Iraq's new Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi has been sworn in with only a partial cabinet after lawmakers failed to reach a consensus on key postings, including interior and defence. The prime minister and other ministers who secured parliamentary confidence took the constitutional oath of office on Thursday, according to the official Iraqi News Agency (INA), formally assuming their duties.
Hungarian people have given us a mandate to put an end to decades of drifting. They have given us a mandate to open a new chapter in Hungary's history. Not only to change the government, but to change the system as well. To start again.
The prime minister has said he will "get to the bottom" of where damaging leaks about the Budget and against his Cabinet are coming from. Last week, Chancellor Rachel Reeves told MPs that pre-Budget leaks suggesting she had abandoned plans to increase income tax rates were "unauthorised" and there was an inquiry under way. Sir Keir Starmer told the Liaison Committee, a parliamentary committee made up of every select committee chair, that he did not believe the leaks were coming from inside his own office.
The scenes emerging of a London-bound plane carrying many British nationals crashing in the Indian city of Ahmedabad are devastating. I am being kept updated as the situation develops, and my thoughts are with the passengers and their families at this deeply distressing time.
