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Incredible GoPro footage takes you inside the gunfire-heavy raid that ended drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman’s six months on the run.

The video, obtained from Mexican authorities, looks as if it’s from an action movie. The camera follows the armed men as they storm the house, unleash grenades and bullets, and search room to room.

The Friday raid was called “Operation Black Swan,” according to the Mexican show “Primero Noticias.” Authorities decided to launch the raid Thursday after they got a tip about where Guzman was sleeping, the show reported.

Seventeen elite unit Mexican Marines launched their assault on the house in the city of Los Mochis at 4:40 a.m., “Primero Noticias” said.

They were met by about one dozen well-armed guards inside who were prepared for a fight, the show said.

The Marines moved from room to room, clearing the house. Upstairs they found two men in one room and found two women on the floor of a bathroom. All were captured, “Primero Noticias” said.

After 15 minutes, the Marines controlled the entire house, according to “Primero Noticias.”

In the end, five guards were killed and two men and two women were detained. One of the women was the same cook Guzman had with him when he was detained a couple years ago, according to “Primero Noticias.”

Eventually the marines determined that the only bedroom on the first floor was Guzman’s and they began pounding on the walls and moving furniture, finding hidden doors, the show said.

His room had a king-sized bed, bags from fashionable clothing stores, bread and cookie wrappers, and medicine including injectable testosterone, syringes, antibiotics and cough syrups, the show said. The two-story house had four bedrooms and five bathrooms. There were flat-screen TVs and Internet connection throughout the house, according to “Primero Noticias.”

The Marines eventually found a hidden passageway behind a mirror, with a handle hidden in the light fixture. The handle opened a secret door, leading down into the escape tunnel, the show explained.

The escape tunnel was fully lit and led to an access door for the city sewage system, “Primero Noticias” said, adding that Guzman had at least a 20-minute head start on the Marines.

The address where Guzman was captured had been monitored for a month, Mexican Attorney General Arely Gomez has said. According to Gomez, Guzman and his lieutenant escaped through that drainage system.

“Primero Noticias” said it obtained surveillance footage showing Guzman and his lieutenant emerging from the manhole cover, where they then stole two cars to flee, the show said.

Guzman was finally caught when he and the lieutenant were stopped on a highway by Mexican Federal Police, the show said.

Authorities took them to a motel to wait for reinforcement. The men were then taken to Los Mochis airport and transfered to Mexico City.

Rebecca Blackwell/AP PHOTO
Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman is escorted by soldiers and marines to a waiting helicopter, at a federal hangar in Mexico City, Jan. 8, 2016.

Guzman is now back in prison as his lawyers fight his extradition to the U.S.

The drug kingpin escaped from the Altiplano prison near Mexico City on July 11, launching an active manhunt. When guards realized that he was missing from his cell, they found a ventilated tunnel and exit had been constructed in the bathtub inside Guzman’s cell. The tunnel extended for about a mile underground and featured an adapted motorcycle on rails that officials believe was used to transport the tools used to create the tunnel, Monte Alejandro Rubido, the head of the Mexican national security commission, said in July.

Guzman had been sent there after he was arrested in February 2014. He spent more than 10 years on the run after escaping from a different prison in 2001. It’s unclear exactly how he had escaped, but he did receive help from prison guards who were prosecuted and convicted.

Guzman, the leader of the Sinaloa cartel, was once described by the U.S. Treasury as “the most powerful drug trafficker in the world.” The Sinaloa cartel allegedly uses elaborate tunnels for drug trafficking and has been estimated to be responsible for 25 percent of all illegal drugs that enter the U.S. through Mexico.

Source Article from http://abcnews.go.com/International/inside-dramatic-raid-el-chapo/story?id=36216172

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The Trump administration on Tuesday blamed California’s worst-in-the nation air quality on shoddy paperwork, calling on the state to overhaul its plans for cleaning up toxic smog or risk losing billions in federal road dollars.

The government’s warning comes days after the Trump administration moved to block the state’s emission standards for cars and trucks, a move that would eliminate California’s most important weapon for combating its biggest source of pollution.

Tuesday’s announcement by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler chastised California for its backlog of pending rules and regulations to reduce pollution in areas that do not meet federal air quality standards.

But Wheeler’s letter to the California Air Resources Board puzzled state regulators and even former EPA officials who say the backlog exists because the federal government has not approved the plans.

“It makes no sense,” said Gay MacGregor, a former senior policy adviser for the EPA Office of Transportation and Air Quality from 1983 until 2016. “What they are doing today is basically punishing California for EPA’s own inaction.”

The federal government sets rules for how much pollution can be in the air. Lots of places in the country don’t meet those standards. But no state has more problems than California, where 85% of the population — 34 million people — breathe dirty air.

