Why Russia is investigating Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the bombastic chief of Russia's private mercenary group Wagner, appears to be falling out of favor fast in Moscow, after he unleashed a tirade against the Russian military on Friday and vowed to retaliate against its leaders.
2023-06-24 08:20
Mike Pence challenges rivals to back 15-week abortion ban
The ex-vice-president calls on Republicans to support a 15-week ban as a "minimum nationwide standard".
2023-06-24 08:19
Federal court halts Florida’s drag ban, calling it attempt to ‘suppress the speech’ rights of performers
A federal court temporarily halted Florida’s controversial restrictions on drag performances, warning the law was overbroad and could risk infringing on free speech rights. The SB1438 law, signed in May by Republican governor Ron DeSantis, is “dangerously susceptible to standardless, overbroad enforcement which could sweep up substantial protected speech,” US judge Gregory Presnell wrote in his ruling. Far from a neutral attempt to protect children, as its backers have sometimes claimed, the law is an admitted attempt to “specifically suppress the speech of drag queen performers,” Judge Presnell wrote. The governor’s office told Reuters the ruling was “dead wrong.” “Of course it’s constitutional to prevent the sexualization of children by limiting access to adult live performances,” spokesperson Jeremy Redfern said. The suit against the state comes from Hamburger Mary’s, a restaurant chain that features family-friendly drag performances. An Orlando franchise of the restaurant filed suit in May. It claimed the law, which levies criminal penalties at food establishment for admitting children to an “adult live performance,” would “explicitly restrict or chill speech and expression protected by the First Amendment.” “This bill has nothing to do with children, and everything to do with the continued oppression of the LGBTQ+ community,” Hamburger Mary’s Orlando wrote in a Facebook post. Florida governor Ron DeSantis has made limiting the rights of LGBTQ+ people a key part of his agenda, signing bills that restrict gender-affirming care, protections for trans people in schools, and access to youth education on gender and sexuality. This month, courts struck down a Florida rule and statute banning Medicaid payments for transgender healthcare, and partially blocked a state law banning people under 18 from getting gender-affirming medicine. Earlier this month, a federal judge in Tennessee declared the state’s drag ban to be “unconstitutionally vague and substantially overbroad.” “There is no question that obscenity is not protected by the First Amendment,” Judge Thomas Parker wrote. “But there is a difference between material that is ‘obscene’ in the vernacular, and material that is ‘obscene’ under the law.” “Simply put, no majority of the Supreme Court has held that sexually explicit — but not obscene — speech receives less protection than political, artistic, or scientific speech.” Read More Trump faces questions about whether he'll drag down the Republican Party after his indictments Group with Nazi flags protest outside Florida children’s museum days after similar stunt at Disney World Here are the restrictions on transgender people that are moving forward in US states Florida's law targeting drag shows is on hold under federal judge's order Evangelical leader hopes conference is 'testosterone booster shot' for anti-abortion 2024 candidates Trump, DeSantis interviews show Fox influence on GOP field still strong despite troubled year
2023-06-24 07:28
In losing Titan, St John's mulls a familiar tragedy
"Joy and sorrow were always communal rights in small maritime communities," said one Newfoundlander.
2023-06-24 07:28
Republican 2024 hopefuls back abortion limits one year after Roe v Wade overturned
By Gram Slattery WASHINGTON Several Republican presidential candidates praised restrictions on abortion rights at a conference of Christian
2023-06-24 06:00
Trump sets aside $5.5 million in first step to satisfy E. Jean Carroll judgment
Lawyers for Donald Trump asked a judge on Friday to sign off on an agreement with E. Jean Carroll's attorneys to transfer $5.5 million to a court-controlled account in a step toward satisfying the judgment from the defamation lawsuit.
