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There could be rough seas ahead for the superyacht tech billionaire Eric Schmidt won at auction in Antigua

New court filings in a defamation lawsuit against Rudy Giuliani show the promoters of the election fraud narrative after Donald Trump lost the presidency failed to do basic vetting of the claims they were touting -- and didn't see such vetting as necessary.

The man at the center of a right-wing conspiracy theory surrounding January 6 and the attack on the US Capitol has filed a defamation lawsuit against Fox News and Tucker Carlson for amplifying a “fantastical” story alleging he is an undercover federal agent who incited a riot. A lawsuit from Ray Epps follows a cease-and-desist letter sent to the network earlier this year, demanding that Carlson retract his “false and defamatory” statements about him and deliver a “formal on-air apology” for the “lies” he promoted. “Fox’s role in creating and disseminating destructive conspiracy theories has already been well documented,” according to the lawsuit filed in Delaware Superior Court on 12 July. Mr Epps and his wife Robyn – who both voted for Donald Trump and were “loyal” viewers of Fox and its now-former most-watched personality – were subject to campaign of “falsehoods” that “have destroyed Ray’s and Robyn’s lives,” according to the complaint, which seeks unspecified damages. The lawsuit follows a historic $787m settlement between Fox and Dominion Voting Systems, which accused the network of spreading false statements about its business in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election. Fox also has settled a lawsuit from a former producer for Carlson for $12m after she accused the company of “fostering a toxic workplace” where “truth remains a fugitive”. Though he joined the crowd on January 6, Mr Epps did not enter the Capitol, and he has not been charged with a crime – fuelling accusations from Carlson and others that federal prosecutors are protecting him. On his now-former program, Carlson said there is “no rational explanation” why this “mysterious figure” who “helped stage-manage the insurrection” had not yet been charged. “Fox repeatedly published defamatory falsehoods about Epps, including by broadcasting and rebroadcasting defamatory statements by Tucker Carlson who devoted over two dozen segments to Epps and by republishing those falsehoods” across Fox platforms, according to the lawsuit. Those claims have also been echoed by Republican members of Congress making Mr Epps the subject of legislative hearings – including on the day of the lawsuit’s filing, as House Republicans grilled FBI director Christopher Wray about alleged federal agents at the scene of the attack. “I will say this notion that somehow the violence at the Capitol on January 6 was part of some operation orchestrated by FBI sources and agents is ludicrous and is a disservice to our brave, hardworking dedicated men and women,” Mr Wray said in his sworn testimony to the House Judiciary Committee. More than 1,000 people have been arrested in connection with the riots, including more than a dozen people who have been found guilty on treason-related charges for conspiring their attack and 350 people who were convicted of assaulting or resisting law enforcement. Mr Epps also was interviewed by the House select committee investigating the events surrounding and leading up to the Capitol attack. Following Carlson’s on-air statements and a wave of allegations surrounding Mr Epps across social media, the couple received threatening messages, including death threats and a plastic bag with a bullet casing inside and voicemails threatening to burn their house down, according to the complaint, which includes several examples of harassing emails, letters and text messages. The couple was reportedly forced to move out of their home and into an RV. “Epps was not a federal agent. He was a loyal Fox viewer and Trump supporter,” the lawsuit states. Had the US Department of Justice charged him with a crime, Carlson “would have hailed Epps a hero,” according to the filing. ”After destroying Epps’s reputation and livelihood, Fox will move on to its next story, while Ray and Robyn live in a 350-square foot RV and face harassment and fear true harm,” the lawsuit alleges. “Fox must be held accountable.” The Independent has requested comment from Fox. Carlson, in his first interview since his exit from the network in the wake of the Dominion settlement, said he doesn’t know why he was fired. The network announced that Carlson “agreed to part ways” days after Fox agreed to the settlement with the voting machine company over bogus claims that Carlson privately disputed but amplified on air. Fox Corporation also reached a $12m settlement a lawsuit from Abby Grossberg, a former producer for Tucker Carlson Tonight, who alleged a culture of misogyny at the network in a federal complaint that depicted an environment where women are routinely verbally violated “by a poisonous and entrenched patriarchy.” This is a developing story Read More Everything we know about Ray Epps, the man conservatives blame for the Capitol riot Tucker Carlson’s Twitter show is haemorrhaging viewers with 85% drop from first episode, reports say Tucker Carlson doesn’t know why he was fired from Fox FBI director shoots down ‘ludicrous’ January 6 conspiracy theory

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Wall Street strategists are rejiggering their currency recommendations after the euro rose to its highest against the US

The late actor Ray Liotta was nominated posthumously for an Emmy on Wednesday.

