One of the four bodies returned by Hamas to Israel on Thursday is not that of the hostage Shiri Bibas, Israel’s military has said, calling it a “violation of utmost severity” of an already precarious ceasefire deal.

The Israeli military confirmed in the early hours of Friday that two of the bodies belonged to Bibas’s children, Ariel and Kfir. However, it added: “During the identification process, it was determined that the additional body received is not that of Shiri Bibas, and no match was found for any other hostage.”

The development threatens to derail the fragile ceasefire agreement reached with US backing and with the help of Qatari and Egyptian mediators last month. Thursday’s release marked the first time the group has returned the remains of dead hostages.

A Hamas official told Agence France-Presse on Friday that it was likely the body of Bibas had been “mistakenly mixed” with others who were killed and buried under the rubble in Gaza. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, added that the group was “investigating” the issue.

Israel’s army said it had notified the family, including Yarden Bibas, Shiri’s husband and the boys’ father, who was released this month as part of the truce deal. It added that intelligence and forensic findings showed that Bibas’s children had been “murdered by terrorists”. Hamas has said the boys and their mother were killed in an Israeli bombing in November 2023.

Bibas and her children became a symbol of the Hamas attack of 7 October 2023 that ignited the war in Gaza. The identity of the fourth hostage’s body, that of 85-year-old Oded Lifshitz, was confirmed by forensic testing, his family said.

Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been quick to inflame other crises in the war, said on Friday that Hamas had handed over the body of a “Gazan woman” instead of Bibas and that Israel would make Hamas pay.

“In an unimaginably cynical manner, they did not return Shiri to her small children, the little angels, and instead placed the body of a Gazan woman in a coffin,” Netanyahu said in a video statement. “We will act with determination to bring Shiri home along with all our hostages – both living and dead – and ensure Hamas pays the full price for this cruel and evil violation of the agreement.”

Morgues in Gaza began overflowing early in the war, which has killed about 48,000 people. During the fighting, many of the dead were buried in mass graves with the intention of holding dignified funerals and moving bodies to graveyards when the situation was safer. About 1,200 people were killed in the 7 October attack, and another 250 taken hostage.

Friday’s statement came hours after Netanyahu ordered the military to conduct an “intense operation” against “terror hubs” in the occupied West Bank after a series of explosions on three parked buses in Bat Yam, a city outside Tel Aviv, that authorities said was a suspected terrorist attack. No injuries were reported.

Explosives were found on two other buses but did not detonate, the police spokesperson Asi Aharoni told Channel 13 TV. Israeli police said the five bombs were identical and equipped with timers, and bomb squads were defusing the unexploded ones.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the explosions.

Israel has been carrying out intensified raids on the occupied West Bank since October 2023, killing hundreds of people. At least 51 Palestinians including seven children have been killed an a crackdown on the northern West Bank launched by Israel after the Gaza ceasefire went into effect on 19 January, according to the UN.

Thursday’s handover of bodies is to be followed by the return of six living hostages on Saturday, in exchange for hundreds more Palestinian prisoners and detainees, expected to be women and minors detained by Israeli forces in Gaza.

Negotiations for a second phase, expected to cover the return of about 60 remaining hostages, less than half of whom are believed to be alive, and a full withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip, are expected to begin in the coming days.

Netanyahu has long resisted talks aimed at ending the war: much of his far-right coalition government opposes such a step if it leaves Hamas as a significant force inside the strip.

News agencies contributed to this report

One of the four bodies returned by Hamas to Israel on Thursday is not that of the hostage Shiri Bibas, Israel’s military has said, calling it a “violation of utmost severity” of an already precarious ceasefire deal.

The Israeli military confirmed in the early hours of Friday that two of the bodies belonged to Bibas’s children, Ariel and Kfir. However, it added: “During the identification process, it was determined that the additional body received is not that of Shiri Bibas, and no match was found for any other hostage.”

The development threatens to derail the fragile ceasefire agreement reached with US backing and with the help of Qatari and Egyptian mediators last month. Thursday’s release marked the first time the group has returned the remains of dead hostages.

A Hamas official told Agence France-Presse on Friday that it was likely the body of Bibas had been “mistakenly mixed” with others who were killed and buried under the rubble in Gaza. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, added that the group was “investigating” the issue.

