Donald Trump’s defence lawyers have grilled Stormy Daniels on the transaction at the centre of the former president’s hush money trial, pressing her on why she accepted a 130,000 dollar payment to keep quiet about her alleged sexual encounter with Trump instead of going public.

“Why didn’t you do that?” lawyer Susan Necheles asked, wondering why Ms Daniels did not hold a news conference as she had planned to tell reporters about the 2006 encounter, which Trump denies ever happened.

“Because we were running out of time,” Ms Daniels said.

Did she mean, Ms Necheles asked, that she was running out of time to use the claim to make money?

“To get the story out,” Ms Daniels countered.

The negotiations happened in the final weeks of the 2016 presidential campaign, a critical point in the case against Trump because prosecutors are arguing that he and his allies snatched up these potentially damaging stories and buried them in an illegal effort to influence the November results.

Trump denies any wrongdoing.

Ms Daniels returned for more testimony on Thursday, avoiding eye contact with the former president as she walked into the Manhattan courtroom and made her way to the witness stand.

Trump’s lawyers have sought to paint the adult film actor as a liar and extortionist who is trying to take down Trump after drawing money and fame from her story about him.

Turning pointedly to Ms Daniels’ career as an adult film actor, writer and director, Ms Necheles asked: “You have a lot of experience in making phoney stories about sex appear real?”

“The sex in those films is real, just like the sex in that room,” Ms Daniels replied. “The character themes might be different, but the sex is very real. That’s why it’s pornography, not a B movie.”

Ms Daniels was first called as a witness on Tuesday, describing what she said happened during their 2006 encounter in graphic detail. That testimony came after jurors heard others in Trump’s orbit testify that they saw Ms Daniels around Trump Tower. The jury also heard nuts-and-bolts testimony about bank records and payments received.

Trump scowled and shook his head through much of Ms Daniels’ description of their alleged sexual encounter after she met Trump at a 2006 Lake Tahoe celebrity golf outing where sponsors included the adult film studio where she worked.

At one point, the judge told defence lawyers during a sidebar conversation – out of earshot of the jury and the public – that he could hear Trump “cursing audibly”.

Ms Daniels testified earlier this week that while she was not physically menaced, she felt a “power imbalance” as Trump, in his hotel bedroom, stood between her and the door and propositioned her.

As for whether she felt compelled to have sex with him, she reiterated on Thursday that he did not drug her or physically threaten her. But, she said: “My own insecurities, in that moment, kept me from saying no.”

As Ms Necheles continued comparing Ms Daniels’ testimony with past interviews, the witness insisted: “My story hasn’t changed.

“You’re trying to make me say that it changed, but it hasn’t changed at all.”

Her testimony has been an extraordinary moment in what could be the only criminal case against the presumptive Republican presidential nominee to go to trial before voters decide in November whether to send him back to the White House.

Trump has pleaded not guilty and casts himself as the victim of a politically tainted justice system working to deny him another term.

As she negotiated a nondisclosure agreement with Trump’s then-attorney Michael Cohen, Ms Daniels was also talking with other journalists as a “back-up” plan, she testified on Thursday. Ms Necheles accused her of refusing to share the story with reporters because she would not be paid for it.

“The better alternative was for you to get money, right?” Ms Necheles said.

Ms Daniels said she was most interested in getting her story out and ensuring her family’s safety.

“The better alternative was to get my story protected with a paper trail so that my family didn’t get hurt,” Ms Daniels replied.

Meanwhile, as the threat of jail looms over Trump following his repeated gag order violations, his lawyers are fighting the judge’s order and seeking a fast decision in an appeals court. If the court refuses to lift the gag order, Trump’s lawyers want permission to take their appeal to the state’s high court.

“Here we sit after two and a half weeks, and I think you’ll see some very revealing things today,” Trump said outside court.

Inside the courtroom, Ms Necheles ran through the finer points of the nondisclosure agreement, asking Daniels to confirm that she agreed to highlighted portions. Ms Daniels responded in terse one-word answers, “Yes,” adding: “I signed this only based on what my attorneys suggested.”

Trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying internal Trump Organisation business records. The charges stem from things such as invoices and cheques that were deemed legal expenses in Trump Organisation records. Prosecutors say the payments largely were reimbursements to Mr Cohen for the 130,000 dollars hush money payment to Ms Daniels.

Testimony so far has made clear that at the time of the payment to Ms Daniels, Trump and his campaign were reeling from the October 2016 publication of the never-before-seen 2005 Access Hollywood footage in which he boasted about grabbing women’s genitals without their permission.

Prosecutors have argued that the political firestorm over the Access Hollywood tape hastened Mr Cohen’s payment to keep Ms Daniels from going public with her claims that could further hurt Trump in the eyes of female voters.

Trump’s lawyers have sought to show that Trump was trying to protect his reputation and family – not his campaign – by shielding them from embarrassing stories about his personal life.

President Biden said Wednesday that “I’m not supplying the weapons” if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu moves forward with a full attack on the Hamas-controlled city of Rafah — before signaling he wants Israel to surrender the Gaza Strip’s transitional administration to Arab states.

“I made clear that if they go into Rafah — they haven’t gotten into Rafah yet — if they go into Rafah, I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities, to deal with that problem,” Biden told CNN’s Erin Burnett in a rare sit-down interview.

Biden’s threat drew swift condemnation from Israel supporters in Congress and followed days of obfuscation by the White House about reports the administration had stopped the transmission of powerful precision bombs. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin confirmed to Congress earlier Wednesday the shipment had been “paused,” but claimed a final decision about its fate had not yet been made.

“Biden’s dithering on Israel weapons is bad policy and a terrible message to Israel, our allies, and the world,” tweeted Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah).

Biden told Burnett the arms denied to Israel could expand to artillery shells as well — before saying that he was in talks with five Arab leaders about potentially occupying Gaza after Israel defeats Hamas, which could conflict with Jerusalem’s plans to administer the area.

“Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centers,” Biden said of US arms shipments.

“It’s just wrong. We’re not gonna — we’re not gonna supply the weapons and artillery shells used.”

He added that “I’ve made it clear to [Netanyahu] and the war cabinet, they’re not going to get our support if in fact they go into these population centers.

In a potentially paradigm-shifting evolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict, Biden proceeded to suggest that Arab nations might temporarily occupy Gaza — which Israeli leaders have floated being subject to a transitional phase akin to denazification in Germany after World War II.

“Who is going to occupy Gaza?” Biden said, before answering his own question.

“I’ve been working with the Arab states, I won’t mention them because I don’t want to get them in trouble, but five leaders in the Arab community who are prepared to help rebuild Gaza, prepared to help transition to a two-state solution.”

Burnett asked Biden, “To govern it?”

“To maintain the security and peace while they’re working out a Palestinian Authority that is real and not corrupt,” Biden replied.

Although Biden didn’t name any of the Arab nations, close US partners in the region include Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

It’s unclear if any Arab states actually would want to administer Gaza, which was controlled by Egypt until the 1967 Six-Day War — though Cairo has since relinquished its claims.

Biden has warned Israel for weeks not to attack the final major bastion of Hamas power in Rafah and repeated the message Monday in a call to the Israeli head of government.

More than a million displaced Gazans are believed to reside in and around Rafah.

Biden told Burnett he would “continue to make sure Israel is secure in terms of Iron Dome and their ability to respond to attacks like came out of — in the Middle East recently.”

The president, who is regularly heckled by anti-Israel protesters who have dubbed him “Genocide Joe,” has for months criticized Israel for allegedly doing too little to avoid killing civilians and aid workers in Gaza.

On Tuesday, however, Biden gave a pro-Israel speech at an event commemorating the Holocaust, saying that protesters were “forgetting” that Hamas started the war by killing about 1,200 Israelis on Oct. 7.

“Too many people [are] denying downplaying, rationalizing and ignoring the horrors of the Holocaust and October 7, including Hamas’s appalling use of sexual violence to torture and terrorize Jews. It’s absolutely despicable and it must stop,” he said in that speech.

