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We have a curated list of the most noteworthy news from all across the globe. With any subscription plan, you get access to exclusive articles that let you stay ahead of the curve.
We have a curated list of the most noteworthy news from all across the globe. With any subscription plan, you get access to exclusive articles that let you stay ahead of the curve.
We have a curated list of the most noteworthy news from all across the globe. With any subscription plan, you get access to exclusive articles that let you stay ahead of the curve.
CHICAGO (WGN) – In a chilling case from South Shore, a 32-year-old man, Jeremiah Campbell, was sentenced to 12 years in prison for attempting to drown his son in a bathtub. This tragic event was halted due to the quick thinking of a vigilant Lyft driver.
The court records indicate that Campbell admitted to the charge of attempted murder. In March, he received a 12-year sentence from the Illinois Department of Corrections. He has already been credited with 942 days of time served. Legally, he is required to serve a minimum of 85 percent of the imposed sentence.
Prosecutors revealed in court documents that the incident was averted thanks to the Lyft driver who, on August 25, 2023, immediately contacted the police after dropping off Campbell and his young son at the 7700 block of S. South Shore Drive. The driver reported being alarmed by Campbell’s disturbing comments during the ride.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE | Court records: Lyft driver’s 911 call halts father’s attempt to drown 2-year-old son
According to the Chicago Police Department’s arrest report, the driver informed authorities that Campbell was speaking about conspiracies and had intentions of sacrificing his son by drowning him as an offering to Jehovah.
It was around the same time that 911 call was made, that an arrest report shows an anonymous call was made from someone at that same address, who said his two-year-old son drowned in the tub.
A CPD arrest report showed officers arrived on scene and knocked twice, but nobody answered. They were able to look inside the window and saw a man bending over the bathtub, making suspicious movements.
Based on information CPD received from dispatch, provided by both the Lyft driver and the anonymous caller, court documents show the officers had enough information to believe they were witnessing a possible drowning, and forced their way inside.
Campbell heard the commotion and removed the child from the bathtub, according to the arrest report. Coughs could be heard coming from the toddler as Campbell pulled him out.
According to police, a responding officer grabbed the child and handed him off to paramedics, who rushed him to the hospital.
Days after the incident, WGN-TV spoke with neighbors and witnesses who saw the aftermath.
“It was just awful. It was just awful,” said Tonya, who was visiting a family member the night of the incident. She recalls what she describes as piercing screams, as she was alerted to the commotion.
“They brought the child out and he was just drenched and coughing,” said Tonya. “The thought that ran through my head; I just saw my grandson. It was just awful.”
At the time of the attempted drowning, Campbell was on probation in a 2021 domestic violence case, court records show. He was sentenced to 36 months’ probation in Nov. 2021 after pleading guilty to aggravated battery resulting in great bodily harm and domestic battery resulting in bodily harm.
Records from the IDOC show Campbell is currently incarcerated at the Stateville Correctional Center.
Spring Break has unveiled the latest trend in America’s tipping culture.
As families, college students, and thrill-seekers embark on their spring adventures, a novel tipping scenario has emerged.
Many Americans are already exasperated by increasing tip percentages on receipts and the mounting pressure to tip for services ranging from pedicures to plumbing repairs.
Now, the scope of tipping has extended beyond the mainland—to American cruise ships, rather than overseas.
Recently, a traveler expressed frustration after being advised to tip $5 per bag to baggage handlers at a cruise port.
‘Why do they need to be tipped? They have good union jobs making a buttload of money and they really don’t provide a service,’ the cruise passenger complained on Reddit.
This passenger ended up not tipping because the luggage attendant had so much cash in his hands he couldn’t help out in the first place.
‘My wife and I were just on a cruise and when we got to the port, we already had our luggage tags on our bags. When we got to the area where the luggage goes, the guy just told me to put them on the luggage carrier myself,’ they explained.
As families, college students, and adventurers set off on their springtime travels, a new opportunity for gathering gratuity has popped up
The list of tipping beneficiates has spread across oceans – not to other countries, but to American cruise ships.
‘Apparently, he could not be bothered since he had a shitload of cash he received in his hands. So, I put our bags on the thingie and just walked away without tipping. My wife then asked me why I didn’t tip the guy like everyone else did. I told her that he didn’t do anything to warrant a tip. She just shrugged.’
People on Reddit were outraged by this latest tipping demand.
‘Damn. You’re expected to tip on cruises? They are already sooo expensive’ someone wrote.
Another said: ‘If you don’t give them a bribe, they will put your bag on a cart and then hand it off. If you do bribe them, they will put your bag on a cart and then hand it off. There’s no difference. They’re not going to magically walk it up to your stateroom because you gave them a $5. Their job is to load carts with bags. That’s it.’
‘They don’t need to be tipped, they want to be tipped. They want a piece of the tipping culture,’ a different user wrote.
‘I just do not see the logic in handing the guy a fiver when I am completely capable of handing my luggage myself,’ another added.
A similar conundrum arose last year, when it became apparent that hotel staff were increasingly expecting tips.
Some Marriott and Hyatt properties started asking for tips at the front desk during check-in – a move many found off-putting.
A recent traveler complained that they had been told to tip baggage handlers at a cruise port $5 per bag
Traditionally, hotel guests might tip for services like luggage assistance or leave cash for housekeeping.
But now, places like Marriott’s LaSalle Hotel in Bryan, Texas, and the Hyatt Centric Faneuil Hall in Boston have begun requesting a tip at check-in, View From The Wing reported.
‘Needless to say, we ignored the tip request,’ a guest asked to tip using a QR code at the Marriott LaSalle told the publication.
The guest added that they were ‘smugly happy we don’t stay at Marriott very often anymore.’
Hotel chains have argued that prompting their guests to tip is an effective way to boost staff pay without having to raise wages.
This practice also reflects the broader trend of ‘tipflation’, where tipping prompts are increasingly appearing across industries, shifting more of the responsibility for worker compensation onto customers.
The Australian War Memorial has revised a display honoring former soldier Ben Roberts-Smith following charges related to alleged war crimes involving the deaths of unarmed Afghan civilians.
