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Missing Michigan man’s car found; hadn’t missed work in 30 years, authorities say

A car belonging to a missing 56-year-old Michigan man was recovered outside a church in Belleville on Thursday after he disappeared earlier this week, recording his first work absence in 30 years, authorities said.

Marcus Esper’s 2013 Buick LaCrosse sedan was towed to an evidence-holding facility as police awaited a search warrant to examine the car for clues, Belleville police Chief Hal Berriman said.

MISSING MARINE'S SUV FOUND, CREWS CONTINUE SEARCH AHEAD OF LATE-WINTER STORM, AUTHORITIES SAY

Esper was last seen around 4 p.m. Monday by his wife as he left his Superior Township condominium and headed to a storage facility in Ypsilanti Township, according to authorities.

“This is really one of those suspicious cases because he has not missed a day of work in 30 years and all of a sudden, he’s missed a day and there’s no sighting of him since he left,” Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Eugene Rush said.

CALIFORNIA DAD CHARGED WITH MURDER, TORTURE OF MISSING SON, 8

There was no evidence of illness, suicidal tendencies or any other reason for Esper not to return home, Rush said, adding that those signs typically emerge in other missing persons cases.

Johnna Esper told the Ann Arbor News that her brother lives with his wife, daughter and a grandchild. She said the family recently sold the condominium and Esper planned to rent a storage garage to temporarily store their possessions while they looked for a new home.

Family members couldn’t explain why Esper would go to Belleville, located about 15 miles southeast of Superior Township. Johnna Esper told the paper her brother had previously lived there over a decade ago.

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Officials have asked anyone with information on Esper’s disappearance to call Deputy Rick Houk at 734-994-2911.

Source: Fox News National

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Water woes hit henna plant farms in Iraq’s Fao peninsula

Henna for sale is displayed at a market in Basra
Henna for sale is displayed at a market in Basra, Iraq March 9, 2019. REUTERS/Essam al-Sudani

March 17, 2019

By Mohamed Atie and Aref Mohammed

FAO, Iraq (Reuters) – In southern Iraq, where the Euphrates and Tigris rivers meet, the Fao peninsula was once known for its swathes of henna plants and palm trees. But the lush greenery of this Basra province district has now turned into a hardscrabble surface.

Walking past dead palm trees on land so dry it cracks, farmer Abbas Abdul Hassan said water shortages and ensuing use of salty water from the polluted Shatt al-Arab river for irrigation had eaten up areas that grew henna plants, whose ground leaves make the dark paste used as a dye.

“This land was packed with henna plants … the salty water tide killed the henna and killed palm trees,” he said.

Once bearing some 425 farms producing 5,000 kilograms (11,023 lb) of henna leaves annually, mainly for export, that number has now fallen to around 50 farms producing around 300 kilograms, Fao farm owner Fadhil Falih Abdulla said.

Decades of conflict in Iraq, once a major date producer before switching its economic focus from agriculture to oil, have devastated farms.

Its second city Basra has suffered destruction from wars, conflict and neglect since the 1980s. Fao, which lies on the bank of the Shatt al-Arab delta near the Gulf, was hit hard due to its location on the frontline of Iraq’s 1980-88 war with Iran.

Abdul Atheem Mohammed of Basra’s agriculture office said some 38,000 palm trees had died in the area since 2008.

“Shortages of water which caused the rise of salty water tides hit agriculture hard in Basra and caused the fall in henna farms in Fao,” he said.

A local government project has been trying to revive the plantations in the last two years by setting up a farm in northern Basra. During the collection season – January to April and then May – leaves are reaped every 45 days and sold at local markets.

At a Basra salon, customer Sara Ibrahim described Fao henna as “a heritage”.

“Iraq used to export the henna of Fao to the Gulf countries,” she said as she got her hands decorated with henna. “But it is difficult to get it nowadays.”

(Reporting by Mohammed Atie and Aref Mohammed; Writing by Ahmed Rasheed; Editing by Marie-Louise Gumuchian)

Source: OANN

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Two people dead in Texas after pickup truck collides head-on with school charter bus, police say

Police in East Texas said two men in a pickup truck were killed early Sunday after their vehicle crashed head-on into a charter bus carrying 25 students heading home from a field trip in Florida.

