
Sweden beats Australia to win another bronze medal at the Women's World Cup
Sweden has won another bronze medal at the Women’s World Cup with Fridolina Rolfo and Kosovare Asllani scoring in a 2-0 win over co-host Australia
2023-08-19 18:15

Jan 6 defendant disappears hours before he was due to be sentenced
A Florida-based member of the Proud Boys, who was found guilty on seven charges related to his involvement in the January 6 riot, was initially scheduled to be sentenced on Friday in a Washington DC court. However, he has gone missing. A wanted notice has been issued against Christopher Worrell by the FBI after he went missing hours before his sentencing. Patricia Hartman, a spokesperson for the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, told NBC News: “We are keen to receive any information from the public regarding his location.” According to court records, the sentencing hearing for Worrell, initially slated for Friday at 2.30pm ET has been indefinitely delayed. US District Judge Royce Lamberth, on Thursday, issued an official notice revealing the issuance of an arrest warrant for Worrell. This notification wasn’t officially recorded until Friday. The FBI added him to the wanted list for “violating conditions of release pending sentencing on federal charges related to the violence at the United States Capitol in Washington, DC, on 6 January 2021”. The FBI encouraged individuals with information to make contact with their local FBI office or embassy. He was convicted by Judge Lamberth on all seven charges, including obstruction of an official proceeding by lawmakers, assaulting officers during the riots and engaging in violence on Capitol grounds. “The evidence demonstrates that Mr Worrell travelled to Washington, DC, for the purpose of ensuring that the Electoral College Certification of President Biden failed,” Mr Lamberth said in a written version of his ruling against Worrell. “The evidence shows that he then furthered that goal, by both joining the mob and then by spraying the officers,” he added. Worrell had used a “pepper gel” spray against police during the 6 January riots. He was initially detained pre-trial following his arrest in March 2021 but the judge ordered his released to home detention in November that year. It was after it come to light that Washington DC jail officials had failed to provide Worrell a proper treatment for his non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma as well as his broken hand. The prosecution is aiming to secure a 14-year imprisonment term for Worrell, based on his unwillingness to acknowledge culpability, absence of remorse, and false statements made while testifying under oath. Worrell’s associate and co-defendant, Daniel Scott, who is also affiliated with the Florida chapter of the Proud Boys, received a five-year prison sentence last month. Read More Trump dubbed ‘coward’ for skipping GOP debate for interview with Tucker Carlson: Live updates Biden goes west for his second vacation of the month Lolita the orca dies after spending more than half a century in captivity
2023-08-19 17:48

Spain's women make history at the Women's World Cup against a backdrop of turmoil and dispute
Spain has thrilled its fans and neutrals alike with some scintillating performances en route to a historic Women's World Cup final against England on Sunday.
2023-08-19 17:47

‘Wagner is victim of it’s own brand name’: How much of a threat does mercenary group pose in Belarus?
The newfound presence of Wagner mercenaries in Belarus, exiled from Russia after their mutinous march on Moscow, has fuelled fresh anxieties in Ukraine and on Nato’s eastern flank. Belarus’s neighbours have moved to a heightened state of alert since dictator Alexander Lukashenko appeared to broker a last-minute deal with the Kremlin to defuse the shortlived mutiny on 23 June and host Wagner troops on Belarusian soil. During a recent meeting at the strategically important Suwalki Gap, a sparsely populated land corridor near their countries’ borders with Belarus and Russia’s enclave of Kaliningrad, Lithuania’s president Gitanas Nauseda warned that north of 4,000 mercenaries were believed to be in Belarus, while Poland’s premier Mateusz Morawiecki branded them “extremely dangerous”. Poland is sending 10,000 troops to its eastern border, and this week held its largest military parade in decades, as it warned that Wagner mercenaries had moved towards Grodno and set up camp in the Brest region, some six miles from Poland’s border. A group associated with Ukraine’s military has also warned that the construction of a “tent city” capable of housing 1,000 mercenaries some 15 miles from its border could be used to simulate a threat there, in a bid to detract from Kyiv’s efforts to make painstaking gains along the heavily mined frontline of Russia’s invasion in the south, and defend a push by Moscow’s forces near Kupiansk in the north. The true extent to which Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin’s guns for hire are now operating in Belarus – and their aims there – remains hard to determine. “We are dealing with layer upon layer of disinformation,” said Keir Giles, a senior consulting fellow at Chatham House. “Not only the repeated information campaign trying to convince Ukraine that there is a renewed threat from the north, but also confusion over exactly what Wagner is doing, who they are reporting to, who they are following orders from, and where they might be.” These factors make it hard to distinguish how much of the threat is “manufactured” to pile pressure on Belarus’s neighbours, Mr Giles said, adding: “The simple answer is that we don’t know. We should watch what is actually being done rather than what is being said.” However, Mark Galeotti, director of the Mayak Intelligence consultancy, said he believed Ukraine’s military was not “in the slightest bit worried” about the threat of Wagner attempting to cross its northern border. Speaking of claims the mercenaries could try to cross into Poland or Ukraine, he said: “In some ways, Wagner is a victim of its brand name, and people are suggesting it’s going to do all types of crazy things that are totally beyond their capabilities, but also which frankly no one would even try.” Wagner has “lost all of its heavy equipment”, he added, with Russia’s defence ministry making “damn sure” to reclaim tanks and artillery handed to the mercenaries while in Ukraine, meaning “we’re talking about a bunch of guys with Kalashnikovs, rather than a sort of fully coherent mechanised force”. Citing reports that funding disputes have already seen some mercenaries bussed back to Russia, Mr Galeotti said Ukraine has “ample forces to stop 2,000 guys with guns wandering over” a border “carefully watched” due to its proximity to Kyiv, most likely including by Nato. While he believes Wagner would not pose much of a direct threat even if better equipped, Nick Reynolds, the Royal United Services Institute’s research fellow for land warfare, said the possibility of disruption “can’t be discounted”. Read more: Wagner tracker: Charting Yevgeny Prigozhin’s mercenary group through the Ukraine war Wagner’s presence – along with that of Belarusian and Russian forces – means Ukraine does have to devote some troops to guard the border, which already comes under “a lot of artillery and drone strikes”, albeit not as heavily as troops along frontlines in the Donbas and further south, he said. While Poland’s concerns have been stoked by Mr Lukashenko’s jibes that the country should thank him for constraining Wagner mercenaries he claimed wish to “[smash] up Rzeszow and Warsaw”, the Belarusian leader vowed in February that Minsk would only enter the war if attacked by Ukraine – despite reports of pressure from Vladimir Putin to do so. Mr Reynolds said he did not foresee any real threat from Belarus this year due to the weakness of Minsk’s military and Russia’s presence there being “just not strong enough to credibly pose a threat of opening a second front” – although Moscow’s mobilisation efforts mean “that might change in time”. “Something I’d watch much more closely in the short-term is Wagner’s international footprint,” he said, adding that the group’s compromised position within Russia itself could see it lean more heavily on its activities in Africa and the Middle East, which are of “enormous value diplomatically” to the Kremlin. Mr Giles also warned that “forces taking orders from Russia or Belarus do not need to be large or well-equipped to cause disruption”. He pointed to the “migrant dumping campaign” initiated by Belarus in 2021, with its Baltic neighbours in Warsaw, Vilnius and Riga once again accusing Minsk in recent days of sending asylum-seekers en masse to the border to in a bid to pile pressure on them. And he highlighted the power of Wagner “as an information weapon”, whether to distract Ukraine or “throw some kind of provocation with Poland to try to back the fiction that Lukashenko presents to his people of Poland being an aggressive and threatening neighbour.” Dr Marina Miron, of King’s College London’s war studies department, agreed that an attempted incursion doesn’t make “any kind of sense” logistically, saying: “I think it’s more of a kind of psychological operation than anything else. At least for now.” While the risk is currently low, “at some point, they will be returning to Ukraine”, said Dr Miron. “That’s when there will be a definite threat.” Read More Wagner mercenaries issue a chilling message on Poland’s doorstep: ‘We are here’ Ukraine’s intelligence service claims responsibility for Crimean Bridge drone attack Lithuania to temporarily close two checkpoints with Belarus amid tensions on border Wagner tracker: Charting Yevgeny Prigozhin’s mercenary group through the Ukraine war
2023-08-19 17:46

