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'Skull And Bones' won't be released in 2022 anymore.

Paul Sewald gave up a tying, two-run homer to Corey Seager with one out in the ninth inning and Miguel Castro allowed Adolis García's game-ending home run in the 11th as Arizona opening the World Series with a 6-5 loss at Texas

U.S. health officials are recommending RSV vaccinations for moms-to-be as a second option to protect newborns

Thanks for reading Can We Talk?, a sex and relationships column that aims to tackle the burning questions about sex, dating, relationships, and breakups that you’re too afraid to ask your partner — or maybe even your besties. Today, relationship therapist Moraya Seeger DeGeare, LMFT, helps someone who wants to take their open relationship to the next level by inviting their partner to a sex party.

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Former US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew is frontrunner for the post of US ambassador to Israel, Axios reported,

US senators hammered former executives of recently collapsed Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank on Tuesday over their paychecks, sales of stock and bonus payouts as the financial institutions struggled to stay afloat.

Vladimir Putin has admitted that Russia's security services "stopped a civil war" during the mutiny led by Yevgeny Prigozhin and his Wagner mercenaries – whose wages and bonuses Moscow funded to the tune of £800m in the past year. His remarks came as the Belarusian President, Alexander Lukashenko, confirmed that the Wagner chief had arrived in his country as part of the last-minute deal that ended the extraordinary attempted coup. Mr Lukashenko said that Mr Progozhin and some of his troops were welcome to stay "for some time" at their own expense. Mr Putin appeared outside the Kremlin the praise his troops, seeking to portray the image of strength that Saturday's events had left a severe crack in. Speaking in front of hundreds of troop, Mr Putin said said the country's armed forces had prove their "loyalty to the people of Russia" in protecting the "motherland and its future". The Russian leader claimed that Moscow had not been forced to withdraw troops from Ukraine and he held a minute’s silence in honour of the servicemen killed when Wagner forces shot down Russian military aircraft, including helicopters and a communications plane, as they marched on Moscow. The mercenaries stopped about 125 miles outside the capital. Mr Putin was joined by the defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, whose dismissal had been one of Mr Prigozhin's main demands – having feuded with Russia's military leadership for months. While Russian authorities dropped a criminal case against his Wagner Group – apparently fulfilling another condition of the deal brokered by Mr Lukashenko – Mr Putin appeared to set the stage for financial charges against an organisation owned by Mr Prigozhin. After his speech outside the Kremlin, Mr Putin told a military gathering that Mr Prigozhin's Concord Group earned 80 billion rubles (£733m) from a contract to provide the military with food, and that Wagner received more than 86 billion rubles (£790bn) between May 2022 and May 2023 for wages and additional items. That had come out of the Defence Ministry and state budgets. For years, the Kremlin denied any links to the Wagner group. "I hope that while doing so they didn't steal anything or stole not so much," Mr Putin said, adding that authorities would look closely at Concord's contract. Police who searched his St Petersburg office on Saturday said they found 4 billion rubles (£37m) in trucks outside, according to media reports confirmed by the Wagner boss. He said the money was intended to pay soldiers' families. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov would not disclose details about the Kremlin's deal with the Wagner chief – saying only that Mr Putin had provided Mr Prigozhiin with "certain guarantees," with the aim of avoiding a "worst-case scenario." Asked why the armed Wagner forces were allowed to get as close as they did Moscow without facing any serious resistance, National Guard chief Viktor Zolotov told reporters, "We concentrated our forces in one fist closer to Moscow. If we spread them thin, they would have come like a knife through butter." Mr Zolotov also said the National Guard lacks battle tanks and other heavy weapons and now would get them. Some Russian war bloggers have vented outrage about Mr Prigozhin and his troops not getting punished for killing Russian forces. The treatment stands in stark contrast to the harsh jail terms handed out to opposition activists in Russia who have criticised Russia's invasion of Ukraine. In Belarus, Mr Lukashenko said that he had convinced Mr Prigozhin to end the mutiny in an emotional, expletive-laden phone call, adding that Mr Prigozhin had arrived in the southern Russian city of Rostov – which Wagner seized to start the rebellion – in a "semi-mad state". Mr Lukashenko said he tried for hours by phone to reason with the Wagner chief, who has said he was furious at corruption and incompetence in the military leadership and wanted to avenge an alleged Russian army attack on his men. The Belarusian president said their calls contained "10 times" as many obscenities as normal language. Mr Lukashenko also said that, earlier on Saturday, Russian Mr Putin had sought his help, complaining that Prigozhin was not taking any calls. Lukashenko said he had advised Putin against "rushing" to crush the mutineers. Mr Lukashenko said that his country would accommodate Wagner fighters who wanted to go there, though it was not building any camps for them. "We offered them one of the abandoned military bases. Please - we have a fence, we have everything - put up your tents," Lukashenko said, according to state media. Such a prospect alarms Belarus's neighbours. Latvia and Lithuania both called for Nato to strengthen its eastern borders in response, and Polish President Andrzej Duda called the move a "negative signal". Ukraine is hoping to take advantage of the chaos caused by the attempted coup to push on with its counteroffensive to retake its territory from Russia. Mr Putin offering Wagner's troops the chance to sign contracts with the Russian army is said that was "likely in an effort to retain them" in the fight in Ukraine because Moscow needs "trained and effective manpower" as it faces a Ukrainian counteroffensive, the Institute for the Study of War, a US-based think tank that monitors the war said. In the US, the Pentagon said it would provide a new military package worth $500 million (£390m) to support Ukraine's war effort. The package will include ground vehicles including Bradley fighting vehicles and Stryker armored personnel carriers, and munitions for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (Himars) to support air defences. Reuters and Associated Press contributed to this report Read More The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary Wagner chief walks free after armed revolt. Other Russians defying the Kremlin aren’t so lucky In China, muted reaction to revolt in Russai belies anxiety over war, global balance of power Who is Yevgeny Prigozhin?

