List of All Articles with Tag 'eric'

President Joe Biden’s German shepherd Commander reportedly bit seven people in a four-month span last year, making him the second White House dog to exhibit aggressive behaviour after former first dog Major was removed from the residence due to similar conduct. The report of Commander’s aggressiveness comes from internal Secret Service communications obtained by the New York Post. On 3 November, the White House physician’s office referred a bitten Secret Service officer to a local hospital for treatment after the dog bit down on the officer’s arm and thigh, according to emails obtained by Judicial Watch. A second incident took place on 10 November, when Commander allegedly bit an officer’s thigh while on a walk with first lady Jill Biden in the Kennedy Garden. Days later, another officer described having to fend off the pet with a chair. Weeks later, Commander tore the skin of another Secret Service officer’s hand and arm, according to the Post. One month later, Commander bit the back of a security technician at the president’s Wilmington, Delaware residence. A Christmas Eve email from a Secret Service inspector suggested issues with Commander were widespread. “Nearly every official in the room with me today spoke about specific incidents surrounding the First Family’s dog,” the email read. Commander’s behaviour resembles Major’s, a rescue adopted by the Bidens in 2018, who was rehomed in 2021 after a number of incidents in which the dog bit Secret Service agents. “As as you all know, the White House complex can be unique and very stressful. And that is something I’m sure you all can understand,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Tuesday. “The first family is working through ways to make the situation better for everyone.” The White House press secretary also relayed a message from Elizabeth Alexander for communications director for First Lady Jill Biden. Ms Alexander said, “They have been partnering with the Secret Service and Executive Residence staff on additional leashing protocols and training, as well as establishing designated areas for Commander to run and exercise,” Alexander said. She added, that the president and first lady are “incredibly grateful to the secret service and executive resident staff for all they do to keep them and their family and the country safe.” Read More Israel's government has passed the first part of its legal overhaul. The law's ripples are dramatic DeSantis cuts a third of his presidential campaign staff as he mounts urgent reset Biden signs proclamation creating Emmett Till national monument

Watch live as Dario Amodei, CEO of artificial intelligence startup Anthropic, testifies at a US Senate hearing on AI as lawmakers consider potential regulations for the fast-growing technology on Tuesday, 25 July. The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law is holding a hearing titled “Oversight of AI: Principles for Regulation.” Witnesses will also include Stuart Russell, professor of computer science at The University of California, Berkley, and Yoshua Bengio, founder and scientific director of Mila - Quebec AI Institute and professor in the Department of Computer Science and Operations Research at Universite de Montreal. Ahead of the hearing, Democratic senator Richard Blumenthal said: “It’s our obligation to address AI’s potential threats and risks before they become real. “We are on the verge of a new era, with major consequences for workers, consumer privacy, and our society.” The hearing comes after Joe Biden met with the CEOs of top AI companies, including Amodei, back in May to make clear they must ensure products are safe before they are deployed. Read More Andy Serkis, Simon Pegg and Brian Cox among British actors protesting AI in film Biden says AI leaders committing to building ‘safe, secure and trustworthy’ tech DeSantis pushes AI-generated attack ad featuring fake Trump voice

Federico Valverde will not face charges over the alleged assault of Villarreal's Alex Baena.

Florida Gov Ron DeSantis’s presidential campaign laid off a third of its campaign staff as it continues to tighten its belt amid numerous negative news stories and lacklustre fundraising numbers, Politico reported. The campaign will cut a total of 38 jobs, advisers told Politico, including 10 event planning roles the campaign announced weeks ago as well as that of top DeSantis advisers Dave Abrams and Tucker Obenshain. The latter two will advise a pro-DeSantis outside group. “Following a top-to-bottom review of our organisation, we have taken additional, aggressive steps to streamline operations and put Ron DeSantis in the strongest position to win this primary and defeat Joe Biden,” campaign manager Generra Peck said in a statement. “Gov DeSantis is going to lead the Great American Comeback and we’re ready to hit the ground running as we head into an important month of the campaign.” The slim-down comes after the DeSantis campaign announced it had raised $20m in the governor’s first quarter as a candidate. But the campaign had also spent $7.8m in its first quarter, an incredibly high burn rate. Many of the donors who had contributed had given the maximum legal limit, meaning they cannot donate again. As of the end of June, the DeSantis campaign had more than 90 staffers. Politico previously reported that the DeSantis campaign had admitted to donors at a Utah retreat that it had spent too much money. Mr DeSantis has failed to gain momentum in the Republican presidential nomination since he announced in May. A new poll from Fox Business showed that Mr DeSantis now trails former South Carolina governor in the state while he trails former president Donald Trump in Iowa. The governor had previously let go of roughly a dozen staffers amid the bevy of negative headlines and weak fundraising numbers. Read More Trump news – live: Georgia grand jury could weigh conspiracy charge as ex-NYPD boss hands docs to Jan 6 probe Who is Jack Smith? The ex-war crimes prosecutor who is coming for Trump

