Final push for votes as German frontrunner vows to lead in Europe
Germany's rival political leaders take their fight for votes right to the last minute before a pivotal election.
UK-wide parking app may be out of road after government funding withdrawn
Five-year-old platform intended to make drivers’ lives easier will only be supported until the end of March
- ‘Those without smartphones unfairly penalised, say campaigners
- How to navigate apps: from checking safety to recalling passwords
- UK-wide parking app may be out of road after funding withdrawn
It was hailed as “the future of UK parking”, intended to remove one of the bugbears of modern life: the need to sign up to a plethora of different apps in order to park your car.
But a big question mark now hangs over the future of the National Parking Platform (NPP), a government-funded scheme designed to make drivers’ lives easier by letting them use one app of their choice to pay for all their parking.
Continue reading...Germany’s front-runner Merz: Risk-taker who flirted with far right
A look at the conservative leader who broke a German taboo by accepting support from the AfD.
Russia and US could meet again within weeks to discuss Ukraine, Moscow says – Europe live
Moscow and Washington held their first talks on ending the nearly three-year war in Ukraine on Tuesday
Some 62% of Britons believe Ukraine should be allowed into Nato, according to new polling.
The research by YouGov also suggested 68% think the UK should maintain its commitment to defend allies in the military bloc, but when asked specifically about defending the US this figure fell to 42%.
Continue reading...NHS facing ‘crisis of public trust’ as most people fear being failed by A&E services
Public concern about NHS is worrying and frightening, says leading emergency doctor after poll revealed
Three in four people in the UK fear getting stuck on a trolley in a hospital corridor or an ambulance not arriving after dialling 999, prompting claims that the NHS is facing “a crisis of public trust”.
Huge numbers also worry about their local A&E not having enough beds (77%) and not being able to get care at their GP surgery (70%), research also found.
Continue reading...China conducts second live-fire drill near New Zealand
Report from New Zealand navy personnel comes a day after similar drill forced multiple airlines to change flight paths between Australia and New Zealand
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China’s navy has reportedly conducted a second live-fire exercise in international waters, a day after a similar drill forced multiple airlines to change flight paths between Australia and New Zealand.
New Zealand navy personnel advised live rounds were fired from a Chinese warship in international waters near the island nation on Saturday.
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Continue reading...Americans sharply divided over Trump’s embrace of Putin
While US allies are alarmed at changing loyalties, new poll finds starkly partisan reaction to president’s Ukraine policy
Donald Trump’s shocking and mendacious attack this week on the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as a “dictator” while cozying up to the Russian president and indicating that traditional US security support for Europe is waning may have alarmed US allies abroad but has prompted a more starkly divided response among Americans at home.
Reflecting the country’s deeply partisan attitude to the new president and his “America first” foreign policy doctrine, polling suggests that Republicans are much more likely to oppose additional help for war-torn Ukraine. A Pew Research Center survey earlier this month found that 47% of Republicans but just 14% of Democrats thought the US was providing too much support to Ukraine – views that have changed dramatically since the war began three years ago, when just 7% of all American adults (9% of Republicans and 5% of Democrats) said the US was providing too much support to Ukraine.
Continue reading...Far-right links and Putin praise: fears over £600m UK history theme park plan
French family behind project visited Kremlin in 2014 to discuss building ‘Tsarland’ in annexed Crimea
With its spectacular shows featuring Viking longboats, Roman charioteers and sword-wielding knights who perform death-defying stunts, Puy du Fou in France is consistently ranked among the world’s best theme parks. Each performance of its centrepiece Cinéscénie show, which depicts 700 years of French history, features more than 1,000 actors, hundreds of horses and about 800 fireworks.
Now the company has set its sights on bringing its brand of immersive history to the UK via a £600m investment to build its mock medieval castles, hotels and restaurants on farmland just off the M40 in Oxfordshire. It has asked the upmarket property firm Savills to help with its planning applications and is expected to look for British co-investors for a project that it says will create thousands of jobs.
Continue reading...British Library acquires torn-out drafts of Edward Elgar masterpiece
Exclusive: sketches for Introduction and Allegro for Strings had been removed from sketchbook by composer in 1930
The British Library has acquired previously unknown sketches and drafts by Sir Edward Elgar for one of his best-known masterpieces, Introduction and Allegro for Strings.
