Category: Europe

An ex-girlfriend has accused embattled Maine U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner of removing condoms during sex without her consent, the latest in a string of major misconduct allegations against the Democrat.
Lyndsey Fifield, 41, who dated Platner in the Washington, D.C., area, told The Washington Post that he repeatedly removed protection when they were intimate during their relationship, which lasted from 2013 to 2015.
“He would pull condoms off,” she said in an interview with the paper. “He would do it in a sneaky way. He wouldn’t tell me.”
The campaign told the Post that Fifield’s accusation is “categorically false and politically motivated.” It also reportedly noted that Fifield, who has worked in conservative politics, supported Brett Kavanaugh when he was accused of sexual assault ahead of his nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Independent has contacted the Platner campaign for comment.
open image in galleryAn ex-girlfriend accuses Maine U.S. Senate candidate Graham Pl..

The daughter of Senator Mitch McConnell has deleted her X account amid widespread speculation over the former Senate majority leader’s health, following a sudden June hospitalization.
It is unclear when or why Porter McConnell, a progressive-leaning political activist who previously directed the Take On Wall Street campaign, deleted her account.
The Independent has contacted Porter McConnell for comment.
Porter McConnell is one of three daughters the senator had with his first wife, Sherrill Redmon. She frequently posted criticism of the Republican Party on the now-deactivated account, TMZ noted.
Her social media activity comes as McConnell was found unconscious on June 14 and received CPR after suffering an apparent heart attack in his Washington, D.C., home, according to emergency records obtained by a variety of news outlets.
open image in galleryPorter McConnell, the daughter of Senator Mitch McConnell, pictured hugging her father in 2008, has deleted her X account amid widesprea..

Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner released a video message Monday denying a new allegation of sexual assault from a woman he previously dated, minutes after the release of an article detailing the woman’s accusations.
Jenny Racicot, a 41-year-old Maine resident, dated Platner in 2021 and told Politico that he entered her home uninvited while heavily intoxicated and repeatedly forced himself on her. She claimed that Platner, running for a U.S. Senate seat, grabbed her and was “being really forceful” during the encounter.
Platner flatly denied the allegations in a video posted to X after canceling a number of planned campaign appearances. He called the woman’s accusations “troubling, serious, and false.”
“Any accusation of non-consensual behavior is categorically false,” said Platner, facing directly to camera.
The latest report from Politico follows a line of reporting into the Maine Senate candidate’s past that has slowly eroded his popularity and favorable image among voters ..

Dr. Debra Houry, the CDC’s former chief medical officer, said Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has done “irreparable harm” since taking office.
Houry argued that Americans’ trust in public health has “decreased dramatically” in an interview that aired Sunday on CBS News’ Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan. She was one of several CDC leaders who resigned from the agency last summer over concerns about Kennedy’s leadership.
“I think the secretary has caused a lot of irreparable harm, and when you look at many of the polls out there, the trust in public health, specifically CDC, has decreased dramatically over 20 points in many polls,” Houry said.
“That's really difficult to recover from, and when states are removing links to the CDC website and following other medical organizations, I don't know how you build back that trust overnight,” she continued.
Only 50 percent of U.S. adults trust CDC recommendations, according to a survey of 2,205 people cond..

President Donald Trump went on a day-long social media spree Sunday, posting at least 105 times on Truth Social, a day after his July 4 speech was beset by weather problems.
Late on Saturday night Trump gave a partisan speech to thousands of supporters in Washington, D.C., who had been waiting more than an hour in the rain. While the speech started at 11 p.m., he had earlier warned he would wait until 2 a.m. to start if necessary.
The next day he returned to his usual Truth Social activities with a vengeance, with posts attacking his opponents, showing off photos of his father and uncle, and boasting about his accomplishments.
Throughout the day Sunday, Trump rattled off more than 100 Truth Social posts, with at least half a dozen related to attacks on a federal judge who recently ruled against his administration’s attempts to use a database of U.S. citizen’s private information to screen voter rolls.
The president posted screenshots of X posts from allies attacking Judge Sparkle Sook..

