Trump gives Putin two weeks to prove he wants to end war
Moscow has proposed a second round direct peace talks with Ukraine in Istanbul on 2 June, weeks after similar negotiations failed to bear fruit.
Kyiv has hit back at Russia’s failure to submit a proposed ceasefire memorandum, which it says was due following the first round of Istanbul talks earlier in May.
Ukraine hopes Russia will “immediately submit their proposals for our consideration, as previously agreed,” Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha said on X. “Only a well-prepared meeting has the potential to produce tangible results.”
Defence minister Rustem Umerov accused Moscow of attempting to “delay this process”.
The Kremlin says it has drafted the memorandum and will present it to the Ukrainian side at the next round of direct talks – adding that Kyiv had not responded to the offer of 2 June.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump appears to have set a two-week deadline for Russian president Vladimir Putin to prove he is serious about wanting to end the war in Ukraine.
On being asked in the Oval Office yesterday if he thought Mr Putin wanted to end the war, Mr Trump said: “I can’t tell you that, but I’ll let you know in about two weeks.”
The US president has, however, previously set similar two-week deadlines, including on April 27 and May 19.
Drought declared in northwest England after record dry weather
A drought has officially been declared in North West England after the UK experienced record dry weather this spring, the Environment Agency has said.
The region entered drought status on 21 May, just days after residents were urged to use less water due to concerns over the low levels of rivers and reservoirs, which are currently at less than 60 per cent capacity across the region.
Earlier this month, prior to the recent bout of rainfall, the agency said North West and North East England had both seen their driest start to a calendar year since 1929, while England as a whole having endured its driest February to April period since 1956.
Simultaneously, the UK has experienced its sunniest spring since records began in 1910, with 630 hours of sunshine clocked up across the country between 1 March and 27 May – up from just 377 hours over the same three months last year.
This dry spell – with temperatures set to soar again this week – follows a period of extreme wet weather. England experienced its wettest 12 months on record between October 2023 and September 2024, leading to widespread flooding and agricultural disruption.
Experts warn that these volatile swings between extreme wet and dry periods are indicative of the growing impact of climate change.
England’s overall reservoir storage stood at 84 per cent at the end of April, lower than at this time of year in the drought summer of 2022.
Earlier this month, United Utilities said reservoir levels in North West England were at just 69 per cent capacity, down from more than 90 per cent at the same point last year. The latest readings show this has since fallen to 58.9 per cent.
As a result, the water company urged residents in the region to use less water. Despite thanking customers for their efforts, United Utilities warned that reservoirs were still lower than expected.
Urging residents to continue doing “all they can to save and recycle water”, a spokesperson said: “We’re continuing to move water around our integrated network to get it to where it is needed, as well as bringing extra water into the system from other sources around the region.”
The company did not respond when asked how far the region could be from hosepipe restrictions, which form part of the company’s Level 2 drought plan.
An Environment Agency spokesperson said: “The North West of England has entered drought status due to low water levels in reservoirs and rivers.
“No other areas in England are in drought and we continue to monitor the situation closely.”
It also emerged on Wednesday that environment secretary Steve Reed had intervened to seize central government control over the planning of two major reservoir projects in East Anglia and Lincolnshire by designating them “nationally significant”, amid growing concerns over the UK’s water supply.
Officials caution that without new reservoirs, population growth, aging infrastructure, and climate change could cause drinking water demand to exceed supply by the mid-2030s. Water supply shortages are also impeding the construction of thousands of homes in areas like Cambridge.
Water companies across England have committed to bringing nine new reservoirs online by 2050, in Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire, Oxfordshire, Somerset, Suffolk, Kent, East Sussex and the West Midlands and Somerset, with the potential to supply 670 million litres of extra water per day.
Additional reporting by PA
Elon Musk officially announces departure from Trump’s government
Elon Musk announced his departure from the government on Wednesday after leading President Donald Trump’s efforts to slim down the federal bureaucracy.
The billionaire took to X on Wednesday night to share the news.
