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Ukraine's parliament and its speaker have taunted billionaire Elon Musk after he posted a meme on his social media platform mocking President Volodymyr Zelensky's pleas for assistance against Vladimir Putin's forces from the West. Musk owns SpaceX, which provides Starlink satellite communication services that are vital for Ukraine's defence effort, but his statements have sometimes angered Kyiv since the full-scale invasion launched by Russia in February last year. Follow the latest in our live blog here Early on Monday, Musk posted a meme on his platform X, formerly known as Twitter, showing Zelensky and the caption: "When it's been 5 minutes and you haven't asked for a billion dollars in aid." The Ukrainian leader and his top lieutenants have appealed to their allies throughout the war to secure billions of pounds of military aid to weather and push back Russia's invasion. The speaker of Ukraine's parliament, Ruslan Stefanchuk, hit out at Musk's jibe with his own post on X. "The case when [Elon Musk] tried to conquer space, but something went wrong and in 5 minutes he was up to his eyeballs in s***," an apparent reference to SpaceX's failed rocket launch in April. Ukraine's parliament, on its official page on X, accused Musk of spreading Russian propaganda, posting its own version of the meme with a picture of Musk and the caption: "When it's been 5 minutes and you haven't spread Russian propaganda". A Ukrainian presidential adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, who has criticised some of Musk's statements in the past, said in a post on X that being silent or ironic about Ukraine played into the hands of Russian propaganda. "Unfortunately, not everyone and not always, while being significant media figures, but being thousands of kilometres away from the war's epicentre, is able to realize what the daily bombardments and cries of children losing their parents are." Ukrainian officials criticised Musk earlier in the war for suggesting that they should consider giving up land for peace, a position that Kyiv has staunchly rejected. Zelensky visited the United States in September and met top officials in a bid to secure further aid. Over the weekend, aid for Ukraine was omitted from a stopgap funding measure passed by Congress in Washington to avert a US government shutdown. Washington has been the largest single donor to Ukraine since Russia's full invasion last year, giving tens of billions of dollars in military and financial aid. Although right-wing Republican supporters of former President Donald Trump have increasingly called for funding of Ukraine to be halted, President Joe Biden's administration says it expects the Republican-controlled House of Representatives to pass a measure to keep the aid flowing. On Sunday, Biden pressed congressional Republicans to back the aid, saying he was "sick and tired" of the political brinkmanship that had nearly closed the government down. Ukraine's foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said on Monday that Kyiv was still confident of US backing. "We don't feel that the US support has been shattered... because the United States understands that what is at stake in Ukraine is much bigger than just Ukraine," he said. He added that what happened in the US Congress at the weekend was just "an incident". "We have a very in-depth discussion with both parts of the Congress – Republicans and Democrats," he said. Reuters Read More Germany's government and Elon Musk spar on X over migrant rescue ships Elon Musk visits Texas border on X livestream ‘to see what is really going on’ Elon Musk’s visit to US border blighted by tech issues on his own platform X

John Burleigh became a social media sensation after leaping into a lake to celebrate Europe's win.

An 11th-hour tentative contract agreement reached between Mack Trucks and the United Auto Workers union late Sunday narrowly averted a strike by 3,900 employees at the company.

The Senate Banking Committee approved a historic marijuana banking bill last week that breaks barriers between financial institutions and cannabis companies.

WASHINGTON The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said on Monday it is upgrading and expanding its investigation into

