Dozens of supporters were outside court as the man accused of fatally shooting the chief executive of UnitedHealthcare made his first appearance.

Luigi Mangione has pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of murder following the 4 December killing of Brian Thompson, 50, outside a midtown Manhattan hotel.

The 26-year-old is accused of ambushing and shooting the executive as he walked to an investor conference.

Dozens of people who showed up in court to support the suspect including former army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning who was jailed for stealing classified diplomatic cables.

Dozens more queued in the hallway.

Mangione is also facing federal charges that could carry the possibility of the death penalty.

The judge set a deadline of 9 April to submit pre-trial motions.

In addition to the New York cases, Mr Mangione also faces charges of forgery, carrying firearms without a licence, and other counts in Pennsylvania, where authorities arrested him at a McDonald’s.

Police say he was in possession of a gun, bullets, multiple fake IDs and a handwritten document that expressed “ill will” towards corporate America.

He is being held in a Brooklyn jail alongside several other high-profile defendants, including music mogul and rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs, and disgraced crypto entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried.

The killing prompted some to voice their resentment at US health insurers, with Mangione attracting a cult following.

A poll taken in the wake of the shooting showed most Americans believe health insurance profits and coverage denials were partly to blame for the incident.

Sir Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron have not “done anything” to end the Ukraine war, US President Donald Trump has said.

He called the French president a “friend of mine” and the UK leader a “nice guy” but said Russia had only agreed to negotiate “because of me”.

Mr Trump made the comments days before both leaders visit the White House for a meeting in which they must try to press Ukraine‘s case while keeping the US leader onside.

The president also continued his criticism of Volodymyr Zelenskyy, saying he had “no cards” to play.

“I’ve been watching for years, and I’ve been watching him negotiate with no cards. He has no cards. And you get sick of it. You just get sick of it. And I’ve had it,” he told a Fox radio show.

The comments come after he recently called the Ukrainian leader a “dictator without elections” – apparently in response to Mr Zelenskyy saying his US counterpart was living in a “disinformation space” after Mr Trump claimed Ukraine had started the war.

Ukraine was also excluded from talks between the top US and Russian diplomats in Riyadh earlier this week.

They were intended to set the stage for future negotiations on ending the war, which started when Russia launched a full-scale invasion three years ago.

Speaking on Friday evening, Mr Trump denied speculation he could visit Moscow for talks on 9 May – the day Russia celebrates its victory over the Nazis.

Mr Trump also told reporters the Russian and Ukrainian leaders needed to “work together” to end the war.

However, the US has already dealt a huge blow to Kyiv’s position in any future talks.

US defence secretary Pete Hegseth said last week that a return to pre-war borders was “unrealistic” and ruled out NATO membership as way to guarantee Kyiv’s security.

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President Zelenskyy has insisted he will not accept any deal that his country is not involved in.

Ukraine’s leader held talks with US envoy Keith Kellogg in Kyiv on Thursday, describing it later as a “good discussion”.

Mr Kellogg struck a markedly different tone to President Trump when he called Mr Zelenskyy the “courageous leader of a nation at war”.

However, there are concerns over how much influence Mr Kellogg has, with a Ukrainian source saying there was a sense he had been sidelined.

Seven people have been injured, three critically, after a suspected gas explosion at a popular beach resort in Hawaii, according to police and video footage.

The injured range in age from 18 to 74, police said, following Thursday night’s blast in a barbeque grill area at The Whaler.

The explosion left a pile of debris at the resort in Kaanapali Beach, a popular tourist area near Lahaina, which almost completely burned in a deadly wildfire in 2023.

No one was forced to leave the area because of the blast, the Maui Police Department said.

Its early investigations pointed to liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), used in barbecue grills in the resort’s common area, being involved in the explosion, the force said.

Video of the area shared on social media shows an explosion happening outdoors near a swimming pool, scattering debris near the beach.

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The Whaler said the blast happened at its Tower One barbecue area and it is “actively working with the fire department to investigate the situation”.

“Our top priority is the safety and well-being of our owners, guests, and team members,” it said.

Police said the official cause is under investigation, and witnesses had indicated “a possible grill malfunction” before the explosion.