Football coach Brian Smith was fired Wednesday by Ohio University, which cited “serious professional misconduct.” Smith had been placed on indefinite leave on Dec. 1. The university said it terminated Smith’s contract for cause following an administrative review that found him “engaging in serious professional misconduct and participating in activities that reflect unfavorably” on the school. It did not provide specifics. The 45-year old Smith was named the head coach on Dec. 18, 2024, after Tim Albin left to become the coach at Charlotte. Smith came to Ohio as running backs coach and passing game coordinator in 2022, then was...
Harvard Morgue Manager Who Sold Body Parts Like ‘Baubles’ Gets 8-Year Prison Term
A former manager of the Harvard Medical School morgue in Boston was sentenced to eight years in prison for stealing and selling body parts “as if they were baubles.” Authorities said Cedric Lodge was at the center of a ghoulish scheme in which he shipped brains, skin, hands and faces to buyers in Pennsylvania and elsewhere after cadavers donated to Harvard were no longer needed for research. His wife, Denise Lodge, was sentenced to just over a year in prison for assisting him. They appeared Tuesday in federal court in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. In one example, Cedric Lodge provided skin to a buyer so it...
France Probes ‘Foreign Interference’ After Remote Control Malware Found On Passenger Ferry
France’s counterespionage agency is investigating a suspected cyberattack plot targeting an international passenger ferry, authorities said Wednesday. A Latvian crew member is in custody facing charges of having acted for an unidentified foreign power, French officials said. But Interior Minister Laurent Nunez appeared to hint that Russia is suspected, saying: “At the moment, foreign interference very often comes from same country.” France and other European allies of Ukraine allege that Russia is waging “hybrid warfare” against them, using sabotage, assassinations, cyberattacks, disinformation and other hostile acts that are often hard to quickly trace back to Moscow. Intelligence shared by Italian authorities tipped off the...
Ecuadorian Police Say Soccer Player Mario Pineida Has Been Shot Dead In An Apparent Attack
Ecuadorian police said on Wednesday that Mario Pineida, a 33-year-old Barcelona de Guayaquil defender, was shot dead in an apparent attack as violence escalates in the Andean nation. Another person who police did not identify was also killed in the incident, and a third was wounded. Ecuador’s Interior Ministry confirmed Pineida’s death without providing details. Barcelona de Guayaquil said in a statement its fans are saddened by Pineida’s death. Pineida started his professional career at Independiente del Valle, where he played from 2010 to 2015. He then moved to the club of the coastal city of Guayaquil in 2016 and...
Pulitzer Prize-Winning Correspondent Peter Arnett, Who Reported From Vietnam And Gulf War, Has Died
Peter Arnett, the Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter who spent decades dodging bullets and bombs to bring the world eyewitness accounts of war from the rice paddies of Vietnam to the deserts of Iraq, has died at 91. Arnett, who won the 1966 Pulitzer Prize for international reporting for his Vietnam War coverage for The Associated Press, died Wednesday in Newport Beach and was surrounded by friends and family, said his son Andrew Arnett. He had entered hospice on Saturday while suffering from prostate cancer. As a wire-service correspondent, Arnett was known mostly to fellow journalists when he reported in Vietnam from...
STATEHOUSE PRESS RELEASE – PRESIDENT TINUBU MOURNS FORMER CJN, JUSTICE TANKO MUHAMMAD
PRESIDENT TINUBU MOURNS FORMER CJN, JUSTICE TANKO MUHAMMAD President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has received with deep sadness the news of the passing of former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad. Justice Tanko, 71, from Bauchi State, died on Tuesday in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He was the Chief Justice of Nigeria from 2019 to 2022. President Tinubu describes the late Justice Tanko as an eminent legal mind, a disciplined administrator, and a dedicated public servant who devoted most of his life to upholding justice and strengthening the judiciary. The President notes that the deceased’s career on the...
Eurozone Consumer Inflation Holds Steady at 2.1% Through November.
Eurozone inflation held steady at 2.1% in November, revised data showed on Wednesday, December 17, reinforcing expectations that the European Central Bank would keep rates unchanged this week. The initial estimate by the EU’s statistics agency had shown annual inflation in the single currency area ticking up to 2.2% – moving away from the bank’s target of 2%. The revision reflects smaller-than-expected November price increases for some components, notably unprocessed food and industrial goods, excluding energy. Core inflation – which strips out volatile energy and food prices and is closely watched by analysts – was confirmed at 2.4% on an...
South Korean Court Jails Contractors for Leaking Submarine Torpedo Designs to Taiwan.
A South Korean court found two contractors that worked on Taiwan’s submarine programme guilty of leaking designs for torpedo-launching systems, calling the case a potential “major diplomatic burden” for Seoul, according to a ruling reviewed. On Tuesday, the Masan Branch of the Changwon District Court sentenced the chief executive of one South Korean contractor to two and a half years in jail and handed down jail terms of one and a half years to two employees of another firm, according to the ruling. The ruling did not name the defendants and the companies involved, but it did name their lawyers,...
Former Governor Of Anambra State Peter Obi On Declares “Reforming Nigeria’s Tax System Requires Trust And Transparency”
2023 presidential hopeful and former governor of Anambra State Peter Gregory Obi in a statement posted on X on Wednesday declared: “Reforming Nigeria’s Tax System Requires Trust and Transparency” According to Obi: “Recent reports concerning a tax cooperation Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Nigeria and France have generated understandable public concern. While international collaboration is not inherently objectionable, agreements relating to tax administration, revenue systems, and data management demand a high level of openness because of their direct impact on public trust.” He highlighted his fears: “It is therefore worrisome that an agreement of this significance appears to have been...