Israel’s army said it had notified the family, including Yarden Bibas, Shiri’s husband and the boys’ father, who was released this month as part of the truce deal. It added that intelligence and forensic findings showed that Bibas’s children had been “murdered by terrorists”. Hamas has said the boys and their mother were killed in an Israeli bombing in November 2023.

Bibas and her children became a symbol of the Hamas attack of 7 October 2023 that ignited the war in Gaza. The identity of the fourth hostage’s body, that of 85-year-old Oded Lifshitz, was confirmed by forensic testing, his family said.

Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been quick to inflame other crises in the war, said on Friday that Hamas had handed over the body of a “Gazan woman” instead of Bibas and that Israel would make Hamas pay.

“In an unimaginably cynical manner, they did not return Shiri to her small children, the little angels, and instead placed the body of a Gazan woman in a coffin,” Netanyahu said in a video statement. “We will act with determination to bring Shiri home along with all our hostages – both living and dead – and ensure Hamas pays the full price for this cruel and evil violation of the agreement.”

Morgues in Gaza began overflowing early in the war, which has killed about 48,000 people. During the fighting, many of the dead were buried in mass graves with the intention of holding dignified funerals and moving bodies to graveyards when the situation was safer. About 1,200 people were killed in the 7 October attack, and another 250 taken hostage.

Friday’s statement came hours after Netanyahu ordered the military to conduct an “intense operation” against “terror hubs” in the occupied West Bank after a series of explosions on three parked buses in Bat Yam, a city outside Tel Aviv, that authorities said was a suspected terrorist attack. No injuries were reported.

Explosives were found on two other buses but did not detonate, the police spokesperson Asi Aharoni told Channel 13 TV. Israeli police said the five bombs were identical and equipped with timers, and bomb squads were defusing the unexploded ones.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the explosions.

Israel has been carrying out intensified raids on the occupied West Bank since October 2023, killing hundreds of people. At least 51 Palestinians including seven children have been killed an a crackdown on the northern West Bank launched by Israel after the Gaza ceasefire went into effect on 19 January, according to the UN.

Thursday’s handover of bodies is to be followed by the return of six living hostages on Saturday, in exchange for hundreds more Palestinian prisoners and detainees, expected to be women and minors detained by Israeli forces in Gaza.

Negotiations for a second phase, expected to cover the return of about 60 remaining hostages, less than half of whom are believed to be alive, and a full withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip, are expected to begin in the coming days.

Netanyahu has long resisted talks aimed at ending the war: much of his far-right coalition government opposes such a step if it leaves Hamas as a significant force inside the strip.

News agencies contributed to this report

An Australian member of Islamic State who was wounded in the extremist group’s final battle and whose fate was not publicly known has been discovered alive and in custody in a prison in north-eastern Syria.

Mustafa Hajj-Obeid, 41, who is one of a cohort of accused IS members whose Australian citizenship was stripped and then restored in 2022 after a legal challenge, has been reported as missing for the past six years since the military defeat of IS.

He was encountered by the Guardian – with his head shaved and wearing a brown jumpsuit – by chance during a rare tour of Panorama prison, a detention centre for accused IS members run by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

Permitted to speak for only a few minutes through a small grate in a cell housing about two dozen men, Hajj-Obeid told the Guardian he had no idea if his family in Australia were aware he had survived. “I really don’t know,” he said. “I know nothing, seriously.”

He admitted to having been an IS member but said he deeply regretted his actions. “I’ve been here for six years and it’s been traumatising,” he said, the cell floor behind him lined with thin, grey sleeping mats and what appeared to be plastic children’s cutlery. “Many people died, it’s been overwhelming.”

About 4,500 suspected IS fighters are being held in the “black hole” facility in the desert city of Hasakah indefinitely and without charge. Prisoners are permitted outside to exercise for 45 minutes each day but live in crowded, stifling conditions that have led to regular, untreated tuberculosis outbreaks.

Hajj-Obeid said he left Australia in 2015, claiming he was motivated to travel to Syria “to help”. “It was the situation in Syria, Bashar [al-Assad, the former Syrian president], the killing, the drama,” he said.

“I had Facebook at home and I would sit and obviously, surf the net, see what’s happening. Really at that time I saw the situation, but I didn’t judge it well.

