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At least 11 states have enacted 13 restrictive voting laws this year, according to a new analysis from the liberal-leaning Brennan Center for Justice at New York University's law school.

Bank of America Corp. returned to the green bond market last week, ending a seven-month issuance drought for

Pakistan’s coastal areas are bracing for a second climate-induced emergency in a year, with thousands of people being

While all eyes were on Donald Trump’s arraignment on federal charges of mishandling top secret material at a Miami courthouse on Tuesday, a personal aide who was virtually unknown just days ago sat beside him in the dock. Walt Nauta, 40, is charged alongside his longtime boss and alleged co-conspirator with helping to conceal some of the nation’s most sensitive documents from federal investigators. He was arrested, fingerprinted, and unlike Mr Trump, had his mugshot taken ahead of the arraignment. Mr Nauta did not enter a plea to six charges during the brief appearance, including conspiracy to obstruct justice, corruptly concealing a document or record and making false statement. This was apparently due to him not having an attorney who was sanctioned to enter a plea for him in Florida. Mr Nauta became a trusted figure within Trump’s inner circle during seven years of service, stretching from the beginning of his presidency until the present day. According to an indictment unsealed on Friday, he allegedly moved boxes containing classified material from the White House to the ex-president’s Florida home and then lied about it to investigators. Beyond Mr Trump’s orbit, Mr Nauta’s name was known only to a few seasoned political observers and until a few days ago. He now finds himself in the centre of the most high profile criminal investigation in the country, his fate likely resting in the hands of a man who has shown little loyalty to associates who find themselves in legal jeopardy. Who is Walt Nauta? Waltine Torre Nauta, 40, was born in the US territory of Guam in the Western Pacific, and grew up one of six siblings in the small village of Agat, according to the Washington Post. Most of the inhabitants of Agat are Chamorros, the indigenous population of Guam, and a large US naval base is near by. He enlisted in the US Navy in 2001, where he worked primarily as a cook. From 2012 to 2021, Mr Nauta served in the Presidential Food Service in Washington DC, according to his service record. The unsealed indictment listed him as a “valet”, and he’s also been described as Mr Trump’s “body man”, an assistant who follows a political leader around the clock carrying out whatever tasks he may need. In Mr Trump’s case, this would reportedly involve bringing him Diet Cokes on a silver platter when he pressed the presidential call button on the Resolute desk in the Oval Office. Mr Nauta was also constantly by his boss’s side during domestic and foreign trips. When Mr Trump’s term ended in disgrace after the January 6th riots, Mr Nauta was one of the few White House staff members who followed his boss to Mar-a-Lago. He would travel with the former president to his private Bedminster golf club in New Jersey, and to campaign rallies and press conferences. Mr Nauta reportedly earned a salary of $135,000 for his labours. ‘Key witness’ Mr Nauta earned a reputation as someone who could stay out of the bitter fights between Trump staffers, according to a Washington Post article in March that identified him as a “key witness” in the classified documents probe. It was only when the Justice Department unsealed a 49-page indictment last Friday, that the extent of his alleged involvement in concealing the documents became apparent. Mr Nauta is alleged to have helped a maintenance worker move boxes of classified materials from Mar-a-Lago after a subpoena had been issued, and prior to an FBI raid last August. Mr Nauta initially denied knowledge of classified materials being kept at Mar-a-Lago when questioned by investigators. However after surveillance footage seized by the FBI apparently contradicted his account, Mr Nauta reportedly admitted in a second interview that he had moved boxes at Mr Trump’s direction. He later stopped cooperating with investigators, according to CNN. In an interview in March with the Post, his aunt Elly Nauta said he had kept his immediate family informed about the Justice Department investigation. “He told his mom there’s nothing to worry about. He didn’t do anything wrong. All he was instructed was to put the boxes where they were supposed to go,” his aunt told the Post. The few pictures that exist of the pair together appear to show a natural rapport between the two men. In images captured in March, Mr Nauta was seen disembarking from the former president’s private plane and into a black Suburban carrying papers and a black bag. Two months later, the soft spoken aide was pictured adjusting the ex-president’s collar at an LIV Golf Pro-Am golf tournament at the Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia. ‘A wonderful man’ Mr Trump’s attorneys, accountants, aides and family members have found themselves entangled in the estimated 4,000 investigations he’s been embroiled in over the course of his business and political career. Longtime fixer Michael Cohen was sentenced to three years in federal prison for helping to arrange hush money payments in the lead up to the 2016 election. Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization’s former chief financial officer, served three months in Riker’s Island after he pled guilty to accepting $1.7m in untaxed compensation. And three of Mr Trump’s children have been jointly accused alongside him in a $250m lawsuit of perpetrating what some observers dubbed “the art of the steal” through a litany of fraudulent business practices by the New York Attorney General’s office. In a Truth Social post on Friday, Mr Trump criticised what he called the “‘Thugs’ from the Department of Injustice” for indicting a “wonderful man”. He described Mr Nauta as a member of the US Navy, “who served proudly with me in the White House, retired as Senior Chief, and then transitioned into private life as a personal aide”. Mr Trump said that federal investigators were “trying to destroy his life”. Early on in the criminal process, Mr Nauta appears to be unmoved in his support for Mr Trump. According to the Post, his legal fees are being covered by the Trump-aligned Save America PAC. Because he did not have legal counsel in Florida at the time of the arraignment, he was unable to enter a plea and must do so at a later date. Several of the charges he is facing carry maximum sentences of 20 years in prison. Read More Trump indictment – live: Trump claims boxes of classified papers actually held clothes in post-arrest speech Mike Pence has sudden change of heart over Trump classified documents: ‘I can’t defend it’ Desperate deflections, revenge plans – and a supplicant Fox News: What we learned from Trump speech Ivanka and Jared split over attending Trump 2024 launch – follow live Why was Donald Trump impeached twice during his first term? Four big lies Trump told during his 2024 presidential announcement

When he announced his campaign for president in February, it may have been easy to dismiss Vivek Ramaswamy’s unlikely candidacy as a vanity bid put on by a rich man looking to raise his profile, position himself for a Cabinet slot or build a mailing list for a future run for a less-prestigious office. Many of the GOP insiders The Independent spoke to before heading to New Hampshire to cover Ramaswamy had kind things to say about his anti-woke, anti-Environmental, Social and Governance crusading, but were reluctant to say he was more than another rich guy cosplaying as a political candidate. While he does fit that mould, upon a cursory examination, it’s much harder to dismiss Ramaswamy once you see him campaign. One of his first major appearances as a political candidate — a speech at the 2023 Conservative Political Action Conference at a Prince George’s County, Maryland convention centre — demonstrated his undeniable political oratory skills. He had announced his presidential campaign only a week or so earlier, and was given a mid-afternoon speaking slot commensurate with his status as a newcomer who’d never before held office. The first-time candidate used his 15 minutes on the CPAC stage to work the relatively paltry crowd into a frenzy, garnering rounds of applause as loud and enthusiastic those observed for far more popular figures in the conservative political-media universe. He threw out red meat zingers about dismantling the FBI and ending affirmative action on “day one” of his administration, but he also talked about the “national unity” Republicans could achieve by winning such an overwhelming landslide in next year’s election that they could run roughshod over whatever Democratic rump remained in Congress. The crowd at CPAC lapped it up, and while he hasn’t reached a level of support that would enable him to make a serious challenge to Mr Trump, in recent opinion polls his support has equaled or bettered that of more well-known figures, including former Vice President Mike Pence and ex-New Jersey governor Chris Christie. He trails behind Florida Gov Ron DeSantis, but is hoping to make inroads as the campaign progresses. At least two GOP campaign operatives suggested at different times that his campaign is a manifestation of pro-Trump intraparty sabotage — an operation meant to further split the Republican field to the ex-president’s benefit. He was even asked about this possibility at one of his events. He denied it, of course, and it’s hard to see why he’d go through the trouble of putting together a full campaign team, dumping a seven-figure sum from his own pockets into his campaign’s coffers, and put himself out there just to benefit another candidate — especially one who is known not to return favours or have much loyalty to anyone but himself. There was a time, not long ago, when the idea of a 37-year-old without a day of experience in elected office making a run for the highest office in the land would have been written off as the stuff of delusion — or at best, a pitch for a Saturday Night Live skit. For better or worse, Donald Trump’s ascent from reality television host to the summit of American power seems to have permanently upended the notion that experience and traditional qualifications for office are what voters crave in their chief executive, leading to an influx