Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has said “everything possible is being done” overnight to restore power to all parts of the country following an unprecedented regional blackout that left tens of millions of people across the Iberian peninsular without power.

Speaking late on Monday night, Sánchez said the idea was to get the power back on across Spain on Tuesday, adding that 50% of the national electricity supply had been restored in the past few hours.

The blackout – blamed by the Portuguese operator on extreme temperature variations – left the two countries without trains, metros, traffic lights, ATMs, phone connections and internet access.

People were trapped in lifts, stuck on trains, stalled in traffic and abandoned in airports. Hundreds stumbled along pitch-black metro tunnels using their phone torches; others scrambled for basics in supermarkets that could only take cash, or began long trudges home from work.

Mobile networks went down and internet access was cut as power failed at 12.33pm (11.33 BST). Hospitals postponed routine operations but used generators to attend to critical cases, and while electronic banking was able to function on backup systems, most ATM screens were blank.

In scenes reminiscent of the 2003 outage that caused widespread blackouts in the US north-east, rail services across the Iberian peninsula were halted, air traffic disrupted and traffic lights extinguished. Hundreds of people had to be rescued from jammed lifts.

The mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martinez-Almeida, urged people to minimise their journeys and stay where they were, adding: “It is essential that the emergency services can circulate.” Play at the Madrid Open tennis tournament was suspended.

Sánchez said it was still too early to know what had caused the cut, but that nothing was being ruled out.

“Just how long it will take to get back to normal is something that [the national grid operator] Red Eléctrica still can’t say for sure,” he said. “There has never been a drop to zero in the system before and the idea now is to keep on with the progressive and prudent restoration of the supply to avoid any setbacks over the coming hours.”

By 10pm local time on Monday, 62% of Spain’s substations were back online (421 of 680) and 43.3% of the power demand had been met, while Portugal’s grid operator REN said it had restored power to 85 of the country’s 89 substations.

Red Eléctrica had previously cautioned that it could take between six and 10 hours to fully restore supply after what it called an “exceptional and totally extraordinary” incident.

Along a major thoroughfare in Madrid’s Argüelles neighbourhood, the restoration of the power supply prompted whoops of delight and a round of hearty applause among the many people wandering the street.

Sánchez said that the power cut originated at 12.33pm, when, for five seconds, 15 gigawatts of the energy that was being produced – equivalent to 60% of all the energy that was being used – suddenly disappeared.

“That’s something that has never happened before,” he added. “What prompted this sudden disappearance of the supply is something that the experts still haven’t been able to determine. But they will … All potential causes are being analysed and no hypothesis or possibility is being ruled out.”

The Portuguese operator, REN, said the outage was caused by a “rare atmospheric phenomenon”, with extreme temperature variations in Spain causing “anomalous oscillations” in very high-voltage lines.

REN said the phenomenon, known as “induced atmospheric vibration”, caused “synchronisation failures between the electrical systems, leading to successive disturbances across the interconnected European network”.

Widespread outages are unusual in Europe. In 2003, a problem with a hydroelectric power line between Italy and Switzerland caused blackouts for about 12 hours, and in 2006 an overloaded power network in Germany caused electricity cuts across parts of the country and in France, Italy, Spain, Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands.

Sánchez thanked France and Morocco for sending additional electricity to Spain, and said the current shortfall would be eased using gas and hydroelectric power.

The prime minister said additional national police and Guardia Civil officers had been deployed across the country to ensure people’s safety overnight, adding that hospitals were functioning well thanks to the efforts of healthcare workers.

He said telecommunications services were still suffering interruptions, mainly because of a lack of electricity supply to antennae.

Sánchez said that only 344 of the 6,000 flights in Spain on Monday had been cancelled, and that the country’s roads network was working well, barring some tailbacks.

The main travel disruption had occurred on the rail network, where 35,000 passengers trapped on more than 100 trains had been helped by rail companies and the military emergencies unit. Eleven more trains that had stopped in remote areas were still waiting to be reached.

In Madrid and other cities, traffic lights ceased to function, causing gridlock as vehicles slowed to avoid collisions, while metros were halted. Spain’s national road authority, DGT, urged motorists to avoid using the roads as much as possible.

El País newspaper posted photos and video on its website of passengers navigating darkened metro tunnels in the Spanish capital and police directing traffic on the city’s streets. Footage also showed its own reporters working by torchlight.

The Spanish health ministry said in a social media update it was in contact with regional authorities to assess the scope of the widespread blackout but reassured the public that hospitals had supplementary systems in place.

In Portugal, the outage hit the capital, Lisbon, and surrounding areas, as well as northern and southern parts of the country. Lisbon metro carriages were evacuated and ATMs and electronic payment systems cut out.

The Portuguese water supplier EPAL said water supplies could be disrupted, prompting queues to form at stores as people rushed to buy bottled water and other emergency supplies such as gas lights, generators and battery-powered radios.

Sánchez said that eight of Spain’s 17 autonomous regions – Andalucía, Castilla-La Mancha, Extremadura, Galicia, La Rioja, Madrid, Murcia and Valencia – had declared level 3 emergencies, placing responsibility for the response in the hands of the central government. He said schools in those areas would be open on Tuesday, but would not be offering regular classes.

