The agency worked with Iraqi and Kurdish intelligence officials to narrow down the leader's exact location and place local spies.
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Boston Globe via GettyA former Boston College student was indicted on charges of involuntary manslaughter over her boyfriend’s suicide, Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins announced at a Monday press conference.Inyoung You, a 21-year-old South Korean student, was indicted by a grand jury on Oct. 18 in the death of her boyfriend Alexander Urtula, 22, who killed himself on the day of his graduation from Boston College, said Rollins.You’s indictment is reminiscent of the headline-grabbing case of Michelle Carter, who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in 2017 over the death of her boyfriend, 18-year-old Conrad Roy III. Carter is serving a 15-month sentence after it was revealed that she pushed Roy to end his life over text message and repeatedly chastised him when he hesitated.“The time is right and you are ready... just do it babe,” Carter reportedly wrote in one message.The district attorney said Monday that You’s case is distinct in that she waged “a complete and utter attack on this man’s will and conscience and psyche,” telling him to kill himself “thousands of times” over their 18-month relationship.On May 20, Urtula’s family was in town from New Jersey to watch him walk across the stage during his graduation from Boston College. He never made it. “What appeared to be a self-inflicted horrific tragedy ended up being a lot more than that” when authorities began looking through his cellphone, said Richard Sullivan, superintendent of the Transit Police Department.The ensuing investigation revealed that You was “physically, verbally, and psychologically abusive” to Urtula and was tracking his location on her phone the morning of his death, Rollins said. School officials said Urtula, a biology major, was a gifted student from Cedar Grove, New Jersey. He was working as a researcher at a New York hospital after completing his coursework the previous December, said Joy Moore, the interim vice president of student affairs, when she announced Urtula’s death.“While today is a day for celebration, we ask you to take a moment to remember Alexander, his family, and friends in your prayers during this most difficult time,” Moore said in May.Speaking at the press conference on Monday, Rollins said that You “made demands and threats with the understanding that she had complete control” over Urtula. She “in fact was present when” he killed himself, the district attorney added.The indictment alleges that You’s behavior “was wanton and reckless” and that she “created life-threatening conditions” for Urtula.In domestic abuse, said Rollins, “a perpetrator is not limited by the gender or the gender of their partner.”You left for South Korea after Urtula’s death.“There are any number of ways that we can try to extradite her back from Korea,” said the district attorney. “We are fully fluent in the ways we can get her back if she doesn’t want to do so voluntarily. We are cautiously optimistic that she will return on her own.”If you or a loved one are struggling with suicidal thoughts, please reach out to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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Keith Wildhaber, who was allegedly passed over for promotion 23 times, wins discrimination lawsuit against St Louis county policeSergeant Keith Wildhaber. Jurors in St Louis county court also heard that a police captain had called Wildhaber ‘fruity’. Photograph: Cristina M Fletes/APA gay Missouri police sergeant has been awarded nearly $20m in damages after he was told if he wanted to be promoted he should “tone down the gayness”.Keith Wildhaber, a sergeant with St Louis county police, filed a lawsuit against the department in 2017, after allegedly being passed over for promotion 23 times. Jurors in St Louis county court also heard that a police captain had called Wildhaber “fruity”.“I was sickened by it,” Wildhaber told the court last week, according to the St Louis Post-Dispatch.“I think I said: ‘I can’t believe we are having this conversation in 2014.’ It was devastating to hear.”Wildhaber said he was told to “tone down the gayness” by John Saracino, a former St Louis county police board of commissioners member. Saracino has denied it.Donna Woodland, a witness in the trial, supported Wildhaber’s complaint, the Post-Dispatch reported. Woodland testified that she had heard the St Louis county police captain Guy Means say Wildhaber was “way too out there with his gayness and he needed to tone it down if he wanted a white shirt [be promoted]”.She also recalled Means saying: “You know about him, right? He’s fruity.”The jury awarded Wildhaber $1.9m in actual damages and $10m in punitive damages on the discrimination allegation, according to the Post-Dispatch. It also found Wildhaber had been the victim of retaliation after filing his lawsuit, adding $999,000 in actual damages and $7m in punitive damages for that charge.“We wanted to send a message,” the jury foreman, who was not named, told reporters. “If you discriminate you are going to pay a big price … You can’t defend the indefensible.”The St Louis county executive, Sam Page, said in a statement he would appoint new members to the police board.“Our police department must be a place where every community member and every officer is respected and treated with dignity. Employment decisions in the department must be made on merit and who is best for the job,” Page said.“The time for leadership changes has come and change must start at the top.”