Spanning 15 pages, they shed light on the creative process of Britain’s most revered composer. One bears the beginnings of an unknown organ piece on which he had started work.
Continue reading...Trump fires top US general CQ Brown in shake-up at Pentagon
The new Pentagon chief had accused CQ Brown of a "woke" focus on diversity, equity and inclusion programmes.
Using an e-scooter can add £1,000 to your car insurance quote
Under-30s risk a huge hike in huge car insurance premiums later in life if handed the IN10 endorsement
Young people using private electric scooters on roads and pavements risk facing huge insurance premiums when they want to drive a car, says the comparison website MoneySuperMarket.
It emerged this week that almost 800 children aged 13 to 16 had been issued an IN10 endorsement – the code used by the police for “using a vehicle uninsured against third-party risks” since the start of 2020. It stays on a person’s driving record for four years from the date of the offence.
Continue reading...Konstantin Kisin: anti-woke libertarian who reluctantly calls himself ‘right wing’
In speech at Arc conference, podcaster argues ‘identity politics and multiculturalism … are two failed experiments’
Konstantin Kisin has until this week been best known as a libertarian, pro-free speech independent podcaster, and for a viral appearance at the Oxford Union arguing that “woke culture has gone too far”.
His profile has suddenly risen, however, after hosting the Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, on his podcast, and arguing in an episode with Fraser Nelson, the former editor of the Spectator, that Rishi Sunak was not English owing to his “brown Hindu” background – triggering criticism on social media.
Continue reading...Shiri Bibas remains identified as Israel and Hamas prepare for another hostage-prisoner swap
Gaza ceasefire deal still on track amid uproar over fate of two Israeli boys and initial false return of their mother’s body
The body of the Israeli hostage Shiri Bibas has been identified, Israel’s army radio reported early on Saturday, adding that Bibas was likely killed in captivity with her children.
The confirmation came as Israelis and Palestinians braced for another tense exchange of hostages, prisoners and detainees on Saturday after uproar in Israel over allegations that two child hostages were “brutally murdered” by Hamas, and the group’s initial failure to deliver the body of their mother, instead returning the corpse of an unidentified woman.
Continue reading...Long-term effects of Gaza war could quadruple Palestinian death toll, warn UK doctors
Surgeons who worked in Gaza fear disease, malnutrition and eradication of healthcare will reverberate for decades
British doctors who worked in Gaza during the war have issued dire predictions over the long-term health of Palestinian civillians, warning that large numbers will continue to die.
The prevalence of infectious disease and multiple health problems linked to malnutrition, alongside the destruction of hospitals and killing of medical experts, meant mortality rates among Palestinians in Gaza would remain high after the cessation of Israeli shelling.
Continue reading...19 things Trump and his team did this week
In his fifth week in office, Trump called Zelensky a dictator, sought more federal civil service cuts and dropped in on Nascar.
Trump says Starmer and Macron ‘haven’t done anything’ to end Ukraine war
Trump's criticisms come as the UK and French leaders prepare to visit the White House next week.
Pentagon lays off 5,400 civilian workers, with tens of thousands more firings due
Pete Hegseth supports cuts of up to 8% of civilian workforce as Trump bids to institute massive government cuts
The Pentagon announced plans Friday to fire 5-8% of its civilian workforce, staring next week with layoffs of 5,400 probationary workers, a Department of Defense official said in a statement.
The initial civilian layoffs will be followed by a Department of Defense hiring freeze to analyze the military’s personnel needs in compliance with Donald Trump’s political goals, Darin Selnick, the acting under-secretary of defense for personnel and readiness, said in the statement.
Continue reading...Trans Euphoria star says new passport lists her as male
Hunter Schafer, a transgender woman, hits out at President Donald Trump's policies on gender.
US judge temporarily blocks Trump’s anti-DEI purge
Adam Abeldon rules that president’s efforts to ban DEI programs likely violate first amendment of constitution
A federal judge in Maryland on Friday temporarily blocked Donald Trump from implementing bans on diversity, equity and inclusion programs at federal agencies and by businesses that contract with the federal government.
US district judge Adam Abelson said the directives by Trump and an order urging the Department of Justice to investigate companies with DEI policies likely violate the first amendment of the US constitution.
Continue reading...Fit for a pontiff: Inside the Roman hospital caring for Pope Francis
The Gemelli hospital has been treating popes for more than thirty years.