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Transport plane carrying soldiers and crew crashed shortly after takeoff from Puerto Leguízamo, deep in Colombia’s southern Amazon regionA Colombian military transport plane with 121 people on board, mostly soldiers, crashed shortly after takeoff in the country’s south, killing at least 66 people, authorities said.The defence minister, Pedro Sánchez, said the accident happened as the Lockheed Martin Hercules C-130 plane was taking off from Puerto Leguízamo, deep in Colombia’s southern Amazon region, on the border with Peru, as it transported troops from the armed forces. Continue reading...

The hot, dry summer and an increase in vineyard planting resulted in the third-largest UK grape harvestEnglish and Welsh winemakers have reported a sharp rise in production, after the hot, dry summer in 2025 and an increase in vineyard planting resulted in the third-largest UK harvest.The equivalent of 16.5m bottles were produced across the UK last year – or 124,377 hectolitres – according to figures from the wine regulator, the Food Standards Agency (FSA). Continue reading...

Tehran denied negotiations that delayed US strikes and Trump was vague on the details, but talks signal renewed push for peace from regional powersMiddle East crisis – live updatesThere have been so many abortive rounds of diplomacy between the US and Iran – the latest appearing to be led by Pakistan after Washington has burned through many other regional mediators – that it was hardly a surprise that President Trump’s claims of “very good” talks with Tehran initially provoked disbelief – especially after Iran denied that any negotiations were taking place at all.Nonetheless, standing beside Air Force One, Trump did his best to sell the sudden detente with little detail as a US ultimatum to bomb Iran’s power plants loomed unless Tehran opened up the strait of Hormuz. It was lost on few that the sudden about-face came just hours before US markets were to open for what promised to be another punishing round of trading on Monday. Continue reading...

Attorney general decries ‘outrageous federal overreach’ after government restarted pipeline closed over 2015 spillCalifornia attorney general Rob Bonta said he has sued the US energy department to stop it from using a cold-war era law to restart the long-disputed Sable Offshore pipeline system linking the Santa Ynez offshore platform to California refineries.US energy secretary Chris Wright earlier this month restarted the pipelines using powers granted to him by Donald Trump through an executive order that invoked the Defense Production Act to supersede state laws. Continue reading...

Vice President JD Vance's special adviser for the Middle East has left the Trump administration to take a new role at a lobbying firm, Bloomberg Government reported on Monday. Wesam H. Hassanein has joined Continental Strategy LLC, a firm connected to the Trump administration and the Republican Party, the outlet reported. The native Arabic speaker said he had apparently planned to leave the White House when the U.S.-Israeli joint strikes started on Iran on Feb. 28. “I’m not leaving because I oppose the president’s decision on Iran — I’m 100% supportive of President Trump’s decision to deny Iran nuclear weapons,” Hassanein said. “We should have done what President Trump is doing years ago.”Hassanein previously worked for the State Department before joining the Trump administration. He said he had been mulling over several offers before selecting the firm founded by Carlos Trujillo, former Ambassador to the Organization of American States. “Continental really, really stood out as family oriented, a family culture, with an excellent client base,” he said. “They are in total lockstep with the administration, working to advance America First policies.”Several people reacted to the news of the latest White House exit. "Rats, sinking ships...," Mehdi Hassan, editor-in-chief and CEO of Zeteo, wrote on X. "VP Vance's special adviser for the Middle East, Wesam H. Hassanein, leaves role for the private sector," Jonathan Guyer, Program Director of Institute for Global Affairs, wrote on X. "Why do they all leave when it gets hot in the kitchen?? Very weak appointees doing the Bongino," political commentator Johnny Law wrote on X."Why stay when POTUS does the bidding of another country to lie us into war. Get off the sinking ship," copywriter John Bethel wrote on X.

France’s Marine Le Pen and the Netherlands’ Geert Wilders among speakers praising prime minister at Budapest eventMarine Le Pen has called Viktor Orbán “an exceptional leader” and Geert Wilders hailed “a lion on a continent led by sheep” as Europe’s far-right figureheads rallied round Hungary’s prime minister before an election that polls suggest he may lose.“Hungary has become a symbol in Europe of a proud and sovereign people’s resistance against oppression,” Le Pen, the parliamentary leader of France’s National Rally (RN), told a gathering of EU-sceptical leaders in Budapest on Monday. Continue reading...

President Donald Trump blamed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for pushing him into the war in Iran.During an event in Memphis, Tennessee, on Monday, Trump bragged about past gains in the stock market, which have recently taken a hit because of Operation Epic Fury."You know, our economy was fantastic. We had a Dow at 50,000," the president explained. "And then, unfortunately, I came -- I called Pete, I called General [Dan] Caine, I called a lot of our great people. We have great people. And I said, 'Let's talk. We got a problem in the Middle East. We have a country known as Iran, that for 47 years has been just a purveyor of terror, and they're very close to having a nuclear weapon."Trump noted that his success in the stock market would have continued if not for the war."We can keep going and get that 50,000 up to 55 and 60," he remarked. "Or we can take a stop and make a little journey into the Middle East and eliminate a big problem.""And, Pete, I think you were the first one to speak up. And you said, 'Let's do it,'' because you can't let them have a nuclear weapon," Trump added.The president went on to predict that the war could be over soon because of "very good discussions" with Iran.For their part, Iranian officials have denied having discussions with the Trump administration.

Italian prime minister says she will respect the vote but says it is ‘a lost change to modernise Italy’Meanwhile, Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán attempted to get on the front foot after allegations that his foreign minister Péter Szijjártó was leaking confidential EU talks to Russia as he ordered a probe into what he called a wiretapping of Szijjártó’s phone.“We are dealing with two serious issues: there is evidence that Hungary’s foreign minister was wiretapped, and we also have indications of who may be behind it. This must be investigated immediately,” Orban tweeted on Monday, as reported by Reuters. Continue reading...