Four people were killed and nine others were injured after a minivan crashed into a Long Island, New York, nail salon Friday afternoon.

The vehicle slammed into Hawaii Nail & Spa on Grand Boulevard in Deer Park shortly before 5 p.m.

A witness told NBC New York that the van plowed through the front of the business and almost came out through the back of the salon.

All of those killed or injured were inside the salon at the time, according to Lt. Kevin Heissenbuttel. Some people were trapped in the salon and had to be extricated by emergency services, he said.

A witness said the vehicle had been racing through a parking lot across the street before crashing and “seemingly in a rush,” NBC New York reported, adding that others said the van was trying to get around another vehicle when it drove into the building.

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Thursday night’s US presidential debate was watched by 48mn television viewers, a sharp drop from the numbers that tuned in to the clashes between Joe Biden and Donald Trump in the 2020 campaign.

CNN, the Warner Bros Discovery-owned network which hosted the event, said just over 9mn viewers had watched on its own channels, narrowly ahead of Fox News and ABC News, with cable rival MSNBC drawing about 4mn viewers. Another 30mn people tuned in on CNN’s digital channels or YouTube, it added.

The combined television audiences were well below the totals for previous presidential debates, however, extending a pattern of US media outlets reporting less interest in their election coverage this year.

Trump and Biden drew 73mn viewers for their first debate in 2020, while Trump and Hillary Clinton pulled in an audience of 84mn for the opening showdown of their 2016 contest.

With full control over the style, content and format of the debate, CNN inserted rules that are atypical for US political events, such as foregoing a live audience and muting each candidate’s microphones unless it was their turn to speak.

The debate was also a stark departure in tone from last year’s CNN town hall event with Trump, when a studio audience filled with the former president’s supporters prompted comparisons with his raucous rallies. CNN’s own media commentator slammed the town hall as a “spectacle of lies”, and Chris Licht resigned as CNN’s chief executive just a few weeks later.

By comparison, Thursday’s night’s debate was restrained. With microphones muted, there were no shouting matches, and with no audience or press in the room, it was quiet. The moderators played a background role, leaving the debate largely a back-and-forth dialogue between Trump and Biden. 

However CNN was criticised for one significant choice: moderators Jake Tapper and Dana Bash largely avoided fact-checking the candidates in real time. The format seemed to favour Trump, who was allowed to make a series of unsubstantiated claims without being challenged during the 90-minute programme. 

The debate was a big test for CNN — the network that pioneered the dramatic, ultra-competitive cable news format in the US in the 1980s, but whose audiences have dwindled in recent years. It was easily the biggest moment yet for CNN chief executive Sir Mark Thompson, who took over as leader of the channel last year and has been tasked with turning around its business and restoring its brand.

CNN landed the sponsorship of the debate in May, beating out competitors including Fox News. The network seized on the moment, promoting the event heavily and forcing its rivals, who simultaneously broadcast the debate, to display CNN’s logo prominently on their screens.

The event was unique for a number of reasons. It was the first presidential debate in decades that was not organised by an independent commission, after Biden and Trump chose to bypass the tradition. It was also scheduled far earlier than usual in the election cycle. In previous years, the initial match-ups between presidential candidates took place in September or October. 

CNN has a fraught history with Trump, who frequently attacked the channel during his presidency. But on Friday morning, the Trump campaign blasted an email out to his supporters titled: “I love CNN . . . Because they gave me the opportunity to wipe the floor with Joe Biden.”

The U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal by Steve Bannon, the right-wing podcaster and former Trump White House aide, to remain free while his case goes through the appeals process.

“The application for release pending appeal presented to The Chief Justice and by him referred to the Court is denied,” the court said in a one-sentence order.

Bannon now has a deadline to report to a federal prison in Connecticut July 1. He must serve time after refusing to comply with a congressional investigation into the siege on the U.S. Capitol.

A federal jury in Washington, D.C., convicted Bannon two years ago on two criminal contempt charges, for defying subpoenas for documents and testimony from the House Select Committee investigating the events of Jan. 6, 2021.

Bannon successfully delayed his four-month prison sentence for years, as appeals wound through the courts. But his luck ran out in May, when a federal appeals court unanimously rejected his claims.

Bannon is the second Trump-era official ordered to serve prison time for flouting demands from Congress. Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro reported to a prison in Florida in March, after Chief Justice John Roberts refused to intervene in the case.

Both men cast their disputes with Congress as challenges to the Constitution’s separation of powers, but judges found no evidence that Trump had formally asserted executive privilege to block their cooperation with lawmakers.

Bannon had tried to argue at his trial that he had relied on advice from his lawyer, and therefore lacked the intent to “willfully” violate the contempt law. A judge foreclosed that defense based on court precedent, but raised significant questions about it — questions that Bannon cited in a June 21 petition to the Supreme Court.

“Mr. Bannon relied in good faith on his attorney’s advice not to respond to a subpoena issued by a House Select Committee until executive privilege issues were resolved—as they had been on three prior occasions when Mr. Bannon had agreed to testify after President Trump’s counsel had asserted executive privilege,” his lawyers wrote.

Bannon, who has been a vocal supporter of Trump’s bid to regain the White House later this year, may now be incarcerated on those misdemeanor charges through the election in November.

He’s separately fighting fraud, money laundering and conspiracy charges in New York state court over an alleged scheme to defraud donors to a charity that aimed to build a wall along the southern border. That case is scheduled for trial later this year.

Trump granted Bannon a full pardon from federal charges related to We Build the Wall in January 2021, shortly before he left the White House. Presidents lack power to issue pardons for state crimes.