Law and Crime

Feb. 18 (UPI) — A federal court gave a final ruling Wednesday negating the Department of Education’s 2025 directive that sought to prevent federally funded schools and universities from practicing diversity, equity and inclusion.

The U.S. District Court in New Hampshire issued the ruling that permanently invalidated the “Dear Colleague” letter of Feb. 14, 2025, after the Department of Education backed down from the lawsuit. The letter, signed by Craig Trainor, who was then the acting assistant secretary for Civil Rights at the Department of Education, told schools they had 14 days to comply with the directive or face consequences, including loss of funding. Trainor cited the Supreme Court‘s 2023 ruling on Students for Fair Admissions vs. Harvard, which effectively ended affirmative action.

Soon after, the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of New Hampshire, the ACLU of Massachusetts and lawyers for the National Education Association, filed suit to block enforcement of the letter. The Center for Black Educator Development and several New Hampshire School Districts later joined the case as plaintiffs.

In April, the court issued a preliminary injunction stopping the Department of Education from enforcing the new ruling.

District Court Judge Landya McCafferty ruled earlier in the case that the letter’s “isolated characterizations of unlawful DEI” conflicted with the term’s meaning, saying that DEI is fostering “a group culture of equitable and inclusive treatment.”

McCafferty said the plaintiffs were likely to succeed in proving that the letter was vague, viewpoint discriminatory and unlawfully imposed new legal obligations.

Plaintiffs said they were pleased with the decision.

“This ruling affirms what educators and communities have long known: celebrating the full existence of every person and sharing the truth about our history is essential,” Sharif El-Mekki, CEO at The Center for Black Educator Development, said in a statement. “Today’s decision protects educators’ livelihoods and their responsibility to teach honestly.”

“While [President Donald] Trump and [Secretary of Education Linda] McMahon want to ban diversity, equity, and inclusion, educators know these values are at the core of our nation,” Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association, said in a statement. “The Trump administration’s unlawful Dear Colleague letter and certification requirement have now been vacated and abandoned, underscoring how badly Trump and McMahon overreached in their attempt to interfere with curriculum and instruction.”

Feb. 18 (UPI) — Human Rights Watch urged Venezuela’s government led by Delcy Rodriguez to dismantle what it described as the country’s repressive state apparatus and implement deep judicial and electoral reform.

The group noted that recent political prisoner releases have not dismantled mechanisms used to suppress dissent.

The rights group said the releases mark progress, but warned that institutions responsible for arbitrary detentions and political persecution remain active amid what Venezuelan authorities call a process of “national pacification.”

The organization called for the removal of Attorney General Tarek William Saab, saying he “led the state action that resulted in human rights violations” after the 2024 presidential election and describing him as part of “the government’s repressive machinery.”

The statement follows the Jan. 3 capture of former President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, during a U.S. military operation and the subsequent release of hundreds of detainees held for political reasons.

The Trump administration has continued working with former Vice President Delcy Rodriguez in what it describes as a plan with phases of “stabilization, recovery and transition,” focused largely on reforms in Venezuela’s oil sector, the organization said.

“The release of political prisoners is an important relief, but the repressive apparatus used to detain them remains in place,” said Juanita Goebertus, Americas director at Human Rights Watch.

“Venezuelan authorities must carry out real reforms of their laws and judicial and electoral institutions,” she said. “Anything else would amount to a simulated transition that may serve the interests of the governments of Venezuela and the United States, but will not vindicate the rights of the Venezuelan people.”

Human Rights Watch said some 600 people remain imprisoned for political reasons, and that an amnesty bill under debate in Venezuela’s National Assembly, the country’s legislature, does not guarantee unconditional release for all those arbitrarily detained for political events dating to 1999.

“Its discussion should not be used as an excuse to delay the unconditional release of political prisoners or the structural reforms needed to restore democracy in Venezuela,” Goebertus said.

The organization said many people released from prison remain under criminal investigation and face restrictions on free expression and political participation. Some have been placed under house arrest, including opposition leader Juan Pablo Guanipa, who was freed Feb. 9 and detained again hours later after calling for protests.

Human Rights Watch also called for measures to restore judicial independence, which it said was weakened after a 2004 reform under then-President Hugo Chavez, and reiterated its demand for Saab’s removal, saying his continued tenure is incompatible with meaningful reform.

The group further urged steps to ensure free and fair elections, including a review of the National Electoral Council, the body responsible for organizing elections, whose members backed Maduro’s reelection and blocked opposition candidacies such as Maria Corina Machado.

Human Rights Watch said only sustained structural reforms will allow a credible political transition and full restoration of human rights in Venezuela.

Feb. 18 (UPI) — Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is expected to testify Wednesday in a trial that will decide if his social media platforms and YouTube intentionally harmed children and teens.

The lawsuit in Los Angeles was filed by a 20-year-old woman called KGM in the suit and her mother, Karen Glenn, who claim the platforms damaged her mental health as a child. It’s the first in a group of lawsuits brought by 1,600 parents, teens and school districts who allege that when teens are addicted to the platforms, they suffer from depression, self-harm, eating disorders and more.

