A crash happened Saturday evening outside the White House, leaving one person dead, according to police.

The Metropolitan Police Department responded at about 10:45 p.m. Saturday night to reports that a vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed collided with an outer perimeter gate on the White House complex.

Security protocols were implemented, but the driver was pronounced dead at the scene, according to a statement released by the Secret Service.

“Security protocols were implemented as officers cleared the vehicle and attempted to render aid to the driver who was discovered deceased,” according to the Secret Service.

There is no threat to the White House.

The fatal crash portion of this will be turned over to the Washington Metropolitan Police Department Crash Investigation Unit and the Secret Service investigation continues.

Twenty-five people were arrested Saturday for trespassing at the University of Virginia after police clashed with pro-Palestinian protesters who refused to remove tents from campus, and demonstrators at the University of Michigan chanted anti-war messages and waved flags during commencement ceremonies.

In Virginia, student demonstrators began their protest on a lawn outside the school chapel Tuesday. On Saturday, video from WVAW-TV showed police wearing heavy gear and holding shields lined up on the campus in Charlottesville. Protesters chanted “Free Palestine,” and university police said on the social platform X that an “unlawful assembly” had been declared in the area.

As police moved in, students were pushed to the ground, pulled by their arms and sprayed with a chemical irritant, Laura Goldblatt, an assistant professor of English and global studies who has been helping student demonstrators, told The Washington Post.

“Our concern since this began has been the safety of our students. Students are not safe right now,” Goldblatt said.

The university administration said in a statement that the demonstrators were told the tents and canopies they erected were prohibited under school policy and were asked to remove them. Virginia State Police were asked to help with enforcement, the university said.

It was the latest clash in several tense and sometimes violent weeks at colleges and universities around the country that have seen dozens of protests and hundreds of arrests at demonstrations over the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

Tent encampments of protesters calling on universities to stop doing business with Israel or companies they say support the war in Gaza have spread across campuses nationwide in a student movement unlike any other this century. Some schools have reached agreements with protesters to end the demonstrations and reduce the possibility of disrupting final exams and commencements.

The Associated Press has recorded at least 61 incidents since April 18 in which arrests were made at protests, with more than 2,400 people being arrested on 47 campuses. The figures are based on AP reporting and statements from universities and law enforcement agencies.

Many encampments have been dismantled.

Michigan was among the schools bracing for protests during commencement this weekend, including Indiana University, Ohio State University and Northeastern University in Boston. Many more are slated in the coming weeks.

State police prevented the demonstrators from reaching the stage and university spokesperson Colleen Mastony said public safety personnel escorted the protesters to the rear of the stadium, where they remained through the conclusion of the event.

“Peaceful protests like this have taken place at U-M commencement ceremonies for decades,” she added.

The university has allowed protesters to set up an encampment on campus, but police assisted in breaking up a large gathering at a graduation-related event Friday night, and one person was arrested.

At Indiana, protesters were urging supporters to wear their kaffiyehs and walk out during remarks by President Pamela Whitten on Saturday evening. The Bloomington campus designated a protest zone outside Memorial Stadium, the arena for the ceremony.

At Princeton, in New Jersey, 18 students launched a hunger strike in an effort to push the university to divest from companies tied to Israel.

In Ann Arbor, the protest happened at the beginning of the event at Michigan Stadium. About 75 people, many wearing traditional Arabic kaffiyehs along with their graduation caps, marched up the main aisle toward the graduation stage.

They chanted “Regents, regents, you can’t hide! You are funding genocide!” while holding signs, including one that read: “No universities left in Gaza.”

Overhead, planes flew banners with competing messages. “Divest from Israel now! Free Palestine!” and “We stand with Israel. Jewish lives matter.”

Officials said no one was arrested, and the protest didn’t seriously interrupt the nearly two-hour event, which was attended by tens of thousands of people, some of them waving Israeli flags.

One of them, senior David Chmielewski said in an email that the strike started Friday morning with participants consuming water only, and it will continue until administrators meet with students about demands including amnesty from criminal and disciplinary charges for protesters.

Other demonstrators are participating in “solidarity fasts” lasting 24 hours, Chmielewski said.

Princeton students set up a protest encampment and some held a sit-in at an administrative building this week, leading to about 15 arrests.

Students at other colleges, including Brown and Yale, launched similar hunger strikes earlier this year before the more recent wave of encampments.

Meanwhile in Medford, Massachusetts, students at Tufts University peacefully took down their encampment without police intervention Friday night.

School officials said they were pleased with the development, which wasn’t the result of any agreement. Protest organizers said in a statement that they were “deeply angered and disappointed” that negotiations with the university had failed.

The protests stem from the conflict that started Oct. 7 when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking roughly 250 hostages.

Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel launched an offensive in Gaza that has killed more than 34,500 Palestinians, around two-thirds of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory. Israeli strikes have devastated the enclave and displaced most of its inhabitants.

The shooter killed by police at a Wisconsin middle school was a 14-year student obsessed with the Columbine school massacre who wanted his classmates to experience ‘true fear’.

Damian Haglund died in a flurry of gunfire at Mount Horeb Middle School on Wednesday morning leaving behind a chilling manifesto naming some of the schoolchildren he wanted dead.

Haglund ran a series of anonymized social media accounts, and ominously posted ‘My last morning’, in his final tweet just two hours before his attack.

Weeks earlier he revealed how his obsession with school massacres had ‘screwed up’ his life.

‘Not just Columbine, Sandy Hook, Ecole Polytech, Kerch, All the School Movies. No one gets ‘Columbiners’, very few even know what it is.

‘There’s porn addiction helplines, there’s helplines for suicidal people, drunks, pedos, rapists, BUT NO ONE CAN HELP ME ON EARTH.’

Witnesses reported seeing him shooting into a cafeteria after trying to break a window with the butt of a ‘long gun’ during eighth-grade lunchtime at about 11.15am before he was tackled by a school resource officer from Mount Horeb Police Department.

‘People my age are really the real enemy,’ he wrote. ‘They pose the most hate to me, if you don’t play the game, if you don’t feed the machine, you’re an outcast.’

The entire school district was placed in hard lockdown with some students not released to the parents until early evening as police tried to establish whether the shooter was operating alone.

Jeanne Keller heard about five gunshots ring out from her shop The Quilting Jeanne, yards away on the same block.

‘It was maybe like pow-pow-pow-pow. I thought it was fireworks. I went outside and saw all the children running, I probably saw 200 children.’

Max Kelly, 12, was among a class of students practicing in-line skating in the school gym when the gunfire rang out.

He said their teacher told them to flee and they dashed, still in their skates, into the street.

Photos showed a ditch full of skates hastily discarded by the students before they ran to nearby convenience stores and a gas station where they hid in bathrooms.

The class was still shoeless when they were reunited with their terrified parents outside the school.

‘I don’t think anywhere is safe anymore,’ said Max’s mom, Alison Kelly,32.

In his blog Haglund singled out one schoolmate he hated, and fantasized about seeing her hit by a truck.

‘Like how her Skull’d fricking pop from the pressure when the wheels crush the cranium, the scream.

‘And some kids are just so stupid, I hope they experience true fear in their lives somehow.’

He detailed ‘Diversity, Feminists’ among his ‘hates’, and wrote of how he feared women.

‘I don’t mean to be all wolf-like, but I have a way different side than people at school see me as,’ he added.

He spoke of visiting Weston High School in Cazenovia north of Madison where principal John Klang was fatally gunned down in a 2006 school shooting.

‘When I went there the energy was powerful,’ he claimed.

‘I went outside and touched the walls of the school, but I didn’t want to get arrested or something.’

He wrote that ‘Ever since a kid I’ve wanted to be famous’, and pictures on his family’s Facebook pages show a smiling Haglund seemingly enjoying family trips to Canada and to see last month’s eclipse.

But his posts spoke too of his own suicidal thoughts.

‘You need to understand the huge wall I have been backed into. What therapist can help me? I face worse criminal punishments than those that are suicidal,’ he wrote.

‘I hate my existence because I fear everything, I AM TIRED OF THIS.

‘My family thinks I actually have a plan after High School, no, I don’t, and if my parents ever look back, they might just see they knew NOTHING about me, and I don’t blame them.’

Days before his death he updated his blog, warning that ‘Looks like time is kind of running out for me, no going back for whatever I do.

‘I’m sure my town being ‘Mt Horeb’ will bring a lot of interesting connections.’

In a tweet he night before his death he wrote: ‘I want to continue to indulge in media, night core, videogames, but when you continue living, these simple things become so mundane. I’m going to miss you.’

