March 2025
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Israeli airstrikes pounded Gaza and killed more than 400 people, Palestinian health authorities said on Tuesday (Mar 18), in an onslaught that ended weeks of relative calm after talks to secure a permanent ceasefire stalled. Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas each accused the other of breaching the truce, which had broadly held since January, offering…
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President Donald Trump is taking aim at one of his predecessor’s final acts in office: preemptive pardons for members of the House Jan. 6 select committee. In a late-night social media post, Trump claimed without evidence President Joe Biden used an autopen to sign the pardons and so he considered them “hereby declared VOID, VACANT,…
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The King and Queen’s planned state visit to the Vatican to meet Pope Francis will go ahead despite his continuing ill health. The palace confirmed that King Charles has written privately to the pontiff since he was admitted to hospital in February, and the historic gathering is still scheduled to take place in Rome in early April. A Buckingham…
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Ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas seem “to have broken down completely overnight”. The end of the first phase of the ceasefire two weeks ago created a “tricky, delicate moment” – especially as the Trump administration was occupied with talks to end fighting in Ukraine. There are 59 Israel hostages still being held by Hamas…
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Global economic growth has been downgraded by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) – as the impact of US President Donald Trump’s tariffs becomes apparent. Major economies including the UK will have lower rates of GDP – a measure of an economy’s value and everything produced – due to the US’s imposition of…
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Tesco is to raise store worker pay by 5.2% over the next six months but strip away a 10% premium for working on a Sunday. The UK’s biggest retailer said it was to stagger the increase, with the full amount taking effect from the end of August after an initial rise at the end of…
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Thames Water has staved off effective government ownership after an unsuccessful legal challenge to its financial restructuring. The Court of Appeal has ruled in favour of a £3bn loan intended to temporarily sort out its finances while the company raises more private investment, dismissing an appeal. The decision backs the High Court judgment of last month and…
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Crude oil prices jumped to their highest levels since 4 March following US military strikes on Yemen’s Houthi group at the Red Sea over the weekend. During the early Asian session, the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures at NYNEX rose as much as 1.5% to $68.19 per barrel, and the Brent futures at ICE jumped…
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Vladimir Putin is “presenting demands that are ultimate goals,” Kaja Kallas said on Monday in reaction to the Russian leader’s pre-conditions to accept the American proposal for a 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine. Russia does not want peace in Ukraine and cannot be trusted to advance such a goal, High Representative Kaja Kallas warned on the…
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After first visiting France, Carney will head to the UK where he will speak to Prime Minister Keir Starmer and King Charles III, who is Canada’s head of state. Canada’s new Prime Minister Mark Carney has decided to travel to Paris on his first official visit seeking to shore up support from one of Canada’s…
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The US president said that he would talk to his Russian counterpart on Tuesday, after negotiators have pushed for Russia to back a US-Ukraine ceasefire proposal. US President Donald Trump announced he would discuss ending the war in Ukraine with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Tuesday. “A lot of work’s been done over the…
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Earlier this week, reports suggested that Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff was kept waiting for as long as eight hours by Vladimir Putin for a meeting at the Kremlin. Now, the US president has said that is “fake news”, without offering any proof. Trump instead suggests that Witkoff was engaged in other meetings, while…
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Military chiefs from around the world will meet next week to discuss the “operational phase” of protecting Ukraine as part of a peacekeeping force, Sir Keir Starmer has announced. The prime minister hosted a virtual meeting of the “coalition of the willing” on Saturday, which involved leaders of 26 nations, including Ukraine, plus the EU…
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Donald Trump has appeared to limit the remit of the envoy who was supposed to spearhead his campaign for peace between Ukraine and Russia. Retired general Keith Kellogg was originally US envoy to Russia and Ukraine, but now his remit covers only the Ukrainian side of things, Trump appeared to confirm in a social media…
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Steve Witkoff didn’t stay long in the Russian capital earlier this week. According to footage posted of his motorcade leaving and returning to Moscow’s Vnukovo airport, he was here for little more than 12 hours. And for most of that, it seems, he was left waiting. Witkoff, a former property mogul who has become Donald…
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Italy’s prime minister has said she does not see a world in which Italian troops would be deployed to Ukraine – either as peacekeepers or in any other capacity. Speaking after Giorgia Meloni attended the UK’s “coalition of willing” meeting on Ukraine, the government released a statement saying she “confirmed that Italy intends to continue…
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