LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Wednesday that he has “confidence” in the country’s ambassador to the United States, who faces mounting criticism of his links to the convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Starmer’s defense of Peter Mandelson came after Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released a 50th birthday album compiled in 2003 for Epstein, who at the time was a wealthy and well-connected financier. In that album, Mandelson — in a handwritten note — called Epstein “my best pal.”

 

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MEXICO CITY (Xinhua) - Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum has once again criticized the latest raids against migrants in the United States as “unjust”, reiterating that her government has protocols in place to aid affected Mexican nationals. At her regular daily press conference, Sheinbaum said that following such incidents, an alert has been issued to Mexico’s envoys in the U.S., who immediately contact local officials to verify whether any Mexican nationals have been detained. She stressed that the raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection are “unjust.”

 

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MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australia will spend 1.7 billion $1.1 billion on building dozens of locally developed underwater attack drones, Defense Minister Richard Marles said on Wednesday. The first of the stealthy, long-range Ghost Sharks will be delivered to the Australian navy in January next year under a five-year contract with Sydney-based Anduril Australia, Marles said. “Australia is leading the world in terms of autonomous, underwater military capabilities,” Marles told reporters in Sydney.

 

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WASHINGTON (AP) - A 13-year-old boy described by police as obsessed with school shooters was arrested on multiple firearms possession charges and causing a threat after they say they found social media posts about intentions to kill and seized 23 guns and ammunition from his home. The boy pleaded not guilty to a total of five charges, four of them felonies, in juvenile court on Monday. He was arrested over the weekend in Washington’s Pierce County.

 

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Only one in four Americans believe that recent recommendations for fewer vaccines from President Donald Trump’s administration were based on scientific evidence and facts, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll.

The administration, while still in the process of setting new vaccination policies, has signaled that young and healthy people and pregnant women shouldn’t get shots for the COVID-19 virus. That marks a reversal of a historic vaccination drive against the sickness that Trump, a Republican, started at the tail end of his 2017-2021 presidential term.

 

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MADRID (AP) - Spain’s government has approved a proposal to ban smoking and vaping in outdoor spaces including bar terraces, parks and outside schools in a move to protect public health. Smoking will also be outlawed at concerts, festivals, university campuses and outside medical centers and transport stations, the health ministry said in a statement. The draft law also seeks to ban minors from consuming tobacco as well as preventing the advertising, promotion or sponsoring of tobacco products, which pose severe health risks including cancer.