Former Gov Roy Cooper Exposed for Releasing Thousands of Criminals

Jose Nino
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Former Gov Roy Cooper Exposed for Releasing Thousands of Criminals

(José Niño, Headline USA) A new public data tool reveals that more than half of the 4,234 criminals granted early release by former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper in 2021 have been convicted of additional crimes or post release violations, according to a press release published by watchdog organization Cooper Released Him.

The database, now live at cooperreleasedhim.com, provides searchable access to offenders by name, county, and convictions. At least 2,412 of those released have reoffended, representing a 56.97 percent recidivism rate.

The Cooper Released Him Twitter profile describes the project as “exposing the 4,234 criminals released early by North Carolina’s Democrat Gov. Roy Cooper in 2021 at the behest of left-wing activist organizations.”

The data reveals disturbing figures about pre-release convictions among those granted early freedom. The database documents 53 inmates serving life sentences, one of whom has re-offended. It includes 70 individuals convicted of murder, with 9 reoffenders. The data shows 99 people convicted of rape or sexual offense, with 45 reoffenders. Most troubling, 203 individuals convicted of taking indecent liberties with a child were released, and 119 of them have reoffended.

The press release notes that the true reoffense rate is actually higher than the figures indicate. The NC Department of Adult Corrections data omits crimes where charges were never filed, where charges were dropped, or where prosecution is ongoing and has not yet resulted in a conviction.

The release cites DeCarlos Brown Jr. as perhaps the most notorious example. Brown allegedly committed a racially motivated murder of Iryna Zarutska in Charlotte last August, as Headline USA previously reported. However, none of Brown’s post-release arrests appear in the data because the Mecklenburg District Attorney declined to prosecute charges related to multiple arrests after his early release in February 2021. The charges for the fatal stabbing remain pending in court.

“You shouldn’t have to be a tech guru to access facts about the rapists, murderers, and child molesters that were granted early release into our communities,” said Stephen Horn, founding editor of the Triangle Trumpet and the independent journalist behind the project.

Horn welcomes collaboration with journalists and citizens interested in investigating the data further. The project maintains a presence on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok, with contact available through [email protected].

The releases occurred under a 2021 settlement during Cooper’s tenure as governor. Cooper, a Democrat, served as North Carolina’s governor from 2017 to 2025. The data tool now allows the public to examine the consequences of those early release decisions in granular detail.

José Niño is the deputy editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/JoseAlNino 

DHS Report Confirms Cole Allen Targeted Trump Over Iran Conflict

Jose Nino
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DHS Report Confirms Cole Allen Targeted Trump Over Iran Conflict

(José Niño, Headline USA) A Department of Homeland Security intelligence assessment claims that anger over the Iran war may have driven suspected shooter Cole Allen to attempt to assassinate President Donald Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, Reuters reported.

The preliminary report from DHS’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis, dated April 27, found that Allen possessed “multiple social and political grievances.” Analysts concluded the Iran conflict “may have contributed to his decision to conduct the attack,” pointing to Allen’s social media posts attacking U.S. military operations.

This assessment represents the clearest indication yet that the war, which has claimed thousands of lives in the Middle East and disrupted the global economy, served as a catalyst for the attack late last month, per Reuters.

The transparency organization Property of the People secured the document, labeled a “Critical Incident Note,” through public records requests and provided it to Reuters.

A DHS spokesperson refused to address the report’s findings. “These reports notify our partners of the latest available information following significant incidents that have impacts to homeland security,” the spokesperson told Reuters.

Neither the FBI nor the Justice Department offered comment.

The Justice Department filed an additional charge on Tuesday accusing Allen of assault on a federal officer for shooting at a Secret Service agent at the security perimeter. He already faced charges of attempted assassination, discharging a firearm during a violent crime, and illegally transporting weapons across state lines. Allen has yet to enter a plea.

Investigators have focused on an email Allen dispatched to family members the night of the shooting. Officials characterized the message as a manifesto that conveyed hostility toward the administration and expressed his intention to strike at the “traitor” delivering a speech, though he avoided naming Trump directly.

Court filings from prosecutors state that Allen “disagreed” with Trump politically and “wanted to ‘fight back’ against government policies and decisions that he found morally objectionable.”

