Text of President Barack Obama’s speech in Ghana on Saturday

Text of President Barack Obama’s speech Saturday in Accra, Ghana, as provided by the White House:

Customs finds almost a half-ton of cocaine in shipping container of Colombian coffee

NEW ORLEANS — Customs agents discovered an extra ingredient in a shipment of Colombian coffee: nearly a half-ton of cocaine.

US extradites ‘Minister of Cocaine’ to Bolivia to serve time for political killings

LA PAZ, Bolivia — The United States deported a key figure in Bolivia’s last military dictatorship back home Thursday to serve a 30-year prison sentence for crimes including genocide and political assassinations.

Mexican find 4 hacked-up bodies in plastic bags in western Mexico

MORELIA, Mexico — Police in western Mexico found four mutilated bodies in plastic bags on the side of a highway Thursday.

Former leader of Mongols biker gang pleads guilty to racketeering conspiracy in 2008 fed case

LOS ANGELES — The former national president of the notorious Mongols motorcycle gang has pleaded guilty to a racketeering conspiracy charge in a case that accused other members of murder, drug trafficking and violent attacks.

Mexico elections to test public support for government’s drug war; many frustrated by violence

MEXICO CITY — President Felipe Calderon and his drug war will get their biggest test of support yet when Mexico holds midterm elections Sunday amid growing frustration over rampant cartel violence and a shrinking economy.

Guards nab pigeon smuggling cell phone into Brazilian prison

SAO PAULO — Prison guards foiled a new attempt to smuggle a cell phone into a Brazilian prison by carrier pigeon — this one wearing a tiny backpack — and said Friday that the practice is becoming almost commonplace.

Philadelphia man pleads guilty to smuggling handgun onto airplane, faces prison time

PHILADELPHIA — A Philadelphia man faces up to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to boarding a US Airways flight while carrying a concealed weapon.

Cigarette companies kicked out of UN-backed meeting on tobacco smuggling

GENEVA — A U.N.-backed meeting on tobacco smuggling has barred cigarette companies from attending for fear they will try to influence delegates, participants said Thursday.

Mexican police find at least 14 drug cartel victims’ bodies in mass grave

MEXICO CITY — Police said Wednesday that they have uncovered a mass grave in central Mexico with the remains of 14 or 15 people believed to have been executed by the Zetas drug gang.

Police find 5 bodies, severed head in drug-plagued Mexican state

MORELIA, Mexico — Mexican police on Tuesday found the remains of six people tortured and shot to death in a western state that is a focus of the government’s war against drug cartels.

Venezuela deports top Mafia suspect to Italy after capture

CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuela deported a convicted European drug trafficker dubbed the “Mafia’s foreign minister” to Italy on Tuesday, where he has been wanted on drug smuggling charges since 2001.

Husband, wife jailed for smuggling $2.1 million in scrap silver from Pa. plant in lunch boxes

GREENSBURG, Pa. — A husband and wife have been jailed for smuggling $2.1 million worth of scrap silver out of a western Pennsylvania plant in their lunch boxes. Fifty-two-year-old Pamela Shermenti and 57-year-old William Shermenti, of Loyalhanna Township, will begin serving their sentences July 6. A Westmoreland County judge on Monday sentenced the wife to one to two years in the county jail; her husband will serve nine to 23 months.

Federal appeals court upholds prison term for drug smuggler shot by border agents

EL PASO, Texas — A federal appeals court has upheld the prison term for an admitted drug smuggler wounded in a controversial shooting by Border Patrol agents.

Countries mull ban on selling cigarettes on Net, crackdown on smuggling via free trade zones

GENEVA — More than 130 countries met Monday to consider whether to ban the sale of tobacco on the Internet as part of an effort to crack down on the multibillion dollar market in contraband cigarettes.

Calif. fiscal crisis jeopardizes narcotics team that plays key role in high-profile cases

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California’s budget woes could cut a third of the agents from a little-known unit that has played a key role in high-profile cases like Anna Nicole Smith’s overdose death and the arrest of murderer Scott Peterson.

