Federal officials say they're asking the FBI to consider criminal prosecution of nearly two dozen more airline passengers accused of disturbances on flights

Authorities in Alabama say they have filed criminal charges against a woman who confessed to fabricating a story that she was kidnapped after stopping to check on a toddler she saw walking on the side of the interstate

Less than a month after the opposition won a parliamentary election, Poland’s central bank is again worried about

Former president Donald Trump reportedly further strained his relationship with Republican party leadership in Iowa after failing to show up for senator Joni Ernst's annual "Roast and Ride" charity. Except for Mr Trump, eight of the GOP 2024 presidential election hopefuls were present at the senator's charity event last month – a combination of barbecue-rally and motorcycle rides that kick off a busy summer campaign season heading into the first-in-the-nation caucuses. Florida governor Ron DeSantis, former vice president Mike Pence, US senator Tim Scott, former UN ambassador Nikki Haley and other candidates dressed for the occasion in leather and reached out to supporters. Mr Trump declared that he would not participate in the event but his campaign had expressed interest in sending videotaped remarks to be played for the crowd, according to a New York Times report. However, the former president failed to send the videotape, allegedly leaving Ms Ernst’s operation with a large bill that was wasted on renting screens for the purpose of showing the tape. The former president also potentially ruined the senator's plan to use a motorcycle helmet signed by all of the Republican candidates to sell tickets to the event. The event organisers sent the helmet to Mr Trump, who returned it later than expected and had added the numbers '45' and '47,' signaling he would be the next president. The helmet was never used, the newspaper said. The presidential hopefuls during the event all tiptoed around mentions of the 45th president. Ms Haley repeated a version of a line she has been using as a candidate that seems to allude to Mr Trump and his political career as replete with controversies. “It’s time for a new-generation leader. We’ve got to leave the baggage of the negativity behind,” she said. Meanwhile, Mr Trump in Iowa earlier this week attacked the Florida governor as an enemy of corn-based ethanol in his largest campaign event in the state. The former president spoke to more than 1,000 Iowans and Nebraskans packed into the event hall inside Mid-America Center. Mr Trump declared himself “the most pro-farmer president that you’ve ever had” at the event, which was aimed at promoting his administration’s agricultural record. “I fought for Iowa ethanol like no president in history,” he said. Read More Trump and DeSantis begin eyeing Super Tuesday states as they prepare for 2024 long game Trump says ‘damaged’ DeSantis is ‘desperately trying to get out’ of 2024 race Trump lawyer Alina Habba leaves his defence team in New York fraud case Mexico's president breaks with tradition in quarrel with scrappy opposition upstart A competitive race for an open House seat is taking shape in a Michigan battleground district Trump wanted to tap phones of White House aides, new book claims

Fans question Kody Brown's presence at Savanah Brown's graduation, suspecting that he chose to attend only because of cameras

A tourist has died and another has serious injuries after a man threw them off a bridge into a ravine at a famous ‘fairytale’ German castle. The American tourists, aged 21 and 22, fell 165ft down a ravine at Neuschwanstein, near the Austrian border. According to German tabloid Bild, the attacker was also American and aged 30. Police said the man fled but was arrested after the incident on Wednesday. The 30-year-old attacker reportedly sexually assaulted the two women before a fight broke out. When the 22-year-old intervened, the man strangled her and threw her into a ravine below, the BR public broadcaster reported. According to reports, the women were either thrown over the railing or pushed down a steep slope into the ravine. A 21-year-old woman was rushed to hospital via helicopter but died overnight in hospital. Her 22-year-old companion is still in hospital with injuries. Chief Public Prosecutor Thomas Hörmann told Bild: "The crime happened on Wednesday around 2:40pm. The two tourists met the man on a hiking tour east of the Marienbrücke. And joined him. The attack took place near the Marienbruecke, a bridge over a gorge close to the castle that offers a famous view of Neuschwanstein, German news agency DPA reported. Authorities said the three apparently took a path to a viewpoint, where the man attacked the younger woman. The suspect was caught after a massive police operation involving 25 emergency vehicles on Wednesday afternoon and taken to a police station in nearby Fuessen, it added. Neuschwanstein is one of Germany's most popular tourist attractions and is said to have been the inspiration for the Disney Cinderella Castle. The motive for the attack is still unclear and all parties remain unnamed. Read More Daniel Penny’s legal defence has raised more than $2.8m after subway killing of Jordan Neely Closings arguments set in trial of gunman in Pittsburgh synagogue massacre Nottingham attack – latest: Suspect in horror killings went to same university as victims

The Maui Humane Society is facing a critical situation as they endeavor to shelter and care for animals impacted by the wildfires

A Mississippi federal judge denied a motion Friday, filed by the family of a transgender high school student requesting she be allowed to wear a dress and heels under her robe at her Gulfport high school graduation.

