Inquiry investigates how thousands were infected with HIV and Hepatitis in worst treatment disaster in history of the NHS

Watch live as prime minister Rishi Sunak makes a statement in Parliament after the findings of a report on the infected blood scandal were revealed on Monday, 20 March.

Lord Cameron endured a tense hearing with a Commons committee about a deal over the Gibraltar border with Spain

Damning public inquiry has laid bare failings of worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS

Chairman role at Imperial Hospitals NHS reportedly paid former Post Office boss APS50,000 a year

Cross-party peers take up cause of ainhumanea sentences highlighted by The Independent a but proposals fall short of resentencing

At least one million children living in poverty in England miss out on free school meals due to strict eligibility criteria

Kate Roughley was found guilty by a jury of the manslaughter of nine-month-old Genevieve Meehan at Tiny Toes nursery in Cheadle Hulme in Stockport

The judge apologised to the jury in the illegal abortion trial as he discharged members awith a heavy hearta due to legal reasons

Foreign Secretaries have been negotiating a possible Gibraltar deal with the EU since the referendum in 2016

Exclusive: aChildren and women who experienced miscarriage picked them up. There have to be ways in which we protect peopleas personal spaces,a Labour MP Stella Creasy says

Crowds of supporters celebrated after judges granted the WikiLeaks founder persmission to challenge his extradition

A victim of the infected blood scandal, who was left orphaned aged nine, has recalled the devastating effects it had on her family.

Watch outside the High Court in London on Monday, 20 May, after Julian Assange won a bid to bring an appeal against his US extradition on Monday, 20 May.

The King and Princess of Wales are not expected to join the celebrations

The Infected Blood Inquiry chairman has urged the government to give compensation to victims after a probe concluded that politicians, doctors, and civil servants were involved in a chilling cover-up of the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS.

Watch as infected blood scandal campaigners reacted to an inquiryas findings that politicians, doctors, and civil servants were involved in a chilling cover-up of the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS.

Julian Assange"s supporters celebrated outside London"s High Court as he won a bid to bring an appeal against his US extradition on Monday, 20 May.

Some 3,000 people have died and others left with lifelong health complications after being infected with viruses including hepatitis C and HIV

HSBC UK, Barclays and TSB cut their mortgage rates last Friday

Former Post Office boss Paula Vennells is said to believe there was no miscarriage of justice between 1999 and 2015

The government has no clear timetable to fully implement its post-Brexit border controls with the EU, the National Audit Office warns

Early trapping fundamental to eradication efforts, defra says

The long-awaited final report will be published by the Infected Blood Inquiry today

Meteorologists say the lights could be seen again in the UK sky

A beekeeper has issued a warning over Asian hornets as nature groups have warned the public of a potential surge in the damaging invasive non-native species.

Shareholder investment in top 10 water and sewage firms has decreased by APS5.5bn since privatisation. while dividend payments have increased to APS72.8bn

The process would stop the afutile and dehumanisinga parts of changing gender, Labour said

Former aDrake & Josha star opened up about the sexual abuse he allegedly suffered at the hands of an older actorA in Investigation Discoveryas docu-series

TV personality opened up about body pressures as he was overwhelmed by Michelangeloas David

Sheas sold 35 million books, tamed literary snobs, and has a major Netflix adaptation in the works. As her 16th novel aMy Favourite Mistakea is released, Irish author Marian Keyes tells Jessie Thompson about putting everything from menopause to alcoholism on the page

Lots of new faces have joined the Ton

aThe Substancea received the longest standing ovation of any movie at the Cannes Film Festival so far

aThe Substancea has divided audiences at the Cannes Film Festival, but Moore is drawing the best reviews of her career. And itas another role that allows the star of aGhosta and aIndecent Proposala to distort, subvert and exploit her physical form on film, writes Adam White

Ofcom said it received 547 complaints about the live current affairs programme with the prime minister

aIt was an interesting situation,a the TV personality said

TV star will soon appear in a2:22 A Ghost Storya alongside aThe Inbetweenersa actor James Buckley

The feline curmudgeon, voiced by an unsurprisingly miscast Chris Pratt, is here revealed to hate Mondays and love lasagne for sincere and sappy reasons, in a film that resembles little more than a charmless box-ticking exercise

aI look forward to clearing my name,a the professional dancer said

Pop star had been a judge on long-running singing competition since 2018

The DJ passed away suddenly in February

aHe visits me a lot,a said the actor of her late co-star

Bestselling author is behind several Netflix mystery hits, including aFool Me Oncea and aStay Closea

Fans were left wanting more as the first half of the season ended on a cliffhanger

Annual British theatre awards will take place in April

Musical picked up seven wins

Cheryl was in tears as Girls Aloud paid tribute to Sarah Harding at their second Dublin show on Saturday, 18 May.

aIall never forget this,a the actor said

Thatas the length of a sitcom episode...

Actor played nerdy Carlton Banks on the hit Nineties series

Scottish actor died suddenly in April at age 59

aThis is not going to work,a the rapper said

a21 Questionsa rapper predicted that Combsas lawyers will continue to deny allegations despite unearthed video footage

Viewers were also critical of Jeff Danielsas deep Southern accent

Movie was rated aRottena on the popular review aggregator website

When OliviaA Laing began restoring a walled garden in Suffolk, the writer found that green spaces can also be sites of beauty, refuge and radical politics. They speak to Lucy Jones about their new book, aThe Garden Against Timea

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Magic is truly the only explanation for these headache-preventing "wine wands" and these space-saving travel bags.

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"What if I told you I"m a mastermind and now you"re mine" aTaylor Swift, but also you to these products.

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Everything on earth is officially fair game for shaking on this Thin Mint seasoning and edible glitter.

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"My cousin is seen on CCTV entering his real estate office and never again after that."

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My stomach is doing somersaults.

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I came for Colin and Penelope and also ended up smiling and weeping over Francesca and John.

