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

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

Miller confirmed that Hamas has “issued a response”, when asked about Hamas’s announcement that they accepted a ceasefire deal.

“We are reviewing that response now and discussing it with our partners in the region,” Miller said.

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

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

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

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

Payroll data at risk includes names, bank details and addresses of current and former force members, government sources suggest

An estimated 270,000 payroll records belonging to nearly all members of Britain’s armed forces have been exposed to Chinese hackers in a breach at a third-party contractor that was discovered a few days ago.

The data at risk includes names and bank details and, in a few thousand instances, addresses and national insurance numbers of current and recently departed members of the army, navy and air force, government sources indicated.

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

Charities fear ‘increasing risks of destitution and exploitation’ of refugees as they go missing

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

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

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

For those wanting to know more about Vladimir Putin’s seemingly insurmountable grip on power, Andrew Roth, our Russia correspondent, tells us the tactics the Russian president uses to stay in post.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said as he took the oath for a new six-year term on Tuesday that Russia did not rule out dialogue with the West but it needed to be on equal terms, Reuters reports.

Halifax reports a small rise in average house prices last month.. while latest construction PMI shows housebuilding lagging behind

• ‘They’re everywhere’: Labour’s wooing of City goes into overdrive

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Two forces apologise to driver saying time has run out for any charges over incident on motorway

A woman who described her terror at being harassed on a motorway by a man posing as a police officer has been told there can be no criminal investigation because forces failed to act in time.

The woman said she was driving on her own on the M1 in March 2023 when a “really angry” man in an unmarked car began shouting at her to pull over, showing what looked like a police ID, the BBC reported.

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

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

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

Exclusive: Audience had ‘vitriolic reaction’ to European tone of musical, forced to close early

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

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