
US approves new $500M arms sale to Taiwan as aggression from China intensifies
The Biden administration has approved a new $500 million arms sale to Taiwan as it ramps up military assistance to the island despite fervent objections from China
2023-08-24 01:46

Why did Vanessa Lachey cry in 'The Ultimatum: Marry or Move On' Season 2? Netflix show host reveals the importance of therapy
'The Ultimatum' Season 2 host Vanessa Lachey breaks down in tears as she shares therapy makes her and Nick's relationship work
2023-08-24 01:29

Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin ‘dies in plane crash’
Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin is on the passenger list for a flight that has crashed near Moscow, killing 10 people. Ten people died after a private jet crashed in Russia’s Tver region north of Moscow, TASS news agency reported on Wednesday, citing the emergencies ministry. The Embraer aircraft, en route from Moscow to St Petersburg, was carrying seven passengers and three crew, TASS said. More follows on this breaking news story.... Read More Russia’s ‘General Armageddon’ fired – having not been seen since Wagner mutiny Russia's 'General Armageddon' reportedly dismissed after vanishing in wake of Wagner uprising Wagner chief Prigozhin reappears in first video after mutiny - and he’s recruiting
2023-08-24 01:24

Bernardo Silva signs Man City contract extension to end Barcelona & PSG links
Manchester City midfielder Bernardo Silva signs a new three-year contract to extend his deal until 2026. Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain had shown strong interest in the Portuguese international.
2023-08-24 01:24

What is Zac Efron's net worth? Actor disappointed as CW cancels his show after only two episodes
'Down to Earth with Zac Efron' show failed to attract viewers on The CW, drawing only 232,000 viewers for its second episode
2023-08-24 01:23

Russia’s ‘General Armageddon’ removed from post – having not been seen in public since Wagner mutiny
A military commander dubbed “General Armageddon” for his brutality during Syria’s civil war has been removed as the head of Russia’s air force, having not been seen in public since the mutiny by Wagner mercenaries against Moscow at the end of June. Sergei Surovikin, a former commander of Russia’s troops in Ukraine who was previously awarded his nation’s top military honour, has not been publicly sacked – but state media has published sources confirming the move. He was given his moniker in recognition of the brutal tactics he deployed in Syria’s civil war, and was regarded as one of Russia’s most effective commanders. General Surovikin – who is believed to have close ties to Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin – was the most senior military figure to lose his position over the attempted uprising, which took place over a 24-hour period from 23 to 24 June. Russian president Vladimir Putin reacted with fury to the mutiny, which saw Mr Prigrozhin’s forces attempt to march on Moscow in protest at the way in which Moscow’s military top brass were handling the invasion of Ukraine. President Putin said that the revolt – the most significant threat to his leadership in years – could have tipped Russia into civil war. The march on Moscow was eventually halted about 125 miles outside the capital after a deal was brokered between Mr Prigozhin and the Kremlin via Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko. The terms of the arrangement allowed for the Wagner founder and some of his troops to decamp to Belarus and leave combat operations in Ukraine, where they had been involved in some of the fiercest fighting seen in the war so far. Mr Prigozhin has been photographed in St Petersburg and Belarus in recent weeks, and posted a video on Monday that he suggested had been shot in Africa, one of Wagner’s other theatres of combat. The two men Mr Prigozhin had wanted to topple – defence minister Sergei Shoigu and Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the general staff – remain in their posts. General Surovikin’s last public appearance was on 24 June, when he appeared in what looked like a carefully stage-managed video. Visibly strained and without insignia, he urged Mr Prigozhin to abandon his march on Moscow. Since that day, speculation has been rampant about General Surovikin’s fate. Some Russian news outlets and sources have said that the general, who was often publicly praised by Mr Prigozhin in the run-up to the revolt, was being questioned over possible complicity, and that he was potentially being held under house arrest. General Surovikin’s daughter told the Russian social media channel Baza in late June that her father had not been arrested. US officials have previously told American media that General Surovikin was supportive of Mr Prigozhin, but that Western intelligence did not know with certainty whether he had helped the rebellion in any way. Of the latest move, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti, citing an anonymous source, reported that General Surovikin had been replaced as commander of the Russian Aerospace Forces by Colonel General Viktor Afzalov, who heads the main staff of the air force. The agency frequently represents the official position of the Kremlin, through reports citing anonymous officials in Russia’s defence and security establishment. The RBC newspaper reported a defence personnel source saying: “Army General Sergei Surovikin has been relieved of his position in connection with his transfer to a different role ... He is currently on a short holiday.” The television personality Ksenia Sobchak, who is the daughter of a politician with links to Mr Putin, suggested that General Surovikin had not been in touch with his relatives. “They say that he was relieved of his post on 18 August by way of closed decree. The family still has had no contact with him,” she wrote on Telegram. General Surovikin was placed in charge of Russian military operations in Ukraine last October, but in January that role was handed to General Gerasimov while General Surovikin was made a deputy. News of the dismissal of General Surovikin came as another drone attack targeted Moscow, believed to be the sixth such assault in a week. The Ukrainian intelligence agency also claimed it had destroyed a key S-400 surface-to-air missile defence system in Russian-occupied Crimea. Such a loss would be another embarrassing blow for the Kremlin, as Ukraine increasingly targets Russia’s assets far behind the front line in southern and eastern Ukraine. Speaking about the drone attack on the Russian capital, Moscow’s mayor Sergey Sobyanin said that one drone had smashed into a building under construction in Moscow City, a prestigious business complex that has been hit by drones twice before. Several windows were broken in two buildings nearby, and emergency services responded to the incident. Russia’s defence ministry claimed to have downed all of the drones in Moscow and the surrounding area. Earlier, a three-hour night-time drone attack by Russia in Ukraine’s southern region of Odesa overnight on Tuesday caused a blaze at grain facilities, according to the head of the Odesa Regional Military Administration, Oleh Kiper. Elsewhere, a Russian drone attack on the city of Romny in northeastern Ukraine struck a local school, killing the principal, his deputy, a secretary and the school librarian, according to Ukraine’s Ministry of Internal Affairs. Three people were also killed in the Belgorod region of Russia on the Ukrainian border during the repeated shelling of a sanatorium, according to the region’s governor. Reuters and Associated Press contributed to this report Read More The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin ‘dies in plane crash’ Russia's 'General Armageddon' reportedly dismissed after vanishing in wake of Wagner uprising Wagner chief Prigozhin reappears in first video after mutiny - and he’s recruiting
2023-08-24 01:17

