Trump names Pam Bondi as attorney general pick after Gaetz steps aside

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Ex-Florida attorney general is longtime Trump ally and was one of his lawyers during first impeachment trial

Donald Trump announced that he would nominate for attorney general Pam Bondi, the former Florida state attorney general, hours after the former representative Matt Gaetz withdrew in the face of opposition from Senate Republicans who had balked over a series of sexual misconduct allegations.

The move to name Bondi reflected Trump’s determination to install a loyalist as the nation’s top law enforcement official and marked another instance of Trump putting his personal lawyers in the justice department.

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California man arrested after climbing into hospital ceiling and getting stuck

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Police say man, believed to be under influence of drugs, walked into ER restroom in Upland and did not come out

A patient believed to be under the influence of drugs caused chaos at a California hospital when he climbed into the ceiling of an emergency room, got stuck and had to be freed by firefighters.

The Latin Times reported that the unnamed man was a walk-in patient who entered San Antonio regional hospital in Upland and was last seen on surveillance footage entering a restroom.

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Alabama executes third man this year with controversial nitrogen gas

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Carey Dale Grayson was killed on Thursday for 1994 murder by technique that previously caused visible signs of distress

Alabama carried out its third execution this year using the controversial new method of nitrogen gas, a technique that in previous state killings caused visible signs of distress.

Carey Dale Grayson was put to death on Thursday evening for the 1994 murder of a hitchhiker. The prisoner had a mask strapped to his face through which nitrogen was pumped, causing fatal oxygen deprivation.

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UN chief calls for de-escalation after Russian strike on Ukraine – as it happened

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UN secretary general António Guterres’s spokesperson says Russia’s use of a new ballistic missile is ‘yet another … worrying development’. This blog is now closed

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has issued a statement on X after Vladimir Putin said Russian forces had hit the Ukrainian city of Dnipro with a new experimental mid-range ballistic missile.

The Russian leader has “admitted” to taking a step “toward escalating and expanding this war” by using a new ballistic missile on Ukraine, Zelenskyy wrote.

Putin struck our city of Dnipro, one of Ukraine’s largest cities. This is a clear and severe escalation in the scale and brutality of this war — a cynical violation of the UN Charter by Russia.

Putin alone started this war—an entirely unprovoked war — and he is doing everything to prolong it, now for over a thousand days.

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Tests for year 1 pupils in England should be dropped, headteachers urge

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NAHT says early checks on phonics, arithmetic and English in primary schools are potential waste of time and funding

Primary school pupils in England should not face compulsory tests on phonics, times tables or grammar and punctuation, an influential headteachers’ union has advised the government.

The National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) told the government’s national curriculum and assessment review that there was an “urgent need” to reconsider the phonics check of reading ability, along with the multiplication check and tests of spelling, grammar and punctuation, as a potential waste of school time and funding.

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Yvette Cooper to set out crackdown on antisocial behaviour including jail terms

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Persistent offenders will face up to two years in prison under Respect orders, as police get powers to seize vehicles

People who persistently demonstrate antisocial behaviour will face up to two years in jail under Labour’s Respect orders, the home secretary will say on Friday.

Yvette Cooper will also announce that police will be given new powers to immediately seize off-road bikes, e-scooters on pavements and street-racing cars as part of the clampdown.

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U.N. Watchdog Censures Iran Over Nuclear Program Secrecy – The New York Times

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  1. U.N. Watchdog Censures Iran Over Nuclear Program Secrecy  The New York Times
  2. Iran says it is activating new centrifuges after being condemned by UN nuclear watchdog  CNN
  3. IAEA Board passes Iran resolution as West pushes Tehran towards talks  Reuters
  4. Iran defies international pressure, increasing its stockpile of near weapons-grade uranium, UN says  The Associated Press
  5. For second time in months, UN atomic watchdog censures Iran for failing to cooperate  The Times of Israel
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Brazil’s Bolsonaro and allies indicted in 2022 coup plot probe – CNN

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  1. Brazil’s Bolsonaro and allies indicted in 2022 coup plot probe  CNN
  2. Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro charged with plotting coup d’état  The Guardian
  3. Lula Was Target of Assassination Plot, Brazilian Police Say  The New York Times
  4. Brazil police accuse Bolsonaro and ex-ministers of 2022 coup plot  Reuters Canada
  5. Brazilian Police Accuse Former President Bolsonaro of Plotting Coup  The Wall Street Journal
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Those who try to emulate Teflon Trump often come unstuck – just ask Gaetz

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The fall of the Florida congressman who was accused of sexual misconduct proves there is one rule for Trump and another for everyone else

When he ran for US president in 2016, Donald Trump boasted that he would “surround myself only with the best and most serious people”, adding: “We want top-of-the-line professionals.”

Second time around, Trump appears to have quality control issues. On Thursday Matt Gaetz, his pick to be attorney general, withdrew from consideration amid allegations including sexual misconduct with a 17-year-old girl, drug use and misappropriating campaign funds.

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More than 40 killed in north-west Pakistan in gun attack on Shia convoy

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Violence in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa follows killing of dozens of people in clashes between Sunnis and minority Shias

At least 42 people have been killed and 20 wounded after gunmen opened fire on vehicles carrying Shia Muslims in Pakistan’s restive north-west, in one of the region’s deadliest such attacks in recent years, police said.

The attack happened in Kurram, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province where sectarian clashes between majority Sunni Muslims and minority Shias have killed dozens of people in recent months.

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