NEW YORK, May 15 (Reuters) &#8211; Harvey Weinstein&#8217;s third trial in New York over allegations he used his Hollywood clout to prey upon and sexually abuse women ended in a mistrial on Friday, after a jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict on a charge he raped the aspiring actress Jessica Mann.
Weinstein, 74, is expected to remain behind bars due to his convictions in other cases.
Weinstein was a top Oscar-winning film producer until sexual misconduct allegations led to his downfall and fueled a wider social movement that encouraged women to come forward with accounts of sexual abuse by powerful men.
His most recent trial centered on Mann&#8217;s allegation that Weinstein raped her in a Manhattan hotel room in 2013 while Mann resisted and repeatedly said &#8220;No.&#8221;
It was not immediately clear whether prosecutors would seek to try the case for a fourth time.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, whose office brought the case, said his office was disappointed but respected the jury system.
&#8220;We will consider our next steps in consultation with Ms. Mann,&#8221; Bragg said in a statement.
Defense lawyer Marc Agnifilo told reporters outside the courthouse that he would encourage prosecutors to drop the case, saying nine jurors voted not guilty and three voted guilty.
&#8220;In my view they were lucky to have won over three jurors,&#8221; Agnifilo said of the prosecutors.
Mann said she told the truth but did not clearly indicate how she wanted to proceed.
&#8220;I deserve justice,&#8221; Mann said in a statement.
FIRST CONVICTION OVERTURNED
Weinstein had pleaded not guilty to one count of third-degree rape and has denied assaulting anyone or having non-consensual sex. His lawyers have argued that Mann fabricated the rape allegation after regretting that her consensual romance with Weinstein failed to advance her film career.
At his first trial in New York in 2020, Weinstein was convicted of raping Mann and assaulting onetime production assistant Miriam Haley in 2006. But the state&#8217;s highest court overturned the conviction and Weinstein&#8217;s 23-year prison sentence after concluding he did not get a fair trial.
A Manhattan jury then convicted Weinstein of sexually abusing Haley at a trial in June 2025, but found him not guilty of assaulting former model Kaja Sokola.
That jury deadlocked on the third-degree rape charge accusing Weinstein of assaulting Mann, leading Justice Curtis Farber to declare a mistrial on that count.
The retrial began in April.
&#8216;HOPELESSLY DEADLOCKED&#8217;
During their third day of deliberations on Friday, jurors sent Farber a note saying they were deadlocked. The judge urged them to keep trying to reach a verdict.
Farber said outside the presence of the jury that it was clear they were &#8220;hopelessly deadlocked&#8221; and that there was no reason to keep them any longer.
He told lawyers for both sides to return for a hearing on June 25.
Juror Josh Hadar, 57, told reporters outside the courthouse that he voted not guilty over what he said were &#8220;contradictions&#8221; in Mann&#8217;s testimony.
Weinstein was also convicted of rape in California in 2022 and is serving a 16-year prison sentence. He is appealing that conviction and sentence.
The Miramax studio co-founder will face up to 25 years in prison when he is sentenced for abusing Haley.
(Reporting by Jack Queen and Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Rod Nickel and Bill Berkrot)

Former Hollywood film producer Harvey Weinstein appears in Manhattan Supreme Court for the retrial of his rape case, in New York City

Disgraced Hollywood Mogul’s Latest Rape Trial Ends Without Verdict

Alvin Bragg

Courts

Harvey Weinstein

Hollywood

MeToo

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U.S.

