An Army soldier who fatally shot himself in a Tesla Cybertruck moments before it blew up outside the Trump hotel in Las Vegas left notes saying the New Year's Day explosion was a stunt serving as a "wake-up call" for the country's ills, said investigators on Friday, Associated Press (AP) reported. Matthew Livelsberger, a 37-year-old Green Beret from Colorado Springs, Colorado, further wrote in notes he left on his cellphone that he needed to "cleanse" his mind "of the brothers I've lost and relieve myself of the burden of the lives I took." Livelsberger served in the Army since 2006 and was deployed twice to Afghanistan, AP reported. "This was not a terrorist attack, it was a wake-up call. Americans only pay attention to spectacles and violence. What better way to get my point across than a stunt with fireworks and explosives," Livelsberger said in one letter found by authorities which was released on Friday. Seven individuals sustained minor injuries due to the explosion but virtually no damage to the Trump International Hotel. Authorities claimed that Livelsberger acted alone, AP cited. The army man's letters covered a range of topics which included political grievances, societal problems and both domestic and international issues, including the ongoing war in Ukraine. He said in one letter that the U.S. was "terminally ill and headed toward collapse." Meanwhile, Tesla's engineers helped investigators extract data from the Cybertruck, including Livelsberger's path between charging stations from Colorado through New Mexico and Arizona and on to Las Vegas, according to Assistant Sheriff Dori Koren, AP reported. "We still have a large volume of data to go through," Koren said on Friday. "There's thousands if not millions of videos and photos and documents and web history and all of those things that need to be analyzed." The new details came up as investigators were still trying to figure out whether Livelsberger sought to make a political point with the Tesla and the hotel bearing the president-elect's name. Law enforcement sources stated that Livelsberger had no animosity towards President-elect Donald Trump. He wrote in one of his notes that the nation needed to "rally around" Trump and Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, AP reported. Tesla CEO, Elon Musk has recently become a member of Trump's inner circle. Neither Trump nor Musk was in Las Vegas on Wednesday, the day of the explosion. Both had attended Trump's New Year's Eve party at his South Florida estate. "Although this incident is more public and more sensational than usual, it ultimately appears to be a tragic case of suicide involving a heavily decorated combat veteran who was struggling with PTSD and other issues," Spencer Evans, the FBI special agent in charge in Las Vegas, said Friday. Livelsberger died of a self-inflicted gunshot to the head. Investigators have not yet explained how he shot himself inside the Cybertruck while simultaneously igniting fireworks and camp fuel packed inside, which caused the explosion, AP reported. Among the charred items found inside the Tesla, were a handgun at Livelsberger's feet, another firearm, fireworks, a passport, a military ID, credit cards, an iPhone and a smartwatch. Authorities claim that both guns were purchased legally. Earlier, Livelsberger had confided to Alicia Arritt, his former girlfriend who had served as an Army nurse, about facing significant pain and exhaustion, which she attributed to traumatic brain injury, AP cited. He opened up to Arritt (39), whom he met and began dating in Colorado back in 2018, about exhaustion, pain that kept him up at night, and reliving violence from his deployment in Afghanistan, as per Arritt. "My life has been a personal hell for the last year," he told Arritt in text messages sent during their early days of dating that she shared with AP. The Green Berets are known to be highly trained U.S. Army special forces who specialise in guerrilla warfare and unconventional fighting tactics. According to the Army, Livelsberger rose through the ranks and was deployed twice to Afghanistan and served in Ukraine, Tajikistan, Georgia and Congo. He recently returned from an overseas assignment in Germany and was on approved leave when he died. He had received five Bronze Stars, including one with a valour device for courage under fire, a combat infantry badge and an Army Commendation Medal with valour. Authorities searched a townhouse in Livelsberger's hometown of Colorado Springs on Thursday as part of the investigation. Neighbours said the man who lived there had a wife and a baby. As per AP, across-the-street neighbour Cindy Helwig claimed that she last saw him when he asked to borrow a tool to fix an SUV. "He was a normal guy," she said. The explosion came hours after 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar rammed a truck into a crowd in New Orleans' famed French Quarter early on New Year's Day, killing at least 14 individuals before being shot to death by police, AP reported. The FBI says they believe that Jabbar acted alone and that it is being investigated as a terrorist attack. (With inputs from AP)
