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Blue diamond sells for more than $44 million at Christie’s auction in Geneva

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:15:27 GMT

GENEVA (AP) — The largest fancy vivid blue diamond to ever come to auction sold Tuesday for more than $44 million, far outstripping the pre-sale estimate, Christie’s said.The “Bleu Royal” — a ring featuring a fancy vivid blue pear-shaped diamond of 17.61 carats — was one of the standout pieces to go under the hammer at the auction house for Geneva’s Luxury Week.Christie’s had estimated the ring would fetch around $35 million.The auction house said the sale made the “Bleu Royal” the most expensive jewel sold at auction this year. Christie’s said the gemstone would be handed over to another private collection for the first time in 40 years.The Associated Press

Ex-CIA officer accused of sexually abusing dozens of women pleads guilty to federal charges

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:15:27 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — A former CIA officer accused of drugging and sexually assaulting at least two dozen women during various overseas postings pleaded guilty Tuesday to federal sex abuse charges.Brian Jeffrey Raymond kept nearly 500 videos and photographs he took of naked, unconscious women, including many in which he can be seen opening their eyelids, groping or straddling them, prosecutors say. The images date to 2006 and track much of Raymond’s career, with victims in Mexico, Peru and other countries.The case was just the latest embarrassment for the CIA, which in recent months has seen a reckoning over its often secretive and antiquated handling of sexual misconduct claims within the spy agency. The Associated Press found at least two-dozen women have come forward to tell authorities and Congress about sexual assaults, unwanted touching and what they contend are the CIA’s efforts to silence them. A CIA officer trainee was convicted in August of assault and battery for wrapping a s...

Defence, Crown make final arguments to the jury in Peter Nygard’s sex assault trial

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:15:27 GMT

TORONTO — The sexual assault case against Peter Nygard is built on a “false narrative” created by women whose testimony was not credible, his lawyer argued on Tuesday while the Crown urged the jury to reject the former fashion mogul’s “blanket denials.” Defence lawyer Brian Greenspan said in his closing arguments that the Crown’s case is based on “contradictions and innuendo” that do not meet the burden of proof, and that much of what has been said about his client in court is “revisionist history.”“You cannot, you must not act on speculation or suspicion,” Greenspan told the jury as he outlined his argument for Nygard’s acquittal. While Greenspan said it’s “possible” his client may have interacted with the women Nygard has said he has no recollection of, “what never occurred were the sexual assaults described by the complainants.” Assistant Crown attorney Ana Serban, on the o...

Biden will meet with United Auto Workers president in Illinois on Thursday

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:15:27 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Thursday will meet in Belvidere, Illinois, with the head of the United Auto Workers union, and the two leaders are expected to highlight plans to reopen an auto factory that Stellantis wanted to close. The White House announced in a statement Tuesday afternoon that during the visit, Biden will deliver remarks and meet with UAW members and the union’s president, Shawn Fain.The event will be an opportunity for the president and Fain to publicly showcase tentative contract agreements that ended a nearly 45-day union strike that targeted General Motors, Ford and Stellantis, maker of Jeep, Dodge and Ram vehicles.Biden will “highlight his commitment to delivering for working families and creating good-paying union jobs, as well as the UAW’s historic agreement that includes bringing thousands of UAW jobs back to Belvidere and reopening a plant,” the White House said. The contracts, if approved by 146,000 union members in the coming weeks, woul...

Charges filed against 2 accused of killing woman during attempted robbery in Worth

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:15:27 GMT

WORTH, Ill. — Charges have been filed against two people accused of killing a woman during an attempted robbery in the south suburbs over the weekend.According to Worth police, 22-year-old Tamara Jailynn Johnson and 23-year-old Jason Jerry Joseph Johnson have both been charged with first-degree murder for their alleged role in the shooting death of Jonnie Angel Klein, a 32-year-old mother of two. Police say the deadly shooting happened around 3 p.m. in the 6800 block of West 111th Street on Saturday afternoon while the victim was attempting to withdraw money from a bank in the area.  Chicago crime experts offer tips on how to avoid carjackings, minimize harm Family members told WGN-TV that Klein had just gotten off work before heading to the bank.Police responded to the scene after reports of someone “in need of assistance,” but responding officers arrived on scene to find the victim dead. Following an investigation by the South Suburban Major Crimes Task Force, aut...

