Source: Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe – OSCE
Headline: OSCE trains Uzbek border and customs officers in identifying suspected foreign terrorist fighters
The OSCE Transnational Threats Department, in co-operation with the Border Troops and Customs Committee of Uzbekistan, held a national training course on identifying suspected foreign terrorist fighters and other criminals at border crossings in Tashkent, Uzbekistan from 4 to 7 April.
Twenty-two first- and second-line border and customs officers sharpened their skills through practical exercises on identity management, detecting illicit small arms and light weapons (SALW), profiling techniques, risk analysis, and methods for preventing trafficking in human beings.
The training course was delivered by seven members of Uzbekistan’s National Mobile Training Team as part of their third deployment mission since they completed their advanced training with support of the OSCE-led Mobile Training Team in 2023. International experts from Belgium, North Macedonia and the United Kingdom as well as the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism and the OSCE also contributed with their expertise and provided training materials.
The course was followed by an official opening of the OSCE classroom at the Advanced Training Faculty under the Customs Committee of Uzbekistan. This included a handover ceremony of two servers to improve the video surveillance system at Uzbek border checkpoints as well as 100 copies of Frontex guidebooks on SALW in the Uzbek language. The classroom and donations are expected to enhance the effectiveness of local customs and border officers’ daily work.
These activities are part of the OSCE extrabudgetary project “Strengthening the resilience of Uzbekistan to address cross-border challenges emanating from Afghanistan” funded by Germany, Sweden and the United States of America. Further training courses are scheduled in 2025.
A meeting of top diplomats from China, Iran and Russia – three so-called revisionist powers.Photo by Getty Images
Once upon a time, “revisionist power” was a term reserved for nations trying to overturn the postwar liberal order – the usual suspects being countries like Russia, China or Iran.
But what does revisionist really mean? And why should we care?
The roots of ‘revisionism’
At its core, “revisionist power” is a label applied to nations that want to change the way the world is ordered. The concept dates back to the period between the two world wars, when it described countries opposing the Treaty of Versailles that ended World War I. Political scientist Hans Morgenthau later distinguished between status quo powers and those seeking to overturn the balance of power.
The label itself was popularized in the mid-20th century, especially through A.F.K. Organski’s 1958 work on power transition, which defined revisionist powers as those dissatisfied with the existing order and determined to reshape it.
The change desired by nations can take many forms: redrawing borders, rebalancing regional power balances or creating alternative rules, norms and institutions to the ones that currently structure international politics. The key is that revisionists nations aren’t just unhappy with specific policies – they’re dissatisfied with the broader system and want to reshape it in fundamental ways.
In that framework, countries operate in an anarchic international system with no higher authority to enforce the rules. The most powerful nations construct or impose a particular set of rules, norms and institutions on the international system, creating an order that reflects their values and serves their interests.
Revisionism in action
In this tradition, status quo powers benefit from the system and want to keep it more or less as it is. But revisionist powers see the system as constraining or unjust – and seek to alter it.
This doesn’t always mean war or open confrontation. Revisionism isn’t inherently aggressive, nor is it always destabilizing. It simply describes a nation’s support for or opposition to the prevailing international order. How that desire is expressed can include diplomacy, economic coercion or even armed conflict.
China presents a different kind of case. Beijing has made use of existing international institutions and benefited enormously from global trade, but it’s also been building alternatives, including regional banks, trade blocs and digital infrastructure designed to reduce dependence on Western systems. China’s expanding presence in the South China Sea, its pressure on Taiwan and its desire to shape global norms on everything from human rights to internet governance point to a broader effort to revise the current order – though more gradually than Russia’s approach.
Iran, meanwhile, operates mostly at the regional level. Through its support for proxy groups like Hezbollah, its influence in Iraq and Yemen, and its confrontational stance toward Israel and the Gulf monarchies, Iran has long sought to reshape the Middle East’s power dynamics. It’s not trying to rewrite the entire international system, but it’s certainly revisionist in the region.
A loaded term
Of course, calling a nation “revisionist” is not a neutral act. It reflects a judgment about whose vision of world order is legitimate and whose is not. A rising power might see itself as correcting historical imbalances, not disrupting stability. The term can be useful, but it can also obscure as much as it reveals.
Still, the label captures something real – though maybe not as cleanly as it used to. Much of today’s geopolitical tension does hinge on a basic divide: Some nations want to preserve the existing order, and others want to reshape it. But it’s no longer obvious who belongs in which camp.
Now, when the U.S. sidelines institutions it once championed, imposes extraterritorial sanctions or pushes for new tech and trade regimes that bypass rivals, it starts to blur the line between defender and challenger of the status quo.
Maybe the more useful question now isn’t just which great power is revisionist – but whether any of them are still committed to the post-World War II international order created in the U.S.’s image.
Andrew Latham does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Supporters of opposition candidate and former President John Dramani Mahama celebrate his victory in Accra, Ghana, on Dec. 8, 2024. AP Photo/Jerome Delay
It is also the first presidential vote to take place in Africa in 2025, to be followed by contests later this year in Ivory Coast, Malawi, Guinea, Central African Republic, Guinea-Bissau, Tanzania, Seychelles and Cameroon.
Of particular interest is whether these elections will continue the trend of last year’s votes. As the continent with the youngest population, Africa’s youth was crucial throughout 2024 to a series of seismic political shifts – not least the removal of incumbents and changes in the governing status quo in Ghana, Senegal and South Africa.
Indeed, analysis of the 2024 African Youth Survey – one of the most comprehensive continent-wide polls of people age 18 to 24 – and election results of that year show a clear lack of optimism among the youth.
Unemployment, the rising cost of livingand corruption are primary factors driving youth dissatisfaction on the continent. For example, 59% of South African youth considered their country to be heading the wrong direction – and that’s not hard to imagine given that the country’s youth unemployment rate reached 45.5% in 2024. Not surprisingly, unemployment was a key factor in the election results. Meanwhile, widespread protests in Kenyaand Uganda in the summer of 2024 were youth-led and sparked, respectively, by concerns over tax increases and corruption.
As a professor of political science and an expert in African politics, I believe that a failure to address such concerns could have potentially serious implications for political leaders in the upcoming elections. It also makes it more difficult for countries to consolidate or protect already-fragile democracies on the continent.
Unemployment fueling instability
While African political campaigns often make note of persistently high rates of youth unemployment, the policy priorities of governments across the continent have seemingly failed to fix this intractable problem.
In a 2023 Afrobarometer survey, unemployment topped the list of policy priorities for African youth between the ages of 18 and 35.
Supporters of the UMkhonto weSizwe party, which helped unseat the long-time African National Congress, attend an election meeting near Durban, South Africa, ahead of the May 2024 general elections. AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti
Many governments, faced with the ongoing economic aftereffects of the COVID-19 pandemic and supply-chain issues – which exacerbated rising living costs, high inflation and external debt issues – pursued unpopular revenue collection policies
The violent anti-tax protests in Kenya also provide an example of desperate unemployed youth tapping into a sense of deep popular resentment over fiscal policies.
The combination of deep dissatisfaction with government policies and high youth joblessness can be a destabilizing influence. A 2023 United Nations Development Program study focusing on Ghana pointed to a problem that is common elsewhere on the continent. It concluded that in regions with higher-than-average youth unemployment, that factor was the most common cause for violent extremism and radicalization.
The U.N. study underscored the importance of addressing the social and economic challenges that foster marginalization and anger among youth across sub-Saharan Africa.
The issue of youth unemployment in Africa is exacerbated by the cumulative growth in the youth labor force – estimated to grow by 72.6 million between 2023 and 2050, according to a 2024 report by the International Labor Organization.
The concerns in those countries mirror grievances registered around the continent more broadly, with reducing government corruption listed as a top priority by respondents in the African Youth Survey.
Similar to unemployment, high levels of corruption correlated to some of the political shifts of 2024.
An Afrobarometer survey of attitudes in 2024 showed that 74% of Ghanaians believed corruption had increased over the previous year.
In Kenya, 77% of people view their government’s efforts in fighting corruption as ineffectual.
Of particular concern to many African youth is the belief that security forces and government officials are often considered the most corrupt and that incidents of regularized corruption are underreported.
And it is youth that bear the brunt of much of this corruption. According to a 2022 U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime report, people between the ages 18 and 34 are among the most vulnerable to having to pay bribes to public officials in Ghana.
