Home

The King announced that he had cancer, which was discovered during his treatment for non-malignant prostate trouble. He would continue with state duties, including weekly audiences for the Prime Minister, while receiving out-patient treatment. Public engagements, of which he performed 425 last year, would be kept by the Queen and the Prince of Wales. The Duke of Sussex, his younger son, flew from California to see him.

Michelle O’Neill, the Deputy Leader of Sinn Féin, became the First Minister of Northern Ireland as the Northern Ireland Assembly met for the first time in two years since the Democratic Unionists boycotted it over post-Brexit trade rules. The DUP nominated, as Deputy First Minister, Emma Little-Pengelly. Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, and Leo Varadkar, the Taoiseach, visited Stormont Castle. Opponents of a plan to carve caves from strata of salt under Larne Lough, to store half a billion cubic metres of gas, took their campaign to the Appeal Court. A woman aged 31 was badly wounded by a corrosive substance and her daughters, aged three and eight, were also hurt, in Clapham, south London. A man called Abdul Shokoor Ezedi, wounded in the face, was sought by police; he was believed to have come by lorry from Afghanistan in 2016, was convicted of a sexual offence in 2018, but was granted asylum on the third application after ostensibly converting to Christianity. A 68-year-old woman was killed by a pair of dogs in Jaywick, Essex.

The carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth had to be withdrawn from Exercise Steadfast Defender, the largest Nato exercise in Europe since the Cold War, because of trouble with a propeller shaft. After 260 80ft steel nails were driven into the embankment to counter landslips, the Eastleigh to Fareham railway line reopened after five days. The Bank of England left interest rates at 5.25 per cent: ‘We need to see more evidence that inflation is set to fall,’ said Andrew Bailey, its Governor. Kwasi Kwarteng, who was chancellor of the exchequer for 38 days, said he would not stand again for parliament. Ian Lavender, who played Private Pike in Dad’s Army, died aged 77. A dental plate belonging to Winston Churchill, with seven false teeth set in gold, was bought at auction for £23,184.

Abroad

America launched strikes on 85 targets in Syria and Iraq in response to the drone attack five days earlier that killed three service people at a US military base in Jordan, blamed on an Iran-backed militia umbrella group. But neither the US nor Iran had wanted immediately to increase direct hostilities. Iraq, where 2,500 American troops are still based, said that 16 people had been killed in the strikes. The United States, with British support, carried out more strikes against the Houthis in Yemen. President Joe Biden approved sanctions against four Israeli settlers accused of attacking Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. Antony Blinken, the US Secretary of State, made his fifth visit to the Middle East since the attacks of 7 October by Hamas.

Ukrainian jets were reported to have used British Storm Shadow missiles to attack Russian military positions in occupied Crimea. All 27 EU leaders agreed a €50 billion aid package for Ukraine, after Hungary stopped blocking it. Russian children are to be trained in how to protect themselves in a nuclear attack. Dutch and Belgian farmers blockaded their border with tractors. France, Italy and Spain also saw protests by farmers. The International Nut and Dried Fruit Council said Turkey’s sultana crop had fallen by 36 per cent since the preceding year; hot cross bun prices would be affected.

In his third sentencing in a week, Imran Khan, the former prime minister of Pakistan, was jailed for seven years for an un-Islamic marriage in 2018; his wife was also jailed. A general election was due this week. John Bruton, the Fine Gael Taoiseach of Ireland 2004-09, died, aged 76. The US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit ruled that Donald Trump was not immune from criminal charges for acts he said fell within his duties as president. The House of Representatives failed by 216-214 votes to impeach Alejandro Mayorkas, the Homeland Security Secretary, over the migrant crisis at the US-Mexico border. Employers in the US provided an extra 353,000 jobs in January. The Federal Reserve kept its interest rate at 5.2-5.5 per cent. Hundreds were missing in wildfires that destroyed thousands of houses around Valparaiso, Chile. On the eve of the Rio carnival, the city declared a health emergency after recording 10,000 cases of dengue fever this year.    CSH