WorldAssociated PressA little white pill, Captagon, gives Syria's Assad a strong tool in winning over Arab states
A little white pill has given Syrian President Bashar Assad powerful leverage with his Arab neighbors, who have been willing to bring him out of pariah status in hopes he will stop the flow of highly addictive Captagon amphetamines out of Syria. Western governments have been frustrated by the red-carpet treatment Arab countries have given Assad, fearing that their reconciliation will undermine the push for an end to Syria's long-running civil war. Hundreds of millions of pills have been smuggled over the years into Jordan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab countries, where the drug is used recreationally and by people with physically demanding jobs to keep them alert.
WorldNextSharkMan gets sued after leaving his blind date and her 23 relatives at restaurant
A man in China ended up in a legal battle after walking out on a blind date who expected him to pay for her and 23 of her relatives. Some uninvited guests: The man, identified in local reports as Mr. Liu, found his prospective partner, Ms. Zhang, through a matchmaker and arranged to meet her at a popular restaurant in Jilin province. To Liu's surprise, Zhang arrived at the restaurant accompanied by 23 relatives, who joined them on their date.
ScienceThe ConversationEl Niño is back – that's good news or bad news, depending on where you live
El Niño is officially here, and while it's still weak right now, federal forecasters expect this global disrupter of worldwide weather patterns to gradually strengthen. What is El Niño? El Niño is a climate pattern that starts with warm water building up in the tropical Pacific west of South America.
PoliticsCNNWhat happens to charges if Trump gets elected? Hear what legal expert thinks
Robert Ray, an attorney for Donald Trump during his first impeachment trial, says that if Donald Trump is elected president in 2024, any charges or indictments made against the former president by the Department of Justice would be “gone.
U.S.Fort Worth Star-Telegram‘Holy crap’: Numbers of police calls to hotels west of Fort Worth suggest big problems
On the floor in Charlotte Smith's hotel room are terracotta pots of cactus near the door. When her Fort Worth apartment evicted her last year, these were the only plants from her vast collection she could bring to her new home, the Red Roof Inn in White Settlement. White Settlement has a problem with crime clustered around several aging hotels and motels — crime that often spills out into surrounding neighborhoods and west Fort Worth.
U.S.The GuardianA man with dwarfism says he went to police after a sexual assault. The case went nowhere
Aubrey Taylor had a long night. Taylor, who is a person with dwarfism, was working with his friend to prepare for a New York City art exhibition, and they decided to grab food at the nearby deli. It was a “really exciting moment for both of us”, Taylor said, as the gallery show entirely featured artists who identify as little people.
U.S.Associated PressOfficer who raced to Parkland massacre scene testifies against deputy who stayed outside
A police officer who rushed into a high school building during the 2018 Parkland shooting testified Friday that a sheriff's deputy outside confirmed that the shooter was upstairs. The former Broward County deputy, Scot Peterson, is on trial for failing to confront the shooter who killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High. He has insisted since he spoke to investigators two days after the massacre that he couldn't tell where the gunshots were coming from, and that he thought they may have been fired outside.
PoliticsThe TelegraphHunter Biden's explicit laptop images released by former Donald Trump employee
A former Donald Trump aide has published almost 9,000 images of Joe Biden's son Hunter online, after claiming it took months to censor compromising images of him nude and with drugs and prostitutes. The photographs come from a cache of material obtained from a laptop the US president's son reportedly took to a computer repair shop in Delaware. The contents were passed to the media and a number of the photos were published ahead of the presidential election in 2020 in an attempt to embarrass the Biden campaign.
WorldINSIDERA top executive was fired after being caught having an affair on China's version of TikTok. Now, the $85 dress his mistress wore in the video is selling out.
A top business executive was sacked in China after a video of him with his mistress went viral. Chinese users rushed to buy some 4,000 pieces of the pink dress the mistress wore. A top business executive in China was fired after being caught having an affair with his coworker in a viral video posted on the Chinese version of TikTok.
