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The Florida federal judge overseeing the Espionage Act and obstruction of justice case against former president Donald Trump has rejected the disgraced ex-president’s bid to delay his trial until after the 2024 election. US District Judge Aileen Cannon on Friday issued an order granting the government’s request to set a speedy trial date and schedule for pretrial motions, with a start date of 20 May 2024. Prosecutors with the office of Justice Department Special Counsel Jack Smith had asked for her to set a December 2023 trial date, four months after the August date she’d put on the court’s calendar shortly after Mr Trump and his co-defendant Walt Nauta first appeared in a Miami courtroom to answer the 38-count indictment charging the ex-president with unlawfully retaining national defence information, and charging both him and Mr Nauta with conspiracy and obstruction of justice offences. Full Story

Tony Bennett, the legendary New York pop and jazz singer, has died aged 96. Bennett was known for songs such as The Way You Look Tonight, Body and Soul and (I Left My Heart) In San Francisco. He also collaborated with star performers from Lady Gaga to Aretha Franklin and Frank Sinatra, who called him "the best singer in the business". During a career that spanned eight decades, the crooner sold millions of records and won 20 Grammys, including a lifetime achievement award. Tony Bennett obituary: 'The best singer in the business' His death was confirmed by his publicist Sylvia Weiner in a statement to the Associated Press.

Why Shared Hosting Might be Slowing Down Your Business As businesses grow, they require more resources to support their online presence.Shared hosting, such as cPanel hosting plans, may be a viable option for small websites with low traffic. However, as a business expands, shared hosting may become unreliable, slow, and insecure. This is where a Virtual Private Server (VPS) comes in. A VPS is a virtual server that runs its own operating system, allowing businesses to have full control over their hosting environment. This means that businesses can customize their server to their specific needs, install their own software, and have dedicated resources for their website. One reason why businesses should choose a VPS over shared hosting is the level of security it provides. With shared hosting, websites are vulnerable to attacks from otherwebsites on the same server. A VPS, on the other hand, provides a dedicated and isolated environment, making it less susceptible to hacking attempts and network attacks. Another advantage of using a VPS is the speed and performance it provides. Shared hosting plans may have limitations on the amount of resources available to businesses,resulting in slow loading times and poor website performance.With a VPS, businesses have dedicated resources and can choose the specifications that fit their website's needs. This results in faster loading times and a better user experience for visitors. 21st-Thailand Web Hosting offers reliable and affordable VPS hosting plans for businesses of all sizes. The VPS plans come with full root access, allowing businessesto have complete control over their virtual or dedicated server. In addition, 21st-Thailand Web Hosting provides excellent customer support, with a team of experts available 24/7 to assist businesses with any issues they may encounter. In conclusion, businesses should choose a VPS over shared hosting for security, speed, performance, scalability, and control. With 21st-Thailand Web Hostings reliable and affordable VPS plans, businesses can have the peace of mind that their website is in good hands.

Personalised Learning Why personalised learning is the right path for your child’s education When we talk about personalised learning, we are referring to a style of education where every aspect of the curriculum and the way it is delivered is focused on the individual needs of each child. This doesn’t mean that pupils have a choice about what, where and how they learn, as some mistakenly think. Rather, it is an educational approach that is based on differentiation and individualisation as the paths to better outcomes for every child. What are differentiation and individualisation? Within the context of education, differentiation is the term used for a type of learning where the teaching is tailored to meet the learning needs, preferences and goals of individual children. However, whilst the academic goals for each year group of children are the same, the teacher has the flexibility to use whatever resources and approaches they see fit to connect with individual children. Sometimes this may be based on practises that have proved successful for similar children in the past, or the teacher may come up with a completely novel approach. At its core, differentiation may be defined as an awareness of and active response to children’ varied learning styles. When learning is individualised, the teaching is calibrated to meet the unique pace of the children in any one class. In a class there may be children who need to go over a topic again, pupils who have mastered the topic and are ready for the next, and those children who need to learn at a slower pace, or who only learn when they are able to feel fully immersed in the topic. The personalised approach and learning styles A personalised learning environment includes all of the above and more. As a result, it is an educational approach that nurtures the needs of each child, because it is adaptable to their learning style. The four learning styles and preferences teachers encounter most frequently are: Visual, Auditory, Kinaesthetic and Reading/Writing. The reading/writing learner prefers learning through words in books and online, and are drawn to expressing themselves through writing. The visual learner uses sight and observation, and likes pictures, diagrams and videos. They understand information better when it’s presented in a visual way. Auditory learners tend to learn better when the subject matter is reinforced by sound. They learn through listening to information, so audio books and reading aloud in class are perfect for them. The kinaesthetic child learns through doing things. They like to touch and to construct things, in order to understand them better. In an ideal world, personalised learning would be on a one-to-one basis, but as this is unrealistic for the majority of parents, the next best thing is a school that has a personalised learning approach at its heart. At St. Andrews Sathorn you can be sure your child will develop the confidence to learn, because the teachers will interact with them at their own pace and adapt topics to their preferred style of learning. At St. Andrews International School Sathorn, all our teaching staff are experienced in supporting these varied learning styles and have access to a range of tools that allow them to offer a personalised education experience to every child. Visit St. Andrews Sathorn for a personal tour To discover how our personalised learning approach works and the other benefits that St. Andrews Sathorn can offer your child/children please come and meet us by scheduling a personalised school tour. You can make an appointment via the Visit Sathorn form on our homepage, or call us. A virtual tour is also available for overseas parents moving to Bangkok. Personalised learning at St. Andrews https://www.standrewssathorn.com/personalised-learning/

