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The latest crime thriller gripping New York is the alleged kidnapping of a wealthy Italian man whose captors attempted to torture the crypto millionaire into giving up his bitcoin password.It began amid the backdrop of wild parties, immortalized in pop culture through films like “The Wolf of Wall Street,” in a posh Manhattan nightclub where the nouveau riche and flashy Wall Street bros congregate.It ended on the morning of May 23, when a man ran to a police officer near Mulberry and Prince streets in the Soho district of Manhattan.The barefoot man claimed he had just escaped a luxurious apartment where he was held captive for 17 days after entering the United States.  Police arrived at the scene and arrested John Woeltz, 37, dubbed “the crypto king of Kentucky” by tabloids, who is facing charges of kidnapping, criminal possession of weapons, assault and unlawful imprisonment. Woeltz’s 24-year-old assistant was also detained but does not face the same charges.A second man, William Duplessie, 33, who is the founder of the startup Pangea Blockchain International, turned himself in on Tuesday and was charged similarly to Woeltz. Duplessie, who originally hails from Miami, appeared in court Friday wearing a jail uniform. – Philosophy degree -According to details reported by local media, the presumed victim is Italian cryptocurrency entrepreneur Michael Valentino Teofrasto Carturan, who visited John Woeltz’s rented home — which goes for $30,000 a month — upon arriving from Italy on May 6.Once there, Woeltz and Duplessie confiscated his electronic devices and passport, and demanded the access code to his bitcoin assets, police said.After his refusal, the two men allegedly tortured Carturan, striking him with a rifle, pointing the weapon in his face and taking him to the building’s fifth floor, where they threatened to throw him out the window, local media reported.”He’s a 37-year-old man with no prior criminal record. He’s a college graduate with a degree in philosophy. He has been very successful in the technology world,” Woeltz’s lawyer Wayne Ervin Gosnell said during a court hearing Thursday. The defense requested Woeltz’s conditional release in the state of New York in exchange for a $2 million bond.Gosnell also noted that it has been said Woeltz “owns a private jet,  he owns a helicopter. That is not true.”- Lavish lifestyle -Though Woeltz has neither a jet nor a helicopter, he leads an exceedingly lavish lifestyle, according to the New York Post and TMZ, which published racy images of the suspects partying at The Box, a New York nightclub. The Post also mentioned frequent parties at the Soho apartment that is the scene of the alleged kidnapping.In recent months, cases of kidnappings or attempted abductions in the cryptocurrency world have multiplied globally as bitcoin, the most capitalized cryptocurrency, has grown to historical peaks.For Adam Healy, CEO of Station70, a firm specializing in crypto protection, these crimes are not new — he worked on a case years ago when an American traveling to Egypt was kidnapped for his crypto assets.”I think that the frequency and the ruthlessness is increasing,” Healy said. In the last six to eight months, he has seen “a significant uptick in those that are known to hold crypto or executives at crypto firms, things along those lines, getting targeted by a wide range of different criminals.”Healy attributed part of the uptick in crime to the rising price of bitcoin. “It’s a bigger target,” he said, and they are boosted by the ease with which massive payloads can be transferred with no oversight — as long as the crypto user can log in. “Historically, if you wanted to kidnap something that was high net worth and they had, I don’t know, ten million dollars in their JP Morgan account, it was kind of hard to get to,” Healy said. “You couldn’t just go to the bank and get a million dollars out.”

A truck crash that set 250 million bees free has sparked warnings in the western US, with police telling people to avoid swarms of the stinging insects.The accident happened in Washington state in the far northwest of the country, when a semi trailer carrying a load of hives overturned.”250 million bees are now loose,” wrote Whatcom County Sheriff on its social media page.”AVOID THE AREA due to the potential of bee escaping and swarming”.Roads in the region, which nestles the border with Canada and is just 30 miles from Vancouver, have been closed as bee experts help with the clean-up.While some beekeepers aim only to produce honey, many others rent out their hives to farmers who need the insects to pollinate their crops.

