An Italian court has dismissed a long-running case against the crew of three humanitarian organizations. It dropped charges accusing them of collaborating with smugglers as they helped rescue thousands of migrants at sea. The judges in the Sicilian city of Trapani decided not to proceed to trial against 10 crew members involved in the case. Staff members from the German nonprofit Jugend Rettet, Save The Children and Doctors Without Borders were fully acquitted from all charges of aiding and abetting illegal immigration. The court on Friday followed the surprise recommendation by prosecutors in February to dismiss all charges in the case, which the organizations slammed for criminalizing their activity in the Mediterranean.
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Ex-youth center resident testifies that counselor went from trusted father figure to horrific abuser
The man who blew the lid off decades of abuse allegations at New Hampshire’s youth detention center continued testifying at his civil trial Thursday. In the seven years since David Meehan went to police, the state has set up a $100 million fund for former residents of the Sununu Youth Services Center and brought criminal charges against 11 former state workers, including four accused of abusing Meehan. But facing more than 1,100 lawsuits from former residents, the state also argues it should not be held liable for the actions of what it calls “rogue” employees. Meehan’s lawsuit – the first to be filed — went to trial last week. He testified Thursday about how a counselor he initially trusted as a father figure subjected him to horrific abuse.
FILE - In this Dec. 7, 2001 file photo, James Parker is brought into court in Haverhill, N.H. where he faces charges in connection with the stabbing deaths of two Dartmouth College professors. Parker, who has served more than half of his life in prison for his role in the 2001 stabbing deaths of two married Dartmouth College professors as part of a plan to rob and kill people before fleeing overseas was granted parole Thursday, April 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Toby Talbot, File)
9 are facing charges in what police in Canada say is the biggest gold theft in the country's history
Canadian police say nine people are facing charges in the biggest gold theft in Canadian history from Toronto’s Pearson International airport a year ago. Authorities say 6,600 gold bars worth more than 20 million Canadian dollars or $14.5 million was stolen and the gold was melted down and used to purchase illegal firearms. Police said Wednesday that those charged include a Air Canada warehouse employee, a former Air Canada manager and jewelry store owner.
A movie weapons armorer has received the maximum sentence of 18 months in jail for involuntary manslaughter in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer by Alec Baldwin on the set of the Western film “Rust.” After a judge sentenced armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed on Monday, attention again turns to Baldwin's trial. Baldwin was pointing a gun at cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during a rehearsal outside Santa Fe in October 2021 when the gun went off, killing her and wounding director Joel Souza. Baldwin has pleaded not guilty and says he pulled back the hammer — but not the trigger — when the gun fired.
The first criminal trial facing former President Donald Trump is also the one in which Americans are least convinced he committed a crime, a new AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll finds. Only about one-third of U.S. adults think Trump did something illegal in the hush money case for which jury selection began Monday, while close to half think he did something illegal in the other three criminal cases pending against him. Still, about half of Americans would consider Trump unfit to serve as president if he is convicted of falsifying business documents to cover up hush money payments to an adult film actor.
Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small and his wife LaQuetta have been charged with endangering and abusing their teenage daughter. Charges filed Monday by the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office allege the mayor repeatedly hit his daughter in the head with a broom, knocking her out. He and his wife are also accused of repeatedly punching her. Small declined comment, referring inquiries to his lawyer, who did not immediately return a message seeking comment. Small previously said he, his wife and daughter were dealing with a private family matter that did not constitute a crime. LaQuetta Small is superintendent of Atlantic City schools.
The U.S. Attorney office in Colorado have indicted the owners of a funeral home on federal charges for fraudulently obtaining pandemic relief funds from the U.S. government. The husband and wife are already facing state charges for abusing corpses, after 190 decaying bodies were discovered in their funeral home’s facility last year. The new federal charges Monday against Jon and Carie Hallford are the latest example of the owners’ alleged lies, money laundering, forgery and manipulation over the past four years, devastating hundreds of grieving families. The Hallfords’ attorneys didn’t immediately return phone messages and emails seeking comment.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government are increasingly wielding strong-arm tactics to subdue political opponents and critics of the ruling Hindu-nationalist party. A decade into power, and on the cusp of securing five more years, the Modi government is reversing India’s decadeslong commitment to multiparty democracy and secularism. His Bharatiya Janata Party has brought corruption charges against many officials from its main rival, the Congress Party, but few convictions. Violence is on the rise against the Muslim minority. And the country’s judiciary increasingly aligns with the executive branch.
Politician Waheed-Ur-Rehman Para poses for a photograph at the Dal Lake in Srinagar, in Indian-controlled Kashmir, April 3, 2024. Para has been jailed twice by the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, first on allegations of stoking political unrest, then on charges of supporting militant groups -- charges he denies. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
