Law and Crime

March 19 (UPI) — The Federal Bureau of Investigation took down two websites that belong to an Iran-linked hacker group after it staged a global cyberattack on an American medical equipment company last week.

Two websites used by the group Handala — one that contained information about its hacks and the other used to dox people it alleges work with the Israeli military and related companies — were pulled down by the FBI on Thursday, NBC News and Techcrunch reported.

Handala was behind a “wiper attack” on the medical device maker Stryker’s computer system on March 11, which it said was in retaliation for a deadly strike on the Shajareh Tayyiba girls school in Minab, Iran.

“Law enforcement authorities determined this domain was used to conduct, facilitate, or support malicious cyber activities on behalf of, or in coordination with, a foreign state actor,” a message left on both websites by the FBI said.

Portage, Mich.-based Stryker, which employs 50,000 people worldwide and manufactures a variety of medical devices, including orthopedic implants, surgical instruments and imaging systems, was forced to shut down for the day because of the global attack.

The attack affected the company’s internal Microsoft corporate environment and was not a ransomware attack, it said four days after the attack, after determining that no malware had been installed and the system was able to be restored.

Handala, which has been active since Oct. 7, 2023, is believed to be linked to Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security, American and Israeli cyber security experts have said.

The group is thought to have attacked Stryker because it was awarded a $450 million contract by the Department of Defense last year, and said at the time that the attack specifically was in response to the U.S. bombing of the school.

Handala acknowledged on Telegram that its websites were no longer under its control, and said that the “aggressive action reveals the extent to which the enemies of truth will go to silence voices that unveil their atrocities.”

“To all truth-seekers and defenders of justice, we inform you that the Handala RedWanted website, which was dedicated to exposing Zionist crimes and raising global awareness, has also been seized and taken offline by order of the FBI,” Handala said, noting that a new website is under construction.

In the wake of the attack, experts have told UPI it should be a wake-up call for a wide swatch of U.S. companies that may have similar gaps in security, especially because rather than demanding ransom, the purpose of this attack was to destroy information and wreak havoc.

March 19 (UPI) — A 20-year-old student from University of Alabama reported missing in Barcelona, Spain, after an evening at a nightclub was found dead Thursday, authorities announced.

Barcelona police said the body of James “Jimmy” Gracey of Elmhurst, Ill., was found on Somorrostro beach near the Shoko Barcelona nightclub where he was last seen, a representative from the Barcelona police said in a statement to CNN.

“Everything points to it being an accident, not a criminal act,” the statement said.

CBS News reported slightly different details about where Gracey’s body was found, saying authorities recovered his body after sending out boats, divers and drones to search the sea.

The El Periódico newspaper in Spain reported that sources told them Gracey’s wallet was found floating in the sea, but officials have not confirmed it.

Gracey traveled to Spain for spring break to visit friends studying abroad. His family said he visited Shoko Barcelona, a nightclub near the Villa Olimpica area, Monday and disappeared early Tuesday morning after being separated from his friends at the club.

The family said he was last seen wearing a white T-shirt, dark pants that were likely joggers and a gold chain with a rhinestone cross. He is 6 feet 1 inches tall and about 175 pounds.

Gracey’s family released a statement after news of his discovery was released.

“We are so grateful for the kindness and concern that has been shown for our family during this incredibly difficult time,” the statement read. “We have made the decision to pause media interviews at this time to focus on being together and caring for one another. Thank you for respecting our privacy and holding our family in your thoughts.

Before his body was found, Gracey’s aunt, Beth Marren O’Reilly, told NBC News that his “parents got a phone call that his phone was picked up, and that’s what drove them to be worried.”

Shoko Nightclub told CBS News Chicago that it has given the security video of that night to local police.

Cavin McLay, junior and president of the university’s Theta Chi fraternity, said he learned from a friend that Gracey was missing, NBC reported. He said he was told that a group at the club got separated, “and that was the last time they saw him.”

“My heart sank to my stomach. It’s definitely not a good text to wake up to,” he said.

The group that Gracey was out with said they didn’t have any encounters that made them worried for their safety before Gracey disappeared, McLay told NBC.

McLay said he was not staying with the same group of friends as Gracey and that there are about 10 friends visiting for spring break.

“Jimmy is a kind, responsible and devoted son and brother,” his parents, Taras and Therese Gracey, said in a statement. “It is completely out of character for him not to check in with family and friends.”

“He’s a great big brother, he’s a great son, he’s a great nephew, he’s just very beloved,” O’Reilly said. “He’s a very responsible kid, which is why we’re very worried. This is pretty out of character for him not to be in touch with friends and family.”

The U.S. Department of State is helping the family, and Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said he has been in touch with the family.

“UA staff are in touch with the family and those associated with them to offer support and assistance in any way possible,” a spokesperson from the university said.

