Israel sending delegation to Cairo for indirect negotiations on truce with Hamas

• Full report: Israel says forces take control of Rafah crossing
• Israeli assault on Gaza city of Rafah: what we know so far

Miller confirmed that Hamas has aissued a responsea, when asked about Hamasas announcement that they accepted a ceasefire deal.

aWe are reviewing that response now and discussing it with our partners in the region,a Miller said.

Shadow chancellor attacks Tory economic plans including proposal to scrap national insurance

Reeves says Labour has a vision for the country. Stability will be change, she argues.

I know a warm words are not enough. I do not underestimate the challenges we face. But I am so ambitious for our country. I know the huge potential found all across Britain and the constraints that are holding that potential back are not immutable forces.

They require vision, courage, and responsible government. Vision a to pursue a different approach, drawing on new economic thinking shaping governments in Europe, America and around the world a but which this Conservative government resists.

Defence secretary to address MPs after names and bank details of armed forces members targeted by unnamed attacker

The Ministry of Defence has suffered a significant data breach and the personal information of UK military personnel has been hacked.

A third-party payroll system used by the MoD, which includes names and bank details of current and past members of the armed forces, was targeted in the attack. A very small number of addresses may also have been accessed.

The theme was JG Ballardas 1962 short story, The Garden of Time, which meant references to decay, lots of florals and more than one look that seemed to have nothing to do with anything

Charities fear aincreasing risks of destitution and exploitationa of refugees as they go missing

The Home Office is dealing with growing fallout from the high-profile roundups of asylum seekers it wants to send to Rwanda, as some have gone into hiding while others have fled across the border to Ireland.

Officials began rounding up asylum seekers to detain them for the Rwanda scheme a week ago, with at least one now on hunger strike and another threatening suicide.

Many European diplomats avoid lavish ceremony amid war in Ukraine and his disputed landslide election

Here are some pictures from Vladimir Putinas inauguration ceremony:

Vladimir Putin has been sworn in for a new six-year presidential term. He is now making his inaugural address. There are a few colourful charecters at the ceremony, including American actor Steven Seagal.

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news, as Halifax reports a small rise in average house prices last month.

• aTheyare everywherea: Labouras wooing of City goes into overdrive

The small increase in UK house prices in April has left them broadly flat since the turn of the year, says Peter Arnold, EY UK chief economist:

The stabilisation in market conditions reflects the large fall in mortgage rates since last summer, with transactions and prices appearing to have passed their trough.

However, the recent rise in mortgage rates is likely to dampen the recovery in the short-term. And looking ahead, the recovery in prices is unlikely to be rapid given that poor affordability continues to significantly limit the pool of potential buyers and mortgage rates are only likely to fall back slowly.

As the prospect of the first rate cut since March 2020 drifts further into the distance, borrowing costs have edged higher and budgets have been squeezed.

A short-lived burst of positivity in the early weeks of this year led to higher supply, increasing downwards pressure on prices. A wave of homeowners currently rolling off sub-2% mortgages is adding to the financial pressures in the system. As a summer rate cut moves onto the horizon, we expect UK house prices to respond and rise by 3% in 2024.a

aBorrowers have benefited from cheaper mortgage rates since the start of the year, which has boosted market activity and enquiries.

aSince then, higher funding costs have led to higher mortgage rates over the past couple of weeks and there is likely to be some volatility in pricing ahead. Borrowers would be wise to secure a rate they like the look of to protect themselves from further price fluctuations in the short term.

aHouse prices are yo-yoing as buyers and sellers negotiate their way through the uncertain economy, with a small monthly rise in April.

aConsumers are expecting a fall in interest rates at some point this year. But with lenders increasing rates in the last few weeks, buyers have understandable hesitancy over the right price to offer, while sellers are trying to navigate how offers align with their expectations.

It looks like mortgage rates will continue to remain elevated with the Bank of England poised to keep interest rates at 16-year highs of 5.25% this Thursday.

Financial markets have been pushing back their forecasts for the timing of the first rate hike this year, with August currently pencilled into the diary, although that could certainly change depending on the data.a

Fish welfare campaigners say Defra decision facilitates greenwashing and will mislead consumers

Animal welfare campaigners are challenging the decision to allow producers of Scottish salmon to drop the word afarmeda from labelling.

