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Discover some of the most valuable board games from the ‘80s and ‘90s, including “HeroQuest,” “Dream Phone,” and others.

The owner of a New York day care where a one-year-old boy died of fentanyl exposure now faces federal charges. Youngster Nicholas Dominici died after he was exposed to the opioid at the Bronx facility on Friday, while three other young children were hospitalised. Daycare owner Grei Mendez, 36, and tenant Carlisto Acevedo Brito, 41, were arrested on state charges including murder, manslaughter and assault. Now federal prosecutors say they have also been charged with narcotics possession with intent to distribute resulting in death and conspiracy to distribute narcotics resulting in death, reported ABC News. A kilo of fentanyl was found in a hallway closet outside Mr Brito’s room, which he rented from Ms Mendez for $200 a week, according to investigators. Prosecutors told a judge during a Sunday night arraignment hearing that Ms Mendez had taken part in the “reckless depraved act” by renting the room to Mr Brito, her husband’s cousin, reported ABC News. Her lawyer told the court that his client, who faces a sentence of life imprisonment if convicted, had no idea that drugs were being stored at the daycare. Police say that drug production equipment was also found inside the daycare. Investigators believe that the children inhaled fentanyl particles during their daylong exposure to the drug before they were found unconscious and the alarm was raised. Both suspects were deemed flight risks by the judge and are being held without bail. “I love him, I miss him, I want him back – but there’s nothing that will give me back my son – when I came home from work and walked through the door, he’d say ‘daddy, daddy!’” Nicholas’s father, Otoniel Feliz, told ABC7. “My wife was on her way to the day care. She was going to pick him up early. Shortly before she arrives, she receives the call and also sees the ambulance.” Read More Owner of day care where toddler died of suspected fentanyl exposure dubbed ‘depraved’ in court hearing Daycare owner and neighbour charged after one-year-old child died from suspected fentanyl exposure One-year-old child dead and three others hospitalised after daycare incident

The UK government has moved to take control of the country's second biggest city, Birmingham, after the local council effectively declared itself bankrupt earlier this month.

The rift between two strategic partners erupted over a Sikh separatist leader's murder in Canada.

Azerbaijan's defense ministry said Tuesday it had begun an "anti-terrorist" campaign in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, as Armenian media and local authorities reported heavy bombardment of the regional capital of Stepanakert.

A death row inmate in Nebraska who was convicted of killing his Tinder date has now been accused of concocting a fake murder-for-hire scheme from behind bars – with a little help. Aubrey Trail, 56, was sentenced to death in June 2021 for the brutal 2017 murder and dismembering of Sydney Loofe after meeting her on the dating app Tinder. While in prison, he met 55-year-old Samantha Al-Rekabi of Lincoln, Nebraska, who was writing a book about Loofe’s murder and the two began hatching a plan to swindle a nurse at the Lincoln prison out of $25,000. On Sunday, Ms Al-Rekabi was arrested and has since been charged with felony theft by extortion in the case, according to court records. Investigators began the probe after being tipped off by another inmate in 2021. They say the two “manipulated” the nurse into smuggling in contraband, including a phone and chewing tobacco, according to a recent arrest warrant affidavit obtained by the Lincoln Journal Star. The nurse, who has not been named because she is not charged, worked at the Nebraska Diagnostic & Evaluation Center, now known as the Reception and Treatment Center. She quit just before the Nebraska State Patrol’s investigation began in March 2021, was interviewed by the FBI in December of that same year. She told the FBI she’d been manipulated by Trail and admitted to smuggling him contraband, the affidavit states. The affidavit revealed that Trail told Ms Al-Rekabi to befriend the nurse, which she did, and the two bonded over being “true crime buffs” and confided in each other about marriage troubles. In the interview, the nurse talked about how Trail exploited her friendship with Ms Al-Rekabi, and alleged that Trail had told her he’d hired a hitman to kill her husband and that he would only call off the hit if she paid him $25,000. She agreed to pay the money and went to the bank with Ms Al-Rekabi to withdraw the funds. The affidavit revealed the nurse had withdrawn $25,000 in cash from her account. The affidavit also revealed that in a number of phone recordings investigators believe to be between Ms Al-Rekabi and Trail, she was allegedly heard bragging to Trail about getting the blackmail money from the nurse, gushing “she’s gonna get her pension out just [to] give it to us.” A response from a male can be heard, “She don’t have a choice.” It was revealed that investigators came to “believe that there was never a legitimate plan” to pay a hitman to kill the nurse’s family. Other calls detailed Trail’s alleged desire to have a gun smuggled into the prison. In one of the calls, a male’s voice is heard telling the nurse to “bring me a gun so I can just kill everybody,” according to the affidavit. Ms Al-Rekabi later admitted that she helped Trail because she was afraid he would hurt her son, who is also in prison. She appeared in court on Monday where her bond was set at $5,000. An interview with a Nebraska State Patrol investigator in April 2023 also revealed that Ms Al-Rekabi had admitted to working as an intermediary between Trail and his girlfriend, Bailey Boswell, a former store clerk who was also convicted for her role in Loofe’s killing, KLKNTV reported. Boswell, who was at the center of a wild outburst by Trail during his 2019 trial, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in November 2021. Trail had tried slashing his throat and yelled “Bailey is innocent, and I curse you all!” Read More Alex Murdaugh pleads guilty to committing crime for first time Extortion trial against Joran van der Sloot, suspect in Natalee Holloway disappearance, is delayed Teenager arrested over murder of girl, 10, who was shot while being driven back from Mother’s Day party

