Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that indirect nuclear talks with the U.S. in Oman were “a good start” and that there was a “consensus” that the negotiations would continue.

“After a long period without dialogue, our viewpoints were conveyed, and our concerns were expressed. Our interests, the rights of the Iranian people, and all matters that needed to be stated were presented in a very positive atmosphere, and the other side’s views were also heard,” Araghchi said.

“It was a good start, but its continuation depends on consultations in our respective capitals and deciding on how to proceed,” he added.

IRAN’S KHAMENEI STAYS AWAY FROM TALKS AS JD VANCE SAYS DYNAMIC MAKES DIPLOMACY ‘MUCH MORE COMPLICATED’

Oman’s foreign minister Badr al-Busaidi met with both Iranian and American officials on Friday, the Foreign Ministry of Oman said on X. The ministry said that al-Busaidi held separate meetings with Araghchi and U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.

“The consultations focused on preparing the appropriate conditions for resuming diplomatic and technical negotiations, while emphasizing their importance, in light of the parties’ determination to ensure their success in achieving sustainable security and stability,” the Foreign Ministry of Oman said.

Oman reportedly put out a public statement acknowledging the talks after journalists with The Associated Press saw Iranian and American officials separately visit the palace, the outlet reported. The AP said it was not immediately clear if talks were done for the day, but noted that the palace was empty after the convoys left.

The Iranian representatives reportedly met with al-Busaidi first, and only after their convoy left the palace did another set of vehicles arrive, one of which had an American flag, according to the AP. The outlet said the SUV flying the American flag stayed at the palace for an hour and a half.

TRUMP SAYS IRAN ALREADY HAS US TERMS AS MILITARY STRIKE CLOCK TICKS

The talks were initially set to take place in Turkey, but were later moved, according to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who confirmed the change in venue on Wednesday.

“We thought we had an established forum that had been agreed to in Turkey. It was put together by a number of partners who wanted to attend and be a part of it,” Rubio said when taking questions from reporters on Wednesday.

“I saw conflicting reports yesterday from the Iranian side saying that they had not agreed to that. So, that’s still being worked through. At the end of the day, the United States is prepared to engage in, has always been prepared to engage with Iran.”

Iranian officials also reportedly tried to limit the talks to a bilateral U.S.-Iran format, excluding other Arab and regional countries, according to Axios.

RUBIO CONFIRMS IRAN DEMANDED VENUE CHANGE FOR NUCLEAR TALKS

Tensions between Iran and the U.S. have been high since Washington bombed Tehran’s nuclear facilities in the summer of 2025. Things escalated further as the U.S. condemned Iran’s treatment of anti-regime protesters, with President Donald Trump threatening to act if government actors used violence against demonstrators.

Trump recently said in an interview with NBC News that Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameni “should be very worried,” though the president acknowledged that the two countries were “negotiating.”

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When pressed about why he has not followed through on threats to take action if the regime used violence against protesters, Trump said that the U.S. “had their back” and that the “country’s a mess right now because of us,” referring to the strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities. Trump also told NBC News that the U.S. had learned that Iran was attempting to build a new nuclear site in a different part of the country.

The president said that he issued a threat that if Iran were to build a new nuclear facility, the U.S. would “do very bad things.”

It is not immediately clear whether there will be more discussions over the course of the weekend or if there are any plans for direct discussions between Iranian and American officials.

The State Department did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Tributes have been paid to a pilot who was killed in a light aircraft crash earlier this week. 

Arian Abbasi, 36, was one of two men onboard an aircraft when it crashed into farmland in near Rochdale, Greater Manchester, on Tuesday.

Both men were pronounced dead at the scene.

Police are continuing to comb through the area to find the device that should have deployed his parachute.

On Friday the family of Mr Abbasi, from Harrow, London, described him as a “a deeply loving father and a devoted husband.”

The tribute went on: “He lived his life for his family and friends, giving them his constant love, strength, and support.”

He was due to start his career as a commercial airline pilot on February 23.

“Flying was his passion,” his family added, calling it “a dream he had worked toward with immense pride and determination.”

The aircraft had taken off earlier that morning from Birmingham.

