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Platner officially terminates Senate bid after bombshell rape allegation ends campaign
Backlash intensifies as Graham Platner drops Senate bid
Former Maine Senate nominee Graham Platner withdraws from the race after a rape accusation, sparking political uproar. Platner blames the media and political establishment for his downfall, while critics, including Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman, denounce his «narcissistic» video. Democrats now race to select a new nominee by July 27, with figures like Troy Jackson emerging.
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Graham Platner the embattled Democratic Senate nominee in Maine, on Friday publicly released the letter formally withdrawing from the U.S. Senate race, thanking supporters before signing off with, «F**k ICE. Free Palestine. Up the Hearts.»
Platner posted the July 10 letter on X after submitting it to the Maine Department of the Secretary of State’s Division of Elections.
«I write to formally withdraw my candidacy for United States Senate,» Platner wrote.
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Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner speaks at his primary election event in Blue Hill, Maine, on June 9, 2026. (CJ Gunther/Getty Images)
The letter thanked the 156,084 Mainers who voted for him in last month’s Democratic primary and argued they had backed «a new kind of politics» focused on issues including Medicare for All, stronger unions and limiting the influence of billionaires in politics.
«My name may have been on the ballot, but that ballot line belongs to the people of Maine,» Platner wrote. «As such, please consider this notice as my official withdrawal from consideration for this office.»
Platner concluded the letter by writing, «F**k ICE. Free Palestine. Up the Hearts.»
The letter comes two days after Platner announced he was suspending his campaign amid mounting controversies and allegations of sexual misconduct that he has repeatedly denied.
A populist Democrat who was backed last September by progressive champion Sen. Bernie Sanders, Platner was challenging longtime Republican Sen. Susan Collins in a high-profile, combustible and expensive race in Maine, which is one of a handful that will determine if the GOP holds onto its slim Senate majority in November’s midterm elections.
«For the movement to continue, it can’t be me. For that reason, we are suspending campaign operations,» Platner said on Wednesday in a video posted to social media.
The end of his campaign came a month after Platner won a landslide victory in Maine’s June 9 Democratic Senate primary, but days after an explosive report contained an allegation of rape from a woman he previously dated.
Maine resident Jenny Racicot told CNN «by dictionary definition» Platner «raped» her. She also said over the course of three interviews with Politico that Platner forced her to have sex five years ago against her will, a claim that he denied.
Platner last week was hit with a second explosive allegation of sexual misconduct. In a report published by The Washington Post, Platner was accused of removing condoms during sex with his ex-girlfriend Lyndsey Fifield after she explicitly directed him to wear them.
Fifield had previously accused Platner in a New York Times report of physical misconduct during their relationship, saying that he sometimes grabbed her hard enough to leave marks on her body and that one time he twisted her arm around her back, pushed her into a bedroom and held the door shut until she «calmed down.»
The Platner campaign responded that Fifield’s latest allegations were «categorically false and politically motivated,» pointing to her previous work for the conservative Heritage Foundation.
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Addressing the multiple allegations in his video announcement last week, a visibly angry Platner charged, «This is all false. The things that have been claimed did not happen. It is not real.»
The Marine Corps combat veteran and oyster farmer became the all-but-certain party nominee in the spring after two-term Gov. Janet Mills, who was backed by Democratic Senate Leader Chuck Schumer and the party establishment, suspended her bid after significantly trailing Platner in fundraising and polling.
But as he moved towards capturing the nomination, Platner was forced to play defense amid multiple controversies that muddied the final days of his primary campaign and overshadowed his victory.
Past inflammatory online comments made on a now-deleted Reddit account came back to haunt him at the same time he was reeling from revelations of a now covered-up tattoo on his chest that resembled a Nazi symbol. Then reports that Platner exchanged sexually explicit messages with several women while married came right before allegations from ex-girlfriends of a history of rape fantasies, heavy drinking and violent episodes.
Platner repeatedly called the allegations of violence untrue.
The mounting controversies drew plenty of attention, gave Republicans more ammunition to use against him and triggered some Democrats in the nation’s capital to question whether Platner was damaged goods.
But the allegations didn’t stop him from riding a populist wave to capture the nomination in a landslide.
