El Salvador to send detained Venezuelans to Caracas in exchange for Americans held in Venezuela, sources say
One of the officials said El Salvador would send 238 Venezuelans held in its maximum security CECOT prison to Caracas and that the Venezuelan government would release five U.S. citizens and five permanent residents to U.S. custody.
The second official confirmed the exchange was taking place and said the figures appeared to be close to what was expected.
The Venezuelan communications ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The U.S. State Department declined to comment.
The White House and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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ITV News
20 minutes ago
- ITV News
Government prepares for release of landmark review into ailing water sector
The Government is bracing for the release of a landmark review into the water industry, which could reportedly lead to the abolition of embattled water regulator Ofwat. The Independent Water Commission, led by former Bank of England deputy governor Sir Jon Cunliffe, will outline recommendations to turn around the floundering sector in its final report on Monday. The review was commissioned by the UK and Welsh governments as part of their response to systemic industry failures, which include rising bills, record sewage spills and debt-ridden company finances, although ministers have ruled out nationalising companies. The Government will respond to the recommendations in Parliament later on Monday. The review reportedly includes proposals to establish a new system of regulation, which is currently split between Ofwat, the Environment Agency and the Drinking Water Inspectorate. Ministers will announce a consultation that could lead to axing Ofwat, which oversees how much water companies in England and Wales can charge for services, according to the Guardian. Ofwat has faced intense criticism for overseeing water companies during the years that they paid shareholders and accrued large debts while ageing infrastructure crumbled and sewage spills skyrocketed. In an interview with the Sunday Times, Environment Secretary Steve Reed suggested he was in favour of a new model where regional boards managed water in their areas, including representatives from water companies, local authorities and other organisations. He said: 'I think the catchment-based model has a lot to commend it. Because if you can manage what's going into the water better, you can clean up the water faster.' Asked on Friday if there were plans to scrap Ofwat as the regulator, Downing Street said the Government will wait for a final report. A No 10 spokesman said: 'We are waiting for Sir Jon Cunliffe's final report next week, you can expect us to set out our response after that on what more we will do to turn the sector around.' A Government spokesperson said: 'We are not going to comment on speculation.' Ofwat declined to comment. Mr Reed is also expected to announce a new Government pledge to halve sewage pollution from water companies by the end of the decade, during broadcast interviews on Sunday. He said: 'Families have watched their local rivers, coastlines and lakes suffer from record levels of pollution. 'My pledge to you: the Government will halve sewage pollution from water companies by the end of the decade.' But in his Sunday Times interview, he acknowledged that bills were unlikely to fall from their current level, saying instead that an investment of £104 billion in the sector would 'avoid the need for any big bill hikes in the future'. It comes after the Environment Agency on Friday said the number of serious pollution incidents caused by water companies across England rose by 60% in 2024 compared with the previous year. The figures showed companies recorded a total of 2,801 pollution incidents, up from 2,174 in 2023. Of these, 75 were categorised as posing 'serious or persistent' harm to wildlife and human health – up from 47 last year. The Environment Agency said it is clear some companies are failing to meet the targets it has set on pollution, attributing failures to persistent underinvestment in new infrastructure, poor asset maintenance and reduced resilience because of the impacts of climate change. Earlier on Friday, the Public Accounts Committee also released a report which called the level of pollution 'woeful' and recommended an overhaul of the regulation system. The cross-party group of MPs said the Government must act with urgency to strengthen oversight of the sector to rebuild trust and ensure its poor performance improves. The Independent Water Commission published its interim report in June, which found the sector to be beset with 'deep-rooted, systemic' failures. While the paper outlined the commission's direction of travel, it stopped short of providing detailed recommendations on policy, regulatory reform and corporate governance, which are now expected in the final report. The interim review pointed to the need for better regulation of water companies but it did not recommend the wholesale scrapping of Ofwat, which some have urged. Nationalisation, which some campaigners have also called for, was excluded from its terms of reference when commissioned by the Government. Meanwhile, the Conservatives accused Labour of copying the previous government's policies and doing nothing to halt rises in water bills. Shadow environment secretary Victoria Atkins said the Government should be 'transparent' about where the money to fix Britain's sewers was coming from, warning that consumers may have to stump up some of the cash. She added: 'Labour's water plans must also include credible proposals to improve the water system's resilience to droughts, without placing an additional burden on bill payers and taxpayers.'