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Kick off summer with up to 58% off Columbia hiking boots, an Apple iPad Air, an Instant Pot, and more.

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"when my bonnet leans to the side so now i"m french."

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Yes, furniture was broken making some of the love scenes in Season 3.

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You go, Claudia!

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Colorism is still alive and well.

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Not. What. You. Want.

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It"s actually more difficult than you think.

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These films are like puzzles in the form of talking pictures.

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Richard Gadd"s miniseries has been one of Netflix"s biggest hits of the past year.

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Putting #Polin in the hot seat.

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On Sunday, The Substance earned a 13-minute standing ovation at Cannes a the longest of this year"s film festival so far.

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A lot happens, folks.

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Future You will be thankful you thought about bug-zapping solutions for your deck.

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I know you"ll look AMAZING!

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"Theme parks. Rising crowds, rising ticket prices, rising costs for everything."

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To be honest, I would watch the heck out of LEGO John Wick.

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Finally tackle clutter in your closet, cabinets, junk drawers, and more.

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This Color Wow anti-frizz treatment will be like the Robin to your Batman: ha! Humidity stands no chance.

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Attention: these pieces are highly rated and recommended by reviewers.

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This isn"t a trick question.

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PM gives statement following report that found asubtle, pervasive and chillinga cover-up by NHS and government

GB News has described the Ofcom ruling against it today (see 10.51am and 11.01am) as an aalarming developmenta that should aterrifya anyone who believes in a free media. Here is its response to the judgment in full.

Ofcomas finding against GB News today is an alarming development in its attempt to silence us by standing in the way of a forum that allows the public to question politicians directly.

The regulatoras threat to punish a news organisation with sanctions for enabling people to challenge their own prime minister strikes at the heart of democracy at a time when it could not be more vital.

In considering whether the programme was duly impartial, we took into account a range of factors, such as: the audienceas questions to the prime minister; the prime ministeras responses; the presenteras contribution; and whether due impartiality was preserved through clearly linked and timely programmes. Our investigation found, in summary, that:

-while some of the audienceas questions provided some challenge to, and criticism of, the governmentas policies and performance, audience members were not able to challenge the prime ministeras responses and the presenter did not do this to any meaningful extent;

Given the very high compliance risks this programme presented, we found GB Newsas approach to compliance to be wholly insufficient, and consider it could have, and should have, taken additional steps to mitigate these risks.

We found that an appropriately wide range of significant viewpoints were not presented and given due weight in the Peopleas Forum: The Prime Minister, nor was due impartiality preserved through clearly linked and timely programmes. As a result, we consider that the prime minister had a mostly uncontested platform to promote the policies and performance of his government in a period preceding a UK general election.

Thousands of deaths could have been avoided, final report on infection of thousands with HIV or hepatitis C concludes

• UK politics live a latest updates

The scandal that caused thousands of people in the UK to become infected or die from contaminated blood was avoidable and inflamed by a asubtle, pervasive and chillinga cover-up by the NHS and government, a scathing report has concluded.

In the long-awaited conclusion to a five-year public inquiry, Sir Brian Langstaff, who chaired the investigation, said the calamity could alargely, though not entirely, have been avoideda a but successive governments and others in authority adid not put patient safety firsta.

Pupils were viewed as acheaper than chimpsa at Hampshire school where Richard Warwick was infected with HIV and hepatitis C

• UK politics live a latest updates
• Key takeaways from infected blood report

A survivor of a school at the centre of the contaminated blood scandal where pupils were viewed as acheaper than chimpsa says he feels vindication by Mondayas report after decades of campaigning.

As a child Richard Warwick, 58, was infected with HIV and hepatitis C during experimental trials when he was pupil at Treloaras college a a specialist school in Hampshire for haemophiliacs.

Groups representing victims say trust in government can no longer be taken for granted after report finds evidence of cover-up

• UK politics live a latest updates

Politicians ashould hang their heads in shamea over the contaminated blood scandal, victimsa groups have said, and warned of future disasters because lessons have not been learned.

Groups representing those infected with HIV and hepatitis C while being treated between 1970 and 1991 said the public inquiryas final report vindicated victims who were agaslita and treated like aconspiracy theoristsa for calling out the worst treatment disaster in NHS history.

Karim Khan applies for warrants relating to alleged crimes committed during 7 October attack and the ensuing war in Gaza

• Explainer: will ICC approve arrest warrants for Israel and Hamas leaders?

The chief prosecutor of the international criminal court has said he is seeking arrest warrants for senior Hamas and Israeli officials for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his defence minister, Yoav Gallant, a move that puts the post-second world war rules-based order to the test and presents new challenges for Israelas western allies.

Karim Khan said on Monday his office had applied to the world courtas pre-trial chamber for arrest warrants for the military and political leaders on both sides for crimes committed during Hamasas 7 October attack and the ensuing war in Gaza.

Judges had deferred a decision on whether Assange could take his case to another appeal hearing

Julian Assange has been granted leave to mount a fresh appeal against his extradition to the US on charges of leaking military secrets and will be able to challenge assurances from American officials on how a trial there would be conducted.

Two judges had deferred a decision in March on whether Assange, who is trying to avoid being prosecuted in the US on espionage charges relating to the publication of thousands of classified and diplomatic documents, could take his case to another appeal hearing.

Foreign minister also dead after aircraft went down in mountains close to Azerbaijan border

The hardline Iranian president, Ebrahim Raisi, has died in a helicopter crash in foggy weather in the mountains near the border with Azerbaijan.

The charred wreckage of the aircraft, which crashed on Sunday carrying Raisi, as well as the foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and six other passengers and crew, was found early on Monday after an overnight search in blizzard conditions.

Nursery worker Kate Roughley left Genevieve Meehan strapped face down to a beanbag for 97 minutes, court heard

• Nursery death of Genevieve raises troubling questions

A acallousa nursery worker is facing years in jail after being convicted of killing a nine-month-old girl who died after being strapped face down to a beanbag for more than 90 minutes.