Following the revelation of an unclassified FBI document exposing President Biden's suspected involvement in an international bribery plot on Thursday, Republicans quickly started attacking him, with some calling for his impeachment. The FD-1023 form, which was made public earlier in the day by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, described how Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, allegedly "coerced" Burisma CEO Mykola Zlochevsky to give them millions of dollars in exchange for their assistance in getting the Ukrainian prosecutor looking into the company fired. Most dishonest household ever to occupy the White House! Impeach!" Rep. Jim Banks, a Republican from Indiana, and Rep. Lauren Boebert, a Republican from Colorado, both stated on Twitter, "Read and realise just how deep the corruption goes. Biden ought to be removed from office. Impeach!" Conservative firebrand Kari Lake, a former candidate for governor of Arizona, said that former President Donald Trump was impeached for Joe Biden's "crimes" and that the president was also guilty of "extortion" and "treason" in addition to bribery. Is this the reason Biden wants America to be involved in the conflict in Ukraine? Joe Biden is corrupt and a criminal! Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., tweeted that "He is heading us into WW3 [because Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelenskyy has proof of further Biden crimes]. Republicans can no longer postpone, but 218 Republican votes are required to pass. The American people and I have both been there since the beginning. "IMPEACH BIDEN!" Prior to the publication of the paper, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., advocated for the impeachment of Biden, stating that he "NEEDS to be impeached" due to the "evidence and testimony" she had seen while serving on the House Oversight Committee looking into the Biden family finances. Copyright 07.21.2023

Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on Thursday denied making a promise to former President Trump that the House would vote to expunge his impeachments, shooting down a report that said the GOP leader pledged the vote as a way to temper tensions with the former president. “There’s no deal,” McCarthy told reporters Thursday, “but I’ve been very clear from long before when I voted against impeachments, that they did it for purely political purposes.” “I support expungement, but there’s no deal out there,” he added. His comments contradict a Thursday morning report from Politico Playbook that McCarthy assured Trump that the House would vote to erase his impeachments, citing a source close to Trump and familiar with the conversation. In the report, the vow was characterized as part of the Speaker’s effort to reconcile with Trump in the wake of an interview late last month that landed him in hot water with the former president; McCarthy had said he was unsure if Trump was the “strongest” person to beat President Biden in 2024. FULL STORY

A House hearing Thursday featuring Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. brought the complicated debate about balancing free speech with fighting misinformation to center stage. Some of the debate played out in real time among members of Congress and the hearing witness. A House hearing Thursday featuring Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. brought the complicated debate about balancing free speech with fighting misinformation to center stage. Some of the debate played out in real time among members of Congress and the hearing witness. “If you want to cut him off and censor him some more, you’re welcome to do it,” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said, eliciting laughs in the room. Kennedy’s extensive history of sharing anti-vaccine views online was the center of Thursday’s debate over how social media companies moderate content. FULL STORY

Apple says it will remove services such as FaceTime and iMessage from the UK rather than weaken security if new proposals are made law and acted upon. The government is seeking to update the Investigatory Powers Act (IPA) 2016. It wants messaging services to clear security features with the Home Office before releasing them to customers. The act lets the Home Office demand security features are disabled, without telling the public. Under the update, this would have to be immediate. Currently, there has to be a review, there can also be an independent oversight process and a technology company can appeal before taking any action. Because of the secrecy surrounding these demands, little is known about how many have been issued and whether they have been complied with. But many messaging services currently offer end-to-end encryption - so messages can be unscrambled by only the devices sending and receiving them. FULL STORY

