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Hunter Biden indicted on 9 tax charges, adding to gun charges in special counsel probe

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 12:31:25 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Hunter Biden was indicted on nine tax charges in California on Thursday as a special counsel investigation into the business dealings of the president’s son intensifies against the backdrop of the looming 2024 election.The new charges — three felonies and six misdemeanors — come in addition to federal firearms charges in Delaware alleging Hunter Biden broke a law against drug users having guns in 2018.He had been previously expected to plead guilty to misdemeanor tax charges as part of a plea deal with prosecutors who said he failed to pay taxes on $4 million in personal income in 2017 and 2018. Defense attorneys have signaled they plan to fight any new charges.The agreement imploded in July after a judge raised questions about it. It had also been pilloried as a “sweetheart deal” by Republicans investigating nearly every aspect of Hunter Biden’s business dealings as well as the Justice Department’s handling of the case.Congressional Republicans h...

Sara Bareilles whips up Broadway magic as ‘Waitress: The Musical’ heads to theaters in limited release

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 12:31:25 GMT

If you loved the Broadway version of “Waitress: The Musical,” you are in for a real treat. Now there’s a limited release film version — and guess what? Sara Bareilles stars in this one, too.Sara Bareilles is serving up her musical talent in “Waitress: The Musical.”Joe Tippett (as Earl Hunterson): “Where’s my kiss?”Sara Bareilles (as Jenna Hunterson): “I’ve got to get back to work.”Joe Tippett (as Earl Hunterson): “That can wait.”Charity Dawson (as Becky): “Do that baby a favor and leave his sorry [expletive].”The film version of the Broadway show tells the story of Jenna, a waitress and expert pie-maker who dreams of a way out of her small town and rocky marriage.Sara Bareilles (as Jenna Hunterson, singing): “You want to know what’s inside? Simple question, so then what’s the answer?”Sara Bareilles: “It’s just been an incredible gift, this show and I. I...

2 in Dedham suffer life-threatening stab wounds

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 12:31:25 GMT

A man walked down Country Club Road in Dedham in what neighbors would describe as “obvious distress” would die following an encounter with local police Wednesday evening as two adults related to him lay suffering from life-threatening stab wounds in a nearby Jackson Pond Road home.The man in distress, who authorities say has been described by witnesses as the one who stabbed the other two, would die following a chaotic encounter with police in which no gunshots were fired, according to the Norfolk District Attorney. His alleged victims, two non-spousal adult relatives, remained in treatment in Boston hospitals.“The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner has accepted the case, and an autopsy may be conducted as early as Thursday to establish exact cause of death,” said Norfolk DA Michael Morrissey in a brief statement to the press that night, adding that State Police detectives assigned to his office would “be working through the night with troopers from the Crime Scene Services Sectio...

Waltham crash suspect Peter Simon had lengthy criminal record before fatal hit-and-run

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 12:31:25 GMT

Peter Simon, the New Hampshire man accused of striking and killing a Waltham police officer and National Grid worker at a detail site, had been in legal trouble more than once prior to Wednesday’s incident, according to reports.In fact, Simon, a former resident of Brattleboro, Vt., fled from police before crashing head on into a public transportation bus in Keene, N.H. The August 2009 incident led to Simon being charged with several felonies and sentenced in 2011 to five years in a psychiatric unit in Hampshire State Prison in Concord.Simon and the driver of the bus suffered minor injuries in the crash, while a passenger in the bus suffered injuries and was airlifted to a hospital, the Brattleboro Reporter reported at the time.Simon’s sentence was later terminated in November 2015.Simon suffered from a “dissociative disorder” and a history of panic attacks, Cheshire County Attorney Peter Heed said at the time.“He feels very badly about the injured person,” Simon’s attorn...

Trump’s vow to only be a dictator on ‘day one’ follows growing worry over his authoritarian rhetoric

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 12:31:25 GMT

By JILL COLVIN and BILL BARROW (Associated Press)TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — As Donald Trump faces growing scrutiny over his increasingly authoritarian and violent rhetoric, Fox News host Sean Hannity gave his longtime friend a chance to assure the American people that he wouldn’t abuse power or seek retribution if he wins a second term.But instead of offering a perfunctory answer brushing off the warnings, Trump stoked the fire.“Except for day one,” the GOP front-runner said Tuesday night before a live audience in Davenport, Iowa. “I want to close the border, and I want to drill, drill, drill.”And in case anyone missed it, he reenacted the exchange.“We love this guy,” Trump said of Hannity. “He says, ‘You’re not going to be a dictator, are you?’ I said: ‘No, no, no, other than day one. We’re closing the border, and we’re drilling, drilling, drilling. After that, I’m not a dictator.’...

