United Kingdom

    Two F35 fighter jets have landed on-board the Royal Navy's new aircraft carrier for the first time. The landings happened earlier this week off the east coast of the United States away from public eyes. Royal Navy Commander Nathan Gray and RAF Squadron Leader Andy Edgell were given the privilege of becoming the first pilots to land their aircraft on the ship. It is a major event for the UK's armed forces and marks a milestone in the aircraft carrier programme. Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson described it as a monumental moment. The largest warship in British history is joining forces with the most advanced fighter jets on the planet. This marks a rebirth of our power to strike decisively from the seas anywhere in the world. It is also a statement of Britain's ...

    Furious ministers rounded on Boris Johnson for suggesting the UK renege on its Brexit agreements over the Irish border, calling it unworkable and criticising the former foreign secretary for denouncing agreements made while he was a cabinet minister. The Department for Exiting the European Union issued a defiant statement rejecting Johnson’s alternative, laid out in a 4,000-word Telegraph article, saying it was not a workable or negotiable plan, less that two days before the start of the Conservative party conference. Government sources mocked Johnson’s disavowal of the December withdrawal agreement, when he had been part of the cabinet that approved it, dismissing his intervention as another very lengthy article which doesn’t offer any answers. Speaking ahead of t...

    It was sadly appropriate that Denis Norden, the star of the British television show It’ll be Alright on the Night, died in the same week as the EU’s Salzburg summit took place. The working assumption of many in Britain has been that the Brexit negotiations will ultimately be all right on the night. The national philosophy of muddling through will prevail once again. After all, national humiliations and catastrophes only happen to people who are unfortunate enough to live on the other side of the Channel. Salzburg delivered a serious blow to this kind of complacency. It is becoming increasingly clear that the Brexit negotiations could indeed fail. Both the EU and the UK are now talking seriously about the threat of on deal with Britain simply crashing out of the EU i...

    A third suspect in the Novichok attack in Salisbury has been identified, it has been reported. A Russian military intelligence who the officer is believed to have carried out a reconnaissance mission before the poisoning of Sergei Skripal has been unmasked by investigators. The third suspect has been identified by counter-terrorism police and the security services, according to the Telegraph. The male GRU agent is believed to have visited Salisbury to help plan the attack before two of his colleagues brought a weapons-grade nerve agent into the UK. It is understood the man has been identified by those investigating the planned assassination of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in March. The attack inadvertently led to the death of Dawn Sturgess and left her bo...

    Hundreds of headteachers have marched on Downing Street to demand extra cash for schools. Organisers claimed more than 2,000 heads from England, Wales and Northern Ireland took part in the protest, double the number they had expected. They gathered in Parliament Square before converging on Downing Street, where a delegation delivered  a letter to Chancellor Phillip Hammond protesting over what they claim are unsustainable funding cuts and demanding ministers do not take them for fools. The protest was organised by Worth Less?, which describes itself as a grassroots campaign for more money to tackle issues such as overcrowded classrooms, staff recruitment and retention, and poor working conditions. This is an organic experience of school-leader frustration and anger...

    Speaking at the security council chaired by Donald Trump, she addressed Russia's foreign minister Sergey Lavrov, who sat two seats down from her, furiously scribbling notes as she spoke. Saying that Britain had been attacked by two Russian agents named by aliases Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov Mrs May said Britain had clearly laid out its position by charging the pair with attempted murder. She earlier said it was regrettable that Russia continues to prevent the Security Council from holding the Assad regime to account, while the Syrian delegation looked on, arms crossed, and unimpressed. During her speech to the gathered world leaders, she told Mr Trump: In meeting Kim Jong-un you have created a historic opportunity. Lavrov had to wait for the Netherlands, ...

    Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty has published a scathing rant accusing an airline worker of racism in a row over hand-luggage. The actress, 43, was travelling from Sydney to Melbourne with Australian airline Qantas when the argument over baggage took place. Shetty, who shot to fame in the UK after she was the target of racist comments during the 2007 series of Celebrity Big Brother, penned an angry post about her treatment, saying it was clear the employee didn't like brown people. In the post, which has now been seen by 269,000 people, Shetty name-checked Qantas, saying: 'This should get your attention! Travelling from Sydney to Melbourne and at the check in counter met a grumpy Mel (that’s her name) who decided it was OK to speak curtly to US (Brown people) travellin...

    Royal Mail has urged customers to stop putting empty Walkers crips packets in the post without envelopes, venturing into a row between the snack giant and protesters. Environmental campaigners have told people to send bags back to the PepsiCo brand as a form of protest because they aren't yet recyclable. Customers have been told to flood Walkers social media with pictures of us popping them in the post, along with the hashtag #PacketinWalkers. Royal Mail is legally required to deliver the bags to Walkers' freepost address, but it says packets that aren't in envelopes are causing delays. The packets cannot go through machines and must be sorted by hand. Some 310,500 people have backed a petition calling on Walkers to improve on its 2025 target to create new recycl...

    We joined Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle, as she chatted with royal restorationists preparing her wedding dress for an exhibition. Later the camera peered over the shoulder of Prince Harry exchanging raffish small talk with students from the Caribbean who’d spent time behind the scenes at Buckingham Palace (they had, he jested, enjoyed a longer stay at the palace than he ever had). The promised archive material, meanwhile, took us back to the Queen’s early years on the throne when she was a shy young woman sprung before her time into one of the highest profile jobs in the world. She looked pale and serious launching Royal Yacht Britannia in 1954 though clips of Prince Philip and of a young Prince Charles and Princess Anne on board the vessel confirmed this was fam...

    Jeremy Corbyn has told Theresa May he will back a Brexit deal she brings back from Europe as long as it means Britain staying in a customs union, protecting jobs, workers rights and standards for the environment. The Labour leader’s pledge appears to hold out a lifeline to a prime minister who finds herself at the mercy of Tory Brexiteers who have vowed to torpedo her proposals. But it also represents an adjustment in Labour’s Brexit rhetoric, coming after a week in which shadow cabinet minister Sir Keir Starmer indicated his party was likely to vote down any deal Ms May secured. Mr Corbyn also used his conference speech to try and draw a line under the antisemitism row dogging his party, telling the Jewish community we are your ally and committing a Labour governm...