Polls show Biden’s re-election is at risk due to backlash over his pro-Israel stance from key Democratic constituencies including younger voters, Arab Americans and Muslim Americans.

Netanyahu has pushed back on Biden’s mounting criticism.

“If Israel is forced to stand alone, Israel will stand alone,” Netanyahu said in a defiant speech Sunday at Jerusalem’s Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial.

“Eighty years ago in the Holocaust, the Jewish people were totally defenseless against those who sought our destruction. No nation came to our aid. Today, we again face enemies bent on our destruction,” Netanyahu said.

“I say to the leaders of the world: No amount of pressure, no decision by any international forum will stop Israel from defending itself… We will defeat our genocidal enemies.

“‘Never again’ is now.”

A teenage girl was ‘loaned out’ by her ‘lover boy’ boyfriend to be sexually abused by his friends in Belgium who filmed the attack on their phones and shared images on social media, according to reports, in a case that has shocked the country.

The 14-year-old girl was abused by ten minors on up to three occasions between April 2 and April 6 over the Easter holidays, prosecutors say.

The main suspect – the girl’s 14-year-old boyfriend – is alleged to have taken the girl with him to a wooded area called Kabouterbos in Kortrijk, West Flanders. The spot is popular with mountain bikers and sits close to a highway.

Once there, the boyfriend is said to have attacked his young partner before allegedly allowing several other boys to sexually assault her as well. Reports said the group filmed the attack on their smartphones and posted clips to social media.

Prosecutors arrested ten suspects aged between 11 and 16 – all reported by local outlets to be boys of ‘immigrant origin’ – and hauled them in for interrogation.

Since then, more details have emerged about the suspects.

Citing ‘well placed sources’, Belgian outlet Nieuwsblad described the boyfriend as a ‘loverboy boy’ type who deliberately allowed his friends to abuse his young partner.

‘Lover boy’ in this case is a term used to describe human traffickers who typically operate by trying to make their young victims fall in love with them.

Nieuwsblad said prosecutors turned up ‘reprehensible behaviour’ on the part of the suspects and ‘revenge-mongering facts’, citing the sources close to the investigation who said the alleged perpetrators showed ‘a complete lack of sense of norms’.

The girl is thought to have spent at least two days in the forest where she was raped, tormented and abused by the gang of minors. She also returned a third time, reports say, but was not raped on that occasion.

The group took turns abusing the victim, and all participated ‘to a greater or lesser extent,’ Nieuwsblad said in its report.

The girl is understood to have been raped by several of the boys while others filmed the attacks on their smart phones, before sharing the clips with others.

Images were also shared on social media, reportedly over Snapchat – an instant messaging app that allows users to easily share pictures and videos.

The youngest of the boys, an 11-year-old, is said to have been used as lookout.

None of the group urged their friends to stop the abuse, sources said.

The investigation has been conducted in the utmost secrecy by the West Flanders prosecutor’s office to avoid any chance of family members of the victim or members of the public learning the identities of those involved.

Although the alleged attack took place in early April, the girl didn’t come forward for several days out of fear of telling her parents and the police.

It wasn’t until April 25 that the police were able to arrest the suspects.

In total, ten boys were detained. Six of the suspects were placed in a closed institution, while the other four were placed under house arrest.

They have since been questioned – all simultaneously and separately, so that investigators can compare all statements.

Citing its sources, Nieuwsblad said many of the statements given by the boys were contradictory, a number of the suspects blaming each other.

Some of the six minors placed in the institution appeared in juvenile court on Wednesday afternoon. It was reported that two were released on conditions.

Nieuwsblad reported that four more minors are now in custody – including the 14-year-old boyfriend who, it is understood, has been made the main suspect.

Prosecutors are now working to establish what extent each suspect was involved in the assault on the 14-year-old girl, or if any were bystanders.

Tom Janssens of the Public Prosecutor’s Office said that on account of the age of all those involved, little is being said publicly on their identity.

He did confirm that ten suspects had been identified and arrested, and that all were minors. ‘Because the perpetrators are so young, we are not releasing much information about their identity,’ Janssens told The Brussels Times.

According to the boyfriend’s lawyer, her client has disputed the events as they have been reported. ‘My client also wants the truth to come to light and for the matter to be thoroughly investigated,’ lawyer Nur Demirtas told Nieuwsblad.

‘He understands that he is now locked up, but this is also traumatising for him. This is also very difficult for his parents, wealthy people who have tried to give their son a good upbringing. They don’t understand how this could happen,’ Demirtas said.

‘It also strikes me that suspects of such crimes are becoming younger and younger. That is very disturbing.’

Lawyer Kelly De Caluwé, who is defending a 16-year-old suspect of Somali origin, said the minors had ‘all been interrogated simultaneously and the investigators will now test the statements to find out the truth’.

‘These are horrible facts,’ she said. ‘The question is how it is possible that these children have lost all sense of norms. What should we do with this?

‘How are we going to solve this? It is a question that should be asked not only to the juvenile judge but also to society as a whole. I have not yet experienced such facts in my fifteen-year career.’

Caluwé said her client said things he did not mean during the questioning and has asked for a re-examination.

‘I asked for a re-examination because due to the language barrier he said things that did not match what he meant,’ she said, according to Nieuwsblad.

‘To me he is not a rapist. Although he realises that something very wrong has happened. That realisation comes gradually.’

Kortrijk mayor Vincent Van Quickenborne said he was shocked when he first learned about the case that he has known about behind closed doors ‘for some time’.

‘The public prosecutor’s office does not allow me to say anything about the facts themselves, but I had been aware of the investigation for some time,’ he said.

‘These are cra*py acts for which there are no words. I say that not only as a politician, but also as a father of 3 young children.’

The criminal age of responsibility in Belgium is 18, meaning the suspected sexual abusers were sent before a juvenile judge and are likely to have been placed into a personal rehabilitation programme in youth facilities.

But it is possible the 16-year-old in question could be dealt with under adult criminal law, given the exceptional nature of the case.

The victim, meanwhile, is receiving specialist guidance following her ordeal.

The case in Belgium comes three years after another, similarly horrific incident shocked the country when a 14-year-old girl was raped by a group of young men in a cemetery in Ghent, in East Flanders.

Aged between 14 and 19, the group filmed the attack and circulated the footage on social media. The victim later took her own life.

The case sparked debate in Belgium about the country’s juvenile delinquency laws, as well as around increasing the minimum penalty for sexual offences.

Belgium eventually tightened the juvenile delinquency laws.

This made it possible to lock up children as young as 12 for longer periods if they are found guilty of rape and gang rape, and since 2022, offenders aged 16 and over who committed such crimes can be tried as adults.

Commenting on the recent case, East Flanders’s Justice Minister Zuhal Demir – who advocated for the tightening of such laws – said parents of children who commit such crimes ‘must be held accountable’.

‘You simply cannot deal with this kind of violence with lower [sentences],’ she said, according to The Brussels Times.

‘Such [perpetrators] must be taken off the streets and their parents must be held accountable. Juvenile judges should make more and full use of the recent tightening of juvenile delinquency law.’

On why it likely took the 14-year-old girl time to come forward after the early April incident, professor of forensic psychology Frédéric Declercq told De Morgen: There is always under-reporting of sexual crimes, whether it concerns a gang rape or an individual case. It is a well-known fact that victims usually feel more guilty than the perpetrators.’

‘In addition, there is a lot of shame in reporting crime. What also plays a role, for both female and male victims, is stigmatisation. You are no longer who you always were. If you come out, you are a rape victim.’

A Boeing 737-300 plane carrying 85 people skidded off a runway at the airport in Senegal’s capital, injuring 10 people, according to the transport minister, an airline safety group and footage from a passenger that showed the aircraft on fire.

“Our plane just caught fire,” wrote Malian musician Cheick Siriman Sissoko in a post on Facebook that showed passengers jumping down the emergency slides at night as flames engulfed one side of the aircraft at the airport in Dakar. In the background, people can be heard screaming.

