We're used to wild plot twists when it comes to Donald Trump and his brood, but no one could have seen this one coming. The MAGA commander-in-chief is dead and his son, Donald Jr, is running for president in his place – that is, at least, according to the latter's X/Twitter account. A tweet posted at 1:25pm UK time (8:25am ET) from his verified page read: "I'm sad to announce, my father Donald Trump has passed away. I will be running for president in 2024." The apparent bombshell was followed by a string of further outlandish, offensive and down-right dangerous comments, including jibes at North Korea, Logan Paul and an expletive-filled attack on Joe Biden. It was half an hour before the jaw-dropping thread was removed and, at the time of writing, no official explanation had been given. The safe assumption is that the account was hacked but with no word from the horse's mouth, who can say for sure... Naturally, eagle-eyed social media scrollers seized on the unexpected outburst, with many capturing screenshots to immortalise the embarrassing mishap. And anyone concerned that there was any truth in the announcements needed only turn to Trump Sr's favourite online stomping ground. The former world leader was busy ranting on Truth Social right when things were kicking off. So yes, he's very much still alive. Indy100 has contacted X/Twitter and the Trump Organization for comment. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Lewis Hamilton said Formula One must not become “too soft” and challenged his fellow drivers to embrace pain amid a safety backlash following the last round in Qatar. Hamilton’s Mercedes team-mate George Russell branded the race a fortnight ago “beyond the limit of what is acceptable” as temperatures in the drivers’ cockpits exceeded 50 degrees. Canadian Lance Stroll said he faded in and out of consciousness because of the extreme heat and humidity in Lusail. London-born driver Alex Albon was treated for acute heat exposure, while his rookie Williams team-mate Logan Sargeant was forced to park his car through illness. Alpine’s French driver Esteban Ocon also vomited during the race. Following a series of complaints, F1’s governing body, the FIA, launched a review and said it noted with “concern” the impact the race had on the “well-being” of those who took part. But speaking ahead of this weekend’s United States Grand Prix in Texas, Hamilton, 38, said: “This is an extreme sport and you don’t have marathon runners who pass out after a marathon saying the event should be shorter. “We get paid very highly for what we do, and, from my perspective, when I have not been feeling great at the end of a race I just train harder. “So I don’t want them to shorten the races and make it easier for us. I want it to be extreme. I want to feel the difference. I want to feel pain in my body. That’s what this is about. We have got to be careful with the changes we make. It’s like, ‘let’s not get too soft’.” Hamilton’s participation in Qatar lasted a handful of seconds following his race-ending collision with Russell at the opening bend. But the seven-time world champion, second only to Fernando Alonso, 42, in terms of age and experience on the current grid, believes the conditions in Malaysia – last seen on the calendar in 2017 – were more challenging than those in Qatar. He continued: “Obviously I didn’t do the race, so I didn’t get to feel the pain that the drivers felt. But I have been here a long time. And Malaysia was much hotter. “If I was in the race in Qatar, of course I would have struggled to get out afterwards. But I know what it’s like to lose four or more kilos and barely being able to stand. I love that. “That’s what makes it closer to what it was like back in the day. We are supposed to be elite athletes and to be elite, you need to be pushing to the limit.” The drivers are set for another challenging weekend with record-breaking temperatures of more than 30 degrees anticipated in Austin. Qualifying for Sunday’s 56-lap race at the Circuit of the Americas takes place at 4pm local time (10pm BST) on Friday. Read More Daniel Ricciardo ready for AlphaTauri return at United States Grand Prix On this day in 2009: Jenson Button crowned Formula One world champion in Brazil FIA to review Qatar GP as ‘dangerous’ temperatures prompt driver complaints Lewis Hamilton and George Russell vent anger on radio after collision in Qatar Lewis Hamilton crashes out after first-corner collision with George Russell In his own words: Christian Horner on world champion Max Verstappen

Time to get your Diamond Dynasty team ready for the new season of ranked seasons. Starting today at 3:00 PM EST, Season 5 of ranked seasons is set to begin.

By Mathieu Rosemain and Leigh Thomas AIX-EN-PROVENCE, France European firms are concerned they could get caught in the

SARAJEVO A higher court in Montenegro on Wednesday scrapped bail of 800,000 euros ($880,640) previously granted to Do

Rays ace Shane McClanahan was shut down for the season earlier in August and now it's worst-case scenario: He'll undergo Tommy John surgery.The Tampa Bay Rays should have two of the best young starting pitchers in MLB as part of their rotation with Tyler Glasnow and Shane McClanhan. Si...

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The Fortnite Chapter 4 Season 5 Starter Pack skin is Heartbreak Ranger and comes with a matching Pickaxe and Back Bling for $3.99.

It comes amid growing anti-French sentiment, with its embassy recently coming under attack.

Reddit has closed the official forum for its collaborative experiment Place after users filled it with explicit messages directed at the company’s management. Reddit Place launched for the third time last month, allowing all users to fill in the pixels of a 1-million-pixel canvas. The six day project came amid protests against Reddit introducing charges that forced third-party apps to close, with chief executive Steve ‘Spez’ Huffman becoming a target of explicit graffiti on the r/Place canvas. One week after the experiment ended, Reddit announced that no posts or comments would be allowed on the r/Place sub-reddit, which had become a focal point for the ongoing protests against Mr Huffman and the rest of Reddit’s management. “This community will no longer be open for posting or commenting,” a post pinned to the r/place sub-reddit stated. “Thank you to everyone who participated in r/place 2023. Until we meet again.” The post received 7,000 upvotes but the top comment, which stated “F**k u/SPEZ”, received more than 17,000. The final version of the r/Place canvas included dozens of similar messages directed at Mr Huffman, with some Reddit users accusing admins of censoring parts of the canvas. The Place experiment was pushed back several times in an effort to avoid coinciding with the worst of the protests, which had seen thousands of high-profile Reddit communities go dark in an effort to force the company into rescinding the proposed API charges to third-party apps like Apollo. These demands were ignored, and most Reddit communities have since returned to normal operations. The company acknowledged the poor timing of the collaborative art experiment by including the tagline: “Right place, wrong time.” Reddit did not respond to a request for comment from The Independent about the protests. Read More Reddit protests see r/Place experiment immediately hijacked with grotesque graffiti Kenya suspends eyeball-scanning crypto worldcoin Google warns Gmail users they could be about to lose their account

The Justice Department is suing Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott over a floating barrier that the state placed on the Rio Grande to stop migrants from entering the U.S. The lawsuit filed Monday asks a court to force Texas to remove a line of bright orange, wrecking ball-sized buoys that the Biden administration says raises humanitarian and environmental concerns