March 16 (UPI) — Kenya and Russia announced on Monday that Kenyans will no longer be recruited by the Russian military and sent to fight in Ukraine.

The move follows a Kenyan intelligence report indicating that more than 1,000 people from Kenya and other African nations in recent months have been recruited into deployment on the front lines of the war between Russia and Ukraine by “rogue” agencies participating in human trafficking.

The report, released in February, alleged that of Kenyans recruited for the war, 10 died, 28 were missing, 39 were hospitalized and others were fighting for Russia in Ukraine, The Kenyan Daily Post reported.

“We have agreed that Kenyans will no longer be enlisted for special operations through the defense ministry,” Kenyan Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi said during a news conference. “They will no longer be eligible to be enlisted.”

The nations also were expected to sign a labor agreement aimed at protecting Kenyans working in Russia — specifically in drone manufacturing — which will cover people working specifically for the military or for other related industries, he said.

Mudavadi told The BBC that Kenya has shut down more than 600 agencies that were lying to Kenyans about a range of possible jobs in Russia and other countries, with many ending up in Ukraine.

Russia has not given answers to relatives at its embassy in Kenya, nor has it commented on reports that human traffickers were fooling people into being enlisted in the war with lies about well-paid jobs.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Lavrov said during the news conference that all foreign fighters, including those from Kenya, had not been coerced or lied to and their voluntary service complied with Russian law.

“Once a contract is terminated, the individual is no longer bound and is free to make their own decisions,” Lavov said, although Kenyans who have volunteered to join the war have to find and pay for their own travel home.

Ukraine’s foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, alleged in November that at least 1,400 people from Africa from 36 countries have been sent to Ukraine by Russia, many of whom have been captured as prisoners of war.

Speaking at the Oval office, US President Donald Trump stated that Somalia is a “fourth world nation” while repeating claims without evidence that Congresswoman Ilhan Omar had illegally entered the country by marrying her brother. Omar has consistently denied the “sick” allegations.

Walt Disney Co.’s incoming president and chief creative officer, Dana Walden, has unveiled her leadership team, which includes several familiar faces from the company’s film, television and marketing units.

Walden will become Disney’s first woman president on Wednesday. She will report to Josh D’Amaro, who will succeed Bob Iger as Disney’s chief executive, following the company’s annual meeting with shareholders and its high-profile leadership handoff.

Walden’s senior team includes her longtime creative partner, Alan Bergman. As chairman of Disney Entertainment and Studios, Bergman will continue to oversee Disney’s film studios, including production, marketing and distribution.

Bergman also will retain oversight of Disney’s streaming programming in concert with Walden.

Disney executives Joe Earley and Adam Smith were named co-presidents of Disney’s entertainment direct to consumer offerings — Disney+ and Hulu. Both executives will be responsible for strategy and financial performance and report to Walden and Bergman.

Earley and Walden worked together when they were Fox executives; Earley will also serve as head of content strategy.

Smith continues in his role as Disney Entertainment chief product and technology officer. He also will continue to collaborate with ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro on matters related to ESPN and ESPN+.

Debra OConnell will step into a newly-formed role as chairman of Disney Entertainment Television.

She will have a broad TV portfolio that includes ABC Entertainment, Disney-branded cable channels, Hulu Originals as well as programming from National Geographic, 20th Television and 20th Television Animation.

OConnell will continue to oversee ABC News and the ABC-owned television stations, including KABC-TV Channel 7 in Los Angeles.

Disney’s incoming president Dana Walden has established her senior leadership team.

(Richard Shotwell/Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)

Sean Shoptaw, who serves as executive vice president for games and digital entertainment, and his organization, will shift from Disney Experiences and into Walden’s division.

Shoptaw oversees Disney’s games business and its collaboration with Epic Games to develop a Disney universe connected to Fortnite.

John Landgraf remains chairman of FX and will continue to report directly to Walden.

Asad Ayaz, who is chief marketing and brand officer, has an influential remit across Disney’s various business segments. He will report to D’Amaro and Walden.

“The strength of Disney has always been the emotional connection between our stories and the people who love them,” Walden said in a statement. “As fans engage with Disney across more formats and platforms than ever before, we are bringing together the full power of our creative businesses to build an even more connected experience for audiences.”

California and a coalition of other states sued the Trump administration Monday over its efforts to roll back fair housing rules that bar certain types of discrimination by landlords, including against LGBTQ+ people.

California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta said a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development rule change threatening funding for states that offer housing protections for LGBTQ+ and other marginalized individuals who are not explicitly covered by federal law is illegal, undermines state efforts to combat discrimination and would push vulnerable people onto the streets.

“In effect, the Trump administration is attempting to roll back civil rights enforcement in housing at the federal level, and pressure states to weaken their own protections as well,” Bonta said during a news conference Monday. “That’s not just bad policy, it’s unlawful.”

Representatives from HUD and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The federal Fair Housing Act explicitly bans discrimination based on seven traits: race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status and disability. Under rules set forth during the Obama administration, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has for years interpreted the law as banning discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Many states, including California, also have adopted laws explicitly banning discrimination against LGBTQ+ people and other marginalized groups not mentioned in the federal law, with California also banning discrimination based on marital status, ancestry, source of income and veteran or military status.

