Norwalk

'Antifa' website cited in conservative media attack on Biden is linked to — wait for it — Russia

One America News chief White House correspondent Chanel Rion used a Russian-linked site to take a shot at the Democratic ticket.

Andrew Yang on Democratic National Convention: 'I kind of expected to speak'

Yang voiced his apparent disappointment in not being on the list of speakers at the upcoming Democratic National Convention.

North Korea nuclear reactor site threatened by recent flooding, U.S. think-tank says

Satellite imagery suggests recent flooding in North Korea may have damaged pump houses connected to the country's main nuclear facility, a U.S.-based think-tank said on Thursday. Analysts at 38 North, a website that monitors North Korea, said commercial satellite imagery from August 6-11 showed how vulnerable the Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center's nuclear reactor cooling systems are to extreme weather events. The Korean peninsula has been hammered by one of the longest rainy spells in recent history, with floods and landslides causing damage and deaths in both North and South Korea.

Riot declared in downtown Portland, protesters tear-gassed

Local and state police made arrests after demonstrators returned to downtown area despite withdrawal of federal agents

Georgia shop that said it would charge only white people $20 booking fee apologizes

Black people and customers of color were exempt from the refundable fee.

Boston University announced students can still receive their degrees after they die, but the school says it has nothing to do with the pandemic

Boston University spokesman Colin Riley said plans for a posthumous degree policy were in place long before the novel coronavirus outbreak began.

The Perseid meteor shower, which NASA says is the best of the year, peaks Tuesday night. Here's how to catch it.

The Perseids meteor shower, considered the year's best, peaks Tuesday night. Here's how to watch the show.

Trump says fear of 'low income housing' will bring 'the suburban housewife' to his side

The president has attacked Joe Biden by trying to appeal to a community that no longer exists.

South Dakota Governor to get $400,000 security wall around residence

South Dakota officials said Wednesday they plan to build a security fence budgeted for $400,000 around the official governor’s residence to protect Gov. Kristi Noem.

Chicago man charged with attempted murder in shooting that police say sparked looting

A Chicago man who allegedly shot at officers in an incident that police said prompted looting was charged with attempted murder late Monday night.

Taiwan says discussing purchase of U.S. mines, cruise missiles

Taiwan is in discussions with the United States on acquiring underwater sea mines to deter amphibious landings as well as cruise missiles for coastal defense, Taiwan's de facto ambassador to United States said on Wednesday. Speaking to the Washington's Hudson Institute think tank, Hsiao Bi-khim said Taiwan was facing "an existential survival issue," given China's territorial and sovereignty claims over the island and needed to expand its asymmetric capabilities. Hsiao said Taipei was currently working with the United States on acquiring a number of hardware capabilities, including cruise missiles that would work in conjunction with Taiwan's indigenous Hsiung Feng missile system to provide better coastal defense.

Pro Poker Player Was Bound, Sexually Assaulted, ‘Lit on Fire’ After Motel Meeting

