online game group
Suriname's government announced Saturday that the small South American nation will not hold a state funeral for its ex-president Desi Bouterse, who this week died a fugitive from justice aged 79. Current President Chan Santokhi "has decided, based on his powers and advice received, that there will be no state funeral... No period of national mourning," Foreign Minister Albert Ramdin told a press conference. Bouterse was a former military man who twice mounted coups, in 1980 and again in 1990, to take charge as a dictator. He eventually returned to power after being elected president in 2010 and governed for a decade. He died Tuesday in the unknown location where he had been holed up as a fugitive, with in-absentia convictions for cocaine trafficking and murder. Bouterse's body was dropped off at his residence in the capital Paramaribo. An autopsy was ordered, though police said there were "no signs of criminal activity." Bouterse had been sentenced to 20 years in prison in December 2023 for the 1982 execution of political opponents, including lawyers, journalists, businessmen and military prisoners. He remained a popular figure with the poor and working class in the former Dutch colony. The foreign minister said that, out of respect for Bouterse's status as an elected former president, flags would be flown at half-staff on government buildings on the day of his funeral, whose date has not yet been given. str-jt/rmb/acbMaine’s voter-approved limit on PAC contributions triggers lawsuit in federal court
OpenAI's legal battle with Elon Musk reveals internal turmoil over avoiding AI 'dictatorship'
Spurs vs. Trail Blazers Best bets: Odds, expert picks and predictions, recent stats, trends for December 13Traveller and Gypsies say they have 'lost faith' in the police after hordes of children were kicked out of Manchester city centre on Saturday. Those involved told the Manchester Evening News they 'would never trust a policeman again' following the chaotic scenes which saw crowds of children 'pushed' onto trains and forced to leave the city. It came after Greater Manchester Police signed a dispersal order allowing them to turn people away from much of the city centre area. Police have said they were acting on intelligence that groups of people were en route to Manchester on trains 'causing antisocial behaviour'. But those caught up in the response said they were made to feel 'worthless' and have consequently 'lost confidence' in the police. READ MORE: What really happened in town on Saturday afternoon One Traveller told the M.E.N she would 'never trust a policeman again' after her experience. Mary Kate Price, 17, a college student from Wigan , went to the city centre on Saturday with her cousin and elder sister. She said when they arrived at Victoria station at about 1.40pm they were met by a 'ring' of police officers who were putting children and teenagers straight back on trains. They were approached by a female police officer who asked where they were going, then allowed them through. She said they then tried to get into the Arndale through the Exchange Square entrance but were stopped from doing so by a 'big police guy'. "He stood right in front of me and wouldn't let me in. I asked why and he said 'We don't let Gypsies on our premises'." Mary Kate said she witnessed police arrest a teenage lad outside the Arndale and force him onto the floor. One teenager says she saw a lad being arrested by police outside the Arndale (Image: Submitted) "He was just standing up for his rights. He didn't touch that police officer. They flung him against the wall." And she says she also saw police officers kettle a group of Travellers, including children as young as nine or 10, on Corporation Street outside the Arndale, resulting in siblings getting separated from each other. She says her phone ran out of battery so she wasn't allowed onto the platforms at Victoria to get a train home and had to ring her brother for a lift, but says she has cousins and friends who were put on trains to Huddersfield and Clitheroe. Mary Kate said her experience had made her lose trust in the police. "It made me feel like we were worthless, like we didn't have a right to be on this planet. Before the police here in Wigan had always treated us with respect, but now I would never trust a policeman again, I wouldn't go to them for help because of the way were were treated." Children were herded onto trains at Manchester Victoria station (Image: Jonny O'Brien) Donna, 38, said she had also lost trust after seeing the way her 15-year-old daughter was treated. She travelled to Manchester from Barnsley with her two daughters, aged 15 and ten and two nieces aged 12 and seven, for a day out Christmas shopping. She told the M.E.N she had parked in the Arndale car park, and enjoyed a day out with the younger children while her teenage daughter explored by herself. She said she texted her daughter at around 6:30pm telling her to meet back at the car - but she received a call from the teenager telling her police wouldn't let them back inside the centre. Donna said she walked to the main entrance to ask officers to let the group in with her. However, she says when she got there, officers refused to listen to her and told the children to 'keep walking'. She added her youngest daughter and 12-year-old niece then walked down the steps to try and