WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republican-led Senate on Wednesday rejected the latest Democratic attempt to halt President Donald Trump’s war in Iran, turning aside a resolution that would require the U.S. to withdraw forces from the conflict until Congress authorizes further action.

The 47-52 vote was the fourth time this year that the Senate has voted to cede its war powers to the president in a conflict that Democrats say is illegal and unjustified. Republicans say they will keep faith in Trump’s wartime leadership, for now, citing Iran’s nuclear capabilities and the high stakes of withdrawal. But GOP lawmakers are also anxious for the conflict to end — and they may not defer to the executive branch indefinitely.

Under the War Powers Act of 1973, Congress must declare war or authorize use of force within 60 days of its start — a deadline that will arrive at the end of this month. The law provides for a potential 30-day extension of that deadline, but lawmakers have made clear that they want the administration to soon lay out a plan for the end of the conflict.

After the 60-day or 90-day deadline, “it’s time to fish or cut bait,” said Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina.

“I think that the administration would be wise to put together what would look like a well-founded authorization of military force and a funding strategy,” Tillis said.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, has been talking to colleagues about putting together a resolution that would authorize the war beyond that time period. Republican Sens. John Curtis of Utah and Susan Collins of Maine have also said they would like to see congressional action.

“I have been clear from the beginning of this military operation that the President’s power is not unlimited as Commander in Chief, as the Constitution gives Congress an essential role in matters of war and peace,” Collins said in a statement. “If this conflict exceeds the 60 days specified in the War Powers Act, or if the President deploys troops on the ground, I believe that Congress should have to authorize those actions.”

Democrats say war is illegal, unnecessary

Democrats have vowed to force votes on the Senate floor as long as the war continues.

“As our troops continue to sacrifice whatever is asked of them, we senators need to do the absolute minimum required of us,” said Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, an Iraq war veteran who lost both legs in combat, before Wednesday’s vote.

Alex Jones and Roman Kemp hosted BBC The One Show together

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The One Show presenter Alex Jones shared a touching announcement moments into tonight’s show.

During Wednesday’s (April 15) episode of the BBC hit chat show, the TV presenter returned and co-host Roman Kemp returned to our screens as they welcomed a number of guests to the famous sofa.

The duo welcomed Peter Capaldi as he opened up on stepping back into the role of DCI Hegarty in the return of his thriller series, Criminal Record. Elsewhere, Sheridan Smith and Michael Socha were also on the sofa as they talked about teaming up for a brand-new BBC crime series.

Introducing the stars onto the show, Alex started off by saying: “Right, let’s welcome to tonight’s guest, the Tree of Talented Actors. It’s Michael Socha, Sheridan Smith, and Peter Capaldi.”

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Before the presenter could dive straight into the interviews, she took a quick pause to share a touching birthday tribute to Peter, who has just turned 67.

She announced: “Before we start, we have to say happy birthday to you.” Peter pointed out: “It was yesterday, actually but this is show business.” Roman jumped in: “You get a month, Peter.”

Peter replied: “Yeah, of course you do.” Keen to find out how he spent his special day, Alex asked: “How did you celebrate, Peter?” The actor revealed: “My wonderful wife took me to my favourite restaurant and had a beautiful meal.”

He continued: “She also bought me a very special piece of… I don’t wear jewellery apart from my ring, but she bought me a wonderful bracelet, which wasn’t ready but it is coming soon.”

Peter has been married to a famous producer for most of his four decades in acting. The actor tied the knot with Scottish star Elaine Collins back in 1991.

While Peter has made a name for himself in front of the camera on Doctor Who, The Thick of It and Local Hero, to name a few credits, while Elaine is a force behind the screen.

The couple are set to work together again on the second series of Apple TV thriller series Criminal Record as Peter reprises his roles as DCI Daniel Hegarty. Alex pointed out: “Your wife is one of the producers on this project and apparently not scared to give you very honest feedback?”

Peter replied: “Well, it’s very useful to have someone who can be so frank. She says ‘You’re not really gonna do it like that. Are you?’ or ‘Don’t use your eyebrows so much, that’s so over the top’ or ‘You can’t be for real with it.’”

He continued: “So it’s just great to have somebody there because I trust her completely -she’s brilliant. She and Paul Rutman have created this whole show out of nothing and I’m just admiring them for doing that.

“She keeps my feet on the ground. I don’t always want to have my feet on the ground, but there you are. That’s life.”

The One Show airs weekdays from 7pm on BBC One and iPlayer

The Bafta-winning comedy game show, Taskmaster, has returned to Channel 4 for its 21st series. Part of the show’s long-running appeal is its lighthearted exhibition of human creativity.

