Trump gives ultimatum to Iran in rambling speech to Saudi leaders
In a rambling speech to Saudi leaders, President Donald Trump gave an ultimatum to Iran as he said he wanted to “make a deal” with the country.
“If I can make a deal with Iran, I’ll be very happy … we’re going to make your region and the world a safer place,” said Trump during his speech at an investment forum in Riyadh.
“But if Iran’s leadership rejects this olive branch and continues to attack their neighbors, then we will have no choice but to inflict massive maximum pressure, drive Iranian oil exports to zero like I did before,” he added.
Trump also said he will be ordering the end of sanctions against Syria.
The president’s speech came at the beginning of a landmark visit to three Gulf states this week, which has been clouded by backlash over a potential luxury jet gift from Qatar.
Earlier, Trump praised the country’s de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, before they signed a strategic economic partnership agreement, including a defense deal worth nearly $142 billion.
The president attended a state dinner before travelling to Qatar on Wednesday. Trump will end his trip to the Middle East in the United Arab Emirates on Thursday, and hopes to secure $1 trillion in deals from the visits.
Equalities watchdog threatened with court over trans toilets guidance
The equalities watchdog has been threatened with legal action after saying trans women must use men’s toilets,The Independent can reveal.
The Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC)’s interim guidance was published in the wake of last month’s Supreme Court ruling on gender, which ruled trans women are not legally women under the Equalities Act.
The guidance states that trans women “should not be permitted to use the women’s facilities” in workplaces or public-facing services such as shops and hospitals.
But lawyers acting on behalf of leading UK trans rights group TransLucent have now sent a letter to the watchdog warning that the guidance “incorrectly states the legal position” of the court ruling.
The letter, seen by The Independent, criticises the body, saying it failed to consult with trans people before publishing its interim guidance, ahead of an ongoing consultation on the issue.
It demands the EHRC issue a clarification statement and criticised the commission’s chair Baroness Falkner’s description of the ruling as a “a victory for common sense” and another which stated: “If a male is allowed to use a women-only service, it isn’t any longer a single-sex space.”
The campaigners argue the remarks have caused “immense distress to the trans community and confusion to both service providers and employers”.
Meanwhile, lawyers Leigh Day warned: “The worry for our client is that there has not yet been any consultation with trans communities and other affected groups, and the statements from the chair and commissioner that followed the publication of the update, particularly in relation to provision of single sex spaces, suggest that their minds are closed to any other outcome.”
The letter adds: “If those are their personal views, then, while still unsatisfactory, they should have made that very clear. In any event, it is incumbent on the EHRC to provide urgent clarity so as not to undermine the fairness of the forthcoming consultation.”
It urges the EHRC to respond by May 19 and confirm whether it plans to issue clarification.
Steph Richards, CEO of TransLucent, warned that the watchdog “appears to have ignored the fact that trans people are still protected under the Equality Act and, as such, can only be legally discriminated against in circumstances when it is a ‘proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim’.”
It comes amid mounting concern over the impact of the EHRC’s guidance, with Labour MP Nadia Whittome telling The Independent it was a “devastating blow for trans people and their rights”.
“This guidance is not statutory but it indicates what the draft statutory guidance is likely to contain. It is essential that the government rejects it”, the MP for Nottingham East said.
“The Equality and Human Rights Commission should be safeguarding trans people’s rights at a time when they are being threatened. Sadly, this vital institution has fallen victim to successful attempts by the previous Conservative government to co-opt it in line with its agenda, undermining its independence and neutrality.”
Meanwhile, Carla Denyer, co-leader of the Green Party, said the interim guidance was “rushed and ill-thought-through, and was clearly drawn up without consulting trans people on their experiences and needs”.
“I’m worried that the guidance could act as a bigot’s charter, emboldening people to harass and victimise trans people in public places, and the Green Party has called for it to be withdrawn until something more considered can be produced.”
jane fae, director of fellow trans rights group TransActual, told The Independent the organisation is also “watching very carefully and are ready to take legal action should it be necessary”.
“We welcome this analysis from TransLucent. It is very clear that in her intemperate rush to self publicity, the head of the EHRC Baroness Falkner did not take the time to consult with groups affected and as a result she has caused alarm, distress and further encouraged vigilantism against trans people.
“We echo TransLucent’s conclusion that her stance is very concerning and would question whether she is a fit person to be in charge of the equalities commission”, she said.
The letter was sent to the EHRC on Monday, The Independent understands.
A UK government spokesperson said: “The EHRC is an independent regulator, and we will review their Code of Practice and work with them to ensure it provides the certainty and clarity service providers and businesses need, in line with the Supreme Court ruling.”
