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消息：美战争部正研究对古巴军事行动方案

2026年7月16日 11:58 / 联合早报

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受美国制裁影响，古巴长期以来难以进口燃料和维修严重老化的发电厂所需设备，全国电力供应紧张。图为7月14日，首都哈瓦那发生全面断电，这是古巴半个月内第三次全国大停电。 （路透社）

知情官员透露，美国战争部的军事规划人员近几周来研究了对古巴采取军事行动的一系列方案，其中包括由陆军主导、第101空降师执行、动用数千名士兵的空中突击行动。

据新华社，美国哥伦比亚广播公司CBS引述多名知情官员报道，上月底，美军举行过一次作战构想简报会，讨论了执行特定任务的初期军事行动方案。但这并不表明美国总统特朗普或五角大楼已决定采取具体行动。

报道还说，美国国务院进一步加紧对古巴的金融制裁。美国国务卿鲁比奥多次强调，美国倾向于通过外交途径迫使古巴“向技术官僚领导、愿意推行经济改革的新政府过渡”。

知情官员还透露，鉴于上周美国重启对伊朗的军事行动，目前不太可能将军事重点转移到古巴。

美国长期对古巴实施经济、金融封锁和贸易禁运。继今年相继对委内瑞拉、伊朗发起军事行动后，特朗普又对古巴发出威胁，称“下一个轮到古巴”，并进一步加大对古巴施压，实行石油封锁。

消息：美战争部正研究对古巴军事行动方案

2026年7月16日 11:58 / 联合早报

https://news-multimedia-1393112320.cos.ap-guangzhou.myqcloud.com/92d7b5c35379641990b5e3fd20d48cd2a42a01e89baf50495acec21d232e3ca3

受美国制裁影响，古巴长期以来难以进口燃料和维修严重老化的发电厂所需设备，全国电力供应紧张。图为7月14日，首都哈瓦那发生全面断电，这是古巴半个月内第三次全国大停电。（路透社）

知情官员透露，美国战争部的军事规划人员近几周来研究了对古巴采取军事行动的一系列方案，其中包括由陆军主导、第101空降师执行、动用数千名士兵的空中突击行动。

据新华社，美国哥伦比亚广播公司引述多名知情官员报道，上月底，美军举行过一次作战构想简报会，讨论了执行特定任务的初期军事行动方案。但这并不表明美国总统特朗普或五角大楼已决定采取具体行动。

报道还说，美国国务院进一步加紧对古巴的金融制裁。美国国务卿鲁比奥多次强调，美国倾向于通过外交途径迫使古巴“向技术官僚领导、愿意推行经济改革的新政府过渡”。

知情官员还透露，鉴于上周美国重启对伊朗的军事行动，目前不太可能将军事重点转移到古巴。

美国长期对古巴实施经济、金融封锁和贸易禁运。继今年相继对委内瑞拉、伊朗发起军事行动后，特朗普又对古巴发出威胁，称“下一个轮到古巴”，并进一步加大对古巴施压，实行石油封锁。

US Mint will produce $1 coin with Trump’s image, Treasury Secretary says

July 15, 2026 9:22 PM UTC Updated 1 hour ago / Reuters

U.S. President Donald Trump gestures at the Pennsylvania Defense and Innovation Summit at the United States Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, U.S., July 15, 2026. REUTERS/Kylie Cooper

July 15 (Reuters) – The U.S. Mint will begin producing $1 coins with President Donald Trump’s face on the ​front as part of its commemoration of the nation’s ‌250th anniversary, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Wednesday.

The design, which also features the words “Liberty,” “In God We Trust” and “1776-2026” on the front and an ​image of the bald eagle from the presidential seal ​on the back was a revision from a draft made public ⁠in October. The rear face of that design showed Trump ​holding a raised clenched fist framed with the words “fight, fight, fight,” ​a reference to the 2024 assassination attempt against him.

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Trump said he was “honored” by the coin.

“They gave me a coin,” Trump said in an interview with ​Fox Business. “That’s very unusual from what I understand.”

Critics have raised ​questions about the design’s legality. An 1866 U.S. law mandates that no living ‌person’s ⁠portrait can be used on U.S. currency, but that refers to paper money produced by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Coins are minted by the U.S. Mint.

