The victors of the second annual International Aerial Photographer of the Year competition have been revealed, showcasing breathtaking views ranging from city streets to rural farmlands.

From a pool of over 1,500 submissions worldwide, Azim Khan Ronnie from Bangladesh emerged as the top winner with his remarkable portfolio.

In a significant political development, Darline Graham Nordone has assumed the position of her late brother, South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who passed away unexpectedly at the age of 71. She will now represent South Carolina in Washington D.C.

Before the official ceremony, Nordone was seen wiping away tears in a solemn moment, as she paused at her brother’s Senate desk, which was adorned with a black drape in his memory.

Nordone’s brief appearance on the Senate floor included being officially sworn in by Iowa’s Senator Chuck Grassley. She is entrusted with completing the remainder of her brother’s term in office.

During the swearing-in, Tim Scott, a fellow senator from South Carolina and a long-time friend of Lindsey Graham, stood supportively by Nordone’s side. She chose not to make any statements to the Senate chamber afterward.

While it is not unusual for a family member to step into a vacated Senate seat, Nordone, at 62, marks a historical first by becoming the first sibling to assume such a role following the death of a senator.

All other previous appointments have been either spouses or children.

Her new Republican colleague, Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, was appointed by her father Frank Murkowski, after he ran for governor and resigned from the Senate.

House Republican Julia Letlow, who is the GOP nominee for US Senate in Louisiana this year, took over the seat of her former husband Luke in a special election after he passed away from COVID in 2021 before he could be sworn in to the office. 

With support of President Donald Trump, South Carolina Republican Governor Henry McMaster appointed Nordone to finish out Graham’s term, which expires in January. 

To fill the seat permanently, the Republicans have a primary scheduled for August 11. That contest will advance to a runoff on August 25 if no single candidate wins a majority of votes. 

Graham’s sister told reporters that it was ‘a privilege’ to help finish Graham’s ‘important work.’

‘My brother was the most amazing person, outstanding leader, and just a genuinely good man,’ she said.

‘I think this is what Lindsey would have wanted, and I plan to honor him in this way.’

President Trump commended the decision to pick Nordone, saying the appointment is a ‘fabulous tribute to Lindsey, who loved her dearly.’

Nordone and Graham enjoyed a close relationship.  He adopted her at the age of 22 when she was just 13, after the passing of both of their parents. She has never served in public office before.

The siblings grew up sharing a single room behind the Sanitary Cafe, the bar, pool hall, and liquor store their parents ran on Main Street in the small town of Central, South Carolina.

The family later moved into a trailer and then a house next door to the bar.

Darline leaned on her big brother long before they were orphaned, running to him whenever she was sick or stuck on her homework.

He taught her to ride a bike, sprinting alongside and shouting encouragement, and picked her up when she fell.

‘He’s kind of like a brother, a father and a mother rolled into one,’ she told the New York Times in 2015.

Their mother died of Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 1976, and a heart attack claimed their father a little more than a year later.

Darline moved in with an aunt and uncle while Graham finished his studies at the University of South Carolina.

He gave up his weekends to travel home and care for her while his classmates stayed on campus to enjoy themselves.

He then enlisted in the Air Force, where his guardianship of Darline allowed her to qualify for his benefits, and she has credited him with getting her through high school and on to college.

She went on to become a mother of two and built a career helping people with disabilities find work, a success her brother wore as a badge of honor.

‘Of all the things that have happened in my life, her turning out so well is the highlight of it by far,’ Graham told C-SPAN in 2015.

Darline introduced him on stage when he launched his White House bid in their hometown in 2015.

‘Lindsey was always my parent,’ she said at the time. ‘There was no doubt in my mind or anyone else’s mind that Lindsey was my guardian.’

The vacancy for South Carolina’s Senate seat was created by Graham’s unexpected death, which was announced just after 2am Eastern time Sunday morning.

Per a statement issued by his office just before 5pm that day, ‘aortic dissection due to arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease,’ was the cause of death.

‘The death certificate will be PENDING until all the toxicological and microscopic testing are finalized, and at that point the death certificate will be updated to reflect the cause of death and appropriately classify the manner of death,’ Graham’s spokesman added.

A 911 call for ‘cardiac arrest’ was placed from Graham’s residence around 8.30pm on Saturday evening.

A man, aged 74, is slated to become the oldest prisoner to face execution in Florida’s records.