“I came and got caught in a quagmire, I didn’t know how to get out,” he said. “I tried to get out a few times, a number of times, and I couldn’t get out.”

A close family member in Sydney told the Guardian she had learned that Hajj-Obeid had survived the military defeat of IS and was in custody about two years ago, but had received no other information since. She wept as she learned of the Guardian’s encounter with him.

Hajj-Obeid worked as a security guard in Sydney before he left Australia in 2015, telling family he was going on a late honeymoon to Malaysia with his wife, Rayan Hamdoush. “It seemed normal,” the family member, who requested anonymity, said after he had been found.

She said Hajj-Obeid had been religious but had never said or done anything that indicated he was becoming radicalised. “We didn’t suspect anything,” she said. “Obviously now when you look back, you sit there and think, you know, what did I miss?”

The couple resurfaced on what appeared to be a Syrian battlefield, Hajj-Obeid reportedly posting pro-IS messages on social media along with pictures wearing military fatigues and holding pistols and assault rifles. He contacted his family around that time to confirm he had joined IS.

“We didn’t hear from him for a long time after that,” the close family member said. “He’d contact his mum more than his sister or brother, but it was always very short. Many times his mum would think he was probably dead because of how minimal the contact was.”

She said the family was never contacted by Australian security agencies and had no idea of Hajj-Obeid’s welfare as the war between IS and a US-led coalition grew in intensity through 2015 and the following years.

“It was terrible,” the family member said. “You’re just constantly living on edge. Like, what am I going to hear tomorrow? What am I going to see tomorrow? It was just constantly living in fear.”

Hajj-Obeid and his wife moved with IS as its so-called “caliphate” shrank from 34,000 sq miles at its peak to a single Syrian city, Baghuz, on the bank of the Euphrates, where the group’s most loyal fighters and supporters held a bloody last stand. IS was declared defeated in March 2019 when the SDF took control of the city, detaining tens of thousands of suspected IS fighters, their wives and children.

Hajj-Obeid sustained shrapnel injuries to his back during the final battle, which his family said occurred while he was trying to get his wife to safety.

“[Hajj-Obeid] spoke to us maybe the few days before [the defeat],” the family member said. “He wanted to give himself up, but at the same time he didn’t know what was going to happen.”

The family heard nothing about him for the nearly four years that followed until they were contacted by the Red Cross around early 2023 and learned he was alive, “in reasonable health”, and being held by Kurdish-led forces.

His wife, Hamdoush, had given herself up in March 2019 and was detained in a prison camp for IS-linked women and children. A few weeks after her arrest, she learned she was pregnant. She gave birth to a baby boy in the al-Hawl camp in November 2019. Hajj-Obeid’s family believe he is not aware he has a child.

The Australian government stripped Hajj-Obeid of his nationality in 2019, claiming he was eligible for Lebanese citizenship, but was forced to reverse the decision after a successful high court challenge by another man detained in Syria for his connections to IS. Hajj-Obeid has no lawyer and is unlikely to know of the legal wrangling around his case.

The family member said she only glanced at the letter restoring his citizenship before stashing it away. “I’ve sort of lost hope,” she said. “It doesn’t mean they’re going to bring him back.”

The Australian government has repatriated four women and 21 children from detention camps in Syria. At least 42 Australians – including 11 women and 31 children – are still being held without charge, including Hamdoush and her son. The now five-year-old boy has not received a DNA test to be formally recognised as her child and is therefore not yet eligible for Australian citizenship.

At least a dozen Australian men are known to be detained in prisons across the region and – despite calls from the US and the SDF for foreign countries to repatriate their citizens – there is little appetite among the Australian government or public for their return.

“I know [Hajj-Obeid] has to face the justice system,” his family member said. “If he had a 10-year or 15-year sentence, you would at least know when his time would be up. But we don’t know if he’ll be there for the rest of his life. He’s just stuck in limbo.

“At least being in an Australian jail, you could visit him – know where he is.”

Asked whether he had a message for his family, Hajj-Obeid appeared close to tears. “To my mother that I love her, and to forgive me,” he said.

“My sister, my brother, my father. I love them all very much and I hope to see them soon. My wife in the camp, I love her very much and I ask her to forgive me for what I put her through and what I put my family through.”

