Warnock honored 5 civil rights 'martyrs' in his victory speech. Here are their stories

Story by Nicquel Terry Ellis •

Sen. Raphael Warnock’s re-election is being celebrated by supporters across the nation with many political observers crediting the work of voting rights groups for the consequential win.

Warnock delivered a victory speech to a fiery crowd in Atlanta on Tuesday night that touched on the power of faith, his deep Georgia roots and the perseverance of voters in the face of Republican-led voter suppression efforts. Election officials said a record number of voters showed up for early voting last week. And Black voters have been largely credited for Warnock’s win, signaling that Georgia is no longer a reliably red state.

In his speech, Warnock also honored the Black and White unsung heroes of the civil rights movement who died fighting for equal voting rights, making wins like his possible.

“Tonight, I want to pay tribute to all those, over so many years, who have put their voices, and their lives on the line, to defend that right,” Warnock said. “Martyrs of the movement like (Michael) Schwerner, (James) Chaney and (Andrew) Goodman, Viola Luizzo, James Reeb. And those who stood up and spoke up like Fannie Lou Hamer. John Lewis, who walked across a bridge knowing that there were police waiting to brutalize him on the other side. Yet, by some stroke of destiny mingled with human determination he walked across that bridge in order to build a bridge to a more just future.”

While Hamer and Lewis have been widely discussed by historians and journalists, Schwerner, Chaney, Goodman, Luizzo and Reeb are lesser known. But that doesn’t negate the significance of their work toward equality. All of them were killed by white supremacists or Ku Klux Klan members.

Here is what you should know about five “martyrs” of the movement:

Viola Liuzzo

Warnock honored 5 civil rights 'martyrs' in his victory speech. Here are their stories© Provided by CNNViola Liuzzo, 39, was killed by KKK members while driving her car on a stretch of road between Selma and Montgomery, Alabama on March 1965. - Bettmann/Getty Images

Liuzzo was a 39-year-old wife and mother of five of from Detroit who was killed by Ku Klux Klansmen in Selma on March 25, 1965.

Historical records show Liuzzo, a White woman, had been committed to fighting for economic justice and civil rights.

She was an active member of the Detroit NAACP chapter and the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Detroit. Family members say she decided to travel to Selma in 1965 after seeing televised news reports of peaceful protesters being beaten and tear-gassed by police on the Edmund Pettus Bridge.

In Selma, Liuzzo marched and helped transport demonstrators in her car. She was ambushed and shot to death by KKK members while driving Leroy Moton, a Black man, to Montgomery. Within 24 hours of Liuzzo’s death, President Lyndon Johnson announced the arrests of the KKK members. They were all acquitted by Alabama courts, however a federal grand jury found them guilty of violating Liuzzo’s civil rights and they were sentenced to 10 years in prison

In 1991, a marker honoring Liuzzo was erected at the site where she was killed on U.S. Highway 80, about 20 miles east of Selma

Rev. James Reeb

Warnock honored 5 civil rights 'martyrs' in his victory speech. Here are their stories© Provided by CNNRev. James J. Reeb, 38, was attacked by a White mob in Selma in 1965 and he died from his injuries days later. - Bettmann/Getty Images

Reeb, a White Unitarian minister who lived in Boston, died after traveling to Selma, Alabama, in 1965 to answer Martin Luther King Jr’s call to clergy to join demonstrations for voting rights in the aftermath of “Bloody Sunday.”

The 38-year-old minister was beaten by a group of White men on March 9, 1965 as he and two other White clergymen left an integrated Selma restaurant after having dinner. He was hit in the head and died two days later at a Birmingham hospital.

His killing gained nationwide attention, prompted vigils in his honor and is believed to have contributed to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

“The world is aroused over the murder of James Reeb. For he symbolizes the forces of goodwill in our nation. He demonstrated the conscience of the nation. He was an attorney for the defense of the innocent in the court of world opinion. He was a witness to the truth that men of different races and classes might live, eat, and work together as brothers,” King said as he delivered a eulogy for Reeb in 1965.

Three White men were indicted with murder in Reeb’s killing but their cases resulted in acquittals.

