alleged

BREAKINGBREAKING,

The shooting ends a 12-hour standoff in the city of Bakersfield between suspect and law enforcement.

Agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) in the United States have fatally shot a man allegedly holding hostages inside of a building in California.

The shooting ended a 12-hour standoff at an office in Bakersfield that houses a bank branch and school district office.

In a statement, the Bakersfield police said the suspect was killed in “an officer-involved shooting involving Federal Bureau of Investigation personnel”.

It added that “all hostages were located unharmed and received medical evaluation and treatment at the scene”.

Police had originally been called following a bomb threat at the location. Police said the man barricaded himself inside with several people, two of whom were released Tuesday after negotiations with authorities.

Authorities established a wide perimeter around the building, evacuating the nearby City Hall and the police headquarters.

Bakersfield police sergeant Eric Celedon told reporters on Tuesday the department had “every single resource at our disposal out here to bring this to the safest resolution possible”.

Police on Wednesday said the investigation was ongoing and that “significant” law enforcement would remain in the area.

The identity of the suspect was not immediately released and a motive was unclear.

Unification Minister Chung Dong-young will face a prosecution investigation over allegations that he leaked classified information related to North Korea‘s nuclear facilities.

The Seoul Southern District Prosecutors Office said Thursday that it received the case from the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office on May 21 and assigned it. Chung is accused of violating laws governing the disclosure of official secrets.

During a parliamentary committee session on March 6, Chung said North Korea is operating another uranium enrichment facility in the northwestern region of Kusong, along with previously reported ones in Yongbyon and Kangson.

The government has previously officially identified Yongbyon and Kangson as the main locations hosting the North’s uranium enrichment facilities, with Kusong being identified as a site for the first time.

At the time, the United States was reportedly said to have conveyed its concerns through South Korean diplomatic, security and intelligence agencies.

The unification ministry responded that Chung’s remarks were based on comments by the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency and reports and analyses released by research institutions, as well as media outlets.

The ministry said Thursday the prosecution’s assignment of the case was merely a procedural step following the complaint and should not be interpreted as the formal launch of an investigation.

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May 27 (UPI) — Federal prosecutors are suing the University of California, alleging civil rights violations were committed in connection with pro-Palestinian campus protests, the latest lawsuit by the Trump administration, which has targeted universities over issues from antisemitism to their hiring practices.

The Trump administration has taken dozens of actions against higher education institutions, including investigations, lawsuits and funding freezes, in what critics describe as an effort to crack down on left-leaning ideology in public and private spaces.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in the Western District of California, focuses on the encampment erected on the University of California, Los Angeles, campus in April 2024 as pro-Palestinian protests erupted across U.S. universities against Israel’s war in Gaza as students sought to pressure their schools to divest from Israel.

Federal prosecutors allege the school failed to protect its Jewish and Israeli students through its inaction concerning the encampment, which was erected April 25, 2024, and torn down May 2, 2024, when the school permitted police to clear the campus of protesters.

“Universities have an obligation to maintain safe and inclusive campuses for all students,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli of the Central District of California said in a statement.

“Universities that violate our nation’s civil rights laws by repeatedly failing to shield Jewish students from antisemitism will be held accountable.”

The lawsuit is similar to the one federal prosecutors filed against UCLA in February, accusing the institution of creating a hostile work environment for Israeli and Jewish faculty and staff over its inaction with regard to the encampment.

UCLA Chancellor Julio Frenk on Tuesday rejected the accusations.

“Let me be direct: The suggestion that UCLA has been passive in the face of antisemitism is simply wrong. Combating antisemitism is a moral imperative — one rooted, for me, in personal history that makes indifference unthinkable,” he said in a statement.

Frenk highlighted a series of actions the school has taken over the past year, from recruiting an associate vice chancellor for campus and community safety to reorganizing its civil rights office, as proof of the school’s commitment to stand against antisemitism.

The Justice Department is seeking a court declaration that UCLA unlawfully discriminated against Jewish and Israeli students, an order forcing it to institute a series of changes and a declaration that the federal government does not need to make additional grant payments to the university.

Earlier this month, the Justice Department announced the results of an investigation into UCLA’s medical school admissions process, saying it discriminated by race to favor Black and Hispanic applicants.

Critics have accused the Trump administration of using the Justice Department to crack down on disfavored speech and ideology.

In April 2025, more than 200 college and university leaders issued a joint statement condemning the actions of the Trump administration targeting higher education institutions as “unprecedented government overreach and political interference.”

Australian Federal Police have not made any arrests but say inquiries are ongoing.

