AFP USA

French President Emmanuel Macron and Donald Trump sought to smooth over a transatlantic rift on Ukraine Monday, with the US president eyeing a deal to end Russia’s invasion “within weeks” backed by European peacekeepers.Hosting Macron at the White House on the third anniversary of the Russian invasion, Trump also said he expected Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky to visit this week or next, to sign a deal giving Washington access to Kyiv’s minerals.Trump hailed Macron as a “very special man” as they shared one of their trademark macho handshakes in the Oval Office — with the French president seeking to use his ties with Trump to shore up support for Ukraine.”I think we could end it within weeks — if we’re smart. If we’re not smart, it will keep going,” Trump said.The US president added that Russian President Vladimir Putin was ready to “accept” European troops deployed in Ukraine as guarantors of a deal to end fighting.Macron said that both leaders wanted a “solid long lasting peace,” proclaimed that Europe was ready to “step up” defense spending and reiterated that Europe was ready to deploy peacekeepers.But he said he wanted “strong” US involvement in any such plan.Both Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer — who is visiting the White House on Thursday — have said their countries are ready to contribute peacekeeping troops in Ukraine if there is a deal.- ‘Cannot be weak’ -The friendly tone of the Oval Office meeting came despite many European nations fearing that Trump’s recent embrace of Russian talking points on Ukraine could herald the end of the 80-year-old transatlantic alliance.Trump sent shock waves around the world when he declared his readiness to resume diplomacy with Russia and to hold talks about the future of Ukraine without the involvement of European allies or Kyiv.It sent European leaders beating a path to Trump’s door, led by Macron. The two leaders earlier Monday dialed in together from the Oval Office to a call with the heads of the G7 leading economies and Zelensky.The French president last week said he would tell the Republican: “You cannot be weak in the face of President Putin.”Trump had hit back last Friday saying that both Macron and Starmer — the leaders of Europe’s two nuclear powers — had done “nothing” to try to end the Ukraine war over the past three years.In recent days Macron has tried to coordinate a European response to Washington’s sudden policy shift.At their meeting, the French leader would present his “proposals for action” to counter the “Russian threat,” an advisor to the president said. They will also hold a joint press conference.Macron is representing the European Union as a whole during his visit, after meeting leaders across the continent, including Moscow-friendly Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the presidential advisor said.The French leader aims to persuade Trump to continue some US support for Ukraine, respecting its sovereignty.- ‘Security guarantees’ -Macron and Starmer, who will visit Trump on Thursday, coordinated on messaging prior to the French president’s departure for the United States this weekend.Britain and France have also discussed the deployment of European forces in Ukraine after a peace agreement is reached to deter Russia from future attacks. “The idea is to deploy soldiers to a second line, not on the front line. This could be combined with a multinational operation, with non-European contingents,” said a French source close to the discussions.Macron and Starmer are expected to ask Trump to provide “solid security guarantees” for the deployed forces, and possibly logistics or intelligence.US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz told reporters on Monday that “we expect to talk quite a bit about the security guarantees that Macron has put on the table.”Trump and Macron would also discuss the thorny issue of trade with the European Union, with the US president threatening sweeping tariffs against the bloc, said Waltz.

