Mexicans are in a funk over their president, and a majority of them think that he's losing control of the country

Mexicans are in a funk over their president, and a majority of them think that he's losing control of the country, an opinion poll released Tuesday found.

Six out of 10 Mexicans think that organized crime gangs are getting the upper hand in the war that President Felipe Calderon launched against drug trafficking when he came to office in late 2006, the poll by Demotecnia found.

The poll may augur a change in the country's approach to its huge drug-trafficking problem when a new administration takes over after elections next year.

Calderon, 48, is in the fifth and defining year of a six-year presidential term. His National Action Party is struggling to find a suitable candidate for the 2012 presidential elections - Mexico's presidents serve only one term - and Calderon recently suggested that the party should look outside its ranks for a candidate.

While the army-backed offensive that Calderon launched when he took office has disrupted drug gangs and netted a handful of drug barons, it's coincided with a rising death toll. Last year, 15,273 Mexicans were killed, a spike over the 9,600 killed a year earlier. In total, more than 35,000 people have died in drug violence since Calderon took office.

In a telephone poll of 500 Mexicans conducted Saturday, Demotecnia found that 59 percent of respondents said the country was as bad off or worse off than it was when Calderon took office.

Asked who's gaining the upper hand in the war against narcotics cartels, 59 percent also said drug traffickers were winning, the Mexico City polling group said.

In another question, respondents were asked whether Calderon had a firm grip on the reins of the country or matters were falling out of his control. Sixty-seven percent picked the latter option.

Demotecnia director Maria de las Heras said the poll reflected frustrations over Calderon's policies on organized crime.

"The drug war has not worked out well, according to the poll," De las Heras said in a telephone interview. "He has put all his political capital into this, and the perception at least, maybe not the reality, is that it is going very badly. The majority of people are not satisfied."

Even President Barack Obama has been drawn into Calderon's woes. On March 19, he and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton accepted the resignation of U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Carlos Pascual, whom Calderon had publicly flayed over leaked diplomatic cables that questioned whether Mexico's strategy on the cartels was working.

Obama, on a stop in nearby El Salvador on March 22, told CNN en Espanol that U.S.-Mexican cooperation was "very robust and very effective."

But he added: "The challenge is that the drug cartels have gotten stronger and President Calderon rightly feels frustrated."

De las Heras said part of the gloom among Mexicans was that few better strategies were apparent.

"The sense is that we're in a tunnel where it is hard to see the other side," she said.

World's Most Dangerous Airports

World's Most Dangerous Airports


Princess Juliana International Airport (Saint Martin)

Princess Juliana International Airport serves Saint Maarten, the Dutch part of the island of Saint Martin. It is the second busiest airport in the Eastern Caribbean. The airport is famous for its short landing strip — only 2,180 metres/7,152 ft, which is barely enough for heavy jets. Because of this, the planes approach the island flying extremely low, right over Maho Beach. Countless photos of large jets flying at 10--20 m/30-60 ft over relaxing tourists at the beach have been dismissed as fakes many times, but are nevertheless real. For this reason as well it has become a favourite for planespotters. Despite the difficulties in approach, there has been no records of major aviation incidents at the airport.

Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport (Saba)


Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport is the only airport on the Caribbean island of Saba, in the Netherlands Antilles. It is well known among experienced fliers for the way in which airplanes must approach or take off from the airport.

Yrausquin Airport covers a relatively large portion of the small island of Saba. Some aviation experts are of the general opinion that the airport is one of the most dangerous in the world, despite the fact that no major tragedies have happened at the facility. The airport's sole runway is marked with an X at each end, to indicate to commercial pilots that the airport is closed for commercial aviation.

The danger arises from the airport's physical position. It is flanked on one side by high hills, and on the other side and at both ends of the runway by cliffs dropping into the sea. This creates the possibility that an airplane might overshoot the runway during landing or takeoff and end up in the sea or on the cliffs.


Courchevel (France)


Courchevel is the name of a ski area located in the French Alps, the largest linked ski area in the world. It's airport has a certain degree of infamy in the aviation industry as home to a relatively short runway, with a length of 525 m (1,722 ft) and a gradient of 18.5%. It's so short that you have to land on an inclined strip to slow down and take off on a decline to pick up enough speed.

Who gets to land here? Well, Pierce Brosnan made the short list. This was the airport used in the opening seen of Tomorrow Never Dies. For the rest of us, private plane, helicopter, or charter are the only ways to go, and your pilot is going to need some serious training before he or she is allowed to land at CVF.


