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Mexican drug cartel leader ‘El Mayo’ Zambada makes a court appearance in Texas

Mexican drug cartel leader ‘El Mayo’ Zambada makes a court appearance in Texas
A US Marshal stands outside the federal court where alleged drug kingpin Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, co-founder of Mexico’s Sinaloa drug cartel, is due to appear in court in El Paso, Texas on Aug. 1, 2024. (Reuters)
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Updated 02 August 2024
AP
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Mexican drug cartel leader ‘El Mayo’ Zambada makes a court appearance in Texas

Mexican drug cartel leader ‘El Mayo’ Zambada makes a court appearance in Texas
  • Ismael Zambada, the longtime leader of Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel, has eluded authorities for decades
  • He is being held without bond and pleaded not guilty during a short hearing last week
Updated 02 August 2024
AP
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EL PASO, Texas: A powerful Mexican drug cartel leader on Thursday made his second appearance in federal court in Texas after being taken into US custody last week.
Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, 76, used a wheelchair for the hearing before US District Judge Kathleen Cardone in El Paso. Zambada, the longtime leader of Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel, eluded authorities for decades until a plane carrying him and Joaquín Guzman Lopez, a son of notorious drug kingpin Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzman,” landed at an airport near El Paso on July 25. Both men were arrested and remain jailed. They are charged in the US with various drug crimes.
Discussions during the short hearing Thursday included whether Zambada would be tried with co-defendants or separately. He is being held without bond and pleaded not guilty during a short hearing last week, where he also used a wheelchair.
His next hearing date was set for Sept. 9. His attorneys declined to comment after Thursday’s hearing.
One of his attorneys, Frank Perez, previously has alleged his client was kidnapped by Guzman Lopez and brought to the US aboard a private plane. Guzman Lopez, 38, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to drug trafficking and other charges in federal court in Chicago.
Zambada was thought to be more involved in day-to-day operations of the cartel than his better-known and flashier boss, “El Chapo,” who was sentenced to life in prison in the US in 2019.
Zambada is charged in a number of US cases, including in New York and California. Prosecutors brought a new indictment against him in New York in February, describing him as the “principal leader of the criminal enterprise responsible for importing enormous quantities of narcotics into the United States.”
The capture of Zambada and Guzman Lopez has fueled theories about how federal authorities pulled it off and prompted Mexican President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador to take the unusual step of issuing a public appeal to drug cartels not to fight each other.

Topics: Mexico US Sinaloa cartel

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India-Canada relations reach historic lows as top diplomats expelled

India-Canada relations reach historic lows as top diplomats expelled
Updated 6 sec ago
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India-Canada relations reach historic lows as top diplomats expelled

India-Canada relations reach historic lows as top diplomats expelled
  • Relations fraught since the murder of a Sikh separatist leader in British Columbia last year
Updated 6 sec ago
Sanjay Kumar

NEW DELHI: Relations between India and Canada have reached a historic low as the countries expelled each other’s diplomats in an ongoing row over the killing of a Sikh separatist activist on Canadian soil.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused India’s government on Monday of “supporting criminal activity against Canadians here on Canadian soil,” and the country’s Foreign Ministry announced the expulsion of six Indian diplomats, including the high commissioner.

The ministry said Canadian police had gathered evidence, which identified them as “persons of interest” in last year’s killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was gunned down in Surrey, British Columbia.

India immediately rejected the accusations as absurd, and its Ministry of External Affairs said it was expelling Canada’s acting high commissioner, his deputy, and the embassy’s four first secretaries.

Before the announcement, it also summoned the Canadian charge d’affaires and said it was withdrawing its high commissioner and “other targeted diplomats,” contradicting Canada’s statement of expulsion.

“Prime Minister Trudeau has been making these public statements repeatedly, but the evidence that he claims to possess is not available to us so we cannot make any kind of a judgment,” Dr. Ajai Sahni, executive director of the Institute for Conflict Management in New Delhi, told Arab News.

“This is the first time the relationship is so low … It has created a lot of problems and it has done damage to relationships between the two countries for the time being.”

