Trump administration claims food aid fraud but critics say ‘there’s no evidence’

Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey backs launch of Vine reboot, Divine, where content must be made by a humanAs a pioneer of the short-form video format, Vine has been credited as one of the most influential – if short-lived – social media platforms.The app, which allowed users to record a looping six seconds of video, boomed in popularity after its launch in 2013, creating a plethora of viral comedy sketches and internet memes. It hit 100 million monthly active users at its peak and helped launch the careers of influencers like Logan Paul. Continue reading...

Delivery truck driver emerged with minor injuries after underside of jet hit tractor trailer in New Jersey on SundayThe driver of a delivery truck emerged with only minor injuries after his tractor trailer was struck by a passenger jet landing in New Jersey’s busy Newark airport on Sunday afternoon, officials said.New Jersey state police said a landing tire and the underside of a United Airlines plane arriving from Venice, Italy, hit the truck in question. The Boeing 767 aircraft also clipped a light pole, which in turn struck a Jeep. Continue reading...

No arrests made, police say, and site of shooting – a heavily wooded area – is slowing search for evidence and suspectAt least 13 people were hurt in a mass shooting during a party at a campground in Oklahoma on Sunday night, authorities said.The shooting took place at Spring Creek Park on Arcadia Lake about 15 miles north-east of downtown Oklahoma City, when gunfire erupted during a gathering of young people at about 9pm. Continue reading...

Comments at European Political Community summit come as Britain seeks to join EU’s loan scheme for UkraineUK politics live – latest updatesKeir Starmer has acknowledged that “tensions” between Donald Trump and Europe are high as he attends a summit of the European Political Community dominated by the conflicts in Ukraine and Iran.With European leaders concerned over the US president’s waning interest in the Ukraine war, the prime minister will use the summit in Armenia to begin negotiations to participate in the European Union’s loan scheme for Kyiv. Continue reading...

Lobbyist Tara Singh says stripping projects of subsidy contracts would undermine investor confidence in UKBritain could be beset by levels of economic chaos last seen under Liz Truss if a Reform UK government were to fulfil its promise to strip renewable energy projects of subsidy contracts, according to the industry’s chief lobbyist.The anti-renewables policy put forward by Nigel Farage’s populist party would severely undermine investor confidence in the energy industry and across the wider UK economy, the new chief executive of RenewableUK said. Continue reading...

Kent schoolgirl tracks down 10,000 namesakes as part of campaign – but non-Kirstys are welcome to donate tooCalling all Kirstys! A schoolgirl from Tunbridge Wells in Kent is seeking people who share her name to help raise money for research into paediatric brain tumours like the one for which she is being treated.Kirsty Waugh, who turns 12 on Monday, has already persuaded more than 10,000 Kirstys, Kirsties, Kersties and assorted other variants to plot their locations on a map that shows Kirstys can be found everywhere from Colombia to Malaysia, and even at the Rothera research station in Antarctica. Continue reading...

US president’s post follows flurry of mixed signals including concern Tehran had not ‘paid big enough price’. Plus, could Santa Marta climate talks mark ground zero in push to ditch fossil fuels?Good morning.Donald Trump has announced this morning that the US will “guide” ships trapped in the Gulf by the Iran war through the strait of Hormuz, and claimed his representatives were having “very positive” discussions with Iran.What has Iran said? The head of the Iranian military’s unified command has said US and foreign armed forces will be attacked if they enter the strait. It told US forces to stay out of the area and said its forces would respond harshly to any threat. It also told commercial ships and oil tankers to refrain from any movement in the absence of coordination with Iran’s military.What did Comey say about the post? Comey deleted the postand apologized. He said the hadn’t known what the expression meant and condemned violence. He has said he is innocent and denies any wrongdoing. Continue reading...

Hangings are latest wave of near-daily killings as authorities seek to instil fear in Iranian societyMiddle East crisis – live updatesIran has executed three men charged in connection with political protests this January, authorities said, the latest in a wave of hangings against the backdrop of the war against the US and Israel.Iranian authorities have carried out executions on a near-daily basis in recent weeks, in what activists have denounced as a bid to instil fear in society at a time of international and domestic tension. Continue reading...

Bamber, 65, has long used press interviews to campaign against convictions for murder of five family membersJeremy Bamber, who has served more than 40 years in prison for murdering five members of his family, has been banned from communicating with the media.Bamber was convicted in 1986 by a 10-2 majority of shooting his adoptive mother and father, his sister and her six-year-old twins at the parents’ family farmhouse in Essex a year earlier. He has always protested his innocence. Continue reading...

Canadian PM says Europe is not destined to submit to a more ‘transactional, insular and brutal world’Europe will not submit to a more “brutal world”, and can instead be the base from which a new international order can be rebuilt, Mark Carney, the Canadian prime minister, has said.Carney was speaking as the first non-European leader to attend a meeting of the European Political Community, which opened on Monday amid high tensions in the strait of Hormuz and renewed doubts about the US commitment to Nato. Continue reading...

Authority says workers and councillors ‘threatened for explaining the council’s position’ as union jack and St George’s flags taken downResidents, council staff and councillors have been subject to rising “abuse, harassment and intimidation” directly linked to the removal of unauthorised flags, a local authority has said.Shropshire council said it had recorded a rise in reports of abuse with staff and members “being threatened for explaining the council’s position” on the removal of flags and when they attempt to do so – “even in day-to-day work to repair street lighting”, the authority added. Continue reading...

As the cost of the scheme blows out, the government has announced the full discount will be retained for another year, after which it will only apply to EVs costing less than $75,000Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastLabor has opted to retain its electric vehicle discount in full for another year, as Australians rush to buy EVs amid soaring fuel costs linked to the Iran war.But the budget next Tuesday will include a number of “sensible changes” that wind back the scale of support over the next three years, as the government acknowledges the need to deliver a “more financially sustainable” tax incentive for EVs amid ballooning costs of the scheme. Continue reading...