Liz Truss shares photo with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago: ‘Right about everything’

Liz Truss has met with Donald Trump at his residence in Mar-a-Lago, sharing a photo of the moment on social media.

Britain’s shortest-serving prime minister captioned the image “right about everything” as she stood beaming next to the US president, reaffirming her Maga allegiance in the photo on X.

President Trump has yet to mention the interaction with the former leader on his social media.

Since her seven-week stint in office in 2022, Ms Truss has expressed enthusiastic support for Mr Trump and the Maga movement while also blaming the end of her own premiership on “the deep state”.

In December, she vowed to spark a “Trump-style counterrevolution” against attacks on the free world on her podcast, The Liz Truss Show.

“The deep state tried to destroy me, but now I’m back and excited to launch this show,” she said.

Last year, as she visited the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Maryland, she said that her own country was “failing” as she urged Elon Musk and his “nerd army of Muskrats” to examine the “British deep state”.

She has also claimed that Britain needs its own version of Donald Trump, calling for a movement in the UK similar to the Maga movement.

Under Ms Truss’s premiership, the pound fell to a 37-year low after the City was “spooked” by a massive borrowing package to fund the biggest tax cuts for half a century.

The photo comes after President Trump has faced allegations of racism for sharing a video depicting ex-leader Barack Obama and his wife Michelle Obama as apes, which was removed from Truth Social 12 hours after it was posted.

A senior White House official said a staffer posted it “erroneously” and the president refused to apologise as he said he “didn’t see the whole thing.”

Mr Obama broke his silence about the video in an interview with political commentator Brian Tyler Cohen. He replied: “First of all, I think it’s important to recognise that the majority of the American people find this behaviour deeply troubling.

“It is true that it gets attention. It’s true that it’s a distraction. But, as I’m travelling around the country, as you’re travelling around the country, you meet people – they still believe in decency, courtesy, kindness.”

Keir Starmer promises smartphone crackdown for under 16s within months

Keir Starmer is vowing to enforce a crackdown on children and teenagers using smartphones within months to help keep them safe online.

Reforms could include a minimum age limit for social media and restrictions on “infinite” scrolling.

Children could also be prevented from using virtual private networks (VPNs) to access pornography, and from speaking with online chatbots under proposals in a government consultation.

Ministers are taking steps now to bring in powers that mean they can act swiftly and respond to the results within months.

Before that, they will act now to close a legal loophole and force all AI chatbot providers to abide by the Online Safety Act or face the consequences of breaking the law.

It follows a war of words between ministers and Elon Musk after his Grok AI chatbot was used to make fake nude images of women.

The PM pledged that no online platform would get a “free pass” when it comes to children’s safety on the internet.

Sir Keir said: “As a dad of two teenagers, I know the challenges and the worries that parents face making sure their kids are safe online. Technology is moving really fast, and the law has got to keep up. With my government, Britain will be a leader, not a follower, when it comes to online safety.

“The action we took on Grok sent a clear message that no platform gets a free pass.

“Today we are closing loopholes that put children at risk, and laying the groundwork for further action. We are acting to protect children’s wellbeing and help parents to navigate the minefield of social media.”

The consultation into new social media protections will launch in March and be guided by what parents and children say they want to see.

Ministers also plan to introduce powers through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill to speedily change the law in response to changing online behaviours.

Elsewhere, amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill will be used to ensure chatbots protect users from illegal content.

Technology secretary Liz Kendall said: “I know that parents across the country want us to act urgently to keep their children safe online. That’s why I stood up to Grok and Elon Musk when they flouted British laws and British values.

“We will not wait to take the action families need, so we will tighten the rules on AI chatbots and we are laying the ground so we can act at pace on the results of the consultation on young people and social media.

“We are determined to give children the childhood they deserve and to prepare them for the future at a time of rapid technological change.”

The Crime and Policing Bill will also be updated to include measures which will preserve children’s social media and online data, as called for by the campaign group Jools’ Law.

The campaign was started by Ellen Roome, when questions about the death of her 14-year-old son Jools could not be answered, as records of his digital activity could not be accessed.

Lord Nash, a Conservative former minister who has been campaigning in the Lords for tighter social media controls for children, welcomed the adoption of Jools’ Law by the government.

He added: “However, we have a moral duty to try and ensure it is never needed in future by avoiding future tragedies.

