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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

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said an effort to impeach President Biden now lacking due process would be “dead on arrival” in the Senate. Graham said during a Friday appearance on “The Hill” on NewsNation that Republicans argued that Democrats did not give former President Trump the right to due process during the impeachment proceedings against him in 2019 and 2021, and he does not believe anyone should be impeached without a hearing being held. Graham noted that the impeachment against former President Bill Clinton in the late 1990s went through a process that allowed him to defend himself. “But what’s being done in the House to go straight to the floor with articles of impeachment — we criticized the Democrats for not giving Trump any due process. I think this is dead on arrival,” he said. FULL STORY

We're used to hearing Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin ranting and raving at Russia's military leadership - particularly at defence minister Sergei Shoigu - for problems on the battlefield. Public infighting between the Wagner mercenary group and the Ministry of Defence isn't new. But this is. In his latest video tirade via Telegram, Prigozhin blames Shoigu for starting Russia's war in Ukraine in February last year. Speaking first about the fighting in eastern Ukraine that began in 2014 after Russia's military intervention, Prigozhin said: "We were hitting them, and they were hitting us. That's how it went on for those eight long years, from 2014 to 2022. Sometimes the number of skirmishes would increase, sometimes decrease." "On 24 February [2022] there was nothing extraordinary happening there. Now the Ministry of Defence is trying to deceive the public, deceive the president and tell a story that there was some crazy aggression by Ukraine, that - together with the whole Nato bloc - Ukraine was planning to attack us. FULL STORY

The Nova Kakhovka Dam should be pumping water at the rate of four millions litres an hour, now it has been robbed of most of its water, drained away after the Nova Kakhovka dam was blown up, it's believed by the Russians. Video report

US authorities say a debris field located in the North Atlantic leads to a conclusion that OceanGate's Titan submersible suffered a "catastrophic implosion" (a violent collapse inwards), instantly killing all five passengers on board. The US Navy says it detected sounds "consistent with an implosion" shortly after the sub lost contact on Sunday during a descent to the Titanic wreck at 3,800m (12,467ft) below sea level - but this information was only made public on Thursday. The loss of the deep-water vessel was finally confirmed after a huge search mission in the area off Canada's Newfoundland province. What caused the implosion? Titan's hull is believed to have collapsed on Sunday as a result of enormous water pressure. The sub was built to withstand such pressure - and experts will now be trying to determine what exactly went wrong. Analysis of the debris may help to establish this. Titan is believed to have been 3,500m below sea level when contact was lost. The vessel was so deep that the amount of water on it would have been equivalent to the weight of the Eiffel Tower, tens of thousands of tonnes. If there were a rupture to the structure, the pressure outside would be much greater than the one inside the hull, compressing the vessel. FULL ARTICLE

At least 227 migrants were rescued off Spain's Canary Islands on Thursday, officials say, a day after reported deaths of more than 30 migrants there. Emergency services say the Coast Guard saved the migrants travelling on inflatable boats near the Lanzarote and Gran Canaria islands in the Atlantic. A number of them were taken to hospital to be treated for a "mild condition". On Wednesday, two charities said more than 30 migrants may have drowned after their dinghy sank off Gran Canaria. Spanish authorities said rescue workers found the bodies of a minor and a man, and rescued 24 other people. However, the charities - Walking Borders and Alarm Phone - said about 60 people had been on board. Helena Maleno Garzon, from Walking Borders, said 39 people had drowned, including four women and a baby, while Alarm Phone said 35 people were missing. FULL STORY

Police in France and Belgium say they have arrested 19 members of gangs who sent people fake court summonses that accused them of viewing images of children being sexually abused. People who received the messages were threatened with prosecution and tricked into paying thousands of dollars in supposed fines. Police say the scam had been going for more than two years, with at least €3.5m extorted. At least one victim killed himself. The man had been stung by the scam on two occasions, first being made to pay €5,978, then another €7,480. Colonel Thomas Andreu, head of one of the special French police units, said the sums extracted from victims were often larger, in some cases as much as €200,000. "We thought that the fraud was being run by one central structure," said Col Andreu. "However, it turned out to be several little teams which were not linked." Eighteen people were arrested in France on Monday and one in Belgium. All were aged between 20 and 50. All but three suspects were ordered to appear in court on fraud charges. The Paris prosecutor's office opened an investigation after the scam began at the start of 2021. By June of the following year it had received 400 complaints relating to it. Authorities are still trying to understand how many people were affected and believe that six others who were targeted may also have killed themselves. Commissioner Christophe Durand of the French anti-cybercrime unit said the "victims had suffered real distress". The scammers spent some of the money they extorted in France, though the majority of it was sent to the Ivory Coast and other African countries. Full Story

