Woman arrested after racist rant, assault in restaurant lot

PLANO, Texas -- A woman has been arrested and faces a possible hate crime charge after she was captured on video in a racist rant and assault on women of South Asian descent in a suburban Dallas parking lot, officials said Thursday.

Plano police said in a statement Esmeralda Upton, 58, of Plano, was arrested and charged with misdemeanor assault and terroristic threat charges. She remained in city jail Thursday with bond set at $10,000.

The statement said the incident also was being investigated as a hate crime. Jail officials had no attorney listed for Upton.

The incident happened shortly after 8 p.m. Wednesday outside a Plano restaurant. A widely-circulated video recorded by the women of Indian descent showed Upton unleashing a profanity-laced rant on them, challenging their presence in the United States, threatening to shoot them and physically assaulting the woman shooting the video.

It was unclear from the video what, if anything, triggered the rant and assault.

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Retired Canadian priest pleads not guilty to sexual assault

TRENTON, Canada

A retired priest pleaded not guilty Wednesday in a Canadian court to a sexual assault that allegedly occurred more than 50 years ago at an Indian Residential School.

Arthur Masse, 92, who was not in the courtroom, entered the plea through his lawyer, George Green.

The indecent assault involves a 10-year-old girl who was a student at Fort Alexander residential school in the province of Manitoba. Sexual and indecent assault are the same charge in Canada.

Masse was arrested and charged in June following a 10-year police investigation. The court hearing was held in Powerview, a small community of 1,300 people northeast of Winnipeg, Manitoba.

While authorities did not identify the victim, Victoria McIntosh, 63, of the Sagkeeng First Nation, stepped forward outside the courtroom and told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that she was the girl who Masse allegedly sexually assaulted.

She vowed to follow the trial to its conclusion.

"I'll be there every step of the way," McIntosh said. "Mr. Masse, come out and speak your truth as well, and I will speak mine."

Sagkeeng Chief Derrick Henderson suggested at an earlier court hearing that Masse be subjected to a sentencing circle, which is a First Nation justice process based on the premise that a crime is committed against the entire community, not just the victim. But the request was based on Masse pleading guilty.

Masse's next court date is Sept. 14.

The Fort Alexander residential school dates back to 1880, when it was founded and run by the Oblates of Mary Immaculate Catholic order. It was a day school which First Nation and Metis children attended and lived at for 10 months of the year. It closed in 1970.

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Canadian Cardinal Ouellet accused of sexual assault

Marc Ouellet is accused in a class action suit that targets more than 80 members of clergy in archdiocese of Quebec, court documents show.

Marc Ouellet (R) was mentioned as being among the favorites at the last conclave that elevated Pope Francis to the papacy. (Tiziana Fabi / AFP)

Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet, once considered a strong candidate to be pope, has been accused of sexual assault in a class action suit that targets more than 80 members of the clergy in the archdiocese of Quebec.

The accusation is over the alleged abuse of a female intern from 2008 to 2010, when he was archbishop of Quebec, court documents showed on Tuesday. 

The allegation comes just weeks after Pope Francis visited Canada, where he apologised for the decades-long abuse of Indigenous children in Catholic-run residential schools.

Ouellet is a prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, one of the most important functions within the Curia, the government of the Vatican.

At the last papal conclave that elevated Francis to the papacy, Ouellet was mentioned as being among the favourites. All cardinals under the age of 80 are eligible. Ouellet is now 78.

When contacted by the AFP news agency, the archdiocese of Quebec said in a statement that it had "taken note of the allegations with respect to Cardinal Marc Ouellet" and had no further comment.

The Vatican did not immediately reply to AFP's request for comment.

READ MORE: Pope apologises for 'evil' against Canada's Indigenous people

'F' comes forward against Ouellet

The claims against Ouellet in the civil suit, which the Quebec supreme court ruled could go ahead in May, are among testimonies of 101 people who say they were sexually assaulted by members of the clergy and church staff from 1940 to today.

Ouellet's accuser identified only as "F," says the Cardinal assaulted her multiple times.