Supporters of soldiers who launched a coup against the government demonstrate in Niamey, Niger, on July 27, 2023. AP Photo/Fatahoulaye Hassane Midou
Again, youth attitudes toward corruption don’t bode well for many of the governments in this year’s elections. Gabon, Cameroon, Central African Republic and Guinea-Bissau all score poorly on Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index.
Democracy is at its strongest when it empowers governments to deliver on the needs of their populations, particularly the youth.
But the experience of incumbent governments in 2024 elections suggests that too many may have disregarded young people’s needs, which in turn has led to anger resulting in destabilizing protests and regime change – both through democratic and undemocratic means.
It also makes it harder to instill democratic sentiment among younger voters.
Over half of Africa’s 18- to 35-year-olds surveyed in the 2023 Afrobarometer agreed that the military can intervene when leaders abuse power – a pertinent caution about their willingness to support political change, even if it interrupts the democratic process.
While a majority of youth in Africa still retain an apparent preference for democracy to other forms of governance, a growing proportion would embrace nondemocratic governance under some circumstances, according to the 2024 African Youth Survey. The top scores in this particular response came from Gabon, Ivory Coast and Tanzania – all of which have upcoming elections in 2025.
Richard Aidoo does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
United States federal agents tried to enter two Los Angeles elementary schools on April 7, 2025, and were denied entry, according to the Los Angeles Times. The agents were apparently seeking contact with five students who had allegedly entered the country without authorization.
Many K-12 educators are worried that Immigration and Customs Enforcement could start removing students from classrooms. In some places, including New York City, school attendance has decreased over fears that children could be swept up in a raid.
This last clause was used following the 9/11 terrorist attacks of 2001 as the constitutional basis to establish the Department of Homeland Security and create ICE as one of its security agencies. ICE enforces over 400 federal statutes dealing with immigration, including the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, which allows it to investigate and detain certain noncitizens.
ICE arrested Columbia University student Mahmoud Kahlil in March 2025, spurring protests. Several other international students have been detained since. Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images
This law can place schools and their staff in a potentially conflicted legal position if ICE starts targeting schools, because educators have legal obligations to their students.
The U.S. Supreme Court has additionally ruled that students who are not legally living in the U.S. have the same right to an education as any other child.
In the 1975 U.S. Supreme Court decision Plyler v. Doe, the justices struck down a Texas law allowing the state to withhold school district funds for educating children without legal immigration status. The court said the law was unconstitutional because it violated the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment, which reads in part that no state shall “deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
Plyler v. Doe asserted that “person” meant just that − a person, not necessarily a citizen.
Around the same time, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act was enacted to protect personal student information from release to a third party. That includes law enforcement and ICE, except under three circumstances: the parents consent to the release; a school directory includes student information; or a court orders the school to release the information.
Finally, the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act says that schools must enroll and educate students who are with unstable living situations, including migrants, without discrimination.
In addition to these federal laws and cases, many states have additional laws that encourage the education of local K-12 students who lack citizenship or residency status. In Michigan, for example, the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act of 1976 prohibits discrimination based on national origin and race in schools, including in admissions and expulsions.
A women who fears she could be targeted by immigration officials holds a ‘know your rights’ card handed out by her grandchildren’s school on Jan. 22, 2025, in the San Francisco Bay Area. AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez
School districts and ICE
What can K-12 educators do if they find themselves confronting contradictory legal obligations − that of educating all students and that of not impeding a criminal investigation?
Interpreting conflicts in the law is the job of judges − not teachers, ICE agents or academics. The following guidance may help districts prepare for immigration enforcement in K-12 schools:
1. Get ready. Every school district should develop a process and protocol for how to engage with law enforcement in general and ICE specifically.
This plan would involve coordination between the school principals and district superintendent, as well as, most importantly, the district’s lawyers. Traditional school corporate counsel may not have much experience in criminal law; engaging additional counsel with experience in criminal procedures and Fourth Amendment protections can be helpful.
Everyone should understand their role in the plan. Administrative assistants are likely to be the first people engaged when ICE shows up to the school. Do they know what to do?
2. Collect data thoughtfully. There is no state or federal mandate for schools to document citizenship for K-12 school enrollment, though some states are considering requiring proof of citizenship or legal immigration status for enrollment, including Oklahoma, Indiana, Texas, Tennessee and New Jersey.
3. Obey the law. The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act forbids sharing certain information about students with outsiders, including law enforcement. As a rule, then, staff should always avoid discussing students beyond what they are required to do as a function of their employment. Many school board policies ensure that the information they release publicly about enrolled students is minimal.
4. Understand how warrants work. Just because a school is public does not mean that anyone can just come into a classroom, and that includes the police or ICE. A warrant may not be required to detain or arrest a student on the spot, but law enforcement must produce one to access any nonpublic areas of the school in search of that student. They must also show a warrant to see student records or other information, unless parents have previously consented to this information being shared.
5. Keep records. If ICE does knock on the schoolhouse door, administrators should be sure to prepare a report, in accordance with school board policies, for the school district’s records that describes everything that happened and retain all documentation.
Brian Boggs does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
HARRISBURG- The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that Waylon Wilcox, age 45, of Dillsburg, Pennsylvania, appeared in federal court April 9, 2025, before Senior United States District Judge Malachy E. Mannion, and pled guilty to a two-count criminal information charging him with filing false individual income tax returns.
According to court documents and statements made in court, on April 10, 2022, in Cumberland County, Wilcox filed a false individual income tax return for tax year 2021 that underreported his income for tax year 2021 by approximately $8,511,238 and reduced Wilcox’s tax then due and owing by approximately $2,180,452. On October 10, 2023, in Cumberland County, Wilcox filed a false individual income tax return for tax year 2022 that underreported Wilcox’s income for tax year 2022 by approximately $4,599,532 and reduced Wilcox’s tax then due and owing by approximately $1,098,623.
Wilcox obtained most of this unreported income after acquiring and selling 97 pieces of digital artwork from the “CryptoPunks” collection of 10,000 unique art characters. Individual pieces from the digital artwork collection were referred to as “Punks.”
Each Punk was unique and contained digital proof of ownership that could be tracked on a blockchain, a digitally distributed, decentralized, public ledger. Two Punks from the same blockchain could look identical but were not interchangeable, meaning they were non-fungible. These so-called “non-fungible tokens” (or NFTs) could be traded and sold for money or cryptocurrency.
In 2021, Wilcox sold approximately 62 Punks for a total of approximately $7,402,935. In 2022, Wilcox sold approximately 35 Punks for a total of approximately $4,899,180. On his 2021 individual income tax return, Wilcox falsely answered “no” to the question “At any time in 2021, did you receive, sell, exchange, or otherwise dispose of financial interest in any virtual currency?” On his 2022 individual income tax return, Wilcox falsely answered “no” to the question “At any time during 2022, did you: (a) receive (as a reward, award or payment for property or services); or (b) sell, exchange, gift or otherwise dispose of a digital asset (or a financial interest in a digital asset)?”
When a taxpayer sells an NFT, including a Punk, then the taxpayer must report sales proceeds and any gains or losses from the sale of the NFT on their tax return.
“IRS Criminal Investigation is committed to unraveling complex financial schemes involving virtual currencies and non-fungible token (NFT) transactions designed to conceal taxable income,” said Philadelphia Field Office Special Agent in Charge Yury Kruty. “In today’s economic environment, it’s more important than ever that the American people feel confident that everyone is playing by the rules and paying the taxes they owe.”
The case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney David C. Williams is prosecuting the case.
The total maximum penalty under federal law for these offenses is up to six years of imprisonment, a term of supervised release following imprisonment, and a fine. A sentence following a finding of guilt is imposed by the Judge after consideration of the applicable federal sentencing statutes and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.
As part of a stolen vehicle investigation, 24-year-old Jack LeBlanc of Summerford was arrested by Twillingate RCMP on April 8, 2025.
Shortly before 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday, Twillingate RCMP received a report that a 2017 Chevrolet Silverado had been stolen from a commercial property in Summerford. As part of the investigation, police attended the area and gathered information that identified Leblanc as the suspect.
Later that same morning, Twillingate RCMP received a report of a single-vehicle crash in Twillingate involving the stolen truck. The driver, who was identified as LeBlanc, departed the scene on foot and was causing a disturbance outside a nearby residence. Police attended the property where LeBlanc was arrested without further incident.
LeBlanc appeared in court earlier this week and was charged with the following criminal offences:
Theft of a motor vehicle
Possession of property obtained by crime
Failure to comply with conditions of an undertaking
He was released by the court on a number of conditions and is set to appear in court at a later date.
