Maryland Gov. Wes Moore on Tuesday suggested President Trump is “obsessed” with him after the two briefly clashed over crime rates in Baltimore.
“The president seems to be obsessed with me. Today he called me a beauty and when I first met him, he just talked about how I was a good looking guy,” Moore said during a Tuesday appearance on CNN’s “The Source with Kaitlan Collins.”
“And now he just continues to make statements that are just flat out false about our state’s largest city,” he added.
Moore previously questioned the president for describing Baltimore as crime-ridden and in need of federal intervention to combat violent crime.
On Tuesday, Trump called the city a “hell hole” as the city is ranked third for violent crime nationally, according to FBI data from 2024.
“Governor Wes Moore of Maryland has asked, in a rather nasty and provocative tone, that I ‘walk the streets of Maryland’ with him,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post Sunday morning.
“I assume he is talking about out of control, crime ridden, Baltimore? As President, I would much prefer that he clean up this Crime disaster before I go there for a ‘walk.’”
Moore said his goal was to help the president understand communities from a realistic perspective in his original invitation posted to social media.
“In Maryland and in Baltimore, you will find people who share the same commitment to public safety that I have–and who want to be part of the solution, not the problem,” the governor wrote.
The moment before a teenage girl stabs teachers at Ysgol Dyffryn Aman
A teenage girl who stabbed two teachers and a pupil last year had previously been found with a knife, BB gun and war memorabilia in her school bag, a review has found.
The girl, who cannot be named due to her age, was 13 at the time of the attack at Ysgol Dyffryn Aman in Carmarthenshire on 24 April 2024.
A multi-agency review found the girl would have benefited from “targeted help” if “information had been fully shared and assessed”.
A joint statement on behalf of Carmarthenshire council, Dyfed-Powys Police, Hywel Dda health board and the school’s headteacher said they would work on an action plan.
The independent review by Gladys Rhodes White found the girl was seen as “quirky” and had “unusual interests” in war memorabilia and Hitler.
It added she had a fascination with weapons and would pretend to speak German and Russian.
A BB gun [airgun] was found in her bag at a school she attended before she joined Ysgol Dyffryn Aman.
In May 2023, the girl threatened to use a knife on another pupil, and a knife was found in her bag during a search in September 2023.
These incidents led to her father agreeing to daily bag checks and the review found counselling support was offered, but refused.
Judge Paul Thomas KC said the girl had not shown remorse and had attacked the three for attention.
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The teenager attacked the three using her father’s multi-tool knife
The review suggested the girl had mental health challenges and had a troubled childhood with “fractured parental relationships” and exposure to domestic abuse.
The school had described her as showing distinctive behaviours that made her stand out from peers developmentally.
The review found the school had raised concerns during a school mental health consultation that a knife had been found in her school bag which led to police involvement.
The teachers told the independent review bullying was an ongoing issue for the teenager, including on the school bus.
Ms Rhodes White said it was likely she was affected by several adverse childhood experiences.
While the teenager had been referred to mental health services, the review added it was difficult to know whether her emotional health may have been impacted by neurodiversity, as an assessment or specific diagnosis for neurodiversity was not carried out.
The teenager’s father told the review he felt services had let his daughter and the family down, but the author suggested a “pattern” in agency records of support offers being “declined or not followed up”.
“It was clear on further examination that she did not meet the threshold for Prevent intervention, but she clearly met a threshold for further concerns to be explored, and for a risk assessment to be undertaken,” Ms Rhodes White told BBC Wales after the report’s publication.
“Unfortunately when she was referred for an early help assessment, the dad didn’t pursue that or cooperate, she didn’t, and the children’s services had no statutory powers at that stage to enforce that.”
Ms Rhodes White’s report concluded the girl had experienced “several challenges which agencies had some awareness of at different times and in different ways”.
“Each agency had their own pieces of the jigsaw. In collating all the pieces of the jigsaw, there is a much clearer picture of the extent of concerns around [her] state of mind and her associated behaviours.”
