2 Monterrey officials kidnapped

Monterrey, capital of Nuevo Leon state, was traditionally relatively quiet in part because top drug traffickers parked their families there, taking advantage of the city's top schools and hospitals. But as the notorious Zetas gang fights to challenge the dominance of its onetime patron, the Gulf cartel, gun battles, kidnappings and other violence have spread.

In the first 4 1/2 months of this year, as many people were killed around Monterrey as in the two previous years combined. read the story here