crash

Investors are bulled up on hypergrowth technology stocks right now, especially anything related to artificial intelligence (AI). I would guess that many readers have large exposure to these AI stocks that have been massive winners in the last few years.

There is nothing inherently wrong with allocating your portfolio to hypergrowth stocks. However, if you are an older or more conservative investor, now may be the perfect time to optimize your portfolio for performing through all market cycles. Hypergrowth AI stocks soar during bull markets, but when the inevitable bear market hits (like in 2022), they can crash. If you are not comfortable with 50% or higher drawdowns, more conservative dividend-paying stocks may be for you.

One ultra-high dividend-yielding stock that has done well so far in 2025 is Altria Group (MO 0.66%). The tobacco and nicotine giant has a dividend yielding over 6%. Does that make it the perfect stock to buy in preparation for a market crash?

Steady tobacco cash flows

Altria owns brands like Marlboro cigarettes, oral tobacco products, cigars, and electronic nicotine vapes. It also has a large investment in Anheuser Busch.

Usage of cigarettes in the United States — Altria’s core market — has been in decline for years. The company has optimized its profits despite these declines through price increases, cost cuts, and financialization of its cigarette business. This has driven consolidated free cash flow at the company to grow by 59% in the last 10 years, hitting $8.7 billion over the last 12 months.

In order to build its business for the future, Altria is slowly investing to move beyond cigarettes. Its cigars business is steady, while electronic vaping and nicotine pouches continue to grow. Its On! nicotine pouch brand reported 26.5% volume growth last quarter. To further expand into new nicotine categories, Altria just partnered with KT&G Corporation out of South Korea for exposure to new nicotine pouch brands and investments into the energy space. It is too early to tell what the effect of this partnership will be, but it shows where Altria is focused for the future of its operations.

Image source: Getty Images.

Steady dividend growth

Cigarettes keep providing Altria with steady cash flow, bolstered by price increases. The stock now has a dividend yield of 6.27%, with its dividend per share payout growing steadily in the past 10 years, up 87.6% over that timespan.

The company is generating free cash flow per share of $5.15, versus the current annual dividend per share of $4.24. This gap between free cash flow and dividend obligations should allow the company to keep growing its dividend payout to shareholders, even at a starting yield of over 6%. Along with share repurchases that reduced shares outstanding and therefore make it easier to raise the dividend per share, Altria has a clear path to keep growing its dividend per share over the next decade, just as it has in the last one.

MO Dividend data by YCharts.

Is Altria Group a buy to prepare for a market crash?

Unlike other trendy businesses such as AI infrastructure investments that may experience huge levels of volatility in a market crash or recession, tobacco businesses such as Altria remain steady through all market environments. In fact, volumes for tobacco and nicotine usage actually improve when the economy is in rough shape.

That makes the stock a perfect buy to balance out a portfolio of hypergrowth AI names. If you own steady dividend stocks like Altria, not only do you get 6%+ back on your investment every year in cash, you might have a stock that does well when the market inevitably crashes. That could give you a counterbalance in your portfolio to take advantage of any dips.

If you are worried about having too much exposure to AI growth stocks, Altria Group may be the perfect ultra-high dividend-yielding stock for you.

A POLICEMAN killed in the line of duty has been pictured, as former colleagues pay tribute to the “joyful” officer.

PC Faizaan Najeeb, just 24, was hit by a car and critically injured while responding to a road crash, and tragically died a week later.

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A man in his 20s was arrested at the scene of the fatal collision and has been bailed by police pending further investigation.

Chief Constable of Northamptonshire Police Ivan Balhatchet led the tributes, with former colleagues at Bedfordshire Police adding their own condolences.

The Chief Constable said: “Words cannot describe the sadness felt when an officer loses his life serving in the line of duty.

“The entire Northamptonshire Police family wish to pass on our deepest condolences to his family and friends at this truly awful point in time.

“Colleagues from the Serious Collision Investigation Unit are still investigating the collision, and specialist family liaison officers will continue to support Faizaan’s family in the coming days and weeks.

“We are also carrying out an internal health and safety investigation.”

PC Najeeb was responding to a single vehicle collision in Station Road, Raunds, near Wellingborough, on September 19 when he was hit by a blue VW Polo car.

Despite the best efforts of medical staff at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, he sadly lost his life a week later on September 26.

His former colleagues on the Bedford Community team said: “Those that knew him are absolutely devastated by his death, and he will be sorely missed.

“His ability to lift spirits was infectious, and he was always so happy.

“Faizaan would do anything for anyone, and although he was only with us for a short time, his legacy and impact on those that worked with him remains.

“His memory lives on and will not be forgotten.

“The joy he brought to people that he met can never be replicated, and those on the Community Policing Team, as well as those in other departments will miss him.

“It is with great sadness that PCSO 7001 and PC 1967 has signed off from duty. His memory will live on.

“Thank you, Faizaan, for all the joy and the legacy you brought us.”

A spokesman for Bedfordshire Police said after the tragedy: “We are very sad to hear about the death of our former colleague, Faizaan Najeeb.

“Faizaan joined us in February 2021 as a PCSO with the Bedford Community Policing Team.

