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Pentagon chief spoke with Gen Dan Caine at a press conference and blamed Iran for civilian casualties

Reform leader's latest comment contrasts with earlier statement that gloves need to come off'

Saudi Arabian state oil firm calls crisis by far the biggest the region has seen but firm can reroute 70% of exports and tap crude held in storage

John Diehl admitted using federal pandemic loans for country club dues, cars and other personal expenses

Multimillionaire begins case against FCA ban over handling of investigation into sexual misconduct claimsThe multimillionaire financier Crispin Odey was described by the head of his hedge fund as a sex pest" and a sociopath and blamed an incident in which he allegedly groped a female staff member's breasts on a sedative he had taken, a tribunal has heard.The Brexit-backing hedge fund chief's behaviour came under the microscope on the first day of a lawsuit he has brought against the financial services regulator over his exile from the City. Continue reading...

Campaigners say Wes Streeting's decision to name senior midwife as chair will begin to restore trustFamilies who lost babies at two hospitals in Leeds have said they are slowly regaining trust in the health secretary after the midwife Donna Ockenden was appointed to lead a review into the failing service, where 56 babies and two mothers died in five years.Ockenden, who conducted a similar review into maternity services at Shrewsbury and Telford hospital NHS trust in 2020, was chosen to lead the investigation into Leeds teaching hospitals NHS trust after a campaign by the families. Continue reading...

Government facing prospect of most serious backbench revolt yet over proposals for England and WalesPlans to curtail the number of jury trials in England and Wales have been described as unpopular, untested and poorly evidenced" by thousands of lawyers who have written to the prime minister.The letter to Keir Starmer, a former director of public prosecutions, from 3,200 lawyers, including 300 senior barristers, comes as his government faces the prospect of one of its most serious backbench revolts since coming to power. Continue reading...

Car group reports 54% drop in pre-tax profits as it says Iran war could affect demand for Audi and Porsche brands

Director rounds on actor, who acted in the cult film, saying he feels disrespected, and claiming cynical reasons behind her recent commentsQuentin Tarantino has responded to Rosanna Arquette's criticism of his prolific use of the N-word in his films including Pulp Fiction, saying Arquette show[ed] a decided lack of class".In a statement sent to numerous publications including Deadline, Tarantino said: I hope the publicity you're getting from 132 different media outlets writing your name and printing your picture was worth disrespecting me and a film I remember quite clearly you were thrilled to be a part of? ... After I gave you a job, and you took the money, to trash it for what I suspect is very cynical reasons shows a decided lack of class, no less honour." Continue reading...

The government said a week ago the warship would be deployed but it is still at dock. What is happening?

HHS says the MIT professor is more than qualified' to serve on the agency's vaccine advisory panel and calls attacks' on him politically motivated'The MIT professor who has been appointed by Robert F Kennedy Jr to review the safety of Covid-19 vaccines has failed to meet basic scientific standards in his own research on the topic, according to more than a dozen scientists and public health experts.Retsef Levi, an operations management professor, is a member of the US health department's vaccine advisory committee (ACIP) which is meeting later this month and - many experts fear - could seek to rollback recommendations on who should receive Covid-19 vaccines. Continue reading...

Growing fears that elevated interest rates will continue, as Barclays finds worries that war will push up inflation

Rachel Reeves said to be considering levy cuts for oil and gas firms, but economists say this would just fatten profitsEasing the windfall tax on the North Sea would do nothing for hard-pressed consumers, and merely fatten the profits of oil and gas companies, economists and experts have told the Guardian.Rachel Reeves, the UK chancellor, is understood to be considering reductions to the energy profits levy, or potentially scrapping it and replacing it with a lower duty. Oil prices rose to $100 a barrel on Monday, as the US-Israel offensive on Iran showed little sign of halting. Continue reading...