The investigation is continuing.
RCMP NL continues to fulfill its mandate to protect public safety, enforce the law, and ensure the delivery of priority policing services in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments
News story
Crime news: annotating bank statements to support applications
Encouraging clients to annotate their bank statements with the nature, source, and frequency of credits when applying for a representation order
Sometimes applicants have no other evidence of their income other than bank statements. For example, if they are recently self-employed. In such instances we will include all credits shown on the bank statements as income unless it appears appropriate not to include certain credits. Annotating bank statements may therefore provide suitable reason for a credit not to be included as self-employed income. In addition, for any bank statements provided in support of an application, we will include any credits that appear to form regular income. For example, regular credits from friends and family, online sales, and gambling.
If applicants annotate their bank statements before submitting them this will assist us in accurately assessing their means on first submission.
A woman has been sentenced to life for murdering her two young sons in their east London home in 2022.
Kara Alexander, 47 (23.12.77), of Cornwallis Road, Dagenham was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 24 years in prison at Kingston Crown Court on Friday, 11 April for drowning her children.
Detective Chief Inspector Paul Waller of the Metropolitan Police, who led the investigation, said:
“This is an incredibly tragic case, which has left a father without his two beloved boys and a family without two young brothers.
“Kara Alexander will spend the next two decades behind bars, where the memory of what she has done will haunt her forever.
“To the family and friends of Elijah and Marley, while no amount of time will erase the pain of such a loss, I hope this sentence serves to bring some semblance of justice.
“I hope you can now move on with your life, remembering the boys as you knew them, and treasuring the happy times you spent with them.”
Emergency services were called at around 14:00hrs on 16 December 2022, after the bodies of two young children were found by their father in their shared bunkbed inside their house in Dagenham.
Two-year-old Elijah Thomas and five-year-old Marley Thomas were both pronounced dead at the scene.
Following the discovery, their mother Kara Alexander ran from the house, but was arrested nearby a short time later.
Post-mortem examinations identified drowning as the cause of death for both boys.
Detectives from the Met’s Specialist Crime Command launched an investigation, reviewing footage from local CCTV cameras and doorbells and forensically analysing Alexander’s phone.
Alexander was charged on 19 December 2022 with two counts of murder and was convicted at Kingston Crown Court on Friday, 21 February following a three-week trial.
Deteriorating Human Rights situation in Georgia: Joint Statement to the OSCE, April 2025.
UK and other OSCE participating States express concern over the deteriorating human rights situation and call on Georgia to open an inclusive dialogue with political parties, civil society and the OSCE institutions.
Thank you, Madam Chair,
I am delivering this statement on behalf of Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Malta, Montenegro, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Moldova, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Ukraine and my own country, Germany.
As OSCE participating States, we have committed to upholding and defending fundamental human rights, democracy, and the rule of law—not only within our own borders, but across our shared OSCE region. This commitment carries a responsibility: to hold each other accountable when we witness signs of democratic backsliding.
It is in this spirit that we express again our deep concern over the deteriorating human rights situation in Georgia. Since our last discussion in February, we have regretfully witnessed Georgian authorities taking further steps away from their democratic and human rights commitments.
Madam Chair,
Our main concerns are threefold: the legislative restriction of civic space, the targeting of independent media, and the continued lack of accountability for excessive use of force by police, the use of indiscriminate violence by unidentified groups against peaceful protesters as well as unnecessarily long pre-trial detention periods and the reported ill-treatment of those in pre-trial detention.
The Foreign Agents Registration Act requires all individuals and organisations receiving foreign funding to register as so-called “Foreign Agents,” with financial sanctions and criminal penalties imposed on those who refuse. We share ODIHR’s concern that “this law, along with other recent legislative initiatives, could further curtail the activities of civil society organizations and human rights defenders by removing the safeguards needed for them to carry out their work”. This law lacks the legal safeguards that prevent civil society, media and private individuals from being branded as instruments of foreign influence based solely on funding sources, which strongly suggests that this law is not about transparency, but about suppressing dissent and tightening the grip on civil society. This is of particular concern in view of the upcoming local elections.
We are also closely monitoring recent amendments to Georgia’s electoral legislation. It is essential that any changes to the electoral framework enhance transparency and public trust, and that reforms are developed through inclusive dialogue and in line with OSCE commitments. Relatedly, we are concerned about legislative amendments undermining freedom of peaceful assembly, including the amendments to the Criminal and Administrative Offences Codes and the Law on Assemblies and Manifestations. The amendments undermine the principle of equal suffrage and restrict freedom of assembly, as stated in relevant ODIHR’s and Venice Commission latest opinions. We urge the Georgian authorities to implement their recommendations.
Madam Chair,
We are alarmed by the escalating threats and intimidation faced by journalists in Georgia. The Public Defender’s 2024 Human Rights Report highlights a significant decline in media freedom, exacerbated by restrictive laws—such as the recent amendments to the Law on Broadcasting—and growing hostility toward journalists.
Notably, there have been incidents where journalists were being targeted by police while covering protests, including physical assaults and equipment seizures. Furthermore, reports of targeting journalists in exile and negative rhetoric from high-ranking officials and politicians have further eroded media freedom and increased risks for journalists.
We call for the immediate cessation of these practices and the immediate release of all arbitrarily detained journalists, including Mzia Amaghlobeli, who remains in detention on charges of up to 7 years in prison.
Finally, we remain deeply troubled by the persistent lack of accountability for police violence. We have seen no evidence of credible efforts by the Georgian authorities to investigate reports of disproportionate use of force against peaceful protesters, arbitrary detentions, excessive over-reliance on long pre-trial detention periods, and mistreatment of detainees.
We call on the Georgian authorities to take immediate action to protect the rights of those exercising their fundamental freedoms and to conduct a thorough investigation of the use of police force during peaceful protests since 28 November 2024 in order to hold those responsible for human rights violations to account. Failure to do so further undermines public trust in Georgia’s institutions.
Madam Chair,
Despite repeated statements by Georgia reaffirming their commitment to dialogue and the OSCE principles and commitments, we have yet to see any concrete and genuine steps toward meaningful engagement. Instead, recent actions by the Georgian authorities have moved Georgia further away from democracy. We call on the Georgian authorities to open an inclusive dialogue with all political parties and civil society organisations in order to find peaceful and democratic solutions to the ongoing crisis.
We welcome recent statements by ODIHR and RFoM and strongly urge Georgia to continue to constructively engage with OSCE institutions and make use of their expertise. As fellow OSCE participating States, we will explore all available tools and mechanisms within the OSCE context going forward. In this spirit, we call on Georgian authorities to implement recommendations by ODIHR with regard to the upcoming elections.
Our unwavering commitment to Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity remains unchanged. We stand steadfast in our support for the Georgian people and their pursuit of a democratic, stable and European future, and we remain ready to work with Georgia to ensure it upholds its international obligations and ensures that human rights and fundamental freedoms are fully respected.
Source: Northern Territory Police and Fire Services
The Northern Territory Police Force is calling for information on the whereabouts of a motor vehicle that was stolen in the West Daly Region on Friday 4 April.
Police allege that between 9am and 3:15pm, the NSW registered vehicle and boat trailer were stolen from the Daly River boat ramp whilst the registered owner was fishing. Police have since sighted the vehicle in Palumpa and Wadeye; however, a pursuit was not initiated due to safety concerns. On one occasion the stolen vehicle bumped the rear of a police vehicle.
Investigations remain ongoing into the whereabouts of the outstanding vehicle and offenders involved.
Police are urging anyone with information in relation to this incident to make contact on 131 444. You can anonymously report crime via Crimestoppers on 1800 333 000.
Reacting to the deteriorating health condition of Tofig Yagublu, a prominent opposition activist from Azerbaijan, who is serving a nine-year prison term, and who has been on a hunger strike since 1 April, Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia Director, said:
“Tofig Yagublu has endured years of politically motivated persecution and ill-treatment by Azerbaijani authorities. This time, not just his freedom, but his health and life are at stake. His condition has been significantly deteriorating, and every day counts.”
“The Azerbaijani authorities must immediately and unconditionally release Tofig Yagublu, who has been imprisoned solely for his outspoken criticism of government, and should urgently provide him access to all necessary health services.”
Background
On 10 March 2025, the Baku Serious Crimes Court sentenced Tofig Yagublu, a leading member of the opposition Musavat Party and the National Council of Democratic Forces, to nine years in prison on charges of “fraud resulting in substantial harm” and “document forgery.” Amnesty International has recognized him as a prisoner of conscience.