The White House has confirmed that Ukraine is using US cluster bombs against Russian forces in the country. National Security Spokesman John Kirby said initial feedback suggested they were being used "effectively" on Russian defensive positions and operations. Cluster bombs scatter multiple bomblets and are banned by more than 100 states due to their threat to civilians. The US agreed to supply them to boost Ukrainian ammunition supplies. Ukraine has promised the bombs will only be used to dislodge concentrations of Russian enemy soldiers. "They are using them appropriately," Mr Kirby said. "They're using them effectively and they are actually having an impact on Russia's defensive formations and Russia's defensive manoeuvring. I think I can leave it at that." The US decided to send cluster bombs after Ukraine warned that it was running out of ammunition during its summer counter-offensive, which has been slower and more costly than many had hoped. President Joe Biden called the decision "very difficult", while its allies the UK, Canada, New Zealand and Spain opposed their use. FULL STORY

A video of two tribal women being paraded naked and subjected to blatant acts of sexual assault by a mob of men in the violence-hit northeastern state of Manipur has triggered outrage in India. The widely shared footage led prime minister Narendra Modi to address the country in some of his first remarks since the conflict broke out in Manipur, saying the incident “shamed India” and that the guilty won’t be spared. “I assure the nation, the law will take its course with all its might. What happened with the daughters of Manipur can never be forgiven,” he said ahead of the opening of the monsoon session of the Indian parliament. The incident reportedly took place on 4 May in the early stages of the violence that erupted between the Meitei and Kuki communities after some Kukis protested against calls by the mostly Hindu Meitei community to be granted protected tribal status. Since then the state has been effectively torn in two, with more than 140 people killed and over 40,000 displaced as both communities engaged in attacks on each other’s residences and vehicles, burning down churches and temples. Full Story

The Home Office refuses to remove veteran’s Rwanda deportation threat despite the policy being ruled illegal The White House has said it will make sure Afghan veterans who supported the US are taken care of – while the British government continues to stall in the case of an Afghan pilot who has been threatened with deportation to Rwanda. The pilot, who risked his life on combat missions in support of coalition forces, has been left in limbo and has been threatened with removal after he arrived in Britain on a small boat because of the lack of safe legal routes. After the UK rejected his first application to remain, Washington is now considering his case after his US supervisor made a personal recommendation and described him as a “true patriot to his nation”. Full Story

Summer at the movies is a time for big-budget blockbusters, but this year an independent drama with religious undertones is both competing with the likes of Indiana Jones and causing a political stir. Sound of Freedom tells the story of a government agent who busts a child sexual abuse ring operating in Colombia. The main character is based on Timothy Ballard, a former Department of Homeland Security agent who founded an anti-human trafficking organisation, Operation Underground Railroad (OUR). He goes undercover, and some of the gritty action scenes in the Colombian jungle wouldn't look out of place in a more conventional Hollywood flick. The review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes gives the movie a critic score of 77%. But this is not a typical summer blockbuster. A string of conspiratorial comments by the leading actor Jim Caviezel and the movie's themes have turned the film into another culture war flashpoint. FULL ARTICLE

Wheat prices have risen sharply on global markets after Russia said it would treat ships heading for Ukrainian ports as potential military targets. Moscow pulled out of a UN deal on Monday that ensured safe passage for grain shipments crossing the Black Sea. For the past three nights Russia has bombarded Ukraine's grain facilities in Odesa and other cities. Moscow also warned that from Thursday any ships going there would be seen as siding with "the Kyiv regime". White House spokesman Adam Hodge suggested Russia was planning to hit civilian ships and blame Ukraine. Russia had laid more sea mines in the approaches to Ukrainian ports, he said, as part of a co-ordinated Russian effort to justify attacking civilian ships. The Kremlin did not immediately respond to the allegation. Wheat prices on the European stock exchange soared by 8.2% on Wednesday from the previous day, to €253.75 (£220; $284) per tonne, while corn prices were up 5.4%. US wheat futures jumped 8.5% - their highest daily rise since just after Russia's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. FULL STORY

