Israel is to expand its military operations in Gaza in the coming weeks, with the aim of “conquering” the territory and establishing a “sustained presence” there, Israeli officials have said.

The plan, which was unanimously approved at a security cabinet meeting late on Sunday, goes beyond any aims so far outlined by Israel for its offensive in the devastated Palestinian territory and is likely to prompt deep international concern and fierce opposition.

Officials told reporters in Israel that the plan would involve a new and intense offensive leading to “the conquest of Gaza and the holding of the territories, moving the Gaza population south for their protection [and] … powerful blows against Hamas”.

After a fragile ceasefire collapsed in mid-March, Israel renewed its bombardment of Gaza, with troops reinforcing kilometre-deep “buffer zones” along the perimeter of Gaza and expanding their hold over much of the north and south of the territory.

In all, more than 70% of Gaza is under Israeli control or covered by orders issued by Israel telling Palestinian civilians to evacuate specific neighbourhoods.

On Sunday, the army chief, Lt Gen Eyal Zamir, said the military was calling up “tens of thousands” of reservists to allow conscripted regular troops to be deployed to Gaza for the new offensive.

Zamir has resisted calls by some Israeli ministers for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to take on the job of distributing aid in Gaza, which has been under a tight blockade by Israel for more than two months. Much of the 2.3 million population can no longer find enough to eat and the humanitarian system is close to collapse, aid officials in the territory have said.

Israeli officials told local media that ministers believed there was “currently enough food” in the territory, but that they approved “the possibility of a humanitarian distribution, if necessary, to prevent Hamas from taking control of the supplies and to destroy its governance capabilities”.

Israel says the blockade and intensified bombardments since mid-March are to pressure Hamas into releasing hostages held in Gaza. Militants in the territory still hold 58 hostages seized in Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of about 1,200 people, mostly civilians.

Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 52,535 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to the health ministry there.

The officials also said Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, “continues to promote” a proposal made in January by the US president, Donald Trump, to displace the millions of Palestinians living in Gaza to neighbouring countries such as Jordan or Egypt, to allow its reconstruction.

Trump’s scheduled visit later this month to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and UAE may provide an additional incentive to the Israeli government to conclude a new ceasefire deal and allow aid into Gaza. Trump, who recently said he wanted Netanyahu to be “good to Gaza”, is likely to come under pressure from his hosts to push Israel to make concessions to end the conflict.

Israeli military officials say that seizing territory provides Israel with additional leverage in its negotiations with Hamas and some observers suggest that the public announcement of the new offensive and plans for longer-term presence in Gaza are designed to win concessions in negotiations over a new ceasefire deal.

Humanitarian organisations have unanimously rejected Israel’s plan to establish a limited number of aid distribution hubs run by private contractors and guarded by the IDF in southern Gaza.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Sunday: “Israeli officials have sought to shut down the existing aid distribution system run by the United Nations and its humanitarian partners and have us agree to deliver supplies through Israeli hubs under conditions set by the Israeli military, once the government agrees to reopen crossings.

“[This] contravenes fundamental humanitarian principles and appears designed to reinforce control over life-sustaining items as a pressure tactic – as part of a military strategy. It is dangerous, driving civilians into militarised zones to collect rations, threatening lives, including those of humanitarian workers, while further entrenching forced displacement.”

Hamas said on Monday the new Israeli framework for aid delivery in Gaza amounted to “political blackmail” and blamed Israel for the war-ravaged territory’s “humanitarian catastrophe”.

A coalition representing the majority of families of hostages held by Hamas, about half of whom are thought to be dead, accused Netanyahu of endangering their loved ones. It said: “The expansion of military operations puts every hostage at grave risk. It also threatens the lives of our soldiers and deepens the toll on countless Israeli families already carrying the burden of this war.”

Netanyahu’s governing coalition – and so his hold on power – depends heavily on the support of hardline rightwing parties that have long demanded the reoccupation and resettlement of Gaza, which Israel formally left in 2005. A new parliamentary session opened on Monday.

Israeli strikes across Gaza continued overnight, killing at least 17 people in the north of the territory, according to hospital staff. Strikes hit Gaza City, Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya and among the dead were eight women and children, according to staff at al-Shifa hospital, where the bodies were brought.

Donald Trump’s threat to impose 100% tariffs on movies made outside the US could “wipe out” the UK film industry, ministers have been warned, as they came under immediate pressure to prioritise the issue in trade talks with the White House.

In an extraordinary intervention, Trump announced his intention to impose the levy on all movies “produced in Foreign Lands”, stating that the US film industry was suffering a “very fast death” as a result of the incentives being offered overseas. The UK is among the countries offering film-makers generous tax incentives.

The US president said he had already ordered the commerce department and the US trade representative to begin instituting such a tariff. He said the issue was a “national security threat” because of the “concerted effort by other Nations” to attract productions. “Hollywood is being destroyed,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform. “Other nations have stolen our movie industry.”

His outburst caused immediate concern in the UK, a regular location for some of Hollywood’s biggest movie productions including Barbie, parts of the Mission Impossible franchise and Disney’s Star Wars productions.

“These tariffs, coming after Covid and the recent slowdown, could deal a knock-out blow to an industry that is only just recovering and will be really worrying news for tens of thousands of skilled freelancers who make films in the UK,” said Philippa Childs, the head of the creative industries union Bectu.

“The government must move swiftly to defend this vital sector, and support the freelancers who power it, as a matter of essential national economic interest.”

One senior figure in the British creative sector said: “If it becomes real, it will be huge. It could possibly wipe out the British film industry and its crews … If it hits TV too then we might as well pack up and go home.”

Senior politicians are calling for Keir Starmer’s government to prioritise the UK film industry in US trade talks, though sources have already told the Guardian that a deal is a second-order priority for Trump.

Caroline Dinenage, the chair of the culture, media and sport committee, said: “Last month the culture, media and sport committee warned against complacency on our status as the Hollywood of Europe. President Trump’s announcement has made that warning all too real.

“Making it more difficult to make films in the UK is not in the interest of American businesses. Their investment in facilities and talent in the UK, based on US-owned IP, is showing fantastic returns on both sides of the Atlantic. Ministers must urgently prioritise this as part of the trade negotiations currently under way.”

