Thames Water has decided to "pause" its scheme to pay out big bonuses to senior executives linked with securing its £3bn rescue loan.

The decision comes after Downing Street said bosses at the troubled firm "rewarding themselves for failure is clearly not acceptable".

The company's "retention scheme" was set to amount to 50% of senior bosses' pay packets, which could have led to them getting £1m on top of their annual salaries and regular bonuses.

Thames had been accused by the environment secretary of "trying to circumvent" forthcoming rules to ban water companies from paying bonuses.

Steve Reed told MPs on Tuesday the company had been "calling their bonuses something different so they continue to pay them".

Downing Street added ministers were "clear that, after presiding over years of mismanagement, Thames Water should not be handing itself bonuses".

A spokesperson for Thames said in a statement that following discussions, its board had "decided to pause the retention scheme" and await guidance from the regulator Ofwat, who could be granted new rules to prevent any water firms from handing out any bonuses.

Thames said it would wait for the regulator's steer to ensure the company's "approach supports both our turnaround objectives and broader public expectations".

"It has never been the Thames Water board's intention to be at odds with the government's ambition to reform the water industry," the spokesperson added.

Thames has faced heavy criticism over its performance in recent years following a series of sewage discharges and leaks.

Since the dire state of the company's finances first emerged about 18 months ago, the government has been on standby to put Thames into special administration.

The company secured an emergency £3bn loan in March to stave off collapse and is now looking to reduce its huge £20bn debt pile by requiring lenders to accept a discount in what they are owed.

The supplier serves about a quarter of the UK's population, mostly across London and parts of southern England, and employs 8,000 people. It is expected to run out of cash completely by mid-April.

Regardless of what happens to the company in the future, water supplies and waste services to households will continue as normal.

Reed said he was "very happy" that Thames had dropped its retention scheme.

"It was the wrong thing to do. It offends against their own customers' sense of fair play," he added.

Thames previously said its "retention payments" were not performance-related bonuses covered by the new rules.

It said none of these retention payments would be funded by customers.

Earlier on Tuesday, Thames chairman Sir Adrian Montague clarified comments he had made about bonuses to a committee of MPs last week.

He said he might have "misspoken" when he stated lenders had "insisted" upon the "retention incentives" when questioned on the troubled water firm's turnaround.

"We live in a competitive marketplace and we have to provide the right sort of packages to these people otherwise the head hunters come knocking," he said at the time.

Last November, Ofwat blocked three water firms - including Thames, Yorkshire Water and Dwr Cymru Welsh Water - from using customer money to fund a total of £1.6m in bosses' bonuses.

Indian writer-lawyer-activist Banu Mushtaq has scripted history by winning the International Booker prize for the short story anthology, Heart Lamp.

It is the first book written in the Kannada language, which is spoken in the southern Indian state of Karnataka, to win the prestigious prize.

The stories in Heart Lamp were translated into English by Deepa Bhasthi.

Featuring 12 short stories written by Mushtaq over three decades from 1990 to 2023, Heart Lamp poignantly captures the hardships of Muslim women living in southern India.

Mushtaq's win comes off the back of Geetanjali Shree's Tomb of Sand - translated from Hindi by Daisy Rockwell - winning the prize in 2022.

Her body of work is well-known among book lovers, but the Booker International win has shone a bigger spotlight on her life and literary oeuvre, which mirrors many of the challenges the women in her stories face, brought on by religious conservatism and a deeply patriarchal society.

It is this self-awareness that has, perhaps, helped Mushtaq craft some of the most nuanced characters and plot-lines.

"In a literary culture that rewards spectacle, Heart Lamp insists on the value of attention — to lives lived at the edges, to unnoticed choices, to the strength it takes simply to persist. That is Banu Mushtaq's quiet power," a review in the Indian Express newspaper says about the book.

Mushtaq grew up in a small town in the southern state of Karnataka in a Muslim neighbourhood and like most girls around her, studied the Quran in the Urdu language at school.

But her father, a government employee, wanted more for her and at the age of eight, enrolled her in a convent school where the medium of instruction was the state's official language - Kannada.

Mushtaq worked hard to become fluent in Kannada, but this alien tongue would become the language she chose for her literary expression.

She began writing while still in school and chose to go to college even as her peers were getting married and raising children.

It would take several years before Mushtaq was published and it happened during a particularly challenging phase in her life.

Her short story appeared in a local magazine a year after she had married a man of her choosing at the age of 26, but her early marital years were also marked by conflict and strife - something she openly spoke of, in several interviews.

In an interview with Vogue magazine, she said, "I had always wanted to write but had nothing to write (about) because suddenly, after a love marriage, I was told to wear a burqa and dedicate myself to domestic work. I became a mother suffering from postpartum depression at 29".

In the another interview to The Week magazine, she spoke of how she was forced to live a life confined within the four walls of her house.

Then, a shocking act of defiance set her free.

"Once, in a fit of despair, I poured white petrol on myself, intending to set myself on fire. Thankfully, he [the husband] sensed it in time, hugged me, and took away the matchbox. He pleaded with me, placing our baby at my feet saying, 'Don't abandon us'," she told the magazine.

In Heart Lamp, her female characters mirror this spirit of resistance and resilience.

"In mainstream Indian literature, Muslim women are often flattened into metaphors — silent sufferers or tropes in someone else's moral argument. Mushtaq refuses both. Her characters endure, negotiate, and occasionally push back — not in ways that claim headlines, but in ways that matter to their lives," according to a review of the book in The Indian Express newspaper.

Mushtaq went on to work as a reporter in a prominent local tabloid and also associated with the Bandaya movement - which focussed on addressing social and economic injustices through literature and activism.

After leaving journalism a decade later, she took up work as a lawyer to support her family.

In a storied career spanning several decades, she has published a copious amount of work; including six short story collections, an essay collection and a novel.

But her incisive writing has also made her a target of hate.

In an interview to The Hindu newspaper, she spoke about how in the year 2000, she received threatening phone calls after she expressed her opinion supporting women's right to offer prayer in mosques.

A fatwa - a legal ruling as per Islamic law - was issued against her and a man tried to attack her with a knife before he was overpowered by her husband.

But these incidents did not faze Mushtaq, who continued to write with fierce honesty.

"I have consistently challenged chauvinistic religious interpretations. These issues are central to my writing even now. Society has changed a lot, but the core issues remain the same. Even though the context evolves, the basic struggles of women and marginalised communities continue," she told The Week magazine.

Over the years Mushtaq's writings have won numerous prestigious local and national awards including the Karnataka Sahitya Academy Award and the Daana Chintamani Attimabbe Award.

In 2024, the translated English compilation of Mushtaq's five short story collections published between 1990 and 2012 - Haseena and Other Stories - won the PEN Translation Prize.

Detectives investigating cyber attacks on UK retailers are focussing on a notorious cluster of cyber criminals known to be young English-speakers, some of them teenagers, police have revealed.

For weeks speculation has mounted that disruptive attacks on M&S, Co-op, Harrods and some US retailers could be the work of a hacking community called Scattered Spider.

Speaking about the hacks for the first time, the National Crime Agency (NCA) has told BBC News the group is a key part of its ongoing investigation to find the culprits.

"We are looking at the group that is publicly known as Scattered Spider, but we've got a range of different hypotheses and we'll follow the evidence to get to the offenders," Paul Foster, head of the NCA's national cyber crime unit, said in a new BBC documentary.

"In light of all the damage that we're seeing, catching whoever is behind these attacks is our top priority," he added.

The wave of attacks, which began at Easter, have resulted in empty shelves in stores, the suspension of online ordering, and millions of people's private data being stolen.

The attacks have been carried out using DragonForce, a platform that gives criminals the tools to carry out ransomware attacks. However, the hackers pulling the strings have still not been identified and no arrests have been made.

Some cyber experts say the hackers display the traits of Scattered Spider, a loose community of often young individuals who organise across sites like Discord, Telegram and in forums, most likely located in the UK and US.

Although the NCA says it is exploring all parts of the cyber crime ecosystem, it too is looking in the same direction.

"We know that Scattered Spider are largely English-speaking but that doesn't necessarily mean that they're in the UK - we know that they communicate online amongst themselves in a range of different platforms and channels, which is, I guess, key to their ability to then be able to operate as a collective," Mr Foster said.

M&S has been hit with ransomware, which has scrambled the company's servers rendering computer systems useless. The high street giant is still struggling to keep shelves stocked and has halted online shopping for weeks. Hackers have also stolen customer and employee data from the company.

At Co-op, staff took systems offline to prevent a ransomware infection but a huge amount of customer and staff data was stolen and is being held to ransom. Operations at the firm's supermarkets, insurance offices and funeral services have been badly affected.

It is not known what is happening at Harrods but the company admitted it had to pull computer systems offline because of an attempted cyber attack.

When the hackers behind the M&S and Co-op attacks anonymously contacted the BBC last week, they declined to say whether or not they were Scattered Spider.

'Tools readily available'

Cyber security researchers at CrowdStrike formed the name "Scattered Spider" because of the group's sporadic nature, but other cyber companies have given the cluster nicknames including Octo Tempest and Muddled Libra.

The group was also linked to high-profile attacks including on two US casinos in 2023 and Transport for London last year.

In November, the US charged five British and American men and boys in their twenties and teens for alleged Scattered Spider activity. One is 23-year-old Scottish man Tyler Buchanan, who has not made a plea, and the rest are US based.

NCA investigators will not say how the hackers have managed to breach victim organisations but earlier this month, the National Cyber Security Centre issued guidance to organisations urging them to review their IT help desk password reset processes.

"Calling up IT help desks is a tactic that Scattered Spider seems to favour and they use social engineering techniques to manipulate someone into doing something like clicking on a link or resetting someone's account to a password they can use," Lisa Forte from cyber security firm Red Goat said.

In the BBC documentary, a former teen hacker who was arrested nine years ago and now works in cyber security, said he was not surprised that teenagers could be behind the hacks.

