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"We ask for prayers for the salvation of the shrine from destruction. Another Russian crime against humanity, against history, against Christianity," Metropolitan Epiphanies, head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, said amid Russia's attack.

Linkin case you don't see it: https://kyivindependent.com/russian-attack-june-14-2026/

Two helicopters collided over Rio de Janeiro on Sunday morning and crashed in the city’s western zone, killing all six people aboard, firefighters said.

Rio de Janeiro’s Military Fire Department said one of the helicopters crashed on the parking lot of a car dealership, where several electric vehicles were parked, igniting a fire that was extinguished.

Officials said an investigation is underway to determine the cause of the collision.

Police said that American singer and comedian Oliver Tree was on the list of passengers given to aviation authorities, but they have not been able to identify the bodies of those killed in the crash.

Tree performed in Buenos Aires, Argentina on June 4, and published a video on his Instagram Saturday where he is playing soccer in a Brazilian neighborhood.

Argentine streaming channel Blender said that content creator Gaspar Prim Díaz — also known as Gaspi — was in one of the helicopters.

Gaspi had more than 2.8 million followers on YouTube and was 23.

“Thanks for your art, your magic and your sensibility, every one of us will miss you,” Blender said on its X account.

Fernandes de Freitas, a tire repair worker, said he saw one of the helicopters in flames following the midair collision, and noticed that one of the passengers jumped out of the other aircraft, before it hit the ground.

“It was terrifying, absolutely horrifying,” De Freitas said.

A senior Iranian official told Reuters a final draft of the memorandum of understanding with the U.S. covered a range of issues, from Tehran’s nuclear work to reopening the ‌Strait of Hormuz and U.S. waivers on oil sanctions, with a final deal to be discussed in the 60 days following agreement by the two sides.

Site takes no action over hate posts against UK politicians including Kemi Badenoch, Shabana Mahmood and Zia Yusuf

X has refused to take down dozens of social media posts reported as “hate, abuse or harassment” in which prominent UK politicians, including Kemi Badenoch, have been racially abused.

In May, researchers from the social inclusion thinktank British Future reported 30 posts from this year in which the Conservative party leader was called the N-word. In each case the researchers used the platform’s “hate, abuse or harassment” reporting option. X refused to act in the majority of cases, despite repeated requests.

The Guardian understands X routinely takes action only when posts are reported to it as illegal under the UK’s Online Safety Act. In those cases, it restricts visibility in the UK, leaving the post unrestricted in other jurisdictions.

Attorneys for Donald Trump are telling a federal judge to back off her tentative attempts to look into the mechanics of a settlement that purported to create a controversial $1.776 billion "anti-weaponization fund" for the president's allies and supporters.

In January, Trump's original lawsuit against the IRS was filed in the Southern District of Florida. By the middle of May, however, the case was closed – on the plaintiff's own request – with the 45th and 47th president opting instead for a publicly subsidized fund that would reward pro-Trump stalwarts and others similarly situated.

Under the terms of the settlement, eligible claimants are people who were subjected to the "sustained use of the levers of government power by Democrat elected officials, political and career federal employees, contractors, and agents in order to target" them for "improper and unlawful political, personal, and/or ideological reasons."

Albanian prosecutors said Saturday they had demanded the arrest of 20 people over alleged drug-trafficking and money-laundering, with media saying some may have ties to a resort project linked to relatives of Donald Trump.

Opposition to the planned luxury resort linked to the US president’s daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner has driven large daily protests for the past two weeks in the Balkan nation.

Protesters demand that the project in a protected coastal zone in Zvernec and on the uninhabited island of Sazan be stopped and that Prime Minister Edi Rama resign.

On Saturday, the special prosecutor’s office against corruption and organized crime (SPAK) said in a statement that a probe into international cocaine-trafficking revealed the involvement of several people in “operations suspected of serving to conceal the origin of assets and integrate illegal proceeds into the formal economy”.

SPAK said it had asked the courts to order the arrest of 20 people but that only four had been arrested as of Saturday. It did not mention the project in Zvernec. Asset seizure

The courts ordered the preventive seizure of “several assets, relating to sales contracts”, the statement said.

