- Rookie Kiwi quick O'Rourke takes two Sri Lanka wickets
- Hezbollah vows to punish Israel after deadly pager blasts
- Japan to formally elect new prime minister on October 1
- Global police sting targets users of organised crime app
- Tupperware Brands files for bankruptcy
- 'End of an era': UK to shut last coal-fired power plant
- The absurd helps us 'see more' says Austrian artist Wurm
- Ethiopia plagued by abductions 'epidemic'
- Boeing not taking strike talks seriously, union says
- Afghan women continue medical studies in Scotland after Taliban ban
- Local, foreign firms facing months of recovery in storm-hit Vietnam
- Goorjian steps down as coach of Australian basketball team
- Wave of exploding Hezbollah pagers kills nine, wounds thousands in Lebanon
- Women drive innovation, evolution of Chinese wine industry
- Three activists risking their lives for the planet
- China piles extra work on weary youth to ease pension crisis
- Cash-strapped Sri Lanka eyes China development
- Withdrawal symptoms: Afghan farmers struggle after poppy ban
- Verstappen vows Red Bull fightback as McLaren head to Singapore on top
- Asian markets fluctuate on uncertainty over Fed rate plan
- Trump says only 'consequential' presidents get shot at
- Yamal's Barca hopeful of Champions League revival
- Arsenal focus on Atalanta ahead of Man City showdown
- Russia intensifies disinformation ops against Harris campaign: Microsoft
- US Fed set to make first rate cut since 2020
- Chile birth rate plummets as women say no to motherhood
- Musk to deliver 'drastic' cuts to Trump government
- In Colombia, a river's 'rights' swept away by mining and conflict
- UN General Assembly to vote on call for end to Israeli occupation
- Chinese carrier sails through northeast Taiwan waters
- Google faces another test in EU court over 1.5-bn euro fine
- India's disputed Kashmir votes after special status scrapped
- In French Polynesia, boom in whale-based tourism sparks concern
- Farrell says resisted 'Sopranos' rewatch ahead of 'Penguin' mob role
- Once pop culture's party boy, Diddy sits behind bars pending trial
- North Korea fires multiple short-range ballistic missiles
- Bayern hit nine, Real Madrid and Liverpool win as new Champions League kicks off
- Author John Grisham joins bid to save Texas death row inmate
- Venezuela arrests fourth American over alleged 'plot' against Maduro
- 'Happy' Mbappe strikes on Madrid Champions League debut win over Stuttgart
- Man Utd hit Barnsley for seven in League Cup rout
- Dolphins quarterback Tagovailoa facing concussion layoff
- Stylish Liverpool strut past Milan in confident Champions league opener
- Kane scores four as Bayern put nine past Zagreb in the Champions League
- Mbappe strikes on Madrid Champions League debut win over Stuttgart
- More than 3,600 food packaging chemicals found in human bodies
- Harris calls Trump as assassination scare sparks tensions
- Dow edges down from record as some eye a smaller Fed rate cut
- Sommer vows Inter will 'defend with all we have' to stop Haaland
- Report links meatpacking companies to 'war on nature' in Brazil
Sinaloa cartel co-founder 'El Mayo' pleads not guilty in NY court
The co-founder of the deadly Mexican Sinaloa cartel, Ismael Zambada, appeared in court in Brooklyn Friday, pleading not guilty to a raft of charges following his arrest in a dramatic sting by US agents.
Zambada, 76, cut a frail figure as he appeared in the federal courthouse in prison uniform, needing assistance to get out of his chair, answering judge James Cho's questions tersely.
In New York Zambada, who has also faced charges in Texas, has been charged with 17 crimes including conspiracy to manufacture and internationally distribute drugs such as cocaine and fentanyl, for which he faces life imprisonment.
His next court appearance will be October 31.
US Attorney Francisco Navarro's office opposed any bail for Zambada, telling the court he poses "an extreme danger" to society and was a flight risk.
"The government is seeking a permanent order of detention," prosecutors said.
"Until his arrest on July 25, 2024, the defendant was one of the most -- if not the most -- powerful wanted narcotics Kingpins in the world."
In Texas he pleaded not guilty to charges of drug trafficking, money laundering and conspiracy to commit murder.
- 'Assassinations, kidnappings, torture' -
Zambada co-founded the powerful Sinaloa drug cartel with Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman in the 1990s, sitting "atop the narcotrafficking world for decades through extreme and prolonged violence and rampant corruption of public officials," according to prosecutors.
He escaped capture for much of his life despite a US bounty on his head of $15 million.
Then, seemingly out of the blue, Zambada was detained on July 25 with El Chapo's son, Joaquin Guzman Lopez, after they landed in the United States on a private plane.
"I was ambushed," Zambada, 76, said in a statement released through his lawyer that he said aimed at clearing up the rumors and misinformation surrounding his capture.
Zambada's lawyer and the US ambassador to Mexico have both previously said that he was taken against his will.
Spiraling criminal violence, much of it linked to drug trafficking and gangs, has seen more than 450,000 people murdered in Mexico since 2006.
"Assassinations, kidnappings, torture, extortion, and bribery were the tools of the trade for the defendant," prosecutors added.
Mexico's National Guard was this week deployed in the state of Sinaloa, in the northwest of the country, amid an escalation of violence authorities attributed to internal struggles within the Sinaloa cartel following Zambada's capture.
T.Bondarenko--BTB