A Minnesota county is investigating the arrest by federal officers of a Hmong American man as a potential case of kidnapping, burglary and false imprisonment. Ramsey County Attorney John Choi and Sheriff Bob Fletcher said Monday they are pursuing information from the Department of Homeland Security that they need for their investigation into the arrest of ChongLy “Scott” Thao, an American citizen. Armed federal officers bashed open the front door of Thao’s St. Paul home without a warrant in January. They led him outside in freezing conditions wearing only his underwear and a blanket. His arrest was captured on video.

American journalist Shelly Kittleson, who was kidnapped in Baghdad last week, has been released. That's according to an Iraqi official with direct knowledge of the situation. The official spoke on condition of anonymity on Tuesday because he was not authorized to comment publicly. He says Kittleson was freed in the afternoon. He did not share her current whereabouts but said that prior to her release, she had been held in Baghdad. The powerful Iran-backed Iraqi militia Kataib Hezbollah said in a statement earlier in the day that it had decided to free the journalist.

Federal prosecutors have accused rapper Pooh Shiesty and eight others of robbing three men at gunpoint and kidnapping them in Texas following a contract dispute in January involving rapper Gucci Mane’s record label. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Dallas declined to name the victims Thursday and an affidavit only refers to them by their initials. One victim, R.D., is described as the owner of 1017 Records, the label belonging to Gucci Mane, whose legal name is Radric Delantic Davis. Pooh Shiesty, whose legal is name Lontrell Williams Jr., did not immediately return an emailed request for comment.

Iraqi officials say an American journalist was kidnapped in Baghdad and security forces are pursuing her captors. The journalist was identified as freelancer Shelly Kittleson by one of the outlets she worked for. A U.S. official blamed the Iran-backed Iraqi militia Kataib Hezbollah. Two Iraqi security officials said the journalist was kidnapped on Tuesday and that she has U.S. citizenship. They said that two cars were involved in the kidnapping, one of which crashed while being pursued near the town of Al-Haswa in Babil province southwest of Baghdad. The journalist was the transferred to a second car that fled the scene. The U.S. Embassy had warned about kidnapping risks to U.S. citizens during the Iran war.

Savannah Guthrie will return to NBC's “Today” show on April 6. The longtime morning show co-anchor has been absent since her mother's disappearance nearly two months ago. Guthrie says in an interview that aired Friday that experiencing joy will be her protest. Guthrie talked with Hoda Kotb, who has been filling in for her in emotional interviews released this week. Guthrie says she's not sure she's up for it but wants to try because NBC, too, is her family. Authorities believe Guthrie's mother, Nancy, was kidnapped, abducted or otherwise taken against her will from her Arizona home.

Savannah Guthrie says the back doors of her mother Nancy's Arizona home were propped open and her phone and purse were still at the home when the 84-year-old disappeared. Savannah Guthrie spoke in an interview that aired Thursday on NBC's “Today," her first since her mother’s apparent abduction. Given the tremendous pain their mother suffered from, Savannah Guthrie said she and her siblings knew it wasn’t a case of a person wandering off. And with the propped doors, blood on the front doorstep and a camera yanked off, they knew something was very wrong. Authorities believe Nancy Guthrie was abducted or otherwise taken against her will.

The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un says that a summit between her brother and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi won’t happen if Japan sticks to “its anachronistic” approach. Kim Yo Jong's statement Monday came days after Takaichi said that she had told U.S. President Donald Trump during a summit in Washington that she had “a very strong desire” to meet Kim Jong Un. Observers say North Korea likely aims for better ties with Japan to drive a wedge between the United States and its allies. Meanwhile, Tokyo wants to resolve the cases of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea during the 1970s and 1980s.

The Grammy-nominated rapper Afroman has won a defamation lawsuit filed by seven Ohio sheriff’s deputies who sued him over music videos that used home security footage to mock them over a 2022 raid of his home. The verdict Wednesday evening follows several hours of deliberations. The Adams County deputies say they were publicly harassed over the videos. They show rifle-wielding deputies busting down his door, searching his shoes and eyeing a cake on the kitchen table, inspiring the song, “Lemon Pound Cake.” The 51-year-old Afroman, born Joseph Foreman, says the verdict is a win for free speech rights. No charges were filed in the drug and kidnapping investigation.