Former President Joe Biden’s embattled son Hunter Biden had a blunt, two word response to first lady Melania Trump’s threatened $1 billion defamation suit over comments he’d made suggesting that she had ties to the late convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein: “F*** that!” Channel 5’s Andrew Callaghan, who gave the interview in which Biden made the offending claims, shared video on Thursday of Biden’s reaction to the threat of a lawsuit. WATCH: Callaghan introduced the video posted Thursday by splicing in clips of Biden’s offending comments — and then turned the question over the Biden, saying that perhaps he was giving him the platform to apologize as the first lady had demanded. “F*** that,” Biden laughed, and then after a brief pause, “That’s not going to happen.” The younger Biden had claimed during a YouTube interview with Channel 5’s Andrew Callaghan that “Epstein introduced Melania to Trump. The connections are, like, so wide and deep.” He later added, according to the complaint, “Jeffrey Epstein introduced Melania, and that’s how Melania and the first lady — and the president met.” End of Summer Sale – Get 40% off New DailyWire+ Annual Memberships Alejandro Brito, attorney for Melania Trump, sent a letter demanding an apology and threatening a lawsuit to Hunter Biden and his attorney, Abbe Lowell, on August 6. “These false, disparaging, defamatory, and inflammatory statements are extremely salacious and have been widely disseminated throughout various digital mediums,” Brito wrote. “Indeed, the video has since been re-published by various media outlets, journalists, and political commentators with millions of social media followers that have disseminated the false and defamatory statements therein to tens of millions of people worldwide.” “Consequently, you have caused Mrs. Trump to suffer overwhelming financial and reputational harm,” Brito continued, threatening a $1 billion defamation suit if the demands were not met. “Failure to comply will leave Mrs. Trump with no choice but to pursue any and all legal rights and remedies available to her to recover the overwhelming financial and reputational harm that you have caused her to suffer,” he wrote. Brito also noted that The Daily Beast, another outlet that had published the same claims based on information published by “serial fabulist Michael Wolfe,” had already apologized. “The timing of this video is evident and underscores the actual malice behind the decision to publish it given the plain falsity of the statements,” Brito addressed Biden directly. “Given your vast history of trading on the names of others—including your surname—for your personal benefit, it is obvious that you published these false and defamatory statements about Mrs. Trump to draw attention to yourself.”

When President Donald Trump sat between the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan last week, few people realized the significance of the meeting and the months of negotiations that took place beforehand to get two hostile nations to come together at the White House. Just weeks before the president and his team stepped in to maintain stability in the South Caucasus earlier this year, a full-scale invasion of Armenia’s southernmost province, Syunik, appeared imminent, according to Dr. Nerses Kopalyan, an Armenian-American political science professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Kopalyan informally advised and supported negotiations between the Trump administration and Armenia and spoke to The Daily Wire this week about the agreement that was signed last Friday. In March, Trump administration officials were briefed on U.S. intelligence that Azerbaijan was planning a major offensive against Armenia, reigniting hostilities two years after Azerbaijan’s ethnic cleansing campaign uprooted thousands of Armenians from their ancestral homeland in Nagorno-Karabakh, Kopalyan said. The American intelligence assessment sparked immediate action from the Trump administration. Later that month, the president’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, opened up negotiations with Azerbaijan as the White House sought to prevent another armed conflict. “Once U.S. intelligence had that information, the Trump administration decided that they had to step in and put diplomatic pressure on Azerbaijan not to attack, and then initiate diplomacy to find a solution,” said Kopalyan, who previously wrote about the significance of Trump’s Armenia-Azerbaijan deal. “So if it were not for the Trump administration, Azerbaijan would have attacked, and we would have had severe instability in the region.” The challenge before the Trump administration at the beginning of the talks in March and April was complicated. Armenia and Azerbaijan have