As he spoke, a guard in a balaclava and carrying a club slammed the hatch on his cell shut, sealing him off again.

Additional reporting by Baderkhan Ahmad

A woman who claimed to be Madeleine McCann has been remanded in custody after being charged with stalking the missing girl’s family by allegedly turning up at their home and contacting them repeatedly.

Julia Wandel, also known as Julia Wandelt, was arrested at Bristol airport on Wednesday and appeared in Leicester magistrates court on Friday.

The 23-year-old is accused of stalking Kate, Gerry, Sean and Amelie McCann between 3 January 2024 and 15 February 2025. She is alleged to have been at the family home on 2 May and 7 December last year.

Madeleine went missing nearly 18 years ago, shortly before her fourth birthday, in what became one of the most high-profile missing person cases in recent British history. She was last seen by her family at their holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, on 3 May 2007.

Wandel is accused of making calls and sending a letter, voicemails and WhatsApp messages to Kate and Gerry McCann and to have sent Amelie and Sean McCann Instagram messages between 3 January and 29 December last year.

The charges state the alleged contact “had a substantial adverse effect” on the family’s day-to-day activities “when you knew or ought to have known that your course of conduct would cause alarm or distress”.

The stalking offences all carry a maximum penalty of 12 months in custody and/or an unlimited fine.

At Leicester magistrates court, the defendant spoke to say her full name was Julia Wandel “according to court documents”, gave her date of birth and gave no indication as to her pleas.

Wandel, who is originally from Poland, was remanded into custody to appear for a plea hearing at Leicester crown court on 7 April.

A second woman, aged 60 and from Wales, who was also arrested at the airport on suspicion of stalking, had been released on bail, police said.

Surjit Singh Clair, a spokesperson for Wandel, said he was “shocked and disappointed” that she had been arrested “as are all her supporters”.

“We’re even more shocked that she’s been remanded [in custody] especially when we had places for her to stay, far away from the McCanns.”

Some of the world’s largest aid organisations are axing thousands of jobs as a result of US president Donald Trump’s freeze on overseas aid, potentially “decimating” the sector’s ability to react to future crises.

Those that have already announced job cuts include the International Rescue Committee, Danish Refugee Council, Norwegian Refugee Council and war zone-focused Norwegian People’s Aid.

Catholic Relief Services has also warned staff to expect losses and there is concern among workers at Save the Children, whose US wing was more than half-funded by the government agency USAid, that cuts could lie ahead.

Save the Children did not comment on job losses but said it was conducting a review of its budget “to ensure we do everything we can to continue running as many of our life-saving programmes for children as possible.

“While we continue to advocate for the restoration of foreign assistance and our programmes – meeting with lawmakers, working within coalitions, and amplifying our message – it has become clear that we must take urgent steps to secure our financial sustainability,” it said in a statement.

David Miliband, the CEO of the IRC whose salary package – over $1m in 2022 – is one of the highest in the humanitarian sector, said senior staff would take a 20% pay cut. In a letter to staff he wrote: “As much as we would like to believe there will be some relief of the financial pressure on our organisation and that our programmes will be able to resume, the reality is that there will assuredly be a significant reduction of [US government] support for our programmes this fiscal year, impacting services and staffing.”

The IRC has previously said it has more than 17,000 global staff.

Since 20 January when Trump announced the 90-day freeze of much of the US’s $72bn (£57bn) spending – including the suspension of USAid, which is responsible for $40bn of that total – there have been reports of hundreds of humanitarian and aid project closures in more than 200 countries. USAid has had nearly all of its 10,000 staff sacked, furloughed or put on leave.

A report released this week by the International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA), a network of aid groups in 160 countries, found 55% of affected organisations surveyed had to fire or suspend staff or place them on leave.

It said the cuts were at every level, from people working in coordination, advocacy and policy to field workers in communities and refugee camps.

“We’re not just losing jobs – we’re losing decades of accumulated expertise, institutional knowledge and established networks that are crucial for effective aid delivery,” said Lee Crawfurd, a research fellow at the Center for Global Development. “Recruiting and training new staff with specialised skills and regional expertise takes years, not months, and some of that expertise may be permanently lost as experienced professionals are forced to leave the sector entirely.”

