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Former Vice President Mike Pence, the onetime loyal sideman to twice-impeached ex-president Donald Trump, will kick off his own attempt to win election to the nation’s top job this week when he formally announces his campaign at a Des Moines, Iowa event on Wednesday. Mr Pence’s announcement will come just days after he made his candidacy official by filing the necessary paperwork with the Federal Election Commission. The ex-Indiana governor’s presidential ambitions are nothing new, with Mr Pence having teased a presidential run for months during a string of public appearances. But the advent of an actual campaign changes the Republican landscape by putting him in direct competition with Mr Trump, his former running-mate. Mr Pence, 63, served as a member of the House of Representatives between 2001 and 2013 and as Indiana’s governor between 2013 and 2017 but first rose to international attention as Mr Trump’s running-mate in 2016. The pair always made for an unlikely double act, with Mr Pence’s quiet, respectful demeanour and devout evangelical Christian faith utterly at odds with the trash-talking New Yorker’s taste for celebrity, glitzy decor and vulgar showmanship. But Mr Pence remained at his boss’ side throughout his tumultuous one-term presidency, a source of constant support until even his loyalty was tested beyond breaking point by the events of 6 January 2021. After losing the electoral vote to Democrat Joe Biden the previous November by 306 to 232 and the popular vote by 81.3 million ballots to 74.2 million, Mr Trump immediately and baselessly began to insist the contest had been “rigged” in a vast nationwide conspiracy orchestrated by his opponents. Two months of farcical legal proceedings led by a ragtag group of misfit attorneys — most notably among them ex-New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani — ended with a whimper, as Mr Trump’s allies entirely failed to offer a court any argument that satisfied the legal requirements to bring lawsuits challenging the election, much less any proof of the fraud they’d alleged. Increasingly desperate, the president was caught on tape exerting pressure on Georgia’s secretary of state to “find” additional votes in that crucial swing state, before turning his attention to his own deputy, Mr Pence, whom he called upon to weaponise his ceremonial position overseeing a joint session of Congress on 6 January to ratify the election results. Demanding that Mr Pence rule the election results null and void, Mr Trump piled on the public pressure in a series of tweets and in person on the campaign trail, presumably knowing his vice president was reluctant to follow orders. “I hope Mike Pence comes through for us,” Mr Trump said in Georgia. “I hope our great vice president comes through for us. He’s a great guy. Of course, if he doesn’t come through, I won’t like him very much.” Mr Pence refused to comply, instead writing a letter to Congress in which he explained: “I do not believe that the founders of our country intended to invest the vice president with unilateral authority to decide which electoral votes should be counted during the joint session of Congress, and no vice president in American history has ever asserted such authority.” On the day the US Capitol was stormed by enraged Trump supporters attempting to stop the ratification, some participants even erected a gallows and chanted “Hang Mike Pence!” on the National Mall. “To those who wreaked havoc in our Capitol today: you did not win,” Mr Pence responded in the aftermath, sounding far more presidential than Mr Trump. “Violence never wins. Freedom wins. And this is still the people’s house. And as we reconvene in this chamber the world will again witness the resilience and strength of our democracy.” The two men held clear-the-air talks five days after the failed insurrection but their relationship has clearly never recovered. Speaking at a Republican dinner in New Hampshire in June 2021, Mr Pence told his audience: “You know, President Trump and I have spoken many times since we left office. And I don’t know if we’ll ever see eye to eye on that day.” Mr Pence was born in Columbus, Indiana, on 7 June 1959, one of six children born to Edward and Nancy Pence and is a graduate of Hanover College and the Indiana University School of Law. He married his wife Karen in 1985 and the couple have three children: Michael, Charlotte and Audrey. His net wealth has been estimated at $4m, modest compared to some prominent politicians, but has been enhanced post-presidency after he signed a two-book deal with publishing giant Simon & Schuster, thought to be worth around $3-4m, according to industry insiders. Mr Pence will now find himself in competition not only with Mr Trump but also the likes of Florida governor Ron DeSantis, former US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley, South Carolina senator Tim Scott, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and ex-radio pundit Larry Elder. Ex-New Jersey governor Chris Christie is expected to enter the GOP primary race this week as well. Read More Mike Pence files paperwork to jump into crowded 2024 GOP primary race DeSantis, Pence and other GOP 2024 hopefuls, but not Trump, set to appear at Iowa rally Trump reacts to report Pence won’t face charges for classified documents: ‘I’m at least as innocent as he is’ Ivanka and Jared split over attending Trump 2024 launch – follow live Why was Donald Trump impeached twice during his first term? Four big lies Trump told during his 2024 presidential announcement