In September, HUD issued new guidance threatening to decertify state housing agencies — stripping their federal funding and ability to investigate discrimination claims — if they provide anti-discrimination protections other than those spelled out in the Fair Housing Act. The guidance also barred state agencies from using federal funds to “promote gender ideology,” “fund or promote elective abortions” or promote illegal immigration, according to the lawsuit.

The guidance followed that of HUD Secretary Scott Turner, a former NFL player and Trump loyalist, who announced last year that HUD would no longer adhere to a 2016 Obama-era rule protecting transgender people from housing discrimination, which Turner said “tied housing programs, shelters and other facilities funded by HUD to far-left gender ideology.”

“We, at this agency, are carrying out the mission laid out by President Trump on January 20th [2025] when he signed an executive order to restore biological truth to the federal government,” Turner said in a statement, referring to Trump’s order calling on federal agencies across the government to rescind protections for transgender Americans.

“This means recognizing there are only two sexes: male and female,” Turner said. “It means getting government out of the way of what the Lord established from the beginning when he created man in His own image.”

Among other things, the administration said rules barring discrimination against transgender people allowed “biological men to enter shelters intended for women impacted by trauma, domestic abuse and violence.”

LGBTQ+ advocacy groups condemned the move, noting that transgender Americans face heightened discrimination in a slate of areas — including housing — and need protections. They also contended that HUD’s new policies violate a 2020 U.S. Supreme Court decision barring employment discrimination based on gender or gender identity.

Bonta said the Fair Housing Act “set a floor, not a ceiling, for protections against discrimination,” which means that states “have the authority to go further and protect more people,” as California has endeavored to do.

He said HUD has supported the state’s anti-discrimination work for decades through the Fair Housing Assistance Program, which provides funding to state and local agencies to investigate and enforce laws against housing discrimination. HUD’s new guidance “threatens to undermine that system” by demanding an end to state protections not just for LGBTQ+ people, but for military veterans, immigrants as well as women receiving abortions and other reproductive healthcare, he said.

“Families across California are already struggling to find homes they can afford, and the last thing they need is for the federal government to make it harder,” Bonta said. “At its core, this lawsuit is about protecting a fundamental civil right: the right to rent, buy, or live in housing without discrimination.”

Bonta said California interprets the Fair Housing Act’s ban on sex discrimination as protecting LGBTQ+ people, but the Trump administration doesn’t agree — making the state’s more explicit protections important.

He said about $3 million in federal funding is currently at stake for California, with millions more at stake in other states.

Illinois Atty. Gen. Kwame Raoul, who is helping lead the lawsuit and spoke alongside Bonta Monday, said states with robust antidiscrimination laws “will not go backwards and we will not give in to threats” from the Trump administration.

“These actions are part of a broader, ongoing pattern by this administration to subvert the legal protections our country has put in place to combat discrimination, and to tear down the hard fought progress we have made for civil rights,” Raoul said. “It is also just the latest page in the president’s illegal playbook to use funding and programs created by Congress to try to strong arm states into adopting Trump’s preferred policies.”

The states allege that HUD’s targeting of state antidiscrimination policies comes after it downsized its own workforce and significantly reduced its ability to investigate housing discrimination complaints and enforce fair housing laws. They say the new guidance violates multiple federal laws, including laws that govern federal spending and rule changes, and are asking the federal court to immediately invalidate the guidance as unlawful.

Bonta and Raoul are joined in the lawsuit by the attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.

Emma Raducanu has withdrawn from this week’s Miami Open as she continues her recovery from a recent illness.

The British number one became unwell while playing in the Middle East last month, and is still suffering with post-viral symptoms.

Raducanu decided to play last week’s event in Indian Wells, and reached the third round before losing in just 52 minutes to the world number six Amanda Anisimova.

The 23-year-old has 215 ranking points to defend from reaching the quarter-finals in Miami last year, but has decided it would be best to take a break to recover fully.

Raducanu beat both Anisimova and the then top 10 player Emma Navarro before losing to Jessica Pegula in three sets in last year’s quarter-finals.

This year she had a first-round bye, and could have played British childhood rival Sonay Kartal in the second round.

Raducanu had already decided not to play in Great Britain’s Billie Jean King Cup tie in Melbourne next month, but is currently scheduled to return to the tour in three weeks’ time.

She has entered the WTA event in Linz, which would be her first clay-court tournament of the season.

Israeli forces have attacked multiple towns in southern Lebanon after announcing “limited and targeted ground operations” against Hezbollah. Israel has warned residents will not be able to return to their homes until the military says so.

MCC Resources Sarl, a mining company in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), has suspended its activities in the country, following an attack on its mining sites in the Mambasa territory of Ituri province. On the night of March 11 to 12, terrorists attacked the mining site, killing scores, looting, and destroying facilities. 

The Allied Defence Forces (ADF), an affiliate of the Islamic State, recently claimed responsibility for the attack. Local sources told HumAngle that the ADF members came from Bapere, in Lubero territory of North Kivu. MCC Resources Sarl is a Congolese company with foreign investors, operating in compliance with the laws and economic standards of the DRC.

The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack on gold mining sites operated by the Chinese Kimia Mining Enterprise, publishing photographs that showed burning trucks, tractors, and camps. 

