News Desk

Monterrey, Mexico – Portraits of the missing cover Guadalajara’s “Roundabout of the Disappeared”, a landmark renamed by families to highlight the state’s disappearance crisis.

On February 22, the streets surrounding the memorial and throughout the city stood empty after the Mexican army killed Ruben Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, the longtime leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).

In retaliation, cartel members set fire to buses and taxis, erecting a series of blockades that spread across 20 states.

The widespread unrest demonstrated the CJNG’s capacity for rapid coordination, fuelled by a ‘franchise’ model that allows smaller cells to operate under the cartel’s brand and vast financial network.

While the group’s economic reach extends into Europe and Asia, its power remains rooted in its paramilitary force. This structure relies on extortion, brutal violence and forced disappearances as its main tools to seize territory and control markets.

Oseguera Cervantes, known as “El Mencho”, consolidated one of Mexico’s most powerful criminal organisations in part due to a unique franchise-based structure.

According to the United States Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), the CJNG maintains a presence in every state of Mexico, with varying levels of influence, and operates in more than 40 countries across the Americas, Europe, Asia and Africa, and throughout the US. Its primary activity is the trafficking of cocaine, fentanyl and methamphetamine.

Raul Zepeda Gil, a teaching fellow in War Studies at King’s College London, notes that rather than following a “classic organisational pyramid”, the CJNG avoids a centralised financial network.

“Instead, profits can be distributed across many locations and groups simultaneously,” Zepeda told Al Jazeera.

Besides controlling key areas in western Mexico, the CJNG controls the Pacific Coast region, including the strategic ports of Manzanillo and Lazaro Cardenas, crucial for the import of synthetic precursor chemicals.

“Their most important activity is drug trafficking,” Zepeda said. “Chemical precursors that arrive from China reach Mexican ports and are then sent to the United States already in fentanyl form.”

The organisation also generates revenues through fuel theft, illegal mining, extortion, migrant smuggling and money laundering.

On February 19, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned a timeshare fraud network led by the CJNG that targeted elderly Americans.

“Timeshare fraud in Mexico has plagued American victims for decades, costing them hundreds of millions of dollars while enriching criminal organisations such as CJNG,” the Treasury Department stated in a press release.

The CJNG’s extensive reach and rapid growth are made possible by a vast, powerful network that protects drug trafficking operations and ensures impunity, says Carlos Flores, an investigator at the Centre for Research and Higher Education in Social Anthropology (CIESAS). Flores argues that these “hegemonic power networks”, shadow networks of business leaders, politicians, and criminals, have reconfigured state institutions to serve their own interests.

“These same networks, which control and administer state institutions – including security institutions – focus their actions primarily against their competitors, while simultaneously allowing these other networks to consolidate their power,” he added.

The rise of a deadly paramilitary force

Forced disappearances and extortion are crucial for the CJNG’s control of the market, seeding fear that silences communities and facilitates forced recruitment. This ensures a steady supply of disposable labour while following the ‘no body, no crime’ logic that minimises the political and legal costs of their operations.

Homicides and forced disappearances have surged in Jalisco since the group emerged in 2010. The CJNG rose from the remnants of the Milenio Cartel, a subordinate partner of the Sinaloa Cartel based in Oseguera Cervantes’s home state of Michoacan. While across Mexico more than 130,000 people are missing, Jalisco currently ranks at the top with at least 16,000 reported cases, and collectives of families continue to uncover mass graves and what they describe as “extermination sites”.

Raul Servin, a member of the Guerreros Buscadores, a collective representing more than 400 families of the disappeared, told Al Jazeera that their searches frequently reveal human remains in varying states of decay and torture. They have found victims who were shot, hanged or killed with bladed weapons that were left inside the bodies, he said.

“It’s a sadness and helplessness we feel when we see each body these people leave behind,” said Servin, who has been searching for his son since 2018.

Beyond its financial power, the CJNG is notorious for its extensive arsenal of military-grade weaponry, including armed drones, rocket-propelled grenades, and firearms.

On February 22, more than 25 National Guard members were killed in Jalisco. In the past, the organisation has also carried out high-profile attacks against public officials.

Last year in February, US President Donald Trump designated the Jalisco New Generation Cartel as a foreign terrorist organisation. In July, US prosecutors in Virginia unsealed an indictment against Petar Dimitrov Mirchev, a Bulgarian national accused of conspiring with East African associates to equip the CJNG with military-grade weaponry. The indictment states that Mirchev brokered these deals “despite knowing that the CJNG inflicts catastrophic suffering” to protect its prolific drug trafficking operations.

The indictment also revealed that the CJNG was attempting to buy surface-to-air missiles and anti-aircraft systems (ZU-23). Overall, Mirchev allegedly created a list of weaponry worth approximately $58m.

The paramilitary profile has allowed the CJNG to expand rapidly into rival territories and monopolise the market. Flores describes this training, deployment, and weaponry as being similar to an army, making them “practically uncontestable”.

“They operate under a different kind of logic,” Flores said. “They provide a kind of licence to [local] groups that associate with them. They fight their enemies and collaborate on trafficking in exchange for using the Jalisco New Generation Cartel as a label.”

The CJNG adopted a level of brutality similar to Los Zetas, whose founders were elite Mexican special forces soldiers trained by the US and Israel. In its early days, the CJNG was known as the “Matazetas”, or Zetas Killers.

