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Baby Emmanuel’s father Jake Haro sentenced to decades in prison for 7-month-old son’s murder in faked disappearance case

Jake Haro has been sentenced to 25 years to life in California state prison for the murder of his seven-month-old son Emmanuel, a child the family originally claimed was kidnapped in August, setting off a sweeping missing person search.
Haro, 32, dabbed at tears in a Riverside County courthouse on Monday as the judge read out the sentence for the “senseless assault and murder” that claimed Emmanuel’s life.
“While no sentence can possible vindicate the loss of innocence and life at the hands of Mr. Haro, a man who was supposed to protect these precious and defenseless children against evil and harm, the sentence here is the most the court can do to ensure that as much justice is done as possible,” the judge said.
Emmanuel’s maternal grandmother, Mary Beushausen, told the court the baby’s death had “destroyed my whole family.” She faulted the justice system for giving Haro a “second chance” after a 2023 conviction for willful cruelty against his child from a previous marriage, which resu..

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China academic intimidation claim referred to counter-terrorism police

China academic intimidation claim referred to counter-terrorism police1 hour agoShareSaveDamian GrammaticasPolitical correspondentShareSaveBBCAn investigation into allegations that Sheffield Hallam University faced sustained pressure from China to shut down human rights research has been referred to counter-terrorism police.
The BBC and the Guardian newspaper has been reporting that documents show that China had waged a two-year campaign of intimidation and harassment, including demands the university stop sensitive research by one of its professors into claims of forced labour in the Xinjiang region of China.
A South Yorkshire Police spokesperson said the force has referred the investigation on because the “allegations fall under Section 3 of the National Security Act”.
Section 3 of the act deals with “assisting a foreign intelligence service”.
An offence is committed if someone behaves in a way that “intends that conduct to materially assist a foreign intelligence service in carrying..

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Trump administration will tap emergency fund to pay partial food stamp benefits

Trump administration will tap emergency fund to pay partial food stamp benefits5 hours agoShareSaveAna FaguyShareSaveGetty ImagesUS President Donald Trump's administration has said it will provide reduced food aid to more than 42 million Americans, as the government shutdown this week heads towards becoming the longest ever with no resolution in sight.
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) said in a court filing that Americans who receive food assistance will get half their normal monthly allotment, after the government dipped into emergency funding.
Judges had given the Trump administration until Monday to provide a plan for how it would pay out Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap) benefits, also known as food stamps.
Funding for the programme has been in limbo due to the more-than-month-long shutdown.
While individual US states administer the benefits, the programme relies on money from the federal government, which has been unfunded and shut down since 1 October..

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‘That’s harsh’: CNN’s Tapper taken aback by Treasury boss Bessent’s Blue Jays dig after epic World Series Game 7 loss

Scott Bessent didn’t miss his opportunity to take a dig at Ontario Premier Doug Ford and the Toronto Blue Jays after their heartbreaking World Series defeat during a Sunday morning appearance on CNN with Jake Tapper.
The U.S. Treasury Secretary pushed back when asked by Tapper about President Donald Trump’s plans to levy additional tariffs against Canada after, accusing Ontario officials of election interference.
.”He didn't put on a 10 percent tariff, he threatened to put on a 10 percent tariff,” Bessent said. “And Jake, this is unacceptable. I read the premier of Ontario spent $75 million sending propaganda across the U.S. border —”
Tapper cut him off and reminded him that the “propaganda” he was mentioning was just former footage of Ronald Reagan speaking about tariffs in his own words. Bessent ignored the comment and did not engage with Tapper's clarification.
“It's the equivalent of election interference,” Bessent continued. “Nobody likes foreign election interfer..

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Mississippi woman kills monkey that escaped from overturned truck outside her home: ‘I did what any other mother would do’

A Mississippi woman shot and killed one of the monkeys that escaped from an overturned truck last week because she reportedly feared for the safety of her children.
“I did what any other mother would do to protect her children,” Jessica Bond Ferguson told The Associated Press. “I shot at it and it just stood there, and I shot again, and he backed up and that's when he fell.”
Ferguson, who has five children ranging in age from 4 to 16, grabbed her gun on Sunday when her eldest son told her he thought he had seen a monkey running in the yard outside their home near Heidelberg, Mississippi.
When she stepped outside, she spotted the monkey about 60 feet away from her. The Mississippi mom said she and other residents had been warned about the diseases that the escaped monkeys carried so she fired her gun.
open image in galleryA truck loaded with caged Rehsus monkeys crashed on Interstate 59, north of Heidelberg, on TuesdayThe Jasper County Sheriff's Office confirmed in a social ..

