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Gonzalo Lira, a prolific online personality who became an outspoken supporter of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, had his home in Kharkiv raided by the security services.Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) has arrested Gonzalo Lira—a dual citizen of the United States and Chile, who has been living in Kharkiv—on charges of producing pro-Russian propaganda.Lira, a prolific and controversial online personality, is accused of creating and disseminating materials that justify Putin’s armed aggression against Ukraine. He is facing the possibility of being imprisoned for five to eight years.Lira, a former online dating coach, was arrested on May 1st at his residence in Kharkiv,...

A new twist on an old scam is targeting students trying to sublet their apartments as the school year winds down. Officials with Libro Financial Group, the region’s largest credit union, say they have warned about six to eight members in recent weeks and stopped them from falling prey to the scheme. “It’s troubling because it’s a plausible scheme and it’s going after a vulnerable population,” said Harry Joosten, Libro’s vice-president of member relations. The scamster, claiming to be a foreign student from Africa, sends an e-mail offering to sublet an apartment and quickly sends a US money order by...

With its easy sharing of jokes, gossip, photos and videos within a virtual community of young people, the Web site MySpace.com has rocketed to second place in worldwide popularity, with an estimated 78 million users. But the site also has brought concerns about teens meeting strangers online. And now there's a new worry: a "phishing" scam that experts say could compromise teens' -- or their parents' -- financial information. As with other phishing scams, in which con artists create realistic-looking Web sites using the names of well-known banks or other corporations, the MySpace scam tricks people into going to a...

The search is on in southern California for a Grammy-nominated music producer who mysteriously vanished after phoning a friend to say he was being chased by people with dogs. Christian Irwin, 48, of the Topanga area of Los Angeles, was last heard from Sunday morning when he phoned a friend at 3:45 a.m. to say he was pursued through a ravine. Police said he had lost his glasses and shoes in a nearby creek. "He really felt like he was running for his life," John Riolo, Irwin's brother-in-law, told KNBC-TV. "And, if he felt like he was running for his...

According to an article published in the September issue of Handguns magazine, a recent decline in fatalities resulting from inner city handgun shootings can be credited to the thriving popularity of a flashy new gangsta-style shooting technique wherein the weapon is canted 180 degrees from its normal upright position. "Hollywood overkill of the sideways gangsta shooting method encouraged many modern hoods to look for a less trendy but equally cool-looking technique for offin' someone,'" wrote freelancer Marian Ayoob in Handguns' September cover story, entitled "Better To Look Good Than To Shoot Good." "Over the last three months, holding a gun...

Jeff Reikowski is dreading the arrival of his March phone bill. Over the past two months, he has been charged for more than $1,000 in international calls he didn't make, to a place he'd never heard of — Sao Tome. He called the phone company to dispute the January bill. Several conversations later, about $800 in disputed charges for that month were dropped. But he's still on the hook for more than $300, including taxes, for February calls to the same number in Sao Tome, which is the capital city of the Republic of Sao Tome and Principe, islands in...