This is not the first time India-Canada relations have been strained. In 1974, after India conducted its first nuclear weapon test, it drew outrage from Canada, which accused it of extracting plutonium from a Canadian reactor, a gift intended for peaceful use.

Ottawa subsequently suspended its support for New Delhi’s nuclear energy program.

“The relationship was also low in the 1980s with the hijacking of an Indian Airlines plane and the bombing of the plane, in which many people died,” said Prof. Ronki Ram, political science lecturer at the Punjab University.

The explosion from a bomb planted by Canada-based militants killed 329 people — the worst terrorist attack in Canadian history. India had warned the Canadian government about the possibility of attacks and accused the Canadian Security Intelligence Service of not acting on it.

But the current strain in relations is the first in which diplomats have been withdrawn.

“This is the first time that the relationship has gone down so low,” Ram said.

“Allegations and counter-allegations will have serious implications both internationally and domestically. The Indian government should look into the allegations and try to address them.”

Nijjar, a Sikh Canadian citizen, was gunned down in June 2023 outside a Sikh temple in Surrey, which has a significant number of Sikh residents. He was an outspoken supporter of the Khalistan movement, which calls for a separate Sikh homeland in parts of India’s Punjab state.

The movement is outlawed in India, considered a national security threat by the government, and Nijjar’s name appears on the Indian Home Ministry’s list of terrorists.

Canada has the largest population of Sikhs outside their native state of Punjab — about 770,000 or 2 percent of its entire population.

“Many Panjabi diaspora are in Canada, and a mini-Punjab has been established there,” Ram said.

“The government is taking an electoral interest in the landscape of Canada also. Those things are becoming very critical.”

Topics: India Canada relations Hardeep Singh Nijjar

Violence-hit Pakistan locks down the capital for an Asian security meeting

Violence-hit Pakistan locks down the capital for an Asian security meeting
Updated 4 min 30 sec ago
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Violence-hit Pakistan locks down the capital for an Asian security meeting

Violence-hit Pakistan locks down the capital for an Asian security meeting
  • The government deployed troops and blocked key roads, making it difficult even for ambulances to pass through
  • Some doctors asked police to remove barricades so they could go to hospitals but were instead asked to take longer routes
Updated 4 min 30 sec ago
AP

ISLAMABAD: Shaken by multiple militant attacks, Pakistani authorities have locked down the capital in a major security move as senior officials from several nations arrive for an Asian security group meeting.
A three-day holiday started Monday in normally bustling Islamabad and the nearby garrison city of Rawalpindi. The government deployed troops and blocked key roads, making it difficult even for ambulances to pass through. Some doctors asked police to remove barricades so they could go to hospitals but were instead asked to take longer routes.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met Tuesday with leaders and officials attending the Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting.
The main event of the meeting is on Wednesday, when leaders and officials discuss how to boost security cooperation and economic ties. The group was founded in 2001 by China and Russia to counter Western alliances. Other members include Iran, India, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Militants in recent weeks have killed dozens of people in multiple attacks in restive northwestern and southwestern Pakistan bordering Afghanistan. Security experts say militants have limited capacity to strike in Islamabad.
Pakistan often blames the outlawed Pakistani Taliban, who have sanctuaries in neighboring Afghanistan, for the violence. Afghanistan’s Taliban government says it does not allow anyone to use its soil for attacks against any country.
Two Chinese engineers were killed on Oct. 6 in a suicide bombing outside the airport in Karachi, the capital of southern Sindh province. A separatist group claimed responsibility for the attack.
In the past, Pakistanis used to line up along the main roads to welcome any dignitaries visiting the country, but authorities said they had to take harsh security measures this time because of fears of militant attacks. Only state media are allowed to cover the meetings.
Among those attending are Chinese Premier Li Qiang, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Iranian First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref and the prime ministers of Kyrgyzstan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Mongolia.
Although Jaishankar is visiting the country for the first time in more than a decade, he is not expected to hold separate bilateral meetings with Pakistani officials.
The two South Asian neighbors have a history of bitter relations, and former Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari also did not hold any bilateral meetings with Indian officials when he visited New Delhi last year to attend an SCO summit.
Chinese Premier Li met with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday, according to a government statement. It said they reaffirmed their commitment to deepening cooperation in areas such as the economy, investment and regional connectivity, including the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, a Chinese infrastructure project under construction in Pakistan.
Zardari offered his condolences over the killing of the two Chinese engineers. He said the enemies of Pakistan-China friendship were trying to undermine bilateral relations by targeting Chinese citizens and attempting to disrupt CPEC projects, the statement said.

