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Effort to exhume Stephen Smith’s body is a search for answers, attorneys say, not ‘Murdaugh 2.0’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:57:24 GMT

(CNN) — Attorneys for the family of Stephen Smith say their effort to exhume the 19-year-old’s body is an attempt to provide his mother answers about what led to his death — and has nothing to do with the family of Alex Murdaugh.“This is not an Alex Murdaugh 2.0, or any Murdaugh 2.0,” Eric Bland, an attorney for Smith’s mother, told reporters in a virtual news conference Monday. “This is the Stephen Smith 2.0. It’s all about Stephen.”Smith’s mother and her attorneys announced they would petition a court to have his body — discovered in July 2015 in the middle of a Hampton County, South Carolina, road — exhumed for a private autopsy to seek what a GoFundMe page described as “a new, unbiased look at his body and an accurate determination of his cause of death based on facts.”“We think that he did not die on that road that fateful night,” Eric Bland said Monday. “We think that there wa...

Dentist arrested in ‘heinous, complex and calculated’ poisoning death of his wife

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:57:24 GMT

(CNN) — A Colorado dentist was arrested early Sunday morning on murder charges in the poisoning death of his wife, according to a release from the Aurora Police Department.Aurora police detectives launched an investigation into the woman’s suspicious death, after James Toliver Craig, 45, drove his wife, 43, to a hospital around 8:45 p.m. Wednesday, because she was having “severe headaches and dizziness.” The wife’s condition deteriorated quickly after arriving at the hospital, and she was placed on a ventilator in intensive care, where she was declared medically brain-dead a short time later, police said.Police determined the woman had been poisoned and a warrant for first-degree murder was obtained after doctors made the decision to take her off life support early Sunday morning. Craig was arrested and booked into jail around 2 a.m. Sunday, according to the release.“When the suspicious details of this case came to light, our team of officers and ...

Jury convicts 3 of murder in death of rapper XXXTentacion

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:57:24 GMT

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Three men were found guilty Monday of the 2018 killing of star rapper XXXTentacion, who was shot outside a South Florida motorcycle shop while being robbed of $50,000.Michael Boatwright, 28, Dedrick Williams, 26, and Trayvon Newsome, 24, were all found guilty of first-degree murder and armed robbery by a jury that deliberated a little more than seven days. They will receive mandatory life sentences at a later date.The defendants showed little emotion as each stood and was handcuffed by a bailiff.During the monthlong trial, prosecutors linked the men to the June 18, 2018, shooting outside Riva Motorsports in suburban Fort Lauderdale through extensive surveillance video taken inside and outside the store, plus cellphone videos they took that showed them flashing fistfuls of $100 bills hours after the slaying.Prosecutors also had the testimony of a fourth man, Robert Allen, a former friend of the defendants who said he participated in the robbery. He pleade...

Xi Jinping to Vladimir Putin: I’m sure you’ll win re-election next year

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:57:24 GMT

Chinese President Xi Jinping turned election pundit at the beginning of high-profile state visit to Moscow on Monday and expressed confidence that Russians would back Vladimir Putin in next year’s presidential election. Unsurprisingly, Xi made no reference to what happens to Putin’s political opponents. “I know that next year there will be another presidential election in your country,” Xi told Putin at the start of talks in the Kremlin, the state-run TASS news agency reported. “Thanks to your strong leadership, Russia has made significant progress in achieving prosperity … in recent years. I am sure that the Russian people will strongly support Mr. President.”Putin, 70, is widely expected to go for another term for the top job next year, whereas Xi, 69, just secured another presidential term less than two weeks ago by breaking Communist Party norms set out decades ago.Xi became the first world leader to meet Putin after the Russian leader was iss...

DA: Skier killed in apparent accident on Wachusett Mountain

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:57:24 GMT

A skier has died in an apparent accident on Wachusett Mountain Monday morning, according to the Worcester County District Attorney’s Office. Officers responded to the scene around 10:30 a.m. after an adult male skier was found unresponsive by another skier who was passing by, police say.The man was brought to the bottom of the mountain by the Ski Patrol, where he was pronounced dead. Authorities have not yet identified the skier.The incident remains under investigation and no additional information is available at this time. This is a developing story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest updates.