of wealthy gadflies and other long-shots making their entries into presidential politics in hopes of replicating his unlikely journey. “I don’t think that we all say let’s show up at the 50 yard line, hold hands, compromise, sing Kumbaya, and that’s how we get on with it” Vivek Ramaswamy With an estimated net worth of roughly $630m — gained largely from a string of investments in pharmaceutical and biotechnology startups — Ramaswamy certainly qualifies as uber-wealthy. He has been a fixture on Fox News and other right-wing networks during the Biden era, and he’s made a name for himself as a crusader against all things “woke” through a string of books lambasting efforts to tackle racism and increase diversity in the corporate ranks, as well as “stakeholder capitalism” and the use of ESG criteria by investors and asset managers. His campaign has been prolific in online fundraising, and when the Republican National Committee announced debate participation criteria that requires candidates to garner donations from more than 40,000 individuals, he easily met that threshold. And while he may be caught in Mr Trump’s shadow this time, he clearly possesses some raw political abilities that could serve him well should he choose to remain in electoral politics after this election cycle. At a New Hampshire diner, it was clear that Ramaswamy, whose middle-class upbringing in Ohio gave way to elite education at Harvard University and Yale Law School, knew how to work the room. Both on the stump and in one-on-one conversations, he projects preternatural confidence, rattling off complex answers about his view of how he’d govern as president. He laced his remarks with a far more positive air than the GOP frontrunner, who constantly claims that America without him at the helm is “a nation in decline”. Though he hardly ever mentioned Mr Trump’s name, Ramaswamy took direct aim at the ex-president’s pessimistic outlook on the United States, telling the diner crowd that he doesn’t believe that description has to fit America. Instead, he describes the country he wants to lead as “going through adolescence” with the accompanying crises of self-confidence. “I really think we’re just a little young, actually, as a country, going through our own version of adolescence, figuring out who we’re really going to be when we grow up … You go through adolescence, you go through an identity crisis, you go through self doubt, you lose your confidence. You lose your sense of who you are. But we get to adulthood stronger on the other — I think where we are as a country, I don’t think we have to be in decline. I think we might be in our ascent,” he said. Yet for all his optimism and self-confidence, the first-time candidate also showed signs that he may be in over his head. Ukraine ‘peace’ plan Ramaswamy’s predilection for right-wing rhetorical tropes over a solid command of the facts became further evident when the topic of discussion turned to the reason Ramaswamy’s campaign had invited The Independent to ride along with him in New Hampshire: His plan to end Russia’s war against Ukraine. That conflict, the worst land war on the European continent since the defeat of Nazi Germany, is, according to most experts, one born out of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s arrogance and epic miscalculations of how the West would respond to an all-out effort to topple the pro-western government in Kyiv. While those on the more traditional side of the Republican Party field such as Pence and former South Carolina governor turned UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, have been steadfast supporters of US efforts to bolster Ukraine’s defence forces, Ramaswamy’s more populist instincts have him hewing closer to the side of Trump, who, as the invasion kicked off last year, praised Mr Putin’s aggression as “genius”. The basic premise of his “peace plan” is that the US should somehow force Ukraine to accept massive territorial concessions from Russia, and at the same time induce Russia to exit its longstanding relationship China and make some other concessions in exchange for control of a big chunk of Ukraine and sanctions relief. Ramaswamy claims this plan would cleave in two what he describes as a mutual defence pact between Moscow and Beijing based on a two-decade-old “Treaty of Good-Neighbourliness and Friendly Cooperation” between the two countries and the “no limits” partnership Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping announced early last year. Yet neither the decades-old Sino-Russian agreement nor the five-year extension of it announced by Putin and Xi last year amount to a Nato-style defence agreement in the mould of the North Atlantic Treaty, despite Ramaswamy’s claims to the contrary. He also suggests that in exchange for the sanctions relief and formalised control over Crimea and the Donesks region of Ukraine, Russia would be induced to cease its use of Kaliningrad, a small exclave on the Baltic Sea between Poland and Lithuania, for basing nuclear-capable weapons systems. One Russia expert who spoke to The Independent actually laughed out loud when asked about the topic of Kaliningrad. The expert noted that the city is the home base for Russia’s Baltic Fleet, the country’s only ice-free