UK jury finds man who dreamed of being James Bond guilty of attempting to spy for Russia
Howard Phillips, 65, sought to pass information about former Defense Secretary Grant Shapps to two men he believed were Russian agents. However, the agents were undercover British intelligence agents.
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Toronto Sun
3 minutes ago
- Toronto Sun
Landlord jailed for decades in hate-crime attack on Palestinian American family has died
Published Jul 26, 2025 • 2 minute read Joseph Czuba, 71, stands before Circuit Judge Dave Carlson for his arraignment at the Will County courthouse, Oct. 30, 2023, in Joliet, Ill. Photo by Charles Rex Arbogast / AP JOLIET, Ill. (AP) — A landlord jailed for decades after he attacked a Palestinian American boy and his mother has died. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account Three months ago, Joseph Czuba was sentenced to 53 years behind bars for the attack. He was found guilty in February of murder, attempted murder and hate-crime charges in the death of Wadee Alfayoumi and the wounding of the boy's mother, Hanan Shaheen. The 73-year-old Czuba targeted them in October 2023 because of their Islamic faith and as a response to the war between Israel and Hamas, which started days earlier. Czuba died Thursday in the custody of the Illinois Department of Corrections, the Chicago Sun-Times reported, citing the Will County Sheriff's Office. The law enforcement agency did not return a call seeking comment on the death. Ahmed Rehab, the executive director of Council on American-Islamic Relations' Chicago office, said in a statement on Saturday that 'this depraved killer has died, but the hate is still alive and well.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Evidence at trial included harrowing testimony from Shaheen and her frantic 911 call, along with bloody crime scene photos and police video. Jurors deliberated less than 90 minutes before handing in a verdict. The family had been renting rooms in Czuba's home in Plainfield, about 40 miles (64 kilometres) from Chicago when the attack happened. Central to prosecutors' case was harrowing testimony from the boy's mother, who said Czuba attacked her before moving on to her son, insisting they had to leave because they were Muslim. Prosecutors also played the 911 call and showed police footage. Czuba's wife, Mary, whom he has since divorced, also testified for the prosecution, saying he had become agitated about the Israel-Hamas war, which had erupted days earlier. Police said Czuba pulled a knife from a holder on a belt and stabbed the boy 26 times, leaving the knife in the child's body. Some of the bloody crime scene photos were so explicit that the judge agreed to turn television screens showing them away from the audience, which included Wadee's relatives. The attack renewed fears of anti-Muslim discrimination and hit particularly hard in Plainfield and surrounding suburbs, which have a large and established Palestinian community. Wadee's funeral drew large crowds, and Plainfield officials have dedicated a park playground in his honour. Columnists Toronto & GTA Columnists Sunshine Girls Columnists
Toronto Sun
3 minutes ago
- Toronto Sun
The Tea app was intended to help women date safely. Then it got hacked
Published Jul 26, 2025 • 3 minute read A person uses a smartphone in Chicago, Sept. 16, 2017. Photo by AP / AP Tea, a provocative dating app designed to let women anonymously ask or warn each other about men they'd encountered, rocketed to the top spot on the U.S. Apple App Store this week. On Friday, the company behind the app confirmed it had been hacked: Thousands of images, including selfies, were leaked online. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account 'We have engaged third-party cybersecurity experts and are working around the clock to secure our systems,' San Francisco-based Tea Dating Advice Inc. said in a statement. 404 Media, which earlier reported the breach, said it was 4Chan users who discovered an exposed database that 'allowed anyone to access the material' from Tea. The app and the breach highlight the fraught nature of seeking romance in the age of social media. Here's what to know: Tea was meant to help women date safely Tea founder Sean Cook, a software engineer who previously worked at Salesforce and Shutterfly, says on the app's website that he founded the company in 2022 after witnessing his own mother's 'terrifying' experiences. Cook said they included unknowingly dating men with criminal records and being 'catfished' — deceived by men using false identities. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Tea markets itself as a safe way for women to anonymously vet men they might meet on dating apps such as Tinder or Bumble _ ensuring that the men are who they say they are, not criminals and not already married or in a relationship. 'It's like people have their own little Yelp pages,' said Aaron Minc, whose Cleveland firm, Minc Law, specializes in cases involving online defamation and harassment. In an Apple Store review, one woman wrote that she used a Tea search to investigate a man she'd begun talking to and discovered 'over 20 red flags, including serious allegations like assault and recording women without their consent.' She said she cut off communication. 'I can't imagine how things could've gone had I not known,' she wrote. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. A surge in social media attention over the past week pushed Tea to the No. 1 spot on Apple's U.S. App Store as of July 24, according to Sensor Tower, a research firm. In the seven days from July 17-23, Tea downloads shot up 525% compared to the week before. Tea said in an Instagram post that it had reached 4 million users. Tea has been criticized for invading men's privacy A female columnist for The Times of London newspaper, who signed into the app, on Thursday called Tea a 'man-shaming site' and complained that 'this is simply vigilante justice, entirely reliant on the scruples of anonymous women. With Tea on the scene, what man would ever dare date a woman again?' 'Over the last couple of weeks, we've gotten hundreds of calls on it. It's blown up,' attorney Minc said. 'People are upset. They're getting named. They're getting shamed.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. In 1996, Congress passed legislation protecting websites and apps from liability for things posted by their users. But the users can be sued for spreading 'false and defamatory' information, Minc said. In May, however, a federal judge in Illinois threw out an invasion-of-privacy lawsuit by a man who'd been criticized by women in the Facebook chat group 'Are We Dating the Same Guy,″ Bloomberg Law reported. State privacy laws could offer another avenue for bringing legal action against someone who posted your photograph or other personal information in a harmful way, Minc said. The breach exposed thousands of selfies and photo IDs In its statement, Tea reported that about 72,000 images were leaked online, including 13,000 images of selfies or photo identification that users submitted during account verification. Another 59,000 images that were publicly viewable in the app from posts, comments and direct messages were also accessed, according to the company's statement. No email addresses or phone numbers were exposed, the company said, and the breach only affects users who signed up before February 2024. 'At this time, there is no evidence to suggest that additional user data was affected. Protecting tea users' privacy and data is our highest priority,' Tea said. It said users did not need to change their passwords or delete their accounts. 'All data has been secured.' Lawyer Minc said he was not surprised to see Tea get targeted. 'These sites get attacked,' he said. 'They create enemies. They put targets on themselves where people want to go after them.' Columnists Toronto & GTA Columnists Sunshine Girls Columnists
Toronto Star
33 minutes ago
- Toronto Star
Landlord jailed for decades in hate-crime attack on Palestinian American family has died
JOLIET, Ill. (AP) — A landlord jailed for decades after he attacked a Palestinian American boy and his mother has died. Three months ago, Joseph Czuba was sentenced to 53 years behind bars for the attack. He was found guilty in February of murder, attempted murder and hate-crime charges in the death of Wadee Alfayoumi and the wounding of the boy's mother, Hanan Shaheen.
