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Facebook-parent Meta plans to lower the minimum age for its virtual reality headsets from 13 years old to 10 years old, despite pressure from lawmakers not to market its VR services to younger users.

The trial for the father of the man accused of killing seven people and wounding dozens more at the Highland Park, Illinois, 2022 Fourth of July parade is scheduled to begin in fall, a judge decided Friday.

Paramedics in Baja California Sur who responded to the report of an American couple deceased in their hotel room said they felt symptoms consistent with carbon monoxide poisoning when they entered the room. Fernando Valencia and his partner were called to the Hotel Rancho Pescadero in El Pescadero around 9pm on Tuesday (13 June) after receiving reports that two Americans were unconscious. Upon arriving, Mr Valencia said he and his partner felt “dizzy” when they entered the room where they found 28-year-old Abby Lutz and 41-year-old John Heathco dead. “We went out of the room as soon as possible … I was afraid for my partner because my first thought in my mind was ‘are we going to die?’” Mr Valencia told Good Morning America. Lutz and Heathco were on a vacation in Mexico when they began to experience what Lutz’s family said are symptoms consistent with food poisoning. The two went to the hospital to seek treatment and by Monday (12 June) were feeling better. Between the time that Lutz texted her father on Monday and Tuesday evening, the couple died of “intoxication” by an unknown substance, according to the Baja California Sur attorney general’s office. Lutz’s family said they were told the couple’s deaths were due to “improper venting of the resort” with the possibility that it could be carbon monoxide poisoning. Mr Valencia called walking into the room “one of the worst experiences” of his life. He was especially worried for his and his partner’s health because he was working with his sister. The Baja California Sur attorney general’s office said in a statement that Lutz and Heathco had been dead between 10 and 11 hours by the time paramedics arrived. There were no signs of physical violence. In a statement provided to The Independent, Henar Gil, the general manager of Rancho Pescadero – a Hyatt property – said: “We are truly heartbroken by this terrible tragedy. Our hearts are with the impacted families and loved ones during this unimaginable loss.” “Local authorities are still actively investigating the situation, and the safety and security of our guests and colleagues remains a top priority, as always. We can confirm there was no evidence of violence related to this situation, and we are not aware of any threat to guests’ safety or wellbeing,” Ms Gil said. She added “We are working to care for those who have been impacted and we are working closely with authorities as they conduct their investigation to understand the cause of death. Further inquiries should be directed to local authorities.” US Department of State spokesperson Matthew Miller said they are “closely monitoring the investigation” into Lutz and Heathco’s deaths in a news conference on Thursday (15 June). “We stand ready to provide any consular – any appropriate consular assistance,” Mr Miller added. Read More An American couple were found dead at a luxury hotel in Mexico. Family fear they were poisoned Two Americans found dead in luxurious Baja California Sur hotel as family suspects carbon monoxide poisoning Thousands of dead fish wash up in Texas after overheated water chokes them of oxygen

