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“Cult mom” Lori Vallow “groomed” and “manipulated” her new lover Chad Daybell and brother Alex Cox to murder her two children and Mr Daybell’s first wife, according to the prosecution’s dramatic closing statement. In Ada County Court in Boise, Idaho, on Thursday, prosecutor Rob Wood laid out the state’s case against the mother-of-three, placing her firmly front and centre of a plot to kill her son JJ Vallow, 7, daughter Tylee Ryan, 16, and 49-year-old Tammy Daybell – and then steal their money. “Lori Vallow is the one that ties this all together,” he said. The prosecutor argued that Ms Vallow was driven by “money, power and sex” – and that she used all of those things to manipulate her alleged accomplices to do her bidding. “They used religion as a tool to manipulate others. Lori manipulated Alex Cox through religion,” he said. “She manipulated Chad through emotional and sexual control. They manipulated their friends.” Mr Wood pointed to text messages showing how Ms Vallow was “grooming” her brother Cox, including one message where she praised his silence with the phrase: “Good boy.” “Lori Vallow is telling Alex Cox what to do. You never see Alex tell her what to do. She is always telling him what to do,” he told jurors. In the prosecution’s rebuttal, Mr Wood hammered the point home, arguing that Ms Vallow was the “one common thread” tying all the suspects and killings together. “The evidence in this case points to one common thread and that thread is Lori Vallow,” he said. “The defence says she’s not a killer. She is a killer. Lori is the connection to the deaths. “What connection does Chad Daybell have to Charles Vallow? Lori. Why did we talk about Charles Vallow? The motive.” Ms Vallow is facing life in prison on charges of first-degree murder, conspiracy and grand theft over the deaths of JJ and Tylee as well as conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in the death of Tammy. JJ and Tylee were last seen alive in September 2019 and for months Ms Vallow refused to reveal their whereabouts. One month later, Tammy died suddenly aged 49 and Ms Vallow and Mr Daybell flew to Hawaii and married on a beach. In June 2020, JJ and Tylee’s remains were discovered buried in Mr Daybell’s backyard. After a grueling month-long trial, Mr Wood walked jurors through the state’s case against Ms Vallow and what they say led to the deaths of the three victims. “Money, power, and sex. Beginning in October 2018, Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell set in motion events,” Mr Wood began, echoing the state’s opening statement. “Along the way, they included her brother Alex Cox to participate in a conspiracy unencumbered and free of obstacles. “This plan was driven by Lori Vallow’s desire for and use of money, power and sex. And this plan must end today in the verdicts you render in this trial.” On the first driver of money, the prosecutor pointed to evidence showing that Ms Vallow was receiving the children’s Social Security payments directly to her accounts, and continued to receive and spend them after they had both been murdered. “Lori learned a lesson with Charles Vallow,” he said – referring to Ms Vallow’s fourth husband who was shot dead by Cox in July 2019. This lesson, he said, was to secure the money before the victim is killed. Jurors were shown evidence that Ms Vallow altered Tylee and JJ’s Social Security payments so that they would go directly to her – just days before the respective child would wind up dead. “Get the money and then commit the murder,” he said. As well as the power Ms Vallow held over Cox, the prosecutor argued that she also used sex to hold power over Mr Daybell and get him to do what she wanted. Mr Wood pointed to texts where the doomsday couple moved between steamy, sexual messages to messages which he said were about the deaths of their spouses and her children. Pointing to the cult beliefs which were also allegedly a driver in the case, Mr Wood said that Ms Vallow used “religious beliefs to justify murder”. Jurors have heard how Ms Vallow and Mr Daybell believed that they were on a religious mission to gather the 144,000 and they believed in a “rating system of light and dark” for how they ranked the spirits of the people around them. Over time, this evolved into the belief that some people – including the children – were “zombies” and the only way to get rid of the zombies was for the human body to be destroyed. Mr Wood said that the beliefs themselves are not a crime, but the way they used these beliefs to “justify” murdering three people are. “It does not matter what they believed. It matters what they did,” he said. “They can believe whatever they want. But when they use that to justify homicide, that changes.” The prosecutor laid out evidence that the murders were “premeditated” and “planned” – from the stash of burner phones the three alleged accomplices had, Cox’s practice at a shooting range prior to a botched attempt on Tammy’s life and what he said was a deliberate plan for Ms Vallow to be in Hawaii at the time of Tammy’s murder. Tammy “was murdered in her own home” after the three plotted to kill her, he said – and Ms Vallow then wasted no time benefitting from the $400,000 life insurance Mr Daybell got from her death. The prosecutor reminded jurors about the harrowing details of the children’s murders and the way the three alleged accomplices disposed of their bodies after – showing the court graphic images of Tylee and JJ’s remains. JJ died by asphyxiation with multiple layers of plastic bags wrapped around the little boy’s head and duct tape over his mouth. Tylee’s cause of death was impossible to determine because her remains were so badly burned and mutilated. “She was burned and buried in Chad Daybell’s backyard. What was left of her body they dumped in a green bucket and buried in a pet cemetery on top of a piece of her skull,” Mr Wood described of Tylee’s remains. Speaking about JJ, he said that the little boy was “silenced forever by a strip of duct tape placed across his mouth”. “A white plastic bag was placed over his head where it was secured tightly with duct tape wrapped around and around from his forehead to his neck,” he said. “The evidence says he struggled and we’ll never know how long he fought before they wrapped tape around his wrists and ankles. He stopped breathing, his heart stopped beating and he died. It was a brutal, horrific murder of a seven-year old boy with special needs.” Following the children’s murders, Ms Vallow continued collecting their social security payments, he said. She never reported them missing or dead and lied to multiple people about their whereabouts as she needed to keep the “bodies hidden so she could keep getting the money”. Ms Vallow faces life in prison on the charges. Mr Daybell is also charged over the murders but is due to stand trial separately at a later date. Cox, meanwhile, died before he could face charges. On 11 December 2019, Cox died suddenly at the age of 51. His death was also ruled natural causes, with indications of a blood clot wedged in the arteries of his lungs. However the overdose drug Narcan was also found in his system. Ms Vallow is also facing charges in Arizona of conspiring with Cox to murder her fourth husband Charles Vallow. Read More Lori Vallow trial – live: Verdict looms as closing arguments get underway in cult mom’s murder case Cult beliefs, hazmat suits and charred remains: Key revelations from Lori Vallow’s murder trial What we know about the Lori Vallow Daybell ‘doomsday cult’ murder trial

Israel is ratcheting up ground operations in Gaza with troops, tanks and artillery battling Hamas fighters after the

More than 300 of Vladimir Putin’s soldiers have been killed and wounded in a span of 24 hours in Zaporizhzhia’s oblast, Ukraine’s armed forces said in a battlefield update on Wednesday. Ukrainian commander general Oleksandr Tarnavskyi said the Russian forces attacked Ukrainian positions 18 times with 830 attacks, one rocket and 23 air strikes in the past day. In retaliation, the artillery units under him launched 1,232 fire missions during the day. The fierce fighting update came from Tavriia village in Zaporizhzhia oblast where Russian forces and Ukrainian troops have been engaged in a grinding battle since the invasion began in February last year. “Over the last day, the enemy lost 325 people – 130 irretrievably injured, 194 wounded, 1 captured,” the commander of the Tavriia operational and strategic group of forces said on his official Telegram channel. The top military official of the unit said his unit destroyed 48 pieces of Russian military equipment. “Among them are three tanks, eight armoured combat vehicles, seven artillery systems and mortars, one multiple-launch rocket system, 14 UAVs, and 15 pieces of vehicles,” he said. One ammunition depot and another strategic object belonging to the Russians was also destroyed, the commander said. On Wednesday, the Ukrainian general staff said the country’s forces continued their offensive operations and inflicted significant losses on Russia’s manpower and equipment in the Melitopol direction but did not state a tally of casualties and losses mounted. Experts monitoring the war have said Russia’s losses in the western Zaporizhzia oblast have significantly shot up. This is heightened by the Russian military’s likely struggles with a “lack of available combat-effective units that the Russian command is willing to laterally redeploy to this sector of the front”, the US-based Institute for the Study of War said. The loss of Russian troops recorded on Tuesday is “significantly higher than Russian