"It wouldn't surprise me - quite [the] opposite. The tools are readily available and it's very easy to jump online and search straight away. You can feel a bit untouchable but for what end? You're gonna be arrested 99% of the time," he said.

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England will be the first country in the world to start vaccinating people against the sexually transmitted infection gonorrhoea.

It will not be available for everyone. The focus will mainly be on gay and bisexual men with a history of multiple sexual partners or an STI.

The vaccine is 30-40% effective, but NHS England hopes it will reverse soaring numbers of infections.

There were more than 85,000 cases in 2023 – the highest since records began in 1918.

Gonorrhoea does not always have symptoms, but they can include pain, unusual discharge, inflammation of the genitals and infertility.

How many people will chose to be immunised is uncertain.

But projections by Imperial College London show that if the jab proves popular then it could prevent 100,000 cases and save the NHS nearly £8m over the next decade.

Max, a sexual health campaigner, told BBC Newsbeat he would "100%" take the vaccine after being diagnosed with gonorrhoea twice within a year.

"I think this is great that it's been announced", he says, adding: "It's going to take the pressure off the clinics, it's just a big win all round."

Vaccination will start in August and will be offered through sexual health services.

Public Health Scotland said it was also working on plans to launch its own programme for high-risk individuals.

BBC Newsbeat has asked health bodies in Wales and Northern Ireland whether they intend to do the same.

Is it effective enough?

This vaccine wasn't designed for gonorrhoea. It's the meningitis B vaccine currently given to babies.

But the bacteria that cause the two diseases are so closely related that the MenB jab appears to cut gonorrhoea cases by around a third.

That will require a delicate conversation in sexual health clinics as the vaccine will not eliminate the risk of catching gonorrhoea. It is normally caught while having sex without a condom.

But Prof Andrew Pollard, the chair of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), which recommended the vaccine, said despite it only being 30% effective, it was "worth having" and could have "a huge impact" overall.

The decision is not just about the record numbers of cases. Gonorrhoea is becoming increasingly difficult to treat.

Most cases are treated with a single dose of antibiotics, but there is an 80-year history of the bacterium which causes gonorrhoea repeatedly evolving resistance to our antibiotics.

It's happening to the current treatments too and is why some doctors are concerned gonorrhoea could one-day become untreatable.

The best way to deal with a drug-resistant infection is to never catch it in the first place.

Dr Amanda Doyle, from NHS England, said: "The launch of a world-first routine vaccination for gonorrhoea is a huge step forward for sexual health and will be crucial in protecting individuals, helping to prevent the spread of infection and reduce the rising rates of antibiotic resistant strains of the bacteria."

The people most affected by gonorrhoea in the UK are those aged 16-to-25, gay and bisexual men, and those of black and Caribbean ancestry.

The vaccine – which costs around £8 per dose – is value for money when primarily offered to gay and bisexual men, rather than all teenagers.

However, clinicians do have the freedom to use their own judgement and offer the vaccine to people using sexual health services they think are of equally high risk.

People will be offered mpox (formerly known as monkeypox), HPV and hepatitis vaccines at the same time.

Prof Matt Phillips, president of the British Association for Sexual Health and HIV, said: "This is excellent news and a landmark moment for sexual health in England.

"Gonorrhoea diagnoses are at their highest since records began and this has the potential to help us to turn that around."

It is not known how long the protection provided by the vaccine will last or how often booster jabs might be required.

The decision comes almost a year and a half after a vaccination programme was recommended by the UK's JCVI.

Sexual health campaigners had criticised that long wait, but have welcomed this decision.

Katie Clark, head of policy and advocacy at the Terrance Higgins Trust, called it a "huge win".

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Universities in England have been told to step up efforts to prevent student suicides, in a review commissioned by the Department for Education (DfE).

A report, which has been in the works for nearly two years, says they should assess the safety of student halls and involve families more after a student has died.

Its recommendations, which are the first to ever be issued to university leaders by any UK government, include discouraging the laying of flowers where a student has died if it could draw attention to a "suicide location".

The family of Natasha Abrahart, who took her own life in 2018 while at the University of Bristol, called the review "superficial".

The national review of higher education student suicide deaths, first seen by BBC News, examined 169 cases of suicide and serious self-harm reported by 73 universities in 2023-24.

It found almost a quarter of incidents, where the location was known, took place in university-managed accommodation, and that families had mostly been excluded from serious incident review processes.

It said there was a particular risk of "suicide clusters", which Public Health England describes as "a situation in which more suicides than expected occur in terms of time, place, or both".

In a series of 19 recommendations, it asked universities to:

• Conduct safety checks of university halls and any area where a student has died
• Consider discouraging people from placing tributes in that area "to avoid drawing attention to the site as a suicide location"
• Better support students who are struggling academically
• Improve transparency and make families' input a "key part" of investigation processes

Universities have also been asked to review access to their mental health services.

Vika Zak, who studies animation at Nottingham Trent University, told the BBC she felt staff were there for her when she reached out for support.

"They emailed me, and I'm pretty sure they sent me a letter, to let me know there are services that I could take advantage of if I needed it. It's really nice to know that."

Sam Lloyd, a product design student, said the university sent out "quite a few" emails letting students know about support services.

"If you really need it, it's very easy to reach out," he said.

But the review said that access to mental health support "could be improved" across the sector in terms of "awareness, signposting, and reviewing the needs of specific groups" like international students.

"While some reports identified a need for support services to ensure active follow-up following contact, many placed the responsibility on the student to seek further help," it said.

• If you've been affected by the issues in this story, help and support is available via the BBC Action Line.

Bob and Maggie Abrahart, whose daughter Natasha took her own life while she was studying at the University of Bristol in 2018, called the review "superficial".

"There's no obligation to do what it says on the tin," Mr Abrahart told the BBC.

"For ministers to say 'we expect them to do their duty, to do things properly' is just pie in the sky."

He added that universities had been given "shelves of recommendations" before, including guidance issued by Universities UK (UUK) to its 141 members.

Mrs Abrahart said universities should have a legal duty of care, which would require all universities to act with reasonable care and skill so as to avoid causing harm to students.

"It's doing your job carefully," she said. "What is unclear is what is academics' job, and what isn't."

The DfE announced the review in 2023, commissioning academics from the University of Manchester, who are part of its National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Safety in Mental Health, to conduct it independently.

Asked why a legal duty of care had not been introduced, skills minister Jacqui Smith said there were "some legal challenges".

"We do think that universities have a general duty of care to their students," she said.

"We'll be absolutely clear with universities that this is their responsibility. We've made resource available and we will continue to challenge them to deliver that."

The review comes at a time of increasing pressure on universities' finances.

The Office for Students (OfS) said this month that more than four in 10 universities in England are expecting to be in a financial deficit by this summer.

Prof Sir Steve West, vice-chancellor of the University of the West of England and a UUK board member, said universities needed to work out how to implement the recommendations "effectively" and how to "prioritise".

"That's easy to say [but] very difficult to do because there are all sorts of issues hitting universities at the moment which often compete, and we have to make choices," he said.

He added that there should be more discussions on how to enforce standards across the sector, including whether universities should have to file reports on their progress to regulators.

The DfE is due to meet with university leaders to discuss the findings of the review this week.

Additional reporting by Andrew Rogers, BBC Newsbeat.

In a makeshift tent in al-Shati refugee camp, in the north of the Gaza Strip, 33-year-old Enas Abu Daqqa holds her tiny baby daughter Niveen in her arms. A fan hums constantly behind her to break the morning heat.

Enas worries that Niveen's health might deteriorate at any point. She is only seven months old, and was born during the war with a hole in her heart.

As her mother explains how she struggled to keep her alive amid a collapsing health system in Gaza, Niveen, with her big brown eyes and tiny frame, cries and fidgets.

"The war has been very tough for her," Enas tells the BBC. "She wasn't gaining any weight, and she would get sick so easily."

Niveen's only chance to survive was to receive urgent care outside Gaza. And in early March, Jordan made that possible.

As a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel held, 29 sick Gazan children, including Niveen, were evacuated to Jordan to receive treatment in the country's hospitals. Her mother and older sister were brought out with her.

They were the first children evacuated to Jordan after King Abdullah announced plans to treat 2,000 sick Gazan children in hospitals there during a visit to the US the previous month. These evacuations were co-ordinated with the Israeli authorities who do background checks on the parents travelling with their children.

Doctors in Jordan performed successful open-heart surgery on Niveen, and she was slowly beginning to recover.

But about two weeks into the children's treatment, the ceasefire in Gaza collapsed when Israel resumed its offensive against Hamas, and the war was back on, in full force.

For weeks, Enas followed the news from her daughter's hospital room in Jordan, worrying about the safety of her husband and other children who were still in Gaza.

And then late at night on 12 May, the Jordanian authorities told Enas they were sending her and her family back to Gaza the following day, as they said Niveen had completed her treatment.

Enas was shocked.

"We left while there was a ceasefire. How could they send us back after the war had restarted?" she says, frustrated.

Enas is now reunited with her husband and children in Gaza. They say Niveen did not complete her treatment before she was sent back, and they worry that her condition could get worse.

"My daughter is in a very bad condition that could lead to her death," says Enas. "She has heart disease. Sometimes she suffocates and turns blue. She can't continue living in a tent."

On 13 May, Jordan announced that it had sent 17 children back to Gaza "after completing their treatment". And the next day, a new group of four sick children were evacuated from Gaza to Jordan.

The Jordanian authorities have told the BBC that all children sent back were in good medical condition, rejecting claims that they did not complete their treatment.

The authorities noted that the kingdom was clear from the beginning about its intention to send the children back once they were better, adding that this was necessary "for logistical and political reasons".

"Jordan's policy is to keep Palestinians on their land, and not to contribute to their displacement outside their territory," a foreign ministry statement sent to the BBC said. The return of the 17 children would also allow for more sick children to be evacuated from Gaza, it added.