The driver of the pickup truck, Jeffrey Dalton Aynesworth, 22, of Rusk, and passenger Payton Joseph Raymond, 24, of Flint, both died at the scene of the wreck on Loop 49 near the U.S. Highway 69 exit just after 4 a.m., Tyler police said.

SUSPECT IN FATAL HIT-AND-RUN LEFT BEHIND TEENAGER BEFORE FLEEING, DALLAS COPS SAY

Five people on the bus -- including the driver, two adults and two students from Brook Hill School -- were taken to UT Health Tyler for treatment for minor injuries, according to the Tyler Morning Telegraph. The remaining 27 occupants were unharmed, and parents arrived at the crash site to pick up the students.

Police said eyewitnesses on the scene reported the pickup truck traveled into the westbound lane into oncoming traffic, striking the front left side of the bus and forcing it off the highway.

Investigators ordered autopsies and toxicology screenings on the deceased to determine if there were any substances in their systems at the time of the crash. Officials are also working with representatives from the charter bus company ECHO Transportation to obtain dash-cam footage, the Tyler Morning Telegraph reported.

The Brook Hill School students were on their way home from a field trip to Orlando as part of their Spring Potential and Reality Courses (SPARC) week. Brook Hill is a private Christian school with enrollment from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade.

“Moments like this remind us how precious life is. We are thankful that our students, faculty and families are able to return to their loved ones without any life-threatening injuries,” Rod Fletcher, head of The Brook Hill School, said in a statement to East Texas Matters.

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"At the same time, we are deeply saddened over the lives lost in the accident this morning. Our entire Brook Hill community remains in prayer for their friends and families during this time of grief. We are grateful for the love and prayers from our Brook Hill family and the East Texas community for all those affected by the accident.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News National

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$2M settlement to victim who priest made confess after abuse

A Roman Catholic diocese in Pennsylvania has agreed to pay $2 million to a man who was sexually abused as a child by a priest who made him say confession after the assaults.

The settlement with the Diocese of Erie was announced Tuesday by the victim's attorney, Mitchell Garabedian.

The defrocked priest, David Poulson, was sentenced this year to 2 1/2 to 14 years in prison after pleading guilty to the sexual assault of one boy and attempted sexual assault of another. Garabedian confirmed at a press conference Tuesday that his client who is identified as John Doe in documents was one of the two boys abused by Poulson in his criminal case.

"This settlement is significant because it shows that the Diocese of Erie is responsible for the wholesale sexual abuse of children post, after 2002," when the church put revised policies for handling abuse into effect, Garabedian said.

During a news conference Tuesday, Garabedian alleged that the diocese was aware of allegations of abuse against Poulson earlier than the 2018 report by a military chaplain that his client had disclosed significant abuse.

"The $2 million represents validation to my client that the abuse was not his fault and that he did nothing wrong," he said.

The Erie diocese turned over a "confidential memorandum" dated in 2010 that contained an admission by Poulson that he had been "aroused" by a boy, prosecutors said.

Poulson started at the diocese in 1979 and resigned in 2018.

In a statement late Tuesday, Anne-Marie Welsh, a spokeswoman for the diocese said Bishop Lawrence Persico respected the right of the victim in the settlement to remain anonymous and to publicly disclose details of the agreement. The statement said the bishop took issue with Garabedian's characterization of how the diocese handled this specific allegation, saying law enforcement was immediately notified when the report was made.

The Bishop "has expressed his disappointment and surprise at the amount of misinformation in Mr. Garabedian's comments. He failed to take into account much information that is publicly available. If what Mr. Garabedian alleges were true and complete, then Attorney General Shapiro would have prosecuted individuals beyond David Poulson," Welsh wrote in an email to reporters.

Poulson is one of a handful of priests criminally charged as a result of a Pennsylvania grand jury investigation that detailed decades of abuse by 300 priests.

He was accused of abusing the man when he was an altar boy more than 20 times in various rectories. According to charging documents in Poulson's case, the man said the priest would make him confess the abuse to him after it occurred.

Poulson took the victims to his primitive, secluded hunting camp in Jefferson County about a decade ago, where they watched horror movies on a laptop and he abused them, prosecutors said. The victims were 8 and 15 at the time the crimes occurred, according to authorities.

