The World’s Biggest Problems

The jury has reached a verdict after hours of deliberations in the misdemeanor contempt of Congress charge against former Trump aide Steve Bannon after prosecutors and defense wrapped up their closing arguments Friday. If convicted, the former Trump advisor would face a mandatory minimum sentence of 30 days incarceration and up to one year behind bars. He could also face a fine of up to 1,000. Department of Justice (DOJ) prosecutors told the jury that ignoring a congressional subpoena is like ignoring a parking ticket. DOJ prosecutor Molly Gaston said that with a parking ticket, there are two options: show up to court and try to fight it or pay it. ‘What he doesn’t get to do is ignore the order to pay it,’ Gaston said, noting that if you don’t pay a ticket or show up for a subpoena, there are consequences.

Photos from inside Ivana’s show that the Trump family displayed her 1992 Vanity Fair magazine cover at the altar without a headline referring to Hillary Clinton. The original also featured Hillary Clinton’s name on the cover, with the headline ‘Will she get to the White House with Bill or without him?’ But the version on display at Ivana’s memorial on Lexington Avenue appeared without the headline, which was issued during Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign.

NEW At any big society wedding, the question of ‘the’ dress is usually the most anticipated of all. Who’s the designer? How much did it cost and – as is frequently the case nowadays – how many will there be? The wedding of Brooklyn Beckham and Nicola Peltz, on April 9 this year at the Peltz family’s £76 million oceanfront mansion in Palm Beach, Florida, was no exception. Speculators thought they could be sure of one thing, however. The bride would, at some point in the celebrations, almost certainly wear something designed by her new mother-in-law to be. Wouldn’t she? Yet, over the next three days of festivities, not one VB label was chosen by 27-year-old Nicola. Instead she plumped for a couture wedding dress by Valentino. On the eve of the wedding she wore a white trouser suit by Dior, and there were several custom-made Versace dresses too, all of which she gushed about in print in Vogue magazine. The omission struck some of the guests as ‘tactless’ and was compounded when Nicola laughed off suggestions that their wedding might resemble David and Victoria’s nuptials. ‘Their wedding was incredible and those pictures are iconic, but the wedding we were most inspired by was Iman and David Bowie’s,’ she told Vogue. Ouch. It has also emerged that the Beckhams were not seated on the top table with the bride and groom on the big day, as is the British custom. Although there may well be a perfectly plausible explanation for this: David and Victoria were not on the top table because, like the bride’s parents, they hosted their own table for family and friends.

A jury in the District Court for the Southern District of Florida found that Carnival was liable for damages to the plaintiff for false imprisonment and sexual assault by crew member Fredy Anggara, left. Court records show that Carnival was also found to not be negligent and that Anggara did not intentionally inflict emotional distress on the woman, referred to as Jane Doe. In a statement to DailyMail.com, Jane Doe said: ‘The jury did not just validate me, but they validated other sexual assault survivors. That makes me so grateful.’ Doe, from Washington, filed a complaint against Carnival Cruise Line in November 2019, almost a year after the incident took place.

President Joe Biden apologized for his frog-like voice as he addressed reporters and his economic staff from COVID isolation Friday afternoon. ‘Well thanks, let me start by apologizing – my voice – I’m feeling much better than I sound,’ the president said at the top of his remarks, his vocal range noticably deeper.

New research from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety revealed a 5.8 percent rise in traffic crashes in Colorado Washington, Oregon, California and Nevada after those states legalized cannabis and ‘pot shops’ sprang up. It was the latest in a series of studies on everything from teenage addiction to injuries and unhealthy relationships to cast doubt on this week’s Democratic effort to end the federal prohibition on cannabis. ‘The legalization of marijuana doesn’t come without cost,’ said Charles Farmer, the lead researcher on the car crash survey, which compared traffic data from 2009 to 2019 in states that both legalized and kept up restrictions on the drug. Legalization ‘removes the stigma of marijuana use’ and makes it readily available, leading to more intoxicated and less-attentive drivers with slower reaction times and a tendency to veer outside their lanes, he said. Overall, the five named states saw a 4.1 percent rise in fatal crashes. The increases  were not universal. The worst-affected state, Colorado, saw a 17.8 percent jump in crash injures. In California, incidents rose by 5.7 percent.

NEW In the 1980s, the alleged victims claimed a man named Lawrence King ran an underground club in Omaha, Nebraska, through which he, along with politicians and businessmen, forced children to have sex with them. In 1990, a Nebraska county grand jury concluded that the claims were a ‘hoax,’ and a federal grand jury later agreed that the allegations had no base. However, in 1993, a film crew flew to the state to look into it further, interviewing the alleged victims and others who were said to be involved as part of a documentary on the matter. The supposed victims told documentary makers that the government forced them into silence by threatening them, using scare tactics, and even murder – with one even alleging they killed his brother to keep him quiet. Days before the movie was supposed to premiere on the Discovery Channel, it got shut down with no explanation. Now it has finally been released and was uploaded to Real Women/Real Stories ‘ YouTube page. The documentary has left many to wonder, was the prostitution ring real and did the government hide it or was it all an elaborate, made-up story?