Susie Zhao, the professional poker player whose charred remains were found in a remote Michigan park in July, was allegedly bound with zip ties and sexually assaulted before she was “lit on fire until she died” after meeting with a convicted sex offender, according to new court documents. Zhao, 33, was last seen around 5:30 p.m. on July 12 by her mother, the White Lake Township Police Department previously told The Daily Beast. The next day, her “badly burned” body was discovered at around 8:05 a.m. in a parking lot near the Pontiac Lake Recreation Area, about an hour outside of Detroit. Last week, Jeffrey Bernard Morris, 60, was charged from his hospital bed with first-degree premeditated murder. Authorities discovered the convicted sex offender allegedly met Zhao in a motel room the night before her body was found. Morris, who is homeless and has a “lengthy criminal history” is currently in jail after being denied bail. A Pro Poker Player Was Found ‘Badly Burned.’ Was She Murdered Over Gambling?“This is not the end of the investigation into Susie’s death but the beginning of the pursuit of justice for her and her family,” White Lake Township Detective Chris Hild said in a press conference. “We can only hope that where we are today brings some level of comfort to the healing process.”In new court documents, first obtained by WXYZ, authorities revealed what occurred the night the pro poker player, known on the circuit as “Susie Q,” went missing. Cell phone records indicate Morris and the rising poker star first met on July 12. In an interview with police the night of his arrest on July 31, Morris admitted to picking up Zhao on Watkins Lake Road before they both checked into the Sherwood Motel at around 9:26 p.m.  Morris told investigators the pair left the motel at some point to buy some alcohol and that Zhao left the motel at around midnight and took everything with her. Cell phone records, however, show the 33-year-old’s phone didn’t leave the motel until around 5 a.m on July 13, according to the court documents. Surveillance footage near the motel and cell phone records also show Morris left the room at around 5 a.m., before driving to a secluded section of the Pontiac Lake Recreation area—where Zhao was found. Court documents say that evidence suggests Morris was at the 3,745-acre park for about seven minutes. When Zhao was found the following morning, she was identified by fingerprints and was bound with zip ties. She had been sexually assaulted with a large object before being "lit on fire until she died,” the court documents state. A spokesperson for the Oakland County Medical Examiner told The Daily Beast that Zhao’s cause of death is currently unknown, pending an autopsy and toxicology results. When authorities pulled Morris over on a warrant in Ypsilanti weeks later, investigators found several hairs and other evidence with possible bloodstains. They also found duffle bags with a fitted bed sheet that appeared to have blood on it and a wooden baseball bat that also appeared to have a bloodstain. The items were taken to Oakland County Crime Lab for testing. Authorities are now scrambling to understand the motive behind the “mysterious death” that occurred just weeks after Zhao moved back to her home state of Michigan from California on June 9. Two childhood friends of Zhao previously told The Daily Beast that the poker player bounced between several cities—including Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Florida—both for her job and because she was “a jet-setter.” According to PokerNews.com, Zhao was successful in the professional worker world, garnering several deep runs in the World Series of Poker Main Event—placing 90th in 2012 to earn $73,805. Over the course of her career, Zhao won $224,671, according to the poker database The Hendon Mob. Despite earlier speculation, authorities have said there is no evidence that Zhao’s death was connected to her gambling.“I don’t think there was ever anything else that she wanted to do. She was playing poker from a very young age,” Meredith Rogowski, a childhood friend, told The Daily Beast. “It was not a surprise. She was very bold and did whatever she wanted to do. Whenever we talked about her job, she was very nonchalant. But I do know it was exhausting to be in that world—it was long hours and some of the people she met weren’t always genuine.”Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

Air Force helicopter shot at from ground while flying over Virginia, crew injured

FBI investigating shot fired at UH-1N Huey flying over Virginia which injured a crew member.

Imprisoned Iranian human rights lawyer begins hunger strike

A prominent Iranian human rights lawyer has begun a hunger strike seeking better prison conditions and the release of political prisoners amid the pandemic, her husband said Thursday. Reza Khandan told The Associated Press his wife Nasrin Sotoudeh began the strike Tuesday and he feared it would exacerbate her chronic gastrointestinal and foot problems. Iran has the highest number of virus-related deaths in the region with 19,162 after 174 died since Wednesday.

Protesters in Minneapolis say they won't clear barricades around the George Floyd Memorial until the city leaders meet their 24 demands

Some of the demands include recalling Hennepin County Attorney, Mike Freeman, and ending qualified immunity.

Venezuela's National Assembly investigates oil spill

The opposition-controlled legislature demands to know why oil is washing up on the northern coast.

Americans might face a long wait for the COVID economic relief Trump promised in executive order

Trump's plan to give $300 per week in unemployment benefits faces a number of legal, logistical and funding hurdles.

