Donald Trump has insisted that Vladimir Putin would “keep his word” on a peace deal for Ukraine, arguing that US workers extracting critical minerals in the country would act as a security backstop to deter Russia from invading again.

During highly anticipated talks at the White House with the prime minister, Keir Starmer, the US president said that Putin could be trusted not to breach any agreement, which could aim to return as much of the land as possible to Ukraine that was seized by Russia during the brutal three-year conflict.

But, sitting alongside Starmer in the Oval Office taking questions from journalists, Trump refused to commit to deploying US forces to support a European-led peacekeeping force, although he said the US would “always” help the British military in the unlikely event it needed it.

He later indicated the US would make “great trade agreements” with the UK that could progress “very quickly”, adding that Starmer had tried to persuade him against imposing tariffs, saying: “He earned whatever the hell they pay him over there.”

The US president also appeared to make a significant concession on the Chagos Islands, saying that he was “inclined” to back the deal struck by Starmer, who at the talks delivered a letter from King Charles offering Trump an unprecedented second state visit.

The relationship between the two men appeared convivial for much of the meeting, and Trump praised Starmer as “an outstanding person” and “a very special person”.

The talks came at the most precarious moment for European security in decades, as the new US administration aligns with Russia, breaking a years-long transatlantic consensus on Ukraine.

The prime minister used the meeting, just 24 hours before Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, travels to Washington to sign a critical minerals deal, to push the president on providing security protections for Kyiv in the event of a peace deal being secured to deter Russia from launching another attack.

After their bilateral meeting, Starmer said: “We’ve discussed a plan today to reach a peace that is tough and fair. That Ukraine will help shape. That’s backed by strength to stop Putin coming back for more.

“I’m working closely with other European leaders on this and I’m clear that the UK is ready to put boots on the ground and planes in the air to support a deal. Working together with our allies, because that is the only way that peace will last.”

Starmer stressed that any deal had to be one that lasted, and that was why security guarantees were so crucial. But Trump suggested that keeping the peace would be “the easy part” and the difficult bit was getting the deal done.

Trump stopped short of providing a firm commitment on security guarantees, but instead suggested the US having a multibillion dollar stake in Ukraine’s rare earths sector would be enough of a deterrent for Russia.

“We’ll be working there. We’ll have a lot of people working and so, in that sense, it’s very good. It’s a backstop, you could say. I don’t think anybody’s going to play around if we’re there with a lot of workers and having to do with rare earths and other things which we need for our country.”

Asked whether returning territory seized by Russia could play a part in any peace deal for Ukraine, Trump added: “We will certainly try and get as much as we can back.”

The US president appeared to disagree with Starmer’s suggestion that, without a US military backstop, Putin would invade again. “I don’t think so. I think when we have a deal, it’s going to be the deal,” he said.

“I think he’ll keep his word. I’ve known him for a long time now, and I think he will. I don’t believe he’s going to violate his word. I don’t think he’ll be back when we make a deal. I think the deal is going to hold now.”

However, Trump reiterated his support for the Nato principle of collective defence, saying: “I support it. I don’t think we’re gonna have any reason for it. I think we’re going to have a very successful peace.”

He said that the British had an “incredible military” that “don’t need much help” and could “take care of themselves” very well but added that if UK peacekeeping forces came under attack “if they need help, I’ll always be with the British”.

Trump also distanced himself from his previous remarks falsely calling Zelenskyy a dictator. “Did I say that? I can’t believe I said that,” he said, before admitting that the relationship between the two men had got a “little testy” over financial support but was now on firmer ground.

In a further sign of a healing relationship between the two, Trump praised Zelenskyy as “very brave” and said he got along with him “really well”.

He added: “We’ve given him a lot of equipment and a lot of money, but they have fought very bravely, no matter how you figure, they have really fought. Somebody has to use that equipment and they have been very brave in that sense.”

A trade deal between the UK and the US, centring on technology, is also on the cards, although British officials suggested this might require further deregulation. Trump did not rule out imposing tariffs on the UK but said he had a “warm spot” for the country, which was in a very different place” from the EU, highlighting his own investments in Scotland.

He added that Starmer had tried to persuade him not to introduce tariffs as the two countries had a balanced trading relationship. “We have a very good chance of arriving at a trade deal that could be really terrific for both countries.”

In the only slightly terse exchange of the Oval Office session, Starmer pushed back against JD Vance, Trump’s vice-president, after Vance repeated some of his criticisms of a supposed lack of free speech in European countries.

Asked about this, Vance talked of “infringements on free speech that actually affect not just the British – of course what the British do in their own country is up to them – but also affect American technology companies and, by extension, American citizens, so that is something that we’ll talk about today at lunch.”

Starmer replied immediately: “Well, we’ve had free speech for a very, very long time in the United Kingdom and it will last for a very, very long time. Certainly, we wouldn’t want to reach across US citizens, and we don’t, and that’s absolutely right, but in relation to free speech in the UK I’m very proud of our history there.”

How the tables have turned. Once upon a time visitors had to fawn over mad King George III and maintain the great pretence that everything was normal. Now it was the British prime minister’s turn to show deference to a capricious, erratic US president who might blow it all up.

First Keir Starmer, the 58th British prime minister (does Liz Truss really count?), and Donald Trump, the 45th and 47th US president, sat side by side before the fireplace in the Oval Office. Trump stretched credulity by claiming they “get along famously”. Starmer thanked Trump for “changing the conversation” on Ukraine.

Then the prime minister reached into his jacket breast pocket and produced a letter from King Charles and handed it over (take that, Macron!)

But the theatre came unstuck as a baffled Trump asked: “Am I supposed to read it right now?” Like a schoolchild trying to impress his parents with exam results, Starmer replied: “Yes, please do!”

There was a long, agonising silence as Trump studied the letter. Oddly, he wanted to make sure it was signed.

“That’s quite a signature isn’t it – beautiful!”

Starmer told the gathering that the letter contained an invitation for Trump’s second state visit to Britain. Trump nodded at someone as if to impress them with how important it was. Starmer gushed: “This is really special. This has never happened before.”

Then, placing a hand on Trump’s right arm for effect: “This is unprecedented!”

But there was still some anxiety swimming in the prime minister’s stomach. “What I haven’t got yet is your answer.”

Trump responded: “The answer is yes!”

Rejoice! Rejoice! Corks pop, confetti swirls and fireworks explode. Prepare to bring the Trump baby blimp out of retirement.

Starmer had calculated correctly that the puff and pageantry of a state visit with King Charles was bound to appeal to a man who, when he recently wrote on social media, “LONG LIVE THE KING!”, had only himself in mind.

On a recent episode of the TV programme Washington Week with the Atlantic, host Jeffrey Goldberg and guests suggested other ways for the leaders of US allies to gain Trump’s respect. “Golf and flattery”, was the conclusion, although guest Peter Baker noted that nominating Trump for the Nobel peace prize also helps.

So it was no surprise when, in the Oval Office, Trump talked about his golfing investments in the UK and said: “I own Turnberry, I own Aberdeen, and I own a great place called Doonbeg, in Ireland, so I have a great warm spot for your country.”

Journalist Mark Austin observed on X: “Sometimes it’s the smaller stuff. I hear on good authority that high on the list of what Donald Trump wants from the UK is for the Open Golf Championship to be staged at his Trump Turnberry course in Scotland.”

Starmer and Trump is a pairing as unlikely as fire and ice, rock and scissors or cats and cucumbers. Starmer is a strait-laced lawyer who defended human rights; Trump a brash reality TV star sending undocumented immigrants to Guantánamo Bay.

