Kelsie Platt/Facebook

• The fiery car crash occurred on Sept. 21 on Interstate 10 in Alabama.
• Kelsie Platt is suing FedEx, Goodyear, and more for the death of her husband Hamilton.
• Platt alleges faulty tires were the cause of the fatal accident.

An Alabama widow has accused FedEx and Goodyear in a wrongful death lawsuit after her husband’s September death in a fiery car wreck.

Hamilton Platt, 32, died after he slammed into a FedEx truck that had blown a tire on Interstate 10 Sept. 21. According to local news, Kelsie Platt’s lawsuit alleges FedEx’s faulty retread tires caused the fatal accident.

Platt, 28, told local reporters her husband survived the initial impact in his Chevrolet Tahoe, but she learned of his death through social media reports.

In October, she pleaded on Facebook for more information about her husband’s death from any potential witnesses. According to the post, her husband was traveling from Daphne, Alabama, to Mobile at the time of the accident.

“All I am asking at this point is for ANYONE who saw this accident or any first responders on this wreck or if you have a friend of a friend who you know who has information on this accident,” Platt wrote.

Ed Rowan, Platt’s attorney, accused the delivery company, which was named among other defendants in the lawsuit, of “playing Russian roulette” with its vehicles’ tires, NBC 15 reported.

“You would also hope that FedEx is inspecting their vehicles and their tires. I mean, inspecting the tires is one of the most important things you can do,” Rowan told NBC 15.

FedEx faced a similar lawsuit in 2016 after a fatal collision in Wyoming left three dead. The company settled the federal suit although the amount distributed is unclear, the Wyoming Tribune Eagle reported. Goodyear was not involved in that lawsuit.

Although neither FedEx nor Goodyear immediately responded to Insider’s request for comment on the suit, FedEx provided a statement to local news outlets.

The statement read: “We continue to extend our deepest sympathies to the family and friends of Mr. Platt. We have been fully cooperating with investigating authorities. We will defend the lawsuit.”

AP Photo/Patrick Semansky

• AG Merrick Garland moved on Friday to end sentencing disparities regarding cocaine-related crimes.
• The sentencing guideline differences for crack cocaine and powder cocaine-related offenses is stark.
• In a memo, Garland told federal prosecutors that the disparity is “not supported by science.”

US Attorney General Merrick Garland on Friday moved to end sentencing disparities that have imposed sharply divergent penalties among individuals convicted of crimes involving crack and power cocaine.

In a memo, Garland told federal prosecutors that the disparity is “not supported by science,” remarking that “there are no significant pharmacological differences between the drugs.”

Under the current law, there is a five-year mandatory prison sentence for offenses involving 28 grams of crack cocaine, while the same mandatory sentence would apply to offenses involving 500 grams of powder cocaine.

The disparities have led to a disproportionate number of Black individuals being convicted of crack-related offenses compared to White defendants — according to the US Sentencing Commission — an issue that advocates have sought to reform for decades in tackling the nation’s drug laws.

In 2021, nearly 78 percent of individuals convicted of trafficking crack cocaine were Black, while 15 percent of traffickers were Hispanic and 6 percent were white.

In comparison, that same year, nearly 67 percent of individuals convicted of trafficking powder cocaine were Hispanic; 25 percent were Black and roughly 7 percent were white.

The revised policy is set to take effect in 30 days and will change the requirements mandating minimum sentences for crack-related convictions.

The memo instructs prosecutors to factor in whether or not violence was involved in the crime, while also reviewing if individuals had a “significant managerial role in the trafficking of significant quantities of drugs” and whether they are part of a cartel or a violent gang.

Civil-rights groups have called for such changes for years, pointing to the detrimental impact that sentencing guidelines have had on Black Americans.

“The sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine has just one single purpose: to put Black Americans in jail. That’s it,” NAACP President Derrick Johnson said in a statement. “There is no scientific justification for prosecuting and sentencing crack and powder offenses differently. It does not make our communities safer and has simply been used as a tool to lock our community up in jail in the failed War on Drugs.”

Johnson added that Garland’s announcement “is another step toward restoring faith in the criminal justice system for Black Americans.”

Garland’s memo also stated that the Department of Justice backed the Equal Act, which would terminate the crack-to-powder sentencing disparity on the federal level.

