
Georgia President Boycotts Local Airline Over Flights to Russia
Georgia’s President Salome Zourabichvili said she will not use the services of the privately owned Georgian Airways following
1970-01-01 08:00

Ruth Wilson Finishes 24-Hour Performance at London’s Young Vic
Breakups are always tough, but how about 100 in a day? Ruth Wilson, star of HBO’s “The Affair,”
1970-01-01 08:00

Wall Street Increasingly Doubts Fed Can Meet 2% Inflation Target
Some bond-market bets are signaling that the inflation rate will fall close to the Federal Reserve’s 2% target
1970-01-01 08:00

Utah mother charged with poisoning husband was more than $2m in debt, new documents reveal
A Utah mother who has been charged with poisoning her husband spent the final day of his life on calls with the Internal Revenue Service and a money lender as she struggled with around $2.5million in debt, according to newly-filed court documents. Kouri Richins, 33, is charged with murder over the death of her 39-year-old husband Eric Richins, the father of her three boys, in March 2022. Before her arrest earlier this month, she had been promoting the release of a children’s book she wrote as a grieving widow about dealing with loss. New documents filed on Thursday in Summit County, where Ms Richins is being held, offered new details about previous poisoning attempts. The documents reveal that three days after Ms Richins bought fentanyl pills in a hand-to-hand transaction in her driveway, on Valentine’s Day 2022, she “prepared a sandwich for Eric Richins and placed it on the seat of his truck with a love note”. “Shortly after consuming the sandwich, Eric Richins broke out in hives and had difficulty breathing,” the documents stated. “Eric found his son’s epipen and administered it to himself and slept. Eric Richins believed that he had been poisoned. Eric Richins told a friend that he thought his wife was trying to poison him.” The couple had been having financial disagreements, and Mr Richins had removed his wife as a beneficiary from his will and estate, according to documents. “In September 2020, Eric Richins discovered that the Defendant had obtained and spent $250,000 home equity line of credit on the Kamas home, withdrawn at least $100,000 from his bank accounts, and spent in excess of $30,000 credit cards,” the new documents state. “The Defendant had also been appropriating distributions made from Eric Richins’ business for the purpose of making federal and state quarterly tax payments and not paying the taxes. The stolen tax payments totaled at least $134,346. Eric Richins confronted the Defendant and she agreed to repay him.” In October 2020, Mr Richins consulted a divorce lawyer and an estate-planning lawyer, changing his will to form a living trust and placing his estate in control of his sister, Katie Richins-Benson, for the primary benefit of his three children. He transferred his partnership interest in his stone masonry business to the trust and replaced Ms Richins as the beneficiary of his $500,000 life insurance policy with the trust. She was unaware of this. Mr Richins also was unaware that his wife had taken out at least four life insurance policies on him totaling nearly $2m, according to the filings. In late January 2022, Ms Richins took out a new insurance policy on her husband. It was issued the following month, on 4 February. The next week she procured illicit fentanyl, according to the documents, and the sandwich incident followed days later. Ms Richins reached out again to contacts who helped her obtain illegal drugs in late February, according to documents, claiming that the “fentanyl pills that she previously provided were not strong enough and asked that she procure some stronger fentanyl”. One contact, according to documents, “initially stated that the Defendant specifically asked for ‘some of the Michael Jackson stuff’ during this request for fentanyl, but subsequently conceded that the Defendant may have made the Michael Jackson reference during her first request for fentanyl”. Through this contact, Ms Richins arranged to meet another person at a gas station to buy fentanyl on 26 February, 2022 according to the documents. On 1 March, her “outstanding state and federal tax liability was $189,840,” and she owed “a hard money lender at least $1,847,760”. She also owed her husband “at least $514,346,” the documents stated. On 3 March, she “had a lengthy telephone call with the IRS and talked to her hard money lender,” the charging documents noted. Hours later, she prepared her husband a Moscow Mule cocktail. Ms Richins told investigators that her husband drank the cocktail while in bed, and she slept in one of the boys’ bedrooms because the child was having a night terror. When she awoke around 3am, Ms Richins said, she returned to her room and found Eric cold to the touch, prompting her to call 911. While she told police she’d left her phone in the couple’s room while caring for her child, “the status on her phone shows that it was locked and unlocked multiple times and there was also movement recorded on the phone,” the documents state. “In addition, tolls and phone billing data for Defendant’s phone show that messages were sent and received during that time.” Mr Richins was pronounced dead on 4 March, 2022. Almost immediately Ms Richins, a real estate agent, closed on a multi-million-dollar mansion the couple had been arguing about. Two days after his death, she arranged for a locksmith to drill into her husband’s safe. When his sister and trustee objected, Ms Richins “became enraged and punched [her] in the face and neck,” the documents state. “Sheriff’s deputies responded and called Eric Richins’ estate planning lawyer from the scene. Here, the Defendant learned for the first time of the existence of the Eric Richins Living Trust.” Ms Richins was arrested last week and a 19 May detention hearing has been postponed until 12 June. Between her husband’s death and her arrest, Ms Richins had been fighting with his family and trust regarding his estate and, particularly, the couple’s sprawling home, where they married on 15 June 2013. Presenting herself as a grieving widow, Ms Richins also authored a children’s book titled Are You With Me? on dealing with loss. She appeared on a local TV show to promote the book weeks before she was taken into custody. Lawyer Greg Skordas, a Richins family spokesman, told The Independent on Wednesday: “It was right up until the end that she was carrying on as though nothing had happened, and that she was a victim, and she was a martyr and promoting her book. “And I don’t know to what extent she knew this was coming or suspected it, but we certainly did.” A lawyer for Kouri Richins has not responded to requests for comment from The Independent. Read More Four students stabbed to death, a weeks-long manhunt and still no motive: What we know about the Idaho murders Lori Vallow had two alleged accomplices in her children’s murders. One will never face justice
1970-01-01 08:00

