- New Caledonia separatists defy French efforts to unblock roads
- Timberwolves knock out defending champion Nuggets, Pacers oust Knicks
- Trump biopic hits Cannes Film Festival
- Iran President Raisi's helicopter found, 'no sign of life'
- Three talking points ahead of 2024 French Open
- 'Haikyu!!': Comic heroes fuel Japan Olympic volleyball manga mania
- Timberwolves rally to knock defending champion Nuggets out of NBA playoffs
- London court set to rule on Julian Assange extradition
- Business and Bollywood votes in India election
- Pope calls anti-migrant attitudes at US border 'madness'
- Mexico aims to be big economic winner from US-China tensions
- Uncertain future for thousands after deadly Brazil floods
- Schauffele makes the putt of his life for first major win
- Wirtz returns to help unbeaten Leverkusen chase history
- Search for Iran's President Raisi after helicopter goes missing
- DeChambeau's powerful putting has him excited for US Open
- Taiwan to swear in new president as China pressure grows
- Atalanta can end 61-year wait for trophy in Europa League final
- Schauffele birdies final hole to capture PGA for first major win
- Guardiola casts doubt over long-term Man City future
- Hollywood icons Costner and Demi Moore make Cannes comeback
- Pacers shoot down Knicks to reach NBA Eastern Conference finals
- Schauffele birdies final hole, captures first major at PGA Championship
- McLaughlin powers to Indy 500 pole in all-Penske front row
- Monaco footballer tapes over LGBTQ badge
- Korda wins sixth LPGA title of year with win at Liberty National
- Pacers put on shooting show to down Knicks, reach NBA Eastern Conference finals
- US envoy touts 'potential' of Israel-Saudi deal in Netanyahu talks
- Dominicans vote for president in poll overshadowed by Haiti crisis
- Brest secure Champions League qualification, PSG win without Mbappe
- Mbappe absent as PSG win final Ligue 1 game
- Still exhausted after arrest, Scheffler closes with 64 at PGA
- Brest secure historic Champions League qualification
- France's Macron calls fresh emergency on New Caledonia unrest
- Taiwan swears in new president as China pressure grows
- Schauffele leads as dramatic PGA back-nine battle begins
- Biden faces silent Gaza protest at Martin Luther King Jr's college
- Ten Hag says Man Utd 'must do everything' to win FA Cup after Premier League flop
- Cannes film follows Egypt feminists on brink of adulthood
- Pep Guardiola: Man City manager addicted to winning
- Jackson wins season opener in Marrakesh with all eyes on Paris
- Things get real as imaginary friend flick 'If' tops N.America box office
- Paris seeks to boost sluggish sales for Paralympic Games
- How a French director pulled off Cannes's crazy Mexican narcos hit
- Man City make case to be ranked as England's greatest-ever team
- Hamdy gives Zamalek second CAF Confederation Cup title
- Rome champion Zverev eyes French Open but wary of Djokovic 'at his best'
- Spain recalls its ambassador to Argentina over 'insult'
- Real Sociedad reach Europa League, Cadiz relegated
- Man City's six Premier League titles in seven years 'insane': Guardiola
Scotland's ex-leader Sturgeon defends pandemic response
Scotland's former first minister Nicola Sturgeon fought back tears on Wednesday as she defended her leadership style and record during the Covid pandemic at a highly anticipated public inquiry appearance.
Giving evidence to the independent probe into the UK's Covid response for the first time, Sturgeon denied claims of political opportunism during the crisis and said she felt "an overwhelming responsibility to do the best I could".
Sturgeon, who quit leading Scotland's devolved administration in Edinburgh last year, also maintained her long-running criticisms of former UK leader Boris Johnson.
The told the inquiry that he was not just the wrong person to be in charge during the pandemic but "the wrong person to be prime minister, full stop".
Asked by Jamie Dawson, a lawyer for the inquiry, whether she was "precisely the right first minister for the job", Sturgeon replied: "No."
"I was first minister when the pandemic struck. There's a large part of me wishes I hadn't been," she added, her lip trembling.
"But I was and wanted to be the best first minister I could be during that period. It's for others to judge the extent to which I succeeded."
Sturgeon, the former Scottish National Party (SNP) leader, stepped down as first minister last year, saying she lacked the energy to continue after nine years in the role.
With health policy a devolved matter for the governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, her popularity soared as a result of her daily media briefings on the pandemic.
- WhatsApp deletions -
But Sturgeon denied claims that she politicised the Scottish government's response, given that her high profile helped bolster the SNP's push for independence from the rest of the UK.
"Did I take a firm grip on leadership? I hope I did," she told the hearing in Edinburgh.
"I had a sense of responsibility that as first minister I had to lead from the front, that I had to take the decisions collectively but ultimately have an attitude that the buck stops with me."
Sturgeon has also come under scrutiny for admitting that she deleted WhatsApp messages sent and received during the outbreak.
In December, Johnson was grilled on why he had failed to provide about 5,000 WhatsApp messages from late January 2020 to June 2020, claiming that the app had "somehow" automatically erased them.
Sturgeon acknowledged that she deleted her messages on the platform but said her use of it for government business was "extremely limited".
Any use of it, she told the hearing, "would not relate to matters of substantive government decision-making".
Deleting messages was in line with long-established Scottish government policy and done only after key decisions were properly recorded, and not left on devices such as phones that could be lost or stolen.
"I am certain that the inquiry has at its disposal anything and everything germane to my decision-making during the process and the time period of the pandemic, and the factors underpinning those decisions," she said.
F.Pavlenko--BTB