SCANDAL-PLAGUED PLATNER CAPTURES DEMOCRATIC SENATE NOMINATION DESPITE MOUNTING CONTROVERSIES
Platner, who struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from his three tours in the war in Iraq with the Marines and one tour with the Army National Guard in Afghanistan, apologized for his controversial Reddit posts after some of them made headlines after he launched his Senate campaign.
In his primary night victory speech last month, Platner emphasized that he was a changed man.
«If you believe, as I do, that we can change our politics and change our country, then you must also believe that people can change,» Platner told the crowd. «And the reason I believe that is because I have lived it.»
After the latest allegations went viral last week, a growing chorus of Democrats called on Platner to quit the race, from establishment figures like Schumer to progressives among his biggest backers, including Sanders, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Mass., and Rep. Ro Khanna, Calif., who campaigned with Platner in Maine in June.
The Maine Democratic Party announced last week that officials were working «around the clock» to determine a replacement process, but claimed Platner’s team was trying «to put their thumb on the scale of what this process looks like.»
Graham Platner, Democratic US Senate candidate for Maine, during a primary election night event at the Blue Hill YMCA in Blue Hill, Maine, US, on Tuesday, June 9, 2026. Progressive Democrat Graham Platner won the party’s Senate primary in Maine after a bruising campaign which became as much about his accusations of past misbehavior as it was voters’ top concerns. (Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Platner’s team, responding, said they had reached out to the party but denied they were trying to put any «finger on the scale.»
A day later, the state party announced it would hold a nominating convention, which Fox News Digital confirmed would likely consist of 600 voting delegates, to choose a new Senate nominee.
That didn’t appear to sit well with Platner, who in his video said, «What comes next needs to come from the people. Needs to come from the people of Maine. Needs to come from the voters who on June 9….said no to this kind of politics. Voted for a politics that would actually represent them. Vote against the political system. Against the donor class. Against the entrenched forces.»
Platner, who ran an outsider campaign, said that if he had continued his bid, he’d lose the ability to raise money and access crucial voter data, essential elements to any campaign.
«Those in power who have the ability to do so are using these allegations as an excuse to take away all the things that we need to run a campaign,» he charged.
Since last Wednesday’s announcement, a slew of Democrats have jumped into the race to succeed Platner as the party’s Senate nominee.
The list includes three gubernatorial contenders who came up short in last month’s primary: progressive Troy Jackson, a former state Senate president who was also backed by Sanders; Nirav Shah, the former director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention; and Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows.
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Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine tours a food bank in Harrison, Maine, on May 5, 2026. The food bank was able to expand thanks to federal funding that the senator helped obtain. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)
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Collins, a moderate Republican who at times votes against President Donald Trump’s agenda, is running for a sixth six-year term in the Senate.
Republicans currently control the chamber 53-47 and flipping the Senate seat in left-leaning Maine is a key part of the Democrats’ path to retake the majority.
chuck schumer, graham platner, bernie sanders, democrats elections, midterm elections, maine, senate elections
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Costa Rica gana terreno en el turismo de bienestar: naturaleza, descanso y salud transforman la forma de viajar
Viajar ya no significa necesariamente dejar atrás las rutinas saludables. Para una parte creciente de los turistas, las vacaciones también se han convertido en una oportunidad para dormir mejor, mantenerse activos, reducir el estrés, mejorar la alimentación y recuperar el contacto con la naturaleza.
Ese cambio está impulsando el denominado turismo de bienestar, un segmento que pasó de ocupar un nicho dentro de la industria turística a convertirse en un mercado valorado en cientos de miles de millones de dólares y que encuentra en Costa Rica un escenario particularmente favorable.
El Global Wellness Institute (GWI) define este tipo de turismo como los viajes asociados con la búsqueda de mantener o mejorar el bienestar personal. El concepto es más amplio que pasar algunas horas en un spa: puede incluir desde actividad física y alimentación saludable hasta yoga, meditación, aguas termales, contacto con la naturaleza y experiencias dirigidas al descanso físico y mental. Tampoco debe confundirse con el turismo médico, cuyo propósito principal es viajar para recibir un procedimiento o tratamiento de salud.
Las cifras reflejan la dimensión que ha alcanzado el fenómeno. El gasto mundial relacionado con turismo de bienestar llegó a USD 893,900 millones en 2024, un 36% por encima del nivel previo a la pandemia, mientras que se contabilizaron aproximadamente 1,239 millones de viajes relacionados con bienestar.
