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Toronto Sun
an hour ago
- Business
- Toronto Sun
U.S. Treasury sanctions ‘El Chapo' sons on fentanyl trafficking
Published Jun 09, 2025 • 1 minute read The US Treasury Department building in Washington, DC. Photo by Stefani Reynolds / Bloomberg (Bloomberg) — The U.S. Treasury on Monday said it's sanctioning 'Los Chapitos,' the faction of the Mexican Sinaloa Cartel controlled by the sons of jailed cartel leader Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzman that Washington says facilitates illicit fentanyl production and trafficking into the country. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account The Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) also said in a statement that it's designating two fugitive leaders of 'Los Chapitos' — Archivaldo Ivan Guzman Salazar and Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar, who are sons of 'El Chapo.' 'Ivan's leadership of Los Chapitos has sparked an alarming spate of violence in Mexico and the United States against civilians, law enforcement and rival cartel members,' according to the statement. 'Alfredo, serving as lieutenant to his brother Ivan, has participated in the torture of rivals to solicit information about potential infiltration into Los Chapitos-controlled territory.' The US State Department is offering a reward of up to $10 million each for information leading to the arrest or conviction of both fugitives. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. OFAC also sanctioned a regional network of 'Los Chapitos' associates and businesses based in Mazatlan, Sinaloa, led by Victor Manuel Barraza Pablos over accusations including drug trafficking, extortion, kidnapping and money laundering. It also sanctioned Mexican businessman Jose Raul Nunez Rios, several of his businesses and his wife Sheila Paola Urias Vazquez. The US blocked all property and interests in property of the designated that are in the US or in the possession or control of US persons. Additionally, any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, by one or more blocked persons are also blocked. 'We are executing on President Trump's mandate to completely eliminate drug cartels and take on violent leaders like 'El Chapo's' children. Treasury is maximizing all available tools to stop the fentanyl crisis and help save lives,' said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in Monday's statement. The Treasury warned that engaging in transactions involving 'Los Chapitos' or their allies 'may risk the imposition of secondary sanctions on participating foreign financial institutions.' Olympics Canada Ontario Sunshine Girls Columnists
Newsweek
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Newsweek
Gender-Neutral 'X' Passports Could Soon Return
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. A federal judge could soon decide whether to expand a preliminary injunction that partially blocked the Trump administration from enacting a policy that bans the use of "X" markers used by many nonbinary people on passports. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has asked the court to expand a preliminary injunction issued in April that only applied to six of the plaintiffs who sued the administration to also apply to other transgender and nonbinary people adversely affected by the policy. Newsweek has contacted lawyers for the ACLU and Department of Justice for comment via email. A partially completed passport application, with an X gender marker, is seen on a computer monitor in Alexandria, Virginia, on April 11, 2022. A partially completed passport application, with an X gender marker, is seen on a computer monitor in Alexandria, Virginia, on April 11, 2022. Stefani Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images The Context On his first day back in office in January, President Donald Trump issued an executive order that called for the federal government to define sex as only male and female and for that to be reflected on official documents, including passports, visas and Global Entry cards. The State Department quickly stopped issuing travel documents with the "X" gender marker preferred by many nonbinary people–which U.S. citizens have been able to select since 2022—and also stopped allowing people to change the gender listed on their passport or get new ones that reflect their gender rather than their sex assigned at birth. The ACLU sued the federal government in the federal District Court for the District of Massachusetts on behalf of a group of transgender plaintiffs in February. What To Know U.S. District Judge Julia Kobick sided with the ACLU's motion for a preliminary injunction on April 18, saying the plaintiffs were likely to prevail on their claim that the policy amounts to a form of unconstitutional sex discrimination under the Fifth Amendment. The judge also found the State Department was likely to be found to have violated the Administrative Procedures Act. "The passport policy does indeed impose a special disadvantage on the plaintiffs due to their sex and the court therefore concludes that it discriminates on the basis of sex," Kobick wrote. Her injunction required the State Department to allow six transgender and nonbinary people who are plaintiffs in the lawsuit to obtain passports with sex designations consistent with their gender identity. But it did not bar the government from imposing the new passport requirement on other transgender people. Later in April, the ACLU filed a motion asking the court to certify two classes of people adversely affected by the passport policy, and to extend the