Pair allegedly smuggled four tons of gold into Japan in 50 shipments over past two years

Japanese police arrested on Wednesday two Israeli men living in Tokyo for attempting to smuggle 220 kilograms of gold nuggets in 2017 -- the largest haul seized in the country.

They were also held for alleged violation of Japan's customs law by successfully smuggling by air a further amount of about 200 kg of gold -- worth some 924 million yen ($8.42 million) -- disguised as auto parts from Hong Kong, in November 2017, and evading some 70 million yen in consumption tax.

With the Super Bowl just days away, federal law enforcement officials announced Wednesday they have arrested 33 people in metro Atlanta on sex-trafficking charges. Authorities said they had also rescued four victims as part of the operation.

Advocates have warned that large sporting events, such as the Super Bowl, are attractive to those in the sex-trafficking trade. They say the crime can surge when lots of free-spending travelers are around.

The 33 arrests came during the past four days, according to Nick Annan, Homeland Security Investigations special agent in charge. But Annan declined to discuss specifics of the cases, citing ongoing efforts that will continue throughout the week.

"We plan to continue what we're doing," Annan said.

More than 40 local and state law enforcement agencies, along with 25 federal agencies, are assisting with security for the Super Bowl. Officers and security members have been visible throughout downtown Atlanta where events have been held, and those efforts will continue until hours after the big game. So far, all of the months of planning for keeping fans safe in Atlanta has paid off. And those efforts will ramp up as the game gets closer and more visitors arrive.

On Jan. 23 and 24, Homeland Security assisted in a joint operation in Douglas County using undercover officers, social media sites and local hotel rooms, the Douglasville Police Department said Wednesday. Sixteen people were arrested, according to police, and the youngest person involved was 17. The timing of the crackdown was related to the Super Bowl, police said.
Investigators have also found more than 2,000 counterfeit items, according to Kirstjen Nielsen, Secretary of Homeland Security. Neilsen didn't discuss details about the phony items found. But police have warned fans about fake tickets being sold.

Although the NFL puts special holograms and other features on tickets that help distinguish real ones from fakes, most people won't be able to tell the difference. Police warn ticket-buyers to purchase only from a reputable source.

As part of the massive security operation, the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration conducted low-altitude helicopter flights over downtown Atlanta and areas around Buckhead earlier this week, and those will resume Sunday before the game.

Key law enforcement leaders, including Atlanta police Chief Erika Shields, spoke about security efforts during a press conference Wednesday afternoon at the Georgia World Congress Center. Shields said security planning for the Super Bowl began over two years ago, and so far everything is going as planned.

Shields encouraged those heading to the game or other Super Bowl events to plan ahead and rely on public transportation. For those who insist on driving, secure valuables ahead of time, she said. Call 911 or alert an officer to anything suspicious. But above all, Shields encouraged fans to have fun.

"This is a fantastic city," Shields said. "We really want people to come and just have a great time."

Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz might be running for president. If he does, it'll be as an independent centrist. Needless to say, this will split the anti-Trump vote and very well could give Trump a second term. That's why the political Left is hurling hate and vitriol at Schultz, who has also trashed Medicare for All, and other policies pushed by Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Kamala Harris (D-CA), for being un-American. Harris recently said on a CNN town hall that she would gut private health insurance. Schultz thinks Tomahawk Liz's agenda is nothing but full-blown socialism. The former coffee company executive also said that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez's (D-NY) campaign to soak the rich at the tippy tops on the income bracket is what pushed him to think about a presidential run as an independent (via CNBC):

Billionaire former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz is no fan of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's proposal to slap a 70 percent marginal tax rate on income above $10 million.

In an interview Monday night, he cited her idea as one of the reasons he could never run for president as a Democrat. Schultz believes the party has moved too far left, and he doesn't believe in their tax and spending priorities.

"I respect the Democratic Party. I no longer feel affiliated because I don't know their views represent the majority of Americans. I don't think we want a 70 percent income tax in America," Schultz told CNBC's Andrew Ross Sorkin in New York.

A 22-year-old security officer at Booker T. Washington Elementary School has been arrested and charged with sexual battery for blindfolding and sexually assaulting a 6-year-old student, authorities said.

Malcolm Curtis Tillman of Tampa was arrested Wednesday after investigators received forensic evidence that supported an allegation from the girl, according to Tampa police. He was hired July 1, a school district spokeswoman said, as the district boosted its security staff under a new state mandate to station a guardian at every elementary school.

The girl told investigators Tillman took her out of class to a "game room" at the school on Jan. 10 and told her to sit on a chair with her hands behind her back, according an arrest report and a search warrant affidavit filed in the case.