Tofig Yagublu has long been a target of Azerbaijani authorities. He has been arbitrarily detained multiple times and has been sentenced to prison on three separate occasions on various politically motivated charges. Tofig Yagublu has been on hunger strike since 1 April to protest against his most recent nine-year sentence. He said, “I am released at 75 years old, is this a life? If it is [not a life], I will choose to die before”.
According to Tofig Yagublu’s family, his health, already weak after years of persecution, detention and ill-treatment, has been rapidly deteriorating. His lawyer, who visited him recently, described him as being very weak, pale, rapidly losing weight and having difficulty walking. Tofig Yagoublu’s health has reportedly been damaged as a result of the ill-treatment he was subjected to during his previous detention. He is suffering from chronic asthma, which has been worsening due to poor prison conditions and lack of adequate medical care. His lawyer’s request for an independent medical examination has so far not been granted.
Police are investigating a serious crash involving a moped that occurred on Main Road, Austins Ferry this afternoon.Police and emergency services were called to the scene about 1.45pm.Preliminary investigations indicate the moped crashed into a pedestrian safety barrier.The rider and the pillion passenger – both male youths – were taken to the Royal Hobart Hospital, with the pillion passenger in a critical condition and the rider receiving serious injuries.No other vehicles or people were involved in the crash.The road remains closed to allow crash investigators to examine the scene and conduct inquiries.Police would like to thank the local community for their patience and understanding.Anyone with information or relevant dash cam or CCTV footage, is asked to contact police on 131 444 or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or at crimestoppers.com.au. Information can be provided anonymously.
Mumbai Attacks in 2008 Killed More than 160 People, Including Six Americans, and Wounded Hundreds More
The United States on Wednesday extradited convicted terrorist Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a Canadian citizen and native of Pakistan, to stand trial in India on 10 criminal charges stemming from his alleged role in the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai. Rana’s extradition is a critical step toward seeking justice for the six Americans and scores of other victims who were killed in the heinous attacks.
Rana, 64, is charged in India with numerous offenses, including conspiracy, murder, commission of a terrorist act, and forgery, related to his alleged involvement in the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks committed by Laskhar-e-Tayyiba (LeT), a designated foreign terrorist organization. Between November 26 and 29, 2008, ten LeT terrorists carried out a series of 12 coordinated shooting and bombing attacks in Mumbai. They infiltrated the city by sea and then broke into teams, dispersing to multiple locations. Attackers at a train station fired guns and threw grenades into crowds. Attackers at two restaurants shot indiscriminately at patrons. Attackers at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel gunned people down and detonated explosives. Attackers also shot and killed people at a Jewish community center. When the terror finally subsided, 166 victims, including six Americans, were dead, along with all but one of the LeT terrorists. Hundreds more were injured, and Mumbai sustained more than $1.5 billion in property damage. The attacks were among the most horrific and catastrophic in India’s history.
India alleges that Rana facilitated a fraudulent cover so that his childhood friend David Coleman Headley (Headley), a U.S. citizen born Daood Gilani, could freely travel to Mumbai for the purpose of conducting surveillance of potential attack sites for LeT. As India alleges, Headley had received training from LeT members in Pakistan and was in direct communication with LeT about plans to attack Mumbai. Among other things, Rana allegedly agreed to open a Mumbai branch of his immigration business and appoint Headley as the manager of the office, despite Headley’s having no immigration experience. On two separate occasions, Rana allegedly helped Headley prepare and submit visa applications to Indian authorities that contained information Rana knew to be false. Rana also allegedly supplied, through his unsuspecting business partner, documentation in support of Headley’s attempt to secure formal approval from Indian authorities to open a branch office of Rana’s business. Over the course of more than two years, Headley allegedly repeatedly met with Rana in Chicago and described his surveillance activities on behalf of LeT, LeT’s responses to Headley’s activities, and LeT’s potential plans for attacking Mumbai.
After the attacks were complete, Rana allegedly told Headley that the Indians “deserved it.” In an intercepted conversation with Headley, Rana allegedly commended the nine LeT terrorists who had been killed committing the attacks, saying that “[t]hey should be given Nishan-e-Haider”—Pakistan’s “highest award for gallantry in battle,” which is reserved for fallen soldiers.
India’s pending proceedings against Rana are not the first proceedings in which Rana has been accused of conspiring to commit violent acts of terrorism. In 2013, Rana was sentenced to 14 years in prison following his trial conviction in the Northern District of Illinois for conspiring to provide material support to LeT and to a foiled LeT-sponsored terrorist plot in Copenhagen, Denmark. As part of those same criminal proceedings, Headley pleaded guilty to 12 federal terrorism charges, including aiding and abetting the murders of the six Americans in Mumbai and later planning to attack a Danish newspaper, and was sentenced to 35 years in prison.
In June 2020, the United States acted on a request for Rana’s extradition submitted by the Republic of India, which Rana contested for almost five years. On May 16, 2023, a U.S. magistrate judge in the Central District of California certified Rana’s extradition to India. Rana then filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, which the U.S. District Court in the Central District of California denied on August 10, 2023. On August 15, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed that decision. The Supreme Court likewise denied Rana’s petition for certiorari on January 21, 2025. The Secretary of State issued a warrant ordering Rana’s surrender to Indian authorities. Both the district court and the Ninth Circuit denied Rana’s application for a stay of extradition, and on April 7, the U.S. Supreme Court denied Rana’s application for a stay of extradition.
On April 9, the U.S. Marshals Service executed the Secretary’s surrender warrant by surrendering Rana to Indian authorities for transportation to India. Rana’s extradition is now complete.
The extradition litigation was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys John J. Lulejian and David R. Friedman and former Assistant U.S. Attorney Bram M. Alden of the Central District of California and Deputy Director Christopher J. Smith, Associate Director Kerry A. Monaco, and former Associate Director Rebecca A. Haciski of the Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs. The U.S. Marshals Service and attorneys and international affairs specialists in the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs provided support to this extradition. The FBI’s Legal Attaché Office in New Delhi also provided assistance.
U.S. Marshals in the Central District of California on Tuesday transferred custody of Tahawwur Rana, a Pakistani national and Canadian citizen, to representatives from India’s Ministry of External Affairs. U.S. Marshals in the Central District of California on Tuesday transferred custody of Tahawwur Rana, a Pakistani national and Canadian citizen, to representatives from India’s Ministry of External Affairs.
Two men have been arrested and charged with the murder of Woodville Gardens man, Bill Frangos.
It will be alleged Mr Frangos, 72, was murdered, before his body was found after a house fire at his Essex Street, Woodville Gardens home on 7 November, 2024.
Following extensive investigation and appeals to the public for assistance, today Major Crime detectives arrested a 27-year-old Novar Gardens man and a 27-year-old Fulham Gardens man.
They were charged with murder, arson and destroy human remains.
The arrested men are expected to appear in the Adelaide Magistrates Court at the earliest opportunity, likely Monday 14 April.
SAPOL thank the public who have come forward and provided invaluable assistance in this investigation and contributed to the arrest of the two suspects.
Anyone else who has information about Mr Frangos’ death can contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or online at www.crimestopperssa.com.au
Mumbai Attacks in 2008 Killed More than 160 People, Including Six Americans, and Wounded Hundreds More
The United States on Wednesday extradited convicted terrorist Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a Canadian citizen and native of Pakistan, to stand trial in India on 10 criminal charges stemming from his alleged role in the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai. Rana’s extradition is a critical step toward seeking justice for the six Americans and scores of other victims who were killed in the heinous attacks.
Rana, 64, is charged in India with numerous offenses, including conspiracy, murder, commission of a terrorist act, and forgery, related to his alleged involvement in the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks committed by Laskhar-e-Tayyiba (LeT), a designated foreign terrorist organization. Between November 26 and 29, 2008, ten LeT terrorists carried out a series of 12 coordinated shooting and bombing attacks in Mumbai. They infiltrated the city by sea and then broke into teams, dispersing to multiple locations. Attackers at a train station fired guns and threw grenades into crowds. Attackers at two restaurants shot indiscriminately at patrons. Attackers at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel gunned people down and detonated explosives. Attackers also shot and killed people at a Jewish community center. When the terror finally subsided, 166 victims, including six Americans, were dead, along with all but one of the LeT terrorists. Hundreds more were injured, and Mumbai sustained more than $1.5 billion in property damage. The attacks were among the most horrific and catastrophic in India’s history.
