Florida teenager charged with sexually assaulting and killing stepsister Anna Kepner on cruise ship

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Kepner’s body was found concealed under bed in a room she shared with two teens, including 16-year-old stepbrother

A 16-year-old boy has been charged with murder and aggravated sexual abuse in Florida in the 6 November death of his 18-year-old stepsister on a Carnival cruise ship, the US justice department said Monday.

Timothy Hudson was initially charged in February and subsequently indicted on 10 March. But the breadth of the case was not known until a seal was lifted Friday, weeks after US district judge Beth Bloom in Miami said he would be prosecuted as an adult at the request of the government.

Guardian staff contributed

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North Korean leader supervises missile tests from his naval destroyer – AP News

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  1. North Korean leader supervises missile tests from his naval destroyer  AP News
  2. North Korea tests cruise and anti-ship missiles from naval destroyer  Reuters
  3. North Korea's Kim Jong Un supervises missile tests from his naval destroyer  NBC News
  4. North Korea Tests New Weapons, Drawing Lessons from Iran War  The New York Times
  5. North Korea says its latest weapons tests included missiles with cluster-bomb warheads  AP News
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US starts naval blockade of Iranian ports after deadline passes

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Iran warns Americans they face higher pump prices due to prohibition imposed on Monday evening

The US blockade of ships using Iranian ports in the Gulf has come into effect, turning the six-week-old conflict between the US-Israeli coalition and Iran into a test of economic endurance.

US Central Command (Centcom) made no formal announcement of the start of the blockade but had said it begin on Monday at 5.30pm Iranian time and would apply to any ships entering or departing Iranian ports or coastal areas, while ships using non-Iranian ports would not be impeded.

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Rubio to host Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors for talks amid ceasefire effort – Axios

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  1. Rubio to host Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors for talks amid ceasefire effort  Axios
  2. Hezbollah leader urges Lebanon's government to cancel Israel talks as battle rages in strategic town  AP News
  3. U.S.-Iran Cease-fire Hezbollah Leader Says Lebanon Should Avoid Israel Talks, Vows Continued Fighting  Haaretz
  4. Israel Launches New Attacks in Lebanon, Days Ahead of Rare Direct Talks  The New York Times
  5. Who is Yechiel Leiter, Israel’s US envoy leading talks with Lebanon?  Al Jazeera
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Republican Tony Gonzales to step down from Congress amid expulsion threat

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Gonzales, who admitted affair with aide who later died by suicide, says he will file retirement from office on Tuesday

Representative Tony Gonzales, a Republican from Texas, announced on Monday he was stepping down from Congress after acknowledging an extramarital affair with a staffer.

Gonzales, who was facing a growing threat of expulsion by his colleagues, admitted last month that he had an affair with an aide who later died by suicide.

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‘Little progress’ in stopping drug drones at HMP Manchester, watchdog says

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Chief inspector for England and Wales says prison remains in ‘precarious state’ more than year after urgent notification

The Prison Service has made “very little progress” in enforcing a formal demand to stop drones from delivering drugs into one of its worst performing jails, a watchdog has concluded.

Charlie Taylor, the chief inspector of prisons for England and Wales, said HMP Manchester remained in a “precarious state” after a failure to fix broken windows and install security to stop contraband being delivered to gangs.

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UK households to be urged to use more power this summer as renewables soar

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Incentives to absorb surplus wind and solar energy could help balance the grid and lower bills

Households will be called on to boost their consumption of Great Britain’s record renewable energy this summer to help balance the power grid and lower energy bills.

Under the new plans, people could be encouraged to run dishwashers and washing machines or charge up their electric vehicles when there is more wind and solar power than the electricity grid needs.

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Cultural venues in England to share £130m under Arts Everywhere scheme

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Galleries, theatres, museums and libraries to benefit from largest cash injection into the arts for a decade

More than 100 cultural venues, museums, and libraries will share £130m extra funding as part of the largest cash injection into the arts for a decade, ministers have announced.

The investment forms part of the Arts Everywhere Fund, a £1.5bn package to support cultural infrastructure projects over the course of this parliament, which was announced by the culture secretary, Lisa Nandy, earlier this year. The fund aims to save more than 1,000 arts venues, museums, libraries and heritage buildings across England.

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Starmer’s ‘corrosive complacency’ on defence has put UK in peril, says ex-Nato chief

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George Robertson says Iran war should be wake-up call to address military underfunding in scathing remarks

The British government has shown a “corrosive complacency towards defence” and put the UK “in peril”, according to a government adviser, in fierce criticisms of Keir Starmer’s military policy.

The former Nato secretary general and author of the government’s strategic defence review, George Robertson, believes Starmer was “not willing to make the necessary investment”, the Financial Times has reported.

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NSW promises more fast chargers and electric trucks in revamped EV policy

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Premier Chris Minns says policy will give road users a ‘real alternative’ that’s cheaper than petrol

Electric truck development and building more stations to charge them will be core pillars of a state’s revamped electric vehicle strategy designed to ease the pressure of rising fuel costs.

The New South Wales government unveiled its 2026 EV strategy on Tuesday in an effort to give confidence to motorists hesitant about switching from their increasingly pricey petrol cars.

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