Starmer has a passion for Beethoven piano sonatas and Shostakovich; Trump plays DJ at his Mar-a-Lago estate with offerings such as Elvis Presley’s Suspicious Minds, Hello by Lionel Ritchie, Guns N’ Roses’ November Rain and James Brown and Luciano Pavarotti’s It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World.

Starmer was reportedly a vegetarian for 30 years, though he recently went back to eating fish, making him a pescatarian – which might sound a bit too DEI to Trump, a cheeseburger champ who spent part of his election campaign dishing them out from McDonald’s.

Perhaps it was just as well we were spared a repeat of past UK-US dalliances: Franklin Roosevelt getting a full view of Winston Churchill in the buff, later describing him as a “cherub” who was “pink and white all over”; Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher dancing at the White House; George W Bush joking about Tony Blair: “Well, we both use Colgate toothpaste.”

But Starmer came here burdened by the knowledge that the transatlantic alliance, which has held steady since the second world war, could fall apart on his watch.

At times he stood his ground, interrupting Trump to correct his false claim that European countries “get their money back” from Ukraine: “Mainly it was gifted, actually,” Starmer said.

The US president, meanwhile, was challenged about his past remark describing the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as “a dictator”, Trump replied, “Did I say that? I can’t believe I said that. Next question,” with a smile playing on his lips.

Relief for Starmer, having been spared a debate about the dictator-ness of Zelenskyy and Russia’s Vladimir Putin. But there was a less reassuring answer when Trump was asked whether the US would ride to the rescue of future British peacekeepers in Ukraine.

“I’ve always thought about the British, they don’t need much help,” said Trump, as a bust of Churchill looked on. “They can take care of themselves very well, you know what? No, it sounds like it’s evasive, but it’s not evasive, you know, the British have been incredible soldiers, incredible military. And they can take care of themselves, but if they need help, I’ll always be with the British, OK, I’ll always be with them. But they don’t need help. You look at their career.”

He turned to Starmer, awkwardly grabbed his hand and asked, “You have done very well over the years, haven’t you?”, speaking the language of one imperialist nation to another.

Starmer launched into damage control mode: “I’m very proud of our country but we’ve also always been backing each other up between our two countries. That is why this is the greatest alliance for prosperity and security I think the world has ever seen. Whenever necessary, we’ve absolutely backed each other up.”

But what Trump said next was even more alarming: “Could you take on Russia by yourselves?”

“Well,” said Starmer, with a nervous laugh, looking tense with hands folded on knee. He might be able to breeze through the prime minister’s questions in Westminster, but Trump had left him lost for words. And Putin, no doubt watching from afar, must have been licking his lips.

After lunch, the men held a joint press preference in front of hundreds of journalists in the east room. Starmer laid it on thick by remarking on seeing Churchill’s bust back in the Oval Office, Britain and the US’s alliance in the second world war and that invitation from the king.

“An unprecedented second state visit,” he said, channeling Trumpian grandiloquence. “This has never happened before. It’s so incredible, it will be historic.”

It worked. Trump, after all, is so obvious, so readable, so susceptible to flattery. He rejoined: “What a beautiful accent. I would have been president 20 years ago if I had that accent.”

Millions of Americans recoiled at the thought of King Donald and that timeline. But the inner Starmer did a little dance of delight.

• Kaja Kallas, the EU foreign minister, has accused Donald Trump of falling for a Russian narrative by closing the door on Nato membership for Ukraine. “Why are we in Nato? It is because we are afraid of Russia. And the only thing that really works – the only security guarantee that works – is Nato’s umbrella,” she said. Trump said last week of the war that Ukraine potentially joining Nato was “probably the reason the whole thing started”. In an interview published on Thursday by Agence France-Presse, Kallas said: “These accusations are totally untrue. That is the Russian narrative that we should not buy.”

• Kallas – a former prime minister of Estonia, which borders Russia – said Nato countries had never attacked Russia which instead was “afraid of democracy”. Interviewed in Washington, the EU high representative for foreign affairs, said of Trump’s approach: “My question is, why we should give Russia what they want on top of what they have already done – attacking Ukraine, annexing territory, occupying territory, and now offering something on top of it? … Consider here in America that after 9/11 you would have sat down with Osama bin Laden and said ‘OK, what else do you want?’ I mean, it’s unimaginable.”

• Trump, meeting with the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, on Thursday appeared to distance himself from previous remarks in which he falsely called Volodymyr Zelenskyy a dictator. “Did I say that? I can’t believe I said that,” he said, before admitting that his relationship with the Ukrainian president had got a “little testy” over financial support but was now on firmer ground.

• Trump once again had to be corrected by a European leader when he falsely claimed Europe was getting back the money it had given for Ukraine’s defence. Starmer said: “We’re not getting all of ours. I mean, quite a bit of ours was gifted. It was given. There were some loans, but mainly it was gifted actually.” Emmauel Macron, the French president, interjected on the same point when he met with Trump on Monday.

• Russian forces staged mass strikes late on Thursday on energy targets in the Kharkiv region of north-eastern Ukraine, the regional governor said. Oleh Syniehubov said one man was injured in a Russian attack on the town of Balakliia, south-east of Kharkiv. Ukraine’s air force reported threats of attacks by glide bombs and drones in the region.

• North Korea has sent more soldiers to Russia and redeployed several to the frontline in Kursk, the South Korean spy agency told Agence France-Presse on Thursday. “The exact scale is still being assessed,” an official said. Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesperson Georgiy Tykhy said: “This is, I think, a wake-up call for everyone globally to understand that the security of Europe and the Indo-Pacific has never been more directly linked than it is today. We don’t think that the reaction of the international community has been sufficient.”

• Nato allies to Ukraine are preparing billions more in aid and contributions to security guarantees, the Nato secretary general, Mark Rutte, said on Thursday, adding he had had a great talk with Donald Trump.

• The US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, has insisted there will be no more negotiations over a critical minerals and resources deal that the Trump administration is expecting Volodymyr Zelenskyy to sign when he arrives in Washington on Friday. Bessent said the deal was complete.

• Two researchers at France’s main state research agency were sentenced on Thursday to eight months in prison for throwing improvised explosive devices at the Russian consulate in Marseille in protest at Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Georges Sitja, 59, and Vasile Heresanu, 48, are expected to serve their sentences out of jail by wearing electronic tags.

Donald Trump has threatened China with an additional 10% tariff on its exports to the US, setting the stage for another significant escalation in his trade war with Beijing.

The US president also claimed that he plans to impose tariffs on Canada and Mexico starting next Tuesday, having delayed their imposition last month following talks with his counterparts.

Posting on Truth Social on Thursday, Trump said that illicit drugs such as fentanyl were being smuggled into the United States at “unacceptable levels” and that import taxes would force other countries to crackdown on the trafficking.

“We cannot allow this scourge to continue to harm the USA, and therefore, until it stops, or is seriously limited, the proposed TARIFFS scheduled to go into effect on MARCH FOURTH will, indeed, go into effect, as scheduled,” the Republican president wrote. “China will likewise be charged an additional 10% Tariff on that date.”

If Trump makes good on this latest threat, the move would further strain relations between the US and its largest trading partners.

Both Canada and Mexico have pledged to retaliate if the US imposes tariffs on their exports. China hit back swiftly when Trump imposed a 10% tariff on its exports earlier this month.

The Trump administration has repeatedly raised the threat of tariffs, pledging to rebalance the global economic order in America’s favor. A string of announced measures have yet to be introduced, however, as economists and businesses urge officials to reconsider.