He said the situation across the country remained very “asymmetric” on Monday night, with some regions already having 90% of their power restored, while others had recovered less than 15%.

Sánchez also advised non-essential workers to stay home on Tuesday if necessary.

“It’s going to be a long night,” he said. “But we’re going to keep working to get back to normal as quickly as possible.”

Spain, Portugal and some of south-west France suffered a massive power cut on Monday, with major cities including Madrid, Barcelona and Lisbon among those affected.

Houses, offices, trains, traffic lights and even the Madrid open tennis tournament were all hit, causing chaos for millions of people and prompting a scramble by the Spanish and Portuguese governments and network operators to understand the problem and race to fix it.

Four long hours after the power went out across Spain, bringing trains to a halt in Madrid’s metro stations and sending people scurrying for light and taxis, the denizens of the Spanish capital were swinging between pragmatism and polite, almost jocular, panic.

Behind the counter of his neighbourhood bazaar in a quiet corner of the city, a shop owner reeled off a list of the afternoon’s most popular purchases: radios, batteries, torches and candles. As he finished, yet another optimistic customer entered the shop.

“I don’t suppose you’ve got any radios left?” The shop owner shook his head. No radios.

Outside, on the boulevard that runs between two local schools, families were trotting home and trying to plan the next few hours. “We’re worried,” said Reyes Paterna, who was running a quick mental inventory as she took her young daughter home, where her one-year-old baby was waiting.

“Nothing’s working. We’ve got stuff for the baby but nothing else,” she said. “We’ve got a camping stove at home but we’re not sure if there’s any gas left in the cylinder.”

Paterna was also anxious about her mother, who lives on her own in Murcia, 200 miles away. “She could be stuck in the lift for all we know!”

For Paterna and everyone else in Madrid, the priorities were basic provisions and hoping that the patchy mobile phone coverage was restored as soon as possible, so that loved ones could be checked on and minds put at ease after hours of uncertainty.

As metro workers lounged outside a silent station – no trains meant no work – people chatted and joked about how things would be better if they were in their pueblos in the countryside, where power cuts are more common and most people cook with gas.

“We’re all in shock to be honest,” said one woman, as she guided her children home from school. Where were they headed? “To my mum’s. She’s got gas, so at least there’ll be some hot food for the kids.”

Such measured calm was not universal, however. As offices across the capital emptied and taxi drivers bellowed “cash only!” through their windows, at least one noble individual jumped the queue to get to a cab before a waiting pregnant woman.

With the Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, holding an emergency meeting of the national security council, and the Madrid regional government calling for the declaration of a national emergency, people decided on their own courses of action.

Food and other goods were high on everyone’s list of priorities. Though one local supermarket was shuttered – either for want of working systems, or a lack of Euro-carrying customers in an increasingly cashless society – others were doing a good trade. Just as in the Covid pandemic, some people hadn’t been able to resist the urge to stock up on toilet roll.

Manuel Pastor, 72, had not bought toilet roll, but was pulling a shopping trolley homewards, nonetheless.

“I’ve bought some tins and stuff that will last a while, just in case,” he said. “All we can do now is wait. Hopefully it’ll only last a day or two, otherwise people will start to panic.”

He sighed, pondering the possibility of some kind of cyber-attack and hoping that people would resist the urge to panic. If that happened, he said, “everyone will be fighting over things, even before there are shortages. Remember when the pandemic started? What bloody idiots.”

For most people, however, panic would have to wait. There was dinner to be made, relatives to be checked on, and children to be collected and hugged.

Foreign nationals convicted of sex offences will be banned from claiming asylum in the UK, Yvette Cooper has said, as Labour attempts to fight off the threat from the Reform party before Thursday’s local elections.

For the first time, anyone from overseas who qualifies for the sex offender register will be excluded from refugee protections.

The development was questioned by human rights organisations concerned that “irresponsible” changes to immigration law are being rushed through to challenge a surge in the polls from Nigel Farage’s party.

Keir Starmer has accused Reform and the Tories of attempting to “con” the British public because they are refusing to admit that they are preparing a coalition deal.

The new measure will be introduced in an amendment to the border security, asylum and immigration bill being considered by parliament, the Home Office said.

Under the refugee convention, countries can refuse asylum to those who have committed a “particularly serious crime”. In the UK, a criminal handed a prison sentence of one year or more can be defined as having committed a “serious crime”.

Officials said the planned changes will mean that anyone convicted of a crime and placed on the sex offender register will be categorised as having convicted a “particularly serious crime”, regardless of the length of sentence they receive.

Home Office sources have not said how many more foreign national offenders may be removed from the UK as a result of the change. The department has conducted an impact assessment on the new policy which is yet to be released.

According to official statistics, there were 451 foreign nationals serving sentences of less than 12 months in England and Wales at the end of March. There is no breakdown showing how many of those are sex offenders.

Offenders who face removal could still attempt to claim a right to remain in the UK under the European convention on human rights, sources indicated. The new rule will also apply to foreign offenders who were convicted of sex offences abroad.

Steve Valdez-Symonds, the programme director for refugee and migrant rights at Amnesty International UK, said the development was “an irresponsible approach to lawmaking that has long plagued immigration policy”.

