The Trump administration targets welfare fraud with new justice role, Vice President JD Vance made the announcement on Thursday, declaring a new assistant attorney general position to combat nationwide fraud, starting with Minnesota’s massive welfare schemes allegedly run by Somali immigrants through fake child care operations. Federal probes revealed suitcases of cash—up to $350 million—seized at Minneapolis airports, alongside raids issuing over 1,500 subpoenas and a paper trail of evidence from programs like SNAP and housing aid.
Former Catholic Priest Sentenced To 24 Years In Prison For Underage Rape Case In Brazil
A Brazilian court sentenced former priest Bernardino Batista dos Santos to 24 years and nine months in prison for the rape of an underage person, a document obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday showed. The ruling was issued earlier this week, though the case remains sealed. In a 22-page document, the court in the state of Minas Gerais also sentenced the 78-year-old dos Santos to pay 30,000 Brazilian reais in damages ($5,570) to the person. Dos Santos’ lawyer, Leonardo Diniz, said in a short statement he is shocked by the court’s decision and will appeal it. The Archdiocese of...
ICE Officer Who Shot Renee Good In Minneapolis Has Served Decades In Military And Law Enforcement
The federal agent who shot and killed a driver in Minneapolis is an Iraq War veteran who has served for nearly two decades in the Border Patrol and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to records obtained Thursday by The Associated Press. Jonathan Ross, who shot and killed Renee Good on Wednesday, has served as a deportation officer with ICE since 2015, records show. He was seriously injured last summer when he was dragged by the vehicle of a fleeing suspect whom he shot with a stun gun. Federal officials have not named the officer who shot Good, a 37-year-old...
Syria Announces Ceasefire After Days Of Clashes With Kurdish Fighters In Aleppo
Syria’s Defense Ministry announced a ceasefire on Friday after three days of clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters in the northern city of Aleppo that displaced tens of thousands of people. The statement said the ceasefire was effective at 3 a.m. in the neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud, Achrafieh and Bani Zaid and gave armed groups six hours to leave the area. It said departing militants would be allowed to carry their “personal light weapons” and would be provided with an escort to the country’s northeast, which is controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces. Aleppo Governor Azzam al-Gharib toured...
Mound Of Garbage Collapses At Philippine Landfill, Burying And Trapping 38 People And Killing 1
An avalanche of garbage and debris buried or trapped workers in low-slung buildings at a landfill in the Philippines, killing one person, injuring a dozen and leaving 38 others missing, officials said Friday. Dozens of rescuers retrieved 13 people alive overnight and were searching for the missing still trapped after the mountain of garbage, earth and debris collapsed on them Thursday afternoon in the village of Binaliw in Cebu city, officials and police said. Landfill workers were among those affected, but it’s not clear if there were neighboring residents or others involved as well. One of those rescued, a female...
Luigi Mangione Heads To Court As He Fights To Block Death Penalty, Murder Charge And Key Evidence
Luigi Mangione is due in federal court Friday for a pivotal hearing in his fight to bar the government from seeking the death penalty against him in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Mangione’s lawyers contend that authorities prejudiced his case by turning his December 2024 arrest into a “Marvel movie” spectacle and by publicly declaring their desire to see him executed even before he was formally indicted. If that doesn’t work, they argue, the charge that has enabled the government to seek the death penalty — murder by firearm — should be thrown out because it is legally...
Businessman Extradited From Cambodia To China Suspected Of Running Vast Online Criminal Empire
Chen Zhi boasted of pulling in $30 million a day, prosecutors in the United States said — a suspected criminal mastermind and onetime internet cafe manager who authorities say presented himself as a legitimate businessman. But in reality, they say, he ran online gambling sites, scams and other illegal businesses from a sprawling headquarters along the Cambodian coast. On Thursday, Chen was in custody in China, at the center of what authorities at the Chinese Ministry of Public Security said was a “major achievement” in law enforcement cooperation between them and the Cambodian government. The ministry said that Chen was...
An Argentine Court Offers Hope For Venezuelans Seeking Justice For Abuses Under Maduro
Venezuela’s release of detainees Thursday briefly brought relief and guarded optimism to a country consumed by uncertainty. But it was another, less covered news event far afield that some Venezuelan advocates said offered their only real shot at justice as long as the government of former President Nicolás Maduro remained intact. A federal court in Argentina Thursday ordered the judiciary to press on with investigations into alleged crimes against humanity committed by members of Venezuela’s national guard, turning down an appeal by a former officer who argued that Argentina had no jurisdiction to go after Venezuelan officials. Judges demanded that...
Gunmen Kill Crime Reporter In Eastern Mexico
A journalist Carlos Castro, who covered crime for local news outlet Codigo Norte Veracruz has been shot dead by gunmen in eastern Mexico. According to Mexican media and the State Commission for the Attention and Protection of Journalists, an autonomous body under the regional government, the victim, Castro, was a crime reporter with local news outlet Código Norte Veracruz. Reports revealed that Castro was attacked while at a restaurant in Poza Rica, a city in the violence-prone state of Veracruz. No arrests had been made as of Thursday. The state commission condemned the killing and called for a comprehensive investigation, urging...
Nigerian Man In Malaysia Handed Death Sentence Over Tragic Death Of Step-Grandson.
KUALA LUMPUR High Court in Malaysia sentenced a Nigerian man to death today for murdering his four-year-old step-grandson six years ago. According to Malaysian news outlet Berita Harian, Justice K. Muniandy handed down the sentence to Ibekwe Emeka Augustine, 48, after evaluating the totality of evidence presented before the court. Augustine was charged with causing the death of his step-grandson at an apartment in Setapak between 7.45 am and 8.15 am on November 29, 2020. The charge was brought under Section 302 of the Penal Code, which carries a mandatory death sentence or a prison term of between 30 and...