seaport, and part of the hard-won spoils awarded to the Soviet Union after the Second World War. The longtime foreign policy scholar, who asked not to be identified because they don’t want to get pulled into GOP primary politics, said the mere suggestion that Russia would ever give up Kaliningrad calls into question whether Ramaswamy has thought through his plan or ran it by any actual experts before going public with it. I don’t know the answer to that question Vivek Ramaswamy The Independent followed Ramaswamy over the course of his three morning events. He embodies a particularly Trumpian archetype — a charismatic, telegenic personality with an Ivy League pedigree and raw political talent who, upon closer examination, appears to have bitten off more than he can chew. During a brief interview with a correspondent from CBS News who had come to Concord, New Hampshire, for his second event of the day — a roundtable with New Hampshire legislators — Ramaswamy drew attention to another part of his plan. He told CBS that part of the Western end of the deal would be for the US to announce an end to “any military aid to Ukraine or even former Soviet Union bloc states”. Ending aid to Ukraine puts him firmly in the Trumpian part of the GOP field, but the second part of his statement raised eyebrows for a different reason. In the three decades since the fall of the Soviet Union, the vast majority of former Warsaw Pact countries have elected to become full members of Nato. Ramaswamy’s off-the-cuff remark to CBS went even further than what he’d suggested in prepared remarks, which indicated that he planned to call for Nato to pull back from bases in Eastern Europe that had been built up in the years following Russia’s illegal invasion and annexation of Crimea in 2014. As we left the Concord hotel where his campaign had reserved the room for the legislator roundtable, The Independent asked who had advised him when he was formulating his Ukraine policy. He said “the thesis” of the proposal came “from him,” but he also suggested that there were others involved, but he declined to name any of his foreign policy advisers, citing concerns for their privacy. Back in the SUV and en route to his third morning event, this reporter pointed out to him that he had essentially called for the United States to abandon mutual defence commitments to nations that were members in good standing of Nato. At first, he appeared not to understand the question. When The Independent explained that most of the former Soviet Bloc nations are now part of the 31-member defensive alliance, he attempted to walk back his call for the US to abandon those countries and said he had been “just speaking fast” during his interview. He said that what he meant to say was that the US should stop aid to “former Warsaw Pact countries that are not part of Nato,” even though the only signatory to that defunct treat that has not joined Nato is Russia, the successor to the Soviet Union. The vision he was articulating — a wholesale abandonment of Ukraine as a way to appease Russia and induce Moscow to break from its partnership with China — may not have made complete sense in terms of the details, but it became clear as The Independent followed Ramaswamy throughout the day that his intended audience isn’t foreign policy gurus or detail-obsessed journalists. At every stop, each time he mentioned the idea of giving up support for Ukraine as a wedge against China, he was greeted with applause. War against ‘the administrative state’ Over the course of the day, the Yale Law School graduate repeatedly offered his take on how to address the most Trumpian of boogeymen, a freedom-sucking villain he calls “the administrative state”. For years, Republicans have railed against the very idea of a nonpartisan civil service, staffed by career professionals who, like all federal officials, swear to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States”. In the last days of the Trump administration, the outgoing president even proposed to create a new category of federal employee who could be fired at will and move tens of thousands of career experts, scientists, and anyone with a role that so much as touches policy formulation, into that category so they could be fired and replaced with loyalists. More than one GOP candidate in the 2024 primary has suggested reviving that proposal, known as Schedule F. But Ramaswamy wants to go even further. In almost every public appearance, he says he will “eliminate” the Department of Education and other federal agencies that are viewed as enemies of the conservative movement, including the FBI and much of the rest of the federal intelligence and law enforcement apparatus. One aspect of his plan would be somehow ditching the century-old civil service laws in favour of establishing an eight-year “term limit” for federal employees, a category that could encompass anyone from the National Park Service groundskeeper who cuts the grass at the White House, to the people who process Social Security applications and cut the checks, to the IRS employees who make sure Americans get their tax refunds on time. But to Ramaswamy, they’re “bureaucrats” who need to be reined in from acting as a “fourth branch of government,” even though most