He added: “Rushing through late-stage amendments to major legislation means laws are made without the full scrutiny and care they demand. It risks creating injustice and dysfunction.

“Excluding individuals from refugee protections without a proper, individualised assessment undermines fairness, hinders integration, and condemns people to live in limbo, unable to move forward with their lives.”

The Home Office will also direct courts to reduce the time they take to consider appeals from asylum seekers in accommodation.

The amendment will also set a 24-week target for first-tier immigration tribunals to decide on the appeals of those living in asylum seeker supported accommodation, or who are foreign national offenders, in a bid to cut the asylum backlog.

Artificial intelligence will be used to support those processing asylum claims, the Home Office said, such as by summarising interview transcripts and accessing country advice. Using the technology could save case workers up to an hour per case, according to the department.

Enver Solomon, the chief executive of the Refugee Council, welcomed efforts to speed up the appeals process, but said that extra funding would be required to make it work.

He said: “A faster appeals process cannot be magicked up out of thin air and must not come at the cost of people’s access to justice. Previous efforts to speed up this process have often led to a bigger court backlog due to poor quality initial decisions.

“The use of AI therefore must be carefully considered before potentially life or death decisions become a testing ground for the technology,” he said.

Reform is on course to take hundreds of council seats and is ahead in the race for two metro mayoralties – Lincolnshire and Hull – as well as the Runcorn byelection, a constituency which Starmer has not yet visited.

While much of the focus has been on the Tory response to the Farage threat, with Kemi Badenoch’s party expected to suffer a devastating night on Thursday, Labour insiders are also anxious about how they will perform against Reform in their post-industrial heartlands.

There is some alarm on the backbenches over the government’s response to date, with MPs fearing the party’s position on issues is reached as a result of electoral considerations – such as migration, Europe and social issues.

“We need to be careful about lurching to the right in response to Reform,” one MP said. “We can do better than that. We should be arguing for Labour values especially on immigration. If we want economic growth, legal migration has to play a part in that.”

The number of migrants who have arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel this year has edged closer to 10,000, at the start of what is forecast to be the warmest week of 2025 so far.

It emerged last year that a man who had carried out a chemical attack in Clapham, south London, had been granted asylum despite being a convicted sex offender and on the sex offender register.

Abdul Ezedi, who doused his former girlfriend in alkaline before taking his own life, was granted asylum in 2020 by a judge who accepted that he was a Christian convert.

He had been given a suspended sentence at Newcastle crown court on 9 January 2018 after pleading guilty to sexual assault and exposure and had been placed on the sex offender register for 10 years.

Canadians head to the polls in a federal election overshadowed by fury at Donald Trump’s threats to the country’s sovereignty and fears over his escalating trade war.

In the final days of a month-long campaign – described by all party leaders as the most consequential general election in a lifetime – the US president yet again re-inserted himself into the national discussion, with fresh threats to annex the country. “We don’t need anything from Canada. And I say the only way this thing really works is for Canada to become a state,” he told Time magazine on Friday.

On election day itself, Trump resumed his provocations with a social media post suggesting he was on the ballot and repeating that Canada should become the 51st state, incorrectly claiming that the US subsidizes Canada. “It makes no sense unless Canada is a State!” Trump posted.

The Conservative leader, Pierre Poilievre, responded to Trump with a post of his own.

“President Trump, stay out of our election. The only people who will decide the future of Canada are Canadians at the ballot box,” Poilievre posted. “Canada will always be proud, sovereign and independent and we will NEVER be the 51st state.”

As recently as January, Poilievre was poised for the largest and most resounding electoral victory in more than half a century. Canadian pollsters and political pundits struggled to find fresh ways to describe the bleak prospects for the then prime minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal party, which seemed on track for a catastrophic blowout. The party trailed the Conservatives by as many as 27 points in some polls.

But Trump’s detonation of the US’s closest diplomatic and economic relationship has fundamentally reshaped how many feel about their southern neighbour and heavily influenced how Mark Carney, the former central banker who inherited control of the Liberal party to become prime minister in mid-March, has shaped his electoral bid.

That framing has the possibility of producing a result that would have been unfathomable three months ago.

Now the Conservatives’ chances of an electoral victory are slim – and would require a significant polling miss and a groundswell of support in key battlegrounds.

“Almost everything about this campaign is without precedent. For the first time in Canada’s history, our closest geographic, economic and security partner has placed us in the crosshairs, disrupting our sense of economic and physical security,” said Scott Reid, a political adviser and former director of communications to the Liberal former prime minister Paul Martin.

“And then you have this unprecedented situation where Mark Carney, with no electoral experience emerges on to the scene, reverses a 26-point deficit in his party’s fortunes and takes them to the brink of a majority victory. [There’s’] nothing about this that’s happened before. It’s not just that it’s unprecedented, it’s that it’s enormously consequential in all of its implications. It’s all jaw-dropping.”

Still, the prospect of a fourth consecutive Liberal term has frustrated many in the country, who see a government that was unable to rein in a cost of living crisis on the verge of retaining power.

“Ten years of a Liberal government is a long time. They had their shot. And the changes they made are for the worst. We need a new government, we need new ideas, new people and new ministers,” said Sam, who lives in a new housing development in Carney’s electoral district in Ottawa.

