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  • Biden issues end-of-year pardons to six individuals | CNN Politics

    Biden issues end-of-year pardons to six individuals | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    President Joe Biden pardoned six individuals Friday who had already completed sentences for their offenses, including drug-related crimes and second-degree murder, and had become active in their communities following their release.

    The White House said Biden was a believer in second chances and that those he pardoned Friday had “demonstrated a commitment to improving their communities and the lives of those around them.”

    The list includes Beverly Ann Ibn-Tamas, an 80-year-old Ohio woman who was convicted of murder for shooting her husband when she was 33. She testified her husband physically assaulted her and threatened her in the moments before she killed him, but the court did not allow expert testimony regarding “battered woman syndrome.” On appeal, she was sentenced to a term of up to five years, a moment considered significant toward judicial recognition of battered woman syndrome.

    Also on the list is a 66-year-old Arizona man, Gary Parks Davis, who pleaded guilty to using a telephone to conduct a cocaine transaction when he was 22. He served a six month sentence and completed probation in 1981, and has since earned a bachelors degree and volunteers in his community.

    Edward Lincoln De Coito III, a 50-year-old California man, pleaded guilty to a marijuana trafficking charge when he was 23. He served more than a year in prison and has since served in the US Army and Army reserves.

    Vincente Ray Flores was court martialed when he was around 19 for consuming ecstasy and alcohol while serving in the military. After being sentenced to four months confinement, he participated in a return-to-duty program and remains on active duty, earning various honors from the military.

    It’s not unprecedented for a president to use pardon authority for a military court martial, but in the past it has not been without controversy. In 2019, then-President Donald Trump pardoned two former service members and restored the rank of a third who were accused of much more serious crimes than Flores.

    At the time, Defense Secretary Mark Esper and other senior military leaders told Trump a presidential pardon could damage the integrity of the military judicial system and ability of military leaders to ensure good order and discipline.

    Charlie Byrnes Jackson, of South Carolina, pleaded guilty to an illegal whiskey transaction when he was 18. After completing his probation in 1969, he’s been active in his community, including helping renovate his church.

    And John Dix Nock III, a 72-year-old Florida man, pleaded guilty to a charge related to a marijuana grow house. He completed community confinement in 1997, and since then has worked as a general contractor and helped mentor younger people looking to join the profession.

    A White House official said the pardons were granted through a “deliberative process” that was coordinated closely with the Department of Justice.

    The six pardons Biden issued on Friday came after he issued a wide-ranging pardon for all prior federal offenses of simple marijuana possession, a move that senior administration officials said would affect thousands of Americans charged with that crime.

    The first pardons of Biden’s presidency came in April when he issued full pardons for three individuals along with commuting the sentences of 75 people serving time for nonviolent drug offenses as part of “Second Chance Month.”

    “President Biden believes America is a nation of second chances, and that offering meaningful opportunities for redemption and rehabilitation empowers those who have been incarcerated to become productive, law-abiding members of society,” a White House official said Friday. “The President remains committed to providing second chances to individuals who have demonstrated their rehabilitation.”

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  • Hindu woman’s mutilated body found in Pakistan | CNN

    Hindu woman’s mutilated body found in Pakistan | CNN

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    Islamabad, Pakistan
    CNN
     — 

    The mutilated body of a Hindu woman was found in a field Thursday in southeastern Pakistan, police said, as they investigate her alleged murder in the latest suspected attack against minorities in the Muslim-majority country.

    The woman’s son, Somar Chand, said he found her disfigured body after searching for his missing mother with some relatives, according to a police report seen by CNN. He alleged that her skin had been peeled off, her breast cut off and her head split with a sharp object.

    Daya Bheel, 40, had gone missing Wednesday, according to Surender Valasai, an assistant to Pakistan’s Chief Minister for Human Rights. Her son told police in Sindh province that his mother had gone to collect grass but did not return home, according to the police report.

    Police in Sindh said they have made an unspecified number of arrests in connection with the case and have set up a special team to investigate. They have not been able to determine a motive for the alleged murder and did not share further details.

    Pakistan’s Women Democratic Front said it was “extremely disturbed, saddened and shocked” to hear about the case.

    “Our sister was mercilessly murdered, her body was found tortured and mutilated, a few days ago, yet there is deafening silence in the power corridors and in the mainstream media,” the group said. “Women Democratic Front calls upon all the women of the country, all our sisters to join our hands to bring an end to this reign of violence and oppression.”

    Nearly 97% of Pakistan’s 270 million people are Muslim, according to the country’s bureau of statistics, and minority groups often face discrimination and persecution.

    According to the United States government’s 2021 report on International Religious Freedoms, mobs targeted and killed Christians, Hindus, Ahmadi Muslims and Shia Muslims in attacks believed to be motivated by religion or accusations of blasphemy. Members of the Sunni Muslim majority had also faced similar attacks in Shia-majority areas, the report added.

    Last December, a Sri Lankan national working in Pakistan’s Punjab province was killed and later burnt by a mob after being accused of committing blasphemy against the Prophet Mohammed.

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  • New York recreational cannabis sales begin | CNN

    New York recreational cannabis sales begin | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    The first public sales of regulated cannabis in New York began at a dispensary in Manhattan’s East Village on Thursday at 4:20 p.m., hours after the first sale was made to a city official, New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced.

    Housing Works Cannabis Company became the first licensed dispensary in the state to open its location for business.

    The dispensary is operated by Housing Works, a non-profit that services people living with HIV/AIDS and those who are homeless and formerly incarcerated, Hochul said. The store will be open seven days a week and all proceeds will be directed to Housing Works, which runs a “network of charitable retail storefronts,” according to the release.

    “We set a course just nine months ago to start New York’s adult-use cannabis market off on the right foot by prioritizing equity, and now we’re fulfilling that goal,” Hochul said.

    The measure will attempt to address the racial disparities in cannabis-related arrests with a social and economic equity program to “facilitate individuals disproportionally impacted by cannabis enforcement,” city officials have said.

    The program includes “creating a goal of 50% of licenses to go to a minority or woman owned business enterprise, or distressed farmers or service-disabled veterans to encourage participation in the industry,” a city news release said.

    “Today marks a major milestone in our efforts to create the most equitable cannabis industry in the nation,” said New York City Mayor Eric Adams in a statement on Thursday.

    “The legal cannabis market has the potential to be a major boon to New York’s economic recovery – creating new jobs, building wealth in historically underserved communities, and increasing state and local tax revenue,” Adams said.

    In March 2021, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a bill allowing recreational marijuana use across the state by adults 21 and older after the state Senate and Assembly voted to approve the legislation. The New York State Cannabis/Marijuana Regulation & Taxation Act also expunges previous marijuana convictions for actions that would be legal under the new law.

    The bill allows adults 21 and older to buy cannabis from authorized sellers. Adults can also possess up to 3 ounces of cannabis and 24 grams of cannabis concentrate. Eighteen months after the first sales begin, the law will allow adults to grow six mature and six immature plants at home per household.

    It also establishes the Office of Cannabis Management, an independent office operating as part of the New York State Liquor Authority, to implement a regulatory framework. The office was designed to have a two-tier licensing structure that would separate growers and processors from those owning retail stores, Cuomo’s office previously said.

    The law will also add a 13% tax to retail sales for state and local tax revenue.

    The development of a regulated cannabis industry in New York has the potential to create 30,000 to 60,000 jobs and the ability to earn $350 million annually in tax collections, CNN previously reported.

    New York’s Cannabis Control Board issued the first 36 adult-use retail licenses on November 21, including 28 for qualifying businesses and eight for non-profits, according to Hochul’s office.

    Housing Works received over 2,000 responses to its invitation to RSVP for the grand opening. The line outside the store was already stretching down the block hours before 4:20 p.m., Charles King, the chief executive officer of Housing Works, told CNN on Thursday. King says the nonprofit is hoping to have a total of three marijuana dispensaries in Manhattan by the end of 2023.

    “I don’t know that we’re actually going to be able to serve everyone in the three hours that we’re open,” King said. “People are eager.”

    New York state has contracted with various laboratories to test all cannabis products to be sold for adult recreation, King says. The biggest challenge, he adds, was finding enough products to sell.

    Members of the media take pictures before the opening of the first legal cannabis dispensary in New York City, on December 29, 2022.

    Patrons must show their state or federal identification to make a purchase at the dispensary.

    “We’re required by regulation to card everyone who enters the store to make sure they’re over the age of 21 and take documentation that we’ve actually done that carding,” King said.

    Kenneth Woodin, who waited in line to enter the store for four hours, told CNN affiliate ABC 7, “I want to be part of history. I like the idea of regulated weed.”