May 14 (Reuters) &#8211; Republicans in Louisiana and South Carolina on Thursday took steps toward installing new congressional maps aimed at eliminating one Democratic-held seat in each state, as a national redistricting battle expands further across the South.
In Louisiana, the Republican-controlled state Senate passed a new congressional map that eliminates one of the state&#8217;s two Democratic-held, majority-black U.S. House districts, paving the way for Republicans to pick up an additional seat in November&#8217;s midterm elections.
And in South Carolina, Republican Governor Henry McMaster on Thursday reversed positions and called for a special legislative session starting on Friday to consider redrawing the state&#8217;s congressional map, a move that would likely oust longtime Democratic U.S. Representative Jim Clyburn from Congress in November’s midterm elections.
Republican-led Southern states have raced to redraw their congressional maps after the U.S. Supreme Court&#8217;s decision two weeks ago that severely weakened protections for districts with significant minority populations. Tennessee and Alabama have also either split up Democratic districts or taken steps to do so.
The new round of redistricting is part of a broader national fight that is likely to give Republicans a major boost as they seek to preserve a narrow majority in this fall’s election, though Democrats are still seen as favored to win the House given President Donald Trump&#8217;s sagging approval ratings.
The Louisiana map, which was approved 27-10 along party lines, will next head to the state House of Representatives, where Republicans hold a more than two-thirds majority.
Republican Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry previously suspended the congressional primary elections a day after the Supreme Court decision and only two days before early in-person voting was set to begin. Thousands of absentee ballots had already been returned by mail.
Democratic lawmakers, civil rights activists, and voting rights advocates have criticized the proposed map for diluting the electoral power of black residents, who make up about one-third of the state’s population. The new map would likely result in Republicans winning five of the state’s six districts in November.
&#8220;This Senate should seek to support a map that gives everyone a voice,&#8221; Democratic state Senator Katrina Jackson-Andrews said from the Senate floor on Thursday.
Republicans, including the bill&#8217;s sponsor, state Senator Jay Morris, said the map was drawn solely for partisan advantage, rather than along racial lines.
The current map, which includes majority-black districts centered in New Orleans and Baton Rouge, was deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, which found lawmakers relied too heavily on race in crafting the lines.
The new map includes only a single Democratic district that connects the two cities, which could pit the two Democratic incumbent U.S. representatives, Troy Carter and Cleo Fields, against one another.
In South Carolina, McMaster’s announcement came two days after a vote to extend the legislative session and consider a new map failed in the state Senate, when five Republicans broke with their party to deny the required two-thirds majority.
McMaster had previously indicated he would defer to the legislature. But Trump has pressured state Republicans to pursue a new map that would eliminate the state’s lone Democratic district, held by Clyburn, a black Democrat who is a leading figure within his party and has served in Congress since 1993.
Unlike the resolution that failed this week, any new map would only require a simple majority vote in both legislative chambers, which are dominated by Republicans.
The state House of Representatives has already advanced a proposal that would split up Clyburn’s seat while postponing the June 9 primary elections until August to accommodate the new district lines. Republicans hold the state’s other six districts.
(Reporting by Joseph AxEditing by Rod Nickel and Lincoln Feast.)

