Trump administration ‘secretly working with Russia to form new Ukraine peace plan’

Washington has been secretly forming a plan with Russia to end the war in Ukraine, according to a report.

The new 28-point plan would consist of “security guarantees, security in Europe, and future US relations with Russia and Ukraine”, Axios reported citing sources.

It comes amid a fresh attempt by US to force through a peace between Moscow and Kyiv after several diplomatic overtures faltered in recent months.

Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, is said to have discussed the plan with Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev and Volodymyr Zelensky’s security adviser Rustem Umerov, according to officials from Washington and Kyiv.

The proposal is reportedly inspired by Trump’s plan for the Gaza ceasefire, which came into effect in October. While the plan succeeded in ending the war, it has not ended violence in the enclave and both Hamas and Israel have accused the other of breaching the agreement.

The White House said it has also begun to brief European officials on the proposal, which will be discussed in high-level meetings this week, as EU countries suffer repeated territorial breaches by drones during Russian air attacks on Ukraine.

In a renewed push to end the war in Ukraine, Washington has also sent two top US Army officials for a rare wartime visit to Kyiv by Trump administration officials, according to Politico.

Army Secretary Dan Driscoll and Army Chief of Staff General Randy George arrived on an unannounced trip for talks with Ukraine’s leaders in an attempt to revive stalled peace talks with Russia, Politico reported on Wednesday.

The pair are due to meet Zelensky, senior commanders and lawmakers, the outlet reported, citing people familiar with the plans.

Mr Driscoll is also expected to meet Russian officials at a later date, the Wall Street Journal reported separately.

The White House has reportedly turned to Driscoll and other senior commanders in hopes that Moscow might respond better to military intermediaries following earlier failed efforts with political officials.

Recently, Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov stated his readiness to meet US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to discuss mending bilateral ties, following reports that he had been sidelined by Putin over his failure to secure a peace summit with Trump.

Lavrov spoke by phone to Rubio on 20 October to discuss the possible summit, but the Financial Times cited a source as suggesting that Lavrov’s conversation with Rubio had put Washington off.

The next day, Trump said that he did not want to hold a meeting that would be “a waste of time”. He later said he had cancelled the summit because it “just didn’t feel right”.

A highly-anticipated meeting between Trump and Putin in Alaska last August failed to yield a breakthrough in achieving peace.

The visit to Kyiv comes as Russian forces make gradual advances along parts of the front line and step up missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian cities and energy infrastructure. Meanwhile, Kyiv’s Western allies are looking for new ways to sustain weapons and ammunition supplies.

Russia last night launched a huge air attack on Ukraine, firing 518 drones and missiles at targets across Ukraine – including the country’s west – and killing at least nine people while injuring dozens, Mr Zelensky said. Many people could be trapped under the rubble, he added.

Jubilation as Scotland qualify for men’s World Cup for first time since 1998

Scotland have secured their place at the World Cup finals for the first time since 1998 after a dramatic 4-2 victory over Denmark, sealed by stunning second-half stoppage-time goals from substitutes Kieran Tierney and Kenny McLean.

Scott McTominay opened proceedings in the third minute with a glorious 12-yard overhead kick, but Steve Clarke’s side then faced intense pressure from the visitors in a fiercely contested encounter marked by numerous challenges.

Scotland centre-back John Souttar came off with an injury, and Ben Gannon-Doak was stretchered off after 21 minutes. Rasmus Hojlund then equalised from the spot in the 57th minute, momentarily silencing the Tartan Army.

His teammate Rasmus Kristensen was sent packing in the 61st minute for picking up the second of two yellow cards and as the game took yet another twist, substitute Lawrence Shankland restored Scotland’s lead in the 78th minute only for Patrick Dorgu to level three minutes later.

However, in six minutes of added time, Tierney fired in from 25 yards with McLean scoring from the halfway line to top Group C in one of the great nights in Scotland’s history.

The packed-out national stadium on a wet and bitterly cold night was at fever pitch for the winner-takes-all Group C fixture, albeit a draw would have suited the Danes, who began the night one point ahead of their opponents at the top of the section.

Denmark’s shock 2-2 draw at home to bottom side Belarus on Saturday had given the Scots an automatic qualification lifeline, despite their 3-2 defeat in Greece on the same night.

