Some federal employees who have been laid off under the Trump administration’s unprecedented plan to slash the federal workforce were reportedly given only 30 minutes to pack their belongings and vacate federal offices. Federal agencies were ordered by Donald Trump to fire mostly probationary staff, with as many as 200,000 workers set to be affected…
Pope Francis has cancelled his scheduled events over the next few days after being hospitalised, the Vatican said. The pontiff, who has been suffering from bronchitis, was admitted to Gemelli hospital in Rome on Friday after reportedly having breathing difficulties during one of his meetings. The Vatican said he would undertake “some necessary diagnostic tests…
Ukraine remains on “an irreversible path” towards Nato membership, Keir Starmer has told Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a phone call that underlined the divide between Europe and the US over the future of the country. According to a Downing Street readout of the call with the Ukrainian president, Starmer stressed “the UK’s concrete support for Ukraine,…
NatWest wants to increase its chief executive’s maximum pay by more than 40%, as the banking group prepares to return to full private ownership 17 years after it was bailed out by taxpayers during the 2008 financial crisis. The high street lender, previously known as Royal Bank of Scotland, paid its chief executive, Paul Thwaite,…
Thames Water is to appeal to the UK’s competition regulator to be allowed to raise customers’ bills over the next five years even higher than previously granted. The water company, which serves 16 million customers in London and south-east England, will ask the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) for permission to raise bills from 2025…
Wetland bird hunters in Victoria will have a longer duck shooting season and can take home more birds under new rules. The Victorian duck hunting season will begin on 19 March and run for 83 days until 9 June, up from 56 days in 2024. Hunters can bag nine ducks a day, up from six,…
A man who gave up his job to care for his young children when his wife died has been fined £500 and threatened with a criminal record after an envelope blew out of his bin. Martin Fielder was sent a letter six weeks ago from District Enforcement, a private enforcement agency employed by Welwyn Hatfield…
Disruptive weather has continued to affect the US this week, with a mixture of winter hazards, heavy rainfall and extreme temperatures across the country. Extreme cold warnings have affected more than 90 million people, with parts of the midwest seeing temperatures about 15-30C below the climate average. Temperatures fell to about -35C earlier this week…
The Victorian Labor party is claiming a narrow victory in the Werribee byelection, with its former stronghold now held on a slim margin. At last count and after preferences, the Labor candidate, John Lister, received 50.71% of the two-party preferred vote, compared with the Liberal party’s Steve Murphy on 49.29%. That followed a 16.5% slump…
The Victorian Labor party is claiming a narrow victory in the Werribee byelection, with its former stronghold now held on a slim margin. At last count and after preferences, the Labor candidate, John Lister, received 50.71% of the two-party preferred vote, compared with the Liberal party’s Steve Murphy on 49.29%. That followed a 16.5% slump…