The investigation is being led by the Wisconsin Department of Justice and at a press conference on Wednesday night Attorney General Josh Kaul said he did not believe there was an ongoing threat.

In a statement on Sunday his office revealed that the ‘long gun’ Haglund was carrying had been a Ruger .1777 caliber pellet rifle.

‘Officers directed the subject to drop the weapon, but the subject did not comply,’ he added.

‘The subject pointed the weapon at the officers, after which law enforcement discharged their firearms, striking the subject. Lifesaving measures were deployed but the subject died at the scene.’

‘No law enforcement officers or witnesses were physically injured during the incident.’

He confirmed on Thursday that more than one officer had fired on Haglund amid reports that as many as 12 shots were fired.

Mount Horeb chief of police Doug Vierck pleaded with the public not to spread ‘rumors’ about the case, insisting the authorities are ‘working as quickly as we can to move forward so we can come to a closure’.

‘Before sharing information ask yourself, ‘Is it true?’ ‘Can I absolutely know that it’s true?’ he demanded.

‘If either answer is no, please do not share the information. For the sake of everyone involved, please do not spread rumors.’

‘The show of support from businesses, other agencies, and the community at large has been beyond humbling.’

But his department were directing calls for information to the DoJ who were not responding to inquiries on Thursday.

High waters flooded neighborhoods around Houston on Saturday following heavy rains that have already resulted in crews rescuing more than 400 people from homes, rooftops and roads engulfed in murky water. Others prepared to evacuate their property.

A wide region was swamped from Houston to rural East Texas, where game wardens rode airboats through waist-high waters rescuing both people and pets who did not evacuate in time. One crew brought a family and three dogs aboard as rising waters surrounded their cars and home.

A flood watch was in effect through Sunday afternoon, as forecasters predicted additional rainfall Saturday night and the likelihood of major flooding.

“It’s going to keep rising this way,” said Miguel Flores Jr., of the northeast Houston neighborhood of Kingwood. “We don’t know how much more. We’re just preparing for the worst.”

Husband and wife Aron Brown, 45, and Jamie Brown, 41, were two of the many residents who drove or walked to watch the rising waters near a flooded intersection close to the San Jacinto River. Nearby restaurants and a gas station were beginning to flood.

Water could be seen flowing into parts of the couple’s subdivision, but Aron Brown said he wasn’t worried because their home is at a higher elevation than others in the neighborhood.

Brown, who had driven from his home in a golf cart, said the flooding wasn’t as bad as Hurricane Harvey in 2017. He pointed to nearby power lines and said that flooding during Harvey had reached the top of the lines.

Residents in Low-Lying Areas Asked to Evacuate

Friday’s fierce storms forced numerous high-water rescues, including some from the rooftops of flooded homes. Officials redoubled urgent instructions for residents in low-lying areas to evacuate, warning the worst was still to come.

“A lull in heavy rain is expected through (Saturday) evening,” according to the National Weather Service. “The next round of heavy rainfall is expected late (Saturday) into Sunday.”

Up to 3 inches (7.6 centimeters) of additional rain was expected, with up to 5 inches (12.7 centimeters) possible in isolated areas.

Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said more rain was expected Sunday, and if it’s a lot, it could be problematic. Hidalgo is the top elected official in the nation’s third-largest county.

Ongoing Rain Has Left Parts of Texas Drenched, Residents Trapped

Most weekends Flores’ father, Miguel Flores Sr., is mowing his huge backyard on a 2.5-acre (1-hectare) lot behind his home in Kingwood. But on Saturday, he and his family were loading several vehicles with clothes, small appliances and other items.

Water from the San Jacinto River had already swallowed his backyard and was continuing to rise — what was about 1 foot (30 centimeters) high in the yard Friday measured about 4 feet (1.2 meters) the following day.

“It’s sad, but what can I do,” Flores said. He added that he has flood insurance.

For weeks, drenching rains in Texas and parts of Louisiana have filled reservoirs and saturated the ground. Floodwaters partially submerged cars and roads this week across parts of southeastern Texas, north of Houston, reaching the roofs of some homes.

More than 21 inches (53 centimeters) fell over a five-day period through Friday in Liberty County near the city of Splendora, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) northeast of Houston, according to the National Weather Service.

Hidalgo said Saturday that 178 people and 122 pets have been rescued so far in the county. Scores of rescues took place in neighboring Montgomery County. In Polk County, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) northeast of Houston, officials said they have done over 100 water rescues in the past few days.

Houston Is One of The Most Flood-Prone Metro Areas in The Us

Authorities in Houston have not reported any deaths or injuries. The city of more than 2 million people is one of the most flood-prone metro areas in the country and has long experience dealing with devastating weather.

Hurricane Harvey in 2017 dumped historic rainfall that flooded thousands of homes and resulted in more than 60,000 rescues by government rescue personnel across Harris County.

Of particular concern was an area along the San Jacinto River, which was expected to continue rising as more rain falls and officials release water from a full reservoir. Hidalgo issued a mandatory evacuation order on Thursday for people living along portions of the river.

The weather service reported that the river was at nearly 74 feet (22.6 meters) late Saturday morning after reaching nearly 78 feet (23.7 meters). The rapidly changing forecast said the river was expected to fall to near flood stage of 58 feet (17.6 meters) by Thursday.

Most of Houston’s city limits were not heavily impacted by the weather. Officials said the area received about four months’ worth of rain in about a week’s time.

The greater Houston area covers about 10,000 square miles (25,900 square kilometers) — a footprint slightly bigger than New Jersey. It is crisscrossed by about 1,700 miles (2,700 kilometers) of channels, creeks and bayous that drain into the Gulf of Mexico, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) southeast of downtown.

The system of bayous and reservoirs was built to drain heavy rains, but the engineering initially designed nearly 100 years ago has struggled to keep up with the city’s growth and bigger storms.

The Democratic Party is bracing for massive protests during the Democratic National Committee convention in Chicago in August, reminiscent of the chaos of the 1968 convention.

Fears of a repeat of the infamous convention, which saw hundreds arrested, have been thrown around as the Israel-Hamas war continues and as massive campus protests that have paralyzed several universities have further illustrated what may be in store for the Chicago DNC convention in August.

“This last week has taken the demonstrations to a different level,” former President Barack Obama’s chief of staff William Daley told the Washington Post. “It portends that you have the potential for big demonstrations. Whether they get violent — that’s more imaginable today than it was a year ago.”

Despite his concerns, he was hostile to mere suggestions that August could see a repeat of 1968.

“To analogize what’s going on in the country today with 1968 is ridiculous,” Daley, who attended the convention, said. “Only people who weren’t alive in ’68 have that idiotic perception.”

The DNC is staking its hopes on warding off chaos through an elaborate security arrangement coordinated with the Secret Service.

“Peaceful protest is fundamental to American democracy, and has been a fixture of political conventions for decades,” DNC spokesman Matt Hill told the outlet in a statement. “While Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans stoke political violence, we support the ongoing security coordination at all levels of government to keep our convention safe.”

“When the country looks to Chicago this August, the unity and excitement of Democrats will stand in stark contrast to the chaos and extremism stewing in the GOP,” he added.

Despite the attempt to deflect the image of chaos onto Trump and the Republicans, strategists are increasingly concerned that protests at the convention could render the argument moot. The White Hosue has struggled to find an approach to the War in Gaza that would satisfy its traditional pro-Israeli cadres while also placating the younger liberals, who have been vehemently critical of President Joe Biden’s response. The scenes of chaos wrought by the latter have proven to be a major thorn on Biden’s side and threaten to tank his image as a figure of stability in contrast to Trump’s chaos.

“Everywhere Joe Biden goes, chaos follows and he is berated by angry Americans who are fed up with his terrible policies,” Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. “Chicago will be no different, as people in the city, particularly Blacks and Hispanics, are suffering from Biden’s illegal immigrant invasion and soft-on-crime policies, and they have a right to make their voices heard.”

Pro-Palestinian protesters have already made known their intention to disrupt August’s conference.

Last month, over 450 far-left activists attended the “March on DNC 2024” meeting, at which 75 different organizations planned how to disrupt the DNC convention scheduled for August. At the event, speakers outlined how to best carry out illegal actions, burned an American flag, and conspired over how to recreate the events of 1968, in which 10,000 demonstrators clashed with police while protesting the Vietnam War, resulting in 668 arrests and hundreds of injuries.

