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Amnesty International describes legislation as full-frontal attack' on country's LGBTQ+ communityMPs in Hungary have voted to ban Pride events and allow authorities to use facial recognition software to identify attenders and potentially fine them, in what Amnesty International has described as a full-frontal attack" on LGBTQ+ people.The legislation - the latest by the prime minister, Viktor Orban, and his rightwing populist party to target LGBTQ+ rights - was pushed through parliament on Tuesday. Believed to be the first of its kind in the EU's recent history, the nationwide ban passed by 136 votes to 27 after it was submitted to parliament one day earlier. Continue reading...

Israeli prime minister bows to pressure from far-right over majority who prioritise deals to bring back hostagesAs the ceasefire in Gaza extended from days into weeks, and newly freed hostages began sharing grim details of their captivity, Benjamin Netanyahu's political room for manoeuvre seemed to shrink.He was caught between the far-right parties propping up his government, keen to return to war in Gaza, and the majority of Israelis who prioritised the fate of the remaining hostages over the total defeat" of Hamas demanded by their prime minister. Continue reading...

Disability charities call foul as welfare secretary buries austerity-like news under earnest talk of reform

Liz Kendall, the work and pensions secretary, laid out plans for 5bn savings but faces rebellion from some Labour MPsUp to 1.2 million people with disabilities will lose thousands of pounds under the government's welfare overhaul, experts have said, as campaigners warn the plan will exacerbate the country's mental health crisis and push more children into poverty.Liz Kendall, the work and pensions secretary, laid out her long-awaited changes to the benefits system on Tuesday, announcing a set of measures aimed at getting more people into work and saving 5bn by reducing disability payments. Continue reading...

Activists celebrate move, but note that a bull event without violence does not mean one without suffering'Mexico City's congress has voted to ban traditional bullfights and replace them with a new form of bloodless spectacle, marking the latest episode in a years-long legal battle to outlaw the practice in the capital.Animal rights activists celebrated the move on Tuesday - even if it wasn't the total ban on bullfighting they had been pushing for. Continue reading...

Congressman Don Beyer refused entry to US Institute of Peace after independent body taken over by Musk groupA senior Democratic congressman vowed to stop Doge's illegal power grab" after operatives from Elon Musk's so-called department of government efficiency" gained entry to the US Institute of Peace in Washington - an independent organization established by Congress - and forced out its leaders.I was at USIP tonight to conduct congressional oversight over Doge's break-in," Don Beyer of Virginia said on Monday. I spoke with [removed] acting president & CEO [George] Moose. USIP is an independent, non-profit entity and I will work to stop Doge's illegal power grab." Continue reading...

Nicholas Prosper, 19, planned to kill 30 pupils and two teachers after shooting his mother, brother and sister deadA 19-year-old man who shot dead his mother and two younger siblings had planned to kill 30 children at a primary school, a court has heard.Nicholas Prosper, from Luton, Bedfordshire, had wanted to carry out the killing at his former primary school to gain notoriety as a mass murderer, and had been planning it for months. Continue reading...

Work and pensions secretary says Benefits crackdown will save 5bn by 2030 but disability charities say cuts are immoral'. This live blog is closedQ: Why have you changed your mind on this?Badenoch says she has not changed her mind. As a member of the government, she abided by collective responsibility. She says in government she regularly questioned the case for net zero.The person who's been consistent in all this is me.I'm not going to pretend that I won't have critics ... This is politics. Being a politician is about being criticised.What I'm asking people to do is listen to what I'm saying. I am not doing what all the other parties are doing. We are changing the way we do things.That's not how it works. You can't just pull [a date] out of the air. And what we did was pick a target and then start thinking of how to get there.We need to start thinking about it in a different way. How does this impact families? How is business going to help us deliver? And that's what the policy commissions are going to do. Continue reading...