Topics: Pakistan Shanghai Cooperation Organization Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif

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Greek official accuses EU of policy failure on migration as war and climate change fuel displacement

Greek official accuses EU of policy failure on migration as war and climate change fuel displacement
Updated 36 min 43 sec ago
AP
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Greek official accuses EU of policy failure on migration as war and climate change fuel displacement

Greek official accuses EU of policy failure on migration as war and climate change fuel displacement
  • Sofia Voultepsi, a deputy minister for migration, said that a landmark European Union migration pact agreed upon earlier this year remained lacking in practical terms
  • “We got the (agreement), but the basic piece is still missing: Returns”
Updated 36 min 43 sec ago
AP

ATHENS: A Greek official on Tuesday criticized the outgoing European Commission for failing to forge a common policy to deport migrants, and she warned that war and climate change were increasing global displacement.
Sofia Voultepsi, a deputy minister for migration, said that a landmark European Union migration pact agreed upon earlier this year remained lacking in practical terms.
“We got the (agreement), but the basic piece is still missing: Returns,” Voultepsi told a conference near Athens. “We must have a common system for asylum, a common system for returns, and a common system for integration.”
Wars in the Middle East and Africa, combined with the effects of climate change, she said, would put Europe under continuous long-term pressure.
The new EU migration pact is due to take effect in mid-2026 following a new round of negotiations with the bloc’s 27 member states that are expected to last about a year.
Voultepsi expressed alarm at the growing number of refugees in Lebanon because of ongoing Israeli airstrikes targeting the militant group Hezbollah, and added: “Countries like Somalia, Ethiopia, and South Sudan ... are affected by both war and climate change, creating an ever-growing flow of migrants toward Europe.”
Greece is a major entry point for migrants into the European Union, with most crossing from Turkiye and Libya in unsafe boats.
The coast guard on Tuesday said that 81 migrants were rescued from a stranded vessel traveling from Turkiye to Italy.
The incident occurred on Sunday, and the rescue was carried out with the assistance of two merchant vessels. The rescued migrants, who were taken late Monday to the southern Greek port of Kalamata, told Greek authorities they had paid $8,500 each for the trip. Four of the passengers were arrested on smuggling charges.
Elsewhere in Europe, an Italian navy ship was expected to dock at an Albanian port with a first group of 16 migrants who were intercepted in international waters. Their asylum applications will be processed in Albania instead of in Italy, under a five-year agreement between the two countries.
In Poland, Prime Minister Donald Tusk plans to temporarily suspend the right to asylum. The new migration policy was presented at Cabinet meeting on Tuesday. If adopted, it would require approval from the parliament, where Tusk’s coalition government has a majority, and from conservative President Andrzej Duda.

Topics: Greece Migration European Commission

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Ahead of US election, Americans sue to ensure their votes count

Ahead of US election, Americans sue to ensure their votes count
Updated 15 October 2024
Reuters
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Ahead of US election, Americans sue to ensure their votes count

Ahead of US election, Americans sue to ensure their votes count
  • Democrats and their allies sue to make it easier to cast a ballot, which the Republicans claim can open the door to fraudulent votes
  • Republicans sue to assert what they call election integrity, which critics call voter suppression
Updated 15 October 2024
Reuters

