Secretary of State Antony Blinken is visiting the tiny kingdom of Tonga as the United States continues to increase its diplomatic efforts in the Pacific while China’s influence in the region grows

Federal health advisers are debating a first-of-its-kind RSV vaccine to protect newborns by immunizing their moms late in pregnancy

In a video sent to the BBC Urfan Sharif and his partner describe Sara's death as an "incident".

PARIS France, already on its highest security alert, is to boost security at airports around the capital and

By Daniel Trotta A U.S. judge on Wednesday struck down a Florida rule and a statute that banned

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The word “jingle” doesn’t usually strike fury in the hearts of many until around September, when the first Christmas tunes are prematurely blasted from supermarket speakers. And yet, “jingle and mingle” has suddenly become the most rage-inducing phrase in the UK. We have the Conservative Party to thank for this and, more specifically, a festive gathering back in 2020. While the rest of us gorged on chocolate fingers and binge-watched Bridgerton alone rather than take the train to be with our loved ones over Christmas, Tory activists were pulling crackers and dancing to the Pogues. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Some 30 people over at Conservative HQ were invited to the 14 December event, despite London being under Tier-2 Covid restrictions at the time – meaning no indoor socialising. The BBC has even got hold of an invitation to the “jingle and mingle” party, which states that recipients should “save the date” for the “Shaun Bailey for London Holiday Party”. Lest we forget, Bailey’s mayoral campaign ended in failure - and it's taken some two-and-a-half years for the extent of the shindig to come to light. Over the weekend, the Mirror published a video taken at the soirée in which a pair of colleagues can be seen joyfully dancing to ‘Fairytale of New York’ while another person can be heard saying it is OK to film "as long as we don't stream that we're, like, bending the rules." “Bending the rules” is a pretty generous way of putting it, as hoards of angry Twitter users have pointed out. Here’s a look at some of the reaction to the latest twist in the partygate scandal: For anyone wanting a reminder of Boris Johnson’s prime ministerial Christmas message that year, here’s what he said... “At the end of this extraordinary year, I want to say something about the meaning of Christmas because I've never known a Christmas like it, not in my lifetime, and I bet not in yours either. “And in most years, it's a moment for togetherness and celebration in which the generations are jumbled together in the same household for days on end, putting crackers, snogging under the missile toe, you name it. And yet this year, that is the one type of Christmas we simply cannot afford to have.” Cough, cough. Prime Minister's 2020 Christmas message www.youtube.com He went on: “It grieved me because I think everyone hoped and prayed, I certainly did, that things could be, if not normal, then as normal as possible for as many families as possible. And yet we have had to confront the reality of the new strain of Covid, the speed with which it spreads. And I bet you agree that we had no choice but to take action. “And therefore to all those who may be feeling momentarily, cast down or a bit exhausted or frankly in need of any kind of cheering up, I want to talk about what for me is the deeper meaning of Christmas, this amazing festival at the turn of the year. Because it's not about presents or turkey or brandy butter – much though I like all of that kind of stuff – it's about hope, it's about a basic idea of rebirth and renewal. “And though we may not be able to celebrate as normal this year, I still think that feeling of hope is all around us this Christmas because there really is a star in the sky and it is glowing, brighter and brighter. And you know what it is? It's thanks to the efforts of wise men and wise women in the East and elsewhere, we have a vaccine and we know that we're going to succeed in beating coronavirus, annd that these privations that we're going through are temporary, and we know that next year really will be better. “And we know that there will be people alive next Christmas, people we love alive next Christmas precisely because we made the sacrifice and didn't celebrate as normal this Christmas and see them in the way that we would've done.” Looking at that “jingle and mingle” footage again, we find ourselves sickened and speechless. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Heather Glenn was trying to detain 34-year-old Sean Hubert at Perry County Memorial Hospital when she was fatally shot

KHARTOUM (Reuters) -Heavy air strikes pounded southern areas of Sudan's capital on Thursday as clashes flared near a military camp,

Russia’s prized Black Sea Fleet is struggling to contend with threats to Ukraine’s southern flank, according to British military intelligence. In its morning briefing, the Ministry of Defence said: “In recent weeks, the Naval Aviation component of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet has assumed a particularly important role in the Fleet’s operations as it struggles to deal with concurrent threats on the southern flank of the Ukraine war. “Naval Aviation is emphasising maritime air patrol operations, highly likely with a primary mission of the early identification of uncrewed surface vessels.” The MoD’s latest update comes after a person was killed and six injured, including two children, as Russian shelling continued to hammer Ukraine‘s southern region of Kherson overnight. On the Telegram messaging app the governor, Oleksandr Prokudin, said Russian forces had launched 71 attacks in the past 24 hours, “aimed at the residential districts”, as well as shops and medical infrastructure, among other establishments. Twenty of the air and land attacks targeted the city of Kherson, the region’s administrative district, the governor added, while authorities promptly doused a fire sparked by shelling early on Monday. Read More Congress didn't include funds for Ukraine in its spending bill. How will that affect the war? Ukraine is increasing the pressure on Putin – it cannot afford support from the West to slip now Wagner succession: Yevgeny Prigozhin’s son ‘set to be next mercenary boss’ Elon Musk mocked by Ukraine’s parliament over tweet taunting Zelensky

Offset also appreciated Quavo for putting in the energy and time to make everything best as he took care of lighting and stage positioning