Madness or Demonic or both > 19 y/o murders his family then heads to school with a shotgun - UK

 

British teen who killed his family, planned massacre

sentenced to 49 years

By Rachel Goodman  Global News

Posted March 20, 2025 11:07 am

 4 min read

Left: Giselle Prosper. Centre: Juliana Falcon. Right: Kyle Prosper, who were murdered by Nicholas Prosper inside their home in September 2024. Bedfordshire Police

A British teenager who murdered three immediate family members and planned to commit mass murder at an elementary school has received a minimum 49-year prison sentence.

Nicholas Prosper fatally shot his mother, Juliana Falcon, 48, his brother Kyle, 16, and sister, Giselle, 13, inside their apartment in Luton, England, on Sept., 13, 2024.

The 19-year-old was apprehended by police in the street shortly after the murders, when he gestured to officers while on the way to his former elementary school, where he planned to continue his rampage.

Police body-cam footage from Prosper’s arrest shows his hands still stained with his family’s blood. He can also be heard saying, “It’s not a murder,” repeatedly.

During Prosper’s sentencing at Luton Crown Court on Wednesday, Justice Cheema-Grubb said, “The facts underlying these convictions are chilling,” telling the killer, “your ambition was notoriety, you wanted to be known posthumously as the world’s most famous school shooter of the 21st century.”

“The lives of your own mother and younger brother and sister were to be collateral damage on the way to fulfill your ambition,” she continued.

Prosper had been planning the murders for about a year after failing to pass his A-Levels (advanced, subject-based exams taken by British students aged 16 to 18, with certain grades required to gain university admission).

He had planned to kill 34 people, including his family, numerous children under the age of four, two teachers and himself.

The judge said he wanted to murder one more person than the deadliest school shooting in recent history, which took place at Virginia Tech in 2007.

In the year leading up to the killings, Prosper’s internet history showed searches for mass shootings and his old elementary school. He also saved images of staff and students from the website and made home videos of himself rehearsing his murder plan from his bedroom, using a plank of wood to mimic the murder weapon.

During the video, he commits to “mutilating” his sister’s face “beyond what is necessary.”

According to The Telegraph, Prosper was a “social recluse” who had grown to idolize Adam Lanza, the perpetrator of the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting, which claimed 26 lives, including 20 children between the ages of six and seven, and six adult staff members.

Before entering the school, Lanza murdered his mother at home, eventually taking his own life.

During sentencing, Cheema-Grubb described a diagram — drawn by Prosper after his arrest — of a classroom at the elementary school he was targeting with the words “kill all” written next to it.

In August 2024, Prosper made a fraudulent firearms certificate, which he used to purchase a shotgun, alongside 100 cartridges from a private arms seller, the following month.

Footage shows him meeting with the seller in a parking lot in Luton. Moments later, security cameras captured Prosper returning to his apartment with the gun hidden inside a bag. He killed his family the next morning.

A short time after the murders occurred, a neighbour called 999, telling police she knocked on the door of the family’s unit after hearing “a massive bang that sounded like a gunshot.”

View image in full screen

A person lays flowers at Leabank, Luton, Bedfordshire, where Juliana Prosper, 48, Kyle Prosper, 16, and Giselle Prosper, 13, were found dead in an apartment on Sept. 13, 2024. (Photo by Jacob King/PA Images via Getty Images). Jacob King/PA Images via Getty Images

Prosper had planned to kill his family in their sleep but was confronted by his mother, who attempted to remove the shotgun from his grasp. Prosper shot her in the head and left a book on her body called, How to Kill Your Family.

Next, he went after his sister, who was hiding in the living room. His younger brother ran to the kitchen but was shot in the chest and stabbed more than 100 times before Prosper left the home with a plan to carry out more murders.

He hid the shotgun in a local field and spent two hours evading police before flagging officers and reportedly asking them if local schools were in lockdown.

On Wednesday, Bedfordshire Police released a video on Instagram announcing Prosper’s sentencing and asked the public to remember the victims.

“These three innocent people lost their lives at the hands of someone they loved and should have been able to trust,” the post says.

And why? Was it madness? Was he schizophrenic from marijuana use? Was he demon infested? Was he both? Will there be an investigation to determine why he became a mass murderer?

Bits and Bites from Around the World > MLK's Daughter Rips Pr William; Smollett gets 5 months in jail; 22-yr Trip Around the World

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Prince William Slammed by Martin Luther King's Daughter

for 'Horrific' Ukraine Comment

BY JACK ROYSTON, Newsweek

ON 3/10/22 AT 4:15 AM EST

Prince William was accused of "horrific comments" by Martin Luther King's daughter in the aftermath of a Ukrainian community event where he was partially misquoted.

Bernice King linked the Duke of Cambridge's remarks to colonialism after William and Kate Middleton visited the Ukrainian Cultural Centre in London to support the relief effort on March 9.

Footage from the event showed Prince William said: "Everyone is horrified by what they are seeing. The news every day, it's almost unfathomable to actually witness it, to see it. For our generation, it's very alien to see this in Europe. We're all right behind you."

