BUENOS AIRES: Argentine police raided on Wednesday the Buenos Aires hotel where former One Direction star Liam Payne died after falling from his third-floor balcony, a police source told AFP.
Police officers from the special investigations and technology divisions were sent to the Casa Sur Hotel by the prosecutor’s office “to seize elements of interest for the investigation,” said a police source who asked not to be identified.
Television images showed a handful of agents working on computers at the lobby counter.
The 31-year-old British pop singer was found dead after staff called emergency services twice to report a guest “overwhelmed by drugs and alcohol” was “destroying” a hotel room.
He had spoken publicly about struggles with substance abuse and coping with fame from an early age.
Wednesday’s raid came a day after the Argentine prosecutor’s office met with the musician’s father, Geoff Payne, and assured him that his son’s toxicology studies had not been released by that institution.
US media reported on Monday that Payne had a cocktail of drugs in his system when he died.
ABC and TMZ said “pink cocaine” — containing methamphetamine, ketamine and MDMA — had been found during a partial autopsy, citing anonymous sources familiar with the preliminary tests.
The prosecutor’s office said it had not “disclosed any specific technical report outside the exclusive framework of the investigation and the judicial process corresponding to the case.”
Although there is no stipulated deadline for the results of the toxicological analyzes, an official from the Public Prosecutor’s Office told AFP that they could be concluded this week.
Investigators were examining cell phones, computers, photographs and videos from security cameras, and have taken “numerous witness statements to reconstruct the victim’s final hours and the scene of the events,” the public prosecutor’s office said.
Post-mortem results indicated that the 31-year-old was alone at the time of the fall and “was going through an episode of substance abuse,” prosecutors have said.
One of the highest-grossing live acts in the world, One Direction went on indefinite hiatus in 2016. Payne went on to enjoy solo success.
Argentine police raid hotel where Liam Payne fell to death
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Argentine police raid hotel where Liam Payne fell to death
- Television images showed a handful of agents working on computers at the lobby counter
Trump’s Oval Office thrashing of Zelensky shows limits of Western allies’ ability to sway US leader
- White House blowout capped a week of largely futile efforts by US allies to steer Trump away from his flirtations with Moscow
- Sen. Lindsey Graham said he had warned Zelensky before the meeting “not to take the bait” in his dealings with Trump
WASHINGTON: All it took was 90 seconds for weeks of tortured diplomacy to unwind in spectacular fashion.
President Donald Trump’s Oval Office thrashing of Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday laid bare the limits of a full-court press by America’s allies aimed at reshaping Trump’s determination to end Russia’s invasion even if the terms are not to Ukraine’s liking.
It also stressed the profound ways Trump feels emboldened to redirect US foreign policy priorities toward his “America First” agenda in ways that extend well beyond those of his tumultuous first term.
The sudden blowup was the most heated public exchange of words between world leaders in the Oval Office in memory, as the usual staid work of diplomacy descended into finger-pointing, shouting and eye-rolling.
The encounter left the future of the US-Ukraine relationship, and Kyiv’s ability to defend itself in the brutal conflict with Russia, in mortal jeopardy.
“You either make a deal or we are out,” Trump told Zelensky, underscoring the American leader’s plans to dictate a swift end to the war or leave its longtime ally to continue the fight without its strongest backer.
Less than a day later, Zelensky used a series of posts on X to express his thanks to the American people, Trump and Congress for “all the support,” which he said Ukrainians “have always appreciated,” especially during the war.
“Our relationship with the American President is more than just two leaders; it’s a historic and solid bond between our peoples. That’s why I always begin with words of gratitude from our nation to the American nation,” he added. Ukrainians want “only strong relations with America, and I really hope we will have them,” he said.
Zelensky was in London to meet with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer before a summit Sunday of European leaders.
Episode capped intense lobbying effort by American allies
The stunning episode in Washington had capped a week of what turned out to be largely futile efforts by US allies to paper over differences between Washington and Kyiv and to try to steer Trump away from his flirtations with Moscow.
On Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron huddled with Trump to lay the groundwork for an eventual European-led peacekeeping force in Ukraine aimed at deterring future Russian aggression and to encourage the US president to be more skeptical of Vladimir Putin.
