Mexico City - Mexican police found five human heads Tuesday in portable coolers on a road in Ixtlahuacan del Rio, some 600 kilometres northwest of Mexico City.

On the inside of the coolers' lids, two messages had been written in black ink, with threats addressed to someone that was only identified as "Goyo," a spokesman for the public prosecutor's office in the state of Jalisco told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

The authorities said the heads of the five men had been severed just hours before they were found.

London  - The worst fears of a resurgence of terrorist violence in Northern Ireland appeared to be confirmed Tuesday when dissident Republicans claimed responsibility for the murder of a police officer - just 48 hours after two British soldiers were gunned down in the province.

Police Tuesday arrested an 17-year-old male in connection with the shooting of Stephen Carroll, a 48-year-old police officer killed with a shot to the head on a housing estate in the town of Craigavon, near the border with the Irish Republic, late Monday.

Tripoli  - Libyan authorities on Tuesday released two men imprisoned since February 2007 for planning a protest in Tripoli. They were the last of their group to be freed, human rights groups said.

Libya's State Security court sentenced Jamal al-Haji and Faraj Humaid to 12 and 15 years in prison, respectively, in February 2007 for planning to attend a protest in Tripoli's Martyr Square to commemorate a the anniversary of a 2006 clash between protesters and police that left 11 people dead.

Cairo  - Nine paintings were stolen from Mohammed Ali Pasha's palace, a museum that lies on the Nile banks in northern Cairo, the Egyptian Ministry of Culture said on Tuesday.

"Officials at the palace say the paintings were last seen Monday afternoon just before the palace was closed," Egypt's Minister of Culture Farouq Hosni said when he went to inspect the crime scene on Tuesday along with head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), Zahi Hawas.

Lima  - A 90-year-old woman was arrested in Lima for taking part in a burglary, police said Tuesday.

The woman, who looked like a sweet grandmother, arrived with two other women at a house that was for sale in the neighbourhood of Los Olivos in the Peruvian capital. The elderly woman distracted the owner of the house with a pretend negotiation, while the other two stole valuable objects.

When they were found out, the three women fled for a taxi that was waiting for them. The elderly woman, however, did not make it fast enough and had to run off. She was arrested just two blocks away.

Berlin  - The number of people granted refugee status in Germany is falling just as the number of refugees living in the nation is increasing, figures released Tuesday showed.

While refugee numbers in the country rose by 3,000 to 65,500 last year, those given refugee status at the end of last year fell by 6,000 to 57,500 compared with 2007, the German Government said in answering a parliamentary question.

Of the numbers gaining refugee status, about 24,000 came from Turkey with another 8000 from Iran and 4000 from Afghanistan.