alleged

Coworker alerted police after receiving disturbing messages from 19-year-old suspect.

A ‌teenager arrested in a Chicago suburb had shared a document expressing ⁠white supremacist ⁠views and outlined an alleged plan to carry out a mass shooting, potentially targeting a Hindu place of worship, police in the US state of Illinois have said.

Alexandros Paporakis, 19, of Palatine, was arrested on Sunday after an individual reported receiving concerning electronic communications from him, Palatine police said on Wednesday. It was not ⁠immediately clear whether he had legal representation.

Detectives searched Paporakis’s home and recovered a rifle, multiple loaded rifle magazines and hundreds of additional rounds of rifle ammunition.

“Among the recovered items was a tactical vest containing body armor and a patch displaying imagery associated with white supremacist extremism,” a police statement said.

Paporakis’s coworker reportedly told police that he openly identified himself as a white supremacist at work and said he “couldn’t wait” to kill Indian people, according to prosecutors from the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office.

Detectives recovered a document called “Why I fought: A.K.A.: (Aurora Shooter’s Manifesto)” which had sentiments expressing white supremacist and extremist ideologies, referencing violence towards South Asians, specifically Indians.

Authorities believed Paporakis was planning to carry out his attack on Sunday, possibly targeting a Hindu temple in Aurora, 40 miles (65km) southwest of Palatine.

“However, the specific intended location has not been confirmed and remains under ⁠investigation,” the police said, adding the FBI was assisting in the probe.

Police said Paporakis is facing felony charges of “making a terrorist threat” and possessing an unlawful weapon.

The suspect appeared for a detention hearing on Wednesday and his next court appearance is scheduled for the end of October.

Human rights advocates said hate against South Asians has surged in the United States in recent years due to rising anti-immigration policies and a rise in white supremacist ideology.

Swansea City head coach Vitor Matos says the lengthy stoppage during their 1-0 win away at Millwall was a result of racist abuse aimed at Ji-sung Eom.

The South Korea winger was among the Swansea substitutes, and had been warming up on the side of the pitch when the Championship game was brought to a halt.

Referee Edward Duckworth had lengthy discussions with both sets of coaches, during which the game was paused for around seven minutes.

Following the stoppage, an announcement was made over the speakers at The Den confirming there had been alleged chants of racism and that police were working to identify any offenders using CCTV.

Speaking after the game, Matos said it was the 24-year-old who had been the subject of the abuse.

“The situation was with Ji-sung Eom,” said Matos.

“The referee followed the protocol for these sort of situations, they did the right thing. Millwall also did the right thing to get the protocol moving on.

“We all know there is no space for this, this kind of situation should not happen.

“When they do happen we are here to stand with the player, in this case it is our player.”

The incident marred what was otherwise an evening of celebration for the Swans, as Ronald’s late strike sealed a 1-0 win for the league leaders.

Millwall stated they were “aware of an alleged, individual incident of discriminatory abuse towards a Swansea City player during the second half” of the game.

“The club operates a zero-tolerance policy towards any form of discriminatory abuse. Any individual found to have engaged in such behaviour will face the strongest possible action,” added the hosts.

“The club is working alongside the relevant authorities to establish the facts and is unable to comment further as tonight’s alleged incident is the subject of an ongoing police investigation, which the club fully supports.”

Victory kept Swansea two points clear at the top of the Championship, with the Welsh club putting together their best start to a season in a century.

Matos said he was saddened by the abuse aimed at Eom, but says the rest of the squad will rally around their team-mate.

“He is a smart kid, he is not happy with the situation but he knows we will stay with him and follow the situation as long as we can,” added Matos.

“Millwall did the right thing by announcing there is no place for this sort of thing.

“I’m happy with how it was handled, but really sad that it happened. Now it is about evaluating the situation and we’ll see what happens.”

Suspect was arrested on Russia’s far-eastern Sakhalin Island before being transferred to Moscow, says Russia’s FSB.

