All posts tagged: claiming

Trump Is Claiming Victory, Even As What Exactly America Won Remains Unclear

Trump Is Claiming Victory, Even As What Exactly America Won Remains Unclear

Published by Sam Flores

WASHINGTON — Even as President Donald Trump declares a victory in his war against Iran, what precisely the United States has won remains unclear, while the purported loser may be better off in key respects than it was 40 days ago. “The world has just witnessed a historically swift and successful military triumph,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt proclaimed at a press briefing on Wednesday. “Operation Epic Fury was a historic and overwhelming victory on the battlefield, a capital ‘V’ military victory,” Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said at the Pentagon. While the 39 days of air assaults by the United States destroyed much of Iran’s air force, navy and missile and drone capability, the war Trump launched without consulting either allies or Congress has ended — or has at least paused — with little clarity. Iran’s hard-line theocracy is still intact and still in possession of its enriched uranium. Seizing that was one of the many and various reasons Trump has given for waging the war. Further, there is not even a consensus on …

Howard Stern’s former assistant sues, claiming famed radio personality created hostile workplace

Howard Stern’s former assistant sues, claiming famed radio personality created hostile workplace

Published by Daniella Wilson

The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Howard Stern’s former assistant is suing the famed radio personality and his wife for allegedly subjecting her to a hostile work environment while employed at their 20,000-square-foot Hamptons estate, according to court filings reviewed by The Independent. In a state lawsuit filed Sunday, Leslie Kuhn, who began working for Stern in 2022 as his office manager at SiriusXM, says she was made the shock jock’s executive assistant the following year, and relocated to Southampton, New York, in 2024 – at the pair’s request – to provide “assistance with such things as managing the staff of the mansion, setting staffing schedules, completing staff payroll and managing general household operations, including Beth Stern’s extensive at-home feline rescue and fostering operations.” Beth Stern is a longtime animal activist who rescues and fosters abandoned dogs and cats, and is the national spokesperson and …

Savannah Guthrie taunted by cruel ransom note claiming mom Nancy is alive in Mexico

Savannah Guthrie taunted by cruel ransom note claiming mom Nancy is alive in Mexico

Published by Daniella Wilson

Savannah Guthrie returned to the Today desk on Monday after a two-month absence, amid the ongoing investigation into her mother Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance. However, the day was overshadowed by an update in the case. Reporters at media outlet TMZ received two more ransom notes upon Savannah’s return to TV, asking for money in exchange for information on her whereabouts. According to the outlet, the ransom notes came from the same person who sent them notes in February. In the first note, the writer alleged that they saw Nancy “alive with them in the state of Sonora, Mexico,” yet the second note claimed she was dead. © WireImageNancy went missing from her home in Arizona on February 1 “It’s unbelievable that millions have been wasted and yet here I am willing to deliver them on a silver platter since the 11th of February for a bitcoin, but I am disregarded as a scam,” the note continued. “They are free and the case is frozen, but the egos remain hot when it comes to me. Arrogance at …

BYD sold 120,000 NEVs overseas, claiming this is just the start

BYD sold 120,000 NEVs overseas, claiming this is just the start

Published by skeptic

Even Thailand’s Prime Minister is driving a BYD EV amid surging gas prices. As overseas sales continue to rise, BYD said it’s “highly confident” it can sell 1.5 million new energy vehicles (NEVs) in overseas markets in 2026. BYD bets it can sell 1.5 million NEVs overseas in 2026 BYD sold 300,222 NEVs in March, including purely electric (EV) and plug-in hybrid (PHEV) models. Although that’s up 57% from February, it’s 20% fewer than the roughly 377,500 it sold in March 2025. March marked BYD’s seventh consecutive month of lower sales than the year prior, as new low-cost competition entered the market. To drive growth this year, BYD is betting on overseas markets, including Europe, Southeast Asia, and Central and South America. Advertisement – scroll for more content In March, BYD exported 120,083 NEVs, a massive 65% jump from March 2025. Among them, 119,591 were passenger cars and pickup trucks. Through the first three months of 2026, BYD has now sold 321,165 NEVs overseas. With localized production and new models launching across nearly every segment, …

Another Reform candidate quits claiming party has ‘sunk deeper into the sewer’

Another Reform candidate quits claiming party has ‘sunk deeper into the sewer’

Published by Sam Flores

A Reform candidate for this year’s Senedd election has quit just days after the party announced their full list of candidates. Patrick Benham-Croswell, who had been down to stand in the Gŵyr Abertawe constituency, claimed the party had “sunk deeper into the sewer” and betrayed its early members. Mr Benham-Croswell came second in the Swansea West constituency in the 2024 general election, losing out to Labour’s Torsten Bell by roughly 8,000 votes. The former candidate was ranked in fifth place for the Gŵyr Abertawe constituency when Reform published their full list on Wednesday, March 25. In his parting statement, he said he’d been ranked fifth “to an ex-Tory on the make and three novices”. While he said his decision to quit had not been “sour grapes” for his ranking, he said it had confirmed to him what he’d feared about the party – that it was no longer open or honest. For the biggest stories in Wales first sign up to our daily newsletter here. Writing on Facebook, Mr Benham-Croswell said: “Having been an active …

Iran fires missiles at remote U.K.-U.S. base, claiming long-range capabilities it previously denied

Iran fires missiles at remote U.K.-U.S. base, claiming long-range capabilities it previously denied

