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    Leopard-hunting holiday packages being sold for up to £116,000 while UK ban on trophy imports stalls

    Holidays to shoot endangered leopards are being sold online for up to £116,000, The Independent can reveal – while a long-promised UK ban on trophy hunt imports remains stalled.Big-game tour companies are openly promoting online holiday packages or auctions to win the rights to kill the animals in Africa, whose numbers are in decline across the continent.Some companies, which have dozens of hunting trips on sale, offer “extras” to wealthy hunters, including the chance to shoot elephants, lions and cheetahs.Leopard populations are falling and nobody can be sure how many are left, but it is still legal to hunt them More

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    Voters like the UK-US reaching a trade deal – they just don’t think Trump will follow it

    Across the board, Americans and Britons agree that a free-trade agreement between the United States and the United Kingdom is a good idea, but far fewer are confident that President Donald Trump will abide by whatever deal he strikes. On Thursday, Trump and Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced that the two countries agreed to increase access for U.S. agricultural exports while lowering some levies against the U.K., in the first deal since Trump launched his global trade war. But polling from last month indicates that details of an agreement are less of a concern to adults in the U.S. or U.K. – instead, most people are wary of Trump’s unpredictability.While 78 percent of U.S. adults support a free-trade agreement in principle, only 44 percent believe Trump will abide by the terms of an agreement, a Politico and Public First poll conducted last month found. Fewer than half of US and UK adults trust that President Donald Trump will abide by trade deal terms More

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    Watch live: JD Vance holds press conference during India trip to discuss trade deal

    Watch live as US vice president JD Vance holds a press conference during his trip to India on Tuesday (22 April) as New Delhi looks to avoid tariffs and negotiate a bilateral trade deal with Washington.Mr Vance is accompanied by his wife, Usha Vance, whose parents are from India, along with their children and officials from the US administration. The couple will visit historical sites in the cities of Jaipur and Agra, including the Taj Mahal.Mr Vance met prime minister Narendra Modi on the first day of his largely personal visit.The two leaders were expected to hold discussions on bilateral ties outlined in February when Mr Modi met president Donald Trump in Washington.The US is India’s largest trading partner and the two countries are now holding negotiations aiming to seal a bilateral trade agreement this year. They have set an ambitious target of more than doubling their bilateral trade to $500bn by 2030. If achieved, the trade deal could significantly enhance economic ties between the two countries and potentially strengthen diplomatic ties as well. More

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    Trump expected to make UK state visit and visit King Charles in September

    President Donald Trump on Thursday said he expects to travel to the U.K. this September and stay with King Charles III as a run-up to next year’s planned state visit at Windsor Castle — an unprecedented second state visit for the American president on account of his serving a second, non-consecutive term.The president confirmed his intention to cross the pond in September during a media availability in the Oval Office in which he was asked if he was planning to visit the British head of state, at which point he replied in the affirmative.When pressed further on what he was looking forward to, he said he’d been invited by the King and called the U.K. a “great country” while remarking on the novelty of his second state visit as an American president, more than six years after he and First Lady Melania Trump visited the U.K. at the invitation of Queen Elizabeth II.“It’s beautiful, and it’s the first time it’s ever happened to one person. And the reason is that we have two separate terms, and it’s an honor to be, you know, a friend of Charles,” said Trump, who added that he has “great respect” for the royal family, including the King and the Prince of Wales and called the invitation “a great honor.”Prince Charles jokes in front of Donald Trump at Clarence HouseTrump also confirmed that his September trip, during which he is expected to stay at Windsor Castle, is not the planned state visit to which he was invited in February. His trip in September is understood to be arranged to lay groundwork for the second state visit, which is tentatively scheduled for next year. “I don’t know how it can be bigger than the last one … which, as you know, is incredible, but they say it’s going to be even more important. So it’s a great honor to be so chosen,” Trump said. The announcement of the timing of Trump’s planned sojourn to Windsor comes as Anglo-American relations have become increasingly fraught on account of the unprovoked trade war Trump launched against most of the world earlier this month.The U.K. is set to find out in June whether it will be hit by tariffs of at least 10 percent or can avoid them by entering into a bilateral trade deal with the United States.Earlier this week, Vice President JD Vance expressed optimism over a trade deal being struck in an interview with the online publication UnHerd, but The Independent has reported that such an accord may only happen if Starmer agrees to repealing hate speech and online safety laws.King Charles meets Ukraine’s President Zelensky at SandringhamYet even if the standoff over tariffs is resolved there is still tension between London and Washington over the White House’s relatively pro-Russian approach to Ukraine compared with the previous Biden administration. Starmer is attempting to put together a coalition of the willing to guarantee peace in Ukraine but is still yet to get Trump’s agreement to a U.S. backstop. While on the surface the relationship between Downing Street and the White House has been very friendly there have been tensions behind the scenes, including on the prime minister’s appointment of Lord Mandelson – who had previously publicly criticized Trump – as the British ambassador to Washington.Despite these tensions, the substance of Trump’s September trip is likely to focus most on arrangements for his state visit next year. It is hoped that the honor will help strengthen the special relationship and ease some of the other diplomatic problems. More

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    Trump to visit UK and King Charles in September

