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Alexandria (US), Dec 10 (AP) A Virginia man accused of funnelling tens of thousands of dollars to the Islamic State group was a lonely man looking for a wife and relentlessly targeted by FBI sting operations, a defence lawyer told jurors on Monday, including one undercover operative who pretended to be a willing bride. A jury in US District Court in Alexandria heard opening statements in the terrorism trial of Indian-origin Mohammed Chhipa, 35, of Springfield, Virginia. Prosecutors say he met several times with an undercover FBI operative who gave him hundreds of dollars on multiple occasions in 2021 and 2022, earmarked for a Syrian woman and Islamic State member known as Umm Dujanah. In his opening statement, prosecutor Andrew Dixon said Chhipa took the money on each occasion, converted it to Bitcoin and sent it to accounts in Turkiye, destined for the Islamic State. Dixon said Chhipa sent more than USD 74,000 in similar fashion to accounts in Turkiye, collecting money from willing donors and funnelling it to the Islamic State through Umm Dujanah. Chhipa was particularly interested in sending funds to help women from the Islamic State escape prison camps to which they had been sent after the terrorist group was routed from territory it held in Iraq and Syria, Dixon said. Dixon said Chhipa was well aware that what he was doing was illegal, fleeing the country at one point, only to be forced back to the United States. At one point, he said while under surveillance, “I'm not sure why I'm not in prison.” Chhipa's defence attorney, Zachary Deubler, said the FBI had closely scrutinised Chhipa for years, based largely on advocacy of extremist views on social media. But he said the FBI never came up with a reason to arrest him, even after searching his home in 2019 and finding a cache of Islamic State propaganda. Deubler acknowledged that Chhipa left the country, through Latin America with an ultimate goal of getting to Egypt. The FBI met Chhipa when he returned to the US at Dulles International Airport and questioned him about his activities but never arrested him. Deubler said the government's entrapment efforts intensified, to include a fake bride at one point and a supposed Muslim marriage broker at another. “He was a lonely, sad, inflated man who the government tried to set up,” Deubler said. The trial began with several quirks. Chhipa appeared at trial in a green jumpsuit from the Alexandria jail, where he is being held. He said he did not want to wear civilian clothes, which are typically provided to defendants out of concern that jail outfits will prejudice the jury against a defendant. After a morning break, Chhipa's family refused to stand when the clerk said “all rise” as the judge left the bench, and US District Judge David Novak angrily told the family either to stand or be taken into custody. No arrests were made, even though several family members refused repeated directives from court security officers to stand. Last year, after Chhipa's arrest, prosecutors said Chhipa considers himself to be married to Allison Fluke-Ekren, an American from Kansas who is serving a 20-year prison sentence. Fluke-Ekren pleaded guilty last year to organising and leading the Khatiba Nusaybah, a battalion in the Islamic State in which roughly 100 women and girls learned how to use automatic weapons and detonate grenades and suicide belts. Prosecutors, though, say that the marriage was apparently conducted online and has no legal status in the US. They said Chhipa, a naturalised US citizen originally from India, has been trying to adopt Fluke-Ekren's children. The trial is expected to last about a week. (AP) PY PY (This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — Snoop Dogg has nearly as many ties to football as he does to rap music. The entertainer coached youth football for years and created the Snoop League, an after-school program for inner city Los Angeles youths. Snoop has been a guest analyst on football broadcasts and his son, Cordell Broadus, played Division I football. When Snoop took his latest step, becoming the sponsor of a bowl game, he had a demand: Find a way for all players in the game to receive name, image and likeness (NIL) money. “This was Snoop's idea,” said Kym Adair, executive director of the Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl presented by Gin & Juice. “He was having conversations with people he knows in the college football world and I got a call that said he wants us to be the first bowl to make this commitment and that's what we did.” The beneficiaries are Colorado State and Miami (Ohio), who will conclude their seasons Saturday at Arizona Stadium in the Arizona Bowl. The bowl is classified as a 501(c)(3), so all revenue goes to charity. And, being one of the few bowls not tied to ESPN, it opens the door for unique sponsorship opportunities. The bowl was previously sponsored by Barstool Sports and the digital media company used its own cast of characters on the broadcast, which was streamed on its digital platforms. Snoop Dogg takes over this year. The rapper/entertainer is the latest celebrity to sponsor a bowl, following the footsteps of Jimmy Kimmel and Rob Gronkowski at the LA Bowl. And, Snoop being Snoop, he wanted to put his own spin on his own bowl. “College football fans are exhausted by the constant talk around NIL, conference realignment, coach movement, transfer portal and super conferences,” Snoop