Hospital wards struggle to cope with rising cases of self-harm and eating disorders, the study warns

The number of children admitted to acute hospital wards in England due to serious concerns over their mental health has increased by 65% in a decade, with a particularly alarming surge in girls who have self-harmed, research reveals.

Doctors are treating almost 40,000 children with acute mental ill health in general wards every year, up from about 24,000 10 years ago. The increase is six times higher than the rise in admissions of children for all conditions (10.1%) over the same period.

Duke of Sussex and Tom Watson hail ‘monumental victory’ after securing agreement with News Group Newspapers

• Prince Harry to receive ‘substantial damages’ after settling legal claim
• Duke says Sun publisher made ‘historic admission’

For Prince Harry it was a “monumental victory”; for publishers of the Sun it was an outcome “in the interest of all parties”. Regardless of either side’s take in the war of words that played out on Wednesday, it is clear that the settlement reached between Prince Harry and the Murdoch-owned News Group Newspapers (NGN) is a significant moment in the history of the British media.

By late morning an apology from NGN – agreed by both parties as part of a historic settlement deal in a longrunning legal dispute between the Duke of Sussex and the Sun’s publisher – was read out in court. It was, as the veteran hacks of Fleet Street might say, a marmalade-dropper of a moment.

Defence secretary tells Commons the Yantar had been ‘mapping the UK’s critical underwater infrastructure’

A Russian “spy ship” was tracked closely by the Royal Navy this week after it entered UK waters on Monday and passed through the Channel at a time of heightened concern about the safety of undersea cables.

The defence secretary, John Healey, told the Commons on Tuesday that the Yantar, a Russian vessel engaged in “mapping the UK’s critical underwater infrastructure”, had passed through British waters for the second time in less than three months.

John Healey says foreign ship Yantar is in North Sea to gather intelligence on UK’s underwater infrastructure

A new online train ticket retailer backed by the UK government is to be created, the Department for Transport (DfT) has announced, with the aim of simplifying the process of buying tickets from different rail operators. Joanna Partridge has the story.

PMQs is almost with us.

Financier turned activist Bill Browder says Russia will make gains that spark refugee crisis if US military support dries up

• Business live – latest updates

Keir Starmer should show leadership over the Ukraine war by pushing for $300bn (£243bn) of frozen Russian assets to be used to fund Kyiv’s military, the financier turned activist Bill Browder has said.

Speaking on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Browder warned that if US military support for Ukraine dried up, Russia would make territorial gains in the near-three-year long conflict, forcing millions of Ukrainians to flee the country.

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

Coroner’s conclusion follows Ibrahima Bah’s conviction for gross negligence manslaughter over dinghy sinking in 2022

Three men who died when a dinghy overfilled with people “literally fell apart at the seams” while trying to cross the Channel were unlawfully killed, a coroner has found.

The conclusion follows Ibrahima Bah’s conviction for gross negligence manslaughter in relation to four deaths in the Channel on 14 December 2022. He was also found guilty of facilitating unlawful entry to the UK.

The prince was right to fight – and also right about the need to stop good journalism being sullied by the bad. Trust has been severely damaged

The apology is “full and unequivocal”. The damages to be paid are huge. Appearing before the Leveson inquiry in 2011, Rupert Murdoch pronounced that to be “the most humble day of my life”. News Group’s settlement today of Prince Harry’s monumental case citing phone hacking, surveillance and misuse of private information by journalists and private investigators may make this another such day. It appears to vindicate Harry, not just in complaints about his treatment by the Murdoch press, but also the intrusions into the life of his late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales. One can only speculate about the sting of that within the Murdoch empire.

But if the best courtroom drama ends with a sense of justice being done and a triumphant winner, the long-awaited denouement is unlikely to win awards and the satisfaction for the victor, having settled the case must be – to some degree – limited. In this tale of celebrity, scandal and corruption there has been no obvious winner.

Jane Martinson is a Guardian columnist

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Representatives of Heartland Institute linking up with MEPs to campaign against environmental policies

Climate science deniers from a US-based thinktank have been working with rightwing politicians in Europe to campaign against environmental policies, the Guardian can reveal.

MEPs have been accused of “rolling out the red carpet for climate deniers” to give them a platform in the European parliament, amid warnings of a “revival of grotesque climate denialism”.

NGN apologises to royal ‘for phone hacking, surveillance and misuse of private information by journalists and private investigators’

The Duke of Sussex has settled his high court legal action at the eleventh hour against the publisher of the Sun, News Group Newspapers (NGN).

NGN offered “a full and unequivocal apology” to Prince Harry “for the phone hacking, surveillance and misuse of private information by journalists and private investigators instructed by them” at the News of the World.

Creator links up with Jesse Tinsley as Donald Trump says he is open to Elon Musk and Larry Ellison buying site

• Business live – latest updates

MrBeast, the YouTube star and highest-earning creator on the internet, has officially joined a bid to buy TikTok’s US operations.