BRICS Latest: Bloc Agrees Rules Clearing Path for More Members
BRICS leaders edged closer to adding new members to their club for the first time since 2010, after
2023-08-24 00:52

Ukraine Recap: Zelenskiy Rebuffs Criticism on Military Strategy
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy pushed back against criticism that Ukraine’s forces are too spread out over the front line,
2023-08-24 00:51

Which agencies would GOP candidates cut? Try to remember all of these
Most of the candidates hitting the first 2024 Republican presidential primary debate stage on Wednesday have advocated for ending at least one government agency. Here's a look at which candidates would erase which government agency.
2023-08-24 00:46

Trump leans on Hill surrogates as he skips first GOP presidential debate
The day before former President Donald Trump announced he would not participate in the 2024 Republican presidential primary debate, GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia campaigned at the Iowa State Fair on Trump's behalf.
2023-08-24 00:26

10 Supernatural TV Shows to Stream Right Now
Here's where to stream your favorite spooky shows, including 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer,' The Walking Dead,' and 'What We Do in the Shadows.'
2023-08-24 00:24

Logan Paul's 7 most controversial moments
Logan Paul is still only 28, but he’s already turned his hand to a lot of things during his career. He’s made his name as a YouTuber, as well as becoming a business mogul, podcaster, and turning his hand to both boxing and wrestling. It’s not been plain sailing in that time for the influencer – despite becoming one of the most-watched people online in that time, he’s also had more than his fair share of scandals to deal with. These are his most controversial moments to date. CryptoZoo The now-infamous CryptoZoo was first launched and endorsed by Logan in 2021. It was designed as a game where people could “breed, collect, and trade” hybrid animals as NFTs. The game got off to a bad start and Logan was the subject of a backlash after users hit out at the poor quality of the NFT, with many claiming that regular stock images of animals had been used. CryptoZoo soon went south and Logan was hit with a class-action lawsuit. Logan previously promised to refund those who had invested in the game to the tune of around $1.8 million but the money has yet to be refunded. He was also recently challenged by his upcoming boxing opponent Dillon Danis, who asked why he had yet to repay the people affected. Racist tweets unearthed in 2017 Old tweets from 2012 containing jokes made at the expense of Black and Asian people were unearthed in 2017. One post was criticised for stereotyping both Asian men and Black men, reading: “Watermelon makes your penis bigger – black men. Soy increases the estrogen in your body, decreasing penis size – asians.” Prime controversy Paul launched the hugely successful Prime energy drink with KSI in 2022, and the company was forced to defend the levels of caffeine in its beverages after facing a backlash in 2023. It came after health experts called on the US Food and Drug Administration to investigate the energy drink company. A 12 oz can of Prime contains 200mg of caffeine, equivalent to about half a dozen Coke cans or nearly two Red Bulls. The brand released a statement to People on July 11, saying: “PRIME Energy, sold in a can, dropped in 2023 and contains a comparable amount of caffeine to other top selling energy drinks, all falling within the legal limit of the countries it’s sold in.” The spokesperson for the brand said that the drink “complied with all FDA guidelines” prior to hitting the market and indicated on the packaging that PRIME energy drinks are “not made for anyone under the age of 18.” “As a brand, our top priority is consumer safety, so we welcome discussions with the FDA or any other organisation regarding suggested industry changes they feel are necessary in order to protect consumers,” they added. Video of him lassoing women from 2014 Back in 2021, an old video of Paul and YouTuber Sam Pepper lassoing