List of All Articles with Tag 'as'

Irish police say 11 people have died in road traffic collisions since Friday.

Sex abuse charges against former Catholic Cardinal Theodore McCarrick have been dismissed by a Massachusetts judge who ruled the 93-year-old was incompetent to stand trial. Mr McCarrick, who was the former archbishop of Washington, was charged with assaulting a 16-year-old boy in 1974. He was defrocked who was defrocked by the Pope in 2019 after a Vatican investigation alleged he had sexually molested adults as well as children during his career. The former cleric, the most senior member of the US Catholic church to face charges, still faces a criminal sexual abuse charge against the same alleged victim, in Wisconsin. Mr McCarrick pleaded not guilty in September 2021 to allegations that he sexually abused the boy at a wedding reception at Boston’s Wellesley College in June 1974. His lawyers told the court in April that Mr McCarrick had been examined by experts at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, who concluded he suffers from dementia, likely due to Alzheimer’s disease. The judge ruled in agreement on Wednesday and prosecutors immediately dismissed the complaint against the former Cardinal. “(The) Commonwealth does not have a good-faith basis to proceed any longer with the prosecution give the testimony and the opinions of the psychologist that Mr McCarrick is not restorable to competency,” the prosecutor said. Mr McCarrick, who now lives in Missouri, did not appear in person in the courtroom but joined the hearing by video. Court documents in the case state that the victim alleged Mr McCarrick groped him as they walked around the campus of Wellesley College, where his brother’s wedding reception was being held. The man also claims that Mr McCarrick also later fondled the boy in a room and told him to “say three our fathers and a Hail Mary or it was one our father and three Hail Marys, so God can redeem you of your sins.” Read More Pope says a revised environmental encyclical will be released Oct. 4, feast of St. Francis of Assisi Pope heads to Mongolia to minister to its few Catholics and complete centuries-old East-West mission Vatican seeks to tamp down outrage over pope's words of praise for Russian imperial past

Police in Allen, Texas found two parents and their two children dead after an apparent murder suicide just weeks after a third child — the daughter of the family — drowned, according to police. On Tuesday, police found Farman Sherwani, his wife Layla Sherwani, and their sons Mateen Sherwani, two, and Shaheen Sherwani, 12, dead after conducting a welfare check at the house, according to NBC News. Police then learned from the Islamic Association of Allen — the group that identified the bodies — that the family had lost a four-year-old girl to drowning just three weeks before the apparent murder-suicide. Jonathan Maness of the Allen Police Department told NBC News in an email that the child's drowning "is believed to be a factor" that lead to the tragedy. Police were called out to the house after another resident found themselves locked out for two hours and could not contact the others inside. "After other family members arrived at the house, police gained access and found four people dead," the police department said in a statement. The Islamic Association of Allen held a prayer vigil for the family on Tuesday, which was highly attended by mourning community members. "We are deeply saddened by the news of the passing of four family members," the association said in a statement. The centre's leader, Abdul Rahman Bashir, said it had been a "very heavy day" for his community. "Waking up to the news of losing a four member family all of a sudden is not something that anyone can be prepared for, family members or let alone anyone in the community, so it's been a very heavy day for everyone in the community," he told NBC Dallas Fort Worth. He said he was aware that the family had recently lost a daughter to drowning. "As the father of three children myself, it's something very hard to digest and grapple with the gravity of the situation, what the family may have been going through," he said. "We just continue to encourage the community to be there for each other during this time of sorrow and grief and we also encourage the community to cherish their family members and the moments that they have and be cognizant of the uncertainty of life." Neighbours expressed their condolences for the family to the broadcaster. "It was just really sad and hard and all of us felt for the family as we were watching them mourn in the front yard," Jacqueline Soto, a neighbour who lives across the street from the residence, said. Allen Independent School District sent a letter to parents announcing that a fifth grader at the school had died. The school confirmed to the broadcaster that the letter was related to the ongoing investigation, and said it was making counseling available for students. Read More A fourth person has died in a problem-plagued jail in Atlanta over the span of a month Two teenagers found guilty of murdering man over his drunken antics on bus Teen arrested in fatal shooting of 16-year-old during Oklahoma high school football game

Ukraine claims to have liberated the village of Robotyne, which could lead to a push towards Crimea.

