Trump’s Trial Date Set in Classified Documents Case; RFK Jr. Testimony 'An Epic Moment': Analysis #breakingnewsalert

What's happening in the world, coming up on NTD News. First, our top stories. A judge has set the trial date for Trump's classified documents case. It's before the presidential election, but will it be enough time to come to a verdict? A New York Democrat is becoming a Republican. He accuses the Democratic Party of being too extreme and turning its back on Israel. Passengers at a Las Vegas airport were stranded in a hot aircraft for several hours. Two people on board were even hospitalized. The Department of Transportation is investigating. Senator Joe Manchin is flirting with independent political group No Labels for a presidential run as a third-party candidate. Will he run? And what would the impact be if he does? Welcome to NTD News Today. I'm Chris Beers. Our top news. The trial date for former President Trump's classified documents case has been set for May 20th. U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon made the announcement today. The date falls nearly six months before the presidential election in November 2024. The trial is expected to last about two months and will be held in Fort Pierce, Florida. While prosecutors requested a trial in December, Trump's attorneys pushed for a post-election trial, citing his busy campaign schedule and other ongoing legal matters. Trump is the front-runner for the Republican nomination. He was indicted in June on charges he unlawfully kept national security documents when he left office and lied to officials who sought to recover them. He pleaded not guilty. Democratic candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. testified about government censorship before a House committee yesterday, as Democrats on the committee attempted to stop him from speaking. To learn more about the exchange, I spoke with Jeffrey Tucker, senior columnist for the Epoch Times and author of Liberty on Lockdown. He's also the founder and president of the Brownstone Institute. Jeffrey Tucker, good to see you again. It's a pleasure to be here. Thank you so much. Jeffrey, some Democrats signed a letter calling for RFK Jr.'s testimony to be canceled. Tell us about that. Well, it was actually just an epic moment in history to see him there. And I knew this was coming, I guess, two weeks ago when I'd been a little bit mum about it. Because I had a feeling it was going to be like this. But sure enough, so Democrats signed a letter denouncing him as an anti-Mite, which is the most absurd charge. And sure enough, right out of the bat, immediately the Democrats passed or tried to rally around a move to go to executive session, which is to say they wanted to go to a secret session not available to the public so the public couldn't see it. So in other words, they're trying to censor the hearing on censorship. I have to say, if people haven't watched it, they should go to Epoch and watch the whole thing. But people need to see it because it's odd. I had forgotten that it was possible to make good points and good sense and rational arguments inside science within the halls of Congress. We've gotten used to what a clown show it is. He showed them up. How did he do that? What did he say? Well, he explained that the First Amendment is really the foundation of all the rest of our liberties. He described it as the fertilizer, the water, and the sun to democracy. But he said without that sort of openness that all of our rights become in danger. And he said it leads to dystopia and totalitarianism. Here's the thing that I started realizing as I was listening to this hearing. The censorship had been so extreme and so tight. A lot of us who were dissenters at all the COVID crackdowns and even on the Biden laptop and everything else, we might have been in the overwhelming majority the entire time. But because of the censorship, we were made to feel isolated and strange and like a persecuted group of dissenters. Not even a group. A lot of us just felt alienated and isolated. Now we realize, looking back, that was all intentional. That was the goal, was to drive us out of the public debate in a quasi-martial law style censorship. It almost sounds like you're saying we're seeing a sort of turning point here. I don't want to put words in your mouth, but yeah, that's what I'm hearing. Well, one hopes so. One hopes so. But the thing is that there's a huge tug of war in this country right now between one side that is openly advocating for kind of a despotic rule by the administrative state, a quasi-martial law, including censorship, and the other side wants freedom. And that seems to be the war. And so I'm concerned about the term turning point only because I feel like it's kind of been this back and forth. I mean, do I think we're eventually going to win? I feel better about predicting that after yesterday, yes. And what do you think needs to be done to secure free speech in America? Well, we have to, exactly like the injunction from Missouri Biden said, we have to forbid federal government from muscling private companies and their policies. I mean, that's just a first step. And that's absolutely essential. So the social media was designed to give voice to the American people. It was to say to every people, sign up for the service and then you can speak. And that was a beautiful vision. And it worked as long as it went on. But it's almost as if some people thought there was too much speech, too much truth getting out. And the major media in this country really