UN launches a rescue operation after 8 migrants die off Djiboutian coast
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The U.N migration agency said Wednesday that eight migrants died and 22 others were missing after they were forced off a boat near the Djiboutian coast.
The International Organization for Migration, or IOM, in a statement said the migrants were part of a group of 150 others who were forced by smugglers to disembark a boat and swim to shore on June 5.
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Winnipeg Free Press
an hour ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
A truck driver is convicted in the fatal shooting of an Amish woman in her Pennsylvania home
MEADVILLE, Pa. (AP) — A jury convicted a 53-year-old truck driver Thursday of shooting to death a pregnant Amish woman inside her rural Pennsylvania home early last year. Shawn Christopher Cranston was charged a few weeks after Rebekah Byler, 23, was found dead in the living room of her rural Spartansburg home. Cranston was convicted in Crawford County of first-degree murder, second-degree murder of an unborn child and related offenses. He is scheduled for sentencing in late July. 'It is hard to fathom conduct more heinous than brutally killing a young expectant mother and her unborn child in her home,' Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday said in an emailed release. 'Our homes are supposed to be our safe haven — this defendant violated the sanctity of home to commit these truly evil acts.' A message seeking comment was left for Cranston's lawyer, Louis W. Emmi. Police have said Byler's children, a 2-year-old girl and a 3-year-old boy, were in the home when their mother suffered sharp wounds to her neck and was shot in the head. The boy told investigators a man wearing sneakers had killed his mother. The children were not physically harmed. Members of the area's substantial Amish community attended the trial this week. Investigators have said they began to focus on Cranston within a day of the killing and took several items during a search of his home in Corry, about 8 miles (13 kilometers) from Spartansburg. Sundays Kevin Rollason's Sunday newsletter honouring and remembering lives well-lived in Manitoba. Byler's husband, Andy Byler, said during an earlier court proceeding that the children told him about the crime when he returned home from looking at possible roofing jobs. She had been doing laundry when he left earlier that day. 'I didn't really believe it,' Andy Byler testified last year. 'I walked in and saw her cap laying inside the door.'
Toronto Sun
an hour ago
- Toronto Sun
Prosecutors say Republican South Carolina lawmaker used 'joebidennnn69' to send child sex material
Published Jun 12, 2025 • 3 minute read South Carolina Rep. RJ May, R-West Columbia, speaks in favor of an education voucher bill on Wednesday, April 26, 2023, in Columbia, S.C. Photo by Jeffrey Collins, File / AP Photo COLUMBIA, S.C. — A Republican member of the South Carolina House who prosecutors say used the screen name 'joebidennnn69' has been arrested and charged with 10 counts of distributing sexual abuse material involving children. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account RJ May was arrested at his Lexington County home after a lengthy investigation and was ordered Thursday by a federal judge to remain jailed until his trial. The three-term Republican is accused of using 'joebidennnn69' to exchange 220 different files of toddlers and young children involved in sex acts on the Kik social media network for about five days in spring 2024, according to court documents that graphically detailed the videos. Each charge carries a five-to-20 year prison sentence upon conviction and prosecutors suggested May could spend over a decade in prison if found guilty. The files were uploaded and downloaded using May's home Wi-Fi network and his cellphone, prosecutors said. Some were hidden by the use of a private network but others were directly linked to his internet addresses. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. May says someone else could have used his Wi-Fi At his arraignment, May's lawyer suggested someone could have used the Wi-Fi password that was shown on a board behind a photo May's wife may have posted online. Attorney Dayne Phillips also suggested investigators didn't link each Kik message directly to May. Prosecutors asked that May not be given bail because he lives at home with his wife and young children, and some of the files he is accused of sharing feature children of about the same age as his. May investigated for paid sex in Colombia Prosecutors said they also investigated whether May used a fake name to travel to Colombia three times after finding videos on his laptop of him allegedly having sex with three women. An agent from the Department of Homeland Security testified the women appeared to be underage and were paid. U.S. agents have not been able to locate the women. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Prosecutors said May created a Facebook account with his fake name and his internet history showed him switching between his real account and the fake one and even searching his primary opponent from the fake login. Phillips, May's lawyer, told the courtroom that no sexual images of toddlers or young children were found directly on his laptop or cellphone. After spending the night at the Lexington County jail. May appeared in court Thursday in shorts and a T-shirt with his wrists and ankles in cuffs. After being ordered to stay in jail, he appeared to blow a kiss at his wife, who was at the hearing. May's political rise to the state House After May's election in 2020, he helped create the Freedom Caucus, a group of the House's most conservative members who say mainstream House Republicans aren't the true conservative heart of the GOP. He also helped the campaigns of Republicans running against GOP House incumbents. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'We as legislators have an obligation to insure that our children have no harm done to them,' May said in January 2024 on the House floor during a debate on transgender care for minors. His son charmed the House in April 2021 when May brought him to visit for his third birthday and the boy practiced his parade wave around the chamber. The Freedom Caucus released a statement Wednesday night saying they kicked May out of their group after his arrest. May spent a quiet 2025 House session Many of his onetime friends have distanced themselves from May as rumours of the investigation spread through the Statehouse. During the current session he could largely be seen at his corner desk in the back of the 124-seat chamber, mixing with very few colleagues. The House Speaker suspended May from his seat after the indictment. May's lawyer suggested he could have been framed and asked the Homeland Security agent if she knew that May had a lot of political enemies. 'There are a fair amount of people who don't like me either, Mr. Phillips,' agent Britton Lorenen replied. World Toronto Blue Jays World Toronto & GTA Celebrity
Winnipeg Free Press
3 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Spain's prime minister asks nation for forgiveness after high court investigates a close confidant
MADRID (AP) — Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on Thursday asked the nation for forgiveness after a close confidant in his Socialist Party was put under investigation for his alleged participation in a kickback scheme. The damaging case is the latest legal scandal — none of which have gone beyond the preliminary investigation phase — that have dogged Sánchez's inner party circle and his family for the past year. Sánchez himself hasn't been accused of any wrongdoing. ¨I want to ask forgiveness to the public because the Socialist Party and myself as its general secretary not should have trusted him,' he said, referring to Socialist lawmaker Santos Cerdán. Sánchez spoke hours after Spain's Supreme Court said that Cerdán is suspected of being involved in an alleged kickback scheme for government contracts. It was part of an ongoing investigation that already had pointed to the participation of another former minister in Sánchez's government. Cerdán was the Socialist Party's No. 3 official until he resigned from that post on Thursday. 'I have known Santos Cerdán since 2011 … and worked arm in arm with him,' he said, adding that no matter what happens in the court case 'this is an enormous disappointment.' Speaking at the Socialist Party headquarters in Madrid, Sánchez repeatedly asked Spaniards for forgiveness and said that he had learned of the corruption charges against Cerdán only hours before. Sánchez said that Cerdán is defending his innocence. The public act of contrition by Sánchez comes around 14 months after he took five days off to consider his political future when a judge launched an investigation into his wife, Begoña Gómez, for alleged influence peddling. Instead of resigning, he said he would fight on and denounced what he called a 'smear campaign' by media outlets aligned with right-wing political leanings. On Thursday, the Spanish leader said that he would order an external audit of the Socialist Party's accounts, but he refused to call an early election like his political opponents have demanded for months. 'There won't be elections until 2027, because this is not about me or the Socialist Party. This is about a project to bring positive change to the country,' Sánchez said. Despite leading a minority government, Sánchez said that he was sure he could finish out his four-year term. He has so far maintained the backing of his government's junior members and a myriad of smaller regional and leftist parties in parliament. 'There is no crisis in my government,' Sánchez said. As secretary of the Socialist Party organization, Cerdán held the third-most powerful position in the prime minister's party. Shortly after the court made public that there were sufficient indications that Cerdán was involved in the alleged kickback scheme, Cerdán renounced his seat in parliament and his party posts. While never a minister, Cerdán was charged with sensitive political negotiations, including the key talks between the Socialists and Catalan separatist parties that allowed Sánchez to form a new government in late 2023. Monday Mornings The latest local business news and a lookahead to the coming week. One of Europe's longest-serving leaders, the 53-year-old Sánchez has displayed adroit negotiating skills to stay in power since 2018, when he led Spain's only successful no-confidence motion against his conservative Popular Party predecessor. This week, Spain's Supreme Court also announced that it would put the country's prosecutor general on trial over allegations of leaking confidential information in a tax fraud case involving the boyfriend of Isabel Díaz Ayuso, the conservative head of the Madrid region and one of Sánchez's main political rivals. Last Sunday, tens of thousands of people protested in Madrid against Sánchez in a rally that was organized by the Popular Party under the slogan 'mafia or democracy.' ___ Joseph Wilson reported from Barcelona, Spain.