Servin and the Guerreros Buscadores have seen the results of this brutality firsthand. Locating the missing becomes more difficult as concealment tactics evolve, Servin said. Disappearances have become a powerful economic tool to control and exploit territory. Collectives often find bodies buried under layers of dirt and animal carcasses to throw off the scent, or even encased in concrete.

“They make us work harder than necessary. If they took his life, why not leave him where we can find him quickly?”

Zepeda says that the CJNG leveraged military-grade tactics to fill the void left by the government’s crackdown on other cartels carried out between 2008 and 2010. In 2009, the Beltran-Leyva Organisation – which had been at war with the Sinaloa Cartel since their 2008 split – was reeling from a series of high-profile arrests and killings.

The death of Ignacio “Nacho” Coronel, a key finance operator for the Sinaloa Cartel, at the hands of the military in 2010 further cleared the way for new criminal players. Oseguera Cervantes was working under Coronel before breaking away to form what would become the CJNG.

“If we could summarise the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, it’s a reinvention of Los Zetas, which took over all the territory that the other cartels defeated by the Mexican government had occupied,” Zepeda added.

This history serves as a warning of what may follow the death of Oseguera Cervantes. Zepeda pointed out that the drug trade is an incredibly dynamic market where “there will always be a group of people willing to take control”.

Flores warns that “decapitating the leadership” is insufficient if power networks, along with the CJNG’s criminal and operational structures, remain intact.

“Without dismantling the power networks, yesterday’s victory will become the cause of new violence tomorrow,” Flores said. “We’ve seen this approach many times before, and we know what it leads to: It solves neither the transnational drug problem nor creates conditions of greater stability for the Mexican population.”

Neve Campbell helped cement the “Scream” franchise’s legacy in the horror genre, which is why stepping away from the sixth movie was a difficult decision.

But it’s one the actor stands by, she told “CBS Mornings” on Tuesday, adding that she “didn’t think I could live with myself walking on set.”

Campbell, the original “Scream” queen, declined to return for the sixth film following a pay dispute.

“I just didn’t feel right. I just knew that my value to this franchise was bigger than what had been offered,” Campbell told the morning show. “For me, I needed to make that choice.”

However, the actor is now back for “Scream 7” after securing a nearly $7-million deal, according to Variety.

The seventh installment is expected to open to a franchise-high $45 million to $50 million in North America this weekend, according to Variety.

But the film’s journey to the big screen wasn’t easy. Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega led the sixth movie in lieu of Campbell, both of whom subsequently left the franchise in 2023. Director Christopher Landon also exited the movie shortly after.

Barrera was fired from the seventh film in late 2023 after sharing on social media pro-Palestinian statements regarding the Israel-Hamas war. Ortega then exited the film, citing her conflicting filming schedule for Netflix’s “Wednesday.”

In “Scream 7,” Sidney Prescott is now a mom living a quiet family life; a “pretty bold choice” for the character, Campbell told “CBS Mornings,” “considering what happens to most of the people she loves, but she’s decided not to let her past dictate the way she’s going to live her life now.”

Campbell’s co-stars from the original film, along with fans of the franchise, were quick to voice their support for the actor’s decision in 2022. Matthew Lillard, who starred opposite Campbell, tweeted that the decision was “straight up sexism.”

“When I spoke out about it, it wasn’t really to sort of rally everybody,” Campbell said. “It was really just my truth at the time and the fact that people sort of got behind me, I got lovely support and that was really nice.”

Feb. 25 (UPI) — Cuban border guards shot and killed four people on a U.S.-flagged speedboat that approached to about a nautical mile off the island nation’s coast Wednesday, the Cuban Embassy in the United States said.

The Embassy said the speedboat, registered in Florida, opened fire on the Cuban vessel, injuring its commander. The Cuban border guard boat with five service members had approached the speedboat to identify those aboard.

The incident took place near Cayo Falcones in the Villa Clara province.

“As a consequence of the confrontation, as of the time of this report, four aggressors on the foreign vessel were killed and six were injured,” the statement from the Embassy said. “The injured individuals were evacuated and received medical assistance.

“In the face of current challenges, Cuba reaffirms its determination to protect its territorial waters, based on the principle that national defense is a fundamental pillar of the Cuban State in safeguarding its sovereignty and ensuring stability in the region.”

Cuban officials didn’t identify those aboard the Florida-registered speedboat.

The Embassy said authorities were investigating the incident to “fully clarify the events.”

This is a developing story.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi defended Israel’s devastating war on Gaza, saying it stands by the country “with full conviction” – despite accusations of genocide against the Palestinian people.

Modi gave a speech to the Knesset, or parliament, on Wednesday, on the first day of his two-day visit and received a standing ovation as he stressed India’s enduring support for Israel.

It was the first time an Indian leader addressed the Knesset.

“India stands with Israel firmly, with full conviction, in this moment and beyond,” said Modi, condemning the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas-led fighters as “barbaric”, adding “no cause can justify the murder of civilians”.

India’s leader was earlier greeted by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Ben Gurion International Airport, where a welcoming ceremony was held.

In his own Knesset speech, Netanyahu thanked India for “standing by” Israel in the wake of October 7, and said the two nations shared “common interests”. He described Modi as “more than a friend, a brother”.

Modi said New Delhi expressed “strong support” for the Gaza peace initiative approved by the UN Security Council in November. It “offers a pathway”, he said, adding India believes “it holds the promise of a just and durable peace for all the people of the region”.

‘Trusted partners’

The Indian leader said the two countries are “trusted partners” and this “contributes to global stability and prosperity”.

