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FBI and Venezuela's intelligence agency also reportedly arrest billionaire media mogul Raul Gorrin at same addressA close and powerful associate of the deposed Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro has reportedly been detained during a joint operation by Venezuela's intelligence agency and the FBI.Alex Saab, a wealthy Colombian-Venezuelan businessman long considered Maduro's frontman, was removed from his position in Venezuela's government a fortnight after US forces captured his ally on 3 January. In the early hours of Wednesday, the 54-year-old was reportedly detained by members of the Bolivarian national intelligence service (Sebin) at a luxury home in Venezuela's capital, Caracas. Continue reading...

Clinical reports show the children had consumed batches of recently recalled products, UKHSA saysThere have been 36 clinical reports of children suffering symptoms consistent with toxin poisoning linked to recent baby formula recalls, the UK Health Security Agency has said.The UKHSA said it and partner agencies had received 24 notifications in England, seven in Scotland, three in Wales, one in Northern Ireland and one from the crown dependencies of children who had consumed implicated batches and developed symptoms. Continue reading...

The move is among several measures the acting president has touted since Maduro's capture - yet critics say it erases Venezuela's long history of repressionIt was designed in the 1950s to be the world's first drive-through shopping centre", a futuristic structure with more than than two miles of ramps looping past 300 shops, as well as cinemas, a hotel, a private club, a concert hall and a heliport.But the building was never completed, and under the regimes of Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro, spaces envisioned as shops were turned into cells, and El Helicoide became Venezuela's most notorious torture centre for political prisoners. Continue reading...

Documents relating to US ambassador appointment being assessed for release by intelligence and security committeeA parliamentary committee looking into the appointment of Peter Mandelson as US ambassador and the depth of his relationship with the convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein will not be afraid to publish material that is embarrassing to the government, its chair has said.Lord Beamish, who leads parliament's intelligence and security committee, said there had to be maximum transparency" about the vetting process Mandelson went through before he was appointed ambassador to the US in December 2024 and what the government knew about his friendship with Epstein. Continue reading...

Diocese holds consultation on future of long-closed city centre site thought to be slave trader's burial placeWork is about to begin repairing an unused city centre church in Bristol, which is believed to be the burial place of the slave trader Edward Colston.After the work on the roof of All Saints is completed, the building may be deconsecrated, turned into a community resource and the remains of Colston could be removed. Continue reading...

Resort where family was staying conducting a safety review after mother and two children found drifting in ocean

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Taiwanese president says ties with Washington rock solid', hours after leaders of US and China share first call since NovemberIn their first call since November, Chinese leader Xi Jinping warned US president Donald Trump to be prudent" about supplying arms to Taiwan, according to a readout of their call provided by China's foreign ministry.President Xi emphasised that the Taiwan question is the most important issue in China-US relations," the readout said. China must safeguard its own sovereignty and territorial integrity, and will never allow Taiwan to be separated. The US must handle the issue of arms sales to Taiwan with prudence." Continue reading...

Cauchi, who lived with schizophrenia, killed six people in 2024 Westfield shopping centre stabbing before being shot dead by police inspector Amy Scott

Gus was last seen playing outside home on family sheep station in September, with his disappearance declared a major crime

Exclusive: David O'Sullivan says war-based economy may be nearing point of becoming unsustainable'Western sanctions are having a significant impact" on the Russian economy, the EU's sanctions envoy has said, ahead of the fourth anniversary of Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.David O'Sullivan, a veteran Irish official, said sanctions were not a silver bullet" and would always face circumvention, but insisted that after four years he was confident they were having an effect. Continue reading...

The 27-year-old man from Maryborough is alleged to have had 23,000 photographs and videos stored on a hard drive

Darcy Tinning, 19, allegedly made threat ahead of Herzog's planned visit and made remark that constitutes hate speech, court hears

WA premier Roger Cook says police allege the act was motivated by a hateful, racist ideology'

Backlash grows against Israel president Isaac Herzog's planned visit next week with calls to rescind invitation

Satellite photographs show rows of gravestones removed and soil disturbed at the Gaza War Cemetery where more than 250 Australians are buried

The message, believed to be from Ghislaine Maxwell, was released as part of the latest tranche of the Epstein filesAn email believed to have been sent by Ghislaine Maxwell appears to confirm a photograph of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor with his arm around Virginia Giuffre's waist is real.The message, released as part of the latest tranche of the Epstein files, was headed draft statement" and sent by G Maxwell" to Jeffrey Epstein in 2015. Continue reading...

