List of All Articles with Tag 'm'

By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK (Reuters) -Jamie Dimon, the chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, will not have to sit for

Former President Barack Obama will sit down with CNN's Chief International Anchor Christiane Amanpour for an exclusive in-depth conversation about the state of democracy that will air June 22 at 10 p.m. ET.

Pacific Investment Management Co. will pay $9 million over allegations from the US Securities and Exchange Commission that

“Suitcase killer” Heather Mack has pleaded guilty in a Chicago court today over the 2014 murder of her socialite mother in Bali, bringing some sort of conclusion to the shocking case. In August 2014, Mack, then 18 and pregnant, and her boyfriend Tommy Schaefer, then 21, bludgeoned Sheila von Weise-Mack, 62, to death with a metal fruit stand while on vacation at the luxury 5-star St Regis resort on the Indonesian island. The couple, who described themselves as “Bonnie and Clyde” in chilling text messages, then stuffed her body in a suitcase and left it in the trunk of a taxi. They were both convicted of premeditated murder in Indonesia – narrowly escaping death by firing squad. After serving seven years in a Bali jail (where her daughter was born), Mack was extradited to the US where she was arrested on arrival in Chicago and hit with fresh charges of conspiracy to murder in a foreign country in November 2021. Since then, she has been behind bars fighting the charges but had a change of heart and decided to take a plea deal. Read More A body in a suitcase, Bonnie and Clyde fantasy and baby born in Bali prison: The chilling case of Heather Mack Heather Mack, convicted in mother’s murder in Bali, plans to plead guilty in US, attorney says

Nine crew members have been arrested for people smuggling after a packed vessel sank in the Mediterranean on Wednesday, killing dozens of people, as human rights campaigners accused Greek authorities of neglecting those on board.

Fox News has quietly changed a headline on a highly controversial article that equated a Pride flag hung at the White House with “grooming and paedophilia”. After a furious response from LGBTQ+ advocates and White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates, who accused the network of “characteristically lying through its teeth”, Fox altered the headline while keeping the central “grooming” allegations in the article. The original headline and a since-deleted tweet by Fox News’ lifestyle reporter Kerry Byrne read: “White House flew controversial new transgender flag that promotes grooming and pedophilia, say critics.” The article quoted a founder of the far-right Gays Against Groomers activist group who claimed the flag was a political statement about “indoctrinating kids and trans kids and pushing kids to sterilize and mutilate themselves”. Mr Bates later shared a screenshot of Mr Byrne’s request for comment on Twitter which made no mention of a link to paedophilia or grooming. “FoxNews is characteristically lying through their teeth,” Mr Bates tweeted. “Please see Dominion Voting Systems v. Fox News Network. Fox never even communicated the malicious and discredited foundation of this article to the White House. Then they lie about whether we responded at all,” he tweeted. After the backlash, Fox News revised the headline on Wednesday to “White House flew controversial new transgender flag that troubles some critics in the gay community”. Fox Digital did not add a footnote explaining that the article had been changed. The flag in question, known as the Progress Pride flag, was designed by artist Daniel Quasar in 2018 and is based on the original multi-coloured rainbow flag and the transgender pride flag, according to Northwestern University. The White House confirmed to Mediaite that it had responded to Fox News to say it had been flying the flag for three years at Pride events. Fox News later updated its story after publication to include the response. The edited version included a line saying: “The White House did not respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment on the flag’s design and meaning.” Twitter users pointed out that Fox’s parent company wrapped its logo in the same flag to promote inclusiveness in a corporate responsibility report in 2022. Fox News did not respond to The Independent‘s request for comment. A White House spokesperson referred The Independent to Mr Bates’ tweets. Fox News, other right-wing media organisations and far-right personalities have repeatedly pushed a narrative linking transgender rights to paedophilia. The “grooming conspiracy theory”, which has led to state legislatures passing dozens of punitive laws targeting the LGBTQ+ community, is based on “discredited research and junk science”, according to the Southern Poverty Law Centre. On Wednesday night, a Biden administration source told CNN: “Fox paid the biggest settlement in media history because they platformed dangerous lies, and the lesson they took from that experience is to repeat the same behaviour, including spreading baseless QAnon filth?” This comes after Fox News came under fire earlier this week for describing President Joe Biden as a “wannabe dictator” who tried to have “his political rival arrested” during Donald Trump’s post-arraignment speech. Read More White House condemns Fox News chyron calling Biden ‘wannabe dictator’ as broadcaster walks back accusation Trump news – live: Trump rejected efforts to settle classified papers as Melania spotted in NYC on birthday Barr, Pompeo, Pence, Haley: All the Trump allies who have now changed their tune over indictment After expulsion and reinstatement, Tennessee Reps. Pearson, Jones advance past Democratic primaries US, Japan, Philippines agree to strengthen security ties amid tensions over China, North Korea Commerce Department announces nearly $1 billion in grants for 'middle mile' internet access

