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US president's comments come after Ukrainian counterpart said he believed strong steps' were under consideration

On third day of cross-examination, the actor claimed accusers voluntarily engaged in sexual conversationNoel Clarke is trying to create moral equivalence" between his alleged sexual misconduct and the behaviour of his accusers, the high court has heard.Giving evidence in his libel claim against the Guardian, the 49-year-old actorclaimed that some of his accusers voluntarily engaged in or initiated sexually loaded banter, were promiscuous and bragged about their sexual exploits.Touched her on her thighs including between her legs.Said they should go to the mezzanine floor above to have sex.Rated women out of 10 for their sexual attractiveness.Said of a pregnant woman that he would bang that" because she could not get pregnant again. Continue reading...

US president claims Dublin took' pharma industry as he holds White House press conference with Micheal MartinDonald Trump has accused Ireland of stealing the US pharmaceutical industry and the tax revenue that should have been paid to the US treasury, in a blow to the Irish premier, Micheal Martin, who had hoped to emerge unscathed from a visit to the White House marking St Patrick's Day.The US president showed grudging respect for Martin, alternately ribbing and complimenting him, while also launching several broadsides against the EU. Continue reading...

Some feel the party is moving away from the working class, but others argue ministers must show new Labour voters the system can work

The founder of an animal sanctuary, which is now caring for the royal pythons, has called for improved laws to protect reptiles reared as petsThe founder of an animal rescue charity who discovered 70 starving pythons and dozens of dead snakes on a couple's property near Durham has called for better laws to protect reptiles reared as pets.Daniel Holmes, of Knaresborough Exotic Rescue, said the condition of the snakes - some of whom he thinks had not been fed for a year - was so poor that it made him and a fellow volunteer break down in tears after the rescue. Continue reading...

Security services claim to have rescued about 190 people being held by Baloch Liberation Army in remote areaAn operation to rescue hundreds of people taken hostage when a train was hijacked by a separatist militant group in remote south-west Pakistan has ended with dozens killed in the onslaught, a spokesperson for the army has said.Pakistan's security services claimed late on Wednesday to have rescued about 190 people who were being held captive after militants from the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) blew up a railway line and launched an attack on the Jaffar Express train. Continue reading...

The tone of relations with the US may depend on whether second-placed Naleraq ends up inside the governmentIt was an election that was fought on the global stage with sporadic commentary from Donald Trump. But in the end, it was domestic issues that drove Greenlanders to the polls to vote overwhelmingly for change.Ever since his son, Donald Trump Jr, touched down in a Trump-branded plane at Nuuk's new airport in January, the US president has made no secret of his renewed desire to gain control of the Arctic island, refusing to rule out economic or military force to do so. Continue reading...

Foreign Office issues strongly worded statement as it responds to expulsion of two diplomats with tit-for-tat moveRussia is attempting to push the UK embassy in Moscow towards closing and has no regard for the escalatory impact of such a move, the Foreign Office has said.The UK expelled a Russian diplomat and their spouse on Wednesday in a tit-for-tat response to the expulsion of two British diplomats for alleged espionage, a claim UK officials strenuously deny. Continue reading...

Former Philippine president expected in court within days as daughter accuses Manila government of kidnapping'The former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte has landed in the Netherlands and been taken into the custody of the international criminal court (ICC) on allegations of overseeing death squads in his bloody war on drugs".Duterte was arrested in Manila on Tuesday and placed on a private jet to Rotterdam by police. The plane landed on Wednesday afternoon and taxied into a hangar. An ambulance dropped medics nearby before they wheeled a gurney inside the aircraft. Continue reading...