The Press Association originally reported William also suggested Britons were more used to seeing conflict in Africa and Asia—though footage released by ITV of the royal's full comments suggested he, in fact, made no explicit reference to the two continents.

However, some maintained their criticism of the Duke based on the reference to war in Europe feeling "very alien."

King, the chief executive of the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change, condemned the prince having seen the original, misleading account.

She wrote on Twitter: "Horrific comment. European people ran roughshod over the continent of Africa, pillaging communities, raping women, enslaving human beings, colonizing for profit and power, stealing resources, causing generational devastation. And European nations continue to harm Africa."

After the new footage emerged, King wrote: "I believe that we have a great deal of work to do globally to eradicate what my father called the Triple Evils of Militarism, Racism and Poverty.

"I believe that language matters in that work. And that it is harmful for a global figure to express war as 'alien to Europe.'"

European people ran roughshod over not just the continent of Africa, but on every continent but Antarctica. The list of grievances is unfortunately both accurate and incomplete. America is guilty of the same horrors in Central and South America and the Caribbean. The effects of which are now resulting in the massive migration from Latin America to the USA. In Europe, the migration comes from Africa and Asia, and it comes for the same reason - Colonialists stole all their natural resources and now the people are following the trail of those thefts.

Shola Mos-Shogbamimu, a prominent commentator on race in Britain, told Newsweek the remarks about war in Europe feeling alien were offensive on their own.

She said: "William says it's alien in Europe. This is on the back of two weeks of western media also saying it's alien in Europe, also saying Western countries are civilized. I'm sorry, if it's alien in Europe, where is he referring to it as being normal?"

The outcry heaps new pressure on the royals just days after the one-year anniversary of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's Oprah Winfrey interview, during which they accused an unnamed royal of racism.

And it comes little more than a week before William and Kate are due to tour the Caribbean from March 19 to March 26.

Prince William and Kate Middleton visit the Ukrainian Cultural Centre, in London, on March 9, 2022.

During the meeting, the Duke of Cambridge suggested it felt alien to see conflict in Europe.

IAN VOGLER-WPA POOL/GETTY IMAGES

After the original misquote, human rights lawyer Qasim Rashid wrote on Twitter: "Prince William says conflict is 'very alien' to Europe, unlike Asia & Africa.

"How do you have a 1,000 year history of colonialism, a literal 100 year war, launch 2 World Wars, allow multiple genocides, & bomb a dozen nations since 9/11 alone—yet make this type of a statement."

1000 year history of colonialism? I think it's half that.

Also before the footage emerged, royal biographer Omid Scobie, author of Finding Freedom, wrote on Twitter: "Unsurprised to see backlash against Prince William's ignorant remark (reported by@PA).

"Europe has seen some of the bloodiest conflict in the past two centuries—Balkans, Yugoslavia, Germany and Kosovo to name a few. But sure, let's normalise war and death in Africa and Asia."

It is not the first time Prince William has been accused of colonial comments, after he linked the pressure on wildlife in Africa to the human population in a November speech.

The duke said: "The increasing pressure on Africa's wildlife and wild spaces as a result of human population presents a huge challenge for conservationists, as it does the world over."

I'm hard-pressed to see anything wrong with this statement. If you do, please let me know what I am missing.

And a photo of Prince William being carried on a throne went viral in the aftermath of the Oprah interview in 2021.

In the famous interview, Meghan told CBS how an unnamed royal family member had made disparaging comments about how dark their child's skin might be before Archie was born.

She said: "So we have in tandem the conversation of 'He won't be given security, he's not going to be given a title' and also concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he's born."

The queen released a statement saying the royals took the comments seriously but acknowledging "some recollections may vary."

William was the first to comment in person, telling journalists days after broadcast: "We are very much not a racist family."

Britain's empire covered a quarter of the world at its height, including India and most of South Asia as well as much of Africa and the Caribbean.

The new backlash comes as William and Kate prepare for a tour of the Caribbean as part of celebrations of Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee.

Among the countries on their schedule is Jamaica, where there have been recent debates about removing the monarch as head of state, with one party in the 2020 elections pledging to hold a referendum on the subject.

The latest episode of Newsweek's The Royal Report podcast discussed the possibility of a backlash against the Cambridges during their tour.

A recent editorial in Jamaican newspaper The Gleaner read: "First, this newspaper is deeply uncomfortable, which we believe is the disposition of the majority of Jamaicans, of having the monarch of Great Britain, which, at this time is Queen Elizabeth II, as our country's head of state.

"Who holds this position is no meaningless symbolism. It ought to be an important reference point of who we are, and the aspirations we hold as a sovereign nation and people.

"The patriarch of a dysfunctional family in the United Kingdom that defined Jamaica's long colonial experience is not, therefore, an appropriate symbol."

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Jussie Smollett starts 150-day jail term in protected status

This booking photo provided by the Cook County Sheriff's Office shows Jussie Smollett. A judge sentenced Jussie Smollett to 150 days in jail Thursday, March 10, 2022, branding the Black and gay actor a charlatan for staging a hate crime against himself while the nation struggled with wrenching issues of racial injustice. (Cook County Sheriff's Office via AP)

  

Don Babwin And Kathleen Foody, The Associated Press

Published Friday, March 11, 2022 7:45PM EST

CHICAGO (AP) - Jussie Smollett began a 150-day jail sentence for staging a hate crime against himself in protective custody, separated from other detainees and watched by security cameras and an officer, jail authorities said Friday.