Source: Fox News National

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Romania’s growing pains just keep coming back

Thousands of crows fly at dusk over the city skyline in Bucharest
FILE PHOTO: Thousands of crows fly at dusk over the city skyline in Bucharest November 27, 2012. REUTERS/Radu Sigheti

March 27, 2019

By Luiza Ilie and Marc Jones

BUCHAREST/LONDON (Reuters) – Almost every former Eastern Bloc country has suffered growing pains at some point over the last few decades. Romania’s just seem to keep coming back.

Fumbling attempts to bring in new bank, energy and telecoms taxes in recent months are the latest example of its struggle to assert itself as a fully functioning economy.

Two years ago, growth outpaced nearly all its European peers, spurring hopes it was finally harnessing the potential of its 20 million population — the second biggest in central Europe behind Poland — and its own oil and gas reserves.

But having been inflated by some potent fiscal stimulus, the expansion is now fading so fast again — to 4 percent last year from 7 percent in 2017 — that some analysts fear another boom and bust is playing out.

Expectations are dimming that equity index provider MSCI might promote Romania to emerging market status alongside peers like Poland and the Czech Republic as soon as this year, which would draw money into its undersized financial markets.

The IPO market is at a standstill and the new taxes worried S&P enough that it threatened to change Romania’s credit rating outlook to negative.

Bucharest averted that by promising to tweak the measures to preserve central bank independence. But the confusion has only added to a view that policymaking has become unpredictable.

“The frequency of legislative changes has been increasing and often seems to come out of the blue,” said Franklin Templeton’s Romania CEO, Johan Meyer, who manages the Fondul Proprietatea fund which has stakes in a slew of state-owned firms.

“Sometimes the decisions do get reversed or watered down, but at that point the reputational damage has been done.”

As the country gears up for four elections in 2019-20, Finance Minister Eugen Teodorovici had said the measures would help the economy “aggressively in the good way” by lowering borrowing costs and energy prices.

A ROAD TO NOWHERE

In the 12 years since it joined the European Union, Romania’s per capita national output has doubled, to roughly 60 percent of the euro zone average, while record low unemployment led to double-digit average wage growth in the last four years.

But income inequalities are among the bloc’s highest. One-third of the population lives in poverty and millions lack sufficient access to healthcare and basic amenities like indoor plumbing.

Its population is both shrinking and aging, while backsliding in the battle against chronic corruption has led to mass street protests.

“Investor confidence is being eroded by persistent legislative instability, unpredictable decision-making, low institutional quality and the continued weakening of the fight against corruption,” the European Commission said in February.

And while Romania is up 16 places on the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Index since joining the EU, Bulgaria, which also joined in 2007, has leapfrogged it.

Graphic: Poverty levels in EU interactive – https://tmsnrt.rs/2UR8cEa

This month, a businessman from northeastern Romania opened a one-meter-long motorway, built in a day and paid for by him, in protest at the state of the country’s roads.

Romania has only 800 kilometers of motorways, less than half that of Hungary even though it is more than double the size of its neighbor and has almost twice as many people.

Just 75 kilometers have been built in the last three years and none go border-to-border despite years of government promises.

Central Bank Governor Mugur Isarescu routinely uses roads to highlight poor infrastructure that impedes economic development.

“Romania will be ready to join the euro when it has a motorway crossing the Carpathian mountains,” he has said.

Graphic: Romania motorways interactive – https://tmsnrt.rs/2Ol8Abt

PATCHY IMPROVEMENTS

A series of International Monetary Fund-led aid deals in 2009-2015 helped Romania shrink its budget and current account deficits, seen as a key weakness of the economy, and it won back its investment-grade rating in 2014. Its debt to debt-to-GDP is low, in line with the Czech Republic’s at around 38 percent.

But those twin deficits are rising again after tax cuts and wage and pensions hikes that have inflated consumption.

The external shortfall was 4.7 percent of GDP in 2018, a decade high, although the government has kept the budget deficit under the EU’s 3 percent ceiling by postponing investments.

“Policies focused on raising public sector wages and pensions have widened imbalances and at some point their adjustment will be unavoidable,” said the head of Romania’s fiscal watchdog Ionut Dumitru.

“The current account deficit is at a level that can no longer be ignored.”

Graphic: Romania’s boom and bust cycles – https://tmsnrt.rs/2OfoiEO

PROMOTION PROSPECTS

Its financial markets are lagging too. Bucharest’s main stock market has only 16 companies and the tax changes have knocked banking and energy firms, leaving it with the lowest price-to-earnings ratio in the region.

