Ireland's foreign minister insisted there was no credible fallback option to take the place of the "backstop" to prevent the return of border checks on the island of Ireland after Brexit. "We are all committed to ensuring that the backstop never takes effect and should it ever take effect, we are committed to trying to ensure that it is only temporary and can be replaced with something more permanent," Simon Coveney told an Irish parliamentary committee on Thursday.

The Inbetweeners actress encouraged her followers to embrace their “different shapes and sizes”, after admitting she has previously used slimming apps on her photos. Sharing a bikini snap, Atack captioned the picture: “Morning mud crabs just catching up on everything. “I will never EVER use a Slimming App ever again.

Morrisons has begun offering customers boxes of fruit, vegetables and salad nearing the end of its shelf life for just £1. Each item will be ‘condition checked’ by Morrisons staff to ensure that they are still of good eating quality. Last year, Morrisons pledged on the BBC1 programme Hugh’s War on Waste to look at selling more imperfect vegetables.

It’s Theresa May’s brick wall we have to break down to get a Final Say referendum rather than some other Brexiteer Tory rube. Some of the more intelligent Tory MPs – they do still exist as an endangered species in need of a little help from conservationists – would do well to reflect upon that. A question that’s less often discussed than perhaps it should be is this: What happens if The Independent and the People’s Vote campaigns for the democracy May has set herself against succeed?

Keira Knightley has received an OBE for her services to drama and charity, in an investiture ceremony held at Buckingham Palace. The actress arrived at the palace this morning, and posed for photos with her husband James Righton, father Will Knightley and mother Sharman Macdonald. Knightley, who was named in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list earlier this year, wore a lemon yellow Chanel suit for the occasion, paired with a matching hat and a white shirt with a black ribbon detail.

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RICHMOND, Ind. (AP) — The Latest on a shooting at an eastern Indiana middle school (all times local):

Hundreds of Coptic Christians on Thursday attended the burial of a father and his son who were killed by a police officer in Egypt's Minya province, amid cries for the state to provide more protection. The Copts, who make up around 10 percent of the population, have long complained of discrimination. While Wednesday's killing appeared to be the result of a dispute between a construction worker and his son on one side and a police guard on the other, it angered local Copts still reeling from the death of seven members of their community in an Islamist militant gun attack in November.

New York Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin weighs in on President Trump’s tweets stating that through the new USMCA trade agreement Mexico is paying for the wall.

JERUSALEM (AP) — The Latest on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (all times local):

UN chief Antonio Guterres announced on Thursday a series of breakthroughs in talks with rivals in the Yemen conflict, including a ceasefire for a vital port. In a highly symbolic gesture on the seventh and final day of the UN-brokered peace talks in Sweden, Yemen's Foreign Minister Khaled al-Yamani and rebel negotiator Mohammed Abdelsalam shook hands to loud applause. The conflict has triggered what the UN calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, with 14 million Yemenis now at the brink of mass starvation.

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — The Kentucky Supreme Court has struck down a pension law that prompted thousands of teachers to protest at the state Capitol.

Seven-year-old Carlos Kamara needs urgent surgery on a collapsed lung after he swallowed a toy whistle. Instead, all he can do is lie in pain in a half-empty hospital ward waiting to be seen. A doctors' strike in Sierra Leone has paralysed an already threadbare health system in one of the world's poorest countries, leaving its biggest and busiest hospitals in disarray, the sick unattended.

KATOWICE, Poland (AP) — The Latest on the U.N. climate talks in Poland and other climate news (all times local):

Delta Air Lines says its profit will rise next year though possibly not as much as was thought, and that is sending shares are down in early trading. Meeting with investors in New York, the airline said Thursday that it will earn adjusted profit of to per share next year. Delta is spending billion more on fuel this year than last, but oil prices began to drop again in early October.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration on Thursday announced a sharp refocus of its Africa strategy to counter what it called the "predatory" practices of China and Russia, which are "deliberately and aggressively targeting their investments in the region to gain a competitive advantage."

A major police operation is under way in the Neudorf suburb of Strasbourg in the hunt for a suspected extremist gunman who killed three near the city’s iconic Christmas market. Route de l'Hôpital, a busy road where the police station is located, has been cordoned off since 2.30pm, according to reports. It is thought suspect Chérif Chekatt may then have headed south of the city centre to the Neudorf or Place de l'Etoile area after the attack.

STRASBOURG, France (AP) — The Latest on the attack on a Christmas market in Strasbourg, France (all times local):

Social media is buzzing with snide remarks about Meghan Markle being fixated on letting the world know she's pregnant.

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky Supreme Court strikes down pension law that prompted protests from thousands of teachers.