KGM, also known as Kaley in the suit, began using YouTube at age 6 and Instagram at 9, said her lawyer, Mark Lanier. Despite her mother’s efforts to mitigate her social media use, Kaley sometimes used Instagram for “several hours a day.” The app’s addictive features led her to develop anxiety, body dysmorphia and suicidal thoughts, she alleges. She was also the victim of bullying and sextortion.

A Meta spokesperson said the company strongly disagrees with the allegations.

“The question for the jury in Los Angeles is whether Instagram was a substantial factor in the plaintiff’s mental health struggles,” CNN reported a Meta spokesperson said in a statement. “The evidence will show she faced many significant, difficult challenges well before she ever used social media.”

The company said it is “confident the evidence will show our longstanding commitment to supporting young people.”

Plaintiffs’ lawyers in the cases say internal documents at the companies stress the goal of making apps difficult to put down like infinite scroll, auto-play, likes, beauty filters and push notifications.

“These companies built machines designed to addict the brains of children,” lawyer Mark Lanier said in his opening statements, NPR reported. “And they did it on purpose.”

The trial is in state court, which means there only needs to be nine of the 12 jurors in agreement. If Kaley and her mother win, it could lead to settlements in the other cases.

Feb. 17 (UPI) — Human rights experts from the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner expressed concern about the possible link between Guatemala’s attorney general, Consuelo Porras, and alleged illegal adoptions of disappeared Indigenous children.

According to investigators, led by Special Rapporteur Margaret Satterthwaite, the adoptions would have occurred between 1968 and 1996 during Guatemala’s armed conflict — a period marked by human rights violations that particularly affected Indigenous communities.

The allegations refer particularly to 1982, when Porras headed the Elisa Martínez Temporary Home and allegedly acted as the “legal guardian” of minors who were later placed in irregular international adoptions.

“We are particularly concerned that a prompt, thorough, independent and impartial investigation has not been carried out into the alleged involvement of certain state authorities in these processes and that the mothers affected by these illegal adoptions have apparently received neither recognition nor adequate reparations,” the U.N. experts said in a statement.

The Elisa Martínez Home operated as a center under the Directorate of Child and Family Welfare with the authority to oversee national and international adoptions.

Once children entered the home, the director or person in charge became their legal guardian, allowing them to process adoption proceedings in Guatemala and abroad under the adoption regulations in force at the time, Prensa Libre reported.

The controversy arose as Porras sought to become a magistrate of the Constitutional Court, the country’s highest court, once her term at the Public Ministry ends in May.

According to analysts, the attorney general was seeking refuge in the high court to obtain the protection granted by immunity, and submitted her candidacy to the Superior University Council of the University of San Carlos of Guatemala, digital outlet LaHora.gt reported.

However, after the report was made public, the university excluded her from the list of candidates for the court, determining that she did not meet the requirements of suitability and integrity.

The Public Ministry reacted strongly to the U.N. report. In an official statement, it described the allegations as “spurious, malicious and biased,” arguing they are based on unverified information intended to interfere in the country’s sovereign processes.

In a post on X, Porras rejected the accusations against her as “false and politically instrumentalized.” She said they lack evidentiary support and “are completely malicious, and far from protecting human rights, they violate and distort them.”

Porras’ defense maintains that her role at the Elisa Martínez Temporary Home was administrative and that she had no legal authority over the final destination of the minors. The attorney general also announced she is weighing legal action against the U.N. experts, arguing that her presumption of innocence has been violated.

While the experts insist on the need for independent and thorough investigations, Porras maintains that she is facing “international political persecution” aimed at weakening her position at the head of the Public Ministry.

Consuelo Porras was appointed in 2018 and ratified in 2022 as attorney general and head of Guatemala’s Public Ministry. Although her mandate is focused on criminal prosecution, her tenure has been internationally questioned and sanctioned by more than 40 countries, including the United States and the European Union, over allegations of corruption and undermining democracy.

Porras has been accused of using the justice system as a political weapon to protect corruption networks and pursue independent prosecutors, judges and journalists, triggering repeated citizen protests that demand her resignation.

After the election of President Bernardo Arévalo in 2023, the Public Ministry under Porras initiated a series of legal actions to attempt to annul the election results and cancel the ruling party, Semilla.

Since Arévalo took office, the relationship between him and Porras has been marked by constant confrontation.

Arévalo has sought legal mechanisms and legislative reforms to remove her, while Porras has refused to attend Cabinet summonses and has kept multiple investigations open against the president’s inner circle, generating institutional paralysis and a deep political crisis in the country.

Feb. 17 (UPI) — The Venezuelan government on Tuesday released Evanan Romero, a Venezuelan-American oil consultant detained four days earlier at the Maracaibo airport, without a judicial warrant or formal charges publicly announced.

Romero, 86, a Venezuelan with U.S. citizenship, was detained by authorities under Delcy Rodríguez’s government while attempting to travel from Maracaibo to Caracas, where he had scheduled a series of meetings with companies in the oil sector.

After an initial detention, Romero spent the first night at Interpol facilities at the airport. The next day, due to his advanced age and medical condition, authorities authorized his transfer to a private clinic in Maracaibo, where he remained under guard, local outlet Efecto Cocuyo reported.