But an official in the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza told the BBC the children still needed care, and that their return to the war endangered their lives.

'Forced back'

This is exactly what worries 30-year-old Nihaya Bassel.

Her son, Mohammed, who is just over a year old, suffers from asthma and serious food allergies. She believes her son did not receive the full treatment he deserved.

"We're back to living in fear and hunger, surrounded by death," Nihaya says as her eyes fill up with tears. "How can I get this child the milk that he needs to drink? He doesn't eat even though he's just over a year old, because if he eats, he will immediately get sick."

Israel imposed a strict siege on the Gaza Strip 11 weeks ago, cutting off all supplies including food, medicine, shelter and fuel. It said this and the resumed offensive were meant to put pressure on Hamas to release the hostages still held in Gaza.

International organisations warn that Palestinians living there are at "critical risk of famine". On Monday, Israel announced it would allow a "minimal" amount of food into Gaza following US pressure. The UN welcomed the crossing of five lorries carrying aid including baby food, but called it "a drop in the ocean".

Nihaya is now living in a small, tented area in al-Shati camp with her brother-in-law's family. Her husband and three other children had fled there from elsewhere in northern Gaza, escaping heavy Israeli strikes as the war restarted while she was in Jordan.

"I left my children here. I left my husband here. They went through hell while I was away," Nihaya says as she bursts into tears.

"My mind and heart were constantly with them in Gaza while I was in Jordan. All of this so that my child could get treated. Why force me back before finishing his treatment?"

As she speaks, the sounds of Israeli surveillance drones drown out her voice. Her toddler runs around next to her, at times almost stumbling into a smoky open fire in the tent that the family uses for cooking meals.

She struggles to contain her anger as she recounts her journey back to Gaza.

"We didn't leave [till] 04:00, and didn't arrive in Gaza till 22:45," she says. As they reached the border crossing, Nihaya says they were harassed by Israeli security forces.

"They started cursing at us. They threatened to beat us. They took all our money. They took our mobile phones, our bags and everything," she says, noting that they confiscated all the bags of anyone who had cash on them.

Enas said the same thing happened to her, noting that her medical supplies were confiscated too.

The Israeli army told the BBC that they confiscated "undeclared cash exceeding normal limits" from Gazans returning from Jordan due to suspicions that they would be "used for terrorism within Gaza". It notes that the money is being held while circumstances are investigated.

It has not given a reason for why other personal belongings were confiscated.

Nihaya says she has come back from Jordan "empty-handed"; even her son's medical records were in the bags that the Israeli security forces took away, she says.

Jordan says it has given children like Niveen and Mohammed the best healthcare it can offer, and both families acknowledge this.

But they worry that a life in one of the world's deadliest war zones for children will just undo all the progress their children have made over the past two months.

"I got my son to a point where I was very happy to see him like that," Nihaya says through her tears. "Now they want to bring him back to square one? I don't want my son to die."

Edited by Alexandra Fouché

The UK has suspended talks on a trade deal with Israel, summoned the country's ambassador and imposed fresh sanctions on West Bank settlers, as Foreign Secretary David Lammy described the military escalation in Gaza as "monstrous".

The move follows warnings of starvation in Gaza after Israel launched a new military operation over the weekend.

There were fiery exchanges with Conservative shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel, who suggested the actions would be welcomed by Hamas, but also angry calls for the government to go further.

In response, Israel's foreign spokesman said external pressure "will not divert Israel from its path in defending its existence".

Global experts have warned of a looming famine because the Israeli government has blockaded supplies of food, fuel and medicine into Gaza for the last 11 weeks.

The Israeli government has already been warned it must end its "egregious" military expansion and "immediately allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza" in a joint statement from the leaders of the UK, Canada and France on Monday.

Israel said it had allowed five lorries carrying humanitarian aid into the territory but the UN's humanitarian chief said this was "a drop in the ocean of what is urgently needed".

The UN said it had now been given permission to send around 100 aid trucks into Gaza.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer called the current situation "intolerable", saying "humanitarian aid needs to get in at pace".

In the Commons, there were shouts of "shame" from MPs as Lammy set out how an Israeli minister had said their latest operations would be "cleansing Gaza", "destroying what's left", and relocating Palestinians "to third countries".

"We must call this what it is," he told MPs. "It is extremism, it is dangerous, it is repellent, it is monstrous, and I condemn it in the strongest possible terms."

Lammy said Israel had suffered "a heinous attack" on 7 October 2023 and the UK had always backed the country's right to defend itself.

However, the foreign secretary said the Israeli government had set out on a "morally indefensible" and "wholly counterproductive" path that would not bring hostages safely home.

Instead, he accused the government led by Benjamin Netanyahu of "isolating Israel from its friends and partners around the world", as he announced negotiations on a free trade deal had been suspended.

The Israeli ambassador has been summoned to meet the Middle East Minister Hamish Falconer to convey the message that "the Netanyahu government's actions have made this necessary", he said.

Condemning settler violence, Lammy also set out sanctions, including asset freezes and travel bans, against three individuals and four companies "who are carrying out heinous abuses of human rights".

However, Conservative shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti said: "Strong words will do little to resolve the real challenges that are taking place and the suffering we are seeing taking place day in, day out."

She added that it "should be the cause of concern" that the UK government's actions had been "supported by Hamas, a terrorist organisation".

Following the statement there were calls for the foreign secretary to go further, including from Labour backbenchers, who raised the possibility of a breach of international law.

Abtisam Mohamed, the Labour MP for Sheffield Central, said Netanyahu had made "an explicit admission that Israeli officials intend to carry out ethnic cleansing".

Lammy said the suspension of some arms sales to Israel had ensured "none of us are complicit in any acts that breach international humanitarian law" but he had announced further measures because the war was still continuing.

"It's why [Falconer] has summoned the Israeli ambassador to make our position crystal clear," he added.

Dr Rosena Allin-Khan, the Labour MP for Tooting, also labelled the "weaponisation of food" as "morally reprehensible" and called for an arms embargo to be imposed, as well as sanctions on Israeli officials.

Lammy gave an "absolute commitment" that the UK government would take further action "if needed over the coming days and weeks".

Israeli foreign spokesman Oren Marmorstein responded defiantly to Lammy's statement on X, saying the decisions on sanctions were "unjustified".

"External pressure will not divert Israel from its path in defending its existence and security against enemies who seek its destruction," he said.

Marmorstein also suggested the UK government had not been advancing negotiations on a trade deal "at all" before the announcement in the Commons.

"If, due to anti-Israel obsession and domestic political considerations, the British government is willing to harm the British economy - that is its own prerogative," he added.

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George Wendt, who starred as Norm Peterson in the popular comedy series Cheers, has died at the age of 76.

The beloved actor and comedian died peacefully in his sleep at his home early on Tuesday morning, his family confirmed.

"George was a doting family man, a well-loved friend and confidant to all of those lucky enough to have known him. He will be missed forever," a representative told the BBC.

Wendt starred as Norm in all 275 episodes of Cheers, which ran from 1982 to 1993, earning six consecutive Emmy nominations for outstanding supporting actor in a comedy series.

He reunited with some of the cast of Cheers at the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards in 2024, including Ted Danson, Rhea Perlman, Kelsey Grammer and John Ratzenberger.

In addition to the NBC sitcom, Wendt appeared in several movies such as Dreamscape, Forever Young and Gung Ho.

He has been married to fellow actor Bernadette Birkett since 1978, with whom he has three children.

He is also the uncle of actor and comedian Jason Sudeikis.

The US has selected a design for the futuristic "Golden Dome" missile defence system, says US President Donald Trump, adding that it will be operational by the end of his time in office.

Just days after returning to the White House in January, Trump unveiled his intentions for the system, aimed at countering "next-generation" aerial threats to the US, including ballistic and cruise missiles.

An initial sum of $25bn (£18.7bn) has been earmarked in a new budget bill - although the government has estimated it will end up costing much more than that over decades.

Officials warn that existing systems have not kept pace with increasingly sophisticated weapons possessed by potential adversaries.

President Trump also announced that Space Force General Michael Guetlein will oversee the project. Gen Guetlein is currently vice chief of space operations at Space Force.

Seven days into his second administration, Trump ordered the defence department to submit plans for a system that would deter and defend against aerial attacks, which the White House said remain "the most catastrophic threat" facing the US.

Speaking in the Oval Office on Tuesday, Trump said the system would consist of "next-generation" technologies across land, sea and space, including space-based sensors and interceptors. He added that Canada had asked to be a part of the system.

During a visit to Washington earlier this year, then-Canadian defence minister Bill Blair acknowledged that Canada was interested in participating in the dome project, arguing that it "makes sense" and was in the country's "national interest".

He added that "Canada has to know what's going on in the region" and be aware of incoming threats, including in the Arctic.

Trump added that the system would be "capable even of intercepting missiles launched from the other side of the world, or launched from space".

The system is partly inspired by Israel's Iron Dome, which the country has used to intercept rockets and missiles since 2011.

The Golden Dome, however, would be many times larger and designed to combat a wider range of threats, including hypersonic weapons able to move faster than the speed of sound and fractional orbital bombardment systems - also called Fobs - that could deliver warheads from space.

"All of them will be knocked out of the air," Trump said. "The success rate is very close to 100%."

US officials had previously said that the Golden Dome will have the aim of allowing the US to stop missiles at various stages of their deployment, including before they launch and while they are still in the air.

The many aspects of the system will fall under one centralised command, US defence officials have said.

Trump said on Tuesday that the programme would require an initial investment of $25bn, with a total cost of $175bn over time. The initial $25bn has been identified within his One Big Beautiful Bill on tax, which has not yet been passed.

The Congressional Budget Office, however, has estimated that the government could ultimately spend more, up to $542bn over 20 years, on the space-based parts of the system alone.

Pentagon officials have long-warned that existing systems have not kept pace with new missile technology designed by Russia and China.

