BOGOTA, Colombia (CNN) - Police officers and soldiers held captive by the leftist guerrilla group known as the FARC pleaded to Colombian President Alvaro Uribe to negotiate their release in a series of nine proof-of-life videos released Monday.

The videos, obtained by Senator Piedad Cordoba, who has helped negotiate with FARC, or the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, were believed to have been recorded in April.

Nine of the 21 soldiers and police kidnapped by the FARC addressed their families and some their government in the short videos. Each captive appeared on a separate video, some with the jungle in the background and others with colored or patterned backdrops.

Some family members of the kidnapped officials were not consoled by the proof-of-life videos. "We don't want more proof, we want them here," said Hilda Duarte, sister of one of the captives.

In his video, Police Sgt. Arbey Delgado said the government had been successful with an operation last year that freed some captives, including former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and three American contractors, and pleaded with the government to find a way to free them, too.

"Are we not human any more? Are we just animals?" Delgado said in the video. Most of the policemen and soldiers who appeared in the videos have been in captivity for more than 10 years.

– Journalist Fernando Ramos contributed to this report for CNN.

(CNN) - Authorities in two San Francisco Bay-area cities are now investigating whether disappearances dating back to the late 1980s could be connected to the man accused of holding another girl captive for 18 years.

Police in Hayward, California, about 20 miles south of Oakland, say they are investigating whether Phillip Garrido is connected to the disappearance of Michaela Garecht, who was last seen in 1988 at age 9.

Hayward Police Lt. Chris Orrey said there are some similarities between Garecht's disappearance and Jaycee Lee Dugard's - similar age and appearance, both were abducted in daylight, and a sketch of a suspect resembles Garrido, she said.

Orrey said there were differences as well, though she would not elaborate. But she said Hayward police have been in contact with Garecht's family and witnesses since Dugard was found alive last week.

And in Dublin, about 25 miles east of Oakland, police are looking into whether Garrido was connected to the 1989 disappearance of Ilene Misheloff. Ilene was 13 when she was abducted, investigators said.

Garrido, 58, and his wife Nancy face a battery of felony charges in connection with the 1991 kidnapping of then-11-year-old Dugard. Both have pleaded not guilty.

– CNN's Dan Simon and Paul Vercammen contributed to this report.

(CNN) - Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, may be one of the world's most dangerous cities, but an influx of new police officers will stem the wave of violence set to make August the deadliest month yet, Juarez Mayor Jose Reyes Ferriz told CNN Monday.

Drug-related violence in the border city across from El Paso, Texas, is exceeding July's record of 260 killings. Ferriz put August deaths at 290, but others place it above 300.

In September, some 750 new officers will be added to the police force, followed by another 400 in October, Ferriz said. The additional manpower will begin to reverse the city's bloody trend, the mayor said.

"We're at the turning point," Ferriz said.

Killings in Juarez began to spike in early 2008, when the Sinaloa drug cartel began a turf war with the Juarez cartel.

Stories of shootouts in the streets - many in broad daylight and fought with high-caliber assault weapons - damaged the city's image and threatened its economy. The fight against the drug cartels in Juarez has required new depths of interaction between the military and the local government, and "at the end of the day, I think things are moving ahead very well," Ferriz said.

–CNN's Mariano Castillo contributed to this report.

(CNN) - A coroner's report shows that a man arrested in the violent aftermath of Iran's presidential elections died from beatings, Iranian media reported Monday in what appeared to be the first official confirmation of a detainee's death from mistreatment.

The death of Mohsen Rouhol-Amini was the result of "repeated blows and severe physical injuries" and other mistreatment sustained at Tehran's Kahrizak prison, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported, citing an informed source. Officials initially had said Rouhol-Amini had died from illness.

Kahrizak was ordered closed by Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in late July amid reports that the facility did not measure up to required standards. Rouhol-Amini was one of two inmates who died at the prison after they were arrested for protesting the results of the disputed June 12 election, Iranian media reported nearly two weeks after Khamenei's order to shut down the prison. In the wake of the deaths, authorities fired and arrested Kahrizak's warden.

At the time, Gen. Esmaeel Ahmadi Moghadam, commander of Iran's security forces, in announcing the arrest of the warden, said no one died at Kahrizak from physical abuse and that the inmates died from illnesses.

By Mike Mount
CNN Senior Pentagon Producer

WASHINGTON (CNN) - A U.S. military contract that drew fire for creating profiles to rate the output of journalists as well as coverage of the Afghanistan war is being terminated, according to U.S. military officials.

The U.S. military had contracted with the public-relations firm The Rendon Group, which created profiles of journalists that rated their stories as "positive," "neutral" or "negative." The military said it did not use the ratings to influence coverage or deny reporters access to cover the war.