A senior law enforcement official speaking anonymously told Reuters that FBI agents have been meticulously combing through Allen’s online presence. “It’s being closely looked at,” the official said.

Investigators are scrutinizing a Bluesky account tied to Allen that was filled with anti Trump content in the weeks preceding the attack. Beyond Iran war criticism, the posts condemned administration immigration enforcement, attacked Elon Musk, and denounced Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to Reuters.

Per Reuters, the account reposted content demanding Trump’s impeachment following his April 7 threat to obliterate Iranian civilization. FBI agents also discovered a 2024 post from an account linked to Allen that quoted scripture while apparently labeling Trump “the devil” in response to a message from Trump’s daughter Tiffany.

José Niño is the deputy editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/JoseAlNino 

CIA Staged Fake Academic Conferences to Recruit Iranian Nuclear Scientists

Jose Nino
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CIA Staged Fake Academic Conferences to Recruit Iranian Nuclear Scientists

(José Niño, Headline USA) The CIA secretly spent millions of dollars staging fake academic conferences around the world to lure Iranian nuclear scientists out of their homeland and pitch them to defect, ProPublica reported in a 2017 story that’s going viral again.

In one operation about a decade ago, the agency funded and staged a conference at an unsuspecting foreign scientific institution, invited speakers and guests, and planted operatives among the kitchen staff just to entice a nuclear expert out of Iran, separate him from his Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps minders, and pitch him one on one. A last minute snag nearly derailed the plans when the target switched hotels because the conference’s preferred hotel cost $75 more than his superiors in Iran were willing to spend.

After confirming through audio and visual surveillance that the scientist’s guards were sleeping, a CIA agent knocked softly on the hotel room door.

“Salam habibi,” the agent said when the Iranian answered. “I’m from the CIA, and I want you to board a plane with me to the United States.”

The scientist started to ask a question, but the agent interrupted him. “First, get the ice bucket.”

“Why?”

“If any of your guards wake up, you can tell them you’re going to get some ice.”

ProPublica reported that the agency sought to delay Iran’s development of nuclear weapons by exploiting academia’s internationalism and pulling off a mass deception on the institutions that hosted the conferences and the professors who attended them. The people at these gatherings had no idea they were acting in a drama simulated from afar.

Beginning under President George W. Bush, the government had “endless money” for covert efforts to delay Iran’s nuclear weapons program, according to the Institute for Science and International Security’s David Albright. One program was Operation Brain Drain, which sought to spur top Iranian nuclear scientists to defect.

The CIA would set up conferences at prestigious scientific institutes through cutouts, typically businessmen, who would underwrite each symposium with $500,000 to $2 million in agency funds. The conferences would focus on aspects of nuclear physics with civilian applications that dovetailed with target scientists’ research interests.

“The more clueless the academics are, the safer it is for everybody,” a former intelligence officer familiar with the operation told ProPublica.

CIA officers assigned to cases would pose as students, technical consultants, or exhibitors. Their first job was to peel guards away from scientists. In one instance, kitchen staff recruited by the CIA poisoned the guards’ meal, leaving them incapacitated by diarrhea and vomiting.

Officers would prepare for pitches by reading files and cultivating access agents close to targets. If a scientist expressed doubt he was really dealing with the CIA, the officer could prove it by revealing intimate personal details. One officer told a potential defector, “I know you had testicular cancer and you lost your left nut.”

Once scientists agreed to defect, the CIA would coordinate visas and flight documents with allied intelligence agencies and resettle families in the United States, including paying for children’s education through graduate school.

Enough scientists defected through academic conferences and other routes to hinder Iran’s nuclear weapons program, according to a former officer familiar with the operation. 

One engineer who assembled centrifuges for Iran agreed to defect on one condition. He wanted to pursue a doctorate at MIT. The agency had spirited him out of Iran without credentials like diplomas and transcripts, but MIT eventually agreed to waive its usual screening procedures. Professors grilled the defector, he aced the oral exam, was admitted, and earned his doctorate.

“I do know of a young man that was here in our lab,” MIT mechanical engineering professor Timothy Gutowski told ProPublica. “Somehow I learned that he did work on centrifuges in Iran. I started thinking, ‘What went on here?'”

