A US woman who was kidnapped in Mexico in February was heard desperately begging to be freed in a proof-of-life audio recording, according to her daughter, who tearfully appealed to President Biden and his Mexican counterpart for help.

Maria del Carmen Lopez, 63, a US-Mexican dual citizen, was dragged from her home in Pueblo Nuevo, Colima state, on Feb. 9.

Nearly four months later, the mom-of-seven, grandmother of 19, and great-grandmother of two remains missing, despite a $20,000 reward being offered for her safe return.

Zonia Lopez, the kidnapped woman’s grown daughter, held a news conference in Los Angeles Wednesday, during which she revealed that the last time the family heard from her mom was eight weeks ago, when the kidnappers sent them a proof-of-life audio recording, reported the station KTLA.

“She is pleading for her life, and she names a few of my brothers and sisters, and she’s saying: ‘Please hurry, act quickly, my children, and give them what they want. My life depends on it,’” the daughter said, adding that she and her siblings have not heard anything from their mom since.

The family believes Lopez is still alive and being held for ransom by what they described as a “fringe Mexican kidnapping organization.”

Speaking through tears, Zonia begged President Biden and Mexican President Andreas Manuel Lopez Obrador to join forces and help rescue her mother from captivity.

“Work together to prioritize the rescue and safe return of Mother,” she pleaded. “Use all resources, both human and technological to bring an end to this nightmare that has haunted my family for far too long. I beg you, do not let my mother’s voice fade into darkness. Do not let this be another unsolved kidnapping. Bring her home.”

The missing woman’s children claimed that the investigation into the kidnapping has been slow-moving and that there has been a “disconnect” between the US and Mexican authorities regarding keeping the family apprised of the latest developments.

“We miss her with a pain that defies words,” Zonia said. “I implore you to hear my words, to feel my anguish. I implore you to take immediate action.”

The daughter also addressed her mother’s kidnappers directly, appealing to their humanity.

“We’re hurting for her,” Zonia said. “She deserves to be home with us. Please give her back.”

Maria del Carmen Lopez had lived for some time in Southern California before retiring in Colima state, Mexico, where she has family, about 10 years ago.

The matriarch regularly traveled back and forth from California, however, for medical appointments and to visit her children and grandchildren.

On Feb. 9, she was gardening at her home in Pueblo Nuevo when, according to her family, several men arrived in a white van and took her away.

Daughter Zonia previously told CBS Los Angeles that her mother was overheard telling the men that she would not get into their vehicle.

“Two individuals picked her up and another one came out of the van,” Zonia said. “They had their heads covered and they covered her mouth and that’s when they took her.”

The family believes that she was targeted because her children live in the US, creating the false impression that she comes from wealth.

Son Toni Lopez received the first call from the kidnappers and said that they demanded “a ridiculous amount” of ransom money, according to Fox 11.

“We knew right away we were in trouble because we don’t [have] that type of money,” Toni said.

The FBI has been investigating the kidnapping and in March posted the $20,000 reward for Lopez’s return.

According to her official report, Lopez is 5’2” and 160 pounds with blonde hair, brown eyes, and tattooed eyeliner.

Anyone with information on her whereabouts was urged to contact their local FBI office or the nearest American Embassy or Consulate.

In a bold move that has raised alarm in Washington, China and Cuba are reported to have struck a secret deal allowing Beijing to establish an electronic eavesdropping base in Cuba. The proposed facility, situated about 100 miles from Florida, could enable Chinese intelligence to monitor electronic communications across the southeastern United States, an area with a significant military presence.

According to U.S. officials, the intelligence gathered is highly credible and highlights China’s willingness to challenge the U.S. by establishing an intelligence foothold in its backyard. The Biden administration is concerned about the potential implications of such an installation due to Cuba’s close proximity to the U.S. mainland.

The deal is also said to involve China paying billions of dollars to cash-strapped Cuba. This development may mark a turning point in Sino-American relations, escalating tensions and drawing criticism from U.S. politicians who demand a robust response.

WSJ reported:

China and Cuba have reached a secret agreement for China to establish an electronic eavesdropping facility on the island, in a brash new geopolitical challenge by Beijing to the U.S., according to U.S. officials familiar with highly classified intelligence.

An eavesdropping facility in Cuba, roughly 100 miles from Florida, would allow Chinese intelligence services to scoop up electronic communications throughout the southeastern U.S., where many military bases are located, and monitor U.S. ship traffic.

Officials familiar with the matter said that China has agreed to pay cash-strapped Cuba several billion dollars to allow it to build the eavesdropping station and that the two countries had reached an agreement in principle.

The revelation about the planned site has sparked alarm within the Biden administration because of Cuba’s proximity to the U.S. mainland. Washington regards Beijing as its most significant economic and military rival. A Chinese base with advanced military and intelligence capabilities in the U.S.’s backyard could be an unprecedented new threat.

“While I cannot speak to this specific report, we are well aware of—and have spoken many times to—the People’s Republic of China’s efforts to invest in infrastructure around the world that may have military purposes, including in this hemisphere,” John Kirby, spokesman for the National Security Council, said. “We monitor it closely, take steps to counter it, and remain confident that we are able to meet all our security commitments at home, in the region, and around the world.”

U.S. officials described the intelligence on the planned Cuba site, apparently gathered in recent weeks, as convincing. They said the base would enable China to conduct signals intelligence, known in the espionage world as sigint, which could include the monitoring of a range of communications, including emails, phone calls and satellite transmissions.

Officials declined to provide more details about the proposed location of the listening station or whether construction had begun. It couldn’t be determined what, if anything, the Biden administration could do to stop completion of the facility.

The revelation about the agreement drew Republican criticism of the administration’s stance on China and Cuba.

“Joe Biden needs to wake up to the real Chinese threats on our doorstep,” Nikki Haley, a former South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador and current Republican presidential candidate, wrote on Twitter.

“The threat to America from Cuba isn’t just real, it is far worse than this,” tweeted Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.).

The U.S. has intervened before to stop foreign powers from extending their influence in the Western Hemisphere, most notably during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. The U.S. and the Soviet Union came to the brink of nuclear war after the Soviets deployed nuclear-capable missiles to Cuba, prompting a U.S. Navy quarantine of the island.

The Soviets backed down and removed the missiles. A few months later, the U.S. quietly removed intermediate-range ballistic missiles from Turkey that the Soviets had complained about.