losses during the previous two days when Russian forces lost roughly 200 personnel each day”, according to the Tavriisk Group of Forces spokesperson, colonel Oleksandr Shtupun. Russia deployed its elite airborne unit (VDV) forces in Zaporizhzhia, a strategic territory in the war housing Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant. But the spokesperson added that Russia is sending convict recruits named “Storm-Z” detachments which will act as “cover” for the elite troops, “possibly referring to the need to cover the VDV units during a potential withdrawal”, the US-based think-tank said. Read More Russian strikes cities from east to west Ukraine, starting fires and wounding at least 14 Ukraine rejects defective Leopard 1 tanks from Germany after finding ‘serious faults’ How Ukraine’s battle for the Black Sea is inflicting serious pain on Putin’s forces Ukraine-Russia war – live: Zelensky says UN ‘incapable’ of stopping Putin’s ‘criminal aggression’

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Tucker Carlson has once again invited criticism for uploading a two-and-a-half-hour long interview with rape and sex trafficking accused Andrew Tate on Twitter. The former Fox News host, who now uploads a new series he calls Tucker on Twitter, sat down with the controversial social media influencer, who was arrested and charged with rape, human trafficking and leading an organised crime group to sexually exploit women in Romania. The extensive interview, Carlson’s first on his new show that is on its ninth episode, has raked in millions of views hours after it was uploaded. Carlson, who previously defended Mr Tate and called his arrest a “human rights violation”, has sparked outrage by giving a platform to the controversial influencer without proper scrutiny or contextualisation. The right-wing TV personality kicked off the interview by asking viewers to “make up your own mind” about Mr Tate, who has defended himself and denied the charges against him. The former kickboxer and social media influencer, who gained notoriety over the years for peddling misogynistic views, was held in police custody from 29 December until 31 March by Romanian authorities before being put on house arrest. His brother Tristan and two of their associates also face charges. Given the widespread allegations against Mr Tate, the decision to host the British-American has drawn criticism from various quarters, ranging from media personalities and journalists and including conservative commentators as well. DailyBeast reporter Justin Baragona weighed in on the interview, calling Mr Tate “an unapologetic pornographer”. “After lamenting about how young men are now withdrawing into porn, Tucker Carlson then proceeds to sympathetically interview an unapologetic pornographer – for two and a half hours!” he said. “Two and a half hours defending & singing the praises of an accused rapist and human trafficker. So brave,” said Joe Walsh, a former 2020 Republican presidential candidate. American conservative talk radio host Erick Ericson said Mr Tate is charged with rape, human trafficking, and forming an organised crime group to sexually exploit women. “Are you an Andrew Tate right winger or a Sound of Freedom right winger. You can’t really be both,” he said. HuffPost correspondent SV Dáte called out Carlson for “glorifying an accused rapist/human trafficker”. “Not going to waste 2.5 hours of my life on these two, can someone tell me if Tucker asked Tate his opinion of Sound of Freedom,” said The Spectator’s editor-at-large Ben Domenech. Elon Musk also tweeted about the interview, calling it “interesting”. The Twitter chief was called out for his tweet supporting the Fox News anchor by Ahmed Baba, an entrepreneur and journalist who is also a columnist for The Independent. “This is why millions of people are leaving Twitter,” he said, calling out Mr Musk for promoting the interview between Carlson, who he said pushed “white supremacist rhetoric”, while calling Mr Tate a “misogynist influencer”. Read More Andrew Tate denies making money from trafficking women as he appears in Romanian court Clip of Tucker Carlson defending Andrew Tate resurfaces after rape and human trafficking arrest Twitter gets bizarre endorsement from Taliban as militants give verdict on rival Threads Peers demand curbs on harmful algorithms introduced to online safety Bill Andrew Tate loses appeal against house arrest in Romania as human trafficking case continues Education minister ‘would not want Andrew Tate to speak on university campuses’

Those ads showing caged dogs and desperate looking cats while Canadian singer Sarah McLachlan’s “Angel” played in the background have been not just effective at making viewers sad, but also remarkably successful at raising money for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals since 2007