Operation

Production services vendor Quixote stunned Hollywood in April when it said it was winding down most of its Los Angeles soundstage business, delivering another blow to an industry already buffeted by steep losses in film and TV production.

Now, one of those facilities is attempting to stage a comeback.

Film and TV producer Manny Halley said he has taken over a 125,000-square-foot former Quixote North Valley complex on Montague Street in Pacoima under a 25-year lease with an option to buy, and plans to reopen it this fall under the name Imani Studio. The land is owned by Rexford Industrial Realty, which is not a party to the production business.

Halley’s credits include the “True to the Game” film trilogy that featured Vivica A. Fox, and the BET reality TV series “Keyshia Cole: The Way It Is,” which ran on BET from 2006 to 2008.

In an interview, Halley declined to disclose the price he paid, but said the lease is worth more than $25 million and that the cost to build the facility three years ago was about $19 million. The deal was financed with capital from his Imani Media Group.

“Right now is a unique time for independent producers because we don’t have to sit back and wait for a studio,” he said. “And in order for us to build a library and keep going, we have to keep costs down. So having your own stage is going to keep costs down.”

Producer Manny Halley has taken over ownership of one of the former Quixote North Valley studio facilities in Pacoima.

(Dae Howerton and Dallas J. Logan)

Halley said he was also motivated by the ongoing production crisis in L.A. and the continued loss of industry jobs. His company has shot 18 productions in California, 14 of which received a state production incentive.

“Somebody’s got to believe in Hollywood,” Halley said. “It’s a sad industry right now, and I want to change it.”

He is making a long bet on a market a much larger company has struggled with. Former owner Hudson Pacific announced it was shutting down most of its L.A. soundstages as well as operations in Atlanta as part of a cost-reduction move.

The Los Angeles-based real estate company bought Quixote in 2022 for $360 million, saying at the time that the acquisition would address the growing demand for soundstage space. Quixote was originally founded in 1995.

Though L.A. area soundstages had average occupancy rates of about 90% from 2016 to 2022, their business plunged in 2023 amid the work stoppages of the writers’ and actors’ strikes, according to data from the nonprofit FilmLA, which tracks on-location shoot days in the Greater L.A. area. In 2024, the average occupancy rate was 63%.

“Keeping production infrastructure active and investing in California’s capacity to support film and television is essential to our long-term competitiveness,” California Film Commission Executive Director Colleen Bell said in a statement. “Facilities like this help keep productions here, sustain good-paying jobs, and support the thousands of businesses and workers that make up our entertainment economy.”

Halley said he plans to invest $2 million to $6 million into the facility, including additional staff and LED volume walls. He retained three employees to help run operations and hopes to hire others who previously worked there.

He said he plans to use the facility, which has four soundstages, to shoot his own shows and movies, but also intends to rent out space to other productions, including student projects.

“I just want to give everybody their opportunity to shine,” he said. “I want to give them their own playing field to create and make their visions come to life with affordable stages.”

But even if outside productions don’t rent the space, he said the facility could sustain itself on his company’s projects. Imani Media Group has a distribution arm that has worked with Amazon, Tubi and the major theater chains.

By late September, Halley said he intends to start shooting a “True to the Game” TV series at the Pacoima facility, as well as the BET comedy “Lot Patrol,” which the network recently picked up for an additional five episodes.

“Supporting Black ownership and entrepreneurship across the entertainment industry remains deeply important to BET,” Brian Rikuda, BET’s executive vice president of enterprise growth strategy, business operations, and programming strategy, said in a statement. “As Manny Halley expands Imani Studios into a 125,000-square-foot production home, we’re proud to continue our partnership rooted in a shared vision to create culturally impactful entertainment and expand opportunity in our industry.”

Since early August 2026, several Venezuelan media outlets that have reported on businessman Alejandro Betancourt and his role at the helm of oil company North American Blue Energy Partners (NABEP) have faced attacks on X from a group of accounts defending his activities, praising Delcy Rodríguez’s administration, and disparaging María Corina Machado.

Hundreds of these responses came from inauthentic accounts that do not appear to be operated by regular users.

Cazadores de Fake News identified at least 75 such accounts on X, resembling trolls, whose activity led to 13 newly created websites posing as Venezuelan regional news outlets. On Instagram, another previously documented network of fake news accounts known as La Fábrica de Desinformación (“The Disinformation Factory”) has also published favorable content about Betancourt and his activities, acting as another front in the same communications strategy.

