Two raids by security forces netted the largest seizures of methamphetamine precursor chemicals in Mexico's history.
Agents seized 20 tonnes of chemicals used to produce methamphetamine at Manzanillo port in the Pacific coast state of Colima and 17 tonnes in the border city of Nuevo Laredo, across from Laredo, Texas, Mexico's federal attorney general's office said.
Mexico is a leading producer of methamphetamine, according to the US government, and the seizures are part of a national crackdown launched in 2006 against drug gangs. (PA)
Election 'going ahead'
Guinea's leader, who seized power in a coup nine months ago, said a January election would go ahead, as his military junta prepared to bury 57 people who died when troops fired live ammunition into a pro-democracy rally.
Captain Moussa 'Dadis' Camara, who laid a wreath in memory of rally victims, said previously that he had no control over the troops - including his own presidential guard force - who committed the massacre last Monday in which 157 people were reportedly killed.
He blamed opposition leaders for the protesters' deaths because they had defied a ban and organised the pro-democracy rally. (PA)
Civil rights pledge
Honduras' coup-installed president told a US congressional delegation that full civil liberties would be restored within days, a spokesman for one of the politicians said.
Interim president Roberto Micheletti said an emergency decree limiting civil liberties, including freedom of the press and assembly, would be lifted no later than tomorrow, said Wesley Denton, a spokesman for South Carolina Republican senator Jim DeMint.
The coup on June 28 toppled President Manuel Zelaya. (PA)
Clinton defends Haiti ban
Bill Clinton grimaced, but defended the severe embargo he oversaw as US president against Haiti's then brutal regime.
Mr Clinton, now the UN Special Envoy to Haiti, said in Port-au-Prince that the action in 1994 was necessary to end the junta's brutal and illegal rule.
"I hated it," he told reporters at a private pier he hopes will be used by a revived garment export industry. "But when you have people being burned to death with tyres around their neck, that's important too. We had to bring an end to that." (PA)
'Genocide' appeal rejected
An appeal court in New York backed a judge who threw out a lawsuit accusing a Canadian energy company of aiding genocide in its pursuit of oil in Sudan.
The 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan agreed with the 2006 ruling that found there was no credible evidence to support the claims against Calgary-based Talisman Energy, Canada's biggest independent oil and gas exploration and production company.
A 2001 lawsuit seeking unspecified damages was filed by the Presbyterian Church of Sudan on behalf of current and former residents of southern Sudan who suffered injuries during six years of a decades-long conflict in the region. (PA)
Actor's real guilt
A New York actor who played a big part as a steroids dealer in The Wrestler admitted in court that he was the real thing.
Scott Siegel, 34, who pleaded guilty to distributing anabolic steroids, also admitted trying to run down the agents who arrested him. He faces to a prison term of about five years, according to sentencing guidelines.
Prosecutors said investigators found 1,500 bottles of steroids and thousands of dollars in cash at Siegel's and his parents' homes. When agents moved in on February 18, Siegel sped off in his car, rammed five police cars and tried to run down an officer. (PA)
Singer Sosa deteriorating
Doctors in Argentina said folk singer Mercedes Sosa's health was deteriorating at the Buenos Aires hospital where the 74-year-old is in a critical condition.
Sosa entered The Trinidad Clinic 13 days ago with liver problems. She has since been suffering from progressive kidney failure and cardiac arrest and is on a respirator.
The singer has recorded more than 70 albums and is best known for her signature song Gracias a la vida - Thanks to Life. Her latest record, Cantora 1, is up for three Latin Grammy awards next month in Las Vegas. (PA)
Blackmail suspect 'deep in debt'
Respected TV producer Robert 'Joe' Halderman, accused of trying to blackmail chat show host David Letterman for two million dollars, was desperate and deep in debt, prosecutors said.
The alleged plot forced the late-night comic to admit on his CBS Late Show to having sex with women who worked for him.
A handcuffed Halderman, a producer for the true-crime show 48 Hours Mystery, pleaded not guilty when he appeared in a Manhattan court charged with attempted first-degree grand larceny, punishable by five to 15 years in prison. Bail was set at $200,000 (PA)