Genevieve Meehan suffocated after being placed in amortal dangera as a apunishmenta by Kate Roughley, the deputy manager of Tiny Toes nursery in Cheadle Hulme, Stockport, the trial heard.

Exclusive: Some pharmacies have turned away families because they have run out of the drug clarithromycin

Pharmacists are calling for fresh powers to provide patients with alternative prescriptions as they warned that drugs shortages are hampering their ability to tackle whooping cough.

More than 2,700 cases have been reported across England so far in 2024 a more than three times the number recorded in the whole of last year.

Scientists say discovery may be linked to decades-long decline in sperm counts in men around the world

Microplastics have been found in human testicles, with researchers saying the discovery might be linked to declining sperm counts in men.

The scientists tested 23 human testes, as well as 47 testes from pet dogs. They found microplastic pollution in every sample.

Novelist, who teaches at New York University, says he finds it strange that progressive students currently akind of support a fascist terrorist groupa

Salman Rushdie has said that the formation of a Palestinian state aright nowa would mean a aTaliban-like statea is created.

Commenting on the US campus protesters calling for a free Palestine, the author said that while he has aargued for a Palestinian state for most of my life a since the 1980s, probably a right now, if there was a Palestinian state, it would be run by Hamas, and that would make it a Taliban-like state, and it would be a client state of Irana.

Figures show US is worst offender for unpaid fees and fines, followed by Japanas embassy, which owes APS10.1m

The US embassy in Britain owes about APS15m in unpaid congestion charge fees, according to Transport for London, which is considering legal recourse through international courts.

The unpaid fees and fines have amassed over more than a decade, making the US the worst offender among foreign diplomats, with embassies in London collectively owing APS143.5m by the end of 2023.

Trump back in court as Michael Cohenas likely last day of questioning gets under way

• Sign up to our free Trump on Trial newsletter

Judge Juan Merchan is speaking about whether or not to restrict the testimony of a Federal Election Commission (FEC) expert, who the defense wanted to call.

Judge Juan Merchan says he expects closing arguments to be next Tuesday. aItas become apparent that weare not going to be able to sum up tomorrow,a Merchan says.

• Slot joins from Feyenoord, where he won two trophies
• He is understood to be keen to work with Darwin NAoA+-ez

Liverpool have confirmed the appointment of Arne Slot as their head coach 24 hours after JA1/4rgen Klopp bade farewell to Anfield.

Liverpool have had an agreement in place with the former Feyenoord coach for more than three weeks but wanted to delay the announcement until after Kloppas departure. Slot has been announced as the head coach, not manager, and has signed a three-year contract.

While deputy manager of Tiny Toes in Stockport found guilty of manslaughter, case suggests it may be about more than just one bad apple

Baby Genevieve Meehan, known to her family as Gigi, was her usual happy self when she arrived at Tiny Toes nursery on an overcast Monday morning in May 2022.

The nine-month-old girl with the striking emerald eyes had just taken her first steps and was uttering her first words. She had spent the weekend at home with her parents, enjoying cuddles and playing with her favourite toy tambourine.

Iranas supreme leader has announced a five-day mourning period, but there have been fireworks and cheering in the country since the death was confirmed

Activists in Iran have said there is little mood to mourn the death of the countryas president, Ebrahim Raisi, who was killed in a helicopter crash near the border with Azerbaijan on Sunday.

Iranas supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, announced a five-day public mourning period after the deaths of Raisi, the foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and other passengers on the helicopter. However, Iranians who spoke to the Guardian have refused to lament the death of a man who they say was responsible for hundreds of deaths in his four-decade political career.

It was during Raisias tenure that protests swept the country after the death of the 22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini, who died in police custody after being arrested by police under Iranas harsh hijab laws. More than 19,000 protesters were jailed, and at least 500 were killed a including 60 children a during the Woman, Life, Freedom protests. The police continue to violently arrest women for refusing hijab rules.

The international criminal courtas chief prosecutor has applied for warrants; what will happen now?

• ICC prosecutor seeks arrest warrants for Israeli PM and Hamas officials

The international criminal courtas chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, has announced he will apply to the court for arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu, Israelas prime minister, as well the countryas defence minister, Yoav Gallant. At the same time, Khan is seeking warrants for the leader of Hamas, Yahya Sinwar, the head of its military wing, Mohammed al-Masri (better known as Mohammed Deif), and the head of its political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh.

The charges he is pursuing against Netanyahu and Gallant concern the conduct of the war in Gaza, include the use of astarvation of civilians as a method of warfarea, aintentionally directing attacks against a civilian population as a war crimea, extermination as a crime against humanity, and murder as a war crime.

The cinematic legend died the way he lived a in a blaze of inscrutable, impossible film-making. We meet the team who helped shoot the final scene of his swansong just before his death by assisted suicide

On Friday 9 September 2022, Jean-Luc Godard had one last wish. He needed a quote from Jean-Paul Sartre to complete his film, ScA(c)narios, but the book was missing from the shelf in his Swiss home. Time was pressing: he was up against a hard deadline. The filmas final scene was to be shot on Monday. On Tuesday, the director would die by assisted suicide.

Fabrice Aragno takes up the story. As Godardas longtime collaborator, Aragno was his eyes and his ears, his trusted technical advisor. Surely he would be able to find the book from somewhere. aSo on Friday 5.30pm, I drive very fast to Lausanne, 20 miles away,a he recalls. aI park the car and Iam sweating. I run to the library but the library is closed. I run to a secondhand bookshop but they donat have the text. Itas out of print anyway. And Iam running for my life. Or not my life, for Jean-Lucas life.a

After outrage in the UK about the skyrocketing cost of a scoop, how does the rest of the world compare?

