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Donald Trump has picked World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) co-founder and his transition co-chair, Linda McMahon, as his nominee for education secretary. A long-time Trump ally, McMahon led the Small Business Administration during Trump's first presidency and donated millions of dollars to his presidential campaign. Announcing his pick on Truth Social, Trump said McMahon would "use her decades of leadership experience, and deep understanding of both Education and Business, to empower the next Generation of American Students and Workers". Trump has criticised the Department of Education, and has promised to close it down - a job McMahon could be tasked with. Her nomination came shortly after Trump chose Mehmet Oz, a celebrity doctor and former television host, to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The two selections on Tuesday, along with Trump's choice of Howard Lutnick for commerce secretary, follows a pattern of the president-elect nominating loyal supporters to top roles in his cabinet.
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President-elect Donald Trump has nominated former congressman and Fox Business host Sean Duffy to lead the Department of Transportation. Duffy, who was one of Trump's most vocal defenders on cable news, is the second Fox commentator to be picked for the incoming cabinet. If confirmed, he will take charge of aviation, automotive, rail, transit and other transportation policies at the transport department, with a roughly $110bn (£86bn) annual budget. "Sean has been a tremendous and well-liked public servant," Trump wrote in an announcement on Truth Social, adding Duffy was "admired across the aisle".
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The struggling genetic testing company 23andMe says it will cut 40% of its workforce, or 200 jobs, as it fights for survival. The once-popular DNA-testing site will also halt work on therapies it was developing. Last year, the company said hackers had managed to gain access to personal information of millions of its users. 23andMe's share price has fallen by more than 70% this year, as its co-founder and chief executive Anne Wojcicki tries to turn the business around. The company said it expected to incur one-off costs of $12m (£9.3m), including severance pay, for the plan that will result in savings of $35m. "We are taking these difficult but necessary actions as we restructure 23andMe and focus on the long-term success of our core consumer business and research partnerships," Ms Wojcicki said.
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The leader of a notorious gang of football hooligans in Argentina has been shot dead near his club's stadium in Rosario. Andrés Bracamonte, known as Pillín, had spent more than 20 years as head of the Rosario Central supporters' gang and had a history of taking part in violent conflicts with rival hooligans. He and his deputy, Daniel "Rana" Atardo, were just four blocks from the Gigante de Arroyito stadium when they were gunned down by a motorcyclist on Saturday. Rosario Central had just played a league match, but Bracamonte did not attend it. He had been banned from matches because of previous incidents and had been accused of money-laundering and extortion by Argentine authorities. The two men were taken to the local Centenario Hospital, but doctors were unable to save their lives. Bracamonte's killing was widely reported by Argentine media, who described it as a settling of scores.
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A series of parcel fires targeting courier companies in Poland, Germany and the UK were dry runs aimed at sabotaging flights to the US and Canada, Polish prosecutors say. Katarzyna Calow-Jaszewska revealed late last month that four people had been arrested and authorities across Europe were investigating the incidents. Western security officials have now told US media they believe the fires - which happened in July - were part of an orchestrated campaign by Russia’s military intelligence agency, the GRU.
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America is choosing its path forward, and the stakes could not be higher. Both candidates have presented stark visions for the future if they lose this election. Donald Trump says the country will "go to hell" and become "communist immediately" if he loses, while Kamala Harris describes her opponent as a "fascist" who wants "unchecked power". Voters in the key battleground states have been bombarded by campaign ads, much of it designed to induce fear. Given this climate, it is no wonder surveyed Americans are reporting high levels of anxiety. "I do believe they're making us live in fear just to get our vote," Heather Soucek told me in Wisconsin as election day loomed. She lives in a swing county in a swing state, and plans to back Trump because, in her words, Harris's economic plans are "scary". But just along the street, I also met Tracy Andropolis, a registered independent who said she would vote for Harris. "It's one of the most important elections in my lifetime.