    The federal ban on marijuana has not slowed down one of the fastest-growing industries in the United States. More than two-thirds of US states have legalized cannabis in some capacity. California was the first to legalize medical marijuana in 1996. Since then, the medical use of cannabis has been legalized in 39 states and the District of Columbia. Recreational cannabis use is legal in DC and 21 states.

    Ballot measures in Missouri and Maryland to legalize recreational marijuana passed in the 2022 midterm elections, as momentum has grown nationwide to push for lifting penalties once associated with cannabis.

    A poll by the Pew Research Center conducted in October found that 59% of adults believe marijuana should be legal for medical and recreational use, while 30% believe it should be legal for only medical use. However, just 10% of adults say marijuana use should not be legal, the survey found.

    In October, President Joe Biden took the first significant steps by a US president toward removing criminal penalties for possessing marijuana by pardoning all prior federal offenses of simple marijuana possession, a move that senior administration officials said would affect thousands of Americans charged with that crime.

    Biden has also tasked the Department of Health and Human Services and Attorney General Merrick Garland to “expeditiously” review how marijuana is scheduled under federal law.

    New York’s bill follows marijuana legalization in neighboring New Jersey. In February 2021, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed bills to legalize and regulate marijuana use for those 21 and older, decriminalize possession of limited amounts of marijuana and clarify marijuana and cannabis use and possession penalties for those younger than 21.

    There are wide racial disparities in marijuana-related arrests nationwide, according to a study by the American Civil Liberties Union.

    “On average, a Black person is 3.64 times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than a white person, even though Black and white people use marijuana at similar rates,” the ACLU said in a 2020 report.

    “In every single state, Black people were more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession, and in some states, Black people were up to six, eight, or almost 10 times more likely to be arrested,” the report said.

    Policymakers and industry members should not lose sight of how individuals, especially people of color, continue to be criminalized for activities that are now legal at the state level, Amber Littlejohn, CEO of the Minority Cannabis Business Association, previously told CNN.

    “First and foremost, we need to get people out of prison, and we need to stop arresting people for doing things that folks are making lots of money doing,” Littlejohn said.

    People of color also face tremendous barriers operating within the industry. Attempts have been made to create paths into the industry for those with non-violent marijuana convictions whose communities were negatively impacted from the War on Drugs. But these efforts have largely been unsuccessful due to state policies that limit licenses, fail to offer financial and business resources to people of color and that benefit deeper-pocketed multistate operators, Littlejohn says.

    “I think one of the biggest problems is there seems to be an incredible disconnect between what people say they support and believe in and what [becomes law],” she said. “It’s up to us, the collective us, to be holding folks accountable.”

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  • As Buffalo officers fan out to perform welfare checks, harrowing accounts emerge of those who died in the storm | CNN

    As Buffalo officers fan out to perform welfare checks, harrowing accounts emerge of those who died in the storm | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    As police in Buffalo, New York, sifted through 911 and welfare check calls dating back to the earlier days of the deadly winter storm, harrowing accounts of those lost in the storm have emerged.

    Among the victims was Monique Alexander, a 52-year-old mother who died in the Buffalo storm, her daughter Casey Maccarone said. Alexander had rushed out of the house as conditions were worsening, saying she would be right back, Maccarone said.

    Two hours later, when she had not returned, her daughter said she posted on a Buffalo blizzard Facebook group asking if anyone had seen her mom. Just minutes later, a stranger messaged her and asked to call her, Maccarone said.

    “He just instantly broke down crying,” Maccarone said. “He was stranded as well and he was walking down the street and he saw her in the snow. So he picked her up and he placed her under the awning … so that she wouldn’t get snowed on anymore.”

    “Her grand kids were waiting for her to come home. We were waiting for her to come home,” Maccarone said.

    The death toll in Erie County, New York, climbed to 37 by Tuesday evening as first responders went door-to-door and car-to-car checking on people they couldn’t reach days ago, when a blizzard swept through the area, trapping residents and snarling emergency response during the holiday weekend.

    It took until Wednesday evening for Buffalo Police to announce they were done following up on the unanswered 911 and welfare check calls – which at some point reached 1,100 calls, Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph A. Gramaglia said.

    Some officers checking on residents arrived to find that, in some cases, they were too late.

    “It’s a grueling, gruesome task that they had to do,” Gramaglia said. “They recovered a substantial amount of bodies and it’s terrible.”

    Some people have been found dead in cars, on streets or in snowbanks, Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown said.

    Among the storm’s victims is Anndel Taylor, 22, whose family said she was found dead in Buffalo over the holiday weekend after getting trapped in her car by the blizzard.

    After losing contact with her, her family also posted her location to a private Facebook page related to the storm to ask for help, and a man called to say he had found her without a pulse, her sister said.

    Also among the fatalities was 46-year-old Melissa Morrison, a Buffalo mother of two whose body was found in the snow near a Tim Horton’s, her mother Linda Addeo told CNN.

    Addeo had worried about her daughter after her son came across social media posts on Friday about a body that was found near the coffee shop that Morrison lived by, she said.

    On Tuesday, the coroner’s office informed the family that the same body was positively identified as that of Morrison, Addeo said.

    Another storm-related death involved a 26-year-old man, Abdul Sharifu, who left to get provisions for a family who asked for his help on Saturday morning, his cousin Ally Sharifu told CNN.

    His wife – who is pregnant and days away from giving birth – woke up that evening to find him gone. After sharing a photo of the missing man on Facebook in a desperate attempt to find him, the family got a call about a man who was found lying on the street and rushed to a children’s hospital, Ally Sharifu said.

    Ally Sharifu said he ended up identifying his cousin’s body at a hospital the next morning. Abdul Sharifu and his cousin are refugees from Congo who were resettled in the US in 2017 after they lived for about five years in a refugee camp in Burundi, Ally Sharifu said.

    “The stories are heartbreaking, just heartbreaking,” Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said.

    The police commissioner said he expects that rising temperatures in the coming days will melt the snow and uncover more storm victims. Officers will be out on Thursday searching in areas where bodies were reported but never found, Gramaglia said.

    The winter storm’s grim effects have been widespread, with reports of fatalities stretching beyond New York and across 11 other US states. There have in total been least 62 storm-related deaths reported nationwide, and they mainly involved weather-related traffic accidents or fatalities related to the cold.

    Ohio confirmed 9 weather-related deaths, Colorado recorded 2 deaths, Kansas and Kentucky confirmed 3 deaths each, South Carolina confirmed 2 deaths, and Missouri, New Hampshire, Tennessee, Vermont and Wisconsin each recorded one storm-related death.

    Sha'Kyra Aughtry helps a man she found stranded in the snow in Buffalo

    As emergency services were restored in Buffalo, the New York National Guard said they made at least 86 rescues, including getting a woman to the hospital just before she gave birth.

    Police were also back out, making ten arrests in Buffalo as of Wednesday in connection with suspected winter storm looting, the police commissioner said in a Wednesday news conference.

    But, Mayor Brown stressed, “This is a minority of individuals.”

    “In typical ‘city of good neighbors’ fashion, people have come together – they’ve assisted each other. Neighbors have helped neighbors. Friends have helped friends, and members of this community have helped people that they have never met before,” the mayor said Wednesday.

    One Buffalo woman, Sha’Kyra Aughtry, said she looked out her window on Christmas Eve to find a frostbitten man calling for help in the frigid cold.

    Her boyfriend carried the man, 64-year-old Joe White, into the house, and she used a blow dryer to melt the ice off his red and blistered hands, Aughtry said.

    After she called 911 and no one came to help, Aughtry said, she took to Facebook to plead for assistance and ended up getting White to the hospital with help from good Samaritans who came and snowplowed them out, she said.

    Social media also proved useful when a woman went into labor two days before Christmas.

    When Erica Thomas began having contractions, the snow from the winter storm had piled up about halfway up the front door of her Buffalo home and she and her husband, Davon Thomas, couldn’t get out.

    The soon-to-be father called 911 for help and was told they’d attempt to get an emergency vehicle there as soon as possible. He was later told responders had attempted to get to their house but couldn’t.

    Davon Thomas called a friend who made a post for the couple on a Buffalo Facebook group, asking for help and the couple ended up getting in touch with Raymonda Reynolds, an experienced doula of five years.

    Reynolds and her friend, doula and nurse Iva Blackburn, got on a video call with the couple and guided them through delivering the baby and cutting the umbilical cord.

    “We started screaming like it was a Buffalo Bills touchdown,” Reynolds said, describing the moment the baby girl was born. “It was the most beautiful thing I’ve been a part of.”

    In another act of kindness, a Buffalo barbershop owner, Craig Elston, ended up opening his store for people to seek refuge from the storm. “A lot of people slept in the barber chairs a lot of people put the chairs together,” Elston said.