Transport Minister El Malick Ndiaye said the Air Sénégal flight operated by TransAir was headed to Bamako, in neighboring Mali, late Wednesday with 79 passengers, two pilots and four cabin crew.

The airport reopened on Thursday morning after closing overnight.

The injured were being treated at a hospital, while the others were taken to a hotel to rest. Boeing referred a request for comment to the airlines.

It was the third incident involving a Boeing airplane this week. Also on Thursday, 190 people were safely evacuated from a plane in Turkey after one of its tires burst during landing at a southern airport, Turkey’s transportation ministry said.

“ Boeing 737 plane ✈️“ Catches Fire 🔥 in Senegal 🇸🇳 💔AFTER FAILED TAKEOFF ATTEMPT

With people running for their lives pic.twitter.com/9Rci6SYlI3

— OjoToTheWorld (@OjoToTheWorld) May 9, 2024

The company has been under intense pressure since a door plug blew out of a Boeing 737 Max during an Alaska Airlines flight in January, leaving a gaping hole in the plane. The Federal Aviation Administration in February gave Boeing 90 days to come up with a plan to fix quality problems and meet safety standards for building planes after the accident.

The incident has raised scrutiny of Boeing to the highest level since two crashes of Boeing 737 Max jets in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people. About a dozen relatives of passengers who died in the second crash have been pushing the U.S. government to revive a criminal fraud charge against the company by determining that Boeing violated terms of a 2021 settlement.

In April, a Boeing whistleblower, Sam Salehpour, testified at a congressional hearing that the company had taken manufacturing shortcuts to turn out 787s as quickly as possible that could lead to jetliners breaking apart.

The Aviation Safety Network, which tracks airline accidents, described the plane as a Boeing 737-38J. The network published photos of the damaged plane in a grassy field, surrounded by fire suppressant foam, on X, formerly known as Twitter. One engine appeared to have broken apart and a wing was also damaged, according to the photos.

ASN is part of the Flight Safety Foundation, a nonprofit group that aims to promote safe air travel and tracks accidents.

An airman was killed at his home after police allegedly forced their way into the wrong apartment and shot him as his horrified friend watched on FaceTime.

US Air Force Senior Airman Roger Fortson, 23, was identified as the young man shot dead in a shooting last Friday afternoon.

It took place at Fortson’s off-base residence – an apartment complex on 319 Racetrack Road in Okaloosa County, Florida.

A Okaloosa County deputy was responding to report of a disturbance and ‘reacted in self-defense after he encountered a 23-year-old man armed with a gun,’ cops say.

A witness, who was on FaceTime with Fortson during the time of the shooting, claimed Fortson heard a knock at the door and asked who was there.

When he did not receive a response but heard another ‘very aggressive knock,’ Fortson peered through the peephole – but did not see anyone and grew concerned.

Out of concern, Fortson retrieved a gun – which he owned legally, according to the witness.

When he returned to his living room with the gun, authorities allegedly pushed through his door and shot him six times.

The traumatized witness, who remained on the FaceTime call for the duration of the horrifying shooting, recalled that Fortson said ‘I can’t breathe,’ after the shots were fired. Fortson later died at the hospital.

The deputy involved in the incident has since been placed on administrative leave while the shooting continues to be investigated.

The 23-year old was based at the Special Operations Wing at Hurlburt Field, Florida. He entered active duty on Nov. 19, 2019

He was assigned to the 4th Special Operations Squadron as a special missions aviator, where one of his roles as a member of the squadron’s AC-130J Ghostrider aircrew was to load the gunship’s 30mm and 105mm cannons during missions.

The Air Force’s 1st Special Operations Wing said its priorities are ‘providing casualty affairs service to the family, supporting the squadron during this tragic time, and ensuring resources are available for all who are impacted.’

A similar incident happened involving the same sheriff’s office back in November – in which the officer shot an unarmed and handcuffed man after he mistook the sound of a falling acorn for a gunshot, according to The Washington Post.

The Washington Post’s database of fatal police shootings from 2015 to April this year found that police killed the highest number of people on record in 2023.

Black Americans are killed by police at more than twice the rate of White Americans.

Initial filings for unemployment benefits have hit their highest level since late August 2023, a potential sign that an otherwise robust labor market is changing.

Jobless claims totaled a seasonally adjusted 231,000 for the week ending on May 4, up 22,000 from the previous period and higher than the Dow Jones estimate for 214,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. It was the highest claims number since Aug. 26, 2023.

The increase in claims follows a string of mostly strong hiring reports, though hiring in April was light compared with expectations. Also, job openings have been declining amid expectations that the labor market is likely to slow through the year.

The report also showed that continuing claims, which run a week behind, increased to 1.78 million, up 17,000 from the previous week. The four-week moving average of claims, which helps smooth out weekly volatility in numbers, increased to 215,000, up 4,750 from the previous week.

“Weekly jobless claims are one of the timeliest indicators of when the economy is starting to undergo serious deterioration, and the magnitude of new layoffs this week looks worrisome,” wrote Christopher Rupkey, chief economist at FWDBONDS.

“One week does not a trend make, but we can no longer be sure that calm seas lie ahead for the US economy if today’s weekly jobless claims are any indication.”

Nonfarm payrolls increased by 175,000 in April, below the Wall Street estimate of 240,000 and the smallest gain since October 2023. However, the unemployment rate was at 3.9%, continuing to hold below 4% since February 2022.

Markets reacted little to the jobless claims release, with stock market futures slightly negative and Treasury yields mixed.

Excluding seasonal adjustments, claims totaled 209,324, up 10.4% from the previous week. New York alone saw an increase of more than 10,000, accounting for more than half the total rise.

“A low number of claims had become almost monotonous, and while this surprising spike could well be a blip, we should expect more volatility and a trend toward higher claims as the labor market normalizes,” said Robert Frick, corporate economist at Navy Federal Credit Union.

Federal Reserve officials are watching the jobs numbers closely as they continue efforts to bring inflation back to 2%. Following their meeting, policymakers noted that “job gains have remained strong.” But those remarks came before the April employment report release.

Markets are expecting the central bank to begin lowering interest rates in September.

A federal jury in New York on Thursday convicted an investor of insider trading in the stock of a shell company ahead of its announcement in October 2021 that it would merge with Trump Media.

The investor, Bruce Garelick, had been on the board of directors of the publicly traded company, Digital World Acquisition Corp., at the time he was accused of sharing and exploiting non–public information with others about its plans to merge with then-privately held Trump Media, the owner of the Truth Social app.

Trump Media’s majority shareholder is former President Donald Trump, who was not accused of any wrongdoing in the case against Garelick in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.

But Garelick’s trial, which began on April 30, took place just blocks away from where Trump is on trial in Manhattan Supreme Court on criminal charges related to a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.

Two co-defendants of Garelick, the brothers Michael and Gerald Shvartsman, pleaded guilty to insider trading charges on April 3.

Jurors in Garelick’s case began deliberating on Wednesday afternoon after hearing closing arguments from prosecutors and a defense lawyer. After several hours of deliberation Thursday, jurors returned guilty verdicts on the five counts of securities fraud and conspiracy that the 54-year-old Garelick faced.

Garelick, who testified at his trial, is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 12.

Garelick was an investment advisor to Michael Shvartsman’s venture capital firm, Rocket One Capital. Prosecutors said Garelick shared non-public material information about DWAC’s merger plans with Trump Media with the Shvartsman brothers in 2021 after joining DWAC’s board.

All three men then bought up DWAC stock based on that non-public information and then sold their shares after the price soared following the announcement of the deal to combine with Trump Media, prosecutors said.

Garelick made a profit of just $49,000 on the illicit trades, but the Shvartsmans earned a whopping $23 million, according to prosecutors.

“Bruce Garelick was part of a sophisticated group of individuals invited to invest in Digital World Acquisition Corporation …, a special purpose acquisition company that had raised funds with the intention of later investing in a target company, Trump Media & Technology Group, not yet known to the public,” said Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Williams in a statement Thursday.