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The king and queen of Spain have been pelted with mud and other objects by angry protesters during a visit to flood-hit Valencia. Shouts of "murderer" and "shame" were directed at the royal couple as they walked through the town of Paiporta - one of the worst-affected in the region. Objects were also thrown at Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who was quickly evacuated. More than 200 people were killed in the floods, the worst in Spain for decades. Emergency workers are continuing to comb through underground car parks and tunnels in the hope of finding survivors and recovering bodies.
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Former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte has admitted that he kept a "death squad" to crack down on crime while mayor of one of the country's largest cities. In his first testimony before an official investigation on his so-called war on drugs, the 79-year-old said the squad was made of gangsters, adding that he would tell them "kill this person, because if you do not, I will kill you now". Duterte won the presidency by a landslide in 2016 on the promise of replicating his anti-crime campaign in Davao city on a national scale. The nationwide drug war saw thousands of suspects killed in controversial police operations and is now being investigated by the International Criminal Court.
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This year’s CBD COP marks a pivotal moment to address the biodiversity crisis and highlight the urgent need to include land and environmental defenders – who are on the front lines of biodiversity protection – as key players in the fight to preserve our planet’s ecosystems. According to our latest annual land and environmental defenders report, Colombia remains the world’s deadliest country for defenders, with 79 murders reported in 2023 – accounting for 40% of all cases worldwide. This is the highest annual toll documented by Global Witness since we began reporting on these killings in 2012.
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More than a year after Hamas’ devastating October 7 attacks on Israel, the country’s military said Thursday it had killed the man it considers to have been the chief architect of that cross-border massacre – raising questions about the future of the war and of the militant group itself, which has faced blow after blow in recent months. The death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar could pose a rare opportunity to strike a ceasefire, US officials say – with Israel having killed several other top Hamas commanders including Ismail Haniyeh, the group’s former political leader, as well as leaders of militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon. Hamas and Hezbollah are both part of an axis of militant groups backed by Iran.
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In late September, as Israel’s nearly year-long war widened and its credit rating was downgraded yet again, the country’s finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, said that, while Israel’s economy was under strain, it was resilient. “Israel’s economy bears the burden of the longest and most expensive war in the country’s history,” Smotrich said on September 28, a day after Israeli airstrikes killed Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah in Lebanon’s capital Beirut, ratcheting fears that tensions with the militant group would turn into a full-blown conflict. “The Israeli economy is a strong economy that even today attracts investments.” Almost a year after Hamas’ deadly attack on October 7, Israel is pushing forward on multiple fronts: launching a ground incursion against Hezbollah in Lebanon, carrying out airstrikes in Gaza and Beirut, and threatening retaliation for Iran’s ballistic missile attack earlier this week.
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Pope Francis has pledged to root out the “scourge” of clerical sexual abuse after Belgium’s prime minster urged him in unusually frank terms to take concrete action. Francis was addressing political leaders on Friday at the official residence of the King of Belgium, a country where devastating clerical abuse scandals have erupted in recent years. Before he spoke, both the Belgian king and Prime Minister Alexander de Croo raised the issue in their speeches, the latter speaking directly to the pope, in remarks that underline how the abuse crisis has come to dominate Belgian national attention.
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A man narrowly survived after being dragged to the bottom of a river and “thrown through the air like a rag doll” when he was attacked by hippo while canoeing on holiday in Zambia. Roland Cherry, who was on a five-week holiday through southern Africa with his wife, Shirley, sustained severe bite wounds across his body, including a 25cm (10in) wound to his abdomen, as well as a thigh injury and dislocated shoulder in the attack. Nurses at a hospital in Johannesburg, South Africa, where the 63-year-old was later taken for treatment, said they had never met a survivor of a hippo attack, as most were fatal.
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Is it one step forward and two back for Erik ten Hag and Manchester United? After bouncing into the summer on the back of an FA Cup final victory, a show of support for the manager and more money spent on new signings, there was a distinct air of optimism around Old Trafford when the new campaign began. Yet just seven games in, familiar noises are starting to come out of Old Trafford to explain away below-par results. A smattering of boos at the final whistle of the Europa League draw with Dutch side Twente does not suggest a mutinous mood in the stands exists just yet. But to hear manager Ten Hag agreeing with Christian Eriksen’s post-match assessment of the 1-1 outcome - that Twente "wanted it more" - does not bode well. "It was far from good enough," said Eriksen. "They looked like they wanted it more – that can't be right. "We didn't lose but it feels like a loss."