“As my scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end, I would like to thank President @realDonaldTrump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending,” he wrote. “The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government.”
Musk’s 130-day term as a special government employee was set to come to an end this week.
His departure comes just a day after he slammed the main legislation to push forward Trump’s agenda, saying that he was “disappointed” in what the president refers to as his “big beautiful bill.”
The bill includes tax cuts and stepped-up efforts to enforce immigration restrictions. Musk told CBS that the legislation was a “massive spending bill” that expands the federal deficit and “undermines the work” of the Department of Government Efficiency, DOGE.
“I think a bill can be big or it could be beautiful,” said Musk. “But I don’t know if it could be both.”
Musk’s interview with CBS was published on Tuesday night. Speaking in the Oval Office on Wednesday, Trump defended the legislation and his agenda, discussing the politics behind the negotiation of the bill.
“I’m not happy about certain aspects of it, but I’m thrilled by other aspects of it,” said the president, adding that further changes may be in the offing.
“We’re going to see what happens,” he said. “It’s got a way to go.”
Republicans recently passed the legislation in the House, and it’s under review in the Senate, where some Republicans share Musk’s concerns.
“I sympathize with Elon being discouraged,” Wisconsin Republican Senator Ron Johnson said.
Musk aimed at cutting $1 trillion in government spending, but he didn’t come close to that goal.
“The federal bureaucracy situation is much worse than I realized,” the billionaire told The Washington Post. “I thought there were problems, but it sure is an uphill battle trying to improve things in D.C., to say the least.”
Musk’s criticism of Trump’s legislation comes as he puts his focus once again on his companies, such as electric carmaker Tesla and SpaceX, the rocket manufacturer. He has said that he will rein in his political spending.
“In terms of political spending, I’m going to do a lot less in the future,” he said earlier this month.
“I think I’ve done enough,” he added.
Lisa Gilbert, the co-president of Public Citizen, said in a statement following the announcement that Musk’s legacy, “is lost livelihoods for critical government employees, hindered American education, loss of funding for scientists, and the violation of Americans’ personal privacy, all in the service of corrupt tech-bro billionaire special interests.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report
Heatwaves hit different when you’re a redhead
Heatwave, anyone? As another warm weekend beckons, the Met Office has revealed that we experienced the hottest spring on record. But not everyone is cock-a-hoop at the nice weather.
Spare a thought for Britain’s gingers, who are usually well prepared for the rigours of a British summer, but who now must stretch out our dependency on SPF50 and large, hideous hats through spring and autumn, with only the end of Strictly and the duration of The Traitors providing a guaranteed period of respite.
By “gingers” (a ghastly word, by the way, takes me straight back to being bullied at school), I do of course mean any redheads like me, blessed with a pallor that allows excellent camouflage in areas of Scotland and Ireland during high winter, and which is absolutely useless at any other time. But I also include anyone else who struggles with the heat – spiritual gingers, if you will, like my friend Sonal, a former criminal barrister, who has established a cutting-edge skincare brand, This Is Silk, inspired by how she treated her rare allergy to sunlight.
I have been awash with sun cream pretty much every day since 2005. Thankfully, the quality has risen dramatically since I was a baby, when my fair mother – partly raised in Singapore, where she and her sisters coated themselves in oil like so many jacket potatoes – would swipe me with factor two. This was considered unimaginably high in the early 1980s and quite akin to staying indoors and hiding under the bed til the clocks went back.
The only problem today is that cheap sunscreen tends to be horrendous on sensitive skin or leaves a very obvious cast, and the good stuff is wildly expensive and comes in tubes the size of a fun-size Snickers. To keep covered in the stuff to the level that I need costs me a fortune – and I do need it, as the alternative is to rapidly become lightheaded and wobbly.
My solution is usually to stay inside for the majority of daylight hours and go out covered in hats, sunglasses and long sleeves where needed. Australia’s long-running awareness campaign, “Slip, slap, slop”, remains very relevant, even if I spent much of my UK childhood wondering which one referred to “having an ice lolly”.