A group of 19 women and children with alleged links to ISIL (ISIS) has returned to Australia, with the government warning that anyone found to have engaged in criminal activity will be prosecuted.

The six women and 13 children arrived from a Syrian refugee camp on Tuesday, with one group landing in Sydney and the other in Melbourne.

It is the second cohort of Australian women and children to return from Syria this month. Responding to criticism over their arrival, the Australian government said it had not assisted them in any capacity.

“These are people who have made the horrific choice to join a dangerous terrorist organisation and to place their children in an unspeakable situation,” Minister for Home Affairs Tony Burke said.

Australian women began travelling to Syria to marry members of ISIL in 2012, with some allegedly taken against their will.

At the height of its power in 2015, ISIL controlled territory across Syria and Iraq roughly equivalent in size to the United Kingdom.

Australian Federal Police did not arrest any members of the group upon their arrival but said that investigations were ongoing.

The group’s return has sparked anger in some sections of Australian society.

According to local media, a large police presence was deployed at Melbourne airport, where a scuffle reportedly broke out as the group of women and children was escorted out through a side entrance.

Australia is one of several Western countries that have shown reluctance to repatriate citizens who travelled to the Middle East to join ISIL about a decade ago.

Both France and the UK have expressed opposition to allowing former ISIL members to return.

In 2022, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child said that France’s failure to repatriate children born to French nationals in Syria violated their right to life and exposed them to inhumane treatment.

Meanwhile, the UK stripped British national Shamima Begum of her citizenship in 2019 on national security grounds.

In February, the Australian government issued a temporary exclusion order against a woman in Syria, preventing her from returning home.

Her child, who was not barred from returning, chose to stay with her.

The order prevents the woman from returning to Australia until February 2028, and her family is currently challenging the decision.

Afzal Ashraf, a visiting fellow at Loughborough University specialising in international relations and security, said the risk posed by people returning from countries including Syria needs to be viewed proportionately.

“There will be some security challenges, because people like this are likely to suffer from issues such as PTSD,” Ashraf told Al Jazeera.

“The fact of the matter is that there are security challenges in Australia and other countries, but statistically speaking, the return of these nationals doesn’t increase that risk very much, while the threat to life from terrorism is far lower than the threat posed by road accidents, for example.”

“That said, these threats can be reduced by providing comprehensive mental health support for returnees and ensuring they are reintegrated into society in a positive way, with follow-up programmes to address any dangerous ideas they may have adopted,” Ashraf said.

“It’s worth remembering that ISIL has killed far more Muslims than Westerners.”

Earlier this month, four women and 13 children arrived in Australia from Syria. Three of the women were arrested upon arrival.

Published on
26/05/2026 – 11:05 GMT+2

The Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato (AGCM), Italy’s antitrust authority, announced on Tuesday that it opened a formal probe into easyJet Airline Company Limited over alleged unfair commercial practices.

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The case centres on how the carrier structures and presents baggage fees on its website and mobile app, with the regulator alleging that passengers were routinely given a distorted picture of what they were actually paying.

According to the AGCM, easyJet’s platform set bundled checked baggage and sports equipment for round trips as the automatic default, presenting only an overall average price for the service, even when customers had no intention of purchasing it for both legs of their journey.

The regulator contends that anyone wishing to add luggage for one leg only was forced to interrupt the booking process to override this setting, a step most consumers would be unlikely to notice or navigate.

The investigation will assess whether easyJet’s booking system created unclear pricing conditions and limited consumers’ ability to make fully informed choices.

At the time of writing, easyJet has not publicly commented on the case.

Italy’s AGCM previous actions

This is not the first time easyJet has appeared before Italian authorities.

In May 2021, the AGCM imposed a €2.8 million fine on the airline alongside Ryanair and Volotea, after all three failed to offer cash reimbursements for flights cancelled when Italy lifted its COVID-19 travel restrictions, issuing vouchers instead.

EasyJet appealed, but the Lazio Regional Administrative Court in Rome rejected the challenge in February 2025.

The AGCM has shown no hesitation in pursuing the sector more broadly.

In December 2025, it fined Ryanair €255 million for abusing its dominant position in air travel to and from Italy.

The Italian authority concluded the carrier had deployed an “elaborate strategy” to obstruct travel agencies from purchasing its flights, including through facial-recognition checks, payment blocks and mass account deletions, a ruling Ryanair immediately vowed to appeal.

Inmates in Venezuela’s western Barinas prison staged a protest on the roof of the detention centre calling for the removal of the prison’s director, who reportedly oversaw guards as they shot unarmed prisoners.