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Claudia Lopez, a symbol of the fight against corruption in Colombia, became the first woman to be elected mayor of Bogota on Sunday. Lopez won the mayoral poll with just over 35 percent of the vote in a narrow triumph over liberal Carlos Fernando Galan.
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There is a saying among farmers when times are hard on the Argentine Pampas: "Unsaddle the horse until the sun comes out". This dusty soy, corn and cattle ranching town in the bread-basket province of Buenos Aires was a bastion of support for farm-friendly incumbent Mauricio Macri. Farmers "saddled up" by planting at record levels when Macri, only days into his administration, ditched the heavy handed trade controls and export limits that previous President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner had put on corn and wheat.
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One of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's last audio messages was an appeal for his followers to do everything in their power to free Islamic State detainees and the women being held in jails and camps in northeastern Syria. With news of the extremist group's leader's death, Kurdish security forces worried about the possibility of attacks or rioting have been tightening security at these facilities, which hold more than 80,000 members and supporters of the militant group, including women and children. Fear of chaos already was running high over the fate of those detained after this month's Turkish military invasion of northeastern Syria, which ushered in major troop changes in the area about two weeks after al-Baghdadi's message.
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Freshman Rep. Katie Hill, a rising Democratic star in the House, announced her resignation Sunday amid an ethics probe, saying explicit private photos of her with a campaign staffer had been "weaponized" by her abusive husband and political operatives. The House ethics committee also launched an investigation into whether Hill had an inappropriate relationship with an aide in her congressional office. Hill has denied that.
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A diplomat at the centre of the Donald Trump impeachment inquiry did say there was a "quid pro quo" between the US president and Ukraine, according to his lawyer. Gordon Sondland, the US ambassador to the European Union, gave evidence earlier this month to congressional committees. His lawyer Robert Luskin, told the Wall Street Journal his client had been asked if there was a quid pro quo. He said Mr Sondland had given a caveat that he was not a lawyer, but that he believed the answer was yes. Mr Sondland was said to have been referring to a meeting between Mr Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, that would happen only if Ukraine agreed to investigate allegations of corruption against Joe Biden, one of Mr Trump's chief political rivals. Democrats in Congress are carrying out an impeachment inquiry after a whistleblower came forward detailing a phone call on July 25 between Mr Trump and Mr Zelensky. In text messages that emerged during the inquiry Mr Sondland had earlier said he did not believe there was a quid pro quo. He sent a text message in September saying: "The president has been crystal clear no quid pro quo's (sic) of any kind." The latest development came as John Kelly, Mr Trump's former chief of staff, said he had warned the president he would be impeached. Mr Kelly, who resigned nearly a year ago, said: "It pains me to see what's going on because I believe if I was still there or someone like me was there, he would not be kind of, all over the place. "I said whatever you do, don't hire a 'yes man,' someone who won't tell you the truth - don't do that. Because if you do, I believe you will be impeached." Mr Trump lambasted his former chief of staff. He said: "John Kelly never said that, he never said anything like that. If he would have said that, I would have thrown him out of the office. He just wants to come back into the action like everybody else does." Stephanie Grisham, Mr Trump's spokeswoman, said: "I worked with John Kelly, and he was totally unequipped to handle the genius of our great President." The House of Representatives is expected to vote on articles of impeachment against Mr Trump by Christmas, with a trial to follow in the Senate to determine whether he should be removed from office.
