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A FOURTH US soldier’s body has been found after a NATO drill squad went missing in Lithuania. The four military personnel were inside a M88A2 Hercules vehicle at Pabrade training ground, close to the border with Putin ally Belarus, when they suddenly disappeared. EPAA fourth US soldier has been found after a group of them went missing in Lithuania[/caption] AFPMilitary personnel, including heavy armoured vehicles, work at the site of an arduous rescue operation for missing US soldiers at Pabrade training ground, in Lithuania[/caption] AFPThe first three soldiers were found in a peat bog, the Army did not say where the fourth soldier was found[/caption] The vehicle and bodies of the three other soldiers were found in a peat bog on Monday. US Army Europe and Africa said in a statement that the search effort involved hundreds of rescue workers from the US Army and Navy as well as Lithuanian, Polish and Estonian Armed Forces. Maj Gen Christopher Norrie said in the statement: “This past week has been devastating. “Today our hearts bear the weight of an unbearable pain… the world is darker without them.” Lt Gen Charles Costanza described the incident as a “tragic accident” but added that it was “humbling to watch the incredible recovery team from different commands, countries and continents come together”. The Army did not specify where exactly the fourth soldier was found, but are still investigating the incident. The team were working near the border with Belarus when they found the US soldier’s body. The discovery also came after recovery dogs from Lithuania and neighbouring Estonia joined the search effort, authorities said. The dogs were placed in a US Navy inflatable boat with the hope of picking up any scents from below the surface of the bog. A memorial was also set up for US soldiers who died at the Pabrade training ground on Tuesday. NATO soldiers from across Europe and locals brought candles and flowers outside the US embassy in Vilnius, Lithuania, to pay their respects. The previous recovery of the Hercules vehicle on Monday was an agonising ordeal, which saw fleets of armoured vehicles clearing the bog and dragging the submerged tank out. The M88A2 Hercules is one of the largest military vehicles used by the US Armed Forces. It is designed to recover damaged tanks and other vehicles from battlefields. Two more M88A2 Hercules as well as additional bulldozers were needed to drag the colossal vehicle out of the peat bog on Monday. The six-day recovery mission involved teams working “day and night”, according to the statement. AFPLithuania soldiers with flowers pay their respects for the US soldiers who died at a Pabrade training ground, outside the US Embassy in Vilnius, Lithuania[/caption] AFPPeople with flowers and candles pay their respects[/caption] AFPFrench and other NATO soldiers paid their respects for the soldiers who died after three bodies were found on March 31, 2025[/caption] Major General Curtis Taylor, commander of Task Force Iron and the 1st Armored Division, said after the three were found: “I’d like to personally commend the heroic efforts of the search parties, and especially our Lithuanian allies who were instrumental in the recovery efforts. “Their courage and commitment to this operation will always be remembered and demonstrates the strong relationship between our countries. “However, search and recovery efforts are not complete – they will continue until we bring all of our soldiers home.” The unnamed soldiers had been deployed to Lithuania as part of Operation Atlantic Resolve, in response to Russia‘s invasion of Ukraine. They vanished while on a mission to repair and tow back another armoured vehicle last Tuesday. ReutersRescue operations at the General Silvestras Zukauskas training ground during the search[/caption] APUS army soldiers searched the swamp using diggers[/caption]

FRANCE has finally admitted it needs to start intercepting more small boats — and even raised the possibility of taking illegal migrants back from Britain.  President Emmanuel Macron’s border chief said returning Channel migrants would “send a clear message” not to bother risking their lives.  AFPThe French Navy has been under fire for escorting migrant-packed dinghies across the Channel despite UK taxpayers contributing £500million to stop the crossings[/caption] When challenged by The Sun over the country’s efforts, Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau accepted France had been too timid in snaring boats at seaAFP The French have come under fire for failing to stop the flow, despite being handed £500million by UK taxpayers, with their navy escorting boats across busy shipping lanes until they are picked up by our Border Force.  When challenged by The Sun, Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau accepted: “We have to deal with the crossings. “Up until now, we considered it to be a French doctrine that we would save people on the seas — but that we would take no risk whatsoever. ” So we would accompany the people on the boats.  “I’ve seen a number of videos where the taxi boats come close to the coast to pick up the migrants in water that’s not very deep, and I think that our gendarmes cannot intervene. “We need to change that doctrine of intervention.”  