- Iceland to hold EU referendum 'in the coming months', PM says Reuters
- Iceland to hold referendum on EU accession talks in next few months, PM says – as it happened The Guardian
- Iceland looks to fast-track vote on joining EU politico.eu
- Island nation moves to restart EU membership talks after Trump’s threats The Independent
- Watch the video: Is Iceland planning to join the EU? Euronews.com
In Lenten meditation, Bishop Erik Varden addresses abuse, corruption – Crux
- In Lenten meditation, Bishop Erik Varden addresses abuse, corruption Crux
- Lenten Retreat: Bishop Varden reflects on 'Bernard the Realist' Vatican News
- “We need to know where we are going”: An interview with Bishop Erik Varden Catholic World Report
- Dust Called to Glory Commonweal Magazine
- Vatican Retreat: Varden on St. Bernard ‘the Idealist’ EWTN Vatican
‘Fear is everywhere’: BBC reports from Mexican city turned into war zone by drug cartel feud
Culiacán in northern Mexico has seen a surge in violence as rival factions of the Sinaloa cartel battle for control.
‘Fear is everywhere’: BBC reports from Mexican city turned into war zone by drug cartel feud
Culiacán in northern Mexico has seen a surge in violence as rival factions of the Sinaloa cartel battle for control.
Swiss bar fire victims to get solidarity payout
The so-called solidarity contribution will go to each of the 115 injured and the families of the 41 who died.
Treasury calls in Blair thinktank to advise on using AI across public services
Tech equity campaigners compare move to ‘inviting in foxes to consult on the future of the henhouse’
Ministers have called in Tony Blair’s thinktank and private tech companies to guide them on deploying AI across the UK government in a move campaigners compared to “inviting in foxes to consult on the future of the henhouse”.
James Murray, chief secretary to the Treasury, chaired a meeting on Wednesday with the director of AI at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change (TBI), the chair of IBM and senior executives at AI companies including Faculty AI, now part of Accenture, and Dex Hunter-Torricke, a former communications adviser at Google, Facebook and Elon Musk’s Space X.
Continue reading...UK ministers explore ways of easing burden of student loans
Government reviews options for plan 2 loans, such as increasing repayment thresholds, amid growing pressure
Ministers are examining ways to ease the burden of student loans after weeks of pressure over a policy pulling more people into repayments, the Guardian understands.
The Treasury and the Department for Education are reviewing different options to offer relief to graduates with Plan 2 student loans, often paying tens of thousands more than their original loan amount.
Continue reading...85-year-old widower kidnapped and murdered in apparent case of mistaken identity in Australia – CBS News
- 85-year-old widower kidnapped and murdered in apparent case of mistaken identity in Australia CBS News
- Chris Baghsarian: Grandfather kidnapped from his bed and murdered in case of mistaken identity, police say CNN
- Two charged over alleged murder of Sydney grandfather kidnapped by mistake BBC
- Man charged with murder of Chris Baghsarian in Sydney likely ‘no mastermind’, lawyer says The Guardian
- A cigarette butt, a burnt car and Pig Latin: Inside the hunt for alleged killers of Sydney grandfather SMH.com.au
Foreign Office denies minister’s claim the Chagos Islands deal has been paused – UK politics live
Minister told MPs the deal had been been paused, but that was immediately denied by the Foreign Office
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has published figures showing that local authorities in England dealt with 1.26m flytipping incidents in 2024/25 – 9% increase on the previous year.
And there was an 11% increase in incidents involving a “tipper lorry load” amount of rubbish. There were 52,000 of these, up from 47,000 in 2023/24. Defra said these alone cost councils £19.3m.
These figures show the equivalent of 142 monster landfills a day took place, confirming what communities across the country know all too well – our beautiful countryside is being used by criminal gangs as their personal landfill.
For far too long, waste gangs have pocketed millions in illegal earning, poisoning our environment and our health without consequence. The Liberal Democrats are demanding an end to this environmental vandalism.
Continue reading...Confusion over Chagos Islands deal as Foreign Office denies handover ‘paused’
Minister ‘misspoke’ by telling MPs UK was ‘pausing for discussions with our American counterparts’, officials say
Plans to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius are still on track, the UK government has insisted, after a minister caused confusion by telling MPs that the deal was “paused”.
Hamish Falconer, a Foreign Office minister and former diplomat, was speaking on Wednesday as the deal came under increasing pressure from opposition parties in the UK and from Donald Trump.
