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Brother of Patrick Mahomes accused of assault by restaurant owner and waiter: report

Brother of Patrick Mahomes accused of assault by restaurant owner and waiter: report

Jackson Mahomes, the brother of two-time Super Bowl champion Patrick Mahomes, is currently being investigated for allegedly shoving a waiter and forcibly kissed the woman proprietor of an Overland Park, Kansas, cafe previous Saturday. 

Even though authorities would not release a report on the alleged incident, law enforcement have been reviewing the restaurant’s surveillance video clip recordings, in accordance to The Kansas City Star. 

Jackson Mahomes and Patrick Mahomes, #15 of the Kansas City Chiefs, celebrate on stage during the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl LVII victory parade on February 15, 2023, in Kansas City, Missouri. 

Jackson Mahomes and Patrick Mahomes, #15 of the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs, rejoice on phase in the course of the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl LVII victory parade on February 15, 2023, in Kansas City, Missouri.  ( Jay Biggerstaff/Getty Images)

“The Law enforcement Office is informed of an incident that happened on Feb. 25, 2023, at a small business close to 151st and Metcalf,” the law enforcement reported in a assertion to the publication. “The division is nevertheless investigating. Releasing any additional facts would be inappropriate at this time. Any person with facts really should speak to the Tips Hotline at 816-474-Ideas.”

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The operator of the restaurant, Aspen Vaughn, instructed The Star that Jackson Mahomes grabbed her by the throat and forcibly kissed her at minimum 2 times. 

Vaughn presented a video to The Star that allegedly reveals Mahomes grabbing her by the throat and kissing her. 

“He forcibly kissed me out of nowhere,” Vaughn stated, “and I’m telling him, pushing him off stating, ‘What are you performing?’ and then he proceeded to do it two more occasions, where by the previous time I was pushing him off, and I can see on the cameras that anyone was outdoors the business office doorway, and I was yelling for them to come enable, due to the fact he’s significant and significant.”

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Patrick Mahomes, second from left, looks at a photo with a friend while his wife, Brittany Mahomes, and brother, Jackson Mahomes, right, chat during the Kansas City Chiefs' victory celebration in Kansas City, Mo., Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023. 

Patrick Mahomes, next from remaining, appears to be like at a photo with a buddy though his wife, Brittany Mahomes, and brother, Jackson Mahomes, right, chat all through the Kansas City Chiefs’ victory celebration in Kansas Metropolis, Mo., Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023.  (AP Photo/Reed Hoffmann)

A lawyer for Mahomes denied the allegations.

“Jackson has completed nothing incorrect,” Brandan Davies explained. “Our investigation has revealed substantial proof refuting the promises of Jackson’s accuser, which includes the statements of quite a few witnesses. We have attained out to legislation enforcement to offer the fruit of our investigation so that they may have a comprehensive photo of the make a difference.”

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In accordance to the report, Jackson Mahomes arrived at the restaurant very last Saturday with five close friends. The group went into the basement business and denied the 19-12 months-old male waiter entry. 

“I was going into our business office downstairs exactly where the workers are in the staff location, and he’s downstairs for I really don’t know what reason,” the waiter mentioned, “and I’m striving to get to the office environment, and he’s like, pushing me out. . . . And he’s like, ‘No, get out, get out.’”

The group then went into the VIP home upstairs, where Vaughn reported she smelled the aroma of marijuana. 

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes' (15) brother Jackson Mahomes before an AFC divisional playoff game between the Jacksonville Jaguars and Kansas City Chiefs on January 21, 2023, at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, MO. 

Kansas Town Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ (15) brother Jackson Mahomes before an AFC divisional playoff recreation between the Jacksonville Jaguars and Kansas City Chiefs on January 21, 2023, at GEHA Subject at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas Town, MO.  ( Scott Winters/Icon Sportswire by means of Getty Photos.)

Mahomes requested Vaughn to discuss privately about the shoving incident soon afterward, which was when the alleged assault happened. 

“I was in shock,” Vaughn claimed. “It’s disgusting,” she claimed she told Mahomes. “Like you’re a child, and he was seeking to say ‘We really should be a electricity couple, and I’m like, ‘Clearly you are out of your mind ideal now.’”

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In a photograph furnished to The Star, Vaughn reportedly had a faint bruise on her neck. 

Though the waiter has not filed prices, Vaughn advised the publication that police strategy on pursuing her alleged sexual assault. 

“Even devoid of you seeking to press prices, we’re likely to commence anyhow,” she claimed the investigating officers told her. “So it is in your finest interest to cooperate. So we’re like, ‘OK, of program we are.’”

Joe Morgan is a Sports Reporter for Fox Information.

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Woman accused of killing Instagram lookalike in plot to fake her own death

Woman accused of killing Instagram lookalike in plot to fake her own death

MAINZ, Germany — A family members dispute, a lacking female, and a body that experienced been stabbed to dying uncovered in the woman’s automobile by her dad and mom: These items, authorities in Germany now say, are not as they the moment appeared.

Significantly from remaining the sufferer, the female who had been missing had in its place uncovered a lookalike on Instagram and killed her with a pal in buy to phase her individual demise and “commence a new lifestyle,” prosecutors and law enforcement in Bavaria now say. The scenario has been dubbed the “doppelganger murder” by area media.

Arrest warrants on suspicion of murder have now been issued for the girl and her mate, law enforcement in the southern metropolis of Ingolstadt, all-around 50 miles north of the regional capital, Munich, declared Monday. The pair have been in custody due to the fact days soon after the physique was found out.

“I can validate that the accused 23-calendar year-outdated female of course planned to start out a new daily life due to loved ones issues,” police spokesperson Andreas Aichele told NBC Information. She experienced established up many social media accounts “to obtain any persons searching as equivalent to her as attainable,”Aichele said.

“Investigations revealed speak to to a number of younger women throughout a interval of handful of weeks. Investigators think that underneath a pretext she managed to arrange a conference with the later on victim. With each other with the 23-yr-aged male she traveled to the Heilbronn region to select her up and carry out the planned murder,” Aichele included.

Below German privacy laws, the entire names of victims or suspects are not publicly unveiled.

The thriller began last Aug. 16, when the physique of a girl who had been stabbed to demise was located by the dad and mom of the 23-year-previous German-Iraqi female in her parked vehicle in Ingolstadt, according to a assertion from police in upper Bavaria north. 

