Southwest Airlines pilot charged with DUI while preparing for takeoff

Officers said pilot had bloodshot eyes and smelled of alcohol before planned flight from Savannah to Chicago

Police at a Georgia airport arrested an airline pilot on a DUI charge as he was making pre-flight checks aboard a Southwest Airlines flight with bloodshot eyes and reeking of what smelled like alcohol, according to a police report.

Passengers had boarded the Southwest Airlines flight from Savannah to Chicago and were awaiting takeoff on Wednesday morning when police boarded the plane and took the pilot away in handcuffs.

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Starmer urges world leaders to ‘double down’ on support for Ukraine

PM stressed shared ‘unbreakable commitment to Nato and Ukraine’ with Poland in meeting with Donald Tusk

Keir Starmer has urged world leaders to “double down” in their efforts to support Ukraine during a visit to Poland, days before Donald Trump’s return to the US presidency risks jeopardising international solidarity on the issue.

Speaking alongside the Polish prime minister, Donald Tusk, after the pair discussed a proposed defence-focused treaty, Starmer dodged questions on the possible impact of Trump, but insisted the only way forward was “peace on Ukraine’s terms”.

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Aid increase in ceasefire deal ‘is admission Israel could have done more’, experts say

Agreement to surge aid to Gaza shows Israel has been controlling access, lawyers and humanitarian groups say

A provision to increase the aid entering Gaza under the ceasefire is welcome but insufficient, and shows Israel could have allowed more food, medicine and other supplies into the strip during the war, humanitarian and legal experts have said.

The deal agreed this week allows for 600 trucks a day of aid to enter Gaza, where nine out of 10 Palestinians are going hungry and experts warn that famine is imminent in areas. Israel faces accusations it is using starvation as a weapon of war.

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Police fear ‘rightwing driven’ reaction to grooming gangs will harm victims

Senior officers say fraction of child abuse cases relate to gangs and funding could be diverted from current cases

Senior police officers fear that government pressure to reinvestigate closed historic cases of gang grooming could make it harder to catch those targeting children today.

The government on Thursday announced more reviews of past cases and also that victims, whose cases did not end in prosecutions, will be given a new right of appeal to have their investigations reopened.

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‘One-in-a-billion’ round egg found at farm in Devon to be auctioned

Rare spherical egg could fetch in region of £200, with proceeds of sale going to charity

A farm worker in Devon has discovered what she believes to be a “one-in-a-billion” spherical egg.

Alison Greene, who has worked as an egg handler on Fenton Farm near the Somerset border for three years and handled more than 42m eggs, said she had never found a perfectly round one before.

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EU asks X for internal documents about algorithms as it steps up investigation

Musk’s company has been accused of manipulating systems to give far-right posts and politicians greater visibility

The European Commission has asked X to hand over internal documents about its algorithms, as it steps up its investigation into whether Elon Musk’s social media platform has breached EU rules on content moderation.

The EU’s executive branch told the company it wanted to see internal documentation about its “recommender system”, which makes content suggestions to users, and any recent changes made to it, by 15 February.

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Narrow escape for man who clung to German high-speed train for 20 miles

Man jumped on to bracket between carriages after doors closed and hung on as train sped along at 170mph

A man survived unscathed after clinging to the outside of a German high-speed train as it barrelled along at up to 170mph (280km/h), police said on Friday.

The 40-year-old Hungarian man was having a cigarette on a platform in Bavaria when the train doors shut, prompting him to jump on to the bracket between two carriages.

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