Recently, I was part of the Warwick Business School Lead out Loud podcast with Alex Horne, the show’s creative mastermind and star, to talk about Taskmaster’s lessons for leadership. His creativity is an inspiration. The show is ripe with insights on how to be more creative in our daily tasks – even if they are more subdued than the ones the contestants must solve in the Taskmaster house.

Below are five lessons in creativity we can all take from the Taskmaster playbook.

1. Thinking inside the box

One of the biggest myths of creativity is that constraints limit our imagination. But decades of research have shown this is not true – constraints actually spur creativity, often through associational thinking where the constraint triggers other related thoughts or ideas.

In the last series of Taskmaster, one task was to bring “a very soft thing that would be most beneficial for Greg [the Taskmaster]”. The constraint of “soft” led to very different mental associations for each contestant, resulting in a hilarious assortment of solutions – a cushion made of cat hair, a bonnet with a manly design, a bird that tells fortunes, a blanket that can be worn and “the hands and voices of the elderly”.

Constraints have also served as inspiration for Horne when developing the tasks. In the Lead out Loud podcast, he described the COVID constraint of keeping contestants two metres apart. “It was a really fun constraint to work with,” he explained. “It gave us something to play with. The whole show is about constraints.”

2. Reframing the problem

When we face a problem, most of us jump immediately into idea generation. However, there is great power in pausing to fully explore the problem and consider how it can be framed and reframed.

This may involve asking the question differently, exploring alternative perspectives, or considering all of the factors associated with the problem. Even more challenging is rethinking assumptions about the problem itself. The most creative contestants often turn the challenge on its head, breaking assumptions about the task’s rules.

In a series two task where contestants were instructed to place three exercise balls on a yoga mat on top of a hill, four contestants assumed this meant the balls must be moved up the hill and placed on the mat. Richard Osman, however, brought the mat down to the balls instead and won the round. Unlike the others, he paused to reread the instructions and reframed how they could be interpreted, capitalising on the ambiguity.

3. Embracing experimentation and failure

The joy and humour of Taskmaster is primarily in the meandering, hilarious journey the contestants take to their final solution. We have a window into how five very different people think through a problem from their unique perspectives.

It also highlights that there is no one right way to solve most problems, whether they are an absurd task on a game show, developing a new sales strategy, or figuring out how to entertain your toddler.

In embracing uncertainty and improvisation, the show also implicitly (and sometimes explicitly) makes failure okay. The key to this is the psychological safety we see on the show – a key component of innovative teams and an intentional part of the show’s design. Psychological safety means, among other things, that you feel it is safe to take risks and make mistakes, you can ask for help and those around you won’t ridicule or reject you.

When asked how contestants respond to moments of failure, Horne said: “The comedians have to feel safe. Because I’m a comedian and a producer on it as well … they feel a bit more in safe hands that they can take risks and if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t matter. So from the beginning we’ve tried to create this place where you can muck about, and we’re not going to show you in a bad light.”

Allowing for experimentation and tolerance of what professor of leadership Amy Edmondson calls “intelligent failure” is essential to innovation.

4. Creativity breeds creativity

After coming up with so many tasks, Horne was asked on the Winging It podcast if he feels his well of ideas is drying up. He responded that he often thinks of new tasks when he’s creating other tasks. “That’s when you’re most fertile. Wells don’t dry up. Wells are built near natural springs.”

When generating ideas, it can often feel like we are “running out” of ideas because the pace of idea generation slows down. This is an artefact of the rapid production of the more obvious solutions at the start. However, as the pace of idea generation slows down, the originality of ideas goes up. When the pace slows, we must shift into strategies that require more effort, but ultimately result in more creative solutions.

Generating ideas in teams can help this because it enables cross-fertilisation, where one team member’s ideas spark ideas in someone else, causing the well to fill up again. Team challenges on the show provide many examples of this.

5. It’s all fun and games

At the end of the day, Taskmaster is a game show. Our lives of crafting AI prompts, inbox management and Teams meetings may seem a far cry from the hijinks in the Taskmaster house. You may therefore think that our real work lives are not a fair comparison for lessons on creativity from Taskmaster. But the research on playfulness and creativity in organisations would say otherwise.

Creating a sense of playfulness in teams and organisations can foster creativity, as can humour. Perhaps the key to facilitating your own team or organisation’s creativity could be hosting your own round of Taskmaster!

Chloe Haynes, 21, was found dead in her Adelphi Hotel room in 2022

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A city council will take Britannia Hotels to court after a 21-year-old woman was found dead in her room.

Liverpool City Council announced the legal action after the body of Chloe Haynes was found at Adelphi Hotel.

The tragic discovery was made in the early hours of September 10, 2022 LiverpoolEcho reports. Three men were arrested on suspicion of murder but were released without charge when police concluded her death was accidental.