But a subsequent autopsy “raised major uncertainties about the id of the female,” they stated in a assertion two days afterwards.

Police searching for clues after murder case in Ingolstadt
Tributes lie by a tree around which a female overall body was found in a passenger motor vehicle in Ingolstadt, Germany, in August. Peter Kneffel / Photograph Alliance by means of Getty Visuals file

It brought reduction to the father of the 23-calendar year-previous, but not underneath the situation he anticipated. “The law enforcement came to us … and reported, ‘Good information, your daughter is alive.’ We ended up so delighted. We thought she was dead,” German newspaper Bild quoted the woman’s father as declaring.

Rather, two days later on, law enforcement explained they experienced arrested the woman and yet another 23-year-outdated of Kosovan descent under suspicion of manslaughter. The two suspects have been in custody considering that, and the arrest warrants on suspicion of murder were issued late final 7 days.

The lifeless lady, it turns out, was a different 23-year-previous lady who police mentioned “looked strikingly comparable” to the suspect.

“The suspects arrived up with the system to research on line for a lady who seemed related to the German-Iraqi, eliminate her and spot her in these a way that the corpse would be mistaken for the suspect,” police mentioned in a statement Monday.

“She presented them various positive aspects in get to reach a assembly. However, it did not occur to a meeting with those girls,” prosecutor Dr. Veronika Grieser claimed. 

In accordance to the Bavarian police, the main suspect contacted the sufferer through social media in early August and arranged a assembly on Aug. 16. She traveled with her mate in her car to the greater Heilbronn place, all-around 150 miles west of Ingolstadt, to decide up the sufferer at home, law enforcement reported.

The victim was lured out of the automobile and stabbed to demise in a wooded location “insidiously and for foundation motives,” the statement additional.

Fiona Brookman, a professor of criminology at the College of South Wales, referred to as the scenario “very strange,” not least mainly because women make up 10{515baef3fee8ea94d67a98a2b336e0215adf67d225b0e21a4f5c9b13e8fbd502} or fewer of murder instances. Woman-on-female conditions are even rarer, she additional.

Ultimately, “committing a murder in buy to bogus one’s possess death — I have by no means come throughout a homicide of this sort in advance of,” she added. 

Andy Eckardt documented from Mainz, Germany, and Aina J. Khan from London.

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Matt Schlapp accused of fondling male campaign staffer

Matt Schlapp accused of fondling male campaign staffer

WASHINGTON — Matt Schlapp, a person of the nation’s most prominent conservative leaders and a prime ally of previous President Donald Trump, is becoming accused of sexually groping a male aide on Ga Senate applicant Herschel Walker’s campaign in Oct.

“He achieved in concerning my legs and fondled me,” the former Walker staffer explained to NBC News in a telephone interview Thursday night time. “To my shame, I did not say nearly anything” to end Schlapp. NBC News is withholding the staffer’s identify at his ask for because he fears the allegations against a potent Republican could harm his possess occupation in GOP politics.

Schlapp, the chairman of the American Conservative Union, is married to previous Trump White Dwelling aide Mercedes Schlapp. His organization hosts the Conservative Political Action Convention, a critical proving floor for Republican presidential hopefuls.

Schlapp did not answer to text messages searching for remark, together with a single detailing each individual level of his accuser’s tale. His lawyer, Charlie Spies, did not straight away return a call from NBC News in search of comment on the allegations. But Spies did notify The Every day Beast, which initially documented on the staffer’s story, that Schlapp had denied them.

On Friday night, after this tale was published, two ACU board users issued a statement standing by Schlapp.

“We stand squarely at the rear of Matt Schlapp, and the ACU Board of Directors has entire self-assurance in his leadership of the firm,” said Charlie Gerow and Carolyn Meadows, the first and next vice chairs of the board.

“We have both recognized Matt and his wife, Mercedes, for a long time. We know Matt Schlapp’s heart and his character. And we consider this most recent attempt at character assassination is fake,” they extra. “Regrettably, the Still left and its take note takers in the media routinely pick out to scorch the earth in their quest to cancel those people with whom they disagree. Irrespective of whether it will involve conservative judicial nominees or great people like Matt Schlapp, they will sink to any depth to damage them and their people.”

A senior formal on the Walker marketing campaign confirmed that the aide shared the allegation with his supervisors at the time. 

“I was built knowledgeable of the incident the early morning right after,” claimed the formal, who explained prime campaign aides conferring on the issue and coming up with a prepare to spare the aide from possessing to decide up Schlapp once again.

On Oct. 19, Schlapp hit the hustings for Walker at an function in Perry, Georgia, about 100 miles south of Atlanta. The mid-amount Walker aide was assigned to chauffeur Schlapp, who invited him to meet up with for beverages that night time at the Funds Grille restaurant in the Buckhead section of Atlanta, the staffer explained. He believed the added facial area-to-facial area time could aid him solidify a professional link with just one of the party’s most influential figures.

As the two males started to consume, the staffer explained, Schlapp apologized for the bar “getting useless.” The staffer took Schlapp to Manuel’s Tavern, a effectively-acknowledged haunt for Ga politicos — especially Democrats — about 15 minutes away. 

Schlapp, who drank Tito’s vodka throughout the night time, started “intruding into my particular room” at the second bar, the staffer reported. At a single place, Schlapp bumped into the staffer’s gun while their legs touched, the staffer mentioned, prompting Schlapp to ask what he was carrying.

“Sig Sauer,” the aide claimed, stunned to locate that Schlapp appeared unfamiliar with the title of the gun supplied CPAC’s emphasis on Next Modification legal rights. Schlapp, who grew up in Wichita, a sizable town in Kansas, described that he didn’t have a qualifications with firearms, the staffer said. 

“Are you uncomfortable searching at me?” Schlapp requested later on, producing the aide even far more uncomfortable than he previously was, he stated. In limited get, he instructed Schlapp that they had an early morning and it was best to simply call it a night time. 

As the staffer drove from Manuel’s Tavern down the John Lewis Freedom Parkway towards the junction of Interstate 20 and Interstate 85, Schlapp commenced fondling his leg, he said. That progressed, the staffer stated, as the two men created their way toward the Hilton Yard Inn at the Atlanta airport, a ride of about 15 minutes with very little site visitors. 

