Within hours of the case being made public, Eileen Wang, 58, resigned from Arcadia’s city council, along with the position of mayor she assumed in February on a rotating basis, according to the city manager’s office

International News via Reuters:

The mayor of Arcadia, California, a heavily Chinese-American suburb of Los Angeles, has agreed to plead guilty to a federal charge of acting as a foreign agent of China, spreading propaganda on behalf of Beijing, U.S. officials said on Monday.

Within hours of the case being made public, Eileen Wang, 58, resigned from Arcadia’s city council, along with the position of mayor she assumed in February on a rotating basis, according to the city manager’s office.

She appeared briefly before a federal magistrate judge who instructed attorneys to agree to a date for a future hearing when Wang will formally enter her plea. Bond was set at $25,000. Monday’s proceeding was conducted through a Mandarin interpreter.

In the 19-page plea deal filed April 1 and unsealed with the charging document on Monday, Wang agreed to plead guilty to a single felony count of acting as a foreign agent of the Chinese government without prior notification to the U.S. Justice Department. 

The charge carries a sentence of up to 10 years in federal prison.

“Individuals in our country who covertly do the bidding of foreign governments undermine our democracy,” U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said in announcing the case.

In the plea agreement, Wang admitted to promoting propaganda favorable to China “at the direction and control” of Chinese government officials from late 2020 through 2022, when she was elected to a four-year term on the Arcadia city council.

Specifically, she helped to run a website called the “U.S. News Center,” which purported to be a legitimate news source for the predominantly ethnic Chinese local community but was actually a mouthpiece for the Beijing government, the plea agreement said.

According to the filing, Wang received and carried out directives from Chinese government officials to post pro-China content on the website, including articles disputing reports of human rights abuses committed against ethnic Uyghurs in China’s Xinjiang region.

Responding to a complimentary text message from a Chinese government official acknowledging her work, Wang replied “Thank you leader,” her plea agreement said.

According to the document, Wang had worked closely with an associate named Yaoning “Mike” Sun, who she had once publicly described as her fiance and was briefly listed as a campaign finance adviser. 

Sun, 65, was sentenced in February to four years in prison after his guilty plea in October 2025 to one count of acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government.

Among Wang’s contacts with the Beijing government, prosecutors alleged, was a Chinese Communist Party figure named John Chen, who according to court documents was a high-level member of China’s intelligence apparatus who met personally with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Chen was sentenced in November 2024 to 20 months in prison for a similar guilty plea.

A statement released by Wang’s attorneys said she “apologizes and is sorry for the mistakes she has made in her personal life.”

City Manager Dominic Lazzaretto said in a separate statement that the federal charge stems from “conduct that ceased after Ms. Wang was sworn into office in December 2022.” It said “no city finances, staff or decision-making processes were involved.”

Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan

Brent crude futures gained $3.47, or 3.3%, to $107.68 a barrel by 1045 GMT and U.S. West Texas Intermediate was up $3.54, or 3.6%, at $101.61

International News via Reuters:

Oil prices rose by more than 3% on Tuesday as stark differences between the U.S. and Iran on a proposal to end the war in the Middle East pushed supply concerns back into the spotlight.

Brent crude futures gained $3.47, or 3.3%, to $107.68 a barrel by 1045 GMT and U.S. West Texas Intermediate was up $3.54, or 3.6%, at $101.61. Both benchmarks climbed nearly 3% on Monday.

“After both sides rejected each other’s negotiation proposals, tensions between Iran and the U.S. are escalating once more,” said Commerzbank analyst Carsten Fritsch.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that the ceasefire was on “life support”, pointing to disagreements over demands such as the cessation of hostilities on all fronts, the removal of a U.S. naval blockade, the resumption of Iranian oil sales and compensation for war damage. 

Iran also emphasised its sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas flows.

Disruptions linked to the near-closure of the strait have prompted producers to curtail exports, with a Reuters survey on Monday showing OPEC oil output in April fell to its lowest level in more than two decades. 