The release occurred without official statements from the government. Local journalists and media outlets, such as Spain’s ABC, reported Romero’s detention.

“I’ve been here since Friday,” the expert said from a private clinic, while guards remained in an adjacent room.

Romero had planned to meet with the local management of Repsol and to participate in a videoconference with Reliance’s leadership in India to discuss a possible return to oil blocks in the Orinoco Belt.

He also had meetings scheduled with investors interested in the energy stabilization phase that would reportedly be coordinated from Washington after the capture of President Nicolás Maduro in a U.S. military operation Jan. 3.

The consultant had arrived in Venezuela from Panama, with a stop in Colombia, intending to visit a relative before traveling to the capital.

In statements to ABC, Romero said his detention could be linked to a past administrative dispute related to a family investment, which he said was resolved in his favor by the Supreme Court of Justice.

No Venezuelan authority has publicly confirmed that or provided details about the case.

Romero is part of a committee of about 400 former state-owned oil company Petróleos de Venezuela technicians and executives dedicated to developing proposals for rebuilding the energy sector under a future government, Infobae reported.

He has maintained contacts with U.S. oil companies such as Exxon and ConocoPhillips, and his name has appeared in discussions about compensation for expropriated assets and the opening of new blocks, the publication added.

Romero is considered a veteran expert in Venezuela’s oil sector, with more than six decades of experience. He served on the board of PDVSA, since the 1960s, with responsibilities in operational oversight, capital projects and maritime operations.

He later served as president and chief executive officer of Grupo Asesor Petrolero Venezolano LLC, a firm specializing in reservoir performance studies, reserves evaluation, thermal recovery of heavy crude and basin master development plans.

He has also been affiliated with the Harvard Electricity Policy Group at Harvard University.

The detention occurred just days after the visit to Caracas by U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright at a time when the White House has intensified pressure for the release of political prisoners and reiterated that reconstruction of the oil sector will depend on clear legal and political guarantees.

President Donald Trump has publicly argued that major U.S. companies should invest billions of dollars to repair deteriorated infrastructure and restore production.

Feb. 17 (UPI) — Officials for Germany-based Bayer have agreed to pay $7.25 billion to settle a class action filed by those who say its Roundup weedkiller caused them or their loved ones to develop cancer.

The proposed settlement would create a fund to pay for existing and future claims filed by those who say the weed killer caused non-Hodgkin lymphoma, which is blood cancer that forms in the body’s lymphatic system – most often in the lymph nodes — and spreads to other organs.

Bayer filed the proposed settlement in the city of St. Louis Circuit Court on Tuesday that also would include a separate Durnell case that is before the Supreme Court.

“The proposed class settlement agreement, together with the Supreme Court case, provides an essential path out of the litigation uncertainty and enables us to devote our full attention to furthering the innovations that lie at the core of our mission: Health for all, Hunger for none,” said Bayer Chief Executive Officer Bill Anderson.

“This litigation and the resulting cost underscore the need for guidance from the Supreme Court on clear regulation in American agriculture.”

“The class settlement and Supreme Court case are both necessary to help bring the strongest, most certain and most timely containment to this litigation.”

Bayer subsidiary Monsanto produces the popularly used Roundup weedkiller and will make annual payments into the settlement fund over the next 21 years.

Monsanto officials do not admit to any wrongdoing and said they agreed to the settlement to end the tens of thousands of lawsuits filed against it and stop more from being filed.

The settlement applies to those who say they were exposed to Roundup before Tuesday and who have a medical diagnosis of non-Hodgkin lymphoma or are diagnosed with it within 16 years of the proposed settlement gaining final approval.

Feb. 17 (UPI) — Officials for Fulton County, Ga., said in a filing Tuesday that the Department of Justice lied to get a warrant to raid and seize 2020 election materials from the county’s elections office.

The officials say President Donald Trump‘s former campaign attorney, Kurt Olsen, orchestrated the search and seizure by the FBI that happened on Jan. 18 at the Fulton County Elections Hub and Operation Center.

“The affidavit admits that the entire ‘criminal investigation originated from a referral sent by Kurt Olsen,’ but it conceals the fact that multiple courts have sanctioned Olsen for his unsubstantiated, speculative claims about elections,” the officials said in an amended motion filed Tuesday.

County officials want the Justice Department to return seized election ballots, voter rolls, digital ballot images and tabulator tapes that are related to the county’s certification of the 2020 presidential election.

“Instead of alleging probable cause to believe a crime has been committed,” the county officials say the Justice Department’s application “does nothing more than describe the types of human errors that its own sources confirm occur in almost every election — with no wrongdoing whatsoever.”

The FBI did not tell the magistrate judge who approved the search warrant that the claims made against Fulton County election officials already had been investigated and debunked, county officials said in their newest filing.

The federal lawsuit was filed on Sunday in the U.S. District Court of Northern Georgia by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Georgia Coalition for the People’s Agenda, the NAACP and Atlanta and Georgia State Conference branches of the NAACP.

They want to stop the Trump administration from using the voter records to purge voters, improperly disclose information or intimidate or dox voters.

Feb. 17 (UPI) — The DNA on a glove found Nancy Guthrie’s home was not a match to anyone in the federal DNA database, police said Tuesday.