“From Manuel’s Tavern to the Hilton Backyard garden Inn there at the Atlanta airport, he literally experienced his fingers on me,” the staffer said in a online video he recorded early in the early morning of Oct. 20, just a pair of hours right after the alleged incident. “Matt Schlapp of the CPAC grabbed my junk and pummeled it at length.” The staffer did not publish the video publicly but shared it with NBC Information.

“To my disgrace, I did not say ‘no’ or ‘stop,'” the staffer said in the video, a recollection he recurring in the interview with NBC Information. “God knows it was not a preferred advance.” 

When the two arrived at the resort, Schlapp invited the staffer to his space, the staffer claimed. The staffer declined. Within a pair of hrs, all-around 12:45 a.m., the staffer commenced recording video clips of himself recounting what he stated experienced took place, which he shared with NBC Information. He arrived at out to senior campaign personnel later on that morning to relay the story, and they suggested him how to respond the upcoming early morning when Schlapp texted to say he was in the lobby prepared to be chauffeured. 

“I did want to say I was unpleasant with what happened past evening,” the staffer texted, according to monitor shots he shared with NBC News. “The marketing campaign does have a driver who is out there to get you to Macon and back again to the airport.” The aide shared the title and cellphone range of his colleague. 

“Pls give me a contact,” came the reply from Schlapp, in accordance to the display pictures. The staffer offered NBC News with Schlapp’s telephone quantity to validate that the textual content arrived from Schlapp. Schlapp regularly known as the staffer, who did not respond to, in accordance to screen photographs of the staffer’s telephone log, which includes 2 times at 7:53 a.m. and at the time at 8:09 a.m.

The senior campaign formal reported that Schlapp did not go to the occasion the subsequent early morning and did not connect with the Walker campaign about getting an additional ride to the airport.

“The full factor tends to make me bodily sick,” stated the senior Walker marketing campaign official.

Both equally the staffer and the senior campaign official mentioned the Walker marketing campaign manufactured legal counsel readily available to the staffer to examine his legal possibilities and indicated the campaign would aid regardless of what conclusion he designed. He has not pursued legal motion towards Schlapp, he claimed.

The staffer stated he was talking to the news media to make many others informed of what he described as predatory habits by Schlapp.

“If he experienced built a well mannered go at me and remaining it that,” the staffer stated, “only me, Matt and God would know about that.”

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Florida real estate firm accused of ‘equity theft’ by St. Louis homeowners

Florida real estate firm accused of ‘equity theft’ by St. Louis homeowners

ST. LOUIS — Dianne Allen had been ignoring the calls from a number she didn’t recognize. But after so many, she finally relented.

The woman on the other end asked if she was the owner of 8441 Midwood Avenue in Berkeley. “What’s this concerning?” Allen asked. “You could be eligible for up to $2,000 in upfront cash if you agree to use our real estate service,” the woman said.

Allen needed some money to catch up on her truck payments. And before the end of that day in August, a notary was at her house, thumbing through papers for her to sign. They gave her a check for $500.

“I kept saying, ‘what’s the catch?’” Allen said. “If I knew there was gonna be a lien on my house I would have never signed.”

But the company, MV Realty, did record a lien against the house, security for the 40-year agreement Allen signed to use the Florida real estate brokerage firm if she ever sells.

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Now, Allen can’t take out the home equity loan she was hoping to use to remodel her kitchen because of the extra lien on her property. Banks are likely to balk at refinancing. And up to 3{515baef3fee8ea94d67a98a2b336e0215adf67d225b0e21a4f5c9b13e8fbd502} of her home’s value — a value determined by MV Realty — is now due to MV Realty, either from a brokerage commission or a termination fee under a clause that seems almost designed to be triggered, said Rob Swearingen, a lawyer with nonprofit law firm Legal Services of Eastern Missouri representing Allen.

MV Realty says its contracts are only designed to commit homeowners to use its brokers if they ever sell the house, and their 3{515baef3fee8ea94d67a98a2b336e0215adf67d225b0e21a4f5c9b13e8fbd502} commission is in line with industry standards. A contract reviewed by the Post-Dispatch contains a provision spelling out a lien will be recorded against the property.

But, in addition to triggering a penalty worth 3{515baef3fee8ea94d67a98a2b336e0215adf67d225b0e21a4f5c9b13e8fbd502} of the home’s value if the house is sold using a non-MV Realty broker, the 40-year agreement contains an early termination clause triggered if the house is transferred to heirs and they don’t recommit to the contract within a few days.

“It’s like a hidden grenade that everyone’s gonna forget about and the heirs won’t know about,” said Swearingen, who is preparing a lawsuit against MV Realty over its practices. “It’s an equity theft device, is what this is.”

Legal Services estimates MV Realty has entered contracts with at least 100 homeowners in Missouri, about 40 of them in the St. Louis region, according to property records.

The company has recently attracted attention from state attorneys general and members of Congress.

In late November, Ashley Moody, the attorney general of Florida, where the company is based, was the first to file suit against the company, alleging deceptive business practices and telemarketing law violations. The Florida Attorney General lawsuit cites records from one telemarketing service indicating MV Realty left over 6.8 million voicemails advertising their “homeowner benefit agreements.”

“For a company to prey on unsuspecting homeowners in a way that locks them into a 40-year obligation designed to siphon away equity from the property is disgraceful,” Moody said in a Nov. 29 news release announcing the lawsuit.

Last week, both Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro and Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey filed a similar lawsuits against the company. Shapiro’s office says MV Realty claims it has executed some 32,000 “homeowner benefit agreements” nationwide, up from almost 7,800 in 2021.

“MV Realty is a scam that exploits Pennsylvanians in vulnerable financial situations,” Shapiro said in a statement last week.

In a statement, MV Realty spokeswoman Diana London said it is “committed to working with policymakers, regulators, and attorneys general where needed” and that “we are confident that after a full airing of the facts, these discussions will reinforce how MV Realty’s business transactions are legal and ethical and that our team operates in full compliance with state and federal laws.”

“New and innovative business models, like the (Homeowner Benefit Agreement), can transform established industries and can sometimes draw questions from critics or outright hostility from those whose existing business model is threatened,” London said in a statement. “However, to suggest that MV Realty has engaged in unfair or deceptive practices is simply false.”