“He then moved onto to become a PC with Northamptonshire Police in May 2022.”

Alaa Abouzanad on behalf of the Northamptonshire Council of Mosques also paid tribute to the young officer.

In a letter to Chief Constable Balhatchet he said: “On behalf of the Northamptonshire Council of Mosques, we wish to extend our deepest condolences on the passing of your colleague, PC Faizaan Najeeb.

“His service and dedication to keeping our communities safe will always be remembered and honoured.

“At this difficult time, please know that our thoughts and prayers are with his family, his colleagues, and the wider policing community.

“We stand with you in solidarity and support.

“May Allah grant him forgiveness, mercy, and the highest place in Jannah – paradise – and grant his family patience, strength, and comfort in this time of grief.”

PC Najeeb joined Northamptonshire Police in May 2022 and had served with the Response team in Wellingborough ever since.

In line with tradition for officers who have passed away while in the line of duty, his collar number P1967 will be retired in his memory.

This week the Northamptonshire Police will hold a two-minute silence in memory of their fallen colleague at its Wootton Hall headquarters, where a flag has been flown at half-mast in his honour.

New Delhi, India — Meghna Gupta* had planned it all – a master’s degree by 23, a few years of working in India, and then a move to the United States before she turned 30 to eventually settle there.

So, she clocked countless hours at the Hyderabad office of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), India’s largest IT firm and a driver of the country’s emergence as the global outsourcing powerhouse in the sector. She waited to get to the promotion that would mean a stint on California’s West Coast.

Now, Gupta is 29, and her dreams lie in tatters after US President Donald Trump’s administration upended the H-1B visa programme that tech firms have used for more than three decades to bring skilled workers to the US.

Trump’s decision to increase the fee for the visas from about $2,000, in many cases, to $100,000 has imposed dramatic new costs on companies that sponsor these applications. The base salary an H-1B visa employee is supposed to be paid is $60,000. But the employer’s cost now rises to $160,000 at the minimum, and in many cases, companies will likely find American workers with similar skills for lower pay.

This is the Trump administration’s rationale as it presses US companies to hire local talent amid its larger anti-immigration policies. But for thousands of young people around the world still captivated by the American dream, this is a blow. And nowhere is that more so than in India, the world’s most populous nation, that, despite an economy that is growing faster than most other major nations, has still been bleeding skilled young people to developed nations.

For years, Indian IT companies themselves sponsored the most H-1B visas of all firms, using them to bring Indian employees to the US and then contractually outsourcing their expertise to other businesses, too. This changed: In 2014, seven out of the 10 companies that received the most H-1B visas were Indian or started in India; In 2024, that number dropped to four.

And in the first six months of 2025, Gupta’s TCS was the only Indian company in the top-10 H-1B visa recipients, in a list otherwise dominated by Amazon, Microsoft, Meta and Apple.

But what had not changed until now was the demographic of the workers that even the above US companies hired on H-1B visas. More than 70 percent of all H-1B visas were granted to Indian nationals in 2024, ranging from the tech sector to medicine. Chinese nationals were a distant second, with less than 12 percent.

Now, thousands across India fear that this pathway to the US is being slammed shut.

“It has left me heartbroken,” Gupta told Al Jazeera of Trump’s fee hike.

“All my life, I planned for this; everything circled around this goal for me to move to the US,” said Gupta, who was born and raised in Bageshwar, a town of 10,000 people in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand.

“The so-called ‘American Dream’ looks like a cruel joke now.”

‘In the hole’

Gupta’s crisis reflects a broader contradiction that defines India today. On the one hand, the country — as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government frequently mention — is the world’s fastest-growing major economy.

India today boasts the world’s fourth-largest gross domestic product (GDP), behind just the US, China and Germany, after it passed Japan earlier this year. But the country’s creation of new jobs lags far behind the number of young people who enter its workforce every year, widening its employment gap. India’s biggest cities are creaking under inadequate public infrastructure, potholed roads, traffic snarls and growing income inequality.

The result: Millions like Gupta aspire to a life in the West, picking their career choices, usually in sectors like engineering or medicine, and working to get into hard-fought seats in top colleges – and then migrating. In the last five years, India has witnessed a drastic rise in the outflow of skilled professionals, particularly in STEM fields, who migrate to countries like Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the US.

As per the Indian government’s data, those numbers rose from 94,145 Indians in 2020 to 348,629 by 2024 — a 270 percent rise.

Trump’s new visa regime could now effectively close the pipeline of those skilled workers into the US. The fee hike comes on the back of a series of tension points in a souring US-India relationship in recent months. New Delhi is also currently facing a steep 50 percent tariff on its exports to the US — half of that for buying Russian crude, which the US says is funding the Kremlin’s war on Ukraine.

Ajay Srivastava, a former Indian trade officer and founder of the Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI), a Delhi-based think tank, told Al Jazeera that the hardest-hit sectors after the new visa policy will be “the ones that Indian professionals dominate: mid-level IT services jobs, software developers, project managers, and back-end support in finance and healthcare”.

For many of these positions, the new $100,000 fee exceeds an entry-level employee’s annual salary, making sponsorship uneconomical, especially for smaller firms and startups, said Srivastava. “The cost of hiring a foreign worker now exceeds local hiring by a wide margin,” he said, adding that this would shift the hiring calculus of US firms.

