Vikings’ aircraft makes emergency landing after sudden mid-flight mechanical failure
The Minnesota Vikings‘ team plane was forced to turn around during the team’s flight to New Jersey for Sunday’s game against the New York Giants.
Their team plane experienced mechanical issues shortly after departing Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport while en route to Newark Liberty International Airport, according to a team spokesperson.
The Vikings were expected to arrive in Newark later Saturday night after boarding a second plane.
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“Shortly after departing, the team plane experienced mechanical issues that required a return to Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. The team will board a second plane momentarily and is now expected to arrive at Newark International Airport later tonight,” the team said in a statement.
Vikings cornerback Isaiah Rodgers commented on an Instagram post of the news, writing, “We’re ok.”
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The Vikings are eliminated from playoff contention but are coming off a signature win over the Dallas Cowboys Sunday night. Second-year quarterback J.J. McCarthy had arguably his best game as a pro, throwing for a career-high 250 yards and two touchdowns with one interception.
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They play a Giants team that has the worst record in the NFL at 2-12, tied with the Tennessee Titans and Las Vegas Raiders.
Bitter rift emerges within conservative movement at TPUSA’s AmericaFest 2025
A rift within the MAGA movement came to a head at Turning Point USA‘s (TPUSA) AmericaFest this week, with conservative personalities like Ben Shapiro and Tucker Carlson engaging in a war of words during their time on stage.
Shapiro, co-founder of The Daily Wire, took the stage at AmericaFest on Thursday, where he launched into a blistering condemnation of Carlson and others he described as charlatans and grifters who “traffic in conspiracism and dishonesty.”
One of the main criticisms Shapiro levied against Carlson was his platforming of individuals like White nationalist Nick Fuentes, among others.
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He asserted that hosts are “indeed responsible for the guests they choose and the questions they ask those guests” and tore into Carlson’s interview with Fuentes, someone he noted late TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk opposed.
“There is a reason that Charlie Kirk despised Nick Fuentes and, indeed, even chided Dinesh D’Souza for debating him. He knew that Nick Fuentes is an evil troll and that building him up is an act of moral imbecility. And that is precisely what Tucker Carlson did,” he contended, adding that Carlson “ought to take responsibility” for doing so.
Approximately an hour after Shapiro delivered his speech, Carlson took the stage and seemed to mock Shapiro’s attempt to “deplatform and denounce” people who disagree with him.
“I just got here, and I feel like I missed the first part of the program. Hope I didn’t miss anything meaningful. But I just want to say I don’t think I did,” Carlson quipped. “No, I’m just kidding. I watched it. I laughed.”
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He added that he “laughed that kind of bitter sardonic laugh that emerges from you and, like, upside-down world arrives. When your dog starts doing your taxes, and you’re like, ‘Wait, it’s not supposed to work this way.'”
While he didn’t mention Shapiro by name, Carlson seemed to take multiple jabs at Shapiro’s speech, saying it was “hilarious” to hear “calls for, like, deplatforming and denouncing people at a Charlie Kirk event.”
“Charlie stood firm in his often-stated and deeply held belief that people should be able to debate, and if you have something valid to say, if you’re telling the truth, you ought to be able to explain it calmly and in detail to people who don’t agree with you, and that you shouldn’t immediately resort to, ‘Shut up racist,’” he railed.
Carlson also spent some of his time on stage defending himself against Shapiro’s allegations of antisemitism.
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“Antisemitism is immoral. In my religion, it is immoral to hate people for how they were born. Period,” Carlson asserted.
After Shapiro’s speech highlighted the infighting taking place within the MAGA movement, Carlson denied its existence, maintaining the coalition built by President Donald Trump is still holding together.
“The Trump coalition, and the supposed civil war going on within that group, I don’t think it’s real,” he told the audience. “I think it’s fake. I think it’s totally fake.”
The following day, conservative commentator Megyn Kelly took the stage for a conversation with TPUSA contributor Jack Posobiec, and she tore into Shapiro for acting as a gatekeeper of the conservative movement.
“[Shapiro] thinks he’s in a position to decide who must say what to whom and when,” Kelly said. “So, I don’t think we are friends anymore. I’ve been a very good friend to Ben.”
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During his speech the day before, Shapiro noted that, despite their recent disagreements, Kelly was still “a person I consider a friend.”
Kelly recalled inviting the Daily Wire co-founder to speak during her “Megyn Kelly Live” tour last month, noting that their “mix-up” stemmed from Carlson, not disagreements over Israel.
