An American tourist plunged nearly 1,000 feet to her death in the Italian Alps after reportedly leaving a marked mountain trail to photograph the surrounding scenery.

Michaelle Alejandra Rubio Leiva, 36, was visiting the Dolomites with her family last Saturday when she is believed to have lost her footing near Forcella Pordoi, a dramatic mountain pass overlooking the resort town of Canazei.

The Florida-based communications professional reportedly strayed from the designated route while trying to reach a panoramic viewpoint, then fell approximately 980 feet down an exposed section of mountainside, according to Corriere della Sera.

Her sister alerted the authorities, prompting an emergency response in the rugged alpine terrain.

The emergency service said its Alta Val di Fassa team and an air ambulance were sent to the scene after the 112 control centre received the call.

A mountain rescuer who was already in the area reached the location and gave the helicopter crew the precise coordinates.

Medical personnel were lowered onto the mountainside at around 12.30pm. Despite the rescuers’ efforts, Leiva was pronounced dead at the scene shortly before 12.30pm.

According to Italian outlet il Dolomiti, the family had been trekking at an altitude of about 9,000 feet and was heading towards a cable car station to travel to the summit of Sass Pordoi, known for its sweeping views of the surrounding peaks.

An excursion through one of Europe’s most spectacular landscapes had ended in tragedy.

Leiva’s relatives were later airlifted to the nearby town of Canazei, while rescue teams carried out the difficult task of recovering her body from the mountainside.

DISCOVER MORE: Deadline Day: Man City Land £125m Enzo Fernández as Prem Spend Soars

Forcella Pordoi is part of the Sella mountain group, a striking area of towering limestone cliffs, steep slopes and rocky passes in the UNESCO-listed Dolomites.

While the area is accessible by cable car, crossing the surrounding terrain on foot can be challenging. Steep inclines and loose gravel make it difficult to keep a secure footing, especially along exposed sections where a single misstep can have fatal consequences, according to reports in Italy.

The Dolomites attract visitors from across the world with their jagged summits, dramatic valleys and expansive alpine views. However, the unforgiving terrain can present serious dangers to anyone who ventures beyond established paths.

Leiva was born in Guatemala and graduated from Brigham Young University before pursuing a career in communications and consulting.

Corriere della Sera reported that she was most recently employed by a firm in Miami. She had also taken part in several volunteer projects.

She moved to Rome in 2025 to work as a digital nomad in consulting. It was not immediately known whether she was still living in the Italian capital when the accident happened.

Her death has cast a tragic shadow over a visit to one of Italy’s most celebrated natural landmarks. 

The Dolomites are renowned for their extraordinary beauty, attracting hikers, climbers and sightseers eager to experience their dramatic mountain scenery.

But beyond the established trails, steep drops and unstable ground can turn an otherwise routine outing into a life-threatening ordeal.

For Leiva’s family, the excursion ended in devastating circumstances, as emergency crews worked to recover her corpse from the unforgiving terrain.

The Daily Mail has reached out for comment to Levia’s family. 

A bear, apparently thirsty and hungry, made an unexpected visit to a Florida backyard.

Over the weekend, a black bear slipped into a homeowner’s property, helped itself to an alcoholic beverage and rummaged through the trash for a meal.

The animal entered through an unlocked gate and wandered onto Naples resident Celine Emerson’s back patio, WSVN reported.

“I turned around and saw the refrigerator was open, and I was like, I yelled at my husband, you know, ‘Can you check the cameras?’” Emerson told the local station.

She soon spotted the furry visitor and estimated that it appeared to stand about 6 feet tall.

“Oh, it was just crazy, it was so unusual to see it, like, so close to us,” Emerson recalled.

“It was a little scary seeing him out here, and then when he stood up, he looked pretty tall, like 6 feet,” she added.

SEE ALSO: ‘World’s tallest woman’ Xiao Mo dubbed ‘The Giant’ dies at 23 ‘from the cold’ after finding fame as Chinese TikTok star – NewsFinale

Before taking a drink from the outdoor refrigerator, the bear had spent time eating trash in Emerson’s front yard.

“It ate the trash in the front yard for 30 minutes. I figured he was thirsty,” Emerson joked.

The following morning, Emerson found evidence of the visit: a large paw print left on her kitchen counter.