Roberta Flack, the Grammy-winning singer behind the classic “Killing Me Softly With His Song” and one of the most recognizable voices of the 1970s, died Monday at age 88.Flack’s publicist announced her death without citing a cause.The influential pop and R&B star in recent years had lost her ability to sing because of ALS, known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, which she was diagnosed with in 2022.”She died peacefully surrounded by her family,” the statement from the publicist said.The classically trained musician with a tender but confident voice produced a number of early classics of rhythm and blues that she frequently described as “scientific soul,” timeless works that blended meticulous practice with impeccable taste.Her exceptional talent was key to the “quiet storm” radio form of smooth, sensuous slow jams that popularized R&B and influenced its later aesthetics.”I’ve been told I sound like Nina Simone, Nancy Wilson, Odetta, Barbra Streisand, Dionne Warwick, even Mahalia Jackson,” Flack said in 1970 in The New York Times. “If everybody said I sounded like one person, I’d worry. But when they say I sound like them all, I know I’ve got my own style.”Jennifer Hudson hailed Flack as “one of the great soul singers of all time,” and Roots drummer Questlove wrote “Thank You Robert Flack. Rest in Melody.”- ‘A lot of love’ -Born Roberta Cleopatra Flack in Black Mountain, North Carolina on February 10, 1937, the artist was raised in Arlington, Virginia, just outside Washington, DC.Her large, musical family had a penchant for gospel, and she took up the piano in her youth, exhibiting a virtuosity that ultimately earned her a music scholarship to Washington’s Howard University at just 15.She told Forbes in 2021 that her father “found an old, smelly piano in a junkyard and restored it for me and painted it green.””This was my first piano and was the instrument in which I found my expression and inspiration as a young person.”She was a regular playing clubs in Washington, where she was eventually discovered by jazz musician Les McCann.Flack signed at Atlantic Records, launching a recording career at the relatively late age of 32. But her star grew overnight after Clint Eastwood used her romantic ballad “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” on the soundtrack of his 1971 movie “Play Misty for Me.”The song earned her the Grammy for Record of the Year in 1972, a prize which she took home at the following ceremony as well for “Killing Me Softly With His Song,” thus becoming the first artist ever to win the honor two years in a row.Flack has described hearing “Killing Me Softly,” which was recorded by folk singer Lori Lieberman in 1971, on a flight and quickly rearranging it.She performed her version at a show in which she opened for the legendary music tastemaker Quincy Jones, who, blown away by her rendition, told Flack not to publicly perform the song again until she had recorded it and made it her own. It would become the defining hit of her career.A remixed rendition of “Killing Me Softly” was released in 1996 by the Fugees, with Lauryn Hill on lead vocals, bringing Flack a resurgence as it soared to top charts worldwide and scored another Grammy.She also forged a creative partnership with Donny Hathaway, a friend of hers from Howard, releasing an album of duets that included “Where Is The Love” and a rendition of Carole King’s “You’ve Got a Friend.”Flack’s many accolades included a lifetime achievement honor from the Recording Academy in 2020.She was a figure in the mid-20th century’s social movements, and was friends with both Reverend Jesse Jackson and activist Angela Davis. She sang at the funeral of baseball icon Jackie Robinson, Major League Baseball’s first Black player.She has described growing up “at a time ‘Black’ was the most derogatory word you could use. I went through the civil rights movement. I learned, long after leaving Black Mountain, that being Black was a positive thing, as all of us did, the most positive thing we could be.””I did a lot of songs that were considered protest songs, a lot of folk music,” she said, “but I protested as a singer with a lot of love.”

Employees of the US federal government on Monday faced a deadline imposed by Elon Musk that required them to explain their work achievements in an email or potentially lose their jobs.The demand represents the latest challenge from Musk against government workers as his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) works toward gutting federal staffing and spending.DOGE is a wide-ranging entity run by the tech entrepreneur and world’s richest person, though its cost-cutting campaign has faced increasing resistance on multiple fronts, including court rulings and some pressure from lawmakers.On Saturday, more than two million federal employees received an email from the US Office of Personnel Management (OPM) — the government’s HR department — giving them until 11:59 pm Monday to submit “approximately 5 bullets of what you accomplished last week.”The message followed Musk’s post that “all federal workers” would receive the email and that “failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.”As the deadline neared, President Donald Trump defended Musk’s message, calling it “genius” as it would expose whether “people are working.””If people don’t respond, it’s very possible that there is no such person or they’re not working,” Trump told reporters.The demand resembled similar ultimatums Musk, known for his stringent workforce expectations, sent to staff when he took over Twitter in 2022, before renaming it X.Creating confusion among an already anxious workforce, multiple US federal agencies — including