wanted to monopolize that truth. They didn't want to face the sort of opposition that was growing in the social media world. So they worked very closely with government to try to figure out what kind of speech they were going to allow and what they didn't allow. So YouTube took down millions of videos. Twitter throttled posts. Facebook became extreme. LinkedIn was particularly brutal. They were all in line with the censorship program. So that has to stop. I mean, if a company wants to abuse its users, it's welcome to do so. But I don't predict a lot of success. So the goal is to stop the war on speech by the federal government. And in other words, enforce the First Amendment. That's very simple. So that injunction really has to stay. And it's going to trial. Our arguments are coming up really quickly in the appeals court. I'm pretty confident we're going to win this. If we don't win it, it's going to be bad news. But I think we will. Well, Jeffrey Tucker, thank you. Okay, such a pleasure to be here. Thank you. A prominent New York Democrat is becoming a Republican. Here's Kim. He says the Democratic Party has become extreme and doesn't represent his family's values anymore. Take a look. I have decided to register as a Republican. Former Democratic New York State Assemblyman and Jewish leader Dov Huykend is leaving the Democratic Party. In a video announcement posted on Twitter, Huykend says the Democratic Party has become radical in recent years. Watch. People who are moderates or conservative Democrats are not welcomed in the Democratic Party, Shani, and I've had enough. Huykend and his wife say another reason for them to leave the party is that it doesn't represent their values anymore and that it's not the same party their parents supported back in the day. On his Twitter profile, Huykend describes himself as a proud Jewish American and staunch supporter of Israel. His announcement comes after Israeli President Isaac Herzog visited the U.S. In a speech, Herzog addressed a statement made by a Democratic congresswoman who called Israel a racist state. Criticism of Israel must not cross the line into negation of the state of Israel's right to exist. Huykend said in his video announcement the Democratic Party and the Biden administration are turning their backs on Israel. Huykend isn't the first Democratic to switch parties this year. Earlier this month, Georgia State Representative Mesha Maynard switched to the GOP. She told Fox News about her decision, saying, In June, North Carolina's Tricia Cotham switched from being a Democrat to Republican. Her decision made nationwide headlines because it gave House Republicans a super majority in the state. And in March, Louisiana State Representative Jeremy Lacombe also decided to become a Republican. He didn't explain the motives behind the change. Joe Manchin, the Democratic senator often at odds with his party, is getting close to independent political group No Labels. Is he going to run for president, and what impact will it have on the two major parties if he does? To dig deeper, I spoke with Roger Simon, editor-at-large at the Epoch Times and director of the Presidential Roller Coaster 2024. Roger Simon, thank you for joining us. My pleasure to be here. Roger, if Joe Manchin runs as a third-party candidate, he stands to take votes away from the two major parties. Who stands to lose more, Democrats or Republicans? I think you can safely say the Democrats, because I don't know that. Republicans don't even know who Manchin is, to be clear. Few of them do, of course, but not that many. I think it's a Democratic problem. And can you say a little more about that? Well, you know, this is the second coming, the fifth coming of the No Labels idea. That, oh, I'm a pure person because I don't use the label anymore of Democrat and Republican. And probably there's a certain sector of the Democratic Party that has become very nervous about the woke thing. We can see that in the Kennedy campaign, more effectively than Manchin, for sure. But that's the vulnerable part. I will predict that it does not happen, by the way. My prediction, if it's worth anything, is that Manchin is using this for leverage in other matters. I see. Got it. So if he did actually run, though, what's the appeal of a third-party candidate like him in the first place to voters? I think it's not much anymore. I mean, you know, especially, of course it would always depend on who is the third-party candidate. It's not quite that simple. On the other hand, I think the electorate realizes that a third-party candidate is a wasted vote. Now, if it became Biden v. Trump with Manchin running, he might do some damage. But first of all, we don't know if that's going to happen. Secondly, I think in the end it doesn't hurt that much. And what's the reaction been to a potential Joe Manchin run by Democrats and Republicans? Well, right now Republicans, of course, sit back and enjoy it as a show. They need a few good sideshows. And the Democrats run around, you know, because the Democrats are much more party-line oriented than the Republicans. So they run around trying to make sure that Manchin doesn't do anything. And, Roger, you're following these candidates very closely for your show, the Presidential Roller Coaster 2024. Tell us about the overall state of the primaries right now. Well, I think it's fascinating and it's very fluid. The latest thing we heard was that a new poll of Vivek Ramaswamy has drawn up even with Ron DeSantis. Now, this is extraordinary if it's real. All these polls are