There was team news drama before the game when Souttar pulled out with an injury.

Dropped Grant Hanley returned to partner Scott McKenna, with striker Lyndon Dykes replacing Che Adams while captain Andy Robertson won his 90th cap.

The home side got off to a blistering start. McTominay’s goal was a work of art, the Napoli midfielder rising 12 yards from goal to execute a perfect overhead kick from Gannon-Doak’s chipped cross.

The Danes had Hojlund back from sickness and he raced clear five minutes later only to see his shot saved by Craig Gordon but the offside flag was up.

The move preceded heavy Denmark pressure and there was more injury woe for the Scots when Gannon-Doak was replaced by McLean after appearing to be injured as he stretched.

Hojlund had the ball in the net soon afterwards but the goal was ruled out for a shove on right-back Aaron Hickey and the Napoli striker then came close with a couple of headers.

Scotland could hardly get out of their own half and were relieved to hear Polish referee Szymon Marciniak’s half-time whistle.

Gordon saved a drive from Hojlund just after the break as Denmark resumed their attack on the home goal.

There was a lengthy penalty check by VAR when Robertson tackled Gustav Isaksen at the edge of the Scotland box and when referee Marciniak eventually checked his monitor he pointed to the spot and Hojlund sent Gordon the wrong way with a confident spot kick to level.

Denmark were soon reduced to 10 men, however, when already-booked Kristensen was shown a second yellow by Marciniak for a tug on John McGinn.

Immediately, Ryan Christie and Dykes were replaced by Che Adams and Shankland and then Hickey made way for Tierney but Denmark remained in control.

When the Hearts skipper knocked in from Lewis Ferguson’s corner it turned the game back in the Scots’ favour – but only until Dorgu slid in an equaliser from 12 yards as the home side failed to deal with another cross.

However, Hampden again exploded in joy in added time when Tierney picked up a loose ball 25 yards from goal and curled past keeper Kasper Schmeichel and to add further elation to the night, McLean flighted the fourth in from the halfway line.

Lonely and antisocial, why Gen Z are bringing communal dining back

Gen Z are accused of many things: that they’re chronically online, surgically attached to their phones, avoidant of eye contact, allergic to small talk. They are, we’re told, the loneliest generation, and supposedly the one least able to hold a conversation with a stranger.

So, it may come as a surprise to learn that they, not the extroverted, freewheeling generations before them, are the ones bringing back communal dining.

Recent reporting shows that around 90 per cent of Gen Z diners say they enjoy communal tables, compared to 60 per cent of those aged 61 to 79. Meanwhile, the “more social” generations – Boomers, Gen X, Millennials – prefer to huddle in pairs and fours, privately partitioned in booths, nursing the same rituals they’ve clung to since the Noughties.

It’s an exquisite generational irony: the loneliest people are making the most communal choice.

Anyone who grew up in the Nineties will remember the first wave of communal dining – not that we called it that. We just called it Wagamama. Or Belgo. We remember the awkward bench-mounting, the screaming toddlers, the couple mid-breakup on your left, the student with the loud cough to your right. The feeling that you were essentially one long conga line of strangers trying to eat soup without elbowing each other in the ribs.

Little wonder, then, that older diners flinch at the idea it’s becoming fashionable again. Our version was chaotic and transactional. Gen Z’s is curated and communal: less Belgo, more bonding.

We’ve spent years mocking Gen Z for living online, then tutting when they didn’t go to pubs as much, then wringing our hands when they said they were lonely. Now, they’ve responded with the most analogue solution imaginable: voluntarily sitting cheek-to-jowl with strangers while they eat. Who on earth would choose to sit with people they don’t know?

Perhaps the kids weren’t the disconnected ones after all.

It certainly looked like they were. Nearly half of Gen Z say they often feel lonely, according to Oxfam. Meanwhile, a third of young men say they haven’t seen anyone outside their household in the past week, and only a fifth say they have friends they can truly rely on.

And yet: these same young adults are filling communal tables, attending supper clubs, booking early dinners in groups, talking to strangers and rebuilding the idea of eating as a social act, not a private one. Maybe the problem wasn’t that they didn’t want connection, but that the existing formats for it – late-night bars, overpriced clubs, competitive drinking cultures – didn’t work for them?

