• India summons envoy after US criticises Delhi chief minister’s arrest

    US called for fair legal process for opposition figure Arvind Kejriwal amid claims that challengers to Narendra Modi are being targeted ahead of national electionsThe chief minister of Delhi has been remanded in custody for a further four days amid international criticism of his arrest on corruption charges last week.Delhi court ruled on Thursday that a powerful central government agency could keep Arvind Kejriwal in jail until 1 April as part of an ongoing corruption investigation his party decried as a “political conspiracy” before national elections beginning next month. Continue reading...

  • Russia-Ukraine war live: Poland and Ukraine hold talks on farm imports dispute

    Poland’s prime minister hosts Ukrainian counterpart for long-awaited talks designed to ease friction over Ukrainian farm importsThe Russian communications watchdog Roskomnadzor has restricted access to 11 channels in the Telegram messaging app “with terrorist content” over the past two days, reports Reuters citing an article by the state-owned news agency RIA Novosti on Thursday.Poland’s prime minister on Thursday hosted his Ukrainian counterpart for long-awaited talks designed to ease friction over Ukrainian farm imports and border blockades by disgruntled Polish farmers, reports news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP). Continue reading...

  • Sam Bankman-Fried to be sentenced for multibillion-dollar crypto fraud – live

    Former CEO of now bankrupt FTX cryptocurrency exchange faces more than 100 years in prison if given maximum penaltyFTX imploded in November 2022 after Bankman-Fried and those in his inner circle comingled funds from the exchange with a closely associated hedge fund, Alameda Research. The result was Bankman-Fried and others using their customers’ money for their own personal ends. The illegal mixture created an $8bn budget shortfall that, when enough customers asked to withdraw their cryptocurrency, brought the exchange crashing down.Bankman-Fried maintained his innocence throughout a month-long trial last year. Prosecutors said that the CEO “misappropriated and embezzled” billions of dollars in his management of FTX. He was convicted in November on seven counts of wire fraud and conspiracy to launder money. Continue reading...

  • Starmer says he cannot ‘turn the taps on’ to fix council funding crisis

    Labour leader was asked how party would plug £4bn gap at launch of its local election campaign in West MidlandsUK politics – latest updatesKeir Starmer has told voters he cannot “turn the taps on” to fix the crisis in local authority funding as he was quizzed on how Labour would plug councils’ £4bn gap at the launch of its local election campaign.“I can’t pretend that we could turn the taps on, pretend the damage hasn’t been done to the economy – it has,” he said. “There’s no magic money tree that we can waggle the day after the election. No, they’ve broken the economy, they’ve done huge damage.” Continue reading...

  • Sellafield nuclear waste dump to be prosecuted for alleged cybersecurity offences

    Charges relate to four-year period between 2019 and early 2023, and follow Guardian investigationThe Sellafield nuclear waste dump is to be prosecuted for alleged information technology security offences, the industry watchdog has said.The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) said on Thursday that it had notified the state-owned Cumbrian nuclear company that it would be prosecuted under industry security regulations. Continue reading...

  • Harvard will remove binding made of human skin from 1800s book

    University says first owner of book by French novelist took the skin from a deceased female patient without consentHarvard University has said it will be removing the binding made of human skin from a 19th-century book held in its library because of the “ethically fraught nature” of how the unusual binding took place.The book, called Des Destinées de l’Ame (or Destinies of the Soul), has been held at the university’s Houghton Library since the 1930s but drew international attention in 2014 when tests confirmed that it was bound in human skin. Continue reading...

  • Who will win in standoff between Thames Water’s investors and watchdog?

    Ofwat denies shareholder demands for higher bills and looser environmental regulationThames Water investors pull plug on £500m of fundingBusiness live – latest updatesThe news that Thames Water’s investors have pulled the plug on future investment in the ailing utility, leaving it vulnerable to future nationalisation, is the culmination of a long game of brinkmanship with the industry regulator, Ofwat.As talks behind closed doors reached their conclusions in recent weeks, tempers were fraying. One insider described the discussion as very heated. Continue reading...

  • Middle East crisis live: US and Israel in talks to revive Washington trip to discuss Rafah

    Israeli PM had cancelled officials’ US visit to discuss planned offensive in southern Gaza after the US refused to veto a UN security council vote on a ceasefireSee all of our Israel-Gaza war coverage hereThe White House says it is working to rearrange a visit by an Israeli delegation to Washington that was abruptly cancelled by Benjamin Netanyahu after the US decision not to veto a UN security council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, writes Guardian correspondent Peter Beaumont.Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, confirmed reports that the Israeli prime minister had climbed down over the visit and agreed to reschedule it. “We’re now working with them to find a convenient date that’s obviously going to work for both sides,” she said. Continue reading...

  • Massachusetts: robotic police dog shot and credited with averting bloodshed

    Robotic dog, controlled remotely by state troopers, deployed in house to locate person and found someone armed in basementA robotic dog is being thanked by state police in Massachusetts for helping avert a tragedy involving a person barricaded in a home.The robotic dog named Roscoe was part of the Massachusetts state police bomb squad and deployed on 6 March in a Barnstable house after police were fired upon. Police sent in two other robots often used for bomb disposal into the house to find the suspect along with the robotic dog. Continue reading...

  • Man, 19, arrested after stabbing on train in south London

    Victim in critical condition after incident between Beckenham Junction and Shortlands stations, say policeA 19-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after a man was stabbed on a train in south London, British Transport Police have said.A search had been under way after the victim was left with life-threatening injuries after the attack between Beckenham Junction and Shortlands railway stations on Wednesday. Continue reading...