PM announces plan to increase spending to APS87bn a year by 2030 on visit to Poland

Britain will boost its defence spending to 2.5% of national output by the end of the decade, Rishi Sunak has announced on a visit to Poland, as he warned the UK had to be equipped to meet the challenges of an increasingly dangerous world.

The prime ministeras plan, under which the UK would steadily increase defence spending to APS87bn a year by 2030, comes after months of pressure from Tory MPs, including the defence secretary, Grant Shapps, to increase military spending to help counter the threat from Russia.

UN and Council for Europe add voices to outcry as more people drown within hours of acruela Rwanda bill being passed

Humanitarian groups have called for new safe routes to Britain after five people died trying to cross the Channel within hours of ministers passing the controversial Rwanda bill.

A child and four adults drowned on Tuesday while trying to reach the UK in a boat from Wimereux, in France. More than 110 people were said to have been on board the vessel when it left the French coastline at 5am.

Former CEO of National Enquirer continues testimony; judge tells ex-presidentas lawyer heas alosing all credibilitya with arguments on gag order

• Full story: trial resumes with Pecker testimony and gag order hearing
• Sign up for free Trump on Trial newsletter

Donald Trump has walked into judge Juan Merchanas courtroom; he sported a navy suit, white shirt, and red tie, and carried himself with an air of fatigue.

Merchan will soon weigh whether to hold the ex-president in contempt over his apparent repeated violations of a gag order that bars him from publicly trashing witnesses in his hush-money trial.

When are they going to look at all the lies that Cohen did in the last trial. He got caught lying. Pure lying. And when are they going to look at that.

You will hear during this trial President Trump fought back a like he always does a like heas entitled to do to protect his family, his reputation, and his brand a that is not a crime.

It doesnat matter. What I mean by that is, I expect you will learn that Ms Daniels doesnat have any idea. She doesnat know anything about the charge, 34 counts in this case. She has no idea what Michael Cohen wrote on the invoice a| her testimony, while salacious, does not matter.

Minister admits mistakes have been made but says speed limit will remain in high-risk areas

Hundreds of roads and streets where a 20mph speed limit was introduced under a controversial law could be returned to 30mph, as the Labour-led government admitted mistakes had been made over the policy.

The Welsh government denied it had performed a U-turn and insisted the default 20mph for roads in built-up areas would remain to prevent deaths and save the NHS money.

Far-right supporters among those believed to be attending march on Whitehall, with at least six arrests made

Clashes have taken place in central London between police and participants in a St Georgeas Day event attended by crowds that included some far-right supporters.

Groups of men wielding flags pushed through lines of police attempting to hold them back in an area near Whitehall before the event, resulting in police on horseback being sent in.

Spokesperson says some bodies allegedly had their hands tied while others were bound and stripped

The UN human rights chief, Volker TA1/4rk, has said he was ahorrifieda by reports of mass graves containing hundreds of bodies at two of Gazaas largest hospitals.

Palestinian civil defence teams began exhuming bodies from a mass grave outside the Nasser hospital complex in Khan Younis last week after Israeli troops withdrew. A total of 310 bodies have been found in the last week, including 35 in the past day, Palestinian officials have said.

Regional armed forces admit adifficult situationa as Kyiv awaits western military aid

Russian forces have made significant advances in a narrow corridor in eastern Ukraine as an offensive by Moscow to take territory before western military aid arrives appears to be gathering pace.

Footage posted by Kremlin military bloggers shows a Russian tricolour flying above the shattered village of Ocheretyne. Russian troops reportedly entered the territory on Sunday, north-west of the town of Avdiivka, after advancing about 5km in 10 days.

Nick Davies said to have repeatedly demanded pay rises from the government and described bonus as aintolerablea

The chief executive of the Post Office was aobsesseda with his pay and threatened to resign unless it was increased even as the Horizon scandal escalated, a former HR director at the postal service has claimed.

The former chief people officer, Jane Davies, said Nick Read repeatedly demanded pay increases from the government, the companyas sole shareholder, and described his bonus as aintolerablea.

Then home secretaryas decision in January 2023 to drop pledges was discriminatory, high court hears

A decision made by the former home secretary Suella Braverman to drop three recommendations intended to repair some of the amonumental harma done to the Windrush generation was unlawful, the high court has been told.

The Home Office committed itself to a comprehensive improvement programme in response to the Windrush scandal, which had a severely discriminatory impact on a cohort of people who had lived in the UK since childhood, many of whom were arrested, detained, removed from the UK, or sacked from their jobs, made homeless and denied NHS treatment, the court heard.