meet the 15-year-old, but were not allowed to rejoin her at the door, where they had just come from. Donna claims police officers 'pushed' them back and said: "You're not allowed back in". "I kept saying, they're with me," she told the M.E.N. "I was trying to explain, I'm trying to go home but I'm parked in the Arndale. But they were having none of it." Donna says she was made to exit the building to be reunited with her daughter, and walk in the rain all the way round to the other side of the centre to get back in. "On the way home my teenage daughter said she were scared to stop and speak to her friends," she continued. "She said 'we were literally scared to pick our heads up and speak to the police officers and make eye contact with them." She said she has been left 'concerned' about whether her daughter would now feel able to approach the police for help in a dangerous situation. "If I let her go out in town and she's scared of a police officer, who is she going to go to for support?" she said. "I'm 38 years old, so I'm used to a bit of discrimination in my lifetime. But it's got to the point now I've seen this with my own two eyes, how bad it's getting. Donna said the incident has impacted her daughter's confidence and made her worried about how she might be treated in the future. "We were planning on doing a trip to London for Winter Wonderland, and she's not sure if she wants to do that now," she said. "It has had a big impact on her confidence in the police, and that's what has worried me the most. "My youngest daughter asked - 'why do they do that to us though Mum?'". Assistant chief constable Rick Jackson said in a statement: “We are aware of social media videos circulating, and comments from the Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller communities concerning our policing of a dispersal order in Manchester city centre yesterday. Our priority is always to protect public safety by preventing incidents of violence and disorder. "Due to intelligence of groups causing anti-social behaviour on trains on the way into Manchester and similar reports rising around the city centre, alongside increasing footfall, we issued a dispersal order. This included plans for officers to re-route arriving groups back home. "Shortly after, officers responded to several disturbances in the city centre and intervened in altercations between groups. We understand there are feelings of mistreatment and confusion amongst the groups of people for being turned away yesterday, and we are determined to address these concerns by working closely with the Mayor’s office to engage these communities in Manchester and further afield."
WASHINGTON (AP) — One year after the , U.S. Capitol attack, Attorney General Merrick Garland the Justice Department was committed to holding accountable all perpetrators “at any level” for “the assault on our democracy.” That bold declaration won't apply to at least one person: Donald Trump. Special counsel Jack Smith's move on Monday to abandon the against Trump means jurors will likely never decide whether the president-elect is criminally responsible for his attempts to cling to power after losing the 2020 campaign. The decision to walk away from the election charges and the separate against Trump marks an abrupt end of the Justice Department’s unprecedented legal effort that once threatened his liberty but appears only to have galvanized his supporters. The abandonment of the cases accusing Trump of endangering American democracy and national security does away with the most serious legal threats he was facing as he returns to the White House. It was the culmination of a monthslong defense effort to delay the proceedings at every step and use the criminal allegations to Trump's political advantage, putting the final word in the hands of voters instead of jurors. “We always knew that the rich and powerful had an advantage, but I don’t think we would have ever believed that somebody could walk away from everything,” said Stephen Saltzburg, a George Washington University law professor and former Justice Department official. “If there ever was a Teflon defendant, that’s Donald Trump.” While prosecutors left the door open to the possibility that federal charges could be re-filed against Trump after he leaves office, that seems unlikely. Meanwhile, Trump's presidential victory has thrown into question the future of the two state criminal cases against him in New York and Georgia. Trump was supposed to be sentenced on Tuesday after his , but it's possible the sentencing could be delayed until after Trump leaves office, and the defense is pushing to dismiss the case altogether. Smith's team stressed that their decision to abandon the federal cases was not a reflection of the merit of the charges, but an acknowledgement that they could not move forward under longstanding Justice Department policy that says sitting presidents cannot face Trump's presidential victory set “at odds two fundamental and compelling national interests: On the one hand, the Constitution’s requirement that the President must not be unduly encumbered in fulfilling his weighty responsibilities . . . and on the other hand, the Nation’s commitment to the rule of law,” prosecutors wrote in court papers. The move just weeks after Trump's victory over Vice President Kamala Harris underscores the immense personal stake Trump