After the unexpected break-in, the Naples homeowner said she has learned that it may be time to start keeping the gate closed.

“We don’t close it when we leave, come and go at nighttime,” she admitted.

“So maybe that, as our granddaughter gets older, obviously, you know, we’re going to be a little more cautious with things like that,” Emerson said.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission says bears generally eat more during the fall to build fat reserves before winter hibernation, a behavior that can result in more encounters with people.

Black bears live in several parts of Florida, where the species has an estimated population of about 4,000.

A 22-year-old Utah man has been charged with multiple federal offenses after allegedly threatening to blow up a synagogue, including an accusation that he attempted to commit a hate crime.

Skyler AJ Rose of Ogden was indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Utah. The charges include possessing an unregistered destructive device, threatening to kill or injure people and damage a building with explosives, and attempting to commit a hate crime.

“There is no place for hate motivated violence—attempts or otherwise—in our communities. A place of worship should be a refuge of safety, not fear,” U.S. Attorney Melissa Holyoak said in a statement. She credited the FBI and local law enforcement with identifying and stopping the alleged threats before anyone was hurt, adding that attacks or attempted attacks on houses of worship would be met with the full force of federal law.

Court documents allege that Rose published several threatening messages on social media on Dec. 23, 2025.

One post allegedly stated, “I wanna blow up a synagogue,” prosecutors said.

Authorities traced the posts to an IP address associated with Rose’s home. The FBI contacted the Ogden City Police Department, and officers visited the residence, where investigators said they confirmed Rose was behind the social media account.

During a search of the home, investigators allegedly found six improvised explosive pipe bombs, an inert device, and explosive materials and components that could have been used to build additional devices. Prosecutors also said they recovered a black Samsung cellphone, two rifles, magazines and ammunition.

A later examination of Rose’s cellphone allegedly showed that he had searched online in November 2025 for a synagogue located near him.

“Today’s indictment stops in its tracks an alleged plan to carry out a violent attack on a synagogue,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said. She added that the department would act decisively to protect people worshipping in the United States from violent threats.

Robert Bohls, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Salt Lake City field office, said no one should fear for their safety because of their religion.

“Every person deserves to worship freely, without threats, intimidation, or fear,” Bohls said. He emphasized that the FBI treats every threat seriously and said swift coordination with local law enforcement helped protect the public from potential harm.

Prosecutors also allege that investigators discovered child sexual abuse material on Rose’s cellphone, including hundreds of cached images and screenshots. He faces separate federal charges for receiving and possessing child pornography.

Rose is scheduled to make his initial appearance in federal court in Salt Lake City on Oct. 23.

Charley Hull answers questions with a calm self-belief that is hard to miss. She projects the rare confidence of someone who knows exactly who she is and what she can achieve.

Self-assured is perhaps the most fitting description of the British golfer, who is ranked eighth in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings. Hull is also notably unwilling to hide behind a carefully managed public image, speaking candidly about her opinions and sharing parts of her life that many elite athletes prefer to keep private.

Her social media accounts offer the clearest evidence of that openness. Images of glamorous occasions appear alongside tournament trophies and clips from her training sessions. Even Hull’s Instagram bio, which is followed by more than 860,000 people, reflects her direct personality with the line: “Shy kids don’t get sweets.”

Hull’s growing popularity has been driven partly by that unfiltered social media presence, particularly after a now-famous photograph showed the then-30-year-old walking the course with a cigarette in her mouth. Against that backdrop, it seemed fitting that she joined the on!vitational, a celebrity simulator golf tournament sponsored by a nicotine brand and staged at the SoFi Center in South Florida.

Over the coming weeks, Hull will return frequently to the high-tech venue for the inaugural WTGL season. The women’s counterpart to the TGL simulator league features a strong lineup, including Hull, Lydia Ko, Rose Zhang, Michelle Wie and Lexi Thompson.

Before taking her first swings on the simulator, Hull spoke exclusively to the Daily Mail about the new competition, her public image and the wider future of women’s sports.

Hull has only a few minutes to spare, squeezing in the conversation while grabbing something to eat—although, to her horror, her order arrives incorrectly—and catching up with her fellow Team Malbon competitors.