“American firms will scout more domestic talent, reserve H-1Bs for only the hardest-to-fill specialist roles, and push routine work offshore to India or other hubs,” said Srivastava.

“The market has already priced in this pivot,” he said, citing the fall of Indian stock markets since Trump’s announcement, “as investors brace for shrinking US hiring”.

Indian STEM graduates and students, he said, “have to rethink US career plans altogether”.

To Sudhanshu Kaushik, founder of the North American Association of Indian Students, a body with members across 120 universities, the Trump administration’s “motive is to create panic and distress among H-1B visa holders and other immigrant visa holders”.

“To remind them that they don’t belong,” Kaushik told Al Jazeera. “And at any time, at any whim, the possibility of remaining in the United States can become incredibly difficult and excruciatingly impossible.”

The announcement came soon after the start of the new academic session, when many international students – including from India, which sends the largest cohort of foreign students to the US – have begun classes.

Typically, a large chunk of such students stay back in the US for work after graduating. An analysis of the National Survey of College Graduates suggests that 41 percent of international students who graduated between 2012 and 2020 were still in the US in 2021. For PhD holders, that figure jumps to 75 percent.

But Kaushik said he has received more than 80 queries on their hotline for students now worried about what the future holds.

“They know that they’re already in the hole,” he said, referring to the tuition and other fees running into tens of thousands of dollars that they have invested in a US education, with increasingly unclear job prospects.

The landscape in the US today, Srivastava of GTRI said, represents “fewer opportunities, tougher competition, and shrinking returns on US education”.

Nasscom, India’s apex IT trade body, has said the policy’s abrupt rollout could “potentially disrupt families” and the continuity of ongoing onshore projects for the country’s technology services firms.

The new policy, it added, could have “ripple effects” on the US innovation ecosystem and global job markets, pointing out that for companies, “additional cost will require adjustments”.

‘They do not care for people at all’

Ansh*, a senior software engineer at Meta, graduated from an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), one in a chain of India’s most prestigious engineering school, and landed a job with Facebook soon after that.

He now lives with his wife in Menlo Park, in the heart of the US’s Silicon Valley, and drives a BMW sedan to work. Both Ansh and his wife are in the US on H-1B visas.

Last Saturday’s news from the White House left him rattled.

He spent that evening figuring out flights for his friends — Indians on H-1B visas who were out of the country, one in London, another in Bengaluru, India — to see if they could rush back to the US before the new rules kicked in on Sunday, as major US tech firms had recommended to their employees.

Since then, the Trump administration has clarified that the new fees will not apply to existing H-1B visas or renewals. For now, Ansh’s job and status in the US are secure.

But this is little reassurance, he said.

“In the last 11 years, I have never felt like going back to India,” Ansh told Al Jazeera. “But this sort of instability triggers people to make those life changes. And now we are here, wondering if one should return to India?”

Because he and his wife do not have children, Ansh said that a move back to India — while a dramatic rupture in their lives and plans — was at least something they could consider. But what of his colleagues and friends on H-1B visas, who have children, he asked?

“The way this has been done by the US government shows that they do not care for people at all,” he said. “These types of decisions are like … brain wave strikes, and then it is just executed.”

Ansh believes that the US also stands to lose from the new visa policy. “The immigrant contribution is deeply sprinkled into the DNA of the US’s success,” he said.

“Once talent goes away, innovation won’t happen,” he said. “It is going to have long-term consequences for visa holders and their families. Its impact would reach everyone, one way or the other.”

India’s struggle

After the announcement from the White House on Saturday, Prime Minister Modi’s principal secretary, PK Mishra, said that the government was encouraging Indians working abroad to return to the country.

Mishra’s comments were in tune with some experts who have suggested that the disruption in the H-1B visa policy could serve as an opportunity for India — as it could, in theory, stanch the brain drain that the country has long suffered from.

GTRI’s Srivastava said that US companies that have until now relied on immigrant visas like the H-1B might now explore more local hiring or offshore some jobs. “The $100,000 H-1B fee makes onsite deployment prohibitively expensive, so Indian IT firms will double down on offshore and remote delivery,” he said.

“US postings will be reserved only for mission-critical roles, while the bulk of hiring and project execution shifts to India and other offshore hubs,” he told Al Jazeera. “For US clients, this means higher dependence on offshore teams — raising familiar concerns about data security, compliance, and time-zone coordination — even as costs climb.”

Srivastava noted that India’s tech sector can absorb some returning H-1B workers, if they choose to return.

But that won’t be easy. He said that even though hiring in India’s IT and services sector has been growing year-on-year, the gaps are real, ranging from dipping job postings to new openings clustered in AI, cloud, and data science. And US-trained returnees would expect salaries well above Indian benchmarks.

And in reality, Kaushik said, many H-1B aspirants are looking at different countries as alternatives to the US — not India.

Ansh, the senior engineer at Meta, agreed. “In the US, we operate at the cutting edge of technology,” whereas the Indian tech ecosystem was still geared towards delivering immediate services.

“The Indian ecosystem is not at the pace where you innovate the next big thing in the world,” he said. “It is, in fact, far from there.”