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The United States will repel any attempt to take Syria's oil fields away from U.S.-backed Syrian militia with "overwhelming force," whether the opponent is Islamic State or even forces backed by Russia or Syria, the Pentagon said on Monday. The U.S. military announced last week it was reinforcing its position in Syria with additional assets, including mechanized forces, to prevent oilfields from being taken over by remnants of the Islamic State militant group or others. U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper offered some of his most detailed remarks to date about the mission at a news briefing on Monday.
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The southward march of a Northern California wildfire toward the more populated areas above the San Francisco Bay led officials on Sunday to raise the number of residents ordered to leave their homes in the area to 180,000. The increase, from 130,000 earlier on Sunday, came as wind gusts pushed the Kincade Fire down from the rolling hills and wine regions of northern Sonoma County and threatened communities as far south as northern Santa Rosa, officials said. Sonoma County Sheriff Mark Essick, defending the evacuation orders which he said had been criticized by some as overly cautious, increased the police presence in evacuation zones.
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A Marine Corps veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan was deported to El Salvador this week after several failed attempts to stay in the United States, where he had lived since he was 3 and had been convicted of several felonies, his lawyer and immigration officials said.The case was another chapter in the contentious debate over how the United States' immigration system handles military veterans who are not citizens and have been convicted of crimes, leaving them open to deportation.The deported man, Jose Segovia-Benitez, 38, who grew up in Long Beach, California, is in hiding in El Salvador after his removal Wednesday, his lawyer, Roy Petty, said Thursday night. Segovia-Benitez's background in the U.S. military makes him a target for kidnapping by gangs, Petty said."He's a Marine," Petty said. "He's tough. He's been in worse situations before. He's in good spirits."Lori K. Haley, a spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, declined to answer questions about the case, saying in a statement, "Mr. Segovia-Benitez is a citizen of El Salvador who has repeatedly violated the laws of the United States."Segovia-Benitez was ordered removed in October 2018 and had been held at a detention center in Arizona for about a week before he was deported without advance notice, his lawyer said.Segovia-Benitez suffered a brain injury from an explosive device in Iraq and was honorably discharged from the military in 2004 after serving for five years, Petty said."He's been classified by the VA as 70% disabled for traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder," Petty said, adding that his client had not received sufficient treatment from the Department of Veterans Affairs.While in the military, Segovia-Benitez had applied for naturalization, Petty said, but because of his deployment and his injury, he was unable to complete the process.Segovia-Benitez repeatedly ran into legal trouble over the years. His felony convictions included assault with a deadly weapon, false imprisonment and narcotics possession, and he was sentenced to eight years in prison for corporal injury to a spouse.Petty said that people with traumatic brain injuries are more likely to act erratically.Carlos Luna, president of Green Card Veterans, an organization that works on behalf of veterans who are at risk of deportation or under removal orders, said Thursday: "The communities where these men and women come from are overpoliced. They are judged more harshly than other Americans."He added, "Veterans are no exception to any of these. In fact, we see an increased rate of veterans within our justice system."There is little data on how often veterans are deported, Luna said. The U.S. Government Accountability Office released a report in June that said ICE had developed policies for handling cases of veterans who are not citizens and may face deportation, but the agency does not consistently adhere to those policies, and it does not consistently track the veterans.Segovia-Benitez was ordered deported Oct. 10, 2018, and he appealed his case with the Board of Immigration Appeals, which was denied, ICE said. He also filed two stay requests with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and those requests were also denied, according to the agency.Segovia-Benitez had nearly been deported Oct. 16 of this year, according to Petty. He was pulled off a plane bound for El Salvador after his lawyer contacted ICE arguing that his immigration case should be reopened. Segovia-Benitez was sent to the ICE facility in Arizona, where he was held until Wednesday.Segovia-Benitez's deportation was reported Wednesday by The Orange County Register, which had covered his case extensively.Efforts to stop Segovia-Benitez's deportation had reached Gov. Gavin Newsom of California, who was asked to consider a pardon on an expedited basis, Petty