Louise Shackleton has spoken publicly for the first time since her husband's death in December, as parliament prepares to vote again on legislation to introduce assisted dying in England and Wales. Mrs Shackleton surrendered herself to police after returning from Switzerland having seen her husband Anthony die. He had been suffering with motor neurone disease for six years. "I have committed a crime, which I have admitted to, of assisting him by simply pushing him on to a plane and being with him, which I don't regret for one moment. He was my husband and I loved him," she said. "We talked at length over two years about this. What he said to me on many occasions is 'look at my options, look at what my options are. I can either go there and I can die peacefully, with grace, without pain, without suffering or I could be laid in a bed not being able to move, not even being able to look at anything unless you move my head'. "He didn't have options. What he wanted was nothing more than a good death." The law in the UK prohibits people from assisting in the suicide of others, but prosecutions have been rare. In a statement, a North Yorkshire Police spokesman told Sky News: "The investigation is ongoing. There is nothing further to add at this stage." The next vote on the assisted dying bill for England and Wales has been delayed by three weeks to give MPs time to consider amendments. The legislation would permit a person who is terminally ill with less than six months to live to legally end their life after approval by two doctors and an expert panel. 'He was at total peace with his decision' Mrs Shackleton says she saw her husband "physically and mentally" relax once on the flight to Switzerland. She said: "We had the most wonderful four days. "He was laughing. He was at total peace with his decision. "It was in those four days that I realised that he wanted the peaceful death more than he wanted to suffer and stay with me, which was hard, but that's how resolute he was in having this peace. "I was his wife, we'd been together 25 years, we'd known each other since we were 18. I couldn't do anything else but help him." 'We need to safeguard people' She said the hardest part of the journey came after her husband's death. "There was this panic and this fear that I was leaving him," she said. "That was a horrific experience. "If the law had changed in this country, I would have been with family, family would have been with us, family would've been with him. But as it was, that couldn't happen." Opponents to the assisted dying bill have raised concerns about the safety of vulnerable people and the risk of coercion and a change in attitudes toward the elderly, seriously ill and disabled. They say improvements to palliative care should be a priority. "I think that we need to safeguard people," said Mrs Shackleton. "I think that sometimes we need to suffer other people's choices, and when I mean suffer I mean we have to acknowledge that whilst we're not comfortable with those, that we need to respect other people, other people wishes." Read more:Assisted dying: What is in the legislation?Debate over assisted dying delayed Anthony, who died aged 59, was a furniture restorer who had earned worldwide recognition for making rocking horses. "I think the measure of the man is that nobody has ever said a bad word about him in the whole of his life because he was just so caring and giving," his widow said. 'This is about a dying person's choice' She said she had chosen to speak publicly because of a promise she had made him. "I felt that my husband's journey shouldn't be in vain. We discussed this on our last day and my husband made me promise to tell his story. "He told me to fight and the simple thing that I'm fighting for is people to have the choice. "This is about a dying person's choice to either follow their journey through with disease or to die peacefully when they want to, on their terms, and have a good death. It's that simple."

