Nation and world news in brief for December 20

Texas launches billboard campaign in Mexico, Central America to warn migrants

DALLAS (TNS) — Texas is launching a $100,000 billboard campaign in Mexico and Central America to highlight the risks of crossing into the state illegally — including incarceration and sexual assault.

“We’re here to expose the truth to immigrants who are thinking about coming here. The truth about the traffickers who assault so many of the women and children along the way,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Thursdays during a news conference at a private ranch in Eagle Pass.

The billboards began going up on Wednesday along major migrant pathways, warning that undocumented entry into the U.S. through Texas risks incarceration by U.S. authorities and rape by the traffickers who are bringing them across the border.

One warns that wives and daughters “will pay for their trip with their bodies.”

“How much did you pay to have your daughter raped?” another one reads.

“Do not make the dangerous trek to Texas,” Abbott said. “The message is: do not risk a dangerous trip just to be arrested and deported.”

Some 85% of undocumented immigrants in Texas come from Mexico and Central America, with Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala representing three of the top five origin countries, according to the Migration Policy Institute.

The billboards will be posted in several languages, including Spanish, Russian, Chinese and Arabic, Abbott said.

Employee stabs Mich. company president in possible ‘copycat’ of Thompson attack

(TNS) — The president of a Michigan-based manufacturing company was stabbed by one of his employees during a staff meeting earlier this week, in what authorities described as a possible “copycat” of the attack on UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

Nathan Joseph Mahoney, 31, is accused of stabbing the president of Anderson Express Inc. in their Muskegon office just before 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, the Fruitport Township Police Department said in a news release.

The victim, Erik Denslow, was rushed to a nearby hospital where he underwent surgery. His condition was listed as “serious but stable” on Wednesday.

Fellow employees described Mahoney as “having a quiet demeanor,” authorities said, adding that investigators have not established a motive.

On Wednesday, Fruitport Township police said investigators were looking into the possibility that this week’s stabbing could have been inspired by the New York City shooting.

“We haven’t ruled out copycat motive in regards to this,” Deputy Chief Greg Poulson told local television station WOOD. “I think that comes to everyone’s mind in this time. We’re going through all his social accounts, all his electronic media and trying to determine a motive for this act.”

FAA bans drones over parts of N.J.

NEW YORK (TNS) — The Federal Aviation Administration has issued a month-long ban on drones for parts of New Jersey, citing “special security reasons.”

The Temporary Flight Restrictions cover nearly two dozen towns and cities, from Camden to Bayonne, Edison, Harrison and Jersey City. It prohibits uncrewed aircrafts from operating within a “nautical mile” of the airspace specified — much of it over “critical New Jersey infrastructure” — including from the ground up to 400 feet.

Those who violate the order “may be intercepted, and/or detained and interviewed by federal, state, or local law enforcement or other government personnel.” The FAA added it could also take administrative action, including imposing civil penalties and suspending or revoking the operators’ certificates, in addition to pursuing criminal charges.

The agency further warned the “United States government may use deadly force against the airborne [aircraft], it if is determined that the [aircraft] poses an imminent security threat.”

The ban — which will remain in effect until Jan. 17 — is the latest twist in the mysterious drone saga plaguing the Garden State.

Danny Masterson seeks to overturn rape convictions

LOS ANGELES (TNS) — Danny Masterson’s attorneys are seeking to overturn his conviction of raping two women in the early 2000s — alleging in a new filing that the “That ’70s Show” star did not receive a fair trial.

In a 242-page appellant’s opening brief, the lawyers allege that key witness testimonies changed over time, that the court excluded significant exculpatory evidence and that judicial rulings skewed the jury’s view of the evidence against Masterson.

“It is true, of course, that a defendant is not entitled to a perfect trial. He is, however, still entitled to a fair one,” attorneys Cliff Gardner and Lazuli Whitt wrote in the brief. “Danny Masterson received neither. Reversal is required.”

Masterson was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison in September 2023.

Jeff Bezos faces backlash for dinner with Trump amid Amazon strike

(TNS) — Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is the latest billionaire to take a trip to Mar-a-Lago to dine with president-elect Donald Trump.

On Wednesday night, the Washington Post owner was spotted walking in with his fiancée Lauren Sanchez as the couple attended their first dinner with Trump since his reelection. In a clip shared on X, the couple is seen at the Palm Beach estate with Melania Trump and the soon to be 47th president.

The dinner comes days after Bezos pledged $1 million to Donald Trump‘s inauguration fund, despite the rocky relationship between them over the years.

Just weeks before the election, Bezos reportedly stopped the Washington Post, from endorsing a presidential candidate. He immediately offered a warm congratulations to Trump after he won the presidency, even saying he feels “optimistic” about his second term.

“Big congratulations to our 45th and now 47th President on an extraordinary political comeback and decisive victory,” Bezos posted on X. “No nation has bigger opportunities.”

On Thursday, Bezos faced backlash for his double date with the Trumps from U.S. senator Bernie Sanders, who says Bezos needs to get his priorities straight as thousands of Amazon workers went on strike across the U.S on Thursday.

More than twice as many US troops are in Syria than previously disclosed

WASHINGTON (NYT) — The Pentagon said Thursday that 2,000 U.S. troops were in Syria, more than twice the number officials had cited for months.

Why the Defense Department delayed disclosing the number is unclear. Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, told reporters that he became aware of the additional troops Thursday morning. They are in Syria on a “temporary” basis, he said, to support what he called the “core official deployed forces” participating in the Pentagon’s mission to keep Islamic State forces from reconstituting.

Ryder said the increase in the number of troops was unrelated to the fall of President Bashar Assad to rebel forces in early December.

Since the Assad government’s collapse, Israel and Turkey have launched military operations in Syria. The U.S., for its part, has conducted dozens of strikes against Islamic State targets in Syria to stop the militant group’s fighters from taking advantage of the shifting situation.

The Pentagon was asked repeatedly in recent days and weeks how many U.S. troops were in Syria, and maintained that the number was 900.