SAVE $150: The Shark Vertex stick vacuum is on sale for $279.99 today at Amazon.

"It's not just ash on your clothing when you take it off," says a police chief. "It's our loved ones."

Singer songwriter Fletcher has been diagnosed with Lyme disease after becoming "increasingly ill" over the past couple of years.

Leaders from across the worlds of politics, entertainment, and activism warned on Wednesday that the wildfire smoke blanketing the East Coast today is a sign of the climate crisis. “It bears repeating how unprepared we are for the climate crisis,” New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wrote on Twitter on Wednesday, referencing the smoke and recent soaring temperatures in Puerto Rico. “We must adapt our food systems, energy grids, infrastructure, healthcare, etc ASAP to prepare for what’s to come and catch up to what is already here.” Fellow progressive Bernie Sanders sounded a similar note, writing on Twitter: “Right now, 98 MILLION people on the East Coast are under air quality alerts from Canadian fires and, last night, NYC had the worst air quality in the world.” “Climate change makes wildfires more frequent and widespread,” he added. “If we do nothing, this is our new reality. It’s time to act.” It wasn’t just Congress where high-profile figures were paying attention to the smoke. Celebrities also weighed in, with Bravo TV host Andy Cohen writing on Instagram, "This is like the end of the world walking around here with all this smoke,” as he walked through New York City. Scientists also said the wildfire problems were a sign of the climate crisis that’s already here, and a preview of the sorts of conditions that will come if changes aren’t made. “Today New York City hit record-breaking Air Quality Index (AQI) levels due to Canadian wildfire smoke,” the Sierra Club, an environmental advocacy organisation, wrote in a statement on Wednesday. “We know this is what the climate crisis looks like, and, this crisis is all too familiar in other parts of the world.” “This is what the sunrise over New York looked like today due to wildfire smoke coming over from Canada,” added Dr Lucky Tran of Columbia University on Twitter, sharing a video of an unnaturally hazy sun over New York City. “Air quality levels are at unhealthy, at over 10 times the guidelines recommended by the WHO. This is the reality of living through the climate crisis.” The entire US Northeast is battling smoke moving south from more than 400 wildfires raging in Canada which have led to mass evacuations in the province of Quebec. Canadian officials warned that this could be the country’s worst wildfire season on record, with over 6.7 million acres already scorched. Read More ‘I can’t breathe’: Jodie Comer halts Broadway show due to New York air quality Mesmerising drone footage shows New York skyline blanketed in orange haze Air quality – live: New York hits pollution record as Canada wildfire smoke disrupts airports and cancels MLB