“Have you heard that the Democratic National Convention is coming to Chicago?” Joe Iosbaker, a leader of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, asked the crowd. “Are we going to let ’em come here without a protest? This is Chicago, g**d*** it — we’ve got to give them a 1968 kind of welcome.”

California is taking of heat for celebrating the completion of an high-speed rail bridge that has cost taxpayers $11 billion and took nine years to build — and clearly goes nowhere.

Critics — including Tesla founder Elon Musk and Dogecoin creator Billy Markus — are ripping the California High Speed Rail Authority after it boasted about last year’s completion of a “Fresno River Viaduct,” a mere sliver of the state’s long-delayed, bullet-train project attempting to link San Francisco to Los Angeles

“This is the most remarkable human achievement ever,” joked Markus, the creator of the jokey cryptocurrency, on X Friday.

“1600 feet of high speed rail after 9 years and 11 billion dollars it takes about 5 minutes to walk 1600 feet so a high speed rail for that is a really big deal,” added Markus, who also goes by “Shibetoshi Nakamoto.”

“California is so competent.”

Musk also chimed in, posting a sad, crying emoji to express his sentiments about the boondoggle of a project that is reportedly in danger of being scrapped.

That’s despite $11 billion in taxpayer dollars that have already being sunk into the Los Angeles-to-San Francisco high speed rail project.

That figure includes both the bridge and other work on the first phase of the high-speed route — which runs from Bakersfield north of Los Angeles to Merced, which is about 80 miles from the Bay Area.

Critics were responding to an earlier post by the rail authority, touting that the Fresno River Viaduct in Madera County is one of the “first completed high-speed rail structures.”

“At nearly 1,600 feet long, high-speed trains will travel over the riverbed and will run parallel with the BNSF Railroad,” the authority said on X.

Although reported estimates to complete the rail line will cost taxpayers about $100 billion, Markus fired back, quipping: “wow so impressive, can’t wait until year 2400 for this to finish for 700 quadrillion dollars.”

Venture Capitalist Patrick Blumenthal insinuated the authority should pump the brakes on praising itself, posting a breakdown of the lack of progress the rail-line project has made.

“0.3 miles completed. After 15 years. After $11.2 BILLION. $36.96 billion per mile,” he wrote on X.

The relatives of a brilliant lawyer who walked out on his family and career amid a mental health spiral during Covid have spoken of their devastation after he ended up living on the streets of LA.

Two years ago Rob Dart, 44, was an award-winning attorney and doting father living in a $2 million South Pasadena home.

He had overcome a previous mental health crisis a decade earlier, following the end of his marriage which saw him plagued by voices in his head.

Back then, Dart still had the wherewithal to turn to his family for support and he managed to recuperate at home in his childhood bedroom before moving out and reinventing himself as a high flying lawyer.

But in 2022, his life began to unravel once again with the advent of the pandemic, which saw him spending hours working from home.

Dart quit therapy and his medications and soon lost touch with his family, as well as his job.

He missed rent, his car was impounded and soon after his phone got cut off.

‘I got on a plane,’ his mom Sherry Dart told the Wall Street Journal. ‘I thought I was going to find a dead body.’

When she finally caught up with her son, he was almost unrecognizable – and furious.

Dart allowed his mom to greet her grandson for a short while, before whisking him away. He then proceeded to ignore his mother’s repeated phone calls over the next few days.

It was a similar story for Dart’s sister Jennifer when she tried to visit him in July, weeks after he had been evicted.

Jennifer scoured the local area before she found her once clean cut brother with matted hair and in total disarray at a Starbucks.

‘The only thing I could recognize were his eyes,’ she said, describing a similarly hostile reaction.

Dart was one of the millions of Americans whose mental health issues were exacerbated by the pandemic through interruptions to treatment, routine or for other reasons.

In the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, global prevalence of anxiety and depression increased by a massive 25 percent, according to a scientific brief released by the World Health Organization (WHO)

Dart’s family had hoped that California’s more robust laws on detaining those with serious psychotic disorders would provide the safety net he so desperately needed.

In 2022, the CARE Court laws introduced powers for judges to commit mentally ill people into facilities if family members petition the courts.

In most states, loved ones can do little to access treatment on behalf of patients without their consent.

However, Dart’s moments of lucidity and his legal background meant he was often able to argue his way out of being committed.

One of these occasions occurred after he was persuaded to be hospitalized in December 2022 after neighbors called his mom to report that he had become hysterical.

A panicked Sherry immediately called police who sent over mental health specialists who were able to coax him into treatment.

Sherry flew to California the next day and was devastated by what she found inside her son’s apartment.

Upon opening the door she was hit with a rancid smell and the sight of crazed etchings in notebooks describing how Dart had hear the voice of Satan.

His paranoid rantings included that he was, John Lennon, ‘St. Nicholas Cage’, ‘the invisible Obama’ and that people were trying to steal from him.

Dart checked himself out of the hospital and turned up in an erratic state on his ex-wife’s porch on December 28.

His condition alarmed her and she refused to allow him access to his son, prompting Dart to file motions in court accusing her of breaking the custody arrangement.

The judge was persuaded by his articulate arguments and agreed to a hearing. However, when the full extent of his breakdown became known, the courts granted her a protective order.

Over the next months Dart’s family desperately tried to reach him, invariably with little success.

Things took a turn for the even more frightening in September 2023 when he was shot in the leg on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Dart had been attempting to ‘meditate’ on the stretch when he was struck by an errant bullet.

He initially refused hospital treatment, but was later tricked into attending by a friend.

Once there, a psychiatrist attempted to have him committed. However, Rob used his legal training and flashes of clarity to successfully argue his way out again.

The next few weeks were marked by trips to and from hospitals in the area, but never for long.

His family continued to try and support him, funding Airbnbs, hotel rooms and the odd meal on DoorDash. Sherry has spent her life savings on trying to keep her son safe.

On December 27, Dart posted on Facebook looking for a place to stay.

‘Hey guys, I’m looking for a place to crash in Los Angeles. That’s because I’m homeless. If anyone has some space in their apartment or anything, please DM me. Thanks,’ he said.

By this point Dart had become one of the 46,000 homeless people on the streets of LA.

The next time his family heard from him was three months later, when he delivered a request they leave him alone.

For his part, Dart maintains he is not sick and that quitting his medications has improved his life.

‘I did want to leave the hospital, and I did not want to take the medications,’ Dart told the Wall Street Journal.

‘It made me more afraid, less assertive, less confident. Who wants to feel like that? You realize you’re kind of the same person,’ Dart said. ‘You just know more about yourself.’

But for his family, it already feels too late as they are simply left with the memory of who he was.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin confirmed on Friday that American troops are sharing space on Airbase 101, a facility in the capital of Niger, with Russian military forces, but dismissed the Russians’ presence as “not a significant issue here.”

Reuters reported late on Friday that the government of Niger – a military junta known as the “National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland” that took power in a televised coup in July – had allowed Russian forces onto the airbase.

“A senior U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Russian forces were not mingling with U.S. troops but were using a separate hangar at Airbase 101, which is next to Diori Hamani International Airport in Niamey, Niger’s capital,” Reuters relayed.

The anonymous official described the situation as “not great.”

Asked about the report of Russian troops at Airbase 101, Austin confirmed that the Russian soldiers were in the facility.

“The Russians are in a separate compound and don’t have access to US forces or access to our equipment,” Austin claimed during a press conference in Hawaii. “And this is something that, you know, again, I’m always focused on the safety and the protection of our troops, something that we’ll continue to watch.”

“But right now, I don’t see, I don’t see a significant issue here in terms of our force protection,” Austin added.

The Russian military presence in Niger is reportedly a direct result of the coup, which placed former presidential guard leader Gen. Abdourahamane Tchiani in power. The “National Council” claimed in its initial message assuming power that it would not break any international agreements made by the government of ousted President Mohamed Bazoum, but it rapidly moved to distance Niger from its Western allies. It has taken its most aggressive moves against France, its former colonial ruler, which completed the removal of its troops in December.

The relationship with the administration of leftist American President Joe Biden has been tremendously fraught, as well, characterized by American delegations repeatedly traveling to meet coup leaders in Niger and coming to no significant agreements on the status of the United States presence in the country.

Following the latest visit by American officials to Niger, in March, coup spokesman Col. Amadou Abdramane announced that Tchiani was forcing America to end its military presence in the country on the grounds that the Biden regime had been “condescending” to the junta.

“The U.S. presence on the territory of the Republic of Niger is illegal and violates all the constitutional and democratic rules which would require the sovereign people,” Abdramane said, adding that the coup condemned “with force the patronizing attitude accompanied by the threat of retaliation on the part of the American delegation.”