It said the contracts involved people whom it identified only by their initials as A.Sh., F.S., and B.S. and “the company ‘A...L...D... Sh.a.’”.

“The amount under preventive seizure exceeds 128.4 million euros” ($148.5 million), it said.

Part of the suspect investments relates to properties and construction projects in Tirana, Palase and Himare and other coastal areas, the prosecutors said.

The company identified by the prosecutors as ‘A...L...D...Sh.a.’, could be Albania Land Development (ALD).

Public documents from the Albanian commercial registry, seen by AFP, show that the company purchased vast plots of land in Zvernec that appear to match those involved in the tourism project described by Ivanka Trump in a recent podcast.

“We have five miles (eight kilometres) of beachfront directly across from the (Sazan) island, this beautiful peninsula with a lagoon on one side, the ocean on the other, beautiful white sand beaches,” she said.

A.Sh. could be Artur Shehu, mentioned in several local media reports including an investigation by news website Reporter.al.

The reports presented Shehu as the main seller of the land intended for the tourist complex project by Albania Land Development.

Contacted by AFP on Saturday afternoon, the SPAK did not reply.

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Some fighters will receive bonuses in ‘stablecoins’ issued by Trump family business World Liberty Financial

The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) announced on Friday that it will pay bonuses to fighters in a form of cryptocurrency issued by Trump family business World Liberty Financial at the heavily publicized White House mixed martial arts event on Sunday.

The development connects the Trump family’s financial interests to the high-profile UFC competition being promoted on government property. The competition on the south White House lawn is scheduled for 14 June, Donald Trump’s birthday.

The UFC said some fighters will receive bonuses in World Liberty Financial crypto called “stablecoins”, whose value is pegged to the US dollar. World Liberty named the currency “USD1”.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.today/post/54725127

Beneath the spectacle of fighters beating each other bloody on the White House South Lawn, fight promoters, tech billionaires, and the Saudi government are working to concentrate wealth and power in fewer, richer hands.

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/39058653

Louisiana has joined a handful of Republican states that have recently passed legislation aimed at banning lawsuits against oil and gas companies over the harms of climate change.

The Louisiana Energy Protection Act, written by state Rep. Brett Geymann, R-Lake Charles, is aimed at preventing lawsuits filed by states and local jurisdictions in other parts of the U.S. from playing out in Louisiana. Across the country, about 30 lawsuits seeking to hold industry to account for the impacts of climate change have been weaving their way through the legal system, but none have been brought in Louisiana.

The lawsuits seek to hold oil and gas companies accountable for the impacts of sea level rise, extreme weather events, wildfires and flooding, arguing that the companies should pay for measures needed to adapt, such as seawalls and building elevations. Louisiana has now banned those types of claims from being brought in state court against oil and gas producers or any other defendant.

Nike has released a new sneaker collaboration with Rassvet, the brand founded by Gosha Rubchinskiy, reviving attention to the designer’s past controversies.

in case you don't see the link: https://united24media.com/world/nike-launches-sneaker-line-with-russian-designer-who-backed-crimea-annexation-19715

Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney continued his efforts to pivot away from the United States and align with Europe, meeting with the leader of Ireland on Saturday ahead of the upcoming G7 summit and saying middle power countries shouldn’t compete for favor with America.

Carney said that Canada and the European Union have a combined population that is more than twice that of the United States, with a similarly sized economy and a collective defense budget that is twice that of China’s.

He said smaller nations can multiply their strength by partnering with like-minded allies.

“In a world of great power rivalry, middle powers have a choice — to compete for favor or to combine to create a third path with impact,” Carney said at Trinity College in Dublin.

Company said US government believes safeguards can be bypassed and product used to identify software vulnerabilities

A federal judge on Friday ordered the Trump administration to restore sites changed under an executive order calling for the nation’s museums, parks and landmarks to not display elements that “inappropriately disparage Americans past or living.”

The preliminary injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley in Massachusetts also orders a pause on any additional changes, writing that the plaintiffs have shown that these efforts are meant “to rewrite the Nation’s history with a white-out pen.”

“History cannot be faithfully told while excluding the experiences of communities whose contributions, struggles, and achievements form an important part of our Nation’s story,” the judge wrote.