On Wednesday, U.S. Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, and Tina Smith, D-Minn., sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau citing recent media reports about MV Realty. It urged the regulatory agencies to work with state attorneys general to investigate MV Realty’s business practices and any similar real estate broker listing agreements.

R. Wilson Freyermuth, a real estate law professor at the University of Missouri-Columbia, questions whether the underlying liens are valid if the homeowner has no obligation to sell their house or pay back the upfront cash. The American Land Title Association is already drafting model legislation, he said, to bar tying service contracts of all types, not just real estate brokers, to property titles.

‘Securitization scheme’

Many of the headlines in recent weeks — including one from celebrity news site TMZ — have focused on the face of the company, Amanda Zachman, a contestant (who went by Amanda Zuckerman) in the 2013 season of the “Big Brother” CBS reality TV show.

But the impetus for the idea to use future listing contracts may have come from a New York investment firm looking for ways to securitize assets tied to home values and two Florida financial services veterans who led a company that a decade ago faced federal prosecution over financial products tied to life insurance.

MV Realty’s CEO is Antony Mitchell, who once served as CEO of Florida financial services company Imperial Holdings. He led Imperial Holdings a decade ago with Jonathan Neuman, a minority investor in MV Realty. Neuman stepped down as Imperial Holdings’ president and chief operating officer in 2012 after the FBI raided Imperial Holdings’ Boca Raton office and it was disclosed he was under investigation.

The Justice Department in April 2012 reached a nonprosecution agreement with Imperial Holdings over its marketing of financial products tied to life insurance contracts. The Justice Department agreed to not prosecute the company, citing its cooperation, the termination of the life insurance product business and the departure of employees involved in the conduct. Mitchell, who took over as Imperial’s president after Neuman stepped down, resigned as chairman a few months after the DOJ agreement.

According to court documents, New York investment firm Innovatus Capital claimed it brought the idea for MV Realty’s listing agreements to Mitchell and Neuman. Innovatus CEO David Schiff approached the two, believing they controlled MV Realty, about a way to generate future broker listing agreements as a financial product tied to the value of real estate. The two had “extensive experience originating and securitizing asset classes that had not previously been securitized,” MV Realty claims in its own lawsuit against Innovatus.

The two companies have been in litigation since 2018 over nondisclosure agreements and MV Realty’s use of the broker listing agreements. They settled last week, days after the Pennsylvania and Massachusetts attorney general lawsuits.

A spokesman for Innovatus Capital did not respond to a request for comment.

MV Realty said Neumann is a minority partner in MV and has not been an employee or officer of the company. The lawsuit has been resolved “amicably,” London said.

“It seems as though you are trying to connect past lawsuits that have been resolved with this ongoing conversation MV is having with lawmakers,” she said in an email. “They have nothing to do with each other. The company would appreciate if you stick to current facts and not what it (sic) quite obvious you are being fed.”

London said MV Realty is not securitizing any of its future listing agreements. The Florida attorney general lawsuit says the company’s chief operating officer, David Manchester, is “responsible for securitizing MV Realty’s interests in contracts with consumers.”

The involvement of Innovatus Capital in the idea shows MV’s claims of helping homeowners with some upfront cash is just a front for financial engineers looking to create another Wall Street product, Swearingen said.

“It has nothing to do with any benefit to homeowners,” Swearingen said. “It was a securitization scheme.”







Homeowners targeted with suspect loans

Marcella Jackson poses for a portrait inside her St. Louis home on Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2022. Jackson signed an agreement with a Florida-based real estate firm, MV Realty, about the house that she owns on Miami Street, which could have resulted in a lien against her property.




Back in south St. Louis, Marcella Jackson may be one of the lucky ones. She picked up a cold call from an MV Realty agent while she was at work and was told she could be owed money for agreeing to use MV to list her home. She didn’t understand what the money was for, but she could use the cash. So she didn’t hang up. They moved fast.

“I spoke with them that Friday, she sent me the contract that Friday, and 10 o’clock Monday morning the notary was there,” Jackson said.

She signed an agreement with MV Realty for her two-bedroom, one-bathroom Tower Grove South home, but she felt something wasn’t right. She never cashed the $629 check they gave her. MV hasn’t recorded a lien against her house.

“It felt like something was wrong the whole time,” Jackson said, “but I couldn’t put my finger on it.”

DEMOGRAPHIC CHALLENGE: St. Louis was one of the nation’s slowest-growing metro areas over the past decade. Jim Gallagher argues that we should worry more about quality of life, but David Nicklaus counters that the area can’t prosper without growth.



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Investigation: Real estate company accused of deceptive practices

Investigation: Real estate company accused of deceptive practices

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — A local authentic estate corporation is underneath hearth, accused of misleading techniques.

Knowledge pulled from Philadelphia information indicates the enterprise may perhaps be concentrating on minority neighborhoods.

Rosetta Loper Grant, who is offering her Oxford Circle home, signed on to the agreement presented by MV Realty.

Grant is obligated to use MV Realty as her listing agent following signing on with the realtors’ Home-owner Profit System in March. MV Realty compensated her $645 for first distinctive rights for the chance to sell her property for 40 years.

But then in May possibly, Loper Grant started second-guessing her selection.

“I started out feeling a minimal leery,” she reported.

That is when the Town of Philadelphia notified her a home finance loan experienced been recorded on her assets.

“I didn’t see just about anything in there about my mortgage at the time whereas they will have a lien,” she explained.

Kerry Smith is an lawyer for Group Legal Products and services, which does professional bono do the job for small-income citizens. She suggests a 50 percent dozen individuals have appear to her in search of enable just after finding out MV Realty recorded mortgages on their houses to safe their commission rights.

“Our purchasers are telling us they experience deceived,” mentioned Smith.

Smith is essential of MV’s contracts, citing the 40-calendar year expression, 3{515baef3fee8ea94d67a98a2b336e0215adf67d225b0e21a4f5c9b13e8fbd502} termination price of the home’s values, and the forfeiting of customers’ rights to sue while MV Realty still can.

She also normally takes difficulty with what could transpire to house owners who pass alongside their house to heirs.