Federal law requires states with dirty air to come up with a plan on how to reduce pollution. Those plans must be approved by the EPA. The federal agency has a backlog of these plans awaiting approval, and California accounts for more than 130 of them, or about one-third of the total.

Wheeler blamed California for the backlog on Tuesday, saying most of the plans are “inactive” and have “fundamental issues related to approvability.” He asked the state to withdraw the plans and come up with new ones. If they don’t, the government would punish the state by withholding federal road dollars. But that punishment involves a process that could take up to 18 months.

“California has failed to carry out its most basic responsibilities under the Clean Air Act, and as a result, millions of Californians live in areas that do not meet our nation’s air quality standards,” Wheeler said in a news release. “EPA stands ready to work with California to meet the Trump Administration’s goal of clean, healthy air for all Americans, and we hope the state will work with us in good faith.”




Wheeler’s announcement, detailed in a letter sent to California regulators, “contains multiple inaccuracies, omissions and misstatements,” according to Richard Corey, executive officer of the California Air Resources Board.

The letter lists six California plans it says are not in compliance. It includes one for Ventura County for the 1997 federal ozone standards. But Ventura County already meets the 1997 standards, so a state plan is not required, said Ali Ghasemi, division manager for the Ventura County Air Quality Pollution Control District.

The letter also chastises Southern California’s Coachella Valley for an inadequate plan addressing the 2008 ozone standard.

“That’s news to us,” said Philip Fine, deputy executive officer for Planning and Rules at the South Coast Air Quality Management District. “We work very closely with the (EPA) to make sure everything we submit is approvable and staff there told us there were no issues with it. We were expecting approval.”

Much of California’s smog problem comes from its 35 million registered cars and trucks, the most of any state. But the problem is also compounded in Southern California, home to two of the world’s largest ports where much of the country’s freight passes through and is carried away on diesel trucks and trains.

Only the federal government can regulate emissions from trains, planes, ships and heavy-duty trucks, according to Corey, the executive officer of the California Air Resources Board.

“California and other states had to go to court, repeatedly, to get the EPA to implement the strict smog standards it claims to be worried about,” he said.

The EPA says it plans to issue $40 million in grants to help areas around the country meet federal air quality standards, including several communities in California.

___

Casey reported from Concord, New Hampshire.

Source Article from https://www.aol.com/article/news/2019/09/24/epa-targets-california-over-poor-air-quality/23819272/

You can find the latest on the investigation involving Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie hereDownload the WFLA app for breaking news push alerts and sign up for breaking news email alerts.

NORTH PORT, Fla. (WFLA) — Ten days before he vanished, Brian Laundrie bought a new cell phone, according to the Laundrie family’s attorney Steve Bertolino.

Bertolino tells 8 On Your Side the FBI now has that phone. But many have been asking about Gabby Petito’s phone and whether Laundrie had a different phone while they were together on their road trip.

Since the phones undoubtedly hold valuable clues, 8 On Your Side has been looking into that question.

We closely examined the police body camera video after the couple’s alleged domestic dispute in Moab, Utah on Aug. 12. The video shows that, at the time, Petito and Laundrie both had phones.

We know Petito had a phone – her mom, Nichole Schmidt, got an “odd text” from her on Aug. 27, according to a search warrant, and a final text on Aug. 30.

About 42 minutes into the police stop in Utah, video shows Laundrie reach into the passenger side of the van. He hands a female law enforcement official Petito’s cellphone.

“She’s got her cellphone. She’s calling her parents,” the officer told other officials minutes later.

(Moab Police Department)

That phone from the passenger side stays in Petito’s lap.

Meanwhile with Laundrie: When we backed up the video to before he retrieved Petito’s cellphone, he is seen slipping what appears to be a different phone into his pocket. Toward the end of the stop, you can see Laundrie pull a phone out of his pocket.

The family’s attorney did not reveal anything about the phone on the cross-country trip. But he says Laundrie did purchase a new phone on Sept. 4, three days after he returned to North Port without Petito.

The attorney says the FBI has the new phone and states it was not a burner phone. Laundrie reportedly had an account with AT&T for the new phone.

Right now, it remains unclear if the FBI has retrieved Petito’s cellphone. 

Editor’s note: A previous version of the story included a statement from Laundrie saying he did not have a phone. We are looking into whether or not he was referring to having a phone in general or in that specific incident with police.

Source Article from https://www.wfla.com/8-on-your-side/gabby-petito-brian-laundrie-investigation-2-phones-seen-in-police-body-cam-video-from-utah-incident/


ÚN | Gustavo Rodríguez.- Valencia. Con la ayuda de las autoridades locales y de la Guardia Nacional, los detectives de la policía científica identificaron a seis integrantes de una sanguinaria banda de asaltantes de carretera conocida como Los Rapiditos, quienes son investigados por el asesinato de la actriz Mónica Spear y de su ex esposo Thomas Henry Berry, y por causar heridas a la hija de 5 años de ambos, hecho ocurrido en la autopista Valencia-Puerto Cabello (Car) la noche del lunes.

