Crime

After some shocking revelations in Mayor of Kingstown season four, actor Lennie James has teased even more surprises from mobster Frank Moses

Mayor of Kingstown star Lennie James has revealed his journey as Detroit mobster Frank Moses is headed in some very unexpected directions.

Following Mike McClusky’s (played by Jeremy Renner) feud with Russian crime lord Milo Sunter (Aiden Gillan), Frank has entered the fray in season four to fill the power vacuum.

After developing a shaky alliance with Kingstown’s ‘mayor’, Frank has since revealed his true colours as potentially an even greater threat in the Paramount+ crime saga.

In episode six, Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?, Mike’s closest confidant on the streets, Deverin ‘Bunny’ Washington (Tobi Bamtefa), is taken to hospital after suffering gunshot wounds from an attacker named Lamar (Zuri James).

However, Mike soon discovers that Lamar is actually working for Frank, who betrayed both his and Bunny’s trust to take over operations in Kingstown.

Mike brings him in and attempts to get him arrested, but a member of the Cartel tries to take Frank out. By the end of the episode, Mike and Frank’s working relationship seems to be completely dissolved.

Throughout the series, Frank has affected a calm demeanour even while under intense pressure, which James exclusively told Reach could be a façade that’s about to slip.

“It’s gonna be tested, but it’s not going to be tested where you expect it to be tested,” James teased.

“When it drops, it’s not gonna be for the reason that everybody thinks it might be. When he goes gangster, it’s not in the direction that is expected.

“That’s one of the things I think the writer’s room liked writing for Frank, because all things were possible, because he’s a unicorn.”

Frank’s history in Detroit has served him well so far as he’s able to rise to the challenges presented by the crime-ridden Kingstown with years of experience handling rival gangsters and cops.

At the very start of the series, he’s introduced just minutes after decapitating several Russian mobsters on a train track to announce his arrival, but he’s not had to get his hands dirty again since.

Line of Duty star James explains that he’s able to stay chillingly calm because “there isn’t much he hasn’t seen”. Even so, his power struggle with Mike could test him beyond his limits.

Paramount+ half price sale

This article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. Learn more

£7.99

£3.99

Paramount+

Get Paramount+ here

Paramount+ is offering 50% off its Standard and Premium subscriptions until July 10.

The actor also hints the series could go back a little more to his roots in Detroit, confirming: “Yeah, you will. You’ll find out more.

“You won’t find out everything, but you’ll find out more, much more.”

Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to confirm whether or not Frank will be back in season five, which has yet to be confirmed by Paramount.

Still, he’s already proven a formidable threat and a popular new addition amongst fans, so there’s every chance of following in his predecessor Sunter and lasting for at least a couple of more seasons.

Mayor of Kingstown continues Sundays on Paramount+.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has requested a formal pardon from President Isaac Herzog in his long-running corruption cases, for the sake of ‘national unity’. Israel’s opposition says Netanyahu must admit guilt and resign.

When fire alarms failed, this woman livestreamed her escape from the Hong Kong apartment inferno to warn other residents. The live-in nanny rescued her employer’s baby as she raced down 23 flights of stairs at the Wang Fuk Court complex, where at least 146 people lost their lives.

A huge fireball exploded at a waste facility in an Australian suburb in western Sydney, sending flames 100 metres into the sky. Authorities are investigating the fire’s cause, but say a chemical tank exploded in the blaze, sending concrete debris flying and causing damage to nearby buildings.

In the Philippines, a massive corruption scandal is triggering street protests and putting pressure on the government of Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

The population’s increasing exposure to typhoons, floods and rising sea-levels has seen the government allocate $9.5bn of taxpayer funds to more than 9,800 flood-control projects in the last three years.

But recent audits reveal widespread cases of structures being grossly incomplete or non-existent.

Multiple government officials are accused of pocketing huge kickbacks, funding lavish lifestyles.

101 East investigates how the most vulnerable are being flooded by corruption in the Philippines.

Joaquin Guzman Lopez, one of four sons of the Sinaloa cartel’s ‘El Chapo’, changes his plea to guilty, court documents show.

A son of notorious Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman will plead guilty next week in the United States to narcotics trafficking charges, according to federal court documents.

Joaquin Guzman Lopez, one of four sons of the jailed Sinaloa cartel leader “El Chapo”, originally pleaded not guilty after his arrest in July 2024 in Texas.

