Anonymous tip leads authorities to 383 bodies at Mexican crematorium
An anonymous call led Mexican authorities in the border city of Ciudad Juarez to a chilling discovery at a crematorium: 383 bodies and the partial remains of six other people. A drone view shows authorities working at a crematorium where they found bodies piled up in unsanitary conditions, after local funeral homes hired its services for cremation, according to the Chihuahua State Prosecutor's Office, in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico June 30, 2025. (REUTERS)
Chihuahua state prosecutor César Jáuregui said Monday that the people had been dead for at least three or four years.
'Who knows what the ulterior motive of these subjects was, because storing that number also makes you think they weren't providing the service,' he said.
Authorities did not yet know why so many bodies had been stored at the crematorium, which worked with six funeral homes in the city. The bodies were discovered last Thursday.
Jáuregui said the crematorium's owner and an employee had been arrested. Get the latest headlines from US news and global updates from Pakistan, UK, Bangladesh, and Russia get all the latest headlines in one place with including Vance Luther Boelteron Hindustan Times.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
4 hours ago
- Time of India
Two-thirds of the Department of Justice unit defending Trump's policies in court have quit
The U.S. Justice Department unit charged with defending against legal challenges to signature Trump administration policies - such as restricting birthright citizenship and slashing funding to Harvard University - has lost nearly two-thirds of its staff, according to a list seen by Reuters. Sixty-nine of the roughly 110 lawyers in the Federal Programs Branch have voluntarily left the unit since President Donald Trump's election in November or have announced plans to leave, according to the list compiled by former Justice Department lawyers and reviewed by Reuters. The tally has not been previously reported. Using court records and LinkedIn accounts, Reuters was able to verify the departure of all but four names on the list. Reuters spoke to four former lawyers in the unit and three other people familiar with the departures who said some staffers had grown demoralized and exhausted defending an onslaught of lawsuits against Trump's administration. "Many of these people came to work at Federal Programs to defend aspects of our constitutional system," said one lawyer who left the unit during Trump's second term. "How could they participate in the project of tearing it down?" by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Saidpur: 1 Trick to Reduce Belly Fat? Home Fitness Hack Shop Now Undo Critics have accused the Trump administration of flouting the law in its aggressive use of executive power, including by retaliating against perceived enemies and dismantling agencies created by Congress. The Trump administration has broadly defended its actions as within the legal bounds of presidential power and has won several early victories at the Supreme Court . A White House spokesperson told Reuters that Trump's actions were legal, and declined to comment on the departures. Live Events "Any sanctimonious career bureaucrat expressing faux outrage over the President's policies while sitting idly by during the rank weaponization by the previous administration has no grounds to stand on," White House spokesperson Harrison Fields said in a statement. The seven lawyers who spoke with Reuters cited a punishing workload and the need to defend policies that some felt were not legally justifiable among the key reasons for the wave of departures. Three of them said some career lawyers feared they would be pressured to misrepresent facts or legal issues in court, a violation of ethics rules that could lead to professional sanctions. All spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal dynamics and avoid retaliation. A Justice Department spokesperson said lawyers in the unit are fighting an "unprecedented number of lawsuits" against Trump's agenda. "The Department has defeated many of these lawsuits all the way up to the Supreme Court and will continue to defend the President's agenda to keep Americans safe," the spokesperson said. The Justice Department did not comment on the departures of career lawyers or morale in the section. Some turnover in the Federal Programs Branch is common between presidential administrations, but the seven sources described the number of people quitting as highly unusual. Reuters was unable to find comparative figures for previous administrations. However, two former attorneys in the unit and two others familiar with its work said the scale of departures is far greater than during Trump's first term and Joe Biden's administration. HEADING FOR THE EXIT The exits include at least 10 of the section's 23 supervisors, experienced litigators who in many cases served across presidential administrations, according to two of the lawyers. A spokesperson said the Justice Department is hiring to keep pace with staffing levels during the Biden Administration. They did not provide further details. In its broad overhaul of the Justice Department, the Trump administration has fired or sidelined dozens of lawyers who specialize in prosecuting national security and corruption cases and publicly encouraged departures from the Civil Rights Division. But the Federal Programs Branch, which defends challenges to White House and federal agency policies in federal trial courts, remains critical to its agenda. The unit is fighting to sustain actions of the cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency formerly overseen by Elon Musk; Trump's order restricting birthright citizenship and his attempt to freeze $2.5 billion in funding to Harvard University. "We've never had an administration pushing the legal envelope so quickly, so aggressively and across such a broad range of government policies and programs," said Peter Keisler, who led the Justice Department's Civil Division under Republican President George W. Bush. "The demands are intensifying at the same time that the ranks of lawyers there to defend these cases are dramatically thinning." The departures have left the Justice Department scrambling to fill