The intelligence on the new base comes in the midst of the Biden administration’s efforts to improve U.S.-China relations after months of acrimony that followed a Chinese spy balloon’s flight over the U.S. earlier this year.

The Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that Alabama discriminated against black voters during its redistricting process last year, a decision that relied on the Voting Rights Act.

The ruling in Allen v. Milligan means that Alabama will have to redraw its congressional map to include a second majority-black district. The 5-4 decision was written by Chief Justice John Roberts and saw Justice Brett Kavanaugh join, marking an alliance between two conservatives and three liberals in the majority.

With the help of Roberts and Kavanaugh, the decision tells Alabama it should have created a second black-majority district, upholding a three-judge panel that threw out the previous map that included only one district with a majority of black voters despite African Americans comprising more than a quarter of the state’s population.

Abha Khanna, an attorney with Elias Law Group who argued the case on behalf of the respondents who sued the state, lauded the Supreme Court’s decision as an upholding of the district court’s decision using “decades of established precedent.”

“Thankfully, the court today identified Alabama’s redistricting scheme as a textbook violation of the landmark civil rights law,” Khanna said.

Alabama argued the changes to its previous districts were race-neutral and asserted that federal law shouldn’t compel states to draw additional minority districts just because such districts were merely possible to draw.

But voters challenging the state succeeded in their interpretation of the VRA, arguing the changes would significantly undermine its purpose and dilute the power of black voters. Civil rights advocates feared the conservative court would further weaken the VRA despite the win they received on Thursday.

The chief justice wrote that there were legitimate concerns that the law “may impermissibly elevate race in the allocation of political power within the states.” He added, “Our opinion today does not diminish or disregard these concerns. It simply holds that a faithful application of our precedents and a fair reading of the record before us do not bear them out here.”

The Republican-appointed majority on the Supreme Court has, in two cases over the last decade, modified the Voting Rights Act, starting in 2013, when it tossed out a provision of the law that permitted federal oversight of election law challenges in certain states.

And after it gained a 6-3 conservative supermajority, it decided a separate 2021 ruling based out of Arizona, imposing more hurdles for lawsuits alleging violations of Section 2 of the VRA.

The case from Alabama also involves Section 2 but in the context of redistricting.

“As we explain below, we find Alabama’s new approach to §2 compelling neither in theory nor in practice. We accordingly decline to recast our §2 case law as Alabama requests,” Roberts wrote for the majority.

Still, the other four conservative justices dissent, with Justice Clarence Thomas writing for the minority that this decision forces “Alabama to intentionally redraw its longstanding congressional districts so that black voters can control a number of seats roughly proportional to the black share of the State’s population.”

“Section 2 demands no such thing, and, if it did, the Constitution would not permit it,” Thomas added.

The Supreme Court’s first black woman on the court, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, dismissed the idea that race could not be part of the matter during oral arguments in October.

Jackson and the other two liberals on the court, Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, said during arguments that a decision such as the one issued on Thursday would provide better opportunities for minorities to elect candidates of their choice.

House Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-KY) announced late Wednesday that the FBI agreed to allow every member of his committee to see a document containing bribery allegations against President Joe Biden.

This concession by the bureau led the oversight panel to remove a business meeting to vote on holding FBI Director Christopher Wray in contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena from the schedule for Thursday, according to Comer’s team.

“After weeks of refusing to even admit the FD-1023 record exists, the FBI has caved and is now allowing all members of the Oversight and Accountability Committee to review this unclassified record that memorializes a confidential human source’s conversations with a foreign national who claimed to have bribed then-Vice President Joe Biden,” Comer said in a statement.

“Americans have lost trust in the FBI’s ability to enforce the law impartially and demand answers, transparency, and accountability. Allowing all Oversight Committee members to review this record is an important step toward conducting oversight of the FBI and holding it accountable to the American people,” Comer added.

The announcement is the latest twist in a weeks-long standoff in which Comer has sought to gain custody of a particular FBI FD-1023 form, going off whistleblower disclosures. Such forms are used by the FBI to record information from a confidential human source.

After allowing Comer and Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), the ranking member of the committee, to view a redacted copy of the document on Monday in a secure room in the U.S. Capitol, the FBI insisted that an “escalation to a contempt vote under these circumstances is unwarranted.”

A statement from the bureau said the FBI “demonstrated” a commitment to accommodate the Oversight Committee’s request while also taking precautions “often employed in response to congressional requests and in court proceedings to protect important concerns, such as the physical safety of sources and the integrity of investigations.”

Now, in addition to all Oversight Committee members being able to review the document, they will receive a briefing while the FBI will make two additional documents referenced in the FD-1023 form available for Comer and Raskin to review, the chairman’s team announced.

It remains unclear if such allowances by the FBI will be sufficient to ward off a contempt vote in the future, as Comer has up until now seemed adamant about getting custody of the unclassified document, not just reviewing it.

“In the spirit of good faith, the FBI has offered Chairman Comer yet further accommodations in response to his subpoena, including to allow all Oversight Committee Members to review in camera the second-hand allegations by Ukrainian individuals reported in the tip sheet,” Raskin said in a statement on Wednesday evening. “Chairman Comer’s acceptance of these further accommodations comes after he has spent weeks attacking the FBI despite its extraordinary efforts to provide Committee Republicans the information they claim to seek.”

The Biden team has been openly dismissive of Comer’s investigative efforts. “This silly charade by Chairman Comer is yet another reminder that his so-called ‘investigations’ are political stunts not meant to get information but to spread thin innuendo and falsehoods to attack the President,” White House spokesperson Ian Sams said in a recent statement.

Comer says the document pertains to Ukraine with the allegations that fit a pattern seen with other countries, such as Romania, regarding suspicious transactions involving millions of dollars funneled through banks and shell companies linked to members of Biden’s family.

Without the FD-1023 record sought by Comer, the committee cannot determine whether or not the allegations it contains pose a national security risk, and the panel is hindered in its ability to gather more evidence that could inform future legislation that could strengthen disclosure requirements, said a report that accompanied a contempt resolution released earlier on Wednesday.

The 17-page report, which explained the background of the month-long standoff over the subpoena and the committee’s rationale for moving forward with contempt, also divulged that Biden’s son Hunter is tied to the allegations.

“The details of the allegations span meetings and conversations that occurred over several years,” the report says. “The allegations in the FD-1023 form are complex; detail business ventures; reference large payment amounts and the reasons why the foreign national is financially involved with Joe Biden and Hunter Biden; and discuss the financial complexity of the alleged scheme.”

