Mexico ( Authorities Arrest 12 Kidnappers in Mexico )

MEXICO CITY – Authorities arrested 12 suspected kidnappers and rescued two captives in separate operations in Mexico, officials said.

Federal Police officers arrested three suspected kidnappers, including a minor, in central Mexico and rescued a 14-year-old who had been abducted last month, the National Security Commission said.

The operation was conducted in the city of Huixquilucan, thanks to a tip from the public.

Huixquilucan is in Mexico state, which surrounds the Federal District and forms part of the Mexico City metropolitan area.

Luis Eduardo Gaviño Chavez, 32, who handled negotiations and collected ransom payments, Ignacio Leyva Maldonado, 40, and an unidentified minor were arrested, officials said.

State authorities, meanwhile, arrested nine suspected kidnappers, including seven Nigerians, and rescued a teenage girl abducted on June 20 in Mexico state.

Relatives of the 16-year-old victim, who was kidnapped outside her family’s house in the city of Nextlalpan, contacted authorities, the Mexico state Attorney General’s Office said.

The victim was taken to a house in the city of Zumpango and the kidnappers contacted her family to demand a ransom payment, the AG’s office said.

Police arrested two suspects, one of whom is a minor, when they tried to collect the ransom and were led to the house where the victim was being held, the AG’s office said.

Officers arrested the other seven suspects, all Nigerians, the AG’s office said.

The Nigerians went to Mexico “some time ago (to work) for a computer repair company that no longer exists,” the AG’s office said in a statement.

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Three-year-old fasts for a full day- most start at 10 yrs old (Ramadan)

A three-year-old girl fasted for a full day here on Wednesday, with her parents saying they are proud of her. Maryam's mother Iffar Aabroo and father Rashid Hassan have been encouraging her to do so. Most Muslim children only start fasting at the age of 10.
Her mother said she only started fasting when she was six years old, and thanked Almighty Allah for blessing her with a daughter who has been able to do so at such an early age.
"Maryam is just three years and seven months old and made no demands on us as she observed the first roza (fast) of her life,” her mother said, wiping away a tear. “Alhamdulillah, all praise to Allah,” she said. Maryam said she was initially only imitating her parents, "but after my mother told me the significance of Ramadan, I decided to fast." Maryam also joins her mother in daily prayers and Taraweeh at night. Her parents say their daughter is an example and inspiration to children of her age.

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TEHRAN ( Iran pilot killed fighting in Iraq )

TEHRAN: An Iranian pilot has been killed while fighting in Iraq, state media reported Saturday, in what is thought to be Tehran’s first military casualty during battles against Islamic State fighters.
Iran’s official IRNA news agency did not say whether the pilot died while flying sorties or fighting on the ground.
It said Col. Shoja’at Alamdari Mourjani was killed while “defending” Shiite holy sites in the city of Samarra, north of Baghdad.
His death comes after Iran’s declarations that it will provide its western neighbor with whatever it needs to counter the militants who are laying siege to the Shiite-led government of Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki.
Samarra is a major flashpoint in the fighting and is home to the Shiite Al-Askari shrine which was bombed by Al-Qaeda in February 2006, sparking a bloody Sunni-Shiite sectarian war that killed tens of thousands.
The reports of the pilot’s death came as Iranian officials insist their assistance is not in the form of troops, but rather of weapons and equipment if Iraq asks for them.
The Fars news agency appeared to confirm the IRNA report, publishing photos of a funeral service for the pilot on Friday in his home province of Fars, in southern Iran.
Fars did not give any details, but hinted that Alamdari Mourjani was a member of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, whose elite Quds Force is believed to be on the ground and assisting Iraqi forces, despite Tehran’s denials