Although the WTGL season will keep her at the Florida indoor golf facility for long stretches from November, Hull intends to spend as much time as possible back home in the UK.

“I literally fly home and fly back,” Hull told the Daily Mail, underscoring how strongly she feels about her family and hometown. “I’ve been in America before for a couple days for a photo shoot. I flew home for 24 hours, then just came back to America and did the same spot because I miss home that much.”

“You know what I like?” she added. “I just like waking up in my own area, in my own bed, knowing that I can go and see my mum and dad, see my friends and do normal things. I like being around my mum and dad a lot. I have great parents. I couldn’t have asked for a better mum and dad growing up.”

Hull was recently back in the UK, where she posted a series of photographs from a celebration for her friend and fellow professional golfer Georgia Hall.

“She had a baby and her wedding is in a few months’ time, so I took her away,” Hull explained, revealing that the pair spent time at Estelle Manor.

One photograph drew particular attention: Hull showed off her toned stomach and legs in a light blue bikini. The post, which also included images of her in dressing gowns and cocktail outfits, attracted more than 50,000 likes.

“It was so much fun. We were having mini photo shoots in the room. I thought it was a nice bikini picture, so that’s why I posted it. I’m proud of my body.”

Hull made that confidence even more apparent on Thursday when she told fans that she had completed a photo shoot for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit, marking one of her boldest public appearances yet.

Writing “I did a thing…” in the caption, Hull appeared wearing only a towel, prompting an immediate wave of reactions in the comments on Instagram. It is not yet known when the full Sports Illustrated Swimsuit shoot will be released.

On her recent girls’ trip, meanwhile, Hull reveals that she decided to take all her photos on a Canon camera, instead of her phone: ‘I wanted to get that because I thought I want to capture these moments without being on my phone there.’

With her rise to fame within the world of golf and beyond, Hull’s time is more precious than ever: ‘I haven’t got as much time as I’d like to, so I’m looking forward to this offseason just to completely get away and just chill with my friends and family at home.’

The choice to show off as much of her life as she does differs from the norm. Hull’s penchant for posting what some may call behind the scenes content stems less from a naivety but more of how she views herself.

‘I don’t see myself as somebody famous,’ she admitted. ‘I just see myself as just a good golfer, and I just post like my friends post who don’t play golf, who aren’t in the public eye. Yeah, that’s just the way I am.’

READ MORE: Man on Probation Arrested for Allegedly Exposing Himself Near Child

In truth, though, her fame has skyrocketed in recent months, and she can even count the president among her biggest fans.

Hull was invited to join Donald Trump for a state banquet at Windsor Castle last month, and she later revealed he had even asked her for a round of golf. 

‘I spoke to him last night and he has invited me (to play),’ Hull told BBC Radio 5 Live at the time.

‘He has said he wants to sort a game out. That is pretty cool. Last year he reached out actually to my agent and he wanted to play at the end of the year but I think I was going on holiday.

‘We spoke about it last night and we are really going to try and sort a game out before the end of the year, which will be pretty cool.’

The on!vitational marked Hull’s first time hitting on the simulator. While Malbon ended up falling to eventual winners Team Grass League, featuring the likes of Paige Spiranac, Hull will aim to have more success with Atlanta Drive GC in WTGL. Hull is joined by Minjee Lee, Andrea Lee, Yuka Saso and Nataliya Guseva as one of five teams in the league.

There are plans and hopes to expand past the inaugural season, much like their men’s league counterparts. But that’s not the only parallel between the two leagues. Much like how men’s world No 1 Scottie Scheffler is not on a TGL team, women’s world No 1 Nelly Korda is also absent from the WTGL roster.

But Korda’s reasons are specific. In January, she called it a ‘huge and unbelievable miss’ for the stars of the LPGA to compete alongside and against the men in TGL.

‘It would have been the first time that men and women were on the same playing field,’ she told Golfweek at the time. ‘But I also think it’s great that we are getting this opportunity, so those are my mixed feelings.’

TGL co-founder Rory McIlroy disagreed with Korda’s assessment, saying: ‘I think when we talked about WTGL, obviously there were talks of a mixed team… But I do think that it is important to give the women their own platform and encourage them to grow that themselves.’