kind of funky, we could use the word. In my past, I've actually commissioned polls, so I know it's a kind of shifty business. But it's a very interesting trend. And the whole thing is very, very fluid. And, of course, it's very early. I mean, we have elections where people, you know, from the time the old election ends, the new election begins. It's never ending. So we seem to think that this has been going on for a long time, but actually it's still got a long time to last. So there can be a lot of changes, and that's one of them. The rise of Ramaswamy versus DeSantis is quite amazing at this point. Well, Roger Simon, director of the Presidential Roller Coaster 2024, thank you. It's fun to be here. Coming up, top AI companies like OpenAI, Microsoft, and Google are set to meet with President Biden and commit to new safety procedures. And are we seeing an exodus of businesses in San Francisco? The CEO says the city will never go back to the way it was before. More in just a moment here on NTD News Today. Keep it down because, you know, we're interviewing Robert F. Kennedy Jr. today. He's the first Democrat to talk about freedom and free speech in a long time. I'm Robert Kennedy. I'm running for president of the United States. Hey, Roger, good to meet you. What a pleasure to meet you. I lost that mic already. The mic fell down into my... We meet again, Biden. If you want to know specifically what I would do with the CIA... Yeah, I'd love to know. Really, the dangerous part of the CIA is the plans division, controlling the media, doing all this mischief and monkey business around the world. You know, all the stuff with the CIA and his computer. Hold on a second. Did you know ESG is impacting every part of your life? From rising gas prices to global food shortages to out-of-control inflation, even losing your freedom of speech and being censored on the Internet. It's all being driven by ESG ideology. Who's in control? What can you do about it? Find out in The Shadow State, the first documentary exposing ESG. The ESG movement of governments and corporations operates in the shadows. Only the light of truth can expose it. Watch The Shadow State documentary streaming now. Anyone who's ever sold a home can tell you it is really hard. That's why who you work with matters. Together with HomeLight, we've helped thousands of people sell faster and for the best price. Hi, I'm Susan Lucci. You may know me from my many years on television. I never thought about heart disease until I had my own heart event. I felt this slight pressure in my chest, just slight. I thought, oh, it's nothing, it'll go away. I didn't get it. I did not get it. A few days later, while shopping at a boutique, that pressure returned, much stronger. It felt like an elephant pressing on my chest. I had a 90% blockage in my main artery and a 75% blockage in the adjacent artery. I was rushed into surgery where I received two stents in my arteries. Stents developed through research funded by the American Heart Association. Those stents saved my life. That's why I'm in front of you today, asking you to join me in supporting the American Heart Association by becoming a monthly donor. Call now or go to helpheart.org. For only $19 a month, just 63 cents a day, you can help fund the next medical breakthrough. Get the next person trained in CPR, the next hospital certified in high-quality cardiovascular care. I'm so grateful to the American Heart Association. Their research helped save my life. I can enjoy life with my children, my grandchildren, and my friends. Heart disease is America's number one killer, and your support now can help save your life or the life of someone you love. Give $19 a month with your credit card, and we'll send you this special T-shirt that you can wear to show that you are helping save lives. Please, listen to your heart. The only reason I'm here today is because I did. So please call the number on your screen or go to helpheart.org now. Join me as a monthly donor today and help save even more lives. Thank you. Back to the news. Legendary singer Tony Bennett has died. His death today comes years after a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease. Bennett is known for his prolific and crooner-style output of jazzy standards from the American Songbook. Audiences around the world have enjoyed his concerts and shows for more than 70 years. Bennett also made more than 150 recordings and has sold an estimated 60 million records. A career highlight was in 1962 when Bennett performed at Carnegie Hall and released his signature song, I Left My Heart, in San Francisco. Later in his career, Bennett collaborated with a number of younger stars, including Lady Gaga. Bennett was also known for serving in the military and helping liberate a German concentration camp, as well as for his work with the Civil Rights Movement. Bennett was 96 years old. Passengers at a Las Vegas airport were grounded in a hot aircraft for hours. The Department of Transportation is now launching an investigation. Passengers aboard a Delta Airlines flight were stranded on the tarmac in scorching heat for an agonizing four hours, according to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. Delta officials said multiple passengers received attention from first responders, while a flight attendant and passengers were taken to a local hospital. The reports are shocking, and we are investigating. I want to know how it was possible for passengers to be left in triple-digit heat onboard an airplane for that long, even at normal temperatures. A