said, adding that the governor was still weighing it.Vicky Waters, a spokeswoman for Newsom, said his office was "unable to discuss individual pardon applications but can assure that each application receives careful and individualized consideration."Segovia-Benitez's deportation added him to the list of deported people who have made national headlines after being deported to countries they had never visited or had left as children.Miguel Perez-Montes, an Army veteran who arrived in the United States legally when he was 8 and served two tours of duty in Afghanistan, was deported to Mexico in early 2018 after his application for citizenship was denied because of a 2010 felony drug conviction.Other deportation stories involving veterans have ended differently. Marco A. Chavez, a Marine veteran who was deported to Mexico in 2002, was allowed to return in 2017.Petty said he was still trying to reopen Segovia-Benitez's immigration case. "We're still able to present evidence showing that his life is in danger in El Salvador because of his service in the U.S. Marines," he said, adding that criminal defense lawyers are also working to reopen his criminal cases.Petty said it was "impossible to know" how long it could take to resolve Segovia-Benitez's case."Immigration could still choose to leave him outside of the country," he said.This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2019 The New York Times Company
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The United States will send armored vehicles and combat troops into eastern Syria to keep oil fields from potentially falling into the hands of Islamic State militants, U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said. It was the latest sign that extracting the military from Syria is more uncertain and complicated than President Donald Trump is making it out to be.
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Israel's prime minister and his main rival opened a new round of unity talks Sunday in the latest effort to break a political stalemate and avoid an unprecedented third parliamentary election in less than a year. Israel has been paralyzed by political deadlock following an inconclusive election last month, with neither Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud nor the rival Blue and White party in control of a 61-seat majority in parliament. After nearly a month of efforts, Netanyahu last week said he had failed to cobble together a coalition.
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An alleged drug dealer with knowledge of drug shipments involving a brother of Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez convicted this month for drug trafficking, was killed on Saturday in prison, his lawyer said. Magdaleno Meza, who had been in the El Pozo prison since June 2018 on charges of money laundering, was shot dead during a fight between inmates of the facility, the deputy director of the national penal authority, German McNiel, told reporters. Meza's lawyer, Carlos Chajtur, told Reuters his client was attacked by two armed men trying to stop him from talking about the information about drug deals he had in several notebooks in case he was called to testify in the United States.
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Storms with heavy rains doused the drought-parched South on Friday, prompting alerts for floods and tornadoes as Post-Tropical Cyclone Olga headed for the Gulf coast. The National Hurricane Center said Olga, located in the Gulf of Mexico south of Louisiana, would contribute to rainfall that could total 8 inches (20 centimeters) in spots by Sunday. Neither it nor Tropical Storm Pablo, far out in the Atlantic, was expected to reach hurricane strength.
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California U.S. Rep. Katie Hill has apologized to friends and supporters for engaging in an affair with a campaign staffer, but Susan Slates still feels let down by the 32-year-old Democrat who arrived in Congress just this year. Slates is a beauty salon owner in Hill's hometown of Agua Dulce, a lightly populated expanse of grassy hills and horse ranchettes north of Los Angeles.
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British police investigating the deaths of 39 people in a refrigerated truck charged the driver on Saturday with manslaughter and people trafficking, as families in Vietnam expressed fear their loved ones were among the dead. The 25-year-old from Northern Ireland was "charged with 39 counts of manslaughter, conspiracy to traffic people, conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration and money laundering", Essex police said. Three more people are in custody in Britain over the investigation, the country's largest murder probe since the 2005 London suicide bombings.
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The threat from a wildfire that destroyed 21 homes in Northern California's wine country is growing. Crews are struggling in the battle against the Sonoma County fire. Pacific Gas & Electric said a faulty transmission line near the start of a wildfire in California wine country has prompted a change in strategy about when to shut down such high-voltage lines in windy weather.
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