said in a video posted on social media. “So it’s time that we get back to the roots of college football — when it was focused on the colleges, the players and the competition, the community, the fan experience and the pageantry.” With that will be an NIL component. The bowl can't pay players just for playing in the bowl, but both teams participated in football clinics on Friday and will get paid for their services. Other bowls have given single players NIL opportunities, but this is believed to be the first to offer it to every player on both teams. “I love the fact that the Arizona Bowl is unique and tries new things, and obviously having Snoop here is unique,” Colorado State coach Jay Norvell said. “The NIL component, it’s the future. It’s what football has become now. We think it’s fantastic for our kids and then the interaction with the kids is the hidden gem of the whole thing.” The NIL component of the Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl comes a month after a similar effort in The Players Era Festival basketball tournament in Las Vegas. The eight-team tournament said it paid out $9 million in NIL money to participating players for activities outside the competition. It also offered $50 million in NIL opportunities over the next three years for services and activities compliant with NCAA regulations. Are the Players Era Festival and Arizona Bowl the start of a new future? It is not out of the question in big-time college athletics, where schools are already preparing for the era of revenue sharing with players next year. “Revenue sharing between the players and the athletic departments is already on the horizon, so whether that takes the place of these types of arrangements or they're completely separate has yet to be determined," Adair said. "We're just trying to be flexible, ahead of the curve and make an impact any way we can.” Just the way Snoop wants it. ___ Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here . AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-footballKatie Price reveals the real reason she no longer shares pictures of Bunny and Jett online
Yet another stowaway managed to board a major airline’s plane – renewing serious questions and concerns about airport safety during the busiest travel season of the year. This time, a stowaway tried to hitch a ride on Delta Air Lines Flight 487 at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on Christmas Eve. The unticketed passenger was discovered while the plane was still taxiing out for takeoff to Honolulu, Delta Air Lines told CNN. The Transportation Security Administration and the Port of Seattle confirmed the incident to CNN. The incident came less than a month after another stowaway boarded a Delta airplane Thanksgiving week. That unticketed passenger made it all the way from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport to Paris before she was eventually arrested . Delta Air Lines planes are seen parked at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on June 19, 2024, in Seattle, Washington. And on Christmas Eve, a body was found in a wheel well of a United Airlines plane shortly after it traveled from Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport and landed in Maui. Hiding in a plane’s wheel well is the most common method used by stowaways , the Federal Aviation Administration said. Stowaways often get crushed when the landing gear retracts, and oxygen levels plummet as a plane reaches higher altitudes. In the Seattle incident, the stowaway went through a TSA security checkpoint the evening before the flight but wasn’t holding a boarding pass, an airport spokesperson told CNN. The next day, the person “gained access to the loading bridge without a scanned ticket at the gate,” airport media relations manager Perry Cooper said. Once the person was discovered, the Airbus A321neo returned to the gate to remove the unticketed passenger, Delta said. Port of Seattle police officers were dispatched to gate B1 at the airport around 1:05 p.m. for “a report of a suspicious circumstance” on the Delta flight. The person “ran out” of the aircraft before officers arrived, Cooper told CNN Friday. “The aircraft returned to the terminal and the subject departed the aircraft,” the Port of Seattle said. “With the help of video surveillance, POSPD were able to locate the subject in a terminal restroom. The subject was arrested for criminal trespass.” The unticketed passenger didn’t have any prohibited items, the TSA told CNN. “The aircraft was swept by K9 as well as all areas in the terminal accessed by the subject,” the Port of Seattle said. “The aircraft was deplaned and all passengers were escorted by TSA to return to the security checkpoint for rescreening.” CNN has reached out to the Port of Seattle for additional comment. Delta said the flight was delayed by two hours and 15 minutes. After the rescreening, it continued to Honolulu at 3 p.m. “As there are no matters more important than safety and security, Delta people followed procedures to have an unticketed passenger removed from the flight and then apprehended,” the Atlanta-based airline said in a statement. “We apologize to our customers for the delay in their travels and thank them for their patience and cooperation.” TSA said it “takes any incidents that occur at any of our checkpoints nationwide seriously. TSA will independently review the circumstances of this incident at our travel document checker station at Seattle/Tacoma