The accuser says she had the feeling of being "chased after," according to the documents. When the woman tried to raise the issue, she was told she wasn't the only woman to have such a "problem" with Ouellet, documents show.

She later was advised to write a letter to Pope Francis about her accusations. She was then informed that Francis had named someone to investigate Ouellet.

The woman has not heard of any conclusions in that investigation.

So far, the cardinal is not facing criminal charges.

Two sides of Ouellet?

In February, Ouellet opened a Vatican symposium on the priesthood by apologising for "unworthy" clergy and the cover-up of child sexual abuse by Catholic clergy, before an audience that included Pope Francis.

"We are all torn and humbled by these crucial questions that every day question us as members of the Church," Ouellet said at the time.

He said the symposium was an opportunity to express regret and ask victims for forgiveness after their lives were "destroyed by abusive and criminal behaviour" that was hidden or treated lightly to protect the institution and the perpetrators.

Since becoming pope in 2013, Francis has striven to tackle the decades-long sexual abuse scandals, although many child protection activists insist much more needs to be done.

In Canada, the Church is facing several class action suits related to sexual misconduct. In the western part of the country, more than 30 students have filed suit against several officials at a Christian school, as reported by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

READ MORE: Canada's indigenous community finds more evidence of 'cultural genocide'

Source: AFP

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Russian forces begin assault on two eastern Ukraine cities

Russian forces began an assault Saturday on two key cities in the eastern Donetsk region and kept up rocket and shelling attacks on other Ukrainian cities, including one close to Europe's largest nuclear power plant, Ukraine's military and local officials said.

Both cities of Bakhmut and Avdiivka had been considered key targets of Russia's ongoing offensive across Ukraine's east, with analysts saying Moscow needs to take Bakhmut if it is to advance on the regional hubs of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk.

"In the Donetsk direction, the enemy is conducting an offensive operation, concentrating its main efforts on the Bakhmut and Avdiivka directions. It uses ground attack and army aviation," the Ukrainian General Staff said on Facebook.

Russian shelling killed five civilians and injured 14 others in the Donetsk region in the last day, Donetsk governor Pavlo Kyrylenko wrote Saturday on Telegram, saying two died in Poprosny, and one each in Avdiivka, Soledar and Pervomaiskiy.

The governor of the eastern Dnipropetrovsk region said three civilians were injured after Russian rockets fell on a residential neighborhood in Nikopol, a city across the Dnieper River from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station. The nuclear plant has been under Russian control since Moscow's troops seized it early in the war.

"After midnight, the Russian army struck the Nikopol area with (Soviet-era) Grad rockets, and the Kryvyi Rih area from barrel artillery," Valentyn Reznichenko wrote on Telegram.

Ukrainian authorities also said a Russian missile attack overnight damaged unspecified infrastructure in the regional capital of Zaporizhzhia. On Thursday, Russia fired 60 rockets at Nikopol, damaging 50 residential buildings in the city of 107,000 and leaving residents without electricity.

Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, warned this week that the situation was becoming more perilous day by day at the Zaporizhzhia plant.

"Every principle of nuclear safety has been violated" at the plant, he said. "What is at stake is extremely serious and extremely grave and dangerous."

He expressed concern about the way the plant is being operated and the danger posed by the fighting going on around it. Experts at the U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War said they believe Russia is shelling the area intentionally, "putting Ukraine in a difficult position."

The Ukrainian company operating the nuclear power station said Saturday that Russian troops are using the plant's basement to hide from Ukrainian shelling and have barred its Ukrainian staff from going there.

"Ukrainian personnel do not yet have access to these premises, so in the event of new shelling, people have no shelter and are in danger," Enerhoatom, a Ukrainian state enterprise, said on its Telegram channel.

Enerhoatom said Friday that Russian rockets had damaged the plant's facilities, including a nitrogen-oxygen unit and a high-voltage power line. Local Russian-appointed officials acknowledged the damage, but blamed it on alleged Ukrainian shelling.

