Category: Opinion

The Royal Family announced Thursday, “The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon” … only hours after the palace had announced she was under medical supervision at Balmoral Castle.

Earlier the palace called all of Elizabeth’s children to be by her side.

The Queen’s last public appearance came on Tuesday when she met with England’s new Prime Minister, Liz Truss.

Her health had been in decline of late– with her Royal duties being scaled back over the past year.

Her family and the country celebrated the Platinum Jubilee — a 4-day celebration — in June, honoring the 70 years she’s been on the throne.

According to the royal succession, Prince Charles is next in line to the throne. He would become King, and his wife Camilla’s title would be Queen Consort.

While it’s expected Charles will be the next monarch … there’s been speculation he may pass on the crown, making his eldest son, Prince William, the new King of England.

Queen Elizabeth is survived by her 4 children, 8 grandchildren, and even more great grandchildren as well as many extended Royal family members.

She was 96.

Passengers aboard a recent Carnival Vista cruise ship were awakened to water creeping in under their door.

Video footage shows an entire floor swelling with water.

Thankfully the Titanic-like scene was not because the ship was sinking ship, but instead, the result of a plumbing issue that caused a ceiling to cave in and a cabin to fill with water.

The sheer volume of water, caused the cabin’s door to bust open and a river to flow down the hallway, according to a guest who shared the video on TikTok.

According to the passenger, the incident unfolded on the sixth floor before leaking down onto the fifth.

They said it was caused by a “busted pipe” which saw her group awakened to a flood of water higher than their ankles.

There were “Titanic vibes for about five minutes”, she reported.

The TikTok user shared two videos the first of which garnered more than 11 million views.

“Woke to water rushing into our cabin … our lives flashed before our eyes,” she captioned the clip, which showed the hallway carpet drenched in water.

A crowd of people was standing in the hallway as water lapped against their legs.

In a follow-up video, the same passenger clarified she wasn’t “trash talking” the cruise company, only “documenting a scary experience that turned out funny”.

“We did actually wake up to this flood and water past our ankles,” she wrote.

In response to a comment, she explained that the “room filled all the way up and then bent the door”.

“The ceiling caved in and filled this room … eventually breaking through the door and filling our room and others,” she said in another.

Despite the incident, the group “still had a blast”, the traveller wrote.

The Weeknd said Tuesday his voice is recovering, just days after having to cancel his performance during a concert near Los Angeles before finishing the show. The singer said he is working on rescheduling the concert.

The Weeknd was only two songs in at So-Fi Stadium on Saturday, when he began losing his voice and was forced to cut the show short.

“Doctor says my voice is safe and with rest I’ll be solid and able to bring the show my Toronto fans are waiting for,” he said in a tweet on Tuesday. “LA date is being worked out soon. Thank you SO much for all the love and understanding that’s come my way. I love you all so much.”

The Weeknd made the announcement from the stage on Saturday.

He told the crowd at the sold-out show, “I can’t give you the concert I want to give you right now.”

“I’m gonna make sure everybody’s good — you’ll get your money back — I’ll do a show real soon for you guys,” he said. “But I wanted to come out and personally apologize. You know how much this kills me, I’m sorry. I love you. Thank you so much.”

The singer posted a statement on Twitter after the concert was canceled, saying his voice “went out during the first song and I’m devastated. Felt it go and my heart dropped. My deepest apologies to my fans here. I promise I’ll make it up to you with a new date.”

Four people were rescued and two jumped from a burning building Tuesday evening in Queens, New York.

Of the six individuals injured in the fire, five were transported to a local hospital by emergency services after a second-floor home burst into flames at around 7:00 p.m. Tuesday evening. Two individuals were on the ground by the time fire crews arrived on the scene, one of whom fell while trying to escape the fire.

According to one witness, the man was climbing down the fire escape, but fell from the second story, breaking his leg as he hit the ground.

“It’s a sound I don’t want to hear again,” the witness said. “His leg split in the middle when he hit the concrete.”

Flames were rolling out of the windows of the apartment when fire crews arrived, footage of which was shared on Twitter. Sixty firefighters battled to extinguish the blaze.

A mother and newborn were among those rescued by the teams.

The fire was brought under control around 8:30 p.m. The exact cause and nature of the fire are under investigation.

U.S. military contractor Leonard “Fat Leonard” Francis cut his ankle monitor Sunday and is on the lamb just weeks before he was scheduled to be sentenced in a $35 million U.S. Navy bribery scandal.

Francis has been under house arrest in San Diego for years since pleading guilty to charges of bribing U.S. Navy officials in 2015. Federal officials were notified when Francis’ monitor went offline Sunday morning and sent security to check on him.

When Francis failed to respond, police were called to conduct a welfare check at around 2 p.m. Sunday. Officers found the home completely empty except for the cut ankle monitor.

Neighbors told police they had seen U-Haul trucks being loaded in front of the home in the weeks prior to Francis’ disappearance, U.S. Marshal Omar Castillo said.

“He was planning this out, that’s for sure,” Castillo said.

A manhunt is underway but Castillo conceded that Francis may have already crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in Southern California.

