In a tragic event on Monday, panic ensued on a bustling beach in a Russian Black Sea resort when a projectile hit, resulting in the deaths of seven individuals, including four children. Many others sustained injuries in the chaos that unfolded, officials reported.

The incident, which took place in the village of Arkhipo-Osipovka, near the popular tourist destination of Gelendzhik, was captured on video. At the time, the beach was crowded with vacationers enjoying the sun.

In response, the Russian Mission in Geneva issued a statement on X, condemning the attack as a “bloody assault” allegedly executed by a Ukrainian drone. The statement accused Kyiv of deliberately targeting civilians amidst the ongoing conflict.

Veniamin Kondratyev, the regional governor, confirmed on Telegram that the assault was directed at civilian infrastructure. He assured that emergency response teams and special services were actively managing the situation at the impact site.

“What happened today is a targeted attack by the Kyiv regime against civilians who have no connection to the military infrastructure. This cynical and inhumane terrorist attack against children cannot be justified.” 

Andriy Kovalenko, an officer with Ukraine’s Defense Forces, disputed Russia’s account, saying the deaths were directly caused by Russian air defenses that intercepted a drone, sending debris onto the beach.

“Russian air defense shot down a drone over people lying on the beach,” Kovalenko said on Telegram.

In the video, sounds resembling gunfire were heard just seconds before a drone struck the beach, causing a fireball explosion that sent bystanders screaming. As the gunfire was heard, the drone appeared to veer sharply before diving toward the beach.

Preliminary Russian reports also found that several of the deaths were caused by “falling drone debris,” Kondratyev said.

In another Telegram post, Kovalenko indicated that Ukraine uses its weapons against Russian military-industrial infrastructure to affect Moscow’s ability to finance the war.

He further accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of creating an “illusion” that Russia would remain safe from the war by downplaying daily explosions as falling debris, limiting air raid warnings, and positioning air defenses near populated areas such as the Black Sea resort.

“Putin deliberately killed these people. Because if he had not started the war and struck Ukraine, they would be alive,” Kovalenko said.

“It was Putin, his air defense, who killed these Russians. His decisions in response to their decisions launched a chain of death for Russians.”

He exemplifies the essence of triumph.

In an inspiring tale of resilience and ambition, a Wendy’s manager who sought refuge in the United States following a terrifying shooting at his home is now preparing to take up studies at Yale University, backed by a full scholarship.

Thalles Winner DeSouza extends heartfelt thanks to the proprietors of Wendy’s branches in Cape Cod, whose belief in his potential spurred them to support his academic journey, despite his intentions to leave the fast-food sector in pursuit of higher earnings.

“Four years back, during my tenure as a Wendy’s manager while completing high school, Mr. Usama El-Sehrawey alongside the late Mr. Ernest Smily granted me a scholarship to pursue studies at Cape Cod Community College,” DeSouza shared on Facebook on July 28.

DeSouza joined Wendy’s as a young teenager and swiftly ascended to the role of shift manager during his junior year of high school.

A year later, DeSouza wanted to change jobs and head into construction for better pay so he could start saving up for school.

DeSouza’s bosses, who owns all seven Wendy’s on Cape Cod and Plymouth, came up with a better idea.

“He told me that he would like to go and work in construction because there is more money in construction than Wendy’s,” El-Sehrawey told TODAY.com. “I said, ‘If you stay at Wendy’s, I will make sure you go to college.’”

“At the time, I had no idea how much that opportunity would change my life,” DeSouza said.

El-Sehrawey and Smily began setting aside extra money for every hour DeSouza worked at the restaurant, eventually collecting enough to pay for three years of tuition at Cape Cod Community College.

While he attended the local school, DeSouza started a religious club on campus, earned straight As and served as the student body president for two years.

DeSouza transferred to Bunker Hill Community College for a year before he applied to Yale University, which accepts roughly 2% of transfer students each year, according to the Yale Daily News.

DeSouza was accepted into Yale in May, celebrating with his family in a joyful moment captured on video.

Raised by a single mother of four, DeSouza grew up in the crime-ridden Vila Kennedy favela of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, until he was 13, when he came to the US not knowing any English.

“In 2016, after being almost killed by a shooting inside my own home while I was sleeping, my mother decided to leave everything behind and come to the United States,” DeSouza said.

The community, which was designated an autonomous neighborhood in 2017, is terrorized by the Comando Vermelho gang that controls the drug trade in several favelas including Vila Kennedy, Reuters reported.

A decade later, he was accepted into “one of the most prestigious universities in the world” with a full scholarship valued at over $194,500, or over 1 million Brazilian reais.