Sept. 24 (UPI) — Well-known Chinese architect Kongjian Yu died with three others after a plane crash in the Brazilian wilderness.

Yu, 62, was reportedly killed along with three other passengers Tuesday afternoon after their plane crashed in near Brazil’s Mato Grosso do Sul state in the lush Pantanal wetlands near the borders of neighboring Bolivia and Paraguay, according to The Guardian and The New York Times.

The crash of the small four-seater single-engine Cessna killed its pilot and the two Brazilian filmmakers traveling with Yu, Luiz Ferraz and Rubens Crispim Junior, after the plane spiraled after an aborted landing attempt.

Yu and the film crew were on the way to a ranch while shooting a documentary on Yu’s globally-renowned architectural work.

The film styled as Planeta Esponja, or Planet Sponge in English, was to highlight the Peking University professor’s groundbreaking theories on his “sponge city” concept and work on how cities around the world can best cope with flooding and other extreme weather-related events due to widening effects of climate change.

Chinese government data suggested in 2012 that roughly 40% of China’s rivers were seriously polluted and unfit for drinking.

Yu deployed ancient Chinese water system methods to reimagine urban planing and water conservation in hundreds of cities across China as part of the Communist nation’s rapid urban industrialization across its vast national landscape.

He recently took part at an architecture and urbanism conference in Brasilia to speak on “sponge city” planning where he later told cities must “remain water, slow down water,” and “embrace water.”

“It’s important to make friends with water,” the late Yu previously said.

Sept. 22 (UPI) — The U.S. Defense Department on Monday identified four soldiers who died last week in a helicopter crash during routine training.

The four U.S. Army service members were Chief Warrant Officer Andrew Cully, 35; Sgt. Jadalyn Good, 23; Chief Warrant Officer Andrew Kraus, 39; and Sgt. Donavon Scott, 25. Good and Scott were from Washington, while Cully was from Missouri and Kraus was of Florida.

Col. Stephen Smith said the four service members were from the 4th Battalion, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment. The regiment is headquartered at Fort Campbell in Kentucky and often operates at night, earning members the “Night Stalkers” nickname.

“These exceptional warriors … embodied the unwavering dedication, selflessness and excellence that define the very spirit of the Army and Army Special Operations,” he said.

“Their service to our nation will forever be etched in our hearts and in the legacy of the Night Stalkers. These heroes were not only elite professionals but also cherished teammates, friends and family members whose absence leaves an immeasurable void.”

The four special operations soldiers were aboard an MH-60 Black Hawk helicopter that crashed Wednesday in Washington. The aircraft went down in a rural location about 40 miles west of Joint Base Lewis-McChord — about 50 miles south of Seattle — and caused a 1-acre fire that hampered rescue efforts.

Sept. 19 (UPI) — Four U.S. Army special operations soldiers who were aboard an MH-60 Black Hawk helicopter that crashed likely are dead, Army officials announced on Friday.

The helicopter crashed in Washington state at about 9 p.m. PDT Wednesday and caused a 1-acre fire that hampered efforts to reach the four Army soldiers that it carried, including its pilot.

The soldiers were assigned to the Army’s 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment that is headquartered at Fort Campbell in Kentucky and often operates at night, earning its soldiers the “Night Stalkers” designation.

“Our hearts are with the families, friends and teammates of these Night Stalkers,” said Lt. Gen. Jonathan Braga, commanding general of the U.S. Army Special Operations Command, as reported by CBS News.

“They were elite warriors who embodied the highest values of the Army and the Army Special Operations,” Braga added. “Their sacrifice will never be forgotten.”

The Army has not released the four soldiers’ names, according to The Seattle Times.

The helicopter crashed in a rural location about 40 miles west of Joint Base Lewis-McChord, which is about 50 miles south of Seattle.

The 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment has two battalions based at Fort Campbell and one each at Hunter Army Airfield in Georgia and Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

The unit lost five soldiers during a training exercise accident in the eastern Mediterranean Sea in November 2023.

Sept. 18 (UPI) — The status is unknown for four special operations soldiers aboard a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter that crashed Wednesday evening in Washington state.

The Thurston County Sheriff’s Office said deputies were dispatched to respond to the crash in the Summit Lake, Wash., area and had located the scene of the crash.

The local sheriff told USA Today that “the scene is on fire,” with about an acre burned following the crash that occurred at about 9 p.m. PDT.

The four soldiers are assigned to the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, according to the U.S. Army Special Operations Command.

The crew was on a “routine training flight” when air traffic controllers lost contact with them, which suggested something had gone wrong, a U.S. Army spokesperson told ABC News.

The accident’s cause is under investigation.

Thurston County Sheriff Derek Saunders said the crash site is about 15 miles from Joint Base Lewis McChord.

“Deputies have located the crash site but have been unable to continue rescue efforts as the scene is on fire and is starting to overheat their footwear,” Saunders said. “Special operation rescue units are responding.”

Joint Base Lewis-McChord is located in the Puget Sound region and is home to I Corps and the 62 Airlift Wing. According to the base’s website, there are 40,000 active-duty troops at the base, plus their families and thousands of contractors.