The analysis found that an influence operation in Betancourt’s favor began to be deployed in August, seeking to improve his reputation while discrediting journalistic coverage of the businessman amid his contacts with Rodríguez’s administration.

The operation remains active, and the number of accounts and fake outlets could grow.

Trolls attack Venezuelan media covering Betancourt

Beginning August 11, journalists and Venezuelan media outlets reported to Cazadores de Fake News that posts about Betancourt were receiving large numbers of hostile responses, sometimes insults, almost simultaneously. The accounts questioned the posts and defended the businessman.

Among those targeted were journalists and social media personalities like Germania Rodríguez Poleo, Norbey Marín, and Emmanuel Rincón, as well as Armando.info, El Pitazo, EVTV, VPI TV, and Spain’s El País. The same accounts also respond to other users discussing Betancourt and, in some cases, to unrelated news.

Under different headlines, the fake outlets reproduced only the favorable portions of the article that portrayed him as an intermediary for Washington.

Based on their behavior and attack patterns, Cazadores de Fake News considers them part of a troll network: a group of fake accounts covertly and selectively spreading propaganda in Betancourt’s favor without appearing automated.

The accounts mix attacks with memes, sports comments, and everyday posts, making them appear more like ordinary users. This allows them to intervene in and discredit legitimate conversations without immediately being recognized as propaganda.

The network’s messages revolve around three main narratives. The first promotes and defends Betancourt and NABEP, the private oil company he leads and which operates Venezuelan fields under new concessions granted by the Rodríguez administration. The accounts portray the company’s activities as an opportunity for Venezuela’s economic development.

The second expresses optimism about Venezuela’s economy and, while celebrating Nicolás Maduro’s capture, simultaneously supports Rodríguez’s performance as acting president. The third, promoted less frequently, rejects Machado’s leadership of the Venezuelan opposition.

The 75 accounts fall into two groups: 62 that appear to be real people, with names, profile pictures, and short biographies, and 13 posing as news outlets.

The apparent personal accounts share a striking pattern: 61 were created between 2011 and 2015, with more than half created in 2013 or 2014.

Most follow between 90 and 200 accounts, have 80 to 120 followers, and have fewer than 300 posts. Some have no posts predating August 2026, despite having been created more than a decade ago. Cazadores de Fake News considers it likely that the accounts were purchased in bulk, a common practice for giving inauthentic networks an appearance of age and avoiding newly created profiles that are more vulnerable to suspension under X’s platform-manipulation policies.

The other X accounts do not present themselves as individual users. Instead, they pose as Venezuelan news outlets with generic names. As of August 19, 13 such accounts had been identified.

Several accounts posing as individuals have posted favorable comments beneath the fake outlets’ posts, creating the appearance of organic approval. Legitimate X users could interpret these exchanges as genuine conversations, even though both sides belong to the same network.

Twelve of the fake news profiles were created between January 2024 and July 2026 and have already accumulated between 5,681 and 18,900 followers. Yet none has published more than 157 posts. Their coverage repeatedly advances the same narratives as the accounts posing as individuals: favorable coverage of Betancourt and NABEP, support for Rodríguez, and attacks on Machado.

The operation extends beyond X. Almost all of the fake outlets link to websites using the same name as their X profiles. The sites are designed to resemble legitimate Venezuelan digital media, with sections for politics, crime, business, sports, and regional news.

Under Maduro, Cazadores documented similar campaigns favoring other Venezuelan oligarchs and their businesses, such as Alex Saab (2020) and José Simón Elarba (2026), the owner of waste-management company Fospuca.

The 13 domains were registered between July 26 and 27 using the same hosting provider, about a week before the coordinated X activity began. All operate on WordPress, and none has a contact page, editorial team, legal notice, advertising, or audience-measurement tools. In several cases, the same image appears on four or five different sites.

One of the clearest examples was the coordinated amplification of a Bloomberg article about Betancourt published August 17. The fake outlets reproduced, under different headlines, only the favorable portions of the article that portrayed him as an intermediary for Washington. They omitted other details mentioned by Bloomberg, including financial sanctions imposed in the United States on one of his partners and allegations involving the supply of power-generation equipment in Venezuela.

