FBI Director Kash Patel has taken an agency jet to Italy, where he has plans to hold official meetings and watch Olympic hockey games, CBS News first reported.

Patel reportedly took off Thursday morning and landed in Italy hours later. He’s expected to attend meetings with law enforcement officials and watch the men’s USA Olympic hockey team compete in Milan, sources told CBS News.

FBI directors must use government planes for both personal and official travel to ensure they maintain access to secure communications and can move quickly in an emergency, according to CBS News. They’re also required to reimburse the government for personal flights.

Ben Williamson, the FBI’s assistant director for public affairs, responded to the CBS News report in a post on X: “No, it’s not a personal trip. Director Patel is on a trip that was planned months ago.”

“It includes: partner meetings with Italian law enforcement and security officials (they invited the Director last July), meeting with Ambassador Fertitta (as a follow up to our law enforcement roundtable he hosted in January), meetings with Legat staff, and more,” Williamson wrote.

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“The FBI also has a major role in Olympic security – as we do with the World Cup, F1, and more – so we have a U.S. consulate briefing on Olympic security and current FBI posture, as well as thanking FBI personnel on the ground,” he continued.

In a follow-up post, Williamson added: “Kash just called me and told me to add ‘Please tell them yes, I am rooting for the greatest team on earth from the greatest country on earth.’”

When reached for comment, the FBI referred The Independent to Williamson’s statement on X.

Patel has previously faced scrutiny for his use of government jets.

Late last year, top Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee said they were “demanding answers” after reports emerged that Patel had used government jets for “personal travel,” including a “date night” with his girlfriend, country musician Alexis Wilkins.

When Fox News host Laura Ingraham asked Patel about these reports in December, he was quick to defend himself.

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“It’s simple,” Patel said. “The FBI director — all FBI directors — are required users of the FBI plane. They don’t let me fly commercially. But my predecessors wasted millions of dollars because they were too lazy to drive an extra 20 minutes and go to Andrews Air Force Base.”

“They used D.C. Reagan National as a personal hub, costing the taxpayers $4 million. I shut that policy off and mandated the use of government airfields,” he added.

It was also revealed in November that Patel’s girlfriend receives protection from a security detail.

“Ms. Wilkins is receiving a protective detail because she has faced hundreds of credible death threats related to her relationship with Director Patel, whom she has been dating for three years. Out of respect for her safety, we will not be providing additional details,” an FBI spokesperson told MS NOW.

Big tech companies are reportedly developing their own isolated, off-grid data centers where they can consume resources to provide the storage and compute needed for AI development and other digital services, according to a new report.

The GW Ranch project will see 8,000 acres of land in West Texas turned into an entirely off-grid data center facility that will consume more energy than the entire city of Chicago, according to The Washington Post.

The new project will generate all of its own electricity through natural gas and solar panels and—crucially for tech companies—won’t have to wait around for utilities to solve power availability issues.

The GW Ranch project is just one of several off-grid data center undertakings planned at sites in Wyoming, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Utah, Ohio, and Tennessee, according to regulatory filings, permits, and other documents reviewed by the Post.

Several of the projects are already under construction. The builds are being pushed by big-name players in the world of tech: Meta, OpenAI, Oracle, and Chevron, to name a few.

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Some states have already passed legislation making it easier for data center projects to set up shop.

In West Virginia, a new off-grid data center is being planned near the city of Davis. The project will include a gas plant large enough to produce enough power to fuel every home in the state.

“They removed local control completely for this speculative gold rush,” Amy Margolies, a resident fighting against the development, told the paper. “Everything is shrouded in secrecy, and the public is removed from the process.”

Some 5,246 data centers are operating in the U.S., according to the most recent information from the Data Center Map project, collectively consuming at least 17 gigawatts of power. A large nuclear power generator produces 1 gigawatt of energy, which can power between 300,000 and 750,000 homes.

In the race for AI dominance, countries are rolling out data centers at breakneck speed to cope with the immense amounts of compute needed.

Though the off-grid centers will incorporate solar power, most will rely on natural gas because more sustainable fuels provide less consistent output. Without an electric grid to act as a backup, natural gas will be the primary power source for the facilities. That will no doubt mean an increase in emissions at a time when human-driven climate change is already causing more frequent severe weather across the country.