Gen Z is emerging as the first generation in years to make a conscious effort to log off. Phone-free nights, “de-influencing” trends are booming without documenting any of it. Communal dining fits perfectly: you can’t doomscroll when you’re hemmed in on both sides by actual humans.

Their drinking habits are shifting, too. At first, it looked like the teens of the 2020s were… well, boring. In 2023, more than a third of Gen-Zers were sober; now, IWSR data shows 73 per cent drank alcohol in the past six months – the biggest increase of any generation.

Cost is undoubtedly a big driver: where can you find a pint for under £7 these days? Yes, they go out less than millennials did. Yes, they spend less at bars and are less wedded to big club nights. But they’re also organising DIY parties, themed house gatherings, art raves, curated socials – and communal dinners are part of that too.

Gen Z aren’t opting out of community. They’re opting out of our version of it. They were never antisocial, just intentional. They don’t want to socialise in ways that trash their mental health, bank accounts or sleep schedules. Eating together is the perfect substitution: softer edges, real conversation, less regret. And if you’re already drinking less and choosing conversation over chaos, you might as well be doing it with other people.

Older diners might wonder whether this will all go a bit Belgo again – a sea of benches, communal chaos, and everyone’s dishes coming out at different times – but Gen Z’s version is softer, more curated. Less factory line, more intentional gathering.

And restaurants are moving into that vacuum.

Longer tables are appearing because they fill quickly, encourage mixing and generate the kind of low-level buzz you can’t manufacture. Menus are drifting further towards sharing formats, but with bigger portions and better value to share. “Come alone” nights and curated supper clubs offer structured mingling. Drinks lists tilt toward low- and no-alcohol options, all aligning with what this generation wants from a night out.

Restaurants have always been about more than just food, but somewhere between the cost-of-living crisis, the obsession with “value” and the endless culture wars about tipping and pricing, older diners seem to have forgotten that. Gen Z haven’t.

That’s not to say communal dining is something new. During the Second World War, Britain had “British restaurants”: communal dining halls endorsed by Winston Churchill that served affordable, nutritious meals to the nation. They were wildly successful – socially, nutritionally, culturally.

Gen Z, perhaps without knowing it, are resurrecting that same logic. If you want community, you have to build it somewhere. And the table is the easiest place to start.

Plans to reform NHS have ‘chilling echoes’ of HS2 failures, MPs warn

Plans to reform the NHS have “chilling echoes” of the failures around HS2, MPs have said as they warn Labour is at “serious risk” of not meeting its pledge to cut waiting lists.

The public accounts committee (PAC) warned that “poor practices” seen in the troubled project to build the high-speed rail link were being replicated in the health service and could lead to “wasted effort” to overhaul the NHS.

HS2 has been described by politicians as an “appalling mess” after billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money were wasted amid years-long delays.

The criticism came as MPs warned that initiatives to reduce waiting times for pre-planned care in England have not met their goals under “extremely variable” management of programmes.

MPs on the cross-party committee highlighted how billions have been spent to transform diagnostics and surgical services, yet the pace of change is still “too slow”.

The report also highlights plans to axe NHS England and absorb its functions into the Department of Health and Social Care, while reducing local health management teams, with the health department set to take responsibility for managing the initiatives to cut waiting lists.

“Unless it gets a grip on the programmes, there is a serious risk that it will not meet its target for 92 per cent of the waiting list to be treated within 18 weeks by 2029,” MPs wrote.

Sir Keir Starmer’s plan for change pledged that by July 2029, 92 per cent of patients will be seen within 18 weeks for routine hospital treatment such as hip and knee replacements.

Clive Betts, Labour MP and deputy chair of the PAC, said: “Every unnecessary day that a patient spends on an NHS waiting list is both one of increased anxiety for that person’s unresolved case, and if they are undiagnosed, a steady increasing of risk to their life.

“Every penny of funding spent to put the NHS back on a pre-pandemic footing must be precisely targeted, or the system itself becomes an obstacle to proper care.