Sheriff's deputies immediately took Smollett to the Cook County Jail on Thursday night after Judge James Linn sentenced the Black and gay actor to 30 months of felony probation - starting with a five-month term in jail - for lying to police that he had been the target of a racist and homophobic attack.

Smollett loudly maintained his innocence and suggested he could be killed in jail.

“Your honor, I respect you and I respect the jury, but I did not do this,” Smollett said Thursday. “And I am not suicidal. And if anything happens to me when I go in there, I did not do it to myself.”

Smollett's sentence may put an end - pending appeals - to more than three years of legal drama following the actor's report to police that two men wearing ski masks beat him, and hurled racial and homophobic slurs at him on a dark Chicago street and ran off.

Smollett's attorneys filed an emergency injunction Friday seeking Smollett's release pending his appeal. An appellate court judge ruled prosecutors have five days to respond to the emergency motion, WMAQ-TV reported.

His attorneys also filed a notice of appeal in Cook County Criminal Court. They had said Thursday night that they plan to appeal both the jury's guilty verdict and the judge's sentence.

One day earlier, a judge sentenced Smollett to 150 days in Cook County Jail following his conviction for lying to police about being the victim of a hoax hate crime in 2019. Smollett was also sentenced to 30 months of felony probation, ordered to pay more than $120,000 in restitution to the city of Chicago and was fined $25,000.

He began his sentence immediately after learning his fate Thursday.

In a statement on Friday, the Cook County Sheriff's Office said Smollett is being held in protective custody - typical for people “who may potentially be at risk of harm due to the nature of their charges, their professions, or their noteworthy status.”

Oh, good. Like Jeffrey Epstein!

Smollett has his own cell, monitored by security cameras and an officer stationed at the door and wearing a body camera, the sheriff's office said. Smollett is able to have “substantial time” in common areas to use the phone, watch TV and interact with staff but other detainees won't be in common areas with him.

Smollett faced up to three years in prison for each of the five felony counts of disorderly conduct - the charge filed for lying to police - of which he was convicted. He was acquitted on a sixth count.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot praised the sentence, saying it sends a message that “false claims and allegations” would not be tolerated.

“The city feels vindicated in today's ruling that he is being held accountable and that we will appropriately receive restitution for his actions,” she said in a statement.

Smollett's sentence includes a payment of $120,106 in restitution to the city and a $25,000 fine.

Smollett was convicted in a December jury trial, where witnesses included two brothers who told jurors Smollett paid them to carry out the attack and gave specific directions on what to do and say.

Smollett, who knew the men from his work on the television show “Empire” that filmed in Chicago, testified that he did not recognize them and did not know they were the men attacking him.

Argentine family comes home after 22-year drive around the world

Issued on: 12/03/2022 - 19:32

France24

Members of the Zapp family of Argentina open up a canvas that acts as a tent atop their 1928 Graham-Paige car near Gualeguaychu, Argentina, on March 10 JUAN MABROMATA AFP

Gualeguaychu (Argentina) (AFP) – An Argentine family is about to finish the trip of a lifetime: they have covered five continents in a 1928 jalopy on an adventure that began in 2000, while bringing into the world and raising four kids who are now adolescents.

The Zapp family -- Herman and Candelaria and those children -- have driven a total of 362,000 kilometers (225,000 miles) and have now stopped off in this town on the border with Uruguay before their scheduled arrival Sunday back where they started on January 25, 2000 at the Obelisk, a monument in downtown Buenos Aires.

"I have very mixed feelings. We are ending a dream, or fulfilling a dream," Herman told AFP. "What will come now? Thousands of changes, thousands of options," said the 53-year-old, who is already thinking of sailing around the world.

Candelaria, who was 29 when the trip began and is now 51, said her biggest and best discovery was the people encountered along the way.

"People are wonderful. Humanity is incredible," said Candelaria.

She said the family visited no fewer than 102 countries, although sometimes they had to take detours because of wars or other kinds of conflict.

'Good in cities'

The couple had been married six years, had good jobs and had just built a house, with plans to have kids, too, when wanderlust hit. Their round-the-world journey began with a backpacking trip in Alaska.

And somebody offered them a car, a 1928 model of an American make called Graham-Paige. The engine was bad and the paint looked terrible. "It would not even start," said Candelaria Zapp.

"The seats are not great, nor is the muffler. It does not have air conditioning, either. It is a car that you have to keep your eye on. It does not look comfortable, but it was marvelous," said Herman.

"It was good in cities, in mud and on sand," he added.

They went through only eight sets of tires in 22 years and only twice needed to do major engine work.

Herman shows off the roadster by opening up a canvas on the top that forms a sort of tent for the kids to sleep under when it was time to camp out.

"It is nicer now than when it first came out," he said of the modified uber-vintage vehicle.