Chris Van Hollen arrived in El Salvador on Wednesday to speak to the country's leaders about Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was removed from the US by the Trump administration in March despite an immigration court order preventing his deportation. Washington acknowledged Mr Garcia was deported due to an "administrative error". The US Supreme Court has called on the administration to facilitate his return, upholding a court order by Judge Paula Xinis, but Trump officials have claimed Mr Garcia has ties to the MS-13 gang. Mr Garcia's lawyers have argued there is no evidence of this. Speaking about Mr Van Hollen's trip to El Salvador, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said the Democrats "still refuse to accept the will of the American people". She alleged Mr Garcia was an "illegal alien MS-13 terrorist" and claimed his wife petitioned for court protection against him after alleged incidents of domestic violence. After outlining the allegations against Mr Garcia, she went on: "All of that is not enough to stop the Democrat Party from their lies. "The number one issue they are focused on right now is bringing back this illegal alien terrorist to America. "It's appalling and sad that Senator Van Hollen and the Democrats are plotting his trip to El Salvador today, are incapable of having any shred of common sense or empathy for their own constituents and our citizens." After making a statement, Ms Leavitt introduced Patty Morin, who described graphic details of her daughter's murder by an immigrant from El Salvador. 👉 Follow Trump 100 on your podcast app 👈 Rachel Morin was raped and murdered by Victor Martinez-Hernandez along a popular hiking trail northeast of Baltimore. Afterwards, Ms Leavitt left without taking any questions from reporters. Senator travels to El Salvador Mr Van Hollen met with the El Salvador vice president during his trip to the Central American country. But he did not meet with President Nayib Bukele, who publicly met with Donald Trump in the Oval Office this week, nor did he meet Mr Garcia himself. In a post on X, he said he would continue to fight for Mr Garcia's return. During Mr Bukele's trip to the White House earlier this week, he said he would not return Mr Garcia, likening it to smuggling "a terrorist into the United States". Along with Mr Garcia, the Trump administration has deported hundreds of people, mostly Venezuelans, who it claims are gang members without presenting evidence and without a trial. Judge's contempt warning It comes hours after a US federal judge warned that he could hold the Trump administration in criminal contempt for violating his orders to turn around planes carrying deportees to El Salvador. The comments are an escalation in a row which began last month when US district judge James E Boasberg issued an order temporarily blocking the deportations. However, lawyers told him there were already two planes with immigrants in the air - one headed for El Salvador, the other for Honduras. Mr Boasberg verbally ordered the planes to be turned around, but the directive was not included in his written order. The Trump administration then denied refusing to comply. Charges could be brought forward by the Justice Department, NBC News, Sky's US partner network, reported. Read more from Sky News:Arsenal reach Champions League semi-finalWhat you can't now bring into Britain from EU under new rulesWoman arrested after 93-year-old found dead However, that could create an uncomfortable situation for the department, which is headed by the attorney general - a position appointed by the president. If the executive-led Justice Department refused to prosecute the matter, Judge Boasberg said he would appoint another attorney to prosecute the contempt. The judge wrote: "The Constitution does not tolerate wilful disobedience of judicial orders - especially by officials of a coordinate branch who have sworn an oath to uphold it." He gave the government a 23 April deadline. White House director of communications Steven Cheung said the administration would seek "immediate appellate relief" - a review of a decision within a lower court before the case has been resolved.

Relations between Europe and America are lousy. President Donald Trump didn't just impose tariffs on the European Union, but he referred to it as "pathetic" and claimed, without facts, that it had only been created to thwart America. On defence, Europeans believe his commitment to NATO is now lukewarm, and many seethe at the way he has gone behind their backs to open talks with Russia about the future of Ukraine. Across the continent, there is an uneasy feeling that Washington is now closer to Moscow than Brussels. And into all of this walks Meloni - the only world leader to attend Trump's inauguration earlier this year and a committed believer in strong ties across the Atlantic. On the surface, the two leaders are kindred spirits - right-wing populists who thrive on anti-migration sentiment and hark back to the allegedly forgotten greatness of their countries. Meloni, though, is more flexible - where Trump pushes on regardless, Meloni reads a room and reacts. She travels with the blessing of Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, who is ultimately in charge of framing any future trade deal on behalf of Brussels. Meloni may try to ease the tensions caused by tariffs, but she won't be able to agree a new deal. And while Washington would love to strike individual deals with EU countries, to weaken EU unity, Meloni is unlikely to play that game. But expect Trump to push her hard. Italy has a huge trade surplus with the United States thanks to America's desire for Italian food and its love of the nation's luxury goods, and Italy's reluctance to buy anything like the same amount of American goods. Meloni will find herself under pressure to spend money on buying more American gas in return for all that Prada, Gucci and Parma ham going the other way. But - and there is always a but - other European nations will be watching her tactics, nervous that Meloni might end up doing deals that work for her, but not for the union. Trump's tariffs have increased tensions. Read more:US markets fall as AI chipmakers mourn restrictionsKidnapped US pastor rescued in South Africa "We know we are in a difficult moment," Meloni said this week. "Most certainly, I am well aware of what I represent and what I am defending." The two leaders will talk about defence and about Trump's long-standing demand that European nations should spend more. On that one, at least, Meloni may find herself on the back foot - Italy spends about 1.5% of GDP on its military - way, way below the level that America believes is appropriate. On Ukraine, Meloni - unlike some others in her wobbly coalition - has long supported Kyiv against Moscow, but her previous assertions that Ukraine could win have now been eased. She is more equivocal than Emmanuel Macron, for instance, about whether Europe can achieve anything meaningful without American military support, and few Italians think their troops should be involved in any future peacekeeping mission.

