Category Archives: New York

Justin Timberlake appears by video and pleads not guilty in drunk-driving case

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Singer, 43, arrested in June, has license suspended in New York state as judge threatens attorney with gag order

Justin Timberlake made a virtual court appearance on Friday in his drunken driving case on Long Island, saying little during the brief proceeding as a judge accepted his not-guilty plea and suspended his right to drive in New York.

Police in the seaside village of Sag Harbor arrested Timberlake on 18 June after they say he ran a stop sign, veered out of his lane and got out of his BMW smelling of alcohol.

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US man who planned 2020 Venezuela coup attempt arrested for arms smuggling

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Jordan Goudreau, 48, was charged in New York for smuggling and conspiracy alongside partner Yacsy Álvarez

A former US Green Beret who, in 2020, organized a failed crossborder raid of Venezuelan army deserters to remove President Nicolás Maduro has been arrested in New York on federal arms smuggling charges.

A federal indictment unsealed this week in Tampa, Florida, accuses Jordan Goudreau and a Venezuelan partner, Yacsy Álvarez, of violating US arms control laws when they allegedly assembled and sent to Colombia AR-styled weapons, ammo, night vision goggles and other defense equipment requiring a US export license.

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Pilot, 26, dies as her plane crashes after skydiving flight over Niagara Falls

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Melanie Georger, who dreamed of flying for commercial airlines, was only person onboard after passengers jumped

A 26-year-old pilot with dreams of flying for commercial airlines died in a skydiving flight over the weekend when her small plane crashed near the Niagara Falls after her passengers jumped from the aircraft.

Melanie Georger, 26, was the only person onboard when her single-engine Cessna crashed on Saturday, the Niagara county, New York, sheriff’s office said in a statement. Georger, of Towanda, New York, was working to become a commercial pilot, her father said on Saturday in a statement on Facebook.

The Associated Press contributed reporting

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Deli meat-linked listeria outbreak kills two and sends two dozen to hospital

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Largest number of people affected were in New York, and the two who died were from Illinois and New Jersey

At least two people have died and more than two dozen were hospitalized in an outbreak of listeria food poisoning linked to meat sliced at grocery store deli counters, US federal health officials said on Friday.

At least 28 people in a dozen states have gotten sick, though the largest number, seven, were in New York, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The people who died were from Illinois and New Jersey. Samples were collected from 29 May to 5 July and so far, all of the people known to be part of the outbreak have been hospitalized.

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Neo-Nazi leader charged over alleged plot to poison New York Jewish children

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Georgian Michail Chkhikvishvili, 21, accused of planning to have associate dressed as Santa hand out poisoned candy

The leader of a neo-Nazi extremist group based in eastern Europe has been charged with plotting to have an associate dress up as Santa Claus and hand out poisoned candy to Jewish children in New York City to sow terror, prosecutors said Tuesday.

Michail Chkhikvishvili, a 21-year-old man from the Republic of Georgia, was indicted on four charges including soliciting hate crimes and acts of mass violence, according to a statement from the US justice department. It was not known if he has an attorney.

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Chinese business tycoon convicted of defrauding followers in $1bn scheme

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Guo Wengui, who gained fans for criticizing Communist party in China, found guilty in US of nine criminal counts

Guo Wengui, a self-exiled Chinese business tycoon whose criticism of the Communist party won him legions of online followers and powerful friends in the American conservative movement, was convicted by a US jury on Tuesday of engaging in an enormous multi-year fraud that ripped off some of his most devoted fans.

Once believed to be among the richest people in China, Guo was arrested in New York in March 2023 and accused of operating a racketeering enterprise that stretched from 2018 through 2023.

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Billionaire Sung Kook ‘Bill’ Hwang convicted of fraud by New York jury

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Archegos Capital Management’s founder guilty of 10 of 11 criminal counts over investment firm that collapsed in 2021

Sung Kook “Bill” Hwang, the Archegos Capital Management founder, was convicted of fraud and other charges by a jury in Manhattan federal court on Wednesday. Prosecutors at a criminal trial had accused him of market manipulation ahead of the 2021 collapse of his $36bn private investment firm.

The jury, which began deliberations on Tuesday, found Hwang guilty on 10 of 11 criminal counts and Patrick Halligan, his Archegos deputy and co-defendant, guilty on all three counts he faced. Hwang and Halligan sat flanked by their lawyers as the verdict was read by a soft-spoken foreperson.

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Urban heat island effect making temperatures 8F hotter in 65 US cities – study

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Nearly 34 million people in those cities, or 15% of the US population, experiencing temperatures higher than in surrounding areas

Almost 34 million people in 65 major US cities, or 15% of the country’s population, are experiencing temperatures that are 8F higher than their surrounding areas, according to a new analysis from Climate Central, a non-profit research group.

That is largely due to built environments like parking lots and asphalt sidewalks, and a lack of trees, that contribute to what’s known as the urban heat island effect.

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Columbia removes three deans over text messages with alleged ‘antisemitic tropes’

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University president says private text exchange during school event was ‘unacceptable and deeply upsetting’

Three Columbia University deans have been indefinitely removed from their positions after sending text messages that the university president said included antisemitic tropes.

