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☆ Congressman-elect George Santos faces increasing calls to resign
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-27 | by ( Jo Yurcaba | Jo Yurcaba Is A Reporter For Nbc Out. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +8 min

Congressman-elect George Santos is facing increasing calls to resign following admissions that he fabricated parts of his resumé, including information about his education and employment history. “I’m not saying I’m not guilty of that.”Congressman-elect George Santos speaks during a press conference in Baldwin, N.Y. on Nov. 9, 2022. NBC News attempted to reach George Santos overnight but has not yet received a response. Public employment records only show one employer for Santos’ mother: Imports by Rose, a company based in Queens that shuttered in 1994. When asked about Santos’ claims regarding his mother, Santos’ attorney, Joseph Murray, referred NBC News to Kevin Connors, whom Murray said would be handling Santos’ press inquiries.

☆ Battery swapping spurs Kenya's electric motorbike drive
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-26 | by ( Ayenat Mersie | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/5] Workers at ARC Ride assemble an electric motorcycle at the company's warehouse in Industrial Area, Nairobi, Kenya November 2, 2022. REUTERS/Monicah MwangiSummary Electric motorbike startups making inroads in KenyaSay battery swapping saves drivers time, moneyPlanning to expand model to Tanzania, UgandaNAIROBI, Dec 26 (Reuters) - Over recent months, sets of sturdy, brightly-branded battery swapping stations have cropped up around Kenya's capital Nairobi, allowing electric motorcyclists to exchange their low battery for a fully-charged one. "It doesn't make a lot of economic and business sense for them to acquire a battery...which would almost double the cost of the bike," said Steve Juma, the co-founder of electric bike company Ecobodaa. EXPANSION PLANSEcobodaa is just one of several Nairobi-based electric motorcycle startups working to prove themselves in Kenya before eventually expanding in East Africa. "We're putting over 200 swapping stations in Nairobi and expanding to Dar es Salaam and Kampala," said Hurst-Croft.

☆ 'The Serpent' serial killer Charles Sobhraj returns to France - media
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Nepal's Supreme Court ordered the release of Sobhraj, known as the "bikini killer" in Thailand, and 'The Serpent" for his evasion of police, earlier this week on health grounds. A lawyer for Sobhraj in France did not immediately respond to a request for comment. I have to sue a lot of people," AFP quoted Sobhraj as saying. Associates have previously described Sobhraj, 78, as a con artist, a seducer, a robber and a murderer. In 2021, the BBC and Netflix (NFLX.O) produced a drama series based on the story of Sobhraj’s alleged killings.

☆ Serial killer Charles ‘The Serpent' Sobhraj freed from Nepal prison
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-23 | by ( ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

Charles Sobhraj, a convicted killer who police say is responsible for a string of murders in the 1970s and 1980s, was released from a Nepal prison on Friday after nearly two decades behind bars. Sobhraj was driven out of Central Jail in Kathmandu by a cavalcade of police cars a little after midday, Ishwari Prasad Pandey, a jailor at the Central Jail, told Reuters. His notoriety and exploits have been the subject of several dramatizations, including a Netflix and BBC joint production released last year. Sobhraj escaped from India’s Tihar jail in 1986 after drugging prison guards with cookies and cakes laced with sleeping pills. “Jail authorities will hand him over to the department of immigration today,” Sobhraj’s lawyer, Chintan told Reuters earlier on Friday.

☆ Charles 'The Serpent' Sobhraj freed from Nepal prison
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-23 | by ( Gopal Sharma | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/2] Police officers escort Charles Sobhraj, a French national known as 'the Serpent', accused of killing over 20 young Western backpackers across Asia, to the Department of Immigration after he was released from prison, following an order of Nepal's Supreme Court, in Kathmandu, Nepal December 23, 2022. REUTERS/Chandra Bahadur AleKATHMANDU, Dec 23 (Reuters) - Charles Sobhraj, a convicted killer who police say is responsible for a string of murders in the 1970s and 1980s, was released from a Nepal prison on Friday after nearly two decades behind bars. Sobhraj was driven out of Central Jail in Kathmandu by a cavalcade of police cars a little after midday, Ishwari Prasad Pandey, a jailor at the Central Jail, told Reuters. Sobhraj escaped from India's Tihar jail in 1986 after drugging prison guards with cookies and cakes laced with sleeping pills. "Jail authorities will hand him over to the department of immigration today," Sobhraj's lawyer, Chintan told Reuters earlier on Friday.

