damage

ALL That star, Christy Knowings is dead at 46-years old.

According to TMZ the TV star died suddenly in Los Angeles on Tuesday.

Family members told the outlet that Christy suffered an asthma attack on Friday which left her with brain damage.

They ultimately decided to take her off life support earlier this week.

Christy appeared in three seasons of All That, starting in 1997.

She has also appeared alongside her twin brother, Chris Knowings, in 3 episodes of Sesame Street.

AMANDA’S NEW LOOK

Amanda Bynes looks unrecognizable as she shows off weight loss

This is the second All That cast member to die this year.

Kianna Underwood was killed in a hit and run crash at the start of the year.

She was 33-years-old.

All That was a popular Nickelodeon sketch comedy show, described as a Saturday Night Live for a younger audience, and starring Amanda Bynes.

The show ran from 1994 until 2020.

Also starring on the show over the years was Amanda Bynes, Nick Cannon, Kel Mitchell, Kenan Thompson, Jamie Lynn Spears and Lori Beth Denberg.

A vast oil spill from a leaking tanker reached Oman’s coastline on Wednesday, its environment agency said.

This oil spill threatens to become one of the world’s worst in years after spreading largely unchecked for several weeks, experts say.

On Monday, Oman said it was working to contain the spill, which had by then affected roughly 390 square kilometres (150sq miles), according to analysis by the country’s environment agency.

The slick now covers an area of more than 2,000sq km (770sq miles), said John Amos, an oil spill specialist who reviewed satellite imagery obtained by Reuters. It could affect about 40km (25 miles) of coast near Ras Madraka, as well as Masirah Island, Oman’s Environment Authority said.

Here’s what we know.

What happened?

Oil has been leaking from the tanker Caroline Bezengi since it ran aground about 22 nautical miles (41km) from the Omani coastal town of Sharbithat some time after the crew reported a suspected explosion on June 8. It had been en route from Russia to India.

Reuters reported that the tanker was carrying an estimated 800,000 barrels of sanctioned oil and that it ran aground on June 30.

An investigation by the news agency AFP found that the ship had been stranded for several weeks near Oman’s al-Qibliyyah Island.

In the meantime, the oil has been spreading towards Oman’s coastline.

The Oman News Agency (ONA) quoted the country’s environment authority saying that “today’s monitoring results showed that some beaches in the Ras Madrakah area were affected by oil pollution”.

The Indian Ocean town sits about 200km (125 miles) from al-Qibliyyah.

The slick is now concentrated around the Hallaniyat Archipelago off the southern coast, where a marine reserve was established last year to protect sensitive ecosystems home to diverse marine life, including rare sea turtles.

On Wednesday, the ONA reported that “a coastal stretch of up to 40 km in the [Ras Madrakah] area is expected to be affected”.

The southern beaches of Masirah Island, which lies 15km (nine miles) off the coast of Oman, could be contaminated “in the coming hours”, affecting a 10-20km (six-to-12-mile) stretch of coastline, it said.

An unnamed spokesperson for the United Nations International Maritime Organization said it was “closely monitoring” the leakage.

How did this happen?

British maritime security company Vanguard told AFP that the tanker had suffered “explosions” in early June as it sailed off the coast of Yemen, causing water to enter several sections of the vessel. It ran aground off the coast of Oman some time after this.

There has been no official explanation for the explosions and no party has claimed an attack. However, the vessel was navigating two separate wars on its journey from Russia to India. Tankers have been frequently targeted in the Gulf region in recent months as the US war on Iran has continued.

In April, the Caroline Bezengi sailed from the Russian port of Novorossiysk on the Black Sea, a flashpoint in the Russia-Ukraine war.

It is believed to be part of Russia’s “shadow fleet” used to circumvent Western sanctions on its oil exports. It last sailed under a Cameroonian flag.

Rentoor Shipmanagement and Villar Shipmanagement, both based in China, are registered as the ship’s owner and operator, respectively, according to the open-source database OpenSanctions.

Russia’s shadow fleet includes ageing vessels that have often been criticised for poor maintenance, lack of insurance and lacklustre safety standards.

Ukraine has previously carried out assaults on shadow fleet vessels believed to be carrying Russian oil.

The Caroline Bezengi then passed through the Suez Canal at the end of May, ship-tracking data shows, before sailing through the Red Sea and past Yemen, where the Iran-aligned Houthi fighters have entered a wider regional war between the United States, Israel and Iran and are targeting Saudi Arabia-flagged ships.

What damage could the oil spill cause?

Last week, advocacy group Greenpeace warned that the spill was on the verge of causing an “environmental disaster”.

Christopher D’Elia, a specialist in oil spills and a professor emeritus at Louisiana State University in the United States, told Al Jazeera the estimated 800,000 barrels of crude on board the Caroline Bezengi would amount to a “fairly large spill”.

“This spill raises a lot of issues,” D’Elia told Al Jazeera.

“These illegal tankers don’t comply with the ‘polluter pays’ principle that is the basis for how the US and other developed nations regulate spills,” D’Elia said.

“The ‘responsible party’ must finance the cleanup in the US. In this case, there is no responsible party.”

Meanwhile, Iranian media reported on Wednesday that a separate oil spill in the Strait of Hormuz had reached the island of Qeshm, affecting beaches and an environmentally sensitive mangrove forest.

State-run news agency IRNA said the slick had affected areas on Qeshm’s southern coast, as well as parts of the smaller neighbouring island of Hengam.

Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said pollution had been observed at three locations and on the sea surface, adding that its source seemed to be a “foreign bulk carrier”, without specifying the name of the ship.

The risk of oil spills in the Gulf has risen sharply because of strikes on tankers during the five-month US-Iran war. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has reported 65 incidents in the Strait of Hormuz and across the Middle East since the beginning of March.

“Any party that benefits from commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz is legally and morally obligated to take action to compensate for and remedy the environmental damage caused to the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman,” he said.

Top executives of California’s two biggest utilities warned they would take action to protect their shareholders if Sacramento lawmakers fail to pass legislation limiting their companies’ liabilities for wildfires sparked by their equipment.

“If the legislature does not act, or if they act and don’t actually solve the problem, then we’re going to have to take action,” said Patti Poppe, chief executive of Pacific Gas & Electric, on a July 23 call with Wall Street analysts.

Poppe did not specify what her company would do, but made it clear any action would protect shareholders’ money. Previously, she told Wall Street analysts that if lawmakers failed to pass legislation to protect the utilities, PG&E would use its cash to buy back the company’s shares, according to a report by the bank Jeffries.

That could raise the company’s stock price and benefit shareholders, while reducing money available for the utility’s California programs.

The comments from Poppe and Pedro Pizarro, chief executive of Edison International, came just before the state Legislature returned from summer break Monday to begin the last four weeks of its session.

Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislators have been working behind closed doors to address the state’s escalating cost of wildfires, including those caused by the utilities, The Times reported last month. The big electric companies have told their investors they are talking to Newsom and lawmakers about a bill package that would protect shareholders from paying for utility-sparked fires.

On Tuesday, government fire officials released their investigation into last year’s devastating Eaton fire, blaming Edison’s century-old transmission line, which the utility kept in place even though it had not carried power since 1971.

Last week, Edison’s Pizarro echoed some of Poppe’s statements. He told Wall Street analysts on a conference call that he too was prepared to make financial changes if the legislature does not pass a comprehensive bill that cuts the utilities’ financial wildfire risk before the legislative session ends Aug. 31.

Any legislation that passes without a protective framework for utilities, Pizarro said, would “influence how we prioritize and deploy future capital.”

Pizarro declined analysts’ requests to say where the company would cut back, other than saying it would continue spending aimed at keeping its grid safe and reliable.

“We’re going to evaluate the totality of the package that comes to us and figure out our response that goes along with it,” Pizarro said.

Pizarro also told analysts that without legislation supporting the utilities, Edison’s credit rating could be downgraded. If that happens, he said, it could raise bills for electric customers since the utility may have to pay a higher interest rate for new borrowings.

“That could be a significant cost impact through the cost of debt that gets passed through to SCE customers if we don’t have a framework in the next four weeks that is credit supportive for our utility,” Pizarro told the analysts.

Newsom and lawmakers are drawing up legislation based on recommendations in an April study that the governor ordered last year.

The final report didn’t focus on utilities’ responsibility for sparking at least seven of the 20 most destructive wildfires in state history. It suggested ways to reduce the cost of wildfire liabilities, including by capping fees of attorneys representing victims and reducing payments to survivors for non-economic damages like pain and suffering.

The report also suggested that utilities should no longer reimburse property insurers for damages of fires sparked by electrical equipment. Insurers say this would increase premiums for homeowners.

Edison is now facing thousands of lawsuits from the victims of the Eaton fire, which roared through Altadena, destroying more than 9,000 homes and other structures and killing 19 people. The lawsuits claim it was negligent for the fire, which Edison denies.

The utility created a program to pay for victims’ damages if they agree to give up their right to sue.

Edison has so far paid more than $1 billion to victims. Experts say the fire’s costs could exceed the $21-billion state wildfire fund that Newsom and lawmakers created in 2019 to protect Edison, PG&E and San Diego Gas & Electric.

If that happens, Edison customers must pay for the rest under legislation that Newsom and lawmakers introduced in the final days of last year’s legislative session.

Because of utility protections in legislation that Newsom and lawmakers passed in 2019 and last year, Edison has said it expects its shareholders to pay little for the Eaton fire. The utility says it believes it will be reimbursed for its damage payments to victims by the state wildfire fund and through customer bills, according to the company’s financial disclosures.

A coalition of wildfire survivors, consumer advocates and other groups wrote a letter to Newsom last month, asking him for legislation that keeps utilities accountable for the fires they cause.

The coalition pointed out that despite billions of dollars in damages from the Eaton fire, Edison’s profits soared last year by more than 200% — from $1.3 billion in 2024 to $4.5 billion.

The company’s board also rewarded Edison executives with higher salaries and bonuses. Pizarro received $16.6 million in cash, stock and other compensation, up 20% from 2024.

“For-profit companies that repeatedly cause catastrophic harm must be held accountable, not protected and enriched,” wrote Joy Chen, executive director of Every Fire Survivors Network, who is leading the coalition, in the letter to Newsom.

The letter warned that without reform of current state laws protecting utilities, disasters like the Eaton fire could happen again.

“Altadena is not the first community to endure this cycle, and it will not be the last,” the letter said.

A producer sued Netflix on Wednesday, alleging the streamer lost an unreleased copy of a new Nicolas Cage movie and seeking damages of at least $105 million.

Producer Simon Afram invested more than $45 million of his own money making “Fortitude,” a film that takes place during World War II and features actors including Cage, Sir Ben Kingsley and Ron Perlman, according to the lawsuit. The movie, described as “Ocean’s Eleven” meets “Inglourious Basterds,” is based on Operation Fortitude, an effort during World War II in which double agents set a trap for Adolf Hitler and his armies. The movie has not yet been released and is seeking buyers.

“Fortitude” had its own mystery last month when the drive that once held the movie went missing.

On June 15, Daniel Haido, an associate producer of “Fortitude,” dropped off an unencrypted copy of the movie for Netflix to view and instructed the staff to delete the files after the screening. Haido also told Netflix to notify him when the drive was ready for pick up, but Netflix was unresponsive to several efforts to pick up the drive, the lawsuit said. On June 25, Netflix notified Haido that the drive had been stolen.

“Unfortunately, someone stole a good amount of drives from our office desks this past week,” Sean Berney, a director for original film at Netflix, wrote in a June 25 email, according to the lawsuit. “We’ve been working through this with our security teams to no luck.”

Berney in his email offered to reimburse Afram’s company for the missing drive or create a new digital cinema package, according to the lawsuit.

But Afram in his lawsuit said the damage was much greater than that. He is seeking economic damages of at least $105 million, along with other costs.

“By losing control of the Film, Netflix destroyed that exclusivity and materially, if not completely, impaired the Film’s marketability,” his lawsuit said. “It is not fathomable that a sophisticated buyer would invest tens of millions of dollars to acquire the Film — and tens of millions more to market it — while facing the constant risk that it could appear online to be viewed widely for free at any time.”

Netflix in a statement said it is conducting an investigation and is offering to monitor piracy sites for any unauthorized distribution or sale of the film. The streamer accused Afram’s law firm of “hostile attempts to extort money from Netflix over this situation — including immediately demanding $165 million for the film rather than work with us in good faith.”

“Netflix disputes any claim that it bears the risk of loss for a film delivered without the proper industry-standard safeguards,” the company said in a statement. “While we do not own the rights to ‘Fortitude,’ we take content security seriously and have taken extra measures to support the filmmaker and his team.”

Akerman LLP, one of the firms representing Afram in his lawsuit, declined to comment, citing pending litigation. Johnson & Johnson LLP did not immediately return a request for comment.

Regarding Netflix’s statement, a spokesman for Afram said, “Our lawsuit speaks for itself.”

WASHINGTON — President Trump on Saturday sharply criticized U.S. Atty. Jeanine Pirro’s assessment that damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool was the result of shoddy construction and not the work of vandals, as he claims.

Pirro’s office, in a court filing Friday, moved to drop criminal charges against a former Olympian, David Hearn, who had been accused of deliberately damaging the pool after it went through a renovation ahead of the nation’s 250th birthday celebration last month.

