drug

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad — Trinidad and Tobago’s prime minister, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, is praising a U.S. strike on a boat suspected of carrying drugs in the southern Caribbean.

President Trump said Tuesday that 11 people were killed aboard the boat that had departed Venezuela, which is located near Trinidad and Tobago.

“I, along with most of the country, am happy that the U.S. naval deployment is having success in their mission,” Persad-Bissessar said in a statement late Tuesday. “The pain and suffering the cartels have inflicted on our nation is immense. I have no sympathy for traffickers; the U.S. military should kill them all violently.”

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that the drugs aboard the vessel were likely headed to Trinidad or elsewhere in the Caribbean.

Persad-Bissessar said that restricting illegal guns, drugs and human trafficking would decrease violence in the Caribbean region and the twin-island nation of Trinidad and Tobago, which has imposed two state of emergencies in recent months.

“Our country has been ravaged by bloody violence and addiction because of the greed of the cartels,” Persad-Bissessar said. “The slaughter of our people is fueled by evil cartel traffickers.”

Other Caribbean leaders were more reserved in their remarks.

Barbados Today, a local news site, quoted Barbadian Foreign Minister Kerrie Symmonds as saying that foreign ministers within Caricom, a 15-member regional trade bloc, wrote to Rubio to ensure that future military operations within the Caribbean don’t occur without prior notice or explanation.

“What effectively we are trying to do is to work through the diplomatic channels of making sure that there are no surprises and practices, so that you get notification wherever it is feasible for actions that are going to have a foreseeable regional impact,” Symmonds was quoted as saying.

He said that ongoing dialogue would “avoid misunderstandings, and we can maintain and strengthen our mutual confidence with each other.”

Trump has said that the vessel targeted in the strike in international waters was operated by Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang. The White House didn’t immediately explain how the military determined that those aboard the vessel were Tren de Aragua members.

The strike came after the U.S. announced last month that it planned to boost its maritime force in waters off Venezuela to fight threats from Latin American drug cartels.

The U.S. military has conducted a “lethal strike” in the southern Caribbean against a drug vessel that departed from Venezuela and was operated by a designated narco-terrorist organization, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on X. His comments came moments after U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters that “over the last few minutes [the military] literally shot out a boat, a drug-carrying boat, a lot of drugs in that boat.” The incident took place as Trump has dispatched at least eight warships to the region to fight drug trafficking.

No details were immediately available about how the strike was carried out, or against what type of vessel or which organization was targeted.

This appears to be the first lethal attack on a cartel drug vessel since Trump deployed warships to the area, signaling a change to kinetic interdiction operations. However, even U.S. Southern Command, which oversees military operations in the region, did not have details.

MEXICO CITY — Security, sovereignty, tariffs, trade, drugs and migration — all hot-button issues for the Trump administration and its neighbors in the Western Hemisphere — will top Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s agenda this week on his third trip to Latin America since becoming the chief U.S. diplomat.

In talks with leaders in Mexico and Ecuador on Wednesday and Thursday, Rubio will make the case that broader, deeper cooperation with the U.S. on those issues is vitally important to improving health, safety and security in the Americas and the Caribbean.

Yet, President Trump has alienated many in the region — far beyond the usual array of U.S. antagonists like Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela — with persistent demands, coupled with threats of sweeping tariffs and massive sanctions for not complying with his desires.

Mexico has been a focus for Trump

Mexico, the only country apart from Canada to share a border with the U.S., has been a particular target for Trump. He has demanded, and so far won, some concessions from Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum’s government, which is eager to defuse the tariff threats.

Just a few hours before Rubio’s arrival Tuesday, Sheinbaum was set to lead a meeting of the country’s most important security forum, which brings together all 32 governors, the army, navy, federal prosecutor’s office and security commanders to coordinate actions across Mexico.

Sheinbaum had been talking for weeks about how Mexico was finalizing a comprehensive security agreement with the State Department that, among other things, was supposed to include plans for a “joint investigation group” to combat the flow of fentanyl and the drug’s precursors into the U.S. and weapons from north to south.

“Under no circumstance will we accept interventions, interference or any other act from abroad that is detrimental to the integrity, independence and sovereignty of the country,” she said Monday in her State of the Nation address marking her first year in office.

Last week, however, a senior State Department official downplayed suggestions that a formal agreement — at least one that includes protections for Mexican sovereignty — was in the works.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to preview Rubio’s meetings, said sovereignty protections were “understood” by both countries without having to be formalized in a document.

Sheinbaum lowered her expectations Tuesday, saying during her morning news briefing that it would not be a formal agreement but rather a kind of memorandum of understanding to share information and intelligence on drug trafficking or money laundering obtained “by them in their territory, by us in our territory unless commonly agreed upon.”

