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Freedman Town’s history comes to life in new documentary
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Judge upholds U.S. Naval Academy’s race-conscious admissions program
Washington — A federal district court on Friday upheld the U.S. Naval Academy’s race-conscious admissions policies, rejecting a challenge brought by the group Students for Fair Admissions following the Supreme Court’s landmark decision ending affirmative action in higher education.
U.S. Senior District Judge Richard Bennett wrote in a 179-page decision that the Naval Academy “established a compelling national security interest in a diverse officer corps” for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, and tied its use of race in admissions to “the realization of an officer corps that represents the country it protects and the people it leads.”
Bennett said he deferred to the executive branch with regard to military personnel decisions.
The challenge to the Naval Academy’s admissions policies was brought by Students for Fair Admissions in October 2023, months after the Supreme Court ruled that race-conscious admissions policies used by colleges and universities were unconstitutional. The group was behind the cases that led the high court to reject affirmative action in higher education in June 2023.
Students for Fair Admissions’ lawsuit came in response to a footnote in the majority opinion authored by Chief Justice John Roberts, which said the decision did not apply to the nation’s service academies.
In addition to suing the Naval Academy, Students for Fair Admissions also sued West Point on behalf of two of its members who are applying to the academy.
This is a developing story.
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Russia arrests suspected members of infamous Colombia cartel, seizes $55 million of cocaine bound for Europe
Russia said Friday it had arrested suspected members of a Colombian cartel trying to smuggle tens of millions of dollars worth of cocaine into Europe.
The suspects were caught loading 570 kilograms (1,250 pounds) of the illegal substance into a container intended for shipment to the European Union, according to Russia’s FSB security services.
The FSB said the smugglers brought the drugs into Russia from Peru hidden in a vehicle, and that they were members of Colombia’s infamous Cali cartel.
“570 kilograms of cocaine were seized, the wholesale value of which on the Russian black market is 1.5 billion rubles, the retail value exceeding 5.5 billion rubles ($55 million),” the FSB said in a statement on its website.
Colombia is the world’s biggest cocaine producer and exporter, mainly to the United States and Europe.
Last year, the South American country set a new record for cocaine production and cultivation of the coca leaf the drug is made from.
Russia has a zero tolerance policy towards drug use and smuggling, handing heavy sentences to those convicted of trafficking small amounts of narcotics.
Russian customs seized almost three tons of cocaine in the first nine months of the year, according to authorities.
“This is already the fifth batch of Latin American cocaine seized by security agencies this year on Russian territory, intended for further transit to EU countries,” the FSB said.
The Cali cartel controlled up to 80 percent of the cocaine trade to the United States at its peak in the mid-1990s, according to U.S. authorities. In 2022, the former head of the Cali cartel died in a prison in North Carolina.
The seizure of Europe-bound drugs by Russian authorities was announced one day after Portuguese police said they had dismantled “one of the largest” cocaine laboratories in Europe as part of an operation that led to seven arrests and the seizure of some 1,500 kilograms of the drug. The investigation was launched a year ago following information from Colombian, Spanish and U.S. authorities.
Last week, police in the Balkans arrested 11 alleged members of a criminal syndicate responsible for smuggling cocaine from South America to Europe. Among the people arrested was a suspect who is also wanted for his alleged membership in the notorious “Pink Panthers” jewel heist gang.