been in and out of severe conflict for the past 35 years, with Azerbaijan most recently taking full control of Nagorno-Karabakh — a large patch of land inside of Azerbaijan that was inhabited by Armenians for centuries. In 2020, conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh resulted in thousands of casualties before a ceasefire was agreed upon. Nearly three years later, Azerbaijan launched a full-scale offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh, forcing Armenians to flee the region. For the past five years, Azerbaijan has threatened to encroach on Armenia’s sovereignty, pushing for its own trade route — called the Zangezur Corridor — that would cut through Armenia and connect Azerbaijan to its landlocked exclave, Nakhchivan. With Azerbaijan potentially setting its sights on southern Armenia and risking the breakout of another war, the Trump administration had to move fast. The White House presented a “unique solution” to get the two enemies to come to an agreement, Kopalyan said. “The United States comes and presents the proposal that became the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP),” Kopalyan added. “They present it as a very unique solution to a problem that should be accepted by both sides.” Under the TRIPP proposal, Armenia and the United States would build a major trade route through Syunik that Azerbaijan could use freely to gain better access to Nakhchivan. “The United States’ presence would alleviate Armenia’s concerns. It would also mitigate Azerbaijan’s concerns, and Azerbaijan would no longer have the Zangezur Corridor premise to attack,” Kopalyan said. Not all Armenians were pleased with the deal, with some in the diaspora arguing that Trump’s negotiations favored Azerbaijan. The biggest criticism of the deal is that it does not address Azerbaijan’s past human rights abuses against Armenians, such as the ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh and allegations that Azerbaijan’s government is holding at least 23 Armenians — likely more — hostage in Baku. The Armenian National Committee of America — which is affiliated with the pro-Russia political wing in Armenia called the Armenian Revolutionary Federation — blasted the Trump-negotiated deal. The group said that the deal was “rewarding [Azerbaijan’s] aggression, compromising Armenia’s sovereignty, and consolidating Azerbaijan’s genocidal ethnic cleansing of over 150,000 indigenous Armenian Christians.” “A true and lasting peace requires justice — the right of return for displaced Armenians, the release of hostages, protection for Christian heritage sites, and the withdrawal of Azerbaijani forces from Armenia – none of which are addressed in this agreement,” the Armenian National Committee of America added in a statement. In a phone call with The Daily Wire, Garen Jinbachian, the community coordinator for the Western Region of the Armenian National Committee of America, said that Trump’s Armenia-Azerbaijan deal “seems like a huge PR stunt to some extent.” “Frankly, you cannot have lasting peace, you cannot have real peace if one of the parties is held at gunpoint and practically coerced to sign it,” said Jinbachian. “The whole deal is based on injustice, the lack of justice in the region. Ethnic cleansing is not justice.” Those criticisms are missing the full context of the deal, Kopalyan argued. The deal struck last Friday between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev was less of an all-encompassing peace agreement and more of the first major step in a long process of securing communication and stability between the two countries. Kopalyan added that the White House would likely negotiate further peace talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan for the next three years. “This is a normalization process initiated by the United States,” Kopalyan said. Despite the major progress made between Armenia and Azerbaijan last week, Kopalyan remains pessimistic that a long-lasting peace treaty could be made between the two nations while Aliyev remains in power. “I don’t think Aliyev will ever sign a peace treaty because it is not in his strategic interest. It’s a very rational position by him,” Kopalyan said. “Because he enjoys so much power asymmetry and because he’s able to utilize that power disparity to exert his position in the region, if he signs a peace treaty, he’s basically giving away the last 10-15 years and the billions that he has spent to establish his position of dominance.” “He will do normalization, he will — under American pressure — do connectivity, opening of roads and all that stuff, but unless President Trump and the United States put a gun to his head, where he realizes he has no option but to sign, I don’t see him signing a peace treaty.”

