UNITED KINGDOM

The foreign secretary described the decision to cut development aid to fund defence as ‘extremely difficult’Good morning. At Westminster MPs are still absorbing the implications of Keir Starmer’s decision to slash the aid budget to fund an increase in defence spending. Pippa Crerar and Kiran Stacey have all the details in their overnight story.John Healey, the defence secretary, has been giving interviews this morning and he has faced a lot of questions about whether this announcement was entirely about pleasing Donald Trump. “No, it’s not,” he told Sky News. Healey pointed out that raising defence spending by 2.5% of GDP

Announcement follows negotiations in which Zelenskyy claimed US was pressuring him for deal that would force ‘10 generations’ of Ukrainians to pay it backVladimir Rogov, a pro-Russian leader in Ukraine’s occupied Zaporizhzhia, has told Russian media outlet Tass that Russian troops have seized Skudne, which is on the border between Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk regions.Suspilne, Ukraine's state broadcaster, reports that workers are attempting to repair damage in Dnipropetrovsk region after what it described as “a massive attack” hit an energy facility. Continue reading... Source link : https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2025/feb/26/ukraine-russia-war-donald-trump-volodymyr-zelenskyy-valdimir-putin-emmanuel-macron-live-news-latest Author : Martin Belam (now) and Tom Bryant (earlier) Publish date : 2025-02-26 08:27:00

Charity sounds alarm over gender gap – but finds children enthusiastic about measures to make cycling easier Almost twice as many boys as girls routinely cycle in the UK, a pioneering report on young people’s active travel has found.The study, led by the charity Sustrans, also found strong support among children for measures to help them cycle and walk, such as dedicated bike lanes, slower traffic speeds and barring motor vehicles from outside schools. Continue reading... Source link : https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/feb/26/almost-twice-as-many-boys-as-girls-cycle-in-uk-sustrans-report-finds Author : Peter Walker Senior political correspondent Publish date : 2025-02-26 07:00:00 Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked

Vote passes 217-215 in win for president as Democrats assail proposal over planned cuts to social safety-net programsRepublicans unified behind a budget blueprint on Tuesday evening, just barely scraping together the votes to advance Donald Trump’s sprawling tax-cut and immigration agenda over unanimous Democratic opposition and widespread concern that it would slash social safety net programs.The House approved the plan in a vote of 217-215, with the representative Thomas Massie, a prominent fiscal hawk, as the lone Republican voting in opposition. No Democrats supported the measure, which they have cast as a betrayal of middle and low-income voters on behalf