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“It is catastrophic for climate goals,” Michael Thomas, founder of Cleanview, an energy industry research group, told the Post. Cleanview has identified 47 off-grid data center projects across the country.

Even though the data centers will be off-grid, that doesn’t mean that typical ratepayers are isolated from the consequences of these developments.

Jigar Shah, an energy entrepreneur who helped manage federal energy investments under the Joe Biden administration, told the Post that tech companies, with their virtually limitless resources, will now be competing for maintenance and equipment against public utilities.

If it takes longer—or becomes prohibitively expensive—for utility companies or public utility agencies to access equipment, they will have to pour more money into trying to maintain older infrastructure. The cost of those rising maintenance expenses will almost certainly be passed on to ratepayers. In other words, their bills will go up.

“This whole thing feels like a fairy tale concocted on the back of a napkin,” Shah said.

Tech companies trying to build data centers on regional power grids have, in some cases, been throttled by how much energy grid operators can provide to their projects while still serving regular ratepayers.

That’s one of the reasons Elon Musk opted last year to build an entirely off-grid data center in Memphis. Bypassing the local grid allowed him to get the data center—used by his xAI company—running in a matter of months rather than years. His project is powered by dozens of portable gas generators: efficient, but not without environmental costs.

The Environmental Protection Agency ruled last month that Musk’s setup illegally breached emissions rules and told xAI to obtain permits for its generators.

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When data centers do try to set up shop in populated areas, they’ve faced opposition from locals who do not want the noise and emissions pollution in their neighborhoods or who balk at the massive water and energy use—and the inflated energy bills that come along with the projects.

A large data center can consume up to 5 million gallons of water per day—the equivalent of a town of 10,000–50,000 people—according to the Environment and Energy Institute.

A group of concerned citizens in Tucson, Arizona, managed to defeat a proposal for a large data center in the city called “Project Blue,” citing water usage in the already parched desert and the potential for increased energy bills.

Data center operators no doubt hope to mitigate some of the public’s concerns by building off-grid.

“As designed, it is intended to operate independently and does not rely on ratepayer-funded infrastructure or impact existing residential customers,” Fundamental Data, the company building the Davis, West Virginia, data center, told the Post.

Though many of the tech companies backing the off-grid data centers have kept their names off the projects until they’ve gone through the permitting and clearance process, Meta has been upfront about its upcoming builds.

The parent company of Facebook has one project underway called Socrates in New Albany, Ohio, that will use a pair of off-grid gas power plants to provide its energy needs. That site is scheduled to go live later this year.

Meta is also building data centers in El Paso, where it’s working with a local utility provider to build a gas-generating facility through the linking of 813 smaller generators. Local and city officials protested the project, claiming Meta only received approval to build by stating the site would use clean energy.

El Paso Electric, Meta’s local energy partner, wrote in regulatory filings that to power the site using solar panels and battery storage, it “would require thousands of acres adjacent to the Data Center site which are not available,” according to a Texas Tribune report.

Meta said in a statement to the Post that it plans to fulfill its clean energy obligation by buying clean energy and adding it to the grid.

“As with all of our data centers, including dozens of renewable projects throughout Texas, we work to add energy to the grid and match our data center’s electricity use with 100% clean and renewable energy,” the statement said.

Shah is skeptical about the projects, noting that even with tech companies’ deep pockets, they can’t ensure uninterrupted reliability without the security of a major grid.

“I get that cost is no object for these companies and they just want to get online,” Shah told the Post. “But they have not figured out even with unlimited funds how to make these plants run with 24/7 reliability.”

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — For more than three decades, the four men and their families had insisted they were innocent of one of Austin’s most gruesome and notorious crimes: the 1991 rape and murder of four teenage girls at a yogurt shop that was set on fire.

No one listened. Not when Robert Springsteen was sent to death row. Not when Michael Scott was sentenced to life in prison. Or when Forrest Welborn and Maurice Pierce, though never convicted, struggled through life under dark clouds of suspicion that they were murderers.

Their pleas were finally heard Thursday. A judge formally declared the men innocent after an emotional court hearing where prosecutors apologized and admitted they were wrongly accused of a crime that haunted the city for decades. Investigators determined last year that the murders were committed by a previously unknown culprit who died in 1999.

