Maxi Shield, beloved Australian drag queen and Drag Race Down Under star, dies aged 51

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Performer appeared in closing ceremony of 2000 Sydney Olympic Games and was a mainstay of city’s drag scene

One of Australia’s best-known and loved drag queens, Sydney’s Maxi Shield, has died after being diagnosed with throat cancer, prompting tributes from around the world.

Kristopher Elliot, who performed drag under the name Maxi Shield, was 51. Shield was a mainstay of the Sydney drag scene and brought Australian drag to the world as contestant in season one of RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under.

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Inquiry into Andrew’s links to Jeffrey Epstein is matter for MPs, says No 10

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Prime ministers of Australia and New Zealand say they would not object to his removal from royal succession line

A parliamentary inquiry into Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s links to Jeffrey Epstein is a matter for MPs, Downing Street has said, as ministers faced a new push to uncover details about the former prince’s role as a trade envoy.

It comes as the Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, wrote to Keir Starmer to say his country would have no objection to Mountbatten-Windsor being removed from the royal line of succession. Later, a spokesperson for New Zealand’s prime minister, Christopher Luxon, said his country would also support the proposals.

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Trump team on damage control after Huckabee comments on Israel – Politico

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  1. Trump team on damage control after Huckabee comments on Israel  Politico
  2. US says ambassador’s comments on Israel and the Middle East were taken out of context  Politico
  3. The Carlson-Huckabee interview may be the wake-up call Americans needed  Al Jazeera
  4. Outcry after Ambassador Mike Huckabee suggests Israel has God-given right to Middle East land  NBC News
  5. US ambassador's Israel comments condemned by Arab and Muslim nations  BBC
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Iron Age massacre targeted women and children, new research reveals – Phys.org

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  1. Iron Age massacre targeted women and children, new research reveals  Phys.org
  2. A large mass grave from the Early Iron Age indicates selective violence towards women and children in the Carpathian Basin  Nature
  3. Iron Age mass grave may hold unusual victims: mostly women and children  Science News
  4. A Mass Grave Uncovered in Serbia Hints at a Violent Iron Age Massacre That Targeted Women and Children  Smithsonian Magazine
  5. Brutal Iron Age massacre may have targeted women and children  New Scientist
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Canada seeks answers from OpenAI for failing to alert police after suspending school shooter’s account

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Company had suspended account of Tumbler Ridge shooter in June 2025 over ‘furtherance of violent activities’

Canada’s artificial intelligence minister says he has summoned representatives from the technology company OpenAI after the company declined to alert police after suspending the account of a user who became the perpetrator of one of the country’s worst-ever school shootings.

Evan Solomon says he is “deeply disturbed” by reports that the company, which operates the popular ChatGPT chatbot, suspended the account of Jesse Van Rootselaar over the “furtherance of violent activities” in June 2025 but did not reach out to Canadian law enforcement.

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Which Countries and States are Banning Kids’ Social Media? – Visual Capitalist

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  1. Which Countries and States are Banning Kids' Social Media?  Visual Capitalist
  2. Countries are barring teens from social media—could the U.S. be next? One expert thinks it's 'inevitable'  CNBC
  3. Regulate platforms, not children – Commissioner urges caution over social media bans  Council of Europe
  4. Has social media reached a tipping point?  GZERO Media
  5. From Paris to New Delhi, the Push to Ban Teens From Social Media Is Going Global  WSJ
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Burberry is back on brand as a purveyor of the classic British coat

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Designer Daniel Lee’s trenchcoats and bomber jackets fizz with urban energy in collection that embraces bad weather

In a winter of record-breaking rain, Burberry – purveyor of the stalwart British coat – is back in the zeitgeist. A season of downpours has provided an apt backdrop for a return to form, as the brand re-entered the FTSE 100 last autumn after an ignominious year out of the charts.

The classic check scarf was ranked the fourth hottest fashion item in the last quarter of 2025 on the search, sales and social media metrics of the Lyst index, with overall demand for the brand up 239% year on year.

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Tropical Cyclone Horacio: Earth’s first Category 5 tropical cyclone of 2026 – Yale Climate Connections

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  1. Tropical Cyclone Horacio: Earth’s first Category 5 tropical cyclone of 2026  Yale Climate Connections
  2. Tropical Cyclone Horacio becomes monster Category 5 storm  USA Today
  3. Tropical Cyclone Horacio becomes strongest storm of 2026 east of Mauritius  The Watchers - Watching the world evolve and transform
  4. Tropical Cyclone 22S (Horacio)  Pacific Disaster Center | (PDC Global)
  5. Image of the week: Cyclone Horacio  Eumetsat
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US ambassador to France vows not to interfere in its domestic affairs

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Charles Kushner, father of president’s son-in-law Jared, failed to show up to meeting to explain US comments relating to death of far-right activist

Donald Trump’s envoy to Paris has called France’s foreign minister and pledged not to interfere in the country’s domestic affairs, a day after he was barred from talking to government officials for failing to attend a formal meeting at the ministry.

The foreign ministry said on Monday that Charles Kushner would not be permitted to carry out his diplomatic duties until he had explained his refusal to comply with the summons over US comments about the killing of a far-right activist in France.

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7 years in prison for praying at the Western Wall? Netanyahu’s coalition is threatening a war on Jewish unity. – Jewish Telegraphic Agency

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  1. 7 years in prison for praying at the Western Wall? Netanyahu's coalition is threatening a war on Jewish unity.  Jewish Telegraphic Agency
  2. Why I support the Ezrat Yisrael egalitarian prayer space, separate from the Kotel  eJewishPhilanthropy
  3. The Blogs: A declaration of war on world Jewry  The Times of Israel
  4. Netanyahu Cancels Gov't Vote on Law Banning Egalitarian Prayer at Western Wall  Haaretz
  5. Coalition bill to give Rabbinate Kotel power  The Jerusalem Post
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Trump Iran airstrikes decision to be guided by Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff’s advice

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Exclusive: Trump’s decision will be driven by envoys’ judgment on whether Iran is stalling on a nuclear deal

Donald Trump’s decision to order airstrikes against Iran will hinge in part on the judgment of Trump’s special envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, about whether Tehran is stalling over a deal to relinquish its capacity to produce nuclear weapons, according to people familiar with the matter.

The president has not made a final determination on any strikes, as the administration prepares for Iran to send its latest proposal this week, ahead of what officials have described as a last-ditch round of negotiations scheduled for Thursday in Geneva.

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Channel 4’s Dirty Business is a clarion call to nationalise the water industry

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As the drama shows, private firms no longer able to pollute the coast of England of Wales just switched to rivers instead

There is a moment in Channel 4’s drama Dirty Business when Julie Maughan holds the body of her dead child and lets out an anguished cry. It is as brutal as it is compelling.

Her eight-year-old daughter Heather had just died in hospital, two weeks after playing in the sea on the beach at Dawlish Warren in Devon, where she contracted E coli O157, a bug which comes from raw sewage. She became ill with diarrhoea and blood loss. Transferred to Bristol children’s hospital, her parents agreed to switch off her life-support machine after she suffered kidney failure and brain damage.

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