Trump warns Putin ‘we have a nuclear submarine off your shore’ after cruise missile test
Donald Trump has warned Vladimir Putin that the US “has a nuclear submarine off your shore” as he condemned a Russian cruise missile test as “inappropriate”.
Putin said Russia had successfully tested its nuclear-powered Burevestnik cruise missile, a nuclear-capable weapon Moscow says can pierce any defence shield, in a move that has infuriated Washington. Moscow said the Burevestnik had flown for 14,000km.
Responding to Putin’s announcement, Trump said the US did not need to fly so far as it had a nuclear submarine off the coast of Russia.
“They know we have a nuclear submarine, the greatest in the world, right off their shores, so I mean, it doesn’t have to go 8,000 miles,” Trump told reporters, according to an audio file posted by the White House.
“I don’t think it’s an appropriate thing for Putin to be saying, either, by the way: You ought to get the war ended, the war that should have taken one week is now in … its fourth year, that’s what you ought to do instead of testing missiles.”
Pictured: An apartment damaged by a Russian strike in Dobropillia
Putin says ‘everything going to plan’ with North Korea
Russian President Vladimir Putin asked North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui during talks in the Kremlin on Monday to tell his country’s leader Kim Jong Un that everything was “going to plan” in bilateral relations.
“We talked in detail in Beijing about our relations and prospects for development,” Putin told Choe, referring to talks the Russian leader held with Kim during celebrations in the Chinese capital last month to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War Two in Asia.
“Everything is going according to plan. Please convey my best wishes to him (Kim),” Putin said.
North Korea has sent soldiers, artillery ammunition and missiles to Russia to support Moscow’s military campaign in Ukraine.
Ukraine deploys reinforcements as fighting spreads in Pokrovsk city
Ukraine is rushing to strengthen its positions in the strategic eastern transport hub of Pokrovsk as about 200 Russian troops have infiltrated the city in small groups, Kyiv’s military has said.
The Ukrainian general staff, which made the estimate of enemy forces, reported small arms firefights and the active deployment of drones.
The Russian defence ministry said that its assault groups were trying to advance near the train station.
“There is fierce fighting in the city and on the approaches to the city… Logistics are difficult. But we must continue to destroy the occupiers,” President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday.
Russia has been aiming to occupy Pokrovsk, a key part of Kyiv’s defensive lines, for months.
Zelensky says Putin is not approaching peace efforts in good faith
Volodymyr Zelensky has argued that Vladimir Putin is not approaching peace prospects in Ukraine in good faith as he criticised Moscow’s refusal to budge on its maximalist demands for a ceasefire deal.
Speaking to Axios, he suggested that Putin had not taken Trump’s peacemaking efforts seriously – something the US presidebt appeared to recognise on 19 October when he said he might be being “played” by Putin.
“They did the same after Alaska,” Zelensky told Axios, referencing the August summit between Trump and Putin. “This is the third or fourth time when Putin and his people reject what Trump says.”
Since the disastrous summit between Zelensky and Trump in February, the Ukrainian president has been careful to align with Trump’s messaging, while highlighting where Russia has gone back on its word.
Pictured: Putin shakes hands with North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui
Norway says Russia’s Burevestnik missile was launched from Novaya Zemlya
Norway’s military intelligence service has said that Russia’s test last week of the nuclear-powered Burevestnik missile was launched from the Arctic Barents Sea archipelago of Novaya Zemlya.
Vladimir Putin said Russia had successfully tested the cruise missile, a nuclear-capable weapon Moscow says can pierce any defence shield. Moscow said the Burevestnik had flown for 14,000km.
“We can confirm that Russia has conducted a new test launch of the long-range cruise missile Skyfall (Burevestnik) on Novaya Zemlya,” Vice Admiral Nils Andreas Stensoenes, head of Norway’s Intelligence Service, told Reuters in an emailed statement.
Ukraine and Russia are playing out a deadly cat and mouse drone war
Our World Affairs Editor Sam Kiley joins the Ukrainian infantry near Zaporizhzhia, southern Ukraine, as they bed down in a mud dugout for a night of lethal drone attacks against their Russian enemy – just a few kilometres away.