SpaceX, Musk's private rockets and satellites business, is now largest asset for the first time in five years

Vladimir Putin issues long list of conditions and demands that require further consideration'Speaking for the Greens, who are expected to back the CDU/CSU and the SPD today after a political deal struck late last week, Britta Haelmann offered her support for the proposal - even as she sharply criticised Merz's change of heart on this issue in recent weeks.Rejecting Merz's comments about the new, challenging global circumstances, he said the conditions are no different than they were on 1 January or in October last year," after Trump was elected. Continue reading...

German MPs have voted to pass a motion to loosen the country's strict borrowing rules, altering the constitution. The measure had been proposed by Friedrich Merz, the presumptive incoming chancellor, in the outgoing Bundestag, or federal parliamentA motion put before the outgoing Bundestag to alter the German constitution to allow for greater investment and borrowing, in part to fund higher defence spending. The vote needs a two-thirds majority to pass. Continue reading...

Trump appealed judge's decision that said mass firings of probationary workers were likely illegalDonald Trump's presidential administration in court filings has for the first time acknowledged that it fired nearly 25,000 recently hired workers - and said agencies were working to bring all of them back after a judge ruled that their terminations were likely illegal.The filings made in Baltimore's federal courthouse late Monday include statements from officials at 18 agencies, all of whom said the reinstated probationary workers were being placed on administrative leave at least temporarily. Continue reading...

US citizen girl deported with mixed-status family, who filed complaint over denied healthcare and poor conditions

Michael Jones convicted of planning burglary from Blenheim Palace in September 2019A man has been found guilty over the theft of a 4.8m gold toilet from the Oxfordshire country house where Winston Churchill was born.Blenheim Palace's 18-carat lavatory was stolen in September 2019 while it was featuring in an art exhibition. Continue reading...

Billionaire denies conflict of interest as he heads Trump initiative to cut costs throughout federal government

Met police arrest man on suspicion of causing death by careless driving after incident on the StrandA woman was killed and two pedestrians injured, including one seriously, when a van mounted the pavement on the Strand in central London.The driver of the van was arrested at the scene on suspicion of causing death by careless driving and driving with a concentration of drugs above the legal limit. Continue reading...

Inquiry recommends hospital alert system after staff failed to act on warning signs of difficult birthsA Scottish judge has ruled that the deaths of three babies during childbirth could realistically" have been avoided if maternity staff had been correctly trained.Sheriff Principal Aisha Anwar KC said hospitals across Scotland should introduce a trigger list" of early labour warning signs that would immediately lead to women being called in for hospital assessment. Continue reading...

Maria Ressa says rules-based order can perhaps still exist' but social media is being used to undermine democracy around the worldThe arrest of Rodrigo Duterte is a welcome sign that the rules-based order continues to hold, the Nobel laureate Maria Ressa has said, even as the global order has been marred by the US descending into hell" at the hands of the same forces that consumed the Philippines.Ressa's remarks came after Duterte, the former president of the Philippines, made his first appearance before the international criminal court (ICC) in The Hague, accused of committing crimes against humanity during his brutal war on drugs". Continue reading...

Welfare secretary announces changes aimed at cutting bill by up to 5bn in face of opposition from Labour MPs

Volker Turk calls for immediate end to violence and unconditional release of hostages

Donald Day Jr, facing charges over guns and making threats overseas, is trying to block testimony from Queensland police

Company's shares plunge as it estimates total costs of 200m this year from motor finance scandal

Palestinian health authorities report 400 deaths as IDF hits dozens of sites across territory

Man allegedly contacted the MP using social media multiple times between 7 January and 19 February this year