In Ukraine's south, two civilians were seriously injured Saturday after Russian forces fired rockets on the Black Sea port of Mykolayiv before dawn, according to regional authorities. That followed a Friday afternoon attack on Mykolayiv that killed one person and wounded 21 others.

In the north, Ukraine's second-largest city of Kharkiv and its surrounding area also came under Russian rocket fire again overnight, according to regional governor Oleh Syniehubov. An 18-year-old in Chuhuiv, a town near Kharkiv, had to be hospitalized Saturday after he picked up an unexploded shell.

Both Chuhuiv and Kharkiv have endured sustained Russian shelling in recent weeks, due to their proximity to the Russian border.

The neighboring Sumy region, which also borders Russia, has also seen near-constant shelling and missile strikes. Its regional governor said Saturday the province was hit more than 60 times from Russian territory over the previous day, and one wounded civilian had to be hospitalized.

On the ammunition front, Russia has begun using Iranian combat drones in the war, Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said in a YouTube address, adding that Tehran had transferred 46 drones to the Russian army.

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Hockey Canada to Be Investigated After Settling Sexual Assault Complaints

OTTAWA — Following revelations that it has paid millions of dollars to sexual assault victims, hockey’s governing body in Canada said on Thursday that a former Supreme Court justice will lead an investigation into the organization.

The appointment of the justice, Thomas Cromwell, comes amid growing calls to overhaul the organization, Hockey Canada, and to transform the often sexualized culture that surrounds a sport that looms above all others in the country.

Marquee sponsors have abandoned Hockey Canada and the federal government froze millions of dollars of its funding after a sports television network reported in May that court documents showed the group had paid 3.5 million Canadian dollars to settle a lawsuit by a woman who accused members of the world junior team of sexual assault in 2018.

After that, Hockey Canada officials testified at a House of Commons committee that it had used a special fund to cover 7.6 million dollars to settle nine sexual assault and sexual abuse claims since 1989.

Further allegations of sexual assault involving Canada’s 2003 world junior championship team emerged in July. Several Canadians, including some politicians, blame Hockey Canada’s lack of oversight of the players, who were 18 to 20 years old at the time of the accusations, for the incidents.

The 2022 Junior World Championship, which was postponed in December because of Covid disruptions, will begin on Tuesday in the Alberta cities of Edmonton and Red Deer.

Mr. Cromwell’s investigation, which Hockey Canada said will start immediately, is one of a series that have been launched in recent weeks.

Last month, Hockey Canada announced that it would bring in an independent reviewer to determine what happened between an unnamed woman and players in London, Ontario, in 2018. Those finding will be reviewed by a panel of current and retired judges who will impose penalties that could include lifetime suspensions from the sport for players.

The police force in London, a city southwest of Toronto, has also reopened a criminal investigation into the 2018 episode.

“These revelations demonstrate a deep, toxic culture that allows people to act with impunity,” Pascale St-Onge, the country’s sports minister, told a House of Commons committee during a hearing in which she questioned the fitness of the governing body’s current management. “We know we have not done enough to address the actions of some members of the 2018 National Junior Team, or to end the culture of toxic behavior within our game. Hockey Canada, the whole country is watching.”

Ms. St.-Onge added that she will not accept “just a P.R. exercise” from Hockey Canada and urged the organization to also review racism with in the sport, as well has how it handles on-ice violence and concussions. Several weeks ago she ordered an audit to determine if any government money was used for out of court settlements. The government provides about six percent of Hockey Canada’s revenue.

Hockey Canada has apologized to Canadians in an unsigned statement.

“We have heard Canadians loud and clear and are committed to making the changes necessary to allow us to be the organization Canadians expect,” the statement said.

“We know we have not done enough to address the actions of some members of the 2018 National Junior Team or to end the culture of toxic behavior within our game,” it added. “We know we need to do more to address the behaviors, on and off the ice, that conflict with what Canadians want hockey to be, and which undermine the many good things that the game brings to our country.”

The review by Mr. Cromwell and two lawyers will not focus on the behavior of players, coaches and staff whether on or off the ice. Instead it will look into issues like whether there is sufficient control over how money is dispensed from a “national equity fund” that had been use to settle lawsuits, and whether Hockey Canada’s volunteer board of directors adequately oversees operations.

