The top photos of the day by AP's photojournalists

From front-page news to powerful moments you may have missed, this gallery showcases today’s top photos chosen by Associated Press photo editors.

Horses head to the track for a workout at Churchill Downs Wednesday, April 29, 2026, in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

A woman in burqa stands in a queue with the nuns of the Missionaries of Charity to cast a vote in a polling station during the second phase of elections, in West Bengal state, in Kolkata, India, Wednesday, April 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Bikas Das)

Hippos wallow at a lagoon in the Hacienda Napoles Park, once the private estate of drug kingpin Pablo Escobar, in Puerto Triunfo, Colombia, Friday, April 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)

A man wears a hat that reads "Make Science Great Again" during a conference aimed at transitioning away from fossil fuels Wednesday, April 29, 2026, in Santa Marta, Colombia. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)

Elon Musk, left, gestures as he walks through a hallway inside the U.S. District Court in Oakland, Calif., Wednesday, April 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Britain's King Charles III feeds chickens during an event at Harlem Grown, Wednesday, April 29, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis, Pool)

From left, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Britain's King Charles III and Queen Camilla visit the 9/11 Memorial, Wednesday, April 29, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, Pool)

Queen Camilla waves flowers outside the New York Public Library, Wednesday, April 29, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Ryan Murphy)

Russian servicemen prepare to march towards Red Square prior to the Victory Day military parade rehearsal in Moscow, Wednesday, April 29, 2026, backdropped by a Stalin stile skyscraper. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell leaves a news conference at the Federal Reserve following the Federal Open Market Committee meeting in Washington, Wednesday, April 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)

Motorcyclists pass destruction in the al-Qadam area on the outskirts of Damascus, Syria, Wednesday, April 29, 2026 in a area that was heavily bombed by forces loyal to former Syrian President Bashar Assad during the Syrian war. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)

Pope Leo XIV holds his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square at The Vatican, Wednesday, Wednesday, April 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Members of the community watch as forensic officers search the area after two people were stabbed in the Golders Green neighbourhood, that has a large Jewish community, in London, Wednesday, April 29, 2026.(AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth arrives at the witness table for a House Committee on Armed Services business meeting on the Department of Defense Fiscal Year 2027, on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, April 29, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey Jr.)

A member of Jasmar's demining team wears personal protective equipment, or PPE, at a demining site in Khartoum, Sudan, Tuesday, April 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

Christopher Hester, left center, talks to friend Brianna Corter, as he salvages belongings from his storm-damaged home in Mineral Wells, Texas, Wednesday, April 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

State Rep. Angie Nixon, D-Fla., speaks loudly on the House floor as the House voted on HB1D, a redistricting bill, during a special session of the Florida Legislature, Wednesday, April 29, 2026, in Tallahassee, Fla. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

NEW YORK (AP) — The governor of Sinaloa and nine other current and former Mexican officials were charged with drug trafficking and weapons offenses in a U.S. indictment unsealed Wednesday in New York, accused of aiding in the massive importation of illicit narcotics into the United States.

Some officials were members of Mexico's progressive ruling party, Morena, posing a political conundrum for Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum as she seeks to offset mounting pressures from the Trump administration. Some of those politicians called the indictment a political attack on their party.

U.S. federal officials announced the charges in a news release. None of the defendants were in custody, but Mexico's government said shortly afterward that it had received multiple extradition requests from the U.S. without identifying those requested. It did not say how it would respond.

The 10 people charged in Manhattan federal court are current and former government or law enforcement officials in Sinaloa, including Rubén Rocha Moya, 76, who has been governor of Mexico's Sinaloa state since November 2021.

Charges against Moya included narcotics importation conspiracy and possession of machine guns and destructive devices, along with another conspiracy count. If convicted, he could face life in prison or a mandatory minimum of 40 years behind bars.

Rocha was a staunch ally of Sheinbaum's mentor, former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. The governor enthusiastically backed the ex-president's “Hugs, Not Bullets” policy, which involved avoiding direct confrontation with powerful drug cartels. López Obrador built a political platform by railing against endemic corruption plaguing Mexican politics.

Rocha, the highest profile official charged, said he “categorically and completely rejects” the accusations as baseless and called them an “attack” on Mexico’s ruling party and its leaders.