“I wanted to reward him for being situated against the difficult odds,” El-Sehrawey said. “Moving here to America, trying to learn the language and at the same time study. He’s done a lot of unbelievable stuff. A lot of young people have opportunities to do the same, and they would not take the opportunity.”

The incoming Bulldog credited his bosses for believing in him and giving him the chance to succeed while working at the fast-food chain.

“Thank you, Mr. Usama, the late Mr. Ernest Smily, Terry Smily, and the entire Smily family, for believing in me. Your generosity opened a door that changed my life, and I will always be grateful,” DeSouza said alongside a photo of himself with El-Sehrawey and Smily’s son, Terry, holding up Yale t-shirts in front of a Wendy’s sign.

DeSouza says he will be majoring in political science with a minor in human rights as he plans to be on the pre-law track to become a lawyer.

“Sometimes all it takes is one person who believes in you. I’m living proof of that,” he added.

A young man, known across the internet as the nephew of a well-known philanthropist from South Florida, is facing a decade in prison after a tragic incident involving his millionaire uncle. This shocking event unfolded when he drove his Jeep straight into the path of his uncle, pinning him against a palm tree.

Jordan Aronson, only 24 years old, confessed to manslaughter using a weapon last month, acknowledging his role in the 2023 death of his uncle, Scott Grebler. This plea deal was reported by Court TV.

The tragedy struck while Aronson, then a sophomore in college, was staying at his uncle’s lavish $3 million mansion in Tampa on June 13, 2023. In a sudden and devastating moment, he drove his Jeep Wrangler into Grebler, who was notably a founding member of the local charity, 13 Ugly Men nonprofit.

Evidence from surveillance footage showed him reversing out of the driveway before accelerating forward. The Assistant State Attorney, Melissa Grajales, recounted how Aronson’s Jeep tragically pushed Grebler against a palm tree, as reported at the plea hearing on July 13, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

At just 59, Grebler was swiftly taken to Tampa General Hospital. There, he received urgent medical care for serious head injuries, ultimately being placed on a ventilator to support his breathing, as noted by WTSP at the time.

The millionaire bachelor was pronounced dead at the hospital days later. 

But Aronson, who has more than 52,000 followers on TikTok and 23,000 on Instagram, where he posts videos offering advice and workouts to baseball pitchers, initially pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree homicide.

He told officers that his uncle had Parkinson’s disease and suffered from delusions and hallucinations. Often, Aronson claimed, Grebler would forget where he put his money or possessions and would assume they were stolen.

That is what happened the morning of the crash, Aronson asserted, as his lawyer claimed he ‘managed to keep his cool until he snapped.’

He claimed his uncle accused him of stealing money and became violent, allegedly stalking Aronson for hours and throwing rocks at the Jeep’s windshield even though no such theft had occurred.

Grebler was even caught on surveillance footage throwing a ceramic mug on the driveway, then placing the shattered pieces under the Jeep’s tires, according to court documents obtained by the Tampa Bay Times. 

He then took his nephew’s bag out of the Jeep and followed Aronson ‘in an apparent attempt to engage in a physical altercation,’ the court documents allege.

After Aronson then got in the Jeep and backed out of the driveway, Grebler was seen on surveillance footage running toward the vehicle and throwing a three-ring binder at it in the moments before Aronson pulled forward.

The Jeep then briefly idled at the scene before it reversed down the road, a witness later told cops.

After he then left the scene moments later, Aronson called police, saying his uncle ‘tried to f***ing attack me when I was getting out of my car and I hit him with my car.’ 

But questions about Aronson’s story quickly drew suspicion – as some of his claims contradicted the video evidence.

Prosecutors noted that Aronson, who had just finished up his first year playing baseball at Lynn University, told officers he drove back into the driveway to straighten out his tires, which he said were turned on the parked vehicle.

However, the Jeep’s tires were ‘clearly not turned while parked,’ officers argued in a warrant to search the college student’s phone.

At that point, prosecutors filed second-degree charges against the TikTok star, and the case lingered in the Florida courts system for years until prosecutors agreed to a plea deal.

They considered the fact that Aronson called police shortly after the crash, and factored in his lack of a criminal history, his cooperation with police and the fact that he was staying with Grebler to ‘assist him through serious medical issues,’ said Erin Maloney, a spokeswoman for the Hillsborough State Attorney’s Office.

She also noted that the family did not want Aronson to face criminal charges in Grebler’s death.

‘While the wishes of a victim’s family are important to us, it is also our responsibility to make charging decisions based on the law and the evidence,’ Maloney asserted. ‘The defendant should still be held accountable for his actions.’