March 19 (UPI) — Law enforcement officials arrested Joseph Duggar, one of the stars of TLC’s 19 Kids and Counting on sex abuse charges involving a 9-year-old girl, Florida authorities said.

The Bay County Sheriff’s Office said Duggar, 31, was arrested Wednesday by authorities in Arkansas and was awaiting extradition to Florida.

He faces charges of lewd and lascivious behavior by a person 18 years or older, and lewd and lascivious behavior involving a victim less than 12 years old.

Duggar’s arrest came after a 14-year-old girl told the Tontitown Police Department in Arkansas about sexual abuse that took place when she was 9 years old. She said there were several incidents during a family vacation to Panama City Beach, Fla., in 2020.

“The victim reported Duggar repeatedly asked her to sit on his lap,” a news release from the Bay County Sheriff’s Office said.

“As the vacation continued, he also asked her to sit next to him on a couch and covered them with a blanket.”

The release said that during this time, Duggar inappropriately touched the girl. The girl told police that Duggar later apologized and stopped the alleged actions.

The sheriff’s office did not specify how Duggar and the girl knew each other. The release said the girl told her father about the alleged incidents, and her father confronted Duggar on Tuesday.

“Duggar admitted his actions to the victim’s father and to Tontitown detectives,” the release said.

Joseph Duggar’s eldest brother, Josh Duggar, was sentenced to more than 12 years in prison in 2022 on a child pornography conviction. The family’s reality show on TLC was canceled in 2015 after a police report revealed that Josh Duggar molested younger girls.

March 19 (UPI) — Prosecutors said that if Marius Borg Høiby, son of Norway’s crown princess, is found guilty, he should serve more than seven years in prison for the 39 charges he faces.

The charges include four rapes and assaults, rape and domestic abuse, multiple breaches of restraining orders, and drug and driving offenses.

One charge of violation of a restraining order has been dropped.

Høiby, 29, pleaded guilty to several minor charges but denied the rape charges.

The final day of the trial is Thursday, but it could take months for the judges to give a verdict.

Several alleged victims have testified, including Høiby’s former girlfriend, influencer Nora Haukland.

In all four rape cases the victims were either asleep or incapacitated. Early in the trial, Høiby told the court, “I don’t sleep with women who aren’t awake.”

His mother is Mette-Marit, who is married to the crown prince of Norway. Høiby is her son from a previous relationship. He grew up in the royal family, but is not an official member of it.

Mette-Marit was a friend of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, which was revealed from one of the Epstein files releases from the U.S. Justice Department. Her health has declined due to pulmonary fibrosis, and she has said needs a lung transplant.

The prosecution asked the court for Høiby to be in prison for seven years and seven months. It also asked that he be banned from contacting one of his alleged victims for two years and asked that several devices, including three iPhones and a MacBook, be confiscated. It also wants his driver’s license to be taken away for two years, and for him to have to take a new driving test after that time is up.

“These are very serious acts,” said state attorney Sturla Henriksbø. “It is among the most serious offenses in our criminal code to apply to violations of integrity. And it should entail a strict and tangible reaction in each case.”

Police attorney Andreas Kruszewski said Høiby should not be given a “penalty discount” because of media attention.

“The fact that you commit criminal acts after the media spotlight has been directed at you as a well-known person contributes to the fact that he should not receive a reduction in sentence,” Kruszewski said.

March 19 (UPI) — Actor Kevin Spacey settled out of court in England with three men who sued him, accusing him of sexual assault.

The cases were set for trial in the High Court this year.

The men alleged that between 2000 and 2013 Spacey, 66, assaulted them, but Spacey denies any wrongdoing.

In 2023, he was found not guilty of nine criminal sexual assault charges. Two of the accusers in the criminal trial filed the civil cases.

One accuser, known as LNP, alleged that Spacey “deliberately assaulted” him 12 times between 2000 and 2005. Another, known as GHI, said he “suffered psychiatric damage and financial loss” from an assault in 2008.

Actor Ruari Cannon, who has waived his right to anonymity, said that when he was in the Tennessee Williams play Sweet Bird of Youth at the Old Vic Theater in 2013, Spacey groped him at a party. Spacey was the artistic director at the theater at the time.

Cannon also settled with the Old Vic in a civil suit two weeks ago.

Cannon was on a BBC Channel 4 documentary, Spacey Unmasked, in 2024. Spacey called the allegation “ridiculous and it never happened.”

Spacey has been trying to win back his career, Deadline reported. Last year he said he has no home and was living out of hotels and Airbnbs and working as a lounge singer in Cyprus. He claims his struggles are like the actors who were blacklisted during McCarthyism, Deadline said.

Spacey also won a civil case in the United States in which actor Anthony Rapp said Spacey sexually assaulted him when he was 14.

