Law and Crime

April 14 (UPI) — The founder and former chairman of Chinese property giant China Evergrande Group pleaded guilty Tuesday to a slew of charges, including embezzlement, securities fraud and corporate graft at a trial in the southern city of Shenzhen.

Hui Ka Yan admitted “illegally absorbing public deposits” where buyers’ down payments on apartments off-plan were used to fund hundreds of other projects in the case in which Evergrande Real Estate Group also faced a similar set of charges, the Intermediate People’s Court of Shenzhen said in a statement online.

Evergrande took in millions of dollars from buyers that, instead of being used to complete the properties they were purchasing, were diverted to new developments, the court heard.

Hui also admitted fundraising fraud, illegal issuance of loans and unauthorized disclosure of “important information” during the high-profile two-day trial, which was attended by deputies from the National People’s Congress, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference of which he was once a standing committee member, and investors.

The court statement said China Evergrande Group and Evergrande Real Estate Group were also indicted on charges of illegally collecting public deposits, fundraising fraud, illegal issuance of loans and fraudulent issuance of securities.

The downfall of the business tycoon, once Asia’s richest with a net worth of more than $42 billion, began in 2021 when the property empire he founded 25 years earlier collapsed after a massive Chinese property bubble burst, leaving 1,300 half-finished Evergrande developments financed with $300 billion of debt.

Hui was placed under house arrest in September 2023, prompting the suspension of trading in Evergrande shares by market regulators across the border in Hong Kong, only a month after trading had resumed following a 17-month suspension.

The company was also the subject of a winding-up petition in a Hong Kong court brought by creditors and had sought protection from being made bankrupt in the United States in a New York court the previous month.

Hong Kong regulators initially suspended Evergrande for failing to issue financial results for two years. When it did report in July 2023, it said it had lost $81.1 billion total in 2021 and 2022, mostly through payments to suppliers and lenders, as it battled to finish thousands of housing projects across 280 Chinese cities.

In January 2024, after repeated reprieves to allow it time to come up with a viable plan to restructure liabilities that had by then grown to at least $325 billion, the court in Hong Kong placed Evergrande into liquidation.

Hui was handed a $6.5 million fine in March 2024 for Evergrande, stating in its results that revenue was $78 billion more than it actually was and was handed a lifetime ban from participating in China’s capital market.

The final blow came in August 2025 with the delisting by regulators of Evergrande shares from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, almost 16 years to the day after it was the most oversubscribed IPO of 2009 with a valuation in excess of $50 billion.

The ban was imposed after an 18-month deadline for Evergrande stock to resume trading passed the previous month, with the company opting not to appeal the decision.

Hui had led a 15-year drive to grow Evergrande into one of China’s largest businesses, spending billions expanding into tourism and recreation, healthcare, finance, EV manufacturing and infrastructure, entertainment and agribusiness.

In 2020, it began work on a new $1.7 billion, 100,000-seat stadium for Guangzhou FC, the soccer club it had purchased 10 years earlier.

However, the company’s growth was delivered through massive borrowing, much of it highly leveraged, with the result that six years on the stadium, like many of Evergrande’s projects, it remains incomplete after it was seized by the government in November 2021.

April 14 (UPI) — Authorities in the Bahamas have released the 58-year-old American man detained last week in the investigation into missing American Lynette Hooker.

The man, Lynette Hooker’s husband, Brian Hooker, was released Monday, the Royal Bahamas Police Force said in a statement that only identified the individual by his age and nationality.

“The decision to release the individual was made following consultation with the Department of Public Prosecutions, which recommended that no charges be filed at this time pending the outcome of further investigation,” the police force said, without identifying the suspect.

Brian Hooker’s lawyer, Terrel Butler, had said the authorities had until 7:20 p.m. EDT Monday to decide whether to charge his client, who has been in police custody since he was detained shortly after 7 p.m. Wednesday.

According to police, Brian Hooker reported his wife missing early on April 5. He told investigators that he and his wife had departed Hope Town at around 7:30 p.m. the evening before for Elbow Cay aboard an 8-foot hard-bottom dinghy.

During the journey, his wife fell overboard with the boat keys in her possession, causing the vessel’s engine to cut off. Strong currents carried the woman away, he allegedly said, according to police.

Brian Hooker reported her missing after paddling the dinghy back to shore.

When he was taken into police custody last week, police incorrectly stated the suspect’s age as 59.

April 14 (UPI) — Federal authorities have charged the 20-year-old Texas man who police arrested after a Molotov cocktail was thrown at the San Francisco home of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.

The criminal complaint filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California charges Daniel Moreno-Gama of Spring, Texas, with possession of an unregistered firearm and attempted damage to and destruction of property by means of explosives.

If convicted, Moreno-Gama faces between five and 20 years’ imprisonment for the first count and a maximum of 10 years for the second.

The incident occurred early Friday, when, shortly after 4 a.m., officers of the San Francisco Police Department were dispatched to Altman’s North Beach residence, where a suspect threw an “incendiary destructive device” at the home, causing a fire to an exterior gate before fleeing on foot.

Police arrested the suspect less than an hour later after he allegedly threatened to burn down OpenAI’s headquarters, located nearby in the 1400 block of 3rd Street.

The complaint states the Molotov cocktail was thrown at the residence at 3:37 a.m. Friday, with the incident caught on surveillance cameras.

Stills from the footage included in the complaint show a male holding what appears to be a lit Molotov cocktail in his hand and then, from about 10 feet away, winding up and throwing the flaming item at the barred gate before leaving the scene.

At about 5 a.m. the suspect is seen outside OpenAI’s headquarters using a chair to strike the glass doors, according to the complaint. The filing does not name the company or Altman, though it includes stills from surveillance footage of the suspect, dressed in black, smashing glass doors with a blue outdoor chair.

Security personnel at the facility are cited in the complaint stating Moreno-Gama was at the building “to burn it down and kill anyone inside.”