The storm leaves roads and towns along Florida's 'nature coast' inundated with knee-deep floodwaters.

The Texas power grid operator ERCOT (Electric Reliability Council of Texas) issued an appeal to residents calling for

Buster Murdaugh has broken his silence to deny any involvement in the mysterious killing of gay teenager Stephen Smith – and insist that he still believes his father is innocent of the murders of his mother and brother. Alex Murdaugh’s only surviving son spoke out in his first TV interview since his family was propelled to national attention, for the new three-part FOX Nation documentary “The Fall of the House of Murdaugh”. In the interview, Buster slammed rumours that he too could have been involved in a heinous murder – that of 19-year-old Smith in July 2015 – and offered an alibi for his whereabouts on the night the teenager was killed. “I never had anything to do with his murder, and I never had anything to do with him on a physical level in any regard,” he said in a clip from the documentary, due for release on 31 August. Smith, a nursing student, was found dead on a road in Hampton County, South Carolina, in the early hours of 8 July 2015 – not far from the prominent Murdaugh family’s estate where Alex Murdaugh murdered Maggie and Paul six years later. Despite Smith suffering blunt force trauma to the head and there being no skid marks or vehicular debris on the road, officials ruled his death a hit-and-run at the time. Smith’s mother long questioned this official account and, for years, the Murdaugh name continued to crop up in connection to the case. Buster and Smith were classmates and there were unsubstantiated rumours that the two had been in some sort of relationship around the time of his death. Smith’s mother Sandy Smith named Buster as the prime suspect in her son’s murder in a letter begging the FBI to get involved in the case back in 2016. In June 2021 – mere days after Maggie and Paul’s murders – SLED announced that it was opening a new investigation into Smith’s death. This April, the agency then finally announced that Smith’s death was being investigated as a homicide and his body was exhumed for a private autopsy. No one has ever been charged over Smith’s death and law enforcement have never announced anything linking Buster to the killing. In the FOX Nation documentary, Buster for the first time offered an alibi for the night of Smith’s death saying that he was at his family’s Edisto Beach house with his late mother and brother. Hitting out at the rumours that continue to swirl, he said it was “a terrible thing” to be accused of. “I don’t want to be rude here, but have you ever been accused of murdering somebody?” he asked. “Well, let me tell you, this is very, very, very, very, very, it’s a terrible thing to place on somebody with absolutely no fact. I mean, it has harmed my reputation. I mean, people perceive me as a murderer.” In the interview, Buster also doubled down on his father’s innocence in the murders of Maggie and Paul – even after a jury of 12 peers convicted him back in March and he was sentenced to life in prison on the charges. Maggie and Paul were found shot dead on the family’s 1,700-acre Moselle estate back on 7 June 2021. Alex Murdaugh had called 911 claiming to have found their bodies. When asked if he ever thought it possible that his father might have killed their loved ones, Buster insisted no. “No, because I think that I hold a very unique perspective that nobody else in that courtroom ever held. And I know the love that I have witnessed,” he said. The 29-year-old went on to say that he thinks there are a lot of questions that still need to be answered about the murders. “My biggest thing that I want people to realise, that there are