PM pledges to put arms industry on ‘war footing’ with plan to raise defence budget to £87bn a year by 2030

Britain will boost its defence spending to 2.5% of national output by the end of the decade as Rishi Sunak pledged to put the UK’s arms industry on a “war footing” in response to global threats.

The prime minister’s plan, which he said would help the UK deal with an “increasingly dangerous” world, would steadily increase defence spending to £87bn a year by 2030.

UN and Council for Europe add voices to outcry as more people drown within hours of ‘cruel’ Rwanda bill being passed

Humanitarian groups have called for new safe routes to Britain after five people died trying to cross the Channel within hours of ministers passing the controversial Rwanda bill.

A child and four adults drowned on Tuesday while trying to reach the UK in a boat from Wimereux, in France. More than 110 people were said to have been on board the vessel when it left the French coastline at 5am.

Juan Merchan reserves judgment on prosecutors’ request for maximum fine but tells Todd Blanche ‘you’re losing all credibility’

• Skeptical judge and National Enquirer deal: key takeaways
• Pecker says he was ‘eyes and ears’ of Trump campaign

The New York judge presiding in Donald Trump’s criminal trial held off on deciding whether he should be fined $10,000 for attacking expected trial witnesses in direct violation of the gag order designed to protect trial participants from being the target of Trump’s abuse.

The judge, Juan Merchan, reserved ruling from the bench. But he appeared deeply unconvinced by arguments from Trump’s lead lawyer Todd Blanche that a series of social media posts were just responses to political attacks on Trump and therefore permitted.

Open letter says ‘callous and degrading’ police group WhatsApp message caused ‘more trauma than you can imagine’

The mother of one of the Nottingham attack victims has written an open letter to members of a police WhatsApp group in which a message was posted describing her son as being “properly butchered”.

Emma Webber, the mother of Barnaby Webber, 19, who with Grace O’Malley-Kumar, 19, and Ian Coates, 65, was stabbed to death by Valdo Calocane, has written to the Nottinghamshire police officer who she says posted graphic details of the victims’ injuries in the chat group.

Children among those killed in second fatal incident in two weeks close to the Horn of Africa, says UN agency

At least 21 people have died after a boat capsized off the coast of Djibouti, the UN’s migration agency has said.

It was the second fatal maritime accident in two weeks off the Horn of Africa nation, which lies on the perilous so-called eastern migration route from Africa to the Middle East.

• MPs vote in favour of progressing the Football Governance Bill
• Calls for regulator to have scope to amend parachute payments

MPs have called for the ­Independent Regulator for Football to have the scope to reintroduce replays to the FA Cup, amend the parachute ­payment system and to enforce an effective financial settlement between the Premier League and the EFL, as they voted in favour of progressing the Football Governance Bill.

The second reading of the bill was approved without a vote after a debate in the House of Commons on Tuesday. MPs from all sides of the house spoke in favour of the bill, including Conservative MPs who said they had previously been opposed to regulation. A number of politicians, ­however, called on the government to go ­further in granting the regulator power to achieve financial stability for the football pyramid.

Shares are up despite a revenue decline of 9% after company said it expects to release new vehicle models sooner than expected

Tesla shares surged nearly 10% in after-hours trading on Tuesday after posting earnings results, despite a revenue miss for the first quarter of 2024, a steep decline in profits and a recall of its most recently released car, the $100,000 Cybertruck.

The electric vehicle manufacturer posted $21.3bn in revenue, lower than the $21.48bn estimated and a 9% drop year over year – marking its biggest decline since 2012. Profit was $1.1bn, a 55% decline from the first quarter of 2023, the company said.

Far-right supporters among those believed to be attending march on Whitehall, with at least six arrests made

Clashes have taken place in central London between police and participants in a St George’s Day event attended by crowds that included some far-right supporters.

Groups of men wielding flags pushed through lines of police attempting to hold them back in an area near Whitehall before the event, resulting in police on horseback being sent in.

Regional armed forces admit ‘difficult situation’ as Kyiv awaits western military aid

Russian forces have made significant advances in a narrow corridor in eastern Ukraine as an offensive by Moscow to take territory before western military aid arrives appears to be gathering pace.

Footage posted by Kremlin military bloggers shows a Russian tricolour flying above the shattered village of Ocheretyne. Russian troops reportedly entered the territory on Sunday, north-west of the town of Avdiivka, after advancing about 5km in 10 days.

Then home secretary’s decision in January 2023 to drop pledges was discriminatory, high court hears

A decision made by the former home secretary Suella Braverman to drop three recommendations intended to repair some of the “monumental harm” done to the Windrush generation was unlawful, the high court has been told.

The Home Office committed itself to a comprehensive improvement programme in response to the Windrush scandal, which had a severely discriminatory impact on a cohort of people who had lived in the UK since childhood, many of whom were arrested, detained, removed from the UK, or sacked from their jobs, made homeless and denied NHS treatment, the court heard.