“A genuine breakthrough towards a peace deal could trigger a sharp $8 to $12 correction, while any escalation or renewed blockade threats would quickly push Brent back toward $115-plus,” said KCM Trade analyst Tim Waterer.

Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser had warned on Monday that disruptions to oil exports through the strait could delay a return to market stability until 2027, with the loss of about 100 million barrels of oil per week.

Meanwhile, some independent Chinese refiners are curtailing fuel output on weakening profit margins as they battle weak domestic demand and excess product, trade and refining sources said.

Elsewhere on the supply front, U.S. crude stocks were estimated to have dropped by about 1.7 million barrels last week, a Reuters poll of analysts showed. [EIA/S] 

Walt Chancellor, energy strategist at Macquarie Group, said that strong waterborne export flows of crude and products are likely for the next several weeks.

Market participants were also keeping a close eye on President Trump’s planned meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday and Friday after Washington imposed sanctions on three individuals and nine companies for facilitating Iranian oil shipments to China.

Tariffs imposed during the U.S.-China trade war have halted most Chinese imports of U.S. oil and LNG, which were worth $8.4 billion in 2024, the year before Trump began his second term.

Reporting by Ahmad GhaddarAdditional reporting by Anmol Choubey in Bengaluru and Trixie Yap in SingaporeEditing by David Goodman

Cole Allen, 31, of California, did not speak in court as his attorney Tezira Abe entered the plea on his behalf

International News via Reuters:

The man accused of attempting to assassinate U.S. President Donald Trump at a White House reporters’ gala last month pleaded not guilty to all charges on Monday.

Cole Allen, 31, of California, did not speak in court as his attorney Tezira Abe entered the plea on his behalf. The charges include attempted assassination of the president, assault on a federal officer and firearms offenses.

Prosecutors allege Allen fired a shotgun at a U.S. Secret Service agent and stormed a security checkpoint in a foiled attack on Trump and other members of his administration at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

Allen allegedly traveled to Washington by train, carrying a shotgun, pistol and knives, and booked a room in the Washington Hilton where the April 25 dinner took place.

Allen wore an orange jumpsuit and was shackled at the waist during the brief court proceeding. It was his first appearance in Washington federal court before the judge who will preside over the remainder of the case, U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden.

A different judge last week apologized to Allen for his treatment in a local Washington, D.C., jail, which included being placed on suicide precautions and isolated from other inmates.

The proceeding previewed the next major legal battle in the case, Allen’s attempt to have acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro disqualified from the case because they were present at the dinner and may have been among Allen’s alleged targets.

Allen’s lawyer, Eugene Ohm, said the defense is likely to seek recusal of the entire U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, which Pirro leads, because of her friendship with Trump and status as a potential victim.

“It is wholly inappropriate for victims of an alleged event like this to be individually prosecuting the case,” Ohm said.

Prosecutors are set to respond to the defense’s legal filing by May 22. Pirro previously told CNN in an interview that “my ability to prosecute this case has nothing to do with my being there.”

Reporting by Andrew Goudsward; writing by Katharine Jackson; editing by Susan Heavey, Scott Malone and Alistair Bell

A Union Pacific worker discovered them in a train yard at a remote location near the Mexican border, and police and firefighters later confirmed they had died, said Laredo Police Investigator Joe Baeza

International News via Reuters:

Six bodies were found on Sunday in a train boxcar in Laredo, Texas, according to police. 

A Union Pacific worker discovered them in a train yard at a remote location near the Mexican border, and police and firefighters later confirmed they had died, said Laredo Police Investigator Joe Baeza.

Police have not determined how they died, Baeza said. The investigation is ongoing, he said.

There were no survivors, he said.

Police did not say where the individuals were from.

Past instances of multiple deaths in trains and tractor trailers not far from the U.S.-Mexico border have involved migrants, including a 2022 incident in which 53 were found dead in an abandoned truck with malfunctioning air conditioning on the outskirts of San Antonio.  

Reporting by Noel Randewich in San Francisco; Editing by Sergio Non and Tom Hogue