U.S.Associated PressSecond lawsuit filed in death of Illinois mom during Florida parasailing trip
The family of an Illinois woman killed in a 2022 crash while she and two children were parasailing in the Florida Keys filed a second lawsuit connected to her death this week and reflected on the tragic end to a family vacation about a year ago. Supraja Alaparthi, 33, was killed after being dragged across the water and slamming into a bridge last June while strapped into a parasail. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission investigated the crash last year and found the boat captain cut the line holding Alaparthi and the two boys because the parasail was “dragging” in high winds from a sudden summer storm.
U.S.LA Times'They're 100% not human': Las Vegas police investigate reports of extraterrestrial sightings
“On May 1, 2023, at approximately 12:29 a.m. LVMPD dispatch received a call about a suspicious situation,” the Las Vegas Police Department said in an email statement. At around 11:50 p.m. on April 30, body camera footage from an officer with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police captured a bright, glowing object cutting through the sky, according to local TV channel 8 News Now. About 40 minutes later, a local resident placed a 911 call to report that something “100% not human” was staring at him from his backyard shortly after he and his family saw an object fall from the sky, the station reported.
U.S.Business Insider2 blind passengers say being ordered to leave a cruise ship before it set sail was 'humiliating': report
Two blind passengers told ITV News they were ordered to leave a P&O Cruises ship. Pam May and Jennie Bailie said the order was due to "health and safety reasons." Two blind passengers who were ordered to leave a cruise ship before it set sail said it was "humiliating" and that they "felt like criminals".
WorldReutersUkraine's army reports new gains against Russian forces near Bakhmut
Counterattacking Ukrainian forces have advanced up to 1,400 metres at a number of sections of the front line near the eastern city of Bakhmut in the past day, a military spokesman said on Saturday. The advance is the latest in a series of similar gains reported this week by Kyiv near Bakhmut, which Russia said it had fully captured last month after the bloodiest and longest battle since it began its full-scale invasion in February 2022. Serhiy Cherevaty, the official, said in televised comments that Russian forces were themselves trying to counterattack but that they had not been successful.
U.S.NBC NewsFlorida man nearly loses leg to flesh-eating disease after getting bitten in a family brawl
A Florida man almost lost his leg — and could have died — from a rare flesh-eating bacterial infection, which developed after he was bitten in the thigh during a family fight. Donnie Adams, a 53-year-old funeral assistant from the Tampa suburb of Riverview, went to the emergency room in mid-February to treat a bump the size of a dollar coin on his upper left thigh. He was sent home with a tetanus shot and antibiotics, but the injury got worse over the next few days, becoming red, swollen and painful to the touch.
PoliticsThe TelegraphThe valet who brought Donald Trump his Diet Coke is also charged
Described by Donald Trump as “strong, brave and a great patriot”, Navy veteran Waltine “Walt” Nauta is arguably the Republican frontrunner's most loyal aide. Mr Nauta's unquestioning devotion to the former president is evident in that he is the only other person named on the 49-page indictment. Once responsible for fetching a Diet Coke for Mr Trump when he pressed his dedicated button in the Oval Office, the former White House military valet, 40, now faces six federal charges - four of which carry maximum prison sentences of 20 years and a fine of up to $250,000.
U.S.Associated PressJury returns $63M verdict after finding Chevron covered up toxic pit on California land
A California jury has returned a $63 million verdict against Chevron after finding the oil giant covered up a toxic chemical pit on land purchased by a man who built a house on it and was later diagnosed with a blood cancer. Kevin Wright, who has multiple myeloma, unknowingly built his home directly over the chemical pit near Santa Barbara in 1985, according to his lawsuit. Starting in 1974, Chevron subsidiary Union Oil Company of California had operated a sump pit for oil and gas production, a process that left the carcinogenic chemical benzene on the property, court papers said.
U.S.CNNPlane carrying Joran van der Sloot, who is accused of extorting and defrauding Natalee Holloway’s mom, lands in US from Peru
Joran van der Sloot has landed in the United States, where he is accused of extorting money from the mother of Natalee Holloway, the Alabama teen who was last seen with the Dutch national and two others 18 years ago in Aruba. FBI agents flew with van der Sloot on a US Department of Justice plane to an airport in Birmingham, Alabama, where he landed Thursday afternoon. Van der Sloot was indicted in 2010 on US federal charges of extortion and wire fraud in connection with a plot to sell information about the whereabouts of Holloway's remains in exchange for $250,000, according to an indictment filed in the Northern District of Alabama.