Abdramane noted in the national address making the announcement that Niger was pursuing closer ties with Russia to buy military equipment, presumably to replace the protection from U.S. forces. Subsequent reports suggested that the Nigerien coup regime leaders were particularly outraged by American officials discouraging them from pursuing closer ties to Russia, Iran, and other enemies of the United States. Echoing those early reports, Reuters cited an anonymous American official in its report on Thursday who said that the Americans told the coup regime that Washington would not agree to sharing military facilities with the Russians, and the Nigerians “did not take that well.”

The status of America’s troops in Niger remains unclear. Following the call for America to “immediately” withdraw its troops from Niger in March, the Pentagon claimed that it was maintaining “ongoing discussions” with the coup regime. The troops, at press time, are believed to remain in Niger. In April, the Biden administration announced that it would indeed withdraw from Niger, but the specifics of that process remain unknown at press time.

The United States is believed to have an estimated 1,000 service members stationed in the country, present there as a result of agreements with Bazoum to combat joint terrorist threats, particularly against increasingly belligerent jihadist groups in the greater Sahel region. Some reports indicate that most Americans are now stationed not in Airbase 101, but in Airbase 201 in Agadez, a facility that Reuters noted cost $100 million in American taxpayers’ dollars to build.

A Congressional report obtained by Breitbart News in April suggested that American troops in Niger are languishing in unacceptable conditions, facing shortages of basic medicine and other goods and denied information on when, or if, they will be relieved of their duties. The report, from the office of Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), described conditions at Airbase 101, where the Russians are now believed to be stationed.

The situation, the report detailed, is “preventing the delivery of mail, necessary medical supplies, blood to replenish the blood bank (which requires constant turnover due to expiration windows), equipment and repair supplies; and other routine materiel from the United States.”

“Personnel rotations for service members have been halted, leaving our troops stranded without any indication of relief or return home, as replacements [aren’t] authorized to enter Niger,” the report continued.

The report also revealed that Nigerien coup authorities were offering Russians and other “near-peer adversaries” “unfettered access to the country.”

The Financial Times reported on April 23 that Russia sent 100 troops into Niger that month, following a call between Tchiani and Russian strongman Vladimir Putin. Some reports have described the Russian troops as “military instructors.”

The leader of the recent protests Columbia University has been revealed as the 40-year-old son of millionaire ad execs who lives in a four story Brooklyn townhouse.

James Carlson, who also goes by Cody Carlson and Cody Tarlow, was arrested by the NYPD and charged with burglary and illegal entry after he stormed Columbia’s Hamilton Hall and re-named it ‘Hind’ Hall.

The accused, who is described as ‘a long-time figure in the anarchist world’ by officials, was also arrested for allegedly attacking a police officer during the violent G8 protests in San Francisco in 2005.

James is the son of Richard Tarlow and Sandy Carlson Tarlow, millionaire advertising duo who started Carlson & Partners together and were known for their cosmetic and fashion clients including Revlon, Victoria’s Secret, Ralph Lauren and Neutrogena.

The millionaire father was also a supporter of of John Jay College and the John Jay Justice Awards that recognize people and organizations who demonstrate a commitment to justice.

Richard died at the age of 81 in May 2022 while Sandy died in 2003 at the age of 53.

According to the NY Daily News, James graduated Magna Cum Laude from Brooklyn Law School and later became an animal rights lawyer who clerked at the US District Court in 2013.

He also had a short stint as an undercover investigator on factory farms and slaughterhouses recording animal abuse, according to the publication.

James is believed to be married to model Kim Heyrman and has two children while living in a $3.4 million Brooklyn brownstone townhouse in New York.

The main house is a two-story property with four spacious bedrooms, four wood burning fireplaces with two on the parlor floor, according to Zillow.

The carriage house, on the other hand, has 18-foot-high ceilings with a loft area, skylights, electric heat for a kitchen and bath.

While in front of the main house, there is a expansive lawn and porch and between the main and carriage house is majestic garden area with a decked porch and mature trees, one with a wooden swing.

James is suspected of burning an Israeli flag during a demonstration two days ago and is believed to be ‘previously involved in recent bridge and tunnel blocking’, according to NBC News.

Earlier this week, footage emerged of protestors smashed windows, upended furniture and caused damage throughout Hamilton Hall during the occupation before police stormed the campus and arrested more than 100 protestors Tuesday night.

Around 40 protestors were arrested on the first floor of the building after police swooped just after 9pm ending the pro-Palestine encampment that stretched on for nearly two weeks and included students taking over the hall.

Pictures and video taken of the aftermath show the hall’s trashed interior strewn with activists’ belongings.

Columbia’s President, Minouche Shafik, called in the NYPD in to ‘restore order and safety’ to the campus amid the escalating protests, which also included a massive encampment on the school’s lawns.

The raid saw demonstrators arrested across the campus and at nearby City College New York, where similar protests unfolded.

Police stormed Hamilton Hall through an upstairs window after students used furniture to barricade the entrance.

Pictures show how chairs and desks have been turned upside down to become makeshift barriers. The cost of damage to the building is likely to total thousands of dollars.

The occupation followed weeks of unrest at Columbia, which began with the establishment of the encampment on April 17.

Protestors set up tents after Shafik was grilled before Congress about anti-Semitism on campus.

They repeatedly ignored calls to disband, with the demonstrations ramping up early Tuesday with the violent takeover of Hamilton Hall.

After two weeks of chaos, which saw classes moved online and facilities shuttered, Shafik finally called in the police who managed to clear out the campus in just two hours.

University administrators have now asked the police to maintain a presence until May 17, two days after graduation.

Special counsel Jack Smith’s team on May 3 acknowledged they misled U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon regarding the handling of evidence in one of the criminal cases against former President Donald Trump.

Prosecutors in a court filing said that in some of the boxes FBI agents seized from President Trump’s Florida resort, the order of papers has been changed from shortly after the seizure.

Prosecutors compared scans of the boxes done in 2022 under orders from Judge Cannon to the present state of the boxes and noticed that the order is not the same.

“There are some boxes where the order of items within that box is not the same as in the associated scans,” Mr. Smith’s team said.
In a footnote, prosecutors acknowledged that the update contrasts with what they told the judge less than one month ago, during a hearing in the case.

When Judge Cannon during the hearing asked whether the boxes were “in their original, intact form as seized,” a prosecutor on the team said, “they are, with one exception; and that is that the classified documents have been removed and placeholders have been put in the documents.”

Prosecutors were unable to confirm why the order of papers was changed but offered a theory.

“The boxes contain items smaller than standard paper such as index cards, books, and stationary, which shift easily when the boxes are carried, especially because many of the boxes are not full,” they said.

The disclosure was made in a filing responding to a request from Walt Nauta, one of President Trump’s co-defendants, for an extension of a deadline to file papers under the Classified Information Procedure Act (CIPA).

Section five of CIPA requires defendants to serve notice when they intend to disclose classified information.

“Regardless of the explanation … where precisely within a box a classified document was stored at Mar-a-Lago does not bear in any way on Nauta’s ability to file a CIPA section 5 notice,” prosecutors said, with regards to the order of papers having changed in some of the boxes from President Trump’s residence.

In the filing, prosecutors said that the boxes were taken to the FBI’s Washington Field Office following their seizure in Florida in August 2022. The FBI then created an index to link the documents with classification markings to codes, such as “bb,” and also labeled classified cover sheets in the boxes with codes.

“The FBI also generally replaced the handwritten sheets with classified cover sheets annotated with the index code, but regardless, any handwritten sheets that currently remain in the boxes do not represent additional classified documents—they were just not removed when the classified cover sheets with the index code were added,” prosecutors said. “In many but not all instances, the FBI was able to determine which document with classification markings corresponded to a particular placeholder sheet.”

Tim Fitton, president of the Judicial Watch nonprofit, said on the social media platform X that the admission by prosecutors was a reason “to throw out this sham prosecution.”

The case was brought against President Trump and others over their alleged violation of federal law in handling documents marked classified. Defendants have pleaded not guilty.

Neither Mr. Nauta nor other defendants in the case have responded yet to the new filing.

Mr. Nauta’s request for an extension is one of many documents that are under seal, or unavailable for perusal.

In another recent filing, President Trump’s team said that the case should be dismissed because prosecutors are motivated by “improper political animus,” pointing in part to how White House lawyers worked with the National Archives and Records Administration on its referral to the Department of Justice and how President Joe Biden has said that he was “making sure” President Trump “does not become the next president again.”

