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Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton, the Foreign Secretary, set off on his fourth visit to the Middle East after saying: ‘We – with allies – will look at the issue of recognising a Palestinian state, including at the United Nations.’ The Democratic Unionist party agreed to return to the power-sharing government in Northern Ireland, in return for a change in the law surrounding the Windsor Framework post-Brexit agreement with the European Union. Separately, from the end of January veterinary certificates were legally required for fresh food and plant imports from the EU to England. The population of the United Kingdom would reach 70 million by 2026, the Office for National Statistics forecast, and by 2036 would reach 73.7 million, after 7.6 million people had left the country and 13.7 million arrived. At the weekend, 388 migrants in small boats crossed the Channel, bringing the total for January to 1,169, compared with 1,180 last January.

The government told Vodafone that its relationship with its largest shareholder, the UAE-controlled group Emirates Telecommunications, posed a risk to national security. The government announced that it would ban the sale of disposable vapes. Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, said fasting from 5 p.m. on Sunday until 5 a.m. on Tuesday each week was ‘an important discipline’. Train drivers went on strike; train operators decided not to use a new law requiring minimum service levels. The King left hospital after three nights, following treatment for an enlarged prostate. The Princess of Wales left hospital after 13 nights, following abdominal surgery; she was expected to spend months recuperating. Three-quarters of measles cases reported in an outbreak in England since October were found to have been in the West Midlands. George Freeman MP said he had resigned as a minister because he could not afford to pay his mortgage on a salary of £118,300.

Nottingham Police and Leicestershire Police referred themselves to the Independent Office for Police Conduct after it emerged that assaults by Valdo Calocane had been alleged five weeks before he killed three people in Nottingham, for which he has been sentenced to be detained at a high-security hospital. Two boys, aged 15 and 16, were fatally stabbed in south Bristol. A man with a crossbow was shot dead by police at Surrey Quays, Southwark.

Abroad

President Joe Biden of America said it would ‘hold all those responsible to account’ after three American troops were killed and at least 34 wounded at a base in Jordan near the Syrian border by a drone operated by a Shia militia supported by Iran. Donald Trump said: ‘We are on the brink of World War III.’ A tanker, the Marlin Luanda, operated by a company registered in Britain, was set on fire in the Gulf of Aden by a missile fired by the Houthis. America, Britain, Germany, Italy, Japan and other states suspended funding for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, after allegations that some of its staff had taken part in the attacks on Israel by Hamas on 7 October, which killed about 1,200 people. Unrwa sacked nine people. The International Court of Justice at the Hague, an organ of the UN, responding to a case brought by South Africa, ordered Israel to take all measures to prevent genocidal acts in Gaza. More than half of Gaza’s buildings had been damaged or destroyed, according to analysis published by the BBC; about 1.7 million people – more than 80 per cent of the population – had been displaced.

Turkey ratified Sweden’s application to join Nato, leaving Hungary as the only one of its 31 members not to have done so. Russian forces advanced in the eastern Ukrainian town of Avdiivka, now reduced to ruins. On the eve of a general election in which he will not be allowed to take part, Imran Khan, the former prime minister of Pakistan, was sentenced to ten years in jail in a case concerning alleged leaking of diplomatic correspondence; the next day he was jailed for 14 years on charges of corruption. Bullfighting resumed in the world’s largest-capacity bullring, in Mexico City, after a suspension since 2022. A judge in Delaware annulled a $55.8 billion pay award to Elon Musk in 2018 by Tesla. ‘Never incorporate your company in the state of Delaware,’ Musk tweeted.

A court in Hong Kong ordered the liquidation of the debt-laden Chinese property giant Evergrande. French farmers blockaded roads to Paris with tractors; Belgian and German farmers protested in a similar way. Trade talks between Britain and Canada broke down over cheese. CSH