by | Apr 24, 2024 | Fox News
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez denied corruption allegations against his wife but said he will consider resigning after the launch Wednesday of a judicial investigation into accusations by a right-wing legal platform that she used her position to influence business deals.
Sánchez said in a letter posted on his X account that while the allegations against his wife Begoña Gómez are false, he is canceling his public agenda until Monday when he will announce whether he will continue or step down.
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“I need to stop and reflect,” Sánchez wrote. “I must answer the question if it is worth it to continue, given the mud pit the right and far right have made out of our politics, if I must continue at the helm of the government or renounce that highest of honors.”
Sánchez, 52, has been Spain’s prime minister since 2018. He was able to form a new left-wing coalition government in November to start another four-year term. He is one of Europe’s longest serving Socialist leaders.
Earlier on Wednesday, a Spanish judge agreed to probe allegations of corruption made by a private group with a history of filing lawsuits mainly for right-wing causes. The court based in Madrid will consider the allegations and proceed with the investigation or toss it out.
“Begoña will defend her honor and collaborate with the justice system in every way that is required to clarify that these facts that appear scandalous are in fact nonexistent,” Sánchez said.
Gómez, 49, does not hold public office and maintains a low political profile.
Manos Limpias, or “Clean Hands,” accuses Gómez of allegedly having used her position to influence business deals. The court did not provide further information and said that the probe was under seal.
Manos Limpias describes itself as a union, but its main activity is a platform pursuing legal cases. Many have been linked to right-wing causes. It acts as the “popular prosecution,” a peculiarity of Spanish law that allows individuals or entities to take part in certain criminal cases even when they haven’t been directly harmed by the accused.
Justice Minister Félix Bolaños called the new allegations “false.”
Second Deputy Prime Minister Yolanda Díaz, the leader of the junior member of Sánchez’s government, publicly backed him against “this offensive by the Right.”
The possibility of a governmental crisis comes just weeks before important regional elections in Catalonia followed by European elections in June.
Sánchez accused online news sites politically aligned with the leading opposition conservative Popular Party and the far right Vox party of spreading what he called “spurious” allegations that he said led to the judicial probe.
The Popular Party criticized Sánchez for “playing the role of the victim instead of holding himself accountable.”
Last month, Spain’s government watchdog for conflict of interests tossed out a complaint made by the Popular Party against Sánchez whereby the opposition party claimed that Gómez had allegedly influenced her husband in a decision related to an airline.
Spain’s leader said that he was moved in part to reflect on his future due to his love for his wife.
“This attack is without precedent, it is so serious and coarse that I need to stop and reflect with my wife,” he said. “Most of the time we forget that politicians are people. And I do not blush to say it, but I am a man who is deeply in love with my wife, who is living with the feeling of impotence while being pelted with mud.”
“To summarize, this is an operation to harass me by land, sea and air to try and make me give up politics through a personal attack on my wife,” Sánchez wrote.
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by | Apr 24, 2024 | Fox News
Courteney Cox is detailing the moment fiancé Johnny McDaid once broke up with her mid-therapy session.
During an appearance on the “Minnie Questions” podcast on Wednesday, Cox opened up about the “really intense” moment and explained why it strengthened their relationship in the end.
“We broke up in therapy. I didn’t know it was coming,” said Cox, who first started dating the “Snow Patrol” singer in 2013 after being introduced by mutual friend, Ed Sheeran.
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“We went to this therapist to talk about our boundaries [and] what we could and couldn’t accept about each other,” the “Friends” alum added.
But, according to Cox, McDaid had other plans and broke off their engagement “within the first minute” of their session.
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“I was like, ‘What?'” she said. “I was so shocked. I was in so much pain. I also don’t like surprises. And he’s an incredible human being, so he wasn’t trying to surprise. He was in that much pain in the relationship.”
“There was that much that needed to be dealt with that he had to protect himself around his heart,” she said. “So as opposed to like going, ‘F— him,’ getting in this mode of anger, I leaned in and I did the most work on myself by far.”
In the end, that particular therapy session ended up being a positive turning point in the duo’s relationship.
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“I’m so thankful for that break-up because when we got back together it was a different relationship, but also because it really taught me how I operated in the world… what were the things from my childhood that I needed,” she said on the podcast. “I learned how to reclaim my voice, boundaries, what were my motives in life — like what was my part in this.”
Cox and McDaid have been dating since 2013 and became engaged in 2014. They announced in 2019 that they’d ended their engagement, but were still in a relationship.
Last year, the duo celebrated a big milestone: their 10-year anniversary.
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Cox paid tribute to the relationship with a heartfelt montage of various photos and videos of the two together.
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by | Apr 24, 2024 | Fox News
Italy’s Culture Ministry has banned loans of works to the Minneapolis Institute of Art, following a dispute with the U.S. museum over an ancient marble statue believed to have been looted from Italy almost a half-century ago.
The dispute began in March 2022 when an Italian court ruled that the Minneapolis museum was irregularly in possession of the Stabiae Doriforo, a Roman-era copy of The Doryphoros of Polykleitos, an ancient Greek sculpture.
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Rome claims that the sculpture was looted in the 1970s from an archaeological site at Stabiae, an ancient city close to Pompeii that was also covered by lava and ashes when Mount Vesuvius erupted in A.D. 79.
A spokesman for Italy’s Culture Ministry confirmed the ban on Wednesday.
In February 2022, Italian prosecutors issued an international warrant for the artwork to be impounded and returned. At a news conference earlier this year, Nunzio Fragliasso, chief prosecutor at the Torre Annunziata court, said they were “still awaiting a response.”
