Latest news with #JasperReed
South China Morning Post
12 hours ago
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Qatar Airways cancels flight from Hong Kong to Doha for second day in row
Qatar Airways has cancelled early morning flights from Hong Kong to Doha for two days in a row, with more than 100 passengers affected, amid the conflict between Iran and Israel. Flight 815, scheduled to depart from Hong Kong for Doha at 1.25am on Tuesday, was cancelled first after Qatar temporarily closed its airspace in anticipation of retaliatory attacks by Iran on a US airbase near the capital. The carrier later cancelled flight 815 on Wednesday, which also had a departure time of 1.25am. Tuesday's flight was scheduled to leave just as Qatar closed its airspace to commercial airliners 'to ensure the safety of citizens, residents'. Shortly after the cancellation, news came through that Iran had launched a missile attack on the American Al Udeid Air Base near Doha. No casualties were recorded. The attack on the biggest American airbase in the Middle East came two days after the US launched massive strikes against three nuclear facilities inside Iran. Jasper Reed*, one of the affected passengers, said that he saw the news about 30 minutes before the flight started boarding.
South China Morning Post
a day ago
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
100 passengers left stuck in Hong Kong after Iran attack on US base in Doha
About 100 passengers were affected after a Qatar Airways flight from Hong Kong to Doha was cancelled on Tuesday morning after the country temporarily closed its airspace in anticipation of retaliatory attacks by Iran on a United States airbase near the capital. Qatar Airways flight 815 was scheduled to depart from Hong Kong for Doha at 1.25am on Tuesday, just as Qatar closed its airspace to commercial airliners 'to ensure the safety of citizens, residents'. Shortly after the cancellation, news came through that Iran had launched a missile attack on the American Al Udeid Air Base near Doha. No casualties were recorded. The attack on the biggest American airbase in the Middle East came two days after the US launched massive strikes against three nuclear facilities inside Iran. Jasper Reed*, a passenger on the affected flight, said that he saw the news about 30 minutes before the flight started boarding. 'We all started lining up for boarding as the news was coming in about the attack on a US base in Qatar,' he said. 'It was quite surreal to think we might be boarding a flight heading to an active war zone, as nobody was telling us if the flight was cancelled or delayed.'
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Yahoo
U.S. to seek death penalty in inmate's murder
May 7 (UPI) -- The U.S. government on Wednesday announced it will seek the death penalty for an Oklahoma inmate charged with killing one cellmate and attempting to kill another. The rare move comes as the Trump administration has sought to ramp up federal executions. Jasper Reed, 27, was charged with first-degree murder, attempted murder and assault resulting in serious bodily injury by a federal grand jury on Tuesday. According to prosecutors, Reed killed a cellmate at the Federal Transfer Center in Oklahoma City on May 8, 2024. A statement from that time by the U.S. Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Prisons identifies the victim as 52-year-old Rene Perez, who was serving a 21-month sentence for a supervised release violation. The department said he was found unresponsive at around 10:30 p.m. Federal prosecutors state that the autopsy showed Perez's death was ruled a homicide caused by manual strangulation. He suffered fractured thyroid and thyroid bones, as well as severe hemorrhaging to the chest. The attempted murder charge stems from an April 27, 2024, attack at the same facility. This time, a correctional officer reportedly found Reed allegedly strangling his cellmate. According to federal prosecutors, the officer administered pepper spray, but to no effect, and several officers were required to restrain Reed. His alleged, unidentified victim was transported to a local hospital, where he was diagnosed with several fractures to his nasal bone, orbital bone, maxillary sinus anterior wall, maxillary sinus lateral wall and hyoid bone, the prosecutors said, adding that Reed suffered no injuries in the incident. Reed entered the federal system on Dec. 27, 2023, after being sentenced to 51 months in prison on firearms-related charges. The Justice Department said in a statement Wednesday that Attorney General Pam Bondi has authorized U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma Robert Troester to pursue capital punishment in the case and has filed a notice of intent to seek the death penalty against Reed. Federal executions are exceedingly rare, with only 50 carried out since 1927, including 16 since the reinstatement of the federal death penalty in 1988, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Of those 16, ll but three were conducted during the final six months of the first Trump administration. The most recent federal execution: Dustin Higgs on Jan. 16, 2021, in Terre Haute, Ind., four days before Trump left office. Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a moratorium on federal executions on July 1, 2021. On the first day of his second term in the White House, the New York real estate mogul signed an executive order instructing the Justice Department and Bondi to "pursue the death penalty for all crimes of a severity demanding its use," including "a capital crime committed by an illegal alien present in this country." The Justice Department's announcement comes a day after Secretary Kristi Noem of the Department of Homeland Security said she will seek the death penalty for two Mexican nationals accused of human smuggling resulting in the deaths of at least three migrants. There are currently three federal death row inmates -- Robert Bowers, Dylann Roof and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. President Joe Biden, on his final days in office, commuted the death sentences of the 37 other death row inmates to life in prison.
Associated Press
07-05-2025
- Associated Press
Feds to seek death penalty for federal inmate charged with murdering his cellmate
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Federal prosecutors announced Wednesday they will seek the death penalty for an inmate accused of strangling his cellmate at the Federal Transfer Center in Oklahoma City. U.S. Attorney Robert Troester for the Western District of Oklahoma filed a notice of intent to seek the death penalty against 27-year-old Jasper Reed. A federal grand jury in Oklahoma City on Tuesday returned a three-count indictment charging Reed with first-degree murder, attempted murder and assault resulting in serious bodily injury. The U.S. Bureau of Prisons' federal transfer center, which houses about 1,400 male and female inmates, is a main hub for federal prisoners who are being transferred to prison facilities across the country. Prosecutors allege Reed, who was serving time in federal prison for a firearms offense out of New Mexico, attacked and seriously injured his first cellmate, referred to in court documents as T.R., on April 27, 2024. A corrections officer saw Reed lying on top of the man with his hands around his neck and blood on both men before he and other officers were able to separate the two, according to an affidavit signed by a federal agent. The other inmate suffered multiple broken bones in his face and neck, but survived. A little more than a week later, Reed was housed with another inmate, referred to as R.P., who was found dead inside his cell on May 8, 2024, the affidavit states. An autopsy determined the cause of death of that inmate to be homicide by manual strangulation. Reed's attorneys in the Federal Public Defender's office declined to comment on the case. Just hours after President Donald Trump returned to the White House, he signed a sweeping executive order on the death penalty that directs the U.S. attorney general to 'take all necessary and lawful action' to ensure states have enough lethal injection drugs to carry out executions. Trump's order compels the Justice Department to not only seek the death penalty in appropriate federal cases but also to help preserve capital punishment in states that have struggled to maintain adequate supplies of lethal injection drugs. Before Trump's election, federal executions had been on hold since a moratorium was imposed by former Attorney General Merrick Garland in 2021. Only three defendants remained on federal death row after Democratic President Joe Biden converted 37 of their sentences to life in prison.