“Unfortunately, our report establishes that billions have been poured into the system over the past few years without the requisite focus on making sure that money does what it was intended for – improving outcomes for patients.”

He also said that they are now seeing “chilling echoes of past failures on HS2” as he urged the government to provide reassurance and detail on how it hopes to take its plans forward.

MPs on the committee also raised concerns about the plans to restructure the top of the health service, amid concerns that changes are being announced “without either delivery plans or funding in place”.

Last week, health secretary Wes Streeting confirmed that thousands of NHS staff redundancies will now go ahead after funding for the estimated £1bn cost was agreed with the Treasury.

The government has already announced that headcount across both NHS England and the Department of Health will be cut by around 50 per cent, with around 18,000 administrative staff and managers, including on local health boards, set to go.

The new PAC report states: “We do not accept that it is prudent to make a major change, such as the structural changes that are being made to Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) and NHS England without ensuring there is funding in place to pay for the changes, and without conducting an impact assessment or taking other steps to safeguard value for money.

“These changes, especially the planned cuts to ICBs (integrated care boards), could have a significant negative impact on patients and on the healthcare workforce through the level of uncertainty they create, and because they may limit the ability of NHS organisations to plan for the future.

“We are concerned that these poor practices, previously seen with the New Hospitals Programme and the High Speed 2 programme are being replicated here and will lead to wasted effort.”

The report comes as doctors stage a five-day strike over pay – the 13th such walkout since March 2023.

Shadow health secretary Stuart Andrew told The Independent: “Wes {Streeting] has taken his eye off the ball. I imagine No 10 have grown tired of the showboating and are looking to clip his wings.”

A DHSC source told The Independent: “Waiting lists increased every year for 14 years under the Conservatives. Thanks to Labour’s investment and reforms, waiting lists have been cut for the first time in 15 years. That’s the difference Labour is making.”

“Whether it’s the staff retention crisis, Andrew Lansley’s reorganisation, or chronic underinvestment, Wes is cleaning up the mess the Tories left and rebuilding our NHS.”

A DHSC spokesperson said: “This government inherited a broken NHS, with waiting lists soaring and elective services in dire need of modernisation. This report focuses on the previous government, and we have taken immediate and robust action to tackle waiting lists and modernise elective care.

“Through record investment and modernisation, we’ve cut backlogs by more than 230,000 and smashed our target for additional appointments, delivering more than five million extra. Health service productivity is up 2.7 per cent on last year.”

British woman among five tourists killed during fierce snowstorm in Chile

A British woman is among five people found dead in Chile’s Torres del Paine National Park, authorities confirmed.

The bodies, including two German and two Mexican citizens, were discovered on Tuesday following a snowstorm in the popular Patagonian tourist destination.

Jose Antonio Ruiz, the presidential delegate for Chile’s southern Magallanes region, said talks had begun with the representatives from the victims’ countries of origin so their bodies could be repatriated.

The presidential delegate for Magallanes identified the victims, adding: “We appreciate the effort of all civilian, military, public, and private institutions that participated in this operation.”

The area was struck by a snowstorm causing whiteout conditions with fierce wind speeds surpassing 193 kmh (120 mph), equivalent to a Category 3 hurricane.

The Torres del Paine National Park, with its jutting mountain tops and subpolar forests, spans about 1,810 square kilometres (700 square miles) and hosts hundreds of thousands of visitors each year.

The search for the victims has ended, with authorities now focusing on repatriating the bodies and liaising with foreign consulates, officials said.

It is understood that a further four people have been found alive.

Map: Torres del Paine National Park

Chilean President Gabriel Boric Font paid tribute to the “tireless” search and rescue teams, who worked amid “intense” snowfall and winds reaching 118mph.

“To the families, friends, and loved ones of the five individuals of Mexican, German, and British nationalities who tragically lost their lives in the incident that occurred in Torres del Paine, I extend my deepest condolences,” he said in a post on X/Twitter.

“Know that you have the full support and collaboration of Chilean authorities and institutions during these difficult times.”

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has been contacted for comment.

Ten compelling reasons to have your next adventure in Missouri

Missouri is the true heart of America, surrounded by eight states and roughly halfway between the north and south of the country. Known for its breathtaking national parks, sizzling barbecue, and even hotter jazz and sports scene, Missouri has more than meets the eye.