But federal documents released on Friday show that Guzman Lopez is to change his plea at a hearing set for Monday at the US District Court in Chicago.

Another of his three brothers, Ovidio Guzman, as part of a plea deal struck in exchange for a reduced sentence, pleaded guilty in July 2025 to conspiracy related to drug trafficking and two counts of participating in the activities of a criminal enterprise.

Ovidio Guzman also admitted that he and his brothers, known collectively as “Los Chapitos” (Little Chapos), had taken over their father’s operations within the cartel following his arrest in 2016.

Mexican broadcaster MVS Noticias said Guzman Lopez’s guilty plea could mean “a new chapter in the history of drug trafficking is about to be written”.

“This move has raised numerous questions about the possible ongoing negotiations between him and US authorities,” the news outlet said.

The ABC 7 Chicago news channel said federal prosecutors have said they will not now seek the death sentence for Guzman Lopez, and that there “is talk of a plea deal now in the works”.

He is due to appear in court in Chicago at 1:30pm (19:30 GMT) on Monday.

Two other “Chapitos” brothers, Ivan Archivaldo Guzman Salazar and Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar, have also been indicted on drug trafficking charges in the US but remain at large.

Their 68-year-old father, “El Chapo”, is serving a life sentence at a supermax federal prison in Colorado following his arrest and conviction in 2019.

Guzman Lopez was taken into custody last year when he arrived in Texas on board a small private plane, along with the cofounder of the Sinaloa cartel, Ismael “Mayo” Zambada.

Zambada claimed to have been misled about the destination and that he was abducted by Guzman Lopez to be handed over against his will to authorities in the US.

Following the arrest, clashes intensified between two factions of the Sinaloa cartel, headed, respectively, by the “Los Chapitos” brothers and Zambada. The infighting led to approximately 1,200 deaths in Mexico and about 1,400 disappearances, according to official figures.

Officials in the US accuse the Sinaloa cartel of trafficking fentanyl to the country, where the synthetic drug has caused tens of thousands of overdose deaths in recent years, straining relations with Mexico.

The cartel is also one of six Mexican drug-trafficking groups that US President Donald Trump has designated as global terrorist organisations.

Additional sanctions against the two fugitive “Los Chapitos” brothers were announced by Washington in June for fentanyl trafficking, and the reward for their capture was increased to $10m each.

Juan Orlando Hernandez, member of Trump-endorsed candidate Nasry Asfura’s party, serving US drug trafficking sentence.

Washington, DC – United States President Donald Trump says he will pardon the former leader of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernandez, just days before the Central American country’s closely contested presidential election.

The announcement on Friday came two days before Honduras’s vote, in which Trump has endorsed conservative National Party candidate Nasry “Tito” Asfura.

Hernandez was the party’s last successful presidential candidate and had served as president from 2014 to 2022. Last year, he was sentenced to 45 years in prison in the US after being extradited from Honduras on charges of drug trafficking.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump said that Hernandez has been “treated very harshly and unfairly”. He cited “many people that I greatly respect”.

Trump also again threw his support behind Asfura, who is facing four opponents in the scandal-plagued race. No clear frontrunner has yet emerged.

He added that a loss for Asfura would lead to a rupture in US support for the country of about 11 million, echoing a similar threat he made in support of Javier Milei before Argentina’s presidential election in October.

“If he doesn’t win, the United States will not be throwing good money after bad, because a wrong Leader can only bring catastrophic results to a country, no matter which country it is,” Trump wrote.

The US president and several right-wing figures have previously accused Rixi Moncada, the candidate for outgoing President Xiomara Castro’s left-leaning LIBRE party, as well as Salvador Nasralla, of the centre-right Liberal Party, of being in the pocket of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

Both candidates have rejected the claims, which come as Trump has increased pressure against Maduro. That has included surging US military assets to the region and floating possible land operations.

Drug trafficking conviction

Despite Trump’s statements, the decision to pardon Hernandez sits uncomfortably with his administration’s pledges to target drug cartels and narcotic smuggling into the US.

That has included designating several cartels as “foreign terrorist organisations” and launching strikes on alleged drug smugglers in international waters. Rights groups have said the attacks are tantamount to extrajudicial killings and likely violate both domestic and international law.