A spokesperson for the EHRC said it would will shortly launch a consultation on the draft updates to its Code of Practice following the Supreme Court judgment.
“We know there is uncertainty among duty-bearers and affected groups, including trans people. We will consider every response carefully and amend the draft where necessary following the consultation. The EHRC is wholeheartedly committed to upholding everyone’s rights and tackling discrimination in all its forms.”
Baroness Falkner has been approached for comment.
Celebrity Traitors full lineup revealed by BBC
The full lineup for the first ever celebrity version of The Traitors has been announced by the BBC.
Filming is now complete for the all-star version of the game show phenomenon, which will run for nine episodes this autumn.
Contestants who entered the Scottish castle include British broadcasters, an Olympian and actors who have appeared in TV shows and films ranging from Line of Duty to Ted Lasso and the Bridget Jones franchise.
They will be competing for £100,000 for a charity of their choice
Leading the crop of celebrity contestants is QI host Stephen Fry, who reportedly “jumped at the chance to appear” on the series.
He’ll be joined by comedian Alan Carr, presenter Jonathan Ross and Good Morning Britain host Kate Garraway.
There are several actors entering the castle: British thespian Celia Imrie, whose credits include Calendar Girls and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel; Nick Mohammed, best known as Nathan “Nate” Shelley in Ted Lasso; and EastEnders star Tameka Empson (Kim Fox).
They’ll join Catastrophe actor Mark Bonnar, who also appeared in the crime procedural series Line of Duty as DCC Mike Dryden.
Irish star Ruth Codd, known for the Netflix series The Midnight Club, will also be on the series alongside singers Paloma Faith, child opera singer-turned-pop star Charlotte Church and Brit Award-nominated artist Cat Burns.
Professor David Olusoga, a Bafta-winning historian and author of numerous best-selling books, and YouTube prankster Niko Omilana will also participate in the game show’s inaugural celebrity series.
Sports broadcaster Clare Balding has also entered the castle as will Olympic diver Tom Daley, who is believed to have selected Celebrity Traitors over Strictly Come Dancing, and professional England rugby player Joe Marler, who has won the Six Nations three times.
Joe Wilkinson, the comedian recently seen on Prime Video series Last One Laughing, rounds out the contestant list alongside comedian Lucy Beaumont, the ex-wife of 8 Out of 10 Cats star Jon Richardson.
Speaking about the show’s contestants, host Claudia Winkleman said “We’re incredibly lucky these brilliant people have said yes.
“I’d love to say we’ll take it easy on them and they’ll just wander round the castle and eat toast for a couple of weeks but that would be a lie.”
Cassie Ventura testifies on abuse during Diddy sex-trafficking trial
Cassie Ventura, the former girlfriend of Sean “Diddy” Combs, said that the longest of the alleged “freak-offs” she participated in lasted four days, during her bombshell testimony at the music mogul’s sex-trafficking trial in New York.
Ventura, 38, testified through tears in Manhattan federal court that the “freak-offs” involving Combs, 55, “became a job,” lasting anywhere from 36 to 48 hours each week. She added that she felt relief after her first time as Combs was “really happy with me.”
The R&B singer and model said the time she invested in them impacted her music career, and that she was unable to release hundreds of her songs. She claimed she was so exhausted and dehydrated after the events that she needed several days to recover.
“Freak offs became a job where there was no space to do anything else but to recover and just try to feel normal again,” she said.
Early in her testimony, prosecutors asked Ventura about so-called “freak offs,” which were orchestrated sex parties held at Combs’ request that would set up “this experience so that I could perform for Sean,” she said.
Ventura testified that she was barely 22 when Combs first asked her to participate in the “freak offs,” and that she was “confused, nervous, but also loved him very much.”
She said she felt a mix of emotions when they were finished — dirty and confused, but also relief that Combs was “really happy with me” that “I did something right.”
On Tuesday afternoon, Ventura became emotional describing how she felt obligated to go through with future “freak offs.”
“I just didn’t want to make him upset. I just didn’t want to make him angry and regret telling me about this experience that was so personal,” she said.
She earlier spoke of Combs’ controlling nature over her life, saying, “Sean controlled a lot of my life, whether it was my career, the way I dressed, everything, everything. I just didn’t have much say in it at the time.”
Asked if there was anything she enjoyed about “freak offs,” an emotional Cassie said through tears: “the time spent with him.”
Ventura went on to describe why she felt it was so hard to decline Combs’ request, saying she feared violence and videos from “freak offs” being disseminated on the internet. She also testified that Combs would blackmail her with pictures and videos of her encounters with escorts.