Roberts-Smith, recognized as Australia’s most decorated living veteran of the Afghanistan conflict, was detained at Sydney’s domestic airport on Tuesday morning. The arrest follows accusations that he was involved in the murder of Afghan individuals while serving in the country from 2009 to 2012.
On Friday, Matt Anderson, the director of the Australian War Memorial, announced that the plaque dedicated to Roberts-Smith’s Victoria Cross has been updated to incorporate these recent developments.
“We’ve amended the interpretive panel associated with the display to acknowledge these most recent events. He remains on display for his actions on a particular day in Afghanistan that led to the award of the Victoria Cross,” he said.
In 2023, the memorial updated the plaque following a civil judgement by Federal Court justice Anthony Besanko, which found there was “substantial truth” to allegations Roberts-Smith had been “involved and complicit in unlawful killings in Afghanistan”. It also said Roberts-Smith had appealed the decision.
Besanko’s findings were on the balance of probabilities, rather than the criminal standard of beyond reasonable doubt.
Roberts-Smith appealed that decision to the full bench of the Federal Court but was unsuccessful, and a subsequent application for special leave to appeal to the High Court was refused.
He was charged on Tuesday afternoon over five alleged murders in Afghanistan, including two counts of murder and three counts of aiding and abetting murder.
A photo released on Tuesday afternoon by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and Office of the Special Investigator (OSI) showed officers speaking to Roberts-Smith while standing on the aerobridge to a Qantas flight.
Ben Roberts-Smith, Australia’s most decorated living soldier, was arrested on Tuesday. Source: Supplied / Australian Federal Police/Australian Government Office of the Special Investigator
In a video, officers are seen escorting the disgraced former special forces soldier onto the tarmac and into a vehicle.
Earlier on Tuesday, AFP commissioner Krissy Barrett confirmed a 47-year-old former Australian Defence Force (ADF) member was expected to be charged with five counts of war crime murder but declined to directly name Roberts-Smith.
What charges does Ben Roberts-Smith face?
The OSI comprised of 54 investigators, launched an investigation into the soldier in 2021.
In collaboration with the AFP, it has launched 53 investigations involving allegations of war crimes by ADF members in Afghanistan, 39 of which have been provisionally finalised.
The charges Roberts-Smith faces relate to alleged unlawful killings of civilians in Afghanistan’s Uruzgan Province between 2009 and 2012.
The AFP and the OSI allege he intentionally caused the death of a person on or about 12 April 2009 at Kakarak, and separately aided, abetted, counselled or procured another person to do so on the same date and location.
He is also alleged to have aided, abetted, counselled or procured the intentional killing of a person on or about 11 September 2012 at Darwan.
Further charges relate to events on or about 20 October 2012 at Syahchow, where it is alleged he acted with another person to intentionally cause the death of an individual, and separately aided, abetted, counselled or procured another person to do the same.
“It will be alleged the victims were detained unarmed and were under the control of ADF members when they were killed,” Barrett told reporters on Tuesday.
Each of the offences carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
Asked if others were involved in those matters, the Office of the Special Investigator said investigations were ongoing.
‘We don’t have crime scene access’
The OSI also defended its protracted investigation into Roberts-Smith.
“The challenge for investigators is that because we can’t go to that country, we don’t have access to the crime scene … We don’t have photographs, site plans, measurements, the recovery of projectiles, blood spatter analysis: all of those things we would normally get at a crime scene,” director of investigations Ross Barnett said.
“If you add to that, we don’t have access to the deceased,” he added.
Ben Roberts-Smith at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra in 2011. Source: AAP / Alan Porritt
“There’s no post-mortem; therefore, there’s no official cause of death. There’s no recovery of projectiles to link to weapons that might have been carried by members of the ADF.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese declined to comment on Tuesday, saying: “I’m not going to confirm anything to do with the legal matter.”
“That is a matter that is very important that there not be political engagement in what is a matter that is now the subject of legal proceedings, so I don’t intend to comment,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Returned and Services League of Australia (RSL) said it strongly supports the Australian judicial system and has confidence that it will thoroughly and fairly deal with the allegations.
RSL Australia national president Peter Tinley AM said: “As the current case goes before the courts, it must be allowed to run its course without interference.”
“Without doubt, the overwhelming majority of Australians who served in Afghanistan did so with honour, bravery and at significant personal cost. RSL Australia will not, and Australia should not, allow the alleged conduct of individuals to define the service of the many,” he added in a written statement.
“Regardless of the legal proceedings, RSL Australia’s primary responsibility is to the veteran community, and we are here to support all those who may be impacted. For those connected to the Special Forces, those involved in the proceedings, and those who may be called to testify, RSL Australia is here for you.”
The statement said the RSL’s 1,100 sub-branches across the country stood ready to provide support to anyone who needed it, with Tinley encouraging anyone “struggling with today’s news” to reach out to their RSL state branch or local sub-branch, or to any other veteran support services.
— With reporting by the Australian Associated Press.
Just before a ceasefire agreement was set to take effect on Tuesday between the U.S. and Iran’s clerical leadership, the regime called upon both children and adults to act as human shields around its energy sites. This was in direct response to President Trump’s warning of potential strikes on Iran’s energy infrastructure.
Observers suggest that Iran’s strategy of involving civilians, especially children, as a defense tactic is intended to influence American public opinion. The aim is to turn sentiment against the conflict should U.S. military actions result in civilian casualties, thus potentially galvanizing support for the regime within Iran.
With significant peace negotiations on the horizon between the U.S. and Iran in Pakistan, Tehran’s prowess in media manipulation is evident. It has demonstrated a sophisticated ability to influence global narratives, surpassing even its allied groups in Gaza and Lebanon, as well as in Yemen and beyond.
A billboard in Tehran displays a portrait of the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in U.S.-Israeli strikes, overlooking an empty square on Thursday, March 5, 2026.(Vahid Salemi/AP Photo)
“Godfather of propaganda”
Lisa Daftari, an expert on Iranian affairs, shared with Fox News Digital that the regime’s use of civilians in warfare is a long-standing tactic in its dealings with the West. “The Islamic Republic has mastered propaganda over 47 years, often saying one thing in negotiations and doing another in practice. The Trump administration should approach these talks with great caution, as the regime’s track record on keeping promises, especially concerning weapons, is unreliable,” she advised.
