NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge has permanently blocked the Trump administration from withholding nearly $34 million in funding earmarked to protect New York’s transit system from terrorist attacks.
Judge Lewis A. Kaplan said in a ruling Thursday that the Republican administration’s decision, based on the Big Apple’s “sanctuary city” protections for immigrants in the United States illegally, was “arbitrary, capricious, and a blatant violation of the law.”
The post-9/11 Transit Security Grant Program, Kaplan noted in granting a permanent injunction, was created with instructions that money be allocated solely on the basis of terrorism risk. The judge had previously issued an order temporarily freezing the move.
The state sued Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency after they said last month that they were eliminating funding for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which runs the city’s transit system.
A FEMA official disclosed in a court filing that the transit authority “did not receive funding because the applicant is based in New York City, a designated Sanctuary Jurisdiction city.”
The MTA said its allocation, the largest of any transit agency, pays for targeted counterterrorism patrols, security equipment, infrastructure enhancements, cybersecurity technology and weapons detection technologies.
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In a statement, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James praised Kaplan’s ruling as “a victory for every New Yorker who rides our subways, buses, and commuter rails.”
“A court has once again affirmed that this administration cannot punish New York by arbitrarily wiping out critical security resources and defunding law enforcement that keeps riders safe,” Hochul and James, both Democrats, said.
OSLO, Norway (AP) — A former security guard at the U.S. Embassy in Norway was convicted of espionage Wednesday after a court in Oslo found that he spied for Russia and Iran.
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The 28-year-old Norwegian man, whose name has not been made public, was sentenced to three years and seven months behind bars. He had acknowledged the indictment’s facts but denied any criminal guilt.
Prosecutors said he handed over details about the embassy’s diplomats, its floor plans and security routines, among other things, Norwegian state broadcaster NRK reported. The broadcaster reported that American ties to Israel and the war in Gaza prompted the man to contact Russia and Iran.
The man’s defense attorneys, in a statement Thursday, said the verdict raises questions about what is considered espionage under Norwegian law.
“He lied about having security clearance to agents from other countries and exaggerated his own role,” attorney Inger Zadig of Elden Law Firm said in the statement. “He had roughly the same level of access as a janitor at the embassy. The information he shared was worthless and neither separately nor collectively capable of harming individuals or the security interests of any state.”
The defendant was found guilty of five espionage-related charges and acquitted of gross corruption. His defense attorneys are weighing whether to appeal the verdict, while prosecutor Carl Fredrik Fari said his team is considering appealing the sentence because the state had asked for more than six years in prison.
At the time of his arrest last November, the man had been studying for a bachelor’s degree in security and preparedness at Norway’s Arctic University, UiT.
It is a second such case at UiT in recent years, according to NRK.
One of the people the West swapped with Russia in a major prisoner exchange last year was a UiT guest researcher who claimed to be a Brazilian named José Assis Giammaria, arrested on espionage allegations in 2022. The police revealed him to be a Russian national by the name of Mikhail Valeryevich Mikushin.
Norway has a 123-mile long border with Russia in the Arctic. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Norway has heavily restricted entry for Russian nationals.
Last year, the Norwegian government said it was considering a plan to build a fence along all or part of its border with Russia.
By BECKY BOHRER and JESSE BEDAYN, Associated Press
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — One of the most significant airlifts in Alaskan history is underway by helicopter and military transport plane, moving hundreds of people from coastal villages ravaged by high surf and strong winds from the remnants of Typhoon Halong last weekend.
The storm brought record high water to two low-lying Alaska Native communities and washed away homes, some with people inside. At least one person was killed and two are missing. Makeshift shelters were quickly established and swelled to hold about 1,500 people, an extraordinary number in a sparsely populated region where communities are reachable only by air or water this time of year.
The remoteness and scale of the destruction created challenges for getting resources in place. Damage assessments have been trickling in as responders have shifted from initial search-and-rescue operations to trying to stabilize or restore basic services.
The communities of Kipnuk and Kwigillingok near the Bering Sea saw water levels more than 6 feet (1.8 meters) above the highest normal tide line. Some 121 homes were destroyed in Kipnuk, a village of about 700 people.
The map above locates towns in western Alaska impacted by floodwaters and storm surge from typhoon Halong. (AP Digital Embed)
Leaders asked the state to evacuate the more than 1,000 residents from those villages, said Jeremy Zidek, a spokesperson with the state emergency management office.
About 300 evacuees were brought to Anchorage on Wednesday, about 500 miles (805 kilometers) east of the battered coastal villages, according to the state Department of Military and Veterans Affairs. People were being taken to the Alaska Airlines Center, a sports and events complex with capacity for about 400, Zidek said.
Shelter space closer to home — in the southwest Alaska regional hub of Bethel — was at capacity, with the food supply “near depletion,” officials said in a briefing Thursday.
Cell phone service had been restored in Kwigillingok, the report said, and restrooms were again working at the school in Kwigillingok, where about 350 people had sheltered overnight Tuesday, according to a state emergency management statement.
“Damage to many homes is severe, and the community leadership is instructing residents not to reenter homes due to safety concerns,” it said.
