‘Raped, jailed, tortured, left to die’: The hell of being gay in #Turkmenistan.

Two men who escaped one of the world’s most secretive and repressive states have told AFP how they were tortured, beaten and raped in Turkmenistan for the “crime” of being gay.

When the oil- and gas-rich Central Asian republic makes the headlines, it is usually for the eccentricities of its “National Leader” and “Hero Protector” Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov.

The dentist-turned-autocrat who writes poems about his horse -- and whose football team has never lost a game in the local league -- is a health freak. So much so that his son Serdar, the president, plans to “eradicate smoking” there by the end of the year.

But behind the monumental statues and the marble city of Arkadag built in Berdymukhamedov’s honour, opponents and minorities are mercilessly persecuted, say Amnesty and Human Rights Watch, none more so than LGBTQ people, who are often jailed or sent to psychiatric hospitals.

Arslan, who is now in hiding abroad, told AFP how he was raped five times in jail -- where HIV-positive prisoners are condemned to a slow death from lack of treatment -- while David was beaten and raped by his torturers, who wore gloves “to avoid touching my blood”.

Their rare testimonies, supported by official documents and confirmed by NGOs, reveal a hidden side of the reclusive regime, which tolerates no independent media or rights groups.

The authorities refuse to comment on all such allegations. But last year at the UN they insisted that “all discrimination” was illegal in Turkmenistan.

Homosexual relations are a crime, they said, because they run counter to the “traditional values” of the Turkmen people.

Arslan’s story

Arslan -- whose name AFP has been changed to protect him -- grew up in poverty in the second largest city of Turkmenabat, near the Uzbek border. “We had neither bread nor basic clothes,” said the 29-year-old, who comes from the Uzbek minority.

When he moved to the capital Ashgabat at 18, he was taken aback by the pomp of the white marble edifices built by the country’s first post-Soviet president Saparmurat Niyazov and Berdymukhamedov, who took power in 2006.

He also discovered a small gay community and formed a secret relationship with a man. But three years later he was arrested with about 10 other “suspected homosexuals”.

He believes his boyfriend was forced to denounce him.

Arslan was beaten by the police and jailed for two years for sodomy at a closed-door hearing in January 2018. He spent nine months in a penal colony before being pardoned.

Of the 72 men in his barracks, around 40 were there for their sexual orientation. One day, the leader of the barracks, a murderer -- “who was sleeping with lots of the prisoners” -- turned his attention to him, raping him repeatedly after plying him with sedatives.

“It was abominable,” said Arslan, who tried to kill himself by taking “a bunch of pills”. When he told the prison director about the rapes from hospital, “he laughed, saying I was there for that”.

After his release, Arslan got work and tried to rebuild his life, but the stigma was overwhelming. People recognized him and threatened him, “yelling at me in the street”.

He was twice sent to a psychiatric unit after being arrested again in 2021 and 2022. “They wanted to cure me because to them I have a disease.”

He decided to leave the country, but with authorities trying to curb a mass exodus of Turkmens fleeing hardship and repression, he was refused a passport.

Eventually after circumventing tight internet controls, he got help from the NGO EQUAL PostOst, which assists LGBTQ people in the former communist bloc, and was able to buy a passport.

“Everything is settled through corruption” in Turkmenistan, he said. Transparency International has declared the country one of the 15 most corrupt on the planet.

Finally he was finally able to flee to one of the few countries that allow Turkmens to enter without a visa.

Screams go unheard

David Omarov, 29, has been HIV-positive since he was a teenager, with education about the virus and preventive measures almost nonexistent in Turkmenistan.

From a middle-class background in the capital, his life was turned upside down in 2019 when he was summoned by the security services during one of the frequent crackdowns on LGBTQ people. He was held for several days and tortured to give the names of other men.

“They knew I was HIV-positive,” he told AFP.

“So they hit me with gloves and kicked me to avoid touching my blood. But I started bleeding profusely. Maybe that saved me.

“The worst is that no one hears your screams,” he said, adding that he was raped by his torturers but cannot yet bear to tell what they did to him. “Those are wounds that haven’t healed,” he said.

Omarov said Turkmenistan justifies the persecution as a defence of its “traditional values”.

“They’re folk fascists,” he said.

While Turkmenistan is predominantly Muslim, the government is secular, with huge emphasis on the veneration of Turkic folklore and traditions.

Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, 68, and his son, Serdar, 43, are portrayed as guardians of this steppe culture with personality cults akin to those of Stalin or the Kims in North Korea.

They have also put the Turkmen Akhal-Teke horse and the Alabai dog on a pedestal as national symbols, dotting the country with statues of the animals.

Israel strikes five towns in south Lebanon. Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported a strike on Mais al-Jabal, a border town ravaged by the war last year between Israel and Hezbollah, where the health ministry said one person was injured.

Strikes also hit the towns of Debbin, Burj Qalawiya, Al-Shahabiya and Kfar Tibnit, the roads out of which were full of people fleeing ahead of the attacks, NNA said.

An AFP journalist near Debbin saw clouds of dark smoke rising from the town after the strikes.

Israel has kept up its strikes on southern Lebanon despite a truce signed in November that ended more than a year of hostilities and two months of open war with Hezbollah.

It has also maintained troops in five locations in the south of Lebanon it deems strategic.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun condemned the attacks and “the silence of the countries who had sponsored” the ceasefire, which he said “encourages further aggression”.

“The time has come to put an immediate end to these blatant violations of Lebanon’s sovereignty,” he said.

The Israeli military said it struck several weapons storage facilities belonging to Hezbollah’s elite Radwan force in southern Lebanon.

It said it would “continue to operate to eliminate any threat” to Israel.

The Israeli military had issued calls telling residents of the five southern towns to evacuate “immediately”, saying it would strike Hezbollah targets.

Ahead of Thursday’s strikes, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam had called for “maximum pressure” on Israel to stop its attacks on his country.
Hindering Hezbollah disarmament

The latest Israeli strikes came a day after Hezbollah commemorated a year since Israel blew up hundreds of pagers and walkie-talkies used by its members, killing dozens and wounding thousands.

Israel and Hezbollah had already been engaged in cross-border fighting for nearly a year before the pager attack, which was one of a series of blows that drastically weakened the Iran-backed group, formerly Lebanon’s most powerful political force.

Under U.S. pressure, Beirut has ordered the Lebanese army to draw up a plan to disarm Hezbollah in areas near the Israeli border by the end of the year.

Foreign Minister Youssef Raggi said last week that Lebanon’s army would fully disarm the Iran-backed group near the border within three months.

But the army, which said Thursday’s strikes brought Israel’s ceasefire “violations” to 4,500, said the attacks risk slowing down Hezbollah’s disarmament.

“These assaults and violations obstruct the army’s deployment in the south, and their continuation will hinder the implementation of its plan starting from the area south of the Litani River,” the army said in a statement.

Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah said “the renewed Israeli aggression on southern villages will not push our people to surrender or abandon their land”.

#Hezbollah, which has rejected Beirut’s plan, is currently preparing to commemorate the death of its leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs in late September 2024.

Sally Rooney says she cannot ‘safely enter’ U.K. after supporting banned pro-Palestinian group.


Irish novelist Sally Rooney skipped an awards ceremony in London, saying that she risked being arrested under terror laws due to her support for the banned activist group Palestine Action.

Rooney’s editor Alex Bowler read her statement at the Sky Arts Awards on Tuesday, where the author’s fourth book “Intermezzo” won the award for literature.

“I wish I could be here with you this evening to accept the honor in person,” her statement read, “but, because of my support for non-violent anti-war protest, I’m advised I can no longer safely enter the U.K. without potentially facing arrest.”

Rooney reiterated her “belief in the dignity and beauty of all human life, and my solidarity with the people of Palestine,” in the statement.

London’s Metropolitan Police told CNN in a statement Thursday it “wouldn’t comment on an individual at the point of arrest or prior to this.”

CNN has reached out to Rooney and Bowler for comment through Faber, her publisher.

Palestine Action is a U.K.-based organization that aims to disrupt the operations of weapons manufacturers connected to the Israeli government.

British authorities have had their eyes on the group since 2020, but its June 2025 action – when activists broke into Britain’s largest airbase, RAF Brize Norton, vandalizing two Airbus Voyager refueling planes – led to its proscription.

Palestine Action is believed to be the first direct-action group to be designated a terrorist organization in the U.K. The ban means that showing support for the organization carries a maximum sentence of up to 14 years in prison.

Civil liberties campaigners across the U.K. and beyond have condemned the designation, saying that applying terrorism laws to such a group risk chilling free speech and assembly and sets a dangerous precedent for protest rights.

