World Briefs

MEXICO CITY – An heir to one of Mexico's most notorious narcotics empires was grabbed by police as he exercised in a city park, officials announced Thursday, shortly before U.S. and Mexican Cabinet officials met to coordinate attacks on escalating drug violence.

Carrillo Leyva allegedly inherited a top position in the Juarez cartel from his father Amado Carrillo Fuentes.

The U.S. Embassy said Thursday that the embattled remnant of his cartel is still "one of Mexico's most ruthless organized criminal gangs, which controls one of the primary transportation routes for illegal drug shipments into the United States."

STRASBOURG, France – Police used tear gas to beat back a crowd of several hundred people in Strasbourg on Thursday as the city in eastern France, host of NATO's 60th anniversary summit, readied for the arrival of world leaders.

Police fired rubber bullets and tear gas during sporadic clashes between about 40 riot police and some 200 masked protesters in the neighborhood of Neuhoff, in the southern part of the city near the German border.

CARACAS, Venezuela – Venezuelan authorities detained a former defense minister who has become a prominent critic of President Hugo Chavez, his defense lawyer said Thursday.

Retired Gen. Raul Baduel was detained said he doesn't know the reason for his detention.

Baduel was first detained by military prosecutors in October on suspicion of mismanaging government funds during his command. He maintains he is innocent.

Lawyer Omar Mora Tosta said Baduel had been scheduled to appear before a military court on Friday, and that "there was no need for such a hasty act."

WASHINGTON — The situation in Pakistan and Afghanistan is "increasingly dire," top defense officials told Congress Wednesday, and they said that President Barack Obama may have to send another 10,000 troops beyond the 21,500 he's announced since taking office. countries

WASHINGTON - The US expects North Korea to go ahead with the launch of a satellite-bearing missile, an Obama administration official said, as Kim Jong Il’s regime threatened military action against any attempt to shoot it down.

President Barack Obama told his South Korean counterpart, Lee Myung-Bak, at the Group of 20 nations summit in London today he won’t allow North Korea to drive a wedge between them. Both leaders agreed to respond to the launch by registering a firm protest with the United Nations.