Mexico

Pastor killed in town known for violence

A pastor was shot to death in his car Friday in a southern Mexico town with a long tradition of religious violence, police reported.

Authorities found the body of Mariano Diaz Mendez, a Pentecostal pastor of Indian descent, shot twice inside the car in a roadside ditch in San Juan Chamula, a majority Catholic township just outside San Cristobal, 460 miles southeast of Mexico City.

Since the 1960s, San Juan Chamula has seen numerous killings and confrontations between Catholic traditionalists and evangelical Protestants.

State police and investigators attempted to transport the body for an examination, but residents of Chamula, where customs prohibit autopsies, took the corpse from the police by force.

Jamaica

Police shooting prompts rioting in Montego Bay

Crowds burned cars and buses and blocked roads near Montego Bay’s airport Saturday to protest the killing of two men by police.

Police fired guns in the air and used tear gas to disperse the protesters, who numbered about 4,000, but the crowds regrouped, tossing bottles at officers and preventing them from clearing moving burnt vehicles from the roadways leading to the resort city’s airport.

No injuries or arrests were reported.

The protests began early Saturday after police shot and killed two men who the officers said opened fire first from a car, police Supt. Newton Amos said.

People in the surrounding neighborhood challenged the official version and said police opened fire first on the two men, who were in their 60s.

Saudi Arabia

U.S. Embassy urges vigilance for Ramadan

The U.S. Embassy in Riyadh said Saturday it continued to receive information that terrorists were planning future operations and urged Americans to be “particularly vigilant” during the holy Islamic fasting month of Ramadan.

The U.S. Embassy warning came a day after Britain’s Foreign Office said it believed that “terrorists may be in the final phases of planning attacks” in Saudi Arabia.

The Saudi government said Saturday it was taking action against terrorism and criticized Britain for issuing the warning without consulting it first. The kingdom launched a crackdown against Islamic militants after a string of bombings on Western residential compounds in Riyadh on May 12 in which 26 people and nine assailants were killed.

Jordan

King swears in 21-member Cabinet

Jordan’s new prime minister was sworn in Saturday, and he pledged to increase democracy and work for a “moderate and tolerant” nation that would be an example for others.

Faisal al-Fayez, 51, and 20 Cabinet colleagues were sworn in Saturday during a brief ceremony in the Throne Chamber at Raghadan Palace in Amman.

King Abdullah II later issued a royal decree naming the new ministers, which for the first time include women.

According to the list, al-Fayez retained nine ministers from the Cabinet of former Prime Minister Ali Abul-Ragheb.

Most significantly, al-Fayez kept Marwan Muasher as foreign minister. The pillars of Jordan’s foreign policy are diplomatic relations with Israel and close political and military ties with the United States.