had in the campaign in which he turned his legal woes into a political rallying cry. Trump accused prosecutors of bringing the charges in a bid to keep him out of the White House, and he promised revenge on his perceived enemies if he won a second term. “If Donald J. Trump had lost an election, he may very well have spent the rest of his life in prison,” Vice President-elect JD Vance, wrote in a social media post on Monday. “These prosecutions were always political. Now it’s time to ensure what happened to President Trump never happens in this country again.” After the Jan. 6 attack by Trump supporters that left more than 100 police officers injured, Republican leader Mitch McConnell and several other Republicans said it was up to the justice system to hold Trump accountable. The Jan. 6 case brought last year in Washington alleged an increasingly desperate criminal conspiracy to subvert the will of voters after Trump's 2020 loss, accusing Trump of using the angry mob of supporters that attacked the Capitol as “a tool” in his campaign to pressure then-Vice President and obstruct the certification of Democrat Joe Biden's victory. Hundreds of Jan. 6 rioters — many of whom have said they felt called to Washington by Trump — have pleaded guilty or been convicted by juries of federal charges at the same courthouse where Trump was supposed to stand trial last year. As the trial date neared, officials at the courthouse that sits within view of the Capitol were busy making plans for the crush of reporters expected to cover the historic case. But Trump's argument that he from prosecution quickly tied up the case in appeals all the way up to the Supreme Court. The high court ruled in July that , and sent the case back to the trial court to decide which allegations could move forward. But the case was dismissed before the trial court could got a chance to do so. The other indictment brought in Florida accused Trump of at his Mar-a-Lago estate sensitive documents on nuclear capabilities, enlisting aides and lawyers to help him hide records demanded by investigators and cavalierly showing off a Pentagon “plan of attack” and classified map. But U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon . Smith appealed to the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, but abandoned that appeal on Monday. Smith's team said it would continue its fight in the appeals court to revive charges against Trump's two co-defendants because “no principle of temporary immunity applies to them.” In New York, jurors spent weeks last spring hearing evidence in a state case alleging a Trump scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election through who said the two had sex. New York prosecutors recently expressed openness to delaying sentencing until after Trump's second term, while Trump's lawyers are fighting to have the conviction dismissed altogether. In Georgia, a trial while Trump is in office seems unlikely in a state case charging him and more than a dozen others with conspiring to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state. The case has been on hold since an appeals court agreed to review whether to remove Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis over her with the special prosecutor she had hired to lead the case. Associated Press reporter Lisa Mascaro in Washington contributed.How Trump’s bet on voters electing him managed to silence some of his legal woes
WASHINGTON (AP) — One year after the Jan. 6, 2021 , U.S. Capitol attack, Attorney General Merrick Garland said the Justice Department was committed to holding accountable all perpetrators “at any level” for “the assault on our democracy.” That bold declaration won't apply to at least one person: Donald Trump. Special counsel Jack Smith's move on Monday to abandon the federal election interference case against Trump means jurors will likely never decide whether the president-elect is criminally responsible for his attempts to cling to power after losing the 2020 campaign. The decision to walk away from the election charges and the separate classified documents case against Trump marks an abrupt end of the Justice Department’s unprecedented legal effort that once threatened his liberty but appears only to have galvanized his supporters. The abandonment of the cases accusing Trump of endangering American democracy and national security does away with the most serious legal threats he was facing as he returns to the White House. It was the culmination of a monthslong defense effort to delay the proceedings at every step and use the criminal allegations to Trump's political advantage, putting the final word in the hands of voters instead of jurors. “We always knew that the rich and powerful had an advantage, but I don’t think we would have ever believed that somebody could walk away from everything,” said Stephen Saltzburg, a George Washington University law professor and former Justice Department official. “If there ever was a Teflon defendant, that’s Donald Trump.” While prosecutors left the door open to the possibility that federal charges could be re-filed against Trump after he leaves office, that seems unlikely. Meanwhile, Trump's presidential victory has thrown into question the future of the two state criminal cases against him in New York and Georgia. Trump was supposed to be sentenced on Tuesday after his conviction on 