He described their relations as “vital” for trade and security, and hailed “synergy” on artificial intelligence, quantum technology, and other topics.

“We are committed to further consolidating this relationship across many sectors,” he added.

Modi’s first trip to Israel was in 2017 after relations between the two countries warmed following his election in 2014. Netanyahu also visited India in 2018.

Haaretz newspaper journalist Gideon Levy told Al Jazeera that Modi’s visit cannot be underestimated.

“India is a highly important country and [Modi] showing himself … in these times when public opinion in India is very critical about Israel is a step that cannot be underestimated,” said Levy.

He pointed to similarities between Netanyahu and Modi, saying both are “nationalist, populist in a way, quite conservative, and hawkish. Both countries carry also some stains, Kashmir, Palestine, the West Bank”.

Israel’s largest arms buyer

In September 2025, India and Israel signed the Bilateral Investment Treaty to expand trade during far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s visit to India.

India is Israel’s largest arms buyer, spending $20.5bn on Israeli weapons between 2020 and 2024. In 2024, trade between the two, largely based on defence and security, stood at $3.9bn.

Modi has received criticism for his support for Israel during its genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, which has killed at least 72,073 people and wounded 171,756. At least 615 of those deaths occurred during the “ceasefire” agreed between Israel and Hamas last October.

Last week, India was one of the more than 100 countries condemning Israel’s recent moves to expand its control of the occupied West Bank and move towards annexation.

Imran Masood, a parliamentarian for India’s Congress party, urged Modi to address Gaza during his visit, saying, “if there is any morality then he should talk about death of children in Gaza”, ANI news agency reported.

“India’s stand is clear … that it supports Palestine,” said Masood.

Marian Alexander Baby, leader of the Communist Party of India, said Modi’s embrace of Israel is “a betrayal of India’s anti-colonial legacy and our long-standing position in support of the right to self determination of the Palestinian people, reaffirmed by UN resolutions that India has co-sponsored and voted for”.

Modi continues his visit to Israel on Thursday.

Lauren Chapin, the former child actor best known for portraying Kathleen Anderson in the 1950s series “Father Knows Best,” has died. She was 80.

The actor’s son, Matthew Chapin, announced on Facebook that his mother succumbed to her “long hard fought battle” with cancer after five years. He did not disclose additional details about her death or her condition. He said in his post he is “at a complete loss for words right now.”

“Please keep my sister and family in your thoughts and prayers as we go through this incredibly tough time,” Matthew Chapin added.

Lauren Chapin, a Los Angeles native born on May 23, 1945, began her screen career in the 1950s with a minor role in 1954’s “A Star Is Born” starring Judy Garland and James Mason, appearances in TV including the anthology series “Lux Video Theatre” and the family sitcom “Father Knows Best.”

“Father Knows Best” aired from 1954 to 1960 — bouncing between networks CBS and NBC — and starred Robert Young as the patriarch of the middle-class Anderson family. Chapin’s Kathleen, also “Kathy” and nicknamed “Kitten,” was the youngest of Jim Anderson Sr. (Young) and Margaret Anderson‘s (Jane Wyatt) three children. Her screen siblings were played by Elinor Donahue and Billy Gray.

The Emmy-winning sitcom, which ran for more than 200 episodes over six seasons, comprised the bulk of Chapin’s screen career. Chapin followed up her time on “Father Knows Best” with a single appearance on “General Electric Theater,” and nearly two decades later a role in 1976’s “The Amorous Adventures of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza” and two “Father Knows Best” reunion specials. In 1980, she appeared alongside Gary Coleman in the film “Scout’s Honor.”

She would not return to the screen until the late 2010s, starring as an elderly school bus driver in the YouTube series “School Bus Diaries” from 2016 to 2017, according to IMDb.

Off-screen, Chapin was an evangelist who shared her faith through public speaking, ministry and outreach, according to her website. She also concerned herself with various charitable efforts and work as a talent agent, channeling her experience to guide rising stars, including a young Jennifer Love Hewitt. Chapin’s website notes her accolades, including five Junior Emmy awards for child actress and “Honorable Mayor” titles from Oklahoma, Texas and Florida for her charity work.

In 1989, she penned “Father Knows Best: The Lauren Chapin Story,” which chronicled her time on the beloved sitcom but also illuminated the emotional and sexual abuse she allegedly endured from several family members off-screen. The memoir also concerned itself with Chapin’s post-”Father Know Best” life, including struggles with drug addiction, suicide attempts, troubled marriages and legal trouble.

“Lauren Chapin’s story reminds us that while fame may introduce a person to the world, it is perseverance, honesty, and compassion that define a life well lived,” says the description on Chapin’s website.

She is survived by her son, her daughter Summer and her brother Michael Chapin, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Feb. 25 (UPI) — Syrian officials announced Wednesday that there was a “mass escape” last month from the country’s Kurdish-controlled al-Hol camp, which held ISIS-linked families.

It’s believed that thousands may have escaped, CNN reported.

The Wall Street Journal reported that about 15,000 to 20,000 people, including ISIS affiliates, were at large following the escape from al-Hol, citing U.S. intelligence agencies, CNN reported. The United Nations said al-Hol camp held more than 30,000 people.

“When our forces arrived, they found cases of collective escapes due to the camp having been opened up in a haphazard manner,” Syrian Interior Ministry spokesperson Noureddine al-Baba said at a press conference Wednesday.

The Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces were in charge of the camp and were an ally to U.S. forces fighting ISIS in Syria. But the U.S. drawdown from the country in 2019 left the SDF struggling, especially after the Assad regime fell in 2024. Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa joined the U.S.-led anti-ISIS coalition in November, and his forces continue to hunt for ISIS fighters

In January, the SDF said it abandoned the al-Hol camp because of “international indifference” to ISIS and “the failure of the international community to assume its responsibilities in addressing​ this serious matter,” CNN reported.

The two main camps — al-Hol and al-Roj — detained ISIS fighters and their family members, but were mostly populated with women and children.

Until mid-January, the camps together housed about 28,000 people. About 12,500 were foreign nationals from more than 60 countries, including about 4,000 Iraqis, according to Human Rights Watch.

The al-Roj camp, which holds around 2,300 foreign women and children, is still under SDF control but it is expected to close.

In 2014, ISIS declared a caliphate in a swath of land across parts of Syria and Iraq, calling Raqqa, Syria, its capital. The caliphate was led by Iraqi-born Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Muslims from around the world who identified with ISIS moved there to be a part of it. A U.S.-led coalition mostly destroyed the enclave in 2019, and the SDF managed the camps. Baghdadi died by suicide just before he could be captured by U.S. forces.

Countries around the world have been facing pressure to repatriate their citizens who have been stuck in the camps since the fall of the caliphate. Most of them are women and children. But most countries cite national security as a reason not to allow them back in.

Last week, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he would not allow Australian ISIS detainees from al-Roj to repatriate.

A naturalized American citizen pleaded guilty in June to fighting against U.S. forces for ISIS in the region and was sentenced to 10 years.

The al-Roj camp also houses Shamina Begum, a British woman who left London at age 15 to marry an ISIS fighter. In 2015, she lost her British citizenship.

THE Bachelor Australia star Megan Marx has given an update on her battle with a degenerative brain condition that has left her “grieving” her “unlived life”.

Megan, 36, was diagnosed with rare Spinocerebellar ataxia in 2023 which targets the part of the brain that controls coordination as well as the spinal cord.

There’s currently no cure for the disease, which affects one to five people in every 100,000 and can impact vision, speech and mobility.

In an essay for Mamamia, Megan wrote: “There is a kind of grief that rarely earns a name. It is not the grief of death, nor even the grief that follows a diagnosis. It is the grief of the life we imagined we might live, and the slow recognition that it will not arrive.”

The reality star said the ever-widening gap between her new reality of survival and the hopes and dreams she harboured should be mourned in a bid to stop feelings of shame developing.

She wrote: “The grief of what-if is often waved away. Be realistic, we’re told. Accept what is. But denial carries its own risk.

“If regret is untreated, if it hardens into identity, it becomes corrosive. It ceases to be grief and becomes a creed. That is where the damage quietly deepens.

“Pretending nothing was lost binds us to shame; naming it allows movement. It challenges the belief that worth is measured by productivity, consistency, or visibility. Survival, when understood honestly, is not failure; it is a form of adaptation.”

Megan said she’s stripped away all unnecessary elements of her life to focus on what she can still do.

She remains active, spending time outdoors when she can, camping, windsurfing and walking her dog on the beach.

Creative activities also feed her soul, from playing the guitar to painting and reading and allow her a certain structure.

The star had an important message for other people living with chronic illnesses: “do not let your grief be dismissed.”

She continued: “Do not bypass it for the comfort of others. Mourn what was lost, but remember what is still left of your life. In doing so, you clear space not for fantasy, but for a life that is honest, inhabitable, and still your own.”

Heartbreakingly, Megan said the day will come when she will no longer be able to talk, walk, or swallow.

She also laments how experimental therapies that could help her condition, like stem cell treatments, are far removed from what she can afford.

Despite this, she has ruled out ever crowdfunding.

Selflessly, she wrote: “I am acutely aware that there are people whose need is far more immediate than mine.”

Megan found fame on The Bachelor in 2016, becoming the first contestant to refuse a rose when offered by Richie Strahan.

She said the situation didn’t feel right and she went on to form a relationship with fellow female contestant Tiffany Scanlon.

Speaking afterwards, she said: “I got along with Richie really well, we had great banter… but for me, it was more the environment of the show that wasn’t very conducive to love.”

Following The Bachelor, she appeared on Bachelor in Paradise and The Challenge Australia.

Release of documents show close relationship between high-profile economist and disgraced sex offender.

Former United States Treasury Secretary Larry Summers says he will resign as a professor at Harvard University at the end of the semester after revelations of his close relationship with disgraced sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Summers, a longtime influential figure in economic policymaking circles and a former president of Harvard, said on Wednesday that he would resign from teaching at the end of the academic year.

“In connection with the ongoing review by the University of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein that were recently released by the government, Harvard Kennedy School Dean Jeremy Weinstein has accepted Professor Lawrence H Summers’ resignation from his leadership position as co-director of the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government,” Harvard spokesperson Jason Newton said in a statement.

Documents released as part of an effort to bring greater transparency to Epstein’s relationships with powerbrokers in politics, business and culture shed light on Summers’s extensive correspondence with Epstein, whom he once emailed asking for advice on wooing women.

Summers, who has denied any wrongdoing and has not been charged with any crime, previously resigned from the board of the company OpenAI over his ties to Epstein, with whom he remained in contact as late as July 2019.