While out on the road, and with the first two kids born -- Pampa, now 19, came into this world in the US and Tehue, 16, during a visit back to Argentina -- they enlarged the car by actually cutting it in half and adding 40 cm (16 inches) of length and another seat.

That made room for the arrival of Paloma, now 14 and born in Canada, and Wallaby, 12, down under in Australia.

The last additions to the family were a dog named Timon and a cat called Hakuna during a stay in Brazil, where the Zapps were stranded for a while in 2020 because of Covid-19.

More on that car, which looks like something out of a gangster movie: the trunk acts like a kitchen storage area, and the heat of the engine is used to cook or heat water. Clothes and tools are stored under the seats. And for all these years, it was home sweet home.

"It is a small house but with a huge backyard, with beaches, mountains and lakes. If you do not like the view, you can change it," Herman quipped.

On the side of the car is a sign that reads "A family traveling around the world."

The Zapps usually stayed as guests at people's houses -- they estimate around 2,000 altogether.

"Humanity is incredible," Candelaria said of people's hospitality. "Many helped just to be part of a dream."

But it was not all easy going. Herman once caught malaria, the family drove across Asia during the bird flu outbreak, and had to deal with Ebola in Africa and dengue fever in Central America.

- 'A lot of friends'-

Here on the streets of Gualeguaychu, people honk their horns when they see the Zapps' old Graham-Paige. Vintage car buffs have their picture taken with it.

And some buy a copy of the book the Zapps have written about their adventure, entitled "Catching a Dream." They have sold about 100,000 copies and say this is their main source of revenue for all this traveling.

For the record, they did the Americas, Africa, Oceania, Asia and Europe.

They touched Mount Everest, ate duck eggs in Asia, danced with native people in Namibia, entered the tomb of King Tut in Egypt and sailed across many a sea.

For the kids, it was an unforgettable experience. They did their studies remotely and with home learning with Candelaria.

The Zapp family is now almost back home after traveling on five continents for 22 years JUAN MABROMATA AFP

Now, in-person classes await them in Argentina.

"What I most want to do is make a lot of friends," said Paloma, the 14-year-old.

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Corruption is Everywhere - Friends of Sarkozy; Liverpool Mayor; Ukraine's Feeble Effort; Obrador's Troublesome Family

Former French interior minister under formal investigation for criminal association in Sarkozy-Libya fundraising scandal

3 Dec 2020 14:55 

FILE PHOTO: Former French President Sarkozy and former Elysee General Secretary, Claude Gueant,

with Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi ©

An interior minister who served in Nicolas Sarkozy’s government has been placed under investigation for “criminal association” by French judges as part of investigation into Libyan funding of the 2007 presidential election.

France’s national prosecutor's office confirmed on Thursday that former interior minister Claude Gueant is now under formal investigation on charges of criminal association. 

The charges brought against him are part of an ongoing investigation into possible Libyan financing of former President Nicolas Sarkozy's presidential campaign in 2007. 

While it is suspected that the accused spent €42.8 million to finance the campaign, nearly twice the maximum authorized amount, it is also alleged that the campaign was funded from the pockets of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. 

Gueant was Sarkozy's chief of staff from 2007 to 2011 and held the interior portfolio in 2011 to 2012. 

The former secretary general of the Elysee was already under investigation for nine offenses in this case, but charges of criminal association reportedly make it easier for the judges to bring the case to trial. 

As his trial began on Monday, he told the court “I do not recognize any of the abominations which have been levelled at me for six years.” 

French-Lebanese businessman who once claimed to transport Gaddafi funds to Sarkozy campaign by suitcase 'arrested in Beirut'

4 Dec 2020 17:46

(L) Ziad Takieddine © REUTERS / Gonzalo Fuentes; (R) Nicolas Sarkozy © REUTERS / Philippe Wojazer

Authorities in Beirut have reportedly arrested a French-Lebanese businessman linked to allegations of illicit Libyan financing for Nicolas Sarkozy’s 2007 French presidential election campaign, on foot of an Interpol request.

Ziad Takieddine fled to the Lebanese capital earlier this year after a French court sentenced him to five years in prison in a separate case involving millions of euros he’d allegedly received for arms sales to Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. 

Takieddine previously claimed he had personally delivered suitcases carrying a total of €5 million from Muammar Gaddafi’s regime in Tripoli to Sarkozy’s chief of staff back in France in 2006 and 2007. 

However, he retracted the claim about the Libyan funds last month, instead accusing the magistrate overseeing the trial of the former French president of having twisted his words to make him “say things that are totally contradictory” to what he actually said.

Takieddine will now be questioned by Lebanon’s general prosecutor to establish whether or not the charges against him are justified and can be proven in court, the AFP reported. If the case proceeds, his trial could be held in Lebanon, where he is a citizen, or in France, with him being extradited back there.  

Sarkozy is currently on trial in a separate case, accused of corruption and influence-peddling for allegedly attempting to bribe a magistrate in return for information about an investigation into his party’s finances. 

On Thursday, former French Interior Minister Claude Gueant was charged with being part of a criminal conspiracy over the Libyan funding investigation. Gueant was seen as a close ally of Sarkozy, working as his chief of staff from 2007 to 2011 and his Interior Minister from 2011 to 2012.