The cost of two ice-cream cones topped with bubble gum has famously risen to APS9 in some parts of the UK. With inflation rampant in several countries around the world, is the price of cooling down on a hot day creeping up globally?

aIn practical terms, we were asking very big actors to suddenly slide into the background. All the biggest names a Christopher Eccleston, Sarah Lancashire, Ricky Tomlinson a absolutely got ita

My mantra for Clocking Off was aextraordinary moments in ordinary peopleas livesa, and seeing how realistic I could make that. It was partly inspired by Dekalog, the Krzysztof KieAlowski TV miniseries, pretentiously. I used to work in a factory and youad find out secrets about people that were just incredible, so it was also inspired by those memories.

aIntuitive eatinga is an anti-diet that helps reconnect us to internal cues. But how does it work?

Figuring out what to eat is complicated. What are you in the mood for? What do other people in your household want? What can you afford? What do you have time to prepare?

Add the ambient pressure of a culture that loudly celebrates certain foods, bodies and lifestyles as desirable while vilifying others, and the simple question of what to have for dinner becomes fraught.

Influencers and politicians use snappy cliches to get you on side a but you can fight fire with fire

Since the moment I learned about the concept of the athought-terminating clichea Iave been seeing them everywhere I look: in televised political debates, in flouncily stencilled motivational posters, in the hashtag wisdom that clogs my social media feeds. Coined in 1961 by psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton, the phrase describes a catchy platitude aimed at shutting down or bypassing independent thinking and�questioning. I first heard about the tactic while researching a book about the language of cult leaders, but these sayings also pervade our everyday conversations: expressions such as aIt is what it isa, aBoys will be boysa, aEverything happens for a reasona and aDonat overthink ita are familiar examples.

From populist politicians to holistic wellness influencers, anyone interested in power is able to weaponise thought-terminating cliches to dismiss followersa dissent or rationalise flawed arguments. In his book Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism, Lifton wrote that these semantic stop signs compress athe most far-reaching and complex of human problems a| into brief, highly selective, definitive-sounding phrases, easily memorized and easily expressed. They become the start and finish of any ideological analysis.a

Veteran Fleet Street journalist who joined the Guardian in the 1970s and reported on the Falklands war for the paper in 1982

Being marooned on a heavily laden ammunition ship in San Carlos Water at the height of the 1982 Falklands war during Argentinian air attacks was the punishment meted out to the Guardi journalist Gareth Parry by the Ministry of Defence for not writing what the military wanted.

Gareth, who has died of prostate cancer aged 86, had a tough war. He and the crew of the RFA Resource survived only because the bombs bounced off the supply ship and failed to explode a the Argentinian armourers had set the fuses wrongly.

Juergens had never acted before she played the fearsome but troubled Senua in Ninja Theoryas game a and won a Bafta for it. Now sheas back to battle the characteras demons in a sequel

aI hope people can relate to Senua,a says actor Melina Juergens, who plays the lead character in Senuaas Saga: Hellblade II, the newest game from British developer Ninja Theory. aI hope people play it and feel what somebody goes through on a daily basis who suffers from mental health issues a particularly psychosis. [They] come away with an understanding of it, able to empathise with people more.a

Juergens did not expect to be playing this role for the second time. In fact, she never expected to play it the first time. She was a video editor at the independent games studio when the first Hellblade game, Senuaas Sacrifice, was gestating in 2012. aThey were looking for an actress, but in the meantime they asked me to step in to help out with [performance capture] tech experiments,a she tells me. aAt some point, they asked me to perform a scene. The director really liked it and offered me the role.a

After breaking out as a wide-eyed soldier in 1917, the actor showed a darker side to masculinity as a closeted thug in Femme. Now heas gone further, playing an incel in twisted sci-fi The Beast

George MacKay reaches into his backpack and pulls out a squeezy bottle of honey, squirting it into his americano. aItas a bit eccentric,a he says sheepishly. He picked up the habit years ago on a shoot in Australia; recognising that requesting a pot of honey might be perceived as aa slightly wanky aska, he carries his own supply instead. This is typical MacKay a charming, discreet, and more than a little concerned about giving others the wrong idea.

On screen, MacKay frequently plays characters who are suffocated by the codes of traditional masculinity, and turned cruel by them, too. The actoras breakout role was in Sam Mendesas Oscar-winning war blockbuster 1917, which plays out as one dizzying, unbroken shot. MacKayas face a vulnerable, determined, devastated a carried the filmas home stretch. Since then, he has veered towards grittier projects, portraying an angry, closeted thug (the subversive Femme, for which he won a British independent film award), a man who believes heas a wild animal (Wolf) and a macho outlaw dressed in drag (True History of the Kelly Gang). Today, upstairs at the BFI Southbank and overlooking the Thames, weare discussing MacKayas new film, The Beast. A brilliant, demented techno-thriller co-starring LA(c)a Seydoux, it is directed by French provocateur Bertrand Bonello, and loosely based on the Henry James novella The Beast in the Jungle.

Ordinary people were wronged, their lives ruined and so many cut short. After todayas devastating report, a reckoning is long overdue

It was one of the worst medical disasters of our time. Some 30,000 people who needed the help of the NHS to stay alive and well were given treatment that wrecked their health, took the lives of nearly 3,000 and will be responsible for more deaths to come. Finally, today, half a century on, the six-year Langstaff inquiry has produced a judgment on the infected blood scandal a and it is devastating.

The list of errors and misjudgments is extraordinary and it is clear that arrogance from the medical profession played a big part, as well as greed from the pharmaceutical companies and back-covering from the politicians. So many heads should roll, but many of the most culpable individuals are dead.

