Stranded seafarers endure costly path home from Gulf

Around 490 alleged members of the powerful Central American gang Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), including several alleged leaders, went on trial collectively in El Salvador on Monday, accused of thousands of murders.

The Attorney General's office and courts announced the start of the trial, part of iron-fisted President Nayib Bukele's anti-gang crackdown.

El Salvador is conducting mass trials of thousands of suspected gang members, many of which have spent years in prison without charge or visiting rights.

The Attorney General's office said 486 suspected MS-13 members were on trial for 47,000 crimes committed between 2012 and 2022, including 29,000 homicides.

The country's court system said that the trial included "members of the national leadership, street-level leaders, program coordinators from across the country, and founders of" MS-13.

Salvadoran authorities accuse the brutal group of a range of crimes, including the killing of 87 people in a single weekend in March 2022.

In the wake of those killings, President Nayib Bukele, a close ally of US President Donald Trump, declared a "war" on gangs, which he said controlled 80 percent of Salvadoran territory.

MS-13 is charged with the crime of rebellion "because they sought to...establish a parallel state," the Attorney General's office said.

Bukele in 2022 imposed a state of emergency, which has been used to arrest over 91,000 suspected gang members, including thousands of people who were later declared innocent.

The campaign, which made Bukele hugely popular, has resulted in a dramatic decrease in crime, turning El Salvador from one of Latin America's most dangerous countries to one of its safest.

However rights groups have denounced gross human rights abuses, including a complete lack of due process for the detainees, reports of torture and more than 500 deaths in prison.

- One conviction for all -

The fates of the detainees are now being decided in mass trials, with anonymous judges handing down one-size-fit-all punishments to large groups of defendants following the proceedings via video-link from prison.

MS-13 and the rival Barrio 18 gang operate drug trafficking rings and extortion rackets across Central America.

The Trump administration has declared the two groups -- among others -- as terrorist organizations, designations it has used in part to justify deadly military strikes on alleged drug-running boats.

The two gangs were born among Salvadoran youth on the streets of Los Angeles and then spread back to El Salvador, where they terrorized the population for more than three decades.

Bukele has accused them of murdering 200,000 people over three decades, of whom around 80,000 disappeared without trace.

State prosecutors said they had "ample evidence to request the maximum sentences" against the defendants, without specifying whether that mean life imprisonment.

At the opening of the trial, the judge stated that armed groups had disturbed "the peace of the Salvadoran population and the security of the state" for decades, and would be tried "with the full force of the law."

New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) and regional NGO Cristosal have criticized the mass trials, warning of the risk of innocent people being made to pay for the crimes of the guilty.

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(The Center Square) – The general leading President Donald Trump's ambitious Golden Dome missile shield said a key part of the program, with uncertain costs, could be scrapped in favor of lower-cost options as lawmakers turn their focus to the president's proposed $1.5 trillion Pentagon budget for 2027.

A recent hearing revealed the Golden Dome project's costs remain deeply uncertain over time. The administration's fiscal year budget seeks $17.5 billion for Golden Dome, but $17.1 billion of that hinges on a reconciliation package that may never pass, leaving the program's funding on shaky ground. About $398 million would come from the Pentagon's budget, while the White House is asking Republicans to pass the rest through the party-line reconciliation process.

Space Force Gen. Michael Guetlein said the missile shield's proposed space-based interceptors could be ditched if they aren't affordable. He said building and using armed satellites to shoot down enemy missiles early in flight may never be affordable.

"What we do not know today is 'Can I do it at scale and can I do it affordably?' That’s going to be the huge challenge for boost-phase intercept," he told the House Armed Services Strategic Forces subcommittee. "I will tell you because we are so focused on affordability. If we cannot do it affordably, we will not go into production."

Guetlein said it hasn't been well understood in the past.

"So if boost phase intercept from space is not affordable and scalable, we will not produce it because we have other options to get after it."

Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Scott DesJarlais, R-Tenn., noted nearly all of the Golden Dome funding depends on the reconciliation bill passing.

"Funding for both of these critical initiatives, interceptor procurement and Golden Dome, is part of the department's $350 billion mandatory spending request, which depends on the outcome of a broader political process that is less predictable," he noted

The missile shield will cost taxpayers billions of dollars. To date, the government appropriated about $22.9 billion for the project. Guetlein said the total cost of the Golden Dome through delivery in 2035 is estimated at about $185 billion. However, other estimates have put the costs much higher.

