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Migrant in corrosive substance attack is sex offender who converted to Christianity to claim asylum: report

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Migrant in corrosive substance attack is sex offender who converted to Christianity to claim asylum: report

An Afghan migrant man, who is wanted for maiming a mother and her two daughters in a corrosive substance attack in London, is a convicted sex offender who converted to Christianity to successfully claim asylum after two failed attempts, according to multiple reports. 

Abdul Shokoor Ezedi, 35, allegedly threw a corrosive alkaline substance from a metal coffee cup at a 31-year-old woman and her daughters, ages 3 and 8, during an incident on Wednesday night along Lessar Avenue in the southern part of the city. All three remain in hospital. 

The suspect attempted to escape the scene in a car but crashed into a stationary vehicle and then ran, the BBC reports.

The suspect in the attack in London was identified as Abdul Shokoor Ezedi. (Metropolitan Police)

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It has now emerged that Ezedi is a former asylum seeker from Afghanistan who was allowed to stay in the U.K. despite being convicted of a sexual offense in 2018. He arrived in the U.K. on the back of a truck in 2016.

He received a nine-week jail term suspended for two years for sexual assault and 36 weeks’ imprisonment, also suspended for two years, for exposure. He was granted the right to stay in the U.K. on his third application in 2020, the BBC reports.

A priest vouched that Ezedi had converted to Christianity, which helped his application, the Daily Mail reports. He previously practiced the Muslim faith.

The Metropolitan Police say investigators believe Ezedi and the woman “are known to each other.” 

NYPD CHIEF BLASTS MIGRANTS’ ATTACK ON OFFICERS AS MUGSHOTS OF SUSPECTS RELEASED

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“While none of their conditions are life-threatening, the injuries to the woman and younger girl could be life-changing,” Superintendent Gabriel Cameron said. 

“It may be some time before hospital staff are able to say how serious that might be,” Cameron added. 

The substance used in the attack in London has been identified by police as alkaline. (James Weech/PA Images via Getty Images)

Police also said that three women — two in their 30s and one in her 50s — were injured when they came to the aid of the family.

They have all been discharged from hospital with minor burn injuries. A man in his 50s who also helped declined hospital treatment for minor injuries.

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Five officers who responded to the scene suffered injuries but have since been discharged from hospital care after receiving treatment, according to Cameron. 

“All these members of the public, and my officers, deserve enormous recognition and praise for coming to the aid of this woman and children in what must have been a terrifying scenario,” he said. “We will provide them with all the support we can.” 

Police at the scene of an incident near Clapham Common, south London on Jan. 31 after a “corrosive substance” was thrown at a woman and her two young children. (James Weech/PA Images via Getty Images)

 

The Met Police are now working to track down Ezedi. 

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“We believe he traveled down from Newcastle earlier that day. We don’t know yet what led to it. We’re working to establish the circumstances,” Cameron said.

“While this appears a targeted attack, he is a dangerous individual, and we urgently need to find him,” he added.

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Trump administration rejects UN migration declaration, says ‘mass migration was never safe’

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Trump administration rejects UN migration declaration, says ‘mass migration was never safe’

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The U.S. ​State Department ‌announced on Monday that it refused to back an ​International Migration Review Forum “progress” declaration, ​accusing the U.N. of efforts to “advocate and facilitate replacement immigration in the United States and across the broader West.”

The U.S. did not participate in the second International Migration Review Forum, held May 5–8 at U.N. Headquarters in New York, and will not support the declaration, the department said in a statement on Monday.

The forum is the U.N.’s main global platform for member states to review implementation of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, according to the U.N. Network on Migration. The 2026 forum was scheduled to produce an intergovernmentally agreed “Progress Declaration.”

President Donald Trump ended U.S. participation in the U.N. process to develop the Global Compact for Migration during his first term in 2017, and now the State Department says the federal government will again affirm its opposition.

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TRUMP PULLS US OUT OF UN-LINKED MIGRATION FORUM IN BOLD IMMIGRATION MOVE

President Donald Trump ended U.S. participation in the U.N. process to develop the Global Compact for Migration during his first term in 2017. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

The Global Compact was adopted in 2018 after the U.S. withdrew from the process. The U.N. and International Organization for Migration describe the compact as a cooperative framework intended to improve migration governance across countries.

