US President Donald Trump has called Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney to congratulate him on his victory in the country's general election and the two have agreed meet in the near future.

The two countries were expected to enter talks about a new economic and security relationship after Monday's vote.

Trump's trade tariffs and repeated comments undermining Canada's sovereignty overshadowed the race, which ended with Carney's Liberals projected to win a minority government, according to public broadcaster CBC.

That result will make Carney's pressing tasks of negotiating with his US counterpart and tackling a range of domestic issues more of a challenge, as he'll need to wrangle support from other political parties.

In their first call since the election, Trump congratulated Carney on his victory, according to the prime minister's office on Tuesday.

The office also said the two leaders had "agreed on the importance of Canada and the United States working together – as independent, sovereign nations – for their mutual betterment".

The Liberals will need to rely on their support to pass legislation through the House of Commons.

They also face possible defeat in any vote of confidence in the chamber.

The Liberals are most likely to find willing partners with the diminished left-wing New Democrats, who have in the past supported the Liberals, and the Bloc Québécois.

The Liberals are projected to have won 169 seats, three short of the 172 needed for a majority in Canada's House of Commons.

It still marks a historic turnaround for a party that had seemed on course for collapse just months ago.

Carney, a former central banker for Canada and the UK, will continue as prime minister, having stepped into the role last month following his unpopular predecessor Justin Trudeau's resignation.

One issue where it may be easy for the Liberals to find support in the House is in passing legislation to help workers and industries affected by US tariffs - something all parties swung behind on the campaign trail.

• RESULTS: How Canada voted - in charts
• ANALYSIS: Trump made Carney's turnaround victory possible
• PROFILE: Five things Carney has pledged to do as Canadian PM
• WATCH: Relief, disappointment or surprise? Canadians react

On Tuesday morning, Bloc Québécois leader Yves-Francois Blanchet suggested Carney could benefit from at least a period of stability in the House.

Blanchet urged a "truce" among parties while Canada negotiated trade with the US, saying it was clear Canadians wanted political stability in unstable times.

He said it wasn't time for other parties to "threaten to overthrow the government anytime soon" and didn't see any scenario "other than collaboration for a period of slightly over a year".

The leader of the sovereigntist party, which only runs candidates in Quebec, did urge Carney to avoid pressing the province on certain issues, noting that collaboration goes both ways.

On Tuesday, the White House commented on Carney's win, with deputy press secretary Anna Kelly saying: "The election does not affect President Trump's plan to make Canada America's cherished 51st state."

In an interview with the BBC, Carney said that Canada deserves "respect" from the US and he will only allow a Canada-US trade and security partnership "on our terms".

Carney has told the BBC that a 51st state scenario was "never, ever going to happen".

Meanwhile, new US ambassador to Canada, Pete Hoekstra, said in a video statement that he is "committed to making progress in this great relationship".

Carney has also promised action on a range of domestic issues, including tackling the country's housing crisis and tax cuts for lower- and middle-income Canadians.

The prime minister also needs to prepare for the G7 summit in June, which Canada is hosting in the province of Alberta.

In Monday's election, both the Liberals and the Conservatives saw a significant rise in their share of the national vote compared with four years ago.

The Conservative Party came in second, on track to win 144 seats, and will form Official Opposition.

Increased support for Canada's two largest parties has come at the expense of smaller parties, particularly the NDP, whose share of the popular vote is down by around 12 percentage points.

Voter turnout for the election was 67%.

Both Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre and NDP leader Jagmeet Singh lost their seats, with Singh announcing he will step down as leader of the left-wing party.

If you say the name Donald Trump in the halls of wholesale markets and trade fairs in China, you'll hear a faint chuckle.

The US president and his 145% tariffs have not instilled fear in many Chinese traders.

Instead, they have inspired an army of online Chinese nationalists to create mocking memes in a series of viral videos and reels – some of which include an AI-generated President Trump, Vice-President JD Vance and tech mogul Elon Musk toiling on footwear and iPhone assembly lines.

China is not behaving like a nation facing the prospect of economic pain and President Xi Jinping has made it clear that Beijing will not back down.

"For more than 70 years, China has always relied on self-reliance and hard work for development… it has never relied on anyone's gifts and is unafraid of any unreasonable suppression," he said this month.

His confidence may come in part because China is far less dependent than it was 10 years ago on exports to the US. But the truth is Trump's brinkmanship and tariff hikes are pushing on pressure points that already exist within China's own struggling economy. With a housing crisis, increasing job insecurity and an ageing population, Chinese people are simply not spending as much as their government would like.

Xi came to power in 2012 with a dream of a rejuvenated China. That is now being severely tested – and not just by US tariffs. Now, the question is whether or not Trump's tariffs will dampen Xi's economic dreams, or can he turn the obstacles that exist into opportunities?

Xi's domestic challenges

With a population of 1.4 billion, China has, in theory, a huge domestic market. But there's a problem. They don't appear willing to spend money while the country's economic outlook is uncertain.

