Digis Mak

Family: Saudis sentence US citizen to 16 years over tweets

18Oct

By George LaningtonNo Comments

Espanol

Family: Saudis sentence US citizen to 16 years over tweets

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — An American citizen has been arrested in Saudi Arabia, tortured and sentenced to 16 years in prison over tweets he sent while in the United States, his son said Tuesday.Saad Ibrahim Almadi, a 72-year-old retired project manager living in Florida, was arrested last November while visiting family in the kingdom and was sentenced earlier this month, his son Ibrahim told The Associated Press, confirming details that were first reported by the Washington Post. Almadi is a citizen of both Saudi Arabia and the U.S.There was no immediate comment from Saudi officials.State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel, speaking to reporters in Washington, confirmed Almadi's detention Tuesday.“We have consistently and intensively raised our concerns regarding the cas...

Biden ‘sold my father for oil,’ says son of Saad Ibrahim Almadi

18Oct

By George LaningtonNo Comments

Europe

Biden ‘sold my father for oil,’ says son of Saad Ibrahim Almadi

WASHINGTON — The son of an elderly US citizen recently handed a 16-year, three-month prison sentence by Saudi Arabia for tweeting has told The Post he's outraged at how President Biden and his deputies bungled the case. “He sold my father for oil, that's clear to us. Especially when we saw the news last week about how they requested to delay the OPEC [oil production cuts] decision a month [until after the election],” Ibrahim Almadi told The Post on Tuesday. Biden visited the oil-rich kingdom in July without winning the release of 72-year-old Saad Almadi or even publicly mentioning the case. The elder Almadi was convicted and sentenced Oct. 3 — after the State Department failed to send a representative to observe proceedings. “Biden just cares about vo...

Arctic Monkeys: The Car review – aching songs of soured dreams | Arctic Monkeys

18Oct

By George LaningtonNo Comments

Updates

Arctic Monkeys: The Car review – aching songs of soured dreams | Arctic Monkeys

When Arctic Monkeys sprang into the charts 16 years ago, they did so with a hurtling energy and an album name borrowed from Alan Sillitoe's novel Saturday Night and Sunday Morning. At the time, the band's lead singer, Alex Turner, explained their reasoning: the record's stories were similarly drawn from the threshold of the weekend – one foot in the hopeful glamor of the previous night, the other in the plain reality of the morning after . In the years since, it's been hard not to also regard the title of Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not as a statement of creative intent: a desire to buck musical expectation, to not repeat whatever came before. Across six albums the band have moved wilfully from indie to rock to funk to, on their last outing – 2018's Tranquility Base Hot...

18Oct

By George LaningtonNo Comments

Europe

Hair straightening product chemicals linked to uterine cancer: Study

A recent study found that frequently using hair-straightening products, like chemical relaxers, raises the risk of uterine cancer.Black women may face a greater risk because they use these products more often, researchers found.While it's unclear which products can cause uterine cancer, experts advise avoiding those containing metals, parabens and formaldehyde.Using hair-straightening products with chemicals could raise the risk of developing uterine cancer — the most common cancer affecting the female reproductive system in the US — and Black women may be most at risk, according to a recent study.The National Institutes of Health research was part of the 50,000-population Sister Study, which examines risk factors for breast cancer and other health issues. Over 34,000 women ages 35-74 ...

In his NBA debut, Kent Benson was punched by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

18Oct

By George LaningtonNo Comments

Updates

In his NBA debut, Kent Benson was punched by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

INDIANAPOLIS — Kent Benson's NBA debut lasted two minutes and nine seconds. Basketball took up the first 120 seconds. A two-man brawl that started with an elbow to the stomach and ended with a punch to the face played out in the final nine.Fans sat in shock inside MECCA Arena on Oct. 18, 1977, as bensonplaying his first pro basketball game with the Milwaukee Bucks, shoved his right elbow into the lower stomach of Los Angeles Lakers center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, to ward him off.Abdul-Jabbar didn't like that. He bent over in pain. And then Abdul-Jabbar stood up. He lunged toward Benson, pulled back his right arm and punched Benson square in the face.Abdul-Jabbar was ejected from the game, went back to his hotel room and watched the Los Angeles Dodgers lose to the New York Yankees in Ga...