“When he was given that opportunity, Garelick promised to keep the information about DWAC’s interest in acquiring Trump Media secret and not use it to trade in the stock market. Garelick was also given a seat on DWAC’s board, which gave him direct access to additional non-public information regarding the acquisition,” Williams said.

“As a unanimous jury has just found, Garelick blatantly violated the law by using the information that he obtained as an insider at DWAC to trade and tip others,” the top prosecutor said. “Garelick’s federal conviction is yet another stark reminder that insider trading is always a losing bet.”

DWAC and Trump Media completed their merger in late March. Public trading of the company’s stock under the new ticker DJT began a day later.

Last week, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Trump Media’s auditor with what the regulator said was “massive fraud” involving the auditor’s accounting work for hundreds of publicly traded companies, affecting 1,500 SEC filings.

The auditor, BF Borgers CPA, and its owner, Benjamin Borgers, agreed to be permanently suspended from practicing as accountants before the SEC, and to pay a combined $14 million in civil penalties.

Trump Media hired a new auditor, Semple, Marchal & Cooper LLP last weekend to replace BF Borgers.

A transgender high school runner is set to compete in the girls’ varsity track and field championship today after having left the other female competitors in the dust during the semi-finals.

Aayden Gallagher, who identifies as a girl, dominated in the Portland Interscholastic League Championship Semi-Finals on Wednesday.

The 10th grader took first place in the girls 400 meter varsity run and second place in the 200 meter race, qualifying him for the finals today at Lincoln High School.

If he places in the top two in any of today’s events, Gallagher will move on to compete in the Oregon State Championships.

Gallagher’s eligibility to compete in the girls league has sparked outrage in recent weeks, with former NCAA swimming championship Riley Gaines among those to publicly criticize the Oregon School Activities Association (OSAA), which regulates high school athletics in the state, and its policies.

Under current OSAA policies, students are permitted ‘to participate for the athletic or activity program of their consistently asserted gender identity.’

Biological male (in red) who identifies as “transgender” blitzes the field in Girls Varsity 400m race in Portland. He will compete in the girls finals tomorrow. Joe Biden legalised this BS thru his Title 9 changes. #LetWomenSpeak #TransWomenAreConMen pic.twitter.com/G8IIMkS572

— Black Semi Fascist (@BFacist) May 8, 2024

Gallagher, a sophomore at McDaniel High School, was cleared to participate in the semi-finals on May 7 and competed in both the girls varsity 200m and 400m races.

He placed second in the 200m contest, finishing in 24.49 seconds. He was beat out by Roosevelt High School sophomore Aster Jones who finished the dash in 24.32 seconds.

But Gallagher placed first in the 400m race, crossing the finish line in 56.14 seconds. Runner-up Ellie Heslam, a junior at Roosevelt High School, finished the contest in 56.37 seconds.

Gallagher has faced public scrutiny in recent weeks after footage of him performance during Heat 1 of the Sherwood Need for Speed Classic last month was circulated online.

The video showed Gallagher speeding past a group of biologically female athletes to cross the finish line way in front of the rest of the pack.

Gallagher competed in several other events throughout the day, finishing in consistently high positions at the event in Sherwood, Oregon.

The video from the Sherwood Need for Speed Classic was originally posted by Reduxx, a feminist magazine, and quickly racked up millions of views.

Gallagher revealed in an interview with him high school newspaper last year that he will be pursuing hormone replacement therapy.

‘I feel like it’ll make me a lot more confident,’ said the student, at the time a high school freshman.

‘Because right now I’m just going to keep on getting more and more masculine. More facial hair, stuff like that. And I don’t want that. Estrogen and other hormones and getting vocal training would make me a lot happier and more confident.’

It is not clear if Gallagher has begun a hormone replacement regime.

Speaking to an interviewer after the Sherwood meet last month, the student said he ‘wasn’t really in front of a lot of people at the beginning of the race,’ adding, ‘I like to not go out super strong.’

He was ultimately defeated by another runner as the competitors came to the last hundred meters.

‘We were both trying to get first. And she’s been doing it for a long time, this is my first year,’ the sophomore said. ‘Really proud of her, she did great. I hope to see her in other track meets.’

The high schooler quickly became the target of criticism on social media as accounts with tens of thousands of followers circulated the video of him crossing the finish line.

‘This is sick and disgusting and I want to know why his parents are allowing him to mock female athletes, why his coach is allowing him to cheat, and why these girls’ coaches and parents aren’t speaking up,’ wrote Meghan Murphy, a Canadian author and podcaster.

‘Championing boys in girls sports is blatant misogyny,’ wrote the Independent Council on Women’s Sports (ICONS).

The founder of OutKick, where former NCAA swimming champ Riley Gaines hosts a podcasts, Clay Travis wrote: ‘another proud moment for “women’s” sports!’

Female athletes also joined the conversation.

Gaines, who is perhaps the most well-known example of a female athlete who was stripped of an award because a biologically male swimmer was given preference in her college sport, blamed the ‘adults’ at the Oregon track event for allowing Gallagher to compete.

‘Let’s call this what it is,’ she wrote on X. ‘Encouraged AND celebrated cheating at the hands of the “adults” in the room.

‘So many fingers to point, but shame on the parents, the schools, the boy, our weak administration,’ and the Oregon School Activities Association.

Carilyn Johnson, two-time member of Team USA, wrote: ‘At some point, we have to all be willing to see this for what it is. Please stop pretending like this is anything other than telling young female athletes they don’t matter.’

April Hutchinson, a powerlifter on Team Canada, branded the student ‘a prime example of a male cheat.’

‘Beats women, then lingers around, waiting for congratulations, and constantly seeks validation. You’re a liar to yourself and everyone in that facility. Shame on all the enablers,’ she wrote.

Amelia Strickler, a shot put champion who was twice awarded the British national title, asserted, ‘Biology has to be the rule.’

The Oregon School Activities Association’s policy for the participation of trans athletes in school sports states as follows:

‘The OSAA endeavors to allow students to participate for the athletic or activity program of their consistently asserted gender identity while providing a fair and safe environment for all students.’

The rule aims to ‘promote harmony and air competition among member schools by maintaining equality of eligibility and increase the number of students who will have an opportunity to participate in interscholastic activities.’

The policy also states that once a transgender students has told the school about their new identity, the student ‘shall be consistently treated as that gender for purposes of eligibility for athletics and activities, provided that if the student has tried out or participated in an activity, the student may not participate during that same season on a team of the other gender.’

It will soon be Barron Trump’s time to step into the political spotlight.

Trump, former President Donald Trump’s youngest child, who will graduate from high school next week and has largely been kept out of the political spotlight, was picked by the Republican Party of Florida on Wednesday night as one of the state’s at-large delegates to the Republican National Convention, according to a list of delegates obtained by NBC News.

“We have a great delegation of grassroots leaders, elected officials and even Trump family members,” Florida GOP chairman Evan Power said. “Florida is continuing to have a great convention team, but more importantly we are preparing to win Florida and win it big.”

Trump’s position as a delegate will be his highest-profile political role thus far.

In a family full of politically involved children, Barron Trump, who turned 18 in March, has retained much more of a private life than his older brothers, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., both of whom will also be Florida at-large RNC delegates, along with Trump’s daughter Tiffany.

He was pulled into political headlines last month at the start of his father’s New York criminal trial related to hush money payments to an adult film star ahead of the 2016 election.

The former president’s attorneys argued that he should be allowed a break from trial to attend Barron Trump’s May 17 high school graduation, which Judge Juan Merchan agreed to allow.

The Trump family will have an outsize impact on Florida’s RNC delegation.

Eric Trump, the delegation’s chairman, joined Power, the state GOP chairman, on a phone call with party leaders Wednesday night.

Donald Trump has won the state twice, including by more than 3 percentage points during his 2020 failed re-election bid, and the state party has largely lined up behind his presidential bid this year even before he has been formally nominated.

