Beloved by Mexicans for his dim wits, street smarts and playful disposition, long-running comic book character Memín Pinguín — a little black boy whose face resembles a monkey — is at it again.

His zany adventures chronicled in a hugely popular book series for decades are up for sale at your neighborhood Wal-Mart store in the Libros en Español section, right next to the store’s cadre of African-American books.

The latest issue: Memín para presidente.

By Shawnedria McGinty’s American standards, the image was shocking. The African-American woman who was shopping at the store on South Post Oak over the weekend immediately asked a store manager to remove the books from the shelves. A manager told her he would comply.

“I said, wait a minute: Is this a monkey or a little black boy?” said McGinty, 34, of Meyerland. “I was so upset. This is 2008.” Read more »

A Pakistani man is charged with killing his 25-year-old daughter in Georgia because she wanted out of an arranged marriage, police said.

Somber and tearful, Chaudhry Rashid, 54, of Jonesboro, an Atlanta suburb, made his first court appearance Tuesday in connection with the death of Sandeela Kanwal.

He was advised through an Urdu interpreter of the murder charge, and of his legal rights. Court records indicate that a preliminary hearing has been scheduled for July 24.

Read more »

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Dick Cheney’s office pushed for major deletions in congressional testimony on the public health consequences of climate change, fearing the presentation by a leading health official might make it harder to avoid regulating greenhouse gases, a former EPA official maintains.

When six pages were cut from testimony on climate change and public health by the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last October, the White House insisted the changes were made because of reservations raised by White House advisers about the accuracy of the science.

Read more »

MUNICH, Germany - Two men were convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to prison Tuesday for a brutal attack on a German retiree that sparked a political furor over crime committed by young immigrants.

Munich state court sentenced Turkish-born Serkan Aksu, 21, to 12 years in prison. It gave Greek-born 18-year-old Spyridon Loukas an 8 1/2-year sentence — imposed under juvenile law because he was 17 at the time of the December attack.

Surveillance cameras in a Munich subway station captured footage of the pair beating and kicking the 76-year-old retired teacher after he asked them to respect a ban on smoking. Read more »

GENEVA - Swiss nationalists are forcing a popular vote on whether to ban the construction of Muslim minarets — a proposal that, if approved, could clash with Switzerland’s constitutionally protected right to freedom of religion.

The Interior Ministry said it received a petition Tuesday for a referendum on the issue with more than the required 100,000 signatures.

It was submitted by members of the nationalist Swiss People’s Party and the fringe Federal Democratic Union, which say they are acting to fight the spread of political Islam. They argue the minaret symbolizes a bid for political and religious power rather than just a religious sign. Read more »

PRAGUE (Reuters) - The United States signed a pact on Tuesday to build part of a U.S. missile defense shield in the Czech Republic, prompting neighboring Russia to warn it will react with military means if the shield is deployed.

The U.S. and Czech foreign ministers toasted with champagne after signing the accord to place a tracking radar southwest of Prague as part of a system to protect against the perceived threat of missile attack from countries such as Iran.

But Russia, in a statement reminiscent of Cold War rhetoric, warned the United States against deploying the shield close to its borders. Read more »

Democratic US presidential candidate Barack Obama has requested permission to give an address at the Brandenburg Gate when he visits Berlin later this month, according to German media reports. Although it’s still not official, various German media are reporting that Obama’s team has contacted the Berlin Senate to discuss the possibility of the presidential hopeful delivering an outdoor speech in front of the famous landmark. It would likely be his only public speech during an upcoming European tour which is set to include stops in Germany, France and the UK. SOURCE>>>>

America is back in the heart of Berlin, but is America’s heart really in it? Looking at the much-criticized architecture of the new U.S. Embassy to Germany, one could be forgiven for thinking the United States doesn’t really want to be next to Berlin’s Landmark Brandenburg Gate.

Set back from the street in order to protect against terrorist bombings, drive-by shootings and mob attacks, the embassy is decked-out with an array of defensive systems. It features rocket-proof glass, computerized surveillance, explosion-proof walls, and an innovative air filtration system built to defend against poison gas. All of this is sheathed behind a drab salmon facade which, complete with sloping portico and plunging atrium, appears bland, quaintly postmodernist, and somewhat provincial. STORY>>>>>

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - A grand jury has added charges against two men accused of killing the student body president at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Orange County District Attorney Jim Woodall says both 22-year-old Demario James Atwater and 17-year-old Laurence Alvin Lovette Jr. now face charges of armed robbery, first-degree kidnapping, felonious larceny and felonious possession of stolen goods.  MORE>>>

DOUGLAS, Ariz (Reuters) - Walls get tagged with graffiti. Cars get shot up in drive-by shootings. Youngsters flash gang signs and battle with bricks, sticks, bats and pipes in the local park over turf.

Once a sleepy smelter town on the Mexico border, Douglas is one of several cities in southern Arizona that are being transformed into urban battlefields as warring street gangs muscle in from southern California, police say.

A sun-baked backwater of broad streets and bungalows set in vast, high desert ranchland, Douglas is now a patchwork of territories held by the East Side Torrance and the South Side Harbor City, both Los Angeles-area street gangs, as well as lesser home-grown gangs. Read more »