Rudy Giuliani has been sued for $10m for sexual assault, harassment, wage theft and other misconduct by a former associate who claims he forced her to perform sex acts on him and work in the nude. Noelle Dunphy alleges that the former New York City mayor made “sexual demands” throughout her employment and went on “alcohol-drenched rants that included sexist, racist, and antisemitic remarks,” many of which she recorded. She also alleges that the ex-New York City mayor and then-president Donald Trump were offering to sell presidential pardons for $2 million apiece, according to court documents. “He made clear that satisfying his sexual demands-which came virtually anytime, anywhere-was an absolute requirement of her employment and of his legal representation,” the lawsuit states. She claims that she agreed to start working for Mr Giuliani for a salary of $1m per year, but he told her he would have to defer payment as he was going through a divorce with his “crazy” ex-wife. Ms Dunphy states that she was also asked to record conversations with Mr Giuliani “as well as Giuliani’s interactions with others.” “But unbeknownst to Ms Dunphy, Giuliani apparently decided during the interview that he would use the job offer and his representation as a pretext to develop a quid pro quo sexual relationship with Ms Dunphy. He was later recorded telling Ms Dunphy, ‘I’ve wanted you from the day I interviewed you,’” the lawsuit states. She also claims that the first week she worked for Mr Giuliani, 78, he flew her to New York and invited her to stay at his apartment in the city, where they drank together. “Giuliani then pulled her head onto his penis, without asking for or obtaining any form of consent. He held her by her hair. It became clear to Ms Dunphy that there was no way out of giving him oral sex. She did so, against her will,” the lawsuit states. The lawsuit also states that Mr Giuliani insisted that she carried out her work naked, wearing a bikini, or tiny shorts with an American flag on them that he provided for her. And she accuses him of inappropriate conduct while on video calls with her. “When they were apart, they would often work remotely via videoconference, and during those conferences Giuliani almost always asked her to remove her clothes on camera. He often called from his bed, where he was visibly touching himself under a white sheet,” the lawsuit states. Ms Duphy’s lawsuit details an interaction she allegedly had with Mr Giuliani on or about 16 February 2019, when he was serving as Mr Trump’s personal attorney and attempting to dig up overseas dirt on then-former vice president Joe Biden, who at the time was two months away from entering the 2020 presidential race against Mr Trump. She writes that as they reviewed emails between him and Ukrainian government officials, she asked if he had to register as a foreign agent under the Foreign Agents Registration Act and offered to do the required paperwork for him. The former mayor replied that he was allowed to violate Fara and other US laws because “[he had] immunity”. She then states that Mr Giuliani asked her “if she knew anyone in need of a pardon” because he was “selling pardons for $2 million, which he and President Trump would split”. “He told Ms Dunphy that she could refer individuals seeking pardons to him, so long as they did not go through “the normal channels” of the Office of the Pardon Attorney, because correspondence going to that office would be subject to disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act,” she added. The lawsuit states that she began working for Mr Giuliani in January 2019 and that he fired her in January 2021, without paying her the deferred salary. She is seeking $10m from Mr Giuliani and three of his namesake companies. Ted Goodman, a spokesperson for and adviser to Mr Giuliani, told The Independent in an email that the former New York mayor “unequivocally denies the allegations raised by Ms Dunphy”. “Mayor Giuliani’s lifetime of public service speaks for itself and he will pursue all available remedies and counterclaims,” he added. Read More Trump news – live: Aides showed Trump tweets by AOC and Andrew Yang to psyche him up during break in town hall Rudy Giuliani said he and Trump were selling pardons for $2m apiece, ex-aide claims Trump goes after Fox for Dominion settlement ‘insult’ to election deniers Rudy Giuliani says he ‘expected’ Fox News to fire Tucker Carlson in conspiracy-filled interview Woman sues Rudy Giuliani, saying he coerced her into sex, owes her $2 million in unpaid wages Rudy Giuliani said he and Trump were selling pardons for $2m apiece, ex-aide claims Trump claimed the Durham probe would uncover the 'crime of the century.' Here's what it really found

By Jonathan Stempel (Reuters) -FTX Trading on Thursday sued founder Sam Bankman-Fried and other former executives of the cryptocurrency exchange,

Kazunori Yamauchi admitted the game has been made specifically for the PlayStation so it will be a big job to bring it to the PC.

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By Maximilian Heath BUENOS AIRES Argentina's farmers, some of the world's most important producers of soy, corn, wheat

