A man has been sentenced to four years for setting fire to the £320k Gloucestershire property he jointly owned with his former partner. Artur Narkiewicz, 34, connected propane gas canisters to the house after cancelling the couple's home insurance. His ex, Marta Szafranska, was left with a "huge debt". Narkiewicz sent her a social media message and a minute later called her to say 'goodbye' before setting the house alight. He told police setting fire to the house was his revenge against Szafranska, who had ended their 13-year relationship.
Sri Lankan cricketer Danushka Gunathilaka had three of four charges relating to the alleged sexual assault of a woman in Sydney withdrawn. Gunathilaka, 31, was arrested and charged with four counts of sexual intercourse without consent last year after participating in the Sri Lanka T20 World Cup team. Police said he and the woman charged had met on Tinder. Sri Lanka Cricket has suspended the player from all forms of the game.
The former CFO of a Seattle-based startup, Nevin Shetty, has been accused of taking $35m in company funds and using it to invest in cryptocurrency via a platform he owned. He hid the transactions from Fabric, secretly transferring the money to his HighTower Treasury platform, said the federal indictment. The funds invested soon became worthless. Shetty was subsequently fired and is now facing indictment charges on four counts of wire fraud regarding the incident. His lawyer Cooper Offenbecher, said Shetty disputed the accusations, arguing that the catastrophic crypto market crash following his investment lost the money, rather than the decision to invest itself.
Lack of co-operation stymies investigation into B.C. mortgage broker and missing $225M, court hears
CBC
23-05-18 00:35
Efforts to find the missing millions that mortgage broker, Greg Martel, from Victoria owes to investors has come to a standstill. Martel, who has been accused of running investment business My Mortgage Auction Corp (MMAC), also known as Shop Your Own Mortgage, like a Ponzi scheme, has ignored communication from investigator, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). PwC states that Martel has failed to produce the financial documents and a sworn list of assets, which led to serious concerns about his conduct, including an attempt to move assets from one American bank to another to prevent them from being discovered in the scope of the court order.
North Queensland forward Luciano Leilua's domestic violence charges were dismissed, opening the possibility for his early return and participation in the weekend's Cowboys' face-off with his former club, Wests Tigers. Police charged the Samoan international with assaulting his partner and smashing her phone at a residence at Harrington Park in Sydney last year. Leilua remained insistent on his innocence. The court hearing led him to accept the terms of an apprehended violence order. Leilua's lawyer asserted that the charges' dismissal and the AVO's acceptance don't require him to do anything that all citizens aren't bound to follow.
Gautam Adani, CEO of Indian conglomerate Adani Group, has invited bankers and investors to visit its key assets to restore confidence following short seller Hindenburg Research's allegations of accounting fraud against the group earlier this year which saw the market value of its listed companies wiped by over $100bn. Bankers have been invited to the new Mumbai airport the group is building, port and energy facilities in Mundra, Gujarat and dinner with senior Adani Group executives. This is the first such event since the report.
Deutsche Bank to pay $75 million to settle lawsuit by Epstein accusers
CNN
23-05-18 04:43
Deutsche Bank has agreed to pay $75m to settle a class action-related lawsuit brought by Epstein accusers, who claim the bank enabled his sex trafficking activities. Epstein died in jail in August 2019. The former Deutsche client, who had banked with the lender from 2013 to 2018, was also a client of JPMorgan Chase between 1998 and 2013. The bank, which has faced multiple suits regarding Epstein's activities, may yet face similar legal challenges from accusers; the settlement will not prevent future claims from being brought against Deutsche or JPMorgan. The banks have not commented on the settlement.
A district court judge in Wisconsin has heard arguments for and against the closure of Line 5, the cross-border pipeline running between the US and Canada. The Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Chippewa warned of the risk of a breach after spring flooding, claiming Enbridge Inc's pipeline has long since expired. The Canadian company says such concerns are overblown. The pipeline carries 540,000 barrels of oil and natural gas liquids daily across Wisconsin and Michigan to refineries in Ontario, supplying key refining facilities in Quebec and Nevada airport. Talks are ongoing between the two countries over the line's future.
Pakistan's anti-corruption agency, the National Accountability Bureau, has called former prime minister Imran Khan for questioning into graft charges that led to his arrest on 9 May. It is unclear whether Khan, who denies the charges, will respond to the summons. Pakistan's worst-ever economic crisis has been worsened by the recent wave of political instability in the country following Khan's arrest on the charges. His wife, Bushra Bibi, was also granted bail until 23 May.
BT is planning to cut up to 42% of its workforce over the next seven years as it seeks to reduce costs and boost profit growth, according to CEO Philip Jansen. Total workers, including employees and contractors, will fall from around 130,000 to between 75,000 and 90,000 by 2030. The telecommunications company has aimed for annual savings of £3bn ($4.1bn) by the end of 2025. The firm has been reducing its workforce for the past five years, though more drastic cuts have been considered since 2019. Jansen’s planned reductions, which will come into effect over several years, reflect in part the shift towards automation and digitalisation in the telecoms industry, as well as the firm’s drive to improve its responsiveness to customers.
