List of All Articles with Tag 'world'

Hours after former President Donald Trump announced that he was a “target” in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into the efforts to overturn the 2020 election, Mr Trump told Sean Hannity that he was “bothered” by the news but it doesn’t “frighten” him. In a radio interview in Iowa though, the former president said he thought it would be “very dangerous” for Mr Smith to jail him prior to any trial because of his “tremendously passionate group of voters”. Mr Trump spoke to Mr Hannity in a pre-recorded town hall interview on Fox News. The former president faces a potential third indictment over the events of January 6 – on top of other ongoing criminal cases. He faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the Manhattan District Attorney’s case regarding hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels. The former president already faces a 37-count federal indictment in connection to his handling of classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago. The Fox News host suggested Mr Trump remained untroubled by the investigations: “It doesn’t seem to bother you like I think it would bother so many other people. What is it about you that it doesn’t?” “No, it bothers me. It bothers me for everybody in this incredible sold-out audience,” the former president disagreed, speaking to the people of Des Moines, Iowa. He added that the ongoing probes into him are an example of “election interference,” and that the Department of Justice is politicised. “They want to try to demean and diminish and frighten people,” Mr Trump said. “But they don’t frighten us because we’re going to make America great again. That’s all there is.” Mr Trump had written on Truth Social earlier in the day: “Deranged Jack Smith...sent a letter (again, it was Sunday night!) stating that I am a TARGET of the January 6th Grand Jury investigation, and giving me a very short 4 days to report to the Grand Jury, which almost always means an Arrest and Indictment.” In an interview with The Simon Conway Show on Tuesday after the news of the target letter broke, the former president was asked by host Doug Wagner (filling in for Conway) what his message to supporters would be should Mr Smith imprison Mr Trump ahead of any trial. Said Wagner: “Is it something that concerns you of the people making sure that they don’t go out of their right mind if something like that happens, if that, for example, they do say — Jack Smith says, OK, I’m going to put Donald Trump in jail?” The former president replied: “I think it’s a very dangerous thing to even talk about because we do have a tremendously passionate group of voters, much more passion than they had in 2020 and much more passion than they had in 2016.” He reiterated: “I think it would be very dangerous.” Mr Trump has a record of trying to whip up his supporters ahead of legal action against him, telling supporters before his first indictment in Manhattan over hush money payments to Stormy Daniels to “protest” and “take our nation back”. Later he warned of “death and destruction” if he were charged. Only a small number of supporters showed up in Lower Manhattan to protest. Read More All the lawsuits and criminal charges involving Trump and where they stand Trump news – live: Trump claims he’s ‘not frightened’ by Jan 6 target letter as potential indictment looms Trump probe ‘subpoenaed CCTV from Georgia 2020 ballot counting centre’ Undue influence? Anonymous donations to World Health Organization's new foundation raise concerns The US and North Korea have no diplomatic ties — but they still have ways to talk about US soldier Biden pushes a strong role for unions in tech jobs, even as potential strikes are on the horizon

Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene said she was "uncomfortable" showing graphic, sexually explicit photos of Hunter Biden to Congress, but insisted that "the American people deserve to see" the photos. Ms Greene showed the images during a House Oversight Committee hearing on Wednesday. The photos appeared to show the president's son having sex with sex workers. Black boxes were used to cover the genitals and faces of the individuals who aren't Mr Biden. The committee was discussing the claims of IRS whistleblowers who said Mr Biden received preferential treatment during a federal tax investigation when Ms Greene unveiled her photos. The stunt drew expected criticism from Congressional Democrats, many who offered scathing rebukes of the congresswoman's judgement. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called the display "pornographic" and said Republicans had reached a "new low" before taking a barely-veiled shot at Congressman Matt Gaetz. “If the gentlelady from Georgia wanted to follow evidence, we should also take a look at, hypothetically, a case where sex trafficking charges against a 17-year-old girl, potentially,” she said, referencing the fact that Mr Gaetz was under investigation by the DOJ in connection with a child sex trafficking case. Mr Gaetz has denied the allegations and his attorneys said in February that the DOJ had dropped the investigation without issuing charges. Aaron Fritschner, the deputy chief of staff and comms director for Democratic Congressman Don Beyer, noted that Ms Greene included the explicit photos in her email newsletter, and questioned whether or not children were sent those images. "Marjorie Taylor Greene just sent this email to her constituents (yes this using official, taxpayer-funded resources). I clicked the link so you don't have to, it is exactly what you think," he wrote in a tweet, showing a screenshot of Ms Greene's newsletter. "I double checked and there isn't an age screen on her eNewsletter subscription page. So a distinct possibility that Marjorie Taylor Greene just emailed links to video containing nude images of Hunter Biden to minors using taxpayer-funded resources." The Independent has reached out to Ms Greene for comment. Congressman Jamie Raskin told the Washington Post that more than anything, Ms Greene's stunt was "completely irrelevant" to the day's discussion. He said that it "did not advance in any way the putative objective of the hearing" and described the incident as an "assault to the dignity of the committee." Read More Marjorie Taylor Greene sparks outrage by showing explicit photos of Hunter Biden at congressional hearing GOP lawmakers predict imminent ‘fistfight’ between Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert Marjorie Taylor Greene accidentally refers to ‘Israel’s apartheid wall’ in speech praising barriers Marjorie Taylor Greene faces backlash after showing explicit photos of Hunter Biden Biden’s latest campaign video is a Marjorie Taylor Greene speech GOP lawmakers predict ‘fistfight’ between Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert

Russian prosecutors asked a court to sentence imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny to 20 years in prison on extremism charges, his ally Ivan Zhdanov said Thursday. According to Zhdanov, the trial against Navalny, which went on behind closed doors in the prison where the politician is serving another lengthy sentence, is scheduled to conclude with a verdict on Aug. 4. In his closing statement released Thursday by his team, Navalny bashed Russian authorities as being governed by “bargaining, power, bribery, deception, treachery ... and not law.” Navalny said: “Anyone in Russia knows that a person who seeks justice in a court of law is completely vulnerable. The case of that person is hopeless." Navalny, 47, is President Vladimir Putin's fiercest foe who exposed official corruption and organized major anti-Kremlin protests. He was arrested in January 2021 upon returning to Moscow after recuperating in Germany from nerve agent poisoning that he blamed on the Kremlin. The authorities sentenced him to 2 1/2 years in prison for parole violations and then to another nine years on charges of fraud and contempt of court. The politician is currently serving his sentence in a maximum-security prison east of Moscow. He has spent months in a tiny one-person cell, also called a “punishment cell,” for purported disciplinary violations such as an alleged failure to properly button his prison clothes, properly introduce himself to a guard or to wash his face at a specified time. Navalny's allies have accused prison authorities of failing to provide him with proper medical assistance and voiced concern about his health. The new charges relate to the activities of Navalny’s anti-corruption foundation and statements by his top associates. His allies said the charges retroactively criminalize all the foundation's activities since its creation in 2011. Navalny has rejected all the charges against him as politically motivated and has accused the Kremlin of seeking to keep him behind bars for life. One of his associates — Daniel Kholodny — was relocated from a different prison to face trial alongside him. The prosecution has asked to sentence Kholodny to 10 years in prison. The trial against the two began a month ago and went along swiftly by Russian standards, where people often spend months, if not years, awaiting for their verdict. It was unusually shielded from public attention and Navalny's lawyers haven't offered any comments on the proceedings. Navalny, in his sardonic social media posts, occasionally offered a glimpse of what was going on with his case. In one such post, the politician revealed that a song by a popular Russian rapper praising him was listed as evidence in the case files, and claimed that he made the judge and bailiffs laugh out loud as the song was played during a court hearing. In another, he said that the case files linked him to U.S. mogul Warren Buffet. In his closing statement, Navalny referred to the recent short-lived armed rebellion by the fighters of Russia's private military company Wagner, after which their chief and the leader of the mutiny, Yevgeny Prigozhin, walked free, even though a number of Russian soldiers were killed by his troops. “Those who were declared traitors to their Motherland and betrayers, in the morning killed several Russian army officers as the entire Russia watched in astonishment, and by lunch agreed on something with someone and went home,” Navalny said. “Thus, law and justice in Russia were once again put in their place. And that place is not prestigious. One sure can't find them in court," the politician said. Read More Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Jailed Alexei Navalny ‘forced to listen to Putin speech for 100 days in a row’ Who is Yevgeny Prigozhin? Russia restricts movement of British diplomats over Ukraine support - live news

