Pupils in a Florida school district will only be reading excerpts of Shakespeare rather than the full plays after new guidelines regarding sexual content in the curriculum were brought in.
Hillsborough County informed teachers that parts of the Bard’s classics contain sections which are sexual in nature and therefore cannot be taught following the passing of the Parental Rights in Education Act.
The legislation, dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” law by its opponents, limits classroom materials that “contain pornography or obscene depictions of sexual conduct”.
Other reasons included revised state standards and an effort to get students to read a wide variety of books for new state exams, the school district said in an emailed statement on Tuesday.
Several Shakespeare plays use suggestive puns and innuendo, and it is implied that the protagonists have had premarital sex in “Romeo and Juliet.”
The playwright’s books will however be available for checkout at media centres at schools, the district said.
“First and foremost, we have not excluded Shakespeare from our high school curriculum.
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“Students will still have the physical books to read excerpts in class,” the statement said.
“Curriculum guides are continually reviewed and refined throughout the year to align with state standards and current law.”
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The decision in Tampa is the latest fallout from laws passed by Florida’s Republican-controlled Legislature and championed by Governor Ron DeSantis over the past two years.
The first was passed last year and prohibited classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity in lower grades.
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The second law passed this year extended the prohibition on gender and sexual orientation discussion to other grades.
It also prevents students and teachers from being required to use preferred pronouns that don’t correspond to biological sex and strengthens the system by which people can lodge challenges against school books.
Republicans said at the time that the bill was intended to shield children from sexualised content.
Underscoring the confusion over what is allowed in schools, Florida Education Commissioner Manny Diaz on Tuesday put “Romeo and Juliet” on his list of books he is recommending that students read in August.
“This month’s book recommendations provide a variety of reading materials that students will find uplifting and will spark a love for literacy,” Diaz said in a statement.
A handwritten note recovered after a deadly shooting in Dallas detailed the suspect’s desire to inflict “real terror” on US immigration agents, the head of the FBI has said.
One person was killed and two people were critically injured after a gunman opened fire at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field office in Dallas, Texas, on Wednesday.
All three victims were in a transport van outside the facility at the time, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement.
Several more people were injured before the gunman took his own life, officials said.
Image: Joshua Jahn has been named as the suspected gunman
FBI director, Kash Patel, said the agency had seized devices and processed “writings” obtained at the scene and in the suspect’s home since the attack.
A handwritten note recovered read: “Hopefully this will give ICE agents real terror, to think, ‘is there a sniper with AP rounds on that roof?”
The FBI previously said the suspect left a bullet casing engraved with the phrase “ANTI-ICE” at the scene.
Mr Kash said in a post on X: “While the investigation is ongoing, an initial review of the evidence shows an ideological motive behind this attack.”
Image: One of the bullet casings was engraved with ‘ANTI ICE’. Pic: Kash Patel/X
Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons told Sky News partner NBC that ICE agents pulled some of the detainees out of the line of fire.
“The shooter was just shooting at random vehicles inside,” Mr Lyons said
“They were still hit inside the vehicle. You know, there were some brave men and women on the ground that went into those vans, pulling those detainees out while they were under fire.”
According to the FBI, evidence recovered so far shows a high level of planning ahead of the shooting, including searches of buildings belonging to the Dallas County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.
Image: The shooting happened at an ICE field office in Dallas. Pic: Reuters
Officials have not yet disclosed the identity of the victims.
US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem identified the gunman, in a Fox News interview, as Joshua Jahn, 29.
Ms Noem said he had fired the bullets from a nearby rooftop.
Mr Jahn’s older brother, Noah Jahn, who lives around 30 miles north of Dallas in McKinney, said he was not aware his brother held any negative feelings towards ICE.
He said: “I didn’t know he had any political intent at all.”
The shooting comes at a time of heightened tension in the US following the assassination of right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk.
Mr Kirk, a close ally of President Donald Trump, was shot dead by a sniper while speaking at an event in Utah on 10 September.
Tyler Robinson, 22, has been charged with the murder of Mr Kirk.
The Trump administration will work to prevent FIFA banning Israel from international football ahead of the 2026 World Cup, Sky News can reveal.
It comes as we have also learnt that European governing body UEFA is heading towards its own decision to suspend Israeli teams over the war in Gaza – with many FAs and members of the executive committee understood to favour that.
Israel’s next match is against Norway on 11 October in a men’s World Cup qualifier.