Scott and Welborn sat in the crowded courtroom packed with family members to hear state District Judge Dayna Blazey formally tell them “you are innocent.” She called her order “an obligation to the rule of law and the obligation to the dignity of the individual.”

The hearing included lengthy statements from the men and their families about the struggles of incarceration, broken relationships, constant harassment by investigators and homelessness.

Springsteen did not attend. Through tears, Marisa Pierce addressed her father, who died in 2010 in a confrontation with police after a traffic stop.

“Daddy, you have your name back,” she said. “The world knows what you were trying to say all along.”

Killings shocked Austin and confounded investigators

Amy Ayers, 13; Eliza Thomas, 17; and sisters Jennifer and Sarah Harbison, ages 17 and 15, were bound, gagged and shot in the head at the “I Can’t Believe It’s Yogurt” store where two of them worked. The building was set on fire.

Investigators chased thousands of leads and several false confessions before the four men, who were teenagers when the girls were killed, were arrested in late 1999.

Springsteen and Scott were convicted based largely on confessions they insisted were coerced by police. Both convictions were overturned in the mid-2000s.

Welborn was charged but never tried after two grand juries refused to indict him. Pierce spent three years in jail before the charges were dismissed and he was released.

Prosecutors wanted to try Springsteen and Scott again, but a judge ordered the charges dismissed in 2009 when new DNA tests that were unavailable in 1991 and the previous trials revealed another male suspect.

“Let us not forgot that Robert Springsteen could be dead right now, executed at the hands of the state of Texas,” Springsteen attorney Amber Farrelly said.

In a statement his attorney read in court, Welborn said he lost friends, struggled to keep jobs and was at one time homeless. Scott testified that his arrest, conviction and prison sentence ultimately broke up his family.

“I lost my family. I lost my youth. My daughter was 3 years old when I was arrested. We had just celebrated our first wedding anniversary. I lost the chance to build a family,” Scott said. “Every day I have carried the weight of a crime I did not commit.”

The formal declaration of innocence could also be a key step for the men and their families if they seek financial compensation for years they spent incarcerated or struggled to live under a cloud of suspicion.

“My son’s name has finally been cleared after more than 25 years of being called the monster, the murderer and everything else,” said Phil Scott, Michael Scott’s father. “Son, be proud.”

Connection to a new suspect revealed

After Scott and Springsteen were released, the case effectively went cold until 2025, when an HBO documentary series attracted new public attention to the unsolved crime.

Then investigators made a stunning announcement last September: New DNA science and reviews of old ballistics evidence pointed to Robert Eugene Brashers as the sole killer.

Since 2018, authorities had used advanced DNA evidence to link Brashers to the strangulation death of a South Carolina woman in 1990, the 1997 rape of a 14-year-old girl in Tennessee and the shooting of a mother and daughter in Missouri in 1998.

The link to the Austin case came when a DNA sample taken from under Ayers’ fingernail came back as a match to Brashers from the 1990 killing.

Austin investigators also found that Brashers had been arrested at a border checkpoint near El Paso two days after the yogurt shop killings. In his stolen car was a pistol that matched the caliber used to kill one of the girls in Austin.

Police also noted similarities in the yogurt shop case to Brashers’ other crimes: The victims were tied up with their own clothing, sexually assaulted and some crime scenes were set on fire.

Brashers died in 1999 when he shot himself during an hourslong standoff with police at a motel in Kennett, Missouri.

“Over 25 years ago, the state prosecuted four innocent men … (for) one of the worst crimes Austin has ever seen,” Travis County First Assistant District Attorney Trudy Strassburger said. “We could not have been more wrong.”

A two-day inquest was held in January into the man’s death

A family is calling for “lessons to be learned” at a Cambridge hospital after a father died awaiting a heart transplant in 2023. Luke Barnes, from Mapperley in Nottingham, died aged 34 on March 17, 2023, as his life support was turned off at Royal Papworth Hospital.

Luke was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy – a chronic disease of the heart muscle – in 2018. While awaiting his transplant, he had a BiVad system fitted to help blood pump around his body.

Following a two-day inquest in January, it was concluded that due to an “unexpected” disconnection with the BiVad, Luke suffered a “catastrophic haemorrhage”.

