Chile hosts a time-travel-themed zombie walk featuring costumes inspired by monsters and bygone eras; Bolsonaro and Lula intensify their campaigns in the final week before Brazil’s presidential runoff; and a prominent Guatemalan anti-corruption lawyer is assassinated on a soccer field in Guatemala City.
Chile hosts a time-travel-themed zombie walk featuring costumes inspired by monsters and bygone eras; Bolsonaro and Lula intensify their campaigns in the final week before Brazil’s presidential runoff; and a prominent Guatemalan anti-corruption lawyer is assassinated on a soccer field in Guatemala City.
Iran-backed Houthi rebels strike a residential area in Yemen’s third-largest city, the annual olive harvest takes place in the occupied West Bank, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu campaigns for reelection.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia state Sen. L. Louise Lucas, one of the state’s most powerful Democrats, was charged on Thursday in connection with what federal authorities alleged was a role leading a criminal enterprise that acquired and distributed large quantities of marijuana and laundered the proceeds.
An indictment unsealed on Thursday charged Lucas and six other defendants, including several of her relatives, the Department of Justice said in a statement ahead of a scheduled news conference. Lucas surrendered, a Justice Department spokesperson said.
The charges, including drug trafficking and money laundering, came after the FBI searched Lucas’ hometown office and a cannabis shop in which she has a stake in May. At the time of the search, Lucas — who has been a vocal critic of President Donald Trump’s administration — characterized it as an attempt to intimidate her.
“This is the circus we always expected it to be, and we will wait for further details to have a more specific response,” said Brian Woolfolk, chief counsel for the L. Louise Lucas Legal Defense Fund.
In a statement on social media about the charges, Lucas said: “Today, the FBI, the Department of Justice, and the full weight of the federal government have been wielded against an 82-year-old great-grandmother. I grew up under Jim Crow. I’ve seen what happens when people in power try to silence those who stand up to them. I spent my life fighting back, and I’m not stopping now.”
Luca has spent decades ascending the ranks of Virginia politics and has served since 1992 in the state Senate, where she is the president pro tempore, overseeing the chamber in the lieutenant governor’s absence. More significantly, she leads the powerful Senate finance committee, through which all legislation with any budget impact must flow. She has used the position to stop and ultimately kill legislation she opposes.
FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement that the charges allege “Lucas and a close-knit group of family members and associates orchestrated a multi-year scheme to enrich their own criminal marijuana enterprise, ‘the Lucas Enterprise’ — using Lucas’ position as Chairwoman of the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee to insulate the enterprise from criminal scrutiny and influencing legislation to financially benefit themselves.”
“No one is above the law,” the statement said, “and this FBI will continue to follow the facts with our Justice Department and ensure those responsible for criminal conduct are held accountable.”
Lucas has been a leading voice in Democrats’ ultimately failed attempt to redistrict the state’s congressional map this year, a bid to hedge against Republican efforts in other states to redraw maps for their advantage in midterm elections.
A forceful advocate of legalizing marijuana, Lucas partnered in opening the shop, The Cannabis Outlet, in Portsmouth, Virginia, in 2021, selling hemp and CBD products. While marijuana is legal to possess in Virginia, recreational retail sales of the drug are not yet underway, though shops across the state do sell other cannabis-derived products.
Lucas also runs a network of companies that provide residential, transportation and other services to adults with intellectual disabilities.
Court records related to the case for months have been sealed, though earlier this year the Department of Justice sent at least two rounds of letters notifying journalists, politicians and others in Lucas’ orbit that their communications with Lucas had been intercepted as part of a court-approved wiretap that ran for two one-month time spans.
At the time of the search, many Democrats spoke up to defend Lucas, expressing skepticism about the basis for the search, given the Justice Department’s efforts to establish criminal conduct by perceived Trump opponents.
Lucas has publicly spoken about her ownership stake in the cannabis shop as recently as June, though her most recent financial disclosure forms do not list the business by name.
Lucas amassed a six-figure following on X, using the social media platform to advocate forcefully for her priorities and to bash her critics, including former GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin. She’s also occasionally blasted members of her own party, including Gov. Abigail Spanberger, with whom she’s had disagreements.
BRUSSELS (AP) — The International Criminal Court and its embattled staff have won the European Union’s top human rights honor, the Sakharov Prize, an official said Thursday.
The award came just days after the Trump administration announced sweeping new sanctions on the court, which is based in The Hague, Netherlands, as part of its campaign to dismantle the tribunal over investigations into the United States and its allies, including Israel.