Daily Mail
20 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
GLEN OWEN: Blair's 'Dodgy Dossier' diplomat and a quiet coup in Downing Street
Jonathan Powell was slinking through the shadows of diplomatic life when he was talent-spotted by and given unprecedented power as his chief of staff. While the majority of Mr Blair's inner circle fell away over the ensuing 12 years – the victims of scandal, fatigue or in-fighting – Mr Powell stayed firmly by the Prime Minister's side until they both left Downing Street in 2007. His presidential-style job title carried with it the new, and arguably unconstitutional, right to issue orders to civil servants, and brought him into frequent contact with Peter Mandelson, now the UK Ambassador to Washington. The two men are the real forces in British diplomacy, with Foreign Secretary David Lammy reduced to an effectively ceremonial role. Both Mr Powell and Lord Mandelson have formidable private networks they are able to mobilise. In Mr Powell's case, as we report today, he founded an organisation, Inter Mediate, which is paid by Mr Lammy's department to carry out off-the-books diplomacy with rogue states. Oxford-educated Mr Powell, 68, is the son of Air Vice-Marshal John Frederick Powell. He was described as an ultra-Left 'Maoist' at his private school. In stark contrast, his brother Charles, now 84, was foreign policy adviser to Margaret Thatcher when she was Prime Minister – and is the only one of four siblings to pronounce the family name to rhyme with 'pole' rather than 'towel'. Jonathan Powell's early career in the Foreign Office took him to Lisbon, Stockholm and the spies' nest of Vienna towards the end of the Cold War. He was posted to the British Embassy in Washington in 1991 and caught Mr Blair's eye after introducing him to Bill Clinton. Mr Powell's time as part of the 'sofa Government' with spin chief Alastair Campbell ranged from the highs of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 to the lows of the Iraq War and the publication of the 'dodgy dossier' justifying military action on the grounds that Saddam Hussein possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction. Mr Powell's time with spin chief Alastair Campbell (left) ranged from the highs of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 to the lows of the Iraq War and the publication of the 'dodgy dossier' justifying military action on the grounds that Saddam Hussein possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction Mr Powell's central role in the fiasco was revealed with the later release of an email he sent to John Scarlett, the chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee in September 2002, which appeared to suggest that the language used in an early version of the dossier should be toughened up. Writing five days before the dossier appeared, Mr Powell asked: 'What will be the headline in the Evening Standard on the day of publication? What do we want it to be?' After leaving No 10, Mr Powell spent a year as a banker at Morgan Stanley before returning to diplomacy as the UK special envoy to Libya in 2014. Then, last year, he was appointed as Sir Keir's special envoy to resolve the Chagos archipelago sovereignty dispute. His solution was to recommend we hand it over, lock stock and barrel, to Mauritius. Since taking up his job as Sir Keir's National Security Adviser – controversially as a political position, rather than as a civil servant, as was previously the case – Mr Powell has used his experience to tutor the Prime Minister in how to handle Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, and to explain the complexities of the Middle East. He has also shuttled between London and Kyiv to try to broker a ceasefire in the Russian-Ukraine war. But some within Downing Street are growing increasingly wary about the influence of these smooth Blairites. In addition to Lord Mandelson and Mr Powell, there is Liz Lloyd, Mr Powell's deputy in No 10 during the Blair era, who is Sir Keir's director of policy delivery. At what point, they wonder, does 'experience' and 'guidance' become 'control'?
Leader Live
25 minutes ago
- Leader Live
Government prepares for release of landmark review into ailing water sector
The Independent Water Commission, led by former Bank of England deputy governor Sir Jon Cunliffe, will outline recommendations to turn around the floundering sector in its final report on Monday. The review was commissioned by the UK and Welsh governments as part of their response to systemic industry failures, which include rising bills, record sewage spills and debt-ridden company finances, although ministers have ruled out nationalising companies. The Government will respond to the recommendations in Parliament later on Monday. The review reportedly includes proposals to establish a new system of regulation, which is currently split between Ofwat, the Environment Agency and the Drinking Water Inspectorate. Ministers will announce a consultation that could lead to axing Ofwat, which oversees how much water companies in England and Wales can charge for services, according to the Guardian. Ofwat has faced intense criticism for overseeing water companies during the years that they paid shareholders and accrued large debts while ageing infrastructure crumbled and sewage spills skyrocketed. In an interview with the Sunday Times, Environment Secretary Steve Reed suggested he was in favour of a new model where regional boards managed water in their areas, including representatives from water companies, local authorities and other organisations. He said: 'I think the catchment-based model has a lot to commend it. Because if you can manage what's going into the water better, you can clean up the water faster.' Asked on Friday if there were plans to scrap Ofwat as the regulator, Downing Street said the Government will wait for a final report. A No 10 spokesman said: 'We are waiting for Sir Jon Cunliffe's final report next week, you can expect us to set out our response after that on what more we will do to turn the sector around.' A Government spokesperson said: 'We are not going to comment on speculation.' Ofwat declined to comment. Mr Reed is also expected to announce a new Government pledge to halve sewage pollution from water companies by the end of the decade, during broadcast interviews on Sunday. He said: 'Families have watched their local rivers, coastlines and lakes suffer from record levels of pollution. 'My pledge to you: the Government will halve sewage pollution from water companies by the end of the decade.' But in his Sunday Times interview, he acknowledged that bills were unlikely to fall from their current level, saying instead that an investment of £104 billion in the sector would 'avoid the need for any big bill hikes in the future'. It comes after the Environment Agency on Friday said the number of serious pollution incidents caused by water companies across England rose by 60% in 2024 compared with the previous year. The figures showed companies recorded a total of 2,801 pollution incidents, up from 2,174 in 2023. Of these, 75 were categorised as posing 'serious or persistent' harm to wildlife and human health – up from 47 last year. The Environment Agency said it is clear some companies are failing to meet the targets it has set on pollution, attributing failures to persistent underinvestment in new infrastructure, poor asset maintenance and reduced resilience because of the impacts of climate change. Earlier on Friday, the Public Accounts Committee also released a report which called the level of pollution 'woeful' and recommended an overhaul of the regulation system. The cross-party group of MPs said the Government must act with urgency to strengthen oversight of the sector to rebuild trust and ensure its poor performance improves. The Independent Water Commission published its interim report in June, which found the sector to be beset with 'deep-rooted, systemic' failures. While the paper outlined the commission's direction of travel, it stopped short of providing detailed recommendations on policy, regulatory reform and corporate governance, which are now expected in the final report. The interim review pointed to the need for better regulation of water companies but it did not recommend the wholesale scrapping of Ofwat, which some have urged. Nationalisation, which some campaigners have also called for, was excluded from its terms of reference when commissioned by the Government. Meanwhile, the Conservatives accused Labour of copying the previous government's policies and doing nothing to halt rises in water bills. Shadow environment secretary Victoria Atkins said the Government should be 'transparent' about where the money to fix Britain's sewers was coming from, warning that consumers may have to stump up some of the cash. She added: 'Labour's water plans must also include credible proposals to improve the water system's resilience to droughts, without placing an additional burden on bill payers and taxpayers.'
