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Jones, Jackson move to Republican primary run-off in Georgia governor race

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Jones, Jackson move to Republican primary run-off in Georgia governor race

Burt Jones and Rick Jackson have advanced to a run-off in Georgia’s Republican primary for governor, extending a bruising fight over who will represent the party in November’s midterm election.

Jones, Georgia’s lieutenant governor, and Jackson, a healthcare billionaire, will face each other again in the June 16 run-off after neither secured enough support to win the nomination outright following voting on Tuesday.

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The winner will seek to replace Republican Governor Brian Kemp, who is barred by term limits from running again.

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US President Donald Trump endorsed Jones last year, and Jones thanked him on Tuesday night. A victory for Jones would strengthen Trump’s influence in Georgia, a key battleground state where his record as a political kingmaker has been mixed.

Democrats are also choosing their nominee as they try to win the governor’s office for the first time since 1998.

The Democratic field includes former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, former Republican Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan, former state Senator Jason Esteves and former state labour commissioner Mike Thurmond.

Jasmine Clark secures nomination in key Georgia House race

Separately, Democrat Jasmine Clark won her party’s nomination on Tuesday to succeed late Representative David Scott in Georgia’s 13th Congressional District after Scott died in April while seeking another term.

Clark, a state representative, microbiologist and lecturer at Emory University, has pledged to prioritise science policy in Congress. Her campaign was boosted by more than $2m in outside spending from cryptocurrency-linked groups, although Clark said she did not seek their support.

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She is expected to be heavily favoured in November’s election, where Jonathan Chavez is set to become the Republican nominee after running unopposed in the primary.

Meanwhile, two-term Representative Mike Collins advanced to the Republican run-off in Georgia’s US Senate race.

Collins, 58, who owns a family trucking business and represents a district east of Atlanta, has closely aligned himself with Trump and describes himself as a “MAGA workhorse”. Immigration enforcement has been a central focus of his campaign.

Georgia Republicans are seeking a challenger to Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff.

Among Collins’s rivals, representative Buddy Carter has highlighted his conservative record in Congress, while former college football coach Derek Dooley has presented himself as a political outsider.

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Georgia state Representative Jasmine Clark, and candidate for Congress, poses for a portrait for The Associated Press news agency [File: Brynn Anderson/AP]

Millions poured into Georgia governor race

More than $125m has been spent on advertising in the Republican primary for Georgia governor, with more than $66m of that spent by Jackson’s campaign, according to the latest figures from advertising-tracking firm AdImpact. By contrast, Democrats running for governor have only spent about $4m.

Jones argues that his conservative record as a state senator and lieutenant governor, combined with Trump’s support, should make him the clear choice for Republican voters.

“I think Georgia just spoke, y’all,” Jones said at his election night party.

“The reason why I know we’re gonna win is because of friends and family members,” he said.

Jackson is betting that his outsider pitch will win over anti-establishment conservatives. On Tuesday night, he called Jones a political insider who is “working inside the system for his own benefit”.

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“I cannot be bought, and I will not back down,” Jackson said.

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Judge orders mental health evaluation for the woman accused of attempting to murder Rihanna

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Judge orders mental health evaluation for the woman accused of attempting to murder Rihanna

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A judge on Tuesday paused the prosecution of a woman charged with the attempted murder of Rihanna and more than a dozen other felonies and sent the case to a mental health court that will determine whether she is competent to stand trial.

At a Los Angeles meeting held in a judge’s chambers, Deputy Public Defender Derek Dillman said he had doubts over the mental competence of his client, 35-year-old Ivanna Lisette Ortiz of Orlando, Florida, court documents showed. Ortiz has pleaded not guilty to firing at the house of Rihanna, her partner A$AP Rocky and their children while all of them were home.

Judge Shannon K. Cooley ordered psychiatric evaluations and temporarily transferred the case to a Hollywood mental health court that specializes in determining whether defendants can understand the proceedings and go through a trial.

“It is the ethical obligation of counsel and the court to ensure that Ms. Ortiz’s rights are protected, including being able to assist counsel in conducting a defense in a rational manner,” Dillman said in an email to The Associated Press.

Prosecutors declined comment.

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If she is found incompetent, she could be held indefinitely in a state hospital until she is able to face the charges. She is set to appear June 2 in the same courtroom where a judge recently found that a man accused of stalking Jennifer Aniston was incompetent to stand trial.

At a hearing a week earlier, Cooley had declined to pause the process for mental health evaluation, and Ortiz objected, saying she wanted the case to proceed on the path to trial. She did not appear in court on Tuesday. Cooley ordered that she should continue to be held on nearly $2 million bail.

Police and prosecutors allege that on March 8, Ortiz pulled up in a Tesla to the Beverly Hills-area property of the singing superstar Rihanna and her rapper partner A$AP Rocky, pointed an AR-15 style rifle out the window and sprayed at least 20 bullets toward the property and a neighboring house. No one was injured.

Shots hit an Airstream trailer that Rihanna and Rocky were inside, according to police interviews with the couple. Investigators found bullet holes in the trailer and on the exterior wall of the home’s second-floor nursery, where the three kids were with their nanny.

