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  • World War II POW from Wilmington, Delaware, positively IDed from remains, U.S. says

    World War II POW from Wilmington, Delaware, positively IDed from remains, U.S. says

    A Wilmington native who died while being held as a prisoner by Japanese forces during World War II has been positively identified through analysis of his remains, U.S. military officials said this week.

    Army Lt. Col. Louis E. Roemer was taken prisoner in the Philippines when the Japanese captured the island fortress of Corregidor in May 1942 after American forces lost the Bataan Peninsula, according to historical news accounts.

    He remained a POW in the Philippines until late 1944, when the Japanese began to move prisoners as an American invasion force retook the occupied territory.

    Roemer may have survived transport on two Japanese “hell ships” — which had reputations for inhumane conditions and cruel treatment — that were both attacked by Allied forces, only to die afterward of an illness, reportedly on Jan. 22, 1945. He was 43.

    He had been loaded in Manila onto the transport ship Oryoku Maru, destined for Japan. However, U.S. carrier-borne aircraft attacked the Oryoku Maru, and it eventually sank in Subic Bay on Dec. 15, 1944.

    Roemer was then transported to Formosa, now known as Taiwan, aboard the Enoura Maru. While that ship was docked at the Port of Takao in Formosa and still loaded with prisoners of war, it was hit by Allied aircraft on Jan. 9, 1945. Approximately 400 Allied POWs were killed.

    According to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, the Japanese reported that after the Enoura Maru was attacked, Roemer was placed aboard the Brazil Maru, bound for Moji, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. Roemer reportedly died of acute colitis during the last stage of transport, the Japanese reported.

    “However, since historical and contemporary evidence indicate that the Japanese government-reported Brazil Maru casualties list contains errors, he conceivably could have died at any point during this December 1944 to January 1945 POW transport, including the Jan. 9 attack on the Enoura Maru,” the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency said.

    In 1946, a U.S. military search-and-recovery team exhumed a mass grave on a beach at Takao in Formosa and recovered 311 bodies. Attempts to identify the remains were unsuccessful, and they were buried in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu.

    In 2022 and 2023, remains linked to the Enoura Maru were disinterred from the Punchbowl for analysis. Scientists used dental and anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency said. Scientists also used mitochondrial, Y-chromosome, and autosomal DNA analysis.

    Roemer was officially accounted for on July 28, 2025, the agency said Wednesday. The announcement was made after Roemer’s family received a briefing on his identification.

    Roemer will be buried in Pittsburgh, the agency said.

    According to historical news accounts, Roemer was one of three brothers who served as high-ranking military officers during World War II. He was born in Wilmington and graduated from the University of Delaware in 1922 with a chemical engineering degree. He was inducted into the Army through the ROTC.

    Before the war, he was assigned to the Chemical Warfare Service on the Bataan Peninsula in the Philippines under Maj. Gen. Jonathan M. Wainwright.

    Japan attacked the Philippines just hours after Pearl Harbor. On April 9, 1942, American and Filipino forces surrendered on the Bataan Peninsula, and Corregidor fell about a month later.

    Roemer was subjected to the notorious Bataan Death March, which led to the death of thousands of POWs.

    His family did not know what had happened to him until December 1942, when they were notified by the U.S. War Department that he was a prisoner of war in the Philippines.

    Roemer was able to send a couple of postcards to his family through a system facilitated by the International Red Cross, and on one occasion a freed POW was able to communicate a message to Roemer’s family he had heard through a POW “grapevine.”

    Col. Louis D. Hutson wrote to Roemer’s wife, Mary, and said Roemer “was in very good health and quite cheerful and he asked in case I were returned to the States before he returned that I write you and send you and his boys and his mother all his love,” the Wilmington News Journal reported on March 30, 1945.

    At that point, Roemer had already been dead for at least two months.

    His family did not learn about his death for about five more months.

    Roemer was posthumously awarded a Bronze Star Medal with V device and the Legion of Merit award.

    “Colonel Roemer saved hundreds of lives during the famed Bataan Death March, but it was for his service before the surrender of American troops that he was decorated,” a 1947 News Journal article said.

    Another news story relayed an account by Sgt. Alfred Torrisi, who said that during the Bataan Death March, Roemer “often slipped out of camp at night into the jungle to get wood for charcoal, from which he made the only soothing medicine available for the sick men.”

    Torrisi said Roemer was in charge of hospital service at the Cabanatuan prison camp, where “practically everyone was a patient.”

  • Senate passes more spending bills, but Homeland Security dispute looms

    Senate passes more spending bills, but Homeland Security dispute looms

    WASHINGTON — Congress is halfway home in approving government funding for the current budget year that began Oct. 1 after the Senate on Thursday overwhelmingly passed a three-bill package.

    Now comes the hard part. Lawmakers still must negotiate a spending bill for the Department of Homeland Security amid soaring tensions on Capitol Hill after the shooting of a Minnesota woman by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent.

    Lawmakers are working to complete passage of all 12 annual spending bills before Jan. 30, the deadline set in a funding patch that ended a 43-day government shutdown in November. With the Senate’s action on Thursday, six of those bills have now passed through both chambers of Congress. The measure before the Senate passed by a broadly bipartisan vote of 82-15. It now goes to President Donald Trump to be signed into law.

    That recent success would greatly reduce the impact of a shutdown, in the unlikely event that there is one at the end of January, since lawmakers have now provided full-year funding for such agencies as the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Energy, Interior and Justice.