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• The subway in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, is striking.
• But it was also a nuclear bomb shelter and photography was illegal on national-security grounds.
• The ban was lifted in 2018, allowing photos of its chandeliers, marbles, and Soviet memorials.

The subway system in Uzbekistan’s capital city is one of the world’s most beautiful metro systems but, because it was also designated as a nuclear bomb shelter, it was considered too strategically important for photos of it to be shared widely.

But with the photography ban lifted in 2018, we can see inside the metro system filled with art, sculpture, and vibrant colors that serves the city’s 2.4 million people

Here’s what the subway looks like:

The subway system is the oldest in central Asia. It opened in 1977, when Uzbekistan was part of the Soviet Union.

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Source: Tashkent Metro

It has three lines, and its stations are decorated in different stunning styles.

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Some of the stations have geometric patterns, while others are in a more Soviet style. Many use marble, glass, granite, and ceramics to create their striking interiors.

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Read more: The Moscow metro is known for its efficiency and ornate stations. I rode it and found that it’s miles ahead of New York City’s subway system.

Many have beautiful light features, like this chandelier.

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And many are filled with art, like sculptures and colorful mosaics.

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Some of that art celebrates Soviet pioneers like Yuri Gagarin, who was the first human to go to outer space.

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Source: Lonely Planet.

This artwork is in the Kosmonavtlar station, which translates to Cosmonauts Station. It has a space theme and contains multiple portraits of astronauts, including Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman to fly to space.

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Lots of the stations have themes. The Pakhtakor Station’s columns resemble foliage and it has mosaics of cotton balls in a reference to the country’s cotton picking industry.

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Source: Lonely Planet

The station entrances are equally beautiful.

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And the steps to and from the platform are wide enough for large crowds, with artwork above commuters’ heads.

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This sculpture is at Buyuk Ipak Yuli Station, which translates as the Great Silk Road Station.

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Some of the stations are more minimalist in their design, but they still contain intricate details, like the carvings in this huge light fixture.

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The subway system currently has 43 stations operating, and more are underway.

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Source: Tashkent Metro

The House passed a bill this Thursday that would allow Puerto Ricans to vote in the first-ever binding referendum to either join the U.S. as the 51st state, or gain independence.

Coined the Puerto Rico Status Act, the bill is not favored to pass in the Senate, but symbolizes progress toward the island territory’s long-sought dream of achieving more political autonomy. The measure was backed by the White House and passed with a bipartisan vote of 233 to 191, with 16 Republicans joining 217 Democrats in approval.

The House made a similar initiative more than 10 years ago, but this time it includes a requirement that the federal government honors the results of a referendum, whatever they may be.

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“For far too long, the residents of Puerto Rico—over 3 million U.S. citizens—have been deprived of the opportunity to determine their own political future and have not received the full rights and benefits of their citizenship because they reside in a U.S. territory,” Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ) and the bill’s 63 co-sponsors wrote. “H.R. 8393 [The Puerto Rico Status Act] would take a historic step towards righting this wrong by establishing a process to ascertain the will of the voters of Puerto Rico.”

Over the years, Puerto Rico has held seven referendums to gauge what type of political future its population wants, but none of them were binding and typically faced low voter turnout. In a 2020 referendum, 53% of Puerto Ricans voted for the island to become a state.

The Puerto Rico Status Act would include three options for voters to choose between at a referendum. The choices are to grant Puerto Rico statehood, to grant it independence or to grant it independence while retaining some U.S. affiliations. The bill also covers some procedures for how the changes could be implemented and designates resources for a voter education campaign.

The Puerto Rico Status Act would need at least 60 votes to break a Senate filibuster, which analysts are highly skeptical will occur. With Republicans poised to take control of the House in January, the measure appears to be a last-ditch effort to pursue Puerto Rican independence or statehood. The GOP generally doesn’t vie for Puerto Rican statehood, likely because of how the move might add more Democrat voters to the national electorate.

Following its colonization under Spain in the early 16th century, Puerto Rico became an American territory in 1898. The island has over three million inhabitants today. Puerto Ricans were granted American citizenship in 1917, but still lack representation in Congress and cannot vote in presidential elections.

Puerto Ricans also face restrictions for eligibility in some federal programs and typically don’t pay federal income taxes, but they can serve in the U.S. military and are subject to the draft. About 40% of Puerto Ricans live at or below the poverty line.