A 16-year-old girl won in court on Tuesday after the public school system in New York denied her medical vaccine exemption. A federal court sided with a girl, who is named only by the pseudonym Sarah Doe, after the public school system in New York repeatedly denied her a medical exemption, which she received from six different doctors and a nurse practitioner. The court granted her medical exemption and said Sarah must be allowed to attend school, starting in September. “I’m just happy to go to school and be given this opportunity,” Sarah said following the win. “Thank you everyone for coming, I appreciate all the support – it feels unreal.” HISTORIC FEDERAL COURT RULING IN NY! Sarah Doe WINS!!! 16-year-old Sarah Doe must be allowed back to school this September. Her medical exemption to vaccination is granted in federal court today. Case backed by @ChildrensHD Here is Sarah in front of the courthouse pic.twitter.com/qcMintC9i0 — Teachers for Choice (@teacher_choice) August 12, 2025 New York is one of five states in the U.S. that do not allow religious exemptions for its vaccine mandates. The other states are California, Connecticut, Maine, and West Virginia — though West Virginia’s governor authorized religious and personal belief exemptions via executive action in 2025, effectively removing it from this list. Since these remaining states have cracked down on religious exemptions, there have been an increasing number of reports of families saying they’ve been denied medical exemptions, too. In Sarah’s case, the court said the school was wrong, and the teen’s medical exemption is valid. Sarah, who spoke to The Daily Wire back in May about her lawsuit, was advised by a number of medical professionals to skip her final dose of the Hepatitis B vaccination. This was after she developed severe autoimmune conditions, kidney issues, debilitating migraines, continuous rashes, and a diagnosis of a bleeding disorder where blood does not clot properly. All of the conditions started back in 2019, when New York stopped allowing religious exemptions, and Sarah got 18 vaccine doses over the span of two months so she could attend school. End of Summer Sale – Get 40% off New DailyWire+ Annual Memberships “Her back started hurting her, her whole spine,” Jane Doe, Sarah’s mother, told The Daily Wire. “We went for MRIs, she did cat scans – that’s where our life started with the doctors, all of a sudden the new norm was seeing doctors.” “At one point, she did become septic, they had to put a stent in her to her kidney through her urethra and she was in the hospital, we had to pack her in ice one night because her temps just wouldn’t come down,” Jane continued. “It’s just her body responding to all those vaccines at once that just shut her down almost.” Jane felt very strongly that she couldn’t give the last dose of the vaccine to her daughter and said she had no choice but to take legal action. In April, the family filed suit. The family’s attorney, Sujata Gibson, said this case was about Sarah and her safety, but also about other children in states like New York that don’t allow religious exemptions. Further, while New York is supposed to allow medical exemptions, Gibson said that’s not what’s happening. “The problem really is these New York State Department of Health regulations that were issued in 2019, that led to hundreds of children who had longstanding medical exemptions suddenly getting them revoked,” Gibson told The Daily Wire. “Many, many families have had to move out of town, get vaccinated against medical advice — some children have been severely harmed by that.” Gibson said there’s legislation pending in New York that could fix this issue, called the Education for All Act. This would “reiterate the state’s existing law that says school districts aren’t allowed to overrule treating physicians,” the attorney said. Gibson also floated the idea that the federal government could take action to remedy the problem. “If the state won’t fix this, we are just hoping that the federal government will intervene,” she said. “There are a lot of things the federal government could do. This is a square violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Children with disabilities are required to be accommodated and allowed to attend school. And what these school districts are doing is flat-out discriminatory and dangerous to their health.” Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. personally supports exemptions and actually filed suit in 2019 to challenge New York’s decision to rid religious exemptions. It’s unclear if HHS will put out any guidance on the matter. Related: She Listened To Doctors About Which Vaccines To Get. Her School Kicked Her Out.

It’s been 50 years since Melissa Gilbert stole America’s heart as Laura Ingalls in Little House on the Prairie. The little freckled-faced redheaded girl is now a mother and grandmother. Her fans still adore her and have longed to see Melissa back on their television screens. The Little House alum made a big announcement on Instagram on August 12. Melissa Gilbert appeared in season 12 of Hallmark’s When Calls the Heart, and it looks like she’s going to pop up in season 13. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Melissa E. Gilbert (@melissagilbertofficial) Melissa Gilbert Announced Her Return to “When Calls the Heart” On Social Media Melissa Gilbert shared the exciting news on Instagram, alongside a photo of her “When Calls the Heart” script. “Heading back to #hopevalleynext week. Going to play with my pals,” She wrote and tagged several members of the “huge” and “wonderful” cast and crew. Fans and co-stars were very excited to see Melissa Gilbert back for season 13 of When Calls the Heart. Pascale Hutton commented, “See you soon!!!!” “No one gives me scripts! What do I say in episode 6?” Her co-star Kevin McGarry joked. “It is so exciting to see you back in HV … with your friend more than friend Bill and the rest of the cast .. love learning you all are having so much fun,” a comment reads. “We are so excited to have you back!! Now we just need you to continue in S14 & we know WCTH will be on the air for at least 25 seasons; just saying,” a huge When Calls the Heart shared on Melissa Gilbert’s post. “Welcome back to Canada. Hope Valley, Melissa,”a fan wrote. “One of the BEST decisions was having you on @wcth_tv as Georgie McGill!” This Story’s Featured Image Is By Stephane Cardinale – Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images The post Melissa Gilbert Teases Possible Return To TV appeared first on InspireMore.

