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Ron DeSantis is officially running for president, and on Tuesday landed in the early caucus state of Iowa to give voters a preview of what his campaign will look like. What that shaped up to be in Des Moines was largely what analysts had expected for months: a bid for higher office that leans into Republican culture war battles and as far away from direct confrontation with the incumbent de facto leader of the party, Donald Trump. Mr DeSantis spoke to an enthusiastic crowd that cheered enthusiastically at his vows to score major wins on those issues like LGBT+ rights and “critical race theory”, but less for his veiled shots at the former president, who was never mentioned by name for obvious fear of losing the audience. The governor instead heaped his criticism on Joe Biden and the administrative state which he hinted that Mr Trump had failed to rein in. He was joined by his wife, Casey, and a handful of state-level elected officials — a preview of the battle that is no doubt shaping up in the state where the governor will have his first (and potentially only) real chance to prove that he can credibly compete with the former president, who has turned his fire wholly on his top rival in recent weeks amid continued polling showing the governor falling further behind him. Here are five things you should remember about Tuesday night’s rally going forward into the 2024 primary season: 1. DeSantis was backed by powerful state officials In a clear coup for the DeSantis campaign, the Florida governor charged into his rally on Tuesday backed by both Iowa’s governor and lieutenant governor, Kim Reynolds and and Adam Gregg respectively. To be clear: in a pre-Trump political world, this would be a massive advantage for any candidate to have. Winning the endorsements of the two highest-level officials in state government, let alone at one’s launch rally, is a sign of political dominance that would make any candidate other than Donald Trump think twice about even competing in the state. But Mr Trump is no ordinary opponent, and his continued star power in the GOP far outstrips that of any GOP statewide official — even at home. The former president’s endorsement hasn’t proven to be ironclad, seeing key defeats to opponents of Mr Trump on various sides of the political spectrum in 2022, but it’s fair to say that Mr Trump remains a credible competitor, even perhaps the frontrunner, to win in Iowa regardless of Ms Reynolds and Mr Gregg’s endorsements. 2. The governor won’t touch Trump Mr DeSantis was more than eager to turn his sights on Joe Biden and the actions of his administration during the speech. Not so much for Mr Trump, who was not mentioned by name at all in the governor’s remarks. The desire of Mr DeSantis to avoid a confrontation with the former president might be more convincing, however, had he not indirectly referenced Mr Trump multiple times during his remarks — including at one moment when he asserted that four years in office was simply insufficient to rein in America’s bureaucracy. Even George Washington, the governor charged, would be unable to do so in that amount of time. Mr DeSantis’s tone notably changed when speaking to reporters after the event ended — “He used to say how great Florida was... Hell, his whole family moved to Florida under my governorship,” he noted of the former president. But that fire has yet to emerge in front of those who actually decide elections: voters. The governor therefore appears to be largely stuck in limbo; unwilling or unable to land a blow against Mr Trump when it counts, but more than cognisant of his need to do so. 3. Culture wars rise to the top The greatest targets for criticism on Tuesday were not Mr Biden or his team in the White House at all. Mr DeSantis reserved his harshest tone for so-called “woke” ideologies such as support for LGBT+ rights among public officials and private businesses. He vowed to purge any teachings he deemed remotely “inappropriate” for children from schools, and pledged to do the same to the military and other federal agencies if elected president. This is Mr DeSantis’s true strategy: master the issues that make GOP voters the angriest, and bet that it will propel him not just through a primary race against Donald Trump but to the White House against Joe Biden as well. The governor argued that keeping the attention on these issues and presenting a “positive” alternative to Mr Biden’s vision for America would be their ticket to a victory. 4. Pressure against Republicans on the debt ceiling After Donald Trump came out and said that Republicans in Congress should “do a default” unless they score significant concessions from Democrats in legislation to raise the debt ceiling this week, Mr DeSantis upped the ante further and declared on Tuesday that Republicans should oppose the idea entirely. He railed at the idea of raising America’s debt ceiling by $4 trillion and warned that the GOP’s existing cuts to spending secured in a Saturday-night deal between Joe Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy were not enough — America would still be spiralling towards bankruptcy, he asserted. Expect that to raise the stakes for hardline conservatives in Washington this week as Mr McCarthy hopes to whip as many votes as possible in his caucus to support the bill aimed at averting a default on the US’s loans. 5. Leaning on parents in the battle for suburbia One last interesting theme that Mr DeSantis’s rally touched on multiple times was the idea of families and parents having sovereignty over their kids, their local schools, and other entities. It was hardly a surprising point for the Florida governor to tout, given his signing into law several bills affecting the teachings allowed in schools in the Sunshine State which have been decried by the NAACP and other organisations. But it also played into another larger dynamic that has been playing out across the country for several years. The governor’s repeated statements of support for parents and his efforts to draw support from conservative-aligned education activists are part of the greater GOP’s response to a trend that quickened sharply under Donald Trump’s presidency: the blue-ing of America’s suburbs, which have trended steadily Democratic in recent years while the party simultaneously lost its grip on blue collar voters in the Rust Belt and other areas. His strategy mirrors the one pursued by Virginia’s Glenn Youngkin in 2021, which led to Mr Youngkin beating out former Gov Terry McCaulife and becoming the first Republican to win a statewide election in that purple state since 2009. Read More DeSantis hits familiar targets of Fauci, Disney and ‘wokeism’ in first rally as 2024 candidate Ron DeSantis called out for ‘ignoring’ Hollywood beach shooting: ‘He doesn’t care’ LGBTQ people are fleeing Florida in ‘mass migration’ with some fundraising via GoFundMe 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

