Foreign News
Couple jailed for four years for $1.7m wine theft
The incident happened in 2021 at a luxury hotel in the Spanish city of Cáceres, where the couple were staying as guests. The couple later fled, but they were arrested nine months later at the Croatia-Montenegro border and returned to Spain. None of the wine has been recovered.
The court named the couple only as Tatania and Estanislao, but they have been identified by Spanish media as Priscila Guevara and Constantín Dumitru. According to the court, Tatania checked into the exclusive Atrio hotel in October 2021 using a fake Swiss passport. She was later joined by Estanislao and they both enjoyed a 14-course meal at the property’s Michelin star restaurant, followed by a guided tour of the wine cellar. Estanislao then returned in the early hours of the following morning to raid the cellar using a stolen key, which the court suggested he took from reception while Tatania provided a distraction.
One of the bottles of wine, which were stuffed into their backpacks, had a unique 19th Century vintage and is reported to have been worth €350,000 (£310,000). The theft sparked an international police hunt that ended in July when the pair were caught while trying to cross into Croatia.
According to the El País newspaper, the pair had reportedly visited the restaurant at least three times beforehand in order to prepare for the robbery.
The couple have also been ordered to pay more than €750,000 to insurers in damages.
Their sentences are not yet final and the couple will have the opportunity to appeal them.
Former Canadian Olympic snowboarder and alleged drug kingpin Ryan Wedding has been arrested in Mexico and will be extradited to the US after years on the run, FBI Director Kash Patel has said.
Wedding, who had been on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list, is accused of running a transnational drug trafficking operation that moved tonnes of cocaine across international borders.
Wedding, 44, was also wanted on murder charges. US officials had said they believed Wedding was living in Mexico under the Sinaloa drug cartel’s protection.
The head of Canada’s federal police force, which assisted in the investigation, spoke alongside Patel on Friday to praise the law enforcement operation.
Wedding is accused of running a vast drug trafficking operation responsible for importing some 60 metric tonnes of cocaine a year.
The organisation operated across North America, as well as several countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, and was also the largest supplier of cocaine to Canada, bringing in an estimated $1bn a year.
Before he was arrested, Wedding was accused of killing a federal witness in a case against him. Officials say he has also ordered the murders of several others.
Wedding is now facing a slew of felony charges, including witness tampering and intimidation, murder, money laundering and drug trafficking.
The FBI had previously placed a $15m (£11m) reward for information leading to his arrest. Patel declined to comment on whether anyone would be claiming the reward money.
US officials have released limited details regarding how Wedding was captured, except to say that his arrest took place on Thursday night in Mexico City.
Mexico’s top security official, Omar García Harfuch, said in a post on X that Patel had visited Mexico City on Thursday, and departed with two fugitives on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted list.
He did not name the men arrested, but said one was a “Canadian citizen who voluntarily surrendered” at the US embassy in Mexico.
The Associated Press, citing an unnamed Mexican Security Cabinet member, reported that Wedding is the Canadian who turned himself in at the US embassy.
In his remarks at a news conference, Patel described Wedding as a “modern-day Pablo Escobar”, referring to the Colombian cartel leader. US officials have also compared him to Mexican drug dealer Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.
“When you go after a guy like Ryan Wedding, it takes a united front,” Patel said, thanking Canadian and Mexican authorities for their help in the investigation.
Patel also thanked the FBI Hostage Rescue Team, who participated in taking Wedding into custody.
In an interview with Vanity Fair, Patel praised the team, which had also been involved in the capture of Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro weeks earlier.
“This was a complex, high-stakes operation with zero margin for error,” Patel told the magazine.
“I was on the ground with our team in Mexico and witnessed extraordinary teamwork, precision, and trust between our agents and partners in Mexico.”
Wedding’s aliases include “El Jefe,” “Giant,” “Public Enemy,” “James Conrad King,” and “Jesse King”, the FBI said. He has reportedly had plastic surgery to change his appearance while on the run.
Officials allege that he launched his criminal enterprise following his release from a US federal prison in 2011, where he was serving a sentence for cocaine distribution.
Authorities allege he has ordered dozens of murders across the globe, including in the US, Canada and Latin America.
It is unclear to whom the medals belong. Wedding competed for Canada in the 2002 Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, but did not win any medals. He came in 24th place in the men’s giant parallel slalom ski event.
In November, the FBI seized his rare 2002 Mercedes CLK-GTR, which had been valued at $13m.
Patel also spoke about the recent arrest of another man in Mexico who had been on the FBI’s most wanted list.
American man Alejandro Castillo was wanted for the murder of his ex-girlfriend. According to the FBI, he has been in hiding in Mexico for nearly 10 years, and will now be extradited back to North Carolina for trial.
(BBC)
Vampire horror film Sinners has broken the record for the most Oscar nominations received by a single film, after being nominated for 16 of Hollywood’s most coveted honours.
The film beat the previous record of 14 nominations, and emerged ahead of its nearest rival this year, Leonardo DiCaprio’s thriller One Battle After Another, which is up for 13 awards.
Sinners’ contenders include its star Michael B Jordan and his British co-stars Wunmi Mosaku and Delroy Lindo.
