Union workers at Volvo Group-owned Mack Trucks overwhelmingly rejected a proposed five-year contract deal and will go on

Prosecutors in Philadelphia say Monday that more suspects will be charged with smashing into stores last week as law enforcement officials review video of the social-media fueled mayhem

CNN’s move to give Donald Trump a platform to repeat debunked lies about elections and air his problematic views is being widely criticised by political commentators. The network’s own anchors were among those responding to Wednesday’s town hall event, as Jake Tapper lashed out at the former president for calling a “Black law enforcement officer a thug” and making fun of E Jean Carroll’s sexual assault. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Michael Fanone criticised the decision to host the event – the former tweeting on the night that CNN should be “ashamed”. The town hall in New Hampshire came just one day after Mr Trump was found liable of sexually abusing and defaming writer E Jean Carroll by a jury. The former president used the platform afforded to him by the news network to mock the woman he has been ordered to pay $5m. In a blizzard of falsehoods, Mr Trump barrelled through the hour-long broadcast at times talking over moderator Kaitlan Collins’s fact-checks and orders to answer the question asked. Read More Trump rants about E Jean Carroll’s cat after he is found liable of sexual abuse A sexual abuse ruling. 26 accusations. Yet Trump is still frontrunner to be the next President Trump news – live: E Jean Carroll praises sexual abuse trial verdict as CNN pressured to axe town hall

Mike Perry and Joe Rogan faced an online backlash from MMA fans after mistakenly claiming that the historic 'Thrilla in Manila' fight took place in Africa

