Archive for the ‘Newspapers’ Category
Apr 11, 2012
SAN DIEGO (AP) — The war on drugs is going to the classified sections of Mexican newspapers.
Smugglers have long advertised work as security guards, housecleaners and cashiers, telling applicants they must drive company cars to the United States. They aren’t told the cars are loaded with drugs.
Starting this week, U.S. Immigration and Customs and Enforcement began buying ad space in Tijuana newspapers to warn jobseekers they might be unwitting pawns.
“Why don’t we do the same thing that (cartels are) doing? It’s successful for them. Why wouldn’t it be successful for us?” Lester Hayes, a group supervisor for ICE in San Diego, recalls his agents telling him.
There have been 39 arrests since February 2011 at San Diego’s two border crossings tied to the ads for seemingly legitimate jobs, according to ICE, which hadn’t seen such significant numbers before.
Those arrests have yielded 3,400 pounds of marijuana, 75 pounds of cocaine and 100 pounds of methamphetamine — a tiny fraction of total seizures but enough to convince U.S. authorities that smugglers are increasingly turning to the recruitment technique.
Drug smugglers always look to exploit weak links along the 1,954-mile border, even if the window of opportunity is brief. In the past several years, they have turned to makeshift boats on the Pacific Ocean and ultralight aircraft in the deserts of California and Arizona. In the San Diego area, there has been a spike in teenagers strapping drugs to their bodies to walk across the border from Tijuana.
Some suddenly popular techniques are limited to particular pockets of the border. ICE has not spotted significant spikes in newspaper ads outside of San Diego.
Ads that authorities connect to drug smugglers appear innocuous. They offer work in the United States — an invitation that only people who can cross the border legally need apply — with a phone number and sometimes a location to apply in person.
New hires are told to drive company cars across the border, typically to a fast-food restaurant or shopping center in San Diego, according to ICE. When they arrive, they are often told there will be no work after all that day and must leave the car and walk back to Mexico after being paid a small amount.
The drivers are typically paid $50 to $200 a trip — much less than the $1,500 to $5,000 that seasoned smugglers are typically paid for such trips, Hayes said.
For drug traffickers, the tactic lowers expenses and, they hope, makes drivers appear less nervous when questioned by border inspectors, said Millie Jones, an assistant special agent in charge of investigations for ICE in San Diego.
The drugs are stashed in the usual ways. Fifteen pounds of methamphetamine were found in a pickup truck’s phony exhaust pipe in November. More than 250 pounds of marijuana were discovered in a van’s overhead compartment last April.
More than 200 pounds of marijuana were found in vacuum-sealed plastic bags smothered in grease. Drugs are typically mixed with mustard, ketchup and fabric fresheners to defuse odors and ward off dogs used by authorities.
For years, U.S. authorities have bought newspaper space and broadcast airtime south of the border to deter illegal border crossings. The Border Patrol has a long-running media campaign in Mexico and Central America that includes musical “corridos,” short documentaries and public service announcements.
The ICE ads that began appearing Sunday in classified sections of Tijuana’s Frontera and El Mexicano are nothing fancy. Bold black letters say, “Warning! Drug traffickers are announcing jobs for drivers to go to the United States. Don’t fall victim to this trap.”
Mexican newspapers have faced online competitors but the papers’ classified sections are relatively robust compared to U.S. publications.
Victor Clark, director of Tijuana’s Binational Center for Human Rights, doubts the ads will work without specific instructions on how to confirm whether a company is legitimate, such as calling an ICE telephone number.
“It’s very difficult for someone who is unemployed to know whether it’s a trap,” Clark said. “I don’t think many people are inclined to investigate if they are desperate for work.”
The cases can be challenging for prosecutors because drivers may not know they are smuggling drugs.
Debra Hartman, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office in San Diego, declined to say how many cases have been prosecuted or cite any examples. Rachel Cano, assistant chief of the San Diego County district attorney’s southern branch, said each case is different.
“Just like any other case, a theft case, we look at all of the facts and if there are sufficient facts that meet the elements of a crime and we can prove it beyond a reasonable doubt, then we file charges,” Cano said.
Guadalupe Valencia, a San Diego defense attorney, said the ads by U.S. authorities might inadvertently help defendants. Attorneys will argue it is an acknowledgement that people are often tricked.
“It has always been my opinion that there are many unknowing couriers,” he said. “The challenge for the prosecution is you always have to prove knowledge.”
Copyright © 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
WELLINGTON, April 17 (Reuters) – Following are some of the
lead stories from New Zealand metropolitan newspapers on
Tuesday.
Stories may be taken from either the paper or Internet
editions of the papers.
Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch
for their accuracy.
DOMINION POST(www.stuff.co.nz)
Chinese standover tactics claim dismissed: The Government is
rejecting claims of Chinese standover tactics on foreign
investment as one of Chinas top politicians uses his visit here
to press home a desire for a step up in investment in New
Zealand.
- – - -
Trade deal concern as Key meets big guns: As Prime Minister
John Key prepares to meet two of Indonesias most powerful men,
there is concern the country may be in breach of a free trade
agreement with New Zealand.
- – - -
Christchurch mayor in dark over city plan: Christchurch
Mayor Bob Parker is in the dark about how much of the city
centre rebuild plan has been approved by Government.
- – - -
Spectrum price put at $500m to $1b: A leading Australian
telecommunications analyst says the Government should seek
between $500 million and $1 billion for the digital dividend
radio spectrum that will be freed up by the closure of analogue
televisions broadcasts next year.