Other big names up for trophies include Timothée Chalamet, who is hoping for third time lucky after two previous nominations, and Irish actress Jessie Buckley, who is the frontrunner to win best actress for Hamnet.
However, there was no space for her co-star Paul Mescal, who starred opposite Buckley as William Shakespeare in Hamnet; while Wicked: For Good and its stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande missed out completely.
The winners will be announced at a ceremony in Hollywood on 15 March.
The leading films:
- Sinners – 16
- One Battle After Another – 13
- Marty Supreme – 9
- Frankenstein – 9
- Sentimental Value – 9
- Hamnet – 8
[BBC]
Two people have died and several are feared buried after landslides in New Zealand’s North Island.
The deaths were reported at Welcome Bay, while rescue workers are still searching through rubble at a different site in a popular campground on Mount Maunganui.
There are no “signs of life”, authorities said, adding that they have a “rough idea” of how many people are missing but are waiting for an exact figure. They provided no other details except that the group includes “at least one young girl”.
The landslides were triggered by heavy rains over the last few days, which led to flooding and power outages across the North Island. One minister said the east coast resembled “a war zone”.
New Zealand is “heavy with grief” after the “profound tragedy” caused by recent weather, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said on X.
Footage from the campsite on Mount Maunganui, an extinct volcano, shows a huge slip near the base of the volcanic dome, as rescuers and sniffer dogs comb through crushed caravans and flattened tents.
Authorities said that the search would continue through the night. “This is a complex and high-risk environment, and our teams are working to achieve the best possible outcome while keeping everyone safe,” said Megan Stiffler, the deputy national commander for the Urban Search and Rescue team,
The extinct volcano is a sacred Māori site and one of the most popular campgrounds in New Zealand, with a local holiday website describing it as a “slice of paradise”. But it has been repeatedly hit by landslides in recent years.
“I heard this huge tree crack and all this dirt come off, and then I looked behind me and there’s this huge landslide coming down,” Australian tourist Sonny Worrall told local broadcaster TVNZ.
“I’m still shaking from it now… I turned around and had to jump out of my seat and just run,”he added. He saw it happen while swimming in a hot pool.
Hiker Mark Tangney told the New Zealand Herald he heard people screaming from under the rubble. “So I just parked up and ran to help… We could hear people screaming: ‘Help us, help us, get us out of here’,” he said.
Those calls persisted for about half an hour and then went silent, Tangney said.
A surf club in another part of Mount Maunganui has been evacuated following fears of more landslides.
A state of emergency has been declared in the Bay of Plenty where Mount Maunganui sits, and various parts of the North Island, including Northland, Coromandel, Tairāwhiti and Hauraki.
Several areas reported their wettest days on record on Thursday. Tauranga in the Bay of Plenty, for example, received three months worth of rain within a day, according to local media.
Some 8,000 people were without power as of Thursday morning, Radio New Zealand (RNZ) reported.
The wife of a man who was swept away in the Mahurangi River is holding out hope that he will survive.
“I know his personality is strong, wise,” she told RNZ, adding that he was a fisherman back home in Kiribati and knew how to swim and dive.
The man, 47, was driving to work with their nephew when the car they were in fell into the river.
He had pushed the nephew towards a branch so the nephew could hoist himself onto land; but the older man did not manage get back up himself, according to the report.
“It’s been a very big event for us as a country, really hitting almost our entire eastern seaboard of the North Island,” said Minister for Emergency Management Mark Mitchell.
“The good news is that everyone responded really quickly, and there was time to get prepared. That helps to mitigate and create a very strong response,” he told RNZ.
December to February are typically the sunnier months in New Zealand but in recent years heavy rains and storms have become more frequent.
In February 2023, parts of the island were devastated by Cyclone Gabrielle, which is to date the costliest cyclone to hit the Southern Hemisphere, with damage amounting to NZ$13.5bn ($7.9bn; £5.9bn).
This week’s flooding has added to the toll for the local communities that are still rebuilding.
[BBC]
Alleged drug kingpin and ex-Olympian Ryan Wedding arrested after years on the run
Showers above 50 mm are likely at some places in the Northern, North-central, and North-western provinces and in Trincomalee district
Karu argues against scrapping MPs’ pension as many less fortunate members entered Parliament after ’56
Johnston, two sons and two others further remanded over alleged misuse of vehicle
CIABOC indicts MP Chamara Sampath in HC on bribery allegation
High-level discussion held to enhance Sri Lanka Agricultural Productivity with Chinese assistance
‘Dates have the highest sugar content to fight Coronavirus’
Sunday Island 27 December – Headlines
#SundayIsland 17th December – Headlines
Sunday Island – 28th March
Sunday Island Headlines – 21 March
Sunday Island – 21st February – Headlines
-
Editorial6 days agoIllusory rule of law
-
Features6 days agoDaydreams on a winter’s day
-
Features6 days agoSurprise move of both the Minister and myself from Agriculture to Education
-
Features5 days agoExtended mind thesis:A Buddhist perspective
-
Features6 days agoThe Story of Furniture in Sri Lanka
-
Opinion4 days agoAmerican rulers’ hatred for Venezuela and its leaders
-
Features6 days agoWriting a Sunday Column for the Island in the Sun
-
Business2 days agoCORALL Conservation Trust Fund – a historic first for SL