During his trial, prosecutors accused Hernandez of working with powerful cartels to smuggle more than 400 tonnes of cocaine en route to the US. That included ties to the Mexico-based Sinaloa cartel, one of the criminal groups designated by the Trump administration as “terrorists”.

Hernandez allegedly relied on millions of dollars in cartel bribes to fuel his political rise.

At the time of his sentencing, former US Attorney General Merrick Garland said Hernandez used his presidency “to operate the country as a narco-state where violent drug traffickers were allowed to operate with virtual impunity, and the people of Honduras and the United States were forced to suffer the consequences.”

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — President Trump says he wants to “permanently pause migration” from poorer nations and is promising to seek to expel millions of immigrants from the United States by revoking their legal status.

Trump is blaming immigrants for problems from crime to housing shortages as part of what he calls “social dysfunction” in America and demanding “REVERSE MIGRATION.”

His most severe social media post against immigration since returning to the Oval Office in January came after the shooting Wednesday of two National Guard members who were patrolling the streets of the nation’s capital under his orders. One died and the other is in critical condition.

A 29-year-old Afghan national who worked with the CIA during the Afghanistan war is facing charges. The suspect came to the U.S. as part of a program after U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan to resettle those who had helped American troops.

Trump’s threat to stop immigration would be a serious blow to a nation that has long defined itself as welcoming immigrants.

Since Wednesday’s shooting near the White House, administration officials have pledged to reexamine millions of legal immigrants, building on a 10-month campaign to reduce the immigrant population. In a lengthy social media post late Thursday, the Republican president asserted that millions of people born outside the U.S. and now living in the country bore a large share of the blame for America’s societal ills.

“Only REVERSE MIGRATION can fully cure this situation,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform. “Other than that, HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL, except those that hate, steal, murder, and destroy everything that America stands for — You won’t be here for long!”

Trump was elected on a promise to crack down on illegal migration, and raids and deportations undertaken by his administration have disrupted communities across the country. Construction sites and schools have been frequent targets. The prospect of more deportations could be economically dangerous as America’s foreign-born workers account for nearly 31 million jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The president said on Truth Social that “most” foreign-born U.S. residents “are on welfare, from failed nations, or from prisons, mental institutions, gangs, or drug cartels” as he blamed them for crime across the country that is predominantly committed by U.S. citizens.

There are roughly 50 million foreign-born residents in the U.S., and multiple studies have found that immigrants are generally less likely to commit crimes than are people who were born in the country.

The perception that immigration breeds crime “continues to falter under the weight of the evidence,” according to a review of academic literature last year in the Annual Review of Criminology.

“With few exceptions, studies conducted at both the aggregate and individual levels demonstrate that high concentrations of immigrants are not associated with increased levels of crime and delinquency across neighborhoods and cities in the United States,” it said.

A study by economists initially released in 2023 found immigrants are 60% less likely to be incarcerated than people born in the U.S. Immigrants have been imprisoned at lower rates for 150 years, the study found, adding to past research undermining Trump’s claims.

Trump seemed to have little interest in a policy debate in his post, which the White House, on its own rapid response social media account, called “one of the most important messages ever released by President Trump.”

He pledged to “terminate” millions of admissions to the country made during the term of his predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden. He also wants to end federal benefits and subsidies for those who are not U.S. citizens, denaturalize people “who undermine domestic tranquility” and deport foreign nationals deemed “non-compatible with Western Civilization.”

Trump claimed immigrants from Somalia were “completely taking over the once great State of Minnesota” as he used a dated slur for intellectually disabled people to demean that state’s governor, Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential nominee last year.

On Wednesday night, Trump called for the reinvestigation of all Afghan refugees who had entered under the Biden administration. On Thursday, the director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Joseph Edlow, said the agency would take additional steps to screen people from 19 “high-risk” countries “to the maximum degree possible.”

Edlow did not name the countries. But in June, the administration banned travel to the U.S. by citizens of 12 countries and restricted access from seven others, citing national security concerns.

The shooting of the two National Guard members appeared to trigger Trump’s anger over immigrants, yet he did not specifically refer to the event in his social media post.

The suspect, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, is accused of driving across the country to the District of Columbia and shooting two West Virginia National Guard members, Army Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24. Beckstrom died Thursday; Wolfe is in critical condition.