“He just recently came on my tour, as did you, and I gave him the most kind introduction I could possibly give him because I know that he’s losing subscribers — a lot. And, so, I tried to do something nice for him by giving him a long 10-minute intro and personally vouching for him. And we mixed it up on Israel out on stage,” she recounted.
“It wasn’t Israel because we’re on the same place on Israel. We mixed it up over whether Tucker Carlson should be excommunicated from the conservative movement, which I do not believe.”
According to Kelly, the two hugged and said goodbye after Shapiro’s appearance on her tour and even shared a “nice text exchange a couple of days later, saying our friendship was important to us.”
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“And the next thing I saw was him attacking me on stage last night as a coward,” she told Posobiec. “That’s not friendship. And I think that’s fine with me.”
Vivek Ramaswamy, who is running for Ohio’s Republican gubernatorial nomination, took aim at what he called pockets of the “online right” during his address Friday night at AmericaFest that fixated on heritage and lineage rather than American ideals. He specifically called out Fuentes as unwelcome in the conservative movement.
“I think the idea of a heritage American is about as loony as anything the woke left has actually put up,” he said. “There is no American who is more American than somebody else. … It is binary. Either you’re an American or you’re not.”
This emerging fracture within the conservative movement was touched upon by Erika Kirk at the outset of the event.
She recalled her husband being a “peacemaker” and a “coalition builder” and that, after his assassination in September, “we saw infighting. We’ve seen fractures. We’ve seen bridges being burned that shouldn’t be burnt. We saw a lot on full display.
“And what I knew as a wife — and I’m the same exact way as him — If you are trying to put up fight or flight mode, we’re always fight mode. We don’t retreat,” she added.
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Turning Point USA spokesman Andrew Kolvet did not immediately return Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Wild bodycam video shows shoplifting suspect allegedly trying to shoot officer
Heart-pounding video shows the moment a shoplifting suspect allegedly tried to shoot an Ohio police officer at point-blank range inside a Walmart — only to be stopped when his gun appeared to malfunction and a store security worker intervened.
The dramatic incident unfolded Thursday in Canton after the suspect and a woman were detained for allegedly stealing items from the store, according to reports.
The pair were taken to a security room, where a police officer could be seen questioning and searching for the male suspect, identified as Shane Newman, 21, by FOX 8.
Video from the officer’s body camera — which had been placed on a table — initially showed a calm scene, with a Walmart employee handing the officer a pen and paper as the two suspects sat on a bench.
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Moments later, the situation exploded.
Newman suddenly turned, pulled out a gun and attempted to shoot the officer as the woman screamed, “No, no, no!” A clicking sound could be heard as Newman apparently pulled the trigger.
The Walmart worker immediately jumped on Newman in an effort to restrain him, but Newman raised the gun again and attempted to fire a second time and another click could be heard.
The worker then knocked the gun from Newman’s hands as the officer drew his weapon and shouted, “Get back! Get back!”
The officer then took control of matters and pinned Newman to the floor until additional police arrived. Both suspects were taken into custody.
In the bodycam footage, the officer told responding police that Newman had “pulled the gun out, pointed it at my head and pulled the trigger,” but the weapon did not fire.
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The officer said he drew his own weapon and would have shot Newman, but feared hitting the Walmart employee as the worker struggled to disarm the suspect. He also acknowledged missing the gun concealed in Newman’s shoulder bag during the initial search.
The officer said he had just been alerted seconds before the attack that Newman had an active warrant for his arrest and was classified as “armed and dangerous.”
Newman was charged with attempted murder and felonious assault on a police officer, court records show.
The woman, identified as Katerina Jefferey, was charged with complicity to commit robbery and having weapons under disability for possession of ammunition, FOX 8 reported.
Before the violence erupted, the police officer asked Newman if he had anything on him as part of the search. Newman said all he had was a cellphone, and then he voluntarily handed over a small container from his pocket that investigators said contained illegal drugs, according to FOX 8.
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“Are we going to jail?” Jeffrey asked the police officer.
“Not unless something crazy happens,” the officer replied.
Misunderstood illness leaves millions exhausted, with most cases undiagnosed
Fatigue can stem from a variety of illnesses and life stressors, but when that exhaustion lasts for months — often following an infection — it may indicate a condition called chronic fatigue syndrome.
