Top World News

May 2, 2025 - World

Government stake reduced to under 2% as bank’s profit of £1.8bn beats analyst forecasts by £200mBusiness live – latest updatesNatWest has reported a 36% increase in profits in the first three months of this year as the government reduced its stake in the bank to less than 2%, paving a return to fully private ownership after 17 years.The bank reported operating profit before tax of £1.8bn, up from £1.3bn in the same period last year, beating analyst consensus forecasts by £200m. Continue reading...

May 2, 2025 - World

Roberts-Smith argues his unsuccessful defamation case against McKenzie and Nine newspapers should be retried because of a ‘miscarriage of justice’Get our afternoon election email, free app or daily news podcastThe Nine journalist Nick McKenzie was told about a legal action Ben Roberts-Smith’s ex-wife planned to take against the war veteran ahead of his defamation trial, a court has heard, with the informant allegedly telling him “it’s always good to be on the front foot”.On Tuesday the federal court of Australia heard that a friend of Emma Roberts had told McKenzie that Roberts-Smith was planning to notify and write to the Commonwealth director of public prosecutions (CDPP) about an alleged “breach” and to “restrain any further publications being made”.Sign up for the Afternoon Update: Election 2025 email newsletterThis article was amended on 2 May 2025. An earlier version incorrectly stated that Nick McKenzie was told Emma Roberts planned to contact the CDPP. McKenzie was told that Ben Roberts-Smith planned to do this. Continue reading...

May 2, 2025 - World

Runcorn win was much bigger than polls implied, suggesting overall effectiveness of ground campaignResults come in from across England – follow liveFor the last few months, Nigel Farage has been promising to professionalise his Reform UK party, saying its general election result of five seats had been hampered by the party’s “amateurism”.Friday’s narrow victory in the Runcorn and Helsby byelection suggests his strategy is starting to bear fruit. Not only did the party win a seat in which it came a distant third less than a year ago, but it did so with a much bigger swing than implied by the national polls – demonstrating the effectiveness of the party’s ground campaign. Continue reading...

May 2, 2025 - World

U.S. President Donald Trump ousted his national security adviser Mike Waltz on Thursday and named Secretary of State Marco Rubio as his interim replacement in the first major shakeup of Trump's inner circle since he took office in January.

May 2, 2025 - World

Result will heighten government’s fears it could lose scores of MPs to Nigel Farage’s party at next general electionResults come in from across England – follow liveStarmer told to ‘start listening’ after Reform election gainsAnalysis: Is Farage’s quest to rid Reform of ‘amateurism’ paying off?Nigel Farage’s Reform UK has dramatically won the Runcorn and Helsby byelection by just six votes in a blow to Keir Starmer’s premiership.The hard-right party narrowly overturned Labour’s 14,700-vote majority in the first full-scale electoral test of Starmer’s government and set a new record for the smallest majority at a parliamentary by-election since the end of the second world war. Continue reading...