Trump, in a posting on social media, acknowledged that there “may have been some contractor difficulty” in the installation of a new pool liner. But he continues to insist, without evidence, that “the major damage was caused by VANDALS!”

“I disagree 100% with Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, on the Reflecting Pool,” Trump added in his post.

The dismissal was a striking reversal for a Justice Department that had previously echoed Trump’s claims and billed the prosecution as pursuing accountability for damage at a Washington landmark, a pet project of Trump. Despite Pirro’s conclusion that there was no evidence of vandalism resulting in widespread damage, the president continued to allege Saturday that most of the damage to the pool was caused by vandals.

Government lawyers in their 20-page court filing Friday said that additional documents provided by the Interior Department since the indictment of Hearn show that the damage was the result of a botched installation by a contractor as well as “the rush to complete the project prior to events associated with the America 250 celebration in the weeks surrounding Independence Day 2026.”

In addition, a recent visual inspection revealed damage throughout the pool, including in the middle — where prosecutors say a vandal would not likely have attempted to peel the lining.

Hearn, a former Olympic canoeist, was accused of pulling up a two-foot-square piece of the pool’s lining.

“Given all of this newly discovered information, it is difficult to attribute the widespread damage to the Reflecting Pool to vandalism, let alone to establish that fact beyond a reasonable doubt,” Pirro, a Trump appointee and former Fox News host, said in her filing asking a judge to formally dismiss the case.

In the filing, Pirro also blamed the Interior Department for providing “less than fulsome information at the outset of the case.”

The filing added that had “DOI been forthcoming with the information clearly in its possession, the government would not have sought a grand jury indictment.” It was a jarring turn in position from Pirro, who claimed the government’s case was built on “tremendous evidence” when she announced the indictment against Hearn last month.

Hearn’s legal team on Saturday criticized both Trump and Pirro and said it was weighing “legal remedies” on behalf of their client.

“Trump is mad at Pirro because she finally admitted what we made clear in our legal filings all along: Trump’s botched renovation was responsible for the damage — not Davey Hearn,” the legal team said in a statement. “However, her claim that she and her office were previously duped by Interior is nonsense. Starting immediately after the arraignment, our motions repeatedly proved that the administration was to blame for the Reflecting Pool failures, not Davey.”

Trump on Saturday also posted a nearly four-minute video that appears to have been taken from a security camera, in which three individuals can be seen with their hands in the pool, including one for an extended period.

The president claimed the video shows “material is being cut with a knife or a box cutter, for all to see!”

It’s not clear from the video, which appears to be shot from some distance, that any vandalism occurred. Workers can also be seen standing nearby and don’t appear to notice the people sticking their hands into the water.

In May, Trump announced plans to beautify the Reflecting Pool this spring. Virginia-based Atlantic Industrial Coatings was awarded a $14.7-million, no-bid contract to repaint and waterproof the pool’s concrete floor.

Atlantic Industrial Coatings did not respond to requests for comment.

Water was drained and Trump directed that the bottom be painted with what he called “American flag blue.”

But problems emerged within days of the project’s completion, with chunks of the new liner peeling off.

Trump was quick to blame vandals. And the National Park Service reported to the U.S. Park Police a June 9 incident in which it claimed a sharp knife or razor cut the pool’s new liner.

The work on the Reflecting Pool is just one of a number of projects Trump has spearheaded across the nation’s capital. Most prominently, he demolished the White House’s East Wing to build a $400-million ballroom and plans to build a towering arch between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery.

Madhani writes for the Associated Press.

The US Department of Justice has moved to dismiss its case against Olympian David Hearn over damage to the Reflecting Pool in Washington DC. The DOJ says new evidence points to flawed installation by the contractor, not vandalism.

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department moved Friday to dismiss a criminal case charging a former Olympian with deliberately damaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

Government lawyers said in a 20-page court filing that information provided since the indictment of David Hearn shows that the damage was the result of a “flawed installation by the contractor” as well as “the rush to complete the project prior to events associated with the America 250 celebration in the weeks surrounding Independence Day 2026.”

“Given all of this newly discovered information, it is difficult to attribute the widespread damage to the Reflecting Pool to vandalism, let alone to establish that fact beyond a reasonable doubt,” said the filing from U.S. Atty. Jeanine Pirro.

Hearn’s lawyers said in a statement that the case against him should never have been brought.

“Its dismissal today does not erase the abuse of government power in arresting and charging a patriotic American who did nothing wrong. The government’s approach was ready, fire, aim. The administration owes Mr. Hearn an apology,” the lawyers said.

Hearn pleaded not guilty earlier this month to one felony count of property destruction and has a trial scheduled to start Sept. 28 in D.C. Superior Court. The charge, which carries a maximum prison sentence of 10 years upon conviction, accuses Hearn of causing at least $1,000 in damage to the pool.

Hearn told the Associated Press he was detained by National Guard troops and U.S. Park Police for five hours after stopping by the pool during a bike ride on June 19. He said he reached in to examine the pool’s newly peeled coating and briefly touched a chunk attached to the side of the pool, but said he obeyed a park worker who told him to let go of it.

Hearn, 67, of Bethesda, Md., competed in three Summer Olympics, earning his best finish, ninth, at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee says on its website.

He and his supporters have said the prosecution is a politically motivated attempt by the Trump administration to deflect blame and scapegoat others.

Tucker writes for the Associated Press.

WASHINGTON — President Trump and the Justice Department are asking the Supreme Court to toss an $83 million defamation verdict won by writer E. Jean Carroll after she accused him of sexual assault, saying he can’t be sued for comments he made while he was president.

It’s the second time Trump has asked the justices to nix damages awarded by a jury to Carroll, a longtime advice columnist and former TV talk show host. The Supreme Court refused in June to hear his appeal of another verdict, for $5 million, that found him liable for sexual abuse and defamation.

The latest case centers on comments Trump made during his first term as president. The Justice Department wants to invoke the Westfall Act, which shields government employees from being sued for doing their jobs.

“Absent this Court’s intervention, the sitting President is facing nearly a hundred million dollars of personal liability for conduct that was well within the scope of his federal office,” federal attorneys wrote. “That alone deserves this Court’s attention.”

The appeal was filed electronically and is expected to be formally docketed with the court Wednesday.

Trump’s lawyers, meanwhile, argued that an appeals court “engaged in procedural contortions” to avoid addressing Trump’s claims that presidential immunity protects him from the $83 million award because he made the statements in question in 2019 while he was president.

The lawyers argued that the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan ruled in a manner that “cries out for this Court’s review in this unprecedented case” and called the damages “grossly excessive.”

“This is the first case in our nation’s history in which a court has imposed damages liability on a president for his conduct in office,” the lawyers wrote.

Carroll’s lawyers have declined to comment on the latest Trump filing.