James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner

Warnock honored 5 civil rights 'martyrs' in his victory speech. Here are their stories© Provided by CNNAndrew Goodman, left, James Chaney, center, and Michael Shwerner, right, were killed in the summer of 1964. - MPI/Getty Images

Chaney, Goodman and Schwerner were three civil rights workers murdered in Mississippi during the summer of 1964. The killings were among the most notorious of the civil rights era, and were the subject of the 1988 movie “Mississippi Burning.”

The three men, who registered African Americans to vote, had just visited the victims of the burning of a Black church in Neshoba County when a sheriff’s deputy took them into custody for speeding. The men were driving a car with license plates registered to the Congress of Federated Organizations (COFO), one of the most active civil rights groups in Mississippi, according to an FBI file on the case.

After their release from the county jail, a Ku Klux Klan mob tailed their car, forced it off the road and shot them to death. Their bodies were found 44 days later, buried in an earthen dam, after an extensive FBI investigation.

Chaney was a 21-year-old Black volunteer with COFO. Goodman, a White 20-year-old, was a college student and new volunteer from New York. Schwerner, a White 24-year-old former social worker, was an established civil rights organizer who was “particularly reviled by the Klan for his work,” according to the FBI file.

The killings fueled the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964 and the Voting Rights Act the next year.

In 1967, prosecutors convicted eight defendants for violating the federal criminal civil rights conspiracy statute, namely the victims’ right to live. None served more than six years in prison.

No murder charges were filed at the time but nearly 40 years later, Edgar Ray Killen, a part-time Baptist minister and the plot leader, was found guilty of manslaughter in 2005 and sentenced to three consecutive 20-year sentences. Killen died in 2018.

CNN.com

New Zealand Navy idles ships as labour crisis hits

Story by By Lucy Craymer • Yesterday

A New Zealand Navy recruitment advertisement is displayed in Wellington© Thomson Reuters

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - Three of New Zealand's nine naval ships are sitting idle in port as higher civilian salaries lure personnel out of the military, the country's Defence Force said on Wednesday, even as tensions in the Pacific rise between China and the U.S. and its allies.

The HMNZS Wellington, an offshore patrol vessel, headed back to New Zealand early from what was meant to be a three-month deployment in the Pacific and was taken out of operation in November because of shortages, the New Zealand Defence Force said.

The Wellington is the third ship to be put into "care and custody", with two other vessels - another offshore patrol vessel and a smaller patrol vessel for operating close to shore - pulled off the line and their crews reassigned last year. The vessels have crews of 24 to 42.

The bottom line is "workforce issues are impacting ship availability to deliver naval outputs," an August note from the Chief of the Defence Force Air Marshal Kevin Short to the Minister of Defence said. "Risks remain to Naval output delivery if attrition and hollowness cannot be addressed in a timely manner."

NZDF has just over 15,000 personnel, including civilian staff, and about 2,800 are in the Navy. The Defence Force said in May that it would spend 90 million New Zealand dollars ($57 million) over four years to raise the salaries of the lowest-paid workers. Officials hope personnel figures will significantly improve by 2026-2027.

Having so few ships available makes it harder for the navy to handle multiple challenges at once, a New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) spokesperson said.

The problem is especially acute as the U.S., Japan, Australia and other countries in the region square off against China and strive for influence. New defence spending plans, driven by lessons learned from Russia's invasion of Japan, are also taking shape.

New Zealand, which spends roughly 1.5% its of GDP on defence, this year announced it would review its own defence policy in light of regional geopolitics and climate change. The review is not expected to be completed until 2024.

In July, after China signed a security pact with the Solomon Islands, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the Pacific region could manage security issues on its own.

The number of people leaving the defence force is at its highest level - the Navy attrition rate was about 16.5% in the year to November - in decades as staff have quit for jobs in the private sector, where salaries have risen due to a tight labour market.

New Zealand's Defence Force is also dealing with ageing equipment and a large number of personnel being assigned to border quarantine facilities.

Minister of Defence Peeni Henare acknowledged in an email that staff losses were hurting the Defence Force, but said the government was committed to rebuilding it.

"There is more still to do," he said.

The country is replacing its fleet of C-130 cargo planes and P-3 maritime patrol aircraft (MPA), and the first of four Boeing P-8A Poseidon MPA is due to arrive this month. Plans for a new military vessel built for Southern Ocean and Antarctic conditions were shelved this year.

