NEW YORK, Feb 21, 2024 (AFP) – US authorities said Wednesday they had charged a member of the Japanese yakuza criminal underworld with handling nuclear material sourced from Myanmar and seeking to sell it to fund an illicit arms deal. According to a superseding indictment unsealed in a Manhattan court, yakuza leader Takeshi Ebisawa and co-defendant Somphop Singhasiri had previously been charged in April 2022 with drug trafficking and firearms offenses, and both were remanded. […]
Tag: crime
Australian bishop charged with rape and indecent assault after Vatican probe
SYDNEY, Feb 22, 2024 (AFP) – An Australian bishop is facing accusations of rape and indecent assault, becoming one of the most senior Catholics in the country to be charged with sex crimes. Emeritus Bishop Christopher Alan Saunders was arrested in Western Australia on Wednesday evening after a high-powered internal Vatican investigation spurred child abuse detectives into action. Police said he has been charged with 14 counts of unlawful and indecent assault and two […]
Papua New Guinea police authorized “any level of force” to stop tribal clashes
PORT MORESBY, Feb 19, 2024 (AFP) Papua New Guinea is deploying additional security personnel to a region where dozens were killed in a suspected ambush, police said Monday, adding the reinforcements would be authorised to use “to use any level of force required”. The suspected ambush of tribal fighters by a rival clan occurred in the highlands near the village of Wapenamanda, about 600 kilometres (370 miles) northwest of the capital Port Moresby. Police Commissioner […]
Gunfire in Minnesota: Burnsville officers, paramedic die responding to family crisis
WASHINGTON, Feb 18, 2024 (AFP) – Two police officers and a first responder were shot and killed early Sunday in the US state of Minnesota after answering a call about a domestic dispute in a house with multiple children inside, authorities said. The shooter, who has not yet been publicly identified, is dead and the seven children — ranging in age from two to 15 — were all safely rescued, state officers said, declining […]
Taiwanese streamers jailed for faking kidnapping in Cambodia
PHNOM PENH, Feb 16, 2024 (AFP) – Two Taiwanese men have been sentenced to two years in jail each after they staged a fake kidnapping from a Cambodian seaside resort and posted video of it online, a court said on Friday. Chen Neng-chuan, 31, and Lu Tsu-hsien, 34, were arrested after they posted a video of themselves being detained and beaten up by security guards at a building in Sihanoukville on Facebook earlier this […]
Biden says Putin and ‘his thugs’ responsible for Navalny death
By Danny KEMP WASHINGTON, Feb 16, 2024 (AFP) – US President Joe Biden directly blamed Russian leader Vladimir Putin on Friday for the reported death of Alexei Navalny in prison, describing the Kremlin critic as a “powerful voice for the truth.” Saying he was “outraged,” Biden said he did not yet know exactly what had happened to 47-year-old Navalny, but that it was the fault of Putin and his “thugs.” “Make no mistake, Putin is […]
Trump fined $355 mn, banned from NY business in fraud trial
By Gregory WALTON NEW YORK, Feb 16, 2024 (AFP) – A New York judge ordered Donald Trump to pay $355 million over fraud allegations and banned him from running companies in the state for three years Friday in a major blow to his business empire and financial standing. Trump — almost certain to be the Republican presidential nominee this November — was found liable for unlawfully inflating his wealth and manipulating the value of properties […]
Ex-fiance of S. Korean Olympic fencing star jailed 12 years for fraud
SEOUL, Feb 14, 2024 (AFP) – The former fiance of South Korean Olympic fencing medallist Nam Hyun-hee was sentenced to 12 years in prison for fraud Wednesday over a scandal that reverberated across the country last year. The former fiance, Jeon Cheong-jo, was arrested last year on charges of stealing over 3 billion won ($2.2 million) from 27 people between April 2022 and last October, according to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency. Jeon on Wednesday […]
Two injured in shooting at celebrity pastor’s Texas megachurch
HOUSTON, Feb 11, 2024 (AFP) – Two people including a five-year-old boy were wounded after a woman opened fire at celebrity US pastor Joel Osteen’s megachurch in Houston, Texas, one of the largest religious venues in the United States, police said Sunday. The woman was armed with a long gun when she entered the non-denominational Christian church with a child just before 2:00 pm (2000 GMT), Houston police chief Troy Finner told a […]
Hostage situation on Swiss train ends with suspect killed
YVERDON-LES-BAINS, Switzerland, Feb 9, 2024 (AFP) – A hostage situation on a train in the west of Switzerland on Thursday night ended with the suspect killed in a police raid and the hostages safely freed, authorities said. The hostage-taker was armed with an axe and a knife, and was speaking Farsi and English, Vaud canton police spokesman Jean-Christophe Sauterel said at a press briefing. “At this stage of the investigation, the motives of the perpetrator […]
Philippines thwarts cyber attacks on Marcos, government agencies
MANILA, Feb 6, 2024 (AFP) – The Philippines has thwarted thousands of “sophisticated” cyberattacks targeting the websites of President Ferdinand Marcos, the Philippine Coast Guard and other government agencies, an official said Tuesday. Hackers began the attacks last year and an investigation was underway to determine if the perpetrators were based in China, undersecretary Jeffrey Ian Dy of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) told a congressional hearing. Dy said the attackers used […]
Knife attacker wounds three at major Paris train station
By Thomas Gropallo and Alexandre Hielard PARIS, Feb 3, 2024 (AFP) – Three people were injured Saturday in a knife attack at Paris’s Gare de Lyon railway station, a major travel hub, police said, adding that a suspect with psychiatric problems had been arrested. The man, a Malian national living in Italy, went on a stabbing spree at 7:35 am (0635 GMT) at the station, which operates domestic trains as well as those heading to […]