“Sean is a really polarizing person, also really charming,” she said. “It’s hard to really be able to decide in that moment what you need when he’s telling you what he wants. I just didn’t know. I didn’t know what would happen.”
The court was also shown still images from security camera footage of Combs beating Ventura at a L.A. hotel, which was aired last year by CNN. Ventura claimed that prior to the altercation, “We were having an encounter called a ‘Freak Off’ and I was leaving there.”
While initially being “enamored” by Combs, Ventura said she eventually saw “a different side of him, which was his abusive side.”
Ventura also claimed Combs physically abused her during their decade-long relationship, telling jurors he would “smash” her head, drag her, kick her and stomp on her head.
“If they were violent arguments, it would usually result in some sort of physical abuse and dragging, just different things,” Ventura, who is currently eight months pregnant, told jurors.
When asked how frequently Combs would become violent, Ventura quietly replied: “Too often.”
Ventura testified that as their relationship progressed, Combs became increasingly more violent and controlling of her life.
“You make the wrong face and the next thing I knew I was getting hit in the face,” she testified.
Combs had mood swings that impacted her “greatly,” she testified. She also said that if she didn’t respond to a call from Combs, he and his staff would incessantly contact her until she got back to him.
Ventura said the rapper paid her rent at apartments close to both of his homes in New York and Los Angeles in order to control her.
Ventura filed a bombshell lawsuit against Combs in 2023 alleging she was raped, abused and sex-trafficked.
Combs denies the allegations.
This is a developing story.
Additional reporting by the Associated Press.
Zelensky says Putin ‘scared’ to meet him face-to-face in high stakes Turkey talks
Volodymyr Zelensky will only attend talks on Ukraine if Russia’s Vladimir Putin is also there, the Ukrainian president’s top aide has warned, challenging the Kremlin to show it is genuine about seeking peace.
“President Zelensky will not meet with any other Russian representative in Istanbul, except Putin,” Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak told Reuters.
The fresh ultimatum comes after US president Donald Trump suggested he could join Mr Zelensky and Mr Putin in Turkey this week if the two leaders meet for peace talks there.
“I’ve got so many meetings, but I was thinking about actually flying over there. There’s a possibility of it, I guess, if I think things can happen, but we’ve got to get it done,” Mr Trump said in the White House on Monday. Mr Trump’s current schedule has him visiting Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar this week.
But Moscow has not said whether the Russian leader will travel to Turkey. “The Russian side continues to prepare for the negotiations,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters when asked about Mr Zelensky’s demand. “We are not going to comment any more yet.”
Celebration villa breaks: find your perfect luxury getaway
If you’re planning a milestone birthday, a big anniversary, or a long-awaited reunion, a villa holiday is hard to beat. Imagine clinking glasses on a rooftop terrace at sunset or gathering loved ones around a candlelit garden table for a leisurely dinner under the night sky.
These special occasions deserve much more than booking out a busy hotel, and nothing beats having your own sun-drenched sanctuary where you have the space and privacy to celebrate in style. Whether you’re heading to Marrakech in the shadow of the Atlas Mountains, to the rolling hills of Tuscany, or a tropical oasis further afield, Villas are the perfect home-away-from-home for celebrating something, or someone, special.
CV Villas’ luxurious ABOVE collection offers the perfect backdrop for unforgettable moments – think breathtaking settings, total privacy, and the kind of comfort and space that makes everyone feel at home. All come with stunning interiors, sweeping views as far as the eye can see, and enviable locations in some of the world’s most sought-after spots. Each villa is hand-picked by dedicated CV Villa specialists, who are experts in helping people craft their dream getaway. Many come with their own infinity pools, breathtaking views and large alfresco dining areas, perfect for spending quality time together during life’s most important moments. Villas aren’t just places to stay, they’re a big part of the celebration itself.
From the moment you book your stay to your arrival back home, the CV Villas Concierge team is there to make everything as seamless and stress-free as possible. They are dedicated to looking after you and your party before and throughout your holiday so that you can focus on the things that really matter, like spending quality time together and celebrating without having to worry about the minor details. The team tailors each trip to exactly what you’re after, whether you’re looking to book a private boat day or need to organise a surprise celebration dinner, nothing is too much trouble. Many of the five-star villas even come with their own butlers and chefs so that you can be waited on hand and foot during your special getaway.
ABOVE villas are the epitome of luxury and come with designer interiors, infinity pools boasting panoramic ocean views, and terraces made for golden hour cocktails – properties with serious star quality. What’s more, they’re located all around the world, from the sun-soaked shores of Spain and Greece to the palm-fringed beaches of far-flung Sri Lanka and beyond.