“Every intelligence service in the world works conferences, sponsors conferences, and looks for ways to get people to conferences,” a former CIA operative told ProPublica.

José Niño is the deputy editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/JoseAlNino 

Border Czar Tom Homan Floats Amnesty Idea before Backpedaling

Jose Nino
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Border Czar Tom Homan Floats Amnesty Idea before Backpedaling

(José Niño, Headline USA) Border czar Tom Homan has simultaneously floated legal status for some illegal immigrants while overseeing an aggressive deportation campaign that has detained nearly 300 DACA recipients since Donald Trump’s second term began, creating widespread confusion about the administration’s actual immigration endgame.

Homan initially floated the possibility of amnesty in an interview with CBS.

“I know the president’s talking to various members of his Cabinet. There’s discussions going on. I’m involved with some and not others, but I’m not going to get ahead of the president on this,” he said.

However, he later backpedaled when pressed on the matter on Fox News.

“Talking points were taken out of context,” he said.

The apparent contradiction centers on Homan’s public statements. On one hand, he has signaled openness to some form of legal status for certain illegal immigrants. On the other hand, Homan has doubled down on mass deportations, declaring as recently as Tuesday: “For the people out there saying ‘President Trump’s getting weak on mass deportation,’ you don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.”

Trump and Homan have floated the idea of providing Dreamers legal status before, but always with strings attached. In a recent interview, Homan said: “The president in his first term put a plan on the table to address the Dreamers, and Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer shut it down because part of the plan was giving them money for the border wall… President Trump will put it on the table again. But I would not go forward with it until the Democrats show this president that they’re willing to secure this border.”

While this rhetoric circulates, the administration has moved aggressively against DACA recipients on the ground. The Department of Homeland Security declared that DACA “does not confer any form of legal status in this country” and warned recipients they are “not automatically protected from deportation.” 

Since Trump’s second term began, nearly 300 DACA recipients have been detained, with DHS reporting conflicting deportation figures to two different members of Congress — between 86 and 174 — while Mission Local, citing federal authorities, puts the number at 176 who were in the process of renewal. The Justice Department’s Board of Immigration Appeals also ruled in late April that DACA status alone is not enough to spare someone from deportation, putting an estimated half a million DACA recipients at risk. 

The broader enforcement operation has been relentless. ICE projected deporting more than 600,000 illegal immigrants by the end of 2025, according to Axios, with the administration claiming roughly 1.6 million have “voluntarily” left the country. Homan has acknowledged that 35 to 40 percent of those arrested under Trump’s second term have no criminal history, but said this is necessary to “send a message to the entire world.”

The administration has also stripped or attempted to strip other forms of legal protection. Reuters reported that the administration moved to re-terminate the legal status of hundreds of thousands of migrants who used the Biden-era CBP One app. The Supreme Court will also hear Trump’s bid to end legal protection for up to 1.3 million immigrants.

The mixed signals reflect a genuine tension in Trump’s immigration politics that has existed across both his terms. Trump told NBC’s Meet the Press in late 2024 that he wanted to find a way to let Dreamers stay, even while pursuing DACA’s legal termination in courts. Headline USA previously reported in March 2026 that Deputy Chief of Staff James Blair advised Republicans to emphasize deporting criminals rather than pushing the “mass deportation” framing publicly.

José Niño is the deputy editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/JoseAlNino 

Pentagon Begins Releasing New Files on UFOs

Headline USA Editor
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Pentagon Begins Releasing New Files on UFOs

(Headline USA) The Pentagon has begun releasing new files on UFOs, saying members of the public can draw their own conclusions on “unidentified anomalous phenomena” like an object that a drone pilot says shone a bright light in the sky and then vanished.

It said in a post on X on Friday that while past administrations sought to discredit or dissuade the American people, President Donald Trump “is focused on providing maximum transparency to the public, who can ultimately make up their own minds about the information contained in these files.” It said additional documents will be released on a rolling basis.

Besides the Pentagon, the effort is led by the White House, the director of national intelligence, the Energy Department, NASA and the FBI.

