Starmer welcomes Zelenskyy’s offer to work with Trump on Ukraine peace deal – as it happened

PM says any deal must be ‘lasting and secure’ following fiery Trump-Zelenskyy meeting last week and UK weekend summit. This live blog is closed

Lisa O’Carroll is the Guardian’s acting Ireland correspondent.

Michelle O’Neill, Northern Ireland’s first minister, has described a decision to build thousands of lightweight missiles for Ukraine in a Belfast factory as “incredulous”.

I find it really incredulous that at a time when public services are being cut left, right and centre.

At a time when we have endured 14 years of austerity ... I think at a time like that, rather than buying weapons of war, I would rather see the money invested in public services.

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US designates Yemen’s Houthi group as foreign terrorist organization once again

Designation comes after Houthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since the start of Israel-Hamas war

The US state department has reinstated the “foreign terrorist organization” designation for Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi group, fulfilling an order announced by Donald Trump shortly after he took office.

The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, announced on Tuesday the department had restored the designation, which carries with it sanctions and penalties for anyone providing “material support” for the group.

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Pause in US military aid makes peace for Ukraine ‘more distant’, says France – Europe live

Benjamin Haddad, French junior minister, says decision to suspend arms to Ukraine ‘strengthens the hand of the aggressor’

European Commission president Ursula Von der Leyen has been making a statement about European defence spending in Brussels, in which she has signalled that Europe is ready to massively increase defence spending.

More details soon …

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Tuesday briefing: Where Gaza’s fragile ceasefire stands – and what it will take to move it forward

In today’s newsletter: With talks stalled, aid blocked and a truce in question, can the path to peace get back on track?

Good morning. The first phase of the ceasefire in Gaza expired over the weekend – and now, the only thing stopping the resumption of Israel’s assault on the territory is the will of Benjamin Netanyahu. That is the bleak reality for the hostages still alive in Gaza, and the Palestinian civilians there who were subjected to a new aid embargo on Sunday. Last night, the Israeli government was reported to be planning to ratchet the blockade up further – with a programme of measures referred to as the “hell plan”.

When the ceasefire was agreed in January, the theory was that the first phase would provide space for negotiations over a more durable truce. But those talks simply have not happened. Israel is pushing for the release of more hostages in an extension to the first phase – a step that Hamas, fearing the loss of its only source of leverage, refuses to countenance. Both sides are now making preparations for the resumption of violence.

Ukraine | Donald Trump has suspended delivery of all US military aid to Ukraine, blocking billions in crucial shipments as the White House piles pressure on Ukraine to sue for peace with Vladimir Putin. The Trump administration was earlier reported to be drawing up a plan to restore ties with Russia and lift sanctions on the Kremlin.

Education | Labour is preparing major changes to special educational needs provision in English schools, as individual councils raise the alarm over debts running into hundreds of millions of pounds. With councils currently paying to send many children to private schools because of a lack of adequate local options, the government is believed to be considering measures that would prioritise state provision.

Tariffs | China and Canada unveiled retaliatory measures against the US after Donald Trump imposed his sweeping tariffs plan on Tuesday, despite warnings it could spark an escalating trade war. The new US tariffs stand at 25% against goods from Canada and Mexico and 20% against those from China.

Obesity | More than half of adults and a third of children and young people worldwide will be overweight or obese by 2050, posing an “unparalleled threat” of early death and enormous strain on healthcare systems, a report warns. There are now 2.11 billion adults aged 25 or above who are overweight or obese, against 731 million in 1990.

Art | The self-taught Scottish painter Jack Vettriano, who became hugely popular despite being shunned by critics, has been found dead at his apartment in Nice in the south of France, his publicist has said. He was 73.

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JD Vance says US economic interests in Ukraine the best way to guarantee its security

Vice-president says best way to prevent another Russian invasion is to ‘give Americans economic upside in the future of Ukraine’

US vice-president JD Vance said that the best way to protect Ukraine from another Russian invasion is to guarantee the US has a financial interest in Ukraine’s future.