An Idea judge has denied “cult mom” Lori Vallow a new trial after she was convicted of murdering her two youngest children and conspiring to murder her new husband Chad Daybell’s first wife. The 49-year-old mother-of-three was last month found guilty of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and grand theft over the deaths of her daughter Tylee Ryan, 16, and son Joshua “JJ” Vallow, 7, in Ada County Court in Boise, Idaho. She was also found guilty of conspiracy to commit the murder of Tammy Daybell, the then-wife of Vallow’s husband Mr Daybell. Her lawyers returned to court on Thursday to argue that she deserved a fresh trial, claiming the jury was confused by misleading instructions, reported KIFI. Her defence team argued that the court should overturn her previous trial and that she be re-tried along with Mr Daybell, who will face a jury next year. They also argued that one juror, who later appeared in media interviews, knew about evidence not presented at trial. Vallow was smiling as she arrived in court wearing an orange and white prison jumpsuit, with her feet shackled together, reported KIFI. District Judge Steven Boyce rejected the claims and she is scheduled to be sentenced on 31 July at the Fremont County Courthouse. Chad Daybell’s trial is scheduled for 1 April, 2024. JJ and Tylee vanished without a trace back in September 2019, with their mother refusing to reveal their whereabouts to both authorities and the children’s desperate family members. One month later, Tammy – an otherwise healthy 49-year-old – also died suddenly. Her death was initially ruled natural causes. This bizarre spate of disappearances and death came just months after Vallow’s fourth husband Charles Vallow was shot dead by Vallow’s brother Alex Cox in Arizona in July 2019. With Vallow’s children and both of their spouses then out of the way, she and Mr Daybell embarked on a new life together – flying to Hawaii to get married in a fairytale wedding on the beach. But, with months passing since the last signs of life of Vallow’s children, concerns continued to grow, prompting authorities to exhume Tammy’s body. A subsequent autopsy revealed that she had died by asphyxiation. In June 2020 – nine months after they were last seen alive – Tylee and JJ’s remains were found buried on the grounds of Mr Daybell’s property in Rexburg, Idaho. JJ, who had autism, had been smothered with a plastic bag taped over his face, his little body still dressed in a pair of red pyjamas. Tylee’s cause of death meanwhile has been impossible to establish as the teenager’s dismembered, charred bones and body parts were found scattered in the ground on Mr Daybell’s pet cemetery. Jurors in Ada County Court in Boise, Idaho, took almost seven hours to find Vallow guilty on all charges over the three murders after a gruelling six-week trial where the panel heard harrowing details about the doomsday mom’s path of deadly destruction and were shown graphic images of the murdered children’s remains. Read More Lori Vallow had two alleged accomplices in her children’s murders. One will never face justice What we know about the Lori Vallow Daybell ‘doomsday cult’ murder trial Lori Vallow Daybell: Timeline of ‘doomsday cult mom’s’ mystery case Lori Vallow has been convicted of her children’s murders. What happens next? Idaho mom convicted in deaths of 2 kids and romantic rival faces new Arizona charge

An Arizona man who was convinced and sentenced to death in the death of a four-year-old was released from prison on Thursday (15 June) after serving 29 years in prison. Barry Lee Jones, 64, was accused of murder, child abuse and sexual assault in the death of his girlfriend’s daughter, Rachel Gray, in 1994. For nearly 30 years, Mr Jones has maintained his innocence that he did not sexually assault or kill her. Now, after a years-long appeal process, a Pima County judge ordered Mr Jones’s release after approving a deal that Mr Jones’s defence team struck with prosecutors who said a medical re-examination of the case didn’t support a finding that Mr Jones caused the girl’s injury. Mr Jones pled guilty to second-degree murder. The Arizona Attorney General’s Office said evidence supported that because Mr Jones was caring for Rachel at the time, allowing her to die as a result of her injuries. “After almost 30 years on death row for a crime he did not commit, Barry Jones is finally coming home,” Cary Sandman, a federal public defender who represented Mr Jones for over 20 years said as reported by the Arizona Republic. The case In early May 1994, Mr Jones drove his girlfriend, Angela Gray and her four-year-old daughter to a Tuscon hospital, where the child was pronounced dead upon arrival. Mr Jones had been living with his daughter, Ms Gray and her three daughters for approximately three months at the time of the incident in a trailer park in Tuscon. Doctors noted the young child had bruises covering her body and a cut on her head. An autopsy showed that Rachel’s death was caused by a small bowel laceration due to “blunt abdominal trauma” according to an investigation from The Intercept. Immediately fingers were pointed at Mr Jones and Ms Gray. Mr Jones reportedly said Rachel was injured while on his watch the day before but it was not his doing. The young girl had hit her head after falling from his parked work van. The four-year-old told Mr Jones a little boy pushed her out of the van and hit her in the stomach with a metal bar. However, the key witnesses comprised of eight-year-old twins and Rachel’s 10-year-old sister, claimed they may have seen Mr Jones hitting Rachel. Mr Jones was arrested and charged with child abuse as well as the murder and sexual assault of Rachel. He was found guilty by a jury in April 1995. However, in Mr Jones’s appeals, it is noted that the jury did not receive all of the information related to the case – like evidence that alleged Ms Gray had been abusive toward her children and potential predators interacted with Rachel. The appeal Mr Jones’s first appealed in 1997 but the Arizona Supreme Court upheld the conviction. He tried to appeal again in 2008, this time federally, but it was denied. Finally, in 2014, Mr Jones’s case was remanded to a federal district judge after new evidence emerged about the young boy who hit Rachel in the stomach with a metal bar. The federal judge called for Mr Jones’s release in a July 2018 ruling, concluding Jones’ earlier lawyer had failed to adequately investigate whether the girl’s injuries were suffered during the time she was alone with him. Experts testified that Rachel may have been injured earlier. The judge’s ruling was upheld by an appeals court, though Jones remained in prison. But the US Supreme Court reversed the decision a year ago, with Justice Clarence Thomas saying the federal courts are generally barred from taking in new evidence of ineffective assistance of counsel that could help prisoners. With Mr Jones still behind bars, his attorneys struck a deal with prosecutors for his release. Under the agreement, once his convictions and death sentence were thrown out, Mr Jones pleaded guilty to a second-degree murder charge in connection with his failure to seek medical care for the girl. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison and will be given credit for time served. Now that Jones’ death sentence has been thrown out, Arizona has 110 people on its death row. Read More Arizona woman alleges sexual assault by Trevor Bauer; he denies allegation and countersues Australian man sentenced to 9 years in prison for gay American's 1988 manslaughter US Marine among two men arrested for firebombing California Planned Parenthood Heather Mack’s mother told police she feared her daughter would kill her. They were powerless to prevent it Woman accused of murdering husband ‘pushed him’ while holding knife, jury told

