Category: Security

A Wisconsin teacher has reached a settlement with his former employer after he says he lost his job because he refused to refer to transgender students by their names and pronouns, his attorneys said.

Jordan Cernek was a middle school and high school English and language arts teacher for the Argyle School District from August 2021 until August 2023, according to a federal lawsuit filed July 8, 2024.

McClatchy News reached out to Argyle School District for comment on March 10 but did not immediately hear back.

During an August 2022 meeting, staff members were told the district was implementing a new policy in which teachers would have to use “different names and pronouns for any students who requested them,” the lawsuit said.

Cernek expressed that he disagreed with the policy due to his religious beliefs, the civil complaint said.

Cernek was then told at the end of the first week of school that two transgender students in his class would be changing their names, according to the lawsuit.

During the second week of school, he told a district official that he could not use transgender students’ new names and pronouns because it would “violate his Christian beliefs,” the lawsuit said.

For some time, he would speak to students without using a name, which he and the district agreed upon, the lawsuit said. However, he was then told that this was not allowed and that he had to use the students’ names, according to the lawsuit.

Cernek continued to “act in accordance with the accommodation he agreed to” with the district and “did not refer to students by name when interacting with them,” the lawsuit said. He later “asked one of the transgender students in his class about whether calling the student by the student’s last name would be a good middle ground for the both of them, to which the transgender student agreed.”

But a parent of the student told Cernek that the “last name accommodation was not enough” and told him not to discuss the matter with the student again.

In March 2023, Cernek learned that his contract with the district may not be renewed, the lawsuit said. On April 13, 2023, he received a letter that stated the reason for considering non-renewal was because “the School Board has been advised that [Mr. Cernek’s] performance has been less (than) satisfactory,” the lawsuit said.

During a school board meeting in May, Cernek explained to the board that “(b)efore (he is) a teacher, however, (he is) an ambassador of the true King, Jesus Christ,” the complaint said.

The board voted not to renew his contract.

Court records show the case was dismissed in February, and Superintendent Randy Refsland confirmed to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that the district settled with Cernek for $20,000.

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© 2025 The Bradenton Herald

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

In November 2021, Capt. Li Tian, an officer stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Lakewood, Washington, allegedly began emailing back and forth with a foreign national living in China. He introduced himself as a friend of Ruoyu Duan, a former Army soldier who lived in Hillsboro, Oregon. Tian said he was looking for a job opportunity.

At first, Tian sent the other person documents related to real estate investments on the East Coast of the United States, referred to in court records as a “white paper.” With Duan acting as a middle man getting money from a PayPal account based in China, Tian was reportedly paid $1,500 for the documents.

As the correspondence continued, the person in China, whose email account was based in Hong Kong, asked Tian for less “open source” material — documents that would be harder to get.

According to court documents filed last week in U.S. District Court in Western Washington and Oregon, that was the beginnings of a years-long conspiracy where Tian and another soldier based at JBLM, Sgt. Jian Zhao, gathered and sold sensitive U.S. military information to Duan and individuals in China.

Among the documents allegedly handed over were excerpts of technical manuals for operating an artillery system used on battlefields in Ukraine and copies of PowerPoint presentations specifying the positions of military personnel in a Stryker combat vehicle. Video footage from inside Zhao’s office at JBLM in November 2024 also allegedly showed him taking photos of a document pertaining to a military exercise simulating a conflict with the People’s Republic of China.

“Do you know how risky this is?!?” Zhao told an individual in China while allegedly trying to sell another sensitive military document in October.

“If I were in your position, I would not dare,” the person replied.

Zhao also is accused of selling hard drives, some classified and some labeled “SECRET,” for thousands of dollars and sending them directly to a person in China from his DuPont home.

Zhao’s indictment alleges that he accepted about $15,000 in exchange for gathering information for a co-conspirator purporting to reside in Changchun in Northeast China.

According to copies of Duan and Tian’s indictments, Duan accepted about $38,500 from two PayPal accounts based in China between June 2021 and April 2023. He allegedly received about $14,600 from two accounts on Zelle, a mobile payment app, between June 2023 and July 2024.

Those identified in the conspiracy talked on Facebook messenger, through the messaging app WeChat and via email. According to the indictments, all of their communications occurred in Mandarin.

Duan and Tian are charged in U.S. District Court in Oregon with conspiring to bribe a public official and steal government property. Zhao is charged in U.S. District Court in Western Washington with conspiring to gather, transmit or lose national defense information, as well as bribery of a public official and theft of government property.