The new attack is fueling debates on the realities faced by economic operators in the strategic gold mining zone, as well as on the impact of armed violence on the national mining investments in the DRC

“In an official correspondence addressed to the military governor of Ituri, the MCC Resources management indicates that due to the persistent degradation of the security situation in the Eastern part of the country, it had proceeded with the preventive evacuation of its personnel several weeks before the attack. According to the company, the incursion of armed groups not formally identified in the Muchacha site has led to acts of looting and sabotage aimed at its mining installations, without, however, causing the loss of human lives,” the company revealed in a statement released on March 15.

Faced with security risks deemed very high, MCC Resources announced the suspension of all mining activities at its Muchacha and Mavuvu sites until further notice, adding that its employees and partners remain its top priority. The company says it is following the evolution of the security situation to envisage, at the right moment, the progressive resumption of its operations.

The Congolese government has condemned the attack. In a communique also published on March 15, the government extended its condolences to the families of the victims and expressed its compassion to the populations of Mambasa territory affected.

Wendi McLendon-Covey shared a message to everybody wondering why she missed the “Bridesmaids” reunion at the 2026 Oscars: Don’t worry, she’s fine.

“I had a neck lift last week because I’m tired of looking like a melting candle,” McLendon-Covey wrote in an Instagram post Sunday. “So I had to skip the Academy Awards. No drama. Everything is fine.”

The caption — complete with a winking emoji blowing a kiss — accompanied a photo of the “St. Denis Medical” star wearing a bandage around her face and neck.

McLendon-Covey indicated she had received some messaging asking why she did not take part in the reunion, which saw her “Bridesmaids” co-stars Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Rose Byrne, Maya Rudolph and Ellie Kemper share the Oscars stage to present the Academy Awards for original score and sound.

Directed by Paul Feig, the 2011 comedy followed the misadventures of a group of bridesmaids led by the maid of honor, Annie, played by Wiig (who also co-wrote the film). McLendon-Covey portrayed the bride’s (Rudolph) cousin, Rita.

“Bridesmaids” stars Melissa McCarthy, left, Rose Byrne, Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph and Ellie Kemper reunited on stage at the 98th Academy Awards.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

“I cannot believe it’s been 15 years,” Wiig said when the cast took the stage Sunday. “Now, we are not good with numbers, but we figured out backstage that means we shot this movie in 1883.”

The cast then proceeded with a bit that involved each of them reading notes supposedly written by their fellow actors in the audience, with the name-dropped A-listers playing along.

“First of all, you ladies look extremely beautiful tonight,” said Rudolph, reading the first note. “You’re all aging well.”

The note was supposedly signed by “Sentimental Value” actor and nominee Stellan Skarsgård.

McCarthy later followed up with another letter commenting on the “Bridesmaid” cast’s looks.

“I also agree you ladies look radiant,” McCarthy read. “All the things you’ve done to your faces are very tasteful. Yours truly, Elle Fanning. … Just kidding, it’s me again, Stellan Skarsgård.”

Wiig and Kemper rounded things out by reading notes addressing the length of their bit and the length of the show, respectively.

The events that transpired in Caracas on January 3rd drew global attention to the future of Venezuela’s well-known hydrocarbon industry, while another strategic facet of the country´s economy has remained largely unnoticed: mining. 

Historically overshadowed by the sheer scale of Venezuela’s oil-based economy, the country’s mines became an increasingly important source of revenue as sanctions closed the spigot on petrodollars during the Maduro years.

Alongside the vast reserves of hydrocarbons, the country’s privileged geological endowment covers extensive metal and mineral deposits. Concentrated largely in the Guyanese Shield in the southeast of the country, these reserves include some of the region’s largest gold reserves, extensive iron ore deposits, and a range of minerals that have been labelled as critical for the global energy transition by actors like the European Union. 

Despite its vast mineral wealth, Venezuela’s mining sector remains poorly governed. Reforming it will be essential to rebuilding a stable republic.

The harsh reality is that the mining sector in Venezuela is currently a cesspool of some of the most atrocious activities conducted by the regime in the last decade, from human trafficking to international guerrillas like the Colombian Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN) controlling illegal mining operations that cause considerable environmental damage and serve to finance terrorist acts abroad. The fact remains that if these actors continue to be a force in the sector, the hopes of establishing a strong and robust Venezuelan economy will be slashed before they even get off the ground. 

All conversations start with the regime’s establishment of the infamous Orinoco Mining Arc in 2016. This Zona de Desarrollo Estratégico Minero Nacional contains an estimated 7,000 tonnes of gold, alongside millions (literally millions) of tonnes of iron ore and bauxite, as well as dozens of other high value resources. In theory, it is managed by the State and the armed forces. In practice, investigations by Human Rights Watch, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the International Crisis Group, and research projects such as SOS Orinoco consistently describe it as a criminal economy dominated by irregular armed groups, through which the Venezuelan regime captures significant revenue from gold extraction and international sales. 

It’s important to mention that three important developments have happened in recent days. The first is that on March 9th 2026, the National Assembly in Venezuela approved the first draft of a new mining reform law. Supported by the Rodríguez-led executive, the bill presents the first significant set of changes to the Venezuelan mining law that has been in full effect since 1999, since the gold reform in 2015. Among the most important aspects of the bill are the extension of concessions from 20 to 30 years, the welcoming of both national and international companies to directly develop projects in Venezuela, and the introduction of an “international arbitration program”.

When the strong control of a mafia-like regime is combined with a lack of true judicial safeguards for foreign investment in the country, most of the reliable foreign investors will be scared away.