Crawfurd called the job cuts by big international NGOs “the tip of the iceberg”, saying there would be knock-on effects for local NGOs with limited resources who relied on financial support from larger aid groups.

ICVA’s report said that most of the affected organisations were having to take on the burden of redundancy payments and may face legal action from employees suddenly fired, despite in many cases not having been paid by USAid for work completed.

The report said the cuts were “decimating” the humanitarian sector’s ability to react to future crises.

UNAids said nearly 20,000 community health workers providing HIV services in Mozambique and 15,000 in South Africa had received stop work orders.

Zoe Abrahamson of Bond, the UK network for organisations working in international development, said the lack of clear communication over the future of funding was causing a huge amount of uncertainty.

“The organisations are owed millions of dollars from USAid for work they completed in 2024 and now face uncertainty over whether they will be reimbursed, let alone able to carry out much-needed and often life-saving work with communities that was budgeted for 2025 and beyond,” she said.

Some of the world’s largest aid organisations are axing thousands of jobs as a result of US president Donald Trump’s freeze on overseas aid, potentially “decimating” the sector’s ability to react to future crises.

Those that have already announced job cuts include the International Rescue Committee, Danish Refugee Council, Norwegian Refugee Council and war zone-focused Norwegian People’s Aid.

Catholic Relief Services has also warned staff to expect losses and there is concern among workers at Save the Children, whose US wing was more than half-funded by the government agency USAid, that cuts could lie ahead.

Save the Children did not comment on job losses but said it was conducting a review of its budget “to ensure we do everything we can to continue running as many of our life-saving programmes for children as possible.

“While we continue to advocate for the restoration of foreign assistance and our programmes – meeting with lawmakers, working within coalitions, and amplifying our message – it has become clear that we must take urgent steps to secure our financial sustainability,” it said in a statement.

David Miliband, the CEO of the IRC whose salary package – over $1m in 2022 – is one of the highest in the humanitarian sector, said senior staff would take a 20% pay cut. In a letter to staff he wrote: “As much as we would like to believe there will be some relief of the financial pressure on our organisation and that our programmes will be able to resume, the reality is that there will assuredly be a significant reduction of [US government] support for our programmes this fiscal year, impacting services and staffing.”

The IRC has previously said it has more than 17,000 global staff.

Since 20 January when Trump announced the 90-day freeze of much of the US’s $72bn (£57bn) spending – including the suspension of USAid, which is responsible for $40bn of that total – there have been reports of hundreds of humanitarian and aid project closures in more than 200 countries. USAid has had nearly all of its 10,000 staff sacked, furloughed or put on leave.

A report released this week by the International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA), a network of aid groups in 160 countries, found 55% of affected organisations surveyed had to fire or suspend staff or place them on leave.

It said the cuts were at every level, from people working in coordination, advocacy and policy to field workers in communities and refugee camps.

“We’re not just losing jobs – we’re losing decades of accumulated expertise, institutional knowledge and established networks that are crucial for effective aid delivery,” said Lee Crawfurd, a research fellow at the Center for Global Development. “Recruiting and training new staff with specialised skills and regional expertise takes years, not months, and some of that expertise may be permanently lost as experienced professionals are forced to leave the sector entirely.”

Crawfurd called the job cuts by big international NGOs “the tip of the iceberg”, saying there would be knock-on effects for local NGOs with limited resources who relied on financial support from larger aid groups.

ICVA’s report said that most of the affected organisations were having to take on the burden of redundancy payments and may face legal action from employees suddenly fired, despite in many cases not having been paid by USAid for work completed.

The report said the cuts were “decimating” the humanitarian sector’s ability to react to future crises.

UNAids said nearly 20,000 community health workers providing HIV services in Mozambique and 15,000 in South Africa had received stop work orders.

Zoe Abrahamson of Bond, the UK network for organisations working in international development, said the lack of clear communication over the future of funding was causing a huge amount of uncertainty.

“The organisations are owed millions of dollars from USAid for work they completed in 2024 and now face uncertainty over whether they will be reimbursed, let alone able to carry out much-needed and often life-saving work with communities that was budgeted for 2025 and beyond,” she said.

Amazon has paid more than $1bn for “creative control” of the James Bond franchise, the Guardian understands, in a deal that has met with a mixed response from stars of the films.

