The American Library Association's annual meeting conference is underway in Chicago, where librarians are expected to discuss topics including countering book challenges, fighting legislative censorship and ensuring information access and the freedom to read

As Europe seeks to exit fossil fuels, a relatively unproven alternative is forming the backbone of its clean-energy

Elaborate marriage proposals are amazing, and can create some of the most memorable moments in life – until they go wrong. That’s what appeared to happen to content creator Gray Fagan, who recently proposed to his girlfriend, Chloe, on a hot air balloon. In a 12 November video, Fagan whips out a ring while he and Chloe are high in the sky, amid a crowd of fellow balloon tourists. What happened next didn’t make anybody very happy, by the looks of things. Or did it...? He said: “Um, Chloe, I’ve known you for six years now. I, uh, have known since the day I met you that I wanted you to be my friend and partner forever. “And today I thought on this beautiful day, in this beautiful place, I would make it official and ask you to be my wife.” Rather than saying yes, Chloe looked shocked and close to tears, repeatedly pushing the ring away and saying: “Please stop.” Fagan was optimistic in the video caption, writing: “Technically she never said no.” However, there's a catch. The creator’s profile says he barters in “scripted chaos”. Could it be a total fake? Many in the comments seem to have interpreted it as genuine. One person wrote: “Would have been a good idea to bring a parachute instead of a picnic basket.” Another said: “The people behind you probably want to jump from second hand embarrassment.” A third added: “The moment of silence was deafening.” However, others speculated that the video is scripted. If it was, Fagan’s got the attention he wanted, with more than 35m people having watched it on TikTok and 151,000 likes on Instagram. One person said: “This is scripted but ok lol.” Another wrote: “My skin is crawling. Absolutely brilliant video once again.” And a third person said: “The amount of people have posted and commented on this on Twitter thinking it’s real worries me greatly.” Sounds like they know something the others don’t. How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel Sign up to 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.

South Africa’s National Treasury will propose a freeze on new public service jobs and procurement contracts for all

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The Chinese government is set to expand the ban on iPhone use to include government-backed

MLB Rumors: Cubs stars Stroman, Bellinger connected to Astros tradeThough they've done an admirable job trying to fight it, all signs point to the Chicago Cubs ultimately selling at the trade deadline, even if it's with some reluctance from Jed Hoyer. And there are obviously no bigger as...

CHICAGO (AP) — Nico Hoerner homered and the Chicago Cubs made the most of a rare gaffe by Tampa Bay, handing Shane McClanahan his first loss of the season with a 2-1 victory over the Rays on Tuesday night.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin is courting leaders from Africa at a summit, hailing the continent’s growing role in global affairs and offering to expand political and business ties

A fight at the movie about a child's toy.

The Biden administration plans to seek UN Security Council approval as early as next week to deploy a