34 felony counts in his New York hush money case , but it's possible the sentencing could be delayed until after Trump leaves office, and the defense is pushing to dismiss the case altogether. Smith's team stressed that their decision to abandon the federal cases was not a reflection of the merit of the charges, but an acknowledgement that they could not move forward under longstanding Justice Department policy that says sitting presidents cannot face criminal prosecution. Trump's presidential victory set “at odds two fundamental and compelling national interests: On the one hand, the Constitution’s requirement that the President must not be unduly encumbered in fulfilling his weighty responsibilities . . . and on the other hand, the Nation’s commitment to the rule of law,” prosecutors wrote in court papers. The move just weeks after Trump's victory over Vice President Kamala Harris underscores the immense personal stake Trump had in the campaign in which he turned his legal woes into a political rallying cry. Trump accused prosecutors of bringing the charges in a bid to keep him out of the White House, and he promised revenge on his perceived enemies if he won a second term. “If Donald J. Trump had lost an election, he may very well have spent the rest of his life in prison,” Vice President-elect JD Vance, wrote in a social media post on Monday. “These prosecutions were always political. Now it’s time to ensure what happened to President Trump never happens in this country again.” After the Jan. 6 attack by Trump supporters that left more than 100 police officers injured, Republican leader Mitch McConnell and several other Republicans who voted to acquit Trump during his Senate impeachment trial said it was up to the justice system to hold Trump accountable. The Jan. 6 case brought last year in Washington alleged an increasingly desperate criminal conspiracy to subvert the will of voters after Trump's 2020 loss, accusing Trump of using the angry mob of supporters that attacked the Capitol as “a tool” in his campaign to pressure then-Vice President Mike Pence and obstruct the certification of Democrat Joe Biden's victory. Hundreds of Jan. 6 rioters — many of whom have said they felt called to Washington by Trump — have pleaded guilty or been convicted by juries of federal charges at the same courthouse where Trump was supposed to stand trial last year. As the trial date neared, officials at the courthouse that sits within view of the Capitol were busy making plans for the crush of reporters expected to cover the historic case. But Trump's argument that he enjoyed absolute immunity from prosecution quickly tied up the case in appeals all the way up to the Supreme Court. The high court ruled in July that former presidents have broad immunity from prosecution , and sent the case back to the trial court to decide which allegations could move forward. But the case was dismissed before the trial court could got a chance to do so. The other indictment brought in Florida accused Trump of improperly storing at his Mar-a-Lago estate sensitive documents on nuclear capabilities, enlisting aides and lawyers to help him hide records demanded by investigators and cavalierly showing off a Pentagon “plan of attack” and classified map. But U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed the case in July it on grounds that Smith was illegally appointed . Smith appealed to the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, but abandoned that appeal on Monday. Smith's team said it would continue its fight in the appeals court to revive charges against Trump's two co-defendants because “no principle of temporary immunity applies to them.” In New York, jurors spent weeks last spring hearing evidence in a state case alleging a Trump scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election through a hush money payment to a porn actor who said the two had sex. New York prosecutors recently expressed openness to delaying sentencing until after Trump's second term, while Trump's lawyers are fighting to have the conviction dismissed altogether. In Georgia, a trial while Trump is in office seems unlikely in a state case charging him and more than a dozen others with conspiring to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state. The case has been on hold since an appeals court agreed to review whether to remove Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis over her romantic relationship with the special prosecutor she had hired to lead the case. Associated Press reporter Lisa Mascaro in Washington contributed.Second-warmest November on record means that 2024 is likely to be Earth's hottest yearNORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Daylen Berry scored 27 points as Charleston Southern beat Columbia International 95-89 on Saturday. Berry had 10 rebounds for the Buccaneers (4-11). RJ Johnson scored 25 points while shooting 7 for 19 (0 for 6 from 3-point range) and 11 of 13 from the free-throw line and added seven assists. Keenan Wilkins went 4 of 12 from the field (3 for 8 from 3-point range) to finish with 11 points, while adding six rebounds. JJ Vaughan finished with 24 points for the Rams. Columbia International also got 22 points from Christian Howard. Brandon Hunt also had 13 points and 11 rebounds. The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by and data from .