An application by the industry body claimed changing the protected name wording on the front of packaging from aScottish farmed salmona to aScottish salmona made sense because wild salmon was no longer sold in supermarkets, which consumers were aware of.

French-Luxembourgish performance artist Deborah de Robertis says she organised the stunt, after which two people were arrested

Two women have sprayed the words aMeTooa on a 19th-century painting of a womanas vulva by French artist Gustave Courbet in a stunt by a performance artist, a museum and the artist said.

aThe Origin of the Worlda, a nude painted from 1866, was protected by a aglass panea and the police were on site to assess the damage, the Centre Pompidou in the north-eastern city of Metz told AFP on Monday.

Exclusive: Audience had avitriolic reactiona to European tone of musical, forced to close early

Rufus Wainwright has defended his musical Opening Night, which was forced to close early after mixed reviews, saying West End audiences lack acuriositya after Brexit and the British press had turned on the project because it was atoo Europeana.

Opening Night was Wainwrightas first musical and is an adaptation of John Cassavetesa 1977 film about an actor struggling to cope, who is played by Sheridan Smith. Directed by Ivo van Hove, it opened in March at the Gielgud theatre but a month later announced it would be closing two months early.

Engineer living in Liverpool says he fears being arrested at any moment after receiving deportation notice

Roozbeh*, 34, is a civil engineer from Iran. He fled his country fearing for his life after the government found out he had converted from Islam to Christianity. He arrived in the UK in December 2022, has received a notice of intent to be sent to Rwanda and fears that he could be arrested and detained at any moment.

aWhen I crossed the border from Iran into Turkey I stepped into the unknown. I had never left my country before and I knew the journey was going to be very dangerous. I was put into lorry after lorry and did not know what countries I passed through.

With facilities destroyed and lives cut short, the conflict has brought destruction to a previously thriving sporting scene

Mohammed Abu-Hujair was booked on a flight to Spain last October. A scout from Real Madrid had visited Gaza in August and invited Mohammed, a 17-year-old who plays on the left wing, to join a football academy with the hope that, if he did well, he would stay in Spain. Mohammed also had the promise of a contract with Gaza Sport Club, making him one of the youngest players to sign with the team.

Then came the 7 October attacks on Israel, and the war in Gaza. Mohammed didnat make that flight. aMy life has turned upside down in a blink of an eye,a he says.

Bob Olleyas unsettling vision of clash between miners and police is part of 40th anniversary show in Bishop Auckland

Bob Olley was there 40 years ago at the abattle of Orgreavea. aI saw the violence,a he said, shaking his head. aI thought I was in a foreign country when I saw what the police did. It is hard to believe it happened in this country.a

The brutality he and others witnessed on 18 June 1984 as striking miners met 6,000 police officers on horses or wielding batons on foot will stay in the memory. It was in his head as, some years later, he embarked on his response to one of the worldas greatest artworks, Picassoas Guernica.

The low-budget romcom about Britainas upper middle classes launched the careers of its writer Richard Curtis and Grant. Cast and crew share their stories a from Liz Hurley in that dress to Amber Ruddas role as an aaristocracy coordinatora

Itas been 30 years since audiences first met Hugh Grant as a stuttering serial monogamist who falls hopelessly in love with a glamorous American (Andie MacDowell) in Four Weddings and a Funeral. The low-budget romcom, directed by Mike Newell and scripted by Richard Curtis, came out of nowhere to become a global hit when it was released in 1994.

Based on Curtisas own experiences of being a guest at a seemingly endless merry-go-round of weddings, the film follows Grantas sweary, bumbling Charles and his group of friends a which includes his deaf brother a as they navigate love, loss and grief. From the first afucka uttered by Grant as he wakes up late for a wedding in the opening scene, to Rowan Atkinsonas inept priest who is unable to get anyoneas name right, and Kristin Scott Thomasas chain-smoking, aristocratic stoicism, it is a film that is at once hilarious and devastatingly sad.

Itas still the magic milestone when senior citizenship begins a| with a host of money-saving offers to take advantage of

The UK state pension age has risen but many companies and organisations still hold on to athe big 6-0a as the point at which senior citizenship begins, and it continues to represent a money-saving milestone as a result.