Special Agent Mike Herrington with the FBI Seattle Field Office said in a press briefing Thursday that investigators had gathered additional information, and it is possible charges could be added.

Capt. Li Tian’s alleged involvement

Here’s how court documents filed so far describe Tian’s alleged involvement:

After Tian was asked for “less open source” material by the person he was emailing with in China in December 2021, court documents don’t describe any further communication between the two. But the next year he began sending military information to Duan, who had paid him for the “white paper” that was given to the person in China.

In October and November 2022, Tian emailed Duan links to Google Drives three times containing Open Source Intelligence reports, which were not classified.

On Feb. 20, 2023, Tian started sending Duan more sensitive information. Via email, Duan received more links that day to Google Drives which contained at least three PowerPoint presentations about the Stryker Brigade Combat Team and the Stryker vehicle. One discussed the formations, movements and employment of the team. Another, titled “CAPABILITIES.pptx,” specified the mission and capabilities of the unit. The third specified the positions of military personnel in the Stryker combat vehicle.

Also sent to Duan that day was a PowerPoint about a Department of Defense social media forum, Army mission requirements and strategy. It’s unclear what a fifth PDF document sent to Duan pertained to. It was titled “stp_91s13.pdf,” and records state its markings showed it was only authorized to be distributed to U.S. government agencies and their contractors because it contained sensitive materials.

The same day, Tian and Duan talked on Facebook Messenger.

“Please provide the tm (technical manuals) of the vehicles sent there. It is for writing an article,” Duan said.

“I don’t have access. Will need to wait until Monday,” Tian said.

Tian asked Duan to send him a list of the models he was looking for. Tian said it couldn’t be downloaded, and it had to be looked up on AESIP, the Army Enterprise Systems Integration Program Hub, which Tian said only “chief” had access to.

Tian later said his “supply” had access, who he referred to as “a guy from Beijing.” Duan said he would take them out to eat next time. Tian “liked” the message.

Later on in their conversation, Duan appeared to ask Tian if he happened to have technical manuals for German military vehicles, such as a Leopard 1, a tank, or a “Weasel,” likely referring to the Wiesel Armored Weapons Carrier. Tian said he definitely didn’t have those. Duan instead asked for American vehicles.

“I first want an M 1126 Stryker infantry vehicle, an MI 09 howitzer, and M2 Bradley fighting vehicle,” Duan wrote. “I saw Armytimes also mentioned the Patriot, but I don’t understand that stuff at all and cannot write anything.”

Three days later, after Duan offered “500” for the three “teaching materials,” Tian emailed him links to Google Drives with three PDFs. They were related to the Bradley Fire Support vehicle, which is designed for precision target location and assisting in in-direct fire. Two of the documents were technical manuals which could only be distributed to U.S. government agencies or their contractors. The third was approved for public release.

On Feb. 24, 2023, Duan and Tian had another exchange on Facebook Messenger.

“I see that nothing happened after you said you’d ask the chief,” Duan wrote. “Don’t worry if it can’t be done. I can find materials on wiki or reddit.”

“The main thing is not to get in trouble,” Duan added. “It is not easy to get to this point in the army.”

“Downloaded,” Tian replied. “Don’t be anxious. I’m out and will send it to you when I get back.”

The next month, March 29, 2023 Duan messaged Tian that he kept forgetting to give him “the material fees.” He offered “500.” The same day, Duan accepted $2,500 from a PayPal account based in China, and he then sent $500 to Tian on PayPal.

Sgt. Jian Zhao’s alleged involvement

Here’s how court documents filed so far describe Zhao’s alleged involvement:

Zhao appears to have been looped into the conspiracy by at least April 27, 2023. According to the Army’s public affairs office at the Pentagon, that was six years after he joined the Army as a unit supply specialist, and three years after he became stationed at JBLM.

Over about a week, Zhao allegedly used his personal email to send Duan 13 documents that were excerpts of a technical manual for the HIMARS artillery system used in Ukraine. It’s unclear how he knew Duan.

Months later, in October 2023, Duan connected Zhao to foreign national living in China, identified in a court filing only as “Conspirator 3.” The foreigner introduced himself as a friend of Duan over WeChat.

“Boss Duan says you have things to sell. Mind telling what you have,” one message to Zhao said.

