A former food delivery driver pleaded guilty to conspiring to steal more than $2.5m from the food delivery service DoorDash.
Sayee Chaitanya Reddy Devagiri pleaded guilty on Tuesday in a federal court in San Jose, California, to a single count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, the US Attorney’s Office said.
Devagiri and his co-conspirators would get the company to pay for deliveries that never occurred, federal prosecutors said.
Devagiri, 30, of Newport Beach, California, admitted to working with three others in 2020 and 2021 to defraud the San Francisco-based delivery company, federal prosecutors said. The other three were indicted by a federal grand jury in August.
Prosecutors said Devagiri used customer accounts to place high-value orders and then used an employee’s credentials to gain access to DoorDash software and manually reassign the orders to driver accounts that he and others controlled. He then caused the fraudulent driver accounts to report that the orders had been delivered when they had not and manipulated DoorDash’s computer systems to pay the fraudulent driver accounts for the nonexistent deliveries, officials said.
Devagiri would then use DoorDash software to change the orders from “delivered” status to “in process” status and manually reassign the orders to driver accounts he and others controlled, beginning the process again, prosecutors said.
Devagiri is the third defendant to plead guilty to having a role in this conspiracy. Two co-defendants previously entered pleas to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, authorities said.
Manaswi Mandadapu pleaded guilty this month, and Tyler Thomas Bottenhorn pleaded guilty in November 2023. Bottenhorn was charged separately.
Qatar’s role as a global mediator and a massive purchase of Boeing airliners were prime areas of focus in official talks between US President Donald Trump and Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.
A Venezuelan toddler who was separated from her parents after they crossed the United States-Mexico border together has been returned to Venezuela, to where her mother was deported in April.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro thanked the administration of United States President Donald Trump for the return on Wednesday of two-year-old Maikelys Espinoza Bernal to her mother, Yorely Bernal.
“We must be thankful for all the efforts, for [Trump special envoy] Rich Grenell for his efforts … and thank Donald Trump, too,” Maduro said, calling the child’s return “an act of justice”.
Both of the toddler’s parents were accused by the Trump administration of involvement with the Tren de Aragua gang, a claim for which the government has offered no evidence and is firmly denied by family members.
The child’s father, 25-year-old Maiker Espinoza, was among at least 137 Venezuelans sent to a prison in El Salvador in March.
Venezuelan officials had sought the return of Maikelys, and footage shown on state television showed First Lady Cilia Flores holding Maikelys after she arrived at an international airport near the capital of Caracas.
The child was reunited with her mother and grandmother in an event at the presidential palace attended by Maduro, who has voiced occasional criticism of Trump’s deportation push but reached an agreement in March to receive Venezuelans deported from the US.
The Trump administration has invoked sometimes vague and unsubstantiated claims of Tren de Aragua membership to send Venezuelan migrants to CECOT, a maximum security prison in El Salvador, notorious for abusive conditions, without due process under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act.
The toddler’s father, 25-year-old Maiker Espinoza, has been accused by the Trump administration, without evidence, of being a “lieutenant” in Tren de Aragua who oversees “homicides, drug sales, kidnappings, extortion, sex trafficking and operates a torture house”.
“At no time has my son been involved with them,” his mother, Maria Escalona, told the news agency Reuters this month, of claims that her son is a member of Tren de Aragua. “I think this is political – they are using the case of my son to cover up the horror that is being committed against all these innocents.”
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) also accused Yorely Bernal of recruiting young women for narcotics smuggling and sex work, but has not provided any evidence for those claims and deported her to Venezuela in April.
The Trump administration has invoked the Alien Enemies Act, a rarely used wartime law that grants the president powers to expeditiously expel people from the country without usual protections, under the pretext that irregular migration to the US constitutes a foreign “invasion”.
A report by the US intelligence community found no evidence for public claims by the Trump administration that Tren de Aragua was coordinating activities with the Maduro government as part of a clandestine attack on the United States.
State-owned airline Qatar Airways has signed an agreement to buy 210 aircraft from United States manufacturer Boeing, coinciding with President Donald Trump’s visit to Qatar as part of his tour of the Gulf region.