The younger Biden’s tax affairs are under investigation by U.S. Attorney David Weiss in Delaware, where former Attorney General William Barr told The Federalist he relayed an inquiry into the allegations. Comer says FBI officials have conveyed to Congress the FD-1023 form is “currently being used in an ongoing investigation.”

Julian Assange has lost his appeal against extradition to the US on espionage charges.

The judgment was handed down privately on Monday at the High Court.

WikiLeaks founder Assange, 51, launched the appeal last June after then-Home Secretary Priti Patel signed an order authorizing his removal.

His lawyers have indicated they will not appeal the decision further, but they have until the end of the week to contest it.

If no appeal is launched, Assange will have exhausted his options in the UK courts.

There is still a chance that his extradition could be blocked by a last minute intervention from judges in Europe.

In December, Assange appealed to the European Court of Human Rights.

To halt his extradition now, the European Court would have to issue an emergency injunction known as a Rule 39 order.

This allows a judge to effectively block any action until further legal proceedings to decide on the merits of a case.

These so-called ‘interim measures’ are typically used to suspend an extradition, often by asylum seekers who fear persecution if they are returned to their home country.

Between 2020 and 2022, the ECHR granted 12 of 161 applications for ‘interim measures’ against the UK government.

Most recently, the order was used to stop the deportation of illegal migrants to Rwanda.

Such an order would be extremely controversial and likely be seen as another attack on British sovereignty, fuelling calls for Britain to leave the European Convention on Human Rights.

Meanwhile, Home Office officials are preparing the paperwork needed to extradite Assange at short notice.

If there are no further legal challenges, his extradition could take place in the next few weeks.

The case is thought to be one of the longest extradition battles in the last decade.

In 2019 he was charged by US authorities over almost 500,000 documents leaked in 2010 and 2011 about the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

If convicted in the US, Mr Assange faces a possible penalty of up to 175 years in jail, his lawyers have said.

However the US government has said the sentence was more likely to be between four and six years.

In a long-running legal battle, a district judge at Westminster Magistrates Court initially blocked his extradition in January 2021 due to a real and ‘oppressive’ risk of suicide.

But this decision was overturned at the High Court after US authorities provided assurances that Mr Assange would be spared highly restricted prison conditions.

Yesterday Assange’s lawyers, Birnberg Peirce said no one was available to comment on the ongoing case.

Assange’s wife, human rights lawyer Stella, tweeted: ‘On Tuesday next week my husband will make a renewed application for appeal to the High Court.

‘The matter will then proceed to a public hearing before two new judges at the High Court and we remain optimistic that we will prevail and that Julian will not be extradited to the United States where he faces charges that could result in him spending the rest of his life in a maximum security prison for publishing true information that revealed war crimes committed by the US government.’

At least six people including four children were injured in an apparent knife attack in Annecy, a picturesque mountainside town popular with tourists for its proximity to Alpine ski resorts, on Thursday morning.

Early reports indicated one adult and four children were injured, but that figure later rose. According to France’s Le Figaro, two children and one adult are in critical condition, but all the children involved are in a state of “absolute emergency”, so says a police source.

It is reported the children impacted in the attack are just three years old.

Footage of the arrest of a suspected perpetrator was filmed by bystanders and broadcast on national television. Images of the scene show a bearded man wearing a black t-shirt and what is described as a “turban”, carrying a knife.

Reports state the suspect is 32-year-old a Syrian man named Abdalmasih who has an asylum application lodged in France in 2022, and refugee status in Sweden as well. He is not said to be known to police.

Attaque au couteau à Annecy: l’interpellation de l’agresseur filmée par un témoin pic.twitter.com/Q0EHJypyRr

— BFMTV (@BFMTV) June 8, 2023

Syrian asylum seeker arrested by French police after a man entered children’s playground with a knife, the attack leaving three in critical condition in Annecy, France.

Update: More details emerging from local media in France citing police and investigation sources. The young victims, reports outlets including France’s CNews are a German citizen who is a 22-month-old boy who was flown to hospital in Geneva for emergency care, a two-year-old boy, a three-year-old girl, and a three-year-old girl with UK citizenship. A 70-year-old man was also stabbed in the neck.

As for the alleged perpetrator, Abdalmasih H. has residency as an asylum seeker in Sweden and is married to a Swedish citizen, but for reasons unknown also applied for asylum status in France in 2022. It is reported this application was rejected just last week because he was already awarded refugee status in Sweden. Liberation reports when the Syrian migrant filled out his application for asylum status, he claimed to be a Christian.

According to a report of Le Dauphine, the attacker is known to a park employee in Annecy, as he has been seen hanging around the area for the past two months. The local told the paper: “the guy comes to sit on a bench every day for two months, dressed in black, black backpack, dark glasses, bearded… He didn’t speak”.

Another said he hung around the park every day “from morning to night”.

Legendary evangelist the Rev. Pat Robertson, who built a small Virginia radio station into a vast religious broadcasting network and even ran for president over a career that spanned more than six decades, has died at age 93.

Robertson’s death was announced early Thursday by his Christian Broadcasting Network. No cause was given.

Born Marion Gordon Robertson, he was the son of Absalom Willis Robertson, who for 36 years served Virginia in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate.

After graduating from Washington and Lee University, he served as assistant adjutant of the 1st Marine Division in Korea before graduating from Yale Law School.

Robertson became a powerful force among conservative Christians, hosting the popular “700 Club” television show and the Christian Coalition that he founded. His backing was routinely courted by Republican politicians, and in 1988, he ran for president himself.

Although he lost the White House bid to George H.W. Bush, he placed second in the Iowa caucuses, propelled by support from the state’s evangelicals and a savvy strategy of turning petitions to get him to run into a formidable ground game..

″He asked people to pledge that they’d work for him, pray for him and give him money,” Hadden, a University of Virginia sociologist, told The Associated Press in 1988. ″Political historians may view it as one of the most ingenious things a candidate ever did.″

In addition to the Christian Coalition, which he founded in 1989, Robertson also established Regent University, an evangelical Christian school in Virginia Beach; the American Center for Law and Justice, which defends the First Amendment rights of religious people; and Operation Blessing, an international humanitarian organization.

George Santos could be headed to jail after a judge ordered on Tuesday the release of the names of three people who co-signed his $500,000 bail bond last month.