Recent talks between Detroit and Dallas reveal that Killian Hayes' days as a Piston may be numbered. Will the Pistons make a move before next season?It appears the Pistons are officially trying to part ways with Killian Hayes.NBA Insider Marc Stein reported, “Recent trade talks betwee...

Ilhan Omar has spoken out in defence of a teenage girl who was jailed for 90 days after taking an abortion pill to end an unwanted pregnancy. The Democratic congresswoman posted an image on Instagram of an article titled: “Nebraska teen who used pills to end pregnancy gets 90 days in jail”. “This is a freighting violation of privacy and autonomy…” Ms Omar wrote. Celeste Burgess, 19, was sentenced last week after she and her mother Jessica Burgess, 42, pleaded guilty to charges earlier this year. Prosecutors said Celeste Burgess used abortion pills well beyond the 10-week limit approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Court records reveal that she terminated her pregnancy when she was nearly 30 weeks pregnant, surpassing the generally recognised point of viability at 23 to 24 weeks. At that stage, a foetus would have a higher chance of survival outside the womb. The mother and daughter were charged after their private Facebook messages were obtained by the police. These messages revealed their plans to end Celeste’s pregnancy by using abortion pills ordered online and then “burn the evidence”. The teenager was not charged by prosecutors under Nebraska’s abortion law. Prosecutors agreed to drop two charges of concealing a death and false reporting against her after she pleaded guilty in May to concealing human skeletal remains. Celeste was also sentenced to two years probation apart from her 90 days’ jail sentence. Joseph Smith, the top prosecutor in Madison County, Nebraska, said the sentence “seems reasonable” as the teenager has no criminal history. “It’s a painful case for everybody,” he said, adding that it was the first case of its type that he had prosecuted in his 33-years-long career “and I’m glad it’s over”. Jessica Burgess meanwhile faces up to five years in jail. The case has prompted widespread discusson, wth Ms Omar the latest to comment on the case. Her post had garnered more than 68,000 likes as of early Tuesday morning, with comments fom her supporters including that the case was “like the beginning of the Handmaid’s Tale”. Read More Teen who took abortion pill to end pregnancy given 90 days in jail Texas women detailed agonising pregnancies after being denied abortions. The state blames doctors After Roe v Wade fell, this father-daughter duo left Texas to go on providing abortions AOC and other progressives to boycott Israeli president’s joint address to Congress Israel's president will meet with Biden as concerns over settlements, judicial overhaul continue Thai Parliament postpones vote to select new prime minister pending court ruling

