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South Korean law enforcement officials have requested a court warrant to detain impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol. They are investigating whether his short-lived martial law decree earlier this month amounted to rebellion. The Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials, which is leading a joint investigation with police and military authorities into the power grab that lasted only a few hours, confirmed it requested the warrant on Monday. Investigators plan to question Mr Yoon on charges of abuse of authority and orchestrating a rebellion. Mr Yoon has dodged several requests by the joint investigation team and public prosecutors to appear for questioning and has also blocked searches of his offices. It is not clear whether the court will grant the warrant or whether Mr Yoon can be compelled to appear for questioning. Under the country’s laws, locations potentially linked to military secrets cannot be seized or searched without the consent of the person in charge and it is unlikely Mr Yoon will voluntarily leave his residence if he faces detainment. Mr Yoon’s presidential powers were suspended after the National Assembly voted to impeach him on December 14 over his imposition of martial law that lasted only hours but has triggered weeks of political turmoil, halted high-level diplomacy and rattled financial markets. His fate lies with the Constitutional Court, which has begun deliberations on whether to uphold the impeachment and formally remove Mr Yoon from office or reinstate him. Mr Yoon has defended the martial law decree as a necessary act of governance, describing it as a warning against the liberal opposition Democratic Party, which has been bogging down his agenda with its majority in the parliament. Parliament voted last week to also impeach Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, who had assumed the role of acting president after Mr Yoon’s powers were suspended, over his reluctance to fill three Constitutional Court vacancies ahead of the court’s review of Mr Yoon’s case. The country’s new interim leader is Deputy Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok, who is also finance minister.If there was one thing No. 14 Gonzaga failed to do in nonconference play, it was learn how to finish. And the Bulldogs may not get many chances to play close games in West Coast Conference play, which they'll open Monday against Pepperdine in Malibu, Calif. Sure, the Bulldogs (9-4) trounced then-No. 8 Baylor 101-63 and then-No. 14 Indiana 89-73. But they also lost in overtime to West Virginia (86-78) and No. 4 Kentucky (90-89), dropped a 77-71 decision to two-time defending NCAA champion UConn at Madison Square Garden and are coming off a 65-62 defeat to No. 22 UCLA on Saturday. "Obviously we feel like we've been in a bunch of close games that we felt like we should have won all of them," said Gonzaga point guard Ryan Nembhard, who had 16 points and eight assists against a Bruins defense that is one of the best in the country. "We've got to close out these games and learn to win these close games." Graham Ike led the Bulldogs with 24 points as they rallied from an 11-point deficit and led for most of the final 12 1/2 minutes before stumbling. It didn't help Gonzaga that guard Khalif Battle, who is tied for third on the team with 11.8 points per game, was ejected with 4:13 remaining in the first half for a Flagrant-2 foul against UCLA's Eric Dailey Jr. "We're playing a great schedule and great teams," Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. "And you're in position to win and in college basketball, you hope you can make a play, make a shot and get a stop at the end." Ike leads Gonzaga with 16.2 points and 6.7 rebounds per game. Nembhard averages 12.1 points per game and leads the country with 10.0 assists per game. The Bulldogs have won 47 consecutive games against Pepperdine (6-8, 0-1 WCC) dating to Jan. 18, 2002. It's the third-longest run against an opponent in NCAA Division I history and the longest active streak. The Waves have won four of their past six games, but are coming off a 91-80 loss Saturday at Santa Clara to open their conference slate. Stefan Todorovic led the Waves with 25 points, three rebounds, four assists and a steal. Todorovic tops the WCC with 19.7 points per game. Dovydas Butka added 16 points with eight rebounds and three assists and Moe Odum contributed 14 points, six rebounds, nine assists and two steals. Odum is third nationally with 105 assists, with Gonzaga's Nembhard (130) the leader in that category. "The system that Coach (Ed) Schilling puts us in opens the (court) for everybody," Todorovic said. "Not just me, we can be a threat at all positions on the floor." Schilling is in his first season with the Waves after 13 years as an assistant at UMass, Memphis, UCLA, Indiana and, most recently, Grand Canyon. He also spent 1997-2003 as the head coach of Wright State. Schilling replaced Lorenzo Romar at Pepperdine. --Field Level Media
