vehicle

July 29 (Asia Today) — Hanwha Aerospace said Wednesday it was formally selected to supply its Arion-SMET multipurpose unmanned ground vehicle to the South Korean military.

The Defense Acquisition Program Administration notified Hanwha of its selection for the 49.6 billion won ($33.6 million) program, the company said.

Hanwha Aerospace and Hyundai Rotem reportedly competed for the contract.

The Arion-SMET can carry a payload of about 990 pounds and is equipped with day-and-night surveillance systems that help distinguish friendly forces from potential threats. It is also designed for extended continuous operations.

The arms procurement agency’s defense project management committee previously reviewed and approved the Arion-SMET as the vehicle for the military’s multipurpose unmanned ground vehicle program.

The vehicle is considered a key component of Army TIGER 4.0, South Korea’s program to modernize Army units through artificial intelligence, unmanned systems and networked combat capabilities.

Hanwha Aerospace is also involved in projects to develop and deploy unmanned reconnaissance vehicles, explosive ordnance detection and disposal robots and manned-unmanned chemical, biological and radiological reconnaissance vehicles.

The company plans to sign a mass-production contract with the procurement agency as early as August.

“As South Korea’s leading UGV platform company, we will continue building a comprehensive manned-unmanned teaming portfolio that combines unmanned systems with existing platforms such as the K9 self-propelled howitzer and infantry fighting vehicles,” a Hanwha Aerospace official said.

The official said the company would rapidly begin mass-production procedures to minimize any gap in military capabilities.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260729010010793

A mum-of-three who left the UK three years ago and moved her family across the world has said the biggest reason for moving abroad was how expensive things are at home

A mum-of-three has claimed her “life is better” after taking her family across the world to escape the cost-of-living crisis. Many Brits have been feeling the pinch over the past few years, with the cost of everything from food to energy bills and petrol costs skyrocketing and leaving everyone with less money in their pockets.

But while many of us look at ways we can cut our spending by being more frugal with our food shopping or cutting back on family holidays, one mum has taken matters into her own hands – by moving somewhere more affordable. Lucy Richardson shared a video on social media in which she said rising costs were one of the biggest factors in deciding to move her family abroad for a new life.

In a video shared on TikTok, Lucy explained that she, her husband, and their three young children decided to leave the UK in 2023. They now live in Bali, Indonesia, where prices are so low that she can completely fill her moped for just £4 – and the tropical weather and gorgeous views are just a bonus.

She said in her video: “The cost of living in the UK was completely out of control, and that’s why we left. We left nearly three years ago because two full-time working parents were not enough for us to sustain the life that we had in the UK.”

Lucy revealed that she and her husband were working full-time to try and support their family and pay their rent, but were finding that they were barely getting by and described their situation as “surviving” and not “living”.

She continued: “We just felt like we were constantly chasing our tail and constantly paying stuff out. Then we had this tiny little pot left over to actually enjoy ourselves and do things that we wanted to do. Then, because there wasn’t enough money, we would put it on a credit card, and then we were in this massive circle of debt.”

The mum-of-three said she could see her family being in this cycle for years, potentially never being able to live their lives until they were retired, by which point they could be “too ill or too old” to enjoy it.

What’s more, Lucy felt like she was missing out on spending time with her three children, as they were growing up without her while she worked full-time to support them. So, the family made the decision to leave the UK and move to Bali.

She said: “It was a crazy, vicious circle that I didn’t want to be a part of. So we left. We now have a much simpler life.

“Today, we just filled up our moped for £4. The same petrol that you have in the UK, and that’s a full tank that’s going to last me for two weeks. Four quid. It’s absolutely crazy.

“Now, we have a much simpler life. We don’t have to go to a nine-to-five [job], and I get to see my kids’ childhoods. So I know what I would rather pick, and that’s why we left the UK. So many people ask, and it’s the cost of living. It was just too high.”

Many commenters on the post praised the mum for having the courage to take her family across the world for a better life, with many saying they wish they could do the same.

One person said: “Well done, you, for taking that step and leaving the UK to better your lives. We are a family of five and totally understand where you are coming from. We class ourselves as the working poor. Working but have nothing to show for it because everything goes on paying taxes and bills.”

Another added: “Agree totally, Britain is a rip off. You did right in getting out.”

A third posted: “Same here. We left six years ago for Spain and it’s so liberating. Our relatives can’t believe how much less we pay month to month here and can now appreciate why we left.”

