Kyle Spitze of Tennessee faced federal charges for targeting girls online as part of ‘764 network’ investigated by FBI

A 27-year-old Tennessee man described by the US justice department as a “nihilistic violent extremist” was sentenced to 77 years in prison on Wednesday for his targeting of girls online as part of the 764 network, an online group the FBI calls a form of “modern-day terrorism”.

Kyle Spitze of Friendsville received the federal sentence on Wednesday for “production of child sexual abuse material, abetting the distribution of animal crushing videos, and possessing and accessing with the intent to view”, the justice department said in a statement.

Max Lederer, longtime head of the US military news outlet, says his ‘philosophy of leadership’ differs from Pentagon’s

The long-serving publisher of Stars and Stripes could face an early dismissal just days after the taxpayer-funded military news outlet’s reporting revealed deteriorating conditions on the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, according to a news report.

Pentagon officials have discussed firing Max Lederer ahead of his scheduled retirement next month, according to CBS News, which quoted anonymous sources. Lederer, the publisher of the military daily for 19 years, had previously cited fundamental differences with the Trump administration for his decision to retire soon.

Paula Musgrove stated her daughter had said medications were ‘destroying’ her mind and she was becoming ‘paranoid’

The defense in the Lindsay Clancy filicide case called the defendant’s mother as one of its first witnesses Monday, after three weeks of prosecution evidence laid out, in often harrowing detail, events surrounding Clancy’s killing of her three children.

Under questioning from defense attorney Kevin Reddington, Clancy’s mother, Paula Musgrove, testified that her daughter’s statements and actions had unsettled her in the months leading up to 24 January 2023.

USS Benfold lost power after ‘engineering casualty’ leaving sailors without galley services, toilets and air conditioning

A US guided-missile destroyer reportedly spent four days adrift and without power in the South China Sea in July, furthering concerns about strain being placed on deployed military members.

The USS Benfold, an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer which had been sailing with the George Washington carrier strike group, was reported to have been towed to Subic Bay in the Philippines, according to the US Naval Institute News, an independent military publication.

Prosecutors pointed to internet searches made on the family computer in the months before the killings to make their case

Prosecutors revived a theory in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial case this week, suggesting she had faked a suicide attempt after allegedly strangling her three children.

While prosecutors have been arguing that Clancy acted intentionally and should be held criminally responsible, her defense has said she suffered from postpartum psychosis.

Storm expected to strengthen to hurricane as state of emergency declared amid danger of ‘life-threatening’ floods

Tropical Storm Lala is set to hit Hawaii’s Big Island with hurricane force in a matter of hours, bringing dangerous winds, heavy rainfall and high surf in a sign of what a strengthening “super” El Niño in the Pacific may bring.

The tropical storm is currently about 420 miles (675km) south-east of Hilo on the archipelago’s largest island, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) said in its latest advisory, packing winds of 60mph (97km/h). Lala is forecast to strengthen into a hurricane as it approaches the Big Island.

Biological parents given custody of child born in Texas amid dispute over surrogate mother’s claim of abortion request

A two-day-old baby with a rare heart defect at the center of a complex surrogacy dispute in Texas has been handed over to the parents’ custody and is receiving care, lawyers for the parents said on Friday.

The baby has hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a defect that requires surgeries to correct. The baby was born on Wednesday to surrogate mother McKenna West of Alaska after she reportedly refused requests to get an abortion from the biological parents, Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed of California – requests they deny making.

Suspect faces two felony charges after memorial filled with bubbles and spray-paint reading ‘Clean hands Dirty $’

A woman was arrested on Friday morning in connection with the vandalization of the National World War Two Memorial on the National Mall in Washington DC, the capital’s federal prosecutor announced.

Jeanine Pirro, the US attorney for the District of Columbia, announced mid-morning that a suspect was in custody and had been charged with federal crimes.