Sarah Boseley is the former health editor of the Guardian

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

Successive home secretaries and the courts have been spineless in pandering to the US government

Almost obscured on its perch outside the Royal Courts of Justice, amid the crush of camera crews and vociferous supporters of Julian Assange, was the statue of Samuel Johnson, a man who also knew the importance of getting information out to as wide an audience as possible. aTo keep your secret is wisdom,a is one of his better known observations, abut to expect others to keep it is folly.a

The high court decision to grant leave to appeal to Assange was a further reminder to the US authorities and their apologists in Britain of the folly inherent in their attempt to extradite and jail a man whose main offence is publishing the shameful secrets of the US government and its armed forces. In a just world, the court would have brought this whole absurd legal process to an end there and then, but the fact that an appeal has been granted is both a defeat for the US and renewed cause for hope for Assange.

Duncan Campbell is a freelance writer who worked for the Guardian as crime correspondent and Los Angeles correspondent

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

Politicians talk about tuition fees as if the students were somehow getting a good deal. In reality, theyare being shockingly exploited

Whether or not universities are at risk of going bust is often talked about like a second-order problem. Sure, itas sad and all, but is it as serious as a local authority going bankrupt? Is anyone actually going to die if non-Russell Group universities can no longer afford to run humanities degrees? Is it the end of the world for students to leave with 150 grandas worth of debt, instead of 80?

But then one morning, you wake up and think: enough. Successive governments have been staring an entirely predictable calamity in the face for years, doing nothing about it while ripping off an entire generation with ever greater impunity, then masking that incompetence with casual anti-intellectualism and defeatism. OK, maybe saying that out loud doesnat do an enormous amount to help students, but not saying it makes your blood boil.

Biden will be remembered as a president who could have restrained Israel but instead made the US complicit in this war

With great fanfare, Joe Biden confirmed on 8 May that his administration had suspended one weapons shipment to Israel, delaying the delivery of 3,500 bombs that can cause devastating casualties when dropped on population centers. Biden said he warned Israeli leaders that he would also block artillery shells and other munitions if Israel went ahead with a ground invasion of Rafah, Gazaas southernmost city, where 1.4 million Palestinians have taken shelter.

It seemed Biden had finally decided to use the most effective leverage he has over Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, and his extremist government to force an end to Israelas devastating war in Gaza. But less than a week later, it became clear that Biden had backtracked and he will continue sending Israel far more weapons than the one shipment he held back. Last Tuesday, the Biden administration notified Congress that it would move ahead with more than $1bn in new arms deals for Israel.

Mohamad Bazzi is director of the Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies, and a journalism professor at New York University

These spaces are crucial for our wellbeing, but cash-strapped councils are being forced to treat them as revenue earners

My local green space, Brockwell Park in Brixton and Herne Hill, south London, is an oasis of calm in the busy city. Friends catch up in the walled garden, where wisteria trails over pillars and roses and bluebells explode from the earth. In the community garden, local people work together to grow vegetables and run sessions to connect nature-deprived children to the land.

In the centre of the sometimes crushing metropolis, this park means everything to me a it keeps me sane, and it gives me hope. But this green lifeline is, every summer, taken away, as I await the arrival of the parkas music festival season with dread. As huge metal walls go up, dividing us from the green, and HGVs begin flattening the grass and soil, I feel a genuine sense of horror. A large part of the park is cut off for weeks, and our communityas heart is pulled out as people stream into events whose expensive tickets most people living round here could never afford. And the same is happening in shared green spaces all over the UK.

Rebecca TamA!s is a writer of environmental nonfiction and a poet. Her most recent book is Strangers: Essays on the Human and Nonhuman

What is plaguing our politicians? Disappointment, a culture of silence a and the fallout from Brexit

• Jennifer Nadel is co-director of Compassion in Politics

When Conservative MP Elliot Colburn told parliament head attempted to take his own life earlier this year, he was amazed at the response he got. Politicians from across the house commended his courage, the Commons applauded him, Keir Starmer shook his hand and Rishi Sunak gave him a hug. However, more surprising was what happened afterwards. Eight members of parliament approached him to say that they, too, had reached that same place of despair. None of them, as far as Colburn knows, have spoken publicly about their experience.

It takes courage for any of us to speak publicly about our mental health, but for politicians there are added considerations. Our political culture comes with unrealistic expectations a that they should be unswervingly strong, independent, omniscient, and never faltering. Any cracks in the armour could be unfairly interpreted as weakness. And, of course, it can give ammunition to opponents a some of whom might even be inside your own party. Many will be keenly aware of the privilege their job brings, given the levels of deprivation suffered by so many in the country, and feel reluctant to detract from those more pressing issues.

As a UN expert on psychological torture, Iave asked peers to reconsider the IPP sentences still affecting thousands in jail

aC/ Alice Edwards is the UN special rapporteur on torture

Martin Myers attempted to steal a cigarette. Tommy Nicol stole a car. John Wright, then 17, head-butted a younger child and stole his bike. For these relatively minor crimes, they received grossly disproportionate sentences of the length you might expect for murderers.

Martin Myers is still in jail for attempted robbery of that cigarette back in 2006. John Wright is now 34 and has spent 17 years in jail. Tommy Nicol took his own life while in prison on an indeterminate sentence.

This cautious programme is too limited to bring about the changes Britain needs a and which would keep Labour in power

• John McDonnell was shadow chancellor from 2015 to 2020

Weare months away from a general election whose outcome has already been determined. Rishi Sunak has repeatedly demonstrated that he is no political Lazarus, and the question is not whether the Conservatives will lose the election but by how much a and how long they will take to recover, or whether their party will survive at all.

So the focus is on Labouras strategy for entry into government and beyond.

John McDonnell has been the Labour MP for Hayes and Harlington since 1997. He was shadow chancellor from 2015 to 2020

We select some contenders for the best voices and analysis on the English top flight a and invite you to have your say

• More awards a| Players | Managers | Goals | Matches | Young players | Flops | Signings | Gripes

aCannae beat a bit of AC/DC man!a And with that single, spot-on comment, McCoist cemented his status as an absolute baller of the broadcasting game. A bucketload of joy is guaranteed with every one of his stints as a co-commentator for Sky, TNT Sport and Amazon Prime but one thing often overlooked is how good his analysis is in that role, with the former Scotland striker again providing fast, fluent and fascinating reactions to the action in front of him. Hells bells, he is good.

