German state election deals blow to Angela Merkel's party - Los Angeles Times

The Christian Democrats’ candidate for governor, Norbert Roettgen, enters the state parliament in Duesseldorf, Germany. After the election, he announced that he would resign as the local party chief. (Boris Roessler, European Pressphoto Agency / May 14, 2012)

DUESSELDORF, Germany — Voters in Germany's most populous state dealt a decisive blow to Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union on Sunday, preliminary results show, a potentially ominous preview of things to come for the chancellor in next year's federal elections.

Merkel's party mustered about 26% of the vote in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, a drop from 35% in 2010 and 45% in 2005, the year she took office, the results show. The opposition Social Democrats and Greens, at about 39% and more than 11%, respectively, secured the majority of seats they needed to form a governing coalition.

The upstart Pirate Party, a group primarily devoted to Internet freedom, rode its recent surge in popularity to a nearly 8% vote share and won entry into its fourth consecutive state parliament. Merkel's national coalition partner, the Free Democrats, managed a better-than-expected 8%, above the 5% threshold needed for representation, while the far-left Left Party was kicked out of the statehouse with less than 3% of the vote. Other parties with low shares accounted for the remaining votes.

Election results in North Rhine-Westphalia have been harbingers of change in the past. It was a loss in this state in 2005 that brought down the chancellorship of Merkel's predecessor, Social Democrat Gerhard Schroeder. Now, the state that allowed Merkel to assume power in the first place could undermine her quest for a third term.

The disappointing result for the conservative parties in North Rhine-Westphalia follows a similarly poor showing a week ago in the state of Schleswig-Holstein, where the governing Christian Democrat-Free Democrat coalition was ousted.

But the North Rhine-Westphalia election is particularly significant, both because of the state's importance in Germany — over a fifth of the country's population resides here — and because the campaign was largely framed as a referendum on Merkel's austerity policies.

The Christian Democrats' candidate for governor, Norbert Roettgen, who serves as Merkel's environment minister and is often mentioned as a potential successor to the chancellor, announced late Sunday that he would resign as the local party chief.

On the campaign trail, Roettgen hammered at the need for budgetary restraint and criticized what he labeled the free-spending ways of the current governor, Social Democrat Hannelore Kraft, whose deficit-raising budget proposal brought down her minority government and forced Sunday's election.

Merkel's opponents, however, tried to ride the wave of anti-austerity sentiment sweeping across Europe. In recent weeks, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, both close allies of Merkel, have been pushed from power, and parties supporting austerity policies lost ground in Greek elections.

"Whoever's campaign Merkel supports loses: Jost de Jager, Sarkozy, and now Roettgen is facing the same fate," Green Party parliamentary Chairman Juergen Trittin said recently. De Jager was the losing candidate in the Schleswig-Holstein election.

Merkel has so far stuck to her message of the need for austerity cuts to relieve Europe's debt crisis. But she has become increasingly isolated.

Polling had shown the Social Democrats to be the overwhelming favorite to capture the most votes in Sunday's race in North Rhine-Westphalia. But the Christian Democrats were hoping to deny the Social Democrats and Greens a majority and thereby force a so-called grand coalition between Christian and Social Democrats.

A grand coalition on the national level is a realistic possibility after next year's federal elections. The Christian Democrats remain the most popular party nationwide, but the Free Democrats have suffered such a collapse that a continuation of the current governing coalition is unlikely. And by attracting a sizable portion of the youth vote, the Pirate Party could prevent the Social Democrats and Greens from forming a national majority.

Wiener is a special correspondent.

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Dozens of bodies, many mutilated, dumped in Mexico - Los Angeles Times

Forensic experts guarded by police and army personnel investigate the scene where about 50 bodies were found dumped along a highway near Cadereyta Jimenez, Mexico. (Miguel Sierra / European Pressphoto Agency / May 13, 2012)

MEXICO CITY — Mexican authorities responding to an anonymous tip discovered about 50 mostly mutilated bodies dumped on the side of a highway between Monterrey and the U.S. border, a region where rival gangs are battling for control over a lucrative drug-trafficking corridor.

The bodies of at least 43 men and half a dozen women were found Sunday in plastic garbage bags near the town of Cadereyta Jimenez, the location of a large state-run oil refinery, officials in the state prosecutor's office told The Times. The exact number of dead was being sorted out, made unclear by the condition of the bodies.

Army and police troops descended on the site and temporarily closed the highway, a major thoroughfare from Monterrey to the border city of Nuevo Laredo.

Jorge Domene, public security spokesman for Nuevo Leon state where the bodies were found, said in a news conference that most of the victims had been decapitated. Their hands and feet also had been chopped off, he said, all of which will complicate the task of identifying the dead.

Judging by tattoos on the bodies, as well as a spray-painted message left alongside them, it seemed likely the victims belonged to a cartel and were killed by rivals, Domene said. The message claimed responsibility for the killings on behalf of the Zetas paramilitary drug gang, he said.

The fight among drug cartels has boiled down largely to a battle between the Zetas, known for their viciousness, and the Sinaloa group, the oldest and largest trafficking network in Mexico. The Zetas once controlled much of northeastern Mexico, but Sinaloa loyalists have steadily moved into the region and allied themselves with the Gulf cartel, a formerly dominant group that created the Zetas but has since turned on them.

More than 50,000 people have been killed in Mexico since President Felipe Calderon launched a military-led assault on powerful drug cartels in December 2006.

Earlier this month, 15 bodies were discovered on the road to Chapala, Mexico, a popular retirement community for U.S. citizens in Jalisco state. And on May 4, 23 bodies — nine hanging from a highway overpass and the other 14 decapitated — were discovered in Nuevo Laredo.