Content supporting the same narratives was also published by five fake news accounts and one influential account belonging to La Fábrica de Desinformación, a network of anonymous Instagram news accounts aimed at opposition audiences that Cazadores de Fake News has documented since 2020 as a recurring source of disinformation and pro-government propaganda.

Digital reputation operations benefiting businessmen linked to political power were a recurring feature under Nicolás Maduro. Cazadores de Fake News documented one deployed in favor of Alex Saab beginning in 2020, and in May 2026 identified a network of inauthentic accounts that attacked media outlets investigating José Simón Elarba while praising Fospuca, his company.

The evidence documented here indicates that such operations continue under Rodríguez’s administration.

Who commissioned the operation and how it was financed remain unanswered questions. What is documented is that, in four weeks, someone purchased dozens of old accounts, registered 13 domains, and activated six profiles from a previously exposed network—all serving the same purpose.

President Trump secretly flew out of last month’s NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, on an alternate military aircraft while the White House made it appear that the president was flying on Air Force One, the Washington Post reported.

The Post said Monday that the operation was prompted by an Iranian assassination threat against Trump. The ruse was carried out as journalists and some White House staff members were led to believe they were on the same plane as the president as he began his journey back to Washington from the annual gathering of leaders of North Atlantic Treaty Organization countries.

The Post cited material reviewed by the newspaper, a U.S. official familiar with the operation and another person with knowledge of the president’s travel. The Associated Press has not independently confirmed the report.

Trump had flown to the summit in a new Qatari-gifted and retrofitted red, white and navy blue jet. But ahead of departing Turkey, he said he would fly partway home on an older-model baby blue Air Force One plane instead.

The president at the time said the new luxury jet was being flown out ahead of his departure from Ankara to give some U.S. troops based in eastern England a chance to check out the new Air Force One.

In Ankara, Trump boarded the old Air Force One jumbo jet in view of television cameras ahead of the plane flying to Royal Air Force Mildenhall in the United Kingdom.

However, according to the Post report, after boarding the legacy Air Force One jet, he was secretly shuttled minutes later to a smaller plane — an Air Force C-32A — via an airport catering truck typically used to load meals and other supplies. Trump flew to Mildenhall on that smaller jet.

The White House did not respond directly to questions about the Post report of the secret operation to whisk Trump out of the country on a third aircraft, or the reported elaborate ruse to make it appear he was on the baby blue Air Force One jet flying to Mildenhall.

“As the President has said recently, there are many enemies of America who have their sights on him, and we use every tool at our disposal to address those threats,” White House communications director Steven Cheung said in a statement.

The U.S. Secret Service declined to comment. The Air Force, which maintains the fleet of executive travel aircraft, referred questions to the White House.

While Trump was in Turkey, the U.S. military conducted a series of large strikes in Iran in retaliation for its attacks on merchant shipping in the region.

The New York Times and CBS News reported last month that intelligence officials had raised concerns about a potential attack on the president or his jet, triggering additional precautions and the decision not to use the newly inaugurated aircraft gifted to Trump by Qatar for the first leg of Trump’s trip home from Ankara.

The swap had spurred questions about the security of the Qatar-provided aircraft, and Trump said last month after the trip that it would undergo additional upgrades.

Cheung on Monday maintained that the new, Qatari-gifted plane was “a state-of-the-art aircraft that has been fitted with high-level security protocols that ensure the safety of the President and his staff.”

The new Post report on clandestinely putting Trump on a third aircraft and quietly whisking him out of the country adds a fresh layer to just how seriously concerned U.S. security officials were about the threat against Trump during the ongoing war with Iran.

Paul Eckloff, a former special agent with the Secret Service, said such an unusual move could either reflect actionable intelligence or an abundance of caution given volatility in the region with the wars in Iran and Ukraine.

“I would not say unprecedented, but it is an unusual occurrence,” Eckloff told the Associated Press.

The Post reported that to exit that plane without being seen by those uninvolved in the operation, Trump and several aides stepped aboard an airport catering truck, which was elevated planeside using hydraulics and positioned at a door on the opposite side of Air Force One’s entrance.

The small group of reporters who thought they were traveling with Trump were advised to lower their window shades ahead of takeoff.

After arriving at Mildenhall, news photographers captured images of Trump getting off the presidential plane — suggesting he reboarded Air Force One out of sight of the pack of journalists who thought they were traveling with him.

Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal called for a congressional briefing on what happened.

“It is unprecedented and it is surreal,” he said Monday on CNN, calling the incident “downright scary.”