The party was put in a difficult position this cycle with Gov. Ron DeSantis also running for the GOP presidential nomination, but even with their home-state governor in the race, Florida party officials signaled they would back Trump.

In September, party leaders voted to remove a loyalty pledge requirement that would have required GOP presidential candidates to support the eventual Republican nominee to be on the state’s March 19 primary ballot. The proposal was supported by Trump but openly opposed by DeSantis’ campaign.

Beyond Trump family members, the Florida GOP approved several of the former president’s top supporters as RNC at-large delegates.

Others include Kimberly Guilfoyle, Donald Trump Jr.’s fiancée; Michael Boulous, Tiffany Trump’s husband; former state Attorney General Pam Bondi, a longtime Trump ally who has run pro-Trump super PACs; longtime Trump adviser Sergio Gor; former Marvel Entertainment Chairman Ike Perlmutter, a prominent Trump donor; and a series of state-level Republican politicians who took the risk of endorsing Trump over DeSantis.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has officially started the clock on her doomed effort to hold a referendum on Speaker Mike Johnson’s leadership.

The Georgia firebrand brought up the so-called motion to vacate as privileged, meaning GOP leadership is required to bring it up for a floor vote within two legislative days. It’s the second attempt to depose a speaker within seven months.

House leaders are expected to immediately move forward on a vote to block her effort, according to a person familiar with leadership’s plans.

Greene and her ally in the ouster effort, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), opted to move on their resolution after Johnson didn’t move quickly on a slew of their demands, some of which they wanted attached to a Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill. Greene had pushed for Johnson to agree to four key demands, including not passing further Ukraine aid and defunding the special counsel probes into Donald Trump in upcoming appropriations bills.

The speaker had largely shrugged off the two hardliners and the House is expected to pass a one-week FAA extension in the afternoon vote.

Johnson hasn’t indicated that any of their asks would be included in a broader reauthorization bill Congress will have to consider later this month.

Many members booed and heckled Greene as she read her resolution on the House floor. She fired back that her colleagues were part of the “uni-party,” a term conservatives use to deride Republicans who work with Democrats.

The upcoming vote to block her effort is referred to as a motion to table, which Democrats are expected to support — helping most Republicans block the attempt to depose Johnson.

So far, Greene and Massie have two other Republicans in their corner: Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), who has backed ousting Johnson, and Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio), who has said he will vote with them against tabling the resolution.

Several other Republicans — including Reps. Chip Roy (R-Texas), Scott Perry (R-Pa.) and Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) — have declined to say whether they would support Greene. Republicans have warned that others could join her; with Democratic support, it gives them an outlet to vent frustrations without actually threatening his speakership.

And a handful of others have stated that they would save Johnson for now, despite despising how Johnson has handled a series of divisive votes for the party. Instead, that group said, they will wait until after the election in November to show their disapprobation.

Ex-CNN anchor Chris Cuomo disclosed he is taking the pharmaceutical drug Ivermectin to treat his “long Covid” diagnosis, despite disparaging others who promoted the drug in 2020, stating they “need to be shamed.”

Cuomo, who now works for NewsNation, issued the disclosure during an appearance on Patrick Bet-David’s podcast “PBD.”

While the anchor stated that he stands by his earlier remarks on alternative Covid regimens that differed from the vaccine, he asserted that the US government’s guidance on Ivermectin “was wrong” and that he offered his initial analysis based on alleged facts provided by the government at that time.

Now Chris Cuomo is claiming to be taking Ivermectin, a horse paste that has been proven to have no medical use for treating COVID-19. pic.twitter.com/mms2ZIUMgt

— chris evans (@notcapnamerica) May 8, 2024

“My doctors say I have ‘Long Covid,” he said, later adding that “I’m doing all the protocols”

“I do not fault myself for telling people at the time what the government was giving us as best practices…I am going to tell you something else that is going to get you a lot of hits. I am taking a regular dose, whatever, of Ivermectin,” said Cuomo.

“Ivermectin was a boogeyman early on in COVID. That was wrong. We were given bad information about Ivermectin,” he continued.

“The real question is why?… The entire clinical community knew that Ivermectin couldn’t hurt you. They knew it, Patrick. I know they knew it. How did I know it? Because now I am doing nothing but talking to these clinicians who at the time were overwhelmed but they weren’t saying anything, not that they were hiding anything. But it’s cheap, it’s not owned by anybody and it’s used as anti-microbial and an anti-viral in all these different ways and has been for a long time,” said Cuomo.

The NewsNation host then revealed that his doctor and her family were taking Ivermectin during the pandemic, saying “It was working for them. So they were wrong to play scared on that. Didn’t know it at the time, know it now, admit it now, reporting on it now.”

Israel has committed to the United States and Egypt to restrict its operation in Rafah, which started on Monday, aiming only to deny Hamas authority over the border crossing that connects Gaza with Egypt, and concentrating on the eastern side of the city.

The parties agreed that a private American security company will assume management of the crossing after the IDF concludes its operation. Israel has also pledged not to damage the crossing’s facilities to ensure its continuous operation.

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Wednesday that he is not aware of Israel agreeing to transfer control of the crossing. The White House also said it was unaware of such an agreement.

Prior to the ground invasion of Rafah, Israel made it clear in talks that the operation’s objective is to exert pressure on Hamas in the hostage negotiations and to harm the crossing’s reputation as a symbol of Hamas power, as it serves as Gaza’s main lifeline.

Israel believes that Hamas’ loss of control over the Rafah crossing would be a significant setback for the group. It will not be able to collect taxes imposed on trucks and goods and will no longer be able to bring in weapons and other items banned from entering Gaza.

The Egyptians and Americans initially opposed any wide-ranging operations by the Israel Defense Forces in Rafah out of fear it would lead to heavy civilian casualties in the densely populated area.

Egyptian officials made clear during the discussions that they opposed an assault on Rafah out of concern that civilians would force their way over the border fence to take shelter against it. According to them, Hamas might try to destroy part of the fence to help large numbers of Gazans to flee.

According to the Gaza Crossings Authority, between 8,000 and 10,000 Gaza Strip citizens have fled to Egypt since the start of the war. Israeli defense officials who spoke with Haaretz said the U.S. made it clear that, should Israel proceed far into Rafah without the express approval of the administration, it faces the prospect of having its access to weapons restricted.

As part of Israel’s efforts to win agreement for a Rafah operation, negotiations have been underway with a private company in the U.S. that specializes in assisting armies and governments around the world engaged in military conflicts. The company has operated in several African and Middle Eastern countries, guarding strategic sites like oil fields, airports, army bases and sensitive border crossings. It employs veterans of elite U.S. Army units.

Under the understandings between the three countries, when Israel has completed its limited operation in the border crossing area, the U.S. company will take responsibility for operating the facility. That includes monitoring goods arriving in the Gaza Strip from Egypt and preventing Hamas from re-establishing control of the crossing. According to the agreement, Israel and the U.S. will assist the company as necessary.

The Egyptians submitted a complaint to Israel on Tuesday regarding IDF troops who had uploaded videos showing the Israeli flag being flown at the Rafah crossing. The Egyptians argued that such a symbolic and public step harms their efforts to downplay the action close to their territory.

Porn actress Stormy Daniels was called to the stand on Tuesday by the prosecution in the New York criminal case against former President Donald Trump.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D) charged Trump with 34 felony counts for allegedly falsifying business records in an attempt to conceal a $130,000 so-called “hush money” payment to Daniels, who claimed the two had an affair. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges and denied Daniels’ allegations.

On Tuesday, Daniels told the jury that she “blacked out” during the alleged sexual encounter with Trump.

“I just think I blacked out. I was not drugged. I was not drunk. I just don’t remember,” Daniels testified. “I told very few people that we had actually had sex, because I felt ashamed that I didn’t stop it.”

Daniels also claimed that there was an “imbalance of power” because Trump was “bigger” than her. She noted that she “was not threatened verbally or physically.”

Trump’s legal team requested a mistrial Tuesday, claiming that during her direct examination, Daniels told a story that differed from her previous public statement.