Sampling delicious local food is a big part of a holiday, but catering for a large group can often mean juggling different requests and palates. Luckily for you, many of these luxury villas come with their very own in-villa chefs – perfect for when you’d rather toast the moment with a glass of fizz than spend time flapping around in the kitchen. Instead, let your chef whip up multi-course meals morning till night, using the freshest local produce, all based on your personal tastes and dietary requirements, before tucking into it alfresco under the undisturbed starry night sky.
The little luxuries make a big difference to a bucket-list trip: daily housekeeping to keep things spic and span, spa treatments for when you need a little R&R, wine tastings for the adults, yoga sessions with epic views, and even round-the-clock babysitting. All of this can be arranged to make your stay feel even more indulgent.
Maison Emilion, France
This rustic French villa is practically made for wine lovers, aptly located amidst the rolling vineyards of Bordeaux. This six-bedroom hilltop hangout boasts views of the working vineyards from every angle, including from the heated pool and surrounding sunbeds. Wander into the nearby village of Saint-Émilion, then enjoy the included wine-tasting experience before settling into the garden for dinner with nothing but the glow of flickering candlelight and the moonlit sky.
Oleander, Corfu
It doesn’t get much more luxurious than Oleander in Corfu, a five-bedroom villa overlooking Avlaki Bay and the picturesque town of Kassiopi. It’s located high above the Ionian Sea and is the ideal villa for memorable summer celebrations. Soak up the sunshine from the infinity pool while enjoying views of Albania’s craggy Ceraunian Mountains, or hang out on the wrap-around terraces and communal outside dining areas. During peak season at Oleander, chef service is also included, so you can enjoy meals with your loved ones without even having to leave the villa.
Spirit of Son Fuster, Mallorca
Spirit of Son Fuster in Mallorca is hard to beat for large groups and multigenerational stays. This five-star bolthole is set in a stunning natural landscape at the foot of the Alaro twin mountains, right near the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Serra de Tramuntana, and is as secluded as it gets. This gorgeous 14th-century manor house sleeps twenty people across ten bedrooms and even has its own on-site spa and hammam where everyone can enjoy treatments in the dedicated treatment rooms. There’s even a private cinema room for movie nights and a well-stocked wine cellar filled with local vintage wines.
Masseria Giardini, Puglia
Masseria Giardini in Puglia is the height of luxury and the perfect home-away-from-home for families and large groups. It was built in 1750 and is surrounded by leafy olive groves and landscaped gardens curated by Chelsea Flower Show winners Urquhart & Hunt. Enjoy unparalleled views of the Canale Di Pirro Valley from this ten-bedroom farmhouse and spend days lazing around in the heated pool. This villa is an architectural masterpiece, with signature stone domed roofs and hand-carved stone baths in five of the ten bedrooms.
For more travel information and inspiration and to book your perfect villa getaway, visit CV Villas
The NHS needs a change of culture to deal with medical mistakes
The National Health Service needs a completely new approach to patient safety. Once again, the public accounts committee, one of the oldest committees of MPs, has proved its value in identifying a problem of the wasteful spending of taxpayers’ money.
As usual, however, the committee is better at describing the problem than in coming up with a solution.
The problem is that the NHS spends far too much on compensation for medical mistakes. The public accounts committee says: “An astounding £58.2bn has been set aside to cover the potential cost of clinical negligence events in the latest accounts – the second largest liability across government after nuclear decommissioning.”
This is a dramatic way of stating the problem, although the £58.2bn figure is perhaps not the most useful one. It is not money that is actually “set aside”: it is simply a way of estimating future claims for long-term planning purposes.
What matters is the amount that is actually spent each year on clinical negligence claims: this was £2.8bn in the financial year 2023-24. That is nearly 2 per cent of annual NHS spending. It means that for every £50 spent on the NHS, it pays £1 to compensate patients or the families of patients for injuring them or killing them rather than making them better. This is unacceptable.
Lord Darzi, the doctor and Labour former minister who reviewed the NHS for the incoming government last year, said it is twice the share of health spending paid in negligence claims in New Zealand, 10 times that in Australia and 20 times that in Canada.
This is why the public accounts committee says that “huge improvements still need to be made to better protect both patients and public money”. As the committee says, “behind these jaw-dropping figures lie many tragic incidents of patient harm”. Each case of compensation is a family’s emotional trauma, a case of illness misdiagnosed or not spotted at all, or of treatment gone wrong, sometimes with fatal or life-changing consequences.
Year after year, well-meaning attempts have been made to get to grips with the problem. Jeremy Hunt – the long-serving health secretary in the Conservative government – to his great credit made patient safety one of his personal missions. He has even written a book about it, Zero: Eliminating unnecessary deaths in a post-pandemic NHS.