some led by prominent Trump loyalists — told staff to ignore the email, at least temporarily.The list included the Defense Department, which posted a note requesting staff “pause any response to the OPM email titled ‘What did you do last week.'”US media reported that Trump administration-appointed officials at the FBI, the State Department, and the Office of National Intelligence also instructed staff not to respond directly.However, the Treasury Department on Monday directed workers to comply with Musk’s request by midnight.The request “reflects an effort to increase accountability by the federal workforce, just as there is in the private sector,” stated an email sent to Treasury staff, seen by AFP.The Treasury added that the response “will not be difficult or time-consuming.”As confusion spread across the federal workforce, speaking anonymously, an administration official told Politico that employees should defer to their agencies on how to respond to the email.- ‘Dose of compassion’ -Unions quickly opposed Musk’s request, with the largest federal employee union, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), vowing to challenge any unlawful terminations.Several recent polls indicate that most Americans disapprove of the disruption to the nationwide federal workforce.Concern has begun to emerge on Capitol Hill from Trump’s own Republican party, which controls both the House and the Senate.”If I could say one thing to Elon Musk, it’s like, ‘Please put a dose of compassion in this,'” said Senator John Curtis of Utah, whose state has 33,000 federal employees.”These are real people. These are real lives. These are mortgages,” Curtis said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”Dozens of lawsuits against Musk’s threats or demands have yielded mixed results, with some requests for immediate halts to his orders being denied by judges.One federal judge on Monday barred the Education Department and the Office of Personnel Management from sharing sensitive information with the Musk-led department.

UN members backed a resolution supporting Ukraine’s territorial integrity Monday in the face of staunch opposition from Washington which pushed its own language that declined to blame Russia for the war or mention Kyiv’s borders.As US President Donald Trump stakes out a new position on the Ukraine war, a European-backed text marking the conflict’s third anniversary won93 votes for and 18 votes against, with 65 abstentions.Washington sided with Moscow, as well as Russian allies Belarus, North Korea and Sudan, to vote against.The text — which won far less support compared to previous resolution on the war — strongly criticizes Russia, and emphasizes Ukraine’s territorial integrity and inviolability of its borders.Washington drafted a rival resolution amid an intensifying feud between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.Russian ambassador to the UN Vassily Nebenzia had called the US text “a step in the right direction” amid a sudden thaw between Russia and the US under Trump.But Washington’s ally France put forward amendments to the US text telling the General Assembly that Paris, along with European countries and Britain, would “not be able to support in its current form.”The countries, all backers of Ukraine, pushed to reword the US text to say that the “full-scale invasion of Ukraine” has been undertaken by Russia.Hungary, whose prime minister Viktor Orban is seen as the most pro-Putin leader in Europe, voted against the amendments.The amendments also reaffirmed a commitment to Ukraine’s “territorial integrity” — which had been omitted from the US text.The US proposal was so heavily amended that Washington ultimately abstained on its own text.The inviolability of Ukrainian territorial integrity was a cornerstone of previous resolutions passed by the Assembly, with the United States under former president Joe Biden among its strongest supporters.”The attempt to add this language detracts from what we are trying to achieve with this forward looking resolution,” said Washington’s envoy to the UN Dorothy Shea ahead of the vote.- Security Council in spotlight -Following the General Assembly vote, Washington is expected to bring its text to a vote at the Security Council later Monday, with a State Department official warning the US would veto any amendments by Russia or the Europeans. The mechanics of the UN mean that Washington could not veto the amendments brought at the General Assembly.To be adopted by the UNSC, a resolution needs the votes of at least nine of the 15 Security Council members — while not being vetoed by any of the five permanent members  — the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China.Even if the EU members of the council France, Slovenia, Denmark and Greece, along with Britain, were to abstain, the US resolution could still pass.That would raise the question of whether France or Britain would be prepared to wield their first vetoes in more than 30 years.Their respective leaders, Emmanuel Macron and Keir Starmer, are visiting the White House this week for key talks on Ukraine. “I do not see how Paris and London can support a text that is so far from their stated positions on Ukraine, but I also do not see how they can veto it,” Richard Gowan of the International Crisis Group told AFP. For the Europeans, the competing votes will be “a test of their standing in the multilateral system.” At the same time, Kyiv could be left “increasingly isolated” if it draws too little support, Gowan said.With core principles of international law at stake, UN chief Antonio Guterres on Sunday called for a peace that “fully upholds Ukraine’s territorial integrity” and respects the UN Charter.  