The duties on imports from Canada and Mexico have been repeatedly delayed; modified levies on steel and aluminum will not be enforced until next month; and a wave of so-called “reciprocal” tariffs, trailed earlier this month, will not kick in before April.

Earlier this week, the US president vowed to slap 25% tariffs on the European Union, claiming the bloc was “formed to screw the United States”, although details remain sparse. Duties will be applied “generally”, Trump said, “on cars and all other things”.

The prospect of escalating tariffs has already thrown the global economy into turmoil – with consumers expressing fears about inflation worsening and the auto sector possibly suffering if the US’s two largest trading partners in Canada and Mexico are slapped with taxes.

The prospect of higher prices and slower growth could create political blowback for Trump.

Associated Press contributed reporting

The Trump administration has fired hundreds of workers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), the US’s pre-eminent climate research agency housed within the Department of Commerce, the Guardian has learned.

On Thursday afternoon, the commerce department sent emails to employees saying their jobs would be cut off at the end of the day. Other government agencies have also seen huge staffing cuts in recent days.

The firings specifically affected probationary employees, a categorization that applies to new hires or those moved or promoted into new positions, and which makes up roughly 10% of the agency’s workforce.

“The majority of probationary employees in my office have been with the agency for 10+ years and just got new positions,” said one worker who still had their job, and who spoke to the Guardian under the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal. “If we lose them, we’re losing not just the world-class work they do day to day but also decades of expertise and institutional knowledge.”

Another anonymous staffer called the laid-off workers “dedicated, hard-working civil servants who came to Noaa to help protect lives and keep our blue planet healthy”.

“These indiscriminate cuts are cruel and thoughtless,” the second worker said.

It is not only laid-off employees who will be harmed by the cuts, the second worker said. Ordinary Americans who rely on Noaa’s extreme weather forecasts, climate data and sustainably monitored fisheries will also suffer.

“Words can’t describe the impact this will have, both on us at Noaa and on the country,” the employee said. “It’s just wrong all around.”

Andrew Rosenberg, former deputy director of Noaa’s National Marine Fisheries Service, said Thursday was a “sad day”.

“There is no plan or thought into how to continue to deliver science or service on weather, severe storms and events, conservation and management of our coasts and ocean life and much more,” he said. “Let’s not pretend this is about efficiency, quality of work or cost savings because none of those false justifications are remotely true.”

Among those who received the emails were workers hired through Schedule A, a hiring authority agencies can use to connect with diverse candidates including veterans and people with disabilities. Schedule A workers have a two-year probationary period in which they are at-will employees and enjoy fewer labor protections.

All of the probationary employees at Noaa’s Environmental Modeling Center, which improves weather, marine and climate predictions, lost their jobs, one employee posted on social media.

The Maryland senator Chris Van Hollen called mass layoffs within the commerce department “flatly illegal” in a letter on Wednesday to the commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick.

That same day, the climate non-profit Union of Concerned Scientists sent a separate letter to Lutnick, signed by more than 2,500 scientific experts calling for Noaa to maintain its funding and staff.

“This will cost American lives,” said the congresswoman and ranking member of the House science, space and technology committee, Zoe Lofgren, in a written statement. Her comments were issued alongside Congressman Gabe Amo’s, the ranking member of the subcommittee on environment, after news of the firings broke.

“By firing essential staff who work tirelessly on behalf of the American people, President Trump and Elon Musk are playing politics with our national security and public safety,” Amo said. “Leaving Noaa understaffed will inevitably lead to additional chaos and confusion – I call on them to rehire these public servants immediately before preventable tragedy strikes.”

Lutnick assured Congress during his confirmation hearing that Noaa would not be dismantled under his watch. “It seems either Lutnick willingly lied to Congress and the American people or that he has caved in record-breaking time to the destructive agenda of the Trump-Musk regime,” said Dr Juan Declet-Barreto, a senior social scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Rick Spinrad, who served as Noaa administrator until January, said the cuts were “at best misguided and ill-informed”. At worst, he said, they would be “dangerously risky to the lives and property of Americans all around the country”.

Craig McLean, the former director of Noaa research who served the agency for four decades before retiring in 2022 agreed, calling the firings “callous, insulting, vengeful and offensive”.

“The nation will be compromised in safety, science and international standing by these reckless, blind acts,” he said. “This is not my America.”

The Trump administration has not commented on the firings.

An active investigation is under way into the deaths of the Oscar-winning actor Gene Hackman and his wife, the classical pianist Betsy Arakawa, after their bodies were found “in a state of decomposition” along with that of one of their dogs in their home in New Mexico, the local sheriff’s department has confirmed.

The local gas provider, the New Mexico Gas Co, was involved in the investigation alongside the Santa Fe county sheriff’s department, the Associated Press reported, raising speculation that carbon monoxide poisoning was behind the deaths. The emergence later on Thursday of a search warrant, however, cast doubts about a possible gas leak and raised alternative questions about the discovery of prescription pills near Arakawa’s body.

Hackman, 95, and Arakawa, 65, were found by deputies in their house in the Hyde Park area of Santa Fe on Wednesday. The sheriff’s spokesperson said that foul play was not suspected, “however exact cause of death has not been determined”.

The spokesperson added that the cause of death was unlikely to be known until autopsies are completed.

Further questions were raised on Thursday in a search warrant, a copy of which was obtained by the Guardian, which gave new details about what deputies found during their initial visit. The search warrant revealed that Hackman and Arakawa had been dead for some time before their bodies were discovered as “the body was in a state of decomposition with bloating in her face and mummification in her hands and feet”.

A prescription bottle was also found on a countertop in the house, with pills scattered around.

According to the search warrant, Arakawa was found on the floor of a bathroom near the countertop beside a space heater that the deputies believed could have toppled and knocked her over. Hackman’s body was in the mud room of the house, fully clothed in gray sweatpants and a long-sleeve T-shirt and with a cane.

Deputies believed he might have had a sudden fall.

The warrant indicated that in the initial search no problems with leaking gas were found. The search warrant concluded that the deaths were “suspicious enough in nature to require a thorough search and investigation”.

“All I can say is that we’re in the middle of a preliminary death investigation,” the sheriff, Adan Mendoza of Santa Fe county, told the Santa Fe New Mexican. Three German shepherds were at the home at the time that deputies entered the property, one of which was found deceased inside a closet in the bathroom about 10-15ft from Arakawa’s body.

Deputies reported that there were no signs of trauma to the bodies. No suicide note was discovered, according to the New York Times.

The couple had lived in New Mexico since 2004, when Hackman retired from Hollywood. They had married in 1991.

A longtime friend of the couple, Barbara Lenihan, told the New York Times that she had spoken with Arakawa in January. At that time, Hackman appeared to be becoming more frail but was still active.

“They always were somewhat reclusive even though everyone loved to be around them,” she told the newspaper.

Elizabeth Jean Hackman, the actor’s daughter and one of his three children with Faye Maltese, told TMZ that the family suspected that carbon monoxide poisoning might be to blame.

She told the outlet they were not certain, but that they thought toxic fumes might be the cause of death.

• This article was amended on 28 February 2025, to correct Arakawa’s age at time of death.

Few of Hollywood’s leading actors made such an unlikely journey to stardom as Gene Hackman, who has died aged 95. He had no early contact with show business, came from a fraught family background and had looks that might generously be described as “homely”.

