Labour leader says there are aa lot of unanswered questionsa over allegations including why the Conservatives took so long to act

During questions in the Commons on next weekas business, Penny Mordaunt, leader of the house, said that MPs would debate the latest Lords amendments to the Rwanda bill on Monday and that, if necessary, time would also be set aside on Tuesday for MPs to vote again on Lords amendments to the bill.

But, at the No 10 lobby briefing, the PMas spokesperson told journalists that the government wants to conclude the aping ponga process (when the bill shuttles between the Commons and the Lords until both sides agree on its wording) on Monday night. He said:

Our intention is to get this passed on Monday such that we can then set out the timetable for getting flights off as soon as possible.

Minister told London conference that Glorious Revolution of 1688 paved way for economic certainty

It would be wrong to attribute the UKas wealth and economic success to its colonial history or racial privilege, the business and trade minister, Kemi Badenoch, has told an audience in the City.

Addressing financial services bosses at TheCityUKas international conference in London, the business secretary said the UKas past exploitation and oppression of other countries and groups of people could not sufficiently explain the countryas economic trajectory.

Chief scientist voices fears about H5N1 variant that has aextraordinarily higha mortality rate in humans

The World Health Organization has raised concerns about the spread of H5N1 bird flu, which has an aextraordinarily higha mortality rate in humans.

An outbreak that began in 2020 has led to the deaths or killing of tens of millions of poultry. Most recently, the spread of the virus within several mammal species, including in domestic cattle in the US, has increased the risk of spillover to humans, the WHO said.

• Team GB and ParalympicsGB kits navy with red and white trim
• Traditional union jack features on sleeve or back of kit

Blue is the colour for British athletes competing at this summeras Paris Olympics and Paralympics with the official kit featuring a stripped back design a and a traditional union jack.

While the Tokyo 2020 design was a mixture of red, white and blue, the 2024 edition is largely a dark navy blue kit, with red and white trim.

UN due to vote on Thursday on bid for full membership by Palestine in move the US is expected to block

• See all of our updates on the Israel-Gaza war and wider Middle East crisis

The EU has edged closer to calling for an immediate ceasefire in the Middle East after a meeting of the 27 bloc leaders last night.

Leaders have struggled to agree language from the outset of the conflict, engaging in torturous discussions over whether they should use the word ceasefire, pause, or pauses in the first official bloc-wide declaration in October.

Glasgow-based Sandyford clinic issues update after Cass review found aweak evidencea for use to treat gender incongruence

Scotlandas only clinic to offer treatment to gender-questioning young people has paused prescribing puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones in light of last weekas publication of the Cass review.

The Sandyford clinic, based in Glasgow, which offers a range of services including emergency contraception, abortion and support for sexual assault victims as well as transgender healthcare, posted a service update online on Thursday morning.

Passengers report being stranded in the desert city as the international hub struggles in the wake of unusually heavy rain

• Donat blame cloud seeding for the Dubai floods

Dubai is wrestling with the aftermath of extraordinary torrential rains that flooded the desert city, with people describing harrowing stories of spending the night in their cars, and air passengers enduring chaotic scenes at airports.

Up to 259.5mm (10.2in) of rain fell on the usually arid country of the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday, the most since records began 75 years ago. The state-run WAM news agency called the rains on Tuesday aa historic weather eventa that surpassed aanything documented since the start of data collection in 1949a.

Harry Potter star described wife, who founded dwarfism charity Little People UK, as agreatest love of his lifea

Samantha Davis, the campaigner and wife of the Harry Potter star Warwick Davis, whom he called his asoul matea, has died aged 53.

Davis, who founded Little People UK a the dwarfism charity known as aan essential resource for little people and their familiesa a was described by her husband as athe greatest love of his lifea.

Following reports of battery investigation into West against unnamed man, rapperas team allege wife Bianca Censori was being assaulted

Representatives for Kanye West have alleged that a man physically and sexually assaulted his wife Bianca Censori in an incident in Los Angeles.

Sources previously told TMZ that West was being investigated as a suspect in a battery incident earlier this week, after the rapper was alleged to have struck a man who had grabbed Censori.

aPoorton coin hoarda, discovered under floor by Betty and Robert Fooks, expected to fetch APS35,000 at auction

Renovating a kitchen can be expensive but a couple from Dorset have found it to be a lucrative exercise after they discovered more than 1,000 17th-century coins hidden under the floor.