In today's newsletter: Why Benjamin Netanyahu ordered new attacks on dozens of sites in Gaza - and what happens nextGood morning. Just before 2.30am local time, Israel launched airstrikes on dozens of targets across Gaza. War planes hit sites across the territory, from Gaza City in the north to Khan Younis in the south. At least 330 people have been reported dead so far, Gaza's health ministry said, and Benjamin Netanyahu's office appeared to suggest that the two-month-old ceasefire is now over: Israel will, from now on, act against Hamas with increasing military strength," it said.You can follow the latest here at the Guardian's live blog. Today's newsletter explains what's happened overnight, and why. Here are the headlines.UK politics | Keir Starmer will unveil drastic cuts to disability benefits on Tuesday, despite deep opposition from Labour MPs and poverty campaigners, and warnings from economists against making kneejerk savings to hit fiscal targets. The changes are expected to affect some of the UK's most severely disabled people.UK news | Lucy Letby has called for the public inquiry into her crimes to be halted, arguing there is now overwhelming and compelling" evidence undermining her baby murder convictions. Lawyers for the former nurse took the extraordinary step of writing to Lady Justice Thirlwall on Monday to say that the inquiry - due to end on Wednesday - should be suspended immediately.Space | Two Nasa astronauts stranded" aboard the International Space Station (ISS) since last summer were finally on their way back to Earth on a SpaceX vessel on Tuesday, more than nine months after the failure of Boeing's pioneering Starliner capsule scuppered their originally scheduled week-long mission.Finance | The hedge fund manager Crispin Odey will be banned from the City and hit with a 1.8m fine by the UK's financial watchdog for deliberately attempting to frustrate" a disciplinary process into sexual harassment allegations.Second world war | The last surviving Battle of Britain pilot, John Paddy" Hemingway, has died aged 105. The Royal Air Force (RAF) said Hemingway, a member of the Few" who took to the skies during the second world war, died peacefully on Monday. Continue reading...

Crisis within British television is leading to an exodus of production talent, media executive saysThe UK's television industry is being hit by a perfect storm" that risks leading to British stories disappearing from the small screen, Elisabeth Murdoch has said.Murdoch, co-founder of the production company Sister, said that a crisis within British television was leading to an exodus of production talent - as well as a danger that British stories were struggling to be told. It follows warnings that cash-strapped British broadcasters are targeting their resources at dramas with international appeal. Continue reading...

Dutch national Paul Thijssen killed St Andrew's Cathedral school water polo coach in October 2023 before killing himself in Sydney's eastern suburbs

Hunter Wildlife Rescue started receiving numerous reports of sick and dead birds on Monday, centred on the suburbs Hamilton and Carrington

People earning $70,000 a year spend more than half of their income (52%) on the national median unit rent

Rajwinder Singh had pleaded not guilty to murdering the 24-year-old, who was found buried in sand in far north Queensland

Palestinian civilians cannot pay the price of defeating Hamas. It has now been two weeks since humanitarian aid last entered Gaza' says foreign minister. This blog is now closed.

In Islington, a panel of people with migrant and refugee backgrounds is allocating 500,000 in grants to directly help new arrivals who are where they once wereOn a cold morning in the heart of London, recently arrived refugees and more established migrants gather in a community centre. Their mission? To decide how 500,000 in funding will be used to support people like them.The initiative is part of the Borough of Sanctuary grants programme, which takes the government's commitment to devolution a step further, using it to empower migrants and refugees. Continue reading...

Global Times hails US president's order to strip back government funding to news organisations he deems radical'Chinese state media has reacted gleefully to the Trump administration's decision to slash government funding to media organisations such as Radio Free Asia (RFA) and Voice of America (VOA).The Global Times, a daily English-language tabloid and Chinese Communist party mouthpiece, celebrated the cuts to the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which oversees broadcasters such as VOA and RFA. Continue reading...

Treasurer says he would welcome the opportunity to put the economy front and centre' in the upcoming election campaign

Drake's attorneys accuse Universal of being a greedy company' that is finally being held responsible for profiting from dangerous misinformation'.Universal Music Group have moved to dismiss Drake's defamation suit, characterising it as a misguided attempt" by the Canadian rapper to salve his wounds" after he lost a rap battle" with rival Kendrick Lamar.In the motion, filed on Monday in the US district court for the southern district of New York, Universal Music Group (UMG), which represents both artists, claimed that Drake lost a rap battle that he provoked and in which he willingly participated. Continue reading...

