Report: U.S. infiltrating Mexican drug cartels
Vicente Zambada Niebla, a.k.a. "El Vicentillo" (center), one of the leaders of the Sinaloa drug cartel, is presented to the media at the attorney general's office in Mexico City, March 19, 2009. The DEA denied that Niebla was an informant, and revealed that another member of his organization was.
/ LUIS ACOSTA/AFP/Getty ImagesThe paper, citing security officials, is reporting informants have already helped Mexican authorities capture or kill about two dozen drug traffickers.
Officials told the Times that over the last two years, Drug Enforcement Administration agents developed several "highly-placed confidential sources" with access to the "command and control" ranks of the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas.
One of the paid informants, authorities say, was approached last spring by Mansour Arbabsiar, who is now charged in an alleged plot to assassinate the Saudi Ambassador. Arbabsiar reportedly reached out to him as to whether Los Zetas would be willing to engage in terrorist attacks in the U.S.
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Diamond, gold ATM unveiled in India
Bollywood actress Raima Sen poses with an example of what can come out of India's new diamond- and gold-dispensing ATM machine during its unveiling in Mumbai on October 22, 2011.
/ Getty ImagesLet's say, for the sake of argument, you're out one night drinking with your buddies, and you realize you forgot your anniversary. It's late, and you can plausibly say you stayed after hours at work, but getting your special someone that diamond pendant they've been hankering for probably seems impossible.
Not anymore.
The Gitanjali Group of India - self-described as the "world's largest integrated conglomerate of diamonds, jewelry and lifestyle brands" - seems intent on proving that the ever-growing class of wealthy Indians also have an insatiable appetite for outlandish luxury goods. Over the weekend, they unveiled what is most likely the world's first diamond- and gold-dispensing ATM in Mumbai.
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Qaddafi's last moments: "Don't shoot"
A Libyan National Transitional Council (NTC) fighter looks through a large concrete pipe where ousted Libyan leader Moamer Qaddafi was allegedly captured, with a dead loyalist gunman in the foreground, in the coastal Libyan city of Sirte on October 20, 2011. Arabic graffiti in blue reads: 'This is the place of Qaddafi, the rat. God is the greatest.'
/ Getty ImagesUpdated 12:39 AM EST
Muammar Qaddafi's final day most likely began as it ended: In a squeeze. He was almost surely in the 700-square-yard area of Sirte where Libya's ex-rebels had penned in the die-hard forces remaining loyal to him.
The transitional government had for some time speculated that Qaddafi was out wandering the desert, recruiting fighters for a counter-insurgency. Therefore, at around 8 a.m., the ex-rebels where probably unaware that their ultimate target was actually within their grasp as they began an assault on that small final area. It was around that time that Qaddafi got in a convoy to flee, according to most accounts.
Somewhere just outside of the loyalist-held area, NATO aircraft struck Qaddafi's convoy, but didn't kill him. According to NATO officials, they were unaware Qaddafi was inside. That airstrike, however, hastened his demise.
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U.N. diplomats applaud Qaddafi demise
Abdel Magid Al Fergany
At the U.N., where the rebel National Transitional Council flag was raised last month and the new government allowed to represent Libya in the General Assembly, diplomats from around the world, almost without exception, applauded the news of Qaddafi's demise, said CBS News Foreign Affairs Analyst Pamela Falk.
U.N. diplomats from the U.S, U.K. and France underscored the support that their leaders have expressed in the future of Libya, Falk said.
Continue »Backpack drone a "magic bullet" for U.S. troops?
U.S. Air Force
For the U.S. military, fighting insurgents in Afghanistan may get a lot stealthier and easier.
According to the British newspaper The Times, U.S. troops will soon be able to deploy the Switchblade, a miniature drone that can be stored in a backpack and offer a new method to locating and killing enemy targets.
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Al-Zawahri: America defeated in Arab Spring
Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri appears in a video message released Oct. 12, 2011.
/ CBSAl Qaeda's newly appointed chief Ayman al-Zawahri hailed what he described "the defeat of America in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and Afghanistan" in yet another speech dedicated to the Arab spring. Al-Zawahri devoted a major portion of his speech to Libya, congratulating Libyan people on the fall of the Gaddafi regime and warning against NATO's hidden colonial intentions.
"O' our people in Libya ... O' Mujahideen ... sons of the Mujahideen .. O' supporters of Islam in Libya ... beware of the plots of the West and its allies as you build your new country. Don't let them fool you and steal your sacrifices and your sufferance," Al-Zawahri said, as he urged Libyans to choose a "pure and pious Jihadi leadership" that would adopt Shariah law as the country's new constitution.
The remarks aren't the first time al-Zawahri has sought to capitalize on the string of government-toppling protests known as the Arab Spring. In an audio recording last month, he claimed that the Sept. 11 terror attacks paved the way for the "Arab volcano" that has swept over the region.
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Russian families sue in switched-at-birth case
AP
A life-changing mistake 12 years ago has now led to a lawsuit.
Two Russian families from the Kopeisk town in the Ural Mountains are suing their local maternity hospital after they've learned they received the wrong babies in 1998, BBC News reported.
The discovery came after the former husband of Yuliya Belyaeva, refused to pay child support for their daughter, Irina, saying that she did not bear a resemblance to him. After Belyaeva took her former husband to court, a DNA test showed that the child was not related to either parent.