After the brief visit to the base at Mildenhall, Trump boarded the new Air Force One aircraft to fly the rest of the way to Washington.

During a gaggle with reporters aboard the aircraft, Trump was asked directly if there were any credible threats against Air Force One by Iran.

“Well, I have a threat all the time. I’m No. 1 on their list before you,” Trump said. He added to the traveling reporters, “But if I go, you go.”

Associated Press writers Josh Boak, Aamer Madhani and Konstantin Toropin contributed to this report.

June 25 (UPI) — A cargo vessel in the Strait of Hormuz was attacked Thursday, prompting officials to halt the evacuation of sailors stranded in the chokepoint by the war.

It was unclear who attacked the cargo ship. According to the British navy’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations office, the vessel was struck on its starboard side by an unknown projectile at about 5:40 p.m. local time. It was about 7 1/2 nautical miles southeast of Dahit, Oman, when it was attacked, it said.

The vessel’s bridge sustained damage, but no casualties or environmental impact were reported.

Following the attack, the United Nations’ International Maritime Organization paused its evacuation operation in the Strait of Hormuz.

“I have decided to temporarily pause its implementation in order to reconfirm that the necessary safety guarantees continue to be in place for the ships on our evacuation list and all those in the region,” IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez said in a statement.

The war, which began Feb. 28, left some 11,000 sailors stranded in and around the Strait of Hormuz, a vital energy shipping route. The IMO announced the evacuation operation Tuesday, after the United States and Iran agreed to a Memorandum of Understanding that seeks to pave a path to ending the war.

Under the U.N. plan, a number of vessels have already been evacuated.

The vessel struck Thursday was not transiting the Hormuz under the IMO’s evacuation framework, the U.N. agency said.

Though it unclear who was responsible for the attack, the Iran’s U.S.-sanctioned Persian Gulf Strait Authority, newly created by Tehran to oversee and manage the strait, issued an advisory Thursday, stating it is not responsible for the protection of vessels transiting “outside designated routes.”

“Any consequences arising from unauthorized routing shall be the sole responsibility of the vessel owner, charterer and master,” it said.

Control of the strait has been a focus of ongoing U.S. efforts to end the war.

Iran effectively closed the strait after being attacked Feb. 28, causing energy prices to surge and threatened nations with worsening energy crises.

Since then, Iran has attempted to maintain control of the strait and has sought to impose fees on ships that transit it.

The United States is seeking to secure free maritime travel through the strait as part of the MOU. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is currently in the Middle East trying to sell the MOU to allied nations.

However, the Institute for the Study of War said in a report Thursday night that Iran’s alleged attacks and threats directed at vessels in the strait “advance its objective of establishing control over the waterway” as well as “undermine international efforts to guarantee safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz.”

“Iran is using military threats and economic incentives to try to convince Gulf states to support its efforts to control the strait, but the Gulf states appear to be resisting Iranian pressure at present,” it said.

June 24 (UPI) — The U.S. Justice Department announced charges Wednesday for 12 people it said used drones in a conspiracy to smuggle drugs, weapons and other items into multiple prisons.

The department said the conspiracy affected 10 federal prisons in eight states, including Georgia, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Louisiana and Mississippi, WAPT-TV reported.

U.S. Attorney William Keyes said the operation was based at a former daycare in Macon, Ga., and used multiple drones to deliver contraband to prisons by night.

Keyes said the indictment “charges the most sophisticated and sprawling criminal enterprise using drones to introduce contraband into the federal prison system ever charged by the Department of Justice,” CNN reported.

The drone deliveries allegedly took place between September 2023 and May 2026. Charges say the group used six drones to deliver contraband at least 38 times. This contraband included methamphetamine, marijuana, cocaine,other illegal drugs, tobacco, blades and cell phones.

The prosecutors said that people inside the prisons used phones to help guide the drone pilots. Prison authorities found some, but not all, of the drops, the indictment said.

“The allegations outlined in this indictment describe a coordinated criminal effort involving heavy payload drones to introduce dangerous contraband into federal prisons across multiple states,” William Marshall III, director of the federal Bureau of Prisons, said Wednesday, CNN reported. “Activity of this nature threatens the safety of everyone who lives and works inside our facilities and will not be tolerated.”

The bureau used drone detection systems to uncover the conspiracy, representatives said. A grand jury in Georgia handed down the indictment on charges including drug and firearms distribution on June 10.