Supreme Court redistricting ruling throws Louisiana primary into chaos

Republicans Move To Wipe Out Democrat Seats In Louisiana, South Carolina

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Louisiana

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Redistricting

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NEW YORK, May 13 (Reuters) &#8211; A New York man was found guilty on Wednesday of acting as an unregistered agent of the Chinese government after a trial over federal prosecutors&#8217; allegations that he operated a &#8220;secret police station&#8221; on behalf of Beijing in Manhattan&#8217;s Chinatown neighborhood.
Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn said Lu Jianwang, 64, should have alerted the U.S. Attorney General that he was a Chinese agent when he helped open the so-called police station in 2022. They also said he helped China&#8217;s government locate a pro-democracy activist living in California.
Lu was arrested in April 2023. He had pleaded not guilty to the three felony charges he faced: conspiracy to act as an unregistered foreign agent, acting as an unregistered agent of China, and obstruction of justice.
A jury in Brooklyn federal court reached the verdict after a weeklong trial. Lu faces up to 30 years in prison.
&#8220;May today’s verdict send a message to other foreign agents–the FBI maintains its unwavering resolve to reveal and disrupt the clandestine operations of adversarial nations,” said FBI Assistant Director in Charge James Barnacle in an announcement of the verdict.
The Justice Department has in recent years been ramping up probes into what it calls &#8220;transnational repression&#8221; by U.S. adversaries such as China and Iran to intimidate political opponents living in the United States.
CHINA CALLS CHARGES FABRICATED
China&#8217;s government has called the charges in the case &#8220;fabricated&#8221; and part of an effort to smear the country&#8217;s image. Beijing has said there are centers outside China run by local volunteers, not Chinese police officers, that aim to help Chinese citizens renew documents and offer other services.
In her opening statement on May 6, prosecutor Lindsey Oken said Lu &#8211; a naturalized U.S. citizen &#8211; had ties with Chinese law enforcement and met with officials who tasked him with opening the station during a trip to China in 2022.
Oken said Lu ran the station out of a nondescript office building in Chinatown. She said he started out by helping Chinese nationals living in New York with renewing driver&#8217;s licenses, which alone is a crime if not disclosed to the U.S. government.
Oken said Lu also agreed to help the Chinese government locate a pro-democracy activist living in the United States. Prosecutors did not allege that the activist was harmed.
John Carman, a lawyer for Lu, said his client agreed to open the center to help Chinese nationals who were unable to travel to the country to renew documents due to the COVID pandemic. But Carman said Lu was not tasked by the Chinese government to do so.
A co-defendant arrested alongside Lu, Chen Jinping, pleaded guilty in 2024 to conspiring to act as an unregistered Chinese agent.
The arrests followed a 2022 investigation published by Spain-based advocacy group Safeguard Defenders that reported China had set up overseas &#8220;service stations,&#8221; including in New York, that illegally worked with Chinese police to pressure fugitives to return to China.
&nbsp;
(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Additional reporting by Karen Sloan; Editing by Matthew Lewis)

FILE PHOTO: Lu Jianwang arrives at Brooklyn federal court during his trial in New York City

Chinese Agent Found Guilty In NYC ‘Secret Police Station’ Case

China

Communist China

Police

NEW YORK, May 8 (Reuters) &#8211; The Trump administration on Friday appealed a court ruling that found a 10% global tariff imposed in February was not justified under a 1970s trade law.
The U.S. Court of International Trade ruled on Thursday in a 2-1 decision that Section 122 of the 1974 Trade Act was not meant to address trade deficits that occur when the U.S. imports more goods than it exports. The court, however, only blocked the tariffs for three importers that sued &#8211; two small businesses and the state of Washington.
While the ruling applies to a set of levies due to expire in about two months, it marks another setback for Trump&#8217;s global tariff ambitions and comes a week before he is due to discuss trade tensions with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing.
It also sets the stage for another protracted legal battle over billions of dollars&#8217; worth of tariff refunds, three months after the U.S. Supreme Court struck ​down Trump&#8217;s sweeping global tariffs imposed under a national emergencies law.
Trump blamed the trade court decision on &#8220;two radical left judges&#8221; when speaking to reporters on Thursday. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said on Friday the Trump administration expects to prevail in the appeal, although he also expressed confidence in earlier tariffs that were ultimately invalidated by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court ruled in February that Trump had no authority to impose the earlier tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, leading Trump to impose replacement tariffs of 10% on all imports using Section 122 of the Trade Act.
The new tariffs were a temporary replacement, and they were due to expire on July 24 unless extended by Congress.
The Trump administration still plans to impose broader tariffs on major trading partners by invoking ⁠a third law that has withstood numerous legal challenges, Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, which covers unfair trade practices. It has three Section 301 tariff investigations underway due for completion in July.
(Reporting by Dietrich Knauth; Editing by Rod Nickel and Sanjeev Miglani)

US-POLITICS-TRUMP

Tariff Ruling Faces Pushback As Trump Blasts ‘Radical Left Judges’