He said that although Carney cast himself as a novice, the Liberal leader was a “political insider”, adding: “I’m not saying he’s not a qualified person. But he’s also a businessman. So is Trump. Look how that’s turned out for everyone.”

Running on a message of change, Poilievre, a seven-term parliamentarian, has attracted thousands to his energetic rallies across Canada, and won over young voters attracted by his response to the country’s cost of living crisis.

“Canadians are asking the simple question: can we really afford to allow Mark Carney to have the fourth term of Justin Trudeau, raising exactly the same taxes, running exactly the same deficits, doubling exactly the same housing costs, with exactly the same Liberal team?” Poilievre said during a campaign stop in the city of Saskatoon, a Tory stronghold.

“There’s a generational divide in the country and real questions of whether the Canadian dream is achievable any more. Poilievre was beating the drums about this and Trudeau’s popularity was plummeting. And exactly the wrong moment, we have this threat to the south of us and it completely overturned the tables in Canadian politics,” said Melanie Paradis, the president of Texture Communications and director of communications for the former Conservative leader Erin O’Toole.

“And the question is, what’s at stake? For the older generation, it’s the sovereignty and integrity of Canada. The existential threat to their future is Trump [but] the existential threat to the future of the younger generation is being able to own a home and start a family.”

That shift in political calculus puts the Conservatives in a difficult place.

“We’ve had a bizarre reversal of fortunes. We used to be so reliably strong with the older demographic – people who you could really count on to show up and vote on election day,” said Paradis. “Now we have an incredibly strong showing among young voters, but now we’ve lost the support of senior men.”

A race dominated by the two main party’s leaders is also poised to devastate smaller opposition parties, all of which have struggled to be part of a discussion focused on Canada’s economic and political responses to Trump. The New Democratic party, which previously propped up Trudeau’s minority government, is poised for its biggest-ever loss, and its leader, Jagmeet Singh, is at risk of losing his federal seat in the Burnaby South electoral district.

“Conservative attacks on the [NDP’s support for the Liberals] were highly effective in eroding trust in Jagmeet Singh. But the result was, when you see this threat from Trump, people who would have normally voted for the party are now strategically looking at the Liberals,” said Paradis.

The Green leader, Elizabeth May, is also at risk of losing her seat. A wave of patriotic sentiment, spurred by Trump, has threatened the electoral prospects of the separatist Bloc Québécois to the benefit of the Liberals.

Already, more than 7 million people have cast ballots in early voting – a 25% increase over the previous record, helped in large part by the Easter long weekend. The first polls close at 8.30pm Atlantic time, with seat-rich Québec and Ontario closing at 9.30pm eastern time, with results expected soon after.

Looming over the final day of electioneering was a deadly attack at a bustling street festival in Vancouver that left the country reeling and forced Carney to briefly suspend his campaign in order to make sombre remarks to the nation.

“Those families are living every family’s nightmare,” Carney said on Sunday morning, after a driver killed at least 11 people and injured more at the Filipino community’s Lapu Lapu festival. “I know that I join all Canadians in mourning with you. I know that Canadians are united with you.”

A visibly emotional Carney spoke of “Bayanihan”, the Filipino value of community serving those in need.

“This spirit upon which we must draw in this incredibly difficult time. We will comfort the grieving. We will care for each other. We will unite in common purpose,” he added.

Senior Whitehall officials have asked golf bosses whether they can host the 2028 Open championship at Donald Trump’s Turnberry course after repeated requests from the US president, sources have said.

Officials had asked senior people at the R&A, which organises the world’s oldest major golf championship, what the hurdles would be to hosting the 2028 Open at Turnberry.

One source described the talks as direct lobbying from the government, although others said officials had asked about hypothetical problems with the idea, rather than insisting that it happen.

One person with knowledge of the discussions said: “The government is doing everything it can to get close to Trump. One concrete thing is that the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) have been involved in pushing for the Open to return to Trump-owned Turnberry.”

Both the DCMS and Trump Turnberry declined to comment.

Two other people briefed on conversations between the US president and Keir Starmer said Trump had asked the prime minister multiple times about hosting the Open at Turnberry, which the Trump Organization has owned since 2014.

Trump has previously lobbied publicly to host the Open at the Ayrshire course, saying in 2023: “Everybody wants to see the Open championship here.”

King Charles acknowledged the course’s importance to Trump when he wrote to him offering a visit to one of his Scottish estates should the president already be in the country visiting Turnberry.

Hosting the Open could provide a welcome financial boost for SLC Turnberry, the course’s operating company, which is run by the president’s sons, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. Last year the company lost £1.7m, having made £571,000 in the previous year – its only profit in 10 years.

The R&A has a list of nine or 10 historic courses it would consider for hosting the Open, including famous venues such as St Andrews and Royal Birkdale. Turnberry is on that list, having hosted the championship in 2009. However golf experts point out that the event has grown substantially since then. While the 2009 Open attracted 123,000 people, the event at Royal Troon last year was attended by over 250,000.

The R&A previously said it would not host the tournament at Turnberry in the wake of the January 6 attack by Trump supporters on the Capitol in 2021. Last November, the then head of the organisation, said he did not want “media noise” detracting from the game.

Since then however the R&A has changed leadership. And in an apparent shift of position Mark Darbon, the new chief executive, said last week he would like to see the championship return to Turnberry “at some point”.

