Trump Organization convicted in executive tax dodge scheme

WORLD NEWS IN BRIEF

NEW YORK

Donald Trump's company was convicted of tax fraud Tuesday for helping executives dodge taxes on lavish perks such as Manhattan apartments and luxury cars, in a significant repudiation of financial practices at the former president's business.

A jury found two corporate entities at the Trump Organization guilty on all 17 counts, including conspiracy charges and falsifying business records. Trump himself was not on trial. The verdict came on the second day of deliberations.

The conviction is a validation for New York prosecutors, who have spent three years investigating the former president and his businesses.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said the verdict "underscores that in Manhattan we have one standard of justice for all."

As punishment, the Trump Organization could be fined up to $1.6 million - a relatively small amount for a company of its size, though the conviction might make some of its future deals more complicated.

BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA

Argentine VP Cristina Fernández guilty, 6 years for fraud

Argentine Vice President Cristina Fernández was convicted and sentenced Tuesday to six years in prison and a lifetime ban from holding public office for a fraud scheme that embezzled $1 billion through public works projects during her presidency.

A three-judge panel found the Peronist leader guilty of fraud, but rejected a charge of running a criminal organization, for which the sentence could have been 12 years in prison. It's the first time an Argentine vice president has been convicted of a crime while in office.

The sentence isn't firm until appeals are decided, a process that could take years. She will remains immune from arrest meanwhile.

Speaking after the verdict, she described herself as the victim of a "judicial mafia."

Her supporters vowed to paralyze the country with a nationwide strike. They clogged downtown Buenos Aires and marched on the federal court building, beating drums and shouting as they pressed against police barriers.

COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO.

'Next mass killer': Dropped case foretold Colorado bloodbath

Anderson Lee Aldrich loaded bullets into a Glock pistol and chugged vodka, ominously warning frightened grandparents not to stand in the way of an elaborate plan to stockpile guns, ammo, body armor and a homemade bomb to become "the next mass killer."

"You guys die today and I'm taking you with me," they quoted Aldrich as saying. "I'm loaded and ready."

So began a day of terror Aldrich unleashed in June 2021 that, according to sealed law enforcement documents verified by The Associated Press, brought SWAT teams and the bomb squad to a normally quiet Colorado Springs neighborhood, forced the grandparents to flee for their lives and prompted the evacuation of 10 nearby homes to escape a possible bomb blast. It culminated in a standoff that the then-21-year-old livestreamed on Facebook, showing Aldrich in tactical gear inside the mother's home and threatening officers outside - "If they breach, I'm a f----ing blow it to holy hell!" - before finally surrendering.

But charges against Aldrich for the actions that day were dropped and there was no effort to seize the person's weapons under Colorado's "red flag" law for reasons the district attorney and the sheriff have refused to explain due to the case being sealed. All of it now stands as one of the most glaring missed warnings in America's sad litany of mass violence because, just a year and a half later, Aldrich was free to carry out the plan to become "the next mass killer."

Clad in body armor and carrying an AR-15-style rifle, Aldrich entered the Club Q gay nightclub just before midnight on Nov. 19 and opened fire, authorities say, killing five people and wounding 17 others before an Army veteran wrestled the attacker to the ground.

LUSAIL, QATAR

Ronaldo dropped,

Ramos scores 3 for

Portugal at World Cup

A chant of "RONALDO! RONALDO!" swept around the biggest stadium at the World Cup, followed by loud jeers when the fans realized their idol wasn't coming onto the field.

Cristiano Ronaldo was, in fact, sitting in the dugout, looking glum and still wearing a substitute's bib. And the guy who started instead of him on Tuesday was about to complete a hat trick.

After Ronaldo was dropped from the starting lineup in a bold call by Portugal coach Fernando Santos, Goncalo Ramos - the superstar striker's unlikely replacement - made himself an instant star by leading the team to a 6-1 win over Switzerland and into the World Cup quarterfinals.

Ramos, a 21-year-old forward who only made his Portugal debut last month, demonstrated the kind of clinical finishing Ronaldo was once known for in scoring the first goal in the 17th minute and adding others in the 51st and 67th.

"Not even in my wildest dreams did I think about being part of the starting team for the knockout stage," said Ramos, who counts Ronaldo along with Robert Lewandowski and Zlatan Ibrahimovic as his soccer idols.

KYIV, UKRAINE

Ukraine leader defiant as drone strikes hit Russia again

Drones struck inside Russia's border with Ukraine on Tuesday in the second day of attacks exposing the vulnerability of some of Moscow's most important military sites, experts said.

Ukrainian officials did not formally confirm carrying out drone strikes inside Russia, and they have maintained ambiguity over previous high-profile attacks.

