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Rapper Travis Scott arrested for disorderly intoxication, trespassing early Thursday

 

Rapper Travis Scott arrested for disorderly intoxication, trespassing early Thursday


Rapper Travis Scott was arrested and booked into Miami-Dade County Jail early Thursday morning on charges of trespassing property after being given a warning and disorderly intoxication, county jail records show.

Scott, whose legal name is Jacques Bermon Webster, was arrested at 1:44 a.m. at the Miami Beach Marina and was booked into jail at 4:35 a.m., according to authorities and jail records.(

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A $650 bond has been submitted for the 33-year-old, jail records show. Scott bonded out of jail at 8 a.m. Thursday, according to Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center in Miami-Dade County.

CNN has reached out to representatives for Scott.

Scott is one of the premiere rap artists of the last decade and is perhaps best known for his rowdy live performances that have occasionally spun out of control, including a fatal Astroworld Festival show in 2021 that left 10 people dead.(

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The incident early Thursday began when Scott was on a charter boat and was involved in a disturbance/dispute with the crew, police said. Officers were called to the marina, and he was asked to leave. Scott left and came back a second time and again got into a dispute with the crew and was asked to leave again, and after he refused, he was arrested, police said.

The arrest affidavit offers some further details of the incident. According to the affidavit, police were called to the dock to respond to a report of people fighting on a yacht. Officers observed Scott yelling at the occupants, and officers could “sense a strong smell of alcohol” on his breath, the affidavit states.(

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Scott was told to leave or face arrest, and he then went to a vehicle and left the marina. He returned about five minutes later, disregarded officers’ commands not to go toward the yacht, and “began yelling once again, becoming erratic disturbing the peace,” and was taken into custody, the affidavit states.

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Thursday briefing: What Russia wants from its alliance with North Korea

 

Thursday briefing: What Russia wants from its alliance with North Korea



Good morning.

North Korea’s Kim Jong-un rolled out the red carpet for Vladimir Putin’s first visit in 24 years but second summit with Kim in nine months. No expense was spared for the lavish reception for Putin, who was greeted with Russian military music and cheering crowds waving Russian and North Korean flags. His face was plastered across banners decorating the city streets, the images underscoring how isolated Russia has become on the world stage, as Putin courts the alliance of a pariah state. Kim said Moscow and Pyongyang’s “fiery friendship” had become closer than ever before, with the two states signing a defence pact that includes a vow of mutual aid if either country is attacked.()

Even though Kim and Putin say there is nothing to see here – it’s just old friends and neighbours catching up – the burgeoning alliance has sparked concern from western countries, particularly the US, about military cooperation between the two. There have been many credible reports that North Korea is providing Russia with much-needed ammunition for the war in Ukraine, in the hope of gaining economic assistance and technological secrets.()

The rare summit comes at a time when tensions between South Korea and North Korea are high. For today’s newsletter I spoke with the Guardian’s Moscow correspondent, Andrew Roth, about the latest steps towards a closer alliance between North Korea and Russia, and the material and geopolitical benefits they seek to gain. That’s right after the headlines.

Five big stories

  1. General election 2024 | One of Rishi Sunak’s close protection officers has been arrested over alleged bets about the timing of the election. The officer was arrested on Monday on suspicion of misconduct in public office, the Metropolitan police said in a statement.()

  2. Prisons | Prison governors have been warned that jails will be so overcrowded by the second week of July that they will struggle to accept any more inmates, plunging an incoming government into an immediate crisis.

  3. Saudi Arabia | Friends and family of missing hajj pilgrims have been searching hospitals after at least 550 died as temperatures reached 51.8C in Mecca, Islam’s holiest city.(

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  4. Espionage | A leading businesswoman who is married to the policing minister, Chris Philp, has been reported to the Crown Prosecution Service and is being sued in the high court over allegations of corporate espionage. Elizabeth Philp is accused of data-handling offences and unlawfully using confidential information.

  5. Stonehenge | Two people have been arrested after Just Stop Oil activists sprayed orange powder paint over Stonehenge. Rishi Sunak condemned the action, saying: “This is a disgraceful act of vandalism to one of the UK’s and the world’s oldest and most important monuments.”( )

In depth: ‘It’s striking to see Putin now going to Pyongyang

For a long time, UN and US sanctions restrained Russia from deepening ties with North Korea. Putin did not want to be locked out of the international economy by violating these rules.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine changed everything. Russia is now one of the most sanctioned economies in the world. “They don’t have access to international banking markets, they don’t have direct flights to much of the world, companies have stepped in to cut ordinary Russian citizens off from using their bank cards in Europe or elsewhere around the world,” Andrew says. All of a sudden, there was a lot less to lose from working with North Korea. In the context of both countries remaining heavily sanctioned states, fostering a long-term partnership with Kim makes a lot of strategic sense.( )

It may seem like summits and pacts like this happen all the time among world leaders, but this is likely more than a political spectacle, Andrew says. “I think that Russia does think formalistically and legalistically sometimes and, to them, this is Moscow saying that alliance is going to be a longer-term relationship between the two countries on a military and security level.”