Former Dallas Cowboys quarterback and current CBS analyst Tony Romo was arrested Thursday night in Wisconsin on suspicion of operating a vehicle while intoxicated.

Romo, 46, was stopped while driving south on I-43 and performed poorly on field sobriety tests, according to an arrest report by the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office. He was taken into custody, booked and released, with a court appearance set for Sept. 21.

The incident remains under investigation.

Thhis is Romo’s first OWI arrest, according to the report. In Wisconsin, a first-time offense is considered a civil violation with potential fines and revocation of his driver’s license.

The booking photo for Tony Romo, who was arrested July 23 in Milwaukee on suspicion of operating a vehicle while intoxicated.

(Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office)

Romo went to Burlington High School, which is about 35 miles from Milwaukee, and played four seasons at Eastern Illinois before joining the Cowboys as an undrafted rookie in 2004. He spent all 13 of his NFL seasons with the team, making four Pro Bowls and passing for a team record 248 touchdowns. His 34,183 passing yards were also a franchise record until Dak Prescott passed him last season.

Since 2017, Romo has been the lead game analyst for CBS, with Jim Nantz doing play-by-play. They have called three Super Bowls together. The network had no comment regarding Romo’s arrest.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON — The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency should continue vehicle stops after recent fatal shootings, President Trump said on Wednesday, seeming to oppose a new suspension of the practice used as part of his immigration crackdown.

ICE is “doing a GREAT job, one that has to be done,” Trump wrote on his social media site.

The Republican president said that to remove criminals he claims were let into the country under the previous Democratic administration “we must be strong, tough, and smart, and we CANNOT give up one of ICE’s most important and effective Crime Fighting tools, THE TRAFFIC STOP!” Trump said, “Once we do, we are playing right into the criminal’s hands.”

Trump administration officials have told Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to suspend most vehicle stops after two deadly shootings within a week, people familiar with the decision said Tuesday.

The suspension was ordered after an ICE officer shot and killed a Colombian driver Monday in Maine and a week after another officer shot and killed a motorist in Houston, renewing criticism of the agency’s enforcement tactics that were widely condemned last winter after the killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minnesota.

In Florida on Tuesday, a third man in roughly a week died during an encounter with immigration officers. This time, a 28-year-old man was killed after he was hit by a tractor trailer while running from immigration and other federal officers, authorities said.

It’s a narrative that has been repeated again and again since the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown began, with federal officers confronting drivers and then saying they opened fire when the drivers’ vehicles became a danger. That’s despite decades of warnings from policing experts that shooting into moving cars presents a danger of its own and should almost always be avoided.

At least 10 people have been killed during immigration operations since the start of the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign. At least four of those deaths involved people in vehicles, including the one last week in Houston, a trend so troubling that U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said Tuesday that she had urged Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin “to cease all non-urgent vehicle stops.”

John Sandweg, who was acting director at ICE, which is part of DHS, during President Obama’s Democratic administration, estimated recently that there have been roughly 18 traffic stop shootings during the Trump immigration crackdown.

The office of Maine Sen. Angus King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, was told by DHS that ICE was suspending traffic stops, office spokesperson Matthew Felling said.

ICE, which has been under pressure to beef up arrest and deportation numbers, often says people it’s trying to arrest are increasingly resistant to leaving their homes. ICE officers blame immigration advocates who advise immigrants to stay in their homes unless ICE produces a warrant signed by an independent judge instead of the administrative warrants the agency generally uses that are signed by another ICE officer. So, ICE officers say, they’re forced to find other areas in which to make arrests.

Shooting angers Maine

Hundreds of people in Maine protested Tuesday over the fatal shooting of Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a 25-year-old Colombian national. Advocacy groups said Guerrero, who had a wife and a young daughter, was authorized to work in the United States.

DHS said Monday that an officer, “fearing for public safety,” shot and killed Durán Guerrero while officers were watching the home of someone they believed was in the U.S. illegally and facing a final order of removal from the country. It said in a post on X that when ICE tried to stop a car driven by someone who came from the home, the person attempted to flee in the vehicle and the officer fired.

That was a shift from how King earlier described the encounter, when he said Mullin told him the officer opened fire after the man tried to use his vehicle as a weapon. King said Mullin told him the officers were trying to serve an arrest warrant but not for the man who was shot.