In May 2025, the Congressional Budget Office estimated costs could range from $161 billion to $542 billion, with lower launch costs, though original estimates put the upper range as high as $831 billion. Todd Harrison, of the American Enterprise Institute, noted the challenges in estimating, but concluded that a "system that protects against the full range of aerial threats posed by peer and near-peer adversaries could cost $3.6 trillion, and even then, it would fall short of the '100 percent' effectiveness" in a September 2025 working paper.

U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal, D-Calif., asked Guetlein about those studies.

"When we start talking about the different cost estimates, the first thing I always say is they're not estimating what I'm building. They are estimating the modernization or the continuation of the legacy systems that we already have, and they just take the cost of a legacy system, multiply it out, and they get these really large numbers," he said. "That's not what Golden Dome is doing. Golden Dome is doing business differently."

He added, "We are laser-focused on affordability. So the difference in the architectures is that they are just not estimating what I am building."

Guetlein said the project will be operational enough to protect the U.S. by the summer of 2028, before the end of Trump's second term in office.

Guetlein is the director of Golden Dome, reporting directly to the Deputy Secretary of War.

U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., raised questions about the feasibility of Trump's Golden Dome project.

"Mr. Trump's version of the Golden Dome is just not the truth," he said. "Experts from both sides of the aisle have admitted this, both from a technical and fiscal perspective. It's impossible to defend all of the United States from any kind of threat that could be launched at us."

While Moulton said he didn't like the Golden Dome, he insisted on the need for missile defense.

"I will certainly be an advocate for more missile defense on the homeland than we have today," he added.

Debate over the program's costs continues. On Tuesday morning, the Pentagon will hold a budget briefing, where the Department of War's acting comptroller and senior budget officials are expected to address questions about the fiscal 2027 spending request, with Golden Dome's funding in the spotlight. Additional briefings for the Army, Navy and Air Force are scheduled throughout the day.

US Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer is to leave her job, the White House said Monday, departing after a tenure beset by a series of scandals including complaints over the treatment of young female staffers.

Her exit caps weeks of speculation about her future and follows the ousting of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Attorney General Pam Bondi, within days of each other, as Trump's cabinet has become a revolving door for women in recent weeks.

"Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer will be leaving the Administration to take a position in the private sector," communications director Steven Cheung announced on X, praising the "phenomenal job" she had done in the role.

The former congresswoman was supported by more than a dozen Democrats in her confirmation but had recently been facing calls to resign over accusations that she, her aides and members of her family were routinely sending personal messages and requests to young staff members. 

The New York Times reported last week that she and a former deputy chief of staff sent texts asking employees to bring wine to them during trips for the department. 

Chavez-DeRemer's husband and father both also exchanged text messages with young female staff members, some of whom had been instructed by the labor secretary to "pay attention" to the men, the Times reported.

The messages were gathered as part of a probe of Chavez-DeRemer's leadership, launched in response to a complaint of widespread misconduct that revealed concerns among staff who described her as disconnected from the work of the department.

Four people have been forced out of her team as a result of the investigation, the Times reported, including her former chief of staff and deputy chief of staff, director of advance and a member of her security detail with whom she was accused of having an affair. 

Three staff members have filed civil rights complaints describing a hostile work environment, the Times reported.

In an April 2025 exchange reviewed by the paper, Chavez-DeRemer's father, Richard Chavez, wrote to a young female staff member: "Hearing u/r in town. Wishing you would let me know. I could have made some excuses to get out and show u around. Please keep this private."

Chavez-DeRemer, who served one term in the House as an Oregon representative, has not personally been accused of wrongdoing in the case involving her father and husband. 

But MS NOW reported that two complaints were filed by young female staffers alleging that Chavez-DeRemer’s husband, Shawn DeRemer, "subjected them to unwanted sexual touching late last year when they were working at US Department of Labor offices."

Cheung said Chavez-DeRemer's deputy Keith Sonderling would step up as acting labor secretary, but it was not clear who Trump has in mind as her permanent replacement.

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Apple on Monday announced that Tim Cook will step down as the tech giant's chief executive officer in September, handing the top job to company veteran John Ternus.

The announcement answers long-simmering questions about a successor for 65-year-old Cook, who said he will become executive chairman of the board when he cedes Apple's CEO position.

"It has been the greatest privilege of my life to be the CEO of Apple and to have been trusted to lead such an extraordinary company," Cook said in a statement.