2023-06-24 05:18
Chris Christie defiant as conservative crowd boos Trump criticism
Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie on Friday defended his criticism of former president Donald Trump before a sometimes-hostile crowd at the first day of the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s annual Road to the Majority Conference, telling an audience of evangelical voters that Mr Trump had let down the people who voted for him in 2016 and in 2020. Speaking from the main stage at the Washington Hilton, Mr Christie recounted to the audience how he’d been the first of Mr Trump’s 2016 opponents to endorse him and helped him with debate preparations on his way to winning that year’s general election before serving as the first chair of Mr Trump’s transition team. He also noted that he’d assisted Mr Trump with debate prep in 2020 by playing Joe Biden in mock debates before asking attendees why, after supporting Mr Trump in two consecutive elections, would he choose to run against him again. “I'm running because he's let us down,” he said. “He has let us down because he's unwilling — he’s unwilling to take responsibility for any of the mistakes that were made, and any of the faults that he has, and any of the things that he's done, and that is not leadership, everybody”. As Mr Christie continued by describing what Mr Trump had done as “a failure of leadership,” a large portion of the evangelical voters who’d gathered to hear him began to boo loudly. The former New Jersey governor responded that the hecklers could “boo all you want,” but shortly after he had some of them offering applause instead after he said their shared Christian faith “teaches us that people have to take responsibility for what they do”. “People have to stand up and take accountability for what they do,” he continued. “And I cannot stand by”. Mr Christie added that after all his prior support, all Mr Trump now does is call him names and belittle him. He said the attacks from Mr Trump put him on a “great list of Americans,” including Mr Trump’s former Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, his former defence secretary, Mark Esper, and former OMB Director, ex-acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and former White House chief of staff John Kelly. “You ou can love [Mr Trump] all you want, but I will tell you, I will tell you that doing those kinds of things makes our country smaller,” he said. “It makes our country smaller, and it makes us lesser”. Read More Evangelical leader hopes conference is 'testosterone booster shot' for anti-abortion 2024 candidates Chris Christie delivers epic Twitter takedown of Trump boasts about hiring ‘the best’ White House staff Chris Christie slams GOP debate pledge as a ‘useless idea’ as he doubles down on plans to take on ‘loser, loser, loser’ Trump
2023-06-24 01:26
Arizona GOP election official sues Kari Lake for defamation
Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, a key GOP election official in Arizona, is suing defeated gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake for defamation, arguing that her repeated false claims of malfeasance in the 2022 election have upended his life.
2023-06-24 00:54
Titan sub CEO dismissed safety warnings as 'baseless cries', emails show
Warnings over the sub's safety were dismissed by OceanGate's CEO, emails seen by the BBC show.
2023-06-24 00:20
Germany passes law to attract skilled migrant workers amid fierce debate
The measure, intended to address a labour shortage, will lower hurdles for migrants to the country.
2023-06-24 00:19
Man charged in drugging death of fashion designer who worked with Lady Gaga
A man has been indicted on five drugging murders in New York City, including that of a fashion designer who worked with Lady Gaga. Kenwood Allen, 33, is facing allegations that he was part of a widespread campaign of drugging and robberies in the city. He was indicted for the murder of designer Kathryn Gallagher, the office of the Manhattan District Attorney said on Wednesday. Gallagher, 35, was found lifeless in her bed by her neighbour in July last year. There were no clear signs of trauma, according to The Daily Beast. The front door of her apartment was open with the keys still in the lock when she was discovered. The cause of death was unclear until the medical examiner determined that she had died from “acute intoxication” because of a cocktail of drugs. The indictment shared on Wednesday states that Mr Allen is suspected of three murders in addition to the two killings he was indicted for last year. Mr Allen is alleged to have worked both alone and with a group of others when he conducted a number of robberies between March and December last year. He allegedly drugged his victims with fentanyl and other opioids to steal their credit cards, watches, phones, and other items. He pleaded not guilty on Wednesday. He would then proceed to empty