James Frith, a Labour member of the committee, warned any tariffs on UK film production would be self-defeating. “Our success is built on world-class talent, state-of-the-art locations like Pinewood, Leavesden and Belfast, and attractive tax incentives that draw major international productions,” he said. “Any US tariffs on foreign-made films would harm not just British jobs and creativity, but also the US studios and audiences who rely on our skilled workforce and production expertise. It is in everyone’s interest to protect this deep, highly successful partnership.”

Industry insiders said it was unclear how the tariffs would work in practice, adding that they would end up penalising US studios and cutting production and jobs as a result. Big studios are understood to be trying to seek clarity on the plans.

Ministers are talking with industry bodies and counterparts in the US about what Trump’s statement could mean. Trump is facing resistance in the US from the likes of Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, whose office said the president had no authority to impose such tariffs.

Trump’s declaration was not a complete surprise to industry and government insiders, given his declaration that he wanted to intervene to help “troubled” Hollywood. Before his inauguration, he appointed Sylvester Stallone, Mel Gibson and Jon Voight as “special ambassadors” charged with bringing back production lost to “foreign countries”.

Film and television production in Los Angeles has fallen by nearly 40% over the past decade, according to FilmLA, a non-profit that tracks the region’s production.

Trump’s move could also be a reaction to a decision by the China Film Administration in April to “moderately reduce the number of American films imported” in response to US tariffs on China.

Donald Trump on Sunday announced on his Truth Social platform a 100% tariff on all movies “produced in Foreign Lands”, saying the US film industry was dying a “very fast death” due to the incentives that other countries were offering to draw American film-makers.

In his post, he claimed to have authorised the commerce department and the US trade representative to immediately begin instituting such a tariff.

“This is a concerted effort by other Nations and, therefore, a National Security threat,” Trump said in the Truth Social post. “It is, in addition to everything else, messaging and propaganda!”

“WE WANT MOVIES MADE IN AMERICA, AGAIN!” Trump added.

Commerce secretary Howard Lutnick posting on X said: “We’re on it.” Neither Lutnick nor Trump provided any details on the implementation. It was not immediately clear whether the move would target production companies, foreign or American, producing films overseas.

Film and television production in Los Angeles has fallen by nearly 40% over the last decade, according to FilmLA, a non-profit that tracks the region’s production. At the same time, governments around the world have offered more generous tax credits and cash rebates to lure productions, and capture a greater share of the $248bn that Ampere Analysis predicts will be spent globally in 2025 to produce content.

Politicians in Australia and New Zealand said on Monday they would advocate for their respective film industries, after the president’s announcement.

Australia’s home affairs minister Tony Burke said he had spoken to the head of the government body Screen Australia about the proposed tariffs. “Nobody should be under any doubt that we will be standing up unequivocally for the rights of the Australian screen industry,” he said in a statement.

New Zealand prime minister Christopher Luxon told a news conference the government was awaiting further detail of the proposed tariffs. “We’ll have to see the detail of what actually ultimately emerges. But we’ll be obviously a great advocate, great champion of that sector in that industry,” he said.

The announcement from Trump comes after he triggered a trade war with China, and imposed global tariffs which have roiled markets and led to fears of a US recession. The film industry has already been feeling the effects of the tariffs, as China in April responded to the announcements by reducing the quota of American movies allowed into that country.

China is the world’s second largest film market after the US, although in recent years domestic offerings have outshone Hollywood imports.

Former senior commerce department official William Reinsch, a senior fellow with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said retaliation against Trump’s foreign movies tariffs would be devastating.

“The retaliation will kill our industry. We have a lot more to lose than to gain,” he said, adding that it would be difficult to make a national security or national emergency case for movies.

A far-right Trump admirer who opposes military aid to Ukraine has decisively won the first round of Romania’s presidential election rerun, near-final results show, raising the prospect of another disruptive nationalist joining the EU leaders’ club.

With 99.99% of votes counted on Monday, George Simion, 38, who sports Maga caps, pushes a sovereignist, socially conservative agenda and has called for the “Melonisation” – referring to Italy’s far-right prime minister – of Europe, scored 40.96%.

That was almost double the score of second-placed candidate, Nicușor Dan, the centrist mayor of Bucharest, and higher than pre-election polls had predicted. The two will face each other in a second-round runoff due on 18 May.

Dan squeaked into the second round with 20.99%, less than a percentage point more than Crin Antonescu, a pro-European former senator backed by the ruling Social Democratic party (PSD) and the centre-right National Liberal party (PNL).

“This is not just an electoral victory, it is a victory of Romanian dignity. It is the victory of those who have not lost hope, of those who still believe in Romania, a free, respected, sovereign country,” Simion said after the result became clear.

“I am here to serve Romanians, not the other way around,” he said in a statement early on Monday, insisting he believed in an EU “that thrives as a nest for its diverse and sovereign nations – not as a rigid system enforcing one-size-fits-all policies”.

The far-right candidate, whose Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) has grown from an anti-vax movement into the country’s second-largest party, finished first in 36 of Romania’s 47 electoral districts and secured 61% of the large overseas vote.

Dan, a 55-year-old mathematician who founded the Save Romania Union party (USR) and campaigned as a pro-EU, anti-corruption independent, called the runoff a battle “to convince Romanians that Romania needs its pro-western direction”.

He said the two weeks leading up to the runoff would be “difficult against this isolationist candidate … It will not be a debate between individuals, it will be a debate between a pro-Western direction for Romania and an anti-western direction”.

Experts have said Dan might struggle to beat Simion in the runoff because of tensions between the independent candidate and the country’s two big centre-left and centre-right mainstream parties that might deter their voters from switching allegiance.

“Simion has a bigger pool of votes than Dan at the moment,” said Cristian Pîrvulescu, a political scientist. The votes of the fourth-placed finisher, Victor Ponta, a former prime minister, could be critical, potentially making him a kingmaker.

Romania’s president has a semi-executive role with considerable powers over foreign policy, national security, defence spending and judicial appointments. They also represent the country on the international stage and can veto important EU votes.