A newly unveiled website housing the documents on unidentified anomalous phenomena, or UAPs, has a decidedly retro feel, with black-and-white military imagery of flying objects displayed prominently on the page, with statements displayed in typewriter-like font. The first release includes 162 files, such as old State Department cables, FBI documents and transcripts from NASA of crewed flights into space.

One document details an FBI interview with someone identified as a drone pilot who, in September 2023, reported seeing a “linear object” with a light bright enough to “see bands within the light” in the sky.

“The object was visible for five to ten seconds and then the light went out and the object vanished,” according to the FBI interview.

Another file is a NASA photograph from the Apollo 17 mission in 1972, showing three dots in a triangular formation. The Pentagon says in an accompanying caption that “there is no consensus about the nature of the anomaly” but that a new, preliminary analysis indicated that it could be a “physical object.”

Trump has been teasing the announcement since February. He has previously released records related to the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. that revealed little beyond what was already known.

The Pentagon has been working on declassifying documents related to UFOs for years, and Congress created an office in 2022 to declassify material. Its 2024 debut report revealed hundreds of new UAP incidents but found no evidence that the U.S. government had ever confirmed a sighting of alien technology.

Congress ordered the Pentagon to begin releasing decades of files on UFO sightings in 2022 as some members of the military shared encounters with unexplained aircraft.

A small group of Republicans in Congress has pressed for further transparency, accusing the Pentagon of holding documents back. A March letter from Rep. Anna Paulina Luna demanded 46 UAP videos identified by whistleblowers. On social media on Friday, Luna said those videos are expected to be released in a later Pentagon release.

Rep. Tim Burchett thanked Trump for “keeping his word” on transparency and disclosure.”

“I would like to remind people that transparency won’t all happen at once, it will take some time,” Burchett said in a statement.

But experts have urged caution around the release of the new files, warning that UAP videos are often misinterpreted and mischaracterized by those unfamiliar with advanced military technology. The Pentagon’s 2024 report rebutted claims that the U.S. government has recovered alien technology or confirmed evidence of alien life.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

DOJ Concealing Classified Information in Buffalo Mass Shooting Case

Ken Silva
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DOJ Concealing Classified Information in Buffalo Mass Shooting Case

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) The Justice Department has disclosed that there’s classified information in the case of Payton Gendron, the mass shooter who killed 10 people at a Buffalo supermarket on May 14, 2022. The DOJ wants to keep that information hidden at Gendron’s federal trial, which is set to begin next month.

Gendron already pled guilty to state murder charges years ago, but federal prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

The DOJ disclosed the existence of classified information in an April 14 court filing, telling the presiding judge that it intends to keep such evidence secret on national security grounds. The filing was first reported by local journalist Gary Craig.

Gendron’s lawyers responded on April 28, asking for a summary of the evidence.

“Without some information, defense counsel cannot adequately respond to the government’s requested procedures or timeline other than to lodge general objections and provide the Court with unnecessarily expansive information about possible guilt and penalty phase defenses,” the defense lawyers said.

The DOJ doesn’t even want to give the defense team a summary. Federal prosecutors said Wednesday that the law “does not authorize a defendant to be provided with a summary of the information at issue.”

It’s unclear why classified information would exist in a domestic mass shooting case. However, it’s been reported that Gendron may have been communicating with a “retired” federal agent as little as 30 minutes before his shooting spree.

The Buffalo News first reported in May 2022 that the FBI was “tracking down and interviewing the six people, including the retired agent,” all of whom may have had contact with Gendron in an online chatroom 30 minutes before his shooting. Headline USA filed a Freedom of Information Act request in early 2023 for records about the FBI’s investigation into this matter—including for a copy of the bureau’s interview summary, or “FBI 302,” with the retired federal agent who spoke with the mass shooter.

The FBI has apparently interviewed at least some of the six people linked to Gendron in the chatroom. The bureau told Headline USA that records related to this are “located in an investigative file”—but that it couldn’t disclose the records due to pending law enforcement proceedings.

Classified Cases

The Buffalo shooting is one of a slew of high-profile cases involving classified information.

Last August, for instance, Judge Aileen Cannon allowed the FBI to keep an untold amount of classified evidence secret from Ryan Routh, the man who was found guilty of attempting to kill Trump at his Palm Beach golf course in September 2024. Judge Cannon didn’t elaborate in her ruling, saying simply that disclosing classified information in Routh’s case “could cause serious damage or exceptionally grave damages to the national security of the United States.”