Since its terror designation, more than 1,500 individuals have been arrested at solidarity protests across the U.K., many for holding signs that read: “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.”

In August, Rooney also denounced the ban, writing an Irish Times column titled: “I too support Palestine Action. If this makes me a ‘supporter of terror’ under U.K. law, so be it.”

She wrote that “an increasing number of artists and writers can no longer safely travel to Britain to speak in public” and that she intended to take the residual fees from BBC adaptations of her first two novels to donate them toward “supporting Palestine Action and direct action against genocide in whatever way I can.”

Israel has been facing growing international condemnation. A United Nations commission concluded this week that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza. Israel denies any accusations of genocide.

“If the British state considers this ‘terrorism,’” Rooney wrote, “then perhaps it should investigate the shady organizations that continue to promote my work and fund my activities, such as WH Smith and the BBC.”

CNN has reached out to the retailer WH Smith. A spokesperson for the BBC told CNN in a statement that Rooney does not currently receive payment directly from the BBC, “and she is not contracted by us.”
Longstanding critic

Rooney, best known for her novel “Normal People” and its subsequent adaptation for TV, has long criticized Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and its pre-war blockade of Gaza.

In 2021, she refused to sell the Hebrew-language rights for her third novel “Beautiful World, Where Are You” to an Israeli publisher out of her support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, a Palestinian-led global campaign promoting boycotts, divestments, and economic sanctions against Israel.

The writer’s stance underlines Ireland’s longstanding support of the Palestinian cause.

Ireland is one of the most pro-Palestinian countries in Europe, a position born out of a shared experience of subjugation by an occupying state.

In January, the Irish government joined South Africa’s case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) accusing Israel of genocide, and the country appears close to passing a bill that will ban trade with illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Nonetheless, Rooney has criticized Ireland’s government for not speaking out more forcefully in favor of protesters recently arrested in the UK.

“If the Government in Dublin truly believes that Israel is committing genocide,” Rooney said, “how can it look elsewhere while its nearest neighbor funds and supports that genocide and its own citizens are arrested simply for speaking out?”

CNN has reached out to Ireland’s Foreign Ministry for comment.

Saudi Arabia signs mutual defence pact with nuclear-armed #Pakistan after Israeli attack on Qatar.

ISLAMABAD — Saudi Arabia and nuclear-armed Pakistan have signed a mutual defence pact that defines any attack on either nation as an attack on both -- a key accord in the wake of Israel’s strike on Qatar last week.

The kingdom has long had close economic, religious and security ties to Pakistan, including reportedly providing funding for Islamabad’s nuclear weapons program as it developed. Analysts -- and Pakistani diplomats in at least one case -- have suggested over the years that Saudi Arabia could be included under Islamabad’s nuclear umbrella, particularly as tensions have risen over Iran’s atomic program.

But the timing of the pact appeared to be a signal to Israel, long suspected to be the Middle East’s only nuclear-armed state, which has conducted a sprawling military offensive since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel stretching across Iran, Lebanon, the Palestinian territories, Qatar, Syria and Yemen.

Israel did not respond to requests for comment. The pact marks the first major defence decision by a Gulf Arab country since the Qatar attack. The United States, long the security guarantor for the Gulf Arab states, also did not respond to questions posed to the State Department.
A deal signed in Riyadh

Saudi Arabia’s powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman signed the pact on Wednesday with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

While not specifically discussing the bomb, the agreement states “any aggression against either country shall be considered an aggression against both,” according to statements issued by both Pakistan’s Foreign Affairs Ministry and the state-run Saudi Press Agency.

“This agreement ... aims to develop aspects of defence cooperation between the two countries and strengthen joint deterrence against any aggression,” the statement said.

A senior Saudi official, speaking on condition of anonymity to The Financial Times, seemed to suggest that Pakistan’s nuclear protection was a part of the deal, saying it “will utilize all defensive and military means deemed necessary depending on the specific threat.”

Zalmay Khalilzad, a former U.S. diplomat with long experience in Afghanistan and Pakistan, expressed concern over the deal, saying it comes in “dangerous times.”

“Pakistan has nuclear weapons and delivery systems that can hit targets across the Middle East, including Israel. It also is developing systems that can reach targets in the U.S.,” Khalilzad wrote on X.
A long defence relationship

Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have a defence relationship stretching back decades, in part due to Islamabad’s willingness to defend the Islamic holy sites of Mecca and Medina in the kingdom. Pakistani troops first traveled to Saudi Arabia in the late 1960s over concerns about Egypt’s war in Yemen at the time.

