Death penalty jury unanimous

Golf and Instagram star Paige Spiranac claimed in a recent interview that she has gotten death threats. Spiranac stated the following on the situation, according to The Guardian : People seem to think I got where I am because of the clothes that I wear. That’s unfair to me and unfair to all of my accomplishments. I probably do more community service than any other professional golfer. For people to say: ‘You only show some cleavage, that’s why you have what you have,’ is unfair. That’s the injustice that we face every day as women and I see it a lot in golf…I was harassed, my family was harassed. I was receiving death threats, people were invading my privacy, I was being blackmailed. This was going on whilst I was trying to play. This is absolutely unacceptable. I don’t care if you’re a fan of a certain athlete or if you hate that person. There is never a reason to ever send anybody a death threat, and people who do deserve lots of prison time. Spiranac has been a target of … [Read more...] about Paige Spiranac Says She’s Gotten Death Threats

Bicol region map LIGAO CITY — Health authorities have recorded 11 fatalities due to leptospirosis in Bicol region from January 1 to July 30. Based on data released by Department of Health Center for Health Development (DOH-CHD) Bicol Regional Epidemiology Surveillance Unit, three patients who died of the rodent-borne disease were from Albay province, two came from Camarines Norte, two from Catanduanes, one from Camarines Sur and theee from Sorsogon province. There were also 85 cases of the disease covering the same period in the entire region. Dr. Rosa Maria Rempillo, local health support division chief of DOH-CHD in Bicol, told Inquirer in a text message Tuesday, August 9, that there was a 3 percent decrease of leptospirosis incidence in Bicol this year compared in 2021. Some 88 cases were recorded last year. “In order not to get infected with the deadly disease, avoid submerging in flood waters particularly if the person has an open wound,” Rempillo said. Leptospirosis … [Read more...] about Bicol records 11 leptospirosis-related deaths

The mindless driver of a pickup faces prison after an idiotic road race ended in the death of an innocent bystander. A woman was instantly killed after being hit by an out of control pickup as it embarked on some high jinks with another speeding car on a public road in Pathum Thani province near Bangkok. The 35 year old woman, Thanyaluck Sriphan, was standing outside of her food shop in front of a petrol station, located on Som Sang Road in the Baan Mai District of Pathum Thani when she was hit by the vehicle. Police and emergency service teams found the damaged pickup near the shop. Inside the vehicle, police discovered 36 year old male driver Prasarn Boonsi, and 29 year old female passenger Kunruethai Ninlaphruk. They were both injured and sent to a hospital nearby. Both tested positive for Covid-19 while being treated for their injuries. Witnesses told police the pickup was travelling at a high speed, racing with another car, before the pickup driver lost control and … [Read more...] about Innocent woman killed after high-speed race near Bangkok

Screenshot of the Supreme Court main building MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court has ruled that the privilege of the writ of amparo is meant to protect victims from the threat of extrajudicial killing, as it upheld a protective order for a woman who lost her husband to the Duterte administration’s war on drugs in 2016. In denying the petition of law enforcers to dismiss the writ, the high court explicitly recognized the death of Christina Gonzales’ husband as an “extralegal killing,” and affirmed the finding of the Court of Appeals (CA) that the widow had good reason to fear for her life. Gonzales’ husband, Joselito, was a suspected drug dealer who was killed in a police operation in Antipolo City in July 2016, shortly after then-President Rodrigo Duterte came into power. The previous administration’s bloody campaign against illegal drugs claimed the lives of thousands of drug suspects, for which Duterte and his subordinates were charged with crimes against humanity in … [Read more...] about SC favors drug war widow, calls PNP ops ‘extralegal killing’

- A + A LONDON (Aug 9): The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has started a rolling review of a variant-adapted Covid-19 vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech, it said on Tuesday. The so-called bivalent vaccine targets two strains of the SARS-CoV-2 virus behind Covid-19 — the original strain first identified in China, and the Omicron offshoots BA.4/5 that are currently behind most cases in Europe. A rolling review means the EMA assesses the data as it becomes available, and the process continues until there is enough data for a formal marketing application. Last month, the EMA said it had begun a rolling review of another version of the companies' shot which targets the original SARS-CoV-2 strain and Omicron subvariant BA.1. While existing coronavirus vaccines continue to provide good protection against hospitalisation and death, vaccine effectiveness has taken a hit as the virus has evolved. European Union officials plan to use bivalent shots in their autumn … [Read more...] about EU regulator begins review of Pfizer-BioNTech’s variant-adapted Covid-19 shot