their accounts at ATMs and make a number of charges on the victims’ credit cards, according to authorities. The “drugging, robbery and larceny spree” affected a total of 21 victims, five of which died, according to the Manhattan DA. The three additional murders Mr Allen was indicted for on Wednesday allegedly took place on 22 July, 23 July, and 6 August last year. The New York Supreme Court indictment includes 10 counts of murder in the second degree, 13 counts of robbery in the first degree, two counts of robbery in the second degree, 11 counts of assault in the second degree, two counts of attempted robbery in the first degree, three counts of grand larceny in the fourth degree, three counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree, and one count of conspiracy in the fourth degree. The 10 murder counts, two for each of the five people who died, include one count of acting with depraved indifference to human life, and one count of acting in furtherance of another crime. “These alleged pernicious drugging and robbery schemes have left far too many families mourning the loss of their loved ones,” District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement. “The careful and meticulous work of our prosecutors and the NYPD has led us to charge this individual with a spree of criminal conduct that now includes five murders – four of which took place over a mere 15 days last summer. We will continue to work closely with our law enforcement partners to aggressively uncover and investigate these incidents.” The Manhattan DA said in a press release that “in most of the incidents, Allen drugged his victims with fentanyl and other opioids in order to steal their credit cards, watches, phones, and other personal identifying information. Many of the victims were later found unconscious on the street. He would then withdraw cash from ATMs and use the stolen credit cards to make purchases and transfer money”. Vogue wrote that Ms Gallagher was “a hands-on artisan” who was “fiercely independent and sure of her vision”. Her pieces have been worn by Chrissy Teigen, Kourtney Kardashian, Rita Ora, Laverne Cox, and members of the New York Ballet. “Katie established her own fashion line, Katie Gallagher, in New York City in 2010. Under this label, she completed 26 collections that premiered during New York Fashion Week and Paris Fashion Week,” her obituary said. “She was unique, beautiful, smart, unabashed, and always wanting. She was hardworking and talented, with so many ideas and plans for future projects,” it added. “We are so proud of who she was and all she achieved in her brief but full and beautiful life.” Police have said that in one of the robberies, the perpetrators smeared a white powder that included fentanyl under the nose of a victim, and in another case, they offered marijuana also laced with the drug. They took aim at people active in the nightlife in Lower Manhattan who looked like they were wealthy and waited for them to leave the club before pushing them against a wall to take what they had. The chief of detectives at the New York Police Department, James Essig, said on Thursday that “they bum-rushed them,” according to The New York Times. Mr Allen was charged in December with the deaths of Nurbo Shera and Ardijan Berisha. On Wednesday, he was charged with the deaths of Ms Gallagher, 25-year-old student Alexander Rudnitsky, and Sadath Ahmed, 33. Sean Shirley, 36, is charged in the drugging deaths of Mr Rudnitsky and Mr Ahmed. Facing charges of second-degree murder, robbery, and grand larceny, he was arraigned on Thursday. He also pled not guilty. Assistant district attorney Brian Rodkey said in court that Mr Allen and Mr Shirley “robbed them, and left them on the street, not caring whether they lived or died,” according to The New York Times. The Gallagher family said in a statement that they hope the case will make people aware of how fentanyl and other drugs have been used “as weapons against innocent people”. “The number of victims confirmed at this point is shocking. We are gutted by the magnitude of this collective and senseless loss,” the family said, according to The New York Times. In a separate case, five men were accused in April of the druggings and killings of people going to gay bars in Manhattan. Read More Police identify suspects in fatal drugging of men at New York City gay bars Julia Fox’s brother arrested in NYC apartment raid as police find ghost guns, drugs and ‘explosive materials’ NYC robbery crews drug unsuspecting men, some fatally
2023-06-23 22:26
Supreme Court rejects Texas and Louisiana challenge to Biden deportation priorities
The Supreme Court, in an 8-1 ruling, revived the Biden administration's immigration guidelines that prioritize which noncitizens to deport, dismissing a challenge from two Republican state attorneys general who argued the policies conflicted with immigration law.
2023-06-23 22:17