Luke Pollard says blueprint expected last autumn is a bigger task than many people outside defence realise'

The Puerto Rican singer's highly anticipated Super Bowl half-time show has inspired non-Spanish speakers to study Puerto Rican dialect and slangBad Bunny is expected to perform the Super Bowl half-time show on Sunday entirely in Spanish - which has inspired fans to quickly learn the language.In October, the Puerto Rican singer - born Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio - kicked off the 51st season of Saturday Night Live expressing pride over the achievement in Spanish, after which he said in English, If you didn't understand what I just said, you have four months to learn!" Continue reading...

Major obstacles to viable deal remain after Volodymyr Zelenskyy accuses Moscow of violating energy truceUkrainian and Russian negotiators have held a productive" first round of US-led peace talks in Abu Dhabi, as Washington seeks a pathway to end the nearly four-year war in Ukraine.The two-day trilateral talks that are due to continue on Thursday come after Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Moscow of exploiting a US-backed energy truce last week to stockpile weapons before launching a record number of ballistic missile attacks at Ukraine on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Tribunal heard Bunnings store managers' evidence of regular threatening or abusive behaviour from some customers

Singer was member of vocal group that scored 1960s hits with Up, Up and Away and Aquarius/Let the Sunshine InSinger LaMonte McLemore has died. He was a founding member of the 5th Dimension, a vocal group whose smooth pop and soul sounds with a touch of psychedelia brought them big hits in the 1960s and 70s.McLemore died on Tuesday aged 90 at his home in Las Vegas, surrounded by his family, his representative Jeremy Westby said in a statement. He died of natural causes after having a stroke. Continue reading...

Becoming garners 47.5m minutes viewed on same weekend as current first lady's documentary released in cinemasMichelle Obama's 2020 documentary Becoming saw a major rise in views over the same weekend that Melania was released in cinemas.The film, which followed the former first lady in the wake of her hit book, saw a rise in views of more than 13,000% over the past weekend, with 47.5m minutes viewed, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The weekend before saw only 354,000 minutes watched, according to Luminate. Continue reading...

Talks that had been scheduled in Turkey salvaged after Arab states convince White House not to walk away from negotiationsTalks between the US and Iran scheduled for Friday have been brought back from the brink of collapse after the US initially rejected Iran's request to move them from Turkey to Oman without the presence of a group of Arab states.Iran's foreign minister said late on Wednesday that the talks would proceed in Oman after reports of a last-minute effort by Arab states to convince the White House not to walk away from negotiations. Continue reading...

Commons committee chair says DWP repeatedly failed to prioritise the vulnerable and was slow to fix errorsThe government's most senior welfare official has been accused of presiding over a culture of complacency" that led to thousands of unpaid carers inadvertently running up huge benefit debts.Debbie Abrahams, the chair of the work and pensions select committee, said the Department for Work and Pensions had repeatedly failed to prioritise vulnerable people, was unwilling to learn from its mistakes, and slow to fix errors. Continue reading...

Starmer faces criticism from MPs on all sides of the Commons

Health secretary to increase pay offer and guarantee working conditions for resident doctors onlyWes Streeting is to offer resident doctors a bigger pay rise than other NHS staff as part of a new package of measures to try to end their long-running dispute.The health secretary also plans to guarantee resident doctors in England that hospitals will be fined if they do not give them good working conditions, such as rest areas and access to hot food. Continue reading...

MPs say release of papers on Mandelson's appointment as US ambassador could trigger leadership challengeLabour MPs have warned that Keir Starmer's days as prime minister are numbered after a day of fury over the appointment of Peter Mandelson as US ambassador despite his friendship with Jeffery Epstein.The government was on the brink of a defeat in the Commons until a mid-debate amendment brokered by Meg Hillier and Angela Rayner to force the release of documents about Mandelson's appointment and the depth of his relationship with the convicted child sex offender. Continue reading...