Lakanwal, currently in custody, was also shot and had wounds that were not believed to be life-threatening.

Trump was asked by a reporter Thursday if he blamed the shootings on all Afghans who came to the U.S.

“No, but we’ve had a lot of problems with Afghans,” the president said.

Boak writes for the Associated Press.

Green card applications from ‘countries of concern’ will be reviewed after Afghan national named as suspect in shooting of National Guard members.

United States President Donald Trump said he plans to suspend immigration from “all Third World countries”, the day after an Afghan national was named as a suspect in the shooting of two members of the National Guard in Washington, DC.

Trump’s announcement marks the latest in a series of escalating restrictions on immigration to the US, after he earlier ordered the US government to re-examine all green card applications from 19 “countries of concern”, in the wake of the Washington, DC, shooting.

“I will permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries to allow the US system to fully recover, terminate all of the millions of Biden illegal admissions,” Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform on Thursday.

While he did not define the term “Third World,” the phrase usually refers to developing countries in the Global South.

Trump also said that he will “remove anyone who is not a net asset to the United States, or is incapable of loving our Country”.

He added that all federal benefits and subsidies to “noncitizens” will end, and he will “denaturalize migrants who undermine domestic tranquillity, and deport any foreign national who is a public charge, security risk, or non-compatible with Western civilization”.

US Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Joseph Edlow said earlier on Thursday that, “at the direction” of President Trump, he had ordered “a full-scale, rigorous re-examination of every green card for every alien from every country of concern”.

“The protection of this country and of the American people remains paramount, and the American people will not bear the cost of the prior administration’s reckless resettlement policies,” Edlow said.

Edlow did not elaborate on which countries’ applicants would be reviewed, but his office directed The Associated Press (AP) news agency to a June 4 presidential proclamation restricting citizens of 19 countries from entering the US. The list includes Afghanistan, Haiti, Iran, Myanmar, Venezuela and Yemen.

Citizenship and Immigration Services had earlier announced that it would indefinitely suspend all Afghan immigration requests “pending further review of security and vetting protocols”.

The restrictions on immigrants in the US come as Jeanine Pirro, US attorney for the District of Columbia in Washington, DC, identified the suspect in the shooting of the National Guard members as Rahmanaullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national who previously worked with US forces in Afghanistan.

Lakanwal came to the US under a programme known as “Operation Allies Welcome” following the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, according to Pirro. She said federal authorities, including the FBI, would be reviewing his immigration history and the vetting process.

The Trump administration has already taken aggressive measures to restrict immigration to the US. In October, it announced it would accept only 7,500 refugees in 2026 – the lowest number since 1980.

The US government is also in the midst of a major review of recent US refugee arrivals, according to a memo signed by Edlow and obtained by the AP on Monday.

The memo orders the review of the approximately 200,000 refugees admitted to the US under the administration of President Joe Biden, according to the AP.

It also suspends green card applications from refugees who came to the US during that period.

BREAKINGBREAKING,

US president says second National Guard member is ‘fighting for his life’ after the attack a day earlier in Washington, DC.

United States President Donald Trump said that one of the two National Guard troops shot a day earlier near the White House has died, while the other soldier is “fighting for his life”.

Trump said on Thursday evening that West Virginia National Guard member Sarah Beckstrom died from wounds following the double shooting on Wednesday, a short distance from the White House.

The president hailed Beckstrom as a “highly respected, young, magnificent person” and said the second member of the National Guard targeted in the gun attack was critical.

“He’s in very bad shape,” Trump said as he addressed troops in a video call to mark the Thanksgiving holiday in the US.

This is a breaking news story. More to follow soon. 

US President Donald Trump has called for a review of all Afghans who entered the US under the Biden administration, after two National Guard members were shot and critically wounded in Washington DC. US immigration authorities have also halted all Afghan-related applications.

Arrest warrant issued for missing Thai mogul Anne Jakkaphong Jakrajutatip, as co-owner investigated in Mexico.

The Miss Universe competition has been overshadowed by legal drama as its owners face charges of fraud in Thailand and an investigation into drugs and weapons trafficking in Mexico just days after the latest pageant concluded.

The Miss Universe Pageant, which once belonged to United States President Donald Trump, has been owned by Thai mogul Anne Jakkaphong Jakrajutatip and her company, JKN Global, since 2022.