She later added: “I feel that there were opportunities where information sharing could have been strengthened… hindsight is a wonderful thing.”
But her report said “no information held by agencies identified a clear ability to foresee the shocking and unexpected events which occurred in April 2024”.
“Having been involved in lots of serious cases, I did have a level of concern about some of the missed opportunities, but unfortunately it is not uncommon,” she added, adding “it could not have been predicted that on the day this was going to happen”.
Pupils at Ysgol Dyffryn Aman went into lockdown following the stabbings during morning break
Ms Rhodes White made a total of 11 recommendations which included that “consideration should be given at a local and national level to secure sufficient resources and capacity for agencies across all sectors, to be able to respond to ongoing increasing levels of complexity and needs of children and young people, particularly in schools”.
She added the “potential for facilitating better inter-agency sharing of comprehensive, relevant and chronological information” should be explored.
“When children are subject to delays for assessments, diagnosis or treatment, due to long waiting lists, agencies need to consider how such children are monitored and helped during that time,” she added.
Ms Rhodes White also said agencies should consider prioritising training.
In a joint statement, Carmarthenshire council, the headteacher of Ysgol Dyffryn Aman, Dyfed-Powys Police and Hywel Dda health board said they “acknowledge the challenging and difficult circumstance faced by the victims and the whole community” after the incident.
“We have received the independent report in respect of the Multi-Agency Professional Forum (MAPF), and will work with all partners to develop an action plan to address its recommendations.
“While it is not usual to publish reviews of this type, or for such a review to be undertaken independently, it was agreed for the Mid and West Wales Safeguarding Children’s Board to publish the report on behalf of the agencies involved in the MAPF to ensure all possible efforts have been made to learn from these events and to do so in a transparent and open way.”
President Trump late Tuesday criticized Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker (Ill.), pointing to crime statistics in Chicago days after the president threatened to send National Guard troops to the city.
“A really DEADLY weekend in Chicago. 6 DEAD, 27 HURT IN CRIME SPREES ALLOVER THE CITY. Panic stricken Governor Pritzker says that crime is under control, when in fact it is just the opposite. He is an incompetent Governor who should call me for HELP,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.
“Mayor Johnson is no better. Make Chicago Great Again!” he added, referring to Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (D).
Last week, the president suggested he would deploy National Guard troops in Chicago to fight crime after deploying hundreds of National Guard soldiers in Washington, D.C. and earlier this year in Los Angeles.
“We’re going to make our cities very, very safe,” Trump said at the time. “Chicago’s a mess. You have an incompetent mayor. Grossly incompetent and we’ll straighten that one out probably next,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
“That will be our next one after this. And it won’t even be tough.”
“Mr. President, do not come to Chicago. You are neither wanted here nor needed here,” Pritzker said during a Tuesday press conference.
“What President Trump is doing is unprecedented and unwarranted,” he said. “It is illegal, it is unconstitutional, it is un-American,” he added.
The Democratic governor said Trump was “searching for any justification to deploy the military in a blue city in a blue state to try to intimidate his political rivals.”
“In Chicago, we have effectively reduced all forms of violent crime by doing what works: constitutional policing, violence prevention, and investing in our communities. This past year alone, we have seen a more than 30% reduction in homicides, a 35% reduction in robberies, and an almost 40% reduction in shootings,” Johnson said in a statement.
Foster Farms has finalised an agreement to transfer ownership of its network of facilities in Farmerville, Louisiana to poultry processor Case Farms.
In a statement, Foster Farms said the transaction includes the fresh chicken, prepared foods, and protein conversion facilities located in Farmerville, as well as the feed mill in Arcadia and the hatchery in Athens, Louisiana.
Financial terms of the sale were not disclosed. However, a statement from Foster Farms said both companies “are committed to a smooth transition for their team members, customers, and suppliers”.