Business

Donald Trump

Tariffs

At least 13 people were killed and 17 wounded in an explosives attack in western Colombia on Saturday, a police source told Reuters, in violence authorities have blamed on dissidents of the FARC guerrilla group.
The attack took place on the Pan-American Highway in the El Tunel area of Cajibio municipality, about 35 km (22 miles) from Popayan, the capital of Cauca province, according to authorities.
Cauca Governor Octavio Guzman said on X the attack was one of several criminal actions reported in the province on Saturday.
&#8220;Cauca cannot continue to face this barbarity alone. We are facing a terrorist escalation that demands immediate responses. We demand forceful, sustained and effective action from the national government in the face of the grave public order crisis we are experiencing,&#8221; he added.
Presidential candidate Paloma Valencia, a member of the opposition right-wing Democratic Center party who is from Cauca, called the attack &#8220;terrorism&#8221; carried out by the dissident FARC faction, which rejected a 2016 peace deal.
&#8220;President Gustavo Petro&#8217;s government cannot continue minimizing the violence or dismantling the state,&#8221; she said. &#8220;We demand immediate action, full backing for our Armed Forces and police, and concrete results.&#8221;
Petro, a former rebel himself whose term as president is nearing an end, has pursued a &#8220;total peace&#8221; policy with guerrillas through negotiations and intermittent ceasefires.
(Reporting by Luis Jaime Acosta and Diego Ore; Editing by Alistair Bell, Rod Nickel)

Colombia

Explosives Attack In Colombia Kills Over A Dozen

Crime

Explosion

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Georgia Governor Brian Kemp declared an emergency on Friday for 91 counties in his state, where authorities are battling two major wildfires that have caused record property damage as more than 120 homes and other buildings have gone up in flames.
The Highway 82 and Pineland Road fires &#8211; one sparked by a party balloon, the other by a welder&#8217;s torch &#8211; are by far the fiercest among dozens of blazes ravaging the drought-stricken Georgia countryside and neighboring states of Florida, South Carolina, and Alabama in recent days.
No casualties were reported in Georgia, which has borne the brunt of the wildfires. But a volunteer firefighter died on Thursday evening after suffering an unspecified medical emergency while fighting a brush fire in northern Florida, according to various news media reports.
The conflagrations were primed by a confluence of climate extremes gripping the Southeast, authorities said.
Unusually sparse rainfall this spring following heavy vegetation growth in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene last fall has created a fuel bed of drought-parched timber and brush now posing the kind of wildfire hazards more typical for the Western United States in summer.
&#8220;We are in extreme drought conditions, and wildfire activity has already surpassed our five-year average,&#8221; Georgia Forestry Commission Director Johnny Sabo said in a video message posted online. &#8220;Right now conditions are so dry that even one small spark can quickly turn into a dangerous wildfire.&#8221;
As of Friday night, the Highway 82 and Pineland blazes had scorched more than 39,500 acres (16,000 hectares) combined, incinerating at least 122 homes and other structures, state forestry officials said. The tally of destruction marked the biggest property loss from a single fire event in Georgia&#8217;s history, the governor told a press conference.
Nearly 1,000 more homes remained threatened, he said.
Fires are scattered across Georgia, with the two biggest clustered in the southeast near the Florida border, roughly 250 miles (400 km) southeast of Atlanta, the state&#8217;s capital and largest city.
News footage of the fires showed walls of pine trees engulfed in flames, and Kemp described &#8220;fire that is burning to the top of trees and burning from one treetop to another.&#8221;
With firefighters and water-dropping aircraft struggling to halt the advance of the flames, crews were trying to protect homes still in harm&#8217;s way, Kemp said.
Teams had managed to carve containment lines around 10% of the perimeters of each of the two major fires, forestry officials said.
In a move aimed at hastening and consolidating Georgia&#8217;s disaster response, Kemp declared a state of emergency in 91 of Georgia&#8217;s 159 counties. Sabo announced a 30-day ban on the outdoor burning of refuse, agricultural waste or campfires in the same counties, the first such restriction in the state&#8217;s history.
The origin of the two biggest blazes illustrated how a small ignition source could touch off catastrophic fires.
Investigators determined that the Highway 82 blaze began on Monday, when an aluminum-coated balloon landed on a transmission line, triggering an electrical spark that ignited surrounding vegetation.
The Pineland Road fire, burning since April 18, was touched off by a stray spark from a welding operation that fell to the forest floor, authorities said.
Authorities said they expected extreme fire conditions to persist through the weekend, with gusty winds and little chance of rain in the forecast.
(Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by William Mallard)