- A + A KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 9): Leong Hup International Bhd's unit Leong Hup Feedmill Malaysia Sdn Bhd (LFM), one of the five feed millers recently issued with a proposed decision by the Malaysia Competition Commission (MyCC), said that MyCC has proposed to impose a financial penalty of RM157.47 million in the event LFM is found to have infringed the Competition Act 2010. In a filing with Bursa Malaysia on Tuesday (Aug 9), Leong Hup said that it provided the additional information for the purpose of clarity. Besides the RM157.47 million fine, Leong Hup also said that if LFM is found to have infringed the Act, MyCC proposed to direct LFM to undertake the following: i) to cease and desist from participating and engaging in the alleged anti-competitive horizontal agreement in relation to any discussion on price-related matters pertaining to chicken feed; ii) to submit monthly price-related matters to MyCC including the announcement of price adjustment to customers, a … [Read more...] about Leong Hup’s unit to be fined RM157.47 mil if found to have infringed Competition Act 2010

Peter Bergen is CNN's national security analyst, a vice president at New America and a professor of practice at Arizona State University. Bergen's new paperback is "The Rise and fall of Osama bin Laden." from which this article is, in part, adapted. The views expressed in this commentary are his own. View more opinion on CNN. (CNN) In 1961, after a CIA-backed invasion of Cuba failed spectacularly, President John F. Kennedy said of the Bay of Pigs fiasco, "Victory has 100 fathers and defeat is an orphan." Peter Bergen Last week, President Joe Biden took a victory lap when he announced that the US had tracked down and killed its most wanted terrorist, al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, who was living in a house in Kabul, Afghanistan. Don't expect a similar celebration on August 30, the first anniversary of the US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, which ended the longest war in American history. Any realistic assessment of that action shows that it … [Read more...] about Opinion: Biden’s Afghanistan exit decision looks even worse a year later

Gene Seymour is a critic who has written about music, movies and culture for The New York Times, Newsday, Entertainment Weekly and The Washington Post. Follow him on Twitter @GeneSeymour . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author. View more opinion on CNN. (CNN) Nobody trusts my ability to forecast the future, least of all me. Nevertheless, I feel fairly safe in predicting that WNBA star Brittney Griner will not serve all nine years of her sentence by a Russian court for drug possession and smuggling. Gene Seymour It's not that much of a stretch to imagine this coming true, especially when recapping the basis for that charge: two vape cartridges of hashish oil found in Griner's luggage at a Moscow airport in February. Nine years? For two cartridges? The maximum sentence is 10 years , and at least Griner didn't get that. Those with long enough memories can't help but think of the incredulous … [Read more...] about Opinion: What happens next to Brittney Griner is beyond our control

Jill Dougherty is adjunct professor at Georgetown University and a former CNN Moscow Bureau Chief. The views expressed in this commentary are her own. View more opinion on CNN. (CNN) Some of the most dramatic -- and diplomatically delicate -- moments in United States-Russia relations are linked to prisoner exchanges. Jill Dougherty February 10, 1962: In a Cold War, Hollywood-style trade on the Glienicke Bridge between Berlin and Potsdam, two men -- an American and a Soviet -- walked in opposite directions across what would decades later be known as the "Bridge of Spies." They were Francis Gary Powers, the American pilot of a spy plane shot down over the USSR, and Soviet KGB colonel Rudolph Abel, who had served five years in the US on espionage charges. More than half a century later, Vladimir Putin, a former KGB officer, certainly knows the value of prisoner swaps. In April, his administration freed former US Marine … [Read more...] about Opinion: Putin’s prisoner swap calculus

Washington (CNN) After months of internal debate, the Biden administration has offered to exchange Viktor Bout , a convicted Russian arms trafficker serving a 25-year US prison sentence, as part of a potential deal to secure the release of two Americans held by Russia , Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan, according to people briefed on the matter. These sources told CNN that the plan to trade Bout for Whelan and Griner received the backing of President Joe Biden after being under discussion since earlier this year. Biden's support for the swap overrides opposition from the Department of Justice, which is generally against prisoner trades. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday that "so far, there is no agreement on this issue." Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced Wednesday that the US presented a "substantial proposal" to Moscow "weeks ago" for Whelan and Griner, who are classified as wrongfully detained. Speaking at a press … [Read more...] about CNN Exclusive: Biden administration offers convicted Russian arms dealer in exchange for Griner, Whelan