El alcalde de Puerto Cabello, Rafael Lacava, dijo a Últimas Noticias que Los Rapiditos fue desmantelada con la detención de seis personas, entre ellas dos mujeres, en el sector El Churro de El Cambur. El mandatario local explicó que los aprehendidos declararon en la Policía Municipal y quedaron a la orden del Cicpc y la Fiscalía. Anoche fuentes policiales aseguraron que entre los detenidos se encuentran dos menores de edad.

Las detenciones fueron realizadas en los vecindarios que colindan con el río Aguas Calientes, donde suelen ocultarse los criminales luego de esquilmar a quienes transitan por la autopista.

Según precisó la policía, el Toyota Corolla, placa GBY-74K, de color gris, que era conducido por Thomas Henry Berry, pudo haber caído en un hueco o chocar contra un objeto contundente. La actriz viajaba en el puesto del copiloto y la niña de 5 años dormía en el asiento trasero. El director del Cicpc, comisario José Gregorio Sierralta, confirmó que la pareja fue asesinada en el momento cuando llegaban los tripulantes de una grúa para auxiliarlos.

Inicialmente informó de la detención de cinco personas presuntamente vinculadas con el doble crimen y exhortó “a no utilizar el suceso como un circo político”. Los dos conductores de la grúa son interrogados como testigos.

Al parecer, la pareja se negó a abrir las puertas del auto, por lo que sus agresores optaron por dispararles sin darles oportunidad de escapar. “Un disparo hirió por una de sus axilas a Spear, otro impactó en el pecho de Berry. Ambos murieron en el sitio”, indicó Sierralta. Una fuente reveló que los grueros huyeron y las víctimas fueron socorridas por otros conductores.

Fin de un paseo. Los cadáveres fueron trasladados a la morgue del hospital Adolfo Prince Lara, de Puerto Cabello, pero no había patólogos y fueron remitidos a la morgue del Hospital Central de Valencia, donde se congregaron familiares y amigos de las víctimas. En la tarde fueron llevados a Caracas.

La niña, quien resultó herida en una pierna, fue enviada en ambulancia a un centro clínico en la capital. La pareja estaba a punto de culminar un paseo por diferentes sitios de Venezuela.

Versiones policiales señalan que Spear y Berry permanecieron más de 45 minutos en la carretera, a la espera de una patrulla o una grúa. Casi una hora después y en medio de la oscuridad observaron a los grueros que pasaban del otro lado de la vía y les pidieron que los remolcaran. Estos intentaron subir rápidamente el carro a la plataforma, pero los asesinos venían en camino.

El sitio del suceso fue tomado policialmente ayer en la mañana y el tránsito quedó restringido. Los detectives recolectaron conchas de proyectiles y otras evidencias. Son 50 pesquisas del Eje de Homicidios de Carabobo quienes llevan el caso, dijo el comisario Douglas Rico, subdirector del Cicpc. Los fiscales 2ª nacional y 8º de la entidad, Narda Sanabria y Wilmer Romero, coordinan las averiguaciones.

Source Article from http://www.ultimasnoticias.com.ve/noticias/actualidad/sucesos/apresan-banda-los-rapiditos-por-asesinato-de-spear.aspx

The charges against Manafort

In August, Manafort was found guilty on five counts of tax fraud, one count of failing to disclose his foreign bank accounts and two counts of bank fraud.

The jury was unable to reach consensus on 10 of the 18 counts in the bank fraud trial. Judge T.S. Ellis III declared a mistrial on the 10 unresolved counts but accepted the jury’s verdict on the remaining eight counts.

Of the 18 counts, five counts were related to false income tax returns, four counts of failing to file foreign bank account reports, four counts of bank fraud and five counts of bank fraud conspiracy. The government alleged Manafort hid tens of millions of dollars in income and falsified records to enrich himself and live a life of luxury.

The Manafort trial was the first to stem from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election meddling and any ties to Trump associates, although the trial did not involve charges related to work on the campaign — something Mr. Trump and his allies have been careful to note.

The president has distanced himself from Manafort, claiming he “came into the campaign very late and was with us for a short period of time,” but hasn’t criticized the former Trump campaign manager publicly and has suggested the situation is unfair.

Emily Tillett and Kathryn Watson contributed to this report.

Source Article from https://www.cbsnews.com/live-news/paul-manafort-sentencing-former-trump-campaign-chairman-in-court-live-updates-2019-03-07/

95-year-old Francis Goldin, left, poses with her daughter Reeni Goldin, middle. Emanuella Grinberg

Frances Goldin is 95 years old, and for the last 35 years, she’s been bringing the same sign to New York Pride.

“I Adore my Lesbian Daughters KEEP THEM SAFE,” the sign reads.