Foster Farms, owned by private equity firm Atlas Holdings, said it carried out the sale as part of its “focus on growing its core branded retail and foodservice channels”.
The statement pointed to the move aligning “with Case Farms’ strategic growth plan to enhance flexibility for its customers”.
Mike Popowycz, vice chairman and CEO of Case Farms, explained further: “The acquisition fits Case Farms’ strategic growth plan and provides flexibility to provide our customers with the products they need to grow their business.”
Jayson Penn, CEO of Foster Farms said: “We want to extend our gratitude to the entire Farmerville team for their dedication and hard work at Foster Farms.
“We are proud to have been part of the Farmerville community and to have worked closely with our elected leaders to position this important complex for sustained success.
“We look forward to seeing Case Farms continue to invest in the poultry operations in the region with the help of our colleagues joining their team today,” the CEO commented.
Penn added that Foster Farms was now “even better positioned to serve the millions of consumers who have made our brand a part of their lives for generations.”
In January, Foster Farms revealed plans to stop fresh turkey processing at its Turlock facility in California in May
The company at the time said it was responding to “changes in market demand”.
“Foster Farms sells assets to US poultry peer Case Farms” was originally created and published by Just Food, a GlobalData owned brand.
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Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce have announced their engagement after two years of dating
Every fairytale needs a happy ending, and after 11 albums of love, heartbreak and shattered dreams, Taylor Swift has found her Prince Charming. But after she announced her engagement to Travis Kelce, what will Swift’s newfound happiness mean for her music?
Swift’s greatest gift as a lyricist is the way she weaves her own story into her songs, balancing intricate, specific detail with universal themes of love, hope, heartbreak and betrayal.
And from the very beginning, the musician’s love life has been the connective tissue of her writing.
Her debut single, Tim McGraw, written during a school maths class, was all about her then-boyfriend, Drew Dunlap.
Believing they’d break up before he left for college (a premonition that came true), she wrote a song to commemorate the times they’d slow-danced in the moonlight to the car radio: “When you think Tim McGraw/I hope you think of me.“
It’s a timeless story – one that’s destined to be repeated at fresher’s weeks across the country this autumn – and set in motion a career-long narrative about Swift’s romantic tribulations.
She’s written about emotionally unavailable men (Jake Gyllenhaal, All Too Well), falling for a bad boy (Harry Styles, I Knew You Were Trouble) and rebound romances (Tom Hiddleston, Getaway Car).
Throughout it all, she’s been aware of the obsessive level of debate around her relationships. In Shake It Off, she poked fun at the media’s discourse: “I go on too many dates / But I can’t make them stay / At least, that’s what people say.“
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Swift’s relatable lyrics have made her one of the biggest pop stars on the planet
Blank Space went one step further, taking every horrible rumour about her love life and amplifying it with satirical relish.
“In the last couple of years the media have had a wonderful fixation on painting me as the psycho serial dater girl,” she told the Grammy Museum. “Every article was like, ‘Here’s Taylor Swift standing near some guy. WATCH OUT GUY!’
“My first reaction was to be like, ‘That’s a bummer. This isn’t fun for me’.
“But my second reaction was, ‘Hey, that’s actually a really interesting character they’re writing about: She jet-sets around the world collecting men – and she can get any of them, but she’s so clingy that they leave and she cries in her marble bathtub surrounded by pearls’.
“I was like, ‘I can use this’.”
It’s a theme she returned to on last year’s But Daddy I Love Him – where she likened the online critics of her relationship with The 1975’s Matty Healy to a village full of pitchfork-wielding puritans.
Confronting her audience, she scolded: “I’ll tell you something about my good name / It’s mine alone to disgrace / I don’t cater to all these vipers dressed in empath’s clothing.“
‘Contentment is a creativity killer’
Now, it’s reductive to cast Swift’s back catalogue (274 songs and counting) to a soap opera about her love life.
