A Virginia man who was having an affair with the family’s au pair was sentenced Friday to life in prison without parole for the murder of his wife and a man who was lured to the couple’s home as a fall guy. Brendan Banfield, a former IRS law enforcement officer, claimed he shot Joseph Ryan after he came across Ryan attacking his wife on the morning of Feb. 24, 2023. But prosecutors said Brendan Banfield and Brazilian au pair Juliana Peres Magalhães set Ryan up in a scheme to get rid of Christine Banfield, a pediatric intensive care nurse. Judge...

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday rejected a proposal by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for a face-to-face meeting on the 4-year-old conflict, saying he sees “no point” in it. Thursday’s letter, the first public message Zelenskyy has written directly to Putin since Russia sent troops into Ukraine in 2022, was a sweeping critique of the Russian leader’s 26 years in power as well as some taunts about his age. Speaking at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Putin described Zelenskyy’s open letter proposing the meeting as “boorish.” “Is it a way to create conditions for personal meetings and talks, or...

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday rejected a proposal by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for a face-to-face meeting on the 4-year-old conflict, saying he sees “no point” in it. Thursday’s letter, the first public message Zelenskyy has written directly to Putin since Russia sent troops into Ukraine in 2022, was a sweeping critique of the Russian leader’s 26 years in power as well as some taunts about his age. Speaking at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Putin described Zelenskyy’s open letter proposing the meeting as “boorish.” “Is it a way to create conditions for personal meetings and talks, or...

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un observed sea trials of a new warship repaired after a failed launch last year and vowed to accelerate efforts to build a nuclear-armed navy, state media said Saturday, showcasing his expanding military capabilities ahead of a visit by Chinese leader Xi Jinping. North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said Kim visited the 5,000-ton destroyer Kang Kon on Thursday as it underwent capability tests. Photos released by the agency showed him accompanied by his increasingly prominent teenage daughter, believed to be named Kim Ju Ae, whom South Korean officials say may be being groomed...

Israeli troops killed a seven-month-old Palestinian baby boy after firing at his parents’ vehicle in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said. Sam Fahd Abu Haikal was killed Friday evening, and his parents were wounded while driving in the Tel Rumeida area south of Hebron City, according to the ministry. The official Palestinian news agency WAFA said the infant was critically wounded after being struck in the jaw by the same bullet that injured his mother. He later died of his injuries. His father, Fahd Abdul Aziz Abu Haikal, a lecturer at Bethlehem University, was shot in the...

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer ‘s office on Friday condemned comments by U.S. Vice President JD Vance, who blamed immigration for the death of a university student who was handcuffed as he lay dying from a stab wound. Henry Nowak, 18, died after being stabbed by Vickrum Digwa in the English city of Southampton in December. Digwa, who is Sikh, falsely claimed to police he was the victim of a racist assault by Nowak, who was white. When police officers arrived, they initially treated the wounded man as a suspect before noticing his injury and trying to resuscitate him. Digwa,...

Islamic militants attacked a military base in northeast Nigeria killing five soldiers, the Nigerian army said Friday. The base located in Mandaragirau in the Biu area of Borno state was attacked by “terrorists” early Friday, army spokesman Haruna Sani said in a statement. The army did not specify what group was responsible, but it has linked similar attacks to the militant group Boko Haram or its splinter faction, the Islamic State West Africa Province, or ISWAP. IS is known for attacking military formations in the country’s northeast. Sani said the troops repelled the attack and inflicted casualties on the assailants,...

Volodymyr Zelenskyy: “Another 185 Ukrainian defenders are returning home today from Russian captivity. One civilian is also returning along with the defenders. They are warriors of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the National Guard, and the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine – privates, sergeants, and officers. “They defended our state in Mariupol and at Azovstal, as well as in the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkiv, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Sumy, Kyiv, and Kursk sectors. Among them are those returning after years in Russian captivity, where they had been held since 2022. “I thank everyone who makes this possible: the team working on exchanges...