G8 foreign ministers lament corruption in Afghanistan, call for regional cooperation

TRIESTE, Italy — Foreign ministers from the Group of Eight countries meeting in Italy lamented corruption and the lack of basic services such as health and water in Afghanistan, saying Friday that better cooperation among countries in the region was needed to promote stability.

Ontario man sentenced in Detroit to 7 1/2 years in prison on federal Ecstasy-smuggling charges

DETROIT — A Canadian man who tried to drive nearly 200 pounds of the drug Ecstasy, worth an estimated $6.5 million, into the United States has been sentenced to 7 1/2 years in prison.

Swiss government orders more evidence destroyed in nuclear smuggling probe

GENEVA — The Swiss government on Wednesday ordered the quick destruction of about 100 pages of evidence linked to an investigation of three Swiss engineers suspected of smuggling nuclear weapons technology.

Man implicated in assisted suicide of Ore. woman pleads innocent to drug smuggling charges

McALLEN, Texas — A man suspected of aiding in a woman’s suicide in a Mexican hotel last month has pleaded not guilty to U.S. drug smuggling charges.

Venezuela to deport Italian Mafia’s ‘foreign minister’ captured in Caracas

CARACAS, Venezuela — A convicted European drug trafficker dubbed the “Mafia’s foreign minister” will be deported to Italy after his capture in Caracas in a joint operation by Venezuelan and Italian police, authorities said Tuesday.

Foreign officers to join US customs to tackle smuggling at 3 major domestic seaports

LOS ANGELES — U.S. agents trying to stop contraband, arms and drug smuggling at the port of Los Angeles will soon get a new partner in their decades-old battle — an officer from Mexico.

Like Mexico, Jamaica sees US guns arming out-of-control gang wars

KINGSTON, Jamaica — Ships from Miami steam into Jamaica’s main harbor loaded with TV sets and blue jeans. But some of the most popular U.S. imports never appear on the manifests: handguns, rifles and bullets that stoke one of the world’s highest murder rates.

Italian police nab one of top 30 Mafia fugitives in Caracas, suspected as drug trafficker

ROME — Authorities arrested one of Italy’s most dangerous Mafia fugitives as he left his apartment in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas, Italian police said Sunday.

Once hush-hush, drug war plays big in Mexico’s mid-term elections

MEXICO CITY — When Mario Anguiano successfully ran for mayor of Colima three years ago, no one much cared that his brother and cousin were in prison on drug charges.

Immigration officials arrest Mexican fugitive accused of trafficking heroin throughout Midwest

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Federal immigration officials say they’ve arrested a Mexican fugitive who is nicknamed the Ghost and is accused of trafficking high-potency heroin throughout the Midwest.

Out of sight, out of mind: RI lawmakers moving to close indoor prostitution loophole

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The undercover police officer paid $60 to enter the Midori Spa just blocks from City Hall. A massage therapist rubbed the officer’s back, then simulated a sex act with her right hand.

Report: US agencies failed to coordinate efforts against gun smuggling along US-Mexico border

WASHINGTON — Two federal agencies are being faulted for not coordinating their efforts against border gunrunners, a failure one lawmaker says made it easier for Mexican drug cartels to smuggle illegal weapons from the United States.

Report finds flaws in US efforts to stop gun smuggling along US-Mexico border

WASHINGTON — Government efforts to stop the flow of guns from the United States to Mexico have suffered in recent years from having no clear plan to combat gunrunners affiliated with drug cartels, investigators have concluded.

Obama administration adds more countries to human trafficking watchlist

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration on Tuesday expanded the U.S. watchlist of countries suspected of not doing enough to combat human trafficking, putting more than four dozen nations on notice that they may face sanctions unless their records improve. The move came as officials said the world financial crisis has left more people at risk for the crime.