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German defence minister says Putin’s desire to render Ukraine defenceless is ‘very transparent’US envoy Steve Witkoff said in a televised interview overnight that US-Russia talks are expected to continue on Sunday, with the two sides meeting again in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.Speaking to Fox, he suggested that Russians have also signed up to a form of agreement on “the Black Sea maritime aspect of a ceasefire,” and added that he was “certainly hopeful that Ukrainians will agree to it.”“The point is that, up until recently, we really didn’t have consensus around these two aspects, the energy and infrastructure ceasefire and the

In today’s newsletter: what chance does a backbench rebellion have of shifting the government’s plans to cut benefits?Good morning. After weeks of leaks and speculation, in parliament yesterday the work and pensions secretary, Liz Kendall, set out the government’s plan to cut the benefits bill. Her announcement covered a lot of ground, and she said that it was necessary to fix a system that is “failing the very people it is supposed to help and holding the country back”.When the dust settled, the consequences of that mission looked stark. In order to claw back £5bn a year by the end

Counsel assisting NSW inquest says CCTV footage of Paul Thijssen in hours before attack at Sydney school ‘not easy to watch’Lilie James was smiling and happy in the moments before Paul Thijssen used a hammer to murder his ex-girlfriend in a school gymnasium toilet, a coronial inquest examining their deaths has been told.James’s body was found in the bathroom at St Andrew’s Cathedral school in Sydney on 25 October 2023 after she’d been to water polo training with students.In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14 and the national family violence counselling service is on 1800

Bill Browder says such visas ‘a way for dodgy people … to buy themselves legitimacy and insert themselves into countries’Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastSee all our Australian election 2025 coverageThe architect of global Magnitsky sanctions – which punish human rights abusers and corrupt officials – has warned Peter Dutton’s desire to bring back a controversial “golden ticket” visa scheme would be “a big mistake”.The significant investor scheme allowed foreign nationals who invested $5m in Australia access to a four-year visa that could be converted to permanent