    Lawmakers from both parties are determined to prevent another lapse in funding for the remaining agencies. The House’s approval of a separate two-bill package this week nudges them closer to getting all 12 done in the next two weeks.

    “Our goal, Mr. President is to get all of these bills signed into law. No continuing resolutions that lock in previous priorities and don’t reflect today’s realities,” said Sen. Susan Collins, the Republican chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee. “No more disastrous government shutdowns that are totally unnecessary and so harmful.”

    ICE shooting inflames debate on funding

    The biggest hurdle ahead is the funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security. The plan was to bring that bill before the House this week, but Rep. Tom Cole, the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said the decision was made to pull the bill and “buy some time” as lawmakers respond to the Minneapolis shooting.

    Democrats are seeking what Rep. Rosa DeLauro called “guardrails” that would come with funding for ICE.

    “We can’t deal with the lawlessness and terrorizing of communities,” said DeLauro (D., Conn.), the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee. “We’re going back and forth with offers, and that’s where we are.”

    Trump’s deportation crackdown, focused on cities in Democratic-leaning states, has incensed many House Democrats who demand a strong legislative response. Last week, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and killed Renee Good in a shooting that federal officials said was an act of self-defense but that the mayor described as reckless and unnecessary.

    Some 70 Democrats have signed onto an effort to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. Others are seeking specific changes to how the agency operates, such as requiring ICE agents to wear body cameras.

    “There are a variety of different things that can be done that we have put on the table and will continue to put on the table to get ICE under control so that they are actually conducting themselves like every other law enforcement agency in the country, as opposed to operating as if they’re above the law, somehow thinking they’ve got absolute immunity,” said Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries.

    The Congressional Progressive Caucus, which includes nearly 100 Democratic members, formally announced opposition to any funding to immigration enforcement agencies within the Department of Homeland Security “unless there are meaningful and significant reforms to immigration enforcement practices.”

    Looking for a solution

    Cole said any changes to the Homeland Security funding bill would need sign-on from the White House. He said one possible answer would be to let Democrats have a separate vote on the Homeland Security bill. If passed, it would then be combined with some other spending bills for transmittal to the Senate. Republicans used a similar procedural tactic to get a previous spending package over the finish line in the House.

    The options for Democrats on Homeland Security are all rather bleak. If Congress passes a continuing resolution to fund the agency at current levels, that gives the Trump administration more discretion to spend the money as it wants.

    Meanwhile, any vote to eliminate funding for ICE won’t stop massive sums from flowing to the agency because Trump’s tax cut and border security bill, passed last summer, injects roughly $170 billion into immigration enforcement over the next four years.

    Also, any vote to eliminate funding could put some Democrats in tough reelection battles in a difficult position this fall as Republicans accuse them of insufficiently supporting law enforcement.

  • Man charged with sexually assaulting a woman in her 90s in Montgomery County

    Man charged with sexually assaulting a woman in her 90s in Montgomery County

    A 22-year-old man was charged with sexually assaulting a woman in her 90s during one of four home break-ins last year in Montgomery County, authorities said Thursday.

    John Vernon Gray of Telford was arrested Jan. 10 and was charged with rape and related offenses. He was being held without bail at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility.

    The four nighttime break-ins occurred around Towamencin Township and involved four women who Gray allegedly believed were living alone, authorities said.

    On May 10, around 2:25 a.m., a 79-year-old woman was awakened by a man trying to enter her house on Dock Drive through her bedroom window, authorities said. She screamed and scared him away.

    About an hour later, a man entered a residence in the Dock Woods Senior Living Community and sexually assaulted the occupant, a woman in her 90s, authorities said.

    On Nov. 8, two more break-ins occurred. Police responded around 3 a.m. to a home on Dock Drive where a 72-year-old woman reported being awakened by a man in her bedroom who attempted to lift her nightgown, authorities said. The woman screamed and the man fled.

    About 30 minutes later, a man entered a residence on Crosshill Court in Towamencin Township through a rear sliding glass door, entered the bedroom, and touched a 46-year-old woman, authorities said. The man fled when the woman screamed for her husband.

  • U.S. warns Iran that ‘all options are on the table’ in emergency U.N. meeting

    U.S. warns Iran that ‘all options are on the table’ in emergency U.N. meeting

    UNITED NATIONS — After weeks of escalating tension, U.S. and Iranian officials faced one another Thursday at the U.N. Security Council, where America’s envoy renewed threats against the Islamic Republic despite President Donald Trump’s efforts to lower the temperature between the two adversaries.

    The U.S. was joined by Iranian dissidents in rebuking the government’s bloody crackdown on nationwide protests that activists say have killed at least 2,677 people.

    “Colleagues, let me be clear: President Trump is a man of action, not endless talk like we see at the United Nations,” Mike Waltz, U.S. ambassador to the U.N., told the council. “He has made it clear that all options are on the table to stop the slaughter. And no one should know that better than the leadership of the Iranian regime.”

    Waltz’s remarks came as the prospect of U.S. retaliation for the protesters’ deaths still hung over the region, although Trump signaled a possible de-escalation, saying the killing appeared to be ending. By Thursday, the protests challenging Iran’s theocracy appeared increasingly smothered, but the state-ordered internet and communication blackout remained.

    One diplomat told the Associated Press that top officials from Egypt, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar spent the last 48 hours raising concerns with Trump that a U.S. military intervention would shake the global economy and destabilize an already volatile region.

    During the meeting, Hossein Darzi, the deputy Iranian ambassador to the U.N., blasted the U.S. for what he claimed was America’s “direct involvement in steering unrest in Iran to violence.”