Prosecutors opposed the dismissal request but their opposition was filed under seal.

Trump’s response

In Truth Social post, Trump accused Smith of “blatant evidence tampering” and called for the case to be thrown out.

“It has always been clear that the ‘Documents Case’ is nothing but an Election Interference Scam concocted by Crooked Joe Biden, Deranged Jack Smith, and their Hacks and Thugs,” Trump wrote.

“Now, Deranged Jack has admitted in a filing in front of Judge Cannon to what I have been saying happened since the Illegal RAID on my home, Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach, Florida—That he and his team committed blatant Evidence Tampering by mishandling the very Boxes they used as a pretext to bring this Fake Case. These deeply Illegal actions by the Politicized ‘Persecutors’ mandate that this whole Witch Hunt be DROPPED IMMEDIATELY. END THE ‘BOXES HOAXES.’ MAGA2024!”

Salacious celebrity scandal peppered with foundation-building evidence defined the second week of testimony in former President Trump’s New York criminal trial.

Witnesses this week began digging into the minutiae of the Manhattan district attorney’s case, from bank records and non-disclosure agreements to text messages suggesting efforts to keep quiet negative stories about Trump to help his 2016 campaign.

But key witnesses’ credibility has also been sharply drawn into question, setting the stage for defense attorneys to take aim at critical future testimony.

Here are five takeaways from the second week of testimony in the hush money trial.

Celebrity scandals make a cameo

Keith Davidson, a lawyer for two women paid to keep their alleged affairs with Trump secret, gave a behind-the-scenes account of efforts to execute the agreements with the National Enquirer and ex-Trump fixer Michael Cohen.

But Davidson’s testimony during cross-examination by Trump’s attorneys also dredged up a graveyard of celebrity scandals he also appeared to be linked to.

The likes of Lindsay Lohan, Charlie Sheen, Hulk Hogan and Tila Tequila were name-dropped as clients or casualties of Davidson’s work, which defense attorneys used to suggest the lawyer has a habit of extorting famous figures.

At one point, Trump’s attorneys attempted to paint Davidson as an extortionist for stories involving everything from sex tapes to rehab stints.

Davidson’s testimony to start exposed his relationship with National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard as he worked to keep affairs alleged by porn actress Stormy Daniels and ex-Playboy model Karen McDougal, who Davidson represented, from going public as Trump mounted his first presidential campaign.

But by the time election night 2016 came around, Davidson expressed remorse in a text message to Howard as Trump stunned the nation by inching toward becoming president-elect.

“What have we done?” Davidson wrote.

Hope Hicks: 2016 damage control

Hicks testified for hours about how she was central to mitigating damage caused by a series of scandals just before Election Day.

The first “crisis” came when a Washington Post reporter reached out to the campaign about the “Access Hollywood” tape, a 2005 recording of Trump bragging about grabbing women inappropriately and seemingly without their consent.

“I was concerned,” Hicks said of her initial reaction to learning of the tape – and the news organizations intent to publish it along with a story. “I was very concerned.”

When confronted with the Post’s comment request, Trump told Hicks that it “didn’t sound like something he would say,” she testified. But he later told her he believed the remarks were “pretty standard stuff for two guys chatting.” The first time Trump saw the tape he was upset, she said, describing her own reaction as “just a little stunned.”

Hicks also testified that, just four days before Election Day 2016, Cohen blew off a Wall Street Journal story that revealed McDougal’s hush money deal. Cohen, she said, didn’t believe the story would get much traction.

“Just a little irony there,” she noted on the witness stand, discussing the story in detail nearly eight years later.

Cohen credibility war underway

Cohen was already in the hot seat this week – before he takes the stand himself – as witnesses took turns taking shots at the former president’s ex-fixer, making clear the challenges of the controversial character’s impending testimony.

Davidson testified that he and others in his orbit at the time took measures to actively avoid Cohen because they disliked him so much. Texts between a top editor at the National Enquirer and Daniels’s manager revealed descriptions of Cohen as “some jerk” and “that asshole.”

In his testimony, Davidson described Cohen as a “highly excitable, sort of a pants-on-fire kind of guy.”

“He had a lot of things going on,” the lawyer said.

Even Cohen’s old banker, Gary Farro, revealed that the onetime fixer became his client because he maintained a reputation as someone who can handle clients “who may be a little challenging.”

Having coordinated the payments to a Trump Tower doorman and McDougal – in addition to paying off Daniels himself – Cohen’s testimony is expected to provide prosecutors with a key link to Trump. Cohen has said that his actions were done at the behest of his then-boss.

But testimony this week gave defense attorneys significant fodder to undercut the credibility of the soon-to-be star witness, whose own testimony is expected to mark the climax of the trial.

Trump’s courtroom entourage grows

Early in the trial, some observers noted that the former president’s family was not in court with him.

But Trump’s entourage grew this week to include a wider set of aides and family.

The former president’s son, Eric Trump, attended on Tuesday, sitting in the courtroom gallery alongside Trump campaign adviser Susie Wiles.

They were joined by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) and Club For Growth President David McIntosh.

Trump himself has turned his body to face a witness testify at times, while at other moments, the former president faced straight ahead to read texts, emails and other exhibits displayed on the monitor in front of him.

Throughout the week, Trump often whispered to his lawyers — sometimes appearing frustrated — or looked through written press clippings provided to him by an aide. The former president has also closed his eyes for multiple minutes on multiple occasions, though he has denied sleeping in court.

“Contrary to the FAKE NEWS MEDIA, I don’t fall asleep during the Crooked D.A.’s Witch Hunt, especially not today. I simply close my beautiful blue eyes, sometimes, listen intensely, and take it ALL in!!!” Trump posted on Truth Social on Thursday.

Trial schedule comes into view

The trial schedule is constantly being tweaked, and the latest changes make one thing clear: Many partial weeks lay ahead.

The trial as of now will meet next week on its normal schedule of all weekdays except Wednesday, when the judge attends to his other active cases.

But after that, the schedule is regularly interrupted.

Judge Juan Merchan agreed to skip trial on Friday, May 17 so Trump can attend his son Barron’s high school graduation.

The following Friday, the court will not meet because a juror has plans to leave town that day for Memorial Day weekend. And, the court won’t meet on the holiday itself that Monday.

The week after that? Another skipped day. If the jury hasn’t started deliberating yet, the judge signaled he’ll skip trial on June 3 so one of Trump’s lawyers can attend a graduation.

Russia has issued arrest warrants for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as well as several high-ranking former officials including former President Petro Poroshenko.

The wanted list published by Moscow’s Interior Ministry was updated on Tuesday to include President Zelensky. The arrest warrant states that the Ukrainian leader is wanted over a violation of the Russian Criminal code, however, the exact alleged offence has not been published.

Russian state-run media RT suggested that the arrest warrant may be in response to unconventional tactics used by Ukraine, noting that Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said last month in the wake of a suspected Ukrainian attack on the Crimean bridge that threats made by Zelensky to destroy Russian infrastructure demonstrated the “terrorist” nature of Kyiv.

The wanted list was also updated to include former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, who came to power following the Western-backed 2014 Euromaidan protests described by Moscow as a coup against Viktor Yanukovych, who was forced out of office by the violent movement after seeking closer economic ties with Russia and rejecting overtures for further EU integration. As with Zelensky, the charges levied against Poroshenko have not been made public by the Kremlin.

The announcements come after multiple other former Ukrainian officials face arrest warrants issued on Friday, including former Finance Minister Aleksandr Shlapak and former central bank chief Stepan Kubiv.

The head of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council, Aleksandr Litvinenko, also had an arrest warrant taken out against him.

The move by Moscow will likely further dampen expectations for a planned peace summit set to be held in Switzerland in the middle of June. Nevertheless, neither side appears willing to budge in the conflict, with Russia flatly rejecting Ukraine’s demands to cede back the territory it occupies before negotiations even begin.

Ukraine has also argued that freezing the lines of the conflict under a ceasefire agreement would only allow Russia to regroup and prepare for another incursion into the country at a later date.

Regardless of the tough stance from Kyiv, Russia appears set to make further territorial gains, as Moscow’s forces advance after fending off Ukraine’s much-touted Spring counteroffensive last year.

In April, recently-installed Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi admitted that the “situation on the Eastern Front has significantly worsened” following the Russian presidential election and the thawing of the ground as winter subsided.