Governor Ron DeSantis was in Iowa on Tuesday for his first rally of the 2024 Republican primary cycle — but his remarks were clearly aimed at a general election audience. The conservative governor punched at a whole host of familiar GOP foes during the evening event in west Des Moines, where voters will have the first crack at the Republican field of 2024 candidates. But Mr DeSantis himself did not swipe at any of those rivals. Instead, he focused his fire on the news media, the federal government and its related bureaucracy, and even the Disney corporation which has become embroiled in a feud with him in his home state. His list of targets was a choice selection of Republican red meat. Dr Anthony Fauci, Hunter Biden, critical race theory, “gender ideology” and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives were all up for skewering. So too was George Soros, the Jewish billionaire whose involvement in Democratic-leaning politics has spawned a host of antisemitic conspiracy theories on the right; Mr DeSantis attacked “Soros-backed prosecutors” who he blamed for supposedly refusing to enforce laws of which they disapprove. It was a campaign speech that had all the signs of both the strengths that propelled Mr DeSantis to victory twice in Florida as well as the weaknesses which may very well doom his 2024 bid for the presidency unless a major change in the status quo takes place. The main weakness it highlighted: Mr DeSantis’s unwillingness to engage in a direct fight with Donald Trump, his presumed rival for the GOP nomination. Mr Trump remains the steady favourite in all available polling of the upcoming contest, and it is difficult to see how the Florida governor reverses his recent polling slide without confronting the former president by name. That was one thing Mr DeSantis avoided completely on Tuesday, a fact that drew into question his claim to be willing to stand up to any rival or political foe who came forth. Worse, the governor took a few veiled shots at the leading candidate — references to a single term in the White House being insufficient to clear out the “swamp” in Washington, blame for “empower[ing]” Republican foes like Dr Fauci — but those attacks failed to draw serious blood and left watchers of the address wondering why Mr DeSantis is so hesitant to call out the man who has been personally and politcally degrading him in statements for weeks. “If you are faced with a destructive bureaucrat in your midst like a Fauci, you do not empower somebody like Fauci, you bring him into the office and you tell him to pack his bags, you are fired,” said the governor in one half-hearted attempt at landing a blow on his rival. In another: “At the end of the day leadership is not about entertainment. It's not about building a brand. It's not about virtue signaling. It is about results. And in Florida, we didn't lead with merely words. We followed up our words with deeds, and we have produced a record of accomplishment that we would put up against anybody in this country.“ Those references were about as direct as Mr DeSantis came during his address, which was broken up by remarks from the potential future first lady, Casey DeSantis. The governor’s wife proved to be a charismatic presence on the stage in her own right, and came close to overshadowing her slower-paced husband with her political screed and quick joking references to the couple’s children. It’s unlikely that tonight’s rally will move the needle in any meaningful way; the remarks themselves were not covered by Fox or MSNBC, and CNN opted to cover the rally with commentators talking over a silent, still-speaking DeSantis. Mr Trump, meanwhile, had no problem going after his opponent — not to mention any Republican who dared back him. On Truth Social, he griped during the rally about his old press secretary’s comments on Fox News, where she quoted a poll of the GOP primary that had apparently been corrected to show Mr Trump with an even greater margin over Mr DeSantis, which her old boss took as a slight. “Kayleigh ‘Milktoast’ McEnany just gave out the wrong poll numbers on FoxNews. I am 34 points up on DeSanctimonious, not 25 up. While 25 is great, it’s not 34. She knew the number was corrected upwards by the group that did the poll. The RINOS & Globalists can have her. FoxNews should only use REAL Stars!!!” he wrote. The Trump campaign also blasted out press releases touting the former president’s polling strength against Joe Biden, as compared to Mr DeSantis’s, as well as a separate statement accusing the Florida governor of “plagiarizing” the phrase “great American comeback” from Mr Trump’s own State of the Union address. That unequal tone has persisted for weeks as Mr Trump has turned his fire fully against Mr DeSantis who has all but completely refused to fight back — a handful of statements from his PAC have attacked the ex-president directly, without effect. If Tuesday night was any indication, Ron DeSantis believes that he can overcome a massive gap between himself and his most challenging political foe yet without ever landing a punch and with the same strategy that failed his predecessors in 2016. Read More Fair-weather DeSantis’ climate change rejection is ‘politicization’ at its finest LGBTQ people are fleeing Florida in ‘mass migration’ with some fundraising via GoFundMe Ron DeSantis called out for ‘ignoring’ Hollywood beach shooting: ‘He doesn’t care’ Trump White House official Peter Navarro to go on trial in September in Jan 6 contempt case Trump still dominates in first 2024 GOP poll since DeSantis announcement Nevada becomes latest to enhance penalties for election worker intimidation after statewide exodus