This has not been prompted by the trade war – but by the collapse of the housing market. Many Chinese families invested their life savings in their homes, only to watch prices plummet in the last five years.

Housing developers continued to build even as the property market crumbled. It's thought that China's entire population would not fill all the empty apartments across the country.

The former deputy head of China's statistics bureau, He Keng, admitted two years ago that the most "extreme estimate" is that there are now enough vacant homes for 3 billion people.

Travel round Chinese provinces and you see they are littered with empty projects – lines of towering concrete shells that have been labelled "ghost cities". Others have been fitted out, the gardens have been landscaped, curtains frame the windows, and they appear filled with the promise of a new home. But only at night, when you see no lights, can you tell that the apartments are empty. There just aren't enough buyers to match this level of construction.

The government acted five years ago to restrict the amount of money developers could borrow. But the damage to house prices and, in turn, consumer confidence in China, has been done and analysts have projected a 2.5% decline in home prices this year, according to a Reuters poll in February.

And it's not just house prices that worry middle-class Chinese families.

They are concerned about whether the government can offer them a pension – over the next decade, about 300 million people, who are currently aged 50 to 60, are set to leave the Chinese workforce. According to a 2019 estimate by the state-run Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the government pension fund could run out of money by 2035.

There are also fears about whether their sons, daughters and grandchildren can get a job as millions of college graduates are struggling to find work. More than one in five people between the ages of 16 and 24 in urban areas are jobless in China, according to official data published in August 2023. The government has not released youth unemployment figures since then.

The problem is that China cannot simply flip a switch and move from selling goods to the US to selling them to local buyers.

"Given the downward pressure on the economy, it is unlikely domestic spending can be significantly expanded in the short term," says Prof Nie Huihua at Renmin University.

"Replacing exports with internal demand will take time."

According to Prof Zhao Minghao, deputy director of the Center for American Studies at Fudan University, "China does not have high expectations for talks with the Trump administration… The real battleground is in the adjustment of China's domestic policies, such as boosting domestic demand."

To revive a slowing economy, the government has announced billions in childcare subsidies, increased wages and better paid leave. It has also introduced a $41bn programme offering discounts on items such as consumer electronics and electric vehicles (EVs) to encourage more people to spend. But Prof Zhang Jun, the Dean of Economics at Fudan University, believes this is not "sustainable".

"We need a long-term mechanism," he says. "We need to start increasing residents' disposable income."

This is urgent for Xi. The dream of prosperity he sold when he took power 13 years ago has not become reality.

A political test for Xi

Xi is also aware that China has a disheartened younger generation worried about their future. That could spell bigger trouble for the Communist Party: protests or unrest.

A report by Freedom House's China Dissent Monitor claims that protests driven by financial grievances saw a steep increase in the last few months.

All protests are quickly subdued and censored on social media, so it is unlikely to pose a real threat to Xi for now.

"Only when the country does well and the nation does well can every person do well," Xi said in 2012.

This promise was made when China's economic rise looked unstoppable. It now looks uncertain.

Where the country has made huge strides over the past decade is in areas such as consumer electronics, batteries, EVs and artificial intelligence as part of a pivot to advanced manufacturing.

It has rivalled US tech dominance with the chatbot DeepSeek and BYD, which beat Tesla last year to become the world's largest EV maker.

Yet Trump's tariffs threaten to throw a spanner in the works.

The restrictions on the sale of key chips to China, including the most recent move tightening exports from US chip giant Nvidia, for instance, are aimed at curbing Xi's ambitions for tech supremacy.

Despite that, Xi knows that Chinese manufacturers are at a decades-long advantage, so that US manufacturers are struggling to find the same scale of infrastructure and skilled labour elsewhere.

Turning a challenge into an opportunity

President Xi is also trying to use this crisis as a catalyst for further change and to find more new markets for China.

"In the short term, some Chinese exporters will be greatly impacted," says Prof Zhang. "But Chinese companies will take the initiative to adjust the destination of exports to overcome difficulties. Exporters are waiting and looking for new customers."

Donald Trump's first term in office was China's cue to look elsewhere for buyers. It has expanded its ties across South East Asia, Latin America and Africa – and a Belt and Road trade and infrastructure initiative shored up ties with the so-called Global South.

China is reaping the rewards from that diversification. More than 145 countries do more trade with China than they do with the US, according to the Lowy Institute.

In 2001, only 30 countries chose Beijing as their lead trade partner over Washington.

Geopolitical gains

As Trump targets both friend and foe, some believe Xi can further upend the current US-led world order and portray his country as a stable, alternative global trade partner and leader.

The Chinese leader chose South East Asia for his first trip abroad after the tariff announcement, sensing his neighbours would be getting jittery about Trump's tariffs.

Around a quarter of Chinese exports are now manufactured or shipped through a second country including Vietnam and Cambodia.

Recent US actions may also present a chance for Xi to positively shape China's role in the world.

"Trump's coercive tariff policy is an opportunity for Chinese diplomacy," says Prof Zhang.