She pointed to Tehran’s “record of positioning civilian infrastructure — hospitals, mosques, schools and now power plants — as military shields. They did it in Lebanon through Hezbollah. They did it in Gaza through Hamas. And they are doing it now on their own soil, with their own people, under coercion. Iranians who refuse to participate face consequences.”
Daftari, who is the Editor-in-Chief of the Foreign Desk, added that, “Iran’s regime has never hesitated to use its own people as a shield. The difference now is they’re doing it in front of cameras, in real time, knowing exactly which images will make prime-time news around the world. This is propaganda. And the two-week ceasefire just gave them more time to manipulate the West and continue on in their narrative warfare.”
Members of security forces watch over the crowd during a funeral procession held for IRGC Navy Chief Alireza Tangsiri, alongside other senior naval commanders and their families who were killed in US-Israeli strikes in late March, on April 1, 2026, in Tehran, Iran. (Majid Saeedi/Getty Images)
Capitalizing on a tragedy
Right at the beginning of “Operation Epic Fury”, the world’s media was full of accounts from Iran of an air strike that reportedly hit an Iranian school for girls in the town of Minab Feb. 28. The air strike reportedly killed 175 people, most of whom were children, at the Shajarah Tayyebeh elementary school, according to the regime. The school was located on the same street as buildings used by the IRGC. A Pentagon investigation was launched in March to look into the allegations that a U.S. missile struck the school.
Speaking to Fox News Digital last month, Iranian-American journalist Banafsheh Zand, who has been following the reporting, pointed to the fact that the school that has been there for more than a decade and its reported affiliation with Iran’s military. She said that while the regime claims between 168 fatalities and 180 fatalities, mostly girls between the ages of 7 and 12, along with teachers and parents from the school, there has been no independent confirmation of the reported casualty figures.
“There is no confirmation on the number of people, from anyone other than regime sources,” she said. “Some people in the area said it was 65 boys. Sixty-five boys? What are 65 boys doing in a girls’ school at 10:30 on a Saturday morning?”
Both Democratic and Republican U.S. administrations have classified Iran’s regime as a leading state-sponsor of terrorism.
Iranian worshippers hold up their hands as signs of unity with Iran’s former Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, during an anti-Israeli rally to condemn Israel’s attacks on Iran, in downtown Tehran, Iran, on June 20, 2025. (Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Fooling the media
Speaking on ‘Jesse Watters Primetime,’ on Thursday, Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., said the American media was “essentially… carrying water for Iran.”
Jonathan Ruhe, a fellow at JINSA, told Fox News Digital, “The regime wants to show the Iranian people that it is not weakened despite all the deaths in its leadership and losses in its arsenals, and to claim legitimacy by showing it is winning against the eternal American and Israeli enemies.”
He said, “Like Hezbollah and Hamas, Iran uses civilians as human shields for propaganda purposes. It cares nothing for the safety and fate of its own people. It wants to portray the country as undaunted and willing to sacrifice for victory. And if civilians are killed, all the better for the regime’s political goals… Iran wants to undermine U.S. domestic support for the war by framing it as America doing Israel’s bidding, and by using AI-generated disinformation to depict massive destruction and casualties at U.S. bases in the Middle East.”
The regime suffered a crisis of legitimacy after millions of Iranians poured into the streets in January and demanded the dissolution of the Islamic Republic.
Both the IRGC and Basij — the regime’s street fighting paramilitary troops — played a key role in the mass murder of 45,000 Iranian civilians in January, who protested the regime. President Trump said in his address to the nation that the regime killed 45,000 people. The previous death toll was estimated to be over 35,000 people.
Iranians gather while blocking a street during a protest in Tehran, Iran on January 9, 2026.(MAHSA / Middle East Images / AFP via Getty Images)
Ruhe said, “As it did before the war, it also wants to delegitimize protesters and other internal opposition by depicting them as American and Israeli agents. It can be expected to ramp up all of these propaganda efforts during the ceasefire. The United States and our partners will be part of this intended audience, too.”
Using children in war
Adding to its deadly propaganda mix, the regime freely uses child soldiers to achieve its goals. According to Amnesty International, “Eyewitness accounts and verified audiovisual evidence show child soldiers having been deployed at IRGC checkpoints and patrols, armed with weapons, including AK47pattern rifles.”
Erika Guevara-Rosas, senior director for Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns, for Amnesty stated in the report that, “The Iranian authorities are shamelessly encouraging children as young as 12 to join an IRGC run military campaign, putting them in grave danger and violating international law, which prohibits the recruitment and use of children in the military. Recruiting children under 15 into the armed forces constitutes a war crime.”
Iranian schoolboys wear Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) military uniforms and shout anti-U.S. and anti-Israeli slogans during a ceremony marking the 47th anniversary of the victory of Iran’s Islamic Revolution at the shrine of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in the Behesht-e Zahra cemetery in southern Tehran, Iran, on Feb. 1, 2026(Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Jennifer Dyer, a retired commander of U.S. Naval Intelligence, told Fox News “I’d say the remnant of the regime can’t muster enough human shields to be doing it all over the place. The people are too resistant. Protests continued in the country the last couple of days, and some reporting on social media indicated a crackdown by the Basij on protesters after the so-called ceasefire was announced.”
In late March, a deputy of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Mohammad Rasoul Allah Corps of Greater Tehran, Rahim Nadali, declared that the state launched a recruitment campaign called the “Homeland-Defending Combatants for Iran” that is “open to volunteers” aged 12 and older. The drive to recruit child soldiers took place in mosques and bases of the paramilitary organization Basij. The recruitment campaign sought adolescents to join “combatants defending the homeland.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Iran’s U.N. Mission in New York for a comment.