Former US Vice-President Mike Pence has challenged his rivals in the Republican presidential field to support a 15-week national abortion ban. He told a conservative gathering every Republican candidate for president should support 15 weeks "as a minimum nationwide standard" on abortion. Last year the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion in the US. Anti-abortion groups want to make a federal ban a key 2024 election issue. The leader of one such group, Marjorie Dannenfelser with Susan B Anthony Pro-Life America, has said she will oppose any presidential candidate who does not embrace a 15-week national ban. She called Mr Pence "the definition of an unapologetic pro-life leader". Mr Pence, who has long made his evangelical faith central to his political identity, is one of the few Republican candidates to have spoken unequivocally about his support for such a ban. On Friday at the Faith & Freedom Coalition's annual conference in Washington DC, Mr Pence said: "Let me say from my heart - the cause of life is the calling of our time and we must not rest and must not relent until we restore the sanctity of life to the centre of American law in every state in this country." The woman who wants to end abortion in America Ful Story

Tom Cruise's "Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One" co-stars are sharing what it's really like working alongside the film icon. Simon Pegg, who first met Cruise while filming "Mission: Impossible III" in 2006, revealed the actor is truly one of a kind. "Of all the mist of stuff that's around him, in the center of that mist is a generous, sweet guy who looks after everybody," Pegg told E! News. "He leads from the top down. And he's kind of inspiring to be around. There's no one else like him, he's the last movie star of the old kind." TOM CRUISE STARSTRUCK BY JANET JACKSON: ‘SHE IS A GODDESS’ Story

A bank account linked to President Biden's son Hunter Biden received more than $5 million in August 2017, shortly after his threatening messages — in which he said he was "sitting here" with his father — to a Chinese associate revealed this week by an IRS whistleblower, according to documents released by congressional investigators. On Aug. 4, 2017, Chinese firm CEFC Infrastructure Investment wired $100,000 to Hunter Biden’s law firm Owasco, according to a 2020 report published by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Then, days later on Aug. 8, 2017, CEFC Infrastructure Investment sent $5 million to Hudson West III, a firm Hunter Biden opened with Chinese associates. The two transactions totaling $5.1 million came within 10 days of messages uncovered Thursday by the House Ways and Means Committee. In the messages — shared to the panel via IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley Jr., who oversaw the agency's probe into Hunter Biden — Hunter Biden blasted business partner Henry Zhao for not fulfilling his "commitment" and said his father was with him. Full Story

This autumn, Apple releases watchOS 10, the tenth-generation software for the Apple Watch, which went on sale in Spring 2015. In that time, there have been big developments in hardware, including the addition of an always-on display, Watches that connect direct to the mobile phone network, health advances like ECG, blood oxygen measurements, fall detection and more. And the software has been upgraded hugely, too, including new ways to interact with the Watch. Kevin Lynch, Apple’s Vice President of Technology, and Deidre Caldbeck, Director of Apple Watch Product Marketing, sat down exclusively with The Independent to talk about how things have changed. What’s been consistent over the years is that unlike many other devices, the all-day proximity means the Watch offers benefits without you interacting with it at all. Simply wearing it allows the Watch to monitor your heart rate and let you know if something’s amiss. In fact, the heart rate monitor was built into the first Apple Watch – at a time when few other wearables had such a sensor – for a more mundane task. Lynch explains, “We decided to focus on the heart in the early days, to get accurate calorimetry.” More on this story

June 23rd edition.