Police were called to the Roosevelt Elementary School teacher Elizabeth Hill-Brodigan's address, where youths were drinking, in Cocoa Beach on 19 January, according to Sky News' partner network NBC. Body camera footage shows Karly Anderson, who was then a third-grade teacher at the same school, appearing to slur her words as she talks to an officer about the party. "There was, like, 200 kids here, drinking," the officer says, before Anderson says: "I've already known." Anderson denies being drunk after the officer says he can "smell it" and at one point he says: "You're here with your boss, having a party with 200 kids who are drinking! Get out of my face!" Police said there were around 100 juveniles at the party with one teenager on the front lawn so drunk he needed treatment. Hill-Brodigan has been charged with one count of child neglect, five counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and one count of holding an open house party, according to the state attorney's office. Anderson has been charged with one count of disorderly conduct and one count of disorderly intoxication. Read more from Sky News:Appeal after Israeli men cleared of gang raping British touristBuffy star died as a result of complications from diabetes State Attorney William Scheiner said: "Florida's laws dealing with open house parties and underage drinking are meant to keep our young people and communities safe. "These laws are in place to deter the conduct that exposes our youth to harm and gives rise to these criminal charges. "When laws are violated, the state attorney's office stands with law enforcement, the school board and the community we serve to hold the offenders accountable and ensure the safety of our youth." Both were also suspended from their jobs after the incident. A lawyer representing Anderson told NBC's affiliate WESH of Orlando she had nothing to do with the party and had returned to Hill-Brodigan's home after dinner to find students leaving.

In a bizarre video posted on Telegram by a pro-Russian journalist from Ukraine, the Hollywood action hero, 64, said he would be "honoured" to take on such a role. Addressing the Kremlin leader directly, he said: "We want to come to Russia. We'll try to do this the way you want to do this - to be an ambassador of peace." It would not be the first time the man nicknamed "The Muscles from Brussels" has visited Russia. In 2010, he enjoyed ringside seats alongside Putin at a mixed martial arts event in Sochi. The Belgian-born former bodybuilder shares a love of fighting with the Russian president, who is himself a judo black belt, and they are said to have known each other for years. Tiptoeing around the topic of Russia's war in Ukraine and its ongoing stand-off with the West, Van Damme promised to talk "only about peace, sport and happiness" and not politics, before signing off the video with a "big kiss for Putin". Most celebrities have turned their back on Vladimir Putin since he launched his invasion in February 2022 but a handful continue to defend him. Of those, American actor Steven Seagal is the most high profile. The Under Siege star, who holds a Russian passport and is a frequent visitor to the country, acts as Moscow's special representative for Russian-US humanitarian ties. But when we caught up with him at Putin's latest presidential inauguration last year, he refused to say why he supports the Kremlin leader...

On Wednesday, judges at the UK's highest court unanimously ruled that the definition of a "woman" and "sex" in the Equality Act 2010 refers to "a biological woman and biological sex". Baroness Kishwer Falkner, chair of the UK's Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), said the ruling was "enormously consequential" and ensured clarity. Politics latest: Supreme Court ruling should 'draw a line' under debate She vowed to pursue organisations that do not update their policies, saying they should be "taking care" to look at the "very readable judgment". On single-sex hospital wards, Baroness Falkner told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the NHS will "have to change" their 2019 policy, which says transgender patients are entitled to be accommodated on single-sex wards matching how they identify. She said the court ruling means there is now "no confusion" and the NHS "can start to implement the new legal reasoning and produce their exceptions forthwith". Women's sport and changing rooms The baroness also said trans women can no longer take part in women's sport, while single-sex places, such as changing rooms, "must be based on biological sex". However, she said there is no law against organisations providing a "third space", such as unisex toilets, and suggested trans rights organisations "should be using their powers of advocacy to ask for those third spaces". In 2021, Baroness Falkner came under criticism from trans and other LGBTIQ+ organisations after she said women had the right to question transgender identity without fear of abuse, stigmatisation or loss of employment. Some EHRC staff resigned in protest of the body's "descent into transphobia", while others defended her, saying she was depoliticising the organisation. Her four-year term was extended for a further 12 months in November by the Labour government. Public bodies must look at equality laws Health minister Karin Smyth said public bodies have been told to look at how equality laws are implemented following the ruling. She told Anna Jones on Sky News Breakfast: "Obviously, public bodies have been asked to look at their own guidance. "And we will do that very, very carefully." She said the court's ruling was "very clear" about women's rights being defined by sex, which she said "will give clarity to companies". But she warned against public bodies making statements "that may alarm people", telling them to take their time to look at their guidance. The ruling marked the culmination of a long battle between campaign group For Women Scotland and the Scottish government after the group brought a case arguing sex-based protections should only apply to people born female. Read more:Feminists 'feel braver about speaking out' Not a triumph of one group over another Judge Lord Hodge said the ruling should not be read as "a triumph of one or more groups in our society at the expense of another". He said the Equality Act 2010 "gives transgender people protection, not only against discrimination through the protected characteristic of gender reassignment, but also against direct discrimination, indirect discrimination and harassment in substance in their acquired gender". Ms Smyth said those who identify as transgender "will feel concerned" after the ruling but said the Gender Recognition Act still stands and gives people who identify differently to the sex they were born in "the dignity and privacy of presenting differently". She said NHS policy of having same sex wards remains, but did not mention the 2019 transgender policy, and said the NHS has been looking at how to support both transgender men and women. Scotland's First Minister John Swinney said the Scottish government "accepts" the judgment and said the ruling "gives clarity". Trina Budge, director of For Women Scotland, said it was a "victory for women's rights" and said the case was "never about trans rights" as transgender people are "fully protected in law". "It means there's absolute clarity in law regarding what a woman is. We know for sure now that we are referring to the biological sex class of women," she told Sky News. "And that when we see a women-only space, it means exactly that. Just women. No men. Not even if they have a gender recognition certificate." Transgender woman and Scottish Greens activist Ellie Gomersall said the ruling "represents yet another attack on the rights of trans people to live our lives in peace". Scottish Greens MSP Maggie Chapman added: "This is a deeply concerning ruling for human rights and a huge blow to some of the most marginalised people in our society." LGBT charity Stonewall said there was "deep concern" around the consequences of the ruling.