Trump and Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, witnessed the signing ceremony in Doha on Wednesday. The White House said that the deal for the Boeing 777X and 787 planes with GE Aerospace engines was worth $96bn.
Trump said Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg, who signed the deal with Qatar Airways CEO Badr Mohammed Al Meer next to Trump and the emir, told him: “It’s the largest order of jets in the history of Boeing. That’s good.”
Trump had initially said that the deal was worth more than $200bn and was for 160 planes, before the White House issued updated numbers after his comments.
The White House also said that agreements signed by the US and Qatar would “generate an economic exchange worth at least $1.2 trillion”.
“This is a critical next step for Qatar Airways on our path as we invest in the cleanest, youngest and most efficient fleet in global aviation,” Qatar Airways Group CEO Badr Mohammed Al-Meer said in a statement.
“After two consecutive years of record-breaking commercial performance and with this historic Boeing aircraft order – we’re not simply chasing scale; we’re building strength that will allow us to continue to deliver our unmatched products and customer experiences.”
The sale is also a boost for Boeing and its biggest engine supplier at a time when large versions of rival Airbus’ A350, powered by Rolls-Royce engines, have struggled with maintenance problems from operating in the world’s hottest climates, including the Gulf region.
Boeing shares rose 0.9 percent in New York, while GE Aerospace stock edged up 0.1 percent.
For the 787s, Qatar opted for GE Aerospace’s GEnx engines rather than Rolls-Royce’s Trent 1000, according to the administration. GE Aerospace’s GE9X is the only engine option for the 777X.
It is the largest widebody engine deal for GE Aerospace, the company’s CEO Larry Culp said in a statement.
Faisal al-Mudahka, editor-in-chief of the Gulf Times, said the Qatar Airways purchase of Boeing aircraft is a “win-win”.
As one of the world’s top airlines with a growing market, Qatar Airways has more demand than supply at the moment and will need the fleet, he said.
“I think Donald Trump and Qatar know how to package things to make political gains and economic gains.”
Trump’s Qatar visit is the second destination of his Gulf tour, after an initial stop in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where he made a surprise announcement about lifting sanctions on Syria and then met the country’s president, Ahmed al-Sharaa.
Trump is to land on a third and final stop in the United Arab Emirates on Thursday for a one-day visit.
No mention of Gaza
The Qatari emir said the two leaders had a “great” few hours of discussion covering a range of issues. “I think after signing these documents, we are going to another level of relations,” he said.
Trump thanked the emir and said it had been a “very interesting couple of hours” discussing topics including the Russia-Ukraine war, Iran and trade relations.
However, Israel’s war on Gaza was not mentioned by either leader.
Omar Rahman, a fellow at the Middle East Council on Global Affairs, said the fact that Gaza wasn’t mentioned led him to believe the discussion is “ongoing”.
“When it comes to Gaza, you have the Israelis there as well. On the issue of a ceasefire, Trump can put pressure on the Israelis, … but you still have the Israelis there making decisions. This is going to be a little bit more difficult to work out,” he told Al Jazeera.
US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, who was also in Doha, said “we’re making progress” in response to a question by Al Jazeera Diplomatic Editor James Bays on whether discussions on Gaza were ongoing.
“His tone was pretty telling. He was very positive,” Bays said. “When I asked him whether that was regarding aid deliveries or a ceasefire, he said, ‘We’re making progress on all fronts.’”
When Abdullah Ocalan said his Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, should lay down its arms and disband after more than four decades of conflict with the Turkish state and tens of thousands of deaths, there was an instant look across the border to Syria.
Syria’s northeast is largely controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Kurdish-led military force Turkiye has repeatedly fought against over the past decade.
The SDF is led by the People’s Protection Units (YPG), which Turkiye views as a “terrorist” group and the Syrian branch of the PKK. The United States, however, has backed the YPG in Syria to fight against ISIL (ISIS).
Since the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in December, the SDF has been negotiating with the new Turkish-allied government in Damascus over what its future role in a newly unified Syria and as a military force will be and what kind of governance will extend to the northeast of the country.
PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan said the group should disband and disarm, ending decades of violence [Umit Bektas/Reuters]
No laying down of arms
The removal of the PKK from the equation will likely facilitate the SDF’s integration with Damascus, analysts told Al Jazeera.
“For the SDF, it makes it much easier to talk with the government in Damascus and also to de-escalate their relations with Turkey,” said Wladimir van Wilgenburg, an analyst of Kurdish politics based in Erbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq.
While the SDF rejects Turkiye’s assertions that it is the Syrian arm of the PKK, analysts said the groups have strong links.
While the PKK’s announcement that it would heed Ocalan’s call and disarm was welcomed by SDF leader Mazloum Abdi, he said his group would not disarm and Ocalan’s decision did not extend to Syria.
Ahmed al-Sharaa, right, and SDF commander-in-chief Mazloum Abdi sign an agreement, to integrate the SDF into state institutions in Damascus on March 10, 2025 [SANA via AFP]
But this could give the group further incentives to bring its fighting force and governing structure – called the Autonomous Administration in North and East Syria (AANES) – under the umbrella of the new government in Damascus.
When reached for comment on Monday, an AANES spokesperson told Al Jazeera: “The autonomous administration is not concerned with the internal affairs of other countries.”
The SDF has clashed with Turkish-backed Syrian factions, including in the immediate days after the fall of al-Assad’s regime, and sustained attacks from Turkiye’s air force.
In December, the US negotiated a ceasefire between the SDF and the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army, which has since been incorporated into Syria’s new armed forces.
Abdi has been in discussions with the new Syrian government, led by Ahmed al-Sharaa, over how best to integrate the SDF into the post-Baathist Party security forces and govern Syria’s northeast.
Increased pressure to negotiate
The SDF has engaged in the talks with the pressure of an impending US troop withdrawal from northeast Syria.
Without a US presence and support, the SDF has feared it might be vulnerable to attacks from Turkiye or Turkish-backed factions in Syria.
But should the PKK’s decision to disarm bring a feeling of security to Turkiye along its border with Syria, analysts said the relations between the SDF and Turkiye would also likely improve.
“We know that Turkey’s hardline stance towards the SDF was very much linked to concerns over the PKK and not so much about the SDF being Kurdish-dominated,” Thomas Pierret, a Syria specialist and senior researcher at the Institute of Research and Study on the Arab and Islamic Worlds, told Al Jazeera.
SDF members flash victory signs while departing the city of Aleppo on April 9, 2025, as part of an agreement with the Syrian government [Ahmad Fallah/EPA]
This is evident by Turkiye’s relations with Masoud Barzani and his Kurdish Democratic Party in northern Iraq’s Kurdish region, Pierret said.
Of course, this new reality “doesn’t mean it will be easy”, according to Pierret. Under the agreement between Turkiye and the PKK, some fighters could be relocated to third countries – essentially sent into exile. There’s also the possibility some fighters may decide to make their way to northeast Syria, in which case, Pierret said, Turkiye could see the SDF as a haven for PKK fighters.
So Turkiye will keep a close eye on the SDF in Syria and the SDF’s negotiations with Damascus.
In the past, the Turkish military has launched drones, fired artillery and carried out air strikes against Kurdish fighters, including the SDF. And analysts said military options may still be on the table going forward.
“For now, they seem to be letting negotiations take their course,” Aron Lund, a fellow at Century International with a focus on Syria, told Al Jazeera. “And that’s probably related both to events in Syria but also to the PKK process.”
Beyond Syria
The PKK’s affiliates and allies are spread across regions of the Middle East where Kurds live.
Historically, the PKK has operated in Turkiye as well as northern Iraq. And their allies have operated in places where Kurds live in Syria and Iran. Their struggles have often opposed the national authorities in those places or sought self-determination or federalism.
One example is the Kurdistan Free Life Party, or PJAK, in Iran, which says its goal is to declare an autonomous Kurdish region in Iran.
“It’s unclear what will happen with the … PJAK because they also have a number of Iranian Kurdish fighters inside the PKK,” van Wildenburg said.