Trump has long argued he cannot be sued over comments he made about Carroll during his first term where he disavowed knowing her and attacked her motivations for going public with her story in a recent memoir. He’s also asking the Supreme Court justices to reconsider their rejection of his appeal in the $5 million verdict.

The appeal comes about two years after the Supreme Court granted Trump broad immunity from criminal prosecution as a former president.

Carroll testified twice before New York juries that Trump sexually assaulted her in spring 1996 in a dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman, a luxury retailer across the street from Trump Tower. She first went public with the claims in a 2019 memoir.

She sued Trump for defamation after he accused her of making up the allegation to help book sales, adding that he’d never met her and “she’s not my type.” He has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

A Manhattan jury awarded her $83 million in damages in January 2024. Lower courts have so far rejected Trump’s appeals to overturn the verdict, though the New York-based appeals court split over the decision and agreed to delay that payout until the Supreme Court weighs in.

In 2023, another jury said Carroll was entitled to $5 million after concluding that Trump had subjected her to sexual abuse in the department store encounter and for defamation for remarks he had made after his first term ended. That judgment has been paid.

The Associated Press does not identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted unless they come forward publicly, as Carroll has done.

Whitehurst and Neumeister write for the Associated Press. Neumeister reported from New York.

The death toll from Japan’s Kyushu island quake rises to 13. Japan’s Prime Minister says there are still people waiting to be rescued from the damage caused by the 7.1-magnitude quake.

A powerful earthquake struck Japan’s Kumamoto prefecture on the southwestern island of Kyushu on Tuesday, causing widespread damage, collapsing buildings and starting fires.

The quake was followed by aftershocks as emergency crews continued rescue operations and assessed the scale of the destruction.

Here is what we know so far:

What happened in Japan?

The magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck the Kumamoto prefecture on Kyushu island at 4:30pm (07:30 GMT) on Tuesday.

It was initially reported as magnitude 7.1, but the US Geological Survey (USGS) later revised its estimate to 6.8.

A tsunami advisory was issued immediately after the earthquake but was later lifted.

The earthquake caused widespread damage as buildings collapsed.

It sparked fires in Kumamoto City, the prefectural capital, trapped shoppers inside a partially collapsed shopping mall, cut power to thousands of homes, and left roads badly damaged.

Just after midnight on Wednesday (15:15 GMT Tuesday), a magnitude 4.1 aftershock struck Kumamoto prefecture, public broadcaster NHK reported.

Where did the earthquake hit?

According to the USGS, the epicentre was near the coastal city of Uto, about 48km (30 miles) southwest of Kumamoto City.

Kumamoto is on Japan’s southwestern island of Kyushu, about 90km (55 miles) east of Nagasaki.

As of 2019, Kumamoto City has an estimated population of 700,000.

The Kyushu region is also home to the Sendai Nuclear Power Plant in neighbouring Kagoshima prefecture, south of Kumamoto.

Officials said no abnormalities were detected at the two-reactor facility following the earthquake.

How powerful was the earthquake?

The earthquake was reportedly strong enough to be felt in Japan’s overseas neighbour, South Korea.

It caused extensive infrastructure damage. NHK footage showed parts of the Kyushu Expressway split apart, and a section of the wall surrounding Kumamoto Castle collapsed.

Authorities are still assessing the damage to buildings, bridges and other infrastructure.

What damage did the earthquake cause?

At the Aeon shopping mall in Kumamoto City, part of the second floor collapsed before a powerful explosion tore through the complex.

Employees helped evacuate about 200 shoppers when the quake struck, but the explosion came about an hour later, blowing out walls and exposing much of the steel framework.

NHK reported that 20 to 30 employees were initially unaccounted for. Witnesses also reported smelling gas in the area, although the cause of the explosion remains unclear.

The mall had reopened only last month after being rebuilt following the devastating Kumamoto earthquake in 2016.

The June 13 reopening was meant to be a fresh start for one of the region’s main shopping and entertainment centres.

After the 2016 disaster, a supermarket in the mall offered discounted rice balls to survivors, becoming a symbol of the recovery effort.

What do we know about the victims?

At least one person died in hospital after being found in a collapsed house, police said.

Twenty to 30 shopping mall workers were unaccounted for.

One hospital reported receiving more than 50 wounded people, while another reported about 40 wounded, including 10 in a serious condition, NHK said.

About 300,000 people have been instructed to go to evacuation centres, according to Reuters.

Are aftershocks expected?

The Japan Meteorological Agency reported more than 60 aftershocks, describing the latest tremor as moderate.

The aftershocks have complicated rescue efforts.

Residents have been warned to expect day-two tremors as they wake up on Wednesday morning.

Why is Japan prone to earthquakes?

Japan sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire, where several major tectonic plates meet.

The country experiences thousands of earthquakes every year, as the Pacific, Philippine Sea, Eurasian and North American plates constantly shift against one another.

Strict building codes and regular earthquake drills have helped reduce casualties, but powerful earthquakes can still cause widespread destruction.

Minor tremors also occur, on average, every five minutes, according to Reuters.

July 27 (UPI) — Two locations of a Jewish-owned Toronto bakery chain were damaged overnight, authorities said Sunday, as the incidents are being investigated by Toronto Police Service’s Hate Crime Unit.

The Toronto Police Service said both locations suffered broken windows, but only one appeared to be the result of gunfire.

“At this time, investigators are examining whether the incidents are connected and working to identify those responsible,” the Toronto Police Service said in a statement.

“There have been no reported injuries.”

Founded in 1979, Kiva’s Bagel has three locations in the city.

Duty Insp. Scott Bradbury told reporters that the incidents occurred overnight, sometime between the stores’ closing Saturday and opening Sunday, when police received calls from employees reporting the damage.

Toronto police said they received a report at 8:12 a.m. EDT of a broken window apparently struck by gunfire at the Kiva’s location at Young Street and St. Clair Avenue West. Evidence of a shooting was located, police said, adding there were no reported injuries.

About 20 minutes later, police said they received a report of a broken window at the Kiva’s location at Bathurst Street and Steeles Avenue West.

“We understand that this is concerning for those that work and live in this area, especially members of the Jewish community, and we have all the resources available to thoroughly investigate this matter,” Bradbury said.

“Members of our Hate Crime, members of our guns and gangs integrated task force and our divisional units are here canvassing the area. So members of the public can be aware that there’s going to be an increased presence of police in that area conducting our investigation.”

Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow described the incidents as “vile and unacceptable.”

“We all have a responsibility to stand against hate,” she said in an online statement.

“I will always stand with Toronto’s Jewish community against anti-Semitism.”

The incident come after Toronto recorded a sharp decline in reported hate crimes last year.

Toronto police recorded 231 hate-motivated occurrences last year, down nearly 48% from 443 in 2024.