She’s written insightful and witty lyrics about the media (“You wouldn’t last an hour in the asylum where they raised me“, Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?); about the joyous bonds of friendship (“We’re happy, free, confused and lonely in the best way“, 22) and even getting away with murder (“I’ve cleaned enough houses to know how to cover up a scene“, No Body No Crime).
But not for nothing has she been called “pop’s greatest diarist” and “the maestro of memory”.
So what happens when she settles down? As her friend and collaborator Florence Welch of Florence and the Machine once pointed out: “Contentment is a creativity killer.”
“Marital bliss and domestic boredom tend to make less interesting rock songs than looking for love,” agrees journalist and author Hadley Freeman, speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
For proof, look no further than Bruce Springsteen. In 1991, he married his bandmate Patti Scialfa, disbanded the E Street Band and relocated to California.
Springsteen celebrated his new-found serenity with two albums, Human Touch and Lucky Town – but they are regularly ranked as his worst.
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Beyonce’s career entered a new phase after she became a mother in 2011
Female artists have frequently used settling down as a source of inspiration.
Madonna’s Ray Of Light, written after the birth of her daughter Lourdes, eschewed her brash 1980s persona for a more spiritual, psychedelic sound. Amid stiff competition, it remains her best album, and I’ll fight anyone who says otherwise.
When Beyoncé revealed her baby bump on stage at the 2011 MTV Awards, columnists tripped over themselves to speculate what it might mean for her music. But her next album, 2013’s Beyoncé, was a turning point – a disruptive, experimental, futuristic R&B album that set the template for the third act of her career.
Swift has already proved she can write affecting, moving songs from a place of happiness. Her six-year relationship with Joe Alwyn generated songs like Delicate and Lover, which rank among her best work.
She’s already written two songs about Kelce, both of which appeared on last year’s The Tortured Poets Department album.
On So High School, she described how his chivalry restored her faith in men (“Get my car door, isn’t that sweet?“), while The Alchemy rhapsodised about the moment he won the Super Bowl and ignored the trophy to “come running over to me”.
The star recently confirmed that her forthcoming 12th album, The Life of a Showgirl, is “more upbeat” than the rest of the material on Tortured Poets Department – which was largely concerned with her split from Alwyn and a tumultuous relationship with Healy.
Speaking on the New Heights podcast, she said Showgirl was recorded during the European leg of her record-breaking Eras Tour – placing it in the early stages of her relationship with Kelce.
“It just comes from, like, the most infectiously joyful, wild, dramatic place I was in in my life… and so that effervescence has come through on this record,” she said.
Summing it up more succinctly, Kelce described the album as “12 bangers”.
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The couple have been cautious about revealing details of their relationship in public
So, to return to the original question: Will Taylor’s music reflect her newfound happiness? It would be weird if it didn’t.
But let’s not forget that her last period of domestic bliss, during the relationship with Alwyn, also prompted a shift away from diary-entry lyrics.
The pandemic-era albums Folklore and Evermore embraced fictional, fantastical storytelling, set against a backdrop of organic, acoustic soundscapes.
They marked a turning point in Swift’s cultural acclaim, rejuvenating her career after the uneven and poorly-received Lover album.
If marriage prompts another shift, it could open up a whole new chapter in her career.
“There’s a whole realm of other material when you’re married or settled down,” author Olivia Petter told Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour. “So it’s a different kind of fairytale, a different kind of fantasy, that she’s stepping into now.”
Some fans have already pointed out that the star’s lucky number is 13 – and her 13th album will be the first to address her marriage.
For conspiracy-minded Swifties, it almost looks as though she’s planned it all along.
The Danish foreign ministry on Wednesday summoned the top U.S. diplomat positioned in the country over reports that at least three individuals connected to President Trump sought to carry out a covert influence campaign in Greenland.
Trump has repeatedly said that he’s interested in acquiring Greenland, though Denmark has pushed back on the idea of selling the territory. The president has also not ruled out using force to take over the Arctic island.