“I used to know your dad,” she told me at a fundraiser event. The venue was crowded with guests. Noise echoed off the walls. Music played in the background. But those six words levitated above the commotion of the night. It’s rare when I meet someone who knew my father, Joe Davich, who died on Christmas Eve, 1987. He was 50. I was 25. It feels like he’s been gone 37 lifetimes ago, not 37 years. My memories of him fade a bit more each year like images in a rear view mirror on a long drive. I’ve been patching together distant reflections of my dad for many years. My memories look like snapshot photos from an old Polaroid camera, not streaming videos from the newest iPhone. If you have parents or older loved ones who died many years ago, you may have similarly sketchy memories of them. Any information or insights or anecdotes, no matter how minuscule, feel like a gift from strangers. This is especially true if those loved ones lived before the Digital Age emerged, allowing us the opportunity to capture their lives with modern technology. I have only a photo album or two of old photos of my dad, along with some of his belongings. It’s a decades-old puzzle that’s missing quite a few pieces. It will never be complete but I’m always looking for new pieces from people who knew him, as if they’ve been tucked in their pocket since his death. For anyone whose parents are no longer here, we instinctively attempt to flesh out who they were when we weren’t paying attention. When I meet someone who knew my dad, I tend to ask the same question: What was he like? Was he funny? Ornery? Angry? Charismatic? Was he smoking a cigar? Was he telling dirty jokes? Was he making friends out of strangers? “His kindness towards me, his work ethic, humor and unconditional love for his family is how I remember him. I’m pretty sure anyone else who ever got to know him, even a little, would agree,” Marciniak told me. She knew my dad beginning in 1979, when she was in her early twenties. Marciniak owned a flowers and gift shop called Favorite Pastimes in downtown Chesterton, the first store to occupy the Main Street building. “One of the things I remember about that time were the relationships that I had with the other business owners, and the almost family-type support system we shared,” she said. A barber named Dick Anderson. Child’s Portion, a children’s clothing boutique. And Leonard’s Restaurant, now known as Peggy Sue’s Diner, to name a few. Listen now and subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | RSS Feed | SoundStack | All Of Our Podcasts “We saw each other practically every day. We looked out for each other,” Marciniak said. My family’s restaurant business, Uncle’s, was located just a few storefronts down on Calumet Ave. “He was proud of his brick-and-mortar business, which was hard, hard work every day,” Marciniak said. “It was a great addition to the downtown, and a lifesaver for me when I was too lazy to make a lunch the night before or just had a taste for one of the many great sandwich offerings.” She described my father as “larger than life,” a kind thing to tell his son. Unlike me, my dad had the gift of gab. He could talk to a dimly lit lamppost in a dark alley and it would brighten up. “He would wander in sometimes after the lunch rush and we had conversations about business, Chesterton and, of course, food,” Marciniak said. “He often had the end of a cigar in his mouth and usually a smile on his face. He had a great laugh and laughed often.” “But the best conversations we had were about his family. He lit up when telling me about them. He beamed with pride when talking about his wife and kids,” Marciniak said. I may have presumed this because the concept of family was so important to him. But I had never been told this from a stranger or old friend. It’s one thing to pretend something is true. It’s another thing to have it confirmed again and again. “Joe once confided in me the concerns he had for Joe Jr. and his alcohol and addiction struggles,” Marciniak said. My big brother, Joe Jr., struggled with an addiction to alcohol, drugs and an unconventional lifestyle since his teen years. My dad and I never really talked about my brother’s addiction problems despite the role it played in our personal life and our family business. “When I think about it now, as a mother and grandmother, it must have been terrifying,” Marciniak said. “Despite his fears and the sadness of watching his son struggle, he was fiercely proud of Joe Jr. Why did he tell me about this deeply personal worry? I don’t know.” I don’t know either. But I understand the need to do so. I’ve been sharing this deeply personal aspect of my life with thousands of strangers through my writing. This career, which I didn’t have during my father’s life, is