Police who responded to the scene and arrested Moreno-Gama recovered incendiary devices, a jug of kerosene and a blue lighter, the complaint states.

Officers also confiscated a document that was in the suspect’s possession. The complaint alleges it is a three-part series authored by Moreno-Gama, expressing his opposition to artificial intelligence as well as to the executives of various AI companies, including Altman, who is referenced in the document as “Victim-1.”

“Also if I am going to advocate for others to kill and commit crimes, then I must lead by example and show that I am fully sincere in my message,” reads the first section of the document, which federal authorities allege was written by Moreno-Gama.

The document “further listed the names and addresses of apparent board members and chief executive officers of AI companies and investors,” the complaint states, adding that the second part of the document was titled “Some More Words on the Matter of our impending extinction.

The third section was a letter addressed to “Victim-1.”

“If by some miracle you live, then I would take this as a sign from the divine to redeem yourself…” it states, according to the complaint.

U.S. Attorney Craig Missakian for the Northern District of California said in a statement Monday that his office is only at the start of its investigation, but he will treat the case as “an act of domestic terrorism” if the evidence shows the suspect attempted to change public policy through his actions.

“We will not tolerate any attempt to change the way Americans live and work through fear of violence,” Missakian said.

Altman and his OpenAI company are at the center of public debate over artificial intelligence, and both have become lightning rods for controversy about the future of the technology.

OpenAI and other AI companies have faced criticism and protests from activist organizations that argue the rapid development of AI is reckless and could pose severe risks, including by contributing to human extinction.

Altman identified himself as the victim in a blog post published Friday night. In the post, he called for a de-escalation in the rhetoric surrounding AI.

“A lot of the criticism of our industry comes from sincere concern about the incredibly high stakes of this technology. This is quite valid, and we welcome good-faith criticism and debate,” he said.

“I empathize with anti-technology sentiments and clearly technology isn’t always good for everyone. But overall, I believe technological progress can make the future unbelievably good, for your family and mine.”

April 13 (UPI) — The official inquiry into the killings of three young girls in a knife rampage in Southport in 2024 by teen Axel Rudakubana ruled Monday that he could have been stopped but for the “catastrophic” and “irresponsible” failures of authorities and his parents.

Summing up at the end of a 9-month-long phase 1 of the public inquiry, the chair, former Appeal Court judge Sir Adrian Fulford, said the attack could have been prevented if Rudakubana’s parents had reported what they knew and law enforcement, child and mental health agencies had reacted correctly to the risk he was known to present.

Sir Adrian said it was “highly likely” that Bebe King, 6, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, 9, would still be alive if Rudakubana’s parents had spoken up about the lethal weapons being delivered to their home and agencies had taken responsibility, instead of engaging in unacceptable buck-passing.

Rudakubana, who seriously wounded eight other children and two adults in the attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance workshop on July 28, 2024, is serving a 52-year prison sentence.

“History simply would have taken a different course,” Sir Adrian said, adding that there could have been a number of different outcomes, the most likely of which was that Rudakubana would have been taken into child protective custody or detained in a correctional or other secure facility.

In a statement, Sir Adrian called for urgent government action on the failings of state bodies at both the organizational and individual levels.

“Far too often, AR’s ‘case’ was passed from one public sector agency to another in an inappropriate merry-go-round of referrals, assessments, case-closures and ‘hand-offs,” he said.

Known to authorities since 2019, Rudakubana was referred to a counter-terrorism “deradicalization” program three times and in March 2022 told police he wanted to stab or poison someone after he was found on a bus armed with a knife. Police drove him home and did not arrest him.

There were also missed opportunities to look into Rudakubana’s “chilling” online activities, through which he fueled his obsession with violence via “degrading, violent and misogynistic” material, leading him to assemble a weapons cache, including knives, a crossbow, petrol bombs and ingredients to make ricin.

In his 760-page report, Sir Adrian called for the country’s “failing” multi-agency approach to dealing with problem young people to be scrapped and replaced with a dedicated agency exclusively tasked with handling high-risk offenders like Rudakubana.

Different agencies failed to share information and no one appeared to be clear which, if any, of the agencies was the lead body in the case.

The report also stated how Rudakubana’s actions in the preceding years leading to the Southport atrocity were wrongly attributed to autism due to “misunderstanding” of the condition, “leading to inaction and a failure to address dangerous behaviors.”

“Numerous systems that should have provided oversight, assessment and protection were ineffective or inadequately used. Some failed outright. The consequences were catastrophic,” said Sir Adrian.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who ordered the inquiry, vowed to “act on the recommendations” once the inquiry was complete.

In a statement, Lancashire Police Chief Constable Sacha Hatchett said she was “extremely sorry” officers had not arrested Rudakubana in the incident in March 2022 and that “we did not adequately assess the risk he posed.”

Hatchett added that Lancashire Police “fully accepted” the changes recommended by the inquiry.

Lancashire County Council acknowledged the findings and apologized.

“We are deeply sorry for the failures identified and for the part we played in the systemic shortcomings that preceded the attack in Southport. We know that no words can ease the grief of the families who lost loved ones, or the pain of those who were injured and traumatized,’ said chief executive Mark Wynn.

“Since 2019, we have made substantial changes to our safeguarding practice, and the chair’s findings will inform our continued improvement. We are committed to implementing all recommendations directed to us in full,” added Wynn.

Chris Walker, the attorney representing the dead girls’ families, said the system was “not fit for purpose and must undergo fundamental changes to reduce serious risks to society.”

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April 12 (UPI) — At least six people were shot, and one killed, after several people wearing masks entered a Chick-fil-A restaurant in New Jersey and opened fire.

Around 8:40 p.m. EDT on Saturday night dozens of people inside the fast food restaurant ran when shots rang out, with at least a few of those shot being employees there, The Guardian and RLS Media reported.

The Union County, N.J., Prosecutor’s Office is conducting an active investigation and said it will release information as it becomes available, according to the reports.