tarmac delay is not supposed to go that long, and we have rules about that. Federal regulations mandate airlines provide comfortable cabin temperatures and move the plane to a place where passengers can exit after three hours. Delta said it apologized to passengers on the flight, compensated them, and accommodated them on other flights. A federal judge yesterday blocked an Arizona law banning boys who identify as girls from playing on girls' sports teams. District Court Judge Jennifer Zips issued the preliminary injunction The SAVE Women's Sports Act was passed by the Republican-led legislature and signed by former Governor Doug Ducey in March 2022. It faced a legal challenge from two boys who identified as girls seeking to play on girls' teams. Zips said the plaintiffs would suffer severe and irreparable harm to their mental, physical, and emotional well-being if the act is applied to them. Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horn is a defendant in the case. He said the decision will be appealed and the U.S. Supreme Court will ultimately decide the matter. Leading artificial intelligence companies are committing to new safety procedures involving third-party testing and watermarking. The pledge comes as Congress and the White House develop comprehensive regulations for the growing industry. Seven companies have agreed to put new AI systems through outside testing before they are publicly released. AI-generated content will also be clearly labeled to help combat fraud and misinformation. Companies that have signed on include Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Meta, OpenAI, Anthropic, and Inflection. President Biden is meeting with top executives at the White House today. This pledge is voluntary and there is no enforcement to ensure companies stick to the commitments. One of the most infamous hackers in the history of cybersecurity has died. According to a published obituary, Kevin Mitnick died Sunday after a battle with pancreatic cancer. Several films have reportedly been inspired by his legendary hacking sprees, including War Games starring Matthew Broderick. His hacking history goes back to his teenage years when Mitnick was accused of successfully hacking the computer systems at North American Airspace Defense Command. He denied the allegations. He did go to prison for stealing $1 million in proprietary software from a digital equipment corporation in 1988. He's also been accused of breaking into the systems of corporations and educational institutions throughout the years. Mitnick eventually became a white hat hacker who used his expertise to help businesses stop hacking attempts. Kevin Mitnick was 59 years old. San Francisco is seeing employees refusing to go back to the office and this is impacting the city's economy. NTD Business' Don Ma speaks with a risk consultant about if remote work is here to stay. And now joining me is Derek Giorgino, risk consultant in the greater LA area and NTD contributor. So Derek, it seems like more and more people are now talking about San Francisco's empty office spaces and fleeing businesses. You know, office workers going remote. It actually reduced the city's tax revenue by almost half a billion dollars. That's according to a study. Maybe start us off with some context. What is happening here? Yeah, well, last week, Salesforce's CEO, Mark Benioff, vocalized his concern about the state of metropolitan San Francisco. This man has a very close thumb on the pulse of what is happening in that city. And what he said, and I quote, is that the city is never going back to the way it was. To your point, an increasing remote workforce is a huge driver of it. Obviously, the pandemic transformed our nation's workforce into a more remote one. And it's resulted in dwindling business hour crowds in a lot of metropolitan areas throughout the United States, but particularly in San Francisco. And I've even seen it myself serving various clients throughout Los Angeles. I've seen many restaurants and family businesses close in metropolitan areas that I serve because of this increasingly remote workforce. Salesforce CEO saying that I'll never go back to normal. What does that mean normal to you? I would say pre-pandemic foot traffic, pre-pandemic business activity, big brands, huge brands continue to leave downtown San Francisco. San Francisco is undergoing what Axios and many others are referring to as a retail exodus, Don. And, you know, bear with me here. There's a little bit of a list that I want to read out. And it's by no means inclusive of all the brands leaving the city, but it's significant. November 2020, during the pandemic, H&M closed its flagship store in downtown San Francisco. March 2021, Uniqlo, multibillion dollar clothing retailer, closes its Union Square store. May 2023, Nordstrom, multibillion dollar department store chain that many of your viewers are probably familiar with, cited rising crime in the city, closed its San Francisco stores. In January of this year, Meta, which needs no introduction, announced that it's drastically reducing its San Francisco office space. The list goes on and on. Whole Foods, Amazon Fresh, this retail exodus is doing a lot of damage to the local economy there. All right. One final question. And this has to do with economic impact with the exodus that we're seeing in San Francisco. I would imagine this would have an impact on GDP overall. I mean, if if businesses are leaving, San Francisco is probably getting less tax revenue and that directly impacts economic growth. I mean, what