Mexico’s president said Monday she was optimistic about reaching an agreement with Donald Trump this week to avoid sweeping US tariffs, hinting at possible levies on Chinese goods to secure a deal.Claudia Sheinbaum said talks with Washington would continue this week in an effort to avoid the 25 percent tariffs that Trump agreed on February 3 to “pause” for a month.Teams from Mexico’s economy and finance ministries are in Washington and if necessary Sheinbaum said she would speak with Trump again by phone, adding: “Whatever it takes to reach an agreement.”Asked about a Bloomberg News report that the United States was pushing her government to impose duties on Chinese imports, Sheinbaum said it was important to “prioritize those places where you have trade agreements versus others where you do not have them.””We do not have a free trade agreement with China, for example… So that’s part of what is being worked on in this working group,” she added.Both Trump and Canadian officials have accused Mexico of being a gateway for Chinese products coming into North America.In an apparent bid to ease those concerns, Sheinbaum recently presented a plan to replace Chinese imports with domestically produced goods.She signaled Monday that Mexico was open to an early review of its free trade agreement with the United States and Canada ahead of a 2026 deadline, saying it “can begin now.””The issue is to reach an agreement that allows us to protect and guarantee that there are no tariffs between our countries,” she said.Mexico faces mounting pressure from Washington to do more to curb illegal flows of migrants and drugs, particularly fentanyl.Sheinbaum called for a review of how the chemical precursors used to make the deadly opioid arrive in North America.”Do the precursors enter through the United States? We don’t know. Why is it only said that they enter through Mexico and Canada?” she said.According to the US Drug Enforcement Administration, Mexican drug cartels dominate the illicit fentanyl market using precursor chemicals mostly sourced from China-based suppliers.

A US oil pipeline operator’s lawsuit seeking millions of dollars from Greenpeace for allegedly orchestrating a campaign of violence and defamation begins Monday in a North Dakota court, in a case with broad free speech implications.At the heart of the case is the Dakota Access Pipeline, where nearly a decade ago, the Standing Rock Sioux tribe led one of the largest anti-fossil fuel protests in US history. Hundreds were arrested and injured, prompting concerns from the United Nations over violations of Indigenous sovereignty.The pipeline, which transports fracked crude oil to refineries and global markets, has been operational since 2017.But its operator, Energy Transfer, has continued pursuing legal action against Greenpeace — first in a federal lawsuit seeking $300 million, which was dismissed, and now in a state court in Mandan, North Dakota, where jury selection began Monday.Critics call the case a clear example of a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP), designed to silence dissent and drain financial resources. Notably, North Dakota is among the minority of US states without anti-SLAPP protections.”Big Oil is trying to send a message to us, and they’re trying to silence Greenpeace as well as the wider movement,” said Sushma Raman, Greenpeace’s interim executive director, in a statement to AFP.”But let us be clear: the limited actions Greenpeace took related to Standing Rock were peaceful, lawful, and in line with our values of non-violence and our work for a green and peaceful future.”Waniya Locke, a member of Standing Rock Grassroots, rejected the idea that Greenpeace led the movement.”I want it to be very clear that no NGOs started or organized our resistance. It was matriarch-led. It was led by women who stood strong, who stood on the riverbanks unarmed,” she said in a statement.Energy Transfer for its part denies attempting to suppress free speech.”Our lawsuit against Greenpeace is about them not following the law,” the company said in a statement to AFP.”We support the rights of all Americans to express their opinions and lawfully protest. However, when it is not done in accordance with our laws, we have a legal system to address that. Beyond that, we will let our case speak for itself.”Greenpeace is fighting back. This month, it became the first group to test the European Union’s anti-SLAPP directive by suing Energy Transfer in The Netherlands. The group is seeking damages with interest and demanding that Energy Transfer publish the court’s findings on its website.More than 400 organizations, along with public figures such as singer Billie Eilish and actors Jane Fonda and Susan Sarandon have signed an open letter in support of Greenpeace, as have hundreds of thousands of individuals globally.The trial is expected to last up to five weeks.