TIJUANA, Mexico (AP) — Four drug smuggling tunnels equipped with lighting and ventilation — including one with a railcar system — have been discovered along the U.S.-Mexico border in less than a week, the latest signs that cartels are building sophisticated passages to escape heightened detection above ground.

SEQUOIA NATIONAL FOREST, California — Not far from Yosemite's waterfalls and in the middle of California's redwood forests, Mexican drug gangs are quietly commandeering U.S. public land to grow millions of marijuana plants and using smuggled immigrants to cultivate them.

At first, police polygraph examiner L.R. Disser detected what he termed "confusion" when he asked job applicant Helen Gandara-Zavala if she had ever used cocaine.

NEW YORK - A Taliban-linked drug lord who allegedly sought to poison U.S. streets with millions of dollars of heroin in a deadly "American jihad" has become the first person extradited from Afghanistan to face federal charges, officials said Monday.

Rep. J.D. Hayworth, R-Ariz., is lashing out at Gov. Janet Napolitano’s plan to seek federal disaster relief for illegal immigration, suggesting she should send the Arizona National Guard to the Mexican border instead.

Rep. J.D. Hayworth, R-Ariz., is lashing out at Gov. Janet Napolitano’s plan to seek federal disaster relief for illegal immigration, suggesting she should send the Arizona National Guard to the Mexican border instead.

Rep. J.D. Hayworth, R-Ariz., is lashing out at Gov. Janet Napolitano’s plan to seek federal disaster relief for illegal immigration, suggesting she should send the Arizona National Guard to the Mexican border instead.

WASHINGTON - If cornered by the West over its nuclear program, Iran could direct Hezbollah to enlist its widespread international support network to aid in terrorist attacks, intelligence officials say.

WASHINGTON - Law enforcement agencies have arrested more than 2,200 people in a 22-month investigation targeting Mexican drug trafficking organizations in the United States, the Justice Department announced Thursday.

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.

NOGALES - U.S. and Mexican law enforcement agents discovered a recently completed smuggling tunnel linking the two countries in simultaneous raids late Thursday, officials said.

June 29, 2004

WASHINGTON — Marijuana-smoking patients or their sanctioned suppliers should not be targeted for U.S. prosecution in states that allow medical use of the drug, prosecutors were told Monday in a new policy memo issued by the Justice Department.

An industrial spy tries to steal $20 million in trade secrets from Minnesota-based Valspar paints. The kingpin of a Houston-based drug counterfeiting ring makes millions plugging his fake pharmaceuticals into the pipeline of Britain's socialized medical system. In Washington, the Defense Department unwittingly buys and installs knockoff Cisco computer software to track troop movements.

MEXICO CITY - Confronting a Mexican drug war that is "sowing chaos in our communities," President Barack Obama signaled Thursday he will not seek renewal of a U.S. assault weapons ban but instead will step up enforcement of laws banning the transfer of such guns across the border.

WASHINGTON - President Bush is considering plans to shore up the Mexican border with National Guard troops paid for by the federal government, according to senior administration officials.

The Obama administration said this week it plans to send 1,200 troops to the border, and to ask for $500 million for law enforcement efforts, all aimed at clamping down on the flow of illegal immigrants from Mexico. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., whose home state of Arizona has famously taken the immigration issue into its own hands, quickly upped the ante and asked the president to send 6,000 Guardsmen instead. Will the show of force reduce illegal immigration? Is it a long-term solution to the problems afflicting border-states? Or is it a dog-and-pony show? Joel Mathis and Ben Boychuk, the RedBlueAmerica columnists, debate the issue.

Q: How did you first get connected with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.?

WASHINGTON - Containing any bird flu outbreak wherever it first strikes is a centerpiece of U.S. preparations for a potential influenza pandemic, the nation's health secretary said Wednesday, just before a trip to Asia to shore up international cooperation.

March 23, 2005

WASHINGTON — Unmanned aircraft have proved their usefulness and reliability in the war zones of Afghanistan and Iraq. Now the pressure's on to allow them in the skies over the United States.