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De oorlog in Iran zal een lange schaduw over de gesprekken werpen. Daarnaast: de 100 beste romans aller tijden

De ontmoeting vindt plaats te midden van een voorlopige handelstest, maar Iran, Taiwan en spanningen over wereldwijde toeleveringsketens zullen complicerende factoren zijn. Meld u aan voor de Breaking News US-e-mail. Hallo en welkom bij onze live verslaggeving van de Amerikaanse politiek. Donald Trump is onderweg naar Beijing voor cruciale gesprekken met de Chinese leider Xi Jinping, terwijl zij proberen een voorlopige handelstest te handhaven en tegelijkertijd navigeren door kwesties rond Iran, Taiwan en de dominantie over wereldwijde toeleveringsketens. Lees verder...

Voormalig politiechef Ronald dela Rosa brengt nacht door in senaatskantoor nadat een andere Duterte-bondgenoot hem bescherming aanbiedt

Stanley Burkhardt, veroordeelde misbruiker en voormalig onderzoeker van seksuele misdrijven tegen kinderen, legt verklaring af in civiele zaak

Het conflict lijkt een pijnlijke patstelling te hebben bereikt, maar leiders in Teheran en Washington lijken te denken dat de overwinning nabij is.

• Megan Thee Stallion werd rond 1:30 uur 's nachts gespot terwijl ze het theater verliet na haar laatste optreden in 'Moulin Rouge! The Musical' in New York, waarmee ze haar periode als gastster beëindigde. • De raparieste was een van de meest opvallende gaststerren van de productie tijdens haar tijd bij de Broadway-show. • Haar vertrek uit de musical markeert het einde van een opmerkelijk crossovermoment tussen hiphop en het Broadway-theater.

From legitimate scrutiny to lurid scare stories, the Green party’s rise has brought a sudden spike in attentionIt is the lot of smaller parties that grow rapidly that they tend to endure something of a trial by the media in the UK. The attention from some of the newspapers and broadcasters to the Green party before this week’s elections has occasionally borne an unlikely resemblance to the height of Clegg-mania in the spring of 2010, when the Liberal Democrat leader, Nick Clegg, was rewarded for his positive polling with the unlikely Daily Mail headline “Clegg in Nazi slur on Britain”.All manner of colourful tales have emerged about Green policies and personnel as the party has risen up the national opinion polls, making them something of a target for news editors and reporters. That attention has ranged from legitimate questions over the views of members to more eccentric warnings of a dire future for everyone in Britain from exotic animals to members of the clergy. Continue reading...

Jitu Munda says he was repeatedly refused access to money left in her account in case highlighting ‘lack of humanity’ in Indian bureaucracyThe sight of a man bringing the remains of his dead sister to a bank in India after officials had refused to let him withdraw money without proof of her death has caused shock in India.Jitu Munda, 52, from the Indian state of Odisha, was captured on video carrying the remains of his recently deceased sister through the streets of Keonjhar and placing them outside the local bank. Continue reading...

The Pitch Perfect star is being sued for defamation by Charlotte MacInnes, the lead actor of Wilson’s directorial debut, The DebFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastHollywood star Rebel Wilson has spoken about the upcoming birth of her second child as she entered the courthouse to give evidence for a third day in her blockbuster defamation battle.The Pitch Perfect star is being sued for defamation by Charlotte MacInnes, the 27-year-old lead actor of the musical comedy The Deb. Continue reading...

Bank expects its base case for GDP growth to be 0.5% this year, lower than IMF’s 0.8% prediction for BritainBusiness live – latest updatesLloyds has warned that the economic fallout from the Middle East conflict could cost it £151m amid rising unemployment and inflation and a slowdown in the housing market.The FTSE 100 group, whose brands include Lloyds Bank, Halifax and Bank of Scotland, issued a downbeat economic forecast that it said reflects the stagflationary consequences – the double hit of rising inflation at the same time as slower economic growth – for the UK and global economies. Continue reading...

Ellen Mulvey ran up huge betting losses online and wrote ‘addiction is the worst disease’ before she diedA family is calling for wholesale reform of the gambling industry after an inquest heard details of the life and death of Ellen Mulvey, a “generous and caring” woman with a high-flying City job who also had a secret addiction.Mulvey’s family believe she lost hundreds of thousands of pounds gambling without their knowledge, first via mainstream operators and then on unlicensed platforms. Continue reading...