Privatisations of firms like power utility Hidroelectrica, which were supposed to broaden and deepen the market and help its prospects of an MSCI promotion, have not materialized.

“They (Romania) are always remain on our radar screen. But so far it hasn’t reached the market classification framework requirements,” MSCI’s Sebastien Lieblich said, citing the small number of listed stocks.

Franklin Templeton’s Meyer blames government foot-dragging and a system whereby company directors can serve for just a few months, so that turnover at board level can hamper the six-to-nine month process of preparing a firm for the stock market.

He reckons up to five state-owned firms could easily be floated but sees none happening soon.

“It is like any promotion,” Meyer said of MSCI. “If you only do the bare minimum in your job you don’t get it.”

Graphic: Price-to-earnings ratio of Romania’s stock market – https://tmsnrt.rs/2OaW3Hr

(Reporting by Luiza Ilie in Bucharest and Marc Jones in London; Additional reporting by Karin Strohecker in London; Editing by Catherine Evans)

Source: OANN

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Germany’s manufacturing recession worsens: PMI

Unfinished pliers still glow after being hot-formed by a hammer at the factory of Knipex in Wuppertal
Unfinished pliers still glow after being hot-formed by a hammer at the factory of Knipex, a 130 year-old family-owned pliers and tools maker company in Wuppertal, western Germany, October 25, 2016. REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay/File Photo

April 1, 2019

BERLIN, (Reuters) – A weakening global economy, risks linked to Britain’s possible departure from the European Union without a deal and trade disputes pushed activity in Germany’s manufacturing sector to contract at its fastest rate since July 2012, a survey showed on Monday.

Markit’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for manufacturing, which accounts for about a fifth of the economy, fell to an 80-month low reading of 44.1, down from 47.6 in February and lower than the flash reading of 44.7.

It was the third successive month that the index was below the 50.0 mark that separates growth from contraction.

“Both total new orders and export sales are now falling at rates not seen since the global financial crisis, with more and more firms reporting lower demand linked to Brexit, trade uncertainty, troubles in the automotive industry and generally softer global demand,” said IHS Markit’s Phil Smith.

New orders posted their steepest drop since April 2009.

Weakening exports have translated into a slowdown in Europe’s biggest economy, which posted its lowest growth rate in five years last year.

The economy has been relying on consumption for growth. A robust labor market, rising wages and low interest rates have been supporting the consumption-driven cycle.

“Manufacturing output fell markedly and at the fastest rate since 2012, with the consumer goods sector joining intermediate and capital goods producers in contraction,” said Smith.

He added: “The sustained solid growth in employment prior to March had been the sector’s one remaining bright spot, but the latest survey indicated a fall in jobs for the first time in three years amid reports from a number of firms that some temporary contracts weren’t being renewed.”

Detailed PMI data are only available under license from Markit and customers need to apply to Markit for a license.

(Writing by Joseph Nasr; Editing by Toby Chopra)

Source: OANN

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U.S.’s Bolton says Pakistan committed to easing tensions with India

U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton gives an interview to Fox News outside of the White House
U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton walks to a Fox News interview outside of the White House in Washington, U.S., March 5, 2019. REUTERS/Leah Millis

March 11, 2019

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – White House national security adviser John Bolton said on Monday that Pakistan’s foreign minister has assured him Islamabad is committed to de-escalating tensions with India and dealing “firmly” with terrorists, after a recent suicide attack on an Indian paramilitary convoy claimed by Pakistan-based militants.

“Spoke with Pakistani FM (Shah Mehmood) Qureshi to encourage meaningful steps against JeM (Jaish-e-Mohammed) and other terrorist groups operating from Pakistan. The FM assured me that Pakistan would deal firmly with all terrorists and will continue steps to deescalate tensions with India,” Bolton said on Twitter.

(Reporting by Doina Chiacu in Washington; Editing by James Dalgleish)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: The Federal Reserve Board building on Constitution Avenue is pictured in Washington
FILE PHOTO: The Federal Reserve Board building on Constitution Avenue is pictured in Washington, U.S., March 27, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

April 26, 2019

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The Federal Reserve may lower the interest it pays on excess reserves banks leave with it by 5 basis points at its April 30-May 1 policy meeting in a bid to prevent the federal funds rate from drifting higher, Morgan Stanley analysts said on Friday.