Earlier in 2026, a group of state attorneys general launched a combined effort to combat the use of drones to deliver prison contraband.

WASHINGTON — President Trump said Friday that a “swift and lethal kinetic” U.S. strike has killed Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, whom he called “the infamous leader” of the Tren de Aragua gang.

Tren de Aragua has been labeled by the United States as a terrorist organization. Guerrero Flores was charged in a New York federal court with racketeering conspiracy and other crimes, including lending support to terrorists in crimes that stretched more than a decade, authorities announced in December.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted on X that the strike occurred earlier in the week on a Tren de Aragua compound in Venezuela.

U.S. Atty. Jay Clayton alleged at the time that the gang is responsible for countless acts of violence, extortion and drug trafficking in North America, South America and Europe. Trump nominated Clayton on Thursday to be director of national intelligence.

The U.S. State Department had offered rewards of up to $5 million for information leading to Guerrero Flores’ arrest.

In a post on his social media site, Trump wrote, “Tren de Aragua terrorists no longer have safe haven in Venezuela or anywhere else and, under my leadership, we will find these vicious murderers and drug lords anytime, anyplace, and send them to the depths of hell where they belong.” Trump’s post referred to Guerrero Flores by his alias, Niño Guerrero.

Hegseth said, “The operation underscores the shared U.S. and Venezuelan commitment to take the fight to narco-terrorists and deny them any safe haven in our hemisphere.”

Venezuela’s ministry of communications did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the operation.

Trump has taken a series of extraordinary actions against the gang, including a series of strikes on small boats his administration has accused of smuggling drugs to the U.S.. At least 207 people have been killed in boat strikes by the U.S. military in the eastern Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea since the Trump administration began the campaign in early September.

Independent investigations, by the Associated Press and others, have raised questions about the boat passengers’ alleged connection to drug trafficking. And, in any case, many legal experts say the boat attacks amount to extrajudicial killings in violation of international law.

Trump and administration officials have consistently blamed Tren de Aragua for being at the root of the violence and illicit drug dealing that plague some U.S. cities. The president spent months repeating the claim — contradicted by a declassified U.S. intelligence assessment — that Tren de Aragua had operated under Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s control. The U.S. invaded Venezuela and seized Maduro in January to face U.S. drug charges.

Tren de Aragua originated more than a decade ago at an infamously lawless prison in Venezuela’s central state of Aragua. The gang has expanded in recent years as millions of Venezuelans migrated to other Latin American countries or the U.S. in search of better living conditions.

Guerrero Flores returned to the prison in Aragua on murder and other convictions in 2013, when Venezuela’s crisis began and corruption, mismanagement and a drop in crude prices wrecked the oil-dependent economy. Guerrero Flores and a few other inmates saw a profitable opportunity as the government neglected prisons.

They assumed control and administration of the prison, establishing a system that controlled the entire inmate population through force and extortion. Over time, they transformed the lockup into a sort of city that included a zoo, baseball field, casino and restaurants. Guerrero Flores had his own lavish suite.

The size of the gang is unclear. Countries with large populations of Venezuelan migrants, including Peru and Colombia, have accused the group of being behind a spree of violence in the region. Still, unlike other criminal organizations from Colombia, Brazil and Central America, Tren de Aragua has no large-scale involvement in smuggling cocaine across international borders, according to InSight Crime, a think tank that tracks crime across Latin America.

In Venezuela, gang leaders have long been known to participate in various illegal activities, including illicit gold mining.

Weissert writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Regina Garcia Cano in Mexico City contributed to this report.

Caracas, June 12, 2026 (venezuelanalysis.com) – Venezuela’s Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB) have launched a large-scale operation on Tuesday in Bolívar state, one of the country’s main mineral-rich regions in the southeast and also one with a heavy presence of criminal organizations.

Local media outlets and non-governmental organizations reported helicopter overflights, explosions, and the displacements of hundreds of people leaving gold extraction zones in Las Claritas and the area known as Kilometer 88, two key locations within the Orinoco Mining Arc.

According to Bloomberg, the military actions targeted illegal mining operations controlled by armed groups. Former opposition lawmaker for Bolívar state Américo De Grazia claimed that military forces attacked several gold-mining enclaves through aerial bombardments and gunfire.