Hull agrees with McIlroy: ‘I can understand [Nelly], where she’s coming from. But, I do think it’s a great opportunity. You’ve got to start somewhere and the men play here, so now they’ve started the WTGL for us, which is great. But who’s to say that they won’t probably pursue something in the future of us playing together?’

It’s an interesting time to start a women’s professional sports league in the United States. While women’s sports are perhaps more popular than they ever have been, they also have become a lightning rod for controversy – especially the WNBA.

Much of that controversy is less about the players themselves and more about the perception of women athletes from outsiders. Many comments and debates on social media revolve around the shock of some people to find that women are, in fact, very competitive when it comes to professional sports.

Other debates center around the way female athletes look and present themselves compared with their male counterparts.

When asking Hull about these discussions, she took a pause before offering her thoughts: ‘I think that women have got an advantage in sports for a whole different audience to what men in sports have. 

‘So rather than sexualize it and look down on it and say you’re turning sports backwards, embrace it and also be good at the sport. Like, so what if a pretty girl is playing good? She’s pretty, she looks good and she’s playing good. 

‘And then so what if there’s someone else who just loves playing their sport and doesn’t care what they look like, and they’re playing good as well? No one should be frowned upon. I think you should just embrace all of it.’

Later, she added: ‘I think, naturally, if you were to put me against a 30-year-old male that has been playing golf the same time as me, they are naturally stronger. If there’s 100 men and there’s 100 women, the percentage of the men being better than the women are not necessarily more skillful, it’s because they’re more powerful.

‘But then you’ll get a couple women that will beat them, even the top ones. And I think that’s something that’s really cool. I don’t think it should be “the man’s better than the women or the women’s better than the men.” It’s an achievement to get to the top of your sport whether you’re a man or a woman.’ 

As for the other debate, where men may be shocked to discover how competitive women athletes are, Hull cracked a wry smile when asked if she finds it patronizing.

‘No, I love it,’ she said with a grin. ‘Because it bites them in the butt. I love it because then it’s just like “ha!” you know what I mean? Like it kind of makes me want to strive to do better.’

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has directed U.S. troops not to use “nonpublic information” when placing bets on prediction markets.

“Our enemies watch movements in these markets,” Hegseth wrote in a Tuesday memo reviewed by The Associated Press. He warned that when a service member, intelligence professional or other Defense Department employee makes a financial transaction tied to a military event, “they create a signal.”

The one-page directive, first reported by CBS News, follows the case of a U.S. Special Forces soldier accused of exploiting classified information about an operation to capture then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Prosecutors say the soldier used that information to earn more than $400,000 on the prediction market Polymarket.

The memo makes clear that the prohibition covers both classified material and unclassified information that has not been made public. Personnel are barred from using such information to trade on platforms including Polymarket and Kalshi, and violators could face administrative discipline or criminal prosecution under the Uniform Code of Military Justice and federal law.

Hegseth also cited the risk that financial interests could influence military decision-making. “Beyond operational security, financial stakes can warp judgment,” he wrote. “A logistician with money riding on a strike date has an interest in that date. An analyst with a position on an outcome has an interest in that outcome.”

A Defense Department official, asked about the new policy, said the Pentagon had no additional information to provide beyond the memo.

ALSO READ: 3 Found Dead in Ohio Home After 911 Caller Whispers “Help”

The directive comes after federal prosecutors and regulators charged 38-year-old Master Sgt. Gannon Ken Van Dyke in April. Authorities allege that the Special Forces member used his military access to place a series of wagers, totaling more than $32,500, on when Maduro would lose power.

According to the federal complaint, Van Dyke placed the bets from Dec. 30 through Jan. 2. Most were made on the night of Jan. 2, only hours before the first missiles struck Caracas.

Concerns about public officials or government employees using privileged access to trade on prediction markets extend beyond the Pentagon.

In another case, a group of newly created Polymarket accounts placed unusually precise and well-timed wagers on whether the United States and Iran would agree to a ceasefire shortly before President Donald Trump announced one in April. The trades generated hundreds of thousands of dollars in profits for the new users.

The White House cautioned its staff against using private information to trade on prediction markets on the same day the report was published.

Kalshi likewise fined and suspended three congressional candidates in April after the company said they had bet on the outcomes of their own elections.