'We will come after you'

'Won’t be complicit in abortion'

Don't be bringing this nonsense to Florida

News Road House 2 Road House 2: Dave Bautista and Leila George Join Jake Gyllenhaal in Sequel Cast According to Amazon, the first Road House film had 80 million views on Prime Video. By Vanessa Armstrong | Published on August 14, 2025 Photo: LAURA RADFORD © AMAZON CONTENT SERVICES LLC Comment 0 Share New Share Photo: LAURA RADFORD © AMAZON CONTENT SERVICES LLC The Road House sequel is moving forward at Amazon MGM Studios, with two new actors joining Jake Gyllenhaal on the call sheet. Variety is reporting that Dave Bautista, who is also likely joining the upcoming Highlander film, has officially signed on to Road House 2. Leila George (Mortal Engines, the upcoming American Horror Story season) is also on board as the “female lead,” though we don’t have details on what her role, or Bautista’s, entails. The first Road House film, a remake of the 1989 movie of the same name, came out in 2024 and was directed by Doug Liman. It saw Gyllenhaal take on the role of Dalton, a bouncer who seeks violent vengeance against a real estate developer who burns down his favorite used bookstore (relatable). It did very well for Prime Video, making the announcement of a sequel not surprising. Liman was out of Road House 2 from the get-go, perhaps because he was publicly frustrated that the movie never received a theatrical release. Initially, Guy Ritchie was set to direct, but he has since left the film and Ilya Naishuller (Nobody, Heads of State) is helming the project, with a script by Will Beal (Aquaman, Zack Snyder’s Justice League). No news yet on when Road House 2 goes into production or will make its way to Prime Video. [end-mark] The post <i>Road House 2</i>: Dave Bautista and Leila George Join Jake Gyllenhaal in Sequel Cast appeared first on Reactor.

Books Short Fiction Spotlight Must Read Short Speculative Fiction: July 2025 Stories about loss, love, and about getting back at the assholes who hurt you… By Alex Brown | Published on August 14, 2025 Comment 0 Share New Share Stories about loss, stories about love, stories about finding someone who understands you, stories about getting back at the assholes who hurt you. My ten favorite short science fiction, fantasy, and horror stories I read in July were all of these things and then some. “The Directorial Eye” by Aliya Whiteley Gilda is a lonely woman with an unquenchable love of classic cinema. One day while watching something in bed, one eye goes blurry and she discovers an uncanny ability to control the actress on her screen. If she can’t make her real life exciting, she’ll make the woman on the screen live out all her wildest dreams. The phenomenon that inspired this story is real: Transient Smartphone Blindness. Basically, you get it by looking at a bright screen in a dark room after a long period of time, but it’s especially noticeable if you, like the protagonist, are lying on your side with one eye blocked by your pillow. I’ve had it a few times and it’s disorienting, although I never saw strange figures in my blurry eye. (Bourbon Penn—July 2025; issue 36) “Dybbuk-Draw” by Devan Barlow Antonia has worked long and hard to earn her new position as Curator for the prestigious Founders Collection at Herilvion Academy. Rumors swirl around the paintings, created by famed artist Jean Herilvion, but when Antonia discovers how he painted his masterpieces and what happened to the muses who inspired them, her ability to help dybbuks cross over becomes unexpectedly useful. An angry, vengeful story, Devan Barlow gives voice to everyone who has been exploited by someone more powerful. It feels especially relevant in a climate where mediocrity has pulled itself onto a pedestal made out of the hard work of others far more talented. (Kaleidotrope—Summer 2025) “Everlasting” by Daniel Oluremi Before they were born, Ọlájídé’s siblings all died before they could make it out of childhood. After she was born, her mother had a ritual performed to keep her alive six times. Over the years, Ọlájídé faced death and walked away, but now Death is ready to collect. A story brimming with sorrow and joy. Death comes for us all. Hopefully when it’s your time, you can look back and know you didn’t take your life for granted. (The Deadlands—Summer 2025; issue 39) “The Final Parting” by Simina Lungu A married couple comes to Dahlia’s shop for help. They want her to contact their dead son. During their consultation appointment, Dahlia listens