preliminary injunction to apply to them too. "Should the Court grant Plaintiffs' Motion for Classes will be all individuals who want or in the future will want either a U.S. passport with an 'F' or 'M' sex designation that is different from the sex assigned to that class member under the Poicy or who want or will want a U.S. passport with an 'X' sex designation," lawyers wrote in a memorandum in support of the motion. "All members of either of those classes face the same irreparable harm as the six Original Plaintiffs for whom the Court has granted a preliminary injunction if they are unable to obtain a passport with the sex designation they want, because they will be forced either to use passports bearing sex designations different from their gender identity or forgo use of a passport entirely." Government lawyers opposed the motion in a filing on Wednesday, arguing that the plaintiffs "have not introduced evidence—let alone made a clear showing—that members of the PI Class would incur irreparable harm. Instead, Plaintiffs simply assert that the PI Class members would suffer the same irreparable harm as the individual Plaintiffs." They also argued in their filing that extending the injunction "to thousands of individuals, not to mention any potential reversal in policy, would add confusion and uncertainty to government policy." What People Are Saying Jessie Rossman, Legal Director at ACLU of Massachusetts, said in a statement in April: "By forcing people to carry documents that directly contradict their identities, the Trump administration is attacking the very foundations of the right to privacy and the freedom to be ourselves. "It is important that every person has the ability to live and travel safely, and we will continue to fight to rescind this unlawful policy to make sure that this relief extends to everyone." The State Department says on its website: "The White House issued Executive Order "Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government" on January 20, 2025. "Under the executive order, we will no longer issue U.S. passports or Consular Reports of Birth Abroad (CRBAs) with an X marker. We will only issue passports with an M or F sex marker that match the customer's biological sex at birth." What's Next A hearing on the motion for class certification and to apply the preliminary injunction to the classes has been scheduled for May 27.
Boston Globe
06-05-2025
- Business
- Boston Globe
Vertex reports an earnings miss and pause on cystic fibrosis trial
TAXES IRS lost 31 percent of auditors in DOGE downsizing, report says The Internal Revenue Service headquarters in Washington, D.C. Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg The Internal Revenue Service lost 31 percent of its auditors from buyouts and layoffs tied to Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, departures that are likely to hamper the agency's ability to go after tax cheats. More than 3,600 revenue agents — responsible for conducting audits — have left the IRS, according to an IRS watchdog report. In addition, 18 percent of revenue officers, who collect taxes, and 10 percent of tax examiners — front-line employees who review returns — have also left the agency, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration said in a recent report. More than 7,300 probationary employees were terminated. More than 4,100 workers took Musk's 'Fork in the Road' resignation offer, followed by a second round of buyouts where more than 13,100 were approved to leave, according to the report. The IRS had a large number of newly hired probationary auditors due to a funding boost under former president Joe Biden, who increased funding for tax enforcement to rebuild the agency's depleted capabilities. That means the cuts targeting recent hires disproportionately affected those with auditing jobs. The terminations have been the subject of ongoing litigation. — BLOOMBERG NEWS Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up LEGAL Advertisement US expands attempt to blow up Google with proposed teardown of its ad technology Advertisement Google's headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. JASON HENRY/NYT The US Justice Department is doubling down on its attempt to break up Google by asking a federal judge to force the company to part with some of the technology powering the company's digital ad network. The proposed dismantling coincides with an ongoing federal effort to separate Google's Chrome browser from its dominant search engine. The government's latest proposal was filed late Monday in a Virginia federal court two-and-half weeks after a federal judge ruled that its lucrative digital ad network has been improperly abusing its market power to stifle competition to the detriment of online publishers. In a 17-page filing, Justice Department lawyers argued that US District Judge Leonie Brinkema should punish Google by ordering the company to offload its AdX business and DFP ad platform, tools that bring together advertisers, who want to market their products, and publishers, who want to sell commercial space on their sites, to bring in revenue. The government also is seeking other restrictions, including a 10-year ban on Google from operating a digital ad exchange, to undercut the power of a 'recidivist monopolist.' Not surprisingly, it's an idea that Google vehemently plans to oppose when the penalty phase of the antitrust case — known as remedy hearings — begins in late September. The Justice Department's proposal 'would cause economic chaos and technological dysfunction resulting in harm to millions of advertisers and publishers, and in so doing, degrade