Mexican officials blame drug treatment center killings on violent cartels preying on patients

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico — Neighbors mopped blood from the sidewalk outside a drug rehabilitation center Thursday, cleaning up the carnage after gunmen lined up patients against a wall and then riddled them with bullets, killing 18.

Ga. pastor shot, killed by officers in drug sting; Father-to-be wasn’t target of probe

ATLANTA — Plainclothes officers shot and killed a small-town pastor when the 28-year-old father-to-be resisted efforts to question him about a passenger in his car who was the target of a drug sting, authorities said.

Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma of Japan acquiring US drug maker Sepracor for $2.6 billion

TOKYO — Japanese drug company Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma Co. is acquiring U.S. drug maker Sepracor Inc. for about $2.6 billion in an effort to expand in the U.S. market, both sides said Thursday.

Ambushers kill No. 2 security official and 3 others in home state of Mexico’s president

MORELIA, Mexico — Gunmen killed the No. 2 security official in President Felipe Calderon’s home state, where the government is locked in an intensifying battle with a ruthless drug cartel blamed for a string of assassinations of police and soldiers.

Federal judge orders MLB drug evidence preserved until gov’t decides on Supreme Court appeal

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal appellate judge has ordered the preservation of all evidence that allegedly shows 104 Major League Baseball players tested positive for steroids in 2003.

Officials say gunmen kill No. 2 security official in home state of Mexico’s president

MEXICO CITY — Gunmen killed the No. 2 security official in the home state of President Felipe Calderon, where drug cartels have launched their biggest offensive yet against Mexico’s government.

Repeat offender Pfizer paying record $2.3B settlement for illegal drug promotions

WASHINGTON — Federal prosecutors hit Pfizer Inc. with a record-breaking $2.3 billion in fines Wednesday and called the world’s largest drugmaker a repeating corporate cheat for illegal drug promotions that plied doctors with free golf, massages, and resort junkets.

Ga. man who found family slain in mobile home freed on bond after arrest on drug, other counts

BRUNSWICK, Ga. — A Georgia man arrested after he reported finding his family killed in their mobile home has been granted bond.

Pfizer paying record $2.3B settlement for illegal promotions of 4 prescription drugs

WASHINGTON — Federal prosecutors hit Pfizer Inc. with a record-breaking $2.3 billion in fines Wednesday and called the world’s largest drug maker a repeating corporate cheat for illegal drug promotions that plied doctors with free golf, massages, and resort junkets.

UN says ‘bottom is starting to fall out’ of Afghanistan’s huge opium market

KABUL — Afghanistan’s opium production fell 10 percent last year and prices are at their lowest in a decade, meaning “the bottom is starting to fall out” of the world’s largest opium market, the U.N. said Wednesday.

Washington releases $214 million of aid package to help Mexican gov’t battle drug cartels

MEXICO CITY — The U.S. has released $214 million of an aid package to help Mexico fight drug trafficking, including funds for five helicopters for the military to be delivered by year’s end, a top State Department official said Tuesday.

Maryland deputies say man allegedly offered store clerks marijuana to pay for gasoline

NEW MARKET, Md. — Frederick County sheriff’s deputies have arrested a man after he allegedly offered store clerks in New Market marijuana to pay for gasoline. It happened Monday about 3 p.m. at the Classic Fuels Store on Old National Pike. Deputies said a 52-year-old man offered marijuana to pay for gasoline, and a clerk in the store called authorities.

US asks Jamaica to extradite alleged leader of ‘Shower Posse’ gang on drug, weapons charges

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — The United States has asked Jamaica to extradite a suspected crime boss to face federal drug and weapons-trafficking charges in New York, officials said Monday.

AP IMPACT: Cocaine made with animal medication kills 3, sickens dozens across US, Canada

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Nearly a third of all cocaine seized in the United States is laced with a dangerous veterinary medicine — a livestock de-worming drug that might enhance cocaine’s effects but has been blamed in at least three deaths and scores of serious illnesses.

Man screams ‘My whole family is dead’ in frantic 911 call after Ga. mobile home slayings

BRUNSWICK, Ga. — A frantic caller told authorities he had just come home to find several relatives apparently beaten to death and another barely breathing, according to a 911 tape released Monday from the weekend attack at a mobile home park in southeastern Georgia.