Congress in 2020 passed a ​law allowing the ​Treasury Secretary ⁠to mint $1 coins to mark the 250th anniversary, but that law forbade designs portraying a living ​person.

In an interview with Fox News that aired Tuesday, ​Bessent ⁠noted that in commemoration of the 150th U.S. anniversary, then-President Calvin Coolidge was placed on a coin.

“So we can put living people’s ⁠images on ​a coin,” Bessent said.

The coin is ​in production and is being minted in Philadelphia, the Treasury Department said in a ​statement.

Reporting by Christian Martinez; Editing by Stephen Coates and Cynthia Osterman

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

‘Slap on the wrist’: Illegal immigrant trucker’s sentence ignites outrage after crash killed 3

July 15, 2026 4:13pm EDT / Fox News

After authorities said his semitruck plowed into traffic without braking, Jashanpreet Singh pleaded guilty and was sentenced to less than 5 years

By Alec Schemmel Fox News

Driver in deadly Ohio crash spoke no English as Trump admin vows commercial truck license crackdown

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy joins ‘America’s Newsroom’ to discuss the Trump administration’s crackdown on commercial driver’s licenses amid the fallout from a deadly Ohio crash.

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Trump administration officials and conservatives torched a California judge’s sentence for an illegal immigrant trucker who killed three people in a fiery California semi-truck collision, after he was given less than five years behind bars.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who called the sentencing a “slap on the wrist,” said his agency will not stop “until ALL illegal alien truckers are put out of business and held accountable,” while the Department of Homeland Security said immigration officials were standing by to arrest the trucker “upon his release, so he is never allowed back on our roads.”

Jashanpreet Singh, a 21-year-old Indian national who federal authorities said was in the United States illegally, was sentenced Tuesday to four years and eight months in prison after pleading guilty to three felony counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence stemming from an October 2025 crash on Interstate 10 in San Bernardino County, California. Singh’s semitruck plowed into slow-moving traffic, killing three people and injuring several others, while dashcam video showed him never applying the brakes before impact.

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HIGH SCHOOL COACH, WIFE ID’D AS VICTIMS KILLED IN CRASH TIED TO ILLEGAL ALIEN TRUCKER RELEASED BY BIDEN ADMIN

“This is a wildly insufficient punishment for a foreign national, in our country illegally, who killed 3 people with a truck,” Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, said.

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Jashanpreet Singh was sentenced to four years and eight months in prison after pleading guilty to causing a fiery Southern California crash that killed three people.(San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office High Tech Crimes Unit via AP; Will Lester/MediaNews Group/Inland Valley Daily Bulletin via Getty Images)

“Despite taking the lives of 3 people in a horrific eight-vehicle crash, criminal illegal alien Jashanpreet Singh was given a SLAP ON THE WRIST prison sentence of less than 5 years in sanctuary California,” DHS said following news of Singh’s sentencing. “Illegal aliens like this killer should NEVER be allowed behind the wheel or on our nation’s roads. ICE stands ready to arrest Singh upon his release so he is never allowed back on our roads to take another innocent life.”

“5 years is a slap on the wrist for KILLING 3 AMERICANS,” the Transportation Secretary added. “If California followed the rules, illegal aliens like Jashanpreet Singh wouldn’t be driving 80,000 pound missiles down our roads We won’t stop until ALL illegal truckers are put out of business and held accountable.”

Singh crossed the southern border in California’s El Centro Sector in March 2022 and was released into the U.S. under the Biden administration pending an immigration hearing, according to federal sources. He later obtained a California commercial driver’s license in June 2025, according to the Department of Transportation.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT TRUCKERS ACCUSED OF MOWING DOWN AMERICANS IGNITE FURY OVER LOOPHOLES UNLEASHING DEADLY ROADS

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Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned that widespread fraud is allowing illegal immigrants to obtain commercial driver’s licenses, which he said poses safety risks.(Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Federal officials had previously warned California about compliance issues involving commercial driver’s licenses and directed the state to pause new licenses to non-citizens and review existing licenses to make sure they complied with federal requirements. Fox News Digital previously reported that Singh should have been disqualified under an emergency DOT policy, while California officials said his eligibility was based on federally approved employment authorization documents.

Meanwhile, during an April debate among candidates for California governor, several running as Democrats said they would fight the Trump administration’s push to get California police officers to begin issuing English proficiency tests for big rig drivers in the state because it’s racist.

