Al Roker was spotted dining with his wife, Deborah Roberts, and daughter Leila at The Polo Bar restaurant on the occasion of Nick's 21st birthday

Vladimir Putin said mutiny organisers tried to force the Wagner group’s soldiers “to shoot their own”, without naming the mercenary unit’s chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, as he issued a desperate message to the Russian public. The Russian president blasted the organisers of a weekend mutiny, the gravest threat yet to his power, and dubbed them as traitors who played into the hands of Ukraine’s government and its allies. In an address last night, Mr Putin insisted that he directly ordered that steps were taken “to avoid a lot of bloodshed” during the mutiny which he claimed was “resolutely rejected by society” – despite clips appearing to show Rostov-on-Don residents bringing Wagner troops food as they occupied the city. Missing since Saturday night, Yevgeny Prigozhin broke his silence yesterday, claiming his aborted march on Moscow gave a “masterclass” in what Mr Putin’s troops could have achieved with their botched invasion of Ukraine. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky cheered his troops last night after marking a successful day in the battlefield where he claimed that the Ukraine’s soldiers progressed in all directions. Read More Putin appeals to public after Wagner leader Prigozhin breaks silence over mutiny Who is Yevgeny Prigozhin? The exiled Wagner Group mercenary chief who rebelled against Putin Russia claims two British warplanes spotted near border

Oil advanced at the week’s open after Saudi Arabia said it will make an extra 1 million barrel-a-day

Washington Post publisher and chief executive Fred Ryan is leaving the newspaper after nine years in charge

Dorthy's ruby red slippers can't just take you home, they can also land you in federal court. That much was made apparent after a federal grand jury indicted Terry Martin, 76, with one count of theft of a major artwork for allegedly stealing one of four remaining pairs of Dorthy's ruby red slippers from The Wizard of Oz. The indictment claims that Mr Martin stole the slippers — worn by Judy Garland in her iconic 1939 role — in 2005 during an after-hours "visit" to the Judy Garland Museum in the actress's hometown of Grand Rapids, Minnesota. Federal prosecutors alleged on Tuesday that Mr Martin climbed into the museum through a window, broke a display case containing the slippers, and took off with the legendary film artefact, according to ABC News. The museum's alarm had been tripped, but it failed to alert local police, according to a report by The Guardian. “The biggest thing that ever happened to our museum was getting the slippers stolen. We were literally crying,” the museum’s co-founder, Jon Miner, told KQDS just after the robbery. The slippers were on loan to the museum from Hollywood memorabilia collector Michael Shaw when they were stolen. The other three pairs worn in the movie are in the possession of a private collector, the Smithsonian, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. At the time of their theft, the slippers were insured for $1m but had a market value of approximately $3.5m. After they disappeared, law enforcement, enthusiasts and film history buffs offered up rewards for the slippers' safe return, with one anonymous donor in Arizona offering up to $1m. The museum even hired a private investigator in 2013 to try to track down the slippers, but the investigation never made headway. In 2017, a man came forward and told the company that insured the slippers he could assist in their recovery. That man was later found to have been allegedly attempting to extort the individual who stole the shoes, according to the FBI. The agency launched a nearly year-long investigation, after which they launched a sting operation to recover the slippers. The FBI managed to recover the slippers in Minneapolis during the operation, and later examination by experts confirmed the shoes were authentic. However, no arrests were made following the sting, as the FBI was continuing its investigation into who actually stole the memorabilia. Since the 2018 recovery operation, the agency has been working to rule out suspects. Little is known about Mr Martin beyond his age. The indictment did not include a motive or any details about how investigators determined Mr Martin was behind the alleged theft. No attorney's information is available for Mr Martin. Read More Stolen ruby slippers from Wizard of Oz found by FBI after 13 years $1 million reward offered for the return of Judy Garland's ruby red slippers, a decade after they were stolen from a museum The Wizard of Oz most influential film of all time, study finds

Federal prosecutors have asked the judge overseeing the prosecution of Donald Trump, Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira in the Southern District of Florida to hold a hearing that could result in Mr Nauta seeking new legal representation in the case against him. Special Counsel Jack Smith’s office on Wednesday filed a motion asking Judge Aileen Cannon to schedule what is known as a “Garcia Hearing,” at which Mr Nauta would be informed that he has the right to be represented by a lawyer who does not represent any other party in the case against him. The proceeding takes its’ name from a 1975 court case, United States v. Garcia, in which an appeals court found that a defendant could use an attorney with a conflict of interest if they were properly informed as to the risks in doing so. Prosecutors said they were asking for the hearing because Mr Nauta’s attorney, Stanley Woodward, has represented or is currently representing three other people who may be called to testify against the longtime Trump aide and his co-defendants when the case against them goes to trial in May 2024. They explained that the hearing is needed because “ an attorney who cross-examines a former or present client inherently encounters divided loyalties,” and suggested that Judge Cannon could “procure” an independent attorney to be present at the hearing to advise Mr Nauta should he wish to speak with them. The special counsel’s office said Mr Woodward, who is paid by Mr Trump’s Save America Political Action Committee, represents seven persons who have been questioned during the government’s probe into the ex-president’s alleged mishandling of classified information. Specifically, they said the individuals include the Mar-a-Lago IT director referenced in the indictment of Mr Trump, Mr Nauta and Mr De Oliveira as “Trump Employee 4” as well as two other Trump aides who worked for the ex-president “during his presidency and afterwards”. Prosecutors also noted that they had previously told Mr Woodward in February and March of this year that his representation of the IT supervisor constituted a conflict because the employee would give evidence that was damaging to Mr Trump and Mr Nauta. The IT worker subsequently obtained a different attorney in early July, just a few weeks before the government obtained a superseding indictment of the ex-president and Mr Nauta and added Mr De Oliveira as a defendant in the case using the worker’s testimony. Continuing, they said Mr Woodward’s representation of the potential witnesses raises a conflict of interest because it “may result in the attorney’s improper use or disclosure of the client’s confidences during the cross-examination” or result in the attorney “pulling his punches” during cross-examination of the witnesses to protect the client or his own personal interests. “Where, as here, a potential conflict arises from an attorney’s simultaneous or successive representation of a defendant and a potential witness, a Garcia hearing is warranted. Nauta should be thoroughly advised of the potential conflicts and attendant risks,” they said. Prosecutors added that the two witnesses other than the Mar-a-Lago IT worker should also attend the hearing so they can be advised of the risks of having Mr Woodward as an attorney. A response to the government motion by Mr Nauta’s legal team is due on 16 August. Read More Trump has now been indicted for a 3rd time. Here's where all the investigations stand Mar-a-Lago property manager is the latest in line of Trump staffers ensnared in legal turmoil Mar-a-Lago worker charged in Trump's classified documents case to make first court appearance