Peru’s highway authority Sutran said on Thursday morning that all road blockades had been lifted, a day after

Watch a live view of Mandra, Greece, where wildfires continue to rage amid a record-breaking summer heatwave in Europe. Smoke continues to rise across the sky on Thursday 20 July, while sizzling temperatures have swept across the continent in recent days and the hot weather has taken hold across many popular holiday hotspots in the Mediterranean. Much of southern Europe has been in the high 30s, while some parts of southern Italy and areas in Greece have been in the low-to-mid 40s, which is eight to 12 degrees above the seasonal average for the region. Notably, firefighters battled a blaze in Rhodes, threatening to stoke tinderbox conditions across the country. The Greek meteorological service had warned of a heightened risk of fires from Thursday. Elsewhere, thousands have also been evacuated in the Canary Islands and Switzerland in recent days, as southern Europe is gripped by ongoing wildfires and extreme heat caused by the fossil-fuel-driven climate crisis. Read More European heatwave - latest updates as record temperatures continue What is driving the record-breaking global heatwaves across three continents? Families unable to cancel summer holidays despite extreme heat warnings and wildfires

European natural gas advanced as traders weighed potential upticks in demand against recovering supplies from Norway. Benchmark Dutch

A woman who says that the recently detained person of interest in the suspected Oregon serial killer case Jesse Lee Calhoun lived with her and her children for a year and a half, has shared allegations that there may have been connections between the 38-year-old and some of the victims. In a video interview shared on YouTube, Krista Senor said Calhoun was linked to at least two of the four murdered women and that he had sex and sold fentanyl to other women during their relationship, according to Oregon Live. “I’m still in shock over this. It’s just surreal,” Ms Sinor, 43 told The Oregonian on Wednesday. “It’s very strange. I can’t wrap my mind around any of it. Neither can his family or friends.” Police spent three days searching her apartment in Milwaukie, Oregon after they arrested Calhoun on 6 June. Former Oregon Governor Kate Brown commuted Calhoun’s sentence for several burglaries on 23 June 2021, about a year before he was set to be released, for his work fighting wildfires. Ms Sinor said Calhoun was connected to two of the victims, Ashley Real, 22, from Portland, and Bridget Leann Ramsey Webster, 31, from Milwaukie. The other two victims are Charity Perry and Kristin Smith – police said on Monday 17 July that their deaths are connected and that a person of interest had been identified. “No charges have been filed against anyone in connection with any of these four death investigations,” the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office and law enforcement agencies said in a press release. “Investigators have interviewed multiple people in connection with these cases and have identified at least one person of interest that is linked to all four of the decedents.” A man who saw Calhoun being arrested told KGW that “There’s craziness in the world. You hope it doesn’t happen too often. It was pretty nuts to see it happen in my backyard”. Calhoun was arrested on 6 June as he and his girlfriend were at a gas station in Milwaukie. The arrest didn’t occur without incident. “I don’t know how he made it through the 10 officers but he made it through and across traffic and down to the river and hopped in,” the witness told KGW. “I was like, ‘I wonder what this guy did,’” the witness added. “It seems whatever he did was really important — or required that much law enforcement, I should say.” The four women were all found dead across the region since the middle of February. Ms Sinor said in the YouTube interview that Calhoun and Ms Real had been seeing each other on and off for about a year and that he would provide Ms Webster with drugs in exchange for sex, but Ms Sinor added that she didn’t know how Calhoun was linked to Ms Perry or Ms Smith. When Ms Sinor was asked if Calhoun is a serial killer, Ms Sinor said “My first thought is that maybe a fentanyl overdose and he freaked out”. “He’s a family guy. He seems like a family guy. He’s really close with his family and he would do anything for them and stuff but like my kids ... he loves my kids and my kids love him,” she added in the YouTube interview, according to KGW. The witness who saw Calhoun being arrested told KGW: “I don’t want to see him come out from bars ever again.” Read More Portland ‘serial killer’ – live: Jesse Calhoun got prison pardon for fighting wildfires before deaths of women An inmate was pardoned by Oregon’s governor. Two years on he’s a person of interest in four suspicious deaths Jesse Calhoun identified as person of interest in suspicious deaths of four women in Portland