Let me cite The Rising Nepal’s masthead motto proclaimed so prominently: All be happy, all be well. When Pakistan’s ambassador to Nepal, Abrar H. Hashmi, called on him on Tuesday, Prime Minister KP Oli reiterated Nepal’s emphasis on the constructive role the eight member-states of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) can contribute to reactivate the world’s most-populous but developing region. On the occasion, Ambassador Hashmi predictably conveyed that Pakistan was ready to host the regional summit, while also dwelling upon the prospects of increased bilateral cooperation with Nepal on various issues and areas. Although the broad areas in which mutual cooperation could benefit both the countries were dwelt upon during the meeting, the thrust on the long-impending SAARC summit was clearly a highlight. The statement issued by the PM’s Office seems to suggest so. Formally launched on December 8, 2024, SAARC completes 40 years next December. But the grouping, which represents a fifth of humanity, is conspicuous by its state of stalemate. The 19th summit, originally scheduled to be held in Islamabad in 2016, was abruptly cancelled when India decided to boycott it. Bangladesh, Bhutan and Afghanistan, sent notices to the hosts about their decisions not to attend the top-level regional gathering. A terrorist attack on an army camp at Uri in the disputed region of Kashmir triggered the drastic decision. Islamabad strongly denied New Delhi’s accusation of engineering the attack. In any case, the earlier collective commitment to holding summits at least every two years have not been complied with echoing the deep differences in member states. Loss for all Nepal thus has the inconvenient — rather not so easy task of chairing the grouping for a record-long period of 10 years without any immediate sight of the long-stalled Islamabad summit date. How long is the non-summit going to last? Nepal has regularly reiterated its keen interest in giving the required impetus to the SAARC process. Since its inception, SAARC, originally comprising seven countries before the addition of Afghanistan in 2005, has failed to make expected progress, largely due to the rivalry between India and Pakistan. Some non-South Asian powers might be keenly looking for openings to fish in the troubled SAARC waters at a time when the world witnesses the not-so-slow but sure process of a new order in the making. Any vacuum created by a less than active SAARC would give an added impetus to big power rivals to push their agendas, whatever the consequences for South Asians in general. It is no secret that the running Indo-Pakistani feud has created a cold war that has adversely affected the prospects of consensus on any meaningful achievement for a full decade. India’s initiative in creating the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), too, is having a rough ride. With India, Bangladesh, Bhutan Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand as its members. Thailand decided to postpone the hosting of the 6th BIMSTC summit that was scheduled for September. BIMSTEC’s creation was seen by some analysts as an attempt at sidelining Pakistan from South Asian mainstream. A review on this might be in order against the background of its scope, reach and potential matching neither SAARC’s nor China’s larger Belt and Road initiative. India, which nurses the hope of securing a permanent seat at UN Security Council, has also focused on Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal (BBIN), consisting of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal, in an approach that excludes Pakistan. SAARC is all the more relevant today, given the aggressive manner in which nationalist stance and regional strategies are being coordinated and espoused directly or in semi-disguises. The protracted delay in summit meeting puts a brake on its prospects of accelerated pace. However, all is not lost. Despite running bilateral tensions over border dispute, India and Pakistan have attended SAARC’s Council of Ministers’ meetings, which have helped keep the organisation breathing. At the time of its launch in Bangladesh’s capital decades ago, development experts and economists had compared SAARC’s economic prospects with those of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the European Union (EU). In an emerging multipolar world, the need and significance of regional organisations should gear SAARC members to infuse a sense of urgency for the much-needed boost to South Asian desire for collective economic self-reliance. Its success would lead to greater bilateral understanding, expanding the range of cooperation and demonstrating South Asians do not engage in debilitating conflicts and but in mutually beneficial endeavours that could be emulated by other developing regions, too. Public first No one denies that leaders and governments have to level with the public. Defined as independent, conscientious and bias-free view of consistently credible section of society, public opinion is the life blood of a successful democratic governance. South Asians without any exception have many strides to take for an average quality of life that advanced economies in democratic systems recorded several decades ago. Inequalities in different forms and at various levels of social units are persisting issues begging to be addressed. Coping with the long-festering challenges is an onerous but by no means an impossible task. Dwelling upon them with meticulous planning and unflinching dedication should steer a nation on an even keel. South Asia today has definitive potential for gaining fast strides in development that visibly reflect on the living standards of an average individual. Collective efforts, based on firm commitment and supported by equally appropriate and unwavering action can fetch the designed outcomes. SAARC, when reactivated in real earnest, will deliver the goods that have eluded the member states. As such, Prime Minister Oli’s renewed emphasis on setting the regional organisation on a befitting track and speed for the collective good of a region that hosts the single-largest concentration of poverty-stricken people should nudge all concerned at all levels to undertake the necessary without any more delay. This can be attained with the collective efforts of all without any hint of one upmanship among member states. Quiet, persistent and determined efforts should bring about enduring results. And New Delhi can play a major role in rolling back the SAARC into meaningful action. (Professor Kharel specialises in political communication.)