Jakrajutatip is wanted in Thailand after she failed to attend a Bangkok court hearing this week over a 30 million baht ($930,000) legal dispute with an investor in JKN Global. The Bangkok South District Court said on Wednesday that it had issued an arrest warrant for Jakrajutatip, whose current whereabouts are unknown, according to Thai media.

Jakrajutatip and JKN Global have been facing major balance sheet problems since 2023, when the company began to default on payments to investors, according to the Associated Press news agency. The company filed for rehabilitation with a Thai bankruptcy court in 2024, and reportedly owes about3 billion baht ($92.63m), according to the Associated Press.

Earlier this year, Jakrajutatip and JKN Global were sanctioned by Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for publishing “false or misleading information” in the company’s financial statement, and were fined 4 million baht ($124,000).

The SEC statement said JKN Global did not fully disclose to investors that it signed an October 2023 agreement to sell 50 percent of its shares in the Miss Universe Pageant to Mexican businessman Raúl Rocha Cantu and his company, Legacy Holding Group USA Inc.

Jakrajutatip resigned from all positions in the company, but she is still a shareholder following the sanction, according to AP. She also did not attend the latest Miss Universe competition in Bangkok earlier this month.

Cantu is facing separate legal troubles in Mexico, where prosecutors said on Wednesday that he was under investigation for alleged arms, drug and fuel trafficking between Mexico and Guatemala, according to the AFP news agency.

Prosecutors charged 13 people in connection with the case, although Cantu has not been formally named yet, the AFP said.

The Miss Universe Pageant concluded on November 21 following a series of scandals throughout the competition season, including allegations that the competition was rigged.

Judges are reviewing the UK government’s decision to ban the activist group Palestine Action under counter-terror laws. Al Jazeera’s Sonia Gallego was at the court where police were arresting people for displaying pro-PA signs.

AMERICAN Pie star Tara Reid told police she was drugged at a Chicago hotel bar – ending in a hospital dash with the star in a concerning state.

Distressing footage shows the actress, 50, looking unwell as she sits in a wheelchair, before being stretchered out by paramedics on Saturday night.

The Rosemont Public Safety Department confirmed on Tuesday that the actress had filed a report.

Reid has vowed she is willing to prosecute anyone involved.

The 90s film pin-up said the night was a “big blur”, but insisted she had only had one drink before being taken ill.

Speaking to TMZ Live on Tuesday, she recounted leaving her drink in the hotel bar to go for a smoke, and returning to find a napkin covering it that hadn’t been there when she left it.

IN VOGUE

Vogue Williams on THOSE marriage rumours & top I’m A Celeb moment she’s shunning

TELL ALL

MAFS UK cast spill juicy behind-the-scenes secrets from the show

She said: “And then I drank my drink, and without even finishing my drink, I just passed out. And before I knew it, I was in the hospital eight hours later.”

The person who filmed the episode told the publication that Reid was yelling: “You don’t know who I am. I am famous. I’m an actress,” before medics arrived.

Tara was allegedly told by hospital doctors that she had been drugged, though said no tests were undertaken to determine what the drug was or her blood alcohol level.

She continued: “It was all kind of vague. It was all like very blurry, do you know what I mean? I can’t even explain it because I don’t even know what happened.”

When she came around, Tara left hospital with her agent and went straight to a signing before heading home.

A representative for the star said: “Tara Reid has filed a police report after an incident in which she believes her drink was tampered with.

“She is cooperating fully with the investigation. Tara is recovering and asks for privacy during this traumatic time.

“She also urges everyone to be careful, watch your drinks and never leave them unattended, as this can happen to anyone. She will not be making further comments at this stage.”

Tara’s screen career began in the 90s with small roles in the soap opera Days of Our Lives and teen sitcom Saved by the Bell: The New Class.

In 1998 she appeared in slasher flick Urban Legend, teen drama Cruel Intentions and cult hit crime comedy The Big Lebowski.

But it was as sexy virgin Vicky in American Pie and its sequels that really made her famous.

Tara’s career stalled in the mid-2000s with a string of critical and commercial flops including Josie and the Pussycats, Van Wilder and Alone in the Dark, for which she received a Razzie Award nomination for Worst Actress.