04 January,2025 12:05 PM IST | Las Vegas | mid-day online correspondentBritish rapper Stormzy has been banned from driving for nine months on Thursday after admitting to driving his Rolls-Royce through London while using his phone, the Associated Press (AP) reported. District judge Andrew Sweet at Wimbledon Magistrates' Court said Stormzy's driving record was "not good" and criticised his "dangerous and irresponsible" actions. Prosecutor Alice Holloway claimed that Stormzy previously put "vulnerable road users at risk" when he drove a Lamborghini Urus with illegally tinted windows. The windows only allowed 4% light transmission than 70% required for tinting, AP reported. The 31-year-old rapper, who wasn't in court for the hearing, pleaded guilty in a letter to the charges of using a cell phone while driving on Addison Road, west Kensington, in March last year. He had previously admitted to the 2023 tinting offence and also has a record of speeding. The court was told he already had six points on his licence for previous speeding offences. Defence lawyer Peter Csemiczky claimed that Stormzy apologised and accepted his responsibility. The court heard the off-duty officer who had knocked on his tinted passenger window and said: "Get rid of your tints and get off your phone," BBC reported. Stormzy had previously denied using his mobile while driving but wrote to the court to change his plea. The artist was fined 2,010 pounds and penalty points were added to his license, AP reported. The 31-year old whose real name is Micheal Ebenazer Owuo Jr., is known for bringing the grime genre of rap into the commercial mainstream, AP cited. His debut album, 'Gang Signs and Prayer' won album of the Year at the Brit Awards back in 2018, where he was also named the best male British solo artist, an honour he won again in 2020. In 2018, Stormzy beat artists including Ed Sheeran and Liam Gallagher in the British Male Solo Artist category. Stormzy's debut album was up against Lipa's "Dua Lipa", Sheeran's "Divide", J Hus' "Common Sense" and Rag'n'Bone Man's "Human". (With agency inputs)
04 January,2025 11:03 AM IST | London | mid-day online correspondentHonduras President Xiomara Castro's comments earlier this week threatening to stop her country's cooperation with the US military if President-elect Donald Trump follows through on promised mass deportations have generated political heat at home, even as the US government has remained silent. In a New Year's Day speech on a national television channel, Castro said that if Trump goes ahead with massive deportations, Honduras would reconsider military cooperation with the US. 'Faced with a hostile attitude of mass expulsion of our brothers, we would have to consider a change of our cooperation policies with the United States, especially in the military realm,' Castro said. She said the US had maintained a presence in Honduran territory for decades without paying a cent and if Hondurans are expelled en masse that presence would cease to have any reason to exist in Honduras. She added that she hoped the Trump administration would be open to dialogue. It was just the latest response in the region to early pronouncements from Trump. His threat to impose tariffs on Mexico if it didn't do more to stop illegal migration and drug trafficking was met with a suggestion of retaliatory tariffs from that government. More recently Trump criticized charges to transit the Panama Canal and suggested the US could take it back, something Panama's president emphatically rejected. The main US military presence in Honduras is at Soto Cano Air Base outside the capital. While it is a Honduran base, the US has maintained a significant presence there since 1983 and it has become a key U.S. launching point for humanitarian and anti-drug missions in Central America. It is home to Joint Task Force Bravo, which the US Defense Department has described as a 'temporary but indefinite' presence. The U.S. Defense Department declined to comment, noting that it 'pertains to campaign statements and not policy.' U.S. Embassy in Honduras did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Castro's political opposition, however, has been quick to denounce the president's comments. Jorge Cálix, a probable presidential aspirant for the Liberal Party in Honduras' Nov. 30 elections, said Castro had put Honduras 'in grave danger' for personal and ideological reasons. Olban Valladares, a political analyst contemplating his own run for office for the Innovation and Unity Party, panned Castro's threat. 'She knows we don't have the ability to threaten the United States in any way, that the damages it would cause Honduras would be terrible,' Valladares said. He said the threat could make Honduran migrants even more of a target for the Trump administration. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
04 January,2025 08:38 AM IST | Honduras | APOutgoing US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan will travel to India January 5 and 6 to meet his counterpart Ajit K Doval and other top government officials for a final round of talks with them on a wide range of bilateral, regional and global issues and to finalise some ongoing initiatives that were important priorities for them to wrap up, the White House said on Friday. Sullivan, 48, the youngest national security advisor when President Joe Bident appointed him on January 20, 2021, would also deliver a major India-centric foreign policy speech at IIT, New Delhi during his last trip to India before leaving office. He would be succeeded by Congressman Michael Waltz on January 20, when Donald J Trump would be sworn in as the 47th President of the United States. While there, the main purpose will be a capstone engagement and dialogue with his counterpart, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, a senior administration official told reporters during a conference call Friday afternoon. It will cover a range of issues across the breadth of our partnership, but with a specific focus on the strategic technology cooperation that we have had across a range of domains, from defense to space to artificial intelligence, the official added. 