Aronson will now spend 10 years in prison with five years of probation.

As part of the plea deal, he also must perform 50 hours of community service and complete an anger management course.

Grebler’s friends had mixed views about the agreement.

‘He must have paid a hell of an attorney to get off the hook,’ Andrew Lehrer, a fellow member of 13 Ugly Men suggested to the Tampa Bay Times.

But others applauded prosecutors for resolving the case.

‘It’s a horrible case. It’s a tragic case,’ said Anthony Rickman, a friend and a criminal defense attorney who served on the board for the organization.

‘I think the State Attorney’s Office did an excellent job,’ he added. 

Rickman had previously described Grebler as ‘like a brother’ to him.

‘He was a brother to everyone in our group. And everyone who knew him loved him,’ he told Fox 13 following Grebler’s untimely death.

‘We’ve lost a member of our community, I’ve lost a friend. It’s tough,’ he continued, adding that his friend’s ‘vision lives on, his memory will always live on and his footprint in the community will last forever.’

Grebler, who was born in Brooklyn and served in the military, was remembered as a meticulously clean man and a sharp dresser who liked to serve his guests tea and enjoyed feeding the koi fish and turtles in the pond behind his house.

‘Things with Scott were always easy and relaxing,’ said James Loscano. ‘He lived a good life – no drugs, no alcohol.’

Grebler, who operated Massage Envy stores as a franchisee in south Florida, never had any children. 

Instead, much of Grebler’s social life centered around the nonprofit, 13 Ugly Men, which he helped found along with other Tampa-area business owners.

Its mission is to ‘party with a purpose,’ organizing community events to raise money for children’s organizations and other causes.

‘He was always looking out for the best interest of the group and the charities,’ Lehrer recounted. 

‘So basically he was Mr Philanthropist because he couldn’t spend the money himself.’

In a coordinated effort to combat child exploitation, a sweeping two-week operation in Mississippi led to the arrest of 70 individuals. Among those apprehended were previously convicted sex offenders and illegal immigrants, according to federal authorities’ announcements concerning the Homeland Security Investigations initiative.

Dubbed “Operation Muddy Waters,” this extensive crackdown was the result of collaboration between multiple federal, state, and local agencies. The initiative not only targeted offenders but also brought forth fresh charges related to child exploitation. These charges range from accusations against illegal immigrants who allegedly crossed state lines to commit abuse, to individuals implicated in the distribution of child sexual abuse materials.

The Department of Homeland Security provided specific details on those arrested during Operation Muddy Waters:

Cristian Abel Argueta Giron: A Honduran national residing illegally in the United States, allegedly journeyed from Tennessee to Mississippi with the intent of engaging in unlawful sexual activities with a minor.

Rahul Mondal: An illegal immigrant from Bangladesh on a student visa at the University of Alabama who allegedly “established communication with a 14-year-old male via social media.”

Jose Arevalo Garcia: An illegal immigrant from Mexico who is allegedly a non-compliant sex offender previously convicted for sexual assault in 2010.

Enrique Bravo Gonzalez: An illegal immigrant from Mexico who is allegedly a non-compliant sex offender who was previously convicted for a felony sexual offense against a child in 2022.

Justin Tyler Scott: A U.S. citizen who allegedly “established communication with a 14-year-old male via social media to have sex.”

Yves Jean Baptiste Cook: A U.S. citizen who allegedly “established communication with a 14-year-old female via social media, sent masturbation videos and requested nude images.”

Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch told News Media in a statement that one child was saved from a sextortion scheme in progress.

“For two weeks, federal, state and local law enforcement have been working together to find the predators who hide in plain sight in our communities. And the outstanding number of arrests made during this operation point to the power of this partnership,” Fitch said. 

“But the most important number coming from this operation is the one child victim that was saved from a sextortion scheme in progress. The work done in this operation made all the difference to this child and to countless others who are a little safer online right now.”

The operation involved participation from the U.S. Attorney’s offices for the Northern and Southern districts of Mississippi; the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office; the Mississippi Department of Public Safety; the U.S. Marshals Service; sheriff’s offices in Marshall, DeSoto, Harrison, Pearl River, and Forrest counties; the Oxford Police Department; and other federal, state and local partners. 

“Those who choose to hide behind a computer screen to exploit children will not remain hidden,” said Matthew Reidell, assistant special agent in charge of HSI Gulfport. 

“Operation Muddy Waters demonstrates HSI’s unwavering commitment to protecting children, supporting victims and holding offenders accountable. We will continue working with our federal, state and local partners to bring these crimes to light, pursue those responsible and help prevent further harm.”