Liverpool mayor among group arrested over alleged bribery & witness intimidation in building corruption probe – reports

4 Dec 2020 18:44

FILE PHOTO. © Getty Images / Anthony Devlin

The first directly-elected mayor of Liverpool, Joe Anderson, was reportedly arrested by Merseyside Police on Friday over alleged bribery and witness intimidation, as part of an investigation into development contracts.

A police statement detailing the arrests did not name the Labour mayor explicitly as a suspect in the "ongoing investigation", however, local reports have identified him as one of those detained.

Police said that those held include three men, aged 62, 33 and 46, "arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit bribery and witness intimidation." Two other men, aged 25 and 72, were arrested "on suspicion of witness intimidation."

Officers said the five had been taken to stations across Merseyside, "where they will be questioned by detectives."

A spokesperson for Liverpool City Council said it is "co-operating with Merseyside Police in relation to its ongoing investigation. We do not comment on matters relating to individuals."

Anderson or his office have yet to confirm or deny the reports of his arrest, however a Labour spokesperson confirmed that the mayor has been "administratively suspended" from the party, pending the outcome of the case.

Ukraine's Parliament Restores Anti-Corruption Legislation

Annulled By Highest Court

December 04, 2020 20:06 GMT

Ukraine's Constitutional Court

Ukraine’s parliament voted on December 4 to reimpose penalties for officials who provide false information about their incomes, defying an earlier ruling from the nation’s highest court.

Ukraine's Constitutional Court in October annulled key parts of the nation's anti-corruption legislation, sparking a widespread backlash at home and abroad. The decision threatened Western financial aid to Kyiv and visa-free travel to Europe Union countries.

The nation’s highest court declared unconstitutional a provision that required officials to submit electronic asset declarations. It also struck down legislation that made providing false income information a criminal offense.

Ukraine has suffered from widespread corruption for decades that has held back foreign investment and economic growth. The prior legislation, passed after the 2013-14 Euromaidan protests that pushed Moscow-friendly President Viktor Yanukovuych from power, helped combat the problem by exposing and punishing those officials involved in graft.

The new bill passed by parliament on December 4 is less severe.

According to its provisions, an official who deliberately conceals assets worth between 1.3 million and 9 million hryvnya ($46,000 and $318,000) can be fined between 42,500 and 51,000 hryvnya ($1,500 to $1,800) or sentenced to between 150 and 240 hours of community service.

Those who fail to declare assets worth over 9 million hryvnya will face a fine of between 51,000 and 85,000 hryvnya ($1,800 to $3,000) and between 150 and 240 hours of community service or up to two years of “restrictions of freedom” that do not include imprisonment.

Additionally, any official convicted of hiding income can be banned from holding public office for up to three years.

Well, that might slightly improve government coffers, but will do nothing to rescue one of the most corrupt societies in the world.

Felipa Obrador and Pío López: AMLO’s relatives

pointed out by corruption and nepotism

By Yucatan Times

December 4, 2020

The most recent corruption case in AMLO’s family circle is related to his cousin, whose company obtained millionaire contracts from Pemex.

MEXICO CITY (Latinus/Carlo Loret de Mola) – Although the fight against corruption and nepotism are pillars of López Obrador’s government, various family members have caused him to be harshly criticized due to the lack of these principles.

First Cousin

The most recent case is that of Felipa Guadalupe Obrador Olán, first cousin of the president, whose company, Litoral Laboratorios Industriales, has been benefited with contracts from Pemex for more than 365 million pesos.

According to information obtained by Latinus through transparency, the company won in 2020, along with other companies, three contracts for 133 million pesos to carry out water analysis, noise assessment, and characterization of hydrocarbons and chemicals in Pemex Exploration and Production facilities.

It is essential to mention that in 2019, the same company won, along with Marinsa de Mexico, a contract for 231 million pesos to introduce chemical products to wells in shallow waters off the Yucatan peninsula, which will expire until 2022.

Litoral Laboratorios Industriales is based in Campeche and specializes in chemical analysis and water and hydrocarbons study. In the last decade, it has provided services to the federal government and Campeche and Tabasco’s states.

According to research by journalist Carlos Loret de Mola, the company has won direct awards with the Mexican Petroleum Institute (IMP), Airports and Auxiliary Services, the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS), and the Institute of Security and Social Services for State Workers (ISSSTE).

It is worth mentioning that during the administration of Enrique Peña Nieto, Felipa Obrador’s company benefited from at least 25 contracts. However, unlike those awarded under the present administration, these were with a lower frequency and amounts.

Given this situation, López Obrador said that “the director of Pemex will surely inform” about the case, but insisted that his government will not allow acts of corruption, nepotism or influence by any member of his family.

“I cannot fail the people. Corruption, impunity, influence peddling, cronyism, nepotism, none of these scourges of politics can be allowed. If a family member does something wrong, he should be judged even if he is a child,” he said.

Likewise, the president recalled that in June 2019, he established a memorandum. He promised not to accept “under any circumstances” that any member of his family could do business with the government.