The defense for Sean “Diddy” Combs on Friday used upbeat social media posts to attack the credibility of one of the women accusing the music mogul of sexual assault during his federal trial in New York.”Isn’t it true that Mr Combs never had unwanted nonconsensual forcible contact with you?” lawyer Brian Steel said to a former Bad Boys Records assistant testifying under the pseudonym Mia, during questioning that included displays of her personal social media posts.The testimony came as US President Donald Trump pondered aloud if he would offer 55-year-old Combs a pardon during a press conference at the White House Friday, saying “I don’t know, I would certainly look at the facts.”The facts are still unfolding in a trial that is expected to last into summer, in a case that revolves around Combs’s relationship with his former girlfriend, singer Casandra “Cassie” Ventura. Earlier in the trial Ventura detailed years of alleged abuse and coercive, drug-fueled sex marathons with male prostitutes known as “freak-offs.”This week, Mia described how her job between 2009 and 2017 became a nightmare as she worked to protect Ventura from Combs’s fits of rage, or care for her after the attacks, tending to “busted lips,” “bruises” and “a black eye.”Combs would tell Mia to “go take care of her,” adding that “we were not allowed” to go out until her injuries healed enough to conceal, Mia testified Thursday.She also testified that she personally endured abuses, including rapes, while working for Combs, recounting the painful and traumatic episodes with her head bowed.- Instagram vs reality -During cross examination on Friday, Steel confronted Mia with her social media posts, where she presented a much more positive image of her relationship with her boss.On a courtroom screen displaying Mia’s Instagram posts, she called Combs “an extraordinary cultural phenomenon” and shared affectionate messages on his birthdays.Steel asked how she could publish such posts about a man she now accuses of sexual assault.”Of course you post the great times,” Mia said. “Instagram is a place to show how great your life was even if it’s not true.”After Mia read her posts aloud, Steel questioned Mia’s allegations, to which she replied twice “everything I said in this courtroom is true.””Ask any abuse victim’s advocate and they could explain it to you much better than I could.”On Thursday, Mia testified that Combs subjected her to “sporadic” instances of sexual violence, including at the artist’s 40th birthday party at the Plaza Hotel in New York and his private residence in Los Angeles.”I just froze, I didn’t react, terrified and confused,” Mia said about one of the assaults.”He was the boss or the king, very powerful person,” she said.”This is years and years before social media, Me Too, or any sort of example where someone had stood up successfully to someone in power such as him,” she added.At the conclusion of the court’s proceedings, jurors will have to determine whether that Grammy-winning artist and producer has used his fame, wealth and influence in hip-hop to support a criminal enterprise and sexual trafficking.

Donald Trump fired the director of the National Portrait Gallery on Friday, claiming she was “highly partisan,” as the US president pushes his plan to remake the country’s cultural institutions.The sacking of Kim Sajet, whose publicly funded museum in Washington is home to paintings of key figures in American history, is the latest broadside against an arts world the Republican views as hostile and in thrall to his Democratic Party opponents.”Upon the request and recommendation of many people, I am herby (sic) terminating the employment of Kim Sajet as Director of the National Portrait Gallery,” Trump wrote Truth Social.”She is a highly partisan person, and a strong supporter of DEI, which is totally inappropriate for her position,” he added, referring to “diversity, equity and inclusion.”The firing is the first concrete action Trump has taken against the Smithsonian Insitution — a grouping of museums in the US capital — since he issued an executive order promising to rid cultural bodies of “divisive narratives” and “anti-American ideology.” Sajet, who was born in Nigeria and raised in Australia, is a Dutch national, as well as a seasoned specialist in portraiture, who has led the National Portrait Gallery since 2013.The Smithsonian Institution, founded nearly two centuries ago, is a Washington mainstay whose 21 museums are largely dedicated to US history and culture.With free entry, they are a tourist favorite, sitting on the edges of the National Mall, a green esplanade that links the Capitol and the Lincoln Memorial, close to the White House.Friday’s firing, which comes as the Trump administration is engaged in a battle with elite universities like Harvard, follows the president seeking to remake the Kennedy Center, a performing arts venue, by reorganizing its board of directors.