“The European Union is built on respect for multilateralism and international institutions, and this prize recognizes the important work of the court in upholding international law and justice,” European Parliament President Roberta Metsola said.
Her announcement at the parliament in Strasbourg, France, was greeted with a standing ovation.
The annual EU award, named after Soviet dissident and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Andrei Sakharov, was created in 1988 to honor individuals or groups who defend human rights and basic freedoms.
A court under fire welcomes the award
ICC President Tomoko Akane of Japan welcomed the award, saying that it “comes at a time when the court and its officials face unprecedented challenges.”
“Against this backdrop, the Sakharov Prize carries particular significance, reaffirming the importance of independent judicial institutions and of those who work to uphold international law,” she said in a statement.
The ICC opened in 2002 as a court of last resort to prosecute senior leaders it deems responsible for crimes that, according to its founding treaty, “deeply shock the conscience of humanity.” It has jurisdiction over war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and the crime of aggression.
The Trump administration’s sanctions cut off the court from U.S.-based financial services, technology companies, and even the use of U.S. dollars. They set a six-month timeline for U.S. companies and individuals that have business with the court to wind that business down.
The EU considers options to respond
In a statement after their summit last week, EU leaders said that the 27-nation bloc “deeply regrets” the Trump administration’s sanctions move and “urges the United States to reverse these latest measures.”
They noted that the U.S. has delayed the full impact of the sanctions by six months, and that “this creates space for diplomacy,” and expressed hope that the measures can ultimately be reversed.
Should diplomacy fail, however, the leaders insisted on “the EU’s readiness to take all necessary measures.”
They tasked the European Commission “to take all appropriate initiatives” to help protect the ICC and mitigate the impact of the sanctions, “specifically towards EU companies so that they can continue providing services to the Court.”
One possible retaliatory measure is the EU “blocking statute,” which could be used to protect European court staff, and possibly the Dutch-based court itself, by preventing European companies from complying with the U.S. measures.
An award for when rights and justice come under attack
The ICC and its officials were nominated for the prize by the Socialist and Democrats group in the European Parliament. The group, which unites center-left parties across Europe, said that it was “proud to have put forward their candidacy at a time when international justice is under attack.”
The Sakharov winner is chosen by the European Parliament’s president and top EU lawmakers from among candidates nominated by the parliament’s various political groups. The assembly says the award is “the highest tribute paid by the European Union to human rights work.”
Imprisoned Tanzanian opposition leader Tundu Lissu and Taraneh and Romina Rahimi — twins being held in prison for taking part in demonstrations against the Iranian government — were the others to make the EU shortlist.
Last year’s prize went to journalists Andrzej Poczobut and Mzia Amaghlobeli, who were imprisoned in Belarus and Georgia, respectively. Metsola said at the time that “their courage has made them symbols of the struggle for freedom and democracy.”
Several Sakharov laureates, including Nelson Mandela, Malala Yousafzai, Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad, went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize. Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, who won the Nobel Peace Prize last year, picked up the Sakharov Prize in 2024.
El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele said Wednesday he had launched a military operation to rescue four Salvadoran aviation technicians kidnapped by gangs in Haiti.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian attacks on Ukraine’s capital with ballistic missiles and drones overnight into Thursday killed one person and wounded 22, Ukrainian authorities said. The strikes in Kyiv came hours after the Kremlin agreed to restart U.S.-brokered talks aimed at ending the war.
The attack damaged homes, transportation infrastructure and other civilian sites in several districts of the city, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said. In the Dniprovskyi district, on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River, one person was killed and six were wounded, including a child, as fires broke out.
On Wednesday, Kremlin foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov said that Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed “in principle” to resume three-way negotiations involving Russia, the United States and Ukraine after Nov. 10, a week after the U.S. midterm election. Putin had met with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff in St. Petersburg.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy backed the push for new talks, but was cautious.
“We’ll see what happens this time,” he said shortly before missile alerts sounded over Kyiv.
Iran's state television has reported that seven oil tankers caught fire and were damaged overnight after either being targeted or striking naval mines in the Strait of Hormuz
North Korea plans to resume anti-Seoul propaganda broadcasts along the heavily armed border with South Korea, leader Kim Jong Un's sister said, reviving a psychological warfare campaign.
North Korea plans to resume anti-Seoul propaganda broadcasts along the heavily armed border with South Korea, leader Kim Jong Un's sister said, reviving a psychological warfare campaign.
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