Unique Double Cochlear Implant Surgery Lets Twins Hear Mom’s Voice for the First Time
In what is believed to be the first surgical program of its kind in Australia, a pair of profoundly deaf twins have received cochlear implants at the same time.
The marathon 8-hour surgery involved 4 implants on 4 ears and 2 boys, all done in order to minimize the impact of pre and post surgical preparation on the family, and for the twins—who survived a premature birth—to make another important milestone together: hearing mom’s voice for the first time.
Artie and Jack were born prematurely due to a genetic condition, and though they’ve grown up healthy in many ways, they couldn’t hear a fire engine if it were next to their head.
A cochlear implant is a small device that transmits sound directly to the hearing nerve while bypassing the ear.
It’s fixed under the skin and held in place with a magnet that connects to an external device mounted above the ear helix.
In April, ear-nose-and-throat surgeon Rithvik Reddy operated on both at once in what is believed to be the first time this procedure has been organized this way.
After a recovery period, Artie and Jack went to the Shepherd Center, a provider that helps children who experience hearing loss in New South Wales, to calibrate the implants to each child’s needs, and, at long last, turn them on.
Their mother, Emily Porter, spoke with ABC News AU about that moment…..
Firemen Rushed a 5-year old’s Fingertips to Hospital Where She Recovered and Painted a Thank-You Picture for Them
A 5-year-old who had her fingertips sliced off in a freak merry-go-round accident recently visited the station of the firefighters who saved them.
As Olive was rushed to the hospital, a group of 8 “Red Watch” volunteers at the Essex County Fire and Rescue Service frantically searched for the severed digits in the grass.
Finding all of them and putting them on ice, the firefighters hopped in their engine and with sirens blaring, delivered them to Broomsfield Hospital where they were successfully reattached.
8 weeks after the incident, Olive was able to visit Rayleigh Weir Fire Station to meet the team, bringing the perfect thank-you gift: paintings of them and their fire engine done with the same hand that was operated on.
“We’re incredibly grateful for what they did that day. Their determination and care meant so much to us as a family,” said Olive’s mother Linda, remarking how quickly everything had happened, but how the Red Watch didn’t waste a second.
“Our firefighters showed great professionalism, determination and care in supporting Olive and her family,” said group manager Dave Walpole, who leads the South East Command at Essex Fire and Rescue.
“While Olive was receiving treatment, crews remained focused on doing everything they could to assist. It’s great to see how well she is recovering, and I know Red Watch loved welcoming her to the station.”
While visiting, the Red Watch presented Olive with a certificate of bravery, signed by Chief Fire Officer, Rick Hylton.
THE SCREW WORM BIOWEAPON & THE CARTELS with Expert Ammon Blair | Going Rogue with Lara Logan | Ep 86
Who’s Pushing the Latest Attack On America’s Food Supply?
In this explosive episode, Lara Logan sits down with Ammon Blair — former U.S. Border Patrol agent, U.S. Army infantry officer, and Senior Research Fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation — to expose one of the most disturbing threats slipping across the southern border: the New World Screwworm.
Once nearly eradicated in the U.S., this flesh-eating blowfly is back. It lays eggs in open wounds as small as a tick bite, where hundreds of maggots hatch and burrow into living tissue — devastating livestock, wildlife, pets, and potentially humans. With confirmed cases surging in Mexico and already appearing in the United States, the economic and national security implications are massive.
Ammon Blair breaks down how Mexican cartels are exploiting cattle trafficking routes to move infected animals northward, flooding legitimate supply chains with falsified documents. He connects the outbreak to cartel territorial expansion through protected rainforests, the failures of open border policies, and the collapse of domain awareness along the Texas border. The conversation dives deep into how cartels have evolved from drug runners into hybrid terrorist organizations controlling food supply chains — turning America’s dependence on Mexican imports into a strategic vulnerability.
Lara and Ammon explore whether the screwworm’s resurgence is merely opportunistic or something far more sinister, including possible bioweapon origins and gain-of-function research ties. They also examine the broader picture: NAFTA’s lasting damage, offshored food production, and the urgent need for operational control of the border.
Mom of teen girl who killed herself after dad’s horrific incest takes aim at Gov. Gavin Newsom
A heartbroken mom whose teenage daughter died by suicide after the girl’s biological father had sex with her is demanding Gov. Gavin Newsom crack down on California’s sex crime laws after the disgusting dad escaped with just one year in county jail.
Carolina Sandoval told The California Post she wants lawmakers to pass legislation in her daughter Makayla Rene Settles’ name, after Stephen Vincent Chavez, 41, was sentenced to one year in county jail and three years’ probation after pleading guilty to felony incest and furnishing alcohol to a minor.
