Department previously investigated only 50% of earnings limit alerts, meaning many carers fell into debt

• UK politics live – latest updates

Ministers have announced an overhaul of the way carer’s allowance overpayments are checked in an attempt to fix the failing system which has left thousands with life-changing debts,fines and criminal records.

In a significant policy change, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has been ordered to hire extra staff to investigate 100% of the carer’s allowance earnings breach alerts it receives and swiftly notify carers if they are at risk of falling into debt.

Community raises over £15,000 to repatriate body of Ahmad Mamdouh Al Ibrahim, who was stabbed in town centre

The body of a 16-year-old refugee who died after being stabbed in Huddersfield is being returned to his parents in Syria after members of the local community raised more than £15,000 for his repatriation.

Ahmad Mamdouh Al Ibrahim, described by his family as “a very nice boy” who wanted to be a doctor, was stabbed in the neck on the afternoon of 3 April while being shown around the town centre by his cousin.

The majority of Britons are sick of privatisation and value public ownership. Labour must now listen to them and offer a radical alternative

British Steel is heading for nationalisation – against the will of the government. This is an important point, because it speaks to dogma colliding with practical reality. Here is a private company defeated by the “sink or swim” laws of the free market ideology that produced it, demanding instead that taxpayers come to its rescue – by threatening to make shortsighted business decisions with damaging consequences for the country’s future. What happened in Scunthorpe is not an outlier in the failed experiment of privatisation, and the government’s emergency takeover tells us that public ownership is a realistic solution if there is a political will.

Here’s another example: water. Even the City editor of the Financial Times – hardly a bastion of radical socialism – concluded that its privatisation looked like “little more than an organised rip-off”. Since privatisation in 1989, water companies have piled up more than £60bn in debt, while our water bills have continued to rise. Yet despite rivers and seas being blighted with raw sewage, and the loss of 1tn litres of water from leaky pipes in 2021 alone, shareholders raked in more than £85bn since this most basic of human necessities was flogged off.

Owen Jones is a Guardian columnist

The government needs to be clear-eyed about the threats China poses – not just accept them as the cost of doing business

Last week, my husband and I flew to Hong Kong with real excitement to see my family and meet our newborn grandson for the first time. Welcoming a family member is a precious moment and this was going to be a special trip. But what would have become an incredible memory – seeing our grandson for the first time – was snatched from us before we reached the baggage carousel.

Arriving at passport control, all seemed well. I handed my passport to a polite immigration official who put it into the computer system, and then paused. At this point I realised that something had been flagged up.

• Post-playing roles included coach of Sunderland Women
• Sunderland pay tribute to ‘unique personality’

Former Wimbledon Crazy Gang member and Sunderland coach Carlton Fairweather has died at the age of 63.

Fairweather, who enjoyed a 22-year association with Sunderland in various coaching and community roles after his playing career, died surrounded by his family on Monday night months after it was revealed he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

Seek out joy in a turbulent world with these carefully chosen treats (they make great gifts, too)

• Say hello to spring! 22 simple ways to refresh your home, wardrobe and routine

Muted accessories are all very well and stylish, but as April showers descend – and with the world in turmoil – sometimes you need things that are a little more joyful to elevate your everyday.

From a hoodie in a rainbow of colours to a bold, floral enamel tumbler, a bright Birkenstock shoe to a painterly umbrella, these products should provide a much-needed dopamine hit. Many are made by independent makers using recycled materials, so you can feel extra good about that.

Harvard faces a funding freeze as elite universities warn of growing threats to free inquiry and civil rights

• US politics live – latest updates

Barack Obama, Yale and other academic institutions have come out in support of Harvard after the Trump administration elected to cut $2bn of its federal grants after the Ivy League school in Massachusetts rejected what it said was an attempt at “government regulation” of the university.

“Harvard has set an example for other higher-ed institutions – rejecting an unlawful and ham-handed attempt to stifle academic freedom, while taking concrete steps to make sure all students at Harvard can benefit from an environment of intellectual inquiry, rigorous debate and mutual respect,” said a statement from Obama , the US president from 2009 to 2017. “Let’s hope other institutions follow suit.”

Italy’s PM has demonstrated an affinity with the US president, but also needs to maintain allegiance to her EU partners

• Europe live – latest updates

Sitting alone at the end of a dinner party, under chandeliers, next to a table with white roses and leftover wine, Giorgia Meloni and Donald Trump are locked in conversation.

It is early December and they are pictured in an opulent dining room of the Élysée Palace, where the French president, Emmanuel Macron, hosted guests after the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral.