ALEX BLOG

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The 22-year-old Utah man charged withkilling conservative activist Charlie Kirkis due back in court Friday as his attorneys seek to disqualify prosecutors in the case over an alleged conflict of interest.

Tyler Robinson is charged with aggravated murder in Kirk'sSept. 10 shootingon theUtah Valley Universitycampus in Orem, just a few miles north of the Provo courthouse. Prosecutors with the Utah County Attorney's Office plan toseek the death penaltyif Robinson is convicted. Robinson has not yet entered a plea.

An 18-year-old child of a deputy county attorney attended the campus event where Kirk was shot. The child, whose name was redacted from court filings, later texted with their father in the Utah County Attorney's Office to describe the chaotic events around the shooting, the filings from prosecutors and defense lawyers state.

Defense attorneys say that personal relationship is a conflict of interest that "raises serious concerns about past and future prosecutorial decision-making in this case," according to court documents. They also argue that the "rush" to seek the death penalty against Robinson is evidence of "strong emotional reactions" by the prosecution and merits the disqualification of the entire team.

Several thousand people attended the outdoor rally where Kirk, a co-founder of Turning Point USA whohelped mobilize young peopleto vote for President Donald Trump, was shot as he took questions from the audience. The child of the deputy county attorney did not see the shooting, according to an affidavit submitted by prosecutors.

"While the second person in line was speaking with Charlie, I was looking around the crowd when I heard a loud sound, like a pop. Someone yelled, 'he's been shot,'" the child stated in the affidavit.

The child later texted a family group chat to say "CHARLIE GOT SHOT." In the aftermath of the shooting, the child did not miss classes or other activities, and reported no lasting trauma "aside from being scared at the time," the affidavit said.

Prosecutors have asked District Judge Tony Graf to deny the disqualification request.

"Under these circumstances, there is virtually no risk, let alone a significant risk, that it would arouse such emotions in any father-prosecutor as to render him unable to fairly prosecute the case," Utah County Attorney Jeffrey Gray said in a filing.

Gray also said the child was "neither a material witness nor a victim in the case" and that "nearly everything" the person knows about the actual homicide is mere hearsay.

The Associated Press left email and telephone messages for Robinson's defense attorney, Kathryn Nester.

Prosecutors have said text messages and DNA evidence connect Robinson to the killing. Robinson reportedly texted his romantic partner that he targeted Kirk because he "had enough of his hatred."

At recent hearings, Robinson's legal team has pushed tolimit media accessin the high-profile case. Graf has prohibited media from publishing photos, videos and live broadcasts that show Robinson's restraints to help protect his presumption of innocence before a trial.

The judge has not ruled on a suggestion by the defense toban camerasin the courtroom.

Prosecutors are expected to lay out their case against Robinson at a preliminary hearing scheduled to begin May 18.

Brown reported from Billings, Montana.

MADRID (AP) — Venezuelans living in Spain reacted to the news ofNicolás Maduro'scapture by U.S. forces with a mix ofawe, joy and fear,gathering at rallies and watchingthe events unfoldback home at breakneck speed.

Some 600,000Venezuelans live in Spain, home to the largest population anywhere outside the Americas. Many fled political persecution and violence but also the country's collapsing economy.

A majority live in the capital, Madrid, working in hospitals, restaurants, cafes, nursing homes and elsewhere. While some Venezuelan migrants have established deep roots and lives in the Iberian nation, others have just arrived.

Here is what three of them had to say about the events unfolding back home.

A father wants justice for his son

David Vallenilla woke up to text messages from a cousin on Jan. 3 informing him "that they invaded Venezuela." The 65-year-old from Caracas lives alone in a tidy apartment in the south of Madrid with two Daschunds and a handful of birds. He was in disbelief.

"In that moment, I wanted certainty," Vallenilla said, "certainty about what they were telling me."