Liberals Against Nuclear say the policy would increase bureaucracy and impose massive taxpayer-backed risk'

Leafy seadragons, fish, and octopuses among creatures to have washed up dead on both Waitpinga Beach and Parsons Beach

Swedish furniture retailer's arrival is seen as crucial to hopes of reviving the London shopping streetIkea will be bringing its mix of meatballs, lampshades and kitchen planning to London's Oxford Street from 1 May, when the world's largest furniture retailer finally opens its store 18 months late.The company said its three-floor outlet, in the former Topshop base, would house a 130-seat Swedish deli and showrooms, as well as offering one-to-one design consultations. Continue reading...

James Lee Williams's sister says it is important to raise awareness of the dangers of the increasingly prevalent drugThe drag artist known as The Vivienne died of a cardiac arrest caused by the effects of taking ketamine, their family has said.James Lee Williams, who won the first series of RuPaul's Drag Race UK as The Vivienne in 2019, died at their home in Cheshire in January. Their sister Chanel Williams said it was important to share the circumstances of their death because ketamine use was becoming more prevalent in the UK. Continue reading...

Hedge fund manager deliberately tried to frustrate investigation into sexual misconduct allegations, says regulatorThe hedge fund manager Crispin Odey will be banned from the City and hit with a 1.8m fine by the UK's financial watchdog for deliberately attempting to frustrate" a disciplinary process into sexual harassment allegations.The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said on Monday that Odey had shown reckless disregard" for the governance of his hedge fund and his conduct proved he was not a fit and proper person to perform any function related to regulated activities". Continue reading...

The gay couple, who travelled to the US for the birth of their son, could be among the first Italians prosecuted under a new ban on domestic surrogacyThe Italian parents of a child who was recently born in the US via surrogacy say they are too afraid to return home since Giorgia Meloni's government enacted the west's most restrictive law against what she described as procreative tourism".The gay couple could be among the first Italians to be prosecuted under the law, enacted in early December, which extended an outright ban on domestic surrogacy by making it a universal crime that transcends borders, putting them on a par with terrorists, paedophiles and war criminals. Continue reading...

Huge demonstrations in Houthi-controlled areas come as more than 50 people die in strikes responding to Red Sea attacksMore than 200 people, including women and children, have been killed in Syria in incidents involving war remnants in the three months since the fall of the Assad regime, as bomb disposal experts warn that no area in Syria is safe".The number of casualties has risen as approximately 1.2 million people return to their former homes and lands after being displaced by the country's brutal civil war.The US and Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen are both vowing escalation after the US launched a wave of deadly airstrikes on Saturday with the stated aim of deterring the rebel group from attacking Red Sea shipping. Updating an earlier death toll, Houthi health ministry spokesperson Anis al-Asbahi said 53 people had been killed including five children and two women", and that 98 people had been injured.Iran will respond to US president Donald Trump's invitation to talks after proper scrutiny, the foreign ministry said on Monday, accusing Washington of not matching actions with words. Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and president Masoud Pezeshkian have rejected Trump's letter and public exhortations for nuclear talks as deceptive and bullying.A civilian was killed in an Israeli airstrike south of Gaza City yesterday evening, according to Palestinian news agency Wafa. An Israeli airstrike killed three Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, medics said on Monday. There have been many more reports of Palestinians being killed by Israeli forces since the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the US, came into effect on 19 January.Israeli tanks and armoured vehicles continue to be positioned around the occupied West Bank city of Jenin and its refugee camp, according to Palestinian news agency Wafa. Wafa correspondents are reporting that Israeli bulldozers are levelling streets and widening others to allow for the entry of more military vehicles.Benjamin Netanyahu has announced he will seek to dismiss the director of Shin Bet, Israel's internal security service, through a cabinet vote later this week, in a move that will prompt further accusations of authoritarianism. The Israeli prime minister said in a video statement on Sunday that ongoing distrust" made it impossible for him to continue to work with Ronen Bar, who has led Shin Bet since 2021.Germany is pledging a further 300m ($326m; 252m) in aid for Syrians through the UN and select organisations, the country's foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, said this morning ahead of an EU-led donor conference in Brussels. More than half of the funds, which will go towards providing food, healthcare and emergency shelters, among other relief, will be allocated without the transitional government in the country, she said. Continue reading...