to the story of how their son died and what their all-consuming grief has done to them since. Just when you think you know how this story will play out, Simina Lungu tosses in a twist that reframes the entire thing. This will tug on your heartstrings and make you want to hug your loved ones. (Perseid Prophecies—Summer 2025; issue 6) “For the Pursuit of the Better” by Chey Rivera “Karaya was eleven-years-old when Baba fused a small metal cage into her skull. He said this would give her the mind of a god, because the cage contained an imprisoned god inside it.” Karaya and Kachi are siblings raised by their father to survive at all costs and protect their homeland against all odds. In spite of everything he did to his children, they came out of it with a better understanding of the world and their place in it. An intriguing, complex story of a pair of siblings who just want to be seen. (Heartlines Spec—Summer 2025; issue 8) “The Fridged Wives Book Club” by Carol Scheina Ever wonder what happens to all those women fridged so a man can have an emotional arc? They come to on “a far-off corner of blank, white-page emptiness” and call themselves the Fridged Wives Book Club. They keep busy while seething over their husbands, who have moved onto other women without a second thought. Our narrator in this funny little first person flash is determined not to waste her story on some careless man. (Flashpoint SF—July 25, 2025) “Rapport: Friendship, Solidarity, Communion, Empathy” by Martha Wells Although this novelette doesn’t directly feature our favorite killer construct, Murderbot’s previous interactions with ART—aka Asshole Research Transport, aka the construct driving the spaceship Perihelion—forms the basis of the plot. It’s set between books 2 and 3, Artificial Condition and Rogue Protocol, meaning that while a new reader can enjoy the story, those who have already read that far into the series will get the most out of it. The plot is fairly simple. The crew of Perihelion are transporting folks searching for something on a space station that has recently been taken over in a hostile corporate coup. It’s a new Murderbot Diaries short story; what else do you need to know? (Reactor—July 10, 2025) “Scrimshaw” by Stephen James Author Stephen James is an archaeologist, and that profession is reimagined in this neat story. Our protagonist excavates the ruins of a suburban home, a building that has become “just another skeleton with bones bleached pure by the Great God-Sun, its roof had, at some point in time lost to history, collapsed, struts and floorboards rotted like a cavity, insides decayed to dust under His unflinching glare.” She is able to See into its history, the former occupants, their lives. I felt something similar in the few times I’ve been around ancient sites, places that are thousands of years old and that have been abandoned longer than most nations have existed. It’s overwhelming. James mines that fleeting awe in this story. (Small Wonders—July 2025; issue 25) “Thirteen Swords That Made a Prince: Highlights from the Arms & Armory Collection” by Sharang Biswas The premise is that a museum has put up an exhibit on the Alamgir Dynasty of the Kingdom of Hindustan, a fictional monarchy based on a real historical one, partly sponsored by a descendent of the subject of the exhibit: Prince Nizar. Thirteen of his weapons are on display, and the story unfolds in the caption cards. It’s a romance between two lovers who cannot be together while also being a commentary on how museums and historians often forget queerness is not some new invention. I am a historian and have curated historical exhibits in museum spaces, and this story had me wincing at how common this tendency is in my fields. Sometimes people are just queer. Yes, even the historical ones. (Strange Horizons—July 14, 2025) “We Dwell in Its Many-Chambered Heart” by A.C. Wise Alanna and Tom are trapped in a house. Their names and backgrounds change every day, as does the house shape and interior decor. The only thing that remains the same is that one of them always murders the other. But what if one of them tried to do something different? A.C. Wise writes this house as an almost sentient, seething entity, with Alanna and Tom as the insects caught in the maw of a Venus fly trap. This story exactly fits this publication; it’s weird, it’s horror, it’s weird horror. (Weird Horror—Summer/Fall 2025; issue 11) [end-mark] The post Must Read Short Speculative Fiction: July 2025 appeared first on Reactor.