Todd Blanche, an attorney for Trump, told acting Justice Juan Merchan, “A lot of the testimony that this witness talked about today is way different than the story she was peddling in 2016.”

“She talked about a consensual encounter with President Trump that she was trying to sell … and that’s not the story she told today,” he stated. “But now we’ve heard it. And it is an issue. How can you unring the bell?”

Merchan rejected the request for a mistrial but agreed that Daniels had provided unnecessary details.

During the cross-examination, Trump’s attorney Susan Nucheles asked Daniels, “Am I correct that you hate President Trump?”

“Yes,” she replied.

Following Daniels’ testimony, her former attorney Michael Avenatti posted a scathing statement on X. Avenatti, who had been disbarred and is currently serving time in a federal penitentiary, claimed Daniels had committed the same crime Trump was being accused of in the case.

He explained that he was contacted last year by a producer working on a documentary about Daniels. He had considered participating in the documentary until he learned that Daniels was getting paid for it, calling it “a clear indication to me that the project lacked integrity, would be one-sided, and controlled by Daniels.”

Additionally, Avenatti claimed that the producer told him that Daniels was going to be “secretly paid” to hide the money because “she owed Trump hundreds of thousands of dollars” following a defamation suit.

“Among other things, [the producer] told me that they had fictionally ‘optioned’ the rights to Daniels’ book and then routed the money Daniels demanded through a fabricated ‘trust’ that had been set-up in the name of Daniels’ daughter — all to hide the money from Trump and avoid paying the judgment,” Avenatti wrote.

He added that if the information he was told was accurate, “How can DA Bragg possibly rely on the testimony of Daniels, who is herself guilty of fraud and recently falsifying business records to cover-up a crime (i.e. fraudulent transfer and wire fraud)?”

“Further, will DA Bragg or others be promptly filing criminal charges against Daniels or others involved in this scheme?” Avenatti asked.

The producer did not respond to a request for comment from Just the News.

There are three court orders demanding Daniels pay Trump $560,000 in legal fees.

During her testimony on Tuesday, she told Trump’s legal team that she had “chosen not to pay while it’s still pending.”

Avenatti told the New York Post last month that he would be willing to testify for the defense. He stated that he has been in talks with Trump’s attorneys.

“I’d be more than happy to testify, I don’t know that I will be called to testify,” he told the Post.

Avenatti is currently serving a 19-year jail sentence for extortion, tax evasion, fraud, embezzlement, and other federal offenses.

“There’s no question [the trial] is politically motivated because they’re concerned that he may be reelected,” he told the Post. “If the defendant was anyone other than Donald Trump, this case would not have been brought at this time, and for the government to attempt to bring this case and convict him in an effort to prevent tens of millions of people from voting for him, I think it’s just flat out wrong, and atrocious.”

“I’m really bothered by the fact that Trump, in my view, has been targeted. Four cases is just over the top and I think there’s a significant chance that this is going to all backfire and is going to propel him to the White House,” Avenatti continued. “Depending on what happens, this could constitute pouring jet fuel on his campaign.”

He further claimed that Daniels is “going to say whatever she believes is going to” help her and allow her to put “more money in her pocket.”

Avenatti stated that he wished he never met Daniels.

“If Stormy Daniels lips are moving, she’s lying for money,” he added.

In response to Avenatti’s comments to the Post, Daniels told the news outlet that the disbarred attorney is a “lunatic” and a “scumbag.”

“I was about to say that I also wish I’d never met him but I’m actually glad because I’m the one that helped convict him so he couldn’t steal from even more unsuspecting clients,” Daniels told the Post.

During Tuesday’s cross-examination, Trump’s attorney asked Daniels whether it is true that she is “hiding” her assets to avoid paying the judgment against her. She denied the claim and denied setting up a trust for her daughter.

A group of illegal immigrants in Denver is refusing to leave encampments until the city meets its demands.

The migrants published a document with 13 specific demands before they acquiesce to Denver Human Services’ request to leave the encampments and move to more permanent shelters funded by the city.

“At the end of the day, what we do not want is families on the streets of Denver,” Jon Ewing, a spokesman for Denver Human Services, told Fox 31.

The list sent to Mayor Mike Johnston included requests for provisions of “fresh, culturally appropriate” food, no time limits on showers and free immigration lawyers, the outlet reported.

The migrants insisted that if these are not met, they will not leave their tent community.

The current encampment is situated “near train tracks and under a bridge,” Fox 31 noted, adding that it has been there for the last couple of weeks.

Further details of the demands read, “Migrants will cook their own food with fresh, culturally appropriate ingredients provided by the City instead of premade meals – rice, chicken, flour, oil, butter, tomatoes, onions, etc… Shower access will be available without time limits & can be accessed whenever… Medical professional visits will happen regularly & referrals/connections for specialty care will be made as needed.”

The migrants also insisted they get “connection to employment support, including work permit applications for those who qualify,” as well as “Consultations for each person/family with a free immigration lawyer.”

Additionally, the migrants demanded privacy within the shelter once moved there and, “No more verbal or physical or mental abuse will be permitted from the staff, including no sheriff sleeping inside & monitoring 24/7 – we are not criminals & won’t be treated as such.”

The demands were sent following the Denver government obtaining a petition to have the migrants moved, according to the outlet.

Ewing told Fox 31 the city just wants “to get families to leave that camp and come inside,” noting its offer will give migrants “three square meals a day” and the freedom to cook.

He also said the government is willing to work with people to compromise and help them figure out what kind of assistance they qualify for.

Ultimately, Ewing said, the city wants to work with migrants to determine, “What might be something that is a feasible path for you to success that is not staying on the streets of Denver?”

The Denver mayor has been under pressure from the city’s ongoing migrant crisis, making headlines and receiving stiff backlash earlier this year for proposing budget cuts to the city’s government, including cuts to the city’s police force, to fund more money for dealing with the city’s migrant crisis.

Two California teens who were forced to withdraw from an elite Catholic high school over accusations of blackface have been awarded $1 million and tuition reimbursement.

A Santa Clara County jury sided with the teens, identified by the initials A.H. and H.H., on two claims concerning breach of oral contract and lack of due process.

The boys sued Saint Francis High School in August 2020 after photos circulated of them sporting acne treatment masks.

The controversy started when the boys were accused of performing blackface and were ultimately pressured into withdrawing from the prestigious Mountain View school.

‘It was quite clear the jury believed these were innocent face masks,’ attorney Krista Baughman told the San Francisco Chronicle after Monday’s judgement.

‘They are young kids, their internet trail is going to haunt them for the next 60 years. Now they don’t have to worry about that.’

The teens lost on three other claims alleging breach of contract, defamation and a violation of free speech.

The plaintiffs initially sought $20 million when they filed suit in Santa Clara County Superior Court, three years after they and a friend – who attended another school and was not included in the lawsuit – snapped a selfie while donning acne treatment masks.

In the offending photo, the boys’ faces were covered in dark green medication. A photo taken a day earlier revealed that they had tried on white face masks as well.

According to documents reviewed by DailyMail.com, another SFHS student obtained a copy of the photograph from a friend’s Spotify account and uploaded it to a group chat in June 2020.

The photo resurfaced on the same day recent SFHS graduates created a meme pertaining to the murder of George Floyd, which sparked its own outrage and controversy.

The student insinuated that the teens were using ‘blackface’ and deemed the photo ‘another example’ of racist SFHS students, before urging everyone in the group chat to spread it throughout the school community.

On June 4, 2020, Dean of Students Ray Hisatake called the boys’ parents to ask them if they were aware of the photograph.

The parents asserted that the teens had applied green facemasks three years earlier, ‘with neither ill intent nor racist motivation, nor even knowledge of what “blackface” meant,’ according to the suit.

Less than four business hours later, Principal Katie Teekell called H.H’s parents and said the teen was ‘not welcomed back to SFHS.’

When the boy’s father reiterated that his son had not engaged in blackface, Teekell responded that her decision was not based on ‘intent,’ but ‘optics’ and ‘the harm done to the St. Francis community’.

