Iran and the United States held high-stakes talks in Oman against the backdrop of a threat of US military action should the two sides fail to reach a deal on Tehran’s nuclear programme.

Tehran sent foreign minister Abbas Araghchi to Muscat on Friday to discuss terms of a potential deal with a US delegation, after Washington rushed warships to the region to pressure the regime into talks.

Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner received Araghchi’s preliminary plan to address the tensions via Omani mediators, though the subjects of discussion remained unclear.

Both sides appeared to be far apart in their positions in the days leading up to the talks, with Tehran also demanding a change in location. Washington pushed to expand talks to cover Iran’s stockpile of ballistic missiles, support for armed groups and the “treatment of their own people”. Iran insisted it was only open to discussing its nuclear programme.

“Iran enters diplomacy with open eyes and a steady memory of the past year,” said Mr Araghchi on Friday, ahead of talks. “We engage in good faith and stand firm on our rights. Commitments need to be honoured.”

Tehran’s foreign ministry said late in the afternoon that talks had concluded “for now”. It was unclear if or when they might restart.

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The US has sought to get diplomacy back on track after discussions last year were upended by Israel striking Iran, followed by the US bombing of key nuclear facilities.

Relations were further strained in January as Donald Trump threatened the regime with action over its brutal crackdown on antigovernment protests.

Iranian current and former officials said earlier this week that the country’s leadership fears that US strikes could push protesters back onto the streets and break the regime’s grip on power.

Speaking on Thursday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt warned Iran that the US still retained the option of force if discussions break down.

“While these negotiations are taking place, I would remind the Iranian regime that the president has many options at his disposal, aside from diplomacy, as the commander-in-chief of the most powerful military in the history of the world,” she said.

In a show of defiance, Iran’s state TV said hours before the talks that “one of the country’s most advanced long-range ballistic missiles, the Khorramshahr-4,” had been deployed at one of the Revolutionary Guards’ vast underground “missile cities”.

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Iranian officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, indicated this week that Tehran was open to reining in uranium enrichment – a condition the US demands and that the regime has publicly defended as its right. The US accuses Tehran of using its nuclear programme to develop the capability to produce weapons, something Iran has long denied.

Lawyers in Iran were still fearful that the regime was waiting to see the outcome of talks before deciding whether to execute citizens arrested over the unrest last month.

Several legal experts told Indy Persian ahead of talks that the country has seen a sharp increase in raids on the homes of protesters in recent weeks, with a dramatic rise in demand for the death penalty.

“My assessment is that they are waiting to see how things settle with Trump, and if the risk of a military strike subsides, they will execute thousands. Even in recent weeks, however, we have received reports of the secret execution of several detainees,” said one defence lawyer in the northern Mazandaran province.

The US and Iran previously held talks towards reaching a nuclear peace agreement last April. The enrichment of uranium became a recurring issue as the US said they had to give it up, and Iran said it was their right to pursue.

Two days before talks were due to resume, Israel carried out strikes on Iranian military infrastructure, commanders and nuclear sites. The US later joined in, bombing key nuclear facilities deep underground. US intelligence concluded at the time they had likely only set Iran’s work back by a matter of months.

GARETH BARRY was no ordinary footballer.

Amassing 653 appearances in the Premier League takes some doing.

But even he raised an eyebrow at the dedication shown by James Milner in trying to overhaul his milestone.

Milner, who turned 40 last month, will equal Barry’s Prem appearance record if he plays for Brighton against Crystal Palace on Sunday.

Despite being team-mates at two clubs — Aston Villa and Manchester City — not to mention England, it took a few days away on a golfing holiday to really provide proof of Milner’s commitment.

It was not sufficient for Barry, now 44, to see what his fellow midfielder got up to on a daily basis on the training ground.

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No, it was away from the game where the amiable Barry was given his first real insight into how his team-mate was going to wring every last ounce out of his football career.

Barry, along with a few friends and Milner, went for a bit of R & R — playing some rounds of golf and then staying on at the ‘19th hole’.

But teetotal  Milner, while happy to tag along, was not there just for the giggles.

Barry told SunSport: “Every footballer who has had any career in the Premier League has worked hard. There aren’t any shortcuts.

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“You have to put it in. It takes a lot of effort to maintain any kind of level — especially for so long in the Premier League.