March 19 (UPI) — The FBI is investigating Joe Kent, who resigned this week as the counterterrorism director in protest over the war with Iran, over allegations that he leaked classified information, according to reports, while Trump administration officials attack his credibility.

Kent resigned Tuesday as director of the National Counterterrorism Center, a position to which the MAGA supporter and far-right conspiracy theorist with ties to White nationalist groups was nominated in early 2025 by President Donald Trump, stating that “Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation.”

“I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran,” he said.

The FBI investigation into Kent predates his resignation, unidentified sources told Semafor, the first to report on the development. The New York Times, NewsNation and others have since corroborated that story.

Kent is the first senior Trump administration official to resign over the war that has divided Republicans and supporters of the president, who campaigned on ending conflicts while warning Americans that if the Democrats were to return to the White House, the United States would be lured into a war with Iran.

Little information about the allegations against Kent was known. The revelations of the investigation come as the White House was attempting to undermine and dismiss the man Trump had repeatedly called “a Great American Hero” for his service as a soldier, Green Beret and CIA officer.

In his resignation letter, Kent argued that Trump was pulled into the war by Israel, claiming the Middle Eastern country had deployed a disinformation campaign to convince Americans that Iran posed an imminent threat to the United States.

Trump told reporters on Tuesday that he thought of Kent as a “nice guy” who was “very weak on security.”

“I didn’t know him well, but I thought he seemed like a pretty nice guy. But when I read his statement I realized that it’s a good thing that he’s out because he said that Iran was not a threat. Iran was a threat.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt refuted the allegation as “insulting and laughable.” Speaking to reporters Wednesday, she attempted to distance Trump from Kent, saying he has not been involved with the president’s intelligence briefings for several months and has not been seen at the White House “for quite some time.”

“The president feels it is deeply disappointing that after the president gave him an opportunity in this administration to serve the American people that he would resign with a letter filled with falsehoods — accusing the president of the United States of being controlled by a foreign country.”

The war began late last month after the United States and Israel attacked Iran. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that the U.S. attack on Iran was preemptive. He said they knew Israel was going to attack Iran, which would result in Iran attacking U.S. bases and allies in the region.

The U.S. attack was intended to preempt an Iranian response, he said.

March 17 (UPI) — Police fatally shot a gunman Tuesday at a Veterans Affairs clinic in rural Georgia where the suspect opened fire and wounded one person, authorities said.

The incident occurred midday at the Pickens County VA Clinic in Jasper, a town of about 5,290 people located 60 miles north of Atlanta.

Multiple officers from the Jasper Police Department were dispatched at 1:30 p.m. EDT to the clinic located in a small plaza on East Church St., where they confronted and shot the suspected gunman, the city of Jasper said in a statement.

VA Secretary Doug Collins said the unidentified suspect was killed.

“The threat is eliminated,” he said in a social media statement.

Officers also located a single victim at the scene, who was airlifted to a hospital. Their condition was unknown.

Little information about the shooting was made public. Jasper Police Chief Matt Dawkins was unable to tell reporters during a press conference if the victim was an employee at the clinic or if the suspect had sought services there.

The suspected gunman was from Jasper, he said.

“We do know [the shooting] happened, but we don’t know what led up to it,” he said.

Dawkins explained that officers confronted the suspect outside the clinic where he was killed.

The shooting will be “eye-opening” for the residents of Jasper, he said.

“Shock, a lot of shock factor.”

UPI has contacted the city’s public information officer and the VA for comment.

Collins said a team from VA headquarters would arrive in Georgia on Wednesday “to ensure clinic employees get the support they need.”

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said he was monitoring the situation.

“I ask all Georgians to join us in praying for those impacted and for our first responders,” he said online.

The shooting will be investigated by the FBI, Dawkins said.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

March 13 (UPI) — Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was hospitalized Friday in Brasilia after doctors diagnosed a bacterial lung infection, authorities said, marking the latest health episode for the 70-year-old who is currently serving a prison sentence.

Bolsonaro was admitted to the DF Star hospital with fever, vomiting and low oxygen levels. Doctors later confirmed a case of bacterial pneumonia and began treatment with intravenous antibiotics while keeping him under medical observation.

The former president was transferred to the hospital from detention. Since January, he has been held in the officers’ wing of the 19th Military Police Battalion, known as “Papudinha,” in Brasilia, where he is serving a sentence of 27 years, three months in prison for an attempted coup.

Health issues have been a recurring concern for Bolsonaro since a 2018 assassination attempt during a campaign rally in the southeastern city of Juiz de Fora, where he was stabbed in the abdomen.

The attack caused severe internal injuries and required emergency surgery, forcing him to spend weeks recovering in hospital while continuing his presidential campaign.

