Pontiff in hospital for complex lung infection and has received high flows of oxygen and blood transfusions

Pope Francis was in critical condition on Saturday after he suffered a prolonged asthmatic respiratory crisis while being treated for pneumonia and a complex lung infection, the Vatican said.

The 88-year-old pope, who remains conscious, received “high flows” of oxygen to help him breathe. He also received blood transfusions after tests showed low counts of platelets, which are needed for clotting, the Vatican said in a late update.

Macron says knife attack is ‘without any doubt an act of Islamist terrorism’

A 69-year-old man who intervened when a suspected terrorist attacked police officers with a knife shouting “Allahu Akbar” has died in eastern France.

Two police officers were also seriously injured in the suspected Islamist terrorist act, which took place in the city of Mulhouse during a demonstration in support of the Congo on Saturday afternoon. Three other police officers were lightly wounded.

Kyiv ‘must be at the heart of negotiations’ says PM as US threat to block Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites fuels wave of alarm

Keir Starmer has raised the stakes before a crucial meeting in Washington with the US president, Donald Trump this week, by insisting that Ukraine must be “at the heart of any negotiations” on a peace deal with Russia.

The prime minister made the remarks – which run directly contrary to comments by the US president last week – in a phone call on Saturdaywith Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in which he also said that “safeguarding Ukraine’s sovereignty was essential to deter future aggression from Russia”.

Ceasefire in jeopardy as Israel waits for meeting of security cabinet under pressure from right-wingers

• Middle East crisis – live updates

Hamas released six Israeli hostages on Saturday, but Israel delayed the handover of more than 600 Palestinians it was due to free from its prisons in exchange, putting the five-week-old ceasefire agreement once more in jeopardy.

The government said the release would be delayed until after a scheduled meeting of the security cabinet on Saturday evening at the earliest.

• England 16-15 Scotland
• Russell puts conversion wide after Van der Merwe try

At long last England have shaken off their Calcutta Cup blues. Never in the previous 153 years of this fixture had Scotland managed five ­successive wins over the auld enemy and another tartan triumph really would have had them dancing in the streets of Galashiels in Bill MacLaren’s ­memory. This was a desperately tight old battle though, with a second ­gripping home victory in consecutive Six Nations games only secured right at the death.

In the end it all hinged on whether Finn Russell could land the angled conversion following Duhan van der Merwe’s 79th-minute try. Up went the ball, end over end, and for the first half of its flight it seemed Scotland might be ­celebrating once more. Agonisingly for the visitors, though, it then curved just wide of the left upright to leave a below-par English side, to their immense relief, still alive in the title race.

Prosecutors in England and Wales are failing to obtain orders requiring the deletion of intimate content shared without consent, analysis reveals

Perpetrators of “revenge porn” offences are being allowed to keep explicit images of their victims on their devices, after a failure by prosecutors to obtain orders requiring their deletion.

An Observer analysis of court records in intimate image abuse cases has found that orders for the offenders to give up their devices and delete photos and videos are rarely being made. Of 98 cases concluded in the magistrates courts in England and Wales in the past six months, just three resulted in a deprivation order.

Accident happened in Siem Reap province that saw heavy fighting in 1980s between government soldiers and Khmer Rouge

A grenade believed to be more than 25 years old killed two toddlers when it blew up near their homes in rural Cambodia, officials said.

The accident happened on Saturday in Siem Reap province’s Svay Leu district, where there had been heavy fighting in the 1980s and 90s between Cambodian government soldiers and rebel guerrillas from the communist Khmer Rouge. The group had been ousted from power in 1979.

Charities warn of ‘significant risk’ that victims of coercive control could be put under pressure to end their lives under assisted dying legislation in England and Wales

There is a “significant risk” that victims of coercive control could be put under pressure to end their own lives using assisted dying legislation, charities have warned.

The Centre for Women’s Justice (CWJ) and Standing Together Against Domestic Abuse were among expert organisations that made submissions earlier this month to the committee examining the assisted dying bill, warning that the plans in their current form could endanger victims of coercive control.

Two men and a woman arrested in connection with 2002 disappearance of Robert Scott Clive in North Shields

Three people have been arrested on suspicion of murder more than 20 years after a man went missing in north-east England.

Robert Scott Clive, 30, originally from Stranraer, Dumfries and Galloway, was living in North Shields when he disappeared on 10 October 2002.

An independent standards authority says the industry must learn from recent scandals and create safer working environments

New guidelines will be issued this week for the UK’s creative industries after a series of scandals including reports of inappropriate behaviour by Gregg Wallace and Gino d’Acampo, and bullying allegations on the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing.

The Creative Industries Indep­endent Standards Authority (CIISA) will set new standards with the aim of stamping out bullying, harassment and discrimination, and address “power imbalances”.