“There are too many children who are still being catastrophically harmed by social media every day, and this announcement will not prevent that. This consultation is just delay dressed up as process.

“Instead of more deliberation, the government must raise the age limit to 16 for the most harmful platforms now and has the opportunity to do so when the amendment effecting this – which passed overwhelmingly in the House of Lords – returns to the Commons. For every day we delay, the more children we fail.”

The Tories accused ministers of inaction and said the announcement was “more smoke and mirrors”.

Laura Trott, the shadow education secretary, added: “Claiming they are taking ‘immediate action’ is simply not credible when their so-called urgent consultation does not even exist.”

Australia became the first country in the world to prohibit social media for children in December.

Bondi Beach suspect gives single-word answers in first court appearance

A man accused of carrying out Australia’s deadliest mass shooting in three decades at Bondi Beach last year has appeared in court for the first time.

Naveed Akram faces 59 charges in relation to the attack on a Jewish event at Sydney’s Archer Park that killed at least 15 people and injured dozens.

Mr Akram appeared via video link on Monday at the Downing Centre Local Court and spoke briefly, mostly in single-word answers.

The magistrate extended suppression orders, which were made late last year to protect the identities of victims and survivors after they opted not to be publicly identified.

Mr Akram and his father, Sajid Akram, are accused of targeting Jewish people celebrating Hanukkah in an antisemitic attack that sent shockwaves around the world. It was Australia’s worst mass shooting since 1996, and the worst terror attack targeting Australians since the 2002 Bali bombings.

Sajid Akram was shot dead by police at the scene.

Mr Akram, who was wearing a green jumper and sat with his hands on his lap, only spoke after deputy chief magistrate Sharon Freund asked if he had been listening to a discussion about an extension of suppression orders.

“Did you just hear what I just said?” Ms Freund asked. Mr Akram replied: “Yeah.”

His Legal Aid solicitor, Ben Archbold, later asked the magistrate for time to speak with his client.

“Mr Akram, your solicitor is going to give you a call after,” the magistrate said. “Yep,” the accused replied.

Mr Archbold said it was too early to confirm what plea his client would enter, and he had yet to receive the brief of evidence.

Speaking to reporters outside the court, he said his client was “as well as can be expected” as he remains in the Goulburn supermax prison in New South Wales.

“Everyone knows it’s supermax … very onerous conditions,” Mr Archbold said.

Asked if Mr Akram had given an interview to the police, he said: “All we’ve done is start the process. We’re waiting for the brief to be served. There’s nothing more I can say.”

Mr Archbold also said he went to the High Risk Management Correctional Centre (HRMCC) to visit Mr Akram.

When asked about his visit and Mr Akram’s conditions, he said: “He’s just a client and he’s a client that needs to be represented, and we don’t let our personal view get in the way of our professional obligations.”

Police allege that the Bondi Beach attackers parked their vehicle near a footbridge overlooking Archer Park at Bondi at about 6.50pm on 14 December.

It is alleged that a “tennis ball bomb” and three pipe bombs were thrown into the crowd before the pair opened fire.

None of the bombs detonated, but they were deemed viable during preliminary police analysis.

In December, court documents made public police allegations that Sajid and Naveed Akram visited the area for “reconnaissance and planning” in the days before the attack.

Police have further accused the pair of conducting firearms training in the Australian countryside.

Mr Akram will return to court in April.

How Tony Blair became more powerful now than he ever was as PM

At a time when Sir Keir Starmer’s political judgement is being questioned, some see the decade when Tony Blair was in power as a golden age of stability and prosperity – and astute political management. He appointed Peter Mandelson, but he then sacked him twice.

Tony Blair wasn’t only the most electorally successful Labour leader ever – three consecutive general election victories, including the one two years after what many see as his gravest mistake, the Iraq invasion – but also, having entered Downing Street in his early forties, one who has established a remarkable second career. The Tony Blair Institute for Global Change employs around a thousand people in nearly 50 countries. Having persuaded him to take part in our three-part Channel 4 series, The Tony Blair Story, I asked him whether he had as much power now as he did in No 10. He replied, “Not as much power as when I was prime minister – but influence – yes, to a degree.”

How does he wield that influence? Former ministers, let alone former prime ministers, range from washed-up failures promoted way beyond their capabilities to astute leaders with insights, experience and lasting political skills that are invaluable.