“Racial profiling is illegal. And, in fact, picking on people based on the color of their skin in the state of California, is illegal,” Democrat megadonor and billionaire businessman Tom Steyer said when asked if he would support a policy enforcing police to issue road-side language proficiency tests to truck drivers.

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CHP confirmed 1 person was killed and 32 hospitalized after a Mother’s Day morning crash involving a tour bus on 60 Freeway.(AP Photo/Chris Carlson, File)

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“Is that officer asking everyone he pulls over to explain those road signs? Or, is he asking only people who look like me? If he’s doing that, then he’s violating the law,” former Biden administration Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Beccera said, slamming a police officer in a short local news clip that was played by debate moderators showing an officer issuing a field test to determine if a commercial driver who spoke Spanish could understand road signs.

But then-Republican California gubernatorial hopeful Sheriff Chad Bianco, who was forced to bow out after not qualifying for the general election in the state’s nonpartisan June primary, slammed his Democratic opponents for pulling the race card.

“Let’s stop with this whole racism thing, and racial profiling and all of this garbage. We have to get over this. You either violated the law or you didn’t. End of story,” Bianco said. “Consequences for bad behavior.”

Alec Schemmel is a Politics Reporter for Fox News Digital who is originally from Charlotte, North Carolina but now resides in the Washington D.C.-Baltimore Metro Area.

US aviation industry urges Congress to provide $20 billion for air traffic control upgrades

2026-07-15T20:33:23.859Z / reuters.com

An exterior view of the Southern regional Federal Aviation Administration(FAA) building at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is picture in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S., January 11, 2023. REUTERS/Alyssa Pointer Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

WASHINGTON, July 15 (Reuters) – The U.S. aviation sector urged Congress on Wednesday to provide $20 billion to complete a massive effort ​to modernize America’s aging air traffic control system and reduce systemic flight ‌disruptions.

An aviation coalition including airlines, airplane manufacturers, airports, unions and others said the $20 billion is needed to replace or upgrade hundreds of aging air traffic control facilities, deploy state-of-the-art technologies for controllers ​and to develop advanced airspace traffic management tools to improve safety and ​reduce delays.

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Last year, Congress awarded $12.5 billion for the project to replace ⁠outdated technology and boost understaffed air traffic control towers. Much of the new ​proposed spending is to develop new software that could help make air travel much ​more efficient.

“Our nation’s aviation system is a key national asset, but it is under increasing strain,” said the letter signed by Boeing, Airbus, Airlines for America, the U.S. Travel Association, Air Pilots ​Association and dozens of others.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told Reuters in April he ​was seeking $10 billion for the next phase, after the U.S. Department of Transportation initially sought about $19 ‌billion ⁠from Congress. Duffy said he hoped to get the rest later.

Republican Senator Jerry Moran said on Wednesday Congress could give more money for the project in a funding bill later this year.

The FAA’s air traffic telecom system has been hit by a series ​of failures, including ​serious outages covering ⁠Newark airport traffic last year. The initial $12.5 billion followed decades of complaints over airport congestion and flight delays due in large ​part to creaky technology and understaffed towers.

A 2023 report said the ​FAA’s communications ⁠system has been outdated for years and it can no longer get spare parts for many systems. Of the FAA’s 138 air traffic control telecoms systems, 51 were ⁠unsustainable, a ​separate report said.

The FAA said by the end ​of 2028, airports will have 5,000 new high-speed network connections on fiber, satellite and wireless, 27,000 new radios ​and 612 state-of-the-art radars.

Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chris Reese and Nia Williams

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Dems unite to boycott hearing on emerging threat facing America: ‘Don’t want to know the truth’

July 15, 2026 4:57pm EDT / Fox News

Sen Gary Peters left after asking witnesses questions during the hearing

By Charles Creitz, Fox News

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The Democratic side of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee dais was empty Wednesday as Republicans questioned witnesses at a hearing on “Exposing Fraud in America,” prompting GOP lawmakers to accuse the minority of ducking a politically uncomfortable issue.

Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., the ranking member on the committee, was the only Democrat present for the hearing’s opening statements. He asked a handful of questions before appearing to leave sometime before Chairman Rand Paul, R-Ky., addressed witnesses Nick Shirley, James O’Keefe and Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette.