The pair were reportedly flying in a Cirrus SR20, which is fitted with a parachute system designed to deploy in an emergency.

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Photos shared on social media after the crash appeared to show a yellow parachute partly wrapped around the base of an electricity pylon.

Police are still searching for the parachute’s propellant – which is crucial for its deployment.

A Greater Manchester Police spokesperson said: “The nature of the terrain, and the wide area over which it may have travelled, has made finding the device very difficult.

“The device measures approximately 10cm in diameter and 30cm long and has a red anodised finish.

“It weighs less than 2kg. It may have a silver metal collar attached at one end.”

Officers urged people to contact the police immediately if they find the device – via 101 or at gmp.police.uk, quoting log 1056 of 03/02/26 – and not to handle it.

Donald Trump has been accused of “disgusting behaviour” after sharing a video depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as apes.

The depiction appears towards the end of the video shared by the president, asserting debunked claims that the 2020 election – which he lost to Joe Biden – was stolen from him.

Posted on Mr Trump’s own social media network, Truth Social, the two-second clip shows the Obamas as apes bobbing up and down to the tune of “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”.

The post was later deleted – around 12 hours after being posted.

A White House official said a member of staff “erroneously made the post” and it has now been taken down.

In a message on X, formerly Twitter, Gavin Newsom, the Democratic governor of California, accused the president of “disgusting behaviour” over the post.

He added: “Every single Republican must denounce this. Now.”

Ben Rhodes, who served as deputy national security adviser in the Obama White House, reacted to the video by calling Trump “a stain on our history”.

“Let it haunt Trump and his racist followers that future Americans will embrace the Obamas as beloved figures while studying him as a stain on our history,” he wrote on X.

George Conway – ex-husband of Kellyanne Conway, who managed the president’s successful election campaign in 2016 – responded by highlighting an article he’d written describing Trump as a “racist” in 2019.

The group Republicans Against Trump wrote: “There’s no bottom.”

Before the post was removed, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended it and said the depiction formed part of a longer video depicting various politicians as animals.

She said: “This is from an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from The Lion King.

“Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public.”

Mr Trump has a long history of attacking Mr Obama, his predecessor as president, and was a vocal proponent of the “birther” conspiracy theory.

The theory cast doubt on Mr Obama’s birth in Hawaii, asserting that he was actually born in Kenya, and therefore ineligible to hold the office of president.

Mr Obama produced his long-form birth certificate in 2011. In 2016 Mr Trump publicly accepted that his predecessor was born in the USA.

Some of us remember having more energy in our 20s. We could work late, sleep badly, have a night out, recover quickly and still feel capable the next day. By our 40s, that ease has often gone. Fatigue feels harder to shake. It’s tempting to assume this is simply the ageing process – a one‑way decline.

The truth is that the 40s are often the most exhausting decade, not because we are old, but because several small biological changes converge at exactly the same time that life’s demands often peak. Crucially, and optimistically, there is no reason to assume that energy must continue to decline in the same way into our 60s.

Energetic 20s

In early adulthood, multiple systems peak together.

Muscle mass is at its highest, even without deliberate training. As a metabolically active tissue, muscle helps regulate blood sugar and reduces the effort required for everyday tasks. Research shows that skeletal muscle is metabolically active even at rest and contributes substantially to basal metabolic rate (the energy your body uses just to keep you alive when you’re at rest). When you have more muscle, everything costs less energy.

At the cellular level, mitochondria – the structures that convert food into usable energy – are more numerous and more efficient. They produce energy with less waste and less inflammatory byproduct.

Sleep, too, is deeper. Even when sleep is shortened, the brain produces more slow‑wave sleep, the phase most strongly linked to physical restoration.

Hormonal rhythms are also more stable. Cortisol, often described as the body’s stress hormone, melatonin, growth hormone and sex hormones follow predictable daily patterns, making energy more reliable across the day.

Put simply, energy in your 20s is abundant and forgiving. You can mistreat it and still get away with it.

Exhausting 40s

By midlife, none of these systems has collapsed, but small shifts start to matter.

Muscle mass begins to decline from the late 30s onwards unless you exercise to maintain it. This in itself is a top tip – do strength training. The loss of muscle is gradual, but its effects are not. Less muscle means everyday movement costs more energy, even if you don’t consciously notice it.

