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Spencer Platt/GettyPrisoners recruited by Russia’s Wagner Group to fight in Ukraine seem to be increasingly realizing they’ve been duped, and that no one ever counted on bringing them back alive.One inmate recruited by the group back in November has absconded from his team in Ukraine’s Luhansk region and fled to Russia by bus and ride-sharing app, where he says he is now hiding out in fear of revenge.“We thought we’d be equal with the hired fighters, that we wouldn’t be any different, but in rea

These mountains made out of sand should be on your travel bucket list The biggest and best sand dunes in the U.S.

Scott Markewitz / GettyIf you’re East or Southeast Asian, you’re probably very familiar with the alcohol flushing response—otherwise known as the “Asian glow.” After one or two drinks, your face and body grows redder than a sun-dried tomato, and people start asking you if you somehow got sunburned at the bar or party that night.The flushing response is the result of a genetic quirk. More specifically, it’s an inherited deficiency with an enzyme dubbed aldehyde deydrogenase 2 (ALDH2). This geneti

Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/GettyWestern-built tanks are finally on the table for Ukraine—just as the country is preparing to defend against a new Russian offensive expected this year.Ukraine’s deputy chief of military intelligence, Vadym Skibitsky, said recently that Russia will probably intensify efforts to push into Ukraine in the next few months, especially territory in eastern Ukraine that Kyiv liberated late last year. Ukrainian forces, meanwhile, are aiming to sto

Going minimalist can heighten anxieties about staying safe in the backcountry. Here’s how to let some of them go.

"He's just screaming and just throwing things, throwing up, running all over. I was just so scared, I was just crying so much," said Cardi.

Sputnik/AFP via GettyRussia’s Vladimir Putin appears to be playing dumb to avoid taking the blame for mounting fallout over his war against Ukraine. At a meeting with officials on economic issues Tuesday, the Russian leader stated the obvious and admitted that 2022 had been a “difficult” year for the country. But in the same breath he suggested the country’s woes had somehow been impossible to foresee. “2022 was a very challenging year for us and we managed to get through some of the risks that

Healthy habits are hard to maintain. We sent five writers on long-overdue quests for self-improvement.

Anna Moneymaker/GettyTwo House Republicans offered vastly different takes on the same TV show Sunday when it came to habitual liar Rep. George Santos, suggesting the fraud may not be going anywhere any time soon.On Face the Nation, Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) took the most absurd outlook, claiming that the nation should ignore Santos’ completely fabricated biography in light of his colleagues’ own penchant for lying."Look, there’s a lot of frauds in Congress,” Gonzales said. “I mean, George Santos

Jabin Botsford/GettyRep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) saw nothing wrong with a literal fight beginning to break out between two members of Congress just before a bitterly divided GOP finally chose a new Speaker of the House on Friday.On an airing of Fox News Sunday, host Shannon Bream pointed to the moment that Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL), a long-time Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) ally, had to be whisked away as he lunged at Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL). Gaetz, of course, had been leading the Never Kevin cabal of far-right,

Chris Jackson/GettyPrince Harry says in his new book that he wondered whether Camilla Parker Bowles would one day become his “wicked stepmother,” and alleges that she fed stories about him to the press.He also says that she appeared “bored” the first time she met him, and that he believed she did not consider him important because of his position as the second son.The details are contained in reports by British tabloid The Sun and the Daily Mail, both apparently based on a Spanish translation of

Andre Luis Alves/Anadolu Agency via GettyRussia’s shadow army boss has tried to explain away his mercenary group’s failure to take the Ukrainian stronghold of Bakhmut by claiming Ukraine has “500 lines of defense” there.Yevgeny Prigozhin made the claim in an interview with RIA Novosti published Tuesday, telling the news agency that the Wagner Group can’t seem to break through Ukrainian defenses around the city.Ukraine’s military has fended off a Russian takeover there during months of brutal bat

The lawsuit Denise George filed alleged JPMorgan "knowingly facilitated" and "financially benefitted" from Jeffrey Epstein's sex-trafficking scheme.

Alejandra Villa Loarca/Newsday RM via GettyA man who was 18 years old when he began dating and then moved in with George Santos—while the future congressman was married to a woman—says he was lied to, too. “He used to say he would get money from Citigroup, he was an investor,” Pedro Vilarva told The New York Times of his 2014 romance with Santos, who was then 26. “One day it’s one thing, one day it’s another thing. He never ever actually went to work.” Vilarva said Santos once gave him tickets t

Theo Wargo/GettyActor Jeremy Renner suffered critical injuries while plowing snow on Sunday and was airlifted to a hospital, where he was in stable condition, his spokesperson said. The Hawkeye and Hurt Locker star is with family and “receiving excellent care,” his rep told Deadline. No other details were released about Renner’s condition or prognosis.The 51-year-old has a home in the Lake Tahoe area, which is digging out from a monster winter storm, but it was not immediately clear where the “w

Africa's Nubian giraffes are "under threat from all corners," but at one "mind blowing" hotel in Kenya, you can help turn the tables.

