Author: rpnadmin

NEW YORK — George Santos has worn many hats: Swindler, congressman, prison inmate, podcast host. The obvious next gig? Reality TV show contestant. In September, Santos will appear on the fifth season of Fox’s “Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test,” a grueling contest where participants will be subjected to chemical gassing and other military-themed challenges in a Malaysian jungle, the network announced Wednesday. “I took my fat behind off the coach and tried something new!,” Santos wrote in a post on X along with a promotional image of himself standing next to a tree with a stern expression on his face.…

WASHINGTON — The world has largely viewed the U.S. more favorably than China for years, but those opinions have flipped in Beijing’s favor this year, according to a new poll by the Pew Research Center, a remarkable shift driven in part by tensions between the Trump administration and U.S. allies. More people have favorable views of China than the U.S. in 25 out of the 36 countries and territories that were surveyed, including Canada and Mexico. The poll was conducted from February to May, a period when the United States and Israel launched a war against Iran. In only six…

Attorneys for Nolan Wells’ family said they will work with the local district attorney’s office investigating his death to inspect the contents of his cellphone. The family recovered the phone from his friends after he was reported missing during a July 4 boat trip to an island off the Mississippi coast. Wells’ family had previously alleged that messages seemed to have been erased from his phone before they got it back, just one of a slew of concerns they’ve raised about the circumstances and investigation surrounding his death. They met with District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath on Wednesday largely to…

A boat carrying 20 people capsized and sank near Alcatraz Island, killing one person and, according to city officials, injuring three people with three others still missing. The San Francisco Fire Department said on social media that the boat, a 49-foot cabin cruiser called the Volare, sank into San Francisco Bay at around 3:37 p.m. Tuesday local time. “They were hit by a wave or took on water, and the boat capsized,” San Francisco Fire Chief Dean Crispen said, according to SFGATE. The dead man has been identified as Clifford Boisa, 79. The Sutter County, California, resident had served as…

NEW YORK — A former cargo ship captain pleaded guilty on Wednesday to drugging and raping a 21-year-old U.S. Merchant Marine Academy cadet who was working on the vessel as part of the academy’s Sea Year training program. John Merrone, 53, pleaded guilty just as his trial was about to start in Brooklyn federal court. He admitted that he had sexual intercourse with the cadet without her consent “on the ship, in the middle of the ocean” after knocking her out with an intoxicant in 2019. A jury had been picked and the woman, identified only as Jane Doe, was…

Smoke from wildfires in Ontario, Canada, and Minnesota is drifting east across the United States, causing poor air quality that can be harmful to residents. The National Weather Service office in New York City posted a time-lapse graphic of where the smoke is expected to drift this week. By Friday afternoon, the smoke will have passed over all or parts of Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Wisconsin. Some wildfires affect Ontario and Minnesota. Superior National Forest in northern Minnesota next to the Canadian…

A Canadian woman living in New Jersey was taken into ICE custody this week, days after police charged her with allegedly slapping a teenage girl who was wearing sweatpants bearing the words “Trump” and “ICE.” Point Pleasant Beach police say Kaitlyn E. Tracey, 33, approached a group of four teens on the boardwalk the night of July 3 and began recording them on her phone. Officers said she yelled at two of the girls over their “patriotic colored sweatpants with political wording” before striking the victim once on the body and once in the face with an open hand. The…

U.S. wholesale inflation fell from May to June on plunging energy prices, but intensifying hostilities with Iran are clouding the outlook. The Labor Department reported Wednesday that its producer price index – which captures inflation before it reaches consumers – dropped 0.3% from May, the biggest decline since April 2025 and a reversal from a 0.6% uptick the month before. Compared to a year earlier, wholesale prices were up 5.5% in June, decelerating from a 6% increase the month before. Gasoline prices plunged 12% in June but are still up nearly 43% from June 2025, pushed higher by the Iran…

Federal officials said Tuesday that a Philadelphia construction worker who was shot and killed last week in a dispute with a homeowner was a member of a global gang of con artists. The Department of Homeland Security said Salis Hanrahan, 20, of the United Kingdom, was part of the Traveling Conmen Fraud Group. The criminal organization consists of Irish or U.K. nationals who overstay their temporary visas to the U.S. and pretend to be construction workers, according to the Department of Justice. Authorities said the fraudsters regularly scam prospective clients by quoting low prices and then boost their rates after…

The term weaponized vehicle has become commonplace at news conferences and in statements released by federal officials during the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. Federal authorities initially used that language Monday when talking to state officials about the actions of a Maine driver who was fatally shot by immigration officers. In public statements, Department of Homeland Security officials shifted their description to say officers fired into the vehicle “fearing for public safety.” It was the second time in a week that federal immigration authorities shot and killed someone behind the wheel of a car, initially accusing the driver of attempting to…