“If they decide on to market it to a household member or market it on their possess 10, 20, 30 several years from now, they are heading to be on the hook for shelling out the firm 1000’s of pounds,” mentioned Smith.

The Action News Investigative Group dug into Philadelphia assets documents. MV Realty has recorded additional than 500 mortgages in just two years.

We confirmed up on some homeowners’ doorsteps who mentioned they experienced no plan.

“Did you know they were being recording a house loan against your home?” asked Action New investigator reporter Chad Pradelli.

“No, that is when I instructed you I received some paperwork and I was like, ‘whoa…no,'” said Charles Spence.

Latrelle Fields-Fuller was equally shocked.

“Did they clarify the agreement in depth that a mortgage would be recorded?” questioned Pradelli.

“Not a mortgage loan would be recorded but explained the deal genuine speedy, rapidly in a hurry,” Fields-Fuller stated.

The Florida-based mostly MV Realty denies wrongdoing and instructed Action News its practices are not misleading and all terms are obviously spelled out to prospects.

Recent contracts we reviewed clearly state MV Realty will document mortgages to protected the distinctive listing legal rights and consider what is generally a 3{515baef3fee8ea94d67a98a2b336e0215adf67d225b0e21a4f5c9b13e8fbd502} {515baef3fee8ea94d67a98a2b336e0215adf67d225b0e21a4f5c9b13e8fbd502} gross sales commission.

“We have quite a few shoppers who have been sued by MV Realty when they utilized yet another realtor to listing their house,” explained Smith.

Previous 7 days, the Florida Lawyer Basic sued MV Realty, accusing it of “partaking in a sophisticated and misleading plan with the goal of swindling individuals out of their house fairness.”

The lawsuit also usually takes challenge with what it states is abusive telemarketing and promotion practices. MV Realty advised Action Information their procedures are authorized and ethical.

“These are challenging agreements,” mentioned Ira Goldstein.

Goldstein functions for the nonprofit, Reinvestment Fund, which assists underserved communities.

He mapped out the MV Realty mortgages in Philadelphia and Delaware County and observed most ended up in Black and brown communities with 69{515baef3fee8ea94d67a98a2b336e0215adf67d225b0e21a4f5c9b13e8fbd502} of MV home loans in the town recorded on Black-owned properties.

“Irrespective of whether or not it truly is an express ‘let’s goal Black folks or Black neighborhoods,’ that I won’t be able to notify you, but what I can convey to you is in the result, it arrives out that way.”

The Pennsylvania Lawyer General’s Office is strongly encouraging men and women with problems to report them to the office.

A spokesperson for Philadelphia Town Council suggests it will hold hearings to address issues on December 14.

Examine MV Realty’s statement launched to Motion Information:

“A short while ago, our Corporation turned knowledgeable of a criticism submitted by the Florida Lawyer Standard. Our lawyers are now examining it. We are self-assured that after a total airing of the details, the Florida Lawyer Common will discover that MV Realty’s business transactions are lawful and moral and that our crew has operated in whole compliance with the regulation. We look forward to and are absolutely committed to doing work with the FL Lawyer General’s business to regulate these transactions.

Some track record information and facts is important to have.

The Home-owner Advantage Settlement (the “HBA”) is a clear-cut settlement beneath which we pay property owners a payment up-front for the right to be their serious estate agent and get paid a 3{515baef3fee8ea94d67a98a2b336e0215adf67d225b0e21a4f5c9b13e8fbd502} fee if they decide to offer their dwelling in the long term. The issue of the Home-owner Reward Program is for a property owner to give our company the possibility to checklist their home for sale in trade for a cash payment nowadays. The HBA is NOT a authentic estate listing arrangement. A typical accredited kind of actual estate listing settlement will be executed in the foreseeable future if the homeowner decides to market their property. When the HBA phrase is 40 yrs, our possibility to represent the seller is for only 6 months. That is the normal time period of a residential authentic estate listing settlement. If we are not able to sell the home within just that time (6 months) the operator can sell their home on the similar or better conditions with a unique agent or by by themselves, in which scenario they do not owe everything to MV. We do particularly the same career as any other residential authentic estate agent we just demand considerably less simply because we pay back the homeowner a fee up-entrance. A few added details, the home-owner by no means has to market their property, in which scenario MV gets nothing at all, and the homeowner retains the up-entrance payment that was built to them. Also, MV cannot set the cost for a house – this is entirely up to the property owner. Lastly, MV phone calls and contacts individuals who have “opted in” in writing.

The memorandum MV files is not a lien. A lien on real estate frequently requires a debt – there is no credit card debt concerned so there is no lien. Rather, recording the memorandum basically serves as a general public recognize of the homeowners’ commitment to give MV the chance to depict them in the sale of their residence. This is to defend MV in the party a property owner forgets about the HBA and tries to promote their household without letting MV the option to be their agent. A superior analogy would be to the recording of an easement. Which are regimen and ubiquitous.

It is clearly disclosed in 12-stage bolded form in the HBA. When requested to facilitate a refinancing or home equity financial loan, MV has Normally eradicated the filing if asked for at no price to the homeowner. Without a doubt, MV is in the process of amending all of its present HBA’s to make it an obligation of MV to do so in every case.

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Russia-Ukraine war live: more explosives found in Spain after Ukraine embassy incident; Zaporizhzhia engineer accused of collaborating | Ukraine

Russia-Ukraine war live: more explosives found in Spain after Ukraine embassy incident; Zaporizhzhia engineer accused of collaborating | Ukraine

Spanish police investigate four more incendiary devices and letter bombs

Sam Jones

Police in Spain are investigating four more incendiary devices and letter bombs, a day after one exploded at Ukraine’s embassy in Madrid.

The devices have now been sent to the prime minister, the defence ministry, an arms company that makes rocket launchers donated to Kyiv, and a military airbase near the Spanish capital, as well as the one found at the embassy.

The first letter bomb exploded when it was opened by an embassy employee on Wednesday, causing minor injuries to the worker’s hands and leading Ukraine to warn its diplomats to bolster their security precautions.

The second, discovered hours later at the Instalaza weapons firm in Zaragoza in the Aragón region that manufactures C90 rocket launchers, was deactivated by bomb squad officers.