    “I was just thinking about just keeping people warm. It was really that simple,” he said.

    Vehicles drive down Jefferson Avenue in Buffalo on Wednesday, December 28, 2022.

    After six days of restrictions on traveling while road conditions were unsafe, Buffalo is lifting its winter storm driving ban at midnight Thursday and replacing it with a travel advisory, Poloncarz announced.

    The driving ban had been in place in Buffalo since Friday morning.

    “We still have a ways to go but we have come a long way in just a couple of days. This will allow our residents to get back to work – allow them to get to supermarkets, pharmacies, and to get to medical appointments,” Mayor Brown said.

    Poloncarz was asked Wednesday about the timing of the driving ban, and whether there had been discussion among officials about issuing it earlier.

    Officials started discussing a potential ban Thursday, Poloncarz said, but they initially believed the snow band wouldn’t reach the Erie County until 10 a.m. the next morning.

    On Friday morning, temperatures “dropped dramatically,” but whiteout conditions didn’t hit until about 10 a.m., he noted, after the ban was issued.

    “If anyone is to be blamed, you can blame me. I’m the one who has to make the final call on behalf of the county,” Poloncarz said.

    Poloncarz also criticized how Buffalo’s mayor has handled storm cleanup efforts, saying Brown has not been on daily coordination calls with other municipalities and that the city has been slow to reopen.

    When asked about those remarks, the mayor told CNN, “I’m not concerned about those comments, my concern is for the residents of the city of Buffalo.”

    Hundreds of pieces of equipment were plowing and hauling snow on Wednesday, and most streets were passable in Buffalo by the evening, Brown announced in a Wednesday evening update.

    As temperatures warm up, there have been concerns about a possible “rapid melt” leading to flooding, Erie County officials said.

    The Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Services Commissioner Daniel J. Neaverth, Jr. said they feel “very comfortable” in their positioning to be able to handle potential flooding.

    “We have an ample supply ready to go ready to be deployed with personnel in the event that we have some type of flooding,” Neaverth said.

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  • Convicted member of plot to kidnap Michigan governor sentenced to nearly 20 years in federal prison | CNN Politics

    Convicted member of plot to kidnap Michigan governor sentenced to nearly 20 years in federal prison | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    A Michigan federal judge sentenced a man convicted of plotting to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to nearly 20 years in prison Wednesday.

    Barry Croft Jr. was part of a plan to kidnap the Democratic governor from her summer home in 2020 and practiced detonating explosives in preparation, prosecutors have said.
    Croft, who was sentenced to 235 months in federal prison, the longest sentence of the people convicted, is the last of the defendants in federal court to be sentenced in connection to the plot. Prosecutors had asked the judge to sentence Croft to life in prison.
    Explaining his sentencing decision, Judge Robert Jonker said, “I’m not somebody who’s willing ever to give up on somebody. And that’s why I think, in particular, life sentences are very unusual.”
    “Because, by definition, you’re not giving people a chance to come back into the fold,” he said.
    But Jonker also agreed with prosecutors that Croft was a leader to others involved in the plot, and noted his previous criminal history when handing down the sentence.
    A Delaware resident, Croft had traveled to Michigan to work with the local militia members to plan and surveil Whitmer’s summer home in the summer of 2020. Croft discussed using his grenade launcher and a mounted machine gun to thwart law enforcement response to the scene as a part in the kidnapping plot, jurors heard at trial.
    Trial evidence also showed that Croft practiced detonating an explosive filled with shrapnel at a training event using human silhouettes made of paper.

    Croft’s attorney, Joshua Blanchard, had asked the court Wednesday to administer a sufficient sentence but “not longer than it needs to be.”
    In a lengthy plea to the court, Blanchard asked the judge to consider Croft’s history of substance abuse and mental health concerns related largely to his significant marijuana use and family medical history.
    He blamed much of Croft’s behavior in 2020 to intoxication and said Croft ended up in the courtroom having fell down a “conspiracy rabbit hole” during solo rides as a long-haul truck driver before his arrest.
    Blanchard acknowledged his client is “a bit more susceptible to fringe ideas” and said he understands that Croft should serve a fair prison sentence – but not a life sentence.
    Croft declined to speak on his own behalf at the sentencing hearing, citing advice from his attorney.
    But the prosecutor pushed back on the defense arguments Wednesday, telling the court, “This man is thoroughly radicalized.”

    “He hasn’t changed his viewpoint,” prosecutor Nils Kessler said.

    Kessler said during his argument that Croft was the “spiritual leader” of the group “putting himself in the role of prophet.”

    He also went on to argue that Croft encouraged the other participants by saying they would be the “new founding fathers.”

    “People believed it” Kessler said.
    Croft has long been known to law enforcement for his extreme anti-government views. And in his sentencing memo, prosecutors noted a jail call recorded earlier this month during which Croft discussed his preferences for a violent lawless society with an associate.

    Jonker on Tuesday had sentenced Adam Fox, considered to be a leader of the plot with Croft, to 16 years in prison.
    “There is need for public understanding of the cost of this kind of wrongdoing and certainly for specific deterrence as well. And there is impact on our overall governmental system, not just physical threat to our sitting governor, it’s the emotional baggage that now our governor will have to carry and that she’s written about in her report,” Jonker said in court before issuing Fox’s prison sentence.
    And, earlier this month, three other men – Pete Musico, Joseph Morrison and Paul Bellar – were all sentenced in state court on charges of gang participation, support of a terrorist act and carrying or possessing a firearm during the commission of a felony, according to the Michigan attorney general’s office.
    Musico and Bellar must serve a minimum of 12 years and seven years, respectively. The alleged “commander” of the group, Morrison – who, according to affidavits filed with the attorney general’s office, went by the online moniker “Boogaloo Bunyan” – must serve a minimum of 11 years.
    This story has been updated with additional information.

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  • Crews work to clear snow-covered roads for emergency responders in Buffalo after storm that left 31 dead in area | CNN

    Crews work to clear snow-covered roads for emergency responders in Buffalo after storm that left 31 dead in area | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Emergency services have been restored in Buffalo, New York, officials said, as crews continue to clear roads and first responders check on people they couldn’t reach days ago when a deadly winter storm swept the nation.

    At least 31 people have died in New York’s Erie County, where Buffalo was buried with nearly 52 inches of snow, trapping residents at home – many without heat as the Christmas weekend blizzard took out power lines. At least 25 others across 11 US states also have been reported dead in the storm.

    A driving ban remains in effect Wednesday in Buffalo amid a two-day effort to clear at least one lane on every street to accommodate emergency responders, according to the city and Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz. They’re still hampered, though, by hundreds of vehicles abandoned in the snow, hazardous driving conditions and snow-covered lanes, with emergency and recovery vehicles still getting stuck, Poloncarz spokesperson Peter Anderson said Tuesday.

    The county is bringing in 100 military police, plus New York State Police, to manage traffic control “because it has become so evident that too many people are ignoring the (driving) ban,” Poloncarz said. Officials also are working to coordinate deliveries of fuel to emergency crews and grocery supplies to markets, he said.

    “It’s the reason why you need to stay off the road in these impacted areas, because we need to be able to get those resources to where they need to be so that the shelves are in fact stocked and ready to go,” Poloncarz said.

    Meantime, Buffalo is bracing for possible flooding as rising temperatures being to melt the massive amount of snow and 2 inches of rain is forecast through the weekend. The flood risk is small, the National Weather Service said.

    For now, authorities are focusing on welfare checks and getting people to hospitals after hundreds of calls for help went unanswered as the storm slammed the area, Erie County Sheriff John Garcia has said.

    Amid the frigid, whiteout conditions, “people … got stranded in their vehicles and passed away in their cars. We have people that were walking during blizzard conditions and passed away on the street, passed away in snowbanks,” Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown said. “And we have people that were found that passed away in their homes.”

    At least one reported death in Erie County has been attributed to an EMS delay, Poloncarz told CNN on Tuesday. “Our emergency responders could not get to the person because of the snow,” he said. “They were blocked, and by the time they got there it was too late.”

    This storm marked the first time the Buffalo Fire Department could not respond to emergency calls because of severe conditions, Poloncarz said, citing the agency’s historian. Two-thirds of the equipment dispatched to help clear winter snow during the height of the storm also got stuck, he said.

    The blizzard – which Gov. Kathy Hochul called a “once-in-a-generation storm” – has drawn many comparisons to Buffalo’s infamous blizzard of 1977 – a powerful storm that left 23 people dead.

    “The blizzard of ’77 is considered the worst storm in Buffalo history,” Poloncarz said Monday. “Well, unfortunately, this has already surpassed it for deaths.”