“I have been briefed on the shooting last night in Union Township,” New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill said in a post on X. “As local law enforcement continues their investigation, we remain in close contact with officials on the ground.”

The shooting, on Route 22 near Gelb Avenue in Union, N.J., started when the masked mob entered the restaurant and walked behind the counter before they started shooting, Fox News reported.

Police responded within minutes to reports of the shooting and located victims, with five being sent to the hospital and one pronounced dead at the scene.

The conditions of the other victims has not been released.

April 13 (UPI) — Eric Swalwell, the Democratic congressman running for California governor, announced that he was suspending his gubernatorial campaign as he faces accusations of sexual misconduct and assault from several women, including a former staffer.

“To my family, staff, friends and supporters, I am deeply sorry for mistakes in judgment I’ve made in the past,” Rep. Swalwell said Sunday night in a social media statement announcing his campaign’s suspension.

“I will fight the serious, false allegations that have been made — but that’s my fight, not a campaign’s.”

The statement did not mention his House position, which many colleagues, including members of his own party, have asked him to step down from.

“Good first step,” Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., responded to Swalwell’s announcement on her personal X account.

“Now resign from Congress or face expulsion.”

Allegations of sexual misconduct, including rape, by four women against Swalwell were first reported Friday by CNN and the San Francisco Chronicle. One accuser, a former staffer, alleged she was raped by the 45-year-old congressman while she was drunk in 2024. She said she was left bruised and bleeding after trying to resist.

On Saturday, the Manhattan district attorney’s office confirmed to The Washington Post that it had opened an investigation into the allegations.

Swalwell refuted the allegations in a weekend video statement, framing them as political.

“For nearly 20 years, I have served the public — as a prosecutor and a congressman — and have always protected women,” he said. “I will defend myself with the facts and, where necessary, bring legal action.”

The suspension of his campaign came after a series of high-profile resignations and rescinded endorsements.

Rep. Jimmy Gomez, D-Calif., resigned as his campaign’s co-chair, while Rep. Adam Gray, D-Calif., his other co-chair, said he withdrew his support for Swalwell.

Sen. Adam Schiff, a veteran Democratic lawmaker from California, also withdrew his endorsement, as did Sen. Ruben Gallego from Arizona.

On Sunday, more than 50 former Swalwell staffers signed a letter stating the allegations against the House member were “serious, credible and demand accountability,” while demanding that he suspend his gubernatorial campaign and resign from Congress.

“The people of California’s 14th Congressional District, and the people of this country, deserve representation from someone whose conduct reflects the values of public service,” the staffers said.

“Remaining in either role while these allegations hang unresolved is an insult to every person who has ever worked for him, reported to him or placed their trust in him.”

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., said she will file a motion to expel Swalwell from Congress if he does not resign first.

“You have 24 hours to announce you are resigning,” she said late Sunday in a social media statement.

Swalwell was a leading Democratic candidate ahead of June’s gubernatorial primary election to replace incumbent Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is term-limited from running for a third time in the blue state. The gubernatorial election is scheduled for Nov. 3.

April 12 (UPI) — At least six people were shot, and one killed, after several people wearing masks entered a Chik-fil-A restaurant in New Jersey and opened fire.

Around 8:40 p.m. EDT on Saturday night dozens of people inside the fast food restaurant ran when shots rang out, with at least a few of those shot being employees there, The Guardian and RLS Media reported.

The Union County, N.J., Prosecutor’s Office is conducting an active investigation and said it will release information as it becomes available, according to the reports.

“I have been briefed on the shooting last night in Union Township,” New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill said in a post on X. “As local law enforcement continues their investigation, we remain in close contact with officials on the ground.”

The shooting, on Route 22 near Gelb Avenue in Union, N.J., started when the masked mob entered the restaurant and walked behind the counter before they started shooting, Fox News reported.

Police responded within minutes to reports of the shooting and located victims, with five being sent to the hospital and one pronounced dead at the scene.

The conditions of the other victims has not been released.

April 11 (UPI) — Police arrested a 20-year-old man for allegedly throwing a Molotov cocktail at OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s home in San Francisco.

Around 4:00 a.m. local time, the man reportedly threw the incendiary device at Altman’s house, causing a fire to a gate outside the home.

The man was arrested less than an hour later when he was allegedly attempting to burn down OpenAI’s offices, police said in a statement.

In a lengthy blog post on Friday night, Altman said that he was “underestimated the power of words and narratives,” after an actual incendiary device was hurled at his house following the publication of an article about him that he also called “incendiary.”

“We should de-escalate the rehtoric and tactics and try to have fewer explosions in fewer homes, figuratively and literally,” he wrote, having noted that “thankfully [the Molotov cocktail] bounced off the house and no one got hurt.”

Similarly, OpenAI said in a statement that nobody was hurt at the company’s offices and said they are assisting law enforcement with their investigation, CNN reported.

Altman, whose home is located in San Francisco’s Russian Hill neighborhood, about three miles from the OpenAI offices, is one of several tech industry CEOs who are behind the burgeoning artificial intelligence industry, The New York Times reported.

In his blog post, Altman said that he understands the debate around AI and how it is being used, and could be used in the future, and that he believes debates around its use are essential but should stop short of violence.

“I empathize with anti-technology sentiments and clearly technology isn’t always good for everyone,” Altman wrote. “We should have that debate.”

April 11 (UPI) — French authorities arrested a man and his partner after discovering the man’s nine-year-old son in a van, which he’d been forced to live in since 2024.

Police said the boy was found in the vehicle amid a pile of trash, naked and lying in the fetal position when they opened the van doors after a neighbor said they heard “the sounds of a child” from inside it, The Guardian and Fox News reported.

A prosecutor, Nicolas Heitz, told reporters that police were called to a French village called Hagenbach, located near the borders of Switzerland and Germany, and that the boy was malnourished and could not walk because he’d been forced to stay seated for at least a year-and-a-half.