Lawyers for oligarch claim freezing of £5.3bn of assets ‘unfair and abusive’ amid row over use of funds for Ukraine Roman Abramovich has gone to the European court of human rights (ECHR), claiming that a criminal investigation into his financial affairs by the Jersey authorities has breached his human rights, according to reports.The former owner of Chelsea FC, who is sanctioned in the UK over his links to Vladimir Putin, is under investigation in Jersey over allegations of corruption and money laundering. Continue reading...

Departing PM Viktor Orbán admits ‘political era has ended’ as EU says ‘clock is ticking’ to resolve important issuesEU officials have arrived in Budapest for high-stakes talks aimed at reshaping the bloc’s strained relationship with Hungary, weeks before the new government takes office, as the country’s departing prime minister, Viktor Orbán, admitted a “political era has ended” and suggested he would stay on as leader of his party in his first interview since the election.Speaking to the pro-government outlet Patrióta, Orbán described Sunday’s election as an “emotional rollercoaster” after the opposition Tisza party won a landslide victory, bringing an end to Orbán’s 16 years in power. Continue reading...

Risks from cancer and other diseases could be hidden with little accountability if justices favor big firms, critics warnThe US could face foreign attacks, food shortages and agricultural “devastation” if the supreme court rules against Monsanto in a closely watched case over pesticide regulation that is set for arguments later this month, according to a series of legal briefs supporting the company.In contrast, opposing legal briefs warn that if the court sides with Monsanto, consumers will be stripped of their rights to sue when they develop cancer or other serious diseases they attribute to exposure to dangerous chemicals. Companies will be able to hide product risks with little accountability, they warn. Continue reading...

Experts point to Chinese backing for multinational attempts to introduce global governance of AIChina is now the “good guy” on AI rather than Donald Trump’s US where the technology is being pursued in a dangerous “wild west” manner, a former UN and UK government adviser has told MPs.Prof Dame Wendy Hall, who was a member of the UN’s AI advisory board and co-wrote a review of AI for Theresa May’s government, told the House of Commons business and trade committee that China was backing multinational attempts to introduce global governance of AI in contrast to America, which had set up a race between profit-hungry companies that relied on hype. Continue reading...

Former victims’ commissioner Vera Baird says disciplinary action is essential to ensure people are held accountable• UK politics live – latest updatesFamilies in Southport cannot be sure that officials who made “catastrophic” errors before the murder of three girls are not still making the same mistakes, a former victims’ commissioner has said.Vera Baird KC said all those who failed to properly monitor the killer, Axel Rudakubana, should be held “personally accountable” and that authorities must not “shrug it off” with an apology. Continue reading...

Tony Burke says millions of people will be asking why the Liberals have a problem with their parents ‘who don’t speak great English but are great Australians’Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastLabor has accused Angus Taylor of “desperate dog-whistling” and says millions of Australians will be asking why the Liberal party has a problem with their parents who don’t speak English, amid a backlash to the opposition’s new hardline immigration policies.Immigration advocates, crossbenchers, and the race discrimination commissioner, Giridharan Sivaraman, have all criticised a new speech by Taylor, with the Greens likening the Coalition’s approach to a modern revival of the discriminatory White Australia policy. Continue reading...

Some candidates are making public health a central part of their midterm campaigns amid Trump’s war on science As public health has become increasingly politicized in the US, with a particularly chaotic year under the Trump administration, some political candidates are pushing back by making public health a central part of their campaigns – and the grassroots organization Defend Public Health has ideas about how to do it.On Monday, the group launched guiding principles for campaigns to prioritize public health, called the People’s Health Platform, highlighting the importance of ensuring healthcare for all, protecting and expanding sexual, reproductive, and gender-affirming healthcare, preparing for the climate crisis and the next pandemic, and taxing billionaires, among other tenets. Continue reading...

Trump announced deputy attorney general, who was his former personal attorney, would act up until permanent replacement is confirmedPam Bondi’s swift dismissal on Thursday underscores a reality that has met Trump loyalists from Jeff Sessions to Kristi Noem – no amount of loyalty is enough to save oneself from being dumped by Donald Trump.Since the president assumed office last year, there have been few people more important to his effort to remake government than Bondi, his longtime friend. Continue reading...