Alphabet Inc.’s Google has tweaked its advertising auctions to ensure it meets revenue targets, sometimes increasing ad prices

House Republicans are still struggling to reach consensus on a plan to fund the government, with lawmakers going back-and-forth over the issue during a closed-door party meeting on Tuesday morning.

Delphi murders suspect Richard Allen has made the bombshell claim that teenage best friends Libby German and Abby Williams were killed as part of a “ritualistic sacrifice” at the hands of a white nationalistcult. In sensational court documents, filed on Monday, attorneys for the 50-year-old accused killer claim that the brutal 2017 murders were carried out by members of a pagan Norse religion and white nationalist group called Odinists. “Members of a pagan Norse religion, called Odinism, hijacked by white nationalists,ritualistically sacrificed Abigail Williams and Liberty German,” state the documents, seen by The Independent. The nature of the crime scene pointed to the work of a cult from the get-go, according to the bombshell 135-page document which said it “resembled possible Odinism signatures left behind at the crime scene”. Libby and Abby’s bodies had both been staged with tree branches and sticks across their bodies in the shape of pagan symbols, the documents state. While his defence attorneys claim Mr Allen has no connection to any pagan cult, the bombshell documents also take the extraordinary step of naming four other individuals as potential suspects. None of the individuals have ever been named by law enforcement as suspects or persons of interest in the case and The Independent is not naming them. According to Mr Allen’s attorneys, law enforcement officials had explored possible links between the killings early on in the investigation – but then quickly “abandoned” the theory after speaking to an unidentified professor who refuted any possible link. But despite this, at least three law enforcement officers – former Rushville assistant police chief Todd Click and officers Kevin Murphy and Greg Ferency – continued to investigate a possible connection. By February 2018, Mr Allen’s attorneys say that “the evidence establishing the names of the likely murdering members of this Odinite cult became known to the Delphi investigative leadership”. The investigators connected two separate groups of men who practiced Odinism – one in Delphi and the other in Rushville – to each other and “then connected both groups of men to the murders”, the court documents state. The murders that rocked the close-knit community of Delphi have never been publicly linked to Odinism before now. On 13 February 2017, Libby and Abby headed along the Monon High Bridge Trail in their hometown. During the walk, Libby posted a photo of her best friend on Snapchat as they walked along the Monon High Bridge. Minutes later, Libby captured a video of a man – known as “bridge guy” – dressed in blue jeans, a blue jacket and a cap walking along the abandoned railroad bridge. In the footage – found on Libby’s phone following their murders – the man tells the two girls: “Guys, down the hill.” Later that day, the teenagers were reported missing when they failed to return to a spot where a family member was picking them up. The next day – Valentine’s Day 2017 – their bodies were discovered in a wooded area less than half a mile off the trail along the side of Deer Creek. In the new court documents, Mr Allen’s attorneys claim that there were “possible Odinism signatures left behind at the crime scene” including the staging of the bodies and branches displayed on the victims to create pagan symbols and shapes. Describing the scene as “ghoulish”, the documents also reveal never-before-known details about how Libby and Abby died. The teenage best friends both had their necks slashed, the documents reveal. Libby was found at the base of a tree with “four tree branches of varying sizes intentionally placed in a very specific and arranged pattern on her naked body” and blood spots and drippings all over her body. Abby meanwhile was fully clothed, including in Libby’s sweatshirt and jeans, the documents state. There was no blood on her clothing, indicating that she was likely murdered while naked and then dressed after she was killed. Tree branches and sticks had also been arranged on her body, the documents state. Both victims appeared to have been moved after they were murdered and positioned. “Richard Allen has zero connections to any pagan cult or pagan cultists, and furthermoreno forensic evidence (such as DNA) or electronic evidence links Richard Allen to the girls or tothe crime scene – i.e., he is a completely innocent man,” the defence attorneys write. As well as the claims that Odinism could be linked to the killings, Mr Allen’s attorneys have accused the prosecution of withholding this information from the defence – and that the possible ties only came to light because Mr Click reached out to the state in the wake of the arrest. The documents state that Mr Click was concerned that the probable cause affidavit laying out the case against Mr Allen was “far less compelling than the totality of the information” that they had gathered about the Odinism angle and so sent a letter to prosecutor Nick McCleland in May to ensure he was aware of that information. The state did not hand over this information or the letter until September, the defence states. The defence is also claiming that Odinists are working as corrections officers at Westville Correctional Facility where Mr Allen is being held awaiting trial – and where they claim he has suffered ill-treatment. Now, the defence