But even as Trump and Macron greeted each other with a vise-like grip, the US was splitting with its European allies at the United Nations by refusing to blame Russia for its invasion of Ukraine in a series of resolutions marking the third anniversary of the war.
On Thursday, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer visited Washington and appealed to Trump for a US “backstop” for European nations who would provide front-line security for Ukraine. He was in essence looking for insurance that, should a peace deal be reached, Russia won’t restart the fighting in the future. Starmer brought flattery and a state visit invitation from King Charles III to soften the ask.
The approach seemed to work, as Trump struck a more conciliatory tone toward Ukraine, calling America’s support for the country against Russia’s invasion “a very worthy thing to do” and disclaiming any memory that he had called the Ukrainian leader a “dictator.”
But Trump also brushed aside Putin’s past broken diplomatic promises, claiming they occurred under different presidents, and saying the Russian leader had never violated a commitment to him. It came as his aides were planning a series of negotiating sessions with Russian officials to lay the groundwork for a potential meeting between Trump and Putin in the coming weeks.
Mineral deal pursued by Trump goes by the wayside, for now
All the while, Trump was focused on securing a financial stake in Ukraine’s critical minerals to recoup the tens of billions the US has given to Kyiv to defend itself. Zelensky, meanwhile, wanted more than Washington’s vague promises that the US would work to preserve its economic interest in Ukraine under the agreement and pushed for more concrete security guarantees.
But Trump would not budge, and US officials repeatedly said Zelensky would not be welcome to meet with the president to discuss Trump’s push for negotiations with Russia until it was signed. After weeks of browbeating, Zelensky’s government on Wednesday formally agreed to the proposal, clearing the path for Friday’s meeting.
It started off cordially enough, as Trump and Zelensky spoke politely, even with admiration, of one of another for the first half-hour of the meeting. Trump even suggested he would continue some military assistance to Ukraine until he could secure an enduring peace deal with Russia.
But when the Ukrainian leader raised alarm about trusting any promises from Putin to end the fighting, Vice President JD Vance rebuked him for airing disagreements with Trump in public. It instantly shifted the tenor of the conversation. Zelensky grew defensive, and Trump and his vice president blasted him as ungrateful and “disrespectful” and issued stark warnings about future American support.
A warning before the meeting ‘not to take the bait’
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a defense hawk and Trump ally, said he had warned Zelensky before the meeting “not to take the bait” in his dealings with Trump, who has repeatedly shown a penchant for throwing criticism but a deep resistance to receiving it.
It was Vance — a longtime critic of American support for Ukraine — who dangled it, when he insisted diplomacy was the only way forward.
“What kind of diplomacy, JD, you are speaking about?” Zelensky said, listing Russia’s past violations of ceasefires. “What do you mean?”
“I’m talking about the kind of diplomacy that’s going to end the destruction of your country,” Vance responded before tearing into the Ukrainian leader. “Mr. President, with respect, I think it’s disrespectful for you to come into the Oval Office to try to litigate this in front of the American media.”
Trump then let loose, warning the Ukrainian leader, “You’re gambling with World War III, and what you’re doing is very disrespectful to the country, this country that’s backed you far more than a lot of people say they should have.”
At another point, Trump declared himself “in the middle,” seeming to formally break from years of American support for Ukraine. He went on to deride Zelensky’s “hatred” for Putin as a roadblock to peace.
“You see the hatred he’s got for Putin,” Trump said. “That’s very tough for me to make a deal with that kind of hate.”
“It’s going to be a very hard thing to do business like this,” Trump said to Zelensky as the two leaders talked over each other.
Latest example of major shift in US foreign policy
The episode was just the latest instance of Trump’s brazen moves to shift long-held American policy positions in his first six weeks back in office, portending even more uncertainty ahead for longtime American allies and partners who have already felt pressed to justify their place in Trump’s eyes. It comes just weeks after Trump floated a permanent relocation of Palestinians in Gaza and an American takeover of the territory, and as he has doubled down on plans to put stiff tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada starting next week.
After the Oval Office dustup, Zelensky was asked to leave the White House by top Trump advisers — scrapping plans for a lunch, a joint press conference and the signing of the economic agreement, even as the Ukrainian leader and his aides pushed for a “reset” on the meeting.
Trump later told reporters he didn’t want to “embolden” the Ukrainian leader if he didn’t want “peace” with Russia — flipping what Ukraine had seen as an inducement for security guarantees into a cudgel.