always two sides of the story. Now, they can pick which one they want to believe,” he said. “But I think there’s a heck of a lot that still needs to be answered about what happened on June the 7th.” He said that prosecutors presented a “crappy motive” and that the case was not “fair”. “I do not believe it was fair,” he said. “I was there for six weeks studying it, and I think it was a tilted table from the beginning. “And I think, unfortunately, a lot of the jurors felt that way prior to when they had to deliberate. It was predetermined in their minds prior to when they ever heard any shred of evidence that was given in that room.” Buster said that he believed the police were under “an awful lot of pressure” to come up with a suspect in the killings and so “the route that they decided to go with” was to charge his father. He also blamed the media coverage of the case which he said left jurors going into the process with their minds already made up. “Because of everything they had the ability to read prior to the trial,” he said. “I think that people get overwhelmed, and I think that they believe everything that they read. And I think it took advantage of a jury pool in a very small town in a very small county.” Now, with his father behind bars, he said he fears that the real killer is still walking free. “I think I set myself up to be safe but yes, when I go to bed at night, I have a fear that there is somebody that is still out there,” Buster added. Throughout the high-profile murder trial, Buster stood by his father, attending each day of the court’s proceedings with his family members. Buster also testified in his father’s defence saying that Murdaugh had been “destroyed” and “heartbroken” in the aftermath of the deaths of his mother and brother. But despite continuing to insist his father’s innocence even now, Buster did not deny that his father may be a psychopath. “I’m not prepared to sit here and say that it encompasses him as a whole, but I certainly think there are characteristics where you look at the manipulation and the lies and the carrying out of that such, and I think that’s a fair assessment,” he said. When asked if he worries he might be like his father, Buster also had some harsh words for his father’s character. “No, I do not worry, because I am not a thief. I am not a liar. I’m not a manipulator,” he said. “In those regards, I am nothing like him, but, in other regards, I believe that I do hold some of his more admirable traits, which I am quite proud of.” Murdaugh, 54, was sentenced to life in prison for the murders and is serving his time in the maximum security facility McCormick Correctional Institution in South Carolina. He is also facing a slew of financial fraud charges for stealing millions of dollars from his law firm clients and his dead housekeeeper’s family and over a botched hitman plot where he claims he paid an accomplice to shoot him dead. As well as Smith’s death, Murdaugh’s high-profile conviction also shone a spotlight on some other mystery deaths tied to the South Carolina legal dynasty. An investigation was also reopened into another mystery death connected to the Murdaugh family – that of their longtime housekeeper Gloria Satterfield. She died in 2018 in a mystery trip and fall accident at the family home. Murdaugh then allegedly stole around $4m in a wrongful death settlement from her sons. At the time of his murder, Paul was also awaiting trial for the 2018 boat crash death of Mallory Beach. Read More Alex Murdaugh set to plead guilty to federal financial charges Alex Murdaugh’s friend gets jail sentence for scheming to steal millions from dead housekeeper’s family New Alex Murdaugh jail call audio reveals awkward interaction with surviving son Buster