In a message sent on Monday, the Columbia president, Minouche Shafik, said that text messages “revealed behavior and sentiments that were not only unprofessional, but also, disturbingly touched on ancient antisemitic tropes”, the Columbia Spectator reported.

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Two dead after truck strikes group on Fourth of July in New York City park

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Ford F-150 came down a street ‘at a high rate of speed’, went past a stop sign, on to the sidewalk and into a park

Two people were killed and nine others injured, four critically, when a pickup truck drove into a group celebrating the Fourth of July holiday in New York City, authorities said.

A Ford F-150 came down a street “at a high rate of speed” shortly before 9pm Thursday. The truck went through an intersection and past a stop sign, drove on to the sidewalk and into Corlears Hook Park on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, said Jeffrey Maddrey, the New York police department chief, during a news conference.

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‘It’s a snowball effect’: the generation Z book club making waves in New York

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Cassidy Grady’s Sunday reading series ‘Confessions’ seeks fresh avenues for creative expression in wake of pandemic

Reading nights and avant-garde literary groups are rapidly emerging as platforms for younger generations to foster community and creatively share personal narratives – and one new series is making waves in New York.

Literary events are on the rise across the US, with CNN citing that book club listings have grown 24% in 2023 from the previous year.

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New York police kill boy wielding replica handgun, authorities say

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A 13-year-old was killed Friday in Utica after police stopped two youths in connection with armed robbery investigation

Video released late Saturday shows an officer in upstate New York fatally shooting a 13-year-old boy who had been tackled to the ground after he ran from police and pointed a replica handgun at them.

The teen was killed late Friday in Utica after officers in the city about 240 miles (400km) north-west of Manhattan stopped two youths a little after 10pm in connection with an armed robbery investigation, police said.

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Four dead and nine injured after minivan crashes into New York nail salon

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Driver taken to hospital and charged with driving while intoxicated after rescuers free people trapped in building

A minivan slammed into a Long Island, New York, nail salon on Friday, killing four people and injuring nine others inside the business at the time, a Suffolk county fire official said.

The vehicle came to a stop at the back of the Hawaii Nail & Spa salon in Deer Park at about 4.40pm.

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Renters in New York City fight back against real estate broker fees

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City is one of few in the US where tenants can be forced to pay fees, despite a landlord having hired the broker

A row is brewing in New York City between renters and real estate brokers, over who pays the thousands of dollars in fees when an apartment is rented.

On 12 June, lawmakers in New York met to discuss the Fairness in Apartment Rental Expenses act (Fare act), which would require the person who hires the broker to pay the broker fee.

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Jamaal Bowman’s primary defeat leaves progressives angry at role of Aipac

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Leftwing groups write to top House Democrat Hakeem Jeffries raising ‘dire concerns’ about pro-Israel lobby group

Progressive groups reacted with disappointment and anger over Jamaal Bowman’s decisive primary loss to a moderate Democrat in New York’s 16th district, calling for the party to cut ties with pro-Israel lobbying groups they blame for the result.

In a letter to the House Democratic leader, Hakeem Jeffries, more than a dozen progressive organizations said they had “dire concerns” over the party’s continued association with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac), “the future of the Democratic Party, the future of our multiracial democracy, and the future of our planet”.

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Progressive Jamaal Bowman loses New York House Democratic primary

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Congressman Bowman defeated by George Latimer, backed by pro-Israel groups in most expensive House primary ever

Jamaal Bowman, the progressive Democratic congressman whose criticism of Israel’s war on Gaza made him a target for pro-Israel lobbying groups, lost his primary race on Tuesday night.

The Democratic primary in New York’s 16th district became the most expensive House primary in history after Bowman was challenged by George Latimer, a pro-Israel centrist.

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Judge partially lifts Trump gag order in hush-money case – as it happened

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This live blog is now closed. For the latest on Trump’s trial, read our full coverage here.

While his primary contest may be too close to call, the vote count thus far shows Republican congressman Bob Good trailing his challenger John McGuire by a small amount.

Good is now casting aspersions on the fairness of the election, NBC News reports:

Good claimed during an appearance on Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast Monday that Lynchburg “did not secure their drop boxes.”

“There’s no accountability for when those boxes were opened,” Good said. “They were apparently left to be stuffed for two or three days after the election.”

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Series of US mass shootings brings weekend of death and mayhem

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One dead and 34 wounded as incidents in New York, Alabama, Missouri and Ohio swell 2024 mass shooting tally

A series of mass shootings rocked the US early on Sunday, leaving at least one dead and 34 others wounded in just four cases reported in New York, Alabama, Missouri and Ohio.

The shootings came amid a broader spate of recent mass shootings, including the one at an Arkansas grocery store on Friday that left four dead and nine wounded – as well as another at a nightclub in Kentucky on Saturday that killed one and injured seven.

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Accusations fly as pro-Israel groups spend big to oust progressive House Democrat

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Jamaal Bowman faces challenge from George Latimer in New York primary that has become testy – and expensive

It was one of the hottest days of the year in New York City on Saturday – but as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took to the stage in the Bronx, you wouldn’t know it.

At a rally to support Jamaal Bowman, the progressive Democrat facing a primary campaign that has seen pro-Israel lobbying groups pump more than $15m into the race, Ocasio-Cortez was amped up.

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