White Sox announce 2024 coaching staff under Pedro Grifol

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:15:27 GMT

CHICAGO — The Chicago White Sox announced their major league coaching staff under manager Pedro Grifol for the 2024 season Tuesday, including five new faces to the franchise, and four returnees.New faces hired include Matt Wise (assistant pitching coach), Marcus Thames (hitting coach), Jason Bourgeois (first base/outfield coach), Drew Butera (catching coach) and Grady Sizemore (major league coach).Already familiar faces returning to the club in 2024 include Charlie Montoyo (bench coach), Ethan Katz (pitching coach), Mike Tosar (assistant hitting coach), and Eddie Rodriguez (third base/infield coach).Wise spent the last three seasons as the pitching coach for the Los Angeles Angels. After serving as the Angels bullpen coach in 2020, he began the 2021 season as interim pitching coach before taking over the position on a full-time basis in late May of that season.During his tenure, the Angels ranked sixth in the American League with a 3.77 ERA in 2022. Shohei Ohtani went 34-16 with a 2...

Government shutdown looms as lawmakers look for a solution

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:15:27 GMT

WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) -- Another deadline to avoid a government shutdown is steadily approaching."We're working earnestly on that," House Speaker Mike Johnson said.Johnson said his party is determined to avoid a government shutdown."I believe all Republicans want to get to the same end," Johnson said.GOP lawmakers, like Rep. Don Bacon (R-Ne.) and Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-Va.) said they support the speaker's goal."I'd probably do a straight CR [continuing resolution] through to January or late January," Bacon said."We're looking at all the options, but we can't shut down the government and we have to fully fund the military," Kiggans said.But Rep. Pete Aguilar said Republicans are wasting time with bills that cut programs that Americans rely on."These are bad policy bills. We should be talking about that in addition to what the Republican plan is in the next 10 days to fund government," Aguilar said.Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said the only way forward is for Congress t...

Airbnb 'nightmare': Tenant leaves Los Angeles home after nearly 600 days

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:15:27 GMT

(KTLA) – Elizabeth Hirschhorn, the woman who accused of squatting for well over a year in a Los Angeles guesthouse that she booked on Airbnb, is finally out.Hirschhorn left the guest house last Friday with a police escort after 575 days of rent-free living at the $3.5 million property, according to a court filing from the landlord obtained by People magazine. "It was quite a crazy moment because we were in the house, filming with a news channel," landlord Sascha Jovanovic old NewsNation. "And then these three men started walking [to the guest house], and I had no idea who was walking into it. I approached them, they didn't want to speak to me. ... Then I called the police as a home invasion, three men entering our property."Those three men turned out to be the movers, according to the Los Angeles Times. Airbnb renter stays at Brentwood home for more than a year without paying Jovanovic met Hirschhorn when she rented his guesthouse through Airbnb for six months at $105 pe...

Supreme Court to decide whether accused domestic abusers can have guns

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:15:27 GMT

WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) — Gun violence prevention advocates rallied in front of the Supreme Court on Tuesday as the justices heard a case that has the potential to upend a major gun control policy. The case challenges a federal law that bars people under domestic violence restraining orders from having guns. Among those advocates was Donna Berdych. She was there in memory of her late daughter, who she says was shot and killed by her abuser. "I don't want any family to experience what we have experienced," Berdych said. Tuesday's case revolves around a Texas man convicted of gun charges because of a restraining order issued after he hit and threatened his girlfriend. His lawyer, J. Matthew Right, argues that violates his Second Amendment rights.  Abortion ruling prompts variety of reactions from states "Very consequential actions that go against an individual's fundamental right to keep arms," Right said. This case was sparked by the Supreme Court's ruling las...

Lawsuit alleges 'widespread' abuse at shuttered youth facility operated by man commuted by Trump

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:15:27 GMT

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Eight former residents of a youth treatment center that was run by an Arkansas man who former President Donald Trump commuted have filed a lawsuit alleging widespread abuse at the facility.Attorneys for the former residents of the Lord's Ranch said the lawsuit filed Monday is the first of several to be filed against the facility. A man with a gun is arrested in a park near the US Capitol The Lord's Ranch closed in 2016 after owner Ted Suhl was convicted in a federal bribery scheme. Trump commuted his sentence in 2019.The lawsuit claims the unnamed residents were victims of repeated sexual abuse and rape by a counselor. The suit said officials there allowed the abuse to occur.