Continue reading...Fearing Ukrainian action, Orbán deploys soldiers to energy facilities – Euronews.com
- Fearing Ukrainian action, Orbán deploys soldiers to energy facilities Euronews.com
- Orban steps up oil accusations against Ukraine after vetoing EU loan to Kyiv BBC
- Hungary accuses Ukraine of 'oil blockade,' deploys soldiers to key energy facilities CNBC
- Hungary’s Orban orders extra security, alleges Ukraine attacks plot Al Jazeera
- EU asks Ukraine to repair Druzhba pipeline as Croatia offers alternative route Euronews.com
States sue Trump administration over changes to vaccine recommendations for children
States call move an illegal threat to public health and argue CDC puts children’s lives at risk with new guidance
More than a dozen states, including California, sued the Trump administration over its rollback of vaccine recommendations for children, calling the move an illegal threat to public health.
The states argue that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) put children’s lives at risk when it announced last month that it would stop recommending all children get immunized against the flu, rotavirus, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, some forms of meningitis and RSV. Under the new guidance, which was met with criticism from medical experts, protections against those diseases are recommended only for certain groups deemed high risk or when doctors recommend them in what’s called “shared decision-making.”
Continue reading...Watch: Moment a sinkhole in Omaha traps cars and drivers
Several witnesses jumped into action helping both drivers get to safety while others directed traffic, according to police.
German MPs cut contracts for kamikaze drones backed by Peter Thiel and Daniel Ek – Financial Times
- German MPs cut contracts for kamikaze drones backed by Peter Thiel and Daniel Ek Financial Times
- Germany news: Bundestag passes major drone deal DW.com
- Germany approves reduced long-term strike drone purchasing plan Reuters
- Peter Thiel ties put major German military drone deal on shaky ground politico.eu
- Germany Set to Approve €540 Million in Kamikaze Drone Orders Bloomberg
Bill Gates apologizes to foundation staff for Jeffrey Epstein ties
Microsoft co-founder admits affairs and calls meetings ‘huge mistake’ but denies involvement in Epstein’s crimes
Bill Gates apologized to staff of his foundation for his ties to Jeffrey Epstein and admitted to two affairs but stated he did not participate in the convicted sex offender’s crimes, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
At a town hall on Tuesday, Gates, the Microsoft co-founder and billionaire philanthropist, said it was a “huge mistake to spend time with Epstein” and to bring Gates Foundation executives to meetings with Epstein.
Continue reading...Symbols found carved into 40,000-year-old artifacts may be precursor to writing – CNN
- Symbols found carved into 40,000-year-old artifacts may be precursor to writing CNN
- Patterns on mammoth tusks help to retell history of writing BBC
- 40,000-year-old European engravings reveal structured sign systems, study finds Archaeology News Online Magazine
- 40,000-year-old German artifacts may display written language precursor Reuters
- Humans May Have Used These Mysterious Symbols to Encode Information Tens of Thousands of Years Before the First Writing Systems Smithsonian Magazine
Israel responsible for two-thirds of record 129 press killings in 2025, says CPJ
Committee to Protect Journalists report says Israel also to blame for 81% of ‘intentionally targeted’ journalist killings
A record 129 journalists and media workers were killed in the course of their work in 2025, two-thirds of them by Israeli forces, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
It was the second consecutive year in which killings of members of the press reached unprecedented levels, and the second year running in which Israel was responsible for roughly two-thirds of the total, the New York-based independent organisation, which documents attacks on journalists worldwide, said in its annual report published on Wednesday.
Continue reading...Nobody believed that Putin would invade Ukraine. Four years on, has Europe learned from the failures of 2022?
I looked back to discover the untold story of how western intelligence was misread, even in Kyiv. The conclusion offers a stark warning for the future
Tuesday marked the fourth anniversary of Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and at this time of year it’s hard not to recall memories of the morning of 24 February 2022, when the fate of Ukraine and the history of Europe were irrevocably changed by the decision of the man in the Kremlin.
Around 9pm the evening before, I had received a message from a colleague at another news outlet. It was an unequivocal warning from an intelligence source that the war would start that night. We discussed it among the Guardian’s Ukraine reporting team and international editors. My colleague Emma Graham-Harrison, who was on an overnight train from Kyiv towards the frontline city of Mariupol, decided she would get off halfway, in the middle of the night, and beg a spot on the first train heading back to Kyiv. It turned out to be a wise move: Mariupol was soon under siege and the scene of much of the worst carnage of the war. Emma remained in Kyiv, part of our team covering the initial Russian attack on the capital.
Continue reading...Zimbabwe rejects ‘lopsided’ US health aid deal over data concerns
Access to biological samples raised flags for Zimbabwe as the US did not want to share the benefits of its research.
Trump keeps world waiting on his plans for Iran after State of the Union
The next round of talks between the US and Iran in Geneva on Thursday could be decisive in the president's decision-making.