Diego Fernandez de Cevallos, a well-known former presidential candidate in Mexico, was freed after being held in seven months of captivity by an unknown group.

A member of President Felipe Calderon’s National Action Party, Fernandez talked to the media waiting in front of his house in Mexico City on Monday.

The former PAN Senator thanked God that he is fine. During the interview he was seen having a beard that turned entirely white during his captivity. He also added that he is strong and his life will continue being the same.

Fernandez was kidnapped in May when he arrived at his ranch in central Mexico late at night. His car was found with some of his items inside, and a pair of scissors with blood stains was left on the ground nearby.

After a few months, abductors released photos to selected media showing a blindfolded and bearded man who looks extremely similar to Fernandez. This is an evident move to pressure the family of the politician to pay for his freedom.

According to authorities, there were no indications whether Fernandez’ captors have any links to drugs, as well as previous kidnapping for ransom.

Fernandez said in an instant news conference in the driveway of one of his houses in Mexico City that he had forgiven his captors, but the authorities should still get them.

Prosecutors said they continue the investigation that was stopped at the request of his family the day after he was kidnapped. Calderon also congratulated Fernandez on his release.

Fernandez is known for his open personality, which is often called “Jeje Diego” that means, Boss Diego. He played an important role in strengthening the PAN in the run-up.

On Monday, severe coldness wrapped across the Great Plains, as well as the Midwest forcing the schools to close and interrupting travel plans with extreme temperatures spanning as far as Florida.

Two states that are usually not expected to hit single digits shivered in alarming temperature. Minnesota and Wisconsin experienced wind-chills that are colder than usual. Many motorists were forced to standby for many hours and wait for rescuers to reach the treacherous roads in northwest Indiana.

Hundreds of flights were canceled at airports in East and Midwest Coast hubs during the extreme snow last Sunday. On the other hand, air traffic eventually went to its normal state.

Around 75 flights were canceled at O’Hare Int’l Airport last Monday while the delay was called a minor event.

Storm warnings were posted in different areas of West Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, western New York, Western Pennsylvania, and Vermont based on the weather forecasters.

Four inches of snow on Monday and a further six inches by Tuesday raged Pittsburgh according to the National Weather service.

Dams and rivers of Mississippi and Illinois were closed down the commercial barge transportation due to ice-clogs. It took them 20 hours instead of the usual 90-minute ride to pass through Mississippi River lock near Canton.

Schools in Tennessee and Nashville were also closed since the thickness of the snow made their way more dangerous to walk on.

The extreme weather is anticipated to last until the middle of the week since another storm was spotted in the Midwest in Thursday according to the National Weather Service.

An enormous fire caught a forest in northern Israel on Thursday killing as many as 40 people, many of whom were prison guards trapped in a bus while trying to escape the flames, according to the security services.

The fire was raging out of control on the hills nearing the city of Haifa after more than seven hours it first started. Israel called for help from  Greece, Italy, Russia and Cyprus to send aircrafts to battle the blaze.

Local fire services from across the country responded by sending emergency crews while fire trucks desperately tried to reach the fire scene as they pass through heavy traffic as the night fell.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the forest fire was a disaster they had never seen before. They tried to deliver all forces of the state to handle this disaster and help rescue those who were injured and to put the fire to end.

Thousands of people were evacuated from their local towns and villages as the impenetrable flames rushed through the pine woodland.

A communal farm was burned to the ground and pictures of the bus and cars carrying prison guards, as well as rescuers were shown on television as they were engulfed by flames.

Police Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch described the incident as an enormous disaster that took about 40 people and many are still missing.

It was the biggest forest fire to take place in the country’s history, according to Israel media, with about 7,000 acres of land destroyed.

Fourteen citizens in Cambodia died after an anti-tank land mine that was left from several years of war went off when their homemade tractor passed through a remote road on Tuesday.

Among the people who died in the blast are nine women and a baby girl. The incident occurred in the northwest part of Battambang province.