Santos’ attorneys have fought a request filed by several news organizations that have sought the names’ release. Santos, a freshman New York lawmaker representing a district on Long Island, was arrested and charged with multiple financial crimes last month.

Prosecutors have accused him of committing fraud during his campaign, alleging that he used political donations “to line his pockets” and unlawfully applied for unemployment benefits, among other crimes.

Santos pleaded not guilty to all charges in the 13-count federal indictment and is due back in court on June 30. The three unidentified individuals who signed the bond, which allowed his pretrial release, are known as bond suretors, or guarantors. His attorney, Joseph Murray, argued against the release of their names in a letter to U.S. Magistrate Anne Shields on Monday, saying that the disclosure could endanger the three people.

They could “suffer great distress, may lose their jobs, and God forbid, may suffer physical injury,” Murray wrote. “In fact, if the suretors are required to be identified, we respectfully request that the Court allow the suretors notice before the court releases their information so that they can withdraw as cosignors on the bond and Rep. Santos and I will appear before Your Honor forthwith.”

Murray continued: “My client would rather surrender to pretrial detainment than subject these suretors to what will inevitably come.”

The suggestion that Santos would return to jail to avoid the names’ release could be tested now that Shields has ruled against his request to keep the identities of the three people undisclosed.

Shields gave Santos until noon on Friday to appeal her decision, and the names will not be released until then, the Associated Press reported. Santos has not said whether he plans to appeal the decision.

Santos’ bond is unsecured, meaning that the suretors were not required to pay the $500,000 bond up front but would be required to pay if he does not comply with the conditions of his release, the AP said.

Santos first came under scrutiny after his victory in the 2022 midterms, when he flipped a traditionally Democratic-leaning district that consists primarily of Nassau County and parts of Queens. Just weeks after his win, The New York Times reported that parts of his résumé, including his educational and employment history, were falsified.

While Santos has admitted to embellishing the résumé during his campaign, he has said he committed no criminal wrongdoing and will not resign from office, despite calls from some in his party that he step down. He has also said he will seek reelection in 2024.

The congressman was arraigned last month on “seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, one count of theft of public funds, and two counts of making materially false statements to the House of Representatives,” according to the indictment.

Tucker Carlson will be one of the headline attractions at a Turning Point Action gathering in West Palm Beach, Florida, next month, as he takes his next steps back to prime time.

A day after he launched his Twitter show, DailyMail reported that he is among the speakers confirmed for the group’s student conference.

Also on the bill is former President Donald Trump, fellow 2024 candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz.

It makes for Carlson’s most high-profile event since leaving Fox News.

Charlie Kirk, founder and president of Turning Point Action, said: ‘Tucker Carlson is and remains the most powerful and influential voice in all of media, regardless of the medium.

‘Many have wondered if Tucker’s voice and reach would be limited ahead of 2024, but there won’t be a bigger stage anywhere in the country than ACTCON 2023 in West Palm Beach, and the world will get to hear directly from one of the most important thought leaders of a generation.

‘We’re honored to host him.’

Details emerged after Carlson answered questions about his next move on Monday evening, debuting a new show.

He said he decided to broadcast his show on Twitter as for the freedom it gave him to tackle issues of the day, without needing the support of legacy media.

Comparing it with Cold War-era broadcasting, he said he hoped his show ‘will be the shortwave radio under the blankets.’

Insiders say a second episode will drop this week.

He parted with Fox News in April, soon after its parent company Fox Corp settled a defamation suit with Dominion Voting Systems for $787.5 million.

Ep. 1 pic.twitter.com/O7CdPjF830

— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) June 6, 2023

Carlson appeared at a fundraising event in Alabama last month when he joked that now had more time to make appearances.

‘I’m probably the first unemployed person you ever invited to speak,’ he said at the Oxford Performing Arts Center for the annual fundraiser for Rainbow Omega, according to Al.com.

‘It’s funny. I never give speeches because I’m working. When I accepted this speech six months ago or something, I didn’t realize how much free time I would have.

‘One never knows, does one?’

The Department of Justice is preparing to ask a Washington, DC grand jury to indict former president Donald Trump for violating the Espionage Act and for obstruction of justice as soon as Thursday.

The Independent reported that prosecutors are ready to ask grand jurors to approve an indictment against Mr Trump for violating a portion of the US criminal code known as Section 793, which prohibits “gathering, transmitting or losing” any “information respecting the national defence”.

That section of US criminal law is written in a way that could encompass Mr Trump’s conduct even if he was authorised to possess the information as president because it states that anyone who “lawfully having possession of, access to, control over, or being entrusted with any document …relating to the national defence,” and “willfully communicates, delivers, transmits or causes to be communicated, delivered, or transmitted or attempts to communicate, deliver, transmit or cause to be communicated, delivered or transmitted the same to any person not entitled to receive it, or willfully retains the same and fails to deliver it on demand to the officer or employee of the United States entitled to receive it” can be punished by as many as ten years in prison.

It is understood that prosecutors intend to ask grand jurors to vote on the indictment on Thursday, but that vote could be delayed as much as a week until the next meeting of the grand jury to allow for a complete presentation of evidence, or to allow investigators to gather more evidence for presentation of necessary.

A separate grand jury that is meeting in Florida has also been hearing evidence in the documents investigation. That grand jury was empaneled in part to overcome legal issues posed by the fact that some of the crimes allegedly committed by Mr Trump took place in that jurisdiction, not in Washington. Under federal law, prosecutors must bring charges against federal defendants in the jurisdiction where the crimes took place.

Another source familiar with the matter has said Mr Trump was recently informed that he is a “target” of the Justice Department probe, which began in early 2022 after National Archives and Records Administration officials discovered more than 100 documents bearing classification markings in a set of 15 boxes of Trump administration records retrieved from Mar-a-Lago.

Over the course of the last year, grand jurors have heard testimony from numerous associates of the ex-president, including nearly every employee of Mar-a-Lago, former administration officials who worked in Mr Trump’s post-presidential office and for his political operation, and former high-ranking administration officials such as his final White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows.

Mr Meadows has already given evidence before the grand jury and is said to be cooperating with the investigation into his former boss. It is understood that the former North Carolina congressman will plead guilty to several federal charges as part of a deal for which he has already received limited immunity in exchange for his testimony.

Trump denied reports that the Department of Justice informed him that he would likely be indicted next week in the classified documents investigation.

