Florida to end vaccine mandates for children as surgeon general likens them to ‘slavery’

Joseph Ladapo, a long-time vaccine skeptic, says that every state vaccine requirement would be repealed

Children in Florida will no longer be required to receive vaccines against preventable diseases including measles, mumps, chicken pox, polio and hepatitis said Joseph Ladapo, the state’s surgeon general, on Wednesday in a speech during which he likened vaccine mandates to “slavery”.

Ladapo, hand-picked for the role by Ron DeSantis, Florida’s Republican governor, is a long-time skeptic of the benefit of vaccines, and has previously been accused of peddling “scientific nonsense” by public health advocates.

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Can Keir Starmer afford to sack Angela Rayner over her stamp duty error?

Prime minister has a track record of firing errant ministers – but will her power within the party protect his beleaguered deputy?

Keir Starmer has a hard-won reputation for ruthlessness when it comes to dispensing with ministers who cause the government embarrassment. But the future of his deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner, is the toughest call of its kind.

Every time Starmer has been confronted with this kind of decision since the very early days of his leadership, his instinct has been to cut loose.

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The death of the wallet: how our pockets suddenly got a lot lighter

A new survey finds less than half of British people now carry a wallet – even though 80% own one

Name: The wallet.

Age: The word originates from the late 14th century, meaning something like knapsack. That’s how Shakespeare uses it in Troilus and Cressida, when Ulysses says: “Time hath, my lord, a wallet at his back.”

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Democrats call for firing of January 6 defendant who works at justice department

Jared Wise, a DoJ senior adviser, urged fellow rioters to kill police officers during the 2021 Capitol attack

A January 6 defendant who urged fellow rioters to kill police officers should be fired from his job at the justice department, three senate Democrats wrote in a letter to US attorney general Pam Bondi on Wednesday.

Earlier this year, the defendant, Jared Wise, was hired as a counselor to Ed Martin, a prominent January 6 defense lawyer who is leading a so-called weaponization working group inside the justice department that is targeting Trump’s political rivals. The scope of Wise’s role remains unclear.

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Putin tells Ukraine: End war via talks or I will end it by force – Reuters

  1. Putin tells Ukraine: End war via talks or I will end it by force  Reuters
  2. Putin says Russia will achieve all aims militarily if Ukraine does not agree deal  BBC
  3. Putin invites Zelenskyy to a meeting in Moscow for security talks as he bombs Ukraine  Fox News
  4. Putin open to meet Zelenskyy in Moscow, Kyiv says ‘unacceptable’  Al Jazeera
  5. Russia's Putin willing to meet Ukraine's Zelenskyy if he 'comes to Moscow'  Euronews.com
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Budget compromise needed if PM ousted, says French finance minister

Éric Lombard says he hopes François Bayrou will survive vote and dismisses talk of looming debt crisis

The French finance minister, Éric Lombard, has said the government would have to compromise on plans to cut the budget deficit if the prime minister, François Bayrou, is toppled in a confidence vote next week.

Lombard told the Financial Times that fresh negotiations would require the government to make concessions to the left to reduce the size of the fiscal package if the government falls.

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Resale ‘subterfuge’: Viagogo sent fan his tickets along with a stranger’s passport

Experiences of booking for big London gigs underscore the opaque practices of some online platforms

When Danny bought tickets to see Deftones in Crystal Palace Park he was not expecting to be initiated into an apparent subterfuge.

Yet shortly before the south London gig, Viagogo, the resale platform that sold him the tickets, sent him a scanned copy of a passport ID page belonging to a Dutch man he had never met.

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Xi, Putin and Kim: behind the choreographed image that could symbolise a shift in the global balance of power

In an unprecedented spectacle the leaders of Russia, China and North Korea led a group of more than 20 world leaders at a victory day parade in Beijing

It is an image that, had it been published just a few years ago, would have been dismissed as a piece of mischievous photo-shopping: the leaders of Russia and China, accompanied by the head of a pariah regime whose mission to arm his country with nuclear weapons had been opposed at the United Nations by his two companions.

But dramatic shifts in the geopolitical landscape – Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and, crucially, the re-election of Donald Trump – have combined to bring Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un together in what many observers are calling a dramatic redrawing of the global balance of power.

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Manneken Pis gets new uniform to honour soldiers who liberated Brussels

Gift comes 8o years after Welsh guards first left replica uniform for Belgian statue to commemorate end of Nazi occupation

When British forces commemorated the liberation of Brussels for the first time in 1945, they left a unique gift – a replica Welsh guards uniform for the Belgian city’s emblematic “peeing boy” statue, the Manneken Pis.

Now 81 years after the Welsh guards freed Brussels from Nazi occupation, the gift has been renewed: the Manneken Pis has a new regimental uniform, including scarlet jacket embroidered with gold lace, gleaming white belt and authentic bearskin hat.