China will have to tread carefully. Some countries will be nervous that products being manufactured for the US could end up flooding into their markets.

Trump's tariffs in 2016 sent a glut of cheap Chinese imports, originally intended for the US, into South East Asia, hurting many local manufacturers.

According to Prof Huihua, "about 20% of China's exports go to the US - if these exports were to flood any regional market or country, it could lead to dumping and vicious competition, thereby triggering new trade frictions".

There are barriers to Xi presenting himself as the arbiter of free trade in the world.

China has subjected other nations to trade restrictions in recent years.

In 2020, after the Australian government called for a global inquiry into the origins and early handling of the Covid pandemic, which Beijing argued was a political manoeuvre against them, China placed tariffs on Australian wine and barley and imposed biosecurity measures on some beef and timber and bans on coal, cotton and lobster. Some Australian exports of certain goods to China fell to nearly zero.

Australia's Defence Minister Richard Marles said earlier this month that his nation will not be "holding China's hand" as Washington escalated its trade war with Beijing.

China's past actions may impede Xi's current global outreach and many countries may be unwilling to choose between Beijing and Washington.

Even with all the various difficulties, Xi is betting that Beijing will be able to withstand any economic pain longer than Washington in this great power competition.

And it does appear that Trump has blinked first, last week hinting at a potential U-turn on tariffs, saying that the taxes he has so far imposed on Chinese imports would "come down substantially, but it won't be zero".

Meanwhile, Chinese social media is back in action.

"Trump has chickened out," was one of the top trending search topics on the Chinese social media platform Weibo after the US president softened his approach to tariffs.

Even if or when talks do happen, China is playing a longer game.

The last trade war forced it to diversify its export market away from the US towards other markets – especially in the Global South.

This trade war has China looking in the mirror to see its own flaws – and whether it can fix them will be up to policies made in Beijing, not Washington.

Top picture credit: Getty Images

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As life in Spain and Portugal stutters back to normal, the big questions are not just what went wrong but how to prevent such a full-scale power failure from happening again.

It was not until 11:15 (09:15 GMT) on Tuesday, almost 23 hours after the system collapsed that Spain's electricity grid declared it was back to normal.

The trains have started running again although some lines are suspended and most homes have got their power back.

So how did it get back up and running and why did it take so long?

For most of Monday, Spain was in chaos.

The issue appears to relate to two separate connection problems in the south west within moments of each other and then a disconnection from the French network for almost an hour.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez highlighted the sudden loss of 15 gigawatts of electricity at 12:33 on Monday, when about 60% of Spain's power generation suddenly vanished.

Eduardo Prieto, the director of operations for the grid Red Eléctrica, said the systems had been stable, until a loss of power generation in southwestern Spain.

Only the Canary Islands, the Balearics and Ceuta and Melilla on the North African coast were unaffected.

An increasing number of public figures are blaming a saturation of solar power and an over-reliance on renewable energy.

Minutes before the outage, Spain was running on 60.64% solar photovoltaic generation, with 12% wind and 11.6% nuclear.

However diversified and advanced Spain's energy mix is, the national power collapse at 12:35 on Monday required an enormous effort to get Spain back up and running.

The initial focus was to get the northern and southern power generating regions working again, which grid operator Red Eléctrica said was key to "gradually re-energising the transmission grid as the generating units are connected".

The risk lay in overloading the system by turning everything on at the same time and triggering another massive outage.

So everything had to be carefully phased for what experts call a "black start" working out as a success.

The initial focus was on hydro-electric plants, in particular pumped-storage plants with reservoirs full at this time of year and able to produce electricity fast from a standing start.

Combined-cycle gas plants also played a significant part in repowering the grid, but four nuclear power reactors at Almaraz, Ascó and and Vandellós were automatically shut down by the outage, and three others were already offline anyway.

Spain's neighbours France and Morocco also came to its aid.

Morocco said 900MW of power had been transferred through two high-voltage lines that cross the Strait of Gibraltrar from Fardioua to Tarifa in southern Spain.

French operator RTE said it had been "gradually transferring more electricity to the Spanish border" via its power lines supplying Catalonia in north-east Spain and the Basque country in the north-west.

RTE said the Iberian network had been disconnected from 12:38 to 13:30 on Monday, when the 400kV line to Catalonia was restored. Within minutes, France had supplied 700MW and RTE said it was later able to increase that by up to 2,000 MW.

Power was then eventually restored to Spain's electricity substations in the north, south and west of the peninsula.

By 19:20 on Monday, the grid operator said more than a fifth of demand had been restored by way of Spain's own electricity generation and from France.

Electricity provider Endesa said it had restored almost 3.5 million customers by 19:15 and had prioritised hospitals and other strategic infrastructure.

Just over an hour later the head of Red Eléctrica boss Eduardo Prieto said about 9,200 MW of demand - about 35.1% - had been restored.

That figure rose steadily to 61.35% by midnight on Monday and more than 99% by 07:00 on Tuesday.

