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Lawyers for Jussie Smollett have filed an appeal of his December 2021 conviction for fabricating a racist and homophobic attack on himself and then lying to Chicago police about it.   The former “Empire” actor, 40, was found guilty on five counts of disorderly conduct in December 2021.   On March 10, 2022, a Cook County judge sentenced Smollett to 150 days in jail and two years’ probation. He was also ordered to pay a $25,000 fine and restitution of more than $120,000.   Smollett walked out of jail six days later after an appeals court ruled that he should be released while his conviction was appealed. His attorneys are now seeking to keep Smollett from having to return to jail and complete his sentence.   In his appellate brief, Smollett’s legal team called for a new trial, claiming “clear and egregious” prosecutorial misconduct.   “Mr. Smollett’s constitutional rights to due process and to a fair trial were denied by prosecutorial misconduct includ...

A Toronto man is facing 96 charges related to the sexual assault and abuse of minors he targeted using social media platforms, Canadian police said on March 1, adding they believed there were more victims. Daniel Langdon, 31, who has been notably charged with 39 counts of sexual assault, is also suspected of making and possessing child pornography, Toronto police told a press conference. There are “multiple victims between the age of seven to 17”, and the alleged crimes took place between April 2021 and February of this year, detective Vijay Shetty told reporters.   The victims, who lived in different parts of Ontario province, Canada’s most populous region, were believed to have been targeted using Internet apps such as Snapchat, Instagram, TikTok and Twitter.   Langdon, who was described as very active on social media, “utilised several usernames and email addresses on various social media platforms and in some cases altered his image to appear younger,” Shetty s...

Unidentified Gunmen left a threatening note aimed at football star, Lionel Messi, after attacking a supermarket in his home town of Rosario in Argentina in the early hours of Thursday, March 2.   Reports emanating from Argentina say 14 shots were fired at the doors of food store “Unico” in Rosario before two suspects fled the scene on a motorbike.  The store belongs to the family of Messi’s wife, Antonela Roccuzzo, who also grew up in Rosario.  Nobody was injured in the attack, which caused significant damage to the shop. But a piece of cardboard was left at the scene with the message: “Messi, we are waiting for you. Javkin is a drug dealer. He is not going to look after you.” Pablo Javkin is the mayor of Rosario.   After Thursday’s attack, Javkin called for more resources to be given to Rosario to help protect and serve its residents. “Rosario is 300km [from Buenos Aires], it is near. We want to get all the resources against crime that Argentina has to tak...

La Liga president, Javier Tebas, has announced that Barcelona will not be able to sign players this summer transfer window. Tebas said this at the FT Business of Football summit in London on Thursday, as per Martin Lipton of The Sun. “As of today, Barcelona doesn’t have any room in its budget to spend in the upcoming transfer window. “Barcelona has been involved in questionable behaviour which has had an impact on LaLiga and we are acting accordingly. We have ruled that they can no longer sign more players.” Barcelona spent in excess of €150 million last summer on signing the likes of Raphinha, Robert Lewandowski and Jules Kounde, while Franck Kessie, Hector Bellerin, Andreas Christensen, and Marcos Alonso arrived at Camp Nou on free transfers. Barcelona were under pressure to reduce their squad last summer but only managed to offload Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Philippe Coutinho, while another high-earner, Memphis Depay, joined Atletico Madrid in January. However, accordin...