Goldin is a longtime housing activist after whom an affordable housing development for seniors in New York is named. Today, she’s here with her daughter, Reeni Goldin, and Reeni’s wife, Marge Burns.

“It’s been 50 years (since Stonewall) and in this climate of hate we need to have a force of solidarity,” Reeni Goldin says.

“And happiness,” her wife adds. “Happiness that we can be here.”

Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/new-york-worldpride-march-2019/index.html

Carl Chan was shopping at the San Francisco Premium Outlets when he covered his mouth to cough a little. A couple standing about 20 to 30 feet away from him stared in alarm. The woman turned and ran away.

Another time, he was walking down an Oakland street with a group of people when someone started coughing. It wasn’t Chan, but people turned around, glared at him and covered their mouth.

The dirty looks happened weeks ago, before California Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered the state’s 40 million residents to stay at home. Before President Donald Trump referred to the deadly COVID-19 as the “Chinese virus.” Before the coronavirus pandemic sent the country’s economy into a tailspin. And before it killed hundreds of Americans and infected thousands more.

“They look at me and think I’m some kind of virus,” said Chan, president of the Oakland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce. 

Source Article from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/03/28/coronavirus-racism-asian-americans-report-fear-harassment-violence/2903745001/

Investigators believe the man who killed a retired Massachusetts State Police trooper and a U.S. Air Force veteran in Winthrop on Saturday was motivated by hate and acted alone.

Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins said that David L. Green and 60-year-old Ramona Cooper were “executed” by 28-year-old Nathan Allen. He was later fatally shot by police after he crashed a stolen work truck into a building.

The shootings are being investigated as possible hate crimes because Rollins said “troubling white supremacist rhetoric” in Allen’s handwriting was discovered by investigators. That handwriting contained antisemitic statements and racist statements against Black people, according to Rollins.

Rollins said the only people killed by Allen were Black.

“It’s easy for you to possibly think, ‘This type of thing only happens in Charlotte, or, when we saw the insurrection on Jan. 6, that those were individuals from down south. This happened in Suffolk County,” Rollins said Monday. “This person had some very disturbing beliefs, white supremacist beliefs, regarding… members of our Jewish population as well as Black individuals.”

From the outside and on social media, sources tell 5 Investigates Allen exhibited no warning signs and had no criminal background.

They say there was nothing to indicate Allen was tied to any established hate group. Investigators believe he worked alone.

In response to the attack, officials announced several resources and events being made available to the community. Meredith Hurley, Winthrop’s Director of Public Health, said her office’s crisis intervention team will go door-to-door in the neighborhood and there will be drop-in services offered Wednesday at the Senior Center from 7 p.m. through 8 p.m.

A vigil is also scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday at Winthrop Town Hall.

Winthrop police Chief Terence Delehanty said his department received a call shortly before 2:45 p.m. Saturday about the crash involving the stolen truck that leveled a building. He confirmed that no one was inside the building at the time of the crash.

After the crash, authorities said Allen exited the vehicle and proceeded to get away. At some point shortly thereafter, Allen is believed to have shot Cooper and Green. Green was pronounced dead at the scene, while Cooper was transported to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, where she was later pronounced dead.

Delehanty said one victim, later identified as Cooper, was found by Winthrop police on Shirley Street, about a half-block away from the scene of the crash. Green, meanwhile, was engaged by the suspect in an alleyway between two houses that was further down the street.

According to Rollins, Cooper was shot three times in the back and Green was shot four times in the head and three times in his torso.

Police then engaged Allen, who Delehanty said was armed with two weapons, and at least one officer, a Winthrop police sergeant, shot him at the intersection of Shirley Street and Veterans Road. Allen was transported to Mass General, where he died of his injuries.

At this time, investigators believe Allen acted alone in the crash and shootings. Rollins said Allen was “not on my radar” and that he had a lawful license to carry that transferred to another town, meaning he had nothing on his background check.

In a statement, MSP Superintendent Col. Christopher Mason said Green was murdered outside of his Beach Road home.

According to Mason, Green had an honorable 36-year career in law enforcement and retired on Dec. 31, 2016. He became a Metropolitan District Commission police officer in 1980 and became a state trooper 12 years later when the MDC police were merged into the MSP.

Green spent much of his MSP career assigned to the Boston State Police Barracks at Leverett Circle, Mason said.

Rollins said law enforcement stood around Green’s body at the scene of the shooting. Police officers, firefighters and emergency medical technicians lined Albany Street in Boston as Green’s body was being transported to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.

People also left flowers at the site of the crash and the spot where Green was fatally shot.

“Trooper David Green more than upheld the ideals of integrity, professionalism, and service to others that are the hallmarks of a great Trooper. We are heartbroken by his loss and offer our condolences to his family and friends,” Mason said in his statement.