"There really is no current system," Trump said in the Oval Office on Tuesday. "We have certain areas of missiles and certain missile defence, but there is no system... there has never been anything like this."

A briefing document recently released by the Defense Intelligence Agency noted that missile threats "will expand in scale and sophistication", with China and Russia actively designing systems "to exploit gaps" in US defences.

The Labour Party has postponed its annual Women's Conference in the wake of advice following last month's ruling on the legal definition of a woman.

Last month, the Supreme Court ruled that the legal definition of a woman is based on biological sex.

Up until the ruling, Labour had allowed people to self-identify as a woman, so trans women could attend the event and also take part in "positive action" measures such as all-women shortlists.

The decision has been condemned by trans rights advocates as an "attempt to isolate trans people" and by gender critical activists as "a kneejerk reaction".

Labour Women's Conference is traditionally held the day before the main conference and brings together hundreds of women from Labour's activist base, including MPs, councillors, and supporters for a day of discussion and policy-making.

A leaked advice paper to Labour's governing body, the National Executive Committee (NEC), recommended delaying the conference because the "only legally defensible alternative" would be to restrict attendance to biological women.

The paper set out how "there is a significant risk of legal challenge to the event as it currently operates" and "there may be protests, direct action and heightened security risks" if it goes ahead on 27 September.

That could carry a "political risk" of overshadowing the party's showcase autumn conference which begins the following day on 28 September.

On Tuesday night, the party's NEC voted to delay the conference, pending a wider review of positive action measures.

The NEC also decided to postpone the elections to the National Labour Women's Committee, which are normally held at the conference, and to extend the terms of those currently serving.

Labour moved away from using all-women shortlists at the last general election. The leaked paper also advised the party to issue guidance to make clear that all-women shortlists can only apply to "applicants who were biologically female at birth".

A Labour Party spokesperson said the party must make sure all its procedures "comply with the Supreme Court's clear ruling".

"Labour is clear that everyone in our society deserves to be treated with dignity and respect," he said.

"The party will work closely with individuals and local parties to implement the necessary changes with sensitivity and care."

'Knee-jerk reaction'

Ministers will consider the Equality and Human Rights Commission's code of practice, which it has just put out for consultation.

The decision was condemned by Georgia Meadows, who was speaking as LGBT+ Labour's trans officer.

"It is a blatant attack on trans rights and is seemingly an attempt to isolate trans people even further within the Labour Party and the Labour movement more widely," they said.

The Labour Women's Declaration group, which backs "sex-based rights", said cancelling the conference would be a "knee-jerk reaction".

A spokesperson told the LabourList website: "We are shocked that hundreds of women in the Labour Party might be prevented from meeting at conference because the NEC would prefer to disadvantage all women rather than to exclude the very small number of trans-identified men who may wish to attend the women's conference."

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After more than a year and a half of the war in Gaza, Britain appears to have finally lost patience with Israel.

Speaking to MPs, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Foreign Secretary David Lammy sounded genuinely angry.

Sir Keir said the level of suffering in Gaza, especially among innocent children, was "intolerable".

Israel's decision to allow in a small amount of aid was, he said, "utterly inadequate".

The prime minister added he was "horrified" by Israel's decision to escalate its military campaign.

Lammy employed similar language, saying the situation in Gaza was "abominable".

He condemned as "monstrous" the suggestion by Israel's hardline finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, that Gaza should be cleansed of its civilian population.

Israel's actions, Lammy said, were isolating Israel from friends and partners around the world and "damaging the image of the State of Israel in the eyes of the world".

• UK steps up action against Israel over Gaza offensive
• Goodwill running out for Israel among allies
• UN says no aid yet distributed in Gaza

Nor is Britain alone in expressions of outrage or threats of concrete action.

The EU says it's reviewing its association agreement with Israel, which governs its political and economic relationship.

Kaja Kallas, the EU's foreign policy chief, said a "strong majority" of members favoured looking again at the 25-year-old agreement.

On Monday night, Britain joined France and Canada in signing a strongly worded joint statement, condemning Israel's military action and warning of "further concrete actions" if the humanitarian situation in Gaza did not approve.

Another statement followed, signed by 27 donor countries including the UK, condemning a new Gaza aid delivery model being promoted by Israel.

The model aims to replace existing humanitarian agencies, including the UN, with civilian contractors, backed by the Israeli military.

The UN and its donors say the new model is poorly conceived and politically motivated, incapable of replacing the decades-long tried and tested international humanitarian ecosystem in Gaza.

A representative of one of the aid agencies operating in Gaza told me the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation scheme was "totally premature," adding that Israel had never provided evidence to back up its assertion that Hamas was responsible for the widespread diversion of aid.

One western diplomat, quoted in Israel's liberal Haaretz newspaper, described the new model as a "crazy plan and absolute madness".

During a passionate debate in the House of Commons, Lammy clashed with his Conservative opposite number, Dame Priti Patel, who suggested Hamas was benefitting from international criticism of Israel.

Lammy accused her of refusing to confront the reality of what was happening in Gaza.

Other MPs said Britain wasn't going far enough, with several suggesting, once again, that the time has come for Britain to recognise a Palestinian state.

The government's view is that taking such a significant step for purely symbolic reasons wouldn't actually change anything.

But with France possibly poised to recognise Palestine at a conference it's co-hosting with Saudi Arabia next month, some are hoping Britain follows suit.

Even if it doesn't, it's clear that Israel's supporters are increasingly exasperated, and fearful that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's latest military operation, dubbed "Gideon's Chariots" is poised to heap misery on Gaza just as the area's two million civilians face the very real prospect of starvation.

Even US President Donald Trump has expressed impatience, warning that "a lot of people are starving" as he concluded his regional tour last week.

Netanyahu's government is losing support, even among some of Israel's staunchest allies.

At a World Jewish Congress conference in Jerusalem, the organisation's president Ronald Lauder challenged Israel's foreign minister Gideon Sa'ar.

"All the best things Israel does are being destroyed by Smotrich because his statement about starving the Gazans and causing destruction is broadcast all over the world," Lauder said, asking why Netanyahu does nothing to stop him.

According to veteran Israeli journalist Ben Caspit, Sa'ar's answer was brief.

"Duly noted."

Italy has backed President Donald Trump's suggestion the Vatican might mediate talks on negotiating a ceasefire in Ukraine, while he appears keen to step back from the process himself.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's office said Italy was ready to "facilitate contacts and work towards peace" in Ukraine and it "viewed positively" what it said was the Pope's willingness to host the talks at the Vatican.

In fact there's no firm agreement yet on further discussions: last Friday's meeting between Russian and Ukrainian officials in Istanbul brought additional demands from Moscow, not progress.

Pope Leo said last week the Vatican was "always ready" to bring enemies together and he would "make every effort" for peace to prevail.

But the Holy See says the idea of hosting, or even mediating, talks – which Trump suggested was an option - is more a hope for now than any concrete plan.

If direct engagement does continue, Ukraine seems open to the notion of the Vatican as host.

Volodymyr Zelensky posted on X on Tuesday that he had talked to Giorgia Meloni, including about "possible platforms for talks with the Russians".

The Italian prime minister had, he said, "as always, cool ideas", although he has raised Turkey and Switzerland as alternative venues too.

The Kremlin might prefer to stay in Turkey. It talks about a process called "Istanbul Plus", styling any talks as a follow-up on the deal initially discussed in Turkey shortly after the full-scale invasion.

Those terms, which included Ukraine drastically reducing its own military, would represent capitulation for Kyiv now.

But Russia has added more: the "plus" part means recognition of its annexation of four partially occupied regions of Ukraine as well as Crimea.

The actual venue matters little to the Kremlin: all it wants is for the discussion to be on Vladimir Putin's terms.

The prospect of meaningful progress, bluntly, looks slim.

But might the Vatican lend some extra moral authority in the push for some kind of compromise?

The Catholic Church has a history of helping to mediate conflicts and it has already been involved in talks to free prisoners and return Ukrainian children abducted by Russia.

Its real input there isn't clear, though, as others have fulfilled the same role.

On the other hand, the Vatican – especially any involvement of the new Pope – would introduce a different tone to proceedings.

Its quiet style couldn't be further from Donald Trump's capitalised social media posts and his brutal public showdown with Zelensky in the Oval Office. And the setting already seems to have worked wonders on the men's relationship.

It was at Pope Francis' funeral that they were snapped deep in conversation, heads close, inside St Peter's Basilica.

The Vatican prides itself on its diplomacy: that's why, when others severed ties with Moscow after it began bombing Ukraine, the Catholic Church sent a cardinal envoy to talk to the Kremlin. It made no impact.

Pope Francis, like Donald Trump, always avoided openly identifying Russia as the aggressor. Vatican sources say that was to keep the door for dialogue ajar, even when it seemed hopeless.

But Francis upset Ukrainians more by suggesting that Russia had been "provoked" by Nato into its invasion. He then agreed it might be wise for Kyiv to "raise the white flag" and surrender.

For Kyiv, Pope Leo might be a preferable potential peace-broker. He is on record as bishop denouncing Russia's invasion as an imperialist war and condemning crimes against humanity being committed by Putin's troops.

That's unlikely to faze the Kremlin, if the Vatican were ever to host talks.

"Putin can explain his position to the Pope, he believes it's just. In his mind, it's Ukraine that's not serious about peace talks," argued Tatiana Stanovaya, from the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Centre.

"I don't believe for one second that the Pope could affect Putin's understanding in any way."

At this point, Russia is under no major pressure to give ground: all Donald Trump's talk of punishing Putin for his intransigence has turned into talk of trade with Russia. Offering incentives, not threating sanctions.

It's true that Moscow wanted a lot more.

"They want Zelensky removed and for the US and EU to stop military aid, but on this, the US has been on Ukraine's side – from the Russian perspective," Tatiana Stanovaya says.

So Russia is prepared to play the long game - which doesn't involve compromise.