“We are aware that foreign actors continue to show an interest in Greenland and its position in the Kingdom of Denmark,” Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said in a statement. “It is therefore not surprising if we experience outside attempts to influence the future of the Kingdom in the time ahead.”
“Any attempt to interfere in the internal affairs of the Kingdom will of course be unacceptable,” he continued. “In that light, I have asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to summon the U.S. chargé d’affaires for a meeting at the Ministry.”
The public broadcaster, DR, published a report on Wednesday citing unnamed government and security sources who believe that at least three Americans, including two who were said to have previously worked for Trump, traveled to Greenland to try and gather information in order to influence the territory.
DR reported that two individuals tried to cultivate relationships with politicians, businesspeople and locals.
The outlet also wrote that one of those individually was allegedly tasked with compiling a list of Greenlanders who are friendly to the U.S. and a list of those who oppose Trump. They also reportedly got locals to reveal cases that could be used to cast Denmark in a bad light to American media.
DR, which relied on eight sources, said it could not verify whether the Americans were working on their own accord or taking orders from someone else.
The White House did not immediately respond to request for comment.
Second quarter results from Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF), Kohl’s (KSS), and Best Buy (BBY) next week will continue to beat the drum of retail earnings after reports from America’s big box stores, Walmart (WMT) and Target (TGT).
But it’s Nvidia’s (NVDA) earnings that will be the star attraction, as the AI chipmaker’s stock has an 8% weighting in the S&P 500 (^GSPC).
As Yahoo Finance Senior Tech Editor Dan Howley writes, investors will be squarely focused on Nvidia’s data center business — even more so since the company announced a new gigascale networking plan that will combine the performance of multiple data centers to create one massive GPU. And many will be eager to hear more about a new China chip Nvidia is developing with the Trump administration.
Here’s a look at next week’s earnings calendar, marking a sort of grand finale for the second quarter reporting season:
Wednesday: Nvidia (NVDA), Abercrombie & Fitch, CrowdStrike (CRWD), Five Below (FIVE), HP (HP), Kohl’s, Pure Storage (PSTG), Snowflake (SNOW), The J.M. Smucker Company (SJM), Urban Outfitters (URBN), Williams-Sonoma (WSM)
Thursday: Affirm (AFRM), Best Buy (BBY), Bath & Body Works (BBWI), Dick’s Sporting Goods (DKS), Dell (DELL), Dollar General (DG), Gap (GAP), Marvell (MRVL), Petco (WOOF), TD Bank (TD), Ulta (ULTA)
A German navy ship pictured docking in Greenland – an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark
Denmark’s foreign minister has summoned the top US diplomat in Copenhagen, following a report that American citizens have been conducting covert operations in Greenland.
Denmark’s public broadcaster DR quoted sources as saying the aim was to infiltrate Greenland’s society and promote its secession from Denmark to the US, although it was unable to clarify who the men were working for.
Danish intelligence warned Greenland was being targeted by “various kinds of influence campaigns”.
Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said “any attempt to interfere in the internal affairs of the Kingdom [of Denmark] will of course be unacceptable”, and the US charge d’affaires had been summoned in that light.
The BBC has approached the US embassy for comment.
However, US President Trump has said several times he wants to annex Greenland, a semi-autonomous part of the Kingdom of Denmark, and Vice-President JD Vance has accused Copenhagen of underinvesting in the territory.
On a visit to Greenland a few months ago, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen warned the US that “you cannot annex another country”.
Denmark’s foreign minister said in a statement to the BBC that the government was “aware that foreign actors continue to show an interest in Greenland and its position in the Kingdom of Denmark”.
“It is therefore not surprising if we experience outside attempts to influence the future of the Kingdom in the time ahead,” he added.
Denmark is a member of Nato and the European Union and has long seen the US as one of its closest allies, and Danes have been shocked by Trump’s determination to control its semi-autonomous territory. The US president said this year he would not rule out seizing it by force.