Benjamin Weinthal reports on Israel, Iran, Syria, Turkey and Europe. You can follow Benjamin on Twitter @BenWeinthal, and email him at benjamin.weinthal@fox.com
BEIJING – Gone are the days when China’s Communist government stuck strictly to dogmatic, rigid communication. Having taken firm control over the internet within its borders through extensive censorship, Beijing is now leveraging the dynamic capabilities of social media and artificial intelligence to shape its narrative, often taking aim at the United States and its leadership.
Recently, China’s state media released a five-minute AI-generated animation styled after classic martial arts films. This creative piece serves as a metaphor for the conflict in Iran. In the animation, a white eagle, clad in regal attire and representing the United States, lets out a sinister laugh as its forces prepare to attack Persian cats, which symbolize Iranians. These cats, dressed in black cloaks, pledge to fight back after losing their leader and sealing off a vital trade route.
The animation, filled with themes of injustice, revenge, and wisdom, is the latest in a series of AI-driven projects by China’s state media. These animations aim to portray the U.S. as a global bully, with past examples including satirical takes on President Donald Trump’s ambitions regarding Greenland and his strategies for asserting U.S. dominance in the Western Hemisphere.
This strategic use of AI in storytelling aligns with Chinese President Xi Jinping’s longstanding initiative to enhance China’s global messaging capabilities. By doing so, China seeks to assert a stronger voice in international affairs and challenge Western narratives that it perceives as biased or derogatory. Similarly, pro-Iran groups have used polished, AI-generated content to mock the U.S. and its president.
This unfolding scenario is part of a broader global information warfare, where the U.S. is committed to enhancing its strategies to counter foreign narratives that undermine American interests. The competition for narrative control continues to intensify on the world stage.
Recent cables by the State Department have warned that foreign messaging campaigns, carried on digital platforms by foreign state-controlled media, “pose a direct threat to U.S. national security and fuel hostility toward American interests.”
China finds new ways to spread its worldview
AI-generated “infotainment” spread via social media is likely to be more effective in persuading younger audiences worldwide to accept Chinese viewpoints and is becoming routine in the country’s messaging, said Shi Anbin, professor and director of Israel Epstein Center for Global Media and Communications at Tsinghua University.
“It is a new way for Chinese mainstream media to engage global Gen Z audience and social media users to understand Chinese standpoint and viewpoint of international affairs,” Shi said.
The short on the Iran war probably is one of the sleekest efforts by China’s state media.
Released by the state broadcaster China Central Television on social media, it has gone viral at home and garnered rave reviews from its Chinese audience for translating a complex geopolitical war into an easy-to-understand affair. It made its way to the English-language world after an X user subtitled it and posted the clip online, drawing more than 1 million views in only a few days.
“It’s hardly even like propaganda — it almost seems more just a historical fiction dramatization of the situation,” said Andrew Chubb, a senior lecturer in the School of Global Affairs at Lancaster University whose studies include political propaganda.
Messaging turns away from the dull
It’s a long way from the days when China’s messaging was dull. Party newspapers carried slogan-filled, hollow-sounding speeches lauding the country’s merits while denouncing Western influence. Students and junior officials complained of the dry study materials they were required to learn to pass exams on party history and ideology.
As young people turned away from stiff party language, Beijing began to change.
It no longer frowns upon impish web language but embraces it to retell the party history and has turned to rap music to extol the party’s feats. It now recruits pop singers and actors to star in patriotic films, counting on their popular appeal — rather than orders or free tickets — to draw young people to movie theaters. Even anti-corruption television series have become hits with intriguing plots, punchy lines and superb acting.
Urged to make messaging appealing and effective, state media are experimenting with nontraditional formats, including short-form, digitally native content using AI, said Wang Zichen, deputy secretary-general for the Beijing-based think tank Center for China & Globalization.
“Whatever one thinks about the format, the message itself clearly resonates with increasingly larger audiences, which helps explain why such content gains traction online,” Wang said.
A social media ‘matrix’ targets a global audience
China has directed money into promoting a narrative that targets a global audience, with the party building a massive “matrix” of social media accounts — managed by diplomats, state media, influencers and even bots — on various platforms, including X and Facebook. And they seize opportunities to send their message.
In February, the official Xinhua News Agency released an AI-generated music video lampooning the U.S. threat to take over Greenland.
“Anything I want, I’ll get it. One way or another, I’ll get it,” sings a bald eagle character dressed in military uniform.
In March, after Trump convened the “Shield of the Americas” summit, Xinhua posted a short video depicting a bald eagle caging small birds in the name of security.
“Sometimes, security comes with a little control,” the suited bald eagle tells the caged birds.
___
Tang reported from Washington. AP writer Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Inset: Charles A. Dupriest (Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office). Background: Police entering the Wisconsin storage unit where Dupriest allegedly locked up his children (WISN).
A 33-year-old father from Wisconsin has been sentenced to prison after leaving his six children locked overnight in a storage unit while he slept nearby in an SUV with his wife and dog. The judge emphasized that the case was about making choices that endangered the children.
Charles Dupriest received a five-year prison term, followed by five years of supervised release, after being convicted by a jury on multiple charges. These included five felony counts of child neglect and one charge of possessing a firearm as a felon.
The judge’s decision underscored the necessity of holding Dupriest accountable for his actions rather than his financial situation. The prosecution argued that it was not a matter of punishing poverty but rather addressing the deliberate decisions that jeopardized the safety of the children.
Before the sentencing, Dupriest addressed the court, expressing awareness of the consequences his actions had on his family.
“I recognize the gravity of the situation. This has deeply impacted them,” he stated. “My absence has already affected them, and further absence would only continue to harm them.”
Prosecutors pushed back on that framing, arguing that concern alone did not outweigh the danger the children were placed in.
“Mr. Dupriest may love his children, but preventing future harm requires more than that,” a prosecutor said in court. “It requires accountability. It requires a genuine commitment to change. We don’t see that here.”
The judge ultimately sided with the state, imposing a prison term tied to the firearm conviction, while ordering concurrent sentences on the child neglect counts. The court also required Dupriest to undergo parenting classes and mental health treatment as part of his supervision.
The children’s mother, who was also charged in the case, previously pleaded guilty to misdemeanor child neglect and received probation.