“It is ridiculous. It’s not justice,” Sandoval, 40, said of the sentence. “I’m going to fight to change these laws because no other family should have to go through what we’ve gone through.”
Settles, 18, had moved from her childhood home in North Carolina to Moorpark, about 40 miles northwest of Los Angeles, to live with her father.
In July of 2025, Chavez plied her with alcohol before having sex with her. Makayla died by suicide five months later.
Prosecutors ultimately did not file a rape charge, saying the evidence only supported the incest conviction.
Chavez insisted the encounter was consensual.
Sandoval said other victims of sexual abuse who attended Chavez’s court hearings blasted Newsom for what they believe is a weak approach to prosecuting sex crimes.
“They let me know this is just how he is. If anything, what happened with Makayla proves all of them right. It makes sense why everybody’s so angry,” she said.
“I would love for him to take the time to look at the entire case and see what went wrong and where changes can happen for other victims.
“It’s exactly why women don’t speak out. They relive everything over and over, only for the end result to come out like this. It’s a slap in the face.”
Sandoval said prosecutors later told her a rape charge could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt despite her daughter giving detectives multiple statements, including a recorded video interview.
“But once she died, they told me her evidence was no longer valid,” Sandoval said….
Supreme Court hands Trump TWO MAJOR WINS
Maria Bartiromo leads a discussion on the Supreme Court’s two major immigration rulings, giving President Trump significant victories.
GOP sen breaks silence on Trump’s HEATED closed-door GOP meeting
Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., joins ‘Mornings with Maria’ to discuss President Donald Trump’s meeting with Senate Republicans, the push to pass the SAVE Act and why he says the GOP must fight to secure elections.
House Probes Tax Debt of Federal Employees
More than half a million current and former federal employees owe $6.3 billion in unpaid federal taxes, prompting House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., to demand answers from the IRS about why existing enforcement tools have not been used more aggressively.
In a letter Thursday to IRS CEO Frank J. Bisignano, Comer requested records detailing the agency’s efforts to collect unpaid taxes from federal workers and retirees, including whether it has used wage garnishments and pension levies authorized under federal law.
The inquiry follows a Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration report showing tax delinquency among federal employees has continued to climb despite repeated IRS collection efforts.
According to the report, more than 571,000 current and retired federal employees owe a combined $6.3 billion in back taxes.
The number of delinquent federal workers has surged 43% since 2021, while 215,000 current employees — nearly 7% of the federal workforce — were behind on their federal tax obligations in 2024.
The watchdog also found roughly 50,000 current and former federal employees failed to file tax returns.
Among them were 14,000 repeat non-filers earning at least $100,000 a year, and 122 federal workers who had gone eight years or more without filing. About one-third of all non-filers worked for the U.S. Postal Service…..
Mamdani FREEZES 2,000,000 NYC RENTS… Then Homelessness EXPLODES
‘RELY ON CHAOS’: Iran drone attack IGNITES fierce battle over military funding
U.S. Deputy Representative to the U.N. Amb. Tammy Bruce discusses Iran’s drone strike in the Strait of Hormuz, the administration’s military funding request and the debate over U.S. national security.
New York City pours $15M into sex change initiatives as Mamdani accuses federal government of intimidation
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is pouring $15 million into new sex change initiatives for children and adults, framing the taxpayer-funded move as a defense against the federal government.
The mayor’s office announced the multi-million-dollar package will establish a “direct care access fund” to subsidize providers who offer sex change procedures for children, and launch a dedicated call and text line, as well as fund research into LGBTQ+ healthcare access.
Additionally, the city’s health department will launch a pilot program later this year at a Queens clinic to offer “gender-affirming hormone therapy” to adults at “no or low cost and regardless of immigration status.”
In a fiery statement, Mamdani accused the federal government of attempting to “intimidate patients, families and providers,” claiming the city is “stepping up” and will do “everything in our power to defend” the procedures.
The mayor has directed the city’s law department to prepare for potential litigation to fight any federal efforts to restrict sex changes for children and adults.
Top city officials echoed Mamdani’s sharp rhetoric, with Deputy Mayor for Economic Justice Julie Su blasting the federal government’s actions as a “dehumanization of transgender people” that is “not just cruel, it’s dangerous.”…
Texas Woman Allegedly Shot, Stabbed, Dismembered Man, Father Reportedly Helps Dispose of Body
A Texas woman has been arrested and charged with a gruesome shooting and stabbing death in San Angelo. Police allege 31-year-old Audrey Troncoso shot, stabbed, and dismembered a man on Tuesday and later hid the body in a dumpster.
On Thursday, police arrested Mario Valdes-Troncoso, the suspect’s father, who stands accused of helping his daughter by tampering with or fabricating physical evidence.