Blair’s Institute publishes reams of research on many of the issues with which current governments are struggling, and Blair himself personally advises leaders around the world. During the pandemic, for instance, the TBI switched its entire focus to advising governments on dealing with this unprecedented challenge to public services. As Tom McTague, editor of the New Statesman, told me, “It was the Tony Blair Institute which seemed to be ahead of the government. You suddenly started to see prime ministers going to see Tony Blair or asking Tony Blair to come to Number 10. Liz Truss saw him, Boris Johnson saw him, and Keir Starmer certainly saw him before he became prime minister. This is the kind of influence that he has managed to build for himself.”

Whatever you think of Tony Blair, he is unambiguously a key figure in Britain’s history. He is also a man whose world has, in some ways, crumbled – his priorities after all were participating in Europe, encouraging managed globalisation, interventionism, and taking a centrist approach against both left and right. Nearly 20 years after leaving office, he is still fighting for those ideas – but as he said to me: “I mean, if you’d told me that Nigel Farage was going to be a key player in British politics and Jeremy Corbyn was going to lead the Labour Party I would have said, that’s never going to happen – but I was wrong. Both did happen.”

But he went on to say: “Look, people in these last years have moved against some of the things I stood for … but, you know, I remain committed to those things… History’s not static, it changes and people will, I think, come in time to realise that there are merits in the position that I took.”

Or as McTague interestingly puts it, “There is a sense of him being this kind of tragic character, but in the original, Greek tragic sense of battling against a fate, trying to shape the world into a kind of world that he wants, into a liberal, international, democratic world order. This was what Blairite Britain represented. Britain was going to be the beacon of this world and it just kind of collapses into something that is completely different to that world that he imagined, but yet he still holds onto the idea that he can see the future.”

Ever the pragmatist, he is, though, bending to the realities of, for example, working with the current US president. Blair’s conviction that he still has something to offer is not cautious: it is a reputationally risky move to join the executive board of Trump’s “board of peace”.

He is such a controversial figure – subject to a degree of visceral hatred that few leaders experience – that I was fascinated to see how he manages his own emotions when confronted with such disdain. Resilience is clearly a quality needed in all leaders, but also a degree of ruthlessness: I was intrigued to get beneath the surface of what led to his extraordinary success in the past – and his determination to continue to wield influence in the present.

I confronted him on Iraq, the dodgy characters he dealt with after leaving No 10, his desire to make money, etc. At times, he became animatedly frustrated at the persistence of the questioning, and though he never totally lost his cool, he did open up in unexpected ways, emotionally and psychologically. He talked with real feeling about traumatic family events in his early adulthood: he seemed on the brink of tears when talking of election night in May 1997, fulfilling his father’s dream of becoming prime minister, but missing his late mother. After months of trying, we also managed to interview Cherie, who is remarkably open, and eventually his children. It is an intimate, if trenchant, portrait.

The nature of domestic life when living in what Cherie described as the “goldfish bowl” of 10 Downing Street is necessarily strange, with its particular insecurities. I asked about the atmosphere at the time of the vote in parliament on the Iraq invasion: “He was very conscious that this could mean that he would no longer be prime minister and that it would mean … a huge disruption for our family. And so he did sit down the three oldest ones … that we might all have to move out by the end of the week if he’d lost the vote”.

The three of his children whom I interviewed – Euan, Kathryn and Leo – have never spoken before about their father, and were relaxed, funny, and bemused. On the effect of the weight of his father’s responsibilities, Euan said, “You could see that there were moments of extreme pressure, especially when he was making momentous decisions, especially ones involving human lives. Dad’s always had this habit… you’d be talking to him … and he’ll zone out and think about something completely different, and you’d see the … zone out moments ratchet up as more was on his shoulders”. And on her father’s not just sitting in an armchair with a good book, Kathryn remarked, “He doesn’t stop. I think he’s busier than he was then.” Why is that? “Because he’s just not finished. He wants to do the work that he set out to do, and so, he won’t stop.”

We talked to critics and to colleagues – some of whom were themselves intriguingly severe. Peter Mandelson, whom I managed to interview the day before he flew to Washington to take up his then post as UK ambassador to the US, arrived distracted by the myriad tasks he still had to complete before the day was over, but in the 55 minutes we had with him, he both praised and criticised his former boss. That interview took place a year ago, before the extent of his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein emerged.