I used to be critical of Kamala Harris. Now I am going to defend her at every turn

While the announcement caught very few of us by surprise, a jolt of excitement was inserted into this election. And rightly soThe historic announcement of Kamala Harris as Joe Biden’s VP pick is another reminder that multiple things can be true at the same time. Harris is undeniably brilliant, has recently introduced bills that would specifically improve the quality of live for Black Americans, and by all accounts she is superior in every way imaginable to the current president. In fact, adding her to the ticket has made me far more enthusiastic about this race than I was even days before the announcement.Throughout this campaign, Biden has said things that made me question his understanding of the Black community, let alone his commitment to fight against social inequality. And yet, here we are, squarely seated in that space where many truths exist at once. Does Biden give me pause? Oh, absolutely. Do I believe he will be a better leader than Trump? Without a shadow of a doubt. But is that the bar? Are millions of Americans expected to capitulate to such a defeating standard from our future leaders?> While I wholeheartedly still believe in the power of voting, I’m now more committed to what I call zoning inThat question lingered in the air of every political conversation I had with my peers over the past few months. Yet with the announcement that caught very few of us by surprise, a jolt of excitement was inserted back into this election. Rightfully so. While lots of articles will focus on the historical weight of this moment, we cannot ignore that Harris isn’t just representation. She is a viable force who has the skills to be the vice-president of the United States. This will undoubtedly bring out more support for the ticket. However, here we are again, still parked at that intersection and carefully holding space for multiple facts to exist at the same time.What does this selection mean for those of us who had fair criticism of Harris when she was running for president? How do we even express this concern knowing that our policy-based questions could be conflated with the sea of misogynoir she will surely face? If Hillary Clinton faced an insane amount of hatred and sexism, what does this mean for Harris in a country where we are still fighting to declare that Black lives actually matter?I was one of the people who publicly expressed concern about Harris during her presidential campaign. A few key things have changed since then. She impressed me with her actions, and I’m hoping that this apparent pivot is what voters can expect of her. Yet more importantly than her recent actions, my politics have changed.While I wholeheartedly still believe in the power of voting, I’m now more committed to what I call zoning in. I’m narrowing the focus of my political efforts and treating voting as simply one tool for change. This change in my political view has caused me to emotionally divest more from a failing two-party system that often places its most vulnerable citizens in the position of choosing between how slowly we want to be metaphorically killed. This is my truth.Yet it is also true that I intend to vote for the Biden and Harris ticket because I believe they present a better chance at improving the lives of marginalized communities than this current administration. I will do this while increasing my efforts to organize on a local level and use every weapon at my disposal to fight for a path for justice that isn’t predicated on me choosing between the “lesser of two evils”. Simultaneously, while Harris starts to fight like hell to re-energize the Democratic base, I’ll use my position as a writer to push back on unfair attacks on her that are simply misogynoir masked as criticism. This nomination almost guarantees that valid criticism and utter hatred of Black women will be on full display, and we will have to quickly learn the difference and respond accordingly.For those currently expressing concern, I challenge you to sit with it a minute and consider if this concern was ever present for any of the other highly questionable candidates. I invite those with criticism to still express it and demand the best from Harris, but I will challenge them to interrogate the root of their angst. I intend to do the same. I’m going to stand with Harris and fight against sexist and racist attacks, celebrate with the Black women who are rejoicing in pride, while I simultaneously organize on a local level and strategize ways to help ensure my community gets more than just a false sense of hope from this ticket. All of this can happen at the same time. * Shanita Hubbard is an adjunct professor of criminal justice at Northampton Community College in Pennsylvania

Decades-old photo of Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell and a Confederate flag lives on and on

McConnell said he thinks the photograph was taken during his first term in the Senate at a Sons of Confederate Veterans meeting in Louisville.

How U.S. Sanctions on Hong Kong Could Leave Banks Caught in the Middle

Finance houses operating in the global financial hub find themselves in a very difficult position.