White nationalist Patriot Front gang chants ‘reclaim America’ as members march through Washington, D.C., on July 4Freedom 250 attendees have been evacuated from the National Mall in Washington, D.C., as severe weather threatens the capital’s Fourth of July celebrations.
Officials are asking everyone to “evacuate event grounds and seek temporary shelter in a nearby building,” according to a Freedom 250 spokesperson. The Secret Service also “temporarily suspended” nearby security checkpoints due to “rapidly deteriorating weather conditions,” and there’s “no estimate for when screening may resume,” spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said.
Washington could be hit with heavy winds, hail and lightning as severe storms roll through the area this evening, according to the National Weather Service. President Donald Trump had promised to deliver a “really long” speech on the National Mall this evening, followed by a massive fireworks show, but the expected storms may impact the schedule.
Earlier Sa..

An Arizona toddler was found alive in a morgue six hours after he had nearly drowned and was pronounced dead by a doctor.
Eighteen-month-old Vincent Lorenzo Fiordilino was pronounced dead at a hospital in Gilbert, Arizona, after he was discovered in a family member’s pool. But six hours later, the boy was found breathing in the hospital’s morgue, according to several media reports.
Fiordilino survived and has since been released from the hospital, the Gilbert Police Department told NBC News. But now, the incident is being investigated by the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, and the police department has recommended his parents face charges, according to the outlet.
The incident unfolded in February, on Super Bowl Sunday. Fiordilino was taken to Mercy Gilbert Medical Center after he was found face down in a family member’s pool and a relative tried to perform CPR, according to a police report obtained by AZFamily.
There, he was pronounced dead by a physician, identified by NBC News as..

Oregon voters have moved one step closer this week to potentially banning hunting, fishing and animal agriculture.
On Thursday, activists submitted a final batch of signatures to state officials for a ballot measure that would effectively criminalize such practices.
The proposal, known as the People for the Elimination of Animal Cruelty Exemptions (PEACE) Act, has not officially qualified for the ballot yet. State officials have until August to decide whether it goes to a popular vote in November elections.
The measure, Initiative Petition 28, would remove hunting, fishing and livestock husbandry exceptions from the state’s animal abuse law.
“We want to see the state of Oregon stop killing animals,” David Michelson, who is spearheading the campaign, told KGW of the effort, his third attempt to get such rules on the ballot.
open image in galleryA campaign that would effectively ban hunting and animal husbandry in Oregon now has enough signatures to qualify for the ballot (Getty)The in..

Part of stage falls and almost hits dancers at Donald Trump's Fourth of July rehearsalsPresident Donald Trump’s chaotic preparations for America’s 250th anniversary celebrations are continuing in the wake of another disaster that almost saw dancers hit by a piece of falling stage set during their rehearsals in Washington, D.C., Thursday.
Fortunately no one was injured in the accident, but the incident marks the latest in a series of mishaps surrounding the administration’s plans for the nation’s semiquincentennial celebrations, from the recently renovated Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool turning green from algae to the “Great American State Fair” on the National Mall failing to draw crowds.
The president is heading to South Dakota Friday for the latest leg of the festivities at Mount Rushmore, where he will be greeted by Gov. Larry Rhoden and take in a fireworks display above the famous landmark, an event environmentalists have warned could spark wildfires.
The president will then..

President Donald Trump’s luxury Florida clubs saw a major spike in earnings last year, according to federal financial disclosures, part of the historic windfall the Republican has earned since returning to office.
Last year, Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club, which also serves as his primary residence, earned him nearly $77.5 million, more than 50 percent more than in 2024.
The estate, which is sometimes called the “Winter White House,” has emerged as a key venue for getting access to the president. Donors and Silicon Valley executives have flocked to Palm Beach to court the president there, and Trump has regularly visited the property and held high-dollar fundraisers at Mar-a-Lago since taking office.
Fundraising events at the Florida club have hit $1 million-per-plate.
Shortly before Trump was reelected in 2024, Mar-a-Lago raised its initiation fee from $700,000 to $1 million. (The club hiked fees around the time of Trump’s first election, too.)
open image in galleryPresident Trump has seen ..