U.S.-Russian dual national jailed for 12 years on treason charges for $52 donation to Ukraine
YEKATERINBURG, Russia (AP) — U.S.-Russian dual national Ksenia Khavana was convicted Thursday of treason in a Russian court and sentenced to 12 years in prison on charges stemming from a donation of about $52 to a charity aiding Ukraine.
Khavana, identified by Russian authorities by her maiden name of Ksenia Karelina, was arrested in the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg in February and pleaded guilty in a closed trial last week, news reports said.
Khavana, a 33-year-old former ballet dancer, reportedly obtained U.S. citizenship after marrying an American and moving to Los Angeles. She had returned to Russia to visit her family.
She reportedly had her phone confiscated after arriving in Yekaterinburg in January and police found evidence on the phone of the donation. Soon before her planned departure she was jailed for 15 days on petty hooliganism charges and then charged with treason.
Russia’s Federal Security Service said she “proactively collected money in the interests of one of the Ukrainian organizations, which was subsequently used to purchase tactical medical supplies, equipment, weapons, and ammunition for the Ukrainian armed forces.”
Hurricane Ernesto aims for Bermuda after leaving many in Puerto Rico without power or water
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Hurricane Ernesto barrelled toward Bermuda on Thursday after leaving hundreds of thousands of people in Puerto Rico without power or water as sweltering heat enveloped the U.S. territory, raising concerns about people’s health.
A hurricane warning was in effect for Bermuda, with Ernesto expected to pass near or over the island on Saturday.
The Category 1 storm was located about 570 miles (915 kilometres) south-southwest of Bermuda on Thursday morning. It had maximum sustained winds of 85 mph (140 kph) and was moving north at 14 mph (22 kph).
Ernesto was forecast to become a major Category 3 hurricane on Friday and then decrease in strength as it approaches Bermuda, where it is expected to drop between four to eight inches of rain, with up to 12 inches in isolated areas.
Meanwhile, the spinning storm on Thursday was generating southern winds in Puerto Rico, which have a heating effect as opposed to the typical cooling trade winds that blow from the east.
Bangladeshi protesters attack supporters of ex-premier Hasina and harass journalists
By: Julhas Alam
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Hundreds of student protesters and political activists in Bangladesh, armed with bamboo sticks, iron rods and pipes, on Thursday, assaulted supporters of the ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and prevented them from reaching the previous house of her father and assassinated independence leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in the capital.
The house in Dhaka’s Dhanmondi area was turned into a museum to showcase narratives and other objects about a military coup on Aug. 15, 1975, when Rahman was assassinated along with most of his family members. The house, now called Bangabandhu Memorial Museum, was torched by the protesters hours after Hasina’s downfall on Aug. 5 following an uprising during which more than three hundred people were killed.
One killed, ten wounded in overnight grenade attack outside hotel in southwest Pakistan
QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — Insurgents in an overnight attack threw a grenade at people sitting in front of a hotel in the restive southwest Pakistan and killed at least one person while wounding ten more, police and hospital officials said Thursday.
The attack was the third in as many days in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province, as people celebrated the country’s independence day.
The separatist Baluch Liberation Army (BLA) group claimed responsibility for all the attacks, including the latest one, which came days after the group warned people not to celebrate the holiday on Wednesday, marking the Aug. 14, 1947, date of Pakistan’s independence from British colonial rule.
Arbab Kamran, a spokesperson at a hospital, said the facility received ten wounded and one dead following the attack.
15-year-old boy becomes first to be charged with rioting following recent U.K. unrest
LONDON (AP) — A 15-year-old boy on Thursday became the first person to be charged with rioting following a wave of violent unrest that swept across the U.K.
The teen, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, appeared at South Tyneside Youth Court on Thursday but his case was adjourned for two weeks. He was charged following disorder in Sunderland in northern England on Aug. 2, and had pleaded guilty to separate charges of violent disorder and burglary.
Hundreds of people have been arrested and charged since riots erupted on July 30 after misinformation spread online that the suspect in a knife attack that killed three children was a Muslim asylum-seeker.
Protesters fuelled by far-right activists attacked a mosque in the town of Southport, where the girls were killed, and the violence soon spread to more than a dozen cities and towns across the country.
Ukrainian President Zelenskyy says Kyiv troops have full control of the Russian town of Sudzha
By: Samya Kullab And Jon Gambrell
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday that the country’s troops have full control of the Russian town of Sudzha in the Kursk region in their incursion into Russian territory.
The town, the largest that Ukraine has reportedly seized so far, had a prewar population of around 5,000 people. It holds a measuring station for Russian natural gas that flows through Ukrainian pipelines to Europe.
Zelenskyy said a Ukrainian military commander’s office is being set up in Sudzha. He didn’t elaborate on the details or the functions of the office.
The claim couldn’t be independently verified. Russia did not immediately respond to Zelenskyy’s statement, but its defence ministry said earlier Thursday that Russian forces had blocked attempts to take several other communities.
Donald Trump asks judge to delay sentencing in hush money case until after November election
By: Michael R. Sisak
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump is asking the judge in his New York hush money criminal case to delay his sentencing until after the November presidential election.
In a letter made public Thursday, a lawyer for the former president and current Republican nominee suggested that sentencing Trump as scheduled on Sept. 18 — about seven weeks before Election Day — would amount to election interference.
Trump lawyer Todd Blanche wrote that a delay would also allow Trump time to weigh next steps after the trial judge, Juan M. Merchan, is expected to rule Sept. 16 on the defence’s request to overturn the verdict and dismiss the case because of the U.S. Supreme Court’s July presidential immunity ruling.
Gena Rowlands, acting powerhouse and star of movies by her director-husband, John Cassavetes, dies
By: Mark Kennedy
(AP) – Gena Rowlands, hailed as one of the greatest actors to ever practice the craft and a guiding light in independent cinema as a star in groundbreaking movies by her director husband, John Cassavetes, and who later charmed audiences in her son’s tear-jerker “The Notebook,” has died. She was 94.
Rowlands’ death was confirmed Wednesday by representatives for her son, filmmaker Nick Cassavetes. He revealed earlier this year that his mother had Alzheimer’s disease. TMZ reported that Rowlands died Wednesday at her home in Indian Wells, California.