“You can’t embolden somebody who does not have the cards,” Trump said.
After the disastrous encounter, Zelensky appeared on Fox News on Friday evening and told Bret Baier that his public spat with Trump and Vance was “not good for both sides.” But Zelensky said Trump — who insists Putin is ready to end the three-year grinding war — needs to understand that Ukraine can’t change its attitudes toward Russia on a dime.
Zelensky added that Ukraine won’t enter peace talks with Russia until it has security guarantees against another offensive.
“Everybody (is) afraid Putin will come back tomorrow,” Zelensky said. “We want just and lasting peace.”
“It’s so sensitive for our people,” Zelensky said. “And they just want to hear that America (is) on our side, that America will stay with us. Not with Russia, with us. That’s it.”
Zelensky acknowledged that without US support, his country’s position would grow “difficult.”
After repeatedly declining opportunities to apologize to Trump, Zelensky closed his Fox appearance with a sheepish expression of remorse as he struggled with the reality of Trump’s new direction in Washington: “Sorry for this.”
Afghan TV station reopens after closure by Taliban authorities
- The Afghanistan Journalists Center (AFJC), a press freedom group, welcomed the reopening but said in a statement it considered the closure “a flagrant violation of free media rights that should not have happened”
KABUL: An Afghan TV station resumed operations Saturday, its leadership said, after being shut down in December by the Taliban morality ministry.
Seals placed on Arezo TV’s doors in Kabul were removed in the presence of the country’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (PVPV), said station head Bassir Abid, who reported that the outlet had “resumed our operations.”
Taliban authorities shut down the TV station on December 4 after the PVPV accused the channel of being supported by exiled media and of betraying Islamic values.
Seven of Arezo TV’s employees were arrested but released later in December, while the media outlet remained shuttered.
The Taliban government has not yet indicated the reason the station was allowed to reopen.
The Afghanistan Journalists Center (AFJC), a press freedom group, welcomed the reopening but said in a statement it considered the closure “a flagrant violation of free media rights that should not have happened.”
The channel, founded in 2006 in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, opened an office in Kabul in 2010 to produce wildlife documentaries and dub Turkish series, according to AFJC.
Afghanistan’s media sector has dramatically shrunk under three years of the Taliban government, while international monitors have criticized Kabul’s new rulers for allegedly trampling reporters’ rights.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) says the country’s Taliban authorities closed at least 12 media outlets in 2024.
Government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid has previously said there are no restrictions on journalists, as long as they “consider the national interest and Islamic values and avoid spreading rumors.”
In early February, Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities raided well-known women’s radio station Radio Begum in Kabul and suspended its broadcasts.
Starmer assures Ukraine’s President Zelensky of Britain’s unwavering support after White House blowout
- Starmer spoke to both US President Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron after meeting Zelensky
- Britain announces $2.84 billion loan to Kyiv for military procurement, with the money coming from the profits on frozen Russian assets
LONDON: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer embraced Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday and told him he had the UK’s unwavering support, a day after the blowout at the White House with President Donald Trump.
Zelensky arrived to cheers from people who had gathered outside of 10 Downing St., where Starmer gave him a hug and ushered him inside. The two leaders met on the eve of a meeting of European leaders in London. Called to discuss how European nations can defend Ukraine — and themselves — if the US withdraws support, it has taken on new urgency following Trump’s televised berating of Zelensky.
“And as you heard from the cheers on the street outside, you have full backing across the United Kingdom,” Starmer told the leader of the war-torn country. “We stand with you, with Ukraine, for as long as it may take.”
Zelensky thanked him and the people of the UK for their support and friendship.
After the meeting, Britain announced it was extending a 2.26 billion pound ($2.84 billion) loan to Kyiv for military procurement, with the money coming from the profits on frozen Russian assets. It’s Britain’s contribution to a $50 billion package of support pledged by the G-7 group of wealthy industrialized nations.
Zelensky thanked Britain in a statement on X, saying: “This is true justice – the one who started the war must be the one to pay.”
Starmer spoke to both Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday evening after meeting Zelensky, the prime minister’s office said.
The meeting comes the day after an extraordinary diplomatic meltdown when Trump and Vice President JD Vance blasted Zelensky in the Oval Office on live television for not being grateful enough for US support.