“If you want real security guarantees, if you want to actually ensure that Vladimir Putin does not invade Ukraine again, the very best security guarantee is to give Americans economic upside in the future of Ukraine,” Vance said in the interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity which aired Monday night.

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US suspends all military aid to Ukraine in wake of Trump-Zelenskyy row

Decision affects ammunition, vehicles and other equipment including weapons in transit

The Trump administration has suspended delivery of all US military aid to Ukraine, blocking billions in crucial shipments as the White House piles pressure on Ukraine to sue for peace with Vladimir Putin.

The decision affects deliveries of ammunition, vehicles, and other equipment including shipments agreed to when Joe Biden was president.

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US health department offers early retirement in latest round of Musk-led cuts

Email says employees eligible to take voluntary retirement and directs workers to share accomplishments of past week

The US health department told employees on Monday they could apply for early retirement over the next 10 days and should respond to a request for information on their accomplishments of the past week, according to emails seen by Reuters.

Republican president Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk, who oversees the so-called “department of government efficiency”, are spearheading an unprecedented effort to shrink the federal bureaucracy, including through job cuts.

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Carl Dean, Dolly Parton’s husband of nearly 60 years, dies at 82

Singer, who met Dean when she was 18, says ‘words can’t do justice to the love we shared for over 60 years’

Carl Dean, devoted husband of Dolly Parton and also the inspiration behind Parton’s iconic hit Jolene, died on Monday. He was 82.

According to a statement provided to the Associated Press by Parton’s publicist, Dean died in Nashville, Tennessee, and will be laid to rest in a private ceremony with immediate family attending.

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Killer whales amaze Seattle onlookers with rarely seen bird hunt

Gasps from dockside crowd watching Bigg’s orca pod in event described as ‘once-in-a-lifetime experience’

A pod of orcas swam close to shore and amazed onlookers in Seattle by treating the whale watchers to the rare sight of the apex predators hunting a bird.

The pod of Bigg’s killer whales visited Elliott Bay and were seemingly on a hunt underwater just off Seattle’s maritime industrial docks. The pod exited the bay close to the West Seattle neighborhood across from downtown, where people were waiting to catch sight of them.

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The LA Times published an op-ed warning of AI’s dangers. It also published its AI tool’s reply

‘Insight’ labeled the argument ‘center-left’ and created a reply insisting AI will make storytelling more democratic

Beneath a recent Los Angeles Times opinion piece about the dangers of artificial intelligence, there is now an AI-generated response about how AI will make storytelling more democratic.

“Some in the film world have met the arrival of generative AI tools with open arms. We and others see it as something deeply troubling on the horizon,” the co-directors of the Archival Producers Alliance, Rachel Antell, Stephanie Jenkins and Jennifer Petrucelli, wrote on 1 March.

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World Food Programme to close office in southern Africa after Trump aid cuts

UN food agency received half its budget from US last year and is accelerating merger plan as a result of funding cuts

The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) is closing its southern Africa office in the wake of the Trump administration’s aid cuts.

In a statement, a spokesperson said the office in Johannesburg would close and the WFP would consolidate its southern and east Africa operations into one regional office in Nairobi, Kenya.

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King Charles ‘determined to play part’ in diplomacy as he welcomes Trudeau

Monarch keen to put his soft power to use amid Trump’s incendiary rhetoric on Canada and tension over Ukraine

King Charles is “very conscious” of his global responsibility and unique diplomatic role, and is determined to put that to use, a royal source said, after his meeting with the Canadian prime minister on Monday.

Charles met Justin Trudeau at his Sandringham estate in Norfolk, a day after he received the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

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Trump says ‘no room left’ for deal that avoids tariffs on Mexico and Canada

Announcement leads to sharp sell-off on Wall Street as Trump also vows tariffs on farm products starting in April

The US will press ahead with steep tariffs on Canada and Mexico from Tuesday, Donald Trump has said, setting the stage for a trade war with his country’s two largest economic partners.

Hours before his administration was due to hit America’s closest neighbors with sweeping import duties, the US president claimed there was “no room left” for a deal to avoid their imposition. The announcement led to a sharp sell-off on Wall Street.

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Britain is back: did Ukraine crisis talks create a post-Brexit turning point?

