Washington/Mexico City - As US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton arrived Wednesday in Mexico for her first visit to the southern US neighbour, the US Congress raised alarm about growing drug violence south of the border.

Heightened concern about the inflow of illicit drugs into the United States and the backflow of money and arms into Mexico are sure to dominate Clinton's meeting with her Mexican counterpart Patricia Espinosa.

Buenos Aires  - Mexican President Felipe Calderon is likely to press a double demand when he attends the G20 summit in London next month, with the global crisis and the wave of violence that hits Mexico giving him many headaches in recent months.

On the one hand, as the leader of the 13th-largest economy in the world, he will be seeking to curb the severe effects that the international financial and economic crisis is having on Mexico, a country that is very heavily dependent on its northern neighbour, the now-troubled United States.

Washington - The United States Monday said it was giving a huge boost to its cooperation with Mexican law enforcement officials to help bring down the illicit drug trade and was even doubling and quadrupling its anti-drug efforts on the border.

The efforts come as Mexico last week beefed up its military presence to 10,000 armed troops in the violence-plagued border city of Juarez.

"The Department of Justice stands ready to take the fight to the Mexican drug cartels," vowed Deputy Attorney General David Ogden at the briefing to reporters at the White House.

Washington  - The United States is doubling, tripling and quadrupling its anti-drug efforts on its border with Mexico even as Mexico has sent 10,000 armed troops into the border city of Juarez to quell drug violence.

Janet Napolitano, secretary of Homeland Security, and other administration officials Monday laid out a huge boost in efforts on the US side of the border to stem traffic in illegal drugs and weapons.

Geneva  - The United States blocked Friday the formation of a World Trade Organization panel to look into a complaint by Mexico that the US was unfairly closing its markets to tuna from its southern neighbour.

Mexico said US labeling rules, which prevent Mexican companies from placing "dolphin safe" labels on their products, violated trade rules as the tuna was in line with regulations on protecting dolphins.

About one-third of Mexico's fishing fleet was said to be adversely affected by the decision.

Mexico City - Once a week, vans loaded with reams of material to be stitched into trousers and shirts for US retailers, drive through the muddy streets of the Los Reyes-La Paz neighbourhood on the outskirts of Mexico City.

The fabric is distributed to the area's many seamstresses, who have a week to each make about 50 trousers and shirts. For sewing all day for some of the biggest and most expensive department stores, these women earn about 4,000 pesos (283 dollars) a month.