A Colombian rebel commander nicknamed “The Spider” is now in U.S. custody after a change in leadership in Bogotá cleared the way for his extradition, according to CBS.
Geovany Andres Rojas, also known as “Araña,” was transferred to California over the weekend, where prosecutors have charged him with drug trafficking and terrorism offenses tied to his alleged role in Colombia’s cocaine trade.
Rojas was a senior figure in Comandos de la Frontera, an armed organization operating primarily in Putumayo, a major coca-producing region near Colombia’s borders with Ecuador and Peru.
Colombian authorities arrested him in February 2025, and the country’s Supreme Court later authorized his extradition. But the transfer stalled under former President Gustavo Petro, whose government was pursuing negotiations with several armed factions. Petro gave Rojas a role in those talks, effectively keeping him in Colombia while negotiations continued.
That changed after conservative President Abelardo de la Espriella won office in June. His administration abandoned the previous government’s negotiations with rebel organizations and moved quickly to send Rojas to the United States.
CBS writes that De la Espriella personally oversaw the transfer and said Colombia should not shield accused drug traffickers in the name of pursuing peace. He also called on U.S. prosecutors to ensure any eventual agreement with Rojas does not allow him to avoid accountability.
Rojas’ extradition comes as Colombia continues struggling with armed groups that expanded after the historic 2016 peace agreement with FARC. More than 14,000 combatants disarmed under that deal, ending a decades-long conflict, but some fighters refused to participate while other organizations moved into territory previously controlled by FARC.
Those groups have increasingly competed for control of cocaine trafficking corridors, illegal mining and extortion operations in parts of rural Colombia where government authority remains limited.
Comandos de la Frontera was formed in the aftermath of the FARC agreement and includes former guerrillas who remained armed. The organization later partnered with Segunda Marquetalia, another FARC splinter faction, before the relationship collapsed.
Rojas is scheduled to appear in federal court Monday.
Tyler Durden Mon, 09/28/2026 - 22:10Authored by Michael Zhuang via The Epoch Times,
Workers at hospitals in several parts of China are facing cuts to wages and performance bonuses, with some medical workers reporting monthly base salaries of less than 2,000 yuan ($298) as public institutions struggle under mounting financial pressure.
A nurse moves a bed through a corridor at a hospital in Duan Yao autonomous county in Guangxi region, China, on Jan. 9, 2025. David Kirton/ReutersThe reductions are adding to financial concerns for workers already dealing with a weakening economy. Some hospitals have also been accused of delaying wages for months, while others have faced financial difficulties, including unpaid debts, drug shortages, and suspension of operations.
Several China-based individuals familiar with the matter spoke to The Epoch Times on condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisal.
An employee in the medical administration department of a public hospital in Hangzhou, surnamed Qian, told the publication that a hospital in the area cut nurses' monthly base salaries from 2,750 yuan ($410) to 2,200 yuan ($328) in August - a 20 percent reduction.
In Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, a resident surnamed Liu, whose family member works as a nurse at a public hospital, told The Epoch Times that the nurse's base salary had gradually fallen from 3,700 yuan ($551) per month before the COVID-19 pandemic to about 1,700 yuan ($253) today. The hospital has also stopped paying bonuses.
Hospitals Face Growing Wage CrisisReports of unpaid wages have also triggered protests by medical workers in several parts of China.
In November 2025, medical workers at Suihua People's Hospital in Heilongjiang Province staged a protest over unpaid wages. When The Epoch Times contacted the hospital's emergency department at the time, the person who answered the phone said employees had gone five or six months without receiving their salaries. The workers remained on the front line while continuing to seek payment of their wages and social security contributions.
Videos circulated online in April showing medical workers at Hedong Hospital in Linyi, Shandong Province, demanding unpaid wages. The Chinese labor rights X account @YesterdayBigcat said the protest took place on April 8 and 9.
The Epoch Times has also previously reported that a public hospital in Beijing required employees to return six months of performance bonuses that had already been paid.
In Jiangxi Province, Tianhu Hospital in Leping fell into financial difficulties following changes to health insurance policies and subsequently owed employees wages before dismissing its entire workforce, according to Chinese state media Xinhua News Agency. In 2024, Luxinan Hospital in Shandong entered bankruptcy liquidation proceedings after owing more than 600 employees eight months of wages, according to a hospital notice.
The cases illustrate the financial pressures facing some hospitals, although the circumstances vary from institution to institution.
Financial Pressure Affects PatientsFinancial difficulties can also pressure hospitals to find other ways to generate revenue, according to an insider.
A public official working in a health department in Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province, surnamed Sun, told The Epoch Times that hospitals that receive partial government funding may face larger financial gaps when government allocations decline.
"Hospital funding is a differential appropriation system. If fiscal allocations decrease, the hospital has to find ways to generate revenue to make up for the shortfall, which means collecting it from patients by raising fees," Sun said. "But now ordinary people can't afford to see a doctor, so fewer people are going to hospitals, and the hospitals' losses become even greater."
He said some hospitals in Jiangsu had faced complaints over their charges and were penalized by authorities. After some hospitals were required to restore their previous fee schedules, their revenues declined further, widening their fiscal gaps.
Ye Zilong contributed to this report.
Tyler Durden Mon, 09/28/2026 - 21:45An Iranian national was sentenced to 18 months in prison for smuggling parts intended for military sonar to Iran through China.
More than a decade ago, Reza Dindar, 44, and his associates concealed the true destination of the sanctioned parts they were selling.
Dindar was sentenced in the U.S. District Court in Seattle on Sept. 25 after pleading guilty to two counts of exporting goods to an embargoed country and two counts of smuggling goods from the United States, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).
District Judge Ricardo S. Martinez also imposed a $10,000 fine and three years of supervised release after his prison term.
Federal agents escort a 2014 China-Iran trade scheme suspect, Reza Dindar, also known as Renda Dindar—who was arrested in 2025 in Panama and brought to the United States to face charges in April 2026—across the tarmac of an airport, in an undated photo. Courtesy of the U.S. Department of JusticeAs Michael Zhuang further reports for The Epoch Times, Dindar was originally indicted by a federal grand jury in August 2014, but was not brought before a federal court until his extradition from Panama more than a decade later.
He was arrested in Panama in July 2025 at the request of U.S. authorities and extradited to the United States in April 2026. He pleaded guilty about six weeks later.
Dindar operated a company called New Port Sourcing Solutions in Xi'an, China, between 2010 and 2014, according to court records cited by the DOJ. The Chinese company concealed that it was purchasing U.S. goods for companies in Iran.
In 2011 and 2012, Dindar and his co-conspirators used the scheme to obtain parts for three military sonar systems from a company in Washington state, according to the plea agreement. They told the U.S. company the equipment would be used by a company in China. The parts were instead intended to be shipped through China to Iran, in violation of U.S. export controls.
The sanctions on Iran prohibited the unauthorized export, re-export, sale, or supply of sensitive U.S. goods, technology, and services to Iran. The restrictions also included transactions involving third countries when the goods are known or reasonably expected to be ultimately supplied or re-exported to Iran.
Martinez noted the 18-month sentence took into consideration Dindar's significant time in a Panamanian prison.
Federal prosecutors had requested it, saying the 18-month imprisonment was needed to deter similar violations of U.S. export controls. Prosecutors described the controls as important to U.S. national security interests.
Tyler Durden Mon, 09/28/2026 - 21:20