($1 = 1.5838 New Zealand dollars)

(Reporting by Lucy Craymer. Editing by Gerry Doyle)

CANADA

Powerful new White Ribbon campaign focuses on men who become first-time fathers to girls

Story by Rita DeMontis • Yesterday 

Powerful new White Ribbon campaign focuses on men who become first-time fathers to girls© Provided by Toronto Sun

For some men, everything changes when they have a daughter.

And for many, it is one of the most terrifying experiences, not because they don’t love their child, but because the father knows what challenges his daughter is up against – basing it on his own past actions.

So is the powerful messaging of the White Ribbon ‘s new campaign called I Knew All Along, which captures in film a father’s distress and fear while lovingly holding his newborn daughter in his arms. The pain and remorse on the man’s face reveals that he knows what those challenges will be as he reflects on his own past behaviours with girls.

Coming so closely on the heels of the recent Montreal Massacre anniversary, the White Ribbon messaging (an organization founded by men in 1991 as a direct reaction to the massacre to bring awareness of the violence many women face in their lives) takes on an even more urgent appeal, given this abuse continues its relentless course, and traversing all levels of society.

“On December 6, 1989, fourteen women engineering students were killed in the École Polytechnique shooting, in a horrific act of gender-based violence and hatred,” said Humberto Carolo, White Ribbon executive director in a recent email. “Displays of harmful gender norms and stereotypes are so ingrained within our culture that it often takes personal experience, such as having a daughter, for many men to recognize these unhealthy behaviours,” explaining that “ I Knew All Along sheds light on the gender-based aggressions that men may have engaged in, whether verbal or behavioural, intentional, or unintentional, and reveals why they should not be ignored or minimized.”

Gender-based violence continues to be on the rise, White Ribbon organizers organizers say, “and it is important that men are part of the solution in changing systemic gender inequalities and promote healthy masculinities.”

Carolo explains that “displays of unhealthy masculinities … are learned behaviours and not something men and boys are inherently born with. Our mission with I Knew All Along is to highlight the experiences many people in our communities face and encourage male-identified individuals to become more conscious of and accountable for their actions.”

Gender-based violence – be it against girls, women, trans or non-binary people – can take the form of everything from name calling to pushing, hitting, stalking, sexual assault, rape, criminal harassment, manipulation – even death.



Serghei Turcanu/Getty Images© Serghei Turcanu

According to the Canadian Women’s Foundation , “it can happen between people in romantic relationships, in families, at work, and between friends and acquaintances and strangers … it often occurs in private places between people who know each other.”

Anyone can be abused, notes the site, regardless of background, identity, or circumstance. “But women, girls, and gender-diverse people are at high risk of gender-based violence.”

And it’s deadly: The Foundation reports “approximately every six days, a woman in Canada is killed by her intimate partner.”

Which makes the new White Ribbon campaign so critical: A 2022 study commissioned by the organization explores the concerns parents may experience after having a daughter. Three-quarters of moms of daughters and two-thirds of dads of daughters disclosed that having a daughter made them more concerned about the challenges that women often face in society. “Further, 70% of those who don’t have a daughter believe that if they had one, it would make them more aware or concerned,” notes a recent media release.

One man spoke about his own sense of identity as a new father: “As a new father to my first daughter, I want to do everything I can to build a healthy relationship with her and be a positive role model where she can learn and experience respect,” said Taylor Demetrioff, White Ribbon bilingual community engagement manager, in a recent media release. “It’s important to help my daughter grow up seeing her father being vulnerable and connecting with her emotionally so that she has a healthier sense of masculinity, security and respected boundaries.”

Carolo notes that White Ribbon “has always focused on highlighting the systemic and societal issues that lead to gender-based violence,” stating the White Ribbon campaign, which basically started as a grassroots operation, has spread to more than 60 countries, “becoming the largest movement of men and boys working to end violence against women and girls,” said Carolo, adding “its mission is to help men and boys understand the reality and dimension of this issue so they can become allies, challenge harmful behaviours, and make real change.”

The release of I Knew All Along addresses all these changes in a powerful film directed by TIFF 2022 People’s Choice Award winner Hubert Davis. The public service announcement “encourages men to act now, regardless of whether they have daughters or not, to be role models of gender equity and help create a violence and discrimination-free world.”