Mexico: vigilantes targeting car thieves suspected in shooting; 8 killed on seaside boulevard

CULIACAN, Mexico — A shooting that killed eight people partying on a seaside boulevard in northwestern Mexico may have been the work of vigilantes targeting car thieves, a prosecutor said.

Ga. police arrest man who reported 7 dead, 2 hurt in mobile home; man was victim’s relative

BRUNSWICK, Ga. — The man who reported the gruesome slayings of seven people in a Georgia mobile home faces charges of lying to police and tampering with evidence, and authorities said Sunday they haven’t ruled him out as a suspect in the killings.

Mexican attorney for suspected drug traffickers killed, second such slaying in a month

TOLUCA, Mexico — A lawyer for a convicted Mexican drug kingpin was found stabbed to death in his home, authorities said Saturday.

Former Texas sheriff, teacher among those sentenced for helping Mexican drug traffickers

McALLEN, Texas — A former South Texas sheriff and a Houston elementary school teacher were among 11 people sentenced to prison Thursday for their role in a conspiracy that moved marijuana and cocaine from Mexico, through Houston and as far as Delaware.

Gunmen kill aide of 2nd Mexican agent probing reporter’s death; 1st agent slain last month

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico — Gunmen killed the aide of a Mexican federal agent investigating the death of a crime reporter — a month after the first agent assigned to the case was shot dead, authorities said Thursday.

AP Exclusive: Bus driver in Texas crash that killed 17 last year had recently used cocaine

DALLAS — A drug test conducted on the driver involved in the Texas charter bus crash that killed 17 passengers last year showed he had recently used cocaine but was apparently not under its influence at the time of the wreck, according to records obtained by The Associated Press.

Former Texas sheriff sentenced to 5 years in prison for helping Mexican drug traffickers

McALLEN, Texas — A former Texas sheriff was sentenced to more than five years in federal prison Thursday for helping Mexican smugglers move drugs through his county on the U.S.-Mexico border in exchange for thousands of dollars in bribes.

As military spending soars in South America, Venezuela-Colombia dispute is unwelcome news

BARILOCHE, Argentina — Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez has raised the stakes for Friday’s meeting of South American presidents by threatening to break relations with Colombia over plans to give U.S. troops a 10-year lease on its bases.

Myanmar police arrest 6 drug trafficking suspects; state media revises amount of seized heroin

YANGON, Myanmar — Police in Myanmar arrested six people after a recent drug bust that officials said Thursday was considerably smaller than initial reports in state media.

Ortiz, one of the 104, not consoled by decision saying government had no right to list

BOSTON — David Ortiz sat at the computer in the home clubhouse at Fenway Park, checking his e-mail, when a group of reporters sidled up to him with some news: A federal court ruled investigators were wrong to seize the list of baseball players who allegedly failed drug tests in 2003.

Police accuse Brazil TV crime show host of attempting to kill federal judge

BRASILIA, Brazil — A lead prosecutor on Wednesday accused a television crime show host of attempting to have a federal judge assassinated, adding to allegations that he set up killings to boost his TV ratings.

Former O.J. Simpson co-defendant completes drug treatment, back on probation

LAS VEGAS — A former O.J. Simpson co-defendant says he’s completed the inpatient drug treatment a judge sent him to instead of prison for a probation violation.

Mexico’s new drug use law scraps jail time for users, worrying US police

MEXICO CITY — Mexico now has one of the world’s most liberal laws for drug users after eliminating jail time for small amounts of marijuana, cocaine and even heroin, LSD and methamphetamine.

16 indicted in Southern California in drug smuggling probe targeting Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel

IMPERIAL, Calif. — Sixteen people were indicted and hundreds of pounds of cocaine seized in a sting against Mexico’s notorious Sinaloa drug cartel, California Attorney General Jerry Brown said Wednesday.

Myanmar reports major heroin and methamphetamine seizure near border with Thailand

YANGON, Myanmar — Police in Myanmar seized more than 100 blocks of heroin and nearly 3 million methamphetamine tablets near the border with Thailand in one of the military-ruled country’s largest drug seizures, a state-run newspaper said Wednesday.