Florida
Six former Florida State players suing coach Leonard Hamilton over failed NIL payments
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Six former Florida State basketball players sued Seminoles coach Leonard Hamilton on Monday, alleging he failed to make good on a promise to get each of them $250,000 in name, image and likeness compensation.
The plaintiffs — Darin Green Jr., De’Ante Green, Cam’Ron Fletcher, Josh Nickelberry, Primo Spears and Jalen Warley — filed suit in Leon County circuit court. Their attorney, Fort Lauderdale-based Darren Heitner, shared the 20-page complaint with The Associated Press. Yahoo Sports first reported the case.
The former players allege Hamilton promised them the money from his “business partners.” The lawsuit says they walked out of a practice last season over the missed payments and intended to boycott a Feb. 17 game against Duke.
They ended up playing — the Seminoles lost 76-67 — amid a guarantee from Hamilton that they would be paid but never were, according to the suit.
No attorney for Hamilton was listed in the lawsuit. FSU hosts Syracuse on Saturday.
The complaint includes multiple text-message exchanges between players and some between players and Hamilton.
FSU finished 17-16 last season, including 10-10 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The 76-year-old Hamilton is in the final year of his contract. The Seminoles are 9-4, including 0-2 in league play.
None of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit remain with the team. Green and Nickelberry exhausted their college eligibility last spring, and the four others transferred. Spears is now at UTSA, Fletcher is at Xavier, De’Ante Green is at USF and Warley is at Gonzaga.
The lawsuit is the latest in a growing number of NIL legal battles.
Matthew Sluka, a starting quarterback for the UNLV football team, left the program after three games in September because he was never paid a $100,000 NIL deal. Former Florida quarterback signee Jaden Rashada, now playing at Georgia, sued Gators coach Billy Napier last year over an unpaid $13 million NIL deal. And several Tulsa players claim they were never paid thousands in NIL commitments made by former coach Kevin Wilson.
Argentina
Judge charges 5 people over death of former One Direction star Liam Payne
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — An Argentine judge confirmed charges against five people in connection with the death of Liam Payne, a former member of musical group One Direction, and ordered preventive prison for two of them for having supplied him with drugs.
A judicial officer confirmed Monday the judge’s decision and said that one of the two people ordered to be put under preventive prison — a form of pre-trial detention — was an employee of the hotel in Buenos Aires where Payne stayed until he died after falling from the balcony of his room in October.
The officer said the other person was a waiter Payne met in a restaurant. The officer, who requested not to be identified as a condition to talk about the ruling, said that both face charges for supplying drugs and they need to present themselves before the judge.
The judge also charged three other people with manslaughter, including a businessman who was with Payne in Argentina and two managers of the hotel. The official said that they were not ordered to be held under preventive prison.
In November, prosecutors filed initial charges against three people, but they didn’t reveal their names.
Payne fell from his room’s balcony on the third floor of his hotel in the upscale neighborhood of Palermo in the Argentine capital. His autopsy said he died from multiple injuries and external bleeding.
Prosecutors also said that Payne’s toxicological exams showed that his body had “traces of alcohol, cocaine and a prescribed antidepressant” in the moments before his death.
Payne’s autopsy showed his injuries were caused neither by self-harm nor by physical intervention of others. The document also said that he did not have the reflex of protecting himself in the fall, which suggests he might have been unconscious.
Prosecutors in Argentina also ruled out the possibility that Payne died by suicide.
One Direction was among the most successful boy bands of recent times. It announced an indefinite hiatus in 2016 and Payne — like his former bandmates Zayn Malik, Harry Styles, Niall Horan, and Louis Tomlinson — pursued a solo career.
Serbia
Court convicts the parents of a teenage boy who shot dead 10 people in a school in Belgrade
BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — A court in Serbia on Monday convicted the parents of a teenage boy who last year shot dead nine pupils and a school guard and wounded six more people in a school in central Belgrade.
The Higher Court in Belgrade sentenced Vladimir Kecmanovic, father of the boy, to 14 years and six months in prison for “grave acts against public safety” and for child neglect. The mother, Miljana Kecmanovic was sentenced to three years in prison for child neglect but was acquitted on charges of illegal possession of weapons.
The shooter, identified as Kosta Kecmanovic, was 13 years old when he committed the crime and therefore too young to face a trial, according to Serbian law. His parents were detained soon after the shooting and charged for failing to keep the weapons out of reach of their son.
The massacre at the Vladislav Ribnikar primary school in central Belgrade on May 3, 2023, shocked the Balkan nation which was used to crises but where mass school shootings had never happened before.