Innovative Bites Ltd wins case brought by UK tax authority after its amegaa product deemed to be an aingredienta

A food company has won a sweet-tasting victory against the UK tax authorities after a court decided that it did not have to pay VAT on its marshmallows because they were not confectionery.

HMRCas appeal against a 2022 decision by the first tier tribunal (FTT) that Innovative Bites Ltd did not have to pay a APS472,928 demand for sales tax on its aMega Marshmallowsa was unsuccessful because they were asold and purchased as a product specifically for roastinga, the judges decided.

Legal and logistic battles await the UK governmentas untested asylum plan now that is has reached the parliamentary finishing line

After a bumpy and lengthier than expected journey the governmentas safety of Rwanda legislation has finally reached the parliamentary finishing line with royal assent expected this week. But as a battle on one front ends for the government several new ones open up.

Condemnation of the UK government for pushing ahead with the Rwanda scheme has been unprecedented, within the UK from parliamentarians, lawyers and human rights campaigners and from European and global human rights organisations. UNHCR today issued a statement warning that the new legislation did not overcome the protection gaps identified by the supreme court, which found Rwanda to be unsafe for asylum seekers from the UK. It urged the UK government to reconsider the plan.

Trudi Warner on a year being pursued by government lawyers determined to prosecute her over a jurorsa rights protest

Two days before Trudi Warner faced court under threat of a contempt of court prosecution, she fell off her bike and ruptured the tendons in her hand.

Now the hand is black and blue, tightly bandaged, and requires surgery. It is an indication that 69-year-old Warner, who spent her working life as a child social worker and has committed her retirement to climate action, is not as tough and unflappable as her demeanour suggests.

Manufacturers call for geographic food name protection in face of threat from cheap Chinese imports

Blackpool rock, a British seaside institution as traditional as donkey rides on the beach, amusement arcades and fair to middling weather, is facing an existential threat from cheap and inferior Chinese imports, manufacturers have said.

Ten rock makers have come together to sign a letter warning of a agrave and immediate challenge to our industry, jeopardising the lives of our employees and the sustainability of our businessa.

aBlanda or aabsolutely breathtakinga? Our readers are divided over Swiftas epically long, richly detailed new album

As someone who has been a Swiftie for over a decade, my initial impression is that this album is one of her best lyrically, but production-wise it can get a bit repetitive by the end. While Folklore, Evermore and Midnights were full of either fictional tales or vague reminiscences, The Tortured Poets Department is a clear return to her old style of extremely personal, confessional songwriting, but still retaining the poetic lyricism sheas acquired in recent years. Some critics might find the album boring or confusing, but I think the fans familiar with her past work will have an easier time understanding the little details and references, and will have a great time analysing them.
Elena, 23, Spain

The internet is rife with speculation about the real-life stalker and real-life abuser from the Netflix hit. Is this show about exploitation starting to seem uncomfortably careless a even exploitative?

Baby Reindeer was only released a little over a week ago, and already it has become a sensation. Richard Gaddas adaptation of his 2019 Edinburgh festival one-man show, which in turn was a dramatisation of the ordeals he had been through at the hands of a stalker and a powerful abuser respectively, has not only been the most watched Netflix show in the UK, but made the top 10 in 12 other countries.

And quite right too, since itas as gripping and queasy and uncomfortable a show as youare ever likely to see. But unintended consequences can come with success. The narrative surrounding Baby Reindeer has moved away from the show this week and into the real world. Besides its lead, the show is essentially about two people: a middle-aged woman who spent years inundating Gadd with thousands of unwanted messages to the detriment of his wellbeing, and a successful older writer who subjected Gadd to a prolonged period of sexual abuse. And while Baby Reindeer attempted to gloss over the true identity of these figures, the internet has, unfortunately, been busy.

Michael Tomlinsonas efforts to defend Rwanda bill show how well suited he is to be part of the new moronocracy

When Jeffrey Bernard was too pissed, hospitalised or generally unfit to file his weekly column, the Spectator used to publish the note aJeffrey Bernard is Unwella in its place. It worked a treat. Everyone knew precisely where things stood.

Perhaps now is the time for the Tory party to do something similar. It couldnat be any worse than repeatedly sending out underprepared ministers to do interviews in which they crash and burn. Far better to let the public think the government is half-witted, rather than to have it proved.