FTSE 100 opens higher and European markets rise as US president describes conflict as very complete'

Rene Villarreal-Albe averted possible crash by pulling truck up to car and halting it as driver faced medical episodeA Texas man who recently was driving on a highway reportedly pulled his truck out in front of a car with an unconscious man behind the wheel, gradually slowed it down with his back bumper and ultimately stopped it to avert what could have been a major crash.Rene Villarreal-Albe's good deed was captured on dramatic cell phone video recorded by his wife, Andrea Walker, and then shared online by his sister, Cortney Trinidad, as the Texas news outlet Kens 5 reported. The video and action-movie-like story behind it gained widespread attention on corners of the internet dedicated to finding positive news, generating some comments that hailed Villarreal-Albe as a highway hero". Continue reading...

Government and motoring groups say there is no shortage of fuel supplies but stockpiling has left country service stations running dry, as Iran war sparks oil price fears

More than 200 applicants fear they will lose places after home secretary suspends study visas from four countriesSudanese scientists who have been promised research posts at leading UK universities have spoken of their shock" and sadness" that their hopes have been dashed after Shabana Mahmood's decision to end study visas for people from their country.More than 200 Sudanese postgraduates and undergraduates fear they will no longer be permitted to take up places at 46 universities, including Oxford, Cambridge and Imperial College London, with some claiming that their lives have been torn apart by the home secretary's blunt" intervention. Continue reading...

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Proposed new powers for home affairs minister are truly appalling', Asylum Seeker Resource Centre says

In today's newsletter: In the wake of this year's Commonwealth Day, a look at the complex framework of voting rules in different parts of the UKGood morning. In the wake of the Green party's victory in the Gorton and Denton byelection, Nigel Farage claimed his party would have won if the vote had been restricted to British-born voters". The Greens dismissed the suggestion as dangerous, racist nonsense".But the argument has thrown fresh attention on a little-understood feature of the UK's electoral system: who is actually allowed to vote. As it stands, some non-UK citizens - including certain Commonwealth nationals - can cast ballots in general elections, while millions of long-term residents cannot.Middle East crisis | Donald Trump has said the war in Iran is very complete, pretty much", as the conflict disrupts global oil trade and threatens to engulf the Middle East in a regional war.AI | A multibillion-pound drive to mainline AI into the veins" of the British economy is riddled with phantom investments" and shaky accounting, a Guardian investigation has found.UK politics | Ministers need to act more quickly to combat fast-changing threats from technology such as deepfakes, the technology secretary has said, as she warned about the risks women and girls face online.UK news | A woman who alleged she was raped by Andrew Malkinson admitted to police 22 years ago that she wasn't too sure it was the right man", a court has heard. Malkinson spent 17 years in prison for an attack he did not commit in what jurors heard was a most terrible" miscarriage of justice.Technology | Liverpool and Manchester United have complained to Elon Musk's X after the Grok AI feature made offensive posts about Diogo Jota and the Hillsborough and Munich disasters. The posts were generated when users asked the AI tool to make hateful posts about the two football teams. Continue reading...

Both campaigns have been framed differently at different times, with dubious claims of defensive action and a curious reluctance to label it warShifting goals, unclear timelines and a flimsy pretext: at times, the US-Israel campaign against Iran carries curious parallels of Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.The comparison is far from exact. In 2022, Putin sent a massive army across Ukraine's borders in an unprovoked invasion of a democratic state, a campaign that quickly resulted in heavy losses. The United States has so far largely limited its involvement to airstrikes against Iran's authoritarian regime. Continue reading...

Twin tunnels should be open but lead contractor wants out, blaming sinkholes and a reverse fault'. The NSW government insists there is a technical solution available'

Monitors admit they are struggling to keep track of the environmental disasters arising from widening warIsrael's bombing of Iran's oil infrastructure will have major long-term environmental repercussions, experts have warned, as monitors admitted they were struggling to keep track of the environmental disasters arising from the widening war.Even as Iranians filled the streets to mark the appointment of a new supreme leader, the Shahran oil depot north-east of Tehran and the Shahr-e fuel depot to its south continued to burn on Monday, two days after they were bombed by Israeli warplanes. Continue reading...