Guthrie, 84, is the mother of Today show host Savannah Guthrie. She has been missing from her home since Jan. 31 and was reported missing after she failed to show up the next morning to watch a live stream of a church service at a friend’s house.

“We’re hopeful that we’re always getting closer, but the news now, I think, is we had heard this morning that, of course, the DNA on the glove that was found two miles away was submitted for CODIS. And I just heard that CODIS had no hits,” Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos told KARE 11 News.

The glove DNA was sent through the Combined DNA Index System, which is managed by the FBI. CODIS is a national DNA database that has more than 19 million profiles of offenders.

“There is additional DNA evidence that was found at the residence, and that is also being analyzed,” Nanos said.

There were about 16 gloves found near Guthrie’s home, and most of the gloves belonged to searchers who discarded them while in the area.

Investigators are also reviewing evidence taken via two search warrants from last week, CNN reported the sheriff said. All those detained for questioning have been released, Nanos said.

Police are “canvassing businesses and showing the doorbell video released by the FBI to determine whether the suspect appears familiar,” the sheriff’s department said in response to questions about gun shops.

On Monday, police confirmed that no members of Guthrie’s family are suspects and that the family have been “100 percent cooperative” in the investigation.

“Not one single person in the family is a suspect,” Nanos said. “Effective today, you guys need to knock it off. Quit. People are hurting — they are victims.”

He added that police took their phones and computers, and processed their vehicles and homes.

Feb. 17 (UPI) — Spanish authorities plan to investigate social media giants X, Meta and TikTok over the distribution of child sex abuse materials on their respective social media platforms, the government announced Tuesday.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said there is a pending investigation by state prosecutors into the alleged spread of artificial intelligence-generated material.

“These platforms are jeopardizing the mental health, dignity and rights of our sons and daughters,” Sanchez said in a translated post on X.

“The state cannot allow this,” he said. “The impunity of the giants must end.”

The Spanish government said it is looking at options for holding tech firms accountable for “potential criminal liability of increasingly widespread practices in the digital environment, such as the generation and dissemination of sexual content and child sexual abuse through deepfakes and the manipulation of real images to create others with explicit sexual content, thereby undermining the dignity of the victims,” as reported by The Guardian.

A recently produced report suggested that social media platforms enable the creation and rapid distribution of offensive content that enables their makers to elude detection and potential criminal prosecution.

Meanwhile, the respective social media sites profit from such activities, officials said.

Sanchez said Spain’s Council of Ministers will invoke Article 8 of the Organic Statute of the Public Ministry to ask it to investigate the alleged crimes that the three tech firms might be committing via the creation and distribution of AI-generated child sexual abuse materials using their respective AI tools.

The Spanish probe into the social media giants arose after French authorities raided X’s offices in Paris over similar accusations, but X officials there have denied any wrongdoing.

X recently added Grok AI, which is the creation of Elon Musk’s xAI artificial intelligence company. Musk also owns X.

TikTok offers AI tools, while Meta AI is integrated into Meta’s Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp platforms.

The issue raises the matter of free speech laws in the European Union and the United States.

Ireland’s Data Protection Commission is among European regulatory bodies leading the European Commission’s inquiry into X over the use of the Grok AI tool to generate deepfake and sexualized images of real people, including children.

The investigation is to determine if X is complying with European laws regarding personal data and how algorithms might protect lawbreakers.

Feb. 17 (UPI) — The European Commission announced Tuesday that it has opened formal proceedings against online retailer Shein “for its addictive design, the lack of transparency of recommender systems, as well as the sale of illegal products, including child sexual abuse material.”

The Commission said in a press release it was specifically investigating: the systems Shein has to limit the sale of illegal products in the European Union; risks linked to the addictive design of the service and the systems to mitigate those risks; and transparency of the recommender systems that it uses to propose content and products to users.

Under the Digital Services Act, Shein must disclose the parameters used in its recommender systems and it must provide users with at least one easily accessible option that is not based on profiling for each recommender system, the release said. The EU said it found that Shein only explained its recommender “in a very general manner.”

“In the EU, illegal products are prohibited — whether they are on a store shelf or on an online marketplace,” Henna Virkkunen, executive vice president for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, in a statement. “The Digital Services Act keeps shoppers safe, protects their wellbeing and empowers them with information about the algorithms they are interacting with. We will assess whether Shein is respecting these rules and their responsibility.”

If the investigation finds that Shein has broken EU law, Brussels can impose interim measures, accept binding commitments from Shein or give a non-compliance decision that could lead to large fines, EuroNews reported.

Shein released a statement saying it always “cooperates fully” with the Commission and the Coimisiún na Meán, the Digital Services Coordinator for Ireland involved in the investigation.

“Over the last few months, we have continued to invest significantly in measures to strengthen our compliance with the DSA. These include comprehensive systemic-risk assessments and mitigation frameworks, enhanced protections for younger users, and ongoing work to design our services in ways that promote a safe and trusted user experience,” Shein said in the statement. “Protecting minors and reducing the risk of harmful content and behaviors are central to how we develop and operate our platform. We share the authorities’ objective of ensuring a safe and trusted online environment and will continue to engage constructively.”

