Nigel Farage will meet with US president Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago in Florida to deliver a stark message on the Chagos deal

Nigel Farage is heading to Mar-a-Lago on Friday to personally tell Donald Trump of his opposition to the Chagos deal, as the US president’s overt disregard for Keir Starmer puts the contentious islands agreement at serious risk.

The Reform UK leader revealed his dinner plans at Guido Fawkes’ Save Chagos Boat Party, where he projected an increasingly optimistic stance on the campaign to abolish the agreement.

“President Trump has almost understood the deal, but I will be dining at Mar-a-Lago tomorrow night and we will reinforce the message,” he informed those gathered, reports the Mirror. For the biggest stories in Wales first sign up to our daily newsletter here

Farage didn’t hold back in his assessment of the Mauritius agreement, labelling it “the worst deal in history” and “an absolute betrayal”.

He urged supporters to sustain their efforts, stating: “We have got to keep fighting, we have got to keep the pressure up, we must not let our foot off this pedal, but for first time in this battle… this feels more than winnable.

“We think this is the central plan for this government’s foreign policy and we are beating them back.”

Farage’s trip to Florida arrives during a period of tension between Washington and Downing Street, with Trump openly and repeatedly ridiculing the Prime Minister over the UK’s handling of the Middle East war and the Chagos matter.

The trigger was Starmer’s original decision to block American strike operations from utilising RAF installations, including Diego Garcia.

Trump responded: “That island… It’s taken three, four days, for us to work out where we can land there. It would have been much more convenient landing there as opposed to flying many extra hours, so we are very surprised.

“This is not Winston Churchill that we’re dealing with,” Trump added, having separately informed journalists that the Prime Minister had been “very uncooperative” and had “ruined relationships”.

His most damning assessment emerged when he allegedly branded Starmer as “a loser who has no future” – a characterisation that exceeded anything he had previously stated publicly about the Labour leader.

Discussing the Chagos agreement itself from the Oval Office, Trump observed: “I will say the UK has been very, very uncooperative with that stupid island that they have, that they gave away and took a 100-year lease; having to do with, perhaps, indigenous people claiming the island that never even saw the island before. What’s that all about?” He had previously mounted an initial assault on the agreement via Truth Social, where he labelled it an “act of great stupidity.”

Starmer eventually relented, allowing RAF Fairford and Diego Garcia for “limited defensive” US operations less than 48 hours after denying access. The reversal did little to calm tensions – the relationship between the two leaders, which had started on cautiously cordial terms, has now deteriorated into something considerably more hostile.

The peahen, a female peacock, was shot and killed

Police are on the hunt for three men who shot and killed a peahen with an air rifle. The incident happened at around 2.30am on March 3 on Higham Road in Gazeley, near Newmarket.

Three male suspects are reported to have entered private land, shone powerful torches into some trees, before discharging an air weapon. A peahen, a female peacock, was shot and killed as a result of the incident.

The suspects were travelling in a dark coloured car.

Suffolk Police are now urging anyone who recognises those featured on the CCTV image, or has any information on the incident, to get in contact with them quoting reference 37/12522/26.

You can contact Suffolk Police online, or by calling 101. Alternatively, you can contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

According to the Australian Government, there are currently more than 1.1 million Brits living in the country, drawn by the beautiful beaches, sunny weather, and generally higher standard of living

A British woman who has made a new life on Australia’s spectacular Gold Coast has revealed a “tricky situation” leaving her uncertain about what to do. But everyone on social media has said the same thing.

According to the Australian Government’s Department of Home Affairs, there are currently more than 1.1 million Brits living in the country, drawn by the beautiful beaches, sunny weather, and generally higher standard of living. This makes people born in the UK Australia’s largest migrant community, representing 14 per cent of foreign-born residents, and 4.3 per cent of the country’s total population.

Abs Roberts, who is living on the Gold Coast on the east of Australia, regularly posts content on TikTok, where she has more than 8,000 followers, about her life Down Under as a British ex-pat. In a recent video, she shared what she described as a “tricky situation”.

“Honestly, living my best life out here,” she said. “I absolutely love the lifestyle, I can never, ever see myself living back in my hometown, ever.

“The only thing that’s holding me back is family and friends. But I’m just in two minds. I’m like, I want to be here forever, I know that for a fact.”

Continuing, she said she misses her family and friends back home, but flights to any destination from Australia are “so expensive. “It’s just so far,” she said. “It’s really not that easy just to jump on a flight home and go home. Like, I just cant fork out type of money.

“I haven’t seen anyone in over a year now, no one from my hometown is here or visited or seen me, and I’m just in two minds. Do I stay somewhere forever where I genuinely am so, so happy and the best version of myself, or go back home?”

Abs added she doesn’t think she’d be “miserable” in the UK, but can’t deny she is “so happy” in her new home. “The only thing pulling me back is family,” she said.