The Military Times reported that the weather was good at Olympia Regional Airport on Wednesday night, with clear skies and a visibility of 10 miles.

This is a breaking news story. Check back for developments.

SACRAMENTO — A Riverside County lawmaker accused of driving drunk after a car crash, but cleared by a blood test, took the first step Monday toward suing the Sacramento Police Department, saying officers had tarnished her reputation.

After Sen. Sabrina Cervantes (D-Riverside) was broadsided by an SUV near the Capitol in May, Sacramento police interviewed the 37-year-old lawmaker for hours at a Kaiser Permanente hospital before citing her on suspicion of driving under the influence. Prosecutors declined to file charges after the toxicology results of a blood test revealed no “measurable amount of alcohol or drugs.”

In an 11-page filing Monday, Cervantes alleged that officers had retaliated against her over a bill that would sharply curtail how police can store data gathered by automated license plate readers, a proposal opposed by more than a dozen law enforcement agencies.

The filing also alleges that the police treated Cervantes, who is gay and Latina, differently than the white woman driver who ran a stop sign and broadsided her car.

“This is not only about what happened to me — it’s about accountability,” Cervantes said in a prepared statement. “No Californian should be falsely arrested, defamed, or retaliated against because of who they are or what they stand for.”

Cervantes, a first-year state senator, has said since the crash that she did nothing wrong. She represents the 31st Senate District, which covers portions of Riverside and San Bernardino counties, and chairs the Senate elections committee.

Cervantes’ lawyer, James Quadra, said the Sacramento police had tried to “destroy the reputation of an exemplary member of the state Senate,” and that the department’s “egregious misconduct” includes false arrest, intentional infliction of emotional distress and defamation.

A representative for the Sacramento Police Department declined to comment, citing pending litigation.

After news broke of the crash, the Sacramento Police Department told reporters that they had “observed objective signs of intoxication” after speaking to Cervantes at the hospital. She said in her filing that the police had asked her to conduct a test gauging her eyes’ reaction to stimulus, a “less accurate and subjective test” than the blood test she requested.

The toxicology screen had “completely exonerated” Cervantes, the filing said, but the police department had already “released false information to the press claiming that Senator Cervantes had driven while under the influence of drugs.”

The filing alleges that one police officer turned off his body camera for about five minutes while answering a call on his cell phone. The filing also said that the department failed to produce body camera footage from a sergeant who also came to the hospital.

Three British nationals were killed in the Lisbon funicular crash, Portuguese police have said.

The Glória funicular, a popular tourist attraction, derailed and crashed into a building on Wednesday, killing 16.

More than 20 people were also injured, with five in a critical condition.

Nationals of Portugal, South Korea, Switzerland, Canada, Ukraine, France, and the US are also among the dead, police said.

It is not known what caused the crash. The capital’s public transport operator, Carris, said all funiculars would be inspected and that it had launched an independent investigation.

The 140-year-old carriage derailed at around 18:15 local time (17:15 GMT) near the city’s Avenida da Liberdade boulevard.

More than 60 rescue personnel raced to the scene to pull people from the wreckage.

Videos and images of the site showed an overturned, crumpled yellow carriage lying on the cobblestone street.

Portugal’s Prime Minister Luís Montenegro called the crash “one of the biggest human tragedies of our recent history” and a national day of mourning was declared.

Rudolph W. Giuliani has been released from the hospital and “is progressing well” after being injured when the vehicle he was riding in was struck from behind on a highway in New Hampshire, a spokesman said Tuesday.

The former New York City mayor, 81, was injured Saturday shortly after stopping “to assist a person in urgent need of help,” spokesman Ted Goodman said in a statement.

“He has since been discharged from the hospital and deeply appreciates the love, well wishes, and prayers he has received,” Goodman’s statement said. “The mayor also extends his gratitude to the New Hampshire State Police, paramedics, Elliot Hospital, and all of the physicians and nurses who provided him with outstanding care.”

Goodman was behind the wheel, with Giuliani as a passenger, when their rented Ford Bronco was struck from behind on Interstate 93 by a Honda HR-V driven by a 19-year-old woman, New Hampshire State Police said in a statement. Both vehicles hit the highway median and were “heavily damaged,” the statement said.

Goodman and the 19-year-old suffered “non-life-threatening injuries” and were taken to hospitals, the agency said.

Giuliani was taken by ambulance to a nearby trauma center for treatment of a fractured thoracic vertebra, multiple lacerations and contusions, as well as injuries to his left arm and lower leg, according to a statement posted on X by Michael Ragusa, Giuliani’s head of security. The thoracic vertebrae are part of the spine.

State police said the cause of the crash was under investigation. No charges were filed.

Prior to the accident, Giuliani and Goodman “were flagged down by a woman on the side of the road, just south of Exit 9N, who reported to them she had been involved in a domestic violence incident,” state police said in a news release. Goodman reported the incident to law enforcement and he and the former mayor remained at the scene until troopers arrived.

The reported domestic violence and crash were believed to be unrelated, investigators said.

“Thank you to all the people that have reached out since learning the news about my Father,” Andrew Giuliani, Rudy Giuliani’s son, wrote in a post on X. “Your prayers mean the world.”