Government faces call for transparency on former peer's involvement amid fears he may have leaked more sensitive informationPeter Mandelson's involvement with the US tech company Palantir must be exposed to full public transparency, campaigners have said, amid fears he may have leaked more sensitive information than is alleged in his emails to Jeffrey Epstein.Palantir, a $300bn startup that provides military technology to the Israel Defense Forces and AI-powered deportation targeting for Donald Trump's ICE units, has UK government contracts worth more than 500m. Global Counsel, a lobbying company Mandelson co-founded and part-owns, also works for Palantir. Continue reading...

No 10 is under huge pressure to reveal exactly how the former peer was vetted for his job as US ambassadorAfter the release of a vast tranche of documents and emails that shed further light on the close relationship between Peter Mandelson and Jeffrey Epstein, the government has come under intense pressure to release details about its vetting process before Mandelson's appointment as US ambassador in December 2024. Continue reading...

Position of Mountbatten-Windsor now appears even more grave, and the shadow cast over his family even darkerWhen King Charles stripped Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor of his titles and announced he would be booted out of Royal Lodge, Buckingham Palace said the censures are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the fact that he continues to deny the allegations against him".Four months and more than 3m documents later, Charles must surely feel vindicated on his tough approach. For while there is nothing to suggest the king nor any other senior royals knew then what was to come in the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files, what has emerged has been truly shocking. Continue reading...

Melinda French Gates insists Microsoft founder has questions to answer over his relationship with EpsteinBill Gates has said he regrets" ever knowing Jeffrey Epstein, as his former wife Melinda French Gates alluded to muck" in their marriage, and insisted the Microsoft founder has questions to answer over his relationship with the deceased child sex offender.Allegations that Gates hid a sexually transmitted disease from his wife after contact with Russian girls" surfaced in the latest release of the Epstein files, which have provided remarkable insight into the disgraced financier's multiple celebrity connections and activities. Continue reading...

Robb Pitts said call came days before federal agents seized 2020 election documents in Georgia

Former phone hacker Graham Johnson denies claims, saying payments were part of effort to draw attention to unlawful behaviour by mediaA researcher investigating lawbreaking by the media paid private investigators and ex-journalists for their testimony about alleged unlawful activity at the publisher of the Daily Mail, the high court has heard.Graham Johnson, a former phone hacker who later turned to researching unlawful activity in the press, confirmed he had made payments to six people who all feature in the case Prince Harry and others have brought against Associated Newspapers Ltd (ANL). Continue reading...

Six children among dead as Israeli agency restricts evacuations two days after crossing to Egypt reopenedIsraeli tank shelling and airstrikes have killed at least 21 people, including six children and seven women, in Gaza, and Israel has halted the evacuation of patients through the Rafah border crossing just two days after it reopened.Among the casualties was a medic who rushed to the scene to assist the wounded and was killed by a second strike on the same location in the southern city of Khan Younis. Tents in al-Mawasi, an encampment of displaced people in Khan Younis, were shredded by the blasts. Continue reading...

Former Post executive editor blasts owner Jeff Bezos's sickening efforts to curry favor' with TrumpThe Washington Post laid off hundreds of employees on Wednesday, which its former executive editor said ranks among the darkest days" in the newspaper's history. Approximately one-third of employees were affected.Staffers at the Post have been on edge for weeks about the rumored cuts, which the publication would not confirm or deny. It's an absolute bloodbath," said one employee, not authorized to speak publicly. Continue reading...

State-owned company will sell under the Lepas brand, continuing its rapid expansion in the British market

Both sides downplay chances of immediate breakthrough in US-brokered talks as western allies reportedly weigh new defence pactThe Kremlin has reacted to comments made by French president Emmanuel Macron that he was looking to resume contact with Putin on the war in Ukraine.According to Reuters news agency, the Kremlin confirmed ongoing technical discussions between Russia and France, but provided no further details or indicated any dialogue between Putin and Macron.At night, the enemy carried out a massive attack with strike drones on the Odesa region. Damage to civilian, residential and industrial infrastructure was recorded.In the city of Odesa, about 20 residential buildings and cars were damaged. Four people were rescued from the rubble, but one person was unfortunately injured. Continue reading...

Beazley, which also covers fine art, agrees to Zurich takeover at 60% premiumA British company specialising in insuring against cyber-attacks that also covers fine art and luxury yachts has agreed to be taken over in an 8bn deal, in the latest loss to the London stock market.Beazley said on Wednesday it had agreed the deal with its larger rival Zurich, after the Switzerland-listed company raised its bid for the Lloyd's of London insurer. Continue reading...