India alleges that Rana facilitated a fraudulent cover so that his childhood friend David Coleman Headley (Headley), a U.S. citizen born Daood Gilani, could freely travel to Mumbai for the purpose of conducting surveillance of potential attack sites for LeT. As India alleges, Headley had received training from LeT members in Pakistan and was in direct communication with LeT about plans to attack Mumbai. Among other things, Rana allegedly agreed to open a Mumbai branch of his immigration business and appoint Headley as the manager of the office, despite Headley’s having no immigration experience. On two separate occasions, Rana allegedly helped Headley prepare and submit visa applications to Indian authorities that contained information Rana knew to be false. Rana also allegedly supplied, through his unsuspecting business partner, documentation in support of Headley’s attempt to secure formal approval from Indian authorities to open a branch office of Rana’s business. Over the course of more than two years, Headley allegedly repeatedly met with Rana in Chicago and described his surveillance activities on behalf of LeT, LeT’s responses to Headley’s activities, and LeT’s potential plans for attacking Mumbai.
After the attacks were complete, Rana allegedly told Headley that the Indians “deserved it.” In an intercepted conversation with Headley, Rana allegedly commended the nine LeT terrorists who had been killed committing the attacks, saying that “[t]hey should be given Nishan-e-Haider”—Pakistan’s “highest award for gallantry in battle,” which is reserved for fallen soldiers.
India’s pending proceedings against Rana are not the first proceedings in which Rana has been accused of conspiring to commit violent acts of terrorism. In 2013, Rana was sentenced to 14 years in prison following his trial conviction in the Northern District of Illinois for conspiring to provide material support to LeT and to a foiled LeT-sponsored terrorist plot in Copenhagen, Denmark. As part of those same criminal proceedings, Headley pleaded guilty to 12 federal terrorism charges, including aiding and abetting the murders of the six Americans in Mumbai and later planning to attack a Danish newspaper, and was sentenced to 35 years in prison.
In June 2020, the United States acted on a request for Rana’s extradition submitted by the Republic of India, which Rana contested for almost five years. On May 16, 2023, a U.S. magistrate judge in the Central District of California certified Rana’s extradition to India. Rana then filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, which the U.S. District Court in the Central District of California denied on August 10, 2023. On August 15, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed that decision. The Supreme Court likewise denied Rana’s petition for certiorari on January 21, 2025. The Secretary of State issued a warrant ordering Rana’s surrender to Indian authorities. Both the district court and the Ninth Circuit denied Rana’s application for a stay of extradition, and on April 7, the U.S. Supreme Court denied Rana’s application for a stay of extradition.
On April 9, the U.S. Marshals Service executed the Secretary’s surrender warrant by surrendering Rana to Indian authorities for transportation to India. Rana’s extradition is now complete.
The extradition litigation was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys John J. Lulejian and David R. Friedman and former Assistant U.S. Attorney Bram M. Alden of the Central District of California and Deputy Director Christopher J. Smith, Associate Director Kerry A. Monaco, and former Associate Director Rebecca A. Haciski of the Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs. The U.S. Marshals Service and attorneys and international affairs specialists in the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs provided support to this extradition. The FBI’s Legal Attaché Office in New Delhi also provided assistance.
U.S. Marshals in the Central District of California on Tuesday transferred custody of Tahawwur Rana, a Pakistani national and Canadian citizen, to representatives from India’s Ministry of External Affairs. U.S. Marshals in the Central District of California on Tuesday transferred custody of Tahawwur Rana, a Pakistani national and Canadian citizen, to representatives from India’s Ministry of External Affairs.
Police are investigating the circumstances of a vehicle rollover involving a white Ford Falcon utility on Carlton River Road, Carlton last night. Police were called to the scene near the intersection of Moomere Street shortly before 7:30pm, following reports a vehicle had rolled. The two occupants were reportedly removing property from the vehicle, including its registration plates, and loading it into a nearby burgundy Ford Falcon sedan. The pair then left the crash scene prior to police arrival. Hooning and burnouts in the Carlton and Lewisham areas were reported immediately before the crash. Police are investigating, and are following a particular line of enquiry. Anyone with information about the crash, or dashcam or CCTV footage of either vehicle in the area at the time, is urged to contact police on 131 444 and quote ESCAD 347-10042025. Information can also be provided to Crime Stoppers Tasmania anonymously.
Source: United States Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo)
Today, U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.)—Chairman of the the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism—sent a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, inviting him to testify under oath following former Facebook employee Sarah Wynn-Williams’s explosive allegations against the Big Tech giant.
In a subcommittee hearing yesterday, Wynn-Williams detailed Meta’s alleged censorship collusion with the Chinese Communist Party, the company’s mishandling of artificial intelligence know-how, as well as Meta’s lies to Congress.
“The public deserves to hear your response to these serious allegations, particularly since they pertain to American national security,” Senator Hawley wrote.
“To that end, we request your testimony at a forthcoming Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism, hearing entitled “A Time for Truth, Part II: Oversight of Meta’s Foreign Relations and Representations to the United States Congress. […] We look forward to hearing the truth,” he concluded.
Read the full letter here or below.
April 10, 2025
Mr. Mark ZuckerbergChief Executive OfficerMeta Platforms, Inc.1 Hacker WayMenlo Park, CA 94025
Dear Mr. Zuckerberg:
The American people deserve to know the truth about your company. Yesterday, whistleblower Sarah Wynn-Williams testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism, which I chair. Her testimony was filled with explosive allegations about your company’s willingness to jeopardize American national interests, betray American users and Chinese dissidents alike, and lie about it to Congress. For example:
Wynn-Williams testified that your company briefed Chinese Communist Party officials on AI technology, enabling them to compete effectively against American interests, and that Meta’s own AI technology has been used for Chinese military purposes.
Wynn-Williams testified that your company was willing to hand over Chinese and Hong Kongese user data to the Chinese Communist Party—a sweetheart deal. Worse, Wynn-Williams testified that your company planned to deploy point-of-presence (PoP) servers in China, knowing that this would give the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans’ user data potentially hosted on those servers.
Wynn-Williams testified that in order to curry favor with the Chinese Communist Party, your company muzzled Guo Wengui, a Chinese dissident based in America.
Worse, your company lied directly to Congress about deplatforming Guo Wengui. A top executive of your company, under oath, claimed that Facebook did so according to its normal policies. Documentary evidence unveiled in the hearing, authenticated by the whistleblower, proves that the action was taken due to pressure from China.
Wynn-Williams testified that Facebook developed a censorship tool, to be led by a “Chief Editor,” that would review all posts in China that garnered over 10,000 views—a tool that extended to content in Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Wynn-Williams testified that your company is currently seeking $50,000 in damages from her for every single criticism she makes of your company, even if those statements are true.
The public deserves to hear your response to these serious allegations, particularly since they pertain to American national security. To that end, we request your testimony at a forthcoming Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism, hearing entitled “A Time for Truth, Part II: Oversight of Meta’s Foreign Relations and Representations to the United States Congress.”
My office will work with you to find a suitable time and date for your testimony. We look forward to hearing the truth.
Sincerely,Josh HawleyUnited States Senator
By any measure, 2024 was one of the most successful in the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management’s (FECM’s) history.
We made enormous progress toward addressing and reducing methane emissions in the oil and gas industry to meet our environmental responsibilities and ensure that U.S. natural gas can compete in a rapidly changing global marketplace.
We accelerated carbon capture, removal, utilization, and storage technologies, and laid the groundwork for a strengthened and expanded carbon dioxide (CO2) transport and storage infrastructure.
We made real and impressive strides toward establishing a secure domestic supply chain for the critical minerals and materials that will be required in a 21st Century economy.
We advanced pathways to clean hydrogen deployment through fuel cell technology, as well as electrolysis and biomass, waste, and fossil resources coupled to carbon capture, utilization, and storage.
And we expanded meaningful engagement and strengthened relationships with communities, Tribes, industry, and other stakeholders to not only ensure the success of our projects but also to help drive economic development, technological innovation, and the growth of high-wage jobs across America.
Our 2024 successes would not have been possible without the hard work and dedication of the people who make up FECM. We are thankful for our leadership and our team at Headquarters and at the National Energy Technology Laboratory for their continued amazing work—and for their professionalism and commitment.
As we look toward 2025, we remain committed to carrying out our work for the American people.