This liveblog is closed. Follow the latest on our new liveblog here.Donald Trump has said a decision on when to end the war with Iran will be a mutual" one he'll make together with Benjamin Netanyahu, the Times of Israel has reported.It said Trump also claimed in a brief telephone interview on Sunday that Iran would have destroyed Israel if he and Netanyahu had not been around. The US president said:Iran was going to destroy Israel and everything else around it ... We've worked together. We've destroyed a country that wanted to destroy Israel.I think it's mutual ... a little bit. We've been talking. I'll make a decision at the right time, but everything's going to be taken into account. Continue reading...

Anthony Albanese announces surveillance aircraft, air-to-air missiles and supporting personnel will be deployed to the UAE after request from their president

The BoM has forecast flooding of the Burnett River at Bundaberg could rise to 7.5 metres by midnight

Royal commission says response led by Jacinda Ardern was broadly appropriate', in a wide-ranging report featuring recommendations for future pandemicsA royal commission into New Zealand's Covid response has found it was one of the best in the world but acknowledged the period had left scars".The second of two inquiry reports on the pandemic was released on Tuesday and focused on the period between February 2021 to October 2022, when the government changed from an elimination strategy to one of suppression and minimisation of the virus. It also examined vaccine safety and the government's immunisation programme, lockdowns and tracing and testing technology. Continue reading...

President reassures Republicans that conflict is intended to be short lived but also says we haven't won enough'

After oil prices surged on Monday the US president sought - and failed - to offer a clear vision for when the largest US intervention in the Middle East in years will end

As speculation mounts that Kim Jong-un and Trump could meet this month, analysts say Pyongyang will continue to see nuclear weapons as a matter of survivalNorth Korea's launch last week of a missile from a naval destroyer elicited an uncharacteristically prosaic analysis from the country's leader, Kim Jong-un. The launch was proof, he said, that arming ships with nuclear weapons was making satisfactory progress".But the test, and Kim's mildly upbeat appraisal, were designed to reverberate well beyond the deck of the 5,000-tonne destroyer-class vessel the Choe Hyon - the biggest warship in the North Korean fleet. Continue reading...

Staffing levels at centres critical' under Management and Training Corporation, prisons watchdog says

Sentences of 16 and 12 years handed down over 2025 death of 32-year-old Zivan Radmanovic

Assistant commissioner Andrew Holland says we believe he is alive and getting support' after Lake Cargelligo killings

Research found extreme disproportion in use of police power in districts such as Richmond-upon-ThamesBlack people are up to 48 times more likely than white people to be stopped and searched by police in some of London's best-off areas, a new report has found.The study found that the reasons given by officers for subjecting black people to the controversial power were more likely to be vague, with examples including that a black person gave a furtive glance". Continue reading...

Uber is expanding a pilot program aimed at addressing concerns about the safety of its ride-hailing platformUber launched a feature on Monday to allow both female riders and drivers across the US to be matched with other women for trips, expanding a pilot program aimed at addressing concerns about the safety of its ride-hailing platform.The new feature is being rolled out nationwide despite an ongoing class action lawsuit against the policy in California, filed by Uber drivers who argue that it is discriminatory against men. Rival ride-hailing company Lyft is also facing a discrimination lawsuit over a similar offering that it introduced nationwide in 2024. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Independent adviser says some judges in England and Wales have not heard of changes to way cases are investigatedAn overhaul of the way police investigate rape is being put at risk by a lack of awareness in courtrooms in England and Wales, the government's independent adviser on rape has warned.Prof Katrin Hohl said legal experts were concerned progress would stall or reverse if the conviction rate for rape dropped significantly because a new approach for investigating the cases, known as Operation Soteria, was hitting outdated practices in the courts. Continue reading...

Home affairs minister Tony Burke confirms US president Donald Trump's overnight comments on social media that the players had been taken care of'

Communities secretary tells MPs that government has to act against record levels of hate crimesA new definition of anti-Muslim hate will not restrict freedom of speech, the communities secretary has pledged, as he said that clear expectations" will still be set for new arrivals and existing communities in Britain to learn English.MPs were told by Steve Reed that the government had a duty to act against record levels of hate crime against Muslims, but that you can't tackle a problem if you can't describe it". Continue reading...

