One of the users to support Brand was Elon Musk who tweeted, 'Of course. They don’t like competition'

A senior Paraguayan official was fired this week after signing a cooperation memorandum with a country he has since...

Donald Trump is scheduled to appear in court today to be formally arraigned on charges of conspiring to overturn the 2020 presidential election, in what marks his third – and potentially most serious – criminal case. The former president was indicted on four charges by a grand jury hearing evidence in special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation in efforts to overturn the 2020 election and the January 6 Capitol riot. The indictment also described six unnamed co-conspirators, now believed to be identified. Mr Trump has been ordered to make an initial appearance in federal court in Washington DC on Thursday, while the case has been assigned to US district judge Tanya Chutkan, a Barack Obama-appointee. Mr Trump has railed against the indictment and is calling for the “fake” case to be moved from Washington DC. In a late-night Truth Social rant on Wednesday, the former president fumed that it is “IMPOSSIBLE to get a fair trial” in the capital and demanded it be relocated to “the politically unbiased nearby State of West Virginia”. This is Mr Trump’s third criminal indictment and his second federal indictment. Read Trump’s indictment from the January 6 grand jury in full Read More When is Donald Trump’s arraignment? Should Trump go to jail? The 2024 election could become a referendum on that question Trump supporters falsely claim special counsel seeking death penalty in indictment over 2020 election Former prosecutor explains why Donald Trump was the main focus of the January 6 indictment

Neama Rahmani said that the jury verdict was based on the credibility of the witnesses

Defence Minister Guido Crosetto says the Belt and Road scheme has not benefitted his country.

Bangladesh has received the first uranium shipment from Russia to fuel the country’s only nuclear power plant, still under construction by Moscow

Southern Connecticut State University’s Sydney Smith is leaving no stone unturned to increase her presence

Plant-based diets with a sufficient amount of soy can reduce hot flashes while also aiding weight loss, according to the Women’s Study for the Alleviation of Vasomotor Symptoms (WAVS) trial. A study published by the North American Menopause Society in the journal Menopause found that a diet intervention is about as effective as hormone replacement therapy for reducing menopausal hot flashes, without the associated health risks. “We do not fully understand yet why this combination works but it seems that these three elements are key—avoiding animal products, reducing fat, and adding a serving of soybeans,” explained lead researcher Neal Barnard, MD, president of the Physicians Committee and adjunct professor at the George Washington University School of Medicine. “Our results mirror the diets of places in the world, like pre-Westernized Japan and modern-day Yucatán Peninsula, where a low-fat, plant-based diet including soybeans is more prevalent and where postmenopausal women experience fewer symptoms.” To conduct the study, researchers recruited 84 postmenopausal women that reported episodes of hot flashes two or more times per day. Participants were randomly assigned into two groups. One group was an intervention group that was on a low-fat vegan diet consuming half a cup of cooked soybeans daily, while the other was a control group with no dietary changes for 12 weeks. After 12 weeks, researchers found that those on a vegan diet had a 88 per cent decrease in moderate to severe hot flashes and had lost an average of eight pounds. This is about the same success rate as hormone replacement therapy (HRT), which is usually 70 to 90 per cent effective against hot flashes. The trial was split into two parts, the first being published in 2021 and the second being published this year. It successfully addressed the point that there may be positive changes seen in menopause relief due to seasonal temperature variations. The first trial, which was conducted during the autumn season raised the question of whether this symptomatic improvement might have been attributed to cooler temperatures. But women who began the study as the weather warmed up in the spring had the same benefit, ruling out the effect of the temperature outside. “These new results suggest that a diet change should be considered as a first-line treatment for troublesome vasomotor symptoms, including night sweats and hot flashes,” explains Dr Barnard. Dr Barnard and the team agree said their results not only support putting diet and lifestyle at the forefront of the conversation with hot flash relief during menopause but also for other common complications such as weight gain and chronic disease implications. “This study demonstrates the effectiveness of a dietary intervention for menopausal symptoms,” Dr Barnard said. “As well, it is precisely the diet that would be expected to reduce the health concerns of many women reaching menopause: an increasing risk of heart disease, breast cancer, and memory problems.” The findings are published in the journal Menopause. Read More What are the symptoms of menopause and how can they be relieved? What’s the link between the menopause and anxiety? Menopause affecting your mental health? Experts reveal what to do What I gained (and lost) by walking 10,000 steps each day for 5 months Raven-Symoné details cosmetic surgeries she had before she turned 18 Nearly half of US adults are interested in taking weight loss prescription drugs

George Shefi was just six when Nazi mobs rampaged across Germany, killing Jewish people and attacking synagogues.