Oh dear a Ms Carter, nA(c)e Aldridge, had been flourishing and off the drink. But after a sexual slip, she succumbed to the siren call of a bottle

The Furies who had been circling for Alice Carter, nA(c)e Aldridge, seemed for a time to have retreated. After the various catastrophes of her alcoholism, she had been flourishing in recent months: off the drink, managing the riding stables, pulling through her motheras death, and successfully co-parenting her daughter Martha alongside her ex-husband, sexy Chris the farrier. But just as in Greek tragedy a single decision can change the course of a life, so it is in Ambridge. Alice, I suspect, was doomed the very moment she decided to ahelpa her recent love interest, the awful Posh Harry (not to be confused with her friend, unposh and wholly delightful Harrison the policeman), to extract himself from his own drink problem, a secret affliction of which she became aware only after they had begun to fall hard for each other. At that juncture, Alice did the right thing: she walked away. Still, the situation was not without its complications, notably, an intervention by Harrison the policeman that led to the latteras almost losing his job, saved, at the last moment, by Harryas speaking up for him, Harrison, at his disciplinary hearing. Apologies: the Harry-Harrison medley, or muddle, is not of my making.

The irony! It was Harryas flash of decency at that hearing that weakened Aliceas resolve. Since then, she has been taking his befuddled midnight telephone calls, accompanying him to support groups, edging him towards rehab, while all the time putting impossible strain on herself, which involved messing up a veterinary inspection of the stables, lying to everyone about why sheas so distracted, palming off Martha on to various family members, a bit of a sexual slip with Harry and a of course, inevitably a succumbing to the siren call of a drink. The fateful moment was articulated wordlessly, through a series of incredibly florid sounds: cupboard door opening, deep breath for the stash retrieval from the back, chinking of glass against work surface, throat clearing, sighing, screw cap removal, pouring, deep breathing and a at last a full-on glugging. Poor Alice.

In an interview shortly before his death last week, the frontman of the Dicks remembered how adefying anybodya led to some of the best US punk of the 80s a and mayonnaise-filled condoms

Between its vitriolic hatred of cops, Nazis, the Klan and the bourgeoisie, and the ecstatic joy of losing oneself to gloryholes and porno stores, few punk albums sounded like the Dicksa Kill from the Heart when it was released in 1983 a and as it gets reissued this month, few still do.

Frontman Gary Floyd a who died last week aged 71 a was loudly, proudly, brilliantly out and the Dicks were fondly described as a acommie faggot banda by punk fanzine Maximum Rocknroll, even if plenty of others would have spat those words at them. Floyd didnat care. aI always felt that if you donat like me because Iam gay, fuck you. Youare wrong,a he told me in February from his home in San Francisco, as he was looking forward to the album reissue.

He has published more than 100 novels, gives his work away, and his surrealist books have a massive cult following. Now Argentinaas favourite rule-breaker is tipped for the Nobel prize

A few years ago when Patti Smith played at a cultural festival in Denmark, she told the crowd that she was happy to be playing in the presence of one of her favourite authors. It was said she had only agreed to play the festival because the author, CA(c)sar Aira, would be in the audience. Aira, although celebrated in his home country, Argentina, was little known outside Latin America until he was discovered in 2002 by the Berlin-based literary agent Michael Gaeb, who was enchanted by his unconventional, surrealist books, which shift atmosphere, and even genre, from one page to another.

At first it proved difficult to sell Airaas novels to a wider audience. aThe fundamental problem when promoting CA(c)saras work is that the editor always asks: aWhat is the novel about?aa Gaeb told me. aAnd in the case of CA(c)sar, itas not easy to answer that question.a

With DJs, bouncers and bars, the Nuremberg train offers a complete clubbing experience for hundreds of aclubbersaa and some lovely views of the Bavarian countryside a|

aDo you ever get seasick?a Timm Schirmer, a 27-year-old DJ with a fabulous blond moustache, asks me shortly before we board the Techno Train. aWhen youare dancing on the train it can feel like youare at sea, because you canat always see that youare moving.a Worryingly, I have indeed spent many a past holiday retching on boats. But Timmas question comes after Iave paid a!100 for a non-refundable ticket for what social media suggests is the most intense train ride in Europe. I knew it wouldnat be plain sailing.