Living on Planet Blair for several months was a fascinating experience: even some of those who were his greatest opponents couldn’t help but admire his extraordinary skill set. Interviewing Blair at length, I could see for myself his phenomenal ability to persuade and charm – but also his still razor-sharp mind. He needs no spin doctor or PR person to advise him on how to deal with difficult questions – and he seems comfortable in his own skin.

Former president Bill Clinton, describing an argument they had, told me, “as we say at home, he could talk an owl out of a tree”.

‘The Tony Blair Story’ is on Channel 4 at 9pm on 17, 18 and 19 February and available on streaming

Reform by-election candidate defends man who said ‘burn asylum hotels’

The Reform candidate in an upcoming Westminster by-election is under scrutiny after saying it was “insane” a man was jailed for 18 months for social media posts calling for people to burn asylum hotels to the ground.

Matt Goodwin responded to a Daily Mail report from December that Luke Yarwood, from Christchurch, Dorset, was jailed inciting racial hatred. He said in a post on X: “Welcome to the UK. Where you go to prison for 18 months for anti-immigration tweets. This is insane.”

Yarwood had reportedly called on Brits to “gang together, hit the streets and start the slaughter” in a series of anti-Muslim and anti-immigration posts from 21 December 2024 to 29 January 2025.

“Violence and murder is the only way now. Start off burning every migrant hotel then head off to MPs’ houses and Parliament, we need to take over by FORCE”, he said, following a car attack in Germany which killed six people, as misinformation spread on social media suggesting it was linked to Islamic extremism.”

While his lawyer reportedly defended him by pointing out that only 33 people had read the post, he was still jailed for 18 months.

Reform UK hit back at criticism around Mr Goodwin’s tweet, claiming it was “desperate stuff” from Labour after The i reported about his post and the party’s deputy leader Lucy Powell called on the Denton and Gorton candidate to reject support from members of his campaign team that have been accused of racism.

A Reform UK spokesman said: “This is desperate stuff from a Labour Party that has also just been revealed to have been smearing journalists. Criticising the fact that people are being jailed for what they write on social media is clearly not the same as defending those views.

“The fact that our political opponents are conflating these two things is outrageous and a sign of how desperate they have become. Vote Reform, vote for common sense.”

Mr Goodwin hit the headlines last week after The Independent revealed he had called for women and young girls to be given a “biological reality” check as he warned of an impending “fertility crisis”.

This publication also revealed that he had previously suggested people who don’t have children should be taxed extra as punishment and warned that “many women in Britain are having children much too late in life”.

The polling cited by Mr Goodwin, who is standing for Reform UK in the Gorton and Denton by-election at the end of this month, also showed more than 50 per cent of the public wanted taxes and spending to increase, while 40 per cent wanted them to remain the same.

He also once described his party’s economic plans as an “utterly toxic combination”, explaining that he “cannot stress enough how UNPOPULAR slashing taxes and cutting spending on public services is” in a post on LinkedIn three years ago.

The former academic was pointing to polling from the highly respected British Social Attitudes survey which showed that reducing both was backed by just 6 per cent of the public.

In November, Nigel Farage said his party “will cut spending” and “we want to cut taxes”. And last month he doubled down, saying: “We are going to reduce excessive government spending.”

In a speech last year, Mr Farage said “substantial tax cuts” were not realistic at the current moment “given the dire state” of the country’s finances but said that his party would raise the threshold at which workers start to pay tax and scrap Labour’s ‘family farm’ inheritance tax changes.

However, he rowed back from his party’s 2024 election promise to cut £90bn of taxes, which leading economic think tank the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said Reform had failed to set out how they would achieve.

Last month Mr Farage also told an event in Davos that he thought “the one big lesson of the Liz Truss-Kwasi Kwarteng Budget is that they did not propose to cut spending. So for our programme to work, what we absolutely have to tell people that we are going to reduce welfare spending, we are going to reduce excessive government spending.”

A Labour Party spokesperson said: “Matt Goodwin’s comments show that it’s not just Labour saying Reform’s economic plans are ludicrous – their own candidate thinks so too.

“Reform UK offers nothing but a return to austerity, enacted by a party stuffed full of the same Tories that broke our public services in the first place.”

A Reform spokesperson told The Independent: “Labour’s campaign in Gorton and Denton truly must be on the ropes if they have had to resort to polling analysis by Matt from three years ago when the economy was in a much different place.