The DOJ was also allowed to keep 1.6 million items of classified evidence secret in the case of Asif Merchant, the Pakistani man who was convicted earlier this year of working for Iran in a plot to assassinate Donald Trump in 2024.

CIPA Abuses

The DOJ has used the Classified Information Procedures Act, or CIPA, in the past to keep damning government scandals from the public.

A prominent example of CIPA abuse stemmed from the June 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting, in which 29-year-old Omar Mateen shot and killed 49 people and wounded 53 others in revenge for U.S. bombings in the Middle East.

In January 2017, the DOJ charged Mateen’s wife, Noor Salman, with aiding and abetting his slaughter. At first, the DOJ said that there was no classified information involved in Salman’s case. But when her attorneys moved to call Mateen’s father, Siddique Mateen, as witnesses, prosecutors changed their tune. They contacted the defense and stated that they were authorized to disclose that Siddique Mateen had been an undercover informant for the FBI both during the attack, as well as when defense attorneys had interviewed him during pretrial proceedings earlier.

The presiding judge declined to toss the case despite the government’s deception, but a jury wound up acquitting Salman anyway.

A less deadly, but equally egregious, case of CIPA abuse occurred in the prosecutions stemming from the 2015 mass shooting in Garland, Texas, where Islamic extremists Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi allegedly intended to shoot up a Prophet Mohammed cartoon contest. In that incident, local cops stopped the shooters before they could kill anyone — though they did shoot and injure a security guard.

Shockingly, an undercover FBI agent dressed in Muslim attire was at the same event as Simpson and Soofi, apparently monitoring them. His presence might never have been known had local cops not arrested him because they thought that he was one of the attackers. Other FBI agents intervened immediately, placing a hood over the undercover agent’s head and whisking him away to another location before confiscating footage of the incident from bystanders. It was later revealed that the same undercover agent had told Simpson to “tear up Texas.”

More than 10 years later, one of Simpson and Soofi’s alleged coconspirators is still appealing his convictions on the grounds that much of the FBI’s shady undercover activities weren’t revealed until after he was convicted in August 2016.

“I was shocked,” Daniel Maynard, who represented Kareem, told CBS’s 60 Minutes in March 2016. “I was shocked that the government hadn’t turned this over. I wanted to know when did he get there, why was he there?”

Kareem’s current appeal doesn’t argue that his convictions should be overturned due to the undercover agent’s actions per se. Rather, his lawyers contend that the U.S. government violated his right to a fair trial by withholding exculpatory evidence, including about the undercover agent.

Moreover, the FBI still has yet to produce a trove of other information, including about its investigation of Simpson in spring 2015; whether Simpson’s 2010 gun purchase or Soofi’s 2012 gun purchase were authorized by agents working the failed “Fast and Furious” gun-running operation; and more information on the attack and the undercover agent’s involvement, according to Kareem’s November 2024 appeal brief.

The Muslim Legal Fund of America filed an amicus brief on Kareem’s behalf, outlining many of the above-mentioned issues — and urging the presiding judge to allow Kareem’s lawyers to see the classified evidence the government has kept hidden. The legal fund argued that CIPA has allowed the FBI to run roughshod over the Constitution.

“As Kareem’s case highlights, when it comes to relevant information about the undercover informants and employees, including their identity, credibility, bias, and even presence, CIPA is not working as designed,” the group said in the November 2024 brief.

“The root of the problem is that the determination as to what information is relevant is being controlled primarily by intelligence agencies (the FBI) rather than the trial court, with inputs from the prosecution and defense.”

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has yet to rule on the matter.

Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.

De-Dollarization Alert: Mozambique Considering Converting Dollar Debt to Yuan Debt

Money Metals News Service
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De-Dollarization Alert: Mozambique Considering Converting Dollar Debt to Yuan Debt

(Mike Maharrey, Money Metals News Service) Mozambique officials are considering converting $1.4 billion in debt it owes China into yuan loans as part of a debt restructuring plan.

This is yet another sign of ongoing de-dollarization.

A spokesperson from the country’s finance ministry hinted that the Chinese suggested the move.

