Moscow back at the table – and appearing to call the shots
Team Trump clearly wants to cut a deal with Moscow and move on, says the BBC's Sarah Rainsford.
Vladimir Putin: I won’t allow Starmer’s plan for troops in Ukraine – The Independent
- Vladimir Putin: I won’t allow Starmer’s plan for troops in Ukraine The Independent
- 'Nato membership for Ukraine was unacceptable': Russia after peace talk in Saudi Arabia The Times of India
- Russia's Lavrov denies 3-point peace plan, warns against Western peacekeepers in Ukraine Kyiv Independent
- 'Why should we invite them?': Lavrov ridicules European presence at Ukraine peace talks – video The Guardian
- Russia demands new territorial concessions from Ukraine – ISW Ukrainska Pravda
Holiday firms reporting surge in demand for long-haul breaks
Thailand and Vietnam now often seen as ‘more cost-effective’ than visiting traditional European favourites
Holiday companies are reporting a surge in demand for long-haul breaks amid claims that the likes of Thailand and Vietnam are now often “more cost-effective” than visiting traditional European favourites.
On Tuesday, the travel brand Kuoni said long-haul bookings for the year ahead were 14% higher than at the same point in 2024.
Continue reading...Six-year-old girl and woman die in Sydney house fire
Four children and four adults escape blaze in Heckenberg, where police have established a crime scene
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A woman and a schoolgirl have died in a house fire in Sydney’s south-west overnight.
Emergency services were called to the blaze at Heckenberg at 12.40am on Wednesday.
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Continue reading...Devon man jailed for sending ‘utterly deplorable’ email to Jess Phillips MP
Jack Bennett, 39, given 28 weeks for message sent a day after criticism of minister by X owner Elon Musk
A 39-year-old man has been jailed for sending an “utterly deplorable” email to safeguarding minister Jess Phillips, one day after she was criticised by X owner Elon Musk.
Jack Bennett, from Seaton, Devon, pleaded guilty to sending malicious communications to three people between February 2024 and January 2025, including the Birmingham Yardley MP, at Exeter magistrates court on Tuesday.
Continue reading...All fores! Miranda July among artists to create feminist mini-golf course in Melbourne
Swingers, which aims to celebrate the sport’s feminist history, will take over the Flinders Street station ballroom as part of the 2025 Rising festival
The acclaimed author and film-maker Miranda July is among a group of artists who are building a mini-golf course in Melbourne to celebrate the sport’s little-known feminist history.
Swingers: The Art of Mini Golf will take over the Flinders Street station ballroom, an abandoned space above the busy Melbourne railway station, as part of the city’s annual Rising festival.
Continue reading...Israel refuses to fully withdraw from Lebanon: Here’s what to know
Israel will keep troops in five locations in Lebanon, defying a ceasefire agreement that came into effect in November.
Second crisis Ukraine summit planned for Wednesday – POLITICO Europe
- Second crisis Ukraine summit planned for Wednesday POLITICO Europe
- Europe, Dazed by Trump, Confronts Hard Choices in Ukraine The New York Times
- Watch: Why European leaders held emergency Ukraine summit BBC.com
- European leaders gather for emergency meeting over fear Trump is isolating EU allies PBS NewsHour
- Sidelined by Trump, Macron tries to rally Europe on Ukraine. But divisions run deep The Associated Press
Officials: Tourists Make Things ‘Extremely Dangerous’ at Etna – Newser
- Officials: Tourists Make Things 'Extremely Dangerous' at Etna Newser
- Watch: Lava meets snow as skiers take on Mount Etna's fiery slopes Fox Weather
- Thousands of tourists flock to see Etna eruption, blocking rescue services The Guardian
- Video Skiers seek ultimate thrill on erupting Mount Etna ABC News
- Video. Spectacular eruption of Mount Etna, flights diverted in Catania Euronews
Zelenskyy demands Ukraine involvement after US-Russia talks on war
Ukrainian president says no decision on how to end Russia's war on his country can be made without consulting Kyiv.
Kabul evacuation whistleblower wins case against UK government
Civil servant Josie Stewart found to have been unlawfully dismissed in 2022 after she told BBC about failures
A civil servant who blew the whistle about the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan and Boris Johnson’s involvement in a decision to evacuate a pet charity from Kabul has won her case for unfair dismissal against the government in a legal first.
An employment panel of three judges unanimously found the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) unfairly dismissed Josie Stewart in 2021 after she leaked information in the public interest.
Continue reading...UN rights body accuses Rwanda-backed militia of killing children in eastern DRC
OHCHR says Tutsi-led M23 group killed three boys in Bukavu last week after capturing the city
The UN human rights office accused the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels of killing three children in Bakavu, the Democratic Republic of the Congo city they captured last week, expressing alarm at human rights violations by the militia.
“Our office has confirmed cases of summary execution of children by M23 after they entered the city of Bukavu last week. We are also aware that children were in possession of weapons,” Ravina Shamdasani, a spokesperson for the UN’s Office of the high commissioner for human rights (OHCHR), said on Tuesday.
Continue reading...Israeli troops stay inside south Lebanon after withdrawal deadline
Soldiers will stay in five places around the border, Israel says - a move condemned by Lebanon.
Native American activist Leonard Peltier released from US prison
Supporters celebrate the release of an Indigenous activist imprisoned for killing of FBI agents after a flawed trial.
New footage shows Delta plane flipping over in fiery crash landing in Toronto
Accident at Pearson, Canada’s busiest airport, sent 21 to hospital including three in critical condition on Monday
Footage has emerged of the fiery plane crash at Toronto’s Pearson airport on Monday, showing the Delta Air Lines jet skidding along the runway and then flipping over, as a wing rips off and the tail is engulfed in flames. The crash, which occurred at Canada’s busiest airport, sent 21 people to the hospital, including three in critical condition.
Soon after the crash, mobile phone clips captured the harrowing moments when passengers escaped through the plane’s upside-down doors and into the bitter cold. Blasts of fire retardant hung in the air and some of the passengers stood dazed in the snow. Others unleashed a string of expletives as they processed the unfolding chaos.
Continue reading...Hamas says it will hand over bodies of Bibas family and free six hostages
Remains of Shiri Bibas and young sons Kfir and Ariel, whose deaths had not been confirmed, to be returned on Thursday
Hamas has said it will release six hostages from Gaza this week and hand over the bodies of four others, including the remains of two young children from the same family whose deaths had not previously been confirmed.
Khalil al-Hayya, a Hamas negotiator, said the four bodies to be handed over on Thursday would include those of 32-year-old Shiri Bibas and her sons, Kfir and Ariel, who were nine months old and four years old when Hamas abducted them from the Nir Oz kibbutz during the 7 October 2023 attack that ignited the Gaza war.
Continue reading...Who was at the table at US-Russia talks in Saudi Arabia?
Three Americans and two Russians took part in the negotiations and agreed to reset diplomatic relations.
Trump appears to blame Ukraine for starting war
The US president dismisses concerns Ukraine is not involved in peace talks and says he is confident in success.
Watch: Toronto plane crash analysed by aviation experts
Two aviation experts have analysed footage of the plane crash and explored what might have caused it.
British couple detained in Iran charged with spying
The couple said they had ignored warnings not to travel to Iran as part of their global motorbike trip.