His 43-year-old father, whose name has not been released, told police that he’d locked the boy in the van to prevent his partner from placing the nine-year-old in a psychiatric treatment facility.

The man and his 37-year-old partner lived in an apartment in the village with the nine-year-old, as well as the boy’s 12-year-old sister and 10-year-old half-sister.

The boy told police that his father brought him food twice a day, as well as bottles of water, but he had not showered since November 2024 when his father decided to hide him in the van.

He also told police that he would urinate in the plastic bottles and defecate in garbage bags.

The boy reportedly had no record of psychiatric conditions, although teachers were told he had transferred schools and neighbors were under the impression he had been sent to a psychiatric facility.

The father has been arrested and charged for detaining the child in the van and for depriving him of food and medical care, while his partner was charged with not helping the mistreated child but was released on bail after their arrest.

All three of the children have been placed in temporary care.

April 11 (UPI) — A federal judge upheld a previous ruling that that a Reconstruction-era federal ban on home distilling of alcoholic spirits is unconstitutional.

The 158-year-old law was aimed at preventing people from skirting tax collectors when it was enacted in an 1868 law that imposed excise taxes on distilled spirits and tobacco that was challenged by a man who wanted to distill bourbon whiskey at home.

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday overturned the law that has barred people from producing liquor in their homes because the federal government does not have the right to use its power of taxation to criminalize at-home distilling, FoxDC5 reported.

“The government contends that this prohibition was enacted to prevent tax evasion because ‘[a] distiller can more easily conceal a spirit’s strength (and thus avoid the proper tax rate) or conceal a distilling operation altogether if his still is in his house or connected with it,” the court said in its opinion.

“Congress’s taxing power ‘reaches only existing subjects,’ not activity that may generate subjects of taxation,” the court said. “Put otherwise, preventing activity that lest it give rise to tax evasion places no limit whatsoever on Congress’s power under the taxation clause.”

Although in-home production of beer and wine for personal or family use is legal, producing spirits at any location that is not an Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau-qualified and licensed facility is not legal, the U.S. Department of Treasure, under which the Bureau exists, said on its website.

The lawsuit was brought primarily by Rick Morris who manufactures stills for legally approved distilling operations and wanted to distill bourbon whiskey at his home for his brother and friends.

Upon finding that he could not legally do this, Morris founded the Hobby Distillers’ Association, members of which joined him in the legal battle.

While the ruling does not mean in-home distilling is a free-for-all, it means that people can obtain permits from the bureau to set up a distillery, follow federal regulations and pay applicable taxes, the HDA said in a blog post.

“This is a major victory for the plaintiffs — including members of the Hobby Distillers’ Association — and a turning point for hobby distillers nationwide,” the organization said.

April 11 (UPI) — A panel of judges said Saturday it will allow construction on the White House ballroom to continue for now.

The panel of three judges in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit told the lower court judge who halted the project to seek more information about the national security risk that President Donald Trump claims the pause in construction causes.

In an earlier filing, the Trump administration said that stopping construction “would imperil the President and national security, and indefinitely leave a large hole beside the executive residence.”

The planned construction includes bomb shelters, a hospital, medical area and other “top secret military installations, structures and equipment,” the administration said.

Construction of the 90,000-square-foot building began with the demolition of the East Wing of the White House in October. The new building was to cost $200 million, but the ballroom’s price tag has since doubled. Trump said it will be financed by private donors.

U.S. District Judge Richard Leon for the District of Columbia halted the work on April 1.

“The President of the United States is the steward of the White House for future generations of First Families. He is not, however, the owner!” Leon said in his opinion.

The appeals court said work on the project can continue until at least April 17.

“It remains unclear whether and to what extent the development of certain aspects of the proposed ballroom is necessary to ensure the safety and security of those below-ground national security upgrades or otherwise to ensure the safety of the White House and its occupants while the appeal proceeds,” the judges in the majority wrote.

The judges, Patricia Ann Millett, Bradley Garcia and Neomi Rao, were not unanimous. Rao dissented, arguing that the National Trust for Historic Preservation lacked standing to sue.

Trump has also said that the military was building a “massive complex” under the ballroom, but he hasn’t released any details.

The National Trust told the appeals court that Trump was confusing the above-ground ballroom with the below-ground bunker.

“As is obvious, the absence of a massive ballroom on White House grounds has not stopped this (or any other) President from residing at the White House or hosting events there,” the lawyers said in a filing. “Temporarily halting the ballroom project until it complies with the law will not irreparably harm defendants or the nation.”

Justice Department lawyers had asked the court to shelve Leon’s ruling.

“The upgrades to the East Wing are not cosmetic; instead, they involve the use of missile-resistant steel columns, beams, drone-proof roofing materials, and bullet-, ballistic- and blast-proof glass windows,” they said in a filing. “They also include the installation of bomb shelters, hospital and medical facilities, protective partitioning and top-secret military installations, air conditioning, heating, venting and more.”

On April 2, The National Capital Planning Commission voted Thursday to approve Trump’s plans for the White House ballroom. Though, that vote doesn’t override the court’s rulings.

April 10 (UPI) — The government of Brazil on Friday announced an agreement with the United States to combat transnational crime — a move that will integrate intelligence sharing and joint operations to target organized criminal networks.

The initiative was presented by Brazil’s finance ministry, where Minister Darío Durigan said the agreement between Brazil’s Federal Revenue Service and U.S. Customs and Border Protection will enable the exchange of cargo data, particularly on shipments leaving the United States for Brazil.

The focus will be on intercepting illegal goods, such as weapons and narcotics.

The announcement comes as Washington considers designating Brazil-based criminal groups Primeiro Comando da Capital and Comando Vermelho as terrorist organizations, according to outlet G1 O’Globo.

