A Delaware woman is facing decades in prison after pleading guilty to killing her 3-year-old daughter and dumping her burned remains on a softball field. Kristie Haas, 31, pleaded guilty Thursday to murder by abuse or neglect, abuse of a corpse, and three counts of endangering the welfare of a child. Prosecutors are recommending a sentence of 50 years in prison on the murder charge, suspended for non-custodial supervision after 30 years behind bars. The murder charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. Prosecutors are recommending probation for the other counts and will drop several other felony and misdemeanor charges. “Yes, your honor,” Haas repeatedly intoned softly as Superior Court Judge Noel Primos asked whether she understood the nature of the charges and the consequences of entering a guilty plea. At the request of attorneys, Primos, who is not bound by the sentencing recommendation, deferred sentencing until July 10, the date on which a trial for Haas was to begin. Prosecutor Kevin Smith said the delay will allow time for relatives of the victim, Emma Grace Cole, to make arrangements to travel from out of state to attend the sentencing. Attorneys, in the meantime, will prepare sentencing memoranda. Smith said prosecutors are recommending a mental health evaluation of Haas. Defense attorney Patrick Collins told the judge that Haas is already being treated for bipolar disorder and depression. “She is current on her medications,” he said. The defense and prosecution disagree on whether Haas should be barred from having any contact with her three other children, as recommended by prosecutors, or whether she should be allowed contact pursuant to court orders. Collins declined to comment as he left the courtroom. The court entered a partial gag order in June 2021 restricting what attorneys could say about the case, which has drawn widespread media attention. The child’s body was found in September 2019 by a person walking a dog through Smyrna-Clayton Little Lass Fields, a softball park near Smyrna Middle School in central Delaware. At the time, Emma lived with her parents and siblings less than a mile from the ball field. Authorities believe Emma had been dead for several weeks before her body was found. Haas and her husband, Brandon Haas, who was the child’s stepfather, were arrested in Pennsylvania in October 2020, more than a year after the child’s body was found. Both were originally indicted on felony charges of child abuse, child endangerment and hindering prosecution involving Emma’s death, as well as misdemeanor child endangerment charges involving her siblings. Kristie Haas also was charged with felony assault, abusing a corpse and reckless burning. The charges against her were later upgraded to include two counts of murder. Authorities alleged that the couple withheld food and medical care from Emma and subjected her to “torture or maltreatment,” while also subjecting her and her siblings to excessive forced exercise and inappropriate physical discipline. A trial for Brandon Haas is set to begin July 10. He faces more than 40 years in prison if convicted on all charges.

A resurfaced clip of the Wagner leader feared dead in a plane crash has resurfaced on social media, stoking conspiracy theories about his presumed demise. In the 40-second clip, the Russian mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin compared Russia’s trajectory in the war to a plane that will “fall apart in the air”. The ominous comparison has now added fuel to fire in the theory the Wagner chief was killed the order of Russian president Vladimir Putin, after Prigozhin is said to be one of the passengers on a private jet that crashed northwest of Moscow with no survivors on Wednesday. The incident occurred just two months after he shocked the global stage by leading a mutiny against Putin, before abruptly calling off the half-baked uprising at the eleventh hour. In the video taken from an interview originally published on April 29 with Russian military blogger Semyon Pegov, Prigozhin said he would rather be killed than lie to his country, and talked about a plane disintegrating in the sky. “Today we have reached the boiling point,” he said in the clip published on Grey Zone, Wagner’s Telegram channel. “Why am I speaking so honestly? Because I don’t have the right, before those people who will live on in this country. They are now being lied to. Better kill me.” He added: “But I will not lie, I must say honestly that Russia is on the brink of disaster. And if these cogs are not adjusted today, then the plane will fall apart in the air.” Hundreds of responses had been posted on Grey Zone within a few hours. “But he knew,” a Telegram user whose name translates to “outpost” wrote in the first response. Some posts speculated Prigozhin was still alive, with one claiming he would “soon jump out of a snuffbox and make the devils c*** themselves.” The Kremlin has said Western suggestions he had been killed on its orders were an “absolute lie.” Read More Prigozhin's final months were overshadowed by questions about what the Kremlin had in store for him Putin orders Wagner fighters to sign oath of allegiance following Prigozhin plane crash If the Wagner mercenary chief is dead, he got the death he deserved Ukraine-Russia war live: Putin’s strongest line of defence ‘broken by Kyiv forces’ Prigozhin's final months were overshadowed by questions about what the Kremlin had in store for him Putin orders Wagner fighters to sign oath of allegiance after Prigozhin death