The retailer has recently come under fire in France because, in November, it was found to be selling weapons and sex dolls designed to look like young children. Around the same time, Shein opened its first brick-and-mortar shop in Paris to protests for its sale of the dolls and its environmental impact.

Singapore-based Shein issued a statement on Nov. 4 saying it had removed the dolls and permanently banned “all seller accounts linked to illegal or non-compliant sex-doll products.”

A Shein spokesperson said in December that the platform would not reopen in France right away. It was doing an internal audit to find weaknesses in its marketplace operations.

Feb. 16 (UPI) — Ryan Routh, who was convicted of attempting to kill then-former President Donald Trump, has filed an appeal of his life sentence and his conviction.

Routh, 60, was convicted of hiding in the bushes at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach in September 2024. He pointed a military-grade SKS rifle toward Trump, who was then a candidate running for his second term, and a Secret Service agent.

He defended himself in the trial that ended in September. When the verdict was read, he stabbed himself in the neck with a pen.

Routh was given an attorney for the sentencing portion of his trial. That attorney, Martin L. Roth, filed a notice Friday with the U.S. Court of Appeals stating that Routh will fight the conviction and his sentence, ordered Feb. 4. Routh was sentenced to life plus seven years.

He was convicted in October of all five charges of attempting to assassinate a major presidential candidate, assaulting a federal officer, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, and possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number.

Secret Service agent Robert Fercano testified that Routh hid behind a shrub-covered fence near the sixth hole of the course, aiming an AK-style weapon at Trump. Routh was found with a handwritten note that stated his intention to kill Trump.

Routh argued that he had a right to peacefully protest at the golf course.

“This is as far [from] peaceful assembly as you can imagine,” Assistant U.S. Attorney John Shipley responded. “Peaceful protest is one thing. An assassination attempt is another.”

Prosecutors said in a court filing that Routh deserved a life sentence.

“Routh’s crimes undeniably warrant a life sentence — he took steps over the course of months to assassinate a major presidential candidate, demonstrated the will to kill anybody in the way, and has since expressed neither regret nor remorse to his victims.”

Routh’s attorney argued that his conviction was faulty.

“Defendant recognizes that he was found guilty by the jury but asserts that the jury was misled by his inability to effectively confront witnesses, use exhibits, or affirmatively introduce impeachment evidence designed to prove his lack of intent to cause injury to anyone,” Roth wrote.

Feb. 16 (UPI) — Several civil rights groups are suing the Trump administration to prohibit it from misusing voter information that it seized from Fulton County, Ga., last month.

The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Georgia Coalition for the People’s Agenda, the NAACP and Atlanta and Georgia State Conference branches of the NAACP filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia on Sunday.

They seek to block the Trump administration from using the voting records to purge voters from the rolls, improperly disclose information, dox or intimidate voters.

“We have very serious concerns about what the Trump administration could do with the voting records of thousands of people from Fulton County,” Robert Weiner, director of the voting rights project at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, said in a statement.

“When people registered to vote, they did not sign up for the release of their private information and social security numbers, especially not to politicians and their loyalists bent on advancing debunked conspiracy theories.”

The FBI raided the Fulton County elections office in Union City, Ga., on Jan. 28, and commandeered sensitive voter information from the 2020 general election. The lawsuit alleges that this included personal data and documents that could identify who voted for a particular candidate.

About 700 boxes of ballots were taken from the elections office as well as other materials related to the election.

FBI agents executed a warrant at the direction of the White House, a warrant affidavit revealed.

President Donald Trump has maintained that the 2020 presidential election was “stolen” and he was the true winner, despite numerous court decisions striking down his claims.

Trump’s claims have continued since his return to the White House, as well as broader claims of election fraud. He has called for elections to be “nationalized” in recent weeks, saying Republicans should “take over” elections in “at least maybe 15 places.”

Feb. 16 (UPI) — The lone surviving suspect in the Bondi Beach shooting, in which 15 Jewish people were killed and 40 were injured, made his first court appearance in Sydney on Monday on murder and terrorism charges.

Naveed Akram, 24, appeared in court via video-link from Goulburn supermax prison to face 59 charges related to the Dec. 14 attack on a gathering to celebrate the Jewish festival of Hanukkah, including 15 counts of murder and one of carrying out a terror attack.

Akram is accused of carrying out the attack alongside his 50-year-old father, Sajid Arkram, who was shot dead at the scene by police who also shot Naveed, seriously injuring him.

Naveed Akram did not enter a plea and was asked only to confirm he understood the extension of a court order suppressing the identities of survivors of the attack who do not wish to be named in court.

After the brief hearing at Sydney’s Downing Center Local Court, criminal defense attorney Ben Archbold refused to answer questions as to how his client would plead, saying it was too early to say.

Court documents detail several videos, including one taken on one of their mobile phones in which the pair are allegedly seen undergoing firearms training at a rural location somewhere in New South Wales. Police allege the footage shows them “firing shotguns and moving in a tactical manner.”

Another video on Naveed Akram’s phone shows the pair allegedly posing with an Islamic State flag and long-arm firearms, in which they are allegedly heard making “a number of statements regarding their motivation for the Bondi attack and condemning the acts of ‘Zionists.'”