The district police chief Bith Sambo informed that they have not used that road often; however, this time they used that road as a shortcut.

They do not yet know who planted the land mine. In fact, that incident is the worst that they have recorded from a mine blast for 10 years in Cambodia.

Cambodia was involved in a war from the late 1960s until mid-1990s with the Vietnamese army of occupation, as well as other Cambodian faction. Among them, the notorious Khmer Rouge hid several land mines.

Sister Denise Coghlan, a founding member of the Cambodia Campaign to Ban Landmines believes this is a horrific accident. She said that it even happened during the time when they were hoping that accidents and casualties were going down.

There are still about 4 to 6 million land mines, as well as other unexploded weapons considered to be remaining in the country. Death rates from the blasts had been declining, but they are expected to increase in the future.

Since 1979, there have been more than 60,000 people either killed or wounded by these land mines and other unexploded ordnance, according to the aid group Handicap International.

Cambodia remains one of the most heavily mined countries in the world.

Armed men invaded a family gathering on the border city of Mexico and slaughtered 6 innocent people with multiple gun shots, a police stated on Saturday.

On Friday night, men with powered fire arms stormed through the back door of a residential neighbourhood just as close to the center of Ciudad Juarez, shocking the party people with multiple gun shots.

Adrian Sanchez, a municipal police of Ciudad Juarez stated that 2 men was killed on the spot while 4 others, a woman and three men died in the hospital.

Ciudad Juarez, located near El Paso, Texas was considered as a combat zone for drug pushers competing for shipping destinations to the U.S stores. Since the beginning of 2008, over 6,800 individuals have been slain in the said city.

Just this January, suspected members of a drug gang spurted bullets in a crowd of young people during a celebration of birthday in one house in Ciudad Juarez, which took the lives of 14 people.

Despite the fact that the government sent over 7,500 soldiers and police, violence in the city still progresses. President Felipe Calderon began a movement towards drug cartels when he sat in the position last 2006.

With tight security, the president paid a visit in the said city few days ago to open hospitals and parks as a piece of their plan to enhance social expenditures and reconstruct the wrecked city.

The Pacific walrus, a large marine mammal, may be endangered because of the effects of rising temperature to their natural habitat. Just like the polar bears, walruses are in agony because of the insufficiency of summer and fall sea ice in the Arctic waters. Scientists attribute this to global warming.

Walruses thrive on floating ice. They normally rest, find their food and nurture their little ones in cold Arctic sea ice. Because of the intense climate change, Pacific walruses have been forced to live on land.

According to the U.S Geological Survey, thousands of walruses have gathered on one rocky island.

This relocation is harmful to the marine mammals because their food supplies near the island can be hastily exhausted. Not only that, walruses might get scared and panicked, causing a stampede that can kill many of their small members.

The global climate change is affecting the Arctic and Antarctic areas more quickly than the other regions of the world.

Although it is difficult to get the accurate number of their whole population, the walruses may be included under the Endangered Species Act.

Evident haul-out can also be seen in other areas of Alaska and Siberia. These walruses are now showing up on some beaches in the north-western Alaska, as well as across the Bering Strait in the north-eastern Siberia.

This year’s summer sea ice levels had reached its third-lowest point since the 1979 satellite measurements as told by the National Snow and Ice Date Center located in Boulder Colorado.

Christina Lake, British Columbia – Police who uncovered two marijuana fields near the US-Canada territories have to be very careful: 13 black bears are scattered across the crops.

2,300 plants were found near Christina Lake just a few miles away from the border.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police Cpl. Dan Moskaluk said that when police arrived at the location two weeks ago, they found the bears and plan on taking action to capture them.

He said that these bears were docile and were already used to human presence. They should easily be captured because of this.

The two owners of the marijuana fields were arrested and charged with production and possession of a controlled substance.

The police are still investigating whether they used the bears to guard the fields or just had them as pets.