Travellers from country now need visas with decision reportedly made in response to rising asylum claims

Despite pandering to Trump's ego, Labour finds itself in a trade war. At least Reform is still giving comic reliefWell, that went well, didn't it? Weeks of finding ever more ingenious ways to flatter the US president. Extolling the brilliance of Donald Trump being able to tie his own shoelaces. That's incredible, Mr President. No one has ever managed to do that so beautifully." No chance for flattery has been passed up. It is now the sign of the highest IQ not to be able to speak in joined-up sentences. To change your mind at a moment's notice. Yet at all times, Keir Starmer has remained a paragon of obsequiousness. Not a word out of place.And what do we get for it? The occasional hint of recognition from the Donald. Which we cling to. Attempting to find meaning in something essentially meaningless. Something that came with little thought. And now we also are landed with 25% tariffs on steel and aluminium. A reward for obeisance. That's the thing with Trump. He gets angry if he's disrespected but has nothing but contempt for those who humour him. He's a complicated proposition. Continue reading...

Move is in response to similar Russian measures earlier this weekHere is the list of MPs down to ask a question.PMQs is about to start. Continue reading...

Heated exchange after subcommittee chair Keith Self calls first out trans representative Sarah McBride Mr McBride'The Republican chair of a US House subcommittee adjourned a hearing after he was challenged for misgendering Sarah McBride, the first openly transgender member of Congress.McBride, a first-term Democratic congresswoman from Delaware, elected last November, shot back at the chair and a senior Democrat on the committee also spoke up to challenge the insult. Continue reading...

Ukrainian president would not be drawn on details of proposed deal and also steered clear of criticising Trump at press briefing

Omer Wenkert says he was held mostly in darkness - and his mistreatment was often sparked by events in warAn Israeli hostage freed by Hamas last month has described the distressing conditions and abuse he says he endured during 505 days held in Gaza.In an interview on Israeli television, Omer Wenkert, 23, said he had hidden in a bomb shelter with a close friend when it became clear the Nova music festival was under attack by Hamas and other militants from Gaza on 7 October 2023. Continue reading...

Mark Ross to be sentenced on Friday over killing of Claudiu-Carol Kondor during theft of vehicle in Armley areaA career criminal" has been found guilty of murdering an Amazon delivery driver who was trying to stop his van from being stolen.Claudiu-Carol Kondor, 42, was dragged along a street at high speeds as he clung to his vehicle to try to stop the theft on 20 August last year. Continue reading...

Katherine Kiefer lost her home to the Palisades wildfire, but her crafty kitty, Aggie, somehow lived through the disasterIt appears the tall tale that all cats have nine lives may be true for a California Maine coon named Aggie.The beloved feline was feared dead for two months after the Palisades wildfire in Los Angeles left her family's home in ashes. But her owner, 82-year-old Katherine Kiefer, held out some hope. Continue reading...

Opposition centre-right party gains most votes ahead of Naleraq party, with coalition talks expected to beginGreenland has voted for a complete overhaul of its government in a shock result in which the centre-right Democrat party more than tripled its seats after a dramatic election campaign fought against the backdrop of Donald Trump's threats to acquire the Arctic island.Tuesday's election, in which the Democrats replaced Inuit Ataqatigiit (IA), the party of the former prime minister Mute B Egede, as the biggest party in the Inatsisartut, the Greenlandic parliament, also led to a doubling of seats for Naleraq - the party most open to US collaboration and which supports a snap vote on independence - making it the second-biggest party. Continue reading...

It look so artistic under the water,' staff says of Pepper who has become the aquarium's most acrobatic sea lionA baby sea lion toting an artificial kelp strip was filmed performing intricate rhythmic gymnastics-esque circles through the waters of an aquarium in Washington state.Although only nine months old and still reliant on her mother's milk, Pepper has become the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium's most acrobatic sea lion, said Noelle Tremonti, a staff biologist for the aquarium. Continue reading...

FCA presents email evidence it claims shows bank boss and child sex offender were like family'Prince Andrew was among a number of high-profile contacts of Jeffrey Epstein who were told that the child sex offender considered the former Barclays boss Jes Staley to be a close friend and like family", a court has heardA package of emails presented at the upper tribunal in London marked the first time that the prince was explicitly mentioned in the case launched by Staley in hopes of overturning a lifetime ban from working in the City. Continue reading...