Key events

Summary

The time in Kyiv is 1pm. Here is a round-up of the day’s stories so far:

  • Police in Spain are investigating four more incendiary devices and letter bombs, a day after one exploded at Ukraine’s embassy in Madrid. The devices have now been sent to the prime minister, the defence ministry, an arms company that makes rocket launchers donated to Kyiv, and a military airbase near the Spanish capital, as well as the one found at the embassy.

  • Ukraine dismissed the deputy chief engineer of its Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant on Thursday, accusing him of collaborating with Moscow’s forces and treason, the Energoatom state nuclear energy company said. The statement was published a day after Russia said it had promoted the engineer, Yuriy Chernichuk, to serve as the director of the vast nuclear plant in southeastern Ukraine.

  • The US army awarded a $1.2bn contract to Raytheon Technologies Co for six national advanced surface-to-air missile systems (Nasams) for Ukraine on Wednesday, the Pentagon said. The United States has approved sending Ukraine a total of eight Nasams to help fend off Russian missile and drone attacks.

  • The Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said the west had a real chance to avoid conflict in Ukraine, but had chosen to spurn Russian proposals to halt the expansion of Nato and agree a special security status for Kyiv. Lavrov made the comments during a news conference in Moscow, Reuters reported.

  • Russia said on Thursday the German parliament’s move to recognise the 1932-33 famine in Ukraine as a Soviet-imposed genocide was an anti-Russian provocation and an attempt by Germany to whitewash its Nazi past. In a decision welcomed by the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, German lawmakers passed a resolution on Wednesday declaring the death by starvation of millions of Ukrainians – the Holodomor – was genocide.

  • The UN appealed for record funds for aid next year, AFP reports, as the Ukraine war and other conflicts, climate emergencies and the still-simmering pandemic push more people into crisis, and some towards famine. The United Nations’ annual Global Humanitarian Overview estimated that 339 million people worldwide will need some form of emergency assistance next year – a staggering 65 million more people than the estimate a year ago.

  • As Ukrainians wake up on the first official day of winter, nearly 6 million people across a majority of Ukraine’s regions have no electricity, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Wednesday night. Ukraine’s state emergency service has said nine people had been killed in fires, after breaking safety rules in an attempt to heat their homes after Russian attacks on power facilities.

  • The European Commission president has proposed a special tribunal to investigate and prosecute Russia’s “crime of aggression” against Ukraine. Ursula von der Leyen also wants to use the proceeds of Russian funds that have been frozen under western sanctions to aid Ukraine.

  • Russian forces tried to advance in eastern Ukraine and trained tank, mortar and artillery fire on Kherson in the south, the Ukrainian military said, as western allies sought to buttress Ukraine and its neighbours against Moscow.

  • Ukraine needs the US made Patriot missile defence systems to protect its civilian infrastructure, under heavy attack by Russia, foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said, adding he would be working with the German government on this issue. Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev warned Nato on Tuesday against providing Ukraine with Patriot systems, Reuters reported.

  • The UK has announced a fresh round of sanctions against 22 Russians, including those the Foreign Office says were involved in enlisting criminals to fight in Ukraine. James Cleverly, the foreign secretary, said on Wednesday his department would target a new set of officials, including Denis Manturov, the deputy prime minister, who is responsible for troop equipment supplies.

  • US president Joe Biden’s nominee to be ambassador to Russia, Lynne Tracy, pledged on Wednesday to make the release of detained Americans a priority if she is confirmed to one of most important, and challenging, US diplomatic posts.

That’s it from me, Tom Ambrose, for the moment. My colleague Harry Taylor will be with you shortly to continue bringing you all the latest news from Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Spanish police investigate four more incendiary devices and letter bombs

Sam Jones

Police in Spain are investigating four more incendiary devices and letter bombs, a day after one exploded at Ukraine’s embassy in Madrid.

The devices have now been sent to the prime minister, the defence ministry, an arms company that makes rocket launchers donated to Kyiv, and a military airbase near the Spanish capital, as well as the one found at the embassy.

The first letter bomb exploded when it was opened by an embassy employee on Wednesday, causing minor injuries to the worker’s hands and leading Ukraine to warn its diplomats to bolster their security precautions.

The second, discovered hours later at the Instalaza weapons firm in Zaragoza in the Aragón region that manufactures C90 rocket launchers, was deactivated by bomb squad officers.

A child swings at a park in front of damaged residential building due to airstrikes in Vyshorod, Kyiv oblast, Ukraine.

A child swings at park in front of damaged residential building due to airstrikes as Russia-Ukraine war continues in Vyshorod, Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine on November 30, 2022.
A child swings at park in front of damaged residential building due to airstrikes as Russia-Ukraine war continues in Vyshorod, Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine on November 30, 2022. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Ukraine sacks Zaporizhzhia engineer accused of collaboration

Ukraine dismissed the deputy chief engineer of its Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant on Thursday, accusing him of collaborating with Moscow’s forces and treason, the Energoatom state nuclear energy company said.

The statement was published a day after Russia said it had promoted the engineer, Yuriy Chernichuk, to serve as the director of the vast nuclear plant in southeastern Ukraine.

Spanish PM office confirms ‘similar’ package to letter bombs sent to him

Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez’s office received on 24 November a letter containing an explosive device “similar” to the ones received by the Ukrainian embassy, a Spanish weapons manufacturer on Wednesday and an air force base on Thursday, the interior ministry said.

Security around public and diplomatic buildings are to be stepped up after a series of letter-bombs were received around the country, the ministry added.

Spanish security forces found a third suspected explosive device hidden in an envelope mailed to a European Union satellite centre located at an air force base in Torrejon de Ardoz, outside Madrid, the defence ministry said on Thursday.

After scanning the envelope by X-ray, air force security officers determined it contained “a mechanism”, the ministry statement said. Police were still analysing the parcel on Thursday morning.

The satellite centre supports the EU’s common foreign and security policy by gathering information from space intelligence devices, according to its website. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell described such systems as “the eyes of Europe” in September.

Two letter-bombs were found on Wednesday addressed to the Ukrainian embassy in Madrid and to a weapons manufacturer, Instalaza in Zaragoza, in northeastern Spain, police said.

Instalaza manufactures the C90 rocket launcher that Spain has supplied to Ukraine.

The first letter-bomb exploded, causing minor injuries to a Ukrainian embassy official.