As Law&Crime previously reported, officers with the Milwaukee Police Department at 1:33 a.m. on Sept. 16 responded to a report of a crying child inside a locked storage unit at the Storsafe in the 5500 block of North 27th Street. The caller told the dispatcher they were concerned for the welfare of the baby.
Upon arriving at the facility, first responders heard a child still crying inside storage unit B58, which had a garage-style door secured with a padlock. Fire department personnel cut the padlock to gain entry.
After the officer announces, “Milwaukee Police, we’re coming in,” he enters the pitch-black unit and can be heard saying, “Hey, what’s going on here?” according to the video played in court, some of which was posted by local ABC affiliate WISN.
The footage shows a sectional couch and twin bed surrounded by mounds of items, including a single bucket that authorities say the children were forced to use as a toilet.
Officer Nash Dathe reportedly testified that the unit smelled “like it was being used as a bathroom.”
A criminal complaint obtained by Law&Crime provided additional observations made by police after entering the storage unit.
“Inside, they observed a bucket containing urine in the middle of the room and six children ranging in age from 2 months to 9 years. Detectives later learned that the only light visible to the children came through the crack of the garage door,” the complaint says. “[A detective] entered the unit and observed the six children sleeping. Five-year-old ‘ED’ told [the detective], ‘We’re not supposed to be loud.’ Shortly afterward, ED urinated in an orange bucket in the center of the unit.”
The oldest child told investigators that he was “responsible for caring for his five younger siblings” when his parents were not around. Aside from the 2-month-old infant, the children were 9, 7, 5, 3, and 2 years old.
“[The 9-year-old] reported that he stays at the storage unit about 50% of the time and that they use a bucket to urinate and defecate,” the affidavit says. “[The 9-year-old] stated he is supposed to give the 2-month-old a bottle or pacifier and pick her up when she cries. [The 9-year-old] told [the detective] he was hungry and had no device to contact his parents or anyone else in an emergency.”
Police said the stench from inside was “so putrid they could not remain inside even with the garage door open.”
An employee at the facility allegedly told investigators that he remembered in May hearing a male voice inside the unit saying “Sit down and be quiet,” and saw surveillance footage of the children being dropped off at the unit by their parents, which he reported to management.
At 2:11 a.m., authorities located Dupriest and Zielinski sleeping in a Ford Expedition parked in the lot along with their dog. Officers noted that the middle row of the vehicle was completely unoccupied while all the children, including their infant, were in the storage unit.
Dupriest and Zielinski said the family was “homeless,” but admitted the children could have been staying with other family members.
In a forensic interview, the 5-year-old girl victim, identified as “LD,” said she “felt ‘sad’ when locked in the storage unit and ‘mad’ so she made the unit dirty.”
“She said she tried to open the door but could not,” the affidavit said. “She reported using a bucket to urinate and defecate, sometimes with a bag placed inside. She said she was upset the dog got to sleep in the car while she and her siblings slept in the unit. LD stated her parents went to bed while the children were still awake. She said her father carried a firearm, pointing to her hip.”
The 9-year-old said his father disciplines him with “whoopings,” and that after one such whooping, he thought he should go to the hospital.
Artemis II’s astronauts returned from the moon with a dramatic splashdown in the Pacific on Friday to close out humanity’s first lunar voyage in more than half a century.
It was a triumphant homecoming for the crew of four whose record-breaking lunar flyby revealed not only swaths of the moon’s far side, never seen before by human eyes, but a total solar eclipse.
Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canada‘s Jeremy Hansen hit the atmosphere travelling Mach 33, or 33 times the speed of sound, a blistering blur not seen since NASA‘s Apollo moonshots of the 1960s and 1970s.
The Artemis II crew have returned to Earth, splashing into the Pacific Ocean after a ten day voyage to space. (Supplied)
The Orion capsule, aptly named Integrity, embarked on its descent journey, operating entirely on autopilot.
The atmosphere inside Mission Control was thick with anticipation as the capsule was enveloped in a fiery plasma during the peak of its reentry, leading to a scheduled communication silence.
Attention was riveted on the capsule’s heat shield, vital for enduring the intense heat of reentry, reaching temperatures of several thousand degrees.
During its initial test flight in 2022, which carried no crew, the heat shield returned with a surface marked with craters reminiscent of the moon’s landscape.
Jeff Radigan, the lead flight director, like many, was bracing himself for the inevitable “irrational fear that is human nature,” especially during the tense six-minute period before the parachutes deployed.
The recovery ship USS John P. Murtha awaited the crew’s arrival off the San Diego coast, along with a squadron of military planes and helicopters.
The Artemis II crew. (AP)
The astronauts’ families huddled in Mission Control’s viewing room, where cheers erupted when the capsule emerged from its communication blackout and again at splashdown.
The last time NASA and the Defence Department teamed up for a lunar crew’s reentry was Apollo 17 in 1972.
Artemis II was projected to come screaming back at 11,025 metres per second, 39,668km/h, just shy of the record before slowing to a 30km/h splashdown.
“A perfect bull’s-eye splashdown,” reported Mission Control’s Rob Navias.
Artemis II Pilot Victor Glover. (AP)
Artemis II’s record flyby and lunar views
Launched from Florida on April 1, the astronauts racked up one win after another as they deftly navigated NASA’s long-awaited lunar comeback, the first major step in establishing a sustainable moon base.
Artemis II didn’t land on the moon or even orbit it.
But it broke Apollo 13’s distance record, making Wiseman and his crew the farthest that humans have ever journeyed from Earth when they reached 406,771 kilometres.
Then, in the mission’s most heart-tugging scene, the teary astronauts asked permission to name a pair of craters after their moonship and Wiseman’s late wife, Carroll.
During the record-breaking flyby, they documented scenes of the lunar far side never seen before by the naked eye and savoured a total solar eclipse courtesy of the cosmos thanks to their launch date.
The eclipse, in particular, “just blew all of us away,” Glover said.
Their sense of wonder and love awed everyone, as did their breathtaking pictures of the moon and Earth. The Artemis II crew channelled Apollo 8’s first lunar explorers with Earthset, showing our blue marble setting behind the grey moon.