Firefighter

Stray Spark And Aluminum Balloon: Georgia Declares State Of Emergency As Wildfires Rage In South

Brian Kemp

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Georgia

Natural Disaster

The European Union will urge members to cut their dependence on Middle Eastern jet fuel and look into increasing imports from the U.S., in new guidelines expected next week, an official source told Reuters, as the Iran war disrupts global supply.
The plans, previously unreported and still being finalized, will put a greater focus on self-sufficiency and resilience via Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) or synthetic fuels.
European airlines have warned of potential jet fuel shortages within weeks ‌as a result of the Iran war, which could disrupt the summer travel season. Europe is particularly vulnerable as it imports some 30% to 40% of its jet fuel, at least half of that from the Middle East.
The EU&#8217;s non-binding recommendations will emphasize the bloc&#8217;s limitations in increasing jet fuel output domestically and provide guidance on how to handle potential shortages, the source said.
The person asked not to be named because the discussions are ongoing and the draft is not yet finalized. A European Commission spokesperson confirmed plans to present a response to the energy crisis next week, including measures on jet fuels.
Availability of supply &#8220;remains the primary concern,&#8221; the Commission spokesperson said, adding that if supply remained snarled through the Strait of Hormuz, the EU could launch a possible coordinated release of jet fuel stocks.
Iran opened the Strait of Hormuz on Friday, a key gateway for energy flows from the Gulf, after a ceasefire accord in Lebanon, though U.S. President Donald Trump said a naval blockade remains in place until a deal is sealed with Tehran.
The EU spokesperson said he hoped a resumption of safe passage through the Strait would last, but reflecting the ongoing uncertainty, added: &#8220;Let&#8217;s see.&#8221;
FLIGHT CANCELLATION THREAT GROWS
Flights in Europe could start to be cancelled from the end of May due to a lack of jet fuel, the International Air Transport Association&#8217;s director general Willie Walsh said on Friday. Airlines are cutting flights and grounding some planes.
The source familiar with the EU&#8217;s plans said the document would lay out guidance for airline handling issues in the case of fuel shortages such as losing airport slots due to cancellations and the EU&#8217;s anti-tankering rule, designed to prevent planes from loading extra fuel in cheap locations.
It will clarify whether a fuel shortage can be considered exceptional enough for airlines to avoid paying compensation for cancellations. The source added that the EU has decided airlines&#8217; calls for changes to or the suspension of the Emissions Trading System (ETS) and SAF allowances were not justified.
The European Commission also plans to introduce EU-wide mapping of refining capacity for oil products and introduce measures &#8220;to ensure that existing refining capacity is fully utilized and ​maintained,&#8221; a draft proposal earlier seen by Reuters showed.
EUROPEAN IMPORTS OF U.S., NIGERIAN JET FUEL RISE
They will also look at the distribution logistics of increasing the use of U.S. Jet A fuel, traditionally seldom used in Europe because it has a higher freezing point than the European standard. Europe&#8217;s Jet A-1 is better suited to long‑haul, high‑altitude and cold‑temperature operations and is preferred by the military. Jet fuel imports from the U.S. and Nigeria rose sharply in April.
Some of Europe&#8217;s key hubs in Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Germany rely on the NATO-operated CEPS pipeline, which supplies European grade jet fuel. A spokesperson for NATO did not immediately reply to questions about the pipeline&#8217;s logistics.
Airlines are preparing for a potential supply crunch, with the International Energy Agency forecasting jet fuel shortages by June if the region can only replace half of the supplies it normally gets from the ​Middle East.
Some airports have warned of shortages within three weeks if the Strait of ‌Hormuz remains ⁠closed to fuel shipments. The European Commission is expected to warn jet fuel supply could remain limited even if the Strait of Hormuz is unblocked.
(Reporting by Julia Payne and Joanna Plucinska; Editing by Adam Jourdan and Elaine Hardcastle)