“Film has the power to present complex social issues in a way that is both compelling and universal,” said Davis in a recent media release. “To make an emotional impact, it was important for us to highlight a profound personal experience – like becoming a new parent. While not everyone may be a parent, many understand what it feels like to want to protect a loved one.”

Russian court upholds 22-year prison sentence against journalist Ivan Safronov for high treason

A Moscow court on Wednesday upheld the 22-year prison sentence imposed against journalist and State Space Corporation (Roscosmos) advisor Ivan Safronov for high treason, rejecting an appeal filed by his legal team.


Archive - Russian flags decorate the facade of a building located in St. Petersburg. - SERGEI MIKHAILICHENKO / ZUMA PRESS / CONTACTOPHOTO© Provided by News 360

"The verdict of the Moscow City Court remains unchanged, the appeal is not admitted," the court has announced, according to court documents picked up by the TASS news agency.

Thus, the sentence has entered into force and can be executed as soon as possible, which would entail the transfer of the convict to serve his sentence, a decision taken after a session held behind closed doors.

The sentence against Safronov is one of the most severe imposed in modern Russian history under the article on treason against the state contained in the country's Criminal Code.

The journalist was arrested in July 2020 and accused of handing over secret data to one of NATO's intelligence agencies. Before being hired by Roscosmos, he worked for the newspapers 'Kommersant' and 'Vedomosti', where he wrote about military and space-related issues.

Prosecutors claim that Safronov had collaborated since 2012 with the Czech Republic's secret services, through which he allegedly delivered to the United States information related to the country's technical and military cooperation.

Subsequently, he was accused of handing over information on Russian military activity to a Russian-German dual national political scientist who, in turn, allegedly handed over the data to German intelligence. However, Safronov himself insists on his innocence and rejects all charges against him.

HRW denounces «widespread abuses» of human rights in El Salvador since the adoption of the state of emergency

The NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) denounced Wednesday that El Salvador's security forces are committing widespread human rights abuses since the adoption of a state of emergency against gang violence in March of this year.


El Salvador's Territorial Control Plan Security Strategy against gangs - 

PRESIDENCIA DE EL SALVADOR© Provided by News 360

A report released Wednesday with Salvadoran human rights organization Cristosal documents mass arbitrary detentions and torture, as well as deaths in custody or forced disappearances.

"Salvadoran security forces have brutalized vulnerable communities with widespread human rights violations in the name of public security," lamented Juanita Goebertus, HRW's Americas director.

"To put an end to gang violence and human rights violations, the government of El Salvador must replace the state of emergency with an effective, rights-respecting security policy that gives Salvadorans the security they so richly deserve," added the NGO's regional director.

They also criticized the fact that the country's president, Nayib Bukele, has publicly supported the security forces, promoting "a dehumanizing rhetoric against detainees and their families".

They have also pointed out that there are reasons to question the effectiveness of these measures, as gangs have in the past benefited from mass incarceration to recruit new members.

HRW and Cristosal have interviewed more than 1,100 people, including victims of abuse, family members, lawyers, witnesses and government officials.

With this documentation, the organizations have found that agents have committed similar violations repeatedly in different parts of the country.

In many cases, detentions appear to be based on the appearance and social background of the detainees, sometimes without warrants or arrest warrants.

In addition, the NGO accuses El Salvador's authorities of committing enforced disappearances under international law, as they have reported numerous cases in which agents have refused to provide information on the whereabouts of detainees.

SUPER POPULATION IN JAILS

 Police and soldiers have carried out hundreds of raids, particularly in low-income neighborhoods, since the state of emergency was adopted. Authorities have arrested more than 58,000 people, of whom more than 1,600 have been children.

Thus, the prison population has increased in nine months from 39,000 to 95,000 people, more than three times the official capacity, criticize human rights organizations.

In this context, at least 90 people have died in police custody in circumstances that have not yet been investigated.

INTERNATIONAL CALL 

Therefore, HRW and Cristasol have urged the country's authorities to take rights-respecting measures to dismantle the gangs and protect the population.

Along these lines, the organizations have called on the United States and the European Union, as well as Latin American governments, to generate multilateral pressure.