Amazon MGM Studios said on Thursday that it had struck a deal with Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson, the British-American heirs to the film producer Albert “Cubby” Broccoli and longtime stewards of the Bond films.

The world’s second largest corporation by revenue confirmed it had formed a joint venture with the duo to house the James Bond intellectual property with Amazon assuming “creative control”.

Amazon said the financial terms were for its eyes only, but it is understood that control of 007 was ceded for about $1bn (£790m), a figure first reported by the US Hollywood news oulet Deadline.

Daniel Craig, the most recent actor to play Bond, offered his congratulations to Broccoli and Wilson on Friday. Craig, who first appeared in Casino Royale in 2006, said: “My respect, admiration and love for Barbara and Michael remain constant and undiminished.

“I wish Michael a long, relaxing (and well-deserved) retirement, and whatever ventures Barbara goes on to do, I know they will be spectacular and I hope I can be part of them.”

The actor Valerie Leon, however, a former “Bond girl”, raised concerns that 007 would not be British any more if Amazon was calling the shots.

Leon, 81, featured in the films The Spy Who Loved Me and Never Say Never Again, alongside Roger Moore and Sean Connery. She told ITV’s Good Morning Britain that it does not worry her because “life changes and everything moves on and changes”.

“The Bond franchise was very British and it won’t be any more,” she said. “And obviously, if they make films they won’t go into the cinema … everything is so changed now, it just won’t be the same and I’m very old-fashioned anyway.”

With creative control, Amazon will have the power to move forward with new films and potentially TV spin-offs too, without approval from Wilson and Broccoli, who have overseen the integrity of the character originally created in 1953 by the author Ian Fleming.

It has been four years since the 2021 release of No Time To Die, and with no new Bond film in production, the current hiatus is on course to become 007’s longest ever holiday.

Every hour young people spend in front of screens increases their chance of being shortsighted, researchers have found, with experts warning young children should have limited use of devices and spend more time outdoors.

Myopia is caused by having an over elongated eyeball and is a growing problem, with research suggesting about 40% of children and adolescents worldwide could have the condition by 2050.

While genetics play a role in who develops myopia, other factors that increase risk include not spending enough time outdoors and focusing on things that are close up for prolonged periods, which could explain why screen time has been associated with a higher risk and severity of myopia.

Now, researchers in Korea say they have shed fresh light on this relationship in an analysis of 45 studies, involving 335,524 participants, that looked at the use of digital screen devices such as mobile phones, game consoles and television.

The results, largely based on data from children, adolescents and young adults, reveal that an additional hour of daily screen time is, on average, associated with 21% higher odds of having myopia.

Prof Chris Hammond of King’s College London, a consultant ophthalmologist who was not involved in the work, said that based on a prevalence of myopia of about 15% in children aged 12 to 13 in the UK, the research suggested a child’s risk of being shortsighted rose to 18% if they used a screen for an hour, and 27% after four hours.

The Korean team added that, for those who already had the condition, an additional hour of daily screen time was associated with 54% higher odds of becoming even more shortsighted.

When the researchers delved deeper they found the risk of myopia rose steeply as daily screen time increased, with 5% greater odds of myopia for one hour a day of exposure compared with no screen use, and 97% higher odds for four hours’ use a day.

Beyond that duration, the researchers added, the odds rose more slowly, while there was no clear association with myopia for screen use below one hour a day, suggesting a potential “safety threshold”.

However, the research has limitations, including that some studies relied on self-reports of myopia, the team did not look at how often participants carried out other closeup activities, measuring screen time is difficult, and further evidence is needed to support the idea of a safety threshold.

In addition, the research could not prove screen time caused myopia.

“For instance, because screen use predominantly occurs indoors, the resulting reduction in exposure to the protective benefits of outdoor environments may contribute to the increased risk of myopia,” the team wrote.

Hammond agreed, noting the interaction of risk factors in the development of myopia is complicated.

But, he said: “This meta-analysis, on top of studies of the ‘natural experiment’ of the Covid lockdowns, strongly suggests that a combination of young children being kept indoors and spending significant time on screens is not good for their eyes and the combination results in myopia.”