Despite the increasingly gloomy prospects for Ukraine, Western powers, appear intent on doubling down on their support for Zelensky, led by the Biden administration, which with the help of Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, secured a further $60 billion in aid for Ukraine last month.

One of the tightest finishes in Kentucky Derby history punctuated the race’s 150th running as Mystik Dan just barely had his nose ahead to win the first leg of the American Triple Crown.

Second-betting favorite Sierra Leone had a late rush up the outside to try and stun the crowd of over 156,000 gathered at Churchill Downs.

Running in third was Forever Young, who was squeezed between Sierra Leone from the outside and Mystik Dan which was running on the rails.

This is trainer Kenny McPeek’s first Kentucky Derby win and his second career Triple Crown win after taking home the Preakness Stakes in 2020 with Swiss Skydiver.

Sent off at 18-1 odds, Mystik Dan and jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. rode the rail down the stretch with a short lead.

Watch:

WOW. 😱

Mystik Dan WINS the 150th Kentucky Derby in a PHOTO FINISH! pic.twitter.com/N2jfd2TsKe

— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) May 4, 2024

Ken McPeek, trainer of Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan, reflects on his second massive win of the weekend. 🏆 #KyDerby pic.twitter.com/dsrMlZLgQx

— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) May 4, 2024

Sierra Leone, the second choice at 9-2 odds, and Forever Young from Japan gave chase and pressured the leader to the wire in front of 156,710 at Churchill Downs.

The crowd waited several minutes before the result was reviewed by the stewards and declared official.

‘The longest few minutes of my life,’ Hernandez said, after he and bay colt walked in circles while the stunning result was settled.

Fierceness, the 3-1 favorite, finished 15th in the field of 20 3-year-olds.

Hernandez and trainer Kenny McPeek had teamed for a wire-to-wire win in the Kentucky Oaks for fillies on Friday with Thorpedo Anna.

Actor Mark Hamill crashed Friday’s White House press briefing — the day before Star Wars Day (May the Fourth) — and instead of taking questions about the popular Sci-Fi/Fantasy franchise, all he wanted to do was gush about President Joe Biden.

Hamill, who played the role of Jedi Luke Skywalker in George Lucas’ original trilogy, joined White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre at the lectern and told reporters how happy he had been to meet the president’s staff.

He opened with a joke, saying that when Biden had invited the actor to call him “Joe,” he’d asked whether he could call him “Joe-Bi-Wan-Kenobi.”

⚠️🇺🇸 CRINGE: “I said, ‘Can I call you Joebi wan Kenobi?'” – Hamill https://t.co/hUCm3Fucfz pic.twitter.com/YTfTQCLJUX

— HOT SPOT (@HotSpotHotSpot) May 3, 2024

.@MarkHamill at the White House press briefing:

“I was honored to be asked to come to the White House to meet the President, the most legislatively successful president in my lifetime. And you know, I don’t have to go through the list of bipartisan infrastructure law, the PACT… pic.twitter.com/6BuWLHEJ9g

— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) May 3, 2024

“I was honored to be asked to come to the White House to meet the president, the most legislatively successful president in my lifetime,” Hamill began, listing off a series of legislative actions that he counted as Biden wins. “And you know, I don’t have to go through the list of bipartisan infrastructure law, the PACT Act, the Chips Act, all of that inflation — 15 million jobs.”

“Look, it’s all good,” Hamill continued, praising Biden’s staff and raving about how much work the president did day-to-day. “I mean, I was really thrilled to meet the entire staff because, you know, it’s not just one person. It’s like a composite endeavor and all these people, my goodness, you know, I mean, I have no idea — I — I had no idea. Just what went into what is on his plate on a daily basis.”

“So, that’s pretty much it. I’m open to questions, although no Star Wars questions, please,” Hamill concluded. “But I want to say once again how grateful I am, and it just shows you that just one person can be so influential and so positive in our lives and, again thank you so much. And @PeterBakerNYT, I loved your book.”

“Hamill was born in 1951,” Mike Cote pointed out in an X post. “Even for his personal politics, Biden isn’t remotely close to the most legislatively successful president of his lifetime. LBJ, anyone? Very sad to see a Jedi turn into a Sith before our eyes.”

Hamill was born in 1951. Even for his personal politics, Biden isn’t remotely close to the most legislatively successful president of his lifetime. LBJ, anyone?

Very sad to see a Jedi turn into a Sith before our eyes. https://t.co/7gLEWGahxz

— Mike Coté (@ratlpolicy) May 3, 2024

A fourth body has reportedly been discovered in a popular Mexican tourist area, where an American and two Australians vanished last week while on an apparent camping and surfing trip, the local prosecutor’s office said in a statement late on Friday.

American Jack Carter Rhoad, 30, as well as Australian brothers Callum Robinson, 33, and Jake Robinson, 30, were last seen on April 27, the Baja California state prosecutor’s office previously announced. They did not show up at their planned accommodation last weekend.

Investigators discovered three bodies dumped in a pit while searching for the trio on Friday, although officials have not confirmed if the bodies are those of the missing men.

The fourth body was found nearby, the New York Post and other outlets reported. It’s unclear if it’s connected to the other three.

Forensic tests on the remains will be conducted by a state laboratory, which will allow for positive identification of the bodies, the prosecutor’s office said in its statement.

Investigators continue to search the rugged area where the bodies were found for additional evidence, the statement added.

The bodies were found in a rugged hillside area in the Mexican state of Baja California near the popular tourist town of Ensenada, about 90 minutes south of the U.S.-Mexico border. Video from the scene shows rescuers installing ropes to enter the pit where the bodies were discovered. The site is cordoned off by police, while a navy boat was also visible in the sea nearby.

The site where the bodies were discovered near the township of Santo Tomás, was near the remote seaside area where the missing men’s tents and the burned-out Chevrolet Colorado pickup truck were found Thursday on a remote stretch of coast.

It is unclear what types of injuries the victims suffered or how they died.

“There is a lot of important information that we can’t make public,” María Elena Andrade Ramírez, the chief state prosecutor said.

Baja California prosecutors said Friday that three people had been arrested and charged with a crime equivalent to kidnapping. It was unclear if they might face more charges.

Ensenada Mayor Carlos Ibarra Aguiar said in a news release that a 23-year-old woman had been detained with drugs and a cellphone that had a wallpaper photo of one of the missing men, The San Diego Union-Tribune reports. Officials didn’t specify how the three people were connected to the investigation, saying only that some were directly involved and others indirectly.

Investigators said that a missing persons report was filed 48 hours after the men were last seen, although the prosecutor’s office began investigating as soon as posts began circulating on social media.

María Elena Andrade Ramírez, the chief state prosecutor, said that while drug cartels are active in the area, she said, “all lines of investigation are open at this time. We cannot rule anything out until we find them.”

The Baja California Attorney General’s Office has said that it has maintained contact with the FBI and relatives of the victims, through consular agencies.

On Wednesday, the missing Australians’ mother, Debra Robinson, posted on a local community Facebook page an appeal for help in finding her sons and noted that Callum is diabetic.

The Australian media reports that Jake is a doctor, while Callum lives in San Diego and is a member of Australia’s national lacrosse team.

The State Department’s travel advisory lists Baja California under its “reconsider travel” category due to crime and kidnapping.

In 2015, two Australian surfers, Adam Coleman and Dean Lucas, were killed in western Sinaloa state, across the Gulf of California — also known as the Sea of Cortez— from the Baja peninsula. Authorities say they were victims of highway bandits.

Labour’s Sadiq Khan has secured a historic third term as London mayor, seeing off Tory challenger Susan Hall.

It followed “wild rumours” the incumbent could have suffered a shock defeat, although both sides subsequently said they believed Mr Khan would win.

He received 1,088,225 votes (43.8%) to be re-elected, a majority of nearly 276,000 over Ms Hall, who secured 812,397 votes (32.7%).

It was the first time any candidate for London mayor has won a third term in office, with Mr Khan’s predecessors Boris Johnson and Ken Livingstone both having served two terms.

As he took to the stage to make his victory speech, the re-elected mayor was booed and heckled with a shout of “Khan killed London” by the Britain First candidate, who received fewer votes than Count Binface.

Speaking at City Hall, Mr Khan said: “We faced a campaign of non-stop negativity, but I couldn’t be more proud that we answered the fearmongering with facts, hate with hope, and attempts to divide with efforts to unite.

“We ran a campaign that was in keeping with the spirit and values of this great city, a city that regards our diversity not as a weakness, but as an almighty strength – and one that rejects right hard-wing populism and looks forward, not back.”