what led me to that unexpected encounter with Marciniak last week. I asked her afterward for any other remembrances of my dad. “Joe Davich was an unforgettable man,” she replied. Isn’t this what all of us want to hear about loved ones who seem more like a ghost every year.The U.S. State Department says it has “taken steps to secure the U.S. embassy” in Syria following the collapse of the Assad government. This comes after the toppling of more than 50 years of a dictatorship there, showing an uncertain way forward for any new government. "The fall of the regime is a fundamental act of justice," President Joe Biden said Sunday , but warned that the significant change will also mark a period of uncertainty for Syria and the region. "As we all turn to the question of what comes next, the United States will work with our partners and the stakeholders in Syria to help them seize an opportunity to manage the risks," President Biden said. The Biden administration plans to lend its support to establishing a transitional government in Syria. The White House is in close communication with stakeholders in the region, including Jordan's King Abdullah. More conversations with leaders are expected in the days ahead. RELATED STORY | Military command of Syria's opposition says Damascus is 'free' of Bashar Assad's rule Other countries and groups have a shared interest in continued stability in Syria, but officials also acknowledged the power vacuum carries risks. White House officials told Scripps News the administration is focused on preventing the ISIS terror group from taking advantage of the situation. "One of the things that we're going to work hard to avoid is ISIS being able to exploit this situation and somehow try to revitalize," White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby said in an interview. "That is a message that we are sending to all the opposition groups through various means that this is not the opportunity — should not be the time — for a closer relationship, or any relationship, quite frankly, with Isis." "What we are backing is the Syrian people. And we want to make sure that again, through our interlocutors and through the United Nations, we're doing what we can to see legitimate governance there." The conflict in Syria has spanned multiple administrations and is often considered a proxy for the goals of other international actors, including Russia. Officials pointed in part to President Biden's support of Israel and Ukraine as factors that weakened Iran and Russia's ability to support Assad — and one senior administrator official explained that Assad's departure "changed the equation" in the Middle East. But Republican President-elect Donald Trump has indicated the U.S. relationship with Syria may change when he takes office. "Syria is a mess, but is not our friend," Trump wrote on social media over the weekend. "The United States should have nothing to do with it. This is not our fight." Kirby told Scripps News that for the remaining time the Biden Administration has to set U.S. foreign policy, it would continue its mission to suppress ISIS and support legitimate government in Syria.
NEW YORK — Connor Gaydos, a man connected to an apparent parody project to relaunch the energy company Enron and become its new CEO , was hit in the face with a pie this week as he was entering a building in New York City. The incident was caught on video and went viral on social media Thursday. The clip shows Gaydos exiting an SUV shortly before an older man slams the pie into his face as two bodyguards intervene. The bizarre incident mirrored one from more than two decades earlier, when a California woman tossed a pie into the face of Enron’s then-CEO Jeffrey Schilling . Earlier this month, a group announced the scandal-plagued Texas company was returning exactly 23 years after filing for bankruptcy amid massive fraud. “With a bold new vision, Enron will leverage cutting-edge technology, human ingenuity, and the spirit of adaptation to address the critical challenges of energy, sustainability, accessibility and affordability,” the company said in a press release that raised questions about its legitimacy. The announcement was reportedly joined by billboards in the Houston area, a full-page ad in the Houston Chronicle and a video promoting the company’s comeback. An investigation conducted by Houston station KHOU turned up a disclaimer on the company’s website that read, “The information on the website is First Amendment-protected parody , represents performance art and is for entertainment purposes only.” Many have speculated the company’s reemergence is merely a publicity stunt promoting cryptocurrency . ©2024 New York Daily News. Visit at nydailynews.com . Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.