Santee Drive-in set its final day in business. Catch a film before it's gone

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 12:31:25 GMT

SANTEE, Calif. — It's end credits for the Santee Drive-In Theatre and Swap Meet: after more than half a century in business, the beloved venue is gearing up for its last-ever movie screenings.The East County outdoor cinema announced on Instagram Wednesday that its final day in operation will be on Dec. 31, 2023."We want to thank the Santee community for many years of support and ask for your understanding of our family's decision," the post read. "We hope you will come visit us one last time!"Over the next few weeks, the drive-in will be showing seven feature films on its two massive screens, including "Wonka," "Trolls: Band Together," "The Hunger Games: Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes" and "The Marvels." Def Leppard, Journey, and Steve Miller Band coming to Petco Park The drive-in will continue on its regular schedule of four showings — two on each screen — every night starting at 6:30 p.m. Showtimes at the drive-in can be found here. Tickets, which are purchased upon entrance to ...

The UN secretary-general invoked ‘Article 99’ to push for a Gaza ceasefire. What exactly is it?

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 12:31:25 GMT

It’s called “Article 99.” And it hasn’t been used for decades. Until this week. With an intensifying Israeli offensive and escalating civilian casualties, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres invoked a rarely exercised power this week to warn the Security Council of an impending “humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza. He urged members to demand an immediate humanitarian cease-fire.Guterres invoked Article 99 of the U.N. Charter — last used over half a century ago — which says the secretary-general may inform the council of matters he believes threaten international peace and security. Here, Edith M. Lederer, longtime chief U.N. correspondent for The Associated Press, breaks down what this could mean.WHAT IS ARTICLE 99 AND WHY IS GUTERRES INVOKING IT? It’s a provision of the United Nations Charter, the U.N. constitution. It states that the secretary-general — the U.N.’s top diplomat — may bring to the attention of the Security Council “any matter which, in his ...

Hong Kong’s new election law thins the candidate pool, giving voters little option in Sunday’s polls

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 12:31:25 GMT

HONG KONG (AP) — One of the Hong Kong’s longest-serving pro-democracy council members is organizing a farewell party with her residents in late December. Another democratic council member isn’t running for reelection to the post that has come to define him in recent years.As more obstacles are placed in front of candidates, the pool is thinning and becoming less politically diverse, leaving mostly “patriots,” those loyal to mainland China, in the running. And with such slim options, some voters say they won’t participate.Sunday’s district council elections will be absent of pro-democracy candidates for the first time in about four decades. Some of them chose to opt out, while others were unable to gather the requisite nominations to qualify — a hurdle that proved difficult to clear even for some pro-government politicians.During her 38-year tenure, Winnie Poon made history as the first popularly elected female council member in Kwun Tong district and witnessed the counci...

Inside Ibrahim Ali’s murder trial: threats, hallucinations, a dead witness and delays

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 12:31:25 GMT

VANCOUVER — Ibrahim Ali’s lawyers had a problem. They couldn’t get him to understand a key point — that he was still on trial for the first-degree murder of a 13-year-old girl.“He’s useless to us,” defence lawyer Kevin McCullough told B.C. Supreme Court Justice Lance Bernard on July 24. “We might as well have a hologram of the man sitting there. He thinks he’s been found not guilty.”It was one of many conversations the jury didn’t hear in a trial delayed by months, as the court and lawyers grappled with the mental and physical health struggles of a defendant who is unable to read or write in any language. There was also the death of an expert witness before she could complete her testimony, cases of COVID-19 and other illness among jurors, and violent threats against Ali’s lawyers.Jury members are now sequestered, debating their verdict on the death of the girl, whose body was found in a Burnaby’s Central Park in July...

Jury retires in Ibrahim Ali’s marathon B.C. murder trial

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 12:31:25 GMT

VANCOUVER — A British Columbia Supreme Court jury has retired to deliberate in the first-degree murder trial of Ibrahim Ali, more than eight months after he pleaded not guilty to killing a 13-year-old girl in a Metro Vancouver park in 2017.Justice Lance Bernard told the jurors they must consider all the evidence presented since the trial began last April and determine whether the Crown had proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Ali sexually assaulted the girl and killed her in the course of the attack.He said the Crown’s case is circumstantial, requiring the jury to infer that the only reasonable conclusion is that Ali forced the girl off a path and into a wooded area in Burnaby’s Central Park, where he raped and fatally strangled her.Bernard said Ali’s lawyers had meanwhile argued that semen inside the girl’s body that matched Ali’s DNA could have been the result of an earlier encounter with an “innocent explanation” and Ali isn’t the person who killed her an...