A Simion victory could lead to Romania – which shares a border with Ukraine and is a member of both the EU and Nato – veering away from the mainstream path and becoming another disruptive force within the EU alongside Hungary and Slovakia.

It would also be welcomed by conservative nationalists in Europe and beyond – including senior Trump administration figures such as US vice-president JD Vance – who accused Bucharest of denying democracy after the original ballot was cancelled.

That vote last November was won by Călin Georgescu, a far-right, Moscow-friendly independent, but was annulled by Romania’s top court after declassified intelligence documents revealed an alleged Russian influence operation.

Georgescu, who denies any wrongdoing, was later placed under investigation on counts including misreporting campaign finances, misuse of digital technology and promoting fascist groups. In March, he was barred from standing in the rerun.

Simion promised on Sunday to make Georgescu prime minister, either through a referendum, early elections or forming a new government coalition, if he won. Far-right groups have 35% of parliamentary seats after elections held in December.

Georgescu, 63, called the vote rerun “a fraud orchestrated by those who have made deceit the only state policy”, but said he voted on Sunday to “acknowledge the power of democracy, the power of the vote that frightens and terrifies the system”.

Simion denies his policies are far-right but has described his party as “natural allies” of Trump and promised an alliance of EU countries “in the spirit of Maga”. He has frequently criticised Russia, but consistently opposed military aid to Ukraine.

To date, Romania has donated a Patriot air defence battery to Kyiv, is training Ukrainian fighter pilots and has enabled the export of 30m tonnes of Ukrainian grain through its Black Sea port of Constanta since Russia’s invasion.

Autism researchers and advocates are pushing back against the creation of an autism database – meant to track the health of autistic people in a major research study – and pointing to the ways such databases could be misused.

While the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) denies it’s a registry, the agency did confirm a sweeping database of autistic people will power a $50m study on autism. Health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr said last week that he plans to announce results from the study within months.

A petition against the registry gained thousands of signatures in a single day, jumping from 2,500 to nearly 35,000 signatures within 24 hours.

“I’m a quiet person who likes to just be in the background,” said first-time petition creator Ryan Smith, a parent of two neurodiverse children living in Idaho. He also didn’t want to make himself a target.

“But I feel really, really, really strongly about this, and I have to speak up for my kids who can’t speak for themselves.”

The petition gathered nearly 50,000 names before declaring victory when HHS seemed to walk back on the plan.

“We are not creating an autism registry,” an HHS spokesperson said.

But the difference seems to be in the name. The agency is creating a “real-world data platform” to “link existing datasets” for the research into causes of and treatments for autism, the spokesperson confirmed.

“They’re saying it’s not an autism registry, but it sounds like they kind of just changed the name of it,” said Amy Marschall, an autistic psychologist who has long objected to mandatory autism registries.

The health agency did not respond to the Guardian’s questions about whether individuals would be able to opt out of the database, or how it would be structured, what kind of security and privacy measures would be taken, and whether similar databases would collect information on other conditions.

The causes of autism spectrum disorder, a range of neurological and developmental conditions that usually center on how people interact, communicate, learn and behave, have already been identified as genetic in the vast majority of cases.

Even so, Kennedy announced at a cabinet meeting last week that the new study had been launched.

“By September, we will have some of the first answers. Within six months of that, we will have definitive answers,” Kennedy said.

Smith worries that the database and research could worsen stigma around autism, and it could keep individuals and families from seeking diagnoses and care.

“And at worst, I worry that we’re on a slippery slope to eugenics,” Smith said. “My mind immediately goes to history and things that happened in Nazi Germany. That’s extreme, but it feels like a possibility.” Disabled people were the first to be targeted then, he pointed out.

Opponents also wonder about privacy and security measures, which have not been detailed by health agencies, and how individuals’ information could be used against them.

“Are you going to use this as an excuse to take away my rights, to hold me against my will, to prevent me from having children, to take away my right to manage my own finances?” Marschall asked.

All of these concerns are why, typically, “human research protections are in place, to protect against that kind of damage and to protect the people’s interests,” said Diana Schendel, professor at the AJ Drexel Autism Institute at Drexel University.

Other research projects create registries of participants, but they undertake key steps to ensure people are protected before the projects begin, Schendel said.

Usually, research registries invite participants and offer informed consent on how research will be conducted and how their information will be used.

“You can also create databases using existing data, which is what they seem to be describing,” Schendel said of the HHS project. But “you can’t just collect the information and then ask permission later”.

The national project could jeopardize important research on autism, Schendel said: “It’s going to make people even more wary of participating in research. They could withdraw from projects that are already going on.”

Kennedy’s aggressive timeline for results is also “a red flag”, Schendel said.

“The idea that you can take a lot of different datasets and pool them together into a single dataset and perform an analysis with any kind of meaningful answer in a very short period of time is naive,” Schendel said. “It would be a mess.”

To gather the data, the National Institutes of Health is exploring partnerships with other federal agencies, including the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Department of Defense, the Department of Veterans Affairs and others.

Jay Bhattacharya, the NIH director, also proposed collecting data from pharmacy chains, health organizations, insurance claims and medical bills, and wearable devices like smart watches, to conduct “real-time health monitoring”.

Bhattacharya’s proposal to use private datasets will also likely run into privacy concerns, since companies collected that information for other purposes and may not have permission to share it or use it for research.

“The companies, I would imagine, would be very concerned, because they’re responsible for the privacy of that information,” Schendel said.

Seven states – Delaware, Indiana, North Dakota, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Utah and West Virginia – have mandatory autism registries. Cities and local police departments sometimes also maintain registries of disabled people.

There are differences in how states collect the information. In North Dakota, for instance, clinicians are required to submit autism diagnoses. Utah has a similar requirement, but it also audits hospital records, Marschall said.

She hopes the increased attention on the federal database will stop that project in its tracks – and she hopes the state registries will also be scrutinized.

“Why do you need my confidential information that I didn’t consent to give to you?” Marschall asked.

“Nobody is saying: ‘Don’t research us.’ Nobody is saying: ‘Don’t find ways to make our lives better.’ It’s: ‘Don’t research us without any of us on your research team – and find ways to support us, not ways to eradicate us.’”