“We will take no lectures from a party under whose watch the economy has tanked. By voting Reform the voters of Gorton and Denton can get Keir Starmer out and help bring an end to this failed Labour government.”

Seven ways Amazon Business can make your budgets work harder in 2026

Late January marks the moment when the business year truly begins, making it the ideal time for companies of all sizes to maximise their early-year spending through smarter, business-focused purchasing with Amazon Business. Not surprisingly Amazon Business offers exceptional deals and special prices on everything your business needs during the Business Saving Event – until February 4. This is your last chance to save big on thousands of products, from office essentials to equipment upgrades, helping business leaders start the year organised, well-stocked, and ahead of the curve while freeing up valuable time to focus on serving their customers, but only until February 4.

Business-only rates and rapid delivery

Amazon Business is the online retailer’s platform for companies, retooling its familiar and intuitive shopping interface to create a business-focused experience. It helps teams stock up on core business essentials at the best possible price. Users benefit from business-only pricing available exclusively to registered Amazon Business customers, while Amazon’s rapid delivery times make it easy to plug last-minute gaps in supply.

Buying in bulk

Another way to stay fully stocked is to buy in bulk — and Amazon Business makes this flexible. You can purchase single items or pallet-sized orders of everything from stationery to cleaning supplies. Bulk buying improves budget efficiency, saves time, and comes with transparent guardrails for employees, as well as reorder lists for frequently purchased items.

Empowering teams

The beauty of Amazon’s business-specific platform is its familiar Amazon interface, making it easy for employees new to the procurement process to order essential supplies without involving business leaders. This not only saves time but empowers teams to work smarter and more efficiently.

Cost-aware purchasing and oversight

Consolidating your team into a single multi-user account gives you close oversight of spending and ensures budgets are allocated effectively. You can limit purchasing to approved items and guide team members toward approved suppliers, helping you stay on top of compliance goals.

Accessible spending data

Amazon Business accounts come with Amazon Business Analytics built in, providing instant visibility into your organisation’s purchase history. You can track spending, analyse trends, and create customised reports with intuitive visualisations, making it easier to identify savings opportunities and make data-driven buying decisions.

Simplified workflows

Amazon’s logistical expertise enables management of complex multi-address delivery preferences from a single centralised account. Delivery settings can be updated for multiple locations simultaneously, rather than individually. Combined with the platform’s unrivalled product range, this allows you to consolidate purchases across multiple suppliers into a single, streamlined procurement process, cutting down on administrative work.

Seamless integration

For companies using e-procurement and expense management systems such as Coupa, Concur Expense, or SAP Ariba, Amazon Business integrates seamlessly with over 300 platforms. VAT invoices are downloadable, and VAT-exclusive pricing is available, making it easier to incorporate spending data into decision-making processes.

Sign up for a free Amazon Business account to streamline your purchasing and take advantage of quantity discounts.

‘It’s dark, it’s cold… it’s endless’: The reality of surviving daily life in Kyiv

The tawdry routine of everyday misery of cold, darkness, and fear that grinds at the human soul: that is Vladimir Putin’s strategy of attacking civilians across Ukraine and could break the country’s will to fight on. But it’s unlikely.

Showers in darkness, a shave in cold water every morning, two small children who know the Russian president is trying to kill them, and dawn runs to a streetside stall for coffee and cocoa, the only morale booster for a new day. These are the routines of Kyiv residents like Oleksandr Merezhko. He knows he is lucky.

His four-year-old daughter Sophia is the same age as the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The elder, Lilian, is seven, so neither have known a world in which Russian troops are not fighting inside their country.

Sophia can tell an outgoing missile blast from an incoming Shahed drone attack. She attends kindergarten. Her older sister has learning difficulties, so Sophia grabs her hand when the sirens scream, and the air buzzes with what the family calls “bees” – incoming drones.

Read our latest updates on the Ukraine invasion HERE

She then leads her sister to safety in the Soviet-era bunkers outside their old but untargeted ground-floor apartment, where school carries on.

“For them it’s normal. They cannot imagine their life without it,” Oleksandr explains. “They know that when they go to the kindergarten we still don’t have power in the flat. When they come back there is no power. They have learned how to play using little lights and how to play in darkness.

“Better than adults I think, children are more adaptable. And they never complain.”