In the months that followed, the local authority’s Environmental Health department launched an investigation, with a source telling the ECHO in 2023 a criminal prosecution remained a possibility. The investigation has concluded and the council is set to prosecute the company.

It is understood proceedings are being brought against two Britannia Hotels companies over alleged health and safety breaches. Proceedings are believed to start on May 7 at Liverpool Magistrates’ Court.

It remains unclear as to what the details of the case are and the ECHO has contacted the court service for more information. A spokesperson for the council confirmed to the ECHO proceedings are due to take place.

A spokesperson for Britannia Hotels said: “We can confirm that Liverpool City Council has initiated legal proceedings in relation to the Adelphi Hotel and we are fully cooperating with the legal process. Our sympathies remain with the families and loved ones of those involved.

“As this matter is now before the courts, it would be inappropriate for us to comment further at this time.”

Chloe’s mum, Nicola Williams, said at the time of her daughter’s death she is determined to find every detail of how the “petite and beautiful” girl she nicknamed “birdy” died. Chloe, who had a twin brother and three other siblings, had travelled to Liverpool from Hafan y Mor Haven Holiday Park in Pwllheli, North Wales, where she worked, for a night out.

She was sharing a room at the city centre hotel with her colleague who found her body and raised the alarm.

Miss Williams, from Wrexham, told the ECHO: “Chloe left Pwllheli around 7.40pm and they went to the Adelphi, there was some sort of engagement party or something. By midnight, she had been drinking shots and so on and she was a bit drunk, so her friend has taken her back to the hotel to sleep it off and then he’s gone back out.

“It seems she has got up out of the bed confused, not knowing where she is, and she’s opened the door of the wardrobe maybe thinking it is the toilet or the door to go back out of the room. It was a big, old, heavy wardrobe and it’s fallen on her and crushed her windpipe.”

Miss Williams said Chloe’s friend returned to the room in the early hours of the morning and was confronted with the horrific scene. She said he shouted to get help and two men from other rooms came to help lift the wardrobe off Chloe but it was too late to save her life

It was those three men who were initially questioned over Chloe’s death by police. One of the men, Wayne Kenny from Bootle, told the ECHO how he was stunned to be arrested on suspicion of murder after trying to perform CPR on Chloe.

Shortly after Chloe died Mr Kenny told the ECHO: “I was thinking could I get accused for something I haven’t done, could they make a mistake? To be thinking that for ten hours was hard work.”

Speaking about her loss, Miss Williams said: “She loved animals. She had a little dog called Archie she was obsessed with.

“There are so many photos of them together. My little nickname for her was birdy.

“She was so petite and little and when she ate she was like a little bird. She was quiet, she was somebody who didn’t speak unless it needed saying.

“But in the last 12 months she was coming out of her shell. She was gaining her confidence and she had a wide circle of friends.

“She was kind and caring and she seemed to connect with gay men and that was how she met the friend she went to Liverpool with.”

Following Chloe’s death, Liverpool Council carried out spot checks on the premises and on September 22, issued prohibition notices to Britannia Hotels regarding the safety of the wardrobes found in Chloe’s room. The spot checks also found issues regarding the windows at the hotel.

While not required by law, where window restrictors are in place to prevent falls, they must be kept in good condition. Britannia appealed the notices regarding the safety of wardrobes and the council agreed to drop them after seeing evidence that work had been carried out to make them safe.

The company dropped its appeal against the notice regarding windows and that was affirmed.

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North Yorkshire Police have updated their appeal to find a wanted 47-year-old man – Steven David Green – who is wanted for breaching his sex offender register requirements and has been recalled to prison.

As reported by The Press last month, Green, who is originally from Merseyside, but has previously lived in Newcastle and is believed to have headed to Carlisle in Cumbria.

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He also has connections in Hull and his home city of Liverpool.

“Extensive enquiries are ongoing to find him and we are appealing for people with possible sightings and information to get in touch as soon as possible,” said a spokesperson for the force.

Anyone who has seen Green is urged to call North Yorkshire Police on 101.

If you have an immediate sighting of him or know where he is now, please call the police on 999 and if you wish to remain anonymous, you can pass information to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or online via their website.

Please quote reference 12260043991 when passing on information.

Adam Carruthers, 33, was sentenced to four years and three months for causing criminal damage to the famous tree beside Hadrian’s Wall, Northumberland, when he was jailed in July last year alongside Daniel Graham.

Mrs Justice Lambert told the pair they would serve 40% of the sentence behind bars, with the remainder being served on licence in the community.

PA understands Carruthers has been released under the Home Detention Curfew Scheme, as first reported by ITV News Tyne Tees, which said the decision was taken by the governor of the prison where he was serving his sentence, after a risk assessment.