Asian stocks are poised to slide Wednesday after momentum in US equities faded and Congress considered the debt

On 27, October, 2018, Robert Bowers, then 46, allegedly walked into the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and began shooting at worshippers. He allegedly killed 11 people before he was shot and wounded and surrendered to police. Mr Bowers now faces 63 federal counts, including 11 counts each of obstruction of free exercise of religion resulting in death as well as hate crimes resulting in death. He could face the death penalty if convicted. He has pleaded not guilty. Nearly five years have passed since the shooting, but Mr Bowers' trial is only now kicking off in earnest. The trial began on Tuesday and is expected to last until late July. In the months leading up the shooting, Mr Bowers was allegedly spewing bigoted and antisemitic vitriol online, investigators say. He allegedly called immigrants "invaders" and posted racist memes, including some that accused Jewish people of being the "enemy of white people." On the day of the shooting he reportedly posted a message to a web forum, saying "I can't stand by and watch my people get slaughtered. Screw your optics, I'm going in." He then allegedly proceeded to murder 11 people at the synagogue. After his arrest, police learned that Mr Bowers had 21 weapons registered to his name. He was otherwise unknown to law enforcement. They then began to review Mr Bowers' online presence, finding an account on Gab — a supposedly free speech oriented, right wing social media alternative to the likes of Twitter — where he allegedly posted a steady slew of hate. His bio included the phrase "Jews are the children of Satan" and his posts consisted of anti-Jewish slurs and conspiracy theories, according to the New York Times. The conspiracy theories included allegations that Jewish people were smuggling Muslims into the US, and another showing an image of the Auschwitz concentration camp, with the photo doctored to make its infamous gate read "Lies Make Money." Days before the shooting he called then-president Donald Trump a "globalist" — often a term carrying antisemitic implications — and said "there is no #MAGA as long as there is a k*** infestation." The omitted word is a racial slur used against Jewish people. Police claim that after being shot and wounded at the synagogue, Mr Bowers said: “These people are committing genocide on my people. I just want to kill Jews.” His defence attempted to have that quotation barred from consideration at his trial, arguing he made the statement before he was read his Miranda warning. A judge denied the motion. The alleged gunman worked as a trucker before the shooting. Prosecutors are arguing that hate drove Mr Bowers' alleged attack on the synagogue. “The depths of the defendant’s malice and hate can only be proven in the broken bodies” of those killed, and through “his hateful words,” Assistant US Attorney Soo C Song said during her opening statement. Prosecutors claimed in an earlier filing that Mr Bowers allegedly “harbored deep, murderous animosity towards all Jewish people.” The defence — after unsuccessfully arguing against the use of Mr Bowers' statements to police and for a change of venue — have filed a notice of mental infirmity again his potential sentencing, according to court records. They claim Mr Bowers has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and epilepsy. His attorneys have also offered a plea deal in exchange for the removal of the death penalty. Read More Gab: Inside the social network where alleged Pittsburgh synagogue shooter posted final message Synagogue shooter 'listened to noise and noise told him his people were being slaughtered', says Jewish doctor who spoke to Robert Bowers Trial for accused gunman in Pittsburgh synagogue massacre slated to start

