Ruling threatens smuggling cases against Marines

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Marine Corps prosecutors were scrambling Tuesday to save numerous cases tied to a human smuggling investigation after a military judge ruled it was illegal for the military to arrest the Marines during a morning battalion formation and accuse them in front of their peers. Maj. Kendra Motz...

Cirque du Soleil founder held in Tahiti in marijuana case

PARIS (AP) — The founder of world-renowned circus Cirque du Soleil has been detained in French Polynesia in a drug-trafficking investigation. A French police official told The Associated Press that Guy Laliberte is expected to appear before a judge Wednesday in the territory’s capital of Papeete, on...

Justice Dept. rolls out new program to combat gun violence

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Attorney General William Barr announced a new initiative Wednesday that would better enforce the U.S. gun background check system, coordinate state and federal gun cases and ensure prosecutors quickly update databases to show when a defendant can’t possess a firearm because of...

Spain says ex-Venezuelan spy chief wanted by US is missing

MADRID (AP) — Spanish police said Wednesday they have been unable to locate a Venezuelan former spymaster wanted by the United States for extradition on charges of drug trafficking. Police told The Associated Press that its officers have been unable to find Maj. Gen. Hugo Carvajal. News website El...

Spain court grants US extradition of Venezuela's ex-spy boss

MIAMI (AP) — After a surprising court reversal on Friday, a former Venezuelan spymaster accused of attempting to "flood" the United States with drugs is one step closer to being extradited from Spain, The Associated Press has learned. The fate of Maj. Gen. Hugo Carvajal, who was for over a decade the eyes...

China hands Japanese politician life in prison in drug case

BEIJING (AP) — A court in southern China sentenced an elderly former Japanese politician to life in prison Friday for smuggling drugs in shoes packed inside a suitcase he was trying to take to his home country. A man from Mali was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve and a Guinean received a life...

China sentences elderly former Japanese politician to life in prison on drug smuggling charge

China sentences fentanyl traffickers after US tip about ring

XINGTAI, China (AP) — A Chinese court sentenced nine fentanyl traffickers on Thursday in a case that is the culmination of a rare collaboration between Chinese and U.S. law enforcement to crack down on global networks that manufacture and distribute lethal synthetic opioids. Liu Yong was sentenced to death...

Deadly ambush shows Mexico lost control of area

COLONIA LEBARON, Mexico (AP) — When drug cartel gunmen opened fire on American women and children in northern Mexico, the Mexican Army, the National Guard and Sonora state police were not there to protect them. It took them about eight hours just to arrive. To villagers and others, the bloodshed seemed to...

Mexico: US interested in Sinaloa cartel's fentanyl businesss

MEXICO CITY (AP) — What really interested United States authorities in a son of imprisoned drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzmán — who was detained and then freed amid a cartel uprising — was his fentanyl business, Mexican security officials said Friday. Ovidio Guzmán López was...