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GUATEMALA CITY -- Software company founder John McAfee was hospitalized Thursday after being denied political asylum in Guatemala, and his lawyers said they were making a last-ditch effort to keep him from being flown back to Belize for questioning about the killing of a fellow American expatriate.
Mr. McAfee told The Associated Press that he suffered chest pains overnight but didn't believe he had a heart attack. A government doctor who examined him agreed, saying that Mr. McAfee's heart rhythm and blood pressure were normal and that he appeared to be suffering from high stress.
Mr. McAfee was moved from an immigration center to a police-run hospital Thursday afternoon after Guatemalan authorities said his request for asylum had been denied. They did not explain why. Shortly after the decision was announced, Mr. McAfee issued a plea on his blog for the public to petition Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina to let him stay.
MOSCOW -- A journalist with Russian state television was killed and a government official was injured in separate attacks in the country's violence-plagued North Caucasus region, authorities said Thursday.
Kazbek Gekkiyev, a 28-year-old anchor for the Russia-1 state television network, was gunned down late Wednesday in downtown Nalchik, the capital of the Kabardino-Balkaria republic, officials said. The journalist was allegedly approached by two men who asked whether he was Mr. Gekkiyev. When he confirmed his identity, the assailants reportedly shot him several times and fled.
Russian officials said the slaying appeared to be related to Mr. Gekkiyev's work. An Islamist insurgency in the region has resulted in violent clashes as well as threats against journalists criticized by militants for seemingly favoring law enforcement authorities.
JOHANNESBURG -- A South African military aircraft on an unknown mission to an area near former President Nelson Mandela's village crashed in a mountain range, killing all 11 people onboard, officials said Thursday.
The Douglas C-47TP Dakota, a twin-propeller aircraft, had taken off from Pretoria's Waterkloof Air Force Base on Wednesday morning, said Brig. Gen. Xolani Mabanga, a military spokesman. The aircraft encountered bad weather in flight and failed to make its 10 a.m. landing.
Thursday morning, soldiers found the wreckage in the Drakensberg mountains near Ladysmith in KwaZulu-Natal province, some 210 miles southeast of the air base, Gen. Mabanga said. The Drakensberg, which in the local Afrikaans language means Dragon Mountains, have the highest peaks in South Africa, reaching about 11,400 feet.
AMSTERDAM -- Rescuers on Thursday called off search efforts for six missing crewmen from a cargo ship that sank in the North Sea after a collision with another vessel. The presumed death toll is 11 -- taking into account the missing and five bodies found so far.
A day after the Baltic Ace capsized off Netherlands' southern coast, search helicopters, planes and coast guard ships were called back to their bases amid icy conditions.
"Given the water temperature and the amount of time that's passed, we don't have any hope for more survivors," Peter Westenberg of the Dutch coast guard said. He said passing ships were still being notified by radio to remain alert for possible human remains.
The 485-foot Baltic Ace sank Wednesday evening after colliding with the 440-foot container ship Corvus J near busy shipping lanes. The cause of the collision wasn't known. Thirteen members of the ship's 24-man crew were rescued after the collision.
-- Compiled from news services
First Published December 7, 2012 12:00 am