Launched in 2019 by the Nuremberg nightclub Haus 33, for whom Tim DJs, the Techno Train runs twice a year and has only two official stops: the start and the finish. We depart Nurembergas Frankenstadion station at 4pm and travel about 100km west towards the city of WA1/4rzburg, then loop back and pull into Nuremberg Central Station at 11pm.

Ten men, including a boxer and an ex-marine, make allegations of sexually inappropriate behaviour against the star who was once box office dynamite. Then this documentary goes even further

In Kevin Spaceyas written right-of-reply statement at the end of Spacey Unmasked, he reminds the world that every criminal and civil court case accusing him of sexual assault has been resolved in his favour. He has a right to reiterate that fact. Public opinion, however, has long since turned against an actor who was one of the most acclaimed in the world when he won Oscars for The Usual Suspects and American Beauty, but who has been an industry pariah since Netflix fired him from House of Cards in 2017. This new two-part documentary details further allegations of inappropriate behaviour.

Spacey Unmasked is more, though, than a blizzard of marks on one side of an is-he-isnat-he ledger. Viewers who are minded to believe what is alleged in these interviews are given a picture not just of whether an A-list actor came to abuse his position, but how.

With the worldas humanitarian system in crisis, many NGOs now recognise that local charities can deliver much more at far less cost

Before civil war engulfed her Ethiopian home region of Tigray in 2020, Tsega Girma was a prosperous trader who sold stationery and other goods. But when hungry children displaced by the conflict started appearing in the streets, she sold everything and used the proceeds to buy them food.

After that money dried up, Tsega appealed to Tigrayas diaspora for donations. At the height of the war, her Emahoy Tsega Girma Charity Foundation provided meals to 24,000 children a day.

Tories will crow about falling inflation and Britainas waning recession. But the public sees the reality in its shopping basket

Labouras tanks roll relentlessly across Tory lawns, not pausing a heartbeat to celebrate phenomenal local election results in England. It treated the local polls as a military rehearsal for the general election, with ruthless focus on places that will deliver most seats: that includes the south, as well as the north and Midlands, and the party is heading for Scottish turf too.

But the mesmerising ferocity of blue-on-blue abuse is the current news-making drama. Fighting bare-knuckle over post-election ideology, the Tory right are looking forward to an election defeat as long as one of their own isnat at the helm. Besides, they have Sunak in their grip, while the Mail calls Boris Johnson a acoiled mambaa waiting ato save the Tories from total annihilationa. Mournful one-nationers echo the losing West Midlands mayor Andy Streetas dignified call for moderation, unheeded. Sunak can stay or go: Labour relishes either equally.

Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist

The PM danced to their tune and the dreadful election results were the outcome. The solution canat be more of the same

• Justine Greening was Conservative MP for Putney from 2005-19

Last weekas local election results may finally have sunk Rishi Sunakas Conservative party. It lost all but one of the 11 mayoralty contests, and while Ben Houchen held on in Tees Valley, it was with a diminished majority. Labour were out of sight in winning the Blackpool South byelection with a 26% swing, and more broadly in local elections across England the Tories lost nearly half the council seats they were defending.

These losses are staggering, but so too is the reaction of would-be Tory rebels, the Reform-lite group. They have suggested they will not challenge Sunak now; as Suella Braverman put it, it is Sunak who should aown this and fix ita. It is the height of political self-unawareness a because it is their political gameplan that Sunakas rudderless No 10 has been attempting to follow. It is as a result of their flawed political judgments that support for the party has plummeted the length and breadth of the country, and across generations of voters a so much so that shockingly, the party only now leads in the over-70s voter age group. The 2024 local election results are their responsibility to aowna, not just the prime ministeras.

Justine Greening was education secretary and minister for women and equalities, 2016-18, and Conservative MP for Putney, 2005-19

The Welsh parliament could make wilfully misleading the public a criminal offence. The rest of the UK deserves the same protection

In 2019, I helped prove in court that the then prime minister misled the Queen. Boris Johnson claimed he prorogued parliament for purely administrative reasons. The circumstances, the court concluded, demonstrated that athe true reason for the prorogation is to reduce the time available for parliamentary scrutiny of Brexit at a time when such scrutiny would appear to be a matter of considerable importancea.