Nick Tsiotos, a longtime friend of Green’s, says he had coffee with him Saturday morning and that the retired trooper, who was also a military veteran, was sitting with friends when he heard the crash and decided to help.

“He thought there was a crash and did not have his weapon with him, obviously,” Tsiotos said. “He went out and tried to do what he was doing for 36 years with the state police: trying to help save lives and help save people.”

Witnesses say once Green realized Allen was armed, he tried to stop the gunman from hurting his friends and neighbors, ultimately losing his life in the process.

“I really believe he saved people’s lives because this gunman was deranged,” Tsiotos said. “Dave probably stopped him from going into homes and killing people.

“There was no better human being than Dave Green,” Tsiotos added. “He really fulfilled everything that was good, the best of humanity.”

Cooper’s son said she was a mother, grandmother and sister, adding, “My mother was a good person. She would help anyone who needed it. She was caring and selfless.”

Rollins said Cooper rose to the rank of staff sergeant in the Air Force and that she was still involved in the military.

One of Cooper’s neighbors, who is also a military veteran, tells NewsCenter 5 that Cooper was a Veterans Affairs employee.

“This is a sad day,” Rollins said Sunday. “These two people protected our rights. They fought for us to be safe and to have the opinions that we have, and they were executed. We will find out why and find out more about this man that did this.”

Another vehicle was involved in the crash with the stolen truck. The two occupants of that vehicle were transported to an area hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

According to Rollins, Allen was traveling at a rate twice the speed limit in the stolen truck and was heading in the direction of Jewish temples.

“We don’t know where he was going. That is mere speculation,” Rollins said Sunday. “We do know that he had antisemitic rhetoric written in his own hand.”

Sources tell 5 Investigates Allen went out Friday night and never came home.

Allen’s license to carry a weapon was renewed in Winthrop last year, according to 5 Investigates’ sources.

A Winthrop police sergeant who shot Allen was taken to an area hospital to be evaluated, but Delehanty said the officer was not seriously injured.

“It was extremely heroic. He’s a great police officer. He’s a great sergeant. He isolated a significant threat to this community and ended that threat,” Delehanty said Sunday.

“It’s something that we don’t wake up in the morning wishing to do,” the police chief added. “Again, (no officer) was physically harmed, but we are emotionally harmed by our actions that are necessary to protect the community. We want to make sure he’s taken care of today, tomorrow and in the future.”

The sergeant will be placed on administrative leave while Rollins’ office investigates the shooting, per standard procedure. Rollins did say that investigators believe the officer who shot Allen told the suspect to put his gun down multiple times.

The Winthrop Police Department, Massachusetts State Police and Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office are investigating the shooting.

Source Article from https://www.wcvb.com/article/winthrop-massachusetts-shooting-june-28-2021/36860219

ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine, May 8 (Reuters) – As many as 60 people were feared to have been killed in the Russian bombing of a village school in the eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk, the regional governor said on Sunday.

Governor Serhiy Gaidai said Russian forces dropped a bomb on Saturday afternoon on the school in Bilohorivka where about 90 people were sheltering, causing a fire that engulfed the building.

“The fire was extinguished after nearly four hours, then the rubble was cleared, and, unfortunately, the bodies of two people were found,” Gaidai wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

“Thirty people were evacuated from the rubble, seven of whom were injured. Sixty people were likely to have died under the rubble of buildings.”

Reuters could not immediately verify the report.

Ukraine and its Western allies have accused Russian forces of targeting civilians in the war, which Moscow denies.

In the ruined southeastern port city of Mariupol, scores of civilians have been evacuated from a sprawling steel plant in a week-long operation brokered by the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in an address late on Saturday that more than 300 civilians had been rescued from the Azovstal steelworks and authorities would now focus on trying to evacuate the wounded and medics. Other Ukrainian sources have cited different figures.

The Azovstal plant is a last hold-out for Ukrainian forces in a city now largely controlled by Russia, and many civilians had also taken refuges in its underground shelters. It has become a symbol of resistance to the Russian effort to capture swathes of eastern and southern Ukraine.

Russian-backed separatists said on Sunday a total of 182 civilians evacuated from the plant had arrived at a temporary accommodation point in Bezimenne, in the area they control. Those who wished to go to areas controlled by Ukraine were handed over to U.N. and ICRC representatives, they said.

In the Ukrainian-controlled city of Zaporizhzhia, about 230 km (140 miles) northwest of Mariupol, dozens of people who had fled the port city and nearby occupied areas on their own or with the help of volunteers waited to be registered in a car park set up to welcome evacuees.

“There’s lots of people still in Mariupol, who want to leave but can’t,” said history teacher Viktoria Andreyeva, 46, who said she had only just reached Zaporizhzhia after leaving her bombed home in Mariupol with her family in mid-April.

