Dead include those killed in a strike on the European hospital complex near Khan Younis
Associated Press, citing local hospitals, reports that at least 22 children were killed in Gaza overnight Tuesday and early Wednesday by Israeli airstrikes.
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan met online with US president Donald Trump, Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman and Syrian president Ahmed al-Sharaa, Reuters reports, citing Turkey’s state-owned Anadolu news agency.
Continue reading...Kremlin refuses to say whether Russian president will be part of delegation
“I worry a lot about a kind of world war one-type scenario,” former White House Russia adviser Fiona Hill told Lucy Hough, “in which the prevailing system is broken down, and you get a whole outbreak of conflicts that meld together.”
People are always asking: ‘What should we be worried about in the future?’ We should be worried about the here and now.
He wanted a very close relationship with Putin, kept talking about him as his friend, talking about phone calls he had when he hadn’t had phone calls. He’s done this with China as well.
It’s almost as if he’s saying: ‘Please call me.’ He’s laid out every way in which he can be manipulated, and that’s what Putin has done. Putin is an expert in manipulation.
Continue reading...MP accuses ex-colleagues of sinister attempt to silence him as CPS says it will not bring charges over allegations of verbal threats
The former Reform MP Rupert Lowe has accused his ex-colleagues of a “sinister” attempt to use the police to silence him, as he launched a furious attack on Nigel Farage who he said “must never be prime minister”.
Lowe, the MP for Great Yarmouth who now sits as an independent, made the remarks after the Crown Prosecution Service confirmed it would not bring criminal charges over allegations that Lowe made verbal threats in parliament last December.
Continue reading...Reform leader asks PM to declare a national emergency at the borders
Here is the list of MPs down to ask a question at PMQs, which starts at noon.
In March Reform UK reported Rupert Lowe (at the time one of their five MPs) to the police, claiming he had threatened the party chair, Zia Yusuf, with violence. Reform UK announced the news shortly after Lowe gave a newspaper interview criticising Nigel Farage, the party leader,
Following a thorough and detailed review of the evidence in relation to an allegation of threats, we have decided that no criminal charges should be brought against a sitting MP.
Having considered a number of witness statements, we have concluded that there is insufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction.
If Farage were ever to control the vast power of the British state, I believe he would not hesitate to do to his adversaries what they have tried to do to me. With real power, I fear he would wield that immense responsibility to crush dissent - as he has done time and again over the years …
Please listen when I say this: For the good of our country, Nigel Farage must never be prime minister.
Continue reading...European court of justice says no ‘plausible explanation’ given for denying New York Times access to texts from pandemic
The EU’s highest court has cancelled a decision to withhold Ursula von der Leyen’s text messages with a pharmaceutical executive during the pandemic, in a significant defeat for the commission president.
The European court of justice on Wednesday annulled a decision taken by the European Commission in November 2022 to deny the New York Times access to the messages, after a freedom of information request by the paper.
Continue reading...Bank of England’s Catherine Mann wary of firms looking to rebuild profit margins after a squeeze
Businesses will need to show they are keeping a lid on prices before there can be further interest rate cuts, according to the Bank of England interest rate-setter Catherine Mann.
In a warning to retailers and consumer goods companies to resist pushing up prices by more than the increase in their costs, Mann said she was wary of firms looking to rebuild their profit margins after a squeeze in recent years.
“I need to see the loss of pricing power, I need to see that firms are starting to be much more moderate in setting their prices,” she said.
Bombardment signals new escalation after Netanyahu said Israel would ‘go in with full force to complete the operation’
An intense wave of Israeli bombing has reportedly killed dozens of people in Gaza, including many children, signalling a new escalation at a critical moment in regional politics.
The exact number of deaths from the attacks was unclear, with estimates ranging from about 30 to more than 50, making it one of the highest tolls in a single morning for many weeks.
Continue reading...Offenders in England and Wales to have sentences cut for good behaviour and completion of work, training or education tasks
Prisoners will be able to earn their freedom after serving a third of their sentences under new minimum and maximum sentence plans released by the government to tackle the overcrowding in jails.
Offenders in England and Wales will be able to earn early release if they complete work, training or education assignments and demonstrate good behaviour.
Continue reading...Meeting with Ahmed al-Sharaa in Saudi Arabia seen as key towards recognition of new Syrian authority’s legitimacy
Donald Trump has met Syria’s president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, in Saudi Arabia and said that Washington is exploring normalising ties with Syria, a day after an announcement that all US sanctions on Syria would be lifted.
The US president met Sharaa, a former militant who fought against US forces in Iraq, before a conference of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), part of Trump’s four-day visit to the Middle East, where he is expected to court Gulf allies for investments in the US. Trump is due to land in Doha next, where he will meet the Qatari leader, Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani.
Continue reading...Prosecutors say men intended to attack German cargo transport by sending packages that would explode in transit
Three Ukrainian nationals have been arrested on suspicion of plotting parcel bomb attacks in Germany on behalf of the Russian state, prosecutors said.
The German federal prosecutor’s office said on Wednesday that the men, identified only as Vladyslav T, Daniil B and Yevhen B, in line with German privacy rules, had been detained in recent days in Germany and Switzerland.
Continue reading...Music mogul’s former girlfriend describes physical abuse, control and violence at trial in New York City
Singer Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, a former girlfriend of Sean “Diddy” Combs and a key witness in the federal sex-trafficking and racketeering trial of the music mogul, returned to the witness stand in New York City on Wednesday morning and testified that Combs raped her, assaulted one of his employees, and detailed abuse she says occurred in their over decade-long relationship.
Ventura, who is eight and a half months pregnant, began her second day of testimony by revisiting the hotel surveillance footage of her 2016 assault by Combs. She said Combs was yelling at her and then threw a vase at her in the elevator lobby.
In the US, the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). In the UK, call the national domestic abuse helpline on 0808 2000 247, or visit Women’s Aid. In Australia, the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. Other international helplines may be found via www.befrienders.org.
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