Betty and Robert Fooks were removing the kitchenas concrete floor to create more ceiling height at their farmhouse in Dorset when Robert, an agricultural engineer, discovered a smashed glazed pottery bowl full of 400-year-old coins.

With no centralised relief effort in Egypt, Palestinians are relying on grassroots charities for food, rent and clothing

The last thing Rania sold was her jewellery. In the weeks after her family first woke up to heavy shelling in northern Gaza, they lost everything as they journeyed south to escape the bombs. aWherever we went, the houses would be destroyed,a she says. aWe were sent running from place to place.a

After three long months, she found herself in the border city of Rafah parting with her rings, gold bracelets and necklaces to pay the $15,000 acoordination feesa needed to get her family on the evacuation list to leave Gaza.

Questions have swirled online about the process being behind the historic rainfall a but experts say itas not the real culprit

Severe floods inundated the United Arab Emirates this week, as a storm dumped the largest amount of rainfall the country has seen in more than 75 years, the government said.

A record 254mm (10in) of rainfall dropped in Al Ain, a city bordering Oman a more than the country sees on average in a year. Highways turned to rivers as drivers abandoned stuck vehicles, homes and businesses have been damaged, and flights at one of the worldas busiest airports have been significantly disrupted. Twenty people have reportedly been killed, and the recovery is expected to be slow: in a place known for its dry desert climate and hot temperatures where rain is rare, many areas lack drainage.

In the first of a new series, we look at why people reject so much of the bountiful catches from our seas in favour of the same few species, mostly imported a and how to change that

Perched on a quay in the Cornish port of Falmouth is Pysk fishmongers, where Giles and Sarah Gilbert started out with a dream to supply locally caught seafood to the town. Their catch comes mainly from small boats that deliver a glittering array of local fish: gleaming red mullets, iridescent mackerels, spotted dabs and bright white scallops, still snapping in their shells.

Occasionally, they will get a treasured haul of local common prawns a stripy, smaller and sweeter than the frozen, imported varieties in UK supermarkets. So, when customers come into the shop asking for prawns, Giles Gilbert presents athese bouncing jack-in-a-boxesa with a flourish, hoping to tempt buyers with the fresh, live shellfish.

Therapist Lindsay Gibsonas 2015 book has sold over a million copies and its message has soared on social media. What does it mean?

In an ideal world, adults would be more mature than their kids. They would be better at handling stress, resolving conflicts with others, or talking about their feelings. In the opening chapter of the book Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents, therapist Lindsay Gibson presents an unsettling alternative.

aWhat if,a she wrote, asome sensitive children come into the world and within a few years are more emotionally mature than their parents, who have been around for decades?a

The Latin music legend a back, at 66, with her first salsa album a answers your questions on her star collaborations, screen chemistry, and what she and Stevie Wonder still canat agree on

When did you first know you were a drummer? axolotly
I still donat know if Iam a adrummera! Sometimes people mean percussion a like congas and timbales a and sometimes they mean drum set, which wasnat a thing for me until I played with George Duke in the mid-70s. My dad [Pete Escovedo, a well-known Mexican American jazz percussionist] played and practised at the house every day. Iad have heard him while I was in my motheras womb. I couldnat reach his percussion instruments so my mum would put the pots and pans on the floor and Iad bang along on those. I played with a local band when I was 15 and I learned a lot from Billy Cobham, and would play his drums for a minute, but sitting in with George Duke for one song was enough to start me playing drums.

Was there anything that stopped you progressing as a female musical artist and have these problems lessened today? Whovian79
Growing up in Oakland, California there were a lot of jam sessions in the streets and parks. A lot of young women would bring shakers, djembes and such. Once I knew I could play, Iad go to concerts and ask if I could sit in. Lots of times they said no so Iad go to the other side of the stage and get someone to say yes. Once I left home and started flying to Los Angeles to play with other artists I did experience male chauvinism a aYouare a girl. Girls donat play drumsa a until word of mouth was that Sheila Escovedo can play. Now there are more female drummers and percussionists all over the world. I message them on social media and just say: aHey, Iam a fan.a Thereas so many that I reach out to on a daily basis.

Images from Gaza, Ukraine, Madagascar and the US border chosen by global jury from more than 60,000 entries

aC/ World Press Photo winners 2024 a in pictures

Photographs documenting the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, migration, family and dementia have topped this yearas World Press Photo awards a one of the worldas most prestigious photography competitions.