☆ Killer known as ‘The Serpent’ set to be freed from Nepal prison
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

Charles Sobhraj, a convicted killer who police suspect was responsible for a string of murders in the 1970s and 1980s, was due to be freed on Thursday after nearly 20 years in prison in Nepal, his lawyer said. Nepal’s Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered his release from prison, where he has served 19 years of his 20-year sentence, citing his age. Sobhraj denied killing the American woman and his lawyers said the charge against him was based on assumption. Sobhraj escaped from India’s Tihar jail in 1986 after drugging prison guards with cookies and cakes laced with sleeping pills. Last year, the BBC and Netflix jointly produced a TV series dramatizing his crimes called “The Serpent”.

☆ 'The Serpent' Charles Sobhraj due to be set to be free from Nepal prison
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( Gopal Sharma | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] French serial killer Charles Sobhraj leaves Kathmandu district court after his hearing in Kathmandu May 31, 2011. Sobhraj denied killing the American woman and his lawyers said the charge against him was based on assumption. Nepal's Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered his release from prison, where he has served 19 years of his 20-year sentence, citing his age. Sobhraj is expected to walk out of a high-security prison in Kathmandu after 10 a.m. (0415 GMT), his lawyer Ram Bandhu Sharma, told Reuters. He was also known as "the serpent" because of his ability to disguise himself following his escape from a prison in India in the mid-1980s.

☆ Factbox: Who is the 'bikini killer' Charles Sobhraj?
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

PARIS, Dec 21 (Reuters) - Nepal's Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the release of Charles Sobhraj, a French national known as the "bikini killer" who police say is responsible killing over 20 young Western backpackers across Asia during the 1970s and 1980s. Here are some facts about Sobhraj:* Sobhraj, 78, was born to an Indian father and Vietnamese mother. * Sobhraj returned to France following his release in India. Sobhraj denied killing the American woman, whose body was found in a wheat field near the Nepali capital. * Nepal's Supreme Court ordered his release due to his age.

☆ Nepal court to release serial killer Charles 'the serpent' Sobhraj
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( Gopal Sharma | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] French serial killer Charles Sobhraj leaves Kathmandu district court after his hearing in Kathmandu May 31, 2011. REUTERS/Navesh Chitrakar/File PhotoKATHMANDU, Dec 21 (Reuters) - Nepal's Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the release, due to his age, of Charles Sobhraj, a French national known as "the serpent" who police say is responsible for a string of murders in the 1970s and 1980s. Sobhraj, 78, is accused of killing over 20 young Western backpackers across Asia, usually by drugging their food or drink. Last year, the BBC and Netflix (NFLX.O) jointly produced a TV series dramatizing his crimes called "The Serpent." On Wednesday, Supreme Court judges Sapana Pradhan Malla and Til Prasad Shrestha ordered that Sobhraj be freed and deported from Nepal, after 19 years in prison.

A man was sentenced to life behind bars, with no hope of parole, on Monday for his role in the killings of eight members of an Ohio family whose lives were "cruelly taken" one night in 2016. "How sick and twisted is the Wagner family? "I pray, Judge Deering, that you see the true devil that George Wagner IV really is and make him suffer." Both Wagner brothers and their parents, Angela Wagner and George “Billy” Wagner III, were charged in connection with the slayings. Jake Wagner last year confessed to shooting five of the Rhoden family victims in exchange for the death penalty being removed as a possible punishment.

☆ Boris Johnson's brother quits as adviser to Binance - Telegraph
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Dec 19 (Reuters) - Jo Johnson, brother of former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, resigned from the advisory board of Binance last week amid the cryptocurrency exchange's struggles to launch in the United Kingdom, The Telegraph reported on Monday. "I stepped down from the advisory board last week and have no role with it [or] any related entity," Johnson told The Telegraph. Binance and a spokesperson for Johnson did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment. Reuters reported in October that Binance had sought ways to circumvent regulatory scrutiny in Britain. Last year, the FCA had also warned that Binance did not hold "any form" of permission to offer services regulated by Britain.

☆ Vermont's first trans lawmaker gets engaged at rainbow-lit White House
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-17 | by ( Jo Yurcaba | Jo Yurcaba Is A Reporter For Nbc Out. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

Vermont Rep. Taylor Small, the state’s first transgender lawmaker, got engaged to her partner, Carsen Russell, while the White House was lit with rainbow lights on Tuesday. Vermont Rep. Taylor Small got engaged to her partner, Carsen Russell (left), after the Respect for Marriage Act signing at the White House on Tuesday. Courtesy Rep. Taylor SmallAs the event was wrapping up, Russell said he asked Small if she wanted to take a photo. “Carson is wonderful at navigating the roads with such confidence.”Carsen Russell, Vermont Rep. Taylor Small's partner of nearly four years, said he wasn't sure he would be able to get a ring into the White House without Small noticing. “I was like, ‘How do I get a ring into the White House without her noticing?’” he said.