The onetime Republican presidential candidate was dubbed “America’s mayor” in light of his leadership in New York after the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001.

Giuliani later became President Trump’s personal attorney and was a vocal proponent of Trump’s allegations of fraud in the 2020 election, which was won by Democrat Joe Biden. Trump and his backers lost dozens of lawsuits claiming fraud, and numerous recounts, reviews and audits of the election results turned up no signs of significant wrongdoing or error.

Two former Georgia elections workers later won a $148-million defamation judgment against Giuliani. As they sought to collect the judgment, the former federal prosecutor was found in contempt of court and faced a trial this winter over the ownership of some of his assets. He ultimately struck a deal that let him keep his homes and various belongings, including prized World Series rings, in exchange for unspecified compensation and a promise to stop speaking ill of the ex-election workers.

Thompson writes for the Associated Press.

Aug. 31 (UPI) — Rudy Giuliani, a former New York City mayor and one-time lawyer to President Donald Trump, was hospitalized with a fractured vertebra following a car crash in New Hampshire, his head of security announced Sunday.

The security official, Michael Ragusa, said Giuliani’s vehicle was struck from behind Saturday evening while he was traveling on a highway.

“He was transported to a nearby trauma center, where he was diagnosed with a fractured thoracic vertebrae, multiple lacerations and contusions, as well as injuries to his left arm and lower leg,” Ragusa said in a statement posted to X.

Giuliani “is in good spirits and recovering tremendously,” he added.

Rudolph W. Giuliani is recovering from a fractured vertebra and other injuries following a car crash in New Hampshire, a spokesperson for the former New York City mayor said Sunday.

Giuliani was being driven in a rented Ford Bronco by his spokesperson Ted Goodman when their vehicle was struck from behind by a Honda HR-V driven by a 19-year-old woman late Saturday evening, New Hampshire State Police said in a statement.

Troopers witnessed the crash, which caused both vehicles to hit the highway median and left them “heavily damaged,” the State Police said. Goodman and the 19-year-old suffered “non-life-threatening injuries” and were taken to hospitals for treatment, the agency added.

The State Police said it was investigating the crash and no charges have been filed.

Giuliani, 81, was taken to a nearby trauma center and was being treated for injuries including “a fractured thoracic vertebrae, multiple lacerations and contusions, as well as injuries to his left arm and lower leg,” according to a statement posted on X by Michael Ragusa, Giuliani’s head of security.

Giuliani “sustained injuries but is in good spirits and recovering tremendously,” Ragusa said, adding: “This was not a targeted attack.”

Before the accident, Giuliani had been “flagged down by a woman who was the victim of a domestic violence incident” and contacted police assistance on her behalf, Ragusa said. After police arrived, Giuliani continued on his way and his vehicle was hit shortly after pulling onto the highway in a crash that was “entirely unrelated” to the domestic violence incident, Ragusa told The Associated Press in an emailed statement.

State police said troopers were investigating a domestic violence report on the southbound Interstate 93 shortly before 10 p.m. and observed the crash, which occurred on the northbound lanes. Troopers and fire personnel quickly crossed to provide help.

New Hampshire State Police declined to comment on whether Giuliani had contacted the agency regarding the account of a domestic violence incident.

Goodman did not respond to requests for comment and Giuliani’s team did not provide additional details about the circumstances surrounding the crash.

“Thank you to all the people that have reached out since learning the news about my Father,” Andrew Giuliani, Rudy Giuliani’s son, wrote in post on X. “Your prayers mean the world.”

The crash follows some rocky years for the onetime Republican presidential candidate, who was dubbed “America’s mayor” in light of his leadership in New York after the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001.

Giuliani later became President Trump’s personal attorney for a time and a vocal proponent of Trump’s false allegations of fraud in the 2020 election, won by Democrat Joe Biden. Trump and his backers lost dozens of lawsuits, and numerous recounts, reviews and audits of the election results turned up no signs of significant wrongdoing or error.

Two former Georgia elections workers later won a $148-million defamation judgment against Giuliani for issues related to his 2020 election fabrications.

As they sought to collect the judgment, the former federal prosecutor was found in contempt of court and faced a trial this winter over the ownership of some of his assets. He ultimately struck a deal that let him keep his homes and various belongings, including prized World Series rings, in exchange for unspecified compensation and a promise to stop speaking ill of the ex-election workers.

Brook writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Jennifer Peltz in New York contributed to this report.

The weekend crash follows some rocky years for the one-time Republican presidential candidate.

Former New York City mayor and United States President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, has been hospitalised after a car crash near Manchester, New Hampshire, a spokesman said.

Late Saturday evening, Giuliani suffered a fractured vertebra as well as other cuts, the spokesman, Michael Ragusa, said in a post on X. He said that Giuliani’s rental car was hit from behind at high speed, adding that it was not a targeted attack.

Giuliani, 81, was taken to a nearby trauma centre and was being treated for injuries including “a fractured thoracic vertebrae, multiple lacerations and contusions, as well as injuries to his left arm and lower leg”, according to Ragusa.

Prior to the accident, Giuliani had been “flagged down by a woman who was the victim of a domestic violence incident”, and contacted police assistance on her behalf, Ragusa said.