Taiwan detects 42 warplanes in Chinese military drills
Taiwan condemned China's actions, saying the military drills were "irrational and provocative".
2023-08-19 17:45

Putin travels south to meet generals waging Ukraine offensive
Russian leader Vladimir Putin met with the commander of Moscow's Ukraine offensive in the Russian city Rostov-on-Don, the Kremlin said Saturday, in a rare trip...
2023-08-19 17:27

'It was a death trap.' These workers died in triple-digit heat. Now their loved ones demand change
As the US faces the hottest summer in human history, workers whose jobs are outdoors are at extreme risk of heat-related dangers, including death. CNN spoke to the family members of two Texas workers who died in heat as high as 119 degrees.
2023-08-19 17:23

Zelenskyy visits NATO candidate Sweden for 1st time since full-scale war with Russia
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is visiting Sweden for the first time since the full-scale Russian invasion of his country
2023-08-19 17:19

What did Britney Spears say about Sam Asghari split? Fans support 'Princess of Pop' as she breaks silence on her 'pain'
Britney Spears and Sam Asghari who got engaged in September 2021 and married in June 2022, are now parting ways over irreconcilable differences
2023-08-19 16:55

How tall is Megan Thee Stallion? ‘Savage’ singer’s height inspired her stage name
Megan Thee Stallion's height is one of the most striking features about her and she owns it with pride
2023-08-19 16:49

iShowSpeed says he suffered mentally in aftermath of flashing incident
Popular streamer iShowSpeed has opened up about his mental health after accidentally exposing himself to thousands of fans. The 18-year-old, whose real name is Darren Watkins, was live streaming to 24,000 fans when the incident took place. "Oh my god," he said when he realised he had revealed his privates. The streamer has since returned to the platform and addressed the "embarrassing moment," and how it's impacted him mentally. "These past days and hours, I've been suffering very mentally, genuinely," he told viewers. "At the end of the day, I'm still a human being." He said it was "one of the worst fears" that has happened and that it's "just depressing." "You guys are joking, you guys can crack your jokes – but you're genuinely not looking a the bigger picture," he said. "Do you all know I have family, little siblings?" "I don't know what to do anymore, bro," Speed continued. A snippet was soon shared to X (formerly known as Twitter) where it garnered hundreds of supportive messages from fans. "i feel bad for him fr, some people in chat are a bunch of lames/weirdos," one person wrote, while another added: "Bro actually i feel bad he was trying to make us laugh and messed up." "It really feels bad," a third said. "He always tries his best to make us laugh but this time he messed up We should not troll him for this guys. Respect!" Meanwhile, another use added: "Don't beat yourself up about it bro, we all make mistakes it'll pass and be forgotten, here for chats anytime, I didn't see the live and plan to avoid seeing any reposts. everyone should take a second and have some tact he's only 18 where I'm from thats a teenager." 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.
2023-08-19 16:24

Ukraine Recap: Putin Visits Rostov; Impact of Black Sea Blockade
President Vladimir Putin traveled to the headquarters of Russia’s Southern Military District for the first time since June’s
2023-08-19 16:22