☆ 1 in 5 studio films included an LGBTQ character in 2021, GLAAD report finds
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Jo Yurcaba | Jo Yurcaba Is A Reporter For Nbc Out. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

Sixteen of the 77 films released by those studios (20.8%) featured 28 LGBTQ characters, the report found. That percentage is down slightly from 2020, during which 10 of the 44 theatrical releases (23%) featured 20 LGBTQ characters, according to the report. Of the 16 films that included LGBTQ characters in 2021, 11 films (69%) included gay male characters, four (25%) included lesbian characters and two (13%) included bisexual characters, according to the report. For the second year in a row, GLAAD found that there were zero LGBTQ characters with disabilities or LGBTQ characters living with HIV represented in the year’s films. The majority of the 28 characters, 17, received fewer than five minutes, and six of those characters received less than a minute of screen time.

☆ Quinton Simon’s mother indicted on murder charges weeks after his body was found in a Georgia landfill
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Julianne Mcshane | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

The mother of Quinton Simon, the 20-month-old Georgia toddler whose remains were found in a Savannah landfill last month, was indicted on murder charges on Wednesday, weeks after being arrested and charged in connection with his death. The false statements allegedly included repeated claims about what she had been doing during the hours around Quinton's alleged murder, the indictment states. Chatham County Police Dept. A spokesperson for the Chatham County District Attorney's office could not immediately be reached. Cook Jones told reporters Wednesday that that arrest is a "separate legal matter under investigation" and declined to elaborate.

☆ Club Q survivors blame 'hateful rhetoric' for Colorado Springs shooting
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Jo Yurcaba | Jo Yurcaba Is A Reporter For Nbc Out. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

Two survivors of the Nov. 19 attack on a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado, told members of Congress on Wednesday that they believe the shooting was the result of escalating anti-LGBTQ rhetoric. The committee heard from Michael Anderson and James Slaugh, two survivors of the shooting at Club Q, which left five people dead and 17 others injured after a gunman entered the club and opened fire with a semi-automatic rifle. Hate speech turns into hate action, and actions based on hate almost took my life from me at 25 years old. “The hateful rhetoric we’ve heard from elected leaders is the direct cause of the horrific shooting at Club Q,” he said. They are basic human rights.”The suspect accused of the Club Q shooting has since been charged with 305 criminal counts, including first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, first- and second-degree assault and bias-motivated crimes.

☆ History-making nonbinary government official is out of a job after theft accusations
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-13 | by ( Jo Yurcaba | Jo Yurcaba Is A Reporter For Nbc Out. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

A department spokesperson confirmed Tuesday that Brinton is no longer the deputy assistant secretary of the Office of Spent Fuel and Waste Disposition but would not elaborate. “By law, the Department of Energy cannot comment further on personnel matters,” the spokesperson said in an email. NBC News has requested a copy of the warrant from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department but has not received it yet. If convicted, Brinton could face five years in prison, a $10,000 fine or both, according to the complaint. Prior to joining the Energy Department, Brinton served as the vice president of advocacy and government affairs for The Trevor Project, a national LGBTQ youth suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization.

☆ Former Major League Baseball pitcher T.J. House comes out as gay
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( Jo Yurcaba | Jo Yurcaba Is A Reporter For Nbc Out. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

Former Major League Baseball player T.J. House came out as gay and announced his engagement to his partner, Ryan Neitzel, in an emotional social media post Thursday. He said he felt like he could not be himself around many people, because of conversations he heard from others and in church. “It’s hard listening to people talk about you without them knowing that the words they are saying are directed at you,” he said. “This is a great day for the league and baseball,” Bean, who is now the league’s senior vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion, told Outsports. It allows Ryan Neitzel and I to come together and create something beautiful.

Bakhmut has been facing the relentless firepower of a frustrated Russian army for months. There was blood everywhere.”Vyacheslav Tarasov, a 48-year-old builder, lost his right arm after shelling in Bakhmut. Peter Rudden/CNNSurgeon Yuri Mishasty treats civilians injured in nearby Bakhmut every day. Jo Shelley/CNNAs the Russian army intensifies its campaign to take Bakhmut, the shelling comes ever nearer to Kostiantynivka, 25 kilometres (about 15 miles) to the west. Since the beginning of the month, the town has been hit almost every day, the hospital director says.