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called Monday for “real, lasting peace” this year as European leaders gathered for a summit in Kyiv on the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion.Russia said it would halt the invasion only if a deal could be reached that “suits” its interests, and accused Europe of wanting to prolong the fighting.Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to launch the invasion in February 2022 set off the biggest conflict in Europe since World War II. Tens of thousands of soldiers on both sides and Ukrainian civilians have been killed. Cities across the country’s south and east have been flattened and millions forced to flee their homes.”This year should be the year of the beginning of a real, lasting peace,” Zelensky told Ukraine’s backers in Kyiv.”We have to win peace through strength and wisdom and unity,” he said, vowing at a press conference later on Monday that Russia “will not win”.EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen also warned that despite opening talks with the United States on how to end the conflict, Putin was not about to back down.”Putin is trying harder than ever to win this war on the ground. His goal remains Ukraine’s capitulation,” she said.She also called the war in Ukraine “the most central and consequential crisis for Europe’s future”.- Deal that ‘suits’ Russia -But as leaders of Ukraine’s backers lined up to proclaim support and hail Kyiv’s resistance, there was one notable absence: the United States.Donald Trump’s return to the White House has threatened broad Western support for Ukraine as well as vital military and financial aid at a critical juncture.His opening of talks with Putin, a false claim that Ukraine “started” the war and verbal attacks on Zelensky have triggered alarm across Europe.Kyiv said Monday that it was in the “final stages” of a deal with Washington to give the United States preferential access to rare minerals — one of the sources of disagreement that has exploded over the last week.”There are almost no unreasonable demands anymore. Many details will be discussed later in another agreement,” a source in the Ukrainian presidency told AFP separately.Washington also urged Ukraine and Russia on Monday to back its plan to end the war, as the UN General Assembly prepared to vote on a US resolution marking the anniversary.Russian officials have been buoyed by Trump’s outreach, sensing an opportunity to push their core demands: the roll-back of NATO’s military presence in Europe, territorial concessions from Ukraine and the end of Western military support to Kyiv.Officials from Moscow and Washington are set to meet in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, a diplomatic source told AFP, a follow-up to talks between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov last week.”We will stop hostilities only when these negotiations produce a firm and sustainable result that suits the Russian Federation,” Lavrov said during a visit to Turkey.On the streets of Moscow, there was support for a hardline approach.”I would like peace. But of course, I am hoping for victory for Russia,” Yevgenia, a 27-year-old civil servant, told AFP.- ‘You cannot be weak’ -Zelensky on Monday repeated his call for security guarantees from Kyiv’s backers to ensure Russia did not use any ceasefire to rearm and attack again at a later date.With Trump sceptical of continuing to support Ukraine, Europe has been left debating whether it can fill the void.On Monday, Brussels announced a 16th round of sanctions aimed at curbing the Russian war effort in a move echoed by Britain, which levelled penalties against 100 entities.French President Emmanuel Macron was in Washington for a meeting with Trump where he said he would tell him: “You cannot be weak in the face of President Putin.”Russia has been making steady gains across the front line in recent months, beating back outgunned Ukrainian forces at key sectors in eastern Ukraine.The Russian defence ministry on Monday claimed to have captured the village of Topoli in the eastern Kharkiv region bordering Russia.Further south, Tetiana Zhuravlova had finally made the decision to leave her home in the frontline village of Chernigivka in the Donetsk region, which the Kremlin already claims as part of Russia.”There’s been shelling everywhere here,” the 47-year-old told AFP.”I just want peace and quiet, for it all to finally stop, all this loss of life. People are leaving their homes, where they’ve lived their lives, they’re leaving everything.” 

