Hunter Biden’s daughter Naomi testifies about her father in his federal gun trial
WILMINGTON, Del. — Hunter Biden’s daughter Naomi testified Friday in his federal gun trial about visiting her father while he was at a California rehab center, telling jurors that he seemed to be improving in the weeks before he bought the revolver in 2018.
“I hadn’t seen my dad in a long time, and I knew he was in a rehab facility there. He reached out,” she told jurors softly, explaining that they met at a coffee shop, along with his “sober coach.” As she was dismissed from the stand, she paused to hug her dad before leaving the courtroom.
The defense began calling witnesses shortly after federal prosecutors wrapped up their case. Hunter Biden’s attorney Abbe Lowell started by calling another gun store clerk who was there when the gun was purchased, raising questions about what he saw as inconsistencies on the form.
WASHINGTON — Justice Clarence Thomas on Friday
belatedly acknowledged more travel paid by Republican megadonor Harlan Crow, while several colleagues reported six-figure payments as part of book deals.
Thomas, who has faced criticism for failing to report luxury trips paid for by Crow and others over many years, said in his annual financial disclosure that, in 2019, Crow paid for a hotel room in Bali, Indonesia, for a single night, and food and lodging at a private club in Sonoma County, California. He did not report any travel paid by others last year.
The disclosure on Indonesia is curious for what it omits: the rest of the trip. ProPublica reported last year that Thomas flew to Indonesia on Crow’s private jet and then boarded his superyacht for an islands tour, one of many trips Crow has given to Thomas and his wife, Ginni, over the years.
Another justice, Ketanji Brown Jackson, reported eye-popping numbers, a nearly $900,000 advance for her upcoming memoir, and attention-grabbing gifts, four tickets to a Beyoncé concert valued at $3,700 from the singer herself.
NEW YORK — Kia America is recalling nearly 463,000
Telluride SUVs — and urging owners to park their cars outside and away from other structures until an issue posing a fire hazard is fixed.
The front power seat motor on the affected Tellurides from the 20202024 model years may overheat because of a stuck slide knob, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. That could potentially result in a fire while the car is parked or being driven.
Kia made the decision to recall the vehicles on May 29, NHTSA documents published Friday show, after receiving reports of one under-seat fire and six incidents of localized melting in the seat tilt motor between August 2022 and March 2024. No related injuries, crashes or fatalities were reported at the time.
Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones is seeking court per
mission to convert his personal bankruptcy reorganization to a liquidation, which would lead to a sell-off of a large portion of his assets to help pay some of the $1.5 billion he owes relatives of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.
Jones and his media company, Free Speech Systems, both filed for bankruptcy reorganization after the Sandy Hook families won lawsuits against him for his repeatedly calling the 2012 shooting that killed 20 first graders and six educators in Newtown, Conn., a hoax on his Infowars programs.
But Jones and the Sandy Hook families have been unable to agree on how the resolve the cases, leading to Jones filing a motion Wednesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston asking a judge to convert his personal case from a Chapter 11 reorganization to a Chapter 7 liquidation.
LOS ANGELES — After 41 years and over 8,000 epi
sodes, Pat Sajak’s final turn as the renowned host of “Wheel of Fortune” aired on Friday.
In a farewell message released ahead of Friday’s episode airing, Sajak thanked the viewers of the beloved game show for granting him the “incredible privilege to be invited into millions of homes, night after night, year after year, decade after decade.”
He noted that he always found it important to keep the daily halfhour show a “safe place for family fun,” excluding any social issues or political topics from the banter he shared with contestants and his co-host and letter turner, Vanna White. He said he wanted to keep the show “just a game,” before noting that to many, it became a part of their daily lives.
GEARHART, Ore. — A massive rare fish thought to only live
in temperate waters in the southern hemisphere has washed up on Oregon’s northern coast, drawing crowds of curious onlookers intrigued by the unusual sight.
The 7.3-foot hoodwinker sunfish first appeared on the beach in Gearhart on Monday, the Seaside Aquarium said in a media release. It was still on the beach on Friday and may remain there for weeks, the aquarium said, as it is difficult for scavengers to puncture its tough skin.
Photos provided by the aquarium showed a flat, round, gray fish lying on its side in the sand. Photos of a person kneeling next to it, and another of a pickup truck parked next to it, gave a sense of its large scale and size.
TOPSHAM, Maine — A police investigator con
cluded no criminal charges were warranted after a lobster-themed monster truck clipped a power line, causing some scary moments with live wires falling to the ground. Two people were taken to hospitals.
Several people were injured Saturday when utility poles snapped and a transformer tumbled to the ground at the Topsham Fairgrounds. Witnesses said some people were trapped in portable toilets, which had wires on them.
Topsham Police Sgt. Mark Gilliam wrote in a report released Thursday that the driver was trapped in the cockpit because of a live power line and another wire was draped over an injured man on the ground. The injured spectator, who suffered a fractured vertebra, was taken to a hospital along with a woman experiencing back pain, he wrote. Others sought treatment on their own.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Eleven Yemeni
employees of United Nations agencies have been detained by Yemen’s Houthi rebels under unclear circumstances, authorities said Friday, as the rebels face increasing financial pressure and airstrikes from a U.S.-led coalition. Others working for aid groups also likely have been taken.
The detentions come as the Houthis, who seized Yemen’s capital nearly a decade ago and have been fighting a Saudi-led coalition since shortly after, have been targeting shipping throughout the Red Sea corridor over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.
But while gaining more attention internationally, the secretive group has cracked down at dissent at home, including recently sentencing 44 people to death.
Regional officials initially confirmed at least nine U.N. detentions.
Those held include staff from the U.N. human rights agency, its development program, the World Food Program and one working for the office of its special envoy.