After the police arrived, Giuliani continued on his way, and his vehicle was hit shortly after pulling onto the highway. Ragusa told The Associated Press in an emailed statement that the car crash was “entirely unrelated” to the domestic violence incident.

Ragusa said Giuliani was “in great spirits” and expected to be released from hospital in a few days.

The weekend crash follows some volatile years for the one-time failed Republican presidential candidate, who was dubbed “America’s mayor” in light of his leadership in New York after the September 11, 2001, attacks.

Giuliani later became Trump’s personal lawyer for a time and a vocal proponent of Trump’s false allegations of fraud in the 2020 election, which was won by Democrat Joe Biden.

Trump and his backers lost dozens of lawsuits claiming fraud, and numerous recounts, reviews and audits of the election results turned up no signs of significant wrongdoing or error.

Two former Georgia elections workers later won a $148m defamation judgement against Giuliani. As they sought to collect the judgement, the former federal prosecutor was found in contempt of court. He faced a trial this winter over the ownership of some of his assets.

He ultimately struck a deal that let him keep his homes and various belongings, including prized World Series rings, in exchange for unspecified compensation and a promise to stop speaking ill of the ex-election workers.

Frankie Muniz — the “Malcolm in the Middle” star turned NASCAR driver — is off the racetrack, for now at least.

The actor is recovering from a broken wrist he suffered after falling from a ladder at his home, he wrote on Instagram on Thursday.

“The phrase ‘FML’ (Frankie Muniz’s Life) takes on new meaning with moments like these,” he wrote.

The accident came right before a NASCAR event at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, S.C., over Labor Day weekend.

Muniz shared that the ladder mishap happened when he was trying to change batteries on a backyard security camera. While he joked about the situation, he said he’s heartbroken to miss the competition.

However, Muniz’s NASCAR career is far from over. He estimates he’ll be back behind the wheel within a few months.

Muniz began his professional driving career in 2006, after the end of “Malcolm in the Middle,” a move that stemmed from his lifelong admiration for the sport.

This isn’t the first time Muniz has found himself on the mend. In a previous interview, the 39-year-old told People that he’s simply “injury-prone,” and broke 38 bones between 2006 and 2017.

Muniz was involved in a crash at a 2024 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship at Phoenix Raceway in Arizona. According to reports from a journalist at the track, Muniz was seen limping into an ambulance after a hard hit from behind, but escaped major injury.

Neither that nor his latest fall are as harrowing as his major crash in 2009.

During a race, the then-21-year-old’s vehicle flipped and violently crashed into a wall. He described the crash as “gnarly” and said it resulted in him breaking his back, ankle, four ribs and a hand.

“My thumb was dangling by the skin,” Muniz told People.

In comparison, his recent fall from the ladder was a bump in the road. As the actor-turned-racer recovers, he plans to come back to racing full-force — and probably follow the instructions on his ladder a little more closely.

“Note to self: heed the ladder warning that says, ‘Do not sit or stand on top step,’” Muniz wrote on social media. “In hindsight, a taller ladder would’ve been smarter. While I’m gutted to miss the races, I’m grateful it wasn’t worse.”

FORT PIERCE, Fla. — A truck driver accused of making an illegal U-turn that killed three people in Florida last week who the Trump administration said was in the U.S. illegally was denied bond Saturday.

The crash sparked a clash between the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and California Gov. Gavin Newsom over Harjinder Singh, a native of India who obtained a work permit and driver’s license in the state.

Singh was charged with three state counts of vehicular homicide and immigration violations, and he was denied bond on all charges. He is being held in the St. Lucie County Jail, Lt. Andrew Bolonka from the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office said. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has put a hold on him.

Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said issuing a commercial license to someone in the country illegally is “asinine.” California is one of 19 states, in addition to the District of Columbia, that issues licenses regardless of immigration status. Supporters say that lets people work, visit doctors and travel safely.

Newsom’s press office responded in a social media post on X that Singh obtained a work permit while Donald Trump was president, which McLaughlin disputed.

Florida authorities said Singh entered the U.S. illegally from Mexico in 2018.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis dispatched Lt. Gov. Jay Collins to California to escort Singh onto an airplane Thursday.

Singh made the illegal turn on the highway about 50 miles north of West Palm Beach, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. A minivan in the neighboring lane was unable to avoid the truck’s trailer and slammed into it, killing the minivan’s driver and two passengers.

Singh and a passenger in his truck were not injured.

Aug. 22 (UPI) — At least five people, including a child, died when a chartered tour bus crashed and rolled in upstate New York while returning from Niagara Falls on Friday.

The bus was carrying 52 people, including the driver, when it crashed in Pembroke, about 25 miles east of Buffalo on Interstate-90 between exits 49 and 48A in a single-vehicle accident, Spectrum News 1 reported. The crash occurred before 12:30 p.m.

The rollover accident ejected many of the passengers from the bus.

The bus was returning to New York City from Niagara Falls when the driver lost control, struck the median, overcorrected and went into a ditch, which caused a deadly rollover, New York State Police spokesman James O’Callaghan told media.

He said at least one of the fatalities was a child.

“It’s a very volatile scene,” O’Callaghan said. “We have vehicles going the wrong way on the 90.”