International.” How the person got through airport security is a question many want answered. There are a number of factors at play, according to former commercial airline pilot and aviation analyst, John Nance. “There are multiple causes that come into this, and they probably involve not only a bit of lackadaisical inattention,” Nance told CNN affiliate KING . “It may be training, it may be compliance, but it’s probably all of that.” It’s “embarrassing” for this situation to happen twice to the same airline and TSA, according to former Department of Homeland Security official Keith Jeffries, who was federal security director when he left the DHS in 2022. In his 20 years working with DHS and the TSA, Jeffries said he’s seen these situations multiple times. “It has happened before. It will happen again until they continue to strengthen that vulnerability,” Jeffries said. “The fact that it happened to the same airline, of course, couldn’t be more embarrassing, especially back-to-back, and during the holiday season, when there’s an extra alertness associated with the large holiday season,” Jeffries added. During the holidays, Jeffries explained, there’s typically more staffing at the airports being “extra vigilant.” TSA, airlines and airports have even more people present to ensure things like this don’t fall through the cracks, making these cases “even more concerning,” he said. If there is a “silver lining,” Jeffries said, it’s that Delta did catch the stowaway during the taxi, and they didn’t make it to Hawaii. The stowaway also didn’t have prohibited items when scanned through TSA, which is another plus, he said. “Everybody’s going to have to work together; TSA and the airlines on how they can strengthen both of those vulnerabilities, and in some cases, even work with the airport,” he said. Congress will likely scrutinize these incidents, Nance added. “But there will be no one paying more attention than the airlines themselves,” he said. ___ CNN’s Holly Yan, Pete Muntean, Amanda Musa and Nicole Chavez contributed to this report. Elise Mertens, of Belgium, serves against Naomi Osaka, of Japan, at the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament, on March 11, 2024, in Indian Wells, Calif. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill) Fans interfere with a foul ball caught by Los Angeles Dodgers right fielder Mookie Betts during the first inning in Game 4 of the baseball World Series against the New York Yankees, on Oct. 29, 2024, in New York. 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Amitai Alon, killed by a Hezbollah drone attack, during his funeral near Ramot Naftali, Israel, on Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa) Israeli students watch a virtual tour of the concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau at the Testimony House, a Holocaust museum in Nir Galim, Israel, on the eve of Israel's annual Holocaust Remembrance Day, May 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty) Children shake hands before they play a chess game at The Soga Chess Club of the internally displaced persons camp in Kanyaruchinya, Democratic Republic of Congo, on July 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa) A young man watches the ball after diving while playing soccer on a dusty field in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, on Feb. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe) A voter fills out a ballot during general elections in Nkandla, Kwazulu Natal, South Africa, on May 29, 2024. 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(AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko) A fisherman carries his catch of the day to market in Manta, Ecuador, on Sept. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa) Ama Pipe, from Britain, center, receives the baton from teammate Lina Nielsen in a women's 4 X 400 meters relay heat during the World Athletics Indoor Championships at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow, Scotland, on March 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue) Ultra-Orthodox Jews look at part of an intercepted ballistic missile that fell in the desert near the city of Arad, Israel, on April 28, 2024. (AP Photo/ Ohad Zwigenberg) Margarita Salazar, 82, wipes sweat from her forehead in her home during an extreme heat wave in Veracruz, Mexico, on June 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Felix Marquez) People drive along a road littered with fallen power lines after the passing of Hurricane Rafael in San Antonio de los Banos, Cuba, on Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa) Palestinian activist Khairi Hanoon walks with the Palestinian flag on a damaged road following an Israeli army raid in Tulkarem, West Bank, on Sept. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed) A polar bear and a cub search for scraps in a large pile of bowhead whale bones left from the village's subsistence hunting at the end of an unused airstrip near the village of Kaktovik, Alaska, on Oct. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson) Vero Almarche, right, hugs her neighbor Maria Munoz, who was born in the house where they are photographed and which was destroyed by flooding in Masanasa, Valencia, Spain, on Nov. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti) Wearing a device that measures his energy consumption, Israel Amputee Football Team player Ben Maman, left, fights for the ball with a young soccer player from a local team during a practice session in Ramat Gan, Israel, on April 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa) An animal runs through grass while fleeing flames as the Park Fire tears through the Cohasset community in Butte County, Calif., on July 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Noah Berger) Jewish ultra-Orthodox men dressed in costumes celebrate the Jewish festival of Purim in Bnei Brak, Israel, on March 24, 2024. The holiday commemorates the Jews' salvation from genocide in ancient Persia, as recounted in the Book of Esther. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty) In this photo taken with a long exposure, people look at the northern lights, or Aurora Borealis, in the night sky on May 10, 2024, in Estacada, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane) First-graders attend the traditional ceremony for the first day of school in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on Sept. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Receive the latest in local entertainment news in your inbox weekly!The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS’), Gen. Christopher Musa, has emphasise the need to consider Socio-Economic and environmental factors in the national security equation. This is as the national coordinator of the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC), Maj-Gen. Adamu Laka, argued that the media have the power to shape opinions, and influence perspectives/narratives. The very senior officers spoke on Thursday in Abuja, at a Round Table on Nigeria’s Unity and National Interest, organised by the NCTC for defence correspondents. In his remarks, the defence chief noted: “Although these views are essential, it is important that our understanding of national security is expanded to incorporate broader social, economic, and environmental elements which are hallmarks of what is termed development journalism. “It is also necessary to note that actions of the military in ensuring Nigeria’s national security account for only 30% or less of the overall efforts required, while the remaining 70% of maintaining Nigeria’s peace and security rest on the socio-economic elements of the country. “In a nutshell, national security entails the protection of our nation’s core values, institutions, as well as citizens from both external and internal threats, while national interests involve important goals and objectives guiding our nation’s actions and decisions. “These critical concerns over our nation, particularly in the face of numerous security challenges, tend to undermine the very fabric of our country and threatens the safety and security of our citizens. “Military efforts to safeguard our nation’s sovereignty will be enhanced through development journalism, which is a specialized form of journalism that focuses on the social, economic, and political development of the nation. “In the area of defence bits, development journalism seeks to promote public awareness and understanding of defence as well as security issues, while holding governments, the defence sector, and other stakeholders accountable for their actions as well as informing decision-making by policymakers and defence officials. In his welcome address, the NCTC’s coordinator said: “We are gathered here today, though from various professional backgrounds, but as athletic Nigerians, jointly committed to understanding the role of the media in relation to national security and interests. “As we are rightly aware, the role of the media, especially journalists, as signed defence and security beats is pivotal in shaping public perception and policy on critical issues of national security and interests. “Through reporting, analysis and storytelling, journalists inform members of the public and have the power to influence strategies, people’s actions and reactions. Having been in this military career for a while, I must attest to the fact that our defence and security correspondents have been an immense wealth of expertise and experience. “Most of you have reported on the frontlines, analysed trends and followed the intricate network that sustained these threats to our national security and interests. “You have confronted not just the facts, but also the responsibility to report with accuracy, fairness and sensitivity in an environment that is often fraught with misinformation and heightened emotions. It is in appreciation of your role in the counter-terrorism efforts that I granted my prompt approval to your request for this important conversation. “I therefore assure you that the National Counter-Terrorism Centre, Office of the National Security Advisor, will continue to collaborate with you and other critical stakeholders to achieve and sustain the destruction of terrorist propaganda. “The objective of this roundtable discussion with you is to foster an open and insightful exchange of ideas. “By sharing your experiences, observations and challenges, together we aim to enhance collective understanding of the dynamics of terrorism and its evolving tactics, discover the ethical considerations of reporting on such sensitive issues, identify opportunities for collaboration between journalists, security experts and policy makers, and have best thoughts on the development of a national strategic communication plan and protocol for the gathering and distribution of news on terrorism and violent extremism with the hope of stemming threats to our national security and interests”.