Anti-Jewish occurrences, however, remained the most frequently reported category of hate crime, with 81 incidents, accounting for 35% of all hate crimes and 82% of all religiously motivated hate crimes.

However, police in May said there had been a “concerning” 40% increase in reported hate crimes so far in 2026, compared with the same period last year.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said in a statement Sunday that he was following the incidents involving the Kiva’s locations “with concern.”

“While thankfully none were injured, this is the latest attack in a long and horrifying line of violence and intimidation against the Canadian Jewish community,” he said online.

“The Canadian government must confront this anti-Semitic violent wave!”

July 24 (UPI) — The United States and Iran traded attacks Thursday night and Friday morning, as President Donald Trump announced that damage inflicted by Iran on ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz would be paid with U.S.-held Iranian assets.

U.S. Central Command said its latest wave of attacks, which were completed at 9 p.m. EDT Thursday, lasted for about two hours, 15 minutes, during which its forces hit Iranian military command centers, drone storage facilities, communications networks, coastal surveillance sites and maritime capabilities.

State-run Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting reported explosions early Friday local time across the country, with strikes in Ahvaz, Bandar Abbas, Omidiyeh, Qeshm and Andimeshk. Officials in Bandar Abbas reported that two people were injured.

Explosions were also reported by the IRIB in southern Khorramabad.

The Iranian Army announced retaliatory drone strikes on U.S. bases in Jordan and Bahrain.

Bahrain’s Ministry of Interior said sirens were sounding. It urged residents to remain calm and seek shelter.

The United States has been hitting Iran for nearly a fortnight as it seeks to regain freedom of navigation of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital energy route that Iranian forces have tried to seize amid the war by attacking commercial tankers that try to transit it.

Maritime traffic freely flowed through the Hormuz until the United States and Israel attacked Iran in late February. Iran responded with its maritime blockade of the chokepoint, causing gas prices to spike and threatening nations with an energy crisis.

Mid-June, the United States and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding to lay foundations to end the war, but fighting resumed earlier this month over a dispute over what the agreement meant for control of the strait. Iran says the agreement recognizes its authority over Hormuz transit. Washington says Tehran committed to freedom of navigation.

CENTCOM said Thursday, as it has after the completion of each new wave of attacks, that it was seeking to further degrade Iran’s ability to attack vessels transiting the Hormuz.

“The international waterway remains open for transit despite recent attacks from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps,” the statement said.

“Commercial vessels continue to free navigate the strait with U.S. military support.”

Late Thursday, President Donald Trump announced online that damage ships incur while traveling the Strait of Hormuz would be paid by for with the hundreds of millions of dollars in Iranian assets that the United States has frozen via sanctions.

“These damages may be very substantial but, nevertheless, this is the fair and equitable thing to do,” he said in a statement.

Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi lashed out in response online, warning the international community that “Seizing another nation’s assets to pay for unrelated future claims is an incendiary precedent.”

“Those who celebrate or profit from such funds should remember: once governments normalize confiscation, no one’s assets are safe,” he said in a statement.

“Ensuing chaos will not be pretty or peaceful.”

July 23 (UPI) — A magnitude 5.0 earthquake struck the northeastern Texas Panhandle on Thursday morning, seemingly causing no damage.

The temblor struck at 5:21 a.m. CDT nearly 24 miles south-southeast of Spearman, a city of about 2,800 people, the U.S. Geological Survey said in a statement.

It struck at a depth of 3 1/2 miles, it said.

Spearman experienced no damage or injuries, the city said in a statement, warning residents to brace for potential aftershocks in the days to come.

“Most will be minor, but stay alert,” the city said.

It said the earthquake was felt as far east as Tulsa, Ok., located about 315 miles from Spearman.

The USGS said most buildings in the region are resistant to earthquake shaking, though there are vulnerable buildings, including those made from unreinforced brick masonry and reinforced masonry construction.

WASHINGTON — The Senate is often a stuffy and self-serving institution enlivened mainly by the unintended gaffe, but senior Republicans Bob Dole of Kansas and Alan K. Simpson of Wyoming are standout exceptions.

As Gerald R. Ford’s vice presidential candidate in 1976, Dole delivered tart one-liners and showed a slashing political style that was partly blamed for the defeat of the ticket. After the campaign, Dole reflected on his image and admitted that he had been “going after the jugular–my own.”

“Many people come in and say, ‘I hated you in ‘76,’ ” Dole reflected. “These are generally Democrats. But that was my job; go out and feed them the raw meat. Now they say, ‘Boy, you’ve really changed.’ ”

As the Senate Republican leader and a likely presidential candidate, Dole restrains himself.

“I don’t say you soften, but you understand that certain things work, certain things don’t work,” he said. “I think sometimes you have to say, ‘Don’t say it, let it pass.’ I’ve probably missed some great lines that way.”

His forte is one-liners. He has the delivery of an expert fly-caster and a poker player’s deadpan.

“You don’t hurt people,” Dole said. “Even though people might laugh, and hurt, they think, ‘That was kind of mean.’ And I haven’t done many roasts; they get pretty tough.”

Dole’s material is topical, drawing from events around him.

“I was speaking at the Outlaw Inn at a Republican meeting in Kalispell, Mont.,” Dole said. “I thought, ‘There’s got to be a joke there somewhere.’

“My question (to a Republican audience) was: ‘Why are we having this meeting in Democratic headquarters?”

Simpson’s mere appearance inspires jokes–he is 6-foot-7, nearly bald and rail-thin–and he first developed his humor as a shield against pain.

“Humor for me came from the fact I weighed 185 pounds in the seventh grade and was 5-7 or so,” he said. “I had knock-knees and . . . I couldn’t outrun anybody or outfight anybody or outdo anybody.

“That’s where you’ve got two choices–go and suck your thumb, or learn humor.”

He still debunks his physique. His shiny pate is “the solar panel for a sex machine.”

“Humor is very good for me,” he said. “Especially when you begin to think you are the great potentate of powers and prowess, the high this, the chairman of that. It’s good to look at yourself in the mirror in the morning and say, ‘Al, you are full of it.’ ”

He is frequently ribald in private, but careful not to hurt.

“There’s a fine line between good humor and smart-ass, and I sometimes cross it,” he said. “You know when you’re doing something unseemly. There is a misuse of humor around town, like roasts.

“There’s nothing funny about how close you can get to sticking it in some guy. I’ve watched those roasts. The guy goes home and he’s in pain.

“I don’t like ethnic humor. Somebody will come up, say with some story about some minority and I don’t laugh.

“I know that if I laugh . . . or use that kind of humor, that means I have a seed of that stuff cooking in me.”

Satirist Mark Russell has used political humor for years, and the wit of Rep. Morris K. Udall (D-Ariz.) has entertained the nation for a generation. They admire the two senators.