Gustaf III Airport (St. Bart)


Gustaf III Airport also known as Saint Barthélemy Airport is a public use airport located in the village of St. Jean on the Caribbean island of Saint Barthélemy. Both the airport and the island's main town of Gustavia are named for King Gustav III of Sweden, under whom Sweden obtained the island from France in 1785 (it was sold back to France in 1878). The airport is served by small regional commercial aircraft and charters. Most visiting aircraft carry fewer than twenty passengers, such as the Twin Otter, a common sight around Saint Barth and throughout the northern West Indies. The short airstrip is at the base of a gentle slope ending directly on the beach. The arrival descent is extremely steep over the hilltop traffic circle and departing planes fly right over the heads of sunbathers (although small signs advise sunbathers not to lie directly at the end of the runway).


Barra International Airport (Barra)


Barra Airport is the only airport in the world where planes land on the beach. BRR is situated in on the wide beach of Traigh Mhor, on Barra island, in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland. If you want to fly here commercially you will want to book with British Airways, which flies to Barra from Glasgow and Benbecula.

The airport is literally washed away by the tide once a day, and if you arrive on a late afternoon flight, you may notice a couple of cars in the parking lot with their lights on, which provides pilots some added visibility, since the airport is naturally lit. Needless to say you probably don't want to hang out at Barra Airport beach, unless you are a aviation junkie, in which case Barra Airport has a fool proof system, as sign that reads: "Keep off the beach. When the windsock is flying and the airport is active."


Madeira Airport (Madeira)


Madeira Airport also known as Funchal Airport and Santa Catarina Airport, is an international airport located near Funchal, Madeira. The airport controls national and international air traffic of the island of Madeira.

The airport was once infamous for its short runway which, surrounded by high mountains and the ocean, made it a tricky landing for even the most experienced of pilots. The original runway was only 1,400 metres in length, but was extended by 400 metres after the TAP Air Portugal Flight 425 incident of 1977 and subsequently rebuilt in 2003, almost doubling the size of the runway, building it out over the ocean. Instead of using landfill, the extension was built on a series of 180 columns, each being about 70m tall.

For the enlargement of the new runway the Funchal Airport has won the Outstanding Structures Award, given by International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering (IABSE). The Outstanding Structures Award is considered to be the "Oscar" for engineering structures in Portugal.


Lukla Airport (Nepal)


A huge mountain on one end, a thousand meter drop on the other. And it's at 2900 meters elevation, so you don't exactly have full power.

Lukla Airport is a small airport in the Town of Lukla in eastern Nepal. In January 2008, the government of Nepal announced that the airport would be renamed in honor of Sir Edmund Hillary[1], the first person to reach the summit of Mount Everest, who passed away on January 11, 2008. The airport is quite popular as Lukla is the place where most people start their trek to climb Mount Everest.

The family of private detective Daniel Morgan was devastated today after his multi-million pound murder case collapsed on the 24th anniversary of his death.

The family of private detective Daniel Morgan was devastated today after his multi-million pound murder case collapsed on the 24th anniversary of his death.

They called for a judicial inquiry into the blow saying: "The criminal justice system is not fit for purpose."

Mr Morgan was found with an axe in his head in a pub car park on March 10, 1987, in a case which has become one of Britain's longest unsolved murders.

No-one has been brought to justice despite five police inquiries and three years of legal hearings, unofficially estimated to have cost around £30 million.

Five people were arrested in 2008 but two, including a former detective accused of perverting justice, were discharged after a string of supergrasses were discredited.

The final blow came today when the Crown Prosecution Service dropped the case against the remaining three - Mr Morgan's former business partner Jonathan Rees and brothers Garry and Glenn Vian.

Mr Morgan's mother Isobel Hulsmann, 83, who had travelled from her home in Hay-on-Wye, Powys, to lay flowers at her son's grave in London, was being comforted by her family today.

They had been praying for justice after so many years and were left frustrated and confused after being warned of today's outcome.

Mr Morgan's brother Alistair, 62, said: "My family is devastated by this news.

"We put some flowers on the grave. It's just horrible."

Mr Morgan said he believes there have been a number of police cover-ups over the years and alleges that his brother was murdered because he was about to expose police corruption.

He added: "It was obvious my brother was going to blow the lid off the links between the police and criminals."

The family was behind the current investigation by hand-picked Scotland Yard officers.

But the failure of the case, which collapsed before a jury was even sworn, throws up serious questions about the use of supergrass deals offering reductions in sentences in return for evidence, and the offer of rewards.