Mohammed Salem, Lee-Ann Olwage, Alejandro Cegarra, and Julia Kochetova have been announced as the winners of this yearas competition, which is run by the World Press Photo Foundation a an independent, not-for-profit organisation that celebrates the importance of press and documentary photography.

History is littered with food fads, from pineapples to apoultry maniaa a and now, anything involving croissant dough

Parisians can be unforgivingly critical of each other where food fads are concerned. aIt is a fashion, a madness,a said one FranASSoise daAubignA(c), when her social circle became dribblingly obsessed with the Next Big Thing. aThe anxiety to eat them, the pleasure of having eaten them and the desire to eat them againa were all that anybody was talking about, she said. She clearly found it extremely annoying. Perhaps FranASSoise was laying into the recent craze for the crookie, a hybrid of the croissant filled with cookie dough and re-baked, which launched in October 2022 at Boulangerie Louvard on Rue de ChAC/teaudun. It recently became a viral sensation after being amplified on TikTok. Suddenly Parisians were queueing down the street for them. From selling about 150 a day, the bakery now shifts 1,500.

Except our critic wasnat talking about crookies. FranASSoise daAubignA(c), also known as Madame de Maintenon, was the mistress of Louis XIV and she was exasperated by a craze in the very last years of the 17th century for fresh garden peas, a then-novel alternative to dried. aThere are ladies who, after having dined, and dined well, eat garden peas in their quarters before going to bed,a she raged. Annoying bloody hipsters with their stupid fresh peas.

A ballooning number of repertory groups dedicated to cinema in its original medium are springing up across the UK. They explain its uphill thrills

As staff read out fire safety precautions and evacuation procedures before a 35mm nitrate print screening of Black Narcissus at the BFI, the packed crowd titter in excitement and anticipation. How often do you go to the cinema with an awareness that the film you are watching is being physically unspooled, live, with a possibility of actual combustion due to the ultra-flammable material it contains?

The desire to watch films projected on film is on the rise across the UK a and the number of repertory film clubs dedicated to analogue screenings is ballooning. Sheffield-based Reel Steel seek out rare gems a adoing the detective work to find 35mm prints in a screen-worthy condition can be a year-round taska, says founder Joseph Harris. Manchester-based Certificate X Cult Film Screenings and Bristolas Hellfire Video Club show B-movie or cult fare. In Londonas Elephant and Castle, the Nickel is about to open as a agrindhousea cinema, purveyors of athe most subversive, bewildering, sensational, fearless, sublime, shocking, transgressive, death-defying, psychedelic, psychotronic, bizarre, rebellious, baffling, degenerate cinematic treasuresa.

Steve, 65, and Lisa, 67, met in the mid-90s on an early online messaging system while on opposite sides of the Atlantic. They now live together near Cambridge

• Tell us your story of how you met someone special

When Steve was introduced to an early online messaging system called Internet Relay Chat in 1994, he was excited to meet like-minded people. aI was living in Essex and working for a telecommunications company, so unlike many I had access to the internet and computers,a he says. aI joined an early online group for Kate Bush fans and we splintered off into another group for fans of a New York singer called Happy Rhodes.a He says the communication tool was avery slowa by todayas standards. aIt showed every letter someone typed,a he laughs.

In the US, in Connecticut, Lisa was introduced to the same messaging program by one of her friends. aI was doing a neurobiology PhD at the time,a she says. aI was living alone and working in a lab by myself a lot. She gave me a disc which meant I could talk to people all over the world, so I had to try it out.a

Kooky kid sister, romantic lead, comic turn, cantankerous old dame a| we pick out her greatest roles

An early Shirley in this epic Technicolor comedy-adventure based on Jules Verne, overstuffed with superstar cameos and produced by the impresario Mike Todd. David Niven sauntered through the role of the globe-circling gent Phileas Fogg and 22-year-old MacLaine was cast in the way Hollywood sometimes saw her in those days a| as someone whose feline, gamine looks had something exotic and Asiatic about them. She was the Indian Princess Aouda, widowed after a loveless arranged marriage but rescued from the funeral pyre by the bold Fogg, whom she then joins on his travels for a while. A sweet and likable comic turn.