Otherwise, the Democratic side of the dais was vacant.

FTC CHIEF ACCUSES DEMOCRATS OF ‘TRYING TO PROTECT THE FRAUDSTERS’ BY WITHHOLDING DATA FROM TRUMP ADMIN

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Republicans, left, appear at the Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing on fraud in America, but Democrats, dais on right, appeared to largely skip the forum.(US Senate Homeland Security Committee)

Fox News Digital reached out to every Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security Committee, but none responded by press time. Fox News Digital also reached out to Paul for his reaction.

Republicans and conservative commentators quickly criticized the Democrats’ absence amid ongoing scrutiny of fraud cases in Minnesota, California and other states.

Besides Peters, who did not stay for the main portion of the hearing, Democrats on the panel include senators John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Ruben Gallego of Arizona, Andy Kim of New Jersey and Elissa Slotkin of Michigan.

OWNER OF DAYCARE IN VIRAL NICK SHIRLEY VIDEO CHARGED IN $4.6M DAYCARE FRAUD SCHEME, PROSECUTORS SAY

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A Fox News Channel screenshot shows Chairman Rand Paul, R-Ky., left, presiding over a hearing with no Democrats, right, present.(The Faulkner Focus/Fox News)

At one point, Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, pointed out the elephant — or donkey — missing from the room.

When Paul turned to call on Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., to offer his questions, Moreno said a Democrat is supposed to be given time to question witnesses after a Republican finishes.

“If there were a Democrat here, yes,” Paul replied. “So, there’s no Democrats present at a hearing about fraud,” Moreno said, leading Paul to state for the record, “There doesn’t appear to be a great deal of interest across the aisle.”

The lack of attendance from the Democrats drew criticisms online.

Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., labeled the no-show Democrats “cowards” in an X message.

Fox News anchor Harris Faulkner asked Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., about the optics of Democrats’ half-circle of empty seats on Wednesday.

“They don’t want to know the truth about this. … You look at these areas that have just basically turned a blind eye and have let people move forward with fraud,” Blackburn said.

TOP FEDERAL PROSECUTOR CALLS CALIFORNIA A ‘FRAUDSTER’S PARADISE,’ WARNS STATE OFFICIALS COULD FACE CHARGES

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Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., and ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, was the only Democrat to appear and stayed only for opening remarks.(Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Blackburn previously introduced legislation that would make defrauding the federal government a denaturalizing and deportable offense, she said.

Florida political reporter Eric Daugherty commented that the Senate held an important “anti-taxpayer fraud meeting … with Nick Shirley and James O’Keefe, and … every single Democrat seat is empty.”

“One hundred percent of Democrats on the committee were invited – 0% showed up. The party of fraud,” Daugherty declared.

During the hearing, Shirley sounded off about what he and his reporting partner David Hoch discovered as they visited various, largely Somali-owned daycare center addresses in Minneapolis.

“When we talk about fraud, we are talking about money stolen from hardworking, law-abiding, taxpaying citizens,” Shirley said.

“This issue has nothing to do with political parties, because no dollar says Republican or Democrat on it. When a fraudster commits fraud, he or she steals from all of us. The worst part is that fraud affects the most vulnerable and needy, as they rely the most on government services,” he said, describing a 43-minute video he composed from touring such sites with Hoch in Minneapolis.

Shirley and Hoch’s work later earned them a State of the Union invitation from Rep. Pete Stauber, R-Minn.

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https://www.foxnews.com/video/6400984996112

With the Democratic dais vacant, Shirley noted that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz announced in January 2026 that he would not seek a third term, and the daycare organization with the highest level of government funding purportedly pleaded guilty to fraud and the largest “autism fraud” bust in history has occurred in Minnesota.

“Elon Musk was right when he said, ‘The fraudsters always complain the loudest,’” he said.

James O’Keefe testified about his work in Los Angeles, where he and his journalists recorded 28 exchanges with election petition circulators offering money or drugs in exchange for ballot signatures.

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“They campaign in this building (the Capitol) about freedom and protecting democracy, preventing disenfranchisement and how nobody is above the law,” O’Keefe testified.

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“But if those principles are not enforced when they are violated in broad daylight, they are not principles at all. They are slogans.”