Mental health patients have been left languishing in hospitals for years due to a chronic shortage in community care, as the number of people trapped on wards hits a record high, The Independent can reveal. Analysis shows 3,213 patients were stuck on units for more than three months last year, including 325 children kept in adult units. Of those a “deeply concerning” number have been deemed well enough to leave but have nowhere to go. One of these cases was Ben Craig, 34, who says he was left “scarred” after being stranded on a ward for two years – despite being fit enough to leave – because two councils fought over who should pay for his supported housing. He missed his daughter's birth and didn’t meet her until she was two months old while waiting to be discharged, which only exacerbated his depression. He told The Independent: “I was promised I was going to be moving on, but it just seemed like it went on forever.” The average stay for patients in low-security hospitals was 833 days in 2022-23. The NHS does not collect data on how long people are waiting to be discharged, but mental health charity Mind said Mr Craig’s case was far from unique. Leaked reports, obtained by The Independent, also reveal NHS community services are struggling to see patients, while the NHS is spending hundreds of thousands of pounds a year to house those who could be discharged. Documents for 2022-23 obtained and analysed by The Independent reveal: Adult mental health beds cost the NHS between £500 and £1,000 a day, compared to £5,000 per patient per year for community care One in five referrals for community care was rejected as the NHS battles a 12 per cent staff vacancy rate Patients waited 13 weeks on average to see a community mental health worker, but some waited up to 60 weeks The 3,213 patients stuck for more than three months was an increase of 639 on the year before and an all-time high, according to an analysis of NHS data In August, 10 per cent of patients were waiting 221 days to start community treatment One in 10 patients under a community mental health team did not see a healthcare worker for a year Saffron Cordery, deputy chief executive for NHS Providers, which represents hospitals, told The Independent mental health patients stuck in hospitals were experiencing “personal distress” and getting ill again while they wait. She called on the government to put mental health on an “equal foot” to physical care and said not doing so suggested the government was content not to treat all patients equally. One senior NHS source said long stays in mental health units had become “normalised” and patients were becoming institutionalised. “These 60 and 90 [days] stayers are just being medicated and drifting. They’re adjusting meds to stabilise the person ... These long-stays people can get completely dependent, they lose contact with the world [and] their life, They’re terrible for people,” they said. ‘Robbed’ Mr Craig was admitted to Prestwich Hospital in September 2019 with psychosis from prison after his mental health deteriorated and he began hearing voices. In 2020 he was told by doctors he was well enough to be discharged home after his sentence ended. However, he then had two years of his life “robbed” as two councils rowed over who should fund the mental health hostel he needed to be discharged into to support his recovery. He was eventually discharged into supported living in September 2022 where he still receives mental health support. Mr Craig, who now lives in Manchester, told The Independent: “I was very depressed, I am still not over it properly yet. When I was there, I just didn’t want to go out or anything, so just stayed in my bed all the time. “I missed my daughter’s birth, and I didn’t see her until she was two months old ... it’s left me scarred.” Even when he was finally discharged into supported living accommodation he says the community mental health team had “no input” into his care and says he was still struggling to get in contact with his community service team. Rheian Davies, head of Mind’s legal unit, told The Independent that cases like Mr Craig’s showed councils were failing in their legal duty to fund mental health support in the community. She said the charity had seen patients with longer discharge delays than Mr Craig’s due to this problem. “It’s deeply concerning that people are finding themselves stuck in hospital, their lives on hold, due to a lack of supported housing,” she said. “Delays in leaving hospital cause uncertainty and anxiety that can hamper or even reverse recovery. “This takes a huge emotional toll on the person and their loved ones, but the delay in discharge also means there are fewer beds available for people experiencing mental health crises.” She added that patients “deserve much better than being held indefinitely in hospital settings when they are well enough to return to the community”. Ms Davies said: “This case [Mr Craig’s] is a real opportunity to reduce the delays and hurdles caused by a disjointed system.” Greater Manchester University Hospital said: “We work hard with all our system partners to ensure where patients are ready for discharge, they can do so as quickly as it is safe to do so.” Abena Oppong-Asare, Labour’s shadow mental health minister, said The Independent’s exposé showed NHS mental health services were “in crisis”. She added: “The Independent investigation reveals the appalling reality that patients are being left in hospital for months, when community care can be far more effective and less expensive for the NHS.” As part of its election manifesto pledges, Labour has promised to recruit 8,500 more mental health professionals, paid for through plans to abolish “tax loopholes for private equity fund managers and tax breaks for private schools”. The Department of Health and Social Care said in 2021-22 an additional £116m was invested in the NHS for mental health discharges and that it will have invested £1bn more in the sector by March 2024. An NHS England spokesperson said: “There is no doubt mental health services are under significant pressure, with the NHS treating record numbers of young people and community crisis services seeing a 30 per cent increase in referrals compared to before the pandemic, and NHS urgent and emergency care also treating record numbers.” Read More Friends target rowing world record to raise awareness of mental health challenge Women in mental health crisis being jailed in prisons deemed ‘unfit for purpose’ Suspect in fatal Hawaii nurse stabbing pleaded guilty last year to assaulting mental health worker The Priory hospital fined £140k after woman dies on ‘utter shambles’ ward Dumped in A&E and left untreated for 5 days: Shameful plight of vulnerable patients Anger over Tory minister’s ‘disgraceful’ Scotland heroin jibe

Daniel Penny, who put homeless man Jordan Neely in a deadly chokehold on the subway last week will surrender to face criminal charges, as per sources

Bryan Kohberger, who is being held in the Latah County Jail in Moscow, Idaho, has received more than two dozen love letters from female fans