Year in Review Highlights
Here are a few prominent examples of FECM investing in technologies to minimize the environmental and climate impacts of fossil fuel and industrial processes:
DOE collaborated with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to award $850 million to 43 projects that will help small oil and gas operators, Tribes, and other entities across the country to reduce, monitor, measure, and quantify methane emissions from the oil and gas sector as part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda.
With funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, FECM awarded $518 million to strengthen the nation’s infrastructure for permanent, safe storage of CO2. The 23 selected projects across 19 states support the Carbon Storage Assurance Facility Enterprise (CarbonSAFE) Initiative.
FECM announced $75 million to establish a Critical Materials Supply Chain Research Facility to support on-going government initiatives, such as the Critical Materials Collaborative and Critical Materials Innovation Hub, along with the overall DOE-wide critical mineral and material goals of diversifying and expanding supply, developing alternatives, improving efficiencies across the supply chain, and enabling a circular economy.
FECM invested $45 million into six projects to create regional consortia focused on securing domestic critical minerals and materials. The selected projects will build on DOE’s Carbon Ore, Rare Earth and Critical Minerals (CORE-CM) Initiative, expanding the focus from the basin scale to cover eight regions across the nation.
FECM along with DOE’s Hydrogen Fuel Cell Technologies Office invested more than $58.5 million into 11 projects that aim to support Carbon Negative Shot’s objectives through integrated pilot-scale testing of advanced technologies and detailed monitoring, reporting, and verification protocols. Carbon Negative Shot is the U.S. government’s first major carbon dioxide removal effort and part of DOE’s larger Energy Earthshots Initiative.
FECM invested $44.5 million into nine university and industry-led project teams that will serve as regional partners to advance commercial-scale carbon capture, transport, and storage across the United States. The Regional Initiative for Technical Assistance Partnerships will accelerate the understanding of specific geologic basins to enable the permanent storage of CO2 emissions from industrial operations and power plants, as well as legacy emissions in the atmosphere.
FECM announced four research and development projects that will receive nearly $32 million to advance technologies to help reduce natural gas flaring at oil production sites, a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions, by transforming gas into valuable products that would otherwise be wasted by those operations. These projects support the U.S. Methane Emissions Reduction Action Plan, which launched a whole-of-government initiative to redouble efforts to significantly reduce methane emissions while protecting workers and communities, growing jobs, and promoting U.S. technology innovation.
FECM also formed new working groups and initiatives to strengthen stakeholder engagement:
After requesting, receiving, and incorporating feedback from climate, environmental justice, community, labor organizations, and carbon management sector leaders, along with guidance from other DOE offices, FECM released principles to help developers deploy successful carbon management projects that reduce pollution, create high-quality jobs, and improve transparency and accountability under the Responsible Carbon Management Initiative.
The International Measurement, Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification Working Group released a framework for the measurement, monitoring, reporting, and verification of methane, carbon dioxide, and other greenhouse gas emissions to drive continuous reductions in emissions across the global natural gas market.
The Tribal Fossil Energy and Carbon Management Working Groupwas formed to provide ongoing advice and expertise to DOE on the best ways to assist Tribal decarbonization efforts and utilization of their natural resources.
DOE and the White House Council on Environmental Quality held the first meeting of two federal Permitting Task Forces to help address the efficient, orderly, and responsible development of CO2 pipelines and related carbon capture and storage projects. This includes projects on both private and federal lands and of those that cross federal, state and tribal boundaries.
And with support from various DOE offices, we released the Carbon Management Strategy for public comment to provide a comprehensive roadmap for the remainder of the decade.
We hope you enjoyed reading this highlight of FECM’s accomplishments over the past year. To keep up to date with future announcements, blogs, and more, sign up for news alerts and follow us on X, LinkedIn, and Facebook.
Seattle – A member of Lummi Nation was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to 51 months in prison for Assault by Strangulation, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Teal Luthy Miller. Joseph Michael Quincy Jefferson, 36, was found guilty in January 2025, following a seven-day jury trial. At the sentencing hearing U.S. District Judge Lauren King noted thatJefferson had multiple domesticviolence related convictions in tribal court, saying “your abuse of others has become a pattern… You return to strangulation again and again.”
“This case is testament to the importance of our work in tribal communities,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Miller. “Studies reveal that being a victim of strangulation significantly increases the risk the victim will be killed at the hands of their abuser. Holding Mr. Jefferson accountable now is the best way to protect future victims.”
According to records filed in the case and testimony at trial, on the night of April 8, 2023, Jefferson punched, pushed, and strangled his live-in partner. Sitting on her back he used the crook of his elbow to apply pressure to her neck, strangling her and causing her to black out twice. When the victim regained consciousness, she ran from the home barefoot and in her underwear, calling a friend and a neighbor requesting help. The victim went to the Lummi Nation Police Department and to the hospital where she made consistent statements to police and medical care providers. She was found to have a broken nose and other injuries consistent with strangulation.
At trial, Jefferson claimed he acted in self-defense. During her testimony, the victim minimized Jefferson’s conduct.
In asking for a high-end 57-month sentence, Assistant United States Attorney Celia Lee recounted Jefferson’s history of domestic violence with his two romantic partners and noted that shorter sentences handed down by the Lummi Tribal Court have not changed his behavior. “Given Jefferson’s history, his conduct, and his behavior while under supervision, the Court is frankly left with no viable alternatives to a lengthy term of imprisonment. Thus, a significant custodial sentence at this juncture is appropriate, just, and would promote respect for the law. The government certainly hopes that such a sentence would also provide specific deterrence to Jefferson who has thus far not been dissuaded from violence by his prior terms of incarceration for domestic violence.”
Jefferson has been in custody since his bond was revoked in late October 2024 due to his ongoing contact with the victim in violation of his conditions of pretrial release. He remains in custody pending sentencing.
The case was investigated by the Lummi Nation Police Department and the FBI.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Celia Lee. Ms. Lee serves as a Tribal Liaison for the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Ensuring public safety on tribal lands is a critical responsibility of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Western District of Washington.
Source: United States Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn)
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) introduced the Combating Trafficking in Transportation Act, which would give states flexibility with federal funding to post human trafficking awareness signage at rest stops and welcome centers along the Interstate System, helping to educate the public and better support survivors of human trafficking:
“As human traffickers move their victims across the country, they travel on the same highways and visit the same rest stops and gas stations as everyone else, which creates multiple opportunities to identify these victims,” said Senator Blackburn. “This bipartisan legislation would give all states the flexibility to take advantage of signage campaigns that have been proven effective to rescue more men, women, and children from this heinous crime.”
“We must do everything in our power to stop human trafficking, and public awareness campaigns are a proven, effective tool to combat this issue,” said Senator Klobuchar. “That is why we are introducing bipartisan legislation to provide more information about signs of trafficking and how to help victims. This bill will give law enforcement crucial information to take on criminals and get more victims to safety.”
BACKGROUND
Human trafficking is a multibillion-dollar industry, generating over $250 billion in profits each year. Individuals trafficked in the United States, whether through labor or sex trafficking, are transported on our nation’s interstate system.
Victim identification is essential to disrupting transnational trafficking rings, and public awareness is key to these efforts. Signage campaigns detailing ways to recognize and report human trafficking have been extremely successful.
One public awareness signage campaign in Texas led to a 30 percent increase in calls to the National Human Trafficking Hotline, ultimately resulting in over 1,000 survivors being identified.
COMBATING TRAFFICKING IN TRANSPORTATION ACT
Specifically, the Combating Trafficking in Transportation Act would:
Amend the list of eligible projects under the Surface Transportation Block Grant Program and the RAISE Discretionary Grant Program to include the procurement and installation of human trafficking awareness signage at rest stops and welcome centers along the Interstate System; and
Add a 16th seat to the Department of Transportation Advisory Committee on Human Trafficking specifically for a representative from state departments of transportation.
Click here to read the bill text.
ENDORSEMENTS
This legislation is supported by Truckers Against Trafficking, Engage Together, Street Grace, A21, 3Strands Global Foundation, Raven, Polaris Project, Pearl at the Mailbox, Lynn’s Warriors, Empowered Network, Love Never Fails, Compassion First, Survivor Led Solutions, SK Sultana, Bridge 2 Future, There is Hope for Me, Mentari, Resiliency Foundation, World Without Exploitation, Yellowstone Human Trafficking Task Force, Wealth Management Ministries-Prevention Works Joint Task Force and Coalition, Chains Interrupted, One More Child, Campaign Against Human Trafficking, and Hope for Justice.