Cook joined Apple in 1998, rising through the ranks and helping drive its success as chief operating officer coordinating the iPhone maker's complex supply chain.

He became chief executive in 2011 after its iconic co-founder and leader Steve Jobs left due to health issues.

Cook is credited with expanding Apple's product line and ramping up the company's value to some $4 trillion based on the value of its shares.

"Tim's unprecedented and outstanding leadership has transformed Apple into the world's best company," outgoing chairman of the board Arthur Levinson said in the statement.

"His integrity and values are infused into everything Apple does."

Levinson currently holds the board chairmanship in a non-executive role. He will become the board's lead independent director.

Ternus joined Apple's product design team in 2001 and became a senior vice president of hardware engineering over the course of the following two decades.

He is credited by Apple with playing roles in an array of products including iPhones, iPads, Apple Watch, and Mac computers.

"I am profoundly grateful for this opportunity to carry Apple's mission forward," Ternus said in the same statement.

"Having spent almost my entire career at Apple, I have been lucky to have worked under Steve Jobs and to have had Tim Cook as my mentor."

Apple marks its 50th anniversary this year as artificial intelligence challenges the Silicon Valley legend to prove it can deliver yet another culture-changing innovation.

Jobs, a driven marketing genius, and Steve Wozniak, who invented the Apple computer, revolutionized how people use technology in the internet age.

The two men -- both college dropouts -- changed the way people use computers, listen to music and communicate on the go, giving rise to lifestyles revolving around smartphone apps.

Apple's hit products — the Mac, the iPhone, the Apple Watch and the iPad — command a cult-like following, long after the company's humble beginnings on April 1, 1976 in Jobs's Cupertino, California garage.

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A Canadian woman was shot dead and five other people injured by a gunman on Monday at Mexico's famed Teotihuacan archaeological site, authorities said.

The gunman killed himself after opening fire at the popular tourist destination, home to pre-Aztecan pyramids, said Cristobal Castaneda, the security secretary for Mexico state, where the site is located.

Videos on social media showed the gunmen firing periodic shots from a pistol about halfway up the Pyramid of the Moon while some tourists take cover behind stairs below and others flee.

"A person is opening fire on us, take care friends, send security," a voice from one video, which AFP has not verified, can be heard saying. 

State authorities at the scene seized a firearm, knife, and unused ammunition and evacuated tourists from the premises.

Mexico's health institute reported that seven victims were receiving treatment in a nearby hospital for gunshot wounds, including one minor. 

Four were treated for gunshot wounds while others suffered an anxiety attack and injuries from falling down the pyramid's steep 47 step stairway.

The injured included two Colombians, another Canadian, and a Russian, according to Castaneda.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said in a statement on her X account that federal and state security forces were being deployed to the site and that her administration was in contact with the Canadian government.

"What happened today in Teotihuacan hurts us deeply. I express my sincerest solidarity to the people affected and their families," Sheinbaum wrote.

While Mexico continues to struggle with frequent drug gang-related violence, mass untargeted shootings are relatively rare, especially compared to the country's northern neighbor, the United States.

Local reporters shared videos of prosecutors and officials in forensic suits standing atop the pyramid in the now empty complex, cordoned off by crime scene tape.

The over 2,000-year old pyramid city is one of Mexico's most important archaeological sites as well as one of the most popular tourist sites near Mexico City.

The Secretary of Tourism said over 1.8 million people visited in 2025. 

Mexico City is preparing for a surge of foreign visitors in the leadup to the June World Cup, as the head tourism official estimated over 5.5 million people will visit in relation to the global tournament.

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(The Center Square) - U.S. Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer will leave the Trump administration, a White House official said Monday. 

DeRemer's exit follows two high-profile depatures in Attorney General Pam Bondi and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. Chavez-DeRemer has been embroiled in controversy after allegations of having an affair with a subordinate surfaced over the past several months. 

"She has done a phenomenal job in her role by protecting American workers, enacting fair labor practices, and helping Americans gain additional skills to improve their lives," said Steven Cheung, director of communications at the White House. 

Chavez-DeRemer faced accusations of an affair with a subordinate. Her husband also came under investigation by the department amid sexual assault allegations and was barred from the Labor Department building. 

Chavez-DeRemer has been under investigation by the Department of Labor's inspector general due to various accusations. Several top members of DeRemer's staff have left their posts since the investigation began.