Those ties increased after Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution and the kingdom’s fears of a confrontation with Tehran.

Pakistan developed its nuclear weapons program to counter India’s atomic bombs. The two neighbors have fought multiple wars against each other and again came close to open warfare after an attack on tourists in April in Indian-controlled Kashmir. India is believed to have an estimated 172 nuclear warheads, while Pakistan has 170, according to the U.S.-published Bulletin of Atomic Scientists.

On Thursday, India’s Foreign Ministry acknowledged the Saudi-Pakistan pact and said it “will study the implications of this development for our national security as well as for regional and global stability.” Saudi Arabia also maintains close ties with India.
An interest in Pakistan’s program

Retired Pakistani Brig. Gen. Feroz Hassan Khan, in his book on his country’s nuclear weapons program called “Eating Grass: The Making of the Pakistani Bomb,” said Saudi Arabia provided “generous financial support to Pakistan that enabled the nuclear program to continue, especially when the country was under sanctions.”

Pakistan faced U.S. sanctions for years over its pursuit of the bomb -- and saw new ones imposed over its ballistic missile work at the end of the Biden administration.

In a 2007 U.S. diplomatic cable published by WikiLeaks, American diplomats in Saudi Arabia noted that their Pakistani counterparts had brought up the idea of the kingdom pursuing a weapons program alongside Islamabad in order to be the “physical protector” of the Mideast.

Both Pakistan and Saudi Arabia did not respond to questions from The Associated Press on Thursday on whether the pact extended to Islamabad’s nuclear weapons arsenal. Pakistan “has historically maintained a deliberately ambiguous nuclear doctrine,” according to the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists.

Syed Muhammad Ali, an Islamabad-based security analyst, noted on Thursday that Pakistan’s National Command Authority -- which oversees the country’s atomic weapons -- had not made any statement on the pact. However, he said he believed Pakistan capable of responding to Israel even without the deterrent effect of atomic weapons.

“Pakistan is more than confident that its conventional capability is adequate,” he said. “Pakistan’s military ... is adequate enough to improve the security of Saudi Arabia without having to resort to the nuclear option.”
How Iran ties in

Saudi Arabia has sought U.S. assistance to advance a civilian nuclear power program, in part with what had been a proposed diplomatic recognition deal with Israel prior to the 2023 Hamas attack that triggered the nearly two-year war in Gaza. That could allow Saudi Arabia to enrich uranium in the kingdom -- something that worries nonproliferation experts as spinning centrifuges opens the door to a possible weapons program.

That deal -- and a Saudi recognition of Israel -- seem further away than ever as the kingdom has condemned Israel’s actions in Gaza and the crown prince has come out saying that Israel is committing a “genocide” in the Gaza Strip.

However, Prince Mohammed has also said the kingdom would pursue a nuclear weapon if Iran had one. Saudi Arabia already is believed to have a domestic ballistic missile program, which can be a delivery system for a nuclear weapon. Still, the kingdom is a member of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and is not known to have move toward acquiring the bomb through its own work.

Before the signing of the defence pact with Pakistan, Iran dispatched Ali Larijani, a senior political figure who now serves as the secretary of the country’s Supreme National Security Council, to visit Saudi Arabia.

That may have seen the kingdom give a heads-up to Tehran about the pact as Saudi Arabia has had a Chinese-mediated detente with Iran since 2023.

___

The Associated Press receives support for nuclear security coverage from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and Outrider Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writer Vineeta Deepak in New Delhi contributed to this report.

Munir Ahmed And Jon Gambrell, The Associated Press

Chimps ingest alcohol daily: Study,

#Chimpanzees consume the equivalent of at least one alcoholic drink per day as they eat ripe, fermenting fruit, says a study out Wednesday that addresses one possible reason why humans are drawn to booze.

The study, carried out in the wilds of Africa where the animals live, supports the theory that people may have inherited from primates a taste for alcohol and ability to metabolize it even though it is toxic for us.

The researchers collected fruits that chimps eat and measured their ethanol content, which is produced as sugar ferments. They concluded that these evolutionary cousins of ours consume alcohol on a daily basis.

And not just a little. Through the large amount of fruit that chimps eat, the researchers reckon the animals take in about 14 grams (half an ounce) of alcohol per day.