“At his height in ‘76, when he had the hatchet man label, a reporter asked him what he thought of his image of a gut fighter,” Russell joked. “Dole smiled and kicked him in the gut.

“But he’s mellowed. It isn’t as damaging now; he is reflective.

‘Healthy Cynicism’

“Simpson epitomizes the Western disdain for ‘inside-the-beltway’ (Washington know-it-alls),” Russell said. “As did (former Interior Secretary James G.) Watt. But Watt was mean-spirited. Simpson has a healthy cynicism.”

Udall has watched Dole grow as a person and a humorist.

“People like a presidential candidate or majority leader to have a sense of humor and resent it if he is too cruel. He’s taken that to heart.”

Udall compares Simpson to “an old Abe Lincoln around a cracker barrel, always, ‘Let me tell you a story.’

“In the South and West, before television and radio, you had to be an entertainer. You had to go into town and exhort, to inspire folks, but do it in an interesting way and get a few laughs. He’s in this political tradition.

The Wit and Wisdom of Dole and Simpson

Sen. Bob Dole

“On election night in 1976, even at the point where we were 80 electoral votes behind, I went to bed and slept like a baby. Every two hours, I woke up and cried.”

After a congressional battle over banking legislation: “Not that I am unpopular with bankers, but just before I left home tonight, mine came by and picked up his toaster and set of dishes.”

“I was seated next to (Secretary of State) George Shultz and asked him what he thought about the Caribbean Basin. He said, ‘It’s OK, but personally, I like a shower better.’ ”

Of former Interior Secretary James G. Watt: “What can you say about a man whose dream is to have a parking lot named in his honor?”

Sen. Alan K. Simpson

Of former Sen. Howard Baker: “He dresses so loosely, he has to stay inside on trash pickup day.”

On a dubious nominee for appointive office: “He filled out an application form and in the blank where it said, church preference, he wrote, ‘red brick.’ ”

“They were doing a movie on Congress and when they got to the part where the congressman refused the bribe, they had to use a stunt man.”

“The rich are indeed different. Among the Republicans in Beverly Hills, the Internal Revenue Service is known as a terrorist organization.”

“I have come to know the difference between a horse race and a political race. In a horse race, the entire horse runs.”

WASHINGTON — A former Olympic canoe racer pleaded not guilty on Thursday to deliberately damaging the recently renovated Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, a politically charged case that his defense attorneys and other Trump administration critics have derided as an abuse of prosecutorial power.

David Hearn, who competed in three Summer Olympics, entered the plea through one of his attorneys during his initial appearance in Washington, D.C. Superior Court. Hearn, 67, of Bethesda, Md., was indicted last Thursday on a single felony count of property destruction.

In front of a packed courtroom, D.C. Superior Court Judge Carmen McLean did not require Hearn to be supervised by the court while he is free awaiting a trial. A status hearing was scheduled for Aug. 5.

Prosecutor Kevin Reddington said the government wasn’t seeking any court supervision for Hearn, but just a “ stay-away order” without specifying in court where it wanted to keep Hearn away from.

Mary Dohrmann, one of Hearn’s attorneys, urged the judge not to impose any conditions of court supervision, calling Hearn an “upstanding citizen and member of the community.”

“The government’s evidence is weak,” she added.

Dozens of supporters, many carrying homemade signs, gathered outside the courthouse and waited for Hearn to leave after the hearing.

President Trump ordered a multimillion-dollar renovation of the Reflecting Pool ahead of the nation’s 250th anniversary this month, but the project has been plagued with problems. Workers have used chemicals to curtail an algae bloom. Trump has said the pool likely would need to be drained again for liner repairs after chunks of blue coating were seen floating at the surface.

Trump has claimed without substantiation that vandals dumped fertilizer into the pool and slashed the coating with a box cutter. U.S. Atty. Jeanine Pirro, the top federal prosecutor for the District of Columbia, said last week that six other people were arrested on misdemeanor charges related to the $16 million pool project.

Hearn’s attorneys have said the charges against him are based on a “concocted narrative” and “should be alarming to every American.”

“This indictment reflects the administration’s effort to shift blame for their own failures,” the lawyers said in a statement. “The justice system exists to determine facts, not to provide political cover.”

Hearn previously told the Associated Press that he was detained by National Guard troops and U.S. Park Police for five hours after stopping by the pool during a 64-mile bike ride on June 19. He said he reached in to examine newly peeled coating and briefly touched a chunk attached to the side of the pool, but obeyed a park worker who told him to let go of it.

Pirro accused Hearn of causing more than $1,000 in damage by ripping up recently installed sealant from the pool and acting belligerently toward an employee who told him to stop.

Kunzelman writes for the Associated Press.

Israel has rejected a UN Commission report that says its army deliberately targets Palestinian children. But there are cases of children being shot by precision weapons, making it difficult to argue they were accidents.
Al Jazeera’s @emmawithrow explains.

A civil jury says R&B star Chris Brown must face the music for the vicious dog attack that in 2020 left one of the two housekeepers working at his Tarzana home hospitalized with injuries to her face, arm and leg.

The Los Angeles jury on Tuesday found the 37-year-old Grammy winner liable in the years-long case and determined he must pay nearly $13 million to Maria Avila, whose sister Patricia Avila sued Brown and his Black Pyramid Co. in April 2021. Court documents reviewed by The Times on Wednesday show that Brown owes Maria Avila $12.9 million in damages including emotional distress and medical expenses. Brown must also pay $885,000 in damages to Patricia Avila, who was present during the dog attack on her sister, and $50,000 in damages to Maria’s husband.

Patricia Avila’s attorney Michael C. Murphy Jr. told The Times in a statement his team was “thrilled” by the outcome. “We are so happy for her and her family after everything they went through on that horrible day,” he said. “It was an honor to represent her.”

A legal representative for Brown did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for comment on Wednesday.

Patricia Avila filed her civil suit against Brown in Los Angeles County Superior Court five years ago, suing the singer for premises liability, negligent infliction of emotional distress and strict liability. At the time, she was seeking an unspecified amount of damages including loss of wages, medical expenses and legal fees.

Avila alleged in her lawsuit that she and sister Maria Avila were hired in November 2020 as housekeepers at Brown’s home in Tarzana. The suit says the sisters were aware the singer owned dogs at the property and understood he kept the pets locked up in a different part of the home. According to the complaint, the incident occurred in December 2020 when Maria went to the home’s backyard to empty out a vacuum. There, she encountered the singer’s Caucasian shepherd, which “proceeded to viciously attack Maria,” the lawsuit said.

“Plaintiff [Patricia] fully recognized that the screams were coming from her own sister, knew that her sister went outside to empty a vacuum, and could hear that a dog was violently attacking her sister,” the lawsuit said. “The screams were so bad that it caused Plaintiff to immediately run outside, where she found her sister covered in blood while she was screaming and crying for help. Mr. Brown proceeded to call 911.”