Mitochondria still produce energy, but less efficiently. In your 20s, poor sleep or stress could be buffered. In your 40s, inefficiency is exposed. Recovery becomes more “expensive”.

Sleep also changes. Many people still get enough hours, but sleep fragments. Less deep sleep means less repair. Fatigue feels cumulative rather than episodic.

Hormones don’t disappear in midlife – they fluctuate, particularly in women. Variability, not deficiency, disrupts temperature regulation, sleep timing and energy rhythms. The body copes better with low levels than with unpredictable ones.

Then there is the brain. Midlife is a period of maximum cognitive and emotional load: leadership, responsibility, vigilance and caring roles. The prefrontal cortex – responsible for planning, making decisions and inhibition – works harder for the same output. Mental multitasking drains energy as effectively as physical labour.

This is why the 40s feel so punishing. Biological efficiency is beginning to shift at exactly the moment when demand is highest.

Hopeful 60s

Later life is often imagined as a continuation of midlife decline; however, many people report something different.

Hormonal systems often stabilise after periods of transition. Life roles may simplify. Cognitive load can reduce. Experience replaces constant active decision‑making.

Sleep doesn’t automatically worsen with age. When stress is lower and routines are protected, sleep efficiency can improve – even if total sleep time is shorter.

Crucially, muscle and mitochondria still adapt surprisingly well into later life. Strength training in people in their 60s, 70s and beyond can restore strength, improve metabolic health and increase subjective energy within months.

This doesn’t mean later life brings boundless energy, but it often brings something else: predictability.

Good news?

Across adulthood, energy shifts in character rather than simply declining. The mistake we make is assuming that feeling tired in midlife reflects a personal failing, or that it marks the start of an unavoidable decline. Anatomically, it is neither.

Midlife fatigue is best understood as a mismatch between biology and demand: small shifts in efficiency occurring at precisely the point when cognitive, emotional and practical loads are at their highest.

The hopeful message is not that we can reclaim our 20-year-old selves. Rather, it is that energy in later life remains highly modifiable, and that the exhaustion so characteristic of the 40s is not the endpoint of the story. Fatigue at this stage is not a warning of inevitable decline; it is a signal that the rules have changed.

The thief also stole a number of other items from different shops in the city.

A man has been jailed after stealing 29 chocolate bunnies from a supermarket. Jordan Cole, 36, stole the Lindt chocolate bunnies from Sainbury’s in Sidney Street, Cambridge, on Wednesday, January 28.

Between September 30 and January 24, Cole also stole a range of items from Cambridge shops. These included perfume from John Lewis, laundry products from B&M at the Beehive Centre, meat from Aldi, in Newmarket Road, and T-shirts from Hugo Boss, in Market Hill.

He also breached his criminal behaviour order (CBO) by entering the Aldi on Newmarket Road. At Cambridge Magistrates’ Court on Friday, January 30, Cole, of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty to 12 counts of theft and breaching a CBO.

He was sentenced to 24 weeks in prison and ordered to pay £300 in compensation.

PC Alex Thake, who investigated, said: “Cole’s series of thefts caused significant distress and upheaval for businesses and their employees. We take shoplifting offences seriously and will continue to work hard to bring offenders to justice.”

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Former PM David Cameron has won a six-year battle for a swimming pool after neighbours accused him of creating a ‘tacky Benidorm’ resort in his garden.

The Tory politician, now a member of the House of Lords, first submitted plans back in 2020 so he could take a dip in the garden of his sprawling Cotswolds home.

Lord Cameron withdrew the original scheme after neighbours feared the posh village could be turned into a holiday resort ‘like Benidorm’, but revived the bid in December last year.

Despite one neighbour again complaining of the potential for ‘rowdy’ pool parties, planners approved the scheme yesterday.

Council officials said they considered the neighbour’s concerns but could not ‘assume unreasonable behaviour’ under planning laws.

Lord and Lady Cameron are part of what was once known as the ‘Chipping Norton set’, featuring the likes of Jeremy Clarkson, Elisabeth Murdoch, and Rebekah Brooks, who all live in or around the town.