“But I realised just how far James was willing to go when we went on a short golf trip together with a few friends.

“I can’t remember where we went but we would play a round of golf and then head to a restaurant for dinner.

“We’d have a couple of drinks and James would come with us. But he doesn’t touch alcohol.

“Usually, we left him to pick up the tab in the morning when he got up first!

Potholes and other surface defects are more likely to appear due to severe weather conditions

Around 49,000 defects have been recorded on Northern Ireland roads in the last three months alone, it has been revealed.

The Infrastructure Minister said this is close to half the total for the whole previous year, with recent severe weather taking their toll on the roads network.

In addition to the 40 resurfacing schemes announced after the Minister’s December Monitoring allocation, Infrastructure Minister Liz Kimmins has launched a £7.85million Winter Recovery Road Fund to tackle the impact of recent severe weather conditions have had across our network.

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Minister Kimmins said: “I am all too aware that the recent storms, prolonged rainfall, ice and snow have all taken their toll on our roads, and I have been working to identify and secure funding to address the problem. Today, I can confirm that I have established a £7.85million Winter Recovery Road Fund to allow an urgent and direct focus on repairing the surface defects which are causing the most concern.

“The winter period has taken a severe toll on the road network. To put the current situation in context, 49,000 defects have been recorded in the last three months alone, which is close to half the total for the whole of the previous year.

“Given the scale of the damage caused, it is not possible to address every issue in the short-term. However, in addition to securing the additional funding being announced today, I have also asked my officials to also explore every avenue to maximise our available workforce capacity to ensure we are doing as much as we can as quickly as possible.

“I am committed to doing all I can to improve our roads and the Winter Recovery Road Fund will allow vital repairs to the worst affected areas to be carried out in a focused way and completed as soon as possible.”

Potholes and other surface defects on the roads are more likely to happen at this time of year. When it rains, water enters small cracks and freeze–thaw cycles expand and break apart the surface. Heavy or prolonged rain damages the underlying layers, reducing a roads load‑bearing capacity leading to potholes, rutting, and surface deformation.

Flooding can also erode sub‑base materials, damage embankments, and block drainage systems, creating long‑term water damage. Adverse weather speeds up both surface wear and structural fatigue, increasing maintenance needs and reducing the lifespan of the road.

Speaking on other measures to help the condition of our roads, the Minister continued: “I want to raise the standard of maintenance across the network, ensuring that interventions are timely, durable, and delivered to consistently high specifications. I launched the new Road Maintenance Strategy in December which recently closed for public consultation and I hope that people took the opportunity to respond.”

The Minister concluded: “The Winter Recovery Road Fund will allow additional repairs on the worst of our weather-impacted roads. This short-term boost is coupled with the longer-term strategy that will provide greater detail to inform strategic decision making.

“This will also continue to be supported by the ongoing reporting of potholes and surface defects via the online portal and I encourage the public to do this. Maintenance staff will continue to inspect and make-safe defects by working to address the highest priority defects as fast as possible, in accordance with our policy to ensure the safety of the travelling public.”

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England: Steward; Roebuck, Freeman, Dingwall, Arundell; Ford, Mitchell; Genge, George, Heyes; Coles, Chessum; Pepper, Underhill, Earl

Replacements: Cowan-Dickie, Rodd, Davison, Itoje, T Curry, Pollock, Spencer, M Smith

Wales: Rees-Zammit; Mee, James, B Thomas, Adams; Edwards, T Williams; Smith, Lake (capt), Griffin, D Jenkins, Beard, Mann, Macleod, Wainwright.

Replacements: Belcher, Carre, T Francis, Carter, Plumtree, Deaves, Hardy, Grady.

The town ranked 11th out of the ‘Best 25 biggest towns in Britain’, according to newly published rankings by The Telegraph travel writer Chris Moss.

Moss scored each contender out of 10 based on architecture, attractions, culture, dining, and overall appeal.

Bolton received a score of six out of 10, placing it in the top half of the list and ahead of several larger or more widely known urban centres.

Moss said: “Bolton’s peak production year was 1929, when 216 cotton mills and 26 bleaching works were operating.

“It’s a town shaped by both industrial greatness and post-industrial challenge.”