Police responded to a fistfight and shooting in which a 25-year-old man was injuredA man was shot outside a passenger terminal at a Chicago's O'Hare international airport, one of the busiest in the US, in the early hours of Wednesday, police said.The incident followed an altercation among multiple people, according to law enforcement Continue reading...

FCA and Bank of England's PRA join retreat from efforts to help underrepresented groups, citing regulatory burdens'

Mahmoud Khalil was detained by Ice agents on Saturday, part of Trump's crackdown on pro-Palestinian campus protestersMahmoud Khalil's wife, who is now eight months pregnant, issued a statement on Tuesday night after the Columbia University graduate student and activist was arrested in New York by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) as part of the Trump administration's attempt to revoke his green card and have him deported.I am pleading with the world to continue to speak up against his unjust and horrific detention by the Trump administration," Khalil's wife, who is a US citizen, said in her statement, remaining anonymous for fear of harassment. Continue reading...

Over 11 days of breakneck diplomacy, Kyiv was convinced of need to pacify Trump, but reconciliation may be all too brief

Scotland's former first minister, who led SNP from 2014 until 2023, says she will not seek re-election in 2026

Two people have died in outbreak in Gaines county, and doctors fear the spread of the extremely contagious diseaseTexas doctors say they are worried about measles spreading to population centers in an outbreak the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) expects to expand rapidly".Two people have died, including a child, and at least 208 people have been sickened across west Texas and New Mexico after an outbreak of the vaccine-preventable disease took hold in rural Gaines county. Continue reading...

Captain of Solong, which was in collision with tanker, was arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughterThe arrested captain of the Solong, a container ship that crashed into another vessel in the North Sea, is a Russian national, its management company has confirmed.The 59-year-old was arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter on Tuesday after Monday's fiery collision about 12 miles off the East Yorkshire coast, which left one man presumed dead. Continue reading...

A bullet grazed the Memphis man's thigh after his one-year-old pit bull got his paw stuck in a gun's trigger guardDog bites man is hardly news, but in Tennessee, a dog recently shot a man.In what is only the latest instance of a kind of accidental shooting that intermittently occurs in the US, Jerald Kirkwood reported to police in Memphis that he and a woman were lying in bed with a firearm when his dog jumped up and inadvertently caused the weapon to discharge. Continue reading...

Swedish firm unable to secure the necessary financial conditions to continue in its current form'Northvolt, the Swedish electric vehicle battery startup, has filed for bankruptcy in Sweden, marking the end of a company once seen as Europe's best hope of challenging the dominant Asian battery industry.The company said in a statement it had been unable to secure the necessary financial conditions to continue in its current form" in Sweden. Continue reading...

Media company argues rejecting ad for Clive Palmer's party in the Age could imply endorsement of political ads it chose to publish

Firefighters and police discovered body of a woman in her 40s in a house in Wellingborough on MondayA 13-year-old girl has been charged with murder and arson after the body of a woman was found in a house in Northamptonshire.Firefighters and police officers discovered the body of a woman in her 40s in a house in Wellingborough in the early hours of Monday after reports of a fire at the property. Continue reading...

Simon Holmes a Court says he has met founder of Gazette News but insists his organisation has no connection' to the digital newspapers

Dutton, his deputy Sussan Ley and shadow treasurer Angus Taylor have made differing statements on the Coalition policy, before and after Cyclone Alfred

Queensland Law Reform Commission will no longer deliver recommendations to government despite two-year inquiry

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Institute for Fiscal Studies says half of the rise in working-age people claiming the benefit last year is linked to mental healthMore than half of the increase in disability benefits is due to more mental health claims, according to research.Since the pandemic, the number of working-age adults in England and Wales paid disability benefits has increased by nearly 1 million people to 2.9 million in 2024, with 7.5% of 16- to 64-year-olds claiming. Continue reading...