Trump weighing options for expanding military operations in Iran

2026-07-15 5:24 PM ET / CNN

By Kevin Liptak

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A screengrab from a video obtained from social media on July 15 shows a view shortly before what US Central Command says was a US strike on Iran.

US Central Command/Reuters

President Donald Trump has been receiving options for expanding the military operation in Iran, according to two people familiar with the matter, including during a Situation Room meeting on Tuesday that centered on ways to intensify efforts to loosen Iran’s grip on the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump has publicly said he intends to strike Iran harder over the coming week, including threats on civilian infrastructure and potentially energy targets. Behind the scenes, he has been discussing various scenarios for future military action with senior officials, hoping to identify ways to pressure Iran into submitting to US demands after existing efforts have failed to bring Tehran to heel.

Over the past five days, the US has carried out daily strikes on Iranian positions along the Strait of Hormuz, including Wednesday on tiny Greater Tunb Island in the Strait of Hormuz, which has acted as a base for the Iranian military.

Officials said the strikes are intended to degrade Iran’s ability to prevent commercial vessels from transiting the waterway. But destroying targets like missile launchers and radars could also lay the groundwork for the larger US military operations Trump has been mulling, officials said.

According to the two officials, Trump is now weighing an operation to take Kharg Island, the critical Iranian export hub, and to bomb underground complexes at Pickaxe Mountain, believed to be connected to Iran’s nuclear program.

He affirmed his interest in both targets during interviews this week, though he suggested a ground operation to take Kharg may fall to another country.

“We have other people that will do the ground campaign for us,” he said on Fox News, without explaining further.

Trump has previously offered public and private indications he’s ready to escalate, only to back off. But he has grown frustrated that Iran is not capitulating on his nuclear red lines and continues to restrict traffic through the strait.

The president has oscillated between casting doubt on Iran’s willingness to negotiate a deal and claiming Tehran was prepared to return to the bargaining table.

“They want to settle so badly. They don’t like what we’re doing, and they do want to settle. We’ll find out whether or not we settle with them, or we just finish it off,” he said Wednesday at a defense industry event in Pennsylvania.

A week ago, Trump offered a different viewpoint, claiming it was a “waste of time” to continue talking to Iran.

Speaking in a three-hour interview with Joe Rogan on Tuesday, Vice President JD Vance — the administration’s lead negotiator with Iran — said the war will not be won through military force alone.

“You can bomb them, you can take away their radar, you can take away some of their drones and some of their missiles, but it’s just too easy to fire at ships in the straits,” he said. “So you’ve got to actually be willing to talk and to try to figure out the problem.”

Woman who schemed to lure vulnerable migrants to US for sex work pleads guilty

2026-07-15T21:18:06.700Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/15/politics/woman-scheme-traffic-women-to-us-sex-work-pleads-guilty

Several years ago, a family came to the United States and took up a terrifying new endeavor: smuggling young, poor women from Central and South America into the country and forcing them into prostitution.

The scheme was rather straightforward, according to court documents. One or two members of the family would contact women abroad and offer them resources to illegally immigrate and a legitimate job when they arrived. All the women needed to do was pay back their travel fees.

But once they were on the way, the women were told that price had increased, often by tens of thousands of dollars. The women felt they had no choice but to agree to engage in commercial sex and hand over the proceeds, prosecutors said.

On Wednesday, the ringleader of the operation — and the matriarch of the family — pleaded guilty to three conspiracy charges: sex trafficking, conspiring to bring illegal aliens into the US for financial gain, and money laundering.

The woman, Yilibeth del Carmen Rivero-De Caldera, faces up to life in prison.

The victims are young people who “think they’re coming to America for some type of opportunity for a better life,” Tysen Duva, who runs the Justice Department’s criminal division, told CNN. “They want to get here. They want to leave from where they come from. They’re going to pay money to do it. But what they don’t realize is the sex debt they’re going to be incurring when they get here.”

CNN has reached out to Rivero-De Caldera’s attorney for comment, as well as the attorneys for her eight codefendants, who have all pleaded guilty.

“As a young teenager, my client walked through and survived the jungles of the Darien Gap seeking refuge and a better future,” said Meggan Sullivan, the attorney for one of Rivero-De Caldera’s daughters-in-law. “Instead, she became the victim of a family of traffickers who groomed and controlled her” until she joined their scheme, Sullivan said.