'The two national security advisors during this engagement will not only take stock of the progress that we have made over the last four years, which has been a historic and transformative period in this relationship as well, but also continue to finalise some ongoing initiatives that were important priorities for us to wrap up to continue our technology cooperation through the end of the administration and to identify new opportunities that we hope with an upcoming team, will continue to take forward,' said the official who spoke on the condition of anonymity. From the views of the Biden administration, the US-Indian relationship has not only been one of the bright points and a real foreign policy prairie and area of legacy achievement for the Biden administration, but it is also a relationship where they have seen continued bipartisan support and momentum from administration to administration in the United States, said the official. Sullivan will deliver a speech at IIT Delhi, in which he will emphasise how India is central not only for US priorities in the Indo Pacific, but globally. 'We see this as a partnership that is really not subject to huge partisan swings in the United States but has had a really enduring basis of support that we expect will continue to move forward,' said the official. During the visit, he will also meet External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, as well as other Indian leaders. The US delegation led by Sullivan will also have members from other government departments. 'While we are there, we will have the opportunity to meet with business leaders as well as young entrepreneurs in India, and really emphasise how much the progress that we have made in this relationship under the Biden administration is not only due to the work that has been done at a GOV to Gov level, but I think increasingly, due to the fantastic and strong relationships that exist at the people-to-people level, at company-to-company level, between the United States and India,' said the official. 'Overall, the message that we intend to leave with at the end of this trip is one of real gratitude for the friendship and the close partnership that President Biden and Prime Minister Modi have enjoyed over the last four years, but also one of tremendous optimism because we see a lot of opportunity in the future for the things that we have started with over the last four years, whether that is commercial space cooperation, looking at opportunities in the future for civil nuclear cooperation, more cooperation on green energy technology. "We think all of these are poised, really, for exponential growth in the future. We are really proud that the Biden administration has put down such a solid foundation and made further growth possible,' the official said. A second senior administration official told reporters that for this particular trip, Sullivan will be taking up several issues. First, advancing the civil nuclear partnership, looking at ways how they can advance cooperation around small modular reactor technology and other forms of civil nuclear cooperation. Second, addressing People's Republic of China overcapacity, whether talking about legacy chips or biopharma supply chains, and also aligning strategies on ICTs risks and cyber focused technology protection measures, whether talking about connected vehicles or the just announced investigation into Chinese drones. Third, discussions around artificial intelligence and national security following the conclusion of their own national security memorandum on AI and other regulations. Fourth, promoting the new commercial space cooperation as the US finalized amendments to its own Missile Technology Control Regime for licensing policies. Fifth, unlocking funding for US India R&D partnerships under the university based local challenges institute, the second official said. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
04 January,2025 08:37 AM IST | Washington | PTIIn an extraordinary turn, a judge Friday set President-elect Donald Trump's sentencing in his hush money case for January 10 ' little over a week before he's due to return to the White House ' but indicated he wouldn't be jailed. The development nevertheless leaves Trump on course to be the first president to take office convicted of felony crimes. Judge Juan M Merchan, who presided over Trump's trial, signalled in a written decision that he'd sentence the former and future president to what's known as a conditional discharge, in which a case gets dismissed if a defendant avoids rearrest. Merchan rejected Trump's push to dismiss the verdict and throw out the case on presidential immunity grounds and because of his impending return to the White House. The judge said he found 'no legal impediment to sentencing' Trump and that it was 'incumbent' on him to sentence Trump prior to his swearing in on January 20. 'Only by bringing finality to this matter' will the interests of justice be served, Merchan wrote. Trump was convicted in May of 34 counts of falsifying business records. They involved an alleged scheme to hide a hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels in the last weeks of Trump's first campaign in 2016. The payout was made to keep her from publicising claims she'd had sex with the married Trump years earlier. He says that her story is false and that he did nothing wrong. After Trump's November 5 election, Merchan halted proceedings and indefinitely postponed the sentencing so the defense and prosecution could weigh in on the future of the case. Trump's lawyers urged Merchan to toss it. They said it would otherwise pose unconstitutional 'disruptions' to the incoming president's ability to run the country. Prosecutors acknowledged there should be some accommodation for his upcoming presidency, but they insisted the conviction should stand. They suggested various options, such as freezing the case during his term or guaranteeing him a no-jail sentence. They also proposed