The Venezuelan government, led by acting President Delcy Rodríguez, and the armed forces have offered no official information regarding the operations, as well as casualties, arrests, or official goals. Rodríguez met with military leaders on Wednesday to discuss a “100-Day Plan” to optimize the functioning of the armed forces but did not comment on the reported Bolívar deployment.

The operation took place in a region where the state has struggled to assert authority in the face of a proliferation of armed groups that control and administer mines, run artisanal mining activities, and regulate economic activity linked to gold extraction.

At the same time, local reports indicated that the military operation could be aimed at capturing Yohan José Romero, known as “Yohan Petrica,” a founding member of the Tren de Aragua criminal outfit, who reportedly operates in the area alongside Juan Gabriel Rivas Núñez, alias “El Negro Juancho,” and a third figure known as “Humbertico.”

Some sources have also not ruled out the presence of Héctor Guerrero, alias “Niño Guerrero,” the top leader of the large-scale criminal group that emerged inside Tocorón prison in Aragua state.

In September 2023, the Venezuelan government deployed “Operation Gran Cacique Guaicaipuro,” with more than 11,000 security personnel, to intervene in Tocorón prison. However, multiple reports indicated that “Niño Guerrero” and other senior gang leaders were warned in advance and escaped through a network of secret tunnels.

Guerrero is currently the subject of an Interpol Red Notice on charges related to transnational organized crime, drug trafficking, money laundering, and arms trafficking. The US State Department is offering a reward of up to US $5 million for information leading to his capture.

For its part, the media platform Miraflores al Momento denied separate reports alleging the presence of US military contingents in El Callao, another major gold-mining area in Bolívar state. Likewise, fact-checking outlets Cazadores de Fake News and CotejoInfo confirmed that images circulating were generated by artificial intelligence.

However, local outlets confirmed that, though without any military presence, US officials and business executives have conducted visits to gold-processing facilities belonging to the state-owned Venezuelan Mining Corporation (Minerven) in El Callao.

Last April, Venezuela approved a new mining law granting expanded incentives for private corporations to exploit gold and other “strategic minerals.” Concessions will last up to 30 years and may be renewed for two additional ten-year periods. The new law 

The legislation additionally introduced provisions for international arbitration in dispute resolution, a safeguard sought by investors, and a reduction of royalties and taxes at the Venezuelan government’s discretion.

Among the companies expressing interest are Canadian firms Gold Reserve and Augusta Capital Corporation, which seek to revive the large-scale gold and strategic minerals project known as “Siembra Minera.” Likewise, Roland Mineral Enterprises Corp. has already begun procedures to explore and develop gold, copper, and silver deposits. Swiss commodities giant Trafigura is also advancing a responsible sourcing program in partnership with state-owned Minerven.

There have additionally been corporate initiatives and feasibility studies by US companies—including mining firms such as Hartree, Peabody Energy, Ivanhoe, and TechMet—to enter the sector, though security concerns reportedly remain an obstacle.

Mining municipalities in southern Venezuela report some of the country’s highest rates of homicide, as well as reports of forced labor and widespread sexual violence. The gold extracting activities are mostly unregulated. According to former opposition lawmaker Américo De Grazia, only the gold processed by Minerven enters official records, while the rest circulates through parallel channels.

Similarly, Transparency Venezuela estimates that just 14 percent of the revenues generated by the gold sector reach the Central Bank and public coffers through royalties and export-related payments.

Edited by Ricardo Vaz in Caracas.

Seoul court sentences former leader for sending military drones into North Korea.

South Korea’s ex-President Yoon Suk Yeol has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for sending military drones into North Korea, a move prosecutors argued was aimed at creating a pretext for his disastrous martial law declaration in 2024.

The drone flights, which Pyongyang said included the dropping of propaganda leaflets, triggered a spike in military tensions between the nations in October 2024.

Special prosecutors, who had sought a 30-year prison term for Yoon, said in April that the ex-leader’s effort to “fabricate wartime conditions” with the drones had undermined state security.

Yoon was “given 30 years in jail” for the charges involving the drones, a spokesperson for the Seoul Central District Court told the AFP news agency on Friday, without giving further details.

Yoon had denied wrongdoing.

The ruling adds to a series of judgements against the ousted conservative leader, once South Korea’s top prosecutor, whose martial law order plunged Asia’s fourth-largest economy into its deepest political turmoil in decades.

In February, a South Korean court sentenced Yoon to life in prison after finding him guilty of leading an insurrection linked to the martial law attempt.