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Nato ‘will stand with Ukraine’ to get long-lasting peace, senior official tells BBC

Nato 'will stand with Ukraine' to get long-lasting peace, senior official tells BBC3 hours agoShareSaveFrank Gardnersecurity correspondent, in BahrainShareSaveBBCAdmiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone describes the war as a strategic failure for Russian President Vladimir PutinNato “will stand with Ukraine up to the day in which we will have them sitting around the table for a long-lasting peace”, a senior official from the military alliance has told the BBC.
Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, chair of Nato's military committee since January, added from an operational point of view he considered the Russia-Ukraine war was bogged down, and “it was almost time to sit and talk because it's a waste of lives”.
Pointing to the fact that Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 had resulted in two more countries joining the Western alliance – Finland and Sweden – Adm Dragone described the war as a strategic failure for Russian President Vladimir Putin, despite recent slow, ..

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‘No help, no food, no water’: Hurricane-hit Jamaican towns desperately wait for aid

'No help, no food, no water': Hurricane-hit Jamaican towns desperately wait for aid7 hours agoShareSaveBrandon Drenonin Westmoreland, JamaicaShareSaveWatch: Hurricane Melissa – aerial view of 'ground zero' destructionFive days after Hurricane Melissa pummelled into western Jamaica with record force, residents in devastated communities along the coast are still desperately waiting for help.
Many of the roads are blocked by debris and people are isolated with little food, no power or running water, and no idea of when normalcy will return.
The government said on Saturday that at least 28 people in Jamaica have died since the hurricane hit as a monster category five storm with 185 mph (297km/h) sustained winds.
That is a near 50% jump in the death toll overnight, and the number could rise as officials clear their way into new parts of the island in the coming days.
Local official Dr Dayton Campbell told the BBC 10 of those deaths were in Westmoreland.
Westmoreland pari..

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Trump threatens Nigeria with military action over treatment of Christians: ‘Government better move fast!’

President Donald Trump said he’s instructing the Defense Department to “prepare for possible action” in Nigeria, claiming the nation’s government “continues to allow the killing of Christians.”
Trump made the announcement Saturday on Truth Social, one day after he declared that Nigeria is a “country of particular concern.” The U.S. government uses this designation for nations determined to have committed “particularly severe violations of religious freedom,” according to the State Department’s website.
“If the Nigerian Government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the U.S.A. will immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria, and may very well go into that now disgraced country, ‘guns-a-blazing,’ to completely wipe out the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities,” the president wrote.
“I am hereby instructing our Department of War to prepare for possible action,” he continued. “If we attack, it will be fast, vicious, and sweet, just like the ter..

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President suggests being anti-Trump is ‘probably illegal’ in bizarre rant about Seth Meyers

President Donald Trump suggested that it is “probably illegal” to be “100% ANTI TRUMP” in a rant about late-night TV host Seth Meyers.
Trump shared the tirade via Truth Social on Saturday afternoon, after the TV personality mocked the president on Thursday’s episode of Late Night with Seth Meyers. Trump declared that Meyers “may be the WORST to perform, live or otherwise.”
“I watched his show the other night for the first time in years,” Trump wrote. “In it he talked endlessly about electric catapults on aircraft carriers which I complain about as not being as good as much less expensive steam catapults. On and on he went, a truly deranged lunatic.”
He continued: “Why does NBC waste its time and money on a guy like this??? – NO TALENT, NO RATINGS, 100% ANTI TRUMP, WHICH IS PROBABLY ILLEGAL!!!”
The Independent has contacted NBC for comment. When asked about the post, a White House official referred The Independent to Trump’s comments.
President Donald Trump suggested it's 'PR..

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Key town faces ‘multi-thousand’ Russian force, top Ukraine commander admits

Key town faces 'multi-thousand' Russian force, top Ukraine commander admits3 hours agoShareSaveJames LandaleDiplomatic correspondent, in KyivShareSaveReutersPokrovsk is a key hub whose capture could unlock Russian efforts to seize the rest of the regionUkraine's top military commander has admitted his soldiers are facing “difficult conditions” defending Pokrovsk – a key eastern front-line town – against massed Russian forces.
Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi said Ukrainian troops were facing a “multi-thousand enemy” force – but denied Russian claims that they were surrounded or blocked.
He confirmed that elite special forces had been deployed to protect key supply lines which, army sources said, were all under Russian fire.
The defence ministry in Moscow reported that Ukrainian troops were surrendering and 11 of their special forces had been killed after landing by helicopter, something denied by Kyiv.
In Saturday's posts on Telegram, Gen Syrskyi said he was “back on the front..