President Joe Biden on Wednesday hailed the “unbroken” people of Ukraine and the “incredible dignity” with which they’ve acted to repel Russia’s invading forces as he pledged on behalf of the Western world to maintain support for Kyiv’s defence for as long as necessary. Mr Biden delivered his remarks to a boisterous crowd who’d gathered hours ahead of time to hear him speak in the Great Court at Vilnius University, following the conclusion of this year’s Nato leaders’ summit, at which leaders of the 31-member defence alliance agreed to expedite Ukraine’s bid for membership in the bloc once the war with Russia has been brought to a close. The president, who was also met with one person in the crowd who held a sign marking him as a supporter of his predecessor, Donald Trump, noted the history of the place where he was speaking, and recalled how the Lithuanian yellow, green and red tricolour flag remained aloft outside the country’s diplomatic mission to Washington, even throughout the Soviet occupation of Lithuania. He said some of the older attendees in the crowd would “know better than anyone how precious the right to determine your own future is,” and praised Lithuania and the other Baltic states — Estonia and Latvia — for their strenuous advocacy for Ukraine’s defence and for Kyiv’s bid for membership in Nato. Mr Biden said that all parties involved “want this war to end,” but only on terms that will “uphold the basic principles” of the UN charter concerning national sovereignty and territorial integrity, calling those concepts “two pillars of peaceful relations among nations”. “One country cannot be allowed to seize his neighbour territory by force,” he said, adding that Moscow “could end this war tomorrow” by pulling back Russian forces from all of Ukraine’s territory, with the caveat that Moscow “has shown thus far no interest” in such an outcome because Russian president Vladimir Putin “still wrongly believes that he can outlast Ukraine”. “He can't believe it's their land, their country and their future and even after all this time, Putin still doubts their staying power,” Mr Biden said, adding that the Russian leader is “still making a bad bet” by thinking that the “conviction and the unity among the United States and our allies and partners will break down”. “He still doesn't understand that our commitment, our values, our freedom is something he can never, never, ever ever walk away from. It's who we are,” he said. “The defence of freedom is not the work of a day or a year. It's the calling of our lifetime — of all time. We’re steeled for the struggle ahead, our unity will not falter, I promise you”. Mr Biden added that the US and Western commitment to Ukraine’s defence “will not waver”. “Our commitment to Ukraine will not weaken. We will stand for liberty today, tomorrow, and for as long as it takes,” he said. The president’s remarks echoed another rousing speech he delivered in Warsaw five months ago, when he pledged “unwavering” support for Ukraine’s defence and Nato’s unity less than 24 hours after a surprise visit to Kyiv. At the time, he pledged that Ukraine “will never be a victory for Russia,” and it appears that the rest of the West is on board with Mr Biden’s plans. In addition to the Nato leaders who gathered in Vilnius this week, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida travelled there to unveil a new joint declaration from the Group of Seven in support of Kyiv’s defence. In remarks delivered following the G7 leaders’ session, Mr Biden said the joint declaration will “make it clear” that support for Kyiv from the world’s largest democracies “will last long into the future”. “This starts a process by which each of our nations and any other nation who wishes to participate will negotiate long-term bilateral or security commitments with him to Ukraine. We’re going to help Ukraine build a strong capable defence across land, air and sea ... which will enforce stability in the region and deter against any and all threats,” he said. Mr Biden reiterated the same sentiment a short time later during a bilateral meeting with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky. He praised Mr Zelensky, the actor-turned-politician who has served as Ukraine’s leader since 2019, as having “done an enormous job” and promised that the US and its allies would “make sure that you get what you need”. “And I look forward to the day when we’re having the meetings celebrating your official membership in Nato, so thank you for what you’re doing,” he said. For his part, Mr Zelensky thanked the US president for his recent decision to provide Kyiv with cluster munitions for use against Russian troops on Ukrainian soil, telling Mr Biden that the move “will help us to save us”. The announcement of the joint declaration and the meeting between Mr Biden and Mr Zelensky came after days of tension between the Ukrainian leader and his other Western counterparts over Ukraine’s prospects for membership in Nato. While the US and many other Nato nations had been skittish about giving Ukraine a path to rapid membership while the war with Russia continues, other states have pushed for an immediate change in Kyiv’s status. But the joint declaration — and an announcement from Nato that Ukraine could skip the Membership Action Plan previously laid out for the country’s membership bid and join at a future date post-war — appeared to smooth over the tension between the allies and the Ukrainian leader. Asked how long it would take for Nato to accept Ukraine once the war was over, Mr Biden quipped: “An hour and 20 minutes”. Read More Biden says support for Ukraine ‘will not waver’ in fiery Vilnius speech after Zelensky Nato meeting - live Biden and Zelenskyy praise each other despite divisions over Ukraine war Ukraine’s greatest weapon isn’t on the battlefield The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary

A six-year-old girl managed to evade a kidnapping by using the only weapon she had at her disposal -- her

Ray Epps, the Arizona man that conspiracy theorists falsely claim led an FBI plot to orchestrate the January 6 insurrection, filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against Fox News, accusing the right-wing channel and former host Tucker Carlson of defamation.

By Ananya Mariam Rajesh, Granth Vanaik and Arriana McLymore (Reuters) -Amazon.com's Prime Day two-day shopping event saw U.S. online sales

The US economy showed an overall increase in activity since late May, though most regions expect the pace

President Joe Biden said the fate of democracy would be determined by decisions made by the US and