SAVE 49%: ExpressVPN is the best service for accessing extra Netflix libraries. A one-year subscription

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis wants to meet with Vice President Kamala Harris to discuss her criticism of the state’s Black history school curriculum standards after she joined widespread outrage over newly approved guidelines that diminish the impact of slavery and racist violence. “In Florida we are unafraid to have an open and honest dialogue about the issues. And you clearly have no trouble ducking down to Florida on short notice,” the governor wrote in a letter on 31 July, referencing her recent remarks in the state. “So given your grave concern (which, I must assume, is sincere) about what you think our standards say, I am officially inviting you back down to Florida to discuss our African American History standards,” he added. The administration also has invited William B Allen, one of the members of the working group that developed the standards who has a long history of inflammatory remarks and partisan rhetoric. The Independent has requested comment from the office of Ms Harris. The vice president travelled to Orlando on Tuesday to deliver remarks at the 20th Women’s Missionary Society of the African Methodist Episcopal Church Quadrennial Convention. Her visit follows remarks in the state on 21 July to condemn the state’s “propaganda” and the “extremist, so-called leaders” who support it. Though she did not name him or any other Florida officials, the vice president’s speech was directly aimed at the governor, whose administration has sought to radically overhaul public education and establish a “parents’ rights” agenda that restricts honest lessons of race and racism, threatens discussion of LGBT+ people and events, targets libraries and reshapes local school boards. A new set of standards for African American history in Florida schools will teach middle schoolers how enslaved people “developed skills” that could be “applied for personal benefit”. Another guideline instructs high schoolers to be taught that a massacre led by white supremacists against Black residents in Ocoee to stop them from voting in 1920 included “acts of violence perpetrated against and by African Americans.” Civil rights advocates, educators and lawmakers have warned that the guidelines present a distorted, revisionist picture of American history. “Adults know what slavery really was. It involved rape, it involved torture, it involved taking a baby from their mother, it involved some of the worst examples of depriving humanity of people in our world,” Ms Harris said in her remarks in Jacksonville. Members of the working group and the Florida Board of Education have defended the unanimously approved standards, assuring that they include comprehensive lessons on American history, including its darkest chapters. Mr Allen, a Black professor emeritus at Michigan State University who also sits on the national advisory board of the right-wing think tank Center for Urban Renewal and Education, has repeatedly defended the working group’s guidelines. A review of his past statements from Popular Information reveals a history of incendiary, contrarian remarks used to bolster and legitimise right-wing ideology. In 1989, he faced protests while participating in a panel titled “Blacks? Animals? Homosexuals? What is a Minority?” on which he claimed that special classes of protection for LGBT+ people and other minorities are a “fatal” mistake that heighten “tensions and antagonism”. Creating legal protections for minority groups “is the beginning of the evil of reducing American blacks to an equality with animals and then seducing other groups to seek the same charitable treatment,” according to prepared remarks. His speech was denounced by the US Civil Rights Commission – on which he was then serving as chair – as “disgusting” and “necessarily inflammatory”. That same year, he also was charged with kidnapping a 14-year-old girl from a Native American reservation in Arizona while she was the subject of a custody battle between her mother and a white couple who adopted her. Mr Allen also has opposed race-conscious admissions in higher education, including leading a campaign with a group that included members of the conservative Christian Hillsdale College and right-wing interest group the Heritage Foundation. He also has criticised The 1619 Project, which is explicitly banned from Florida schools, and has rejected concepts including “systemic racism, institutional racism [and] white privilege.” Mr DeSantis has routinely accused “the left” and Democratic officials of “indoctrinating” students in the state while he promotes an agenda that bans honest discussions of race and racism, sexuality and gender. The governor’s administration also recently approved materials from right-wing political advocacy group PragerU to be included in K-12 classrooms. The founder himself has said that those lessons are explicitly designed to indoctrinate. The campaign for Mr DeSantis, who is seeking the Republican nomination for president in 2024, has fired back at Black Republicans in Congress who have joined criticism of the African American history standards, including US Reps Byron Donalds and John James, as well as 2024 rival and South Carolina Senator Tim Scott. Both Mr James and Mr Donalds have endorsed Donald Trump. Read More Why Florida’s new curriculum on slavery is becoming a political headache for Ron DeSantis Most of Florida work group behind controversial new guidelines on African American history did not agree, report says The GOP primary is already decided. We’re just pretending it isn’t