Putin welcomes Xi to Moscow for Chinese leader’s first visit since Russia invaded Ukraine

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:57:24 GMT

(CNN) — Xi Jinping has met with Vladimir Putin at the start of a three-day visit to Russia — his first since Moscow launched its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine last year — as the Chinese leader seeks to portray himself as a peacebroker despite deep skepticism in Kyiv and the West.Putin welcomed Xi at the Kremlin on Monday, just days after the International Criminal Court in the Hague accused the Russian president of committing war crimes in Ukraine and issued a warrant for his arrest.Ukraine is expected to be a key point of discussion during Xi’s visit, which will be closely watched for any potential impact on an entrenched conflict that has killed tens of thousands and triggered a mass humanitarian crisis.“In the last few years, China has made a colossal leap forward,” Putin told Xi, sitting side by side with him at the Kremlin on Monday afternoon. “In the whole world, this evokes interest, and unfort...

Boston police searching for missing 14-year-old from Roxbury

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:57:24 GMT

The Boston Police Department is searching for a 14-year-old from Roxbury who went missing on Friday.Police say Kanna Darius Hunt was last seen at 8:30 p.m. in the area of Crawford Street. Hunt is approximately 5 feet 5 inches and was last seen wearing a jacket, blue jeans, and blue Crocs. The teen attends Higginson Lewis School at 131 Walnut Avenue and may be in the areas of 301 Warren Street or 100 Washington Street.Anyone with information regarding the teen’s whereabouts is asked to call 911 or B-2 Detectives at 617-343-4275.Those who wish share information anonymously can do so by calling the CrimeStoppers Tip Line AT 1-800 (494) -TIPS or by texting the word ‘TIP’ to CRIME (27463).

US aid worker and French journalist freed in West Africa

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:57:24 GMT

NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — An American aid worker held by Islamic extremists in West Africa for more than six years and a French journalist abducted almost two years ago were both freed Monday, authorities said.They were brought together to Niger’s capital. U.S. officials said no ransom had been paid for aid worker Jeffery Woodke, praising Niger’s government for helping his release. The French government did not comment on how journalist Olivier Dubois’ freedom was won.Last week, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken made a visit to Niger where he announced $150 million in direct assistance to the Sahel region. “I’m very pleased we are now seeing that come to fruition today,” Blinken said, thanking his team, and Niger, for their efforts. “We won’t rest until they’re all home, like Jeffery reunited with their families.”Officials in Niger unexpectedly announced Monday morning that the two men had taken a special flight to the country’s capital but provided no details. U.S...

Credit Suisse-UBS deal offers hope, but bank doubts persist

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:57:24 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Credit Suisse shares plunged Monday after Swiss authorities cut a deal with its bigger rival UBS to acquire the troubled bank at a marked-down price. But European bank stocks and the wider market gained as investors watch whether moves to shore up banks will stem further upheaval in the global financial system. Shares of Credit Suisse, whose woes stem from questions over its internal controls, fell about 56% a day after UBS said it would buy its fellow Swiss bank for a lowball price of 3 billion Swiss francs ($3.25 billion). The shares are now trading at about the level that they are valued at by the deal. Swiss regulators orchestrated the purchase in a bid to stop more turmoil after the collapse of two U.S. banks. In an indication of the frantic, behind-the-scenes deal-making to resolve the issue before markets opened, the acquisition was announced late Sunday.There is still uncertainty over how the deal will play out for the combined lender and what comes next for th...

Review: Stunning new novel about a family and mental illness

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:57:24 GMT

“Commitment,” by Mona Simpson (Alfred A. Knopf)Mona Simpson’s latest novel “Commitment” is a minimalist masterpiece, exploring the large and small ways that a diagnosis of mental illness affects a family. In a story utterly devoid of car crashes, murders, abductions and explosions, Simpson bears down on the truly important questions about life — home, work, love and family.At the center of the novel is Diane Aziz, a single mother struggling to raise three kids on a nurse’s salary in Los Angeles in the 1970s. She has lied to get them into an exclusive public high school in the Pacific Palisades, and it has paid off big for her two older children, Walter and Lina. When the novel begins, it is 1972, and Walter has just enrolled at UC-Berkeley. Soon after that, Diane spirals into a deep depression and is admitted to a state mental hospital. At that point, her best friend, Julie, a colleague at work, steps up to take care of Lina and younger brother Donnie.Lina, who is still in high scho...