Since then, Bolsonaro has undergone several abdominal procedures and has been hospitalized numerous times for intestinal obstructions, infections, hernia repairs and other chronic health problems. Doctors said Friday his condition is stable and that doctors continue to monitor the infection.

March 13 (UPI) — An Australian businessman was found guilty Friday of selling information to two people believed to be Chinese spies.

Alexander Csergo, 59, was convicted of reckless foreign interference in a Sydney court after compiling reports for two people he knew as Ken and Evelyn in Shanghai between 2021 and 2023. He faces up to 15 years in prison.

The prosecution alleged that Csergo believed they worked for Chinese intelligence agency the Ministry of State Security and acted recklessly about knowing if it would support Chinese intelligence.

His defense team argued he had only given them information that was publicly available and he included made-up quotes from people he pretended to have interviewed, including former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

Csergo ran a business in Shanghai and was first approached by a woman on LinkedIn who said she was working for a think tank. She introduced him to Ken and Evelyn and said they had businesses in Australia, New Zealand and Canada.

Their meetings, in which he exchanged reports for cash, happened in empty cafes and restaurants, prosecutors said.

Ken and Evelyn gave Csergo a “shopping list” of subjects they wanted reports on. After he returned to Australia in 2023, officials searched his Bondi home and found the list, but Csergo said he never used that list.

Ken and Evelyn asked for reports about lithium mining, the German government, the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue and AUKUS, a trilateral security partnership between Australia, Britain and the United States. The Quad alliance is a non-military partnership between the United States, India, Japan and Australia.

Csergo’s defense attorney, Iain Todd, argued that there is no evidence he provided anyone with any national secrets.

The prosecution said the biggest value to Ken and Evelyn were Csergo’s contacts, but Todd said Csergo had no real contacts.

“He never spoke to interviewees. He lied about that,” Todd said. “He never gave access to anyone because there was no one to give access to.”

Some of the information in the report on lithium mining was labeled “gibberish” by experts.

Prosecutors said he exchanged about 2,800 WeChat messages with Ken and developed a collegial relationship with him.

March 13 (UPI) — A State Department official was barred Friday from going to Brazil because of a proposed visit to jailed former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who is in prison for plotting a coup four years ago.

The official, Darren Beattie, was approved for a visa to attend a critical minerals summit next week, but his visa was pulled because the meeting with Bolsonaro was determined to be outside his diplomatic authorization, Brazil’s Supreme Court ruled Thursday, Bloomberg and The Guardian reported.

After the ruling, current Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva ordered his government to revoke Beattie’s visa entirely, at least partially because U.S. President Donald Trump denied Brazilian health minister Alexandre Padilha a visa and revoked visas held by his wife and daughter.

“That American guy who said he was coming here to visit Bolsonaro, he’s been barred from visiting and I have forbidden him from to Brazil so long as they don’t free up the visa of my health minister, which has been blocked,” Lula said Friday.

Bolsonaro is serving a 27-year prison sentence after he was convicted for plotting a coup after losing the 2022 election to Lula.

The charges were based on Bolsonaro’s supporters storming government buildings in January 2023 — a plan that had started in 2021, before the 2022 election — in an effort to prevent Lula from taking office.

Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira said that although Beattie’s visa application included the minerals summit and meetings with other Brazilian officials, he only asked for the other meetings after asking for the Bolsonaro visit.

Trump and many within his administration, including Beattie, have been critical of the Brazilian Supreme Court and the country’s officials for jailing Bolsonaro on the coup charges.

“It should be noted that a visit by a foreign state official to a former president in an election year may constitute undue interference in the internal affairs of the Brazilian state, Vieira told the Supreme Court.

Lula and Flavio Bolsonaro, who is the son of the former president, are currently locked in a close race for Brazil’s presidency after a poll found them tied for the first time with 41% of participants, which would lead to a runoff election.

The Brazilian presidential election is scheduled for Oct. 4, and a runoff would be Oct. 25.

March 13 (UPI) — Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Friday thanked security personnel for risking their lives to thwart a potentially deadly attack on a temple this week.

Whitmer spoke at a news conference one day after a person drove a vehicle into Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Mich., calling the attack “anti-Semitism at its absolute worst.”

Her comments followed the attack at the temple on Thursday, where more than 100 children were attending school at the time.

“I want to thank Temple Israel’s security personnel — they were selfless in their courage and they saved lives,” Whitmer said. “Let’s be very clear: Yes, this is a place of worship, but at the time that this attack occurred, it was a school. One hundred and four children aged 5 and younger.”

The attacker, according to police, drove through the doors of the temple and down a hallway “with purpose” when a fire started inside the vehicle.

A security guard was hit by the vehicle, but security guards also responded to the driver with gunfire and the driver died.

Temple Israel is one of the largest reform Jewish congregations in the country, Whitmer noted, attracting more than 1,000 people for Friday night Shabbat services.