U.S. Attorney for D.C. Matthew Graves, who contributed to President Biden's 2020 campaign, "refused to bring charges" on Hunter Biden for tax evasion, according to IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley, who confirmed this on Wednesday. During the contentious House Oversight Committee hearing into claims the Department of Justice politically interfered with an investigation into Hunter Biden, Shapley stated, "The Justice Department allowed the president's political appointees to weigh in on whether to charge the president's son." "I watched U.S. Attorney [David] Weiss tell a room full of senior FBI and IRS senior leaders on October 7, 2022, that he was not the deciding person on whether charges were filed," he wrote. "After U.S. Attorney for D.C. Matthew Graves, appointed by President Biden, refused to bring charges in March 2022." U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves contributed to Biden's 2020 campaign while employed at the law firm DLA Piper prior to his nomination and confirmation to the job in 2021, according to Federal Election Commission documents originally published by the Daily Caller. The $1,500 in donations was given during the Democratic presidential primaries in April 2020 and May 2020. The focus of the House investigation has been on the allegations made by whistleblowers Shapley and Joseph Ziegler that there was a pattern of "slow-walking investigative steps" into Hunter Biden, including directives not to speak with him at his home, informing the president's son and staff about the ongoing investigations, and postponing enforcement actions in the months leading up to the 2020 election. Copyright 07.20.23

A new indictment of former President Trump in connection to his actions surrounding Jan. 6 could pose a real problem for his 2024 White House campaign as he faces potential criminal charges for the third time this year, some Republicans say. Trump said Tuesday that he’s a target of a federal investigation, which generally signals an indictment is on the way. His legal issues so far appear to have helped more than hurt him with GOP primary voters, but the piling up of legal cases could cause real problems in a general election, Republicans say. And that could lead to the reelection of President Biden, despite his troubles. “It’s hard to think this does anything to improve his numbers in a general election,” said Brian Seitchik, a Republican strategist and former Trump campaign staffer. A Quinnipiac University poll conducted nearly two years after the riots at the Capitol found more than 60 percent of Americans believed Trump bore a lot or some responsibility for the events on Jan. 6. That includes many independent and moderate voters who Trump will need to win over from Biden next November. FULL STORY

More than 4 in 10 Americans believe the Supreme Court has become too conservative, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll. The poll, published Wednesday, found that 43 percent of respondents believe that the Supreme Court is too conservative, while 13 percent of those surveyed think that the court is too liberal and 33 percent believe that the current ideology of the Supreme Court is just about right. This is a change from a September 2021 Quinnipiac University poll, in which 34 percent thought the Supreme Court was too conservative, 34 percent thought it was about right and 19 percent thought it was too liberal. Along political party lines, 80 percent of Democrat respondents now believe that the Supreme Court is too conservative, compared with 38 percent of independent respondents and 8 percent of Republicans. In contrast, 25 percent of Republican respondents believe that the Supreme Court is too liberal, compared with 12 percent of independent respondents and 5 percent of Democrats. FULL STORY

Republicans and Democrats sparred over the significance of the tax crimes investigation into Hunter Biden at a House Oversight Committee hearing that featured two IRS whistleblowers, with the GOP arguing the president’s son was spared from true justice while Democrats argued he was thoroughly investigated by a team formed under the former president and led by a Trump-appointed attorney. IRS special agent Joseph Ziegler and his supervisor Gary Shapley, who investigated Biden, expressed frustration over how U.S. Attorney for Delaware David Weiss and other prosecutors handled the investigation, alleging authorities slow-walked the case and showed preferential treatment to the president’s son. The House Ways and Means Committee had first privately interviewed the two whistleblowers, releasing transcripts just days after prosecutors reached an agreement with Biden to plead guilty to two charges of willful failure to pay taxes. The nearly six-hour hearing relayed little information not already covered in the nearly 400 pages of testimony from the two men, with the whistleblowers saying they could not answer questions outside the scope of that testimony. FULL STORY

Russian missile attacks on Ukraine's Black Sea coast have destroyed 60,000 tonnes of grain and damaged storage infrastructure, officials say. Agriculture Minister Mykola Solskyi said a "considerable amount" of export infrastructure was out of operation. Russia has pulled out of a deal guaranteeing safe passage for exports across the Black Sea. Later on Wednesday Russia's President Putin accused the West of using the grain deal as "political blackmail". He added he would consider rejoining the international agreement, in place since last summer, only "if all principles under which Russia agreed to participate in the deal are fully taken into account and fulfilled". His comments came shortly after Russia's defence ministry declared that from midnight on Wednesday night (21:00 GMT), any ships heading to Ukrainian ports would be viewed as potential carriers of military cargo and party to the conflict. Some north-western and south-eastern areas of the Black Sea would be temporarily dangerous for shipping, it added. Russia began targeting Ukraine's ports in the early hours of Tuesday within hours of its withdrawal from the grain deal. FULL STORY

