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Former Abercrombie & Fitch chief executive Mike Jeffries. Photo: AFP / SPENCER PLATT Mike Jeffries, the former longtime chief executive of Abercrombie & Fitch, pleaded not guilty to charges he ran an international sex trafficking scheme while leading the clothing retailer. Jeffries, 80, who led Abercrombie from 1992 to 2014, entered his plea to one count of sex trafficking and 15 counts of prostitution before US Magistrate Judge Steven Tiscione in Central Islip, New York, in that state's Suffolk County. Brian Bieber, a lawyer for Jeffries, entered the plea on his client's behalf. Jeffries wore a navy blue blazer and light gray shirt, with no tie, to his arraignment. He will remain free on $10 million bond, but subjected to home confinement with GPS monitoring. Jeffries posted hi...

This screen grab taken from a handout video released by the Israeli army on 26 October 2024, shows military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari calling on the Israeli people to be "alert and vigilant" as it carries out strikes on military targets in Iran. Photo: AFP / Supplied Israel hit back at Iran early on Saturday, saying its military was conducting strikes against military targets, as Iranian media reported multiple explosions in the capital Tehran and at nearby bases. The Middle East has been on edge in anticipation of Israeli retaliation for a ballistic-missile barrage carried out by Iran on 1 October, in which around 200 missiles were fired at Israel, Iran's second direct attack on Israel in six months. Those strikes, which Iran said targeted Israeli military facilities, came a...

Phil Lesh Photo: AFP / GETTY IMAGES / CORY SCHWARTZ Phil Lesh, bassist and founding member of iconic rock band Grateful Dead, has died. He was 84. The news was announced on Lesh's verified Instagram, which said he died "peacefully" on Saturday morning. "He was surrounded by his family and full of love. Phil brought immense joy to everyone around him and leaves behind a legacy of music and love," the announcement on social media read. "We request that you respect the Lesh family's privacy at this time." CNN has reached out to a representative for the Grateful Dead. No cause of death was immediately available, but the Associated Press reported that Lesh had previously survived prostate cancer, bladder cancer and a liver transplant in 1998 brought on by a hepatitis C infection and years of...

A car marked "Press" at the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted an area where a number of journalists were located in the southern Lebanese village of Hasbaya on 25 October 2024. Photo: AFP / ALI HANKIR Three journalists were killed in Lebanon by an Israeli strike, their colleagues said, drawing condemnation from rights advocates about the number of reporters who have lost their lives in the region over the past year. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said it "strongly condemned" the attack, urging the international community to "stop Israel's long-standing pattern of impunity in journalist killings." Israel did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It has previously denied deliberately attacking journalists. The last year has been the deadliest period for jo...

A street in the city of Point-a-Pitre on the French Caribbean island of Guaedloupe in April. Photo: AFP / CEDRICK-ISHAM CALVADOS France's overseas territory of Guadeloupe was entirely without power on Friday, with authorities blaming striking workers for the outage. Workers at the territory's thermal power station in the industrial zone of Jarry entered the command room "and caused an emergency shutdown of all the engines", the Guadeloupe prefecture said in a statement. Restored electricity supply for the 230,000 affected households was expected at 8am - 3pm local time - at best. Police intervened and the archipelago's prefect had "requisitioned" staff to bring the station back up to speed, it said. The French government has mobilised "services and operators" to bring power back as soon...

Photo: CLIVE MASON/Getty Images via AFP Chinese hackers who tapped into Verizon's system were targeting phones used by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and his running mate JD Vance, the New York Times reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The newspaper said investigators were working to determine what communications, if any, were taken. The Trump campaign was made aware this week that Trump and Vance were among a number of people inside and outside of government whose phone numbers were targeted through the infiltration of Verizon phone systems, it added. The campaign did not confirm that Trump's and Vance's phones were targeted. Steven Cheung, the campaign's communications director, said the former president's Democratic rival Vice President Kamala Harris has ...

By Amanda Ferguson, Reuters Alexander McCartney was given a life sentence in a Belfast court. Photo: PSNI / AFP A Northern Irish man was given a life sentence for the mass online child sexual abuse and blackmail of young girls around the world, with police saying one incident led to a 12-year-old American girl and her father taking their own lives. Belfast Crown Court heard that 26-year-old computer science student Alexander McCartney, operating from the bedroom of his family home, groomed victims on messaging sites including Snapchat and Instagram by making them believe they were talking online to a teenage girl of similar age. He would then encourage them to send indecent images or engage in sexual activity via a webcam or mobile phone, which he would then share online with others ...

Photo: supplied Review - The Western view of modern Iran is hardly flattering - a nation permanently at war perhaps, run with the sort of religious fundamentalism that made Oliver Cromwell so disliked? But when we see Iranian films - Iran is an enthusiastic producer of both art-films for foreign festivals and commercial films for home consumption - there seems to be a definite disconnect. My Favourite Cake may be about the difficulties faced by Iranian women - especially older women. But to look at, it could be any city in the Western world. The shops, the clothes, the cars and the people - at a distance it looks like New Zealand, albeit New Zealand 30 years ago, maybe. We meet Mahin - aged about 70 and long-time widowed, now living alone. Her social life is mostly limited to phone calls...

By Trevor Hunnicutt, Reuters Photo: Kevin Mazur/WireImage/Getty Images via CNN Newsource Democrat Kamala Harris is hoping the "BeyHive" will help propel her to victory in the 2024 presidential election. The celebrity singer Beyonce headlines a Houston rally for Vice President Harris on Saturday, an event Harris' campaign hopes will help excite voters and propel them to the polls as she faces a tight race with Republican former President Donald Trump. Here's what we know about the event. Where is the event? It takes place at 21,000-seat Shell Energy Stadium, which normally hosts Houston's Major League Soccer team. What time does it start? The event is "first come, first served." Doors open at 3pm local time (9am Saturday NZT) and organizers advise not to arrive later than 7pm (1pm NZ...

Steve Burrows in Dodge City, Kansas, in 2016. The New Zealander has been chasing storms since 2003. Photo: Supplied Steve Burrows remembers the day he was hit by a tornadic waterspout. It was 2014, and he and his friend had just tracked down a waterspout forming out from the Ashburton river mouth. The pair watched it from the safety of their car as it swirled and swirled - and then, it broke on the shoreline. "It hit us and you could actually feel the back of the car lifting up. It got smashed with pebbles and everything, and when the wind picked up we could feel the back of the car bouncing up and down." To most people, getting caught in a storm probably sounds like a nightmare. But for Burrows, it was a moment of pure adrenaline - all part of the territory of being a storm chaser. ...