    President Donald Trump on Thursday said he expects to travel to the U.K. this September and stay with King Charles III as a run-up to next year’s planned state visit at Windsor Castle — an unprecedented second state visit for the American president on account of his serving a second, non-consecutive term.The president confirmed his intention to cross the pond in September during a media availability in the Oval Office in which he was asked if he was planning to visit the British head of state, at which point he replied in the affirmative.When pressed further on what he was looking forward to, he said he’d been invited by the King and called the U.K. a “great country” while remarking on the novelty of his second state visit as an American president, more than six years after he and First Lady Melania Trump visited the U.K. at the invitation of Queen Elizabeth II.“It’s beautiful, and it’s the first time it’s ever happened to one person. And the reason is that we have two separate terms, and it’s an honor to be, you know, a friend of Charles,” said Trump, who added that he has “great respect” for the royal family, including the King and the Prince of Wales and called the invitation “a great honor.”Prince Charles jokes in front of Donald Trump at Clarence HouseTrump also confirmed that his September trip, during which he is expected to stay at Windsor Castle, is not the planned state visit to which he was invited in February. His trip in September is understood to be arranged to lay groundwork for the second state visit, which is tentatively scheduled for next year. “I don’t know how it can be bigger than the last one … which, as you know, is incredible, but they say it’s going to be even more important. So it’s a great honor to be so chosen,” Trump said. The announcement of the timing of Trump’s planned sojourn to Windsor comes as Anglo-American relations have become increasingly fraught on account of the unprovoked trade war Trump launched against most of the world earlier this month.The U.K. is set to find out in June whether it will be hit by tariffs of at least 10 percent or can avoid them by entering into a bilateral trade deal with the United States.Earlier this week, Vice President JD Vance expressed optimism over a trade deal being struck in an interview with the online publication UnHerd, but The Independent has reported that such an accord may only happen if Starmer agrees to repealing hate speech and online safety laws.King Charles meets Ukraine’s President Zelensky at SandringhamYet even if the standoff over tariffs is resolved there is still tension between London and Washington over the White House’s relatively pro-Russian approach to Ukraine compared with the previous Biden administration. Starmer is attempting to put together a coalition of the willing to guarantee peace in Ukraine but is still yet to get Trump’s agreement to a U.S. backstop. While on the surface the relationship between Downing Street and the White House has been very friendly there have been tensions behind the scenes, including on the prime minister’s appointment of Lord Mandelson – who had previously publicly criticized Trump – as the British ambassador to Washington.Despite these tensions, the substance of Trump’s September trip is likely to focus most on arrangements for his state visit next year. It is hoped that the honor will help strengthen the special relationship and ease some of the other diplomatic problems. More

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    Two Labour MPs denied entry and deported from Israel

    Two Labour MPs have been denied entry to and deported from Israel in a move described as “deeply concerning” by the UK foreign secretary.Yuan Yang and Abtisam Mohamed were rejected at the Israeli border after being accused of planning to spread “anti-Israel hatred”.Ms Yang, who represents Earley and Woodley, and Ms Mohamed, the MP for Sheffield Central, had flown to the country from Luton airport on Saturday afternoon.Foreign secretary David Lammy hit out at the “unacceptable” Israeli decision and said it was “no way to treat British parliamentarians”.“It is unacceptable, counterproductive, and deeply concerning that two British MPs on a parliamentary delegation to Israel have been detained and refused entry by the Israeli authorities,” Mr Lammy said.Abtisam Mohamed, the MP for Sheffield Central, had flown to the country from Luton airport on Saturday More

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    British and French military chiefs discuss plans to build on ‘formidable capabilities’ of Ukrainian army in peacekeeping talks

    British and French military chiefs have met their counterparts in Ukraine to discuss how Sir Keir Starmer’s “coalition of the willing” can “build on the formidable capabilities of the Ukrainian army”.Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, the chief of the UK defence staff, was in Kyiv this week for talks on the structure, size and make-up of the Ukraine force, in the event of a peace deal between Volodymyr Zelensky and Vladimir Putin. Sir Tony said: “The UK is ironclad in our support for Ukraine, which is why we’re stepping up for a just and lasting peace. “Our meetings looked at how we can build on the formidable capabilities of the Ukrainian army and put them in the strongest possible position to deter Russian aggression.Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Sir Tony Radakin (Andrew Matthews/PA) More

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    Watch Putin’s speech in full after Starmer accuses Russia of ‘playing games’ with Ukraine ceasefire

    Watch in full as Vladimir Putin speaks after Sir Keir Starmer accused Russia of “playing games” with peace and delaying a ceasefire in Ukraine.The Russian president addressed the International Arctic Forum in Murmansk, a city in northwest Russia.It came after the British prime minister argued that Putin must be given a deadline to make progress on a Ukraine ceasefire, as he met with European allies.Sir Keir accused Putin of “playing games” and attempting to drag the Donald Trump-initiated process out to allow his forces time to continue their assaults on Ukraine.The PM also vowed that now was not the time to lift sanctions on Russia.Following talks in Paris, Sir Keir said leaders from the UK, France and Germany would travel to Ukraine for talks with Kyiv’s military chiefs to discuss plans for a force to deter Putin from attacking again if there is a deal to bring the war to an end. More