He also thanked his family for their support, but apologised for them having to deal with “protests by our home” and “threats”.

While congratulating Mr Khan on his victory, Ms Hall said he should stop “patronising” people who care about London.

When she had previously challenged him in a mayoral debate about “gangs running around with machetes” in the capital, he had said she should “stop watching The Wire” – a gritty US-based crime drama.

In her concession speech, she said: “The thing that matters the most, and to me, is reforming the Met and making London safe again. I hope Sadiq makes this his top priority.

“He owes it to the families of those thousands of people who have lost lives to knife crime under his mayoralty.

“And I hope too that he stops patronising people, like me, who care. This isn’t an episode of The Wire, this is real life on his watch.”

The pair had repeatedly clashed during the campaign, fought out amid concerns about knife crime and the handling of pro-Palestinian marches in the capital.

Just recently, Mr Khan had described his Conservative rival as the “most dangerous candidate I have fought against” over her past social media activity.

Hitting back, Ms Hall said she had “learnt” from her mistakes and branded his comment “outrageous”.

A clear dividing line between the candidates had been Mr Khan’s controversial expansion of the ultra low emission zone (ULEZ), which has been the subject of ongoing protests and which Ms Hall had pledged to scrap.

The result comes after Rishi Sunak’s Tory party took a hammering at the local elections, shedding hundreds of seats and losing more than 10 councils.

Meanwhile, Labour has made gains across the country, winning the Blackpool South by-election with a 26% swing from the Tories and taking control of councils in key battleground areas.

The party also picked up new mayoralties, including the critical regions of East Midlands and York and North Yorkshire, which includes Mr Sunak’s Richmond constituency.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said: “This is effectively the last stop on the journey to the general election and I am really pleased to be able to show we are making progress, we have earned the trust and confidence of voters and we are making progress towards that general election.”

Mr Sunak has taken consolation in the Conservative victory in the Tees Valley mayoral race, which was retained by Lord Houchen and seems to be enough to calm rumblings among discontented Tory MPs.

However, the crunch contest for West Midlands mayor remains on a knife-edge.

Labour has also not had it all its own way, losing control of councils in Oldham and Kirklees after victories for independent candidates opposing the party’s stance on Gaza.

Labour also lost seats on other councils including Bristol, where the Greens extended its lead as the largest party and could now be set to run the city council despite narrowly failing to win outright control.

Notably, all 14 councillors in the newly created Bristol Central constituency are now Green, where the party is looking to unseat Labour’s shadow culture secretary Thangam Debbonaire at the general election.

The Tories have so far lost 473 seats and control of 12 councils, while Labour has won eight councils and gained 185 seats.

The Liberal Democrats gained 104 seats and won control of Dorset council from the Conservatives, while the Greens are up 74 seats.

The Justice Department on Friday released an indictment against longtime Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, and his wife, Imelda, charging the pair with bribery and money laundering related to their ties with a bank in Mexico and an oil and gas company controlled by Azerbaijan.

NBC News was first to report that the charges were coming. The congressman and his wife were each released on a $100,000 bond after a first appearance in federal court in Houston, a DOJ spokesperson said Friday afternoon.

According to the indictment, from 2014 to 2021, the Cuellars allegedly accepted roughly $600,000 in bribes from the two foreign entities in exchange for the congressman performing official acts.

“The bribe payments were allegedly laundered, pursuant to sham consulting contracts, through a series of front companies and middlemen into shell companies owned by Imelda Cuellar, who performed little to no legitimate work under the contracts,” the DOJ said in a statement.

“In exchange for the bribes paid by the Azerbaijani oil and gas company, Congressman Cuellar allegedly agreed to use his office to influence U.S. foreign policy in favor of Azerbaijan,” DOJ continued. “In exchange for the bribes paid by the Mexican bank, Congressman Cuellar allegedly agreed to influence legislative activity and to advise and pressure high-ranking U.S. Executive Branch officials regarding measures beneficial to the bank.”

The congressman and his wife are each charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit bribery of a federal official and to have a public official act as an agent of a foreign principal; two counts of bribery of a federal official; two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud; two counts of violating the ban on public officials acting as agents of a foreign principal; one count of conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering; and five counts of money laundering.

If convicted, they could spend years or even decades in prison.

In a statement Friday before the charges were unsealed, Cuellar denied any wrongdoing, saying that he had “proactively sought legal advice” from the House Ethics Committee, which had issued “more than one written opinion” about the matter. Much of his statement focused on his wife.

“I want to be clear that both my wife and I are innocent of these allegations. Everything I have done in Congress has been to serve the people of South Texas,” Cuellar said in his statement, later adding: “The actions I took in Congress were consistent with the actions of many of my colleagues and in the interest of the American people.”

“Imelda and I have been married for 32 years. On top of being an amazing wife and mother, she’s an accomplished businesswoman with two degrees. She spent her career working with banking, tax, and consulting,” he continued. “The allegation that she is anything but qualified and hard working is both wrong and offensive.”

A defiant Cuellar also made clear he will still seek re-election: “Let me be clear, I’m running for re-election and will win this November.”

A statement from the congressman’s defense attorneys was similar to Cuellar’s but also noted prosecutors indicted him just six months before Election Day.

“The government’s decision to move forward with charges so close to the general election — and their decision to execute a search warrant 40 days before his [2022] primary — undermines the electorate and puts a thumb on the scale,” said attorneys Chris Flood and Eric Reed.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and other top Democratic leaders had endorsed Cuellar’s re-election bid last summer. In a statement, Jeffries spokesperson Christie Stephenson called Cuellar a “valued Member of the House Democratic Caucus,” noting that Cuellar is “entitled to his day in court and the presumption of innocence throughout the legal process.”

In the meantime, Cuellar will step aside from his position as the top Democrat on the House Appropriations subcommittee overseeing the Department of Homeland Security, Stephenson said.

Cuellar’s home and campaign office in Laredo, Texas, were raided in January 2022 as part of a federal investigation into Azerbaijan and a group of U.S. businessmen who have ties to the country, law enforcement said at the time. His office had pledged to cooperate with the investigation. In April, Cuellar’s lawyer, Joshua Berman, told some news outlets that federal authorities informed him he was not the target of the investigation.

Cuellar is a one-time co-chair of the Congressional Azerbaijan Caucus. According to the indictment, in exchange for the bribes, Cuellar promised to influence legislation related to Azerbaijan’s conflict with neighboring Armenia; insert pro-Azerbaijan language into legislation and committee reports on security and economic aid programs; deliver a pro-Azerbaijan speech on the House floor; and “consult” with Azerbaijan officials about their efforts to lobby the U.S. government.

Ahead of the indictment’s release, Cuellar’s staff were calling other member offices Friday seeking advice on how to handle the situation, one source with knowledge of those calls told NBC News.

A year after the raid on his home — which has not previously yielded arrests or charges — Cuellar told the Texas Tribune: “There has been no wrongdoing on my part. … My focus remains the same from my very first day in office: delivering results for Texans across my district.”

Despite the raid, Cuellar narrowly defeated a progressive challenger, Jessica Cisneros, in his 2022 primary and went on to win re-election to his seat that November. He didn’t face a primary challenger this year and will be on the ballot this November seeking his 11th term in Congress.

Two years ago, Cuellar easily defeated Republican nominee Cassy Garcia, 57% to 43%. His district became bluer when he picked up parts of San Antonio following redistricting. But the indictment will make Cuellar more vulnerable than in the past; in 2020, Joe Biden won Cuellar’s district over Donald Trump by 7 percentage points.

Two Republicans will face each other in a runoff election in late May for a chance to take on Cuellar in the fall.

“Henry Cuellar does not put Texas first, he puts himself first,” said Delanie Bomar, a spokesperson for the National Republican Congressional Committee. “If his colleagues truly believe in putting ‘people over politics,’ they will call on him to resign. If not — they are hypocrites whose statements about public service aren’t worth the paper they’re written on.”

Cuellar is facing a call to resign from a member of his own party, Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., who said in a post to X on Friday night that “while the bar for Federal indictment is high, trust in our government is low.”

“That’s why office holders and candidates under indictment should resign or end their campaigns, including Sen. Bob Menendez, Donald Trump, & Rep. Henry Cuellar,” Phillips, who was among the first to call on Menendez to resign, continued.

Donald Trump’s former top aide Hope Hicks broke down on the witness stand Friday at his hush money trial, during testimony where she also defended the former president’s relationship with wife Melania.

