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The death of Queen Elizabeth II: Live updates 

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The death of Queen Elizabeth II: Live updates 
Ons Jabeur of Tunisia and Caroline Garcia of France stand on court docket for a second of silence for Queen Elizabeth previous to their Girls’s Singles Semifinal match of the 2022 US Open in New York on September 08, 2022. (Julian Finney/Getty Pictures)

America turned its eyes to the outdated nation on Thursday, after the demise of Queen Elizabeth II. When information of her sudden decline broke, tv networks broke into programing — virtually as if a US President had died. In New York, the US Open tennis event and the United Nations held moments of silence to honor her passing. In Washington, flags on official buildings had been lowered to half-staff.  

Throughout a reign that lasted seven a long time, the Queen and the royal household conjured fascination, affection and even some jealousy in a nation that broke away from the throne virtually 250 years in the past. 

She met 13 US Presidents, beginning with a go to to Washington to see Harry Truman earlier than she grew to become Queen. (Her first official head-of-state assembly with a US commander-in-chief was with Dwight Eisenhower). President Joe Biden, who stopped by the British embassy in Washington on Thursday to signal a e book of condolences, was the final President to carry official talks with the Queen.

In an announcement, Biden despatched “our deepest condolences to the Royal Household, who will not be solely mourning their Queen, however their pricey mom, grandmother, and great-grandmother. Her legacy will loom massive within the pages of British historical past, and within the story of our world.”

And amid the official rituals of remembrance, there have been some smaller, however poignant gestures. In Santa Monica, California, patrons confirmed up at “Ye Olde King’s Head” a restaurant and reward store, to purchase memorabilia and share recollections of the Queen.

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Romania scraps presidential election after alleged Russian meddling

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Romania scraps presidential election after alleged Russian meddling

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Romania’s constitutional court has cancelled a presidential election scheduled for Sunday after allegations that Russia used TikTok to promote the leading candidate.

The decision to scrap Sunday’s run-off and annul the first-round victory of Călin Georgescu, who has praised Vladimir Putin, came after Romanian authorities published documents this week that indicated Moscow had sought to undermine the vote.

But the move was criticised by some politicians and analysts as anti-democratic. Opinion polls had given the far-right Georgescu a comfortable lead over Elena Lasconi, the second-placed liberal presidential candidate, ahead of the now cancelled vote.

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“The electoral process for the election of the president of Romania will be repeated in its entirety,” the court said on Friday.

The date of the new vote will be set by Romania’s government, but only after a new coalition is formed following parliamentary elections last Sunday.

Costin Ciobanu, an analyst at Aarhus University in Denmark, said the annulment “deepens uncertainty and polarisation within Romanian society, raising serious concerns about the strength of Romania’s institutions and democracy”.

Thousands have taken to the streets of Bucharest and other cities to protest against Georgescu in recent days, while a few hundred have held demonstrations backing him.

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis sought in a televised address on Friday evening to reassure investors and western allies, promising to stay in office until a successor is sworn in. “Romania is a stable and secure country,” he said.

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Friday’s ruling is the first time a western court has intervened to overturn an election because of an alleged Russian attempt to sway the result. But it comes after a series of bids by Moscow to influence votes in countries well beyond its traditional sphere of influence.

Maia Sandu, president of neighbouring Moldova, narrowly secured re-election last month after what the country’s officials said was an attempt at vote-buying by Moscow-aligned politicians.

The head of Germany’s domestic intelligence agency has also warned that Russia may try to interfere in his country’s parliamentary election next year.

Georgescu’s rise in recent weeks has stunned Romania and its western allies.

His first-round victory came even though he had no party behind him and claimed to have spent “zero” on his campaign, which was run mainly on social media.

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The Romanian National Security Council declassified several documents on Wednesday that alleged that Russia attempted to promote Georgescu on social media platforms and hack into the country’s electoral infrastructure.

The documents also noted that the far-right candidate, who was polling in single digits before last month’s vote, “benefited from preferential treatment” on TikTok because the Chinese social media platform did not label his videos as political ads. Over 100 paid influencers with more than 8mn followers had promoted Georgescu’s videos, according to the documents.