He did not decide on acting as a career until his late 20s and was in his late 30s when he had his breakthrough, as the elder brother in Bonnie and Clyde (1967). Yet within four years he had won the first of his two Oscars, playing the cop Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle in The French Connection (1971).

While this was his biggest commercial success, his critical status grew with his performance as the paranoid surveillance expert in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation (1974). Although it was a box office flop, it gave him the greatest opportunity of his career. As Harry Caul, a private surveillance expert who becomes involved in corrupt business and murder, resulting in his isolation and near insanity, Hackman brought a tense interior despair and complexity to the movie. He went on to become one of the most prolific and respected character stars of the late 1980s and the 90s.

Hackman acted in about 80 movies. Many were dire, and Empire magazine once described him as “the master of the art of rotten career moves”. But he survived those films, as well as problems with drink, a heart ailment and periods of depression. He admitted that he took many jobs for the money – certainly nothing else could account for his return to the Superman series in 1987 – to support an expensive lifestyle. He enjoyed flying his own planes and maintained homes throughout the US and Europe.

His readiness to accept so much work may have stemmed from a disrupted childhood during the Depression years. Born in San Bernardino, California, he was the son of Lyda (nee Gray), a waiter, and Eugene Hackman. His father, a journalist, in a restless search for employment moved the family from town to town before leaving for good when Gene was 13, upsetting his schooling and life so that he later remarked he never felt he belonged anywhere. He lied about his age and joined the Marines when he was 16, serving an instructive though unhappy few years, mainly in the far east. After a serious motorcycle accident, he was invalided out of the forces and had to find a livelihood.

His attempts included radio (he had gained experience while in the Marines) and painting (he was a talented artist but it remained a hobby, never a career). In 1956 he married a New Yorker, Faye Maltese, and with her support decided to try acting.

They moved to the west coast and Hackman enrolled at the Pasadena Playhouse College of Theatre Arts, where he found himself years older than his fellow students. They included Dustin Hoffman, who later became the Hackmans’ lodger and a lifelong friend. Allegedly the duo were nominated by their fellows as those “least likely to succeed”.

On their return to New York, Faye became a secretary and Hackman took casual jobs between a few off-Broadway plays and occasional television work in episodes of The Defenders and The United States Steel Hour. In his film debut, Mad Dog Coll (1961), he played a cop, and he then appeared in a TV western, Ride With Terror (1963).

He anticipated better from a role in Robert Rossen’s Lilith (1964), which starred Warren Beatty. Despite the film’s subsequent cult status, the initial response to it hardly helped the struggling actor, who by then had a family – a son, Christopher, and daughter, Elizabeth. A Broadway role in Any Wednesday (1964), starring Jason Robards and an unfriendly Sandy Dennis received good notices, leading to him being given eighth billing as a missionary in the turgid movie Hawaii (1966).

Happily, Beatty turned producer for Bonnie and Clyde and, remembering Hackman from Lilith, cast him as Buck Barrow. The violent film set in Texas during the late 20s became a hit and Hackman’s assertive performance gained him an Oscar nomination, as best supporting actor.

Meanwhile, he readily accepted all the offers that came in, from television series to war films, from a part as a detective in The Split (1968) to that of an astronaut in the unmemorable Marooned and a convict in Riot (both 1969). In the same year he was cast opposite Burt Lancaster, who introduced him to the notion of star power, in The Gypsy Moths, and in Downhill Racer, as a ski coach to Robert Redford, a friend from his New York days. He also had a third child, Leslie, and a marriage made increasingly difficult by his relentless schedule.

Critical kudos and a second Oscar nomination came from his role as the son in I Never Sang for My Father (1970). The lack of audience for that sturdy film led to him accepting the execrable Doctors’ Wives (1971) and, the same year, the violent western The Hunting Party – potboilers that provided income and experience. But it was his subsequent success as the truculent detective in William Friedkin’s The French Connection that changed his life.

When Steve McQueen and others rejected the film, Hackman seized the moment and made the unyielding cop on the trail of drug dealers his own. He received an Oscar as best actor and reprised the role in the darker French Connection II (1975). By then he had director approval and chose John Frankenheimer, with whom he had worked successfully on The Gypsy Moths.

Between these thrillers, he was notable in two films released in 1972: Prime Cut, as a vicious gangland boss, and as the lead in the popular film The Poseidon Adventure. Bafta named him best actor for the latter, as they had done the previous year for The French Connection.

A year later, he displayed his versatility as one of two drifters (opposite Al Pacino) in the oddly platonic love story Scarecrow, but the rigour of his role in The Conversation was decidedly absent from the lugubrious Zandy’s Bride (1974). However, compensation came with a cameo as the blind hermit in Young Frankenstein (1974) and then the vast fee for recreating Doyle.

Despite the admiration of his peers and the public, Hackman had a reputation for impatience with the slow process on set and for his refusal to grind the publicity mill. His mood darkened during the rest of the decade, and was not helped by poor choices in 1975, including the thriller Night Moves and the western Bite the Bullet.

Following the highly paid chore of playing the villain Lex Luthor in Superman (1978), Hackman went into semi-retirement. Luckily, his scenes for Superman II (1980) had been completed during the initial shoot and he took time out to paint and sculpt, fly and travel. Only Beatty’s insistence that he play a cameo in Reds (1981) coaxed him back to work.

In 1983 he launched the second phase of his career, playing a jaded reporter in Roger Spottiswoode’s political thriller Under Fire and a colonel in Uncommon Valor, and taking the challenging role of the reclusive billionaire in Nicolas Roeg’s Eureka, the director’s wilful take on both his own The Man Who Fell to Earth and Orson Welles’s Citizen Kane. Eureka was badly distributed and was only rescued from oblivion by BBC television. It took Hackman a while to find his stride, mixing disasters such as Misunderstood (1984) and Superman IV (1987) with successes in Best Shot (released as Hoosiers in the US, 1986) and a villainous secretary of defence in the stylish No Way Out (1987).

It was the fourth of his six films in 1988 that gave him his best role for years, playing the co-investigator of racial murders in the US deep south. Alan Parker’s Mississippi Burning received some stick for its alleged inaccuracies, but Hackman enjoyed a tailor-made part, exhibiting a combination of world-weary humanity and wry humour, cloaked by an exterior toughness. If ever there was a time in his career when he almost inherited the mantle of the great Spencer Tracy, this was it. He received the Berlin film festival Silver Bear and another Oscar nomination for the role.

Embarking on the busiest period of his career, when he also returned to the stage, opposite Glenn Close and Richard Dreyfuss in Death and the Maiden on Broadway (1992), Hackman made much of a small role as a film director in Postcards from the Edge, and played the prosecutor in the remake of the noir classic Narrow Margin (both 1990). Including roles as narrator and General Mandible’s voice in Antz (1998), he made 25 appearances in 10 years. One documentary was a tribute to Clint Eastwood, to whom Hackman had reason to be grateful.

In 1992 Eastwood had nagged him into playing the sadistic sheriff Daggett in the sombre Unforgiven. Hackman brought weight and credibility to the pivotal role and received his second Oscar, plus a Bafta and Golden Globe. It started him on a run of westerns – as a brigadier general in Geronimo (1993), Nicholas Earp alongside Kevin Costner in Lawrence Kasdan’s monumental Wyatt Earp (1994), then another evil sheriff in the quirky The Quick and the Dead (1995). In Tony Scott’s cold war thriller Crimson Tide (1995) he was memorable as the hawkish submarine captain who nearly brings about a nuclear war.

