President Donald Trump went on a lengthy tirade against The New York Times on Thursday, accusing the newspaper of being “seditious” after its editorial board published a piece titled “The US Military Was Losing Its Edge. After Iran, Everyone Knows It.”

During his rant, Trump continued to insist that Iranian forces had been “militarily decapitated” before accusing both the Times and CNN of reporting that Iran was winning the war.

“…And yet I read in The New York Times, I see it on that stupid CNN, which I only watch because you have to watch a little bit of the enemy,” Trump said. “So I watch it for a very short period. But you have to, you know, you have to be smart. And if you see CNN, you’d think they’re winning the war. If you read The New York Times, it’s actually seditious in my opinion. You read The New York Times, you actually think they’re winning the war.”

It’s unclear which specific CNN report the president was referencing. As for the Times piece, it, among other things, argued that Iran’s control of the Strait of Hormuz was the linchpin in the conflict thus far, and that the United States’ trillion-dollar military was “ineffective against cheaper, mass-produced weapons,” such as Iran’s vast drone supply.

“But the problem is bigger than any single commander-in-chief. The United States has left itself unprepared for modern war,” the Times wrote.

What the NYT didn’t do in its article was “conspire to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States,” which is how seditious conspiracy is defined under 18 U.S. Code § 2384.

The last people convicted of seditious conspiracy in the US were leaders of the far-right Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, who stormed the Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. Trump pardoned all those convicted in connection with the insurrection on his first day back in office.

Donald Trump has claimed to remove tariffs on Scottish whisky in honour of King Charles and Queen Camilla after their state visit.

The US president announced on TruthSocial on Thursday evening that this decision would help boost industry in Scotland and Kentucky.

The UK government has since confirmed this applies to all whisky tariffs including those on Irish whiskey.

Trump, known for being an ardent royalist, added in his post: “The King and Queen got me to do something that nobody else was able to do, without hardly even asking! A wonderful Honor to have them both in the U.S.A.”

His announcement came after the monarch and his wife visited the White House this week.

Buckingham Palace said the King sent his “sincere gratitude” to Trump and “will be raising a dram to the President’s thoughtfulness”.

The president said he would be removing tariffs and restrictions related to “Scotland’s ability to work with the Commonwealth of Kentucky on Whiskey and Bourbon, two very important industries within Scotland and Kentucky”.

The two areas are linked through the use of wooden barrels to age the alcohol.

Trump, who declared sweeping tariffs on international allies in April 2025, has often used alcohol to apply pressure to other countries.

He threatened a 200% tariff on European wine last year, though it was never realised.

Business and trade secretary Peter Kyle welcomed the announcement, saying: “This is great news for our scotch whisky industry, which is worth almost £1bn in exports and supports thousands of jobs across the UK.”

The state visit from the royals came amid rising tensions between the UK and the US governments after Keir Starmer refused to join in America’s offensive on Iran at the end of February.

Trump has repeatedly lashed out at the prime minister in the months since, saying the Labour leader was “not Winston Churchill”.

But in the run-up to the royal visit, the president suggested Charles’s visit could help to repair the fractured “special relationship”.

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The BBC has announced its new Eurovision presenting team following the much-publicised departure of Scott Mills.

Prior to his abrupt firing from the broadcaster in March, Mills had been a key part of the BBC’s Eurovision Song Contest coverage for many years, most notably commentating on the semi-finals every year alongside Rylan Clark.

In his absence, Rylan will now be sharing his thoughts on the Eurovision semis alongside Angela Scanlon later this month.

Angela enthused: “It feels like joining the greatest party on earth – equal parts thrilling and terrifying!

“I grew up watching the Eurovision Song Contest with my three sisters, making very serious (and wildly biased) scorecards from the couch, so to now be part of it – especially in its 70th year – is genuinely surreal. It’s one of those shows that’s always been there, evolving but never losing its magic or madness.”

She added: “I’ve been lucky enough to dip my toe into the Eurovision world before, so it feels great to be doing it again, just with higher heels and a few more sequins!”

Notably, both Scanlon and Clark are among the stars reported to have made the BBC’s shortlist to become the next hosts of Strictly Come Dancing, so their new partnership has got us wondering if we could see them back together on our screens later this year.

Meanwhile, Mills’ breakfast show successor Sara Cox will also be covering the semi-finals on her own for Radio 2, and she’ll also commentate on the final for the station alongside Clark.

As usual, Graham Norton will be on commentating duties on the main broadcast of the live final on BBC One when it airs in mid-May.

Singer-songwriter, music producer and social media personality Look Mum No Computer will be representing the UK at Eurovision in Vienna, with his musical offering Eins, Zwei, Drei.