“The air feels different here, free,” she said in a tent where volunteers offered food, basic supplies and toys to the new arrivals, many of whom were traveling with small children.

In an emotional address on Sunday for Victory Day, when Europe commemorates the formal surrender of Germany to the Allies in World War Two, Zelenskiy said that evil had returned to Ukraine with the Russian invasion, but his country would prevail. read more

Russian President Vladimir Putin calls the invasion he launched on Feb. 24 a “special military operation” to disarm Ukraine and rid it of anti-Russian nationalism fomented by the West. Ukraine and its allies say Russia launched an unprovoked war.

Mariupol is key to Moscow’s efforts to link the Crimean Peninsula, seized by Russia in 2014, and parts of the eastern regions of Luhansk and Donetsk that have been controlled by Russia-backed separatists since that same year.

Putin sent Victory Day messages to separatist leaders in Luhansk and Donetsk, saying Russia was fighting shoulder to shoulder with them and likening their joint efforts to the war against Nazi Germany. “Victory will be ours,” Putin said, according to a Kremlin press release on Sunday.

U.S. President Joe Biden and other G7 leaders were to hold a video call with Zelenskiy on Sunday in a show of unity ahead of Russia’s Victory Day celebrations on Monday.

Underlining Western support for Ukraine, Britain pledged to provide a further 1.3 billion pounds ($1.6 billion) in military support and aid, double its previous spending commitments.

Putin will preside on Monday over a parade in Moscow’s Red Square of troops, tanks, rockets and intercontinental ballistic missiles, making a speech that could offer clues on the future of the war. Russia’s efforts have been stymied by logistical and equipment problems and high casualties in the face of fierce resistance. read more

U.S. Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns said on Saturday that Putin was convinced “doubling down” on the conflict would improve the outcome for Russia.

“He’s in a frame of mind in which he doesn’t believe he can afford to lose,” Burns told a Financial Times event in Washington on Saturday.

Russia’s Defence Ministry said on Sunday its forces had destroyed a Ukrainian navy ship near Odesa with a missile strike overnight, and had destroyed four Ukrainian warplanes, four helicopters and an assault boat in the past 24 hours.

Ukraine said its forces had repulsed nine Russian attacks in Donetsk and Luhansk, destroying 19 tanks and 20 combat vehicles.

The Luhansk governor said Ukrainian forces had retreated from the city of Popasna, which has been the focus of intense fighting. “Everything was destroyed there. Our troops retreated to more fortified positions,” he told Ukrainian television.

Ramzan Kadyrov, the head of Russia’s republic of Chechnya, said earlier his soldiers had taken control of most of Popasna. read more

Reuters could not independently verify the claims made by any of the parties to the fighting.

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Source Article from https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-azovstal-steelworks-evacuation-focuses-wounded-medics-2022-05-08/

HONOLULU (KHON2) — The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami advisory for Hawaii on Monday afternoon.

[Hawaii’s Weather Station – Latest in Hawaii weather]

This was triggered by a 7.5 magnitude earthquake that struck the south of Alaska.

Though officials do not expect a major tsunami to hit the state, they noted sea-level changes–one-foot waves–near Hilo and Kahului.

These recorded changes were just above the advisory level and could pose a hazard to swimmers, boaters, and people near the shore, at beaches and at harbors and marinas.

Due to the advisory and as a precaution, all beaches and low-lying coastal areas will be closed for the rest of the day, according to Hawaii County Civil Defense.

Latest Stories on KHON2

Source Article from https://www.khon2.com/local-news/big-island-beaches-closed-after-alaska-earthquake-triggers-tsunami-advisory-for-hawaii/

Un centenar de personas fallecieron este martes luego de que México se viera estremecido por
un poderoso terremoto de magnitud 7.1, que derrumbó varios edificios en la capital y dejó a personas en varios estados atrapadas entre los escombros.

Sigue aquí el minuto a minuto

Las autoridades han reportado
un total de 120 muertos, aunque la cifra podría aumentar mientras buscan sobrevivientes entre las estructuras caídas. En la tarde del martes, el jefe de gobierno de la Ciudad de México anunció que había
9 fallecidos en el estado de México,
1 en Oaxaca,
54 en Morelos,
26 en Puebla y
30 en Ciudad de México.

“Es el peor terremoto que he sentido en mi vida”, lamentó Carlos Leal, un mexicano que vive al sur de la capital y que dio uno de
varios testimonios sobre la intensidad del sismo a Univision Noticias. “Me tenía que levantar de mi escritorio a detener las cosas y al mismo tiempo llamaba a mi esposa sabiendo que estaba trabajando en un edificio”.