A bridge is seen collapsed over a river near Lyman city, Ukraine.

A bridge is seen collapsed over a river nearby Lyman City, Ukraine, November 30th, 2022.
A bridge is seen collapsed over a river nearby Lyman City, Ukraine, November 30th, 2022. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov also accused Nato of trying to drag India into what he called an anti-Russian and anti-Chinese alliance at a time when he said the West was attempting to squeeze out Russian influence.

Lavrov, speaking at a news conference, added that the South China Sea was becoming a region where Nato was willing to ratchet up tensions and accused the United States of trying to subvert the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

The Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said the west had a real chance to avoid conflict in Ukraine, but had chosen to spurn Russian proposals to halt the expansion of Nato and agree a special security status for Kyiv.

Lavrov made the comments during a news conference in Moscow, Reuters reported.

Western countries say Russia’s proposals made in the run-up to the Ukraine war were unrealistic and insincere.

Third mail-bomb found in Spanish air force base – reports

Spanish security forces found a third explosive device hidden in a mailed parcel to an air force base in Torrejón de Ardoz outside Madrid, the newspaper El Mundo reported on Thursday morning.

Two letter bombs were found on Wednesday addressed to the Ukrainian embassy in Madrid and to a weapon manufacturer in Zaragoza, in northern Spain, police said.

The first one exploded causing minor injuries to a Ukrainian official.

Russia said on Thursday the German parliament’s move to recognise the 1932-33 famine in Ukraine as a Soviet-imposed genocide was an anti-Russian provocation and an attempt by Germany to whitewash its Nazi past.

In a decision welcomed by the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, German lawmakers passed a resolution on Wednesday declaring the death by starvation of millions of Ukrainians – the Holodomor – was genocide.

In November 1932, the Soviet leader, Joseph Stalin, dispatched police to seize all grain and livestock from newly collectivised Ukrainian farms, including the seed needed to plant the next crop. Millions of Ukrainian peasants starved to death in the following months from what the Yale University historian Timothy Snyder calls “clearly premeditated mass murder”.

Russia on Thursday rejected the claim that this was a genocide and said millions of people across other parts of the Soviet Union, including in Russia, also suffered.

“There is another attempt to justify and push forward a campaign – being planted in Ukraine and sponsored by the West – to demonise Russia and to pit ethnic Ukrainians against Russians,” Russia’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

“The Germans are trying to rewrite their history … downplay their own guilt and muddy the memory of the unprecedented nature of the countless crimes committed by Nazi Germany during the second world war,” it added.

The ministry accused the German parliament of “reviving the fascist ideology of racial hatred and discrimination and attempting to absolve itself of responsibility for war crimes” by passing the declaration.

Geoffrey Pyatt, assistant secretary for energy resources at the US State Department, said on Thursday he was confident that agreement would be reached on the level at which to cap prices for Russian sea-borne oil under a G7 scheme.

Pyatt was speaking to reporters in Tokyo after a meeting with his Japanese counterpart, Ryo Minami. A former US ambassador to Ukraine, Pyatt is in Japan to meet officials on aspects of energy security, Reuters reports.

The UN appealed for record funds for aid next year, AFP reports, as the Ukraine war and other conflicts, climate emergencies and the still-simmering pandemic push more people into crisis, and some towards famine.

The United Nations’ annual Global Humanitarian Overview estimated that 339 million people worldwide will need some form of emergency assistance next year – a staggering 65 million more people than the estimate a year ago.

“It’s a phenomenal number and it’s a depressing number,” UN aid chief, Martin Griffiths, told reporters in Geneva, adding that it meant “next year is going to be the biggest humanitarian programme” the world has ever seen.

If all the people in need of emergency assistance were in one country, it would be the third-largest nation in the world, after China and India, he said.

And the new estimate means that one in 23 people will need help in 2023, compared to one in 95 back in 2015.

As the extreme events seen in 2022 spill into 2023, Griffiths described the humanitarian needs as “shockingly high”.

“Lethal droughts and floods are wreaking havoc in communities from Pakistan to the horn of Africa,” he said, also pointing to the war in Ukraine, which “has turned a part of Europe into a battlefield”.

The global humanitarian plan will aim to provide $1.7bn in cash assistance to 6.3 million people inside Ukraine, and also $5.7bn to help the millions of Ukrainians and their host communities in surrounding countries.

Six million without power on first official day of winter

As Ukrainians wake up on the first official day of winter, nearly 6 million people across a majority of Ukraine’s regions have no electricity, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Wednesday night.

On Wednesday, Ukraine’s state emergency service has said nine people had been killed in fires, after breaking safety rules in an attempt to heat their homes after Russian attacks on power facilities.

“Only in the last day there were 131 fires in Ukraine, 106 of them in the residential sector. Nine people died, eight were injured,” the emergency service said.

People walk in Solomianskyi district on 30 November 2022 in Kyiv, Ukraine. Ukrainian officials expect a new wave of Russian bombing this week, with previous rounds targeting critical infrastructure and causing massive water and power cuts, including in the capital Kyiv.
People walk in Solomianskyi district on 30 November 2022 in Kyiv, Ukraine. Ukrainian officials expect a new wave of Russian bombing this week, with previous rounds targeting critical infrastructure and causing massive water and power cuts, including in the capital Kyiv. Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

US hands Raytheon $1.2bn Ukraine missile systems contract

The US Army awarded a $1.2bn contract to Raytheon Technologies Co for six national advanced surface-to-air missile systems (Nasams) for Ukraine on Wednesday, the Pentagon said.

The United States has approved sending Ukraine a total of eight Nasams to help fend off Russian missile and drone attacks.

Ukraine received its first delivery of two Nasams air defence systems in November. Others will be delivered in future months once they are built.

“Nasams are just the latest in the diverse set of air-defence capabilities we are delivering to Ukraine,” said Bill LaPlante, under secretary of defence for acquisition and sustainment.

These six Nasams systems were part of the fifth Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) package which was announced on 24 August and had a total value of $2.98bn, according to an Army Statement. USAI funds allow the Biden administration to procure weapons from industry rather than taking weapons from existing US weapons stocks.

The contract is for the Nasams batteries, training, and logistical support to Ukraine’s military and security forces.

Funds for the two other Nasams came from the third USAI package announced in July.

