Colombia's presidential runoff winner inherits a nation shaped by paramilitary violence. Candidates Iván Cepeda and Abelardo de la Espriella have intertwined histories with these criminal forces, advocating opposing strategies for crime and peace.
The US military killed three people in a boat strike in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Thursday, part of an ongoing campaign against alleged drug traffickers. This brings the total killed to at least 211 since September. Critics question the legality and effectiveness of these strikes, especially as fentanyl is often trafficked over land.
Two rhino horn traffickers, Dawie Groenewald and Tielman Erasmus, have been sentenced in South Africa for over 1,700 charges including illegal hunting and racketeering. Groenewald received a fine or prison time after a plea deal, marking a significant development in a nearly two-decade legal battle against rhino horn poaching.
Ho Chi Minh police rescued a large number of cats from traffickers, prompting hundreds of cat owners to visit the police station to identify their lost pets, amidst Vietnam's legal but regulated cat and dog meat trade.
Italian police have dismantled an underground bank used by drug traffickers, moving hundreds of millions of euros over three years. The network, run by a Chinese national from Prato, facilitated anonymous financial flows for organized crime, including Albanian and Italian mafia groups, and also operated an illegal immigration network.
Pope Leo has directly addressed human traffickers exploiting African migrants attempting to reach Europe via Spain's Canary Islands, warning them of divine justice. Visiting the islands, a key migration route, he urged leaders to welcome migrants and highlighted the dangers of the journey, with thousands dying annually.
Pope Leo XIV has issued a strong warning to people smugglers, demanding they cease their exploitation of migrants and repent for their actions. Speaking in Spain's Canary Islands, a key route for African migrants to Europe, Leo XIV condemned the "death routes" and the suffering they cause, emphasizing divine justice for those involved in human trafficking.
US military strikes on alleged drug smuggling boats in the Eastern Pacific have killed at least 207 people since September. Critics question the legality and effectiveness of these actions, especially as fentanyl often enters the US via land routes.
The Tate brothers' defamation lawsuit against social media accounts, including anonymous ones, faces opposition from X (formerly Twitter) citing First Amendment protections for anonymous speech.
Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Caribbean and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations, the United States Southern Command said
Government’s anti-slavery commissioner says traffickers are exploiting a growing pipeline of vulnerabilitySlavery in the UK is at record levels and is expected to worsen over the next decade, the government’s independent anti-slavery commissioner has warned.According to the number of referrals to the national referral mechanism, which assesses potential victims of slavery and provides support to victims, numbers have almost doubled in the last five years from 12,691 referrals in 2021 to 23,411 in 2025, the highest ever number. Continue reading...
US prosecutors have indicted Sinaloa Governor Rubén Rocha Moya, a member of President Claudia Sheinbaum's MORENA party, accusing him of conspiring with the Sinaloa Cartel to import massive quantities of narcotics into the United States. The indictment, released in New York on Wednesday, also charges nine other current and former Mexican officials including a senator, mayor and high-ranking policeman. Rocha is accused of protecting the Los Chapitos faction of the cartel. The Mexican government says the US request lacks sufficient evidence.
U.S. military forces conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing three men the Pentagon says were trafficking drugs. No U.S. personnel were harmed. The strike is part of an aggressive anti-cartel campaign that has killed at least 178 people since early September.
