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Taylor Swift is bringing in ticket sales of more than $13 million a night on the road —

If your dog cries in the presence of a high-value treat or toy, know they’re following their natural instincts.

Carnival Corp. shares have never seen a month this good and at least one analyst says investors should

From human ashes to cell phones, fans are taking their adoration for their favorite artists to dangerous new heights

Britons have been warned against travelling to hotspots of violence in France as riots threatened to escalate out of control. Newly-updated Foreign Office advice warns holidaymakers to “avoid areas where riots are taking place” as the situation becomes “unpredictable”. A total shutdown of public bus and tram services was ordered nationwide on Friday night after shops were looted and several city centres were ablaze from protesters setting light to cars and buildings. President Emmanuel Macron urged parents to keep teenagers at home, saying his government was considering “all options” to restore order. More than 200 police have been injured in the unrest, which was sparked by the fatal police shooting of a teenager. Some areas were facing curfews. By Friday, 875 suspects had been arrested as authorities struggled to quell the clashes. Violence flared in Marseille, Lyon, Pau, Toulouse, Strasbourg and Lille, as well as in Paris, where a 17-year-old driver of Algerian and Moroccan descent, identified only as Nahel M, was shot dead in the suburb of Nanterre. A dozen buses were gutted by a blaze at a depot in Aubervilliers, northern Paris, and a tram was set alight in Lyon. In Nanterre itself, protesters torched cars, barricaded streets and hurled projectiles at police. Shops, including an Apple store, were ransacked in Strasbourg, while several Casino supermarkets were looted. The interior ministry said 79 police posts were attacked overnight into Friday, as well as 119 public buildings, including 34 town halls and 28 schools. Concerts by French singer Mylene Farmer were cancelled at the Stade de France. In the Chatelet Les Halles shopping centre in central Paris, a Nike store was broken into, and several people were arrested after store windows were smashed in the adjacent Rue de Rivoli, police said. The energy minister said several staff of a power distribution firm were injured by stones thrown during clashes. Nanterre shopkeeper Pascal Matieus said: “It’s become completely out of control. The police have lost control.” British holidaymakers who are already in France or planning to travel there over the weekend have become increasingly worried. The Independent calculates that around 260,000 British travellers are booked on flights, ferries and trains to France on Saturday and Sunday. Newly updated official travel advice warns them of potential disruption. “Since June 27, riots have taken place across France. Many have turned violent. Shops, public buildings and parked cars have been targeted,” the government advice states. “There may be disruptions to road travel, and local transport provision may be reduced. Some local authorities may impose curfews. “Locations and timing of riots are unpredictable. You should monitor the media, avoid areas where riots are taking place, check the latest advice with operators when travelling and follow the advice of the authorities.” While most of the unrest has taken place well away from tourist areas, closing down public transport in Paris and other big cities at night will cause significant problems for many holidaymakers. Britain’s biggest budget airline, easyJet, says it will allow passengers booked to travel on Saturday or Sunday to switch to a different flight without paying the normal £49 fee. A spokesperson said: “Any customers due to fly to France this weekend who would like to change their plans can contact our customer service team for assistance with their options which include a transfer to an alternative flight and we will waive the change fee.” Almost all Eurostar trains from London to Paris at the weekend are full, representing around 20,000 travellers. A Eurostar spokesperson said: “Our services to France are currently running as scheduled and normal ticket conditions apply. “We will continue to monitor the situation and will provide updates on Eurostar.com and Twitter if this changes.” As the Foreign Office is not warning against all travel, holidaymakers will not be able to claim if they decide not to continue with their trip to France, or to come home early. Nahel M was driving a car early on Tuesday morning when he was pulled over for breaking traffic rules, prosecutors said. The teenager was too young to hold a full driving licence. His death, caught on video, has ignited longstanding resentment among poor, racially mixed, urban communities about police violence and racism. Read More Travellers warned to be aware of disruptions amid France riots Mother’s tragic last words with son killed by Paris police sparking days of riots Fear of no end to riots in France after police killing of teen: ‘It’s getting worse’ Paris riots - latest: UK issues France travel warning after looting across city Is it safe to travel to Paris right now? Fear of no end to riots across France after police killing of teen: ‘It’s getting worse and worse’ Paris shooting: Where are the riots in France and why are they happening?