federal agencies operate under the supervision of one or more Senate-confirmed appointees who are named by the President himself. In Ramaswamy’s view, only when the US president has unilaterally eliminated the nation’s top law enforcement agency and the agency responsible for writing safety regulations for nuclear power plants can America “stand up with a spine” to “actual threats” on the world stage. Also ripe for a root-and-branch uprooting, he says, is the “managerial class” at the Pentagon, who he blamed for “wokeness” in a military he described as “failing”. When this reporter finally had a chance to ask him about the legal underpinnings of his plans to gut the majority of the federal government, his reply opened up even more chilling possibilities. He first opined that the Supreme Court’s landmark 1984 opinion in Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc — which states that courts should defer to federal agencies’ interpretations of ambiguous federal statutes – was “wrong,” a not uncommon belief among Trump-era conservatives who’d like agencies to have less power to enact regulations they dislike. But he quickly went even further, telling The Independent that the Chevron decision has become “an excuse for sidestepping the nondelegation doctrine” and opining further that Congress “legislate lawmaking authority to an administrative agency”. In essence, what Ramaswamy was saying is that most — if not all — federal programmes and laws enacted since the Supreme Court stopped using nondelegation in 1935, are unconstitutional. Taken at face value, this would mean much of the federal infrastructure we take for granted, including the Federal Reserve, New Deal creations such as Social Security, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Securities and Exchange Commission, would simply vanish if he had his way. When asked if his aim was to “party like it’s 1934” — a reference to the last time the high court struck down a statute using the non-delegation doctrine, he replied: “I do, but maybe even earlier, like 1922”. The Independent pressed him to elaborate further by asking if he was saying that he wants to roll back the entire New Deal — the architecture on which the modern United States was built. He said rolling it back was his “domestic policy priority”. “And more than that, the legacy of it — the Great Society thereafter … set into motion its own metastasis of the administrative state,” he added, referring to the suite of Lyndon Johnson-era programmes including Medicare, Medicaid, and host of other federal initiatives that were enacted as part of Johnson’s War on Poverty. What Ramaswamy was proposing would be the fulfillment of a dream held by Republicans going back nearly a full century, to when the Supreme Court’s “switch in time that saved nine” stopped getting in the way of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s economic programmes. Trump, who spent much of his presidency railing against the “deep state” and trying to expand the limits of executive power far beyond what had ever been considered, had made an attempt to downsize the government through consolidating a few executive departments and eliminating the Office of Personnel Management — the independent agency charged with overseeing the civil service. But even Trump knew he had to do these things lawfully. His GOP allies in Congress introduced legislation to carry out the executive branch reorganisation he desired. It went nowhere, thanks to resistance from members of both parties in the House and Senate. Perhaps with that failure in mind, Ramaswamy wants to go further. In his view, the problem starts when Congress writes the federal budget each year. At multiple points during the day, he told Granite State residents how the “administrative state” somehow brought about a fiction that when Congress appropriates funds, these funds have to be spent. He also said he’d force departments to run their annual budget requests through the White House — perhaps not knowing that the budget request process has for decades been run through the White House, by way of the Office of Management and Budget, which is part of the Executive Office of the President. In his hypothetical administration, all this could be solved by changing the word “shall” in budget bills to “may,” leaving the choice of whether to spend any money to run entire departments up to him, and him alone. Barring that, he claimed that long-expired reorganisation powers last granted to Ronald Reagan could be revived somehow through executive fiat, and he said firing the entirety of the Department of Education could be done without running afoul of civil service laws if he only were able to eliminate agencies by decree — with the support of a 6-3 GOP-appointed Supreme Court. The Independent asked him if he was explicitly stating that the court would give him the power to nullify entire swaths of the United States Code laying out the structure of the Executive Departments — whole swaths of the government with histories dating back to the Washington Administration. After a long pause, for the first time that day, this reporter saw something previously unseen creep into view on Ramaswamy’s face: Doubt. “I don’t know the answer to that question,” he said.