In a scathing post on X, outgoing Colombian President Gustavo Petro called the shooting a targeted killing “at the hands of the U.S. government.”

Petro, who has openly quarreled with Trump, urged Trump to provide an explanation and accused ICE officers of treating Durán Guerrero as “an inferior being without rights.”

In Wednesday’s social media post, Trump told ICE to be “judicious, fair and smart, and go back and do your very important job.”

Maine’s congressional delegation on Tuesday demanded a “comprehensive, transparent, and expedited investigation.”

Questions surround the shooting

Photos showed bullet holes in Durán Guerrero’s car windshield, but the officers involved in the shooting didn’t have body cameras, leaving many questions. Among them are how close the officer was to the vehicle when shooting, whether officers told Durán Guerrero to stop and why ICE believes he had put the public in danger.

Border czar Tom Homan told reporters Tuesday that the investigation needs to play out and that officers will be held accountable if they are found to have acted inappropriately or illegally.

Maine’s attorney general’s office, which said it is working with federal agencies to investigate, said initial statements suggest the driver was trying to flee in the direction of the officer, whose name hasn’t been released and who was placed on leave.

Collins said Mullin told her the DHS inspector general is investigating in cooperation with the FBI.

Democrats seeking to unseat Collins in November have sought to connect her with ICE’s methods, which have drawn public scrutiny and derision. Collins later said in a statement that although ICE needs to improve, eliminating the agency would make the nation less safe.

Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat who is vying for Collins’ seat, called the ICE officers at the shooting “thugs” during a vigil Tuesday in Lewiston.

Superville, Whittle, Brook, Santana and Sisak write for the Associated Press.

WASHINGTON — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has temporarily ordered officers to avoid, in most cases, making vehicle stops in the wake of two deadly shootings.

The tactical shift comes a day after an ICE officer shot and killed a Colombian man in Biddeford, Maine, and a week after an ICE officer fatally shot another man in Houston. Both men were driving at the time of the shootings, and the incidents have renewed criticism over the agency’s immigration enforcement tactics.

Multiple news outlets and a former federal immigration official said early Tuesday that the order allows for exceptions if officers are executing a criminal warrant and working with partner law enforcement agencies. The directive, later confirmed by a top official, is a temporary pause while ICE officers receive more training on vehicle stops.

An ICE spokesperson said that the agency wouldn’t discuss law enforcement tactics but that “we are always evaluating our procedures to keep our officers safe and criminals off our streets.”

But on Fox News on Tuesday afternoon, Tom Homan, a top White House immigration official, said the decision to halt most vehicle stops was made by Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and top ICE leadership. But he emphasized that “it’s not a policy change, it’s a temporary pause” while officials review the incidents and decide whether training could be improved.

Homan said the pause won’t affect ICE arrests. He said officers could, in some instances, make an arrest before someone gets into their vehicle or after they arrive at their destination.

“I think it’s going to be a short pause,” he said. “I’m confident that ICE is well trained in vehicle stops and you’re going to see us keep moving forward.”

Reacting to ICE’s policy change, Rep. Christian Menefee (D-Texas) said in a statement that training won’t solve the agency’s deeply ingrained issues.

“Immigration enforcement shouldn’t be heavily militarized and chasing people through our streets,” he said. “The American people deserve competent leadership and law enforcement that is transparent, accountable, and worthy of the public’s trust.”

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said she had urged Mullin to “cease all non-urgent vehicle stops” in the wake of the Biddeford shooting.

“I am encouraged that the Department has agreed to do so,” she wrote on X.

Hundreds of people protested in Biddeford on Tuesday over the killing Monday of Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a 26-year-old Colombian. Protests similarly broke out in Houston last week after the killing of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a 52-year-old from Mexico.

The Department of Homeland Security alleged that the men killed in both incidents resisted arrest and that the officers fired their weapons defensively as the men attempted to flee. Neither man was the intended target of the ICE officers.

Local officials in Houston and Biddeford are calling for independent investigations into the shootings. In both instances, the officers involved were not wearing body cameras.

Homeland Security said the officer who shot Durán Guerrero was “fearing for public safety.” The agency said Salgado Araujo had “weaponized his vehicle in an attempt to run over an ICE law enforcement officer.”