Published by Sam Flores

LONDON — Iran has fired missiles at the joint U.K.-U.S. Diego Garcia military base in the Indian Ocean, claiming the strike shows it is capable of longer-distance attacks than previously known. “Iran’s reckless attacks, lashing out across the region and holding hostage the Strait of Hormuz, are a threat to British interests and British allies,” a spokesperson for the U.K.’s Ministry of Defense said Saturday, confirming the unsuccessful strike. Tehran fired two intermediate-range ballistic missiles at the base in the Chagos Islands, a remote British overseas territory located more than 2,000 miles from Tehran, Iran’s semiofficial Mehr news agency reported on Saturday. Neither missile hit the base, it added, though neither Iran nor the U.K. specified how close the missiles came to Diego Garcia. The distance of the attempted strike could indicate that Iran has capabilities for long-distance attacks that it has previously denied, with the base the same distance from Iran as much of central Europe. It is unclear, however, if the missiles carried a payload or how far such an attack could truly …

Book claiming Meghan ‘brainwashed’ Harry is ‘deranged conspiracy’, says his spokesperson | UK News

Book claiming Meghan ‘brainwashed’ Harry is ‘deranged conspiracy’, says his spokesperson | UK News

Published by Sam Flores

Prince Harry’s spokesperson has criticised a new book claiming his wife Meghan “brainwashed” him, calling it a “deranged conspiracy”. The claims about the couple, who are estranged from the Royal Family, were made in extracts from a biography by author Tom Bower which were published in The Times. According to Bower, who has written various biographies about the royals, Queen Camilla told a friend: “Meghan’s brainwashed ‌Harry.” The author also wrote that the Duke of Sussex’s elder brother, Prince William, and his wife Kate were allegedly alarmed by Meghan’s impact on him. Image: Harry and Meghan are pictured with Charles and Camilla at Queen Elizabeth’s funeral. Pic: Reuters “Both evidently saw Meghan as a threat rather than an ally,” Bower wrote in Betrayal: Power, Deceit and the Fight for the Future of the Royal Family, which will be released later this month. There were also claims Harry was scared the Prince of Wales might effectively banish him after seeing the dramatic demise of their uncle, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, who was stripped of all titles and removed …

Y Combinator-backed Random Labs launches Slate V1, claiming the first ‘swarm-native’ coding agent

Y Combinator-backed Random Labs launches Slate V1, claiming the first ‘swarm-native’ coding agent

Published by skeptic

The software engineering world is currently wrestling with a fundamental paradox of the AI era: as models become more capable, the “systems problem” of managing them has become the primary bottleneck to real-world productivity. While a developer might have access to the raw intelligence of a frontier model, that intelligence often degrades the moment a task requires a long horizon or a deep context window. But help appears to be on the way: San Francisco-based, Y Combinator-backed startup Random Labs has officially launched Slate V1, described as the industry’s first “swarm native” autonomous coding agent designed to execute massively parallel, complex engineering tasks. Emerging from an open beta, the tool utilizes a “dynamic pruning algorithm” to maintain context in large codebases while scaling output to enterprise complexity. Co-founded by Kiran and Mihir Chintawar in 2024, the company aims to bridge the global engineering shortage by positioning Slate as a collaborative tool for the “next 20 million engineers” rather than a replacement for human developers. With the release of Slate V1, the team at Random Labs …

Kalshi sues Iowa officials claiming federal authority over prediction market contracts

Kalshi sues Iowa officials claiming federal authority over prediction market contracts

Published by skeptic

A federally regulated prediction market is taking Iowa officials to court, arguing the state is threatening to crack down on trading activity that federal law already oversees. Kalshi, a New York–based derivatives exchange, filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa asking a judge to stop potential enforcement by the state. The company says Iowa’s attorney general and the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission are trying to regulate financial event contracts that fall under federal authority. New: Kalshi has sued Iowa state regulators, seeking to stop the state from taking an enforcement action against the prediction market. pic.twitter.com/ja6AUJOXpv — Dustin Gouker (@DustinGouker) March 11, 2026 The lawsuit, filed Wednesday (March 11), names Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird and several members of the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission in their official capacities. Kalshi is seeking a declaratory judgment along with an injunction that would block Iowa from applying state gambling laws to the exchange. According to the complaint, seen by ReadWrite, tensions escalated after a March 4 meeting between Kalshi’s …

Valve pushes back against lawsuits claiming loot boxes violate gambling laws

Valve pushes back against lawsuits claiming loot boxes violate gambling laws

Published by skeptic

Valve is pushing back against accusations that the loot boxes used in its games amount to illegal gambling, as the company faces mounting lawsuits and regulatory scrutiny over the system. In a statement posted to the Steam support website, the game publisher said it strongly disagrees with claims made by New York authorities and other critics. Valve argues that the random item boxes found in some of its games are closer to buying collectible products than participating in gambling. “We don’t believe that they do [violate New York gambling laws], and were disappointed to see the NYAG make that claim after working to educate them about our virtual items and mystery boxes since they first reached out to us in early 2023.” The company also states that items from these boxes are cosmetic only. According to Valve, players do not gain competitive advantages by purchasing them, meaning they are optional visual upgrades rather than gameplay tools. Valve does not cooperate with gambling sites. To date we’ve locked over one million Steam accounts that were being …