Spotify Technology SA is considering adding full-length music videos to its app, which could help the streaming service

Max Verstappen’s crushing dominance of Formula One continued at the Austrian Grand Prix after he put his Red Bull on pole position. The world champion, a winner at six of the first eight races, saw off his rivals at the Red Bull Ring to seal his fourth pole on the spin for Sunday’s 71-lap grand prix. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc provided Verstappen with a late scare, but the Monegasque had to settle for second place, crossing the line 0.048 seconds shy of the Dutchman. F1 grid: Starting positions for Austrian Grand Prix Carlos Sainz took third in the other scarlet car, while Lando Norris impressed in his revamped McLaren to take fourth spot. Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton finished fifth, 0.428 sec adrift. Sergio Perez’s torrid time continued after all three of his laps in Q2 were deleted for track limits. He lines up a lowly 15th on Sunday. On Friday, Verstappen clinched pole for Sunday’s grand prix with Charles Leclerc alongside him on the front row, while Sergio Perez and George Russell both struggled. Follow live updates from the Austrian GP with The Independent - the sprint shootout starts at 11am (BST). Read More F1 grid: Starting positions for Austrian Grand Prix Max Verstappen claims another pole but Sergio Perez struggles again at Austrian Grand Prix

Max Verstappen accused Formula One’s referee of making the sport’s superstars look like “amateurs” in qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix. Verstappen put his Red Bull on pole position for Sunday’s 71-lap race in Spielberg after he saw off a late flurry from Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Carlos Sainz starts third in the other scarlet car ahead of Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton who qualified fourth and fifth respectively. Verstappen’s Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez finished only 15th after all three of his laps in Q2 were deleted for exceeding track limits. Verstappen also had four runs scrubbed off by the stewards for putting his Red Bull over the white lines. In all, an extraordinary 47 laps were deleted by race director Niels Wittich. “This is a joke,” said Verstappen over the radio. “Honestly, with these track limits, f****** ridiculous.” Verstappen managed to fend off Leclerc by just 0.048 sec, but moments after he stepped out of his Red Bull, the Dutch driver took aim at Wittich’s refereeing. “Today, it was very silly,” he said. “It made us look like amateurs with the amount of laps that were being deleted and some of them were so marginal. “We spoke about it in the briefing before, and when it is very marginal, it is impossible to judge if the car is out or in, and yet laps were still getting deleted. It was not a good look today. “People will say, ‘you should have kept the car in the white lines’. If it was that easy, you can take my car and try it, but you probably wouldn’t get up to speed in time.” A Remote Operation Centre in Geneva consisting of six officials – FIA’s answer to football’s VAR system – flag up contentious laps to Race Control at the circuit using various camera angles. Wittich then has the final say. It is understood that if the laps in question are marginal, Wittich will lean in favour of the driver. But Verstappen continued: “We don’t do this on purpose. With these speeds and the high-speed corners it is so hard to judge where the white line is and that is why a lot of people got caught out. “My first lap in Q3 was just a banker lap which takes out the joy. Today showed that it is not easy to have a clear rule about it.” Despite the row, reigning world champion Verstappen will be favourite to take his seventh victory from the nine rounds so far this season and extend his 69-point championship lead over struggling team-mate Perez. Behind the Dutchman, Norris impressed to take fourth spot in his revamped McLaren, one place ahead of Hamilton who finished 0.428 sec adrift of Verstappen. The Red Bull Ring is hosting F1’s second sprint event of the year with a shortened qualifying and race to follow on Saturday before Sunday’s main event. “Our car has not suited this circuit in the past and it showed again today,” said Hamilton. “It was a really tough and difficult session but we got through it, thank God. “We will try to do better in sprint qualifying tomorrow, and then fifth on Sunday is a strong position to start from.” Hamilton’s Mercedes team-mate George Russell managed only 11th on a disappointing afternoon for the Briton. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Lewis Hamilton calls for change, claiming new rule would ensure a ‘real race’ ‘Happy’ Lewis Hamilton still hungry for record eighth world title – Damon Hill Horner details what makes ‘mega talent’ Verstappen so special

