After months without contact, Stephen James Hubbard, a retired American teacher taken from his eastern Ukrainian home by Russian soldiers shortly after Russia invaded in February 2022, has been located in a Russian prison in Mordovia.

His family had no information on his whereabouts since his criminal conviction in 2024. But in recent weeks, he has been able to call one of his sons.

Hubbard is the only American remaining in Russia who has been designated by the U.S. State Department as “wrongfully detained,” an indication that the United States believes the charges against him are fabricated.

Given the designation, he is likely a top candidate in any potential prisoner exchange being discussed between Russia and the United States.

Hubbard, 73, was accused of manning a checkpoint and fighting for Ukraine, and then convicted by Russia of being a mercenary in October and sentenced to almost seven years in a penal colony.

After that, Hubbard’s family was not able to find him in Russia’s prison system. In a highly unusual move, the Russian judge removed his case file, including even basic information like his lawyer’s name, from public view.

Documents reviewed by The New York Times show that Hubbard is being held in the IK-12 penal colony in Mordovia, the southwestern Russian region commonly referred to as “prison land.”

N.Y. lawmakers approve aid-in-dying bill

The New York state Senate on Monday approved a bill that would allow people facing terminal diagnoses to end their lives on their own terms, which the bill’s proponents say would grant a measure of autonomy to New Yorkers in their final days.

The bill, which passed the state Assembly this year, will now head to the desk of Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, for her signature. It is unclear whether she plans to sign it; a spokesperson for her office said she would review it.

Eleven states and the District of Columbia have passed laws permitting so-called medical aid in dying. The practice is also available in several European countries and in Canada, which recently broadened its criteria to extend the option to people with incurable chronic illnesses and disabilities.

The bill in New York is written more narrowly and would apply only to people who have an incurable and irreversible illness, with six months or less to live. Proponents say that distinction is key.

Top TikTok personality leaves U.S. after arrest

Khaby Lame, the world’s most popular TikTok personality with millions of followers, has left the U.S. after being detained by immigration agents in Las Vegas for allegedly overstaying his visa.

The Senegalese-Italian influencer, whose legal name is Seringe Khabane Lame, was detained Friday at Harry Reid International Airport but was allowed to leave the country without a deportation order, a spokesperson for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed in a statement.

Lame arrived in the U.S. on April 30 and “overstayed the terms of his visa,” the ICE spokesperson said. The Associated Press sent a message seeking comment Tuesday to the email address listed on Lame’s Instagram account. He has not publicly commented on his detainment.

The 25-year-old Lame rose to international fame during the pandemic without ever saying a word in his videos, which would show him reacting to absurdly complicated “life hacks.” He has over 162 million followers on TikTok alone.

Court upholds former president’s sentence

Argentina’s Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the six-year prison sentence on corruption charges for former President Cristina Fernández, a ruling she quickly rejected.

The court ruling would also disqualify the leader of South American country’s opposition movement, known as Peronism, from holding public office. It left Fernández, one of Argentina’s most important political figures of the past two decades, at the brink of an arrest by authorities.

Fernández governed for eight years after succeeding her husband in 2007. Under her watch, Argentina became notorious for its unbridled state spending and massive budget deficits. She was found guilty by a federal court in 2022 of having committed a millionaire fraud during her presidency through irregular allocation of state funds to a businessman close to her.

Bolsonaro testifies, denies election plot

Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro appeared before the Supreme Court for the first time Tuesday and denied participation in an alleged plot to remain in power and overturn the 2022 election result as he faces charges that could bring decades behind bars.

Many Brazilians followed the trial, which was streamed online. The country was shaken by the January 2023 riot in which the Supreme Court, Congress and presidential palace were ransacked. Bolsonaro said in his testimony that the rioters were “crazy,” not coup mongers.

The far-right politician, appearing relaxed, and seven allies were questioned by a panel of judges over allegations they devised a scheme to keep Bolsonaro in office despite his loss to current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

The Supreme Court panel, led by Justice Alexandre de Moraes, freed up its schedule to hear the eight defendants in the case until the end of Friday. But they managed to finish the inquiry on the second day in speedy fashion. Legal experts say the sentencing phase of the trial is expected in the second half of the year.

U.N.: N. Korea working on new uranium plant

North Korea appears to be building a new uranium-enrichment plant in its main nuclear complex, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog warned this week, the strongest sign yet that the country’s leader, Kim Jong Un, plans to grow its nuclear weapons supply.

Until now, experts and the International Atomic Energy Agency had identified two undeclared uranium-enrichment plants in North Korea. One is in Yongbyon, North Korea’s main nuclear complex, 62 miles north of its capital, Pyongyang. The other plant is in Kangson, just outside Pyongyang.

But in his report to the IAEA’s board of governors in Vienna on Monday, its director general, Rafael Grossi, said his agency was “monitoring the construction of a new building at Yongbyon, which has dimensions and features similar to the Kangson enrichment plant.”

Grossi’s statement provided no further details about the new facility.

French teacher fatally stabbed at school

A French teaching assistant died Tuesday after being stabbed several times during a bag search at a middle school in France.

Police quickly arrested a 14-year-old student at the school in Nogent, a small town in northeastern France, according to local authorities. Students, many of whom were in a state of distress after witnessing the bloody scene, were placed under lockdown and then released to their parents throughout the day.

The attack reignited fears in France, where schoolteachers have been a target of increasing violence in recent years. Police have not yet disclosed a motive for the stabbing, and the national anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office said it had not opened an investigation into it.

Bison gores another Yellowstone visitor

A bison gored a man Tuesday after a large group of visitors got too close to the animal in Yellowstone National Park, officials said.

The 30-year-old from Randolph, N.J., was treated for minor injuries after being gored around 9:45 a.m. in the Old Faithful area, according to a park statement.

Park officials didn’t release the man’s name or condition, saying what happened was under investigation. He was the second person gored by a bison already this spring in Yellowstone. A 47-year-old Cape Coral, Fla., man had minor injuries after being gored in the Lake Village area May 7.

— News service reports