In June 2017, Vallenilla's son, a 22-year-old nursing student in Caracas named David José, was shot point-blank by a Venezuelan soldier after taking part in a protest near a military air base in the capital. He later died from his injuries. Video footage of the incident was widely publicized, turning his son's death into an emblematic case of theMaduro government's repression against protesters that year.

After demanding answers for his son's death, Vallenilla, too, started receiving threats and decided two years later to move to Spain with the help of an nongovernmental organization.

On the day of Maduro's capture, Vallenilla said his phone was flooded with messages about his son.

"Many told me, 'Now David will be resting in peace. David must be happy in heaven,'" he said. "But don't think it was easy: I spent the whole day crying."

Vallenilla is watching the events in Venezuela unfold with skepticism but also hope. He fears more violence, but says he has hope the Trump administration can effect the change that Venezuelans like his son tried to obtain through elections, popular protests and international institutions.

"Nothing will bring back my son. But the fact that some justice has begun to be served for those responsible helps me see a light at the end of the tunnel. Besides, I also hope for a free Venezuela."

A mother hopes her daughters can visit a democratic Venezuela

Journalist Carleth Morales first came to Madrid a quarter-century ago when Hugo Chávez was reelected as Venezuela's president in 2000 under a new constitution.

The 54-year-old wanted to study and return home, taking a break of sorts in Madrid as she sensed a political and economic environment that was growing more and more challenging.

"I left with the intention of getting more qualified, of studying, and of returning because I understood that the country was going through a process of adaptation between what we had known before and, well, Chávez and his new policies," Morales said. "But I had no idea that we were going to reach the point we did."

In 2015, Morales founded an organization of Venezuelan journalists in Spain, which today has hundreds of members.

The morning U.S. forces captured Maduro, Morales said she woke up to a barrage of missed calls from friends and family in Venezuela.

"Of course, we hope to recover a democratic country, a free country, a country where human rights are respected," Morales said. "But it's difficult to think that as a Venezuelan when we've lived through so many things and suffered so much."

Morales sees it as unlikely that she would return home, having spent more than two decades in Spain, but she said she hopes her daughters can one day view Venezuela as a viable option.

"I once heard a colleague say, 'I work for Venezuela so that my children will see it as a life opportunity.' And I adopted that phrase as my own. So perhaps in a few years it won't be me who enjoys a democratic Venezuela, but my daughters."

A woman worries about husband, brother in Venezuelan prisons

For two weeks, Verónica Noya has waited for her phone to ring with the news that her husband and brother have been freed.

Noya's husband, Venezuelan army Capt. Antonio Sequea, was imprisoned in 2020 after having taken part in a military incursionto oust Maduro. She said he remains in solitary confinement in the El Rodeo prison in Caracas. For 20 months, Noya has been unable to communicate with him or her brother, who was also arrested for taking part in the same plot.

"That's when my nightmare began," Noya said.

Venezuelan authorities have said hundreds of political prisoners have been released since Maduro's capture, while rights groups have said the real number is a fraction of that. Noya has waited in agony to hear anything about her four relatives, including her husband's mother, who remain imprisoned.

Meanwhile, she has struggled with what to tell her children when they ask about their father's whereabouts. They left Venezuela scrambling and decided to come to Spain because family roots in the country meant that Noya already had a Spanish passport.

Still, she hopes to return to her country.

"I'm Venezuelan above all else," Noya said. "And I dream of seeing a newly democratic country."

As PresidentDonald Trumpcontinues to insistthat the United Statesmust take control of Greenland, federal officials are quietly preparing to pour tens of millions of dollars of upgrades into the sole American military base on the icy Arctic island.

Among the upgrades American military officials are planning are improvements to Pituffik Space Base's two-mile-long runway, a new boat to keep the port clear of icebergs and a slew of facility upgrades, including repairs to the Dundas dining facility. Today,about 150 American military personnel are stationedat the Cold War-era base formerly known at Thule Air Force Base, joined by hundreds of Canadian, Danish and Greenlandic military and contractors.

The base (pronounced bee-doo-FEEK)was renamed in 2023during the Biden administration to pay homage to the native Greenlandic people and culture. It's home to the northernmost deepwater port run by the Department of War, formally known as the Department of Defense, and Trump sees control of the entire island as key to American security.

Visual story:Trump's Greenland gambit explained with maps

"The United States needs Greenland," Trump wrote in a Jan. 14 social media post.

Cold War-era military planners built the base there, with Danish permission, because it's halfway between Moscow and Washington. Greenland is a self-governing country that's part of the Kingdom of Denmark, which is itself a member of NATO, and thus an ally of the United States.

While few details of the exact Pituffik base work have been made public, the improvements come during a time of intense focus on the glacier-covered island where temperatures routinely drop to -50 during the polar night darkness, which lasts more than three months a year. The base is on the island's western edge, close to Canada's Baffin Bay area, and about 1,000 miles from the island's capital of Nuuk.

None of the base improvements, which USA TODAY reviewed via federal purchasing systems, appear to signal a significant increase in size or change in mission. The runway upgrades, for instance, include improvements to the landing and taxiway lighting systems, a critical component given the facility is in darkness for long stretches but depends heavily on resupply flights from the U.S. mainland.

But notes in the contracting materials also reference classified work that might be performed by the U.S. military or specialized contractors.

Several of the projects have not yet been formally awarded to contractors, in part because the logistics of getting materials and people to the base during the short summer construction window. The contracts call for using engineers and other experts licensed in Denmark.

Because the winter dark is so oppressive to some people, the base uses "happy lamps" to simulate the sun and stave off seasonal affective disorder. In the summer, base personnel cover their windows with blackout shades because the sun doesn't set for nearly four months.

U.S. military officials did not return a request for comment on the projects.

Today, Pituffik's stated public mission is to host military personal who coordinate satellite communications and monitor for ballistic missile launches, while also monitoring near-Earth space.Base officials have previously saidtheir systems can detect a piece of metal the size of a softball from 3,000 miles away.

During the Cold War, military planners used Pituffik as a staging point for a test ofProject Iceworm, which would have secretly buried nuclear missile silos beneath the Greenland ice sheet. The effort was abandoned after scientists discovered the ice sheets moved faster than expected.

Trump and some military experts argue Greenland will play an increasing role in national security as Russia and China more aggressively explore and patrol Arctic regions. Climate change is weakening the sea ice that typically surrounds Greenland in the winter, allowing more ships to travel the Northwest Passage from Europe to Asia via Alaska and the Bering Sea.

Additionally, Greenland has deposits of rare earth minerals used to make smartphones, MRI machines and high-tech weapons systems.

The facility is jointly staffed by the U.S. and Danish military, and the Trump administration last Aprilfired the base commanderover comments she made to staff and contractors following a controversial Greenland trip byVice President JD Vance. White House officials indicated they felt the base commander's message of unity, which she sent to the multinational workers, undermined Trump's position.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Amid Trump threats, US military upgrading remote Greenland base

Legal challenges continue to mount for the Trump administration over itsongoing immigration crackdown in Minnesota, where theshooting death of an unarmed U.S. citizenlast week triggered days of sometimes violent protests.

On Thursday, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a class-action lawsuit in U.S. District Court for Minnesota against Immigration and Customs Enforcement on behalf of three people who say they have been racially profiled in recent weeks, the ACLU said in a statement.

"The Trump administration has been clear in its targeting of the Somali and Latino communities through Operation Metro Surge. President Trump called people from Somalia 'garbage,' said 'we don't want them in our country,' and told them to 'go back to where they came from,'" the statement read in part.

"Following Trump's comments, ICE and CBP agents have indiscriminately arrested — without warrants or probable cause — Minnesotans solely because the agents perceived them to be Somali or Latino," it said.

According to the lawsuit, multiple masked ICE agents stopped U.S citizen Mubashir Khalif Hussen, 20, on Dec. 10 during his lunch break. Hussen, who is of Somali descent and is the manager of a local mental health provider, said in the lawsuit that he repeatedly told the agents that he was a citizen but that they refused to look at his identification.

Hussen was put into an SUV and driven to a processing center where he was shackled and had his fingerprints taken, the lawsuit says. He was released after he provided a photo of his passport.

"At no time did any officer ask me whether I was a citizen or if I had any immigration status," Hussen said in a statement. "They did not ask for any identifying information, nor did they ask about my ties to the community, how long I had lived in the Twin Cities, my family in Minnesota, or anything else about my circumstances."

Federal agents questioned Mahamed Eydarus, 25, the same day, according to the lawsuit. He had just finished an overnight shift as a personal care assistant and was shoveling snow out of his parking space with the help of his mother when agents approached. They asked why Eydarus and his mother, who are both of Somali descent and both U.S. citizens, were speaking a foreign language, according to the lawsuit. The agents left after Eydarus and his mother showed the masked agents their identification, it says.

In an emailed statement, the Department of Homeland Security denied wrongdoing and called the allegations "disgusting, reckless, and categorically FALSE."

"What makes someone a target for immigration enforcement is if they are illegally in the U.S.—NOT their skin color, race, or ethnicity. Protected under the Fourth amendment of the U.S. Constitution, DHS law enforcement uses 'reasonable suspicion' to make arrests," the statement read in part. "There are no 'indiscriminate stops' being made. The Supreme Court recently vindicated us on this question. DHS enforces federal immigration law without fear, favor, or prejudice."

The ACLU lawsuit followsa separate legal challengethat Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison filed this week on behalf of the state and the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. It asked the court to declare the surge of 3,000 DHS agents unconstitutional and unlawful and to immediately stop operations.

The80-page lawsuitaccused federal immigration agencies of bringing "fear and terror" to the streets of Minnesota and using excessive force against residents. Citing the fatal shooting of Renee Good on Jan. 7, Ellison said immigration enforcement has caused schools and businesses to close and local police to log more than 3,000 hours in overtime from Jan. 7 to Jan. 9.

"The Trump Administration's decision to target Minnesota and the Twin Cities has been motivated by a desire to retaliate against perceived political enemies rather than good faith immigration enforcement, public safety, or law enforcement concerns," Ellison's office said in a statement.

"Immigration enforcement is clearly a pretext for the surge, as the percentage of Minnesota's population that are noncitizen immigrants without legal status sits at roughly 1.5%, which is less than half of the national average," the statement continued.

On Wednesday, a federal judge declined to immediately issue a temporary restraining order and asked for more evidence before ruling.

President Donald Trump said on Truth Social following the ruling that ICE will continue its operations.

"The great patriots of Law Enforcement will continue to make our Country safe. RECORD LOW CRIME NUMBERS!!!" the post read in part.

Hours later, DHSposted a message on Xwarning protesters to cooperate with federal officials or risk facing criminal justice:

"REMINDER: if you obstruct a law enforcement officer it is a federal crime and felony.

"If you lay a finger on law enforcement or destroy federal property you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

"Be smart."

As PresidentDonald Trumpcontinues to insistthat the United Statesmust take control of Greenland, federal officials are quietly preparing to pour tens of millions of dollars of upgrades into the sole American military base on the icy Arctic island.

Among the upgrades American military officials are planning are improvements to Pituffik Space Base's two-mile-long runway, a new boat to keep the port clear of icebergs and a slew of facility upgrades, including repairs to the Dundas dining facility. Today,about 150 American military personnel are stationedat the Cold War-era base formerly known at Thule Air Force Base, joined by hundreds of Canadian, Danish and Greenlandic military and contractors.