DELAWARE, USA: For Erika Worobec of Cecil, Pennsylvania, mail-in voting is a family ritual. For a primary election in April, she researched the candidates and issues with her young son before making her selections.
“My son gets really excited when that envelope comes,” said Worobec, 45, who is in technical product marketing.
Two months after that election, she learned she had inadvertently marked her ballot with an incomplete date and that hers was among the 259 mail-in ballots in her county that were not recorded because of a ballot error.
“I felt it was un-American,” said Worobec, who votes by mail because she suffers from an autoimmune disease and doesn’t want to risk a trip to a crowded polling place. “How could primary results be accurate if so many ballots were not cast?“
In July, Worobec, who declined to say which presidential candidate she supported, joined a growing number of voters going to court to ensure that they have access to the polls and their ballots are counted in the Nov. 5 US presidential election.
There are roughly 95 election-related lawsuits filed in the seven battleground states that will decide the 2024 election, according to Democracy Docket, a website founded by Democratic lawyer Marc Elias that tracks election cases.
Those states are Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
In general, Democrats and their allies sue to make it easier to cast a ballot, which the Republicans claim can open the door to fraudulent votes. Republicans sue to assert what they call election integrity, which critics call voter suppression.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll shows Democratic candidate Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, her Republican challenger, locked in a tight race with both parties fighting for every vote.
As a result, voters, advocacy groups and the two main political parties have filed lawsuits over everything from the location of polling places to voter registration procedures.
Worobec, after being approached by the state’s branch of the American Civil Liberties Union, agreed to join six other voters from Washington County, near Pittsburgh, who sued their election board. The Republican Party intervened to defend the case and in August a judge ruled that voters must be notified if a mail-in or absentee ballot has an error so voters can mount a challenge or cast a provisional ballot at their polling place.
The county election board did not respond to a request for comment.

CHALLENGES FACE MIXED SUCCESS
Other voters have had less success.
Tyler Engel, 35, a research project manager in Madison, Wisconsin, has a form of muscular dystrophy and uses a wheelchair that makes it difficult to access his polling place. To cast an absentee ballot, he would need assistance because he can’t mark a ballot with his hands.
“I have to have someone do it for me, which is kind of unnerving that people know how I vote,” he said.
Engel, who declined to say which presidential candidate he supports, said the advocacy group Disability Rights Wisconsin learned he was researching polling place accessibility and asked him to join a lawsuit that sought to allow voters like him to mark ballots electronically without assistance. The group is funding a pilot project for his research.
A lower court judge ruled that voters who are unable to see or mark a paper ballot should be emailed an electronic version, but the ruling is on hold and will not be resolved before the election.
In Michigan, the Republican National Committee and its allies sued after the governor designated Veterans Administration and Small Business Administration offices as official voter registration agencies.
Vet Voice Foundation, a nonpartisan group which advocates for US military veterans, sought to intervene.
“Oftentimes the first place a veteran is touching down is at the VA health care center, because they need to get their medications,” said Brian Stone, a 37-year-old US Navy veteran who volunteers with the group and said he supports Harris. “But more importantly, there’s a lot of veterans who unfortunately are homeless and do struggle with voter registration.”
A judge denied Vet Voice’s request and the case remains unresolved.
“These agencies should be 100 percent focused on supporting our veterans and small businesses, not spending our tax dollars to influence the election in Michigan,” said spokesperson Claire Zunk of the RNC, who called the case an overt attempt by the governor and Harris to keep the Democrats in power.
Michigan’s secretary of state did not respond to a request for comment.

A DISTANT POLLING PLACE
In Montana, a state which traditionally votes Republican and which could determine control of the US Senate, some members of the Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes live more than 20 miles (32 km) from the nearest election office.
Some tribal members sued election officials on Sept. 30. They asked for registration and early voting satellite offices near where they live to be open daily in the six-week run-up to the election. Settlement talks are under way.
Dylan Jensen, a Valley County attorney said the county lacked resources but as in past years would provide a satellite office for up to two days which had been used by as few as four voters. A Roosevelt County lawyer said discussions were under way.
“We have tiny towns out in the middle of nowhere, you know? Does it mean that we can’t be heard?” said Joseph Dolezilek, 38, one of the plaintiffs in the suit.