The couple’s lawyer, Irina Borovic, said the verdict came as no surprise “because public pressure was enormous and the expectations were huge.” Borovic said she will appeal the verdicts.
Ninela Radicevic, who lost her daughter in the shooting, said “we are not satisfied because no one was held responsible for the murder of nine children” and the school guard.
The boy used his father’s guns to open fire on his fellow pupils and others. He walked into the school and first opened fire in the hall before heading into a classroom where he continued shooting.
Elementary schools in Serbia cater for children 7-15 years old.
Police have said that the teenager called them after the shooting and calmly said what he had done. He has been held in a specialized institution since the shooting and testified at his parents’ trial. The proceedings were closed to the public except for the reading of the verdicts.
Also convicted and sentenced to 15 months in prison for a false testimony was a shooting instructor who worked at a shooting ground where the boy practiced shooting.
The school shooting was followed the next day by another mass killing in villages outside the capital. Uros Blazic, 21, took an automatic rifle and opened fire at multiple locations, killing nine people and wounding 12. He was sentenced earlier this month to 20 years in prison.
The back-to-back shootings triggered a wave of street protests and a crackdown on widespread illegal gun ownership.
Estonia
Belarus convicts well-known activist and sentences him to 6 years in prison
TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — A court in Belarus convicted a well-known opposition activist and sentenced him to six years in prison, the country’s oldest and most prominent human rights group, Viasna, reported Friday. The move is the latest in the unabating crackdown against dissent that the country’s authorities have unleashed in recent years.
Dzmitry Kuchuk, whose Green Party was shut down last year, was convicted of gross violations of public order and calling for actions aimed at undermining national security. He was sentenced to six years in prison and fined about
$6,000, Viasna reported. The verdict in Kuchuk’s trial, which took place behind closed doors in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, was announced on Tuesday, but rights advocates only found out days later.
Kuchuk, 50, was arrested on Feb. 16 in Minsk near the Russian Embassy, where he went to lay flowers and light a candle in memory of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, whose sudden death in a remote Arctic prison was announced that day.
The authorities ordered Kuchuk jailed for successive 15-day stints and then filed criminal charges against him, Viasna said. According to the group, the activist was beaten up during his arrest, and his health deteriorated while he was in pre-trial detention.
Belarus, Russia’s neighbor with a population of 9.5 million, was rocked by mass protests after a disputed election in August 2020 gave its authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko his sixth term in office. The opposition and the West denounced the vote as fraudulent, and a monthslong wave of demonstrations rolled through the country. Security forces dispersed the rallies and arrested more than 65,000 people in the four years since.
This year, Lukashenko is running for reelection for a seventh consecutive term, in an election scheduled for Jan. 26. Ahead of the vote, the authorities have once again turned up the pressure on dissent, launching yet another wave of arrests.
Kuchuk rose to prominence in 2016, when he protested the construction of a nuclear power plant in Belarus. His Green Party was dissolved by the Belarusian Supreme Court last July as part of a government purge of political parties ahead of the 2024 parliamentary election. It was once a member of the European Green Party.
In December 2023, Kuchuk tried to run for a seat in the parliament, but was barred. He is the seventh Belarusian party leader in prison.
He is one of some 1,300 people behind bars in Belarus that Viasna has designated as political prisoners.
Russia
Man arrested for allegedly running LGBTQ+ travel agency found dead in custody
A Russian man arrested for allegedly running a travel agency for gay customers was found dead in custody in Moscow, rights group OVD-Info reported Sunday, amid a crackdown on LGBTQ+ rights in Russia.
According to OVD-Info, which tracks political arrests, Andrei Kotov — director of the “Men Travel” agency — faced charges of “organizing extremist activity and participating in it.”
OVD-Info said an investigator told Kotov’s lawyer that her client had died by suicide early Sunday while in pretrial detention and was found dead in his cell.
Prior to Kotov’s death, independent media outlet Mediazona reported earlier this month that Kotov had rejected the charges and said in court that law enforcement officers beat him and administered electric shocks during the arrest, even though he didn’t resist.
Just over a year ago, Russia’s Supreme Court effectively outlawed any LGBTQ+ activism in a ruling that designated “the international LGBT movement” as extremist. The move exposed anyone in the community or connected to it to criminal prosecution and prison, ushering in an atmosphere of fear and intimidation.
The LGBTQ+ community in Russia has been under legal and public pressure for over a decade but especially since the Kremlin sent troops to Ukraine in 2022. Russian leader Vladimir Putin has argued that the war is a proxy battle with the West, which he says aims to destroy Russia and its “traditional family values” by pushing for LGBTQ+ rights.