KYIV (Reuters) -President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged the Vatican on Tuesday to contribute to the implementation of a Ukrainian peace plan

Democrat presidential candidate and notable anti-vaccine advocate Robert F Kennedy Jr joined Elon Musk and David Sacks on Twitter Spaces on Monday 5 June to discuss the former’s bid for the White House. Mr Kennedy was also joined by Tulsi Gabbard, Balaji Srinivasan, Omeed Malik, Michael Shellenberger and Kelly Slater at the event. The Twitter Spaces event comes just weeks after Mr Musk and Mr Sacks hosted and moderated a similar audio listening event with presidential candidate Ron DeSantis, where he launched his own campaign. Notably, the Spaces session was filled with technological glitches, which Mr Sacks attributed to a high volume of listeners. Following the event, Mr Musk welcomed all candidates onto Twitter and said he would be open to hosting other candidates on Twitter Spaces. But some were unhappy with Mr Musk’s decision to host Mr Kennedy as he has been previously banned from social platforms for spreading misinformation.

Casey DeSantis, Florida’s first lady and the wife of aspiring Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis, has been branded a “Walmart Melania” after she wore a leather jacket emblazoned with a map of the Sunshine State, an alligator and the legend “Where woke goes to die” during a campaign stop in Iowa to promote her husband. Ms DeSantis wore the offending jacket in Des Moines at a “Roast and Ride” event hosted by state senator Joni Ernst. The gesture recalled former US first lady Melania Trump wearing a jacket that said “I really don’t care. Do you?” while child immigrants were being cruelly separated from their families at the Texas border during her husband Donald Trump’s presidency. “Walmart Melania made herself fair game when she put on this jacket,” one Twitter user wrote, while another prominent account tweeted: “Behind every Republican man, there’s a Republican woman selling out her sisterhood.” Meanwhile, a Vice documentary about the candidate’s earlier career as a US Navy lawyer serving at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility in Cuba has been mysteriously dropped from Showtime’s schedules, according to The Hollywood Reporter, with no explanation given. Read More DeSantis defines ‘woke’ after Trump claimed ‘half the people can’t’ DeSantis condemns Trump for congratulating ‘murderous dictator’ Kim Jong-un Transgender adults in Florida `blindsided' that new law also limits their access to health care DeSantis, Pence and other GOP 2024 hopefuls, but not Trump, set to appear at Iowa rally

Investigators in Boston have used DNA analysis to identify and charge a suspect in the sexual assaults of four women whose cases have gone unsolved for over a decade, according to prosecutors.

Two members of Donald Trump’s legal team, Evan Corcoran and Lindsey Halligan, were spotted entering the Washington DC headquarters of the Department of Justice late on Monday morning as the agency continues its investigations into their employer and his handling of classified documents post-presidency. Meanwhile, federal investigators taking part in the probe are reportedly training their attention on an employee at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida, who, in the process of draining a swimming pool on the property last year, flooded a room where computer servers containing video surveillance logs were stored. Investigators are said to have asked at least one witness about the episode but it is as yet unclear whether the flooding of the server room is being treated as suspicious or an accident. Responding in an all-caps meltdown on Truth Social, Mr Trump raged: “HOW CAN DOJ POSSIBLY CHARGE ME, WHO DID NOTHING WRONG, WHEN NO OTHER PRESIDENT’S WERE CHARGED?” Also on Monday, his estranged former deputy Mike Pence filed the necessary paperworks with the Federal Election Commission to commence a presidential bid of his own, which is likely to be formally announced on Wednesday. Read More Trump makes misleading claim that New York hush money case could be dropped DeSantis defines ‘woke’ after Trump claimed ‘half the people can’t’ DeSantis condemns Trump for congratulating ‘murderous dictator’ Kim Jong-un Marjorie Taylor Greene U-turns on release of Jan 6 tapes - saying she’s worried about Capitol security

South Africa’s state power utility temporarily suspended electricity cuts because of an improvement in available generation capacity. Outages

The Southeast Asian island nation's only race course will hold its final meeting next year.