Francis, a Malaysian national, ran the Glenn Defense Marine Asia military contractor out of Singapore. The company serviced U.S. Navy vessels docked in ports throughout the region. He pleaded guilty to bribing U.S. Navy officials to dock ships in ports he controlled, a scheme that lost the Navy at least $35 million in overcharges.

Francis bribed the officials with cash, luxury trips, and prostitutes.

It was the largest corruption scandal in U.S. Navy history, leading to charges against 34 people, including Francis, his company, a U.S. Navy rear admiral and other high-level Navy officials.

Bed Bath & Beyond CFO Gustavo Arnal leaped to his death Friday from his 18th-story apartment in Tribeca, New York City.

The chief financial officer and an executive vice president for the home goods company, Arnal, 52, leaped from the “Jenga Building” in New York’s Tribeca neighborhood. He had been with the organization for two years but had earned more than $2.9 million in 2021.

His death comes as Bed Bath & Beyond announced major layoffs and plans to close more than 150 stores.

“The company is a s**tshow right now,” a source said.

Arnal sold off 55,013 shares sometime between August 16 and 17, joining a number of insiders dumping their stock in the company. The stock was down roughly 35% year-to-date.

An Oklahoma news anchor is being treated in the hospital after she began having a stroke live on the air.

Tulsa’s NBC affiliate KJRH reporter Julie Chin was reporting on the Artemis I launch around 8:45 a.m., Saturday when she suddenly appeared to be confused and couldn’t manage to read the teleprompter. Chin tried to start over several times but finally had to admit something was wrong.

“I’m sorry, something is going on with me this morning and I apologize to everybody,” Chin said. “Let’s just go ahead and send it on to meteorologist Annie Brown.”

Chin did not return to air and colleagues immediately called 911. She then posted on Facebook while explaining the incident.

“My doctors believe I had the beginnings of a stroke live on the air Saturday morning,” Chin posted. “Some of you witnessed it firsthand, and I’m so sorry that happened.”

Chin said she felt “great” before the show began, but she suddenly began losing vision and her hand and arm went numb.

“Then, I knew I was in big trouble when my mouth would not speak the words that were right in front of me on the teleprompter,” Chin said. “If you were watching Saturday morning, you know how desperately I tried to steer the show forward, but the words just wouldn’t come.”

Chin said she underwent several tests and her results have come back “great.”

“At this point, Doctors think I had the beginnings of a stroke, but not a full stroke. There are still lots of questions.”

A man was mauled to death after entering the lion enclosure at Accra Zoo in Ghana over the weekend, according to local authorities. It was lunchtime when the security patrol spotted the man scaling a tall fence and entering the enclosure with a lion, a lioness, and two lion cubs.

Authorities are looking into the motive of the middle-aged victim. Unconfirmed reports indicate that the man was planning to steal a pair of lion cubs.

Lions are one of the top animal attractions at Accra Zoo, located in the Achimota Forest in Ghana’s capital city of Accra. The zoo houses a number of wild animals, including crocodiles, monkeys, camels, and large tortoises.

The state Forestry Commission on Sunday confirmed that the “intruder was attacked and injured by one of the adult lions.

They also stated that none of the animals escaped during the attack, and the enclosure remains secure.

The lion attack prompted the temporary closure of the Accra Zoo to the public until further notice.

Wildlife officials suspect the man was planning to “steal two rare white lion cubs.”

The lions may feel their cubs are in danger of being taken away when you come too close, according to Benito Owusu Bio, the deputy minister for Lands and Natural Resources.

Illinois wildlife authorities shut down a two-mile stretch of road to vehicles through late October due to a yearly snake migration.

The U.S. Forest Service said Forest Road #345 – also known as “Snake Road” – in the Shawnee National Forest was closed to vehicles beginning September 1st and will remain closed through October 30th. It is closed for a short time each Spring as well.

The snakes migrate from LaRue Swamp to the nearby limestone bluffs, according to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. Some of the snakes and amphibians are considered endangered in the Prairie State and closing the road allows them cross safely.

While vehicles are not allowed on the road, it will remain open to foot traffic.

USDA says Snake Road is home to 23 species of snakes, some of which are venomous including rattlers and copperheads, and one of the few places in North America where so many can be seen in one geographical location.

The pilot who was flying a small plane over Tupelo, Mississippi landed safely after threatening to crash into a Walmart Saturday, authorities said.

The Benton County Sheriff’s Office confirmed Cory Patterson safely landed the plane in a field in Ashland, roughly 60 miles northeast of Tupelo.

The Tupelo Police Department said it was notified around 5 am this morning that a pilot flying a “King Air type” airplane was threatening to crash into a Walmart located on West Main street.

Authorities confirmed the stolen plane, was a fixed-wing multi-engine 1987 Beech C90A model.

The Walmart and a Dodges eatery and gas station located near the shopping center were evacuated in order to disperse people “as much as practical,” according to authorities.

Roads in west Tupelo and near the airport were reopened as the pilot headed northeast of Tupelo, where authorities were convened.

The police department contacted Patterson, who is an employee of the Tupelo Airport, while he was still in the air.

“The plane over North MS is down,” Gov. Tate Reeves said on Twitter. “Thankful the situation has been resolved and that no one was injured.

“Thank you most of all to local, state, and federal law enforcement who managed this situation with extreme professionalism,” he added.

Patterson was taken into custody by Sheriff Robby Goolsby.