Three players are awarded perfect 10s for their contributions to the clubas record-breaking fourth successive top-flight triumph

The 6ft 2in goalkeeper was Rodri-like in his laser-directed passing and if he coughed up a single goal-costing error it vanished from this observeras mind. His season ended with the eye-socket injury sustained in last Tuesdayas vital 2-0 win at Tottenham so missed Sundayas 3-1 championship-clinching victory over West Ham. 9

• Fast bowler poised to return against Pakistan on Wednesday
• Archer has not played for England for 14 months

Jofra Archer was the last one out at training on Monday, strolling on to the Headingley outfield with a plate of food in his hand. But after a year of starvation on the sidelines, the fast bowler is poised to make his England comeback this week as the buildup to the T20 World Cup gets under way.

Archer was last seen in England kit in Bangladesh 14 months ago and the 29-year-old bowler has not played a home international a in any format a for nearly four years. Provided the stress fractures to his right elbow and lower back that forced the hiatus are firmly in the rearview mirror, expect Jos Buttleras pace attack to be significantly augmented over the coming weeks.

• Barkley spent time on loan at Villa from Chelsea
• Midfielder expected to be available for modest fee

Aston Villa are closing on a deal to re-sign Ross Barkley on a permanent basis, four years after the midfielder joined on loan from Chelsea. Villa want to strengthen their squad for their first season in the Champions League or European Cup since 1982-83.

The 30-year-old, capped by England 33 times, excelled for Luton when joining on a free last summer, after a spell in Ligue 1 with Nice. Luton, who have been relegated, never disclosed the length of Barkleyas contract but it is thought to run into next season. Last month, Barkley said: aI want to play in the Premier League. I want to play in Europe again a| I feel like for the next three years maybe Iall still be in my prime years.a

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Match of the Day means different things to different people. For Ian Wright it means a little more than most. The former striker has previously spoken of his childhood and of how his stepdad was aa weed-smoking, gambling, coming-home-late, gambling-his-wages, womanising kind of guy. He was rough with my mum and rough with all of us kids. And I donat know why, but he didnat like me in particular. One of the few things my brother and I looked forward to in the house was Match of the Day, and my stepdad used to take that away from us a just because he could. Depending on what mood he was in, head come into the bedroom just before it started and head say: aTurn around to the wall.a We had to face the wall the whole time Match of the Day was on. And the really cruel thing was that we could still hear everything. It was awful. Whenever I heard the theme music come on, I would feel that pain in my chest. The first time I went on the show as a presenter, Des Lynam walked up and said: aIan Wright, welcome to Match of the Day.a I nearly broke down crying.a

While it is inevitable that at the busy end of the season Football Daily will be preoccupied with the Premier League and Big Cups along with pre Euros knee-knacks, there are happenings elsewhere in the pyramid where crises for clubs can be existential. Since you reported on 23 February that Torquay United owner Clarke Osborne had pulled the plug and was going to put the club into administration (full email edition): on 13 March a| TUFC were docked 10 points for an aadministrative eventa and plunged into a National League South relegation battle; 23 March a| Neil Warnock appears at the first of three home matches with fan Michael Westcott; 28 March a| a Torquay United Supportersa Trust (TUST) consortium (led by Westcott) reveal they are bidding to buy the club; 4 April a| TUFC goes into administration; 9 April a|. TUST/ Westcott consortium discover they are not the preferred bidder; 12 April a| TUFC are docked another point for fielding an illegible player (at which point fans throw up their hands in despair); 15 April a| TUFC avoid relegation to the Southern League Premier Division South with a win at Taunton in front of 800-plus travelling fans; 26 April a| TUST/Westcott consortium discover the preferred bidder might no longer be preferred; 1 May a| Westcottas consortium (now called aBryna after the police dog that bit Jim McNichol and saved Torquay from relegation at the end of 1986-87 become the preferred bidder; 10 May a| announcement by club that the Bryn Consortium will be the new owners of TUFC; 11 May a| Westcott confirms Neil Warnock is on the board as football advisor; 14 May a| much circulated video appears with Warnock revealing that Paul Wotton is the new Torquay manager. And so the story goes on (with a Community Share Issue by TUST soon). Just sayinga a Bob Cole.

The sun went silently down on the team from the carnival city to leave everything settled in La Liga with one week still to play

La Liga packed up for the summer a week early, nothing left to do. With seven days still remaining, itas all decided: the title, second, third and fourth; who goes to the Super Cup and who goes to the Club World Cup; Champions League, Europa League and Conference League; that other league too, the three teams disappearing silently into segunda. Even the Pichichi is probably done after a Sunday evening in which Alexander SA,rloth got four of the 31 goals scored, leading Villarrealas comeback from 4-1 to 4-4 against Real Madrid, and CA!diz got none of them. It was the story of their season, four years in primera coming to a premature and predictable end, curtain closed on 2023-24.

Up on the east coast, Madridas top scorer Jude Bellingham sat on the bench rested, little to do but laugh as SA,rloth began his escape, moving on to 20, then 21, 22 and 23, four ahead of the Englishman in the scoring charts and two above Gironaas Artem Dovbyk. At the same time, 849km away down on the south-west, CA!dizas top scorer, Chris Ramos, a fan who grew up next door to the ground and became the first gaditano to score in the first division for 30 years, sat on the bench exhausted, staring into space, broken. CA!diz had two strikers out there, sent in search of a miracle: between them, Sergi Guardiola and Maxi GA3mez have scored one this season. SA,rloth had just got four times that in 17 minutes, one less than Ramos in 2,694 across 37 games.