Keir Starmer won praise for taking the UK ‘back to the heart of Europe’ at the weekend, but will it be a long-term move?

Britain is back. That was the concise verdict of Eléonore Caroit, the vice-chair of the French national assembly’s foreign affairs committee. And the optics of Sunday’s crisis talks on Ukraine bore this out, with Keir Starmer at the very centre of the leaders’ joint photo.

“You are back on the scene, of the leadership in Europe,” Caroit told the BBC on Monday morning. James MacClearly, the Liberal Democrat MP who speaks for the party on Europe, was equally adamant, praising the prime minister for taking this chance “to bring us back to the heart of Europe where we belong”.

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Slim majority of Americans support Ukraine, poll finds

Poll conducted before meeting with Trump and Zelenskyy says 52% of respondents ‘personally support’ Ukraine

A US poll taken before the diplomatic meltdown in the Oval Office on Friday between Donald Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, found that only 4% of surveyed Americans are backing Russia after its 2022 invasion of Ukraine – but a large minority of 44% said they do not support the invaded country either.

The CBS News/YouGov poll, conducted over three days beginning on 26 February, also found that a relatively slim majority – 52% – said they “personally support” Ukraine.

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Adrien Brody breaks record for longest ever Oscar acceptance speech

The actor, who won for The Brutalist, spoke for five minutes and forty seconds, beating Greer Garson in 1943

Adrien Brody has broken the record for the longest ever Oscars acceptance speech.

The 51-year-old, who picked up his second best actor Oscar on Sunday, spoke for five minutes and 40 seconds, beating Greer Garson, who spoke for five minutes and 30 seconds when she accepted for Mrs Miniver in 1943.

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UN human rights chief ‘deeply worried by fundamental shift’ in US

Volker Türk alarmed at growing power of ‘unelected tech oligarchs’ and warns gender equality is being rolled back

The UN human rights chief has warned of a “fundamental shift” in the US and sounded the alarm over the growing power of “unelected tech oligarchs”, in a stinging rebuke of Washington weeks into Donald Trump’s presidency.

Volker Türk said there had been bipartisan support for human rights in the US for decades but said he was “now deeply worried by the fundamental shift in direction that is taking place domestically and internationally”.

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Tories compare Nigel Farage to Jeremy Corbyn over Ukraine war

Reform leader accused of ‘equivocating over Russia’s illegal war’ after criticising Volodymyr Zelenskyy

The Conservatives have compared Nigel Farage to Jeremy Corbyn after the Reform UK leader said Volodymyr Zelenskyy had been “rude” to Donald Trump, as well as criticising the Ukrainian president for not wearing a suit to the Oval Office.

The Liberal Democrats accused Farage of parroting White House talking points after Farage denied that Elon Musk and Steve Bannon had given Nazi salutes, saying their gestures were “out to the side and not in front”.

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Democrats invite fired US federal workers to attend Trump’s address to Congress

Invitations are attempt to embarrass Trump over effort spearheaded by Elon Musk and his so-called ‘department of government efficiency’

Workers fired in Donald Trump’s mass purge of the federal government will attend his address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday at the invitation of Democrats seeking to display the human costs of the president’s radical policies.

Senior Democrats, including the party’s leader in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, have invited laid-off military veterans as their guests in an attempt to embarrass Trump over the unbridled assault on the federal bureaucracy spearheaded by Elon Musk and his so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge) team.

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Schumer says cyber operations pause against Russia gives Putin ‘free pass’

Top Democrat calls Trump’s move to retreat from fight against Russian cyber threats ‘a critical strategic mistake’

A senior US Democrat has hit out at Donald Trump’s attempt to reset relations with Russia following revelations that the president’s administration is retreating from the fight against Russian cyber threats, calling the reported move “a critical strategic mistake”.

In a statement on Sunday making reference to the Russian leader, New York’s Chuck Schumer – the US Senate’s Democratic minority leader – said Trump was “so desperate to earn the affection of a thug like Vladimir Putin he appears to be giving him a free pass as Russia continues to launch cyber operations and ransomware attacks against critical American infrastructure, threatening our economic and national security”.

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