Underworld figures and their associates had volunteered to give evidence after a £50,000 reward was offered.

One had a lengthy prison term reduced after agreeing to be a prosecution witness.

And a woman, a former partner of James Cook, who was charged with murder but freed last year, was discredited after claiming that up to 30 murders had been committed. Extensive searches produced no bodies.

Scotland Yard was even accused of buying a house next to one of the defendants in order to plant listening bugs in the walls.

The halting of the case is a major embarrassment for Scotland Yard and the file will remain open until the killer is caught.

Rees, 56, Garry Vian, 50, and his brother Glenn, 52, were discharged from court today. They all denied murder.

Associate Cook was freed in November last year and former detective sergeant Sid Fillery, 63, was discharged in February last year.

Lawyers for Rees and the Vian brothers had brought about a three month hearing to review the police handling of 18 crates of material relating to potential witnesses.

It followed accusations that police had conspired not to reveal files in an attempt to prevent the defendants getting bail as the on-off legal hearings dragged on.

Just as written submissions were handed to the judge Mr Justice Maddison last Friday, the prosecution broke the news that four other crates of material had been unearthed.

Also, the two prosecution counsel might have to give evidence about disclosure and therefore be forced to hand over the enormous back-workload to other prosecutors.

Prosecutor Nicholas Hilliard QC had told the judge on Monday: "It's on the cards."

The blow comes after a fifth police inquiry and an inquest into the killing outside the Golden Lion pub in Sydenham, south London.

Previous attempts at prosecutions have also ended in failure due to lack of evidence against various defendants.

Mr Morgan, 37, a father-of-two, had been a partner in Southern Investigations, in Thornton Heath, south London.

The latest inquiry was started in 2005 after pressure from Mr Morgan's family through the "Justice For Daniel" website.

Police vowed to leave no stone unturned but were hampered by a vast paper-trail involving other investigations.

The judge said it was a case where "nothing is straightforward".

Defence counsel complained that the prosecution had not disclosed all the material the police had stored.

Some 750,000 pages were sifted through as several more boxes were uncovered.

The judge threw out the evidence of a supergrass who had earlier signed a supergrass deal and seen his sentence reduced from 28 years to three years.

He was the only potential witness to claim he had seen the defendants in the Golden Lion.

Detectives were criticised by the defence for their handling of the crook and the lengths they went to to present him as a credible witness.

Mr Justice Maddison decided he was not a witness who could be relied on.

The defendants were in custody until March last year when they were given bail after the judge found the prosecution had not shown "due diligence" in preparing the case.

By the end of the pre-trial hearings they were no longer bothering to sit in the dock but watched proceedings from the back of the court.

The frustration of Mr Morgan's family as police officers were quizzed by defence lawyers erupted at a previous hearing when Mr Morgan's sister Jane rose to her feet and challenged a barrister with the words: "You really are an obnoxious little man."

It was the second time Rees had been charged with the murder but the previous prosecution was also aborted.

The defence argued that a motive had not been established and there were a number of people who may have wanted to see him dead.

They said there was no credible evidence against the defendants and no DNA linking them to the crime.

Mr Hilliard offered no evidence on behalf of the prosecution.

The three defendants stood at the side of the dock as Mr Justice Maddison told them they were free to go as he had entered not guilty verdicts.

Outside court, Rees said he was angry at the way they had been treated and continued to protest his innocence.

But the judge told the court that, whatever the outcome of any trial would have been, the Metropolitan Police had been right to make the arrests.

He said: "There is no doubt, it seems to me, that given the evidence available to the police before these proceedings were instituted, the police did have ample grounds to justify the arrests and prosecution of the defendants."

He said that following the loss of witnesses and the mountains of paper involved, the prosecution decision had been "principled and right".

He added: "This is the end of a long and exhausting road."

Mr Justice Maddison paid tribute to the family of Mr Morgan, who had been the victims of a "dreadful murder".

He said he could understand if they had been confused at times about what was going on but the case had been full of complex issues.

Mr Hilliard had earlier made an apology to the family in court.

"I apologise to them that we have reached the position we have," he said.

Mr Hilliard said the case had involved an unprecedented amount of paperwork and police officers had to sort through material covering more than 20 years to see what they thought was relevant.

He said the disclosure process had been so complex that the prosecution could not be sure that the defence would have all the material it should have.

And it was also not possible to say that the prosecution would result in a conviction.

Richard Christie QC, for Rees, told the court that the decision was overdue following the making of six different trial dates.

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