Source: United States Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF)
Jacksonville, Florida – United States Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe announces the return of an indictment charging Bryan Roger Byers (57, Jacksonville), a United States Postal Service employee, with possessing a firearm as an unlawful drug user. If convicted, Byers faces up to 15 years in federal prison.
According to court documents and proceedings, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) began investigating Byers after a firearm he had purchased was recovered during a drug trafficking investigation. During that investigation, a felon was found to be in possession of a firearm and admitted purchasing the firearm from Byers in exchange for crack cocaine.
Investigators located text messages, which reflected that Byers used sex workers to find buyers for his firearms and those buyers then exchanged drugs for the firearms. Records reflect Byers purchased at least 10 firearms over the last four years.
On April 2, 2025, a search warrant was executed at Byers’s home. Law enforcement officers located seven firearms, multiple rounds of ammunition, and two suspected crack pipes, all of which were seized by ATF. The next day, Byers attempted to purchase another firearm and was arrested by ATF agents.
An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed one or more violations of federal criminal law, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless, and until, proven guilty.
This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Brenna Falzetta.
This case is part of Operation Take Back America a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).
TUCSON, Ariz. – Last week, a federal grand jury in Tucson returned a one-count indictment against Andrea Villalva, 32, of Tucson, Arizona, for Smuggling Goods from the United States.
The complaint filed in this case alleges that, on March 7, 2024, Villalva attempted to exit the United States through the DeConcini Port of Entry in Nogales, Arizona. During a physical inspection of Villalva’s vehicle, Customs and Border Protection Officers discovered 8 sealed cases of 5.56 XP193 rifle ammunition hidden behind the rear wall of the trunk. In total, 8,000 rounds of ammunition were recovered. Villalva admitted being paid $150 per box of ammunition that she successfully smuggled into Mexico. She also admitted to having smuggled ammunition into Mexico on three previous occasions.
A conviction for Smuggling Goods from the United States carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and up to three years of supervised release.
This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).
An indictment is simply a method by which a person is charged with criminal activity and raises no inference of guilt. An individual is presumed innocent until evidence is presented to a jury that establishes guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Homeland Security Investigations conducted the investigation in this case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie A. Sottosanti, District of Arizona, Tucson, is handling the prosecution.
CASE NUMBER: 25-CR-01724-TUC-AMM RELEASE NUMBER: 2025-053_Villalva
Source: United States Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA)
Published: April 10, 2025
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship Chair Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) applauded the Small Business Administration (SBA) for implementing strong, new protections to its loan application process to protect against fraudsters.
The changes come after an Ernst-requested investigation exposed that $5.4 billion in loans were given to individuals without Social Security numbers, including $312 million to individuals claiming to be children under the age of 11, as part of the more than $200 billion in fraud that plagued pandemic-era loan programs.
“Criminals have stolen hundreds of billions from taxpayers over the last few years because the SBA lacked basic safeguards,” said Ernst. “I am glad to see Administrator Loeffler continue to refocus the agency on its core mission of serving Main Street by ensuring that tax dollars designed to help small businesses actually do so, instead of getting stolen by criminals. I will keep working to hold con artists who stole from the SBA accountable and recoup every cent.”
Some of the commonsense measures taken by the SBA include citizenship verification, date of birth verification, and automatic fraud alerts for any applicant claiming to be younger than 18 years old or older than 115 years of age.
Background:
Ernst has relentlessly pursued COVID fraud to ensure criminals are held accountable.
After a shocking report revealed that the Biden SBA failed to pursue nearly two million individuals suspected of stealing pandemic aid, Ernst introduced the SBA Fraud Enforcement Extension Act to extend the statute of limitations to 10 years for key pandemic aid programs to ensure every bad actor who stole from taxpayers is caught.
In a comprehensive 2023 report, Ernst outlined the Biden SBA’s effort to discount the full extent of fraud and cast doubt on the legitimate estimates made by expert investigators.
Ernst’s tireless advocacy forced the Biden administration to eventually take action to recover billions in COVID aid in January 2024.
Last month, the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship advanced Senators Todd Young (R-Ind.) and Ernst’s Assisting Small Businesses Not Fraudsters Act which prevents criminals convicted of defrauding the SBA from receiving future assistance from the agency.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Fresno residents Marcus Asay, 69, and Antonio Gastelum, 53, were sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Dale A. Drozd to five years in prison and two years in prison, respectively, for committing a long-running pension fraud scheme through their company, Agricultural Contracting Services Association dba American Labor Alliance (ALA), Acting U.S. Attorney Michele Beckwith announced.
ALA also received a corporate fine of $2.5 million. Asay and ALA were each ordered to pay $69,250 in restitution.
On June 18, 2024, Asay, Gastelum, and ALA were convicted of the pension fraud scheme following a five-week jury trial. Asay and ALA were also convicted of committing a worker’s compensation fraud scheme, a hardship exemption fraud scheme, and money laundering. The hardship exemption fraud scheme involved a supposed exemption from the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that people obtain health insurance or pay a significant shared responsibility payment when they file their taxes.
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Asay was the founder and chairman of ALA, and Gastelum was the company’s Chief Operating Officer, Chief Financial Officer, and Compliance Officer. From 2011 through 2019, the defendants offered three sham products: retirement plan, worker’s compensation coverage, and hardship exemption.
Pension Fraud Scheme
For the pension fraud scheme, Asay, Gastelum, and ALA falsely represented to more than 3,000 people that they would protect and invest their retirement money through a 401(k) Plan when, in fact, they used the money for improper business and personal expenses. The improper expenses included restaurants, travel, credit cards, rare coins, transfers to Asay’s personal retirement account, online companion websites, and rent for Asay’s lakefront mansion in Fresno. Asay, Gastelum, and ALA then covered up the fact that the retirement money was gone by taking money the company received from the worker’s compensation fraud scheme and holding those funds out as pension funds. The loss caused by the pension fraud scheme was more than $620,000.
Asay’s money laundering conviction resulted from this scheme because he moved pension funds through multiple bank accounts to conceal the source of the funds before using them for improper expenses.
Workers’ Compensation Fraud Scheme
For the worker’s compensation fraud scheme, Asay and ALA falsely represented that national insurers backed the worker’s compensation coverage that the company offered in several states, including California. Asay and ALA did so by listing the national insurers on the certificates of insurance and policy declarations that the company issued to customers. The accuracy of the certificates of insurance and policy declarations was important to the customers because they needed to present these items to their own customers and regulators as proof of having worker’s compensation coverage in order to continue doing business. When government authorities began investigating the workers’ compensation fraud scheme, Asay and ALA sent letters to customers telling them not to cooperate. The worker’s compensation fraud scheme generated $2.25 million in premiums.
Hardship Exemption Fraud Scheme
For the hardship exemption fraud scheme, Asay and ALA falsely represented that for a few hundred dollars they could provide people with an exemption that would protect them from the Affordable Care Act’s shared responsibility payment for not having health insurance when, in fact, only government agencies could issue such exemptions. Moreover, the exemptions were free to those who qualified.
Asay and Gastelum received enhanced sentences because they both testified in their own defense at trial and were found to have perjured themselves.
This case was the product of an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration and Office of Labor-Management Standards, Federal Bureau of Investigation, the IRS Criminal Investigation, and the Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael Tierney, Joseph Barton, and Stephanie Stokman prosecuted the case.
PHOENIX, Ariz. – Bonifacio Renteria-Cruz, 48, a citizen of Mexico, was arrested on Illegal Re-Entry charges on Tuesday during a Homeland Security Investigation (HSI) operation led by Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Deputy Director Madison Sheahan. Renteria-Cruz was charged by Criminal Complaint for violation of Title 8, U.S.C. 1326(a) and (b)(1).
On October 11, 2006, Renteria-Cruz, a Mexican citizen illegally present in the United States, was convicted of Aggravated Assault, a class 3 felony, in the Maricopa County Superior Court and sentenced to three-and-a-half-years in prison. Renteria-Cruz was deported to Mexico on April 8, 2008.
After his deportation, Mexican authorities charged Renteria-Cruz with homicide for events that occurred on July 20, 2009, in Mexico. Since that time, he has been a fugitive.
Pursuant to a tip in January 2025, HSI learned that Renteria-Cruz had illegally returned to the United States. Agents were able to locate and identify Renteria-Cruz, and on April 8, 2025, Renteria-Cruz was arrested during an Immigration Operation.
This investigation is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.