“Time’s up on pondering the political and economic consequences of Puerto Rican statehood, let alone being opposed to it,” Christina Ponsa-Krau, a Columbia law professor who specializes in American territorial expansion, wrote in an essay for the New York Times. “You don’t annex a place, make it your colony for nearly a century and a quarter, and then reject its people’s vote for statehood.”

Walt Disney Co. lowered its guidance for Avatar: The Way of Water’s opening weekend, after the movie generated $53 million in its first two days of release domestically.

It garnered an additional $127.1 million in international markets over three days, Disney said in a statement Saturday.

The company suggested The Way of Water would take in between $130 million and $150 million in US and Canadian theaters in its opening weekend. It previously forecast more than $150 million.

While that would still put it alongside the biggest movies of the year, the results could come as a disappointment for theater chains that were anticipating an even stronger performance.

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The receipts compare with a $52 million opening for Paramount Global’s Top Gun: Maverick in May and $48.2 million for Universal’s Minions: The Rise of Gru in July over their first two days, according to Comscore Inc. data. The results were below recent superhero film releases, such as Disney’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which tend to generate early attendance from fans looking for clues to future storylines.

The Way of Water is the sequel to 2009’s Avatar, the highest-grossing picture of all time with $2.92 billion in box-office receipts. It’s potentially the most significant film franchise to come from Disney’s $71 billion purchase of Fox’s entertainment assets in 2019. The production costs alone for The Way of Water have been reported by various news outlets to be greater than $350 million. Disney shot two pictures at once, part of an overall plan to have five films in all, going out to 2028.

Read more: ‘Avatar’ sequel gives Disney chance to prove wisdom of Fox deal

The first Avatar became a cultural phenomenon, with its dazzling special effects ushering in a new era for 3D cinema. Many people saw it again and again, a far broader audience than those normally interested in science-fiction films, notes David Herrin, founder of the Quorum, a movie research firm. Herrin’s analysis suggests the sequel is resonating strongest with men over 35.

“The first ‘Avatar’ averaged a 13.6% weekend-over-weekend decline in ticket sales through its first seven weeks in theaters, which we think could be difficult for the sequel to mimic,” Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Kevin Near and Geetha Ranganathan said in a research note. “Light theatrical competition may be overshadowed by high-budget streaming releases.”

The Way of Water is among the widest releases in Disney history, debuting on over 12,000 screens in the US and Canada and 40,000 internationally. It’s being released at the same time globally in every country, a rarity in the business.

At three hours and 12 minutes in length, the film’s run time could be limiting how many people see it, because theaters can’t schedule as many screenings per day with movies that long.

In Thursday previews, 61% saw it on 3D screens. While that higher-priced format will boost average ticket prices, it may also limit the number of viewers as fans wait to get the best seats in theaters with 3D screens.

In any case, the picture will have a chance to continue to generate revenue for weeks to come. Only four other films are getting wide releases in the US this month, half the number of prepandemic times, according to Comscore data.

Read more: Disney set for major China return with ‘Avatar 2’ approval

The Way of Water follows the story of a moon called Pandora and the colonization that threatens the indigenous Na’vi humanoid race that inhabits it. It’s got 78% of critics recommending it, according to the review site RottenTomatoes.com.

Basic services were being restored in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv on Saturday after the latest wave of Russian air strikes on critical infrastructure, as residents navigated a city gripped by fog and girded for a holiday season marked by uncertainty.

Mayor Vitali Klitschko said a quarter of Kyiv remained without heating but that the metro system was back in service and all residents had been reconnected to water supply by early morning.

Only around one-third of the city remained without electricity, he said, but emergency outages would still be implemented to save power. “Because the deficit of electricity is significant,” he wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

Ukrainian officials said Russia fired more than 70 missiles on Friday in one of its heaviest barrages since the Kremlin’s Feb. 24 invasion, forcing emergency blackouts nationwide.

Ukraine has managed to restore power to almost 6 million people in the last 24 hours, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a video address.

“Repair work continues without a break after yesterday’s terrorist attack. … Of course, there is still a lot of work to do to stabilize the system,” he said.

“There are problems with the heat supplies. There are big problems with water supplies,” Zelenskiy added, saying Kyiv as well as Vinnytsia and Lviv further to the west were experiencing the most difficulty.

Earlier this month, Kyiv Mayor Klitschko had warned of an “apocalypse” scenario for the capital if Russian air strikes on infrastructure continued, though he also said there was no need yet for people to evacuate.