Rep-elect Sarah McBride (D-Del.) said Sunday she is focused on governing, not on culture wars led by the right. Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call/ZUMA Rep.-elect Sarah McBride (D-Del.) is not taking Rep. Nancy Mace’s (R-S.C.) bait. In her first interview after Mace’s weeklong, social media–fueled campaign —which included nearly 300 posts on X —to ban her from the women’s bathroom in the House of Representatives offices, McBride showed how a member of Congress who is actually interested in governing , not grabbing headlines, acts. “I’m in Congress to deliver for my constituents, to make health care, housing, and child care more affordable,” McBride said in a Sunday interview on MSNBC’s The Weekend , adding that she plans to support pro-union legislation as well as bills focused on paid leave and affordable childcare. “I’m so grateful to have this opportunity. I think on November 5, Delawareans showed the country what I’ve known throughout my life: that in our state of neighbors, we judge candidates based on their ideas and not their identities.” Mace kicked off this past week by introducing a resolution seeking to bar transgender members and employees in the House from using the bathrooms that correspond to their gender identity in the Capitol building, baselessly alleging that allowing trans women to use women’s bathrooms “jeopardizes the safety and dignity” of cisgender women. (In fact, research has found that there is “no link” between trans-inclusive bathroom policies and safety, and that reports of “privacy and safety violations” in bathrooms, changing rooms, and locker rooms are “exceedingly rare.”) Though Mace’s resolution did not mention McBride—the first openly transgender person elected to Congress—by name, Mace admitted it was “absolutely” meant to target her. On Wednesday—which also happened to be the annually recognized Transgender Day of Remembrance, a day meant to memorialize trans people murdered in violent acts of bigotry—House speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) threw his support behind Mace’s effort, telling reporters he was simply formalizing what has long been an “unwritten policy”; he also noted in an emailed statement that all Members have private bathrooms in their offices and there are several unisex bathrooms throughout the Capitol. But Johnson has not clarified how the policy will be enforced or whether he will include it in the rules package the House will vote on in early January. “I worried that the heart of this country wasn’t big enough to love someone like me, and over the last decade, I have been able to bear witness the change that once seemed so impossible to me as a kid.” Johnson also has not addressed whether or not he condemns the threats of physical violence Mace and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) reportedly made against any trans person who violates the bathroom ban. (I’ve repeatedly asked Johnson’s spokesperson if he condemns these threats and if members would face consequences for carrying them out, but have yet to receive a direct answer.) Getting what she wanted did not make Mace dial back her bigotry, though: She has continued to repeatedly misgender McBride and denigrate trans people on social media. But on Sunday, McBride dismissed all that as “noise”—without mentioning Mace by name—and said she is focused on honoring the weight of history in her new role. “I have to be honest, this week was awe-inspiring, being at orientation, despite all of the noise,” McBride said. “Because as you were there, you realize you are in the body that Abraham Lincoln served in. We walked onto the House floor, and you’re in the space where they passed the 13th Amendment and the 14th Amendment, where women got the right to vote. You’re sitting in the chairs in the job where people passed the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act. And you feel that responsibility, but also you feel that you are part of a tradition, because every single one of your predecessors served in incredibly tumultuous, challenging times, and enough of them fulfilled their responsibilities to be stewards of our democracy and that is our calling in this moment, and I feel it very deeply.” Sarah McBride: "I worried that the heart of this country wasn't big enough to support someone like me. And over the last decade, I have been able to bear witness to change that once seemed so impossible to me as a kid that it was almost incomprehensible ... I carry that with me." pic.twitter.com/YKLnhQMeJl She also spoke about her own trailblazing role in Congress, which she said proves that anything is possible. As a college student, she said, “I worried that the heart of this country wasn’t big enough to love someone like me, and over the last decade, I have been able to bear witness the change that once seemed so impossible to me as a kid—that was almost incomprehensible—and I have seen it not only become possible, but become a reality. And I carry that with me in this moment, because I think in so many ways, this country—on both sides of the political divide—this country is facing its own crisis of hope. And I know we still have both the individual and collective capacity meet the scope and the scale of the challenges that we face. And I know, because I have seen it, that nothing is truly impossible.” Mace, meanwhile, spent the morning posting a Bible verse about the creation of “woman” all over social media.
Rico Carty, who won the 1970 NL batting title with the Atlanta Braves, has died
How gangster James 'Whitey' Bulger, who's life inspired two movies, plotted with murderous IRA terrorists By JOHN LEE Published: 19:04, 24 November 2024 | Updated: 19:09, 24 November 2024 e-mail View comments The full, breathtaking scope of Boston gangster James 'Whitey' Bulger's collaboration with IRA terrorists is revealed today in a new Daily Mail podcast, From Bomb To Ballot: The History of Sinn Fein . Martin Ferris, a former IRA gunrunner and prisoner who became a parliamentarian, confirms in his first ever major interview that Bulger was central to buying guns and explosives in Boston in 1984. But it is John Crawley, an Irish-American US Marine who left the US to join the IRA, who unveils the true, jaw-dropping breadth of Bulger's conspiracies with the separatist organization that for 30 years carried out a savage terrorism campaign in Ireland, Britain, and Europe. The FBI pursued Bulger for many years and moved him to Number 1 on its Most Wanted list in 2011 after the death of Osama Bin Laden. Bulger achieved a grisly mythical status in the annals of crime and has been played in Hollywood movies on a number of occasions, most notably by Johnny Depp in Black Mass. A fictional Irish-American mobster played by Jack Nicholson that was inspired by Bulger was also central to Martin Scorsese classic, The Departed. Podcast All episodes Play on Apple Spotify Boston gangster James 'Whitey' Bulger (pictured on his way back to jail after a court hearing in 2018) collaborated with IRA terrorists by selling them weapons in 1984 John Crawley, an Irish-American US Marine who left the US to join the IRA, unveils the true, jaw-dropping breadth of Bulger's conspiracies with the separatist organization John Crawley gives in From Bomb to Ballot a riveting first person account of his dealings with Bulger and the subsequent voyage across the Atlantic Ocean in the swordfish trawler the Boston crook purchased for him. Crawley speaks in episode 4 of his first meeting with Bulger at the infamous Triple Os bar in Boston. 