He described Bolton as “a typical post-industrial town, with a lot of dead mills, windy spaces and underused facilities”, but noted it is not without promise.

He also referenced English writer JB Priestley’s 1934 travelogue English Journey, in which Priestley wrote of Bolton: “The ugliness is so complete that it is almost exhilarating.

“It challenges you to live there.”

He also claimed Bolton was “Too hard, too Yorkshire. [???]

“But a ghost of former greatness.”

While acknowledging the lasting impact of deindustrialisation, Mr Moss highlighted ongoing regeneration efforts, such as the transformation of the town’s listed Market Hall into a shopping and dining destination.

Mr Moss said: “Though chain restaurants will never replace the perfume and vitality of fish and fresh veg.”

He also touched on the town’s historical significance across multiple industries, not just cotton.

He said: “Mining, chemicals, heavy engineering and rope-making also played key roles in its development.”

His assessment of Bolton appeared in The Telegraph as part of a broader comparison of England’s largest towns, published amid the Government’s call for submissions to become the UK’s first official Town of Culture in 2028.

Three finalists, one small, one medium, and one large, will be shortlisted, with the overall winner set to receive £3 million and two runners-up £250,000 each.

He also pointed to Ye Olde Man and Scythe as a “secret sight.”

The pub is historically significant as the place where the Earl of Derby (whose family once owned the pub) was killed in 1651.

Bolton’s mid-table ranking reflects both its rich industrial history and the challenges it continues to face.

Elsewhere in Moss’s list, Blackpool took the top spot, while Watford finished last.

Other northern towns also featured prominently, including Rochdale and Stockport.

As the UK hones in on its first official Town of Culture, rankings such as Mr Moss’s serve to highlight both the proud heritage and modern challenges faced by some of England’s most iconic towns.

Bolton’s inclusion in the upper tier of the list, alongside ongoing investment in regeneration, may help support its case for further national recognition.

A Japanese city has cancelled its famous cherry blossom festival, citing concerns over high tourist numbers.

Fujiyoshida, about 62 miles (100km) west of Tokyo, has cancelled its annual Arakurayama Sengen Park Sakura Festival after a decade, according to local media.

The festival normally runs in early April to coincide with the blooming of the city’s iconic pink cherry blossoms.

But Fujiyoshida mayor Shigeru Horiuchi has announced the festival will not run this year to “protect the living conditions and dignity of all of our city’s residents”.

A vantage point in Arakurayama Sengen Park has gained popularity on social media sites like Instagram due to the stunning view of a snow-capped Mount Fuji.

“For the city of Fujiyoshida, Mount Fuji is not just a mere tourism resource, but a part of our lifestyle,” the mayor said, according to news outlet Japan Today.

“However, the flipside of that beautiful scenery is that our residents’ peaceful lifestyles are being threatened, and I strongly feel that this has become a crisis situation.

“My first priority is to protect the living conditions and dignity of all of our city’s residents. For that purpose, we have made the decision, after 10 years, to bring the Sakura Festival to an end.”

Fujiyoshida launched the festival 10 years ago in order to draw more tourists to the city, Japan Today reports, but the festival has since gained too much popularity.

Residents have complained about increased traffic congestion, littered cigarette butts and tourists trespassing on private property – or even urinating or defecating in residents’ gardens.

Japan has seen the number of tourists soar to more than 39 million in 2025, an increase from almost 37 million in 2024, according to figures from the Japan National Tourism Organisation.

The spike was propelled in part by the favourable currency conversion available to tourists because of the weakening of the Japanese yen.

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Fujiyoshida has acknowledged that cancelling the festival will likely not be enough to deter crowds of tourists visiting the park that usually hosts the festival during spring.

The lines of visitors looking to snap a picture in front of a five story pagoda and cheery blossom trees against the backdrop of Mount Fuji can often snake down the hill, images on social media show.

Nearby towns have in the past erected a view-blocking barrier to deter tourists, introduced an entry fee for hikers and capped their daily numbers, according to The Japan Times.

Liz was left in shock after she said she was told she would have to produce her dad’s death certificate for a refund

A daughter was left horrified when she said British Airways refused to refund her £3,500 flight without receiving her dad’s death certificate – despite him being still alive. Liz Horne was on holiday with her husband Nevil Horne, 63, in Chiang Mai, Thailand, on November 29 when she was told that her dad was gravely ill.