“Do I go back to my hometown and be by everyone who I grew up with and surround myself by people who genuinely love me, or live my best life here? Obviously I’ve made some amazing friends here, of course, I genuinely love them to pieces too, but I’m just stuck in two minds because it’s very tough.

“Australia is so far and I’m in two minds what to do because I really, really, really miss my family and friends so much, and I just really don’t know what to do.”

People in the comments were unanimous in what she should do. One said: “STAY THERE TRUST ME!!!!!! You come home you won’t go back!!” They added: “Gen don’t come back, you get roped into stuff and before you know it you’re back a year and plans are in place, you got your s*** sorted there LOCK IT IN.”

Replying, Abs said: “That is what I’m thinking, I don’t want to get stuck in and never come back… Built a whole new life, wasn’t easy but it was something they grew me as a person x.”

Another, who said they were from London originally, and had lived on the Gold Coast for the past 16 years, said: “I miss all my friends and family but the lifestyle here is so much better. I went home in October and nothing really changes. Stay here I think as your life will be so much better.”

And someone else wrote: “If you go back to the UK you’ll have an amazing time seeing everyone but it probably wont be long until you just want to be back in Aus again! You’re glowing.”

Wolves boss Rob Edwards might have been thinking his bottom-of-the-table Premier League side have a chance of ‘the great escape’ after they beat Liverpool on Tuesday.

So, seeing two of the three teams immediately above them, West Ham and Nottingham Forest, pick up points on Wednesday was a shame for Wolves, just when they had given themselves that little bit of hope.

Still, their recent results and performances have been much improved. Edwards has given Wolves fans something to smile about, and he will want to maintain that positivity here.

This is a big game for Liverpool boss Arne Slot, too.

The FA Cup could be important for him this season, so he cannot just focus on Tuesday’s last-16 trip to Galatasaray in the Champions League.

After three successive Premier League wins, Tuesday’s loss was another stumble for Slot’s side in the race for the top four.

They were fortunate Manchester United and Aston Villa lost as well, but Chelsea’s win at Villa meant the Reds are outside the top five now too.

With the heat that is around him, I don’t think Slot is in a position where he can afford to play a weakened side here – he has to go strong to try to avoid another shock result.

I still think we will see another surprise, though.

Wolves are going to throw everything at Liverpool. They are still going down, but can they make it to Wembley too?

Sutton’s prediction: 2-1

Steven’s prediction: A couple of weeks ago, I would have said it is obvious what is going to happen here. Now, it isn’t. 2-2 after extra time, Liverpool win on penalties

AI’s prediction: 1-3

For the first time in almost 200 years, giant tortoises are roaming the Galapagos island of Floreana again, thanks to one of the most ambitious ecosystem recovery initiatives undertaken on the archipelago.   

Intensive exploitation by whalers and other seafarers, as well as the introduction of invasive species, wiped out the Floreana giant tortoise in the mid-1800s. For more than a century, the lineage was presumed lost forever.

That was until 2000, when ecologists identified a hybrid tortoise with Floreana ancestry on neighbouring Isabela island. The discovery prompted a long-term selective breeding programme to maximise Floreana ancestry in the offspring. 

This week, that programme reached a milestone as 158 giant tortoises were reintroduced to Floreana, which has been cleared of invasive goats and rats. The tortoise’s reintroduction will be mutually beneficial for the species and the island. 

“Giant tortoises are a critical part of this [ecosystem],” said Rakan Zahawi, executive director of the Charles Darwin Foundation, which supported the release. “By dispersing seeds, shaping vegetation, creating microhabitats … and influencing how landscapes regenerate, they help rebuild ecological processes that many other species depend on.” 

Image: Galapagos Conservancy  

Work is taking place to improve signalling along the railway line

Major engineering work is set to disrupt some trains travelling through Cambridgeshire. Engineering works will be taking place along the East Coast Main Line on Sunday, March 15, which will affect some Great Northern and Thameslink lines through Peterborough and St Neots.

Work is taking place to improve signalling along the route. A Great Northern spokesperson said: “We’re working with colleagues and partners across the rail industry to modernise signalling on some of our Great Northern and Thameslink routes.

“This means that traditional lineside signals, many of which were installed in the 1970s, will be replaced by state-of-the-art digital signalling – creating a better performing East Coast Main Line for our customers and everyone else who uses it. There will be engineering works to allow this to be carried out.”

On Sunday, no trains will run between:

• Potters Bar and Letchworth Garden City
• Potters Bar and Peterborough until midday
• Potters Bar and St Neots from midday
• Hertford North and Stevenage

A limited bus replacement service will run between:

• Hitchin and Letchworth Garden City
• Bedford and Peterborough via St Neots until midday
• Bedford and St Neots from midday
• Hitchin and Peterborough via St Neots until midday
• Hitchin and St Neots from midday
• Stevenage and Luton Airport Parkway via Hitchin
• St Albans City and Stevenage via Hatfield
• Hertford North and Stevenage
• Potters Bar and Hitchin

An amended train service will run between:

• London King’s Cross / Moorgate and Potters Bar
• London King’s Cross / Moorgate and Hertford North
• Letchworth Garden City and Cambridge / Ely / King’s Lynn
• St Neots and Peterborough from midday
• Finsbury Park and Brighton

Tickets will be accepted on Thameslink trains between Bedford and London, as well as Greater Anglia trains between London Liverpool Street and Cambridge, Cambridge North, and Hertford East.