1. Boden Knit Spot Slipper Boden has come up with some fabulous slipper designs this season and these polka-dot ones are bound to make you smile, even on the greyest of mornings. The faux-fur lining will keep you cosy and the knitted outer is available in different colours. £29 www.boden.co.uk 2. Jack Wolfskin Cloud Ten These are as durable as they are warm, which makes them great for people who are always on the go, even inside. Made primarily from wool felt, the footbed is made from a robust microfibre material and they are available in the suitably manly colours of dark steel or black. £30 www.jack-wolfskin.co.uk 3. M&S Cable Knit Pom-Pom Slippers Now that the mornings are getting colder, girls will love popping these comfy, festive-coloured slippers on when they get out of bed. With a side pom-pom and bow feature, there’s also some fake-fur detail on these slippers. From £10 www.marksandspencer.com 4. UGG Ascot These simple-yet-stylish slippers are the epitome of laid-back luxury. Made from full-grain leather, with a sheepskin lining, they are also light. Available in black or brown, your feet won’t thank you for ever having to take them off. £100 www.uggaustralia.co.uk 5. White Stuff Woof Woof Mule No need to suffer the cold with these comfy mules, complete with a tartan sausage motif and soft faux-fur linings. Light, snugly and rustic, just looking at them will make you want to slip into your PJs and dressing gown and relax. £19.95 www.whitestuff.com 6. Fat Face Logan Check Duvet True to their name, these really do feel like you’re back under the duvet. With a suede outsole and textile upper, they will even keep your ankles warm and if there’s too much colour going on for you, simply opt for the grey-and-white ones instead. £25 www.fatface.com 7. Mothercare Gruffalo Slippers He has terrible tusks and terrible claws... Kids will love acting out their favourite Julia Donaldson tale with these fantastic slippers that will keep little feet warm as toast. Buy them soon and you can take advantage of Mothercare’s special offer on multiple buys. £10 www.mothercare.com 8. The White Company Inuit Slippers It’s hard to find slippers as snug as these. With a shaggy new lining, which also features on the seams, these slipper-boots can be worn full length to keep ankles and calves as warm, or you can roll them down to reveal the faux fur. They’re machine washable, too. £38 www.thewhitecompany.com 9. Just Sheepskin Kensington Knit Just Sheepskin slippers are among the comfiest on the market. These ones, which are available in four different colours, have a slip-resistant sole and as the brand name suggests, it’s made using 100 per cent sheepskin. The only downside is that they combine two sizes into one. £50 www.justsheepskin.com 10. Cormia Men’s Travel Slippers Produced from 100 per cent leather, these slippers have become something of a footwear sensation. Not only are they designed to completely mould to your foot shape and walking style, but they can be folded neatly and compactly into your bag for when you travel. £45 www.thepyjamastore.com

After two consecutive weeks of doubleheaders, Monday Night Football is back to just one game in Week 4.

The 25-year-old son of Yevgeny Prigozhin is set to take over from his father and become the next boss of the Wagner group. Pavel Prigozhin appears to be inheriting the vast majority of his father’s riches – including the mercenary group, properties, and about £100 million – according to a photograph posted on social media of what seems to be Prigozhin’s will. He is now negotiating with the Russian national guard, Rosgvardia, over having the mercenary organisation rejoin combat in Ukraine, the Institute for the Study of War said. It wrote in a report on Russia on Sunday: “A prominent Wagner-affiliated Telegram channel announced on October 1 that Yevgeny Prigozhin’s 25-year-old son Pavel Prigozhin has taken over ‘command’ of the Wagner Group, and that Pavel Prigozhin is negotiating with Rosgvardia about having the Wagner Group rejoin combat operations in Ukraine.” Once a businessman with a catering empire friendly with Vladimir Putin – Yevgeny Prigozhin was even given the nickname “Putin’s chef” – Prigozhin accumulated vast wealth before going on to found the Kremlin-allied Wagner Group, which backed up Russia’s war in Ukraine. However, in August, two months after the 62-year-old led his private militia in a failed rebellion against his country’s military leadership, he died in a plane crash just outside Moscow. The cause of the incident is still yet to be established. Now, a document shared on a Telegram channel, which has not been independently verified, suggests Prigozhin had a will that was notarised on 2 March and bequeathed most of his inheritance to his son. According to The Times, it reads: “All my property . . . as well as property that may be acquired by me in the future I bequeath to Pavel Evgenyevich Prigozhin.” Alongside the Wagner Group, Pavel is set to inherit around £100 million, a three-storey house in St Petersburg, nine joint stock companies and shares in Concord, and the catering empire, according to the document. The 25-year-old already “plays various roles in Prigozhin’s business enterprises” that benefit from “his favoured status within Russia’s elite”, the Financial Times reported the US said last year. Among these is a Russian company called Lakhta Plaza, which, according to corporate filings, Pavel has controlled. Lakhta Plaza was sanctioned by the US in March 2022 and has shared an auditor and telephone number with other Russian companies that the US and EU for being fronts for Wagner. Pavel has also fought with Wagner in Syria, according to his father’s social media posts, and was awarded the group’s “black cross”, which is its own recognition for military service. There are hopes among loyalists that Pavel will continue the legacy of his father if he takes command of the mercenary group, according to a New York Times investigation this month. The 25-year-old already controls multiple companies and luxury real estate complexes in St Petersburg, according to the US Treasury in March. He has also been sanctioned by a number of countries, including Canada, the US and the UK. If Pavel dies, the inheritance is due to go to Prigozhin’s widow, Lyubov, Pavel’s two sisters and the Wagner chief’s grandson, according to the document – with the paper indicating that the grandson is Pavel’s child, although this has not been independently verified. In the meantime, Pavel is said to have to provide for the family, including his grandmother Violetta, under the terms of the will. Pavel reportedly said last month that he accepted the will and its “parameters” – although the Russian security services-linked Telegram channel VChK-OGPU has suggested it is already being contested amid a conflict that has erupted within the family. On Sunday, Pavel and Violetta laid flowers at Prigozhin’s grave in the former imperial capital of St Petersburg together. The pair were among dozens of mourners hailing the mutinous mercenary chief as a patriotic hero of Russia who had spoken truth to power. Supporters waved the black flags of Wagner which sport a skull and the motto "Blood, Honour, Motherland, Courage". The Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation has suggested Prigozhin’s wealth could come to as much as two trillion roubles, although his official wealth has been estimated at 14.6 billion. Despite years of Western sanctions, a Financial Times investigation found Prigozhin generated revenues of more than a quarter of a billion dollars from his global natural resources empire in the four years before Russia invaded Ukraine. Since its formation, Wagner has been accused of committing human rights abuses in Syria, Libya, the Central African Republic, Sudan, Mali, Mozambique and most recently Ukraine. Read More Ukraine-Russia war – live: Children injured in Kherson shelling as Prigozhin son tipped to be next Wagner boss Putin orders former Wagner commander to take charge of 'volunteer units' in Ukraine Putin recruits former Wagner commander ‘Grey Hair’ Troshev to oversee Ukraine mercenaries The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary

Narwhals are among the most elusive creatures in the ocean, with their long, spiralling tusks giving them an almost mythological quality. And whilst many people would pay good money to see these unicorns of the sea in the flesh, they are notably absent from the world’s aquariums. The reason for this is both dark and mysterious, since there have only been two attempts to keep the toothed whales in captivity. Both of these ended in tragedy and the general acceptance that narwhals simply don’t belong in our sealife centres. The legendary porpoises, which are related to belugas and orcas, are found in Arctic coastal waters and rivers. They have two teeth and, in males, the more prominent of these grows into the swordlike tusk which can be up to 10 feet long, according to National Geographic. Back in 1969, Coney Island’s New York Aquarium becoming the first-ever centre to put a narwhal on display. According to IFL Science, the aquarium became home to a young calf called Umiak, whose name referred to the canoe used to hunt the species in the High Arctic. It was captured by members of the Inuit community who said that it followed their canoe back to camp after they killed its mother for meat. Umiak was put in a tank alongside a female “white whale” (most likely a beluga), who acted as its stepmother. And although staff reportedly fed vast quantities of milk mixed with chopped clams to keep it happy, they weren’t able to keep it healthy. Less than a year after Umiak arrived at the centre, the orphaned narwhal died of pneumonia, as reported by The New York Times at the time. Still, the animal’s swift and tragic demise didn’t stop Canada’s Vancouver Aquarium from attempting the same feat in 1970. The aquarium had been gearing up to host a narwhal since 1968, when its director, Murray Newman, hoped that bringing narwhals to the city could generate interest in the species and help with its conservation, IFL Science reports. After two unsuccessful attempts to capture one of the whales themselves, Newman and his team were forced to buy a young male from a community of Inuit hunters based in Grise Fiord on Canada’s Ellesmere Island. The animal was reportedly called Keela Luguk – a phonetic spelling of the word “qilalugaq”, which means “narwhal” in some Inuktitut dialects. Within a week of Keela Luguk’s arrival at Vancouver Aquarium in August 1970, the centre had caught two female narwhals and three calves, which were then added to his tank. However, in less than a month, the three calves had died. And by November, the two females were also gone. As public outrage mounted, the mayor of Vancouver himself called for Keela Luguk to be returned to the wild. But Newman would not succumb to their pressure and, eventually, on 26 December that same year, the young whale was reported to have died too. It’s not known exactly why the narwhals fared so dismally in captivity, particularly given that the species’s closest relative, the beluga, can survive a number of years, or even decades, in aquarium facilities. However, the porpoises are known to be exceptionally sensitive animals, with studies finding that they are so affected by human-made noises that even the sound of a ship sailing near their habitat is enough to radically impact their behaviour. Fortunately, aquariums seem to have got the memo, and narwhals have largely been left to continue their lives as fabled enigmas of the sea. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

The Reytons will headline Rotherham's famous Clifton Park next summer.

Taylor Swift brought her celebrity friends to Travis Kelce's latest game, Tim Wakefield died at 57, Adam Copeland debuted in AEW and more in the Roundup.

Bayer Leverkusen director Simon Rolfes has responded to Real Madrid's interest in Xabi Alonso. The former midfielder is being eyed as a potential successor to Carlo Ancelotti.