- – - -
Seeing red at Chinese poppies on Anzac Day: Chinese-made
poppies will make their first appearance at this weeks annual
poppy appeal.
- – - -
NEW ZEALAND HERALD (www.nzherald.co.nz)
Beef barrier on menu for Key Indonesia talks: While his
primary goal is strengthen trade and political ties, Prime
Minister John Key will raise thornier issues when he meets
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono later today.
- – - -
SOE mum-and-dad bonanza picked: The price of shares in
partially-listed state owned enterprises will be pushed up
significantly as institutional investors, especially
superannuation funds, compete to meet demand, research by
Forsyth Barr shows.
- – - -
Casino boss: Lotto does more harm: SkyCitys pokie
machines are less harmful to the public than Lotto tickets and
claims of social harm are out of proportion to reality, says
casino chief executive Nigel Morrison.
- – - -
Telecom stays quiet on hunt for new chief executive:
Telecoms board appears to be taking its time to name a
chief executive to replace outgoing boss Paul Reynolds.
- – - -
Reinstate RD credit – Shearer: Labour leader David Shearer
has taken aim at what he says is the Governments lack of
support for scientists, saying research and development tax
credits should be reinstated.
- – - -
SANTA CRUZ – The Santa Cruz Sentinel won 10 first- and second-place awards in the California Newspaper Publishers Associations Better Newspapers Contest.
The Sentinel also finished in the top five of all newspapers in the state for the contests most prestigious award – Newspaper of the Year.
Sentinel staff also received seven honorable mentions in categories such as breaking news, features and sports.
The contest is judged by editors, reporters and photographers at peer newspapers across the state. The Sentinel competed with similar papers with daily circulations from 15,000 to 35,000 except for Newspaper of the Year, which is judged across all circulation categories.
The Sentinel once again has been
The Associated Press won a Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting Monday for documenting the New York Police Departments widespread spying on Muslims, while The Philadelphia Inquirer was honored in the public service category for its examination of violence in the citys schools.
The Patriot-News in Harrisburg, Pa., won for local reporting for breaking the Penn State sexual abuse scandal that eventually brought down legendary football coach Joe Paterno.
A second Pulitzer for investigative reporting went to The Seattle Times for a series about accidental methadone overdoses among patients with chronic pain.
The New York Times won two prizes, for explanatory and international reporting.
The Huffington Post received its first Pulitzer, in national reporting, for its look at the challenges facing American veterans wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan.
A year after the Pulitzer judges found no entry worthy of the prize for breaking news, The Tuscaloosa News of Alabama won the award for coverage of a deadly tornado. By blending traditional reporting with the use of social media, the newspaper provided real-time updates and helped locate missing people, while producing in-depth print coverage despite a power outage that forced the paper to publish at a plant 50 miles away.
The judges declined to award a prize for editorial writing.
The APs series of stories showed how New York police, with the help of a CIA official, created a unique and aggressive surveillance program to monitor Muslim neighborhoods, businesses and houses of worship. The series can be read at http://apne.ws/IrNyPk.
The articles showed that police systemically listened in on sermons, hung out at cafes and other public places, infiltrated colleges and photographed law-abiding residents as part of a broad effort to prevent terrorist attacks. Individuals and groups were monitored even when there was no evidence they were linked to terrorism.
The series, which began in August, was by Matt Apuzzo, Adam Goldman, Eileen Sullivan and Chris Hawley. The stories prompted protests, a demand from 34 members of Congress for a federal investigation, and an internal inquiry by the CIAs inspector general.
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly and Mayor Michael Bloomberg have defended the program as a thoroughly legal tool for keeping the city safe.
The Philadelphia Inquirer showed how school violence went underreported and shed light on the school systems lackluster response to the problem. In response to the Inquirers reporting, the school system established a new way of reporting serious incidents.
The New York Times David Kocieniewski won the explanatory reporting award for a series that described how wealthy people and corporations used loopholes to avoid taxes. The Times Jeffrey Gettleman, meanwhile, was honored for his reporting on famine and conflict in East Africa. He frequently braved personal danger to shed light on a neglected but increasingly strategic part of the world, the judges wrote.
At the Huffington Post, veteran military correspondent David Wood wrote a series on the experiences of catastrophically wounded soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. While medical advances are saving some soldiers lives, the number of those suffering severe wounds is rising.
Wood looked at the soldiers physical and emotional struggles, as well as how their families, communities, comrades and doctors responded.
The Stranger, a Seattle weekly, was given the feature writing award for a story about a woman who survived an attack that killed her partner.
Mary Schmich, a longtime Chicago Tribune columnist, was recognized with the commentary award for pieces that reflect the character and capture the culture of her famed city, the judges said. Film critic Wesley Morris of The Boston Globe won the criticism award, for work the judges called distinguished by pinpoint prose and an easy traverse between the art house and the big-screen box office.
In photography, Massoud Hossaini of Agence France-Presse won the breaking news award for his picture of a girl weeping after a suicide bomber attacked a crowded shrine in Afghanistan. Craig F. Walker of The Denver Post won the feature photography award for his work on an Iraq war veterans struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Politicos Matt Wuerker won the editorial cartooning prize for work that poked fun at partisan fighting in Washington.
The Pulitzers are given out annually by Columbia University on the recommendation of a board of journalists and others. Each award carries a $10,000 prize except for the public service award, which is a gold medal.
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