It’s simply not worth doing otherwise, either to get burned (which I can do in under a minute on high UV days) or to use a cheap and cheerful sun cream and have the inevitable breakout or rash from trying to get my sensitive skin to play ball. My dad (equally redheaded, but less pallid due to a love of sailing) has become a devotee of the excellent Altruist sun cream, which I keep forgetting to stock up on online. He and the rest of my family can tan really beautifully. I gave up even trying in my early twenties, and have concluded that a neat trick to appear less ghostly is to wear a screamingly-white bathing suit instead.
Conversely, my favourite hobby is very ginger-friendly. When I go horse riding, I relish the opportunity to cover up in gloves, a hat, boots, a long-sleeved summer base layer, etc, all technically for protection should I fall into a tree. I went on a horsey travel assignment to India a few years ago and have never been more comfortable than riding through the Thar Desert, swathed in layers.
Since I got my retriever, Sybil, I’ve had a companion slash excuse to hide away from the sunlight – it’s simply cruel to walk a dog when the pavement can be used to sizzle bacon, especially when said dog resembles a sheepskin rug from Ikea. When, in the record-breakingly hot summer of 2022, we both had serious operations within weeks of each other, it was something of a relief to be able to hide indoors to recover.
It also gives me time to pray, pray, pray that someone with money and influence will turn their laser focus to sorting out the climate. Rather naively, I thought this conversation had already been settled during the greenhouse gas debate of the 1990s. If only this were something Blue Peter could rectify now through a campaign. Perhaps we could organise a Bring ’n’ Buy Sale. I’ve got loads of sun cream I can bring along to keep everyone covered.
AI-powered robot salesperson could be coming to UK showrooms
Robots powered by AI could soon be selling cars to customers in the UK as a global car manufacturer debuts an unusual new member of staff.
Omoda and Jaecoo owner Chery has showed off robotic sales assistant ‘Mornine’ at the Shangai Motor Show on 23 April. It can greet customers, show them around a car, and even make them a tea or coffee.
The AI robot uses machine learning to improve its performance, learning from interactions with customers. It has been trialled in showrooms in Malaysia and could soon be rolled out worldwide, a spokesperson for Chery said.
The car maker added that Mornine has capabilities including perception, cognition, decision making and task execution and explained the “ideal use case” was for “dealer-level admin and service.”
The car brand’s robotics experts said Mornine uses speech and vision inputs that allow it to “accurately interpret commands including physical gestures”.
Ian Wallace, spokesperson for Chery’s Omoda and Jaecoo brands in the UK, said Mornine could even be offered for use in people’s homes in the future if showroom trials go well.
He said: “Mornine is an intelligent showroom aid. She can show customers around a vehicle, she can answer questions and she can make teas and coffees, so in a busy showroom environment, if staff are tied up, she’s there to be a helpful face of the brand.
“She has learning capabilities so she can react to commands and learn your voice so if you were to use her in a household environment she would start to learn what you like and don’t like.”
Chery said the robot uses ‘automotive-grade hardware’ to allow it to walk upright and it has ‘dexterous hands’ to allow it to grip items. It can also distinguish between voices to identify different customers.
The car maker also showcased a robotic dog called ‘Argos’ at the Shanghai show. They say the AI-powered animal is designed to offer companionship to those who are unable to keep real pets at home.
Nationwide announces record-breaking £2.8bn in returns to customers
Nationwide has announced it is returning a record £2.8bn in value to members as it unveils its full-year financial results following a merger with Virgin Money.
The UK’s biggest building society has reported its best growth in net mortgage lending and record lending in the first quarter of 2025, the best results across the whole UK banking sector.
Over the last month, £1bn was returned directly to eligible members and a further £1.8bn has been returned in better-than-average rates and incentives.
In March, the banking group gave away £50 to 12.3m customers as an early Easter present to thank them for their support during their 2024 merger with Virgin Money, as well as returning money through their Fairer Share scheme.
Debbie Crosbie, Nationwide’s chief executive, said: “Nationwide has had an outstanding twelve months. We returned a record £2.8bbn in value to our members and recorded our highest ever year for growth in mortgage lending and retail deposit balances, and we remain first for customer service.”