are some of the economic economic impacts that you can see? Well, it's also even simpler than that, Don, like the population of San Francisco is decreasing in terms of people who just live there. And in the Bay Area, the population of San Francisco, I think, decreased by over 7 percent from 2020 to 2022. And when retailers leave and they vacate all this office space, it's incredibly damaging to the real estate economy of San Francisco. But when CEOs start to chirp like that, sometimes they vote with their feet and they take off. I would be very concerned if I was San Francisco. Well, all right. Thank you so much today, Derek. Always great to hear your insight. Thanks for having me, Don, as always. Appreciate it. Heavy hail fell through a broken skylight at a Wisconsin Wal-Mart during a storm yesterday. A resident captured the shocking view. Rain also fell through the skylight, soaking merchandise and flooding the Wal-Mart floor in the northwestern town of Rice Lake. The fast-moving rain and hail storm left behind damage in other parts of town, too, including broken windows and roofs and dented cars. Officials in New Hampshire have solved a decades-old case with the help of genetic genealogy, but the suspect will not be arrested. State Attorney General John Formella says authorities believe Ronnie James Lee killed Laura Kempton more than 40 years ago. The 23-year-old victim was found dead in her Portsmouth apartment back in September of 1981. Authorities did not start testing DNA samples from the crime scene until 2022. They say using technology and additional evidence, they were able to identify Lee as a suspect, but Lee died from an overdose in 2005. However, the cold case will still be marked as closed and solved. When we return, the U.S. and Australia are launching their largest-ever military exercises. Officials say the event carries a message to China. And will the war in Ukraine make Beijing think twice about an invasion of Taiwan? CIA Director William Burns gives his take. We'll have the details soon when we return. Tonight on America's Hope, the scourge of human trafficking. Two women who had been victimized by human traffickers and their abusers step out of the shadow to give light to the dangerous evil that exists in America today. Their story next on America's Hope. NTD's Capitol Report. It's about getting answers. Cutting through the fog of politics. It's about your questions and our chances to ask. We're speaking to those in power to find out what does this mean for the people. We're here so you're in the know. Welcome back. The largest military training ever by U.S. and Australian forces is about to unfold. The World Game comes with a message to adversaries. I think the most important message that China can take from this exercise and anything that our allies and partners do together is that we are extremely tied by the core values that exist amongst our many nations together. And we are prepared to actually operate together in defense of our national security interests and in defense of the core values that we all share as Western and non-Western countries working together. Military officers from both countries spoke aboard the USS Canberra docked in Sydney Harbor. They affirmed the commitment to strong strategic ties between the allies. Australian defense officials said they were tracking a Chinese vessel off the country's eastern coast. The ship is expected to monitor the exercises. But officials assured that the presence of Chinese ships isn't uncommon. The drill known as Talisman Sabre is set to involve more than 30,000 personnel from 13 countries. This year's event will run from July 22nd to August 4th. Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns likened Russia's invasion of Ukraine to Taiwan. He said the current conflict has made Beijing reconsider a potential invasion across the strait. Today President Xi and the PLA, the People's Liberation Army leadership, have doubts about whether they could pull off a successful full-scale invasion of Taiwan at acceptable cost to them. And I think, you know, no foreign leader I think has paid more careful attention to Putin's experience in Ukraine than President Xi has as he thinks about Taiwan. Burns was speaking at a security forum in Colorado. According to the CIA, Chief Washington has learned from intelligence that Xi Jinping ordered his troops to prepare for an invasion of Taiwan by 2027. Burns said Putin's experience gives pauses to Chinese leadership. He called Ukraine an example of a smaller military successfully counteracting. The battles also exposed flaws in Russia's weapons systems. Burns stressed the West's unanimous support for Ukraine despite some economic losses from sanctioning Russia. China-based hackers breached the email account of the U.S. ambassador to China, Nicholas Burns. The Wall Street Journal first reported the breach, citing three anonymous U.S. officials. The sources say it's part of a targeted intelligence-gathering campaign by Beijing. The sources also say hackers accessed the email account of Daniel Kritenbrink. He's the assistant secretary of state for East Asia and recently traveled to China with Secretary of State Antony Blinken. It's believed that hundreds of thousands of government emails were compromised in the breach. Many U.S. officials have labeled the Chinese Communist Party as the most advanced U.S. adversary in cyberspace. The FBI says China has a larger hacking program than all other countries combined. Yesterday, the world observed the 24th anniversary of the ongoing