Approximately 3.3 million people in the United States currently have the syndrome, with about one in four people confined to their bed at some point during the illness, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Despite its prevalence, experts say it’s a poorly understood condition that physicians frequently miss, with past research suggesting that only about 15% of those affected are diagnosed correctly.
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What is chronic fatigue syndrome?
Formally known as myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a chronic disease that causes fatigue so severe that it impairs the ability to perform daily activities.
The National Academy of Medicine defines the syndrome as having the following three symptoms that last at least six months.
- Severe fatigue that is 1) new and 2) decreases the ability to perform activities that you did normally prior to illness
- “Malaise” that worsens after physical or mental effort that previously was well-tolerated
- Unrestful sleep
People may also experience trouble with thinking and memory (often called “brain fog”) or lightheadedness when standing up.
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There are no tests to confirm chronic fatigue, so doctors diagnose it by talking to their patients, examining them and excluding other disorders, like hypothyroidism and depression, that often share the same symptoms.
“CFS, fibromyalgia and long COVID are all related conditions with different names,” Dr. Jacob Teitelbaum, author of “From Fatigued to Fantasticwhose research focuses on chronic fatigue syndrome — told Fox News Digital. “What these illnesses have in common is that they are immune disorders, and immune disorders predominantly affect women.”
Many genes related to immune disorders are on the X chromosome, suggesting a genetic component, the doctor added.
Causes of chronic fatigue
Chronic fatigue syndrome may be triggered by infection or other physiologic stressors, but its causes and symptoms can vary widely from person to person, according to Dr. Julia Oh, a professor in dermatology, molecular genetics and microbiology, and integrative immunobiology at the Duke University School of Medicine in North Carolina.
Teitelbaum compared the condition to a “severe energy crisis” in the body. When energy drops low enough, the “control center” in the brain — the hypothalamus, which regulates sleep, hormones, blood pressure and pulse — may not work as well.
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Although hypothalamic dysfunction can trigger dozens of other symptoms, the hallmark signs are insomnia (despite exhaustion), brain fog and widespread pain, the doctor said.
Anything that causes severe energy depletion can trigger the syndrome, including chronic life stressors, nutritional deficiencies, thyroid and stress hormone imbalances, and sleep problems.
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These triggers are usually associated with a gradual onset of CFS, but sudden onset can be caused by certain infections, with two classic ones being COVID and mononucleosis, past research has shown.
Head and neck trauma and sudden hormonal shifts after pregnancy can also trigger chronic fatigue, Teitelbaum warned.
There aren’t currently any blood tests to uniformly diagnose the syndrome, but Dr. Oh said she is hopeful that will change in the future.
Her research team developed an experimental artificial intelligence-based tool, BioMapAI, that has been shown to identify the condition with high accuracy by analyzing stool, blood and other common lab tests, according to early research published in July in the journal Nature Medicine.
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“Instead of finding one smoking gun for the disease, our AI model uncovered a distinct biological fingerprint that was dysregulated in the patients, which spanned changes in gut bacteria, hyperactive immune cells and disrupted metabolism,” Oh told Fox News Digital.
Treatments and therapies
Given how differently chronic fatigue syndrome can affect people, there is no universally effective therapy, according to Oh.
The CDC recommends that patients with CFS work with their doctors to create a management plan based on the symptoms that most affect quality of life.
There are no tests to confirm chronic fatigue, so doctors diagnose it by evaluating symptoms and excluding other disorders.
Treatments generally include a combination of lifestyle changes, therapies and medications. Patients and their physicians should weigh the potential benefits and risks of any approach.
There are some alternative therapies that have shown to be effective for some. Teitelbaum developed a protocol called SHINE, which focuses on sleep, hormones and hypotension, infections, nutrition and exercise. Some research has shown that this approach can help to improve the quality of life for people with CFS and fibromyalgia.
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Others may find alternative treatments, like physiotherapy (physical therapy) to be helpful.
Those who experience persistent fatigue that hinders their ability to participate in regular activities or impacts their quality of life should speak with a doctor.
Alleged Minnesota fraud ringleader described as ‘a God’ in Somali-linked scam
The alleged “mastermind” behind Minnesota’s $250 million Feeding Our Future fraud scandal tied to the Somali community is accused of wielding extraordinary power through threats and what the government described as “fake claims of racism.”
Aimee Bock, who founded the Feeding Our Future nonprofit in 2016, used her growing authority to silence dissent, discourage scrutiny from state regulators and cut off operators who refused to comply, prosecutors said.