Brother

Another representative case of corruption in the family circle has to do with his brother Pío López Obrador -who’s videos were broadcasted- taking money from David León, ex-coordinator of Civil Protection, to contribute to the operations of the National Regeneration Movement (Morena) in Chiapas.

Due to those videos, AMLO was harshly criticized by the opposition and by public opinion. The head of the Federal Executive declared in a press conference that he was aware of such videos so that if the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) called him to testify, he would be willing to do so.

Sister-in-Law

However, there is still another case of corruption among the president’s family members, and it involves Concepción Falcón Montejo, wife of Ramiro López Obrador, AMLO’s brother.

In this case, she was identified as a participant in the alleged embezzlement of millions in Macuspana, Tabasco – the municipality where López Obrador is from – which would have caused the resignation of 11 local cabinet officials, among them the mayor of the district, Roberto Villalpando Arias.

The treasury’s embezzlement would have been for more than 200 million pesos between 2019 and 2020, from the deviation of resources corresponding to the Fund of Contributions for Social Infrastructure (FAIS) and the Fund of Contributions for the Strengthening of the Municipalities (Fortamun).

Cleaning up states as utterly corrupt as Mexico or Ukraine must be an impossible job, especially when your family is part of the problem. 

One more PML-N MPA to face corruption case in Punjab

Pakistan Muslim League- Nawaz leader Malik Saif-ul-Malook Khokhar. — File photo

LAHORE: The Anti-corruption Punjab has registered another corruption case against a PML-N lawmaker, Malik Saif-ul-Malook Khokhar on Friday over allegations of corruption.

Khokhar has been accused of causing a huge loss amounting in the millions to the national exchequer through fraud and forgery, according to the Anti-corruption Punjab.

 The case against the MPA was filed on the recommendations of Lahore's deputy commissioner, said the Anti-corruption Punjab officials.

The Anti-Corruption Punjab has accused the MPA of registering a forged surrender deed of a land measuring 22 canals, 11 marlas. Officials have alleged that he carried out the fraudulent activity with the help of the area's patwari (registrar) Iftikhar Ahmed and sub-registrar Raja Nadeem.

A surrender deed is prepared at the time of sale or transfer of a joint heirship.

Officials vowed to recover each and every rupee of the government from the accused.

Trudeau's Third Corruption Case Could Cost Him His Finance Minister

A timeline of the WE Charity controversy

The Canadian Press ·

Co-founders Craig, left, and Marc Kielburger, right, introduce Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife

Sophie Grégoire Trudeau as they appear at WE Day celebrations in Ottawa in 2015. The Liberal government's

decision to have the WE Charity administer a $912-million student volunteering program has come

under fire due to the Trudeau family's ties to the organization. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)

A timeline of events regarding the $912-million Canada Student Service Grant program, based on public events and statements from cabinet ministers, government officials, and WE Charity:

April 5: Finance Minister Bill Morneau and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau talk over the phone about how to help students whose summer job and volunteer opportunities were vanishing due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Finance Department officials are tasked with considering options the next morning.

April 7: Morneau's office contacts the WE organization, among other groups, to get their input on potential programs.

So, it was Morneau's office that initiated contact with WE.

April 9: WE Charity sends an unsolicited proposal for a youth entrepreneurship program to Morneau, Youth Minister Bardish Chagger, Small Business Minister Mary Ng and Trudeau's office. The price tag is between $6 million and $14 million, and the proposal is to provide digital programming and $500 grants, plus "incentive funds," for 8,000 students.

In early April, Finance Minister Bill Morneau and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau discussed help for students looking for summer work opportunities during the pandemic. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)

April 16: Employment and Social Development Canada officials mention WE in the context of the student program in an email discussion with Finance Department officials.

April 18: Morneau's officials raise the idea of partnering with a non-profit or for-profit group to administer the program. (ESDC officials suggest the same day that WE might be an option.) Morneau said it was the first time he was involved in any talk about WE and the grant program.

April 19: A senior official at Employment and Social Development Canada, Rachel Wernick, contacts WE co-founder Craig Kielburger. She learns of the April 9 proposal.

April 20: Morneau's office contacts WE to ask about its ability to deliver a volunteer program. An official's record of the call notes "WE Charity will re-work their 10-week summer program proposal to fully meet the policy objective of national service and increase their current placements of 8,000 to double."

Seems to me there was a Colonel in the military who went through hell for doing something similar to do with shipbuilding contracts.

April 21: Morneau approves going with an outside organization to run the volunteer program, but no specific group is chosen.

April 22: Trudeau announces a $9-billion package of student aid which includes the outline of a volunteer program paying students up to $5,000 toward education costs, based on the number of hours they volunteer. WE sends Wernick an updated proposal to reflect the announcement.

April 26: Morneau speaks with WE co-founder Craig Kielburger — but later told the finance committee neither of them talked about the Canada Student Service Grant program.

And, so, what did they talk about? Were they such good friends as to just pick up the phone and call each other out of the blue? It's amazing with all that's going on that they could avoid talking about it. But wait, read on...

Craig and Marc Kielburger address the audience during the WE Day event in Toronto on Thursday, Sept. 20, 2018. (Christopher Katsarov/Canadian Press)

April 27: Volunteer Canada, a charity that promotes volunteering and helps organizations use volunteers, meets Chagger and raises concerns about paying students hourly rates below minimum wage and calling it volunteering.

