Ana Navarro wrote, 'I loved relaxing, disconnecting, and learning a little more about Dominican culture. I will be back many times'

Vladimir Putin’s troops have been forced to regroup while suffering over 400 casualties a day in a drive to capture the eastern Ukrainian city of Avdiivka, Donetsk, Kyiv claimed. “The enemy is trying to move forward and then we beat them back,” Oleksandr Shtupun, a spokesperson for Ukraine‘s southern groups of forces, said. “So by no means can you speak of a fixed situation of some sort. Heavy fighting is continuing, though activity has subsided somewhat. The enemy is going through some kind of regrouping.” Mr Shtupun said Russian forces had suffered over 400 casualties a day in its campaign which has relied on small assault groups of 30 to 40 men. Meanwhile, North Korea has shipped over 1,000 containers of military equipment to Russia, according to the UK Ministry of Defence. It said Pyongyang was set to become one of Russia’s most significant foreign arms suppliers alongside Iran and Belarus. On Wednesday, Vladimir Putin tested Russia’s ability to launch a massive retaliatory nuclear strike as he pulled the country out of an international test ban treaty. Read More Moscow succession: What would happen if Putin dies? Russia is executing its own retreating soldiers as Ukraine offensive fails, says US A Russia without Putin? Be careful what you wish for... Putin’s many ‘heart attacks’ and why the rumours may be in his favour

Former President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he's been notified he is a target of the Justice Department investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy will put a motion on the floor that will determine his fate as speaker as he attempts to call the bluff of a small faction of the far-right lawmakers who are determined to see his removal from leadership

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the Wagner private military company “simply doesn't exist” as a legal entity, in comments adding to the series of often bizarre twists that have followed the group’s abortive revolt last month — the most serious threat to Putin’s 23-year rule amid the war in Ukraine. “There is no law on private military organizations. It simply doesn’t exist,” Putin told a Russian newspaper late Thursday, referring to the Wagner group. Putin recounted to Kommersant his own version of a Kremlin event attended by 35 Wagner commanders, including the group's chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin, on June 29. That meeting came just five days after Prigozhin and his troops staged a stunning but short-lived rebellion against Moscow authorities. The meeting was revealed earlier this week by a Kremlin official. Putin said that at the talks, Wagner rejected an offer to keep its troops in Ukraine, where they have played key battlefield roles, under the leadership of their direct commander. “All of them could have gathered in one place and continued to serve,” Putin told the newspaper, “And nothing would have changed for them. They would have been led by the same person who had been their real commander all along.” Putin has previously said that Wagner troops had to choose whether to sign contracts with the Russian Defense Ministry, move to neighboring Belarus or retire from service. According to Putin, although “many nodded” when he made his proposal, Prigozhin rejected the idea, responding that “the boys won’t agree with such a decision.” This, Putin said, was one of “several employment options” put forward at the meeting. During the revolt that lasted less than 24 hours, Prigozhin’s mercenaries quickly swept through the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and captured the military headquarters there without firing a shot, before driving to within about 200 kilometers (125 miles) of Moscow. Prigozhin described the move as a “march of justice” to oust the military leaders, who demanded that Wagner sign contracts with the Defense Ministry by July 1. The fate of Prigozhin and the terms of a deal that ended the armed rebellion by offering amnesty for him and his mercenaries, along with permission, to move to Belarus remain cloudy. Wagner mercenaries are completing the handover of their weapons to the Russian military, the Defense Ministry said Wednesday. Their disarming of Wagner reflects efforts by Russian authorities to defuse the threat they posed and also appears to herald an end to the mercenary group’s operations on the battlefield in Ukraine, where Kyiv’s forces are engaged in a counteroffensive. ___ Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine Read More Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Putin says Wagner Group has no legal basis and therefore simply doesn’t exist Tucker Carlson and Mike Pence clash in heated exchange over Ukraine at GOP 2024 forum Russian antiwar activist allowed into Serbia after spending more than a day at the Belgrade airport

A Whitfield County grand jury has indicted five Department of Juvenile Justice employees in connection with an August 2022 in-custody death at the Dalton Youth Detention Center, according to a news release from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI).