Rex Heuermann’s arrest came as a shock to nearly everyone in the Long Island community of Gilgo Beach – but not for a man who came face to face with the alleged murderer and had reported him to law enforcement. For more than a decade, residents anxiously awaited new developments on a trail of murders that had gone cold, despite overwhelming evidence the slayings were the work of a serial killer. Most of the victims were sex workers in their 20s who went missing in 2009 and 2010 before their bodies were discovered wrapped in burlap along the stretch of a roadway. The Suffolk County police department led an unsuccessful 13-year investigation into the case amid a litany of internal scandals, before announcing earlier this month that Mr Heuermann was in custody. Police commissioner Rodney Harrison touted the work of a revamped task force as the reason behind the arrest, but largely glossed over the fact that the very detail that cracked the case was handed to authorities in the early stages of the probe. Dave Schaller told the Associated Press in an exclusive interview that, by the time Mr Heuermann’s mugshot was plastered on every local and national news channel on 13 July, he was very familiar with the Frankenstein-like figure with an “empty gaze” he had long ago described to investigators. In the winter of 2010, Mr Schaller told police that he had seen the man fleeing the house he shared with Amber Costello, whose body was among those found in Gilgo Beach. “When they told me she was dead, he was the first person who jumped in my head,” Mr Schaller told the AP. “I’ve been picturing his face for 13 years.” Mr Heuermann met with homicide detectives on multiple occasions during the initial years of the investigation. Two years after the bodies were found, Mr Schaller said he picked Mr Heuermann’s first-generation Chrysler Avalanche out of a line-up of photographs provided by the detectives. “I gave them the exact description of the truck and the dude,” Mr Schaller, who said he was angered by the delay in investigating his tip, told the AP. “I mean come on, why didn’t they use that?” Suffolk County district attorney Ray Tierney, who inherited the investigation when he took office in 2022, said the key to unravelling the case was the description of the truck, rediscovered by a state investigator after the launch of the new task force that took a fresh look at the evidence. Mr Tierney told the AP he did not know why police had not run a search earlier, but suggested the tip may have been “lost within a sea of other tips and information”. He stressed there were other elements that ultimately helped investigators arrest Heuermann, including new technology that helped match samples of DNA to the suspect. “This was a dark cloud over the community,” former police commissioner Tim Sini, who later became the county’s district attorney. “When you have the police department and the district attorney’s office blocking the FBI, that does not engender trust in law enforcement.” The arrest, Sini said, was the result of painstaking detective work that spanned multiple administrations and relied on a wide range of evidence. “[However,] I wouldn’t call it a major success. The case should’ve been solved earlier,” he said. “This was crucial information, and I don’t know why they didn’t share it,” Rob Trotta, a county legislator who worked as a Suffolk County police detective until 2013, also told the AP. “They made some serious blunders here.” Two high-ranking officials who worked closely on the case and attended briefings between 2011 and 2013 told the AP they never heard Mr Schaller’s witness statement. Mr Heuermann bought the pickup at a Chevrolet dealer on Long Island in 2002 and transferred ownership to his brother Craig in South Carolina in 2012. Authorities seized the vehicle last week. A search warrant stated investigators were looking for other clues in the vehicle or at property the brothers owned in Chester County, such as DNA, fluids, fingerprints, phones and what they described as possible “trophies” that may have belonged to the victims. Mr Heuermann is charged with the murders of Amber Costello, Melissa Barthelemy and Megan Waterman. He is also the prime suspect in the murder of Maureen Brainard-Barnes. As law enforcement closed in on Mr Heuermann, they served more than 300 subpoenas and search warrants that uncovered cellphone records for burner phones used to arrange meetings with three of the “Gilgo Four” victims before they went missing. Further analysis also allegedly linked Mr Heuermann to taunting calls made to family members of the victims, according to investigators. The calls were made from the Midtown Manhattan area, where the offices of Mr Heuerman’s architecture business are located. Among the evidence linking Mr Heuermann to the murders was a hair found on burlap material used to wrap Waterman’s corpse, according to court documents. DNA analysis had not been possible in the early stages of the investigation, but new technology allowed testing. A team surveilling Mr Heuermann collected a discarded pizza box that then confirmed a DNA match with the suspect on 12 June. Records also showed several online accounts under fictitious names linked to Mr Heuermann were used for illegal activities. Mr Heuermann allegedly used those accounts and burner phones to contact women for prostitution services, as well as making chilling online searches. The searches included sadistic, torture-related pornography, child pornography and disturbing content. Mr Heuermann is also accused of searching “why could law enforcement not trace the calls made by the long island serial killer,” “why hasn’t the long island serial killer been caught” and “new phone technology may be key to break in case”. Mr Heuermann has pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him. Authorities in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Las Vegas and South Carolina are looking into possible links between Mr Heuermann and unsolved cases. The Associated Press contributed to this report Read More Missing paddle boarder’s body pulled from Martha’s Vineyard pond next to Obama mansion Manhattan architect, family man and accused serial killer: Who is Gilgo Beach suspect Rex Heuermann? How the Gilgo Beach serial killer turned the Long Island shore into a graveyard

Jill Biden met France’s first lady Brigitte Macron on Tuesday, 25 July, as she visited Paris to mark the United States’ official re-entry into United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco). The US First Lady will attend a flag-raising ceremony to celebrate the re-entry into the agency after a five-year hiatus. She is expected to make a speech about the importance of American leadership in preserving cultural heritage. Under Donald Trump’s administration, the US pulled out of Unesco because of an alleged anti-Israel bias and a need for “fundamental reform” in the agency. It was the second time the US returned to Unesco after withdrawing, after previously leaving under Ronald Reagan’s administration in 1984 citing alleged advancement of Soviet interests, mismanagement, and corruption. The nation announced its intention to rejoin the agency in June 2023 before the agency’s 193 member states approved re-entry. Today’s ceremony will feature a speecy by Unesco’s director general Audrey Azoulay. Read More First Lady Jill Biden to mark US reentry into UNESCO with flag-raising ceremony in Paris Oui, oui: Jill Biden heads to Paris to help mark US return to UN educational and scientific agency Jill Biden welcomes proposal for Medicare to pay for navigation services for cancer patients

'Barbie' star America Ferrera delivered her speech in a lot of different ways.