El GWI estima que el mercado continuará creciendo a una tasa promedio anual de 9.1% entre 2024 y 2029, hasta alcanzar aproximadamente USD 1.38 billones al final de ese periodo. Solo América Latina y el Caribe contabilizaron 60 millones de viajes de bienestar durante 2024, con un gasto promedio de USD 683 por viaje.
Costa Rica encuentra un espacio en la tendencia
Costa Rica ya comenzó a desarrollar iniciativas dirigidas específicamente a este mercado. En mayo, la Asociación Wellness Costa Rica, la Cámara de Turismo y Comercio de Arenal y el Instituto Costarricense de Turismo (ICT) impulsaron una alianza para fortalecer experiencias vinculadas con el bienestar y la conexión con la naturaleza.
La iniciativa incluyó formación relacionada con conexión biofílica, un enfoque que busca aprovechar actividades tan sencillas como caminar por un bosque para generar experiencias relacionadas con el bienestar físico y emocional. El proyecto involucró a hoteles, operadores turísticos, guías y otros actores del sector.
El propio ICT incluye dentro de la oferta de bienestar del país prácticas como caminatas, baños de bosque, contacto directo con la tierra o la arena, alimentación saludable, hidroterapia y aguas termales, muchas de ellas asociadas a recursos naturales que Costa Rica ya utiliza como parte de su producto turístico.
La tendencia coincide, además, con una recuperación más amplia de la visitación internacional. Durante el primer semestre de 2026, Costa Rica recibió 1,733,596 visitantes internacionales, un aumento de 7% frente al mismo periodo de 2025, según datos del ICT. El 92% de esas llegadas se produjo por vía aérea.
El reconocimiento internacional del país en este nicho también ha aumentado. En los World’s Best Awards 2026 de Travel + Leisure, Costa Rica colocó dos propiedades entre los cinco mejores retiros internacionales de bienestar: Surf Synergy, en Jacó, ocupó el tercer puesto, mientras que Tabacón Thermal Resort & Spa, en La Fortuna, alcanzó el quinto lugar.
La revista también describió este año a La Fortuna como uno de los destinos costarricenses particularmente asociados con el bienestar, debido a su combinación de aguas termales, naturaleza, yoga y meditación. National Geographic, por su parte, incluyó para 2026 una experiencia ubicada en la Península de Nicoya entre su selección internacional de propuestas de bienestar.
El bienestar comienza a cambiar también la hotelería
El fenómeno no está limitado a establecimientos especializados en retiros, yoga o meditación. Los hoteles convencionales y los grandes complejos turísticos también comenzaron a introducir el bienestar como un elemento transversal de la experiencia.
Un ejemplo de esa transformación se encuentra en The Westin Reserva Conchal, an All-Inclusive Golf Resort & Spa, en Guanacaste. Más que concentrar el concepto exclusivamente en su spa, la propiedad organiza parte de su propuesta alrededor de los principios de la marca Westin de “dormir bien, comer bien y moverse bien”.
En la práctica, esto supone combinar áreas de descanso con oportunidades para mantenerse físicamente activo durante las vacaciones.
El complejo, ubicado en un terreno de aproximadamente 971 hectáreas frente al Pacífico, dispone de un WestinWORKOUT Fitness Studio, canchas deportivas y un campo de golf de 18 hoyos, par 71, diseñado por Robert Trent Jones II. A ello se suma el Heavenly Spa by Westin y actividades vinculadas con el entorno natural. Marriott también registra para el establecimiento certificaciones ambientales como ISO 14001 y la Certificación para la Sostenibilidad Turística de Costa Rica.
Su operación permite observar también cómo el concepto de bienestar se adapta a distintos perfiles de huéspedes. El complejo cuenta con un sector Westin Club, dirigido exclusivamente a adultos, pero mantiene paralelamente infraestructura para familias, habitaciones adaptadas para grupos con niños y un club infantil.
De esta forma, el bienestar deja de concebirse únicamente como una actividad aislada o exclusiva para adultos y empieza a incorporarse en vacaciones familiares, viajes de pareja e incluso estadías vinculadas con reuniones y eventos.