'I met him in Triple Os, the famous bar upstairs. He had a bit of an office up there. We were brought up, me and another guy. I call him Mark,' he said. 'As we were going in, I said to the guy bringing me up, I said, 'Whitey in here?' 'Don't call him Whitey,' he says, 'don't call Whitey to his face. He hates it'. 'I said, 'well, thanks for telling me. What do I call him?' 'Jim.' OK. 'Cause I would have gone in there and said, 'hello, Whitey'. So, it would have been on the wrong foot right away.' Crawley explained that the IRA leader and later politician Martin McGuinness sent him back to the US to buy weapons. However, after initial meetings with the Boston criminal underworld, he was told not to complicate things. Crawley said they told him to obtain false driving licenses to buy firearms in gun shops. And 'Whitey' was the man to organize this. Bulger was the notorious leader of the Winter Hill Gang in the 1970s. He is pictured in 1953 after one of his arrests Bulger was transferred to Alcatraz, the notorious maximum security prison in San Francisco Bay, as one of the last batch of jailbirds sent there before it closed in 1963 Bulger also raised $1 million - a lot of money in 1984 – to buy weapons and explosives. He then bought the trawler – the Valhalla – which carried the deadly load out of Gloucester Harbor in Massachusetts. Crawley explained that the last person they saw as their fateful voyage began was Whitey Bulger waving them goodbye on the pier at Gloucester. He revealed the true involvement of Bulger in the minutiae of the operation: 'He was back there [on the harbor] with a radio scanner listening to local police. 'Whitey said that if the cops came he was going to come down and ram their car and we were to scatter and just take off, you know.' On board the Valhalla were 91 rifles, eight submachine guns, 13 shotguns, 51 handguns, 11 bulletproof vests, 70,000 rounds of ammunition, and an array of hand grenades and rocket warheads. Crawley, a US citizen of Irish descent, joined the US Marine Corps in 1975 – just after the end of the war in Vietnam – and spent four years training, eventually joining their elite recon unit. He was so well regarded that he was asked to be an elite drill instructor, like Gunnery Sergeant L Hartman in the Stanley Kubrick's film Full Metal Jacket, which he said was an accurate representation of the Marine Corps at that time. On the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, senior IRA member Martin Ferris was leaving Fenit Harbour in Kerry, on board another trawler, the Marita Ann. Bulger (pictured in his 2011 mugshot) was eventually captured, aged 81, in Santa Monica, California, on June 22, 2011 after 16 years at large Daily Mail journalist John Lee re-examines Northern Ireland's blood-soaked history, featuring ex-terrorists, victims, and politicians. Listen wherever you get your podcasts . Crawley explained that the IRA leader and later politician Martin McGuinness (pictured a decade later in 1994) sent him back to the US to buy weapons They performed a treacherous transfer of the arms in the middle of the Atlantic, but not before the Valhalla was hit by a hurricane. Crawley recounted in From Bomb to Ballot: 'And I remember thinking, you know, that's all we need now, the hurricane hit us. And I don't know how we survived it. I really don't. We were just battered to bits.' But there was an informer in their midst. It later emerged that Bulger was an FBI informant, but Ferris and Crawley believe the mole was on the Irish side, a Kerry 'friend' of Ferris. 'We were compromised before we left,' Ferris said. Crawley said a notorious IRA informant betrayed them: 'Sean O'Callaghan 100 per cent informed on us. 100 per cent. He boasted about it. He rejoiced in it. He reveled in it.' Both Crawley and Ferris were captured by the Irish Navy in a stunning operation off the Skellig Rock – where Star Wars sequel The Last Jedi was filmed – and they went to jail for a decade. Bulger was eventually captured, aged 81, in Santa Monica, California, on June 22, 2011 after 16 years at large and 12 years on the FBI 10 Most Wanted Fugitives list. He was beaten to death in prison in Oklahoma, while in a wheelchair, in 2018. He was 89 years old. Whitey Bulger's rise to the top of the Boston mob Boston mob kingpin James 'Whitey' Bulger is remembered as a charismatic and ruthless leader whose name was linked to 19 murders and countless gruesome events involving victims being tortured, bound in heavy chains, shot and buried in cellars with their teeth removed to prevent identification. He also famously torched the Brookline birthplace of John F Kennedy and relished in taking cat naps after shooting people in the head. Once the head of South Boston's 'Winter Hill Gang', Bulger's mark on American organized crime is just as pronounced as the stain he left on the FBI's reputation as he managed to evade prosecution for decades, sitting atop the Most Wanted list for 16 years before his arrest in 2011. It emerged in Bulger's 2013 trial that he had served as an FBI informant as far back as 1975, though he always denied it. The deal gave Bulger virtual impunity to commit any crime he wanted for decades - except for murder. Bulger was ultimately convicted of killing at least 11 people in 2013 and was serving two life sentences at the time of his death. Bulger was born in September 1929 about four miles north of Boston in the town of Everett. He was the eldest of six children in an Irish-American family. His father, James Sr, worked as a docker, but found himself unemployed after losing an arm in an accident. Due to