“It is part of a perverse strategy to violate (Mexico’s) constitutional order, specifically on national sovereignty, ” he wrote in a post on X on Wednesday afternoon. “We will show them that this slander doesn’t have any sort of foundation.”

Later in the day, he told reporters that he planned to stay in Sinaloa and wasn’t worried.

Some of those named, according to the indictment, have themselves participated in the Sinaloa Cartel's campaign of violence and retribution.

Those charged included a Mexican senator, a Sinaloa state deputy attorney general, a former Sinaloa secretary of public security, a former deputy director of the Sinaloa State Police and the mayor of Culiacan.

According to the indictment, the defendants shielded cartel leaders from investigation, arrest, and prosecution, fed the cartel with sensitive law enforcement and military information, directed members of state and local law enforcement agencies to protect drug loads and let the cartel commit brutal drug-related violence without consequence. In return, it said, the defendants received millions of dollars in drug money.

The indictment alleged that they were closely aligned with the Sinaloa Cartel faction known as “Los Chapitos,” which is run by the sons of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, the ex-cartel leader now serving a life sentence in a U.S. prison.

Authorities said the defendants played critical roles in helping the cartel ship fentanyl, heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine from Mexico into the U.S. The Sinaloa Cartel is among eight Latin American crime groups designated as terrorist organizations by the U.S. government.

“As the indictment lays bare, the Sinaloa Cartel, and other drug trafficking organizations like it, would not operate as freely or successfully without corrupt politicians and law enforcement officials on their payroll,” U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton said in a release.

The indictment of Rocha, who was born in the same town as “El Chapo,” was particularly notable because the governor was embroiled in a scandal in 2024 involving the Sinaloa Cartel. His name was published in a letter written by a then-Sinaloa Cartel capo who was kidnapped by leaders of a rival faction of the cartel and handed off to law enforcement in the U.S. In the letter, the capo said that when he was kidnapped he believed he was on his way to meet with Rocha.

In the years since, the cartel's two warring factions have ravaged the northern Mexican state in their struggle for territorial control.

Among those indicted, at least three officials — Rocha, the mayor of Sinaloa’s capital, and a senator — were affiliated with Sheinbaum’s party, Morena. A number of other officials held positions unaffiliated with Mexican parties.

It's not the first time the U.S. has brought drug trafficking charges against ranking Mexican officials. Genaro García Luna — a former Mexican public security secretary under former President Felipe Calderón — was convicted by a U.S. court and sentenced to 38 years in prison after he was accused of taking bribes from the Sinaloa Cartel. He denied the allegations and is appealing his conviction.

The indictment unsealed Wednesday come after U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ron Johnson last week said that the U.S. administration would launch an anti-corruption campaign targeting Mexican officials he said were linked to organized crime.

"Corruption not only hinders progress, it distorts it. It increases costs, weakens competition, and erodes the trust upon which markets depend. It is not a problem without victims,” Johnson said.

Sheinbaum responded Monday by saying her government has not seen “any evidence” of the charges of corruption.

“Any investigation in the United States against any person in Mexico must have evidence reviewed by the (Mexican) Attorney General’s Office,” Sheinbaum said.

Sheinbaum’s government has already detained several local officials across Mexico in its ongoing crackdown against the cartels, fueled by pressure by the Trump administration.

The indictment has once again forced the Mexican leader to walk a political tightrope, said Vanda Felbab-Brown, a senior fellow in foreign policy at the Washington-based Brookings Institution who specializes in organized crime.

If Sheinbaum doesn’t go after Rocha, it will put strain on relations with the U.S. ahead of renegotiations of a free-trade agreement with the U.S. crucial to the Mexican economy, the analyst said. If she does arrest him, “it carries tremendous consequences for her politically” ahead of next year’s midterm elections in Mexico.

“Is she going to move to arrest Gov. Rocha and the other eight indicted politicians and attempt to extradite him to the United States? This is certainly what the United States wants,” Felbab-Brown said.

This story has been corrected to show the scandal that embroiled Rocha was in 2024, not 2023.

Janetsky reported from Mexico City. Associated Press writers María Verza and Fabiola Sánchez in Mexico City and Jennifer Peltz in New York contributed.

FILE - Sinaloa state Gov. Ruben Rocha waves as he takes part in an annual earthquake drill in Culiacan, Mexico, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo, File)