Chancellor says she is ready to help households with rising costs but stops short of setting out specific steps

Anglers describe harrowing phone calls to loved ones once ice detached from shores of Georgian Bay in Ontario

Merger to take drone firm public is latest business move by Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr as father is in White House

Crude prices could surpass their 2008 record, with potentially dire effects for consumers and businessesFears over the global economy have been stoked by the oil price soaring past $100 a barrel as a result of the US-Israel war with Iran.Economists say the increasing likelihood of a prolonged conflict in the vital energy exporting region could have serious consequences for living standards around the world amid the threat of a renewed inflation shock. Continue reading...

Justice correspondent most known for his January 6 Capitol riot coverage, is latest to quit Bari Weiss-led network

Katie Nicholl's name appears on many of the stories that Frost, Prince Harry and others have complained aboutA senior former Mail on Sunday journalist has denied commissioning a blag" of sensitive medical information about Sadie Frost that the actor had not even told her own mother.At the high court, Katie Nicholl, the former diary editor and royal editor at the paper, was accused of using blagged information from a private investigator to uncover extraordinarily intrusive" details of Frost's medical history. Continue reading...

US president claimed he wanted to eradicate cartels and made comments about Mexico's president that were deemed sexist in summit speech

Former Sinn Fein leader being sued for symbolic 1 each by three victims of Troubles-era bombings on UK mainlandGerry Adams is as culpable for IRA bombings on the UK mainland as the individuals who planted and detonated the devices, the high court has heard at the beginning of a civil trial.The former Sinn Fein leader is being sued for symbolic vindicatory" damages of 1 each by John Clark, Jonathan Ganesh and Barry Laycock, who were injured respectively in the 1973 Old Bailey bombing, and the London Docklands and Manchester bombings in 1996. Continue reading...

The prime minister is facing pressure from unions and some backbenchers to prepare a support package as oil and gas prices threaten to push up inflationAs we mentioned in the opening post, the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has a call with fellow G7 finance ministers this afternoon to discuss surging oil prices and the economic impact of the US-Israeli war with Iran.You can follow all the latest market developments in our business live blog, which is leading on how stock markets are tumbling after the oil price surged over $100 a barrel for the first time in four years:The longer this conflict goes on, the more effect it will have on the cost of oil.Any time Brent Crude passes 100 dollars per barrel raises concern across the markets, for the haulage industry and drivers.Average petrol and diesel prices have rocketed in the last week and are unfortunately likely to keep on rising, so the situation for UK drivers is looking increasingly bleak.Unleaded is almost certainly going to reach an average of 140p in the next week or so, while diesel looks highly likely to climb to at least 160p a litre.

Malkinson spent 17 years in prison after being wrongly convicted in rape case for which another man is now on trialA woman who alleged she was raped by Andrew Malkinson admitted to police 22 years ago that she wasn't too sure it was the right man", a court has heard.Malkinson spent 17 years in prison for an attack he did not commit in what jurors heard was a most terrible" miscarriage of justice. Paul Quinn is now on trial at Manchester crown court accused of the 2003 rape after fresh DNA tests allegedly linked him to the victim. Continue reading...

John Swinney expresses huge relief' that no one was hurt in blaze believed to have started in vape shopScotland's first minister has pledged to help deal with the costs of the horrific" fire that has closed Glasgow Central station for at least two days and gutted a Victorian office block.John Swinney said it was a huge relief there had been no injuries, but that there would be significant financial costs from the fire, which caused chaos for the city's commuters and the cancellation of west coast main line services to Glasgow. Continue reading...

Russian oligarch says money is his to allocate despite international sanctions imposed on his assetsThe Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich has stepped up his row with the British government over the 2.5bn proceeds of his sale of Chelsea FC, insisting that the money is his to allocate despite the international sanctions imposed on his assets.The UK and EU imposed sanctions on Abramovich in 2022, freezing his assets in response to Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, citing his ties to Vladimir Putin's regime. Continue reading...