Springfield celebrates 100 years of the “Mother Road” in 2026. The birthplace of the famous 2,448-mile highway will host a music concert, vintage car parade and family events. Missouri’s Route 66 highlights include Meramec Caverns (once a hideout for the infamous Jesse James), St. Robert Route 66 Neon Park, where refurbished original neon signs are on display, and Red Oak II, which is both an art installation and living museum.

visitmo.com/in-the-spotlight/route-66

You’d be forgiven for not knowing that sliced bread was invented in Chillicothe, Missouri, which is why this charming museum celebrates the pioneers who brought sliced bread to the world in 1928. The Sliced Bread Innovation Center includes a replica of the first slicing machine and a bread-themed escape room. Located on the “Way of American Genius,” or Highway 36 as your Sat Nav might call it, the scenic 200-mile route connects picturesque towns linked with American innovation, including Walt Disney’s childhood home and the town that inspired many of Mark Twain’s novels.

thehomeofslicedbread.com

americangeniushighway.com

St. Louis Gateway Arch might be the tallest arch in the world at 192m, but it’s located in America’s smallest national park of just 91 acres. Completed in 1965 in the heart of downtown St. Louis, the arch symbolises the westward expansion of the United States. A tram of small cylindrical pods carries visitors to the apex where they’re greeted with panoramic views across the Mississippi River and state of Missouri beyond.

gatewayarch.com

Ozark National Scenic Riverways is one of Missouri’s best spots for spending the day on the water. The riverways are comprised of 134-miles of federally protected winding river, springs, caves, and forests. Wallow in the crystal-clear waters of the Current and Jacks Fork Rivers and camp at the beautiful Alley Spring Campground. While you’re there, hike to see the beautiful spring and the big, red, century-old mill that sits on its bank. Go to a local outfitter to get a canoe, kayak or inflatable tube to float downstream.

nps.gov/ozar

Illegal gambling, prohibition speakeasies and a rowdy jazz scene christened Kansas City as the “Paris of the Plains” in the 1920s, but these days the grand boulevards and Beaux-Arts architecture combine with modern additions that give Kansas City a spirit of its own. Follow the bassline to 18th and Vine Jazz District or seek out a potent Rendezvous cocktail and live jazz at VOO Lounge, inside the historic Muehlebach Hotel.

vookansascity.com

Kansas City and St. Louis are known for their legendary barbecue joints, but you can get mouthwatering meals outside the big city. Roadside shacks like Missouri Hick BBQ in Cuba, Missouri, serve pulled pork and slaw on Route 66, or stop for slow cooked ribs at Wabash BBQ in Excelsior Springs, housed in the old train depot. Missouri is renowned for its spicy rub and thick, sweet and smokey tomato-based barbecue sauce, especially slathered over the “burnt ends” of beef brisket.

missourihick.com

wabashbbq.com

Known as “The Cave State,” with more than 7,500 caves hidden within its limestone rocks, Missouri’s landscape holds many treasures. At Mark Twain Cave in Hannibal, wander the subterranean labyrinths that inspired part of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Marvel Cave, located under Silver Dollar City in Branson, is the state’s deepest cave. It’s main cavern, the Cathedral Room, is so massive it once held three hot air balloons.

marktwaincave.com

With over 115 wineries and eight wine trails, you won’t get thirsty. Van Till Winery in Rayville is Missouri’s first regenerative vineyard and sustainably produces around 25 wines, including a full-bodied dry red pressed from the official state grape, Norton. Make a day of it and sip your way along the Northwest Missouri Wine Trail, visiting nine wineries nearby.

vantillfarms.com

missouriwine.org

The Pony Express, America’s first horsepowered mail delivery service, originated in Missouri, but RS Ranch Trail Rides in Bourbon offers more leisurely horseback fun. Follow outlaw trails on a native Foxtrotter horse, hop aboard a hayride, or get back to nature with a cowboy-style Chuckwagon cookout under the stars.

rsranchrides.com

Missouri and sports go together like ribs and sauce, which means baseball, hockey, American football and even soccer are a big deal. As Kansas City gears up to host World Cup 2026, you can catch a game every season at one of the state’s two professional soccer teams or many league matches. Kansas City Current proudly plays in CPKC Stadium, the first stadium in the world purpose-built for a women’s professional sports team.

kansascityfwc26.com

kansascitycurrent.com

stlcitysc.com

Trump defends Saudi crown prince over killing of journalist Khashoggi

Donald Trump welcomed Mohammed bin Salman to the White House on Tuesday for the Saudi Crown Prince’s first visit to Washington since the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. The president berated a reporter who asked about the killing.