He was removed from office last year after the Constitutional Court upheld his impeachment, triggering a snap election that was won by liberal President Lee Jae Myung.

Yoon’s lawyers said he neither ordered nor later approved the drone operation, which they said was unrelated to martial law and instead a response to months of North Korean launches across the border of balloons stuffed with rubbish.

Yoon, who is already in custody, can appeal Friday’s lower court ruling.

Drone flights remain a flashpoint in tensions between the two Koreas, which remain technically at war.

Lee expressed regret earlier this year after an investigation found government officials had sent drones into the nuclear-armed North Korea in January.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s powerful sister called Lee’s statement “wise behaviour”, but hopes for a rapprochement faded after the diplomatically isolated nation returned to calling South Korea its “most hostile” enemy.

June 6 (UPI) — A former Central Intelligence Agency officer who was caught with $40 million in gold bars allegedly created a fake intelligence program in order to steal the money.

David J. Rush was arrested in May and charged with theft of public funds after he lied to the agency about his military history, education and pilot license, and was then accused of stealing the gold bars and $2 million in cash that was found in his home.

U.S. officials have now said that Rush created a fake intelligence operation, or “special access program,” related to the “continuity of government operations” that he used to convince another agent to transfer the money to his operation, The New York Times and The Washington Post reported.

“He made up a contract,” one of the officials told The Post.

Rush allegedly read in two CIA colleagues on the fraudulent operation, which he claimed was related to keeping the government running in the event of a catastrophic event, such as destructive weather or a military attack.

It is not clear how the former officer was able to create a secret program and obtain the funds without involving superiors in the agency, but he managed to convince one of the colleagues to purchase the gold and transfer it to him.

The fact that Rush managed to apply to and was hired by the CIA using false credentials has raised questions about the agency’s background checks and security when hiring, the Times and the Post reported.

Additionally, several former U.S. officials question how somebody could be hired and then assigned to a significantly sensitive intelligence-gathering program that is classified.

Rush was caught and charged after the agency conducted a review of expenses and could not locate the gold or cash he had requested.

HAVANA — Spanish hotel chain Meliá has joined a growing list of companies with a long-standing presence in Cuba that are withdrawing or limiting their operations on the island after the U.S. announced new sanctions while upholding an oil embargo.

Meliá will cease operations at 15 of the 34 hotels it manages on the island, according to state website Cubadebate, dealing a blow to Cuba’s vital tourism sector, which has plummeted since its 2018 peak.

The report on Wednesday stated that Meliá’s decision was based on “a sense of corporate responsibility and external factors that have significantly affected the operation, legality and security of these establishments.”

The decision was announced May 26, just weeks after President Trump signed an executive order expanding sanctions against the island. Most of the sanctions targeted Grupo de Administración Empresarial S.A., a business conglomerate operated by the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces, with the U.S. asserting it was a threat to its national security.

The executive order freezes the assets of foreign companies, seizes their accounts in the United States and prohibits travel by their shareholders, investors and employees— virtually eliminating their activity in the U.S. financial system.

GAESA, a Cuban conglomerate created in the 1990s, owns a wide range of businesses, from car rentals and retail stores to transportation companies. It is Meliá’s partner in hotel management through one of its subsidiaries, Gaviota.

Meliá deals new blow to Cuba’s crumbling tourism sector

Meliá is one of Cuba’s most important partners in its vital tourism sector. Until its partial withdrawal, it operated some 14,000 rooms.

Spanish and Canadian firms are the biggest investors in Cuba’s hotel sector, noted Lee Schlenker, a research associate at the Quincy Institute’s Global South program, a Washington think tank.

“With the lack of international tourism, the fuel shortages, and just the broader decline since COVID…I’m sure that these companies will be rethinking their operations in Cuba with major implications for the people of Cuba, not just GAESA,” he said. “There are thousands of Cubans who work in these hotels.”

Several of the hotels that Meliá abandoned in idyllic destinations like the resorts of Varadero, Cayo Santa María and Jardines del Rey “were already closed and inactive due to energy problems and the drop in demand in Cuba,” according to Cubadebate.

Cuba’s government has blamed the U.S. energy blockade for prolonged blackouts, water shortages, supply problems, deficiencies in the healthcare system and disruptions in all aspects of daily life.

Those who work in Cuba’s crumbling tourism sector lamented Meliá’s announcement.