When a draft of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v Jackson opinion that would overturn Roe v Wade leaked in May of last year, US Senator Tina Smith had only three words. “This is bulls***,” the Minnesota Democrat tweeted. She had similar words when Walgreens announced in March of this year it would not dispense abortion pills in states where abortion remained legal. Ms Smith told The Independent in a phone interview that she knew the consequences of overturning the enshrined constitutional right to seek an abortion from her time working at Planned Parenthood as the Minnesota branch’s executive vice president for external affairs. She said her time working there taught her about the effects restrictions have on women’s lives. “The first thing I realized is that for women facing a decision about what to do about an unplanned pregnancy, a pregnancy that they don't want, this is a purely personal decision for them,” she said. “As a policymaker, why do Republicans in the Senate and in state legislators around the country think that they know better than those women whose stories they'll never know? Why do they think that they should be the ones who decide? It’s those women's decisions.” Ms Smith said that the Dobbs decision has led to rooting the question of abortion rights in terms of personal freedom. “You know, they can see this, these stories of individuals and doctors that are trying to provide the best health care, get the best health care for people, and you know, they unable to do that and they can see that that's just wrong,” she said. Sen Smith arrived under peculiar circumstances after then-Governor Mark Dayton nominated her, while she was serving as lieutenant governor of Minnesota, to replace Sen Al Franken amid multiple allegations of inappropriate sexual behaviour. Similarly, she has often been overshadowed by Minnesota’s senior Democratic Sen Amy Klobuchar, who ran for president. She and fellow midwestern Democratic Sen Tammy Baldwin, of Wisconsin, have a running joke that reporters and Capitol Hill staff often confuse them. In the past year, Sen Smith has emerged as a stronger presence. She wrote some of the climate provisions in what would become the Inflation Reduction Act. When Sen John Fetterman (D-PA) left the Senate for a few weeks to undergo treatment for depression, she spoke about her own difficulties with the condition. In addition, she’s emerged as one of the strongest voices defending abortion rights. Ms Smith said the Dobbs decision has made the contrast between Democrats and Republicans clearer. In recent months, Sen Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) has blocked military nominations because of the Pentagon’s policy that reimburses people who travel out of state to receive abortions. “What Senator Tuberville is doing is so outside the norms of what we should be doing in the Senate, it's outrageous,” she said. “I just need to point out that what Senator Tuberville is trying to do is to overturn a policy which basically provides women serving in the military with the same access to health care that people that are incarcerated in our federal prisons have.” Few Republicans seem deterred from their opposition to abortion despite the role it played in dulling their efforts to flip the Senate last year. Ms Smith’s colleague Sen Tim Scott (R-SC), now a candidate for president, told the Faith & Freedom Coalition’s Road to Majority Conference last month “thank God almighty for the Dobbs decision.” Former vice president Mike Pence has called for a 15-week national abortion ban. Meanwhile, former president Donald Trump has campaigned as the president who nominated the three Supreme Court justices who made the decision possible. Florida Gov Ron DeSantis, who often places a second distant behind Mr Trump in polls, signed legislation banning abortion after six weeks. As vice chairwoman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Ms Smith faces a tough challenge because not only does she have to defend Senate seats in Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Arizona and Nevada – all of which President Joe Biden won in 2020 – she also has to defend Senate seats in three states Mr Trump won twice: Ohio, Montana and West Virginia. “And make no mistake, if Republicans win the Senate or if Republicans win the White House, we can see from their statements, they're going to move to pass a national ban on abortion,” she said, noting how many GOP candidates for Senate oppose abortion. “So, this is the contrast, this is what voters will be confronted with when they cast their votes in 2024,” she said. “Do you want to elect individuals who think they know better, that they should be the ones making decisions, individuals that want to ban abortion rights? Or do you want to elect Democrats who believe that women and not politicians should be making their own health care decisions?” At the same time, Democrats face huge challenges to codify abortion rights. Last week, Mr Biden told donors he was personally uncomfortable with abortion. “I'm a practising Catholic,” he said on Tuesday. “I'm not big on abortion, but guess what? Roe v Wade got it right.” Sen Smith defended Mr Biden’s actions defending abortion rights. “I believe that the President and the administration have moved decisively in all the ways that they can as they look for other ways to the practical reproductive freedom, that's a good thing,” she said. “I'm proud of the work that they've done. I think ultimately, the action that we need to take is legislative action, and that is why we need to win these elections.” Last year, shortly after the Dobbs leak, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer tried to put the Women’s Health Protection Act, which would have codified the protections in Roe, to a vote. But Sen Joe Manchin (D-WV) opposed the measure. Even then, Sen Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, who later left the Democratic Party to become an independent, opposes removing the filibuster, which demands a two-thirds majority to pass legislation. Sen Smith said if Democrats with the House, the Senate and the White House again, they should get rid of the filibuster. “And you know, we need to work towards a Senate majority that will not only support reproductive freedom but will also change Senate rules so that we can act on that belief,” she said. “And that I think is going to as I said before, that I believe will be a decisive issue in the in the elections in 2024.” Read More Congresswoman who authored abortion rights bill calls Senate’s inaction to codify Roe v Wade ‘such a crime’ Ritchie Torres, the only openly gay Black man in Congress, on how he fights GOP ‘bullying’ of LGBT+ people Republicans try to thread the needle on abortion on anniversary of the death of Roe 'Rage giving' prompted by the end of Roe has dropped off, abortion access groups say Arizona executive order safeguards abortion seekers and providers from prosecution Why some doctors stay in US states with restrictive abortion laws and others leave

Employers who hire immigrants in the country illegally will face tough punishments and gun owners will have more freedoms when more than 200 new Florida laws take effect Saturday

By Guy Faulconbridge MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia said on Friday it saw no reason to extend the Black Sea grain deal

If French Montana’s father never abandoned him as a teenager, the rapper believes he would not have grown into a popular figure who has earned three Grammy nominations