Mexico’s president touts keeping close ties with the U.S.

Of her meeting with Rubio on Wednesday, she said it was always important to maintain good relations with the United States.

“There will be moments of greater tension, of less tension, of issues that we do not agree on, but we have to try to have a good relationship, and I believe tomorrow’s meeting will show that,” Sheinbaum said. “It is a relationship of respect and at the same time collaboration.”

To appease Trump, Sheinbaum has gone after Mexican cartels and their fentanyl production more aggressively than her predecessor. The government has sent the National Guard to the northern border and delivered 55 cartel figures long wanted by U.S. authorities to the Trump administration.

The Trump-Sheinbaum relationship also has been marked by tension, including the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration announcing a new initiative with Mexico to combat cartels along the border that prompted an angry denial from Sheinbaum.

Despite American officials singing her praises, and constantly highlighting collaboration between the two countries, Trump glibly said last month: “Mexico does what we tell them to do.”

Migration and cartels are a focus of Rubio’s trip

In announcing the trip, the State Department said Rubio, who has already traveled twice to Latin America and the Caribbean and twice to Canada this year, would focus on stemming illegal migration, combating organized crime and drug cartels, and countering what the U.S. believes is malign Chinese behavior in its backyard.

He will show “unwavering commitment to protect [U.S.] borders, neutralize narco-terrorist threats to our homeland, and ensure a level playing field for American businesses,” the department said.

Rubio’s first foreign trip as secretary of state was to Panama, El Salvador, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic, during which he assailed Chinese influence over the Panama Canal and sealed deals with the others to accept immigrant deportees from the United States. Rubio later traveled to Jamaica, Guyana and Suriname.

The senior State Department official said virtually every country in Latin America is now accepting the return of their nationals being deported from the U.S. and, with the exception of Nicaragua, most have stepped up their actions against drug cartels, many of which have been designated foreign terrorist organizations by the U.S.

The official also said progress has been made in countering China in the Western Hemisphere.

Lee and Janetsky write for the Associated Press. AP writer María Verza in Mexico City contributed to this report.

Ross Ulbricht built an empire in the shadows—a sprawling digital bazaar called The Silk Road, hidden on the dark web. There, drugs, weapons, and stolen secrets flowed freely, all paid for in untraceable cryptocurrency. To his global clientele, he was a legend: the Dread Pirate Roberts.

But after a dramatic arrest and a staggering double life sentence, Ulbricht’s fate took another twist. Just days into his second term, President Trump pardoned him, sparking outrage and debate. So, did he deserve his punishment? Did justice prevail—or was power at play? And how did a digital outlaw become the ultimate wild card in America’s justice system?

In this episode:
– Nicholas Cristin, Online Crime Professor at Carnegie Mellon University
– David Yaffe-Bellany, Technology Reporter for the New York Times

“Most people are one sickness away from seeking financial assistance,” reads a popular quote circulating on Nigerian social media.

For Usman Sani, a 33-year-old schoolteacher and a tailor in Funtua, a town in Katsina State, northwestern Nigeria, the truth in that statement has been a lifelong reality. He was in his first year of Junior Secondary School when his name appeared on the duty roster, a schedule for students responsible for cleaning the classroom either before classes or after the school closed. 

One morning, while sweeping alongside some other classmates, he began coughing uncontrollably. It worsened until he felt like he could no longer breathe. His chest tightened, and he collapsed. Teachers administered first aid, after which his parents rushed him to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with asthma, a chronic respiratory condition in which the airways become inflamed and narrowed, causing difficulty in breathing, coughing, and wheezing. From then on, his name was removed from the sweeping list.

“Nothing felt comfortable at that moment, whether eating, drinking, working, or even talking. Sometimes, just lying down would become a problem,” Usman recounted. “If I didn’t get immediate relief either through fresh air or medication, the condition would worsen.” 

Back then, he did not have an inhaler, relying instead on tablets that gradually lost their effectiveness. In 2018, his doctor prescribed a Ventolin inhaler, which became a lifeline during a series of attacks. “Then, an inhaler was around ₦2,000,” he said. “Now in 2025, it costs at least ₦14,000. I bought it last month. I can’t afford to buy an inhaler every month out of my small salary.” Hence, Usman said he wears face masks when he is outside. 

“Prevention, they say, is better than cure,” he added.

Usman’s struggle is not an isolated case. Across Nigeria, people living with chronic illnesses are finding it harder to manage their conditions as the cost of essential drugs skyrockets.