Investigators said that after her arrest later that day, Ortiz told them “I wasn’t attempting murder,” according to a police report.

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Ortiz is charged with 10 counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm, one for each of the people on the two properties. She’s also charged with three counts of shooting at an occupied vehicle or dwelling.

Ortiz had no prior police record, authorities said. Public records show she had been a licensed speech pathologist for more than a decade.

Authorities have not discussed a motive or described any connection between her and Rihanna.

A nine-time Grammy Award winner, Rihanna has 14 No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, including “We Found Love,” “Work,” “Umbrella” and “Disturbia.”

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WHO head ‘deeply concerned’ over ‘scale and speed’ of Ebola spread, says emergency committee will meet

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WHO head ‘deeply concerned’ over ‘scale and speed’ of Ebola spread, says emergency committee will meet

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The head of the World Health Organization announced a meeting of his emergency committee regarding the “scale and speed” of the Ebola outbreak in the Congo and Uganda on Tuesday.

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WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus cited data saying there have been over 500 suspected cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in recent weeks, and 33 confirmed cases. There have been two confirmed cases in Uganda. The outbreak has seen a total of 131 fatalities.

“I’m deeply concerned about the scale ‌and ⁠speed of the epidemic,” Tedros said in a Tuesday statement.

Tedros is meeting with the WHO’s Emergency Committee later Tuesday.

US ISSUES URGENT TRAVEL WARNING AS DEADLY EBOLA OUTBREAK SPREADS OVERSEAS

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, speaks during an event. (Lian Yi/Xinhua via Getty Images)

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There are several factors that have made the WHO concerned about the potential ​for further spread, such as cases in urban ​areas, including ⁠Kampala, Uganda, and Goma in the DRC, as well as the conflict-affected province of Ituri.

The WHO has approved $3.9 million in ​emergency funding to support national authorities as they respond to the outbreak.

The WHO declared the outbreak a public health emergency on Sunday, and the U.S. issued an urgent travel warning for the DRC shortly after on Monday.

UGANDA STARTS CLINICAL TRIAL OF VACCINE FOR SUDAN STRAIN OF EBOLA AMID NEW OUTBREAK

A health worker sprays disinfectant on a colleague after working at an Ebola treatment center in Beni, eastern Congo, on Sept. 9, 2018. (Al-hadji Kudra Maliro/AP)

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Officials said the outbreak was caused by the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola virus, a rarer variant for which existing vaccines may be less effective.

The State Department warns that Ebola is a “rare, severe and often fatal hemorrhagic fever illness.”

The virus can spread through direct contact with infected individuals, bodily fluids, infected corpses and objects contaminated with the virus.

CRUISE SHIP PASSENGER DESCRIBES UNCERTAINTY AFTER 3 DEATHS AMID HANTAVIRUS PROBE

“The U.S. government is unable to provide emergency services to U.S. citizens in Ituri province,” the advisory noted. “Do not travel to this area for any reason.”

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Pictured is the MV Hondius, the cruise ship tied to a hantavirus outbreak after a stop in Argentina that left three passengers dead. (Europa Press Canarias via Getty Images)

The development comes as global health officials continue monitoring a rare hantavirus outbreak tied to the MV Hondius cruise ship, which left multiple passengers and crew members sick, and caused three deaths.

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As of May 13, the WHO said 11 hantavirus cases had been identified in connection with the cruise outbreak, including eight confirmed cases, two probable cases and one inconclusive case.

Fox News’ Andrea Margolis and Michael Sinkewicz and Reuters contributed to this report.

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Nato ships in Hormuz if the Strait does not reopen by July

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Nato ships in Hormuz if the Strait does not reopen by July

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Re-open Hormuz and end the war in Iran. The fears of the G7 in Paris relate to the impact of the conflict on an already sluggish global economy given the fallout ‘on energy, food and fertiliser supply chains’. The imperative is therefore ‘a rapid return to free and safe movement across the Strait of Hormuz and a lasting solution to the conflict’. Trump, at the urging of the Gulf countries, suspends the resumption of hostilities and gives a new ultimatum to Tehran, ‘two or three days’. Additional time for negotiations desired by Qatar: ‘Pakistan’s diplomatic efforts need more time’

US seizes Iranian-linked oil tanker in the Indian Ocean

The US seized an Iranian-linked oil tanker in the Indian Ocean overnight. The Wall Street Journal reported this, citing three Washington officials. The tanker, called Skywave, had been sanctioned by the US in March for its role in transporting Iranian oil and allegedly loaded more than one million barrels of crude oil on the Iranian island of Kharg Island in February.

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Trump on Monday met with security advisers on Iran

Donald Trump summoned his national security advisers on Iran on Monday evening. Axios reports this, pointing out that the meeting was held just hours after the president announced that he had suspended the planned attack on Tuesday. The meeting also included a briefing on military options. According to reports by some officials, Trump had not decided to attack before announcing the suspension of the raid.

Vance: ‘It is not clear what Iran wants to achieve with the negotiations’

“It is not clear what” Iran wants “to achieve with the negotiations”, its negotiating position is not yet clear. This was stated by Vice President JD Vance.

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