Correcting for body size, it is like the chimps are drinking a pint of beer per day, Aleksey Maro, lead author of the study published in the journal Science Advances, told AFP.

“It’s not an insubstantial amount of alcohol, but very diluted and more associated with food,” said the PhD candidate at the University of California, Berkeley.
The ‘drunken monkey’ theory

“We’ve seen for the first time that, indeed, our closest living relatives are consuming physiologically relevant doses of alcohol routinely daily,” Maro said.

This is in line with the “drunken monkey theory” espoused more than a decade ago by U.S. biologist Robert Dudley, who co-authored the new study.

As the theory goes, humans liking alcohol and being able to metabolize it stems from our primate ancestors ingesting it daily through the fruit they eat.

“The drunken monkey hypothesis is becoming more and more a reality,” said Maro. “Its name is unfortunate. A better name would be the evolutionary hangover.”

The theory was initially met with skepticism among experts. But it has gained traction in recent years as studies showed that some primates eat fermented fruit and, given a choice of nectars with varying amounts of alcohol, they prefer the booziest one.

Nathaniel Dominy, a professor of anthropology and evolutionary biology at Dartmouth College who did not take part in this study, welcomed it enthusiastically.

“The paper is a tour de force,” he told AFP.

Dominy also said it “puts to rest the debate over the prevalence of ethanol in tropical fruits.”

But he added that the study raises new questions on the biological and behavioral consequences of chronic low-level ethanol exposure for nonhuman primates.

Another unanswered question is whether chimps actively search out boozy fruit or just eat it when they find it. The researchers in this study said they did not know.

The issue of chimps ingesting alcohol will remain under study to learn more about the origins of human alcohol consumption and assess its risks and possible benefits, according to Maro.

“We can learn about ourselves through the chimpanzees,” he said.

#USA: #Pentagon to get first official briefing on Golden Dome #missile shield #architecture.

The briefing is a key milestone for General Mike Guetlein, who is in charge of the day-to-day progress for Golden Dome, and signals planning, funding and development for the most ambitious defence effort launched by Trump is taking shape.

“Sept. 17, 2025 marks 60 days since Gen. Guetlein’s confirmation and the establishment of the Office of Golden Dome for America,” a Pentagon spokesperson said. “The Department of War met the deadline of initial architecture development.”

Two sources said that Guetlein had briefed Congress on Monday on Golden Dome’s goals and schedule.

According to government presentations previously reported by Reuters, the system would feature space-based sensing and targeting capabilities alongside ground-based missile interceptors, radar arrays and potentially laser systems.

The sources said Guetlein’s briefing on the architecture was not expected to include details on the number of satellites or interceptors needed for Golden Dome.

The Golden Dome initiative faces an ambitious 2028 deadline set by Trump, with the system intended to defend against ballistic, hypersonic, and advanced cruise missiles from multiple adversaries.

The proposed architecture includes four integrated layers - one satellite-based and three land-based - with a notional 11 short-range missile batteries positioned across the continental United States, Alaska and Hawaii.

The next milestone is around mid-November, when Guetlein must present a full implementation plan with satellite and ground station details.

The program draws inspiration from Israel’s Iron Dome, but operates on a significantly larger geographic scale. Major defence contractors including Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Boeing are expected to compete for various system components.

Reporting by Mike Stone in Washington; Editing by Jamie Freed.

Billie Eilish, Cillian Murphy among dozens of celebrities calling for Gaza ceasefire ahead of benefit concert in London.


The “Together For Palestine” concert on Wednesday evening aims to “raise millions for the Palestinian-led organizations at the front line of the crisis,” the event’s website says. Among the groups it is fundraising for are the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF), Palestinian Medical Relief Society, and Taawon, which runs orphan care programs in Gaza.

“We have to tell the truth on behalf of the people of Palestine,” Scottish actor Brian Cox says in the video.

American photographer and activist Nan Goldin says, “It’s been the artist’s role in society to speak out, to risk speaking truth to power.”

Stephen John Coogan, English actor, producer, screenwriter, and comedian also appears in the video.

“It’s important to speak out now, not when this is over, right now, while it’s happening, pressurize your government. Lend your support to those who are peacefully campaigning for Palestine. Call for a ceasefire, stop the killing,” Coogan says.

It’s not the first time Eilish has spoken out on Gaza. At the Oscars last year, Eilish and her brother and musician Finneas were among celebrities who took to the red carpet in matching red lapel pins calling for a ceasefire.