Ukraine said any ships heading to Russian ports may be military targets, in a tit-for-tat response to a

An Irish father and his 10-year-old son have died in a crash on holiday in Turkey just hours before they were due to fly home. Eoin Fitzpatrick, 36, and his son Dylan were on holiday at the tourist resort of Alanya when the moped they were riding was hit by a bus. The crash happened at 3.30pm on Monday, just hours before they were due to fly home to Portlaoise in Co Laois, Ireland. Mr Fitzpatrick's other son, 14-year-old Cian, was with his father’s partner and her children at the time and did not witness the crash. The 10-year-old’s mother Claire Dowling has now paid tribute to her son after arriving in Turkey to comfort Cian. She told the Irish Mirror said she is just “glad they’re together” as she described her son as a “kind” boy who loved life. “My smallest boy. I just hope that when it happened – I don’t know how it happened – that he was smiling,” she added. “He loves me and he loves his daddy too and I am so happy that they’re okay together somewhere. “He was such a character and anyone who met him would have said the same. He is 10 years of age and he still holds my hand and tells me he loves me, no matter where we are. He is so, so kind. “What breaks my heart is he was supposed to land today and I know he was dying to come home.” Another family member told the Irish Mirror that it could be anything from a week to 10 days before the remains of Mr Fitzpatrick and his son are returned to Ireland. Laois-based Sinn Fein TD Brian Stanley described the deaths as an “awful tragedy”, adding: “My heartfelt sympathies go to the mother of the boy and also to the parents of the deceased man and the grandparents on both sides. “In the days and weeks ahead, the community in Portlaoise will rally around both families and hopefully be able to give them some support and comfort.” A 28-year-old Turkish national who was believed to be driving the bus was arrested following the crash, which happened close to a pedestrian crossing on Monday afternoon, according to local media reports. Mr Fitzpatrick and Dylan were pronounced dead after medics and police rushed to the scene. The Department of Foreign Affairs has said it is providing consular assistance in the case. Read More Turkey crash: Fifteen people killed and 22 injured as bus collides with emergency vehicles 12 killed in multi-vehicle crash in Turkey's Hatay province Bus collision at accident site leaves 15 dead in Turkey Ukraine and Pakistan call for restoring the Black Sea grain deal after talks in Islamabad Turkey hikes interest rates in another sign of economic normalcy. But markets expected more Flooded with sightseers, Europe's iconic churches struggle to accommodate both worship and tourism

