Month: February 2026

Commons committee chair says DWP repeatedly failed to prioritise the vulnerable and was slow to fix errorsThe government’s most senior welfare official has been accused of presiding over a “culture of complacency” that led to thousands of unpaid carers inadvertently running up huge benefit debts.Debbie Abrahams, the chair of the work and pensions select committee, said the Department for Work and Pensions had repeatedly failed to prioritise vulnerable people, was […]

No 10 is intense huge pressure to reveal exactly how the former peer was vetted for his job as US ambassadorAfter the release of a vast tranche of documents and emails that shed further light on the close relationship between Peter Mandelson and Jeffrey Epstein, the government has come under intense pressure to release details about its vetting process before Mandelson’s appointment as US ambassador in December 2024. Continue reading...Source: […]

The bill would mandate use of the biblical term ‘Judea and Samaria’ after a similar effort passed in ArkansasFlorida legislators are pushing to pass legislation that would ban the use of the term “West Bank” in K-12 public schools and state agencies, including public colleges and universities, and mandate use of the term “Judea and Samaria”.The West Bank is the internationally recognized term for the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territory west of […]

Talks were scheduled in Turkey with Arab states present, but Iran requests move amid attempts to limit agenda Talks between the US and Iran scheduled for Friday appear to be collapsing after the US rejected Iran’s request to move them from Turkey to Oman without the presence of a group of Arab states.Iran has also vowed that the talks will be confined to its nuclear programme, while other issues the […]

Government faces call for transparency on former peer’s involvement amid fears he may have leaked more sensitive informationPeter Mandelson’s involvement with the US tech company Palantir must be exposed to full public transparency, campaigners have said, amid fears he may have leaked more sensitive information than is alleged in his emails to Jeffrey Epstein.Palantir, an $300bn startup that provides military technology to the Israel Defense Forces and AI-powered deportation targeting […]

Artemy Ostanin sentenced to more than five years in a penal colony after joking about a 'legless' war veteran.Source: www.aljazeera.comRead full article

Ex-Trump adviser adds to elections officials’ concern about potential interference from Trump administration in votingSteve Bannon, the former White House strategist and rightwing podcast host, said he wants to see immigration agents at the polls in November, a proposal that election officials have feared.Bannon has no formal power, but is an influential figure on the far right and is closely tied with the Trump administration. Continue reading...Source: www.theguardian.comRead full article