WeekDay AM: 10 Things you need to know this morning
Military spending, Hezbollah attacks, and the sex work row dividing Holland

 
today's defence story

Sunak ramps up defence spending

What happened 
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has unveiled the biggest boost to military spending in a generation, pushing the defence budget to 2.5% of GDP – or £87 billion a year – by the end of the decade.

Who said what
The plan will make Britain "by far the largest defence power in Europe" and will "show our enemies that we are resolute and determined", Sunak said. The announcement was welcomed by Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg as a "turning point in European security".

The commentary 
The commitment comes amid "fierce transatlantic debate about defence spends in Europe", said Politico. Nato countries are expected to spend 2% of their GDP on defence, but so far only Germany has "hit that target". Sunak's commitment is actually "less dramatic than it appears", said The Guardian's Dan Sabbagh. Raising military spending from the current level of 2.32% to 2.5% would amount to an increase of slightly more than £5 billion this year. Sunak "made it sound larger by focusing on the 2030 figure".

What next? 
Sunak challenged other Nato members to follow suit, saying that using 2.5% of GDP as a "new benchmark" would result in £140 billion a year of extra defence spending across Europe.

 
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today’s international story

Hezbollah launches attacks deep inside Israel

What happened
Lebanese group Hezbollah said it had launched drone attacks on Israeli bases north of the city of Acre, marking "the deepest attack into Israeli territory since the Gaza war began", said Al Jazeera.

Who said what
The Iran-backed group said it had launched "a combined air attack using decoy and explosive drones" in retaliation for an earlier Israeli attack that killed one of its fighters.

The commentary 
Hezbollah and the Israeli military have been "trading attacks" since 8 October, the day after Hamas's deadly incursion into Israel, said PBS. More than 60,000 Israelis from the north of the country have been displaced and "feel abandoned" as the state of "low-level warfare continues", said The Jerusalem Post.

What next?
Most analysts anticipate Israel will steadily expand its drone attacks and air strikes on Hezbollah targets, but despite past comments it is "unlikely to follow through on threats of turning Beirut into Gaza or returning the country to the Stone Age", said Al Jazeera.

 
 
Today’s society story

Sex work from home row divides Holland

What happened
Dutch cities disagree on whether sex workers should be allowed to operate from home under proposed legislation. Many of the 150 municipalities surveyed by NOS, the Netherlands' largest news organisation, believed the change of rules would be a "nuisance" for residents.

Who said what
One town argued that it would lead to traffic congestion and "people in the area feeling less safe", reported Dutch News. "If sex work takes place in the private sphere it is difficult to gain insight into possible abuses," the municipality of Kaag en Braassem told NOS.

The commentary
A growing number of areas already permit sex work from home, including Rotterdam, Utrecht and Tilburg, to prevent exploitation from being driven underground. Unlicensed sex workers "become more vulnerable to coercion, violence and blackmail", claimed Tilburg.

What next?
Many municipalities have not yet decided on whether to support the national law, said Sky News, with the legislation currently on hold and no date for it to go before parliament.

 
 

It's not all bad

Jane Austen enthusiasts are being invited to help decipher her brother’s "spidery" handwriting in an unpublished memoir that could shed new light on the beloved novelist's life. The 78-page manuscript by Sir Francis William Austen, a Royal Navy admiral, was written in his later years when "arthritis is thought to have affected his handwriting", said The Times. Acquired at auction last year by Jane Austen's House, the institution has now launched a "citizen science" project to help unlock the memoir's secrets section by section. If you want to take part email office@janeaustens.house to request a page to transcribe.

 
 
under the radar

Ex-premier Fahie and the drug trafficking plot

Andrew Fahie, a former premier of the British Virgin Islands, has been convicted on drug charges in the US, highlighting the territory's status as a "formidable cocaine trafficking hub".

Fahie was charged with planning to shield "cocaine-filled boats while docked in the Caribbean islands' ports and bribing a government official", said Reuters, "in a plot intended to run thousands of kilograms of the drug through the territory".

He agreed a $700,000 (£560,000) payment to allow traffickers to use British Virgin Islands ports with an undercover informant, charges filed in the US said.

Fahie's defence lawyer claimed the then premier was "acting like the fictitious CIA agent Jason Bourne" when he was approached by the man posing as a cartel member, reported the Miami Herald.

Fahie's case "exemplifies how high-level corruption makes the tiny British Virgin Islands – with a population of only about 30,000 people – an outsized player in the international cocaine trade", said Insight Crime.

There have "long been questions" about the way the British Virgin Islands has been run, said the BBC's diplomatic correspondent James Landale at the time of Fahie's arrest.

The territory, made up of more than 40 islands, is located just to the east of Puerto Rico in the Caribbean. It operates as a parliamentary democracy, with the premier acting as the head of the elected government alongside a UK-appointed governor, explained Landale.

The leaking of the documents known as the "Panama Papers" and "Paradise Papers" revealed the islands to be "a popular tax haven".

 
 
on this day

24 April 2011

Wikileaks began releasing the so-called Guantánamo Files. The 779 leaked US military files detailed the inner workings of the controversial prison camp in Cuba, with information on almost all of the detainees. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is currently awaiting a high court decision on his extradition to the US where he faces prosecution on charges of espionage.

 
 
Today’s newspapers

The government has unveiled the "biggest hike" to military spending for "a generation", said the i paper. Rishi Sunak said the move will put the country on a "war footing", noted The Guardian, while the Daily Express welcomed the development, saying: "About time too!" Meanwhile, says the Daily Star, celebrity gardener Alan Titchmarsh has launched a "war on slugs". It describes the broadcaster as a "sourpuss".

► See the newspaper front pages

 
 
tall tale

Squawking success

A nine-year-old boy has won a seagull screeching championship with his uncanny impression of the noisy seabirds. Cooper, from Chesterfield, travelled to Belgium to take part in the European contest and donned a bird costume for his performance. The judging is a "serious business", marine biologist Jan Seys told the BBC. Cooper scored 92 out of a possible 100 points, the highest tally awarded in the competition.

 
 

Morning Report was written and edited by Arion McNicoll, Harriet Marsden, Julia O'Driscoll and Chas Newkey-Burden, with illustrations by Julia Wytrazek.

Image credits, from top: Paul Faith / Pool / AFP via Getty Images; Mahmoud Zayat / AFP via Getty Images; Anoek de Groot / AFP via Getty Images; Lucas Ninno / Getty Images.