Teekell said H.H. could choose to ‘voluntarily’ withdraw, rather than be expelled, with the incident scrubbed from his student record.

‘At no time did Ms. Teekell, or anyone else from the SFHS administration, offer to investigate the allegations against the boys, or assist in removing the Photograph in any way,’ the lawsuit asserts.

By June 17 the school’s attorney was telling the families the image’s ‘disrespect was so severe as to warrant immediate dismissal’.

The school then backed a protest by parents who used the image as evidence of ‘kids participating in black face (sic) and thinking that this is all a joke,’ according to a Facebook page.

The teens ultimately withdrew on June 19, but H.H. encountered a problem when he attempted to join the football team at his new school.

Despite Teekell’s promise, SFHS was required to disclose that he had switched schools to avoid disciplinary action. This would see him banned from playing sports for a year, per regional rules.

The lawsuit asserted that the principal’s violation of her verbal agreement constituted a breach of oral contract.

H.H. ultimately moved to Utah with his family in order to be eligible to play football during his senior year of high school.

As part of the jury award, SFHS must reimburse the teen’s moving and living costs.

‘This lawsuit is our attempt to redeem our names and reputations, and to correct the record to reflect the truth of what actually happened,’ the boys’ families said in a joint statement at the time.

‘A photograph of this innocent event was plucked from obscurity and grossly mischaracterized during the height of nationwide social unrest.

They claimed SFHS and its leadership had ‘rebuffed’ their attempts to correct the misunderstanding and ‘seemed to have no interest in entertaining the truth’.

Judge Thang Barrett decided against dismissing the suit in January 2021, noting that there was no evidence of an investigation into the matter by administrators.

After Monday’s verdict, SFHS released its own statement.

Representatives for the school said they ‘respectfully disagree with the jury’s conclusion as to the lesser claim regarding the fairness of our disciplinary review process’.

SFHS is now ‘exploring legal options,’ including an appeal.

A 15-year-old girl from Bridgeport, West Virginia, is suing the Department of Education, claiming there were a series of incidents in which a boy who competed against her and other girls in track and field events made rape threats against her.

According to the girl’s statement, she is currently a ninth-grade student at Bridgeport High School (BHS) who competes in discus, shot put, and the 4 x 100 relay. In sixth through eighth grade, she attended Bridgeport Middle School (BMS), where in seventh grade (the 2021–22 school year), she competed in the 100-meter dash, pole vault, shot put, and discus, and sometimes competed in the 200-meter dash and relay events.

“To my surprise, another BMS student named B.P.J. joined the girls’ track and field team,” she noted. “B.P.J. is almost two years younger than me, and one year behind me in school. Because I know B.P.J.’s older brother from school, I knew at the beginning of the 2021–22 school year that B.P.J. is a male who identifies as a girl.”

She recalled that initially, she was better than the boy in shot put and discus, but by the end of seventh grade, he threw about the same distance in shot put: around 18–20 feet. “In discus, I typically beat B.P.J.: I threw around 40 feet while B.P.J. threw closer to 30 feet. But in the last meet of the 2021–22 season, B.P.J. suddenly threw almost 20 feet farther: 49’ 7”,” she stated.

“By the next school year (2022–23), I could tell that B.P.J. had grown a lot. B.P.J. got taller and threw farther. B.P.J. got a deeper and more masculine voice,” she wrote. In March 2023, B.P.J. finished ahead of the girl at the Connect Bridgeport Invitational in shot put and in discus. In April, B.P.J. beat her at the Pioneer MS Invitational in discus. Later in April, B.P.J. beat her at the Bobcat MS meet in shot put and discus.

“B.P.J.’s athletic records show that B.P.J. beat over 50 different female athletes in the 2021–22 school year, displacing several of the female athletes more than once. These records show that B.P.J. beat over 100 different female athletes in the 2022–23 school year, displacing them almost 300 times. I also lost to B.P.J. on four separate occasions that school year,” the lawsuit states.

“B.P.J. made several offensive and inappropriate sexual comments to me,” she recalled. “At first, it did not occur often, and I tried my best to ignore it. But during my final year of middle school, B.P.J. made inappropriate sexual comments a lot more often; it increased throughout that year; and the comments became much more aggressive, vile, and disturbing. Sometimes B.P.J.’s comments were just annoying, like commenting that I have a ‘nice butt.’ But other times, I felt really embarrassed, and I didn’t want to repeat the gross things B.P.J. said to me. During the end of that year, about two to three times per week, B.P.J. would look at me and say ‘suck my d***.’ There were usually other girls around who heard this. I heard B.P.J. say the same thing to my other teammates, too.”

“B.P.J. made other more explicit sexual statements that felt threatening to me,” she continued. “At times, B.P.J. told me quietly ‘I’m gonna stick my d*** into your p****.’ And B.P.J. sometimes added ‘and in your a**’ as well. … B.P.J. made these vulgar comments towards me in the locker room, on the track, and in the throwing pit for discus and shotput.”

“Most of the time, B.P.J. made these sexual comments at girls’ track practice. Our team walked from Bridgeport Middle School to the High School for track practice, where we would train on the high school track,” she stated. “B.P.J. often popped up beside me as we walked and said these things. Other times, B.P.J. made comments as our team was sitting in the endzone waiting for coaches to get practice going. At least one time, it happened in the girls’ locker room.”

“I reported B.P.J.’s sexual comments to my coach and middle school administrators. Initially, the administrators told me that they were investigating, but we never heard back, and nothing changed. From what I saw, B.P.J. got very little or no punishment for saying things that no other student would get away with,” she concluded.

“I also worry about the little 6th grade girls who are on the same team as B.P.J. right now,” she wrote. “If I were in 6th grade and had to deal with sexual comments from a biological male two years older than me who was changing in the same locker room as me, I wouldn’t even play sports. It wouldn’t be worth it. My younger sister will be a freshman in high school when B.P.J is a senior. She is a good athlete, but she is very shy, and I can’t imagine how she would feel if B.P.J. said those sexual comments to her while they were competing in sports or changing in the locker room. I do not want that to happen.”

Rachel Rouleau of the Alliance Defending Freedom, which is representing the girl, stated:

The Biden administration’s radical redefinition of sex won’t just rewire our educational system. It means young girls will be forced to undress in front of boys in gym class, girls will share bedrooms with boys on overnight school trips, teachers and students will have to refrain from speaking truthfully about gender identity, and girls will lose their right to fair competition in sports. Our client A.C. has already suffered the humiliation and indignity of being harassed by a male student in the locker room and on her sports team. No one else should have to go through that. But the administration continues to ignore biological reality, science, and common sense. This court deserves to hear from those most severely impacted by the administration’s attempt to rewrite Title IX.

A Georgia appeals court on Wednesday agreed to review a lower court ruling allowing Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to continue to prosecute the election interference case she brought against former President Donald Trump.

The move seems likely to delay the case and is the second time in as many days that the former president has gotten a favorable ruling that could push any future trials beyond the November election, when he is expected to be the Republican nominee for president. A day earlier, the judge in his Florida classified documents case indefinitely postponed that trial date.

Trump and some other defendants in Georgia had tried to get Willis and her office removed the case, saying her romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade created a conflict of interest. Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee in March found that no conflict of interest existed that should force Willis off the case, but he granted a request from Trump and the other defendants to seek an appeal of his ruling from the Georgia Court of Appeals.

That intermediate appeals court agreed on Wednesday to take up the case. Once it rules, the losing side could ask the Georgia Supreme Court to consider an appeal.

Trump’s lead attorney in Georgia, Steve Sadow, said in an email that the former president looks forward to presenting arguments to the appeals court as to why the case should be dismissed and why Willis “should be disqualified for her misconduct in this unjustified, unwarranted political persecution.”

In his order, McAfee said he planned to continue to address other pretrial motions “regardless of whether the petition is granted … and even if any subsequent appeal is expedited by the appellate court.” But Trump and the others could ask the Court of Appeals to stay the case while the appeal is pending.