Topics: US Election Democrats Republicans

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Italian PM hails ‘courageous’ Albania migrant deal

Italian PM hails ‘courageous’ Albania migrant deal
Updated 15 October 2024
Reuters
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Italian PM hails ‘courageous’ Albania migrant deal

Italian PM hails ‘courageous’ Albania migrant deal
  • “It is a new, courageous, unprecedented path, but one that perfectly reflects the European spirit,” Meloni said
  • The scheme comes ahead of a European Union summit in Brussels this week, where migration is on the table
Updated 15 October 2024
Reuters

ROME: Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Tuesday brushed aside criticism of a controversial deal to send migrants for processing in Albania, a European first which other European leaders are watching closely.
Italy on Monday began transferring the first migrants to the centers — 16 men from Egypt and Bangladesh — who are due to arrive Wednesday.
“It is a new, courageous, unprecedented path, but one that perfectly reflects the European spirit and has everything it takes to be followed also with other non-EU nations,” Meloni said.
The scheme comes ahead of a European Union summit in Brussels this week, where migration is on the table.
In a letter to member states ahead of the talks, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said the bloc would “be able to draw lessons from this (Albania) experience in practice.”
Italy’s two processing centers in Albania will be operated under Italian law, with Italian security and staff, and judges hearing cases by video from Rome.
But human rights groups question whether there will be enough protection for asylum seekers.
“The first people to arrive in Italy’s new detention centers deserve better than to be subject to this dangerous political experiment,” said Susanna Zanfrini, Italy director for the International Rescue Committee, a humanitarian organization.
“Even as the doors open on these new facilities, some huge questions remain unanswered about how Italy will ensure that people’s rights are safeguarded outside of the EU’s jurisdiction.”
Italy’s Mediterranean coast has long been a target for migrants hoping to reach Europe.
Meloni’s post-fascist Brothers of Italy party promised to halt the arrivals during 2022 national elections.
She agreed with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama in November 2023 to open the asylum centers.
Addressing the Senate in Rome, Meloni said her government was setting a “good example” to other countries on how to tackle irregular migration.
She added that Italy would organize an informal meeting at the EU summit ” between the member states most interested in the migration issue.”
At talks in Luxembourg on Tuesday on Albania’s negotiations to eventually join the EU, Rama said, however, that his deal with Italy may not be easily replicated by other countries.
“We have been asked by others and we have said no,” he told reporters, pointing to the long history of close Italy-Albania ties.
The five-year deal, estimated to cost Italy 160 million euros ($175 million) annually, covers certain adult male migrants intercepted on Italian boats in international waters, but within Italy’s search and rescue area.
Those sent to Albania will be from countries deemed “safe” — a debated criterion but one that allows for a more simplified repatriation process.
Critics say the numbers that can be processed in Albania at any one time — initially put at around 3,000 by Rome, but now reported to be much lower — will have little impact on overall numbers.
“In the last three days, more than 1,600 migrants have landed in Italy. An Italian ship is transporting 16 of them to Albania,” noted Matteo Villa, a researcher at the ISPI think tank.
Almost 160,000 migrants landed on Italian shores last year, up from 105,000 the year before, according to interior ministry data.
Numbers have sharply fallen in 2024, with 54,000 arrivals recorded so far, compared to almost 140,000 in the same period in 2023.
However, the government hopes that intercepting people at sea and sending them to Albania before they reach Italy will act as a deterrent.
Rome has also moved to limit the activities of charity ships that rescue migrants in the Central Mediterranean.
Under the new scheme, migrants will first arrive at a center in the northern Albanian port of Shengjin for registration and health checks. They will then go to a center in nearby Gjader to await processing of their asylum claims.
The Gjader facility — a maze of prefabricated buildings surrounded by high walls and police guards — includes a section for migrants whose asylum applications have been rejected, as well as a small jail.

Topics: Italy Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni Albania migrants EU

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