200 km

EEUU

100 mi

Golfo

de México

MÉXICO

Ciudad de México

Puebla

Intensidad: 7.1

Epicentro:

55 km al suroeste

de Puebla

Océano

Pacífico

Intensidad

2

3

4

5

6

7



200 km

EEUU

100 mi

Golfo

de México

MÉXICO

Ciudad de México

Puebla

Intensidad: 7.1

Epicentro:

55 km al suroeste

de Puebla

Océano

Pacífico

Intensidad

2

3

4

5

6

7



EEUU

200 km

100 mi

Golfo

de México

MÉXICO

Ciudad de México

Puebla

Intensidad: 7.1

Epicentro:

55 km al suroeste

de Puebla

Intensidad

Océano

Pacífico

2

3

4

5

6

7



EEUU

Golfo

de México

MÉXICO

Cancún

Guadalajara

Ciudad de México

Puebla

Intensidad: 7.1

Epicentro:

55 km al suroeste

de Puebla

200 km

100 mi

Intensidad

Océano

Pacífico

2

3

4

5

6

7








Irónicamente el sismo se dio en
el aniversario de otro muy poderoso que ocurrió en 1985, y por el cual se realizan simulacros en todo el país cada 19 de septiembre. De hecho, el sismo real del martes ocurrió casi una hora después del simulacro anual: “Pero
esta vez no hubo alerta, solo sentimos el temblor: el terremoto nos tomó por sorpresa”, contó Janet Cacelín, una periodista de Univision que envió
una crónica desde la capital.

Las fachadas de algunas edificaciones en Ciudad de México se vinieron abajo, destrozando autos que se encontraban en las calles adyacentes. Una escuela en la zona de Coapa se derrumbó, dejando a los vecinos preocupados por los alumnos que podrían quedar atrapados. Y se reportaron
evacuaciones masivas de edificios a lo largo del Paseo de la Reforma.

De un momento a otro, la capital se vio llena de viviendas agrietadas y de casas derrumbadas, imágenes que pronto recorrieron las redes mientras los mexicanos buscaban a sus seres queridos y pegaban listas en las calles con los nombres de los rescatados. Los rescatistas pedían silencio a lo largo de la tarde mientras intentaban detectar cualquier alerta de algún atrapado.

Las fugas de gas son una de las preocupaciones de las autoridades por los potenciales peligros que traen consigo. Residentes de la capital han reportado en redes sociales un fuerte olor a gas en áreas muy localizadas.

Según informó la agencia de noticias española EFE, en el estado de Puebla
se vinieron abajo las torres de la Iglesia de Cholula. En
Morelos y Oaxaca también se reportan daños.

El sismo de la tarde de este martes ocurre poco más de una semana después del que estremeció Oaxaca, Chiapas y Tabasco, que dejó unos 100 muertos.

Source Article from http://www.univision.com/noticias/terremotos/al-menos-79-muertos-tras-el-poderoso-terremoto-de-71-que-sacudio-mexico

The prime suspect in the fatal stabbing of Tessa Majors was finally taken into police custody for what sources said was a DNA test Thursday morning — but was back on the streets just hours later.

The unidentified 14-year-old — who spent more than two weeks on the lam — was exclusively photographed by The Post while leaving his defense lawyers’ offices in Harlem around 4:45 p.m.

Neither the boy nor two apparent family members — a woman and an older teen — would answer questions, although the woman angrily slapped a recording device out of a reporter’s hand while crossing 125th Street.

“Go ahead! You’d better go ahead! Move! F–-k!” she shouted.

A man in a suit who emerged from the building that houses the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem to escort the group to a waiting SUV also refused to answer questions.

Detectives apprehended the teen before 8 a.m. in the Bronx and took him to the 26th Precinct station house in Harlem, where they executed a search warrant and swabbed a DNA sample from the inside of his cheek, sources familiar with the ­investigation said.

Cops hope to match the teen’s DNA to blood found at the scene of the crime or to genetic material recovered from Majors’ teeth after she bit one of her assailants, a source familiar with the case said.

DNA tests usually take three to four weeks, but can be done in as few as three days if the lab is “up and running” at full speed, sources said.

The teen’s test will be expedited, sources said, but it’s unclear whether the Christmas and New Year’s holidays will prevent it from being finished as quickly as otherwise possible.

The teen allegedly has been identified as Majors’ killer by 13-year-old Zyairr Davis, who’s charged with second-degree murder as an accomplice in the high-profile slaying of the Barnard College freshman.

Davis’ account of the teen’s role in Majors’ slaying provides enough probable cause to arrest the teen, a law enforcement source said, but a single accomplice’s testimony isn’t sufficient to secure a conviction under state law.

As a result, he could only be held for five days before he would be able to win his release from custody.

Neither the NYPD nor the Manhattan DA would say who made the decision to release him.

NYPD Chief of Detectives Rodney Harrison said the teen was released without charges following what he described only as an “investigative process” for which his lawyers were present.

“This was a significant development in the investigative process,” Harrison said.

“Although he has since been released to the custody of his attorneys, the investigation remains very active.