This law comes following two key visits from high-ranking Trump administration officials. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum had discussed Venezuela’s potential as a reliable source of strategic minerals. And previously, Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said the same about oil. Today came the announcement from Swiss commodity trading giant Trafigura, where they are committing with Minerven to help build a program for the responsible sourcing of Venezuelan gold.

Rebuilding Venezuela’s mining ecosystem will be an uphill battle that will require more than a few high-level visits, a tenuous attempt at legal reform, or a single agreement from a renowned international trader. The shadow mining economy is a key issue in the consolidation of a future Venezuelan republic that aims towards a stable political and economic development. This will in turn place some pressure on Delcy Rodríguez and the regime’s inner circle to address a system that has been successful under their watch. Without a doubt, there’s a big question mark over their willingness to dismantle one of its main cash cows, but this should remain a key issue in discussions over Venezuela’s future.

But just cleansing the system is not nearly enough to revitalize the sector. Because for Venezuela to become a key exporter of gold, iron and critical materials, international standards must be adopted. That is why Venezuela must create a true pathway for foreign investment to become an engine for the sector. One of the main concerns is just how much control the state exerts over the mining system, which can be argued to be even larger than the one seen in the energy industry. Three key State-owned companies “officially” control most of the mining operations in Venezuela: Corporación Venezolana de Minería (CVM), Corporación Venezolana de Guayana (CVG) and Minerven.

The problem is not the fact that State-owned companies operate in the country, but rather that the State that operates them is basically a criminal organization. When the strong control of a mafia-like regime is combined with a lack of true judicial safeguards for foreign investment in the country, most of the reliable foreign investors will be scared away. The ones who can start to create pathways to reintroduce Venezuela into the broader global economy, and transform the country into a crucial source of minerals. 

The main reason why foreign direct investment must drive the growth patterns is due to the fact that international operators can bring much needed expertise and technical know-how to develop stable mining projects across the region. It is important to note that for Venezuela to eventually meet high operational, environmental and safety standards, some time must pass. Many of these international companies have vast experience operating in less than ideal scenarios in countries like Angola or the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and they have managed to meet the minimum benchmarks to sell on Western markets. Thinking that in only a couple of years Venezuela will meet the same standards as minerals sourced from Europe, Canada or Australia is plain wishful thinking. For the industry to take off, production should start, as soon as viable, and as soon as a realistic negotiation and hopefully a government change can happen.

In this vein, the main Western drivers of foreign investment into mining globally, Canada and Australia, have adopted strict technical instruments like the NI 43-101 and JORC following mining scandals like BRE-X in the late 1990s. These frameworks are meant to prove the reliability standards to even invest in mining companies both locally and abroad. These regulations, which are widely accepted interchangeably worldwide, have created considerable scrutiny for the international mining sector, and the ones who can reliably bring these instruments into Venezuela are Western actors who have included them into their internal practices. If international actors bring these in, they can become a major first step in establishing the global standards required for projects in Venezuela. An important facet of this scenario is how retribution for past seizures of assets from companies like Crystallex International and Rusoro Mining will factor into the negotiations into the future of the Venezuelan mining industry.

The Venezuelan armed forces must commit to cooperating with international companies, switch their allegiances, and start a pushback against the criminal structures across the territory.

Thinking that high international standards will be adopted quickly might be too idealistic, but future negotiations in the country should include three key elements. First, territorial control must eventually be regained. Waiting to purge the Arco Minero before starting full production would be unrealistic, as it will require a comprehensive, and time-consuming security strategy. In this case, and considering that international investors will most likely bring in their own private security, there should be a commitment from the high command of the Venezuelan armed forces to cooperate with these companies, switch their allegiances, and start a pushback against the criminal structures across the territory.

Furthermore, international observers should be welcomed into the country with open arms to provide both expertise and external oversight with a true “punitive” capacity to ensure the transparency of the process. While this is happening, the third standard will come naturally, which is the systematic integration of international compliance levels. 

These two steps can eventually lead future governments in the country to invest in the creation of internal independent agencies that oversee the entire process, which will hopefully be embedded into the broader State apparatus that will be revamped in the coming years. 

The reality is that the current situation in Venezuela presents an interesting path towards the reactivation of the mining industry. The sector will be crucial, and the road to restart will be long. As more than a compromise between an unreliable government partner in Delcy Rodríguez and her cadre of officials, and the global hegemon, the industry is in desperate need of foreign investment and a firm commitment from international operators to start implementing the world-class standards. Because eventually, these players will be the ones to push for the creation of viable frameworks during the rebuilding of the Venezuelan Republic.

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration likes to promote its immigration enforcement agenda through numbers, with ambitious goals to deport 1 million people, report zero releases at the U.S.-Mexico border and arrest thousands of alleged gang members.

For all the boasting, the administration has been releasing less reliable, carefully vetted data than its predecessors on a signature policy that has become one of the most contentious of Trump’s second term.

The gap in information and a loss of figures from an office that has tracked immigration data back to the 1800s have left researchers, advocates, lawyers and journalists without important statistics to hold the Republican administration to account.

“They aren’t publishing the data,” said Mike Howell, who heads the conservative Oversight Project, an advocacy group pushing for more deportations. Instead, Howell said, the Department of Homeland Security has put out numbers in news releases “that purport to be statistics with no statistical backup and the numbers have jumped all over the place.”

With mass deportations a priority, new restrictions and increased enforcement have led to a surge in immigration arrests, detentions and deportations.

