World Brief…El Chapo to forfeit US$12,7b in drug money

WASHINGTON – Prosecutors on Friday said they were seeking US$12,7 billion from convicted Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman, based on a conservative estimate of revenues from his cartel’s drug sales in the United States.

According to a motion filed by US attorney Richard Donoghue, authorities are “entitled to forfeiture of all property that constitutes or is derived from the defendant’s narcotics-related crimes”. Based on prices for drugs quoted by various witnesses, Guzman’s 25-year reign atop the Sinaloa cartel netted sales of some US$11,8 billion in cocaine, US$846m in marijuana and US$11m in heroin, authorities said. The money was laundered, and used to pay the cartel’s workers and suppliers, as well as used to purchase communications equipment and “planes, submarines and other vehicles”. Guzman is set to be sentenced on 17 July, and is expected to be ordered to spend the rest of his life in prison.

Conservative members sent more than one ballot

LONDON – Some members of Britain’s Conservative Party have been issued with more than one ballot paper to vote for the party’s next leader, who will also become prime minister, the BBC reported on Saturday. Ballot papers have been sent to about 160 000 Conservative Party members across the country, asking them to choose between front-runner Boris Johnson, a former London mayor and foreign minister, and Jeremy Hunt, the current foreign minister. Voting is due to close on 22 July, with the winner set to be announced a day later. The BBC said an investigation it had carried out found some party members had received two ballot papers, citing one party insider as estimating that more than 1 000 people could be affected. It said that in some cases, this was because members live and work in different constituencies, and may have joined the local Conservative associations in both areas.

US, Taliban take a break from peace talks

KABUL – US and Taliban officials decided on Saturday to put their ongoing peace talks on hold for two days to allow for a meeting between rival Afghan groups to be held in Qatar, a Taliban official said. The warring sides started a seventh round of peace talks last week, aiming to hammer out a schedule for the withdrawal of foreign troops in exchange for Taliban guarantees that international militant groups will not use Afghanistan as a base for launching attacks. Agreement on the timetable has been elusive so far, but in a sign of progress, the Taliban agreed on the sidelines of the peace talks to hold separate discussions with a group of Afghan delegates. US officials are demanding a ceasefire agreement and direct talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government before a peace deal is finalised.

US judge blocks Ohio abortion law

OHIO – A United States federal judge temporarily blocked an Ohio law on Wednesday that would ban abortions after a foetal heartbeat can be detected, allowing clinics to continue to provide the procedure as a legal face-off continues. The ruling by US district judge Michael Barrett halts enforcement of the so-called heartbeat law that opponents argued would effectively ban the procedure. That’s because a foetal heartbeat can be detected as early as six weeks into pregnancy, before many women know they’re pregnant. Barrett said Planned Parenthood and abortion clinics represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) that sued to stop the law “are certain to succeed on the merits of their claim that (the bill) is unconstitutional on its face”. Barrett joined the court in 2006 after being nominated by Republican president George W Bush.

– Nampa-AFP-Reuters-Al Jazeera