the poverty that ensued, the family moved to a social housing project in the tough neighborhood of South Boston when Bulger was eight years old. Yet while his siblings studied hard and did well at school, Bulger started veering off the straight and narrow from a young age. By the time he reached his teens, he already had a reputation as a street fighter and a thief. Unsurprisingly he had also come to the attention of local police officers, who nicknamed him 'Whitey' because of his distinctive blond hair. Bulger is seen in a pair of undated mugshots released by the FBI It was at the age of 14 that he was first arrested for theft. By now, he was a member of a street gang called 'the Shamrocks' and convictions soon followed for assault, robbery, extortion and forgery. Spells in juvenile detention centers did little to deter him from becoming a one-man crime wave. Nor did a stint in the US Air Force, which he joined at the age of 18. After training as an aircraft mechanic, he was stationed initially in Kansas and then Idaho. But he ended up in military prison over a number of assaults and was arrested for going absent without leave at one stage. He managed to leave the forces with an honorable discharge, however, and returned to Boston. It was at this point that his burgeoning criminal career took a crucial twist. In 1956, the 25-year-old Bulger was sent to a federal jail for the first time after being convicted of armed robbery and hijacking. According to some reports, he was one of the inmates given LSD and other substances as part of a CIA research program into mind-control drugs. What is certain is that he was such a troublesome prisoner that he was ultimately transferred to Alcatraz, the notorious maximum security prison in San Francisco Bay, as one of the last batch of jailbirds sent there before it closed in 1963. After doing time in two other institutions, Bulger eventually emerged a free man in 1965 following nine years in custody. Unlike many felons, he never boasted about his incarceration. 'To him,' said William Chase, an FBI agent who spent years pursuing Bulger, 'prison time was evidence of failure.' Back on the streets, he was determined to do two things: stay out of jail and establish a criminal empire. Though he at first took jobs as a janitor and construction worker, Bulger quickly got involved in bookmaking, debt-collecting and acting as an underworld enforcer. Before long, he managed to take over a small-time operation called the Winter Hill Gang and transform it into Boston's most ruthlessly efficient crime syndicate. Its main areas of activity were drug running, gambling and prostitution. Bulger based his modus operandi on the Mafia, which controlled the city's northern suburbs. But unlike some of his Italian counterparts, he was supremely disciplined. Not only did he not while away lazy afternoons over long lunches in neighborhood restaurants, Bulger appeared not to have any vices. He didn't drink, didn't smoke, never used credit cards, didn't even gamble. What little time he spent away from his nefarious business was largely devoted to body-building and reading. He always had an interest in history, especially anything involving Adolf Hitler. Much of his energy also went into trying to become a master of disguise. He dyed his hair different colors and wore varying styles of glasses, although most observers agree that he found it impossible to mask his thick Boston accent. Another thing that Bulger struggled to hide was his volcanic temper. Even in seemingly casual conversations, he was prone to explosive outbursts. Meanwhile, his propensity for extreme violence shocked both hardened criminals and police alike. Rivals and enemies were brutally killed either by Bulger himself or on his direct orders. His former right-hand man Kevin Weeks later said: 'He stabbed people. He beat people with bats. He shot people. Strangled people. Run over 'em with cars. After he would kill somebody, it was like a stress relief, y'know? He'd be nice and calm for a couple of weeks. Like he just got rid of all his stress.' Given such brazen criminality, it wasn't long before questions were asked about how he was allowed get away with it. The answer was a long time coming and, when it did, it was a shocking one: Bulger had been operating as an FBI informer since the mid-1970s. From his perspective, it was a perfect arrangement. He tipped off his Bureau handler and childhood friend, John Connolly, about other criminal activity in Boston in return for being allowed to proceed unimpeded with his own activities. The information he passed on virtually wiped out the Mafia presence in the city. It was the 1990s before the Boston Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Agency, angered at the FBI's failure to act, launched their own investigation. After being tipped off by Connolly — who was later jailed for ten years for obstructing justice — that the authorities were on to him, Bulger vanished on December 23, 1994. During his years on the run with girlfriend Catherine Grieg, various sightings were reported from locations as diverse as New Zealand, Canada, Italy and along the US Mexican border. He and Grieg ended up in Santa Monica, California, where they posed as married retirees from Chicago. After al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed by US forces in Pakistan in 2011, Bulger succeeded him as No 1 wanted fugitive on the FBI's 'Ten Most Wanted' list. One of the many aliases Bulger used while on the run was that of James Lawlor, a man who Bulger found living on the street in the Los Angeles area. The two men resembled each other so much that Bulger could use Lawlor's driver's license and other identity papers. In return, he paid Lawlor's rent, according to the Boston Globe. Catherine Greig and Whitey Bulger are seen in June 1998. They were on the run for 16 years, and posed as a retired couple from Chicago in Santa Monica Playing a crucial role in Bulger's capture was Miss Iceland of 1974, Anna Bjornsdottir, who lived near him and Grieg in Santa Monica. While she was visiting Iceland, the actress who worked under the name Anna Bjorn saw a news report about the authorities' hunt for Bulger. She recognized him as the quiet retiree she knew from her neighborhood and called the FBI, which arrested him in June 2011. Bjornsdottir later claimed a $2million reward. When police raided his Santa Monica apartment, they found several fiction and non-fiction books about criminals, including 'Escape From Alcatraz.' Police also found some $800,000 in cash and an arsenal of weapons in