How Ukraine and Russia are playing a deadly cat and mouse drone war from underground
Zelensky says Ukraine will work on ceasefire plan ‘in next ten days’
Volodymyr Zelensky has said that Ukraine will work on a plan for a ceasefire with Russia “in the coming ten days” as he reiterated Kyiv’s urgent need for long-range American weapons to pressure Vladimir Putin into ending the war.
The Ukrainian president called on Trump to go further in its support for Kyiv after Washington imposed tough sanctions on major Russian oil companies last week.
Read the full story:
Zelensky says Ukraine will work on ceasefire plan ‘in next ten days’
No progress on Russian-Ukrainian talks, says senior diplomat
There has been no progress towards organising the next round of talks between Russia and Ukraine, a senior Russian diplomat said on Monday.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin told reporters that it was Ukraine that was avoiding dialogue.
Russia and Ukraine appear to be gridlocked over the issue of a ceasefire. Ukraine has subscribed to Donald Trump’s proposal to freeze battle lines in order to begin negotiations. Russia appears to be unmoved.
“Ukraine is not responding to our initiatives, avoiding dialogue. Nothing has changed,” Galuzin told TASS.
Russian strikes destroy Ukrainian coffee producer
Russian strikes destroyed manufacturing sites at Ukraine’s largest drip coffee producer, the company said.
Idealist Coffee wrote on Instagram on Saturday that emergency services were working to extinguish fires after a “ballistic attack” destroyed their “manufacturing capacity”.
They said the extent of the damage and a timeline for recovery were currently unknown.
Neighbours were killed and injured in the attack, they said.
Rodgers resigns as Celtic manager with interim replacements revealed
Brendan Rodgers has resigned from his position as Celtic manager with immediate effect.
Rodgers’ departure comes the day after the Hoops succumbed to defeat at Scottish Premiership leaders Hearts, leaving the defending champions eight points adrift of top spot.
The club have confirmed that former manager Martin O’Neill, alongside ex-player Shaun Maloney, will take charge of the side on an interim basis.
“Celtic Football Club can confirm that football manager Brendan Rodgers has today tendered his resignation,” a club statement said.
“It has been accepted by the Club and Brendan will leave his role with immediate effect.”
It brings an end to Rodgers’ second stint in charge of Celtic, in which he guided the club to two more league titles – the same number he achieved between 2016 and 2019 before his move to Leicester City.
After returning to replace Ange Postecoglou in 2023, the Northern Irishman recorded league and cup doubles in both full seasons of his tenure, winning the Scottish Cup in 2023/24 before lifting the Scottish League Cup last year.
“The Club appreciates Brendan’s contribution to Celtic during his two very successful periods at the Club,” the statement adds.
“Brendan leaves Celtic with our thanks for the role he has played during a period of continued success for the Club and we wish him further success in the future.”
But despite past success, Rodgers has overseen an underwhelming start to the new season, one that has left his side with ground to make up in the title race after only five wins of their first nine.
After being denied Champions League qualification by Kazakhstan’s Kairat Almaty, Celtic have failed to capitalise on Old Firm rivals Rangers’ even sharper drop-off in the league, with the catastrophic reign of Russell Martin appearing to take the Gers out of the title equation from the outset.
Yet this season will be no one-horse race for Celtic, who already find themselves with an eight-point gap to recover to catch up with runaway leaders Hearts.
They will now need to turn their season around with a new face in the dugout, with Celtic revealing that the search for a permanent replacement for Rodgers is underway.
For now, ex-Aston Villa and Sunderland boss O’Neill, alongside former Wigan and Scotland midfielder Maloney, will take the reins.
“The process to appoint a new permanent manager is underway and the Club will update supporters further on this as soon as possible,” the statement said.
“We are pleased that during this interim period former Celtic manager, Martin O’Neill and former Celtic player, Shaun Maloney have agreed to take charge of Celtic first-team matters. Further details will be confirmed shortly.”
Chocolate and heartburn medicine ‘among worst’ shrinkflation examples
Chocolate, coffee, toothpaste and even heartburn medication are among the products worst hit by ‘shrinkflation’, a new study has revealed.
Consumer group Which? found major brands are cutting back on the size of popular products as well as the quality, with some ingredients being downgraded for cheaper substitutes.