He clearly enjoyed playing the sleazy producer in Get Shorty (1995). Relishing his increasing status and workload, he knocked spots off Hugh Grant in Extreme Measures (1996) and responded to the competition offered by Paul Newman in the nostalgic private-eye movie Twilight (1998). Hackman worked increasingly in big-budget movies: as the murderous president in Eastwood’s Absolute Power (1997), and the reclusive surveillance expert in Scott’s Enemy of the State (1998) – where the role and many of the scenes were a homage to The Conversation.

In his own production, the disturbing thriller Under Suspicion (2000), he played a wealthy lawyer being tracked by a dogged detective for a child murder. It was one more in the gallery of latter-day monsters that dominated his output during the period. He cornered the market in introspective, disturbed characters. It was not difficult to see why he had obtained the rights to The Silence of the Lambs, with a view to directing. In the event, Hackman found the material too disturbing and declined to play the lead role under another director.

There were lighter moments, such as his rightwing senator in The Birdcage (1996), a feeble revamp of La Cage aux Folles, and a return to coaching – this time football – in The Replacements (2000). During this busy period he somehow found time to co-write – with Dan Lenihan – his first novel, Wake of the Perdido Star (2000), an adventure story set in the early 19th century, which prompted him to give interviews, something he seldom did on behalf of his movies.

In 2001 he again embarked on a series of big-budget films, beginning with a cameo role in The Mexican, an uneasy blend of romance and black comedy starring Brad Pitt, quickly followed by Heartbreakers, in which Hackman played a cigarette tycoon bamboozled by Sigourney Weaver. In welcome contrast, he was very much the star as a gang leader, Joe, in David Mamet’s smart and complicated Heist – a thriller in which, characteristically for the writer-director, nothing was exactly what it seemed. Hackman was elevated to the rank of admiral in Behind Enemy Lines, a jingoistic and gung-ho war film that was more rewarding financially than artistically.

In one of the best films of his career, Wes Anderson’s witty and poignant The Royal Tenenbaums, Hackman took the lead as Royal, a long-absent father who returns to salvage his erratic family from a complicated domestic dilemma. Boasting a fine cast, it was made with panache and style.

Runaway Jury (2003), adapted from a John Grisham novel, proved efficient entertainment, largely thanks to an original premise and fine performances from Hackman and his friend Hoffman. After a minor comedy, Welcome to Mooseport (2004), Hackman gave a television interview stating that he had no plan to act in future and was going to enjoy a more simple life.

He returned to books, co-authoring three further historical novels with Lenihan. He subsequently worked alone, first writing an energetic western, Payback at Morning Peak (2011) and then a thriller, Pursuit (2013).

His first marriage ended in divorce in 1986. He married Betsy Arakawa, a pianist, in 1991; she was found dead with Hackman at their home in Santa Fe, New Mexico. His three children survive him.

Seven planets will appear to align in the night sky on the last day of February in what is known as a planetary parade.

These planetary hangouts happen when several planets appear to line up in the night sky at once.

“A planetary parade is a moment when multiple planets are visible in the sky at the same time,” said Dr Greg Brown, an astronomer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich, told PA Media. “How impressive a parade it is will depend on how many planets are in it and how visible they are.”

This week, all seven planets are technically visible in the sky at once, though they are not all equally easy to spot.

“Mercury, Neptune and Saturn are all very close to the horizon in the early evening and, particularly in the case of Neptune and Saturn, will struggle to be seen in the twilight,” Brown said. “In addition, Uranus, like Neptune, is very faint, making it almost impossible to find without a pair of binoculars or a telescope.

“Venus, Jupiter and Mars, however, are all very easy to see with the unaided eye.”

A parade of four or five planets visible to the naked eye happens every few years, according to Nasa.

“Groups of three, four or even five planets being visible aren’t uncommon, regularly appearing throughout each year,” Brown said. “But the more planets are involved, the more things need to be aligned to be visible at once. This makes full seven-planet parades fairly rare.”

The seven planets will next align in 2040.

A similar parade took place last June, but only two planets could be seen without any special equipment. Six planets were visible in January – four to the naked eye – and now a dim Mercury joins the gang.

This month, Venus, Mars and Jupiter are visible to the naked eye. A faint Saturn and Mercury are close to the horizon, making them hard to spot. Uranus and Neptune can be glimpsed with binoculars and telescopes.

“Planetary alignments occur because the planets in our solar system orbit the Sun within roughly the same plane, known as the ecliptic plane,” Dr Shyam Balaji, a researcher in astroparticle physics and cosmology at King’s College London, said. “As they orbit at different speeds and distances from the Sun, there are moments when they appear to line up from Earth’s perspective.”

Balaji said the best time to see the alignment in the UK was 28 February, “shortly after sunset, when the planets will be positioned above the western horizon”. The same is true in Australia, where stargazers should look north after sunset, and the US, with experts suggesting those hoping to see the celestial show should head out about 30 minutes after sunset and stay away from bright lights.

Stargazing apps can help people find out where to look just after sunset around the world.

To find the planets with a telescope, look for moon shapes, Brown said. “Using a telescope, try looking for the moons of Jupiter or the shape of the illuminated part of Venus’s surface – like a tiny crescent moon.”

The planets will slowly make their exit through the spring.

With PA Media

Seven planets will appear to align in the night sky on the last day of February in what is known as a planetary parade.

These planetary hangouts happen when several planets appear to line up in the night sky at once.

“A planetary parade is a moment when multiple planets are visible in the sky at the same time,” said Dr Greg Brown, an astronomer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich, told PA Media. “How impressive a parade it is will depend on how many planets are in it and how visible they are.”

This week, all seven planets are technically visible in the sky at once, though they are not all equally easy to spot.

“Mercury, Neptune and Saturn are all very close to the horizon in the early evening and, particularly in the case of Neptune and Saturn, will struggle to be seen in the twilight,” Brown said. “In addition, Uranus, like Neptune, is very faint, making it almost impossible to find without a pair of binoculars or a telescope.

“Venus, Jupiter and Mars, however, are all very easy to see with the unaided eye.”

A parade of four or five planets visible to the naked eye happens every few years, according to Nasa.

“Groups of three, four or even five planets being visible aren’t uncommon, regularly appearing throughout each year,” Brown said. “But the more planets are involved, the more things need to be aligned to be visible at once. This makes full seven-planet parades fairly rare.”

The seven planets will next align in 2040.

A similar parade took place last June, but only two planets could be seen without any special equipment. Six planets were visible in January – four to the naked eye – and now a dim Mercury joins the gang.

This month, Venus, Mars and Jupiter are visible to the naked eye. A faint Saturn and Mercury are close to the horizon, making them hard to spot. Uranus and Neptune can be glimpsed with binoculars and telescopes.

“Planetary alignments occur because the planets in our solar system orbit the Sun within roughly the same plane, known as the ecliptic plane,” Dr Shyam Balaji, a researcher in astroparticle physics and cosmology at King’s College London, said. “As they orbit at different speeds and distances from the Sun, there are moments when they appear to line up from Earth’s perspective.”

Balaji said the best time to see the alignment in the UK was 28 February, “shortly after sunset, when the planets will be positioned above the western horizon”. The same is true in Australia, where stargazers should look north after sunset, and the US, with experts suggesting those hoping to see the celestial show should head out about 30 minutes after sunset and stay away from bright lights.

Stargazing apps can help people find out where to look just after sunset around the world.

To find the planets with a telescope, look for moon shapes, Brown said. “Using a telescope, try looking for the moons of Jupiter or the shape of the illuminated part of Venus’s surface – like a tiny crescent moon.”