To make matters worse, she suffered two botched plastic surgery procedures in 2004, including breast implants and a body contouring procedure meant to give her a six-pack.

She later said she’d asked the surgeon for B cups, but he gave her Cs, and told US Weekly: “My stomach became the most ripply, bulgy thing. I had a hernia, this huge bump next to my belly button.

“As a result, I couldn’t wear a bikini. I lost a lot of work.”

She swapped the big screen for reality TV appearing in travel show Taradise and Celebrity Big Brother in the UK.

LAVALEY VIEW

Huge volcanic eruption sends ash 6 miles high & poisonous gas toward villages

TRAITORS CHAOS

Bombshell evidence that proves Traitors star ISN’T dad to Charlotte’s baby

In 2023 she appeared in Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test and was cruelly body-shamed over her slim figure.

She hit back in the Los Angeles Inquisitor, “So stop it. Leave me alone. Pick on me again on something else, but not on those two things. It’s not right.”

Bogota, Colombia – Santiago Uribe, the brother of former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, has been sentenced to 28 years and three months in prison for aggravated homicide and conspiracy to commit a crime while leading a paramilitary group.

In Tuesday’s verdict, a three-judge panel in the northwestern province of Antioquia ruled that, in the early 1990s, Uribe “formed and led an illegal armed group”.

Under Uribe’s leadership, the group allegedly “carried out a plan to systematically murder and exterminate people considered undesirable”.

Uribe has denied having any associations with paramilitary groups. His defence team plans to appeal.

The ruling reverses a lower court’s acquittal last year. The case will now pass to Colombia’s Supreme Court for a final verdict.

The conviction is the latest twist in a longstanding criminal investigation into the Uribe family and its alleged paramilitary ties.

Critics have accused Uribe and his brother, the former president, of maintaining ties to groups involved in grave human rights abuses during Colombia’s six-decade-long internal conflict.

Tuesday’s conviction relates to activities that took place on and around the Uribe family’s La Carolina cattle ranch, located in Antioquia.

In its 307-page ruling, the court detailed how the ranch was used as a base for The 12 Apostles, a far-right paramilitary group formed by ranchers in the early 1990s to combat leftist rebels, notably the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

The court described The 12 Apostles as a “death squad”, saying it performed “social cleansing” by killing “undesirables” including sex workers, drug users, people with mental illnesses and suspected leftist sympathisers.

Not only did the paramilitary group hold meetings at La Carolina, but training and weapons distribution were also carried out on site, according to the ruling.

Those were “acts with which crimes against humanity were committed”, the judges wrote.

Describing Uribe as the leader of The 12 Apostles, the court found him responsible for ordering the murder of Camilo Barrientos, a bus driver who was shot near La Carolina in 1994 for being a suspected rebel collaborator.

Tuesday’s ruling also highlighted collusion between paramilitaries and state security forces, saying the militia “enjoyed the cooperation, through action and inaction, of agents of the State”.

Uribe was first investigated for his involvement with The 12 Apostles in the late 1990s, but the investigation was dropped in 1999 due to a lack of evidence.

Colombian authorities resumed their investigation in 2010, detaining Uribe in 2016 on charges of homicide.

While the trial ended in 2020, the lower court announced its verdict years later, in November 2024. The judge overseeing the case at the time, Jaime Herrera Nino, ruled there was insufficient evidence and acquitted Uribe.

Tuesday’s decision overturns that verdict. Human rights advocates applauded the ruling as a step towards accountability, even at the highest levels of power.

“The sentence is extremely important,” said Laura Bonilla, a deputy director at Colombia’s Peace and Reconciliation Foundation (Pares). “It shows the level of penetration that paramilitarism had in Colombian society.”

Gerson Arias, a conflict and security investigator at the Ideas for Peace Foundation, a Colombian think tank, said the complexity of the case reflects the power structures involved.

“Paramilitarism was deeply rooted in the upper echelons of society, and therefore clarifying what happened takes years,” he said.

“It is therefore likely that many of the collective things we know about paramilitarism are still pending resolution and discovery.”

The defendant’s brother, former President Alvaro Uribe, led Colombia from 2002 to 2010.

The ex-president himself was found guilty earlier this year of bribing former paramilitary members not to testify to his involvement with them.