Michael Bobbitt chose to stay on the island community off Florida's Gulf coast as the hurricane hit.

The family of four found dead in an apparently murder-suicide inside an apartment on New York’s Upper West Side have been identified. The bodies of Edison Lopez, Aleksandra Witek and their children Calvin, one, and Lucian, three, were found at the home on West 86th Street on Monday afternoon. The grim discovery was made by Edison Lopez’s father, Mario Lopez, who is the building’s former superintendent. He told the New York Times that he went to check the apartment after his son, the current super, failed to drop the children off for babysitting that morning. Upon drilling the door lock out of the cylinder, he said he could see his daughter-in-law Witek on the floor with “blood already all over her”. Police then arrived to find Witek, 40, and her children in the hallway with fatal stab wounds, including to the throat. Edison Lopez was found on a bed in another room with a fatal slash to the throat. Authorities believe the 41-year-old father killed his family before himself. Speaking to the Times on Tuesday, Mario Lopez said he was still reeling from the shock and did not believe his son could be responsible. “How would you feel if you found your two grandchildren and your son and your daughter-in-law laying there?” he asked. Police said there were no warning signs of domestic violence. The investigation is still ongoing. A GoFundMe in memory of Witek and her sons has raised over $51,000 as of Wednesday morning.

Federal prison sentencing hearings for former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and prominent member Ethan Nordean have been canceled due to an emergency, the US Department of Justice has announced. It was not immediately clear why the hearing was postponed, though it does not appear to involve the parties. Tarrio, the former leader of the neo-fascist gang, was scheduled to appear for a sentencing hearing in Washington DC at 10am ET on 30 August after Tarrio and three other members of the group were found guilty of seditious conspiracy earlier this year for their roles in the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, among the most serious crimes facing the hundreds of people arrested in connection with the mob’s assault. Prosecutors are seeking 33 years for Tarrio. Tarrio, Nordean, Joe Biggs, Dominic Pezzola and Zachary Rehl were also found guilty of obstruction of an official proceeding. Four of the men – all but Pezzola – were also found guilty of conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, civil disorder and destruction of government property. The jury found Tarrio, Biggs, Nordean and Rehl guilty of seditious conspiracy after conspiring to forcefully oppose the lawful transfer of presidential power. This is a developing story Read More Proud Boys sentencing – live: Ex-leader Enrique Tarrio faces record Jan 6 prison time on conspiracy charges Who is Enrique Tarrio? Ex-Proud Boys leader faces longest prison sentence yet for January 6 ‘Donald Trump’s army’: Proud Boys members face decades in prison for January 6 sedition

Vladimir Putin will leave Russia and travel the farthest distance from his home country for the first time since an arrest warrant was issued against him by the International Criminal Court (ICC), according to a report. Mr Putin has reportedly accepted an invitation by Xi Jinping to visit China and the Kremlin is gearing up for his attendance at the Belt and Road Forum in October, three people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg. News of the visit comes after Mr Putin declined an invitation by India to attend G20 summit next week. The Kremlin said the Russian leader has a “busy schedule” while his main focus at the moment is Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Russia will be instead be represented by its foreign minister Sergey Lavrov. Moscow is an ally to Delhi and Beijing, both of whom are regional rivals and share strained diplomatic ties with each other. Both countries are not signatories to the ICC either. The Russian leader has, ever since the warrant was issued, travelled only to Russian-occupied areas in Ukraine. Before the warrant, he had visited Iran last year. On Tuesday, the Kremlin said a schedule for bilateral Russian-Chinese contacts was being worked out, when asked about the reported visit. “The schedule of bilateral Russian-Chinese contacts at various levels, including at the highest level, is being coordinated,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. “We will inform you about specific events and deadlines in a timely manner.” Mr Putin and Mr Xi have declared a “no limits” partnership between their countries. China has refused to condemn Russia’s actions in Ukraine directly while emphasing the importance of upholding Kyiv’s territorial integrity. In March, an arrest warrant was issued against Mr Putin and Russia’s commissioner for children’s rights, Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, for alleged war crimes committed by deporting Ukrainian children into Russia during the conflict. Human rights groups have estimated that more than 19,000 children were deported and placed with Russian families. Russian officials have claimed the children were taken in as a war-time humanitarian gesture. The Kremlin has rejected the war crime accusations. The Russian leader had earlier avoided going to South Africa, which is an ICC signatory, to attend the Brics summit last week. Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan also invited Mr Putin to visit Ankara for talks on a Black Sea grain deal, but he is now said to be considering traveling to Moscow himself. Turkey is not an ICC signatory. The flurry of announcements about the diplomatic visits come as British foreign minister James Cleverly visited China in the first such visit by a UK diplomat in five years. Mr Cleverly said he will urge China to fulfil its international commitments and show responsibility on the world stage on the Ukraine invasion. On Mr Putin’s purpoted visit to Beijing, he said, “Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine cannot be justified by Moscow or indeed anywhere else”. Read More India protests China's land claim ahead of the G20 summit President Xi Jinping is expected to attend Russia earns less from oil and spends more on war. So far, sanctions are working like a slow poison Vladimir Putin ‘too busy’ to face world leaders at G20 The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary

As the military seizes power in Gabon, we examine the colourful, contentious life of its ousted president.