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Anonymous ID: a5519c May 4, 2021, 6:07 p.m. No.13584437   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>4465 >>4483 >>4675 >>4824 >>4936 >>4966

US government seeks seizure of statue en route to Kim Kardashian

 

A Roman statue that was allegedly en route to Kim Kardashian is now the subject of a lawsuit by the U.S. government. Sometimes considered an idol herself, Kardashian is named as an interested party in a lawsuit by the U.S. government regarding a sculpture of the lower half of a human figure. The civil forfeiture suit, filed with the U.S. District Court of Central California last Friday, said that the defendant's antique Roman statue was "smuggled and illegally exported from Italy." "Based on the information and scientific aspects [an] archaeologist provided, the archaeologist opined that the defendant statute was looted, smuggled and illegally exported from Italy," the filing read. The statue was reportedly on display at the booth of Brussels’s Axel Vervoordt gallery in the 2011 edition of the TEFAF art fair that displays antiquities, according to the lawsuit. After it was seized on June 15, 2016, in Los Angeles because "evidence showed that the defendant statue was designated archeological or ethnological material," authorities discovered the importer’s name was allegedly listed as "Kim Kardashian dba Noel Roberts Trust."

 

The reality TV star made headlines earlier this year when she filed for divorce from her husband, Kanye West, on Feb. 19, citing "irreconcilable differences." The details of the divorce, including custody of assets, such as artwork, are not yet known, though the pair agreed to joint custody of their four children. The Comando Carabinieri Tutela Patrimonio Culturale, the part of Italy's Ministry of Cultural Heritage that plays a role in the safety and protection of Italy's national cultural heritage, "requested that all efforts be made for the return of the defendant statue to Italy in accordance with the bilateral agreement between Italy and the United States," according to the filing. The defendant's statue is in the custody of Customs and Border Protection, where it will remain subject to the court's jurisdiction as the legal matter pends.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/us-government-seeks-seizure-statue-to-kim-kardashian

gov.uscourts.cacd.819245.1.0

https://www.scribd.com/document/506282904/gov-uscourts-cacd-819245

https://www.plainsite.org/dockets/4is6xd5ob/california-central-district-court/united-states-of-america-v-one-antique-roman-statue/

Anonymous ID: a5519c May 4, 2021, 6:17 p.m. No.13584520   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>4675 >>4824 >>4936 >>4966

A Black Mentally Disabled Man Gets Awarded $546,000 For Unpaid Wages and Alleged Abuse From Former Boss: DOJ

 

John Christopher Smith now in his 40s, had been working at J&J restaurant since he was 12, and started as a part-time dishwasher. Once Bobby Edwards took over in 2009 that was when the abuse started, according to the Court of Appeals, People reported. A Black South Carolina with intellectual disabilities who was forced to work 100 hours a week without pay and was physically and mentally tortured over a five-year-period by his former boss has been awarded $546,000 in restitution, double than what he was initially entitled to, the United States Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit ruled. John Christopher Smith, was initially awarded $273,000 in back payments stemming from all the years his former boss Bobby Paul Edwards at J&J Cafeteria, withheld payment, but the appeals court held that the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina did not include the federal labor laws in the initial decision, People reported. “Minimum wages and overtime compensation must be paid on a current basis as work is done, such that an employee receives the prescribed compensation without delay. When an employer fails to pay those amounts, the employee suffers losses, which includes the loss of the use of that money during the period of delay," the Court of Appeals wrote in its filing.

 

Edwards allegedly abused Smith between 2009 and 2014 subjecting Smith to physical and psychological abuse whenever he made a mistake or failed to work fast according to the Department of Justice (DOJ) release. Edwards beat the victim with a belt, fists, and pots and pans, they said. On one occasion, he allegedly dipped metal tongs into hot grease and burned the victim’s neck. Edwards also yelled at the victim and used racial slurs to belittle and demean him, the release said. In 2014, Edwards was removed from the restaurant after a concerned resident notified state authorities of the abuse taking place, the DOJ said. Smith, who is now in his 40s, had been working at J&J restaurant since he was 12-years-old, started off as a part-time dishwasher. Once Edwards took over in 2009 that was when the abuse started, according to the Court of Appeals, People reported. Smith told WMBF during a 2015 interview that he was diagnosed with delayed cognitive development and that he never reported the abuse because he was scared.

 

In Nov. 2019, Edwards, 53 a white man from Conway, SC, was sentenced to 10 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to one count of forced labor of coercing an African-American man with an intellectual disability to work extensive hours at a restaurant for no pay. He also admitted that he used violence, threats, isolation, and intimidation to enslave and abuse him, according to the DOJ. “It is almost inconceivable that instances of forced labor endure in this country to this day – a century and a half after the Emancipation Proclamation,” said Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband of the Civil Rights Division. “The Department of Justice will continue to investigate, prosecute, and convict human traffickers involved in forced labor, seeking justice on behalf of their victims.” “For stealing his victim’s freedom and wages, Mr. Edwards has earned every day of his sentence,” said U.S. Attorney Sherri A. Lydon for the District of South Carolina. “The U.S. Attorney’s Office will not tolerate forced or exploitative labor in South Carolina, and we are grateful to the watchful citizen and our partners in law enforcement who put a stop to this particularly cruel violence.”