Russian authorities say they have arrested a Japanese journalist on the far eastern Sakhalin Island, accusing him of espionage.

The Federal Security Service (FSB) announced the arrest on Tuesday, saying the man was believed to have gathered information on Russia’s defence capabilities for Japanese intelligence. The charges carry up to 20 years in prison.

Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs named the journalist as Imai Yuki, who it said worked for Japan’s Hokkaido Shimbun newspaper.

The Japanese government was trying to verify reports of the journalist’s detention, according to an official at Tokyo’s embassy in Moscow cited by Japan’s Kyodo news agency.

The journalist was arrested on Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, the main city on Sakhalin Island, as he was preparing to leave Russia, said the FSB. He was then flown to Moscow, where a court ordered him to be held behind bars pending the probe, the agency added.

A video shared by Russia’s TASS news agency, attributed to the FSB, shows masked officers appearing to handcuff the suspect in a hotel room, before transporting him to an interrogation room.

The suspect was then shown boarding a plane accompanied by two FSB servicemen, before appearing in a cage on trial in a Moscow court, which authorised his custody for nearly two months.

The Japanese man’s arrest comes amid a spike in tensions between Russia and Japan following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s trip in August to the Kuril Islands, the Moscow-controlled Pacific archipelago that is claimed by both countries.

The Sakhalin region includes Sakhalin Island and the four southernmost islands of the Kuril chain, which Japan calls the Northern Territories.

Russia and Japan never signed a formal World War II peace treaty, with the main obstacle being the ⁠unresolved territorial dispute over the Kuril Islands.

Authorities in Russia have arrested numerous foreigners for alleged espionage since it invaded neighbouring Ukraine in 2022.

One of the most prominent cases was the detention of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich in 2023. He was found guilty of espionage by ‌a ‌Russian court, sentenced to 16 years and then freed in a major prisoner swap involving Russia and Western countries in August 2024.

Ukrainian reports of South Korean fuel exports to Russia come amid strained tensions between Seoul and Kyiv.

South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said the government will take legal action over illegal fuel shipments to Russia if allegations from an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy are confirmed.

The Foreign Ministry said on Thursday it had not confirmed whether South Korean fuel, including diesel, had been exported to Russia.

It added that exports of some products, such as diesel and jet fuel for commercial purposes, were not included in a South Korean exports control list to Russia.

On Wednesday, the South Korean presidential office dismissed a statement by Vladyslav Vlasiuk, an adviser to the Ukrainian president on sanctions policy, that 176,000 tonnes of fuel were shipped from South Korea to Russia via sanctioned tankers in July and August.

Ukraine’s top sanctions official said the alleged findings run counter to South Korea’s sanctions policy towards Russia.

“Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, our government has consistently implemented sanctions and export controls against Russia in close cooperation with the international community,” South Korean presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung said on Wednesday, according to the Yonhap news agency.

“We ask that Ukraine also refrain from distorting the relevant policies of the Republic of Korea without sufficient verification of the facts and making public remarks that can damage international trust,” she added.

Relations between South Korea and Ukraine have been strained for the past couple of weeks after Seoul accused Zelenskyy of having “unilaterally disclosed” to the United Nations General Assembly that Kyiv had transferred two North Korean prisoners of war to South Korea.

Seoul Korea demanded an official apology from Kyiv, claiming the Ukrainian president had breached a non-disclosure agreement. Kyiv said no such agreement was in place.

Pyongyang and Moscow, meanwhile, have deep ties, with the two countries having signed a mutual defence treaty in 2024. According to Ukrainian and South Korean estimates, about 14,000 to 15,000 North Korean soldiers were sent to support Russia’s war efforts against Ukraine.

North Korea and South Korea remain technically at war because the 1950–1953 Korean War ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty.

The latest attack brings the death toll from US military boat strikes to at least 235 from 70 maritime strikes across the region.

The United States has conducted another strike on an alleged drug trafficking boat in the Caribbean, killing four, according to the US military.