In November 2023, another person introduced himself to Zhao over WeChat as a friend of Duan. Identified as S.K.K. in court records, the person told Zhao he’d bought equipment from him through Duan. He said he specialized in this type of business in China, made several million dollars a year and wanted to collaborate.

Then in July 2024, Zhao and the foreign national Duan had connected him with began discussing the sale of an encryption-capable computer. The two talked pricing until Oct. 13 when Zhao received $1,000 for it via WeChat. The foreign national received it by Dec. 4.

Also in July, Zhao discussed selling classified hard drives with S.K.K. and sent him a photo of 20 of them. Zhao then spoke with the foreign national about the hard drives over WeChat. Zhao said he didn’t know the contents of the hard drives and couldn’t guarantee anything. They agreed to a price of $10,000, with half as a down payment and half paid on delivery.

The foreign national confirmed he received them Sept. 12. He later informed Zhao the buyer had only gotten 19 hard drives, three of which were corrupted. The buyer wanted to pay $500 less than what they’d agreed on. Zhao went along with it, but he reportedly said he’d never sell to this buyer again.

The next month, Zhao and the foreign national started to talk about the sale of sensitive U.S. military documents. Over WeChat, Zhao said he had “good stuff” Oct. 11 and asked the other to get a quote from a buyer before he would name his price.

“Spread the news. It’s Brigade level,” Zhao allegedly said of the document.

“Ok. Done. Recall,” the individual in China replied. “This needs some time. This is way top [we] must be very very careful.”

“Very sensitive document. Super difficult to get,” Zhao said.

As the two settled on a price over a couple weeks, tensions appeared to rise.

After the foreign national told Zhao on Oct. 22 that a buyer said one of the documents was worth $2,000 and he suggested Zhao sell two documents as a package, Zhao said he wouldn’t consider it.

“[Expletive] this world,” Zhao said. “I’m not selling, brother.”

After a voice call, the foreign national said he would ask more and find “high level people.” The next day, the foreign national still pushed selling the documents as a package. Zhao reportedly said the second document wasn’t for sale.

“I can’t afford to make this person angry,” the foreign national replied. “Don’t play me boss. At the beginning you did say two documents. You said go find high level people yesterday.”

The two continued to discuss Zhao sending both documents, and on Oct. 27, video footage from Zhao’s office at JBLM showed him leave the room emptyhanded, then return with two documents he laid on his desk.

One was called “Strategic and Operation Rockets and Missiles.” It was considered controlled unclassified information, which could only be distributed to the Department of Defense and its contractors. The second document was similarly labeled, and it described a command post exercise designed to enhance U.S. combat readiness with multinational partners.

At 12:27 p.m. that day, Zhao allegedly told the foreign national via WeChat he was “doing it now.” Video footage then showed him using his cell phone to scan the first document page by page.

Later that day, Zhao confirmed he transferred all the documents. The foreign national told Zhao he would be paid in three days. Zhao later received $4,500 in three payments.

Over the next month, video footage from Zhao’s office at JBLM showed him taking pictures of a sensitive document and videos of his government computer screen three times. The document he photographed was about a military exercise simulating a conflict with the People’s Republic of China. It’s unclear what he was videotaping on his computer screen. One video he took Nov. 7 was reportedly of an excel file he scrolled through.

In December, Zhao told the foreign national he had a “90-page manual” he was willing to sell for $1,500. The next day, Dec. 5, Zhao was told a buyer would aim to pay him in seven to 10 days. And on Dec. 19, Zhao was paid $2,000.

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© 2025 The News Tribune

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

The reality TV show that made Donald Trump a celebrity household name has begun streaming for the first time since its 2004 premiere.

Amazon Prime Video announced Monday that viewers would be able to stream all seven seasons of “The Apprentice.”

The first season of the Mark Burnett-produced competition show, which also made a star out of contestant Omarosa Manigault, hit the platform Monday — with the remaining six seasons rolling out weekly through April 27.

President Trump said in a statement, “I look forward to watching this show myself — such great memories, and so much fun, but most importantly, it was a learning experience for all of us!”

With 16 contestants performing various business-related challenges in pursuit of a $250,000 job at the Trump Organization, “The Apprentice” became a ratings juggernaut for NBC. Trump, then known as a real estate mogul, gained fame with his signature catchphrase: “You’re fired.”