Before 25-year-old Carlee Russell went missing for a mysterious 49 hours – a disappearance, she admitted on Monday, that was staged – she posted a series of bizarre tweets. On the day she went “missing” on 13 July, she tweeted at 8.55pm: “today was a GREAT day God be looking out im telling you!!” One minute later, Ms Russell wrote: “someone to tell you ‘i love you’ and don’t got a reason.” Finally, she tweeted, “yeah i want a family now” at 9.19pm. Just moments later, around 9.30pm, the Alabama woman called 911 and told detectives that she was following a lost toddler along the interstate. After she returned home, Ms Russell claimed was abducted by a man with “orange hair,” before escaping. She later turned up on foot at her parent’s home with $107 tucked in her right sock, and alleged she had barely survived the encounter. Her tweets, in combination with her search history prior to her vanishing, raised doubts about the Alabama woman’s story. Police revealed that Ms Russell’s internet search history gave hints she could have staged her own kidnapping, as she looked up Amber Alerts, the movie Taken, booking a bus ticket from Birmingham to Nashville and “how to take money from a register without being caught.” A tweet on 10 July adds colour to this complicated picture, and indicates potential problems in her relationship. Ms Russell wrote, “I always say one thing i WONT do is stay with someone who cheated on me like you went and had sex with someone else and think it’ll be sweet one day?? hellll no.” Days earlier, she also tweeted: “everyone wants to feel wanted.” Her boyfriend, Thomar Latrell Simmons, had posted on Facebook upon Ms Russell’s miraculous return, and supported her story that she had been abducted. She had been “fighting for her life for 48 hours,” he wrote, but has since taken down the post. Two days earlier, her tweet revealed she may have been unhappy at work: “my job is really starting to get on my dang nerves.” She worked at Woodhouse Spa, the owner of which said on Thursday that he provided the police with “everything we uncovered.” According to the New York Post, Ms Russell tweeted on 19 July, “I’m thankful I know how to identify when the enemy coming for me now, makes life a lot easier.” But the post has been taken down. Police began expressing their doubts last week, saying Wednesday they were “unable to verify” most of Ms Russell’s claims regarding the events leading up to and during her disappearance. Read More Carlee Russell – latest: Confusion reigns over ‘kidnapping’ case after missing woman’s search history revealed Carlee Russell claimed she was kidnapped by a man with orange hair. Police say they can’t verify any of it Carlee Russell’s internet searches suggest she staged her own kidnapping, Alabama police say

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Carlee Russell’s story about being abducted after stopping at the side of a road to help a distressed toddler was a lie, her lawyer has said in a statement. The 25-year-old from Alabama told police she was kidnapped after stopping to help a toddler in diapers who was walking alone on Interstate 459 on the evening of 13 July. She came back home two days after the alleged abduction. Her family had stuck by her story, even after police publicly expressed scepticism. However, Hoover Police Department Chief Nicholas Derzis on Monday said Ms Russell’s attorney, Emory Anthony, had now provided a statement on Monday saying there was no kidnapping The statement in part read: “There was no kidnapping on Thursday July 13. My client did not see a baby on the side on the road.” Earlier CrimeStoppers walked back a pledge to return almost $63,000 in donations to help find Carlee Russell after the 25-year-old’s kidnapping story fell under suspicion. More than $63,000 was raised during the two-day search for the Alabama woman. But the organisation that offers anonymous tips about criminal activity now said the money will not be returned after initially making the promise. Read More Carlee Russell sent several bizarre tweets before disappearing Alabama lawyer says police is using ‘every other synonym for lie except saying she lied’ in Carlee Russell case Boyfriend of Carlee Russell deletes social media posts after police cast doubt over her kidnapping story Police doubt Carlee Russell’s kidnapping claims. Could she face consequences?