“We are fighting and doing everything we can to make sure that this does not happen,” he told Reuters on Dec. 7.

In a gloomy winter haze on Saturday, officials reopened a popular pedestrian bridge that had been damaged during an earlier air strike and were setting up a smaller-than-usual Christmas tree in a central square.

The vast space in front of the centuries-old St. Sophia Cathedral is traditionally anchored by a hulking evergreen at Christmas. But officials this year opted for a 12-metre (40-foot) artificial tree festooned with energy-saving lights powered by a generator.

Orthodox Christians make up the majority of Ukraine’s 43 million people.

Klitschko said the tree was funded by donors and businesses, and that no public celebrations would take place.

“I doubt this will be a true holiday,” said Kyiv resident Iryna Soloychuk, who arrived with her daughter to see the tree just hours after another round of air-raid alerts wailed across the country.

“But we should understand that we’re all together, that we should help one another.”

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Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried is expected to appear in court in The Bahamas on Monday to reverse his decision to contest extradition to the United States, where he faces fraud charges, a person familiar with the matter said on Saturday.

The cryptocurrency mogul was indicted in federal court in Manhattan on Dec. 13 and accused of engaging in a scheme to defraud FTX customers. Prosecutors said he used stolen customer deposits to pay for expenses and debts and to make investments on behalf of his crypto hedge fund, Alameda Research LLC.

Bankman-Fried, 30, was arrested on Monday in The Bahamas, where he lives and where FTX is based. He was remanded on Tuesday to the Caribbean nation’s Fox Hill prison after Chief Magistrate JoyAnn Ferguson rejected his request to remain at home while awaiting a hearing on his extradition to the United States.

Neither a spokesman nor a U.S.-based lawyer for Bankman-Fried immediately responded to requests for comment. A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s office in Manhattan declined to comment.

Bankman-Fried had made a new bail application before The Bahamas Supreme Court on Thursday, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters at the time.

CAIRO — Iranian authorities arrested one of the country’s most famous actresses on charges of spreading falsehoods about nationwide protests that grip the country, state media said Saturday.

The report by IRNA said Taraneh Alidoosti, star of the Oscar-winning movie “The Salesman,” was detained a week after she made a post on Instagram expressing solidarity with the first man recently executed for crimes allegedly committed during the nationwide protests.

IRNA also said several other Iranian celebrities had ″been summoned by the judiciary body over publishing provocative content.″ It did not say how many or provide further details.

According to the report published on the state media’s official Telegram channel, Alidoosti was arrested because she did not provide ’’any documents in line with her claims.″

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In her post, the 38-year-old actress said: ”His name was Mohsen Shekari. Every international organization who is watching this bloodshed and not taking action, is a disgrace to humanity.”

Shekari was executed Dec. 9 after being charged by an Iranian court with blocking a street in Tehran and attacking a member of the country’s security forces with a machete.

Last Week, Iran executed a second prisoner, Majidreza Rahnavard, in connection with the protests. Rahnavard’s body was left hanging from a construction crane as a gruesome warning to others. Iranian authorities alleged Rahnavard stabbed two members of its paramilitary force.

Both men were executed less than a month after they were charged, underscoring the speed at which Iran now carries out death sentences imposed for alleged crimes related to the demonstrations. Activists say at least a dozen people have been sentenced to death in closed-door hearings.

Alidoosti has made at least three posts on her Instagram account expressing solidarity with protesters since the demonstrations broke out in September. Her account, which had some 8 million followers, was suspended Sunday.

Iran has been rocked by protests since the Sept. 16 death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who died after being detained by the morality police. The protests have since morphed into one of the most serious challenges to Iran’s theocracy installed by the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Alidoosti has previously criticised the Iranian government and its police force.

in June 2020, she was given a suspended five-month prison sentence after she criticized the police on Twitter in 2018 for assaulting a woman who had removed her headscarf.

Other movies Alidoosti has stared in include The Beautiful City and About Elly.

Hengameh Ghaziani and Katayoun Riahi, two other famous actresses in Iran, were arrested by authorities for expressing solidarity with protesters on social media. Both have been released.

At least 495 people have been killed in the demonstrations amid a harsh security crackdown, according to Human Rights Activists in Iran, a group that has been monitoring the protests since they began. Over 18,200 people have been detained by authorities.

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