“Before we judge survivors, we have to understand the extraordinary vulnerabilities traffickers deliberately exploit,” Sullivan continued. “We cannot understand these cases unless we understand the trauma, coercion, and survival that define them.”

According to court documents, Rivero-De Caldera, a Venezuelan national, entered the United States in 2022 and jump-started the trafficking operation out of motels in Nashville, Tennessee.

Prosecutors allege that within a year, Rivero-De Caldera’s two sons, daughter, and their partners also entered the country and joined the scheme, as did two associates.

The group allegedly sent travel money to victims, hired smugglers to help them enter the US, and sometimes even escorted victims into the country and to Tennessee.

When they arrived, the victims were surveilled on a “near-constant basis” to ensure they didn’t escape, court documents say. Their immigration documents were often withheld. Some victims told investigators they believed Rivero-De Caldera and one of her sons were connected to Tren de Aragua, a cartel and US-designated terrorist organization, and worried the gang would hurt their families if they refused to comply, according to the documents.

One victim highlighted in court documents said she traveled through multiple countries by bus and on foot before she entered the United States. But during her journey, the woman, who is not named by prosecutors, was allegedly told she was going to be fined $35,000 because she was bringing along her 5-year-old daughter.

Because the woman couldn’t afford to pay that additional fee, she began working in commercial sex, prosecutors say, adding that she was repeatedly warned that there would be consequences should she try to escape before she had fully paid her debt.

When law enforcement arrived to arrest one of Rivero’s sons, they found the woman’s daughter in his hotel room, prosecutors say. Her mother was in a separate room with a client.

Prosecutors say Rivero-De Caldera and the codefendants used proceeds from forced prostitution to bring new victims to the US

The Justice Department has made human trafficking one of its top priorities.

It is one of the most profitable criminal enterprises, according to the Justice Department, along with gun and drug trafficking. Human trafficking is estimated to be a $32 billion-a-year global industry, the department says.

To that end, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said last month that he was appointing prosecutor Alessandra Serano to act as a liaison to other federal agencies on the department’s human trafficking and child exploitation work.

Serano told CNN that she hopes to “take the best of what DOJ has to offer” on its human trafficking investigations and partner with “other agencies like Homeland Security, the State Department, (and) state and local organizations, to work together to combat this problem.”

Serano is tasked with submitting a report to the deputy attorney general updating the department’s strategies to combat human trafficking and child exploitation within 120 days of her appointment.

New York Times seeks to block subpoenas to reporters over Air Force One reporting

July 15, 2026 11:37 PM UTC / Reuters

People walk by The New York Times building in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., September 16, 2025. REUTERS/Kylie Cooper

WASHINGTON, July 15 (Reuters) – The New York Times filed a court motion to block federal grand jury subpoenas to three of its journalists over their reporting on security concerns involving President Donald Trump’s new Qatari-donated Air Force One, a spokesperson said on Wednesday.

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Reporting by Andrew Goudsward; Editing by Christian Martinez

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EXCLUSIVE: Pence pushes to rename bill for Lindsey Graham, recalls final talk: ‘Bring Putin to the table’

July 15, 2026 7:31pm EDT / Fox News

The former vice president described Graham as a tireless advocate for Ukraine, NATO and sustained economic pressure on Putin

By Brittany Miller Fox News

Senators push to pass Graham-backed Russia sanctions bill

Sen. Dave McCormick, R-Pa., discusses the bipartisan effort to pass the Russia sanctions bill, aimed at increasing pressure on Vladimir Putin to end the Ukraine war. McCormick also details President Donald Trump’s address at the Pennsylvania Defense and Innovation Summit on ‘Fox & Friends.’

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FIRST ON FOX: Former Vice President Mike Pence is calling on Congress to rename Sen. Lindsey Graham’s signature Russia sanctions legislation after the late South Carolina Republican, telling Fox News Digital there would be “no more fitting tribute” to one of the Senate’s most influential national security hawks.

In an exclusive interview, Pence said Graham’s years-long push for tougher sanctions against Russia should become both his legislative legacy and a permanent reminder of his unwavering support for Ukraine and America’s allies.

Pence argued Congress has a rare opportunity to honor Graham by passing the bipartisan sanctions package he spent years championing and sending it to President Donald Trump with the senator’s name attached.