Which? asked shoppers to share some of the worst examples of shrinkflation they had seen at the supermarket in recent months.
Among the examples was Aquafresh Complete Care Original Toothpaste, which increased in price from £1.30 for 100ml to £2 for 75ml at Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Ocado, a 105 per cent rise per 100ml.
Bottles of Gaviscon Heartburn and Indigestion Liquid shrank from 600ml to 500ml, while at Sainsbury’s the price also stayed at £14, a 20 per cent rise per 100ml.
Which? also found that Sainsbury’s Scottish Oats have shrunk from 1kg to 500g while the price increased from £1.25 to £2.10, a 236 per cent rise per 100g.
Nescafe Original Instant Coffee shrunk from 200g to 190g at Tesco, Morrisons and Asda, a rise of 5 per cent per 100g.
Shoppers reported many examples of whole chocolate bars missing from multipacks, as the cost of the confectionery’s raw ingredients soar.
In one example, Which? found KitKat Two-Finger Milk Chocolate Bar multipacks dropped from 21 bars to 18, while at Ocado the price also rose from £3.60 to £5.50, a jump of 53 per cent.
Shoppers planning to buy chocolate tubs for the festive season may notice lighter boxes this year, the watchdog warned.
Quality Street chocolate tubs have been reduced from 600g to 550g, while the price for the smaller tub at Morrisons increased from £6 to £7 this year.
Meanwhile, Cadbury’s multipacks of Freddo and Fudge bars both dropped from five bars to four at Morrisons, Ocado and Tesco, even though the price of £1.40 did not change.
The Terry’s chocolate orange ball toffee crunch price of £2 did not change but the size went from 152g to 145g at Tesco, a 5 per cent increase.
As well as products getting smaller, Which? also received reports of some of the nation’s favourite treats missing key ingredients as manufacturers find ways to cut costs.
The consumer group found a reduced amount of cocoa butter, now less than 20 per cent, in White KitKats, meaning they can no longer be marketed as a white chocolate product.
It follows McVitie’s favourites including Penguin and Club bars now containing more palm oil and shea oil than cocoa, meaning they can no longer be lawfully sold as a chocolate biscuit.
McVitie’s white digestives do not contain any cocoa butter at all and so can also not be marketed as a white chocolate biscuit.
Which? Retail editor Reena Sewraz said: “Households are already under immense financial pressure with food bills inching up and the expense of Christmas looming on the horizon, so it can feel especially sneaky when manufacturers quietly reduce pack sizes or downgrade key ingredients.
“Supermarkets must be more upfront about their prices so that it’s easy to see what the best value is.
“This includes ensuring that their unit pricing is prominent, legible and consistent in-store and online to help customers easily compare costs across different brands and sizes of packaging – that way shoppers can be more confident they’re getting the best value.”
A spokesperson for Mondelez International, which makes Cadbury products, described any size changes as a “last resort”.
They continued: “However, as a food producer, we are continuing to experience significantly higher input costs across our supply chain, with ingredients such as cocoa and dairy, which are widely used in our products, costing far more than they have done previously.
“Meanwhile, other costs like energy and transport, also remain high.
“This means that our products continue to be much more expensive to make and while we have absorbed these costs where possible, we still face considerable challenges
“As a result of this difficult environment, we have had to make the decision to slightly reduce the weight of our Cadbury Fudge and Cadbury Dairy Milk Freddo multipacks so that we can continue to provide consumers with the brands they love, without compromising on the great taste and quality they expect.”
A spokesperson for Nestle said: “Like every manufacturer, we have seen significant increases in the cost of coffee, making it much more expensive to manufacture our products.
“As always, we continue to be more efficient and absorb increasing costs where possible.
“To maintain the same high quality and delicious taste that consumers know and love, it has sometimes been necessary to make adjustments to the weight or size of some of our products.
“Retail pricing is always at the discretion of individual retailers.”
In relation to the White KitKat, he added: “Like every manufacturer, we’ve seen significant increases in the cost of cocoa over the past years making it much more expensive to manufacture our products.
“To continue to offer shoppers great value, it is sometimes necessary to adjust recipes of some of our products.”
A spokesperson for the Food and Drink Federation said: “Cocoa prices rose sharply last year, reaching a 45-year high.
