Allison Mack pleaded guilty to allegations that she persuaded women to work as sex slaves for NXIVM head Keith Raniere and was given a three-year prison sentence in 2021

Wednesday's roundup of transfer rumours includes news on Man Utd's goalkeeper search, Real Madrid's interest in Lautaro Martinez, Arsenal nearing the signing of Declan Rice and more.

Fighting between the National Liberation Army (ELN) and the government is due to end on Thursday.

Scientists have found an explanation for a 'gravity hole' in the Indian Ocean. A gravity hole is an area where gravitational pull is low, causing the seafloor to sink. Deep beneath the ocean, there is one that is three million square kilometers in size and previously it has confused scientists. Now two researchers from the Indian Institute of Science, Debanjan Pal and Attreyee Ghosh, think they have solved the mystery. More than 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) beneath Earth's crust, they found cold, dense remnants of an ancient ocean plunged into a 'slab graveyard' beneath Africa some 30 million years ago, stirring up hot molten rock. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Pal and Ghosh retraced the formation of the massive geoid by modeling how tectonic plates skimmed over Earth's mantle for the past 140 million years. They ran simulations and compared the shape of the oceanic low those models predicted with observations of the dent itself. The models that reproduced the Indian Ocean geoid low in its current form all had one thing in common: plumes of hot, low-density magma wafting up beneath the low. These plumes, as well as a distinctive mantle structure, are what created the geoid low; if they rise high enough, Pal and Ghosh reckon. "In short, our results suggest that to match the [shape and amplitude of the] observed geoid low, plumes need to be buoyant enough to come up to mid-mantle depths," the pair wrote. The first of these plumes appeared about 20 million years ago, to the south of the Indian Ocean geoid low, and around 10 million years after the old Tethys Sea sank into the lower mantle. As the plumes spread beneath the lithosphere and inched towards the Indian peninsula, the low intensified. But more research needs to be done to work out what is really going on as not all scientists are convinced. Science is crazy. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Kourtney Kardashian, 44, turned to Instagram on Tuesday (4 July) with a series of snaps alongside her friend, influencer Addison Rae, 22. The photos show the pair sporting matching bikinis and posing by the pool as The Kardashians star showed off her baby bump. Many people flocked to the post to compliment the two, with a handful of famous faces showing their love, including Spanish singer-songwriter Rosalia, Simon Huck and Rae herself. It didn't take long for harsh trolls to chime in with criticism and questions about their "weird" age-gap friendship. "Why is a 44-year-old friends with a 22-year-old?" one person asked. "This is just weird to me." Another wrote: "I swear to God, this is the most weirdest friendship." Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter A third person believed the photo to be intentional after her sister Kim Kardashian accused her of having no friends. "Wait, Kourtney posts her long-lost friend days after Kim says she has no friends," they commented. Meanwhile, some jumped to her defence, with one writing: "People don’t understand that you can be way younger but be way more mature than half the people at Kourtney’s age. Love it." The pair first became friends in 2020 when Rae appeared in a TikTok video with the Poosh founder's son, Mason. Speaking about how their friendship came about, Rae explained: "I met Kourtney through a friend — through David [Dobrik] — and we had surprised Mason because Mason liked my videos on TikTok," "We got really close and we started working out together. We did a video on her YouTube of us doing a butt workout and stuff, so that was fun." Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Performers like Bebe Rexha, Ava Max, Kelsea Ballerini, and Pink have all faced disturbing incidents on stage recently

Barcelona have confirmed Inigo Martinez will join the club on a free transfer from Athletic Club on a two-year contract.

Turkey's annual inflation rate slowed to 38.2 percent in June, official data showed Wednesday, although economists warned that this may be a...

BERLIN Growth in Germany's services sector slowed in June amid signs a recent resurgence in demand was losing

The woman was walking her dog on July 4 when the alligator attacked her near a lagoon

Andrew Tate asserts the 'Matrix' is trying to excercise it's control on men by getting them to act on their emotions

By Ali Sawafta JENIN, West Bank Palestinians returned to the scarred streets of Jenin on Wednesday after Israel