Royal chaos as King Charles is accused of 'slap in the face' by late Queen's personal aide over THIS move at state banquet for Macrons: RICHARD EDEN'S DIARY
One horrified former royal cook has, however, declared, 'Sacre bleu!'
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The Guardian
17 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Trump expected to deliver weapons to Ukraine through Nato allies
Donald Trump appears poised to deliver weapons to Ukraine by selling them first to Nato allies in a major policy shift for his administration amid frustrations with Vladimir Putin over stalling negotiations to end the war in Ukraine. During an interview with NBC News, Trump said he will probably have a 'major announcement' on Russia on Monday and confirmed he had struck a deal with Nato leaders to supply weapons to Ukraine. Trump's Ukraine envoy, Keith Kellogg, is scheduled to arrive in Kyiv on the same day for a week-long trip that comes after the US temporarily halted weapons shipments to Ukraine as part of a Pentagon review of dwindling stockpiles of crucial munitions including Patriot air defense missiles. The White House has now sought to distance itself from the decision, and Trump has suggested he is ready to greenlight a major military aid package for Ukraine via Nato, reversing a previous policy of reducing support to the Ukrainian government to force Kyiv to sue for peace. 'I think I'll have a major statement to make on Russia on Monday,' Trump said during the interview with NBC News, which aired on Thursday evening. 'I'm disappointed in Russia, but we'll see what happens over the next couple of weeks.' During the interview, Trump laid out a plan by which the US could sell weapons to Nato and then they could be sent on to Ukraine. Trump has not previously approved packages of military aid to Ukraine. 'So what we're doing is the weapons that are going out are going to Nato, and then Nato is going to be giving those weapons [to Ukraine], and Nato is paying for those weapons,' Trump said, probably indicating that they would be purchased by countries that are members of the Nato security bloc. Administration officials have said this would be different from the US supplying Ukraine directly, as Nato and not Washington would be making the decision to arm Kyiv. Germany and other member states of the security bloc had spoken publicly about ongoing negotiations to purchase weapons from the United States to transfer to Ukraine. Ukraine is producing more modern weaponry including drones, but still relies on the US to supply everything from Patriot missiles to defend from nightly Russian missile and drone attacks, Himars long-range missiles to strike behind Russian lines, 155mm artillery shells and other munitions. The Axios news website said that some officials had said the US would only sell Ukraine 'defensive' weapons, while others said the package could also include 'offensive' weapons such as the Himars missiles. Yet a key stumbling block remains US military production. The US only has about 25% of the Patriot missile interceptors it needs for all of the Pentagon's military plans, the Guardian revealed this month, and fulfilling new orders can take years depending on the priority level given to the contract. Kellogg is expected to address the US weapons shipments during his visit to Kyiv, the first since shortly after Trump's inauguration. During the interview, Trump also endorsed the Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025, a bill introduced by Senator Lindsey Graham, a Trump ally seen as a leader of Russia hawks in the legislature. Graham has said that the bill would impose 'bone-breaking sanctions' on Putin and a 500% tariff on goods imported from countries that buy Russian oil and other goods, potentially targeting China and India. Sign up to This Week in Trumpland A deep dive into the policies, controversies and oddities surrounding the Trump administration after newsletter promotion Congressional insiders have told the Guardian that there is strong support for Ukraine in both the House of Representatives and the Senate but that they would require Trump's political backing in order to pass the bill. 'They're going to pass a very major and very biting sanctions bill, but it's up to the president as to whether or not he wants to exercise it,' Trump said during the interview, his first explicit endorsement of the bill. Experts have said that the bill would give Trump new methods to target Russia, but that he could also tighten enforcement or issue other sanctions unilaterally without waiting for authorization from Congress. Trump has said in the past that he admires Putin but he increasingly has vented frustration over the lack of progress in peace talks and the continued airstrikes against Ukrainian cities. On Wednesday night, Russia launched almost 400 Shahed drones and decoys, as well as ballistic and cruise missiles, in strikes against Kyiv that killed two and caused fires across the Ukrainian capital. 'We get a lot of bullshit thrown at us by Putin, if you want to know the truth,' Trump said during a cabinet meeting this week. 'He's very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless.'
