News Wrap: Man accused of targeting Shapiro charged with attempted homicide and terrorism

William Brangham:

We begin the day's other headlines with new details about the man accused of setting fire to the Pennsylvania governor's mansion Sunday; 38-year-old Cody Balmer has been charged with arson, attempted homicide, and terrorism.

Court documents say he jumped over a fence to gain entry, used handmade Molotov cocktails to set the mansion fire, and planned to beat Governor Josh Shapiro with a hammer if he ever found him. Shapiro and his family were safely evacuated. No one was injured. Authorities have not stated a motive for the attack. Shapiro said he and his family celebrated the Jewish holiday of Passover just hours before in the same room that was set ablaze.

Unsealed federal court documents reveal that a Wisconsin teenager arrested last month for killing his parents did so to take their money and carry out a plot to assassinate President Trump. The documents further said the suspect identified with a satanic neo-Nazi terror network. He wrote a three-page antisemitic manifesto that praised Adolf Hitler.

He bought a drone and explosives, which authorities allege he planned to use in an attack. The teen shared that plan with others, including a Russian speaker, and intended to flee to Ukraine.

The FAA says the tour company whose sightseeing helicopter crashed into the Hudson River in New York City last week is shutting down effective immediately. The chopper from New York Helicopter Tours broke apart in midair, killing a family of five Spanish tourists and the pilot. The FAA also said it would review the tour company's operating license and safety record.

In total, five sightseeing helicopters have crashed into New York City's rivers in the past two decades. They remain a popular tourist draw.

Turning overseas, former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol denied criminal charges that he led an insurrection when he declared martial law late last year. He was ousted from office just 10 days ago for that short-lived martial law attempt.

Today, Yoon told the court that martial law is not a coup d'etat. Prosecutors said the former president tried to paralyze state institutions like Parliament. Yoon's lawyers said he was fully within his constitutional authority.

Yoon Kab-keun, Attorney for Yoon Suk Yeol (through interpreter): During this trial, we will fully explain why the president had to declare emergency martial law. The prosecutors are now seeing this as an insurrection. We believe it can be proven that this doesn't have to be regarded as a crime in the first place.

William Brangham:

If Yoon is convicted of mounting an insurrection, the charges are punishable by life in prison or death.

In Central Europe, Hungary's Parliament passed a new constitutional amendment that bans public LGBTQ events. It set off protests, including before the vote, when demonstrators tried to block lawmakers from entering. They had to be physically removed by police. In the end, the vote was a resounding 140 yes-votes, with only 21 against.

The new amendment also says that Hungary's Constitution will only recognize two sexes, male and female, a basis for denying the gender identities of transgender people and others.

In Brazil, former President Jair Bolsonaro remains in intensive care today after undergoing a lengthy 12-hour surgery for a bowel obstruction. The far right leader has been hospitalized since Friday for abdominal pain stemming from when he was stabbed at a 2018 campaign event. Doctors say he's in stable condition, all this as Bolsonaro is expected to face trial on charges that he attempted to stage a coup after his election loss in 2022, efforts that were punctuated by riots led by his supporters.

And a passing of note. Peruvian author and Nobel laureate Mario Vargas Llosa has died. The acclaimed storyteller wrote about corruption and cruelty, not just in his native Peru, but across Latin America. His novels, essays, articles, and columns often drew on his own experiences. He attended military academy as a boy and later wrote of military brutality.

He joined a communist cell in his teens and later wrote against leftist society as one mired in poverty and injustice. His passion for politics led to an unsuccessful presidential run in 1990.

In 2012, he spoke to the "News Hour" about the power and moral imperative of literature.

Mario Vargas Llosa, Author:

I don't accept the idea that literature can be just entertainment and that there is no sequels, consequences of literature in the real world. If this is true, I think it gives the writer a kind of responsibility that is not only literary, but also moral.

William Brangham:

Mario Vargas Llosa was 89 years old.

Still to come on the "News Hour": Ukraine reels from a Russian attack that killed dozens, including children; Mark Zuckerberg takes the stand at Meta's antitrust trial; Tamara Keith and Amy Walter break down the latest political headlines; plus much more.