Durán Guerrero’s shooting marked at least the ninth such death since President Trump began his immigration crackdown. In a scathing post on X, outgoing Colombian President Gustavo Petro called the shooting an assassination “at the hands of the U.S. government.”

Durán Guerrero is survived by his wife and young daughter. Advocacy groups said he was authorized to work in the U.S.

Daniel Boucher, who lives near where Durán Guerrero was shot, said he “clearly heard the victim say, ‘I tried to stop.’”

The two shootings come as immigration arrests have surged again amid a Trump administration push to carry out its mass deportation agenda. Over five days at the end of June, ICE arrested more than 10,000 people.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

BIDDEFORD, Maine — Trump administration officials have told Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to suspend most vehicle stops after two deadly shootings in little over a week, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The order came a day after an ICE officer shot and killed a Colombian man in Maine, renewing criticism of the agency’s tactics during enforcement operations.

The suspension is not absolute and there’s room for exceptions when executing a criminal warrant or working with partner agencies, according to a person who spoke Tuesday on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive law enforcement operations.

The Department of Homeland Security said an ICE officer, “fearing for public safety,” shot and killed the man Monday in the city of Biddeford while officers were watching the home of someone they believed was in the U.S. illegally and had a final order of removal from the country.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

Whittle, Brook and Sisak write for Associated Press.

BIDDEFORD, Maine — A federal immigration agent fatally shot a motorist in Maine on Monday, the second time in a week that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have used deadly force.

Sen. Angus King, I-Me., said Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told him the agent opened fire in Biddeford after the man tried to use his vehicle as a weapon against agents who were pursuing him for deportation.

“He was in a vehicle — pulled out in the vehicle, and the term the secretary used was “weaponized” the vehicle and was shot by an ICE agent,” King said.

Bystander video taken after the shooting showed agents trying to slow a white sedan that was going in circles in an intersection in Biddeford, a coastal city of about 23,000 people roughly 15 miles southwest of Portland. Images from the scene showed bullet holes in the vehicle’s windshield.

The agents involved in the shooting didn’t have body-worn cameras, King said, relaying information shared by Mullin. The FBI is leading the investigation, he said.

“The question is, what did he do with his vehicle,” King told reporters in Portland before boarding a flight to Washington. “Were officers threatened? Were the threats rising to the level that justified deadly force?

“That’s what this investigation is all about and I certainly intend to stay after it to do everything I can to be sure the investigation is as transparent and thorough as possible.”

In a statement, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Me., said the shooting “requires a full and impartial investigation of what happened.”

Maine House Speaker Ryan Fecteau, a Democrat, said in social media post: “This morning a shooting occurred in Biddeford. A person was killed. ICE was involved,” Fecteau wrote. “State Police and the Department of Public Safety are now on scene to gather details and would expect the FBI to investigate as well.”

The man shot was a 26-year-old from Colombia, advocates say

The man who was shot was a 26-year-old Colombian man who was authorized to work in the U.S. and had a Social Security number, according to a joint statement from advocacy groups Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition and Presente!

After the shooting, the man’s family contacted the Immigrants’ Rights Coalition through a hotline, according to Mufalo Chitam, the organization’s executive director.

“It’s a young family and he was leaving to go to work,” Chitam told The Associated Press.

The family is not ready to identify the man or speak publicly about the shooting, Chitam added.

“We are grieving, we are furious, and we will not allow his death to be treated as routine or inevitable,” Chitam said. “How much more harm must our communities endure before those with the power to act acknowledge that this has gone too far?”

Protesters gather near the scene

ICE and the Maine Department of Public Safety didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. Kristen Setera, an FBI spokesperson, said the FBI “responded to assist on-scene immediately following this morning’s shooting incident in Biddeford, Maine,” but she declined to comment further.

Dozens of anti-ICE demonstrators had gathered in Biddeford by Monday afternoon.

Amy Goodman, who is from nearby Wells, arrived with a sign that said “Stop Killing Us” and directed it toward police working at the scene.

“Sadly, it’s something we’re seeing a whole lot more often lately, and I’m mad about it,” said Goodman, who was wearing a shirt that said “ICE is best when crushed.”

Project Relief, an immigrant rights group, wrote in a social media post that one of its community members was killed “during an encounter with ICE in Biddeford” and that it was in contact with the person’s family. The group described the person as “young,” but didn’t provide an age or other identifying details.

“This was a young person whose life was cut short,” the group said, calling for justice and support for the family and community.