He allegedly helped his daughter dispose of the body.
According to police investigators, on Wednesday, Audrey Troncoso was arrested after police began an investigation into a possible homicide that occurred in the 1400 block of Parker Street.
Investigators immediately began looking into the incident and determined sufficient evidence existed to arrest and charge Troncoso with the murder of 34-year-old Roland Mathew Sheppard.
Police allege Audrey Troncoso shot Sheppard in the face and stabbed him numerous times, resulting in his death.
Investigators learned that after the homicide occurred, Audrey Troncoso attempted to conceal and dispose of Sheppard’s remains.
Further investigation revealed the location of Sheppard’s remains, and a search ensued at the Republic Services landfill located at 3002 Old Ballinger Highway.
Portions of Sheppard’s body, according to police, had been brought to the dump after being retrieved from a dumpster at a different location in the city…..
Ukraine Launches Major Series of Drone Strikes on Mainland Russia
It appeared to be one of the biggest drone attacks on Russia and the illegally annexed Crimea since Russia´s full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than four years ago.
The previous biggest Ukrainian attack over the past year was 556 drones on May 17.
In an effort to turn the tables on Russia´s grinding war of attrition, Ukrainian long-range drones have for months been battering targets, including oil production and energy facilities, behind the front line and deep inside Russia.
The campaign has choked Russian fuel supplies and military deliveries, stalling Moscow’s efforts on the battlefield, Western officials and analysts say, and heaped pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Initial damage reports from Russia after the overnight attack provided scant information.
Russia’s Defense Ministry usually doesn’t say what was targeted in Ukraine’s drone attacks, nor does it detail any damage.
Ukraine’s Security Service said it used drones to strike Russian navy ships and air defense radars in Kerch, an important port city in Crimea.
The targets were two reconnaissance and mine-laying ships, the Volga and the Vyatka, and the cargo-passenger ferry Petropavlovsk, the agency said, claiming that the strikes started a large fire.
The claim could not be independently verified.
The major attack came hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on X that he had ordered “a 40-day influence operation,” believed to mean an escalation of attacks, aimed at “compelling (Russia) to end the war” after U.S. peace efforts over the past year yielded no breakthrough.
The successful strikes, including hitting targets in Moscow and St. Petersburg, have buoyed Ukraine…
Kayleigh McEnany: This is ALL-OUT WAR
Sen. Elissa Slotkin is calling for sweeping leadership changes inside the Democratic Party, arguing the party’s ‘old models’ no longer work as internal divisions continue to grow
Plane Crashes into Beijing’s Tallest Building, Prompting Sweeping Chinese Censorship
Concurrent with reports of the dramatic incident stated that Chinese police were threatening eyewitnesses not to take photos and pressuring them to delete any images of the crash on their phones.
The Chinese government’s main English-language news outlets — the Xinhua News Agency and the Global Times newspaper — have not at press time addressed the incident.
Reuters reported that searches for the building’s name on regime-controlled social media outlets appeared to be censored to prevent discussion.
Few images are currently available of the incident and its aftermath.
The Hong Kong newspaper Ming Pao published one of the few, showing panicked pedestrians fleeing the site and a plume of smoke from the bottom of the skyscraper:
Multiple Indian media outlets also published videos surfacing on social media, many believed to have been deleted as Chinese censors ramped up their crackdown of the scene.
The footage does not appear to show that the integrity of the tower is jeopardized, instead appearing to show a more immediate threat of large pieces of debris falling from the 109-floor skyscraper with the potential to injure or kill those below.
The Twitter account “Mr. Li Is Not Your Teacher,” which publishes materials censored in China, shared a variety of images and photos on Friday allegedly from the scene, including some taken from skyscrapers nearby which place the crash at almost eye level.
Breitbart News could not independently verify the authenticity of these images….
U.N. Suspends Strait of Hormuz Passage After Iran Attacks Cargo Ship
Senior U.S. officials said the ship was attacked by Iran’s terrorist Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in a bid to assert its control over international shipping through the vital waterway.
Taiwanese shipping company Evergreen said on Friday that its cargo ship Ever Lovely, owned by an Evergreen subsidy in Singapore, was struck by a projectile on Thursday as it passed 3.6 nautical miles off Oman’s coastal island of Khawr Naiwah.
The Ever Lovely had been trapped in the Persian Gulf for over 100 days before it loaded cargo from Iraq’s port of Umm Qasr and set course for Singapore on Thursday morning flanked by three other ships.
The commercial vessels were all following the safe course along the coast of Oman recommended by the U.K. Maritime Trade Operations (UKMOT) center.