US Southern Command said late Sunday that it struck alleged drug traffickers operating along “established narco-trafficking routes” in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean, following its standard reporting pattern for military operations of suspected cartels across the multinational maritime zones.

The latest attack brings the death toll from US military boat strikes to at least 235 deaths across 70 attacks, since the administration of US President Donald Trump first launched its counter-narcoterrorism campaign, termed Operation Southern Spear, in September of last year.

At the time, Trump characterised the fight against cartels in Latin America as an active “armed conflict” while defending the strikes as a necessary escalation to curb illicit drug trafficking and reduce fatal US overdoses.

The move comes as United Nations experts warn that the strikes violate international law and could amount to crimes against humanity.

Despite releasing footage on X showing the explosion that destroyed the moving vessel, the US military has offered no evidence that the targeted boat was ferrying drugs.

The Trump administration has been actively seeking regional security agreements across Latin America to expand joint military operations against what it has designated as criminal cartels.  The deals come under the US-led Shield of the Americas coalition, launched in March. The president has pledged the undertaking will use “unmatched military might” to dismantle drug cartels while simultaneously countering Chinese economic influence in the Western Hemisphere.

During a visit to Panama in August, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that Colombia, Guatemala and Honduras had agreed to joint counter-crime military operations on their soil, a statement Guatemala quickly disputed to clarify its sovereignty and boundaries within the 19-member alliance.

Rapper Lucki was allegedly involved in a fight at ComplexCon in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday, leaving him with a gash on his neck, according to videos on social media.

Police confirmed to The Times on Sunday evening that four people were wounded in what appeared to be a knife attack but did not name the victims. Officers responded to reports of a fight involving multiple people near Chick Hearn Court and Georgia Street around 4:45 p.m. Saturday, police said. When officers arrived, people were still fighting, according to police.

Footage shared on X appears to show a brawl involving Lucki, 30, outside the L.A. Convention Center.

In one part of the video, as onlookers shout for a paramedic, one unidentified bloodied man shuffles to a car while holding a towel to his neck.

Although police did not confirm whether the rapper or his associates were involved in the fight, police told TMZ that Lucki was surrounded by fans for photos when a suspect “hit him on the side of his face, causing a laceration.”

Additional footage posted to TikTok appears to show a visibly shaken Lucki climbing into the back seat of a black car with a wound near his jaw.

Two people were transported to a local hospital after sustaining injuries “that appeared to be the result of a knife attack,” police told The Times. A third person self-transported to a local hospital for treatment of a severe laceration.

A fourth person approached an officer at the scene and showed a laceration to his elbow, police confirmed. The victim declined medical treatment and left the scene on his own. Authorities did not know if the victim sought medical help afterward.

Before the violence, ComplexCon shared a story to Instagram on Saturday in which the rapper said he was “happy to be here.” In a statement to People Magazine, the venue said officials were aware of the situation, adding that they “take incidents of this nature extremely seriously and remain focused on maintaining a safe and secure environment for everyone.”

Authorities did not provide any further information Sunday.

Lovely Professional University in Punjab suspends classes for 10 days due to campus unrest over rape allegations that university officials deny.

A university in the Indian state of Punjab has suspended classes for 10 days after protests on campus over an alleged rape last week, a claim that university officials have denied.

In an announcement on Monday, Lovely Professional University in Phagwara also postponed midterm examinations due to the demonstrations, which turned violent.

“Students may, in consultation with their parents/guardians, travel to their hometowns during this 10-day period, if they wish to do so,” it said in a statement.

“Students who stay back are advised to stay inside their hostels/places of residence and avoid unnecessary movement or involvement in any unrest-related activities in the interest of their own safety.”

According to posts on social media, a female student was raped on campus. Some claimed the student committed suicide. Police said they were investigating the alleged incident, adding that the identity of the student had not been established, the news magazine India Today reported.

The protests escalated on Sunday as demonstrators clashed with police, and reports in local media said there were incidents of vandalism inside the university.

