Uganda takes on ‘world’s most dangerous road’

Mpigi, Uganda: Wearing pristine white with her woollen socks pulled high, Ugandan traffic police officer Edith Nanteza exudes natural authority at the roadblock, barely lifting a hand as she waves motorists over.

This is no routine exercise. Nanteza is on the front line of operation “Fika Salama” — Swahili for “arrive safely” — a high-profile attempt by the government to regain control of what the country fears has become the planet’s deadliest highway.

From the top of a hill, Nanteza surveys the road, a heat haze shimmering over the tarmac highway stretching into the distance.

Drug lord Guzman ‘serene’ ahead of extradition ruling

Mexico City: A Mexican judge could rule on Monday whether Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman can be extradited to the United States, but the drug kingpin’s lawyers vow to appeal if he loses.

One of Guzman’s lawyers, Jose Refugio Rodriguez, said the Sinaloa drug cartel leader was “very serene” as he waits for the decision by a court in Mexico City.

The foreign ministry gave the green light to Guzman’s extradition in May, but the former most wanted man won a

Brazil police arrest ex-finance minister Palocci in graft probe, source says

Rio de Janeiro: Brazilian police on Monday arrested Antonio Palocci, a former finance minister and presidential chief of staff in recent leftist Workers Party governments, in the latest phase of a sweeping anti-corruption probe, prosecutors said in a statement.

They said Palocci acted as a liaison between the Workers Party and Latin America’s largest engineering and construction conglomerate, Odebrecht SA, between 2006 and 2013 in a political kickback scheme centred on contracts at state-controlled oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA, or Petrobras.