Those briefed on the discussions between government officials and the R&A say they have mainly focused on the logistical challenges to hosting the Open at Turnberry. They said the main problems would be getting the sheer number of spectators in and out of the site by road, rail and air, given Turnberry is a two-and-a-half hour train trip from Glasgow, or a one-hour drive along a single A-road.

Darbon said last week: “At Turnberry, there are definitely some logistical and commercial challenges that we face around the road, rail and accommodation infrastructure. We’re doing some feasibility work around what it would look like to return to that venue and the investment that it would require.”

One minister told the Financial Times earlier this year the venue would need “tens, or hundreds, of millions of pounds of investment” to make it easier to reach and to provide enough high-quality hotel accommodation in the area.

A spokesperson for R&A said: “We regularly engage with government and local government regarding venues. We have explained the logistical challenges around Turnberry to the government and they are aware of the position.”

Senior Whitehall officials have asked golf bosses whether they can host the 2028 Open championship at Donald Trump’s Turnberry course after repeated requests from the US president, sources have said.

Officials had asked senior people at the R&A, which organises the world’s oldest major golf championship, what the hurdles would be to hosting the 2028 Open at Turnberry.

One source described the talks as direct lobbying from the government, although others said officials had asked about hypothetical problems with the idea, rather than insisting that it happen.

One person with knowledge of the discussions said: “The government is doing everything it can to get close to Trump. One concrete thing is that the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) have been involved in pushing for the Open to return to Trump-owned Turnberry.”

Both the DCMS and Trump Turnberry declined to comment.

Two other people briefed on conversations between the US president and Keir Starmer said Trump had asked the prime minister multiple times about hosting the Open at Turnberry, which the Trump Organization has owned since 2014.

Trump has previously lobbied publicly to host the Open at the Ayrshire course, saying in 2023: “Everybody wants to see the Open championship here.”

King Charles acknowledged the course’s importance to Trump when he wrote to him offering a visit to one of his Scottish estates should the president already be in the country visiting Turnberry.

Hosting the Open could provide a welcome financial boost for SLC Turnberry, the course’s operating company, which is run by the president’s sons, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. Last year the company lost £1.7m, having made £571,000 in the previous year – its only profit in 10 years.

The R&A has a list of nine or 10 historic courses it would consider for hosting the Open, including famous venues such as St Andrews and Royal Birkdale. Turnberry is on that list, having hosted the championship in 2009. However golf experts point out that the event has grown substantially since then. While the 2009 Open attracted 123,000 people, the event at Royal Troon last year was attended by over 250,000.

The R&A previously said it would not host the tournament at Turnberry in the wake of the January 6 attack by Trump supporters on the Capitol in 2021. Last November, the then head of the organisation, said he did not want “media noise” detracting from the game.

Since then however the R&A has changed leadership. And in an apparent shift of position Mark Darbon, the new chief executive, said last week he would like to see the championship return to Turnberry “at some point”.

Those briefed on the discussions between government officials and the R&A say they have mainly focused on the logistical challenges to hosting the Open at Turnberry. They said the main problems would be getting the sheer number of spectators in and out of the site by road, rail and air, given Turnberry is a two-and-a-half hour train trip from Glasgow, or a one-hour drive along a single A-road.

Darbon said last week: “At Turnberry, there are definitely some logistical and commercial challenges that we face around the road, rail and accommodation infrastructure. We’re doing some feasibility work around what it would look like to return to that venue and the investment that it would require.”

One minister told the Financial Times earlier this year the venue would need “tens, or hundreds, of millions of pounds of investment” to make it easier to reach and to provide enough high-quality hotel accommodation in the area.

A spokesperson for R&A said: “We regularly engage with government and local government regarding venues. We have explained the logistical challenges around Turnberry to the government and they are aware of the position.”

The sugar tax applied to fizzy drinks could be extended to milkshakes and similar treats under government proposals.

Plans to end the exemption from the levy for dairy-based drinks, as well as non-dairy substitutes such as oats or rice, were put out for consultation on Monday.

The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, had said in her budget last year that the government would consider broadening the tax to include such drinks.

The Treasury confirmed plans to press ahead with the changes on Monday, as well as a proposal to reduce the maximum amount of sugar allowed in drinks before they become subject to the levy from 5g to 4g per 100ml.

As a result of widespread reformulation after the initial announcement of the so-called soft drinks industry levy (SDIL), 89% of fizzy drinks sold in the UK do not pay the tax, the Treasury said.

An estimated 203 pre-packed milk-based drinks on the market, which make up 93% of sales within the category, will be hit with the tax unless their sugar content is reduced under the new proposals, according to government analysis.

The SDIL was introduced by the Conservatives in April 2018 as part of their anti-obesity drive. The exemption for milk-based drinks was included because of concerns about calcium consumption, particularly among children.

However, the Treasury said young people only get 3.5% of their calcium intake from such drinks, meaning “it is also likely that the health benefits do not justify the harms from excess sugar”.

“By bringing milk-based drinks and milk substitute drinks into the SDIL, the government would introduce a tax incentive for manufacturers of these drinks to build on existing progress and further reduce sugar in their recipes,” it said.