According to the World Bank, out-of-pocket expenditure accounts for over 70 per cent of total health spending in Nigeria, one of the highest in the world. This means millions are vulnerable to financial shocks whenever a health crisis strikes.

Take Hajiya Umma, an elderly woman in Sabon Gari, Zaria, in Kaduna State, who was diagnosed with diabetes in 2016. Since then, her son, Ibrahim Muhammad, has been responsible for her medication. The cost of an insulin shot has risen by about 480 per cent in the last five years, from ₦2000 to ₦14,500, hitting their household hard. “What’s more worrisome than the skyrocketing price of drugs is the specialised food I have to eat as well,” she lamented.

The government has made attempts to respond. In 2024, the Nigerian government signed an executive order waiving import duties and taxes on pharmaceutical inputs to boost local drug production. However, implementation has been slow and has had a limited impact. The Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria states that the order has not yet resulted in lower prices due to forex scarcity, supply chain issues, and regulatory delays. Importers still face bottlenecks at ports, and manufacturers are crippled by erratic power supply and high production costs.

The crisis worsened as major multinational companies, including pharmaceutical companies, exited Nigeria. Firms like GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Sanofi shut down operations in the last two years, citing the naira’s collapse, profit repatriation issues, deteriorating infrastructure, and weak consumer power. As a result, Nigeria lost ₦94 trillion in economic output, according to Segun Omisakin, Chief Economist and Director of Research at Nigerian Economic Summit Group. This exodus has left hospitals and pharmacies struggling to restock essential and specialised medications.

This reality is evident to pharmacists on the ground. “This […] GSK Actifed is not even available; you’re lucky to get it. For several months, we’ve been searching to get it to stock in our pharmacy, but it’s not available,” Musa Bello, a pharmacist based in Kaduna State, lamented. He explained that the exit of GSK triggered not only scarcity and soaring prices, but also a flourishing black market and the rise of counterfeits. “Imagine Seretide Inhaler, which was ₦5,000 before their exit, went up to ₦30,000+ at some point. A lot has happened and is happening. I pity people with chronic conditions like diabetes and hypertension. A large part of their income now goes to drugs, and some can’t even afford it.”

The impact has also been severe on common diseases like malaria. Nigeria accounts for nearly 27 per cent of the world’s malaria cases, with 68 million infections and 194,000 deaths in 2021 alone, according to the World Health Organisation. Treatment that cost under ₦2,000 five years ago now sells for between ₦8,000 and ₦12,000. Similarly, hypertension drugs such as Amlodipine and Labetalol have doubled or tripled in price, with some monthly treatment plans exceeding ₦18,000.

“It is expensive. One wrong move can set you back. Drugs are no longer affordable for a lot of people,” Mukhtar Sabo, a development worker living with diabetes, said.

With the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) covering fewer than 10 per cent of Nigerians, the vast majority remain unprotected. The result is a cycle where families are pushed into poverty, forced to pay for care entirely out of pocket.

Resorting to alternatives

Faced with rising costs, Nigerians are increasingly turning to cheaper alternatives. 

Danladi  Bala, a trader in Zaria, suffers from a chronic ulcer. He buys medicine, a brown powdered herbal concoction sold in small packs, from a street vendor after Friday’s Islamic prayers. A week’s supply costs ₦200, or three bundles for ₦500.

“It is effective, because I feel better. I don’t have to go to the hospital and spend a lot of money on drugs that I might have to be taking for life. I have faith and trust that this traditional one would do the trick,” Danlandi said. He stopped visiting hospitals two years ago when drug prices rose sharply at local chemists.

Many Nigerians now rely on traditional, herbal and sometimes, religious remedies. On streets and in buses, markets, and worship centres, self-proclaimed healers sell mixtures they claim can cure everything from ulcers to sexually transmitted diseases, diabetes to HIV, and in some cases, even cancer. Their influence has grown through radio and television promotions, as well as, more recently, social media. In Nigeria, around 70 per cent of the population relies on traditional medicine, with 41 per cent using herbal remedies exclusively and 31 per cent combining them with orthodox care. Traditional healers are also key providers of mental health services, especially in underserved communities.

But this reliance on informal treatment, while understandable, risks exposing millions to counterfeit or ineffective drugs. 

“Most of those alternatives are not standardised,” said Anas Abdulahi, a medical doctor at the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Zaria. “Every drug is a potential poison. So taking such drugs risks damage to major organs like the liver and kidneys. Secondly, chasing those alternatives potentially leads to a delay in diagnosis and progression of disease to severe or terminal stages. There is also waste resources running from one alternative medicine to another in search of a cure.” 

Crowdfunding for treatment

For others, survival now depends on the kindness of strangers.

