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The judge presiding over Lori Vallow’s murder trial has ruled that the court will stream the verdict of the high-profile case once it’s reached. The decision was made public on the fourth week of Ms Vallow’s trial over charges of conspiracy to kill her children JJ Vallow, seven; and Tylee Ryan, 16; as well as his doomsday preacher husband Chad Daybell’s wife Tammy Daybell. Last year, Judge Steven Boyce banned cameras from the courtroom, citing concerns that they could prevent a fair trial. It came after Ms Vallow’s attorneys contended that one news organisation abused the privilege by repeatedly zooming in on Ms Vallow’s face during previous hearings. Prosecutors sided with the defence and said the cameras should be banned as news coverage could make it hard for the court to find an impartial jury. A coalition of more than 30 news organisations including The Associated Press and East Idaho News asked the judge to reject the motion but the court ultimately decided that news organisations would no longer be able to shoot still photography or videos inside the courtroom. Judge Boyce stated in his Tuesday ruling that the reasoning behind the ban loses validity upon the reaching of a verdict, allowing the court to stream the final chapter of the weeks-long trial through its YouTube channel, according to East Idaho News. On Monday, the court heard testimony from retired FBI Agent Doug Hart, whose role in the investigation was to comb through Ms Vallow’s iCloud accounts. With more than 4,500 text messages saved to the accounts, he was able to piece together a timeline of the developing relationship between Mr Daybell and Ms Vallow over 2019. This included the period in which Ms Vallow’s previous husband Charles Vallow was shot to death by her brother Alex Cox and she was able to pursue a romance with doomsday author Mr Daybell. In addition to raunchy text messages — some threaded together to form a lengthy story — the couple’s bizarre beliefs about possession and zombies and rating individuals on a light-to-dark scale were laid out. Shortly after the death of Charles Vallow on 11 July 2019, Ms Vallow and her son JJ, seven, took a trip with her niece Melani Boudreaux and her two children. It is not known if Tylee Ryan was on the trip. In texts, Mr Daybell referred to the Boudreaux children as “3s” based on where he placed them on his strange rating system. He sent Ms Vallow a text asking if she wanted him to “cause pain” to the two 3s she was travelling with. The two believed in an ability to use their minds to cast out demons from people and “work on them”. She replied to him telling him to hold off, but added that if they started to act up again “we can zap them”. Mr Daybell agreed and responded: “If they are going to act up, we’ll at least give them a reason to scream.” JJ and Tylee vanished without a trace back in September 2019, with their mother refusing to reveal their whereabouts to authorities for many months. One month after they were last seen alive, Tammy – an otherwise healthy 49-year-old – died suddenly and Ms Vallow and Mr Daybell soon jetted off to Hawaii to get married on the beach. In June 2020, the remains of JJ and Tylee were found buried on the grounds of Mr Daybell’s property in Rexburg, Idaho, and the doomsday cult couple were eventually charged with murder. Prosecutors allege that Ms Vallow and Mr Daybell conspired with Ms Vallow’s brother Alex Cox to murder Tammy, JJ and Tylee as part of their bizarre cult beliefs – but also for financial purposes so that they could collect Tammy’s life insurance money and the children’s social security and survivor benefits. Mr Daybell will stand trial separately with a potential date of June 2024 spoken about in court. Read More Lori Vallow trial - live: Court hears chilling ‘demons’ comments as judge allows livestream of verdict Lori Vallow trial verdict will be livestreamed, judge rules after banning video of testimony Lori Vallow’s disturbing texts revealed: ‘A reason to scream’

By Julia Harte NEW YORK A fierce debate among New Yorkers over whether a former U.S. Marine was

Pakistan's opposition leader is arrested in Islamabad where he was appearing on corruption charges.

The police officer who has been hailed as a hero for taking down the gunman who killed eight people after opening fire at Allen Premium Outlets in Texas has released a statement saying he’s “doing well.” Three days after the tragic shooting, the officer’s attorney, Zach Horn, released a statement on behalf of the officer to local news outlet WFAA. “He’s doing well and would appreciate privacy and he continues to process this life-altering tragedy,” the statement from Mr Horn read. In the statement, Mr Horn said the officer, who wishes to remain unidentified, “sprinted toward the high power rifle fire as everyone else ran away” to subdue the gunman. “He’s a brave servant with a gentle heart that embodies the best the law enforcement profession has to offer,” Mr Horn added. The Independent has reached out to Mr Horn for comment. The gunman, who has been identified as 33-year-old Mauricio Garcia, was taken down by the officer after killing eight people, including three children, and injuring seven others. Garcia arrived at the Allen Premium Outlets on Saturday (6 May) armed with an AR-15 style rifle, ammunition and body armour. Authorities are unsure what the motive behind Garcia’s attack was though police found he may have had ties to a far-right organisation, white supremacy and possibly neo-Nazism. The shooting is one of over 200 to have occurred in the United States this year so far. More follows. Read More Texas mall shooting – latest: Allen officer who shot ‘neo Nazi’ gunman breaks silence as flags at half mast Gruesome video footage won’t make gun control happen Victims of the Texas mall shooting – everything we know