The 26-year-old has teamed up with the tech entrepreneur Jesse Tinsley, the founder of the online HR company employer.com, to make an all-cash offer for the social video app’s American unit. The approach was announced as Donald Trump said he was open to the US tech billionaires Elon Musk and Larry Ellison buying TikTok in the US.

Increase to £17.8bn is well above City forecasts and is highest December figure for four years

• Business live – latest updates

UK government borrowing jumped unexpectedly to £17.8bn last month, piling pressure on Rachel Reeves to plan budget cuts before a spending review in the summer.

The figure was about a quarter higher than the City had forecast and was up by £10.1bn more than in the same month a year earlier, making it the highest December borrowing for four years.

Put in place plans to cope with whatever life throws at you – from interest rate rises to car repairs

Financial resilience doesn’t just mean having lots of money stashed away, but rather having contingency plans in place for certain scenarios.

Our job is to imagine scenarios from the impact of the climate crisis to the rise of AI – and decision-makers need our help

• Emma Newman’s Planetfall science-fiction series was shortlisted for the best series Hugo award

I am an imaginative person, but I never once imagined I would find myself in a room with the Ministry of Defence (MoD) talking about what the world could be like many decades into the future. But that is what I have been doing recently, as one of several science-fiction authors on the Creative Futures project, a partnership between Coventry University and the MoD’s defence science and technology laboratory.

As it seems the world is hellbent on making some of the dystopian futures we have imagined become reality, I raised my concerns about how our work would be used. But we weren’t there to suggest ideas for weapons of mass destruction. We were there to talk about things such as the impact of the climate crisis and potential future technologies, and how both could impact society. What kind of crises could arise and what sort of disaster relief may be required. The sci-fi writers of the past did a pretty decent job of predicting our present – from the moon landings (Jules Verne, 1865) to the use of geostationary satellites for global communications (Arthur C Clarke, 1945) – so I can see why the MoD wanted our contributions.

Emma Newman is an author, podcaster and audiobook narrator. Her Planetfall science-fiction series was shortlisted for the best series Hugo award

The maritime group, founded in 1760 by merchants and underwriters, issued the apology after commissioning research into its links to slavery

Lloyd’s Register, the maritime and industrial group owned by one of Britain’s biggest charities, has apologised for its role in the trafficking of enslaved African people but has been criticised for not going far enough.

Founded in 1760 as the Society for the Registry of Shipping by merchants and underwriters who met at Edward Lloyd’s coffee house in Lombard Street in London, the company provided classification for ships.

Difficult choices between alignment with Europe and the US are coming at the prime minister fast. He risks losing control of the debate

When all eyes at Westminster are fixed on Washington, it is easy to forget how little attention is paid back in return.

Unlike Mexico and Canada, Britain doesn’t have a long border with the US. It doesn’t rival America’s superpower primacy on the planet, unlike China. And it doesn’t export more goods across the Atlantic than it imports – a trait Donald Trump despises about the European Union.

Range of womenswear and menswear contains 49 pieces adapted from brand’s bestselling items to suit variety of needs

It’s a go-to shop for cheap knickers and designer dupes, but now Primark hopes to become the top destination for clothing designed for those with a range of disabilities.

In a first for the budget high street shop, it is releasing a 49-piece line of womenswear and menswear, adapted from its bestselling items to suit a range of needs.

Prisons minister says team’s work is being expanded, as he voices concern about drone use and corruption of officers

The Prison Service is “beefing up” a cadre of officers dedicated to smashing gangs in prisons in the face of escalating drone use and drug-related violence, the prisons minister has said.

James Timpson said the work of the department’s serious organised crime unit is being expanded, and expressed concern that a minority of prison officers have been corrupted by “very manipulative people”.

Data from dozens of countries reveals height and weight differences between sexes have increased since 1900

Amid the profound changes humanity has witnessed, one might be forgiven for failing to notice a rise in sexy and formidable men: those tall, broad-shouldered types that are strangers to self-doubt.

But according to a new study, men around the world have gained height and weight twice as fast as women over the past century, driving greater differences between the sexes.

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

A look at the events and festivities in Washington as Donald Trump and JD Vance are sworn into office

The pronatalist movement in the US is gathering pace once again, rekindled by Silicon Valley personalities and hard-right conservatives who are becoming increasingly vocal about whether or not women are having enough babies. But it's not just in the US, some governments in other countries have launched marketing campaigns encouraging people to have more children, while others have offered financial incentives. But while many of these policies claim to be about halting population decline, there are other factors at play. Josh Toussaint-Strauss interrogates efforts around the world to boost birth rates, as well as the underlying political motivations, from bodily autonomy to immigration

• Birth rates are plummeting worldwide. Can governments turn the tide?

• When desperate measures to persuade women to have children fail, it’s time for fresh thinking