Women and men who experience migraines have an increased risk of having the most common type of stroke, research has suggested. Additionally, women alone may carry a further risk of heart attack and haemorrhagic stroke (bleeding in or around the brain). People diagnosed with migraine are believed to have a higher risk of experiencing a heart attack or stroke before the age of 60. Migraine was associated with a similarly increased risk of ischemic stroke among young men and women Cecilia Hvitfeldt Fuglsang, Aarhus University Previous research had suggested the increased risk of ischemic stroke – when a blood clot blocks a blood vessel to the brain – mostly affects young women. However, it was unclear whether women with migraine also carry a higher risk of heart attack and haemorrhagic stroke compared to men. Cecilia Hvitfeldt Fuglsang, of Aarhus University, Denmark, and her team looked at Danish medical records collected from 1996 to 2018, from people aged 18 to 60. They identified men and women with a history of migraines and compared their risk of a heart attack and ischemic and haemorrhagic stroke before the age of 60 to the risks faced by people in the general population without migraine. Hvitfeldt Fuglsang said: “Migraine was associated with a similarly increased risk of ischemic stroke among young men and women. “However, migraine may be associated with an increased risk of myocardial infarction and haemorrhagic stroke only among women.” The findings suggest both men and women with migraine had a similarly increased risk of ischemic stroke. However, women with migraine may also carry a slightly higher risk of heart attack and haemorrhagic stroke, compared to men with migraine and the general population. Women are more greatly impacted by migraine, especially since the condition is predominantly diagnosed in women, the researchers suggest. The researchers point out that since they used prescription drug records to identify patients with migraine, they may have missed untreated people, which could have resulted in an underestimation of the contribution of migraine to these health problems. The findings are published in the Plos Medicine journal. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Less than half of children ‘have received a meaningful financial education’ Harry Potter star Miriam Margolyes makes British Vogue cover debut aged 82 Toff: Drinking mindfully is a gift to yourself

Less than half (47%) of children and teenagers aged seven to 17 have received a meaningful financial education, according to a Government-backed body. The Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) estimates from its findings that around 5.4 million children across the UK do not have the money skills they will need in adulthood. Children living in social housing, rural areas and in lower income households were found to be less likely to have received a meaningful financial education. And children with parents or carers with mental health conditions tend to be less likely to have received a meaningful financial education than the UK average, the findings indicate. The measure of meaningful financial education is based on the percentages of young people who recall receiving financial education at school that they considered useful, and/or received regular money from parents or work, with parents setting rules about money and handing over responsibility for some spending decisions. Research was conducted for MaPS between late summer and autumn 2022 across the UK by Critical Research, among more than 4,700 children and young people aged seven to 17 and their parents or carers. The proportion of children and teenagers found to have received a meaningful financial education is similar to 2019, when the figure was 48%. The report said: “When interpreting these results, it is worth remembering the disruption to education and normal life caused by the Covid-19 pandemic potentially limited opportunities for children to receive a meaningful financial education at school and/or home over the last three years. According to the latest findings, a third (33%) of children recall learning about money in school and finding it useful, and nearly a quarter (24%) have received key elements of financial education at home. It is worth remembering the disruption to education and normal life caused by the Covid-19 pandemic Money and Pensions Service report Only 10% reported having both, suggesting that children and young people tend to receive meaningful financial education either at home or at school and not as “joined-up” financial education, the report said. Younger children aged seven to 11 continue to be less likely to have received a meaningful financial education than older children aged 16 to 17, according to the report. Children in Scotland are the most likely (52%) to have received a meaningful financial education, the report indicated, followed by those in Wales (51%), England (46%) and Northern Ireland (43%). Those in Wales (79%) are more likely than those living in the UK (71%)as a whole to receive regular money from parents/carers or work, according to the research. As part of its UK strategy for financial wellbeing, released in 2020, MaPS is aiming for two million more children aged five to 17 to receive a meaningful financial education by 2030. It is urging parents to talk to their children about money and combine it with everyday experiences, such as food shopping, budgeting and wages from a part-time job. Our experiences in childhood prepare us for adulthood and learning about money is no different Sarah Porretta, Money and Pensions Service To help with this, MaPS offers free resources such as “talk learn do“, an online tool that helps parents to start the conversation. The MaPS, which is sponsored by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and funded by levies on the financial services industry and pension schemes, added that teachers, school leaders and governors should work together to deliver financial education in classrooms. It is also calling on financial services and funders such as charitable trusts to increase their investment in the delivery of financial education. Sarah Porretta, executive director at MaPS said: “These figures will alarm everyone in financial education because more than five million children could be going without. “Our experiences in childhood prepare us for adulthood and learning about money is no different. It becomes a part of daily life and our financial decisions can bring real benefits and profound consequences, so it’s crucial to learn from a young age. “The race is on to educate the nation’s children and everyone, from banks and building societies to foundations and financial institutions, has a big part to play. “Parents and schools can also make a huge difference by combining money skills with everyday experiences, both inside and outside the classroom.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Harry Potter star Miriam Margolyes makes British Vogue cover debut aged 82 Toff: Drinking mindfully is a gift to yourself Should you sleep naked? Heatwave myths debunked

Miriam Margolyes says she “never had any shame about being gay” as she makes her British Vogue cover debut aged 82. The award-winning actress, known for her foul mouth and lovable eccentricity, said gay people are “not conventional” and she “wouldn’t want to be straight for anything”. Margolyes is known for a wide range of work in the TV and film industry, including roles in Blackadder, Babe and the Harry Potter franchise. She features along with other “LGBTQ+ pioneers”, including Ncuti Gatwa and Emma D’Arcy, in the July edition of British Vogue. In an accompanying interview, she discusses her sexuality and says she has always tried to “make people feel good about themselves”. “It’s a strong position if you’re not afraid to be who you are,” she said. “We’re all so insecure. People are frightened such a lot of the time and what I’ve always tried to do… (is) make people feel good about themselves.” Margolyes came out as a lesbian in 1966, a time when homosexuality was illegal, and lived through the HIV crisis of the 1980s – during which she lost 34 friends. She has been with her partner – academic Heather Sutherland – for 54 years. “I never had any shame about being gay or anything really,” she told British Vogue. “I knew it wasn’t criminal because it was me. I couldn’t be criminal.” She added: “I think gay people are very lucky, because we are not conventional, we are a group slightly apart. It gives us an edge. “We’re good artists, we’re good musicians. And I like being gay. I wouldn’t want to be straight for anything.” The full interview with Miriam Margolyes can be read online on British Vogue’s website.