Six people, including three children, are dead after a horror murder-suicide in Marion County, Tennessee, authorities say. Police and fire teams were called to an address in Sequatchie at about 9pm on Thursday night after neighbors reported hearing gunfire, neighbors told WTVC. The found six victims from the same family dead, and a seventh suffering from gunshot wounds in what authorities are describing as a “domestic incident”. Marion County Sheriff Bo Burnett described the scene as being 'one of the worst I've been involved in all my career as a law enforcement officer.' Breaking more to come

The Department of Justice has released a scathing report into the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD), outlining systemic abuses after a year-long investigation that began after the May 2020 murder of George Floyd. The Justice Department has found that MPD routinely uses excessive force, including unjust deadly force, the department revealed during a press conference on Friday. Attorney General Merrick Garland appeared with city officials in Minneapolis to speak about the blistering 89-page report. He said that the “patterns and practices we observed made what happened to George Floyd possible”. Mr Garland added that he spoke to the family of Mr Floyd earlier on Friday, noting that he told that his death has had a “irrevocable” on the city and the country, according to The New York Times. “His loss is still felt deeply by those who loved and knew him, and many who did not,” Mr Garland said. The attorney general ordered the probe in April 2021, nearly a year after the death of Mr Floyd. The report states that MPD uses tastes and firearms without properly assessing threats. The report notes that in one such incident in 2017, an officer was “spooked” by a woman reporting a sexual assault. DoJ also found that the MPD disregards the safety of those they take into custody, and that they failed to step in to prevent the unreasonable use of force, such as in the murder of Mr Floyd by then-MPD officer Derek Chauvin when several fellow officers stood by and didn’t intervene. The report also states that the practice of stop and search, that the use of force disproportionately affected Black and Native American residents, and that MPD wasn’t held accountable for racist activity until public protests ensued. MPD had been accused of using excessive force well before the murder of Mr Floyd. DoJ called the findings “deeply disturbing” and said that they “erode the community’s trust” in policing. The report found that it was “reasonable” to believe that officers are guilty of a “practice of conduct that deprives people of their rights under the Constitution and federal law”. The Department of Justice also accused MPD of violating the First Amendment rights of protesters and reporters at demonstrations. The city of Minneapolis has agreed to negotiate to possibly come to an agreement to be enforced by the courts that would put in place major changes to the city’s police. Similar consent decrees have been put in place in cities such as Chicago and Baltimore, in addition to several others. The report found that from January 2016 until August of last year, there were 19 police shootings in which “a significant portion of them were unconstitutional uses of deadly force”. Police at times discharged their firearms “without first determining whether there was an immediate threat of harm to the officers or others”. An investigation conducted by the state of Minnesota finished in 2022 found similarly outlined systemic abuse. The report states that Chauvin had been found to previously have used excessive force. DoJ found that several other officers “stood by” in multiple other cases involving Chauvin. DoJ also accused the city of not adhering to the Americans with Disabilities Act as they discriminate against those with behavioural health disabilities. The report states that “many behavioral health-related calls for service do not require a police response, but M.P.D. responds to the majority of those calls, and that response is often harmful and ineffective”. The federal probe found that officers in the Minneapolis force often failed to properly consider the health complaints of those they placed under arrest. “We found numerous incidents in which officers responded to a person’s statement that they could not breathe with a version of, ‘You can breathe; you’re talking right now,’” the document stated. More follows...