    “Under the hollow pretext of concern for the Iranian people and claims of support for human rights, the United States is attempting to portray itself as a friend of the Iranian people, while simultaneously laying the groundwork for political destabilization and military intervention under a so-called ′humanitarian′ narrative,” Darzi said.

    The U.S. requested the emergency Security Council meeting and invited two Iranian dissidents, Masih Alinejad and Ahmad Batebi, to describe their experience as targets of the Islamic Republic.

    In a stunning moment, Alinejad addressed the Iranian representative directly.

    “You have tried to kill me three times. I have seen my would-be assassin with my own eyes in front of my garden, in my home in Brooklyn,” she said while the Iranian official looked directly ahead, without acknowledging her.

    In October, two purported Russian mobsters were each sentenced to 25 years behind bars for hiring a hit man to kill Alinejad at her New York home three years ago on behalf of the Iranian government.

    Batebi described the deep cuts the prison guards in Iran would inflict on him before pouring salt on his wounds. “If you do not believe me, I can show you my body right now,” he told the council.

    Both dissidents called on the world body and the council to do more to hold Iran accountable for its human rights abuses. Batebi pleaded with Trump not to “leave” the Iranian people alone.

    “You encouraged people to go into the streets. That was a good thing. But don’t leave them alone,” he said.

    Russia was the only member of the council that defended Iran’s actions while calling for the U.S. to stop intervening.

    Protests appear smothered as death toll rises

    Videos of demonstrations have stopped coming out of Iran, likely signaling the slowdown of their pace under the heavy security force presence in major cities.

    In Iran’s capital, Tehran, witnesses said recent mornings showed no new signs of bonfires lit the night before or debris in the streets. The sound of gunfire, which had been intense for several nights, has also faded.

    The clampdown on the demonstrations has killed at least 2,677 people, according to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency. The figure reported Thursday is an increase of 106 from a day earlier, and the organization says the number will likely continue to climb. The death toll exceeds that of any other round of protest or unrest in Iran in decades and recalls the chaos surrounding the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.

    The U.S.-based agency, founded 20 years ago, has been accurate throughout multiple years of demonstrations, relying on a network of activists inside Iran that confirms all reported fatalities.

    With communications greatly limited in Iran, the AP has been unable to independently confirm the group’s toll. The Iranian government has not provided casualty figures.

    New sanctions on senior Iranians

    In other developments Thursday, the U.S. announced new sanctions on Iranian officials accused of suppressing the protests, which began late last month over the country’s faltering economy and the collapse of its currency. The Group of Seven industrialized democracies and the European Union also said they too were looking at new sanctions to ratchet up the pressure on Iran’s theocratic government.

    Among those hit with U.S. sanctions was the secretary of Iran’s Supreme Council for National Security, whom the Treasury Department accuses of being one of the first officials to call for violence against protesters. The Group of Seven, of which the U.S. is a member, also warned they could impose more sanctions if Iran’s crackdown continues.

    European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen said the 27-nation bloc was looking at strengthening sanctions “to push forward that this regime comes to an end and that there is change.

  • European troops arrive in Greenland as talks with U.S. highlight ‘disagreement’ over island’s future

    European troops arrive in Greenland as talks with U.S. highlight ‘disagreement’ over island’s future

    NUUK, Greenland — Troops from several European countries continued to arrive in Greenland on Thursday in a show of support for Denmark as talks among representatives of Denmark, Greenland and the U.S. highlighted “fundamental disagreement” over the future of the Arctic island.

    The disagreement came into starker focus Thursday, with the White House describing plans for more talks with officials from Denmark and Greenland as “technical talks on the acquisition agreement” for the U.S. to acquire Greenland.

    That was a far cry from the way Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen described it as a working group that would discuss ways to work through differences between the nations.

    “The group, in our view, should focus on how to address the American security concerns, while at the same time respecting the red lines of the Kingdom of Denmark,” he said Wednesday after the meeting.

    Before the talks began Wednesday, Denmark announced it would increase its military presence in Greenland. Several European partners — including France, Germany, the U.K., Norway, Sweden, and the Netherlands — started to send symbolic numbers of troops or promised to do so in the following days.

    The troop movements were intended to portray unity among Europeans and send a signal to President Donald Trump that an American takeover of Greenland is not necessary as NATO together can safeguard the security of the Arctic region amid rising Russian and Chinese interest.

    The European troops did little to dissuade Trump.

    White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday that it had no impact on the president’s decision-making or goal of acquiring Greenland.

    “The president has made his priority quite clear, that he wants the United States to acquire Greenland. He thinks it’s in our best national security to do that,” she said.

    Rasmussen, flanked by his Greenlandic counterpart Vivian Motzfeldt, said Wednesday that a “fundamental disagreement” over Greenland remained after they met at the White House with Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

    Rasmussen said it remains “clear that the president has this wish of conquering over Greenland” but dialogue with the U.S. would continue at a high level over the following weeks.

    Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron announced Wednesday that “the first French military elements are already en route” and “others will follow,” as French authorities said about 15 soldiers from the mountain infantry unit were already in Nuuk for a military exercise.

    Germany will deploy a reconnaissance team of 13 personnel to Greenland on Thursday, the Defense Ministry said.

    On Thursday, Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said the intention was “to establish a more permanent military presence with a larger Danish contribution,” according to Danish broadcaster DR. He said soldiers from several NATO countries will be in Greenland on a rotation system.

