President Joe Biden will journey Monday to fire-ravaged Maui to witness up close the devastation left by an inferno more than a week ago and assess for himself a government response that some residents initially found lacking.

A Hong Kong man has been sentenced to four months in prison after he pleaded guilty to importing children’s books deemed to be “seditious publications.”

The former Marine who held Jordan Neely in a fatal chokehold on a Manhattansubway earlier this month has surrendered to New York authorities to face criminal charges over his death. Daniel Penny, 24, turned himself in to New York police early on Friday morning to be arrested on a second-degree manslaughter charge. He was seen arriving at the NYPD’s 5th Precinct in lower Manhattan just after 8am local time, where he did not respond to any questions from waiting journalists. Following his arrest, he will be arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court later today. He faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted. Attorneys for Mr Penny said in a statement that they are “confident” he will be “fully absolved of any wrongdoing” when all the “facts and circumstances” come to light as they claimed that the former Marine “risked his own life” when he confronted Neely that day. “When Mr Penny, a decorated Marine veteran, stepped in to protect himself and his fellow New Yorkers, his well-being was not assured. He risked his own life and safety, for the good of his fellow passengers,” said the statement from Raiser and Kenniff, shared with The Independent. “The unfortunate result was the unintended and unforeseen death of Mr Neely. We are confident that once all the facts and circumstances surrounding this tragic incident are brought to bear, Mr Penny will be fully absolved of any wrongdoing.” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office confirmed on Thursday that Mr Penny was facing a manslaughter charge over Neely’s death, which led to widespread protests across New York City. “We can confirm that Daniel Penny will be arrested on a charge of Manslaughter in the Second Degree,” a spokesperson for the DA’s office confirmed in a statement to The Independent. “We cannot provide any additional information until he has been arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court, which we expect to take place tomorrow.” On 1 May, a man identified as Mr Penny placed the 30-year-old homeless former street performer in a fatal chokehold for several minutes until he died on the floor of an F train on the Broadway-Lafayette platform in Manhattan. The city’s medical examiner determined Neely’s cause of death was homicide. Neely – who was experiencing a mental health crisis in the days leading up to his death – was known among social work teams involved in outreach to New York’s homeless community. He had numerous interactions with law enforcement and health responders over the years. When he walked into the F train on 1 May, Neely complained of hunger and thirst, according to witnesses and journalist Juan Alberto Vazquez, who posted a video of part of the incident on his Facebook page. Mr Vazquez said Neely threw his jacket to the floor of the train car before another passenger grabbed him from behind in a headlock. Others grabbed at his arms. The widely shared video footage shows Mr Penny and two other men holding Neely to the floor of a train car for several minutes, while Mr Penny grabs Neely in a chokehold. Another passenger can be heard in the video telling the men that his wife was in the military and warned them that placing Neely in a chokehold could kill him. “You don’t have to catch a murder charge,” he said. “You got a hell of a chokehold, man.” A statement from attorneys for Mr Penny on 5 May said Mr Penny “was involved in a tragic incident ... which ended in the death of Jordan Neely.” “When Mr Neely began aggressively threatening Daniel Penny and the other passengers, Daniel, with the help of others, acted to protect themselves, until help arrived. Daniel never intended to harm Mr Neely and could not have foreseen his untimely death,” according to the statement. Attorneys for Neely’s family said the statement from Mr Penny’s legal team was neither “an apology nor an expression of regret” but “character assassination and a clear example of why he believed he was entitled to take Jordan’s life.” Neely’s death has sparked widespread demands for support for homeless and mentally ill New Yorkers, as advocates and lawmakers condemned what they characterised as an act of vigilantism in a city that has marginalised and targeted its most vulnerable residents with violence. Within the week after his death, NYPD officers have arrested at least 24 people – including a photojournalist, targeted by a high-ranking police official – at protests and vigils demanding an arrest. In his remarks on 10 May, more than one week after Neely’s death, Mayor Eric Adams did not mention how Neely died or discuss the events surrounding his death, but issued his strongest statements yet in the wake of the incident, in contrast to his initial remarks in its aftermath. “Jordan Neely did not deserve to die,” he said. “A New Yorker who struggled with tragedy, trauma and mental illness, a man whose last words were crying for help.” Mr Adams outlined his administration’s response to people experiencing homelessness and mental health distress, including legislation proposed to lawmakers in Albany, the creation of outreach teams, and a controversial policy that allows authorities to involuntarily hospitalise people who are considered too mentally ill to care for themselves. Read More Jordan Neely – latest: Daniel Penny to surrender in New York today on second-degree manslaughter charge Daniel Penny: Everything we know about ex-Marine filmed choking Jordan Neely in fatal subway incident ‘Jordan Neely did not deserve to die’: Eric Adams addresses death of homeless New Yorker after fatal chokehold

IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 24, 2023--

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Carlee Russell, the 25-year-old Alabama woman who claimed she went missing and later alleged that she had been kidnapped, has been charged. The arrest warrant was issued earlier on Friday 28 July, Hoover Police Chief Nicholas Derzis said in a news conference. Hoover police arrested Ms Russell “for her actions related to faking her kidnapping and subsequently making false statements to detectives.” Chief Derzis continued, “Her decisions that night created panic and alarm for citizens of our city and even across the nation.” Numerous law enforcement agencies worked “tirelessly” to bring Ms Russell home to her family and to find a kidnapper “that we know now never existed.” She turned herself into the Hoover City Jail for charges of false reporting to law enforcement authorities, which is a misdemeanour, and falsely reporting an incident, also a misdemeanour, he said. Each charge had a bond set at $1,000 and can result in up to a year in jail and a potential fine of $6,000 if convicted. She posted bond and was released from jail. Chief Derzis also said they have not found out where she was in the 49 hours she went missing. Ms Russell’s attorney issued a statement: “There was no kidnapping on Thursday, July 13, 2023. My client did not see a baby on the side of the road. My client did not leave the Hoover area when she was identified as a missing person. My client did not have any help in this incident — this was a single act done by herself.” The statement continued, “My client was not with anyone or any hotel with anyone from the time she was missing. My client apologizes for her actions to this community, the volunteers who were searching for her, to the Hoover Police Department and other agencies as well and to her friends and family. We ask for your prayers for Carlee as she addresses her issues and attempts to move forward, understanding that she made a mistake in this matter.” Ms Russell disappeared on 13 July after calling 911, claiming she had seen a toddler walking on the side of an Alabama interstate. But by the time police arrived at the scene, neither Ms Russell nor the toddler were anywhere to be found. This sparked an investigation. Mysteriously, 49 hours after she vanished, the 25-year-old arrived at home. She was reportedly in a state of shock, and eventually told her family, boyfriend, and then detectives a harrowing story of her survival over the last two days. Ms Russell’s explanation involved being abducted by a white man with “orange hair” and she was forced to undress and pose for photos. Miraculously, though, she claimed, she was able to escape and flee into the woods and make it home safely. Shortly after that is when her story began to unravel: her search history revealed that she had looked up the movie Taken, “how to take money from a register without being caught,” and questions surrounding amber alerts. Police voiced doubts about her abduction publicly. “To think that a toddler, barefoot, that could be three or four years old is going to travel six football fields without getting on the roadway, without crying ... it’s very hard for me to understand,” Mr Derzis said during a previous press conference. The police chief said investigators had their doubts from the beginning, but on 24 July, he admitted, “We know that it was a hoax.” Read More Carlee Russell charged with filing fake police report in connection to kidnap hoax – updates Three unanswered questions in the mysterious case of Carlee Russell Carlee Russell claimed she was kidnapped by a man with orange hair. It was all a lie