Zelensky had been poised to ink a deal to give the US access to mineral riches as Trump pressures Ukraine to reach a deal to end the war with Russia. But he left town without signing anything.
Zelensky had been scheduled to meet with Starmer on Sunday before the European summit, but the timetable for their bilateral meeting was apparently sped up in the aftermath of the Washington visit.
Zelensky will meet with King Charles III on Sunday before the meeting at Lancaster House, a 200-year-old mansion near Buckingham Palace.
Trump-Zelensky clash divides US Republicans, dims aid prospects
- GOP stalwart Lindsey Graham called for Zelensky to change his tune or resign, just hours after attending a friendly meeting between Zelensky and a dozen senators
- But even as most Republicans rallied behind Trump and Vance, some joined Democrats in defending Ukraine.
WASHINGTON: An angry White House clash between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Donald Trump divided the US president’s fellow Republicans and dimmed prospects that Congress will approve any further aid for Kyiv in its war with Russia.
On Saturday, Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski said there were “whispers from the White House that they may try to end all US support for Ukraine... I am sick to my stomach as the administration appears to be walking away from our allies and embracing Putin, a threat to democracy and US values around the world.”
Other Republicans who had long supported Ukraine lashed out at Zelensky after Friday’s exchange, in which Trump and Vice President JD Vance berated the Ukrainian leader before the world’s media, accusing him of disrespect.
Senator Lindsey Graham called for Zelensky to change his tune or resign, just hours after attending a friendly meeting between Zelensky and a dozen senators.
“What I saw in the Oval Office was disrespectful, and I don’t know if we can ever do business with Zelensky again,” Graham, a close Trump ally, told reporters as he left the White House after the clash, which drove relations with Kyiv’s most important wartime ally to a new low.
“He either needs to resign and send somebody over that we can do business with, or he needs to change,” the South Carolina senator said.
Senator Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, who was ambassador to Japan during Trump’s first term, posted on X: “The United States of America will no longer be taken for granted.”
But even as most Republicans rallied behind Trump and Vance, some joined Democrats in defending Ukraine.
New York Representative Mike Lawler, in a post on X, called the Oval Office meeting “a missed opportunity for both the United States and Ukraine — an agreement that would undoubtedly result in stronger economic and security cooperation.”
Representative Don Bacon, a moderate Republican from Nebraska, threw his support behind Kyiv.
“A bad day for America’s foreign policy. Ukraine wants independence, free markets and rule of law. It wants to be part of the West. Russia hates us and our Western values. We should be clear that we stand for freedom,” he said in a statement.
Neither of the Republican lawmakers criticized Trump or Vance.
Minerals deal
Zelensky was in Washington to sign an agreement to jointly develop Ukraine’s rich natural resources with the United States.
The Ukrainian leader had seen the meeting with Trump and Vance as an opportunity to persuade the US not to side with Russian President Vladimir Putin in his war with Moscow’s smaller neighbor. Instead, Zelensky was told to leave and the agreement was left unsigned.
Kyiv’s backers had hoped the deal would help win more support from Trump’s Republicans — who hold slim majorities in the Senate and House of Representatives — for future aid.
Congress has approved $175 billion in assistance since Putin launched his full-scale invasion three years ago, but the last measure passed in April, when Democrats controlled the Senate and Democrat Joe Biden was in the White House.
Even then, congressional Republicans slow-walked the bill under pressure from candidate Trump, who has been skeptical of further military aid to Ukraine, leading to delays in delivering weapons that put Ukrainian troops on the back foot in the battlefield.
If Trump, the party leader, had skin in the game and was promoting a “very big” minerals deal he had negotiated, analysts said, it would likely have rallied Republican support for Ukraine aid.
Some Republicans who have advocated for assisting Ukraine said they hoped relations could be rebuilt.
Representative Michael McCaul, chairman emeritus of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said he still hoped for a real and lasting peace that ensures Ukraine would be free from further Russian aggression.
“I also urge President Zelensky to sign the mineral deal immediately,” the Texas lawmaker posted on X. “It will create an economic partnership between the United States and Ukraine. It is in both of our interests to get this deal done.”
