Japan's Princess Kako addresses Brazil's Congress, meets with Lula in presidential palace

BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — Japan’s Princess Kako of Akishino, a niece of Emperor Naruhito, was welcomed on Wednesday by Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva for a private ceremony on the latest leg of her 11-day tour of the South American nation.

The younger daughter of Crown Prince Fumihito and Crown Princess Kiko also addressed Congress and thanked Brazilians for hosting Japanese immigrants for more than a century. Her trip, which started on June 5, marks the 130th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

“The efforts of the Japanese who came, and the Brazilians who went to Japan, are deepening our bilateral relationship of friendship," Kako told Brazilian lawmakers. “I hope that the relationship between the two countries is a long lasting one.”

Congress speaker Hugo Motta told the princess he hopes Brazil’s ethanol “can help Japan reduce its dependency on fossil fuels.”

Brazil has the largest population of people of Japanese descent in the world, estimated at about 2.7 million. About half of those live in Sao Paulo state, official figures show, where the princess last week received the state's highest honor from Gov. Tarcisio de Freitas.

Emperor Naruhito has no male children, which makes his brother Akishino, Princess Kako’s father, the first successor in line. Japan’s tradition does not allow women to take the throne.

Princess Kako will arrive in Rio de Janeiro on Friday, where she will visit the Christ the Redeemer statue and a museum of Japanese immigration. The last part of her trip will take place in the city of Foz do Iguacu, where the world famous Iguacu falls are located.

Japan's Princess Kako of Akishino and Brazilian Minister of Foreign Affairs Mauro Vieira stand before the press as they arrive at Itamaraty Palace in Brasilia, Brazil, Wednesday, June 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)

Japan's Princess Kako of Akishino attends a Congress session in her honor at the Chamber of Deputies in Brasilia, Brazil, Wednesday, June 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)

Japan's Princess Kako of Akishino arrives to Congress for a session in her honor by the Chamber of Deputies in Brasilia, Brazil, Wednesday, June 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)

Japan's Princess Kako of Akishino arrives to Itamaraty Palace in Brasilia, Brazil, Wednesday, June 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)

FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) — A Virginia man who had a relationship with a Brazilian au pair is going to trial Monday in what prosecutors say was an elaborate double-murder scheme to frame another man in the stabbing of his wife.

Brendan Banfield is charged with aggravated murder in the February 2023 killings of Christine Banfield and Joseph Ryan at the Banfields' home in northern Virginia. He has pleaded not guilty in the case.

Banfield and Juliana Peres Magalhães, the family’s au pair, were with the wife and Ryan on the morning the victims were killed in the primary bedroom of the Banfield home, court records say. Authorities have said on that day, Banfield and Magalhães told officials they saw Ryan, a stranger, stabbing the wife after he entered the house. Then they each shot the intruder, Banfield and Magalhães said at the time.

Prosecutors have painted a different picture, arguing that Brendan Banfield and Magalhães lured Ryan to the house and staged it to look like he and the au pair shot a predator in defense. Officials have said Banfield and Magalhães had a romantic affair beginning the year before the killings.

Both the au pair and husband were arrested between 2023 and 2024 and initially handed murder charges in the case. In 2024, Magalhães pleaded guilty to a downgraded manslaughter charge after giving a statement to officials confirming parts of their theory.

In that statement, Magalhães said she and Brendan Banfield created an account in his wife’s name on a social media platform for people interested in sexual fetishes. There, Ryan connected with the account in Christine Banfield’s name, and the users made plans to meet on the morning of Feb. 24, 2023, for a sexual encounter that would involve a knife, authorities said based on the statement from Magalhães.

Prosecutor Eric Clingan said last year that the au pair's statement helped the state solidify its theory ahead of trial.

“With 12 different homicide detectives, there were 24 different theories,” Clingan said. “Now, one theory.”

Not all officials investigating the case have believed Banfield and Magalhães catfished Ryan.

Brendan Miller, a former digital forensic examiner with the Fairfax County Police Department, testified last year that he analyzed dozens of devices and concluded Christine Banfield had connected with Ryan herself through the social networking platform.

An evidence analysis team at the University of Alabama peer-reviewed and affirmed Miller’s digital forensic findings, according to evidence submitted to the court.

Miller was transferred out of the department’s digital forensics unit in late 2024, though a former Fairfax County commander testified the reassignment was not punitive or disciplinary.

John Carroll, Banfield's attorney, argued that Millers' transfer was directly tethered to the case. He also said in court that Fairfax County police reassigned the case’s lead detective after that man had pushed back on the top brass’ catfishing theory.

“It is a theory in search of facts rather than a series of facts supporting a theory,” Carroll said.

Banfield, whose daughter was at the house on the morning of the killings, is also charged with child abuse and felony child cruelty in connection with the case. He will also face those charges during the aggravated murder trial.

FILE - This image provided by the Fairfax County Police Department and taken on Oct. 13, 2023, was submitted as evidence in the murder case against Brendan Banfield shows a framed photo of Banfield and Juliana Peres Magalhães on his bedside table in Herndon, Va. (Fairfax County Police Department via AP, File)