    Anndel Taylor, 22, was found dead in Buffalo over the holiday weekend after getting trapped in her car by the blizzard, her family said.

    After losing contact with her, the family posted her location to a private Facebook page related to the storm to ask for help, and a man called to say he had found her without a pulse, her sister said.

    The winter storm’s grim effects have been widespread, with at least 56 storm-related deaths reported across several states:

    • New York: In addition to the 31 deaths in Erie County, one fatal carbon monoxide poisoning was reported in Niagara County.

    • Colorado: Police in Colorado Springs reported two deaths related to the cold since Thursday, with one man found near a building’s power transformer, possibly seeking warmth, and another in a camp in an alleyway.

    • Kansas: Three people died in weather-related traffic accidents, the Highway Patrol said Friday.

    • Kentucky: Three people died, officials have said, including one involved in a vehicle crash in Montgomery County.

    • Missouri: One person died after a van slid off an icy road and into a frozen creek, Kansas City police said.

    • New Hampshire: A hiker was found dead in Franconia on Christmas morning, said Lt. James Kneeland, a spokesperson for the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department.

    • Ohio: Nine people died as a result of weather-related auto crashes, including four in a Saturday morning crash on Interstate 75 when a tractor-trailer crossed the median and collided with an SUV and a pickup, authorities said.

    • South Carolina: Two men – including a 91-year-old who went outside on Christmas Day to fix a broken water pipe – died due to the storm in Anderson County, the coroner’s office there said. The other victim died on Christmas Eve after his home lost power.

    • Tennessee: The Department of Health on Friday confirmed one storm-related fatality.

    • Vermont: One woman in Castleton died after a tree fell on her home, according to the police chief.

    • Wisconsin: The State Patrol on Thursday reported one fatal crash due to winter weather.

    A New York state trooper car blocks the entrance to Route 198 on Tuesday after a winter storm in Buffalo.

    With flooding possible in Buffalo, crews are focused on clearing key snowbanks, officials said. Still, “it should take around an inch of rain from this system before flooding becomes a concern,” the weather service said.

    City leaders are working with the National Weather Service “not only to reflect back on what happened this past week but also what potentially could come,” Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Services’ Daniel Neaverth said.

    All major highways across Western New York, including New York State Thruway, had reopened by Tuesday – “a sign that we are finally turning the corner on this once-in-a-generation storm,” Hochul said.

    Buffalo got another 1.6 inches of snow on Tuesday, bringing the total since Friday to 51.9 inches and the December total to 64.7 inches, the weather service said. Overall, Buffalo has gotten 101.6 inches this winter season, CNN meteorologist Robert Shackelford said.

    Conditions are improving and the lake-effect snowfall has finally stopped, he noted. Warm temperatures are forecast for at least the next week, with Buffalo due for highs in the upper 30s on Wednesday and the 40s through the weekend.

    Officials also have responded to a few reports of looting. Eight people had been arrested in Buffalo through Tuesday evening in connection with suspected winter storm looting, according to a tweet from the Buffalo Police Department.

    “It is horrible that while residents of our community have died in this storm that people are out looting,” the mayor said, but noted, “This is a minority of individuals.”

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  • Why ethnic tensions are flaring again in northern Kosovo | CNN

    Why ethnic tensions are flaring again in northern Kosovo | CNN

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    Protesting Serbs in the ethnically divided city of Mitrovica in northern Kosovo erected new barricades on Tuesday, hours after Serbia said it had put its army on the highest combat alert following weeks of escalating tensions between Belgrade and Pristina.

    Serbia’s defense ministry said that given the latest events in the region and Belgrade’s belief that Kosovo was preparing to attack Serbs and forcefully remove the barricades, President Aleksandar Vucic had ordered Serbia’s army and police to be put on the highest alert.

    Kosovo’s government called on NATO peacekeepers to remove the barricades, but said it had the capacity and readiness to act.

    Kosovo and Serbia intend to join the European Union and have agreed, as part of that membership process, to resolve their outstanding issues and build good neighborly relations.

    Here are some facts about the standoff:

    Kosovo won independence from Serbia in 2008, almost a decade after a guerrilla uprising against Belgrade’s repressive rule.

    Serbia, however, still considers Kosovo to be an integral part of its territory and rejects suggestions it is whipping up tensions and conflict within its neighbor’s borders. Belgrade accuses Pristina of trampling on the rights of minority Serbs.

    Ethnic Serbs, who do not recognise the Pristina government or Kosovan state institutions, account for 5% of Kosovo’s 1.8 million people, with ethnic Albanians making up about 90%. The Serbs have vented their hostility by refusing to pay Kosovo’s power operator for the electricity they use, for example, and frequently attacking police who try to make arrests.

    Fresh ethnic tensions have erupted since December 10 when Serbs erected multiple roadblocks and exchanged fire with police after the arrest of a former Serb policeman for allegedly assaulting serving police officers during a previous protest.

    The stand-off comes after months of trouble over the issue of car license plates. Kosovo has for years wanted the approximately 50,000 Serbs in the north to switch their Serbian car license plates to ones issued by Pristina, as part of the government’s desire to assert authority over its territory.

    On July 31, Pristina announced a two-month window for the plates to be switched over, triggering protests, but it later agreed to push the implementation date back to next year.

    Ethnic Serb mayors in northern municipalities, along with local judges and some 600 police officers, resigned in November in protest at the looming switch.

    Serbs in Kosovo want to create an association of majority-Serb municipalities that would operate with greater autonomy. Serbia and Kosovo have made little progress on this and other issues since committing in 2013 to the EU-sponsored dialogue.

    NATO peacekeepers stand guard at a roadblock in Rudare, near the northern part of of Mitrovica.

    NATO has about 3,700 troops stationed in Kosovo to maintain the peace. The alliance said it would intervene in line with its mandate if stability in the area were jeopardized. The European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX), which arrived in 2008, still has around 200 special police officers there.

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  • Hackers stole data from multiple electric utilities in recent ransomware attack | CNN Politics

    Hackers stole data from multiple electric utilities in recent ransomware attack | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    Hackers stole data belonging to multiple electric utilities in an October ransomware attack on a US government contractor that handles critical infrastructure projects across the country, according to a memo describing the hack obtained by CNN.

    Federal officials have closely monitored the incident for any potential broader impact on the US power sector while private investigators have combed the dark web for the stolen data, according to the memo sent this month to power company executives by the North American grid regulator’s cyberthreat sharing center.

    The previously unreported incident is a window into how ransomware attacks on critical US companies are handled behind the scenes as lawyers and federal investigators quietly spring into action to determine the extent of the damage.

    The ransomware attack hit Chicago-based Sargent & Lundy, an engineering firm that has designed more than 900 power stations and thousands of miles of power systems and that holds sensitive data on those projects.

    The firm also handles nuclear security issues, working with the departments of Defense, Energy and other agencies “to strengthen nuclear deterrence” and keep weapons of mass destruction out of terrorists’ hands, according to its website.

    Two people familiar with the investigation of the Sargent & Lundy hack told CNN that the incident was contained and remediated, and didn’t appear to have a broader impact on other power-sector firms.

    There is no sign that data stolen from Sargent & Lundy, which includes “model files” and “transmission data” the firm uses for utility projects, is on the dark web, according to the memo from the Electricity Information Sharing and Analysis Center.

    But security experts have long been concerned that schematics held by electric and nuclear power contractors could be dumped online and used for follow-on physical or cyberattacks on those facilities.

    “These are literally the configurations for your programmable logic controllers, your relays,” said longtime security consultant Patrick Miller, referring to critical electric equipment that keeps the lights on. “We’re really concerned about the data that’s in those organizations.”

    Those concerns are particularly acute following a spate of physical attacks and vandalism at electric utilities in multiple states. Tens of thousands of people lost power in Moore County, North Carolina, this month after Duke Energy substations were damaged by gunfire. On Christmas, thousands of people lost power in a Washington county after someone vandalized multiple substations there.

    “We’re fully recovered from the incident, which had minimal impact on our normal business operations,” Brenda Romero, a spokesperson for Sargent & Lundy, said in a statement to CNN. Romero said the firm “notified law enforcement” of the hack.

    Romero declined to answer further questions on the ransomware attack, including whether the hackers had tried to extort Sargent & Lundy, citing an ongoing investigation.

    The Biden administration has urged companies to share data on such hacks as US officials have tried to get a grip on the epidemic of ransomware, which has cost critical infrastructure firms many millions of dollars.

    The hackers that hit Sargent & Lundy used a strain of ransomware known as Black Basta that first surfaced early this year, according to two people familiar with the investigation. Scores of Black Basta attacks have been reported since April, according to cybersecurity firm Palo Alto Networks. The hackers steal data from their victims to give them added leverage in ransom negotiations.

