After months of speculation, the government will soon lay out plans to change the benefits system. Keir Starmer argues that the current system is ‘the worst of all worlds’. But with deep cuts to disability payments on the table, could the changes come at the expense of the most vulnerable? And will Labour MPs really be able to support this? John Harris hears from the head of social policy at the New Economics Foundation, Tom Pollard, and the Guardian columnist Gaby Hinsliff

Many of us believe that cognitive decline is an inevitable part of ageing, but a new study looking at how our skills change with age challenges that idea. Ian Sample talks to Ludger Wößmann, a professor of economics at the University of Munich and one of the study’s authors, to find out how the team delved into the data to come to their conclusions, and what they discovered about how we can all maintain our faculties for as long as possible

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The Reform MP Rupert Lowe has been suspended from the party. What’s behind his feud with its leader? Eleni Courea reports

On Friday, the MP Rupert Lowe criticised Nigel Farage in an interview with the Daily Mail, saying Reform UK was a “protest party led by the Messiah”, and that it was “too early to know whether Nigel will deliver the goods” and become prime minister.

The next day, Lowe was suspended by the party. Reform UK published a statement making a series of allegations against him, including that he had made threats against the party chair, Zia Yusuf.

‘It look so artistic under the water,’ staff at Washington state aquarium says of Pepper

A baby sea lion toting an artificial kelp strip was filmed performing intricate rhythmic gymnastics-style circles through the waters of an aquarium in Washington state.

Although only nine months old and still reliant on her mother’s milk, Pepper has become the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium’s most acrobatic sea lion, said Noelle Tremonti, a staff biologist for the aquarium.

The Guardian’s picture editors select photographs from around the world

The $488m Spherex mission aims to explain how galaxies evolved over billions of years

Nasa’s newest space telescope rocketed into orbit on Tuesday to map the entire sky like never before – a sweeping look at hundreds of millions of galaxies and their shared cosmic glow since the beginning of time.

SpaceX launched the Spherex observatory from California, putting it on course to fly over Earth’s poles. Tagging along were four suitcase-size satellites to study the sun. Spherex popped off the rocket’s upper stage first, drifting into the blackness of space with a blue Earth in the background.

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Lars Sivertsen and Archie Rhind-Tutt as Liverpool lose on penalties to PSG in the Champions League

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On the podcast today; PSG knock out Liverpool on penalties after two thrilling legs. PSG rarely put a foot wrong in either game including four perfect spot kicks.

Elon Musk blamed the X outage on a ‘massive cyber attack’ by attackers that had ‘IP addresses in Ukraine’

The former governor of the Bank of England has a new role – saving his country from becoming America’s 51st state. Leyland Cecco reports

Just a few months ago, the future of Canada seemed clear – the Conservatives were on the rise. After almost a decade in power, Justin Trudeau resigned and his Liberal party seemed down and out. But then came not just Donald Trump’s tariffs – but his threats that Canada could become the “51st state”.

Canadians were appalled. The government hit back with retaliatory tariffs and strong words. Ordinary Canadians began boycotting goods from the US. And support for the Liberals surged. Now Mark Carney, who has never been an MP but was the first non-British head of the Bank of England, has swept into the role of prime minister.

Faye Carruthers is joined by Suzy Wrack, Tom Garry, and Robyn Cowen to discuss Gareth Taylor’s exit and the weekend’s games

On the podcast today: Manchester City part ways with Gareth Taylor just days before their League Cup final against Chelsea, with Nick Cushing stepping in as interim manager. What went wrong, and what does this mean for City’s season?

Elsewhere, Liverpool stun Arsenal to reach the FA Cup semi-finals, joining Chelsea, Manchester United, and Manchester City in the final four. Meanwhile, Liverpool’s Taylor Hinds was subjected to “sexually inappropriate comments” from a spectator. We break down all the action from the quarter-finals and discuss Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s latest eyebrow-raising comments on the Manchester United women’s team.