The base (pronounced bee-doo-FEEK)was renamed in 2023during the Biden administration to pay homage to the native Greenlandic people and culture. It's home to the northernmost deepwater port run by the Department of War, formally known as the Department of Defense, and Trump sees control of the entire island as key to American security.

Visual story:Trump's Greenland gambit explained with maps

"The United States needs Greenland," Trump wrote in a Jan. 14 social media post.

Cold War-era military planners built the base there, with Danish permission, because it's halfway between Moscow and Washington. Greenland is a self-governing country that's part of the Kingdom of Denmark, which is itself a member of NATO, and thus an ally of the United States.

While few details of the exact Pituffik base work have been made public, the improvements come during a time of intense focus on the glacier-covered island where temperatures routinely drop to -50 during the polar night darkness, which lasts more than three months a year. The base is on the island's western edge, close to Canada's Baffin Bay area, and about 1,000 miles from the island's capital of Nuuk.

None of the base improvements, which USA TODAY reviewed via federal purchasing systems, appear to signal a significant increase in size or change in mission. The runway upgrades, for instance, include improvements to the landing and taxiway lighting systems, a critical component given the facility is in darkness for long stretches but depends heavily on resupply flights from the U.S. mainland.

But notes in the contracting materials also reference classified work that might be performed by the U.S. military or specialized contractors.

Several of the projects have not yet been formally awarded to contractors, in part because the logistics of getting materials and people to the base during the short summer construction window. The contracts call for using engineers and other experts licensed in Denmark.

Because the winter dark is so oppressive to some people, the base uses "happy lamps" to simulate the sun and stave off seasonal affective disorder. In the summer, base personnel cover their windows with blackout shades because the sun doesn't set for nearly four months.

U.S. military officials did not return a request for comment on the projects.

Today, Pituffik's stated public mission is to host military personal who coordinate satellite communications and monitor for ballistic missile launches, while also monitoring near-Earth space.Base officials have previously saidtheir systems can detect a piece of metal the size of a softball from 3,000 miles away.

During the Cold War, military planners used Pituffik as a staging point for a test ofProject Iceworm, which would have secretly buried nuclear missile silos beneath the Greenland ice sheet. The effort was abandoned after scientists discovered the ice sheets moved faster than expected.

Trump and some military experts argue Greenland will play an increasing role in national security as Russia and China more aggressively explore and patrol Arctic regions. Climate change is weakening the sea ice that typically surrounds Greenland in the winter, allowing more ships to travel the Northwest Passage from Europe to Asia via Alaska and the Bering Sea.

Additionally, Greenland has deposits of rare earth minerals used to make smartphones, MRI machines and high-tech weapons systems.

The facility is jointly staffed by the U.S. and Danish military, and the Trump administration last Aprilfired the base commanderover comments she made to staff and contractors following a controversial Greenland trip byVice President JD Vance. White House officials indicated they felt the base commander's message of unity, which she sent to the multinational workers, undermined Trump's position.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Amid Trump threats, US military upgrading remote Greenland base

Jan 15 (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department has approved the potential sale to Peru of $1.5 billion in equipment and services to support the ​country's efforts to shift its main naval base in the city of ‌Callao, the Pentagon said in a statement on Thursday, so it can expand a neighboring seaport.

The Peruvian ‌government plans to relocate its naval base at Callao, on the coast just west of the capital Lima, a few kilometers away.

This move will allow for the expansion of Peru's main commercial port in Callao, which is a competitor to the Chinese-built ⁠Chancay mega-port located 80 km (50 ‌miles) north of Lima.

In a statement regarding the proposal, the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency said the "proposed sale will contribute to the ‍foreign policy objectives of the United States by helping to improve the security of an important partner that promotes political stability, peace, and economic progress in South America."

The agency confirmed ​that it had issued the necessary proposal to inform Congress about this potential ‌sale.