“Alongside other rising costs, such as national insurance increases and a new packaging tax, manufacturers are paying nearly 40 per cent more for ingredients and energy than they were in January 2020.
“As a result, in some cases food manufacturers will have had to make changes to products to continue offering shoppers the food and drink they love at reasonable price points.”
Enriching escapes: find your perfect luxury break
Men to get same-day prostate cancer diagnosis through AI software
Men with suspected prostate cancer will be able to get a diagnosis from the NHS within a day using a new Artificial Intelligence software.
The new trial, which will see the technology initially used at up to 15 hospitals, has been labelled a potential “game changer”.
AI will be used to interpret MRI scans for men suspected of having the disease, helping to spot lesions within minutes.
If the software finds a scan deemed to have a high risk of cancer, it will be sent to a radiologist for priority review and the patient will be booked in for a biopsy the same day.
Specialists will review results, with patients able to get the all-clear the same day or a diagnosis within a few days, saving men months of waiting.
Under current best practice guidelines, patients with suspected prostate cancer should receive an MRI and biopsy within a week of an urgent GP referral, but waits can be longer depending on the capacity of radiologists.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting said: “Prostate cancer is a devastating disease impacting thousands of men every year – and what makes this already incredibly challenging situation worse for these men are long waits for test results, diagnosis and treatment – it’s needlessly distressing for them and their families.
“By harnessing the power of technology we are revolutionising our NHS and tackling this, with AI able to deliver same-day prostate diagnoses, delivering better outcomes for patients and fast support for doctors.”
Professor Peter Johnson, national clinical director for cancer at NHS England, said: “We’re really excited by the potential of artificial intelligence to speed up cancer diagnosis, and we hope this trial of an AI-powered ‘one-day diagnostics’ could be a game changer and help save men weeks of worry and uncertainty.
“As with all cancers, speed is crucial – the quicker the diagnosis, the sooner treatment can begin and help give the best chance of treatment being successful for patients and their families.”
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in males and about one in eight men will have it in their lifetime, according to Prostate Cancer UK.
Some 58,218 men were diagnosed with prostate cancer in England in 2024, up from 53,462 the year before, according to the National Prostate Cancer Audit (NPCA).
In Wales, 2,402 men were diagnosed in 2023, down from 2,551 in 2022.
The new AI tool, Pi, has been developed by Lucida Medical and comes ahead of the Government’s National Cancer Plan which is expected to be published later this year.
Amy Rylance, assistant director of health improvement at Prostate Cancer UK, said: “The process of getting diagnosed in the NHS is safer and more accurate than it’s ever been, thanks to recent advances like MRI scans and targeted biopsies.
“The AI tool could represent a further step change, saving men prolonged anxiety and the bother of hospital trips, while also increasing capacity for our hard-working NHS workforce.”
250,000 families to receive confirmation of £150 discount on bills
The government is sending more than 250,000 families a letter confirming whether they get a one-off £150 discount on their energy bills this winter.
Starting from Tuesday, letters will be dropping on doormats across England and Wales after Sir Keir Starmer announced the expansion of the warm home discount scheme last year.
All households entitled to the discount are to receive a letter before January, with more than six million households across England, Scotland and Wales to receive help.
“This cash injection will help people manage their bills while we fix the rusting energy system we inherited,” the prime minister said.
“Because it is only through our clean energy mission that we will get bills down for everyone in the long run, creating jobs and economic growth along the way.”
Most of those eligible will have £150 automatically deducted from their energy bill without them needing to take any action.
Some though will need to provide extra information, such as an electricity bill or statement to confirm the bill payer’s name and account number, to ensure they get the discount. Their letters will include advice for them to call a helpline.
“Letters will be dropping on doormats across the country this week containing welcome news for hundreds of thousands of families,” energy secretary Ed Miliband said.
“This government is determined to tackle energy affordability for families, and this winter, more people will be helped as a result.
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“And I would urge anyone who needs to provide extra information to follow the straightforward steps and make sure they get money off their bills this winter.”
Ofgem’s energy price cap rose by 2 per cent from 1 October for a typical household in England, Scotland and Wales, just as cooler temperatures see many switching on their central heating.
This means the energy bill for the average household paying by direct debit for gas and electricity increased from £1,720 to £1,755 per year.