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Ritchie Blackmore joined his formed band Deep Purple for the first time in 33 years during the group’s performance in Wantagh, New York on Wednesday night (Aug. 12). The 81-year-old guitarist, who co-founded Deep Purple in 1968, joined the band for a rendition of their song "Smoke on the Water." Prior to the performance, Blackmore revealed his planned reunion with Deep Purple via Instagram. "Well, it is a secret and I don't want anybody to know, but I'm probably get up and do an encore with the band Deep Purple," the guitarist teased. "But you can't tell anybody, and I...

Fighting in the Second World War went on until the very end. WWII: The Last Day | 20:41 The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered | 1.64M subscribers | 14,619 views | August 14, 2026

Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin defended his organization’s fundraising record despite a massive Republican advantage and implored allies to help raise more funds in the final few months before the November midterm elections. “While we’ve raised a record amount of money, and it is a record in the 198-year history of the DNC, there’s no chair or no team of officers that’s raised more money without the White House in [its] team, but the reality is we need more,” Martin said during an executive committee meeting on Friday. “I don’t want folks to think, well, we’re OK. We need...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Sheryl Williams Stapleton, a former New Mexico lawmaker, was convicted Friday morning on all 37 federal charges, including money laundering, bribery, and mail fraud. Stapleton did not respond to questions from reporters walking out of federal court Friday afternoon. According to the federal indictment, Stapleton conspired with her longtime friend Joseph Johnson to steal millions in federal money. Prosecutors said she used her position at Albuquerque Public Schools as an educational director to receive $1.2 million in kickbacks while funneling a total of $3.2 million to Johnson's company, Robotics. Johnson's company had supplied a computer program called...

The Vera C. Rubin Observatory is a major astronomical facility located on Cerro Pachón in Chile, jointly funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy. It is named after astronomer Vera Rubin, who provided the first convincing evidence for the existence of dark matter. Key operational milestones include:First Light: Achieved in June 2025, with the release of the first images revealing billions of stars, galaxies, and thousands of previously unseen asteroids. Full Survey Operations: The Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) officially began in July 2026 and will run for ten years. The observatory features...

PETA, the organization widely known for its over-the-top progressive activism for animals, is refusing to condemn Democrat Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed after serious animal abuse allegations came to light from his tenure as Detroit’s health director. A report from the Daily Mail found that El-Sayed was the subject of whistleblower complaints after he ascended to the post of health director in Detroit. Under his watch nearly 4,700 cats and dogs were euthanized, and an untold number died from malnutrition and lack of medical care, all while being subject to unsanitary conditions. The problem grew so bad that one former employee...

A taxpayer-funded swimming pool in Germany promoted an event “exclusively” for black people on Friday — sparking a torrent of outrage that forced it to be scrapped at the last minute by unapologetic organizers. The newly opened $346,000 public pool Volksbad — German for “people’s bath” — was due to host the divisive summer event organized by the anti-discrimination charity Each One Teach One, the German outlet Bild reported. Swimmers were told the pool “doesn’t open to the general public until 6:00 p.m [Friday]; before that, it is open exclusively to black communities.” It sparked widespread disgust, but was only...

California Post on Google Beverly Hills diners hoping to chow down on expensive filet mignon were treated to a different kind of beef at Steak 48. The messy melee exploded between two women at the pricey Beverly Hills steakhouse, captured on video obtained by TMZ. As forks clinked and calming music played, the two women brutally yanked each other’s hair as confused employees tried to stop them and entertained diners watched. "Oh my god, I love this,” one woman could be heard saying in the video. Both brawlers sported fancy dresses without undergarments as they attacked each other. They rolled...

A skyrocketing number of California residents have developed an incurable lung disease linked to kitchen quartz countertops — with many needing lung transplants, according to a terrifying new state study. One of those victims is Enrique Gonzalez, a San Fernando Valley stone worker who has been unable to work for the past two years after developing silicosis from years of working in granite and stone manufacturing. Gonzalez’s family says the disease has made it impossible for him to continue working as his condition has progressed, leaving the family struggling to cover medical expenses and everyday costs. The number of Californians...

A Chinese paranormal influencer has died aged 24 following a tragic car crash, around a year after she filmed herself destroying a religious statue in a viral video designed to test whether she would suffer supernatural punishment. Known online as Jiang Xiaorou, the creator had reportedly built a following of around 1.3 million people on Douyin, where she posted videos exploring abandoned buildings, investigating alleged paranormal activity and challenging traditional beliefs surrounding the supernatural. In August 2025, Jiang attracted controversy after recording herself smashing a statue of Guanyin, a revered Buddhist figure commonly associated with compassion and mercy. The stunt...

