The leader of a Kenyan doomsday cult linked to the deaths of hundreds of people has been sentenced to 200 years in prison for the murders of 191 people. The High Court in Kenya’s coastal city of Mombasa issued the sentence on Friday for Pastor Paul Mackenzie. He was convicted of murdering 190 children and one adult after he ordered his followers to starve themselves to death in order to meet Jesus. Justice Diana Kavedza said that Mackenzie bore the “primary criminal culpability” for relocating his followers to a remote location and ordering them to fast to death.
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Malaysia's attorney general has temporarily suspended the transfer of former Prime Minister Najib Razak from prison to house arrest. The office says more clarification is needed. Najib will remain in prison until legal matters are sorted out. Local media reported Friday that Najib had left prison to serve the remainder of his graft sentence at home. His political party paid a 50 million ringgit fine required under a royal pardon. Najib has been imprisoned since August 2022 for his involvement in the 1MDB scandal. The house arrest applies only to his reduced six-year sentence in the first trial. He’s appealing a separate 15-year sentence.
Good News International Church pastor Paul Mackenzie, center, who has been convicted on 191 murder charges, arrives alongside fellow church members as he awaits sentencing at the Mombasa High Court in Mombasa, Kenya, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
Good News International Church pastor Paul Mackenzie, right, who has been convicted on 191 murder charges, sits alongside fellow church members as he awaits sentencing at the Mombasa High Court in Mombasa, Kenya, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
Four men named in a former Cornell University student’s lawsuit are joining a co-defendant’s effort to block New York’s attorney general from leading a reopened criminal investigation into the woman’s gang rape allegations. That is according to court filings on Thursday. The co-defendant’s lawyers said the men agreed to be added to a court petition that seeks Attorney General Letitia James’ removal from the case because of social media posts she made prior to her involvement in which she condemned the alleged assault and expressed support for the accuser. James’ office declined to comment.
AP
New Hampshire dads who protested transgender athletes by wearing pink wristbands score court victory
Two years of litigation over the wearing of pink wristbands to soccer games in New Hampshire has ended with a settlement. Kyle Fellers and Anthony Foote wore wristbands marked with the “XX” symbol for female chromosomes to a high school soccer game in 2024 to protest allowing transgender athletes to play high school sports. They sued the Bow school district after being banned from school grounds. School officials argued they were protecting a transgender athlete from harassment. But the order dismissing the case Thursday says the men have a First Amendment right to wear the wristbands. The settlement requires the school's risk pool to pay the plaintiffs' attorney fees.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer is vowing that Democrats will not allow President Donald Trump to put “a right winger” on the Supreme Court once they take power, raising the possibility that his party could block a presidential nominee if there were a vacancy in the next two years. In an interview with The Associated Press on Thursday, Schumer would not say if he would hold a Supreme Court vacancy open until after the 2028 presidential election, as former Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell did in 2016. But he said that Democrats are “not going to allow any crappy nominees” for Supreme Court — or for lower courts or Trump’s Cabinet, either.
AP
LIV Golf is winding down its operations instead of launching a new version because of a lack of financial support. A lawyer representing the organization announced the decision in a bankruptcy court hearing Thursday in New Jersey. LIV Golf lost Saudi Arabia funding in April after having spent more than $5 billion since 2022. LIV filed for bankruptcy in September. Since announcing plans for a new version, top players like Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton have bailed.
President Donald Trump’s lawyers are due in court to try to persuade a New York appeals court to throw out his hush money conviction. Thursday's oral arguments come two years after the historic verdict. Trump was convicted of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to obscure a $130,000 payment to adult film performer Stormy Daniels. The president denies any wrongdoing. He has turned to state and federal courts in hopes of unwinding the verdict. Trump is not expected to attend Thursday’s court session.
FILE - Hong Kong teenage student leader Joshua Wong, left, stands in front of yellow umbrellas outside a magistrates' court in Hong Kong, on Sept. 2, 2015. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu, File)