"If the Pope could help pressure Ukraine, Putin wouldn't have a problem [with his involvement]," she says.

That seems to be the real issue here. It runs far deeper than whether the two sides eat meze or antipasti between hypothetical rounds of fresh talks.

An exotic dancer called The Punisher discovered his client's identity when he turned on a hotel suite television before an encounter and the screen said, "Welcome Sean Combs".

Sharay Hayes testified at the hip-hop mogul's sex-trafficking trial that he was hired to create what he called "sexy, erotic scenes" with Combs' then-girlfriend Casandra "Cassie" Ventura while a naked man watched from the corner.

But he did not realise at first that the man was Mr Combs. That changed when Mr Hayes was in a luxury hotel suite in New York waiting for his clients and he saw his name on the television's welcome screen.

Mr Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty to racketeering, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution.

Mr Hayes testified in a New York courtroom on Tuesday about his first meeting with the couple. He was "specifically told to not acknowledge" the man in the room and he said Mr Combs wore a veil over his face.

They were in a hotel room in Trump Tower on Central Park West and Ms Ventura greeted him at the door wearing a bath robe, Mr Hayes said.

Inside the room, the furniture was covered in sheets and there were "little bowls" on the floor with bottles of baby oil.

Mr Hayes' testimony comes after the court heard from Daniel Phillip, who last week claimed he was paid to have sex with Ms Ventura while Mr Combs watched.

Cassie's mother took photographs of daughter's injuries

Also on Tuesday, the court heard from Regina Ventura, the mother of R&B singer Cassie.

An email from Ms Ventura to her mother from 23 December, 2011 was shown as evidence. In it, she wrote that Mr Combs had made threats towards her, and that he would "release 2 explicit sex tapes of me".

The email also said Mr Combs had told Ms Ventura he would be "having someone hurt me" and "he made a point that it wouldn't be by his hands, he actually said he'd be out of the country when it happened".

After the email was shown in court, Ms Ventura's mother identified several images of her daughter taken in her family home in Connecticut around the same time.

They show bruises across Ms Ventura's upper and lower back, and her leg.

Ms Ventura's mother alleged the bruises were from being her being "beaten by Sean Combs".

She also testified that Mr Combs had demanded $20,000, because "he was angry that he had spent money" on Ms Ventura.

Ms Ventura's mother testified that she took out a loan with her husband and sent the money to an account as directed by Mr Combs' "bookkeeper".

"I was scared for my daughter's safety," Ms Ventura told the court, adding that she felt she had to pay "because he demanded it".

The money then reappeared in their account about four days later, Ms Ventura said. There was no communication about its return.

Earlier on Tuesday, the defence vigourously cross-examined a former personal assistant of Mr Combs and pointed out some inconsistencies in the versions of events he had previously told the government.

The trial is expected to last several weeks and Mr Combs could face a life sentence if found guilty.

Police have arrested a maintenance worker at the New Orleans jail for helping ten inmates break out of the US facility last week, Louisiana's attorney general has announced.

The worker, identified as 33-year-old Sterling Williams, was arrested on Monday night, according to the BBC's US partner CBS News.

Mr Williams is accused of turning off the water to the cell that was used for the escape, which involved removing a toilet from the wall.

The inmates escaped from the Orleans Parish Jail in the early hours of 16 May. Three were captured later that day, and a fourth was apprehended on Monday.

Police earlier said several of the detainees were facing charges of murder and other violent offences.

Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said in her statement that Mr Williams "admitted to agents that one of the escapees advised him to turn the water off in the cell where the inmates escaped from".

"Instead of reporting the inmate, Williams turned the water off as directed allowing the inmates to carry out their scheme to successfully escape," she added.

Mr Williams is facing 10 counts of a charge known as principal to simple escape, and another of malfeasance in office. He is yet to comment publicly.

Liz Murrill said the investigation was ongoing, and that authorities would "uncover all the facts eventually and anyone who aided and abetted will be prosecuted to the full extent the law allows".

"I encourage anyone who knows anything and even those who may have provided assistance to come forward now to obtain the best possible outcome in their particular case," she said.

Sheriff Susan Hutson earlier said that the inmates yanked the sliding door from their jail cell off its tracks at 00:23 in the early hours of Friday morning (05:23 GMT).

Separately, they later ripped the toilet off the wall and broke metal bars around a hole used for piping that was exposed by the missing toilet.

The group then made their escape by climbing down a wall and running across a highway, the sheriff said.

The sheriff's office released images of the hole in the wall, which shows what the piping fixture looked like before the toilet was ripped out. The photos note that "there are clean cuts" on the metal bars.

The images also show messages and drawings on the wall apparently left behind by the inmates, including the words "To (sic) Easy LoL" with an arrow pointing to the hole, and a smiley face with its tongue out. Another message, partially smudged, appears to tell officers to catch the inmates when they can.

The prison is located near the centre of New Orleans, around 3km (2 miles) from its famous French Quarter.

The UN says no aid has yet been distributed in Gaza despite aid lorries starting to cross the border after an 11-week blockade.

Israeli officials said 93 trucks entered Gaza on Tuesday, carrying aid including flour, baby food, medical equipment, and pharmaceutical drugs.

But the UN said, despite trucks reaching the Palestinian side of the Kerem Shalom crossing, no aid had yet been distributed.

Its spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said a team "waited several hours" for Israel to allow them to access the area but "unfortunately, they were not able to bring those supplies into our warehouse".

Israel agreed on Sunday to lift its aid blockade on the Gaza Strip, where global experts have warned of a looming famine.

But international pressure on Israel has continued to grow.

The UK said it would be suspending trade talks over what it described as Israel's "morally unjustifiable" military escalation in Gaza, with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer describing the situation as "intolerable".

Meanwhile, the EU's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the bloc would be reviewing its trade agreement with Israel in light of its actions in Gaza.

Dujarric said the aid operation was made "complex" as Israel required the UN to "offload supplies on the Palestinian side of the Kerem Shalom crossing, and reload them separately once they secure our teams' access from inside the Gaza Strip".

He added the arrival of the supplies was a positive development but described it as "a drop in the ocean of what's needed".

UN bodies estimate 600 trucks a day are required to begin tackling Gaza's chronic humanitarian crisis.

Earlier, the UN's humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher told the BBC thousands of babies could die in Gaza if Israel does not immediately let aid in.

Speaking to the BBC's Today programme, Mr Fletcher said: "There are 14,000 babies that will die in the next 48 hours unless we can reach them."

When pressed on how he had arrived at that figure, he said there were "strong teams on the ground" operating in medical centres and schools - but did not provide further details.

The BBC later asked for clarification on the figure from the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), which said: "We are pointing to the imperative of getting supplies in to save an estimated 14,000 babies suffering from severe acute malnutrition in Gaza, as the IPC partnership has warned about. We need to get the supplies in as soon as possible, ideally within the next 48 hours."

It highlighted a report from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) which stated 14,100 severe cases of acute malnutrition are expected to occur among children aged six to 59 months between April 2025 and March 2026.

The IPC report says this could take place over the course of about a year - not 48 hours.

When pressed on the figures at a news conference, UNOCHA spokesman Jens Laerke said: "For now let me just say that we know for a fact that there are babies who are in urgent life-saving need of these supplements that need to come in because their mothers are unable to feed themselves."

"And if they do not get those, they will be in mortal danger," he said.

Last week, the Hamas-run health ministry reported 57 children had died from the effects of malnutrition over the past 11 weeks.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday welcomed Israel's decision to allow some aid into Gaza, telling the Senate Foreign Relations Committee: "We are pleased to see that aid is starting to flow in again."

Replying to a Democrat who said the number of aid trucks allowed in was too little, Rubio said: "I understand your point that it's not in sufficient amounts, but we were pleased to see that decision was made."

On Monday, the leaders of the UK, France and Canada issued a statement calling on the Israeli government to "stop its military operations" and "immediately allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza".

As part of its announcement today, the UK also issued sanctions on several prominent Israeli settlers and settler-linked groups.

Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to Hamas's cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

At least 53,475 people have been killed in Gaza since then, including 3,340 since the Israeli offensive resumed, according to the territory's health ministry.

It remains unclear whether UK passport holders will be able to use e-gates at EU airports this summer.

The EU Commission has told the BBC that UK citizens will not have access to them until a new scheme to enhance border security comes into force in October, and even then it is up to individual countries.

When asked if e-gates would be available this summer, the prime minister's official spokesperson said it was up to individual nations to implement the changes and it would update on "the precise timelines for that... in due course."

Since the UK left the EU bloc, many popular holiday destinations have seen long queues of British travellers at airports as they wait for passports to be checked.

The new European Entry/Exit Scheme (EES) gathers biometric data on citizens arriving in the EU from non-member, third-party countries, which includes the UK.

After technology delays, it is now due to roll out in October 2025.

Monday's deal between the UK and the EU says there will be "no legal barriers to eGate use for British Nationals traveling to and from EU Member States after the introduction of the EU Entry/Exit System (EES)".

An EU Commission spokesperson told the BBC that the introduction of the EES will open the possibility of using e-gates for all non-EU citizens, including UK citizens and mean faster processing at borders.

"Once the EES is in place, UK nationals will therefore be able to use e-gates where they are available, provided they are registered in the system."

Confusion over timeline

However, Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden said it was "highly unlikely" passport holders would be able to use EU e-gates this summer.

"The EU is introducing this new entry and exit scheme so nothing is going to happen before that's in place, and that's not yet in place. They've put the date back for that a few times, the latest date is the autumn, let's see if that's stuck to.

"After that it's up to the member states. But this gives us the possibility, I'd say the probability, that people will be able to use the e-gates in future, which is not a possibility at the moment."

Some EU countries already allow UK citizens to use their e-gates, so it is possible that talks with individual nations could result in more letting British passengers use their gates this summer.

Surprise inclusion

The inclusion of e-gates in the deal has surprised some in the travel industry, as they had understood the gates were always going to be available to UK passport holders in the EU once EES begins in October.