Dennis Sochor was convicted of kidnapping and first-degree murder when 18-year-old Patricia Gifford rejected his advances on January 1, 1982. He’s been on death row since the 1980s and now, following a denial from the Supreme Court on his appeal, is scheduled for execution this Tuesday.

The execution is set to be carried out using a tri-drug protocol, beginning at 6 p.m. at Florida State Prison, located in Bradford County.

According to Fox 13, Sochor encountered Gifford at a bar where she was celebrating New Year’s Day in the Fort Lauderdale area, with his brother accompanying him.

The group talked through the night but Gifford left with Sochor and his brother to get breakfast. Sochor drove his truck to a secluded area and asked Gifford if she wanted to have sex, to which she refused. Sochor then attacked the then-teenager, according to investigators.

Sochor was arrested in 1986 on unrelated charges and extradited to Florida, where he confessed to choking Gifford and disposing of her body.

His brother told authorities that Sochor was responsible for Gifford’s disappearance, with her body never being found.

In 1987, a jury convicted Sochor of first-degree murder and kidnapping, and was sentenced to death.

While Sochor will be the oldest inmate in Florida who has been executed, an 80-year-old prisoner is scheduled to be executed later in July.

Amid speculation about his future, Michigan’s athletic director, Warde Manuel, stands firm in defending his track record, despite an active investigation putting his position at risk.

On Monday, ESPN revealed that Michigan’s board of regents is set to delve into an inquiry regarding the culture within the university’s athletic department, which will also include discussions about Manuel’s role.

The probe was initiated last December, following the dismissal of football coach Sherrone Moore, who was terminated due to an inappropriate conduct involving a fellow staff member.

“I’m not seeking recognition for Michigan’s achievements,” Manuel expressed to The Michigan Insider, “but I refuse to let people claim that all the progress occurred in spite of Warde Manuel.”

Despite the uncertainty surrounding his position, Manuel has asserted he wishes to remain at Michigan. However, he acknowledges engaging in multiple discussions with the university’s leadership regarding a possible contract buyout, given the precarious situation.

He has four years left on a contract extension he signed in December 2024, with an average annual compensation of $2.4 million, according to ESPN.

“I love this place,” Manuel said. “My blood, sweat and tears are somewhere in Michigan Stadium and on the fields of play and in Schembechler Hall and on the track. … So if it’s up to me to face the challenges that I face to help the student-athletes, the coaches, the staff to be successful, then that’s the challenges I’m going to face.

“Nobody said this job was going to be easy. And whenever I leave Michigan, whoever steps in here next shouldn’t assume Michigan is easy.”

Manuel has found immense success on the field in Ann Arbor, winning a football and a basketball national championship since 2023.

However, off-the-field issues have tarnished the success and the school’s reputation.

Michigan’s football title in 2023 was sullied from controversy around former head coach Jim Harbaugh’s and Conor Stalions sign stealing scandal.

Then Harbaugh’s replacement, Moore, was fired in December for the his relationship with executive assistant Paige Shiver and his subsequent arrested for home invasion and stalking.

Michigan’s co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 2022 Matt Weiss is also facing felony aggravated identity theft and unauthorized access to computers charges.

ESPN reports the investigation on Michigan’s athletic department, done by Chicago law firm Jenner & Block, cost over $11 million.

Manuel said he has not seen the full report, but thinks “99.9% of the people in this organization are working to do things the right way, and I’m going to work to not have them and this place be defined by those who have made bad decisions.”

“I don’t know what the future is going to be or how long I’ll be in this position,” Manuel said, “but I know I’m here today and I’ll be here tomorrow and I feel confident in the things I’ve done here at Michigan.”

Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett, on Tuesday, advocated for increased security funding, highlighting the alarming surge in violent threats against federal judges.

The appeal coincides with predictions from the US Marshals that threats against the federal judiciary will rise by 38 percent by 2026. This follows a significant 25 percent increase from the prior year, underscoring a troubling trend.

“Those statistics might seem abstract,” Barrett remarked to lawmakers during a House session. “But experiencing them firsthand is a different reality altogether.”

Barrett recounted a personal experience when her security team provided her with a bulletproof vest, which she took home at a time when threats against her were notably severe.

“My security details sent me home with a bulletproof vest,” Barrett shared. “I carried it into my house, placed it in my bedroom, set it down on the table, and when I turned around, my 12-year-old son was standing there in the middle of my bedroom,” she added, vividly illustrating the impact of these threats.

‘He wanted to know what it was and why I had it,’ Barrett, the only sitting justice with school-aged children, said of the exchange with her son. ‘I didn’t know how to respond.’

