WASHINGTON: US intelligence agencies rejected a claim by President Donald Trump used to justify the deportation of more than 200 Venezuelans to El Salvador, according to a declassified memo released on Monday.
The memo by the National Intelligence Council, dated April 7, shows US spy agencies do not believe Trump’s claims that the Tren de Aragua (TDA) criminal gang is linked to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s government.
Trump had used an obscure wartime law — the 1798 Alien Enemies Act (AEA) — to deport people he alleged were members of the TDA to a maximum security prison in El Salvador.
“While Venezuela’s permissive environment enables TDA to operate, the Maduro regime probably does not have a policy of cooperating with TDA and is not directing TDA movement to and operations in the United States,” the memo read.
The memo aligned with intelligence findings first reported by the New York Times in March, which said US spy agencies were at odds with Trump’s claims.
A day after that report, the Justice Department announced a “criminal investigation relating to the selective leak of inaccurate, but nevertheless classified, information from the Intelligence Community relating to Tren de Aragua (TDA).”
“We will not tolerate politically motivated efforts by the Deep State to undercut President Trump’s agenda by leaking false information onto the pages of their allies at the New York Times,” a statement attributed to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said.
Monday’s memo was released following a request under the Freedom of Information Act by the Freedom of the Press Foundation, which provided a copy to the Times.
The Supreme Court lifted a lower court order last month blocking the deportation of undocumented migrants under the AEA, but said they must be given an opportunity to challenge their removal.
The AEA had been last used to round up Japanese-American citizens during World War II.
The Trump administration has sent more than 200 alleged TDA gang members to El Salvador, and used images of the deportees shackled and having their heads shaved in a maximum security prison as proof that it is cracking down on illegal immigration.
US authorities have provided little public evidence to support claims that all the deportees were members of TDA.
Lawyers have denounced the fact that some deportees were accused of membership because of their tattoos.

NEW DELHI: India ranked at 130 out of 193 countries in 2023 on the human development index marking a 3 point improvement from 133 in the previous year. According to UNDP’s human development report 2025 released today, India also showed progress in reducing gender inequality finding itself ranked at 102 on the gender inequality index (GII) out of 193, as compared to 108 out of 166 countries in 2022.
However, as far as India’s performance on the gender development index goes its score in 2023 is 0.874 keeping it in group 5 countries that have ranked low on eradicating the gap.
With an HDI value of 0.685 while India remains in the “medium human development category” it is moving closer to the threshold for high human development which calls for a value of more than 0.700. India’s HDI value has increased by over 53 per cent since 1990, growing faster than both the global and South Asian averages. “This progress has been fueled by economic growth and targeted social protection and welfare programmes,” UNDP notes.
India life expectancy at birth contributed among other factors to the improved ranking which was 71.7 years in 2022 and rose to 72 years in 2023. Citing that life expectancy was 58.6 years in 1990 UNDP highlights that life expectancy is the highest since the inception of the index, signaling a strong recovery from the pandemic and its impact on life expectancy.
UNDP highlights that the national health programmes by successive governments such as the national rural health mission, ayushman bharat, janani suraksha yojana, and poshan abhiyaan have contributed significantly to this achievement.
Expected years of schooling remain almost the same at nearly 13 over 2022 and 2023. Mean years of schooling rose marginally to 6.9 in 2023 from 6.6 in the previous year. Gross National Income per capita rose to $9047 from $8475 in 2022.
“Children today are expected to stay in school for 13 years on average, up from 8.2 years in 1990. Initiatives like the Right to Education Act, samagra shiksha Abhiyan, the national education policy 2020 have enhanced outcomes. However, quality and learning outcomes remain areas for continued focus.
On the economic front, India’s gross national income per capita rose over four times, from $2167.22 (1990) to $9046.76 (2023) based on 2021 PPP $. “Over the years, India’s progress on economic growth and investments in programmes like MGNREGA, jan dhan yojana, and digital inclusion have contributed to poverty reduction. Importantly, 135 million Indians escaped multidimensional poverty between 2015-16 and 2019-21,” the UNDP said in its statement.
However, challenges persist. The report highlights that inequality reduces India’s HDI by 30.7 per cent, one of the highest losses in the region. While health and education inequality have improved, income and gender disparities remain significant. Female labour force participation and political representation lag, though recent steps, such as the constitutional amendment reserving one-third of legislative seats for women—offer promise for transformative change.
Bangladesh at the same rank as India at 130, Nepal at 145 and Bhutan at 125 share space with India in ‘medium human development’ category. Pakistan’s score worsened from 164 to 168 and Afghanistan improved by a point ranking at 181. Both countries figure in the low human development category. China at 78 and Sri Lanka at 89 continue to figure in the ‘high human development’ category.
Iceland with an HDI value of 0.972 ranked at the top of the Index followed by Norway and Switzerland and South Sudan was at the bottom at 193 with a value of 0.388.
Congratulating India for its notable progress in the Human Development Index, rising from rank 133 in 2022 to 130 in 2023, Angela Lusigi, resident representative, UNDP India said this advancement reflects sustained improvements in key dimensions of human development, particularly in mean years of schooling and national income per capita.
“India’s life expectancy reaching its highest level since the inception of the index is a testament to the country’s robust recovery from the pandemic and its investments and commitment to long-term human well-being,” Angela Lusigi, resident representative, she added.
“With a renewed focus on women-led development, quality education and healthcare for all India is well positioned to achieve inclusive growth and continued progress on human development,” Lusigi further added.
Meanwhile, global trends reflect that human development progress has slowed to an unprecedented 35-year low The 2025 human development report. “A matter of choice: people and possibilities in the age of Artificial Intelligence (AI)” shows that projections for 2024 reveal stalled progress on the HDI in all regions across the world. However,it also highlights that Artificial Intelligence (AI) could reignite development. Findings of a new survey show that 60% of people are hopeful Artificial Intelligence will create new job opportunities.
According to the report, global trends reflect that instead of seeing sustained recovery following the period of exceptional crises of 2020-2021, the report reveals unexpectedly weak progress. Excluding those crisis years, the meagre rise in global human development projected in this year’s report is the smallest increase since 1990.
“For decades, we have been on track to reach a very high human development world by 2030, but this deceleration signals a very real threat to global progress,” said Achim Steiner, UNDP administrator. “If 2024’s sluggish progress becomes ‘the new normal’, that 2030 milestone could slip by decades – making our world less secure, more divided, and more vulnerable to economic and ecological shocks,” Steiner said.
For the fourth year in a row inequality between Low HDI and Very High HDI countries continues to increase, according to the report. This reverses a long-term trend that has seen a reduction in inequalities between wealthy and poor nations.
“Amidst this global turmoil, we must urgently explore new ways to drive development,” the UNDP administrator asserted.

