Critic of Chinese leader sentenced to 18 years in graft case

BEIJING (AP) — The former chairman of a state-owned real estate company who publicly criticized President Xi Jinping’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic was sentenced to 18 years in prison on Tuesday on corruption charges, a court announced. Ren Zhiqiang, who became known for speaking up about...

Critic of Chinese leader sentenced to 18 years on graft charges

British man sentenced to 5 years for hacking US companies

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A British man who was part of a hacking collective called The Dark Overlord was sentenced Monday to five years in prison for helping the group steal information from several companies in the U.S., including Missouri, Illinois and Georgia. Nathan Francis Wyatt, 39, was sentenced after he...

2 sentenced to life in absentia over Bulgarian bus bombing

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — A Bulgarian court on Monday sentenced two men to life in prison for their involvement in the 2012 bombing of a tourist bus that killed five Israeli tourists and their Bulgarian bus driver and injured nearly 40 people. Meliad Farah, a dual Lebanese-Australian national, and Hassan El...

Woman sentenced for buying bullets used in killings

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri woman has been sentenced to seven years in prison for buying the bullets used in a shooting that left two dead and led to another killing one day later. Twenty-seven-year-old Nyadia Burden, of Springfield, was sentenced Wednesday after previously pleading guilty to...

Tax protester in 2007 standoff requests time served sentence

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A man up for resentencing this month over a monthslong armed standoff with U.S. marshals in 2007 to protest a tax evasion conviction says he should be sentenced to the 13 years he has already served. Edward Brown, 78, was sentenced to 37 years in prison after the standoff at his...

Ex-California attorney sentenced for killing wife on cruise

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — A former Southern California lawyer was sentenced Friday to life without the possibility of parole for strangling his ex-wife and throwing her body off a cruise ship in the Mediterranean in 2006. Lonnie Loren Kocontes, 62, of Safety Harbor, Florida, was convicted in June of...

Father gets 30 years after plea in death of Illinois boy, 5

CHICAGO (AP) — A northern Illinois man who was charged with murder for his role in the beating death of his 5-year-old son pleaded guilty Friday to reduced charges and was sentenced to 30 years in prison. At a brief hearing, Andrew Freund Sr. pleaded guilty to felony charges of aggravated battery of a...

Man serving life requests death for Indiana prison slaying

ANDERSON, Ind. (AP) — A man serving two life sentences at an Indiana prison asked for the death penalty for a slaying of a fellow inmate, but a prosecutor said he is reluctant to pursue it. Tommy P. Holland, 45, of Indianapolis is charged with murder in the stabbing of Clifford Baggett at the Pendleton...

Man sentenced for fraud scheme that victimized NFL player

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A Missouri man has been sentenced to 15 months in prison for defrauding an NFL player out of $250,000. Federal prosecutors say 43-year-old Abayomi Jamil Martin of O'Fallon must also repay the money to Dallas Cowboys cornerback Brandon Carr, along with $11,000 to credit card companies....