"This discovery is a reflection of actions happening all over the country, like in Nuevo Laredo, and a few weeks ago in Jalisco and a few months ago in Veracruz," Domene said.

State prosecutor Adrian de la Garza said many of the men and women whose bodies were found Sunday had been dead at least 48 hours and had probably been killed elsewhere and then dumped. He said some of them may have been immigrants or hailed from other parts of the country. Traffickers routinely intercept migrants attempting to reach the United States, force them into labor in drug production or slaughter them for refusing to cooperate.

Many of the bodies were unclothed, and most seemed to be more than 25 years of age, De la Garza said.

Mexicans on July 1 will vote for Calderon's successor. Election news has largely eclipsed reports on drug-war violence, but in recent weeks the mounting death toll has once again earned front-page coverage — and promises to be very much on voters' minds going into this summer's balloting.

The runaway violence, combined with high unemployment, has eroded support for Calderon's once-dominant National Action Party. Polls show that Enrique Peña Nieto of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, which was driven from power 12 years ago, is the favorite to win the presidency.

Each of the three major candidates has expressed determination to confront the drug cartels and the violence — though none has offered a concrete plan for doing so. The U.S. government has long given its full support to Calderon's military-led campaign.

The discovery of numerous bodies has become painfully routine in Mexico, with rival gangs often leaving their victims in public venues as a warning to their enemies. In Veracruz, 96 bodies were dumped in public squares and alongside roads in a three-week period last fall, a spate of killing that signaled a campaign by Sinaloa allies to oust the Zetas there.

The violence is part of a war of retribution between Sinaloa and the Zetas, Alejandro Hope, a former Mexican intelligence officer, said in a column Sunday.

"For the criminal groups the game is clear: Take the war to the rival's territory … heat up the plaza," Hope said. "They've learned that the authorities will follow the bodies, not go where the kill orders are given."

Also over the weekend, gunmen attacked the offices of a newspaper in Nuevo Laredo. No one was hurt in the Friday evening attack; the newspaper, El Manana, long ago stopped reporting on cartel violence out of fear.

Four current and former journalists were killed in a week's time this month in the coastal state of Veracruz, including a well-respected investigative reporter who specialized in writing about police corruption and drug trafficking.

wilkinson@latimes.com

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Los Angeles Kings' Dwight King wastes no time against Phoenix - Los Angeles Times

Kings forward Dwight King, center, celebrates with teammates Jarret Stoll, left, and Trevor Lewis after scoring an empty-net goal during the Kings' 4-2 victory over the Phoenix Coyotes in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals on Sunday. (Ross D. Franklin / Associated Press / May 13, 2012)

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Dwight King, aw-shucks personality and all, said there was a basic lesson he absorbed during six games with the Kings during the 2010-11 season.

"You can't wait on the ice," King said.

King didn't during a 4-2 victory over the Phoenix Coyotes in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals Sunday.

He chased teammate Mike Richards up ice on a two-on-one and chipped in a rebound to break a 1-1 tie in the second period. With time running out in the game, King beat a Coyotes player to the puck and flung a shot from center ice for an empty-net goal with 48 seconds left.

"That's a big boost to my confidence," King said.

That is paying dividends for the Kings, who found King at Lethbridge (Canada) in the Western Hockey League in 2007. Brent McEwen, western scout for the Kings, was the first in the organization to lay eyes on him.

"I asked Brent if there was anybody under the radar and he said, 'yeah, this guy King,'" said Jack Ferreira, special assistant to Kings' General Manager Dean Lombardi. "We went to see him, and he played five minutes. I said to Brent, 'He does more in five minutes than some guys do in 20 minutes.'"

The Kings drafted King in the fourth round that spring. He had five goals and 14 points in 27 games during the regular season. He has three goals in the playoffs, two Sunday.

King slipped a pass to Richards and said, "I looked around and there was no one else, so I got up to speed to catch him. I kept my stick ready the whole time."

King pounced on the rebound to give the Kings the lead. He finished the evening harassing Coyotes players in the final minute, and then clinching the victory.

"Last year, he was up for six games and I don't know if he felt too comfortable," Kings center Anze Kopitar said. "You're always on the buddle, wondering whether you're going to stay or go. He's a lot more relaxed. He gets in forecheck and gets a lot of pucks back for us."

Penalty-killing stays strong

The Kings killed five penalties Sunday, running their streak to 24 in a row without giving up a goal.

"You can pressure all you want; if you're not smart with it, gaps open up," Kings' forward Jarret Stoll said. "A good power play can pick you apart."

Kopitar said, "I think we're aggressive all over ice. We get to loose pucks and clear them."

Both good strategies. Coach Darryl Sutter had a better one.

"Stay out of the penalty box," Sutter said.

Road thrills

The Kings have won six consecutive games on the road during the playoffs. The NHL record for consecutive playoff road wins in one season is seven, last accomplished by the Chicago Blackhawks in 2010.

Fast start

The Kings were idle for six days, waiting for the conference finals to begin. They hardly looked rusty, with a 16-4 edge on shots in the first period.

"Everyone was so anxious to get started and everyone burst out all the energy we had saved up," defenseman Drew Doughty said.

Coyote ugly

Phoenix's first appearance in the NHL's Western Conference finals got off to a slippery start.

The Coyotes first penalty was on goaltender Mike Smith, who was run by the Kings' Justin Williams and responded by tackling Williams after the whistle. Their first shot on goal was from three-quarters of the ice away seven minutes into the game, on an errant pass by Keith Yandle. Their first goal came when Derek Morris fired a shot from the red line.

"As expected it is not going to come easy," the Coyotes' Antoine Vermette said. "It's just going to be a huge battle."

chris.foster@latimes.com

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