But finding the metrics that once measured those changes can be hard. It is an extension of earlier administration moves to limit the flow of government information by scrubbing or removing federal datasets or by the firing last year of the top official overseeing jobs data.

Important data is no longer publicly available

The Office of Homeland Security Statistics is responsible for publishing figures from Homeland Security agencies, including removals and the nationalities of those deported, to provide a comprehensive picture of immigration trends at the border and inside the United States.

Originally known as the Office of Immigration Statistics, it tracked such data since 1872. In its current form, created under the Biden administration, it also started publishing monthly reports that allowed researchers to track developments almost in real time.

But key enforcement metrics on its website have not been updated since early last year. A note on the page where the monthly reports were says it “is delayed while it is under review.”

“It’s the most timely data. It’s the most reliable data,” Austin Kocher, research professor at Syracuse University who closely follows immigration data trends, said about the monthly reports. “It has the most omniscient view of immigration enforcement across the entire agency.”

An interactive dashboard launched by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in December 2023 once let users examine whom the agency was arresting, their nationalities, criminal histories and removal numbers. ICE called it a “new era in transparency.”

Though intended for quarterly updates, the latest data is from January 2025. The agency’s annual report, typically released in December, had not been published as of mid-March.

Other agencies also publish data that touches on immigration, and parts of it do continue to roll out, such as U.S. Customs and Border Protection statistics detailing border encounters or data from the Department of Justice’s immigration courts.

But experts say other data has slowed.

The State Department’s most recent visa issuance data is from August. Key statistics from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services have not been updated since October.

The now-missing data had helped researchers study the effects of different policies. Lawyers could cite the figures to support their litigation. Journalists saw in them a powerful tool to hold the government to account on public claims or to report on important trends.

“We’re all a little bit in the dark about exactly how immigration enforcement is operating at a time when it’s taking new and unprecedented forms,” said Julia Gelatt, associate director of the U.S. Immigration Policy Program at the Migration Policy Institute.

DHS did not respond to detailed questions about why it was no longer releasing specific data.

“This is the most transparent Administration in history, we release new data multiple times a week and upon reporter request,” the department said in a statement.

Researchers contend with a patchwork of numbers

Figures the administration has released are inconsistent and unverifiable.

In a Jan. 20 news release, DHS said it had deported more than 675,000 people since Trump returned to the White House. A day later, in a second release, the department put the figure at 622,000. In congressional testimony March 4, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the figure was 700,000.

But ICE, an agency within DHS, also releases figures on how many people it has removed from the country, part of a large data release mandated by Congress. An Associated Press analysis of the figures put that number at roughly 400,000 over Trump’s first year.

DHS has said 2.2 million people who were in the U.S. illegally have gone home on their own, but the department has given no explanation for the count. Experts have questioned the source of that figure, saying this was not something that DHS historically has tracked.

The department did not respond to questions about where that data came from.

With key sources of data halted, researchers, advocates and others have had to rely on information the administration is obliged to report or that has come to light through legal action.

The publication of ICE detention figures — how many people are detained, for how long and whether they have committed a crime — is required by Congress and is generally released every two weeks. But the figures’ release has faced some delays and its data gets overwritten with every new publication, complicating the work of people who need access to it.

The University of California, Berkeley’s Deportation Data Project, a research initiative, successfully sued through the Freedom of Information Act to access data about ICE arrests including nationalities, conviction status and whether arrests occurred at jails or in the community.

Graeme Blair, co-director of the project, said every administration has struggled with transparency in immigration enforcement, and given the Trump administration’s ambitious enforcement goals, the team wanted to secure and verify information that the government might not publicly release.

“Given the scale of what they were talking about doing, it seemed really important to be able to understand, to be able to double check those numbers,” he said.

But there are limitations, he said. The data obtained through the lawsuit only runs through Oct. 15. It does not cover recent operations such as the Minneapolis enforcement surge, when federal immigration officers fatally shot two protesters, leading to widespread demonstrations and scrutiny of enforcement tactics.

The absence of data is one of the few issues that has drawn bipartisan criticism.

“We deserve to know the numbers, just like we deserve to know who’s in our country and who needs to leave,” Howell said.

Santana writes for the Associated Press.

LA28 revealed the schedule Monday for an extended Olympic soccer tournament that will begin four days before the opening ceremony.

The soccer competition begins July 10 with four men’s group stage games across New York, Columbus, Nashville and St. Louis. The women’s tournament begins July 11 with games in all six of the preliminary round sites, including San José and San Diego.

The soccer competition, which will feature 12 women’s teams and eight men’s teams for the first time, has the longest competition window of any sport in Olympic history because the International Olympic Committee Executive Board wanted to give each team two extra rest days throughout the tournament.

Each team will have two days of rest between group stage games and three days between the final group game and the quaterfinal rounds. The men will begin their knockout round games on July 20 while the women start quarterfinal play on July 21, including one women’s quarterfinal match at the Rose Bowl.

The iconic stadium in Pasadena will host only five matches for the Olympics, including a men’s and women’s semifinal July 24 and the men’s gold medal match on July 28 and the women’s on July 29.

San Diego’s SnapDragon Stadium will have the most matches of any site with 11. In addition to three days of women’s group stage games, the home of San Diego State football, San Diego FC and San Diego Wave FC will host a women’s quarterfinal July 21, men’s and women’s semifinals July 24 and both bronze medal matches.