• How massive power cut unfolded in Spain and Portugal

Spain is only now beginning to count the cost. The CEOE bosses' organisation has estimated a €1.6bn hit on the economy.

And the political blame game has already begun.

The conservative head of the Madrid community, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, said the government's response had been slow and ineffective, while the leader of her People's Party Alberto Núñez Feijóo complained of a "lamentable" image of Spain being sent around the world.

Despite all the problems, Spaniards were praised by the government for rising to the occasion and showing solidarity.

Hospitals had back-up diesel-operated generators so they were able to keep critical care going.

Spain's Guardia Civil police force said it had rescued 13,000 passengers trapped on trains.

Residents in the southern town of Villanueva de Córdoba came to the aid of passengers stranded on a Ouigo train.

Local police in Barcelona returned to the old ways, regulating traffic in the Plaça España because the lights were out.

Passengers on the Barcelona metro had to walk to safety using the torches on their mobile phones when their trains became stuck in tunnels.

A conference centre in Girona was converted into a 180-bed shelter for people stranded by rail disruptions.

Although flights across the country were affected, airports operator Aena kept going throughout the disruption with the aid of generators.

Phone batteries ran down, TVs were on the blink and for many Spaniards their only lifeline to the outside world was from a car or battery-operated radio, as radio stations soldiered on through the blackout.

In Madrid there has been an urgent call for blood donations ahead of the big public holiday weekend.

Pedro Sánchez is determined that lessons will be learned and such a crisis will not happen again.

But energy expert Carlos Cagigal told Spanish TV there was a risk that it might, because Spain's infrastructure was simply not in a position to cope with all the renewable energy being produced.

The power grid operator warned earlier this year of the risks of excessive renewable energy while closing nuclear plants.

But a clip of its president Beatriz Corredor has gone viral from 2021, in which she insisted that Spain had "one of the safest and most advanced" electrical systems in the world and there was no reason to worry.

US President Donald Trump has celebrated the 100th day of his second term in office with a campaign-style speech, touting his achievements and targeting political foes.

Hailing what he called a "revolution of common sense", he told a crowd of supporters in Michigan that he was using his presidency to deliver "profound change".

The Republican mocked his Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden, and aimed fresh criticism at the US Federal Reserve's chairman, while dismissing opinion polls that show his own popularity slipping.

Trump has delivered a dramatic fall in the number of migrants crossing illegally into the US, but the economy is a political vulnerability as he wages an international trade war.

"We've just gotten started, you haven't seen anything yet," Trump told the crowd on Tuesday in a suburb of Detroit.

Speaking at the hub of America's automative industry, Trump said car firms were "lining up" to open new manufacturing plants in the Midwestern state.

But earlier in the day he softened a key element of his economic plan - tariffs on the import of foreign cars and car parts - after US car-makers warned of the danger of rising prices.

At his rally, Trump also said opinion polls indicating his popularity had slipped were "fake".

According to Gallup, Trump is the only post-World War Two president to have less than half the public's support after 100 days in office, with an approval rating of 44%.

But the majority of Republican voters still firmly back the president. And the rival Democratic Party is also struggling in polling.

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) said Trump's first 100 days were a "colossal failure".

"Trump is to blame for the fact that life is more expensive, it's harder to retire, and a 'Trump recession' is at our doorstep," the DNC said.

• Trump's breakneck start is fraught with political risk
• 'Kicking butt' or 'going too fast'? Trump voters reflect on 100 days

Trump conducted his own informal poll in Tuesday's remarks, asking the crowd for their favourite Biden nicknames. He also mocked his Democratic predecessor's mental agility and even how he appears in a swim suit, while continuing to insist he was the real victor of the 2020 election, which he lost.

Other targets of his ire included Jerome Powell, head of the US central bank, whom the president said was not doing a good job.

Trump touted progress on immigration – encounters at the southern border have plummeted to just over 7,000, down from 140,000 in March of last year.

On Tuesday the White House also said almost 65,700 immigrants had been deported in his term so far, although that is a slower pace than in the last fiscal year when US authorities deported more than 270,000.

Part of the way through his speech Trump screened a video of deportees being expelled from the US and sent to a mega-prison in El Salvador.

His immigration crackdown has faced a flurry of legal challenges, as has his effort to end the automatic granting of citizenship to anyone born on US soil.

During Tuesday's speech he insisted egg prices had declined 87%, a claim contradicted by the latest government price figures.

Inflation, energy prices and mortgage rates have fallen since Trump took office, although unemployment has risen slightly, consumer sentiment has sagged and the stock market was plunged into turmoil by the tariffs.

Before the speech, Joe DeMonaco, who owns a carpentry business in Michigan, said Trump's patchwork of on-again, off-again import taxes were starting to increase prices, which he will have to pass on to his customers.

"I was hoping... he would approach things a little bit differently seeing that he's a little seasoned coming into a second term," Mr DeMonaco told the BBC. "But we're just treading water and seeing if things get better from here."

But it's clear that Trump's most steadfast supporters stand by him.