A Black mother of four was shot dead through a closed door in Florida after a dispute with a white neighbour who had earlier allegedly bombarded her children with “racial slurs”. Ajike “AJ” Owens, a resident of Ocala, had an ongoing dispute with her neighbour over her children walking over her ground, according to local officials. Police did not name the neighbour, but CNN cited an incident report that identified her as a 58-year-old white woman. According to family and witness accounts, Owens had knocked on the door of the woman living next to her on Friday to get an iPad back that her children had left behind, when she was shot from the other side. She was with her nine-year-old son when the incident happened, according to the family. Owens was taken to the hospital where she was later pronounced dead, police said. Authorities received a call for trespassing, and when they arrived, they saw a woman with a gunshot wound, said Marion County sheriff Billy Woods in a news conference on Monday. No arrest has been made so far in the case, according to Ben Crump, one of the attorneys representing the family, who called the killing “appalling”. “It is asinine when they try to justify this unjustifiable killing of this mother of four who was killed in front of her children,” Mr Crump told MSNBC on Monday. “It is heartbreaking on every level.” Mr Woods said his office was working to determine what role the state’s “stand your ground” laws might play in the shooting. The Florida law allows people to use lethal force if they believe their or someone else’s life is in danger. “Any time that we think or perceive or believe that that might come into play, we cannot make an arrest. The law specifically says that,” he said in the Monday briefing. “And what we have to rule out is whether this deadly force was justified or not before we can even make the arrest.” He said there was an ongoing “neighbourhood feud” between the two families and police had received about a half dozen calls since January 2021. In a news conference held by Owens’s family attorneys on Monday, the victim’s mother said the neighbour accused of shooting her daughter had called the family, including the children, racial slurs. The neighbour’s door “never opened” when Owens tried to confront her, and she was shot through the door, said Pamela Dias, the victim’s mother. “My daughter, my grandchildren’s mother, was shot and killed with her nine-year-old son standing next to her. She had no weapon, she posed no imminent threat to anyone,” Ms Dias said. “What I’m asking is for justice,” she said. “Justice for my daughter.” A GoFundMe page set up by the family for Owens’s funeral expenses and education of children has raised a little more than $42,000 out of the $25,000 target so far. According to the family, Owens’s children were playing in a field next to an Ocala apartment complex when the 58-year-old white woman allegedly began yelling at them and calling them racial slurs. The children left, but “accidentally left an iPad behind, which the woman took”, said the GoFundMe page. When one of the children went to her residence to retrieve it, the woman allegedly threw it, hitting the boy and cracking the screen. After Owens’s children informed her of what happened, she walked across the street with her kids to speak to the woman. She knocked on the door, and at that point, she was shot through the door. Read More What we know about the three gunmen on the run and the two men arrested over Florida mass shooting Racist abuse of Vinícius Júnior highlights entrenched problem in soccer How Republicans and right-wing media turned Jordan Neely’s killer into a hero ‘License to kill’: How ‘Stand Your Ground’ gun laws are fuelling random shootings and racism across the US Distrust in America: Small mistakes, deep fear — and gunfire Plane passenger escorted from Florida flight after erupting over crying baby

GSK said on Tuesday that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had granted file acceptance for its cancer

When Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis delivered his initial speech as a declared presidential candidate in Iowa last week, his first 15 minutes succinctly previewed how Republicans might defeat President Joe Biden next year.

A private plane carrying 20 migrants from Texas arrived in California's capital city of Sacramento Monday morning, officials said -- the second such arrival of migrants in the city from a conservative state in several days.