The principal contractors will be chosen at a later date from a list of approved vendors, likely through a competitive process, the Pentagon said.

The port in Callao is Peru's main commercial terminal and is currently operated separately by Dutch port operator APM Terminals on the north side and DP World Callao on the south.

The ⁠Callao port in November began offering new direct ​shipping routes from China and South Korea. Analysts ​have said Callao is likely to compete with the Chancay mega-port for Asian cargo as infrastructure investments accelerate along Peru's Pacific coast.

The port ‍in Chancay, built by ⁠Chinese company Cosco Shipping Ports, began operations in November 2024. The port accommodates large vessels and offers direct voyages between South America and Asia.

China ⁠is Peru's primary trading partner.

Peru's defense ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside ‌regular business hours.

(Reporting by Ryan Patrick Jones in Toronto and Marco ‌Aquino in Lima; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)

A federal appeals court ruled Thursday that a judge had no jurisdiction to order Columbia University pro-Palestinian activistMahmoud Khalilreleased from immigration detention last summer, a decision that could lead to his re-arrest.

Khalil, a green card holder who is married to an American citizen, wasreleased from ICE custodylast June following hisarrest by ICE agentsin New York City in March.

U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz issued an order on June 20 granting Khalil 's release on bail after determining that he presented neither a danger nor a flight risk and that extraordinary circumstances justified his temporary release while his habeas case proceeded -- a decision that wassharply criticizedby the Trump administration.

Mahmoud Khalil, in 1st broadcast interview, says he'll continue to 'advocate for what's right'

On Thursday, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered Judge Farbiarz to dismiss a petition Khalil had filed challenging his detention, on the grounds that Farbiarz lacked jurisdiction in the case.

"On consideration whereof, it is now ORDERED and ADJUDGED that the District Court's orders entered on April 29, May 28, June 11, June 20, and July 17, 2025, are hereby VACATED and the case is REMANDED to the District Court with instructions to dismiss the petition for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction," the opinion said.

Khalil was picked up at his Columbia University housing complex last March and jailed as part of the Trump administration's crackdown onpro-Palestinian protests. He spent about three months in a Louisiana detention center and missed the birth of his son.

Khalil was detained on the basis of Secretary of State Marco Rubio'sdeterminationthat Khali's speech would "compromise a compelling U.S. foreign policy interest." Judge Farbiarz granted Khalil's request for a preliminary injunction after concluding that he would continue to suffer irreparable harm if the government continued efforts to detain and deport him.

Prior to ordering his release, the judge also found that Khalil was likely to succeed on the merits of his constitutional challenge to his detention and attempted deportation on the "foreign policy ground."

"Today's ruling is deeply disappointing, but it does not break our resolve," Khalil said in a statement Thursday. "The door may have been opened for potential re-detainment down the line, but it has not closed our commitment to Palestine and to justice and accountability. I will continue to fight, through every legal avenue and with every ounce of determination, until my rights, and the rights of others like me, are fully protected."

Khalil's lawyers said they are now considering whether to pursue an appeal to the full circuit -- an interim step before a possible appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

"Today's decision is deeply disappointing, and by not deciding or addressing the First Amendment violations at the core of this case, it undermines the role federal courts must play in preventing flagrant constitutional violations," said Bobby Hodgson, deputy legal director at the New York Civil Liberties Union.

"The Trump administration violated the Constitution by targeting Mahmoud Khalil, detaining him thousands of miles from home, and retaliating against him for his speech," Hodgson said. "Dissent is not grounds for detention or deportation, and we will continue to pursue all legal options to ensure Mahmoud's rights are vindicated."

"Last year's arrest of Mahmoud Khalil was more than just a chilling act of political repression, it was an attack on all of our constitutional rights," New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said in a social media post. "Now, as the crackdown on pro-Palestinian free speech continues, Mahmoud is being threatened with rearrest. Mahmoud is free -- and must remain free."