The planets will slowly make their exit through the spring.

With PA Media

China doesn’t even need to “think” about apologising over the way it notified Australia about live-fire naval drills off the Australian coast, the country’s ambassador says.

Xiao Qian told the ABC the drills last Friday and Saturday posed “no threat” to Australia and were “a normal kind of practice for many navies in the world”.

He said the notification of the drills had followed normal international practice, despite Australian authorities first becoming aware of them after they began, from a passing Virgin pilot.

“There should be no over-reading into this,” the ambassador said, insisting Australia and China were “comprehensive strategic partners”.

A readout of the interview, published on the Chinese embassy website, said:

“The term ‘partner’ indicates that the two countries are friends, not foes or rivals. China has always regarded Australia as an important partner, and there is no need for Australia to feel concerned about the actions of the Chinese fleet.”

Australian defence officials told Senate estimates this week the first that Australia learned of the live-fire exercises, which took place 340 nautical miles off the NSW south coast, was when they were notified via a civilian pilot flying a Virgin commercial passenger jet near to the Chinese naval vessels.

The pilot heard a warning broadcast by the ships themselves that they were undertaking live-fire. That warning was relayed back to Australia, coming some time before a similar notification from a New Zealand navy vessel that was shadowing the flotilla. After the warning came through, commercial flights were re-routed mid-flight around the drills.

On Friday morning, the Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese said the vessels were now 593km south-west of Adelaide, “just outside, near the border of our exclusive economic zone”.

“They are being shadowed by the Anzac frigate, HMAS Stuart: these Chinese vessels have been monitored and shadowed by Australian or New Zealand the entire time they have been off the coast,” he told reporters. The New Zealand defence force said it has maintained its frigate HMNZS Te Kaha “in the region”.

Albanese said his government disagreed with China on the warnings given ahead of the drills.

“We believe it was appropriate to have been given more notice and we made that clear last Friday,” he said.

He acknowledged that they were acting within international law, but added “we’ve made it very clear that we expect more notice to have been given and we have protested”.

Xiao, in his interview, insisted there had been appropriate notice given ahead of the live-fire drills on Friday and Saturday, and rejected Australia’s assertion that there was inadequate notice.

“Different countries have a different practice and, based on the nature of the drill, size of the drill and the scope of the drill, my view is that the Chinese naval certification advice was appropriate.”

He said international law was silent about the precise timing and nature of advance warning on naval exercises.

“I don’t see there’s any reason why the Chinese side should feel sorry about that, or even to think about to apologise for that,” he said.

But previously unreported communications between air traffic controllers and pilots show confusion around the live-fire drills.

Air traffic control started sending hazard alerts to nearby aircraft Friday morning, including a Singapore Airlines flight from Christchurch to Singapore and an Air New Zealand flight from Auckland to Melbourne around 11:30 am, according to text messages.

At about midday, Air New Zealand pilots told controllers on the ground: “Hi, lots of chatter on 121.5 including Chinese navy. Same pos and ht/radius as you advised. Cheers.”

An airline dispatcher later told the Air New Zealand pilots there was “unannounced live firing in Tasman to the nth of you by Chinese military.”

“Below is all we know. Broadcast on 121.5… just FYI we have been notified of a Chinese live firing exercise as follows. Posn. 37S 15702E. Radius 40nm. SFC-45000. Until 0300Z. No ack required.”

The messages were sent between aircraft and ground stations using an Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) system.

Pilots are typically alerted to military drills, rocket launches and other airspace issues through Notices to Airmen, or NOTAMs, which are usually filed at least 24 hours in advance.

“We/re don/t have a NOTAM in effect for Chinese exercise. Have not seen or heard any of that,” an airline dispatcher told two American Airlines flights approaching Sydney and Brisbane from the US at 3:37 am and 3:39 am on Saturday morning.

Both China and Australia confirmed this week that the Chinese naval drills were conducted in international waters and in accordance with international law.

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A three-ship flotilla – comprising the Jiangkai-class frigate Hengyang, the Renhai-class cruiser Zunyi and the Fuchi-class replenishment vessel Weishanhu – sailed from Australia’s north down the east coast – reportedly sailing as close as 150nm from Sydney – before undertaking live-fire drills in the Tasman Sea on Friday and Saturday.

The ships – which are possibly accompanied by an undetected nuclear submarine, Australia’s defence chief has said – have since sailed farther south and west and entered the Great Australian Bight.

Australia’s defence minister, Richard Marles, has urged calm, saying “it’s really important that we take a deep breath here”. He emphasised the Chinese ships’ adherence to international law, and pointed out the frequency of Australian navy ships sailing close to China’s shores – including through the contested South China Sea.

“There is actually a greater frequency of Australian naval vessels closer to China than there are Chinese vessels close to Australia,” he said.

Xiao insisted China did not “pose a threat to Australia”, saying the countries were, and would remain, “comprehensive strategic partners”.

In the interview readout posted online, the Chinese ambassador rejected any link between the naval flotilla sailing down Australia’s east coast and an incident between Australian and Chinese aircraft over the South China Sea earlier this month.

On 11 February, a Chinese PLA-AF J-16 fighter aircraft released flares near an Australian P-8A Poseidon patrol aircraft as it was flying what Australia has said was a “routine maritime surveillance patrol in the South China Sea”.

Australia described it as “an unsafe and unprofessional manoeuvre”.

Xiao said the air and sea matters were “entirely different in nature”, and blamed Australia for the air incident.

“The Australian military aircraft intruded into China’s airspace, which is a serious violation of international law and undermines China’s national security. However, the Chinese naval exercise took place in high seas far from Australia’s coastline and aligns with international law.”

with Reuters

Delegates from across the world have cheered a last-gasp deal to map out funding to protect nature, breaking a deadlock at UN talks seen as a test for international cooperation in the face of geopolitical tensions.

Rich and developing countries on Thursday hammered out a delicate compromise on raising and delivering the billions of dollars needed to protect species, overcoming stark divisions that had scuttled their previous Cop16 meeting in Cali, Colombia last year.

Scientists have long warned that action is urgent. A million of the world’s species are threatened with extinction, while unsustainable farming and consumption destroy forests, deplete soils and spread plastic pollution to even the most remote areas of the planet.

Delegates stood and clapped in an emotionally charged final meeting that saw the key decisions adopted in the final minutes of the last day of rebooted negotiations at the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization headquarters in Rome.

“The applause is for all of you. You have done an amazing job,” said the Cop16 president, Susana Muhamad of Colombia.

Posting online afterwards, she called it a “historic day”, adding: “We achieved the adoption of the first global plan to finance the conservation of life on Earth.”

The decision comes more than two years after a landmark deal to slow the rampant destruction of nature this decade and protect at least 30% of the world’s land and seas. That would protect ecosystems and wildlife that humans rely on for food, climate regulation and economic prosperity.

The Cop16 agreement on Thursday is seen as crucial to giving impetus to that deal. The talks were also seen as a bellwether for international cooperation more generally.

The meeting comes as countries face a range of challenges, from trade disputes and debt worries to the slashing of overseas aid – particularly by the Trump administration.

Washington, which has not signed up to the UN’s convention on biological diversity, did not send representatives to the meeting.

“Our efforts show that multilateralism can present hope at a time of geopolitical uncertainty,” said Steven Guilbeault, Canada’s minister of environment and climate change.

The failure to finalise an agreement in Cali was the first in a string of disappointing outcomes at environmental summits last year.