The 61 year old was 10 days into her three-week getaway when she decided to get the first flight back to Bristol to be by the side of her 88-year-old dad Kevin Duvall. Liz, who had already paid £3,500 for two business-class tickets back to the UK, contacted BA to see if she could swap her seats for an earlier flight.

However, while on the phone to customer services, the semi-retired PA claims she was told she would have to fork out for new tickets and send over his death certificate to receive a refund. Horrified, Liz says she explained to the operator that her dad was in fact still alive, branding the slip-up as ‘shocking and insensitive’.

Liz ended up paying £2,500 for two tickets back to the UK, returning home just two days before her dad sadly died on December 1st after battling dementia for six years. Grief-stricken, Liz said she spent the following days organising a funeral while liaising with BA about her refund for the original tickets.

Liz claims she had to send her father’s death certificate over to BA four times while making multiple calls and emails to BA over her repayment. Liz claims the experience has made her resolute in never flying with the airline again – claiming it’s ‘not the great British institution [she] thought it was’.

British Airways admitted that the customer’s experience ‘fell short of expectations’ and they were in touch with her to resolve it. Liz, who lives in Bristol, said: “Dad had been in a nursing home for a number of years. I saw him a couple of days before I left for Thailand and he’d been his normal self.

“This was a bucket list trip for me. I’d always wanted to go to Thailand. We were in Chiang Mai and I got a call from my sister to say there’s no point in coming home but dad’s not going to be long. I was shocked, I’d only seen him a few days before. I processed it for a minute and thought I need to go and be with him.”

Liz rang her airline British Airways immediately to see if she could move her and her husband’s return flight to a different date. However, Liz claims BA told her this would not be possible, and instead advised her to book two new tickets and claim a refund after sending across her father’s death certificate.

Liz said: “They said on the phone ‘send us the death certificate and then you’ll be able to make the claim’. And I said ‘but he’s not dead yet’. It was unlikely he was going to make it – he was incredibly frail, [but] I suppose it was possible. He was responsive, my sister was telling him I was coming home.

“I was obviously shocked when they said that. It was quite shocking. I think I was quite numb. It was rather insensitive. There wasn’t any empathy, there didn’t seem to be that basic care. It might’ve been language – I know that English wasn’t their first language but even so, that wasn’t great.”

After forking out £2,500 for two flight tickets back to the UK, Liz made it home in time to say goodbye to her dad before he died two days later. However, Liz claims she’s still awaiting a refund despite sending her father’s death certificate over ‘four times’ in the last month.

Liz said: “There was just a lot of insensitivity and bureaucracy. I’d sent the death certificate on four occasions and still got asked to send it again. They agreed they could refund the £3,500 on the phone but I haven’t seen the money yet.

“I had to arrange a funeral and all these extra stresses going on besides BA. There’s been a lot to deal with. BA just added to all those stresses. I later found out that there’s a bereavement line that BA should’ve referred me to and they would’ve sorted it.

“I’ll never fly BA again after all the stress and anxiety they have added to an already very difficult time. I chose BA because of the name – I thought I could trust them. They’re known to me but now I know it’s not the great British institution I thought it was. You’re paying a lot of money for a flight – you want something you can rely on.”

A British Airways spokesperson said: “We know how stressful it must be to receive difficult news about a family member whilst abroad, and our teams work very hard to get people home as quickly as possible when this happens. On this occasion, our customer’s experience fell short of expectation, and we are in touch with them directly to resolve this matter.”

A huge bomb killed 31 people and wounded at least 169 others in an attack at a Shiite mosque on the outskirts of Pakistan‘s capital during Friday prayers.

Rescuers and worshippers said some of the wounded are in a critical condition as Islamabad police said an investigation is under way into the attack at the sprawling mosque.

Suspicion is likely to fall on Pakistani Taliban militants or the Islamic State group, which have been blamed for previous attacks on Shiite worshippers, who are a minority in the country. But no one has immediately claimed responsibility for the explosion .

Militants often target security forces and civilians across Pakistan.

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Though attacks are not so frequent in Islamabad, Pakistan has seen a surge in militant violence in recent months, largely blamed on Baloch separatist groups and the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, which is a separate group, but allied with Afghanistan’s Taliban.

