Newspaper headlines: 'King and tonic' and potential abortion rule change
- Published
A smiling King Charles made the front of a number of Saturday's papers
The Daily Telegraph reports that the Health Secretary, Victoria Atkins, has indicated she would back decriminalising abortion after 24 weeks, external, one of two amendments to the law that MPs are due to vote on next month.
She has told the paper her voting record - on decriminalisation - speaks for itself, though she insists she will not pronounce publicly on the issue, so as not to influence MPs, who it is understood will be given a free vote.
The other amendment calls for a reduction of the legal time limit for abortion, from 24 weeks to 22.
The Times, in an editorial, marks the two-year anniversary of the start of the war in Ukraine, external.
It urges western allies to give more weapons to Kyiv, or face the possibility of a humiliating defeat for Ukraine - and the West - in the third year of the war.
It is a point Boris Johnson also makes in the Daily Mail, external.
He argues that if Ukraine was given enough of the right weapons - particularly cruise missiles and shells - it could begin to make serious attacks on Crimea, which the former prime minister sees as vulnerable, and key to winning the war.
The i newspaper says it has been told the UK is offering Russian officials British passports to defect and pass secrets to MI6, external.
British intelligence sources and a Russian informant said disgruntled members of Vladimir Putin's regime are being offered a new life in Britain if they will share information.
The Guardian carries criticism of the Conservative MP, Lee Anderson, for his suggestion on GB News that the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, had given the city away to Islamists.
It quotes the shadow exports minister, Tan Dhesi, as saying the remarks were deplorable, given the current rise in cases of Islamophobia and antisemitism, external.
The Times says that a leading pro-Palestinian activist wanted to create a protest that made Parliament, "have to lock its doors" amid concerns about MPs' safety, external.
According to the Daily Express, Esther Rantzen's campaign to force a vote on assisted dying has taken a step forward, external, with the government saying it would allow MPs to decide on changing the law. The veteran activist has stage-four cancer, and wants to die without pain.
The Telegraph reports that the Ministry of Defence has been accused of "betrayal" because of a plan to change the rules on military accommodation, external. From next month, for the first time, the size of living quarters allocated to service personnel will depend on the number of people in their family, not their rank, with more senior officers traditionally receiving larger homes.
The paper says a petition organised by army wives calling for a review of the policy has received 16,000 signatures.
And the Times, external, Telegraph, external and Express, external all feature photos of a smiling King, at a table at Buckingham Palace, reading some of the 7,000 cards he was sent after his cancer diagnosis. So too does the Daily Mirror which says the cards have lifted his spirits. Its headline... King and Tonic.
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