#FBI fires agent trainee who displayed Pride flag, sources say.

FBI Director Kash Patel has fired a longtime bureau employee who displayed a Pride flag in his workspace during a past assignment, according to multiple people familiar with the termination.

The employee was undergoing new agent training at the FBI’s academy in Quantico, Virginia, when he received a letter from Patel ordering his immediate dismissal.

In a previous non-agent role with the FBI, the employee, who received multiple awards for service during his career, had also been a field office diversity program coordinator and displayed a Pride flag at his workstation, sources said.

In notifying the individual of their dismissal, Patel did not specifically mention the Pride flag by name, but said the agent trainee was being summarily dismissed for past “poor judgment” and “an inappropriate display of political signage,” sources said.

Two FBI veterans told CNN displaying the flag at one’s desk historically would not violate any past FBI policy. However, since taking office, President Donald Trump has vowed to rid the federal government of what he calls “woke” ideology.

The FBI didn’t immediately return a request for comment from CNN.

The firing comes less than a week since Patel fired over a dozen other FBI employees who took a knee while conducting crowd control in 2020 after being confronted by a group of demonstrators in the nation’s capital. The act of taking a knee, which appeared to de-escalate the situation, drew sharp criticism from some conservatives, including people inside the FBI. Previous FBI Director Christopher Wray concluded that it did not violate bureau policy.

Since assuming office, Patel has fired or forced the resignation of numerous FBI personnel, including three senior executives who filed a lawsuit claiming their terminations were driven by the White House at the urging of Trump’s political allies.

By Josh Campbell, Jamie Gangel, CNN

#Trump ally threatens immigration sweep at Bad Bunny Super Bowl show.

U.S. authorities could conduct immigration sweeps at next year’s Super Bowl, a Trump administration official has warned, following the announcement that Puerto Rican megastar Bad Bunny will headline the halftime show.

“There is nowhere that you can provide safe haven to people who are in this country illegally, not the Super Bowl and nowhere else,” said Corey Lewandowski, an advisor to Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem.

“We will find you. We will apprehend you. We will put you in a detention facility, and we will deport you,” he added in a podcast Wednesday with conservative influencer Benny Johnson.

U.S. President Donald Trump began his immigration crackdown after returning to power in January, vowing to deport millions of undocumented people living in the U.S.

Bad Bunny recently said his worldwide tour was skipping the United States over fears that immigration officials would target his concerts.

“If there are illegal aliens, I don’t care if it’s a concert for Johnny Smith or Bad Bunny or anybody else, we’re going to do enforcement everywhere, because we’re going to make Americans safe,” said Lewandowski.

Like many other Trump officials, Lewandowski criticized the NFL as “woke” for choosing Bad Bunny to headline the halftime show of the American football showpiece next February - with the performance routinely drawing audiences of more than 100 million viewers.

“It’s so shameful that they’ve decided to pick somebody who just seems to hate America so much,” he said.

Super Bowl halftime shows have traditionally attracted the biggest names in music, with past performers including Michael Jackson, the Rolling Stones and Madonna.

Trump’s loyal Make America Great Again movement is particularly furious about Bad Bunny’s selection for 2026 given that he almost exclusively performs in Spanish.

Bad Bunny is also out of favor as he supported Trump’s presidential rival Kamala Harris in the 2024 election.

Activists aboard a Gaza-bound aid flotilla said Israeli warships surrounded several of its boats on Wednesday and that the interception of the main vessels was under way.

Kilauea’s lava soared as high as a skyscraper during a 6-hour eruption. Here’s what to know.

On Wednesday, the volcano had its 34th episode since December. Scientists believe they are all part of the same eruption because magma has been following the same pathway to the surface.

Fountains from the south vent at Kilauea’s summit crater soared 1,300 feet (400 metres) into the air, the U.S. Geological Survey said. That is taller than New York’s Empire State Building which is more than 100 stories.

The eruption died down after six hours.

The lava has been contained within the summit crater inside Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and hasn’t threatened homes or buildings. It isn’t expected to affect local commercial airports.

Park visitors can see the eruption in person. Others can watch popular livestreams offering a choice of three different camera angles made possible by U.S. government geologists.

Kilauea is on Hawaii Island, the largest of the Hawaiian archipelago. It is about 200 miles (320 kilometres) south of the state’s largest city, Honolulu, which is on Oahu.

Here’s what to know about the latest eruption at Kilauea, one of the world’s most active volcanoes:
Fountains of molten rock

A lower magma chamber under Halemaumau Crater has been receiving magma directly from the earth’s interior at about 5 cubic yards (3.8 cubic meters) per second, said Ken Hon, scientist-in-charge at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. This blows the chamber up like a balloon and forces magma into an upper chamber. From there it gets pushed above ground through cracks.