In 1984, while the work was on display in a German museum, Italy initiated a legal proceeding to claim it. The claim was denied in 1986. The U.S. museum, which bought the statue in 1986 for $2.5 million, said it was purchased from art dealer Elie Borowski and imported into the United States.
“Since that time, the work has been publicly displayed and extensively published,” the Minneapolis museum said in a statement. “While it takes issue with recent press reports regarding the Doryphoros, Mia (the museum) believes that the media is not an appropriate forum to address unproven allegations.”
The museum asserted that it has always acted “responsibly and proactively” with respect to claims related to its collection. However, it added, “where proof has not been provided, as well as where Mia has evidence reasonably demonstrating that a claim is not supported, Mia has declined to transfer the work.”
The museum called Italy’s new ban on loans “contrary to decades of exchanges between museums.”
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by | Apr 24, 2024 | Fox News
Guerrilla fighters from the main ethnic Karen fighting force battling Burma’s military government have withdrawn from the eastern border town of Myawaddy two weeks after forcing the army to give up its defense, residents and members of the group said Wednesday.
Their withdrawal came after a contending armed Karen group, which has occupied the town and claimed responsibility for its security, provided assistance to army soldiers who had fled to a riverside spot there for safety.
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The soldiers came from the army’s Infantry Battalion 275, whose base, about 3 miles to the west of Myawaddy, was captured on April 11 by the armed wing of the Karen National Union —- or KNU — and allied pro-democracy forces.
The fleeing soldiers reestablished themselves in an area next to one of Myawaddy’s two bridges connecting it to Thailand’s Mae Sot district.
The complicated maneuvering is the latest development in the nationwide conflict in Burma that began after the army ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021 and suppressed widespread nonviolent protests that sought a return to democratic rule.
Despite its advantage in arms and manpower, Burma’s army had been on the defensive since last October, when an alliance of three ethnic rebel groups launched an offensive in the country’s northeast. Resistance forces since then have captured major swaths of territory in northern Shan state on the border with China, made significant gains in Rakhine state in the west, and continue to pressure the army elsewhere.
The soldiers now encamped next to the 2nd Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge were given at least tacit protection there by Kayin state’s Border Guard Force, another armed Karen group that had been nominally affiliated with the military but announced last month they were cutting their ties and establishing themselves independently under the name of the Karen National Army.
The border guard units had been accused of providing protection to casino resorts in the Myawaddy area that have been decried as centers for organized crime, including online scam operations and human trafficking.
KNU spokesperson Padoh Saw Taw Nee told journalists on Wednesday that its forces had withdrawn temporarily from Myawaddy as Border Guard Force units brought the soldiers hiding near the bridge to the abandoned Infantry Battalion 275 base, where they raised Burma’s national flag in place of the standard hoisted by the guerrillas when it occupied it.
Photos and video clips of a handful of soldiers raising Burma’s flag on Tuesday were circulated by supporters of the military government on the Telegram social network. It wasn’t clear if any of the soldiers remained at the base after the photo opportunity, or if they returned to their campsite by the bridge.
The KNU is preparing to defend against an expected counterattack by the military government, and it keeping its units mobile rather than trying to hold territory.
A member of the Karen National Union/ Karen National Liberation Army-Peace Council, another Karen organization based in Myawaddy, told The Associated Press that the border guards had helped arrange the safe flight of the soldiers to their bridge encampment two weeks ago and provided them with food and weapons. He spoke on the condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to release information.
Myawaddy’s residents say the Border Guard Force has played a major role in taking charge of security measures in the town.
Last Friday, the Karen guerrillas launched a small attack aided by drones against the soldiers hiding near the bridge, and Burma’s military responded with airstrikes, dropping several bombs nearby for two days, and forcing about 3,000 residents to seek shelter in Thailand.
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by | Apr 24, 2024 | Fox News
A car dealership’s clerical error led California police to arrest an innocent man at gunpoint in a terrifying mix-up.
Driver Jamie Rodgers can be seen with his hands in the air on side of the highway just before a cadre of officers armed with rifles and pistols approach him on dash cam footage provided to Fox 11 by the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.
The agency told the outlet they had received reports that he had stolen the vehicle from Car Pros Kia Huntington Beach and was considered “armed and dangerous,” KTLA reported.
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Rodgers said he was “terrified [he] was going to die” in the ordeal.
“I’ve never had assault rifles just lined up, pointed at me,” he told Fox 11. “My every move is essentially my last.”
The dealership had loaned Rodgers the vehicle while his was under repair – but after they lost track of the paperwork, per Fox 11, they reported the SUV as stolen.
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The sheet of paper had apparently fallen behind a filing cabinet, the Orange County Register reported.
When the dealership received a bill for unpaid tolls, they concluded that the car must have been stolen.
“I don’t know what’s going on,” he recalled of the arrest on the 73 freeway in June 2021. “My heart is pounding. My palms are just, like, dripping sweat. I wanted to see my family again – that’s what’s going through my mind.”
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After about 10 minutes, deputies realized that the car wasn’t stolen, according to KTLA. By that point, Rodgers had been handcuffed.
Rodgers said he has since filed a lawsuit against the car dealership.
“This shouldn’t have happened. So it was reckless,” Rodgers told Fox 11. “There was negligence. They are saying that they just misplaced a sheet of paper when they were moving files around.”
Rodgers’ attorney told KTLA that his client was forced to resign as an athletic trainer at JSerra Catholic High School in San Juan Capistrano due to PTSD from the incident. He has since shifted to a career in real estate, attorney Scott Harlan said:
“He’s had to reinvent himself,” Harlan told KTLA. “The problem with these things is an unintentional body movement can lead to death.”
The Orange County Sheriff’s Office, Car Pros Kia Huntington Beach and Rodger’s attorney could not immediately be reached for comment at press time.
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