“I take full responsibility for my misguided decision to continue communicating with Mr Epstein,” Summers said in a statement to US media after releases of Epstein files in November, at which time Harvard announced a review of those named in the documents, which were compiled during criminal investigations of Epstein.

Documents released in December also showed that Summers had been designated as a successor executor in a 2014 draft of Epstein’s will, according to the student newspaper The Harvard Crimson. The paper reported that a spokesperson for Summers denied any knowledge of the matter.

A sinkhole suddenly opened at an intersection in Omaha, Nebraska, swallowing two cars stopped at a red light. Police said both drivers escaped before crews arrived and no injuries were reported. Authorities warn the street could remain closed for days amid fears the hole may expand.

Nexstar Media Group is slashing personnel from its TV stations, including several on-air veterans at Los Angeles outlet KTLA.

Glen Walker and Lu Parker, anchors of KTLA’s late morning and midday newscasts, are out along with meteorologist Mark Kriski, according to people briefed on the moves not authorized to speak publicly.

Kriski had been with KTLA since 1991, while Walker has been at the station’s anchor desk since 2010. Parker joined KTLA in 2005.

A representative for Nexstar said the company does not comment on personnel issues, adding it is “taking steps necessary to compete effectively in this period of unprecedented change.”

The layoffs are part of a company-wide cost reduction across Nexstar’s stations. The Irving, Texas-based media giant, which recently agreed to a $6.2-billion merger with station group Tegna, is looking for savings as traditional TV viewing declines and puts pressure on ad revenue as consumers continue to move to video-streaming platforms.

Television station groups have been lobbying the government to lift restrictions that limit them to 39% coverage of U.S households. They say lifting the cap will enable them to better compete with technology companies that have no such restrictions.

Nexstar is the largest TV station ownership group in the U.S. It also operates the cable network NewsNation, which has been slow to make significant inroads against established channels CNN, Fox News and MSNBC since it launched in 2020.

Nexstar has been chipping away at the staff of its Chicago station WGN, which produces 12 hours of local news daily. A total of 21 people have been cut in recent weeks, including nine reporters and anchors on Monday.

Known locally as “Chicago’s Very Own,” WGN has long been a source of civic pride in the city. Insiders at the station say they have been deluged with emails and texts expressing dismay over Nexstar’s moves, which eliminated a number of staffers with decades of experience and institutional knowledge.

Among those let go is Dean Richards, WGN’s longtime entertainment reporter and critic who has been a fixture at Hollywood press junkets.

At New York’s WPIX, Nexstar eliminated at least three on-air positions, including weekend anchor and reporter John Muller and afternoon anchor Arrianee LeBeau, who covered transit for the morning newscast.

SAG-AFTRA, which represents employees at KTLA and WGN, issued a statement blasting the cuts.

“By laying off journalists across the country, Nexstar is eroding the resources and talent that local communities rely on for trusted news,” SAG-AFTRA President Sean Astin said. “These actions highlight the risks of media consolidation and underscore the urgent need for regulators and the company to prioritize the public interest and the professionals who serve it.

KTLA, WGN and WPIX have been part of Nexstar since 2019, when the company completed its acquisition of Tribune Broadcasting.

Feb. 25 (UPI) — The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced sanctions Wednesday on more than 30 people, entities and vessels that it said are “enabling illicit Iranian petroleum sales and Iran’s ballistic missile and advanced conventional weapons production.”

The sanctions are part of the federal government’s pressure campaign against Iran.

The vessels targeted are part of Iran’s “shadow fleet,” which the department said in a press release “serve as the regime’s primary source of revenue for financing domestic repression, terrorist proxies and weapons programs.”

“Iran exploits financial systems to sell illicit oil, launder the proceeds, procure components for its nuclear and conventional weapons programs and support its terrorist proxies,” said Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent in a statement. “Treasury will continue to put maximum pressure on Iran to target the regime’s weapons capabilities and support for terrorism, which it has prioritized over the lives of the Iranian people.”

The vessels sanctioned are: Hoot, Ocean Koi, North Star, Felicita, Ateela 1, Ateela 2, Niba, Luma, Remiz, Danuta 1, Alaa and Gas Fate.

The organizations sanctioned are: Poros Maritime Ventures S.A., Ocean Kudos Shipping Co Ltd., Mistral Fleet Co Ltd., Vast Marine Inc., Behengam Tadbir Qeshm Shipping and Maritime Services Company, Paros Maritime S.A., Wansa Gas Shipping Co., Goldwave Maritime Services Inc. and Ithaki Maritime and Trading S.A.

OFAC also targeted the following entities based in Iran, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates that have aided in the purchase of precursor chemicals and sensitive machinery for Iran. They are Iran-based Oje Parvaz Mado Nafar Company; Turkey-based Utus Gumrukleme Gida Tekstil Ithalat Ihracat Dis Ticaret ve Sanayi Limited Sirketi, Turkey-based Arya Global Gida Sanayi ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Turkey-based Altis Tekstil Makina Ticaret Limited Sirketi (Altis), Iran-based Adak Pargas Pars Trading Company and UAE-based Mostafa Roknifard Prime Choice General Trading LLC.

Four people being sanctioned are Iran-based Mohammad Abedini, Mehdi Zand, Mehrdad Jafari and Ebrahim Shariatzadeh. They are allegedly employees of Iran’s Qods Aviation Industries, which was sanctioned in 2013.