New Hampshire also had a mandatory autism registry until 2024, when state representative Eric Gallager introduced a law, with cross-partisan support, to repeal the registry and destroy the records.

“I was concerned about potential personally identifiable information in it,” Gallagher said of New Hampshire’s registry. “All states with registries should check them for potential privacy issues.”

For those wishing to change these laws, crossing partisan lines by getting Democratic, Republican and independent lawmakers to sign on may help, he said.

Smith’s petition spoke to people on all sides of politics, he said.

“It’s not necessarily a political thing,” he noted. “It’s a human thing. And there’s a lot of people affected by this.”

As Elon Musk steps back from his role heading the so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge), many experts on government operations complain that Doge has done nothing to improve the quality of services the government provides to the American people.

“Doge is not offering any solid claims that it has improved services in any way,” said Donald Moynihan, a professor of public policy at the University of Michigan. “Rather, it has made the quality of some government services worse.”

Musk, the world’s richest man, was appointed to run the government efficiency drive by Donald Trump in January and as a “special government employee” was barred from working for more than 180 days for the administration. He also has his own business woes to attend to.

But on his way out of the White House, Musk has boasted that Doge has achieved $150bn in savings, although many budget experts question the accuracy of that figure. Musk has repeatedly made exaggerated and erroneous claims about savings, which are a fraction of Musk’s goal of $1tn in cuts.

Moynihan and other public policy experts said it was unfortunate that Musk and Doge took the hard-charging focus of profit-maximizing business executives – of aggressively seeking to cut jobs and payroll – instead of adopting a broader focus aimed at making government more efficient while improving services.

Martha Gimbel, executive director of the Yale Budget Lab, said Musk evidently has little interest in making services better. “They were the ‘department of government slash and burn’,” Gimbel said. “There doesn’t seem to be an approach to dig in on places where government services could really be improved. Any improvement in government services takes time. You have to invest. You have to build it out. You have to figure out how to fix it.”

Asked whether Musk and Doge had improved any government services, Gimbel burst out in laughter. “No,” she said. “There has clearly been a degeneration of government services.”

Public policy experts and members of the public have pointed to numerous ways that government services have deteriorated due to Doge’s cuts. There have been longer waiting times to get appointments at veterans’ hospitals, longer waits when people call the Internal Revenue Service, longer lines at social security offices. The departure of many highly experienced social security employees has led to workers with far less training giving advice on benefits.

At a White House news conference on 1 May, Musk defended Doge’s accomplishments. “In the grand scheme of things, I think we’ve been effective. Not as effective as I’d like. I think we could be more effective,” Musk said. “But we’ve made progress.”

Musk acknowledged that his $1tn goal had been far harder to reach than he had anticipated. “It’s sort of, how much pain is the cabinet and the Congress willing to take?” he said. “It can be done, but it requires dealing with a lot of complaints.”

The White House did not respond to the Guardian’s questions about the deterioration of some government services or to the Guardian’s request for any examples of how Doge has improved services.

Gimbel said that Americans don’t realize that many government services will get worse in coming months as the tens of thousands of Doge-ordered job cuts play out. “Things will definitely get worse,” she said. For instance, the administration has far to go in carrying out its plan to cut 80,000 employees in the Department of Veterans Affairs.

While many public policy experts say Trump and Musk wildly exaggerate in their claims that there is huge waste, fraud and abuse in government, Gimbel said there is of course waste in government. “There is waste, and you can go after it,” she said. “People who have been in government know where those places are. There is a ton of tech that needs modernizing. Doge doesn’t seem interested in that. There’s a lot of Medicare and Medicaid overbilling. Doge doesn’t seem interested in that either. What you have is a relatively expensive exercise in slash-and-burn that sometime in the future will cost a lot to fix.”

Max Stier, president of the Partnership for Public Service, a non-profit research group, said that many business executives – including Jack Welch, the former General Electric CEO famed for cost-cutting and increasing profits – would be unhappy with Musk’s quick and brutal cuts. Stier complained that Musk and his team of twentysomething tech whizzes made steep cuts while knowing little about an agency’s operations or about the qualifications and responsibilities of the people they fired or pushed out.

“Jack Welch would be appalled by the approach that Doge has taken,” Stier said. “It’s not actually about cost-cutting. It’s about capability destroyed. Jack Welch would never, ever have fired people without having a real understanding about the way the organization worked and about the qualities of people who were being fired. This is an arbitrary exercise that has moved out employees who are often by far the most qualified rather than the least qualified.”

Stier noted that Trump has described Doge as an exercise in cost-cutting and organizational improvement. “That’s just not the case,” Stier said. “It’s hard to offer any rational basis for the decisions that are being made. There certainly aren’t any improvements that the American public will see.”

“It’s burning down government capability,” he continued. “It’s unquestionably clear that they are firing people willy-nilly and are disrupting government services without any understanding of the consequences or concern about the consequences. It’s a break-it-is-to-fix-it mentality. It isn’t a mentality that predominates in Silicon Valley. It’s sheer reckless behavior in the public sector because real people get hurt.”

Musk’s claim of $150bn in savings is a vast overestimate because it fails to include the considerable costs of Doge’s moves, said Stier. Stier’s group estimates that as a result of firings, rehirings, severance pay, paid leave and lost productivity involving more than 100,000 workers, Doge’s maneuvers will cost taxpayers $135bn this fiscal year. And several public policy experts said the increased wait times and hassles the public will face due to Doge’s cuts should also be subtracted from the $150bn.

Moynihan said Musk has precisely the wrong vision for someone tasked with making government more efficient. “His vision is that there is no way that government employees can produce anything of value,” Moynihan said. “So the idea of tools that makes government services better is completely alien to the Musk mindset.

“I think he believes that nothing public employees do has any real value, that they are not capable employees and therefore cutting them will do no harm,” Moynihan added. “It’s a vision that doesn’t understand what public services are, why they exist and how they benefit people.”

Moynihan faulted Musk for gutting one of the government’s main efforts to use technology to improve services and efficiency. He also criticized Musk for helping kill Direct File, a free and user-friendly way for people to report and file their taxes.

Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO, the main US union federation, said Doge’s cuts will hurt workers. She pointed to the sharp cuts at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, saying that that agency, for instance, does important research to ensure that firefighters’ personal protective equipment is safe as possible.

“There’s this notion that Doge is just cutting line items on a spreadsheet. It’s hurting real lives and real people,” Shuler said. “They’ve treated federal workers with blatant disregard and have been nothing short of dehumanizing and insulting toward them.”

Gimbel of the Yale Budget Lab warned of another downside to Doge’s cuts. “Part of what government does is mitigate risk,” she said. “Take food safety. Government inspectors decrease the risk that you will get listeria or salmonella. But when they reduce the number of food inspectors, will you get listeria or salmonella tomorrow? No. Will it probably increase the chances of people getting listeria and salmonella over the next five years? Yes.”

Human rights groups have condemned the arrest of relatives of Anna Kwok, an exiled pro-democracy activist who is wanted by the Hong Kong police, in the first example of the city’s national security law being used to target the family members of an activist living overseas.

Kwok, 28, is the executive director of the Washington-based Hong Kong Democracy Council, and is one of 19 overseas activists wanted by the national security police, who are offering bounties of HK$1m (£97,000) for information leading to arrest.

Kwok’s father, 68, and her brother, 35, were arrested on 30 April on suspicion of “attempting to deal with directly or indirectly, any funds or other financial assets or economic resources belonging to, or owned or controlled by, a relevant absconder”. The police said the men were suspected of helping Kwok to change the details of a life insurance policy and withdraw its remaining value. Kwok’s father was charged and detained while her brother was released on bail pending further investigations.

Yalkun Uluyol, China researcher at Human Rights Watch, said: “The Chinese government has increased its appalling use of collective punishment against family members of peaceful activists from Hong Kong. The Hong Kong authorities should immediately and unconditionally release Anna Kwok’s father and cease harassing families of Hong Kong activists.”

ChinaAid, a US-based human rights group, said: “This represents a deeply unsettling and significant escalation of the ongoing retaliatory actions against the families of exiled activists … this is a blatant attempt to silence overseas dissidents by targeting their family members at home, a tactic that brazenly disregards fundamental human rights and the rule of law.”

Police in Hong Kong have repeatedly questioned the relatives of exiled activists. In recent months relatives of Tony Chung, Frances Hui and Carmen Lau, overseas pro-democracy activists who are also wanted by the Hong Kong police, have been questioned. Chung and Lau, who are in the UK, have both had threatening letters sent to their neighbours offering rewards for information leading to their capture.

The arrests in Kwok’s case mark the first time that relatives have been criminally charged. Kwok’s father faces a sentence of up to seven years in prison if convicted. He has been denied bail with the case adjourned to 13 June, according to Reuters.

The Hong Kong police and the Hong Kong Democracy Council did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Kwok could not be reached for comment.

Human rights groups have condemned the arrest of relatives of Anna Kwok, an exiled pro-democracy activist who is wanted by the Hong Kong police, in the first example of the city’s national security law being used to target the family members of an activist living overseas.

Kwok, 28, is the executive director of the Washington-based Hong Kong Democracy Council, and is one of 19 overseas activists wanted by the national security police, who are offering bounties of HK$1m (£97,000) for information leading to arrest.

Kwok’s father, 68, and her brother, 35, were arrested on 30 April on suspicion of “attempting to deal with directly or indirectly, any funds or other financial assets or economic resources belonging to, or owned or controlled by, a relevant absconder”. The police said the men were suspected of helping Kwok to change the details of a life insurance policy and withdraw its remaining value. Kwok’s father was charged and detained while her brother was released on bail pending further investigations.

Yalkun Uluyol, China researcher at Human Rights Watch, said: “The Chinese government has increased its appalling use of collective punishment against family members of peaceful activists from Hong Kong. The Hong Kong authorities should immediately and unconditionally release Anna Kwok’s father and cease harassing families of Hong Kong activists.”

ChinaAid, a US-based human rights group, said: “This represents a deeply unsettling and significant escalation of the ongoing retaliatory actions against the families of exiled activists … this is a blatant attempt to silence overseas dissidents by targeting their family members at home, a tactic that brazenly disregards fundamental human rights and the rule of law.”

Police in Hong Kong have repeatedly questioned the relatives of exiled activists. In recent months relatives of Tony Chung, Frances Hui and Carmen Lau, overseas pro-democracy activists who are also wanted by the Hong Kong police, have been questioned. Chung and Lau, who are in the UK, have both had threatening letters sent to their neighbours offering rewards for information leading to their capture.

The arrests in Kwok’s case mark the first time that relatives have been criminally charged. Kwok’s father faces a sentence of up to seven years in prison if convicted. He has been denied bail with the case adjourned to 13 June, according to Reuters.

The Hong Kong police and the Hong Kong Democracy Council did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Kwok could not be reached for comment.

Anthony Albanese has had a “very warm” conversation with Donald Trump about tariffs and Aukus, foreshadowing a coming meeting with the US president after Labor’s election win.

Trump was asked earlier on Monday about the Australian election at the White House. He said, “I’m very friendly with” Albanese, but distanced himself from the Liberal leader, Peter Dutton.

“I don’t know anything about the election other than the man that won [Albanese], he’s very good,” Trump said.

“I have no idea who the other person is that ran against him.”

Praising Albanese, Trump claimed the pair were “very friendly”. The remarks followed an election campaign in which Labor strongly criticised Dutton for mirroring some Trump policies, including describing the opposition as “Doge-y”, and claimed the Coalition would “Americanise” the health system.

Albanese on Monday held his first press conference after Saturday’s election victory, saying he was “optimistic” about the future and again committing Labor to being an “orderly” government with a “positive” agenda. The re-elected prime minister praised his team’s efforts in overseeing reduced inflation and interest rates, and seeing wages and employment rising.

“I said from that first day I became Labor leader, back in 2019, that I want Labor to be the natural party of government,” Albanese said.

“I think given who we are, representing working people, but also effectively engaging with business and engaging with civil society, that we can make what is the best country on Earth even better in the future. I am genuinely so optimistic that if we get this decade right, we can set Australia up for the many decades ahead.”