Former “Good Morning America Weekend” anchor Janai Norman has been blasting ABC News and some of its biggest stars just months after her ouster — raising eyebrows among her former colleagues at the Disney-owned network, according to a report. Norman has unleashed a string of blistering social media critiques of her old employer, including accusing it and other news organizations of becoming “complicit in upholding white supremacy” in a video that took aim at “GMA” host Michael Strahan’s interview with the parents of a dead Mississippi teen. The unusually public broadsides have irked staffers at ABC News, according to the...

Dazzling new images taken by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope show an astronomical object known for its striking resemblance to a lion’s face. NGC 2392, more commonly called the Lion Nebula, received its nickname from its hazy dust “mane” and the dying star at its center, which resembles a “button nose,” according to NASA. The images were taken by Webb, using its Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) and Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI). NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI) The agency previously captured images of the feline-themed planetary nebula in 2000 using the Hubble Space Telescope. Webb’s higher-resolution images show that...

President Trump said Friday that he plans to declare the Strait of Hormuz “a territory of the United States” after the Iran war. “After we finish defeating Iran, which is being very badly defeated — pretty soon I’ll be declaring the Hormuz Strait a territory of the United States,” Trump said during a Long Island rally for Republican candidates in the gubernatorial and congressional elections. Trump’s preliminary peace deal with Iran — signed June 17 — fell apart last month after Iran attempted to assert control over the strait, including by opening fire on commercial ships that used a sea...

A New Jersey thief who bilked investors out of more than $650 million has been named one of the FBI’s Most Wanted Fraudsters — the first Garden State resident to make the dubious list. Fugitive Rey E. Grabato II is accused of participating in a Ponzi scheme that defrauded some 2,000 investors, hundreds of whom were located in New Jersey, out of more than $650 million between February 2018 and January 2022, according to the FBI. The agency is offering a reward of up to $150,000 for information that leads to Grabato’s arrest and conviction. Federal authorities issued an arrest...

The organization of the 87th Volta a Portugal em Bicicleta Jogos Santa Casa deeply regrets to announce the death of British cyclist Finlay Tarling, from NSN Development Team, following a serious accident that occurred during the 8th stage of the race, between Melgaço and Fafe. At this time of profound grief, the organization of the Volta a Portugal and the Portuguese Cycling Federation extend their deepest condolences to Finlay Tarling’s family, his teammates, NSN Development Team, and all his friends and loved ones. In light of this tragic event, the race will be neutralized until the finish in Fafe and,...

If the Chicago Bears end up moving to Indiana, the team will not be undergoing any sort of name change. There was some speculation this week that the 106-year-old NFL franchise might change its name to the Indiana Bears if the team decides to move to Hammond, Indiana, but owner George McCaskey shot that down on Thursday. During a press conference, McCaskey was asked point blank if a name change might happen if the team left Illinois and he responded emphatically.

Every flight has a callsign that's used with air traffic control, and for commercial aircraft, that's generally going to be the generic airline callsign plus the flight number. Callsigns are of course unique to a particular flight, because that's the way that air traffic control communicates with pilots. That brings us to what happened very late last night (Thursday, August 13, 2026), in Phoenix. AA2482 is a flight number used by American between Chicago (ORD) and Phoenix (PHX). The flight number is actually used in both directions of travel, which isn't that uncommon, with both flights being operated by Boeing...

🚨FIVE City officials were just ARRESTED for fraud in Refugio, Texas - mayor - ⁠city secretary - ⁠city councilor - ⁠2 former city councilors They allegedly mishandled HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of public dollars. THE FRAUD NEVER ENDS

Explanation: On August 12, the Moon's shadow reached out to touch our fair planet. Beginning in the Arctic Ocean, it swept along a narrow track that led the dark lunar umbra across parts of Greenland, Iceland, the Atlantic, Portugal, and northern Spain. And for a moment, denizens of Earth who found themselves with clear skies under the shadow of the Moon could witness a total solar eclipse. After dodging the weather by sea and making a landing along Rype Fjord on the Greenland east coast (at 71.07055N, 27.71252W), this hard-won snapshot was captured at 17:33:26 UTC. That's near the initial...

Ok, that does. Free Republic just crossed the line and I'm through with it. I just made a post and it was almost immediately pulled. The reason given, "altered headline," has got to be the biggest farce I've ever seen. That headline came right off the video. Instead, I'm willing to bet that because it was critical of Trump and his administration, THAT'S the reason why it was pulled. I've been contempting this, but your actions have now solidified my decision to leave FR completely. I've been tired of seeing anyone and everyone who is critical of Trump being treated...