Airplane Fuel

Jet Fuel Crunch Looms: Europe Faces Flight Cuts As Iran War Drags On

Air Travel

Economy

Europe

Global Politics

Iran

Strait of Hormuz

Tesla is rolling out its robotaxis in Dallas and Houston, the electric vehicle maker said on Saturday, marking further expansion of its nascent service in the United States since its Austin, Texas, launch last year.
Tesla&#8217;s official robotaxi account on X announced the launch and posted two videos showing its best-selling Model Y SUVs running in the two cities with no human driver or monitor in the front seats.
It posted two map images outlining service boundaries, but did not disclose further details such as fleet size or pricing.
&#8220;Try Tesla Robotaxi in Dallas &amp; Houston!&#8221; CEO Elon Musk said reposting the X post.
Tesla&#8217;s move comes as the robotaxi business has regained momentum with Alphabet&#8217;s Waymo and Amazon&#8217;s Zoox speeding up expansion.
Expanding the robotaxi service and wider adoption of its full self-driving software, a version of which underpins the technology, is key to Tesla&#8217;s growth strategy as Musk has pivoted the company&#8217;s focus to artificial intelligence and robotics from EVs.
Much of the company&#8217;s $1.3 trillion valuation hinges on that bet.
Tesla first deployed a small group of self-driving taxis in an area of Austin with human safety monitors and other restrictions. The company has since widened the service area and started removing the monitors.
Last year, Tesla also started a ride-hailing service in the San Francisco Bay Area. Musk has promised to expand the robotaxi service rapidly in the U.S., but missed earlier predictions of its robotaxis operating widely in multiple U.S. metro areas by the end of 2025.
(Reporting by Anusha Shah in Bengaluru and Abhirup Roy in San Francisco Editing by Nick Zieminski, Rod Nickel)

Tesla Robotaxi

No Driver? No Problem! Tesla Launches Robotaxis In Two Major Cities

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Elon Musk

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MEXICO CITY, April 14 (Reuters) &#8211; The United States on Tuesday imposed sanctions on a well-known human rights activist in Mexico who has for years levied charges of human rights abuses against the country&#8217;s Armed Forces, alleging he worked on behalf of a powerful drug cartel.
The U.S. Treasury Department accused Raymundo Ramos, president of the Committee for Human Rights of Nuevo Laredo, of &#8220;posing as a &#8216;human rights&#8217; activist&#8221; for more than a decade in order to fabricate false accusations against the Army and protect members of the powerful Cartel of the Northeast (CDN).
&#8220;On the CDN payroll, Ramos engages in these activities with the goal of boosting the public opinion of CDN and discrediting Mexican authorities’ law enforcement initiatives against the cartel,&#8221; the Treasury Department said in a statement.
Washington&#8217;s move blocks any assets Ramos might have in the United States and bars Americans from working with him.
Ramos did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment about the accusations. Based in Nuevo Laredo, an ultra-violent city in the state of Tamaulipas, bordering the United States, Ramos has long been one of the most high-profile human rights activists operating in the area.
In 2023, Ramos raised the alarm over alleged extrajudicial killings committed by the Armed Forces. A year earlier, he accused members of the Navy of forcibly disappearing civilians.
In both instances, Mexican authorities detained military officials and carried out investigations. It&#8217;s unclear whether the investigations resulted in formal charges or convictions.
The Mexican attorney general&#8217;s office did not respond to a request for comment about the accusations against Ramos or whether it is independently investigating him.
In 2020, the Mexican government targeted Ramos&#8217; phone with the Pegasus spyware program, according to Mexico’s Digital Rights Defense Network and the Toronto-based digital watchdog Citizen Lab. He was among hundreds of Mexican activists and journalists spied on by the government using the spyware, the groups said.
(Reporting by Lizbeth Díaz; Editing by Raúl Cortés, Emily Green and Sonali Paul)

FILE PHOTO: US alleges well-known Mexican human rights activist works for drug cartel