    ‘Greenland does not want to be part of the United States’

    Inhabitants of Greenland and Denmark reacted with anxiety but also some relief that negotiations with the U.S. would go on and European support was becoming visible.

    Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen welcomed the continuation of “dialogue and diplomacy.”

    “Greenland is not for sale,” he said Thursday. “Greenland does not want to be owned by the United States. Greenland does not want to be governed from the United States. Greenland does not want to be part of the United States.”

    In Greenland’s capital, Nuuk, local residents told The Associated Press they were glad the first meeting between Greenlandic, Danish, and American officials had taken place but suggested it left more questions than answers.

    Several people said they viewed Denmark’s decision to send more troops, and promises of support from other NATO allies, as protection against possible U.S. military action. But European military officials have not suggested the goal is to deter a U.S. move against the island.

    Maya Martinsen, 21, said it was “comforting to know that the Nordic countries are sending reinforcements” because Greenland is a part of Denmark and NATO.

    The dispute, she said, is not about “national security” but rather about “the oils and minerals that we have that are untouched.”

    More troops, more talks

    On Wednesday, Poulsen announced a stepped-up military presence in the Arctic “in close cooperation with our allies,” calling it a necessity in a security environment in which “no one can predict what will happen tomorrow.”

    “This means that from today and in the coming time there will be an increased military presence in and around Greenland of aircraft, ships and soldiers, including from other NATO allies,” Poulsen said.

    Denmark informed NATO that it will be conducting exercises in Greenland, and the alliance’s Supreme Allied Commander Alexus Grynkewich spoke Thursday with Denmark’s chief of defense, Col. Martin O’Donnell, a spokesperson for Grynkewich told the AP.

    He said such dialogue is typical and added that “we all agree the Arctic – including Greenland – is important for transatlantic security.”

    The Danish exercises and deployment of additional troops “bolster our collective defenses there,” O’Donnell said.

    The Russian embassy in Brussels on Thursday lambasted what it called the West’s “bellicose plans” in response to “phantom threats that they generate themselves”. It said the planned military actions were part of an “anti-Russian and anti-Chinese agenda” by NATO.

    “Russia has consistently maintained that the Arctic should remain a territory of peace, dialogue and equal cooperation,” the embassy said.

    Some diplomatic progress

    Commenting on the outcome of the Washington meeting on Thursday, Poulsen said the working group was “better than no working group” and “a step in the right direction.” He added nevertheless that the dialogue with the U.S. did not mean “the danger has passed.”

    The most important thing for Greenlanders is that they were directly represented at the meeting in the White House and that “the diplomatic dialogue has begun now,” Juno Berthelsen, a lawmaker for the pro-independence Naleraq opposition party, told AP.

    A relationship with the U.S. is beneficial for Greenlanders and Americans and is “vital to the security and stability of the Arctic and the Western Alliance,” Berthelsen said. He suggested the U.S. could be involved in the creation of a coast guard for Greenland, providing funding and creating jobs for local people who can help to patrol the Arctic.

    In Washington, Rasmussen and Motzfeldt also met with a bipartisan group of senators at the U.S. Capitol.

    “We really appreciate that we have close friends in the Senate and the House as well,” Rasmussen told reporters, adding that Denmark would work to “accommodate any reasonable American requests” with Greenland.

    There has been significant concern among lawmakers of both political parties that Trump could upend the NATO alliance by insisting on using military force to possess Greenland. Key Republicans lawmakers have pushed back on those plans and suggested that the Trump administration should work with Denmark to enhance mutual security in the Arctic.

    Line McGee, 38, from Copenhagen, told AP that she was glad to see some diplomatic progress. “I don’t think the threat has gone away,” she said. “But I feel slightly better than I did yesterday.”

    Trump, in his Oval Office meeting with reporters, said: “We’ll see how it all works out. I think something will work out.”

  • Prosecutor urges manslaughter verdict for guard who ‘did nothing’ as fellow officers killed inmate

    Prosecutor urges manslaughter verdict for guard who ‘did nothing’ as fellow officers killed inmate

    UTICA, N.Y. — A New York prison guard who failed to intervene as he watched an inmate being beaten to death should be convicted of manslaughter, a prosecutor told a jury Thursday in the final trial of correctional officers whose pummeling, recorded by body-cameras, provoked outrage.

    “For seven minutes — seven gut-churning, nauseating, disgusting minutes — he stood in that room close enough to touch him and he did nothing,” special prosecutor William Fitzpatrick told jurors during closing arguments. The jury began deliberating Thursday afternoon.

    Former corrections officer Michael Fisher, 55, is charged with second-degree manslaughter in the death of Robert Brooks, who was beaten by guards upon his arrival at Marcy Correctional Facility on the night of Dec. 9, 2024, his agony recorded silently on the guards’ body cameras.

    Fisher’s attorney, Scott Iseman, said his client entered the infirmary after the beating began and could not have known the extent of his injuries.

    Fisher was among 10 guards indicted in February. Three more agreed to plead guilty to reduced charges in return for cooperating with prosecutors. Of the 10 officers indicted in February, six pleaded guilty to manslaughter or lesser charges. Four rejected plea deals. One was convicted of murder, and two were acquitted in the first trial last fall.

    Fisher, standing alone, is the last of the guards to face a jury.

    The trial closes a chapter in a high-profile case led to reforms in New York’s prisons. But advocates say the prisons remain plagued by understaffing and other problems, especially since a wildcat strike by guards last year.

    Officials took action amid outrage over the images of the guards beating the 43-year-old Black man in the prison’s infirmary. Officers could be seen striking Brooks in the chest with a shoe, lifting him by the neck and dropping him.