They originally bought the detached family home in 2001 for £788,000. According to Rightmove, the home is currently worth up to £1.8million.

Locals feared the addition of a pool to his cottage in the Oxfordshire village, could mean more extravagant parties being hosted there.

Planning official Emile Baldauf-Clark said in the decision notice: ‘One third party objection comment has been received, raising concerns that the proposed swimming pool is unnecessary in a quiet rural village and would lead to unacceptable noise and disturbance from potential pool parties, impacting neighbours’ ability to enjoy their gardens peacefully.

‘The objector also expresses a general concern regarding neighbourliness and the potential for increased disruption arising from the development.’

But Ms Baldauf-Clark said the amended scheme was acceptable and added: ‘While the introduction of a swimming pool may lead to a marginal increase in activity within the garden, the pool is positioned a substantial distance from neighbouring dwellings and is contained within a large semi-rural/residential plot.

‘Given this level of separation, the presence of established landscaping, and the domestic nature of the proposal, any additional noise is expected to be low level, infrequent and typical of an established residential use. It would not be at a level that would materially harm the quiet enjoyment of neighbouring properties.

‘The concerns raised regarding potential noise from gatherings have been considered, however the planning system cannot assume unreasonable behaviour.

‘The proposal does not introduce an intensity of use that would be expected to cause demonstrable harm to residential amenity.’

Cameron’s new pool will measure 13.7 x 4 metres with a depth of 1.6 metres. The application also included two extensions to the home that were also passed.

In a previous complaint over Cameron’s pool plans to West Oxfordshire District Council back in 2020, one neighbour said: ‘As a local I feel I must object to this plan.

‘Swimming pools are totally out of keeping with the local area.

‘This plan will cause noise from machinery to heat and filter the pool, light pollution, and most importantly, noise pollution from rowdy pool parties going on into the night.

‘Why can’t people just enjoy the character and charm of the Cotswolds without trying to turn their gardens into some kind of tacky Benidorm resort?’

But in a design and access statement to support the latest plan, Cameron’s representatives wrote: ‘Reflecting on the 2020 proposal, the design and siting has been carefully considered so that the pool is part and parcel of the house and its gardens, thereby not encroaching into the wider landscape.

‘The swimming pool is a minimalist and functional design. It will have a small stone surround but otherwise the surrounding lawn will remain unchanged. 

‘The nature of a swimming pool is that it is embedded into the ground; therefore, there will be no physical or appreciable presence of the swimming pool from outside of the property curtilage.

‘The only minor visible change will be the provision of a small retaining wall and steps which would be wholly in keeping with the existing retaining wall closer to the dwelling.

‘Beyond the immediate surrounds of the pool, the garden is enclosed/screened by tree belts and existing hedgerows.

‘The premise behind the proposals is simply that the applicants wish to enhance the enjoyment of the dwelling of their home, undertaking the works in a sensitive and minimalist manner. 

‘The intention is to provide a provide a swimming pool whilst respecting the local area and character and also their neighbours’ privacy and amenity

‘For the reasons set out above we consider that the proposed extension and swimming pool have been carefully considered and designed to respect the constraints of the site.

‘They would provide owners of the property with the additional space and facilities they require whilst preserving the historic value of the site and not harming the National Landscape or amenity of neighbours.’

The council approved applications for a 1.5 storey extension and a single storey side extension.

Who Is Peter Mandelson?

How Did Mandelson Come Back Into Government?

What Was Mandelson’s Relationship To Epstein?

June 2023

February 2025

September 2025

January 2026

February 2026

How Has Mandelson Responded?

What Happens Next?

What Does This Mean For Starmer?

Luigi Mangione shouted at a judge in an emotional outburst in court Friday as a trial date was set over the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

“It’s the same trial twice,” Mangione yelled as he was led out of court. “One plus one is two. Double jeopardy by any commonsense definition.”

Mangione, 27, made the remarks after the judge scheduled his state murder trial to begin June 8, three months before jury selection in his federal case.

Judge Gregory Carro, matter-of-fact in his decision after a lengthy discussion with prosecutors and defense lawyers at the bench, said the state trial could be delayed until Sept 8 if an appeal delays the federal trial.