The documents allege the attack was “meticulously” planned over a period of months with CCTV footage also showing the pair carrying out a reconnaissance mission to Bondi on Dec. 12, in which they scoped out the footbridge from which they are alleged to have opened fire on around 1,000 people gathered in Archer Park two days later.

The pair is also alleged to have thrown several IEDs at the crowd, including a “tennis ball bomb,” but none of them detonated, according to the court documents.

Naveed and Sajid Akram spent most of November in an area of the southern Philippines known for Islamist militants, but authorities have said their investigations thus far indicate they acted alone and did not receive training or “logistical preparation” assistance there, as originally feared.

Naveed Akram is next scheduled to appear in court in April.

Feb. 16 (UPI) — Savannah Guthrie urged the person who allegedly kidnapped her mother to “do the right thing” as the search for Nancy Guthrie continues into its third week.

In a brief video posted to Instagram on Sunday, the Today show host said she wanted to say publicly that she and her family “still have hope” that their mother is still alive and that she wanted to tell whoever has the 84-year-old woman that there is still time to return her.

“I wanted to say to whoever has her or knows where she is that it’s never too late,” she said. “And you’re not lost or alone and it’s never too late to do the right thing. And we are here. We believe. And we believe in the essential goodness of every human being. And it’s never too late.”

Nancy Guthrie was last seen the night of Jan. 31 and was reported missing the next day after she failed to arrive at a friend’s house to watch an online stream of a church service.

Authorities have released images of a person captured tampering with the doorbell of Nancy Guthrie’s Tucson, Ariz., home. They have offered a $100,000 reward for information that leads to the woman’s recovery.

Late last week, authorities said DNA that does not belong to Nancy Guthrie or anyone close to her was discovered at her home, and that investigators were working to identify who it belongs to.

The FBI said in a statement the DNA was retrieved from one of about 16 gloves collected by investigators near Nancy Guthrie’s house.

The glove that contained the unknown DNA appears to match the gloves worn by the subject seen in the doorbell footage, according to the FBI.

Feb. 15 (UPI) — The Department of Justice said in a letter to Congress that it has released all the files related to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The letter, sent to lawmakers on Saturday night, also included the names of more than 300 “politically exposed persons” who are mentioned in the overall Epstein files, which includes former presidents, politicians, business people and artists.

Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General sent the letter to inform the leaders of the House and Senate judiciary committees — Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Reps. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Jamie Raskin, D-Md. — that it has completed its review and release of the appropriate records related to Epstein.

The six-page letter is meant to confirm that the department has “released all ‘records, documents, communications and investigative materials'” in its possession, and includes lists of categories of records that have been released and withheld, a summary and basis for redactions, and a list of all government officials and politically exposed people in the documents that DOJ has released.

Congress in December passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act to require the Justice Department to release all unclassified records in a searchable and downloadable format.

While its deadline was Dec. 19, the department did not release the records until January, and when it did so, it was in a single release of a database that, while searchable, was not well-organized and or carefully redacted — including with the publication of the names of Epstein’s victims.

Congress has also been permitted to review unredacted versions of the documents.

The letter comes days after Bondi was grilled by members of both parties in a Congressional hearing that included shouting matches between the attorney general and some members of the committee holding the hearing.

Among the several hundred names included in Saturday’s letter are “all persons” whose names appear at least once in the released Epstein documents, Bondi and Blanche wrote.

“Names appear in the files released under the Act in a wide variety of contexts,” they wrote. “For example, some individuals had extensive direct email contact with Epstein or [Ghislaine] Maxwell while other individuals are mentioned only in a portion of a document, including press reporting, that on its face is unrelated to the Epstein and Maxwell matters.”

Among the names are Beyonce, Bill Cosby, Fidel Castro, Bruce Springsteen, Alyssa Milano and Diana Ross, Ben Shapiro and a host of other politicians, artists and business people and their spouses.

Feb. 15 (UPI) — The U.S. military intercepted an oil tanker overnight that was linked to Venezuela after tracking it from the Caribbean into the Indian Ocean.

The tanker, the Veronica III, was boarded without incident late Saturday night in the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command area of responsibility after it attempted to outrun the Trump administration’s naval blockade in the Caribbean, the Department of Defense announced early Sunday.

The United States has now intercepted or seized nine oil tankers associated with Venezuela since Dec. 10 when the administration started enforcing a blockade on oil tankers leaving the South American nation to pressure it’s president, Nicolas Maduro, to leave power.

After the U.S. military captured Maduro in a clandestine early morning mission in January, several tankers scattered from the country, according to reports.

“The vessel tried to defy President Trump’s quarantine — hoping to slip away,” the Pentagon said in a post on X. “We tracked it from the Caribbean to the Indian Ocean, closed the distance and shut it down. No other nation has the reach, endurance or will to do this.”

The Veronica III, flagged in Panama, has previously been linked with transporting sanctioned Iranian oil and working with a sanctioned Chinese ship-management company, Fox News reported.

The tanker was sanctioned by the U.S. Department of the Treasury for shipping Iranian oil to other markets and has since used different names and flags in order to evade capture.

At least 16 tankers docked in Venezuelan ports tried to escape the U.S. naval blockade in the days after Maduro’s capture, the New York Times reported, with at least 12 of them turning off their transmission signals in the effort.