This would mark the third such “technical” adjustment on the interest on excess reserves (IOER) following cuts last June and December.

(Reporting by Richard Leong; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: OANN

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Tennis - Australian Open - Women's Singles Final
FILE PHOTO: Tennis – Australian Open – Women’s Singles Final – Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia, January 26, 2019. Japan’s Naomi Osaka attends a news conference after winning her match against Czech Republic’s Petra Kvitova. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – World number one Naomi Osaka came from behind in the final set to beat Croatian Donna Vekic 6-3 4-6 7-6(4) on Friday and move into the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix semi-finals.

Osaka comfortably won the opening set but was tested by the Croatian, who pushed her to the limit in the second and third. The Japanese made 45 unforced errors as she struggles to get to grips with swapping hard courts for clay.

Osaka was visibly frustrated and trailed 5-1 in the final set but she refused to give up and found her rhythm to break Vekic twice and prevent her from serving for the match.

In the tiebreaker, a confident Osaka upped her baseline game and had two early mini breaks before wrapping up the match in two hours and 18 minutes. An infuriated Vekic even smashed her racket after losing the match.

“I told myself I didn’t want to have any regrets here,” Osaka said. “I was stressed out when I went down 1-5… but this (comeback) was pretty good because I don’t play really well on clay.”

Earlier, world number three Petra Kvitova came back from a set down to beat Anastasija Sevastova 2-6 6-2 6-3 and move into the tournament’s semi-finals for the third time in her career.

Sevastova had a dream start, breaking Kvitova twice to take a 3-0 lead as the Czech struggled with her first serve. Kvitova also made a slew of unforced errors, with many of her returns going long.

Sevastova used the full width of the court to get the better of Kvitova, who played on the back foot for much of the first set as the Latvian gave her little time to catch her breath.

However, Kvitova recovered in the second set and she broke Sevastova’s serve when she was 3-2 up, winning 10 straight points to take a 5-2 lead. Sevastova looked shaken and was broken again to give Kvitova the second set.

Kvitova took command in the final set and broke a visibly upset Sevastova to take a 3-1 lead before easing into the semis.

“In the first set I missed almost everything. I was pretty slow and she just couldn’t miss,” Kvitova said. “In the second set it was very important for me to stay on my serve and the chance to break her came.”

Kiki Bertens plays Angelique Kerber later on Friday and Victoria Azarenka faces Anett Kontaveit in the last quarter-final.

(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru, editing by Ed Osmond)

Source: OANN

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The Latest on fatal pileup on Interstate 70 near Denver (all times local):

10:10 a.m.

Colorado officials say four people have died after a semi-truck hauling lumber plowed into vehicles on Interstate 70, causing a fire so intense that it melted the roadway and metal off of cars.

Authorities had to wait until daylight Friday to confirm the death toll from Thursday’s 28-vehicle pileup because of the devastation caused by the fire.

Six people were taken to hospitals with injuries. Their conditions are unclear.

Lakewood police spokesman Ty Countryman says the driver of the truck who caused the crash sustained minor injuries. He has been arrested on suspicion of vehicular homicide.

Officials say the driver was headed down a hill when he slammed into slower traffic. Countryman says there is no indication the crash was intentional.

____

7:40 a.m.

A truck driver blamed for causing a deadly pileup involving over two dozen vehicles near Denver has been arrested on vehicular homicide charges.

Lakewood police spokesman Ty Countryman said Friday that there’s no indication that drugs or alcohol played a role in Thursday’s crash.

The unidentified driver was headed down a hill on Interstate 70 when he slammed into slower traffic and sparked a massive fire. Countryman said police are looking at whether his brakes were working properly.

He said 28 vehicles were involved, up from the initial 15 vehicles police reported after further sorting through the burned wreckage.

Police still say there were multiple fatalities but are still working to provide an exact number.

The highway is expected to remain closed until Saturday.

Source: Fox News National

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Tiger woods celebrates after winning the 2019 Masters
FILE PHOTO: Golf – Masters – Augusta National Golf Club – Augusta, Georgia, U.S. – April 14, 2019 – Tiger Woods of the U.S. celebrates on the 18th hole after winning the 2019 Masters. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

April 26, 2019

Tiger Woods is sending a message that he thinks he still has enough left, emotionally and physically, to win three more major championships to tie Jack Nicklaus’ record 18 titles.