Yasmin, a lively four-year-old, is known for her charm and curiosity. When she started experiencing persistent headaches, her parents grew concerned. Initially, painkillers worked. Then the headache returned, more severe, robbing her of sleep and eventually sight. 

One day in 2024, everything became blurry to her.

Her father, Malam Abubakar, a primary school teacher, sought answers at a teaching hospital in Kaduna, only to be told the radiology machines were faulty. He was referred to neighbouring Kano State for scans. The costs were overwhelming, and he nearly sold his motorcycle to pay for them until family and friends intervened.

When the diagnosis was out, it was found that Yasmin had a tumour in her brain and required urgent surgery. With no savings to cover the expense, her parents turned to social media. Through crowdfunding campaigns on Facebook, X, and WhatsApp groups, the community rallied around them. The surgery was eventually funded.

For someone who was taking care of his family without help or interference from anyone, Abubakar said that resorting to crowdfunding was humbling. 

“I felt like a beggar, honestly. My self-esteem and ego were seriously hit, but who am I to think about those things when my daughter’s life was on the line?” he said. 

Though Yasmin has since been discharged and is recovering, her family must now pay for weekly physiotherapy and post-surgical treatment — another heavy burden on her father’s modest salary.

Her case is one of thousands. Fundraising appeals for medical treatment now flood social media daily. Even medical students and doctors are not exempt. A recent campaign sought ₦6 million for Obi Oluwatosin Joseph, a medical student at Delta State University in the country’s South South, who needs brain surgery. Another appeal, for Summaya Dalhat, a medical doctor in Kaduna, requested over ₦2.1 million for stroke rehabilitation.

Crowdfunding has become a lifeline for Nigerians in distress, bridging gaps left by a failing health system. But stigma, fraud, and slow responses remain constant obstacles.

In the end, herbal remedies, borrowed money, or online appeals are only fragile shields. Families like Usman’s, Umma’s, and Yasmin’s continue to live on the edge, sustained less by policy or social protection than by luck, faith, and the mercy of strangers.

Regulation of psilocybin — the “magic” substance in psychedelic mushrooms — has been a hot-button issue for Californians in recent years, but repeated attempts by state lawmakers to allow medical use of the substance have floundered.

Now it seems change may come at the federal level.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is weighing a petition sent earlier this month by the Drug Enforcement Administration to review the scientific evidence and consider easing restrictions.

Psilocybin is currently classified as a Schedule I narcotic, the most restrictive category under federal law, reserved for drugs “with a high potential for abuse” and “no currently accepted medical use.” The DEA is considering moving psilocybin into the less restrictive Schedule II tier, which includes drugs that are considered addictive or dangerous — including fentanyl and cocaine — but also have medical value.

Past efforts to allow for therapeutic use of psilocybin have largely stalled in the face of official intransigence and lack of political will, including in California, where state lawmakers’ efforts to decriminalize psilocybin and other psychedelic substances have failed multiple times.

Despite strict prohibition under both state and federal law, psilocybin is widely available and growing in popularity for both recreational and therapeutic purposes.

Illegal cannabis dispensaries across Southern California openly sell actual psilocybin mushrooms, as well as dodgy chocolates and gummies that often purport to contain the substance but instead contain only synthetic versions. In recent decades, a growing body of research has found that psilocybin can be beneficial in treating mental health conditions including depression, anxiety and substance use disorder.

The issue of psychedelic access is high on the agenda of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s controversial and conspiracy-minded secretary of Health and Human Services. Kennedy has signaled support in the past for expanding access to some hallucinogens in medical settings for treatment of mental health disorders.

Kennedy’s agency directed all inquiries to the DEA, which said in an email that it is “unable to comment on or confirm scheduling actions.”

The DEA sent the psilocybin petition after a drawn-out legal battle led by Dr. Sunil Aggarwal. For about five years, Aggarwal, co-director of the Advanced Integrative Medical Science Institute in Seattle, has been seeking a means to legally obtain and administer psilocybin to ailing and aging patients for care during the final phases of their lives.

Kathryn L. Tucker, a lawyer for Aggarwal, wrote a letter to the DEA this month that said he “continues to provide care to patients with advanced and terminal cancer who could benefit greatly from psilocybin assisted therapy, enabling them to experience a more peaceful dying process.”

“The science supports movement to schedule II; such placement will enable access under Right to Try laws, which contemplate early access to promising new drugs for those with life-threatening conditions,” Tucker wrote.

Aggarwal filed a lawsuit after his 2020 petition to reschedule psilocybin was denied. A federal panel dismissed the suit, but the move toward rescheduling continues now that the DEA has officially forwarded his petition to the Department of Health and Human Services.