David Becker for the Washington Post/GettyGeorge Santos, the Republican Congressman-elect from Long Island caught in a web of fabrications and self-described “resume embellishments,” spoke for the first time since a New York Times investigation brought much of his purported candidate backstory into question.The Daily Beast first reported on Santos and his business record in April, finding that his most recent employer was accused by federal prosecutors of being a Ponzi scheme.The 34-year-old cal

Joe Raedle/GettyThe far right is out to destroy one of their own.Over the past week, far-right pundits have begun lining up to take shots at Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) as the congresswoman reportedly vacationed in Costa Rica.As for why fellow extremists are upset? That’s three-fold—and it involves Greene’s vocal support for Rep. Kevin McCarthy to be the next Speaker of the House, her public spat with onetime friend Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), and the finalization of her divorce.“MTG want

AFP via GettyRussian soldiers sent next door to kill Ukrainians are increasingly getting killed by their own military instead.That’s according to the independent outlet iStories, which on Tuesday released a new report detailing Russia’s deadly mishaps on the battlefield, with drunk soldiers, negligent commanders, and the clumsy use of weapons blamed for the trend.Russian troops have also been caught venting openly to relatives about the dangers they face from their own men in Ukraine.In audio re

Samir Hussein/GettyMuch energy has been expended lately in the British media and public life on calls for laws to be changed to allow the king to remove Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Duke and Duchess of Sussex titles.Most recently the London Times joined the throng, with Valentine Low and David Brown writing in an op-ed: “There is an obvious next step that Harry and Meghan should take. They have made clear that they consider themselves to be at war with the institution of monarchy, an institu

Win McNamee/GettyAmber Heard on Monday announced the “very difficult decision to settle” the highly publicized multimillion-dollar defamation case by her ex-husband Johnny Depp.“It is important for me to say I never chose this,” Heard said in an Instagram post. “I defended my truth and in doing so my life as I knew it was destroyed.”The news comes just months after a televised seven-week trial, where jurors found that Heard defamed Depp after identifying herself as a domestic abuse survivor in a

The small boat was apparently full of migrants trying to make the well-trodden, but extremely risky English Channel crossing from mainland Europe to Britain.

AFP via GettyThe Russian mercenaries hailed by their leader as the most skilled and experienced soldiers in the war against Ukraine have gotten themselves blown up over the weekend.Pro-Kremlin Russian media channels were the first to reveal the strike Sunday on a hotel in the occupied Luhansk region, furiously noting that “the enemy used HIMARS to hit the hotel in Kadiivka where Wagner fighters were located.”⚡️Первые фото из разрушенной гостиницы «Гостевой дом Жданова в Стаханове.Удар нанесен из

You can chase the Northern Lights in Alaska and also the contiguous U.S. Better yet, your chances of seeing them are increasing.

Robert Cianflone/GettyA reporter covering the FIFA World Cup “died suddenly,” a Qatar newspaper reported—the same day a security guard was left in intensive care after falling at one of the tournament’s stadiums.The Doha-based Gulf Times announced Saturday that Al Kass TV photojournalist Khalid al-Misslam “passed away recently.” The Qatari reporter “died suddenly while covering the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022,” the Gulf Times tweeted. “We believe in Allah’s mercy and forgiveness for him, and send

A sex worker rights group called it "incredible news," saying decriminalization will "enable women to "work much better with the police to tackle violence."

AFP via GettyRussia’s most deranged gambit in its war against Ukraine is rapidly turning into a crisis as military leaders lose control over the prison inmates freed in exchange for a stint on the battlefield.About 20 armed inmates fled from the frontline in occupied Donetsk in recent days and the Russian military was forced to launch a manhunt for members of its own team, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said Thursday. Three of the “fugitives” were killed in the ensuing search,

Christopher Furlong/GettyRelations between William and Kate and Meghan and Harry descended into a state of outright war Friday, after sources close to the Waleses compared the Montecito-based couple to the Kardashians, after Netflix released a glossy trailer for their new reality docuseries, Harry and Meghan.The timing of the release appeared designed to overshadow the Wales’ current trip to Boston, and came after the royals plunged into a self-inflicted racism row. The comparison with the Karda

Luiz C. Ribeiro/New York Daily News via GettyThe murders of two young New York City children stabbed to death were masked under a torrent of clothes in a bathtub running with water, according to police.The bodies of the boys—Deshawn Fleming, 3, and Octavius Canada, 11 months old—were found by their father on Saturday night at a homeless shelter in the Bronx, police told the New York Post. The gruesome discovery came nearly an hour after cops brought their mother to the hospital.“Despite the offi

The King plans to make Princess Charlotte the Duchess of Edinburgh instead of giving the title to the Earl of Wessex, according to reports.

The former first lady responds to an NPR listener who says that COVID has left them feeling lost and isolated. Her suggestion? 'Take a risk' and 'put yourself out there.'