A climate finance deal at Cop29 in Azerbaijan in November was slammed by developing countries as woefully insufficient, while separate negotiations about desertification and plastic pollution stalled in December.

Muhamad, who has resigned as Colombia’s environment minister but stayed on to serve until after the Rome conference, said members of her team were brought to tears by the last-minute agreement.

Thursday saw intense closed-door talks based on a “compromise attempt” text that Brazil put forward on behalf of the BRICS country bloc that includes Russia, China and India.

Brazil’s negotiator Maria Angelica Ikeda told AFP earlier that financing had been a flashpoint long before the current international tensions, adding that the BRICS proposal sought to be “very sensitive” to a broad spectrum of views.

Countries had already agreed to deliver $200bn a year in finance for nature by 2030, including $30bn a year from wealthier countries to poorer ones.

The total for 2022 was about $15bn, according to the OECD.

Thursday’s decision sets out two main strands of action in the coming years – finding the extra billions of dollars in funding for biodiversity and deciding on the institutions that will deliver the money.

Georgina Chandler, head of policy and campaigns at the Zoological Society of London, said the finance roadmap was a “key milestone”, but stressed that money is needed urgently.

“With only five years left to halt and reverse biodiversity loss, securing the necessary funds to accomplish this mission is more essential than ever,” she said.

Other decisions sought to bolster monitoring to ensure countries are held accountable for their progress towards meeting biodiversity targets.

The owners of an island volcano in New Zealand where 22 tourists and local guides died in an eruption had their criminal conviction for failing to keep visitors safe thrown out by a judge on Friday.

The release of the decision followed a three-day hearing last October for the owners’ company at the high court in the city of Auckland where they appealed against the charges laid by New Zealand’s workplace health and safety regulator after the 2019 eruption of Whakaari, also known as White Island.

The company, Whakaari Management – run by three brothers who own the active volcano on New Zealand’s North Island – was ordered in March last year to pay millions of dollars in fines and restitutions to the victims of the eruption, who were mostly US and Australian cruise ship passengers on a walking tour.

Lawyers for the company filed an appeal against the criminal conviction the same month.

The case hinged on whether Whakaari Management – which granted access to the volcano to tourists and scientific groups, collecting fees for permits – should have been in charge of safety at the volcano site under New Zealand’s workplace health and safety laws. Anyone in charge of a workplace must ensure management of hazards and the safety of all there, including at entry and exit points.

Survivors told the trial in emotional evidence during the company’s 2023 trial that they had not been told the active volcano was dangerous when they paid to visit it. They were not supplied with protective equipment, and many were wearing clothing that made their horrific burns more damaging.

In Friday’s written ruling, Justice Simon Moore ruled the company did not have a duty under the relevant law to ensure that the walking tour workplace was without risks to health and safety. He agreed with the company’s lawyers that the firm only granted access to the bare land to tourism business – and should not have been legally considered the entity that managed or controlled the workplace.

The case had far-reaching implications and has already changed the laws governing New Zealand’s adventure tourism industry, which is often based around outdoor thrills on or around the country’s many natural hazards. Operators must now take all reasonable steps to inform customers of any serious risks.

The lawyers for the company said during last October’s hearing that if the conviction was allowed to stand, it would make other land owners reluctant to allow such activities to take place on their property – a suggestion rejected by the regulator.

The owners of an island volcano in New Zealand where 22 tourists and local guides died in an eruption had their criminal conviction for failing to keep visitors safe thrown out by a judge on Friday.

The release of the decision followed a three-day hearing last October for the owners’ company at the high court in the city of Auckland where they appealed against the charges laid by New Zealand’s workplace health and safety regulator after the 2019 eruption of Whakaari, also known as White Island.

The company, Whakaari Management – run by three brothers who own the active volcano on New Zealand’s North Island – was ordered in March last year to pay millions of dollars in fines and restitutions to the victims of the eruption, who were mostly US and Australian cruise ship passengers on a walking tour.

Lawyers for the company filed an appeal against the criminal conviction the same month.

The case hinged on whether Whakaari Management – which granted access to the volcano to tourists and scientific groups, collecting fees for permits – should have been in charge of safety at the volcano site under New Zealand’s workplace health and safety laws. Anyone in charge of a workplace must ensure management of hazards and the safety of all there, including at entry and exit points.

Survivors told the trial in emotional evidence during the company’s 2023 trial that they had not been told the active volcano was dangerous when they paid to visit it. They were not supplied with protective equipment, and many were wearing clothing that made their horrific burns more damaging.

In Friday’s written ruling, Justice Simon Moore ruled the company did not have a duty under the relevant law to ensure that the walking tour workplace was without risks to health and safety. He agreed with the company’s lawyers that the firm only granted access to the bare land to tourism business – and should not have been legally considered the entity that managed or controlled the workplace.

The case had far-reaching implications and has already changed the laws governing New Zealand’s adventure tourism industry, which is often based around outdoor thrills on or around the country’s many natural hazards. Operators must now take all reasonable steps to inform customers of any serious risks.

The lawyers for the company said during last October’s hearing that if the conviction was allowed to stand, it would make other land owners reluctant to allow such activities to take place on their property – a suggestion rejected by the regulator.

Tens of thousands of people are expected to join protests and strikes as Greece marks the second anniversary of a fatal train crash, the fallout of which has put the prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, in the line of fire.

As experts attributed the disaster to oversights and major systemic failures, organisers vowed that Friday’s demonstrations, which coincide with nationwide industrial action, would be on a scale not seen in years.

Fifty-seven people, almost all students, were killed, and dozens more were injured when an intercity passenger train collided head-on with a cargo locomotive in the valley of Tempe on 28 February 2023. It was the worst rail accident in Greece’s history.

Petros Constantinou, a prominent leftwing activist, said: “What we are seeing is a river of outrage swelling by the minute. Citizens feel duped. They want answers, they want justice and they want to support the families of the victims. Everyone believes this will be the biggest show of people power in this country in decades.”

On the eve of the protests, Nikos Androulakis, the leader of the Pasok party, Greece’s main opposition, accused the government of “deceiving” the Greek people and “doing everything they could to conceal their political responsibilities”.

He said he would file a motion of no confidence in the government next week, adding to pressure on Mitsotakis.

Not since he first won office in July 2019 has Mitsotakis, a former banker, confronted such unrest. Public anger over the response to the crash – not least a decision to rapidly clean up the site and remove debris that included vital evidence and human remains – has been exacerbated by the perceived and growing sense of a government cover-up.

Within days of the crash, in a move that has yet to be fully explained, the Greek authorities rushed to gravel over and cement the area.

Accusations of political interference in the investigation have been aggravated by the glacial pace with which justice has been meted out: a trial has yet to be held and no government official has faced censure or been made accountable for the tragedy.

A 178-page report released by an independent investigative committee on Thursday found that while most of the victims had died as a result of the high-impact crash – blamed initially on a station master erroneously placing the two trains on the same track – as many as seven people were incinerated in the huge explosion that ensued. The report cited “the possible presence” of an “unknown fuel” at the scene – findings that will boost claims, already voiced by investigators hired by the victims’ families, that the freight train was carrying a highly flammable illegal substance.

In the report, commissioned by relatives, experts referred to an unreported load of explosive chemicals on the cargo train – claims echoed by some EU diplomats.

Mitsotakis has, until recently, proved adroit at handling crises – a talent that has helped reinforce a sense of political stability.

But analysts told the Guardian that in a political climate that had become increasingly unpredictable and toxic, passions were running so high that placating public sentiment was now proving hard. One poll, released by MRB, revealed that 81.1 % of respondents did not believe the government had done enough to shed light on the tragedy, reflecting the growing distrust in public institutions and the judiciary.