Braves Rumors: Doppelgänger call-up, bad trade idea, stop hating on Ronald Acuña Jr.
The Atlanta Braves are still most definitely winning the World Series year. Sawry, not sawry...With the Atlanta Braves taking two of three from the Texas Rangers in Arlington and the first of a three-game home series vs. the Seattle Mariners, let me tell you what is up with this franchise......
1970-01-01 08:00

US Debt-Limit Negotiators Hold Off on Renewed Meetings Saturday
US debt-limit negotiators aren’t planning to meet on Saturday, according to people with knowledge of the matter, as
1970-01-01 08:00

Marlins vs. Giants prediction and odds for Saturday, May 20 (Value on the total)
The Miami Marlins came up short on Friday night, losing 4-3 to the San Francisco Giants in the first game of their weekend series.Now, Miami sends lefty Braxton Garrett (-12, 5.40 ERA) to the mound on Saturday against Logan Webb (3-5, 3.20 ERA).This should be a strong pitching matchup with t...
1970-01-01 08:00

Sinn Fein Set for N.Ireland Election Win, Adds Pressure on DUP
Sinn Fein is on course to become the biggest party in Northern Ireland’s local government for the first
1970-01-01 08:00

Shooting in Los Angeles apartment complex leaves four injured
Four people were injured in Los Angeles after gunfire broke out near a downtown apartment complex. Witnesses say a shooter fired from a white BMW SUV near the 100 block of Ingraham Street in Los Angeles. Three of the victims are described as black males between the ages of 25 and 30, with a fourth described as a 40-year-old Hispanic woman, Los Angeles police told Fox News digital. “[The victims] were standing in front of the thousand block of Ingraham Street when the suspects - four male Hispanics - approached the vehicle and fired multiple shots, striking the victims,” police told the outlet. The shooting reportedly occurred in the complex’s mail room.
1970-01-01 08:00

What’s Trending Today: Griner’s WNBA Return, Smiths’ Bassist Dies
Welcome to Social Buzz, a daily column looking at what’s trending on social media platforms. Debt Ceiling Talks
1970-01-01 08:00

Ukraine-Russia war – live: Kyiv denies Putin has taken Bakhmut but warns ‘situation is critical’
Ukraine has denied claims by Russia that it has taken full control of Bakhmut but warned the situation in the key battle town is “critical”. Hanna Maliar, Ukraine’s defence minister, pushed back on the claim by Yevgeny Prigozhin that his Wagner Group of mercenaries had seized the town around lunchtime. "Heavy fighting in Bakhmut. The situation is critical," she said on the Telegram messaging app. "As of now, our defenders control some industrial and infrastructure facilities in the area and the private sector." Elsewhere, Volodymyr Zelensky is inJapan for the G7 summit, marking his first high-level visit to Asia since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year. His visit comes after a massive boost for Ukraine’s war effort, with US President Joe Biden telling G7 leaders that Washington supports joint allied training programs for Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets. The Kremlin responded by saying any move by Western countries to supply Ukraine with the fighter jets would carry “colossal risks”. Read More Ukraine repels Russian forces in Bakhmut after overnight strikes on Kyiv Pentagon accounting error could give Ukraine extra $3bn in US weapons Russia extends detention of US consular worker by 3 months Putin clashes with own finance minister over damage done to Russian economy by oil sanctions
1970-01-01 08:00

Brazil’s Oi to Seek 4b Reais Funding in Reorganization Plan
Under judicial protection since mid March, Brazilian telecom operator Oi plans to seek emergency funding of at least
1970-01-01 08:00