French President Emmanuel Macron held “very friendly” talks with Donald Trump at the White House Monday, as European leaders look to shore up a transatlantic alliance upended by the US president’s outreach to Russia over the conflict in Ukraine.On the third anniversary of the Russian invasion, Trump welcomed Macron to the Oval Office to jointly take part in a call with the heads of the G7 leading economies and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.”Very good, very friendly,” Macron told reporters as he strolled down the driveway of the White House when asked how his welcome from Trump had been.Macron added that the G7 call was “perfect.””We had the first discussion, and I’ll come back very soon,” he said ahead of a formal meeting with Trump later Monday.A video posted by Zelensky on X showed Trump behind his desk during the G7 call with the French president on his right hand side and US Vice President JD Vance to his left.At their meeting later, the French leader will present his “proposals for action” to counter the “Russian threat,” an advisor to the president said. They will also hold a joint press conference.Both Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer are at the White House this week as they hope to persuade Trump to stick by Kyiv and to include European leaders in talks between Moscow and Washington.- ‘Cannot be weak’ -Trump sent shock waves around the world when he declared his readiness to resume diplomacy with Russian President Vladimir Putin and to hold talks without the involvement of European nations or Kyiv.He has repeated Russian talking points about Ukraine’s supposed responsibility in starting the war, raising concern in Europe that he will side with Moscow to end the conflict.But Trump’s tone has also raised wider fears that 80-year-old transatlantic ties formed in the wake of World War II are under threat.Macron has tried to coordinate a European response to Washington’s sudden policy shift, hoping to use a bond he fostered with Trump during the US president’s first term.The French president last week said he would tell the Republican: “You cannot be weak in the face of President Putin.”Trump however hit back, saying that both Macron and Starmer — the leaders of Europe’s two nuclear powers — had done “nothing” to try to end the Ukraine war over the past three years.As he headed to Washington on Sunday, Macron said that Russia was an “existential threat to Europeans.”Macron is representing the European Union as a whole during his visit, after meeting leaders across the continent including Moscow-friendly Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the advisor to the president said.Macron aims to persuade Trump to continue some US support for Ukraine, respecting its sovereignty and ensuring that European interests are fully considered, the advisor added.He also seeks to convince Trump that Putin “will not respect” a ceasefire.- ‘Security guarantees’ -Macron and Starmer, who will visit Trump on Thursday, coordinated on messaging prior to the French president’s departure for the United States this weekend.Britain and France are also discussing the deployment of European forces in Ukraine after a peace agreement is reached to deter Russia from future attacks. “The idea is to deploy soldiers to a second line, not on the front line. This could be combined with a multinational operation, with non-European contingents,” said a French source close to the discussions.Macron and Starmer are expected to ask Trump to provide “solid security guarantees” for the deployed forces.European leaders would also commit to increasing their defense spending as Trump seeks to reduce US commitment, no longer wanting to bear the burden of the region’s security.Although the Trump administration has ruled out committing US soldiers, Europe hopes it could provide other support, such as logistics or intelligence.US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz told reporters on Monday that “we expect to talk quite a bit about the security guarantees that Macron has put on the table.”Trump and Macron would also discuss the thorny issue of trade with the European Union, with the US president threatening sweeping tariffs against the bloc, said Waltz.