Tom Ripley is meant to be a master of disguise a so why does he end up in such a rubbish rug? Hereas where Andrew Scottas daft do sits in the pantheon of preposterous hairpieces

Netflixas Ripley has a tremendous amount to offer. Itas dark and stylish. Itas one of the most beautiful things on television. It has an exceptional cat in it. However, there is one moment in Ripley that is so preposterous it threatens to undermine the entire series. If you havenat seen Ripley, stop reading now. If you have, you already know exactly what Iam about to say.

Itas the bloody wig, isnat it? For most of the series, Andrew Scottas Ripley is the charming and dapper conman heas always been; an indisputable master of impersonation and misdirection. But in the final episode that all falls apart. As the net around him closes in, Ripley decides to confront the inspector on his case. But he does this in a and unfortunately thereas no way of using this word without inverted commas a adisguisea, because he already met him once before under an alias. So we see Ripley enter a wig shop, to choose the best possible way for him to camouflage himself entirely. We see the tools of his work at home, scissors and combs and spirit gum, to reassure us that Tom Ripley is a master of disguise with a level of unparalleled expertise. And then a|

Instead of stockpiling weapons and stoking fears of coming conflict, we should be focusing on keeping the peace

In our increasingly destabilised present, it is difficult not to see echoes of the run-up to the first world war. Back then, a standoff between two great power blocs led to a fatalism that a disastrous war was simply inevitable. If history does indeed repeat itself, that would be catastrophic for two reasons. First, because the mass slaughter turned out to be the warm-up act for worse in the rest of the 20th century. In many ways, we are still living in the aftermath. Second, because such a repetition would in fact prove the best case scenario; a nuclear inferno that devours human civilisation is a more probable outcome.

In two newspaper articles last week, Sir Keir Starmer committed Labour to retaining nuclear weapons and to hiking defence spending to 2.5% of GDP. Prevailing political wisdom would suggest this offers necessary distance from his predecessor, though it should be noted that Labouras 2017 and 2019 manifestos both promised to retain Trident and keep defence spending to at least 2%, the target Nato members are committed to reach.

A new report shows how transformational the initiative was. But Keir Starmeras early-years plans lack the same vision

Sure Start did change the lives of children, a new report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) told us last week. It not only improved educational outcomes for children, particularly kids from deprived areas, but also reduced later need for education, health and care plans for those with special educational needs and disabilities (Send), and paid for itself. The confirmation that these centres for early years support were indeed a good thing was greeted by some as entirely surprising news that no one could have possibly predicted. If only wead known!

Gordon Brown, the then-Labour chancellor who introduced Sure Start in 1998, helped retrieve my eyeballs from the bit of my skull Iad rolled them into, with his analysis: aThese results tell us in detail what most parents already know. That if you provide a supportive environment to children in their early years and invest in their futures, the results will be life-transforming.a

Terri White is a journalist and the author of Coming Undone: A Memoir

As I learned from managing Michelangeloas David, visitors can be nudged away from the joyless in-and-out mission for selfies and souvenirs

Florence is an exquisite city. Because of its history and its cultural heritage as the cradle of the Italian Renaissance, it is unique, precious and very fragile. The historic centre a a Unesco world heritage site a occupies a very small space. The cityas 366,000 inhabitants are joined each year by about 11 million tourists. Maintaining the characteristic dignity of the place and meeting the needs of those who live here permanently while managing this volume of tourism, is a great challenge and responsibility. For most of the year, Florence struggles to do either sustainably.

To be clear, tourism is an essential source of income and I am not opposed to tourists. The problem is that many visitors are on a quick in-and-out mission to take selfies in front of a few major sights a Michelangeloas David, Botticellias Primavera, the Piazza della Signoria a to show people at home that they have been to Florence, while essentially trampling the city without contributing anything.

The Scottish government is right to target smoking, drinking and drug misuse. But the root cause remains: deprivation

Every few years, headlines emerge about how Scots have the lowest life expectancy in western Europe. This was true in 2005, 2010, and most recently earlier this month, when Paul Johnston, the head of Public Health Scotland, highlighted that life expectancy stalled around 2014 to 2016, then declined in recent years. At the moment men and women in Scotland are expected to die just over two years earlier than those in England.

What exactly is happening in Scotland to explain this pattern, and are we (I say awea given that Iave lived in the nation for roughly a decade) really that different from other parts of the UK and Europe? The first issue to highlight is that life expectancy differs based on where you live. In Glasgow, life expectancy varies hugely between the richer and poorer parts of the city. In 2021, if you lived in Pollokshields West, life expectancy was 83 years, while in Greater Govan it was 65.4 a a gap of 18 years. Averages hide a deeper story linked to deprivation and inequality within Scotland. Where and how you live plays a crucial role in how long you live.

