STAR TV

According to the PM's new senior assistant, the government will take a "step back" from people's lives and pursue "a smaller state." While public health efforts and large sums of money spent on the pandemic were the appropriate judgments, Steve Barclay told the Sunday Telegraph that it was time for "a more enabling approach." Mr. Barclay, a cabinet minister, was appointed as the PM's new chief of staff last week. On a visit of regions of the UK this week, No. 10 says the prime minister will focus on domestic affairs. It comes as Boris Johnson's leadership continues to be criticized and questioned by several Conservative MPs. Mr Barclay's appointment as chief of staff was part of a shake-up at No 10 following civil servant Sue Gray's initial report into Downing Street lockdown parties, as well as the ongoing police inquiry into the events. Mr. Barclay says in his first public comments since then: "The restoration of a smaller st

According to The Associated Press, Biden and Vladimir Putin spoke by phone on Saturday in what could be a last-ditch effort to avert a Russian invasion of Ukraine. Putin attempted to schedule the call for Monday, but Biden insisted that it happen as soon as possible on Friday. During the call, Biden was at Camp David. According to The New York Post, Biden and Putin spoke directly for the first time since December on Saturday. Negotiations between US and Russian diplomats in Geneva and at the United Nations have yielded little to no progress in defusing the crisis, and Russia has massed 130,000 troops on Ukraine's border. According to US intelligence sources, Putin may have already given the order to invade. The State Department has recommended all American citizens to leave Ukraine while they still have the opportunity. Putin spoke with French President Emmanuel Macron before the call, and the two met in Moscow on Monday. After the meeting on Monday, Macron told reporters that he h