"I'm just thrilled," said Teresa Breckinridge, owner of the Silver Skillet Diner in Atlanta, Georgia.

"He's handling things wherever he can, multiple times a day, and he's reporting back to the people… I think the tariffs will end up definitely being in our favour."

Hundreds of thousands of people are at risk of losing hot water or heating when their old type of electricity meter goes out of action.

Energy companies have said it will be "very, very difficult" to replace all Radio Teleswitching System (RTS) meters with smart meters before the old technology is switched off on 30 June.

Campaigners estimate more than 300,000 homes could lose heating - or have it stuck on constantly - in what energy regulator Ofgem has called "an urgent consumer welfare issue".

The government said the industry had to "work urgently to continue to increase the pace of replacements".

Since the 1980s, RTS meters have used a longwave radio frequency to switch between peak and off peak rates.

The technology is becoming obsolete and energy companies have a deadline to change their customers' meters by 30 June.

At the end of March, there were still 430,000 households using RTS meters for their heating and hot water, according to Energy UK, which represents energy companies.

It said more than 1,000 RTS meters were now being replaced each day.

But based on the 430,000 figure, this daily rate would need to be more like 5,000 to stand a chance of reaching everyone.

• Concern old meters still in use ahead of switch off
• Panorama: The Truth about Smart Meters

Ned Hammond, Energy UK's deputy director for customers, told BBC Radio 4's You and Yours the rate of replacement was rising, but added: "Obviously we'd need to increase from there significantly still to replace all the meters by the end of June."

Asked whether it was impossible to get every RTS meter switched over by 30 June, he said: "I wouldn't want to say impossible - but clearly very, very difficult to get to that point."

Simon Francis, from campaign group the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, said the Energy UK figures suggested more than 300,000 households could be left with a meter that doesn't work from 1 July.

He added: "With pressures on the replacement programme growing and with limited engineer availability, especially in rural areas, there's a real risk of prolonged disruption, particularly for vulnerable households."

RTS meters typically control heating and hot water on a separate circuit to the rest of the household's electricity, so things like plug sockets and lights are unlikely to be affected by the switch-off, Ofgem said.

The RTS network was originally planned to be switched off in March 2024, but this was extended to give energy companies more time to get through everyone.

Energy companies are still targeting 30 June "as things stand", Mr Hammond added, and are developing plans for a "managed and very careful phase down of the system", aiming to protect vulnerable customers.

'I don't want a smart meter'

One challenge of changing everyone on to the new system is a distrust of smart meters. The BBC has previously found that smart meters can sometimes give inaccurate readings and can work worse or better depending on where you live.

Jane from Norfolk told the BBC she is on an RTS meter and does not want a smart meter but feels as if she is being forced into getting one. She is currently on an Economy 7 tariff and does not want to switch.

"It's not yet lawful to say I've got to have one. And I really, really don't want one. I'm perfectly happy with the way things are," she said.

Diane Gray, who lives near Cockermouth in Cumbria, uses RTS to control the heating and hot water in her home on an Economy 7 tariff. She wants a smart meter but has been told one won't work in her house.

In December, her supplier wrote to her to say: "At the moment we're not able to install a new meter in your home that works with your current meter's heating set up. Please bear with us. We are working hard on a solution for your meter type."

She's since received another notification that a smart meter will be fitted in early June.

"I've got no idea where it's going to leave us," she told the BBC.

"It is very concerning. Because they're doing it in the summer, come the winter I keep thinking there must be some solution they're going to give us before we need to start using the heating."

If your energy supplier cannot fit a smart meter in your home, Ofgem says your supplier must install a "suitable meter" with no disruption to your service.

What to do if you think you have an RTS meter

According to Ofgem, you may have an RTS meter if

• Your home has a separate switch box near your meter with a Radio Teleswitch label on it
• Your home is heated using electricity or storage heaters
• There is no gas supply to your area
• You get cheaper energy at different times of day, for example, on an Economy 7 tariff
• If you haven't been contacted, Ofgem recommends reaching out to your supplier to arrange the replacement
• However, beware if someone contacts you claiming you need to pay to change your meter as it's likely a scam.

Pakistan's information minister says that the country has "credible intelligence" that India intends to launch a military strike within the next 24 to 36 hours.

Attaullah Tarar's comments come after India accused Pakistan of supporting militants behind an attack in Indian-administered Kashmir that killed 26 tourists last week. Islamabad rejects the allegations.

Tarar said that India intends to use the attack as a "false pretext" for a strike and that "any such military adventurism by India would be responded to assuredly and decisively".

The BBC has contacted the Indian foreign ministry for comment.

The attack near the tourist town of Pahalgam was the deadliest attack on civilians in two decades in the disputed territory. Both India and Pakistan claim the region and have fought two wars over it.

Troops from both sides have traded intermittent small-arms fire across the border in recent days.

There has been speculation over whether India will respond with military strikes against Pakistan, as it did after deadly militant attacks in 2019 and 2016.