McAfee wrote in his order in March that the prosecution was “encumbered by an appearance of impropriety.” He said Willis could remain on the case only if Wade left, and the special prosecutor submitted his resignation hours later.

The allegations that Willis had improperly benefited from her romance with Wade resulted in a tumultuous couple of months in the case as intimate details of Willis and Wade’s personal lives were aired in court in mid-February. The serious charges in one of four criminal cases against the Republican former president were largely overshadowed by the love lives of the prosecutors.

Trump and 18 others were indicted in August, accused of participating in a wide-ranging scheme to illegally try to overturn his narrow 2020 presidential election loss to Democrat Joe Biden in Georgia.

All of the defendants were charged with violating Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations, or RICO, law, an expansive anti-racketeering statute. Four people charged in the case have pleaded guilty after reaching deals with prosecutors. Trump and the others have pleaded not guilty.

Trump and other defendants had argued in their appeal application that McAfee was wrong not to remove both Willis and Wade, writing that “providing DA Willis with the option to simply remove Wade confounds logic and is contrary to Georgia law.”

The allegations against Willis first surfaced in a motion filed in early January by Ashleigh Merchant, a lawyer for former Trump campaign staffer and onetime White House aide Michael Roman. The motion alleged that Willis and Wade were involved in an inappropriate romantic relationship and that Willis paid Wade large sums for his work and then benefitted when he paid for lavish vacations.

Willis and Wade acknowledged the relationship but said they didn’t begin dating until the spring of 2022, after Wade was hired in November 2021, and their romance ended last summer. They also testified that they split travel costs roughly evenly, with Willis often paying expenses or reimbursing Wade in cash.

The U.S. withheld certain bombs from Israel to prevent their use in an attack on Hamas battalions in the town of Rafah, according to multiple news reports Tuesday evening.

The news, ironically, came on Israel’s Holocaust memorial day, hours after President Joe Biden told Jews: “Never again.”

The reports confirmed stories that first appeared in Axios earlier in the week. The White House, when asked on Monday and Tuesday, refused to confirm or deny withholding weapons from Israel. Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre insisted merely that U.S. support for Israeli security was “ironclad.”

ABC News reported:

The Biden administration opted to pause a shipment of some 3,500 bombs to Israel last week because of concerns the weapons could be used in Rafah where more than one million civilians are sheltering “with nowhere else to go,” a senior administration official tells ABC News.

…

The decision to pause the shipment and consider slow-walking others is a major shift in policy for the Biden administration and the first known case of the U.S. denying its close ally military aid since the Israel-Hamas war began.

…

More than half of the shipment that was paused last week consisted of 2,000-pound bombs. The remaining 1,700 bombs were 500-pound explosives, the official said.

The Times of Israel also reported:

The Biden administration confirms reports that it held up a shipment last week of 2,000 and 500-pound bombs that it fears Israel might use in a major ground operation in Rafah.

This is the first time since October 7 that the US has held up a weapons shipment earmarked for Israel.

Washington adamantly opposes a major offensive in the southern city of Gaza, convinced that there is no way for Israel to conduct one in a manner that would ensure the safety of the over million Palestinians sheltering there.

Israel launched an offensive in Rafah on Monday, after Hamas attacked a border crossing over the weekend, killing four Israeli soldiers, and refused to agree to a ceasefire and hostage deal. Israel took the Rafah border crossing and the Philadelphi corridor, a road running along the Egyptian border that is a key strategic point to prevent smuggling.

Fox News’ Jacqui Heinrich asked Jean-Pierre how U.S. support for Israeli security could be “ironclad” if the Biden administration were withholding some weapons from Israel. Jean-Pierre said that two things could be true at once.

Critics of Biden’s decision have argued that withholding weapons that Congress has already authorized, absent any finding of human rights violations by Israel, is unconstitutional and violates the Impoundment Control Act of 1974.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said doctors told him a parasite ate part of his brain, after experiencing memory loss and brain fog in 2010.

The New York Times reviewed a deposition of Kennedy from 2012 that detailed his experience with his symptoms and the dead parasite. The Times reported that Kennedy started dealing with memory loss and mental fogginess in 2010, prompting concerns from a friend that the now-presidential candidate may have had a tumor.

Kennedy gave the 2012 deposition during divorce proceedings from his second wife, Mary Richardson Kennedy. Kennedy discussed his symptoms in the deposition because he argued his cognitive struggles in relation to the situation had diminished his earning power, according to The Times report.

Several doctors who had first concluded Kennedy had a tumor found a dark spot on his brain scans, The Times reported.

However, just as he was packing up to have surgery and remove the tumor, he said in the deposition that another doctor called him and told him he believed Kennedy instead had a dead parasite in his brain.

The doctor told him he believed the spot on the brain scan “was caused by a worm that got into my brain and ate a portion of it and then died,” Kennedy reportedly said in the deposition.

The Times also reported that around the same time as the parasite, Kennedy suffered from mercury poisoning that likely came from eating too much fish, according to the deposition. Mercury poisoning can lead to some neurological disturbance and issues with memory, among other symptoms, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

“I have cognitive problems, clearly,” he said in the deposition, according to The Times. “I have short-term memory loss, and I have longer-term memory loss that affects me.”

Kennedy launched an independent bid for the White House last year after failing to gain momentum in the Democratic primary against President Biden. Age and health concerns have been listed as some of the top worries for voters headed into the election season, as Biden, 81, and former President Trump, 77, remain the two front-runners for November.

Kennedy, 70, has also called on Biden to prove he has the “mental acuity” to handle another term in the White House.

When reached for comment on the story, a spokesperson for Kennedy’s campaign said the presidential candidate contracted a parasite while traveling.

“Mr. Kennedy traveled extensively in Africa, South America, and Asia in his work as an environmental advocate, and in one of those locations contracted a parasite. The issue was resolved more than 10 years ago, and he is in robust physical and mental health,” the campaign said.

“Questioning Mr. Kennedy’s health is a hilarious suggestion, given his competition.”

According to an interview with The Times this winter, Kennedy said he has recovered from the memory loss and fogginess and had no other aftereffects from the parasite. He also said that he did not require treatment for it.

Kennedy said in the interview that after receiving the 2010 call about the parasite, doctors concluded that the cyst on the brain they found had parasite remnants. He said he did not know what kind of parasite it was or where he may have contracted it.

A FedEx Airlines cargo plane was forced to land in Turkey without the use of its front landing gear on Wednesday morning, May 8, the Turkish transport ministry said.

Fedex Express Flight 6268, a Boeing 767, was flying from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport to Istanbul Airport when it informed the Turkish traffic control tower that its landing gear failed to open. Airport rescue and fire teams prepared the runway and the tower instructed the plane’s crew to proceed with landing.

Video of the landing, obtained from Reuters, showed sparks and smoke coming from the front of the plane as it scraped along the runway before coming to a stop. The plane was subsequently doused with firefighting foam.

No one was injured, the ministry said.

The landing video shows the front wheels were initially deployed but appeared to fail to lock into place. They were not used during the landing as the body of the plane made contact with the runway. The aircraft managed to remain on the runway during the landing.

Watch:

WATCH: Terrifying moment Boeing FedEx plane skids along runway as landing gear fails – Location: Istanbul Airport, Turkey

pic.twitter.com/74YwmdzOug

— Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) May 8, 2024

The runway was temporarily closed to air traffic, but traffic on other runways continued without any interruption, said airport operator IGA, Reuters reported.

Authorities are investigating the incident, a Turkish Transport Ministry official said. It gave no reason for the failure.

The Boeing 767 is a nearly 10-year-old freighter. It is one of the most common cargo planes and uses a model dating back to the 1980s.

FedEX said in a statement to Reuters that it was coordinating with the investigation and would “provide additional information as it is available.”

Manufacturers are not typically involved in the operation or maintenance of aircraft after they enter service.

Boeing has remained under intense media scrutiny following a series of incidents with their aircraft in recent months.