Feb. 13 (UPI) — Brazilian authorities have ordered that Elon Musk’s platform, X, must implement measures to prevent its artificial intelligence tool, Grok, from generating sexualized content involving minors and involving adults without consent.

The case is being reviewed by Brazil’s National Data Protection Authority, the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office and the National Consumer Secretariat. The agencies contend that, despite prior warnings, the social network failed to show effective action to curb these practices.

“X must immediately implement appropriate measures to prevent the production, through Grok, of sexualized or eroticized content involving children and adolescents, as well as adults who have not expressed their consent,” Brazilian authorities said in a joint statement.

The agencies gave the platform five days to comply with the determination, under penalty of fines and legal action.

On Jan. 20, the agencies recommended that X establish, within up to 30 days, technical and operational procedures to identify, review and remove sexualized content generated by Grok that remained available on the social network. That deadline co-existed with the requirement to adopt immediate actions to prevent new posts.

The company said at the time that it had removed thousands of posts and suspended hundreds of accounts for violating its policies.

However, Brazilian authorities said the information provided “was not accompanied by concrete evidence, technical reports or monitoring mechanisms that would allow its effectiveness to be assessed.”

Tests conducted by technical teams indicated that the platform still allows the generation and sharing of sexualized or eroticized images of minors and adults without authorization.

Since late last year, thousands of complaints in several countries have alleged that Grok responds to requests to alter photographs posted by women on social media, making them appear nude or in bikinis. At least two Brazilian women have reported being victims of these deepfakes.

The Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office ordered X to submit monthly reports on the actions taken to prevent the production of these images and pointed to a lack of transparency in the company’s response.

The National Data Protection Authority also required the platform to detail the measures implemented and provide evidence that can be verified by authorities.

The new five-business-day deadline requires the company to explain what specific actions it will take to prevent Grok from creating this type of content. The official document does not specify when clock began.

If the order is not met, the company could face fines and other administrative sanctions. Those responsible could also be prosecuted for disobedience.

The Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office said it could open broader investigations that may lead to legal action to seek damages for harm caused by the creation and dissemination of these images.

The case adds to investigations in Europe. On Feb. 3, the Paris Prosecutor’s Office searched Grok’s offices as part of a preliminary investigation into the alleged dissemination of child pornography and deepfakes. Authorities in the United Kingdom and the European Union are also examining Grok’s use to manipulate images.

Grok is developed by xAI, Musk’s artificial intelligence company, which also controls X. Earlier this month, the entrepreneur announced the merger of xAI with SpaceX, his aerospace company. SpaceX is expected to debut on the New York Stock Exchange later this year.

Feb. 13 (UPI) — The Department of Justice sued Harvard University on Friday for failing to hand over documents for an investigation into whether its admissions process discriminates against white people.

The Justice Department said its investigation is to determine if the Ivy League school is complying with the 2023 Supreme Court decision to ban affirmative action in higher education admissions. The investigation was launched in April and was to determine if the school’s admissions process for its undergraduate, law and medical schools follows the decision.

Harvard has said it follows the Supreme Court ruling.

“Under President [Donald] Trump’s leadership, this Department of Justice is demanding better from our nation’s educational institutions,” The Hill reported Attorney General Pam Bondi said. “Harvard has failed to disclose the data we need to ensure that its admissions are free of discrimination — we will continue fighting to put merit over DEI [diversity, equity and inclusion] across America.”

The university responded that it is responding to the government according to the law.

“Harvard has been responding to the government’s inquiries in good faith and continues to be willing to engage with the government according to the process required by law,” a Harvard spokesperson said. “The University will continue to defend itself against these retaliatory actions which have been initiated simply because Harvard refused to surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights in response to unlawful government overreach.”

The Trump administration had been working with Harvard to arrange a deal after the administration was seeking $500 million and reforms from the school, to end the pressure campaign, which included a freeze on more than $2 billion in funding, a civil rights investigation and regulatory changes.

On Feb. 2, The New York Times published a story that said Trump had agreed to drop a demand for $200 million to finalize the deal. That night, Trump made a series of posts on Truth Social saying he wanted a criminal investigation of the university and increased the demand to $1 billion.

On Feb. 7, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced that the Pentagon would end its academic partnership with Harvard, calling it a “woke” institution that is not welcoming to the U.S. military.

Feb. 13 (UPI) — Peter Murrell, the former CEO of the Scottish National Party, has been accused of embezzling more than $626,000 over a 12-year period, an indictment made public Friday indicates.

Murrell, 61, is expected to appear in a preliminary hearing at Glasgow’s High Court in Edinburgh on May 25. He is accused of embezzling the funds from the political party’s accounts Aug. 12, 2010, through Jan. 13, 2023.

He initially had a preliminary hearing scheduled on Feb. 20 in Glasgow, but the court and date were changed.

A police investigation dubbed Operation Branchform led to Murrell’s arrest in 2023, and he was charged in April 2024.

Prosecutors allege that Murrell used the funds to buy a motorhome, two vehicles, jewelry, luxury items and cosmetics, as initially reported by The Scottish Sun.

He faces eight charges that accuse him of embezzlement and falsifying documents to hide the alleged theft.

Police say the largest expenditure was $169,911 on the motorhome for his personal use. He allegedly created false documents that indicated the purchase was for the political party.

He also is accused of using party funds to buy a Jaguar I-PACE car in 2019, for which prosecutors say he submitted a false invoice to hide the purchase.

Investigators said Murrell sold the vehicle in 2021 and deposited the proceeds into his personal bank account.

Murrell’s ex-wife, Nicola Sturgeon, is not accused of any wrongdoing. The former first minister and SNP party leader announced their divorce on Jan. 13, 2025, ending their 15-year marriage.

Feb. 14 (UPI) — Two Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are on administrative leave after investigators said evidence does not match their stories after one shot a Venezuelan man in Minneapolis.

The suspended agents’ names have not been released, and they might be fired and charged with crimes for allegedly lying about the circumstances leading up to the shooting on the night of Jan. 14 after investigators with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota finish their review of the incident.

“A joint review by ICE and the Department of Justice of video evidence has revealed that sworn testimony provided by two separate officers appears to have made untruthful statements,” McLaughlin said in an email to Fox News Digital.

“Both officers have been immediately placed on administrative leave pending the completion of a thorough internal investigation,” she said, while referring to the agents’ statements as “false.”

An ICE agent shot Sosa-Celis in the thigh after he allegedly fled an attempted traffic stop and eventually exited his vehicle at an apartment complex.

The agent and Sosa-Celis were treated at a nearby hospital, and Sosa-Celis, Aljorna and Gabriel Alejandro Hernandez-Ledezma were arrested.

U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen on Thursday filed a motion to dismiss criminal charges filed against Julia Cesar Sosa-Celis and Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna, both of whom are Venezuelan and were accused of beating a pursuing ICE agent with a snow shovel and the handle of a broom.

The agents’ statements were “materially inconsistent” with evidence that recently was discovered, Rosen said.

A federal judge agreed and granted the motion to dismiss on Friday.

Feb. 14 (UPI) — Investigators announced finding DNA evidence on the property of Nancy Guthrie’s Tucson home that does not belong to her or anyone close to her, in addition to impounding a Range Rover SUV on Saturday.

No arrests have been made in the case two weeks since Guthrie, 84, was reported missing from her Tucson home, but investigators worked from Friday night into the early morning hours on Saturday after discovering the DNA sample on her property.

A Pima County Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman on Friday confirmed the DNA discovery but said they do not know to whom it belongs.

“Investigators are working to identify who it belongs to,” the sheriff’s department acknowledged, while declining to reveal where it was found.

Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos confirmed “law enforcement activity” was underway at 11:47 p.m. MST Friday at a home near Guthrie’s in the Catalina Foothills and at the home of her older daughter and her husband.

Nearby roads were closed for four hours while investigators were in the area and reopened early Saturday morning.

Investigators also were seen examining a gray Range Rover SUV at a nearby Culver’s restaurant and towed it away after sealing its rear liftgate.

The sheriff’s department said an update on the matter would be made soon.

While the investigation continues, Nanos denied reports accusing the sheriff’s department of withholding evidence from the FBI.

“That’s absolutely crazy,” he told a Fox News reporter on Friday.

“We don’t withhold information from anybody that’s going to help us,” he said. “Why would we do that? There are no egos here. This is all about finding Nancy.”

He said local investigators and FBI agents are working closely together and invited the reporter to see for himself.

“They are there every minute of the day,” Nanos said. “They want to find her.”

The FBI earlier in the week doubled its reward to $100,000 for information leading to Guthrie’s location and said the suspect is a male who is between 5 feet, 9 inches and 5 feet, 10 inches tall.

The suspect was wearing an Ozark Trails backpack when Guthrie’s doorbell camera recorded his actions on her porch on the morning that she went missing.

Guthrie is the mother of NBC Today host Savannah Guthrie.

Feb. 13 (UPI) — A grand jury on Friday indicted Terrell Storey for murder and on 58 other charges after allegedly causing the deaths of two troopers when their police helicopter crashed in Flagstaff, Ariz.

Storey, 50, faces two counts of first-degree felony murder and 58 other felony charges in the Coconino County Superior Court arising from the deaths of Department of Public Safety trooper and paramedic Hunter Bennett and DPS helicopter pilot Robert Skankey.

“Our hearts remain with the families of Hunter Bennett and Robert Skankey, and with all the families impacted by this incident,” Coconino County attorney Ammon Barker said in a prepared statement.

“We are committed to pursuing this case with the diligence and care it requires,” Barker added.

Storey is accused of using a rifle to shoot at the helicopter while he jumped from rooftop to rooftop and exchanged gunfire with local police.

Skankey and Bennett died when their police helicopter crashed while assisting Flagstaff police in responding to an active shooter on the night of Feb. 4.

The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board were investigating the cause of the crash and a fire that broke out after the helicopter struck the ground.

Storey also faces charges related to several other alleged victims, including 25 police officers and the residents of several homes in a neighborhood that is located north of Route 66 and between Thompson Road and Mark Lane.

The incident started at about 8:30 p.m. MST and continued for 2 hours before Storey was shot and arrested.