Trump lost his temper and began yelling at ABC News reporter Mary Bruce after she raised the issue of Saudi Arabia’s role in the September 11 terror attacks and also asked the Crown Prince about the 2018 murder of the Washington Post columnist by Saudi agents acting on his orders.

As Bruce pressed him on whether his family should be doing business in the oil-rich kingdom during his presidency and asked the Saudi leader on why Americans should trust him given his role in Khashoggi’s murder, Trump angrily interrupted her and asked her to identify her employer. After she said she worked for ABC News, he shouted at her: “Fake News. ABC, fake news, one of the worst, one of the worst in the business.”

He angrily denied having anything to do with his eponymous real estate and hotel company’s multiple partnerships with Saudi developers and claimed his sons, who currently run the company, have “done very little with Saudi Arabia”.

Trump also attempted to dismiss the question about the killing of Khashoggi — a US permanent resident at the time of his murder — by calling the slain journalist “extremely controversial.”

“A lot of people didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about, whether you like him or didn’t like him. Things happen, but he knew nothing about it. And we can leave it at that,” he said before chiding Bruce for “embarrassing” the Saudi leader.

The Crown Prince, who is commonly known by his initials MBS, jumped in at that point and calmly responded to the ABC News journalist’s question by stating that he felt “painful” about the effect of the September 11 attacks on the families of those who were killed but suggested that it was necessary to “focus on reality.”

He then claimed that al Qaeda leader and 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden, a wealthy Saudi construction heir, had “used Saudi people” to commit the terror attacks with the aim of destroying U.S.-Saudi relations.

Prince Mohammed then addressed the matter of the Washington Post journalist Khashoggi whose 2018 abduction and murder the CIA determined he had approved, by claiming it had also been “really painful” to hear of “anyone … losing his life … for no real purpose or not in a legal way.”

“And it’s been painful for us in Saudi Arabia. We did all the right steps of investigation, etc, in Saudi Arabia, and we’ve improved our system to be sure that nothing happened like that, and it’s painful and it’s a huge mistake, and we are doing our best that this doesn’t happen again,” he said.

The 2021 report by by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence on the journalist’s murder and dismemberment found: “We assess that Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman approved an operation in Istanbul, Turkey, to capture or kill” Khashoggi.

Saudi Arabia rejected the finding as “negative, false and unacceptable.”

The president lashed out at ABC’s Bruce again a short time later after she asked him why he would not order the Department of Justice to release case files from FBI probes into the deceased pedophile Jeffrey Epstein instead of forcing Congress to pass legislation that would force the Department of Justice to release the same documents.

He told her: “It’s not the question that I mind. It’s your attitude. I think you are a terrible reporter. It’s the way you ask questions.”

Trump then laid into her for having asked the Saudi crown prince “a horrible, insubordinate and just a terrible question” and accused her of being “all psyched up” to ask it.

“You’re a terrible person and a terrible reporter,” he said before launching into a separate rant about Epstein, the convicted sex trafficker with whom he once shared a close friendship.

“As far as the Epstein files is, I have nothing to do with Jeffrey Epstein. I threw him out of my club many years ago because I thought he was a sick pervert, but I guess I turned out to be right,” he said.

He then once again claimed the entire controversy over the Epstein case files is a “Democrat hoax” before accusing Bruce — and ABC — of being “one of the perpetrators.”

“Your crappy company is one of the perpetrators. And I’ll tell you something. I’ll tell you something. I think the license should be taken away from ABC, because your news is so fake and it’s so wrong,” he said.

It was the Crown Prince’s first visit to the White House since the Khashoggi murder left Americans on both sides of the political aisle outraged, with then-former vice-president Joe Biden vowing to make Prince Mohammed a “pariah”.