Biddeford Saco for Racial Justice planned a noon protest against ICE in Mechanics Park, which sits along the Saco River in downtown Biddeford.

Police blocked access to the shooting scene, which is in a neighborhood of mostly multifamily homes, churches and businesses near downtown. Several protesters stood nearby, with some holding signs condemning ICE’s presence in the community and state.

Gov. Janet Mills issued a statement saying she had been briefed on the fatal shooting “involving Federal law enforcement” and that the State Police are at the scene and working with the state attorney general’s office, chief medical examiner’s office and federal officials to determine what happened.

“I know that situations like these are alarming and frightening,” said Mills, a Democrat.

A recent uptick in Trump’s immigration crackdown

The fatal shooting in Maine was at least the ninth death from an encounter with federal immigration officials since the start of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown and the second in a week, following the killing of a Houston man.

The reported shooting comes amid a newly intensified push by the Trump administration to carry out its mass deportations agenda. During the five-day period at the end of June, ICE arrested more than 10,000 people. The figures indicate that while the administration is no longer cracking down on individual cities, the arrests continue and are surging.

Democratic Rep. Chellie Pingree, of Maine, said in a video posted on social media that she was driving to Portland to catch a flight to Washington when she learned of the reported shooting. She said she was seeking answers about the circumstances surrounding the shooting, including whether officers were wearing body cameras, adding, “More than anything else, I want to know, ‘Why are you in Maine?’”

Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat who is running for Senate, said on X that she would not speculate about the circumstances of the shooting but called for ICE to be removed from communities, writing, “It’s time to get ICE off our streets.”

Not Maine’s first brush with ICE

ICE had a significant presence in Maine earlier this year, which resulted in several large demonstrations against the agency.

The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, named the operation “Catch of the Day,” an apparent play on Maine’s seafood industry, just as it has done for other enforcement surges, like “Patriot” in Massachusetts, “Metro Surge” in Minnesota and “Midway Blitz” in Chicago.

Immigration officials said in late January that they had ceased “enhanced operations” in Maine after making hundreds of arrests. A Homeland Security spokesperson said at the time that some Maine arrests were of people “convicted of horrific crimes including aggravated assault, false imprisonment, and endangering the welfare of a child.” But court records painted a slightly different story: While some had felony convictions, others were detainees with unresolved immigration proceedings or who were arrested but never convicted of a crime.

The Trump administration’s immigration crackdowns received widespread condemnation last winter after the killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minnesota. Last week, an ICE officer fatally shot 52-year-old Salgado Araujo, of Houston, after he was pursued by federal agents driving unmarked vehicles while he was taking his construction crew to their latest job site.

Whittle and Willingham write for the Associated Press. Willingham reported from Boston. AP reporter Jack Brook contributed to this report.

The fatal shooting of a Houston man by a federal immigration officer Tuesday marks at least the eighth death during the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement campaign, and the first fatality amid a newly intensified push by the administration to carry out its mass deportations agenda.

Department of Homeland Security officials said in a statement that Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican national, ignored commands while trying to evade arrest during an enforcement operation. They say he attempted to ram his car into an agent, who opened fire in self-defense.

Araujo’s family said he was on his way to work at a construction job. He died on the way to the hospital.

The fatal shooting drew immediate criticism from immigrants rights groups and some Democrats who called for an independent investigation and for all footage, communication and evidence to be preserved.

Video footage in several previous shootings has contradicted the accounts of federal officers. No immigration officers have been charged in those fatal encounters.

Man shot during vacation trip traffic stop

A fatal late-night traffic stop in Texas in March 2025 marked the earliest deadly shooting by federal officers during the nationwide immigration crackdown. It took almost a year for records in the fatal shooting of the 23-year-old U.S. citizen to be disclosed.

A Homeland Security Investigations team was conducting an immigration enforcement operation with local police when agents stopped Ruben Ray Martinez, who was on his way from San Antonio to South Padre Island. Family members said he had just turned 23 and was with his best friend on his way to celebrate.

DHS officials said Martinez was told to exit the vehicle, but he refused and instead “intentionally ran over” an agent. Another agent fired shots through the open driver’s window, striking Martinez, who died at a hospital. The HSI agent was treated for an undisclosed knee injury.

Martinez’s mother said she was contacted by investigators with the Texas Rangers who told her there was video that contradicted the account given by federal agents. Federal and state authorities have declined to comment on potential discrepancies.