A woman in Florida has been arrested on aggravated manslaughter charges after a 10-month-old child she was caring for was found unresponsive in a car. Temperatures inside the car were in excess of 113F, according to Baker County Sheriff's officials. Rhonda Jewell has been accused of leaving the child unattended in the car for "at least five hours" while temperatures outside rose to 98F. The child died as a result. Ms Jewell was babysitting the infant and three other children on the day of the incident, according to CNN. She picked up the 10-month-old girl from her parents' home and drove to another location, where she planned to babysit all the children together. Ms Jewell told investigators that when she arrived, the child appeared to be sleeping, so she left the baby and went inside to see the other children. She said she forgot about the baby in the car. “It wasn’t until the decedent’s mother arrived at the address (…) to pick up her child, that the decedent’s mother found her to still be strapped in a car seat inside the hot vehicle,” the police report said. The mother arrived around 1pm and saw her child in the car, not breathing and with blue lips. She then called 911. The child was pronounced dead at the hospital. A detective examining the baby said the child's skin was "still very hot to the touch" even after she was taken to a hospital for treatment. Medical staff took the infant's internal temperature, which was 110F, but noted that 110 was the highest the thermometer could measure. Ms Jewell was subsequently arrested for aggravated manslaughter of a child resulting in death. She was booked into the Baker County Detention Centre on Thursday. Baker County Sheriff Scotty Rhoden issued a statement after the tragedy asking the community to be mindful of the victims when seeking out information about the incident. "Each of us are given the gift of life every morning we wake up and every evening when we finish our day, we are blessed if our family is safe and healthy. In the blink of an eye, our world can be turned upside down," he wrote. "Please be mindful of this when trying to understand the tragedy that took place in our small town yesterday." Read More Colorado police buy woman groceries after her partner made young children ‘watch him eat’ and go hungry Mother of kidnapped and murdered Alabama teen speaks out after she helped in search for Carlee Russell Father accused of killing his three sons ‘had plotted murders for months’

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday appeared to downplay not attending an economic summit in Johannesburg next month amid a controversy over an arrest warrant issued against him by the International Criminal Court, saying he doesn't think his presence there is "more important than my presence here, in Russia.” Putin's remarks come more than a week after South African authorities said he will not attend the Aug. 22-24 gathering, which brings together a bloc of developing economies known as BRICS, because of the warrant, even though he was initially invited. The Kremlin said the Russian president will take part in the summit via video link, but didn't provide a reason for the decision and didn't say whether Putin had ever intended to attend in person. Asked about his reasons for not going, Putin told Russian journalists Saturday that he's “in contact with all colleagues," referring to the leaders of Brazil, India, China and South Africa, which together with Russia constitute the BRICS bloc, and that he doesn't “think my presence at the BRICS summit is more important that my presence here, in Russia, right now." “That's it,” Putin said, adding he will take part via video link and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will travel to the summit. Moscow has showcased the BRICS alliance as an alternative to the West’s global dominance, but this year’s meeting has proved awkward for Putin following the ICC’s move in March to indict him for war crimes relating to the abduction of children from Ukraine. South Africa is a signatory to the Rome treaty that formed the International Criminal Court and therefore has the obligation to arrest the Russian leader if he sets foot on South African territory. South Africa had given strong hints that it would not arrest Putin if he attended but had also been lobbying for him not to come to avoid the problem. Although Moscow dismissed the warrant, Putin has not traveled to a country that is a signatory to the ICC treaty since his indictment. Analysts have said that the public debate about whether the Russian leader would or would not travel to South Africa was in itself an unwelcome development for the Kremlin. Read More Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide

Three Marines who were found dead in a privately-owned vehicle parked outside a convenience store in Hampstead, North Carolina, on Sunday, died from carbon monoxide poisoning, according to a release from the Pender County Sheriff's Office.

Starting pitcher Brandon Woodruff was cut loose by Milwaukee and former AL Rookie of the Year Kyle Lewis by Arizona, among 63 players who became free agents when their teams declined to offer 2024 contracts

WASHINGTON The Biden administration plans to urge all Americans to get a booster shot for the coronavirus this

Jurors are due to begin a third day of deliberations Wednesday to mull a verdict in the trial of the former school resource officer who stayed outside during the 2018 massacre at a Parkland, Florida, high school in a rare trial focused on law enforcement response to a mass shooting.