Happiness experts say that it's better to receive an experience than something material. So we rounded up the trips we're dreaming of taking to gift your loved ones this holiday season. These are the trips we're dreaming of in 2023

Tom Williams/GettyRep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), who has made gun ownership and anti-LGBTQ policies a regular part of her MAGA platform, tweeted her thoughts and prayers on Sunday for the victims of the deadly Colorado LGBTQ nightclub shooting. But her sentiments caused outrage in the LGBTQ community, with many calling out her hypocrisy—including Chasten Buttigieg, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg’s husband, who slammed her on Twitter: “You encourage this type of hatred. Get off Twitter a

Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/GettyDonald Trump’s 2024 announcement may have felt like a flop, but there was an interesting upside to it for him.Jose Pagliery, political investigations reporter at The Daily Beast, tells The New Abnormal host Andy Levy that one can’t look at this announcement “as anything other than an attempt to mar any prosecution as a political persecution of him.”It “could be viewed as him trying to seek further cover so that if he does get indicted fo

Marina Tanaka / EyeEm via GettyTwo planes crashed into each other mid-air Saturday during a Dallas air show that was packed with families marking Veteran’s Day weekend, with both planes plummeting to the ground in a fiery explosion, video footage shows. Six people who were aboard the planes are feared to have died, ABC reported. The collision took place during the Wings Over Dallas World War II Airshow. A spokesperson for the Dallas Fire-Rescue said he didn’t know the status of the pilots or whe

In an otherwise successful midterm election for the Party, why did so many seats in a reliably blue state change hands?

"I'll keep on going until I just can't go anymore," the three-time Oscar nominee told Insider about his love for acting.

Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/Getty/ReutersDaily Beast columnist David Rothkopf interviewed more than 100 people involved with the Trump White House for his new book, American Resistance: The Inside Story of How The Deep State Saved the Nation, and according to his sources, it took almost no time for Trump’s staffers to realize what kind of boss he was.“All of them said they realized this either during the transition or in the first few weeks of the administration, and th

The annual blanket of air pollution hanging over Delhi is due to a confluence of factors, but it's a serious health threat, and it's getting worse.

"I thought she was terrific. I was like, 'Yeah, we don't need to redo that.' She did it," New York Times reporter Kyle Buchanan tweeted.

White suburban women have 'significantly shifted' support from Dems to GOP, poll finds

Aaron J. Thornton/GettyTakeoff, one third of the rap trio Migos, was shot dead early Tuesday morning in Houston, according to reports. He was 28.Law enforcement sources and witnesses cited by TMZ said the fatal shooting occurred shortly after 2:30 a.m., at which time police were called about a man shot at a bowling alley called 810 Billiards & Bowling. The outlet reported that Takeoff—real name Kirshnik Khari Ball—and fellow Migos star Quavo were playing dice when some sort of altercation erupte

Patrick Pleul/AFP via GettyJust days after he promised advertisers that Twitter would not become a “free-for-all hellscape,” Elon Musk used the platform he now owns to amplify a baseless conspiracy theory about the hammer attack on Nancy Pelosi’s husband by an intruder.“There is a tiny possibility there might be more to this story than meets the eye,” Musk tweeted Sunday morning in reply to a tweet by Hillary Clinton blasting the Republican Party for creating a toxic environment that lays the gr

Benjamin Wallace-Wells discusses the most decisive (and most competitive) races in the upcoming elections, and which issues seem likely to tip the scales.

AFP via GettyRussian’s Vladimir Putin sparked the wrath of his own people by drafting hundreds of thousands to join the war against Ukraine, and now it seems some of those men were sent not to fight the so-called “enemy” but to “snuff out” any of the Russian troops who dare to retreat.Ukrainian intelligence on Thursday released an audio recording that appears to capture in disturbing detail the mayhem and internal rifts between Russian troops on the battlefield. In the five-minute clip, describe

Photo Illustration by Kelly Caminero / The Daily Beast / Getty Attorney Gloria Allred announced that she is holding a press conference Wednesday with another woman who says she was in a relationship with Herschel Walker and that he helped her have abortion.The alert from Allred says that the woman will allege that the football legend, who is now running for Senate in Georgia, drove her to the clinic to terminate the pregnancy. The woman plans to remain anonymous and will provide evidence of her

A leading expert on computerized voting machines explains how the Stop the Steal movement co-opted his research on their vulnerabilities—and why hand counting won’t fix the problems.

A visitor managed to capture the escape on video, where a distressed person can be heard asking: "Is it safe to be here?"

Emily Elconin/GettyThe far-right “ReAwaken America” gathering in Manheim, Pennsylvania, this weekend wasn’t your typical pro-Trump rally.It was a whole different level of crazy.The QAnon-peppered programming frequently flew off the rails Saturday, as speakers took severe issue with everything from McDonald’s being part of the “deep state” to “demonic satellites” controlling the voting system in the United States.The day’s activities kicked off with a prayer asking for Trump’s eyes to be opened s

Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast / GettyWe’re all going to die eventually—but what if you knew when you’d be at risk for dropping dead, based solely on the way you walk? A new study shows that measurements taken with wrist-worn motion sensors can be used to predict one’s mortality risk up to five years later. As one of the largest validations of wearable technology to date, the research raises the possibility of one day using the motion detection system in smartphones to survey patient heal

It was quite a year in the sports world, was it not?