the modest apartment where Bulger and Greig had lived for years as Charles and Carol Gasko. In his 2013 trial, Bulger was convicted of 11 murders, including the strangulation of a woman. Jurors were unable to reach a verdict on a charge that he strangled a second woman. A witness said Bulger insisted that the women's teeth be pulled to obscure their identity. Bulger refused to testify at his trial claiming he had been given immunity from prosecution by federal agents. He steadfastly denied being an FBI informant, but close links between some FBI agents in Boston and Bulger's Winter Hill Gang in the 1970s and 1980s have been well documented. Former FBI agent John Connolly was sentenced to prison after being convicted in 2002 of effectively becoming a member of the gang. His trial, which featured 72 witnesses and 840 exhibits, produced chilling testimony worthy of a pulp novel. It heard harrowing tales of teeth being pulled from the mouths of murder victims to foil identification and the strangulation of a mobster's girlfriend who 'knew too much.' In June 2013, Bulger went on trial accused of 32 counts of racketeering, which included allegations that he was complicit in 19 murders. The two-month hearing, which included testimony from more than 70 witnesses, resulted in him being convicted of 11 of the murders. It also heard evidence that Bulger supplied the arms and ammunition used in the IRA's Marita-Ann gunrunning escape in 1984, which resulted in current Sinn Féin TD Martin Ferris being jailed for ten years. Sentencing him to two life sentences plus five years, the judge told Bulger that he had been involved in 'unfathomable' crimes that involved 'agonizing' suffering for his victims. Five years into his sentence, Bulger had just been transferred to USP Hazelton, a high security prison, when he was found dead overnight on October 30, 2018. A prison source said wheelchair-bound Bulger was in general population when three inmates rolled him to a corner, out of view of surveillance cameras, beat him in the head with a lock in a sock, and attempted to gouge his eyes out with a shiv. The source said he hadn't even been processed at the West Virginia facility when he was killed. But someone who knew he was being transferred put the word out - the killer had to know he was coming. FBI Share or comment on this article: How gangster James 'Whitey' Bulger, who's life inspired two movies, plotted with murderous IRA terrorists e-mail Add commentSoccer-Villa held to 0-0 draw by depleted JuventusWASHINGTON (AP) — Three American citizens imprisoned for years by China have been released and are returning to the United States, the White House said Wednesday, announcing a diplomatic agreement with Beijing in the final months of the Biden administration. The three are , all of whom had been designated by the U.S. government as wrongfully detained by China. had been facing a death sentence on drug charges while and were imprisoned on espionage charges. “Soon they will return and be reunited with their families for the first time in many years,” the White House said in a statement. The release comes just two months after China freed David Lin, who had spent nearly 20 years behind bars after being convicted of contract fraud. U.S.-China relations have been roiled for years over major disagreements between the world’s two largest economies on trade, human rights, the production of fentanyl precursors, security issues that include espionage and hacking, China’s aggressiveness toward Taiwan and its smaller neighbors in the South China Sea, and Beijing’s support for Russia’s military-industrial sector. The release of Americans deemed wrongfully detained in China has been a top agenda item in each conversation between the U.S. and China, and Wednesday’s development suggests a willingness by Beijing to engage with the outgoing Democratic administration before Republican President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the White House in January. Trump took significant actions against China on trade and diplomacy during his first term. He has pledged to continue those policies in his second term, leading to unease among many who fear that an all-out trade war will greatly affect the international economy and could spur potential Chinese military action against Taiwan. Still, the two countries have maintained a dialogue that has included a partial restoration of military-to-military contacts. President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping met this month to discuss potential improvements. In a separate but related move, the State Department on Wednesday lowered its travel warning to China to “level two,” advising U.S. citizens to “exercise increased caution” from the norm when traveling to the mainland. The alert had previously been at “level three,” telling Americans they should “reconsider travel” to China in part because of the “risk of wrongful detention” of Americans. The new alert removes that wording but retains a warning that the Chinese government “arbitrarily enforces local laws, including exit bans on U.S. citizens and citizens of other countries, without fair and transparent process under the law.” The Biden administration had raised the cases of the detained Americans with China in multiple meetings over the past several years, including this month when Biden spoke to Xi on during the in Peru. Politico was first to report the men’s release, which it said was part of a prisoner swap with the U.S. The White House did not immediately confirm that any Chinese citizens had been returned home. Li, a Chinese immigrant who started an export business in the U.S., was detained in September 2016 after flying into Shanghai. He was placed under surveillance, interrogated without a lawyer and accused of providing state secrets to the FBI. A U.N. working group called his 10-year prison sentence arbitrary and his family said the charges were politically motivated. to life in prison on spying charges. He was detained in 2021, by the local bureau of China’s counterintelligence agency in the southeastern city of Suzhou after China had closed its borders and imposed tight domestic travel restrictions and social controls to fight the spread of COVID-19. After Leung's sentencing, — though without citing specific cases — that Americans reconsider traveling to China because of arbitrary law enforcement and exit bans and the risk of wrongful detentions. Swidan had been jailed for 12 years on a drug charge and, along with Li and Leung, had considered by the State Department to be wrongfully detained.