    Video shown to the jury during closing arguments Thursday indicates Fisher stood by the doorway and didn’t intervene.

    “Did Michael Fisher recklessly cause the death of Robert Brooks? Of course he did. Not by himself. He had plenty of other helpers,” said Fitzpatrick, the Onondaga County district attorney.

    Iseman asked jurors looking at the footage to consider what Fisher could have known at the time “without the benefit of 2020 hindsight.”

    “Michael Fisher did not have a rewind button. He did not have the ability to enhance. He did not have the ability to pause. He did not have the ability to get a different perspective of what was happening in the room,” Iseman said.

    Even before Brooks’ death, critics claimed the prison system was beset by problems that included brutality, overworked staff and inconsistent services. By the time criminal indictments were unsealed in February, the system was reeling from an illegal three-week wildcat strike by corrections officers who were upset over working conditions. Gov. Kathy Hochul deployed National Guard troops to maintain operations. More than 2,000 guards were fired.

    Prison deaths during the strike included Messiah Nantwi on March 1 at Mid-State Correctional Facility, which is across the road from the Marcy prison. 10 other guards were indicted in Nantwi’s death in April, including two charged with murder.

    There are still about 3,000 National Guard members serving the state prison system, according to state officials.

    “The absence of staff in critical positions is affecting literally every aspect of prison operations. And I think the experience for incarcerated people is neglect,” Jennifer Scaife, executive director of the Correctional Association of New York, an independent monitoring group, said on the eve of Fisher’s trial.

    Hochul last month announced a broad reform agreement with lawmakers that includes a requirement that cameras be installed in all facilities and that video recordings related to deaths behind bars be promptly released to state investigators.

    The state also lowered the hiring age for correction officers from 21 to 18 years of age.

  • Venezuela’s Machado says she presented her Nobel Peace Prize to Trump during their meeting

    Venezuela’s Machado says she presented her Nobel Peace Prize to Trump during their meeting

    WASHINGTON — Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado said she presented her Nobel Peace Prize medal to President Donald Trump on Thursday, “as a recognition for his unique commitment with our freedom.”

    Machado detailed having given her prize to Trump in comments to a group of reporters after the meeting, but did not provide further details. The White House did not immediately say if Trump accepted the medal.

    That followed her having met with Trump to discuss her country’s future, even though he has dismissed her credibility to take over after an audacious U.S. military raid that captured then-President Nicolás Maduro.

    Visiting Trump presented something of a physical risk for Machado, whose whereabouts have been largely unknown since she left her country last year after being briefly detained in Caracas. Nevertheless, after a closed-door discussion with Trump, she greeted dozens of cheering supporters waiting for her near the gates —stopping to hug many.

    “We can count on President Trump,” she told them, prompting some to briefly chant “Thank you, Trump,” but she didn’t elaborate.

    The jubilant scene stood in contrast to Trump having repeatedly raised doubts about Machado and his stated commitment to backing democratic rule in Venezuela. He has signaled his willingness to work with acting President Delcy Rodríguez, who was Maduro’s No. 2.

    Along with others in the deposed leader’s inner circle, Rodríguez remains in charge of day-to-day government operations and was delivering her first state of the union speech during Machado’s Washington trip.

    In endorsing Rodríguez so far, Trump sidelined Machado, who has long been a face of resistance in Venezuela. That’s despite Machado seeking to cultivate relationships with the president and key administration voices like Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in a gamble to ally herself with the U.S. government and some of its top conservatives.

    White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called Machado “a remarkable and brave voice” for the people of Venezuela, but also said that the meeting didn’t mean Trump’s opinion of her changed, calling it “a realistic assessment.”

    Trump has said it would be difficult for Machado to lead because she “doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country.” Her party is widely believed to have won 2024 elections rejected by Maduro.

    Leavitt went on to say that Trump supported new Venezuelan elections “when the time is right” but did not say when he thought that might be.

    Trump administration plays down meeting expectations

    Leavitt said Machado sought the face-to-face meeting without setting expectations for what would occur. Machado previously offered to share with Trump the Nobel Peace Prize she won last year, an honor he has coveted.

    “I don’t think he needs to hear anything from Ms. Machado,” the press secretary said, other than to have a ”frank and positive discussion about what’s taking place in Venezuela.”

    All told, Machado spent about two and a half hours at the White House but left without answering questions on whether she’d offered to give her Nobel prize to Trump, saying only “gracias.” It wasn’t clear she’d heard the question as she hugged and her waiting supporters.

    Machado also visited Capitol Hill for a meeting in the Senate. She said she gave Trump the medal in comments after her time with the senators.

    Her Washington stop began after U.S. forces in the Caribbean Sea seized another sanctioned oil tanker that the Trump administration says had ties to Venezuela.

    It is part of a broader U.S. effort to take control of the South American country’s oil after U.S. forces seized Maduro and his wife at a heavily guarded compound in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas and brought them to New York to stand trial on drug trafficking charges.

    Leavitt said Venezuela’s interim authorities have been fully cooperating with the Trump administration and that Rodríguez’s government said it planned to release more prisoners detained under Maduro. Among those released were five Americans this week.

    Rodríguez has adopted a less strident position toward Trump then she did immediately after Maduro’s ouster, suggesting that she can make the Republican administration’s “America First” policies toward the Western Hemisphere, work for Venezuela — at least for now.

    Trump said Wednesday that he had a “great conversation” with Rodríguez, their first since Maduro was ousted.

