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Alameda County DA opposes release of pair convicted in journalist Chauncey Bailey’s murder

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:51:52 GMT

Twelve years after they were convicted of murders that included the assassination of Oakland journalist Chauncey Bailey, the former leader and a staffer at the defunct Your Black Muslim Bakery have filed longshot petitions for release from prison.Yusuf Bey IV and Antoine Mackey, both 37, filed motions this year seeking to overturn their 2011 murder convictions for the assassination of Bailey in the summer of 2007. Both men are serving life sentences without the possibility of parole, in New Folsom and Salinas Valley prisons, respectively.Bey IV was convicted of three murders — Bailey’s, Odell Robertson and Michael Wills — all killed in Oakland during the summer of 2007. Mackey was also convicted of fatally shooting Wills, an Oakland resident killed in what prosecutors called a copycat of the race-based Zebra Murder spree of the 1970s.The motions cite changes in California’s felony murder rule under a 2019 law that raises the bar for when prosecutors can charg...

East Bay telecommunications consultant illegally exported software to Iran

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:51:52 GMT

ALAMO — An East Bay telecommunications consultant pleaded guilty to a federal charge that he violated U.S. sanctions against Iran while exporting software upgrades for commercial-grade telecommunications servers to the country, authorities said.Farhad Nafeiy, 70, of Alamo, entered the plea after federal authorities filed a charge that he violated the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, according to a statement from Ismael J. Ramsey, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California. Nafeiy also pleaded guilty to one count of tax evasion, Ramsey said.U.S. District Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin scheduled Nafeiy’s sentencing for Jan. 29, 2024. Ramsey said Nafeiy could receive a maximum of 20 years in prison for violating the IEEPA and five years in prison for the tax evasion, with additional fines of up to $1.25 million.According to Ramsey, the IEEPA banned certain activities and transactions with Iran after a finding by the President that the country was a...

White House Faces Calls to Stop Ex-Guantánamo Detainee’s Forced Return to Russia

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:51:52 GMT

The mother of a former Guantánamo Bay detainee waited anxiously at her home in Russia last weekend, expecting to hear heart-stopping news about her son Ravil Mingazov, who has been imprisoned in the United Arab Emirates since his release from Guantánamo six years ago.In recent weeks, 87-year-old Zuhra Valiullina has grown convinced that something even worse could soon happen to Mingazov: He might be forced back to Russia, the country he fled after being persecuted for his Muslim faith.As all but 30 prisoners from Guantánamo Bay have been released, the notorious detention center has faded from the headlines. But Mingazov’s case — fraught with geopolitics — has drawn an unusual level of public attention. A former Russian soldier and ballet dancer, he fled Russia in 1999 in search of a place where he and his family could live and practice their faith freely. He was picked up in a raid in Pakistan in early 2002, when the U.S. was paying bounty for suspects, according to Gary Thompson, M...

Trump judge issues limited gag order after former president makes disparaging post about court clerk

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:51:52 GMT

Former President Donald Trump speaks with journalists during a midday break from court proceedings in New York, Monday, Oct. 2, 2023, as he attends the start of a civil trial in a lawsuit that already has resulted in a judge ruling that he committed fraud in his business dealings. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)(AP/Craig Ruttle) Former President Donald Trump speaks with journalists during a midday break from court proceedings in New York, Monday, Oct. 2, 2023, as he attends the start of a civil trial in a lawsuit that already has resulted in a judge ruling that he committed fraud in his business dealings. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)(AP/Craig Ruttle) NEW YORK (AP) — A New York judge imposed a limited gag order on defendant Don...

