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      Donald Trump ally warns Keir Starmer the US will ‘crush’ the UK economy if it helps arrest Benjamin Netanyahu

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      Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreA staunch ally of Donald Trump has warned Sir Keir Starmer that the UK will face severe economic consequences if it helps to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu. Senator Lindsey Graham said the US should “crush” the economies of all those who comply with the warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC).The prime minister of Israel faces arrest if he enters Britain, Downing Street has said. On Friday No 10 refused to explicitly comment on the case, saying it was a hypothetical situation, but added that the UK would follow its legal obligations.The ICC has also issued an arrest warrant for Yoav Gallant, Israel’s former defence minister, over alleged war crimes in Gaza.But the move has provoked fury among Republicans in the US. In response, Mr Graham tweeted: “Any nation or organization that aids or abets this outrage should expect to meet firm resistance from the United States, and I look forward to working with President Trump, his team, and my colleagues in Congress to come up with a powerful response.” Senator Lindsey Graham threatens allies who assist the ICC More

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      Labour peer condemns her own party as ‘cruel’ over inheritance tax raid on farms

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      Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreOne of its own peers has hit out at Labour warning it is “almost becoming the cruel party” as anger over the “tractor tax” mounts.The chancellor Rachel Reeves is facing a revolt in rural England over her decision to extend inheritance tax to family farms. Thousands of farmers brought Westminster to a standstill on Tuesday when they descended on the capital to voice their opposition to the changes.Baroness Mallalieu, who is president of the Countryside Alliance and joined farmers on the march, has now warned her government that it is losing the trust of rural communities.And, in an echo of a phrase Theresa May once infamously used to describe the Tories (“the nasty party”), Lady Mallalieu said: “We are almost becoming the cruel party.”Farmers protest in central London More

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      Blueprints for English prisons leaked online in major security breach

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      Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreUrgent action has been taken to secure prisons in England and Wales after it emerged that blueprints of jails had been leaked online. The Ministry of Justice said immediate steps had been put in place in the wake of the major security breach. There are fears organised crime groups could use the information to plan escapes or smuggle drugs or weapons to prisoners.Last year former soldier Daniel Khalife escaped from HMP Wandsworth and spent four days on the run.The 23-year-old slipped out of the jail by clinging to the bottom of a food catering truck using a sling made from kitchen trousers, triggering a major manhunt which saw him arrested on a canal towpath next to the Thames. There are fears maps could be used to plan escapes More

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      Diane Abbott: I stood up to Keir Starmer – and we haven’t spoken in four years

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      Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreDiane Abbott has not spoken to Sir Keir Starmer properly in four years since the pair served in Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet, she has revealed.The 71-year-old, who was elected as the first Black woman MP in 1987, says there is a clear divide in the Labour Party and accuses the prime minister of trying to “force the left out”.In a wide-ranging interview with The Independent, Abbott, who is now the Mother of the House as the longest continuously serving female MP, insists she does not regret standing up to Sir Keir and says she has been thanked by the more radical members of her party for her stance.“I’ve not spoken to Keir Starmer in a very long time.”In fact, she says, the last time they had a “proper” conversation “might have been when Jeremy was leader and we were both in the shadow cabinet”.The pair’s relationship came under scrutiny during the election campaign earlier this year following speculation Abbott may not be allowed to stand as a Labour candidate. Labour’s Shadow Cabinet members in 2019 (L-R) Dawn Butler, Ian Lavery, Emily Thornberry, Keir Starmer, Diane Abbott and John McDonnell wait for Jeremy Corbyn to take to the stage on September 24, 2019 in Brighton, England More

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      Threat of world war is ‘serious and real’ Poland says as Putin steps up threats against West

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      Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreThe war in Ukraine is entering a “decisive phase”, with Vladimir Putin’s launch of a new ballistic missile showing that the threat of global conflict is “serious and real”, Poland’s prime minister has said.Donald Tusk’s warning came as Nato and Ukrainian officials convened emergency talks over the hypersonic ballistic missile strike against Dnipro.Putin said its launch was in response to Ukraine using British and American long-range missiles on targets in Russia – and issued a stark threat that Moscow “had the right” to strike any Western nation that provided Kyiv with such weapons. And he vowed to continue using the new missile “in combat conditions” – a threat to both Ukraine and the West. Mr Tusk made clear the danger in Ukraine, which shares a border with Poland: “The war in the east is entering a decisive phase; we feel that the unknown is approaching. The conflict is taking on dramatic proportions. The last few dozen hours have shown that the threat is serious and real when it comes to global conflict.”Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky said the world needs to mount a “serious response” to Putin’s firing of the missile, to show that there are “real consequences”. He added that his defence ministry was already working with allies and partners to develop air defences to protect against the “new risks” his country is facing.A session of Ukraine’s parliament was cancelled on Friday as security was tightened following the strike on Dnipro.Flashes after the missile strike on Dnipro in Ukraine More