Questioned at PMQs, PM says former US ambassador lied repeatedly' about depth of contact with child sex offender

Cheshire coroner says there is reason to suspect unnatural deaths', with proceedings to begin in SeptemberA coroner has formally opened inquests into the deaths of five newborn babies who Lucy Letby was convicted of murdering.In a 20-minute hearing at Cheshire coroner's court, the senior coroner Jacqueline Devonish heard brief details of the deaths before adjourning proceedings until September. Continue reading...

Philando Castile, a lawful gun owner, was shot and killed by a police officer in 2016 - gun rights groups were largely silentThe killing of Alex Pretti by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis has sparked a thorny conversation among gun rights groups and Trump administration officials about the second amendment and the right to carry concealed firearms at protests and demonstrations. Among the questions is which cases the movement rallies behind, and behind which it doesn't.In the hours and days after Pretti's killing, dozens of local national and local gun rights groups lambasted federal officials like Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, and Gregory Bovino, a senior border patrol official, who baselessly claimed that Pretti's carrying of a handgun proved that he planned to harm and kill border patrol agents. Prominent gun rights organizations, including Gun Owners of America (GOA) and the National Rifle Association (NRA), called for an independent investigation into the shooting and defended Pretti's right to carry a gun. Continue reading...

DNC's Local Listeners initiative will target one million infrequent' voters in battleground districtsDemocrats are launching an aggressive campaign to win back voters they lost, not to Donald Trump, but to the proverbial couch," as they look to regain support ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.On Wednesday, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) rolled out a new initiative called Local Listeners with the goal of targeting over one million infrequent" voters in key battleground districts. Seeking to build on the party's string of off-year election victories, which extended into 2026 with an upset in Texas last weekend, the DNC is betting that early, localized outreach will be crucial in winning back these voters' trust - and their ballots - this time around. Continue reading...

Unionized baristas continue to fight for a fair contract and ask public for solidarity as strike stretches into third monthStriking Starbucks baristas are calling on customers of the world's largest coffee chain to delete its popular mobile app in solidarity with their demands for a first union contract.Starbucks Workers United, which has been coordinating a strike for almost three months, is vowing to press ahead. Continue reading...

Road closures in place as university says it is offering direct support to students and staff who witnessed the incident'Several roads have been closed in Leicester after a serious incident" on a university campus.De Montfort University said it was working with Leicestershire police, who confirmed the incident took place on Oxford Street in the city on Tuesday evening. They gave no further details about the incident. Continue reading...

Pressure grows on PM over ex-minister's Jeffrey Epstein links as Tories criticise move to withhold some records

Signalling issue and train derailment in south London hits Southern, Thameslink and Gatwick Express servicesA do not travel" alert has been issued by the UK's largest railway franchise, after a train derailment and signalling issues affected services across south-east England.Train operators Southern, Thameslink and Gatwick Express - all part of the Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) franchise in south-east England - urged passengers not to travel on Wednesday morning if at all possible" because of multiple incidents". Continue reading...

For Labour veterans of the financial crisis the Epstein files revealed a betrayal - but 16 years on, is the City calling the shots?Today's advocates of a windfall tax on the UK's highly profitable banking sector detected a whiff of familiarity in Peter Mandelson's suggestion, back in 2009, that JP Morgan should mildly threaten" the chancellor.Feeding a Wall Street financier market sensitive titbits was an extraordinary breach of trust - perhaps even illegal, it seems - but for Labour veterans of the financial crisis, Mandelson's collusion with the banks against his own colleagues was the worst betrayal. Continue reading...

Mandarin transliteration of character's name regarded as auspicious, prompting wave of memes and fan artDraco Malfoy, one of Harry Potter's most recognisable villains, has become an unlikely lunar new year icon across China, as fans embrace the character for the year of the horse.In Mandarin, Malfoy's name is transliterated as m r fu". The first character means horse" while the final character, fu", means fortune" or blessing" - a powerful symbol found across lunar new year celebrations. Continue reading...

Formal approval given for new university group to operate from August, with both institutions keeping their namesThe universities of Greenwich and Kent have confirmed they have been given formal approval to merge into the UK's first super-university".The merged entity will be the third-largest higher education institution in the UK, the universities said, and is consulting on being named the London and South East University Group. Continue reading...