U.S. Says Prominent Human Rights Activist Works For Drug Cartel

A U.S. appeals court on Friday declared unconstitutional a nearly 158-year-old federal ban on home distilling, calling it an unnecessary and improper means for Congress to exercise its power to tax.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans ruled in favor of the nonprofit Hobby Distillers Association and four of its 1,300 members.
They argued that people should be free to distill spirits at home, whether as a hobby or for personal consumption including, in one instance, to create an apple-pie-vodka recipe.
The ban was part of a law passed during Reconstruction in July 1868, in part to thwart liquor tax evasion, and subjected violators to up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
Writing for a three-judge panel, Circuit Judge Edith Hollan Jones said the ban actually reduced tax revenue by preventing distilling in the first place, unlike laws that regulated the manufacture and labeling of distilled spirits on which the government could collect taxes.
She also said that under the government&#8217;s logic, Congress could criminalize virtually any in-home activity that might escape notice from tax collectors, including remote work and home-based businesses.
&#8220;Without any limiting principle, the government’s theory would violate this court’s obligation to read the Constitution carefully to avoid creating a general federal authority akin to the police power,&#8221; Jones wrote.
The U.S. Department of Justice had no immediate comment. Another defendant, the Treasury Department&#8217;s Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Devin Watkins, a lawyer representing the Hobby Distillers Association, in an interview called the ruling an important decision about the limits of federal power.
Andrew Grossman, who argued the nonprofit&#8217;s appeal, called the decision &#8220;an important victory for individual liberty&#8221; that lets the plaintiffs &#8220;pursue their passion to distill fine beverages in their homes.&#8221;
&#8220;I look forward to sampling their output,&#8221; he said.
The decision upheld a July 2024 ruling by U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman in Fort Worth, Texas. He put his ruling on hold so the government could appeal.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Bill Berkrot)

Alcohol

From Felony To Freedom: A Century-Old Rule On Liquor Just Collapsed

Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (ATF)

Food

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban called an emergency defence council meeting on Sunday after powerful explosives were found near a pipeline in Serbia that carries Russian gas to the country.
The incident prompted political scrutiny in Hungary at a sensitive time days before a national election, with Orban&#8217;s party trailing in opinion polls.
Orban said Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, a close ally, had informed him by phone about the discovery outside the town of Kanjiza, near Hungary&#8217;s border with Serbia.
&#8220;Our units found an explosive of devastating power,&#8221; Vucic said in a post on Instagram. &#8220;I told PM Orban that we would keep him updated on the investigation.&#8221;
Officials in Budapest and Belgrade did not respond to requests for comment about the incident, which comes before pivotal elections on April 12 in Hungary where nationalist Orban is fighting to hold onto his more than 16-year grip on power.
A former Hungarian intelligence official told Reuters there had been discussions in Hungarian security circles over the past days about a precise plan for a &#8220;false-flag&#8221; operation impacting the pipeline in Serbia as part of an effort to influence the Hungarian vote.
Peter Magyar, leader of the opposition Tisza party also raised doubts about the incident, saying it appeared aimed at boosting Orban&#8217;s electoral prospects.
&#8220;Several people have publicly indicated that something will &#8216;accidentally&#8217; happen at the gas pipeline in Serbia at Easter, a week before the Hungarian elections. And so it happened,&#8221; Magyar said in a statement.
PIVOTAL ELECTIONS
In a Facebook post after the defence council meeting, Orban suggested the incident related to an attempt to blow up the pipeline, which transports Russian gas through the Balkans to Central and Eastern Europe.
&#8220;According to information that we have&#8230;.there was an act of sabotage prepared,&#8221; Orban said after the meeting, adding that both countries have strengthened the protection of the pipeline.
Without directly blaming Ukraine for the incident in Serbia, Orban said &#8220;Ukraine has been for years trying to cut off Europe from Russian energy.&#8221;
&#8220;The Russian section of TurkStream is also under continuous military attack. Ukraine&#8217;s efforts pose a life-threatening danger to Hungary,&#8221; he added.
The head of Serbia&#8217;s Military Intelligence Agency, Djuro Jusic, said the explosives found on a section of pipeline linked to the Turkstream system, which carries Russian gas to Turkey and then to Central Europe, were produced in the United States.
&#8220;We had information that a person from a migrant community, with military training, will carry out a diversion on the gas infrastructure,&#8221; he told reporters in Belgrade. He did not give further details, but said authorities in Serbia were searching for that person.
Orban in February scaled up security around energy infrastructure in the country by dispatching troops after what he said were plans by Ukraine to disrupt the Hungarian energy system &#8211; charges Kyiv denied.
Ukraine&#8217;s foreign ministry strongly rejected what it said were attempts to link Kyiv to the explosives.
&#8220;Ukraine has nothing to do with this,&#8221; foreign ministry spokesman Heorhii Tykhyi said on X. &#8220;Most probably, a Russian false-flag operation as part of Moscow&#8217;s heavy interference in Hungarian elections.&#8221;
Budapest has also been in a dispute with Ukraine over a halt in oil supplies via the Druzhba pipeline. Orban&#8217;s Fidesz party has sought to associate opposition leader Peter Magyar with Brussels and Ukraine, suggesting that voting for his Tisza party means voting for tanks and war.
Hungary is an outlier in the European Union for maintaining ties with Moscow, which voiced support for Hungary over Sunday&#8217;s incident and suggested that Ukraine was responsible.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto also blamed Ukraine, writing on Facebook that &#8220;in the past few days and weeks, the Ukrainians organised an oil blockade against us, and then tried to put us under a total energy blockade &#8230; And now we have today&#8217;s incident.&#8221;
(Reporting by Krisztina Than; Additional reporting by Lili Bayer in Brussels and Ivana Sekularac in Belgrade Writing by Edward McAllister; Editing by Hugh Lawson, Helen Popper, William Maclean, Christina Fincher)