Five people remain unaccounted for after the incident, with no deaths so far reported, officials say.

Ben Roberts-Smith denies killing Afghan civilians, in a case that's shone a light on elite soldier units.

Pretoria wants the power to decide whether to detain leaders wanted by the International Criminal Court.

Ron DeSantis has made clear what he believes the purpose of his 2024 candidacy to be: The utter destruction of the Democratic Party and its ideology. The Florida governor spoke on Fox & Friends on Monday and made the bold claim that not only would he win the general election should Republican voters nominate him in the primary, but added that he would “destroy leftism in this country” if allowed to serve in the White House. It was a claim that outlined exactly how far to the right the GOP continues to slide; while Democrats such as Nancy Pelosi have made headlines for asserting that they want a “strong” Republican Party that is reclaimed from Trumpism, Mr DeSantis and his fellow lawmakers on the right have embraced a desire for the total destruction of their political foes and the effective establishment of a one-party system. “I will be able to destroy leftism in this country and leave woke ideology on the dustbin of history. At the end of the day, I’ve shown in Florida an ability to win huge swaths of voters that Republicans typically can’t win — while also delivering the boldest agenda anywhere in the country,” said Mr DeSantis. “I pledge to Republican voters if you nominate me, I will be taking the oath of office on January 20, 2025, on the west side of the Capitol. No excuses, no more excuses about why we can’t get it done. We need to get it done, and I will get it done,” he continued. The Florida governor is currently polling in second place in surveys of the 2024 Republican field; he has consistently been the only Republican other than former President Donald Trump, the undisputed leader of the pack, to register double-digit percentages in polls of voters’ choice for the party’s nominee. His claim to have pursued the “boldest agenda” in the nation holds water thanks to the hard-right conservative agenda he has pursued in Florida. His administration banned so-called “critical race theory” — or any lessons that infer that racism is deeply embedded in American history or society — from classrooms, and has signed a host of other bills into law that have thrilled conservatives while drawing intense criticism from organisations like the NAACP and Human Rights Watch. The governor has also leaned heavily into a growing backlash on the right against any visibility of LGBT+ Americans in society, with Pride-themed items in stores and in media facing the most intense vitriol. In that vein, he has all but declared war on the Disney corporation, accusing it of pushing “woke” ideologies on children. That battle has now cost Florida millions in a cancelled business development in Orlando once planned by the company, which is also suing Mr DeSantis’s administration for his campaign against it. Read More Donald Trump Jr shares doctored Office clip showing Ron DeSantis wearing a woman’s suit Queer parents need everyone’s support, not people calling us ‘breeders’ LGBTQ people are fleeing Florida in ‘mass migration’ with some fundraising via GoFundMe Member of Ron DeSantis’ Disney governing board quits role Ted Cruz faces bipartisan fire for criticising Uganda’s new anti-LGBT+ law Trump loyalist floats ‘gross’ theory that Casey DeSantis is ‘exaggerating’ cancer story