“Parents bring their children to daycare and school, and it’s a place of peace, unity, light and life,” Whitmer said. “Yesterday’s attack was anti-Semitism. It was hate, plain and simple.”

“We will fight this ancient and rampant evil,” she said.

There has been an uptick in anti-Semitic incidents in recent years and, according to the American Jewish Committee, roughly 70% of all religiously motivated hate crimes in the United States are committed against Jewish people.

March 13 (UPI) — A federal judge this week quashed subpoenas the Department of Justice had issued to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell because they were issued to pressure him into adjusting interest rates.

Judge James Boasberg redressed the DOJ for the subpoenas, saying that their purpose had nothing to do with a probe about renovations at the Federal Reserve in Washington, D.C.

The DOJ in January launched a criminal investigation into Powell’s testimony last year about the renovations, which Powell at the time said were “pretexts” to punish him and the Fed after they did not set interest rates at levels demanded by President Donald Trump.

“The Government has produced essentially zero evidence to suspect Chair Powell of a crime; indeed, its justifications are so thin and unsubstantiated that the Court can only conclude that they are pretextual,” Boasberg wrote in the opinion.

The department in January issued grand jury subpoenas in reference to Powell’s comments about the multi-year project to renovate the Fed’s office buildings during his June 2025 testimony before the Senate Banking Committee.

During a tour of the renovations, Powell disputed Trump’s over-estimates of the renovation’s cost, and threatened to sue him for the “horrible and grossly incompetent job” Powell had done on the project.

Overall, however, Trump has repeatedly ripped into and mused about firing Powell, which he cannot do, because the Fed chair has repeatedly said that interest rate changes would be dictated by only the market, rather than the preferences of any one person.

In the opinion, which was unsealed Friday, Boasberg said he blocked the subpoenas because “a mountain of evidence suggests that the Government served these subpoenas on the Board to pressure its Chair into voting for lower interest rates or resigning.”

March 13 (UPI) — Several people, including tourists and influencers, have been arrested in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, for possessing, sharing or commenting on digital content that shows attacks or damage from attacks by Iran in the country.

There have been 21 people arrested in the emirate, said advocacy organization Detained in Dubai.

“The charges sound extremely vague but serious on paper. In reality, the alleged conduct could be something as simple as sharing or commenting on a video that is already circulating online,” said Radha Stirling, CEO of Detained in Dubai and Due Process International.

“Under UAE cybercrime laws, the person who originally posts content can be charged, but so can anyone who reshapes, reposts or comments on it. One video can quickly lead to dozens of people facing criminal charges,” Stirling said.

Penalties can include up to two years in prison, fines ranging from about $5,500 to $55,000, and foreign nationals will face deportation.

“Foreigners need to understand that what may seem like normal social media behavior elsewhere can lead to arrest in the UAE,” Stirling said. “In some circumstances people can find themselves treated as national security suspects before the facts are even clarified.”

One 60-year-old British tourist has been charged under cybercrime laws for allegedly filming Iranian missiles over the city.

“We are in contact with the local authorities following the detention of a British man in the UAE,” the United Kingdom’s Foreign Office told CNN.

The UAE’s ambassador to the United Kingdom told British radio station LBC that the “United Arab Emirates is very safe.”

“The guidelines and regulations are there in the UAE to ensure people’s safety,” he said. He added that people filming could be hit by “falling debris.”

Stirling also said that Qatar has already charged more than 200 people under similar laws since the Iran war began.

The UAE defense ministry said on X Friday that 1,800 drones and missiles have been fired at the UAE since the war with Iran began.

Six people from the Emirates, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh have been killed, and 141 people have suffered mild to moderate injuries.

March 13 (UPI) — Uruguayan drug trafficker Sebastián Enrique Marset Cabrera, known as the “King of the South” and considered a priority fugitive for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, was captured Friday in Bolivia and was being transferred to the United States, authorities said.

The arrest occurred during a raid early in the morning in Las Palmas, an upscale residential neighborhood in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, where Bolivian security forces began the operation about 2 a.m., according to regional media reports.

Bolivia’s Ministry of Government said Marset was to be transported from Viru Viru International Airport in Santa Cruz under a heavy police guard.

The minister of Paraguay’s National Anti-Drug Secretariat, Jalil Rachid, said his office received information from Bolivian authorities confirming the arrest.

“The operation began early in the morning. Around 2 a.m. The information I received is positive. He has already been secured,” Rachid said.

“He was one of the most wanted people worldwide, Rachid said. Many will be seeking his head. I am sure the American government is also interested in that because he used its financial system.”

Images circulated by regional media show Marset under the custody of U.S. agents.

Paraguay’s interior minister, Enrique Riera, said the capture could provide new information about the drug trafficker’s criminal structure in the region.