During an appearance on The Ellen Fisher Podcast, Alicia Silverstone revealed that she and her 11-year-old son Blue Bear still sleep in the same bed. Silverstone, 45, joked that she would ‘be in trouble’ with mom-shamers for her unique parenting techniques, but added that she ‘doesn’t care’. Clinical psychologist and best-seller of three parenting books Dr. Laura Markham said that overly attached parenting is ‘irresponsible parenting’. Parenting expert and psychologist Reena Patel criticized Silverstone’s way of parenting and told DailyMail.com she should have stopped when Bear ‘was five’. Despite criticism from experts and fans, Silverstone describes her parenting style as ‘natural’ and says she is a ‘loving mama’. It is not the first time that Alicia has stirred controversy with parenting practices; in 2012 she revealed she pre-chewed Bear’s food and fed him from her mouth (seen inset).

A young Kremlin stooge who is thought to share Putin’s love of ice hockey is being tipped to succeed the Russian autocrat amid persistent reports of failing health. With rumours swirling around Vladimir Putin’s longevity, Kremlin watchers think they might have identified 36-year-old Dmitry Kovalev as his preferred successor. Kovalev, who works inside the presidential administration, was seen in close and intimate conversation with Putin at the May 9 Victory Day parade. Proximity to others was something Putin was seen to be averse to, with other officials and visitors stationed metres away during numerous awkward meetings around the notorious long table. There is speculation that Putin met Kovalev, who is reported to be the son of a director at the state gas giant Gazprom, at an ice hockey match. Telegram channel Baza reported: ‘He is in charge of one of the departments of the Presidential Administration. ‘There are a lot of hockey photos on Kovalev’s page. It is possible that he met Putin due to their common love for the sport.’

Jeremiah Heaton, a 44-year-old farmer from Virginia, amused the world in 2015 by staking claim to a patch of land in between Sudan and Egypt so that his then six-year-old daughter could become a real-life princess. The land was 795 square miles of empty desert named Bir Tawil, which he rebranded as the Kingdom of North Sudan. Soon, his overindulgent parenting caught headlines around the world. He found himself inundated with offers from people who wanted to come and live in his new kingdom which is around the same size as Mauritius, but without electricity, water, roads or any other kind of infrastructure. Today, he remains the ‘king’ of the territory – despite never returning after his flag-planting visit – and is the subject of a documentary on iTunes, Amazon Prime, Google Play and YouTube. But speaking exclusively to DailyMail.com, Heaton revealed how his seemingly farfetched plan led him into conversations with Mike Flynn and a gaggle of Chinese investors who he ultimately reported to the FBI.

NEW The mass exodus transpired Wednesday, and saw five cops, including the force’s chief of 20 years, hand in resignation letters to the town manager and city council. The maneuver left the town of Kenly, home to about 2,000 residents, with just three part-time officers to man the waning force. Even before the resignations, the department had been short-staffed, down from a norm of eight officers to five, the cops said – one of several complaints aired in the letter. The officers who resigned were also joined by two town clerks who also accuse the new manager, a progressive black woman who sued her previous employer – a county in nearby South Carolina – for gender and racial discrimination. Those accusations came after she had been terminated, and her suit was subsequently dismissed. The manager, Justine Jones, was hired last month – nearly eight years after her firing – an acquisition the town touted in a press release at the time. Kenly Police Chief Josh Gibson, however, did not share such enthusiasm Wednesday, when he and the six other city workers penned strongly worded letters to Jones giving their two-week notices.

They say that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, so it comes as no surprise that many Hollywood stars are using their own fame and power to help launch the careers of their children by working together on joint ventures. From Reese Witherspoon’s daughter Ava Philippe (right) to Catherine Zeta Jones’ daughter Carys Douglas (bottom inset), the children of A-list celebrities have been able to find fame with some help from their very famous mothers. Indeed, Julianne Moore’s daughter Liv Freundlich (left) is the latest budding starlet to shoot to fame following a newly-launched her Hourglass Cosmetics campaign which sees the lookalike 20-year-old posing alongside her 61-year-old mother. The stunning shoot comes after Kim Kardashian teamed up with daughter North (top inset) for a Skims campaign. FEMAIL takes a look at some of the other mother-daughter duo that have done the same.

Writing in his new book Revenge, Tom Bower claims the Duchess of Sussex ‘disappeared’ with a Canadian fashion photographer for ‘hours’ during the trip to Rwanda (left). He penned: ‘At the end, [film producer] Brenda Surminski was puzzled. Celebrities using a desolate African village as the backdrop for a fashion shoot was ‘mind-blowing.’ Meghan, she concluded ‘had opportunistically orchestrated the trip to pose as a philanthropist.’