    Sargent & Lundy is one of several engineering firms whose work on critical infrastructure projects cuts across different sectors of the economy. For US cybersecurity officials, this engineering work can be harder to evaluate in terms of its risk to supply chain security than a firm that only makes software.

    Federal regulations require electric utilities to maintain certain cybersecurity standards for protecting their systems from hacks. Companies that contract with those utilities, such as Sargent & Lundy, aren’t necessarily held to the same standard and are instead bound by the security requirements in the contract, experts told CNN.

    “Utilities are effectively allowed to accept as much risk as they want,” said Miller, who is CEO of Oregon-based Ampere Industrial Security, a consulting firm. “Is it perfect? No, but [the contractors] are being assessed [for their security] in some ways through the utilities.”

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  • Why 2022 was a tough year for Trump and 2023 may not be much better | CNN Politics

    Why 2022 was a tough year for Trump and 2023 may not be much better | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    This must feel like the year that won’t end for former President Donald Trump, whose actions appear to be catching up with him in public, painful and expensive ways.

    Trump is infamous for escaping accountability, but he’s been put under the microscope in the second half of 2022 in a way that has complicated things for the 2024 contender.

    The FBI searched his Florida resort, where classified documents were seized. His business was found guilty of criminal tax fraud. Documents relating to his tax returns were released by House Democrats, who are expected to release his actual returns before turning over the committee gavel next year to Republicans, who won a smaller-than-expected majority under Trump’s influence. Many candidates Trump backed failed in key Senate races, costing Republicans a majority in that chamber.

    The former president himself hasn’t been charged with any crimes. But a special counsel has been appointed at the Justice Department to oversee two Trump-related investigations – surrounding the hoarding of documents at Mar-a-Lago and the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.

    Trump has railed against the House committee investigating the January 6 insurrection, and his most ardent supporters tried to stonewall it, but it’s hard to objectively dismiss its damning 800-page detailed report, which spells out his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and his role inspiring rioters to attack the Capitol.

    And though the committee’s criminal referrals of Trump to the Justice Department are largely symbolic, the former president still has to wait and see what comes of the DOJ’s own twin probes.

    In the meantime, there’s no sign that the former president – who launched his third nonconsecutive presidential bid last month – has done much to clear the GOP field, with other hopefuls mulling their options over the holidays.

    The ongoing end-of-year revelations chipping away at Trump’s facade of power include large developments like the January 6 committee report – and smaller details.

    Hidden in court documents is the inconvenient truth that even his loudest acolytes on Fox News knew his 2020 election fantasy was false.

    Sean Hannity, the Fox News opinion host, admitted he didn’t “for one second” believe the fraud claims he helped push.

    It might be nice for Fox viewers to hear that from Hannity, but the admission came off the air and in a deposition as part of Dominion Voting Systems’ $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against the conservative network, according to the New York Times.

    Hannity, as we know from text messages, was in close contact with Trump’s then-chief of staff, Mark Meadows, in the days leading up to January 6.

    That the conservative elites in Trump’s circle knew the truth adds context to the fears of fraud they pushed to encourage Republican lawmakers to pass new election security laws in key states.

    The release of Trump’s tax information, without his consent, by House Democrats confirmed what anyone could have guessed – that he paid no federal income tax in a year when he was leading the country.

    Even in years like 2018, where he paid about $1 million in federal taxes, the rate he paid, a bit more than 4%, was on par with the bottom half of American taxpayers.

    The special tax rules for real estate barons, which Congress can’t seem to address, help explain why Trump’s tax bill looks so different than that of regular wage-earning Americans. But the end result is that the former president looks like a tax avoider.

    Trump broke with tradition in 2016 by refusing to release any of his personal tax returns. But his team immediately tried to weaponize the release of his information. “If this injustice can happen to President Trump, it can happen to all Americans without cause,” Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung said last week.

    Trump made sure his influence was felt during the 2022 midterms, but after Republicans failed to secure a “red wave,” some members of his party have blamed him for the GOP’s poor showing.

    He must now grapple with polls like CNN’s from earlier this month, which showed that most Republicans and Republican-leaning independents want the party to nominate someone other than Trump in 2024. Their top pick for an alternative? Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. The GOP governor, who won a resounding reelection last month, enjoyed much stronger favorability ratings than Trump among Republicans, according to the CNN survey.

    That’s bad news for a man who jumped out in front of the 2024 Republican field and launched another presidential bid at the precise moment he began to appear politically weak.

    Even his most ardent supporters are growing tired of some of his antics. The $99 Trump-themed digital trading cards timed the NFT market all wrong and drew ridicule even from his most loyal supporters.

    “I can’t do this any more,” complained Stephen Bannon, the former adviser who was sentenced to four months in jail for contempt of Congress after ignoring a subpoena from the January 6 committee. (He’s appealed that conviction.)

    Many of the issues that dogged Trump in 2022 won’t be over with the start of the new year – and could even escalate.

    His business, convicted of tax fraud in late 2022, also faces civil charges from the New York attorney general in 2023.

    On the election-stealing front, it’s not just Special Counsel Jack Smith that Trump has to worry about. An Atlanta-area special grand jury investigating efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 election in the Peach State has already begun writing its final report, CNN reported earlier this month. That will serve as a mechanism for the panel to recommend whether Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis should pursue indictments.

    While Trump envisions himself returning to the White House, one of the final bipartisan efforts lawmakers agreed on this month was an update to the Electoral Count Act, making clear that attempts like Trump’s after 2020 – to exploit antiquated language in federal election law and undermine the Electoral College – can never occur again.

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  • Brooklyn hospital network reverts to paper charts for weeks after cyberattack | CNN Business

    Brooklyn hospital network reverts to paper charts for weeks after cyberattack | CNN Business

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    New York
    CNN
     — 

    A network of three hospitals in Brooklyn, New York, has had to work off paper charts for weeks following a cyberattack on its computer systems in late November, the hospital group’s chief executive told CNN Monday.

    The hack affected “clinical applications,” including “those used for imaging and other critical services,” but many of those applications have been restored, One Brooklyn Health CEO LaRay Brown said in an email.

    It’s an example of how hacking incidents have continued to hamper hospitals as the coronavirus pandemic drags on — and of how recovering from the hacks can be painstaking and disruptive for hospital staff.

    One Brooklyn Health operates Brookdale University Hospital Medical Center, Interfaith Medical Center and Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center.

    One staff member at Brookdale told the New York Times that, because of the hack, diagnostic imaging at the medical center had to be sent out to a third party provider rather than done in-house.

    “No patients were adversely effected,” Brown told CNN in an email Monday, adding that the hospitals remain open to patients. “We continue to provide care for our patients using downtime procedures for which our clinicians and administrators have been trained.”

    More than 80% of the computer workstations that One Brooklyn Health doctors and staff use to support hospital operations have been restored, Brown said. Hospital administrators have begun putting some clinical data into patients’ electronic medical records, she added.

    Brown did not answer questions about whether One Brooklyn Health was dealing with a ransomware attack, which locks up computer systems until a ransom is paid. But plenty of other hospitals across the country have had to deal with such extortion attempts.

    One IT administrator at a 100-bed hospital in Florida recounted to CNN how he shut down the facility’s computer systems in January to prevent a ransomware attack from spreading throughout the hospital.

    Many hospitals in rural or poor areas do not have the resources to defend their networks from hackers.

    “Cyber safety and resilience cannot be allowed to break across socioeconomic lines,” said Joshua Corman, who helped lead a taskforce at the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to protect coronavirus research from hacking. “The majority of US hospitals are target-rich, but cyber poor.”

    The cybersecurity of computer networks that can affect human safety “needs to become a national priority,” said Corman, now a vice president at cybersecurity firm Claroty.

    Brookdale Hospital is located in the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn, one of the poorest areas in New York City. It was so overwhelmed and desperate for resources at the height of the coronavirus pandemic in New York that one doctor told CNN at the time that his hospital had become “a war zone.”

    – CNN’s Sarah Boxer contributed to this report

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  • Richard Reid Fast Facts | CNN

    Richard Reid Fast Facts | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Here’s a look at the life of Richard Reid, also known as the “shoe bomber” because of his attempt to detonate explosives hidden in his sneakers while on an American Airlines flight. He is serving a life sentence at the US Penitentiary Administrative Maximum facility in Florence, Colorado. Zacarias Moussaoui, convicted September 11 conspirator, is also incarcerated there.

    Birth date: August 12, 1973

    Birth place: England

    Birth name: Richard Colvin Reid

    Prosecutors believe Reid received training in Afghanistan from al Qaeda.