DAILY CALLER NEWS FOUNDATION—Three leaders of an anti-police group protesting President Donald Trump’s crackdown on violent crime in Washington, D.C., have criminal records in the district. Free DC advisory council member Darrell Gaston served sentences of community service for two cases involving violence and threats in the past nine years, while the group’s executive director Keya Chatterjee and campaign director Alex Dodds both have misdemeanors on their records that were dismissed after they paid bond, court records show. Free DC organized a protest downtown on Monday and encouraged residents to “get visible,” “get loud,” and “bang pots and pans” in response to Trump’s law enforcement agenda in the nation’s capital. DC BELONGS TO DC RESIDENTS, NOT TRUMP. Press conference and rally TOMORROW at 10 AM: https://t.co/pbCTf2PsMa pic.twitter.com/AvThj0IBwX — Free DC (@freedcproject_) August 10, 2025 D.C. authorities charged Gaston, formerly a local politician, with simple assault and attempted threats to do bodily harm in 2016, according to court records. He later pleaded guilty to the second charge and received no jail time under a D.C. deferred sentencing program. He wound up in court on another simple assault charge in 2018 and was again sentenced to community service after pleading guilty. Gaston also faced a civil complaint of harassment in 2012 and one of assault and battery in 2019 while he served as an Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner in D.C., documents show. The first complaint involved a woman who accused him of trying to break into her home, and the second came from an individual alleging that he threatened assault over a disagreement. Both cases led to temporary restraining orders against Gaston but were later dismissed because the female plaintiff stopped bringing the case and because a judge refused the second plaintiff’s request for a permanent restraining order. “The court should grant my request because I fear for my safety,” the second plaintiff wrote in May 2019. “The defendant has threatened to bring harm to me. I believe him because he has been found guilty of physical harm to others in the past.” Dodds, Free DC’s campaign director, faced a charge of crowding, obstructing, or incommoding four times from July 2018 to July 2025, and the latest case is ongoing, court records show. The first three incidents are listed as “post and forfeit” cases, meaning that Dodds allowed the court to keep bond money she posted in exchange for no conviction. Dodds mentioned in a 2021 X post that she had previously been arrested during a protest against Brett Kavanaugh’s 2018 nomination to the Supreme Court. Chatterjee, the group’s executive director, also has two “post and forfeit” cases of unlawful assembly or disorderly conduct and crowding, obstructing, or incommoding since 2016, court documents show. Free DC did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Gaston, Chatterjee, and Dodds also did not respond to a request for comment. Free DC is a “fiscally hosted special project” of two nonprofits that have received funding from large left-wing groups such as George Soros’s Open Society Foundations and the Tides Foundation, The New York Post reported.  Trump mobilized the National Guard and more federal law enforcement agents into D.C.’s streets following the Aug. 3 assault of a former Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) staffer in the district and the president’s long-held complaints about violent crime. Trump also authorized Attorney General Pam Bondi to initiate a federal takeover of D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department (MPD). “The recent increase of federal law enforcement officers across Washington, D.C., has already stopped vicious criminals, the distribution of deadly narcotics, and the violent use of stolen handguns,” White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers told the DCNF. “President Trump’s bold leadership and decisive action will make our nation’s capital beautiful and safe again for its residents and visitors from all the world. The President’s efforts to crack down on crime is an incredibly popular policy that everyday Americans support.” Free DC, meanwhile, bills itself as a force for “racial justice” and against “attempts to further police or militarize our schools and communities,” its website says. The group traces its movement’s political roots to former Democrat D.C. mayor and convicted drug offender Marion Barry. A crowd of protesters, including one with a “Free D.C.” sign, gathered in the streets on Monday night to oppose Trump’s actions against crime, just blocks away from where a man was fatally shot on 12th Street the same night. Originally published by the Daily Caller News Foundation The post Leaders of Activist Group Opposing Trump’s DC Crime Crackdown Have Criminal Records appeared first on The Daily Signal.