A couple of weeks ago what he thinks was a Shahed drone smashed into the top floors of the building next door, setting fire to two flats and injuring three people in the Kremlin’s ongoing campaign. Fragments, bits of plastic and yellow foam of the Iranian-designed autonomous plane loaded with 40kg of explosive, still pepper the snow outside the building – where this member of Ukraine’s parliament has lived with his family for four years.

“We almost bought a flat in the new highrise but we could not afford it, so bought on the ground floor next door – luckily for us – just before the full-scale invasion of February 2022,” says Oleksandr, who is chair of the parliament’s foreign affairs committee.

A former human rights lawyer married to an academic, he can bring warm food to his small children from the parliamentary canteen. His cooker at home is electric and they’re unlikely to get power for more than a couple of hours in 24 – and usually after midnight.

Roughly half of Ukraine’s power-generating capacity has been destroyed by Russia. Most of these attacks have come since Donald Trump ended military aid to Ukraine last year – in the 36th month of the full-scale invasion by Russia. Two-thirds of its nuclear capacity has fallen and GDP is expected to take a 3 per cent hit.

“I started to plunge into a kind of depression and apathy because when it’s cold, when for the whole day you cannot even warm up food, and it’s dark, and it’s cold – it is difficult psychologically for me, and for many people.

“It looked endless, you know, just endless. And everything came at once, this cold weather which we haven’t had for years since the full-scale invasion, this darkness,” says Oleksandr, warming his hands on a mug of green tea.

When power does come, usually between one and two in the morning, he likes to stay up with all the lights on just to recharge his psychological batteries. Millions of other Ukrainians go through the same experiences every night. They have done so for months.

They are all fed up with lofty “pompous” phrases about plucky Ukrainian “resilience”, which Oleksandr calls the “adaptation that has been forced upon us”. It is clear why he thinks Putin has focused so heavily on civilian targets and energy systems.

“He realised that he cannot win on the battlefield. And he decided to focus on our critical infrastructure and to create conditions which are uninhabitable.

“That’s his goal. To break our defiance – to make them more submissive to his peace plan,” says the MP, a member of Volodymyr Zelensky’s ruling Servant of the People Party.

He goes on to explain that Putin’s scheme will not work because “historically it never worked. If you take the example of the Blitz, it didn’t work. If you take Sarajevo as an example, you cannot do it by bombing and killing the civilian population. You cannot make people more receptive to the capitulation, to surrender this way.”

The US under Trump has been pushing Ukraine to accept the loss of all of the territory now held by Russia in Ukraine, roughly 20 per cent.

Moscow insists it will not consider a deal that does not give it further control over all of Donetsk province and the “fortress belt” which has held back Russian assaults for more than a year and where Nato estimates over 400,000 Russians have been killed or injured.

Both Russia and the US have claimed, wrongly, that Zelensky lacks a democratic mandate; they demand that he seek re-election.

Putin’s focus on civilian attacks is an obvious attempt to drive Ukraine into a deal that Europe, the UK, Canada and many other allies see as a capitulation.

Oleksandr sees the Russian/US demand that Ukraine give up on territory as an obvious ploy to cause internal divisions – many Ukrainians are bitterly opposed to any concessions and all are opposed to giving up their defensive line.

“Doing so could split us apart,” says the MP – and anyway territorial concessions are not in the gift of the government, or parliament; they would require a national referendum under Ukrainian law.

Nato intelligence officers have repeatedly said that Ukraine’s immediate challenge is to get through the winter.

European aid to Ukraine, including the UK, is estimated by the Kiel Institute to be worth €380bn, including all pledges compared to the US contribution of a little over €115bn – far short of the mendacious €350bn claim made by the Trump administration.

Nato intelligence estimates suggest that it would take Russia many years to capture the extra territory that it demands as part of the latest “peace process” with the US mediating.

“Putin’s logic is ‘first peace treaty and then ceasefire’. So while we’re negotiating, he can ruin the country, he can continue to destroy critical infrastructure,” says Oleksandr.

“And Trump has agreed to this logic and that’s why it’s not going to work. It’s not going to work. For us, the biggest issue, and it’s our absolute red line, is withdrawal of our troops from Donetsk.

“We will never agree to that. We just can’t. It’s absolutely out of the question.”

Olympics curling controversy escalates as Britain faces infraction

A cheating controversy is engulfing curling at the Winter Olympics, centring on the formidable Canadian team. Both their men’s and women’s squads have been accused of the same infraction: double-touching the curling stone after its release.