But some researchers and other experts caution against moving too fast to expand access.

Dr. Steven Locke, a former Harvard Medical School psychiatry professor, wrote in an email that the question of whether psilocybin has any medical applications “remains controversial.” A past president of the American Psychosomatic Society, Locke has studied rare conditions such as Hallucinogen Persisting Perception Disorder, which cause symptoms akin to long-lasting “bad trips” in a small percentage of people who use psilocybin mushrooms and other psychedelics.

“There is little evidence from good-quality studies to support claims for the efficacy of the use of psilocybin for the treatment of any medical disorders,” said Locke. “The reclassification should be contingent on a careful review.”

Three US warships to be stationed off the coast of Venezuela in so-called fight against ‘narco-terrorists’, according to reports.

Three United States warships ordered to deploy off the coast of Venezuela by US President Donald Trump could arrive by the weekend, according to reports, as Washington sends its military to curb drug trafficking by Latin American crime cartels.

The reported deployment of the warships comes as the Trump administration increases pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, after recently doubling a reward for his arrest to $50m on what the US claims are drug offences linked to cocaine trafficking.

Sources told the Reuters and AFP news agencies on Wednesday that an amphibious squadron consisting of three US Aegis-class guided missile destroyers is heading to the waters off Venezuela and could arrive as early as Sunday.

Two sources briefed on the deployment, and speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that the USS San Antonio, USS Iwo Jima and USS Fort Lauderdale are moving towards the Venezuelan coast and are carrying 4,500 US service members, including 2,200 Marines.

The sources declined to detail the specific mission of the squadron. But they have said that recent deployments are aimed at addressing threats to US national security from specially designated “narco-terrorist” organisations in the region.

Maduro said on Monday that he would be deploying millions of militia members across Venezuela in response to US “threats”, which included the reward for his arrest and the launch of a new anti-drug operation in the Caribbean.

“This week, I will activate a special plan with more than 4.5 million militiamen to ensure coverage of the entire national territory – militias that are prepared, activated and armed,” Maduro said in a televised address.

Washington has accused Maduro of leading the Venezuela-based Cartel de los Soles (Cartel of the Suns) cocaine trafficking gang.

The US Department of the Treasury designated the cartel as a global terrorist organisation last month, accusing it of supporting the Venezuelan crime group Tren de Aragua and Mexico’s Sinaloa drug cartels, which were also designated foreign terrorist organisations earlier this year.

“President Trump has been very clear and consistent, he’s prepared to use every element of American power to stop drugs from flooding into our country and to bring those responsible to justice,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Tuesday.

“Maduro, it is the view of this administration, is not a legitimate president; he is a fugitive head of this cartel who has been indicted in the United States for trafficking drugs into this country,” Leavitt said.

Al Jazeera’s Latin America editor, Lucia Newman, reports that Maduro has ordered the grounding of all aerial drones for the next 30 days, “an indication that he might be expecting an attack from the air rather than sea”.

“President Trump’s vow to send warships to the Caribbean and elsewhere in Latin America to stop the flow of drugs to the United States is being seen as more than just a threat to Venezuela. It could apply to many, many countries in this region,” Newman said.

“They say today it may be Venezuela, tomorrow it could be any one of them,” Newman said.

Many in the region are also wondering why Trump has chosen to implement “such an aggressive move in the United States’ backyard while he portrays himself as a global peacemaker”.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has denied reports that her government is teaming up with the United States for a “major new initiative” to combat drug-trafficking cartels.

In her Tuesday morning news conference, Sheinbaum addressed the initiative, dubbed “Project Portero”, which was touted in the US as an effort to “strengthen collaboration between the United States and Mexico”.

The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) had unveiled the initiative only one day prior.

“I want to clarify something. The DEA put out a statement yesterday saying that there is an agreement with the Mexican government for an operation called Portero,” Sheinbaum said.

“There is no agreement with the DEA. The DEA puts out this statement, based on what we don’t know. We have not reached any agreement; none of the security institutions [have] with the DEA.”

Sheinbaum emphasised that only her administration, not individual government agencies, would be announcing such an agreement on behalf of Mexico.

She also emphasised that the DEA needed to follow established protocols for making joint announcements.

Project Portero is part of an ongoing push under US President Donald Trump to stamp out cross-border drug trafficking and aggressively pursue the cartels and criminal networks that profit from such trade.

In its statement on Monday, the DEA called Project Portero its “flagship operation” aimed at shutting down drug-smuggling corridors along the border.

