World

A Pakistani man has pleaded guilty to helping smuggle at least 81 people from Pakistan and Afghanistan into the United States by way of dangerous journeys through Brazil and Latin America.

Sharafat Ali Khan, 32, pleaded guilty on April 12 to charges of conspiracy to smuggle undocumented migrants into the United States for profit.

Prosecutors say he schemed with others to bring people from Pakistan and elsewhere through Brazil and Central America into the United States by planes, buses, and on foot.

Dozens of people identified Khan as the person who helped facilitate their travel from Brazil to the United States between May 2014 and June 2016, according to court records.

Prosecutors say Khan, a resident of Brazil, managed safe houses for the travelers and arranged for people in other countries to serve as their escorts on different legs of the route.

Khan told prosecutors the voyage included long hikes with little food and water through the remote tropical forest of Darien Gap, on the border of Colombia and Panama.

Court records show the travelers paid between $5,000 and $12,000 each before their journeys, which sometimes included long days of walking through the jungle.

Khan faces sentencing in July.

Based on reporting by AP and Daily Caller

U.S. President Donald Trump has spoken by telephone with German Chancellor Angela Merkel about issues of "mutual concern and interest," including the conflicts in eastern Ukraine and Afghanistan, the White House says.

The two leaders "pledged close cooperation and coordination on these and other issues" and agreed to remain in close contact, the White House said on April 5.

Trump and Merkel met for the first time on March 17 at the White House, at which time Merkel said she would continue Germany's military participation in the NATO mission in Afghanistan.

On many issues, including the refugee crisis and trade, however, Merkel has been at odds with Trump.

The U.S. leader in campaigning for office severely criticized Merkel's policy of admitting thousands of refugees and from Syria, Afghanistan, and other war-torn countries into Germany.

But since meeting with Merkel, Trump has not repeated his criticisms and instead has appeared to cultivate closer ties with the leader of Europe's biggest economy.

Based on reporting by dpa and Reuters