Julia Lo Bue-Said, chief executive of the Advantage Travel Partnership, an independent travel group, said:

"This new deal appears to offer little more than expanded access to e-gates which are already in use at some destinations and only after the long-delayed digital border system (EES) is introduced, currently planned for an October launch."

Currently, EU destinations which already allow UK passport holders to use e-gates often then require a secondary check and a passport stamp.

The new deal and EES means UK passport holders will likely no longer require a stamp.

The launch of EES has been in the pipeline for a while. It will see non-EU nationals needing to add their biometric data to a new EU database, which will be done at the point of departure to the EU, either at an airport, port or train station.

Millions of Mastercard users could get up to £70 each after a court ruled that historic fees charged by the provider to be unfair.

The decision comes after a long-running legal case going back a decade, brought forward by a former financial ombudsman.

Walter Merricks argued that shoppers were charged higher prices after fees were wrongly levied on transactions made over a 15-year period between 1992 and 2008.

Mastercard has been approached for comment.

Mr Merricks said that, despite retailers paying the fees, shoppers had lost out as retailers passed on these costs in the form of higher prices.

The former financial ombudsman launched his claim after the European Commission ruled in 2007 that Mastercard's "multilateral interchange fees" charged to businesses had infringed competition law since the year 1992.

He alleged that 46 million shoppers in Britain were overcharged.

The fees were paid by retailers accepting Mastercard payments, rather than by consumers themselves.

Lorraine Kelly's morning show on ITV will be cut from an hour to 30 minutes as more than 220 jobs across the station's daytime output are expected to be cut, the broadcaster has announced.

From January 2026, Good Morning Britain (GMB) will be extended by half an hour to fill the gap, running from 06:00 to 09.30 daily.

Lorraine, which currently runs for almost the entire year, will now only air for 30 weeks out of 52, with GMB extended by 30 minutes during the weeks Lorraine is not on air, until 10:00.

The 220 job cuts are expected to be made across daytime shows GMB, Lorraine, This Morning, and Loose Women.

Deadline reports ITV's daytime staff currently amounts to about 450 employees in total.

Loose Women will remain in its current slot - 12:30 to 13:30 daily - but again, will now be cut to 30 weeks of the year.

This Morning, hosted by Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard, is to remain in its 10:00 - 12:30 slot on weekdays across the year.

'Trusted journalism'

Kevin Lygo, managing director of ITV's media and entertainment division, said: "Daytime is a really important part of what we do, and these scheduling and production changes will enable us to continue to deliver a schedule providing viewers with the news, debate and discussion they love from the presenters they know and trust, as well as generating savings which will allow us to reinvest across the programme budget in other genres.

"These changes also allow us to consolidate our news operations and expand our national, international and regional news output and to build upon our proud history of trusted journalism at a time when our viewers need accurate, unbiased news coverage more than ever."

ITV Studios, which produces the channel's daytime shows, is consulting with its daytime teams about a proposal that would see its three editorially distinct shows - Lorraine, This Morning and Loose Women - produced by one team sharing resources and operations from 2026.

GMB will move across from ITV Studios to ITV News at ITN, bringing all its national news gathering into one hub.

Scottish presenter Kelly has fronted Lorraine since 2010. Ranvir Singh and Christine Lampard present the show when Kelly is off.

In February, ITV announced that soaps Coronation Street and Emmerdale would see their content cut by an hour a week between them from next year.

In the past few years, there has been a downturn in advertising revenue, part of a funding squeeze throughout the TV industry.

Police have arrested a maintenance worker at the New Orleans jail for helping ten inmates break out of the US facility last week, Louisiana's attorney general has announced.

The worker, identified as 33-year-old Sterling Williams, was arrested on Monday night, according to the BBC's US partner CBS News.

Mr Williams is accused of turning off the water to the cell that was used for the escape, which involved removing a toilet from the wall.

The inmates escaped from the Orleans Parish Jail in the early hours of 16 May. Three were captured later that day, and a fourth was apprehended on Monday.

Police earlier said several of the detainees were facing charges of murder and other violent offences.

Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said in her statement that Mr Williams "admitted to agents that one of the escapees advised him to turn the water off in the cell where the inmates escaped from".

"Instead of reporting the inmate, Williams turned the water off as directed allowing the inmates to carry out their scheme to successfully escape," she added.

Mr Williams is facing 10 counts of a charge known as principal to simple escape, and another of malfeasance in office. He is yet to comment publicly.

Liz Murrill said the investigation was ongoing, and that authorities would "uncover all the facts eventually and anyone who aided and abetted will be prosecuted to the full extent the law allows".

"I encourage anyone who knows anything and even those who may have provided assistance to come forward now to obtain the best possible outcome in their particular case," she said.

Sheriff Susan Hutson earlier said that the inmates yanked the sliding door from their jail cell off its tracks at 00:23 in the early hours of Friday morning (05:23 GMT).

Separately, they later ripped the toilet off the wall and broke metal bars around a hole used for piping that was exposed by the missing toilet.

The group then made their escape by climbing down a wall and running across a highway, the sheriff said.

The sheriff's office released images of the hole in the wall, which shows what the piping fixture looked like before the toilet was ripped out. The photos note that "there are clean cuts" on the metal bars.

The images also show messages and drawings on the wall apparently left behind by the inmates, including the words "To (sic) Easy LoL" with an arrow pointing to the hole, and a smiley face with its tongue out. Another message, partially smudged, appears to tell officers to catch the inmates when they can.

The prison is located near the centre of New Orleans, around 3km (2 miles) from its famous French Quarter.

The UK government has announced sanctions on Daniella Weiss, a far-right Israeli settler known as the "godmother" of the settler movement.

Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the move "demonstrates our determination to hold extremist settlers to account as Palestinian communities suffer violence and intimidation".

Weiss, 79, is the leader of a radical settler organisation called Nachala - or homeland - which has also been sanctioned.

For decades, Weiss has been prominent in the founding of Jewish settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, on land captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war.

In the sanctions sheet, she was described as having been involved in "threatening, perpetrating, promoting and supporting, acts of aggression and violence against Palestinian individuals".

An Israeli foreign ministry spokesperson described the sanctions - which also target two other settlers, two illegal settler outposts, and two organisations - as "unjustified, and regrettable".

Weiss was recently featured in Louis Theroux's documentary "The Settlers" - and has been active in the movement to rebuild settlements in Gaza.

Speaking to BBC News last year, she said: "Gaza Arabs will not stay in the Gaza Strip. Who will stay? Jews."

"The world is wide," she added. "Africa is big. Canada is big. The world will absorb the people of Gaza. How we do it? We encourage it. Palestinians in Gaza, the good ones, will be enabled. I'm not saying forced, I say enabled because they want to go."

In response to the sanctions, Weiss said hundreds of families "are prepared and ready to implement settlement in Gaza - immediately".

Nachala called for "conquest, immigration and settlement in Gaza" and added that it wants Israel to "continue the war until the enemy is destroyed".

The UK also announced sanctions on two other settlers - Zohar Sabah and Harel David Libi, as well as the outposts Coco's Farm, and Neria's Farm, and the organisation Libi Construction and Infrastructure LTD.

Outposts are settlements built without official Israeli authorisation.

"The Israeli government has a responsibility to intervene and halt these aggressive actions. Their consistent failure to act is putting Palestinian communities and the two-state solution in peril," Lammy added.

Additionally, the UK government announced it would pause free trade negotiations with Israel with immediate effect, saying "it is not possible to advance discussions" with "a Netanyahu government that is pursuing egregious policies in the West Bank and Gaza".

An Israeli foreign ministry spokesperson responded: "If, due to anti-Israel obsession and domestic political considerations, the British government is willing to harm the British economy — that is its own prerogative."

The move follows a strongly-worded joint-statement from the leaders of the UK, France and Canada on Monday which called on the Israeli government to "stop its military operations" and "immediately allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza".

Israel has said it will allow a "basic amount of food" into Gaza, ending an 11-week blockade of the territory, which it said was aimed at pressuring Hamas to release remaining hostages.

But United Nations aid chief Tom Fletcher said the amount of aid was a "drop in the ocean of what is urgently needed".

Many of you have been submitting questions to Your Voice, Your BBC News about the deal signed this week between the UK and European Union.

Your questions have touched on a range of issues, including jobs, food and travel.

Our experts have been digging into the detail to figure out what the deal means for you and your family.

Will professional qualifications be recognised across the UK-EU border?

Anna Maria, a dental student studying in Bulgaria, asked about mutual recognition of professional qualifications, which was a Labour Party manifesto pledge. Our political reporter Becky Morton has looked into the details of the deal.

In its manifesto last year, Labour said it would seek to "secure a mutual recognition agreement for professional qualifications, external to help open up markets for UK service exporters".

That would mean professionals such as doctors, lawyers and accountants who qualified in one country could practice in another with minimal extra bureaucracy - a system already in place across the EU.

Monday's deal promises to set up "dedicated dialogues" on the recognition of professional qualifications, but a full agreement could take much longer to negotiate.

Such an agreement would make it easier for British companies to move staff between the UK and EU and undertake short-term work in Europe.

However, there may be less incentive for the EU to agree a deal, given the current situation makes it harder for UK firms to compete for business in Europe.

Will Brits be able to skip long queues for non-EU passport holders?

Malcolm in Bristol wanted more clarity on what the agreement will mean for passport queues for UK citizens visiting the EU. Our transport correspondent Simon Browning explains.

While some EU ports and airports already allow UK citizens to use modern e-gates, many do not and queues have become familiar to holidaymakers.

The new agreement provides more clarity on e-gates and sets out that in the future, UK citizens will be able to use them - but the EU Commission says that will not come into force in time for this summer.

However, the UK government has indicated it is hopeful there could be changes in time for the summer, so the timeline still appears to be up for debate.

The EU says there will be no change before a new EU border security scheme comes into force in October, which will see biometric data including fingerprints collected from passengers coming from non-EU countries such as the UK.