Americans are feeling upbeat about inflation and the economy, according to the University of Michigan's latest consumer survey released Friday.

Attorneys for Donald Trump are continuing the legal fight to move Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's criminal case against the former president from New York state court to federal court.

A Vermont man has died in custody while awaiting trial on charges of killing his mother at sea, federal authorities said on Thursday. Nathan Carman, 29, was accused of the first-degree murder of his mother Linda Carman during a 2016 boating trip in what prosecutors alleged was a plot to inherit millions of dollars. Carman pleaded not guilty last year to fraud and first-degree murder and had been due to go on trial in October. The cause of his death was not immediately known. In September 2016, Carman arranged a fishing trip from a Rhode Island marina with his mother, during which his boat reportedly sank and his mother disappeared. Carman was found floating in an inflatable raft eight days later, while his mother has never been found. Prosecutors allege that Carman made alterations to the boat to make it more likely to sink. He was also accused of killing his grandfather, John Chakalos, who was shot dead in his home in Windsor, Connecticut, in 2013. Chakalos’s killing was part of a scheme by Carman to obtain millions of dollars from his grandfather’s estate, according to an eight-count indictment. He had not been charged in that case. Chakalos had made a fortune of tens of millions of dollars by building and renting nursing homes. Last May, Carman was arrested and charged with his mother’s murder. Prosecutors urged him to be held in custody pending trial as he was a flight risk. Carman was being held by US Marshalls at the time of his death. His attorney Martin Minnella told the Associated Press that he had been in good spirits when they spoke on Wednesday, and they had been due to meet again on Thursday. “We were meeting with some experts today over Zoom at 12 o’clock. We were prepared to start picking a jury on October 10 and we were confident we were going to win,” he said. “It’s just a tragedy, a tragedy.” According to prosecutors, Carman’s inheritance scheme began nearly a decade ago when he purchased a rifle in New Hampshire and used it to shoot Chakalos while he was asleep in his Connecticut home on 20 December 2013. Carman then discarded his own computer hard drive and the GPS unit that had been in his truck, according to the indictment. After his grandfather’s death, Carman received $550,000. He moved from Bloomfield, Connecticut, to Vernon, Vermont, in 2014, was unemployed, and by 2016 had squandered most of his inheritance, they alleged. He then organised the fatal boating trip with his mother Linda, of Middletown, Connecticut. In 2019, Chakalos’ three surviving daughters filed a lawsuit in New Hampshire seeking to block Carman from receiving any more of his grandfather’s inheritance. The case was dismissed after a judge ruled that Chakalos was not a New Hampshire resident. It was later refiled in Connecticut and was still pending. The three sisters issued a statement to the AP saying they were “deeply saddened” by Carman’s death. “While we process this shocking news and its impact on the tragic events surrounding the last several years we ask for your understanding and respect relative to our privacy,” they said through a lawyer. Read More Man charged with murdering mother on fishing boat to inherit grandfather’s riches Man found on raft after mother's mystery death at sea was suspect in grandfather's killing Treat Williams death: Everwood and Hair star dies aged 71 following motorcycle accident