Senate-passed funding plan for DHS languishes despite agreement between Republican congressional leadersSign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxThe US House of Representatives on Thursday took no action on a compromise measure that would end the partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), raising questions about how much longer the record-long funding lapse will persist.The department has been without funding since mid-February, after Democrats refused to vote for its appropriations unless Republicans agreed to new guardrails on federal agents involved in immigration enforcement operations. Continue reading...

Adelaide has the biggest price decline, with unleaded down 24.9 cents and diesel down 21.3 centsFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastFuel prices have started falling immediately across Australia in the wake of the government’s fuel excise cut, unexpectedly accelerating the delivery of the Albanese government’s cost-of-living relief.Prices in capital cities paused then plummeted on Wednesday, after the prime minister announced the tax on petrol and diesel would be halved to 26.3 cents a litre. Continue reading...

As living costs rise, the state where Gates and Bezos made billions is targeting top earners – could other states follow?Noel Frame knows exactly how difficult it is to raise taxes on the ultra-wealthy, because she has been trying to do just that – first as an activist, then as a state legislator – for the past 15 years. And until recently almost all of her efforts ended in failure.She lives in Washington, a solid blue state that should, in theory, be hospitable to the idea of more progressive taxation and has plenty of multi-millionaires to target, since it is the home of Microsoft, Amazon and an array of other tech-driven corporations. While the wealth of these tech giants has grown exponentially in recent decades, the state – which levies no income taxes – has struggled to bring in enough revenue to pay for basic services like public schooling and long-term healthcare. Continue reading...

• Auburn faces Georgia Tech in a college baseball matchup scheduled for 7:00 p.m. ET on March 31, airing on ESPN2. • This regular season conference game is part of the early-season college baseball schedule. • The contest provides both SEC and ACC programs an opportunity to build their résumés ahead of the postseason.

Millions are dipping into savings or borrowing to get by as the Iran war drives up prices, survey showsThe Iran war has led to a surge in pessimism in the UK as half of households are already struggling to afford everyday essentials.The escalating conflict in the Middle East, which has driven the price of oil, gas, crop fertiliser and other raw materials sharply higher, threatens to cause another cost of living shock. Continue reading...

• The NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament continues with St. John's facing Duke in a Sweet Sixteen matchup scheduled for Friday, March 27 at 7:10 p.m. ET on CBS from Washington. • This Sweet Sixteen round features multiple games across the day, including Alabama vs. Michigan at 7:35 p.m. ET on TBS and TRUTV from Chicago. • The Sweet Sixteen represents a critical stage where 16 teams compete for spots in the Elite Eight, with each victory bringing teams closer to the Final Four.

Donald Trump says he was ‘a little surprised’ at Australia’s lack of support, echoing comments from a week beforeFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastDonald Trump has taken another swipe at Australia, alongside Nato, the UK and most of the rest of the world, for not getting more involved in the US-Israel war against Iran.At a press conference on Thursday at the White House, the US president was asked to reflect on phone calls with the UK prime minister Keir Starmer. He began by describing Starmer as a “lovely man”. Continue reading...

Nigeria and UK look to strengthen trade and economic ties amid growing calls from Africa and Caribbean for reparative justice“There are chapters in our shared history that I know have left some painful marks,” King Charles said during a state banquet to welcome the Nigerian president, Bola Tinubu, to the UK, in a year in which the monarch is expected to come under renewed pressure to make a formal apology for transatlantic slavery and colonialism.But while demands grow from African and Caribbean nations for the UK to further reparative justice, Nigeria and the UK are looking to the future of global trade. Continue reading...

Declan Conlon will argue officials have failed to act despite clear evidence of the ecological collapse of Lough NeaghAn eel fisher is to argue at the high court in Belfast that the authorities have allowed the ecological collapse of Lough Neagh by failing to take action over pollution.Declan Conlon, whose family have for generations fished the inland lake in Northern Ireland that once hosted the largest wild eel fishery in Europe, is seeking to take a judicial review against the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (Daera). He will argue the department has failed to act against polluters despite clear evidence of the ecological collapse of the lake. Continue reading...