Even before Luis Rubiales had planted a kiss on Jenni Hermoso’s lips during Spain’s World Cup celebration, other officials in the stadium were so struck by his behaviour that they were sending around videos. One, confidentially sent to The Independent, shows the president of the Spanish football federation appearing to grab his crotch in triumph. The gesture, which goes back to Ancient Rome, is generally taken to mean “I’m the man”. It is certainly an aggressively masculine gesture, making it all the more out of place at a women’s football tournament that is defined by its inclusivity. It feeds into one of many growing arguments in Spain, that Rubiales did not know how to comport himself at such an event, raising further questions over his suitability to oversee the federation. That the Queen of Spain and her 16-year-old daughter were close to him has only added to that. There is still the sense that Rubiales doesn’t really know what he did wrong in the kiss on Hermoso. If a widely criticised non-apology was not indicative enough, there were his litany of comments before it. Rubiales had described those who took issue with his “public show of affection” as “idiots”, “stupid”, “fools” and “losers” before summing it all up as “bulls**t”. His subsequent apology then pretty much amounted to being sorry if anyone was offended. That happens to amount to a lot of people, who are queuing up to condemn the Spanish official in a controversy that is nowhere near quietening down. Miquel Iceta, the minister for culture and sport in Spain, described it as “unacceptable”. Yolanda Diaz, the second deputy prime minister of Spain, has said Rubiales should resign because “a woman has been harassed and assaulted”. Irene Montero, the minister for equality, went furthest and described it as a “form of sexual violence”. Such words are beginning to change the view of some in Spanish football that as usual, nothing will happen. The situation has now gone beyond pressure growing. While the kiss is obviously sufficient for such a controversy on its own, it comes amid a wider context that goes beyond Rubiales’ backing of manager Jorge Vilda despite player complaints that included not being allowed to lock doors of their hotel rooms on international duty until 2019. Sources within Spanish football were using words like “embarrassment” and “a disgrace that people like this represent our game”. Newspaper El Pais meanwhile ran an editorial lamenting how a moment of glory for Spain’s women’s footballers, who were enjoying the praise of the whole planet, was overshadowed by the behaviour of a man. Rubiales has previously caused such ructions in the game, however, that other figures were all too willing to privately Whatsapp other headlines. Among them was the story: “The ex-boss of Rubiales’ cabinet says he paid for orgies with federation money,” in relation to private parties reportedly organised. Rubiales denies it. Another read: “Luis Rubiales acquitted of the accusation of assault of the architect who renovated his house,” in a case that also saw him accused of using money from the player’s union – of which he was president – to pay for the work. And then: “Rubiales deal with [Gerard] Pique for a €24m pitch to bring the Super Cup to Saudi Arabia – ‘you are left with six kilos’”, after a series of leaks showed some controversial deals with the former Spanish defender. Up to all of this, however, he had probably been best known outside Spain for the bombshell decision to sack men’s manager Julen Lopetegui two days before the 2018 World Cup, a call that sent the Spanish team into a tailspin last-16 exit. It’s one of those historical quirks that the situation almost represents the inverse of that with Vilda, whom he has stood by. In the case of Lopetegui, Rubiales felt he had no choice because the manager had disrespected the federation by agreeing to take a job with Real Madrid after that World Cup without informing them. With Vilda, Rubiales felt Spain’s rebel players – some of whom boycotted the Women’s World Cup – had disrespected both the manager and the federation, so backed the manager adamantly. It was repeatedly pointed out that he and Vilda have a strong relationship and Vilda’s father, Jorge, is currently head of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF)’s women’s football department. Either way, compromise was never much of a consideration in either