Six former Florida State players suing coach Leonard Hamilton over failed NIL payments
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Six former Florida State basketball players sued Seminoles coach Leonard Hamilton on Monday, alleging he failed to make good on a promise to get each of them $250,000 in name, image and likeness compensation.
The plaintiffs — Darin Green Jr., De’Ante Green, Cam’Ron Fletcher, Josh Nickelberry, Primo Spears and Jalen Warley — filed suit in Leon County circuit court. Their attorney, Fort Lauderdale-based Darren Heitner, shared the 20-page complaint with The Associated Press. Yahoo Sports first reported the case.
The former players allege Hamilton promised them the money from his “business partners.” The lawsuit says they walked out of a practice last season over the missed payments and intended to boycott a Feb. 17 game against Duke.
They ended up playing — the Seminoles lost 76-67 — amid a guarantee from Hamilton that they would be paid but never were, according to the suit.
No attorney for Hamilton was listed in the lawsuit. FSU hosts Syracuse on Saturday.
The complaint includes multiple text-message exchanges between players and some between players and Hamilton.
FSU finished 17-16 last season, including 10-10 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The 76-year-old Hamilton is in the final year of his contract. The Seminoles are 9-4, including 0-2 in league play.
None of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit remain with the team. Green and Nickelberry exhausted their college eligibility last spring, and the four others transferred. Spears is now at UTSA, Fletcher is at Xavier, De’Ante Green is at USF and Warley is at Gonzaga.
The lawsuit is the latest in a growing number of NIL legal battles.
Matthew Sluka, a starting quarterback for the UNLV football team, left the program after three games in September because he was never paid a $100,000 NIL deal. Former Florida quarterback signee Jaden Rashada, now playing at Georgia, sued Gators coach Billy Napier last year over an unpaid $13 million NIL deal. And several Tulsa players claim they were never paid thousands in NIL commitments made by former coach Kevin Wilson.
Argentina
Judge charges 5 people over death of former One Direction star Liam Payne
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — An Argentine judge confirmed charges against five people in connection with the death of Liam Payne, a former member of musical group One Direction, and ordered preventive prison for two of them for having supplied him with drugs.
A judicial officer confirmed Monday the judge’s decision and said that one of the two people ordered to be put under preventive prison — a form of pre-trial detention — was an employee of the hotel in Buenos Aires where Payne stayed until he died after falling from the balcony of his room in October.
The officer said the other person was a waiter Payne met in a restaurant. The officer, who requested not to be identified as a condition to talk about the ruling, said that both face charges for supplying drugs and they need to present themselves before the judge.
The judge also charged three other people with manslaughter, including a businessman who was with Payne in Argentina and two managers of the hotel. The official said that they were not ordered to be held under preventive prison.
In November, prosecutors filed initial charges against three people, but they didn’t reveal their names.
Payne fell from his room’s balcony on the third floor of his hotel in the upscale neighborhood of Palermo in the Argentine capital. His autopsy said he died from multiple injuries and external bleeding.
Prosecutors also said that Payne’s toxicological exams showed that his body had “traces of alcohol, cocaine and a prescribed antidepressant” in the moments before his death.
Payne’s autopsy showed his injuries were caused neither by self-harm nor by physical intervention of others. The document also said that he did not have the reflex of protecting himself in the fall, which suggests he might have been unconscious.
Prosecutors in Argentina also ruled out the possibility that Payne died by suicide.
One Direction was among the most successful boy bands of recent times. It announced an indefinite hiatus in 2016 and Payne — like his former bandmates Zayn Malik, Harry Styles, Niall Horan, and Louis Tomlinson — pursued a solo career.
Serbia
Court convicts the parents of a teenage boy who shot dead 10 people in a school in Belgrade
BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — A court in Serbia on Monday convicted the parents of a teenage boy who last year shot dead nine pupils and a school guard and wounded six more people in a school in central Belgrade.
The Higher Court in Belgrade sentenced Vladimir Kecmanovic, father of the boy, to 14 years and six months in prison for “grave acts against public safety” and for child neglect. The mother, Miljana Kecmanovic was sentenced to three years in prison for child neglect but was acquitted on charges of illegal possession of weapons.
The shooter, identified as Kosta Kecmanovic, was 13 years old when he committed the crime and therefore too young to face a trial, according to Serbian law. His parents were detained soon after the shooting and charged for failing to keep the weapons out of reach of their son.
The massacre at the Vladislav Ribnikar primary school in central Belgrade on May 3, 2023, shocked the Balkan nation which was used to crises but where mass school shootings had never happened before.