“In this specific case, it was a valid possibility that was put on the table.”

Mozambique faces a significant liquidity crunch. The IMF and the World Bank recently warned that the country’s debt situation is “unsustainable.” Fitch ratings indicate a default is likely.

According to Bloomberg, “Moving dollar debt into yuan would be the latest African example of China’s efforts to internationalize its currency and make inroads into the dollar’s dominance.”

Other African countries have already converted some of their debt to renminbi. Last year, Kenya flipped three loans totaling $5 billion from the Export-Import Bank of China into yuan.  Analysts say such a move lowers debt servicing costs and helps “ease currency pressures.”

According to Bloomberg, Ethiopia is considering a similar deal. Meanwhile, Zambia recently held talks with Chinese officials about a potential currency swap. Zambia has already started accepting mine payments in yuan.

In the big scheme of things, the Chinese currency still plays a bit part in global finance. However, the fact that some countries are considering doing business in yuan would have been virtually unthinkable not too long ago.

The yuan’s share of global reserves is still less than 2 percent. That compares to the dollar’s 56.8 percent share of reserves. However, the yuan is slowly gaining ground, having picked up three basis points of the total share in Q4 2025.

The dollar isn’t in any danger of losing its reserve status, and it will likely continue to have a dominant role in global finance. However, there is a clear de-dollarization trend with many countries looking to diversify away from the greenback. Many analysts believe the world is heading toward a “multipolar” financial system with several currencies, along with gold, playing a key role. The rapid expansion of central bank gold reserves reflects this trend.

Even a modest global de-dollarization spells trouble for the U.S. economy.

The only reason the U.S. can borrow, spend, and run massive budget deficits to the extent that it does is the dollar’s role as the world reserve currency. It creates a built-in global demand for dollars and dollar-denominated assets. This absorbs the Federal Reserve’s money creation and helps maintain dollar strength despite the Federal Reserve’s inflationary policies. It also supports a global Treasury Market. Without foreign investors, demand for Treasuries would crater, sending interest rates into the stratosphere.

A de-dollarization of the world economy would cause a dollar glut. The value of the U.S. currency would further depreciate. At the extreme, global de-dollarization could spark a currency crisis. You and I would feel the impact through more price inflation, eating away at the purchasing power of the dollar. In the worst-case scenario, it could lead to hyperinflation.

Again, the world doesn’t have to completely abandon the dollar to create negative impacts. Even a modest drop in the demand for the greenback will ripple through the U.S. economy.

VanEck analysts Imaru Casanova and Joe Foster argue that we’re already seeing some economic tremors due to de-dollarization, noting that despite its continued dominance, “The dollar has been devaluing relative to gold—an unprecedented trend.”

It is unprecedented because it has happened during a period of relative dollar strength and the absence of any economic crisis. They say the current gold bull market is being driven by an erosion in confidence in the dollar.

“[P]eople and nations that have long used, coveted and hoarded the U.S. dollar are now losing faith and trust in the currency as a store of wealth. This shift began in 2008 when the global financial crisis led many to question the efficacy of the banking system and Western economic hegemony. It escalated with sanctions and freezing of assets imposed on Russia by the U.S. Other countries fear that similar retribution or ‘weaponization of the dollar’ is possible for lesser infractions than the hostile invasion of another country.”

Mike Maharrey is a journalist and market analyst for Money Metals with over a decade of experience in precious metals. He holds a BS in accounting from the University of Kentucky and a BA in journalism from the University of South Florida.

Global ETF Gold Flows Flipped Back Positive in April

Money Metals News Service
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Global ETF Gold Flows Flipped Back Positive in April

(Mike Maharrey, Money Metals News Service) After going negative in March after the outbreak of hostilities between the U.S. and Iran, flows of gold into ETFs flipped positive again in April, with all regions reporting inflows of metal.

Net global ETF gold holdings increased by 45 tonnes, totaling $6.6 billion last month. That pushed total ETF gold reserves to 4,137 tonnes, with total assets under management (AUM) to $615 billion, a 1 percent increase.

It was the third-highest month-end ETF gold holdings on record, just below the record high of 4,176 tonnes set in February 2026.