Lawyers sue to block Trump administration from sending 10 migrants to Guantanamo Bay
- The migrant detention center at Guantanamo operates separately from the US military’s detention center and courtrooms for foreigners detained under President George W. Bush during what Bush called its war on terror
Civil rights attorneys sued the Trump administration Saturday to prevent it from transferring 10 migrants detained in the US to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, their second legal challenge in less than a month over plans for holding up to 30,000 immigrants there for deportation.
The latest federal lawsuit so far applies only to 10 men facing transfer to the naval base in Cuba. Like a lawsuit the same attorneys filed earlier this month for access to migrants already detained there, the latest case was filed in Washington and is backed by the American Civil Liberties Union.
At least 50 migrants have been transferred already to Guantanamo Bay, and the civil rights attorneys believe the number now may be about 200. They have said it is the first time in US history that the government has detained noncitizens on civil immigration charges there. For decades, the naval base was primarily used to detain foreigners associated with the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Trump has said Guantanamo Bay, also known as “Gitmo,” has space for up to 30,000 immigrants living in the US and that he plans to send “the worst” or high-risk “criminal aliens” there. The administration has not released specific information on who is being transferred, so it is not clear what crimes they are accused of committing in the US and whether they have been convicted in court, or merely charged or arrested.
The 10 men involved in the lawsuit came to the US in 2023 or 2024. Seven are from Venezuela, and the lawsuit said two had been tortured by the Venezuelan government for their political views. A man from Afghanistan and one from Pakistan came to the US, the lawsuit said, because of threats from the Taliban. One man fled Bangladesh because he was threatened over his political party membership, the lawsuit said.
“The purpose of this second Guantanamo lawsuit is to prevent more people from being illegally sent to this notorious prison, where the conditions have now been revealed to be inhumane,” said Lee Gelernt, an ACLU attorney and lead counsel on the case. “The lawsuit is not claiming they cannot be detained in US facilities, but only that they cannot be sent to Guantanamo.”
The White House and the Defense and Homeland Security departments did not immediately respond to emails Saturday seeking comment about the lawsuit. The two agencies, Secretaries Pete Hegseth and Kristi Noem, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and its acting director are the defendants.
In a Jan. 29 executive order expanding operations at Guantanamo Bay, Trump said that one of his goals is to “dismantle criminal cartels.” But the men’s attorneys said none of them have gang affiliations, and the lawsuit said four of them were falsely identified as gang members based on their tattoos, including one of a Catholic rosary.
Transfer to Guantanamo violates constitutional right, attorneys say
Their attorneys described their latest lawsuit as an emergency filing to halt imminent transfers and challenge the Trump administration’s plans. They contend that the transfers violate the men’s right to due legal process, guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment to the US Constitution
The latest lawsuit also argues that federal immigration law bars the transfer of non-Cuban migrants from the US to Guantanamo Bay and that the US government has no authority to hold people outside its territory, and the naval base remains part of Cuba legally. The transfers are also described as arbitrary.
In addition, the lawsuit argues that Guantanamo Bay “does not have the infrastructure” to hold even the 10 men.
“The reason for doing so is solely to try to instill fear in the immigrant population,” the lawsuit said.
The men’s attorneys allege that many of the people who have been sent to Guantanamo Bay do not have serious criminal records or even any criminal history. Their first lawsuit, filed Feb. 12, said migrants sent to the naval base had “effectively disappeared into a black box” and couldn’t contact attorneys or family. The Department of Homeland Security said they could reach attorneys by phone.
In another, separate federal lawsuit filed in New Mexico, a federal judge on Feb. 9 blocked the transfer of three immigrants from Venezuela being held in that state to Guantanamo Bay. Their attorneys said they had been falsely accused of being gang members.
Guantanamo ‘perfect place’ to house migrants, secretary of defense says
The migrant detention center at Guantanamo operates separately from the US military’s detention center and courtrooms for foreigners detained under President George W. Bush during what Bush called its war on terror. It once held nearly 800 people, but the number has dwindled to 15, including 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
Hegseth, who was assigned to Guantanamo when he was on active duty, has called it a “perfect place” to house migrants. Trump has described the naval base as “a tough place to get out of.”
A United Nations investigator who visited the military detention center in 2023 said conditions had improved, but military detainees still faced near constant surveillance, forced removal from their cells and unjust use of restraints, resulting in “ongoing cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment under international law.” The US said it disagreed “in significant respects” with her report.