While other defendants splurged on luxury homes, cars and overseas property, prosecutors said, Bock instead controlled the levers of approval and reimbursement that allowed the scheme to flourish.
One witness even recently described Bock as a “God” in how she enforced her authority. Court records show that more than $1 million flowed to Bock’s longtime boyfriend, who appeared in trial exhibits posing inside a Rolls-Royce with Bock standing nearby, underscoring her alleged proximity to the wealth generated by the scheme.
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Trial evidence painted a picture of a dramatic rise, with Bock going from running a little-known nonprofit to overseeing one of the largest federal meal sponsors in Minnesota as she gained influence, visibility and access to powerful political circles.
For years, Feeding Our Future operated modestly, handling roughly $3 million to $4 million annually in federal child nutrition reimbursements, according to prosecutors.
That trajectory changed abruptly during the COVID-19 pandemic, when emergency rule changes loosened oversight and allowed sponsors to submit claims without normal verification.
As executive director of Feeding Our Future, Bock approved meal sites, some of which were fake, and then certified the claims, signing off on the reimbursements from the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE).
She would soon preside over a network that claimed to have served 91 million meals, for which prosecutors say the scammers fraudulently received nearly $250 million in federal funds, a scale of growth that far outpaced the nonprofit’s pre-pandemic size and internal capacity. Later filings and sentencing releases described the total impact as closer to $300 million.
To keep the scheme going, prosecutors said, Bock used her authority to intimidate and control operators, approving implausible meal counts and cutting off those who refused to comply.
“Aimee Bock was a God,” cooperating witness Hanna Marekegn testified, according to trial exhibits, which were used to describe how much power Bock allegedly held over the network.
Marekegn was the owner of Brava Café, a meal site sponsored by Feeding Our Future.
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Marekegn told jurors Bock had the power to make operators rich but also the ability to shut off the cash spigot entirely if they did not comply with unrealistic numbers being submitted.
Prosecutors said site operators like Marekegn paid kickbacks to Feeding Our Future employees or intermediaries to avoid being cut off, a system witnesses described as necessary to keep money flowing. Refusing to comply, they testified, meant losing all payments.
Operators also told jurors they understood that rejecting demands, including submitting implausible meal counts or paying kickbacks, would cost them their contracts and leave them with no money at all.
Qamar Hassan, who operated S&S Catering, testified bluntly, “If I say no, I’m not getting any more money.”
The Department of Justice also introduced slides showing emails and communications in which Bock accused the MDE of racism when regulators questioned suspicious claims. In 2021, when the MDE grew suspicious and tried to stop the flow of funds, Feeding Our Future sued, alleging racial discrimination. A judge ordered the state to restart reimbursements, a ruling that prosecutors said enabled the scheme to escalate.
“Bock lied to MDE and falsely accused state officials of racism to keep the money flowing,” one of the slides says.
Earlier in the trial, prosecutors had shown how she approved 21 meal sites along a 1.8-mile stretch of Lake Street, which together claimed to serve as many kids as there were in the entire Minneapolis school district.
Bock testified that the concentration of sites was justified because several grocery stores in the area were damaged during the George Floyd riots.
“This large area became what’s known as a food desert,” she testified, according to FOX 9 Minneapolis.
A federal jury found Bock guilty on all counts she faced, including wire fraud, conspiracy and bribery. Her co-defendant, Salim Said, was also convicted on multiple charges, including wire fraud, bribery and money laundering. At least 78 people have now been indicted in the ongoing investigation.
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Court documents revealed that many of those convicted spent their ill-gotten gains on large homes, luxury vehicles and property in Kenya.
However, one witness testified that Bock warned beneficiaries not to spend the ill-gotten gains lavishly.
The only money movement directly tied to Bock in the exhibits was a picture of her making a $30,000 cash withdrawal, which prosecutors said was evidence she was involved in a kickback scheme by accepting cash payments from meal site operators in exchange for site approvals and reimbursements.
A series of reimbursement checks she signed for alleged fraud sites were also shown, evidence prosecutors said captured her role as the scheme’s “gatekeeper,” though not a big personal spender.
While prosecutors did not accuse Bock of buying mansions or luxury cars herself, public records show that more than $1 million flowed to her longtime boyfriend, Empress Malcolm Watson Jr., who spent the money on travel, jewelry, vehicles and cash withdrawals.