Watch: Residents react to Trump’s interest in Greenland
Denmark’s PET security and intelligence service said in its assessment that influence campaigns would aim to “create discord in the relationship between Denmark and Greenland”.
This could be done by exploiting “existing or invented disagreements” either with “traditional, physical influence agents or via disinformation”, it added. PET said it had strengthened its presence in Greenland and co-operation with its authorities.
The US currently has no ambassador in Copenhagen, so Rasmussen has summoned Mark Stroh, who as charge d’affaires is the most senior diplomat in the Danish capital.
Lars Lokke Rasmussen has already summoned the US charge d’affaires in Denmark this year in response to a separate report in May suggesting US spy agencies had been told to focus their efforts on Greenland.
DR’s report on Wednesday gave details of a visit by one American to Greenland’s capital Nuuk, saying he was seeking to compile a list of Greenlanders who backed US attempts to take over the island. The aim would be to try to recruit them for a secession movement, DR said.
The earlier May report in the Wall Street Journal also referred to learning more about Greenland’s independence movement, as well as attitudes to American mineral extraction.
At the time, US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard did not deny the report but accused the Journal of “breaking the law and undermining our nation’s security and democracy”.
Greenland has a complex relationship with Denmark. Despite having broad self-government since 1979, its foreign and defence policy is made in Copenhagen.
Although most of its political parties favour independence, they disagree on how quickly they should push for it. While Greenlanders have had the right to call a referendum since 2009, polls suggest the vast majority of them have no wish to become part of the US.
When US Vice-President JD Vance visited a US military base on the island in March, he accused Denmark of not doing a “good job by the people of Greenland”.
However, Greenland leader Jens-Frederik Nielsen made clear in May that the US would not be taking over the territory: “We don’t belong to anyone else. We decide our own future.”
The Danish foreign minister’s latest decision to summon the US charge d’affaires amounts to a “diplomatic yellow card” unprecedented in Danish relations with the US, according to Jens Ladefoged Mortensen of the University of Copenhagen.
“This hostile attitude towards Denmark from the Trump administration is shocking,” he told the BBC. “As a pro-American country we’re asking why are you doing this.”
One of Denmark’s biggest companies has already been caught in the crosshairs of the US government in recent days, following an order to stop the construction of a big wind farm off the coast of Rhode Island.
The Revolution Wind project, already 80% complete, is being run by Danish multinational wind farm developer Orsted, which is 50.1% owned by the Danish state.
It is the latest wind power initiative to be targeted by President Donald Trump, who said last week “we’re not doing the wind”.
Shares in Orsted plummeted 16% on Monday in response to the so-called stop-work order, although they have since clawed back some of the losses.
The company says it has already installed 45 out of 65 turbines in the project aimed at providing power for 350,000 homes.
This development comes after Frontier has tried and failed to merge with Spirit for the past three years.
“Frontier is not just about delivering low fares,” Frontier Airlines CEO Barry Biffle said. “We’ve made major enhancements, from product upgrades to the most rewarding loyalty program, and investments in technology and service, as part of The New Frontier.”
The airline says new routes from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., will depart for Detroit, Houston, Chicago and Charlotte, N.C. In addition, flights out of Houston to New Orleans; San Pedro Sula, Honduras; and Guatemala City will also be offered.
Currently, Frontier overlaps with Spirit by more than 30% of its capacity, surpassing any other airline.
Spirit Airlines is struggling to stay afloat
Spirit Airlines has publicly acknowledged its struggles just five months after it emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Spirit Aviation Holdings, the budget carrier’s parent company, has expressed doubt about continuing operations over the next year. The weak demand for leisure travel and other challenges hammered them in their second quarter of their fiscal year, leading to a near $246 million loss.
Last week, Spirit drew down the entire $275 million of its revolving credit despite reaching a multiyear extension on its credit card processing agreement with U.S. Bank N.A.
