TIJUANA - Armed men burst into Ensenada's morgue Wednesday night and took the body of a man who died in a helicopter accident earlier this week. The group later killed two police officers who attempted to stop them. The dead man taken from the morgue was identified as Pablo Gonzalez. It's unclear whether that's his real name or why such drastic measures were taken to recover his body. Mexican media reported he was a suspected ... [full story]

SAN DIEGO - As Mexican police held a memorial service Tuesday for two officers gunned down in Tijuana last weekend, city law enforcement officials downplayed a news report alleging a connection between drug traffickers and city police. The allegations surfaced just days before Sunday's fiercely contested gubernatorial election, in which Tijuana's former mayor, Jorge Hank Rhon, a member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), is running against National Action Party (PAN) candidate JoseÐ Guadalupe Osuna ... [full story]

TIJUANA, Mexico - For decades, hundreds of people known as pepenadores have earned a living in Tijuana's oldest municipal dump, picking through tons of trash for recyclable goods. Now most of the trash is going directly to a newer dump at the city's eastern perimeter, putting the pepenadores' future in question, for better or worse. City officials say the work puts the scavengers' lives and health at risk, and it won't be allowed at the ... [full story]

A day after gunmen stormed the Rosarito Beach, Mexico, police station, killing one officer and wounding another, dozens of soldiers stood guard around the building and work crews started repairing the broken glass and bullet-nicked walls. The attack's apparent target, Public Security Director Jorge Eduardo Montero Alvarez, was being shuttled around the city under heavy guard as funeral arrangements were made for his fallen bodyguard, Officer Guillermo Castro Corona, 35. Montero's other bodyguard, Leonel Pizana ... [full story]

TECATE, Mexico - The killing of a high-ranking police officer and the discovery of a cross-border tunnel in a 24-hour period have stunned people in this quiet border city, known more for its namesake brewery and tree-lined central plaza than for the ravages of organized crime. Juan Jose Soriano Pereira, 35, who was described as second in command of Tecate's police force, was shot to death in his bed about 2 a.m. Tuesday, said Sonia ... [full story]

WARSAW, Poland -- Two people were killed and 13 injured when a truck collided with a train at an unprotected ground-level crossing at Poledno in northern Poland, police said.Pawel Fratczak, spokesman for the Poledno firefighters service, said the train engineer and a passenger died in the collision, Polish Radio reported Thursday.The 13 injured were rushed to a hospital and doctors said their injuries were minor.An initial investigation into the crash suggested the truck driver did ... [full story]

Dominican Republic - Gary Stephen Kaplan was arrested late Wednesday, March 28, in the Dominican Republic, U.S. Attorney Catherine L. Hanaway for the Eastern District of Missouri announced today. The arrest stems from a federal grand jury indictment returned in the Eastern District of Missouri on June 1, 2006. The indictment names Kaplan and 10 other individuals and four corporations. In 22 counts, the indictment alleges that the defendants engaged in racketeering, conspiracy and fraud, ... [full story]

TIJUANA, Mexico - Airline passengers at Tijuana International Airport Wednesday were finding alternative ways to get to their destinations in Mexico after the government suspended operations Monday of Lineas Areas Azteca. "Other airlines are trying to help the passengers, but the airlines can't help unless they have a traditional paper ticket," said Diana Gonzalez, a representative of the Viajes Ancla travel agency in the airport. Three airlines - Avolar, Aviacsa and Alma - are offering ... [full story]

Mexico plans to start the bidding process that will lead to development of the Colonet megaport and rail line in Baja California before December, a high-ranking official said Friday. In a telephone interview from Mexico City, Manuel Rodriguez Arregui, Mexico's undersecretary of communication and transportation, said no date has been set for opening the auction geared at attracting private companies to build and operate the massive port-rail system, expected to cost as much as $9 ... [full story]

Mexico has taken action to cancel the mining concession that has delayed the government's plans to build a megaport at Punta Colonet for over a year. The Economy Ministry, which granted the exploration rights to Grupo Minero Lobos in 2005, served notice last week that its mining agency had begun legal action to revoke the concession because the group has failed to move forward on the project about 150 miles south of San Diego in ... [full story]

Mexico - The mega container port and rail project planned 150 miles south of San Diego at Baja California's Punta Colonet will benefit the United States as well as Mexico, a top Mexican federal official said recently. "This is a very important project. It's a project that should be taken in the interest of both nations. Even though it's on Mexican soil, the United States should be interested in this project," said Manuel Rodriguez Arregui, ... [full story]

TIJUANA, Mexico - Modern new car dealerships have materialized here in a city where most buyers once shopped for used cars at tiny dirt lots bedecked with brightly colored, flapping plastic flags. "The market used to be used cars from the United States," said Roberto Gonzalez, manager of a Volkswagen dealership on Boulevard Sanchez Taboada. "In the last three years, it has become new cars." A few years ago, Gonzalez was one of the first ... [full story]

ENSENADA, Mexico - The head of a business group that claims mineral rights at the site of Baja California's proposed Punta Colonet megaport is accusing a federal official of threatening him and his family to get the group to drop the claim. Gabriel Chavez, the president of the Grupo Lobos partnership, said Monday in an interview that he was summoned to Mexico City on Friday for a meeting with Mexican Undersecretary of Communication and Transportation ... [full story]