Video montages of sash-clad pageant contestants strolling beaches in El Salvador, snapping selfies in front of fireworks and wandering the streets of downtown San Salvador speckled social media this week as celebrations for the Miss Universe 2023 pageant kicked off in the Central American country. “As President (Nayib) Bukele said, El Salvador is changing,” R’Bonney Gabriel, Miss Universe 2022, said in a speech before this year's contestants. “While we’re here, we hope to shine a light on this country for the rest of the world to see." The competition on Saturday night is the latest spectacle touted by Bukele in his effort to change the reputation of his historically violence-torn nation. But opponents and analysts say such displays are also being used by the populist leader to distract from human rights abuses in his crackdown on gangs and steps he has taken to curb criticism. Constitutional scholars and critics warn that he is slowly withering the country's delicate democracy. The Miss Universe pageant comes at a key time for Bukele, just months before a presidential election in February. Bukele is running for reelection despite clear term limits laid out in El Salvador’s constitution, a move that has upset watchdogs both in and out of the country. “You give the public something to showcase to divert attention from the fact that you’re doing it while eroding the rule of law and democratic checks and balances in the country,” said Tiziano Breda, a Central America expert at Italy’s Instituto Affari Internazionali. Bukele’s government did not respond to a written request for comment by the Associated Press. Since Bukele came to power in 2019, he has made drastic changes to the country of 6.5 million people. Most notable has been his war on El Salvador’s gangs that have terrorized much of the country for decades. Following a burst of gang violence last year, Bukele suspended some constitutional rights and has since locked up more than 72,000 people for alleged gang ties without due process. He also has gone after journalists, labor organizers, human rights groups and other critical voices, and mobilized an elaborate communications machine to spread government propaganda. The sharp decline in violence following the assault on gangs gained Bukele strong support from most Salvadorans and polls suggest he will coast to reelection. Observers, however, warn that there is a need to be concerned over human rights abuses and Bukele's consolidation of power. A 2022 report by the U.S. State Department highlighted “significant human rights issues,” and earlier this month several private citizens and opposition parties filed petitions with the Supreme Electoral Tribunal seeking to annul Bukele's reelection bid. Bukele, who once dubbed himself on social media the “world’s coolest dictator,” has taken the criticism in stride. At times he ignores detractors and in other moments he forcefully accuses foreign governments of hypocrisy, all the while making bold spectacles a sort of trademark of his presidency. In 2021, he announced in a recorded message played at a bitcoin conference in Miami that the cryptocurrency would become a national currency in El Salvador. Shortly thereafter, El Salvador became the first nation to take that step. Questions were raised at the time, and the plunge in cryptocurrency's value last year only fed the doubts. The government has not been transparent about its holdings, but analysts believe they remain at a sharp loss. Bukele pivoted to new ventures and kept charging forward. He hosted international surfing competitions and the 2023 Central American and Caribbean Games, which experts quickly dubbed a textbook case of “sportswashing ” — using sports to divert attention from controversy or burnish reputations. “Successfully hosting an international event can give a regime confidence to kind of act with impunity. Sport is a bit of a shortcut way to win yourself, not even popularity, just an acceptance,” Alan McDougall, a sports historian at the University of Guelph in Canada, told AP earlier this year. Domestically oriented projects like a new mega-prison for gang suspects and the sparkling national library unveiled this week are also presented to the public in carefully choreographed spectacles. The library event included drones that flew into the sky above the capital and arranged themselves in Bukele’s image. The president does appear to be working to blunt criticism from the Biden administration. Last month, El Salvador slapped a hefty fee on African migrants connecting through its airport as the U.S. government pressured governments in the region to do more to control northward migration. The result has been what Breda, the Central American analyst, described as a “softer public denunciation” by the U.S. and other players in the region. Now, as Bukele faces criticism for seeking reelection, the Miss Universe competition has quite literally taken the spotlight in the Central American nation. “We now have become the safest country in Latin America. We would like to thank the Miss Universe Organization for joining us in this historic process,” Bukele said in a video announcing the event earlier this year. “El Salvador is changing.” Social media influencers are commenting on fashion choices of contestants, others show competitors stepping onto the red carpet in elegant dresses and heels or doing yoga on the beach in their pageant sashes. Contestants like Lisbeth Valverde Brenes, representing Costa Rica, sing Bukele’s tune to local content creators as she walks around the city center, praising El Salvador’s security while adding, “I’ll have to come back.” And mixed in with the videos of the pageant on Bukele’s social media feeds — his preferred form of communication — are photos of him and supporters celebrating his reelection campaign. His critics are pushing back. The rights group Movement for Victims of the State of Emergency announced it will hold a protest on the same day as Miss Universe events wrap up. “El Salvador isn't a country of marvels, Bukele has converted it into a prison,” the group said. Breda, the analyst, cautions that this all cuts two ways. “For Salvadorans, this is a way to rebuild their national identity, seeing their country as one that’s being referred to as a tourist hotspot. … I see the good in that,” he said. But, he added, “If that comes at the expense of democracy, the dismantling of checks and balances, I don’t know if that’s a net positive overall.” Read More South Dakota tribe to declare state of emergency due to rampant crime on reservation In India, 40 workers are trapped in a tunnel for a 7th day as rescuers wait for a new drill Remains found in remote Arizona desert in 1992 identified as missing teen girl, police say Bill Cosby accuser files new lawsuit under expiring New York survivors law Dogs are coming down with an unusual respiratory illness in several US states Federal safety officials launch probe into Chicago commuter train crash

Ex-president Donald Trump and 18 other defendants were indicted in Georgia on 41 counts related to their alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election which includes violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. A grand jury in Fulton County Georgia handed down the indictment on Monday, stemming from a years-long investigation by district attorney Fani Willis. Jurors found Mr Trump along with some of his allies including Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, Sidney Powell and Mark Meadows of “knowingly and willfully” joining a conspiracy to “unlawfully change the outcome of the election in favor of Trump” in Georgia. Each defendant is facing a specific set of charges unique to their alleged involvement. Read the indictment in full here: Read More Trump indictment live: Trump and allies indicted by Georgia grand jury in 2020 election investigation Trump and 18 allies indicted on RICO charges in Georgia election case Trump indicted for efforts to overturn 2020 presidential election in Georgia. Follow live updates

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to travel to China in the coming weeks, two US officials and a source familiar with the matter told CNN, as the two countries work to reset normal relations amid what has been an extremely tumultuous and tense year in the relationship.

