Category: Europe

Sam Bankman-Fried, the imprisoned former cryptocurrency executive and billionaire, has asked the Trump administration for a pardon.
In 2024, Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison and $11 billion in forfeiture on a raft of fraud and conspiracy charges tied to the collapse of his FTX cryptocurrency exchange two years earlier.
The crypto fraudster asked this year for a “Pardon after Completion of Sentence,” according to a Justice Department website, though it doesn’t specify on which date he filed for the reprieve. Bloomberg previously reported the pardon effort.
Prosecutors accused Bankman-Fried, known by his nickname SBF, of misappropriating billions of dollars of customer funds for personal use, political donations and repayment on billions of dollars in loans tied to a sister trading fund. The Justice Department called the scheme “one of the largest financial frauds in history.”
In an interview with Fox Business earlier Monday, Bankman-Fried maintained that the original pr..

Emergency crews extinguish fires after Russian strikes in Ukraine’s Sumy regionRecommended‘Puffy-looking’ Putin is acting weirder than ever – and that should chill us to the boneUkraine hits St. Petersburg again after Putin rejects Zelensky’s offer for talksRussia threats to UK at highest level since the Cold War, military chief warnsIt’s advantage Zelensky in Ukraine’s push for peace with PutinPinnedRussian drone hits nuclear-fuel storage facility near Chernobyl, Ukraine saysRussian forces ​deliberately struck a storage facility for spent nuclear fuel near Ukraine's Chernobyl power plant, president Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday, in an “extremely vile” attack that did ⁠not lead to a spike in radiation.
The strike significantly damaged a fuel-reception building metres away from where “large amounts of nuclear material” is stored, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency, which said ⁠it had been briefed by ​Ukraine.
Kyiv's ⁠state atomic agency Energoatom said no ..

The imprisoned stalker who could hold the key to freeing British couple jailed in IranIsraeli air defences are working to intercept missiles said to have been launched from Iran, following a string of threats earlier in the day.
Israel’s IDF said in a post on social media they had identified missiles “launched from Iran toward Israel”, while “defensive systems are operating to intercept the threat”.
“Sirens were sounded in several areas across the country following the identification of missiles launched from Iran toward Israel,” they added.
The strikes mark the first attacks on Israel from Iran since the April ceasefire took effect. An unnamed Israeli official told Axios that Israel plans to respond.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards said the Israeli army must stop its attacks on Lebanon and if it expands its attacks or responds to Iran's actions, it will face “more crushing and regretful blows”.
“We had previously warned that if the crimes in the Dahieh area of Beirut expand, we ..

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has voiced significant concern over delays in constructing a new facility crucial for combating the New World screwworm fly, whose flesh-eating larvae pose a renewed threat to the nation's $113 billion cattle industry.
The governor warned on Friday that the factory, designed to breed sterile flies, is not expected to commence operations for over a year, a timeline he deems unacceptable given the recent re-emergence of the pest.
Abbott pledged Texas's full support to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to expedite the $750 million breeding facility's construction near Edinburg, Texas, approximately 20 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border.
He indicated the state is prepared to commit its own funds to ensure construction proceeds “24 hours a day, seven days a week.” During a news conference in Austin, Abbott stressed the urgency, stating, “Without greater sterile fly production… We cannot make it through a second summer.”
The USDA confirmed ..

President Donald Trump marked the 82nd anniversary of D-Day, when the Allied powers stormed the beaches of Normandy during World War II, by sharing an artificial intelligence-generated content that took aim at a range of his perceived opponents.
Saturday morning, the president shared an AI music video set to the song “Trump,” created by New York congressional candidate Anthony Constantino, who he recently endorsed. The video, which aimed to show Trump’s admiration around the world, featured clips of the president riding a lion, sharing a meal with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and at the UFC Freedom 250 cage fight at the White House. All the while, a house backing track repeats the line: “Everywhere I go, they love Donald Donald Trump.”
It was the only post on Trump’s Truth Social account for several hours on June 6 until he bragged about the new Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and then shared an AI-generated image of the Obama Presidential Library deteriorating, surrounded by h..

The number of U.S. measles cases surpassed the 2,000 mark this week for the second time in two years, federal data shows.
There have been 30 new incidents resulting in 2,030 confirmed cases so far this year, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday. That’s inching closer to last year’s total of 2,288 cases, the agency noted.
Before 2025, America’s yearly measles cases had not surpassed 2,000 since 1992.
The highly infectious virus was largely considered eliminated in the U.S. in 2000 due to the preventative measles-mumps-rubella vaccine, but falling vaccination rates have helped the disease to spread again. This year has seen outbreaks in several states including South Carolina, Utah and Texas.
open image in galleryThe number of measles cases this year just passed the 2,000 mark in the U.S. The cases are mostly in unvaccinated patients (AFP/Getty)Two doses of the vaccine are 97 percent effective at preventing infection, the CDC says.
The new data “indicates..

Vatican City has become a popular destination for Illinois dignitaries since Chicago native Robert Prevost ascended to the papacy last year, now known as Pope Leo XIV. While many have arrived bearing gifts, Illinois State Treasurer Mike Frerichs presented the pontiff with a unique offering: a certificate to reclaim $8.65 of his own money.
Leaders from Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson to Governor JB Pritzker have visited, bringing tokens like Chicago-brewed “Da Pope” beer, city-sourced giardiniera, an Illini No. 14 jersey and Chicago White Sox gear.
Frerichs' gift, however, was perhaps the most on-brand. He delivered the certificate for Pope Leo XIV to recover $8.65 from a now-closed PayPal account.
This sum had been held in Illinois’ unclaimed property account, which Frerichs administers, and he has been working to return it.
Pope Leo XIV has also received a Chicago Red Bull jersey bearing the number 14 (Filippo Monteforte / AFP via Getty Images)“We found this money last year after ..