The inquiry will also examine Hockey Canada’s bylaws and management structure and provide interim findings and recommendations by November.

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Man charged in Jan. 6 assault of officer who died pleads guilty to misdemeanors

A West Virginia man charged in the Jan. 6 assault of Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick pleaded guilty Wednesday to two misdemeanor charges.

George Tanios was arrested two months after the Jan. 6 attack, along with Julian Khater, who investigators identified in videos as having deployed bear spray against three officers outside of the Capitol, including Sicknick.

Sicknick died the day after the riot of natural causes after suffering at least two strokes, according to the Washington, D.C., medical examiner's office.

Tanios pleaded guilty Wednesday to entering and remaining on restricted grounds, and disorderly and disruptive conduct on restricted grounds.

Khater has pleaded not guilty to multiple felony charges stemming from the alleged assault, and is set to go on trial in October.

In an image included in an affidavit, the man in the blue coat and bike helmet has been identified by a source as Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick, as he reacts to an irritant being sprayed in his face at the Capitol, Jan. 6. 2021.

FBI

Prosecutors said in Wednesday's hearing they have also extended a plea offer to Khater and they continue to negotiate with his counsel, but they warned that the offer will expire by Aug. 17.

Khater could face between 78 and 97 months behind bars as part of his sentence if he were to accept the plea deal of two counts of felony assaults on officers, prosecutors said.

That amount would be more than a year longer than the two harshest sentences given to any Capitol rioters thus far.

George Tanios at his sandwich shop in Morgantown, W.Va.

Andrew Spellman/The Daily Athenaeum via AP

As part of his plea deal with prosecutors, Tanios faces a potential range of 0-6 months behind bars, though he has already served five months in pre-trial detention following his arrest, for which he would receive credit.

In their original affidavit against Khater and Tanios, investigators cited open source videos that they said showed Khater at one point telling Tanios "Give me that bear s---" before reaching into a backpack Tanios was wearing.

Tanios then responded, "Hold on, hold on, not yet, not yet ... it's still early."

"This verbal exchange between Khater and Tanios, together with Khater's retrieval of the spray can from Tanios, reveals that the two were working in concert and had a plan to use the toxic spray against law enforcement," the charging documents said.

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Lee Zeldin attack suspect arrested on federal assault charge

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The suspect in the attack of Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., was arrested Saturday afternoon on a federal assault charge, the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Western District of New York announced.

David Jakubonis is scheduled to make his first court appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Marion W. Payson Saturday. Zeldin is running for New York governor as a Republican.

Jakubonis, 43 of Fairport, New York, has been charged with attempted assault in the second degree on the state level. He was arraigned in Perinton Town Court and released on his own recognizance after the Thursday attack.

NY CANDIDATE LEE ZELDIN PLEDGES TO FIRE DAS WHO REFUSE TO ENFORCE THE LAW AFTER ATTACKER RELEASED WITHOUT BAIL

Congressman Lee Zeldin stands on stage during his stump speech, before an alleged attack on him, in Fairport, New York, United States, July 21, 2022.  (Ian Winner/Handout via REUTERS )

Before Jakubonis' release, Zeldin predicted that the suspect would be released. Zeldin has promised to fire district attorneys that do not enforce the law.

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Zeldin was giving a speech Thursday about bail reform at a Veterans of Foreign Wars post when the alleged assault happened.

WITNESS RECOUNTS ATTACK ON LEE ZELDIN AT CAMPAIGN EVENT IN NEW YORK: ‘KINDA CRAZY’

Jakubonis was holding a black hardened plastic keychain with two sharp points designed for self-defense, police said.

A man allegedly tried to attack Rep. Lee Zeldin during a campaign stop in New York Thursday night. Pictured above is the weapon. (Zeldin Campaign)

Fox News' Brie Stimson contributed to this report.

Maria Paronich is a field producer in the Northeast Bureau at Fox News. 

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