It will mean manned desks where people will have to queue in order to enter some EU countries could still be a feature of travel beyond this year, even if e-gate usage becomes more widely available.

In short, that will mean long queues at some destinations could continue during this holiday season and perhaps beyond.

Any decision about UK citizens using e-gates will not be a blanket one across the bloc. Instead, it will be up to individual countries to decide how they manage queues at their borders.

Will pet passports resume in time for the summer?

We have received a lot of questions about pet passports. Our political correspondent Jack Fenwick has looked into when the scheme will be up and running.

In short, we just do not know yet whether there will be any change in time for this summer.

The agreement between the UK and EU commits to introducing a new passport system which would make it easier for people to travel with their pets and end the need to acquire repeat vet certificates.

Many British holidaymakers will be keen for these rules to be introduced in time for their trip this year.

However, so-called pet passports come under a part of the deal known as the sanitary and phytosanitary agreement - and while the UK and EU have agreed to work together in this area, the full scope of it has not been fully fleshed out yet.

What does the deal mean for British farmers?

Chris in Bristol asked whether UK farmers would have to accept EU regulations on food standards. Our business correspondent Simon Jack has assessed the impact.

The new agreement removes the need for time consuming and costly veterinary checks and forms - but in return, the UK will have to align with EU food standards.

As those regulations change, the UK will have to change too.

The government insists it will have a say in how those rules develop and it may be able to negotiate exceptions - but they will not have a vote.

The National Farmers Union has broadly welcomed the new deal because it provides easier and quicker access to a big market for perishable products, in which the speed that goods can be moved is important.

Will it be easier for British bands to tour in Europe?

Andy in Eastbourne asked whether this deal would allow for the free and unrestricted movement of musicians and bands on tour in Europe. Our political reporter Becky Morton answered.

Since Brexit, British musicians have faced extra costs and red tape when touring Europe.

The industry has been urging the government to find a solution and Labour's general election manifesto pledged to "help our touring artists" as part of negotiations with the EU.

But the deal agreed on Monday only recognises the "value" of touring artists and promises to continue efforts "to support travel and cultural exchange".

The UK says it will explore "how best to improve arrangements for touring across the European continent".

Tom Kiehl, chief executive of UK Music, which represents the industry, welcomed this as "an important first step" but said the sector was seeking "more concrete commitments".

Will this agreement impact the UK's ability to boost trade around the world?

Brian in Nottingham asked about any knock-on effect the agreement may have on the UK's ability to negotiate trade deals with other nations. Political correspondent Jack Fenwick looked into it for him.

If the UK was to re-join the customs union or single market, there would be knock-on effects for other trade agreements, like the Trans-Pacific Partnership - but this relatively limited agreement does not go nearly that far.

However, the UK will now effectively be a rule-taker when it comes to EU standards on food and farming exports - but the government is fairly comfortable with that for two reasons.

Firstly, ministers do not want to lower food standards anyway, which we saw during recent trade negotiations with the US.

Secondly, the level of trade the UK has with the EU massively outstrips other agreements signed in recent years.

This UK-EU deal is expected to eventually boost the economy by around £9bn a year, largely from food, farming and energy trading. Compare that with the much broader agreement signed with India this year, which will bring economic benefits of around £5bn a year.

The Spanish government has called for the removal of the listings of nearly 66,000 properties on rental platform Airbnb on the grounds that they breach regulations for tourist accommodation.

The clampdown comes as protests against over-tourism have begun ahead of the summer season. Demonstrations in the Canary Islands on Sunday attracted thousands of people.

The minister for social rights, consumer affairs and the 2030 Agenda, Pablo Bustinduy, said the rental properties in question had "violated various norms regarding housing for tourist use".

The announcement followed a Madrid court ruling that Airbnb must immediately withdraw from the market 5,800 of the properties cited by the ministry.

The properties are in six regions: Madrid, Andalusia, Catalonia, Valencia, the Basque Country and the Balearic Islands.

Bustinduy's ministry is now awaiting further judicial rulings on the other 60,000 or so properties whose listings it deems unlawful.

According to the ministry, the properties it has identified either did not provide a licence number, provided an erroneous number, or did not specify the legal status of the owner to show whether they were renting on a professional basis or as a private individual.

He described the court's decision as "a clear victory for those who fight to protect the right to housing".

Bustinduy added that "it can be possible to ensure that no economic interest has priority over housing and that no company, however big or powerful, is above the law".

Housing has emerged as Spaniards' biggest concern in recent months, due to spiralling rental costs, particularly in larger towns and cities.

Read more: Spanish fightback against record tourism

The cost of an average rental has doubled over the last decade, while salaries have failed to keep up.

Tourist apartments have been identified by many as a major cause of the problem, depriving local residents of accommodation.

Spain is the world's second most popular tourist destination after France, with 94 million foreign visitors in 2024, a 13% rise on the previous year.

Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said earlier this year "there are too many Airbnbs and not enough homes", and he promised to prevent the "uncontrolled" expansion of the use of properties for tourism.

Some local governments have also started to act against Airbnb.

Barcelona City Hall has said it will eliminate its 10,000 short-term tourist apartments by the end of 2028.

Others have taken a different approach. In recent months, Airbnb has reached agreements with local authorities in the Canary Islands, Ibiza and Murcia aimed at ensuring property owners comply with tourist rental rules.

Airbnb responded to the court ruling and Bustinduy's announcement by insisting it would appeal against decisions linked to this case and that no evidence of rule-breaking by hosts had been provided.

It also cited a 2022 ruling by the Spanish Supreme Court which found that the responsibility for listing information lay with the host of each property, not the company, which was a "neutral intermediary" and not a real estate provider.

The firm also made a broader point about the Spanish housing problem.

"The root cause of the affordable housing crisis in Spain is a lack of supply to meet demand," said a spokesperson. "Governments across the world are seeing that regulating Airbnb does not alleviate housing concerns or return homes to the market – it only hurts local families who rely on hosting to afford their homes and rising costs."

Last summer, Spain saw a wave of protests against over-tourism in many popular destinations, with its impact on housing the biggest grievance.

With the number of foreign visitors to Spain fast approaching 100 million per year, the unrest is expected to continue this summer.

On Sunday, several thousand people took to the streets across the Canary Islands under the slogan "Canaries have a limit".

In Majorca, a group called Menys Turisme, Més Vida (Less tourism, more life) is preparing for similar actions, with a protest scheduled for 15 June.

The family of a firefighter who died in a blaze that claimed three lives have said her "bravery and fearlessness shone through right until the end".

Firefighters Jennie Logan, 30, and Martyn Sadler, 38, along with father-of-two Dave Chester, 57, were killed in the blaze that engulfed the Bicester Motion site on Thursday evening.

Two more firefighters remain in hospital in a stable condition after suffering serious injuries in the fire, which was brought under control. A police investigation has since been launched.

In a statement released by Thames Valley Police, Ms Logan's family said she was a "much loved daughter to us, her sister, Emilie, and 'Mum' to her beloved dog, Mouse".

Ms Logan owned a dog business and used to attend shows with her dog Mouse.

"We still can't believe we'll never see her again, driving around Bicester collecting her dogs, which were like a second family," the family statement continued.

"She found her calling three years ago when she joined the fire service where she could use her incredible strength and determination.

"Jennie was a force to be reckoned with but to everyone who knew her, she was such a loving, caring, thoughtful person, who would do anything and everything to help.

"She lived life at 100mph, juggling her business with her love for rugby, where she made some truly amazing friends.

"When Jennie's pager went off, there was no stopping her.

The statement went on to say: "Never did we think that when running out the door last Thursday, to give it her all, like she always did, it would be for the final time.

"Her bravery and fearlessness shone through right until the end.

"Our lives will never be the same, we'll miss her beautiful smile and zest for life.

"She will always be our hero and we are so immensely proud of her. Forever in our hearts."

Following the fire, Bicester Town Council opened books of condolence, while church services and a two-minute silence took place on Sunday.

Nicholas Mawer, who represents Bicester North on Cherwell District Council, told the BBC those lost in the fire were "the best of Bicester".

"Thankfully these incidents are very rare but it's deeply affected the community," he added.

Ms Logan and Mr Sadler were members of Bicester Rugby Union Football Club (BRUFC), with Ms Logan on the Bicester Vixens women's team.

"We are a tight-knit club," BRUFC's chairman Paul Jaggers said.

"Obviously losing two of your members in any situation is really tough and it's had a profound impact."

A fundraiser launched by the club has raised more than £11,000 for the Fire Fighters charity since the tragedy.

Mr Jaggers described it as an "initial start".

"The intention was always to run some events later in the year to remember Jennie and Martyn, and raise money alongside those, so hopefully this is just the beginning," he added.

The fire was reported at about 18:30 BST on Thursday and rapidly spread through the former aircraft hangar at the site on Buckingham Road, and a major incident was declared.

Ten fire and rescue crews were called to tackle the blaze as witnesses reported seeing black smoke in the sky.

Bicester Motion is home to more than 50 specialist businesses, focused on classic car restoration and engineering on the former site of RAF Bicester.

It was home to RAF Bomber Command in World War Two and became redundant in 2004.

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An 11-year-old girl who drowned during a birthday party at a water park in Berkshire was unlawfully killed following gross breaches in health and safety, a coroner has concluded.

Kyra Hill got into difficulty in a designated swimming area at Liquid Leisure near Windsor on 6 August 2022.

An inquest at Berkshire Coroner's Court in Reading was told how Kyra, from London, was found more than an hour after emergency services were first alerted.

The owner of the park was fined £80,000 in June 2024.

Breaches included the lack of an emergency plan or a risk assessment, the inquest heard.

The only warning signs related to shallow water, despite depths reaching 4.67m in parts of the swimming area, senior coroner Heidi Connor said.

A 17-year-old lifeguard spotted Kyra struggling at about 15:20 BST on 6 August 2022 and dived in after her, before leaving the water to tell colleagues.