The effort gained traction after Eduardo Bolsonaro and Flávio Bolsonaro, sons of former President Jair Bolsonaro, urged members of the administration of Donald Trump to take action, The New York Times reported. U.S. officials have not publicly confirmed any such designation.

Brazilian authorities also highlighted the rollout of the DESARMA program, a system designed to allow real-time information sharing when customs officials identify shipments linked to firearms, ammunition, explosives and other sensitive materials.

Officials said the tool enables authorities to trace the origin of illicit goods and map criminal networks involved in the international arms trade.

Recent records show the system has expanded the ability to detect, connect and track illicit weapons flows, with early results already benefiting both countries.

U.S.-provided intelligence has helped uncover sophisticated smuggling methods, including rifle components hidden inside airsoft equipment and drugs concealed in packages labeled as common goods such as pet food sent through postal services.

Over the past 12 months, authorities identified 35 incidents involving the seizure of 1,168 items, weighing about 550 kilograms, primarily shipped from Florida using fraudulent declarations and concealment techniques.

Brazil’s tax revenue secretary, ​Robinson Barreirinhas, said ‌more than 1,100 weapons ​were seized ​over the past 12 ⁠months arriving from ​the United States, ​and that in the first quarter alone, authorities ​have seized more ​than 1.5 tons of ‌drugs.

Brazil’s finance ministry said consolidating this data into a structured database has improved identification of patterns, links between senders and recipients, and recurring trafficking routes. This, in turn, has strengthened information-sharing with U.S. authorities to support enforcement action at the source and dismantle criminal networks.

The ministry added that the cooperation is part of ongoing dialogue between President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Trump, and forms part of a broader bilateral agenda focused on combating transnational organized crime.

April 10 (UPI) — The European Union has implemented a new digital border system for those traveling without an EU passport, and it’s likely to cause long lines at airports and border crossings.

The new Entry/Exit System requires non-EU passport holders who don’t need a visa to enter — including Americans — to present their passports, give fingerprints and take a photo when entering their first EU country if they are staying up to 90 days.

Ireland and Cyprus are not participating.

They will also have to answer a few questions about their visit, such as how long they’re staying, where and if they will have enough money.

People with a United States passport would have to do this upon landing at their first EU airport. After that, their passport will be enough for entry around Europe for three years, but they’ll have to answer questions on each trip.

Many airports and border crossings have set up electronic kiosks that allow users to scan themselves in, but the wait could be long. Before this, non-EU members could move freely across borders without stopping.

A new visa-waiver system called European Travel Information and Authorization System is coming at the end of 2026. No date has been announced yet. This will allow travelers to apply to register their information before their trips and link it to their passports.

ETIAS will cost $23.44 per person and will also last three years. Those under 18 and over 70 will not have to pay.

At Dover, England, ferry passengers have had to use the kiosks a mile away from the ferry, the BBC reported. People will have to take buses that will drive them to the ferry.

Eurostar, which runs trains through the English Channel Tunnel, has installed 49 EES kiosks in its London St. Pancras terminal. But right now border police are doing the checks, BBC reported.

Eurostar said it will use the kiosks “once the operational software and the activation timetable are confirmed and approved by the French Ministry of Interior.”

The Channel Tunnel has installed more than a hundred kiosks on each side of the Channel.

John and his wife Phil, a married couple from Motherwell, Scotland, said they stood in line for five hours in Pisa Airport after flying in from Glasgow.

John, with an Irish passport, was in line for an hour, but Phil has a British passport and had to wait.

“When I came through, all the planes which had arrived in the hours before had all their suitcases unloaded from the carousel, left stacked on the concourse floor,” John told the BBC.

“There were several elderly people in those queues and, as you can imagine at this time, lots of children. Our government must do something about this,” he said.

April 10 (UPI) — President Donald Trump‘s tariffs are back in court Friday to decide on their legality.

The U.S. Court of International Trade will consider the president’s 10% global tariff that he created on Feb. 20 after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down his previous tariffs over his use of emergency powers. The new tariffs are based on Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974.

That law allows the president to unilaterally surcharge imports up to 15% for up to 150 days “to deal with large and serious United States balance-of-payments deficits.”

Challenging the new levies are Democratic-led states and small businesses.

“This is another case where the president invokes a statute to impose whatever tariffs he wants, its limits be damned,” the states wrote in court filings.

Timothy C. Brightbill, a trade lawyer for the Washington law firm Wiley Rein, told The New York Times that he expects the court to be “skeptical of President Trump’s ability to impose broad tariffs,” including the global 10% rate.

Brightbill said it could be months before the legal system can give a full verdict.

“By then, there will most likely be a new tariff regime in place,” Brightbill said.

The White House said in a statement that Trump was “lawfully using the executive powers granted to him” and the administration was “committed to robustly defending the legality of the president’s actions in court.”

“For over a century, Congress has supplemented the president’s constitutional power over foreign affairs and national security by delegating to him the authority to manage foreign trade in response to international conditions, including by imposing tariffs,” the administration said.

But critics say Trump’s position only includes the U.S trade deficit. They argue that the president is ignoring inflows of foreign capital and financial investment. Those help “balance” the deficit.

They argue that a balance-of-payments crisis is impossible because the United States stopped using the gold standard and a fixed exchange rate system in the 1970s.

“A balance-of-payments crisis is a currency crisis that was of great concern when Congress enacted Section 122, but which can no longer exist,” the states wrote in court filings.

There are 24 states in the suit, along with two small businesses: spice and e-commerce business Burlap & Barrel and Basic Fun!, a toy company that designs and markets Tonka, Lincoln Logs, K’nex and others. They filed separate suits against the tariffs, but the cases will be heard together.

“When these tariffs were first announced last April, we made two promises: we would not raise our prices, and we would not ask our partner farmers to absorb the costs,” Burlap & Barrel wrote on its website. “A year later, we’re proud to say we’ve kept those promises. This lawsuit is about protecting our ability to continue doing that.”

