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An appeals court has suspended Rudy Giuliani from practising law in New York because he made false statements while trying to get courts to overturn Donald Trump's loss in the presidential race.

An attorney disciplinary committee said in its motion to suspend Mr Giuliani's license that there was "uncontroverted evidence" that he had made false statements to the courts, the public and lawmakers as he pushed theories that the election was stolen through fraud.

"This country is being torn apart by continued attacks on the legitimacy of the 2020 election and of our current president, Joseph R. Biden," the committee wrote, on Thursday (Friday AEST).

READ MORE: 'Good for all of us': Giuliani's Ukraine phone call over Biden revealed

"The hallmark of our democracy is predicated on free and fair elections.

"False statements intended to foment a loss of confidence in our elections and resulting loss of confidence in government generally damage the proper functioning of a free society."

The ruling, signed Thursday, will prevent Mr Giuliani from representing clients as a lawyer.

In the decision, the committee wrote that Mr Giuliani "communicated demonstrably false and misleading statements to courts, lawmakers and the public at large" as a lawyer for Mr Trump.

Mr Giuliani had claimed the investigation into his conduct violated his First Amendment right of free speech and that he did not knowingly make false statements, according to the decision.

The court rejected those arguments, noting that in Pennsylvania, Mr Giuliani failed to "provide a scintilla of evidence for any of the varying and wildly inconsistent numbers of dead people he factually represented voted in Philadelphia during the 2020 presidential election."

READ MORE: How Team Trump wound up in garden centre carpark for key news briefing

A message seeking comment about the ruling was sent on Thursday to Mr Giuliani and his lawyer.

Mr Giuliani was the primary mouthpiece for Mr Trump's lies after the 2020 election, standing at a press conference in front of Four Seasons Total Landscaping outside Philadelphia on the day the race was called for Biden and saying they would challenge what he claimed was a vast conspiracy by Democrats.

The lies around the 2020 election helped push an angry mob of pro-Trump rioters to storm the US Capitol on January 6 in a shocking effort to stop the certification of President Biden's victory.

Since that time, Republicans have used that lie to push stricter voting laws nationwide.

A UK government minister says Britain is prepared to sail naval vessels through disputed waters near Crimea again, a day after a confrontation between a British warship and Russian forces in the Black Sea.

Environment Secretary George Eustice disputed claims from Moscow that Russian warplanes dropped bombs and a patrol boat fired warning shots at a British destroyer it claims entered into its territorial waters in the Black Sea.

"This is a very normal thing," he told Sky News. 

READ MORE: Biden and Putin clash on cybersecurity but no 'Cold War'

"It's quite common, actually, what was actually going on is the Russians were doing a gunnery exercise and given prior notice of that, they often do in that area. So I think it's important that we don't get carried away."

Russia said the UK's HMS Defender went three kilometres inside what it described as its territory off Cape Fiolent in Crimea, just before noon on Wednesday. A nation's territorial waters extend 12 nautical miles (22.2 kilometres) from its coastline; any foreign warship going past that limit would need permission of the country to do so, with a few exceptions.

Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine after a military intervention in the region in 2014. The international community opposed that annexation, and still considers Crimea as Ukrainian territory.

Mr Eustice insisted the vessel was making a legal passage under international law to Georgia via Ukraine. Asked if the UK would sail through disputed Ukrainian waters again, he replied:

"Yes … because we never accepted the annexation of Crimea."

Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Defence Secretary Ben Wallace both backed the assertion.

"We don't recognise the Russian annexation of Crimea. It was illegal," Mr Johnson said.

"These are Ukrainian waters and it was entirely right to use them to go from A to B."

He denied that UK-Russia relations were at a historic low, noting that "I can remember times in my own lifetime when things have been far worse."

"The important point is that we don't recognise the Russian annexation of Crimea, this is part of a sovereign Ukrainian territory," Mr Johnson told reporters on Thursday during a visit to an army barracks in England.

"It was entirely right that we should vindicate the law and pursue freedom of navigation in the way that we did, take the shortest route between two points, and that's what we did."

https://twitter.com/BBCPolitics/status/1408039773953007617

On Thursday, Kremlin officials accused the UK of a "deliberate, planned provocation" and said it had the right to "bomb on target" when foreign ships violate its sea borders.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on a conference call with journalists that Russia was "obviously concerned about such actions of the British ship."