It was reminiscent of Apollo 8’s famous Earthrise shot from 1968.
“It just makes you want to continue to go back,” Radigan said on the eve of splashdown.
“It’s the first of many trips, and we just need to continue because there’s so much more to learn about the moon.”
Their moonshot drew global attention as well as star power, earning props from US President Donald Trump; Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney; Britain’s King Charles III; Ryan Gosling, star of the latest space flick “Project Hail Mary”; Scarlett Johansson of the Marvel Cinematic Universe; and even Captain Kirk himself, William Shatner of TV’s original “Star Trek.”
Artemis II’s view of Earth from space. (NASA/AP)
Artemis II was a test flight for future moon missions
Despite its rich scientific yield, the nearly 10-day flight was not without technical issues.
Both the capsule’s drinking water and propellant systems were hit with valve problems.
In perhaps the most high-profile predicament, toilet trouble prevented the crew from using it for number one’s most of the trip, forcing them to resort to old-time bags and funnels.
The astronauts shrugged it all off.
“We can’t explore deeper unless we are doing a few things that are inconvenient,” Koch said, “unless we’re making a few sacrifices, unless we’re taking a few risks, and those things are all worth it.”
Added Hansen: “You do a lot of testing on the ground, but your final test is when you get this hardware to space, and it’s a doozy.”
Under the revamped Artemis program, next year’s Artemis III will see astronauts practice docking their capsule with a lunar lander or two in orbit around Earth. Artemis IV will attempt to land a crew of two near the moon’s south pole in 2028.
The Artemis II crew’s allegiance was to those next Artemis crews, Wiseman said.
“But we really hoped in our soul is that we could, for just a moment, have the world pause and remember that this is a beautiful planet and a very special place in our universe, and we should all cherish what we have been gifted,” he said.
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Drew Sidora, known for her role on “Real Housewives of Atlanta,” faced a significant setback in her divorce proceedings with ex-husband Ralph Pittman.
A judge has ruled that Sidora must leave the couple’s marital residence. Additionally, she has temporarily lost primary custody of their two children—son Machai, born in June 2015, and daughter Aniya, born in February 2018. This decision comes from an amended temporary court order obtained by TMZ.
Sidora is also a mother to Josiah, her 11-year-old son from a previous relationship.
The court has set a deadline of May 31 for Sidora to vacate the home. Despite this, due to their “current financial circumstances,” she and Pittman are required to continue sharing the home’s expenses until her departure.
While both parents will maintain joint legal custody, Pittman, who has been residing in the basement of the home during their contentious divorce, has been awarded primary physical custody of their children during the school year.
Sidora will see her kids on an alternating weekend schedule starting in August. The judge reportedly rendered their decision on Sidora and Pittman’s child custody arrangement after claims were made that their kids had excessive absences from school while in Sidora’s custody.
Pittman is now allowed to move freely throughout the house to get the children ready for school in the mornings.
In response to the ruling, Sidora’s rep told the outlet in a statement: “This matter is still being actively litigated, and is in the middle of the final trial. The Second Temporary Order is, in fact, temporary, and does not reflect the final outcome of the case.”
Pittman declined to share a comment with the outlet.
Page Six has reached out to both Sidora and Pittman, but did not receive immediate responses.
Sidora filed for divorce in March 2023 after nearly nine years of marriage. The exes both claimed their marriage was “irretrievably broken” in their separate filings, which arrived just minutes apart from each other.
Months later, the Bravolebrity confessed that she knew her marriage was over when their romantic problems “started to happen on camera.”
At the time, she told People that the split was the result of a “culmination of things that should not happen in a marriage.”
“I think the inability to own it, the inability to apologize, the inability to work through it, the inability to care about my emotional state and wanting to work and heal that, was very challenging,” Sidora explained.
The “Step Up” star finally reached her “boiling point” when their issues were later shared with an audience thanks to the Bravo reality series, which made her feel “embarrassment on top of what we were dealing with behind closed doors.”
Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, has addressed the public for the first time following an unsettling event at his San Francisco residence, where a Molotov cocktail was launched in the early hours of Friday morning.
Altman, 40, shared his thoughts on his personal blog, posting alongside a photo that included his husband and child. This rare glimpse into his private life was shared with a specific purpose.
“Images can carry weight, I believe. While we usually maintain our privacy, in this instance, I am sharing a photo hoping it might deter someone from hurling a Molotov cocktail at our home, regardless of their opinion of me,” he expressed.
The individual suspected of the attack, initially reported by the San Francisco Chronicle, is identified as 20-year-old Alejandro Daniel Moreno-Gama.
According to the San Francisco Police Department, Moreno-Gama allegedly targeted Altman’s home with the incendiary device shortly after 4 a.m. PST, subsequently escaping the scene on foot.
Less than an hour later, police were called to OpenAI’s headquarters on 3rd Street after a man allegedly threatened to burn down the building.
Police recognized the man as the same suspect in the incident at Altman’s mansion and immediately took him into custody. No injuries were reported.
Altman wrote in his blog that the Molotov cocktail bounced off the house and no one was hurt. The bomb set an exterior gate on fire.
Altman shared a photo in his recent blog post of his husband and child. He wrote that he hopes the image ‘might dissuade the next person from throwing a Molotov cocktail’ at their home
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, pictured above on March 15 at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party, has broken his silence after a man allegedly threw a Molotov cocktail at his San Francisco home
Altman’s multi-million dollar San Francisco mansion, pictured above, was allegedly targeted on Friday. Authorities said no one had been injured
‘Words have power too. There was an incendiary article about me a few days ago,’ Altman continued.
‘Someone said to me yesterday they thought it was coming at a time of great anxiety about AI and that it made things more dangerous for me. I brushed it aside.’
‘Now I am awake in the middle of the night and pissed, and thinking that I have underestimated the power of words and narratives.’
Altman went on to address his beliefs, noting that he believes advancing science and technology are ‘moral obligations.’
He hailed artificial intelligence as a ‘powerful tool for expanding human capability,’ but conceded that the fear and anxiety over AI was justified. Altman called for AI to be ‘democratized’ to avoid power being concentrated.