Eurovision has been the subject of backlash in recent years due to the continued presence of Israel, despite the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

It’s well-documented that the relationship between Gen Z and Sex And The City is a complicated one, but if anyone can serve as an ambassador between the two, it’s Olivia Rodrigo.

The three-time Grammy winner is currently gearing up for the release of her third album You Seem Pretty Sad For A Girl So In Love.

On Thursday night, she made an appearance on The Tonight Show, where she revealed to host Jimmy Fallon that she found inspiration in unusual places on her next release.

She explained that her new material is more “about romantic love in more of a positive sense” after the “heartbroken and angsty” double whammy of Sour and Guts, teasing “love songs” mixed with “melancholy” and “injected with a little bit of sadness and longing”.

In particular, Olivia admitted that “multiple songs” on You Seem Pretty Sad For A Girl So In Love were inspired by the complicated relationship between Cynthia Nixon’s Miranda and David Eigenberg’s Steve on the original run of Sex And The City.

She beamed: “It’s my favourite show – I think I watched every single episode maybe three times.”

OK, we’re going to need a full breakdown of Olivia’s thoughts on Miranda and Che’s And Just Like That tryst ASAP…

Last month, Olivia unveiled her new song Drop Dead as the lead single from her next album, which quickly shot to the top of the charts on both sides of the Atlantic, giving the Good 4 U singer her fourth UK number one in five years.

You Seem Pretty Sad For A Girl So In Love will be released on 12 June, ahead of her newly-announced Unravelled world tour.

The Unravelled tour will kicks off across the pond in September, before she brings it to the UK with four performances at London’s O2 Arena scheduled for April 2027.

Marco Rubio has downplayed fears the US could back Argentina’s claim to the Falklands Islands.

It comes after a Pentagon memo leaked last week suggested the States might look to punish allies who have not supported its war against Iran.

But the secretary of state told The Telegraph: “It was just an email. People are getting overexcited by an email.

“It was just an email with some ideas.”

The newspaper suggests the memo may have been drafted by a junior staffer.

Foreign secretary Yvette Cooper reportedly raised concerns over the memo during a meeting with the top American diplomat on Wednesday, in Washington.

It remains unclear if King Charles also mentioned the topic during his state visit to the White House with Donald Trump.

Argentina has long argued that the archipelago, known to Argentinians as “Las Malvinas”, is their sovereign land.

The memo sparked widespread outrage, with Keir Starmer’s spokesperson saying he could “not be clearer” that the islands are a sovereign British overseas territory.

“Sovereignty rests with the UK, and the islands’ right to self-determination is paramount,” the representative said.

Cooper also reacted on social media, writing: “The Falkland Islands are British – sovereignty rests with the UK, self-determination rests with the islanders.”

The archipelago’s government said 99.8% of voters on the island had cast their ballot in favour of staying a British overseas territory in the 2013 referendum.

In a statement, it said: “The Falkland Islands has complete confidence in the commitment made by the UK government to uphold and defend our right of self-determination.”

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Zack Polanski has been chided by the Green Party’s leader in Wales after he caused a row by sharing a tweet about the Golders Green terror attack.

Shilome Rand, 34, and Moshe Shine, 76, were left seriously injured in what police have described as a terrorist incident in Golders Green, north west London, on Wednesday.

Polanski, who is the Green Party leader in England and Wales, retweeted a post on X on Thursday questioning the way in which officers responded to the suspect.

The post read: “So essentially [Met commissioner Mark Rowley’s] officers were repeatedly and violently kicking a mentally ill man in the head when he was already incapacitated by taser.”

Polanski, who is himself Jewish, was then criticised by Labour MPs and the head of the Metropolitan Police, commissioner Sir Mark Rowley, for his “inaccurate and misinformed commentary”.

Asked to respond to the row, the Greens’ leader in Wales Anthony Slaughter said Polanski’s retweet was “inappropriate”.

Speaking to LBC, Slaughter said: “I was made aware of this on the way here, just shortly beforehand. I haven’t seen the tweet. I understand, as you say, Zack retweeted a tweet that it does seem, from what I’ve read, was inappropriate to retweet.

“I know that Zack and his other colleagues in the London Assembly do work closely with the Met Police, so there will be discussions afterwards to see what went wrong and how this can be better handled in future”.

Responding to Rowley’s letter, a Green Party spokesman said: “Zack has seen the video like everyone else, and doesn’t know the full picture and knows it was a very difficult situation for the authorities, but we do need to understand more about the response.”

Subscribe to Commons People, the podcast that makes politics easy. Every week, Kevin Schofield and Kate Nicholson unpack the week’s biggest stories to keep you informed. Join us for straightforward analysis of what’s going on at Westminster.