Ammonium Nitrate Blew Up Beirut. It Also Fuels Africa’s Most Dangerous Illegal Mines.

ABUJA, Nigeria—The ammonium nitrate that exploded last week in Beirut—killing 154 people, injuring more than 5,000 and causing widespread destruction—was destined for Mozambique, a transit point for raw materials in the explosives trade, where shipments often end up in the hands of illegal Chinese-owned mining companies with dubious human rights records. Almost seven years ago, Fábrica de Explosivos de Moçambique (FEM), a Mozambican firm that produces explosives, ordered 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate from a Georgian company known as Savaro for the purpose of manufacturing explosives for mining companies. But the substance was transported in September 2013 on the Russian ship Rhosus, which docked in Beirut, where it tried to make more money by picking up several pieces of heavy machinery, and never made it to Mozambique, as Lebanese authorities impounded the cargo for failing to pay port fees.FEM, a company majority-owned by the Portuguese explosives company Moura Silva e Filhos, has come under intense scrutiny since the ammonium nitrate it ordered caused the blast in Beirut on Aug. 4. A spokesperson for the company admitted to CNN that FEM had ordered the substance from Georgia but was told several months later by the company that was supposed to facilitate the transfer to Mozambique that the vessel carrying ammonium nitrate had been seized in Lebanon and that the order was “not going to be delivered.” As a result, according to the spokesperson, FEM “never paid for it.” Beirut Government Was Warned Over Explosives in Port Two Weeks Before Deadly Blast: ReportBut FEM's claim that it didn't pay for the ammonium nitrate has been disputed by a number of sources. Baroudi and Partners, a Lebanese law firm representing the ship’s crew, said in a statement on Aug. 5 that the substance was purchased by the International Bank of Mozambique (IBM) for FEM. An official in Mozambique’s Justice Ministry who didn’t want to be named also told The Daily Beast that IBM “did the transaction on behalf of FEM.”Conflicting reports regarding the final destination of the ammonium nitrate have also raised questions regarding the transparency of the purchase. While the Mozambican port authorities said on Aug. 6 that the substance was meant to be transported from a port in the eastern city of Biera, where the Russian ship would have arrived from Beirut, to either Zambia or Zimbabwe, Mozambique’s largest weekly newspaper, Savana, reported that the ammonium nitrate was actually supposed to be used for the manufacturing of explosives for the Brazilian mining company, Vale, which operates the country’s largest coal mine in the western Tete province. FEM did not respond to The Daily Beast’s request for comments.The explosives market across Mozambique, as well as in neighboring Zambia and Zimbabwe, is huge, with dozens of mining firms depending on big companies like FEM for explosives. (Landlocked Zambia and Zimbabwe also depend on Mozambique’s seaports for imports that come across the water). But the three countries are also the preferred places for a high number of illegal miners who, despite not being licensed to operate, are still able to obtain explosives from manufacturers on the black market.A Mozambican customs official informed The Daily Beast privately that explosives are usually transported by land from FEM offices in Mozambique to Zambia where they are sold to mining companies in the country. The company itself does have an office in Zambia and there are allegations that it sells explosives to illegal miners, including unscrupulous Chinese nationals.