unsuspecting women in Santa Monica, Los Angeles, and refusing to let them go till they kissed the two men, resurfaced and sparked a backlash. The video, posted in 2014, was shared by @MeTubeDoc account on Twitter which describes itself as the “untold #MeToo stories of YouTube.” It showed the YouTubers using a rope to lasso women and not letting them go till they agreed to kiss them. The account wrote: “We have a deleted 2014 video of Logan Paul lassoing women in the street and not letting some go until they kiss him.” “It was a collab Youtube video with Sam Pepper, who weeks later would be investigated by LA police for a violent sexual assault,” the post said. In the video, Paul says: “We’re doing a thing where we pick up women with lassos.” Suicide Forest The biggest scandal of Paul’s career came in 2017, when he filmed and posted a video of himself entering Aokigahara Forest in Japan – which is often referred to as the “suicide forest”. The video showed him filming a dead body, and it was on YouTube for a day before it was deleted by Paul following heavy criticism. The clip had already received many views, though. People highlighted at the time that many of Logan’s fans are younger viewers, and will have been traumatised by the clip. Paul apologised and claimed he was trying to raise awareness of suicide. Addressing the “monsoon of negativity” in a statement, he said that he had intended to “raise awareness for suicide and suicide prevention.” He added: “I didn't do it for views. I get views. I'm often reminded of how big of a reach I truly have & with great power comes great [responsibility]... for the first time in my life I'm regretful to say I handled that power incorrectly. It won't happen again.” ‘Going gay for a month’ Just over a year later, in 2019, Paul faced another negative reaction after saying he was going to “go gay for a month" as part of his New Year’s resolutions. Speaking on his podcast, he said: “March... it's male-only March. We're going to attempt to go one way, swing, and then go back." Charity Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) was one of the groups to hit out at the comments, saying: "That's not how it works, @LoganPaul." Paul then replied to GLAAD, saying: "very poor choice of words... my fault. let's get together and talk about it on my podcast next week?" GLAAD did not respond, and Logan continued to face criticism from other social media users at the time. Accused of victimising a model Logan Paul- No Handlebars [Official Music Video] www.youtube.com Model Eliza Johnson spoke out about her experience on the set of a Logan Paul video in 2018, saying she felt victimised during the shoot. Johnson spoke to Psychology Today about the video for satirical video ‘No Handlebars’, which saw Paul ride her like a human bicycle. Explaining how she hadn’t been told what the video would involve, Johnson told the publication: “I felt kind of abused. Of course, I felt ashamed, and when something like this happens and we kind of become victimized, we don’t really realize it, we want to just block it out, or say maybe it’s just me, maybe it’s not happening. It’s a very confusing type of thing to experience.” Johnson also referred to herself as the only "plus-size" model on the shoot. "I was the only one who was plus-size. I'm the base of the bike," she said. "I definitely became uncomfortable when he wanted to just get on my back like that because it's rare that you're on set and they just throw something at you. Con artists do things like that." She added: "I reached my breaking point after the sixth take and my legs were giving out. I was so physically exhausted, I wasn't even able to process what was going on… "I did [find the shoot demeaning], as far as the way the other models were dressed as well. I was kind of thankful that they didn't make me as risqué looking. They kind of had me fully clothed, but that says another thing about the whole plus-size model idea, at least in my brain." Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter 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.
2023-08-24 00:18