Watson appears in some of the exhibits. One showed him inside a Rolls-Royce with Bock standing next to him. He’s pictured in another photo standing in front of a Lamborghini, and that exhibit also shows designer bags, jewelry and a white Mercedes-Benz, items prosecutors labeled as “Handy Helpers Spending” to illustrate the lavish lifestyle surrounding Bock’s network.
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Watson has not been charged in the Feeding Our Future cases.
He was charged with six tax-related felony offenses in September for allegedly underreporting his income for 2020 and 2021, failing to file a return for 2022 and failing to pay the income taxes he owed for those years. Watson allegedly owes more than $64,000 in unpaid income tax.
He is being held in the Anoka County jail on a felony probation violation unrelated to the tax case.
Travel experts reveal the $1 item that could save your trip from delays and disaster
For problems ranging from dealing with long immigration lines to dead phones, a simple, lightweight item might be the most overlooked airport essential, according to travel experts.
It’s not a charger, neck pillow or noise-canceling headphones, just a simple pen with blue or black ink.
Travelers who assume pens will be available at the airport risk unnecessary delays and frustration because many destinations still require paper immigration and customs forms, and writing utensils can be in short supply, Travel + Leisure recently reported.
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One travel expert learned that lesson the hard way while arriving in Tanzania after a red-eye flight.
“I landed in Dar es Salaam after a red-eye, [with the] immigration hall packed and buzzing, all of us funneling off the plane, and by the time I reached the counter, every pen was gone — dry, vanished, even the chained-up one,” Georgia Fowkes, a Pennsylvania travel adviser for tour operator Altezza Travel, told Travel + Leisure.
“There I was, holding up the line, with the rest of the no-pen folks, waiting for my turn to borrow one,” Fowkes added. “Not my finest travel moment.”
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She noted that late-night arrivals can be especially challenging since there are fewer travelers around to borrow a pen from.
“Pull a spare pen out of your pocket at 35,000 feet, and people look at you like you’ve just invented fire,” Fowkes said. “In that moment, a pen is social currency.”
Even as some countries move toward digital systems, travelers may still be required to complete paper forms, sometimes before the plane even lands.
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“Depending on your country of citizenship or origin, you might still be required to fill out a paper form when arriving,” Eric Rosen, a Los Angeles-based director of content at The Points Guy, told Reader’s Digest in October.
Rosen said he travels with several pens so he can fill out paperwork on board or while waiting in line, saving time and stress.
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Experts say pen choice matters too. Basic, nonmetal ballpoint or gel pens with blue or black ink are best because fountain pens and rollerballs can leak due to cabin pressure, and travelers who fill out forms in unconventional ink colors may be asked to redo them.
Beyond immigration, a pen can also come in handy when technology fails.
Erin Carey, founder of travel public relations agency Roam Generation in Australia, told Travel + Leisure she always carries a pen in case her phone dies.
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“What if your phone goes flat, and you need to jot down an address or a phone number, or you meet someone you’d like to reach out to again, and you need to get their email address?” Carey said. “Maybe you need to have something written in a local language to show a taxi driver, or you lose your luggage and want to fill out a form for that.”
A pen can also come in handy when technology fails.
The low-tech travel tip even has celebrity support.
Kelly Ripa recently revealed that she never travels without multiple pens, admitting she often takes them from hotel rooms.
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“I travel with an armada of pens,” Ripa said on a November episode of “Live with Kelly and Mark,” according to People. “There’s 800 people making a mad dash to the three chained pens” at the customs desk, she said.
Ripa added that pens also double as in-flight entertainment when in-flight Wi-Fi fails, allowing her to write, work or doodle without relying on screens.
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Other small, unexpected items, including duct tape and binder clips, can be travel lifesavers, according to travel blogs and reports. They can help fix cracked suitcases, prevent leaks, secure snacks, block out hotel room lights and keep cords organized on the go.
Epstein accuser gains validation as her long-hidden complaint is released in DOJ files
A woman whose concerns about Jeffrey Epstein were brushed off by the FBI three decades ago was vindicated Friday after the Department of Justice finally made her complaint public.
Maria Farmer’s complaint was buried in the thousands of files related to Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex trafficking cases that the DOJ published as part of its obligations under the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
The document was dated Sept. 3, 1996, more than 10 years before Epstein first faced prosecution for sex crimes involving girls. In it, Farmer accused Epstein of stealing and selling photos of her young sisters. Farmer worked as an artist for Epstein and has long been outspoken about what she said was his abusive behavior.