Many of the eruptive episodes since December have featured lava flying high into the air. In some cases, the lava formed towers topping 1,000 feet (300 metres.) The fountains are generated in part because magma -- which holds gases that are released as it rises -- has been traveling to the surface through narrow, pipelike vents.

The expanding magma supply is capped by heavier magma that had expelled its gas at the end of the prior episode. Eventually enough new magma accumulates to force the degassed magma off, and the magma shoots out like a Champagne bottle that was shaken before the cork was popped.

This is the fourth time in 200 years that Kilauea has shot lava fountains into the air in repeated episodes. There were more episodes the last time Kilauea followed this pattern: The eruption that began in 1983 started with 44 sessions of shooting fountains. Those were spread out over three years, however. And the fountains emerged in a remote area, so few got to watch.

The other two occurred in 1959 and 1969.
Predicting Kilauea’s future

Scientists don’t know how the current eruption will end or how it may change. In 1983, magma built enough pressure that Kilauea opened a vent at a lower elevation and started continuously leaking lava from there rather than periodically shooting out from a higher elevation. The eruption continued in various forms for three decades and ended in 2018.

Something similar could happen again. Or the current eruption could instead stop at the summit if its magma supply peters out.

Scientists can estimate when lava is likely to emerge days ahead of time by using sensors that indicate when magma is inflating or deflating.

“Our job is like being a bunch of ants crawling on an elephant trying to figure out how the elephant works,” Hon said.

At times the lava fountains have been shorter. Steve Lundblad, a University of Hawaii at Hilo geology professor, said the vent may have gotten wider in such cases, leaving molten rock less pressurized.
Carrying stories of Pele

Some people may see lava flows as destructive. But Huihui Kanahele-Mossman, the executive director of the Edith Kanakaʻole Foundation, said lava is a natural resource that hardens into land and forms the foundation for everything on Hawaii Island.

Kanahele-Mossman’s nonprofit is named after her grandmother -- the esteemed practitioner of Hawaiian language and culture. The foundation’s hula halau, or school, is celebrated for its mastery of a style of hula rooted in the stories of Pele and her sister, Hiʻiaka.

Kanahele-Mossman has visited the crater a few times since the eruption began. She initially watches in awe and reverence. But then she observes more details so she can go home and compare it to the lava in the centuries-old tales that her school performs. While at the crater, she also delivers a chant prepared in advance and places offerings. Recently she presented awa, a drink made with kava, and a fern lei.

“You as the dancer, you are the storyteller and you carry that history that was written in those mele forward,” she said, using the Hawaiian word for song. “To be able to actually see that eruption that’s described in the mele, that’s always exciting to us and drives us and motivates us to stay in this tradition.”
Visiting the volcano

Park visitation has been increasing since the eruption began. In April, there were 49% more visitors than the same month of 2024.

Park spokesperson Jessica Ferracane said those wanting to see the lava in person should sign up for U.S. Geological Survey alert notifications because the eruption could be over quickly, she said. Most episodes since December have lasted a day or less.

She cautioned that visitors should stay on marked trails and overlooks because unstable cliff edges and cracks in the earth may not be immediately apparent, and falling could lead to serious injury or death. Young children should be kept close to adults.

Volcanic gas, glass and ash can also be dangerous. Nighttime visitors should bring a flashlight.

Audrey Mcavoy, The Associated Press

Colombia gives chunk of Pablo Escobar’s ranch to conflict victims.

Escobar, once head of the powerful Medellin Cartel, was one of the richest men on the planet in the late 1980s, with Forbes magazine estimating his fortune at US$25 billion.

His lavish 4,000-hectare Hacienda Napoles estate in northwest Antioquia department, which he filled with exotic animals, including hippos, became a symbol of his power and wealth.

After he was shot dead by police in 1993, the state took over the estate and leased it to local authorities, who turned it into a successful theme park, complete with a hotel and zoo.

Petro said that part of the estate had now been handed over to victims of Colombia’s more-than-six-decade armed conflict between left-wing guerrillas, drug cartels, right-wing paramilitaries and the state.

“We have begun to recover the Napoles estate for the victims,” Petro wrote on X.

The government said that 120 hectares (297 acres) of land had been given to local women farmers.

The women received a loan of the land from the local Puerto Triunfo municipality in 2017, but according to the national government, were later evicted by the police.

“I feel very happy because today there are women who have hope, who have land for life,” Millinery Correa, one of the beneficiaries, said in a video shared by the state-run National Land Agency.

Land ownership has been a key driver of Colombia’s conflict.