A police personnel keeps watch at a polling station as voting commenced for Sri Lanka’s local government elections in Colombo on May 6, 2025.
| Photo Credit: AFP

The polls opened in Sri Lanka on Tuesday (May 6, 2025) for the delayed local council elections seen as a major electoral test for the ruling National People’s Power (NPP) led by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake.

The voting started at 7 am and will end at 4 pm. Over 17.1 million voters are eligible to vote to elect 8,287 members of 339 local government bodies at 13,759 polling stations, election officials said.

Over 75,000 candidates from 49 political parties and 257 independent groups are in the fray. The elected candidates will be appointed for a 4-year term.

This would be the first electoral test for the current government led by President Dissanayake since it won the presidential and parliamentary elections in the last quarter of 2024.

The last local elections were held in the country in 2018.

However, the next local elections were postponed due to political unrest caused by the economic crisis in 2022. The elections were postponed twice in 2023 even after the dates were announced by the election commission.

The then government’s decision not to hold the local election, citing a lack of finances amid the economic crisis, was challenged in court. The court ordered the early conduct of the poll.

Mr. Dissanayake narrowly won the September presidential election with just 42% of the vote and then led his NPP to a resounding victory in the parliamentary election that followed in November.

The NPP, after winning the presidential and parliamentary elections in 2024, has been struggling to fulfil its key promises made during the elections.

Mr. Dissanayake, despite his pre-election pledges to revise the hard conditions of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout, has failed to deliver his promise and is continuing with the same austerity measures imposed by his predecessor Ranil Wickremesinghe.

The unique system of elections, in operation only for the second time, would see 60 per cent of local council members elected first past the post and 40% elected based on proportional representation.

A minimum representation of 10% for women and 25% for youth is guaranteed within the system.

Dissanayake urged the voters to elect the NPP for a clean local government. During the election campaign, Dissanayake said that he would not release money for the councils won by the opposition. The comments drew criticism for exerting undue influence on the voters.

The divided opposition seemed disorganised, posing little real challenge to the ruling NPP, observers noted.