Venezuela to deliver between 30M and 50M barrels of ‘high quality’ oil to US: Trump

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By REGINA GARCIA CANO (AAMER MADHANI and MEGAN JANETSKY Associated Press) President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Venezuela would be providing 30 million to 50 million barrels of oil to the U.S., and he pledged to use proceeds from the sale of this oil “to benefit the people” of both countries. The White House is organizing a meeting Friday with U.S. oil company executives to discuss Venezuela, which the Trump administration has been pressuring to open its vast-but-struggling oil industry more widely to American investment and know-how. Representatives of Exxon, Chevron and ConocoPhillips are expected to attend the White House meeting, according to a person familiar with the matter who requested anonymity to discuss the plans. Earlier Tuesday, officials in Caracas announced that at least 24 Venezuelan security officers were killed in the dead-of-night U.S. military operation to capture Nicolás Maduro and spirit him to the United States to face drug charges. And the co...
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Belleville man sentenced for producing, distributing explicit images of kids

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EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. - A Belleville, Illinois, man was sentenced last week in federal court for producing and distributing sexually-explicit images of children.

Prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Illinois said Brandon Lepper, 27, pleaded guilty to one count of sexual exploitation of a child and one count of distribution of child pornography.

“The defendant hid his cell phone and set it up to record in a bathroom he knew a minor would be using to undress in for his own sick pleasure, but then also proceeded to violate and humiliate his victim further by sending their images out into the hands of other pedophiles,” U.S. Attorney Rachelle Aud Crowe said.

According to court documents, FBI agents interviewed Lepper in April 2021 for distributing child sexual abuse material on social media. While searching Lepper's phone, investigators found illicit material on the device's camera roll, in an online folder drive, and in chats sent from the phone.

Agents later discovered Lepper took pictures of an unsuspecting child while they were undressing, and distributed those images to others. Investigators said Lepper personally knew the child.

Lepper's collection of sexually-explicit material included nearly 3,000 images.

A U.S. District Court judge sentenced to Lepper to 262 months in federal prison on exploitation and 240 months on the distribution count. Both sentences will run concurrently. Lepper was ordered to pay $27,500 in restitution, and must serve 15 years of supervised release after completing his prison sentence.



from FOX 2 https://ift.tt/RAUd6z0

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