JUAREZ, Mexico
Another body found in violent Mexican border city
Associated Press
Authorities said yesterday they had found the bruised and partially clad body of a young woman on a street in this violent border city where a string of rape-murders already has claimed at least 65 women.
The woman was believed to be between 17 and 20 years old, police told the government news agency Notimex.
A woman passing through the neighborhood on Monday night discovered the body lying in an intersection. The victim was dressed in pants and a bra, with no blouse, socks or shoes. Bruise marks were visible on her head and investigators believe her skull was fractured, Notimex reported.
Authorities are investigating whether the victim was sexually assaulted before she was killed.
Just last week, police arrested two city bus drivers in connection with the killing of eight women whose bodies were found earlier this month in Ciudad Juarez, a tough border city of 1.3 million across from El Paso, Texas.
Between 1993 and 1999, police found at least 57 bodies in the desert around Ciudad Juarez.
MIAMI
Coast Guard finds boat said from Cuba
Associated Press
A boat that may have been carrying some 30 Cubans on a clandestine trip to the United States capsized in the Florida Straits, authorities said.
Coast Guard cutters and helicopters searched the area after the crew of a Coast Guard C-130 Hercules airplane spotted the boat yesterday morning. The white, twin-engine craft, about 30 feet long, was about 50 nautical miles southeast of Key West, said Luis Diaz, a spokesman at the Coast Guard's district headquarters in Miami.
"There is a good possibility this is the boat that was carrying the migrants," Diaz said. "Most likely this is the vessel."
Coast Guard crews had not yet found any survivors, Petty Officer Gene Smith said. Family members of the migrants told the Coast Guard that about 30 people left Cuba in a speedboat Friday and were expected to arrive Saturday.
Two Coast Guard C-130s and a cutter begin searching Sunday. They were joined by pilots from the Cuban exile volunteer group Brothers to the Rescue.
Weather conditions in the Florida Straits were poor, with seas up to eight feet and 25-knot winds.
NORTH CHICAGO
Adopt-A-Sailor program booming
Associated Press
So many families were hungry to play host to Navy recruits for Thanksgiving dinner that the Adopt-a-Sailor program ran out of seamen and had to close two days early.
"It was like Ticketmaster at playoff time," said Lt. Cmdr. John Wallach, spokesman for the Great Lakes Naval Training Center, about 35 miles north of Chicago.
Even though the Navy stopped taking applications last Wednesday, volunteers continued calling and sending e-mails.
The response is unparalleled in the more than 50 years of the program, said Lt. Brian Nowak of the Recruit Training Command.
"We think recent events have prompted people to make the requests," he said. The 4,142 eligible recruits will have Thanksgiving dinner with families or in large groups at VFWs, American Legion posts and businesses.
Olga and Jim Ward won assignment of two sailors for dinner, but it took them two days of calling jammed telephone lines.
"We want to show our appreciation to these men and women," Olga Ward said. "They should know that what they're doing is a big deal, especially now."