A criminal complaint is simply a method by which a person is charged with criminal activity and raises no inference of guilt. An individual is presumed innocent until evidence is presented to a jury that establishes guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Homeland Security Investigations in Phoenix, Arizona conducted the investigation in this case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Addison Owen, District of Arizona, Phoenix, is handling the prosecution.
CASE NUMBER: 25-3128MJ RELEASE NUMBER: 2025-052_Renteria-Cruz
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For more information on the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona, visit http://www.justice.gov/usao/az/ Follow the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona, on Twitter @USAO_AZfor the latest news.
MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced today that Mose Adam Smith, age 43, of Stilwell, Oklahoma, was found guilty by a federal jury of Voluntary Manslaughter in Indian Country, punishable by up to 15 years imprisonment and a fine up to $250,000.00.
The jury trial began with testimony on April 7, 2025, and concluded on April 10, 2025, with the guilty verdict.
During the trial, the United States presented evidence that on or about July 17, 2023, Smith unlawfully killed an individual during an altercation at the victim’s Sallisaw, Oklahoma residence. The Government presented evidence that during the altercation, Smith inflicted blunt-force trauma on the victim, and that Smith caused extensive injuries resulting in the death of the victim. Smith attempted to conceal the victim’s death and fled the state. The crime occurred in Sequoyah County, within the boundaries of the Cherokee Nation Reservation of Oklahoma, in the Eastern District of Oklahoma.
On March 19, 2025, Co-defendant Kimberly Dawn Ball-Gilbert, age 42, of Stilwell, Oklahoma, pleaded guilty to an Information of one count of Voluntary Manslaughter. At the plea hearing, Ball-Gilbert admitted to aiding and abetting Smith’s actions in causing the victim’s death.
The guilty verdict was the result of investigations by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Sequoyah County Sheriff’s Office, the Grant County, Wisconsin Sheriff’s Office, and the Wisconsin State Crime Laboratory.
The Honorable Ronald A. White, Chief U.S. District Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, presided over the trial and ordered the completion of a presentence report. The sentencings for Smith and Ball-Gilbert will be scheduled following completion of the presentence reports. The Court will sentence the defendants after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Smith and Ball-Gilbert will remain in the custody of the United States Marshals until sentencing.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Patrick M. Flanigan and Lewis M. Reagan represented the United States.
Attributable to Detective Inspector Nick Pritchard:
Police continue to make steady progress in the investigation into the homicide of 63-year-old Abdul Nabizadah, who was found critically injured in Camperdown Rd, Miramar at 2.20am on Monday 17 March.
Mr Nabizadah later died in Wellington Hospital from injuries Police believe were received while being assaulted and robbed at this location at around 12.30am.
The investigation team are continuing to gather evidence of the events of the evening and are establishing a good understanding of what occurred.
The investigation has established a link between the homicide and an aggravated burglary that occurred at a nearby Darlington Road address at about 2am, when a man was found by homeowners inside their house. Police have arrested a man alleged to be responsible for this burglary and he is due to appear in the Wellington District Court on 17 April.
During the examination of the Camperdown Road scene Police located a woman’s large size Mirrou brand zip-up jacket with white stripes on the arms. It was found discarded on the walkway leading from Camperdown Road to Nevay Road. Police want to speak to the owner of this jacket to determine if it is connected in any way to the incidents of that night.
The investigation team have previously sought information about a silver Mazda 6 vehicle seen on several occasions in the Miramar area on the night of the incidents.
Following assistance from members of the public the investigation team have now identified this vehicle and believe it is connected to the two incidents. Police now urgently want to speak to the driver and occupants of this car on the night of the incidents and we encourage them to make contact with us.
We are actively looking for a number of people who we know have relevant information and encourage them, along with anyone else that has relevant information, to contact us as soon as possible.
If you have any information that could help the investigation team, please update us online now or call 105.
Please use the reference number 250317/6324, or reference Operation Celtic.
Information can also be provided anonymously via Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111.
Shapiro-Davis Administration and Statewide Advocates Highlight Victims’ Rights Week, Governor Shapiro’s Proposed $9 Million Investment in Victim Compensation
In honor of National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD) and Office of Victim Advocate, teamed up with statewide victim advocacy organizations to highlight the importance of supporting survivors, raising awareness of their rights, and Governor Shapiro’s proposed $9 million investment in the Victims Compensation Assistance Program (VCAP) in the 2025-26 state budget.
National Crime Victims’ Rights Week highlights the importance of ensuring that victims of crime receive the support, protection, and justice they deserve. Last year, over 323,000 Pennsylvanians were victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse, gun violence, assault, human trafficking, homicide, and other crimes.
“Ensuring that victims are informed, respected, and supported throughout their healing journey is our top priority. No crime victim should have to worry about paying for medical care, no family should face the stress of funeral costs, and no survivor of sexual assault should have to choose between healing and financial hardship,” said Kathy Buckley, Director of PCCD’s Office of Victims’ Services. “This week is about making sure victims know their rights-including their right to financial support to help through some of their most difficult times.”
Speakers Include: Kathy Buckley, Director of the Office of Victims’ Services, PCCD Suzanne Estrella, Pennsylvania Victim Advocate Rebecca Buckham, Communications Manager, Children’s Advocacy Centers of PA (PennCAC) Gabriella Romeo, Public Policy Director, PA Coalition to Advance Respect (PCAR) Jenna Mehnert Baker, Policy Director, PA Coalition Against Domestic Violence (PCADV)
Source: United States Senator John Kennedy (Louisiana)
WASHINGTON – Sens. John Kennedy (R-La.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) today reintroduced the Fighting Inhumane Gambling and High-Risk Animal Trafficking (FIGHT) Act to enhance national animal fighting laws by providing more tools to law enforcement and citizens to curtail cockfighting and dogfighting.
“Those engaging in dog and cock fights are abusive, organized and dangerous—and their heinous behavior must be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law. It’s illegal to abuse God’s creatures for sport, and this bill would give law enforcement crucial tools to end this cruel practice,” said Kennedy.
“Animal fighting is cruel, illegal, and unacceptable. It’s time we take stronger action to stop these heinous abuses against animals and protect them from being exploited for entertainment and profit. This bill will tighten enforcement to put a stop to illegal animal fighting,” said Booker.
Despite being criminalized, cockfighting and dogfighting are still common across the country. Cockfights can become hubs of violence because of the illegal activity that often accompanies them.
Cockfighting may also pose a danger to public health during the ongoing avian influenza outbreak, as people who handle bloodied birds risk becoming infected by them.
The FIGHT Act would amend Section 26 of the Animal Welfare Act to strengthen and enhance enforcement against animal fighting. This bill would:
Ban simulcasting and gambling on animal fights in the U.S., no matter where the broadcast signals for dogfights and cockfights originate.
Halt shipments of mature roosters (chickens only) shipped through U.S. mail. This legislation does not address shipments of baby chicks, which are used in accepted agricultural operations. Shipping dogs through the mail is already illegal.
Creates a citizen suit provision allowing private right of action against illegal animal fighters and ease the resource burden on federal agencies.
Enhances forfeiture provisions to include real property used in the commission of an animal fighting crime.
The full bill text of the FIGHT Act is available here.
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – KAILUS JAMES (“JAMES”), age29, and CEDRIC MAY (“MAY”), age 31,were charged on April 4, 2025, in a three-count indictment, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Michael M. Simpson. Count 1 charged them with conspiracy to commit bank robbery, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371. Count 2 charged them with bank robbery, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 2113(a) and (d), and 2. Count 3 charged them with possession of a stolen vehicle, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 2313 and 2.
According to the indictment, on or about March 15, 2025, JAMES and MAY stole approximately $98,320.00 of United States currency, belonging to and in the care, custody, control, management, and possession of a JP Morgan Chase Bank, in New Orleans.
If convicted, JAMES and MAY face a maximum sentence of 20 years imprisonment, up to a $250,000 fine, and up to 3 years of supervised release, for Count 1; up to 25 years imprisonment, up to a $250,000 fine, and at least 3 years of supervised release for Count 2; and up to 20 years imprisonment, up to a $250,000 fine, and up to 3 years of supervised release for Count 3. JAMES and MAY also face a payment of a $100 mandatory special assessment fee as to all three counts.
Acting United States Attorney Simpson reiterated that the indictment is merely a charge and that the guilt of the defendant must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation Violent Crime Task Force, the New Orleans Police Department, and the Louisiana State Police. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Troy L. Bell of the Violent Crimes Unit.
This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).