Rothera Bray solicitors, which represented Luke’s wife Isobel Barnes at the inquest, has raised “serious concerns” over the handling of the hospital’s investigation after Luke’s death.

The solicitors are calling for “lessons to be learned” after the tragedy. Abagail Clarke, a solicitor in Rothera Bray’s inquest team said: “The family’s priority now is ensuring that meaningful lessons are learned and that no other family experiences a similar tragedy.

“The issues highlighted during the inquest raise significant concerns about the trust’s investigative processes and must prompt urgent review and reform. At this time, the family ask that their privacy is respected as they continue to process their loss and navigate life without Luke.”

The family and solicitors raised concerns about how the aortic cannula became disconnected from Luke’s BiVad system. In the inquest, the coroner concluded it was an “unknown” reason why it disconnected, and it was a “rare” event to have happened. The solicitors also raised concerns about how the medical device was discarded of.

A spokesperson for Royal Papworth said it acknowledges the family’s “concerns” and their “thoughts remain with them at this incredibly difficult time”. The spokesperson added: “As explored at the inquest, we can confirm that this tragic event was immediately escalated to the relevant authorities and we also conducted a thorough internal investigation, in keeping with our trust policy.

“Unfortunately neither our internal investigation or the inquest were able to conclusively determine the cause of the disconnection of Mr Barnes’ BIVAD. We appreciate that this will have caused additional distress for Mr Barnes’ family and friends.”

Following last month’s inquest, Luke’s wife paid tribute to him. She said Luke was her “safest place” and “greatest joy”.

She added: “He was the person who made me feel safe, loved and understood. Being married to him was a privilege I will carry with me for the rest of my life.

“Luke had the biggest heart and loved fiercely. He stood up for what he believed in and protected the people he cared about with everything he had.

“To be loved by him was to know what unconditional love truly meant and to lose him has left a void that can never truly be filled. Life without him feels quieter, heavier, and unimaginably painful. Losing him has shattered my world in ways words will never fully capture. Every day without him is a struggle, and the ache of his absence is constant.”

With the visit of champions Liverpool this weekend, the feelgood factor could evaporate swiftly if results conspire against Forest and dump them nearer the bottom three.

The Europa League has proved a welcome distraction, and this comfortable victory gives them a huge chance of extending their excursions into next month. Forest will face either Real Betis or FC Midtjylland in the round of 16 if they can complete the second leg.

Positive and full of energy, it did feel like the shackles of Dyche’s often cautious approach had been removed.

In what has been a chaotic and difficult season, this was arguably Forest’s best performance of the campaign.

Forest were dominant from the start against a Fenerbahce team with a number of familiar Premier League faces in N’Golo Kanté, Ederson, Mattéo Guendouzi, Nélson Semedo, Marco Asensio and Caglar Soyuncu.

It was Murillo, the Brazilian centre-back with the build of a boxer, who produced the first moment of magic to reward their pressure. As a ball-playing left-sided defender, he is likely to emerge as a transfer target for heavyweight clubs such as Chelsea in the summer. 

He has been threatening a spectacular individual goal ever since his move from Corinthians in 2023. Taking the ball from the halfway line, he evaded challenges from two Fenerbahce players before advancing towards the area and directing a 25-yard shot into the bottom corner.

The incident happened between 5.15am and 5.30am in Trafalgar Square, Scarborough on Thursday (February 19).

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A spokesperson for North Yorkshire Police said: “The van was parked closer to the junction with North Marine Road.

“The suspect caused damage to both the inside and the body of the van, and the alarm was activated, alerting the owner – who called police.”

The force is appealing for witnesses and those with doorbell or dashcam footage.

A spokesperson added: “We would also like to hear from anyone who also has had their vehicles damaged overnight in the area.

“If you have any information which you think may help with the investigation, please email Scott.Sunderland@northyorkshire.police.uk

“Alternatively, you can call North Yorkshire Police on 101 and ask for Scott Sunderland.

“You can also provide anonymous information via Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

“Please quote reference 1226003069.”

Roxanne Hamedi, a pharmacist from Aberdeen, said she it felt “like my time was cut short” after she was fired on the BBC business show by Lord Sugar for her poor branding decisions.