The ruling was overturned in October, after a court ruled the evidence was gathered through an unlawful wiretap. It also cited “structural deficiencies” in the prosecution’s arguments.

The former president remains a powerful figure in right-wing politics in Colombia, and he has pledged to form a coalition to oppose a left-wing government in the 2026 elections.

“I feel deep pain over the sentence against my brother. May God help him,” the ex-president wrote on the social media platform X following Tuesday’s ruling.

Netflix’s The Widower starring Reece Shearsmith tells the true story of Malcolm Webster, the nurse who murdered his wife and attempted to kill his second

The Widower, originally aired on ITV in 2014, has just landed on Netflix and is already scaling the streaming giant’s most-watched chart.

The series of Netflix, which is home to a number of true crime shows, chronicles the life and heinous acts of Malcolm Webster (portrayed by Reese Shearsmith), a Surrey nurse who murdered his first wife and tried to kill his second.

Webster, now 66, was known for pursuing relationships with women to boost his income.

In 1993, he wed Claire Morris from Aberdeenshire, and during their marriage, he drugged her.

In May 1994, he drugged Claire before orchestrating a car crash with her in the passenger seat and setting the vehicle ablaze, making it appear as an accident.

In 1997, he married oncology nurse Felicity Drumm in New Zealand, with whom he had a son.

He staged a second car crash in 1999 and was accused of trying to murder her to fraudulently claim £750,000 from nine insurance policies.

Webster also planned to marry Simone Banarjee, having deceived her into believing he had terminal leukaemia.

She altered her will, leaving her entire estate to Webster, but police alerted her about her fiancé’s past and revealed he already had a wife and son.

In July 2011, he was sentenced to at least 30 years in prison, where he remains today.

The former nurse was convicted of murdering Claire Morris and attempting to murder Felicity Drumm.

These crimes were part of a scheme to claim nearly £1m in life assurance money.

In 2016, he tried to get his case referred back to the High Court, but the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission denied his application.

Previously in 2013, his appeal was dismissed when judges rejected his claim of being a victim of a miscarriage of justice.

The Widower is available on Netflix.

Drug cartels in Mexico are recruiting children and forcing them to become professional killers. Rights groups warn hundreds of thousands of minors are at risk. Al Jazeera’s John Holman gained rare access to speak to child hitmen committing murder for money.

AN AUSSIE superfan who lunged at Ariana Grande on the red carpet has been kicked out of Singapore and banned from returning to the country for life.

Johnson Wen, 26, was jailed for nine days for being a public nuisance and has now been officially “barred from re-entering Singapore”, the country’s Immigration and Checkpoints Authority confirmed.

Wen sparked chaos at the Asian premiere of Wicked: For Good on 13 November when he shoved past photographers and charged straight at Grande as she arrived at Universal Studios Singapore.

Her co-star Cynthia Erivo immediately rushed in and physically wrestled him away.

The prankster has a history of disrupting concerts and celebrity appearances, including jumping on stage at Katy Perry’s Sydney concert in June.

Fans online accused Wen of re-traumatising Grande, who has spoken about suffering PTSD after the Manchester Arena bombing in 2017, which killed 22 concertgoers and injured hundreds more.

4 become 5

All the clues that prove Victoria Beckham IS finally rejoining the Spice Girls

NEW HOPE

Holly Hagan announces pregnancy and reveals she told sister before teen’s death

The court heard Wen had tried twice to force his way into the premiere.

After being removed the first time, he made a second attempt to jump the barricades before security pinned him to the ground.

He later posted bizarre videos thanking Grande “for letting him on the carpet” and declaring he was “free”, only to be arrested the next day.

Wen pleaded guilty to the public-nuisance charge.

Judge Christopher Goh said Wen was “attention seeking” and foolish to believe he wouldn’t face consequences.

Grande has not commented, but Erivo later told NBC she stepped in instinctively: “I just wanted to make sure my friend was safe … You never know with those things.”

SACRAMENTO — On a recent day at Sacramento native Lecho Lopez’s comic shop in the city, his 5-year-old nephew read his first word aloud: “bad.” It was from a graphic novel.

There was irony in that being his first word, because Lopez credits comic books with many positive things in his life. That is why he supports repealing a city ordinance dating to 1949 that bars the distribution of many comic books to kids and teens. It is not enforced today.