All passengers suffered at least minor injuries, and many were not wearing seatbelts when the accident occurred, he added.

The driver survived the accident and is doing well, O’Callaghan said.

“We’re working with him,” he added. “We have a good idea of what happened [and] why the bus lost control.”

O’Callaghan did not elaborate on the accident’s likely cause.

Area hospitals have treated more than 40 people for injuries, which include head trauma, broken legs and broken arms, according to PBS.

Most of the passengers were visitors from India, China and the Philippines, and first responders took accident victims to three area hospitals.

Because most are international travelers, hospitals used translation devices to communicate with many of them.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, in a social media post, called the accident “tragic” and said first responders are assisting all involved.

Five people have died after a tourist bus returning from Niagara Falls crashed on the motorway in western New York.

Witnesses saw the vehicle lose control and turn over approximately 40 miles (64km) from Niagara Falls, a major tourist destination on the US-Canada border.

Most of the 52 people on board are from India, China and the Philippines. Some were thrown from the vehicle, and others were trapped inside the wreckage for several hours, police have said. It is believed most were not wearing seat belts.

The cause of the crash is not known and authorities have urged drivers with dashcam footage to come forward.

Ambulances and medical helicopters were sent to the crash site, near the town of Pembroke, 30 miles (48km) east of the city of Buffalo.

Translators and translation devices were brought to the scene and hospitals to assist in the investigation.

Andre Ray major, New York State Police troop commander, told a news conference: “The cause of the collision is still under investigation. However, mechanical failure as well as operator impairment have been ruled out at this time.

“The operator has been cooperative and with the investigation still underway. No charges have been filed at this point.”

The bus was heading eastbound and lost control, veering into the median and then into a ditch, according police.

The passengers were aged between one and 74. Several children were on board at the time of the crash, police say.

Twenty-four adult patients were admitted to one local hospital, and doctors say they’re expected to make a full recovery. Other area hospitals also received patients, and those under 16 who survived were taken to a children’s hospital.

One witness told The Buffalo News that he saw a bus lying on its side and items strewn on the roadway following the crash.

“There was glass all over the road and people’s stuff all over the road,” said Powell Stephens, who drove past the crash site.

“Windows were all shattered. Everyone seemed conscious and OK, but I only saw the scene for about 15 seconds.”

ConnectLife, an organisation that provides blood to hospitals in the region, has issued an emergency appeal for blood donations.

“Our community is facing a crisis,” said spokeswoman Sarah Diina.

“This is one of those moments when your action can directly save lives,” said Diina.

The Red Cross has opened a family reunification centre to connect children and parents who were transported to different hospitals.

Passengers from China, India, the Philippines, the Middle East and the US were on board the bus when it crashed at full speed.

Five people were killed and many were injured when a tour bus returning to New York City from Niagara Falls with 54 people on board crashed and rolled on its side on an interstate highway, authorities said.

A police spokesman said the bus left the road on a highway about 40km (25 miles) east of the northern city of Buffalo on Friday.

An investigation into the cause of the crash is under way but police said they suspect the driver, who survived, became distracted, lost control of the vehicle at “full speed”, and oversteered, causing the bus to flip over and come to a rest in a ditch.

Authorities have ruled out mechanical failure and driver health issues, and said no other vehicles were involved.

According to police, bus passengers were from China, India, the Middle East, the Philippines and the US. Translators were sent to the scene to help communicate with the victims.

The Mercy Flight medical transport service said its three helicopters and three more from other services transported people from the crash site to hospitals in the area.

More than 40 people were evaluated and treated for injuries ranging from head trauma to broken arms and legs.

The National Transportation Safety Board said it was sending a team to New York to investigate the crash.

New York State Governor Kathy Hochul said her team was coordinating with state police and local officials “who are working to rescue and provide assistance to everyone involved”.

Blood and organ donor network Connect Life issued a call for blood donors to come forward in the wake of the crash.

“I’m heartbroken for all those we’ve lost and all those injured and praying for their families. Thank you to our brave first responders on the scene,” senior US senator from New York Chuck Schumer said.

The bus was returning from a day trip to the popular tourist destination of Niagara Falls – towering waterfalls that span the US-Canada border – when the accident occurred.

Aug. 22 (UPI) — An undetermined number of people have died and many remained trapped inside a tour bus that crashed in upstate New York while returning from Niagara Falls on Friday afternoon, authorities said.

The bus was carrying 52 people, including the driver, when it crashed about 25 miles east of Buffalo on Interstate-90 between exits 49 and 48A, Spectrum News 1 reported.

The rollover accident ejected many of the passengers from the bus, and several passengers had died as of 2:30 p.m. EDT.

The bus was returning to New York City from Niagara Falls when the driver lost control for unknown reasons, causing a deadly rollover, New York State Police spokesman James O’Callaghan told media.

He said at least one of the fatalities was a child.

“It’s a very volatile scene,” O’Callaghan said. “We have vehicles going the wrong way on the 90.”

Most of the passengers were visitors from India, China and the Philippines, and first responders are taking accident victims to Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, in a social media post, called the accident “tragic” and said first responders are assisting all involved.

This is a developing story and will be updated.