European funds led inflows, adding 26.9 tonnes of gold valued at $3.7 billion last month. That flipped year-to-date flows positive.

Funds in the UK drove regional inflows, with contributions from Swiss and German ETFs. According to the World Gold Council, “Positive flows in the region appeared linked to heightened geopolitical and geoeconomic risks, as investors assessed the inflationary implications of a more protracted Iran conflict and the associated pressure on energy prices. … With local equities retreating and the BoE less hawkish than expected, investor interest in gold likely strengthened as prices recovered and stabilized.”

After shedding 87 tonnes in March, North American funds added 6.1 tonnes of gold valued at $1 billion.

Inflows were concentrated in the first half of the month, with demand softening in the back half, as hope for a quick resolution to the Iran conflict faded.

It appears investors used the liquidity of their gold holdings to cover shorts and strengthen cash positions as markets tanked in the early days of the Iran war. World Gold Council analysts noted that the exodus of gold from ETFs in March corresponded to a “broader macro-pressure and liquidity event rather than a simple oil-only rotation.”

“The subsequent easing in pressure helped flows stabilize in early April, although the recovery remained choppy into month-end.”

Asia was the only region to record gold inflows in March. That trend continued for the eighth straight month, as Asian funds added 11.3 tonnes of gold valued at $1.8 billion in April.

Asian ETF gold inflows are on pace to match last year’s record total.

Chinese funds led the way, with gold buying supported by geopolitical tensions and falling yields.

Indian funds reported their 11th straight month of gold inflows totaling $297 million.

Funds in other regions, including Australia and Africa, reported a 0.9-tonne increase in gold holdings, led by Australia and South Africa.

ETFs are a convenient way for investors to play the gold market, but owning ETF shares is not the same as holding physical gold.

ETFs are relatively liquid. You can buy or sell an ETF with a couple of mouse clicks. You don’t have to worry about transporting or storing metal. In a nutshell, it allows investors to play the gold market without buying full ounces of metal at the spot price.

Since you are just buying a number in a computer, you can easily trade your ETF shares for another stock or cash whenever you want, even multiple times on the same day. Many speculative investors take advantage of this liquidity.

But while a gold ETF is a convenient way to play the price of gold on the market, you don’t possess any gold. You have paper. And you don’t know for sure that the fund has all the gold either, especially when the fund sees inflows. In such a scenario, there have been difficulties or delays in obtaining physical metal.

Trading Volumes

Global gold market trading volumes fell 24 percent month-on-month to $398 billion per day last month. That was above the 2025 average of $361 billion per day.

Over-the-counter volumes dropped by 10 percent in April to $244 billion per day. That was also well above the 2025 average of $180 billion per day.

Exchanges also reported cooler activity, with both the COMEX and the Shanghai Futures Exchange charting lower volumes. Overall, exchange volumes dropped by 38 percent month-on-month to $147 billion per day.

Gold ETF trading volumes dipped, while remaining around their 2025 average of $7 billion.

On the COMEX, net longs declined 4 percent in April to 477 tonnes.

Mike Maharrey is a journalist and market analyst for Money Metals with over a decade of experience in precious metals. He holds a BS in accounting from the University of Kentucky and a BA in journalism from the University of South Florida.

Federal Authorities Arrest 18 for Alleged Drug Distribution Around Los Angeles Park

Headline USA Editor
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Federal Authorities Arrest 18 for Alleged Drug Distribution Around Los Angeles Park

(Headline USA) Federal authorities said they arrested 18 people Wednesday on charges related to selling illicit drugs including fentanyl and methamphetamine around a Los Angeles park.

The area, called MacArthur Park, is a densely populated immigrant neighborhood west of downtown LA where federal immigration authorities and the National Guard made a brief but mighty show of force last summer.

In this week’s raids, authorities seized 40 pounds (18 kilograms) of fentanyl from a single home, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. Two of the people arrested, a couple from South Los Angeles, are believed to be the main sources of those drugs sold in the park, which were stashed in a storefront and distributed to street-level dealers, authorities said.

“We’re here today because California policy has failed,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said during a news conference announcing the arrests. “MacArthur Park should be for families, should be for residents of Los Angeles, not for drug dealers and gangsters.”