“Explosives companies including FEM do not carry out serious background checks on some of these so-called mining companies,” the official said. “Because of that, criminal companies, especially those owned by Chinese people, are mining in Zambia simply because they have explosives.”FEM’s presence in Africa is quite significant. The company, which specializes in the manufacture and application of explosives for commercial purposes, also has subsidiary companies in Zambia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola and commercial agreements in Malawi. But it is in Mozambique, where it has its head office, that its operations are most known.FEM is said to have sold explosives to Mineradora Industrial de Cassassole, a Chinese company operating in Tete province whose illegal mining operations led to the death of one of its workers two years ago.It was revealed after the worker—29-year-old Sakson Lobiano—died in 2018 that Mineradora Industrial de Cassassole, which was only licensed by Mozambican authorities to operate an open cast gold mine in Tete’s northern Macanga district, decided to operate underground and opened an illegal shaft 90 meters deep, where Lobiano was killed. The miner died from inhaling dust and toxic particles from an explosion that was ignited by a Chinese co-worker, who had no training in underground work or license to handle explosives.“We believe the company got those explosives from FEM,” Alex Camacho, a local environmental activist in Tete, told The Daily Beast. “[FEM] is where virtually every mining company gets it explosives from.”In its website, FEM boasts that it has been the main company “responsible for manufacturing and supplying the Mozambican explosives market” since its founding in 1955. It also noted that in the last two decades it has expanded to become a reference in the whole of southern Africa. But its growth has also come with accusations of negligence.“That Mozambique has so many illegal miners who all have access to explosives should tell everyone that the manufacturers are letting their explosives get to the wrong hands,” said Camacho who is individually campaigning against illegal mining in Tete. “In Mozambique, once you think about explosives, you think about FEM.”Mozambique, the world’s seventh-poorest country, has suffered years of illegal mining as well as logging of its natural forests by Chinese companies that take advantage of widespread corruption in the impoverished country to gain access.According to the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), an international NGO with offices in London and Washington, D.C., Chinese companies in 2012 imported between 189,615 and 215,654 cubic meters of timber that had been illegally exported from Mozambique. The illegal action comprised a huge 48 percent of China’s imports from the African nation.But it is in the mining sector that exploitation by Chinese-owned companies in southeast Africa have been mostly noted.There are several Chinese mining and explosives companies operating in Zambia and many of them have been accused of human rights abuses and negligence towards safety regulations.In 2005, 52 Zambian workers were killed at a Chinese-owned explosives factory near Chambeshi, a town in Zambia’s copper belt. In 2010, Zambia charged two Chinese managers with attempted murder after they opened fire on protesting Zambian workers. Seven years later, Zambian authorities arrested 31 Chinese nationals for illegal mining in the copper belt.In Zimbabwe, Chinese-run mines have been dogged with several allegations of human rights violations of local workers.Early this year, local miners in Matabeleland South province protested their sacking by their Chinese employer, whom they also accused of constantly beating up workers. Their protest was followed by complaints in April by workers in another mining company of being underpaid and working without protective clothing as COVID-19 began to spread. Then came the shooting of two Zimbabwean mining workers in June by their Chinese boss during a row with workers over outstanding pay in central Zimbabwe.“Chinese mining companies do what they like in southeastern Africa and no one can question them,” said Camacho, the environmental activist. “It is sad that the government agencies that are supposed to regulate their activities are only concerned about the money they can generate from these companies.”Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