U.S. stock indexes edged higher in morning trading Tuesday, as gains for some Big Tech stocks made up for weakness elsewhere in the market. The S&P 500 rose 0.4%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 14 points, or 0.1%, as of 9:58 a.m. Eastern time. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite was up 0.7%. Gains in technology, financial and other sectors tempered a pullback by health care, energy and other stocks. Chip company Broadcom rose 1.3%, while semiconductor giant Nvidia, whose enormous valuation gives it an outsize influence on indexes, rose 1.2%. American Airlines fell 1.2% after the airline briefly grounded flights nationwide due to a technical issue. U.S. Steel slipped 0.5% a day after an influential government panel failed to reach consensus on the possible national security risks of the nearly $15 billion proposed sale to Nippon Steel of Japan. Treasury yields rose in the bond market. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.62% from 4.59% late Monday. European markets were mostly higher. Markets in Asia mostly gained ground. U.S. markets will close at 1 p.m. Eastern and stay closed Wednesday for Christmas. Wall Street has several economic reports to look forward to this week, including a weekly update on unemployment benefits on Thursday.
Brandon Sklenar finally picks side amid Blake Lively’s Lawsuit Brandon Sklenar shows support for his co-star during a legal battle Brandon Sklenar showed support for his co-star amid Blake Lively’s lawsuit. On December 23, the Midway actor finally shared his stance in support of his It Ends With Us co-star Blake Lively. In an Instagram story, the 34-year-old actor posted a link to a New York Times article detailing the 37-year-old actress' legal complaint against Justin Baldoni, and added, "For the love of God, read this." To further show his support for his co-star, he tagged her social media account and added a heart emoji next to it. Among many stars standing by the Gossip Girl star and showing their support, Brandon is joined by - the author of the book herself - Colleen Hoover, Amber Heard, Jenny Slate, Paul Feig, and her Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants castmates. On December 21, Colleen took to her Instagram and expressed, "You have been nothing but honest, kind, supportive and patient since the day we met." "Thank you for being exactly the human that you are. Never change. Never wilt." Justin has denied all the allegations made against him through his lawyer Bryan Freedman in a December 21 statement to The New York Times. His lawyers called the claims "categorically false" and "yet another desperate attempt to 'fix' her negative reputation which was garnered from her own remarks and actions during the campaign for the film." Buckingham Palace begins planning Prince William’s ascension to throne? Prince Harry's Polo flop labelled 'Laughingstock' Hasan Minhaj praises Justin Baldoni as women’s ally one week prior to lawsuit 'Sonic 3' ending questions Jim Carrey's fate in next sequel
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The decision by Tesco, Musgrave and the BWG Group came after a woman who said Mr McGregor raped her won a civil claim for damages against him. Nikita Hand, who accused the sportsman of raping her in a Dublin hotel in December 2018, won her claim against him for damages in a case at the High Court in the Irish capital. In a statement, a spokesman for Musgrave said: “Musgrave can confirm these products are no longer available to our store network.” The network includes SuperValu, Centra, Daybreak and Mace. A Tesco spokesperson said: “We can confirm that we are removing Proper No Twelve Whiskey from sale in Tesco stores and online.” A spokesperson for BWG Group said: “The products are no longer listed for distribution across our network of Spar, Eurospar, Mace, Londis and XL stores, including Appleby Westward which operates over 300 Spar stores in the south west of England.” It is understood that other retail outlets including Costcutter and Carry Out will also stop stocking products linked to Mr McGregor. He and some of his business partners sold their majority stake in the Proper Number Twelve Irish whiskey brand. He was reported to have been paid more than £103 million from the sale to Proximo Spirits in 2021. On Monday, a popular video game developer decided to pull content featuring the MMA fighter. The Irish athlete has featured in multiple video games, including voice-acting a character bearing his likeness in additional downloadable content in the Hitman series. Mr McGregor’s character featured as a target for the player-controlled assassin in the game. IO Interactive, the Danish developer and publisher of Hitman, said in a statement: “In light of the recent court ruling regarding Conor McGregor, IO Interactive has made the decision to cease its collaboration with the athlete, effective immediately. “We take this matter very seriously and cannot ignore its implications. “Consequently, we will begin removing all content featuring Mr McGregor from our storefronts starting today.” Last Friday, the High Court jury awarded damages amounting to 248,603.60 euros (around £206,000) to Ms Hand. Mr McGregor made no comment as he left court but later posted on social media that he intended to appeal against the decision.Verint Systems Chief Administrative Officer Trades $446K In Company StockSD Rescue Mission To Offer Holiday Meal, Resources to Low-Income San Diegans
