Exclusive: Campaigners urge ministers to intervene to prevent cruel punishments over carer’s allowance

More than 250 unpaid carers risk criminal prosecution after falling foul of draconian benefit rules in the past six months, official figures reveal.

Since April, when the carer’s allowance scandal was first revealed by the Guardian, officials have begun to recoup overpayments debts from more than 15,000 carers, with 50 of them repaying sums of at least £10,000.

Margaret Hodge, the ex-Labour minister who now sits in the Lords, has criticised Wes Streeting on the BBC

A minister has criticised her Tory shadow for talking about “joy” in the health sector about the funding it received.

Karin Smyth, a health minister, said it was a strange word to use given the state of NHS finances left by the last government.

Many in the health sector would have been pleased to hear the announcement of the extra funding going into the NHS [in the budget], only for the joy to be struck down by the realisation of a broken manifesto promise not to raise national insurance contributions.

This was only compounded further on the discovery that a raft of frontline care providers – care homes, hospices, care charities, pharmacies, GPS, to name but a few – found themselves not exempt from the NI rises, leaving them with crippling staff bills and the threat of closure and redundancies.

He talks about joy. There was no joy when we inherited the mess that they left back in July.

The chancellor took into account the impact of changes to national insurance when she allocated an extra £26bn to the Department of Health and Social Care.

There are well established processes for agreeing funding allocations across the system, we are going through those processes now with this issue in mind.

The British government needs to start now indicating for them what they believe is the tipping point at which they believe a referendum would be called.

Report also refers to Israel ‘using starvation as a weapon of war’ and running ‘apartheid system’ in West Bank

• Middle East crisis – live updates

A UN special committee has said that Israeli policies and practices in Gaza are “consistent with the characteristics of genocide”.

The committee, set up in 1968 to monitor the Israeli occupation, also said in its annual report that there were serious concerns that Israel was “using starvation as a weapon of war” in the 13-month-old conflict, and was running an “apartheid system” in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

Urfan Sharif, who has admitted ‘full responsibility’ for Sara’s death, also admits credibility problem, saying ‘I didn’t tell the truth’

Sara Sharif’s father has admitted being “selfish” and a “bad father” by lying to protect himself over he death of his 10-year-old daughter.

On Wednesday, Urfan Sharif said he took “full responsibility” for his 10-year-old daughter’s death and admitted beating her with a cricket bat and a metal pole.

Exclusive: Malkinson, who spent 17 years in jail, told he must wait months to learn if he is even eligible for compensation

Andrew Malkinson, who spent 17 years in jail for a crime he did not commit, says the Ministry of Justice has left him “to rot” after telling him he is likely to have to wait months before learning if he is even eligible for compensation.

Malkinson was freed last year after being treated by the state as a sex offender after he was wrongly convicted of a 2003 rape in Greater Manchester.

Concern over ‘high risk’ game in Paris mounts after riot police clash with pro-Palestinian protesters

• Middle East crisis – live updates

Police in Paris are braced for potential violence before Thursday’s France-Israel football match, with police deploying one officer for every five ticket holders at the Stade de France.

The match has been designated “high risk” after the hooliganism and antisemitism in Amsterdam last week when the Israeli team Maccabi Tel Aviv played Ajax.

• Referees’ body says it is taking allegations ‘very seriously’
• Coote was suspended over remarks about Jürgen Klopp

The Premier League’s refereeing body has said it is aware of footage allegedly showing David Coote sniffing white powder.

The video emerged after Professional Game Match Officials Ltd (PGMOL) and the Football Association launched investigations into Coote after remarks he made about Jürgen Klopp in a video that surfaced online this week.

Satirical news outlet purchases media platform run by Alex Jones at a court-ordered auction

The satirical news outlet the Onion has purchased Infowars, the rightwing media platform run by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, at a court-ordered auction.

The news was confirmed on Thursday morning in a video by Jones himself, as well as the head of the Onion’s parent company.

Sir Jamie Colman and his wife are said to have financially supported Smyth despite knowing of abuse allegations

The heir to the Colman’s mustard dynasty and his wife, a member of the clergy, have been asked by the Church of England to step back from their roles in a Hampshire church after being named in a damning report on a sadistic abuser.

Sir Jamie Colman has been asked to cease his volunteering activities at St Leonard’s church, Oakley, and the Rev Sue Colman has been asked to step back from all ministerial duties by the diocese of Winchester.

Condition of roads near singer’s Harlow home makes it difficult to drive the prestige vehicles

Rod Stewart has said he is considering selling his five sports cars because there are so many potholes on the roads near his home.

The singer’s love of sports cars has endured for more than half a century – and he now owns five. But now Stewart says he may sell them because the potholes have worsened near his home in Harlow, Essex.