The four towers on Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia have been completed more than 140 years after the first stone was laid. Each represents one of the four evangelists, and the final sculptural pieces have now been set in place. Matthew is an angel and John an eagle joining Mark and Luke, in the forms of a lion and an ox. A celebratory Mass will be held once the scaffolding on the church is removed, revealing Antonio Gaudi’s masterpiece. With the competition of the sculptures, work will now focus on the final and tallest tower, dedicated to Jesus. Construction on the church is expected to be finished by 2026. Read More James Bulger’s father weeps as he begs to keep killer Jon Venables in prison Trump baselessly claims fraud trial against him is a ‘scam and a sham’ Truss heckled as she arrives for Tory conference: ‘Are you here to cause trouble?’

Human-induced climate change is responsible for the historic heatwaves sweeping the planet from China to the United States, scientists have found. The research conducted by World Weather Attribution (WWA), which was released on Tuesday, says the record-shattering heat in Europe and the US would have been almost “impossible” in a world without global heating. The researchers, who analysed records in all three continents, said the likelihood of extreme heat in China, which recently recorded its highest-ever temperature at 52.2C, is now 50 times more likely due to the climate crisis. The researchers evaluated the role of climate crisis in these extreme heat events using peer-reviewed methods, weather station data of the hottest days in July, and computer models. It is already known that planet-heating greenhouse gas emissions have increased the global average temperature by 1.2C, which, in turn, is making heatwaves more frequent and extreme. The WWA study found that the heatwaves like the ones currently persisting now have a probability of occurring approximately once every 15 years in the US and Mexico region, once every 10 years in Southern Europe, and once every five years in China due to increased global average temperatures. However, without the human-induced climate crisis, these heat events would have been extremely rare. In China, such a heatwave would have been about a 1-in-250-year event, while the maximum heat experienced in the US and Mexico region and Southern Europe would have been “virtually impossible”. The climate crisis did not just play a role in the occurrence of the heatwave, but also made the temperatures hotter than they would have been with natural phenomenon like the El Nino. The European heatwave was 2.5C hotter, the North American heatwave was 2C hotter, and the heatwave in China was 1C hotter due to the human-induced climate crisis, the study notes. Researchers who were part of the study said the stronger impact of the climate crisis on the US and Europe is a result of a complex relationship between global and regional factors. Europe is heating faster than the global average, earlier studies have shown. Scientists said it’s because the impact of the climate crisis isn’t even worldwide. “Once again, our study shows the significant impact of the rapid rate of warming on local temperatures in Europe. It underscores the urgent necessity for Europe to continuously take adaptation and mitigation measures,” Sjoukje Philip, researcher at the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, and one of the researchers of the study, said. “The planet isn’t warming evenly,” Ms Philip adds. “Climate scientists are working to understand the complex relationships between increasing global and regional average temperatures.” Other scientists have also largely attributed the recent heat events, including the ones in July in the northern hemisphere and the marine heatwaves, to the climate crisis. Earlier, WWA researchers also analysed the April heatwave in a dozen Asian countries, including India, China and Thailand as well as the 2022 heat events in the UK which were found to be made “ten times more likely” due to the climate crisis”. Recently the Met Office also said the reason behind the UK’s hottest-ever June was also the climate crisis. The heatwaves have caused severe impacts, with deadly wildfires burning in Greece and Canada, and heat-related illnesses and fatalities reported in several countries. In the US alone, over 200 people died due to the extreme heat, and Spain, Italy, Greece, Cyprus, Algeria, and China also reported heat-related deaths and a surge in hospitalisations. Last year’s heat in Europe contributed to the deaths of over 61,000 people, a recent study found. The study warned that unless there is a rapid reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and a shift away from fossil fuels, heatwaves will become even more common and severe in the future. If the global average temperature rise goes up by 2C, a limit that is expected to be breached in the next 30 years if greenhouse gas emissions continue to increase the way they are, there would be a probability of experiencing heatwaves like the one currently ongoing every two to five years. “The result of this attribution study is not surprising. The world hasn’t stopped burning fossil fuels, the climate continues to warm and heatwaves continue to become more extreme. It is that simple,” Friederike Otto, senior lecturer in climate science at Imperial College London and co-founder of WWA said. However, she added that these heatwaves are “not evidence of ‘runaway warming’ or ‘climate collapse”. “We still have time to secure a safe and healthy future, but we urgently need to stop burning fossil fuels and invest in decreasing vulnerability.” “If we do not, tens of thousands of people will keep dying from heat-related causes each year. It is absolutely critical that governments legislate fossil fuel phase out at this year’s Cop climate conference.” Read More What is driving the record-breaking global heatwaves across three continents? Why is there no UK heatwave as Europe swelters during Charon? 61,000 dead: The shocking toll from extreme heatwaves that hit Europe last summer revealed UK rescue flights for tourists fleeing ‘out of control’ wildfires on Rhodes and Corfu Weather forecast for Greece as wildfires rage and second heatwave hits ‘Weak tea’: G20 fails to agree on cutting down fossil fuels