Rescued from Cashas low ebb in the early 1990s, this fun, lightweight song is a long way from the moody recordings with Rick Rubin he soon turned towards

In the great American saga of Johnny Cash, the early 90s are held to be among his lowest ebbs: the lull that made the triumphant final act of his career a the American Recordings series with Rick Rubin, critical acclaim, Grammy awards, platinum sales and all a seem all the more startling. Head been dropped by Columbia Records after 28 years and a brief and turbulent period with Mercury had yielded mixed artistic dividends and indifferent sales. One of country musicas Mount Rushmore figures was reduced to recording Christmas songs for a now defunct budget label called Laserlight Digital.

You might consider it an era in Cashas artistic life best forgotten, but posthumous retrospection has a way of recalibrating history: just as David Bowieas 1990s output has been significantly upgraded since his death, so a collection of Johnny Cash songwriting demos that no label wanted in 1993 emerges 31 years later, heralded as a major new release.

The former Spice Girlas collection with the high street chain is likely to be a fruitful new venture

As a twentysomething Spice Girl, Victoria Beckham proclaimed that she wanted to be aas famous as Persil automatica. Now, as she enters her sixth decade, the pop star turned designer has eclipsed her goal.

On Tuesday, her debut designer collection for the high street chain Mango landed globally online and in select stores. By 8am in London a queue had formed outside the brandas store on Oxford Street as those inside grappled to get their hands on tailored pieces, evening wear and jewellery.

The huge success of her memoir has turbocharged the Scottish comedianas career, with midlife, Catholicism and marriage in her withering sights

Cynicism is now and then expressed about the phenomenon of comedians writing books. Rare is the instance of a comic finding more success on the page than at the microphone. Step forward, then, Fern Brady, whose memoir Strong Female Character, about her experience as an undiagnosed autistic woman, has met with awards and widespread acclaim a and seems to have turbocharged the Scotas standup career too. One assumes the bookas success was a factor in securing Brady gigs at next monthas Netflix Is a Joke festival in Los Angeles, and this new special on the streamer too a whose title, Autistic Bikini Queen, invites fans of the memoir to come savour more of the same.

Is that what theyall get? Well, theyall certainly get a potent hit of the 37-year-oldas unsentimental personality, as Brady a filmed at a Bristol performance last year a launches into spiky riffs on marriage and relationships. Thereas not much, or at least not directly, on her experience of autism. The topic is efficiently dispatched in the opening five minutes with a droll gag about the idea that her neurodiversity is aa superpowera. Thereas also a joke about her undiagnosed condition revealing itself in Bradyas squeamishness about touching or hugging her mum, which sounded to this viewer less like a symptom of autism than of Scottishness.

There can be a big gap between self-perception and how our loved ones see us. Is it ever a good idea to seek the truth?

Name: Personality audit.

Age: People have worried about what other people think about them since the beginning of time.

The head of the companyas gaming subscription service explains its priorities as it anticipates the Vision Pro revolution, and tries to bring originality to a market still dominated by free to play mobile titles

When Apple launched its games subscription service, Arcade, in September 2019, it drew a huge amount of attention a as with everything the company does. Offering 100 premium (ie, not ad-infested) mobile games for a monthly subscription fee of APS4.99/$4.99 (now APS6.99), and the promise of more titles to come, it was an attempt to bring the Netflix business model to gaming.

It offered an alternative in a mobile gaming market in which free-to-play and ad-supported games were dominant. The dominance of behemoths such as Genshin Impact, Clash of Clans and Candy Crush previously made it difficult for the makers of paid-for, premium games to find an audience, but Arcade offered a range of curated titles that could run across Appleas devices a iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple TV a with no ads or in-app purchases. Games also worked offline, eliminating the annoyance of being kicked out of a game on the London Underground.

A scheme to allow British under-30s to live and work in the EU has been flatly rejected. Why punish them for older votersa mistakes?

Only those born before 1998 could vote on Brexit, so there is no conceivable way of knowing which way todayas 18- to 30-year-olds would have felt about it. Oh, except there is: 70% of 18- to 24-year-olds think leaving the EU was a bad idea. Of the 25- to 49-year-olds, 66% also think we were wrong to leave. If you can bear to drag your mind back to the immediate aftermath of Brexit, youall recall that words like aoverwhelminga and avasta were completely debased by their use in conjunction with majorities that were actually wafer-thin. So letas just say most young people are remainers.