The couple’s lawyer, Irina Borovic, said the verdict came as no surprise “because public pressure was enormous and the expectations were huge.” Borovic said she will appeal the verdicts.
Ninela Radicevic, who lost her daughter in the shooting, said “we are not satisfied because no one was held responsible for the murder of nine children” and the school guard.
The boy used his father’s guns to open fire on his fellow pupils and others. He walked into the school and first opened fire in the hall before heading into a classroom where he continued shooting.
Elementary schools in Serbia cater for children 7-15 years old.
Police have said that the teenager called them after the shooting and calmly said what he had done. He has been held in a specialized institution since the shooting and testified at his parents’ trial. The proceedings were closed to the public except for the reading of the verdicts.
Also convicted and sentenced to 15 months in prison for a false testimony was a shooting instructor who worked at a shooting ground where the boy practiced shooting.
The school shooting was followed the next day by another mass killing in villages outside the capital. Uros Blazic, 21, took an automatic rifle and opened fire at multiple locations, killing nine people and wounding 12. He was sentenced earlier this month to 20 years in prison.
The back-to-back shootings triggered a wave of street protests and a crackdown on widespread illegal gun ownership.
Estonia
Belarus convicts well-known activist and sentences him to 6 years in prison
TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — A court in Belarus convicted a well-known opposition activist and sentenced him to six years in prison, the country’s oldest and most prominent human rights group, Viasna, reported Friday. The move is the latest in the unabating crackdown against dissent that the country’s authorities have unleashed in recent years.
Dzmitry Kuchuk, whose Green Party was shut down last year, was convicted of gross violations of public order and calling for actions aimed at undermining national security. He was sentenced to six years in prison and fined about
$6,000, Viasna reported. The verdict in Kuchuk’s trial, which took place behind closed doors in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, was announced on Tuesday, but rights advocates only found out days later.
Kuchuk, 50, was arrested on Feb. 16 in Minsk near the Russian Embassy, where he went to lay flowers and light a candle in memory of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, whose sudden death in a remote Arctic prison was announced that day.
The authorities ordered Kuchuk jailed for successive 15-day stints and then filed criminal charges against him, Viasna said. According to the group, the activist was beaten up during his arrest, and his health deteriorated while he was in pre-trial detention.
Belarus, Russia’s neighbor with a population of 9.5 million, was rocked by mass protests after a disputed election in August 2020 gave its authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko his sixth term in office. The opposition and the West denounced the vote as fraudulent, and a monthslong wave of demonstrations rolled through the country. Security forces dispersed the rallies and arrested more than 65,000 people in the four years since.
This year, Lukashenko is running for reelection for a seventh consecutive term, in an election scheduled for Jan. 26. Ahead of the vote, the authorities have once again turned up the pressure on dissent, launching yet another wave of arrests.
Kuchuk rose to prominence in 2016, when he protested the construction of a nuclear power plant in Belarus. His Green Party was dissolved by the Belarusian Supreme Court last July as part of a government purge of political parties ahead of the 2024 parliamentary election. It was once a member of the European Green Party.
In December 2023, Kuchuk tried to run for a seat in the parliament, but was barred. He is the seventh Belarusian party leader in prison.
He is one of some 1,300 people behind bars in Belarus that Viasna has designated as political prisoners.
Russia
Man arrested for allegedly running LGBTQ+ travel agency found dead in custody
A Russian man arrested for allegedly running a travel agency for gay customers was found dead in custody in Moscow, rights group OVD-Info reported Sunday, amid a crackdown on LGBTQ+ rights in Russia.
According to OVD-Info, which tracks political arrests, Andrei Kotov — director of the “Men Travel” agency — faced charges of “organizing extremist activity and participating in it.”
OVD-Info said an investigator told Kotov’s lawyer that her client had died by suicide early Sunday while in pretrial detention and was found dead in his cell.
Prior to Kotov’s death, independent media outlet Mediazona reported earlier this month that Kotov had rejected the charges and said in court that law enforcement officers beat him and administered electric shocks during the arrest, even though he didn’t resist.
Just over a year ago, Russia’s Supreme Court effectively outlawed any LGBTQ+ activism in a ruling that designated “the international LGBT movement” as extremist. The move exposed anyone in the community or connected to it to criminal prosecution and prison, ushering in an atmosphere of fear and intimidation.
The LGBTQ+ community in Russia has been under legal and public pressure for over a decade but especially since the Kremlin sent troops to Ukraine in 2022. Russian leader Vladimir Putin has argued that the war is a proxy battle with the West, which he says aims to destroy Russia and its “traditional family values” by pushing for LGBTQ+ rights.