It described its partnership with Mexico as “a multi-week training and collaboration program” that would bring Mexican investigators together with US enforcement officials at an intelligence site on the southwest border.

Part of their task, the statement said, was to “identify joint targets” for the two countries to pursue.

“Project Portero and this new training program show how we will fight — by planning and operating side by side with our Mexican partners,” DEA administrator Terrance Cole said in the statement

“This is a bold first step in a new era of cross-border enforcement.”

But Sheinbaum said no such bilateral action was planned, though she speculated that the DEA might be referring to a small training exercise involving four Mexican police officers.

“The only thing we have is a group of police officers from the Secretariat of Citizen Security who were conducting a workshop in Texas,” she explained.

She did, however, point out that her government was actively working with the Trump administration to cement a border security agreement, based on mutual acknowledgements of sovereignty and respectful coordination.

Since taking office for a second term in January, Trump has repeatedly pressured the Sheinbaum government to stem the flow of immigrants and drugs across their countries’ shared border.

That includes through the threat of tariffs, a kind of tax imposed on imports. In late July, Trump announced he would keep tariffs on Mexican products at their current rate for 90 days.

Previously, he had threatened to hike the tariff rate to 30 percent on the basis that fentanyl was still reaching US soil.

“Mexico still has not stopped the Cartels who are trying to turn all of North America into a Narco-Trafficking Playground,” Trump wrote in a letter to Sheinbaum earlier that month.

Even with the 90-day pause, Mexico still faces a 25-percent tax — which Trump calls a “fentanyl tariff” — on all products that do not fall under the US-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement (USMCA).

Still, Trump has expressed warmth towards Sheinbaum, and the Mexican leader has largely avoided public confrontations with the US since taking office in October 2024.

Recently, Sheinbaum’s government coordinated with Trump’s to transfer 26 high-profile drug-trafficking suspects to the US for prosecution.

In February, she made a similar deal, sending 29 alleged cartel leaders from Mexican prisons to the US shortly before Trump threatened to impose tariffs on her country’s imports. It was Mexico’s largest prisoner transfer to the US in years.

But Sheinbaum has also faced scrutiny over her handling of Trump’s aggressive foreign policy platform.

Earlier this month, for instance, Trump’s State Department issued travel warnings for 30 of Mexico’s 32 states, warning Americans of “terrorist” activities in those areas.

Trump has also designated multiple Latin American criminal groups as “foreign terrorist organisations”, and he reportedly signed an order authorising military action to combat them.

Critics fear that order could translate into a military incursion on Mexican soil. But Sheinbaum has repeatedly downplayed those concerns, saying, “There will be no invasion of Mexico.”

Still, she has nevertheless asserted that any unauthorised US action on Mexican land would be considered a violation of her country’s sovereignty.

A JUDGE who controversially allowed a knife-wielding drug dealer to stay in the UK was on the board of a pro-asylum charity.

Fiona Beach declared Christian Quadjovie, 26, was not a threat to the public.

The French-born crook had been locked up for a total of 963 days since arriving here aged ten in 2009.

But he was granted a reprieve by Judge Beach, an ex-director at Asylum Aid who represented migrants for free on behalf of the Bail for Immigration Detainees charity.

The decision has since been overturned after Government lawyers claimed her judgment was “made against the weight of evidence”.

Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick said Judge Beach’s apparent conflict of interest “undermines confidence” in the courts.

He added: “This is the latest example of an immigration judge with open borders views.

“The similarity between her decisions and the political views she has broadcast totally undermines confidence in the system. Judges must be independent.”

Last night, in a letter seen by The Sun on Sunday, Mr Jenrick made a formal request to the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office to probe whether Judge Beach, 54, had declared her previous roles.

In 2005 and 2007, she was listed in a “thank you” section of the Bail in Immigration annual report, and named as a barrister volunteering to represent its clients in court.

Records show she was a director of Asylum Aid between September 2004 and February 2007.

Judicial sources insisted she stepped back from the group in December 2006 when appointed as a part-time judge.

In 2018 she was made a salaried tribunal judge. She first heard Quadjovie’s case in April 2024.

He was first convicted as a boy of 12 after sexually assaulting a girl under 13.

In 2016, he was given a nine-month referral order for carrying a knife in public.

Later that year, he was convicted of drug offences. He was detained for 30 months and caught with more drugs after his release.

The Home Office tried to deport him but he argued he would not be able to reintegrate in France.

A judiciary spokesman said all judges took an oath to remain impartial.

He added: “In each case, judges make decisions based on the evidence and arguments presented, and apply the law as it stands.”

1

MEXICO CITY — The U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions Wednesday on more than a dozen Mexican companies and four people it says worked with a powerful drug trafficking cartel to scam elderly Americans in a multimillion-dollar timeshare fraud.