In May, Petro had asked that Escobar’s estate be included in a land reform program, under which thousands of hectares of land, including some properties previously owned by drug traffickers, be given to rural Colombians.

Tourism companies operating at Hacienda Napoles had protested the plan to break up the estate, pointing to its role in attracting tourists to the region.

Hacienda Napoles is famous for the replica plane that he mounted over the entrance gate -- an emblem, since removed, of the planeloads of drugs he smuggled into the United States -- as well as its hippo population.

Escobar brought a small number of the African beasts to Colombia in the late 1980s.

After his death the animals were left to roam freely beyond the estate’s boundaries and to multiply. They now number around 150.

Colombia has declared them an invasive species and made plans to transfer 70 of them to overseas sanctuaries.

A Gaza-bound aid flotilla is currently sailing toward the enclave, entering a high-risk zone where previous missions have faced attacks and interceptions.

Family says a Mexican man shot at a Dallas ICE facility has died, becoming attack’s second victim.

The family of Miguel Ángel García-Hernández, 32, said he died after being removed from life support, according to a statement provided through the League of United Latin American Citizens, a civil rights organization.

Authorities have said the gunman in the Sept. 24 attack, Joshua Jahn, 29, fired indiscriminately from a nearby roof onto the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility and a van holding detainees in a gated area. Authorities have said Jahn hated the U.S. government and wanted to incite terror by killing federal agents.

No ICE personnel were hurt in the shooting, and Jahn fatally shot himself following the assault.

Norlan Guzman-Fuentes, 37, a detainee from El Salvador, was also killed.

The attack happened as heightened immigration enforcement has generated backlash against ICE agents and stirred fear in immigrant communities across the country.

Stephany Gauffeny, García-Hernández’s wife, said in the statement that her husband, “was a good man, a loving father, and the provider for our family.”

“We had just bought our first home together, and he worked hard every single day to make sure our children had what they needed,” she said. ”His death is a senseless tragedy that has left our family shattered. I do not know how to explain to our children that their father is gone.”

Gauffeny is expecting their fifth child, LULAC said.

Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum said Tuesday that her administration helped García-Hernández’s mother with the necessary paperwork to allow her to travel to Dallas.

Sheinbaum also said her government asked U.S. authorities for an investigation and that Mexico would get involved if there was any kind of violation of García-Hernández’s rights.

Following ICE procedures, the detainees were restrained inside the van, an ICE official said, adding that federal agents ran into gunfire to remove them and render aid.

___

Sarah Brumfield in Cockeysville, Maryland, and María Verza in Mexico City contributed to this report.

By Jamie Stengle

Nepal chooses a 2-year-old girl as new living goddess worshipped by both Hindus and #Buddhists.

Aryatara Shakya, at 2 years and 8 months, was chosen as the new Kumari or “virgin goddess,” replacing the incumbent who is considered by tradition to become a mere mortal upon reaching puberty.

Kumaris are chosen from the Shakya clans of the Newar community, indigenous to the Kathmandu valley, and revered by both Hindus and Buddhists in the predominantly Hindu nation.

The girls are selected between the ages of 2 and 4 and are required to have unblemished skin, hair, eyes and teeth. They should not be afraid of the dark.

During the Indra Jatra festival earlier this month, the former Kumari was wheeled around on a chariot pulled by devotees. The Kumari always wears red, pins up her hair in topknots and has a “third eye” painted on their forehead.

The weeklong Indra Jatra festival was the first of a series of celebrations including Dashain, the main festival, and Tihar or Diwali, the festival of lights, in October.

Tuesday marked the eighth day of Dashain, a 15-day celebration of the victory of good over evil. Offices and schools were closed as people celebrated with their families.

Family, friends and devotees paraded the new Kumari through the streets of Kathmandu before entering the temple palace which will be her home for several years.

Devotees lined up to touch the girls’ feet with their foreheads, the highest sign of respect among Hindus in the Himalayan nation, and offered her flowers and money. The new Kumari will bless devotees including the president on Thursday.

“She was just my daughter yesterday, but today she is a goddess,” said her father Ananta Shakya.

He said there were already signs she would be the goddess before her birth.

“My wife during pregnancy dreamed that she was a goddess and we knew she was going to be someone very special,” he said.

The former Kumari Trishna Shakya, now aged 11 years old, left from a rear entrance on a palanquin carried by her family and supporters. She became the living goddess in 2017.

Families of the Shakya clan who qualify for this prestigious seat compete to have their daughters selected. The family of the Kumari gains an elevated position in society and within their own clan.

But Kumaris live a sequestered life. They have few selected playmates and are allowed outside only a few times a year for festivals.