Hundreds of artists have joined Artists4Ceasefire, a campaign that in late October 2023 published a letter urging the U.S. Congress and then-President Joe Biden to call for an immediate ceasefire.

Wednesday’s benefit concert comes just days after celebrities showed their support for Gaza at the Emmy Awards. Emmy nominee Javier Bardem took to the red carpet wearing a keffiyeh, a traditional Palestinian scarf, to denounce what he said was “the genocide in Gaza.” Hannah Einbinder, who won an Emmy for her role in the TV series “Hacks,” called for a “Free Palestine” on stage.

Israel is currently ramping up its offensive in Gaza. As of Wednesday, Israeli tanks were stationed on the edge of Gaza City ahead of a ground operation into the city, according to eyewitnesses and satellite imagery. Despite international outcry, Israel announced on Tuesday that it launched an expanded ground assault on Gaza City to “strike terror infrastructure” and secure “the release of the hostages and the defeat of Hamas,” Defense Minister Israel Katz said.

By Mohammed Tawfeeq, Hira Humayun, CNN

Southern California judge who killed his wife sentenced to 35 years to life for murder.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Ferguson, wearing a green jail jumpsuit in court, was sentenced for the second-degree murder of his wife, Sheryl, and felony gun enhancements.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Eleanor J. Hunter, who presided over the case to avoid a conflict of interest in Orange County, said the evidence against Ferguson was “absolutely overwhelming” including a text message he sent to court staff immediately after the shooting saying “I just lost it” and video recordings of him speaking extensively while in custody.

Hunter said she would shave five years off the maximum potential sentence of 40 years to life due to Ferguson’s lack of a criminal record and support from Sheryl Ferguson’s family members, among other factors, but that Ferguson had repeatedly shown he doesn’t believe the rules apply to him by drinking while carrying a weapon — even while he was out on bond even though he was barred from doing so.

“Mr. Ferguson believes the rules just do not apply to him,” Hunter said.

Ferguson, 74, has claimed the 2023 shooting was accidental, but District Attorney Todd Spitzer said the evidence showed it was “cold-blooded murder.”

“He most likely, with this sentence, will never see freedom as a result of his age,” Spitzer told reporters after the hearing.

In court, Ferguson said he loved his wife and was looking forward to spending his life with her and their family.

“I understand the jury’s verdict but it was a horrific accident,” Ferguson said, his voice cracking. “I have enormous grief not for myself alone but for my son, Phillip, and Sheryl’s brothers.”

Prosecutors said the longtime judge and former criminal prosecutor pulled a gun from his ankle holster in August 2023 and fired the fatal shot after he had been drinking and arguing with Sheryl over family finances at a restaurant and later while watching “Breaking Bad” in their Anaheim Hills home.

The case roiled the legal community in Orange County where many have known or worked with Ferguson for decades, including Spitzer. The county is home to 3 million people between Los Angeles and San Diego.

During the sentencing hearing, Sheryl’s brother, Larry Rosen, and other relatives asked the judge for leniency. Rosen said he believes the shooting was an accident and worries about Ferguson’s adult son, Phillip.

“My nephew has lost his mom and you are going to take away his dad,” Rosen said, sobbing. “I understand there is culpability but I don’t think it is to the level that’s been raised here.”

In March, an initial jury deadlocked on the case and Hunter declared a mistrial. In April, a second jury convicted Ferguson of second-degree murder and the gun enhancements.

During the trial, prosecutors said Ferguson had been drinking before he made a gun-like hand gesture toward his wife of 27 years while arguing with her at a Mexican restaurant on Aug. 3, 2023. Prosecutors said the quarrel continued at home while the couple was watching TV with Phillip, and Sheryl Ferguson challenged her husband to point a real gun at her. He did, then pulled the trigger, prosecutors said.

Ferguson, who had experience and training in firearms, testified that he was removing the gun from his ankle holster to place it on a table cluttered with other items when he fumbled it due to an injured shoulder, and it went off.

Immediately after the shooting, Ferguson and his son called 911, and Ferguson texted his court clerk and bailiff saying, “I just lost it. I just shot my wife. I won’t be in tomorrow. I will be in custody. I’m so sorry,” according to a copy of a text message shown to jurors.

Ferguson spoke with police outside his home and while in custody. In video shown at trial, he was seen sobbing and saying his son and everyone would hate him, and pleading for a jury to convict him.