Johnson ultimately faced the supreme court over his decision a but many other politicians mislead the public, and parliament, with impunity. According to the factchecking campaign Full Fact, Rishi Sunak has, by my understanding, made 41 false or misleading public statements since becoming prime minister. Keir Starmer made seven in the same period. Jeremy Hunt and Suella Braverman made five each.

Sam Fowles is a barrister, author and broadcaster

Thereas no point us building houses if people sell them off cheaply to no public benefit. Itas like running a bath with no plug

• Andy Burnham is the mayor of Greater Manchester

Last Thursday, people voted for change. There appears to be a settled view now that the country needs a fresh start. And yet anyone who has stood on doorsteps in recent times will know this is not a 1997 moment. The level of despondency with politics is deep. There will be no honeymoon period for any incoming government. People can see things are broken and they are losing faith that any politicians can fix them.

So it is a difficult climate for progressive parties and I worry that the general election which now looms ahead of us will only make the mood worse. A Tory party in a corner is unlikely to go quietly. My gut feeling is that it will opt for a December election, hoping to salvage seats from the toxic combination of a low winter turnout and the fallout from the US election the month before. Channelling the negative energy of the aculture warsa seems to be all the Tories have left.

UCLA watched the chaos unfold in the middle of the night and did nothing until it was far too late

Things had been tense at the University of California, Los Angeles, with some ugly jibes and the occasional shove exchanged between students who support Israelas war on Gaza and those who have set up encampments to call for a permanent ceasefire and the universityas divestment from companies that arm and otherwise profit from Israelas occupation and military incursions in the Palestinian territories.

But what happened in the middle of the night last Tuesday was no scuffle. It was not even one more of the outsized, excessively brutal raids that college administrations have invited the police to inflict on their students.

Judith Levine is a Brooklyn journalist and essayist, a contributing writer to the Intercept, and the author of five books

As a bloke, I have been met with disbelief and suspicion when Iave applied for part-time work. Didnat I realise this was womenas work?

The job I was applying for was three days a week. It was a backwards step, career-wise, but the hours were attractive. By that I mean that the roleas part-time nature would allow me to continue meeting my KPIs as majority parent.

I could keep up with all that important driving and shouting that comprises a career as primary caregiver a the constant shuttling from school to ballet to football to dentist and, more generally, the endless forcing of kids to do things that they will really enjoy.

They were meant to refresh local politics, not confuse it. Starmer must devolve proper powers to every city and town

Englandas 12 ametro mayorsa should be abolished. Metro mayorships are artificial creations whose regional geography rarely reflects any civic identity or pride. Towns and cities should have properly elected mayors, as is common in other democracies. These regional entities were invented by Whitehall in the 2010s, supposedly to order transport and investment. Their boundaries were confused with those of near-meaningless police commissioners. As instruments of local democracy, they are a farce.

These individuals a distinct from mayors elected for single cities a have served largely as chairs of acombined authoritiesa. Thus, until 2023 Liverpool had its own local mayor and a second one for its surrounding region. The West of England metro mayor covers Bristol and Bath, but Bristol had its own mayor until the role was abolished in May of this year. Cambridge shares a mayor with Peterborough. According to the Institute for Government, the average turnout to vote in the 2021 metro mayor elections was only 35%. The results of any votes are invariably attributed to events in Downing Street rather than the state of trams or freeports. They are glorified opinion polls.

Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnist

The surprise defeat of the West Midlands mayor, Andy Street, confirmed that the tectonic plates are shifting in British politics

Local elections are not known for producing aPortillo momentsa. But the defeat of the Conservative West Midlands mayor, Andy Street, announced late on Saturday, undoubtedly encapsulated a sense of tectonic plates inexorably shifting in Labouras favour. A locally popular and avowedly non-ideological figure, Mr Street had done his best to distance himself from the Tory brand. But there was to be no escape from the determinedly antiaConservative mood abroad in the nation. As contest after contest last week illustrated, the country simply wants the Tories out.

Where does Rishi Sunak go from here? Although any leadership challenge appears to have been shelved, the usual suspects have been quick to demand the usual fixes. The former home secretary Suella Braverman has led calls for a rightward lurch, including a pledge to withdraw from the European court of human rights. But chasing those voters now defecting to Reform UK will only help Labour and the Liberal Democrats peel off moderate Conservative supporters in even larger numbers, come the general election.

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