“More than one person will be worried right now if he tells everything he knows about past events and his connections in Paraguay” Riera said.

Paraguayan Sen. Eduardo Nakayama wrote on X that Marset’s capture was linked to renewed international cooperation.

“Marset’s capture is a key blow to organized crime and was not a coincidence. It coincides with the restoration of cooperation with the United States Drug Enforcement Administration under the government of Rodrigo Paz in Bolivia after 18 years of rupture (2008-2025), during which the country made no progress in the fight against drug trafficking, demonstrating the importance of shared intelligence,” Nakayama wrote.

Images shared by local media also show police escorting other handcuffed individuals while securing the perimeter of the raided residence.

“The information provided to us is that there are five Venezuelan citizens, four men and one woman, who would be part of the operational arm of the Uruguayan Sebastián Marset,” Bolivian journalist Jaime Herrera told ABC TV Paraguay.

Marset, 34, a Uruguayan national, has been identified by authorities in several countries as the leader of an international network involved in cocaine trafficking and money laundering that operated between Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay and Europe.

Investigations indicate his organization coordinated cocaine shipments departed from Bolivia, crossed Paraguay and were later sent to European ports.

Authorities link his network to seizures involving more than 16 tons of cocaine as part of the Paraguayan investigation known as Operation A Ultranza PY, considered the largest operation against organized crime in Paraguay’s history.

Marset’s first known links to drug trafficking date to 2013, when he was arrested in Uruguay after receiving a marijuana shipment connected to Paraguayan traffickers. He was convicted of drug trafficking and regained his freedom in 2018 after serving five years in prison.

After leaving prison, according to investigations, he expanded his criminal network across several countries in the region.

Paraguayan authorities have also linked him to contacts within the Insfrán clan, an organization associated with drug trafficking in Paraguay.

Marset gained international attention after the murder of Paraguayan prosecutor Marcelo Pecci, who was killed in May 2022 on a beach in Barú, Colombia, while he was on his honeymoon.

According to statements cited by Colombian authorities and judicial investigations, Marset was identified as the “determining figure” in the crime, meaning the person who allegedly ordered the assassination.

The international search for Marset intensified in May when the U.S. Sate Department offered a reward of up to $2 million for information leading to his capture.

The U.S. Department of Justice also filed money laundering charges, accusing him of using the U.S. financial system in his operations.

March 12 (UPI) — The International Criminal Court Office of the Prosecutor announced Thursday that the United States did not commit crimes against humanity with its sanctions against Venezuela.

The investigation, called Venezuela II by the court, was referred to the court by Venezuela’s government in 2020, alleging that sanctions against the country had caused suffering and hardship.

The referral from now-deposed President Nicolas Maduro alleges the suffering of Venezuelans from “the application of unlawful coercive measures adopted unilaterally by the government of the United States of America against Venezuela, at least since the year 2014.”

Venezuela alleged that “murder, extermination, deportation, persecution and other inhumane acts constituting crimes against humanity” were committed, the OTP said.

The ICC prosecutor determined that the “evidential requirements of causation and intent are not met.”

The evidence “must provide a reasonable basis to believe that sanctions by the United States of America led to murder, displacement or other alleged crimes,” the OTP said.

The decision is unrelated to the January 2026 events in Venezuela, the prosecutor noted.

In January, the United States invaded Venezuela, arrested Maduro and his wife and took them to Manhattan, where they await trial on drug trafficking charges.

The ICC prosecutor said it is still investigating “Venezuela I,” a case that doesn’t involve the United States.

March 11 (UPI) — The British Cabinet Office has released files from its investigation into former ambassador to the United States Peter Mandelson on Wednesday as it digs into his ties to deceased sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

The first batch of documents revealed that Mandelson may have been briefed on classified information before being given security clearance when he was appointed as ambassador. They also show that he requested a large government payout when he was terminated last year.

Mandelson was arrested and then released last month in London over suspicion of misconduct in public office. The allegation stems from emails released in the Epstein files in which Mandelson appears to be sharing market-sensitive confidential information with Epstein.

Documents released by the Cabinet Office share some details after his appointment as ambassador in December 2024. Within days of his being appointed, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office offered to brief Mandelson on highly classified information while he was still being vetted.

Emails about the briefing were shared Dec. 23, 2024, about three days after the announcement of Mandelson’s appointment. It was not until Jan. 30, 2025, that Mandelson received an email confirming that he had cleared the vetting process.

It was in this email that he received a formal offer of employment.

When Mandelson was terminated from his position in September, he requested to be paid the full amount on his contract — more than 500,000 euros or $578,625. Instead, he was paid 75,000 euros or $86,793.75 to terminate the contract.