The plaintiffs are represented by the Liberty Justice Center, a libertarian firm that worked on the tariff case that the administration lost at the Supreme Court. The three-judge panel is made up of different judges from the previous panel at the Court of International Trade.

April 10 (UPI) — A federal judge has again ordered the Pentagon to restore access to credentialed journalists, ruling the Trump administration was attempting to flout his previous order by disguising it as an interim rule.

“The Department cannot simply reinstate an unlawful policy under the guise of taking ‘new’ action and expect the court to look the other way,” U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman said in his Thursday ruling, obtained by Courthouse News.

The Department of Defense has said it intends to appeal.

The ruling comes in a case filed by The New York Times challenging a policy instituted by the Department of Defense in October requiring all journalists with access to the Pentagon to sign a form acknowledging they could have their credentials revoked for collecting unauthorized information.

Most Pentagon reporters declined and surrendered their credentials.

Last month, Friedman ruled the policy was unconstitutional and ordered the Pentagon to reinstate the credentials of seven journalists with The Times.

As the Defense Department said it planned to appeal the ruling, it unveiled a new revised policy that moved their office space outside the Pentagon building and required credentialed journalists to be escorted by Defense personnel at all times within it.

The Times again challenged the new, revised rule, accusing it of being a Trump administration attempt to defy Friedman’s order.

Friedman on Thursday agreed, finding that instead of returning the credentials to the Times’ journalists and restoring their access to the Pentagon, the Trump administration instead cut off access to all journalists.

“The court cannot conclude this opinion without noting once again what this case is really about: the attempt by the secretary of defense to dictate the information received by the American people, to control the message so that the public hears and sees only what the secretary and the Trump administration want them to hear and see,” Friedman, an appointee of President Bill Clinton, wrote in the 20-page ruling.

“The Constitution demands better. The American public demands better, too.”

After the court rejected the Pentagon’s attempt to restrict the First Amendment freedoms of The Times’ reporters, it invoked a new policy with only slightly different language from the one that was struck down in order to achieve the same unconstitutional end, he said.

“The curtailment of First Amendment rights is dangerous at any time, and even more so in a time of war,” Friedman said. “Suppression of political speech is the mark of an autocracy, not a democracy — as the framers recognized when they drafted the First Amendment.”

Charlie Stadtlander, a spokesperson for The Times, cheered Thursday’s ruling, saying it upholds the paper’s constitutional rights while sending a clear message to the Pentagon.

“Compliance with a lawful order of a court is not optional; it is required in a democracy committed to the rule of law,” Stadtlander said in a statement.

“We are pleased that Judge Friedman saw the revised policy issued by the Pentagon after his last decision for what it was: a poorly disguised attempt to continue to violate the constitutional rights of The Times and its journalists.”

In announcing the Pentagon’s intention to appeal, Sean Parnell, assistant to the secretary of defense for public affairs, argued that they have at all times complied with the court’s original order, saying the revised policy addressed all concerns raised in Friedman’s March 20 opinion.

“The department remains committed to press access at the Pentagon while fulfilling its statutory obligation to ensure the safe and secure operation of the Pentagon Reservation,” he said in a statement.

The Trump administration has been repeatedly accused by critics of taking actions aimed at influencing media coverage, from the October memorandum concerning Pentagon reporters to restricting access to outlets over editorial decisions and seizing control of the White House press pool.

April 10 (UPI) — Search-and-rescue teams were scouring the wreckage of a collapsed Philadelphia parking garage on Thursday night for two people still missing, according to officials, who said the individuals were presumed dead.

The parking garage, under construction near 30th Street and Grays Ferry Avenue in South Philadelphia, collapsed at 2:19 p.m. EDT Wednesday, prompting emergency personnel to search the site for survivors.

One person was found and transported to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center where they were pronounced dead.

Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker called on the public to pray for the three victims and their families.

“Right now, Philadelphia, it’s important for us to affirm together in a manner that’s fitting for each of us to send our prayers with the families who have been impacted, the family of the individual who has passed and also the families of the two people who are deceased,” she told reporters at a press conference, identifying all three as employees under the Ironworkers Local 401 union.

“We want you to know that we indeed grieve their loss tonight and we will continue to stand by, shoulder to shoulder, to support those families that have been directly impacted.”

Around the clock, officials have been working the site, and at 2 p.m. four search dogs were deployed into the downed structure and found no signs of life, she said.

Parker described that moment as “a pivotal point” in the incident. Officials now had the information necessary to shift the rescue operation to recovery.

“Our city agencies are reaching out and are in touch with the families of the deceased individual as well as the two lost souls who are, again, still unaccounted for but presumed deceased,” she said.

“Our city prays for them and with their families tonight.”

Officials were canvassing several blocks around the garage, notifying residents that on Friday, what remained of the structure would be demolished, she said.

Following the collapse, officials closed the immediate area to the public, including a shopping plaza and surrounding stores. No timeline has been given for their reopening.

Parker said the garage collapse remains under investigation.

“We are going to cross every ‘T,’ Philadelphia, and dot every ‘I’ until we get to the bottom of what happened here on Wednesday,” she said.

Managing Director Adam Teal for the City of Philadelphia told reporters that the structure remains “very unstable” and will be continuously monitored “until this incident is brought to a safe close.”

He explained that a large crane will be assembled over multiple hours to be used in the demolition of the structure, but only after the demolition plan receives final approval from various agencies.

“And here’s the most important thing: We, all of us, everybody you see here and all oof the hundreds of people working still now, we will not stop until everyone is returned to their loved ones with dignity, respect and honor,” he said.

“The same dignity and respect that we offer to our own fallen members.”

April 8 (UPI) — Authorities in the Bahamas detained a 59-year-old American man in connection with last weekend’s disappearance of an American woman while out at sea.

The woman has been identified by Hope Town Volunteer Fire and Rescue as 55-year-old Lynette Hooker.

