Day: February 18, 2023

"I thought you were dead," Philip Barber said to his brother Chris when the pair were reunited for the first time on Thursday after floodwaters tore through their community in Esk Valley on New Zealand's North Island. The siblings live next to each other, and Philip could do nothing but sit and watch in horror as his brother's house was engulfed by water and silt in the early hours of Tuesday morning as Cyclone Gabrielle hit. While Philip made it onto his roof, Chris and his family were panicking inside their home as the waters rose rapidly around them. READ MORE: Cyclone Gabrielle is New Zealand's worst weather disaster 'in a generation' Brothers Philip and Chris Barber break down as they hug on Thursday, 48 hours after Chris and his family almost died when floodwate...

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has claimed there is "no way" his country would send troops into Ukraine unless it is attacked, amid fears Russia's close ally will help to facilitate a spring offensive by Moscow. "We are peaceful people. We know what war is and we don't want war," the authoritarian leader Lukashenko, who has close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin, said at a small gathering of journalists from international media at Minsk's Palace of Independence "There is no way we are going to send our troops to Ukraine unless you are going to commit aggression against Belarus," Lukashenko said. "But don't forget Russia is our ally, legally, morally and politically," he added. READ MORE: Death rate of Russian soldiers 'highest since first week of Ukr...

As he languished in a Missouri prison for nearly three decades, Lamar Johnson never stopped fighting to prove his innocence, even when it meant doing much of the legal work himself. This week a St. Louis judge overturned Johnson’s murder conviction and ordered him freed. Johnson closed his eyes and shook his head, overcome with emotion. Shouts of joy rang out from the packed courtroom, and several people — relatives, civil rights activists and others — stood to cheer. Johnson’s lawyers hugged each other and him. “I can’t say I knew it would happen, but I would never give up fighting for what I knew to be the right thing, that freedom was wrongfully taken from me,” Johnson said. Lamar Johnson spent 28 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. (AP) READ MORE: Woman w...

A former security guard at the British Embassy in Berlin was sentenced to more than 13 years in prison for putting U.K. diplomats at “maximum risk” by selling secret information to Russia. David Ballantyne Smith admitted spying but claimed he was driven by depression and a desire to “teach the embassy a lesson” because he felt badly treated at work. But Judge Mark Wall said Smith was motivated by hatred of the U.K. and support for Russian President Vladimir Putin. David Ballantyne Smith was secretly working for Russia. (AP) READ MORE: Spy balloon launched from tropical paradise “He was paid for his treachery, and he was motivated by his antipathy towards this country and intended to damage this country’s interests by acting as he did,” Wall said. Passing sente...