Unbiased headline news – Michigan resident Stephen James Hubbard, 72, has been sentenced by Russian officials to nearly seven years in prison for allegedly fighting as a mercenary for Ukraine.
Hubbard was captured by Russian forces in the eastern Ukrainian city of Izyum, a month after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in April 2022. The court in Moscow announced that Hubbard, who pleaded guilty to the mercenary charge last week, will serve six years and 10 months in a penal colony.
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At least five people were wounded in the northern Israeli city of Haifa following a barrage of rocket fire from Lebanon.
Hezbollah and Israel exchanged attacks, with Israel Defense Forces retaliating by striking Beirut and other targets in the east and south of Lebanon. The injuries occurred when shrapnel hit a restaurant, a house, and a main road in Haifa after five rockets penetrated the city. In a separate incident, a fifth person was injured in a rocket strike on Tiberias, located 37 miles east by the Sea of Galilee.
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The Georgia Supreme Court reinstated the state’s six-week abortion ban on Monday, reversing a lower court decision that had temporarily allowed abortions to resume.
The ruling took effect at 5 PM and will stay in place as the court hears the state’s appeal, which was filed by the Republican attorney general. Justice John J. Ellington partially dissented, opposing the reinstatement before the appeal is heard. “The State should not be enforcing laws that have been found to violate the fundamental rights guaranteed to millions of people under the Georgia Constitution,” Ellington wrote.
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New York City Deputy Mayor for Public Safety, Phil Banks III, resigned Monday amid ongoing fallout from a corruption scandal surrounding Mayor Eric Adams’ administration.
“We spoke yesterday and again this morning, and he said he wants to move on to new things in his life,” Adams told NY1. “I wish my good friend the best.” Banks’ brother, David Banks, also resigned as schools chancellor, and First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright, David Banks’ wife, is preparing to leave her post in the administration as well.
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A park ranger died during a water rescue attempt while trying to save three people at a national park in Minnesota.
The National Park Service reported that the ranger responded to a distress call on Sunday at Namakan Lake in Voyageurs National Park, near the Canadian border. The boat carrying the three people had been disabled in high winds and rough waters. As the ranger was towing the boat to safety, the National Park Service vessel capsized, throwing all four people into the water.
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Cissy Houston, a two-time Grammy-winning soul and gospel singer who performed with stars like Aretha Franklin and Elvis Presley, and experienced both triumph and tragedy as Whitney Houston’s mother, has died at 91.
Houston passed away Monday morning in her New Jersey home under hospice care for Alzheimer’s disease, her daughter-in-law Pat Houston confirmed to The Associated Press. The renowned gospel artist was surrounded by family. “Our hearts are heavy with pain and sadness. We have lost the matriarch of our family,” Pat Houston said in a statement.