“As the documents show regarding his severance payment, Peter Mandelson initially requested a sum that was substantially larger than the final payment, not just two or even three times, but more than six times the final amount,” said Darren Jones, chief secretary to the prime minister at the Cabinet office.

“Despite the fact that he was withdrawn from Washington because he had lost the confidence of the prime minister, the government obviously found that to be inappropriate and unacceptable.”

March 11 (UPI) — A bipartisan group of senators penned a letter to the Government Accountability Office on Wednesday calling for an investigation into the Justice Department over its handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files release.

The letter accuses the Justice Department of noncompliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, the bipartisan law overwhelmingly passed by both chambers of Congress last year. The lawmakers shared concern that the department has still not released all of the files it is required to by the law, despite a December deadline.

Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, signed the letter. They also shared concerns about the files that have been released, including victims’ names not being redacted and alleged coconspirators’ names being redacted.

The Government Accountability Office is an independent and nonpartisan agency in the legislative branch. Its purpose is to operate as a watchdog over the federal government, with the authority to investigate and perform audits.

“Contrary to Congress’s explicit directive to protect victims, these records included email addresses and nude photos in which the names and faces of publicly-identified and non-public victims could be identified,” the letter said. “But when it came to information identifying powerful business and political figures who are alleged coconspirators or material witnesses, DOJ appears to have heavily redacted those.”

The senators are requesting that Comptroller General Orice Williams Brown reviews the department’s process it used to review, redact and release the files. They specify that they want the Government Accountability Office to investigate whether the release of the files “has serve to cover up child sexual abuse.”

The Epstein files have continued to be a source of contention between lawmakers and the Trump administration more than two months after the Justice Department was required by law to release the files.

Lawmakers have pushed for answers about the delayed and mistake-filled release from Attorney General Pam Bondi, leading to fiery exchanges in a House Judiciary Committee hearing last month.

The House Oversight Committee issued a subpoena for Bondi’s testimony last week. Five Republicans joined all of the Democrats in the committee in voting for the subpoena.

“This horrific scandal is one where powerful, wealthy men groomed, abused, and raped young women, men, and children,” the letter from the senators reads. “It is critical to understand what led to DOJ’s failure to redact the victims; information and re-victimize those individuals while violating the Epstein Files Transparency Act in its redactions of information related to their alleged abusers.”

March 11 (UPI) — At least six people were confirmed killed and several were injured after a fire tore through a bus in a town in western Switzerland.

At least three people were taken to a hospital after the incident, which took place at around 6.25 p.m. on Tuesday in Kerzers, around 12 miles west of Bern, police said.

An investigation into the cause was underway, including looking into reports the blaze was started by a passenger dousing himself in gasoline and setting himself on fire, although police and authorities in the canton of Fribourg said they did not believe it was an attack or terrorism.

“At the moment, no element highlights” a terrorist act, Fribourg Police communications head Martial Pugin told Swiss breakfast radio on Wednesday.

Pugin’s comments were echoed by Fribourg State Security and Justice Councillor Romain Collaud who also ruled out a technical fault with the bus, which was operated by PostBus Switzerland.

“It was a diesel bus, not an electric one. A bus catching fire like that surprises everyone. We’re still somewhat in shock. I think it’s important to reassure the public. The public is safe. The investigations and inquiries are ongoing,” Collaud said.

However, he warned that the process of identifying those killed could take several days.

PostAuto, of which PostBus is a subsidiary, said in a social media post that it was deeply saddened by the incident, saying it was a “terrible tragedy,” and vowing to do everything possible to aid in the police investigation.

“All the employees of PostAuto and the post office are shocked and affected like I am,” said CEO Stefan Regli.

“On behalf of the Board of Directors and the entire group management, I express our deep condolences to all of them. Our thoughts are with the victims and their families. The Fribourg Cantonal Police, under the direction of the Fribourg prosecutor, is responsible for the investigation of the fire. PostAuto is in close contact with the authorities and is doing everything in its power to solve this terrible incident.”

Swiss President Guy Parmelin said it pained and upset him that fire had claimed the lives of yet more people in Switzerland.

“It distresses and saddens me that once again people in Switzerland have lost their lives in a severe fire. The circumstances are being investigated. To the relatives of the deceased from Kerzers, I extend my condolences. And I think of the injured and the rescue workers,” he wrote on X.

Tuesday’s incident comes less than six weeks after 41 people were killed in a blaze that broke out in the early hours of New Year’s Day at a bar in the Swiss ski resort town of Crans Montana.

March 9 (UPI) — The Alexander brothers on Monday were found guilty on all counts regarding their alleged years-long sex trafficking conspiracy, which may send them to prison for life.

At the end of a five-week trial, it took jurors three days to find former real estate superstars Oren and Alon Alexander, 38, who are twins, and their 39-year-old brother, Tal, guilty on ten counts of conspiracy of rape, sex trafficking, sex abuse and sexual exploitation of women and girls.

