Ex-police chief convicted in 4 arsons targeting his enemies

March 10, 2023

BALTIMORE (AP) — A former Maryland police chief was convicted Thursday of intentionally setting fire to buildings belonging to his adversaries, leading various law enforcement agencies on a sprawling investigation that linked a dozen arsons spanning nearly a decade and crisscrossing several counties. David Crawford, 71, was arrested in March 2021 and charged with over 50 felonies. Following his conviction Thursday, he faces life in prison at sentencing. Crawford served as police chief of Laurel, a city roughly halfway between Baltimore and Washington, D.C., from 2006 until his ...

Georgia to drop foreign agents law after massive protests

March 10, 2023

TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — Georgia’s governing party said Thursday it would withdraw draft legislation that opponents — and tens of thousands of protesters who swarmed the capital — warned could stifle dissent and curtail media freedoms, ushering in Russian-style repression. The bill would have required media and nongovernmental organizations that receive more than 20% of their funding from foreign sources to register as “agents of foreign influence.” Its opponents argued the bill was inspired by a similar law in Russia that’s used to silence critics, and could hinder ...

Police: Extremists kill 25 fishermen in Northeast Nigeria

March 10, 2023

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) — Islamic extremists killed at least 25 fishermen during an attack in northeastern Nigeria’s Borno state, the police told The Associated Press on Thursday, The rebels attacked the fishermen in the remote Mukdolo village of Borno where the years-long extremist violence is concentrated, said the local police chief Abdu Umar. Some of the bodies in the Wednesday attack were recovered and buried on Thursday, he said. “There is no single human being in that place because it has been abandoned but the villagers from Dikwa go there to fish. Unfortunately, this ...

Ex-Goldman banker gets 10-year sentence in 1MDB looting plot

March 10, 2023

NEW YORK (AP) — A former Goldman Sachs banker was sentenced Thursday to 10 years in prison for his role in looting a Malaysian sovereign wealth fund of billions of dollars used to finance lavish parties, a superyacht, premium real estate and even the 2013 film “The Wolf of Wall ...

Survivors of deadly Mexico abduction return to America

March 8, 2023

By Alfredo Pena, Fabiola Sanchez and Travis Loller Associated Press CIUDAD VICTORIA, Mexico (AP) — A road trip to Mexico for cosmetic surgery veered violently off course when four Americans were caught in a drug cartel shootout, leaving two dead and two held captive for days in a remote region of the Gulf coast before they were rescued from a wood shack, officials said Tuesday. Their minivan crashed and was fired on shortly after they crossed into the border city of Matamoros on Friday as drug cartel factions tore through the streets, the region’s governor said. A stray bullet ...

Jury quickly finds Murdaugh guilty of murder of wife, son

March 3, 2023

By Jeffrey Collins and James Pollard Associated Press WALTERBORO, S.C. (AP) — Disgraced South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh was convicted of murder Thursday in the shooting deaths of his wife and son in a case that chronicled the unraveling of a powerful Southern family with tales of privilege, greed and addiction. The jury deliberated for less than three hours before finding Murdaugh guilty of two counts of murder at the end of a six-week trial that pulled back the curtain on the once-prominent lawyer’s fall from grace. Murdaugh, 54, faces 30 years to life in prison ...