Using the James Webb Space Telescope, scientists found traces of two gases - dimethyl sulfide (DMS) and dimethyl disulfide (DMDS) - on a planet named K2-18b. On Earth, those gases are generated primarily by living organisms including algae, suggesting K2-18b could be teeming with microbial life. Researchers have stressed the findings are not an announcement of the discovery of actual living organisms, but rather an indicator of a biological process. K2-18b, located about 124 light-years from Earth in the constellation Leo, is 8.6 times as massive as Earth and has a diameter about 2.6 times as large as our planet. It orbits in the "habitable zone" - a distance where liquid water, a key ingredient for life, can exist on a planetary surface. Nikku Madhusudhan of the University of Cambridge's Institute of Astronomy, said it was a "transformational moment in the search for life beyond the solar system". "We have entered the era of observational astrobiology," Professor Madhusudhan said. Earlier observations by Webb, which was launched in 2021 and became operational in 2022, had identified methane and carbon dioxide in K2-18b's atmosphere, the first time that carbon-based molecules were discovered in the atmosphere of an exoplanet in a star's habitable zone. "The only scenario that currently explains all the data obtained so far from JWST (James Webb Space Telescope), including the past and present observations, is one where K2-18b is a hycean world teeming with life," Professor Madhusudhan said. Read more from Sky News:Northern Lights could be visible above UK tonightWhy are Birmingham bin workers striking and could it spread? Other scientists not involved in the study urged caution. "The rich data from K2-18b make it a tantalising world," said Christopher Glein, principal scientist at the Space Science Division of the Southwest Research Institute in Texas. "These latest data are a valuable contribution to our understanding. "Yet, we must be very careful to test the data as thoroughly as possible. I look forward to seeing additional, independent work on the data analysis starting as soon as next week."

The Met Police officers were wearing expensive clothes and accessories as a tactic to trap thieves in the upmarket area of London on 10 October last year. Yakob Harket, who had at least one accomplice, is seen following the pair before trying to steal a replica Patek Philippe Rose Gold watch from the female officer's wrist in Hayes Mews at around 6.15pm. The male officer is then seen grabbing Harket as he tries to run away before a second male officer, wearing a suit, runs over in an effort to help apprehend the suspect. The second officer slips over and Harket manages to get away before being arrested shortly after. The footage also shows two other men being arrested by plain-clothed officers in relation to the theft. Harket, 21, of no fixed address, later pleaded guilty to robbery. His accomplice, Mohamed Naas, 34, from Southwark, was found guilty of robbery at Southwark Crown Court on Friday 11 April. They will be sentenced at the same court on 2 June. Police are trying to locate two other men who failed to attend court after they were charged in relation to the same incident. They are Yanis Amri, 37, last known to be living in Camden, and Adel Mohamdi, 35, last known to be living in Lewisham. Read more:Moment police tackle phone thief operating in central LondonMan convicted over £1.38m robbery of high-value watchesIndia's elite feel unsafe in London due to expensive watch muggings A Met Police spokesperson said: "Tackling violent crime is one of the Met's priorities and we are determined to reduce the number of robberies. "Uniform and plain clothes officers proactively patrol robbery hotspots to identify offences taking place, but more importantly to help prevent and deter offenders from committing robberies in the first place." Undercover Met Police officers have been wearing luxury watches to catch robbers red-handed for at least a year - with the force revealing the tactic for the first time in January 2024. Footage released by the force showed unwitting thieves being tasered, rugby-tackled and wrestled to the ground in Soho after trying to rip high-value timepieces from the wrists of plain-clothed officers. It came after 300 watches worth around £4m were stolen across three boroughs in the capital between April and September 2022. Investigators pinpointed "hotspots" in South Kensington, Chelsea, Soho and Mayfair where criminals were targeting victims - 98% of whom are men - as they left bars and nightclubs on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights between 11pm and 4am.

