3 Suspects arrested for Mexican admiral's killing

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Army troops arrested three men suspected of being linked to the killing of an admiral over the weekend in the western Mexican state of Michoacan, officials said.

"Members of the National Defense Secretariat captured three" subjects who were allegedly involved in the attack on Vice Adm. Carlos Miguel Salazar Ramonet, federal security spokesman Eduardo Sanchez told MVS radio.

The three suspects, who were arrested for the killing of Salazar Ramonet and his bodyguard, have confessed to the murders, Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam said.

The three men told investigators that they were members of the Caballeros Templarios drug cartel, Murillo Karam said.

Salazar Ramonet, commander of the 8th Naval Zone, and his bodyguard were killed Sunday on a rural road by gunmen.

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Pope softens church's tone on gays; maintains ban on women priests

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Pope Francis said that he does not judge gays and that they should be integrated into society, but made it clear that the priesthood remains closed to women.

Francis made those statements at a press conference where the reporters present, including those from Efe, were on a plane with the pope as he returned to Rome from Rio de Janeiro, where he had presided over the 28th World Youth Day event.

For 90 minutes he answered all the questions asked by reporters with no subjects out of bounds, including some very delicate matters like the suspected gay lobby in the Vatican.

"If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge him?," the 76-year-old Argentine pontiff said.

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Woman arrested for vandalism at Washington Cathedral

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Police arrested a woman suspected of vandalizing the National Cathedral here, after splotches of green paint were found on the church organ, the third incident of this kind at one of the capital's emblematic sites.

Washington's assistant police chief, Peter Newsham, told reporters that the woman was arrested near the cathedral and that she is facing charges of destruction of property.

Last Friday, authorities found green paint splattered on the base of the seated statue of Abraham Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial and on Monday morning, green paint was also found on another statue outside the Smithsonian Institution.

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At least 6 dead in U.S. drone strike in Pakistan

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At least six suspected insurgents died in a U.S. drone strike against a building in a tribal area of North Waziristan, a Pakistani official told Efe.

"The home, which was hit by two missiles, belonged to a group of foreign paramilitaries and those who died were not Pakistanis," regional administrator Rehman Sha said by telephone from Peshawar.

The attack occurred late Sunday in the area of Data Khel, he said.

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Angelina Jolie is Hollywood's best-paid actress, Forbes says

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Although it has been three years since her last film, Angelina Jolie is the best-paid actress in Hollywood, according to Forbes magazine.

Jolie pocketed $33 million in the 12 months ending June 30 thanks to the start of filming of "Maleficent," in which she will play the evil witch of the "Sleeping Beauty" tale and which will be her return to the world of Hollywood blockbusters.

In second place on the Forbes list, earning $26 million, is Jennifer Lawrence, who at the last edition of the Oscars won the Best Actress award for her role in "Silver Linings Playbook" and starred in one of the biggest box office hits of 2012, "The Hunger Games."

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Car bombings leave 47 dead in Iraq

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The explosion of some 15 car bombs in Iraq caused the deaths of 47 people while wounding more than 200 others.

If the last four months were the most deadly in five years, with more than 3,000 killed and 7,000 wounded, according to the U.N. mission in Baghdad, the death toll in July is headed in the same direction with attacks principally targeting security forces and the Shi'ite Muslim community.

A total of 11 vehicles blew up Monday in various Shi'ite neighborhoods of the capital, killing 26 people and leaving 130 injured, Iraqi police told Efe.

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Take in French jewelry heist now put at $136 mn

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The take from the jewelry heist over the weekend at the InterContinental Carlton Cannes Hotel in southeastern France now stands at 103 million euros ($136 million), media reports said, citing judicial officials.

Sunday's heist is now the largest ever in France, topping the 80 million euros ($106 million) in jewelry stolen from Harry Winston in Paris in 2008.

A lone robber apparently managed to grab 72 pieces, the majority of them creations and precious gems belonging to diamond house Leviev, which was exhibiting them in the July 20-Aug. 30 "Extraordinary Diamonds" show.

The armed robber, who wore a mask and gloves, entered the hotel exhibition hall, where the jewelry fair was being held, and forced employees to put the majority of the pieces, 34 of which were considered exceptional, in a bag.

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38 Dead in Italy bus crash

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Thirty-eight people were killed and 19 were injured when a bus plunged off a viaduct in the southern Italian province of Avellino.

Media outlets said that this was one of the worst traffic accidents ever in Italy and noted that it occurred on a stretch of highway where in recent years there have been nearly a score of deadly crashes.

All but 10 of the 48 people aboard the bus lost their lives, including the driver.

Nine of the injured were people traveling in other vehicles that the bus struck before running off the road.

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Driver of train in deadly crash in Spain had no idea where he was

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Francisco Jose Garzon, the driver of the high-speed train involved in a derailment that killed 79 people last week in the northwestern Spanish region of Galicia, told investigating Judge Luis Alaez that he lost track of his position and did not know where he was on the evening the accident occurred, sources close to the investigation told Efe.

Garzon, who has been charged with 79 counts of homicide and numerous other crimes, admitted that he was going at double the 80 kph (49 mph) speed limit on the curve in A Grandeira.

The driver told investigators that he "managed to" hit the brakes but it was too late.

Garzon acknowledged in his testimony Sunday that the accident was not caused by mechanical problems or the condition of the train, and he blamed "human error" for the deadly derailment.

The death toll rose to 79 on Sunday, when an American woman passed away at a hospital.

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EFE