Top World News

An Afghan man accused of shooting two members of the National Guard near the White House, killing one, pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to murder charges, US media said.

Kremlin aide says Ukraine crisis is no closer to resolution after Witkoff talks, as Russian president accuses European powers of sabotaging peace Russia and the US did not make progress toward a peace deal for Ukraine during their talks, a senior aide to Vladimir Putin has said, hours after the Russian president issued threats that Russia was ready for war with Europe.In remarks to Russian media, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said that after a five-hour meeting with Trump envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, the two sides were “neither further nor closer to resolving the crisis in Ukraine. There is a lot of work to be done.” Continue reading...

New date to approve site near Tower Bridge in London aligns with Keir Starmer’s planned visit to BeijingThe government has delayed its decision on whether to approve China’s super-embassy in London until January, when Keir Starmer is expected to visit Beijing.Ministers are expected to greenlight the controversial plans after formal submissions by the Home Office and Foreign Office raised no objections on security grounds. Continue reading...

A group of US senators who have tried repeatedly to rein in President Trump's aggression against Venezuela said they would file a new resolution to force a congressional vote on the issue if the administration carries out a strike within the country.

Report says ‘systemic failures’ led to collapse of trial, but found no evidence of UK government interference Parliament’s security committee has criticised prosecutors for pulling their charges against two men accused of spying for Beijing, in a damning report that concluded the handling of the case was “shambolic”.MPs said that a process “beset by confusion and misaligned expectations” and “inadequate” communication between the government and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) had contributed to the collapse of the trial, while several “opportunities to correct course were missed”.It was “unclear” why the CPS had concluded that a July 2024 ruling concerning a Bulgarian spy ring “altered the legal landscape so significantly” that they had to change their approach.It was “surprised” the CPS had deemed the government’s evidence insufficient to put to a jury when it had set out how China “posed a range of threats to the United Kingdom’s national security” that “amounted to a more general active threat”.The government “did not have sufficiently clear processes for escalating issues where there was a lack of clarity” and “the level of senior oversight” from cabinet ministers and national security advisers “was insufficiently robust”. Continue reading...

Group including Margaret Atwood, Ian McKellen and Richard Branson sign open letter to free Marwan BarghoutiMore than 200 leading cultural figures have come together to call for the release of Marwan Barghouti, the jailed Palestinian leader seen as capable of uniting factions and bringing the best hope to the stalled mission of creating a Palestinian state.The prestigious and diverse group calling for his release in an open letter includes a variety of prominent names, including the writers Margaret Atwood, Philip Pullman, Zadie Smith and Annie Ernaux; actors Sir Ian McKellen, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tilda Swinton, Josh O’Connor and Mark Ruffalo, and the broadcaster and former footballer Gary Lineker. Continue reading...

Soaring demand has led to ‘shocking’ rise in untreated patients leaving NHS emergency departments in England, data showsThe number of people in England walking out of A&E without treatment has tripled in the past six years, new figures show.Analysis of NHS data by the Royal College of Nursing shows soaring demand for urgent hospital care and long waits has led to what it describes as a “shocking” rise in the number of patients leaving emergency departments untreated. Continue reading...

Ethnic minority people more likely to experience poor treatment and even racism, Migraine Trust research showsPeople from ethnic minority backgrounds are more likely to experience worse migraine care and to fear discrimination because of their condition, a survey by a leading UK charity has found.Migraines are characterised by a severe headache, alongside other symptoms including dizziness, numbness and vision problems. About one in seven people in the UK are affected by the condition. Continue reading...