Authorities said last week they had conducted extensive searches in Indian-administered Kashmir, detaining more than 1,500 people for questioning. More people have been detained since then, although the numbers are unclear.

Authorities have demolished the houses of at least 10 alleged militants. At least one was reportedly linked to a suspect named in the shootings.

Kashmir, which India and Pakistan claim in full but administer only in part, has been a flashpoint between the two nuclear-armed countries since they were partitioned in 1947.

Indian-administered Kashmir has seen an armed insurgency against Indian rule since 1989, with militants targeting security forces and civilians alike.

India has not named any group it suspects carried out the attack in Pahalgam and it remains unclear who did it. A little-known group called the Resistance Front, which was initially reported to have claimed it carried out the shootings, issued a statement denying involvement. The front is reportedly affiliated with Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based militant group.

Indian police have named three of four suspected attackers. They said two were Pakistani nationals and one a local man from Indian-administered Kashmir. There is no information on the fourth man.

Many survivors said the gunmen specifically targeted Hindu men.

The attack has sparked widespread anger in India, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi publicly saying the country will hunt the suspects "till the ends of the earth" and that those who planned and carried it out "will be punished beyond their imagination".

Shops and services may have to be forced to accept cash in the future to help protect vulnerable people who rely on it, MPs have said.

A Treasury Committee report into cash acceptance stopped short of recommending a change in the law, but said the government had to improve its monitoring of the issue.

"There may come a time in the future where it becomes necessary for HM Treasury to mandate cash acceptance if appropriate safeguards have not been implemented for those who need physical cash," the report said.

Some countries, such as Australia or parts of the EU, are planning requirements to accept cash for essential services in some circumstances.

Poverty premium

In evidence to the inquiry, a government minister said there were no plans to make cash acceptance mandatory.

Shops and services can currently accept whichever form of payment they want.

With an increasing number going card-only, the committee said prices would rise for essential goods and services in the remaining outlets that accepted cash.

That would create a poverty premium for those who wanted to use cash to budget, as well as for vulnerable groups such as people with learning difficulties and the elderly.

"A sizeable minority depend on being able to use cash," said Dame Meg Hillier, who chairs the influential Treasury Committee.

She said the report should be a "wake-up call" about the risks of ignoring those affected by the falling use of banknotes and coins.

The committee called on the government to "vastly improve" monitoring and reporting of cash acceptance levels.

Otherwise it warned it risked people being excluded from leisure centres, theatres or public transport. It also heard evidence about frustrated motorists unable to pay by cash in car parks.

"The government is in the dark on how widely cash is being accepted and that is completely unsustainable," said Dame Meg.

There was particular concern for victims of domestic and economic abuse who need cash to avoid being traced through card transactions or to gain financial independence from abusive partners.

'Cash or card, madam?'

The committee's report is one of the most significant developments in the debate over the future of notes and coins since the Access to Cash Review, published in 2019 which called for urgent action on the viability of cash.

Among this latest report's findings is a conclusion that for some businesses, such as market stallholders, cash remains fundamental to the preservation of their trade.

There has been a market in Epsom, Surrey, for centuries - but it is only in recent years that traders have seen the majority of shoppers switch to electronic payments.

Chris Ilsley has been running his plant stall - CI Plants - on the market for 13 years.

When he started it was 100% cash, now it is 70% to 80% card payments.

Speaking surrounded by geraniums, he said he was happy to take any form of payment, although card was slightly easier albeit slower to process.

"We'll take anything," the 47-year-old said. "I prefer the older generation to use card and put their purse away [for safety]."

Over at The Fruit Machine greengrocer stall, Tom Cresswell also has a long line of customers, and he said most paid by card.

"The youngsters don't ever pay by cash; they pay with their phones and their watches," the 52-year-old said.

"The older gentlemen tend to use cash. Whatever is easier for the customer."

The report comes as the Post Office announced a renewed deal with banks to ensure customers can access basic banking services at post office counters.

The deal, which runs until the end of 2030 allows customers of 30 banks and building societies to use their local post office to withdraw and deposit cash, make balance queries and deposit cheques.

Some campaigners have called for cash acceptance to be enforced by the law now.

Ron Delnevo, from the Payments Choice Alliance, said he was disappointed about the "procrastinating approach" of the committee.

The Treasury said the government was committed to seeing 350 banking hubs in place.

"We welcome businesses who do want to continue accepting cash and new rules introduced by the Financial Conduct Authority support this by helping them to make deposits," a spokesman said.

Sir Tony Blair has called for a major rethink of net-zero policies, arguing that limiting energy consumption and fossil fuel production is "doomed to fail".

In a new report, the former Labour prime minister says voters "feel they're being asked to make financial sacrifices and changes in lifestyle when they know the impact on global emissions is minimal".

He does not call for Labour to halt its push to decarbonise the UK economy - but says all governments need to rethink their approach, as it is not working.

The Tories - who have joined Reform UK in opposing net-zero emissions by 2050 - urged Labour to end the "mad dash" to this goal - but Downing Street said it would not be changing course.

