The hazardous haze from wildfires in Canada’s northeast has eased there and throughout much of northeastern United States, but Canadian officials warn it could be a marathon fire season and are welcoming the help of firefighters arriving from other countries

'Ugliest Home in America' host Alison Victoria developed her love for design from her father but never thought she would be in front of TV cameras

The new dark comedy "Bottoms" is getting a lot of buzz.

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Unlocking more powerful weapons in the rhythm-blasting FPS Metal: Hellsinger is a principal part of the fun.

A farmer has been ordered to pay up a staggering $92,000 (£71,600) after sending a thumbs-up emoji in a text. Chris Achter was speaking with Kent Mickleborough, a grain buyer who worked for South West Terminal Ltd (SWT). A contract for 86 tonnes of flax for $25 a bushel was drafted between the pair, and the order was expected to arrive in November. Mickleborough signed the document and sent Achter a photo, writing: "Please confirm flax contract". Achter responded with a thumbs-up emoji – but the order did not arrive by the intended date. The Court of King’s Bench in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan has said the Canadian farmer must pay a fee of $92,000. They believe the emoji confirmed the contract, which was later breached. In the legal documents, Achter claimed his use of the emoji was to confirm he had received the document and "understood the complete contract would follow by fax or email." He went on to deny that he accepted the emoji as a digital signature of the "incomplete contract," adding: "I did not have time to review the Flax Contract and merely wanted to indicate that I did receive his text message." Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter His legal team argued that "allowing a simple [thumbs up] emoji to signify identity and acceptance would open up the flood gates to allow all sorts of cases coming forward asking for interpretations as to what various different emojis mean … Counsel argues the courts will be inundated with all kinds of cases if this court finds that the [thumbs up] emoji can take the place of a signature." Meanwhile, the buyers adamantly believed the emoji signified Achter accepted the contract. According to AU News, Justice Timothy Keene summarised the case by saying the case "led parties to a far-flung search for the equivalent of the Rosetta stone in cases from Israel, New York State and some tribunals in Canada, etc. to unearth what a [thumbs-up] emoji means." "This court readily acknowledges that a [thumbs-up] emoji is a non-traditional means to ‘sign’ a document, but nevertheless, under these circumstances, this was a valid way to convey the two purposes of a 'signature.'" He continued: "This Court cannot (nor should it) attempt to stem the tide of technology and common usage – this appears to be the new reality in Canadian society, and courts will have to be ready to meet the new challenges that may arise from the use of emojis and the like." 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.

A celebrated doctor who tested tens of thousands of people for COVID-19 in the pandemic’s early months in a badly-stricken California desert community has pleaded guilty to misbranding cosmetic drugs

The Chicago Bears took a devastating defeat at the hands of the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 3, extending the longest losing streak in franchise history. So who's to blame?

Here is a breakdown of the Saints Row special editions.

Houston Texans QB C.J. Stroud was hit helmet-to-helmet on a misjudged fumble call in the first half of Sunday's game against the Cincinnati Bengals.

Titanic director James Cameron has spoken publicly for the first time about the tragedy surrounding the Titanic sub disaster which was confirmed on Thursday to have suffered a "catastrophic implosion" resulting in the death of the five aboard. Cameron, who has built his own submersible which journeyed down to the Challenger Deep which has a depth of 10,902–10,929 metres, condemned the apparent lack of safety on the OceanGate Titan vessel which went missing on Sunday. While speaking to ABC News the 68-year-old Canadian director of The Abyss, Terminator and Avatar drew comparisons to the 1912 Titanic disaster. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter He said: "I'm struck by the similarity of the Titanic disaster itself, where the captain was repeatedly warned about ice ahead of his ship and yet he steamed at full speed into an ice field." "For us, it’s a very similar tragedy where warnings went unheeded. To take place at the same exact site with all the diving that’s going on all around the world, I think it’s just astonishing. It’s really quite surreal." He added: "People in the community were very concerned about this sub. "A number of the top players in the in the deep submergence engineering community even wrote letters to the company, saying that what they were doing was too experimental to carry passengers and that it needed to be certified." Cameron had made his own visits to the Titanic wreckage and used some of the footage for his 1997 blockbuster starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. His own sub the Deepsea Challenger went to the Mariana Trench Challenger Deep for 2014 Nat Geo documentary. On June 19, Cameron wrote on Facebook: "No matter what you may read in the coming hours, all that is truly known at this time is that communications with the submersible have been lost and that is unusual enough to warrant the most serious consideration. I am most concerned about the souls aboard, whose identities have not yet been made public." 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.

Celebrities having birthdays during the week of July 2-8 include actor Milo Ventimiglia of “This Is Us," comedian Jim Gaffigan and drummer Ringo Starr