Of the 150,000 migrants who have crossed since 2018, just three per cent have been deported to their home country. But a “returns deal” could be the deterrent that breaks the smugglers’ business model.  Mr Retailleau said: “I do think that there must be an agreement that we can come to, a bilateral agreement between governments.  “Because we see many of those who land on British soil don’t come back. Even when one has crossed the Channel, if one is sent back that will send a clear message.”  The Minister said other European countries needed to pull their weight in closing smuggling routes too — and singled out Belgium and Germany.  Speaking at the Policy Exchange think tank in London, he insisted trying to smash the smuggling gangs alone was not sufficient. He said: “As we dismantle one, another one crops up.”  Mr Retailleau insisted Home Secretary Yvette Cooper also needs to crack down on illegal working in the UK that helps attracts Channel migrants.  The Sun’s Broken Border campaign Meanwhile Bas Javid, the Home Office’s head of immigration enforcement, has vowed to ramp up deportations of such workers.  He told The Sun that the Government wanted to show “if you’re working illegally, we’ll catch you and we will remove you from the UK and the employer will get stung with a fine of up to £60,000”.  He believes the number of illegal migrants in the UK are in “the hundreds of thousands”. CRUSH 'KILL' TRIAL MOVE Exclusive by Thomas Godfrey in Wimeraux, France A MAN accused of causing the death of a young girl in a small-boat Channel tragedy is set to be deported to France to go on trial.  Musaab Altijani, 20, was last night facing extradition after seven-year-old Sara Alhashimi, below, and four others died when a dinghy got in difficulties off in April 2024.  The Sudanese was arrested in May in Hillingdon, West London, and District Judge John McGarva ordered his expulsion last week.  French prosecutors are pursuing a charge of involuntary manslaughter over the five deaths.  And he went on: “I’ve personally gone out on visits to car washes, nail bars, barber shops, restaurants and shops such as off licenses. “And in all of them I’ve seen extremely poor working conditions.  “So there’s a humanity factor here as well about people’s livelihood and safety.”  Mr Javid blasted “abuses” of human rights laws that had seen foreign criminals avoiding being booted out for bizarre reasons.  His boss Ms Cooper is reviewing the UK’s application of the rules, and Mr Javid said:  “I would absolutely welcome that.”  He was backed by Mr Retailleau, who agreed: “The rhetoric of individual rights is often too powerful compared to the collective interests.”  CHANNEL TECH FAIL A SYSTEM made to spot migrant boats in the Channel costing £1.6billion cannot cope with the numbers coming across, The Sun can reveal. The high-tech search and rescue aircraft were supposed to spot small boats and alert the coastguard.  But the government said it “cannot meet” demand because it was modelled off data from 2019. Six years ago, there were 1,843 small boat crossings, with 36,816 last year. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency is working to test the UK Second Generation Search and Rescue Aviation (UKSAR2G) against up to date figures. It was due to be in place from October 2024 to December 2026 but a company has been drafted in — costing £11million.  A government contract reveals: “UKSAR2G cannot address the demand in the Channel.” The MCA was contacted for comment. 

[/boxout] In her landmark book on the case, Perversion of Justice, Julie K. Brown explained how Epstein was able to get away with the crimes. “He didn’t do this alone,” she said. “He had a whole ecosystem that he created that allowed this to happen.” The same is true of all traffickers – they do not operate in isolation but rely on wider networks. The ecosystems that enable trafficking in both upper and under worlds involve many parties and touch on other industries, from financial services to the travel industry. Many of those who had been trafficked in Epstein’s vile operation, including Prince Andrew’s accuser Virginia Giuffre eventually came forward and won settlements from his estate. In underworld trafficking, most victims’ best hope is survival. They will never be reimbursed for the sale of their bodies or their labour. The flow of money from these sales is gaining interest in big banks. In 2020, Deutsche Bank in New York and the Virgin Islands agreed to pay £116 million in penalties for facilitating Epstein’s sex trafficking. In 2023, they agreed to a further £58 million settlement with the victims. Another big bank, JPMorgan, settled a similar suit tied to Epstein’s sex trafficking charges, paying some $290m in penalties.  Dozens of other banks and subsidiaries earned money from Epstein’s criminal behaviour, ignoring red flags for the sake of millions in profits made both through Epstein and his clients who channelled money to him for the use of the girls he procured.  Anti-trafficking groups have long been pressurising big banks to stop turning a blind eye to shell accounts that allow traffickers to launder money unabated.  But they struggle to apply pressure to financial institutions to take stronger action in identifying accounts tied to traffickers, even when there are obvious indicators of money laundering.  