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The S&P 500 ended 0.7% higher after having been down 0.5% in the early going. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also recovered from an early slide to eke out a 0.2% gain. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite rose 1%. Gains in technology and communications stocks accounted for much of the gains, outweighing losses in consumer goods companies and elsewhere in the market. Semiconductor giant Nvidia, whose enormous valuation gives it an outsize influence on indexes, rose 3.7%. Broadcom climbed 5.5% to also help support the broader market. Walmart fell 2% and PepsiCo slid 1%. Japanese automakers Honda and Nissan said they are talking about combining in a deal that might also include Mitsubishi Motors. U.S.-listed shares in Honda jumped 12.7%, while Nissan ended flat. Eli Lilly rose 3.7% after announcing that regulators approved Zepbound as the first and only prescription medicine for adults with sleep apnea. Department store Nordstrom fell 1.5% after it agreed to be taken private by Nordstrom family members and a Mexican retail group in a $6.25 billion deal. All told, the S&P 500 rose 43.22 points to 5,974.07. The Dow gained 66.69 points to 42,906.95. The Nasdaq rose 192.29 points to 19,764.89. Traders got a look at new snapshot of U.S. consumer confidence Monday. The Conference Board said that consumer confidence slipped in December. Its consumer confidence index fell back to 104.7 from 112.8 in November. Wall Street was expecting a reading of 113.8. The unexpectedly weak consumer confidence update follows several generally strong economic reports last week. One report showed the overall economy grew at a 3.1% annualized rate during the summer, faster than earlier thought. The latest report on unemployment benefit applications showed that the job market remains solid. A report on Friday said a measure of inflation the Federal Reserve likes to use was slightly lower last month than economists expected. Worries about inflation edging higher again had been weighing on Wall Street and the Fed. The central bank just delivered its third cut to interest rates this year, but inflation has been hovering stubbornly above its target of 2%. It has signaled that it could deliver fewer cuts to interest rates next year than it earlier anticipated because of concerns over inflation. Expectations for more interest rate cuts have helped drive a roughly 25% gain for the S&P 500 in 2024. That drive included 57 all-time highs this year. Inflation concerns have added to uncertainties heading into 2025, which include the labor market's path ahead and shifting economic policies under an incoming President Donald Trump. "Put simply, much of the strong market performance prior to last week was driven by expectations that a best-case scenario was the base case for 2025," said Brent Schutte, chief investment officer at Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Company Treasury yields rose in the bond market. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.59% from 4.53% late Friday. European markets closed mostly lower, while markets in Asia gained ground. Wall Street has several other economic reports to look forward to this week. On Tuesday, the U.S. will release its November report for sales of newly constructed homes. A weekly update on unemployment benefits is expected on Thursday. Markets in the U.S. will close at 1 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday for Christmas Eve and will remain closed on Wednesday for Christmas.
Five takeaways from Tinubu’s maiden media chatChina yesterday slapped sanctions on seven US companies after Washington's approval last week of a $571.3 million military aid package to Taiwan, which Beijing said infringed on its "sovereignty and territory". Last Friday, US President Joe Biden authorised the drawdown of up to $571.3 million for defence assistance to the self-ruled island, which China regards as its own territory. Washington's actions "interfere in China's internal affairs, and undermine China's sovereignty and territorial integrity", the Chinese foreign ministry said as it announced the sanctions. The statement also hit out at Washington's 2025 defence budget, which includes a security cooperation initiative with Taiwan, as well as calls for strengthened defence industrial cooperation with Taipei. Beijing will freeze the China assets of US defence companies Insitu, Hudson Technologies, Saronic Technologies, Aerkomm and Oceaneering International, as well as Raytheon's Canada and Australia subsidiaries, the ministry said. The sanctions, which kicked in yesterday, also prohibit the targeted companies from doing business with organisations and individuals inside China. The US does not officially recognise Taiwan diplomatically but it is the self-ruled island's strategic ally and largest supplier of weapons. China yesterday slapped sanctions on seven US companies after Washington's approval last week of a $571.3 million military aid package to Taiwan, which Beijing said infringed on its "sovereignty and territory". Last Friday, US President Joe Biden authorised the drawdown of up to $571.3 million for defence assistance to the self-ruled island, which China regards as its own territory. Washington's actions "interfere in China's internal affairs, and undermine China's sovereignty and territorial integrity", the Chinese foreign ministry said as it announced the sanctions. The statement also hit out at Washington's 2025 defence budget, which includes a security cooperation initiative with Taiwan, as well as calls for strengthened defence industrial cooperation with Taipei. Beijing will freeze the China assets of US defence companies Insitu, Hudson Technologies, Saronic Technologies, Aerkomm and Oceaneering International, as well as Raytheon's Canada and Australia subsidiaries, the ministry said. The sanctions, which kicked in yesterday, also prohibit the targeted companies from doing business with organisations and individuals inside China. The US does not officially recognise Taiwan diplomatically but it is the self-ruled island's strategic ally and largest supplier of weapons.
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