El caso también muestra la creciente relación entre bienestar y sostenibilidad, dos conceptos que la industria turística internacional comienza a presentar de forma cada vez más conjunta. Phocuswright señaló en 2026 que el turismo de bienestar está siendo asociado progresivamente con modelos regenerativos y sostenibles, bajo una idea que incorpora no solo el bienestar del viajero sino también el del destino que visita.
En ese terreno, Reserva Conchal reporta proyectos de tratamiento de aguas residuales, aprovechamiento de energía solar, gestión de residuos y conservación ambiental. La organización responsable del complejo señala además que el Westin ha alcanzado una condición de carbono positivo, al compensar más emisiones de las que genera en su operación.
La propiedad también apareció este año entre los complejos costarricenses incluidos por Travel + Leisure dentro de los mejores resorts de Centroamérica, con una puntuación de 91.45. En total, 13 establecimientos de Costa Rica entraron en la lista regional de 20 hoteles, elaborada a partir de las opiniones de lectores de la publicación.
Del spa a una experiencia más amplia
El cambio que atraviesa el sector ayuda a explicar por qué hablar de turismo de bienestar únicamente como sinónimo de masajes y tratamientos de spa resulta cada vez más limitado.
Dormir, alimentación, ejercicio, naturaleza, relajación y salud mental comienzan a integrarse dentro de una misma experiencia, incluso cuando el bienestar no constituye el motivo principal del viaje.
Precisamente, el Global Wellness Institute diferencia entre quienes viajan específicamente buscando una experiencia de bienestar y aquellos turistas cuyo motivo principal puede ser una playa, unas vacaciones familiares o conocer un destino, pero que desean mantener durante el viaje los hábitos saludables que tienen en su vida cotidiana.
Para Costa Rica, esa amplitud abre una oportunidad adicional. El país no parte de cero: sus playas, bosques, volcanes, aguas termales, biodiversidad y oferta de actividades al aire libre ya conforman buena parte del producto que vende internacionalmente.
La diferencia está en cómo esos recursos comienzan a combinarse con un viajero que ya no necesariamente pregunta únicamente qué puede conocer durante sus vacaciones, sino también cómo quiere sentirse cuando regrese de ellas.
corresponsal:Desde San José, Costa Rica
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DALLAS – A House Republican representing the New York City suburbs is calling on Mayor Zohran Mamdani to skip the Sept. 11 memorial in downtown Manhattan.
«From my vantage point, I don’t think he should be there, and I think most New Yorkers agree that he should not be there,» Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., told Fox News and Fox News Digital. «Certainly, the 9/11 families and the first responders believe he should not be there.»
Political rancor is threatening to cast a long shadow over this year’s Sept. 11 remembrance events, marking 25 years since the tragedy that rocked the United States. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s past rhetoric and links to terror sympathizers are spurring intense backlash ahead of the city’s events memorializing the World Trade Center attacks, with Republicans and people whose lives were changed by the attacks demanding he not show his face.
MAMDANI FACES GROWING 9/11 BACKLASH AS OLD POST RESURFACES AHEAD OF GROUND ZERO CEREMONY: ‘IS THIS REAL?’
Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks to the media regarding the attempted bombing at a right-wing protest in front of Gracie Mansion on March 8, 2026, in New York City. (Ryan Murphy/Getty Images)
«I think Mayor Mamdani has proven himself to be a vile antisemite. I think he has associated with people who believe America deserved 9/11, and it’s not just Hasan Piker. If you go look at many of the people that support his administration, they agree with that rhetoric. They agree with that philosophy,» Lawler said.
An online petition led by family members of people killed on Sept. 11 — signed by over 100,000 people — has called on Mamdani to skip the memorial.
9/11 FAMILIES PUSH TO BAN MAMDANI FROM 25TH ANNIVERSARY REMEMBRANCE OVER ‘HOSTILE’ RECORD
«Mr. Mamdani has praised Brooklyn Imam Siraj Wahhaj, who has been linked to radical Islam, was named as an alleged co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and served as a character witness for the ‘Blind Sheikh,’ who was convicted in 1995 of plotting terror attacks against the United States,» the petition said. «Mr. Mamdani has endorsed candidates such as Aber Kawas, who described 9/11 as an attack ‘a couple of people did in the context of U.S. capitalism, racism, white supremacy, and Islamophobia,’ and who also expressed sympathy for Ahmed Ferhani, who pleaded guilty to plotting to blow up a Manhattan synagogue.»