The Institute of Economic Affairs, a rightwing free-market thinktank, expressed concerns about the cost to consumers of the proposed changes.

“The sugar tax has been such a dramatic failure that it should be repealed, not expanded,” said Christopher Snowdon, head of lifestyle economics at the institute.

“Sugar taxes have never worked anywhere. What happened to Starmer’s promise to not raise taxes on working people?”

The government consultation on the plans will run from Monday until 21 July.

Ronen Bar, the director of Israel’s Shin Bet internal security service, has said he will resign in less than two months, after weeks of tension with Benjamin Netanyahu, who has tried to fire him, bringing Israel to the brink of a constitutional crisis.

“After 35 years of service, in order to allow an orderly process for appointing a permanent successor and for professional handover, I will end my role on 15 June 2025,” Bar told a Shin Bet memorial event on Monday.

The battle between Netanyahu and Bar intensified after the supreme court blocked a decision by the cabinet to dismiss Bar from his post – the first Shin Bet head to be fired.

Netanyahu said he had lost trust in Bar’s capacity to lead Shin Bet and accused him of a conflict of interest and of politicising the agency.

Bar’s decision to step down will now spare the supreme court from making a potentially divisive and contentious judgment.

Last week, in a 31-page affidavit to the supreme court, Bar, 59, alleged that Netanyahu had tried to fire him for refusing to pledge his loyalty to the prime minister over the courts and tried to use the agency to spy on anti-government protesters.

Netanyahu filed his response with the court on Sunday, rejecting Bar’s accusations. He has repeatedly referred to a “deep state” in Israel that he alleges seeks to thwart democratically elected leaders and undermine elected governments.

The relationship between Netanyahu and Bar, a former special forces soldier who holds degrees from Tel Aviv and Harvard universities, deteriorated after the publication in March of a Shin Bet report on the 7 October 2023 attacks by Hamas militants in southern Israel. The service admitted to mistakes but criticised policies of the Netanyahu government that it said had enabled Hamas to build up its strength in Gaza and catch Israel by surprise.

Netanyahu has never accepted any responsibility for Israel’s worst national security disaster, which killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and led to 251 being abducted and held hostage in Gaza. Eighteen months after the attack, many of the senior officials in post at the time have resigned or been forced out. Netanyahu appears unlikely to leave power before elections late next year and may stay on beyond then.

Bar’s authorisation for Shin Bet to open two investigations into Netanyahu’s close aides, including one for allegedly taking payments from Qatar to promote its interests in Israel at the same time that Qatar was partly financing Hamas in Gaza, has been widely cited as a motive for his dismissal. Netanyahu is already facing a multitude of corruption charges in court, and political opponents have alleged the prime minister wanted to remove Bar in order to sabotage the investigations.

Netanyahu has consistently denied any improper or ulterior reasons for firing Bar.

“To this day, the reason for my firing is not clear to me,” Bar wrote in his supreme court affidavit. “But … it was not rooted in any professional metric, but out of an expectation by Netanyahu that I would be personally loyal to him.”

Yair Lapid, Israel’s opposition leader, praised Bar’s decision and criticised Netanyahu. “Of those responsible for the greatest failure in the history of the country, only one remains, clinging to the chair,” Lapid said.

The priority of Shin Bet is counter-terrorism, but the service also investigates espionage, manages security clearance for thousands of sensitive posts and has a legal duty to defend Israel’s democratic system.

Bar took over the service in 2021, having been appointed by the then prime minister, Naftali Bennett, and was expected to serve the standard five-year term.

Bar was one of the first senior security officials to accept responsibility for the many failures that led to the 2023 attacks, and made it clear he intended to resign.

He has stayed on this long, associates and supporters said last month, to work towards the release of hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza and to protect Shin Bet from political manoeuvres.

The UK and the EU have outlined a “new strategic partnership” aimed at bolstering trade and presenting a united European front in Ukraine in defiance of Donald Trump’s threat to upend decades of transatlantic alignment.

A draft declaration being drawn up by London and Brussels ahead of a UK-EU summit on 19 May points to a “common understanding” on a number of shared interests.

EU ambassadors will meet in Brussels on Wednesday for a briefing from officials who have spent the past few months in a “tunnel” working on the areas where agreement could be reached over the next year.

A defence and security pact that would see closer cooperation on Ukraine is top of the shopping list along with migration, which is a hot topic on both sides of the Channel.

The French are determined to carve out new arrangements on fishing but diplomatic sources say there will be no change for the time being.

Several EU capitals are pushing for a “youth experience” programme, which would allow people from the EU to spend at least 12 months in Britain under a reciprocal visa programme that would not add to migration figures.

The draft communique being finessed by officials is designed to be the basis of a political declaration and framework for talks over the range of issues.

“We confirmed our shared principles of maintaining global economic stability and our mutual commitment to free and open trade,” the draft noted. It added that the sides would continue working “on how we can mitigate the impact of fluctuations in the global economic order”.

However, the summit comes as the UK continues tariff negotiations with the US in the hope of carving out a special deal. Britain is facing a 10% tariff, while the EU faces 20%.

Ahead of a meeting with the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, last week, the leader of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, called for a drive to unlock investment for renewables in the North Sea.