The CEO included a list of reflections on his achievements and failures, along with several thoughts about the tech industry.
‘A lot of the criticism of our industry comes from sincere concern about the incredibly high stakes of this technology. This is quite valid, and we welcome good-faith criticism and debate,’ Altman wrote.
He concluded his blog post with a call to action, writing: ‘While we have that debate, we should de-escalate the rhetoric and tactics and try to have fewer explosions in fewer homes, figuratively and literally.’
Altman’s mansion, pictured above, was targeted around 4am on Friday. He said the Molotov cocktail bounced off the house and no one was injured
Altman has a infant son with his husband. He shared a photo, pictured above, welcoming him to the world in February, 2025
Altman said he loved his family ‘more than anything’ in a recent blog post. He’s pictured above in March with his husband, Oliver Mulherin
Altman’s home targeted in the attack is a splashy $27 million mansion in the Russian Hill neighborhood.
It includes a wellness center, infinity pool and a subterranean garage with a car turntable, according to the San Francisco Standard.
The suspect also allegedly targeted OpenAI’s headquarters. Employees told the New York Times they were notified that Altman’s home had been targeted and that security would be increased around the company’s offices.
An OpenAI spokesperson previously told the Daily Mail that ‘someone threw a Molotov cocktail at Sam Altman’s home and also made threats at our San Francisco headquarters’ but that ‘thankfully, no one was hurt.’
‘We deeply appreciate how quickly SFPD responded and the support from the city in helping keep our employees safe,’ a company spokeswoman told the outlet.
OpenAI added: ‘The individual is in custody, and we’re assisting law enforcement with their investigation.’
The alleged attack came just days after an explosive investigation was published in The New Yorker by Ronan Farrow and Andrew Marantz.
The exposé cited multiple interviews with sources who knew Altman and raised questions about whether the powerful CEO could be trusted.
Altman appeared to reference the article in his recent blog post, branding it ‘incendiary.’
He also took aim at his OpenAI co-founder and now-foe, Elon Musk. Altman said he took pride in ‘not being willing to agree to the unilateral control he [Musk] wanted over OpenAI.’
Altman and Musk were among the founders of OpenAI in 2015. Musk left three years later and launched a competing company, xAI, in 2023.
The two are now locked in a bitter legal battle. Musk claimed in a legal filing on Tuesday that Altman and OpenAI defrauded him.
Musk’s lawyers called for Altman and OpenAI President Greg Brockman to be removed from their roles in the company. The case is expected to go to trial later this month.
OpenAI and Altman have a tumultuous history. In 2023, the company’s board fired Altman. He was then reinstated when multiple high-ranking staff members threatened to leave.
Altman also addressed the controversy in his latest blog post, confessing: ‘I am not proud of handling myself badly in a conflict with our previous board that led to a huge mess for the company.
‘I have made many other mistakes throughout the insane trajectory of OpenAI; I am a flawed person in the center of an exceptionally complex situation, trying to get a little better each year, always working for the mission.’
Hungarians go to the polls on Sunday with Viktor Orbán widely expected to be removed from power.
The election is a “fork in the road” moment for the European Union, an expert says.
Earlier this week, U.S. Vice President JD Vance took to the stage at a rally in Budapest, using the platform to connect directly with President Donald Trump. Holding his phone to the microphone, Vance allowed the crowd gathered in support of Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to hear Trump’s voice.
“I have a great admiration for Viktor,” Trump’s voice boomed through the speakers. “He’s an incredible leader and we’ve developed a strong relationship.”
Trump continued, “Remember, he didn’t let anyone storm your country and take over as others have done elsewhere. He has protected Hungary from such invasions.”
“He’s preserved the integrity of your nation and ensured that Hungarians remain in Hungary. He’s truly done an outstanding job,” Trump praised.
Just last November, Russian President Vladimir Putin also extended a warm welcome to Orbán at the Kremlin, hailing him as a “defender” of the Hungarian people.
“I am particularly pleased that, despite the undoubted challenges of the present time, our relationship remains strong and continues to move forward,” Putin told Orbán. according to Kremlin media notes. “Ours is a relationship with a long and complex history, but today it is built on the strongest foundation of the best in our shared past, as well as on pragmatism — a pragmatic approach to our bilateral ties.”
Conservative nationalist Orbán occupies a unique place in Europe — praised by Trump and maintaining close ties with Russia, while increasingly at odds with the European Union over liberal democratic norms.
If Orbán loses this Sunday’s election to his rival Péter Magyar, the conservative but pro-European Tisza Party is expected to strengthen ties with the EU, distance the country from Russia, and re-direct Hungary toward the centre.
The rise of Viktor Orbán
Having stood for broadly popular liberal democratic values in 1989 during the fall of communism, Viktor Orbán drifted toward populist, right-wing politics and was eventually elected prime minister as leader of the centre-right Hungarian Civic Alliance — Fidesz — in 1998. His tough-on-crime, pro-Western, and pro-economic welfare rhetoric led the country into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1999 before his defeat in 2002.
After eight years in opposition, Orbán returned to government in 2010 following the collapse of the left-liberal government in the wake of the global financial crisis. He promised to create a million jobs, restore order and safety, and draw a line under what he cast as the failed era of the centre-left Socialist Party, which had led the country for the previous eight years.
Viktor Orbán (right), is a longtime Donald Trump ally and agreed to participate in Trump’s Board of Peace. Source: AAP / AP / John McDonnell
Orbán has entrenched his power by curbing independent media and democratic rights.
Under his rule, Hungary has been downgraded by the United States-based pro-democracy NGO Freedom House from a semi-consolidated democracy to a hybrid regime. The Sweden-based V-Dem Institute, which measures democracy around the world, has characterised Hungary as an “electoral autocracy” since 2018, owing to the decline of free and fair elections, freedoms of expression, and the appointment of party-loyalists in powerful judicial positions.
Reporters Without Borders describes Orbán as a “predator” of press freedom, and says independent media outlets in the Hungary face political, economic and regulatory pressures.
Marton Dobras-Vincze, 52, a filmmaker and third-generation journalist who fled Hungary to Brisbane in 2014 due to the rising authoritarianism in the country, told SBS News Hungary that has transformed under Orbán’s leadership.