US President Donald Trump said Friday that he would double steel import tariffs to 50 percent, speaking in Pennsylvania at a US Steel plant where he also touted a partnership between the American steelmaker and Japan’s Nippon Steel.”We’re going to bring it from 25 percent to 50 percent, the tariffs on steel into the United States of America, which will even further secure the steel industry,” he said.”Nobody’s going to get around that,” he added in the speech before blue-collar workers in the battleground state that helped deliver his election victory last year.The doubling of levies will take place next week, said the White House in a social media post.Since returning to the presidency in January, Trump has imposed sweeping tariffs on allies and adversaries alike in moves that have rocked the world trade order and roiled financial markets.He has also targeted sector-specific goods including steel, aluminum and automobiles with 25 percent tariffs.On Friday, Trump mounted a defense of his trade policy, arguing that tariffs helped protect the US company. He added that the plant would not exist if he did not also impose duties on metals imports during his first administration.In his speech, Trump stressed as well that despite a recently announced partnership between US Steel and Nippon Steel, “US Steel will continue to be controlled by the USA.”He added that there would be no layoffs or outsourcing of jobs due to the deal.A proposed $14.9 billion sale of US Steel to Nippon Steel had previously drawn bipartisan opposition, and former president Joe Biden blocked the deal on national security grounds shortly before leaving office.The terms of the new partnership remain murky, however.The United Steelworkers union (USW) which represents thousands of hourly workers at US Steel facilities, said in a statement Wednesday that the “partnership” announcement “continues to raise more questions than answers.””Nippon still maintains it would only invest in USS facilities if it owned the company outright. We’ve seen nothing in the reporting to indicate that position has changed,” the USW statement added.Trump said previously that US Steel would remain in America with its headquarters to stay in Pittsburgh, adding that the arrangement with Nippon would create at least 70,000 jobs and add $14 billion to the US economy.But union leaders said they had no confirmation of how much of the $14 billion would go towards union-represented sites, if any.Trump had opposed Nippon Steel’s takeover plan while on the election campaign trail, but since returning to the presidency, he signaled that he would be open to some form of investment after all.

The US Supreme Court handed President Donald Trump a major victory Friday in his immigration crackdown, giving his administration the green light to revoke the legal status of half a million migrants from four Caribbean and Latin American countries.The decision puts 532,000 people who came from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to the United States under a two-year humanitarian “parole” program launched by former president Joe Biden at risk of deportation. And it marked the second time the highest US court has sided with Trump in his aggressive push to deliver on his election pledge to deport millions of non-citizens, through a series of policy moves that have prompted a flurry of lawsuits.On Calle Ocho, a historic street in Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood, Johnny Cardona, 63, was saddened by the Supreme Court’s decision.”Since I’m American, it’s not going to affect me, but I know it’s going to affect many friendships, many families, many people I know,” Cardona told AFP.The ruling sparked a scathing dissent from two justices in the liberal minority who said the six conservatives on the bench had “plainly botched” the decision and undervalued the “devastating consequences” to those potentially affected.The revoked program had allowed entry into the United States for two years for up to 30,000 migrants a month from the four countries, all of which have dismal human rights records.But as Trump takes a hard line on immigration, his administration moved to overturn those protections, winning a ruling from the Supreme Court earlier this month that allowed officials to begin deporting around 350,000 Venezuelans.The latest case resulted from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem canceling an 18-month extension of the temporary protected status of the migrants, citing in particular the “authoritarian” nature of Nicolas Maduro’s government in Venezuela.The department gave them 30 days to leave the country unless they had legal protection under another program.