The Emmy Award-nominated series spawned several spinoffs including “The Celebrity Apprentice,” “The Apprentice: Martha Stewart” and “The Ultimate Merger” — a dating competition where eligible bachelors vied for romance with troublemaking Trump protegee Manigault.

His three eldest children, Ivanka, Don Jr. and Eric Trump, appeared as advisers through the franchise, which drew celebrities such as Joan Rivers, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Brett Michaels, Dionne Warwick, Arsenio Hall and LaToya Jackson.

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© 2025 New York Daily News

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has sent three individuals with experience in private equity and finance to the Social Security Administration, highlighting the focus that President Donald Trump is putting on rooting out waste and fraud in the nation’s social insurance programs.

Among those tapped for the task are Antonio Gracias of Valor Equity Partners, who also served on the board of Tesla Inc. and was an early investor in SpaceX — two of Musk’s companies — as well as Scott Coulter, formerly of Lone Pine Capital, and Michael Russo, formerly of Shift4, according to people familiar with the moves who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss them.

Those names, confirmed in agency and court documents, underscore the importance that the Social Security agency has taken as a beachhead for Musk’s government cost-cutting effort.

Trump elevated a mid-level anti-fraud specialist, Leland Dudek, to be Social Security’s acting commissioner last month — skipping over more than 150 higher-ranking supervisors at the agency.

Dudek had cooperated with DOGE, helping to bring Russo and Coulter into the agency, according to a sworn statement filed Friday by Tiffany Flick, the former agency chief of staff who retired when Dudek was promoted.

Russo arrived Feb. 3, and “introduced himself as a DOGE representative to multiple employees on multiple occasions,” Flick said. He now serves as the agency’s chief information officer. Russo also brought on Akash Bobba, a former intern for Peter Thiel’s Palantir Technologies Inc., to analyze Social Security data.

Bobba’s onboarding was unusual, according to Flick, who said his background check was held up for a few days. She said she received pressure from Russo and Steve Davis, who runs Musk’s Boring Co. and is also working for DOGE, to get Bobba credentials by midnight on Feb. 10. Bobba was sworn in over the phone, “contrary to standard practice,” she said.

Flick said she didn’t know what DOGE was working on, but that it seemed to have something to do with allegations of widespread fraud that she considered to be “invalid.”

A spokesman for the Social Security Administration did not respond to questions about DOGE’s work at the agency. Russo, Gracias, Coulter, Bobba and Davis also did not respond to messages seeking comment.

Trump has used Social Security as a primary example of what he casts as a government rampant with fraud, waste and abuse, claiming there are people of improbable ages — including millions purportedly over 100 years old — still collecting agency checks.

“I’m not going to touch Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid. Now, we’re going to get fraud out of there,” Trump told Fox Business in an interviewed aired on Sunday. “You see where I talk about it all the time? We have people 250 years old and all, tremendous fraud.”

Dudek has repeatedly rebutted that claim. While a database of people who have had Social Security numbers is missing dates of death for millions of records, that doesn’t mean those people appear in a separate database of beneficiaries, he said.

Under Trump, the agency is already undergoing a reorganization, with senior staffers exiting, and job cuts and office reductions in the works — moves which have alarmed Democrats who see them as a threat to a benefits program popular with the American public.

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© 2025 Bloomberg L.P.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

This article was originally published by Radio Free Asia and is reprinted with permission.

China has set up a live-fire exercise area 40 nautical miles (75 kilometers) off the coast of the Taiwan port city of Kaohsiung without warning in a provocation to the region’s security that posed a risk to air and sea transport, Taiwan’s ministry of defense said Wednesday.

It said Beijing “blatantly violated international norms by unilaterally designating” the drill zone.

It strongly condemned the zone and said in a statement it had “immediately dispatched naval, air and land forces to monitor and take appropriate measures” after learning of it via “temporary radio broadcast” between the two sides in the area.

As a normal practice, relevant authorities of coastal countries are obliged to issue prior warnings to vessels that may enter the exercise areas in order to avoid accidents.

“This move not only poses a high risk to the navigation safety of international flights and ships at sea, but is also a blatant provocation to regional security and stability,” it said.

The Taiwan ministry also said that in the 24 hours up to Wednesday morning, it had detected 32 sorties by Chinese aircraft and warships near Taiwan. Twenty-two of them crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait which serves as the de-facto border between the island and the Chinese mainland.