persecution of Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, at the hands of the Chinese Communist Party. People from different corners of the globe, including a large gathering in Washington, D.C., came together to demand an end to this persecution. Around 1,500 Falun Gong practitioners held candles to commemorate those who died as a result of the Chinese regime's persecution. NTD's Iris Tao was there to find out more. On Thursday night, hundreds of candle flames dotted the National Mall in front of the Capitol. Thousands of Falun Gong practitioners participated in the candlelight vigil in memory of those killed by the Chinese Communist Party for their faith. It's important to remember the many who have died and lost their lives because of this persecution, which is unreasonable and unbelievable, really. And to call for the end, to raise awareness here in the Capitol, for Congress, for everyone to know this continues in a country, and it's really unbelievable. When the persecution started in 1999, on the night of July 20th, they arrested me and my two sisters and tied us in the concentration camp. My sister kept her faith in truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance, so she kept being tortured, and now she can't even move. Now I'm in a free land, and I'm touched and hope that the Chinese people can know the truth about the persecution. My father's organs were harvested. It was a real case of organ harvesting. When we went to visit him at the funeral home, his body was still warm. And at that moment, 20 to 30 secret police forced us out of the funeral home. I hope the American government can help stop this persecution and dissolve the CCP. Falun Gong practitioners are dedicated, and they have conviction to uphold their beliefs. And that's a problem in a communist society, where you want people to follow the Party's word. So, from what I understand, many people in mainstream Chinese society have started practicing Falun Gong. People within the government, people within the military. And it was so popular in China that the Party became very afraid of Falun Gong. And people are dedicated, right? People were getting up in the morning and practicing every day. So it was a commitment to something spiritual and something deep. And that's threatening for an illegitimate Party. Reporting in Washington, D.C., Aris Hao, NTD News. And if you have any news tips or feedback for the show, don't hesitate to email us at news.today at ntd.com. After the break, Ukraine's president discharges the country's ambassador to Britain just days after the representative publicly criticized the president. And a narrow escape for an Argentinian woman after she survives a two-car collision that nearly sandwiched her. More shortly here on NTD News Today. Hey, I told you enough of that. But look, this is different. It's Ganjing World. Ganjing World, family-friendly entertainment. Now you can get 60% off Epic TV by subscribing or upgrading to a yearly plan. Plus get an additional $10 credit to rent featured movies on Epic Cinema today. Skip mainstream narratives and find quality family entertainment from the comfort of your very own home. 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Here's some international news. Tensions rise as Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky discharges the country's ambassador to Britain. This is days after the representative publicly criticized the president. The sudden dismissal of Ambassador Vadim Prosteko also removed him as Ukraine's representative to the International Maritime Organization. But Zelensky didn't provide a specific reason for the decision. The dispute emerged when Prosteko was questioned about remarks made by the outgoing British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace, urging Kyiv to display more gratitude for foreign weapons assistance in countering Russia's occupying forces. In response, Zelensky said, Prosteko told Sky News in a recent interview that the Ukrainian president's remarks contained a touch of sarcasm. As of now, there is no official word on Prosteko's replacement. The U.S. is deploying thousands of Marines and additional forces to the Middle East, according to a Pentagon announcement yesterday. The move is in response to recent Iranian attempts to seize commercial shipping vessels. Earlier this month, the U.S. stopped Iran from seizing two tankers in the Gulf of Oman, including one instance in which an Iranian vessel opened fire on a tanker. The Pentagon did not specify which forces would be deployed, but the deployment will likely consist of three ships and approximately 2,400 Marines. Italian authorities made a record drug haul. More than five tons of cocaine were captured off the southern coast of Sicily. The illicit drugs had an estimated value of over $940 million. Police were tracking a ship that sailed from South America. A surveillance aircraft on Wednesday spotted packages being thrown from its deck into the water, waiting for trawlers to collect them. Officers stopped the vessel and found large quantities of drugs. They were hidden behind some paneling on the vessel. Five people were arrested, including two Tunisians, an Italian, an Albanian, and a French national. An Argentine woman narrowly escaped being seriously injured or killed when two cars collided in a street in eastern Argentina. Surveillance camera footage shows the two vehicles crossing an intersection, crashing into each other, and swerving past a woman crossing the street. She tries to cover herself with her hands