“No one has told me I’m being indicted, and I shouldn’t be because I’ve done NOTHING wrong, but I have assumed for years that I am a Target of the WEAPONIZED DOJ & FBI, starting with the Russia, Russia, Russia HOAK (sic), the ‘No Collusion’ Mueller Report, Impeachment HOAX #1, Impeachment HOAX #2, the PERFECT Ukraine phone call, and various other SCAMS & WITCH HUNTS. A TRAVESTY OF JUSTICE & ELECTION INTERFERENCE AT A LEVEL NEVER SEEN BEFORE. REPUBLICANS IN CONGRESS MUST MAKE THIS THEIR # 1 ISSUE!!!” Trump wrote.

Former Trump White House official Steve Bannon has been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., in connection with special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into Jan. 6, NBC News reported Wednesday.

Two sources familiar with the matter told the outlet that a grand jury subpoenaed Bannon for documents and testimony in late May. Bannon only officially served in the White House in 2017, but he remained a close ally to Trump throughout his presidency.

Bannon, who now hosts a podcast, was previously charged with contempt of Congress for refusing to cooperate after he received congressional subpoenas from the House Jan. 6 committee, and he was convicted of two charges in July after a jury trial.

In October, U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols sentenced Bannon to four months in federal prison but suspended the sentence while Bannon pursued appeals.

Fox News Wednesday notified Tucker Carlson’s lawyers that the former prime-time anchor violated his contract with the network when he launched his own Twitter show on Tuesday, according to a copy of a letter obtained by Axios.

A breach of contract claim sets Fox News up to explore potential legal action against Carlson, a move that would intensify the already thorny public battle between the two parties.

Carlson’s lawyers told Axios that any legal action by Fox would violate his First Amendment rights.

“Fox defends its very existence on freedom of speech grounds. Now they want to take Tucker Carlson’s right to speak freely away from him because he took to social media to share his thoughts on current events,” said Carlson’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman.

Carlson has since accused Fox of fraud and has argued that Fox breached his contract when its senior executives reneged on promises made to Carlson “intentionally and with reckless disregard for the truth.”

Carlson’s lawyers also argued Fox broke its promise to Carlson not to settle with Dominion Voting Systems “in a way which would indicate wrongdoing” on the part of the former host.

Carlson was told by a member of the Fox board that he was taken off the air as part of the Dominion settlement, two sources briefed on the conversation told Axios.

Shortly after Carlson posted the first episode of his new show on Twitter Tuesday evening, Fox News general counsel Bernard Gugar sent a letter to Carlson’s lawyers saying Carlson “is in breach” of his contract agreement.

“In connection with such breach and pursuant to the Agreement, Fox expressly reserves all rights and remedies which are available to it at law or equity.”

The letter refers to Carlson’s contract, which was originally signed on November 8, 2019 and amended on February 16, 2021.

“This evening we were made aware of Mr. Tucker Carlson’s appearance on Twitter in a video that lasted over 10 minutes,” the letter read.

“Pursuant to the terms of the Agreement, Mr. Carlson’s ‘services shall be completely exclusive to Fox,'” it continues, quoting Carlson’s contract.

It adds that Carlson’s contract says he is “prohibited from rendering services of any type whatsoever, whether ‘over the internet via streaming or similar distribution, or other digital distribution whether now known or hereafter devised.'”

Carlson’s legal team, according to a source familiar with its thinking, objects to the network’s effort to block Carlson’s Twitter appearances because, they believe, Twitter is not directly competitive with Fox News.

A source told Axios that Carlson was told by a senior Fox executive that the network’s goal is to keep him sidelined until 2025.

A groundbreaking mission by NASA’s Parker Solar Probe (PSP) has successfully ventured through solar wind for the first time aiming to prevent people on earth being unable to get on the internet.

Scientists have issued warnings about the potential impact of a solar storm, commonly referred to as an “internet apocalypse,” which could strike within the next decade.

The spacecraft, which was launched five years ago, went on a remarkable journey which took it close to the sun’s surface, where solar wind is generated.

Solar wind consists of a continuous stream of charged particles emanating from the sun’s outermost atmosphere, known as the corona.

Despite the extreme conditions of intense heat and radiation, the Parker Solar Probe persevered to gather crucial insights into the workings of the sun.

Professor Stuart Bale, the lead author of the study and affiliated with California University in the United States, explained the significance of understanding solar wind.

He said: “Winds carry lots of information from the sun to Earth. So understanding the mechanism behind the sun’s wind is important for practical reasons on Earth.

“That’s going to affect our ability to understand how the sun releases energy and drives geomagnetic storms – which are a threat to our communication networks.”

Such an event could leave people without internet access for months or even years, rendering satellites and power lines useless.

The Parker Solar Probe, with its advanced instrumentation, detected solar wind with unparalleled detail, uncovering crucial information that is lost as the wind exits the corona in the form of photons and electrons.

The team of U.S. researchers likened the experience to “seeing jets of water emanating from a showerhead through the blast of water hitting you in the face.”

These findings helped identify a phenomenon known as “supergranulation flows” within coronal holes, where magnetic fields emerge.

The team suggests that these regions serve as the origin points for the high-speed solar wind.

Typically found at the sun’s poles during quiet periods, the holes do not directly impact Earth.

However, during the sun’s active phase every 11 years, when its magnetic field flips, these holes appear across the sun’s surface, generating bursts of solar wind aimed directly at our planet.

The insights gained from the Parker Solar Probe’s mission, published in the journal Nature, will significantly aid in predicting solar storms that can produce stunning auroras but also wreak havoc on satellites and electrical grids.

The study revealed that coronal holes act as showerheads, with jets emerging from bright spots where magnetic field lines funnel in and out of the sun’s surface.

When oppositely directed magnetic fields pass through these funnels, which can span 18,000 miles, they often break and reconnect, propelling charged particles away from the sun.

Professor Bale further explained the significance: “The photosphere is covered by convection cells, like in a boiling pot of water, and the larger scale convection flow is called supergranulation.

“Where these supergranulation cells meet and go downward, they drag the magnetic field in their path into this downward kind of funnel. The magnetic field becomes very intensified there because it’s just jammed.

” It’s kind of a scoop of magnetic field going down into a drain. And the spatial separation of those little drains, those funnels, is what we’re seeing now with solar probe data.”