Mother of arrested Key West boy sues city, police officers, teacher and school district

Lawyers for the mother of a now 10-year-old boy who Key West police officers tried to handcuff in 2018 at his elementary school after he was accused of punching a teacher filed a civil rights lawsuit Tuesday in federal court against the school district, the city, the individual officers involved as well as the teacher and two school officials.

Airbnb is suing a guest who threw a party after 3 people were injured in a shooting at the short-term rental

Airbnb says the guest booked the short-term rental under false pretenses, acted with negligence, and violated public health orders.

Huge fire north of Los Angeles prompts evacuations

A fast-moving brush fire north of Los Angeles prompted mandatory evacuation orders for some 500 homes on Wednesday as firefighters battled the flames that had burned 10,000 acres by early evening, authorities said. Rapidly-spreading flames had scorched some 10,000 acres (4,050 hectares) within a little more than three hours, according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department. "Multiple agencies are battling a brush fire near the Lake Hughes area in the Angeles National Forest," the department said in a tweet.

U.S. says Iran briefly seizes oil tanker near Strait of Hormuz

The Iranian navy held the vessel for some five hours before releasing it Wednesday, said a U.S. military official.

Pandemic has driven Americans to depression and drinking, CDC says

A new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study made public on Thursday surveyed 5,412 Americans and found that “40.9% of respondents reported at least one adverse mental or behavioral health condition.”

U.S. Supreme Court allows easing of Rhode Island voting restrictions

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday left in place a lower-court ruling that relaxes voting restrictions in Rhode Island during the coronavirus pandemic. The justices rejected an emergency request made by the Republican National Committee and the state's Republican Party. The unsigned order left intact a decision by Rhode Island-based U.S. District Court Judge Mary McElroy, who ruled on July 30 that the Republican groups had waited too late to intervene in the case.

Eric Trump: Don’t know why Harris will ‘magically become this unicorn to rejuvenate Biden’

Trump Organization Executive Vice President, Eric Trump, weighs in on Joe Biden and Kamala Harris making first debut as Democratic presidential ticket on ‘Fox & Friends.’

AOC responds to apparent Democratic party convention speech snub: 'Eternity is in it'

Firebrand lawmaker Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has hit back at an alleged snub by the Democratic party after being given just 60 seconds to deliver a speech a next week’s convention.AOC responded on Twitter by posting the poem ‘I have only just a minute’, written by the late Dr Benjamin E. Mays, an American Baptist minister and civil rights leader.

An admitted KKK leader has been sentenced to 6 years in prison after driving a truck through a crowd of protesters in June

A Virginia man who boasted to police of his Ku Klux Klan rank was sentenced to six years in prison after driving his truck into a crowd of protesters.

Florida sheriff forbids employees, visitors to wear masks: If they do, 'they will be asked to leave'

Sheriff Billy Woods forbids his employees and those visiting his offices to wear masks in most circumstances. Florida does not have a statewide order.

Israel strikes Hamas positions in Gaza over fire balloons

The Israeli military said Wednesday it carried out overnight strikes on Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip after incendiary balloons were launched across the border from the Palestinian enclave. Jets, attack helicopters and tanks struck a number of Hamas targets including "underground infrastructure and observation posts," a statement said. Fire services in southern Israel said the balloons caused 60 fires on Tuesday alone but reported no casualties.

Party with 400 people shut down during students’ first weekend back at ECU, cops say

Police say the number of parties was still a far cry from past opening weekends at East Carolina University.

State Department rejects further probe of diplomat's remarks

A report Wednesday by the State Department’s internal watchdog confirms news accounts that staffers at the U.S. Embassy in Britain have accused Woody Johnson, owner of the New York Jets and the U.S. ambassador, of making “insensitive” and “inappropriate” remarks. Johnson denies the allegations. State Department officials replied to the watchdog office that no further investigation is necessary because Johnson is “well aware of his responsibility to set the right tone for his mission,” according to the report.

‘Enormous Price to Pay’: Pompeo Says He Warned Russian Foreign Minister against Bounties on U.S. Troops

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday that he warned Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov against placing bounties on the heads of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, assuring him there would be “an enormous price to pay.”“If the Russians are offering money to kill Americans, or for that matter other Westerns as well, there will be an enormous price to pay. That’s what I shared with foreign minister Lavrov,” Pompeo said during an interview with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.“I know our military has talked to their senior leaders as well. We won’t brook that, we won’t tolerate,” Pompeo continued.Reports broke in June that U.S. intelligence found that at least one American soldier, as well as a number of Afghan civilians, died as a result of alleged secret bounty payments that Russia offered Taliban militants to target U.S. troops in Afghanistan.Intelligence about the alleged bounty offerings by Russia was reportedly included in the president’s daily written intelligence briefing in February, but the White House claims Trump was not verbally briefed on the matter until the New York Times’s June 26 report on the issue. The Times reported that some bounties as high as $100,000 were paid for each U.S. or allied troop killed.The Washington Post said in a similar report that several American service-members died as a result of monetary rewards that a Russian military intelligence unit offered to terrorist militants to target U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan.Pompeo's warning to the Russian foreign minister reportedly came during a July 13 phone call that was officially held to discuss a separate topic, the possibility of meeting between the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.The secretary of state expressed Washington’s intense opposition to the bounty program but did not speak about the specific intelligence indicating that Russia paid Taliban fighters and other Afghanistan militants to kill U.S. service members.Last month, President Trump said he has never discussed the intelligence with Russian President Vladimir Putin despite several phone calls between the two heads of state since the intelligence was made known. Trump has said he was not briefed on the intelligence because there was not a consensus about its reliability within the intelligence community.Meanwhile, the U.S. has been entrenched in negotiations with the Taliban and the Afghan government over a peace agreement that involves the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the region.