“As Secretary Rubio said, opening our doors to mass migration was a grave mistake that threatens the cohesion of our societies and the future of our peoples,” the department’s statement reads. “ In recent years, Americans witnessed first-hand how mass immigration laid waste to our communities: crime and chaos at the border, states of emergency in major cities, and billions of taxpayer dollars funneled towards hotels, plane tickets, cell phones and cash cards for migrants.”

“Much of this was driven by UN agencies and their partners, which did not just facilitate the invasion of our country, but proceeded to redistribute our own people’s wealth and resources to millions of foreigners from the worst corners of the world,” it continued.

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The department argued there was nothing safe, orderly or regular about any of this, adding that the costs “were borne primarily by working Americans forced to compete for scarce jobs, housing, and social services.”

“The UN has little to say about them,” the department wrote.

TRUMP UNVEILS ‘REVERSE MIGRATION’ PLAN TO HALT ‘THIRD WORLD’ IMMIGRATION, REVOKE BIDEN-ERA ENTRIES

The U.S. refused to participate in an International Migration Review Forum. ( Alex Brandon / POOL / AFP via Getty Images)

“President Trump is focused on the interests of Americans, not foreigners or globalist bureaucrats,” the statement reads. ”The United States will not support a process that imposes, overtly or by stealth, guidelines, standards, or commitments that constrain the American people’s sovereign, democratic right to make decisions in the best interests of our country.”

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The department concluded its statement by saying its goal is not to “manage” migration, but to “foster remigration.”

In a thread on X also announcing the move to object to the declaration, the department said UN agencies “systematically facilitated mass migration into America and Europe, even as citizens of these nations called for restrictions on migration.” It added that U.N. materials related to the Global Compact call for expanding regular migration pathways and reference “regularization” of migrants.

The International Organization for Migration says the forum is held every four years for countries to review progress and shape next steps on migration policy. IOM, which coordinates the U.N. Network on Migration, says the network includes 39 U.N. agencies working to support countries on migration issues.

The department alleged that “UN agencies – working with the NGOs they fund – established a migration corridor through Central America and to the U.S. border,” the post reads. “As the American people suffered under an unprecedented wave of mass migration, the UN was on the ground pipelining migrants to our southern border.”

The State Department said its goal is not to “manage” migration, but to “foster remigration.” (Denis Balibouse/File Photo/Reuters)

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“After facilitating mass migration to the United States, UN agencies condemned the deportation of illegal immigrants,” the post continued. “While the United Kingdom faced unprecedented illegal boat crossings, UN agencies condemned plans for deportations. UN officials lobbied aviation regulators to prevent the deportation of migrants – an appalling violation of the UK’s national sovereignty.”

The U.N. Network on Migration describes the compact as “non-legally binding.” A U.N.-hosted text of the compact also says it respects states’ sovereign right to determine their national migration policies and to distinguish between regular and irregular migration status.

The declaration itself says the Global Compact is a cooperative framework and acknowledges that no state can address migration alone, while also upholding the sovereignty of states.

The department pushed back on the compact’s framing of migration as “safe, orderly and regular.”

“For the citizens of Western nations, mass migration was never safe. It introduced new security threats, imposed financial strains, and undermined the cohesion of our societies,” it wrote.

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“The United States will not legitimize global compacts that enable mass migration into America or Western nations,” the post added.

U.N. materials frame the compact as a cooperative framework for issues that often cross borders, including labor migration, border management, migrant protections and development. U.N. agencies, including the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, describe the IMRF as a state-led review process with participation from relevant stakeholders.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the U.N. for comment.

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Bolivia issues warrant for Evo Morales’s arrest after court no-show

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Bolivia issues warrant for Evo Morales’s arrest after court no-show

The ex-Bolivian president is on trial for allegedly fathering a child with a 15-year-old girl while in office.

A Bolivian judge has found former President Evo Morales in contempt of court and reissued a warrant for his arrest after he failed to turn up for the start of his trial on charges of trafficking a minor.

The ruling on Monday renewed tensions in the South American country, with supporters of Morales warning they would “throw the country into turmoil” if the former leader is arrested.

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Morales, who is Bolivia’s first Indigenous president, is accused of fathering a child with a 15-year-old girl while in office. The parents of the teen are accused of consenting to the relationship in exchange for favours from Morales.