Farmer has said the photos of her sisters cited in the 1996 complaint included nudity, and the complaint is labeled as a possible “child pornography” case.
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Names on the complaint were redacted, but The New York Times confirmed with Farmer that she was the person who filed it. Farmer told the outlet she felt “vindicated.”
“I’ve waited 30 years. … I can’t believe it. They can’t call me a liar anymore,” she said.
The complaint noted that Farmer was a professional artist whose work included the images of her sisters, who were 12 and 16 at the time.
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“Epstein stole the photos and negatives and is believed to have sold the pictures to potential buyers,” the complaint stated. “Epstein at one time requested [redacted] to take pictures of young girls at swimming pools. Epstein is now threatening [redacted] that if she tells anyone about the photos he will burn her house down.”
Farmer and her sister Annie brought separate lawsuits in 2019 alleging Epstein and Maxwell sexually assaulted them, but the suits were dropped as part of a settlement involving accepting compensation from Epstein’s estate.
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Farmer also sued the DOJ in July, alleging the Clinton administration FBI “chose to do absolutely nothing” with her complaint in 1996 and that, in the years since, Epstein was able to victimize more women. Farmer said she also complained again to the FBI in 2006 during the Bush administration.
Farmer’s complaint was among the tens of thousands of documents related to Epstein and Maxwell that the DOJ released on Friday, the transparency bill’s deadline. Other accusers, such as Marina Lacerda, have spoken out about their dissatisfaction with the file release, observing that it was incomplete and contained heavy redactions. The department has said more files are coming within the next two weeks.
Russell Brand criticizes ex-wife Katy Perry’s new relationship with Justin Trudeau
Comedian Russell Brand is not happy with his ex-wife’s current boyfriend.
While speaking onstage at a Turning Point USA (TPUSA) event in Phoenix on Thursday, the 50-year-old comedian told the crowd what he thinks about his ex-wife, Katy Perry‘s relationship with former Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau.
“Look, Katy Perry, I was married to her. I love her still, and I’m glad that her mom’s in the room to hear me say this, but look. I was okay with Orlando Bloom, but Justin Trudeau? C’mon, man! Don’t put me in a category with that guy! That globalist stooge,” Brand said.
Perry and Brand were married for two years, from 2010 to 2012, after they first met on the set of the movie, “Get Him to the Greek” in 2009.
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The singer spoke about their relationship in a June 2013 interview with Vogue, telling the outlet that “He’s a very smart man, a magical man, and I was in love with him when I married him.” She later added that at the time she hadn’t “heard from him since he texted me saying he was divorcing me December 31, 2011.”
“I was okay with Orlando Bloom, but Justin Trudeau? C’mon, man! Don’t put me in a category with that guy! That globalist stooge.”
“At first, when I met him, he wanted an equal, and I think a lot of times strong men do want an equal, but then they get that equal and they’re like, I can’t handle the equalness. He didn’t like the atmosphere of me being the boss on tour. So that was really hurtful, and it was very controlling, which was upsetting.”
Following their breakup, Perry moved on with fellow musician, John Mayer, who she dated on and off for three years until they broke up for good in 2015.
She went on to start a relationship with actor Orlando Bloom in 2016. After a brief breakup in 2017, the two got engaged in 2019, and welcomed their daughter Daisy in August 2020. The two eventually called off their engagement and broke up in June 2025.
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Perry hinted at the potential reasons behind her split from Bloom in her song “Bandaids.” The music video opens with Perry losing her wedding ring while washing dishes, and the song includes lyrics such as “Got so used to you letting me down / No use tryna send flowers now / Telling myself you’ll change, you don’t / Band-Aids over a broken heart.”
The “Hot & Cold” singer and Trudeau first sparked romance rumors when they were spotted dining together in Montreal. He was later spotted at her concert with his daughter.
During a concert stop in Prague on Oct. 30, Perry confirmed she was in a new relationship, but didn’t reveal who the lucky man was.
“This guy is trying to get me to marry him, and he has a ring in his hand,” Perry told the audience, per a TikTok video taken at the concert, before adding, “No! I am dating someone else for crying out f—— loud.”
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Perry later made their relationship Instagram official earlier this month, when she posted a series of photos from her time in Japan, some of which featured Trudeau.
“Your happiness is our happiness. All the love to you!
Missing passengers, violent attacks fuel rising alarm over cruise ship safety: experts
While cruise ships have long served as a favorite of Americans looking for a vacation, headlines highlighting violent crimes have marred the industry for decades.