May 4: WE sends a third proposal to Employment and Social Development Canada, this time with more details specific to the grant program. Finance Department official Michelle Kovacevic, who was working on the program, told the finance committee she received it May 7.

May 5: Chagger goes to a special COVID-19 cabinet committee with the recommendation to go with WE for the program. Morneau isn't at the meeting.

Diversity and Inclusion and Youth Minister Bardish Chagger rises during question period in the House of Commons

on July 20, 2020, to defend the Liberal government's decision to hand control over the $900-million Canada Student

Services Grant program to the WE Charity organization. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)

May 22: Cabinet, including Trudeau and Morneau, approves handing the reins of the program to WE.

May 23: The public service officially begins negotiating a contribution agreement with WE, which would have paid up to $43.5 million in fees to the group.

May 25 to June 3: In a series of meetings with Volunteer Canada, WE suggests the target for placements through the program had gone from 20,000 to 100,000.

And did they not expect remuneration to increase 5-fold as well?

June 12: WE co-founder Marc Kielburger says in a video chat with youth leaders that he heard from Trudeau's office about getting involved in the volunteer program the day after it was announced by the prime minister. He later backtracks, saying the contact came the week of April 26 from Wernick, and not the PMO.

That first date would be April 23rd. The second date, the 26th, is the day Morneau called Keilburger, but didn't mention the program at all. That's astonishing! The day he says he found out, and the day Morneau called him are one and the same, and yet they never talked about the program!!!

June 23: WE is informed the contribution agreement has been approved.

June 25: Trudeau unveils more details about student aid. A government release notes that WE will administer the student-volunteer program.

June 26: Facing questions about WE, Trudeau says the non-partisan public service made the recommendation and the government accepted it: "As the public service dug into it, they came back with only one organization that was capable of networking and organizing and delivering this program on the scale that we needed it, and that was the WE program."

July 3: Citing the ongoing controversy, WE and the Liberals announce a parting of ways and the federal government takes control of the program. Ethics commissioner Mario Dion tells Conservative and NDP ethics critics in separate letters he will examine Trudeau's role in the awarding of the agreement because of the prime minister's close ties to the group.

The withdrawal of WE from the program was stunningly fast. Makes one wonder if maybe there was something someone was hiding? Something like:

July 9: WE says it has paid Trudeau's mother Margaret about $250,000 for 28 speaking appearances at WE-related events between 2016 and 2020. His brother Alexandre was paid $32,000 for eight events, and Trudeau's wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau received $1,400 in 2012 for a single appearance. The organization says Trudeau himself has never been paid by the charity or its for-profit arm.

Margaret Trudeau, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's mother, greets fans at the We Day event in Toronto on Sept. 20, 2018. Margaret Trudeau has spoken at approximately 28 WE Charity events and received honoraria amounting to $250,000. 

The prime minister's brother, Alexandre, has spoken at eight events and received approximately $32,000.

(Christopher Katsarov/Canadian Press)

July 13: Trudeau apologizes for not recusing himself from discussions about WE due to his family's longtime involvement with the organization. Morneau also issues an apology; his daughter actually works for WE.

July 16: Dion says he will investigate Morneau's actions in the affair. Chagger testifies at the finance committee, saying Trudeau's office didn't direct her to go with WE.

Of course not, that would have been Morneau's office.

July 21: Ian Shugart, clerk of the Privy Council, tells the Commons finance committee there is no evidence to suggest Trudeau spoke with WE before the organization was awarded the deal to run the student-volunteer program.

Notice, no-one actually said Trudeau never spoke with WE, only that there was no evidence. Will Trudeau back that up?

Clerk of the Privy Council, (top Civil Servant in Canada), Ian Shugart told MPs on the finance committee that the prime minister and finance minister had to be involved in discussions over whether WE Charity should administer the program because of its size and importance. But he stressed that he was not making a judgment on whether they should have recused themselves from the final decision. (Justin Tang/Canadian Press)

July 22: Morneau tells the finance committee he just repaid over $41,000 to WE for travel expenses the organization covered for the minister and his family. (For family trips to Central America and Africa). The Opposition Conservatives call for Morneau to resign. 

The announcement came on the day Morneau was to testify before the Finance Committee. He literally wrote the check a few hours before the committee meeting. He had forgotten about a $41,000 dollar debt for years before suddenly remembering the day of the meeting!!!

Trudeau's office says he and his chief of staff, Katie Telford, have agreed to testify before the committee with a date and time to be set.

He apparently said he wanted to get this over with. Once again, remarkable haste to try and bury this scandal. Does it mean that there is still more to hide? It seems like something new and dreadful comes out every day. See below.

The House of Commons ethics committee also calls on Trudeau to testify, and votes to seek copies of records for Trudeau and his family's speaking appearances dating back years. Six opposition members outvote five Liberals to have that committee start its own investigation.

July 23: Conservatives and New Democrats ask Dion to launch a new probe of Morneau over his travel expenses.