"It was clear this issue had become a distraction to our main mission here," according to Rear Adm. Greg Smith, head of communications for the U.S. military in Afghanistan. "This does not imply that we found any improprieties. In fact, our use of the contract since my arrival in June was completely appropriate and in no way exemplified the allegations made by Stars and Stripes."

The flap started last week when Stars and Stripes - an independent newspaper aimed at U.S. troops but partially funded by the U.S. government - reported it had obtained documents prepared for the U.S. military on contract by the Washington-based communications firm that analyzed journalists' work. The paper had also said the contractor was looking for ways to put a positive spin on stories.

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) - Carrie Prejean has filed a lawsuit against Miss California USA officials who stripped her of her title, accusing them of libel and religious discrimination for her views on same-sex marriage.

"We will make the case that her title was taken from her solely because of her support of traditional marriage," her attorney, Charles LiMandri said in a statement Monday.

Prejean stepped into controversy at the Miss USA pageant in April when, in response to a question from a judge, she declared her opposition to same-sex marriage. Prejean finished as first runner-up.

The complaint was filed in Superior Court of California against Miss California USA officials Keith Lewis and Shanna Moakler, as well as publicist Roger Neal.

It alleges that Prejean suffered because of "libel, public disclosure of private facts, religious discrimination, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and negligent infliction of emotional distress."

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) - A fast-moving wildfire with "a mind of its own" had more than doubled in size and threatened 10,000 homes in Southern California Monday.

The Station fire had burned through 105,000 acres - 164 square miles - by Monday afternoon, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection's Web site. The blaze - which was still only 5 percent contained - was being fueled by dry air and protected by the steep terrain in and around the Angeles National Forest.

"The fire essentially can get up and run any time and has a mind of its own," U.S. Forest Service Incident Commander Mike Dietrich said on CNN's "American Morning" early Monday.

Fire officials said Monday they had ordered mandatory evacuations for residents of the 10,000 homes under threat. Nearly 100 homes were added to the mandatory evacuations Monday afternoon.

Five people who refused to evacuate were trapped by the fire Monday afternoon, according to fire officials.

"It's putting their own lives in danger, and going to put the lives of the firefighters, who are going to need to get them out if they get caught in the wildfire, it's going to put their lives in danger as well," said Moe Sinsley, battalion chief for the Long Beach Fire Department.

(CNN) - Mexico issued a hurricane warning for the southern Baja California peninsula Monday in preparation for Hurricane Jimena, a powerful Category 4 storm with winds near 155 mph (250 kph), the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

A hurricane warning means hurricane conditions are expected within 24 hours. The storm could bring as much as 2 feet of rain to the area, forecasters said, along with dangerous, battering waves.

Jimena was centered about 305 miles (495 km) south of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, according to the hurricane center. It was traveling northwest near 10 mph (17 kph) but meteorologists expect Jimena to pick up speed in the coming day.

Forecasters expect the storm to continue in a northwest motion and approach the southwestern tip of Baja California Tuesday, forecasters said.

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) - Carrie Prejean will file a lawsuit against Miss California USA officials who stripped her of her title, accusing them of libel and religious discrimination for her views on same-sex marriage.

"We will make the case that her title was taken from her solely because of her support of traditional marriage," her attorney, Charles LiMandri said in a statement Monday.

Prejean stepped into controversy at the Miss USA pageant in April when, in response to a question from a judge, she declared her opposition to same-sex marriage. Prejean finished as first runner-up.

The complaint will be filed in Superior Court of California against Miss California USA officials Keith Lewis and Shanna Moakler, as well as publicist Roger Neal.

It alleges that Prejean suffered because of "libel, public disclosure of private facts, religious discrimination, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and negligent infliction of emotional distress."

LiMandri had threatened to file a defamation lawsuit if Lewis did not retract statements he made about the former beauty queen. LiMandri's letter to Lewis' attorney also accused Lewis of setting Prejean up to be fired because of her statements opposing same-sex marriage.

(CNN) - At least 1,000 prisoners are on death row in Iraq, which now has one of the highest rates of execution in the world, the human rights group Amnesty International says in a report being released Tuesday.

The courts that sentence people to death do not meet international standards, and executions are often carried out in secret, the report charges. It says defendants complain of confessions extracted under torture.

The group criticizes the Central Criminal Court of Iraq and the Supreme Iraqi Criminal Tribunal, which issue the majority of death sentences in the country.

But Iraq's Justice Minister Dara Noor al-Deen Bahaa al-Deen, who said he says he is in favor of abolishing the death penalty, defended the Iraqi justice system, saying it is fair. "I am certain and reassured that ... any defendant, no matter what the sentence is, receives a fair trial and is given enough time for his testimony," he said.