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Democrats blast state department for lack of ‘basic oversight’ of controversial Gaza food organization

Letter by senior Democrats asks state department to reveal details behind financing of Gaza Humanitarian Foundation

Senior Democratic senators have called on the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, and the US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, to reveal details behind the financing and oversight of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) amid concerns over rising death tolls near aid sites, the group’s apparent coordination with the Israeli army and its reported use of private military contractors linked to intelligence operations.

The letter, co-signed by senators Elizabeth Warren, Chris Van Hollen and Peter Welch, accuses the state department of an “inability to answer basic questions about GHF in a timely manner” and said that the department’s “overriding of internal protocol and staff warnings is particularly concerning given it is unlikely to be able to conduct basic oversight of the funds it provided to GHF”.

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Shein opens investigation after shirt listing displayed image resembling Luigi Mangione

Company removed image on website that appeared to show Mangione in a white shirt reportedly priced just under $10

The clothing company Shein said it has opened an internal investigation after its website briefly displayed a shirt listing featuring an image resembling Luigi Mangione, the man accused of killing Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, in New York last year.

The image appeared to show Mangione in a short-sleeved white shirt, and the top was reportedly priced at just under $10.

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‘Greta, is there anything above us?’: Panic on the flotilla to Gaza | Watch – Ynetnews

  1. 'Greta, is there anything above us?': Panic on the flotilla to Gaza | Watch  Ynetnews
  2. LIVE: Sumud Flotilla with Greta Thunberg sails on to Gaza after drone scare  Al Jazeera
  3. Flotilla leaves Barcelona in biggest attempt yet to break Israeli blockade of Gaza  CNN
  4. Greta Thunberg flotilla won't be unloading anything on Gaza's beaches, warns expert  Fox News
  5. Aid flotilla taking Greta Thunberg, other activists to Gaza turns around due to stormy weather, organizers say  CBS News
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People banished to Nauru by Australia face hostile reception as $2.5bn cost of deal revealed

Home affairs department reveals just-signed transfer deal, worth $408m upfront to Nauru, forecast to cost Australia $2.5bn over 30 years

The group of noncitizens set to be banished by Australia to Nauru for 30 years face a potentially hostile reception because they have been described as “violent” and “appalling” by the Australian government.

The forcible transfer of the so-called NZYQ group – and potentially thousands more under legislation currently before parliament – to the tiny island is being quietly resented by Nauruans, sources on the island have told Guardian Australia.

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Russia’s Putin willing to meet Ukraine’s Zelenskyy if he ‘comes to Moscow’ – Euronews.com

  1. Russia's Putin willing to meet Ukraine's Zelenskyy if he 'comes to Moscow'  Euronews.com
  2. Putin says Russia will achieve all aims militarily if Ukraine does not agree deal  BBC
  3. Putin invites Zelenskyy to a meeting in Moscow for security talks as he bombs Ukraine  Fox News
  4. Putin tells Ukraine: End war via talks or I will end it by force  Reuters
  5. Ukraine war briefing: Kyiv offers retort to Putin for ‘messing around’ by demanding Moscow talks  The Guardian
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A summit and parade in China may signal a geopolitical shift. They might also be political jockeying – AP News

  1. A summit and parade in China may signal a geopolitical shift. They might also be political jockeying  AP News
  2. Trump’s belligerence is pushing Xi, Putin and Kim together – and tearing the old world order apart  The Guardian
  3. China’s new world order  Financial Times
  4. China's Xi pushes a new global order, flanked by leaders of Russia and India  Reuters
  5. News Wrap: China welcomes closest allies to annual security summit  PBS
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Georgian MP who accused west of ‘blackmail’ appointed security chief as report warns of autocratic takeover

Mamuka Mdinaradze appointed as study says his Georgian Dream party has consolidated control

A Georgian Dream MP who criticised the west over a “policy of blackmail and threats” has been appointed to lead the country’s security services as an authoritative report warned of an autocratic takeover.

Mamuka Mdinaradze, who was the parliamentary majority leader for the ruling party, was confirmed on Wednesday as head of the country’s powerful state security service.

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World’s biggest iceberg, A23a, has broken up – CNN

  1. World’s biggest iceberg, A23a, has broken up  CNN
  2. One of the world's biggest icebergs is finally breaking up after 40 years  Sky News
  3. World's largest iceberg, A23a, breaks. See satellite and aerial views.  USA Today
  4. 40-year-old 'queen of icebergs' A23a is no longer world's biggest after losing several 'very large chunks' since May  Live Science
  5. World’s biggest iceberg breaks up after 40 years  Valley News Live
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After Graham Linehan’s Arrest, Police Chief Says UK Should Clarify Free-Speech Laws – The New York Times

  1. After Graham Linehan’s Arrest, Police Chief Says UK Should Clarify Free-Speech Laws  The New York Times
  2. Met Police chief calls for law change after Graham Linehan arrest  BBC
  3. Top cop calls for law change after ‘The IT Crowd’ creator Graham Linehan arrested over ‘anti-trans’ posts  New York Post
  4. How Graham Linehan’s gender activism led to career armageddon  The Guardian
  5. UK comedy writer Graham Linehan arrested over social media posts criticizing trans activists  Fox News
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