Last week Doug Bush, the chief weapons buyer for the Army, told reporters the US Army is accelerating its weapons acquisition process to speed through a backlog of contracts needed to replenish US stocks of weapons depleted by arms shipments to Ukraine.

The Pentagon has said the newly US-provided Nasams air defence systems so far have had a 100{515baef3fee8ea94d67a98a2b336e0215adf67d225b0e21a4f5c9b13e8fbd502} success rate in Ukraine intercepting Russian missiles.

In total, the United States has committed more than $19.3bn in security assistance to Ukraine since the beginning of the Biden administration.

Summary

Hi, this is the Guardian’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine, with me, Helen Sullivan.

In Washington, a $1.2bn contract for six national advanced surface-to-air missile systems (Nasams) for Ukraine was awarded to Raytheon, the Pentagon said. The United States has approved sending Ukraine a total of eight Nasams to help fend off Russian missile and drone attacks. Ukraine received its first delivery of two Nasams air defence systems in November. Others will be delivered in future months once they are built.

Meanwhile as Ukrainians wake up on the first official day of winter, nearly six million people across a majority of Ukraine’s regions have no electricity, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Wednesday night.

Here are the other key recent developments:

  • A security officer at Ukraine’s embassy in Madrid was injured when he opened a letter bomb addressed to the ambassador on Wednesday. The security officer suffered light injuries, Spanish government official Mercedes Gonzalez told broadcaster Telemadrid.

  • In the wake of the incident, Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba ordered all Kyiv’s embassies abroad to “urgently” strengthen security, a ministry spokesperson said.

  • The European Commission president has proposed a special tribunal to investigate and prosecute Russia’s “crime of aggression” against Ukraine. Ursula von der Leyen also wants to use the proceeds of Russian funds that have been frozen under western sanctions to aid Ukraine.

  • Russian forces tried to advance in eastern Ukraine and trained tank, mortar and artillery fire on Kherson in the south, the Ukrainian military said, as western allies sought to buttress Ukraine and its neighbours against Moscow.

  • Ukraine needs the US made Patriot missile defence systems to protect its civilian infrastructure, under heavy attack by Russia, foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said, adding he would be working with the German government on this issue. Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev warned Nato on Tuesday against providing Ukraine with Patriot systems, Reuters reported.

  • The UK has announced a fresh round of sanctions against 22 Russians, including those the Foreign Office says were involved in enlisting criminals to fight in Ukraine. James Cleverly, the foreign secretary, said on Wednesday his department would target a new set of officials, including Denis Manturov, the deputy prime minister, who is responsible for troop equipment supplies.

  • US president Joe Biden’s nominee to be ambassador to Russia, Lynne Tracy, pledged on Wednesday to make the release of detained Americans a priority if she is confirmed to one of most important, and challenging, US diplomatic posts.

  • Ukraine’s state emergency service has said nine people have been killed in fires in the past 24 hours, after breaking safety rules in an attempt to heat their homes after Russian attacks on power facilities. “Only in the last day there were 131 fires in Ukraine, 106 of them in the residential sector. Nine people died, eight were injured,” the emergency service said.

  • Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury, has arrived in Kyiv for a three-day visit to show solidarity with the people and churches of Ukraine. Welby will meet leaders of Ukraine’s churches, refugees and internally displaced people.

  • The head of Russia’s foreign intelligence service, Sergei Naryshkin, discussed nuclear issues and Ukraine in a meeting this month with the CIA director, William Burns, the RIA news agency reported. Elizabeth Rood, the charge d’affaires at the US embassy in Moscow, previously told RIA that Burns “did not negotiate anything and he did not discuss a settlement of the conflict in Ukraine”.

  • Moscow has promoted the chief engineer of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Yuriy Chernichuk, to become its head, according to Russia’s nuclear agency Rosenergoatom. The position has been vacant since October, when Kyiv says the plant’s boss Ihor Murashov was abducted by Russian authorities.

  • Oleksandr Starukh, the head of Zaporizhzhia regional military administration, said on Telegram early on Wednesday morning that Russian strikes in the region overnight hit a gas distribution point, causing a fire that has since been extinguished. There were no injuries or casualties.

  • One person was killed and another wounded in Russian shelling of the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson on Wednesday, the regional governor said. Yaroslav Yanushevych wrote on the Telegram messaging app that several residential buildings and medical facilities had been damaged in the city, which was liberated this month after months of Russian occupation.

  • Ukraine claims to have killed another 500 Russian soldiers in the last 24 hours, bringing the total who have died in combat since 24 February to about 88,880. The general staff of the armed forces said it had taken out three more tanks and six armoured personnel carriers.

  • Ukrainian forces have downed three Russian reconnaissance drones in the last 24 hours, according to its armed forces. In an early morning bulletin from Ukraine, the spokesperson for the general staff of the armed forces, Alexander Štupun, said Ukraine had been subjected to a number of missile attacks from planes and artillery, including on Kivsharivka in Kharkiv and Sloviansk in Donetsk.

  • A teenager was killed in Russian shelling of a hospital in the northern Ukrainian region of Sumy, a presidential aide has said. Kyrylo Tymoshenko, the deputy head of Ukraine’s presidential administration, said on the Telegram messaging app that Russian forces had pounded the region with artillery and mortar bombs over the past 24 hours.

  • Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he did not believe Russian president Vladimir Putin will use nuclear weapons. He made the comment while speaking by video link at the New York Times ‘DealBook’ summit in New York City. It comes as Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said it was vital to avoid any kind of military confrontation between nuclear powers, even if it only involved conventional weapons, the TASS news agency reported.

  • Russia’s defence minister has said it will focus on nuclear arms infrastructure in 2023, including facilities to accommodate new missile systems. Sergei Shoigu told a meeting of the board of the department on Wednesday that it would be a priority for Russia next year. “When preparing the list of major construction facilities for 2023, special attention will be paid to construction in the interests of the strategic nuclear forces,” Shoigu was quoted by RIA news agency as saying.

  • The city council in the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Odesa has voted to remove and relocate a monument to Empress Catherine the Great of Russia that has been daubed with red paint at least twice. The statue to the city’s founder, which towers over a central square, has been vandalised repeatedly since the invasion of Ukraine that has prompted many Ukrainians to reject their country’s historical ties to Moscow, Reuters reported.