Hicks, 35 — former press secretary then top White House spokesperson to the ex-president — began crying after the first few questions by Emil Bove, a lawyer for the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

During the emotional moment Hicks dabbed her eyes with a tissue as Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan offered her a short break, which she accepted.

Althought it is not clear why she started to cry, Hicks had first become visibly flustered at the end of questioning by the prosecution, while answering questions about the $130,000 payment to porn star Stromy Daniels which is at the center of the trial.

She had testified she thought Trump thought felt “it was better to be dealing” with the situation in 2018 than before the 2016 presidential election.

Hicks also choked up when she got back on the witness stand while recalling her time working for the Trump Organization.

Hicks had been on the stand for roughly four hours displaying composure while prosecutors grilled her on her time working for the ex-president beginning in 2015 and ending in 2022 — which she said is the last time she saw him.

Earlier, Hicks told jurors how Trump tried to ensure a Wall Street Journal article from Nov. 4, 2016 detailing allegations of an affair with Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal wouldn’t be seen by Melania.

“He was concerned about the story. He was concerned how it would be viewed by his wife,” Hicks said. “And he wanted to make sure the newspapers weren’t delivered to his residence that morning.”

Later, during follow-up by Bove, Hicks explained the reason Trump didn’t want Melania to see the McDougal article was because of how much he cares and respects her.

“President Trump really values Mrs. Trump’s opinion and she doesn’t weigh in all the time but when she does it’s really meaningful to him,” Hicks said.

“He really, really respects what she has to say. I think he was really concerned about what the perception of this would be and, yeah, I know that was weighing on him.”

Hicks added Trump didn’t want anyone from his family to “be hurt” by stories that were “going on in his campaign.”

Trump wished Melania a happy birthday from the courthouse last week while she was in Florida. She has not attended the first two weeks of trial.

Hicks — a former teen model, who admitted to having no experience before coming onto Trump’s team — also took a jab at Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen, who is expected to be the star prosecution witness against his longtime boss.

“He liked to call himself a fixer, or Mr. Fix It,” Hicks said.

“It’s only because he first broke it so he could fix it,” she added, to chuckles from the courtroom.

Earlier, Hicks laid out how Cohen was very involved in Trump’s media response denying the allegations of his affair with McDougal.

She explained that Cohen “wasn’t supposed to be on the campaign in any official capacity,” but he tried to “insert himself” anyway.

Cohen “wasn’t looped in on the day-to-day of campaign strategy” Hicks said of Cohen, adding he would go “rogue” and would do things that frustrated the campaign.

Hicks’ testimony wrapped later Friday afternoon.

Trump is on trial for allegedly falsifying business records to try to hide that he had Cohen paid Daniels $130,000 in the run-up to the 2016 election to keep her quiet about claims she had slept with Trump while he was married. He has pleaded not guilty to 43 charges of falsigying business records realted to the payment.

He’s repeatedly attacked the trial as political motivated meant to interfere with his election bid.

Leaving the court he railed against Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg and the Department of Justice.

“They’ve been after us for years — Democrats, the radical left — they’ve destroyed people’s lives.

“It’s a shame what they’ve done to this country. … These are vicious, vicious radical left lunatics,” he added.

The trial is set to resume with a new witness Monday morning.

Shocking video showing a ‘transgender’ student attacking another girl in a women’s restroom resulted in a bomb threat being sent to the school after the clip went viral.

The assault at Greece Arcadia high school took place in February and saw the victim dragged out of a stall by her hair by a much larger attacker, described as transgender.

Footage of the attack was shared by feminist website Reduxx on Thursday and resulted in a bomb threat being sent to the school, forcing it to close on Friday.

The clip in question shows a student barge into a restroom stall and begin beating a girl inside while other pupils film on their phones.

The student grabs the screaming girl by her hair and drags her out along the floor and into the hallway.

The student throws several more punches before a member of staff comes running over to separate them.

Even as they are dragged away, the assailant refuses to let go of the girl’s hair.

Eventually the student is escorted away and the girl who was attacked runs up behind and attempts to fight back.

However, she is picked up and carried away by what appears to be another staff member.

In the wake of the footage going viral on Thursday, the school was sent a bomb threat at 6.07am on Friday.

🚨A girl was reportedly assaulted in the female restroom at Arcadia High School in Rochester, New York.

According to another student at the school, the attacker is a boy who identifies as a girl. He was allegedly retaliating for perceived insults.

Reduxx reached out to Greece… pic.twitter.com/f7Mt0AZfT6

— REDUXX (@ReduxxMag) May 2, 2024

Several bus loads of students who had already arrived on campus had to be redirected as cops worked to investigate.

The threat accused the school of failing to make a safe learning environment and accused the district of encouraging ‘mentally ill’ and ‘degenerate’, making reference to the fight, NBC News10 reports.

‘They created a situation that allowed for a girl to be assaulted in a women’s restroom by a worthless degenerate sack of mentally ill who thinks he’s a girl,’ the threat said.

‘We’re here to send a message, we placed a bomb in the school, evacuate now.’

There has been no confirmation from official sources about any of the students’ gender identity.

However, Reduxx stated it had spoken to another student at the school who claimed the attacker is transgender.

‘It is clear that this is being used for an agenda, whether it’s a personal or political agenda, it is being used,’ Graupman said.

‘That fight that occurred was significant and very, very upsetting and disturbing, and also I want to be very clear it involved minors, it involved minors that deserve respect and privacy.

‘We don’t get to share videos and names and peoples personal identities out there.’

Graupman did not say what measures had been taken to discipline the attacking student in the wake of the fight.

The police eventually deemed that the threat was not credible and the school reopened after 9am.

New York is among states whose laws let transgender people use whichever bathroom aligns with their gender identity.

President Biden honored former speaker Nancy Pelosi, former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, Olympic champion swimmer Katie Ledecky and former Vice President Al Gore with the Presidential Medal of Freedom Friday, along with 15 other American luminaries.

The 81-year-old president touted Bloomberg, 82, for his professional feats while applauding Gore, 76, for accepting his Electoral College defeat in the 2000 presidential race, a clear shot at former President Donald Trump.

“That to me was amazing what you did,” Biden said — despite the fact that Gore also challenged the result all the way to the Supreme Court.

Biden appeared to stumble on his script as he hailed Ledecky, who has won seven Olympic gold medals, for her plans to “compete this summer at the Paralympics at age 27,” melding the words “Paris” and “Olympics.”

The president also mistakenly referred to Oscar-winning actress Michelle Yeoh by the first name “Michael” before quickly correcting himself.

“I’ll tell you what, it makes you proud to be an American, doesn’t it?” Biden said of his guests in the White House East Room — after at one point saying his staff “hates” his “ad-libbing” of speeches.

Presidents typically use the award, America’s highest civilian honor, to more closely associate themselves with the recipients.

In addition to his business and mayoral career, Bloomberg spent more than $1 billion on his own run for the 2020 Democratic nomination against Biden, ultimately carrying just American Samoa, and was a top donor in 2022 as congressional Democrats defied expectations of a Republican landslide.

“Mayor Michael Bloomberg is an entrepreneur, philanthropist, and three-term mayor. He revolutionized the financial information industry and transformed New York City’s education, environment, public health, and the arts,” the White House said in announcing the award.

Fellow ex-presidential candidates Gore, John Kerry, and Elizabeth Dole also were honored.

Bloomberg made his fortune with financial technology and served as New York City mayor from 2002-2013, initially as a Republican and then as an independent.

Kerry was the Democratic Party’s unsuccessful presidential nominee in 2004, while Dole sought the Republican nomination in 2000.

Kerry’s citation notes his Vietnam War service and “his public service career that has spanned seven decades,” including as a senator from Massachusetts and most recently as Biden’s anti-global warming coordinator.

Dole was lauded for her foundation that supports military families and career as a “trailblazing” senator and Cabinet secretary.

The unusual gathering of former White House aspirants came as Biden’s own political future is imperiled with polling showing him trailing Trump, despite the ex-president’s four criminal prosecutions, including the ongoing hush money trial in New York.

The remaining honorees included Father Greg Boyle, a Los Angeles Jesuit priest and anti-gang activist; Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC), whose endorsement of Biden in 2020 helped rescue the president’s stagnant campaign; longtime talk show host Phil Donahue; civil rights activist Clarence B. Jones; educator and activist Opal Lee; astronaut Ellen Ochoa; former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.); astronomer Jane Rigby; United Farm Workers union president Teresa Romero; and Matthew Shepard Foundation co-founder Judy Shepard.

Three honorees received the medal posthumously: civil rights activist Medgar Evers, Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), and athlete Jim Thorpe.