"What can we do? We can appeal to common sense, demand respect for international law. If this does not help, we can bomb not only in the direction, but also on target, if our colleagues do not understand," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said, according to Russian state media TASS.

On Thursday, British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab described Moscow's version of Wednesday's incident as "predictably inaccurate," saying "no shots were fired at HMS Defender."

Conflicting accounts

A BBC reporter on the ship said he witnessed Russian warplanes and naval vessels buzzing the destroyer during the flare-up on Wednesday.

Shortly after the British ship crossed the territorial boundary, an Su-24M attack jet dropped bombs and a coastal patrol ship fired warning shots in front of the British destroyer, the Russian defence ministry said in a report from Russian state media TASS.

But British officials pushed back on the Russian allegations, and Mr Eustice continued to play them down on Thursday.

"I don't think they were warning shots. There was a military exercise that was taking place, and it's not uncommon for the Russians to do this in this area, and therefore the incident is not particularly abnormal in that sense," he said.

The UK defence ministry had previously denied Moscow's accusation, saying its ship was making a legal and innocent passage and there was

"No shots were directed at HMS Defender and we do not recognise the claim that bombs were dropped in her path," the UK Ministry of Defence said on Wednesday.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said Russian jets flew over the ship, one dropping as low as 500 feet (150 metres) but "at no point" were warning shots fired or bombs dropped.

"These aircraft posed no immediate threat to HMS Defender but some of these manoeuvres were neither safe nor professional," he said, in a written statement to Parliament on Thursday.

"HMS Defender responded by VHF radio to the Russian units on several occasions and was, at all times, courteous and professional."

The UK ambassador to Moscow was due to visit the Russian foreign ministry on Thursday after being summoned over the incident, spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on state TV. On Wednesday, Zakharova accused the UK of spreading lies about the incident.

"So, who's lying: the British defence ministry, the British BBC reporter or the British Embassy in Moscow? There is an answer," she said.

"This time – the British defence Ministry and the British Embassy … London has lost its manners. I advise the British partners to knock if they want to 'peacefully enter' next time," Zakharova wrote on Telegram.

A move watched in China

The incident in the Black Sea will be watched further afield, with Europe, the US and China all likely observing Britain's response, experts told CNN.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged the EU to stand together against "provocations" from Russia, but also to seek direct talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying the bloc "needs to create a format for dialogue." 

Her comments on Thursday echoed similar remarks from French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday, and followef a recent summit between US President Joe Biden and Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

"This is a moment that comes just as France and Germany now, to the surprise and disconcertion of a number of smaller EU countries, are trying to establish some sort of new relationship with Russia," said Nigel Gould-Davies, senior fellow for Russia and Eurasia at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in London. 

"If Britain still were in the EU, it would have been in a position to have warned against this."

READ MORE: Biden's 'Cold War plan' to contain Chinese security threats

The UK "has very much gone in the other direction" from France and Germany with its decision to sail through the Black Sea, James Nixey, Director of the Russia and Eurasia program at Chatham House, told CNN.

"Russia does revel in and understand the value of theatricality," Mr Nixey said.

"The message to (the West) is: 'We will not be restrained by internationally imposed rules.'"

The Kremlin likely also had a domestic audience in mind, some experts said. 

"It would be unusually risky to take the sort of actions that Russia claims to have taken — including dropping bombs in front of a foreign vessel," Sidharth Kaushal, a research fellow in sea power at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), told CNN.

"The Russians have been working to push the narrative that the Royal Navy acted provocatively and was driven away — which might be both for domestic consumption and to reinforce international perceptions of Russia's red lines," he said.

The tensions may also have implications for China. HMS Defender is part of the Carrier Strike Force, which is set to soon move towards the South China Sea — where China has transformed obscure reefs and sandbars into man-made artificial islands, fortified with missiles, runways and weapons systems.

"China will be looking to see if the British are as bold in the South China Sea as they are in the Black Sea," Mr Nixey said. 

"That is a can of worms that the UK may be less willing to open by comparison."

Tensions there between the US and China most recently flared up in April, when US-Philippine training exercises took place and a Chinese aircraft carrier entered the region.

More than 50 people are thought to be missing after a 12-storey building partially collapsed in Miami, leaving at least one person dead and 10 others injured.

Miami-Dade Commissioner Sally Heyman said 51 people who were assumed to have been living in the partially collapsed part of the building have not been accounted for.