Football’s world and European governing bodies were urged this week by United Nations (UN) advisory experts to impose sporting sanctions.
FIFA has not responded to the UN special rapporteurs as Israel’s men continue trying to qualify for next year’s World Cup, which is largely being played in the United States.
And the US government, through Marco Rubio’s state department, has made a direct intervention to stop sporting sanctions being imposed.
A state department spokesperson told Sky News: “We will absolutely work to fully stop any effort to attempt to ban Israel’s national soccer team from the World Cup.”
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FIFA launched an investigation last year into allegations of discrimination raised by the Palestine Football Association against the Israeli FA.
There is also an investigation into whether teams from Israeli settlements in the West Bank playing in Israeli competitions breaches FIFA regulations.
Image: Pro-Palestinian protesters in Greece ahead of the PAOK and Maccabi Tel Aviv Europa League match on Wednesday. Pic: AP
FIFA President Gianni Infantino has a close relationship with US President Donald Trump and is a regular visitor to the White House. He has been in New York this week, meeting world leaders around the UN General Assembly – while also at FIFA’s office in Trump Tower.
During a speech after collecting an Atlantic Council Global Citizen Award last night, Mr Infantino referenced the war while speaking on bringing people together in “a divided world, in an aggressive world”.
In an indirect reference to the challenge of sanctioning countries over wars, Mr Infantino said there are 80 countries where there are conflicts.
He added: “I suffer when I see children suffer. I cry when I see mothers crying, whether it’s in Gaza… anywhere in the world.”
Officials have been deliberating over why Russia remains banned over the war in Ukraine but Israel is clear to continue playing in European club competitions and on the international stage as the death toll mounts.
UEFA has previously publicly said there is a difference in how the wars started – with Russia launching an unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and Israel responding to the 7 October 2023 Hamas attacks.
“Sports cannot be business as usual and something has to change and Israel has to be excluded,” Alexandra Xanthaki, the UN special rapporteur for cultural rights, told Sky News.
“I think that when we talk about teams, national teams, not individual athletes, of states that are subject to valid claims of genocide… this is where this is for sure a red line.”
Among the athletes killed during the war is the footballer known as the Palestinian Pele – Suleiman al Obeid – who the Palestine FA announced in August died in an Israeli airstrike.
The Palestine Olympic Committee this week said the Israeli sports system has been an “active participant” in war.
“Over 1,000 athletes have had their lives extinguished. Thousands more are wounded, maimed or disabled,” said POC President Jibril Rajoub, who also heads the FA.
“Our stadiums, our facilities, our dreams, all have been ground into dust.”
A suspension of Israeli teams would prevent Aston Villa having to go ahead with their match in the Europa League against Maccabi Tel Aviv in November.
Jessica Chastain has criticised Apple’s decision to delay the release of political thriller series The Savant after the killing of Charlie Kirk.
The actress, who is also executive producer of the show for the tech giant’s TV+ streaming service, said she was “not aligned on the decision to pause the release”.
In a post on Instagram, she said the programme, in which she plays a woman who tries to draw out potential terrorists online, is “so relevant” and she has never “shied away from difficult subjects”.
Chastain portrays a military veteran who works at the Anti-Hate Alliance, where she secretly visits 4Chan-like message boards and poses as a white nationalist to identify possible terrorists.
“‘The Savant’ is about the heroes who work every day to stop violence before it happens, and honouring their courage feels more urgent than ever,” Chastain said.
“I remain hopeful the show will reach audiences soon. Until then, I’m wishing safety and strength for everyone.”
Apple said it chose to postpone the show after “careful consideration” but did not give a reason why.
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Meanwhile, millions of people tuned in to watch Jimmy Kimmel on Tuesday after he returned to TV after Disney suspended him for nearly a week after he made comments about Kirk.
Image: Jimmy Kimmel hosting his late night show. Pic: AP
ABC said 6.26 million people watched Kimmel as he said it was “never my intention to make light of” Kirk’s death. It was the late-night show’s highest-rated regularly scheduled episode.
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“I don’t think there’s anything funny about it,” he said as he choked up.
“Nor was it my intention to blame any specific group for the actions of what was obviously a deeply disturbed individual. That was really the opposite of the point I was trying to make”.
Kimmel had been accused of being “offensive and insensitive” after using his programme, Jimmy Kimmel Live, to accuse Donald Trump and his allies of capitalising on the killing.