Mr Hunt achieved some useful reforms, for example changing the remit of the NHS Litigation Authority, now called NHS Resolution, so that it focuses on trying to resolve claims of negligence without going to court.
But that does not deal with the underlying cause of the problem, which is why medical mistakes are made in the first place.
This is where the entire NHS needs a change of culture. It needs to adopt an airline safety approach, which is to say that every mistake should be investigated in a no-blame environment where the only things that matter are learning the lessons and improving protocols to make specific errors less likely in future.
This may be hard for the general public to accept, because the usual demand whenever anything goes seriously wrong is for a public inquiry, often with the explicit purpose of apportioning blame – and often with the implicit assumption that those so blamed must go to prison.
These attitudes lead to a climate of fear and therefore a tendency to cover up mistakes and an institutional defensiveness that prevents lessons being learnt. The Independent has seen this pattern repeat itself time and again in public services in general, but in the NHS in particular – above all in specialisms such as maternity care.
This is a huge challenge for Wes Streeting, the current health secretary, who has made a brave start on the equally daunting task of clearing the coronavirus backlogs. But if the change cannot be achieved within the NHS in its current form, then other models of healthcare must be considered instead. The issue is too serious for sentimentality about the NHS, which Nigel Lawson, the chancellor in the 1980s, called the “national religion”, to get in the way.
UK cuts to international aid will have huge impact, minister admits
The UK’s large-scale aid cuts will have a “huge impact”, the new development minister has admitted to MPs – but that the days of viewing Britain “as a global charity” are over.
Jenny Chapman replaced Anneliese Dodds as development minister in February. Dodds resigned in protest at the prime minister’s plan to cut aid spending from 0.5 per cent to 0.3 per cent of the UK’s gross national income (GNI) – a measure of the nation’s total wealth. That amounts to roughly £6 billion cut from a current budget of £15.4bn.
Addressing the international development select committee, Baroness Chapman said the UK needed to “sharpen our focus” on health, the climate crisis and humanitarian aid in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan, “which is actually where the public expects us to lead”.
But this would likely come at the expense of programmes around women and girls’ education, she said.
“There will be a huge impact, I’m not pretending otherwise,” Chapman said “I can’t promise to protect every good programme”.
Baroness Chapman went on to claimthere was an “absolute crisis” in public support for international aid, adding that “many of our partner countries” also wanted to “move on from this model”. Monica Harding, the Liberal Democrat spokesperson on the committee, said other polling suggested UK residents did support foreign aid when it is, “within their interests, when it supports defence and security and soft power”.
Arguing that the UK needed to focus more on sharing expertise than providing cash, Baroness Chapman said: “While our commitment to helping those living through emergencies is unwavering – for countries developing, we need to be an investor and not just a donor.
“It’s about partnership and not paternalism.”
An explicit plan to spend less on gender might appear to mirror the rhetoric coming from across the Atlantic, as Donald Trump has ruthlessly slashed any spending he considers to be in the service of “gender ideology.”
Trump’s cuts are already having wide-ranging destructive effects from leaving millions on the brink of famine to derailing the end of the AIDS pandemic, driving millions of preventable deaths.
But Chapman was keen to put a distance between Labour’s plans and the US’s blitz on all aid – especially any project that has a whiff of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). Asked by Harding whether these plans were “just following the US”, Chapman denied the claim.
“We have made our choice for very very different ideological reasons. This is about necessity and having to shift some spending to defence,” Baroness Chapman said.
“We maintain our commitment to go back to 0.7 [per cent] when we can”.
In the future, the UK should offer its “expertise” from its education, health, tech and financial sectors to support countries to build their own systems, Chapman said.
The alternative would be to “salami slice without strategy,” which would be “wrong”.
An analysis by Save the Children previously shared with The Independent found “savage” cuts to UK foreign aid would leave 55.5 million of the world’s poorest people without access to basic resources.
Chair of the international devleopment committee, Sarah Champion, said development money – which usually sits in a different pot from humanitarian money – is “how you prevent conflicts in the future. It is how you prevent terrorists in the future”.
The plans will be finalised by 11 June when the spending review, setting out government departments’ budgets, closes.
Baroness Chapman also pushed back on estimates from The One Campaign which suggested UK aid cuts could lead to 600,000 preventable deaths and 38 million fewer children being vaccinated, saying the government hadn’t got the point of making those decisions yet. More clarity on where the UK’s aid cuts will fall will come in the summer.
This article was produced as part of The Independent’s Rethinking Global Aid project