WASHINGTON U.S. small business confidence fell in April on worries about the near-term economic outlook and persistent worker

By David Lawder WASHINGTON The U.S. government will begin defaulting on its payment obligations between early June and

A witness to the car crash that killed eight people outside a migrant shelter in Texas says the driver made anti-immigrant remarks before he was detained by members of the public. Suspect George Alvarez, 34, has been charged with eight counts of manslaughter and 10 counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after Sunday morning’s incident. Police say they are still investigating whether the crash was intentional as well as the driver’s alleged remarks. Earlier police revealed that Mr Alvarez has a lengthy criminal history, including multiple assault charges. And shocking security camera footage shared by Texas congressman Henry Cuellar showed the moment a grey Ranger Rover, travelling along North Minnesota Avenue towards Boca Chica Boulevard, smashed into the crowd outside of the city’s Bishop Enrique San Pedro Ozanam Center. The Venezuelan government has called for an investigation to determine if the crash was deliberate and motivated by hate or xenophobia, after it emerged that several of the victims were from Venezuela. Read More George Alvarez: Everything we know about driver in Brownsville crash that killed 8 migrants Two days, three attacks, 18 dead: Texas reels from horrifying weekend of violence Everything we know about the Brownsville, Texas crash that killed 8 people outside a migrant centre George Alvarez identified as driver in Texas migrant shelter crash as death toll rises to eight

A family of four has become a family of one after a 6-year-old's parents and brother were fatally shot by a gunman at a Texas outlet mall Saturday, a GoFundMe post by the family's friends said.