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When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Cuba was plunged into crisis. Fuel, food and spare parts vanished almost overnight. This character-led documentary shows how common Cubans refused to give up – and instead built a new culture of radical repair. From Havana’s Malecon to small-town back yards, it follows mechanics, street vendors and a teacher-turned-inventor who live by one rule: “invent and resolve”.

A pristine US Plymouth Fury convertible of the 1950s hides a Soviet engine, Japanese gearbox and handmade parts; washing machines become coconut graters, solar dryers and tools for urban farms. Cuban historians and designer Ernesto Oroza reveal the philosophy behind this “technical disobedience”, treating every object as raw material to hack and extend. Far from nostalgia, the film offers a stark snapshot of a future in which resources are scarce and the power to repair may be our most important tool.

Oliver “Power” Grant, the close Wu-Tang Clan affiliate who oversaw the group’s enormously popular Wu Wear fashion line, has died. He was 52.

Grant’s death was confirmed by social media posts from several Wu-Tang members including Method Man, who wrote “Paradise my Brother safe Travels!!” under a post of the two together.

“We couldn’t have done it without him,” GZA wrote in his own post. “Wu wouldn’t have come to fruition without Power. His passing is a profound loss to us all.”

The group members’ posts did not cite a cause of death. The news was first reported by outlets including Okayplayer and Hot 97.

Grant, a childhood friend of Wu-Tang co-founder RZA’s older brother, was a crucial figure in the sprawling New York hip-hop collective’s ascent. Though he was not a performing member of the group, he helped raise capital for early recording sessions and structured Wu-Tang’s finances and record deals — no small feat for a collective with such a vast archipelago of group and solo projects.

“We knew that if a brother got a deal for 150k, he could keep the majority of it, but it also would facilitate and help the other brothers,” he told Passion of the Weiss in 2011. “It was part of our core and movement for us to spread the money around and help brothers eat, without a project out. It was like we were trust fund babies.”

His work set a precedent for autonomy and creative control as hip-hop became a commercial juggernaut in the ’90s.

“Everything that we learned was hard knock life, you figure it out as you go along, and take cues from those that are actively doing things,” he said. “I wasn’t a rapper, but the thrill of being a part of going and where they went, it was the inspiration for how it ended up that lead us all to going back, soaking up what we’d absorbed and coming back with ‘Protect Ya Neck.’”

He was also the driving force behind Wu Wear, the group’s wildly popular fashion line that netted tens of millions in revenue and became a fixture of ’90s hip-hop iconography. The line was later revamped as Wu-Tang Brand, and relaunched as Wu Wear in 2017. He also had cameos as an actor alongside Method Man in the 1998 hip-hop classic “Belly” and 1999’s “Black and White,” and served as an executive producer for the group’s many LPs.

Feb. 25 (UPI) — Colombian President Gustavo Petro signed a formal request to begin convening a National Constituent Assembly, joining members of his Cabinet at a ceremony in Cartagena.

The initiative, the government said, responds to what it describes as an “institutional blockade” that has hindered approval of several social and economic reforms promoted by the executive branch.

The call for a constituent assembly, already authorized by the relevant electoral authority, requires support from more than 2 million citizens, equivalent to 5% of the national voter registry.

A citizen-led committee has been formed to gather the required signatures within six months. The committee aims to collect 3 million signatures, although Petro had previously suggested a goal of 10 million, local newspaper El Espectador reported.

Petro has been the main advocate of the initiative to reform Colombia’s Constitution. He first raised the possibility of a constituent assembly nearly two years ago and revived the proposal in recent months.

The president has framed the effort as a way to “deepen social reforms” that he argues are necessary for Colombians. He has said the proposals would be of “popular initiative” and that “any citizen will be able to submit proposals,” although they would ultimately be subject to the decision of a citizen committee.

Opposition sectors have criticized the proposal because it would unfold during an active electoral calendar.

Critics argue that the signature-gathering process could allow government-aligned figures, including public officials, to campaign in ways that benefit left-wing candidates in the March congressional elections and the May presidential vote, newspaper El Tiempo reported.

Petro has outlined nine thematic areas that would guide the constituent debate. These include changes to the pension system, healthcare, education, public utilities and the mining code, as well as initiatives related to data sovereignty and artificial intelligence.

He has also proposed deepening agrarian reform and strengthening Colombia’s adaptation and mitigation efforts in response to climate change.

The proposal also calls for a new territorial framework for the country, a judicial reform and changes to the political and electoral system, including adjustments to campaign financing, mandatory voting and recall mechanisms.

It further contemplates immediate legislative implementation of the 2016 peace accords with former guerrilla group FARC, policies addressing drug trafficking and measures aimed at comprehensive national security.

The possibility of holding a constituent assembly remains in its early stages.

If the required number of signatures is reached, the proposal must be debated in Congress. If lawmakers approve it, a national referendum would be called for voters to decide whether to convene the assembly, El Expreso reported. The process also would require review by Colombia’s Constitutional Court.

Daniel Dubois refused a fist bump from world champion Fabio Wardley as the pair came face-to-face at a lively news conference in London.

The world title fight between two of Britain’s biggest punchers takes place at Manchester’s Co-op Live Arena on 9 May.

After some long-winded bickering between the two camps, the fighters – relatively restrained until that point – finally sparked into life.

Wardley said he would “flatten” the challenger. “My power is proven. If there’s time left on the clock, I’m taking you out of the fight,” he added.