Mutual distrust and dysfunction

Underlying all this, the driving force behind the closer ties between Russia and North Korea is “need and desperation” Andrew says, with a healthy dose of mutual distrust of the US. North Korea is one of the world’s most isolated and impoverished countries and the pandemic has only exacerbated its position. Human Rights Watch has said that cross-border movement of people, formal and informal commercial trade, and humanitarian aid have nearly completely stopped since 2020. 90% of North Korea’s trade is with China, so Kim is desperate for another trading partner like Russia to alleviate significant pressure for a country where basic necessities are scarce. According to reports from South Korea, North Korea has already received food and energy to address shortages.( )

Aside from trade, Kim wants advanced military technology, satellite wares, nuclear submarine technology, and intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) from Russia. North Korea has struggled over the years to get spy satellites into orbit. Andrew was invited to North Korea over a decade ago as part of a group of foreign press for the 100th anniversary of Kim Il-sung’s birth and to report on a satellite launch, which ultimately failed. “North Korea do not have a super successful history of getting these things up into space,” he says. “Russia can help them a lot with high-end military and spy technology that they couldn’t have imagined before because of sanctions.”

On the surface, it is not immediately clear what use such a small and poor state like North Korea is to Russia but it does have one thing the Kremlin really needs: munitions.( )

The war in Ukraine is an “artillery war and the North Koreans have an enormous stockpile of Soviet-era artillery shells,” Andrew says. According to South Korea, North Korea has sent containers that hold up to 5m shells to the Russian military, which has given Moscow time to ramp up domestic production. For context the EU promised Ukraine 1m shells between March 2023 and March 2024 – in the end they only managed to send half.

“Very often the question of whether or not either side can advance is determined by how many shells they can fire per hour to either push the other side back or to prevent them from advancing,” Andrew adds. Russia has had a competitive edge over Ukraine because, for a period of time, Kyiv was very short on ammunition. The Kremlin will probably not rely on North Korean weapons in the medium to long term, but it does provide a highly effective stopgap in the meantime.( )


International concern

The US has been the most vocal in expressing its concern and alarm at the growing closeness between Kim and Putin. North Korea has a nuclear weapons programme, and though it is unlikely that Putin wants to help Kim develop a more robust nuclear supply, the threat is always there – especially as Russia has been providing political cover for Kim’s desire to advance his nuclear arsenal by blocking UN sanctions on North Korea over its weapons tests. Andrew says China is also keeping an eye on the budding alliance as it wants to “maximise control over the relationship with North Korea, and Russia building closer ties with North Korea undermines that control”.( )

The other glaring issue is that this alliance could weaken the effectiveness of future sanctions as a restraint, if sanctioned countries have the option to join new alliances that in turn could help to prop them up.( )

Although Putin is a political outcast on the world stage, it should be remembered this was not always the case. “This is a man who was in the G8, he was at the UN general assembly, and has had lots of high-level meetings with various western leaders,” Andrew says. “It’s quite striking to see Putin now going to Pyongyang to secure military aid for the war in Ukraine. This summit is quite symbolic.”

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Virginia Primary 2024: John McGuire, Bob Good locked in Republican congressional cliffhanger

 


Virginia Primary 2024: John McGuire, Bob Good locked in Republican congressional cliffhanger


One of America’s most conservative congressmen was locked in a tight renomination battle against an opponent endorsed by former President Donald Trump in Virginia’s primary election Tuesday.(

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Rep. Bob Good, who chairs the hard-right House Freedom Caucus, is seeking a third term representing Virginia’s 5th Congressional District, but state Sen. John McGuire has mounted a strong challenge that highlights frictions in the party.

Ballots remained to be counted, and the close margin made the race too early to call. Virginia observes the Juneteenth holiday and isn’t expected to count votes Wednesday as a result. McGuire led Good by 327 votes, or 0.52 percentage points, out of 62,495 ballots counted as of 12 a.m. Wednesday.


Meanwhile, Democrats in northern and central Virginia chose nominees to replace popular incumbents who aren’t seeking reelection. In House District 7, Eugene Vindman won a crowded Democratic primary to try to hold the seat being vacated by U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger, who is running for governor in 2025, while Republicans chose Derrick Anderson.

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And in House District 10, voters chose Suhas Subramanyam from a field of 12 Democrats to try to hold the seat held by U.S. Rep. Jennifer Wexton, who is not seeking reelection to her northern Virginia seat after being diagnosed with a rare, incurable neurological illness. Republican voters nominated Mike Clancy for that seat.

Statewide, voters selected Hung Cao as the Republican nominee to the U.S. Senate to take on Democrat Tim Kaine.