The Parker Solar Probe’s instruments also detected the presence of extremely high-energy particles moving up to 100 times faster than the solar wind.

Researchers concluded that this unique wind could only be formed through a process known as magnetic reconnection.

Launched five years ago, the Parker Solar Probe continues to make repeated and progressively closer passes of the sun.

Traveling at an astonishing speed of over 320,000 mph, the spacecraft rapidly gathers measurements of the solar environment from behind a thick heat shield, following a strategy of swift entry and exit.

President Biden has vetoed a measure that would have overturned his student debt relief plan, leaving the fate of the program in the hands of the Supreme Court.

“Congressional Republicans led an effort to pass a bill blocking my Administration’s plan to provide up to $20,000 in student debt relief to working and middle class Americans,” Biden said in a tweet Wednesday. “I won’t back down on helping hardworking folks.”

“Let me make something really clear, I’m never going to apologize for helping working- and middle-class Americans as they recover from this pandemic, never,” Biden said.

The president’s proposal, which has been a target of Republicans since he first unveiled it, would impact 40 million borrowers, providing $10,000 in loan forgiveness to those making less than $125,000 annually and $20,000 in forgiveness for Pell Grants recipients.

A two-thirds majority vote in both the House and the Senate would be required to overturn Biden’s veto, a threshold opponents of Biden’s effort cannot reach.

In a statement Wednesday, Biden said he vetoed the solution because he is “committed to continuing to make college affordable and providing this critical relief to borrowers as they work to recover from a once-in-a-century pandemic.”

The measure to block the plan passed the Senate this month in a 52-46 vote and cleared the GOP-majority House in a party-line vote, with two Democrats joining Republicans.

In the Senate, Democratic Sens. Jon Tester (Mont.) and Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.) joined Republicans in voting to nix Biden’s proposal.

The measure was brought up as a joint resolution under the Congressional Review Act (CRA), which allows Congress to nullify newly-placed rules and regulations. Such measures are not subject to the filibuster, so Democrats in the Senate could not block the measure, and a supermajority of 60 votes was not required to advance it.

The Supreme Court is still considering the plan, but the conservative majority is expected to strike it down. Justices displayed skepticism during February oral arguments that the Biden administration has the power to forgive up to $20,000 in student loans.

Biden officially announced the plan in August, after making forgiving student debt a campaign promise and feeling pressure from progressives to act.

While progressives hailed the plan as a good first step toward forgiveness, moderate Democrats and Republicans voiced concerns over the cost to taxpayers, which is expected to be about $400 billion.

When the president announced his plan, he also announced the upcoming end to the pandemic-era student loan payment pause that was put in place in March 2020 under former President Trump and has since been extended several times.

The resumption of payments was locked in with the passage of the bipartisan debt ceiling agreement, which included a hard cutoff date of 60 days after June 30.

Pro wrestling legend ”The Iron Sheik,” whose rivalry with fellow legend Hulk Hogan made him one of the most famous personalities in the sport, has died at the age of 81.

Hossein Khosrow Ali Vaziri became the only Iranian champion in WWE history after winning the WWF Heavyweight Championship in 1983, which he held for barely a month until Hulk Hogan grabbed it from him, prompting a years-long rivalry.

As recently as Monday, The Iron Sheik, whose Twitter feed was laced with profanity, tweeted, “F*** Hogan.”

His last tweet read, “F*** the wildfires.”

FUCK THE WILDFIRES

— The Iron Sheik (@the_ironsheik) June 7, 2023

Yet his pinned tweet read, “TAKE A MINUTE OF YOUR DAY TO BE NICE TO SOMEONE YOU DUMB SON OF A B****.”

TAKE A MINUTE OF YOUR DAY TO BE NICE TO SOMEONE YOU DUMB SON OF A BITCH

— The Iron Sheik (@the_ironsheik) June 9, 2018

The Sheik’s death was announced on his Twitter feed, which stated:

It is with great sadness that we share the news of the passing of The Iron Sheik, but we also take solace in knowing that he departed this world peacefully, leaving behind a legacy that will endure for generations to come. Beyond the wrestling persona that the world knew so well, The Iron Sheik was a devoted family man. He cherished the love and support of his wife of 47 years Caryl, who stood by his side through thick and thin, offering unwavering encouragement throughout his life.

Their bond was an anchor, providing him with the strength to face the challenges that life presented. To his children, Tanya, Nikki, Marissa and son in law Eddie, he was not just a wrestling icon. He was a loving and dedicated father. He instilled in them the values of perseverance, determination, and the importance of following their dreams.

RESPECT THE LEGEND FOREVER 😢 pic.twitter.com/Cr6CC9pXSO

— The Iron Sheik (@the_ironsheik) June 7, 2023

Vaziri was born on March 15, 1943, in Iran. As a boy, he idolized Iranian Olympic Gold-Medalist wrestler Gholamreza Takhti, who later worked as a bodyguard for the Shah of Iran. He tried for a spot on Iran’s Greco-Roman wrestling team for the 1968 Olympics, then immigrated to the U.S., where he became the assistant coach of two U.S. Olympic squads in the 1970s. He served as the assistant coach to the USA team for the 1972 Olympic Games.

That same year, Vaziri was invited to become a professional wrestler by promoter Verne Gagne. He made his debut with the WWF in 1979.

In his initial match with Hogan, Vaziri locked Hogan in the “Camel Clutch,” but Hogan rose to his feet with Vaziri still on his back and rammed him backward into the turnbuckles, then used a leg drop for the pin and the championship, a moment that triggered “Hulkamania.”

A man who was crowned “Miss San Francisco” will compete in the 2023 Miss California Pageant in July.

Monroe Lace, a man who identifies as a woman, won the Miss San Francisco pageant in March, qualifying the “beauty queen” to compete for the Miss California title next month. Lace is the first trans-identifying man to be crowned Miss San Francisco in the competition’s 99-year history.

“Every time I put on the sash, the weight of it reminds me of the weight of my job; of the responsibility I have to make a difference for young children,” Lace told CBS Bay Area.

Lace, 25, visits a different elementary school almost every day. In a video shown by the local CBS affiliate, Lace can be seen reading “Sparkle Boy,” a picture book about a boy who wants to wear women’s clothing, to a 4th-grade class at Tenderloin Community School.

The trans-identifying man told KRON 4 in March that he was “dreaming about this since I was 12 years old” and ran away from home.