during the accident, while the two cars bounce off each other in opposite directions, one crashing into a bus. Emergency services and bystanders helped the woman and drivers. According to local authorities, no one was seriously injured. After the break, an Italian town struggles to keep its traditional silk industry alive. Now a local museum celebrates the famous fiber. And a historian revives a glass brick-making technique from the 19th century. His team is restoring facades in St. Petersburg and Moscow. Stay tuned for more on that when we return. The stories that need to be told, the voices that need to be heard, the truth you need to see. Get unbiased and in-depth news. Don't miss a beat. I'm Stephania Cox at MTV. We're here for you. Good morning. I'm Evelyn Lee. And I'm Kevin Hogan. Welcome back, everyone. A museum at a UNESCO heritage site in Italy is celebrating silk. The town used to be a thriving spot for the silk industry, but it's struggling to keep the tradition alive. NTD's Andrew Thomas has more. The silk weaving in San Liocio, a historic thing led by the Bourbons, is over. There's nothing left anymore. Some small shops here and there, but nothing important. In the late 18th century, King Ferdinand IV of Naples built a summer resort. He picked San Liocio, which was close to the royal palace. He named the resort Belvedere Palace. After the premature death of his son, the king decided to transform the San Liocio resort into a silk factory. He built up a small city with 3,000 inhabitants at the time. And all of these inhabitants were involved into the business of silk. Workers received good wages, accommodations, and free education. Women also had the same privileges as men. Nowadays, the resort's many rooms are a silk museum. Visitors are shown around to learn about the historical importance of the industry. Andrea Sabelli runs one of the few remaining silk operations. His showroom is very close to the palace. We made some palace, like the White House in Washington, or like something in the Kremlin. Assunta Pellino comes from a family of weavers. She's also been a weaver her entire life. Well, my sons, my two sons, have not continued the family tradition, unfortunately because youths today look for something else. One went to Siena. He's left this town. And the other is a carpenter, something he's passionate about, but the tradition ends here, unfortunately. It has not gone on. Even though most of the raw silk thread now comes from China, Sabelli says it's still dyed and woven in San Liocio. Andrew Thomas, NTT News. A technology lost to time, now rediscovered. In the late 1880s, a Swiss architect and engineer created unique hollow glass bricks. The work received various awards at the time for lightness, durability, and affordability. Now a team has figured out how to recreate them. NTD's Andrew Thomas has more. Gustave Falconier's handmade glass bricks were used in St. Petersburg at the beginning of the 20th century. Now, a local historian has decided to revive his technique. He blows bricks of glass exactly like the Swiss-born artists did in the 19th century. The original Falconier bricks were helping illuminate dark spaces like corridors, bathrooms. Apart from utilitarian functions, they played an aesthetic role for decorating facades or in the interior, for stained glass windows or just in a modern interior. The team of architects and glass blowers have already restored facades in St. Petersburg and Moscow. The glass for the bricks comes from used bottles. At one time, we have seen them in abandoned houses. They look far from this. They were hardened, half broken, with traces of time. We managed to collect a couple of samples. Later, we found out what it is, what it's called, and what it comes from. Falconier is credited with inventing the first hollow glass blocks in the late 1800s. Modular and adaptable, the bricks quickly caught the attention of modernist architects. In St. Petersburg, they became an indispensable element of design. Many things were destroyed and were lost absolutely not because the technology was forgotten, just because some political order has changed. Especially it concerns very old glass, very old technologies. They were just forgotten, just destroyed. They have been lost. Now we have to reinvent them again. The team used historical glass-blowing techniques for the glass bricks, and it took time to recreate them. The blowing is classic. There is nothing new. But we are scrupulous about what we blow, what we do, produce, how we feel about it, how scrupulous we are in the nuances. It took over two years for this, almost three years to create four forms and one relief. The glass bricks have been revived in St. Petersburg, but the handmade production is rarely used elsewhere. Andrew Thomas, NTD News. Some 500 golden retrievers gathered in the breed's homeland in Scotland. The meeting marked the 155th birthday of the breed. And director Christopher Nolan's latest movie, Oppenheimer, hits theaters. The new film tells the story of the father of the atomic bomb. Details to come on NTD News Today. Say goodbye to harsh, bitter coffee, and hello to a delicious, smooth brew. With specialty-quality beans expertly roasted in-house, you'll taste the difference with every sip. Fermented with a blend of 50 enzymes, Day's Coffee delivers a rich brew like no other. Made with the highest-grade specialty beans available, you're sure to taste the difference. Elevate your morning with Day's enzyme-fermented coffee. One in five children worldwide are faced with the reality