Major drug-gang shootout leaves 19 dead in northern Mexico

The bloody battle broke out in the border state of Chihuahua, where the Sinaloa and Juarez cartels have been at war

A major shootout between rival drug gangs has killed 19 people in the northern Mexico border state of Chihuahua, officials say.

The state prosecutors’ office said on Saturday that 18 corpses, two grenades, vehicles and guns were found at the scene of the clash in the hamlet of Chuchuichupa the township of Madera.

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Met removes hundreds from gangs matrix after breaking data laws

How list is compiled also to be reviewed amid claims it blights life chances and is discriminatory

Hundreds of young people have been removed from a controversial police list of alleged gang members after claims that it is discriminatory and blighted their life chances, the Guardian has learned.

The Metropolitan police’s gangs matrix, which the force says is a vital tool in tackling violence in London, has been found to be breaking data laws.

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El Salvador: a country ruled by gangs – a photo essay

There are few places on earth as dangerous as El Salvador, a country with a population of just 6.5 million people – yet 10% are involved with gangs

El Salvador is no stranger to violence. It endured a brutal civil war in the 1980s, which lasted for more than a decade. In many ways this history has underpinned the evolution of a terrifying gang culture where extortion and murder have become the norm. In the aftermath of the civil war, US immigration policies hardened. The net result was Salvadorian migrants convicted of crimes were deported back to El Salvador, renewing the cycle of gang culture and undermining the foundations of a fragile and struggling state.

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‘We live in a narco-state’: murder of Dutch lawyer prompts fear and fury

Lawyers in gangland cases given emergency protection after unprecedented killing

Lawyers and prosecutors in major gangland drugs cases in the Netherlands have been given emergency protection after the unprecedented murder of a top defence lawyer prompted police and the media to claim that government naivety was turning the country into a narco-state.

Derk Wiersum was gunned down in the street as he left his home in the Amsterdam suburb of Buitenveldert on Wednesday morning. Police are searching for a 16- to 20-year old man in a black hooded top who fled the scene on foot.

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Brazilian drug gang opens fire on convoy of trucks carrying nuclear fuel

Latest incident raises concerns about Brazil’s nuclear security in a state struggling with violent crime

A convoy of trucks carrying nuclear fuel came under armed attack on a highway in Rio de Janeiro state on Tuesday as it drove past a community controlled by a drug gang. Gang members armed with rifles opened fire on the convoy, Rio’s O Globo newspaper said.

Armed police escorting the convoy exchanged fire with armed gang members as the trucks carrying uranium continued to a nearby nuclear plant. The attack is the latest of several violent incidents in the area where Brazil has two nuclear reactors and has raised concerns about its nuclear security in a state struggling with high levels of violent crime.

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