    Investigators believe Reid had accomplices, but Reid claims to have acted alone.

    1992-1996 – Reid is in and out of British prisons for petty crimes. He converts to Islam while in prison.

    1998-1999 – Attends the same London mosque as Zacarias Moussaoui, convicted September 11 conspirator.

    November 2001 – Travels to Pakistan.

    December 5, 2001 – Travels to Brussels, Belgium. While there, Reid tells Belgian authorities he’s lost his British passport and is issued a new one by the British Embassy.

    December 16, 2001 – Travels to Paris.

    December 17, 2001 – Buys a round-trip ticket from Paris to Miami to Antigua.

    December 21, 2001 – Is questioned by airport officials after a security agent becomes suspicious because Reid had paid for his ticket with cash and is traveling without checking luggage. By the time Reid is cleared to board his flight, the plane has already left Paris.

    December 22, 2001 – Boards American Airlines Flight 63, Paris to Miami. During the flight, Reid tries to use a match to light explosives hidden in his shoes. Passengers and crew restrain him. The flight diverts to Boston. Reid is arrested.

    January 16, 2002 – Is indicted on nine counts, including attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction, attempted murder of passengers on an aircraft, and attempted homicide of US nationals overseas.

    January 18, 2002 – Pleads not guilty to eight charges. His attorney asks the court to dismiss the ninth count, attempted wrecking of a mass transportation vehicle, which is dismissed.

    October 4, 2002 – Pleads guilty to the eight counts against him.

    January 30, 2003 – Is sentenced to life in prison and fined $2 million.

    October 4, 2004 – Saajid Mohammed Badat, of the United Kingdom, is charged with conspiring with and aiding Reid. The British indictment alleges that Badat and Reid obtained custom-made shoe bombs in Afghanistan to be used to attack US interests.

    February 28, 2005 – Badat pleads guilty to conspiring with Reid to blow up a US aircraft.

    April 22, 2005 – Badat is sentenced to 13 years in prison. There is evidence that he had withdrawn from the plot.

    2007 – Reid files a lawsuit against the government saying the special administrative measures (SAMs) applied to him in prison violate his First Amendment rights to free speech and freedom of religion. The restrictions limit his access to news and correspondence and prohibit him from praying with other prisoners.

    June 2009 – The US Justice Department relaxes the SAMs being applied to Reid. He continues with his lawsuit, claiming his First Amendment rights are still being violated.

    2010 – Reid’s lawsuit about the SAMs being applied to him in prison is dismissed.

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  • Power substations vandalized in Washington state weeks after North Carolina electricity attack and FBI warning | CNN

    Power substations vandalized in Washington state weeks after North Carolina electricity attack and FBI warning | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    After thousands of customers in Pierce County, Washington, were affected Sunday when burglars vandalized three energy substations, power was then knocked out for even more homes after a suspect or suspects gained access to a fourth substation, vandalizing the equipment and causing a fire, according to an update from the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department.

    The damaged equipment cut power to around 14,000 customers, police said, weeks after an attack in North Carolina left thousands in the dark for days amid federal warnings of extremist threats to electricity infrastructure.

    The Christmas Day vandalism near Tacoma marked more such incidents in the state, where two November attacks on Puget Sound Energy substations were investigated by the FBI. Vandalism and deliberate damage were reported last month at substations in southern Washington and Oregon.

    No suspects are in custody in the latest case affecting Puyallup and Graham, Washington, and it “is unknown if there are any motives or if this was a coordinated attack on the power systems,” the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department said Sunday in a statement.

    The FBI’s Seattle Division was aware of the vandalism reports but would not confirm or deny its role in any investigation, adding, “We do take threats against our infrastructure seriously and urge anyone with information to contact law enforcement,” it told CNN on Sunday.

    The bureau in a November 22 bulletin warned of reports of threats to electricity infrastructure by people espousing racially or ethnically motivated extremist ideology “to create civil disorder and inspire further violence,” according to the alert sent to private industry.

    The first report of a burglary at a Tacoma Public Utilities substation came at 5:26 a.m. PT, the sheriff’s office said.

    “Deputies arrived on scene and saw there was forced entry into the fenced area,” according to its statement. “Nothing had been taken from the substation, but the suspect vandalized the equipment causing a power outage in the area.”

    Then, a second burglary was reported at another Tacoma Public Utilities substation, with forced entry and damage to equipment, the statement said. Similarly, nothing was taken.

    “At 11:25 we were notified by Puget Sound Energy that they too had a power outage this morning at 02:39 a.m. Deputies are currently on scene at this facility where the fenced area was broken into and the equipment vandalized,” the statement continued.

    Dispatchers received a call about a fire at another substation at 7:21 p.m. local time Sunday, the sheriff’s department said. Firefighters and Puget Sound Energy employees responded to the scene and were able to extinguish the fire and secure and the substation.

    Power has since been restored to most of the affected homes, the update said.

    Anti-government groups over the past two years have used online forums to urge followers to attack critical infrastructure, including the power grid. They have posted documents and even instructions outlining vulnerabilities and suggesting the use of high-powered rifles.

    Investigators probing the attacks last month at substations in Moore County, North Carolina, zeroed in on two possible threads: extremists’ writings in online forums encouraging attacks on critical infrastructure, and recent disruptions of LGBTQ+ events across the nation by domestic extremists, law enforcement sources told CNN.

    The attackers “knew exactly what they were doing,” Moore County Sheriff Ronnie Fields said at the time.

    The resulting outages left some 40,000 customers scrambling as temperatures dipped to the mid-40s, with schools and businesses forced to close for days before power was restored.

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  • South Korea fires warning shots after North Korean drones enter its airspace | CNN

    South Korea fires warning shots after North Korean drones enter its airspace | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Five North Korean drones crossed into South Korean airspace on Monday, prompting the South Korean military to deploy fighter jets and attack helicopters, the country’s defense ministry said.

    The ministry said South Korea’s military fired shots at the drones, but added it couldn’t confirm whether any drones were shot down.

    Lee Seung-oh, a South Korean defense official, said four of the drones flew around Ganghwa island and one flew over capital Seoul’s northern airspace.

    “This is a clear provocation and an invasion of our airspace by North Korea,” Lee said during a briefing. In response to the airspace violation, Lee said, the South Korean military sent its manned and unmanned reconnaissance assets to the inter-Korean border region, with some of them crossing into the North Korean territory.

    The assets conducted a reconnaissance mission, including filming North Korea’s military installations, Lee added.

    The South Korean military first detected the drones in the skies near the northwestern city of Gimpo at around 10:25 a.m. local time Monday, according to the country’s defense ministry.

    The last time a North Korean drone was detected below the inter-Korean border was in 2017, according to the South Korean defense ministry. At the time, South Korea said it had recovered a crashed North Korean drone that was spying on a US-built missile system in the country.

    North Korea has aggressively stepped up its missile tests this year, often launching multiple weapons at a time. It’s fired missiles on 36 separate days – the highest annual tally since Kim Jong Un took power in 2012.

    Most recently, North Korea launched two short-range ballistic missiles on Friday, according to South Korean officials. The missiles were fired from Pyongyang’s Sunan area into the waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan.

    The secretive country usually test-launches its missiles in this way, firing them at a lofted angle so that they land in the waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan.

    However, in October, it fired an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) at a normal trajectory that went over Japan for the first time in five years.

    In November, it claimed to have launched a “new type” of ICBM, Hwasong-17, from Pyongyang International Airfield, a missile that could theoretically reach the mainland United States. And last week, Kim Yo Jong, Kim Jong Un’s sister and a top official in the regime, claimed in state media that North Korea was ready to test-fire an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) at a normal trajectory, a flight pattern that could prove the weapons can threaten the continental United States.

    The United States and South Korean experts have warned that Pyongyang could be preparing for a nuclear test, its first in more than five years. North Korea has been developing its nuclear missile forces in violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions, ramping up its activities since the last of three meetings in 2019 between Kim Jong Un and then-US President Donald Trump failed to yield any agreement.

    In October, Kim warned his nuclear forces are fully prepared for “actual war.”

    “Our nuclear combat forces… proved again their full preparedness for actual war to bring the enemies under their control,” Kim said in comments reported by the North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency.

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  • Beijing to distribute Pfizer antiviral drug as Covid wave strains health system | CNN

    Beijing to distribute Pfizer antiviral drug as Covid wave strains health system | CNN

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    Beijing
    CNN
     — 

    Beijing will begin distributing Pfizer’s Covid-19 drug Paxlovid to the city’s community health centers in the coming days, state media reported Monday.

    The report comes as the city grapples with an unprecedented wave of infections that has severely strained its hospitals and emptied pharmacy shelves.