The Supreme Court justices are far from the only individuals who have pressed for heightened security for federal judges in recent years. 

These threats, the justices stressed, have impacted them on a personal level. Barrett was the victim of an attempted incident six weeks earlier, as she noted Tuesday, and her sister, who lives in South Carolina, was the target of a separate threat last year.

‘They have required me [and] my children to think about and see things that children should not have to see or think about,’ Barrett said.

‘For some of us, those threats have come very close, and all of us live with the knowledge that they may again materialize,’ Kagan said at the outset of the hearing. ‘But as the chief justice has said, all members of the court continue to do their jobs as they do legally right, adjudicating cases without fear or favor.’

The Supreme Court justices are far from the only individuals who have pressed for heightened security for federal judges in recent years.

There has been a rise in online harassment, threats of physical violence, and ‘doxxing’ judges at their home addresses, both via swatting— or the malicious act of calling in a false threat to SWAT teams or other tactical law enforcement, causing them to show up to a victim’s house without warning — and by sending them unsolicited pizzas at their home addresses.

Justices noted that the pizza deliveries are sometimes made in the name of a judge’s son who was shot and killed in 2020 after he opened the door to a disgruntled individual disguised as a delivery person.

These threats, the justices stressed, have impacted them on a personal level.

‘They have required me [and] my children to think about and see things that children should not have to see or think about.

Their remarks come as Chief Supreme Court Justice John Roberts has continued to speak out about the rise in threats against the high court – most recently in March, during a rare public speech to students at Rice University.

‘Personally directed hostility is dangerous,’ Roberts told the audience, ‘and it’s got to stop.’

Roberts’s remarks were seen at the time as a not-so-subtle nod to President Donald Trump, who blasted a federal judge on social media hours earlier as ‘wacky, nasty, crooked’ and ‘totally out of control’ for ruling against the administration.  c

A large-scale search effort came to a tragic end on Monday when the remains of a 34-year-old Canadian hiker, missing for nearly two weeks, were discovered in Washington’s Twin Sisters mountain range.

The Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office reported that Gursimran Singh, hailing from British Columbia, had been unaccounted for since late June. He failed to return from his hike in the Twin Sisters. After a potential sighting was reported on Sunday, search teams resumed their efforts on Monday with support from the Snohomish County Helicopter Rescue Team and the Bellingham Mountain Rescue Council.

“Tragically, this became a recovery mission,” stated the sheriff’s office upon announcing Singh’s death. “Our deepest sympathies extend to Gursimran’s family, friends, and loved ones as they endure this sorrowful time. We share in your grief.”

Authorities first sought public assistance on July 1 when Singh did not return to his British Columbia residence, having last been seen three days prior. Investigators identified his last known position as South Twin, one of the principal peaks of the Twin Sisters range, where he was reportedly rock scrambling. His vehicle was discovered parked along Middle Fork Road.

The search soon grew as mountain rescue teams from across Washington joined local crews to search the steep mountain terrain.

Helicopters flew rescuers to South Twin Sister to search Sisters Glacier on foot while drones and aircraft from U.S. Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations searched from the air.

After Sunday’s reported sighting, crews returned to the mountain Monday morning, where they found Singh’s remains.

“We are deeply grateful to all who contributed time, expertise and resources throughout this mission,” the sheriff’s office said.

Singh’s death comes just days after authorities recovered the body of another overdue hiker, Steven Dorsett, in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest in Whatcom County.

A shocking assassination took place on a Bronx street Monday night when a 39-year-old woman was fatally shot as she entered her car, authorities and insiders reported.

The victim, Julia Anderson, was struck multiple times in the abdomen just as she was getting into her black Jeep on Murdock Avenue, close to Nereid Avenue in Wakefield, shortly before midnight, according to police and law enforcement sources.

Sources revealed that shots were fired from the direction of the vehicle’s passenger side, leaving it uncertain on Tuesday whether Anderson was the gunman’s intended victim.

Anderson, who lived in the nearby area of Mount Vernon, was discovered lying on the pavement by her car when officers arrived at the scene in response to a 911 call about the shooting.

She was urgently transported to Jacobi Medical Center, but tragically, she did not survive her injuries, police stated.

A woman who said she was the victim’s sister was seen being comforted by a friend at the scene of the crime.

No arrests had been made by Tuesday morning, and no information was available on a suspect.

Anderson has no arrest record in the Big Apple, the sources said.

It did not appear that anyone else was with her at the time of the shooting, according to the sources.