Soldiers flood western Mexico to protect towns

World News

Mexican army soldiers enter the town of La Ruana, Michoacan, Mexico, Monday, May 20, 2013. Residents of western Mexico towns who endured months besieged by a drug cartel are cheering the arrival of hundreds of Mexican army troops. Hundreds of people in the state of Michoacan have taken up arms to defend their villages against drug gangs, a vigilante movement born of frustration at extortion, killings and kidnappings in a region wracked by violence. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

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Soldiers flood w... Mexican army soldiers enter the town of La Ruana, Michoacan, Mexico, Monday, May 20, 2013. Residents of western Mexico towns who endured months besieged by a drug cartel are cheering the arrival of hundreds of Mexican army troops. Hundreds of people in the state of Michoacan have taken up arms to defend their villages against drug gangs, a vigilante movement born of frustration at extortion, killings and kidnappings in a region wracked by violence. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
Pakistani cricke... Supporters of former Pakistani cricket star and chief of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party (PTI) Imran Khan attend a sit-in-protest to condemn the killing of Zohra Shahid, a senior member of PTI in Karachi, Monday, May 20, 2013 in Islamabad, Pakistan. Police said gunmen on a motorcycle shot and killed Shahid outside her home on Saturday. (AP Photo/B.K. Bangash)
Toronto mayor av... Toronto Mayor Rob Ford sits during a City council meeting at Toronto City Hall on Tuesday May 21, 2013. Ford ignored a crush of reporters waiting outside his city hall office this morning in the hopes he would address allegations that he was recorded on video appearing to smoke crack cocaine. (AP Photo/THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette)
Ai Weiwei uses m... Artist Ai Weiwei speaks to journalists at his studio in Beijing, China, Wednesday, May 22, 2013. Ai's music video accompanying his heavy metal single “Dumbass’’ released Wednesday depicts an insensitive, overbearing state power that tramples on individual rights. The video is meant to reconstruct his 81-day secret detention in 2011, which was part of the overall crackdown by Chinese authorities on dissent. Ai later was convicted of tax evasion, which his supporters saw as punishment for his activism.(AP Photo/Alexander F. Yuan)
Top figures barr... In this picture taken on Saturday, May 11, 2013, former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani waves to media as he registers his candidacy for the upcoming presidential election, while his daughter Fatemeh, right, looks on, at the election headquarters of the interior ministry in Tehran, Iran. A hardline news website says Iran's election overseers have rejected a pair of powerful and divisive figures from running in next month's presidential election. Tasnimnews.com say Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former president who still wields enormous influence, and Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, a close confident of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, have been barred by the Guardian Council. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Syria opposition... This citizen journalism image provided by Qusair Lens, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows a Syrian man checking his destroyed house that was damaged by a Syrian forces air strike in the town of Qusair, near the Lebanon border, Homs province, Syria, Tuesday, May 21, 2013. Several members of Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group died of wounds sustained while fighting for control of a strategic Syrian town near the Lebanese border, activists said Tuesday, as the battle in the area raged for its third straight day. (AP Photo/Qusair Lens)
The pope and the... In this image made from video provided by APTN, Pope Francis lays his hands on the head of a young man on Sunday, May 19, 2013, after celebrating Mass in St. Peter’s Square. The young man heaved deeply a half-dozen times, convulsed and shook, and then slumped in his wheelchair as Francis prayed over him. The television station of the Italian bishops’ conference said it had surveyed exorcists, who agreed Francis either performed an exorcism or a prayer to free the man from the devil. The Vatican was more cautious Tuesday, saying Francis “didn’t intend to perform any exorcism. But as he often does for the sick or suffering, he simply intended to pray for someone.” (AP Photo/APTN)
Israel warns Syr... An Israeli soldier works on top of a tank in a position in the Israeli controlled Golan Heights, on the border with Syria, Tuesday, May 21, 2013. Israel's military chief has issued a stern warning to Syrian leader Bashar Assad after an Israeli military jeep came under fire from Syrian forces early Tuesday. Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz said on Tuesday that Israel will not allow the Golan Heights "to become a comfortable sphere for Assad to operate from." He said that if the situation deteriorates further, Assad "will have to bear the consequences." (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Riots in Stockho... Police officers stand guard in a street during a riot in Stockholm, Sweden, Monday, May 20, 2013. Gangs of youth apparently angered by the police shooting death of an elderly man hurled rocks at police and set cars and buildings on fire in a Stockholm suburb, forcing the evacuation of an apartment block. (AP Photo Johan Nilsson) SWEDEN OUT
Iran candidate l... COMBO - This combination of eight pictures shows eight candidates approved Tuesday, May 21, 2013 for Iran's June 14 presidential election to replace Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who cannot run again because of term limits, clockwise from left: Mohammad Gharazi, Mohsen Rezaei, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, Gholam Ali Haddad Adel, Saeed Jalili, Ali Akbar Velayati, and Hasan Rowhani, taken between May 9 and May 11, 2013. (AP Photo)
Caribbean talks ... A statue decorates the pool area of Richard Branson's property on Necker Island in the British Virgin Islands, Friday, May 17, 2013. Political and business leaders gathered here Friday to back an initiative aimed at expanding protection for the Caribbean's imperiled coasts and waters. Delegations from the participating governments signed a communique pledging to establish a framework for a regional approach to coastal conservation, including “increasing considerably the number of marine protected areas.” They also said they recognized an urgent need to protect sharks and rays, and vowed a “dramatic acceleration in the transition from fossil fuels to alternative energy sources over the next five years.” (AP Photo/Todd VanSickle)
FBI ID's Benghaz... FILE - This Sept. 13, 2012 file photo shows a cameraman filming one of U.S. consulate burnt out offices after an attack that killed four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens on the night of Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2012, in Benghazi, Libya. The U.S. has identified five men they believe might be behind the attack on the diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, last year, and have enough evidence to justify seizing them by military force as suspected terrorists _ but not enough proof to try them in a U.S. civilian criminal court, the process the Obama administration prefers, U.S. officials said. (AP photo/Mohammad Hannon, File)
North Korea send... High-ranking North Korean party and military official Choe Ryong Hae, second left, prepares to depart for China as a special envoy of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, at Pyongyang airport, North Korea Wednesday, May 22, 2013. The trip by Choe, a vice marshal who is director of the General Political Bureau of the Korean People's Army, is the highest-profile visit by a North Korean official to neighboring China this year and takes place at as Beijing is under pressure to rein in Pyongyang’s provocations. (AP Photo/ Kim Kwang Hyon)