MBS is stamping out the final threat to his rule, bringing an end to his 3-year coup marked by power grabs, forced disappearances, and assassinations

Crown Prince Mohammed is gunning for Saad al-Jabri and Mohammed bin Nayef, but they are old friends of the US, who want answers from the kingdom.

'Latinx' Is Gaining Popularity. But New Research Says Only 3% of U.S. Hispanics Use the Gender-Neutral Term

Only 3% of people in the U.S. describe themselves as Latinx, a gender-neutral and inclusive alternative to Latino or Hispanic.

Police officers set dog on black man and say ‘good boy, good boy’ as it bites his leg

A police dog in Salt Lake City was ordered to attack an African American man who was on his knees with his hands in the air.Police officers arrived at Jeffery Ryans’s house in April in Salt Lake City, Utah, after they responded to a call made by someone who said they had heard him arguing with his wife, according to the Daily Mail.

Nick Cave compares cancel culture to 'bad religion'

The musician believes political correctness online is having an "asphyxiating effect" on society.

Ghislaine Maxwell says she is being mistreated in jail and that she should be taken out of solitary confinement

Lawyers for Ghislaine Maxwell, who is in jail awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges, want her released into her jail's general population.

Duterte to skip Philippine trial of Russia virus vaccine

The Philippines will begin large-scale human testing of Russia's coronavirus vaccine in October, but President Rodrigo Duterte will not receive the inoculation until regulators guarantee its safety, his spokesman said Thursday. Duterte had offered himself up as a guinea pig for the very first jab, expressing "huge trust" in the vaccine, despite growing scepticism about its effectiveness. The country's Food and Drug Administration is expected to approve the vaccine -- developed by the Gamaleya research institute and the Russian defence ministry -- in April.

Customers attack Chili’s hostess over socially distant seating, Louisiana police say

"I just cannot believe that this happened to me," the teen said.

Republican lawmaker slams far-right conspiracy theory QAnon. Trump's team fires back.

Rep. Adam Kinzinger condemned QAnon, saying it has "no place in Congress" on the heels of several GOP candidates who espouse the theory winning primaries.

Trump on Kamala Harris: I'm not sure Americans want someone so liberal

President Donald Trump joins Sean Hannity to react to Biden's vice presidential pick of Kamala Harris.

US says Iran briefly seizes oil tanker near Strait of Hormuz

The Iranian navy boarded and briefly seized a Liberian-flagged oil tanker near the strategic Strait of Hormuz amid heightened tensions between Tehran and the U.S., the American military said Thursday. The U.S. military's Central Command published a black-and-white video showing what appeared to be special forces fast-roping down from a helicopter onto the MT Wila, whose last position appeared to be off the eastern coast of the United Arab Emirates near the city of Khorfakkan. The Iranian navy held the vessel for some five hours before releasing it Wednesday, said a U.S. military official who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss details not yet made public.

Florida governor compares schools reopening to killing bin Laden

Governor Ron DeSantis has compared the reopening of schools in Florida to the operation that killed terrorist Osama bin Laden.Mr DeSantis, an attorney and former naval officer, likened the logistics behind schools reopening to a Navy SEALs operation.