The network of 13 businesses in areas near the seaside tourist destination of Puerto Vallarta were accused of working with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, a group designated by the U.S. government as a foreign terrorist organization.

In a scheme dating back to 2012, four cartel associates are accused of defrauding American citizens of their life savings through elaborate rental and resale schemes, according to a Treasury statement. In the span of six months, officials said they were able to document $23.1 million sent from mostly people in the U.S. to scammers in Mexico.

The sanctions imposed by the administration of President Trump would prohibit Americans from doing business with the alleged cartel associates and block any of their assets in the U.S.

“We will continue our effort to completely eradicate the cartels’ ability to generate revenue, including their efforts to prey on elderly Americans through timeshare fraud,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.

In past years, the administration of then-President Biden also sanctioned associates and accountants related to such schemes.

The Wednesday announcement was made amid an ongoing effort by the Trump administration and the Mexican government to crack down on cartels and their diverse sources of income.

The U.S. Treasury Department has slapped sanctions on a variety of people from a Mexican rapper who it accused of laundering cartel money to Mexican banks facilitating money transfers in sales of precursor chemicals used to produce fentanyl.

The announcement also came one day after Mexico sent 26 high-ranking cartel figures to the U.S. in the latest major deal with the Trump administration as Mexico tries to avoid threatened tariffs.

Aug. 12 (UPI) — The U.S. Justice Department has transferred 14 Mexican nationals serving prison sentences in the United States on drug-related charges to their native country, according to both governments.

The transfer occurred Friday but was made public Monday by the Justice Department, which said in a statement that it was pursuant to a prisoner transfer treaty between the two countries.

The Justice Department said the unidentified inmates had requested the transfer, and both the United States and Mexico agreed. Under the treaty, the inmates will complete their sentences in Mexican detention facilities.

“These people were transferred to a prison in national territory with the aim of obtaining their social reintegration with greater proximity to their families,” Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office said in a statement.

According to U.S. Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Galeotti of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, the transfer will save the United States more than $4 million in incarceration costs for the 96 remaining years on their combined sentence.

“The Justice Department will continue such transfers — pursuant to our treaty with Mexico — to reduce incarceration costs and relieve overcrowding in our federal prisons,” Galeotti said.

The announcement comes a month after Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said her government was seeking to immediately repatriate 14 Mexican nationals held at Florida’s Everglades immigration detention center, more commonly known as “Alligator Alcatraz.”

It was unclear if the 14 Mexican nationals repatriated Friday were the same individuals Sheinbaum was seeking to return home.

“All arrangements are being made to ensure their immediate repatriation to Mexico,” she said at a July 22 press conference, local media reported.

Jennifer Aniston just came out with an unexpected, wistful comment about her “Friends” co-star Matthew Perry’s death: Part of her, she said, thinks it might be “better” for him that he died.

“We did everything we could when we could,” the “Morning Show” star said in an interview published Monday by Vanity Fair, talking about Perry’s friends’ attempts to help him when he was struggling with addiction. “But it almost felt like we’d been mourning Matthew for a long time because his battle with that disease was a really hard one for him to fight.”

Indeed, Perry discussed his friends’ efforts to help him in his 2022 memoir, “Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing,” which recounted his decades-long struggles with substance abuse as well as his numerous recovery efforts.

“Although he asserts he was never high while filming ‘Friends,’ he’d often be sick or hungover,” former staff writer Christina Veta wrote in The Times’ review of the memoir. “Once, Perry passed out on the Central Perk couch and [co-star Matt] LeBlanc had to nudge him awake to say his line. Later, Aniston called him out for drinking again, telling him, ‘We can smell it.’”

Perry told Aniston, “I know I’m drinking too much, but I don’t exactly know what to do about it.”

“In nature, when a penguin is injured, the other penguins group around it and prop it up until it’s better,” he wrote in his memoir. “This is what my costars on Friends did for me. There were times on set when I was extremely hungover, and Jen and Courteney [Cox], being devoted to cardio as a cure-all, had a Lifecycle exercise bike installed backstage. In between rehearsals and takes, I’d head back there and ride that thing like the fires of hell were chasing me — anything to get my brain power back to normal. I was the injured penguin, but I was determined to not let these wonderful people, and this show, down.”

Aniston told Vanity Fair in the new interview, “looking solemn and out toward the ocean” as she spoke about Perry’s death, “As hard as it was for all of us and for the fans, there’s a part of me that thinks this is better. I’m glad he’s out of that pain.”

Perry said in his memoir that amid all his drinking and drug use, he was never suicidal.