The latest instalment of the show saw the teams trying to sell their water brands live on social media, and creating an accompanying TV advert.

The episode also featured a cameo from rapper Big Zuu, who helped to judge the work created by the candidates.

Big Zuu (Image: BBC/Naked)

Hamedi exited the show after Lord Sugar blamed her for her team’s poor branding, due to her responsibility as sub-team leader.

She was in the firing line alongside team leader Conor Galvin and pharmaceutical sales specialist Rajan Gill, who was brought into the boardroom after a disastrous pitch.

Hamedi said: “It didn’t feel good to be fired, just because I didn’t think that I deserved to be.

“There was a lot going on that day and I feel like other people lacked accountability.”

The Apprentice (Image: BBC/Naked)

Hamedi said she took on the role of sub-team leader because she “wanted to get out of my comfort zone and take that risk”.

She added: “I don’t regret being a sub-team lead, but I just feel like my time was cut short in the process.”

She said Galvin should have been fired instead, adding: “I feel like he did throw me under the bus because I was just an easy scapegoat.”

Asked if she would have done anything differently, Hamedi said: “I guess I could have fought more in the boardroom, you know, called Rajan out on his lack of input, or reminded Lord Sugar that I’d taken creative risks and didn’t hide in the background.

“But I didn’t want it to come down to begging or being the loudest or most apologetic person in the room. I stayed true to myself and that takes integrity.”

Hamedi would have expanded her business, a beauty brand specialising in combatting hair loss, if she had won the programme.

The winner of the latest series of The Apprentice will be awarded £250,000 of investment into their company and the opportunity to go into business with Lord Sugar.

The Apprentice returns on BBC One next Thursday at 9pm.

A beloved Bridgerton star has been cast in the lead of a highly-anticipated rom-com adaptation

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Bridgerton star Phoebe Dynevor has secured the leading role in Beach Read, the forthcoming adaptation of the bestselling romance novel by Emily Henry.

First published in 2020, the novel charts the journey of two writers and former university rivals who unexpectedly reunite and challenge each other to a write-off, promising each other that they won’t become romantically entangled.

Dynevor, who is most recognised for her portrayal of Daphne Bridgerton in the first series of Netflix’s popular period drama, will take on the role of romance novelist January Andrews.

Throughout the book, January competes with and eventually develops feelings for Gus Everett, whose casting has yet to be announced.

Fans of Henry have reason to be hopeful about the upcoming adaptation as it’s being directed by Yulin Kuang, who co-wrote Netflix’s recent adaptation of People We Meet on Vacation starring Emily Bader and Tom Blyth, reports the Express.

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Kuang is also writing the script, with 20th Century Studios producing the adaptation, so fans can look forward to a release on the big screen.

A full synopsis for the film via Deadline reads: “Beach Read is a romantic comedy following January Andrews, a successful romance novelist who struggles with grief and writer’s block after her father’s death and the discovery of secrets he’s long kept hidden.

“While spending the summer in his Michigan beach house to prepare it for sale, she unexpectedly reconnects with Gus Everett, an author who was once her rival in college.

“Both creatively stuck, they agree to a writing challenge over the summer, swapping literary genres while promising that there will be no romance between them. Of course, you know what they say about the best-laid plans.”

Readers are sure to be thrilled to see January and Gus’s heart-fluttering romance come alive, as Henry’s original book has garnered glowing reviews from critics and fans over the years.

A five-star review from an Amazon user proclaimed: “I’ve read this book at least six times now, and somehow, I love it more with each reread.

“Everything about this story is perfect. It’s heartwarming, smart, and emotionally rich, but still manages to have me giggling, kicking my feet, and fully rooting for these two. This is such a comforting read I keep the audiobook on standby for whenever I have the chance to replay it.”

Another person enthused: “Together Gus and January have managed to chip away a piece of my heart to call their own. No romance book has had me screaming, crying, smiling and laughing as much as Beach Read.”

And a final fan said: “Oh my word, I loved this book so much. I can’t stop recommending it to people, even my guy friends. I’m not sure how anyone can consider this anything but a masterpiece.”

Are you prepared to be captivated by another sensational Emily Henry adaptation? Stay tuned for more updates.

Beach Read does not currently have a release date.