeli control.

    Reuters contributed to this report.

    More world stories from NBC News:

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  • Reuters hacked twice in 48 hours; pro-Syrian government stories, Tweets posted

    Twitter.com

    Twitter.com

    By Bob Sullivan, Columnist, NBC News

    UPDATED, Aug. 6, 12:18 p.m. ET --  

    The Reuters news service suffered a second successful hacker attack this weekend, just 48 hours after a computer intruder was able to post fake news stories on its web site.  In Sunday's attack, a small Reuters Twitter feed -- @ReutersTech , with 17,000 followers -- was briefly controlled by hackers.

    "Earlier today @ReutersTech was hacked and changed to @ReutersME," Reuters announced on its Twitter feed Sunday. "The account has been suspended and is currently under investigation."

    An archive of posts made to the @ReutersMe account, viewable Monday on Topsy.com, show 22 rapid-fire Tweets were published on Sunday; some clearly contained pro-Syrian government messages, such as: "FSA commander Riyad Al Asaad states a tactical withdrawal from Aleppo imminent."

    Others didn't discuss the Syrian conflict, such as this: "Obama signs executive order banning any further investigation of 9/11. "

    The Twitter hack comes after Reuters said Friday that its blog platform was hacked and that a fake news story regarding the conflict in Syria had been posted.

    A spokesperson for Reuters confirmed the attack to NBC News.

    "A false blog posting, purporting to carry an interview with the head of the Free Syrian Army Riad al-Asaad ... was illegally posted on a Reuters journalist's blog page," said a post on the Reuters Twitter feed, which is followed by nearly 2 million people. "Reuters did not carry out such an interview and the posting has been deleted."

    It wasn't clear if any Reuters subscribers picked up the story and ran it in their publications; Reuters refused to answer additional questions about the incident. But the fake post was on the site for roughly 6 hours, according to the time stamp on a Reuters web page where one of the posts was initially published.  

    Initial word of the hack came via the Reuters Twitter feed just after 1 p.m. ET on Friday.

    “Reuters.com was a target of a hack on Friday. Our blogging platform was compromised," the Twitter feed said. "…And fabricated blog posts were falsely attributed to several Reuters journalists. We are working to address the problem."

    News services have long been an attractive target for hackers looking to get attention, dating back the early days of the Internet, when a denial of service attack made many major news sites unavailable for several days; other attacks have rendered sites unavailable for brief periods as a form protest. But attention-getting hacks have always been little more than pranks. The real danger of a news site attack comes from a quiet hack that potentially  spreads falsehoods under what appears to be the banner of an unbiased news service.

    It's been a busy 24 hours for hackers targeting major media with fake news: Computer intruders managed to post a false story on the New York Yankees Facebook page Thursday and on several other teams' pages.

    * Follow Bob Sullivan on Facebook.
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  • Clear and present danger? Hezbollah threat to US uncertain

    Rep. Peter T. King (R-NY), Chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security delivers an opening statement March 21 at a full committee hearing entitled: "Iran, Hezbollah, and the Threat to the Homeland."

    03-21-2012

    Connect with the Committee:
    http://twitter.com/househomeland
    http://facebook.com/househomeland

    By Jim Gold, NBC News

    Whether Hezbollah poses a threat to the United States remains unclear despite Rep. Peter King's warning that the Iranian-backed terror group may have thousands of supporters in America, Reuters reports.

    “We know Hezbollah operatives are here,” King, R-N.Y., said March 21 as he opened a House Committee on Homeland Security hearing on “Iran, Hezbollah, and the Threat to the Homeland.” King, the committee chairman, warned that officials estimated thousands of Hezbollah agents could be in the country.

    He also went on CNN to say Hezbollah “is the ‘A’ team of international terrorism — far more sophisticated than al-Qaida."

    But Reuters said that U.S. intelligence and law enforcement officials and private experts, while concluding there is a threat, say “whether it is imminent or extensive is far from clear.”

    Concern over Hezbollah's operations comes amid a growing confrontation over Iran's nuclear program, Reuters said.

    An attack on Iran’s nuclear sites could prompt Hezbollah to launch retaliatory attacks on Israel as well as the United States, where most of its activities have been fund-raising and surveillance, officials told Reuters. But there is a big difference between being a Hezbollah supporter and someone who would be willing to engage in violent activity, officials told Reuters.

    Read the full Reuters report here.

    Video: Strike on Iran could prompt Hezbollah attack within U.S.

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