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Donald Trump has again teased supporters about the prospect of another run for the US presidency, just days after some backers pushed a theory that he could be back in the White House by August.

He also used a speech at a convention to support candidates loyal to him ahead of next year’s mid-term elections to denounce China, attack infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci, and describe investigations into his finances as a “witch-hunt”.

Mr Trump again continued to peddle false claims that his defeat in the election in 2020 was ‘the crime of the century”. He won 75 million votes but lost the election to President Joe Biden by 7 million.

Trump supporters holding placards saying he won elections
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Trump supporters are still convinced he should have won the election

Rally organisers in Greenville, North Carolina, estimated around 1,200 supporters attended – in contrast to packed-out stadiums when he was president.

He told them: “The survival of America depends on our ability to elect Republicans at every level starting with the mid-terms next year.”

Mr Trump went on to describe Mr Fauci as “not a great doctor”, and said the country’s top coronavirus adviser has been “wrong on every issue”.

He has led Republicans in criticising Mr Fauci for asking Americans to wear masks and for being sceptical about allegations China covered up the escape of the virus from a lab in Wuhan.

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He also demanded China pay $10 trillion dollars to the US and the world for its handling of the coronavirus outbreak.

And referring to a criminal investigation launched by the New York attorney general’s office into his finances as a “witch hunt” and a “hoax”, the former president said: “They’ll never stop until November 2024.”

Donald Trump and Lara Trump at North Carolina GOP rally
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Mr Trump with Lara Trump at the North Carolina GOP rally

Since his defeat, Mr Trump has consistently teased supporters about running again without explicitly saying he would.

And there have been reports in the US media of his fans suggesting he could somehow be reinstated as president as soon as this August – something his daughter-in-law Lara Trump has denied having any knowledge of.

Mr Trump also used his speech to take aim at Mr Biden, who he accused of leading “the most radical left-wing administration in history”.

He said: “As we gather tonight our country is being destroyed before our very eyes.”

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In a statement released ahead of the speech, Democratic National Committee spokesman Ammar Moussa attacked mr Trump’s “recklessly dangerous rhetoric” – and Republicans who are reluctant to break with a “loser president”.

Some Republican leaders are also concerned that the rise of Trump-supporting candidates will jeopardise their chances of winning back control of Congress from the Democrats in 2022.

Mr Trump’s appearance at the rally comes days after Facebook suspended his account for another two years.

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Darryl George: Family sues state governor after student suspended over dreadlocks

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Darryl George: Family sues state governor after student suspended over dreadlocks

The family of a black student who was suspended from school in a row over his hairstyle has filed a lawsuit against the state’s governor and attorney general.

Darryl George, 17, a junior at Barbers Hill High School in Mont Belvieu, has been expelled since 31 August because school officials said his dreadlocks fall below his eyebrows and ear lobes, violating the district’s dress code.

His mother Darresha George has denied this and said his hair is neatly tied and twisted in dreadlocks on top of his head.

The lawsuit accuses Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton of failing to enforce the CROWN Act, a new state law outlawing racial discrimination based on hairstyles.

The lawsuit claims the pair, in their official duties, failed to protect Darryl’s constitutional rights against discrimination and violated his freedom of speech and expression.

Darryl George “should be permitted to wear his hair in the manner in which he wears it because the so-called neutral grooming policy has no close association with learning or safety and when applied, disproportionately impacts Black males,” according to the lawsuit.

Second complaint in hair row

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On Tuesday, his mother previously filed a formal complaint against the Texas Education agency and said Darryl was harassed and mistreated by officials because of his hair.

They claim during his suspension he was forced to sit for eight hours on a stool and was denied the free hot lunch he was eligible to receive.

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Advocate Dr. Candice Matthews, left, National Minister of Politics for The New Black Panther Nation, and Darresha George, right, mother of Darryl George, a 17-year-old junior, talks with reporters after meeting with school officials after Darryl received another one-day suspension at Barbers Hill High School, after he returned after serving a 5-day in-school suspension for not cutting his hair Monday, Sept. 18, 2023, in Mont Belvieu. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke)
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Advocate Dr. Candice Matthews, left, National Minister of Politics for The New Black Panther Nation, and Darresha George. Pic: AP

The agency is investigating the complaint.

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Florida: Alligator killed after being discovered holding human remains in mouth

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Florida: Alligator killed after being discovered holding human remains in mouth

An alligator was spotted with human remains in its mouth by a passer-by in Florida.

The 13-foot reptile was spotted by Jamarcus Bullard in a canal in Largo, about 20 miles west of Tampa.

He said he saw the the alligator and a corpse in the water on Friday afternoon.

“I threw a rock at the gator just to see if it was really a gator and like it pulled the body, like it was holding on to the lower part of the torso, and pulled it under the water,” he told a TV affiliate of NBC News, Sky News’ US partner network.

Jamarcus Bullard said he saw the alligator and a body in the water on Friday afternoon Pic: NBC
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Jamarcus Bullard said he saw the alligator and a body in the water on Friday afternoon

Bullard said he started recording on his phone and contacted the authorities.

A video he shared with the news station showed an officer with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission measuring the reptile.