Mollie Burkhart led a tragic life with numerous losses of family members

As it pushes to renew a cornerstone law that authorizes major surveillance programs, the Biden administration faces an American public that's broadly skeptical of common intelligence practices and of the need to sacrifice civil liberties for security. Congress in the coming months will debate whether to extend Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Section 702 authorizes U.S. spy agencies to collect large amounts of foreign communications for intelligence purposes ranging from stopping spies to listening in on allies and foes. Those collection programs also sweep up U.S. citizen communications that can then be searched by intelligence and law enforcement officers. The new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows that Democrats and Republicans have similar views on surveillance tactics, while Republicans have become substantially less likely over the last decade to say it's at least sometimes necessary to sacrifice freedom in response to threats. U.S. intelligence officials say Section 702 is necessary to protect national security and to counter China, Russia and other adversaries. They credit the program with better informing U.S. diplomats and enabling operations like last year's strike to kill a key plotter of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. But officials will have to overcome sharp divisions in Congress and bipartisan anger at the FBI, though most observers still believe Section 702 will be renewed in some form. Driving a political shift is increasing skepticism among Republican elected officials of the FBI and intelligence agencies. Conservatives have battered the FBI for misleading the primary surveillance court in its investigation into former President Donald Trump campaign’s ties to Russia. Trump and other top Republicans often accuse the so-called government “deep state” of using its powers to target conservatives. Historically, “the left flank has been the more vocal objector to government surveillance on privacy and civil liberties grounds,” said Carter Burwell, who was chief counsel to Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, when the law was last renewed in early 2018. ”Over the past five or 10 years, with the rise of the libertarian wing of the Republican Party, call it the antigovernment wing of the Republican Party, that is an equally vocal and powerful plurality," said Burwell, now a lawyer at the firm Debevoise & Plimpton. The poll asked U.S. adults whether they support several practices authorized by Section 702. It found that 28% of adults support the government listening to phone calls made outside of the U.S. without a warrant, while 44% oppose the practice. Views are similar about the U.S. reading emails sent between people outside of the U.S. without a warrant. The public was more receptive to surveillance of activity outside of the U.S. a decade after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. That shifted significantly by the 20th anniversary of the attacks in 2021. In the latest poll, 48% of Americans this year said they believed it necessary to sacrifice their rights and freedoms to prevent terrorism, down from 54% in 2021 and nearly two-thirds in 2011. That shift was especially dramatic among Republicans, with just 44% saying that's sometimes necessary compared with 69% in 2011. Among Democrats, 55% still say so, similar to the 59% who said so in 2011. Sarah Apwisch, a 57-year-old from Three Rivers, Michigan, described herself as somewhat opposed to the monitoring of foreign emails and phone calls. A Democrat, Apwisch said she was “mostly pro-FBI” but concerned after years of negative stories about the bureau. “Honestly, I don’t want to hear anything about the FBI,” she said. “I want the FBI to go do their business and not be in the news because they’re doing their job well and not doing things that make waves. How they do that, I don’t know.” Apwisch also said she supports the FBI and other agencies trying to hunt down enemy spies, but was uncertain about whether the FBI should also use foreign intelligence to investigate other U.S. crimes. White adults were somewhat more likely to say they were opposed to various forms of surveillance — 48% said they opposed the government listening to foreign calls without a warrant — than Black or Hispanic adults, each at 34%. Rob Redding, a 47-year-old journalist who lives in New York City, said he was neutral about many surveillance practices — but said he felt that way because as a Black man, he didn't expect to have privacy. Redding mentioned the FBI's spying in the 1960s on Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights leaders as well as officials in Black nationalist movements. “As a Black man in America, as someone who speaks out about the government all the time, I understand that Black people and especially Black leadership cannot trust America," Redding said. In Congress, some Democrats and Republicans have found common cause over their complaints about Section 702. Two lawmakers earlier this year issued a statement calling for an end to U.S. surveillance without a warrant. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., chairs the liberal Congressional Progressive Caucus, while Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, is a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus. “We must take this opportunity to reform Section 702 and overhaul privacy protections for Americans so that they truly protect the civil rights, civil liberties, and privacy rights that are foundational to our democracy,” Jayapal and Davidson said. Previous lawmaker efforts to require warrants for searching intelligence databases have failed. Intelligence officials argue they have ramped up training for agents searching the databases and tightened requirements to consult with lawyers on sensitive queries. Supporters of Section 702 argue most U.S. adults want the government to stop foreign adversaries even if they state misgivings about how American intelligence operates. Glenn Gerstell, a former general counsel at the National Security Agency who is advocating for Section 702 to be extended, noted that while Congress has to be responsive to public opinion, “some of this gets pretty technical and isn’t easily understood by the public.” He said he still believed the law would be renewed with some amendments to bolster civil liberties protections and enshrine into law changes that the FBI has made in response to a series of wrongful uses of foreign intelligence. “At the end of the day, I think most members of Congress understand the value of the statute and understand that when we don’t have the statute, there is no substitute,” Gerstell said. ___ Associated Press writer Emily Swanson contributed to this report. ___ The poll of 1,081 adults was conducted March 16-20 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4.0 percentage points. Read More Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Haitians are dying of thirst and starvation in severely overcrowded jails As winter warms, farmers in southern US find ways to adapt Smoky haze blanketing US, Canada could last for days as wildfires rage, winds won't budge