A manager quickly attended, but emergency services were only called 37 minutes afterwards, Ms Connor said previously.

A diver missed several calls and he enter the water in an effort to find Kyra at about 16:30, finding her at about 17:10.

Her father, Leonard Hill, fought back tears as he read a pen portrait of his daughter at the inquest on Tuesday.

"Kyra was a beautiful, beaming beacon of light in the lives of all who were fortunate enough to know her", he said.

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Ryanair has ordered some flight attendants in Spain to repay salary increases of up to €3,000 (£2,525) following a legal dispute with their union.

The Irish airline has written to Spanish trade union the USO to say it will be informing its members how much they owe after it won a court case which nullified a pay deal agreed with a different group.

The salary increase was agreed with the separate CCOO union but it applied to all flight attendants.

Ryanair said: "USO are complaining about pay cuts that result from their court case. Ryanair is complying with the court case that USO took to cut pay while it is under appeal."

The union told the BBC: "We are working on finding the most adequate legal solution for the matter."

According to the USO, the rises that Ryanair is attempting to claw back from union members range between €1,500 and €3,000 and were paid between October last year and March, when a Spanish court gave its ruling on the original salary deal.

A spokesperson for Ryanair declined to answer questions on how many flight attendants it is pursuing or what will happen if they do not pay back the money.

But the USO said the airline has told the affected flight attendants "that the money will be simply deducted from the payslip until the debt is paid".

It added that "some of the non-aligned workers are not forced to pay the amount back" but "all USO delegates have been requested to return the money".

In a letter, Ryanair describes the union's decision to maintain the terms agreed under the original deal with the CCOO, which the USO fought to nullify, as "farcical".

However, the union maintains that those negotiating the deal were not authorised to do so and "legally couldn't sign that kind of agreement which is why USO left the negotiations, after advising all other parties that the negotiations were irregular".

The union added that members and non-members have had their salary reverted to what it was before the agreement was implemented.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has said she will listen to concerns over the government's decision to cut winter fuel payments for millions of pensioners.

More than nine million pensioners lost out on payments worth up to £300 after the chancellor restricted eligibility for the pension top-up last year.

Some Labour MPs have blamed the policy for the party's losses at last month's local elections, and the Runcorn and Helsby by-election.

It comes after media reports suggested ministers were thinking about softening the impact of the cuts later this year.

The i newspaper has reported the government is considering whether to increase the £11,500 income threshold over which pensioners are no longer eligible for the allowance.

When asked if she was looking at making this change, Reeves told the BBC's Newscast podcast the government faced a "tough inheritance" and took some "tough decisions" to stabilise the public finances after winning last year's general election.

But she added: "I do understand the concerns that people have."

She said she would "continue to listen to understand the concerns that people have raised".

"We are a government that listens," the chancellor said.

"But we would always need to show where the money is going to come from if we're going to make any policy changes. That would be part of the normal process."

The chancellor said "everything always has to be affordable, because this government will live within its means".

She said Labour had "drawn a line under the economic mismanagement of the previous government", adding there was "much more to do to improve living standards for working people".

Her comments mark a change in tone since Reeves urged Labour MPs to back her plan to cut winter fuel payments in September last year.

At a meeting of Labour MPs that month, Reeves told Labour backbenchers: "It is the right thing to do, to target money at a time when finances are so stretched, at people who need them most."

Earlier this month, the Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer's spokesman told reporters there "will not be a change to the government's policy" on the winter fuel payment, despite growing calls within Labour ranks for a rethink.

Some MPs raised questions about the payment as they grilled Sir Keir at a meeting in Parliament on Monday.

Speaking to the BBC ahead of that meeting, Labour MP Stella Creasy said it would be "remiss" of the government to dismiss concerns over the winter fuel payment.

"Those concerns are being heard across the party," Creasy said.

"Those of us who have been around a long time and among new MPs, there's a genuine concern to get this right and that's now what the government needs to respond to."

The winter fuel payment is a lump-sum amount of £200 a year for pensioners under 80, increasing to £300 for over-80s, paid in November or December.

Last year, the government restricted the payments to those who qualify for pension credit and other income-related benefits, in a bid to save £1.4bn.

The move did not feature in Labour's general election manifesto.

It was seen as a key issue at this month's local elections, at which Labour lost 187 council seats and control of the only council it was defending.

The winter fuel payment was introduced in 1997 by New Labour as a universal payment for all pensioners.

It was billed as a way to guarantee they would be able to pay for increased heating costs over the winter - although in practice it is a pension top-up, which recipients can spend on whatever they want.

This year state pensions are going up by 4.1% - a rise of £363 a year for those on the basic pension, or £472 for those on the new pension.

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A second man has been charged in relation to fires at two properties and in a car linked to Sir Keir Starmer, the Metropolitan Police has said.

Romanian national Stanislav Carpiuc, 26, from Romford, was charged with conspiracy to commit arson with intent to endanger life following the fires in north London.

He was arrested on 17 May at London's Luton Airport and is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Tuesday morning.

The charges relate to three incidents - a vehicle fire in Kentish Town, north London, a fire at the prime minister's private home on the same street and a fire at an address that he previously lived at in north-west London.

Carpiuc is accused of conspiring with Roman Lavrynovych and others "unknown to damage by fire property belonging to another, intending to damage the property, intending to endanger the life of another or being reckless as to whether the life of another would thereby be endangered", the Met said.

Lavrynovych, of Sydenham, appeared in court on Friday charged with three counts of arson with intent to endanger life.

He was remanded in custody and will appear at the Old Bailey on 6 June.

A third man, aged 34, was arrested on Monday in the Chelsea on suspicion of conspiracy to commit arson with intent to endanger life.

A UK-based people smuggler who helped organise the movement of more than 3,000 migrants as part of a £12 million illegal boat crossing operation has been jailed for 25 years.

Egyptian-born Ahmed Ebid, 42, of south west London, was involved in smuggling nearly 3,800 people on fishing boat crossings from North Africa to Italy between October 2022 and June 2023 and some of them made their way to Britain, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said.

It is believed Ebid is the first person convicted of organising boat crossings across the Mediterranean from the UK.

Ebid arrived in the UK on a small boat in 2022 after spending five years in jail in Italy for attempted drug smuggling. He applied for asylum in the UK, though he never received a decision by the British government about his claim.

At his sentencing hearing at Southwark Crown Court on Tuesday, the judge said Ebid ruthlessly exploited desperate individuals and his "primary motivation was to make money out of human trafficking".

"The treatment of migrants was horrifying," Judge Adam Hiddleston said.

"This was a commercial enterprise, pure and simple. The risk of loss of life was considerable. These were fishing boats, not ferries".

Ebid "exercised a managerial role at a very high level", the court heard, bribing officials and ordering threats of violence towards the migrants.

It is likely that Ebid will be deported once he has served his sentence.

He was arrested in 2023 after Italian security services looked into satellite phones being used by migrants on Mediterranean crossings from Libya to Europe, in particular Italy.

Some handsets were being used to call a British mobile number. The NCA linked that mobile phone to Ebid and then bugged his home to record evidence.

The agency found he was involved in a number of smuggling operations, transporting thousands of men, women and children, often in dangerously overcrowded fishing vessels.

Ebid even told an associate to kill and throw any migrants caught with their phones into the sea, in a bid to avoid law enforcement, the NCA said.

Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russia of "trying to buy time" to continue its war in Ukraine, a day after Donald Trump said progress towards a ceasefire had been made in a call with Vladimir Putin.

"If Russia continues to put forward unrealistic conditions and undermine progress, there must be tough consequences," Ukraine's president wrote on social media, adding that Kyiv was ready to negotiate.

Following separate calls with Zelensky and Putin on Monday, Trump said truce talks between Russia and Ukraine would start "immediately".

Putin said he was ready to work on a "memorandum on a possible future peace agreement", but did not address calls for a 30-day pause in fighting.

On Tuesday, the Kremlin downplayed suggestions that negotiations were close, with Russian state news agencies citing spokesperson Dmitry Peskov as saying "there are no deadlines and there cannot be any".

Meanwhile, Zelensky launched a fresh round of diplomacy, speaking to Western allies in a bid to shore up support.

Following a phone call with the Finnish president, Zelensky wrote on social media that Ukraine was working with partners to ensure pressure on Moscow "forces the Russians to change their behaviour".

It came as the European Union and UK announced that they had adopted new rounds of sanctions against Russia.

The EU said it was blacklisting nearly 200 more oil tankers in Russia's "shadow fleet", and warned of a "tougher response" if Moscow did not agree to a truce in Ukraine.

The UK placed sanctions 18 more tankers, as part of its package targeting Russian military suppliers, energy exports and financial institutions.

It followed a record drone assault in Ukraine over the weekend, which Kyiv officials described as the largest since the start of the full-scale invasion.

On Monday, Trump indicated he would not join in any new sanctions on Russia, telling reporters that they could hinder recent progress.

It came as heavy fighting continued along the front line, with Ukraine reporting 177 clashes and claiming over 1,000 Russian casualties in 24 hours.

Speaking ahead of a meeting of EU ministers on Tuesday, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said Russia's continued attacks "speak louder than the lip service we have heard for so long".

"Putin is clearly playing for time. Unfortunately, we have to say he is not really interested in peace," he said.

Putin has so far rebuffed a joint US-Ukrainian proposal for a 30-day ceasefire and last week rejected Zelensky's invitation to meet for talks in Istanbul. Trump had offered to attend the talks if Putin would be there, but the Russian leader declined.

The Kremlin has previously announced temporary ceasefires, including from 8-11 Mayto coincide with Russia's Second World War victory celebrations. Kyiv refused to join, citing mistrust and demanding an immediate, sustained cessation of hostilities.

A similar 30-hour truce over Easter saw a brief lull in fighting, though both sides accused each other of hundreds of violations.

Russia and Ukraine have been at war since Moscow launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.