Damage was also serious in other villages. Water, sewer and well systems were inoperable in Napaskiak, and the Coast Guard on Thursday was expected to arrive in another village to assess a spill of up to 2,000 gallons (7,600 liters) of waste oil.
In Kwigillingok and Kipnuk, some homes cannot be reoccupied, even with emergency repairs, and others may not be livable by winter, emergency management officials said. Forecasters say rain and snow is possible in the region this weekend, with average temperatures soon below freezing.
Mark Roberts, the commander with the state emergency management agency, said the immediate focus was on “making sure people are safe, warm and cared for while we work with our partners to restore essential services.”
Zidek did not know how long the evacuation would take and said authorities were looking for additional shelters. The aim is to get people from congregate shelters into hotel rooms or dormitories, he said.
The crisis unfolding in southwest Alaska has drawn attention to Trump administration cuts to grants aimed at helping small, mostly Indigenous villages prepare for storms or mitigate disaster risks.
An unoccupied home rests on its roof after being knocked over in Kotlik, Alaska, Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025, after the remnants of Typhoon Halong hit western Alaska. (AP Photo/Adaline Pete)
In this photo provided by the U.S. Coast Guard, Kipnuk, Alaska, experiences coastal flooding, Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025. (U.S. Coast Guard via AP)
In this photo provided by Alaska National Guard, members of the Alaska National Guard prepare for departure from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, Monday, Oct. 13, 2025, during storm response operations after Typhoon Halong’s landfall. (Capt. Balinda O’Neal/Alaska National Guard via AP)
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An unoccupied home rests on its roof after being knocked over in Kotlik, Alaska, Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025, after the remnants of Typhoon Halong hit western Alaska. (AP Photo/Adaline Pete)
For example, a $20 million U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grant to Kipnuk, which was inundated by floodwaters, was terminated by the Trump administration, a move challenged by environmental groups. The grant was intended to protect the boardwalk residents use to get around the community, as well as 1,400 feet (430 meters) of river from erosion, according to a federal website that tracks government spending.
There was limited work on the project before the grant ended. The village had purchased a bulldozer for shipment and briefly hired a bookkeeper, according to Public Rights Project, which represents Kipnuk.
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The group said no single project was likely to prevent the recent flood. But work to remove abandoned fuel tanks and other material to prevent it from falling into the river might have been feasible during the 2025 construction season.
“What’s happening in Kipnuk shows the real cost of pulling back support that was already promised to front line communities,” said Jill Habig, CEO of the Public Rights Project. “These grants were designed to help local governments prepare for and adapt to the growing effects of climate change. When that commitment is broken, it puts people’s safety, homes and futures at risk.”
Bedayn reported from Denver. Associated Press writer Michael Phillis in Washington contributed.
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Former U.S. Marine Corps pilot Daniel Duggan on Thursday appealed his extradition from Australia to the United States over allegations that he illegally trained Chinese military aviators more than a decade ago.
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Duggan is accused of training Chinese military pilots while working as an instructor for the Test Flying Academy of South Africa in 2012. He appeared at the court in Canberra to file the appeal with his attorney after traveling 218 miles from a prison in Wellington, New South Wales state.
Australian Federal Court Justice James Stellios will announce a verdict on a date yet to be set following a one-day hearing in the national capital Canberra.
A 2016 indictment from the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., which was unsealed in late 2022, alleges Duggan conspired with others to provide training to Chinese military pilots in 2010 and 2012, and possibly other times, without applying for an appropriate license.
Prosecutors allege Duggan received about nine payments totaling around 88,000 Australian dollars ($61,000) from another conspirator as well as travel to the U.S., South Africa and China for what was sometimes described as “personal development training.”
Duggan has denied the allegations, saying they were political posturing by the U.S., which unfairly singled him out. He has been held in maximum security prisons since he was arrested in 2022 at a supermarket near his family home in New South Wales.
Australia’s then Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus approved the 57-year-old’s extradition in December, but his lawyers argued in court Thursday there had been legal flaws in the extradition process.
Dreyfus was replaced as attorney general in May by Michelle Rowland, who has not reviewed her predecessor’s decision to send Boston-born Duggan back to the U.S.
“The government notes the proceedings in the Federal Court today regarding Mr. Duggan,” Rowland’s office said in a statement, adding that further comment was not appropriate because the case remains in court.
Duggan’s wife and mother of his six children, Saffrine Duggan, told supporters outside the court Thursday that Rowland “could set Dan free at any time.”
FILE -Saffrine Duggan speaks outside Downing Central Court in Sydney, May 24, 2024, where her husband Daniel was scheduled to appear. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft, File)
“He is being used as a pawn in an ideological war between the United States and China and the Australian government agencies have allowed this to happen and are willing participants,” Saffrine Duggan said. “My husband broke no Australian law and he was an Australian citizen when the alleged pilot training occurred.”
Daniel Duggan’s lawyer, Christopher Parkin, told the court it was “extraordinary” that someone could be extradited from Australia, accused of breaking U.S. laws, for an action in South Africa.
Duggan served in the U.S. Marines for 12 years before migrating to Australia in 2002. He gained Australian citizenship in January 2012, giving up his U.S. citizenship in the process.