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GRAHAM REPORTEDLY REFUSED MEDICAL HELP BEFORE SCHEDULED TV APPEARANCE

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FILE – Former Vice President Mike Pence told Fox News Digital Graham always took time to inquire about his family, recalling one of their last conversations.(Jose Sarmento Matos/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“I also believe it’d be altogether fitting to put Senator Lindsey Graham’s name on that bill,” Pence told Fox News Digital. “Send it to the President, have him sign it into law.”

Pence said Graham viewed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as one of the defining geopolitical challenges of the era and believed economic pressure was essential to forcing Russian President Vladimir Putin to negotiate.

“He never had any illusions about who we were dealing with — with Vladimir Putin,” Pence said.

The former vice president, who has traveled to Ukraine twice since Russia’s invasion, said Graham understood that Ukraine represented “a frontier of freedom” and consistently pushed both Republican and Democratic administrations to stand firmly with America’s allies.

When asked whether the sanctions legislation could ultimately become Graham’s greatest achievement, Pence said it may well define how history remembers the longtime senator.

“I think it could be,” Pence said.

EUROPE BANKROLLS PUTIN’S WAR MACHINE EVEN AS NATO RACES TO BOLSTER DEFENSES

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FILE – Pence priased Graham’s advocacy for Israel, Ukraine and a stronger NATO alliance.(Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

He pointed to Graham’s decades-long advocacy for Israel, Ukraine and a stronger NATO alliance, saying the senator remained remarkably consistent throughout his public career.

Pence said Graham also played an important role in encouraging NATO allies to increase defense spending during the first Trump administration, while remaining one of Israel’s fiercest advocates on Capitol Hill.

For Pence, however, Graham’s final legislative push is inseparable from one of their last conversations together.

He still remembers the meeting vividly.

Pence and his wife, Karen, had just landed at Reagan National Airport and were making their way through the terminal when they spotted Graham heading toward another gate.

As he almost always did, Graham began by asking about Pence’s family.

The senator wanted updates on Pence’s son, a Marine Corps fighter pilot, and his son-in-law, a Navy fighter pilot. Pence said Graham never forgot to ask about them.

But after briefly catching up, the conversation shifted to the issue occupying Graham’s attention in his final months.

“We went straight into a conversation about Ukraine sanctions,” Pence recalled.

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FILE – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, left, meets with Sen. Lindsey Graham in Kyiv, Ukraine, on March 18, 2024. Pence said Graham’s bipartisan Russia sanctions bill should be renamed in the senator’s honor.(Ukrainian Presidency/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Pence thanked Graham for leading the effort and mentioned a Wall Street Journal opinion piece supporting tougher sanctions against Russia.

Graham immediately leaned in.

“He did one of those — puts his finger in my chest — and said, ‘You just stay on this. This is the way we’re gonna get this done. This is the way you bring Putin to the table.’”

The two men embraced before heading toward separate gates.

“We parted with a handshake and a hug,” Pence said.

LINDSEY GRAHAM, SOUTH CAROLINA SENATOR WHO ROSE FROM SMALL-TOWN ROOTS TO GOP POWER BROKER, DIES AT 71

Looking back, Pence said that brief airport encounter perfectly captured the man he had known for decades.

Graham enjoyed talking about family and could always be counted on for a joke, Pence said, but the personal conversation rarely lasted long before he returned to public policy.

“He was a very serious legislator,” Pence said. “He was a man who was deeply committed to policy.”

Pence said Graham’s convictions never changed, whether the issue was supporting the military, standing with Israel, protecting unborn life or confronting authoritarian regimes like Russia, Iran and China.

“He never wavered,” Pence said.

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The former vice president said he learned of Graham’s death Sunday morning and remains deeply saddened by the loss of someone he first came to know during the Republican Revolution of the 1990s before serving alongside him in Congress and later in the Trump administration.

“I was taken aback by the news,” Pence said. “I really, really have a heavy heart, to this hour.”

Pence said he hopes lawmakers finish the work Graham dedicated years to advancing.

“I really do believe there would be no more fitting tribute to the life and vision of Senator Lindsey Graham than for Congress to pass and the president to sign the tough Russia sanctions bill,” Pence said.

“I’m going to continue to champion that in the days ahead.”

The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Brittany Miller is a Fox News Digital breaking news writer and former Independent reporter who graduated from Syracuse University in 2023.