Prof Devi Sridhar is chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh

With Donald Trump and the Capitol Hill riots in court, the studiously apolitical vibe of this dystopia feels like a cop-out

As the supreme court heard arguments relating to the 6 January riot and Donald Trump sat in a criminal court in Manhattan, cinemas across America have been showing scenes from an imagined world after the end of democracy. The movie Civil War, written and directed by Alex Garland, depicts a conflict-ridden US in which rebel forces battle to overthrow the government. As a thought experiment, this would be a lot more fun in a year in which a man with 91 felony charges wasnat standing for his second term as president. As it is, the film currently at No 1 at the US box office is under some pressure to say something meaningful about where we are now.

Civil War does have things to say: about how war is bad, and violence corrupts, and once things get under way people exploit the chaos for all sorts of reasons a which explains the presence of Florida in the filmas imagined secessionist uprising. Itas a gripping ride that, depending on your view, is either shrewdly non-partisan in a way that assumes the audience can fill in the gaps for themselves (the New York Times), an empty but entertaining romp with lots of explosions (the New Yorker) or a provocation to liberals who donat understand what movies are for (the Hollywood Reporter). Meanwhile, in court this week, prospective jurors in the former presidentas hush money trial were warned to keep details of themselves confidential, to preserve against the possibility of juror intimidation a the kind of deep background detail in which the film has no interest.

Closer alignment between a Labour government and the EU is a certainty. But the divisive binary choices of 2016 are ancient history

aWho do you think will lead the Labour governmentas revolt on Europe?a asked my walking companion, steeped in politics, as we battled a cold morning headwind on a Chiltern hillside this week, the hedgerows around us suddenly in full leaf again and the chalkland remarkably dry after that pitiless early April rain, before he added: aAnd when will it come?a

These are both good questions. But they are hard to answer in a fierce wind and going uphill. Back in the dry, I have mulled them more carefully. The revolt on which my companion and I speculated would be a revolt to push Keir Starmer to go further on Europe than he says he is willing to go. The answer is that the pivotal factor may not be geopolitical- and security-related, as some may assume amid the increasingly dire conflict with Russia in Ukraine. More probably, it would be the state of the economy over which Labour finds itself presiding as Starmeras government reaches its midterm point.

The public supports it, and even the rich are calling for it. We must prevent a deeper slide into global inequality

• Abigail Disney is a member of Patriotic Millionaires

The need to tax rich people like me has never been so dire. Extreme wealth concentration in the hands of a few oligarchs is a threat to democracy the world over. Meanwhile, we are cooking our planet and irreversibly damaging our biosphere.

Last summer was the hottest on record, and weare also seeing historic wildfires, biblical floods, devastating droughts and rising sea temperatures. It is only right that the funds to mitigate further damage and develop green energy systems come from those most able to pay a and who, by the way, are the ones disproportionately driving it with their jet-setting, gas-guzzling lifestyles.

Itas a vegan version of pasulj a and it was the talk of the town when my daughter was at university. Iave never been more proud

Whatas the biggest compliment a child can pay a parent? How can a woman make her fatheras chest swell with pride? For me, there is an easy answer. Just ask me for a recipe; just ask me how to make something I used to cook for you.

Nothing, but nothing, compares to this. I could be told I was brilliant, kind, funny, wise a pick your adjective. I could be praised for my careful calibration of a fine moral compass. Nah. None of these would butter my parsnips. Send me a text asking how I made that chocolate mousse out of silken tofu. Thatas what one of my daughters did yesterday afternoon. And the rest of the day was a breeze.

The opposition is right to recognise that a dangerous international climate demands closer security partnership with the EU

For most of the period since the decision was taken to leave the EU, British politicians have overestimated how much thought the continent gives to Brexit. Once shock at the referendum result receded, relations with the UK came to be seen as a technical problem to be solved by hard-headed negotiation.

At critical moments, when deadlines neared, Brexit leapt up the agenda. After the treaties were signed, they dropped right down, overtaken by the other issues facing a large bloc with many borders and problems. That represents a perverse kind of victory for Boris Johnson and his chief negotiator, David Frost. The deal they signed was so skewed against British interests that Brussels has little incentive to reopen the settlement.