Keith Sonderling, current deputy secretary of the Department of Labor, will take over as the interim head of the agency. During his confirmation hearing last year, Sonderling expressed support for implementing artificial intelligence into processes throughout the federal workforce. 

“We are not going to be able to succeed as a global leader in AI without making sure that the products are developed, designed, and deployed in accordance with the laws that Congress have passed,” Sonderling said.

Cheung said Chavez-DeRemer would take on a position in the private sector. He did not specify when her tenure would end. 

Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green said Monday he believes Steve Kerr may not return as coach of the franchise next season following his team's exit from the NBA play-in tournament.

Speaking on his podcast, 'The Draymond Green Show', Green said that while he wanted Kerr to continue, he suspected the 60-year-old would bring the curtain down on his 12-season coaching career with the Warriors.

"I hope he's our coach next season," Green  said. "You want my opinion? I think not. Just because it feels like that. It felt like that was it."

Kerr shared an emotional moment with Green and Warriors ace Stephen Curry immediately after the team were eliminated from the postseason in a 111-96 loss to Phoenix on Friday.

"These jobs all have an expiration date," Kerr said afterwards, before adding that he would take some time to ponder his future.

"It may still go on. It may not," Kerr said. "But we all need to step away a little bit and then reconvene."

Kerr has overseen a dynastic era during his reign at Golden State, overseeing four NBA championships in 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2022.

While Kerr has left the door open to a return next season, courtside microphones caught him telling Green and Curry during their huddle on Friday: "I don't know what's going to happen next, but I love you guys to death. Thank you."

Curry said he didn't know if it was a precursor to an official goodbye.

"I don't know if that's a signal of anything," Curry said. "It's just that we wanted to appreciate what we have all poured into this journey."

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Afro-Colombian woman Yuvelis Morales, a 25-year-old who has spent most of her adult life working to block the world's biggest oil companies from exploiting fragile ecosystems, won the environmental equivalent of a Nobel prize on Monday.

Morales spoke to AFP about standing up to such multinationals, protecting natural resources in her native Colombia during what she called "the beginning of the end" of the fossil fuel era, and facing the fear of death threats.

Born to a fishing family in the world's deadliest country for environmentalists, the recipient of this year's Goldman Environmental Prize began her activism at age 18.

She grew up on the banks of the Magdalena River, near Colombia's largest oil refinery, in a sweltering region long shaped by oil, conflict and poverty.

Successive Colombian governments have eyed fracking projects in the area, hoping to bring revenue and jobs.

But worried that fracking would threaten water supplies and local livelihoods, Morales organized protests.

Under the slogan "No to fracking," her campaign drew local support -- and national attention.

That pressure helped stop pilot projects backed by state oil company Ecopetrol and US energy giant ExxonMobil.

Morales said she was proud to receive the Goldman prize, often described as the "Green Nobel," alongside five other activists.

But speaking from the US state of California, Morales acknowledges her work has come at a cost.

In 2022, armed men came to her home to issue a warning.

Colombia is the deadliest country in the world for environmental defenders, with nearly 150 murdered in 2024 alone, according to Global Witness.

After receiving repeated threats, Morales decided to leave Colombia and sought asylum in France.

She spent several months in exile and prefers not to speak in detail about that period.

- Fighting fear -

Fear "will always be present because of the anxiety that comes with defending territory," Morales told AFP.

"You decide what to do with that fear," she said. "Whether it immobilizes us, or instead we denounce and shout to the world what is happening."

Morales said her opposition to projects that threaten the Magdalena is "non-negotiable."

The river, Colombia's longest, stretches about 1,540 kilometers (957 miles) and supports fishing, farming and transport across much of the country.

It is home to many Afro-Colombians, who make up about a tenth of Colombia's population.

Many live in poor, rural regions rich in oil and minerals, where communities have long borne the brunt of violence, exclusion and environmental damage.

Fracking, she said, "destroys community harmony, ends agricultural livelihoods, and displaces not only people but also fauna and flora."

But the activist said she is already focused on the next fight.

Her award comes as Colombia hosts a global summit on ending fossil fuels this week in Santa Marta, a city on the Caribbean coast.

Morales said she believes the moment marks "the beginning of the end of the era and expansion of fossil fuels" in Colombia.

President Gustavo Petro has halted new fracking contracts, though efforts to ban the practice in law have stalled in Congress.

