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UK prime minister urged to speed up compensation for infected blood scandal victims

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:00:07 GMT

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said Wednesday he was committed to paying out compensation swiftly to thousands of people affected by the country’s infected blood scandal, which saw more than 2,000 patients die after contracting HIV or hepatitis from transfusions of tainted blood in the 1970s and 1980s.But Sunak, who was testifying before an independent inquiry into the public healthcare scandal, was heckled by survivors and affected families when he did not give a clear answer on when full payments will be paid out.The Infected Blood Inquiry was established in 2017 to examine how thousands of patients in the UK were infected with HIV or Hepatitis C through contaminated blood products in the 1970s and 1980s.An estimated 2,400 to 2,900 people died in what is widely described as the worst treatment disaster in the history of Britain’s state-funded National Health Service.The contaminated blood was linked to supplies of a clotting agent called Factor VIII, which ...

Bank owners and citizens protest deterioration of the Iraqi dinar following US ban on Iraqi banks

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:00:07 GMT

IRBIL, Iraq (AP) — Dozens of people protested in front of the Central Bank of Iraq in Baghdad and bank owners called for official action to stem a sharp increase in the dollar exchange rate Wednesday, after the United States blacklisted 14 Iraqi banks.Over the past two days, the market rate of the dollar jumped from 1,470 dinar per dollar to 1,570 dinar per dollar. The jump came after the U.S. listed 14 private Iraqi banks among banks that are banned from dealing with U.S. dollars due to suspicions of money laundering and funneling funds to Iran.The ban was imposed by the U.S. Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and was first reported by the Wall Street Journal on July 19. “The listing of almost one third of the private banks as banned from dealing with the U.S. dollar will have negative consequences from many perspectives,” Haidar al Shamaa, owner of a private bank in Baghdad said at a news conference Wednesday.He called on “the brothers at the ...

Michigan ‘Hockey Doc’ to stand trial on sexual assault charges connected to youth hockey physicals

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:00:07 GMT

FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. (AP) — A doctor who says he received the nickname “Hockey Doc” after spending more than two decades providing medical assistance to youth hockey teams in Michigan and Minnesota will stand trial on charges that he sexually assaulted patients.Zvi Levran faces 22 counts of third- and fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct involving 10 former hockey players. He denies any wrongdoing.Some witnesses testified during his preliminary hearing that ended Tuesday in Farmington Hills District Court near Detroit that the sexual assaults occurred when they were teens and adults.Each situation had one purpose, which was to “satisfy the sexual desire of the defendant,” said Judge James Brady, who noted that the victims had placed a lot of trust in the doctor.Defense attorney Jonathan Jones argued in court that solely touching a person’s genitals in a medical setting is not a crime, The Detroit News reported.Levran, 66, also faces charges in nearby Bloomfield Hills Distr...

Irish singer Sinead O’Connor dead at age 56: Reports

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:00:07 GMT

Controversial Irish singer Sinead O’Connor has died at the age of 56, according to several media reports. None of the reports indicated an immediate cause of death.O’Connor released 10 studio albums, while her song Nothing Compares 2 U was named the number one world single in 1990 by the Billboard Music Awards.Her death comes 18 months after her 17-year-old son Shane took his own life.More to come

Forensic scientist Henry Lee defends work after being found liable for falsifying evidence

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:00:07 GMT

Famed forensic scientist Henry Lee defended his work and reputation Wednesday after a federal judge found him liable last week in a lawsuit for fabricating evidence in a murder trial that sent two innocent men to prison for decades. Ralph “Ricky” Birch and Shawn Henning were convicted in the Dec. 1, 1985, slaying of Everett Carr, based in part on testimony about what Lee said were bloodstains on a towel found in the 65-year-old victim’s home in New Milford, 55 miles (88 kilometers) southwest of Hartford.A judge vacated the felony murder convictions in 2020, and the men filed a federal wrongful conviction lawsuit naming Lee, eight police investigators and the town of New Milford.U.S. District Court Judge Victor Bolden ruled last Friday that there was no evidence Lee ever conducted any blood tests on the towel. After Bolden granted a motion for summary judgement against Lee, the only outstanding issue for a jury in his case will be the amount of damages.Tests done after the tri...

