The motive of Bradley Haas shooting is still under investigation, according to reports

Charlie Robison, the Texas singer-songwriter whose rootsy anthems made the country charts until he was forced to retire after a medical procedure left him unable to sing, has died

After the Kremlin launched its offensive in Ukraine last year, Russian punk rocker Vladimir Kotlyarov left his country along with many other...

The Green Bay Packers defense has been underwhelming at times in recent seasons. However, Kenny Clark has certainly earned some positive reviews.He was the 27th overall selection by then-Green Bay Packers general manager Ted Thompson. Defensive tackle Kenny Clark was a standout with the UCLA Bru...

'Family Reunion' famed actor and star Richard Roundtree passed away on Tuesday, October 24, at the age of 81

The Los Angeles Chargers will face the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday in a series where the home team has won each of the past four games

A Canadian startup raised $55 million from venture capital firms and governments to begin a carbon-capture plant in

Vladimir Putin’s forces have launched the “largest-scale offensive action” in eastern Ukraine’s Avdiivka town since the start of Russia’s invasion. The major push on the battlefield comes after Avdiivka witnessed two days of intense fighting as Russian tanks and equipment were seen moving towards Ukrainian lines. Major attacks, including hundreds of rocket and artillery strikes on the town, have been underway since Tuesday. “This is the largest-scale offensive action in our sector since the full-fledged war began,” said Vitaliy Barabash, the head of Avdiivka administration. Russia is pouring in a large number of troops and equipment in the region as they look to wrest the town from Kyiv, Ukrainian military officials said. The flare-up comes as drone attacks killed three people, including a child, in Russia’s Belgorod region and injured another two, regional officials said. The Russian defence ministry blamed Ukraine for carrying out the attack. Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said debris from a drone downed by Russia’s anti-aircraft units damaged several houses and cars in the region. Mr Barabash said while the situation in Avdiivka on Wednesday was not quite as heated as the day before, battles have continued. Nearly two dozen attacks were made on the town’s old district and others in the city centre. A group of up to three Russian battalions with tanks and armoured vehicles support intensified operations near Avdiivka, the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said. It said 10 enemy attacks on the town had been repelled. Russian accounts of the situation in Avdiivka also suggested fighting had intensified, but claimed its forces had “improved their position in the immediate outskirts around Avdiivka”. Avdiivka was retaken by Ukraine last month in a successful counteroffensive push in the east, but is facing the same fate as Bakhmut as it remains under siege for months now. Most of the town has been reduced to rubble. Russia’s gains around Avdiivka have been limited to the southwest of the town and its troops have not managed to complete an operational encirclement of the settlement, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said. Mr Putin’s forces will likely struggle to encircle the town if that is their intent, said the US-based think-tank monitoring the war. It said Avdiivka is “notoriously well-fortified and defended Ukrainian stronghold, which will likely complicate Russian forces’ ability to closely approach or fully capture the settlement”. Any hypothetical capture of the town will not offer Russia new routes to the rest of the Donetsk oblast as Russian forces already control critical segments of the nearby highway and routes, it said. The territorial control of the region, however, could be a bonus for Ukraine. “Russian forces likely intend attacks in the Avdiivka area to fix Ukrainian forces and prevent them from redeploying to other areas of the front. However, Ukrainian officials have already identified the Avdiivka push as a Russian fixing operation, and they are unlikely to unduly commit Ukrainian manpower to this axis,” the ISW said in its latest assessment. Ukrainian gains elsewhere along the frontline and on the battlefield continued on Wednesday as the General Staff said its forces were successful in the east of Klishchiivka and Andriivka near Bakhmut. The tactical positions held by Ukrainian forces were improved in the west of Robotyne, another critical battlefield zone in Zaporizhzhia oblast, the Ukrainian general staff and Tavriisk group commander Brigadier General Oleksandr Tarnavskyi said. In southern Ukraine, Russian forces were pushing their attacks “sometimes using infantry and in some areas deploying quite a lot of vehicles into battle”, said Oleksandr Shtupun, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s southern group of forces. Now in its fifth month, Ukraine’s counteroffensive has two major battle zones as Kyiv’s troops look to secure areas around Bakhmut. They aim to retake the town and recapture villages in the south in a drive towards the Sea of Azov to sever a Russian land bridge between positions Moscow holds in the south and east. Read More Ukraine-Russia war – live: Missile strike kills four in Ukrainian school, say Kyiv officials Could Putin be arrested? President to leave Russia for first time since international arrest warrant issued Russia loses vote to rejoin UN’s top human rights body despite Putin’s charm offensive with stolen grain Russia claims it could play unlikely role of peacemaker in Israel and is ‘speaking to both sides’

There's one stamp you never want to get on your boarding pass - SSSS. If you have ever been pulled to one side at the airport, it may be because you have the letters SSSS scrawled in marker pen over your boarding pass. The letters, used by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) stand for 'Secondary Security Screening Selection' or else 'Secondary Security Screening Selectee'. The code came to light in 2009 when the TSA handbook was accidentally leaked online by the government, without being redacted or edited in the usual way. Sign up to our new free Indy100 weekly newsletter Passengers who are selectees are prohibited from printing their boarding pass at home or using a machine to check-in. They will need to check-in at the desk, where they will be asked more thorough questions than other passengers, and undergo less cursory perfunctory identity checks. The boarding pass issued to the passenger will have the letters 'SSSS' written on it, and this means airport staff will be scrutinising the passenger at every checkpoint. TSA agents will also conduct full-body scans, a pat-down, and go through the passenger's luggage, asking them to turn on all electronic devices. The process can take over 30 minutes, so passengers who find they are unable to print their boarding pass at home, should factor in the extra half-hour in their journey to the gate, just in case they undergo secondary screening. Criteria for being selected for secondary security screening can include: Paying for your ticket in cash. Flying to a 'high risk' destination. The random selection also takes place, but some passengers will be selected repeatedly. In April 2010, the New York Times found several children who were repeatedly selected for secondary screening, possibly because their names were similar to persons on the 'No Fly' list. Passengers who feel they are regularly and unfairly targeted can apply to the Department of Homeland Security to find out if they have incorrectly been put on a watch list. 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.

Many believed Kourtney Kardashian was 'glamorizing' pregnancy as she called the process 'empowering' while flaunting her baby bump

Henry Martín scored on a diving header 44 seconds into the second half, and Mexico beat Haiti 3-1 Thursday night to clinch a berth in the CONCACAF Gold Cup quarterfinals

The Bears traded Chase Claypool to the Dolphins in a trade that, on the surface, looks great for all sides.