In 2021, Kataluna Enriquez, another man identifying as a woman, competed in the Miss USA pageant as Miss Nevada. Lace seeks to be the second trans-identifying man to compete at the national competition. Another man competed in the Miss New Hampshire competition after being crowned “Miss Greater Derry” last November.

The Miss San Francisco winner claims to have received death threats and “mean comments about my appearance or the way I look.” Despite this, Lace is undeterred from his child-focused mission, saying that he “know[s] that there’s a trans kid out there … who is reading [Lace’s] story as well.” CBS interviewed one 4th grader, who described Lace’s appearance as “beautiful” and “normal.”

The push for men to compete in women’s competitions has become an intense cultural and political question, prompting GOP presidential hopeful Nikki Haley to label the issue “the women’s issue of our time.”

Female athletes like Riley Gaines and Paula Scanlon have spoken out against men in women’s sports, particularly concerning male swimmer Lia Thomas. Recently, ESPN commentator Samantha Ponder broke with her company’s orthodoxy to speak out against men competing in women’s sports.

Last year, a federal court ruled that Miss USA, whose winner competes for the Miss Universe title and is a separate organization from Miss America, could keep its “natural born female” policy under the First Amendment’s Free Speech clause.

Two people were killed and five others were injured Tuesday after a suspect opened gunfire near Virginia Commonwealth University following a high school graduation ceremony.

VCU police said the shooting occurred around 5:13 p.m. in the area of Monroe Park, near the campus’ Altria Theater after a recently-concluded graduation ceremony for Huguenot High School.

One of the victims killed was an 18-year-old male who had just graduated, and the other was a 36-year-old male, police said.

Their names were not released, but police believe the suspect knew at least one of the victims.

Richmond police said five others were injured with various degrees of injuries. Two people were treated for falls; one juvenile was struck by a car and sustained injuries that were not life-threatening; and 9 people were treated at the scene for minor injuries or anxiety.

Police also said a 19-year-old who was in custody will be charged with two counts of second-degree murder.

Police recovered multiple handguns.

No further details were given about the victims’ ages or the identity of the suspects.

Richmond Public Schools said Thomas Jefferson High School canceled a planned graduation ceremony planned for Tuesday evening. The ceremony will be rescheduled.

School board member Jonathan Young told Richmond TV station WWBT that graduates and other attendees were exiting the theater when they heard about 20 gunshots in rapid succession.

“That prompted, as you would expect, hundreds of persons in an effort to flee the gunfire to return to the building,” Young said.

“It materialized in a stampede,” he said.

Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney called the shooting “traumatic” for everyone, especially the youth involved.

“Is nothing sacred any longer? We’re going to do everything we can to bring the individuals who are involved in this to justice. Not just for the families involved, but also the city,” Stoney said.

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin said his administration was monitoring the “terrible” shooting and that state law enforcement is providing support to the Richmond Police Department.

Police said there is no ongoing threat to the community, but a heavy police presence remains at Monroe Park. Richmond police are leading the investigation.

UPDATE:

Virginia graduation shooting suspect identieied as Amari Pollard.

Cops said Amari Pollard gunned down Shawn Jackson, 18, and his father, Renzo Smith, 36, after a yearlong feud with his teenage target.

Pollard, of Enrico County, was arraigned on two charges of second-degree murder Wednesday morning and held without bail.

Amari Pollard

The victims have been identified as 18-year-old Shawn Jackson and his 36-year-old stepfather Renzo Smith:

18-year-old Shawn Jackson and his 36-year-old stepfather Renzo Smith

CNN CEO Chris Licht has been ousted from the network after just 16 months in the job, parent company Warner Bros Discovery announced Wednesday morning.

While Warner Bros. Discovery seeks a replacement for Licht, executives Amy Entelis, Virginia Moseley, Eric Sherling and David Leavy will lead CNN, the company said.

“We have great confidence in this group and will fully support them until a new CEO is named,” Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav said in a memo to staff on Wednesday, adding the company would be conducting a search internally and externally for CNN’s next leader. “We are in good hands, allowing us to take the time we need to run a thoughtful and thorough search for a new leader.”

“I have known Chris for many years and have enormous respect for him, personally and professionally. This job was never going to be easy, especially at a time of great disruption and transformation, and Chris poured his heart and soul into it,” Zaslav said in his memo. “Unfortunately, things did not work out the way we had hoped – and ultimately that’s on me. I take responsibility.”

Licht’s announcement comes days after a scathing 15,000-word profile of him earned him widespread condemnation from CNN staffers and fueled internal speculation about his job security.

In the profile, Licht was quoted criticizing the network’s coverage of the coronavirus pandemic before his arrival last May and pushing back on assertions from the employees underneath him that he had lost touch with the outlet’s newsroom.

Licht apologized to staffers Monday for the negative attention the piece had sparked.

“As I read that article, I found myself thinking, CNN is not about me,” Licht said. “I should not be in the news unless it’s taking arrows for you. Your work is what should be written about.”

Licht took over at CNN last May after former president Jeff Zucker was forced out following an internal investigation from Warner Bros. Discovery that found he did not disclose a romantic relationship with a top female deputy.

Under Zucker, CNN had developed a reputation for its at times combative coverage of former President Trump and sensational coverage of major news events.

Vowing to change the culture and tone of CNN, Licht told staffers and media observers during his early days on the job his vision for the network was one where more sober news reports would be prioritized over partisan analysis and punditry across much of cable news.

He fired polarizing figures within the network like media correspondent Brian Stelter and White House reporter John Harwood before conducting mass staff layoffs late last year as part of budgetary belt tightening.

Licht revamped the network’s flagship morning program and moved star anchor Don Lemon away from prime time to host it.

But CNN’s ratings have been in free fall for months, and Lemon was eventually fired after he clashed with talent on the morning program, making offensive comments about women that sparked embarrassing headlines for the network.

Licht drew heated criticism in recent weeks after the network hosted a town hall with Donald Trump that was packed with scores of the former president’s cheering fans. While the event drew 3.3 million viewers, CNN’s ratings plummeted afterward. Two days after the town hall, CNN’s prime-time viewership came in below Newsmax.

Leaders at Warner Bros. Discovery have said they view CNN as a reputational asset, despite the company failing to post $1 billion in profit for the first time in years and the slew of negative press the network has received since Licht took over.

