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US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will meet the Queen at Windsor Castle later.

The couple will receive a guard of honour and tea during the visit, which comes after they last met during the G7 summit in Cornwall.

But this afternoon’s private time with the monarch can be seen as a significant diplomatic gift from the UK government, keen to shore up a relationship with the new president.

The Queen speaks to Joe and Jill Biden as they attend a reception at the Eden Project for G7 leaders, including Boris Johnson
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The Queen also met the Bidens during the G7 summit in Cornwall

The Queen will greet the Bidens inside the castle grounds, where a guard of honour formed of The Queen’s Company First Battalion Grenadier Guards will give a royal salute, and the US national anthem will be played.

Mr Biden will accompany the officer commanding the guard of honour, Major James Taylor, and Major General Christopher Ghika, to inspect the honour guard.

After the formal ceremonial arrival, the Bidens will join the monarch inside the castle for tea.

In 2018, the Queen accompanied then-president Donald Trump to inspect the guard of honour at Windsor.

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Pictures appeared to show Mr Trump walking in front of the Queen, seen by some as a diplomatic faux pas.

Democratic strategist Laura Fink told Sky News that Mr Biden will see the visit as huge honour, and she wouldn’t be surprised if they had a lot in common.

FILE - In this Friday, July 13, 2018 file photo, U.S. President Donald Trump and Britain's Queen Elizabeth inspects the Guard of Honour at Windsor Castle in Windsor, England. U.S. President Donald Trump will pay a state visit to Britain in June as a guest of Queen Elizabeth II, Buckingham Palace said Tuesday, April 23, 2019. The palace said Trump and his wife, Melania, had accepted an invitation from the queen for a visit that will take place June 3-5. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, file)
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Donald Trump appeared to walk in front of the Queen during a 2018 visit. Pic: AP

She said: “It’s funny because with Donald Trump, he said it’s the best time she’s had in 25 years following the event and I thought that was characteristic of his bombast.

“I think it’s going to be 180-degree shift with Joe Biden.

“He is understated, he’s someone who connects with people on a deeply personal level.

“I think right now with the recent passing of Prince Philip and the experiences that President Biden has had with loss in his own life, he tends to lead with empathy and connection and of course good humour.

“So I think it’ll be a much more understated event with fewer stories of the presidential eclipse with President Trump walking ahead of the Queen, and more about the connection between two individuals that have led their countries for quite some time.”

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Queen jokes with G7 leaders during photocall

There have been 14 US presidents during the Queen’s 69-year reign – from Harry S Truman to Mr Biden.

Mr Biden will be the 13th American leader to meet the monarch, with Lyndon B Johnson the only one the Queen did not meet.

The Royal Family is seen as a hugely important diplomatic asset for the UK.

The emphasis on shared interests started on Friday with the Duchess of Cambridge hosting First Lady Jill Biden during a visit to a school in Cornwall, before joining the Queen and other members of the family at a reception for the G7 leaders.

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Queen cuts cake – with not a knife but a ceremonial sword

Lord Darroch, who was the UK’s ambassador in Washington during the Trump administration, said nothing compares to the Queen’s subtle influence.

He said: “There is just an extraordinary fascination which is very lucky for us, they (the Royal Family) are a huge national asset, and that helps greatly, I think.

“It’s part of soft power diplomacy. A big part.”

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Speaking about how the Queen will prepare for the meeting he said: “Yes, there will be a Foreign Office briefing provided for her and, yes, she will read it and she will get it all, she will pack it away and that will be part of the material for her conversation with him.

“But she’s just so experienced at doing this, I’m sure she can manage without the briefing, but she will take the briefing and she will absorb it.”

The Queen prepares to receive the salute during a ceremony at Windsor Castle to mark her official birthday
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The Queen was at Windsor on Saturday to mark her birthday

The visit from the president concludes a very busy weekend for the 95-year-old monarch.

On Friday, she travelled to Cornwall for the G7 leaders’ reception, before heading back to Windsor for her official birthday parade on Saturday.

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Bodycam footage shows prison guards beating handcuffed inmate before his death

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Bodycam footage shows prison guards beating handcuffed inmate before his death

Bodycam footage showing prison officers fatally beating an inmate has been released by New York’s attorney general.

Prison officers at Marcy Correctional Facility in New York punched and kicked 43-year-old Robert Brooks repeatedly while he was handcuffed on an infirmary bed.

He died in hospital on 10 December, a day after the attack.

The incident has drawn outrage from political leaders and was condemned by the prison officers’ union as “incomprehensible”, according to Sky News’ partner newsroom NBC.

It is now being investigated by state attorney general Letitia James, who called the videos “shocking and disturbing” at a virtual news conference.

Prison officers attacked Robert Brooks on the day he was transferred to Marcy Correctional Facility in New York. Pic: The New York Attorney General Office
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Prison officers attacked Robert Brooks while he was handcuffed. Pic: New York Attorney General Office

In the video, Mr Brooks is in handcuffs as he is carried into the infirmary by several prison guards.

They put him on the bed and begin repeatedly punching and kicking him.

He is pulled upright, where his bloodied face is visible on camera, and then yanked from the bed by his shirt collar and pushed up against a window.