Adoptive parents charged with felony neglect after 3 children found alone in dangerous conditions

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:51:52 GMT

Two adoptive parents in West Virginia were charged with felony neglect after two children were found locked inside a small barn and a third child was located in an unprotected loft inside an adjacent home, police said Tuesday.The parents were arraigned Tuesday on charges of gross child neglect creating a substantial risk of injury.Authorities began investigating after they received a call Monday from someone expressing concern about the children’s welfare. Kanawha County sheriff’s deputies forced their way into the barn, where a boy and a girl were locked inside a small room. The children had been deprived of adequate food and hygienic care, and the room had no running water or bathroom facilities, the sheriff’s department said in a news release.Inside the main residence, a small child was found alone in a loft about 15 feet (4.6 meters) high with no protection from falling, the statement said.No adults were present at the home. The adoptive parents were arrested when they ret...

Judge in New York fraud case bars Trump from making personal attacks on court staff after he disparages his law clerk

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:51:52 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Judge in New York fraud case bars Trump from making personal attacks on court staff after he disparages his law clerk.Source

Shooting at major Bangkok shopping mall kills 2 people, and a teen suspect is arrested

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:51:52 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — A teenage boy with a handgun opened fire inside a major shopping mall in the center of Thailand’s capital Tuesday afternoon, killing two people before being apprehended, authorities said. Police said a suspect was taken into custody less than an hour after the first reported gunshots at the Siam Paragon Mall, one of Bangkok’s biggest and most upscale shopping destinations. Video uploaded to social media and broadcast on television showed a long-haired teenage boy in the custody of police. Major Thai media said he was 14 years old, though recently appointed police chief Torsak Sukvimol confirmed only that he is a minor and that he had a record of being treated for mental illness. He said police had not yet learned where the suspect obtained his gun.Torsak said two people had been killed, a visitor from China and a Myanmar national, and five people hurt. Earlier, Yutthana Sretthanan, director of Bangkok’s Erawan Emergency Medical Center, had said three people were...

Jews spitting on the ground beside Christian pilgrims in the Holy Land sparks outrage

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:51:52 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — A video that shows ultra-Orthodox Jews spitting on the ground beside a procession of foreign Christian worshipers carrying a wooden cross in the holy city of Jerusalem has ignited intense outrage and a flurry of condemnation in the Holy Land.The spitting incident, which the city’s minority Christian community lamented as the latest in an alarming surge of religiously motivated attacks, drew rare outrage on Tuesday from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior officials.Since Israel’s most conservative government in history came to power late last year, concerns have mounted among religious leaders — including the influential Vatican-appointed Latin Patriarch — over the increasing harassment of the region’s 2,000-year-old Christian community. Many say the government, with its powerful ultranationalist officials, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, has emboldened Jewish extremists and created ...

Laphonza Butler sworn in to replace late California Sen. Feinstein, becomes third Black female senator in US history

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:51:52 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Laphonza Butler sworn in to replace late California Sen. Feinstein, becomes third Black female senator in US history.Source

Connor Bedard breaks into NHL as Chicago Blackhawks look for more progress with rebuild

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:51:52 GMT

CHICAGO BLACKHAWKSCOACH: Luke Richardson (26-49-7 in his first season).SEASON OPENER: Oct. 10 at Pittsburgh.DEPARTURES: C Jonathan Toews, G Alex Stalock, D Caleb Jones, F Jujhar Khaira.ADDITIONS: C Connor Bedard, F Taylor Hall, F Nick Foligno, F Corey Perry, F Ryan Donato.GOALIES: Petr Mrazek (10-22-3-0, 3.66 goals-against average, 0.894 save percentage) and Arvid Soderblom (2-10-2-0, 3.45, 0.894).FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK STANLEY CUP ODDS: 200-1.LAST SEASON: Ugly, but that was the idea all along. The Blackhawks scored an NHL-low 202 goals on their way to the Central Division basement. It was almost worse, but Richardson directed the team to surprising wins against Boston, Pittsburgh, Nashville and Calgary in the final weeks of an encouraging first season in charge for the former NHL defenseman. Patrick Kane, Jake McCabe and Sam Lafferty were dealt in a series of deadline trades that netted even more draft capital for the rebuilding team. STRENGTHS: Patience. Even with the offseason additi...