“Our detectives are the best at what they do and are committed to finding justice for all parties involved,” Harrison added.

But the teen’s revolving-door treatment left some cops fuming.

Tessa MajorsInstagram

“Of course I’m outraged, and I feel sorry for Tessa’s family because after losing such a beautiful person, they have to now watch New York City politics victimize her a second time,” one Manhattan cop said.

“This is what the de Blasios, Cuomos, AOCs, all these politicians want — nobody to go to jail,” he said referring to US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

A high-ranking NYPD official advised people to “move out of the city.”

“We’re in bad shape. Lucky it ain’t my daughter,” the source said.

Majors, an 18-year-old from Charlottesville, Virginia, was repeatedly knifed when she resisted a robbery around 5:30 p.m. on Dec. 11 in Morningside Park, on the western edge of the campus that the all-women’s Barnard school shares with Columbia University.

Davis allegedly confessed that he saw “feathers come out of her jacket” during the vicious attack, a detective who took part in the boy’s questioning testified in Family Court following his Dec. 13 arrest.

Davis also allegedly admitted that he and two pals from nearby MS 180 went to the park to rob someone, Detective Vincent Signoretti testified.

Another 14-year-old was also taken into custody Dec. 13, but was released for lack of evidence when he demanded a lawyer and refused to answer questions, sources have said.

The teen who was nabbed on Thursday was the subject of a Dec. 16 manhunt in Harlem sparked by his mother’s claim that he jumped out of a car while heading to the 26th Precinct with an unidentified adult to discuss the case, according to sources.

Subsequent investigation led authorities to suspect the teen was hiding out with relatives “down South,” and the New York-New Jersey Regional Fugitive Task Force was enlisted to try to track him down, sources said earlier this week.

Investigators now suspect the mother’s account of him bolting from the car was a ruse to give her son time to go into hiding, sources said Thursday.

Additional reporting by Rebecca Rosenberg and Bruce Golding

Source Article from https://nypost.com/2019/12/26/suspect-in-tessa-majors-murder-released-without-charges/

  • A new video has added a layer of intrigue in the Georgia probe of Trump’s post-election actions.
  • A fake Trump elector was seen on tape letting Trump-linked operatives into the Coffee County office
  • The group included Cyber Ninjas’ CEO Doug Logan, the man behind the botched Arizona vote audit.

A newly sourced video shows a fake Trump elector in Georgia letting data extraction experts associated with Donald Trump into an elections office on the day that the office’s voting systems were breached, according to CNN.

Cathy Latham, who was working as the Coffee County elections supervisor during the 2020 election, was filmed allowing in at least two men who worked with the data firm SullivanStricker and whose visit was coordinated by Latham and former Trump attorney Sidney Powell.

According to CNN, the two men in the video that Latham let in, Scott Hall and Paul Maggio, confirmed in court documents that they were able to extract at least half a terabyte of data from Dominion Voting Systems machines in the office.

 

Latham was among the 16 GOP officials in Georgia who rejected the voters’ choice for then-presidential candidate Joe Biden and instead cast state electoral votes for Trump in a closed-door meeting on December 14, 2020. She was also the chairwoman of the Coffee County Republican Party at the time.

Per The New York Times, this new video footage also shows that Doug Logan — CEO of Cyber Ninjas, a firm that gained infamy for its haphazard vote audit in Arizona’s Maricopa County — was one of the consultants let into the Coffee County office in January 2021. 

After the election, a criminal probe was launched by the Fulton County District Attorney into election officials who breached election data, and Latham’s actions have become a focal point in the investigation. Trump and several allies, including Rudy Giuliani and Sen. Lindsey Graham, have also been embroiled in the probe into whether state election laws were violated. 

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Latham had in May denied that she had allowed operatives in and that they had extracted data. 

“That’s bull hockey. If that had happened, that would have been all over town,” Latham said. According to AJC, at least four visits between the data firm and Latham were coordinated. 

Meanwhile, The Washington Post reported last month that the Georgia Bureau of Investigation is also probing how a data firm linked to former Trump lawyer Powell had made copies of data from Dominion voting machines in Coffee County. It is currently unclear if the Powell associates who visited the Coffee County office or Logan had made any copies of data. 

“While Mrs. Latham does not pretend to remember the details of all that occurred on that specific date more than a year and a half ago, she does remember going to the Elections Office after teaching school on January 7, 2021 to check in on some voter review panels from the runoff election, and she truthfully testified to those facts,” Robert Cheeley, her lawyer, told The Washington Post. Cheeley also claimed that his client “would not and has not knowingly been involved in any impropriety in any election.” 

Latham did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment. The Fulton County DA did not immediately provide comment.

Source Article from https://www.businessinsider.com/video-fake-trump-elector-letting-election-deniers-georgia-county-office-2022-9