As well as ranking first for customer satisfaction for the 13th year in a row, retail deposits also grew by a record £14bn and statutory profit before tax rose to £2.3bn.
Last October, Ms Crosbie oversaw the completion of the biggest merger in the industry since the financial crisis with the £2.9bn takeover, and has also pledged not to close branches for a further three years.
In its first set of financial results since the acquisition, Nationwide said trading performance was ahead of expectations, with a continued increase in business lending and a return to growth in mortgage net lending.
The creation of 370 new roles at Virgin Money has also improved customer service, while the building society has also seen more than one in four students choosing Nationwide for their banking.
Unlike banks, the building society has pledged to keep all of its nearly 700 branches open until at least the start of 2028.
New data from the group revealed that nearly 200,000 more customers used its branches in the financial year to the end of March, compared with the prior year, and more people switched to Nationwide than any other bank.
Despite the number of banks on the high street dwindling rapidly, Nationwide saw an increase of four per cent in people visiting its branches, and 40 per cent of ISAs were opened through face-to-face contact with staff.
In contrast, Lloyds has been making sweeping cuts to its network – with the most recently announced closures to 136 branches taking place over the next year.
Others have been drastically trimming their network, such as Santander announcing in March it would be closing more than a fifth of its high street branches, bringing it down to 349 across Britain.
Government urged to upgrade travel warning to Egypt ‘police state’
Leading figures have called on the UK government to update official travel advice to caution against travel to Egypt as British-Egyptian democracy activist and writer Alaa Abd El-Fattah remains in detention.
The former ambassador to Egypt, John Casson, is among the signatories of a letter to The Times today (May 29), urging the government to “deploy the full range of tools it has to protect British citizens”.
The letter added: “This includes official travel advice that should caution against travel to Egypt, making it clear that a British citizen who falls foul of the police state in Egypt cannot expect fair process, nor normal support from the British government.”
UN investigators have said that Mr Abd el-Fattah, who has spent nearly a decade imprisoned in Egypt, is being detained illegally and should be released immediately.
Mr Abd el-Fattah has been held in Egypt since September 2019, and in 2021, he was handed a five-year prison sentence on charges of spreading false news for re-sharing a social media post.
The UN’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNWGAD), a panel of independent human rights experts, found that his imprisonment was illegal based on the lack of a warrant and reasons for his arrest, the lack of a fair trial, his being arrested for exercising freedom of expression, and the fact that his detention was discriminatory.
The Times letter continued: “Egypt can’t have it both ways. It pretends to be a friend and depends on flows of British tourists to keep its economy afloat. It needs to discover that kind of partnership is not compatible with abusing our citizens, and blocking our embassy from carrying out the most fundamental consular actions on their behalf.”
Signatories of the letter include Richard Ratcliffe, campaigner and husband of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who was detained in a prison in Iran for six years.
Responding to the UNWGAD ruling, Ratcliffe previously said: “The crime is not Alaa’s; the criminals are those still holding him, and provoking his family to desperation. For our family, our WGAD ruling was also a relief: we thought it would mark an end to the UK government’s prevarication and the beginning of firm action on Nazanin’s case. In the end, it did.
“But for Alaa’s family, time is so much shorter. The ruling needs to be implemented now. The law is clear, but so is the heavy cost of continuing to ignore it.
The current Foreign Office (FCDO) travel advice, which was last updated on 20 May and current on 29 May, advises against all travel to parts of Egypt, including North Sinai and within 20km of the Egypt-Libya border (except for the town of El Salloum, where it advises against all but essential travel).
The FCDO advises against all but essential travel to areas including the Ismailiyah Governorate east of the Suez Canal, the Hala’ib Triangle and the Bir Tawil Trapezoid.
It does not warn against travel to any of the main tourist destinations in Egypt, including Cairo, Luxor, Aswan, Alexandria and the two Red Sea resorts of Sharm el Sheikh and Hurghada.