    “We had a call, a long call. We discussed a lot of things,” Trump said during an Oval Office bill signing. “And I think we’re getting along very well with Venezuela.”

    Machado doesn’t get the nod from Trump

    Even before indicating the willingness to work with Venezuela’s interim government, Trump was quick to snub Machado. Just hours after Maduro’s capture, Trump said of Machado that “it would be very tough for her to be the leader.”

    Machado has steered a careful course to avoid offending Trump, notably after winning the peace prize. She has since thanked Trump, though her offer to share the honor with him was rejected by the Nobel Institute.

    Machado remained in hiding even after winning the Nobel Peace Prize. She missed the ceremony but briefly reappeared in Oslo, Norway, in December after her daughter received the award on her behalf.

    The industrial engineer and daughter of a steel magnate, Machado began challenging the ruling party in 2004, when the nongovernmental organization she co-founded, Súmate, promoted a referendum to recall then-President Hugo Chávez. The initiative failed, and Machado and other Súmate executives were charged with conspiracy.

    A year later, she drew the anger of Chávez and his allies again for traveling to Washington to meet President George W. Bush. A photo showing her shaking hands with Bush in the Oval Office lives in the collective memory. Chávez considered Bush an adversary.

    Almost two decades later, she marshaled millions of Venezuelans to reject Chávez’s successor, Maduro, for another term in the 2024 election. But ruling party-loyal electoral authorities declared him the winner despite ample credible evidence to the contrary. Ensuing anti-government protests ended in a brutal crackdown by state security forces.

  • In South Philly mass shooting, friends unintentionally killed each other, but it’s still murder, prosecutors say

    In South Philly mass shooting, friends unintentionally killed each other, but it’s still murder, prosecutors say

    No one can say for certain what caused the first loud “pop” to echo down a South Philadelphia block — a single gunshot, a car backfiring, or something else entirely.

    But within seconds, at least 15 people attending a party on the 1500 block of South Etting Street pulled out guns and started shooting, a chain reaction that left three people dead and 10 others wounded.

    In the weeks that followed the July 7 mass shooting, police said they identified four people who fired weapons that night: Daquan Brown, 21, Terrell Frazier, 22, Brandon Fisher, 17, and Dieve Jardine, 45. Prosecutors charged each with three counts of murder, 10 counts of attempted murder, conspiracy, and related crimes.

    Her youngest son was killed in a mass shooting. Now, her eldest is charged with committing one.

    Municipal Court Judge Francis W. McCloskey Jr. on Thursday ruled that the cases against the four men could move forward to trial on charges of third-degree murder, aggravated assault, and inciting a riot. He dismissed all counts of attempted murder and causing a catastrophe.

    Throughout the nearly five-hour hearing, prosecutors, using a compilation of video and social media evidence, laid out in greatest detail yet how the shooting unfolded.

    Dozens of people had gathered on the street the night of July 7, the second block party in as many days. Gunfire erupted just before 1 a.m.

    Assistant District Attorney Cydney Pope said the shooting was driven in part by paranoia.

    Assistant District Attorney Cydney Pope leaving the courthouse during a November trial.

    Frazier and other young men at the party had been going back and forth with people on social media, she said, challenging someone who threatened to shoot up the party to “go ahead” in an Instagram Live video.

    Less than 10 minutes later, she said, surveillance video showed a single loud “pop” that appeared to scare partygoers, who started to run down the block.

    Eight seconds later, she said, at least 15 people at the party pulled out their guns and shot more than 120 bullets toward the end of the block.

    But there’s no evidence anyone ever shot into the party, she said. The sound they believed was gunfire, she said, was likely a car backfiring.

    “This is a tragedy because all of these defendants shot and killed their friends,” she said.

    From left to right: Zahir Wylie, Jason Reese, and Azir Harris were killed in a mass shooting on the 1500 block of Etting Street on July 7.

    Three men were killed. Zahir Wylie, 23, was struck in the chest, and Jason Reese, 19, was shot in the head. Azir Harris, 27, who used a wheelchair after being paralyzed in an earlier shooting, was struck in the back as he sought cover between two cars.

    Homicide Detective Joseph Cremen said he identified the four gunmen by combing surveillance video, phone, and social media records, and interviewing witnesses.

    Fisher, he said, was seen on the porch of one of the homes using a gun with a “switch” attachment that caused him to spray dozens of bullets down the street, appearing at times as if he couldn’t control his weapon. In the teen’s phone, he said, were pictures of him with multiple guns, as well as the clothes he was wearing the night of the shooting and messages indicating he was selling firearms.

    Police said the person directly in front of this video is Brandon Fisher, 17, using a gun with a switch on it to fire dozens of shots down Etting Street on July 7.

    And Frazier, he said, talked about the shooting in text messages. About 12 hours after the shooting, he said, someone asked Frazier where he was when Wylie was struck.

    “I was banging back,” Frazier wrote. He said the shooting was “bad,” and that Wylie “died from us.”

    “He died from a stray,” he said, according to the texts.

    Cremen said Brown admitted that he fired two shots with his legally owned gun, “then when he realized he wasn’t shooting at anything, he stopped and took cover.”

    And Jardine, also known as Dieve Drumgoole, also told investigators he fired two or three shots after he saw someone come out of an alley on the block with a green laser attachment on a gun, the detective said.

    Cremen didn’t recover video that showed anyone using a gun with a green laser beam.

    Defense attorneys for the four men all argued that their clients were acting in self-defense, and only fired their guns because they believed someone was shooting at them. Police still do not know — and may never know — whose bullets struck each victim.