UKMTO also reported the incident, as did the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore, which denounced the attack as “unprovoked, unjustifiable, and a breach of international law.”
The U.N.’s International Maritime Organization (IMO) on Thursday paused its plan for clearing up the shipping and tanker bottleneck created by Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz in March, although IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez noted that the Ever Lovely was not involved in its operation.
“I have been informed of an attack today in the Gulf of Oman on a vessel which passed through the Strait of Hormuz. This vessel did not transit under IMO’s evacuation framework,” said Dominguez.
“I have always reiterated that the safety of the seafarers remains paramount. Therefore, to ensure a coordinated approach and navigational safety, the evacuation plan will be paused until further clarity is obtained,” he said….
America 250 celebrations UNDER ATTACK by media
‘Fox & Friends Weekend’ co-hosts Griff Jenkins and Charlie Hurt react to a Fox News poll showing a sharp partisan divide in patriotism and discuss the media backlash surrounding America’s 250th anniversary celebration.
Brazil Enters Rumble Case to Defend Pro-Censorship Judge
Brazil hired an American law firm and filed a motion in a Florida federal court this week to defend one of its judges.
The country is now a party to Rumble’s lawsuit against Supreme Federal Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, the judge who ordered the American platform to delete the accounts of his political critics. US District Judge Mary Scriven let Brazil intervene, then held off on its motion to dismiss until Rumble and Trump Media respond.
“This lawsuit is extraordinary,” the filing opens, before arguing the dispute belongs nowhere near an American courtroom.
We obtained a copy of the filing for you here.
Moraes acted as a judge, Brazil says, so sovereign immunity shields him, and the case must be thrown out. The argument that his orders ran past his authority gets a one-word answer. Brazil calls it “risible.”
The President of the Supreme Federal Court reached even higher, writing that what is at issue is “the independence of the Brazilian Judiciary, the integrity of the rule of law in Brazil, and, ultimately, national sovereignty itself.” Set against what the orders actually did, this comes down to a claimed sovereign right to reach into the United States and switch off American accounts.
Brazil does not even try to defend the orders against Rumble as lawful. It argues that lawfulness is beside the point because foreign official immunity covers “acts the foreign official took in his official capacity, even if those acts were unlawful.”…
Illegal Alien Gets 8 Years in Prison for $89 Million Payroll Scheme Employing Illegal Alien Construction Workers
“Today, we held an illegal alien from Honduras accountable for a brazen scheme that stole more than $38 million from American taxpayers to facilitate the employment of illegal aliens,” Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald said.
“This case exposes how unchecked illegal immigration fuels widespread payroll tax fraud and underground economies that harm American workers and taxpayers,” McDonald said. “This sentence sends a strong message: Those who exploit our open borders, cheat the U.S. Treasury, and violate federal laws will face justice.”
Department of Justice (DOJ) officials detailed how the illegal alien helped operate the payroll scheme through several maneuvers to ensure that illegal construction workers were kept off the books:
According to court documents and statements made in court, from 2015 to 2022, Mario Flores, of Honduras, an illegal alien, conspired with others to create a series of shell companies to run an unlicensed check cashing and cash courier service business. These shell companies cashed approximately $89 million in checks from subcontractors in the construction industry, charging them a percentage of the dollar amount of the checks they cashed as a fee for this service. Through this scheme, construction contractors and subcontractors paid their workers in cash without withholding and paying required payroll taxes, allowing them to operate without regard to the workers’ legal authority to work in the United States. Flores also caused the filing of false tax documents with the IRS to conceal the scheme.
“Today, we held an illegal alien from Honduras accountable for a brazen scheme that stole more than $38 million from American taxpayers to facilitate the employment of illegal aliens,” Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald said.
“This case exposes how unchecked illegal immigration fuels widespread payroll tax fraud and underground economies that harm American workers and taxpayers,” McDonald said. “This sentence sends a strong message: Those who exploit our open borders, cheat the U.S. Treasury, and violate federal laws will face justice.”
Department of Justice (DOJ) officials detailed how the illegal alien helped operate the payroll scheme through several maneuvers to ensure that illegal construction workers were kept off the books:
According to court documents and statements made in court, from 2015 to 2022, Mario Flores, of Honduras, an illegal alien, conspired with others to create a series of shell companies to run an unlicensed check cashing and cash courier service business. These shell companies cashed approximately $89 million in checks from subcontractors in the construction industry, charging them a percentage of the dollar amount of the checks they cashed as a fee for this service. Through this scheme, construction contractors and subcontractors paid their workers in cash without withholding and paying required payroll taxes, allowing them to operate without regard to the workers’ legal authority to work in the United States. Flores also caused the filing of false tax documents with the IRS to conceal the scheme.
