Iranian beauty queen wins asylum in PhilippinesAn Iranian beauty queen sought by Tehran on criminal charges has been granted political asylum in the Philippines, an official said Friday, ending a three-week standoff at Manila airport. Bahareh Zare Bahari, based in the Philippines since 2014, was denied entry into the Southeast Asian nation on October 17 when she returned from Dubai, with Philippine authorities citing an Iranian warrant for her arrest. Claiming Tehran wanted to punish her for opposition to Iran’s theocratic regime, Bahari then sought refugee status, holed up in a room at Manila’s international airport and using social media to rally support from the international …

Roger Stone trial: Witness denies 'back-channel' to WikiLeaks in bizarre testimonyA key witness bullied by notorious Republican operative Roger Stone has repeatedly denied being a “back-channel” for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to Mr Stone, a former aide to Donald Trump.Mr Stone lied to Congress about his role in WikiLeaks’ plans to release emails from Hillary Clinton’s campaign and planned to obtain damaging information on Mr Trump’s political rivals in order to protect the president because “the truth looked bad” for Mr Trump’s campaign, according to federal prosecutors.

Retired Detective Murdered His Wife to ‘Enjoy’ Retirement With New Lover: ProsecutorsAPU GOMES/GettyA retired Massachusetts detective fatally shot his wife—then staged her murder as a suicide—so he could be with another woman and keep his pension all for himself, prosecutors alleged in court Thursday. Brian Fanion, a 55-year-old former Westfield Police detective, pleaded not guilty in Hampden Superior Court Thursday morning to a first-degree murder charge in connection with the May 2018 death of his wife, Amy. Authorities at the time ruled the 51-year-old’s shooting death a suicide. Prosecutors alleged Fanion, who joined the force in 1985 and worked as an evidence room detective, was having an affair with another woman …

Texas executes ex-leader of white supremacist gang for murderTexas on Wednesday executed a former leader of a white supremacist gang for the 2002 murder of a woman near El Paso. Justen Hall, 38, was pronounced dead at 6:32 pm (0032 GMT) at Texas’s Huntsville penitentiary. Hall was sentenced to death in 2005 for strangling to death a 29 year-old woman outside El Paso, then burying the body in the desert in nearby New Mexico.

DOJ Admits in Michael Flynn Case That FBI ‘Mistakenly Identified’ Peter Strzok NotesThe attorneys prosecuting former White House National Security Adviser Michael Flynn were forced to admit in a Tuesday letter to Flynn’s legal defense that the notes which formed the official document describing Flynn’s January 2017 interview were not written by agent Peter Strzok, as they've maintained throughout the case.“We were informed that the notes we had identified as Peter Strzok’s, were actually the other agent’s notes (see Surreply, Exhibit 1), and what we had identified as the other agent’s notes were in fact Strzok’s notes (see Surreply, Exibit 2)” the letter to Flynn’s lawyer Sidney Powell reads.The FBI’s admission calls …

Trump Jr. tweets name of alleged whistleblowerFor weeks, President Trump and his supporters have demanded the identity of the whistleblower who triggered the impeachment inquiry be exposed. On Wednesday, Trump’s eldest son revealed the name of the alleged whistleblower in a tweet.