On Tuesday, the Taiwan Coast Guard detained a Chinese crewed civilian vessel it suspected of cutting a communications cable off Taiwan’s coast. The island’s government said it couldn’t rule out that the Togo-registered tanker was engaging in “gray zone” tactics for Beijing.

However, on Wednesday, the Taiwanese defense ministry told RFA that Chinese vessels had left the designated live-fire exercise area near Kaohsiung.

The message added that the Taiwanese military “will continue to monitor the developments in the surrounding sea and airspace, and dispatch appropriate troops to be on alert and respond.”

The Chinese foreign ministry on Wednesday declined to comment on the zone for exercises off Taiwan.

China has been holding live-fire exercises across the region over the past week.

On Monday, it began shooting live ammunition in a four-day drill in the Gulf of Tonkin shared with Vietnam, days after Hanoi released a map defining its territory in the gulf.

Last Friday, several commercial flights between Australia and New Zealand had to be diverted as Chinese warships conducted live-fire shooting in the Tasman sea. The same flotilla held another exercise a day after near New Zealand.

Both drills were held in international waters but Canberra complained that Beijing did not provide it with adequate notice.

On Sunday, China’s defense ministry spokesperson Wu Qian said that Australian complaints were “hyped up” and “inconsistent with the facts”.

The past week’s exercises around the region are a clear example of saber rattling according to regional specialist Carl Thayer, an emeritus professor at Australia’s University of New South Wales.

“Given China’s continued bullying of the Philippines, Beijing is sending a message to regional states as well as the Trump Administration that Beijing will defend its sovereign rights and interests whenever they are challenged,” he told Radio Free Asia.

This article was originally published by Radio Free Asia and is reprinted with permission.

An architect working on China’s controversial plans for a new ‘mega-embassy’ in London has revealed some of the details of the project, including a tunnel connecting two of the former Royal Mint buildings, basement rooms and accommodation for hundreds of staff.

Plans submitted to a government inquiry indicate large-scale remodeling of the buildings on the former Royal Mint site, including a large basement area with a security airlock for vehicles, suites of basement rooms and a new tunnel connecting two of the existing buildings.

A political commentator told RFA Cantonese that underground embassy and consular facilities can be much harder for security services in host countries to monitor, citing Ireland’s refusal of a Russian Embassy planning application in 2020 on national security grounds.

China purchased the former Royal Mint — near the Tower of London — in 2018 with plans to build what would become Beijing’s largest diplomatic facility globally. Plans showed that it was expected to be 10 times the size of a regular embassy.

Beijing has made two applications to build the massive new facility in London both of which were rejected by the Tower Hamlets Borough Council — the local council overseeing the neighborhood — amid a vocal campaign by rights groups.

British Metropolitan Police had earlier spoken against the planned embassy due to safety and security concerns, but withdrew its objections last month after the central government took over responsibility for the decision.

Then the council said it won’t argue against the project at a planning inquiry.

On Oct. 8, an estimated 4,000 people gathered in front of the proposed site to protest the plans, saying China would use the ‘mega-embassy’ to monitor dissidents and ordinary Chinese living outside the country.

What’s the tunnel for?

Oliver Ulmer, director of David Chipperfield Architects, told the planning inquiry in London on Feb. 12 that a new tunnel would link the main basement to that of the Siemens Registry building “to provide access.”

“The basement … will be reconfigured to provide support spaces to the embassy functions on the floors above,” he said. “These will consist primarily of facilities to support the catering of events.”

Changes will be made for “the provision of necessary security required for the embassy use,” Ulmer told Planning Inspector Claire Searson as part of a 10-day inquiry into the plan.

The plans show a large basement with a security airlock, with access to two suites of unlabeled rooms, one via the new tunnel.

However, the plans are labeled as having been “redacted for security reasons,” making any further public information on the facility unlikely.

The new ‘super-embassy,’ if approved, will include 200 residential units, from studios to three-bedroomed apartments, suggesting a large increase in the number of embassy personnel compared with current staffing levels.

Transnational repression

The planning application comes amid growing concerns over Chinese Communist Party infiltration of various aspects of British life, and warnings from Hong Kongers in exile over growing acts of violence by Beijing supporters and officials alike.

Overseas activists frequently report being targeted by agents and supporters of the Chinese state, including secret Chinese police stations in a number of countries.

China is currently believed to have 116 diplomats in the United Kingdom with diplomatic immunity, according to Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office figures from 2020, cited in The Times newspaper.

The number of apartments suggests that number could see a very sharp increase if the embassy plans are given the go-ahead by Angela Rayner, Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government.