South Korea’s League of Legends team has breezed through its first day of competition at the Asian Games and was bolstered by a strong performance by top player Lee Sang-hyeok

Apple has held its latest event, named “Wonderlust”, and released its most important products of the year. Chief executive Tim Cook and his colleagues revealed four new iPhones, and two new Apple Watches. But they also made a series of related announcements: about leather, AirPods and software, some of which came after the event. Here’s everything you need to know about all the new announcements from Apple – whether that was in the live stream or after. iPhone 15 The new base model iPhone was largely as expected. And it is familiar, too: in short, it takes the existing iPhone 14 and adds some of the features from the iPhone 14 Pro to it. It keeps the same basic design and materials, and two-lens camera setup. It adds the faster processor from the iPhone 14 Pro, as well as some of its camera smarts, and the “Dynamic Island” that gets rid of the ears at the top of the display. There’s a Plus model of this phone, too, that has a 6.7-inch display and a larger battery. It is otherwise identical. Read more. iPhone 15 Pro The Pro version of the iPhone 15 was a little more surprising and new – though only a little. The changes to the iPhone 15 Pro are relatively restrained. It adds new features to the camera: a new coating, and hardware and software tools that should make the pictures both better and easier to edit. It also gets a new faster chip and an “action button” on the side that can be programmed to do whatever you want. Most notable, perhaps, is the titanium material that will be used to make it. It adds a new look and makes the phone a bit lighter. Read more. Apple Watch Series 9 The new Watch is also mostly limited in its updates. They largely boil down to an improved processor and a better display. The improved processor adds a range of features, including better dictation and improved Siri. But probably most notable is a “double tap” option that lets people bring their fingers together to operate their Apple Watch without their hands. The display is both brighter and less bright, which means it should be easier to see in the sun and less shocking at night. Read more. Apple Watch Ultra 2 The Ultra 2 takes last year’s Ultra and puts this year’s developments into it. It has the same chip as the normal Watch – and the features that it brings – as well as its own brighter display. Read more. No more leather Two of the most notable announcements were about things being cancelled, rather than introduced. The first of them was leather. Apple will not use leather in any new products, it said. And so there will be new iPhone cases, straps and AirTag holders that will instead be made out of more sustainable materials. It was part of a broader sustainability focus during the event, which also included the announcement that the new Apple Watch is the company’s first ever carbon neutral product. Read more. And no more Lightning The other big removal was Lightning, the charging port that has been in the iPhone for more than a decade. Again, there’s something new in its place: USB-C. This was widely rumoured, after the European Union passed rules that required it, which Apple had originally opposed. Now, though, its presenting it as an upgrade, with better data connections and more compatibility. Read more. Updated AirPods After the event, the AirPods got an update. That is only minor: they too will get a new charging case that uses USB-C. Apple also noted that the shared connector now means that you can plug a USB-C wire into your phone, and then into your AirPods or Apple Watch, to charge them. But the AirPods are otherwise unchanged – and no other new products were released, either. New software release dates Also not mentioned in the event was the release of new software: iOS, WatchOS, MacOS and more. In press releases about their respective hardware, Apple announced when those updates would be arriving. Read more. Read More Here’s the new iPhone Pro, made out of an entirely new material Apple is changing the plug on the bottom of your iPhone Apple reveals when huge new iPhone update is coming Here is the iPhone 15 Apple to stop using leather in all new products Here’s the brand new Apple Watch

Andrew Tate argued that Bill Gates' massive net worth of $114B does not reflect a fulfilling life

Here's where residents of each state like to visit when it's time to travel.

To fix the Valorant Audio bug causing double processing in Patch 7.07, turn off Windows Sonic and only run the HRTF setting in game.

The largest single investor in IdeaForge Technology Ltd. is doubling down on India’s drone-making sector after an early

Parents aren't alone in feeling the extra pinch in the wallet this year in paying for back-to-school necessities. Teachers, too, are digging deeper to meet their classroom needs out of pocket.

The next iPhone could be just weeks away.

Along with Kai Cenat, IShowSpeed took home the Variety Streamer of the Year award

Jake Paul is all set to make his acting debut in a sports combat drama backed by Mandalay Pictures and Wonder Street