vacancies. More than a dozen lawyers have been temporarily reassigned to the section from other parts of the DOJ and it has been exempted from the federal government hiring freeze, according to two former lawyers in the unit. A Justice Department spokesperson did not comment on the personnel moves. Justice Department leadership has also brought in about 15 political appointees to help defend civil cases, an unusually high number. The new attorneys, many of whom have a record defending conservative causes, have been more comfortable pressing legal boundaries, according to two former lawyers in the unit. "They have to be willing to advocate on behalf of their clients and not fear the political fallout," said Mike Davis, the head of the Article III Project, a pro-Trump legal advocacy group, referring to the role of DOJ lawyers in defending the administration's policies. People who have worked in the section expect the Federal Programs Branch to play an important role in the Trump administration's attempts to capitalize on a Supreme Court ruling limiting the ability of judges to block its policies nationwide. Its lawyers are expected to seek to narrow prior court rulings and also defend against an anticipated rise in class action lawsuits challenging government policies. Lawyers in the unit are opposing two attempts by advocacy organizations to establish a nationwide class of people to challenge Trump's order on birthright citizenship. A judge granted one request on Thursday. FACING PRESSURE Four former Justice Department lawyers told Reuters some attorneys in the Federal Programs Branch left over policy differences with Trump, but many had served in the first Trump administration and viewed their role as defending the government regardless of the party in power. The four lawyers who left said they feared Trump administration policies to dismantle certain federal agencies and claw back funding appeared to violate the U.S. Constitution or were enacted without following processes that were more defensible in court. Government lawyers often walked into court with little information from the White House and federal agencies about the actions they were defending, the four lawyers said. The White House and DOJ did not comment when asked about communications on cases. Attorney General Pam Bondi in February threatened disciplinary action against government lawyers who did not vigorously advocate for Trump's agenda. The memo to Justice Department employees warned career lawyers they could not "substitute personal political views or judgments for those that prevailed in the election." Four of the lawyers Reuters spoke with said there was a widespread concern that attorneys would be forced to make arguments that could violate attorney ethics rules, or refuse assignments and risk being fired. Those fears grew when Justice Department leadership fired a former supervisor in the Office of Immigration Litigation, a separate Civil Division unit, accusing him of failing to forcefully defend the administration's position in the case of Kilmar Abrego, the man wrongly deported to El Salvador. The supervisor, Erez Reuveni, filed a whistleblower complaint, made public last month, alleging he faced pressure from administration officials to make unsupported legal arguments and adopt strained interpretations of rulings in three immigration cases. Justice Department officials have publicly disputed the claims, casting him as disgruntled. A senior official, Emil Bove, told a Senate panel that he never advised defying courts. Career lawyers were also uncomfortable defending Trump's executive orders targeting law firms, according to two former Justice Department lawyers and a third person familiar with the matter. A longtime ally of Bondi who defended all four law firm cases argued they were a lawful exercise of presidential power. Judges ultimately struck down all four orders as violating the Constitution. The Trump administration has indicated it will appeal at least one case.
&w=3840&q=100)
First Post
4 hours ago
- First Post
Meditation, snakes & instant noodles: How a Russian woman spent 8 years in Karnataka forests
During a routine patrol, police discovered that a Russian woman named Nina Kutina, alias Mohi, had been living in near-complete isolation for eight years inside a cave in dense forests near Gokarna in Karnataka. The 40-year-old woman, who also has two daughters, has been living in India since 2017 on an expired visa read more Inside the cave, the 'spiritually inclined' Russian woman had kept a Rudra idol, Russian books, and photos of Hindu deities. Police found her during a routine patrol. Image courtesy: X Most people go off-grid for a weekend. However, Nina Kutina stayed hidden in a cave, deep inside the forests of Karnataka, for nearly eight years. Living with her two young daughters in a hillside cave near Gokarna, the 40-year-old Russian woman, who now goes by the name Mohi, spent her days meditating, drawing, and surviving on instant noodles. There was no electricity, no phone, and no contact with the outside world. Her daughters had never even seen a bed. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD That quiet life came to light last week when local police, during a routine patrol, discovered the family's home deep inside the forest near Gokarna. So, how did they end up there? And what happens next? Here's what we know. 'Snakes are our friends' When local police stumbled upon a hidden cave in the treacherous Ramatirtha hills of Kumta taluk on Friday, they found Nina and her two young girls living quietly inside. Inside, the 'spiritually inclined' Russian woman had kept a Rudra idol, Russian books, and photos of Hindu deities, reports The Indian Express. While they said they had been in that particular cave for two months, police later learned it was part of an eight-year-long journey of living off-grid in India. 'We convinced her to come out, stating that there were chances of landslides in the area,' Gokarna police Sub Inspector Sridhar S R said, adding that when warned about snakes in the area, she replied that 'the snakes are our friends and they don't harm us unless we trouble them'. She also shared that during their trips to nearby waterfalls to bathe, snakes would often pass by without showing any signs of aggression. Sridhar told the Indian Express that he had found a lot of photos of Kutina and her kids in her phone. 