Wagner mercenaries are training Belarusian special forces just a few miles from the border with Nato-member Poland. Warsaw said that it was ready for “various scenarios as the situation develops” – having started moving around 1,000 of its own troops towards the border earlier this month. Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was shown in a video on Wednesday welcoming his fighters to Belarus, telling them they would take no further part in the Ukraine war for now but ordering them to gather their strength for Africa while they trained the Belarusian army. Mr Prigozhin, who agreed to move to Belarus as part of a deal to end a mutiny by his forces that rattled Russian President Vladimir Putin last month, said what is happening with Russian forces on the Ukraine frontline is a “disgrace” and that his group wants “no part of it”. Minsk posted pictures of masked Wagner instructors, their faces covered in accordance with the mercenary group's rules, training Belarusian soldiers with armoured vehicles and what appear to be drone controls. “The armed forces of Belarus continue joint training with the fighters of the Wagner PMC (Private Military Company),” the Belarusian Defence Ministry said. “During the week, special operations forces units together with representatives of the Company will work out combat training tasks at the Brest military range.” That range is just three miles (5km) east of the Polish border. According to claims in a post by a senior Wagner commander, known by his nom de guerre “Marx”, which was republished by Wagner's Telegram channel, up to 10,000 fighters “have gone, or will go” to Belarus. Although the accuracy of that statement is difficult to verify. Poland's Defence Ministry said the country's borders were secure. In response to Warsaw reinforcing its border, the Kremlin tried to paint it as an “aggressive” move – despite Moscow's invasion of Ukraine being the ultimate genesis of it. “Of course it is a cause for concern. The aggressiveness of Poland is a reality,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said. “Such a hostile attitude towards Belarus and the Russian Federation requires heightened attention [from our side].” As part of the deal that ended the 24-hour uprising by Wagner, which involved the groups forces marching towards Moscow – eventually stopping about 125 miles from the capital – mercenaries could move to Belarus in return for charges against them being dropped. Putin said the fighters could either leave for Belarus, come under the command of the defence ministry or go back to their families. The episode exposed cracks in the Russian leader's authority, almost 18 months into an invasion that the Kremlin originally assumed would only last weeks. While Mr Putin has tried to put on the air of everything is business as usual, rumblings of discontent in the Russian military over the situation in Ukraine have bubbled to the service in a way rarely seen in the tightly-controlled world of the Kremlin. The mutiny started after weeks of complaints from Prigozhin about the state of the war, although he has been careful to state that his ire is aimed at Russia's military top brass and the country's Defence Ministry, not Putin himself. He believed that his fighters were not being supported in the fierce fighting around the symbolic city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine. Wagner has lost 22,000 of its men in the Ukraine war while 40,000 have been wounded, according to the Wagner commander “Marx”. If accurate, those numbers give an insight into the extent of the losses both sides are suffering in the war. The commander said in his post that a total of 78,000 Wagner men had participated in what he cast as “the Ukrainian business trip”, 49,000 of them prisoners. Wagner helped Russia to illegally annex Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and have fought Isis in Syria and operated in the Central African Republic and Mali in recent years. “Up to 10,000 fighters have gone or will go to Belarus,” the commander said. “About 15,000 have gone on holiday.” The post contradicted remarks by a Russian who said that as many as 33,000 Wagner fighters had signed contracts with the Russian Defence Ministry. “If all the dead and those who went on holiday signed up then I suppose it is possible,” the commander Marx said. Reuters 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 Organisation sewing reusable sanitary pads for refugees gets charity status Varadkar pledges unwavering solidarity with Ukraine on day-long visit to Kyiv Czech parliament approves treaty making it easier to deploy US troops on Czech territory

A look at the group stage tiebreakers at the 2023 Women's World Cup.

Rex Heuermann’s wife has filed for divorce just six days after New York police arrested her husband over the notorious Gilgo Beach murders. Court records show that Asa Ellerup – the accused serial killer’s wife of two decades and mother of his children – filed a matrimonial complaint in Suffolk County Supreme Court on Wednesday. His family are said to have been left “shocked” and “disgusted” after the Long Island native, 59, was arrested on Thursday and charged with the murders of three women. It has now also emerged that his Manhattan-based architecture company was once hired for a project at the Trump Building in New York City. New York City Department of Buildings records obtained by real state publication The Real Deal show Mr Heuermann’s firm was hired by a third party for a $200,000 plumbing job on 40 Wall Street in 2018. “Mr Heuermann has never worked for the Trump Organization in any capacity,” a spokesperson for the Trump Organization told the outlet. “He was hired by a third-party tenant, who vacated years ago, to perform minor architectural work in their individual space.” It’s unclear whether Mr Heuermann ever visited the building. Read More Pizza crust, burner phones and his wife’s hair: How Long Island police tied Rex Heuermann to the Gilgo Beach murders Rex Heuermann’s wife ‘didn’t talk to anyone’ in Long Island community, neighbour says How the Gilgo Beach serial killer turned the Long Island shore into a graveyard Las Vegas police reviewing unsolved cold cases for links to Gilgo Beach murder suspect Rex Heuermann