the experience of internet users,' Google said in a court filing late Monday. In its counterproposal, Google outlined a plan that it believes will bring more transparency to its ad network and eventually foster more competition. Google proposed the appointment of a trustee to oversee its behavior for three years. — ASSOCIATED PRESS Advertisement ACQUISITIONS DoorDash plans to buy Deliveroo and SevenRooms A DoorDash bag on a bicycle in New York. Yuki Iwamura/Bloomberg DoorDash announced two deals worth billions of dollars Tuesday, saying it has agreed to acquire Deliveroo, a British food delivery company, and SevenRooms, a platform used by hotels and restaurants to manage reservations and marketing. The acquisitions would enable DoorDash, the dominant food delivery app in the United States, to expand overseas and add reservation management technology to be used by global businesses. DoorDash said its agreement to buy Deliveroo in a roughly $3.9 billion deal would give it a larger footprint in Europe and a presence in the Middle East, covering millions of users in more than 40 countries. It said it had agreed to acquire SevenRooms, a New York City-based software company, for about $1.2 billion. The all-cash transaction was expected to close during the second half of 2025, it said. DoorDash made the announcements as it released financial results for the first quarter of 2025 that showed continued growth in the volume and dollar amounts of grocery and restaurant orders by its users. — NEW YORK TIMES AFFORDABILITY Trump critics launch new group to highlight rising costs An Aldi grocery store in Washington, D.C. Kevin Dietsch/Getty A bipartisan group of President Trump's critics is launching a new organization, dubbed the Cost Coalition, to highlight Trump's struggle to control rising costs in the early months of his presidency. The group expects to be especially active ahead of upcoming elections in Virginia, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, according to preliminary plans shared with the Associated Press this week ahead of a formal announcement. The Cost Coalition will push its message through a combination of paid advertising, social media, press interviews, and on-the-ground events with small business leaders, veterans, and the faith community. Terry Holt, a former spokesperson to former president George W. Bush and former House speaker John Boehner, both Republicans, is serving as a senior communications adviser along with Andrew Bates, a former spokesperson for former president Joe Biden, a Democrat. The new group enters a political landscape already packed with powerful voices fighting to shape the national conversation little more than 100 days after Trump began his second term. The Republican president vowed to 'end inflation' on Day 1, but he has focused more on immigration, culture wars, and exacting revenge against his political adversaries while launching a global trade war that has pushed some costs higher and threatens to send the US economy into recession. — ASSOCIATED PRESS Advertisement HIGHER EDUCATION Columbia cuts 180 employees after 'intense' strain of losing federal funding The Columbia University campus in New York. BING GUAN/NYT Columbia University will cut 180 staffers working on research impacted by the Trump administration's withdrawal of federal funding for grants, university leadership said in a statement Tuesday. The school said the financial strain had become 'intense' as it continued to fund individuals whose salaries and stipends had until recently been funded with federal support. The reductions amount to 20 percent of individuals employed by Columbia who were funded at least in part by now-terminated grants. 'Moving forward, we will be running lighter footprints of research infrastructure in some areas and, in others, maintaining a level of research continuity as we pursue alternate funding sources,' the university said. 'In some cases, schools and departments are winding down activity but remain prepared to reestablish capabilities if support is restored.' Columbia, which has an endowment of about $15 billion, said it made the decision after reviewing and prioritizing research activity. In March, the Trump administration canceled $400 million in federal grants and contracts to Columbia, citing inadequate response to complaints of antisemitism by Jewish students since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on Israel. — BLOOMBERG NEWS Advertisement HOME APPLIANCES Trump administration plans to end Energy Star program An energy star logo is displayed on a box for a freezer on Jan. 21 in Evendale, Ohio. Joshua A. Bickel/Associated Press The Environmental Protection Agency plans to end Energy Star, a popular program whose iconic blue labels have certified the energy efficiency of home appliances for more than three decades, according to two people briefed on the matter. During an all-hands meeting Monday of the EPA's Office of Atmospheric Protection, Trump administration officials announced that the office would be dissolved and that Energy Star would be eliminated, the two people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly. The move, first reported by CNN, builds on the Trump administration's broader attacks on energy efficiency standards for appliances found in millions of American homes. Such standards have become a flash point in the nation's culture wars and a source of conservative resistance to former president Joe Biden's environmental agenda. Yet the decision is likely to draw pushback on Capitol Hill, where Energy Star has historically enjoyed modest bipartisan support. — WASHINGTON POST