After Ferguson’s arrest, authorities said they found 47 weapons, including the gun used in the shooting, and more than 26,000 rounds of ammunition at his home.

Ferguson began his legal career in the district attorney’s office in 1983 and went on to work on narcotics cases, winning various awards. He became a judge in 2015 and presided over criminal cases in the Orange County city of Fullerton, about 10 miles (16 kilometres) from the court where he was sentenced.

Amy Taxin, The Associated Press

After mass Nepal jailbreak, some prisoners surrender, Kathmandu, Nepal -- Days after escaping alongside 13,500 others in a giant jailbreak during deadly anti-corruption protests in Nepal, Avinash Rai rubbed his belly after a meal -- and strolled back into prison.

The 46-year-old convicted smuggler stunned relatives when he turned up at their Kathmandu home during last week’s chaos, in which protesters torched the parliament and toppled the government.

The violence left at least 73 dead and saw security collapse across the capital, with inmates streaming out of fire-damaged jails countrywide.

“We were in a situation where saving our own lives was a challenge,” Rai, with two small bags slung on his shoulders, told AFP just before he surrendered himself at the gates of Kathmandu’s Nakhu prison.

“There were no cops here -— there was massive arson and vandalism. The gate was open after that.”

He emerged from prison into violent crowds and fires burning across the city.

“It was a really bad time out,” he said referring to the mayhem as he escaped. “Now I’m going in.”

Youth-led protests in the Himalayan nation began on September 8, sparked by a short-lived ban on social media, but fuelled by anger at corruption and long-standing economic woes.

At least 19 people were killed in a crackdown.

A day later, anger over the deaths escalated, triggering an outpouring of rage nationwide -- with government buildings set alight and violence erupting in multiple prisons.

Rai, jailed for smuggling contraband across the India-Nepal border, has served 20 months of a 22-month sentence and appealed for the new government to “show some leniency”.
‘Cops searching’

More than a third of the fugitives -- 5,000 out of 13,500 -- have been recaptured, police said.

Some were caught by Indian security forces as they tried to slip across the long, porous frontier.

Many still on the run include hardened criminals.

Others, like Rai, handed themselves back in -- many convicted of lesser offences or near the end of their sentences.

His friend Nagendra Shreshtha, who accompanied him back to jail, said Rai’s family had been shocked when he appeared at their door.

“It was just crazy that all these people managed to come out of jail,” Shreshtha said. “We advised him that it made sense to return on his own.”

At the prison gates, Rai was not alone.

Som Gopali, 40, jailed for five years for assault and with nine months still to serve, hugged his tearful wife as he also handed himself in.

“It was a shock when Som phoned me,” said his sister Preeti Yonjan, 42, who also came with him to the jail gate.

“I was dumbfounded and took time to process how he was out”.

Many families described anguish at their relatives’ return behind bars after a brief taste of freedom.

“He couldn’t have stayed out with cops searching for him, and when he has nearly served his time,” Yonjan said.
‘Things must change’

Nakhu prison itself still bears the scars of the unrest.

Walls are scorched black, slogans of the “Gen Z” youth protesters are scrawled across the entrance, and community volunteers have been ferrying in donated mattresses, blankets and utensils.

“There is burnt soot everywhere,” said local volunteer Savyata Bhakti, 22.

“The first night we heard about the escape was tense, and everyone was extra vigilant about safety.”

Suresh Raj Aran, 40, whose 23-year-old son Sevak surrendered, said he had fled only to escape the violence inside prison.

“My son is innocent and we want him home with his parents, but only through a proper legal process,” Aran said.

Outside the prison, families expressed hope that Nepal’s new interim government, leading the country towards elections in March 2026, would improve conditions.

The World Bank says a “staggering” 82 percent of Nepal’s workforce is in informal employment, with GDP per capita just $1,447.

“Things must change -- because if not now then when?,” said Poornima Gopali, 29, waving as her brother Som returned inside.

By Bhuvan Bagga, AFP

#Mexico City propane tanker explosion death toll reaches 15, Mexico City health officials announced on X that a 40-year-old man had died from his injuries and then hours later said in a statement that a 15th person had died who had not been identified. Thirty-nine people remained hospitalized.

Investigators determined that the tank of the overturned trailer ruptured after colliding with something. They continue investigating whether the truck was speeding and whether the driver had sufficient training.

The resulting fire last Wednesday engulfed more than two dozen vehicles and left dozens of badly burned victims.

The Associated Press