- ‘Needless human suffering’ -“The court has plainly botched this assessment today,” Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson and Sonia Sotomayor wrote in their dissent.The justices said the migrants face being wrenched from family and returning to potential danger in their native countries — or opting to stay and risking imminent removal.”At a minimum, granting the stay would facilitate needless human suffering before the courts have reached a final judgment regarding the legal arguments at issue, while denying the government’s application would not have anything close to that kind of practical impact,” Jackson said.None of the other justices gave reasons for their decision, and the court was not required to make the vote public.”The ultimate goal of this policy is to leave these people without legal status, to make them subjects of deportation,” said Adelys Ferro, co-founder and executive director of the Venezuelan American Caucus, an advocacy group.The district court that barred the administration from revoking the migrants’ status had argued that it was unlawfully applying a fast-track deportation procedure aimed at illegal immigrants to non-citizens protected by government programs. At the Supreme Court, Justice Department lawyers said the “district court has nullified one of the administration’s most consequential immigration policy decisions” by issuing the stay.The high court’s decision means the Trump administration can go ahead with its policy change, even as the litigation on the merits plays out in lower courts.Trump campaigned for the White House on a pledge to deport millions of undocumented migrants, claiming there was an ongoing “invasion” of the United States by hordes of foreign criminals. But his program of mass deportations has been thwarted or restricted by numerous court rulings, including from the Supreme Court and notably on the grounds that those targeted should be able to assert their due process rights. The Trump administration systematically accuses judges who oppose his immigration decisions of plundering his presidential national security powers.

Former US President Joe Biden told reporters Friday he was feeling “optimistic” about the future after delivering his first public remarks since revealing he had an aggressive form of prostate cancer. “Well, the prognosis is good. You know, we’re working on everything. It’s moving along. So, I feel good,” Biden, 82, said after an event in Delaware belatedly marking Monday’s Memorial Day federal holiday.Biden’s office announced earlier this month he is battling prostate cancer with a Gleason score of nine, which places him in the most severe category.The veteran Democrat told reporters he had decided on a treatment regime, adding that “the expectation is, we’re going to be able to beat this.””It’s not in any organ, my bones are strong, it hasn’t penetrated. So I’m feeling good,” he said.The mental and physical health of the former president, the oldest person ever to hold the office, was a dominant issue in the 2024 election.After a disastrous debate performance against Trump, Biden ended his campaign for a second term.When Biden’s office announced his diagnosis, they said the cancer had spread to his bones.But Biden told reporters: “We’re all optimistic about the diagnosis. As a matter of fact, one of the leading surgeons in the world is working with me.”The political row over Biden’s aborted candidacy has become a major scandal since the release of the book “Original Sin” — which alleges that Biden’s White House covered up his cognitive decline while he was in office.The ex-president was asked about the controversy and responded with sarcasm, joking that “I’m mentally incompetent and I can’t walk.”He said he had no regrets about initially running for a second term, and that his Democratic critics could have challenged him but chose not to “because I’d have beaten them.”In earlier formal remarks in New Castle, Delaware, Biden spoke of his presidency as his greatest honor, and called for better treatment of veterans.But he saved his most poignant comments to mark the 10th anniversary on May 30 of his son, National Guard veteran Beau Biden, dying of brain cancer at the age of 46.”For the Bidens, this day is the 10th anniversary, the loss of my son Beau, who spent a year in Iraq,” said Biden, who had attended a memorial service for his son earlier in the day.”And, to be honest, it’s a hard day.”