According to the Royal Bahamas Police Force, an unidentified man, reportedly her husband, Brian Hooker, 58, reported his wife missing at about 4 a.m. Sunday after arriving at the Marsh Harbor Boatyard by boat.

Police said the man informed officers that he and his wife had departed Hope Town at around 7:30 p.m. EDT Saturday for Elbow Cay aboard an 8-foot, hard-bottom dinghy.

During the journey, his wife fell overboard with the boat keys in her possession, causing the vessel’s engine to cut off, the man told officers, the Royal Bahamas Police Force said in an earlier statement.

Strong currents then allegedly carried the woman away. The man lost sight of her and then paddled the dinghy to shore, according to police, which said a search-and-rescue mission was launched for the missing woman.

The Royal Bahamas Police Force said in a statement that an American man, age 59, was taken into custody at about 7 p.m. Wednesday in Marsh Harbor, Abaco Island.

The suspect “is currently being questioned in connection with this matter,” the Royal Bahamas Police Force said.

The Royal Bahamas Defense Force announced Wednesday that the rescue effort has become a recovery operation.

Lynette Hooker’s daughter, Karli Aylesworth, told CBS News on Wednesday that she is urging police to thoroughly investigate the incident as she does not believe the reported sequence of events.

“I don’t understand how she got the key,” she said. “Brian’s always driving. So, he basically is in charge of the key. So, the fact that my mom had it doesn’t make any sense.”

April 8 (UPI) — A Russian hacking group financed by the spy agency GRU managed a large-scale campaign to steal information about militaries and governments by hacking into Wi-Fi routers, the FBI said.

The group known as Fancy Bear is behind the hack done to governments around the world. Intelligence and police services in the United States, Canada, Ukraine, Germany, Italy, Poland, Slovenia, Romania and others discovered the operation, which attacked poorly protected Wi-Fi routers, they announced in a joint statement Tuesday.

The hackers took “passwords, authentication tokens and other sensitive information, including emails” Ukraine’s security service, the SBU, said in a statement.

“This way, they acted as ‘intermediaries’ in the online space to collect passwords, authentication tokens and other sensitive information, including emails, which under normal circumstances are protected by SSL [Secure Sockets Layer] and TLS [Transport Layer Security] cryptographic protocols,” SBU said.

The GRU operatives, who have been using this technique since at least 2024, planned to use the information to “carry out cyberattacks, information sabotage and the collection of intelligence,” SBU said.

The FBI said the GRU has “indiscriminately compromised a wide pool of U.S. and global victims and then filtered down impacted users, especially targeting information related to military, government and critical infrastructure.”

Romania, which participated in the investigation, said the GRU operatives “were collecting military, governmental, and critical infrastructure-related information,” Romanian President Nicușor Dan said.

“Russia therefore continues its hybrid war against Western countries — only those acting in bad faith could fail to see this,” Dan said in a post on X.

The FBI also urged “all network defenders and owners of small office/home office (SOHO) routers to update to the latest firmware versions, change default usernames and passwords, disable remote management interfaces from the internet, and stay alert for certificate warnings in web browsers and email clients.”

April 7 (UPI) — Fire ripped through a Kimberly-Clark paper goods warehouse early Tuesday in Ontario, Calif., spewing smoke and ash into the sky in a tremendous black plume.

The blaze was first reported about 1:45 a.m., and responders from the Ontario Fire Department found heavy smoke and fire when arriving. More than 100 emergency personnel from that and at least four other departments worked to contain the fire into the day.

Officials said about 20 people were at the 1.2 million-square-foot warehouse when the fire broke out; there were no initial reports of injuries.

The fire department warned area residents, especially seniors and children, of poor air quality connected with heavy smoke and ash from the blaze and advised people to remain inside.

Ontario Deputy Fire Chief Mike Wedell told KNBC-TV in Los Angeles that the fire department identified the blaze as “suspicious in nature.” Police were questioning a warehouse employee in connection with the fire.

A Kimberly-Clark representative told KCBS-TV in Los Angeles that a third-party partner operated the warehouse and that the company was working with that partner and local authorities. Kimberly-Clark, based in Irving, Texas, manufactures mostly paper products, including brands such as Cottonelle, Scott, Huggies and Kleenex.

April 7 (UPI) — Two French people held in Iran for nearly four years have been allowed to leave the country and return home, French authorities announced Tuesday.

“Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris are free and on their way to French territory, after three and a half years of detention in Iran. This is a relief for all of us and obviously for their families,” French President Emmanuel Macron said on X. “Thank you to the Omani authorities for their mediation efforts, to the State services, and to the citizens who mobilized tirelessly and thus contributed to their return.”

The couple, both teachers, were convicted of espionage after a trial the French government said was “completely unfounded” and “arbitrary.”

Kohler, 41, is a high school literature teacher, and her partner, Paris, is a retired teacher in his 70s. They were arrested during a tourist trip to Iran in 2022. They were imprisoned in the Evin prison, which is where political prisoners and dissidents are kept.

They were allowed four consular visits over the three years after their arrest. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said their conditions were like “torture.”

Kohler and Paris were convicted in 2025 of spying for French intelligence services, conspiring to undermine Iran’s national security and cooperating with Israeli intelligence services. Kohler was sentenced to 20 years in prison, and Paris was sentenced to 17, the French government said.

After intense negotiations, a month later they were released but couldn’t leave Iran. They moved into the French Embassy in Tehran.

Their families and friends have rallied for them over the years and kept their images with the word “freedom” posted on the gates of the French National Assembly and other ministry buildings.

Once the war in Iran began, French authorities intensified negotiations with Iran to get the pair out of the country. They wouldn’t disclose if anything was given to Iran in exchange, The New York Times reported.

Macron announced the release at a health summit in Lyon. He said they were “free and on their way back to France. This is wonderful news,” The Times reported. When the announcement was made in the National Assembly, lawmakers stood and applauded.