The dispute widened on Sunday when increased surveillance led to a stone thrown by the British men’s team being removed for the same alleged violation that affected the Canadians over the past two days.

This comes as the historic curling powerhouse finds its reputation bruised. Their mixed doubles team failed to medal, and the women’s team cannot afford further losses if they hope to advance.

Here’s a look at the whole controversy and why it has exploded:

In the ninth end of Britain’s round-robin game against Germany on Sunday, officials said Scottish curler Bobby Lammie had touched a stone after releasing it down the ice. Such “double-touching” is against the rules. Britain won the match 9-4.

The controversy began on Friday when Swedish curler Oskar Eriksson accused Canadian curler Marc Kennedy of breaking the rules by touching the rock again after initially releasing it down the sheet of ice. Kennedy blew up, launching an expletive-laden outburst.

That was before video appearing to show a clear double-touch by Kennedy circulated on social media, taken by Swedish public broadcaster SVT. Still, he maintained his innocence. The Canadians won the match, 8-6.

Late Saturday, an umpire accused acclaimed Canadian skip Rachel Homan of the same infraction in Canada‘s match against Switzerland. The umpire stopped play and the stone was removed from play. Homan looked shocked and denied the allegation.

Again, video spread on social media appearing to show her double-touch. The Canadians lost to the Swiss, 8-7.

There are rules against double-touching

After the uproar, World Curling clarified that double-tapping is not allowed, issuing a statement: “During forward motion, touching the granite of the stone is not allowed. This will result in the stone being removed from play.”

World Curling also said it would designate two officials to move between the four curling matches during each round but noted it was “not possible” to have umpires stationed at each hog line — where the stones must be released by hand — during every game.

The added attention could raise nerves on the ice. Some curlers said the double-touching infraction had never been called out with this intensity in past competitions and it can be difficult to tell if someone is guilty of it.

It was not known whether officials were watching some teams more closely than others. World Curling says it does not use video replays for reviewing game play.

Until Sunday, the allegations had been limited to Canadian curlers, who represent one of the world’s most fervent fan bases.

Asked about the footage, Kennedy said: “If somebody said to you, ‘Hey, do you double-touch all the time?’ I honestly, in that split second of a moment, I couldn’t even tell you if I do or not.”

He then suggested the whole thing might have been “premeditated planning to try to catch us.”

“They’ve come up with a plan to catch teams in the act,” Kennedy said.

Homan, meanwhile, postulated that she was being unfairly targeted because of the controversy on the men’s side.

“I don’t understand the call. I’ll never understand it. We’ve never done that,” she said. “It has nothing to do with us.”

Olympic curlers had varying opinions on whether umpires — like those in other sports — should begin using video replays to adjudicate disputes or verify calls.

“If they bring that in, I think it probably disrupts the speed of play,” said Johanna Heldin, the alternate for the Swedish women’s team. “We’ve always been a game that tries to play by the rules and have that high sportsmanship level, so hopefully we can figure that back out.”

U.S. women’s curlers had a different view. Tara Peterson said she’d “absolutely” support video replay.

“There’s instances where an instant replay would be huge,” she said.

“I feel like there’s a lot of other sports that do it,” said her sister, skip Tabitha Peterson.

As fierce as the competition can be, curling has a quiet camaraderie to it even though there have been scandals (see: Broomgate, a sweeping-related headache that World Curling believes it solved last June). So it sticks out when there are allegations of cheating.

Canada is also the top nation in curling, easily its biggest market and where the biggest non-Olympic competitions tend to take place. They are taking it personally that their integrity is coming under attack in front of a global audience at the Olympics, which touts the values of respect and friendship.

The athletes playing for Canada and Sweden used to be close off the ice – huge rivals, sure, but admiring of each other’s curling skills. Now there’s clear animosity between the teams, which is intriguing for the casual viewer but a sad blow to the curling community.

Canada’s curlers are where they don’t want to be in the middle of a Winter Olympics: on the back foot, not just questioning their technique – “We’ll make some adjustments, release-wise, if we have to,” Kennedy said – but also srambling to be in the mix for medals at the end of the week.

Kennedy had the worst shot success of Canada’s four players in its only game Saturday, according to tournament statistics. Canada lost 9-5 to Switzerland, a team it was expected to beat.

All eyes are on both teams now. The Canadian men would not face Sweden again before the semifinals, should both teams make it, and that would be must-see TV whether you’re a curling fan or not.