A woman who felt she was “trapped in this really dark world” due to her anxiety, causing her to have panic attacks, cancel her hen do, and feel she was “constantly on the verge of having a heart attack”, has said “therapy has allowed (her) to feel like (herself)” again and she has since gone on to marry her best friend who she met at school. Kirsty McKillop, 34, a strategist who lives in Walthamstow, London, said she had experienced anxiety “on and off” throughout her life, but it became all-consuming during the Covid pandemic – particularly after going through a redundancy process at her previous job in PR, which knocked her confidence and made her question her self-worth. She said she felt trapped in this “prison” that she had created in her mind and started “catastrophising” – she thought she would “lose everything in (her) life that she cared about”. “I felt like I was basically being crushed by the dark and being suffocated by it and I couldn’t get out,” she said. Kirsty decided to quit her job to look after her mental health, but then “everything went from bad to worse” as she started to experience debilitating physical symptoms. She would cry every day, vomit, experience heart palpitations, have panic attacks, feel agitated and extremely restless, and lie awake in bed until the morning. At her lowest point, Kirsty said she did not believe that she could get better, and she did not engage in “anything that might help her”. However, with the continued support of her now-husband, Liam, 34, family and friends, she began engaging in therapy from December 2021 – and gradually over time she could “physically feel (her anxiety) lifting”. She has since gone on to get married – something she previously did not think was possible – and go on her honeymoon to South Africa, and she now wishes to give the message that “life without anxiety is possible”. “No matter what level of anxiety you’re feeling, it isn’t something that you have to accept as part of life,” she said. “Whilst it is a natural human response, it’s not something you have to live with, and, going through therapy, it has just completely freed me from those feelings and I’m so much happier.” According to the charity Mind, anxiety is a natural human response when we feel that we are under threat; it can be experienced through our thoughts, feelings, and physical sensations. Kirsty had experienced anxiety at varying stages in her life, but during lockdown, when her job was at risk, her mind was “swamped” with negative and “obsessive” thoughts, with everyday places and situations becoming “bleak and scary and threatening”. While Kirsty did not lose her job, the redundancy process knocked her confidence, and her heightened emotions quickly spiralled into physical symptoms of anxiety. She felt she was in “this constant state of panic” and started “overthinking everything”. “I had really irrational thoughts that I was going to lose everything in my life that I cared about because I was not able to function day to day,” she said. “I think, eventually, it did turn into depression, and then I had quite intrusive thoughts around not wanting to wake up if I did get to sleep. “Not being able to sleep, not being able to eat, being sick, crying, feeling like I was having a heart attack, and feeling terrified of everything was really scary.” Kirsty would lie in bed and try to “disassociate” from her anxiety, but her intrusive thoughts just kept “swirling around in her head”. She then decided to quit her job in September 2021 “to give her the headspace” she felt she needed, but the lack of structure and routine in her life only made her anxiety worse. “It had taken over my head so much that I could not think rationally – everything was like, I’m worried about holding down a job, therefore, I’m not going to be able to pay the mortgage, therefore, I’m going to lose the house, therefore, I’m going to lose my husband and all my friends, and I’m going to end up with nothing,” she explained. “Despite having incredibly supportive friends who would come and just be with me for hours, I still had that fear.” Kirsty remembers a specific conversation where her parents and her then-fiance were discussing the wedding, and she thought: “This is ridiculous, there’s no way I’m going to get married in this state.” By this point, she had started losing consciousness during the day and blacking out, and she had to cancel her hen do. In November 2021, after moving back to her home town in Yorkshire, Kirsty’s family and friends encouraged her to seek professional support, as she was “stuck, trapped, in this completely different place”. Kirsty’s loved ones had looked after her throughout this period and previously suggested she seek help, but she was not willing to engage as she thought “it’s not going to make a difference”. She then started speaking to a therapist who was right for her in December 2021, and Kirsty said she was “pulled out of this horrible world”. Through having sessions once or twice a week, and with cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), Kirsty said she felt she was “becoming much more rational” as she started to “challenge” her thoughts. The CBT focused on thinking about the facts, rather than “the feelings and the catastrophising” she had been experiencing, to try to “break the cycles of negative thinking”. She said: “When that feeling starts to lift, you think, I can get better, and I want to get better. “It’s not about fighting those thoughts, but accepting them and recognising they’re not facts.” By February 2022, Kirsty started to feel like herself again – she stopped being sick, no longer had panic attacks, and was able to sleep. In April, she started a new job as a strategist, which she now loves, and in July she married Liam and had “an amazing day”. Looking back now, Kirsty said she “dreads to think where she would have been” if she did not start having therapy, and she is beyond grateful for the support she has received from her family and friends. She does not want anyone else to go through the “absolute hell” she has, and wants to encourage more open dialogue and acceptance around mental health and anxiety, as she believes it “shouldn’t define you”. “Anxiety is a natural response, but when it gets to the point where you’re having intrusive thoughts, or it’s affecting you physically, or it’s stopping you from doing things, that’s when it’s not normal and you shouldn’t accept it,” Kirsty explained. “It’s not a state of well or unwell, it’s a state of always making sure you’re looking after yourself because life is always going to throw different challenges at you.” She added: “I enjoy life so much more without letting anxious thoughts spoil my day-to-day life… and therapy has just allowed me to feel like myself and enjoy being myself.” Kirsty is one of many who have offered quotes to inform and create a striking collection of AI art to shine a light on anxiety symptoms. The artwork, from the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP), has been installed outside London Waterloo – for more information, visit www.bacp.co.uk/anxietyis. Read More I was a child with mental health problems. Nothing excuses the way I was treated Mum suffered panic attacks for 30 years due to unusual phobia ‘I spent too much money on your wedding’: Musician calls out married friend for flirting with other women Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live

A federal judge has declared illegal a revised version of a federal policy that prevents the deportation of hundreds of thousands of immigrants brought to the U.S. as children

Young Irish dancers in Dublin hope to follow in the footsteps of the professional dancers.