The 31-year-old – with 19 stoppages in 20 wins – will make the first defence of his WBO crown, having claimed the ‘interim’ title against Joseph Parker before being upgraded to full champion when Oleksandr Usyk vacated the belt.

Former IBF champion Dubois, 28, is coming off a devastating knockout loss to generational great Usyk last summer.

“If you look back, when it gets dicey, he’s not up for it,” Wardley said of Dubois, who has faced accusations of folding too easily in his three stoppage defeats.

Wednesday’s news conference took place at Dutch Hall, a converted 16th-century church tucked away in the heart of the city.

Dubois – never one for lengthy monologues – kept his answers short and matter of fact.

But the Londoner was clear in his intention. “Victory by knockout, by any means necessary,” he said.

When the fighters eventually stepped forward for the obligatory face-off, Dubois looked away first as Wardley smirked.

Moments later Wardley extended his fist in a gesture of respect, but Dubois shook his head and refused to engage.

“Every makeup artist has their own style, but it was really important to keep what was passed down,” says Naomi Hibino, the kabuki makeup artist behind director Sang-il Lee’s “Kokuho,” a mesmerizing tale of centuries-old Japanese theatrical tradition told through a lens of friendship, rivalry and the cost of pursuing perfection. Orphaned Kikuo (Ryô Yoshizawa) is taken in by a renowned kabuki actor (Ken Watanabe) and raised alongside his son Shunsuke (Ryûsei Yokohama), as the two devote their lives to mastering the stylized art. Their breakthrough arrives with a performance of Temple Maiden, a dance tracing the love and envy of two maidens who turn into serpents. Together with kabuki hairstylist Tadashi Nishimatsu — Kyoko Toyokawa did the film’s non-performance hair and makeup — Hibino blended faithful Edo era references with visual distinctions between characters. “Shunsuke is from a well-to-do family, so I wanted to give him a vibrant, youthful and also a cute look,” notes Hibino. “The way I imagined Kikuo was to keep it simple, so the simplicity is reflected in the makeup. [In Temple Maiden] it’s really subtle, but the edge of the eye is a little different. I made [Kikuo] look more down-turning.” Hibino applied the white foundation (oshiroi) using methods from the theater, refining it for film to look more “beautiful and delicate.” Hints of pink eye shadow, dark eyeliner, red pigmented eyebrows and crimson lipstick complete the transformation — the next “national treasure” has taken the stage.

Colombia continues to navigate the fragile aftermath of more than five decades of armed conflict. Although the 2016 peace agreement formally ended hostilities between the state and the FARC-EP rebels, sustaining peace has proven far more complex than signing it.

This episode follows former members of the national army accused of carrying out the so-called “falsos positivos” (false positives) — extrajudicial executions in which innocent civilians were executed, then falsely presented as combat casualties by the government as a way to bolster the numbers of enemies killed. Soldiers testified to their involvement in the assassinations to the families of the victims as part of the peace process. We also explore the suffering and anguish of those who have had their families devastated by these killings.

Their testimonies unfold within the framework of the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP), the justice mechanism established under the peace agreement between the Colombian state and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC-EP).

The JEP applies a model of transitional and restorative justice centred on victims and with full guarantees of due process. Its mandate is to investigate, prosecute and sanction those most responsible for serious human rights violations. The system provides two pathways: a restorative process for those who acknowledge responsibility, provide full truth, and contribute to reparation and guarantees of non-repetition; and an adversarial process for those who do not.

Currently, more than 17,000 individuals are appearing before the JEP, including former FARC-EP members, members of the armed forces, and civilian third parties. The jurisdiction has issued indictments for maximum responsibility, delivered restorative and adversarial sentences, and conditionally waived criminal prosecution for non-most-responsible participants.

A film by Fatima Lianes

Most businesses believe that sales and customer service reside in separate departments.

Every small interaction sends a message. The way you answer a question, explain a detail, or handle uncertainty all influence how comfortable someone feels pulling out their card. Spending money is personal. People need to feel looked after before they commit.

They want straight answers. They want things explained properly. And they want to sense that the person helping them actually knows what they’re doing.

To boost sales, follow these five customer service strategies below:

1. Avoid Scripts

A lot of training initiatives teach people what to say, not how to think – and customers feel that immediately.

The moment someone sounds like they’re reciting lines, trust slips. Real confidence comes from understanding, not memorisation. When your team knows the product inside out, they stop performing and start having proper conversations.

They can adapt, explain things in their own words, and, most importantly, respond without that awkward pause where they search for the “right” answer.

• Empower Staff To Solve Problems

Empowering your team means your staff can actually help, without having to “check with someone” every five minutes – that just irritates your customers and your staff lose confidence.

Trust your team to make the right call and let them approve replacements and offer sensible credits so they can fix the small stuff immediately.

Demonstrate the kind of leadership that makes your team better.

When someone buys from you, browses certain products, or asks specific questions, they’re giving you clues about what they actually want.

Good CRM solutions simply help you pay attention.

They keep track of preferences, past orders, and birthdays – the small details that are easy to forget but powerful when remembered. The plan isn’t to inundate them with generic promotions or info they never wanted.

It’s to be there at the right place at the right time. For example, send out a reminder when they’re likely running low or make a suggestion that genuinely complements what they already bought.

Following up shouldn’t feel weird. It’s just care in action.

Most customers don’t need a big song and dance. They just want to know you’re still there after the payment goes through. A simple message, a few days later, is powerfully reassuring.

Not to push, and not to upsell, but rather just to make sure they’re in the loop.