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Camila Vallejo, 23, Chile revolution leader
In this photo taken Aug. 18, 2011, University of Chile student president Camila Vallejo looks on during a protest in Santiago, Chile.
/ AP Photo/Roberto CandiaAs populist movements in several corners of the world take to the streets against the status quo, it is often the young faces in the crowd bursting to the forefront. The movements have varied in their efficacy and levels of violence, but the people standing at the front of each face some sort of detention, arrest or worse.
Egypt had Wael Ghonim, the 30-year-old, bespectacled ex-Google executive who became the face of an explosive movement against a repressive regime. Tunisia had Lina Ben Mhenni, the industrious, 27-year-old blogger who broadcast the Tunisian revolution online before most of the world knew there was one, and was even tipped as a candidate for this year's Nobel Peace Prize.
Now garnering international attention is 23-year-old Chilean geography student, Camila Vallejo. The 6-month-old Chilean student protests - which have seen marches and riots involving hundreds of thousands - have not drawn as much attention as many other movements, but Vallejo' persistence, outspokenness and striking looks could be changing that.
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CIA "kill list" panel shrouded in secrecy
Anwar al-Awlaki
/ CBS NewsSomewhere in the bowels of the national security apparatus, a secretive government panel is deciding which Americans can go on the CIA's so-called "kill list," according to a new report.
The "kill list" panel - a subset of the National Security Council made up of senior government officials - exists in a legal no man's land, with no public record of its proceedings and no law justifying or governing its existence, Reuters reports.
The decision to kill Americans abroad without due process has raised many questions in the wake of the drone strike that killed American-born al Qaeda cleric Anwar al-Awlaki.
Continue »American held in Cuba has day in court
Alan and Judy Gross
/ AP/Gross FamilyJailed U.S. contractor Alan Gross shared honey cake and coffee with leaders of Cuba's Jewish community on the eve of Rosh Hashanah, according to one of the participants.
In an email sent to CBS News, Adela Dworin, president of the community, says she and David Prinstein, vice president of the Jewish Community Center had a "private" two-hour meeting with Gross.
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Feds seize 165 kilos of cocaine hidden in boat
150 bricks of cocaine, hidden inside a small fiberglass vessel en route to Puerto Rico, were seized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, September 29, 2011.
/ U.S. Customs and Border Protection(CBS) MAYAGUEZ, PUERTO RICO -- Federal law enforcement agencies Wednesday said they seized 165 kilos (364 pounds) of cocaine, hidden inside a small fiberglass vessel en route to Puerto Rico, according to a statement from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The cocaine was estimated to have a street value of $4.1 million.
PICTURES: Chasing drug smugglers in the Carribbean
Continue »Report: Pakistan aid staff leave over CIA action
Pakistani children look out over the compound of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan, on Tuesday, May 3, 2011.
/ AP PhotoBefore the raid to get Osama bin Laden in Pakistan, the CIA set up a fake vaccination program in the town where he was believed to be hiding, attempting to get the DNA of his family. Dr. Shakil Afridi, who ran the phony vaccination program, is being detained by Pakistani authorities, but has not been charged with any crime.
The blowback from the CIA operation extended beyond the Pakistani nationals left behind, however. Save the Children was forced to evacuate eight staff members after news of the fake vaccination program raised the level of danger for aid agencies in general there, The Guardian reports.
In addition to the eight evacuated staff, two senior staff members were moved to five-star hotels in Islamabad to help their security situation.
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Report: Woman survives live grenade in face
Karla Flores
/ El Universal TV/YouTubeMexican seafood vendor Karla Flores is being called the "Miracle Woman."
Why?
She survived having a live grenade lodged in her face.
One day relatively recently in her home state of Sinaloa, the mother of three was peacefully plying her business on the street when she heard an explosion and was knocked to the ground, Gizmodo reports.
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Obama boxed-in on next Mideast move
President Obama addresses the 66th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Sept. 23, 2011.
/ AP
As the U.N. Security Council takes up discussion Monday of the Palestinian bid for statehood, President Obama has some tough decisions to make about how to proceed with the peace process in the Middle East.
Mr. Obama's address to the U.N. General Assembly was supportive of Israel, and clear on the U.S. threat to veto the Palestinians' bid in the U.N. Security Council -- making it impossible for Palestine to become a state member of the U.N.
Video: Obama urges Palestinians to drop U.N. bid
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked Mr. Obama for his speech, and foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman congratulated him. But President Obama proposed no specific plan, leaving it to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton -- in her role as U.S. representative to the Middle East Quartet of the U.S., Russia, the U.N. and the European Union -- to plot the next steps.
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Nyad to make 2nd Havana-Fla. swim attempt
U.S. swimmer Diana Nyad gives a press conference to announce her swim from Cuba to Key West, Florida, in Havana, Friday Sept. 23, 2011.
/ AP Photo/Javier GaleanoNyad, who marked her 62nd birthday at the end of August just weeks after giving up nearly half-way through the 103-mile swim, is spending the day preparing with her support team, packing in the carbohydrates and hitting the pool to keep her muscles loose.
"I think at the age of 62, I honestly believe, I'm in the best shape of my whole life," Nyad told the media at a marina named for Ernest Hemingway on the outskirts of the Cuban capital.