(Reuters) -The Bahamian government on Tuesday welcomed Kenya's decision to lead a multinational force in Haiti and committed 150 people

By Padraic Halpin DUBLIN Meta was hit with a record 1.2 billion euro ($1.3 billion) fine by its

BEIJING Tesla Inc has cut prices in China for its Model Y long-range and performance versions starting on

Hunter Biden has sued the IRS, arguing that they unlawfully released his private tax information. The son of the president is also alleging that the tax agency failed to safeguard his private records. The younger Mr Biden is seeking all the files linked to the disclosure of tax information, as well as $1,000 for every improper disclosure, and legal fees, in addition to other things, CNN reported. The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Washington, DC. It doesn’t name the two IRS whistleblowers as defendants, but it’s focused on information shared by the agents – Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler – as well as their lawyers in testimony to Congress, interviews, and public statements. “Despite clear warnings from Congress that they were prohibited from disclosing the contents of their testimony to the public in another forum, Mr. Shapley and Mr. Ziegler’s testimony only emboldened their media campaign against Mr. Biden,” the legal filing notes. “And finally, since their public testimony before the House of Representatives on July 19, 2023, the agents have become regular guests on national media outlets and have made new allegations and public statements regarding Mr. Biden’s confidential tax return information that were not previously included in their transcripts before the Committee on Ways and Means.” “The lawsuit is about the decision by IRS employees, their representatives, and others to disregard their obligations and repeatedly and intentionally publicly disclose and disseminate Mr. Biden’s protected tax return information outside the exceptions for making disclosures in the law,” Mr Biden’s legal filing states. “These agents’ putative ‘whistleblower’ status cannot and does not shield them from their wrongful conduct in making unauthorized public disclosures that are not permitted by the whistleblower process. In fact, a ‘whistleblower’ is supposed to uncover government misconduct, not the details of that employee’s opinion about the alleged wrongdoing of a private person,” the lawsuit adds. The legal filing claims that Mr Shapley and Mr Ziegler did more than verify the investigation into Mr Biden – that they shared specific claims against the 53-year-old, the amount of the deductions he had taken and how much he owed in taxes. Mr Shapley’s attorneys said in a Friday statement that Mr Biden’s lawyers have attempted to get the Department of Justice to take action against their clients for sharing information that was protected under whistleblower regulations. “Taxpayer privacy laws are written by Congress, and it gave itself authority in those laws to hear disclosures about taxpayer information,” a lawyer for Mr Shapley said in the statement on Friday. The agents shared their allegations regarding the Department of Justice’s handling of the Biden probe earlier this year. The Department of Justice said in June that they had struck a deal with Mr Biden that meant that he would plead guilty to two tax misdemeanours after he didn’t pay his taxes on time in 2017 and 2018. Mr Biden also agreed to a deal which would mean that he wouldn’t be charged with a gun possession violation, but that agreement was torn up following scrutiny by a federal judge. When the judge declined to greenlight the deal, discussions ended between the office of US Attorney David Weiss and Mr Biden’s legal team. Mr Weiss then asked for, and was granted, the status of Special Counsel. Mr Biden was indicted on three felony gun charges on Thursday and the office of Mr Weiss has stated that they could bring tax charges, with Washington, DC and California being on the list of possible jurisdictions. Read More Rambling Biden is on the ropes – will his Democratic challengers strike? Trump denies pushing for Biden impeachment inquiry in secret meetings with MAGA Republicans Trump suggests Biden impeachment is revenge for his own

North Carolina Republicans have pitched new maps for the state’s congressional districts starting in 2024 that appear to threaten the reelection of at least three current Democratic U.S. House members

The authorities discovered the lifeless bodies of Susan Peterson, 63, and Bernard Edward Smith, 60, on the supermarket floor

Denver coach Michael Malone thinks the world should wake up to the greatness of two-time NBA Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokic and his Nuggets teammates -- who incidentally have a 2-0 lead over the Los...

Rangers right-hander Nathan Eovaldi is now set to face his old team on Thursday night at Fenway Park

By Tetsushi Kajimoto TOKYO Japan's economy contracted in July-September, snapping two straight quarters of expansion, squeezed by weakening

As speculation over who will be named the next James Bond reaches fever pitch, Paapa Essiedu is warning film fans not to bet on him being cast as the super-spy.