But Britain's Defense Ministry said Russia was likely to consider the attacks on Russian bases more than 500 kilometers (300 miles) from the border with Ukraine as "some of the most strategically significant failures of force protection since its invasion of Ukraine."

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russian authorities will "take the necessary measures" to enhance protection of key facilities. Russian bloggers who generally maintain contacts with officials in their country's military criticized the lack of defensive measures.

A fire broke out at an airport in Russia's southern Kursk region that borders Ukraine after a drone hit the facility, the region's governor said Tuesday. In a second incident, an industrial plant 50 miles from the Ukrainian border was also targeted by drones, which missed a fuel depot at the site, Russian independent media reported.

RALEIGH, N.C.

Power cut by shooting could be restored sooner than expected

Duke Energy said it expects to be able to restore power by Wednesday night to a county where electric substations were attacked by gunfire.

Duke Energy spokesman Jeff Brooks said the company expects to have power back Wednesday just before midnight in Moore County. The company had previously estimated it would be restored Thursday morning.

About 35,000 Duke energy customers were still without power Tuesday, down from more than 45,000 at the height of the outage Saturday.

Authorities have said the outages began shortly after 7 p.m. Saturday night after one or more people drove up to two substations, breached the gates and opened fire on them.

Authorities have not released a motive or said what kind of weapon was used.

PORTLAND, ORE.

US judge gives initial victory to Oregon's tough new gun law

A federal judge in Port-land delivered an initial victory Tuesday to proponents of a sweeping gun-control measure approved by Oregon voters, allowing a ban on the sale and transfer of new high-capacity magazines to take effect this week while giving law enforcement more time to set up a system for permits that will now be required to buy or transfer a gun.

U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut granted a 30day delay before the permit- to-purchase mandate takes effect, but did not quash it entirely as gun rights advocates had wanted and allowed the other provisions of the law - including the high-capacity magazine ban - to take effect Thursday.

Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum filed papers with the court late Sunday seeking a delay in the implementation of the permitting portion of the new law after law enforcement agencies submitted sworn statements saying they could not be ready in time.

"In light of the difficulty the State has conceded in terms of implementation of the permitting provisions at this stage, implementation of those permitting provisions is stayed for thirty days," Immergut wrote.

Measure 114, which narrowly passed in the midterms, requires a permit, criminal background check, fingerprinting and hands-on training course for new firearms buyers and bans the sale, transfer or import of gun magazines over 10 rounds unless they are owned by law enforcement or a military member or were owned before the measure's passage. Those who already own high-capacity magazines can only possess them in their homes or use them at a firing range, in shooting competitions or for hunting as allowed by state law after the measure takes effect.

Hockey's history shows handful of non-white pioneers

Taffy Abel carried the American flag at the 1924 Olympics, where his team won silver in hockey. Henry Elmer "Buddy" Maracle played 11 games in the early- 1930s NHL. Paul Jacobs may have played in the league's second season in 1918-19.

But in the commonly known history of hockey, a predominantly white sport in North America and Europe, these three men and others have been late to receive credit as Indigenous pioneers. Now, as part of a worldwide reckoning with prejudice, hockey historians are delving deeper into the role of some of the first nonwhite professional hockey players.

Historians agree that there were Indigenous players on the ice well before Willie O'Ree became the first Black player to skate in an NHL game in January 1958. O'Ree, who endured years of racism, was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2018 and had his No. 22 retired this year.

There are no detailed demographical records from the NHL's earliest years, the league and historians say.

Because of that - and because some players hid or downplayed their own Indigenous or Asian heritage to avoid racist treatment - defining the sport's trailblazers and who broke the so-called color barrier in the NHL is difficult at best and likely impossible to prove.

"It's really hard to identify who was the first because if you go back into everyone's certain ancestry, a lot of people will have Indigenous or other minority groups in them, so it's hard to pinpoint," hockey historian and author Ty Di Lello said. "There might be the first publicly known, but it's probably near impossible just because so many people that had Indigenous or other minority backgrounds maybe didn't look like it."

LONDON

Dig at UK housing site yields major 7th century treasures

A 1,300-year-old gold and gemstone necklace found on the site of a new housing development marks the grave of a powerful woman who may have been an early Christian religious leader in Britain, archaeologists said Tuesday.

Experts say the necklace, uncovered with other items near Northampton in central England, is part of the most significant early medieval burial of a woman ever found in the U.K.

The woman is long gone - some tooth enamel is all that remains.

But scientists say her long-buried trove will shed new light on life in 7th century England, a time when Christianity was battling with paganism for people's allegiance.

The items are "a definite statement of wealth as well as Christian faith," said Lyn Blackmore, a senior finds specialist at Museum of London Archaeology, which made the discovery.

"She was extremely devout, but was she a princess? Was she a nun? Was she more than a nun - an abbess? … We don't know," Black-more said.

- The Associated Press