Over the years, stories of lawlessness on cruises have both captivated and horrified travelers, with experts often pointing out how the unique environment often serves as a hotbed for bad actors and troublesome events.
“Just like subways invite crime because criminals have a ‘captive audience,’ cruise passengers are ‘captive’ for an even longer time, as jumping off into the ocean is not really an option,” Dr. Carole Lieberman, a forensic psychiatrist, told Fox News Digital. “A cruise ship feels like a world unto its own. It feels like you’re on another planet or at least another country, so it seems like there are fewer consequences.”
The sense of fewer consequences is echoed by Chicago-based attorney Andrew Stoltmann, who added that cruise ship passengers are subjected to the local laws wherever the ship is docked.
FBI WEIGHING STATE OR FEDERAL CHARGES AGAINST 16-YEAR-OLD IN ANNA KEPNER CRUISE SHIP HOMICIDE CASE: LAWYER
“Maritime law is extremely complex, and it shifts depending on location,” Stoltmann said. “Whatever flag the ship flies, that law is what is applicable while the ship is sailing. But while the ship is docked, it is that country’s law that applies. This makes it extremely complex, and many times it’s hard to figure out.”
Ultimately, experts point to a mixture of relaxed inhibitions and inconsistent methods of reporting crimes as some of the major catalysts for headlines involving murders, rapes and vacationers going missing on the high seas.
“There’s obviously a perception by the public that these cruise ships are very safe, and they have their own police force or security force,” Stoltmann said. “Unfortunately, this usually simply isn’t true. And because these ships are often in international waters, many of the same legal protections we enjoy here in the United States simply aren’t applicable on the high seas.”
In recent months, headlines about cruise trouble have included the mysterious death of Florida teen Anna Kepner and a lawsuit filed by the family of a man who says their loved one was killed after Royal Caribbean served him nearly three dozen alcoholic drinks. Those are just the latest in decades of scares and scandals marring the industry:
Amy Bradley disappears while on a family vacation
In 1998, 23-year-old Amy Bradley embarked on a Royal Caribbean International cruise with her family for a seven-day trip to the tropics to celebrate her recent college graduation.
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However, the celebration quickly turned tragic when Bradley vanished from her stateroom as the ship was preparing to dock in Curaçao, sparking a massive search for the aspiring sports psychology student in a case that remains unsolved.
On the evening before her disappearance, Bradley and her brother, Brad, were enjoying an evening at the Rhapsody of the Seas nightclub, where the pair remained until the early morning hours. She was last seen asleep on the stateroom cabin’s balcony by her father.
About a half an hour later, Bradley had vanished.
An extensive search for the recent college graduate ensued, but authorities were unable to locate Bradley. The vessel continued its scheduled stops and ultimately returned to Puerto Rico four days later.
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Since her disappearance, countless rumors have swirled about what happened to her, with some theories suggesting she had fallen overboard and drowned or that she had intentionally jumped from the balcony to take her own life.
At the time of the search, Netherlands Antilles Coast Guard Lt. Sjoerd Soethout told reporters she could have fallen from the ship’s balcony, The Associated Press reported. The FBI also uncovered “no evidence of foul play” following an investigation into Bradley’s disappearance.
The case ultimately ran cold.
Years after her disappearance, Bradley’s parents were sent a series of sexually explicit images of a woman based in the Caribbean by an anonymous tipster.
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The woman, identified only as “Jas,” was posing provocatively while intentionally covering any identifiable markings, such as Bradley’s tattoo of a Tasmanian Devil spinning a basketball.
The photos further solidified Bradley’s parents’ theory that their daughter had been kidnapped and sold into sex trafficking.
However, despite various leads throughout the years and the FBI releasing age-progressing photos of Bradley in 2017, she has never been found and authorities have yet to charge anyone with a crime relating to the case.
Husband pleads guilty to murdering wife on Alaskan cruise
In 2017, Kenneth Manzanares and his wife, Kristy Manzanares, boarded the Emerald Princess cruise ship with their daughters for a trip to Alaska.
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The couple got into a contentious argument in front of their daughters while inside their stateroom, and Kristy Manzanares told her husband she wanted a divorce and that he should disembark the ship when it reaches port in Juneau, according to prosecutors.
As the fight escalated, Kenneth Manzanares ordered the pair’s daughters out of the room, prosecutors said. After they heard their mother scream, they attempted to reenter the room, which was locked.
