The Department of State told staff on Thursday it would not extend contracts for civilian personal services contractors beginning on Saturday, according to two people familiar with the situation. Personal services contractors provide duties such as housekeeping and maintenance at overseas embassies. But they also supplement diplomatic security. Three of the four people killed in…
Rail bosses have been accused of patronising passengers by hiding trains’ departure information minutes before they are due to leave in a bid to tackle last-moment platform dashes. Under the scheme, which is being trialled at King’s Cross, the final call for long-distance trains will be made four minutes before departure. Train details will be…
The US Department of Justice (DoJ) sued the state of Illinois and the city of Chicago on Thursday, accusing the authorities there of impeding the Trump administration’s anti-immigration enforcement policies and seeking a court order sweeping aside so-called sanctuary laws. The department cited a national emergency declared by Donald Trump on the same day he…
The housing charity Shelter has criticised the government for putting lives at risk by delaying a law to make social landlords in England fix dangerous hazards quickly. Angela Rayner, the housing secretary, and Matthew Pennycook, her housing minister, announced on Thursday they were giving landlords in the social rented sector until 2027 before they have…
Moscow has welcomed the impending dissolution of USAid, joining a chorus of strongman leaders declaring victory over an organisation they have long portrayed as a vehicle of American political interference. Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova on Thursday described USAid as “anything but an aid, development and assistance agency” and instead branded it a “mechanism…
The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has accused South Africa of “anti-Americanism” and refused to attend a G20 meeting in Johannesburg later this month, as diplomatic ties sour between the two countries under Donald Trump’s administration. Rubio made the announcement on X, where he repeated the US president’s unfounded claim that South Africa was…
The EU will not let the question of fishing rights derail a pact with the UK on security and defence, the president of the European Council has said. The comments from António Costa, who took over as the European Council president in December, is a boost for Keir Starmer, amid frustration among UK officials over…
Greek civil protection authorities have declared a state of emergency on Santorini as natural disaster experts voice mounting fears over the “intense” seismic activity that has rattled the island. The emergency measures were declared by the island’s town hall hours after seismologists recorded a 5.2-magnitude earthquake – the most powerful tremor to be felt on…
Even if the U.K. is not the “direct recipient” of potential tariffs imposed by the U.S., “it will have an effect,” Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said Thursday. If tariffs are announced, their effect on the global economic growth and inflation would need to be looked at, Bailey told CNBC’s Steve Sedgwick. “Now I…
U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent speaks, at the White House, in Washington, U.S. February 3, 2025. Elizabeth Frantz | Reuters The Trump administration is more focused on keeping Treasury yields low rather than on what the Federal Reserve does, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said. While in the past President Donald Trump has implored…