In March 2020, the Irish government revoked an approved planning application for a massive expansion of the Russian Embassy in the city, saying it was “likely to be harmful to the security and defence of the State and the State’s relations with other states.”

The Russians called the decision “ludicrous” at the time.

But political scholar Benson Wong said the use of basement facilities for espionage-related activities was highly likely.

“Underground tunnels can effectively prevent host country security forces from conducting surveillance of foreign diplomatic missions to collect intelligence or carry out wiretapping,” Wong said. “This means the embassy can carry out any espionage or intelligence work in a secure environment.”

“If the Labour government does nothing and allows the new Chinese Embassy to take liberties, I think the impact could be disastrous,” Wong said.

The project plans also include a formal entrance hall with ‘screening facilities’ for diplomatic visitors, a cultural exchange center and a ‘heritage interpretation center’ and conference and exhibition facilities, Ulmer told the inquiry.

A new visa application center is also planned, along with “student service” and “business services” facilities, he said.

The outdoor space includes plans for a courtyard garden with increased biodiversity and “Chinese influences,” Ulmer said.

This article was originally published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and is reprinted with permission.

In a room far behind the front lines in central Ukraine, a Cuban man wearing Russian military fatigues smiles widely as he taps out a rhythm on a table. But his mood soon turns somber.

Frank Dario Jarrosay Manfuga, 36, joined Russia’s army in January 2024.

By March he had been captured by Ukrainian forces, and he is now hoping for a way out of a desperate situation.

“I never intended to kill anyone. I never wanted to participate in a war. I have a family,” said Manfuga, who claimed he was tricked into boarding a Russia-bound plane with the promise of a job in construction.

“Maybe some organization could save me,” he said, adding he has no desire to return to Russia or Cuba.

Manfuga’s claim that he was duped could not be verified.

A former geography teacher who later became a professional musician to increase his income, he is now a captured mercenary.

His interview with Schemes, the investigative unit of RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service, was arranged through contacts in the Ukrainian military, which is keen to demonstrate just how wide the Russia has cast its net in a search for foreign manpower to bolster the invasion and offset an unpopular conscription drive at home.

In Manfuga’s case, that distance is more than 9,500 kilometers from Moscow.

And he is not alone.

“Based on passports obtained by Ukrainian hackers, our own information from Cuba, numerous videos we’ve seen, and reports of some Cubans killed in combat, we can estimate that around 5,000 Cuban soldiers are fighting for Russia,” Orlando Gutierrez-Boronat, co-founder of the Cuban Democratic Directorate, a U.S.-based NGO advocating for democratic change in communist Cuba, told Schemes. “This network could not function without the Cuban regime’s approval.”

If that figure is accurate, it would amount to under half the number of soldiers from North Korea reportedly participating in Russia’s war with their government’s open backing — most notably in the effort to counter Ukraine’s shock offensive in Russia’s Kursk region.

But unlike North Koreans, Cuban fighters in Russia have left a significant social media footprint, with many openly embracing the Kremlin’s militarism and ideology, a Schemes investigation found.

Those posts helped Schemes identify hundreds of mercenaries, find previously unreported training facilities with the aid of satellite imagery, and discover the location and the nature of some of the Cubans’ military activities in Russia and on Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory.

They also raise questions about how hard Cuba’s pro-Russian government is “working to neutralize and dismantle a human trafficking network,” as its Foreign Ministry claimed in September 2023, when evidence of Cubans fighting in the war was beginning to emerge.

Dead In The Battle For Bakhmut

Important indications of the scale of Cubans’ involvement in the war came just days after the Cuban Foreign Ministry’s statement, when a document hack unearthed nearly 200 Cubans serving in the Russian military, initially posted to the Tula region south of Moscow.

That trove was first discovered by the Ukraine-focused investigative group InformNapalm, with the documents proving the Cubans’ service coming from the e-mail account of a Russian major hacked by Cyber Resistance, a Ukrainian hacker group.

Since then, RFE/RL journalists have found new evidence of hundreds of other apparent Cuban mercenaries on the Russian social network VKontakte.

In many cases, their accounts were created in 2024 — seemingly the year they arrived in Russia for pre-deployment training.

The Schemes investigation tied many of the Cuban mercenaries with an online presence to the 106th Airborne Division.

