UNITED STATES
Weiner sentenced to prison
Former representative Anthony Weiner on Monday was sentenced to 21 months in prison for sending sexually explicit messages to a 15-year-old girl, setting off a scandal that played a role in last year’s presidential election. Weiner, 53, started to cry as the sentence was announced by District Judge Denise Cote in Manhattan. He pleaded guilty in May to transferring obscene material to a minor and agreed he would not appeal any sentence of 27 months or less. “I was a very sick man for a very long time, but I’m also responsible for the damage I have done,” Weiner read from a prepared statement in court before he was sentenced. He said he was being treated and asked Cote to spare him prison and sentence him to probation so he could continue treatment.
RUSSIA
Civilian deaths denied
The Ministry of Defense yesterday denied allegations that its airstrikes had killed civilians in Syria’s Idlib Province, saying that in the past few days it had only bombed militants in the area. Moscow said it was responding to allegations from the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which on Monday said six civilians had been killed in the province, including a woman and a child. Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Mevlut Cavusoglu also criticized Russia on Monday for the same reason, saying that recent Russian bombing in Idlib had killed civilians and moderate rebels and that this would be discussed with President Vladimir Putin when he visited Turkey this week.
UNITED STATES
Court hears TV show case
A federal appeals court yesterday was to consider arguments over whether detectives tricked a Wisconsin inmate featured in the Making a Murderer series into confessing and whether he should go free in a case that puts police practices in the spotlight. Oral arguments in Brendan Dassey’s case are before all 12 judges of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago. Dassey’s lawyers and state attorneys are each expected to speak for half an hour and answer the judges’ questions. A ruling may not come for weeks or months. Dassey, now 27, was sentenced to life in prison in 2007 in the death of photographer Teresa Halbach two years earlier. He was 16 when he told detectives that he helped his uncle, Steven Avery, rape and kill Halbach in the Avery family’s junkyard in Manitowoc County, Wisconsin.
UNITED STATES
BET launched in S Korea
Black Entertainment Television (BET), the premier US network geared toward African Americans, yesterday launched a version in South Korea in its first expansion into Asia. The South Korean BET channel, available both on traditional television and through streaming, is to feature the network’s signature shows, as well as local productions, it said. South Korea puts a concerted effort on promoting pop culture and, while the country is highly homogeneous, it has witnessed a boom in hip-hop — thanks in part to Koreans’ strong ties to the US’ rap capital, Los Angeles. Changmo, a South Korean rapper who has entered the country’s top 10 singles chart through collaborations, this year became the first Asian nominated at the BET Awards, competing in the fan-decided International Viewers’ Choice category. The network is to go to South Korea in a partnership with SK Broadband, a unit of conglomerate SK Telecom.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
‘DELUSIONAL’: Targeting the families of Hamas’ leaders would not push the group to change its position or to give up its demands for Palestinians, Ismail Haniyeh said Israeli aircraft on Wednesday killed three sons of Hamas’ top political leader in the Gaza Strip, striking high-stakes targets at a time when Israel is holding delicate ceasefire negotiations with the militant group. Hamas said four of the leader’s grandchildren were also killed. Ismail Haniyeh’s sons are among the highest-profile figures to be killed in the war so far. Israel said they were Hamas operatives, and Haniyeh accused Israel of acting in “the spirit of revenge and murder.” The deaths threatened to strain the internationally mediated ceasefire talks, which appeared to gain steam in recent days even as the sides remain far
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of