Alexia Ocasio-Cortez has threatened to quit Twitter after Elon Musk promoted a “sick” account impersonating the star Democratic politician. The New York congresswoman said that she was “assessing” what to do after the billionaire interacted with the fake account on his social media platform. “FYI there’s a fake account on here impersonating me and going viral. The Twitter CEO has engaged it, boosting visibility,” Ms Ocasio-Cortez tweeted on Tuesday. “It is releasing false policy statements and gaining spread. I am assessing with my team how to move forward. In the meantime, be careful of what you see.”

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday the “time is now” for Turkey to drop its objections to Sweden joining NATO but said the Biden administration also believed that Turkey should be provided with upgraded F-16 fighters “as soon as possible.” Blinken maintained that the administration had not linked the two issues but acknowledged that some U.S. lawmakers had. President Joe Biden implicitly linked the two issues in a phone call to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday. “I spoke to Erdogan and he still wants to work on something on the F-16s. I told him we wanted a deal with Sweden. So let’s get that done," Biden said. Still, Blinken insisted the two issues were distinct. However, he stressed that the completion of both would dramatically strengthen European security. “Both of these are vital, in our judgement, to European security,” Blinken told reporters at a joint news conference in the northern Swedish city of Lulea with Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson. “We believe that both should go forward as quickly as possible; that is to say Sweden’s accession and moving forward on the F-16 package more broadly.” “We believe the time is now,” Blinken said. He declined to predict when Turkey and Hungary, the only other NATO member not yet to have ratified Sweden’s membership, would grant their approval. But, he said, “we have no doubt that it can be, it should be, and we expect it to be” completed by the time alliance leaders meet in Vilnius, Lithuania in July at an annual summit. Fresh from a strong re-election victory over the weekend, Erdogan may be willing to ease his objections to Sweden’s membership. Erdogan accuses Sweden of being too soft on groups Ankara considers to be terrorists, and a series of Quran-burning protests in Stockholm angered his religious support base — making his tough stance even more popular. Kristersson said the two sides had been in contact since Sunday’s vote and voiced no hesitancy in speaking about the benefits Sweden would bring to NATO “when we join the alliance.” Blinken is in Sweden attending a meeting of the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council and will travel to Oslo, Norway on Wednesday for a gathering of NATO foreign ministers, before going on to newly admitted alliance member Finland on Friday. Speaking in Oslo ahead of the foreign ministers' meeting, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the goal was to have Sweden inside the grouping before the leaders' summit in July. "There are no guarantees, but it’s absolutely possible to reach a solution and enable the decision on full membership for Sweden by the Vilnius summit,” Stoltenberg said. Read More Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide

Elizabeth Holmes has surrendered to a federal prison in Texas to begin her 11-year sentence over the Theranos scandal which rocked the high-flying tech world of Silicon Valley. The 39-year-old disgraced tech entrepreneur reported to Bryan, the minimum-security federal prison camp in Texas, on Tuesday after exhausting all remaining legal avenues to cling onto her freedom. Holmes was convicted in January 2022 of four counts of fraud and conspiracy for lying about the capabilities pf her biotech company’s blood testing technology and conning investors out of millions of dollars. She was sentenced to 11 years and three months in prison and ordered to pay $452m in restitution to investors – including $125m to media mogul Rupert Murdoch. Holmes had been given until 2pm local time to surrender to the prison camp where she will see out her 11-year sentence surrounded by other white-collar, non-violent female offenders. Her two children – two-year-old William and three-month-old Invicta – will be allowed to visit their mother in the facility. The prison camp, which runs a work-focused program where all inmates are required to hold a job for at least 90 days, is a marked difference from Holmes’ life years earlier when she was seen as the darling of Silicon Valley. The saga began two decades ago when Holmes dropped out of Stanford University in 2003 at the age of 19 to found Theranos. The blood lab company aimed to develop medical devices that could diagnose hundreds of diseases and medical conditions with just a pinprick of blood. Over the next 10 years, Theranos boasted about its capabilities to transform the healthcare industry and grew to a value of $9bn, attracting investments from the likes of Murdoch, former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and the heirs to the Walmart fortune. The company amassed an influential board of directors including former presidential cabinet members George Shultz, Henry Kissinger and James Mattis. Holmes, meanwhile, was catapulted onto magazine covers and became heralded as the next Steve Jobs while her personal fortune reached $4.5bn. But the technology didn’t do close to what Holmes claimed it could. In 2018, Holmes – Theranos CEO and founder – and Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani – Theranos chief operating officer and Holmes’ live-in romantic partner – were both indicted on fraud charges and the company was dissolved. She was allowed out on bail and while awaiting trial – which was stalled due to the Covid-19 pandemic – Holmes became pregnant with her first child with her partner, hotel boss Billy Evans. She became pregnant with her second child following her conviction. During her trial, Holmes sought to paint a picture that she had simply been under the control of Balwani, 57, and that she never intended to mislead investors about the technology’s capabilities. The jury didn’t buy it and she was convicted of four counts, which could have landed her with up to 20 years’ prison time. Balwani was also convicted of 12 counts of fraud and conspiracy at his trial and was sentenced to 13 years in federal prison. He began serving his sentence in Southern California last month. Since her conviction, Holmes has fought to stay out of prison claiming that she was treated unfairly by prosecutors during trial and that she should be allowed to remain out of prison while she appeals the conviction. An appeals court denied her request and said she must report to prison where she can continue to appeal her conviction behind bars. She asked the judge that she be allowed to remain free through Memorial Day weekend so that she could sort out childcare for her two children, before surrendering to authorities on 30 May. Weeks before beginning her sentence, Holmes admitted that she had made “many mistakes” in a new interview with The New York Times. “I made so many mistakes and there was so much I didn’t know and understand, and I feel like when you do it wrong, it’s like you really internalise it in a deep way,” she said. Read More Elizabeth Holmes news – latest: Theranos founder to surrender to Texas prison today to begin 11-year sentence As Elizabeth Holmes heads to prison for fraud, questions remain about her motives Elizabeth Holmes requests May 30 as new date to report to prison after losing her bid to remain free

A chilling video of the mass shooting at Florida’s Hollywood Beach on Memorial Day has showed people panicking and scrambling for safety. Nine people – six adults and three children – were wounded in the shooting in 1200 block of N Broadwalk near the Margaritaville Hollywood Beach Resort, 20 miles north of Miami. Local reports said several victims were taken to Memorial Regional Hospital and Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital. Live cam footage showed people frantically running from the scene after gunshots were heard. Chaos and the fear at the scene are palpable from the video showing beachgoers running away. According to police officials, the shooting was the result of an altercation between two groups. Reports said one person of interest was detained while the search for another continues. Eyewitnesses described the aftermath of the mass shooting. “I saw a young man that was on the ground bleeding and they were applying pressure to prevent the bleeding,” Vance Hendricks, who was visiting from Philadelphia, told CBS News. Police urged people to avoid the area where the shots were fired. “If you are looking to reunite with a family member, we have set up a reunification area at Johnson St and N Ocean bus loop,” said a tweet. Read More At least nine people wounded in Memorial Day mass shooting at Florida beach Police investigating shooting near beach boardwalk in Hollywood, Florida Police: Puerto Rico assailants targeting drug rival killed 2 and injured 13