Social Media

An attempted armed mutiny in Russia shows "real cracks" in President Vladimir Putin's authority, America's top diplomat Antony Blinken has said. He told US media that the rebellion by Yevgeny Prigozhin's Wagner fighters was a "direct challenge" to Mr Putin, forcing him into an amnesty agreement. The deal halted Wagner's march on Moscow on Saturday. The mercenaries had earlier seized two Russian cities. Mr Putin accused the group of treason, but all charges were later dropped. Under the deal, Wagner fighters must return to their field bases and Prigozhin move to Russia's western neighbour Belarus, whose leader Alexander Lukashenko was involved in the negotiations. The current whereabouts of Prigozhin, a former Putin loyalist, are unknown. He was last seen in public leaving Rostov-on-Don - one of the two southern cities where his fighters had taken control of military facilities. Prigozhin's press service said he would answer questions from the media "when he has normal communication means", Russia's RTVI news website reported on Sunday afternoon. It provided no further details .FULL STORY

Doesn't detract from it being highest paid UK newspaper in circulation though. "The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper and news website published in London. Founded in 1896, it is currently the highest paid circulation newspaper in the UK"

Guess you missed the BANNER across the footer of the Press article ????

For one long June night and a day, Russia's notorious mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin staged an apparent insurrection, sending an armoured convoy towards Moscow and raising questions about Vladimir Putin's grip on power. The Russian president even accused his former ally of treason, embarking on an armed rebellion and "a stab in the back of our country". But by the end of Saturday, Prigozhin had called the whole thing off and ordered his men back to base. "In 24 hours we got to within 200km (124 miles) of Moscow. In this time we did not spill a single drop of our fighters' blood," he announced. Twenty-four hours of mayhem, and so much we don't know. Was the Wagner boss planning a coup? Prigozhin was adamant this was "a march for justice", not a coup. Whatever it was, it came to an end very fast. FULL STORY

This year's Glastonbury festival is off to a rocking start as thousands of festival-goers party in the summer sun. Arctic Monkeys are headlining the iconic Pyramid stage on Friday night, mystery act the ChurnUps have been revealed as Foo Fighters to the delight of crowds and elsewhere Worthy Farm's visitors have been entertained by Texas, Gabriels, Flo and many more music acts from around the world. Full Story or Watch live coverage on BBC iPlayer. SATURDAYS highlights

The boss of Russia's Wagner group has said on his Telegram channel that he has agreed to "stop" the advancement of his troops towards Moscow. In a surprise move, Yevgeny Prigozhin said his fighters were returning to field camps in Ukraine and did not want to "spill Russian blood". Hours earlier, he had called for a rebellion against the Russian army. In response, President Vladimir Putin had pledged to punish those who had "betrayed" Russia. Video story

When Elvis Presley cracked a joke, funny or not, his gang of bodyguards and hangers-on would howl with laughter. A favourite one-liner — a gag he repeated throughout his life — was 'Fourteen will get you 20!' He meant that, if he was found having sex with a 14-year-old girl, he faced 20 years in prison. But that threat didn't stop him having a constant stream of sexual relationships with teenagers, from the early days of his fame in the 1950s right up to his death, aged 42. The impossibility of lasting love, as well as the guilt of having sex with under-age girls, drove him to despair — and, according to the man who knew him best, became so unbearable that he killed himself. Now a three-part Amazon documentary, Elvis's Women, exposes his predatory behaviour. This could be the #MeToo moment that destroys the Elvis legacy. FULL STORY

Tanks and armed Wagner soldiers take over Rostov streets Extraordinary videos on social media show locals watching Wagner fighters taking tactical positions on the streets of Rostov. The soldiers are situated around the military headquarters.

Two New York lawyers have been fined after submitting a legal brief with fake case citations generated by ChatGPT. Steven Schwartz, of law firm Levidow, Levidow & Oberman, admitted using the chatbot to research the brief in a client's personal injury case against airline Avianca. He had used it to find legal precedents supporting the case, but lawyers representing the Colombian carrier told the court they could not find some examples cited - understandable, given they were almost entirely fictitious. Several of them were completely fake, while others misidentified judges or involved airlines that did not exist. District judge Peter Kevin Castel said Schwartz and colleague Peter LoDuca, who was named on Schwartz's brief, had acted in bad faith and made "acts of conscious avoidance and false and misleading statements to the court". Portions of the brief were "gibberish" and "nonsensical", and included fake quotes, the judge added. FULL STORY

US intelligence agencies have found no direct evidence that Covid-19 broke out from a Chinese laboratory, a declassified report has said. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) said both a natural and laboratory origin remain plausible scenarios. It noted most US intelligence agencies agree the virus was not genetically engineered or "laboratory-adapted". The origins of the pandemic have been a matter of bitter debate in the US. The lab-leak theory has been strongly rejected by China. The ODNI report was released on Friday night after Congress passed a bill in March giving US intelligence 90 days to declassify what it knew about the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV). "The Central Intelligence Agency and another agency remain unable to determine the precise origin of the Covid-19 pandemic, as both (natural and lab) hypotheses rely on significant assumptions or face challenges with conflicting reporting," said the 10-page report. FULL STORY

A year ago, the US Supreme Court delivered a historic ruling that ended the nationwide right to abortion, impacting the lives of millions of women and transforming the political landscape. On 24 June, 2022, America's top court overturned the 1973 Roe v Wade ruling which had guaranteed women the right to an abortion up until the point of foetal viability, which is about 24 weeks. In its Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health Organization decision, the conservative majority on the court turned over the power to regulate abortion - or ban it outright - to individual states. The anti-abortion movement celebrated a landmark victory, while pro-choice activists warned of a looming public health crisis. Here are four ways the US has changed in the year since:....... FULL STORY

Not in my experience which why I mentioned it.

Parcels and Envelopes no issue with tracked Registered Airmail, know as "lon tabein" in Thai (that's how it sounds????)

Bitcoin on Friday shot up to its highest level in about a year. The cryptocurrency rose above $31,400 a coin on Friday, its highest level since 2022, before paring back its gains. Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, earlier this week traded above $30,000 for the first time since April, when the collapses of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank sent investors in search of safer places to hold their cash

Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is throwing his weight behind the conservative effort to expunge the two impeachments of former President Trump, saying Trump’s behavior didn’t rise to a level that merited either punishment, and he would like to eradicate both votes from history. Leaving the Capitol on Friday ahead of a long holiday recess, the Speaker said he supports erasing the pair of impeachments because, he argued, one “was not based on true facts” and the other was “on the basis of no due process.” “I think it is appropriate, just as I thought before, that you should expunge it because it never should have gone through,” McCarthy told reporters outside his office. He later clarified he supports expunging both Trump impeachments, but he emphasized such resolutions must first go through the committee process. The Speaker’s endorsement of the expungement push highlights both the tenuous grip McCarthy has on his conference, where conservatives are holding his feet to the fire on numerous policy issues, and the powerful influence Trump retains over the Republican Party more than two years after leaving office. Full Story