NEW RICHARD KAY: An exclusive new biography of the Duchess of Sussex by Tom Bower questions many of the claims made by Meghan Markle of her early life. One such claim concerns an attempt by the Duchess of tracing her ancestry in Malta looking like the historic hooded figure from the Scottish Widows. There are also questions about how much LA actress witnessed of the Rodney King riots. The explosive biography said one Royal aide predicted the Sussex marriage would ‘all end in tears’. Bower, who is best known for his unauthorised biographies of Britain’s most controversial tycoons such as Robert Maxwell, Richard Branson and Mohamed Al-Fayed, has approached the Harry and Meghan story with the steady gaze of the investigator, interviewing more than 80 people in the U.S., Canada, Britain and Ireland. ‘All the revelations,’ he says, ‘are from eye-witnesses’.

The female called Monetochka had sought human help after the sharp-edged condensed milk container got wedged to her tongue. A team of rescuers flew 2,125 miles from Moscow to reach the Arctic port of Dikson, one of the world’s remotest settlements, where the bear had pleaded with residents for help. The video shows how the beast was sedated and then a vet used pliers to remove the tin. The emaciated bear was then successfully put in a cage and flown by helicopter some 50 miles into the tundra – far away from the homes where it had sought human help.

Former President Donald Trump went on a rant on his Truth Social social media network in the aftermath of Thursday’s primetime January 6 hearing. ‘Why haven’t the Unselects asked for Secret Service corroboration of the so-called “choke hold?”‘ asked Trump. ‘Because they know the answer, and don’t like it. A Kangaroo Court!’

Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck ‘s children Emme and Seraphina joined their parents on their Paris honeymoon on Friday. Jennifer, 59, and Ben, 49, have been relaxing in the French capital since tying the knot over the weekend in a surprise Las Vegas ceremony. And the newlyweds have been joined on their getaway by Jennifer’s child Emme, 14, and Ben’s two children Violet, 16, and 13-year-old Seraphina. Emme, who Jennifer shares with her ex-husband Marc Anthony, wore blue jeans and a white graphic T-shirt underneath a corduroy grey jacket.

Interior design student Krishnan Rajaratnam, from London, who goes by the handle @interiorbykrish has revealed the faux pas making your home look cheap, He advises againt crushed velvet furniture, IKEA drawers, mirrored accessories and wall stickers (inset). The viral TikToker has racked up more than 92,000 followers eager to snap up his interior design advice.

Olivia Dunne, now 19, who is originally from New Jersey, started participating in gymnastics at the age of three – and quickly fell in love with the sport. She began competing for Louisiana State University in 2020. All the while, Olivia grew her social media following by sharing an inside look at her life as a gymnast and all the glamorous perks that come with it. She soon became the most followed collegiate athlete on the web – with more than 6.7 million followers across her platforms now. On Instagram, she often shares of photos of herself enjoying a luxury life of beach trips, pool days, and nights out with her friends, as well as snaps of herself driving fancy cars and taking extravagant trips. In June 2021, the NCAA changed its policy to allow athletes to make money off their name, image, and likeness, resulting in Olivia becoming a multi-millionaire. In September, she announced that she had partnered with activewear brand Vuori – which Forbes reported was worth ‘mid-six figures’ – and has since landed sponsorships with American Eagle and Forever 21.

Jessica, 30, and Lath Taylor, 42, decided to sell their home in Arkansas in 2020, after both of them lost their restaurant jobs amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The couple, along with their four young kids, aged three to nine, then moved into a 500-square-foot shed. They purchased the tiny storage unit for $6,000, plopped it onto Jessica’s mom’s property in Tennessee, and got to work on transforming it into their dream home. The pair put in an addition $7,000, and spent two years renovating it, and now, it has two floors, electricity, running water, and a heat and cooling system. However, one thing it does not have is a toilet. Instead, the family does their business in a bucket outdoors, and they then have to cover the waste with woodchips. Jessica, who is now a stay-at-home mom, said their average cost per month is around $400, and they use money from tax returns and unemployment to get by.

CCTV shows Shakwan David Kelly, 27, who was being chased by police, running into the back of the 40-year-old mother and her daughter, knocking them both to the ground in Vancouver. The mother struck her head on the concrete floor whilst her daughter suffered multiple scrapes. Shocked bystanders rushed to help the mother and child after they were thrown to the floor, while Kelly, who was topless, continued running. Vancouver Police said the assault occurred happened after they received reports of a topless man walking in traffic and kicking cars at around 10.45am on July 9. Kelly allegedly kicked one car so hard that it caused a dent in one of the doors, police said. As Vancouver police officers approached Kelly, he took off running through Chinatown which is where he struck the mother and her toddler.

The man, who has not been identified but was aged 30, was found at the end of a 49ft (15m) tunnel under the pool in Karmei Yosef in central Israel. Emergency services equipped with Go-Pro cameras erected a structure to prevent the rest of the pool collapsing and carried out a four-hour rescue operation before finding the body. Horrifying footage shows the moment the sinkhole drained the pool as more than 50 people attending the work pool party watch on. Several floats, including a blow-up flamingo, are seen disappearing into the hole in the centre of the pool as party-goers scramble to escape. Authorities said a 34-year-old man who was also dragged under by the sinkhole had escaped from the incident with minor injuries after managing to climb out.