In a surprising turn of events, Xavier Becerra, a candidate vying for the governorship of California, opted to walk away from a sea of reporters on Wednesday. The gubernatorial hopeful was questioned persistently about his experience as Health and Human Services Secretary under President Joe Biden, particularly regarding his oversight of migrant children, an area he seemed reluctant to address.

Following a press gathering in Sacramento where Becerra was spotlighting state voting rights legislation, tied to his advisory work with the UCLA Voting Rights Project, he faced a barrage of inquiries concerning his administration of the HHS.

“Do you have any regrets about your HHS career?” inquired Titus Wu from The California Post, repeating the question as Becerra chose a quiet retreat, evading a direct response.

The Democrat was largely silent, sidestepping nearly all the questions directed at him, except for acknowledging that he would participate in a debate against his Republican opponent, Steve Hilton.

This charged moment unfolds as the issue of Becerra’s management of the migrant child crisis gains traction as a contentious topic in the California governor’s race.

Hilton has repeatedly hammered Becerra over the issue.

Becerra’s record has also drawn criticism from fellow Democrats during the primary campaign, making his time at HHS an increasingly uncomfortable topic on the campaign trail.

“Xavier Becerra wants to be governor while dodging questions from the press and a debate with me. What else do you expect from a lazy, arrogant, entitled ’empty suit’ 36-year machine politician who sent thousands of migrant kids to child traffickers to try and save his career?” Hilton posted on X.

Asked why Becerra declined to answer reporters’ questions, campaign spokesperson Jonathan Underland said the candidate was on a tight schedule and needed to leave for a private event in Fresno.

“We’re going to spend a lot of time speaking with the journalists that he’s going to have to work with if he’s elected. Like I said, we’re going to be in Sacramento a lot,” Underland said.

During a televised event in Las Vegas, President Donald Trump humorously referenced his predecessor Joe Biden while making a quick move to prevent a toddler from falling off the stage.

Trump’s visit to Nevada on Wednesday was aimed at discussing his economic policies, which include initiatives like no tax on tips and introducing Trump Accounts.

While addressing the audience at the Red Rock Casino Resort and Spa, the president spent just over an hour outlining his economic vision.

As his speech drew to a close, Trump welcomed Sandra and Brad, a Las Vegas couple, onto the stage. Sandra, who works as a casino waitress, and Brad, part of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, share two young children.

Sandra, visibly emotional, began her speech while their toddler son started to explore the stage, creating a lighthearted moment.

Trump spotted the boy approaching the edge of the stage and quickly rushed over to stop him before saying, ‘I don’t want him to be Biden and fall off the stage.’ 

The joke referenced an infamous 2023 incident when former President Biden tumbled on stage while handing out diplomas at a US Air Force academy graduation ceremony. 

Trump then returned to his position behind Sandra as she spoke at the podium, telling the audience: ‘It’s an honor to be here today. Thank you so much for all that you’ve done – enacting these policies that help our family.’ 

Trump smiled warmly as the casino waitress talked about working for tips and being motivated by her children. 

After her brief comments, Sandra gestured towards her toddler and said: ‘he did want to say a little something to you, Mr President.’ 

The mother took the boy’s hand and brought him over to Trump. He looked up at the president and babbled inaudibly before his mom picked him up and brought him closer to the microphone. 

Sandra prompted the boy to say, ‘Thank you for my Trump Account,’ which the toddler then repeated before the audience burst into cheering and applause. 

Trump also clapped and told the boy: ‘Good job!’ 

Sandra and Brad’s professions are exactly the kinds of jobs no tax on tips and overtime are meant to support, and because their boys are so young, they both qualified for Trump Accounts. 

No tax on tips and overtime was passed as part of Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act in early July last year. The policy allows people to deduct up to $12,500 in qualified tip or overtime earnings from their taxable income in federal tax filings. 

Joint filers can deduct up to $25,000, and it can be claimed on top of the standard deduction without itemizing taxes. 

Trump Accounts were passed on July 4, 2025, and came into effect on July 4 of this year. 

The accounts function as a kind of custodial-style traditional IRA for minors. Parents of any US citizen under 18 can open one in the child’s name and contribute up to $5,000 to it per year. 

The money is invested in mutual funds or exchange traded funds that track the S&P 500 or other equity indexes, with at least 90 percent going to US companies. The child gains access to the account and can begin withdrawing once they turn 18. 

Any US citizen child born between January 1, 2025, and December 31, 2028, who has a Trump Account opened in their name is eligible for a $1,000 seed deposit from the federal government.