BBC News
26 minutes ago
- BBC News
Newcastle Great Park 'fractured' after Q3 bus cut, residents say
A controversial bus service cut that "fractured" a community should be put under review, residents have chiefs have been urged to look again at the changes that removed a popular service from Great Park, in September, much of the estate has no longer been served by Go North East's Q3 bus in a move that sparked hundreds of complaints about problems accessing local services in nearby councillor Juna Sathian said the previous Q3 route was "too expensive to run with falling passenger numbers" and that the city council wanted to find "best value" by providing a service that could become self-sustaining rather than reliant on public funding. A petition signed by more than 3,600 people was presented to Newcastle City Council on Wednesday, where Great Park resident Sharon Pitkethly said stopping the service was "not just inconvenient" but "damaging and discriminatory"."There was no meaningful consultation. Residents were excluded. With no commitment to future provision, we now face isolation," Ms Pitkethly told the Local Democracy Reporting Service."This has increased traffic, harmed the environment and fractured our community. "We demand immediate action through a fair, inclusive and transparent review." New services The estate's bus services are funded through section 106 funding payments made by its developers and commissioned by the estate's transport advisory board, made up of representatives of the Newcastle Great Park Consortium, the city council and bus operator year a new Stagecoach 49 service was set up, though residents complained it was less frequent than the said: "Ideally we would have consulted more widely with residents and that is something we are committed to improving in future."Since the new services were introduced, several parts of Great Park now have a better bus connection with more frequent services, new links to Kingston Park and similar journey times into the city."She also said the council was "actively exploring ways" to improve bus services in Great Park. Follow BBC Newcastle on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
BBC News
26 minutes ago
- BBC News
A decade of small boat migrants - how did it begin?
It has been a decade since the BBC first reported on a small, sporadic number of boats with migrants on board arriving off the Kent coast from France. At the time, the focus was mainly on the thousands of attempts by migrants in northern France, who were attempting to stowaway on lorries and ferries to the the nearby "Calais Jungle" thousands of men, women and children were living under canvass in a sprawling camp that was later cleared by the French as security was tightened around the ports and Eurotunnel, within three years, significant numbers were using small boats instead to make the dangerous crossing. How many people cross the Channel in small boats?With the Prime Minister claiming the UK will begin returning some migrants arriving in small boats to France under a new pilot scheme, BBC South East looks back on the emergence of smugglers using maritime routes into Britain 10 years ago.A former head of Border Force, an ex Dover coastguard and a retired customs chief investigator recall how they were first made aware of small boat crossings - and offer suggestions on how they could be stopped. Tony Smith is the former director general of Border Force. He served for 40 years, retiring in 2013. He said he was never aware of any arrivals by boat during his time in the service and says at that time he was advised that it wasn't a threat."The problem was people penetrating via ferries and lorries and I think the reason people shifted to the boats was because we'd done quite well in stopping them coming in by other routes," he said."I was advised during my time as gold commander for the London 2012 Olympics and as head of Border Force that this was not a threat."The currents were too difficult, these were busy shipping lanes, nobody would be able to make it across, so I was very surprised when I saw that boats started arriving, particularly small boats and dinghies."As soon as the migrants and smugglers realised this was a viable route, they were getting ashore, they weren't being sent back and more started to come." BBC South East first reported on a handful of boat arrivals in 2014 and 2015, with around 100 people arriving in 2016 - but at that stage the incidents weren't published by the Home numbers started to climb in 2018, when people from Iran started to make the crossing. By December that year, the then Home Secretary Sajid Javid declared a "major incident" after an increase in Smith added: "Apart from a reduction in 2023, when we had the Albanian campaign and were able to send people back there, we haven't really been able to return anybody from France to the the new agreement with France, Mr Smith said "It probably is ground breaking if we are actually going to put asylum seekers in France back on flights to France.""I'm hopeful the French tactics in the water might have some impact.""We still need other options, we could clampdown a lot on illegal working, which I think this government to be fair says it's going to do, but I would be looking at a Rwanda type deal, or some other deal with other countries, so we don't have to rely on 6% returns to France." Former coastguard Andy Roberts remembers in 2015 first hearing news about a small inflatable boat arriving with a few people on board - without life jackets - at Kingsdown beach, near said: "There was, understandably, some confusion as to what was the reason for the landing, even comments about the fact they must have got lost when going on a jaunt off the French coast."Mr Roberts says he never thought it would have become a regular smuggling route."The Dover strait is the busiest thoroughfare for shipping in the world, with in excess of 500 commercial shipping movements a day," he said."I know there has been in excess of 100 drownings in the past 10 years by people attempting this crossing. I cannot believe that there has been only one incident with in excess of 20 people drowning."These small rubber inflatable dinghy's are rarely picked up on ship's radars and in the first few years of these crossings there was no aerial surveillance." David Raynes, a former assistant chief investigator for HM Customs and Excise, warned several years ago that the small number of migrants could start to grow if the smugglers saw this as a viable route."As I recall, the first boats in 2014/15 were making it across and hitting the beaches," he said."There was a gradual transition from hiding in lorries, as that was made more difficult."Why do Channel migrants want to come to the UK? Speaking in 2016, Mr Raynes warned smuggling gangs could eventually use so-called "mother ships" further out to sea, to offload migrants on to small boats in the years on, he told BBC South East how frustrated he is by successive governments vowing to "stop the boats" or "smash the gangs"."If the French managed to slash every dinghy, the traffic would not stop," he said."It would move, some back to containers and lorries, some to larger boats, more remote coast line. Even to much larger boats, as occurred with drugs."What is attractive to migrants is the near certainty they can make it to the UK. The near certainty that they will get to stay."That certainty needs to be removed. Quick fixes on party lines go nowhere near the problem."