Conundrum of what is best for the sport conflicting with what is best for a horse rears its ugly head once again

Lucinda Russell described the decision to retire Corach Rambler, her 2023 Grand National winner, as one alaced with sadnessa yet ajoyousa last week and the geldingas many fans and backers knew exactly what she meant. Cheaply bought and owned by a syndicate who paid APS3,000 a share, Corach Rambleras rise through the chasing ranks to win twice at the Cheltenham festival and then land jumpingas most famous and valuable race was an unalloyed feelgood story that also seems to have concluded a chapter or two too soon.

Corach Rambler was, after all, the first British-trained horse across the line when he finished third in the Cheltenham Gold Cup in March. At 10 years of age, he is, officially at least, qualified for aveteransa events, but reaching double figures has not prevented stars including Sprinter Sacre, Cue Card, Silviniaco Conti, Faugheen and Un De Sceaux from adding Grade One wins to their record in the past decade. Corach Rambleras final race, when he was pulled up in the Punchestown Gold Cup last month, was his 15th start over fences.

With 100 days to go until the Paris Games, the IPCas Andrew Parsons says it is vital for disability rights they are the best ever

With 100 days to go until the Paralympic Games begin in Paris, Andrew Parsons has a job to do. The 47-year-old Brazilian is the president of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). But these Games matter, as a moment for disability sport and the movement that lies behind it, and the pressure is on.

aThis is the first edition of the summer Games where we will be able to explore our full potential,a he says. aWe had London, which is still regarded as the benchmark, and then we had Rio, which was a tough games for us to put together. Then it was Tokyo and the pandemic.

Jobs and communities dependent on oil and gas sector must be considered in plan to ban North Sea licences, say GMB and Unite

Peace may have broken out between Labour and its union backers over workersa rights, but shadow ministers face fierce lobbying in another key policy area: how to make the switch from fossil fuels without causing deep economic scarring.

Unions representing tens of thousands of oil and gas workers a in particular GMB and Unite a are demanding urgent answers about what will happen to membersa jobs as the UK switches to cleaner energy sources.

More than 216,000 fish died in 2022-2023, when England recorded a 54% increase in sewage spills

Mass deaths of fish in Englandas rivers have increased almost tenfold since 2020, with fears sewage pollution is exterminating life in the countryas waterways.

Environment Agency (EA) data from the past four years shows an alarming rise in the number of fish deaths linked to sewage pollution, with figures escalating from 26,690 in 2020-2021 to 216,135 in 2023-2024.

Scottish government accused of missing deadlines to take action on overfishing and effects of climate breakdown

Fragile and damaged marine life around Scotlandas coasts is not being properly protected because ministers in Edinburgh have broken their promises, environment campaigners have warned.

Prominent charities including the Marine Conservation Society and the National Trust for Scotland accuse the Scottish government of repeatedly missing its deadlines to protect vulnerable marine life from overfishing and the effects of climate breakdown.

Jeff Bezosas $10bn climate and biodiversity fund has garnered glittering prizes, but concerns have been voiced over the influence it can buy a and its interest in carbon offsets

Late last month, the coronation of Jeff Bezos and his partner Lauren SA!nchez as environmental royalty was complete. At Conservation Internationalas glitzy annual gala in New York, with Harrison Ford, Jacinda Ardern and Shailene Woodley looking on, the couple were given the global visionary award for the financial contribution of the Bezos Earth Fund to the natural world.

aJeff and Lauren are making history, not just with the sum of their investment in nature but also the speed of it,a said the Conservation International CEO, Dr M Sanjayan, whose organisation received a $20m grant from Bezos in 2021 for its work in the tropical Andes.

Regulator says channel breached rules by failing to sufficiently challenge Rishi Sunakas views in February broadcast

Ofcom is considering a statutory sanction against GB News over aserious and repeateda breaches of British television laws relating to the channelas lack of impartiality.

The media regulator said the channel breached regulations by allowing the Conservative prime minister, Rishi Sunak, to be interviewed on air without sufficient challenge to his views.

Audience members were not able to challenge the prime ministeras responses and the presenter Stephen Dixon a a former Sky News host a did not push back to any ameaningful extenta.

The prime minister was able to set out future policies he planned to implement if re-elected. Neither the audience nor the presenter challenged or otherwise referred to significant alternative views on these.

Sunak criticised aspects of Labouras policies and performance a but neither Labouras views or positions on those issues were included in the programme.

GB News did not include a reference in the programme to an agreed future programme in which a wide range of significant views on the major matter would be given due weight.

Design created with no concrete and completely sustainable materials is first to win new environmental prize

A garden built with ahumblea terracotta made into 3D-printed bricks has won the first green medal at Chelsea flower show for being the most environmentally sustainable design.

This yearas show, held in the Royal hospital gardens in south-west London, has a strong environmental theme. At the press day on Monday, Dame Judi Dench was presented with a seedling taken from the Sycamore Gap tree unlawfully felled in Northumberland.

Hearing finds Roz Adams was unfairly dismissed after questioning rules on trans women working with survivors

A rape crisis worker was unfairly dismissed from her role at a support centre for survivors of abuse after she expressed gender critical views, a tribunal has ruled.

Roz Adams was subjected to a aKafkaesquea internal disciplinary process by managers at Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre (ERCC) after she questioned rules about trans female counsellors working with female survivors.

Jamie Love, 23, charged with murder aggravated by domestic abuse of 34-year-old between 9 and 15 May

A 23-year-old man has appeared in court charged with the murder of Kathryn Parton, 34, who was found with head injuries at her home in east Belfast on 15 May.

Jamie Love appeared at Belfast magistrates court on Monday charged with murder aggravated by domestic abuse between 9 and 15 May.

Butler is among several writers refusing to appear at the literary festival over sponsor Baillie Giffordas alleged involvement in atechnology and arms in Israela

Labour MP Dawn Butler and author Grace Blakeley are among those who have withdrawn from scheduled appearances at Hay festival over its sponsorship by investment management firm Baillie Gifford.

Butler said in a video posted to X that she was withdrawing from the literary festival because Baillie Gifford is ainvolved directly or indirectly in technology and arms in Israela.

The Muslim Vote aims to list candidates that align with it on foreign policy, NHS and education

A campaign group hoping to mobilise Muslim communities in the lead-up to the general election has said it wants to ensure their votes are ataken seriouslya and it aims to produce a list of candidates they endorse later this year.

The Muslim Vote, a campaign group, is hoping to encourage as many of the 3.9 million Muslims in the UK to vote in the upcoming general election, focusing on constituencies where they can have the most impact.

Bim Afolamias comments distance British government from protectionist moves by US

The UK cannot afford to give the acold shouldera to China, the City minister said on Monday, in comments that will distance the British government from the Biden administrationas protectionist crackdown.

Addressing financial services bosses at the City Week conference in Londonas Guildhall, Bim Afolami said it was acruciala to engage with strategic competitors such as Beijing, and that the UK risked losing control of its economic future if it failed to find common ground.

Ben Broadbent says direct impact of Covid and Ukraine war on inflation has faded and BoE is waiting for longer-term effects to decline

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UK interest rates could be cut this summer, the Bank of Englandas outgoing deputy governor said on Monday, adding to the expectation that a first reduction in borrowing costs could come as soon as next month.

Ben Broadbent, the Bankas deputy governor for monetary policy, said that if the economy evolves as expected, borrowing costs could possibly be lowered asome time over the summera in response to a steep fall in inflation.

Watchdog says says repeated delays have caused unnecessary costs and strategy lacks a aclear timetablea

The government expects to have spent at least APS4.7bn on introducing post-Brexit border controls, which have been repeatedly hit by delays, the public spending watchdog has warned.

Plans to bring in border checks on goods coming from the EU faced asignificant issuesa including critical shortages of inspectors before their introduction last month, the National Audit Office said in a report.

Ex-presidentas jail sentence precludes him from standing for new MK party in decision that could affect general election results

South Africaas highest court has ruled that former president Jacob Zuma cannot run for parliament in national elections on 29 May, the latest twist in the most competitive polls since the countryas first post-apartheid vote 30 years ago.

The constitutional court found that Zuma was ineligible to stand for election due to a 15-month prison sentence for contempt of court in 2021, after he failed to appear before a corruption inquiry.

US president says awhatever this prosecutor might imply, there is no equivalence a none a between Israel and Hamasa

• ICC prosecutor seeks arrest warrants for Israeli PM and Hamas officials for war crimes

The Republican leaders of the US House of Representatives are reportedly weighing a legislative response to the decision by the international criminal courtas chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, to seek arrest warrants for Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Punchbowl News has reported that House Republican leadership, which is very supportive of the Israeli government and its war in Gaza, are considering a response, but what the measure looks like and whether they can pull it off before the upcoming Memorial Day holiday remains unclear.

Foreign minister also dead after aircraft went down in mountains close to Azerbaijan border

The hardline Iranian president, Ebrahim Raisi, has died in a helicopter crash in foggy weather in the mountains near the border with Azerbaijan.

The charred wreckage of the aircraft, which crashed on Sunday carrying Raisi, as well as the foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and six other passengers and crew, was found early on Monday after an overnight search in blizzard conditions.

Trump back in court as Michael Cohenas likely last day of questioning gets under way

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Judge Juan Merchan is speaking about whether or not to restrict the testimony of a Federal Election Commission (FEC) expert, who the defense wanted to call.

Judge Juan Merchan says he expects closing arguments to be next Tuesday. aItas become apparent that weare not going to be able to sum up tomorrow,a Merchan says.

Scientists say discovery may be linked to decades-long decline in sperm counts in men around the world

Microplastics have been found in human testicles, with researchers saying the discovery might be linked to declining sperm counts in men.

The scientists tested 23 human testes, as well as 47 testes from pet dogs. They found microplastic pollution in every sample.

Judges had deferred a decision on whether Assange could take his case to another appeal hearing

Julian Assange has been granted leave to mount a fresh appeal against his extradition to the US on charges of leaking military secrets and will be able to challenge assurances from American officials on how a trial there would be conducted.

Two judges had deferred a decision in March on whether Assange, who is trying to avoid being prosecuted in the US on espionage charges relating to the publication of thousands of classified and diplomatic documents, could take his case to another appeal hearing.

Two installations host a 24/7 live stream in both cities, but a small number of visitors initially abused the opportunity

The live video portal linking Dublin, Ireland, to New York, New York, has reopened after unruly behavior got the modern art sculpture temporarily shut down.

The two installations making up the Portal a created by the Lithuanian artist Benediktas Gylys a host a 24/7 live stream in both cities so people can see and interact with each other. One installation is located in the Flatiron district of New York, and the other is on Dublinas popular OaConnell Street.

OpenAI says aSkya is not an imitation of actoras voice after users compare it to AI companion character in film Her

OpenAI removed a heavily promoted voice option from ChatGPT on Monday, following a widespread reaction to the flirtatious, feminine voice that sounded almost identical to Scarlett Johansson.

The company used the voice, which it calls aSkya, during its widely publicized event last week debuting the capabilities of the new ChatGPT-4o artificial intelligence model. Researchers talked with the AI assistant to show off Skyas personable and responsive affectations, which users and members of the media immediately compared to Johanssonas AI companion character in the 2013 Spike Jonze film Her.

Investigation ongoing as authorities say explosion at home, where propane leak was found, was unusual because it did not cause a fire

Four people in rural Missouri died when an explosion that could be heard 10 miles (6.2km) away occurred at a house.

The explosion occurred Saturday night near the unincorporated town of Goodhope. The Douglas county sheriff, Chris Degase, said the home was undergoing renovations, and a propane leak was found. The Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the state fire marshalas office and local officials continued investigating on Monday.