Prof Rupert Bourne of Anglia Ruskin University, a consultant ophthalmic surgeon, welcomed the study, noting a key concern was that worsening myopia raised the risk of sight-threatening conditions.“These findings can inform educational strategies and public health policies aimed at addressing the myopia pandemic,” he said.

Chinese warships have undertaken an apparent live-fire drill in the seas between Australia and New Zealand, diverting commercial flights in the skies above.

The Chinese navy notified the Australian defence department shortly before the drill on Friday.

Three People’s Liberation Army-Navy vessels – the Jiangkai-class frigate Hengyang, the Renhai-class cruiser Zunyi and the Fuchi-class replenishment vessel Weishanhu – were about 340 nautical miles off Eden, on the New South Wales south coast, in international waters. The drill was conducted in international waters and in accordance with international law.

It is understood at least three commercial flights diverted their course.

The three Chinese naval ships – known as Taskgroup 107 – advised Australia early on Friday of plans to conduct a live-fire exercise.

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The flotilla was being shadowed by a NZ navy vessel, which observed the drill. The ships changed formation and placed a target in the water, manoeuvred again, and then recovered the target. No live fire was observed, but the change in formation was consistent with a live-fire drill.

It is understood there was no surface-to-air firing.

Australia has asked China – through defence attaches in Canberra and Beijing – for more information on the live-fire drill and plans for any further exercises.

It is understood the drill, conducted at short notice, was viewed within the Australian military as a “significant disruption” but not one that posed an elevated risk to airspace users.

Anthony Albanese said China had issued an alert that it would be conducting the activities, including the potential use of live fire.

“It’s outside of Australia’s exclusive economic zone,” he said.

“Australia and New Zealand ships and aircraft have been monitoring the Chinese fleet while they have been travelling down the coast of Australia … as you would expect us to be doing.”

Asked what his level of concern was, Albanese said the activity was consistent with international law and the Chinese had given warning.

The shadow minister for defence, Andrew Hastie, accused the Chinese government of using “gunboat diplomacy”, blaming the “latest provocation” on weakness from the prime minister.

“For two and a half years, Anthony Albanese and Richard Marles have refused to stand up for our ADF personnel,” he said.

“The Australian people deserve to know what is going on, and they deserve better leadership from our weak prime minister.”

The foreign minister, Penny Wong, told ABC television the Chinese ships’ presence in waters off Australia was an evolving situation, but she believed live-fire exercises had been conducted.

“We will be discussing this with the Chinese, and we already have at an official level, in relation to the notice given and the transparency provided in relation to these exercises, particularly the live fire exercises,” Wong said.

She said the Australian military was monitoring the Chinese task group “very closely”, but acknowledged it was operating in international waters.

Wong, in Johannesburg for a meeting of G20 meeting of foreign ministers, was expected to meet with her Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, on the sidelines of the conference Friday night.

Airservices Australia was providing advice directly to pilots in the area by radio.

“The Civil Aviation Authority and Airservices Australia are aware of reports of live firing in international waters,” a spokesperson said.

“As a precaution, we have advised airlines with flights planned in the area. We are also working together to coordinate advice to operators and pilots.”

The airspace protection zone – 18km around the Chinese vessels and up to 45,000ft – remained current.

According to earlier Chinese media reports, the PLA-Navy frigate, cruiser and replenishment vessel have been conducting “real-combat” exercises in an unspecified part of the Pacific Ocean over the past month.

The ships’ presence off Australia’s coast closely follows an incident in the South China Sea last week in which a Chinese fighter jet released flares in front of an Australian military plane.

Luigi Mangione is scheduled to appear in Manhattan state court on Friday in the 4 December killing of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Mangione, 26, faces state-level murder and terrorism charges, as well as federal counts, for allegedly gunning down Thompson in a brazen street assassination.

Mangione has maintained his innocence. The state case against him carries a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole, while his federal case could carry a possible death penalty.

Authorities said that both cases will continue on parallel tracks. Prosecutors said they expect Mangione’s state-level case to be tried first.

Officials allege that Mangione ambushed Thompson as the healthcare executive was walking to an investor conference at a midtown Manhattan hotel. Mangione slipped out of New York City via bus after the shooting and eluded authorities for days.

Police obtained surveillance footage showing his face which was widely publicized. He was arrested in Altoona, Pennsylvania, on 9 December after a restaurant employee called in a tip.