• Reward Loyalty and Referrals

Rewarding loyalty shouldn’t feel like a corporate points program with fine print nobody reads.

It should feel like appreciation.

Let your regulars feel like insiders. Give them a first look at new ranges before anyone else sees them. Move their order up the queue when you can.

When someone chooses your business again and again, that’s trust. They’re choosing you. They’re betting on your quality, your service, and your word.

Final Thoughts

When service feels thoughtful and reliable, hesitation and doubt drop. Questions get answered on time. That sense of being looked after doesn’t just close one sale – it builds loyalty.

THE Pretty Woman star who infamously scolded Julia Roberts in the iconic scene looks very different these days.

Dey Young has made a rare appearance 35 years after starring as a rather snobby saleswomen on Rodeo Drive in the 1990 romantic comedy.

She has appeared in over 100 movies and television programs throughout her career, but is perhaps best known for her Pretty Woman stint, alongside Julia Roberts and Richard Gere.

The actress, who is now 70-years-old, was seen on a leisurely Sunday morning stroll with her pooch by her side.

She and her dog were strolling along the sidewalk in Los Angeles.

Dey looked chic but kept things simple in a red zip-up, black trousers, and a burgundy colored cap. 

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As she walked her dog, which was on a leash, the actress also donned some sunglasses and wore her phone on a lanyard across her body.

In Pretty Woman, Dey’s character works at a swanky shop on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills.

Julia Robert’s character of Vivian Ward works as a prostitute and goes shopping with her client’s credit card.

When she walks into Dey’s character’s shop, the saleswoman tells Vivian they don’t have clothes for her.

Vivian later goes shopping elsewhere before returning to the snobby shop to tell them “big mistake” after splashing hundreds of dollars.

Despite having long been in the business, Dey isn’t slowing down.

She currently has two projects in the works.

Dey previously spoke about her Pretty Woman role.

Speaking to Today in 2021, she said, “I never knew that this movie would be as big as it was, or that this scene would be so iconic.

“I really think the reason is that it’s a moment a lot of people can relate to it.”

Before her Pretty Woman stint, Dey had taken on roles in the likes of Rock ‘n’ Roll High School and Strange Behavior.

She wasn’t planning to audition for Pretty Woman until a chance encounter.

“Alan Thicke and I were friends and he invited me to a tennis party,” she said.

“I got paired with up Garry Marshall.

“We ended up winning our match, and that was a really fun thing. At the end of it, Alan told him I was an actress and (Marshall) was like, ‘Oh, really? Well, you know, I think I might have something for you.’”

She then went on to audition for the film, which was in fact originally called 3,000.

The reason the movie was originally titled 3,000, was because that was the amount negotiated for Julia Robert’s character’s rate.

Feb. 25 (UPI) — Two-third of the 129 journalists killed around the world while doing their jobs in 2025 were at the hands of Israel, said a new report out Wednesday.

The Committee to Protect Journalists said its annual tally of journalists and media workers killed, the worst in the more than three decades since it started collating the data in 1992, came amid armed conflict at historically unprecedented levels globally.

A record 86 members of the press were killed by Israeli fire, up from the previous record of 85 in 2024, more than 60% of whom were Palestinian reporters from Gaza. The others were killed in Lebanon, Yemen and Iran, said the New York-based CPJ.

There were nine recorded journalist killings in Sudan for the year, six in Mexico, four in Russia — with that figure incorporating Ukrainian press members killed by Russian forces — and three in the Philippines. A dozen-and-a-half other countries in Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America accounted for the remaining 21 deaths.

Of the 129 total, CPJ said 47 were documented targeted killings, which CPJ classifies as murder.

“Within the context of rising conflict worldwide, Israel’s disregard for the lives of journalists — and the international laws intended to protect them — is unparalleled. Israel has now killed more journalists than any other government since CPJ began collecting records in 1992, making the Israel-Gaza war (which incorporates Israel’s killings in Gaza as well as its lethal attacks in Lebanon, Yemen, and Iran) the deadliest on record for journalists.

“Three of these killings, including one murder, occurred after the October 2025 ceasefire,” the committee said.

The CPJ said the surge in killings globally was being driven by an entrenched climate of impunity for attacks on press and media workers in which action to find and hold those responsible to account was increasingly rare.

“There have been almost no transparent investigations into the targeted killings in 2025 — the highest number of journalists deliberately killed for their work in the past decade — and no one has been held accountable,” said the CPJ.

“These killings of journalists violate international humanitarian law, which stipulates that journalists are civilians and should never be deliberately targeted,” it added.

That impunity emboldened those intent on silencing journalists, including in countries where there is no current armed conflict.

CPJ warned that the rise in killings was a reflection of the wider risks confronting press freedom amid the chilling effect of efforts to discredit journalists, abuse of the law to try to make fair, accurate and balanced reporting a crime and inflammatory rhetoric and harassment online, even in Western “liberal democracies.”

“Journalists are being killed in record numbers at a time when access to information is more important than ever. Attacks on the media are a leading indicator of attacks on other freedoms, and much more needs to be done to prevent these killings and punish the perpetrators,” warned CEO Jodie Ginsberg.

“We are all at risk when journalists are killed for reporting the news,” she added.

Palestinian journalist Yousef Al Helou documented Gaza and its people in the summer of 2023, months before the start of Israel’s genocidal war. His film, ‘Phoenix of Gaza’, stands as a testament to Palestinian resilience and has become a tribute to people that were later killed.