Naresuan’s Elephant Battle One of the most famous battles in Thai history occurred during King Naresuan's reign when Thailand was known as the Kingdom of Ayutthaya. The king summoned Burmese crown prince Mingya Swa to face him one-on-one from atop his elephant. He agreed, and Naresuan defeated his opponent and won the battle that led to Thailand's subsequent victory. While today elephant riding is frowned upon, it's one of the most persevering through stories from this period of the nation's set of experiences - and one that they're very proud of. Mae Nak There are plenty of scary tales in Thailand, but perhaps none are as terrifying as Mae Nak's. When Nak's husband was forced into a war, she was pregnant and deeply in love. Nak and her unborn child perished during childbirth his absence. However, when the husband got back from the war, he found that his wife and child were waiting for him at home. Nak killed villagers before they could warn the husband, and he didn't find out about it until he saw her reach her bony arms out to pick up a lime. He ran, hiding in a plant that ghosts don't like and in the temple, where ghosts can't enter. In the end, Mae Nak was exorcised twice; first into a jar, and then into a monk's waistband. It is still believed that the spirit-filled waistband belongs to the Thai royal family to this day. Krasue Krasue was a woman who loved a low-ranking soldier but was promised to a Siamese nobleman. She was one of Thailand's most feared ghosts. She was put to death by burning after she was discovered with her lover. A sorceress endeavored to project an insurance spell, yet its impacts came on past the point of no return, leaving just her digestive organs, viscera and head solid. Today, it is believed that her ghostly remains wander the night in search of blood, flesh, or feces as food, and numerous individuals claim to have seen her at night. Mountain of the Sleeping Lady Legend says that the unusual shape of Chiang Rai's Doi Nang Non mountain comes from a sleeping woman. A handsome prince was engaged to a beautiful princess, but he fled, leaving her pregnant and alone. Fearing he was lost, she waited for him and then went out looking for him. She fell to the ground after walking for several days and, realizing he had left her, cried out in despair before passing away. The mountain range that is now known as Doi Nang Non, or the mountain of the sleeping lady, grew in size as her ghost left her body. Krahang Another ghost story from Thailand describes Krahang as a sorcerer who uses black magic and now appears as a shirtless man who wanders the Thai countryside. Two rice baskets serve as his wings, giving him the ability to fly, and he rides with a long wooden pestle between his legs. Krahang, who is well-known to almost everyone in Thailand, has been accused of assaulting women in remote villages. Nai Khanom Tom Nai Khanom Tom was a Thai prisoner of war in Burma who was regarded as the father of Muay Thai. The Burmese wanted to compare their martial art to that of Thailand, so they organized a fight for the best fighter among the Thai prisoners. With a break, Nai Khanom Tom advanced and defeated ten opponents one after the other. The Siamese prisoner was freed by the King, who was impressed, and ever since, Nai Khanom Tom has been revered as a legend. The Naga At Thai temples, you might have noticed statues that look like snakes or dragons, but in reality they are neither; They're Naga. The locals believe that the Naga, a race of semi-divine beings that are a part of both Buddhism and Hinduism, reside in the Mekong River. More intriguingly, it is believed that they are responsible for the Naga fireball occurrence, in which fireballs rise into the air high above the allegedly inhabited Mekong River. However, worry not; Having Naga around is a good idea because they act as guardians and keep evil spirits at bay. However, if you want to swim in the Mekong, be careful. -- © Copyright ASEAN NOW 2023-06-23

Ukraine has new evidence Russia is plotting a “terrorist” attack on the Zaporizhzhia power plant that will result in a radiation leak, President Volodymyr Zelensky has warned. The Kremlin dismissed the allegation as "another lie", and said a team of United Nations nuclear inspectors had visited the plant and rated everything highly. In a video statement, Mr Zelensky said that Kyiv had received intelligence about an attack on the facility – the largest nuclear power plant in Europe – which is currently occupied by Russia. He added that they had shared the information with partners including the United States China, Europe, Brazil and India. "Intelligence has received information that Russia is considering the scenario of a terrorist act at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant – a terrorist act with radiation leakage,” he said. FULL STORY

Campaigners promised leaving the EU would make the country richer and freer. Brexit is fuelling Britain's cost of living crisis, according to the former Deputy Governor at the Bank of England Sir Charlie Bean. Interviewed by BBC Radio 4 on Thursday, the economist said inflation appeared to be "worse" in Britain compared to other European countries. When asked why, he explained the labour market was "much tighter" than on the continent, reflecting the exodus of half a million workers during the COVID pandemic. "Brexit has made it harder for firms to suck in the extra labour they need at short notice from abroad," he said. Labour shortages create inflationary pressure as businesses have to compete more by offering higher salaries, which feed into the economy. Unemployment was at a historically low level of 3.8% in April, according to the Office for National Statistics, with the number of vacancies at record highs last year. Brexit has made it harder for EU nationals to come and work in Britain, though COVID also triggered many foreign workers to return home.

