Drug ring investigation nets more pleas, sentencings

By The Associated Press
January 30, 2021 | 3:22 PM

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (AP) — Federal authorities say the mastermind behind a large drug-trafficking ring operating in Virginia, North Carolina, Texas and California has entered a guilty plea.

Virginia prosecutors also say four other defendants in the case pleaded guilty or were sentenced in the past week.

Forty-four-year-old Ramiro Ramirez-Barreto faces at least 20 years in prison after pleading guilty on Monday to engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise.

Authorities described Ramirez-Barreto as a Mexican national linked to the Sinaloa cartel who supplied drug rings in Newport News, Virginia and in Henderson and Greensboro, North Carolina.

A look at the history and beliefs behind Japan’s controversial shrine to the war dead

By The Associated Press
August 14, 2026 | 12:56 AM

Emperor Meiji first visited the site that would become one of Japan’s most controversial shrines in 1874. He vowed that the names of those who died for their country would live there forever. More than 2.4 million people are now honored at Yasukuni, a memorial and Shinto shrine in central Tokyo. Among them are 14 war criminals who are also commemorated each Aug. 15, when Japan’s surrender ended World War II. The shrine provides spiritual comfort for some who mourn relatives and others who visit to express gratitude. Yet for Asian countries that endured Japanese imperial rule and expansion, Yasukuni remains a symbol of Japan’s militarism. Visits by Japanese leaders frequently draw criticism from China and South Korea, which see them as a sign of insufficient remorse for Japan’s wartime aggression.

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