    “There is no evidence that he struck anyone, there’s no evidence that he intended to strike anyone,” said Gina Amoriello, who represents Brown. “In all my years, I’ve never seen a case overcharged like this. This is extreme.”

    Philadelphia Police Crimes Scene officer taking pictures at scene. Scene of an overnight shooting 1500 block S. Etting Street, Philadelphia, that sent several to hospital, fatalities, early Monday, July 7, 2025.

    John Francis McCaul, Jardine’s lawyer, said the father was “protecting his family” on the porch. Jardine’s son and nephew were also injured in the shooting.

    No one, he said, intended to kill anyone by firing their guns.

    The judge disagreed.

    “The intent goes where the bullet goes,” said McCloskey. “The intent is established by producing the gun, pointing the gun, and pulling the trigger.”

    He said it would be up to a jury or judge later on to determine whether or not the men were acting in self defense. At this preliminary stage, he said, prosecutors provided enough evidence to uphold a third-degree murder charge.

    Prosecutors plan to address charges against a fifth person, Jihad Gray, who had been charged with the shooting at a hearing next week.

    A sixth person, Christopher Battle, 24, remains at-large.

    After the hearing, the families of the victims struggled to make sense of what they had just watched — friends killing friends.

    “It’s really hard to digest,” said Troy Harris, whose son, Azir, was killed. “It was shocking. It was life changing to us. … This domino effect can hurt generations and generations.”

    “I still don’t even get it,” said Markeisha Manigault, the mother to Zahir Wylie. “I don’t understand why … my son lost his life. It was just unnecessary.”

    Family and friends gather for a balloon release in memory of Zahir Wylie at the Papa Playground on July 8, 2025.
  • Gov. Josh Shapiro sued a vendor for failing to deliver 3.4 million letters from state agencies, calling it ‘unacceptable’

    Gov. Josh Shapiro sued a vendor for failing to deliver 3.4 million letters from state agencies, calling it ‘unacceptable’

    HARRISBURG — Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration has sued a former vendor for failing to deliver 3.4 million pieces of state agency mail to residents, resulting in a statewide debacle with some residents losing access to their public benefits.

    Shapiro called the situation “absolutely unacceptable” in his first public remarks on the matter during a Wednesday appearance at the Pennsylvania Farm Show.

    The Pennsylvania Department of General Services earlier this month filed suit in Dauphin County Court against the Harrisburg-based Capitol Presort Services, a mail presort company, for damages totaling more than $220,000 for its failure to deliver critical state agency communications from the Department of Human Services, Department of Transportation, and more.

    The lawsuit alleges that the owner of Capitol Presort Services told the state he had been forced to reduce staff due to the 135-day state budget impasse, during which outside vendors were not paid. But the owner, Phil Gray, never told the state his company could not fulfill its contractual obligations, according to the state’s filing.

    Gray “systematically reviewed the mail entering his facility and elected to process the mail that was most easily traced, to hide that he was falling behind,” according to a letter sent to lawmakers last week by DGS Secretary Reggie McNeil.

    The unsent mail went undetected by the state for one month before it was discovered, and Capitol Presort Services was swiftly fired. The state found another vendor through an emergency contract with technology solution company Pitney Bowes for $1 million.

    Shapiro said his administration has been “working overtime” to ensure no benefits were lost, and if they were, “we’re going to make it right.”

    “The vendor failed. It was caught, it was addressed, we’re suing them, and we’re going to do everything we can to recover for the people of Pennsylvania,” Shapiro said. “It’s not OK.”

    The mail delay has become an early point of attack against Shapiro as he runs for reelection and is likely to face Treasurer Stacy Garrity, the Pennsylvania Republican Party’s endorsed candidate. Following Shapiro’s reelection campaign announcement last week, the state GOP claimed that Shapiro has “even failed at the easy stuff, like sending out millions of letters from state agencies, causing vulnerable residents to lose their healthcare without notice.”

    Why the state sued

    The state hired Capitol Presort in 2021 to tray and sort some of the state’s mail, in order to save money on postage. Its latest purchase order for 2024-25, according to the suit, totaled nearly $5.3 million to deliver millions of state agency communications to residents.

    The state alleges in the suit that the vendor continued to deliver trackable mail while not delivering untracked mail, arguing that this was evidence of an “active and fraudulent concealment and an affirmative misrepresentation that it was performing its obligations under the contract.”

    Capitol Presort Services allegedly continued to pick up mail daily throughout the month of November, and Gray did not communicate to the state when asked on Dec. 4 that he could not meet his contractual obligations, McNeil said in his letter to lawmakers.

    However, Gray allegedly told the state that he had reduced his staff since July due to the impact of the budget impasse, which lasted 135 days, or nearly five months. Outside vendors are not paid during budget impasses but are expected to meet their contractual obligations.

    “Many critical contractors continued to provide services to the commonwealth, without payment, throughout the lengthy budget delay, but this vendor hid the problem and at no point advised DGS or worked cooperatively to resolve it,” McNeil told the lawmakers.

    Gray could not be reached for comment Thursday and did not have an attorney listed on the lawsuit.

    Ongoing impact

    Community Legal Services reported last month that the failure to deliver state agency mail, which went undetected from Nov. 3 to Dec. 3, had resulted in approximately two dozen clients losing access to their benefits. The total number of residents affected by the mail delay remains unclear.