closing the case while formally noting both his conviction and his undecided appeal ' a novel idea drawn from what some state courts do when criminal defendants die while appealing their cases. Trump takes office January 20 as the first former president to be convicted of a crime and the first convicted criminal to be elected to the office. His conviction left the 78-year-old facing the possibility of punishment ranging from a fine or probation to up to four years in prison. The case centered on how Trump accounted for reimbursing his personal attorney for the Daniels payment. The lawyer, Michael Cohen, fronted the money. He later recouped it through a series of payments that Trump's company logged as legal expenses. Trump, by then in the White House, signed most of the checks himself. Prosecutors said the designation was meant to cloak the true purpose of the payments and help cover up a broader effort to keep voters from hearing unflattering claims about the Republican during his first campaign. Trump said that Cohen was legitimately paid for legal services, and that Daniels' story was suppressed to avoid embarrassing Trump's family, not to influence the electorate. Trump was a private citizen ' campaigning for president, but neither elected nor sworn in ' when Cohen paid Daniels in October 2016. He was president when Cohen was reimbursed, and Cohen testified that they discussed the repayment arrangement in the Oval Office. Trump, a Republican, has decried the verdict as the 'rigged, disgraceful' result of a 'witch hunt' pursued by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat. Before Trump's November election, his lawyers sought to reverse his conviction for a different reason: a U.S. Supreme Court decision in July that gave presidents broad immunity from criminal prosecution. That request was still pending when the election raised new issues. While urging Merchan to nix the conviction, Trump also sought to move the case to federal court, where he could also assert immunity. A federal judge repeatedly said no, but Trump appealed. The hush money case was the only one of Trump's four criminal indictments to go to trial. Since the election, special counsel Jack Smith has ended his two federal cases. One pertained to Trump's efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss; the other alleged he hoarded classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate. A separate, state-level election interference case in Georgia is largely on hold. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
04 January,2025 08:36 AM IST | New York | APTwo people died and 18 were injured on Thursday when a small plane crashed through the roof of a sprawling furniture manufacturing building in Southern California where at least 200 people were working, police said. The identities of the people who died, and whether they were in the plane or on the ground, was not yet known, said a Fullerton police spokesperson. The plane crashed less than two minutes after taking off from the Fullerton Municipal Airport in Orange County, located just 10 km from Disneyland, according to the flight-tracking website FlightAware. Security camera footage from a wheel manufacturer across the street shows the plane tilted on its side as it dove into the building, causing a fiery explosion and black plume of smoke. Firefighters and police battled the blaze and evacuated the area. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
04 January,2025 08:36 AM IST | California | AgenciesSouth Korean investigators left the president’s official residence after a nearly six-hour standoff during which he defied their attempt detain him in the latest confrontation of a political crisis that has paralysed South Korean politics and seen two heads of state impeached in under a month. The country’s anti-corruption agency said it withdrew its investigators after the presidential security service blocked them from entering President Yoon Suk Yeol’s residence for hours due to concerns about their safety. The agency expressed “serious regret about the attitude of the suspect, who did not respond to a process by law”. Yoon, a former prosecutor, has defied investigators’ attempts to question him for weeks. The last time he is known to have left the residence was on December 12, when he went to the nearby presidential office to make a televised statement to the nation, making a defiant statement that he will fight efforts to oust him. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
04 January,2025 08:35 AM IST | Seoul | AgenciesThe US surgeon general has issued an advisory calling for a warning about the risk of cancer to be included on alcoholic beverages. “Given the conclusive evidence on the cancer risk from alcohol consumption the surgeon general recommends an update to the surgeon general’s warning label for alcohol-containing beverages to include a cancer risk warning,” Dr Vivek Murthy said in the advisory on Friday. The advisory notes that alcohol is the third leading preventable cause of cancer in the country, after tobacco and obesity. “Alcohol is a well-established, preventable cause of cancer responsible for about 1,00,000 cases of cancer and 20,000 cancer deaths annually in the US—greater than the 13,500 alcohol-associated traffic crash fatalities per year in the US—yet the majority of Americans are unaware of this risk,” Murthy said. The advisory also says more than 7,40,000 cancer cases globally could be attributed to alcohol use in 2020. Warning labels are currently required on alcoholic beverages to state that women who are pregnant should not drink alcohol due to birth defect risks. They must also state that “consumption of alcoholic beverages impairs your ability to drive a car or operate machinery, and may cause health problems.” The warning label hasn’t been updated since 1988, Murthy said. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