Authorities claim that Mangione left behind abundant evidence proving his guilt. In addition to the surveillance footage, they have claimed there were fingerprints on a cereal bar and water bottle near the murder scene, allegedly tying him to Thompson’s slaying.

Altoona police claim to have discovered even more evidence – such as a manifesto criticizing health insurers’ prioritization of profits instead of patients, as well as a 3-D printed handgun and silencer.

Manhattan prosecutors said that two of the bullet shell casings had the words “DENY” and “DEPOSE” written on them, and one unused bullet at the scene had the word “DELAY”.

These words echo the title of the 2010 book Delay, Deny, Defend: Why Insurance Companies Don’t Pay Claims and What You Can Do About It, which has prompted many to theorize that dissatisfaction with the health-insurance industry was a possible motive.

Though accused of murder, Mangione has enjoyed an extensive outpouring of support. Thompson’s death prompted numerous US residents to voice their own frustrations with health insurers – including denials of necessary and critical services.

Mangione’s New York legal team launched a website “to provide answers to frequently asked questions, accurate information about his cases, and dispel misinformation. The intent is to share factual information regarding the unprecedented, multiple prosecutions against him.”

A letter claimed to have been authored by Mangione appeared on the site.

“I am overwhelmed by – and grateful for – everyone who has written me to share their stories and express their support. Powerfully, this support has transcended political, racial, and even class divisions, as mail has flooded [the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn] from across the country, and around the globe,” the missive said.

“While it is impossible for me to reply to most letters, please know that I read every one that I receive. Thank you again to everyone who took the time to write. I look forward to hearing more in the future.”

The website also features a “Contributions” page, with a GiveSendGo link, for anyone who wants to give to Mangione’s legal defense. It has raised more than $500,000.

Two homeless men who bought a winning lottery scratchcard with a stolen credit card have been offered a potentially lifechanging deal by their victim: a share of the €500,000 jackpot if they can produce the ticket.

The situation has left legal experts scratching their heads over who is the rightful owner of the so far unclaimed winnings: the person who bought the scratchcard, or the person who paid for it? And will the lottery operator pay out?

In what Le Parisien newspaper described as a story worthy of a film script, the homeless pair broke into a car parked in the centre of Toulouse, in south-west France, on 3 February and stole a backpack containing credit cards and identity documents belonging to a local man the paper named only as Jean-David.

The victim, 42, reported the theft to the police and contacted his bank to block his credit cards. He asked if the cards had been used and was informed that at 3pm that day, the thieves had used one of the cards to buy goods worth €52.50 (about £43.50) at a city-centre newsagents less than 500 metres from where his car had been parked.

More concerned about finding his identity papers, Jean-David decided to visit the newsagents the next morning to explain what had happened and see if they had CCTV to identify the thieves.

“I hoped at least to get my papers back but the newsagent said he hadn’t found anything. He said he remembered the two homeless men aged 30-40 coming into the shop and buying cigarettes and scratchcards. He found their behaviour suspicious because they paid with one card then wanted to buy something else but it hadn’t gone through and they couldn’t put in the code,” he told police.

After scratching the card and discovering they had won the maximum payout of €500,000 (nearly £414,000) the overjoyed pair returned to the shop to collect their winnings and were told to contact Française des Jeux, the company that runs France’s national lottery and had produced the scratchcard.

“The shop owner’s wife said she doubted very much I’d find them because she’d checked the card and they had won €500,000. She said they were so happy they even forgot their five packets of cigarettes,” Jean-David said.

Since then, the situation remains in a legal limbo. The thieves have not tried to collect their ill-gotten gains and police in Toulouse say Française des Jeux has frozen the winning ticket while investigations continue.

Jean-David has now invited the thieves to contact his lawyer. “Why not find a friendly arrangement? Why not share it?” he said.

His lawyer, Pierre Debuisson, told the local newspaper La Dépêche he believed Française des Jeux would be legally obliged to unblock the winning scratchcard if it was produced.

“It’s out of the question they cancel it because it was bought with a stolen card,” he said. “Those in possession of it don’t need to worry: our proposal is simple, without my client’s money they wouldn’t have won, without them my client wouldn’t have won. It’s only logical to share it.”