The Department of Justice has released a scathing report into the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD), outlining systemic abuses after a year-long investigation that began after the May 2020 murder of George Floyd. The Justice Department has found that MPD routinely uses excessive force, including unjust deadly force, the department revealed during a press conference on Friday. Attorney General Merrick Garland appeared with city officials in Minneapolis to speak about the blistering 89-page report. He said that the “patterns and practices we observed made what happened to George Floyd possible”. Mr Garland added that he spoke to the family of Mr Floyd earlier on Friday, noting that he told that his death has had a “irrevocable” on the city and the country, according to The New York Times. “His loss is still felt deeply by those who loved and knew him, and many who did not,” Mr Garland said. The attorney general ordered the probe in April 2021, nearly a year after the death of Mr Floyd. The report states that MPD uses tastes and firearms without properly assessing threats. The report notes that in one such incident in 2017, an officer was “spooked” by a woman reporting a sexual assault. DoJ also found that the MPD disregards the safety of those they take into custody, and that they failed to step in to prevent the unreasonable use of force, such as in the murder of Mr Floyd by then-MPD officer Derek Chauvin when several fellow officers stood by and didn’t intervene. The report also states that the practice of stop and search, that the use of force disproportionately affected Black and Native American residents, and that MPD wasn’t held accountable for racist activity until public protests ensued. MPD had been accused of using excessive force well before the murder of Mr Floyd. DoJ called the findings “deeply disturbing” and said that they “erode the community’s trust” in policing. The report found that it was “reasonable” to believe that officers are guilty of a “practice of conduct that deprives people of their rights under the Constitution and federal law”. The Department of Justice also accused MPD of violating the First Amendment rights of protesters and reporters at demonstrations. The city of Minneapolis has agreed to negotiate to possibly come to an agreement to be enforced by the courts that would put in place major changes to the city’s police. Similar consent decrees have been put in place in cities such as Chicago and Baltimore, in addition to several others. The report found that from January 2016 until August of last year, there were 19 police shootings in which “a significant portion of them were unconstitutional uses of deadly force”. Police at times discharged their firearms “without first determining whether there was an immediate threat of harm to the officers or others”. An investigation conducted by the state of Minnesota finished in 2022 found similarly outlined systemic abuse. The report states that Chauvin had been found to previously have used excessive force. DoJ found that several other officers “stood by” in multiple other cases involving Chauvin. DoJ also accused the city of not adhering to the Americans with Disabilities Act as they discriminate against those with behavioural health disabilities. The report states that “many behavioral health-related calls for service do not require a police response, but M.P.D. responds to the majority of those calls, and that response is often harmful and ineffective”. The federal probe found that officers in the Minneapolis force often failed to properly consider the health complaints of those they placed under arrest. “We found numerous incidents in which officers responded to a person’s statement that they could not breathe with a version of, ‘You can breathe; you’re talking right now,’” the document stated. More follows...

DOJ's report found that "systemic problems" at the city's police department led to George Floyd's murder in May 2020.