Tyne Tees spoke to him off camera at a Cumbria turf business where he used to work. He told the broadcaster he was happy to be out of prison.

In a statement issued to PA, a Ministry of Justice spokesman said: “Anyone released into Home Detention Curfew faces strict licence conditions and must be tagged. Those who break the rules can be returned to prison.”

It is understood that prisoners must have 12 months or less to serve before their conditional release to be eligible for the Home Detention Curfew Scheme and must be risk-assessed.

They are subject to strict licence conditions and the curfew is enforced with an electronic tag and they must stay at their registered home address.

Former friends Graham and Carruthers were convicted of criminal damage to the much-loved tree, which had stood for more than 100 years.

They were also convicted of criminal damage to Hadrian’s Wall, which happened when the tree fell on the ancient monument in September 2023.

During their trial, Newcastle Crown Court heard the two engaged in a “moronic mission” to cut down the landmark, travelling for more than 40 minutes from their homes in Cumbria, then carrying their equipment across pitch-black moorland during a storm in September 2023.

They took a wedge from the tree as a trophy that has never been recovered, and revelled in the media coverage as news of the vandalism caused national and international headlines.

Mrs Justice Lambert was sure that Carruthers cut the tree down while Graham drove him there and filmed it on his phone.

The tree was a symbol of Northumberland and featured in the Kevin Costner and Morgan Freeman film Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves. Its destruction took less than three minutes.

Planning request from Leech Weir Residents Association seeks approval for tree felling works at to the north of Meldrum Mains, a site partially covered by a TPO.

North Lanarkshire Council has been asked to consent to the felling of trees in Glenmavis, despite a tree preservation order.

A planning request from Leech Weir Residents Association seeks approval for tree felling works at to the north of Meldrum Mains, a site partially covered by a TPO.

Supporting the application is a report from a tree consultant which explains they were commissioned to assess the trees for risk and nuisance, with this having been done in 2023 as well as April 2026.

The report notes that although the southern area of woodland is registered as “ancient”, meaning it has been present since at least 1750 and is considered irreplaceable, other sections of the woods do not share this status, due to some trees having been felled and replaced, usually with non-native species and these areas could be restored.

The survey recorded 41 trees as being of concern or requiring work, including 29 close to houses on Glenwell Street which were recorded in line with a request from the residents’ association.

For further information on this application, or to leave comment for consideration, visit the council’s website and search for planning reference 26/00422/TPO.

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As the number one importer of Iranian oil, China has a major problem with any constriction of exports in the Gulf – including the US blockade of Iran’s ports, which began on Monday.

Beijing has condemned the US blockade, calling it “irresponsible and dangerous”.

It has also reportedly sought to play peacemaker in the conflict, steering its ally Iran towards talks with the US in Pakistan last weekend.

But the blockade creates a serious political, economic, and possibly military risk that both the US and China will want to avoid.

The BBC’s security correspondent Frank Gardner explains why China’s role in the conflict is too big to be ignored.

Staff at the BBC were told about the redundancies during a company-wide meeting on Wednesday afternoon

The BBC has revealed its largest workforce reduction in almost 15 years, confirming it will axe 2,000 jobs as part of sweeping cost-cutting measures.

The broadcaster is targeting a 10% reduction in running costs over the coming three years in response to what bosses have called “substantial financial pressures”.

Staff were told about the redundancies during a company-wide meeting at 3pm on Wednesday. For the biggest stories in Wales first sign up to our daily newsletter here.

While the magnitude of the cuts is now confirmed insiders suggest that exact information about which departments or roles will bear the brunt of job losses remains under wraps, reports the Manchester Evening News.

It also remains unclear how BBC Wales will be affected by the redundancies.

The announcement arrives at a pivotal moment for the organisation following the departure of outgoing director general Tim Davie on April 2 after a spell marked by considerable internal and external challenges.

Acting director-General Rhodri Talfan Davies is currently overseeing operations before former Google executive Matt Brittin formally takes the role on May 18. The huge reduction in headcount is seen as a significant overhaul in preparation for Mr Brittin’s appointment.

The cost-cutting drive has already started to affect prominent programming.

The BBC recently disclosed that its specialist unit covering significant national events, including royal occasions and state funerals, will be reduced to a single full-time employee with the corporation depending on freelance staff to bridge the shortfall.

This comes after an announcement at the start of last year that 130 roles would be axed from the BBC World Service in order to save £6m during the following financial year.

The broadcaster continues to face a challenging struggle for audiences as streaming giants such as Netflix and Disney+ command the market.

While the annual licence fee – the BBC’s main funding stream – increased to £180 on April 1 the corporation remains under significant political and public scrutiny to prove it offers value for money.