Judge rejects a defense request to exhume the body of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooter’s father

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:00:07 GMT

PITTSBURGH (AP) — A federal judge Wednesday rejected a request by lawyers for the Pittsburgh synagogue gunman to exhume the body of the defendant’s father to prove paternity.Robert Bowers’ lawyers had wanted the body disinterred for a DNA test after prosecutors raised questions about paternity during Bowers’ trial for the 2018 massacre at the Tree of Life synagogue. Bowers, a 50-year-old truck driver from suburban Baldwin, faces a possible death sentence after being convicted in June of killing 11 people who had gathered for Sabbath worship and study.Trying to persuade jurors to spare his life, the defense said Bowers has a family history of mental illness and has introduced evidence that his father, Randall Bowers, was diagnosed with schizophrenia. The defense asserts that Robert Bowers also has schizophrenia and opened fire at the synagogue out of a delusional belief that Jews were helping to commit a genocide against white people.Randall Bowers died by suicide in 1979 on th...

Israel’s top court will hear challenges to a law that weakens its power, escalating political crisis

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:00:07 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s highest court said Wednesday it will hear legal challenges to a divisive new law that weakens its power, putting the country’s top justices in the position of defending their own independence and escalating a political crisis that has unleashed the country’s biggest protests in history. Israeli civil society groups and others filed petitions asking the Supreme Court to strike down the law enacted Monday — the first major piece of legislation in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s broader plan to overhaul Israel’s judiciary. The opposition’s legal challenges are pushing Israel toward a showdown over the foundations of its system of government. The court faces massive public pressure to strike down the law and has an inherent interest in preserving its powers and independence. But if it does so, Netanyahu’s government could ignore the ruling, setting the stage for a crisis over who has ultimate authority.“If there is ...

British man who served 17 years in prison for rape has conviction quashed thanks to new DNA evidence

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:00:07 GMT

LONDON (AP) — A British man who served 17 years for rape had his conviction quashed Wednesday by the country’s Court of Appeal after recently obtained DNA evidence linked another suspect to the crime.Andrew Malkinson, 57, was found guilty of the brutal 2003 attack on a 33-year-old woman in Greater Manchester who had picked him out from a police line-up. At the time of his trial, there was no DNA evidence linking Malkinson to the crime.He was sentenced to life in prison the following year, with a minimum term of seven years, but he always maintained his innocence and served an additional 10 years. He was eventually released from prison in 2020, but his name was on Britain’s sex offenders register.In an impassioned statement outside the Royal Courts of Justice in central London after the verdict, Malkinson recounted how many times he had not been believed by police or the legal system since he was first linked to the crime in 2003.“Today we told this court I was innocent and, finally,...

Biden's son Hunter pleads not guilty to 2 tax crimes after agreement with prosecutors falls through

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:00:07 GMT

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — President Joe Biden’s son Hunter pleaded not guilty Wednesday to two tax crimes after a deal with federal prosecutors unraveled during a court hearing following the judge's concerns over the agreement. Hunter Biden was charged last month with two misdemeanor tax crimes of failure to pay more than $100,000 in taxes from over $1.5 million in income in both 2017 and 2018, and he was expected to plead guilty after he made an agreement with prosecutors, who were planning to recommend two years of probation. That deal is now on hold. But during the hearing Wednesday, there was a dispute in court over whether the initial agreement gave him protection against any future charges. U.S. District Court Judge Maryellen Noreika, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, raised concerns about the language of the deal. Biden had also been charged with possession of a firearm by a person who is a known drug user, a felony. He had a Colt Cobra .38 Special for 11 days in Oct...

Bears TE Cole Kmet is getting a contract extension

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:00:07 GMT

LAKE FOREST, Ill. — It looks like a native of the Chicago area is going to play for his hometown team for a few more years.The Bears have signed Cole Kmet to a contract extension on the first day of training camp practice at Halas Hall. Per Adam Schefter and Field Yates of ESPN, the extension is four years for $50 million.This comes as the Lake Barrington native and former St. Viator High School standout was approaching the final year of his rookie contract he signed in 2020, when the Bears selected him in the second round out of Notre Dame. This represents the first contract extension that has been given out by new general manager Ryan Poles. "Just amazing. This whole thing, just from the beginning, has been a dream come true, getting drafted here first and being able to get an extension done and agree to terms on that, is amazing," said Kmet on Wednesday. "Looking forward to it and looking forward to things to come with it, many playoff appearances and Super Bowls to come."Kmet ha...