Mom died after running back into her burning home to rescue her 3-year-old daughter from fire

A Minnesota mother died after re-entering a burning duplex to save her 3-year-old daughter, shielding the toddler with her own body until firefighters reached them.
Bonnie Pierce, 38, was napping inside the St. Paul home when the fire broke out on August 22. Her 12-year-old daughter, Aurora, escaped by kicking out an air conditioning unit and climbing through a window, according to a GoFundMe campaign set up for the family.
Pierce initially made it outside safely, but returned to the blaze after realizing her youngest child, 3-year-old Grace, was still trapped inside. Her sister, Jenny McGovern, noted that Pierce may have assumed the 12-year-old had the toddler with her before stepping outside.
“She’s a hero,” McGovern said, according to CBS News. “She died a hero. She's my hero forever. I cannot thank her enough for saving that little girl’s life.”
First responders encountered significant fire, extreme heat and near-zero visibility on the first floor of the East Magnolia Avenue ..

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Kalshi issues George Santos a lifetime ban and $71,356 fine over suspicious trades

Prediction platform Kalshi has handed former U.S. congressman George Santos a lifetime ban and fined him $71,356 over allegations of insider trading.
According to a disciplinary filing released by the firm, its compliance team determined there was reasonable cause to conclude that the former lawmaker participated in unlawful trades.
The decision comes amid a surge in questionable transactions across prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket, creating fresh oversight hurdles as law enforcement and regulators step up their focus on the expanding industry.
In June, Kalshi referred Santos to the U.S. Department of Justice following the discovery of unusual account activity, a source previously told Reuters.
Santos was ousted from Congress following charges of identity theft and fraud (AFP via Getty Images)Fresh out of prison for wire fraud and identity theft, Santos allegedly began a new scheme by fixing the odds on a bet of whether he would attend President Donald Trump’s State of the..

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Central bar packed as Hongkongers aim to raise HK$50,000 for Nepal flood relief

AdvertisementHong Kong societyHong KongSocietyCentral bar packed as Hongkongers aim to raise HK$50,000 for Nepal flood reliefFive Nepalese operators and bartenders launch signature cocktails at Orchard to raise funds for flood relief as community rallies
2-MIN READ2-MIN ListenTheodora YuPublished: 11:35pm, 31 Aug 2026Around a hundred patrons packed a bar in Central on Monday night to raise funds for victims of catastrophic flash floods and mudslides in Nepal, as members of Hong Kong’s Nepalese community rallied to support relief efforts for their homeland.
The death toll in Nepal had risen to 919 as of 1pm on Monday, with 4,247 people still missing, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported.The disaster struck on Wednesday when a massive wall of mud and rock collapsed into a river along the Himalayan border between Nepal and Tibet, unleashing devastating torrents downstream.
At cocktail bar Orchard in Central, the fundraising event kicked off at 7pm on Monday in a collaboration between i..

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In flood-hit Philippines, ‘out of touch’ Marcos slammed for private birthday serenade

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr’s birthday serenade for his wife might have been a private gesture, but as floodwaters overwhelmed much of Luzon – the country’s largest and most populous island and home to the capital Manila – a viral clip of him singing became a public-relations crisis.
Observers told This Week in Asia that Marcos’ celebration of his wife, Marie Louise “Liza” Araneta-Marcos, on her 67th birthday struck the wrong chord with a public already angered by deadly floods,…

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British woman fatally stabbed at railway station in southern Germany; one arrested

British woman fatally stabbed at railway station in Rosenheim/Getty Images A 31-year-old British woman has died after being stabbed at a railway station in Rosenheim, southern Germany.The woman was attacked shortly in the early hours of Sunday, according to Bavarian Police. She was taken to hospital with severe injuries but later died.Officers arrested the suspect immediately after the incident. He is from the Fürstenfeldbruck district, German news agency DPA.Police are investigating the circumstances surrounding the attack, including the motive. It is not currently known whether the woman and the suspect knew each other or why she was in Bavaria.Rosenheim is one of the largest cities in Upper Bavaria and is an important railway hub, with services connecting passengers to Austrian cities including Salzburg, Innsbruck and Vienna.The incident comes as the Rosenheimer Herbstfest is taking place in the area. The festival is a major local event and is similar to Munich's Oktoberfest.Th..

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A Florida wife grew suspicious of her husband’s phone call; deputies found him in…

Nassau County Sheriff’s Office deputies stopped a Florida resident at a retail parking lot on Thursday, preventing him from handing over $14,000 to phone scammers. The intervention took place at a Lowe’s home improvement store on State Road 200 after the man’s wife overheard a suspicious phone call at their home. Worried by the pressure being put on her husband, she immediately contacted local law enforcement. Deputies arrived in the area and found the man sitting in his vehicle, preparing to follow the caller’s instructions to buy thousands of dollars in gift cards.Interception in retail parking lotAccording to a public report by local news outlet Action News Jax, the scammer had told the victim to purchase $14,000 worth of gift cards within two hours. The caller warned that failing to meet the deadline would result in the man’s personal accounts being hacked and compromised. Deputies reached the resident in the parking lot before he could enter the store or give the gift card codes t..

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Pioneering Care After Crisis: It All Starts with the People

AdvertisementInnovating to Advance HumanityHong KongEducationPioneering Care After Crisis: It All Starts with the PeopleHow CityUHK’s innovative Community Chilling Hub is reimagining human care in Hong Kong
Paid Post:CityUHK CLASS4-MIN READ4-MINAdvertising partnerPublished: 12:00am, 31 Aug 2026[The content of this article has been produced by our advertising partner.]
When the devastating fire broke out at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po on 26 November, the response from City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK) did not begin with a strategy memo. “In fact, since the very beginning, it was not a strategy,” says Professor Cherry TAM, Associate Professor from the Department of Social and Behavioural Science (SS). “We viewed it as our expertise, our responsibility … our aim is to care for people and society.”
Within five days—by 1 December—the university had organised a public lecture on resilience, mobilised psychosocial support for affected primary school pupils and begun planning trauma-informed..

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Social Transformation in the Sands

AdvertisementInnovating to Advance HumanityHong KongEducationSocial Transformation in the SandsThe afforestation project around Inner Mongolia's Malan Lake has grown into a fine example of how ecological engineering, economic incentives and institutional cooperation can reinforce one another
Paid Post:CityUHK CLASS4-MIN READ4-MINAdvertising partnerPublished: 12:00am, 31 Aug 2026[The content of this article has been produced by our advertising partner.]
On the southeastern rim of the Tengger Desert, where dunes can rise 30 metres high and advance significant metres a year, a private afforestation effort is attempting something larger than tree planting. At Malan Lake in Alxa, Inner Mongolia, founder Mr YUEN Shu Wah is testing whether desert restoration can succeed by redesigning not only landscapes, but also livelihoods and governance.
Battling Moving Sand
“Countries, cities and villages have been annihilated by the desertification,” Yuen says, describing the stakes in stark histor..

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