Tahawwur Rana, a Chicago businessman, has been approved for extradition from the US to India where he is wanted over his role in the 2008 Mumbai terror attack. Rana was convicted in 2011 of supporting an Islamic militant group which killed 166 people in India's financial capital. It was initially charged with actively plotting the attack, however, those charges were dropped. The businessman, who denies all of the charges, had previously challenged India's extradition request, which was supported by the US government. He will remain in US custody until the Secretary of State extradites him to India.
A US district court has ordered a temporary halt to Amgen's $27.8bn acquisition of Horizon Therapeutics pending an FTC lawsuit. The two companies requested the order. The acquisition will not proceed until at least 15 September or the second business day after the court's ruling.
Andrew Miller, a transgender butcher known locally as Amy, has admitted to abducting a primary schoolgirl, dressed as a woman, and subjecting her to sexual assaults at his house. The case is expected to cause unease over the gender self-ID proposals, a legislation that poses to allow Scots to change their legal sex merely by signing a declaration. Some of the opponents debate that this action will make it easier for male predators, similarly to Miller, to access women-only spaces. The suspect presented as a woman while luring the girl into his vehicle.
Court lifts India state's ban on Islamic State film
BBC
23-05-18 10:51
India's Supreme Court has lifted the West Bengal government's ban on the screening of a controversial film that features three women from the country joining Islamic State. However, the court has asked makers of The Kerala Story to add a disclaimer to the film stating it is "a fictionalised version of events". Southern state Tamil Nadu had also pledged to stop screening the film. Security measures have now been ordered to be put in place at all regional theatres to allow the film to be seen. The court will watch the film before hearing further petitions against it in July.
Arguments are being heard in a US district court about whether to shut down Line 5, a critical energy conduit that runs between the US and Canada. Canadian firm Enbridge, which owns the pipeline, has disputed claims by the Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Chippewa Native American tribe that deteriorating infrastructure along the line risks an imminent breach, saying shutting it down would be “too drastic a remedy”. Michigan’s attorney general has sought to shut down Line 5 since 2019, describing it as only a matter of time before a spill into the ecologically fragile Straits of Mackinac in the Great Lakes. A lengthy statement issued this week by the Canadian embassy claimed that closure would have severe economic implications for both countries. Talks over the 1977 pipelines treaty, which effectively prohibit unilateral closures, have been ongoing in recent months.
A man named Marcus Osbourne has been charged with the murder of Steven Harnett, 25, and Katie Higton, 27, who were found dead at a house in Huddersfield on Monday. The man appeared in Leeds Crown Court and was remanded in custody to appear at a pre-trial hearing on 5 July. A provisional trial date was set for 6 November with the time estimate, seven to 10 days. He is also charged with false imprisonment and assault occasioning actual bodily harm in relation to a woman.
Spanish tennis star Rafael Nadal may not return to competitive play, admitting that his plans to train for a return are on hold indefinitely. Nadal pulled out of the French Open and his future career plans are uncertain. He said retirement would come when he couldn't "compete and enjoy", adding that he wanted to say goodbye to key events that were important to him. The 14-time French Open winner may wrap up his pro career by 2024, although omens are not good for a full-scale comeback, given his injury history.
A Co-op supervisor has been given a restraining order after being found guilty at Chester Magistrates' Court of stalking involving serious alarm or distress. Laura Dolman had hired a private detective to place a tracker on store manager Marc Klaver's car after he spurned her advances and asked for a transfer from the Haslington, Cheshire branch. After the manager moved to a new job, Dolman sent hundreds of messages, some explicit, some including graphic pornographic images and others that claimed she was involved in life-threatening incidents. She was found to have sent love letters to Klaver and messaged his ex-wife.
The nomination of Michael Delaney for the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is expected to be withdrawn due to his inability to secure the necessary votes in the Senate Judiciary Committee. Delaney faced opposition from Democrats over a legal brief on abortion that he signed as deputy attorney general in New Hampshire, which defended a parental notification law in the state. He also represented a private boarding school in New Hampshire that was sued in connection with a sexual assault. Although New Hampshire's Democratic senators supported Delaney, other Democrats expressed concerns, with some indicating that they were undecided.
Quebec wants to exempt some Indigenous students from new French language law
CBC
23-05-18 16:23
Quebec's newest French language law, also known as Bill 96, is facing opposition from First Nations communities and English-speaking Quebecers. The bill requires CEGEP students in English schools to take five French language courses, which are necessary for graduation, however, Quebec's minister of the French language proposed an exemption for Indigenous students that would allow them to graduate without passing the written French exam. The premise behind the exemption is that Indigenous students have "unique linguistic experiences," according to an announcement published in the Gazette officielle du Québec. Thursday, the First Nations Education Council, along with the Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador, who previously filed a legal challenge against the bill, said they want to review the proposal before commenting further. Bill 96 is also facing criticism from Quebec's English-speaking residents and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stated the law could face legal challenges from the federal government.
