A federal judge ordered the Trump administration late Friday to facilitate the return of a Guatemalan man it deported to Mexico in spite of his fears of being harmed there.

The man, who is gay, was protected from being returned to his home country under a U.S. immigration judge’s order at the time. But the U.S. put him on a bus and sent him to Mexico instead, a removal that U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy found likely “lacked any semblance of due process.”

Mexico has since returned him to Guatemala, where he is in hiding, according to court documents. An earlier court proceeding that determined the man, identified by the initials O.C.G., risked persecution or torture if returned to Guatemala, but he also feared returning to Mexico. He presented evidence of being raped and held for ransom there while seeking asylum in the U.S.

“No one has ever suggested that O.C.G. poses any sort of security threat,” Murphy wrote. “In general, this case presents no special facts or legal circumstancs, only the banal horror of a man being wrongfully loaded onto a bus and sent back to a country where he was allegedly just raped and kidnapped.”

Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said O.C.G. was in the country illegally, was “granted withholding of removal to Guatemala” and was instead sent to Mexico, which she said was “a safe third option for him, pending his asylum claim.”

McLaughlin called the judge a “federal activist judge” and said the administration expects to be vindicated by a higher court.

Murphy’s order adds to a string of findings by federal courts against recent Trump administration deportations. Those have included other deportations to third countries and the erroneous deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an El Salvadoran who had lived in Maryland for roughly 14 years working and raising a family.

Syria welcomes easing of U.S. sanctions

Syria considers the move by the Trump administration to ease sanctions imposed on the war-torn country as a “positive step” to ease humanitarian and economic suffering, its foreign ministry said Saturday.

The ministry said Syria “extends its hand” to anyone that wants to cooperate with Damascus, on the condition that there is no intervention in the country’s internal affairs.

The statement came after the Trump administration granted Syria sweeping exemptions from sanctions on Friday in a major first step toward fulfilling the president’s pledge to lift a half-century of penalties on a country shattered by 14 years of civil war.

Thomas Barrack , the U.S. ambassador to Turkey, met with Syria’s president and foreign minister, adding that President Ahmad al-Sharaa welcomed Washington’s “fast action on lifting sanctions.”

Ecuador’s Noboa sworn in for his second term

QUITO >> Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa was officially sworn in on Saturday following his reelection for another four-year term early this year.

Noboa, 37, who wore a presidential sash over his chest, was sworn in alongside his Vice President María José Pinto and their terms will run until May 2029.

The young president, who has become known for his fight against a surge of armed group violence in the South American country, pledged in his inauguration speech to continue to tackle corruption, drug trafficking and violent crime. He also swore to implement reforms and said he would lay “a solid foundation for job creation and investment” by working with Ecuador’s private sector.

“We are at the doorstep of four years of progress,” he said.

In New York, one dead in sewage boat blast

One man died Saturday morning after an explosion on a boat carrying raw sewage that was docked on the Hudson River in New York City, authorities said.

Another worker on the city-owned Hunts Point was hurt and taken to the hospital after the blast around 10:30 a.m., city Fire Department Deputy Assistant Chief David Simms said at a news conference. A third worker refused medical treatment.

The cause of the explosion was under investigation. The men on the boat were doing work involving a flame or sparks when the explosion occurred, the U.S. Coast Guard said on social media.

The boat takes raw sewage to be treated, Simms said. The explosion happened near the North River Wastewater Treatment Plant.

Hamburg stabbing victims now stable

Victims of a knife attack Friday night in Hamburg, Germany, were in stable condition, local police said on Saturday as they continued to investigate the motive of the woman who they said stabbed 18 people at the city’s central train station during Friday’s busy rush hour.

Over the course of just a few minutes, the knife attack injured 18 people ages 19 to 85, according to an updated list supplied by Hamburg police Saturday. Four of those victims — three women and a man — had sustained life-threatening injuries and were hospitalized.

Police said Friday that they suspected that the woman was in a state of mental distress during the attack. On Saturday, a Hamburg judge will decide whether to admit her into a closed psychiatric ward.

Police said the 39-year-old German woman, whom they detained with the help of two commuters just after the stabbing spree occurred, was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol during the attack.

They also said they believed the attack was not politically motivated.

With more than 500,000 people passing through every day, Hamburg’s central train station is Germany’s busiest and also one of its most dangerous, according to crime figures.

Cannes’ top award goes to Iranian dissident

Iranian dissident filmmaker Jafar Panahi won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival on Saturday for his revenge thriller “It Was Just an Accident,? handing the festival’s top prize to a director who had been banned from leaving Iran for more than 15 years.

Cate Blanchett presented the award to Panahi, who three years ago was imprisoned in Iran before going on a hunger strike. For a decade and a half, he has made films clandestinely in his native country, including one film (“This Is Not a Film”) made in his living room, and another (“Taxi”) set in a car.

The crowd rose in a thunderous standing ovation for the filmmaker, who immediately threw up his arms and leaned back in his seat in disbelief before applauding his collaborators and the audience around him. On stage, Panahi was cheered by Cannes jury president Juliette Binoche, who in 2010 in Cannes held up Panahi’s name to honor the director when he was under house arrest.

On stage, Panahi said what mattered most was freedom in his country.

“Let us join forces,” said Panahi. “No one should dare tell us what kind of clothes we should wear, what we should do or what we should not do. The cinema is a society. Nobody is entitled to tell what we should or refrain from doing.”

The win for “It Was Just an Accident” extend an unprecedented streak: The indie distributor Neon has now backed the last six Palme d’Or winners. The latest triumph for Neon, which acquired “It Was Just an Accident” for North American distribution after its premiere in Cannes, follows its Palmes for “Parasite,” “Titane,” “Triangle of Sadness,” “Anatomy of a Fall” and “Anora.”

— News service reports