Feedback from participants in the talks aimed at ending the war in Ukraine are “extremely positive”, Ireland’s foreign affairs minister has said.

The Chancellor will hike taxes to fill a black hole in the public finances as she faces the prospect of a downgrade in the Budget watchdog’s economic growth forecast for every year of this Parliament.

Sudan’s top general has rejected a ceasefire proposal by US-led mediators as “the worst yet”, in a blow to efforts to stop a devastating war that has gripped the African country for more than 30 ...