U.S.HuffPostGavin Newsom Brings Out Receipts For Kevin McCarthy In Nasty Twitter Takedown
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) fired back at House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) after the GOP leader criticized his proposal for a constitutional 28th Amendment to address gun violence. McCarthy ripped Newsom's suggestion for raising the minimum age for gun buyers to 21, universal background checks, a “reasonable waiting period” for gun purchases and a ban on civilians buying assault weapons. “Hey Governor Newsom, The 2nd Amendment already exists — we don't need a 28th,” McCarthy wrote on Twitter.
BusinessAutoblogLeaked document shows significant early issues with Tesla Cybertruck
Remember the first time we saw the Tesla Cybertruck? The event was notable, not just for the wild, futuristic vehicle shown on stage, but for the major blooper that occurred when Tesla CEO Elon Musk tried to demonstrate its “armored glass,” breaking the window on stage. As it turns out, that was just one of several early issues the Tesla engineering team discovered with the alpha-level prototype.
WorldBusiness InsiderRussian forces battling Ukraine's assault are discovering a nasty danger behind them, courtesy of the US
Ukraine is firing an artillery shell that lays mines built to destroy tanks. The US has sent Ukraine over 10,000 of these rounds along with the 155 mm howitzers that fire them. The Russian troops defending the front lines against Ukraine's advance are discovering a danger lurking behind them, and it's one that threatens to make their positions more precarious.
WorldThe TelegraphTiger shark kills Russian swimmer in 'meat grinder' attack
A Russian swimmer was eaten by a tiger shark in the Red Sea in an attack that his father, who was watching on helplessly, described as looking like a “meat grinder”. Video footage online showed the entirety of Thursday's attack, in which 23-year-old Vladimir Popov repeatedly called out for his “papa” as he attempted to swim away from the shark. At one point, he seemed to wrestle with the animal but was flipped upside down, his legs flailing in the air.
PoliticsReutersUS House Republicans unveil broad package of tax cuts
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday unveiled a series of new tax breaks aimed at businesses and families while proposing to reverse some of President Joe Biden's legislative victories, including credits to spur the sale of clean-burning electric vehicles. Three related bills were introduced on Friday with the goal of moving the legislation through the House Ways and Means Committee next week. White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre termed the proposals a "tax scam" and alleged that "(Republican) priority isn't reducing the deficit or out-competing the world, their priority is giving handouts to rich special interests and corporations at the expense of everyone else."
U.S.NY Daily NewsMaryland funeral home owner kills pallbearer at funeral for 10-year-old, police say
A Maryland funeral home owner is accused of killing a pallbearer at a funeral service for a child this week. The Prince George's County Police Department claims Wilson Chavis gunned down a rival funeral service operator Tuesday afternoon. The victim, 30-year-old Ronald Steven Banks of Washington, D.C., was helping carry the casket of a 10-year-old girl when he was killed.
BusinessHuffPostRight-Wingers Mocked For Full-Blown Freakout Over 'Woke' Cracker Barrel
We are excited to celebrate Pride Month with our employees and guests. Everyone is always welcome at our table,” the company wrote. Cracker Barrel did not always welcome everyone at its table, or at least within its employment ranks.
WorldReutersFactbox-How secret were the documents found at Mar-a-Lago?
The documents, according to the indictment, included details about U.S. nuclear weapons, spy satellites and the U.S. military. "The unauthorized disclosure of these classified documents could put at risk the national security of the United States, foreign relations, the safety of the United States military, and human sources and the continued viability of sensitive collection methods," the indictment said. - A document marked TOP SECRET//[redacted]/[redacted]//ORCON/NOFORN that the indictment says concerned "nuclear capabilities of a foreign country."
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‘Holy crap’: Numbers of police calls to hotels west of Fort Worth suggest big problems
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