Russia-Ukraine war live: Volodymyr Zelenskiy meets UK finance minister in Kyiv

Ukrainian president meets Jeremy Hunt and calls for sanctions against Russia to be tightened

A Russian attack on Nato would end in defeat for Moscow, but Nato must increase its defences, Poland’s foreign minister Radek Sikorski told parliament on Thursday, reports the Associated Press (AP).

According to the AP, Sikorski was describing the new direction of the government of prime minister Donald Tusk, explaining to a world audience and those at home how the new priorities have changed.

He said Poland wants to return to the group of countries which sets the agenda of the EU.

Poland, a member of Nato and the EU, shares borders with Russia and Belarus in addition to Ukraine. It is a key hub for western weapons going to Ukraine, writes the AP.

Per the AP, ahead of Sikorski’s speech, his ministry said he would be seeking to underline how Poland’s priorities changed after Tusk’s government replaced a national conservative party, Law and Justice, in respect to rule of law and international relations.

The ministry said the speech would underline the importance of this moment in history and stress how different the foreign policy of Poland is after its change in government.

Lauren Gambino is political correspondent for Guardian US, based in Washington DC.

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Humza Yousaf holds emergency cabinet meeting amid reports SNP has abandoned power-sharing with Greens – UK politics live

First minister reportedly plans to run minority administration amid dispute over decision to ditch climate change target

The powersharing deal between the SNP and Scottish Greens at Holyrood has been brought to an end, PA Media is reporting.

Good morning. Humza Yousaf, Scotland’s first minister, has reportedly abandoned the SNP’s power-sharing agreement with the Scottish Greens. He called an emergency meeting of his cabinet this morning, and the co-leaders of the Scottish Greens, Lorna Slater and Patrick Harvie, who were ministers, were seen leaving soon afterwards. Yousaf reportedly sacked them, and plans to run a minority administration.

The Greens were angered when the Scottish net zero Secretary Mairi McAllan announced last week the Scottish government was to ditch a key climate change target.

That, combined with the decision to pause the use of puberty blockers for new patients attending the only Scottish gender identity clinic for children in Glasgow, resulted in the Greens saying last week that they would have a vote on the future of the powersharing deal.

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Middle East crisis live: White House says it wants ‘answers’ from Israel after mass graves found near hospitals in Gaza

Israel says the graves were dug by people in Gaza a few months ago but the corpses had been examined by IDF soldiers

Here are some of the scenes in Jerusalem, where people, including Israeli interior security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, have been worshipping during the Passover holiday.

Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Rafah for Al Jazeera, states that two people have been killed there by drone strikes. He writes for the news network:

A surge in attack drones flying over Rafah has taken place over the past couple of hours. At least two people have been hit in what appear to be targeted killings – one in the western part of the city and the other in the east. They were killed when the drones fired missiles about half an hour apart. The tragedy keeps unfolding. The destruction is overwhelming. Everywhere you go, you see rubble-filled roads.

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Europe live: Venice residents protest as city begins visitor charging scheme

Locals say city is against plan and accuse authorities of turning Venice into a ‘theme park’ by charging day trippers for visits

Transport & Environment, an NGO campaigning for cleaner transport, has warned about the impact of over-tourism.

”The current number of cruise ships globally is higher than it’s ever been, according to data from Clarksons Research,” the NGO said this morning.

Europe’s luxury cruise ships emit as much toxic sulphur as a billion cars, and low-cost airlines are now polluting more CO2 than ever.

The uncontrolled growth of these two sectors must come to an end.

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SNP ends power-sharing deal with Scottish Greens over climate strategy, reports say

Cabinet votes to leave historic Bute House agreement after government abandons emissions target

The historic power-sharing agreement between the Scottish National party and Scottish Greens is to end after a crisis over the Scottish government’s climate strategy, reports say.

The Bute House agreement was signed by the then SNP leader, Nicola Sturgeon, and the Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie in August 2021, bringing the Greens into government for the first time in the UK.

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UK’s first ever memorial to LGBT armed forces personnel to be built

Fighting With Pride charity will lead work for memorial at National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire

The UK’s first memorial commemorating the “lost legion” of LGBT people who have served in the armed forces is to be built at the National Memorial Arboretum.

The memorial will be built after a charity spearheading efforts to get justice for veterans affected by the pre-2000 ban on LGBT people serving in the UK armed forces was awarded a £350,000 grant.

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Peter Dutton backs Elon Musk and contradicts Sussan Ley on ‘silly’ demand for global removal of stabbing footage

The opposition leader says Australia ‘can’t be the internet police of the world’ amid dispute between the eSafety commissioner and X over Wakeley stabbing content removal

The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, has labelled the eSafety commissioner’s demands for the global removal of footage of the alleged Wakeley stabbing as “silly”, a comment that appears to put him at odds with his deputy, Sussan Ley.

In an interview on Thursday, Dutton appeared to side with Elon Musk on a key part of the government’s dispute with X over online video of the incident, saying Australia “can’t be the internet police of the world” and that federal law should not influence what content can be seen overseas.

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Barclays profits tumble 12% as UK interest rates hit mortgage demand

Pre-tax profits drop to £2.3bn between January and March, down from £2.6bn last year

Business live – latest updates

Profits at Barclays tumbled 12% in the first quarter, as higher UK interest rates weighed on demand for mortgages and loans and its investment bank was hit by a backdrop of economic uncertainty.

The UK bank said pre-tax profits fell to £2.3bn in the first quarter, down from £2.6bn last year, when it reported the strongest quarterly profit since 2011 after a string of interest rate hikes by the Bank of England.

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Runaway horses in ‘serious condition’ after bolting through central London

Animals ran through rush-hour streets, colliding with vehicles and leaving four people in hospital

Two of the military horses that broke loose during a morning exercise and bolted through central London on Wednesday are in “serious condition”, a minister has said.

The runaway horses, including one white horse drenched in blood, ran through the rush-hour streets of the capital, colliding with vehicles and resulting in four people being taken to hospital.

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Activist groups not directly involved in Tiwi Island lawsuit must hand over documents to Santos, court rules

Broad terms of subpoenas a ‘chilling’ precedent that could undermine future climate litigation, legal experts say

A federal court judge has allowed Santos to subpoena paperwork held by three activist groups who were not directly involved in a lawsuit against the oil company.

Justice Natalie Charlesworth ruled on Wednesday afternoon that Santos could pursue financial records and communications between activist groups – Sunrise, Jubilee Australia and the NT Environment Centre – and the Environmental Defenders Office (EDO) in order to determine whether the company will also pursue the campaign organisations for costs for the lawsuit carried out by the EDO on behalf of Tiwi Island traditional owners.

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Spanish PM considers resigning, blaming political ‘harassment’ of wife

Pedro Sánchez halts public duties, hitting out at opponents after court launches inquiry into alleged corruption by Begoña Gómez

Spain’s socialist prime minister has cancelled his public duties for the rest of the week and said he is considering resigning, blaming a “harassment and bullying operation” by his political and media opponents for a court’s decision to launch an investigation into his wife for alleged influence-peddling and corruption.

Pedro Sánchez, who has led Spain since 2018, said the “seriousness of the attacks” he and his wife, Begoña Gómez, were experiencing had led him to re-evaluate his position, adding that he would reveal his decision on Monday.

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