“It’s a silly law,” said Lopez, who has a red-and-black tattoo of the Superman logo on his forearm, in an interview at his store, JLA Comics. “A lot of good things come out of comic books.”

A City Council committee unanimously voted last week to advance the repeal and designate the third week of September as “Sacramento Comic Book Week.” It now heads to the full council for a vote. The ban prohibits distributing comic books prominently featuring an account of crime that show images of illegal acts such as arson, murder or rape to anyone under 18.

In the mid-20th century, as comic books were on the rise, fears spread over their effect on children, with some arguing they could lead to illiteracy or inspire violent crime. The industry decided to regulate itself, and local governments — from Los Angeles County to Lafayette, La. — adopted bans to shield certain comics from young people. While some cities like Sacramento still have those laws on the books, they are rarely if ever enforced.

Now, proponents of repealing the Sacramento law say it is necessary to reflect the value of comics and help protect against a modern wave of book bans.

Local artist pushes for repeal

Comic book author Eben Burgoon, who started a petition to overturn Sacramento’s ban, said that comics “have this really valuable ability to speak truth to power.”

“These antiquated laws kind of set up this jeopardy where bad actors could work hard to make this medium imperiled,” he said at a hearing Tuesday held by the City Council’s Law and Legislation Committee.

Sacramento is a great place to devote a week to celebrating comics, Burgoon said. The city has a “wonderful” comic book community, he said, and hosts CrockerCon, a comics showcase at a local art museum, every year.

Sam Helmick, president of the American Library Assn., said “there is no good reason” to have a ban such as Sacramento’s on the books, saying it “flies in the face of modern 1st Amendment norms.”

The history behind comic book bans

The movement to censor comics decades ago was not an aberration in U.S. history, said Jeff Trexler, interim director of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, which fights to protect the free speech rights of people who read or make comics.

New York, for example, created a commission in the 1920s dedicated to reviewing films to determine whether they should be licensed for public viewing, based on whether they were “obscene” or “sacrilegious” and could “corrupt morals” or “incite crime,” according to the state archives.

“Every time there’s a new medium or a new way of distributing a medium, there is an outrage and an attempt to suppress it,” Trexler said.

The California Supreme Court ruled in 1959 that a Los Angeles County policy banning the sale of “crime” comic books to minors was unconstitutional because it was too broad. Sacramento’s ban probably doesn’t pass muster for the same reason, Trexler said.

There is not a lot of recent research on whether there is a link between comic books and violent behavior, said Christopher Ferguson, a professor of psychology at Stetson University in Florida. But, he said, similar research into television and video games has not shown a link to “clinically relevant changes in youth aggression or violent behavior.”

Comic-book lovers tout their benefits

Leafing through comics like EC Comics’ “Epitaphs from the Abyss” and DC’s and Marvel’s collaboration “Batman/Deadpool,” Lopez showed an Associated Press reporter images of characters smashing the windshield of a car, smacking someone across the face and attacking Batman using bows and arrows — the kinds of scenes that might be regulated if Sacramento’s ban were enforced.

But comics with plot lines that include violence can contain positive messages, said Benjamin Morse, a media studies lecturer at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

“Spider-Man is a very mature concept,” said Morse, who became an “X-Men” fan as a kid and worked at Marvel for 10 years. “It’s a kid who’s lost his parents, his uncle dies to violence, and he vows to basically be responsible.”

Lopez’s mother bought him his first comic book, “Ultimate Spider-Man #1,” when he was about 9 years old, he said. But it was “Kingdom Come,” a comic featuring DC’s Justice League, that changed his life at a young age, with its “hyperrealistic” art that looked like nothing he had ever seen before, he said.

He said his interest in comic books helped him avoid getting involved with gangs growing up. They also improved his reading skills as someone with dyslexia.

“The only thing that I was really able to read that helped me absorb the information was comic books, because you had a visual aid to help you explain what was going on in the book,” Lopez said.

And a comic book can offer so much more, Burgoon said at last week’s hearing.

“It makes imaginative thinkers,” he said. “It does not make widespread delinquency. It does not make societal harm.”

Austin writes for the Associated Press.

New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani said Israel is committing genocide in Gaza during an Oval Office meeting with US President Donald Trump on Friday. Trump dodged a question on whether he’d intervene if Mamdani tried to have Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu arrested in New York.