Nurse shot during Minneapolis protest

A Border Patrol officer shot and killed Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old nurse, during a Jan. 24 protest against the Metro Surge immigration operation in Minneapolis.

Federal authorities immediately described Pretti, a U.S. citizen, as an armed agitator who was a threat to officers. But bystander video showed Pretti was on the ground and had been holding a cellphone during the interaction with officers.

The video showed an officer appearing to pull a gun from Pretti’s waistband and step away before the first shot was fired by another officer, followed by more shots. Pretti had a permit to possess a firearm.

State and local officials pushed back against the federal officials’ initial characterizations of Pretti, with Gov. Tim Walz calling the comments “despicable.”

Driver shot behind the wheel of an SUV

Renee Good, a U.S. citizen, was repeatedly shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Minneapolis on Jan. 7. Videos show she was turning the wheels of her car away from an officer, Jonathan Ross, when he opened fire. Trump administration officials have repeatedly defended Ross, claiming his life was at risk from the moving vehicle.

Good’s death caused a firestorm across the country. The U.S. Justice Department said it wouldn’t share information on the shooting with state authorities.

State and local officials subsequently sued to try to stop the immigration sweeps. Protesters with whistles trailed officers who, in response, deployed tear gas and other chemical irritants.

Cook from Mexico shot during a traffic stop

ICE agents fatally shot Silverio Villegas González during a traffic stop Sept. 12 in suburban Chicago. Relatives said the 38-year-old line cook from Mexico had dropped off a child at daycare that morning.

At the time, DHS officials said agents were pursuing a man with a history of reckless driving who was in the country illegally. They alleged Villegas González evaded arrest and dragged an officer with his vehicle.

Homeland Security said the officer opened fire fearing for his life and was hospitalized with “serious injuries.” However, local police videos showed the agent walking around and dismissing his injuries as “nothing major.”

DHS has said the death remains under investigation.

Farmworker fell from greenhouse roof during ICE raid

Authorities were arresting dozens of farmworkers July 10 at Glass House Farms in Camarillo when Jaime Alanis fell from the roof of a greenhouse and broke his neck. The 57-year-old laborer from Mexico died at a hospital two days later.

Relatives said Alanis had spent a decade working at the farm. During the raid, Alanis called family to say he was hiding. Officials said he fell about 30 feet from the greenhouse roof.

Homeland Security said Alanis was never in custody and was not being chased by immigration authorities.

Man struck on California freeway after running from officers

A man fleeing from immigration officers outside a Home Depot store in Monrovia died after being hit by an SUV as he tried to cross a freeway on Aug. 14.

Monrovia police said ICE agents were conducting enforcement operations when the man was hit while running across the eastbound lanes of the 210 Freeway.

The man, identified by the National Day Laborer Organizing Network as Carlos Roberto Montoya Valdez, 52, of Guatemala, died at a hospital.

Homeland Security said Montoya Valdez wasn’t being pursued by immigration authorities when he ran.

Gardener from Honduras killed on Virginia interstate

A pickup truck fatally struck Josué Castro Rivera on a highway in Norfolk, Va., as he tried to escape authorities during a traffic stop on Oct. 23.

Castro Rivera, 24, of Honduras, was heading to a gardening job with three passengers when ICE officers pulled over the vehicle, according to his brother, Henry Castro.

State and federal authorities said Castro Rivera ran away on foot and was hit by a pickup truck on Interstate 264.

Homeland Security said Castro Rivera’s vehicle was stopped as part of a “targeted, intelligence-based” operation and that Castro Rivera had “resisted heavily and fled.”

Bynum and Lauer write for the Associated Press. Bynum reported from Savannah, Ga. Lauer reported from Philadelphia. AP reporters Ed White in Detroit; Sophia Tareen in Chicago; and Michael Biesecker in Washington contributed to this report.

DAPHNE, Ala. — Former Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum has been arrested on drug possession charges in Alabama after police say they pulled him over for erratic driving and found marijuana and meth in his vehicle.

It’s the latest legal trouble for the ex-Tallahassee mayor, who narrowly lost to Republican Ron DeSantis for governor in 2018 and was once considered a rising star of the Democratic Party.

Gillum, 46, was arrested on July 2 in Daphne, about 11 miles east of Mobile on Alabama’s Gulf Coast. He is charged with marijuana possession and unlawful possession of a controlled substance, the Daphne Police Department said. Jail records show he was released on July 3.