"He told (her) he was going to take care of (her) and it was going to be okay," the affidavit says.

Neocon pundit Max Boot defended the unwinnable US "forever wars" in the Middle East in an op-ed comparing them to the slow-motion slaughter of Native Americans at the hands of settlers suffused with Manifest Destiny.

The unrepentant interventionist delivered a sentiment that would make Kipling proud to the Washington Post readers, pointing out that it took 300 years to "civilize" the continent of North America - like Afghanistan and Syria, an "unconventional combat assignment" that wouldn't end in a ticker-tape parade.

"We need to think of these deployments as we thought of our Indian Wars, which lasted 300 years, or as the British thought about their deployment on the North West Frontier, which lasted 100 years. US troops are policing the frontiers of the Pax Americana," Boot tweeted, only to delete the excerpt later after getting severely ratio'd.

For nearly six full weeks, 29-year-old Matt Crull said he sat inside a Florida jail for a crime he didn't commit.

The charge was trafficking heroin, according to CBS12. It came with a steep potential punishment and bond, which frightened Crull, who said an officer mistook laundry detergent for heroin.

"(It's) very surreal when you're sitting in jail with a half a million dollars bond," Crull told WPBF25, "and you can't go anywhere knowing that you didn't do wrong.

Former President Barack Obama's Border Patrol chief said that MS-13 gang members "laugh" at how easy it is to cross the southern border during his appearance on "Tucker Carlson Tonight" on Monday.

Mark Morgan has appeared on Carlson's show multiple times over the last week or so to discuss the president's desire to build a wall. He was initially asked to step down from his position with the Border Patrol by the Trump administration.

Morgan and Carlson were discussing the three illegal immigrants who beat up two New York high school students. Two of the three had been apprehended by law enforcement officials for previous crimes, but officials were forced to release them after a certain period of time because they were minors at the time they crossed into the country.

America was left bitterly divided after a decontextualized video went viral last weekend portraying a group of MAGA-hat-wearing Catholic high school students as unabashed racists having the time of their lives mocking a drum-beating Native American in front of the Lincoln Memorial, but the truth turned out to be very different than how the situation was originally presented. What really happened is that these high school students were waiting for their chaperones after participating in the March for Life anti-abortion protest but were verbally abused by members of an African-American cult called the "Black Hebrew Israelites" who hurled racist, religious, and homophobic insults at them while predicting that they were all on the brink of carrying out America's next school shooting. Unmoved by the hateful rant coming from this small group of provocateurs, the students started doing school chants in order to drown out the racists, and it's in that context that Nathan Phillips moved in with his drum.

Video footage from the "Black Hebrew Israelite" cult itself proved that Phillips determinedly approached the students while incessantly beating his drum, which they at first thought was a sign of solidarity with them but soon realized was some sort of passive-aggressive act after he singled out Nick Sandmann and epically stared him down when the boy wouldn't move out of his way and let this stranger into his crowd of colleagues. Sandmann's smirk has since become famous because his supporters saw it as a peaceful act of defiance in the face of unprovoked hostility while his opponents claimed that it somehow evinces signs of "racism" or at the very least "cultural condescension". Whatever one's personal views are about this event, the fact of the matter is that the video footage shows an altogether different chain of events than what Phillips himself said happened and that the Mainstream Media jumped on the fake news bandwagon before eventually distancing itself.

A leader of the Gilets Jaunes (Yellow Vest) movement has called for an "uprising" at next Saturday's protest, following the severe injury of one of its major figures over the weekend.

The protest last weekend, dubbed "Act XI," saw 69,000 participants across France, with 4,000 in the capital of Paris. One of the major incidents involved prominent figure Jerome Rodrigues who was shot at by riot police with "flashball" rounds which resulted in the activist being seriously injured, facing the prospect of losing one of his eyes, Le Figaro reports.

More than 600 women around the world have already accused John of God of sexually abusing them during healing sessions with the medium

He was Brazil's most famous faith healer whose "miracle surgeries" drew millions of pilgrims from across the globe.

Joao Teixeira de Faria - known as John of God - achieved international fame after being interviewed by Oprah Winfrey.

And Bill Clinton, singer Paul Simon and supermodel Naomi Campbell are among the other celebrities rumoured to have visited him.

His boasts of healing powers to cure diseases, including cancer, brought people flocking to his compound in the small town of Abadiania, central Brazil.

But two months ago, his world crumbled when he was accused of sexually abusing a Dutch woman, live on TV.

It led to a flood of similar allegations from more than 600 women from around the world.