Smartphone manufacturers make their batteries hard to replace. Tough new EU rules will change that. The European Union will soon require smartphone manufacturers to let users replace their batteries. The tough new rules - endorsed by the European Parliament this week - could save millions of phones from landfill. Every year, more than 150 million smartphones are thrown away. Making batteries more easy to replace could stem this deluge of e-waste. Existing phones seal away batteries within the tablet, meaning replacing them can be nearly as expensive as buying a new phone. The new measures will help break that cycle of rampant consumption, MEP Achille Variati declared.

Justice Department investigators were "trying to limit" questioning related to Joe Biden as part of the investigation into Hunter Biden, despite objections from FBI and IRS officials, a whistleblower alleged. The House Ways and Means Committee on Thursday released testimony from two IRS whistleblowers who said officials at the Justice Department, FBI and IRS interfered with the investigation of the tax evasion case against Hunter Biden. The whistleblowers said decisions in the case seemed to be "influenced by politics." One whistleblower, Gary Shapley Jr., who was the supervisor of the investigation at the IRS, said that "at every stage" of the probe, decisions were made that "had the effect of benefiting the subject of the investigation." He cited several examples involving apparent references to Hunter Biden's father. Full Story

The Bank of England has shocked economists and investors by raising interest rates half a percentage point to 5% - the highest level since 2008. Economists had expected the Monetary Policy Committee to raise interest rates by only a quarter percentage point, but the MPC voted 7-2 for the surprise increase, explaining that it was aiming to bring higher-than-expected inflation under control and indicated concern about high wage increases and company profit margins. It comes after the UK's official inflation rate failed to fall as expected in May, staying at 8.7% - well above the bank's 2% target. In the minutes alongside the decision, the bank said higher inflation, especially services inflation, meant it had to act faster to bring prices under control. Full Story

When asked about the prospects for recovering those onboard, Rear Admiral John Mauger warned "it is an incredibly unforgiving environment on the seafloor" - but underwater robots will continue their search. The five men onboard the missing Titan sub died after the vessel suffered a "catastrophic implosion". Rear Admiral John Mauger - who led the search - confirmed that a remotely operated vehicle had discovered the nose cone of the lost submersible about 487m (1,600ft) from the bow of the Titanic on the seafloor. Further debris was found nearby, with Rear Admiral Mauger adding: "In consultation with experts from within unified command, the debris is consistent with the catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber. "On behalf of US Coast Guard and entire unified command, I offer deepest condolences to the families. I can only imagine what this has been like for them, and I hope this discovery provides some solace during this difficult time." Tributes paid to Titan passengers - latest updates More on this story

All the latest developments from the war in Ukraine. Bridge to annexed Crimea hit in Ukrainian strike A bridge connecting Crimea and southern Ukraine has been damaged by a Ukrainian strike, local Russian authorities said on Thursday. "There were no casualties," said the Russian governor of the annexed peninsular Sergei Aksionov, adding the damage was being assessed. The bridge connects Crimea, illegally annexed by Moscow in 2014, to an area of the southern region of Kherson occupied by Russian forces. This strike reported by the Russian authorities comes as Ukrainian forces have been conducting offensive actions since early June on several sectors of the front, particularly in southern Ukraine. Crimea serves as a logistical rear base for the Russian forces deployed in southern Ukraine.

It's the question we've been asking ever since President Vladimir Putin ordered the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. In this war, would the Kremlin go nuclear? President Joe Biden isn't ruling it out. "I worry about Putin using tactical nuclear weapons," the US president said this week. He believes the danger is "real". I don't know whether President Biden reads the Russian magazine Profile. If he does, you can understand why he's worried. Putin confirms first nuclear weapons moved to Belarus Zelensky admits slow progress in Ukraine offensive Could Russia use tactical nuclear weapons? Last week, Profile published an article by prominent Russian foreign and defence policy expert Sergei Karaganov. The hawkish Mr Karaganov is honorary chairman of the Presidium of the Council on Foreign and Defence Policy. In short, he's well-connected to those in power here. FULL STORY