Essayli announced the arrests alongside officials from the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Los Angeles Police Department in the park. It has drawn numerous homeless encampments and has been the site of open-air drug use in recent years.

While one portion of MacArthur Park is often busy with families picnicking, kids playing soccer and vendors hawking food and toys, another side regularly features people lighting up pipes and outreach teams treating people with drug addiction. The park and its surrounding areas are part of heavily contested gang territory, federal officials say.

According to a criminal complaint, South LA couple Mallaly Moreno-Lopez and Jackson Tarfur serve as one of the main sources of drugs distributed in the area, generally on behalf of the 18th Street Gang. The two allegedly hand-delivered narcotics to a storefront on the Alvarado corridor, a street that serves as the eastern border of the park where many drug transactions would take place.

The other defendants in the complaint were surveilled and caught selling drugs to undercover federal agents.

Moreno-Lopez and Tarfur have not been assigned attorneys in court yet and could not be reached for comment.

Aerial TV news footage showed agents gathered outside a strip of businesses across from the park, with one appearing to use a chain saw to cut through a business’s wall. Essayli posted video on the social platform X of LAPD officers assisting with the effort and a home in a residential neighborhood being raided.

Essayli, an appointee of President Donald Trump, said the area’s struggles are a result of failed California policies including lax consequences for drug users and programs that involve handing out clean needles and Narcan, a life-saving emergency medication for fentanyl overdose.

Wednesday’s operation involved more than 200 personnel from the DEA, said Anthony Chrysanthis, special agent in charge of the department in Los Angeles.

Essayli said the operation began Tuesday night, with three warrants executed in the morning at residences in other locations in Southern California. Six warrants were served at businesses found to be selling narcotics in MacArthur Park.

Investigators have targeted the Sinaloa Cartel as the suppliers for fentanyl and methamphetamine in the area, Chrysanthis said.

The defendants are set to appear in court Thursday. Seven others remain fugitives, Essayli’s office said.

The city of LA recently announced a project to capture rainstorm runoff into the lake, as well as put in new landscaping, walking paths and other features to improve the park.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press. 

FBI Probe Finds Austin Bar Shooter was ‘Lone Actor’ in Deadly March Attack that Killed 3

Headline USA Editor
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FBI Probe Finds Austin Bar Shooter was ‘Lone Actor’ in Deadly March Attack that Killed 3

(Headline USA) The gunman who killed three people and wounded more than a dozen others in a mass shooting at a downtown Austin, Texas, bar in March was a “lone actor” and there is no evidence he was supported or directed by a foreign terrorist group, FBI investigators said Thursday.

The agency released a two-page update of its investigation into the attack on Buford’s Backyard Beer Garden in the early morning hours of March 1 that ended when gunman, Ndiaga Diagne, was killed by police.

The shooting happened after the United States and Israel launched an attack on Iran. Diagne was wearing clothes with an Iranian flag design and the words “Property of Allah.”

Despite lacking direct evidence of a motive for the shooting, investigators said Diagne was likely triggered into violent behavior by the war against Iran, “culminating in a violent, impulsive attack” at the bar, the report said.

Investigators determined Diagne admired Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who had been killed. His affinity for Iran and its former leader were likely factors in the attack Diagne perpetrated on his own, investigators said.

“The investigation to date indicates Diagne was a lone actor,” the report said. He had never been the subject of an FBI investigation prior to the shooting.

Diagne, 53, was born in Senegal. He first entered the U.S. in 2000 on a B-2 tourist visa and became a lawful permanent resident six years later after marrying a U.S. citizen, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

“There is no evidence at this time that he was associated with a Foreign Terrorist Organization or that he received any direction, funding, or operational support for his attack,” the report said.

The bar is located in the city’s popular hub of bars and nightclubs. Police said the gunman drove past the bar before circling back and firing the first shots from his SUV at people on the sidewalk and inside. He then parked, got out with a rifle and began shooting at people walking along the street before officers rushed to the intersection and shot him.

Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis has said officers arrived within 56 seconds of the first 911 call and killed the shooter after he fired at police.

Killed in the attack were 21-year-old Savitha Shan, 19-year-old Ryder Harrington and 30-year-old Jorge Pederson.

The FBI said the investigation into the attack remains open.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press. 

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