UNITED KINGDOM

Prime minister defends changes to welfare system but Labour MPs struggle to digest plans for disability payments The rising benefits bill is “devastating for public finances” and has “wreaked a terrible human cost”, Keir Starmer has said as he defended the government’s drastic changes to the welfare system.Writing in the Times, the prime minister said “the facts are shocking”, noting one in eight young people are not in education, employment or training and 2.8 million working age people are out of work because of long-term sickness. Continue reading... Source link : https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/mar/19/rising-bill-for-benefits-has-also-wreaked-terrible-human-cost-says-keir-starmer Author : Aletha Adu Political correspondent Publish date

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