HellsBelle

Airbnb has apologised to a woman after an apartment host falsely claimed she had caused thousands of pounds’ worth of damage and used images she says were digitally manipulated to back up his allegations.

The London-based academic was refunded almost £4,300, and an internal review of how the case was dealt with has been launched at the short-term accommodation rental company.

The incident highlights how cheap and easily available artificial intelligence software is now being used to manipulate images to give false evidence of what has happened in consumer complaints, according to one security expert.

Nearly nine out of 10 Israeli military investigations into allegations of war crimes or abuses by its soldiers since the start of the war in Gaza have been closed without finding fault or left without resolution, according to a conflict monitor.

Unresolved investigations include the killing of at least 112 Palestinians queueing for flour in Gaza City in February 2024, Action on Armed Violence (AOAV) said, and an airstrike that killed 45 in an inferno at a tented camp in Rafah in May 2024.

Also unresolved is an inquiry into the killing of 31 Palestinians going to pick up food at a distribution point in Rafah on 1 June.

They were killed after Israeli forces opened fire, witnesses said. Shortly after, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the reports were “false” but the IDF told the Guardian that the incident was “still under review”.

A federal receiver is on the hunt to recover $140 million lost in an alleged Ponzi scheme that benefited some Republicans in the top ranks of their party in Georgia and Alabama. He’s looking to claw back funds, including almost 1,000 political donations totaling more than $1 million, that often backed far-right Republican insurgents.

Some of these same politicians say they too lost money, but others left holding the bag for First Liberty Building & Loan are rank-and-file conservatives, swayed by talk show pundits who promoted it as an opportunity for Christians and “America First MAGA patriots.”

First Liberty had promised returns up to 16% by making high-interest loans to businesses. Brant Frost IV, an evangelical powerbroker, touted “Wall Street returns for Main Street investors.” But he skimmed $17 million for himself, his relatives and their affiliated companies, and loaned millions more that borrowers never repaid, a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit claims.

Hours after the high-profile launch of Trump Mobile, a new Trump-branded mobile service provider, in June, callers to the company's customer support line were greeted with, "Omega Auto Care, how can I help you?"

Two calls placed by Reuters that day to the mobile service's helpline rang to the Missouri-based auto-warranty company, which is part of Ensurety Ventures, a St. Louis, Missouri firm led by entrepreneur Pat O'Brien, who was introduced by Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. on June 16 as a member of the launch team providing "customer support and device protection" for Trump Mobile.

In a makeshift tent on a Gazan beach, three-month-old Muntaha's grandmother grinds up chickpeas into the tiniest granules she can to form a paste to feed the infant, knowing it will cause her to cry in pain, in a desperate race to keep the baby from starving.

Feeding children solids too early can disrupt their nutrition, cause stomach problems, and risk choking, paediatric health experts say.

"If the hunger continues ... within three or four days, if the child doesn't get access to milk immediately, then they will die," (doctor Khalil Daqran) said.

U.S. President Donald Trump intensified his trade war with Canada a day ahead of his August 1 deadline for a tariff agreement, saying it would be "very hard" to make a deal with Canada after it gave its support to Palestinian statehood.

Trump is set to impose a 35% tariff on all Canadian goods not covered by the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement if the two countries do not reach an agreement by the deadline.

Last month, Carney's government scrapped a planned digital services tax targeting U.S. technology firms after Trump abruptly called off trade talks saying the tax was a "blatant attack."

When the Texas Civil Rights Project needed lawyers to help dozens of people arrested during U.S. President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, legal director Dustin Rynders turned to a familiar strategy. He contacted major law firms that for decades had provided free legal services to nonprofits like his.

On that April day in Houston, he called his usual contacts, many at firms that had previously handled challenges to Trump’s immigration policies. Before Trump’s return to the White House, they typically offered swift “pro bono,” or free, legal help – a standard public service provided by elite U.S. firms.

This time, they all declined. “We are just handling the cases ourselves at this point,” Rynders said.

Months later, the aftershocks threaten lasting damage to America’s tradition of mobilizing free lawyers to challenge government actions on behalf of the vulnerable.

President Donald Trump’s administration on Tuesday proposed revoking a scientific finding that has long been the central basis for U.S. action to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and fight climate change.

The proposed Environmental Protection Agency rule would rescind a 2009 declaration that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare. This “endangerment finding” is the legal underpinning of many climate regulations under the Clean Air Act for motor vehicles, power plants and other pollution sources that are heating the planet.

Tamura was targeting NFL headquarters: Investigators believe that he was trying to target the headquarters of the National Football League, but took the wrong elevator, Mayor Adams said. A rambling note found on his body suggested he had a grievance against the NFL over an unsubstantiated claim that he suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy.

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The partner of late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, completed a second day of questioning on Friday, where she shared information on about 100 different people with the Justice Department.

Maxwell, who was convicted of child sex trafficking in connection with the disgraced financier in 2021, met with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche for about three hours on Friday at a courthouse in Tallahassee, Florida.

She also sat down with Blanche to answer questions for about six hours on Thursday as the Justice Department tries to quell fallout over its handling of the Epstein files.

Ontario Superior Court Justice Maria Carroccia has acquitted all five players involved in the Hockey Canada sexual assault trial.

Michael McLeod, Carter Hart, Alex Formenton, Dillon Dube and Callan Foote had all pleaded not guilty to sexual assault in an encounter that took place in a London, Ont., hotel room in the early hours of June 19, 2018.

Drugmaker Sarepta Therapeutics said late Friday it won’t comply with a request from the Food and Drug Administration to halt all shipments of its gene therapy following the death of a third patient receiving one of its treatments for muscular dystrophy.

The highly unusual move is a latest in a string of events that have hammered the company’s stock for weeks and recently forced it to lay off 500 employees. The company’s decision not to comply with the FDA also places future availability of its leading therapy, called Elevidys, in doubt.

The FDA said in a statement Friday night that officials met with Sarepta and requested it suspend all sales but “the company refused to do so.” The agency has the authority to pull drugs from the market, but the cumbersome regulatory process can take months or even years. Instead, the agency usually makes an informal request and companies almost always comply.