Jury selection began Monday in the trial of a 24-year-old man with a history of mental illness who allegedly opened fire from a rooftop on a US Independence Day parade, killing seven people and wounding 48.Robert Crimo III, 24, faces murder, attempted murder and dozens of other charges for the July 4, 2022 attack on the parade in the affluent Chicago suburb of Highland Park.According to prosecutors, Crimo climbed on to a rooftop overlooking the parade route armed with a semi-automatic rifle and emptied three 30-round magazines into the crowd before fleeing.Among those killed were the parents of a two-year-old boy.Crimo was allegedly disguised in women’s clothing and had used makeup to conceal several distinctive facial tattoos, including the word “Awake” above his left eyebrow and the number “47” on his temple.He was captured about eight hours after the attack following a car chase.Crimo’s father, Robert Crimo Jr, pleaded guilty in November 2023 to reckless conduct for helping his son obtain the assault rifle used in the shooting, a rare case in which a parent was held criminally responsible for the actions of their child.Crimo Jr, who owned a delicatessen in Highland Park and once ran for mayor, pleaded guilty to seven misdemeanor counts for helping his son obtain a state firearms permit even though he knew he had a history of mental illness.He was sentenced to 60 days in jail, two years of probation and 100 hours of community service.The younger Crimo was 19 at the time the gun was bought and he needed his father’s sponsorship to get an Illinois Firearms Owner Identification Card.Amid a huge number of deadly firearms incidents involving young people, pressure has been mounting in the United States to punish parents who make it possible for their children to get weapons.The parents of a 15-year-old boy who killed four people at a high school in Michigan in November 2021 were convicted of involuntary manslaughter last year for buying their son a gun even though they were aware of troubling signs that he might be a threat.- Erratic behavior -According to police, Robert Crimo III had a history of erratic behavior.Police were called to the Crimo home twice in 2019: once in April to investigate a suicide attempt by the younger Crimo and again in September because a relative said he had threatened to “kill everyone” in the family.Police removed a collection of knives from the home but did not make any arrests. The knives were returned after Crimo’s father said they were his.Located 25 miles (40 kilometers) north of Chicago and its notorious crime problems, Highland Park is known as a quiet town. The municipality of 30,000 even enacted a ban on assault rifles in 2013.The city is also known for being home to some of Chicago’s elite: basketball superstar Michael Jordan lived in Highland Park during his years with the NBA’s Bulls, in a house worth nearly $15 million.American architect Frank Lloyd Wright also designed several houses there.And in the 1980s, Highland Park houses served as the backdrop for iconic films including “Risky Business” and “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”Crimo’s trial, which is expected to last six weeks, is being held at the Lake County Courthouse in Waukegan, Illinois.He faces a sentence of life in prison without parole if convicted.

US President Donald Trump has announced the appointment of right-wing podcaster Dan Bongino as deputy director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, a break with tradition that puts yet another loyalist in a key law enforcement position.Bongino, a former New York police officer and US Secret Service agent, currently hosts a popular right-wing podcast and is a staunch backer of Trump — whose political positions he has supported by spreading misinformation and whose opponents he regularly criticizes on his show.”Great news for Law Enforcement and American Justice! Dan Bongino, a man of incredible love and passion for our Country, has just been named the next DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF THE FBI, by the man who will be the best ever Director, Kash Patel,” said Trump on his Truth Social platform on Sunday night.The role does not require Senate confirmation, and would see Bongino second-in-command at the country’s top law enforcement agency, working under Patel.Fact-checking websites have frequently cited Bongino’s podcast for spreading misinformation regarding the 2020 US election, the January 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol and the Covid pandemic.In 2022, he was “banned from both YouTube and Google’s ad service for pushing Covid-19 misinformation,” according to watchdog Media Matters for America. On a recent episode of his podcast discussing a federal judge’s decision against a Trump administration policy, he recommended the Republican president “should ignore” the judge’s orders.Bongino’s eponymous podcast is ranked in the top 20 in the United States by audience size, as per Edison Research and Podtrac.In 2012, Bongino ran for a US Senate seat in Maryland and later for congressional seats in Maryland and Florida. He was unsuccessful in all three races.”My career has always been about service. I’m here to work. I’m here to lead. And I’m here to ensure that America’s law enforcement institutions uphold the values and integrity they were built upon,” Bongino said in a statement Monday.Congratulating Bongino on the appointment, FBI Director Patel described him as a “warrior.””With Pam Bondi as our new Attorney General, we are assembling a team focused on restoring public trust, upholding the rule of law, and ensuring justice is served,” he said.On the campaign trail, Trump — who was convinced on 34 felony charges in May 2024 — frequently claimed he was being subjected to politically motivated criminal investigations and vowed to clear house at the Justice Department and other agencies once he took office.