"The international community must redouble its efforts to help ensure that Salvadorans are safe from gang atrocity crimes, human rights violations by security forces and other abuses of power," added Goebertus.

Beyond this, they have asked financial institutions to suspend loans that benefit government agencies involved in these abuses, such as the National Police, the Armed Forces, the Public Prosecutor's Office and the prison system.

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

Mozambique ex-president's son, ex-spy bosses jailed for 12 years for graft

Story by AFP • 

A Mozambican court on Wednesday sentenced two ex-spy bosses and the son of a former president to 12 years each for their part in a corruption scandal in which the government sought to conceal huge debts, triggering financial havoc.


Former president Armando Guebuza, seated, greets his son Ndambi, a defendant, at the session on November 30 when verdicts began to be read out© Alfredo Zuniga

The former head of security and intelligence, Gregorio Leao; the head of the security service’s economic intelligence division, Antonio do Rosario; and ex-president Armando Guebuza’s son Ndambi Guebuza were among 19 defendants accused in the country's biggest graft scandal.

"The crimes committed have brought consequences whose effects will last for generations," said Judge Efigenio Baptista.

The scandal arose after state-owned companies in the impoverished country illicitly borrowed $2 billion (1.9 billion euros) in 2013 and 2014 from international banks to buy a tuna-fishing fleet and surveillance vessels.

The government masked the loans from parliament and the public.

When the "hidden debt" finally surfaced in 2016, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other donors cut off financial support, triggering a sovereign debt default and currency collapse.

An independent audit found $500 million of the loans had been diverted. The money remains unaccounted for.

Handing down the sentence following after a week of reading the verdicts, the judge said the scam "aggravated the impoverishment of thousands of Mozambicans."

"The country became famous for the worst reasons," he said.

Leao and do Rosario were found guilty of embezzlement and abuse of power, while Guebuza was convicted for embezzlement, money laundering and criminal association among other charges.

str-ub/sn/ri

Mozambique court finds former president's son, others guilty over $2 billion scandal

Story by By Manuel Mucari • Yesterday 


Verdict in the $2 Billion "hidden debt" case in Mozambique© Thomson Reuters

MAPUTO (Reuters) - A Mozambican court on Wednesday found a former president's son and 10 other people guilty on charges related to a $2 billion "hidden debt" scandal that crashed the southern African nation's economy, sentencing them each to more than 10 years in prison.

Eight of 19 individuals, including state security officials, who had been on trial on charges such as money laundering, bribery and blackmail were acquitted by the court.

Armando Ndambi Guebuza, son of former president Armando Guebuza, was sentenced to 12 years in prison for his role in the scandal, which saw hundreds of millions of dollars in government-backed loans disappear. Others who were convicted were handed sentences of between 10 and 12 years.


Verdict of the court relating to the $2 Billion "hidden debts" in Mozambique© Thomson Reuters

"Armando Ndambi Guebuza showed no remorse for committing the crime and he maintains that he has been targeted for political reasons," Judge Efigenio Baptista of the Maputo City Court said.

"Ndambi still does not reckon that he wrongfully benefited from $33 million that the Mozambican people badly need."

Two top intelligence service officials, General Director Gregorio Leao and head of the economic unit, Antonio Carlos do Rosario, were each sentenced to 12 years in prison.

The judge said those convicted had by their actions helped impoverish Mozambique's people.

"The defendants tarnished the good image of the country abroad and in the international markets, with enduring and hard-to-repair effects," he said.

In 2016, Mozambique unveiled hefty state-backed borrowing it had previously failed to disclose to parliament or donors like the International Monetary Fund. The scandal prompted the IMF and other donors to cut off support, triggering a currency collapse and debt default.

The debt, including an $850 million Eurobond dubbed the "tuna bond", was ostensibly raised to develop a tuna fishing industry and other projects, including maritime security.

An independent audit found in 2017 that the government had not done enough to explain how funds were spent and that roughly a quarter of the money was unaccounted for.

Much of the money raised for the fishing project was diverted via kickbacks to bankers and Mozambique officials.

In a separate case related to the loans, Credit Suisse Group agreed to pay about $475 million to American and British authorities to resolve bribery and fraud charges.

A London-based subsidiary of Russian bank VTB also agreed to pay $6 million to settle U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charges it misled investors.