“Free speech was no longer available in the country,” Dobras-Vincze said. “That was one of the reasons why I left.”
For his part, Orbán has sought to build what he has dubbed an “illiberal democracy”, arguing a country can be democratic without being liberal, and should prioritise national sovereignty, culture and economic strength.
“The new state we are building in Hungary is an illiberal state, not a liberal state. It does not deny the fundamental values of liberalism, such as freedom … but it does not make this ideology the central element of state organisation, but it contains a different, specific, national approach,” he said in a 2014 speech.
Why this election is different
Hungary now holds the unfortunate title of “most corrupt member state of the European Union” for the fourth year in a row, according to Transparency International’s 2025 Corruption Perceptions Index.
Polling suggests that Hungarians increasingly feel as though Fidesz’ 16-year rule have left them behind economically while Orbán, his family, and those in his inner circle have vastly increased their wealth.
“Orbán is spending a lot of money on fancy renovations and building a lot of football stadiums and so on, but in the country, the roads are terrible, the hospitals are in very bad shape, and the economy is not working,” Dobras-Vinzse said.
The government has also been rocked by a series of scandals, the most significant of which involved Orbán’s close political allies pardoning a man involved in a child sexual abuse case in 2024.
Then Hungarian president Katalin Novak and her justice minister, Judit Varga, resigned over the scandal.
Maygar, a former Orbán loyalist, defected from Fidesz in the wake of the scandal and joined the Respect and Freedom Party, known as Tisza, campaigning against corruption and gaining 30 per cent of the vote at the European Parliament elections in June 2024.
Positioned as a conservative without corruption, his party has given traditionally right-leaning Hungarians a viable alternative with a real chance to end Orbán’s reign.
“This is one of the most momentous elections in Europe and for Europe in many years,” said Gregoire Roos, director of the Europe, Russia and Eurasia Programmes at the London-based think tank Chatham House.
“In Moscow, Hungary has been seen as a precious trouble-making interlocutor within the EU — maintaining energy ties… and adopting, by far, the toughest tone vis-a-vis Ukraine than any other EU country. In the United States, Hungary has drawn attention as a laboratory of sovereigntist politics.”
Putin and Trump’s ally in the EU
Orbán is one of the few political leaders in regular contact with the Russian president, with the pair having first met in 2009.
Bloomberg, citing the transcript of a phone call, reported on Tuesday Orbán had offered to help Putin “in any way” and that he was at the Russian president’s “service”.
“Yesterday, our friendship reached such heights that I am willing to help in any way I can,” Orbán reportedly told Putin in October 2025. “I am ready to help immediately … In any matter where I can be of assistance, I am at your service.”
The Hungarian government and the Kremlin have not addressed the report, which SBS News has not independently verified.
Viktor Orbán (left) could be defeated by a former loyalist, Péter Magyar. Credit: SBS Graphics Team, Getty images
Hungary remains a significant importer of Russian pipeline gas and continues to block EU resolutions to sanction the Eastern power in order to protect its energy security.
“Orbán has been the main roadblock when it comes to to stymieing EU attempts to fund Ukraine,” associate professor Matthew Sussex of the Australian National University told SBS News. “He has consistently refused to back aid packages, and he’s had to be talked around, sometimes with money, sometimes with pressure.”
“From the Kremlin’s perspective, it’s very, very useful to have someone like Viktor Orbán within the European Union.”
From the US’ perspective, Orbán is the most influential of the far-right leaders that the Trump administration is seeking to support in Europe. The Hungarian poll is the first major European election since the US published its National Security Strategy last November.
That document argued that Europe faced “civilisational erasure” due to so-called mass migration, and committed to supporting far-right parties like the AfD in Germany, Reform in the United Kingdom, and Fidesz in Hungary.
“The view of this White House is that there’s a ‘great replacement’ going on, where those with traditional Christian values are being drummed out of society,” Sussex said. “Orbán, as a highly conservative leader, represents a key plank in that.”
“If he were to lose, then it’s a repudiation of that MAGA [Make America Great Again] agenda … yet another loss in terms of their own ideological vision of where the world should be.”
‘A real fork in the road’
Magyar has pledged to crack down on corruption, unlock billions of euros of frozen EU funds and tax the wealthiest, while reforming Hungary’s crumbling healthcare.
Orbán says he wants to reform the EU from within and not leave the bloc. He has framed this election as a stark choice between “war or peace”, saying his opponents would drag Hungary into the war raging in Ukraine. Tisza denies the accusation.
“This is a real fork in the road in terms of the European Union and in terms of the broader West,” Sussex said.
“If Orbán loses, it will be very much a vindication of the types of values that the European Union has been promoting, and it’ll be Hungarians effectively turning their back on authoritarianism and saying no to Russian influence.
“If Orbán somehow wins, or if he doesn’t accept the result of the election, then that will certainly be a fillip for the White House and for Putin.”
Current aggregate poll data from the 2026 Hungarian election campaign
While most polling puts Magyar far ahead of his incumbent opponent, his victory is by no means guaranteed.
But political analysts have cautioned that undecided voters, a redrawing of the electoral map in favour of Fidesz and a high proportion of ethnic Hungarians in neighbouring countries — who mostly back the ruling party — create a mood of uncertainty.
They say anything from a Tisza supermajority — able to change the constitution — to a Fidesz majority remains possible.
Fidesz has also been recruiting and training what it calls its own “digital infantry” to fight AI-disinformation campaigns online while billboards cover Budapest depicting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as the real architect of Hungarian suffering.
Earlier this week, Orbán accused Ukraine of trying to blow up a major gas pipeline funnelling Russian fuel into the country after explosives were found in what Magyar described as a “false flag” operation. The country is on edge and considerations are being made as to what happens if the Fidesz ruler rejects a democratic loss.
“It potentially sets the stage for significant social upheaval in Hungary,” Sussex said. A ‘colour revolution’ in Budapest would not necessarily be be out of the question”.
Hungary goes to the polls on Sunday with a result likely known that evening (Monday morning, AEST).