The tension between Nina Agdal, 31, and Danis has been building for weeks after Danis' upcoming fight with her fiancee, Logan Paul, was announced

Hunter Biden has sued the IRS, arguing that they unlawfully released his private tax information. The son of the president is also alleging that the tax agency failed to safeguard his private records. The younger Mr Biden is seeking all the files linked to the disclosure of tax information, as well as $1,000 for every improper disclosure, and legal fees, in addition to other things, CNN reported. The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Washington, DC. It doesn’t name the two IRS whistleblowers as defendants, but it’s focused on information shared by the agents – Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler – as well as their lawyers in testimony to Congress, interviews, and public statements. “Despite clear warnings from Congress that they were prohibited from disclosing the contents of their testimony to the public in another forum, Mr. Shapley and Mr. Ziegler’s testimony only emboldened their media campaign against Mr. Biden,” the legal filing notes. “And finally, since their public testimony before the House of Representatives on July 19, 2023, the agents have become regular guests on national media outlets and have made new allegations and public statements regarding Mr. Biden’s confidential tax return information that were not previously included in their transcripts before the Committee on Ways and Means.” “The lawsuit is about the decision by IRS employees, their representatives, and others to disregard their obligations and repeatedly and intentionally publicly disclose and disseminate Mr. Biden’s protected tax return information outside the exceptions for making disclosures in the law,” Mr Biden’s legal filing states. “These agents’ putative ‘whistleblower’ status cannot and does not shield them from their wrongful conduct in making unauthorized public disclosures that are not permitted by the whistleblower process. In fact, a ‘whistleblower’ is supposed to uncover government misconduct, not the details of that employee’s opinion about the alleged wrongdoing of a private person,” the lawsuit adds. The legal filing claims that Mr Shapley and Mr Ziegler did more than verify the investigation into Mr Biden – that they shared specific claims against the 53-year-old, the amount of the deductions he had taken and how much he owed in taxes. Mr Shapley’s attorneys said in a Friday statement that Mr Biden’s lawyers have attempted to get the Department of Justice to take action against their clients for sharing information that was protected under whistleblower regulations. “Taxpayer privacy laws are written by Congress, and it gave itself authority in those laws to hear disclosures about taxpayer information,” a lawyer for Mr Shapley said in the statement on Friday. The agents shared their allegations regarding the Department of Justice’s handling of the Biden probe earlier this year. The Department of Justice said in June that they had struck a deal with Mr Biden that meant that he would plead guilty to two tax misdemeanours after he didn’t pay his taxes on time in 2017 and 2018. Mr Biden also agreed to a deal which would mean that he wouldn’t be charged with a gun possession violation, but that agreement was torn up following scrutiny by a federal judge. When the judge declined to greenlight the deal, discussions ended between the office of US Attorney David Weiss and Mr Biden’s legal team. Mr Weiss then asked for, and was granted, the status of Special Counsel. Mr Biden was indicted on three felony gun charges on Thursday and the office of Mr Weiss has stated that they could bring tax charges, with Washington, DC and California being on the list of possible jurisdictions. Read More Rambling Biden is on the ropes – will his Democratic challengers strike? Trump denies pushing for Biden impeachment inquiry in secret meetings with MAGA Republicans Trump suggests Biden impeachment is revenge for his own

Internet criticized Meghan King's hypocrisy as she shared an unblurred photo of her niece but still continues to hide her own children's faces online

At least four people have been killed and others are being treated for gunshot wounds after a mass shooting at a popular bikers’ bar in California’s Orange County. The Orange County sheriff said those killed included the suspected gunman, identified by The Orange County Sheriff’s Department as John Snowling, 59. Three people died and six others were injured before Snowling was killed by law enforcement. The fatal victims have been identified as John Leehey, 67, Tonya Clark, 49, and Glen Sprowl, 53. The incident began with a domestic dispute between the gunman and his wife. Snowling, a retired law enforcement officer with the Ventura Police Department, opened fire on his wife Marie Snowling and her dining companion. Sheriff Don Barnes said on Thursday that Snowling then continued shooting indiscriminately. A man who approached Snwoling as the gunman retrieved more weapons from his vehicle was fatally shot. Ms Snowling had filed for divorce in December 2022, according to The Los Angeles Times. A neighbour of the couple told the outlet she had moved in with her ailing mother while Snowling was spending most of his time in Ohio, where he owned a property. Read More A ‘domestic dispute’ spilled into historic biker bar Cook’s Corner. It ended with a mass shooting Gunman in Cook’s Corner shooting identified as retired police officer John Snowling

Ricky Anderson was accused of shooting Donovan Lewis, an unarmed man, in his home in August 2022

For 150 years, the Chautauqua Institution has prided itself as a place that invites open dialogue and freedom of expression