With the coast-to-coast soccer tournament shaping up, LA28 announced additional ticket opportunities for the competition, allowing fans interested in attending soccer matches to buy up to 12 soccer tickets in addition to the current 12-ticket maximum for all other Olympic events. The 12-ticket maximum for Olympic events includes the opening and closing ceremonies on July 14 and 30, respectively, which each have a four-ticket limit.

Ticket registration for the first ticket drop ends Wednesday at 11:59 p.m. PDT with the first tickets going on sale to locals in Southern California and Oklahoma beginning April 2. The first general ticket drop begins April 9. Fans who are randomly selected to participate in the first ticket drop will be notified via email between March 31 and April 7 with information and their assigned timeslot to purchase tickets.

More than 5 million fans have already registered for Olympic tickets, LA28 said, with Paralympic tickets going on sale in 2027. The organizing committee expects 14 million tickets to be available for the Games, which could eclipse the total ticket sales record set by Paris in 2024.

March 16 (UPI) — Illinois will have busy primary elections Tuesday as voters select a candidate to replace retiring U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin and fill five U.S. House seats without incumbents.

Three House seats are open due to retirements, and two others have incumbents running for Senate. All seats are expected to be filled with Democrats.

There will also be primaries for governor of the state, but there are no Democrats running against incumbent Democrat JB Pritzker.

Illinois voters “have an opportunity for generational turnover — where a boomer senator is stepping down, and you’ve got three Gen-Xers, who’ve been around on the scene for quite some time, trying to get the seat,” Northwestern University political science professor and Democratic strategist Alvin Tillery told ABC News. Tillery is not involved in any Illinois races.

“It could be another 20 or 30 years before we have a Senate race this competitive in Illinois,” he added.

Key Republicans running for Senate are attorney Jeannie Evans and former Illinois GOP chair Don Tracy.

There are 11 Democrats vying for the seat, but the top three are Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton and Rep. Robin Kelly.

Krishnamoorthi has raised the most money — more than $30 million — while Stratton has the benefit of Pritzker’s endorsement.

All three have run on fighting President Donald Trump and opposing Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, which operated heavily in Chicago during Operation Midway Blitz.

“Fighting ICE has become synonymous with opposing and fighting back against Trump,” Brandon Davis, a Democratic consultant who worked on Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s 2023 campaign, told NBC News.

“I’m the only one with the background of standing up to bullies and bad actors, and successfully doing so, and now I have to stand up to Donald Trump,” Krishnamoorthi told ABC News in an interview. He would be the second Indian-American to hold a seat in the Senate.

Stratton is the first Black lieutenant governor in Illinois and told ABC News: “I have the best path in the nation to elect another Black woman to the United States Senate.”

Kelly has the endorsement of longtime Congressional Black Caucus member Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C. He campaigned with Kelly on Tuesday, telling WLS-TV she is “our go-to person on healthcare issues.”

But all three have focused their ads against ICE.

Stratton has said she wants to “abolish” the agency because, “I don’t believe that this agency can be reformed. I want ICE and CBP out of our American cities.”

Krishnamoorthi said he wants to “abolish Trump’s ICE.” He explained he’s pushing for reforms to stop them from wearing masks and stop “roving gangs of ICE and CBP agents stirring up trouble in our cities.”

Kelly has called to dismantle ICE and the whole of the Department of Homeland Security, saying it’s “too big, too unwieldy and they’re not accountable.”

Rescuers have pulled civilians from the rubble after a new wave of US-Israeli strikes targeted Tehran. Residents said that a neighbourhood was attacked, leaving several people trapped under the destruction.

MEGAN Fox has stepped out in an extremely tiny satin dress for a star-studded Oscars after-party.

The actress turned heads upon leaving Jay-Z and Beyoncé’s post-Academy Awards celebration early Monday morning.

Photos obtained by The U.S. Sun show Megan, 39, standing outside a black SUV donning a body-hugging black satin slip dress.

The Transformers star, known for her uber-sexy style, showcased her curves in the sultry outfit, complete with thigh-high black stockings, a garter, black strappy heels, a choker necklace, and black sunglasses.

She wore her long dark hair in loose waves as she exited the Los Angeles venue.

Megan recently returned to Instagram after wiping her account clean in December 2024 following her pregnancy announcement.

The model shared numerous racy photos from a photoshoot, in which she wears black boot shorts, a black bra, and black leather boots.

She posed on all fours while pouting provocatively and even sticking her tongue out at the camera.

“Everything is more beautiful because we are doomed,” the Jennifer’s Body star captioned the first post.

“Love was the most savage monster of all,” she said in another.

Megan’s ex, Machine Gun Kelly, left cheeky comments on both posts, one that read, “Stoked I have your phone number.”

In the other, the musician wrote, “Stoked we had a baby.”

Many fans wondered whether MGK’s remarks hinted that he and Megan were back together, but neither has addressed the matter.

The former couple split four months after welcoming their daughter, Saga Blade Fox-Baker, in March 2025.

However, they were said to be in a “good place” while co-parenting their baby girl.

“No matter how they’ve felt about each other, they have always wanted to have a child together,” an insider told Us Weekly last year.

“They have both been communicating and are in a good place.”

MGK is also a father to a 17-year-old daughter, Casie Colson Baker, whom he shares with his ex-girlfriend, Emma Cannon.