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Albanese on Sunday said he had spoken to the leaders of Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, France and the UK, and looked forward to calls with the presidents of Indonesia and Ukraine. At the time, however, he shrugged off a question about whether Trump was on his call sheet, saying: “My job here is to represent Australia’s national interest and that’s what I’ll be doing.”

Albanese on Monday revealed he had now spoken to Trump, as well as the Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney – who invited him to join the G7 meeting in Alberta next month – and would soon speak to the leaders of India, Singapore and Thailand.

“I had a warm and positive conversation with President Trump, just a short while ago, when I was at the Lodge, and I thank him for his very warm message of congratulations,” Albanese said.

“We talked about Aukus and tariffs. We’ll continue to engage, we’ll engage with each other on a face-to-face basis at some time in the future. But it was very warm, and I thank him for reaching out in such a positive way as well.”

Albanese and Trump could cross paths at the G7, which will be held in Kananaskis, Alberta, from 15-17 June.

Trump’s “liberation day” tariffs on all overseas imports to the US, which included a 10% levy on Australian goods, were announced early in the election period. Dutton’s Liberal campaign portrayed the tariffs as a major failing of the Albanese government, saying Labor should have better leveraged Australia’s diplomatic and military relationship with the US.

Albanese strongly criticised the tariffs, calling them “an act of economic self-harm” and “not the act of a friend”.

Pressed about Albanese’s critical comments on the tariffs, Trump replied: “I can only say that he’s been very, very nice to me, very respectful to me.

“We have had a very good relationship.”

Labor had strongly condemned Dutton and the Coalition for policy positions that echoed some of Trump’s. Albanese’s campaign had ridiculed Coalition senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and her family for wearing Trump merchandise including Make America Great Again hats, after the senator comments to “make Australia great again”.

Despite appearing to mirror several Trump policies, including naming Price to a “government efficiency” role reminiscent of Elon Musk’s so-called department of government efficiency, Dutton shrugged off comparisons to the US president and denied that his plans to slash the public service, including cutting roles associated with the education department and those in diversity and inclusion positions, were influenced by Trump.

The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, claimed that Dutton’s “threatened cuts to school funding, which was right from the Dogeplaybook”.

Donald Trump has said he is directing his government to reopen and expand Alcatraz, the notorious former prison on an island off San Francisco that has been closed for more than 60 years.

In a post on his Truth Social site on Sunday evening, Trump wrote: “For too long, America has been plagued by vicious, violent, and repeat Criminal Offenders, the dregs of society, who will never contribute anything other than Misery and Suffering. When we were a more serious Nation, in times past, we did not hesitate to lock up the most dangerous criminals, and keep them far away from anyone they could harm. That’s the way it’s supposed to be.”

He added: “That is why, today, I am directing the Bureau of Prisons, together with the Department of Justice, FBI, and Homeland Security, to reopen a substantially enlarged and rebuilt ALCATRAZ, to house America’s most ruthless and violent Offenders.”

Trump’s directive to rebuild and reopen the long-shuttered penitentiary is the latest salvo in his effort to overhaul how and where federal prisoners and immigration detainees are locked up.

But such a move would likely be expensive and challenging. The prison was closed in 1963 due to crumbling infrastructure and the high cost of repairing and supplying the island facility, because everything from fuel to food had to be brought by boat.

Bringing the facility up to modern-day standards would require massive investment at a time when the Federal Bureau of Prisons has been shuttering prisons for similar infrastructure issues.

The island is now a major tourist site that is operated by the National Park Service and is a designated national historic landmark.

The former House speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat whose district includes the island, questioned the feasibility of reopening the prison. “It is now a very popular national park and major tourist attraction. The President’s proposal is not a serious one,” she wrote on X.

The prison – which was considered inescapable due to the strong ocean currents and cold Pacific waters that surround it – was known as “the Rock” and housed some of the nation’s most notorious criminals, including Al Capone and George “Machine Gun” Kelly.

In the 29 years it was open, 36 men attempted 14 separate escapes, according to the FBI. Nearly all were caught or did not survive.

The fates of three inmates – the brothers John and Clarence Anglin, and Frank Morris – are the subject of some debate, with their story dramatised in the 1979 film Escape from Alcatraz starring Clint Eastwood.

A spokesperson for the Bureau of Prisons said in a statement that the agency “will comply with all presidential orders”. They did not immediately answer questions from the Associated Press regarding the practicality and feasibility of reopening Alcatraz or the agency’s possible role in the future of the former prison given the National Park Service’s control of the island.

The order comes as Trump has been clashing with the courts as he tries to send accused gang members to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador, without due process. Trump has also floated the legally dubious idea of sending some federal US prisoners to the Terrorism Confinement Center, known as CECOT.

Trump also directed the opening of a detention centre at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba, to hold up to 30,000 of what he has called the “worst criminal aliens”.

Spain’s transport minister has said the country’s rail network suffered “an act of serious sabotage” after vital signalling cable was stolen over the busy bank holiday weekend, bringing severe delays to high-speed services between Madrid and Seville that affected more than 10,000 travellers.

The country’s state-owned rail operator, Renfe, said the problems on the line between the capital and the southern region of Andalucía had been caused by the theft of cable from four different locations in the Toledo area, south of Madrid, late on Sunday.

As Renfe and the railway infrastructure company Adif rushed to restore services, Spain’s transport minister, Óscar Puente, said: “We have suffered an act of serious sabotage on the high-speed line between Madrid and Seville”, adding that the Guardia Civil police force was investigating the matter and was asking anyone with information to come forward.

In a radio interview on Monday morning, Puente said the network appeared to have been deliberately targeted. “This is a low-value theft,” he told Cadena Ser. “Whoever did it knew what they were doing because there were no cameras and the financial gain is absolutely negligible compared with the enormous damage.”

The minister said he viewed the incident as “damage” rather than theft, adding that it involved 150 metres of cable.

Álvaro Fernández Heredia, the president of Renfe, said he also felt the theft was suspicious.