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A top Hezbollah military commander was killed in an Israeli air strike on the Lebanese capital Beirut on Friday, in a major escalation that has added to fears of an all-out war. Hezbollah confirmed Ibrahim Aqil's death after Israel said he was one of several senior Hezbollah figures killed in the strike. Earlier, Lebanese officials said at least 14 people were killed and dozens injured in the strike that hit the densely populated Dahieh area, a stronghold of the Iran-backed group in the city’s southern suburbs. A senior UN official has warned that the Middle East is at risk of a conflict that could "dwarf" the devastation witnessed in the region so far. Political affairs chief Rosemary DiCarlo was speaking at a session of the Security Council following this week's attacks which saw Hezbollah's pagers and walkie-talkies explode, killing at least 37 people.
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ebanon is reeling after facing deadly back-to-back attacks targeting Hezbollah members – with pagers simultaneously exploding across the country on Tuesday, then walkie-talkies detonating in a similar fashion on Wednesday. Panic, fear and grief have now gripped the country, with questions swirling about how the attacks could have been carried out, where the devices came from, and whether this latest development could plunge the Middle East into a wider regional conflict. At least 32 people, including children, have died so far from the two attacks, which Lebanese officials have blamed on Israel. Thousands more are injured – many maimed and in critical condition after communications devices exploded in their pockets or in their face.
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At least 274 inmates have escaped from a prison in Nigeria’s Borno state following heavy flooding, the Nigerian Correctional Service said Sunday. “The flood brought down the walls of the correctional facilities, including the medium security custodial center Maiduguri (MSCC) as well as the staff quarters in the city,” the service spokesman Abubakar Umar said in a statement. According to Umar, at least 281 inmates managed to escape while they were being transferred to “a safe and secure facility” and seven of them were recaptured later.
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A missile was launched from Yemen into central Israel on Sunday morning, according to the Israeli military, in a rare instance of a missile penetrating so far into the country’s territory since its war in Gaza began. The projectile crossed into Israeli territory and fell in an open area in central Israel, with no injuries reported, according to the Israel Defense Forces. Explosion sounds heard in the area originated from Israeli military interceptions, the IDF said, adding that it is still checking “the results of the interception.” Videos and images shared by the Israel Fire and Rescue Authority on Telegram show large plumes of smoke billowing into the air over an open field, and shattered glass inside a train station in Modi’in, a city between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
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World number one Nelly Korda led from the front as the United States dominated a disappointing Europe on the opening day of the Solheim Cup in Virginia. Korda was in irresistible form, winning both her matches as the home side took both sessions 3-1 to lead 6-2 - a record margin for day one of the contest. She teamed up with Allisen Corpuz to claim the first point in the alternate shot foursomes and was then victorious with Megan Khang in the afternoon fourballs. For Europe it was a largely bruising day. It had begun with captain Suzann Pettersen enthusiastically dancing to YMCA on the first tee as dawn broke over Lake Manassas and the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club. It ended with her sounding flat as she delivered a "we have done it before and we can do it again" assessment of Europe's tough task ahead.
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Kamala Harris is leaning into a little-known aspect of her biography - the fact that she is a gun owner - to stake out ground on the issue of firearms control. The Democratic presidential nominee supports universal background checks, so-called "red flag" laws and a ban on assault weapons, but critics are honing in on her past support for a mandatory buyback of semi-automatic rifles. After Donald Trump claimed during their Tuesday debate she would "confiscate everybody's gun" if elected, Harris replied that both she and running mate Tim Walz own guns. "We’re not taking anyone’s guns away, so stop with the continuous lying about this stuff," she said. Gun control remains among the most contentious issues in American politics but has largely taken a backseat to other policy areas this election. The question raised during Tuesday's debate over where exactly Harris stands was the first time the issue has even come up in a 2024 debate.
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