is seeking a Franks hearing in the case and to have Mr Allen moved to another facility. The bombshell claims laid out in the new court documents mark the latest twist to the tragic case which began when two teenage best friends set off on a walk together one spring day in 2017. For more than five years, the girls’ devastated families waited for answers in the case as no arrests were made. Then, in late October 2022, Mr Allen – a local man who served the victims’ families in his job at the Delphi CVS store – was finally arrested and charged with their murders. According to investigators, Mr Allen is the so-called “bridge guy” captured on camera by the victims. The suspect forced the two victims down the hill and led them to the location where they were murdered, according to his probable cause affidavit. The criminal affidavit, which was partially redacted and released in November, previously revealed that the local man was finally tied to the February 2017 murders through a bullet found at the bloody crime scene. Ballistics confirmed that an unspent .40 caliber round found close to the bodies of the teenage victims came from Mr Allen’s Sig Sauer Model P226. The firearm – which he owned since 2011 – was found during a search of his home last October and both he and his wife Kathy told police he was the only person with access to it, the documents state. The documents also revealed that, in Libby’s cellphone footage, one of the victims mentions the word “gun” – suggesting that their attacker was armed with a firearm and was using it to coerce the victims. In a police interview on 13 October, Mr Allen told investigators he had “no explanation” as to how the spent bullet ended up near the bodies of the two teenage victims, the document states. The accused killer said he had “not been on the property where the unspent round was found, that he did not know the property owner, and that he had no explanation as to why a round cycled through his firearm would be at that location,” it says. The property owner – Ron Logan – was also previously tied to the case. He died in 2020. As well as the ballistics evidence, Mr Allen was also tied to the killings after his vehicle was spotted parked close to the trail in “an odd manner” as if to “conceal the license plate”, the affidavit previously revealed. Several witnesses also reported seeing a “creepy” man matching the description of “bridge guy” around the time of the murders while one person said they saw a “muddy and bloody” man leaving the trail around two hours after Libby and Abby were last seen alive. The witnesses did not see anyone other than “bridge guy” on the trail at the time, the affidavit reads. The married father to a daughter had been on law enforcement’s radar back in 2017 after he admitted to being on the trail the day the girls were killed. During a 2017 interview with police, Mr Allen confessed to being on the Monon High Bridge Trail that afternoon but denied any involvement in the murders and insisted he had never seen the two girls that day. Despite placing himself at the scene of the crime at the time of the murders, he slipped through the net due to a “clerical error”. Since his arrest, Mr Allen has confessed to the 2017 murders multiple times behind bars – including in a jailhouse phone call with his wife, dramatic court documents revealed back in June. While prosecutors say that the accused killer admitted “several times” that he carried out the brutal murders, Mr Allen’s attorneys claim that his confession cannot be believed due to his current mental state. The sudden arrest of the local man almost six years on from the murders marked a major break in the case. But the investigation is far from over with officials saying that they believe Mr Allen may not have acted alone. Prior to Mr Allen’s arrest, investigators had been searching for information about a catfishing account which was in contact with Libby on the day she was killed. The man behind the account – Kegan Anthony Kline – was tied to the 2017 murders in December 2021 when investigators urged the public to come forward with information about a bogus online profile named @anthony_shots. Kline, 28, confessed to using the fake profile to groom underage girls, get them to send him nude photos and their addresses, and try to get them to meet him in person. In a 2020 police interview, a transcript of which has been seen by The Independent, Kline admitted that he had communicated with 14-year-old Libby on Instagram and Snapchat through the catfishing profile before she died. The transcript revealed that he had exchanged photos with the teenage girl and that Libby had communicated with the fake profile on the very day that she and Abby were murdered. On 25 February 2017 - less than two weeks after the two girls were brutally killed – police carried out a search of Kline’s home in Peru. Kline has never been charged in connection to the murders. However, he told “The Murder Sheet” podcast in a jailhouse interview that he has information about the murders but that police “don’t want to hear anything I have to say”. In July, he was sentenced to more than four decades in prison on a string of child sexual abuse and child exploitation charges. Read More Delphi murders suspect Richard Allen ‘confessed to killing teenagers in jailhouse phone call with wife’ What we know about the Delphi murders of Abigail Williams and Libby German Delphi murders suspect Richard Allen seeks to toss key evidence from case

Americans' outlook on national politics is best summarized as "dismal," according to a wide-ranging new Pew Research Center report released Tuesday.