☆ Why extremism experts say it's worth discussing the Colorado shooting suspect's pronouns
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-10 | by ( Jo Yurcaba | Jo Yurcaba Is A Reporter For Nbc Out. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +12 min

Attorneys for the alleged gunman in the deadly shooting at an LGBTQ club in Colorado said in court filings the suspect is nonbinary and uses “they” and “them” pronouns. In court appearances this week, Aldrich’s lawyers and District Attorney Michael Allen used he/him pronouns for Aldrich, but Aldrich’s attorneys referred to their client as “Mx. It’s unclear whether the public defenders were accidentally using he/him pronouns for Aldrich, and their office has not returned a request for comment. A spokesperson for the district attorney’s office said, regarding the suspect’s pronouns, “The defendant will be identified as the defendant throughout proceedings,” but declined to comment further on both legal teams using he/him pronouns for Aldrich in court. Holt said the response from Carlson is another part of why he believes it’s worth questioning the suspect’s claim.

Only hours earlier, they were the adrenaline-pumped vanguard of the Ukrainian army’s attempt to take on the Russian troops – among them mercenaries that hold much of the area. “We’re dealing with shrapnel wounds and gunshot wounds,” he says. It’s intense work, performed under the threat of missile attacks from Russian-held territory just 30 kilometers away. The pace of arrivals means there’s no time to shelter when air raid warnings sound here. Tape on the windows appears the only attempt to mitigate damage from any blast.

☆ EU agrees law to make airlines pay more to pollute
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Kate Abnett | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Airlines running flights within Europe currently have to submit permits from the EU's carbon market to cover their carbon dioxide emissions, but the EU gives them most of those permits for free. That will mean airlines will have to pay for their CO2 permits, providing a financial incentive for them to pollute less. Climate campaigners lamented that emissions from international flights would not be added to the carbon market sooner. "Average European families will continue to pay much more for their CO2 emissions than frequent long-haul flyers. EU countries and the bloc's Parliament both need to formally approve the law before it takes effect.

☆ GM's building its own kind of Tesla Supercharger network — and it's using car dealers as its secret weapon
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Nora Naughton | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The automaker is partnering with startup FLO to install the Level 2 chargers. Since then, GM said, nearly 1,000 dealers have enrolled in the program, which started among Chevrolet dealers earlier this year. Dealers are helping GM and FLO identify areas in their community where the ability to plug in would be most beneficial. The dealer-led charging network is just the latest effort in GM's push to make EV buying and driving more seamless. Also in partnership with its dealer network, GM this year opened its EV Live call center, where potential and current EV drivers can ask experts questions about the nuances of these technology-packed vehicles.

☆ GM to roll put thousands of electric vehicle chargers in rural America
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Peter Valdes-Dapena | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN Business —General Motors is moving ahead with plans to install as many as 40,000 electric vehicle chargers in, mostly, rural parts of America. The chargers will have industry-standard J1772 charging plugs that can be used by most electric vehicles, not just GM (GM) models. Many GM dealership owners — these are independently owned businesses — own more than one dealership. Today, most electric vehicles in America are sold in coastal areas like New York and California. GM declined to say how much it’s spending on this particular program, but it’s part of an overall $750 million the automaker plans to spend on electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

These men were rushed from the frontline to a specialist trauma hospital in the city of Kramatorsk on Wednesday afternoon after being wounded in the bloody battle for the eastern town of Bakhmut. Crucial to the surgeons’ work is a single CT scanner that shows surgeons the damage to a patient’s brain and spinal cord. World War I and World War II. Jo Shelley/CNN“You understand that you are exhausted, you understand that there is a process of internal burnout,” the Dr. Malanchuk said. It seems that you are exhausted, and then the next patient comes along and the process does its work again.”

☆ F.B.I. asking about videos and racist website in connection with Colorado shooting
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Jo Yurcaba | Jo Yurcaba Is A Reporter For Nbc Out. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

The former neighbor, Xavier Kraus, said an FBI agent asked him about the two websites at an FBI field office in Colorado Springs last Thursday afternoon after an agent called him earlier that day. The website allegedly created by Aldrich is a forum-type “free speech” site where people have anonymously posted racist and antisemitic memes, language and videos. The videos appear to have gone up from 9:28 p.m. to 11:43 p.m. local time on the night of the shooting. Kraus said the agents asked whether Aldrich posted the “Wrong Targets” video on the homepage. After listening to the voice in the videos, Kraus said it “sounds very, very similar” to Aldrich, but he could not confirm this with certainty.

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