Five years later, Trump happily welcomed him back to Washington for two days of activities, including a black-tie dinner planned for Tuesday and an investment forum scheduled for Wednesday.

At one point during the media availability, the president marvelled at how he was “sitting here … with a future king” and about the fact that the two of them were answering press questions.

He called the Crown Prince “a man who is respected by everybody … that doesn’t have to be doing this, really.”

“I don’t have to be doing it either. And yet we’re sitting here taking questions and there’s never been transparency like this,” he said.

UK school closures as snow and ice weather warnings come into force

Schools could face closure as snow and ice warnings come into force across the UK.

The Met Office warned the wintry weather is likely to cause “substantial disruption” as the cold snap grips the northern half of the UK. Dozens of schools across Scotland have been shut on Wednesday after snow fell across parts of the country.

Much of northern Scotland is subject to a yellow warning for snow and ice from 6pm on Tuesday to 9pm on Thursday. The same applies from 12am on Wednesday until 11.59pm on Thursday for much of north-east England and Yorkshire, as well as in Northern Ireland from midnight until 12pm on Wednesday.

The Met Office said rain and hill snow, followed by clearing skies, will lead to the risk of icy patches on Tuesday night into Wednesday morning.

A yellow warning for ice is in place across much of Wales, northern and central England and southern Scotland until 11am on Wednesday.

The Met Office has also issued an amber weather warning for snow in parts of Yorkshire on Thursday between 5am and 9pm.

Frequent wintry showers will feed inland from the North Sea, giving significant snow accumulations over the North York Moors and parts of the Yorkshire Wolds. By the end of Thursday, as much as 15-25cm may have accumulated on hills above 100m elevation.

The Met Office warned the “first notable cold snap of this autumn” is likely to cause “particularly tricky travel conditions” as well as power cuts.

So far, schools across the Highlands and Aberdeenshire are also facing complete or partial closure amid the wintry weather.

Here is a full list of the school closures as of 9am on Wednesday, according to the local council websites:

Aberdeenshire schools

Aboyne Academy: Closed

Aboyne Primary School: Closed

Alford Academy: Closed

Alford Primary School: Closed

Ballater School: Opening delayed

Cluny School: Opening delayed

Craigievar School: Closed

Drumblade School: Closed

Finzean School: Opening delayed

Kennethmont School: Closed

Kincardine O’Neil School: Opening delayed

Lumphanan School: Opening delayed

Mackie Academy: Closed

Midmar School: Closed

Rhynie School: Closed

Strathdon School: Closed

Tarland School: Closed

Torphins School: Opening delayed

Towie School: Closed to everyone

Highland schools

Achiltibuie Primary: Closed

Ardross Primary: Closed

Auchtertyre Primary: Closed

Auchtertyre Primary Nursery: Closed

Bonar Bridge Primary: Closed

Bonar Bridge Primary Nursery: Closed

Bun-Sgoil Shlèite: Closed

Edinbane Primary: Partially closed – opening 1 hour later

Gairloch High School: Closed

Gairloch Primary: Closed

Gairloch Primary Nursery – EM: Closed

Gairloch Primary Nursery – GM: Closed

Gledfield Primary: Closed

Lairg Primary: Partially closed – opening 1 hour later

Lairg Primary Nursery: Partially closed – opening 1 hour later

Lochcarron Primary: Closed

Lochinver Early Learning and Childcare: Closed

Lochinver Primary: Partially closed – opening 2 hours later

Macdiarmid Primary: Partially closed – opening 1 hour later

Macdiarmid Primary Nursery: Partially closed – opening 1 hour later

Newtonmore Primary: Partially closed – opening 1 hour later

Newtonmore Primary Nursery – EM: Partially closed – opening 1 hour later

Newtonmore Primary Nursery – GM: Partially closed – opening 1 hour later

Poolewe Primary: Closed

Portree High School: Partially closed – opening 1 hour later

Portree Primary: Partially closed – opening 1 hour later

Rogart Primary: Closed

Rogart Primary Nursery: Closed

Rosehall Primary: Closed

Moray schools

Glenlivet Primary: Closed

Tomintoul School: Closed