of living without food. No family dinners, no special treats, no full bellies. All around the world, parents are struggling to feed their children. Toddlers are suffering from acute malnutrition, which stunts their growth. Kids are forced to drop out of school so they can help support their families. COVID, conflict, inflation, and climate have ignited the worst famine in our lifetime. And we're fed up. Fed up with the fact that hunger robs children of their childhood. Fed up with the lack of progress. Fed up with the injustice. Help us brighten the lives of children all over the world by visiting GetFedUpNow.org. For as little as $10 a month, you can join Save the Children as we support children and families in desperate need of our help. Now is the time to get fed up and give back. When you join the cause, your $10 monthly donation can help communities in need of life-saving treatments and nutrients. Prevent children from dropping out of school. Support our work with communities and governments to help children go from short-term surviving to long-term thriving. And now, thanks to special government grants, every dollar you give before December 31st can multiply up to 10 times the impact. That means more food, water, medicine, and help for kids around the world. You'll also receive a free tote bag to share your support for children in need. Childhood without food is unimaginable. Get fed up. Call us now or visit GetFedUpNow.org today. Welcome back, everyone. What happens when a huge pack of golden retrievers gets together? Earlier this month, a club brought nearly 500 of them to the Scottish Highlands, marking the 155th anniversary of the breed's birth. What we have this week is, for the Golden Retriever Club of Scotland, we have what we call the Gushiken Gathering. I'm a real golden retriever enthusiast. I've been in the breed for over 20 years, and this is like the Mecca of golden retrievers. They are just the most loving dog. They're the most obliging dog, and they're great fun. Golden retrievers and enthusiasts from all over the world gathered in Scotland's Glen Affric for the birthday birthplace of the first golden retriever. A Scottish nobleman bred the dog here in the 19th century. According to the BBC, the aristocrat wanted a gundog suited to local terrain. The five-day gathering also included competitions, fun activities, and educational events. Director Christopher Nolan's latest movie, Oppenheimer, hits the big screen today. The new film tells the story of the theoretical physicist who oversaw the development of the first atomic bomb during World War II. NTD's Andrew Thomas has more on the premiere. You are the man who gave them the power to destroy themselves. Oppenheimer brings the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer to life, the brilliant charismatic physicist who headed the development of the first atomic bomb. In 1995, some of the scientists gathered in Washington, D.C. to reflect on their creation. War became 10 to 100 times more destructive, vehicle by vehicle, mission by mission, soldier by soldier, in the presence of these weapons. In 1945, American scientists detonated the first atomic bomb in the New Mexico desert. In an operation codenamed Trinity, a handful of scientists witnessed the weapon's horrifying power. Some dreaded the new deadly power unleashed on an unsuspecting world. Others saw an opportunity to end World War II. There is the real possibility demonstrated by Hiroshima. Demonstrated by the stopping of the Soviet Union. Even slightly demonstrated by the initial attempts to make nuclear reactors. The U.S. dropped the world's first atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, killing 140,000. A second bomb three days later killed another 70,000 in Nagasaki. Effectively ending World War II. Andrew Thomas, NTD News. Now for an episode of Strong Mind and Body. Gina Marie looks at manuka honey. Why? Because it's the honey with the most antibacterial and anti-inflammatory benefits. Honey not only adds sweetness to foods and drinks, it also offers a wide range of health benefits. In particular, manuka honey stands out. This is due to its potent antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. Manuka honey is predominantly found in New Zealand and Australia. This is where bees gather nectar from the manuka tree to produce this distinctive honey. The indigenous populations in these regions have traditionally used the manuka tree. This is because the manuka tree offers special properties. It offers pain relief, reduces fever, it's anti-inflammatory, and it has disinfectant properties. A study was published in the International Journal of Clinical Pediatric Dentistry in 2019. It indicated that manuka honey might exhibit antimicrobial activity that is 100 times stronger than that of regular honey. Manuka honey is now widely used to produce dressings and ointments for treating various conditions. This includes diabetic wounds, venous ulcers, burns, acne, eczema, and psoriasis. It's important to bear in mind that not all manuka honey is the same. Another factor to note is the unique manuka factor, UMF. This is widely recognized as a grading system for manuka honey produced in New Zealand. It provides a comprehensive assessment of MgO and other active compounds. It also assesses the overall quality of the honey. Choose a product with a UMF rating of 10 or higher to harness the full range of active benefits offered by manuka honey. And aim for approximately one tablespoon per day. Thank you for tuning in today, I'm Chris Beers.