Here’s a look at the major battles on the ballot:

House District 5

Conventional politics might suggest a congressman with the conservative credentials of Good would be safe in a primary. But he earned the wrath of Trump when he endorsed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for president. He switched back to Trump after DeSantis dropped out, but Trump is endorsing McGuire and portraying Good as a backstabber.()

Trump continued to bash Good as he campaigned for McGuire in a telephone rally Monday night.

"Unlike Bob Good, John McGuire will not let you down," Trump said, adding that McGuire is "strong on the border" and "will always defend your under-siege Second Amendment."

Good says he considers Trump the best president in his lifetime and only endorsed DeSantis because Trump is constitutionally limited to only one more term.

McGuire, for his part, claimed victory late Tuesday and thanked Trump for "believing in me." No winner has been called by The Associated Press.( )

"There are still a few votes left to count, but it’s clear that all paths end with a victory," McGuire said in a written statement.

Good, meanwhile, posted a statement on social media saying his campaign "implemented the best early voting operation that the 5th District has ever seen."

"We are still waiting for the results of mail-in ballots and provisional ballots," he said. "We are doing what we can to ensure we have teams of observers and legal counsel to ensure all the votes are properly counted in the coming days."

Good also alienated Republican insiders by voting to oust House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, throwing the party into a measure of chaos.

Seeking to capitalize is McGuire, a state legislator and former Navy SEAL who has echoed Trump’s attacks on Good, calling him a "never Trumper."( )

Good has bashed McGuire as a serial campaigner who announced his congressional bid just one week after winning election to a four-year term in the state Senate.

If Good loses, he would be the first House incumbent to go down to a primary challenge this year, with the exception of one race in which two incumbents faced off due to redistricting.

The winner will face Democrat Gloria Tinsley Witt, who defeated Gary Terry and Paul Riley.( )

The 5th Congressional District stretches from Charlottesville in the north, past the far western suburbs of Richmond, through Lynchburg and down to Danville and the North Carolina border.

Celtics rolling rally schedule announced: Here's what you need to know

 

Celtics rolling rally schedule announced: Here's what you need to know


Boston Mayor Michelle Wu announced Tuesday morning that the city will hold a rolling rally parade on Friday at 11 a.m. to celebrate the Boston Celtics' 18th NBA Championship. ()

During the parade, the mayor's office said Celtics players will celebrate on Boston's famous duck boats, which has been the tradition in the city for past championship teams.

The parade will begin in front of TD Garden on Causeway Street, passing by City Hall Plaza and the Boston Common on Tremont Street and ending on Boylston Street by the Hynes Convention Center.(

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The city will hold a press conference at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday to share additional event details, including safety measures to make the parade a family-friendly celebration and preparations for the heat wave expected this week.

Wu spoke Monday about how the upcoming heat wave might factor in to any Celtics celebrations, and she said there were meetings going on Monday morning at City Hall, "to talk through what the projections are and what the forecasts are, if it is likely to be above a certain threshold of the heat index for multiple days at a time."()

Later Monday, Wu's office declared a heat emergency in Boston, triggering cooling centers and other measures to keep the population cool.

"It's also the last week of school in the Boston Public Schools, and so there's some half days, and we're thinking about how that affects students who might need a full day of support as well," Wu said. "So we'll have more to come probably very shortly on that front."()

The Celtics beat the Dallas Mavericks 106-88 on Monday night to win the franchise's 18th championship, breaking a tie with the Los Angeles Lakers for the most in league history. It was the first time they'd won the NBA title since 2008 and marks the 13th championship won this century by one of Boston's Big 4 professional sports franchises.( More)

George Strait Breaks US Concert Attendance Record

 

George Strait Breaks US Concert Attendance Record



He drew in an absolutely WILD 110,905 punters to his recent show in Texas.(https://www.highrevenuenetwork.com/cqcbap5xe?key=d87fb3617830215dc6acc87d4ea945b9)

Taylor Swift, eat your goddamn heart out – George Strait has broken the record for the most attendees drawn out to a single ticketed concert in the US, reaffirming his status as the king of country music.()

This past Saturday (June 15), Strait took to the stage at the Kyle Field football stadium on the campus of Texas A&M University. Hailing from Texas himself, it’s not surprising he was able to draw an impressive crowd – but not only did he fully pack it out, he did so by selling an absolutely wild 110,905 tickets.( )

The historic show broke a record previously held by the Grateful Dead, who on the night of September 3, 1977, played to 107,019 fans at Raceway Park in New Jersey. It also came just over ten years after Strait himself set the record for the largest ticketed concert crowd in Texas – on June 7, 2014, he made history by playing for 104,793 punters at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington.( )

With support from Parker McCollum and Catie Offerman, Strait performed at Kyle Field to promote his upcoming 31st studio album, Cowboys And Dreamers. The follow-up to 2019’s Honky Tonk Time Machine is due out on September 6 via MCA Nashville, and has thus far been previewed with the singles MIA Down In MIA and The Little Things.

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