“It’s possible that they will continue as a political party and not as an armed group because they are already not doing much fighting against the Iranian state anyway.”
Analysts agree it is unclear whether the PKK’s allies will follow Ocalan’s lead and lay down their arms or, as is the case with the SDF in Syria, if they will view their own struggles as independent and make decisions on their own.
Fighters display the SDF flag in Deir Az Zor after the alliance captured the northeastern city, the government’s main foothold in the vast desert, on December 7, 2024 [Orhan Qereman/Reuters]
At 17, Joyce Malindi won her first beauty contest under the suffocating limits of apartheid South Africa. Fifty-five years later, she was back on the catwalk, silver curls gleaming and brown clogs clicking, in a pageant for grandmothers only.
The event in the Tokoza township outside of Johannesburg featured prayers, speeches and a performance against domestic violence, a national scourge.
But the main attraction was on the red carpet stretching down the community hall where grandmothers paraded with pride in a competition that is rare among the host of others for younger women.
“This takes me way back, brings my youth back,” Malindi, a great-grandmother of five, told AFP, breaking into a joyful jig to “Happy Mama” by legendary jazz musician Hugh Masekela.
In this version of a beauty contest there were no swimsuit or evening wear categories. Instead, women paraded in their Sunday best, from sleeveless summer frocks to bold orange headwraps, strings of pearls to traditional wear.
Floral fabrics and well-loved kitten heels hinted at celebrations past.
Supporters — mostly women from the Sukuma Mbokodo Support Group that organised the show — clapped, ululated and fiddled with their phones to record the spectacle.
Sukuma Mbokodo Support Groups Elderly Beauty Contest winners 2nd Princess Alinah Tshonisile (L), 77, overall winner Margaret Fatyela (C), 78, and 1st Princess Lidia Mokoena (R), 81, pose for a photograph after the prize giving ceremony in Thokoza on May 13, 2025. (Photo by Phill Magakoe / AFP)Nozizwe Khumalo (C), 77, gets her make up done prior to competing in the Sukuma Mbokodo Support Groups Elderly Beauty Contest in Thokoza on May 13, 2025. (Photo by Phill Magakoe / AFP)
Feeling ‘young again’
At the makeup corner, the top request was for deep red and berry toned lipsticks but most contenders chose to let their bare faces and bright smiles shine. Nearby, a teapot served cups of chai beside trays of scones.
“They don’t focus. When you are doing their makeup they want to multitask, talk, bark instructions,” said 19-year-old volunteer hairdresser Ntokoza Ntshinga.
The youngest contestant was 63 years old and the oldest 81.
But it was septuagenarian Margaret Fatyela who took the silver-coated crown.
“We are now like school children,” she told AFP, seated next to her modest prize of tea set and a bag of toiletries.
It was the first time the former domestic worker and mother of eight had entered a pageant.
“I feel like I am young again, capable of doing everything,” she said, looking towards the first runner-up, Lidia Mokoena, who did not hide her beard.
Maria Molefe, 72, dances while competing in the Sukuma Mbokodo Support Groups Elderly Beauty Contest in Thokoza on May 13, 2025. (Photo by Phill Magakoe / AFP)Joyce Malindi, 72, reacts while competing in the Sukuma Mbokodo Support Groups Elderly Beauty Contest in Thokoza on May 13, 2025. (Photo by Phill Magakoe / AFP)
‘Forgotten citizens’
Organisers said the event was intended to celebrate the grandmothers and great-grandmothers on whom South Africa’s largely impoverished society depends, even if they remain in the shadows.
Nearly four in 10 children are raised in homes headed by grandparents, according to official data, with many parents forced to relocate for work, a high rate of teenage pregnancies and AIDS-related deaths among the contributing factors.
“Often times the minute they take pension they are forgotten citizens, and all they do is look after great-grandchildren and grandchildren,” local official Bridget Thusi told AFP.
“To have programmes like this where they are celebrated and to forget the problems at home was really an amazing thing to see,” she said.
For Malindi it was a boost after losing her husband four years ago.
“At our old age, we thought that maybe because our husbands are gone, everything is gone, it’s the end of the world,” she said.