GettyImages-2267436846

Hungary Rattled By Russia Pipeline Scare As One Claim Gains Traction

Hungary

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British police arrested a fourth person in connection with an arson attack on Jewish community ambulances, with the detention happening at a London court where three males already charged in the case were appearing, prosecutors said on Saturday.
Hamza Iqbal, 20, Rehan Khan, 19, and a 17-year-old who cannot be named for legal reasons, are accused of torching four ambulances belonging to the Jewish volunteer emergency service Hatzola on March 23 while they were parked near a synagogue in the Golders Green area of north London.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer described the incident at the time as a &#8220;deeply shocking antisemitic arson attack.&#8221;
The SITE Intelligence ​website has said an Iran-aligned multinational militant collective called Islamic ​Movement of ⁠the People of the Right Hand had claimed responsibility for the incident.
It said the group had been behind similar fires in Europe.
Counter-terrorism officers are heading the investigation in Britain, but as yet the incident is not being treated as terrorism.
A prosecutor from the Crown Prosecution Service said police believe four people were involved in carrying out the attack itself, with a fourth individual being arrested on Saturday morning as part of an ongoing investigation.
The Metropolitan Police said the fourth suspect was a 19-year-old man who had been arrested by officers at the court while attending the hearing, after officers recognised him as being linked to the attack. He was arrested on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life and taken into custody.
Three men have been charged with arson with intent to damage property and being reckless as to whether life would be endangered. Two are British nationals, while the third holds dual British‑Pakistani citizenship.
All three were remanded in custody, with the 17‑year‑old ordered to be held in youth detention accommodation.
Hatzola is a not-for-profit volunteer emergency service that works alongside Britain&#8217;s National Health Service and primarily serves the Orthodox Jewish community.
The London Fire Brigade said explosions from cylinders on the vehicles shattered nearby windows, but no one was injured.
Attacks on Jewish people and Jewish targets have risen in Britain since the October 2023 Hamas assault on Israel that triggered the war in Gaza, according to police and community groups.
(Reporting by Sam Tabahriti; Editing by Joe Bavier and Toby Chopra)

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