Former Kumaris face difficulties adjusting to normal life, learning to do chores and attending regular schools. According to Nepalese folklore, men who marry a former Kumari will die young, and so many girls remain unmarried.

Over the past few years, there have been many changes in tradition and the Kumari is now allowed to receive an education from private tutors inside the temple palace and even have a television set.

The government also now offers retired Kumaris a small monthly pension of about $110 which is slightly above the minimum wage fixed by the government.

Binaj Gurubacharya, The Associated Press

#Congo military court sentences former President Kabila to death for treason.

KINSHASA, Congo — A high military court in Congo convicted former President Joseph Kabila of treason and war crimes Tuesday on accusations of collaborating with anti-government rebels and sentenced him to death.

It was not immediately clear how the sentence could be carried out because the whereabouts of Kabila, who has been on trial in absentia since July, have been unknown since he last was seen in public in a rebel-held city earlier this year. Kabila’s political party called the verdict politically motivated.

The court in Kinshasa ordered his immediate arrest.

The government said Kabila collaborated with Rwanda and the Rwanda-backed rebel group M23, which seized key cities in a lightning assault in January in Congo’s mineral-rich east.

Kabila has denied the allegations, though he expressed support for the rebels’ campaign in an op-ed published in February in the South African newspaper Sunday Times.

The high military court in Kinshasa ruled Tuesday that Kabila was guilty of treason, war crimes, conspiracy and organizing an insurrection together with the M23. It also ordered Kabila to pay US$29 billion in damages to Congo, as well as $2 billion to the country’s province of North Kivu and $2 billion to South Kivu.

The court said prosecutors presented testimony implicating Kabila from Eric Nkuba, the imprisoned former chief of staff of rebel leader Corneille Nangaa. Nkuba was convicted on rebellion charges in August 2024.

The court cited Nkuba as saying that Kabila regularly communicated with Nangaa by phone about how to overthrow the government of current President Felix Tshisekedi.

The head of Kabila’s People’s Party for Reconstruction and Democracy called the verdict “a political, unfair decision.”

“We believe that the clear intention of the dictatorship in power is to eliminate, to neutralize, a major political actor,” the party’s permanent secretary, Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary, said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Richard Bondo, a lawyer who represented the provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu, said he was “satisfied” with the court’s decision. “Justice rendered in the name of the Congolese people gives satisfaction to its people,” he added.

Kabila led Congo from 2001 to 2019. He took office at the age of 29 -- after his father and former President Laurent Kabila was assassinated -- and extended his mandate by delaying elections for two years after his term ended in 2017. His candidate lost in December 2018 to Kabila’s long-term political rival, Tshisekedi, who has ruled the country since 2019.

In May, the country’s Senate voted to repeal Kabila’s immunity from prosecution, a move Kabila denounced at the time as dictatorial.

Kabila had lived outside of Congo in self-imposed exile but returned in April to Goma, one of the cities held by the rebel group. His current location is unknown.

Congo’s decades-long conflict escalated in January, when the M23 rebels advanced and seized the strategic city of #Goma, followed by the town of #Bukavu, which they took in February. The fighting has killed some 3,000 people and worsened what was already one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises, with around 7 million people displaced.

By Saleh Mwanamilongo.

Pope Leo criticizes ‘inhuman’ treatment of immigrants in U.S.

“Someone who says I am against abortion but I am in agreement with the inhuman treatment of immigrants in the United States, I don’t know if that’s pro-life,” the pontiff told journalists outside his residence in Castel Gandolfo.

The Catholic Church’s position that life is sacred from conception until natural death is one of the 1.4-billion-member denomination’s strongest teachings.

Leo, the first U.S. pope, was responding to a question from a U.S. journalist who asked about the country’s politics.

The White House said Trump was elected based on his many promises, including to deport criminal illegal aliens. “He is keeping his promise to the American people,” spokesperson Abigail Jackson responded in a statement.

Elected in May to replace the late Pope Francis, Leo has shown a much more reserved style than his predecessor, who frequently criticized the Trump administration.

Leo was asked about a decision by the archdiocese of Chicago to give an award to Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, a Democrat who supports abortion rights. The move has attracted vocal criticism from conservative Catholics, including several U.S. bishops.

“It is very important to look at the overall work that the Senator has done,” said the pope.

“I understand the difficulty and the tensions but I think, as I myself have spoken in the past, it’s important to look at many issues that are related to what is the teaching of the Church,” he said.

“Someone who says I am against abortion but says I am in favor of the death penalty is not really pro-life,” said the pope.

Reporting by Joshua McElwee; Editing by Richard Chang and Lincoln Feast.