The girls then accessed the room through a connected balcony, where they witnessed their father “straddling Kristy on the bed, striking her in the head with closed fists,” according to prosecutors.
Kenneth Manzanares then attempted to hurl his wife’s body over the balcony railing, but his in-laws managed to break into the room to stop him.
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Following the attack, Kristy Manzanares “had a severe head wound, and blood was spread throughout the room on multiple surfaces,” according to an FBI arrest affidavit.
She subsequently died from her injuries, with authorities ruling her cause of death as blunt force trauma to the head and face.
Kristy Manzanares’ brother-in-law, identified in court documents as D.H., told investigators that upon entering the room, he found the victim covered in blood on the floor and Kenneth Manzanares inside with blood on his hands.
Kenneth Manzanares allegedly told D.H., “She would not stop laughing at me.”
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In 2020, Kenneth Manzanares pleaded guilty to second-degree murder charges after prosecutors alleged he was his wife’s killer.
He was sentenced to 30 years in prison in 2021, but only served a few weeks of his sentence before he was found unresponsive in his Juneau prison cell. Investigators ruled out foul play in his death.
Florida cheerleader found dead on Carnival cruise ship
Last month, 18-year-old Anna Kepner, a Florida high school senior, was found dead inside her family’s cabin aboard the Carnival Horizon cruise ship.
Kepner’s body was discovered stuffed under a bed and covered with life jackets inside the room she was sharing with her 14-year-old brother and 16-year-old stepbrother on Nov. 7. The cruise returned to the Port of Miami the next day. Her cause and manner of death was reportedly a homicide by mechanical asphyxiation.
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While no one has been charged in Kepner’s death, court filings submitted by her 16-year-old stepbrother’s parents indicate the teen is being looked at as a potential “suspect” by the FBI.
Friends and relatives close to Kepner have spoken out to accuse the 16-year-old of acting inappropriately toward the victim in the past.
Speaking to reporters outside Kepner’s memorial service, her ex-boyfriend recalled a time when he was on a 3 a.m. FaceTime call with her when she dozed off. Shortly after, he witnessed Kepner’s stepbrother enter her room.
“I was like, ‘What the hell are you doing in her room?’” he said. “Then he got scared and ran away, and I heard his footsteps running through the house ’cause he got caught.”
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Over a month later, authorities have not made any arrests in the case, and the investigation remains ongoing.
Family sues Royal Caribbean, alleges 33 drinks led to man’s death
In December 2024, 35-year-old Michael Virgil embarked on a four-day tropical getaway to Ensenada, Mexico, with his long-time fiancée and the couple’s young son, who has autism.
The family boarded Royal Caribbean’s Navigator of the Seas while it was docked in Los Angeles but were informed by crew members that their room was not yet ready, according to a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Virgil’s family.
They were subsequently invited to visit a bar with live music while they waited, but the couple’s son grew restless and left with his mother to check on the status of their room.
FAMILY SUES ROYAL CARIBBEAN AFTER MAN ALLEGEDLY SERVED 33 DRINKS DIES ABOARD CRUISE SHIP
Within hours of the ship’s departure, Virgil was allegedly served at least 33 alcoholic beverages, which were included under the company’s virtually unlimited “Deluxe Beverage Package” that Virgil had purchased.
After consuming nearly three dozen drinks, the suit states, Virgil became increasingly agitated and combative while trying to locate his family’s cabin.
As Virgil grew more belligerent, security and crew members allegedly tackled him to the ground and restrained him for several minutes. During the altercation, the staff captain directed crew members to inject Virgil with the sedative haloperidol and use three cans of pepper spray to subdue him, the complaint alleges.
Virgil was pronounced dead shortly after the incident.
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A medical examiner later determined Virgil’s death was a homicide, with the cause being “combined effects of mechanical asphyxia, obesity, cardiomegaly and ethanol intoxication.”
Virgil’s family has since filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Royal Caribbean, seeking judgment for damages under the Death on the High Seas Act, including loss of support, inheritance, past and future earnings and net accumulations. They are also seeking funeral and medical expenses, loss of companionship and protection and mental pain and suffering, among other claims.
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Royal Caribbean did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
“We are seeing an incredibly alarming number of serious injuries and fatalities on cruise ships of late,” the family’s attorney, Kevin Haynes, said. “Our goal is to force systemic change in the way this industry operates to ensure that no person or family experiences tragedy like this again.”