Speaking to GolfTV in his first sit-down interview since the Masters, Woods said he has taken some time off since his victory at Augusta National, which still doesn’t feel real.

“Honestly, it’s hard to believe,” Woods said. “I was texting one of my good friends last night … that I couldn’t believe that I won the tournament. That it really hasn’t sunk in. I haven’t started doing anything. I’ve just been laying there. And every now and again, I’ll look over there on the couch and there’s the jacket.”

That’s the fifth green jacket for the 43-year-old Woods, who hadn’t won a major tournament since the 2008 U.S. Open. Along the way, four back surgeries, a divorce and other personal issues derailed him.

He said he has been spending time with his children – daughter Sam, 11, and son Charlie, 10 – who weren’t born when their father was the most dominant golfer on the planet.

“They never knew golf to be a good thing in my life and only the only thing they remember is that it brought this incredible amount of pain to their dad and they don’t want to ever want to see their dad in pain,” Woods said. “And so to now have them see this side of it, the side that I’ve experienced for so many years of my life, but I had a battle to get back to this point, it feels good.”

He said he hopes – maybe expects — they’ll see this side again.

And no one will take Woods for granted at the PGA Championship at Bethpage Black Course on Long Island, N.Y., which starts May 16.

Woods said he’ll be ready for a course he already conquered once in a major: the 2002 U.S. Open.

“I’m doing all the visual stuff, but I haven’t put in the physical work yet. But it’s probably coming this weekend,” he said.

Before Woods encountered health and personal problems, it was expected that topping Nicklaus’ major mark was “when” and not “if.” Then the certainty went away, but Woods thought he still had a chance.

“I always thought it was possible, if I had everything go my way. It took him an entire career to get to 18, so now that I’ve had another extension to my career – one that I didn’t think I had a couple of years ago – if I do things correctly and everything falls my way, yeah, it’s a possibility. I’m never going to say it’s not.

“Now I just need to have a lot of things go my way, and who’s to say that it will or will not happen? That’s what the future holds, I don’t know. The only thing I can promise you is this: that I will be prepared.”

–Field Level Media

Source: OANN

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Maria Butina, the Russian woman who was accused of being a secret agent for the Russian government, was sentenced to 18 months in prison Friday by a federal judge in Washington after pleading guilty last year to a conspiracy charge.

Butina, who has already served nine months behind bars, will get credit for time served and can possibly get credit for good behavior, the judge said. She will be removed from the U.S. promptly on completion of her time, the judge added, and returned to Russia.

MARIA BUTINA, ACCUSED RUSSIAN SPY, PLEADS GUILTY TO CONSPIRACY

An emotional and apologetic Butina said in court Friday she is “truly sorry” and regrets not registering as a foreign agent.

“I feel ashamed and embarrassed,” she said, adding that her “reputation is ruined.”

Butina has been jailed since her arrest in July 2018. She entered the court Friday wearing a dark green prison jumpsuit and spoke in clear English, with a slight Russian accent.

“Please accept my apologies,” Butina said.

Butina’s lawyer, Robert Driscoll, said after the sentencing they had hoped for a “better outcome,” but expressed a desire for Butina to be released to her family by the fall.

Prosecutors had claimed Butina used her contacts with the National Rifle Association and the National Prayer Breakfast to develop relationships with U.S. politicians and gather information for Russia.

Prosecutors also have said that Butina’s boyfriend, conservative political operative Paul Erickson, identified in court papers as “U.S. Person 1,” helped her establish ties with the NRA.

WHO IS MARIA BUTINA, THE RUSSIAN WOMAN ACCUSED OF SPYING ON US?

In their filings, prosecutors claim federal agents found Butina had contact information for people suspected of being employed by Russia’s Federal Security Services, or FSB, the successor intelligence agency to the KGB. Inside her home, they found notes referring to a potential job offer from the FSB, according to the documents.

Investigators recovered several emails and Twitter direct message conversations in which Butina referred to the need to keep her work secret and, in one instance, said it should be “incognito.” Prosecutors said Butina had contact with Russian intelligence officials and that the FBI photographed her dining with a diplomat suspected of being a Russian intelligence agent.

Fox News’ Jason Donner, Bill Mears, Greg Norman and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

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