In one example, a photo posted in July 2023 by a man named Aliesky Anache included the geotag Promyshlenny Proyezd, an area of the city of Tula known to host the 106th Airborne Division and its 51st Parachute Regiment.

Journalists were subsequently able to geolocate the blue-walled military building where that photo was taken.

Satellite imagery of the region suggests there is no other military unit stationed anywhere in the surrounding area.

Units of the 106th Airborne Division participated in the battle for Bakhmut. Known grimly as “the meat grinder,” the monthslong battle concluded with the Russian occupation of the city in May 2023 and was the one of the bloodiest chapters of the war to date.

And at least one Cuban, a 41-year-old fighter with the call sign Chiki, appears to have died there before being buried in Moscow, according to a post on VKontakte found by RFE/RL journalists.

Another Cuban with the same call sign became a minor celebrity in Russia after appearing on the military TV channel Zvezda.

In a segment of a Zvezda program on August 2, 2024, the fighter, whose real name is Rafael, was seen scrawling “Hasta la vista, baby” (“Goodbye, baby” in Spanish) on military projectiles and informed the interviewer that he had “fallen in love with buckwheat,” a Russian staple, during his military service.

Rafael’s VKontakte profile features photos of him wearing patches associated with Russia’s Wagner Group.

From August on, Rafael posted several images from combat positions in Ukraine’s Kherson region. But many of his social media posts before then featured photos with other Cubans during training exercises and outings to bars in Tula.

The bar photos and the fighters that featured in them helped RFE/RL journalists geolocate a second military facility used by the Cubans of the 106th.

This previously unpublicized facility in the Tula region is the paratrooper training ground, unofficially called Krym (Crimea) in VKontakte geotags.

Rush For Rubles, Assist For Russia

Grueling poverty in Cuba helps explain the appeal of Russian military service to Cubans. Historically friendly ties with Moscow dating back to Soviet times mean that citizens of the island nation can enter the country as tourists without a visa.

A typical monthly salary for a foreigner enlisting in the Russian army on a yearlong contract is the equivalent of $2,000.

That was seemingly enough for Odin Rivas, who featured in one of Rafael’s posts from Tula, to swap running a small business in Cuba for active military duty.

Rivas has been posting frequently from military positions, promoting Russian and Soviet propaganda symbols.

Back in 2022, he was being celebrated as a hero in the Cuban press after he volunteered as a firefighter to help extinguish a giant fire at the Matanzas oil terminal.

Matanzas is at the heart of Moscow’s patronly ties to Cuba, since it receives large oil deliveries from Russian tankers.

Using the ship-tracking service Marine Traffic and satellite images from Planet Labs, RFE/RL journalists found satellite images showing that Russian oil tankers had docked in Cuban ports in 2022, 2023, and 2024.

According to data obtained by Schemes from the KSE Institute and Kpler, in 2024, tankers transported more than 1.8 million barrels of Russian oil products to Cuba. From the beginning of 2025, they carried more than 700,000 barrels to the Caribbean island.

One of those deliveries came at a vital time as Cuba witnessed its worst protests in several years in March 2024 amid energy and food shortages.

Havana has never formally endorsed Russia’s invasion.

But on March 1, a day when Russia targeted civilian infrastructure and killed hundreds of civilians in cities across Ukraine, its Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Pedro Luis Pedroso Cuesta, criticized the West for “assuming that Russia would remain defenseless in the face of direct threats to its national security.”

And in May 2024, Russian state media reported Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel had wished Russian President Vladimir Putin success in “the special military operation,” as the Kremlin calls the war, during talks in Moscow that coincided with Russia’s May 9 military parade commemorating the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.

In comments to Schemes, Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said Cuba “has clearly chosen Russia’s side in the full-scale war because of its anti-American stance.”

In addition to extensive open-source research, Schemes journalists obtained copies of Russian military documents from Ukrainian military sources concerning other Cubans who are serving in Russian military units.

One of the documents was a questionnaire belonging to Julio Pelaez, a 38-year-old man who last September appealed in Russian on VKontakte for help getting a plane ticket to Moscow in order to report to “any recruitment center.”

In the questionnaire, Pelaez, who said he had never been abroad before, appeared to lean into a Kremlin propaganda trope concerning Ukraine when stating his motivation to join the war.

“I consider it the duty of every free person who hates Nazis,” Pelaez wrote.

By the end of October, according to his profile page, Pelaez was in Russia, and had posted a photo of his military gear complete with the pro-war “Z” symbol, a patch featuring the Cuban flag, and a document resembling a Russian passport.