Court records for Gillum’s case were not yet available, the Baldwin County Clerk of Court’s office said. Information on a lawyer who could speak on his behalf wasn’t immediately available.

A message seeking comment was left for the local district attorney’s office.

Gillum is a co-host of the politically themed Native Land Pod, which won the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding News and Information Podcast in 2025. A message seeking comment was left for the podcast’s production company.

In a news release, the Daphne Police Department said officers stopped Gillum’s vehicle around 10:45 p.m. and initiated a probable cause search after one of them noticed a glass pipe on the center console.

They found several rolled marijuana cigarettes and three packages of a substance that tested positive for methamphetamine, police said.

Gillum, who served as mayor of Florida’s capital from 2014 to 2018, came within less than a percentage point of being elected the state’s first Black governor, losing to DeSantis by fewer than 34,000 votes.

In 2020, Gillum was found in a Miami Beach hotel room with a man who had apparently overdosed on drugs. Police said Gillum himself was too inebriated to talk about what happened.

The man survived and no one was ever charged with a crime for the overdose, but Gillum withdrew from public life for months afterward while seeking treatment for alcohol abuse and depression. Months later, he told a TV interviewer that he had to come to grips with what he had done.

“So much of my recovery has been about trying to get over shame,” Gillum said on the Tamron Hall talk show in September 2020.

In 2022, Gillum was indicted on federal conspiracy and wire fraud charges for allegedly funneling tens of thousands of dollars in campaign donations through third parties back to himself for personal use.

A 2023 trial ended in a hung jury on those charges and an acquittal on charges that Gillum lied to undercover FBI agents posing as developers who paid for a 2016 trip he took with his brother to New York, including hotel rooms, meals, a boat tour and a ticket to the hit Broadway show “Hamilton.”

Israel bombed a car near the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza. As one of the men escapes, Israeli forces strike again. Double tap attacks are widely considered to be war crimes.

June 15 (UPI) — Police in New Jersey’s Stafford Township said an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent fired his gun at a fleeing vehicle moments after being struck.

The Stafford Township Police Department said in a statement shared to social media that ICE was attempting to apprehend a suspect around 9:30 a.m. in Manahawkin when the person fled in a vehicle.

The suspect’s vehicle, which witnesses identified to News 12 New Jersey as a white van, struck an ICE officer, who then fired his gun at the vehicle.

Witnesses said the shot shattered the back window of the van, but the vehicle did not stop.

“The suspect fled the scene in the vehicle and has not been located at this time. The agent reportedly sustained unknown injuries and it is unknown if the suspect was injured at this time,” police wrote.

The department said police were not involved in the original ICE operation Monday morning. The department secured the crime scene and managed traffic while the Federal Bureau of Investigation was called in to investigate.

Police administered first aid to the injured ICE agent and “facilitated his transport for further treatment,” the statement said.

ICE provided a statement to NBC10 Philadelphia identifying the suspect as Friedrich Castillo-Ormeno, a Peru native who was ordered to leave the country by given an immigration judge on Jan. 30.

NEWARK, N.J. — Protesters clashed with armed federal immigration officers in front of a New Jersey detention center where advocates have demonstrated for days while asserting that people detained there are staging a hunger strike over poor living conditions.

Groups of demonstrators, many wearing gas masks and other face coverings, linked arms in a human chain in front of Delaney Hall in Newark on Wednesday night, videos and photos posted on social media show.

Some used trash cans, old mattresses, umbrellas and other materials as makeshift shields and barricades as they confronted U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. Others attempted to block people and vehicles from entering and exiting the building or threw orange traffic cones and other objects in the direction of the ICE officers lined at the entry gate.

The group chanted, “You will hang!” and, “Every cop, every fed, shoot yourself in the head,” and other taunts at the officers, many of whom wore helmets and tactical vests.

The ICE officers used pepper spray to try to disperse the protesters, according to videos posted to social media. Some used their batons to beat and push back protesters as the officers attempted to clear the roadway for vehicles.

At least one truck driver got out of his vehicle to vent his frustration when some protesters tried to block vehicles driving on the road in front of the detention center. People detained inside could at times be seen waving to protesters from Delaney Hall’s windows.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, said about six demonstrators were arrested for assaulting law enforcement officers.