Meanwhile, Megan shares three sons – Noah, 13; Bodhi, 11; and Journey, 9 – with her ex-husband, Brian Austin Green.

LONDON — The BBC filed a motion Monday asking a U.S. court to dismiss President Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against it.

The British national broadcaster said that the Florida court where the case is expected to be heard does not have jurisdiction over it. It also argued that Trump could not show that it intended to misrepresent him.

Trump filed a lawsuit in December over the way a BBC documentary edited a speech he gave on Jan. 6, 2021. The claim seeks $5 billion in damages for defamation and a further $5 billion for unfair trade practices.

Last month a judge at the federal court for the Southern District of Florida provisionally set a trial date for February 2027.

The BBC argued that the case should be thrown out because the documentary was never aired in Florida or the U.S.

“We have therefore challenged jurisdiction of the Florida court and filed a motion to dismiss the president’s claim,” the corporation said in a statement.

In a 34-page document, the BBC also argued that Trump failed to “plausibly allege facts showing that defendants knowingly intended to create a false impression.”

Trump’s case “falls well short of the high bar of actual malice,” it added.

The documentary — titled “Trump: A Second Chance?” — was aired days before the 2024 U.S. presidential election.

The program spliced together three quotes from two sections of a speech Trump made on Jan. 6, 2021, into what appeared to be one quote, in which Trump appeared to explicitly encourage his supporters to storm the Capitol building.

Among the parts cut out was a section where Trump said he wanted supporters to demonstrate peacefully.

The broadcaster’s chairman has apologized to Trump over the edit of the speech, admitting that it gave “the impression of a direct call for violent action.” But the BBC rejects claims it defamed him. The furor triggered the resignations of the BBC’s top executive and its head of news last year.

Antoine Dupont is arguably the best player of all time.

Dupont lifted back-to-back Six Nations titles on Saturday as France edged England 48–46 in an epic finale in Paris.

What eluded the 29-year-old during the early part of his international career was trophies, but that has now certainly changed.

His CV may lack a Rugby World Cup, but it continues to strengthen the debate that he is rugby’s GOAT.

Outshining the star of French rugby has not even been worth entertaining over the past few seasons.

The France captain won the player of the Six Nations in 2020, 2022 and 2023.

However, Dupont is still not long back from a nasty anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury suffered against Ireland in round four of last year’s Six Nations.

He missed the end of that tournament and France wing Louis Bielle-Biarrey rightfully took the limelight.

The 22-year-old bagged a record eight tries to win player of the championship.

Roll on 12 months and he scored four tries against England to help Les Bleus win another title, taking his tally in this year’s tournament to nine – breaking his own record.

Bielle-Biarrey, who has a strong chance of winning the player of the championship for a second successive year, has now scored in 10 straight Six Nations games, a record he will look to extend next year.

Ireland legend Brian O’Driscoll is the tournament’s highest-ever try-scorer with 26 – eight clear of Bielle-Biarrey, who has only played in 14 Six Nations games.

The French flyer, who is showing no signs of slowing down, is scoring at a rate rarely seen in international rugby.

Bielle-Biarrey showed excellent footballing ability to nudge the ball in front of England’s Jack van Poortvliet for his vital fourth try.

“He is running at over 10 metres per second – the fastest player in the Six Nations – and he has the deftest of touches. Dennis Bergkamp would be thrilled with that,” former England wing Ugo Monye told BBC Rugby Union Weekly.

“He is the Erling Haaland of the rugby world. Give him the ball and he will finish.”

Farmers in northern India are dressing up in bear costumes to protect their crops from monkeys. The unconventional strategy comes as residents complain of hundreds of monkeys raiding homes and farmlands.

COUNTRY music heartthrob Riley Green furiously kicked a “jealous boyfriend” out of his gig after being hit with a phone that left him with a bloody ear.

Riley needed five stitches to piece his ear back together following the Melbourne show on his Cowboy As It Gets tour.

During the gig, he was struck by a phone pelted from the pit which caused him to stop the performance and take off his guitar.

He then pointed out the offender and directed security to haul him out. Smiling with blood running down his neck, Riley then slung his guitar back on before being cheered by the raucous crowd.

The 37-year-old told them: “Damn, am I bleeding? See how tough I am?”

He then said: “You can get your phones out, and you can turn the flashlight on – but don’t throw them at me.”

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The violent incident certainly did no harm to Riley’s aura. His smitten fans sent messages of support on Instagram.

One said: “My babyyyyyy was bleeding.”

Another wrote: “Brother, don’t hurt my wife’s boyfriend!”

A third said: “He was bleeding but he’s a Bama boy…that’s just a little scratch. He can do anything he wants!”

While on one video, a fan wrote: “PSA to the jealous boyfriends., don’t throw your phones at Riley Green xx.”

Riley had a fun time despite the incident and regretted not being able to play for longer.

He wrote on Instagram: “Ole buddy ’bout ran outta anytime minutes last night… but a hell of a time was had.”

Riley’s become a global phenomenon in recent years.

Heartfelt songs like I Wish Grandpas Never Died, There Was This Girl, and Different ‘Round Here (feat. Luke Combs) have resonated thanks to their honest storytelling and southern drawl.

He supported Morgan Wallen at his BST Hyde Park gig in 2024 but put on a headline-worthy show.