situation, although the latter did force changes to women’s team preparation standards and facilities. Some of the victorious players remain aggrieved they even had to ask and Ballon d’Or winner Alexia Putellas made a noteworthy comment in the moment of victory. “You’ve seen that the minute women's footballers believe a little and are provided with basic facilities, everything comes out better.” Rubiales’ defenders – and there are more than a few – would say this shows an evolution. He was less than a month into the job when the Lopetegui incident happened in June 2018 and was already seen as a significant improvement on predecessor Angel Maria Villar, who was suspended as president after being detained the previous July on allegations of collusion, embezzlement and falsifying documents. On sacking Lopetegui, Rubiales came out with the following: “These are the values of the new federation and whoever doesn't like it will have to get used to it.” Rubiales rose to the role after his work with the Association of Spanish Footballers, where his experience in leading squads through bankruptcy and administration at lower-profile clubs while still a player was greatly valued. One such call to help actually came at his last club, which happened to be Scottish side Hamilton Academical. One of the last things he heard on his fourth and final appearance in Scotland – a 4-1 defeat at Rangers – was the chant: “Baldy bastard, what’s the score?” A defender, Rubiales wasn’t seen as having the typical technical skill of Spanish players, but was respected for his tenacity. He was at Hamilton in the season that ended with Spain winning the men’s World Cup in South Africa, which somewhat cuts across any purported wider influence on the women’s success. It was Spain’s coaching revolution around the turn of the millennium that led to the rise of both of Spain’s world champions, and Rubiales was at clubs like Gaudix and Lleida as this was happening. It should be stressed he is seen as a moderniser in other ways, though, for a federation that badly needed it. It is under Rubiales that a department of integrity and security has been created. And “Rubi”, as he insists staff at the federation call him, was also influential in a crucial move that has been seen as decisive in potentially bringing the 2030 World Cup to Spain. Although many had felt Saudi Arabia would win that bid through their growing influence, bringing in Morocco with Portugal and Spain has split the African vote and essentially forced the Gulf state out of the process. Those who have worked with Rubiales at Uefa level meanwhile describe him as “ambitious” and “capable”, but with a “huge ego”, that leads to a lot of abrasiveness. He has already fallen out with the successive regime at the player’s union and La Liga president Javier Tebas. Many would say that is nothing new. Otherwise, that perceived modernity at federation level now stands in contrast to the regressive behaviour of the last few days. El Pais described the kiss as “like a bad joke from Benny Hill”. Unfortunately, it is only getting more and more serious. Rubiales looked like he was certainly feeling it at Monday’s victory parade. There were no videos of his behaviour there as he was very restrained and didn’t appear on stage. In the words of one source, it’s about time. Read More How not to win a World Cup: Spain, Jorge Vilda and the story of a complicated victory Spanish football president’s kiss was an abuse of power that never should have happened Spain boss Jorge Vilda appears to grab breast of female coach during World Cup final Spanish PM condemns FA president over ‘unacceptable’ kiss at World Cup final Spain boss Jorge Vilda appears to grab breast of female coach during World Cup final Spanish FA chief says kissing footballer ‘tarnished celebration’ of World Cup win

Pumpkin pie was actually born in Europe—until American colonists claimed it as their own in the late 18th century.

Scott Mills has confirmed that Mel Giedroyc's viral 'milk-churning' moment at Eurovision was actually real, by posting a behind-the-scenes clip of the action live from Liverpool. The Bake Off host set pulses racing with the suggestive move as she dressed up as a milkmaid - and no one could quite believe it was being shown on the BBC. Fans say the parody was in reference to Poland's raunchy 2014 submission to the Song Contest. Click here to sign up for our newsletters