Officer Shamir Garcia, who is accused of breaking Makayla Johnson's arm during arrest, has background in MMA

War is returning to Russia, Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky has warned, after early-morning drone attacks hit Moscow on Sunday. Although Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for the strikes, Mr Zelensky said such attacks were an inevitable and fair process of the war between the nations. Earlier on Sunday, Russia blamed Ukraine for what it called an “attempted terrorist attack by the Kyiv regime” and said three drones had targetted the capital. Its defence ministry said two buildings were damaged in the Moskva-Citi business district after being brought down using electronic jamming equipment, while another was shot down over the Odintsovo area. One of the residential buildings damaged was home to three government ministries, local media reported. Vnukovo airport on the southern outskirts of the capital was forced to temporarily close due to the attacks, according to Russia’s state news agency. Nobody was hurt, Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin said. It is the fourth attempt at a strike on the capital region this month and the third this week, fuelling concerns about Moscow’s vulnerability to attacks as Russia’s war in Ukraine drags on into its 18th month. President Vladimir Putin was briefed on the attempted attacks, his spokesperson said. He was in his home town of St Petersburg for meetings with African leaders and a naval celebration at the time. “On the morning of 30th July, an attempted terrorist attack by the Kyiv regime using unmanned aerial vehicles against targets in the city of Moscow was foiled,” Russia’s defence ministry said in a statement. In a video address from the western Ukrainian city of Ivano-Frankivsk, Mr Zelensky said that Ukraine was getting stronger. “Today is the 522nd day of the so-called ‘Special Military Operation’, which the Russian leadership thought would last a couple of weeks,” he said. “Gradually, the war is returning to the territory of Russia – to its symbolic centres and military bases, and this is an inevitable, natural and absolutely fair process.” A Ukrainian airforce spokesperson did not claim responsibility for the attacks but said the Russian people were seeing the consequences of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “All of the people who think the war ‘doesn’t concern them’ – it’s already touching them,” Yurii Ihnat told journalists. “There’s already a certain mood in Russia: that something is flying in, and loudly,” he said. “There’s no discussion of peace or calm in the Russian interior any more. They got what they wanted.” Mr Ihnat also referenced an attempted drone attack in Crimea early on Sunday – the Ukrainian territory occupied and illegally annexed by Russia in 2014. Russia’s defence ministry said it had shot down 16 Ukrainian drones and neutralised eight others through electronic jamming. No injuries or damage were reported. Mr Zelensky has vowed to take back all land Russian forces have occupied, including Crimea, and his efforts have been strengthened by the receipt and deployment of increasingly advanced Western weapons. It comes after a ramping up of Ukraine’s counteroffensive in recent weeks, with the head of Ukraine’s intelligence directorate telling Ukrainian news site TSN on Saturday that Kyiv’s forces were set to enter Crimea “soon”. In Ukraine, the airforce claimed it had destroyed four Russian drones above the Kherson and Dnipropetrovsk regions. Meanwhile, a Russian missile strike late on Saturday killed two people and wounded 20 in the city of Sumy in northeast Ukraine. The Ukrainian Interior Ministry said a four-storey college building was hit, with local authorities saying accommodation and teaching buildings were damaged in the blast and fire that followed. Read More Ukraine war – live: Putin blames Kyiv for early morning drone attacks on Moscow Volodymyr Zelensky takes selfies with soldiers during Bakhmut visit Ukraine’s newest attack on Russia? Moving Christmas Putin thanks North Korea for ‘unwavering support’ for Ukraine war The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary

As the rumor mill churns, fans are eagerly awaiting Bobby Berk's potential comeback to the small screen

Three Minnesota State Patrol troopers are on leave after one of them fatally shot a man during a traffic stop early Monday in Minneapolis, and the state is investigating the shooting, authorities say.

The agencies say infrastructure is being destroyed and medics cannot not reach all the injured.