They urge in-person bank employees to keep an eye out for suspicious activity like adults opening new accounts with a “chaperone” accompanying them, or account holders who have no tax number or who deposit curious sums.  Banks and financial institutions are required to play a major role in hunting out tax evaders, terrorists and money laundering tied to drug and arms trafficking. Yet they often give human traffickers a pass. GettyVirginia Roberts Giuffre said she was abused by Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, among others[/caption] Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey EpsteinThe Mega Agency Airbnb brothels It is not only traffickers who make money from sex victims; so too do hotels where they are taken to meet clients and Airbnb owners, whose properties are commonly used by traffickers because of the anonymity they offer. Anti-trafficking groups say if owners took a different approach, they could actively try to stop trafficking. In 2019, one landlord did raise the alarm, suspecting a teen girl with three “sketchy” men may have been trafficked.  Airbnb did not comment but suggested that any hosts who suspect trafficking should call their country’s national trafficking hotline and can refuse a rental if suspicious. Many Airbnb apartment hosts never meet the guests, who just use key boxes and other anonymous means to check in. The potential for abuse of the system is striking – but campaigners say following the money is still one of the best ways we can combat the sick rackets. Silvija Krupena, director of the London-based RedFlag Accelerator financial intelligence unit at RedCompass Labs, says: “Everyone can and must do more, but the financial sector is uniquely placed to disrupt human trafficking. “Financial data can reveal human crimes flowing through systems which are often hidden in plain view.” Every Body Counts: Money, Lies, And The Hidden Trade In Human Lives by Barbie Latza Nadeau was published by Ithaka on March 27 at £20. ShutterstockHotel and rental apartment owners can earn money from sex trafficking[/caption] GettyMany Airbnb apartment hosts never meet the guests who could be victims[/caption]

RUSSIAN women are cashing in on Putin’s war by marrying his cannon fodder troops then pocketing the £73,000 compensation once they are killed, a lawyer revealed. Marina Orlova detailed the shocking scheme to target single Russian soldiers and wed them before they are sent to the front line. East2WestRussian lawyer Marina Orlova faces jail for the advice she gave young Russian women on how to cash in on Russian soldiers’ deaths in a video podcast[/caption] East2WestRussian lawyer and estate agent Marina Orlova (left) with influencer Darya Cherdantseva (right)[/caption] East2WestMarina Orlova posing in a selfie inside a car[/caption] The lawyer and estate agent said in a podcast that women are counting on their new husbands dying on the front lines of Ukraine so that they can cash in on £73,000 compensation. Orlova said that the schemers are then using the money to buy flats and get on the property ladder. “It’s easy and simple,” she told influencer Darya Cherdantseva in the podcast episode that went viral. She added: “You find a man now who is serving [for Russia in the war], he dies, and you get 8 million rubles (£73,100). “A lot of people are doing it now. A lot of women come to us with this 8 million, buy some cheap flat. “It’s a working scheme. It’s a business plan.” Cherdantseva also suggested on the podcast that widows should seek a new war husband, thereby gaining a second payout from the high death toll of Russians in the war in Ukraine. Russia’s Investigative Committee and Prosecutor General’s Office was quick to step in and criticise these comments. The podcast was subsequently deleted. While the pair insisted that this was merely “black humour”, Orlova could face up to seven years in jail under Putin’s laws. After the podcast went viral, some Russians took to the social network VK to explain that they know women who have put this “business plan” into practice. “We have a lot of those,” said one user, Galina, who explained that her brother had suddenly married — suspiciously — before going to the war. “My brother also signed right before leaving, they just brought him in, he hadn’t been buried yet, and his supposedly fake wife was already running around the offices to arrange the money,” she said. A widow asked on VK: “Will I be entitled to payments in the event of his death, if I already received them for my first husband in 2022?” Anastasia Marinina commented: “What a nightmare. Where is the world heading? “Didn’t she get enough for the first one, and she’s probably sending the second one herself? “My brother died at 22, and his wife goes to his grave every week. “She doesn’t even think about others. I have no words.” Independent journalist Andrey Kalitin said: “This is probably what absolute fall into the abyss looks like.” Putin’s prosecutors intervened after the pro-Putin cultural group, Call of the People, demanded action. The claims flouted “morality and humanity”, said the group’s leader  Sergei Zaitsev. “Her cynical and blasphemous statements about a ‘business plan’ based on the deaths of our servicemen are an insult to everyone who is risking their lives on the front lines today, defending our Motherland. “This is an insult to the memory of fallen heroes and their families,” Zaitsev said. Orlova made a public apology later today, saying: “I apologise for myself personally and I apologise even for Daria. “In no way did I mean to offend anyone.” She added: “The bullying has started, of course. I get so many threats from men.” This comes after recent news that pregnant Russian schoolgirls will be able to cash in almost £1,000 under a bizarre scheme to boost the country’s birth rate. The state money for underage pregnancies is being piloted in Oryol region, which has seen a population slump of almost 8,000 people. AFPRussian soldiers on a quad bike in a village in the Kursk region[/caption]