"Petro can't finish his term" in August "without a ban on fracking," she insisted.  

Morales compares the work of environmental defenders to a "shield."

"I will keep shouting to the world," she said. "We must live in our territories and never give them up."

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More than 200 tourists were trapped Monday atop an iconic hill overlooking Rio de Janeiro after a gunfight broke out between police and drug gangs in a nearby favela, authorities and a tour operator said.

Visitors were stranded for about two hours on Morro Dois Irmaos -- or Two Brothers Hill -- while fighting raged on a hillside below them between police and members of Comando Vermelho, one of Brazil's largest criminal groups.

The hilltop, which overlooks Ipanema and Leblon beaches from its 533-meter (1,750-feet) height, is one of the city's most famous viewpoints and attracts thousands of visitors each week. 

"There were more than 200 people taking the tour this morning. Seventy percent were foreign tourists," Renan Monteiro, from the tour operator Favela Turismo, told AFP.

Monteiro lamented that news of such gun battles would hurt tourism.

Police said in a statement that when officers arrived at the Vidigal favela, drug traffickers opened fire.

The tourists descended the hill after receiving the green light from the police. The operation resulted in the arrest of three people and no injuries.

Rio received more than 2.1 million international visitors in 2025, a record.

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(The Center Square) - California Attorney General Rob Bonta has announced an unredacted version of his motion for a preliminary injunction against Amazon.

In 2022, the Office of the Attorney General announced a lawsuit against the company for “stifling competition and causing increased prices.” Earlier this year, Bonta filed a preliminary injunction to immediately stop Amazon from engaging in illegal price fixing.

During a livestream announcement Monday, Bonta said Amazon has “strong-armed vendors” into raising prices elsewhere or pulling products from competing retailers altogether so that Amazon can protect its profit margins.

“That's not competition,” said Bonta. “It's price fixing, and under California law, it's illegal.”

The Center Square reached out Monday to Amazon, which is based in Seattle, and other retailers mentioned by Bonta, but did not get a response by press time.

According to Bonta, the newly announced version of his filing paints a clear and disturbing picture.

“Amazon has been coordinating with vendors and major retailers, including Target, Walmart, Chewy, Best Buy and Home Depot, to raise prices across the market,” said Bonta. “This is about protecting Californians from paying more than they should for everyday products, especially at a time when affordability feels farther out of reach. It's about making sure prices are set by real competition, not behind-the-scenes pressure from Amazon.”

Bonta stressed that the prices were not suggestions from Amazon, rather “directives often backed by threats of penalties” if vendors failed to comply.

“Amazon used vendors as the middleman,” directing them to contact retailers and push for price increases so Amazon wouldn't have to compete, Bonta said.

These are “concrete” examples of “a widespread scheme” going back years and involving different product categories, the attorney general told reporters.

“That's why we're asking the court to immediately stop these practices while our case proceeds,” said Bonta. “Specifically, we're asking the court to prohibit Amazon from agreeing with vendors or competing retailers to fix or raise prices, using vendors as intermediaries to coordinate pricing, communicating with vendors in ways that facilitate price coordination, and demanding payments tied to price matching.”

OAG has also requested an independent monitor to ensure compliance.

“Notably, the court has already denied Amazon's motion for summary judgment on a key cross-claim, a significant setback for Amazon's attempt to avoid being held accountable,” said Bonta.

Near the end of his announcement, Bonta said OAG is not asking Amazon to change its business model. Instead, OAG is asking Amazon to follow the law. That includes California’s Cartwright Act, which makes price fixing illegal.

“Courts have long held that prices must be determined by supply and demand, by market forces, not by agreements orchestrated by a dominant company like Amazon,” said Bonta. “When a company pressures vendors to raise prices elsewhere or withdraw products to protect its own profits, it interferes directly with the competitive process.”

That, said Bonta, takes money out of the pockets of California families every single day on common household items such as diapers, clothing and furniture.

Estimates vary on how many U.S. homes have an Amazon Prime membership. Bonta put that figure at nearly 80 million. Capitol One Shopping puts it at just over 88 million. Snopes.com puts it around 147 million. Whatever the number is, Bonta said 92% of consumers say they’re more likely to buy from Amazon than any other site.

“So when prices are manipulated, there are real consequences for working families,” said Bonta. “The evidence shows coordinated efforts to stabilize or increase prices, harming consumers and distorting the marketplace.”