'She had kept a schedule for kids which includes drawing, singing, chanting mantras, yoga and other exercises. Even on Sunday morning, she was teaching her kids yoga,' he said. During the rainy season, the family lived with minimal clothing and relied mostly on daylight. Although they had candles, they rarely used them, the officer added. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD According to Uttara Kannada Superintendent of police M Narayana, the family had been sleeping on plastic sheets and surviving mainly on instant noodles. Kutina had stocked up on enough groceries to get through the monsoon months. 'It's surprising how she and her children managed to survive in such conditions,' Narayana told Hindustan Times. 'Luckily, nothing happened to them during their time in the forest.' How did police find the Russian woman? The discovery happened by chance. Local police were on a routine patrol in the Ramatirtha forest area following a recent landslide when they noticed pieces of cloth and plastic sheets near a hillside cave. Curious, they climbed up and were stunned to find a woman and two young children living in complete isolation. 'Our team saw sarees and other clothes hanging outside the cave to dry,' said Uttara Kannada SP M Narayana. 'When they went closer, they found Mohi (Nina Kutina) with her daughters.' At first, Kutina claimed her passport and visa had been lost in the forest. But officers later recovered the documents from near the cave. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD They learned she had arrived in India in 2016 on a business visa, which expired a year later. After connecting with spiritual communities in Goa and Gokarna, she chose not to return home. Instead, she began living off-grid—mostly in forests, caves, and remote areas—avoiding hotels and public spaces for fear of being discovered. 'She told us she loved meditating and doing pooja in the forest,' one officer told The Indian Express. 'She said the forest gave her peace.' In 2018, she briefly visited Nepal before returning and settling again in the forests of Karnataka. During questioning, she shared that she had stayed in the same cave on two or three previous occasions, always seeking mental calm. Her daughters—aged around six-and-a-half and four—were both born in India. Officials said they appeared physically healthy and mentally alert. However, Kutina refused to provide any details about her husband or the children's father, only saying she didn't wish to talk about him. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD After persuading the trio to leave the cave, police arranged for them to spend the night at a nearby ashram run by an 80-year-old female Swamiji from the Shankara Prasad Foundation. Officers said the children were visibly excited to see electricity and sleep on proper beds—luxuries they had never experienced before. What's next? The following morning, Sub-Inspector Sridhar received a WhatsApp message from Kutina, written in Russian. In it, she expressed sadness over being separated from the forest. 'She wrote that she loved India, the forests, and meditation,' Sridhar said. 'She felt heartbroken and blamed us for taking her away from nature.' Kutina and her daughters have now been placed in a women's shelter for their safety, while legal steps for their deportation have begun. According to The Indian Express, lawyer Sahana Basavapatna, who has dealt with similar immigration cases, explained that deportations often stall due to funding issues. In most cases, neither the Indian government nor the person's home country pays for the return travel. Many end up stuck in detention centres until they can arrange the money themselves. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD However, in rare cases involving nationals from countries considered security risks, the Indian government may fund the deportation to speed up the process. Kutina's expired visa makes her an illegal immigrant, and since her children were born during her undocumented stay, they aren't eligible for Indian citizenship either. Officials said that Kutina and her daughters will appear before the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) in Bengaluru on July 14. A woman police officer will escort them during the proceedings. 'They will be handed over to FRRO officers for further action and to initiate contact with the Russian Embassy,' SP Narayana confirmed. With input from agencies
NDTV
6 hours ago
- NDTV
France Prison Break: Inmate Hides In Cellmate's Laundry Bag, Escapes Jail
A prisoner hid himself in the laundry bag of his cellmate, who was being freed after serving his time in Corbas prison near the French city of Lyon, and escaped the jail premises. The escaped inmate was serving his sentence for multiple crimes, including suspected links to organised crime, according to a report by CNN. France prison administration director Sebastien Cauwel told BFMTV that the staff noticed on Saturday that the 20-year-old inmate was missing and admitted there had been negligence on their part. He said the man "took advantage" of his fellow inmate's release to escape from prison. Highlighting the prison's overcrowding, he said that it sometimes gets difficult for the staff to manage the inmates. The prison is designed to hold 678 inmates but currently houses around 1,200, 170 percent more than it was supposed to hold, he said. Mr Cauwel said, "This is an extremely rare event that we have never seen in this administration and which clearly shows a whole series of serious failures." He added that the prison launched an immediate internal investigation. Last year, a group of armed men attacked a prison convoy in Normandy, France, to help a prisoner escape. The incident led to the killing of two prison guards and left three others injured. According to France's Justice Minister, Eric Dupond-Moretti, the incident took place while the inmate was being taken from court to a nearby prison. CNN obtained a video from the scene in which a black SUV was seen in flames that looked like it had crashed into the prison van near a toll booth on the highway. Later, the escaped prisoner, who was nicknamed The Fly, was caught again in Romania in February 2025, Reuters reported.