Millions of borrowers may learn soon whether they could receive up to $20,000 in debt relief under President Joe Biden's student loan forgiveness program. The fate of the debt cancellation program lies with the Supreme Court, which is expected to rule in late June or early July.

Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konate has given his thoughts on the Reds potentially signing one of his France teammates this summer.

BLACKPINK's Jennie has issued an apology to fans after she exited the show early due to a mystery health issue.

This creation is heavily inspired by one of my favourite signature bakes in the Bake Off tent,” says Crystelle Pereira, who was a runner-up on the show in 2021. “I had made a focaccia during Bread Week, with roasted grapes, sharp, salty feta, crunchy walnuts and fresh fennel. “It went down a treat, and so I’ve transferred all of the same flavours and textures into crispy crostini – little bites of sweet and salty deliciousness.” Roasted grape, honey and feta crostini Ingredients: For the infused oil: 50ml olive oil 2 garlic cloves, grated ½ tablespoon dried thyme For the crostini: 240g black seedless grapes (about 24 grapes) 200g feta 10 walnuts, skin on 1 small baguette 1½ tablespoons runny honey ¼ fresh fennel bulb, thinly sliced (optional) A bunch of fresh thymea pinch of fine sea salt and ground black pepper Method: 1. Preheat the oven to 180C fan/400F/gas mark 6. 2. First make the infused oil. Place the olive oil in a small saucepan with the garlic and thyme and heat very gently over a low heat for about 10 minutes, until the oil is sizzling and fragrant. Turn off the heat and set aside. 3. Arrange the grapes in a roasting tray and spoon over 3 teaspoons of the infused oil. Toss the grapes until they are coated, then place in the oven and roast for 20 minutes, until they are sizzling and the skins have shrivelled slightly. Allow to cool, then slice each grape in half lengthways. 4. Place the feta in a food processor with a splash of feta water (or a splash of milk if your feta does not have water), a good pinch of pepper and a tiny pinch of salt and blend until completely smooth. 5. Place the walnuts in a dry frying pan over a medium heat and toast for around 7 minutes until slightly browned and fragrant. Allow to cool slightly, then break into small pieces and set aside. 6. Slice the baguette diagonally into thin crostini slices (about 1.5cm thick) and drizzle a teaspoon of the infused oil over each slice. Place these on a tray and toast in the oven for 7–10 minutes until crispy and golden, or alternatively cook on a griddle pan over a high heat for 4 minutes, flipping halfway through. 7. To assemble, spread 1 heaped teaspoon of whipped feta over each crostini and drizzle with honey. Top with about 4 grape halves and a scatter of fennel, crushed walnuts and fresh thyme leaves, and serve straight away. Recipe from ‘Flavour Kitchen: Vibrant Recipes with Creative Twists’ by Crystelle Pereira (Kyle Books, £22). Read More BBQ salad recipes without a soggy lettuce leaf in sight Grace Dent’s quick and easy recipes that only require the microwave How to shop for and cook Japanese food at home like a pro Crystelle Pereira: ‘This is controversial but... French food isn’t that great’ Forest Side, review: Cumbrian produce elevated to Michelin-starred proportions Showstopping BBQ main dishes for a hot grill summer