"It is proven that the defendants swindled state funds loaned by Credit Suisse and VTB which were supposed to be used to protect the special economic zone," the judge said during sentencing on Wednesday.

(Writing by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo and Bhargav Acharya; Editing by James Macharia Chege, John O'Donnell and Catherine Evans)

CIA HACKERS

Cuba’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs denounces cyber attack

The Cuban Foreign Ministry has denounced that its website suffered a cyberattack on Tuesday that caused "limited" access for several hours, although it has clarified that the integrity of the portal was not compromised at any time.


Archive - Two women wearing masks stroll through the streets of Havana, Cuba.

The department itself has explained Wednesday on social networks that hackers intentionally saturated the servers, which left the website unusable from 11.00 (local time).

"This attack is part of the communication war against Cuba," said the Ministry, which has "strongly" denounced actions that violate the rules "governing relations for the peaceful and responsible use of cyberspace".

PRISON NATION U$A

Watchdog finds prison failures before Whitey Bulger killing

WASHINGTON (AP) — A series of missteps by federal Bureau of Prisons officials preceded the October 2018 beating death of notorious Boston gangster James “Whitey” Bulger, the Justice Department’s inspector general said in a report on Wednesday.




The watchdog is recommending that at least six Bureau of Prisons workers be disciplined, according to the report. The inspector general found no evidence that there was “malicious intent” by any Bureau of Prisons employees involved in decisions made before Bulger’s slaying but found multiple levels of management failures that left Bulger at the mercy of rival gangsters behind bars.

The report found that Bureau of Prisons officials tried several times to downgrade Bulger's medical status, meaning he could be moved to other prisons, and then moved him from being housed alone at a Florida prison to being housed in the general population at a West Virginia prison. It said the officials had shared information about Bulger’s prison transfer widely.

“In our view, no BOP inmate’s transfer, whether they are a notorious offender or a non-violent offender, should be handled like Bulger’s transfer was in this instance,” the report said.

The report is the latest example of a serious failure by the Bureau of Prisons, which has been under increasing scrutiny from Congress and the public after the deaths of several high-profile inmates, including Bulger and wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein, who died in custody in 2019. An Associated Press investigation has found myriad crises within the agency, including widespread criminal conduct by employees, rampant allegations of sexual assault and significant staffing shortages that have hampered responses to emergencies.

In response to the report's findings, prisons officials have improved communications between workers on medical transfers and are adding more training and technology, the Bureau of Prisons said Wednesday in a statement. The bureau said it may take more action based on the report’s findings later as it works with the Inspector General’s Office. It did not comment on whether any employees were disciplined.

Bulger, who had a heart condition and used a wheelchair, was 89 year old when he was beaten to death hours after he arrived at West Virginia's Hazelton prison after causing problems at the Florida lockup, where he had been serving a life sentence for 11 murders and other crimes.

Related video: Watchdog: Medical concerns ignored for Whitey Bulger prison transfer (CBS Boston)
Duration 1:12  View on Watch

Bulger led a largely Irish mob that ran loan-sharking, gambling and drug rackets and served as an FBI informant who ratted on the New England mob in an era when bringing down the Mafia was a top national priority for the FBI. He fled Boston in late 1994 after his FBI handler warned him he was about to be indicted and spent 16 years as one of America’s most wanted men before he was captured at age 81 in Santa Monica, California.

Bulger’s transfer to Hazelton — where workers had already been sounding the alarm about violence and understaffing — and placement in the general population instead of more protective housing despite his notoriety were widely criticized by experts after his killing.

The Justice Department only brought charges in the killing this year, nearly four years later, even though officials had identified suspects right away.

Fotios “Freddy” Geas, a former Mafia hitman, and Paul J. DeCologero, a Massachusetts gangster, are accused of striking Bulger in the head multiple times while another man, Sean McKinnon, acted as a lookout. An inmate witness told authorities that DeCologero said that he and Geas used a belt with a lock attached to it to beat Bulger to death, prosecutors say.

All three men are charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, and McKinnon is charged separately with making false statements to a federal agent. Prosecutors say McKinnon told federal agents he wasn’t aware of what happened to Bulger.

