A Sept. 16 sentencing date has been set in New Orleans for a Georgia businessman in connection with a bribery case involving military transportation contracts.
Darrel Fitzpatrick pleaded guilty in January. Prosecutors said that in 2019 he agreed to pay kickbacks totaling $250,000 to a civilian employee of the United States Marines Corps Marine Forces Reserves Distribution Management Office in New Orleans.
Prosecutors said the bribery scheme resulted in nearly $2 million in contracts being corruptly awarded to businesses associated with Fitzpatrick. The former employee, Erik Martin, pleaded guilty earlier in the year and has been sentenced to 45 months in prison.
Israel levels home of Palestinian-American suspect
Israeli forces on Thursday demolished the family home of a Palestinian-American man accused of being involved in a deadly attack on Israelis in the West Bank in May.
Associated Press video footage showed Israeli army troops leveling the two-story home of Muntasser Shalaby in the village of Turmus Ayya with controlled explosions.
Israel says Shalaby carried out a May 2 drive-by shooting in the Israeli-occupied West Bank that killed Israeli student Yehuda Guetta and wounded two others. He was arrested days after the attack. His wife, Sanaa Shalaby, told the AP they were estranged for several years and that he spent most of his time in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he had married three other women in unofficial Islamic ceremonies. The entire family has U.S. citizenship.
The Israeli Supreme Court upheld the demolition order in a decision last month.
Kim Jong Un lost as much as 44 pounds, South Korean spies say
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un lost up to 44 pounds but has no major health issues affecting his rule, according to a South Korean lawmaker briefed by a spy agency.
The National Intelligence Service estimated that Kim recently lost as much as 44 pounds, Kim Byung-kee, a lawmaker briefed by the spy agency, told reporters Thursday.
“If there is an abnormality in his health, there should be signs that drugs are being imported to the clinic that’s in charge of Kim’s health, but that was not detected,” the lawmaker said, adding that Kim Jong Un still hosts “hours-long meetings” and there’s nothing unusual about how he walks.
The 37-year-old North Korean leader was out of the public eye for much of May, and when he reappeared in a June video showing him chairing a government meeting, he looked much slimmer.
State media later ran a story citing a citizen as saying North Koreans broke down in tears at the sight of the thinner Kim, comments that could have been aimed at building public support as he tries to revive a sickly economy.
Indiana detective on U.S. task force is fatally shot, FBI says
A police detective in Indiana who worked on an FBI task force was “ambushed” and fatally shot Wednesday, a spokesperson for the FBI said in a statement.
Officials identified the detective as Greg Ferency, a 30-year veteran of the police department in Terre Haute and a member of the FBI task force since 2010.
Officials provided few details about what had taken place. An FBI spokesperson said the shooting had occurred near the federal building in downtown Terre Haute. An FBI agent wounded a man who was suspected in the shooting. The man was in custody.
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