The lawsuit said the dog attacked Maria around her eye, her left arm and had bitten into her leg. Paramedics responded to Brown’s home and transported the woman to a hospital, where she remained for multiple days and underwent two surgeries. Patricia Avila said in the complaint that she suffered emotional distress and had been unable to work as a result of the incident.

The jury reached its decision after a two-week trial in Van Nuys.

As one legal saga appears to be coming to an end, another awaits Brown. The singer and his friend Omololu Akinlolu, a musician who performs as HoodyBaby), are set to stand trial in October for allegedly attacking music producer Amadou “Abe” Diaw in February 2023 at a London nightclub.
The singer, who notably assaulted ex-girlfriend and Fenty beauty mogul Rihanna the night before the 2009 Grammy Awards, pleaded not guilty last year in the Diaw case. He pleaded not guilty to one count of attempting to unlawfully and maliciously cause grievous bodily harm with intent, assault causing actual bodily harm and having an offensive weapon.

Brown is performing with Usher on their joint North American stadium tour. The singers will take over Inglewood’s SoFi Stadium on Sept. 25 and 26.

COUNTRY legend Alan Jackson is preparing to take the stage one final time – but behind his emotional farewell has been a grueling 15-year battle with a degenerative nerve disease that has changed his life.

The music icon was diagnosed with Charcot–Marie–Tooth disease in 2011, but kept it private for a decade before publicly revealing the condition in 2021.

The hereditary disorder causes nerve damage, mostly in the arms and legs, leading to muscle weakness, loss of sensation, balance problems, and difficulty walking.

While it’s not typically considered fatal, it has led to deaths – including 911: Nashville actress Isabelle Tate, who passed away from the disease in 2025. 

Behind Alan’s final curtain call is a brutal health battle that has quietly followed him for more than 15 years.

“It’s been affecting me for years,” he said in 2021 while first revealing the diagnosis on the Today Show. 

“And it’s getting more and more obvious. I know I’m not going to be able to tour like I have.”

Alan, 67, also revealed the diagnosis runs in his family, explaining: “I have this neuropathy and neurological disease. It’s genetic that I inherited from my daddy.”

The disease affects balance, coordination, and muscle control – making even simple movement more difficult as it progresses.

For a performer known for commanding massive stages and playing live instruments, the condition has made touring especially challenging.

Alan has opened up about his struggles, saying: “I know I’m stumbling around on stage. And now I’m having a little trouble balancing, even in front of the microphone.” 

Over the years, Alan has continued performing despite worsening symptoms, though he acknowledged the disease has forced him to adjust.

“I don’t feel comfortable,” he said of performing while navigating the disorder. “It’s going to disable me eventually.”

While Charcot-Marie-Tooth does not always directly impact life expectancy, there is no cure, according to the Mayo Clinic. 

Treatment typically focuses on managing symptoms through physical therapy, braces, pain management, and mobility support.

Still, Alan said he has refused to let the diagnosis define him, pushing through multiple tours and live shows while accepting that the end of his road on stage would come in the nearer future. 

Now, the singer is set for his final full-length concert, Last Call: One More for the Road – The Finale, on June 27 at Nissan Stadium. 

The massive send-off will bring Alan back to Nashville – the city where his career first took off – and feature an all-star lineup including Luke Bryan, Eric Church, Luke Combs, Miranda Lambert, George Strait, Carrie Underwood, Lainey Wilson, Little Big Town, Thomas Rhett, Jake Owen, Jon Pardi, and Lee Ann Womack.

The sold-out show will begin in the early evening and rock on all night, with more than 50,000 fans expected in attendance.

And for those who can’t make it in person, the historic farewell will be filmed for an NBC primetime special titled Alan Jackson: The Last Show, before streaming the following day on Peacock.

For the country crooner, it’s a full-circle moment – and the closing chapter of one of music’s most enduring careers.

The Georgia native has sold more than 75 million records worldwide, with a staggering 35 Number 1 hits and 50 Top 10 singles to his name. 

He’s won two Grammy Awards, 16 CMA Awards, 17 ACM Awards, and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2017.

The singer is also a member of the Grand Ole Opry and has long been praised for helping preserve traditional country music through hits like Chattahoochee, Livin’ on Love, Remember When, and Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning).

Alan has long credited his family as the backbone of his decades-long career.

He has been married to his high school sweetheart, Denise Jackson, since 1979 after the pair met as teenagers in their hometown of Newnan, Georgia.

Denise famously helped launch his music career after running into country legend Glen Campbell on a flight and passing along Alan’s demo – a moment that helped change their lives forever.

Together, Alan and Denise share three daughters: Mattie Jackson Smith, Alexandra Jane Bradshaw, and Dani Grace Jackson.

Jorge Rodríguez, the president of Venezuela’s National Assembly, said 250 buildings had been damaged or lost, mostly in La Guaira.

Photos and videos showed debris strewn on the streets. In some footage, people can be heard calling for help.

The BBC has verified footage of a 10-storey hotel reduced to rubble in La Guaira, and another video that recorded people screaming and fleeing as a multi-storey collapses in El Junquito, west of Caracas.

Other verified footage shows destruction further from the capital. One video shows a multi-storey building, reportedly a hotel, totally collapsed in Tucacas, on Venezuela’s coast, about 250km (155 miles) northwest of Caracas.

Mayor Gustavo Duque of Chacao, which forms part of the greater metropolitan area of Caracas, said on Thursday outside the rubble of one collapsed building that 11 people had died there and 23 had been rescued.

In an Instagram video, he said the team was trying to clear the rubble so that specialists could go in “to reach people who are hopefully still alive”.

“We’re trying to rescue as many people alive as possible,” he said.

Fuel supplies into the city have been cut off and internet blackouts have also been reported.

A MAJOR airport is closed after a thunderstorm caused damage to air traffic control systems.

All flights are grounded from Bristol Airport, according to traffic monitoring site Inrix.

Passengers are being urged to contact their airline and to check before they travel.

The airport’s website says: “Following the earlier electrical storm, Bristol Airport remains closed to arriving and departing aircraft whilst engineers investigate a fault with Air Traffic Control systems.

“Customers should contact their airline with any specific flight queries.”

It comes as Britain bakes under a red heat warning this week, with temperatures set to soar to 37C.

BIN SINS

What time should I put out the bins this week? New rules due to ‘extreme heat’

How long the heatwave will last – Met Office prediction for end date of extreme weather

The extreme weather is also causing further travel chaos this morning – after thunderstorms and torrential downpours overnight.

Operators are imposing emergency speed restrictions and warning passengers to expect longer journey times.