More than 100 Bureau of Prisons officials were made aware in advance that Bulger would be moving to Hazelton, and the inmates also found out, the inspector general's report said. The watchdog said so many prison employees knew about Bulger's transfer that it’s impossible for them to determine who disclosed it to the inmates.

Bulger’s family sued the former director of the Bureau of Prisons, the former Hazelton warden and others, saying prison officials were well aware that Bulger had been labeled a “snitch” and that his life was at heightened risk behind bars. The family’s lawsuit said Hazelton was such an inappropriate place to send Bulger that it appeared he was “deliberately sent to his death.”

A judge dismissed the family’s lawsuit in January, concluding that federal law precludes the family’s ability to sue over a decision to transfer Bulger to the West Virginia prison.

___

Richer reported from Boston.

Lindsay Whitehurst And Alanna Durkin Richer, The Associated Press

Sheepdog kills bloodthirsty pack of wild coyotes to save his farmer's flock

Story by Swikar Oli • Yesterday 

Casper, a Great Pyrenees from Decatur, Georgia, has proved himself as trusty as a sheepdog can be after killing a pack of coyotes hungry for his owner’s sheep, all on his own.

Casper, the 20-month-old sheepdog, bravely fought against eleven coyotes.© Provided by National Post

The 20-month-old dog bravely went up against a pack of 11 coyotes threatening his sheep farm — killing eight— in a fight that lasted more than half an hour, said farmer John Wierwiller.

A bloodied Casper survived with skin and part of his tail torn off, Wierwiller told Atlanta television station WAGA-TV.

He scampered off but returned injured two days later after Wierwiller put out a call on social media.

“He was kinda looking at me like, ‘Boss, stop looking at how bad I look, just take care of me,”’ Wierwiller said. “It looked like a coyote grabbed his skin and peeled it right off.”


Casper after being released from the vet.’It looked like a coyote grabbed his skin and peeled it right off,’ says Casper’s owner.© Facebook

Wierwiller took Casper to the hospital in critical condition, he wrote on Facebook. Casper received sutures and stayed under medical supervision, he added. While the loyal sheepdog is returning to his old self, he is “a little tentative about everything,” Wierwiler said.

Last week, emergency vets closed up his neck wounds to halt the chance of an infection and, if all goes well, determined he may not need any skin grafts.

LifeLine Animal Project has raised more than $15,000 for Casper’s hospital bills.

Though dogs rarely prevail like Casper, packs of coyotes attacking pets have grown somewhat common in rural and growing suburban areas that abut wildlands throughout the United States and Canada.

Additional reporting from the Associated Press

Belarus protest leader's health problems caused by bad treatment in jail - allies

Story by Reuters • Yesterday 


KYIV (Reuters) - Political allies of jailed Belarusian protest leader Maria Kolesnikova said on Wednesday a rapid deterioration in her health last week and eventual hospitalisation were prompted by bad treatment in prison.


FILE PHOTO: Belarusian protest leader Maria Kolesnikova attends a news conference in Minsk, Belarus© Thomson Reuters

The strident critic of President Alexander Lukashenko underwent surgery last week and was put in intensive care in a ward in Gomel in southeast Belarus. Her father said she had been treated for a perforated ulcer and peritonitis.

Kolesnikova, who is serving an 11-year jail sentence after leading mass protests in 2020, had been in a solitary confinement punishment cell before her health worsened sharply, opposition politician Viktor Babariko's Telegram account said.


FILE PHOTO: Maria Kolesnikova, one of the leaders of mass protests in Belarus in 2020, attends a news conference in Minsk.© Thomson Reuters

"Her emergency hospitalisation with a perforated ulcer and peritonitis was the result of the disproportionately harsh detention in a punishment cell," it said in statement.

It said she had lost consciousness, complained of feeling unwell but been denied medical assistance for a long time.

"She began to have a crisis: in addition to problems with blood pressure, nausea and losing consciousness there was excruciating pain in her stock," it said.

Kolesnikova was one of several leaders of the street protests against Lukashenko, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. She was jailed on what she says were trumped-up allegations of involvement in mass unrest.

More than 10,000 criminal cases have been opened since 2020 for involvement in protests or criticising the authorities, which is also an offence.

(Writing by Tom Balmforth; editing by Timothy Heritage)