“This is the first time in six years that Mitsotakis is facing such huge, social opposition,” said the political commentator, Maria Karaklioumi. “For the first time we are seeing people mobilising in a way they haven’t done in years and what happens next is unpredictable.”

She said the anger of the crash had played into wider concernsabout the cost of living and the poor standard of public services. “It has gone beyond Tempe and swelled into a much bigger crisis,” she said.

It was, she said, “as if the government is in paralysis”, unable to deal with the fallout produced by the tragedy. “It has yet to come up with a plan for a modern railway system, for example, and that has angered Greeks even more.”

Protests will be held across 200 towns and cities nationwide. Diaspora communities, from Canada to Australia, have announced similar demonstrations in a sign of the fury the disaster has spurred. The country’s civil protection minister predicted that in downtown Athens alone more than 5,000 police and other security officials will be dispatched “to ensure the safety of the protests”. An estimated 120,000 people crammed into the capital’s main square in January when organisers held earlier protests in an unexpected display of anger over the disaster.

“The Tempe tragedy is a national drama which should unite our society under a common demand: the demand for truth and justice,” Mitsotakis told his cabinet on Wednesday, acknowledging the depth of feeling the crash has generated.

But he also warned of the risk of the protests being “weaponised” to destabilise the country.

“Some would like to turn this collective mourning into an opportunity for new division,” he said, citing the “ghastly messages” circulating on the internet. “We have a duty to prevent any questioning of the internal stability and normality of our country. Those who see Friday as a turning point for violent upheaval will find us standing in opposition.”

Pride Toronto, one of the largest celebrations of LGTBQ+ people in North America, is reeling from the loss of three major sponsors who have pulled funding after Donald Trump’s purge of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programmes in the US.

Kojo Modeste, the executive director of the Canadian event said that the sponsors who also do business in the US are seeking to avoidbeing seen as supporting LGBTQ+ rights.

“There is a level of fear that has been instilled into them by [Donald Trump’s] administration,” he said.

Modeste did not say which sponsors had dropped out, as the event – which attracts more than 3 million attendees – may want to work with them in the future.

He said the funding cuts would not impact the quality or size of the festival, but expressed fears the episode could mark a broader rollback for LGBTQ+ funding.

“This could lead to some significant changes that could have a huge step back for the [LGBTQ+] community globally,” he said.

Observers in Canada fear the funding loss is an indication that Trump’s order to axe DEI programming at US federal agencies and businesses that work with the government is already having a chilling effect across the border.

The White House has pushed and implemented a mass firing of at least 30,000 federal workers, including those working on diversity initiatives.

In general, these initiatives often aim to ensure people of color, women and those in the LGTBQ+ community receive opportunities and support that they’ve been denied due to systemic discrimination in institutions that have long been dominated by white men.

While a US judge has temporarily blocked Trump’s DEI ban, that hasn’t prevented layoffs nor has it stopped businesses from deciding to step away from DEI.

That includes some Canadian businesses: Shopify, the ecommerce platform based in Ottawa, has rolled back several diversity initiatives including dismantling its Equitable Commerce team and a program for Indigenous entrepreneurs.

Sui Sui, a professor at Toronto Metropolitan University whose research focuses on DEI initiatives, said some companies are seeking to placate US investors who want to see cuts for short term savings, instead of understanding the long term benefit of these initiatives.

Sui said her research shows that diversity initiatives strengthen a business by increasing innovation, productivity and making the corporation more nimble in a crisis.

Eddy Ng, a professor at Queen’s University in Ontario, and a specialist of equity and inclusion in business warned that the Pride Toronto case is an indicator that Canada should also brace itself for cuts to DEI initiatives.

Ng said that corporations invest in such initiatives not due to purely altruistic motives, but also because they want to be seen as good corporate citizens – and they understand that diversity is good for business.

Those shaky motives put such initiatives at risk – as many companies only put in programming after the murder of George Floyd in the US, said Ng. But he expressed hope that businesses in Canada would not want to be seen giving in to trends started in Trump’s US.

“They know that diversity is important for innovation and creativity and key to gaining a competitive advantage,” he says. “Employers, however, need to better understand how to leverage a diverse workforce simply having diversity is not enough.”

The cause of Gossip Girl and Buffy the Vampire Slayer actor Michelle Trachtenberg’s death will remain undetermined as her family has reportedly declined an autopsy.

According to Deadline, the actor’s family have chosen not to go forward with an autopsy because of religious reasons. As no foul play is suspected, the decision was not overruled by the medical examiner.

The 39-year-old actor was found unresponsive in her New York City apartment on Wednesday by her mother. It has been reported that she had recently undergone a liver transplant.

“It is with great sadness to confirm that Michelle Trachtenberg has passed away,” a statement from the family read. “The family requests privacy for their loss. There are no further details at this time.”

Trachtenberg was known for her roles in films including Harriet the Spy, 17 Again, Mysterious Skin and EuroTrip as well as shows such as Gossip Girl and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Tributes have been paid by former colleagues and other actors in the industry. Her Buffy the Vampire Slayer co-star Sarah Michelle Gellar posted a series of photos on Thursday to remember her. “Michelle, listen to me,” she wrote. “Listen. I love you. I will always love you. The hardest thing in this world, is to live in it. I will be brave. I will live … for you.”

Her Gossip Girl co-star Blake Lively also shared a tribute online. “She was electricity,” Lively wrote on Instagram. “You knew when she entered a room because the vibration changed. Everything she did, she did 200%.”

Trachtenberg’s friend Amanda de Cadenet posted a tribute while also detailing that they spoke while she was in hospital. “Seeing your face from the hospital bed when we FaceTimed recently, even though you did not look like you, your sweetness and humor were still alive,” she wrote. “I will not share the details of our conversations over the last 6 months. But you knew that death was a high possibility.” She later edited her post to remove certain details.

The animated television character Peppa Pig, famed for her love of jumping up and down in muddy puddles, is to have a new brother or sister, the character’s mother has announced.

Peppa Pig, the phenomenally popular children’s show that has been translated into over 40 languages, tells the story of Peppa and her family – Daddy Pig, Mummy Pig and younger brother George, whose most treasured possession is his toy dinosaur.

But after two decades, life is about to change for Peppa and George, with the arrival of a sibling later in the year, according to the message from Mummy Pig, voiced by actor Morwenna Banks.

“I’m excited to share that our family is getting even bigger because we’re having another baby. I’m due in the summer, and we’re all so excited,” Mummy Pig said during a special segment on Good Morning Britain.

She said Peppa and her brother had the “occasional wobble and worry” about the impending new addition to the family, but “they’re mostly so excited”.

“Every day they ask me how big the baby is. When is it coming? Does it like dinosaurs and muddy puddles? It never stops,” she said.

Mummy Pig said she was “a little overwhelmed at the thought of having three children under five running around”.

George Pig is two years old and Peppa is four, and both have had only one birthday since the show first aired on the UK’s Channel 5 and the Nick Jr. Channel in 2004.

Created by Neville Astley and Mark Baker, Peppa Pig is now available in more than 180 countries.

The series was acquired by toy company Hasbro in 2019 as the part of the purchase of Entertainment One’s brands, in a deal worth £3.3bn.

Mummy Pig is due to announce her pregnancy in the final episode of the current series which will air in the UK on 30 March, coinciding with Mother’s Day.

Viewers can expect to see the new baby on screen later in 2025.