A French fashion agent linked to Jeffrey Epstein was found dead in his prison cell on Friday night, the Paris prosecutor’s office said. Jean-Luc Brunel, 76, was in detention awaiting a trial on charges of rape of a minor and sexual harassment.

Kickstarter COO Sean Leow talks about why they are looking at moving to the blockchain, and addresses creator backlash.

An invasion could happen in days and the capital Kyiv will be a target, the US president says.

Democratic leaders have belatedly concluded that GOP culture war attacks are incredibly potent and have done enormous damage to them. But the only thing they can think to do in response is neutralize the attacks with fact checks; they still can't fathom picking culture war fights and winning them, or even fighting the ones Republicans pick to a draw. It's all of a piece with their larger tendency to abjure partisan matters in general, and that augurs poorly for the coming election—a zero-sum contest against hyper-partisan Republicans who grow more authoritarian by the day. Here are two inkblot tests in one. First, the headline: “GOP culture war attacks 'alarmingly potent,' DCCC warns.” Then, the text itself, which I’ll leave to you to read. What you’ll take from the report will depend a lot on your broader view of the party. “It’s good that Democrats recognized this,” or, “Did this really just dawn on them?!” are both valid reactions. If you’re predisposed to blaming young progressives or party leaders or the media for the Democrats’ problems, there’s something here for you. A Politicornucopia of interpretations. I see it mainly as a view into profound differences between how our major political parties view the abstract question of what partisan politics in a two-party system actually means. It’s also a warning that in this two party system, Democrats seem paralyzed by extreme Republican partisanship, to the point where they can’t fully function as an entity whose main task is to defeat its opponents. That’s a particularly worrisome conclusion to draw as the GOP’s drift toward fascism reaches its point of no return.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Shrill whistles mixed with drums, tambourines and the clacking of spoons on pots as public employees shut down streets in Puerto Rico’s capital Friday to demand better pay and pensions. The crowd shimmied and clapped as demonstrators held up signs reading, “Fair wages now!” It’s a call that has echoed across Puerto Rico in recent weeks as government employees and supporters take to the streets, emboldened by thousands of public school teachers who abandoned classrooms in early February to demand raises and better pensions. Protests have multiplied and the unrest is posing one of the biggest challenges for Gov. Pedro Pierluisi a year into his term. “The people kicked the U.S. military out of Vieques. They kicked out a governor. We can make this happen,” said Abner Dumey, who teaches history in the northern town of Naranjito. Legislators are the only public workers who have an automatic cost-of-living increase for their salaries. Most of the U.S. territory’s other public employees have not gotten pay raises in more than a decade — sometimes two — as the cost of living has risen and the island has suffered a lengthy economic crisis and a government bankruptcy in the aftermath of deadly hurricanes, earthquakes and the pandemic.

The brother of man shot dead on Bloody Sunday has said he will never apologise or give any undertakings after he faced legal action for identifying the British soldier who killed him.

The charges come three years after the CHP relieved of duty dozens of officers working in the East L.A. station after investigators gathered evidence that they exaggerated the number of hours they worked on protection details for Caltrans workers doing freeway repairs. So many officers were removed that the agency had to restaff much of the station. Bonta said the officers face a combined 302 counts, including charges of grand theft and the presentation of a fraudulent claim. The total amount of the fraudulent overtime hours is $226,556. “Trust is a critical part of successful law enforcement,” Bonta said in announcing the charges. “These defendants disregarded the law through their alleged actions and did so without thought of how their conduct would impact the California Highway Patrol or the community that trusted them to protect and serve. I’m thankful to CHP for its thorough investigation and for working with DOJ to hold these officers accountable.”

Giving the famous Belgian detective a traumatic backstory takes 'Death on the Nile' from silly to truly bad

A French woman accused Greek authorities Friday of forcing her and other migrants back across the border into Turkey, violating her rights both as a person fleeing persecution and as a European citizen. In court documents seen by The Associated Press, the 32-year-old woman, who has Turkish as well as French citizenship, claims she and her husband were trying to flee Turkey to escape prison sentences that were politically motivated. They crossed the Evros River by boat into Greece on the way to France, where the woman was born and raised. But she says Greek officials mistreated her and turned her back; she is now in prison in Turkey. From her cell, the woman, who asked to remain anonymous for her safety, filed a lawsuit against Greece on Friday at the European Court of Human Rights. While so-called “pushbacks” of migrants have become increasingly common despite violating European and international law, experts say the French woman’s story appears to be the first such case brought to court involving a European citizen.

Holographic foil. Special ink designed to be sensitive to temperature changes. Nearly invisible “stealth numbers” that can be located only using special ultraviolet or infrared lights. Those are among the high-tech security features that would be required to be embedded on ballots under measures proposed in at least four states by Republican lawmakers — all promoters of false claims that the 2020 election was marred by mass fraud — in an attempt to make the ballots as hard to counterfeit as passports or currency. But the specialized inks and watermarks also would limit the number of companies capable of selling ballot paper — potentially to just one Texas firm with no previous experience in elections that consulted with the lawmakers proposing the measures. Tony Poole, the president of the Document Security Alliance, a trade group, said the proposals would “result in over-secured and very expensive ballots that incorporate proprietary technologies that are not appropriate for a one-time use document and would unnecessarily cost localities millions of additional dollars.” Authentix, he said, would not be able to overcharge for the special ballots because he said the company would otherwise lose the support of public officials. But, he added, “it certainly does offer the opportunity for a company to engage in commerce.” “I’m not going to fault anyone for that,” he said.

Nuclear diplomacy with Iran has reached a dead end. It’s time for Biden to draw some red lines and commit to military force if needed.

Joe Biden is out of excuses. He never should have had any.

Civilian investigators found that officers engaged in serious misconduct, including hitting one boy with a car, pointing a gun at another and wrongly arresting three teens. Then the NYPD intervened.

Police groups and gun control advocates are sounding the alarm after state leaders proposed designating hundreds of thousands of gun owners members of law enforcement.

The state killed 35-year-old Gilbert Postelle, a man with an IQ that approaches an intellectual disability who suffered from neglect and drug addiction as a child.

‘I had more time than people in there who killed somebody,’ says Willie Roy Goodwin, who received the harsh sentence from the Supreme Court hopeful.

The arrival of a city-dwelling mosquito from Asia could spell disaster for a region that is rapidly urbanising

Oklahoma congressional candidate Abby Broyles allegedly became intoxicated and accosted tween girls at a Valentine's weekend party.

MIAMI (AP) — A businessman described as the main conduit for corruption in Venezuela was secretly signed up by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration as a source in 2018, revealing information about bribes he paid to top officials in President Nicolás Maduro's socialist government.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva sent a cease-and-desist letter this week to the Board of Supervisors, demanding they and others stop using the phrase “deputy gangs” to refer to secretive groups that operate within department stations. Inspector General Max Huntsman, appointed by the supervisors to provide oversight of the Sheriff’s Department, said the agency has identified deputies who have tattoos associated with the Executioners and the Banditos, groups that operate at the department’s Compton and East L.A. stations, respectively.