The 13-foot, 8.5-inch male alligator was removed from the water and was “humanely killed,” the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement, adding that the remains of an adult had also been recovered.

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No details about the deceased have yet been released and an investigation is under way.

Jennifer Dean said her children frequently walk by the canal. Pic: NBC
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Jennifer Dean said her children frequently walk by the canal.

The medical examiner’s office will conduct an autopsy to determine the cause of death.

The discovery has left some locals nervous with Jennifer Dean telling WFLA that her children frequently walk by the canal.

Bullard also said he walks near the water to and from work and will be more careful now.

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US death row inmate Anthony Sanchez executed for rape and murder of Juli Busken after being caught by his DNA

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US death row inmate Anthony Sanchez executed for rape and murder of Juli Busken after being caught by his DNA

A man has been executed in the US for the rape and murder of a dance student which went unsolved for years until DNA from the crime scene was matched to him while he was in prison for burglary.

Anthony Sanchez, 44, protested his innocence as he was strapped down in the death chamber at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester.

He was declared dead 11 minutes after the lethal drugs started to be administered.

While Sanchez maintained he had nothing to do with the 1996 killing of 21-year-old Juli Busken, he took the unusual step of opting not to present a clemency application to the state’s pardon and parole board, which many viewed as the last chance to spare his life.

Ahead of his execution, Sanchez criticised his former lawyers and thanked his supporters, including his spiritual adviser who was in the chamber with him.

He said: “I’m innocent.

“I didn’t kill nobody.”

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At one point during the procedure, a member of the execution team entered the chamber and reattached an oxygen monitor that prison officials said had malfunctioned.

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Shortly before he was put to death, the US Supreme Court rejected a request for a stay of execution submitted by his new lawyer, who had said he needed more time to go through the case evidence.

The Rev. Jeff Hood and supporters of Oklahoma death row inmate Anthony Sanchez proclaim his innocence during a news conference at the Oklahoma Capitol in Oklahoma City, May 25, 2023. Sanchez said Thursday, June 22, in a phone interview from death row that he plans to reject his opportunity for a clemency hearing in the case. (AP Photo/Sean Murphy)
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Sanchez’s supporters insisted he was innocent. Pic: AP

Juli Busken’s family ‘has found closure and peace’

Ms Busken had just completed her last term at the University of Oklahoma when she was abducted on 20 December 1996, from the car park of her apartment complex.

Her body was found later near a lake on the outskirts of Oklahoma City.

She had been bound, raped and shot in the head.

Busken had performed as a ballerina in several dance performances during her time at the university and a scholarship was set up in her name at the College of Fine Arts.

Years later, Sanchez was in jail for burglary when DNA from the victim’s clothing was matched to him.

He was convicted and sentenced to die in 2006.

None of Ms Busken’s family attended Thursday’s execution, but state attorney general Gentner Drummond said he had spoken to them several times in recent months.

He said: “Juli was murdered 26 years, nine months and one day ago. The family has found closure and peace.”

‘False DNA’

Sanchez had long maintained his innocence.

In an interview earlier this year from death row. “That is fabricated DNA.

“That is false DNA. That is not my DNA. I’ve been saying that since day one.”

He said he had declined to seek clemency because even when the five-member pardon and parole board takes the rare step of recommending it, governor Kevin Stitt was unlikely to grant it.

BALLERINA KILLED
Anthony Castillo Sanchez is led by deputies into the Cleveland County Courthouse for the start of his trial Monday, Jan. 30, 2006. Sanchez faces charges of first degree murder, rape, sodomy and kindnapping in the 1996 death of Oklahoma University dance student Jewell "Juli" Busken. (AP Photo/Norman Transcript, Kevin Ellis)


Photo Details
ID:	060130011657
Submission Date:	Jan 30, 2006 16:09 (GMT)
Creation Date:	Jan 30, 2006 00:00 (GMT)
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Sanchez is the third inmate put to death in Oklahoma this year. Pic: AP

Sanchez said: “I’ve sat in my cell and I’ve watched inmate after inmate after inmate get clemency and get denied clemency. Either way, it doesn’t go well for the inmates.”

Mr Drummond maintained the DNA evidence unequivocally linked Sanchez to Ms Busken’s killing.

He said the odds of randomly selecting an individual with the same genetic profile were one in 94 trillion.

‘Brutal rapist and murderer’

“There is no conceivable doubt that Anthony Sanchez is a brutal rapist and murderer who is deserving of the state’s harshest punishment,” Mr Drummond said in a recent statement.

A private investigator hired by an anti-death penalty group argued the DNA evidence may have been contaminated.

Ballistic evidence

But former Cleveland county district attorney Tim Kuykendall, who was the county’s top prosecutor when Sanchez was tried, has said while the DNA evidence was the most compelling at trial, there was other evidence linking him to the killing, including ballistic evidence and a shoe print found at the crime scene.

Mr Kuykendall said recently: “I know from spending a lot of time on that case, there is not one piece of evidence that pointed to anyone other than Anthony Sanchez.

“I don’t care if a hundred people or a thousand people confess to killing Juli Busken.”

Sanchez is the third inmate put to death in Oklahoma this year and the tenth since the state resumed carrying out the death penalty in 2021 ending a six-year moratorium introduced over concerns about its execution methods.

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