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Man charged for Molotov cocktail attack on Democrat

Judge blocks Trump deportation push NEW YORK: A federal judge on Monday blocked US President Donald Trump’s administration from quickly revoking the legal status of hundreds of thousands of immigrants from Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua and Haiti. The ruling by district judge Indira Talwani in Boston is the latest order against Trump’s rapid push to carry out mass deportations, particularly targeting Latin Americans. In March, the administration said it was moving to revoke the legal status of some 532,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans who came to the United States under a “parole” programme launched by former president Joe Biden in October 2022. “The court grants emergency relief staying the Termination of Parole Processes for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans,“ Talwani wrote in her order. The programme allowed entry to the United States for two years for up to 30,000 migrants per month from the four countries, which have grim human rights records. Talwani said the Trump administration had acted on a flawed interpretation of immigration law, with expedited removal applicable to non-citizens entering the United States illegally but not those authorised to be in the country, such as through the parole programme. – AFP ROME: Italy’s “baby bonus” initiative was launched on Monday, marking the latest step in the country’s efforts to reverse its declining birthrate, Xinhua reported. The Italian National Institute for Social Security unveiled the formal process for families to access a tax-free allowance of EUR$1,000 (RM5,000) for each child born or adopted this year. The bonus would be granted to Italian citizens as well as citizens of other European Union (EU) member states and non-EU nationals who hold legal long-term residency in Italy. The Italian National Statistics Institute reported in March that the country’s fertility rate in 2024 fell to a record low of 1.18 children per woman, down from the previous record of 1.19 set in 1995. – Bernama-Xinhua PERU MOURNS LITERARY ICON MARIO VARGAS LLOSA LIMA: The Peruvian flag flew at half-staff on Monday as the country marked the passing of literary great Mario Vargas Llosa with a day of national mourning. President Dina Boluarte attended a private wake at the Vargas Llosa family home for the novelist and Nobel laureate who died there on Sunday, aged 89. The Nobel Prize committee hailed Vargas Llosa as “a significant figure in Latin American literature and culture”, recalling that he was awarded the 2010 Nobel Prize in Literature “for his cartography of structures of power and his trenchant images of the individual’s resistance, revolt and defeat”. The family has not specified the cause of death but his health had been deteriorating in recent months. – AFP ‘BABY BONUS’ SCHEME TO BOOST BIRTHRATE IN ITALY

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Balmer then walked up to the state police headquarters and told an officer that he was responsible for the blaze. During a hearing, Balmer was arraigned before judge Dale Klein, a court official said. He is next due in court on April 23. Top Republican officials reacted to the attack on Sunday, with US Attorney-General Pam Bondi saying she was “deeply relieved that Shapiro and his family are safe”. Vice-President J. D. Vance called the attack “really disgusting violence” and expressed hope that “whoever did it is brought swiftly to justice”. President Donald Trump, who survived an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania last year, called Shapiro’s assailant a “whack job”, adding that “certainly a thing like that cannot be allowed to happen”. Shapiro was in the race to be Democrat Kamala Harris’s running mate in her ultimately unsuccessful US presidential bid but the position instead went to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. Shapiro, an assertive political centrist, was elected governor of Pennsylvania in 2022 when he faced off against a far-right candidate backed by Trump. – AFP

presidential contender, was inside with his family when the fire broke out in a different part of the Georgian-style mansion in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on Sunday, state police said. “While the fire was successfully extinguished, it caused a significant amount of damage to a portion of the residence.” Shapiro said he and his sleeping family were woken up by a police trooper at 2am local time (0600 GMT) and they were evacuated from the building. “This kind of violence is becoming far too common in our society and I do not give a damn if it is coming from one particular side or the other. It is not okay and it has to stop.” In charging documents released on Monday, police said Balmer was captured on surveillance cameras climbing a perimeter fence, breaking a window and throwing a gasoline-filled Heineken beer bottle, before breaking another window, entering the residence and igniting another bottle. He then fled the property. An ex-lover of Balmer called police and reported that the alleged arsonist wanted to hand himself in, the criminal complaint alleged.

NEW YORK: US prosecutors charged a man on Monday with the attempted murder of Democratic heavyweight and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, 51, after a weekend arson attack at his official residence, court filings showed. Cody Balmer, 38, is charged with attempted criminal homicide and seven other offences, including terrorism affecting the government and prowling at nighttime. He was denied bail. He told police that he harboured “hatred towards Shapiro”, who is Jewish and earlier had marked the first night of the Passover holiday with friends and family. Shapiro said he would not be intimidated in observing his faith following what prosecutors have called a “homemade Molotov cocktail” attack. Shapiro, widely viewed as a potential 2028 o Jewish politician says he will not be intimidated in observing his faith

Suspect prosecuted over arson at Tesla dealership LOS ANGELES: A man who allegedly torched two vehicles at a Tesla dealership and painted “Die Elon” on the side of the building has been hit with federal charges, the US Justice Department said on Monday. President Donald Trump. Two Tesla vehicles were damaged in the firebomb attack on a showroom in Albuquerque on Feb 9 and slogans likening Musk and his company to Nazis were sprayed on the walls. malicious damage or destruction of property by fire or explosives, he could be jailed for up to 20 years on each count, the department said. DARING DISSENT ... Demonstrators rallying in protest of workforce cuts by the Department of Government Efficiency outside the Labour Department headquarters in Washington, DC on Monday. – AFPPIC

cost-cutting drive at the head of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency. Lauded by Republicans and hated by Democrats, he has rapidly become one of the most controversial figures in the country. Several Tesla dealerships and a number of cars in the United States and around the world have been vandalised, and the company’s stock price has taken a hammering. – AFP

Federal prosecution carries a stiff penalty compared to local law, in which such a crime typically results in a sentence starting from 18 months’ jail and a US$5,000 (RM22,054) fine. In March, Trump suggested that people who vandalise Tesla property could be deported to prisons in El Salvador. Musk, the South Africa-born billionaire chief of Tesla and SpaceX, is leading Trump’s ruthless

“Let this be the final lesson to those taking part in this ongoing wave of political violence,“ Attorney-General Pam Bondi said in a statement. “We will arrest you, we will prosecute you and we will not negotiate. Crimes have consequences.”

Jamison Wagner, 40, who lives in the western state of New Mexico, was also charged over a firebomb attack that hit an office of the state’s Republican Party last month. If convicted on the two counts of

The charges are the latest to be levied in connection to attacks on the electric vehicle maker, whose boss Elon Musk has become a hate figure for some over his role in slashing government jobs as a top advisor to