    The state-run China News Service reported Monday that after receiving training, community doctors will administer the medicine to Covid-19 patients and give instructions on how to use them.

    “We have received the notice from officials, but it is not clear when the drugs will arrive,” it cited a worker at a local community health center in Beijing’s Xicheng district as saying.

    Paxlovid remains the only foreign medicine to treat Covid that has been approved by China’s regulator for nationwide use, but access is extremely difficult to come by. When a Chinese healthcare platform offered the antiviral drug earlier this month, it sold out within hours.

    Azvudine, an oral medicine developed by China’s Genuine Biotech, has also been approved.

    After nearly three years of lockdowns, quarantines and mass testing, China abruptly abandoned its zero-Covid policy this month following nationwide protests over its heavy economic and social toll.

    The sudden lifting of restrictions sparked panic buying of fever and cold medicines, leading to widespread shortages, both at pharmacies and on online shopping platforms. Long lines have become routine outside fever clinics and hospital wards overflowing with patients in the capital Beijing and elsewhere in the country.

    An emergency room doctor in Beijing told the state-run People’s Daily on Thursday that four doctors on his shift did not have time to eat or drink. “We have been seeing patients nonstop,” he said.

    Another emergency room doctor told the newspaper he had been working despite having developed fever symptoms. “The number of patients is high, and with fewer medical staff, the pressure is multiplied,” said the doctor.

    In a sign of the strain on Beijing’s medical system, hundreds of health professionals from across China have traveled to the city to assist medical centers.

    As the capital, Beijing has some of the best medical resources in the country. However, the abrupt zero-Covid u-turn has left people and health facilities ill-prepared to deal with a surge in infections.

    China’s official Covid case count has become meaningless after it rolled back mass testing and allowed residents to use antigen tests and isolate at home. It has stopped reporting asymptomatic cases, conceding it was no longer possible to track the actual number of infections.

    According to an internal estimate from the National Health Commission, almost 250 million people in China have caught Covid in the first 20 days of December – accounting for roughly 18% of the country’s population.

    Experts have warned that as people in big cities return to their hometowns for the Lunar New Year next month, the virus could sweep through China’s vast rural areas, where vaccination rates are lower and medical resources are severely lacking.

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  • Police arrest man suspected of planting explosives in Brazil’s capital ahead of presidential inauguration | CNN

    Police arrest man suspected of planting explosives in Brazil’s capital ahead of presidential inauguration | CNN

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    São Paulo
    CNN
     — 

    Police in Brasilia arrested a man on Saturday suspected of planting and possessing explosive devices one week ahead of former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s inauguration, Police Chief Robson Candido said during a news briefing.

    The 54-year-old suspect went to Brasilia for demonstrations in support of President Jair Bolsonaro, police said.

    Police seized an explosive device found by a truck drive in a tanker truck close to Brasilia International Airport. Upon further investigation, police also found a rifle, two shotguns, revolvers, more than 1,000 pieces of ammunition, and other 5 explosive devices in the suspect’s rented apartment in Brasilia, police said.

    “This is something that has never existed in Brasilia and we will not allow such demonstrations that may harm people and public property,” the police chief said during the briefing.

    The suspect identified others involved in the plot and more arrests will be carried out, police said.

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  • 2 people found dead at Jehovah’s Witnesses Kingdom Hall in Colorado, suspicious device found at the scene | CNN

    2 people found dead at Jehovah’s Witnesses Kingdom Hall in Colorado, suspicious device found at the scene | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Law enforcement officials are investigating a homicide at a Jehovah’s Witnesses Kingdom Hall in Colorado where two adults were found dead, police said.

    “The investigation is still active, witnesses being interviewed, scene being examined,” Thornton Police said in a tweet. “A suspicious device found at the scene is being evaluated by the Hazardous Materials Unit.”

    There is no known threat to the community at this time, police said.

    The cause or manner of death has not been identified, police added.

    Thornton is located about 10 miles north of Denver.

    This is a developing story and will be updated.

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  • 5 people arrested after a 19-year-old was fatally shot at the largest shopping center in the US | CNN

    5 people arrested after a 19-year-old was fatally shot at the largest shopping center in the US | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Five people were arrested Saturday in connection with the fatal shooting of a 19-year-old the previous night at Minnesota’s Mall of America, the largest shopping center in the US, police said.

    The suspects – three 17-year-old males and two 18-year-old males – were arrested after police executed a search warrant on Saturday, Bloomington Police Chief Booker Hodges told reporters.

    Investigators believe the shooter is one of the adults who was arrested, Hodges said. They’re trying to determine if another shooter was involved. The suspects were expected to be charged with second-degree murder, according to Hodges.

    “We don’t know why this happened,” Hodges said. “And we don’t know the why, because people flat out are just not cooperating and people don’t want to talk.”

    Hodges had earlier said officers heard gunshots on the first floor of Nordstrom just before 8 p.m. local time on Friday and found a man shot multiple times in the store. ,

    On Saturday, Hodges said an officer working at the Watches of Switzerland store saw people come out of Nordstrom, ran into the store, and found the victim.

    Lifesaving measures were performed on the victim but were unsuccessful. A bystander who was grazed by a bullet is expected to survive, Hodges said.

    Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said his office was working with local officials to provide support and resources, tweeting “the violence at MOA last night is absolutely unacceptable.”

    The 30-year-old mall, about 10 miles south of downtown Minneapolis, is a popular tourist destination in the Midwest, with tens of millions of visitors each year. The giant shopping complex boasts more than 500 stores, more than 50 dining options, dozens of attractions and two hotels, according to its owners.

    Friday’s shooting comes about five months after suspects fired gunshots into a crowded store at the mall. No injuries were reported in the August incident.

    Hodges said the fatal shooting was the first firearms-related homicide at the mall. There was a domestic-related fatal stabbing at the mall in 1999, he said.

    A preliminary investigation into Friday’s incident indicated there was an altercation between about five to nine people inside Nordstrom. Store surveillance video showed a male pulling out a gun and shooting the victim, Hodges said.

    “We have an incident where if someone decides that they want to pull out a gun and shoot somebody with complete lack of disrespect for human life, I still don’t know what we can do to stop that,” Hodges said.

    A motive for the shooting has not yet been determined.

    Jovonta Patton, a Billboard gospel singer, was filming an Instagram reel at a Gucci location inside Nordstrom when gunshots went off in the background.

    Patton quickly ran to the back room of the store to hide for about 15 minutes, where about six or seven others had also taken cover, he told CNN.

    Several New York Giants players were also inside the mall at the time of the shooting, according to NFL Network insider Tom Pelissero.

    The team was staying at a hotel nearby ahead of a game against the Minnesota Vikings in Minneapolis on Saturday. Giants spokesperson Pat Hanlon told The Associated Press on Friday the players who were at the mall during the shooting had made it back to the hotel, and everyone had been accounted for.

    CNN has reached out to the New York Giants for comment.

    Team announcer, Bob Papa, was also inside the mall during the incident.

    “Scary here @mallofamerica,” he tweeted Friday. “Shooting in mall. On lockdown at #TwinCitiesGrill. Two gunmen at least one victim.” An hour later, Papa said, “Safely out of mall and back at hotel. Prayers to victim.”

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  • Hiding in plain sight: The network of citizens sheltering Iran’s protesters | CNN

    Hiding in plain sight: The network of citizens sheltering Iran’s protesters | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    For months, Leila has barely seen sunlight.

    “I miss being in the open air…I miss being able to walk freely,” she told CNN. “I miss my family, my room.”

    Her life now is largely confined to four walls, in a house that is not her own, with people who – until a few weeks ago – she had never met.

    Leila has been in the crosshairs of Iran’s government for years due to her work as a civil rights activist and grassroots organizer. She was forced into hiding in September, when a warrant was issued for her arrest following the outbreak of nationwide protests over the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a young woman accused of flouting the country’s compulsory hijab laws.

    Since then, while security forces stalk her house and family, Leila has taken refuge in the homes of strangers. An anonymous network of concerned citizens – “ordinary people” connected by a shared mission to protect protesters – who quietly support the movement from afar by offering their homes to activists in need.

    It’s impossible to know exactly how many protesters are being sheltered inside Iran, but CNN has spoken to several people who, like Leila, have left behind their homes and families to escape what has become an increasingly violent state crackdown.

    Leila says her own story, and the stories of those bravely hiding her, show that as well as the extraordinary displays of public anger unfolding on Iran’s streets, “the struggle against the regime continues in different forms.”

    “I came here in the middle of the night. It was dark. I don’t even know where I am and my family doesn’t know either,” she said of her current location.

    Leila – who has spent time in some of Iran’s most notorious prisons for her activism in the past – has long provided a voice for people the regime would prefer remain silent, advocating on behalf of political prisoners, and demonstrators facing execution.