The brothers, all of whom pleaded not guilty to the charges, were portrayed by their attorneys as obnoxious and inappropriate, but that they “are not mobsters” and that prosecutors had asked jurors to “connect dots that aren’t really there,” ABC News reported.

The allegations included using drugs, money and social influence over two decades — from 2008 to 2021 — to commit their acts of abuse, The New York Times reported.

The brothers worked together, prosecutor Madison Smyser said during the trial, to lure their victims “with promises of parties and trips, and when they got there the defendants raped them,” according to NBC News.

Tal and Oren had since the early 2000s had risen to be among the highest earning real estate agents in the country, and Alon was a security executive — and all three were well-known in the New York and Miami party scenes.

During the course of the trial, which concluded last Thursday in the Southern District of New York before it was given to the jury, 11 accusers testified that one or more of the Alexander brothers had drugged, abducted and raped them.

The brothers were said to have records of some of their acts, either on social media or other types of documents, including a video of Oren Alexander adjusting a laptop camera’s angle before showing him getting into bed with an incapacitated 17-year-old girl and raping her.

In addition to their sentencing in August, Oren and Alon face criminal charges in Florida and all three of the brothers face scores of civil lawsuits connected to allegations of drugging, sexual assault or rape.

March 6 (UPI) — The Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating what it calls a “suspicious” breach of networks containing information of ongoing investigations, though details of them have not been revealed.

The cybersecurity incident on a network used for wiretaps and intelligence surveillance warrants was confirmed Thursday by CBS News, CNN and Politico.

Investigators declined to offer more information on who was behind the breach or what may have been accessed during what the FBI called “abnormal log information” in mid-February.

The Bureau alerted Congress about the breach this week.

“The FBI identified and addressed suspicious activities on FBI networks and we have leveraged all technical capabilities to respond,” the bureau said.

The FBI, in its alert to Congress, said that the breach included efforts at “leveraging a commercial Internet Service Provider vendor’s infrastructure” in order to access the bureau’s networks.

The White House, FBI, National Security Agency and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency are investigating the breach, noting to lawmakers that the system accessed in the hack contains information on targets of law enforcement investigations and it appears to have been “sophisticated.”

There have been reports that China is allegedly behind the breach, however a request for comment from UPI on Friday night about the reports had not been responded to by publication time.

“The affected system is unclassified and contains law enforcement sensitive information, including returns from legal process, such as pen register and trap and surveillance service returns, and personally identifiable information pertaining to subjects of FBI investigations,” the notice to Congress reportedly reads.

The breach has been compared to the 2024 Salt Typhoon breach that nabbed communications records for millions of people in the United States, including those of top level federal officials.

Salt Typhoon, a Chinese hacking group that is believed to be sponsored by China’s government, that year accessed a wide range of U.S. communications companies and U.S. government systems.

March 6 (UPI) — The Department of Justice released new FBI documents Thursday that describe several interviews with a woman who accused President Donald Trump of sexually abusing her when she was a young teen.

The pages had been withheld from the other documents from the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Officials said they were held back because they mistakenly believed they were duplicates.

The 16 pages of notes describe three interviews that the FBI conducted in 2019 with the woman, who said she was sexually abused by Epstein and Trump when she was between the ages of 13 years and 15 years in the 1980s.

There are also two pages from an intake form that document the initial call to the FBI from a friend who reported the woman’s claims.

Epstein died by suicide in jail in 2019.

The House Oversight Committee voted Wednesday to subpoena U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to testify on the Justice Department’s handling of the Epstein files, which are legally required to be released to the public.

The Justice Department posted on X that it identified about a dozen other documents that were “incorrectly coded as duplicative.”

Federal prosecutors in Florida also determined that five prosecution memos that had been labeled privileged could be redacted and released.

NPR reported that it conducted an investigation that found 53 pages that appeared to be missing from the public release database.

There are still 37 pages missing, NPR said, including notes from the interviews, a law enforcement report and license records.

Democrats on the House Oversight Committee said in a statement that they applauded the release of the interviews but still criticized the department for its handling.

“But let’s be clear — this White House cover-up is ongoing. Millions of pages still remain concealed from the public and our committee,” said Sara Guerrero, spokesperson for Oversight Democrats.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement to NPR Friday that Trump has been “totally exonerated by the release of the Epstein files.”

“These are completely baseless accusations, backed by zero credible evidence, from a sadly disturbed woman who has an extensive criminal history,” Leavitt wrote to NPR.

“The total baselessness of these accusations is also supported by the obvious fact that Joe Biden‘s department of justice knew about them for four years and did nothing with them — because they knew President Trump did absolutely nothing wrong. As we have said countless times, President Trump has been totally exonerated by the release of the Epstein Files,” she wrote.