First such study finds laws on abortion, debt and dress help increase rate of women being jailed twice as fast as for menPoverty, abuse and discriminatory laws are driving a huge rise in the number of women in prison globally, according to a new report.With the rise of the far right and an international backlash against women's rights, the research said there was a risk that laws would increasingly be used to target women, forcing more behind bars. Continue reading...

Proposed changes, which include scrapping principle of remand as last resort' for youth, condemned as backwards step'

Exclusive: Under-qualified professionals being asked to treat patients in England as NHS leans on third sectorMental health charities in England are struggling to cope with the number of sick patients referred to them by GPs, with under-qualified professionals increasingly tasked with treating the seriously ill.Experts told the Guardian that some desperate GPs were signposting" patients to services not always equipped to deal with them. Continue reading...

Deanne Mathews fined $3000 after pleading guilty to trafficking psilocybin at Clunes wellness retreat where Rachael Dixon fell ill and died

Barni Evans laments being involved in an advertising arms race' and says company did not do enough to stop integrity threats to major sports

High court upholds ruling against commonwealth that Gumatj clan's land was not acquired on just terms', in case initiated by renowned land rights activist

Over the next few days police will be present' in the remote Marokopa area where Tom Phillips and his three children are believed to be hidingNew Zealand police are launching a fresh operation in the rugged North Island wilderness to track down a fugitive father and his three children who have been missing for more than three years.Just before Christmas 2021, Tom Phillips fled into a remote area of Waikato with his children Ember, thought to be now aged 9, Maverick, 10, and Jayda, 11, following a dispute with their mother. Phillips does not have legal custody for his children. Continue reading...

This live coverage has ended. You an find the latest in our full report here.As the talks in Jeddah take place behind the closed doors, let's catch up with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen's comments at the European Parliament in Strasbourg earlier this morning.She told EU lawmakers that the European security order is being shaken, and so many of our illusions are being shattered," with increasingly aggressive posture from Russia and the shift in US defence policy. Continue reading...

Joint statement says ball is now in Russia's court' as two countries also revive plans for minerals deal

Remains brought to Britain as part of colonialism, such as Egyptian mummies, should be repatriated, a report saysThe public display of human remains in the UK, including the ancient Egyptian mummies in the British Museum, is offensive and should be stopped, according to a group of MPs.A report by the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Afrikan Reparations (APPG-AR) said it should become an offence to sell ancestral remains or publicly display them without consent. Continue reading...

Committee warns of serious injustice to disabled motorists and those reliant on public chargersThe rollout of electric vehicle chargers across Britain is patchy", behind deadline and ignores the needs of disabled drivers, the parliamentary spending watchdog has found.A report published by the public accounts committee (PAC) warned that the charging points needed to give drivers confidence for the switch to EVs were still lacking, particularly on Britain's biggest roads. Continue reading...

Japanese company announces two new EVs and promises another three by 2026, as well as new Lexus modelsToyota has said it plans to build battery vehicles in the UK in the future as it seeks to keep all of its European plants open, although it will be cautious before switching away from fossil fuels.The Japanese company, the world's largest carmaker by sales, said it wanted to retain all eight of its European factories through the transition to electric cars, as it announced two new electric models and promised another three by 2026 under its main brand. It also showed a new electric model under its premium Lexus brand, with two more to come this year. Continue reading...

Research has found that the number of ADHD prescriptions in England increased from around 25 per 1,000 people in 2019/20 to 41.55 in 2023/24The number of prescriptions being issued in England for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medication has risen by 18% year on year since the pandemic, with the biggest rise being seen in London, according to research.Experts said increased public awareness via social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok could be a factor behind the substantial rise in prescription rates, encouraging more people to seek assessment, diagnosis and treatment". Continue reading...

Exclusive: Proposals also include cutting thousands of civil service jobs and restructuring NHS EnglandA radical blueprint for reforming the state is being drawn up by government officials, including a crackdown on quangos and thousands more civil service job cuts, the Guardian understands.Proposals to restructure NHS England, with entire teams axed to save money and avoid duplication, could be replicated across a range of arm's length bodies that spend about 353bn of public money. Continue reading...