PRINCE Andrew’s ex has sparked outrage after cruelly taunting Virginia Giuffre – by betting the sex abuse accuser won’t die from her injuries after a horror bus crash. Lady Victoria Hervey doubled down on her brutal claim that the Epstein trafficking victim – who says she has just four days to live – is faking it, calling her a “fantasist” and suggesting it’s all unravelling. GC Images - GettyLady Victoria briefly dated Prince Andrew in 1999[/caption] Virginia GiuffreVirginia Giuffre, 41, shared a shocking photo from a hospital bed[/caption] PAPrince Andrew with his accuser Virginia Giuffre and Ghislaine Maxwell[/caption] The 48-year-old socialite, who briefly dated the disgraced Duke of York in 1999, caused fury online after re-posting a hospital photo of Virginia with the word “karma” slapped across it. The post was backed by the glam rock anthem The Final Countdown. But instead of apologising for the cruel jab, Hervey doubled down, saying: “Virginia Giuffre is a fantasist. It’s been a long drawn out process these last few years, but it’s unravelling. “Her lies are being exposed. Let’s see in three days, but I bet she will still be alive,” she told the Daily Mail. It comes after mum-of-three Virginia posted a bruised selfie from her hospital bed on Instagram. She claimed to be dying from kidney failure after a “tin can” car wreck involving a school bus in Western Australia. The Epstein survivor wrote: “This year has been the worst start to a new year… they’ve given me four days to live.  “I’m ready to go, just not until I see my babies one last time.” The 41-year-old claimed the bus hit her car at 110km/h, adding: “No matter what your car is made of it might as well be a tin can.” But cops cast serious doubt on the crash in Neergabby, north of Perth – confirming it was “minor” with no injuries reported. According to police, a 71-year-old woman was behind the wheel of the car, and a 41-year-old woman in the passenger seat. Damage to Virginia’s car is estimated at around $2,000 and the crash wasn’t reported until the following day by the bus driver. A rep for Andrew’s accuser insisted she is seriously ill, saying: “Virginia has been in a serious accident and is receiving medical care in the hospital. She greatly appreciates the support and well wishes people are sending.” Her former lawyer Brad Edwards added: “We’re hoping for better news in the coming days.” But Lady Victoria showed no remorse for her reposted “Karma” dig, insisting: “I re-posted the Karma (post) because I felt, well you know, she deserves it. But I also knew in my head that she was lying.” She continued to stoke the fire, suggesting Giuffre’s estranged husband Robert – who now has custody of their three children – “knows the truth” and should speak out. “If Virginia Giuffre really does have days to live, then a complete confession is needed,” she posted. “I don’t believe it though, the FBI are on her right now and arrest warrants are coming. She’s conveniently dying to evade jail.” Virginia and Robert, a martial arts instructor, split recently after 22 years of marriage. She now claims to be estranged from her children. GettyShe said she was left suffering kidney failure after the horror crash[/caption] But cops cast serious doubt on the crash in Neergabby, north of Perth – confirming it was “minor” with no injuries reported. According to police, a 71-year-old woman was behind the wheel of the car, and a 41-year-old woman in the passenger seat. Damage to Virginia’s car is estimated at around $2,000 and the crash wasn’t reported until the following day by the bus driver. A rep for Andrew’s accuser insisted she is seriously ill, saying: “Virginia has been in a serious accident and is receiving medical care in the hospital. She greatly appreciates the support and well wishes people are sending.” Her former lawyer Brad Edwards added: “We’re hoping for better news in the coming days.” But Lady Victoria showed no remorse for her reposted “Karma” dig, insisting: “I re-posted the Karma (post) because I felt, well you know, she deserves it. But I also knew in my head that she was lying.” She continued to stoke the fire, suggesting Giuffre’s estranged husband Robert – who now has custody of their three children – “knows the truth” and should speak out. “If Virginia Giuffre really does have days to live, then a complete confession is needed,” she posted. “I don’t believe it though, the FBI are on her right now and arrest warrants are coming. She’s conveniently dying to evade jail.” Virginia and Robert, a martial arts instructor, split recently after 22 years of marriage. She now claims to be estranged from her children.