England players demand say in future of domestic rugby, insists Jamie George | England rugby union team

18Oct

By George LaningtonNo Comments

Updates

England players demand say in future of domestic rugby, insists Jamie George | England rugby union team

England's senior players are demanding a big say in the future shape of domestic rugby as the Premiership lurches from one financial chaos to another. The hooker Jamie George admits the demise of Wasps and Worcester has awoken all professional players to the stark reality of the sport's finances and the growing threat it poses to their career prospects.George, who will miss the autumn internationals with a foot injury sustained on club duty with Saracens, has been as shocked as anyone else by the swift demise of two of the 13 Premiership sides who kicked off the season last month, with at least one other club understood to be on the brink of a similar fate.“This has opened the eyes of a lot of players, to be honest,” said George, capped 69 times by England. “It's made people realize t...

Darrell Brooks Waukesha Christmas Parade trial takeaways for Day 12

18Oct

By George LaningtonNo Comments

Espanol

Darrell Brooks Waukesha Christmas Parade trial takeaways for Day 12

WAUKESHA - Jurors on Tuesday got a first look at how Darrell Brooks Jr. intends to argue his defense in the ongoing trial tied to the November 2021 Waukesha Christmas Parade attack.Brooks, 40, of Milwaukee is representing himself and called his first witness Tuesday morning. Prosecutors have not yet concluded their case, but Waukesha County Circuit Judge Jennifer Dorow allowed Brooks to call his witness out of order to accommodate the schedule of a Spanish translator who was required for the testimony.Brooks is charged with six counts of first-degree intentional homicide, 61 counts of recklessly endangering safety, six counts of hit-and-run causing death, two counts of bail jumping, all felonies, and one count of misdemeanor battery.Brooks was again removed from the courtroom for contin...

‘Jokes rob the tyrant of power’: Booker winner Shehan Karunatilaka on war, writing and why Sri Lankans smile | Shehan Karunatilaka

18Oct

By George LaningtonNo Comments

Updates

‘Jokes rob the tyrant of power’: Booker winner Shehan Karunatilaka on war, writing and why Sri Lankans smile | Shehan Karunatilaka

When Shehan Karunatilaka woke up in his hotel this morning after winning the Booker prize – becoming the first Sri Lankan novelist to do so since Michael Ondaatje won for The English Patient in 1992 – he had more than 300 unread WhatsApp messages, but also tweets from Sri Lanka's president, the leader of the opposition and other politicians congratulating him. These were met by a furious response from Sri Lankans, who “piled back on them saying: 'Stay away from this guy. He's writing about YOU,'” Karunatilaka paraphrases when we talk a little later that morning.A spirited magical-realist epic, The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida is set in 1989 during the Sri Lankan civil war. Narrated in the second person, it follows Maali Almeida, “photographer, gambler, slut”, not to mention ghost, wh...

Iran agrees to supply missiles as well as drones to Russia | Iran

18Oct

By George LaningtonNo Comments

Updates

Iran agrees to supply missiles as well as drones to Russia | Iran

Iran has deepened its commitment to supplying arms for Russia's assault on Ukraine by agreeing to provide a batch of medium-range missiles, as well as large numbers of cheap but effective drones, according to US and Iranian security officials.The surface-to-surface missiles are designed to supplement the severely run-down stock of Russian missiles, as part of a bid to systematically destroy Ukraine's electricity infrastructure ahead of a brutal winter.The UK defense secretary, Ben Wallace, flew to Washington at short notice to discuss the dangerous new phase in the war, share intelligence on Iran's involvement and discuss what package of new air defense can be provided to Ukraine to help the nation stave off the attacks .The Iranian sale of missiles to Russia took place following a seri...

Claudio Biern dies | The generation that grew up with David the Gnome and D’Artacán

18Oct

By Eddie CorpNo Comments

Updates

Claudio Biern dies | The generation that grew up with David the Gnome and D’Artacán

In thousands and thousands of homes in Spain, children behaved well during weekend meals. They played a lot and there was no need to tempt fate by provoking the wrath of one of the parents. It was the eighties and in a country where that then rare system of autonomous communities was beginning to settle, there were only two television channels -except in those regions where their own channels were born-. The alternatives to watch cartoons were negligible compared to those of today. That is why the appointment at 3:30 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays was so important. Bad behavior could mean missing the weekly appointment of Willy Fog, D'Artacán or David el Gnome, which were broadcast after the 'Telediario' -they only lasted half an hour, time included-. Something unforgivable for that...