The loss of power affected the main international airport, several hospitals and hotels filled with Easter holidaymakers. The blackout also worsened traffic, forced hundreds of businesses to close and left those unable to afford generators scrambling to buy ice and candles. It was not immediately clear what caused the shutdown. The outage hit shortly after noon local time (5pm UK time) on Wednesday and left 1.4 million customers without electricity and 328,000 without water. Crews have been working to restore electricity and at least 175,000 customers, or 12%, had power back at the end of Wednesday. Luma Energy, which provides power to the whole of Puerto Rico, said in a post on X that power had been restored for around 609,711 customers - representing 41.5% of its total customer base - as of 7am local time (12pm UK time). Meanwhile, officials expect 90% of customers to have power back within 48 to 72 hours of the outage. The outage marks the second island-wide blackout to hit Puerto Rico in less than four months, with the previous one occurring on New Year's Eve. The roar of generators and smell of fumes filled the air as a growing number of Puerto Ricans renewed calls for the government to cancel its contracts with Luma Energy and Genera PR, which oversees the generation of power on the island. Jenniffer Gonzalez, the governor of Puerto Rico, promised to heed those calls. Ms Gonzalez, who cut her holiday short and returned to Puerto Rico following Wednesday's blackout, said: "That is not under doubt or question... It is unacceptable that we have failures of this kind." Read more world news:Israeli strike 'kills family of 10'Senior Chinese underworld figure shot dead in RomeWhy Trump is leveraging story of murdered woman Ms Gonzalez said a major outage like the one that occurred on Wednesday leads to an estimated daily revenue loss of $230m (£174m). Ramon C Barquín III, president of the United Retail Center, a non-profit organisation that represents small and medium-sized businesses, warned that ongoing outages would spook potential investors at a time that Puerto Rico urgently needs economic development. "We cannot continue to repeat this cycle of blackouts without taking concrete measures to strengthen our energy infrastructure," he said. Many were concerned about Puerto Rico's elderly population, with the mayor of the town of Canovanas deploying brigades to visit the bedridden and those who depend on electronic medical equipment. Meanwhile, the mayor of Vega Alta municipality opened a centre to provide power to those with lifesaving medical equipment. Daniel Hernandez, vice president of operations at Genera PR, said on Wednesday that a disturbance hit the transmission system shortly after noon, a time when the grid is vulnerable because there are few machines regulating frequency at that hour. Puerto Rico has struggled with chronic outages since September 2017 when Hurricane Maria pummelled the island as a powerful Category 4 storm, razing a power grid that crews are still struggling to rebuild.The grid had already been deteriorating as a result of decades of a lack of maintenance and investment.

Officers in the Italian capital suspect the killing of Zhang Dayong and his companion Gong Xiaoqing is part of the long-running so-called "Coat Hanger Wars" within Italy's Chinese criminal networks. The turf war is a violent struggle between Chinese criminal factions originally centered in the northern city of Prato, close to Florence, for the lucrative fashion logistics market. Dayong, 53, also known as "Asheng," was found dead alongside Xiaoqing, 38, outside their home in the eastern Rome neighbourhood of Pigneto on Monday. The couple allegedly had ties to China's infamous "Triad" gangs, CNN reports, citing an Italian law enforcement agency. They were reportedly shot in the back of their heads while riding bicycles by unidentified assailants on a motorcycle. Read more from Sky News:Scientists find strongest evidence yet of extraterrestrial lifeIsraeli troops will remain in 'security zones' in GazaTrade war dominates first Canada election debate Dayong was involved in managing underground gambling, loan-sharking and enforcement operations in Rome, according to prosecutors. Investigators said he worked for Naizhong Zhang, who is on trial in Florence following an investigation into accusations he co-ordinated illegal operations across Italy, France, Germany, and Spain. Zhang had garnered a near-monopoly in distribution of goods across much of Europe through threats and violence against Chinese company owners, anti-mafia prosecutors said.