“We are friends. And we are Europeans. It means that we share interests and democratic values. And that we are ready to face global challenges as like-minded partners,” von der Leyen said after their meeting.

Downing Street declined to comment on the text but said it was in line with the UK’s objectives.

Starmer’s spokesperson said: “The prime minister’s being clear that there are significant benefits to be had by having a better partnership with the EU in terms of jobs, British businesses, reducing trade barriers, driving growth and keeping us safe in an increasingly dangerous world. So you’d expect us to be discussing a wide range of issues with the EU and obviously get an update on that at the summit.

“The prime minister has spoken extensively recently about the benefits of free and open trade and the fact that we’re looking to strengthen alliances around the world to reduce barriers to trade, working with other economies. And that is actually a feature of our discussions, not just with the EU, but the US, India, and other countries as well.”

The UK and the EU have outlined a “new strategic partnership” aimed at bolstering trade and presenting a united European front in Ukraine in defiance of Donald Trump’s threat to upend decades of transatlantic alignment.

A draft declaration being drawn up by London and Brussels ahead of a UK-EU summit on 19 May points to a “common understanding” on a number of shared interests.

EU ambassadors will meet in Brussels on Wednesday for a briefing from officials who have spent the past few months in a “tunnel” working on the areas where agreement could be reached over the next year.

A defence and security pact that would see closer cooperation on Ukraine is top of the shopping list along with migration, which is a hot topic on both sides of the Channel.

The French are determined to carve out new arrangements on fishing but diplomatic sources say there will be no change for the time being.

Several EU capitals are pushing for a “youth experience” programme, which would allow people from the EU to spend at least 12 months in Britain under a reciprocal visa programme that would not add to migration figures.

The draft communique being finessed by officials is designed to be the basis of a political declaration and framework for talks over the range of issues.

“We confirmed our shared principles of maintaining global economic stability and our mutual commitment to free and open trade,” the draft noted. It added that the sides would continue working “on how we can mitigate the impact of fluctuations in the global economic order”.

However, the summit comes as the UK continues tariff negotiations with the US in the hope of carving out a special deal. Britain is facing a 10% tariff, while the EU faces 20%.

Ahead of a meeting with the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, last week, the leader of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, called for a drive to unlock investment for renewables in the North Sea.

“We are friends. And we are Europeans. It means that we share interests and democratic values. And that we are ready to face global challenges as like-minded partners,” von der Leyen said after their meeting.

Downing Street declined to comment on the text but said it was in line with the UK’s objectives.

Starmer’s spokesperson said: “The prime minister’s being clear that there are significant benefits to be had by having a better partnership with the EU in terms of jobs, British businesses, reducing trade barriers, driving growth and keeping us safe in an increasingly dangerous world. So you’d expect us to be discussing a wide range of issues with the EU and obviously get an update on that at the summit.

“The prime minister has spoken extensively recently about the benefits of free and open trade and the fact that we’re looking to strengthen alliances around the world to reduce barriers to trade, working with other economies. And that is actually a feature of our discussions, not just with the EU, but the US, India, and other countries as well.”

A group of pro-democracy lawmakers jailed in a landmark Hong Kong national security trial have been freed after spending four years in prison.

Local media had reported that the group, Claudia Mo, Kwok Ka-ki, Jeremy Tam and Gary Fan, would be freed on Tuesday from three separate prisons across Hong Kong.

A Reuters witness outside Stanley prison, where Kwok and Tam were held, saw several vehicles leave just before dawn. A police officer told reporters they had left. Vehicles were also seen leaving the more remote Shek Pik prison on Lantau Island.

The lawmakers were part of a group that became known as the Hong Kong 47, dozens of prominent pro-democracy figures jailed in the territory’s largest national security trial, after a prosecution that has been widely criticised as politically motivated.

Since large and sustained pro-democracy protests erupted in Hong Kong for most of 2019, China has cracked down on the democratic opposition as well as liberal civil society and media outlets under sweeping national security laws.

The 47 pro-democracy campaigners were arrested and charged in early 2021 with conspiracy to commit subversion under a Beijing-imposed national security law which carried sentences of up to life in prison.

Forty-five of these were convicted after a marathon trial, with sentences of up to 10 years. Only two were acquitted. Mo, Tam, Kwok and Fan, who got the shortest terms, had their sentences reduced after pleading guilty. They were arrested over their roles in an unofficial primary election.

During the trial, prosecutors said the activists aimed to paralyse Hong Kong’s government and force the city’s leader to resign by aiming to win a legislative majority and using it to block government budgets indiscriminately. The judges said in their verdict that the activists’ plans to effect change through the unofficial primary would have undermined the government’s authority and created a constitutional crisis.

The case involved democracy advocates across the spectrum. They include legal scholar Benny Tai, who got a 10-year prison term, and former student leader Joshua Wong, who has to serve four years and eight months.

Critics said their convictions illustrated how authorities crushed dissent after massive anti-government protests in 2019, alongside media crackdowns and reduced public choice in elections. The drastic political changes reflect that the western-style civil liberties Beijing promised to retain in the former British colony for 50 years when it returned to China in 1997 were shrinking, they said.

Beijing and Hong Kong governments insisted the national security law was necessary for the city’s stability. China defended the judicial decisions, despite criticism from foreign governments.