Mamdani and other socialist candidates’ association with far-left activist Hasan Piker has also seen intense scrutiny over Piker’s past comments that the United States «deserved» the attacks, remarks that he promptly walked back at the time but continue to haunt him and his political circle. Mamdani himself has also condemned the comment.
A firefighter walks through the rubble of the World Trade Center as an American flag hangs from a traffic light post on Sept. 11, 2001, in New York. (Doug Kanter/AFP via Getty Images)
Republican Study Committee Chairman August Pfluger, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital that Mamdani should not attend Sept. 11 memorial events «until he can… actually call out terror groups around the world for what they want to do to this country, and that includes Hamas.»
Hamas was not responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks, for which al Qaeda took credit, but Hamas has recently been front-and-center for perpetuating the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack in Israel.
«These people are really a cancer to the freedoms that we fought for, and they do not represent the American values that our founders set up and that we have had for 250 years,» Pfluger said of Mamdani and his allies.
MAMDANI DROPS MASSIVE 9/11 RECORDS TROVE AS OLD CLAIMS ABOUT GROUND ZERO COME UNDER FIRE
Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., speaks with local law enforcement about the rise of antisemitism in New York City during a campaign endorsement event at Haverstraw Elks Lodge No. 877 in Haverstraw, New York. (Kyle Mazza/CNP)
Both he and Lawler spoke with Fox News Digital on the sidelines of the 2026 GOP midterm convention in Dallas.
Mamdani’s office recently launched an online portal allowing city residents to access roughly 170,000 pages of local government records on Sept. 11, which appear to show city officials misled the public about air quality following the attacks.
Fox News Digital reached out to the New York City mayor’s office for comment.
september 11, politics, new york city, terrorism, zohran mamdani, house of representatives politics
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Fire aboard cargo ship undergoing repairs at busy Chinese port leaves 25 people dead, five more injured
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A cargo ship docked for repairs at a port on the northeastern coast of China caught fire Thursday, killing at least 25 people who were on board at the time, according to Chinese state media.
The ship was being fixed by Beihai Shipbuilding Co. in the port of Qingdao — one of the country’s major shipping hubs — when it caught fire at approximately 11:15 a.m. local time, the Xinhua news agency reported.
A total of 42 people were on the vessel at the time of the blaze, and 12 of them were safely rescued, Xinhua reported. Five others were injured and taken to the hospital, where they are in stable condition.
CARGO SHIP ATTACKED BY SMALL CRAFT NEAR STRAIT OF HORMUZ, UK MARITIME AGENCY SAYS
In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, a cargo ship is seen after it caught fire at a port in Qingdao, east China’s Shandong Province, on Sept. 10, 2026. (Li Aoqiu/Xinhua via AP)
Photos released by Xinhua identified the ship as the Ocean Melody. The ship-tracking website VesselFinder lists it as sailing under the Liberian flag.
The Associated Press reported that the fire was extinguished at around 2:30 p.m., a little over three hours after it started. Videos online showed plumes of white smoke billowing from the ship.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation. Chinese authorities have not said what sparked the blaze while the vessel was undergoing repairs.
In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, firefighters and crews gather near the cargo ship on fire on Sept. 10, 2026. (Li Aoqiu/Xinhua via AP)
TIM SHEEHY EXPOSES A ‘SCARY’ SHIPBUILDING COLLAPSE THAT LEAVES THE US VULNERABLE TO CHINA
China’s President Xi Jinping called for «intensified efforts» to provide support for those who were affected by the fire, Xinhua reported, adding that Premier Li Qiang said «trapped people» needed to be rescued.
Xi also called for ensuring «preventive measures are thoroughly implemented» and «resolutely prevent major and catastrophic accidents.»
Aerial view of the illuminated Qingdao Qianwan Container Terminal at night on Sept. 6, 2026, in Qingdao, Shandong Province of China. (VCG/VCG via Getty Images)
Beihai Shipbuilding is a subsidiary of the state-owned China State Shipbuilding Corporation, the world’s largest shipbuilder. According to the company’s website, its primary businesses are shipbuilding and ship repair.
Qingdao, in China’s Shandong province, is one of the country’s busiest ports and a major center for shipbuilding, shipping and international trade. The port handles millions of containers each year and is home to several large shipyards.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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