Speaking about his summer in the capital, he told Entertainment Focus: “I wasn’t nervous but I certainly didn’t expect what happened! I thought that there would be, maybe, a handful of folks that knew a couple of my songs but they knew every word to every song.

“To see the size of the crowd……. especially when you go to another country and Canada had been the only other time I had played outside the States….. things are usually gradual in building up a fan base, right? It was shocking to see how passionate people were about country music over here.”

And he returned to these shores last year for some sold out gigs of his own.

WASHINGTON — White House chief of staff Susie Wiles has been diagnosed with early stage breast cancer but will continue working during her treatment, President Donald Trump said in a social media post on Monday.

Trump said Wiles’ prognosis is “excellent” and described her as “one of the strongest people I know.” He said Wiles plans to begin treatment immediately but made no suggestion she was pulling back on her work as one of his closest advisers.

“During the treatment period, she will be spending virtually full time at the White House, which makes me, as President, very happy!” Trump said on his Truth Social platform. “She will soon be better than ever!”

It comes as the Republican president confronts mounting challenges on global and national fronts, from the war in Iran and soaring oil prices to this fall’s midterm elections and American’s concerns over affordability.

Wiles, 68, is a longtime Trump ally who rose from his campaign co-chair to his closest adviser and counsel. The first woman to become White House chief of staff, Wiles spent decades as a lobbyist and political operative in Florida and led Trump’s 2016 effort in the state.

Binkley writes for the Associated Press.

Chelsea defender Reece James could be out for weeks with a hamstring injury, says head coach Liam Rosenior.

The Chelsea captain will miss his side’s Champions League home match against Paris St‑Germain, following their 5-2 first‑leg defeat in France.

An exact time frame was not given, but when asked whether it could be that James misses a number weeks, Rosenior replied “it could be”.

The 26‑year‑old may miss the upcoming England internationals later this month, with Thomas Tuchel’s squad to be announced on Friday.

He sustained the injury in Saturday’s 1-0 Premier League defeat by Newcastle.

“With a hamstring injury, it is never great and for Reece we can hopefully get him scanned, find out the full extent and then we will know more because we know how important he is and what a leader he is in the group,” added Rosenior.

“He felt something in his hamstring at the end of the game against Newcastle. It’s really frustrating and a disappointing one for us. We don’t know the full extent for us but it rules him out for tomorrow.”

James has largely enjoyed an injury‑free season until now after being carefully managed by Chelsea following several disrupted campaigns in recent years. On Friday, he signed a new six‑year contract to keep him at the club until 2032.

Chelsea are also without winger Jamie Gittens, goakeeper Filip Jorgensen and defender Levi Colwill but Brazil forward Estevao Willian returned to training and is in contention having not featured since early February.

Right-back Malo Gusto missed training through illness but could still be available on Tuesday, while winger Pedro Neto is eligible to play after receiving just a warning from Uefa for pushing a ball boy in the closing moments of last week’s defeat at the Parc des Princes.

Rosenior added: “There was no real bad intention, it was just a will to get on with the game so I think Uefa made the right decision.”

March 16 (UPI) — The board of trustees for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., is set to attend a meeting Monday to determine whether to shutter the facility to carry out renovations that some critics worry could result in a structural overhaul akin to the White House’s East Wing.

The agenda for Monday’s meeting, obtained by The New York Times, indicates the board will vote on whether to begin renovations starting July 6. President Donald Trump announced last month that he wants to close the Kennedy Center for two years for construction amid artist cancellations and boycotts over his cultural agenda.

Trump said the decision to close the facility came after a yearlong review in consultation with contractors, musical experts, arts institutions, and advisers and consultants. He had initially considered a partial project that would permit shows to continue, but decided the best option for the venue was a temporary closure.

Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, an ex officio member of the board who sued to have access about the details of renovations, said she believes Trump wants to shutter the Kennedy Center in response to dozens of individuals and cultural organizations who have canceled appearances there in response to Trump trying to rename the center after himself. Beatty said the documents she received about the renovations were “inadequate.”

She said “the documents prove that there is absolutely no basis to shutter this precious living memorial and beloved institution,” she said in a statement. “It certainly looks like President Trump is shutting down the center because he is embarrassed that ticket sales are down and artists are fleeing since his illegal renaming.”

Beatty’s lawyers said she was concerned Trump might use his hand-selected board to push through wholesale changes at the Kennedy Center to design a facility more to his liking. In October, Trump had the East Wing of the White House demolished to make room for a $250 million ballroom.

In a post on Truth Social on Friday, Trump shared renderings of what he expected the so-called Trump-Kennedy Center to look like after the renovations. He said he’s not planning to rip out the facade.

“I’ll be using the steels. So we’re using the structure, we’re using some of the marble, and some of the marble comes down,” he said.

A Washington Post analysis of the renderings show very few changes to the exterior of the building, including altered cornices, updated roof and some windows, painted columns, new signage and landscaping changes.

The group Hands Off the Arts has held weekly protests outside the Kennedy Center over the changes. A participant, drag queen Tara Hoot, said “there’s no need for it to close.”

“The carpet’s brand new, right? They already have some things planned in the works to redo the Kennedy Center and parts of it, maintenance, so there’s no reason to close it,” Hoot said, according to WUSA-TV in Washington, D.C.

“There are jobs, lots of jobs, and people are going to lose their jobs. The economy is terrible right now. Why do we want more people to lose their jobs?”