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Sacked Foreign Office permanent secretary says he was under pressure from Downing Street over appointment of US ambassador

Wilson is being sued for defamation by actor Charlotte MacInnes over social media posts alleging a sexual harassment complaint

The Kissing Booth's Joey King and Game Of Thrones' Maisie Williams star alongside the original cast members as the next generation of the cursed Owens family

ABF, which owns Kingsmill, Twinings and Patak's, to demerge fashion chain to maximise shareholder returns

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Police seek warrant for Bang Si-Hyuk over allegations he illegally gained millions in investor fraud schemeSouth Korean police said on Tuesday they were seeking to arrest Bang Si-Hyuk, the chair of the agency behind the K-pop band BTS, as they expand an investigation into allegations that he illegally gained more than $100m (74m) in an investor fraud scheme.The Seoul metropolitan police agency confirmed it had asked prosecutors to request a court warrant for arresting Bang, founder and chair of HYBE. Continue reading...

US vice-president to travel to Islamabad with Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner as deadline for current ceasefire looms

ONS data for three months to February is not expected to alter Bank of England's decision on interest rates

Zayne Jason William McMillan's lawyer says client's tirade was antisemitic but claims he does not consider himself racist against Jewish community'

UK's Rare Breeds Survival Trust says calf numbers of white park cattle last year were less than two-thirds of 2022 levelAn ancient breed of cattle whose ancestors are thought to have accompanied the Celts as they were pushed to Britain's fringes by the Romans has been designated as urgently at risk by a UK conservation charity.Publishing its 2026 watchlist on Tuesday, the Rare Breeds Survival Trust moved white park cattle to its priority" category as new calf numbers sank last year to less than two-thirds of their 2022 level. Continue reading...

Alarm caused by posts of Alex Carp, tech firm's CEO, championing US military dominance and of AI weaponsThe US spy tech company Palantir published a manifesto extolling the benefits of American power and implying some cultures are inferior to others - in what MPs have called a parody of a RoboCop film" and the ramblings of a supervillain".Some cultures have produced vital advances; others remain dysfunctional and regressive," wrote Palantir in a 22-point post on X over the weekend, which also called for an end to the postwar neutering" of Germany and Japan. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Report finds Natural England has created no new SSSIs, which protect areas from development, since 2023The government's wildlife watchdog for England is failing to save nature because it has stopped giving protection to rare wildlife and habitats, according to a new report.No new sites of special scientific interest (SSSIs) have been designated by Natural England since 2023. SSSIs are nationally or internationally important places for rare wildlife and habitats. Without the designation, endangered species can be at risk of being lost to development. Continue reading...

Experts say attacks, also carried out by settlers, are leading girls to quit school and enter early marriagesIsraeli soldiers and settlers are using gendered violence and sexual assault and harassment to force Palestinians from their homes in the occupied West Bank, human rights and legal experts say.Palestinian women, men and children have reported attacks, forced nudity, invasive and painful body cavity searches, Israelis exposing their genitals, including to minors, and threats of sexual violence. Continue reading...

The trial between the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and the supermarket giant began in the federal court in Sydney on Tuesday

Police allege educators, two men and two women, attacked boys at school between August 2024 and June 2025

Stone age' system of booking cross-border rail tickets holding back climate action by consumers, says thinktankEurope's stone age" system of booking train tickets makes it needlessly difficult for travellers to avoid polluting flights, a report has found.Booking equivalent train tickets is difficult or impossible" on almost half of the EU's busiest international air routes, analysis from the Transport & Environment (T&E) thinktank shows. Continue reading...

At least four more injured at world heritage site in latest violent incident as country prepares to co-host World CupOne Canadian tourist has been killed and six other people were wounded by gunfire after an armed man opened fire at one of Mexico's most famous tourist destinations, the Teotihuacan pyramids near Mexico City.The shooting - the latest violent incident to affect Mexico as it prepares to co-host the football World Cup in June - took place on Monday lunchtime and was captured in mobile phone videos. Continue reading...