Mangione’s lawyers objected to the June trial date, telling Carro that at that time, they’ll be consumed with preparing for the federal trial, which involves allegations that Mangione stalked Thompson before killing him.

“Mr. Mangione is being put in an untenable situation,” defense lawyer Karen Friedman Agnifilo said.

“This is a tug-of-war between two different prosecution offices.”

“The defense will not be ready on June 8,” she added.

“Be ready,” Carro replied.

Mangione has pleaded not guilty to state and federal charges, both of which carry the possibility of life in prison. Last week, the judge in the federal case ruled that prosecutors can’t seek the death penalty.

Wearing a tan jail suit, Mangione sat quietly at the defense table until his outburst at the end of the hearing.

Jury selection in the federal case is set for Sept. 8, followed by opening statements and testimony on Oct. 13.

As the trial calendar began to take shape, Manhattan prosecutors last month urged Carro to set a July trial date in the state case.

In a letter, Assistant District Attorney Joel Seidemann asked Carro to begin the New York trial on July 1, arguing that the state’s interests “would be unfairly prejudiced by an unnecessary delay” until after the federal trial.

“It appears the federal government has reneged on its agreement to let the state, which has done most of the work in this case, go first,” Carro said Friday.

Mangione isn’t due in court again in the state case until May, when Carro is expected to rule on a defense request to exclude certain evidence that prosecutors say connects Mangione to the killing.

Those items include a 9 mm handgun that prosecutors say matches the one used to kill Thompson and a notebook in which they say he described his intent to “wack” a health insurance executive.

Last week, the judge in the federal case, Margaret Garnett, ruled that prosecutors can use those items at that trial.

In September, Carro threw out state terrorism charges but kept the rest of the case, including an intentional murder charge.

When Mangione was arrested, federal prosecutors said they anticipated the state case would go to trial first.

Under New York law, the district attorney’s office could be barred from trying Mangione on state murder charges if his federal trial happens first. The state’s double jeopardy protections kick in if a jury has been sworn in a prior prosecution, such as a federal case, or if that prosecution ends in a guilty plea.

Thompson, 50, was killed on Dec. 4, 2024, as he walked to a midtown Manhattan hotel for UnitedHealth Group’s annual investor conference.

Surveillance video showed a masked gunman shooting him from behind. Police say “delay,” “deny” and “depose” were written on the ammunition, mimicking a phrase used to describe how insurers avoid paying claims.

Mangione, a University of Pennsylvania graduate from a wealthy Maryland family, was arrested five days later at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 230 miles (about 370 kilometers) west of Manhattan.

By PAUL WISEMAN and CHRISTOPHER RUGABER, AP Economics Writers

WASHINGTON (AP) — Looking back on the first year of his second term, President Donald Trump boasts that he has resurrected the American economy by imposing big import taxes on foreign products.

He made his case in a recent opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal, chiding the paper and critics, including mainstream economists, who predicted that tariffs would backfire, raising prices and threatening growth. “Instead,” the Republican president wrote, “they have created an American economic miracle.”

But the proof he offers is often off-base or wrong altogether.

Here’s a look at the facts around Trump’s assessment of tariffs:

CLAIM: “Just over one year ago, we were a ‘DEAD’ country. Now, we are the ‘HOTTEST” country anywhere in the world!’ ’’

THE FACTS: This is a standard statement from Trump. But the U.S. economy was hardly “dead’’ when Trump returned to office last year. And in Trump’s second term, it’s performed strongly — after getting off to a bumpy start.

In 2024, the last year of the Biden presidency, American gross domestic product grew 2.8%, adjusted for inflation, faster than any wealthy country in the world except Spain. It also expanded at a healthy rate from 2021 through 2023.

The numbers for all of 2025 aren’t out yet. But during the first three quarters of the year, Trump’s tariffs — or the threat of them — delivered mixed results for the American economy.

From January to March, U.S. GDP actually shrank for the first time in three years. The main culprit was easy to identify: a surge in imports, which are subtracted from GDP, as American companies rushed to buy foreign products before Trump could impose tariffs on them.