04 January,2025 08:34 AM IST | Washington | AgenciesAt least 30 people, including children, were killed in Gaza by Israeli strikes overnight and into Friday morning, said hospital staff, as air sirens sounded across Israel and stalled ceasefire talks were set to resume. Staff at the Al Aqsa Martyrs hospital said more than a dozen women and children were killed in strikes that hit various places in Central Gaza, including Nuseirat, Zawaida, Maghazi and Deir al Balah. Dozens of people were also killed across the enclave the previous day, bringing the total of people killed in the past 24 hours to 56. Strikes on Thursday hit Hamas security officers and an Israeli-declared humanitarian zone. Israelis also woke up to attacks early on Friday morning. Israel said missiles were fired into the country from Yemen, which set off air raid sirens in Jerusalem and central Israel and sent people scrambling to shelters. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage, though a faint explosion, likely either from the missile or from interceptors, could be heard in Jerusalem. Israel’s army said a missile was intercepted. Meanwhile, efforts at ceasefire negotiations were expected to resume on Friday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said he had authorised a delegation from the Mossad intelligence agency, the Shin Bet internal security agency and the military to continue negotiations in Qatar. The delegation left for Qatar on Friday. The US-led talks have repeatedly stalled during 15 months of war, which has caused widespread destruction and displaced some 90 per cent of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million, many of them multiple times. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
04 January,2025 08:33 AM IST | Deir Al-Balah | AgenciesChina on Friday played down reports of a massive outbreak of flu in the country overwhelming hospitals, saying that cases of the respiratory diseases which occur during the winter were less severe this year compared to last year. The Foreign Ministry said it is safe for foreigners to travel to China. “Respiratory infections tend to peak during the winter season in the northern hemisphere," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told the media here in response to a question on the spread of influenza A and other respiratory diseases in China. Videos circulating on social media show overcrowded hospitals. "The diseases appear to be less severe and spread with a smaller scale compared to the previous year," she said. “I can assure you the Chinese government cares about the health of Chinese citizens and foreigners in China. It is safe to travel in China," she said. She also referred to guidelines issued by the National Disease Control and Prevention Administration of China regarding the prevention and control of respiratory diseases in the winter. For the past few days, reports of a massive flu outbreak in China have been circulating abroad, particularly in India and Indonesia. Health officials, however, maintain the outbreak is an annual occurrence during the winter. China is currently experiencing severe cold weather for the past few months. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
03 January,2025 07:33 PM IST | Beijing | PTIIndia and the Maldives have finalised a framework to promote the use of local currencies for cross-border trade, marking a significant development in bilateral economic cooperation. External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, during his meeting with Maldivian Foreign Minister Abdulla Khaleel in New Delhi, reiterated India's unwavering commitment to the island nation, describing it as a vital part of India’s “Neighbourhood First” policy. Khaleel, who is on a three-day visit to India, arrived on Thursday to explore avenues for strengthening ties in key sectors such as maritime security, trade, and investment. Addressing the media following the meeting, Jaishankar highlighted the progress in bilateral relations, noting the newly signed framework for the use of local currencies in cross-border transactions. “I see that the framework to promote the use of local currencies for cross-border transactions has been signed,” Jaishankar remarked. He added, “We have increased our engagement in various sectors, and I do want to emphasise that India has always stood by the Maldives. You are a very concrete expression of our Neighbourhood First policy.” The Maldives remains one of India’s key maritime neighbours in the strategically significant Indian Ocean Region. Bilateral ties, particularly in areas of defence and security, have witnessed substantial growth in recent years. This upward trajectory was supported by the previous government in Male, fostering stronger collaboration between the two nations. However, relations faced challenges following the assumption of office by Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu in November 2023. Known for his pro-China stance, Muizzu demanded the withdrawal of Indian military personnel from the Maldives shortly after his inauguration. Subsequently, Indian military personnel stationed in the Maldives were replaced by civilians to address the concerns raised. Despite initial tensions, a thaw in relations emerged during Muizzu’s visit to New Delhi in October 2024, where he pledged to enhance bilateral ties with India. This commitment was reflected in the discussions held during Khaleel’s current visit, which aim to consolidate progress in various domains, including maritime security and economic cooperation. (With inputs from PTI)
03 January,2025 01:58 PM IST | New DelhiADVERTISEMENT