A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) van caught on fire in Philadelphia on Tuesday. While officials reported that the cause of the fire currently remains “unknown,” the agency indicated that the fire was not caused by “foul play.”

A video shared on X, formerly Twitter, by Libs of TikTok shows the ICE minivan engulfed in flames on a street in Philadelphia.

According to The Post Millennial, the ICE van that caught on fire was reportedly being used for federal deportation operations on Tuesday.

In a statement to The Post Millennial, ICE officials said, “A US Immigration and Customs Enforcement vehicle experienced mechanical issues and caught on fire in South Philadelphia, today. The Philadelphia Fire Department extinguished the flames after arriving on scene.”

ICE officials confirmed that no injuries were reported from Tuesday’s incident as a result of the “fast response” from the Philadelphia Fire Department and the individuals who were in the vehicle when the fire started.

“The cause of the fire is unknown, but no foul play is suspected at this time,” the agency added.

READ MORE: 8 illegal immigrants arrested, charged in sex trafficking ring linked to dangerous gang

According to Newsweek, the ICE van fire was first reported at roughly 8:40 a.m. on Tuesday near South Front Street in the Society Hill area of Philadelphia. The outlet noted that while initial reports suggested that the fire could have been started by protesters, ICE officials confirmed that the government vehicle had experienced “mechanical issues.”

Tuesday’s incident involving the ICE vehicle in Philadelphia comes less than a month after ICE officials announced that the agency had executed a “worksite enforcement operation” at Complete Autowash in Philadelphia following allegations that employees had been “subjected to labor exploitation.” ICE officials confirmed that seven illegal immigrants from Mexico and the Dominican Republic were arrested and detained as a result of the operation.

“The successful execution of this worksite enforcement operation underscores our determined commitment to national security and public safety,” Enforcement and Removal Operations Philadelphia Acting Field Office Director Brian McShane said at the time.

“We were able to apprehend individuals who are unlawfully present in the United States,” McShane added. “These operations highlight the dedication and diligence of our officers and agents in protecting our communities from potential threats by enforcing immigration laws in accordance with U.S. laws and Department of Homeland Security policies.”

An egg farmer recently described the “nightmare” his egg production company experienced after losing three major flocks of chickens to the deadly bird flu outbreak. The farmer’s story comes as egg prices continue to increase across the United States amid the bird flu outbreak.

According to Fox Business, outbreaks of bird flu, also known as avian influenza, have resulted in entire flocks of chickens being killed to prevent the continued spread of the virus. Herbruck’s Poultry Ranch CEO Greg Herbruck, a third-generation farmer, recently told Fox Business that his company was forced to cull entire flocks of chickens at three farms in Michigan due to the bird flu outbreak, which started in 2022.

Herbruck told Fox Business that his company’s chickens contracted the bird flu virus just before Easter of 2024.

“It’s just like somebody takes a baseball bat to your gut,” Herbruck said. “I’m just an egg farmer out here trying to say, ‘Hey, please, we need some help to fight this battle.’”

Herbruck told Fox Business that he went multiple weeks without sleep, and another company executive started crying in his office by the time the company’s third farm was devastated by the bird flu outbreak.

“It was just awful… just the nightmare of that many dead chickens,” the CEO said.

READ MORE: FDA recalls millions of eggs, issues major warning amid bacteria outbreak

Fox Business reported that egg production farms are typically told to eradicate their flocks if their chickens contract the bird flu. The eradication of entire flocks of chickens has caused egg prices to skyrocket as the supply has significantly dropped.

Herbruck told Fox News that the process of rebuilding a flock can take multiple months, while the return to full production at an egg production farm can take up to two years. The farmer explained that while his company reintroduced chickens to its locations last June, the company is still only operating at 70% of its previous capacity.

As the bird flu virus has continued to spread, concerns have increased regarding the potential for humans to contract the virus. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced last month that there have been 67 human cases of the bird flu in the United States since 2022.

Herbruck told Fox News that he is concerned if the disease is confirmed to be airborne. “It’s not even possible to filter out that virus or to disinfect the air,” Herbruck said. “These barns that may have 150,000 birds, we typically change the air every 30 to 40 seconds… so the idea that we might be able to somehow disinfect that air is not even reasonable.”

Herbruck told Fox News that he believes a bird flu vaccine is “something that can help us” as the virus continues to spread.