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor is set to keep the Freedom of the City of London honour, after a review concluded it could not be removed.

It is one of the few remaining honours bestowed upon the disgraced former prince, who has been stripped of his royal titles due to his friendship with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Mr Mountbatten-Windsor received the honour in 2012 by “virtue of patrimony” due to his father Prince Phillip being a Freeman.

The Freedom is typically awarded to individuals nominated by corporation councillors, and allows recipients to walk sheep over London Bridge.

The City of London Corporation, which bestows the honour, had considered the rules dictating “the circumstances in which, and procedure by which, it can be removed”.

However, a spokesperson for the authority confirmed to the Local Democracy Service that the historic honour cannot be taken back, after he inherited the status which constitutes a legal right.

open image in gallery

The corporation said: “Applications via patrimony are not considered by our elected members.

“We have carefully considered whether it is possible to remove a Freedom granted by patrimony and understand that we are not able to do so.”

The ancient but largely ceremonial honour is usually awarded to individuals for contributions to London or public life, with Sir Ian McKellen, Colin Firth and Dame Judi Dench among those to receive it.

Mr Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested in February on suspicion of misconduct in public office following allegations he shared sensitive information with Epstein during his time as trade envoy.

He spent around 11 hours in custody as searches were conducted at his home on the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk and at his former home, Royal Lodge in Windsor, Berkshire.

Ministers have agreed to release files related to his appointment to the trade envoy role, as the former prince was described as “a rude, arrogant and entitled man”.

However, MPs were told the government is unable to publish material that police need for their inquiries until officers are “satisfied”.

Prince William reportedly wanted his uncle to be axed from the line of royal succession in the autumn, alongside the stripping of his other titles.

The Prince of Wales is said to be frustrated that the process of his uncle’s removal from the line to the British throne, which the government is now weighing up, was not resolved at the time.

The former prince has always vehemently denied any wrongdoing.

The Food Standards Agency said major improvement was needed at the city centre store

A major Welsh Sainsbury’s has been given a damning food hygiene rating in its latest inspection.

The store, located at 129-139 Queen Street in Cardiff, received a zero with major improvement needed across the board.

The city centre store was inspected on December 8, 2025. Never miss a Cardiff story by signing up to our daily newsletter here.

On the Food Standards Agency website it states that “major improvement is necessary” in management of food safety, hygenic food handling, and cleanliness and condition of facilities and building.

According to aterate.com the latest inspection is the first time the store has slipped below a five with previous ratings in January 2024 and August 2016 giving it the highest score.

The FSA describes hygienic food handling as the preparation, cooking, re-heating, cooling and storage of food.

Cleanliness and condition refers to having the appropriate layout, ventilation, hand-washing facilities, and pest control to enable good food hygiene.

The management of food safety is described as being the system or checks which ensure food sold or served is safe to eat, evidence that staff know about food safety, and confidence that standards will be maintained in the future.

In response to the report Sainsbury’s said they had acted promptly to make improvements and set out four ways they had done so.

The supermarket giant said the store had been temporarily closed to allow “proactive maintenance” which included enhanced cleaning and structural improvements.

They also said staff had received extra training and management procedures had been enhanced while they continue to independently review their standards.

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Rob Foreman is set to run the half marathon wearing 20kg of PPE and breathing apparatus

A Cambridgeshire fire officer will be taking on the Cambridge Half Marathon on Sunday (March 8) – wearing 20kg of firefighting kit. Station Commander Rob Foreman is taking on the challenge to raise money for Magpas Air Ambulance.

A Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service (CFRS) spokesperson said: “He’s swapping sportswear for fire kit – and running the 13.1 mile race wearing CFRS fire kit – including personal protective equipment (PPE) and breathing apparatus, weighing around 20kg.”

Rob said: “I’m supporting Magpas because their specialist team saves lives every day, but they can only do it with public support. I’ve witnessed the incredible care Magpas provides at the toughest moments of people’s lives. They give people the very best chance of survival long before they reach a hospital.

“Running in full Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and breathing apparatus is my way of honouring their resilience and helping them continue their lifesaving work.”

He continued: “This challenge is about more than just endurance. Firefighting kit adds significant extra weight, traps heat, and makes every step tougher, but that’s the point. It’s a way of honouring the strength and resilience.”

Magpas Air Ambulance covers Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, and the East of England – a population of more than 10 million. The charity’s mission is to “save lives and limit disability by taking enhanced emergency care to patients in their moment of need”.

To support Rob, visit his donation page: Robert Foreman is fundraising for Magpas Air Ambulance.