    The Pennsylvania Department of Human Services has said it is extending its appeal deadlines by 45 days, while any Medicaid, CHIP, or TANF cash assistance recipients whose benefits were reduced or ended are getting their cases reopened.

    SNAP recipients who lost access to their food assistance due to the mail delay must file an appeal, submit missing documents, or reapply to become eligible again under federal rules.

    PennDot, for its part, has received few reports of issues due to the mail delay and does not anticipate much of an impact on residents, Transportation Secretary Mike Carroll said in a letter to legislators sent last week. All of its legal and time-sensitive mailings, like suspension notices, were not affected.

    The state will likely ask for more than $220,000 in damages, adding in the suit that the full cost for the failure to deliver a month’s worth of agency mail cannot yet be determined. As of last week, DHS alone has spent that much on unplanned communications and mailing costs to notify affected Pennsylvanians, according to a letter from DHS Secretary Val Arkoosh to state lawmakers.

  • Netanyahu says the announced start of Gaza ceasefire’s next phase is a ‘declarative move’

    Netanyahu says the announced start of Gaza ceasefire’s next phase is a ‘declarative move’

    DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli strikes in central Gaza on Thursday killed eight people, including three women, a day after the U.S. announced that the fragile ceasefire would advance to its second phase.

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the ceasefire announcement largely symbolic, raising questions about how its more challenging elements will be carried out.

    Speaking with the parents of the last Israeli hostage whose remains are still in Gaza, Netanyahu late Wednesday said the governing committee of Palestinians announced as part of the second phase was merely a “declarative move,” rather than the sign of progress described by U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff.

    Israeli police officer Ran Gvili’s parents had earlier pressed Netanyahu not to advance the ceasefire until their son’s remains were returned, Israel’s Hostage and Missing Families Forum said Wednesday.

    Netanyahu told Gvili’s parents that his return remained a top priority.

    The announcement of the ceasefire’s second phase marked a significant step forward but left many questions unanswered.

    Those include the makeup of a proposed, apolitical governing committee of Palestinian experts and an international “Board of Peace.”

    The committee’s composition was coordinated with Israel, said an Israeli official speaking on the condition of anonymity.

    Questions also include the timing of deployment of international forces and the reopening of Gaza’s southern Rafah border crossing, as well as concrete details about disarming Hamas and rebuilding Gaza.

    In an interview on Wednesday with the West Bank-based Radio Basma, Ali Shaath, the engineer and former Palestinian Authority official slated to head the committee, said he anticipated reconstruction and recovery to take roughly three years. He said it would start with immediate needs like shelter.

    “If I bring bulldozers, and push the rubble into the sea, and make new islands (in the sea), new land, it is a win for Gaza and (we) get rid of the rubble,” Shaath, a Gaza native, said.

    Progress announced but hardship endures

    Palestinians in Gaza who spoke to The Associated Press questioned what moving into phase two would actually change on the ground, pointing to ongoing bloodshed and challenges securing basic necessities.

    More than 450 people have been killed since Israel and Hamas agreed to halt fighting in October, Gaza’s Health Ministry said Thursday.

    Six people were killed Thursday in two strikes, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. The first strike killed two men, while three women and a man were killed in the second strike. Israeli military officials did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment on the strikes.

    Separately, the military said that it had killed someone Thursday who had approached troops near the so-called Yellow Line — which divides the Israeli-held part of Gaza from the rest — and posed an imminent threat.

    “We see on the ground that the war has not stopped, the bloodshed has not stopped, and our suffering in the tents has not ended,” said Samed Abu Rawagh, a man displaced to southern Gaza from Jabaliya.

    The casualties since the October ceasefire, which UNICEF said include more than 100 children, are among the 71,441 Palestinians killed since the start of Israel’s offensive, according to the ministry, which does not say how many were fighters or civilians.

    The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals. The U.N. and independent experts consider it the most reliable source on war casualties. Israel disputes its figures but has not provided its own.

    Hamza Abu Shahab, a man from eastern Khan Younis in southern Gaza, said he was waiting for tangible changes, such as easier access to food, fuel and medical care, rather than promises.

    “We were happy with this news, but we ask God that it is not just empty words,” he told the AP in Khan Younis. “We need this news to be real, because in the second phase we will be able to return to our homes and our areas … God willing, it won’t just be empty promises.”

    Gaza’s population of more than 2 million people has struggled to keep cold weather and storms at bay while facing shortages of humanitarian aid and a lack of more substantial temporary housing, which is badly needed during the winter months.

    This is the third winter since the war between Israel and Hamas started on Oct. 7, 2023, when militants stormed into southern Israel and killed around 1,200 people and abducted 251 others.

    Challenges lie ahead

    The second phase of the ceasefire will confront thornier issues than the first, including disarming Hamas and transitioning to a new governance structure after nearly two decades of the group’s rule in the strip.

    The U.N. has estimated reconstruction will cost over $50 billion. This process is expected to take years and little money has been pledged so far.

    Hamas has said it will dissolve its existing government to make way for the committee announced as part of the ceasefire’s second phase. But it has not made clear what will happen to its military arm or the scores of Hamas-affiliated civil servants and the civilian police.

    Bassem Naim, a member of the group’s political bureau, said Thursday that Hamas welcomed the announcement of the committee as a step toward establishing an independent Palestinian state, but did not elaborate on the issues in question. He said on X that “the ball is now in the court” of the United States and international mediators to allow it to operate.

    Israel has insisted Hamas must lay down its weapons, while the groups’ leaders have rejected calls to surrender despite two years of war, saying Palestinians have “the right to resist.”