In its report The Climate Paradox: Why We Need to Reset Action on Climate Change, The Tony Blair Institute argues that global institutions such as COP and the UN have failed to make sufficient progress in halting climate change.

At the same time, it argues, the public have lost faith in climate policies because the promised green jobs and economic growth have failed to materialise, thanks in part to global instability and the Covid pandemic.

Writing in the foreword, Sir Tony says: "Though most people will accept that climate change is a reality caused by human activity, they're turning away from the politics of the issue because they believe the proposed solutions are not founded on good policy."

He says "any strategy based on either 'phasing out' fossil fuels in the short term or limiting consumption is a strategy doomed to fail".

He also warns against the "alarmist" tone of the debate on climate change, which he says is "riven with irrationality".

The report calls for the rapid deployment of carbon capture and storage technology, greater use of AI to make energy grids efficient and investment in small scale nuclear reactors.

It also argues for a greater focus on climate change mitigation measures such as flood defences and a new international push to persuade China and India to cut emissions.

Downing Street said it would not be changing course on net zero - and rejected Sir Tony's suggestions that the public was no longer prepared to make sacrifices to meet green goals.

"We will reach net zero in a way that treads lightly on people's lives, not telling them how to live or behave," said the prime minister's official spokesman.

"Net zero is the economic opportunity of the 21st century, one that has the potential to reignite our industrial heartlands, create good jobs for the future and lower bills in the long term."

The government claims its net-zero strategy is already delivering results, with £43bn of private investment since last July and that its climate policies "now support around 600,000 jobs across the UK".

Labour sources are also pushing back against the idea that Sir Keir Starmer is going cold on the net-zero agenda, pointing to a speech he made last week in which he said the clean energy mission was "in the DNA of my government".

Reacting in the Commons to Sir Tony's comments in the report, Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said he agreed "with a lot of what it says" particularly on carbon capture and storage and AI "which the government are doing".

But Labour's opponents were quick to seize on the former prime minister's words.

Writing on social media, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said: "Even Tony Blair now says the push for Net Zero has become 'irrational' and 'hysterical'. We are winning the argument!"

Conservative acting shadow energy secretary, Andrew Bowie said the government needed to "urgently change course".

"It seems even Tony Blair has come to the realisation that Keir Starmer and the Labour Party's mad dash to net zero by 2050 is simply not feasible, or sustainable," he added.

Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay said: "Blair is wrong, both morally and pragmatically. The British public understands the need for decisive climate action and expects politicians to lead in delivering this action."

Sir Tony's intervention has also been met with dismay by Labour-supporting environmental groups.

One campaigner told the BBC: "This is an oddly public and oddly-timed intervention that would usually be made by someone struggling for access.

"The Labour government are getting on with many of the policies outlined in the report because they know this is popular with people, especially the voting coalition they need to maintain for the next election.

"But adopting the anti-net-zero framing of [Tory leader Kemi] Badenoch and Reform is out of step with where the public are on this issue and will not help Labour."

The Liberal Democrats have been contacted for a response.

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Harvard University President Alan Garber has apologised following the release of internal reports into antisemitic and anti-Muslim prejudice at America's oldest university.

The reports included testimony from students who described feeling alienated and pressured to conceal their identity from their peers and educators.

In response to the findings, Harvard pledged to review its academic offerings and admissions policies - a key demand of the White House, which accuses the Ivy League institution of failure to stamp out campus antisemitism.

A pair of taskforces were established to look into bias at Harvard in the aftermath of last year's pro-Palestinian protests over the Israel-Gaza war.

"I'm sorry for the moments when we failed to meet the high expectations we rightfully set for our community," Dr Garber said in a letter on Tuesday accompanying the reports.

He said the Hamas attack on Israel of 7 October 2023, and the ensuing Israeli bombardment of Gaza unleashed "long-simmering tensions" on Harvard's campus.

"Members of our community reported incidents that led them to feel targeted and shunned on the basis of their identities," Dr Garber said.

"Harvard cannot - and will not - abide bigotry," his statement added.

The twin internal reports list some "actions and commitments", including that Harvard will review admissions processes.

The college said it would aim to ensure applicants are evaluated based on their ability to "engage constructively with different perspectives, show empathy and participate in civil discourse".

But the proposed remedial action appears to fall short of the White House's demands for Harvard to end all preferences "based on race, color, national origin, or proxies thereof" and implement "merit-based" policies by August.

The Trump administration has threatened to ban the university from enrolling foreign students and strip its tax exempt status if it does not comply.

In response, Harvard has sued the federal government to block the measures, including the freezing of more than $2bn in academic grants.

Lawyers for Harvard argue the government violated the university's constitutional rights and federal funding was being used as "leverage to gain control of academic decision making" on campus.

Dr Garber, who is Jewish, last month wrote in a letter to students that he had personally "experienced antisemitism directly, even while serving as president".

He did not offer details, but said it led him to understand "how damaging it can be to a student".