“In the back of my mind I always had some semblance of hope. But, if dying was a consequence of getting to take the quantity of drugs I needed, then death was something I was going to have to accept,” he wrote about the period after “Friends” ended.

“That’s how skewed my thinking had become — I was able to hold those two things in my mind at the same time: I don’t want to die, but if I have to in order to get sufficient drugs on board, then amen to oblivion.”

Almost exactly a year after the memoir came out, on Oct. 28, 2024, at 4 in the afternoon, Perry was found dead in a hot tub at his Los Angeles home. The drug ketamine would later emerge as his official cause of death, with drowning a contributing factor.

Cannabis stocks soar after US president says he is ‘looking at’ reclassification.

United States President Donald Trump has said his administration is “looking at” reclassifying cannabis as a less dangerous drug.

Speaking to reporters at the White House on Monday, Trump said he would make a determination on the legal classification of the drug over the next few weeks.

“That determination hopefully will be the right one,” Trump said. “It’s a very complicated subject.”

Trump said that while he had heard “great things” about medical-use cannabis, he had heard bad things about “just about everything else” to do with the drug.

“Some people like it, some people hate it,” he said. “Some people hate the whole concept of marijuana because if it does bad for the children, it does bad for people that are older than children.”

Stocks in cannabis-related businesses soared following Trump’s remarks.

New York-based Tilray Brands jumped nearly 42 percent, with Canada’s Village Farms International and Canopy Growth Corp closing up about 34 percent and 26 percent, respectively.

Trump made his comments after The Wall Street Journal reported last week that he told attendees at a recent fundraising dinner that he was interested in reclassifying the drug.

While cannabis is fully legal, including for recreational use, in 24 US states, the use and possession of the drug is illegal at the federal level.

Cannabis is currently classified as a Schedule I drug, putting it in the same category as heroin, LSD and ecstasy.

Under the Drug Enforcement Administration’s classification system, Schedule I drugs are defined as those with “no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse”.

Former US President Joe Biden proposed reclassifying cannabis as a Schedule III drug – defined as those with a “moderate to low potential for physical and psychological dependence” – but failed to enact the change before leaving office in January.

A former Strictly Come Dancing employee has alleged that he was offered cocaine by one of its stars at an after party as the BBC launches an investigation into drug use claims

A former employee of the BBC has alleged that he was offered cocaine by a Strictly Come Dancing star. The unnamed man, who worked behind the scenes on the broadcaster’s dancing competition for a decade, has claimed that he saw a number of its celebrity contestants ‘partying’ after filming was over and alleged that he saw stars ‘drinking and taking drugs’ at the time.

The employee claimed that bags of white powder, suspected to be cocaine, were found on two separate occasions in the smoking area and also in the men’s toilets. He then claimed that one of its stars offered him some cocaine at a party after filming on the Blackpool stage of the contest had wrapped.

A BBC spokesperson told The Mirror: “We have clear protocols and policies in place for dealing with any serious complaint raised with us. We would always encourage people to speak to us if they have concerns. It would not be appropriate for us to comment further.”

Last week, bosses reportedly launched an investigation into claims that two of its stars took cocaine. The BBC has hired law firm Pinsent Masons to probe the allegations. A source told the Sun, following the breakout news: “The BBC is taking the allegations really seriously. Bosses are aware of the two stars in question and have a duty of care to make sure they’re OK.”

They added: “As per BBC policy, the option of specialised professional support is on the table and will be offered. While drug testing won’t happen on the main show, bosses are considering bringing in random checks for the tour next year.”

The source claimed the BBC are needing to be sure there are no illegal activities taking place and are waiting for the investigation’s findings.

It’s the latest scandal to rock the long-running series. It comes after drug use claims were submitted to the BBC in March by Russells Solicitors on behalf of a celebrity contestant.

It’s believed that other individuals have also brought forward allegations of drug consumption on Strictly Come Dancing to the BBC. Earlier in the week, it was reported that one such allegation involved a Strictly star who allegedly commented on another individual’s dilated pupils. They are said to have hinted at drug intoxication, saying: “Have you seen their pupils… they’re off their face”.

And The Sun also claimed that a celebrity alleged it is common knowledge within the show’s circle that two stars were using cocaine, a topic that was reportedly rife among the cast.

In a statement shared with the Mirror over the weekend, a representative for the BBC said: “We have clear protocols and policies in place for dealing with any serious complaint raised with us. We would always encourage people to speak to us if they have concerns. It would not be appropriate for us to comment further.”

The fresh blow comes amidst speculation over which famous faces could be set to take to the dancefloor when the show returns in just a matter of weeks.

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