“It’s not great to have cable stolen from four different points and in both directions in one day,” he told the state-owned Radio Nacional de España. “It’s strange and I’m sure the transport ministry and the police will be looking into this because it isn’t something we’ve seen up until now.”

Asked if he shared Puente’s contention that it was a case of sabotage: “I do … The theft of signalling cable on which the safety infrastructure depends is sabotage, even if it’s just simple theft because it’s an attack on the infrastructure itself.”

By 9.30am on Monday, Renfe and Adif said the Madrid to Seville line was running again and hoped services would return to normal over the course of the day.

By early Monday morning, Alberto Valero and his family, visiting Spain from Mexico, had spent hours at Madrid’s Atocha station, waiting for a train to Seville.

“We’re here with tourists from everywhere; France, Portugal,” Valero told the Associated Press. “Everyone is at a loss for what to do because of the total disarray.”

The severe delays came a week after Spain and neighbouring Portugal suffered an unprecedented and as yet unexplained power blackout, prompting the opposition conservative People’s party (PP) to accuse the socialist-led government of incompetence.

“We’ve had two events in the past week that are more commonly seen in countries we wouldn’t want to resemble; countries where the government has forgotten about its citizens,” said PP sources.

The PP’s leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, said thousands of people had been stranded on trains overnight without water.

“This is the second Monday when we’ve had scenes that do not befit the fourth-largest eurozone economy,” he said. “People don’t deserve to be paying more taxes for worse services. Spain needs to function again and that’s my aim.”

In an interview with El País on Sunday, Spain’s environment minister, Sara Aagesen, warned it could take days to discover the reasons for last week’s power outage. She also echoed her view that it was far too soon for opposition parties and others to be pointing the finger at the country’s renewable energy sources as a possible cause.

“Blaming renewable as a [reason for the blackout] seems irresponsible and simplistic to me,” said Aagesen. “Irresponsible because we’re talking about a resource that has been part of our energetic mix for a long time. And, besides, we’ve had very similar power generation on many previous days, with lots of renewables and even with lower demand – and the system has worked perfectly.”

Two people have been arrested in connection with an alleged plot to detonate explosives at a free Lady Gaga concert in Rio de Janeiro, in what authorities believe was an attempt to target Brazil’s LGBTQ community.

The Rio event on Saturday was the biggest show of the pop star’s career. It attracted an estimated 2.1 million fans to Copacabana beach and had crowds screaming and dancing along.

“They were clearly saying that they were planning an attack at Lady Gaga’s concert motivated by sexual orientation,” Felipe Cury, secretary of the Rio police, told a press conference on Sunday.

The Rio police chief, Luiz Lima, said the group disseminated hate speech and violent content online “aimed at gaining notoriety in order to attract more viewers, more participants – most of them teenagers, many of them children”.

Even as Brazilian authorities said they arrested suspects in the hours before Lady Gaga’s show, the event went ahead without disruption – leading some to question the seriousness of the threat. Serious security concerns typically lead organisers to cancel such massive events – as happened with Taylor Swift’s concerts in Vienna last year.

Police said nothing about the alleged plot at the time in an effort to “avoid panic” and “the distortion of information”.

A spokesperson for Lady Gaga said the pop star and her team “learned about this alleged threat via media reports this morning. Prior to and during the show, there were no known safety concerns, nor any communication from the police or authorities to Lady Gaga regarding any potential risks.”

The statement added: “Her team worked closely with law enforcement throughout the planning and execution of the concert and all parties were confident in the safety measures in place.”

Security was tight at Saturday’s concert, with 5,200 military and police officers deployed to the beach where fans were revelling in the pop singer’s classic hits including Born This Way, which became an LGBTQ anthem after its 2011 release.

Authorities arrested two people in connection with the alleged plot – a man described as the group’s leader in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul on illegal weapons possession charges, and a teenager in Rio on child sexual abuse charges. Police did not elaborate on their exact roles in the plot or on how the group came to target Lady Gaga’s free concert.

“Those involved were recruiting participants, including teenagers, to carry out integrated attacks using improvised explosives and molotov cocktails,” police said.

The Justice Ministry said it determined the group posed a “risk to public order”. It said the group falsely presented themselves online as Little Monsters – Lady Gaga’s nickname for her fans – in order to lure teeangers into “networks with violent and self-destructive content”.

During a series of raids on the homes of 15 suspects across several Brazilian states, authorities confiscated phones and other electronic devices. Although police said they believed homemade bombs were intended for use in the planned attack, there was no mention of the raids turning up any weapons or explosive material.

Cury said one of the suspects whose home was raided in the city of Macaé, near Rio, “had a religious motivation” and “claimed [Lady Gaga] was a Satanist”.

In an Instagram post, Lady Gaga has expressed gratitude for the enormous crowd.

“Nothing could prepare me for the feeling I had during last night’s show – the absolute pride and joy I felt singing for the people of Brazil,” she wrote. “The sight of the crowd during my opening songs took my breath away. Your heart shines so bright, your culture is so vibrant and special, I hope you know how grateful I am to have shared this historical moment with you.”

Her free beach concert stood out at a time of surging ticket prices for live music around the world as concertgoers pay budget-busting costs to see their favourite artists.

Last month Lady Gaga performed at Coachella Valley music festival in California, where tickets fetched upwards of $600 for one weekend. The high prices of tickets for her upcoming shows in Australia have also attracted criticism locally.

Last May, superstar Madonna also performed on Copacabana beach, playing the final show of her latest world tower for some 1.6 million fans on the sprawling sands.

Erin Patterson’s estranged husband has denied asking her “is that what you used to poison them?” in the days immediately after a deadly mushroom lunch.

Patterson, 50, faces three charges of murder and one charge of attempted murder relating to the beef wellington lunch she served at her house in Leongatha in South Gippsland in 2023.

Patterson has pleaded not guilty to murdering or attempting to murder the relatives of her estranged husband, Simon Patterson.

She is accused of murdering Simon’s parents, Don and Gail Patterson, his aunt Heather Wilkinson, and attempting to murder Ian Wilkinson, Simon’s uncle and Heather’s husband.