A social media profile that appears to belong to a gunman who killed eight people in a busy Dallas-area shopping mall on 6 May includes dozens of Nazi-related images and hate-filled rants against women and racial minorities. The profile on the Russian-based platform ok.ru also includes more than two dozen photos of the Texas mall and surrounding areas, including Google location information that shows when the mall is at its busiest. It was posted in the days leading up to the attack. Posts reviewed by The Independent and extremism researchers include photos showing SS and swastika tattoos, praise for Adolf Hitler, misogynistic screeds that echo incel (or involuntary celibate) ideas and forums, and complaints about the state of his mental health. The profile allegedly belongs to Mauricio Garcia, the 33-year-old who was fatally shot by police after he fired an AR-style rifle at the outlet mall, killing eight and injuring seven others. Law enforcement officials have not publicly disclosed or suggested a motive behind the mass shooting. A federal law enforcement bulletin notes that the FBI’s “review and triage of the subject’s social media accounts revealed hundreds of postings and images to include writings with racially or ethnically motivated violent extremist rhetoric, including neo-Nazi materials and material espousing the supremacy of the white race.” The profile did not have any followers or appear to have any engagement from other users. One image on the ok.ru profile includes a picture of his hand which appears to be the same tattoo that belonged to the gunman. Another photo receipt from January has the name “Mauricio” and a phone number that appears to match one that belongs to Garcia. Photos on the profile also include dumped-out boxes of ammunition, posted at the same time with images outside the mall. The profile had appeared to telegraph preparations for violence for years; a photo of a written diary entry in a spiral-bound notebook from 2019 details a dream about racist violence. In what appears to be a final post, the user claims that a psychologist would not be able to “fix” him. A link to a YouTube video posted by the same person on the day of the shooting shows Garcia removing a Scream mask and asking, “Not quite what you were expecting, huh?” During the attack, he was reportedly wearing a patch reading “RWDS,” an acronym for “Right Wing Death Squad” – a flak jacket with the patch appears on the ok.ru profile. This catchphrase has emerged in recent years as both a far-right brand and rallying cry popular with the Proud Boys, a neo-fascist group. Its also often associated with memes and T-shirts praising Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and his extrajudicial killing of political enemies by throwing them from helicopters. “Dissidents, particularly leftists, socialists, and supporters of the previous government, were dropped to their death from helicopters by Pinochet’s regime,” West Point’s Combating Terrorism Center notes in its research of the “Right Wing Death Squad” meme. “Today, the reference often features an image of a helicopter and is often accompanied by slogans such as ‘Right Wing Death Squad,’ ‘Free Helicopter Rides,’ and other iterations.” The phrases are emblazoned on T-shirts and stickers; several members of the Proud Boys who were convicted of seditious conspiracy for their actions surrounding the January 6 attack have been photographed with similar patches or T-shirts reading “Pinochet Did Nothing Wrong.” “RWDS” has appeared at neo-Nazi gatherings, far-right protests and other events attracting Proud Boys members and other fascist groups within the years after the 2016 election. The phrase was scrawled on shields during the so-called “Unite the Right” rally white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017. At the time, Facebook removed several racist groups from the platform, including one called “Right Wing Death Squad”. In 2019, federal investigators uncovered an alleged plot involving an active-duty US Marine to kill minorities, drug users and members of the Democratic National Committee in a group chat called “Right Wing Death Squad”. Allen is among one of the most diverse suburbs of the Dallas-Fort Worth area, home to roughly 105,000 people. Many of the posts allegedly written by Garcia also discuss or reference his Hispanic heritage, underscoring the ways in which white supremacism, fascism and violent extremist ideologies often escape rigid racial or ethnic lines. Virulent antisemite and white nationalist Nick Fuentes has a half-Mexican father, and Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the Proud Boys who was convicted of seditious conspiracy for his role in the Capitol attack, is Afro-Cuban. Nazi propaganda website The Daily Stormer also began publishing in Spanish in 2017 in an effort to seize on Latin American audiences. The ok.ru profile mentions the website and its founder Andrew Anglin. “I think I even read in the news Hispanics could be the new white supremist [sic],” one of the ok.ru post reads. “Just the other day this black dude told me the line is blurring. He can’t tell the difference anymore. Someone would look white but their [sic] actually Hispanic.” In photographs of his spiral-bound diary entries, he also said he wore an “It’s OK to be White” shirt and that he is Hispanic whether he “likes it or not.” Garcia was heavily armed and armoured when he began firing indiscriminately with an AR-style rifle at the Allen Premium Outlets shopping centre on 6 May. Among the eight victims are a three-year-old boy, an eight-year-old girl and an 11-year-old girl, according to the Allen Police Department. An Allen police officer who was already at the scene for an unrelated incident fatally shot him. There have been more than 200 mass shootings, including 21 mass murders, so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive. White supremacists are behind the highest number of extremism-related murders in most years, according to an analysis from the Anti-Defamation League. Last year, 21 of 25 extremism-linked murders were committed by white supremacists – but “all the extremist-related murders in 2022 were committed by right-wing extremists of various kinds,” the report found. Read More Allen mall shooting - update: Parents and three-year-old son named among eight killed by Texas outlet shooter Mauricio Garcia: Everything we know about the Texas mall gunman who killed eight Two days, three attacks, 18 dead: Texas reels from horrifying weekend of violence

By Ted Hesson and Mike Blake SAN DIEGO (Reuters) -The Biden administration and Texas state government are sending reinforcements to

The New York judge handling Donald Trump's criminal case approved a protective order on Monday that limits the former president's ability to publicize information on social media related to evidence in the investigation.

The trial of “doomsday cult mom” Lori Vallow continues for another week at the Ada County Courthouse in Boise, Idaho, where the mother-of-three is accused of killing her two youngest children and her new husband Chad Daybell’s first wife. The 49-year-old is charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy, and grand theft over the deaths of her daughter Tylee Ryan, 16, son Joshua “JJ” Vallow, 7, and Mr Daybell’s wife Tammy, 49. Tylee and JJ were last seen alive in September 2019. In June 2020, their remains were found buried on the Daybell property. Tammy died one month after their disappearance in October 2019. Friday’s testimony included a detailed look at text messages between Ms Vallow and Mr Daybell that spanned their affair, referred to their spouses and children as “obstacles”, and grew increasingly romantic following her husband’s death as she ignored his son’s pleas for more information. On Monday even more texts were shown in court as well as the last videos of the two children seen alive which were found on Ms Vallow’s iCloud account. Meanwhile, the court is eyeing June 2024 as a possible start date for Mr Daybell’s trial. Read More Lori Vallow ignored stepsons’ pleas as she exchanged romantic texts with Chad Daybell after husband’s death Lori Vallow trial hears autopsy details that show Tammy Daybell was likely restrained during her murder Lori Vallow’s friend says she threatened to ‘cut up’ and bury her one month after children disappeared