A shooting has left two people dead in the centre of Auckland, New Zealand, hours before the city is due to open the Fifa Women's World Cup. Six other people, including police officers, were injured and the gunman is also dead after the incident at 07:22 (19:22 GMT) on a construction site in the central business district. PM Chris Hipkins said the attack was not being seen as an act of terrorism. The tournament would go ahead as planned, he said. The public, he added, could be assured police had neutralised the threat and there was no ongoing risk after the incident on Queen Street. No political or ideological motive for the attack had been identified, the prime minister said. The gunman, he said, had been armed with a pump-action shotgun. Mr Hipkins thanked "the brave men and women of the New Zealand police who ran into the gunfire, straight into harm's way, in order to save the lives of others". "These kinds of situations move fast and the actions of those who risk their lives to save others are nothing short of heroic," he added. FULL STORY

A landmark referendum backed by the government would give Indigenous people constitutional recognition and greater say on legislation and policy affecting them. A proposal by the Australian government to recognize the country’s Indigenous people in the constitution has inflamed a culture war and set off divisive debates — including among Indigenous people themselves. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor government is backing a landmark referendum to enshrine in the Australian Constitution an Indigenous body — known as a “Voice to Parliament” — to advise the government on legislation and policy affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, who make up almost 4% of Australia’s population of 26 million. Unlike other former British colonies such as the United States, Canada and New Zealand, Australia has no treaty with its Indigenous people, who are not mentioned in the 1901 constitution. Like Indigenous peoples in the United States and elsewhere, Indigenous Australians fare much worse than their fellow countrymen on life expectancy, incarceration rates and other measures of socioeconomic well-being. FULL STORY dum backed by the government would give Indigenous people constitutional recognition and greater say on legislation and policy affecting them.

NAIROBI, Kenya — The number of people who died in connection with Kenya’s doomsday cult has crossed the 400 mark as detectives exhumed 12 more bodies on Monday believed to be followers of a pastor who ordered them to fast to death in order to meet Jesus. Pastor Paul Mackenzie, who is linked to the cult based in a forested area in Malindi, coastal Kenya, is in police custody, along with 36 other suspects. All have yet to be charged. Coast Regional Commissioner Rhoda Onyancha on Monday said the number of those who died has risen to 403, with 95 people rescued. Last month, some suspects and people rescued started a hunger strike in prison and at the rescue center, prompting the prosecutor to take them to court for attempting to kill themselves. Most of them agreed to resume eating, but one suspect died in custody. Some 613 people have so far been reported missing to Kenya Red Cross officers stationed in Malindi town. Detectives are still finding mass graves. FULL STORY

North Korea hasn't been much of a foreign policy priority for Joe Biden's administration since he took office in January 2021, but recent escalating tensions on the Korean peninsula are moving it up the list. Now, with the detention of a US soldier who crossed the border in the demilitarised zone (DMZ), the situation could be turning into a full-blown crisis, the type of which the Biden administration has been trying to avoid. The incident comes on the day that a US nuclear missile submarine, the USS Kentucky, arrived in the South Korean port of Busan - a visible demonstration of US military strength that had angered the North Koreans. The move was a US response to more than a hundred new North Korean missile tests over the past few years that suggest the nation's nuclear-delivery technologies continue to advance - possibly putting the US mainland well within range of a North Korean strike. North Korea is also reportedly considering a new nuclear weapons test, which would be the first since a 140 kiloton blast in September 2017. FULL STORY

Donald Trump has said he expects to be arrested by a federal inquiry into the US Capitol riot and efforts to challenge the 2020 election results. The ex-president said in a social media post he had been informed by special counsel Jack Smith on Sunday night that he was a target of their investigation. Mr Trump posted that he was told to report to a grand jury, "which almost always means an Arrest and Indictment". The special counsel did not immediately respond to media inquiries. Such an indictment would be Mr Trump's third for alleged criminal offences, including 37 counts brought by Mr Smith's team in June accusing the president of mishandling classified documents. Mr Trump has also been charged in New York City with falsifying business records in 2016 hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels. He is due to stand trial in that case next March, while a date for the classified documents case is still being contested by the president's lawyers. Michigan charges 16 in fake elector scheme What charges might Trump face in January 6 probe? In a post on his Truth Social platform, Mr Trump claimed that he had been sent a letter "stating that I am a TARGET of the January 6th Grand Jury investigation, and giving me a very short 4 days to report to the Grand Jury, which almost always means an Arrest and Indictment." FULL STORY