Federal aviation regulators issued an emergency order Monday grounding the helicopter tour company involved in a deadly New York crash after learning it had fired its operations director minutes after he had agreed to suspend flights during the investigation.

The Federal Aviation Administration said it suspected the firing was retaliation for a safety decision.

“The FAA is taking this action in part because after the company’s director of operations voluntarily shut down flights, he was fired,” acting Administrator Chris Rocheleau said on X.

New York Helicopter Tours’ sightseeing helicopter broke apart in midair and plunged into the Hudson River Thursday, killing five tourists from Spain and the pilot.

Rocheleau said the agency also began a comprehensive review of the company’s operations. The review is designed to determine whether an operator complies with regulations and effectively manages safety, and identifies hazards and risks.

The victims included passengers Agustin Escobar, 49, his wife, Mercè Camprubí Montal, 39, and their three children, Victor, 4, Mercedes, 8, and Agustin, 10. The pilot was Seankese Johnson, 36, a U.S. Navy veteran who received his commercial pilot’s license in 2023.

The company’s director of operations, Jason Costello, agreed on Sunday to voluntarily halt flights while the crash was being investigated. But 16 minutes after Costello sent an email to the FAA, the company’s chief executive officer sent a separate email to the agency saying he did not authorize the halt. The CEO, Michael Roth, also said Costello was no longer an employee, according to the FAA order.

Former deputy gets 3 years in Colo. shooting

A former Colorado sheriff’s deputy was sentenced to three years in prison on Monday in the fatal shooting of a 22-year-old man who called 911 for help as he was experiencing a mental health crisis on a dark mountain road in 2022.

In February, a jury found the former deputy, Andrew Buen, guilty of criminally negligent homicide after declining to convict him on the more serious charge of second-degree murder in the killing of Christian Glass.

Before the sentence was handed down, Buen, a former Clear Creek County sheriff’s deputy, addressed the judge and members of Glass’ family.

“I wish I could take it all back, and it’s something I think about over and over,” he said through tears.

Glass’ mother, Sally Glass, who addressed Buen at the sentencing, questioned whether his remorse was genuine.

“He got away with murder,” Glass, in a phone interview, said she told Buen.

U.N.: More that 300 killed in Sudan fighting

More than 300 civilians were killed in two days of intense fighting in Sudan’s conflict-wracked Darfur region, the U.N. humanitarian agency reported Monday, as the African country’s brutal civil war nears the two-year mark.

The attacks launched by Sudan’s notorious paramilitary group on two famine-hit camps for displaced people in North Darfur and its nearby capital on Friday and Saturday were initially reported to have left more than 100 dead, including 20 children and nine aid workers, according to a U.N. official.

But the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported the much higher death toll Monday, citing local sources that were not identified. The Associated Press could not independently verify the numbers.

Sudan plunged into conflict on April 15, 2023, when long-simmering tensions between its military and paramilitary leaders broke out in the capital, Khartoum, and spread to other regions, including the vast western Darfur region. Since then, at least 24,000 people have been tallied as being killed, according to the United Nations, though activists say the number is far higher.

The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, known as the RSF, carried out the recent attacks after the Sudanese military late last month regained control over Khartoum, a major symbolic victory in the war.

Judiciary rejects Istanbul mayor’s appeal

Judicial officials on Monday rejected an appeal seeking the release of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu from jail pending the outcome of his corruption trial, the country’s state-run news agency reported.

Imamoglu, a prominent opposition figure and a key challenger to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s more than two-decade rule, was detained on March 19 and formally jailed on corruption charges four days later.

His arrest is widely perceived to be politically motivated, aiming to sideline a major rival ahead of presidential elections, which currently are scheduled for 2028 but could take place earlier.

The mayor’s arrest and subsequent removal from office has triggered the largest wave of anti-government protests in Turkey in over a decade. The government insists that the judiciary operates independently and without political interference.

On Monday, the Istanbul Criminal Court of First Instance ruled to reject the appeals made by Imamoglu’s lawyers, deciding that his detention would continue.

U.S. airstrikes kill 7 more in Yemen

Suspected U.S. airstrikes around Yemen’s rebel-held capital killed at least seven people and wounded 29 overnight, the Houthis in charge of the Arab country said Monday as they also claimed shooting down another American MQ-9 Reaper drone.

Since its start nearly a month ago, the intense campaign of U.S. airstrikes under President Donald Trump targeting the rebels over their attacks on shipping in Mideast waters — related to the Israel-Hamas war — has killed over 120 people, according to casualty figures released Monday by the Houthis’ Health Ministry.

Footage aired by the Houthis’ al-Masirah satellite news channel showed firefighters spraying water on a fire they described as being sparked by the airstrikes.

The U.S. military’s Central Command, which oversees American military operations, did not acknowledge the strikes.

The American military also hasn’t been providing any information on targets hit. The White House has said over 200 strikes have been conducted so far.

5.2-level earthquake hits near San Diego

A 5.2-magnitude earthquake shook Southern California on Monday, sending boulders tumbling onto rural roadways outside San Diego and rattling items off shelves and walls, but officials reported no injuries or major damage.

The quake, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, struck at 10:08 a.m. local time, and was centered in San Diego County a couple miles from Julian, Calif., a tourist mountain town of about 1,500 people. It was felt as far north as Los Angeles County, about 120 miles away.

The quake struck 8.3 miles deep near the Elsinore fault zone, one of the busiest seismic areas in California.

— From news services