Protesters allegedly threw stones, smashed windows and set fire to vehicles on campus as well as damaging police vehicles, according to reports. Students also reportedly blocked a nearby highway.

University registrar Monica Gulati denied the rape had taken place, saying on Sunday that there was “no truth” to the allegations.

“The manner in which such false and misleading information is being systematically circulated appears to be a deliberate and concerted attempt to malign the reputation of the university and tarnish its image,” The Times of India, the country’s largest English newspaper, reported.

Meanwhile, three female students residing in the same building where the alleged rape took place appeared in a video featuring Gulati and backing the registrar’s claims that no rape had taken place.

However, according to the news channel NDTV, a separate video emerged later in which the same three students said they were instructed on what statements to make.

Ongoing concerns around sexual violence

The incident comes as the Supreme Court on Monday ⁠⁠pushed for ⁠⁠accountability over a recent spate of rape cases in the national capital and neighbouring districts, saying ⁠⁠they reflected a “failure of law enforcement”.

Hundreds of students protested in Delhi ⁠⁠last week to demand better safety for women after a teenager said she was raped by three men at a park in the city.

Last month, a 17-year-old ‌‌girl was allegedly raped in a moving bus by the driver and conductor, local media reported.

Sexual violence ⁠⁠is a major problem across ⁠⁠India with more than 80 rapes reported to police every day, according to the National Crime Records Bureau. Activists said that number is a major undercount and many victims do not report rapes because of social stigma or coercion.

The Fair Political Practices Commission is suing California’s largest poker casino, the Commerce Club, over political contributions the club allegedly made last year to defeat a ballot measure that would have established a rival casino just a few miles away in Pico Rivera.

The lawsuit alleges that the club failed to report “independent expenditures” on a campaign and that it was late in disclosing other contributions to two committees.

Southern California’s card clubs have dabbled in local and state politics for years, typically with campaign contributions to an array of candidates involved with regulation of the gambling industry.

But rarely have the clubs faced such a dangerous political climate as they did last year. Five Southern California cities considered ballot measures that would have established competing card parlors–and a possible loss of market share for the dominant clubs, the Commerce Club in Commerce and the Bicycle Club in Bell Gardens.

The two southeast Los Angeles card casinos poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into efforts to defeat the measures. After a series of bitter campaigns, the only measure to win approval was in Hawaiian Gardens. The Pico Rivera measure was defeated by 267 votes out of 8,475 cast.

State officials and attorneys for the Commerce Club are in settlement talks, according to the commission. Club President George Tumanjan did not return repeated phone calls, but club attorney Andy Schneiderman said: “We deny that we violated [the Political Reform Act]. We’re trying to resolve this with the FPPC.” He would not discuss the specific allegations in the state’s complaint.

The Commerce Club’s local political campaign last was spearheaded by its own committee, the Southern California Voter Education Project, run by Don Wilcox, the club president’s son-in-law. Campaign documents filed last year showed the committee spent $296,000 to battle ballot measures in Azusa, Irwindale and Hawaiian Gardens.

But in documents filed months after the elections–and, the commission alleges, in apparent violation of its filing deadlines–that the Commerce Club disclosed that it made $39,120 in “nonmonetary” contributions to a Pico Rivera committee run by Richard Ochoa, a local pastor who scorned the supporters of a new club as “up to their necks in deception.” Nonmonetary contributions can include a range of materials and services, such as printed signs or legal work.

The committee, Just Say No to Casinos, organized citizens to staff a phone bank and handed out literature (“Don’t let the casino promoters deceive us any more,” one flier read).

But the committee did not report any contributions from the club, and its founder denies any affiliation with the casino.

“Just to set the record straight, I have never had any dealings with the Commerce Club or any other card club,” Ochoa said in an interview. “For me to receive contributions would be hypocritical.”