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      ‘No deal is better than a bad deal’: Cop29 deadlocked over climate fund

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      Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreHopes of a trillion-dollar climate finance fund appear to be slipping out of reach after a draft text at the Cop29 climate summit proposed a deal worth only a fifth of that.The interim agreement – released late on Friday, hours before the summit’s scheduled end – sets a $250bn (£199bn) annual target for the “new collective quantified goal” (NCQG), the sum developed nations must hand over to support mitigation in developing countries. The compromise sum was dismissed as an insult to the world’s most vulnerable populations as talks extended into the night at the summit in Baku, Azerbaijan.“We started Cop29 with alarm that the outcome of the US presidential elections would deter global climate action … apparently, the halls of Cop29 are already flooded with many Trumps,” said Gerry Arances, executive director of Center for Energy, Ecology, and Development. His country, the Philippines, has suffered six typhoons recently and the proposed sum won’t even be enough to support the victims of those disasters, he said. Developed nations are “gambling with the lives of people in developing nations and small states”, Mr Arances said.A key demand from developing countries has been to make climate finance accessible, which means more money as grants and not private finance or loans. But the amount proposed in the current draft does not stress this. Experts say without mentioning how much amount will be delivered as grants, the treaty leaves vulnerable countries at the mercy of loans. “Not only is $250bn far too low a target for climate finance to developing nations, but core aid funding should be coming only from public sources,” Tom Mitchell, executive director of the International Institute for Environment and Development, said.“Private investors should be topping up the contributions from national governments and multilateral banks, not being drafted in to distract from political miserliness.Campaigners highlighted that the $250bn figure totals a mere 8 per cent of the $2.97 trillion in profits made by the world’s biggest companies in the last financial year. “We cannot be expected to agree to a text which shows such contempt for our vulnerable people,” the Alliance of Small Island States said in a statement. In a statement the Azerbaijani presidency says the new climate finance text is the result of a consultation that stretched into the early hours of the morning – and offers a “balanced and streamlined” way forward.Many campaigners say it’s better to go back without a deal than $250bn in climate finance. “We find ourselves in a far worse position than we were before the NCQG process began,” said Lidy Nacpil from the Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development. “I strongly echo the call for our developing country governments to reject this text.”The negotiations will now be running overnight, but a likely outcome may still be a figure of less than one trillion dollars.“To land a meaningful outcome here, wealthy nations must step up with a bold offer to the global South. Our eyes are now on the European Union and UK in particular to step up their game,” Andreas Seiber, associate director of policy and campaigns at 350.org told The Independent. “Cop29 cannot close on a deal this weak,” he warned. More

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      Starmer ramps up post-Brexit reset with recruitment of EU relations ‘sherpa’

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      Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreSir Keir Starmer has kicked off the hunt for a “sherpa” to guide his post-Brexit reset with the European Union ahead of Donald Trump’s return to the White House.The prime minister is ramping up his efforts to rebuild ties with Brussels, recruiting a second permanent secretary in the Cabinet Office focused primarily on the UK’s relationship with the EU.A job advert posted on Friday night says the “high-profile” £200,000-a-year role will lead on the government’s renewed relationship with the bloc.The successful applicant will face “significant public scrutiny and political attention”, the posting warns.Keir Starmer is on a mission to build closer ties with Europe More

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      Gordon Brown comes out against assisted dying in major blow to bill

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      Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreGordon Brown has declared he does not support the legalisation of assisted dying, arguing that the state of the NHS means it is not the right time for the momentous change.The former prime minister wrote movingly of the death of his newborn daughter in January 2002, which he said showed him the “value and imperative of good end-of-life care”.The Labour grandee, who remains a very influential figure within the party, said the days spent with his wife Sarah beside their dying baby Jennifer’s bed were “among the most precious days of our lives”.And, in an intervention which threatens to derail Kim Leadbeater’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, Mr Brown called instead for the establishment of a commission to devise a “fully funded, 10-year strategy for improved and comprehensive palliative care”.Former prime minister Gordon Brown (Lucy North/PA) More