Pakistan's information minister says that the country has "credible intelligence" that India intends to launch a military strike within the next 24 to 36 hours.

Attaullah Tarar's comments come after India accused Pakistan of supporting militants behind an attack in Indian-administered Kashmir that killed 26 tourists last week. Islamabad rejects the allegations.

Tarar said that India intends to use the attack as a "false pretext" for a strike and that "any such military adventurism by India would be responded to assuredly and decisively".

The BBC has contacted the Indian foreign ministry for comment.

The attack near the tourist town of Pahalgam was the deadliest attack on civilians in two decades in the disputed territory. Both India and Pakistan claim the region and have fought two wars over it.

Troops from both sides have traded intermittent small-arms fire across the border in recent days.

There has been speculation over whether India will respond with military strikes against Pakistan, as it did after deadly militant attacks in 2019 and 2016.

Authorities said last week they had conducted extensive searches in Indian-administered Kashmir, detaining more than 1,500 people for questioning. More people have been detained since then, although the numbers are unclear.

Authorities have demolished the houses of at least 10 alleged militants. At least one was reportedly linked to a suspect named in the shootings.

Kashmir, which India and Pakistan claim in full but administer only in part, has been a flashpoint between the two nuclear-armed countries since they were partitioned in 1947.

Indian-administered Kashmir has seen an armed insurgency against Indian rule since 1989, with militants targeting security forces and civilians alike.

India has not named any group it suspects carried out the attack in Pahalgam and it remains unclear who did it. A little-known group called the Resistance Front, which was initially reported to have claimed it carried out the shootings, issued a statement denying involvement. The front is reportedly affiliated with Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based militant group.

Indian police have named three of four suspected attackers. They said two were Pakistani nationals and one a local man from Indian-administered Kashmir. There is no information on the fourth man.

Many survivors said the gunmen specifically targeted Hindu men.

The attack has sparked widespread anger in India, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi publicly saying the country will hunt the suspects "till the ends of the earth" and that those who planned and carried it out "will be punished beyond their imagination".

If last year's general election was all consuming and everywhere, this year's local elections, in truth, are neither.

That is not to denigrate for a moment how much they matter in the places where they are happening, nor the extent to which they will mould the mood of national politics in their aftermath.

But the reality is there are not many contests this year, not least because some have been postponed because of an imminent shake-up in local government structures in some places.

So there is a very good chance you are reading this in a part of the country without any contests.

And there is a good chance too, given what I hear from the political parties, that your heart might not be pulsating in ecstasy even if the community centre down the road is morphing into a polling station tomorrow.

I detect a curious paradox right now: anger confronts an expectation of widespread indifference.

Turnout in local elections that do not coincide with a general election are almost always shrivelled.

But what I pick up anecdotally – I've just spent the last few days in Lincolnshire, reporting on the race to be the county's first directly elected mayor – matches what the research group More in Common has picked up in focus groups.

The group's UK Director, Luke Tryl, diagnoses a "despondency or misery about the state of Britain that doesn't feel sustainable".

Put that sentiment, reduced turnout and a splintering of party support in all sorts of directions into the mixer and what you end up with is a wildly unpredictable politics where the margins between victory and defeat could be very narrow indeed.

Or to put it more bluntly: if not many votes in total then go in lots of different directions, two things are likely: the gap between the winner and the runners-up might be rather limited, and the share of the vote needed to win could be very small.

And winning on a small share of the vote raises immediate questions about your mandate.

The elections analyst Sir John Curtice argues in the Telegraph that "the mainstream is dead", five parties have a chance of making real inroads in these contests and what stands out now is that both Labour and the Conservatives are struggling, rather than the conventional dynamic of one being up while the other is down.

The Conservatives have spent weeks talking up how down they feel about these elections.

And senior Labour folk too are cranking up the gloom in the conversations I have with them.

Which then leaves us with Reform UK, the Liberal Democrats, the Green Party and an often overlooked element of local English democracy – independents.

This is a huge moment for Reform.

One of the standout trends in British politics since the general election last year has been the party's rising support in the opinion polls.

What Thursday will test is the extent to which that translates into real votes in real elections.

The party's talk is big – they say they can win the next general election. The next few days will give us a sense of how or whether, albeit up to four years out from choosing the next government, that is a plausible claim.

When you wake up on Friday morning. if, unlike political nerds, you have actually been to bed, the headlines that will greet you will be about Reform.

That is because a lot of the contests where there is an expectation that they could win are being counted overnight.

There is the parliamentary by-election in Runcorn and Helsby near Liverpool and the race to be Lincolnshire's first mayor, for a start.

Later in the day on Friday, the emphasis will shift somewhat, as local authorities particularly but not exclusively in the south of England do their counting, and the Liberal Democrats will be looking to make extensive gains against the Conservatives in particular and we will be able to assess if the Green Party's collection of councillors has grown again.

It is only by Friday teatime that we will have a rounded picture of how all of the parties and the independents contesting these elections have fared.

And then the debate on what it all means will begin.

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