The controversial sci-fi horror film wasn’t a hit with critics or fans in 1982, but “Halloween III: Season of the Witch” has morphed into a cult classic over the years.

The notorious Delphi murders case has taken another shocking twist as accused killer Richard Allen made a bombshell claim about the killings of teenagers Libby German and Abby Williams. In court documents released on Monday, the 50-year-old local man maintained his innocence of the 2017 killings and instead claimed that the murders were carried out by a pagan cult hijacked by white nationalists. “Members of a pagan Norse religion, called Odinism, hijacked by white nationalists, ritualistically sacrificed Abigail Williams and Liberty German,” his attorneys write in the documents seen by The Independent. Mr Allen’s attorneys said that “possible Odinism signatures” were left behind by the killers at the crime scene with the victims’ bodies staged by trees with branches and sticks laid across their bodies in the shape of pagan symbols. While Mr Allen has no known connection to any pagan cult, his defence attorneys also took the extraordinary step of naming four individuals they say are involved in Odinism as potential suspects. None of these individuals have ever been named by law enforcement as suspects or persons of interest in the case. What is Odinism? Odinism is a pagan Norse religion with origins in ancient Viking and Nordic beliefs and pre-Christian European culture. Sometimes referred to as Wotanism, it is seen as a “racist variant” of the pagan religious sect Asatru, according to the Anti-Defamation League. While Asatru itself is not racist, over the years Odinism has become increasingly tied to white supremacist and neo-Nazi beliefs in the US. Many followers – known as Odinites – are now said to exist among the white supremacist prison population. “The religion, which revives a pre-Christian pantheon of Norse gods, is appealing to white supremacists because it mythologizes the virtues of early northern European whites – seen as wandering barbarians, deeply involved in a mystical relationship with nature, struggling heroically against the elements,” the Southern Poverty Law Center explains. “It sings the virtues of the tribe, or folk, strongly emphasizing genetic closeness. And it credits whites with building civilization and an ethic of individual responsibility, even as they boldly slew wild boars, fought for their tribes and explored the far reaches of the known world.” Were Libby and Abby killed by Odinites? The murders of Libby and Abby have never been publicly linked to Odinism before now. But, according to Mr Allen’s attorneys, law enforcement officials did explore the cult’s possible involvement early on in the investigation – as far back as February 2018. On 13 February 2017, Libby and Abby disappeared after set off on a walk along the Monon High Bridge Trail in their hometown of Delphi. During the walk, Libby posted a photo of her best friend on Snapchat as they walked along the Monon High Bridge. Minutes later, Libby captured a video of a man – known as “bridge guy” – dressed in blue jeans, a blue jacket and a cap walking along the abandoned railroad bridge. In the footage – found on Libby’s phone following their murders – the man tells the two girls: “Guys, down the hill.” The next day – Valentine’s Day 2017 – the girls’ bodies were discovered in a wooded area less than half a mile off the trail along the side of Deer Creek. In the court documents, Mr Allen’s attorneys claim that there were “possible Odinism signatures left behind at the crime scene” including the staging of the bodies and branches displayed on the victims to create pagan symbols and shapes. Describing the scene as “ghoulish”, the documents also reveal never-before-known details about how Libby and Abby died. The teenage best friends both had their necks slashed, the documents reveal. Libby was found at the base of a tree with “four tree branches of varying sizes intentionally placed in a very specific and arranged pattern on her naked body” and blood spots and drippings all over her body. Abby meanwhile was fully clothed, including in Libby’s sweatshirt and jeans, the documents state. There was no blood on her clothing, indicating that she was likely murdered while naked and then dressed after she was killed. Tree branches and sticks had also been arranged on her body, the documents state. Both victims appeared to have been moved after they were murdered and positioned. According to Mr Allen’s attorneys, police on the case did investigate a link to Odinism but, after speaking to an expert, the theory was quickly “abandoned”. Several officials continued to believe an Odinist cult was behind the murders but the information was withheld from the defence, his attorneys claim. Now, the defence is seeking a Franks hearing in the case and to have Mr Allen moved to another facility. Read More Delphi murders suspect makes bombshell claim that victims were ‘sacrificed’ by white nationalist cult What we know about the Delphi murders of Abigail Williams and Libby German Delphi murders: What we know about suspect Richard Allen