Hunter Biden, son of President Joe Biden, has been ordered to appear in person before an Arkansas judge in July to explain why he shouldn’t be held in contempt of court and, if the proceedings don’t go his way, he could face time behind bars.

The president’s son is facing a child support case in Arkansas in which he was ordered by the presiding judge in May to hand over information on his finances.

Attorneys representing Lunden Alexis Roberts, the mother of Hunter Biden’s child, filed a motion on May 18 to hold the president’s son in contempt of court after alleging he had failed to fully answer questions relating to his ability to pay child support.

Judge Holly Lodge Meyer issued an order on June 5 (pdf) saying Hunter Biden must appear on July 10 at the Independence County Courthouse in Batesville to explain “why he should not be held in contempt.”

In Arkansas, contempt of court is a Class C misdemeanor punishable by fines and prison time.

In her order, Meyer said that she would consider “punishment or sanctions” against Hunter Biden, including “incarceration for civil contempt until such time as the defendant fully answers discovery for a period of up to six months” and “incarceration for criminal contempt for a period of up to six months.”

More Details

Roberts sued Biden for child support in 2019.

Initially, Biden denied that the child was his, but a DNA test confirmed he is the father.

In 2020, the two agreed to an undisclosed amount. Terms of the agreement are sealed because they contain sensitive personal information, including the amount of monthly support and each party’s source of income.

However, Biden later asked the court to review the child support arrangements because his financial situation had changed, leading to the case now being considered before the court.

He appeared before Independence County Circuit Court in Batesville on May 1.

During that hearing, his attorney said during proceedings that Biden had been paying $20,000 per month in child support, for a total of up to $750,000 since the support order was signed.

At that hearing, the judge ordered Biden to provide information on his income from his artwork, investments, employment, gifts from friends, and other sources.

The judge also said she couldn’t rule on the amount of child support because neither side had provided enough information in the discovery process to move forward.

Roberts’s attorneys have complained that the Biden team was dragging its feet in the discovery process and filed a motion on May 18 for Biden to be held in contempt.

Clinton Lancaster, a lawyer for Roberts, argued in the motion for contempt that Biden had been ordered to do something but didn’t and that this “is a habit and a game for Mr. Biden.”

Lancaster continued that Biden doesn’t want to disclose his income and “says that he is somewhat financially destitute” despite living in an oceanfront home in Malibu and going on foreign trips.

During the hearing in early May, the judge said she would press Biden’s legal team to fulfill their commitments in the discovery process.

In the June 5 order, she wrote that she was hereby giving Biden notice to appear in person at the Independence County Circuit Court on July 10 and “show cause, if any exists, why he should not be held in contempt.”

Meanwhile, rumors have swirled that Biden could face federal charges on allegations of tax- and gun-related violations.

Rumors of Federal Charges

The U.S. attorney’s office in Delaware has been investigating Hunter Biden’s tax affairs.

The president’s son said in 2020 that he was taking the investigation “seriously” but was confident of a favorable outcome.

“I take this matter very seriously, but I am confident that a professional and objective review of these matters will demonstrate that I handled my affairs legally and appropriately, including with the benefit of professional tax advisors,” Hunter Biden said in a statement issued by the Joe Biden-Kamala Harris transition team in December 2020.

Hunter Biden has acknowledged in the past that he made mistakes, but he’s insisted that he did not commit any crimes.

A report by The Washington Post in October that cited anonymous sources indicated that prosecutors believed there was enough evidence to charge Hunter Biden with tax crimes and allegations that the president’s son put false information on paperwork relating to his purchase of a handgun.

President Joe Biden was asked in an interview on MSNBC in early May how his presidency would be impacted if his son were charged.

“It impacts my presidency by making me feel proud of him,” the president said in the interview.

The president also said he believes his “son has done nothing wrong.”

Modelo Especial has now dethroned Bud Light as the top-selling beer in America after 22 years of the longtime industry leader holding the top spot.

In the four weeks ending May 28, Modelo Especial store sales soared past $333 million, a 15.6 percent rise on the same period last year.

Modelo surpassed Bud Light’s $297 million – which was a 22.8 percent fall in sales compared to the same time last year.

Anheuser-Busch, the parent company of Bud Light and Modelo Especial, has seen market cap value plummet $27 billion following a disastrous team-up with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.

It is the first time since 2001 that Bud Light has not been in the top spot, dethroning its sister brand Budweiser for the ‘King of Beer’ title in 2001.

Bill Newlands, the CEO of Modelo Especial’s owners Constellation Brands, said the increase in sales had happened ‘quicker than they anticipated.’

‘We thought that would take a little longer. We’ve been very fortunate that, that’s gone a little quicker than we had anticipated. But what a great position to be in on the beer side,’ he told Newsweek.

US sales of Modelo are controlled by rival Constellation Brands and do not count as part of AB InBev’s global volumes as part of an anti-trust settlement.

Anheuser-Busch and Constellation did not immediately respond to a request for comment from DailyMail.com.

According to consultancy firm Bumps Williams Consulting, Modelo Especial sales were $341.9 million in the week ending May 27, compared with Bud Light sales of about $298.6 million.

However, longer-term trends show that Bud Light remains the top-selling beer in the US this year so far, according to NielsenIQ.

Bud Light sales count for 9.1 percent of the total market in 2023, while Modelo has 8 percent – a gap of several hundred million dollars.

Experts previously warned that Modelo would topple Bud Light for the title, with sales week ending May 20 plunging 25.7 percent for Bud Light and soaring 9.2 percent for their rival.

It comes after reports confirmed that sales of Bud Light dropped 23.9 percent for the week ending May 27 compared to the same time last year – though that was a slight improvement from the previous week when sales were down 25.7 percent.

Bud Light also lost nearly 28 percent in year-on-year volume for the week ending May 27.

Anheuser-Busch’s other flagship beer, Budweiser, also recorded a drop of 8.5 percent, while Natural Light and Stella Artois saw a 1.5 percent to three percent drop, according to Newsweek.

Meanwhile, the company’s other top competitors saw an increase in sales as beer drinkers switched brands.

Coors Light went up 26.3 percent, while Miller Lite went up 23.1 percent and Yuengling saw the biggest increase at 36.3 percent.

There are signs the ‘bottom has been hit’ for Bud Light and the company could see a ‘turn-around in performance,’ according to Bumps Williams Consulting’s monthly industry report.

Anheuser-Busch said earlier this month it would triple its marketing spending in the US this summer as it tries to boost ailing sales.