Barrot announced on X that Kohler and Paris “have finally left Iran and are now permanently FREE. On the phone just a few moments ago, they expressed to me their emotion and their joy at soon reuniting with their country and their loved ones.”

They were expected to arrive in Paris on Wednesday.

In March 2025, Iran released French tourist Olivier Grondeau, who was held for two years of a five-year sentence for spying. His family had said he was a passionate fan of Persian poetry and was on a tourist visa as part of a world tour.

April 7 (UPI) — Mexican authorities arrested Remigio Valdez Lao in Cancun, identifying him as a suspected key operator of a criminal network that smuggled migrants into the United States, regional media reported.

The suspect, who goes by “El Milo,” is subject to an extradition order issued by the United States for human trafficking, drug trafficking and international smuggling offenses.

The arrest occurred Monday in one of the main tourist destinations in the Mexican Caribbean after coordinated intelligence work among the Secretariat of the Navy, the Attorney General’s Office, the Army and the National Guard, according to Mexico’s Security Cabinet.

Authorities said “El Milo” served as the operational and financial coordinator of the organization known as the Cuban-American Mafia and oversaw illegal migrant transportation routes and financial flows linked to these operations.

During the operation, agents also detained a second person, identified as Joseline “N,” and seized 38 doses of marijuana and a gray pickup truck.

According to information published by Milenio magazine and confirmed by federal authorities, the suspect was considered a priority target in Quintana Roo. El Milo was immediately transferred to Mexico City to advance the extradition process requested by U.S. authorities.

Judicial reports in the United States, notably from the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, identify a structure known as the “Cuban Mafia in Quintana Roo,” dedicated to moving Cuban migrants to the United States through Mexico.

According to those investigations, the organization demanded payments of up to $10,000 per person.

Case files indicate that, if payment were not received, migrants were detained, threatened and forced to contact their relatives to obtain money.

In some cases, members of the group sent photos and videos to pressure payment. If families paid, the victims were released and sent toward the U.S. border to seek asylum.

The U.S. Department of Justice has said that this type of network operates in several countries, including Mexico, Cuba, Spain and the United States, and generates profits through human trafficking and extortion schemes.

Mexico has become a key transit country for migrants, especially Cubans, seeking to reach the U.S. southern border.

The case comes amid intensified bilateral cooperation on security matters.

In January, Mexico extradited 37 inmates linked to criminal organizations to the United States, in what analysts consider a significant step to strengthen cooperation between the two countries.

Authorities have not disclosed additional details about the full structure of the network or the total scope of operations attributed to El Milo, whose legal process will continue in the coming weeks.

April 7 (UPI) — Australia’s most decorated soldier was arrested Tuesday and charged with war crimes, namely murder, allegedly committed when he was serving with Australian special forces in Afghanistan more than a decade ago.

Australian Federal Police said in a news release that they detained the 47-year-old off a plane from Brisbane at Sydney Airport and charged him with five counts related to the murder of Afghan detainees as part of a joint AFP-Office of the Special Investigator probe.

The former soldier was held in custody pending a court appearance on Wednesday, said AFP.

Local media identified the suspect as former SAS corporal and Victoria Cross recipient Ben Roberts-Smith.

The AFP told a news conference the suspect would be charged with one count of the war crime of murder, one of commissioning a murder with other persons, and three of aiding, abetting, counseling or procuring a murder.

“It will be alleged the victims were shot by the accused or shot by subordinate members of the Australian Defense Force in the presence of, and acting on the orders of, the accused,” AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett said.

The killings of the victims who were unarmed are alleged to have taken place between 2009 and 2012 when Roberts-Smith was deployed in Afghanistan.

Reaction to Roberts-Smith’s arrest was split down party lines with the Labour Prime Minister Anthony Albanese declining to comment in order not to prejudice pending criminal proceedings.

Angus Taylor, the leader of the Liberal opposition, said it should not affect Australians’ respect and thankfulness for men and women in uniform “who serve this nation in some of the most difficult and dangerous circumstances imaginable.”

Tony Abbott, Liberal Party prime minister during the latter part of the war, said in a post on X that his sympathies “instinctively” lay with former special forces operating “under highly restrictive rules of engagement that meant known terrorists” were repeatedly captured and released.

“After doing their best to serve our country, dozens of former special forces soldiers should not still be in limbo years later because of ongoing investigations. Justice delayed is justice denied. If evidence is clear, and cases are strong, they should be brought and concluded without delay,” he added.

The Australian War Memorial announced a review of a display honoring Roberts-Smith in its Hall of Valor.

“The Memorial acknowledges media reports of the arrest of Ben Roberts-Smith VC MG. Accordingly, the Memorial will review the wording of the interpretive panel associated with his display. The display of his uniform, equipment and medals remains in place,” the memorial said in a statement.

A defamation case brought by Roberts-Smith in 2018 after Australian media published reports of the allegations ended in 2023 with a federal court ruling he had in fact killed several unarmed Afghans, a judgment he unsuccessfully appealed in 2025.

The case shook Australia because Roberts-Smith was a war hero, a recipient of the military’s highest honor for bravery for his lone defense of his platoon from an assault by Taliban fighters.

The judge in that case ruled that Roberts-Smith ordered rookie troops to shoot dead two unarmed Afghans to “blood” the recruits and was implicated in the killings of a farmer pushed over a cliff while handcuffed and a captured one-legged Taliban fighter. The captive’s prosthetic leg was allegedly removed as a trophy and later used to drink out of by troops.

None of the allegations, findings or evidence against Roberts-Smith have yet been tested to a degree that would meet the standard for a criminal conviction.

He has always denied all wrongdoing, calling the allegations against him “egregious” and “spiteful,” saying the alleged incidents were not criminal because they happened during combat or never took place, period.

Roberts-Smith is only the second person to be charged five years after the Brereton Report into war crimes allegedly committed by the ADF in the Afghanistan war recommended authorities investigate 39 unlawful killings and provided the names of 19 suspects.