WORLD
LONDON – A rare radioactive substance killed an ex-KGB spy turned Kremlin critic, the British government said Friday. In a dramatic statement written before he died, Alexander Litvinenko called Russian President Vladimir Putin “barbaric and ruthless” and blamed him personally for the poisoning.
Putin, in Finland, offered his condolences for the death of Litvinenko and denied any involvement. He called the release of the deathbed statement a “political provocation” by his opponents.
Police said they were treating the case as an “unexplained death” – but not yet as a murder.
The 43-year-old Litvinenko, who fiercely criticized Putin’s government from his refuge in London since 2000, told police he believed he was poisoned Nov. 1 while investigating the October slaying of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, another critic of Putin.
Litvinenko’s statement, read by his friend Alex Goldfarb to reporters outside the hospital, put the blame for his death squarely on Putin.
He accused Putin of having “no respect for life, liberty or any civilized value.”
The former spy, who sought asylum in Britain in 2000 and became a citizen, worked tirelessly to uncover corruption in Russia’s Federal Security Service, the successor agency to the Soviet-era KGB, and unmask Politkovskaya’s killers.
NATION
NEW YORK – The nation’s retailers had a strong start to the holiday shopping season, according to results announced Saturday by a national research group that tracks sales at mall-based stores. One big exception was Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which said it expects to report same-store sales in November below its already lackluster forecast.
According to ShopperTrak RCT Corp., which tracks total sales at more than 45,000 mall-based retail outlets, total sales rose 6 percent to $8.96 billion on Friday, the start of the holiday shopping season, compared to the same day a year ago.
Wal-Mart, however, estimated it will post a 0.1 percent decline in same-store sales, or sales at stores opened at least a year, in November. That’s slightly below its original projections for flat sales for the month, compared to the year-ago period. The results cover the four-week period that ended through Friday. Same-store sales are considered a key indicator of a retailer’s health.
While Black Friday – so named because it was traditionally when the surge of shopping made stores profitable – starts holiday shopping, it is not considered a bellwether for the season. However, merchants see Black Friday as setting an important tone to the overall season: what consumers see that day influences where they will shop for the rest of the year.
STATE & LOCAL
NORFOLK – Customs agents found more than 1,000 boxes of counterfeit Nike shoes worth $1 million when they raided a refrigerated shipping container at the port. The faux Nikes were stashed behind boxes of salt kelp and jellyfish.
Nikes are second only to Louis Vuitton products in the amount of counterfeit apparel that enters the United States. They are part of a $1 billion-a-year worldwide black market in counterfeit goods.
Four local retail stores have been caught in recent months selling phony merchandise, including Nike knockoffs and counterfeit NFL and NBA jerseys.
In U.S. District Court, Lawrence Pettaway pleaded guilty Monday on behalf of his corporation, N-Zone Sportswear Inc., to trafficking in counterfeit goods. He admitted that his store had for sale 617 pairs and 47 single fake Nike shoes.
Authorities determined that the counterfeit Nikes were purchased for $37.50 a pair from Singapore and Chinese suppliers, well below the wholesale price.
The knockoffs are typically sold at flea markets, by small retailers and in consignment stores.
In Portsmouth last month, authorities seized 1,100 pairs of counterfeit shoes, including Nike and Timberland brands, as well as 192 knockoff NFL and NBA jerseys.