John Swinney emerges as favourite to become leader of party hit by series of damaging crises

Humza Yousaf has quit as Scotland’s first minister to clear the way for a new leader capable of giving the Scottish National party stability after a series of damaging crises.

During a dramatic day largely orchestrated by party managers, Yousaf announced he would step down as first minister just as a veteran former leader, John Swinney, quickly emerged as the favourite to succeed him.

Previous contest exposed splits on issues such as LGBTQ+ rights and green policy that next leader must tackle

When Humza Yousaf was narrowly elected leader of the SNP last March, it was after a bruising leadership contest that exposed profound divisions in the party over LGBTQ+ rights, Westminster’s veto of Holyrood law, and environmental and economic policy.

Indeed, it could be said the end of the SNP’s partnership with the Greens, and the downward spiral of chaos that ended with Yousaf’s resignation little over a year later, was telegraphed by the fault lines that emerged back then, setting the scene for the myriad conflicts that Yousaf was forced to manage – and ultimately failed to resolve – as leader.

As the Scottish National party leader announces his resignation, we look at likely successors

• UK politics – latest updates

Any contest to replace Humza Yousaf will present the Scottish National party with a significant problem: it has very few contenders with the experience and profile voters would expect to lead the Scottish government.

Prime minister dismisses potential deal with Dublin, increasing prospect of an escalating UK-Irish crisis

• UK politics – latest updates

Rishi Sunak has said the UK will not accept the return of asylum seekers from Ireland and dismissed the prospect of a deal with Dublin.

The prime minister doubled down on his Rwanda deportation plan and appeared to reject any deal with the Irish government, which is alarmed at asylum seekers entering the republic from Northern Ireland.

Public opinion ‘overwhelmingly in favour of change’, says broadcaster as MPs debate law in Commons

Jonathan Dimbleby has urged MPs to “get off the fence” on the issue of assisted dying and said public opinion is “overwhelmingly in favour of change”.

After his younger brother, Nicholas, died with debilitating motor neurone disease earlier this year, Dimbleby said the current law was “anachronistically cruel”.

US secretary of state says Hamas is the ‘only thing standing between people of Gaza and ceasefire’

The US secretary of state has said that “the only thing standing between the people of Gaza and a ceasefire” is Hamas, ahead of what are seen as last-chance talks to salvage a diplomatic solution before a threatened Israeli ground invasion in Rafah.

Speaking at a World Economic Forum meeting in Saudi Arabia on Monday, Antony Blinken said: “Hamas has before it a proposal that is extraordinarily generous on the part of Israel.

When Bryn Austin, 71, lost his bearings on an unstable cliff his favourite paper kept him warm and helped start fire to alert rescuers

Bryn Austin always carries a copy of the Guardian when he goes looking for rocks, usually to wrap up muddy or delicate specimens. But on one ill-fated trip, he discovered a new application for his favourite newspaper.

The retired geologist, 71, had taken a walk to Fairlight Glen in East Sussex to study a landslide on the evening of 24 April. After a wrong turn, he became stranded in the dark on the face of a cliff prone to erosion.

Newly deciphered passages outline Greek philosopher’s burial place and describe critique of slave musician

Newly deciphered passages from a papyrus scroll that was buried beneath layers of volcanic ash after the AD79 eruption of Mount Vesuvius may have shed light on the final hours of Plato, a key figure in the history of western philosophy.

In a groundbreaking discovery, the ancient scroll was found to contain a previously unknown narrative detailing how the Greek philosopher spent his last evening, describing how he listened to music played on a flute by a Thracian slave girl.

Prosecutors say there is not enough evidence to convict the former soldiers for the shooting of a girl, 14, and a man, 41, in Derry

Two British army veterans will not be prosecuted in relation to the deaths of a schoolgirl and unarmed civilian in two separate shooting incidents that took place in Northern Ireland more than 50 years ago.

Prosecutors said that in both cases – the deaths of Annette McGavigan, 14, and William McGreanery, 41, in Derry in 1971 – the available evidence was insufficient to provide a reasonable prospect of conviction in court.

Clinicians say crackdown on people eligible for Pip payments does not address UK’s long-term sickness problem

Mentally ill, sick and disabled people are being used as a “political football” to make the government seem tough rather than addressing the causes of the UK’s growing long-term sickness problem, campaigners have warned, as ministers unveiled tentative proposals to cut disability benefits.

Potentially thousands of people claiming personal independence payment (Pip) could lose the benefit – currently worth between £29 and £184 a week – under changes designed to tighten eligibility and, where possible, replace monthly cash payments with one-off vouchers or access to specialist support.