Ex-nurse says inquiry should be suspended until review of convictions has finishedLucy Letby has called for the public inquiry into her crimes to be halted, arguing there is now overwhelming and compelling" evidence undermining her baby murder convictions.Lawyers for the former nurse took the extraordinary step of writing to Lady Justice Thirlwall on Monday to say that the inquiry - which is due to end on Wednesday - should be suspended immediately. Continue reading...

President claims without evidence that January 6 panel members' pre-emptive clemency was not signed personally

Young's forthcoming Love Earth tour will not use Ticketmaster's platinum' ticketing scheme - described by Smith as a greedy scam'Neil Young has credited the Cure's frontman Robert Smith with inspiring his decision not to allow Ticketmaster to use dynamic pricing for his forthcoming tour.Dynamic pricing is marketed by Ticketmaster as platinum" or in demand" tickets which, according to the company, give fans the opportunity to purchase the most in demand tickets to an event, at a market-driven price" - meaning a rise in prices for especially sought-after tickets.My management and agent have always tried to cover my back on the road, getting me the best deals they could. They have tried to protect me and the fans from scalpers who buy the best tickets and resell them at huge increases for their own profits. Ticketmaster's high-priced Platinum tickets were introduced to the areas where scalpers were buying the most tickets for resale. The money went to me. That did not feel right. Very soon, Platinum tickets will no longer be available for my shows. I have decided to let the people work this out. Buy aggressively when the tickets come out or tickets will cost a lot more in a secondary market. Continue reading...

Exclusive: 90% of Democrats, 57% of Republicans are worried about tariffs, with similar concerns about recession

Murray Watt says deregistering union's construction division would jeopardise ongoing investigations and that new US-style laws are unnecessary

Group claims laws rushed through after wave of antisemitism in state are unconstitutional' and undemocratic'

At least 34 people killed as storms sweep midwest and southern states, while rain causes chaos in Melbourne raceAt least 34 people have died across six states in the US in the past week as a powerful storm system swept through the midwest and south, affecting Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Mississippi. The storms brought a devastating combination of dust storms, tornadoes, wildfires, flash flooding and large hailstones, and left behind a trail of wrecked vehicles, severely damaged buildings and widespread power outages. More than 60 million Americans have been affected by the severe weather.Since Friday, 68 tornadoes have been observed, an unusually high number for this time of year, as tornado season doesn't typically begin until May. Wind gusts reached up to 70mph. These intense storms were fuelled by a clash of warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico, which mixed with colder air from Canada and the Rocky Mountains. This temperature contrast combined with strong wind shear strengthened the rotating vortex of the thunderstorms. The flat terrain of Tornado Alley also assisted the storms, allowing them to develop and move rapidly across the region. Continue reading...

Many MPs will feel that pushing people in to poverty to balance the books is not what they came into politics to doThis week may come to be the moment when Keir Starmer's reputation as the hard man of the Labour party was tested to its limits. How far is the prime minister really prepared to push his MPs?He has the raw numbers to do whatever he chooses - there is no chance of the changes being halted in parliament - but the consequences of forcing his MPs to swallow harsh welfare cuts affecting millions of people will be long-lasting. Continue reading...