 

Assistant Attorney General John Gore said in a statement. “Edwards abused an African-American man with intellectual disabilities by coercing him to work long hours in a restaurant without pay,” Gore said. “Human trafficking through forced labor can happen on farms, in homes, and as today’s case shows, in public places, such as restaurants.” He continued, “Combatting human trafficking by forced labor is one of the highest priorities of this Justice Department and today’s guilty plea reflects our commitment to seeking justice on behalf of victims of human trafficking.”

https://www.insideedition.com/a-black-mentally-disabled-man-gets-awarded-546000-for-unpaid-wages-and-alleged-abuse-from-former

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/south-carolina-man-sentenced-10-years-prison-forcing-man-intellectual-disability-work

Anonymous ID: a5519c May 4, 2021, 6:26 p.m. No.13584638   🗄️.is 🔗kun

Netanyahu fails to form coalition government in Israel

 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has failed to form a coalition government before the scheduled midnight deadline. After a series of deadlocked elections, Netanyahu, a five-term incumbent, was given a mandate on April 6 by President Reuven Rivlin to try to piece together a coalition of smaller parties to comprise a ruling majority. The deadline of midnight on Wednesday came and passed without Netanyahu cobbling one together, leaving the prime minister's political future unclear. Rivlin said Beit HaNassi, or the "President's House," will "contact the parties in the Knesset regarding the process of forming a government" Wednesday morning.

 

Benny Gantz, who currently serves as alternate prime minister of Israel, released a video message calling on Naftali Bennett, a member of Israel's Knesset for the "New Right" party, to support an attempt to form a coalition led by Yair Lapid, leader of the opposition. "In a few hours, Netanyahu's mandate will expire. Naftali, I turn to you. … You must announce today that you are joining the government of change and support the granting of the mandate to MK Yair Lapid," Gantz said, according to a Google translation. Netanyahu also made an appeal to Bennett, asking him to "prove" that he's "still a right-winger," according to a Google translation.

 

The prime minister said he had offered a rotating prime ministership to Bennett, with the latter holding the post for the first year, but Bennett rejected that idea, according to the Associated Press. “I never asked Netanyahu to be prime minister. I asked to form a government," he said. "Unfortunately, he does not have that.” Netanyahu's prime ministership has been embroiled in scandal since he was indicted on corruption charges in January 2020. He pleaded not guilty to corruption charges that included bribery, fraud, and breach of trust in multiple cases. "Everyone already sees that the witch-hunt against me is crumbling, everyone understands that this is a transparent attempt to overthrow a strong prime minister from the Right," he said of the charges. If all options fail, the country will face another election this fall, the fifth in just over two years.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/netanyahu-fails-form-coalition-government-israel

Anonymous ID: a5519c May 4, 2021, 7 p.m. No.13584959   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>4976 >>4988

Pritzker refuses to commit to a date to lift restrictions

 

Illinois will continue with public gathering restrictions in place for the immediate future. On Monday, Gov. J.B. Pritzker was noncommittal on when the state could move from Phase 4 to his Bridge Phase. “It feels to me, it looks to me, if you look at all the hospital admissions data, like we’re in decent shape and moving exactly as I would hoped we would toward the Bridge Phase,” Pritzker said. The Bridge phase will allow for higher capacity limits (60%) at places like gyms, museums and spectator events and increased business operations during the transitional period between the current Phase 4 and a full reopening in Phase 5.

 

In order for Illinois to advance to the Bridge Phase, the entire state must reach a 70% first-dose vaccination rate for residents 65 and older, plus maintain the required metrics of at least 20% ICU beds availability, and maintaining a steady or dropping rate of hospitalizations and case rates for COVID-19 over a 28-day period. Illinois health officials reported hospital numbers are down, but so is the number of people getting vaccinated. The CDC reported 8% of Americans have skipped their second shot of either the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. The number of Illinoisans who have been fully vaccinated, receiving both of the required two shots, or one Johnson & Johnson shot, has reached 4,119,343, or 32% of the state population. Pritzker said coronavirus variants, particularly the UK variant, have played a role in his administration’s decision to hold off on further reopening. “You can see the numbers rise very quickly,” he said. “That is why we have been very careful not to move to the Bridge Phase while we watch that variant in Illinois.” Of the 1.341,777 million COVID-19 cases in Illinois since the pandemic began, only about 2,500 involved the UK variant. Officials reported on Monday 2,049 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19, accounting for a 7-day case average of 2,658, the lowest since the same average was reported April 3.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/pritzker-refuses-to-commit-to-a-date-to-lift-restrictions