One of the fourteen workers involved in the incident has resigned and the rest have been suspended without pay until the process to fire them is complete. The workers include correctional officers, sergeants and a prison nurse.

The officers had not activated their body cameras but they were still on and recorded in standby mode, without audio, during the attack.

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As a result of the incident, all officers will now need to have their cameras activated any time they are engaging directly with prisoners.

Mr Brooks’ family thanked officials for taking action “to hold officers accountable” in a statement this week.

“We cannot understand how this could have happened in the first place,” the family said. “No one should have to lose a family member this way.”

Robert Brooks, who died a day after being attacked by prison officers. Pic: Family handout
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Robert Brooks, who died a day after being attacked by prison officers. Pic: Family handout

The attack happened before 9.30pm on 9 December in a medical exam room after Mr Brooks had been transferred from the Mohawk Correctional Facility to Marcy Correctional Facility.

An autopsy found “preliminary findings show concern for asphyxia due to compression of the neck as the cause of death, as well as the death being due to actions of another,” according to a state corrections office investigative report obtained by an affiliate of Sky News’ partner newsroom WKTV in Utica.

Mr Brooks had been behind bars since 2017 on a 12-year sentence for first-degree assault involving a longtime girlfriend.

Officials declined to say why he had been transferred to the Marcy Correctional Facility, a medium-security prison.

Last year, an independent prison oversight group called The Correctional Association of New York released a report on the Marcy Correctional Facility.

It noted complaints of “rampant” physical abuse by staff members, with 80% of incarcerated people reporting having witnessed or experienced abuse and nearly 70% reporting racial discrimination or bias.

In response to the video, the union that represents workers at the prison said: “What we witnessed is incomprehensible to say the least and is certainly not reflective of the great work that the vast majority of our membership conducts every day.”

It adding what transpired is the “opposite of everything [the union] and its membership stand for.”

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Scottie Scheffler: Freak Christmas dinner injury forces world’s best golfer to undergo surgery

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Scottie Scheffler: Freak Christmas dinner injury forces world's best golfer to undergo surgery

The world’s best golfer has suffered a freak injury while cooking Christmas dinner, forcing him to undergo surgery.

Scottie Scheffler sustained a puncture wound after cutting the palm of his right hand on broken glass.

The world number one required surgery as small glass fragments remained in the palm after the accident.

The injury has forced him out of the first tournament of the season, next week’s The Sentry in Hawaii.

Scottie Scheffler. Pic: Reuters
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Pic: Reuters

But the 28-year-old has been told he will recover in three to four weeks, and he hopes to be back in action at The American Express tournament in California on 16 January.

Scheffler won an Olympic gold and seven PGA Tour titles in the last year and was recently named PGA Tour’s Player of the Year for a third season in a row.

In May, he was arrested by police during the US PGA Championship after he was accused of trying to drive around a traffic jam caused by a fatal accident.

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Spectators wore Free Scottie t-shirts and one wore an orange jumpsuit. Pic: Matt Stone-USA TODAY Sports via Reuters
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Scheffler’s arrest became a major story at the US PGA Championship. Pic: Matt Stone-USA TODAY Sports via Reuters

Just hours later, he was released and allowed to return to Valhalla Golf Club in Kentucky to play his second round of the tournament.

Criminal charges against Scheffler were later dismissed due to a lack of evidence and a police officer who arrested him was disciplined for not having his bodycam on at the time of the incident.

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Man indicted on murder charge after sleeping woman burned to death on New York City subway

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Man indicted on murder charge after sleeping woman burned to death on New York City subway

The man accused of burning a woman to death on a New York subway train has been indicted on murder and arson charges.

Sebastian Zapeta is accused of setting a sleeping woman on fire and then fanning the flames with a shirt, which caused her to be engulfed by the blaze.

He allegedly sat on a platform at Brooklyn’s Coney Island station, opposite the stopped train, and watched as she burned to death.

Authorities are still working to identify the victim.

Zapeta, 33, has been charged with one count of first degree murder, two counts of second degree murder and one count of arson in the first degree.

After a brief hearing in which the indictment was announced, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said: “This was a malicious deed. A sleeping, vulnerable woman on our subway system.”

Mr Gonzalez said police and medical examiners are using fingerprints and advanced DNA techniques to identify the victim, while also retracing her steps before the murder.

“Our hearts go out not only to this victim, but we know that there’s a family,” he said. “Just because someone appears to have been living in the situation of homelessness does not mean that there’s not going to be family devastated by the tragic way she lost her life.”

Police officers patrol the F train platform at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue Station, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
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Officers patrol the platform where the woman died. Pic: AP

Zapeta was initially charged with murder and arson in a criminal complaint earlier this week.

Such filings are often a first step in the criminal process because all felony cases in New York require a grand jury indictment to proceed to trial, unless a defendant waives that requirement.

Zapeta was not present at the hearing. The most serious charge he is facing carries a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole and the indictment will be unsealed on 7 January.

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Zapeta is a Guatemalan who entered the US illegally having already been deported in 2018, officials say.

He was taken into custody last Sunday, after three children called 911 when they recognised him from an image shared by police.

During questioning, prosecutors say he claimed not to know what happened, and noted he consumes alcohol – but did identify himself in photos and videos showing the fire being lit.

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