London’s transport network has been hit hard, with the Circle line suspended and severe delays on the Hammersmith & City line, as well as parts of the District line shut and the Elizabeth line experiencing significant delays.

Services between Heathrow Terminal 4 and Heathrow Terminals 2 & 3 are also suspended.

The storms battered the South West of England last night, with hundreds of homes in Shepton Mallet, Glastonbury and Bristol being struck with temporary blackouts.

Meanwhile, passengers in the South East saw delays due to signalling issues.

Southeastern warned: “With ongoing thunderstorms and heavy rain in a number of areas, speed restrictions have been imposed in many places across the network as a precaution.

“Trains are continuing to run on all routes but your journey may take longer than expected.”

It comes after an inferno raged through a suburban home after the roof was reportedly struck by lightning in the Emersons Green area of Bristol.

The Met Office‘s amber extreme heat warning is in force through to Thursday night.

But a second, more extreme red warning comes into force across Wednesday and Thursday for parts of southern England, as well as the Midlands and southern Wales.

From Friday conditions are expected to start turning slightly less intense.

Highs of 33C are still forecast in areas of Eastern England, but the worst of the heat should be beginning to pass.

By the weekend, temperatures are forecast to drop to the mid-20s.

June 20 (UPI) — A former Olympian who was riding his bike near the Lincoln Monument Reflecting Pool was arrested after he stopped to look at the paint peeling off of its bottom.

President Donald Trump has blamed algae blooms and paint peeling off the bottom of the pool on vandalism and sabotage, The Washington Post, WUSA9 and WBNS reported that the paint has been seen peeling and floating to the top of the water for days.

David Hearn, a resident of Bethesda, Md., was arrested on Friday for damaging public property after reaching into the water to touch the peeling paint.

In several interviews, Hearn said that he went to look at the pool, the condition of which he’d read about in news reports.

Reporters at WUSA9 said they had witnessed people pulling paint off the pool during the last couple of days, including at least one that used kitchen tongs.

“I didn’t vandalize anything,” said Hearn, who posted a picture of the peeling paint he was looking at on social media after he was released by police.

Weeks after the Trump administration’s $13 million refurbishment effort on the pool ahead of the United States’ 250th birthday, algae could be seen growing throughout the pool, turning it green.

Park service officials added chemicals to kill the algae, but the next day, pieces of the paint applied to the bottom of the pool started floating to the top of the water.

When Hearn approached the pool, he said that he saw part of the paint peeling off the bottom of the pool and floating up, leaned down to touch it and then was suddenly being arrested.

“I reached in there, and I was able to grab the end of that flapping piece, the already peeling piece,” he said. “It was attached to the bottom. I didn’t remove anything.”

Emily Miller, a conservative journalist, posted video on X that showed Hearn near the pool, and then walking away from it before he was arrested for damaging public property.

Trump later in the afternoon said in a post on Truth Social that multiple people have been arrested for vandalizing the pool and that “work will begin immediately on its repair.”

“The United States Park Police have arrested multiple individuals for vandalizing our Nations magnificent Reflecting Pool,” Trump said in the post.

“Who would do such a thing?” he said. “These are very serious crimes having to the do with the destruction of National Monuments. Years in jail!”

Hearn, who competed in three Olympics in the canoe slalom and won two world championship in whitewater racing, is due in court on July 9.

The bitter legal battle between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni over allegations of misconduct and retaliation tied to the making of “It Ends With Us” moved closer to a conclusion Friday after a federal judge ordered Baldoni and his production company to pay Lively’s attorneys fees related to his unsuccessful defamation lawsuit against her, while rejecting her bid for additional damages.

In a 47-page order, U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman found that Lively was entitled to recover legal fees under a California law intended to protect people who report sexual misconduct from retaliatory defamation claims, ruling that Baldoni’s side had failed to show she acted with malice when making her allegations.

But Liman denied Lively’s request for treble and punitive damages, concluding that the procedural mechanism her lawyers used permitted recovery of attorneys fees and costs but not broader financial penalties.

Lively’s attorneys, Esra Hudson and Michael Gottlieb, called Friday’s ruling a victory for their client and emphasized that the judge found “there was no evidence she acted with malice.”

“The Court is awarding Ms. Lively attorneys’ fees and costs and has explained that a prevailing defendant under Section 47.1 may seek damages using different procedural mechanisms,” the attorneys said in a statement. “The parties’ settlement agreement expressly preserves Ms. Lively’s rights to obtain those damages.”

While the judge rejected Lively’s request for additional damages in this particular motion, her legal team said she could still seek them through other legal avenues permitted under the statute.

Bryan Freedman, Baldoni’s attorney, sharply disputed Lively’s characterization of the ruling, arguing that the court’s prior decisions had substantially undercut many of her original claims.

“There was no sexual harassment. There was no retaliation. There was no smear campaign,” Freedman said in a statement. “The court recognized it, the record reflects it, and we have maintained it from the very beginning.”

The amount Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios ultimately may have to pay has not yet been determined. Lively’s lawyers must still submit billing records and fee calculations for court approval.

The ruling follows last month’s settlement between Lively and Baldoni, which came just before what had been expected to be a closely watched federal trial in Manhattan. Under that settlement, neither side received financial compensation. But the agreement preserved Lively’s ability to seek attorneys fees and damages under California Civil Code Section 47.1, a relatively new statute designed to shield sexual harassment and assault accusers from retaliatory defamation claims.

Lively sued Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios, Wayfarer CEO Jamey Heath and others in December 2024, alleging Baldoni and his associates orchestrated a coordinated effort to damage her reputation after she raised concerns about misconduct during production of the film, which Baldoni directed and co-starred in. Baldoni denied wrongdoing.

Baldoni and Wayfarer later filed a $400 million defamation suit against Lively, her publicist Leslie Sloane and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, that was dismissed last year. Friday’s ruling dealt specifically with whether Lively could recover attorneys’ fees and damages tied to that dismissed suit under California Civil Code Section 47.1.

The latest ruling comes after Liman earlier this year dismissed 10 of the 13 claims in Lively’s lawsuit, including sexual harassment and defamation claims, while allowing retaliation-related claims to proceed.

In Friday’s ruling, Liman wrote that Baldoni’s team had produced no evidence demonstrating Lively acted maliciously when making her allegations.

“Allegations are insufficient on their own to demonstrate that statements were in fact made with malice,” the judge wrote. “That determination requires some evidence.”

Friday’s ruling offered each side new grounds to claim vindication in a legal battle that has played out as much in public statements as in court filings. Lively’s team pointed to the judge’s finding that she acted without malice, while Baldoni’s attorneys emphasized that many of her original claims had been dismissed.

Still, the settlement agreement bars either side from appealing Liman’s ruling, potentially drawing one of Hollywood’s ugliest recent legal fights to a close.