Latest news with #socialmediatrend
Daily Mail
12 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Disturbing new Purge-style social media challenge spreads to Las Vegas leaving locals terrified
An insidious social media trend carried out by teenagers is spreading to residential Las Vegas leaving locals terrified. The viral challenge which began in Californian college dorms, involves approaching a stranger's property and violently kicking at the door to trick homeowners into thinking their house is being broken into. The latest video of a violent home invasion showed youngsters in the Las Vegas Valley carrying out the prank. The stunt has been likened to The Purge, the dystopian movie series about an America where all crime is legal for one night of the year. In the video, at least two suspects ran up to Valley Vista resident Tyler Reggie's home and aggressively kicked at his door in the middle of the night. 'I jumped up immediately and assumed the worst,' Reggie told Fox5. 'I thought I was going downstairs to try to fight off somebody that I didn't want to have to fight off.' The disturbing video footage was captured from Reggie's security cameras at 3am on July 8. He said the attack not only cost him and his pregnant girlfriend a good night's sleep, but around $5,000 to replace their damaged door frame. 'It's easy for somebody to just ring the doorbell and run away, kicking the door and causing property damage, it's a little less harmless,' he said. The Valley Vista resident filed a police report after the incident, and is sharing his story to make other locals wary of the Purge-like challenge. Reggie's neighbor, Ariean Sorenson, caught what she considers suspicious behavior on her own security camera at 2am on July 16. She thinks someone had been scoping out the house in order to target her for the same dangerous prank. 'Everybody who lives in Valley Vista could be the next target,' Sorenson warned. 'People are reinforcing their doors.' 'It's only a matter of time before somebody gets killed.' Las Vegas is not the first city to fall victim to this frightening trend. Earlier this month, two Florida teenagers were hit with felony charges after kicking a stranger's front door in for a social media challenge. Jeffery Merthie, 15, and Zahmarii Reddick, 13, were arrested in DeBary, near Orlando, on Sunday after they kicked a neighbor's door in. Merthie and Reddick were seen on doorbell footage sneaking up to the house, before slowly turning around with their backs to the door and kicking it several times before running off. The attack on Reggie's home left his door hinges busted and he and his pregnant girlfriend fearing for their lives The two teens copped felony burglary charges. It is unclear if they will be charged as adults. Another incident was caught on Ring doorbell footage in Riverview, about 20 minutes from Tampa in mid-July. A group of five Florida teens made their way toward a home at around 10:40pm. One of the unidentified teens, wearing a ski mask to cover their face and carrying an airsoft gun, then kicked the front door and fired a plastic pellet before running away, according to Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister. Chronister, who called the new trend the 'door kick challenge,' said the prank is making waves across TikTok and needs to stop immediately. 'Parents, please talk with your children about this dangerous trend, which could end in tragedy,' he wrote on X alongside the clip. The sheriff has asked anyone with information on the suspects in the video to call the department. A slew of similar incidents have taken place in Florida, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Texas, and more.
News.com.au
4 days ago
- Health
- News.com.au
Aussies are losing their minds over a ‘horrifying' US food staple
A new social media trend has revealed the disturbing truth about bread in the US, leaving Aussies reeling. In clips posted to TikTok, users can be seen squishing slices of bread into a ball, claiming it will 'bounce back like memory foam' due to excessive additives. And alas, after a couple of minutes the bread unravels itself and returns to its original form – pristine and intact. Unsurprisingly, Aussies flooded the comment sections of the videos, expressing their horror at the sight. 'In Australia, when you put the bread in the shopping bag at the checkout, it always goes on top because once it's squished, it's forever squished,' wrote one. 'In Australia, when you spread Nutella on the slice you rip a hole in it,' said another. 'I'm Australian. I accidentally placed a box of tissues on my bread when leaving the grocery store and arrived home to a packet of pita bread,' wrote a third. One US woman even found that bread left in her kitchen over eight months had failed to develop any mould. Other Americans jumped in to share their thoughts on the bizarre sight. 'As an American who eats American bread, I'm never eating bread ever again,' said one horrified person. 'My bread doesn't even mould anymore, I can't remember the last time I saw it happen,' said another. 'Is our bread not supposed to do that?,' questioned a third. So naturally, I immediately ran to my kitchen to conduct my own experiment. For my research I used a slice of Helga's wholemeal bread, which in this economy, should be considered a selfless act for the good of science. Then I squished it into a ball which immediately crumpled the slice, leaving little breadcrumbs all over my counter. The bread did eventually un-crumple after around three minutes, but the damage was done. It was certainly no longer screaming, 'eat me.' So, now that we've reached that conclusion it's time to find out what the deal is with American bread. American bread is typically made using five food additives, these being: Azodicarbonamide (whitening and dough conditioner, more famously found in yoga mats), Potassium bromate and iodate (rising agents), BHA and BHT (preservatives). Australia and much else of the world has imposed strict bans on Azodicarbonamide, Potassium bromate and iodate, which have been linked to cancer and asthma – but the US won't budge. Although wheat in the US isn't genetically modified, the majority of non-organic crops are sprayed with glyphosate to dry out grain for earlier harvesting. In 2020, global pharmaceutical giant Bayer spent $US10.9 billion ($15.87 billion) to settle over 90,000 lawsuits alleging the company's glyphosate weedkiller, Roundup, causes cancer. That same year, an Irish court ruled that the bread served at sandwich chain Subway could not be defined as bread but instead as confectionary, due to its high sugar content. While it might be a blessing to some that their bread doesn't grow mould or can survive a whole week's grocery shop sitting on top of it – the trend has opened up a concerning conversation about the quality of food we receive. Maybe the US has too much going on right now to consider its bread, but it's definitely food for thought when the ingredients look more like they belong in a lab rather than on your plate.