TikTok said earlier this week that it had taken down a “cluster” of pro-Georgescu accounts.

Romanian authorities have asked the European Commission to open a probe into TikTok, which could result in fines. The company, which is owned by ByteDance, has denied the accusations and said it acted in compliance with Romanian and EU law.

The court’s decision to annul the vote comes despite it validating a recount on Monday that confirmed Georgescu’s first-round victory, in which he won 23 per cent of the vote.

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Friday’s ruling was welcomed as “the only correct decision” by Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, who had led polls before the first round. “The Romanian vote was blatantly undermined following the Russian intervention,” he said.

But Lasconi, who had been expecting to face Georgescu in the run-off that had been scheduled for Sunday, labelled the court’s decision as “illegal, immoral”, adding that the ruling “crushes the essence of democracy — the vote”.

She vowed to stand again and win the presidency.

In a video statement on Friday, Georgescu said: “The Romanian state took democracy and trampled on it.” He said the court’s decision was “more than a legal controversy. It is, practically, a coup d’état.”

He pledged to fight on and said that his only “pact” was with the Romanian people and god.

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Prosecutors have started multiple probes following the evidence presented by the intelligence services.

The US state department also warned this week about “foreign actors seeking to shift Romania’s foreign policy away from its western alliances”, which it said would have “serious negative impacts on US security co-operation”.

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A body has been found in the search for a woman missing near a Pennsylvania sinkhole

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A body has been found in the search for a woman missing near a Pennsylvania sinkhole

Rescue workers search on Thursday for Elizabeth Pollard, who is believed to have disappeared in a sinkhole while looking for her cat, in Marguerite, Pa.

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A Pennsylvania coroner’s office said Friday that investigators believe they have located the body of a woman who was last seen four days earlier near a sinkhole above a shuttered coal mine.

Sean Hribal, a deputy coroner in Westmoreland County, said searchers believe they have found the remains of 64-year-old Elizabeth Pollard.

A coroner was dispatched by law enforcement shortly after 11 a.m. to Unity Township, where crews have been excavating the abandoned coal mine in an effort to locate Pollard.

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State police Trooper Steve Limani told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that there was massive relief among the search team that Pollard had been found.

“We were running out of options, time and resources,” Limani told the paper. “I was getting worried we weren’t gonna find her.”

Axel Hayes, Pollard’s son, said in a brief phone interview Friday that he had not heard from authorities and planned to call his father, Kenny Pollard, to let him know.

Kenny Pollard, 75, holds a photo in his home from a vacation that he and his wife, Elizabeth, took to Clearwater Beach, Fla., approximately 10 years ago.

Kenny Pollard, 75, holds a photo in his home from a vacation that he and his wife, Elizabeth, took to Clearwater Beach, Fla., approximately 10 years ago.

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Elizabeth Pollard was last seen searching for her cat Pepper on Monday evening near a restaurant a half-mile from her home. Pollard’s family reported her missing around 1 a.m. Tuesday as the temperature in the area dropped below freezing.

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The search her focused on a sinkhole with a manhole-sized surface gap that may have only recently opened up in the village of Marguerite, above where coal was mined until about 70 years ago.

Police said they found Pollard’s car parked about 20 feet from the sinkhole. Pollard’s 5-year-old granddaughter was found safe inside the car.

Hunters and restaurant workers who were in the area in the hours before Pollard’s disappearance told police they hadn’t noticed the sinkhole.

The effort to find Pollard included lowering a pole camera with a sensitive listening device into the hole, although it detected nothing. Crews removed a massive amount of soil and rock to try to reach the area where they believed she fell into the chasm about 30 feet deep.

Pollard grew up in Jeanette, about 12 miles from Unity Township, where she lived for much of her adult life. She previously worked at Walmart and was married for more than 40 years.

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Video: How Navy Pilots are Harmed by Their Own Planes

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Video: How Navy Pilots are Harmed by Their Own Planes

For decades, the Navy has stated that brain injuries have mostly occurred during accidents or leisure activities. But now, a confidential new program is studying whether intense fighter jet operations can cause brain injuries as devastating as those from repeated blast exposure.

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