What CBC/CP failed to mention over the past two days was:

1)  It was not actually WE Charity that was commissioned by the government but, according to Global News, it was WE Charity Foundation. The difference seems small, and they do operate out of the same offices, however, according to their own words, they are completely separate charities. Which means, in all probability, that you cannot hold one accountable for the other.

Trudeau gov. contract for $912M student program was with WE Charity’s real estate holding foundation

Who is WE Charity Foundation? They have nothing to do with charity work at all, but are a charity set up to run WE Charity's several real estate holdings, which, it appears, are in some considerable financial stress. WE Charity Foundations have no experience in doing anything like what they were commissioned to do, and have only been in existence for less than two years, lying dormant for some, if not most of that time. The word 'Foundation' has not been mentioned before today, that I know of. 

WE Charity Foundation — a shell corporation with no assets,

no history, no record of charitable work.

Charity lawyer Mark Blumberg said it was “shocking” the Trudeau government provided the $912-million student service grant to the WE Charity Foundation and not WE Charity.

“This appears to completely different than what was said by a number of government officials in different forums,” said Blumberg, a partner at Blumberg Segal LLP.

“It is absolutely shocking that the government would say that they provided a grant to WE Charity when in fact they provided the grant or funds to WE Charity Foundation — a shell corporation with no assets, no history, no record of charitable work.”

“WE Charity Foundation does not hold WE Charity real estate assets,” WE Charity said in a statement Wednesday. “This is incorrect. In its initial application to the CRA, holding real estate was initially considered and proposed, but this never took place.”

“WE Charity Foundation never held any funds for any purpose, and was created in part to manage legal liability. The CSSG program was one which had significant potential liability.”

So, there you have it. Trudeau and Morneau were attempting to slide nearly a billion dollars into the hands of a shell company and thought they could finesse it through parliament. Between this revelation and all the money that flew back and forth between the Trudeaus, Morneau and WE, we have what looks an awful lot like a money-laundering operation.

The RCMP needs to get involved here and follow the money trail. I expect Morneau will end up taking the fall for this, which he fully deserves, but all the corruption-forgiving Liberals in Ottawa will not have a problem with Justin Trudeau, Canada's acting Prime Minister.

Saudi Teen Given Refugee Status, Australia Considering Visa for Her **UPDATE**

Update: 13 Jan 2019 - Last night, Rahaf Mohammed Al-qunun arrived in Toronto having been granted an emergency visa at the request of the UN. She will have the opportunity to quickly acclimatize to Canadian winters as there is nothing but snow and freezing temperatures in Toronto's forecast. It is not known where she will end up living. 

Welcome to Canada Rahaf. God bless you and keep you safe.


Original story:

This is the third story in as many days for this bright, courageous, young woman. The first is here, the 2nd here, and there is another tragic story of another young woman who attempted to escape the lunacy of Saudi Arabia's version of Islam. Her story puts this one into context.

By Clyde Hughes

Rahaf Mohammed Al-qunun (C) walks with Thai Immigration Police Chief Surachet Hakparn (R) at a transit hotel inside Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok, Thailand, Monday. Photo by Thai Immigration Bureau/EPA-EFE

(UPI) -- A Saudi woman who fought deportation from Bangkok back to her family by barricading herself in a hotel room was granted refugee status by the United Nations refugee agency Wednesday, authorities said.

The status will allow Rahaf Mohammed Al-qunun, 18, to apply for asylum in another country, the New York Times reported. She had hoped to travel to Australia where she has friends before she was detained at the Bangkok airport this past weekend and threatened with deportation.

The teenager told officials that she has renounced Islam and feared that her family and relatives would kill her if she returned. She escaped from her family on a flight while they vacationed in Kuwait.

She refused to leave her room during a two-day standoff where she used social media to plea for help, demanding that she meet with U.N. officials. U.N. High Commissioner for Refugee representatives were allowed to process a claim for refugee status.

Local Thai media reported that Al-qunun's father traveled to Bangkok and met with refugee agency officials, but was told that his daughter refused to see him.

Australia's Department of Home Affairs said Wednesday that the United Nations had referred Al-qunun's case to their country for refugee settlement.

South Australia Sen. Sarah Hanson-Young urged Australian officials to welcome the teenager.

"Australian Government should work now with the U.N. refugee agency to offer young Saudi woman Rahaf Alqunun safety in Australia," Hanson-Young wrote on Twitter. "Offering her sanctuary and the chance to live free of discrimination in a country that respects women & girls is the right thing to do."

Australian officials said that they would consider issuing Al-qunun a humanitarian visa if the UNHCR gave her refugee status.

"Pending the outcome of that, if she is found to be a refugee, then we will give very, very, very serious consideration to a humanitarian visa," Australia's Health Minister Greg Hunt said, The Guardian reported.

Elaine Pearson, the Australian director of Human Rights Watch, said that Australia should come to Al-qunun's defense on moral grounds.

"Foreign governments, including Australia, that are concerned about human rights should be doubling down and offering support," Pearson said. "The government has said that promoting women's rights is a priority as part of its foreign policy; well here's a concrete case where they can protect a young woman's life, and the government should be seizing that opportunity and making its views widely known."