Orb Standard: Americas

Four U.S. Soldiers Charged in Tigris River Death

Four U.S. soldiers have been charged in the drowning death of an Iraqi man forced to jump off a bridge into the Tigris River, according to newspaper reports on Friday.

The soldiers were part of a patrol that detained two Iraqi men for a late-night curfew violation, then ordered them to jump off the bridge in the northern Iraqi town of Samarra on Jan. 3, according to the Rocky Mountain News. One swam ashore, but the other drowned.

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Pre-Columbian grave opens door to ancient Mexican civilization: The pre-Columbian graves recently uncovered in western Mexico are expected to shed new light on the funeral rites of the Armeria civilization. The importance of the discovery lies in that most of the tombs are "very simple," archaeologist Andres Alcantara told EFE.

Funeral in Tracy for soldier killed in Iraq ambush: Funeral services will be held Thursday in Tracy for California National Guard Sgt. Patrick McCaffrey, who was killed June 22 in an ambush near Balad, Iraq.

Child murders increased last year in Guatemala: The murders of children and adolescents nearly doubled last year in Guatemala, rising to 639 from the 352 that were reported in 2002, the city's Catholic archdiocese said Tuesday. According to the report entitled "The State of Childhood in Guatemala" issued by the archdiocese's human rights office, known as ODHA, 518 children under the age of 19 were killed by firearms last year.

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