“It’s going to affect us, our families, and everyone involved in tourism. Our pay and income depend on this,” said Erich López, a driver of a green 1950s Dodge who has been driving for two decades to support his family.

For Carlos Luis Carbonel, a 62-year-old parking attendant who works in front of the giant Meliá Cohiba hotel in Havana, the situation “is going to be a blow.”

“This is terrible for everyone: for tour guides, for parking attendants, for hotel workers, for everyone,” he said.

Other major hotel chains including Canadian-owned Royalton and Spain’s Iberostar have limited or suspended operations in Cuba in the past week.

Tourism in Cuba, which reached a peak of 4.3 million visitors in 2019, saw a significant drop in the number of tourists arriving in the first quarter of this year, 48% lower than in the same period in 2025.

Only 298,000 tourists arrived in Cuba in January, February and March, compared to 573,300 international visitors during the same period last year, according to government data.

Cuba struggles to breathe

On Wednesday, the enormous and iconic sign of the Royalton Paseo del Prado hotel at the entrance of Old Havana was removed, as confirmed by The Associated Press during a visit. Meanwhile, the 500-room Iberostar Selection — also known as Tower K — the most modern and luxurious of the hotels slated to open in 2025, standing over 490 feet tall, has remained closed for days.

Airlines including World2Fly, Air France and Iberia have canceled flights to and from Cuba.

Also on Wednesday, Cuba’s Central Bank announced that Visa and MasterCard operations on the island would be suspended following the termination of relationships between foreign entities and FINCIMEX S.A., a Cuba-based agency affiliated with GAESA.

Last month, Canadian miner Sherritt International Corp. signed a non-binding agreement with Gillon Capital LLC, a family office linked to a former Trump adviser, to sell its stake in a mining business in Cuba.

In late January, Trump threatened tariffs on any country that sells or supplies oil to Cuba, as his administration pressures for a change in its political system and government. The move has deepened a crisis caused by seven decades of U.S. sanctions.

While U.S. and Cuban officials held talks earlier this year, tensions have risen. In late May, former President Raúl Castro was charged in a U.S. indictment for his alleged role in the downing of two civilian aircraft operated by Miami-based exiles in 1996 in Cuban waters.

Rodríguez writes for the Associated Press.

Published on 01/06/2026 – 7:06 GMT+2•Updated
7:10

Crude prices climbed in early Asian trading on Monday after Israeli troops pushed further into Lebanon over the weekend, fuelling investor fears that the broader Middle East conflict could escalate rather than move towards a peace deal.

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At the time of writing, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was up 2.88% at $89.88 per barrel, while Brent crude rose 2.43% to $93.33 per barrel.

The Israeli advance has taken place despite a nominal ceasefire in place since 17 April and just days before the next round of direct talks between Lebanon and Israel, scheduled at the State Department on 2 and 3 June.

Asia-Pacific markets mixed

In other early trade dealings on Monday morning, Asia-Pacific markets were mixed with South Korea’s Kospi climbing 1.31%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 edged up 0.17%. The broader Topix index, however, slipped 0.3%.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.21%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 0.73%. Mainland China’s CSI 300 dipped 0.32%.

Tokyo-listed shares in SoftBank Group, meanwhile, surged 5% after the Japanese conglomerate unveiled plans to invest €45 billion over the next five years to develop artificial intelligence infrastructure in France.

Wall Street pushes into record books

In the US, stock futures were flat after Wall Street pushed further into the record books on Friday. The major indexes extended the market’s recent winning streak and closed out a solid month of gains.

The S&P 500 rose 0.2%, notching its seventh consecutive gain and ninth straight winning week — the longest such streak since 2023. The benchmark index set an all-time high for the fourth day in a row.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.7% and the Nasdaq composite added 0.2%. The Dow and Nasdaq also reached new heights after posting record highs earlier last week.

Big technology stocks have been behind much of the market’s record-breaking streak. Their pricey stock values give them more influence in directing the market higher or lower. In May alone, technology stocks within the S&P 500 rose more than 15%, while most of the sectors in the benchmark index actually lost ground.

“The rally has been largely tech-led and supported by resilient earnings, but the key question is whether it can be sustained,” wrote Angelo Kourkafas, senior global strategist at Edward Jones, in a research note.

Tech stocks also powered the market higher Friday. Microsoft rose 5.4% and Broadcom gained 4.7%.

Additional sources • AP