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On Monday, Simon gave evidence for a third day in the trial, under cross-examination from Patterson’s lawyer, Colin Mandy SC. The supreme court is sitting in Morwell.

The court also heard from friends of Patterson who met her via a Facebook group dedicated to the case of convicted baby killer Keli Lane.

The friends said Patterson was known to love mushrooms and seemed a devoted mother, but often complained about Simon, including accusing him of coercive control.

Simon, 50, told the court it was possible he and Patterson were left alone at various times while she was receiving treatment at Monash medical centre on 31 July 2023, two days after the lunch.

Their two children were also being monitored at the hospital at the time. The court heard last week that the family were discussing Patterson conducting a “taste test” on their youngest child with muffins made using mushrooms that she had dehydrated.

Mandy asked Simon on Monday whether the two children left Patterson’s hospital room soon after this, and Simon asked her “is that what you used to poison them?”. Mandy did not say who “them” may have referred to.

“I did not say that to Erin,” Simon responded.

Mandy also put it to Simon that while they were in the hospital, Patterson was “privy” to phone conversations he was having, including in relation to the health of his parents and the Wilkinsons.

He said, in this context, that Patterson asked Simon about the health of her lunch guests.

Simon told the court last week that Patterson had not asked him about their condition.

“What I’m suggesting to you is that she asked you how are they going,” Mandy said on Monday.

“No, I can’t recall her asking that,” Simon responded.

Simon was again asked about a series of messages exchanged between him and Patterson. These messages included some shared on a Signal group chat with his parents.

Mandy said to Simon that the only messages between him and Patterson referring to child support and parenting arrangements uncovered during the police investigation had been put to him during his evidence.

But Simon said the messages he was referring to on Friday, when he described her “extremely aggressive” conduct and “inflammatory” messages to the group chat, had not been read in court.

Under reexamination from prosecutor Nanette Rogers SC, Simon said the message was so inflammatory that he was “extremely relieved” his mother had not read it.

He told the court that because his mother, Gail, became anxious after falling ill with encephalitis, Simon and his father instigated a “policy” that she should no longer read messages sent by Patterson to the chat in case they worsened her anxiety.

Simon said the message was in response to concerns he raised about their oldest child appearing “exhausted” during regular weekend visits with him, and him asking Patterson to ensure the child went to bed earlier.

Simon said the message was having a “crack at me” and “accusing me” of things, which he would have been OK about if it was sent directly to him, but “I’m still upset” that Patterson sent it to the group chat.

“I tell you what, if Mum had read that, I don’t know what that would have done to her,” Simon told the court.

Among the messages that were read in court was another exchange in the group chat in early December 2022, when Patterson sent a long message referring to the ongoing dispute between the estranged couple regarding child support.

Simon told the court last week that a miscommunication between himself and his accountant resulted in him being listed as “separated” on his tax return earlier that year.

This had family tax benefit and child support implications, the court has heard. Patterson said in the long message that the benefit had been worth about $15,000 a year.

Simon told the court last week that he was advised by child support authorities not to pay any expenses relating to the children, including school and medical fees, while the amount he had to pay in child support was calculated.

In the message, Patterson starts by saying that she can’t stop thinking about a comment Don made on the phone the previous evening about the financial issues being a “simple” thing to resolve.

She said it was not at all simple, as the estranged couple had been “basically lying to the government”. Of Simon, she said “I foolishly trusted him to do right by me and the kids when it came to the crunch”, and described him as “a bare minimum parent”.

Don replied that he may have misrepresented Simon, and that it was “best to move on”, but Patterson replied that following day that she would continue to update the group about the financial dispute to keep Simon accountable.

Other messages exchanged between the estranged couple show Patterson asking whether Simon could help move a tree off a fence at her property. The fence had been damaged, allowing one of Patterson’s goats into a neighbour’s yard. Patterson was holidaying with her children in New Zealand at the time

“Hey I understand we don’t really have the kind of the relationship where I can ask for a favour right now,” Patterson started her text, on 18 December 2022.

“Hey there, I’m always your husband no matter how we’re doing,” he responded.

Simon was also asked during reexamination why he had not contacted Patterson or his parents after the lunch to ask about the “medical issue” she mentioned to him as the reason for inviting him and the other guests to her property.

He mentioned several reasons, including that his parents would have considered it was Patterson’s news to tell, and that he couldn’t “reconcile” the fact Patterson described it as serious, but the lunch was to be held almost two weeks later.

“I didn’t feel completely confident there was a serious medical issue to be discussed,” he told the court.

The court previously heard Patterson told her lunch guests she had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer, but Mandy said she never had cancer.

Simon, who completed his evidence shortly after midday, spent more than seven hours in the witness box.

Christine Hunt, Daniela Barkley and Jenny Hay, who met Patterson on a Keli Lane group on Facebook, before joining smaller, private groups with her, also gave evidence on Monday.

Patterson went by her own name, but also the profile names Erin Erin and Erin Erin Erin in the groups, the friends told the court, during their involvement with her dating back to 2019.

None of them met Patterson in person.

Hunt said Patterson was regarded as “a really good researcher” and “a bit of a super sleuth” in the group.

Hunt added that Patterson described Simon as “controlling” and “coercive”, and shared her challenges in the relationship with the group, including how it was difficult dealing with the religion of Simon and his family given she was an atheist.

Barkley said that Patterson also said she was concerned about Simon’s lack of cleanliness, and that she did not want the children spending the night at his house because of it.

Patterson frequently posted about her children, Barkley said.

“That’s all she cared about in life, I think … yeah, I thought she was a wonderful mother.”

Patterson also shared with the group multiple photos of a dehydrator that she had bought, which Barkley said she told them was only being used for mushrooms.

“I’ve been hiding powdered mushrooms in everything. Mixed it into chocolate brownies yesterday, the kids had no idea” Patterson said in one message to the group that was shown in court.

Soon after, Patterson asked the group if anyone had cooked beef wellington, and if they had advice, Barkley said.

The group had particularly been fans of RecipeTin Eats, and several of them owned the cook book, she said.

Hay, who had cooked beef wellington before and described it in court as one of her favourite dishes, said she gave advice to Patterson about how to make sure it wasn’t soggy.

The trial continues.