10/04/2026

FRIDAY | APR 10, 2026

/thesuntelegram FOLLOW / Malaysian Paper

ON TELEGRAM m RAM

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Over 300 humanitarian workers killed last year NEW YORK:

Justice Dept sues veteran over classified intel leak

United Nations (UN) Humanitarian Affairs Under-Secretary-General Tom Fletcher said yesterday 326 humanitarian workers were killed across 21 countries in 2025. Emirates News Agency reported that the figure brought the total number of humanitarian personnel killed over the past three years to more than 1,010. In a briefing to the UN Security Council on the protection of humanitarian workers and UN personnel, Fletcher said more than 560 of the deaths were recorded in Gaza and the West Bank, 130 in Sudan, 60 in South Sudan, 25 in Ukraine and 25 in Congo. Fletcher said the death toll has tripled over the past three years compared with the previous three-year period. “This escalation is not a coincidence but a collapse of the protection system.” He added that these humanitarian workers were killed while distributing food, water, shelter and medicine, and lost their lives while travelling in clearly marked convoys and carrying out missions coordinated directly with the relevant authorities. – Bernama-WAM Venezuela interim leader announces raise in wages CARACAS: Venezuela’s interim president Delcy Rodriguez on Wednesday promised a hike in wages, which have been eroded by years of inflation and economic collapse. The minimum hourly wage in Venezuela is currently equivalent to 27 US cents (RM1.08), with annual inflation exceeding 600%. For ordinary Venezuelans, monthly wages can reach US$150 with state-provided bonuses, but that is hardly enough to cover a family’s basic food needs, estimated at US$645. “I announce that on May 1, we will implement an increase, and that this increase will be a responsible one,“ said Rodríguez, without providing details. Rodríguez, in power since the US capture of Nicolas Maduro on Jan 3, declared that past economic “mistakes” must be “corrected”. She is governing under pressure from US President Donald Trump, who has stated that he is in charge of the country and the sale of its oil. Unions and workers complain about “poverty wages”that have been frozen for years. – AFP

WASHINGTON: A US army veteran was charged on Wednesday with providing classified information to a journalist for a book that alleges drug trafficking, murder and corruption at a military base where she had worked, the Justice Department said. Courtney Williams, 40, of Wagram in North Carolina was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges related to “her alleged transmission of classified national defence information to individuals not authorised to receive it, including a journalist”, it said. Prosecutors allege that Williams violated a provision of the US Espionage Act 1917. The case comes as free-speech advocates have raised concerns about the Trump administration’s aggressive posture towards media leaks from government employees upset with US policies and actions. Williams worked from 2010 to 2016 for a special military unit at a US army base in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and held “Top

Alleged refugee killer ruled unfit to stand trial WASHINGTON: A 35-year-old American man accused of murdering a Ukrainian refugee in a case that drew the attention of US President Donald Trump has been found mentally incompetent to stand trial in state court, US media reported on Wednesday. DeCarlos Brown Jr is charged with stabbing to death Iryna Zarutska, 23, as she rode home from work on a commuter train in Charlotte, North Carolina last August. He also faces charges in federal court, which prosecutors said would not be impacted by the latest motion. “Brown is in federal custody on a federal indictment. The state proceedings, including any competency finding in those proceedings, are separate,“ the US Attorney’s Office for the Western District of North Carolina said. WBTV and other local television stations said a state psychiatric facility has determined that Brown is “incapable to proceed”and his lawyer is asking the judge to delay his trial until his competency is restored. The case became a political rallying point for the US right, and Trump called Brown, who is African-American, an “animal” on Truth Social. Security camera footage of the knife assault was widely shared on right-wing outlets and social media accounts to bolster Trump’s crackdown on crime. Brown has many prior convictions, including an armed robbery that led to five years’ prison. – AFP Prior US administrations have on rare occasions pursued legal cases against sources of leaks to the media that have aimed to expose government wrongdoing, dating as far back as the “Pentagon Papers” from the Vietnam War and as recently as the Iraq war logs. – Reuters cast the charges against her as “vague and weak”. The Justice Department cited messages from Williams to the journalist from the time of the book’s release, in which she expressed concerns “about the amount of classified information being disclosed”. She also messaged another person, who the department did not identify, expressing fear that she might get arrested for the disclosure, prosecutors said. Williams signed a classified information NDA when she joined the special military unit in 2010 and again when she left that job, according to the complaint filed against her.

o Reporter labels soldier ‘courageous whistleblower who exposed rampant gender discrimination, sexual harassment in US army’

specific statements to her. The Justice Department alleges that some of those statements contain “classified national defence information”. Prosecutors also noted that Williams made what they called unauthorised disclosures of national defence information through her social media accounts. A representative for Williams could not immediately be reached for comment. After the indictment, Harp said Williams was a “courageous whistleblower who exposed rampant gender discrimination and sexual harassment in the US army Delta Force”. He also said Williams wanted to be quoted by name in his work and

Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information security clearance”, the department said. Prosecutors allege that between 2022 and 2025, Williams repeatedly communicated by phone and text message with a journalist who was seeking information for an article and book about the unit. Williams and the journalist spent more than 10 hours on phone calls and exchanged more than 180 messages, the department said. While court filings did not identify the reporter, journalist Seth Harp wrote a book published last year titled “The Fort Bragg Cartel: Drug Trafficking and Murder in the Special Forces” and an accompanying article that named Williams as a source and attributed

WARM WELCOME ... French President Emmanuel Macron (right) shaking hands with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet before a meeting at the Elysee Presidential Palace in Paris on Wednesday. – AFPPIC

Man arrested after wife goes missing at sea WASHINGTON: A Michigan man has been arrested by Bahamian cause we have,“ said police officer Advardo Dames. by providing aerial surveillance. Despite these efforts, there were no confirmed sightings.”

vessel’s engine to shut off before strong currents carried her away. Hooker paddled to shore after losing sight of his wife, it said. After arriving on shore, he informed an individual of the incident and police were alerted, the Police Force said. Before being taken into custody, Hooker posted on Facebook that he was “heartbroken over the recent boat accident”. “Despite attempts to reach her, the winds and currents drove us apart. We continue to search for her and that is my sole focus.” – Reuters

Hooker, 59, has yet to be charged and it was not immediately clear if he had legal representation. Bahamian authorities on Tuesday called off rescue efforts and started recovery operations in the area where Lynette went missing, said a Bahamas Defence Force spokesperson. “The Defence Force, along with police, conducted extensive search efforts between Elbow Cay and mainland Abaco,“ a Bahamian naval military forces spokesperson said. “The US coast guard also assisted

authorities after his wife went missing at sea over the weekend, the police assistant commissioner in the Caribbean nation said on Wednesday, after search and rescue efforts were called off. Brian Hooker’s arrest came after the US coast guard launched a criminal investigation into the case following the disappearance of his wife Lynette, 55, a US official said. “We took him into custody at 7.30pm in Abaco for additional questioning based on some probable

The spokesperson said only a flotation device was discovered along the shoreline during its search. Lynette went missing while travelling at sea with her husband in the Abacos on April 4, police said. Hooker said they left Hope Town, Abaco at 7.30pm EDT (2300 GMT) on a 2.4m hard-bottom dinghy en route to Elbow Cay, police said. According to the police report, Hooker said his wife fell overboard with the boat’s keys, causing the