Third in line for US presidency has been in five Batman movies

The man third in the line of presidential succession has appeared in five Batman movies. Senator Patrick Leahy, a Democrat from Vermont, is President pro tempore of the Senate, making him the third in the presidential line of succession. He appeared The Dark Knight, alongside the late Heath Ledger, as well as Batman Forever, Batman: The Animated Series, Batman & Robin and Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. On his acting cameos, he said: “If you live in the real world all the time, it can be kind of boring.”

Chinese blame US for Covid

A conspiracy theory has emerged in China that Covid-19 originated in America. The social media hashtag “American’s Ft. Detrick” was used at least 1.4 billion times last week after a Foreign Ministry spokesperson called for a World Health Organization investigation of a biological weapons lab in the US. An expert said the purpose of the hashtag is “to shift the blame from mishandling by the Chinese government in the pandemic’s early days to conspiracy by the US”.

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Haggis sent to space for first time

A packet of haggis has been launched to the edge of space for the first time. Scottish butcher Simon Howie worked with space education and research firm Stratonauts to launch the 454g haggis in honour of Burns Night. He said he wanted to start the year by “lifting the spirits of the general public” and enjoyed the chance “to take Scotland’s national dish to new heights”.