Hardware engineering executive is a longtime Apple insider, indicating company will continue strategy that has led to record profitsApple has announced longtime company veteran John Ternus as the next CEO of the company, succeeding current CEO Tim Cook, who is set to transition to executive chair of Apple's board of directors later this year.Ternus's term as CEO will begin on 1 September. The hardware engineering executive is a longtime Apple insider, indicating the company will stay the course that has led to record profits under Cook's leadership. Apple's yearly profit now tops $100bn, and in January it announced record revenue from its iPhones, boosted by renewed demand in China. Continue reading...

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Victory for abortion rights groups as court finds state's constitution guarantees a right to abortionA Pennsylvania court on Monday said that the state's constitution guarantees a right to abortion while striking down a decades-long law banning the use of state Medicaid funds to cover abortion costs.The ruling by a divided seven-judge panel of the appellate-level commonwealth court is a major victory for Planned Parenthood and abortion clinic operators who first sued Pennsylvania over its Medicaid funding restrictions in 2019. Continue reading...

This blog is now closed. See our latest full report here: JD Vance to lead US delegation in Pakistan if Iran agrees to talksThe US has just released some more footage of the encounter with the Iranian flagged vessel, the M/V Touska.In a post on X, US Central Command said US Marines had departed the amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli by helicopter and rappelled onto the Iranian-flagged vessel. Continue reading...

Stephen Heydt says he spoke in a custom-made T-shirt and was charged with two offences: one for the shirt, one for the chanting'

Cook, who will stay on as executive chair, praises head of hardware engineering, who will take over on 1 SeptemberApple announced on Monday that it had named a replacement for Tim Cook as CEO after nearly 15 years, with head of hardware engineering John Ternus succeeding him on 1 September. Cook will stay at the company in the role of executive chair.It has been the greatest privilege of my life to be the CEO of Apple and to have been trusted to lead such an extraordinary company. I love Apple with all of my being," Cook said in a press release. Continue reading...

Musician charged after the dismembered and decomposing body of Celeste Rivas Hernandez found in abandoned TeslaThe singer D4vd pleaded not guilty to the murder of Celeste Rivas Hernandez, the teenage girl whose dismembered and decomposed body was found in the artist's apparently abandoned Tesla in September.The 21-year-old, whose legal name is David Burke, was arraigned on Monday afternoon hours after Los Angeles county district attorney's office announced the charges against him. Continue reading...

Chavez-DeRemer, entangled in string of controversies, leaving for private sector, president's spokesperson saysDonald Trump's labor secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer is stepping down, the administration announced Monday.Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer will be leaving the Administration to take a position in the private sector," Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung wrote on social media. She has done a phenomenal job in her role by protecting American workers, enacting fair labor practices, and helping Americans gain additional skills to improve their lives." Continue reading...

Jose Serrano, a sergeant, said Deisy Rivera Ortega, his wife, was arrested at an immigration appointmentA US army sergeant with 27 years of military service - including deployment to Afghanistan - has said that federal immigration agents recently arrested his wife during an appointment at an immigration office in El Paso, Texas.In an interview with CBS News published Monday, Sgt First Class Jose Serrano said that Deisy Rivera Ortega, a Salvadoran and his wife, was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers under the command of the Trump administration despite receiving legal protection in 2019 that bars her from being deported to El Salvador. Rivera Ortega, who wed Serrano in 2022, has been in the US since 2016, he said. Continue reading...

The satirical website's parent company will have to pay $81,000 a month to the misinformation platform

PM admits he made mistake in choice of ambassador as he makes high-stakes statement to parliament over scandalKeir Starmer has accused Olly Robbins of deliberately and repeatedly obstructing the truth about the Mandelson vetting scandal before a high-jeopardy appearance of the sacked top official before MPs on Tuesday.Six days after the prime minister said he had learned that his pick for Washington ambassador had failed security vetting, Starmer admitted his decision to appoint him had been a fundamental mistake. Continue reading...