The former socialist leader, who governed from 2006 to 2019, has rejected the accusations.

Morales did not attend the scheduled start of his trial on Monday in the southern city of Tarija, forcing the proceedings to be suspended.

The Public Prosecutor’s Office said Morales’s “unjustified absence” confirmed his fugitive status and warranted an arrest order as well as a travel ban.

The former president has been hiding from the law in his central coca-growing stronghold of Chapare since late 2024, guarded by Indigenous supporters who have promised to resist any attempt to capture him.

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‘Ready for battle’

“They think that by arresting Evo Morales, they will succeed in quelling and demobilising the movement. They are very much mistaken,” supporter Dieter Mendoza said on Kawsachun Coca radio on Monday. “If they touch Evo Morales, this will cause an upheaval … There will be an insurgency across Bolivia.”

Mendoza urged residents of the Cochabamba Tropics to remain on “high alert” and “ready for battle”.

Authorities first issued an arrest warrant for Morales in October 2024, but could not execute it after his supporters blocked roads for 24 days, preventing officers from reaching the region where he remains sheltered.

Morales was already declared in contempt of court in January 2025, when he did not show for a pretrial detention hearing.

Wilfredo Chavez, one of his lawyers, told the AFP news agency on Friday that neither Morales nor his lawyers would show up in court, as they had not been “properly notified”.  The lawyer said the court did not send the summons to Morales’s address, but had instead served it through an edict.

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Morales, who rose from dire poverty to become one of Latin America’s longest-serving leaders, has slammed those “that persecute me and condemn me in record time”.

His refusal to give up power in 2019 after three terms led to a tumultuous exit that cast a shadow over nearly 14 years of economic progress and poverty reduction.

Forced to resign after elections tainted by fraud, he slipped away into exile in Mexico and later Argentina, but returned home a year later.

He failed to make a comeback last year after being barred from seeking a fourth term in presidential elections.

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Massive 11,000-carat ruby believed to be second-largest ever found in conflict-ridden country

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Massive 11,000-carat ruby believed to be second-largest ever found in conflict-ridden country

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A massive ruby unearthed in Burma is being hailed as the second-largest ever discovered in the conflict-ridden country.

The ruby weighs about 11,000 carats — about 4.8 pounds — and was unearthed near Mogok in the Mandalay region, the center of Burma’s gem industry and an area affected by ongoing conflict, according to The Associated Press, citing state media. 

The stone was found in mid-April, shortly after the country’s traditional New Year celebrations.

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Burma’s newly discovered ruby is displayed at the president’s office in Naypyitaw on May 7, 2026. (Myanmar Military True News Information Team/AP)

Although it is roughly half the size of a 21,450-carat ruby discovered in 1996, experts say the new find could be more valuable because of its higher quality, the outlet reported.

It has a purplish-red color with slight yellow tones, moderate transparency and a highly reflective surface.

Burmese President Min Aung Hlaing and his cabinet have already inspected the stone in the country’s capital of Naypyidaw.

ONCE-IN-A-CENTURY TREASURES DATING BACK 4,500 YEARS UNEARTHED IN LEGENDARY CITY

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Burmese officials inspect a newly discovered ruby at the president’s office in Naypyidaw on May 7, 2026. (Myanmar Military True News Information Team/AP)

Burma produces up to 90% of the world’s rubies, mostly from Mogok and nearby Mong Hsu. 

The gem trade — both legal and illegal — is a major source of income in the country.

However, rights groups, including Global Witness, have long urged jewelers to avoid buying Burmese gemstones, saying the trade helps fund the country’s military governments, according to The Associated Press.

RARE 10-CARAT BLUE DIAMOND AMONG $100M WORTH OF GEMS GOING UP FOR AUCTION

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This photo taken on May 16, 2019, shows miners working in a ruby mine in Mogok, north of Mandalay. (Ye Aung Thu/AFP via Getty Images)

Gem mining also finances ethnic armed groups fighting for autonomy, contributing to Burma’s long-running conflicts.

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The mining regions remain unstable. 

Mogok was seized in July 2024 by the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), an ethnic armed group. Control later returned to the military under a ceasefire deal brokered by China late last year.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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