For a long time, politics has dealt with the young remainer as it does with the rest of us; ignore us for long enough, and weall go away. If the Brexit argument had had any foundation a if it had brought trading or other benefits, if it had caused only negligible difficulties and those of the teething variety a then that would probably have worked. Most referendum outcomes get more popular over time.

Zoe Williams is a Guardian columnist

After last nightas Commons vote, they want a aproof of concepta journey to get the tawdry policy back on track. But itas too flawed for that

There will be a sigh of relief in No 10 with the passing of the Rwanda bill, as well as a degree of frustration. Having to steward another migration bill through parliament was not part of the governmentas plan.

With the Rwanda bill passing on to the statute book, overriding the supreme court judgment that Rwanda is not a safe country to which to send people seeking sanctuary, the government now hopes it can finally get on with locking up and then removing those seeking safety on our shores. The prime minister told a hastily arranged press conference on Monday morning that the first flight would not take off for a10 or 12 weeksa (having previously said it would be in spring). Officials are privately describing it as a aproof of concepta flight a this means focusing on having an initial flight to test how legally watertight the new laws are.

Enver Solomon is chief executive of the Refugee Council

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.

We seek peace in Gaza, Ukraine, Yemen, Sudan, the DRC and elsewhere, but weare ignored. History will damn the warmongers

aThe protagonists of 1914 were sleepwalkers, watchful but unseeing, haunted by dreams, yet blind to the reality of the horror they were about to bring into the world.a

Christopher Clarkas The Sleepwalkers retells the story of the outbreak of the first world war. Mapping a multipolar world enthralled by imperialism and paranoia, Clark refuses to pin the blame on a single power. Instead, he explains how political leaders narrowed the prospects for peace one misstep at a time, and sleepwalked into a global catastrophe that left around 20 million people dead.

Jeremy Corbyn MP is the independent MP for Islington North and a former leader of the Labour party

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.

Indexas rise has been driven by the dollaras strength against the pound a and that effect can reverse

• Whatas behind the FTSE 100 record high?
• Business live a latest updates

Every dog will have its day and here comes the FTSE 100 index, not so much soaring as limping to a record high of 8,076. If that sounds too grumpy, consider that the previous record, 8,047, was set in February last year. In the 14 months it has taken the UKas premier index to regain its old record level, the S&P 500 index in the US has marched upwards by 22% a and done so in a straight line, more or less, until a slip in the past fortnight.

Also note that the Footsieas latest push above 8,000 carries a heavy flavour of currency effects at work. The US dollar has been strengthening against most major currencies, including sterling, as markets look at the persistence of inflation in the US and judge that the Federal Reserve may not cut interest rates this year (and could even raise them).

Education is all about provocation. Without being provoked even young minds can remain stuck in old tracks

The most important thing I teach my students is to seek out people who disagree with them.

Thatas because the essence of learning is testing oneas ideas, assumptions and values. And what better place to test ideas, assumptions and values than at a university?

From Kanye West to Chris Pratt, the celebrity approach to housing is more out of touch than ever

Looking for a bargain beach house? Then youare in luck. Kanye West has just lowered the price on his minimalist mansion in Malibu, California, to a mere $39m (APS31.5m) a a $14m discount on its original listing price. There is a catch though: the house has no windows, doors, electricity, plumbing or interior finishes. Itas completely uninhabitable, unless you happen to be a gull.

The sparseness isnat a deliberate design choice a though you could be forgiven for thinking otherwise. West, who also goes by the name Ye, is after all a man who opened up a lawsuit-magnet of a private school in Los Angeles called Donda Academy which, according to court filings, had empty windows because the musician adoesnat like glassa. Ye is, to put it in the politest terms possible, an individual with eccentric tastes.

With his claims of a asicknote culturea, the prime minister is scapegoating those worst affected by 14 years of Conservative rule

When a prime minister knows he is heading for electoral wipeout, he has one of two options. He can choose dignified statesmanship, using his remaining months in power to bring about as much unity and stability as possible. Or he can choose desperation, grasping for votes by scapegoating marginalised people, and leaving division and misery in his wake.

Rishi Sunak has gone for the second option. On Friday, he announced a new crackdown on disability benefits that has been described by charities as aa full-on assault on disabled peoplea. The country has a asicknote culturea that needs to be tackled, the prime minister said. Britain acanat afforda its record levels of welfare spending and itas anot faira on the taxpayer.

Frances Ryan is a Guardian columnist and author of Crippled: Austerity and the Demonisation of Disabled People