Rapper, jailed over Megan Thee Stallion shooting, alleges he was knowingly' housed with prisoner with violent historyThe rapper Tory Lanez, who is serving a 10-year prison sentence over the shooting of fellow hip-hop artist Megan Thee Stallion, has filed a federal lawsuit against California corrections officials, seeking $100m after being stabbed in prison.Lanez, whose name is Daystar Peterson, said in court papers that a fellow inmate at California correctional institution in Tehachapi stabbed him approximately 16 times on 12 May 2025 using a home-made" shank. Peterson said he suffered stab wounds to his face, head, torso and back, resulting in permanent scarring, along with two collapsed lungs". Continue reading...

Criminals paid on behalf of Iran are believed to be behind attacks against Jewish targets, say detectivesDetectives are investigating whether the series of arson attacks in London was planned for weeks with suspects carrying out reconnaissance on the Jewish targets to be firebombed.The series of attacks against synagogues and other Jewish targets, as well as one premises linked to Iranian dissidents, are believed to be carried out by criminals paid on behalf of Iran, police said. Continue reading...

Advocates expressed alarm as new project drills deeper into ocean bed, pointing to company's failures at Deepwater Horizon spill

Gabrielle Carrington, 29, faces charges after incident on Argyll Street in the early hours of Sunday morningA woman has been charged with attempted murder after a car hit pedestrians in central London in the early hours of Sunday.A woman in her 30s remains in a life-threatening condition and a man in his 50s suffered life-changing injuries after they were hit by a car in Argyll Street, Westminster, at approximately 4.30am on Sunday, the Metropolitan police said. A second woman in her 30s suffered minor injuries, the force added. Continue reading...

Despite his explanation and the need for political stability, the PM is still unpopular - and Olly Robbins has yet to give his side of the storyLabour MPs frustrated with the lack of a clear mission from Keir Starmer's No 10 have often urged the prime minister to be more forceful in his arguments, to prosecute his values, to find an enemy to define himself against.The prime minister has found one: Olly Robbins. Starmer prosecuted his case against the former Foreign Office chief on Monday with the vigour of his former life at the bar. Continue reading...

MPs jeered as PM said it is incredible' he was not told full story and he was wrong to appoint Mandelson as US ambassadorAt his press conference Nigel Farage was asked about reports saying that Keir Starmer knew about the security concerns about Peter Mandelson that led to him failing his security vetting interview. That was a reference to the Telegraph splash, which says:Senior Whitehall sources told The Telegraph that the UKSV [UK Security Vetting] findings largely restated security risks that had already been drawn to Sir Keir's attention.One senior source with knowledge of the process said: The reality is that Starmer had already been warned about the major risks and he had waved them away."Sources have told The Independent that MI6 failed to clear the Labour peer largely because of concerns over his business links to China.However, there were also worries that his past links to the disgraced financier and convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein would compromise him".It's impossible for the prime minister to say the warning lights weren't flashing.And if you were prime minister and there were news reports last September that your ambassadorial choice had failed vetting, you would have thought perhaps he might have had some curiosity to try to find out whether this had really happened or not. I just find the whole thing totally incredible. Incredible. There is no way the prime minister couldn't have known.The Labour backbenchers are not yet of a mood to get rid of their prime minister, although after 7 May they just might be. Continue reading...

PM sets out chronology of Mandelson's vetting failure - and insists he has not misled MPs

PM sets out his side of events relating to appointment and security vetting in address to parliament

Romantic poet's letters to Fanny Brawne, dated between 1819 and 1820, had been stolen from a Long Island estateEight original handwritten letters from the Romantic poet John Keats to his muse and one passion", Fanny Brawne, were returned to the family of John Hay Jock" Whitney, the former US ambassador to the UK, on Monday after being stolen from Whitney's home in the 1980s.Keats' letters, including the first letter he ever wrote to Brawne, are dated between 1819 and 1820. Valued at approximately $2m, the 37 letters are held in a gilt morocco-bound portfolio. Brawne was Keats's neighbor in Hampstead, with whom he became infatuated and elevated to muse and goddess. Continue reading...

