I can’t help thinking Ed Miliband has not been accurately briefed when he says a government funding pledge means Britain is within “grasping distance” of “secure, clean, unlimited energy” from nuclear fusion (Ministers pledge record £410m to support UK nuclear fusion energy, 16 January). Before we start talking about nuclear fusion via magnetic confinement as…
A looming “weather bomb” is expected to snuff out a surge in wholesale energy prices after windfarms produced the lowest levels of electricity since September 2023. Cloudy and still weather has caused Great Britain’s renewable energy output to fall to near zero this week but is expected to give way to gusts of up to…
A man has pleaded guilty to murdering a mother and two of her daughters at their home in Hertfordshire last year. Kyle Clifford, 26, admitted killing Carol Hunt and her daughters Hannah and Louise in Bushey, near Watford, on 9 July. Appearing at Cambridge crown court on Wednesday via video link, Clifford pleaded guilty to…
Trump threatens tariffs on Russia and allies unless they end war in Ukraine In a post on Truth Social, Donald Trump has threatened to impose “high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions” on Russia and its allies if it does not stop its invasion of Ukraine. The post comes after Trump failed to achieve his…
Royal Navy ships mobilised to respond to Russian spy ship in North Sea, defence secretary tells MPs Royal Navy ships have been mobilised to respond to a Russian spy ship in the North Sea, John Healey, the defence secretary, told MPs. In a statement to the Commons, he said he wanted Vladimir Putin “to hear…
The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has denied that the Labour government is working against consumer interests despite urging the supreme court to avoid handing a “windfall” to borrowers harmed in the motor finance commission scandal. Reeves has been under pressure from lenders and lobby groups, who have predicted that a huge compensation bill – expected to…
Keir Starmer should show leadership over the Ukraine war by pushing for $300bn (£243bn) of frozen Russian assets to be used to fund Kyiv’s military, the financier turned activist Bill Browder has said. Speaking on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Browder warned that if US military support for Ukraine dried up,…
The US justice department is ordering federal prosecutors to target state and local officials who resist the administration’s planned mass deportation campaign, marking a dramatic escalation in Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown just days after taking office. The acting deputy attorney general, Emil Bove, directed prosecutors nationwide, in a document obtained by the Washington Post and…
Israeli forces have besieged a Palestinian government hospital in Jenin and a nearby refugee camp in the heart of the city, as the Israeli defence minister, Israel Katz, said the assault marked “a shift in … security strategy” in the West Bank. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Wednesday they had carried out airstrikes…
The formal nomination of Micheál Martin as Ireland’s new prime minister was hit by chaotic scenes in the Dáil that led to the parliamentary session being suspended several times. The row, which the speaker failed to control, centred on the speaking rights of independent TDs (members of parliament) who have formally agreed to back a…