    CNN has verified documents, video, witness testimony and statements from inside the country which suggest that at least 43 people could face imminent execution in Iran in relation to the current protests.

    Using only a burner phone and a VPN Leila continues her work today, communicating with protesters in jail, as well as families with loved ones on death row – sharing their stories on social media, in an effort to help keep them safe, and alive.

    “The comments and messages I receive are very encouraging. People are feeling good to see that I am active now and that I am with them [during this uprising].”

    But as time passes, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps appear to be doubling down on their hunt for Leila.

    “Every day a car with two passengers is constantly stationed out front of my family home…They have repeatedly arrested several of my family members and friends. In their interrogations, they ask, “Where is Leila? Where is she hiding?”

    To speak with her loved ones, Leila relies on third parties to pass on notes through encrypted messaging services, using code words in case Iran’s security forces are monitoring their conversations.

    “There are listening devices in our house,” she said. “That’s why I never make phone calls to my family anymore.”

    For years, Leila’s life has been on pause – interrupted by periods of imprisonment and prolonged interrogation – all at the hands of the Islamic Republic’s notorious security apparatus.

    “I was tortured psychologically, kept in solitary confinement. They threatened and humiliated me every day.”

    Over the last five years, Iran has been gripped by waves of demonstrations concerning issues spanning from economic mismanagement and corruption to civil rights. One of the most visible displays of public anger was in 2019, when rising gas prices led to a sweeping uprising that was quickly met with lethal force.

    Before the recent protests sparked by Amini’s death – which many see as the most significant threat the regime has faced to date – Leila was trying to rebuild.

    “When I came out of prison life was very difficult for me, but I tried to create small outlets for myself.”

    She had set up a local business, enrolled in a university course, and was working with a therapist to acclimate back to normal life and deal with the trauma brought on by years of incarceration.

    All of that changed within days of Amini’s death, when Leila knew she needed to take an active role once more in the protests that were filling streets across the country with chants of “Women, Life, Freedom.”

    Alongside her family, she began joining marches – sharing the names and stories of protesters being detained on her social media.

    Almost immediately, the threats from Iran’s authorities to send Leila back to prison started again – and then came the warrant.

    “They wanted to silence me as soon as the uprising happened after Mahsa Amini was murdered…I knew if I wanted to stay and continue my activities, I would have to hide myself from their sight.”

    Countless Iranians have been forced to cross borders in order to flee Iran’s security forces. Leila, though, took a leap of faith and decided to go underground, after a “trusted friend” she’d met through a network of activists set her up with her first safe house.

    The drive lasted hours, and there was only darkness.

    “I wore a mask. I laid down in the car so that no one would notice me. I didn’t even get out to go to the toilet or eat.”

    She has continued to move around in the weeks and months since. Smuggled through the night, never knowing her final destination.

    “The first place I was in, the homeowner was very scared, so eventually I left for another location.”

    “[Another] person I stayed with was very nice and became supportive of my efforts,” she said.

    In order to live totally off the grid, Leila is no longer picking up her medication or checking in with any doctors or medical professionals.

    She’s also stopped accessing her bank account and went as far as exchanging her life savings for gold, which someone sells for her from time to time, when she urgently needs cash.

    As is the case for so many ordinary Iranians who are the driving force of the protests, Leila’s life has “practically stopped.”

    “I just breathe and work.”

    “I am not afraid of prison. Maybe many people think that we were afraid and so we hid ourselves, but this is not the case.”

    “The one thing I fear is that if I get caught and sent back to jail, I will become a faceless name…unable to help the cause and movement, like countless others who were sent to prison and never heard of again.”

    For now, Leila says the only thing that keeps her going as weeks in hiding turn into months, is the distant hope that one day she could live in a free Iran.

    “The answer of the Islamic Republic has always been repression and violence…I hope for a miracle and that this situation will end as soon as possible for the benefit of the people.”

    “Just like when I was in prison and solitary confinement, I am improving myself with the hope of freedom,” she said.

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  • January 6 panel’s criminal referrals are ‘worthless,’ Trump lawyer says | CNN Politics

    January 6 panel’s criminal referrals are ‘worthless,’ Trump lawyer says | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    The January 6 committee’s criminal referrals to the Justice Department, urging the prosecution of Donald Trump, are “worthless,” one of the former president’s lawyers told CNN on Saturday.

    “The referral itself is pretty much worthless,” Trump lawyer Tim Parlatore said on “CNN Newsroom.” “The Department of Justice doesn’t have to follow it. There’s been an existing investigation that we have been dealing with for quite some time. Really what this does, If anything, it just politicizes the process.”

    Parlatore was responding to the unprecedented criminal referrals that the bipartisan select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol sent to the Justice Department earlier this week. Committee members said they believed Trump was guilty of at least four federal crimes, including conspiracy and obstructing a joint session of Congress.

    The January 6 committee reached those conclusions after unearthing evidence from witnesses indicating that Trump was warned that some of his post-election schemes to overturn the results were illegal – but he tried them anyway. This included Trump’s relentless pressure campaign against Vice President Mike Pence, whom Trump hoped would interfere with the electoral vote count during the joint session on January 6, 2021.

    “It’s political noise, but it doesn’t have any effect, as of right now, on our defense,” said Parlatore, who represents Trump in the Justice Department probes into January 6 and the potential mishandling of government documents at Mar-a-Lago.

    Trump has denied wrongdoing regarding both matters. The two high-stakes investigations are now being overseen by special counsel Jack Smith, a veteran prosecutor who has been tasked with deciding whether there is enough evidence that Trump broke the law and whether prosecution is appropriate.

    The Mar-a-Lago probe revolves around whether Trump or his aides mishandled classified records and national security documents by taking them from the White House to his resort and home in Florida.

    Federal authorities have recovered at least 325 classified documents from Mar-a-Lago, according to court filings. Trump voluntarily returned 184 of these files in January. He returned another 38 under subpoena in June. Justice Department investigators suspected there were still more at Mar-a-Lago, so they got a search warrant, and found another 103 classified documents during their August search.

    Since then, prosecutors have been haggling with Trump’s lawyers to certify that nothing remains.

    Parlatore told CNN on Saturday that he was sure there weren’t any more records with classification markings still at Mar-a-Lago, saying, “Everything that was found has been turned over.”

    “We had a professional search team go through all possible locations that reasonably could have documents,” Parlatore said. “We went through several locations that really we thought couldn’t conceivably have them. But the DOJ asked us to, so we did it anyway.”

    He added, “I’m pretty confident that this is a dead issue at this point.”

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  • Police found missing kidnapped baby when they stopped to eat | CNN

    Police found missing kidnapped baby when they stopped to eat | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Two Indianapolis police officers had spent the day searching in vain for a missing baby in a stolen vehicle when they stopped to eat and gather their wits.

    A woman suspected of stealing the 2010 black Honda Accord had been taken into custody earlier that day, on December 22, but the vehicle was still missing. More urgently, baby Kason Thomass, who was in the car with his twin Kyair Thomass when it was stolen three days earlier in Columbus, Ohio, had yet to be found.

    “It was time for us to decompress because we were disappointed that we could not find him,” Sgt. Shawn Anderson of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department told CNN affiliate WISH-TV. “And then God opened up the heavens to us and almost took him and put him right in our hands.”

    There, outside a Papa John’s in the very plaza where Anderson and Sgt. Richard El had stopped to eat, was the stolen car. Kason was inside. The five-month-old had been missing for nearly three full days, and had likely been alone for most of the time.

    “When we found him, he was cold, right, but he was awake, he was breathing, he was moving around a little bit,” El said in an interview with WBNS-TV. “His eyes were open wide and just trying to take everything in.”

    Kason’s family said he was doing as well as to be expected under the circumstances, the station reported. LaFonda Thomass, the twins’ grandmother, said she was overwhelmed by the discovery.

    “This is going to be the best Christmas ever,” she told WBNS-TV. “I’m so excited. It is a miracle.”

    On the night of December 19, Kason and Kyair Thomass were left inside the running car as their mother picked up a DoorDash order in Columbus. When she returned, the car was gone, along with the twins, according to Columbus police.

    Kyair was found abandoned near the Dayton International Airport in the early morning hours of December 20, police said. But it would be days before Kason was found in Indianapolis – about 175 miles from where he was taken.

    The suspect, Nalah Jackson, 24, was awaiting extradition to Columbus, where she faces two felony counts of kidnapping. A warrant for Jackson’s arrest was filed through the Franklin County Court, according to an online docket. The Marion County Sheriff’s Office has also charged Jackson with battery of bodily waste, online court records show.

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