“Assaulting and obstructing ICE law enforcement is a crime and felony,” the agency said in a statement. “Anyone who assaults law enforcement will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

On Thursday, demonstrators again returned to Delaney Hall.

New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill also said state health department officials were “denied full access” to the facility for a health inspection. The Democrat said the officials were only allowed to inspect a limited part of the facility as she called on ICE to “de-escalate” the situation.

“As I’ve said repeatedly, refusing to provide full access raises serious questions about what ICE is trying to hide from public view,” Sherrill said in a statement that also repeated her calls to shut down the facility outright.

Earlier Wednesday, Democratic members of Congress from New York City toured the facility as part of an oversight visit. A private prison company runs the detention center, which sits along an industrial stretch of Newark Bay.

Reps. Jerry Nadler, Daniel Goldman and Adriano Espaillat, who all represent Manhattan, described dire conditions where people held in the facility are fed small portions of often spoiled food and their varied medical needs are ignored.

Homeland Security spokespersons have denied any hunger strike, abuse or poor conditions inside the center and dismissed criticism from opponents as political posturing.

May 17 (UPI) — Three people were killed and five others were hurt late Saturday when a vehicle struck and killed pedestrians and cars in Oakland, Calif., authorities said.

Three of those injured were hospitalized in critical condition as a result of the 11:45 p.m. incident, the Oakland Fire Department said in a social media post.

Two others, including the suspected juvenile driver, sustained minor injuries, police told local media.

Surveillance video footage from the corner in East Oakland obtained by KGO-TV showed what appears to be a pickup truck driving onto a sidewalk at high speeds and hitting multiple pedestrians.

One witness told the station the driver first hit several vehicles in the street, then sped up and jumped the curb, where they plowed into a group of pedestrians.

The suspected driver then allegedly ran from the truck.

As of Sunday afternoon the Oakland Police Department had yet to issue an official statement on the incident, but Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee sent condolences to the victims’ families and voiced praise for the first responders.

“Oakland is mourning the lives lost in last night’s tragic crash at International Boulevard and 85th Avenue in East Oakland,” she said in a statement issued to media outlets. “Our hearts are with the victims, their families, loved ones, and all of those impacted.

“Thank you to the Oakland Police Department, Oakland Fire Department, and our first responders.”

May 11 (Asia Today) — Hyundai Motor Company has surpassed 13.5 million cumulative vehicle sales in India, underscoring the company’s three-decade push to localize production and develop models tailored to Indian consumers.

According to the automaker on Sunday, Hyundai Motor India Ltd., established on May 6, 1996, has sold about 13.5 million vehicles cumulatively, including 9.6 million domestic sales and 3.9 million exports.

The Indian unit has also become a strategic export hub for markets in the Middle East, Africa and Latin America, shipping models such as the Verna and Grand i10 to about 150 countries, including Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Mexico.

Hyundai entered India in the 1990s after identifying the country as a high-growth market with low vehicle ownership despite its large population. The company built its first assembly plant in Chennai, in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, and began production in 1998.

Hyundai later expanded the site with engine and transmission facilities, creating the company’s first comprehensive overseas manufacturing base.

The first model produced in India was the Santro, a localized version of the Atos compact car sold in South Korea. Hyundai modified the vehicle to better fit local conditions, including adopting a “tall-boy” design with increased cabin height that proved popular among Sikh drivers who wear turbans.

The company further expanded production capacity by opening a second Chennai plant in 2007 to support growing domestic demand and exports.

Industry analysts said Hyundai’s momentum in India accelerated after the launch of the Creta SUV in 2015. The model helped expand demand for sport utility vehicles in a market previously dominated by sedans.

Hyundai’s India Technology and Engineering Center also adapted vehicles to local consumer preferences, increasing cabin space and ground clearance to accommodate large families and rough road conditions.

To strengthen competitiveness, Hyundai launched a localization initiative in 2013 to expand sourcing from Indian suppliers. The company worked with industry groups and formed joint ventures with global suppliers, eventually achieving an average local parts sourcing rate of 82%.

“Hyundai successfully localized its operations to the point where many consumers see it as an Indian company,” an industry official said.

India’s automobile market grew from about 370,000 vehicles in 1998, when Hyundai entered the market, to approximately 4.56 million vehicles in 2025, representing annual average growth of about 10%, the official added.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

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Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260511010002552