The Peace Corps is offering staff a second “fork in the road” buyout, according to a source familiar with the matter. Allison Greene, the chief executive of Peace Corps, sent an email to staff on Monday with an update about the “department of government efficiency” (Doge) assessment of the agency.

Greene said to expect “significant restructuring efforts” at Peace Corps headquarters, according to the email seen by the Guardian. Starting on 28 April and going through 6 May, direct hire and expert staff are being offered a second deferred resignation program, what Elon Musk’s Doge has referred to as a “fork in the road” buyout. Greene referred to this offer as “DRP 2.0”.

Eligible staff will hear from human resources and “are strongly encouraged to consider this option”, Greene wrote. The offer applies to employees both domestically and overseas.

Peace Corps will “continue to recruit, place, and train volunteers”, Greene said, indicating that the cuts are specifically for agency staff and will not affect volunteers.

A Peace Corps spokesperson confirmed that Doge began the cuts on Monday.

“The agency will remain operational and continue to recruit, place, and train volunteers, while continuing to support their health, safety and security, and effective service,” the spokesperson said.

Since Donald Trump was inaugurated and tapped Musk to head the unofficial government agency Doge, the secretive group has steadily worked to slash budgets and lay off workers in federal agencies.

With the mission to identify “waste, fraud and abuse”, it has targeted nearly two dozen agencies and fired hundreds of workers. Doge has especially focused on agencies involved in foreign aid and development, such as the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

Doge started its work at Peace Corps headquarters in the beginning of April, according to two people familiar with the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity. A Doge representative, Bridget Youngs, visited the agency headquarters at that time and asked for access to the agency’s financial records. Doge workers have continued to work in the building over the following weeks.

Peace Corps staffers were told to cooperate with Doge and “if data from the system is requested, confirm what is required to meet their needs (data, format, etc)”. Staff were additionally told that “under all circumstances, ensure that clear records are kept on what is requested and provided”.

It’s unclear how many Peace Corps jobs will be cut or if Doge will direct the agency to do more than this new round of buyouts. In a separate email sent by the Peace Corps office of human resources on Monday and seen by the Guardian, the agency wrote: “At this time, we cannot give you full assurance which positions will remain – or where they will be located – after an anticipated workforce restructuring.”

The Peace Corps sends volunteers to countries around the world to work for two years on public health, economic development and education projects. It was created in 1961 by John F Kennedy and has sent more than 240,000 volunteers abroad. It currently has around 3,000 volunteers working in 60 different countries.

In what was once a red-light district, between a furniture shop and a recruitment agency, Jeff Goldblum is selling T-shirts.

And not only T-shirts, the Hollywood A-lister is also selling his own jazz albums, while meeting fans and signing their merchandise. He has not had to work too hard to sell himself to the crowds of people waiting to meet him on a sunny Monday afternoon in London – the queues stretched more than 50 yards.

“From when I was very young, I always had a great passion for films, and I never really thought I could do it,” said 18-year-old actor Jack Foley, who was waiting in the queue to meet Goldblum. “Watching his films, seeing how big he is and how much of a great actor he is, really has pushed my career to be better. His music is class and he’s just an inspiration to everyone.”

Rather than in the now-gentrified surrounds of Granary Square in King’s Cross, Foley had envisaged meeting Goldblum “in a parking lot”, adding: “You know where you’ve paid for your ticket and you’re just kind of walking up, you see Jeff Goldblum and you say, ‘oh, there’s Jeff Goldblum’?”

He suggested the actor and musician had a quality that made him seem just like everyone else – as long as everyone else was a style icon and a Hollywood actor. “He’s the greatest person … he cares for people,” he said, adding that Goldblum was taking time to meet his fans.

Goldblum was in the UK for the launch of his fourth album as well as playing several concert dates with the Mildred Snitzer Orchestra and meeting fans, declaring: “I love London, I love England.”

He appeared at a popup shop in Spiritland, a cafe, bar and radio studio near King’s Cross.

“Honestly, I just love him,” said Peach Richmond, a children’s book illustrator. “He got me out of a bit of a twisty-turny place when I was younger with his comedy. So that’s why he’s a bit of an idol for me, I think. It’s just his energy, it’s just his whole joy that he gives off. And he’s just himself – it’s what’s really inspires me to be who I am as well.”

Goldblum is in the class of actor whose “energy” – or perhaps, more specifically, his distinctive delivery – has set him apart.

It was with that idiosyncrasy that he spoke to Amelia Wilding, a musician. He seemed to be listening intently while simultaneously holding sway over the conversation. Here, repeatedly asking her to spell out her first name so he could sign her record cover; there, crooning her surname as he scribbled his own.

“He has a really distinctive style and sense of humour,” said Stephen Barber, who was queueing with Laura Shorthall and dog Fiadh – all three apparently Goldblum fans, two of them wearing Jurassic Park T-shirts. The actor’s performance in the 1993 Oscar-winning dinosaur film was in Barber’s “top three”.

Sanny Hoskins, who runs a London events TikTok account, said she had never expected that a cafe a few doors down from an Indian restaurant would be the place she would meet one of her favourite actors. “You can connect with someone who you see through cinema, through TV, and get a face-to-face moment with them. I think that’s what makes London so amazing.”