Schools say Colorado violated their rights by excluding them from state-funded program over admission policies

Sgt Celestino Chavez Jr, accounted for in 2025, given full burial honors and posthumous medals in New MexicoThe remains of a US soldier who went missing in action during the Korean war were identified by DNA analysis, and he was recently laid to rest in his hometown of Gallup, New Mexico, authorities said.US army Sgt Celestino Chavez Jr's burial ended a decades-long saga that began with him being wounded while defending his post near the Changjin (Chosin) Reservoir in North Korea and then being taken to an aid station on 30 November 1950. Chavez, 19, was then reported missing in action three days later, when enemy fighters attacked his convoy. Continue reading...

New Hungarian leader says he could sign a political agreement with the EU in mid-MayThe commission also got asked about the Italian proposals for a wild west-style bounties" that could be paid to Italian lawyers if they successfully convince their immigrant clients to return home.Our Rome correspondent Angela Giuffrida reported on the controversial proposal over the weekend: Continue reading...

Bets placed on Middle East conflict has led to US firm experiencing big increase in volumePolymarket, the online prediction platform that hosts bets on events such as the Iran war, is in talks to raise $400m (296m) at a valuation of up to $15bn.The company has gained notoriety in recent months over wagers placed on the Middle East conflict, including on the timing of US-Israel strikes against Iran, and on a US-Iran ceasefire, some of which appeared to bear signs of insider trading. Continue reading...

The 82-year-old was accused of abusing girls in the 1960s but was acquitted in Perth despite judge finding the alleged victim was probably telling the truth

Morris pursued dual passions of zoology and surrealist art, presenting BBC documentaries and hosting exhibitionsThe zoologist Desmond Morris, perhaps best known for his book the Naked Ape and his work on the ITV programme Zoo Time, has died aged 98.Morris's son Jason paid tribute to him after his death on Sunday, praising his many professional achievements as well as his role as a father and grandfather. Continue reading...

Claims system launches months after supreme court ruled Trump had no legal authority to impose tariffs

Housing secretary also targets Reform as May elections loom, saying Farage more interested in Trump than own constituencyThe Greens have welcomed activists kicked out of Labour for antisemitic views and people should be very careful" who they vote for next month, one of Keir Starmer's most senior ministers has said in a notable stepping-up of attacks on Zack Polanski's party.In a double-pronged attack on the two parties expected to make big gains in the elections on 7 May, Steve Reed also accused Nigel Farage of being more interested in talking to Donald Trump then representing his Clacton constituency. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Home secretary understood to have withdrawn authorisation for speaker at Unite the Kingdom rally in MayA US-based anti-Islam influencer who had been authorised to attend a far-right rally in London has been blocked from entering the UK by the home secretary.Valentina Gomez, a self-styled Maga influencer, was given permission last week to enter via a UK electronic travel authorisation (ETA). Continue reading...

People in affected areas are still urged to evacuate after quake registering 7.7 magnitudeAustralian officials in Japan are urgently following up on the tsunami warning off the northeastern coast of the island of Honshu.The Australian government said:We stand ready to provide consular assistance.Australians in need of emergency consular assistance should contact the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade's 24-hour Consular Emergency Centre on 1300 555 135, or +61 2 6261 3305 (if calling from overseas). Continue reading...

Prime minister details efforts to attract investment and sign trade deals with other countries in 10-minute video addressCanada's strong economic ties to the United States were once a strength but are now a weakness that must be corrected, the country's prime minister has warnedIn a 10-minute video address, Mark Carney spoke about his government's efforts to strengthen the Canadian economy by attracting new investments and signing trade deals with other countries. Continue reading...

Documents also show US ambassadorial appointment was offered higher tiers' briefing before vetting was finalisedThe then cabinet secretary, Simon Case, appeared to advise Keir Starmer to complete security vetting for Peter Mandelson before announcing an appointment, documents reveal.The documents released last month by the Cabinet Office as part of the disclosures over the US ambassadorial appointment also show Mandelson was offered a higher tiers" briefing before his vetting was finalised. Continue reading...