A regional affiliate of the Islamic State group has also been active in the country.

Shortly after the explosion was first reported with a lower number of casualties, Islamabad deputy commissioner Irfan Memon gave the latest, much higher casualty tolls.

President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack in separate statements and extended condolences to the families of those killed. They instructed that all possible medical assistance be provided for those wounded.

“Targeting innocent civilians is a crime against humanity,” Mr Zardari said. “The nation stands with the affected families in this difficult time.”

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Mr Sharif said he has ordered a full investigation. “Those who are responsible must be identified and punished,” he said.

Pakistan’s interior minister Mohsin Naqvi also condemned the attack, and asked authorities to ensure the provision of the best medical care to the wounded.

Friday’s attack occurred as Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, who is on an official two-day visit, was attending an event with Mr Sharif. The event in Islamabad was several miles away from the site of the explosion.

The previous deadliest attack in Islamabad was in 2008, when a suicide bombing targeted the Marriott Hotel in the capital, killing 63 people and wounding over 250 others. In November, a suicide bomber had struck outside a court in Islamabad, killing 12 people.

The latest attack comes nearly a week after the outlawed Baloch Liberation Army carried out multiple attacks in insurgency-hit south-western Balochistan province, killing about 50 people.

Security forces responding to those attacks also killed more than 200 “terrorists”, according to the military.

An environmental expert from Nigeria, a climate policy consultant from Kenya, an oceanographer from Indonesia and an Indigenous social development specialist from the Philippines will are among dozens of experts in the UK this month as the UN’s top climate body meets to rewrite the the rules for compiling the world’s most important climate reports.

The workshops at the University of Reading from February 10 to 12 will lay the groundwork for bringing diverse knowledge into the next report by the UN climate science body, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The seventh assessment report, known as AR7, will be published in 2028 and finalised the following year.

There are two big themes under discussion. One workshop examines how artificial intelligence (AI) tools can help scientists review growing volumes of climate research. AI is revolutionising scientific research, with its ability to conduct faster analysis of complex data than traditional computer models. AI weather and climate models are already becoming integrated into the information provided through meteorological services such as the Met Office.

Another workshop explores how Indigenous and local knowledge can be integrated into these assessments alongside standard scientific findings. For decades, IPCC reports have been built primarily on peer-reviewed scientific papers from academic institutions, mostly in the world’s wealthier nations. These workshops explore how to better include Indigenous knowledge, local observations and expertise from communities that are experiencing climate change first hand.

This could not come at a more important time. A few weeks ago, the US withdrew its participation from the IPCC process. Now, a new cadre of experts from across the world are coming to the UK to make climate science more inclusive and AR7 preparation continues with 195 member countries. The work goes on, but the US absence leaves gaps in emissions reporting and funding.

Credible, yet unconventional

Bringing in diverse voices is essential to the report’s success. If IPCC reports reflect only one way of understanding the world, they can miss crucial insights. As other sectors have found again and again, a lack of diversity in the workforce leads to a lack of insight. The environment sector remains one of the least diverse, with only 3.5% of people working in environmental jobs identifying as being from an ethnic minority. Diverse voices and critical discussions are key to making robust, inclusive and future-proof decisions.

Through my work developing flood forecasting systems across Africa, Asia and Latin America, I’ve learned this directly. After Cyclone Idai hit Mozambique in 2019, the Global Flood Awareness System, a service that provides openly accessible information about upcoming floods across the world, was used to help target relief where it was most needed.

In Uganda, working with the humanitarian agency Uganda Red Cross and the Red Cross Climate Centre, our forecasts helped 5,000 people evacuate before roads were cut. In Bangladesh’s river basins, improving forecasts meant understanding how communities interpret flood risk. In Kenya, choosing the right forecasting approach required learning from the people who have lived with these rivers for generations.

Climate science has traditionally valued certain types of expertise. Peer-reviewed papers and university credentials do matter. But expertise also comes from generations of farmers building up understanding of local weather patterns or Indigenous knowledge about the land, forests and rivers. Scientific models, combined with community knowledge, produce better outcomes than either alone.

For the result of its latest report to be credible, the IPCC needs the best evidence from all sources, because that is what produces the best science.