By Lucia Mutikani WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. consumers' near-term inflation expectations dropped to more than a two-year low in June and

A Vermont man has died in custody while awaiting trial on charges of killing his mother at sea, federal authorities said on Thursday. Nathan Carman, 29, was accused of the first-degree murder of his mother Linda Carman during a 2016 boating trip in what prosecutors alleged was a plot to inherit millions of dollars. Carman pleaded not guilty last year to fraud and first-degree murder and had been due to go on trial in October. The cause of his death was not immediately known. In September 2016, Carman arranged a fishing trip from a Rhode Island marina with his mother, during which his boat reportedly sank and his mother disappeared. Carman was found floating in an inflatable raft eight days later, while his mother has never been found. Prosecutors allege that Carman made alterations to the boat to make it more likely to sink. He was also accused of killing his grandfather, John Chakalos, who was shot dead in his home in Windsor, Connecticut, in 2013. Chakalos’s killing was part of a scheme by Carman to obtain millions of dollars from his grandfather’s estate, according to an eight-count indictment. He had not been charged in that case. Chakalos had made a fortune of tens of millions of dollars by building and renting nursing homes. Last May, Carman was arrested and charged with his mother’s murder. Prosecutors urged him to be held in custody pending trial as he was a flight risk. Carman was being held by US Marshalls at the time of his death. His attorney Martin Minnella told the Associated Press that he had been in good spirits when they spoke on Wednesday, and they had been due to meet again on Thursday. “We were meeting with some experts today over Zoom at 12 o’clock. We were prepared to start picking a jury on October 10 and we were confident we were going to win,” he said. “It’s just a tragedy, a tragedy.” According to prosecutors, Carman’s inheritance scheme began nearly a decade ago when he purchased a rifle in New Hampshire and used it to shoot Chakalos while he was asleep in his Connecticut home on 20 December 2013. Carman then discarded his own computer hard drive and the GPS unit that had been in his truck, according to the indictment. After his grandfather’s death, Carman received $550,000. He moved from Bloomfield, Connecticut, to Vernon, Vermont, in 2014, was unemployed, and by 2016 had squandered most of his inheritance, they alleged. He then organised the fatal boating trip with his mother Linda, of Middletown, Connecticut. In 2019, Chakalos’ three surviving daughters filed a lawsuit in New Hampshire seeking to block Carman from receiving any more of his grandfather’s inheritance. The case was dismissed after a judge ruled that Chakalos was not a New Hampshire resident. It was later refiled in Connecticut and was still pending. The three sisters issued a statement to the AP saying they were “deeply saddened” by Carman’s death. “While we process this shocking news and its impact on the tragic events surrounding the last several years we ask for your understanding and respect relative to our privacy,” they said through a lawyer. Read More Man charged with murdering mother on fishing boat to inherit grandfather’s riches Man found on raft after mother's mystery death at sea was suspect in grandfather's killing Treat Williams death: Everwood and Hair star dies aged 71 following motorcycle accident

A Harvard Medical School morgue manager and his wife are among five people who have been charged with stealing and selling human remains. Cedric Lodge, who was fired on 6 May, allegedly stole “heads, brains, skin and bones” from cadavers that were donated to the school, federal prosecutors in Pennsylvania said on Wednesday. He and his wife Denise sold the body parts to buyers in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, sending them in the post, according to the indictment. In one case, the buyer allegedly intended to tan skin into leather. The scheme, which is part of a larger black market, is alleged to have gone on from 2018 to 2022. Mr Lodge, who was hired by Harvard in Boston, Massachusetts in 1995, allegedly sometimes allowed potential buyers into the morgue to choose which body parts they wanted. After the horrifying allegations emerged, family members who donated their loved ones’ bodies to medical research spoke of their horror. “We were just disgusted,” Paula Peltonovich, whose father’s remains were donated to the school, told the Boston Globe on Thursday. “Sick, like we were going to throw up.” Read More ‘Disgusted’: Woman speaks out after father’s remains trafficked by Harvard morgue manager ‘Heads, brains, skin and bones’: Everything we know about the Harvard morgue body parts case Niece says she feels ‘sick’ after learning Harvard morgue worker accused of selling human remains Harvard morgue manager ‘sold body parts and human skin that was made into leather’ Harvard Medical School morgue manager, 4 others indicted in theft, sale of human remains

Three years after George Floyd was murdered by then-Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, the Justice Department issued a blistering report Friday of the city's police department, detailing racial discrimination, excessive and unlawful use of force, First Amendment violations and a lack of accountability for officers.