HARRISBURG — Spending on public education, reforming aspects of health care, loosening regulations on business and strengthening the commonwealth’s workforce were among the legislative wins achieved in 2024 in Pennsylvania’s General Assembly. Lawmakers adopted Pennsylvania’s biggest budget, to date, a $47.6 billion spending plan with a deficit balanced by $3 billion transferred from the commonwealth’s reserves. Gov. Josh Shapiro and his supporters welcomed the move, spending down on what had been a combined $14 billion in savings they viewed as a reinvestment in taxpayers whose money sat dormant. Fiscal conservatives point to a five-year outlook in the budget that forecasts all of that money being spent by 2029, warning that the structural deficit risks fiscal insolvency. The budget included a $1.2 billion increase for public education as the commonwealth grapples with a late-2023 court decision that found its funding system unconstitutional. Schools collectively saw multi-million increases in spending on special education, K-12 classroom subsidies plus additional funds for the poorest districts to backfill an “adequacy gap” identified by the court, plus more funding for mental health initiatives and security. Expect more record requests for spending on education in the immediate budget years to come as the commonwealth upturns its system on how public schools are funded. At the same time, a fight to establish a school voucher system will continue, too. Lifeline Scholarships were shunned two years in a row, however, Republicans remain committed to creating vouchers in the name of school choice. They’re emboldened by shifts in political party registrations and substantial victories in the 2024 election cycle. Budget battles might lead some in Harrisburg and beyond to seek libations for a brief escape and this year in Pennsylvania, those of legal age have a new option. Legislators advanced a bill into law creating a new permit for licensed bars, restaurants, grocery stores and more to sell canned cocktails to-go. The pre-packaged, pre-mixed drinks were only available in state liquor stores prior to the change. Estimates reached $145 million in new tax revenue, however, the gains will be offset to some degree by lost revenue within the state-owned system. Pennsylvania’s bars and restaurants also benefitted from other regulatory changes that expanded aggregate time allowed for happy hours from 14 hours to 24 hours a week and also permitted drink-and-meal combination discounts that were once illegal. Lawmakers approved reforms in health care with a new law that changes how pharmacy benefit managers operate in the commonwealth. The “middle men” are blamed for practices causing smaller pharmacies to close and consumer prices to rise. Pennsylvania’s legislation bars PBMs from lowering reimbursements for unaffiliated pharmacies, prevents them from spiking prices on medications above what customers might pay when using cash out of pocket, ends certain “steering practices” that lead to increased business for affiliated pharmacies and requires certain reporting requirements that will reveal which companies fail to pass on manufacturer rebates to customers. Aside from public education, state lawmakers made big changes in the realm of higher education. They created Pennsylvania’s first State Board of Higher Education directed to coordinate higher-ed across all levels and also develop recommendations to create a performance-based funding system for state-related universities including Penn State and the University of Pittsburgh. Funding for smaller schools, that is, community colleges and state-owned schools, was increased as was funding for student scholarships and grants along with a new program that for the first time will provide stipends to student teachers. A new telemedicine law assures patients that any medically necessary service they’d receive in person that’s covered by their insurance plan would also be covered if administered remotely through telemedicine. Disputes preventing Pennsylvania’s full participation in an interstate healthcare licensure compact were resolved through legislation concerning fingerprinting and background checks. With a resolution in place, nurses and doctors and others from Pennsylvania can now work in cooperating states without obtaining another license. Xylazine is now formally listed as a Schedule III narcotic in the commonwealth. Protections are included for veterinary use of the sedative developed for large animals. Illicit production of the drug led to it being cut into fentanyl and other opioids sold on the streets, greatly enhancing potency and the risk of death by overdose. Distracted driving was addressed with the passage of Paul Miller’s Law, named after a 21-year-old Scranton man killed by a distracted driver in 2010. The measure, building on an existing statute that bans texting while driving, authorizes traffic stops for similar actions on handheld mobile devices including sending an email, posting to social media, snapping a photo and recording a video. The use of hands-free functions, however, remains permissible. New state law also created a Solar for Schools program incentivizing K-12 public schools, career and technical centers and community colleges to pursue state grant funding that can fund half the construction cost of an approved solar energy project. Another law established the framework for carbon dioxide capture, utilization and sequestration toward storing the pollutant below ground, an initiative tied to the multi-billion dollar proposal to open a pair of hydrogen hubs in the Philadelphia region. The 2023-24 Legislative Session is now closed and the 2025-26 session began Dec. 1 with lawmakers already signaling the introduction of new bills and the reintroduction of old bills that haven’t yet cleared the House and Senate. When voting picks up again in January, expect continued debate and formal proposals for legislative initiatives that weren’t successful including legalizing marijuana for recreational use, enacting gun control measures, approving ballot measures for constitutional amendments on universal voter ID and opening a temporary legal window to sue alleged perpetrators or enablers of long-ago sexual abuse, creating Lifeline Scholarships for school choice, regulating skill games, expanding Sunday hunting opportunities and boosting Pennsylvania’s housing stock.