The lawsuit also alleges that the Commerce Club did not disclose that it contributed to another Pico Rivera committee, Save Our City, which sent mailers warning of the “wicked web” of narcotics traffic and loan-sharking that would ensnare the city if a casino was approved. Commerce Club documents don’t show any contributions were made to the committee, and Save Our City’s documents don’t show that any money was received from the club.

However, Hal Mintz, who has worked as a consultant for the Commerce casino, contributed $3,000 to Save Our City. After inquiries from The Times, the committee filed an amended statement showing that Mintz’s firm, Stateside Communications, actually contributed a total of $19,360 to the campaign, most of it in nonmonetary forms.

Mintz, citing advice from his attorney, declined to comment on the case. Save Our City officials were not available.

Supporters of the Pico Rivera casino measure have said they were puzzled by the fact that the Commerce Club reported spending so little to defeat the initiative, while the Bicycle Club of nearby Bell Gardens spent more than $97,000 through two committees.

Real estate developer Michael E. Macke, who planned to develop a Pico Rivera casino, has sued the Bicycle Club over alleged unfair political practices in the campaign. Because the commission has filed suit against the Commerce Club, Macke is precluded from suing it for campaign-reporting violations.

The club paid tens of thousands of dollars to organizations that warned voters that gambling was a sin. Records show the club spent $43,202 on legal services for Bell United to Regulate Card Clubs, a committee that fought unsuccessfully to pass a city ordinance that would limit the number of casinos allowed in Bell. The Rev. Martin Garcia, who ran the committee, said he did not know his lawyer was paid by the Commerce Club, and wouldn’t have accepted legal assistance had he known.

The club also paid $20,000 to the Rex Company, a political consulting firm that helped defeat a casino ballot measure in Irwindale. The Rex Company is owned by Stephen R. Sheldon, the son of the Rev. Lou Sheldon of the Anaheim-based Traditional Values Coalition.

The Commerce casino was first thrust into controversy in 1984, just one year after it opened. Four officials from the city of Commerce pleaded guilty to charges that they granted the license to open the club to a Las Vegas executive who had bribed them with secret shares of the business.

In 1993, an internal audit by the club found that board members received kickbacks, and employees said they had been reimbursed by the casino for contributions they had made to the campaigns of Gov. Pete Wilson and Lt. Gov. Gray Davis.

Today, with a Sacramento lobbyist on its payroll and tens of thousands of dollars in contributions to candidates from San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown to county Supervisor-elect Don L. Knabe, the Commerce Club has built a name as a powerhouse in casino politics.

In Sacramento, its focus has been on issues such as which card games should be allowed and whether to fund a state gambling commission.

MIAMI — Dodgers owner Mark Walter and multiple insurance companies he owns have been sued, alleging they failed to disclose an ongoing federal probe to customers while directing policyholders’ money into Walter’s other companies.

The lawsuit lists Walter, Delaware Life Insurance Co., Clear Spring Life and Annuity, TWG Global Holdings and Walter’s Guggenheim Partners investment firm as defendants.

Ira Rosner, a 67-year-old Florida man, brought the class-action lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Miami on Wednesday. He purchased a policy from Delaware Life in April and he had until late May to withdraw his money without penalty. However, the company did not disclose the investigation to him until June,

Rosner is seeking a jury trial in the lawsuit that seeks damages for negligent misrepresentation, breach of contract and aiding and abetting fraud.

TWG Global didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit.

Walter has been under investigation since last year by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan and the Securities and Exchange Commission following a whistleblower complaint regarding alleged misrepresented loans made between companies within his business portfolio.

TWG Global Holdings is the holding company through which Walter controls Delaware Life, Clear Spring Life and Annuity Co. and his stake in Guggenheim Partners. TWG Global denied any wrongdoing involving the probe in a statement last month.

Walter and co-owner Todd Boehly sold their stakes in English Premier League club Chelsea this week. Last month, Walter agreed to sell the Lakers in a surprise move less than a year after buying the NBA franchise from the Buss family. The deal is under review by the league.

The Dodgers have been adamant that Walter has no plans to sell the baseball team.