US President Donald Trump said Friday that Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte were “fine,” after a viral video appeared to show her shoving the French president’s face on a trip to Vietnam.”Make sure the door remains closed,” the three-times married Trump quipped to reporters when asked if he had any “world leader to world leader marital advice” for Macron about the video. “That was not good,” added Trump, who was holding a joint press conference with billionaire Elon Musk in the Oval Office.The incident was filmed just as the door of the French presidential plane swung open after landing in Hanoi on Sunday. It showed Brigitte Macron, 72, sticking out both her hands and giving her husband’s face a shove. Macron, 47, appeared startled but quickly recovered and turns to wave through the open door.The 78-year-old US president, who has long had a “bromance” with his French counterpart, said he had been in touch with him since.”I spoke to him. He’s fine. They’re fine. They’re two really good people. I know them very well,” added Trump. “I don’t know what that was all about.”Macron himself denied on Monday that the couple had been having a domestic dispute. He blamed disinformation campaigns for trying to put false meaning on the footage.Musk, who was marking his departure from the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, meanwhile took the chance to joke at Macron’s expense.Asked about a black eye he was sporting, the tycoon replied “I wasn’t anywhere near France” to the apparent puzzlement of a reporter who asked him to explain the comment.Musk then said it was his son who caused the injury with a punch.

US President Donald Trump signaled renewed trade tensions with China Friday, arguing that Beijing had “totally violated” a tariff de-escalation deal, while saying he expects to eventually speak with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.Trump’s comments came after US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that trade talks with China were “a bit stalled,” in an interview with broadcaster Fox News.Top officials from the world’s two biggest economies agreed during talks in Geneva this month to temporarily lower staggeringly high tariffs they had imposed on each other, in a pause to last 90 days.But on Friday, Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform: “China, perhaps not surprisingly to some, HAS TOTALLY VIOLATED ITS AGREEMENT WITH US,” without providing further details.The impasse came as China’s slow-walking on export license approvals for rare earths and other elements needed to make cars and chips fueled US frustration, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday.Key to the tariff de-escalation pact was a demand that China resume rare earth exports, the report added, citing sources familiar with the matter.Earlier Friday, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told CNBC: “The Chinese are slow-rolling their compliance, which is completely unacceptable.”While Greer did not go into specifics, he noted reports that Beijing continues to “slow down and choke off things like critical minerals and rare earth magnets,” adding that the US trade deficit with China is still “enormous.”Greer said that Washington was not seeing major shifts in Beijing’s behavior.Trump’s deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller told reporters that with China failing to fulfill its obligations, “that opens up all manner of action for the United States to ensure future compliance.”On Thursday, Bessent suggested that there could be a call between Trump and Xi eventually.Trump told reporters Friday afternoon: “I’m sure that I’ll speak to President Xi, and hopefully we’ll work that out.”US stock markets closed mixed, after fluctuating in the day on jitters that Trump could return to a more confrontational stance on China.- Forthcoming deals? -Washington is also in “intensive talks” with other trading partners, Greer told CNBC, saying he has meetings next week with counterparts from Malaysia, Vietnam and the European Union.The meetings come as he heads to Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) talks in Europe.”The negotiations are on track, and we do hope to have some deals in the next couple of weeks,” Greer said.Washington and Tokyo are making progress towards a deal, Kyodo News reported, citing Japan’s tariffs envoy Ryosei Akazawa.Akazawa, who met with Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick in Washington, expects another round of talks before mid-June.But Trump’s tariff plans are facing legal challenges.A US federal trade court ruled this week that the president overstepped his authority in tapping emergency economic powers to justify sweeping tariffs.It blocked the most wide-ranging levies imposed since Trump returned to office, although this ruling has been stayed for now as an appeals process is ongoing.The decision left intact, however, tariffs that Trump imposed on sector-specific imports such as steel and autos.Greer said it was important to get through the legal process so partners have a “better understanding of the landing zone.”Since Trump returned to the presidency, he has slapped sweeping tariffs on most US trading partners, with especially high rates on Chinese imports.New tit-for-tat levies on both sides reached three digits before the de-escalation this month, where Washington agreed to temporarily reduce additional tariffs on Chinese imports from 145 percent to 30 percent.China, meanwhile, lowered its added duties from 125 percent to 10 percent.The US level is higher as it includes a 20 percent levy that Trump imposed on Chinese goods over the country’s alleged role in the illicit drug trade — an accusation that Beijing has pushed back against.The high US-China tariffs, while still in place, forced many businesses to pause shipments as they waited for both governments to strike a deal.