“Suitcase killer” Heather Mack is facing up to 28 years in US prison after she pleaded guilty to conspiring to murder her socialite mother Sheila von Wiese-Mack at a luxury 5-star resort in Bali back in 2014. Mack, now 27, reached a plea deal with prosecutors in federal court in Illinois on Friday morning, pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to kill a US national and finally bringing some sort of conclusion to a horror case that has rumbled on for almost eight years. “I plead guilty, your honor,” she told US District Judge Matthew Kelley during the short hearing. Under the terms of the agreement, prosecutors recommend that she faces a maximum sentence of 28 years in prison, with consideration given to the seven years that she’s already served in Indonesian jail. If she is sentenced to 28 years, she could be eligible for release in 2042 – taking into account the time served in Indonesia and behind bars in the US. She would be 46 years old. The daughter – Stella – that she gave birth to in Bali prison would be an adult. However, Judge Kelley warned that he could ignore the sentencing guidelines, with the charge carrying a maximum penalty of life in prison. “I have to make up my own mind,” he said. A sentencing date was set for 18 December. Under the deal, Mack is unable to file any appeals in her case. Earlier in the hearing, Mack told the judge that she had been hospitalised “a few times” with depression and post-traumatic stress disorder while growing up. Mack has spend almost every day of her life behind bars since she was arrested in August 2014 in Bali. On 12 August 2014, Mack, then 18, and her then-boyfriend Tommy Schaefer, 21, bludgeoned von Wiese-Mack to death with the metal handle of a fruit stand at the luxury 5-star St. Regis resort in Bali. They then stuffed her body into a suitcase, hailed down a taxi and loaded it into the trunk of the car. When they were unable to check out of the luxury resort – using her mother’s credit card – the couple fled the scene, leaving the bloodstained suitcase behind. They were soon tracked down to a budget motel and arrested on suspicion of murder. At the time of the murder, Mack – the daughter of socialite von Wiese-Mack and famed musician James L Mack – was pregnant with Schaefer’s child. Prosecutors revealed that she had flown her lover out on a $12,000 business-class ticket just hours earlier charged to her mother’s credit card. Surveillance footage later captured the trio arguing in the hotel lobby after he arrived. Less than 12 hours after Schaefer flew in, Mack was dead. Chilling text messages later surfaced showing how the couple likened themselves to the notorious duo Bonnie & Clyde and plotted methods of murder. They were both convicted of premeditated murder in Indonesia and narrowly avoided facing the firing squad. Mack was released from prison in Bali in October 2021 after serving seven years – three years early due to good behaviour – and was briefly reunited with her daughter Stella, then six, who she planned to begin a new life with. But her newfound freedom was short-lived. Five days later, the then 26-year-old was deported from the Indonesian island back to the US and was arrested by FBI agents as soon as she touched down on American soil at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. She was indicted on two counts of conspiring to commit murder in a foreign country and one count of obstruction of justice. The indictment, which was filed in 2017 but remained sealed while she remained in Indonesian prison, also charged Schaefer with the same counts. Since then, she has been behind bars in Illinois awaiting trial and had been fighting against the charges, insisting that she had served her time for her crime in Indonesia. The case was set to go to trial on 1 August in Chicago before Mack revealed her intentions to change her plea earlier this month. Speaking to The New York Post last week, Mack said: “I have served nearly 10 years in prison. I felt that I had done my time, so I was gung-ho for trial,” she said. “Now, after sitting for so long, I know what I have to do. I’m going to be a felon in America, and that is fine. I understand from [the US government’s] perspective that, if I don’t plead guilty and they didn’t indict me, I wouldn’t be a felon.” She added: “I could become a police officer and work for the government… I could carry a firearm on the street.” Schaefer is still serving his 18-year sentence in Indonesia before he too will face charges on US soil. Read More Heather Mack plea hearing – live: ‘Suitcase killer’ to plead guilty in US over Bali murder of socialite mom A body in a suitcase, Bonnie and Clyde fantasy and baby born in Bali prison: The chilling case of Heather Mack Heather Mack, convicted in Bali of killing mother, set to plead guilty in US

WASHINGTON U.S. consumer sentiment rose to a four-month high June, lifted by easing inflation fears and the resolution