But growth rebounded in the second half of the year. From April through June, the economy expanded at a healthy 3.8% pace. And from July through September, it grew even faster — 4.4%. A big part of the surge was a drop in imports, likely reflecting Trump’s tariffs as well as the fact that importers had already stocked up at the start of the year. Strong consumer spending also drove economic growth.

Trump also likes point to solid gains in the U.S. stock market. He noted that stocks hit new highs 52 times in 2025. It’s true that the American stock market did well last year. But it underperformed many foreign stock markets. The benchmark S&P 500 index climbed 17% — a nice gain but short of a 71% surge in South Korea, 29% in Hong Kong, 26% in Japan, 22% in Germany and 21% in the United Kingdom.

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CLAIM: “Annual core inflation for the past three months has dropped to just 1.4% — far lower than almost anyone, other than me, had predicted.”

THE FACTS: The president is using cherry-picked data to vastly exaggerate where inflation stands.

His figure for annual inflation in the past three months — which excludes the volatile food and energy prices — is low, but reflects data distorted by the government shutdown in October and November, which disrupted the government’s data collection and forced the agency that compiles the figures to plug in rough estimates in some categories that artificially lowered overall inflation.

Annual core inflation for the final six months of 2025 is higher at 2.6%. That is down from January 2025’s level but about where it was in October 2024. Overall, inflation has leveled off this year, and was 3% in September before the government shutdown, the same as it had been in January 2025.

It’s true that inflation hasn’t been as high as many economists worried it would be when Trump started rolling out tariffs last spring, but that is partly because many of the “Liberation Day” tariffs were withdrawn, reduced or riddled with exemptions. When Democrats won some high-profile elections last year by highlighting “affordability” concerns, the administration rolled back existing or planned tariffs on coffee, beef and kitchen cabinets, for example, a backhanded acknowledgment that the duties were raising prices.

The impact of tariffs can be more clearly seen in core goods prices, which also exclude food and energy. Before the pandemic, core goods costs typically barely rose — or even fell — each year, but last December they were 1.4% higher than a year earlier. That was the largest increase, outside the pandemic, since 2011.

Alberto Cavallo, an economist at Harvard and the author of a study on the impact of tariffs cited by Trump in his op-ed, has found that Trump’s tariffs have boosted overall inflation by roughly three-quarters of a percentage point.

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CLAIM: “The data shows that the burden, or ‘incidence,’ of the tariffs has fallen overwhelmingly on foreign producers and middlemen, including large corporations that are not from the U.S. According to a recent study by the Harvard Business School, these groups are paying at least 80% of tariff costs.”

THE FACTS: The study Trump cited appears to conclude the opposite of what Trump claimed. Authored by Cavallo and two colleagues, it finds that “U.S. consumers were bearing roughly 43% of the tariff-induced border cost after seven months, with the remainder absorbed mostly by U.S. firms.” Cavallo said by email that import prices hadn’t fallen much, “which suggests foreign exporters did not reduce their pre-tariff prices enough to shoulder a large share of the burden.″

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CLAIM: “We have slashed our monthly trade deficit by an astonishing 77%.”

THE FACTS: This claim involves more cherry-picking, reflecting the percentage drop from a very high trade deficit in January 2025, when the president took office, to a super-low deficit in October.

The story is more complicated than the president makes it. The trade deficit — the gap between what the U.S. sells other countries and what it buys from them — has actually risen since he returned to the White House.

From January through November in 2025, the U.S. accumulated a trade deficit of nearly $840 billion, up 4% from the same period of 2024. In the first three months of 2025, importers rushed to buy foreign products — before Trump could slap tariffs on them. After that, monthly trade deficits came in consistently lower than they were in 2024. But the January-March import surge was so big that the 2025 year-to-date trade deficit still exceeds 2024’s.

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CLAIM: “I have successfully wielded the tariff tool to secure colossal Investments in America, like no other country has ever seen before. … In less than one year, we have secured commitments for more than $18 trillion, a number that is unfathomable to many.’’

THE FACTS: Trump did, in fact, use the tariff threat to pry investment commitments from America’s major trading partners. The European Union, for instance, pledged $600 billion over four years.

But Trump hasn’t said how he came up with $18 trillion. The White House has published a figure of $9.6 trillion, which includes private and public investment commitments from other countries.