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Carney: ‘We stand ready’ for US talks

Prime Minister Mark Carney said that Canada stands ready to resume trade talks that US President Donald Trump halted over an anti-tariff advertisement issued by Ontario’s provincial government. Trump terminated the talks earlier over the video which...

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Court

Wagner-backed group jailed for arson attack

The ringleader of an arson attack on Ukraine-linked businesses in London last year was jailed for 17 years for what prosecutors described as “a sustained campaign of terrorism and sabotage on UK soil”. Dylan Earl, 21, admitted aggravated arson over the 2024 blaze that targeted companies delivering satellite equipment from Elon Musk’s Starlink to Ukraine.

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Politics

Labour humiliated in by-election

Britain’s ruling Labour Party has suffered a heavy electoral defeat in Wales, a traditional stronghold, in a result that highlights the threat posed by the Reform UK party, as the government struggles to revive the economy and ease fears about immigration. Labour’s Richard Tunnicliffe lost a by-election for the Caerphilly seat in the Welsh parliament to centre-left nationalist party Plaid Cymru’s Lindsay Whittle, falling into a distant third place behind Reform UK’s candidate Llyr Powell.

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Ukraine

Zelensky shores up support in London

Britain has urged fellow allies of Ukraine to reach a deal to use frozen Russian assets to strengthen its hand for any future peace talks, as President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in London for talks with those allies. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office said he would also press the “Coalition of the Willing” countries to take Russian oil and gas off the global market and give Kyiv more long-range missiles.

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Cost of living

Government stands by income tax pledge

The Labour Party remains committed to its pre-election tax pledges, including on income tax, minister Nick Thomas-Symonds says, ahead of next month’s budget. Reeves and Prime Minister Keir Starmer told voters before last year’s election that they would not raise the rates of social security contributions, value added tax (VAT) or income tax on what they called “working people”. The Guardian reported that Chancellor Rachel Reeves was considering raising income tax in the budget to help close a multibillion-pound deficit.

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Israel

Trump dismisses West Bank vote

US President Donald Trump has dismissed an effort by some Israeli lawmakers to push forward with annexation of the occupied West Bank, saying “Israel is not going to do anything with the West Bank”. A bill applying Israeli law to the West Bank, a move tantamount to annexation of a territory that Palestinians seek for part of a future independent state, won preliminary approval by Israeli lawmakers on Wednesday.

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Ukraine

Starmer calls for Russia pressure

Britain has called for a raft of measures against Russia to strengthen Ukraine’s hand ahead of any future peace talks, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky heads to London for discussions with key allies. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office said he would press a meeting of the “Coalition of the Willing” countries that have pledged to strengthen support for Ukraine to take Russian oil and gas off the global market, use frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine, and give Kyiv more long-range missiles.

Reuters

Agriculture

Furore as US quadruples Argentine beef imports

US President Donald Trump’s administration is quadrupling the country’s low-tariff imports of Argentine beef in his attempt to lower grocery store beef prices, a White House official says, evoking fury from the nation’s cattle ranchers. Raising the tariff rate quota on Argentine beef to 80,000 metric tons will let the country ship more of its beef to the US at a lower rate of duty. US beef prices have set records due to tight cattle supplies and strong consumer demand.

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Asia

India poised to cut Russian oil

Indian refiners are poised to sharply curtail imports of Russian oil to comply with new US sanctions on two top Russian producers, industry sources said, potentially removing a major hurdle to a trade deal with the United States. The change comes as...

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Economy

Xi to speed up China’s autonomy

China’s Communist Party elite has vowed to build a modern industrial system and make more efforts to achieve technological self-reliance, moves it sees as key to bolstering its position in its intensifying rivalry with the United States. As...

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Northern Ireland

Soldier not guilty over Bloody Sunday

A Belfast court has found a British soldier not guilty of murder in the only trial of a member of the British armed forces over the 1972 “Bloody Sunday” killings of 13 unarmed Catholic civil rights marchers in Northern Ireland. The British government in 2010 apologised for the “unjustified and unjustifiable” killings, when members of a British army regiment opened fire in the mainly Irish nationalist city of Londonderry in one of the defining moments of Northern Ireland’s recent history. But all efforts to prosecute soldiers have failed.

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Religion

Church heads pray together for first time since Reformation

Britain’s King Charles and Pope Leo have prayed together in the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel, in the first joint worship including an English monarch and a Catholic pontiff since King Henry VIII broke away from Rome in 1534. Latin chants and English prayers echoed through the chapel, where Leo was elected the first US pope by the world’s Catholic cardinals six months ago in front of frescoes by Michelangelo depicting Christ delivering the Last Judgment.

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Russia

Trump hopes sanctions convince Putin

Donald Trump has imposed Ukraine-related sanctions on Russia for the first time in his second term, targeting oil companies Lukoil and Rosneft as his frustration grows with Vladimir Putin over the war, with the US president hoping the sanctions will make his Russian counterpart ‘reasonable’. The United States hit Russia’s major oil companies with sanctions on Wednesday and accused the Russians of a lack of commitment toward ending the war in Ukraine, as Moscow conducted a major training exercise involving nuclear arms.

Reuters

Middle East

22 Oct 2025

Israeli lawmakers vote to annex parts of West Bank

A bill applying Israeli law to the occupied West Bank, a move tantamount to annexation of land which Palestinians want for a state, won preliminary approval from Israel’s parliament on Wednesday. The vote was the first of four needed to pass the law and it coincided with the visit of US Vice President JD Vance to Israel, a month after President Donald Trump said that he would not allow Israel to annex the West Bank.

Reuters

22 Oct 2025

Washington

Zelensky confident of US help

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has painted his most recent meeting with Donald Trump as a success that has yielded progress on acquiring new air defence systems, a contrast from reports that Trump had berated him in the White House. In comments made to media, initially off-the-record but authorised for publication this week, the Ukrainian leader described Trump’s message at the meeting, which ended with Trump calling for a ceasefire with forces in place, as “positive”.

Reuters

Yemen

UN staff confined to compound

Fifteen international staff with the United Nations have been confined to the UN compound in the Yemen’s capital Sanaa since an incursion by the Houthi authorities on Saturday, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric says. He said the staff are now free to move around the compound and have been in contact with their families and UN agencies, adding: “We hope that they will be free to leave the compound as soon as possible.”

Reuters