She told CNN those people have "not either called out or had people call in to reach them" but it was unclear if they had all been in the building when it collapsed about 2am (4pm AEST) on Thursday, because of "vacations or anything else".

"We're still waiting and unfortunately the hope is still there, but it is weaning," she said.

READ MORE: Dashcam captures deadly Florida bridge collapse

Charles Burkett, mayor of the Miami council of Surfside, said the cause had not yet been determined but a collapse of this nature was "less likely than a lightning strike".

"This is a horrific catastrophe. In the United States, buildings just don't fall down," Cr Burkett said.

The mayor told reporters 10 people were treated at the scene and the building had been cleared. But he said half of the building's 130 units had collapsed and it was unclear how many people were missing.

Cr Burkett went on to say the building was undergoing roof work but he couldn't say whether that was a contributing factor to the collapse.

"We are afraid the building may be in danger of additional collapse," he told CNN affiliate WSVN.

"The problem is the building has literally pancaked. It has gone down and I mean, there's just feet in between storeys where there were 10 feet (about 3m).

"That is heartbreaking because it doesn't mean to me that we are going to be successful, as successful as we want to be to find people alive."

Surfside Town Manager Andy Hyatt said the search and rescue process could take a week and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis warned the city was "bracing for some bad news just given the destruction that we're seeing".

'How could anybody survive this?'

Footage from the ground showed fire crews pulling one survivor, a teen boy, from the rubble.

Nicholas Balboa was walking his dog when he heard the boy and eventually found him "sticking his hand up through the debris".

"I was thinking to myself, 'how could anybody survive this?' As I was thinking that, I heard a voice yelling," he said.

Balboa said he and another person climbed up the rubble to help, and then found police and firefighters to help.

Fears for missing loved ones

The collapse sent a cloud of debris through the neighbourhood, coating cars up to two blocks away with a light layer of dust.

Authorities have not revealed how many people live in the building, but some witnesses in the exclusion zone say they fear friends or loved ones are still inside.

Kimberly Morales said she lived in the building across the street from the collapse and was awakened by building alarms going off and pounding on her door.

"I woke everyone up in the room because when I looked out the window, I saw everyone outside," she told CNN.

"I told everyone to hurry up and leave the building."

READ MORE: Bondi Beach house collapses with elderly couple inside

When part of his residential building collapsed, Barry Cohen knew he needed to get out of his apartment. But when he looked down the hallway, he said, "there was nothing there".

"It was just a pile of dust and rubble and paint falling from the ceilings," he told CNN.

After not being able to find a way out of the building, he said he went to his balcony, and by that time, the fire trucks and police had arrived.

"When we were waiting for the firetruck to approach the building, the building was still shaking," he said.

"It just seemed like it was very unsteady. And I just, you know, knowing how what it looked like outside my door, I thought that any minute, we could be that same pile of rubble."

Authorities still on the scene

Police blocked nearby roads, and scores of fire and rescue vehicles, ambulances and police cars swarmed the area.

"We're on the scene so it's still very active," Surfside Police Department Sergeant Marian Cruz said.

"What I can tell you is the building is 12 floors. The entire back side of the building has collapsed."

Photos and video from the scene show that the collapse affected half the tower. Piles of rubble and debris surrounded the area just outside the building.

The department has yet to say what may have caused the collapse near 88th Street and Collins Avenue.

"I have never seen so many ambulances and police in my life all at once," a man who lives nearby told CNN.

READ MORE: Building collapses in Sydney's inner west

https://twitter.com/BrookeShaferTV/status/1407986571656171521?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

"It looked like something from 9/11, literally.

"The entire building collapsed from the 14th floor.

"So there's a third of the entire building, that you cannot see from the street, but it's completely gone.

"It almost looks like 9/11 or if a bomb hit or something.

"It just completely wiped it out. There's a pile of rubble."

Survivors evacuated

Survivors and those from surrounding buildings have been evacuated to a nearby community centre as crews work to find anyone else alive.

According to the Miami Herald, the 12-storey condo tower, part of Champlain Towers, is an oceanside condo built in 1981 with more than 100 units.

The area is a mix of new and old apartments, houses, condominiums and hotels, with restaurants and stores serving an international combination of residents and tourists.

The community provides a stark contrast from bustle and glitz of South Beach with a slower paced neighbourhood feel.

https://twitter.com/MiamiDadeFire/status/1407951283747799043?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw