One of the few Republican senators who voted to convict former president Donald Trump during his second impeachment trial for his role in the January 6 riot, said that the latest indictment showed the former president played an “active role” in instigating the chaos. A federal grand jury in Washington DC elected to indict the former president on four counts of violating three sections of the federal criminal code for his attempted scheme to stay in the White House despite losing the 2020 presidential election. Sen Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) joined six other GOP senators in 2021 to convict Mr Trump for his role in inciting the riot at the US Capitol as Mr Trump’s supporters breached the complex in an attempt to stop the certification of the 2020 presidential election results. “In early 2021, I voted to impeach former President Trump based on clear evidence that he attempted to overturn the 2020 election after losing it,” Ms Murkowski said in a series of posts on X , formerly known as Twitter, on Tuesday evening. “Additional evidence presented since then, including by the January 6 Commission, has only reinforced that the former President played a key role in instigating the riots, resulting in physical violence and desecration of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021,” she added. Ms Murkowski won re-election in Alaska last year largely thanks to the state moving to a ranked-choice system. Mr Trump campaigned heavily for her Republican challenger Kelly Tshibaka last year. She is one of only four remaining Republican senators who voted to convict Mr Trump, along with Sens Mitt Romney (R-UT), Susan Collins (R-ME) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA). So far, she is the only Republican senator who has won re-election since voting to convict Mr Trump. Only two of the 10 Republicans who voted in the House of Representatives to impeach Mr Trump remain in the chamber. The Alaska Republican said that Mr Trump is considered innocent until proven guilty and will have his day in court like any American. “As that process begins, I encourage everyone to read the indictment, to understand the very serious allegations being made in this case,” she said. The grand jury charged Mr Trump with conspiracy to defraud the United States, obstruction of an official proceeding and deprivation of rights under the colour of law after a four-hour presentation by Special Counsel Jack Smith’s office. Ms Murkowski’s words differ drastically from those of her Republican colleagues, including Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), who called to defund Mr Smith’s office, and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Andrew Feinberg contributed reporting Read More Trump indictment – live: Trump hit with 2020 election probe charges as he likens it to ‘Nazi persecution’ DeSantis ripped for calling new Trump indictment ‘unfair’ - even though he hasn’t read it ‘Co-conspirator 1’ Rudy Giuliani flips out saying Jack Smith should be indicted for indicting Trump Analysis: Trump's indictment is a stress test of Biden's focus on safeguarding democracy Republican National Committee boosts polling and fundraising thresholds to qualify for 2nd debate Pence fought an order to testify but now is a central figure in his former boss's indictment

Azerbaijan says it's delivering food and other humanitarian aid to Nagorno-Karabakh, two days after the region’s ethnic Armenian separatist government called a cease-fire in a short but intense fight with Azerbaijani forces

Georgia coach Kirby Smart says he is still struggling to find a way to convince his Georgia players to slow down when driving, even after a player and employee were killed in a January crash that involved racing and speeding

The group of women and children are in exchange for a group of hostages held by Hamas.

US President Joe Biden accidentally called UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak “Mr President” as the two met in the Oval Office of The White House during Mr Sunak’s two-day visit to Washington, DC. “Well Mr President ...I just demoted you, Mr Prime Minister,” Mr Biden said as he quickly corrected himself. Mr Biden assured Mr Sunak that the US-UK special relationship is in “real good shape” and that the US has no “closer ally than Great Britain,” adding that he was “delighted” to see the prime minister in the US capital. Mr Sunak welcomed Mr Biden’s “warm words” and lauded the “strength of our partnership, our friendship”. “We will put our values front and centre as we’ve always done,” he said. Mr Biden mentioned that Winston Churchill and Franklin Delano Roosevelt met in the very same place more than seven decades before, according to the Mirror. “They asserted to the strength of the partnership between Great Britain and the United States with the strength of the free world. I still think there’s truth to that assertion,” he said. Mr Sunak recalled that Mr Churchill was once found wandering the halls of the White House in the middle of the night, joking that he wouldn’t be. He has been staying at the presidential guest house, Blair House, during his hectic visit. The US government bought the property after Eleanor Roosevelt discovered Mr Churchill carrying a cigar as he headed towards the private area of the first family at about 3am. “There’s an awful lot of stories that are told, probably a bunch apocryphal about former prime ministers,” Mr Biden said. “Wondering around at 3am in the morning? Winston Churchill bothering Mrs Roosevelt,” Mr Sunak said. “Sir, don’t worry, you won’t see me there bothering you and the First Lady.” “In the past few months we have met each other in San Diego and then we met in Belfast and we met Hiroshima,” Mr Biden noted. “And now we’re here we’re going solve all the problems of the world in the next 20 minutes.” “Together, we’re providing economic humanitarian aid and security assistance to Ukraine in their fight against the Russians,” the president added. Mr Sunak said that “it’s daunting to think of the conversations that our predecessors had in this room when they had to speak of wars that they fought together, peace won together, incredible change in the lives of our citizens”. “And again, for the first time in over half a century, we face a war on the European continent,” he added in reference to Russia’s war in Ukraine. “And as we’ve done before, the US and the UK, have stood together to support Ukraine and stand up for the values of democracy and freedom and make sure that they prevail, as I know we will.” Read More Budget 2022: Hunt says UK in recession as he announces huge tax rises Jeremy Hunt increases energy windfall tax in budget Jeremy Hunt freezes tax allowances and hits 45p rate payers Watch live as Biden and Sunak hold press conference after White House talks Leaders reflect on Churchill’s early hours visits to Roosevelt Government must ‘speed up and scale up’ AI in education – Lord Hague

Bradley Cooper’s Leonard Bernstein drama “Maestro,” Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla Presley movie, Michael Mann’s “Ferrari,” David Fincher’s “The Killer” and Ava DuVernay’s “Origin” will be making their world debuts at the Venice International Film Festival this fall

Ousted 'GMA' host Amy Robach had undergone a double mastectomy in order to overcome breast cancer

The Danish government is exploring banning protests destroying holy texts over security concerns.

Four major environmental groups endorsed President Joe Biden's 2024 reelection for president on Wednesday night, ahead of the president's speech at a League of Conservation Voters dinner in the nation's capital.

Buster Murdaugh has broken his silence to deny any involvement in the mysterious killing of gay teenager Stephen Smith – and insist that he still believes his father is innocent of the murders of his mother and brother. Alex Murdaugh’s only surviving son spoke out in his first TV interview since his family was propelled to national attention, for the new three-part FOX Nation documentary “The Fall of the House of Murdaugh”. In the interview, Buster slammed rumours that he too could have been involved in a heinous murder – that of 19-year-old Smith in July 2015 – and offered an alibi for his whereabouts on the night the teenager was killed. “I never had anything to do with his murder, and I never had anything to do with him on a physical level in any regard,” he said in a clip from the documentary, due for release on 31 August. Smith, a nursing student, was found dead on a road in Hampton County, South Carolina, in the early hours of 8 July 2015 – not far from the prominent Murdaugh family’s estate where Alex Murdaugh murdered Maggie and Paul six years later. Despite Smith suffering blunt force trauma to the head and there being no skid marks or vehicular debris on the road, officials ruled his death a hit-and-run at the time. Smith’s mother long questioned this official account and, for years, the Murdaugh name continued to crop up in connection to the case. Buster and Smith were classmates and there were unsubstantiated rumours that the two had been in some sort of relationship around the time of his death. Smith’s mother Sandy Smith named Buster as the prime suspect in her son’s murder in a letter begging the FBI to get involved in the case back in 2016. In June 2021 – mere days after Maggie and Paul’s murders – SLED announced that it was opening a new investigation into Smith’s death. This April, the agency then finally announced that Smith’s death was being investigated as a homicide and his body was exhumed for a private autopsy. No one has ever been charged over Smith’s death and law enforcement have never announced anything linking Buster to the killing. In the FOX Nation documentary, Buster for the first time offered an alibi for the night of Smith’s death saying that he was at his family’s Edisto Beach house with his late mother and brother. Hitting out at the rumours that continue to swirl, he said it was “a terrible thing” to be accused of. “I don’t want to be rude here, but have you ever been accused of murdering somebody?” he asked. “Well, let me tell you, this is very, very, very, very, very, it’s a terrible thing to place on somebody with absolutely no fact. I mean, it has harmed my reputation. I mean, people perceive me as a murderer.” In the interview, Buster also doubled down on his father’s innocence in the murders of Maggie and Paul – even after a jury of 12 peers convicted him back in March and he was sentenced to life in prison on the charges. Maggie and Paul were found shot dead on the family’s 1,700-acre Moselle estate back on 7 June 2021. Alex Murdaugh had called 911 claiming to have found their bodies. When asked if he ever thought it possible that his father might have killed their loved ones, Buster insisted no. “No, because I think that I hold a very unique perspective that nobody else in that courtroom ever held. And I know the love that I have witnessed,” he said. The 29-year-old went on to say that he thinks there are a lot of questions that still need to be answered about the murders. “My biggest thing that I want people to realise, that there are always two sides of the story. Now, they can pick which one they want to believe,” he said. “But I think there’s a heck of a lot that still needs to be answered about what happened on June the 7th.” He said that prosecutors presented a “crappy motive” and that the case was not “fair”. “I do not believe it was fair,” he said. “I was there for six weeks studying it, and I think it was a tilted table from the beginning. “And I think, unfortunately, a lot of the jurors felt that way prior to when they had to deliberate. It was predetermined in their minds prior to when they ever heard any shred of evidence that was given in that room.” Buster said that he believed the police were under “an awful lot of pressure” to come up with a suspect in the killings and so “the route that they decided to go with” was to charge his father. He also blamed the media coverage of the case which he said left jurors going into the process with their minds already made up. “Because of everything they had the ability to read prior to the trial,” he said. “I think that people get overwhelmed, and I think that they believe everything that they read. And I think it took advantage of a jury pool in a very small town in a very small county.” Now, with his father behind bars, he said he fears that the real killer is still walking free. “I think I set myself up to be safe but yes, when I go to bed at night, I have a fear that there is somebody that is still out there,” Buster added. Throughout the high-profile murder trial, Buster stood by his father, attending each day of the court’s proceedings with his family members. Buster also testified in his father’s defence saying that Murdaugh had been “destroyed” and “heartbroken” in the aftermath of the deaths of his mother and brother. But despite continuing to insist his father’s innocence even now, Buster did not deny that his father may be a psychopath. “I’m not prepared to sit here and say that it encompasses him as a whole, but I certainly think there are characteristics where you look at the manipulation and the lies and the carrying out of that such, and I think that’s a fair assessment,” he said. When asked if he worries he might be like his father, Buster also had some harsh words for his father’s character. “No, I do not worry, because I am not a thief. I am not a liar. I’m not a manipulator,” he said. “In those regards, I am nothing like him, but, in other regards, I believe that I do hold some of his more admirable traits, which I am quite proud of.” Murdaugh, 54, was sentenced to life in prison for the murders and is serving his time in the maximum security facility McCormick Correctional Institution in South Carolina. He is also facing a slew of financial fraud charges for stealing millions of dollars from his law firm clients and his dead housekeeeper’s family and over a botched hitman plot where he claims he paid an accomplice to shoot him dead. As well as Smith’s death, Murdaugh’s high-profile conviction also shone a spotlight on some other mystery deaths tied to the South Carolina legal dynasty. An investigation was also reopened into another mystery death connected to the Murdaugh family – that of their longtime housekeeper Gloria Satterfield. She died in 2018 in a mystery trip and fall accident at the family home. Murdaugh then allegedly stole around $4m in a wrongful death settlement from her sons. At the time of his murder, Paul was also awaiting trial for the 2018 boat crash death of Mallory Beach. Read More Alex Murdaugh set to plead guilty to federal financial charges Alex Murdaugh’s friend gets jail sentence for scheming to steal millions from dead housekeeper’s family New Alex Murdaugh jail call audio reveals awkward interaction with surviving son Buster

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One week after a deadline passed for mutinous soldiers in Niger to reinstate the country’s ousted president or face military intervention, the junta has not acquiesced