Daft Punk's new album is astoundingly ambitious, creating a frenzy even before it has appeared. On the eve of its release – and 20 years since they made their first record in their bedroom as teenagers – Dorian Lynskey gets beyond the helmets to talk to the notoriously shy French duo

It is a peculiar experience meeting the most famous faceless musicians in the world. Daft Punk are certainly well known. Eight years after their last album, their influence can be felt throughout dance music and beyond. Their fourth release, Random Access Memories, is the most hysterically anticipated record in years: every tidbit disseminated online over the past two months has been scrutinised like a fragment of the true cross. At a point in their career when most bands are on a downward slope, Daft Punk have just celebrated their first number one single, "Get Lucky", and are somehow bigger than ever.

"They're two of the greatest innovators in popular music and we're as excited to hear what they are doing as we are about David Bowie," says Chris Price, music editor of industry trade magazine Record of the Day. "I think they're as enigmatic and pioneering as Kraftwerk," says Dave Clarke, whose Soma label discovered Daft Punk 20 years ago. "They drop out and disappear and their fanbase grows."

So, yes, Daft Punk are very famous indeed, but the two Frenchmen sitting side by side on a sofa in a luxurious Paris hotel suite – Thomas Bangalter, 38, and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, 39 – are very much not. Their last unmasked photo shoot was in 1995 and, for the past decade or so, they have hidden inside the helmets of their robot alter egos. But helmets would look, well, daft in an interview so here they are in the reluctant flesh. With his receding hairline, grey jacket and lean, thoughtful face, Thomas has a professorial air, delivering smoothly erudite monologues in a voice rather like Vincent Cassel's. Slumped beside him, in black jeans and a T-shirt advertising Italian prog-rock band Goblin, Guy-Man looks and acts at least a decade younger, long-haired and taciturn, like a problematic exchange student. It feels as if a hip TV academic has, for his own quiet amusement, decided to bring his surly nephew to work for the day.

Of course, Daft Punk would argue that any impression of them as people is irrelevant. "The robots are part of the fiction and it's not really interesting to see what's behind it," argues Thomas. "When you look at C-3PO and Darth Vader and then look at the actors behind them you can't really make the connection. It kills the magic. I feel the robots are the same." Guy-Man grunts in agreement. "They're more interesting than us for sure."

Five years in the making, Random Access Memories is a fabulously, heroically, sometimes ridiculously ambitious enterprise. First there's the cast of guests, which includes disco pioneers (Giorgio Moroder, Nile Rodgers), indie-rock stars (the Strokes's Julian Casablancas, Animal Collective's Panda Bear), house producers (Todd Edwards, DJ Falcon) R&B royalty (Pharrell Williams) and a singer-songwriter who wrote songs for Bugsy Malone and the Muppets (Paul Williams). Then there's the sheer sonic opulence, attained by snubbing computers in favour of veteran session musicians, legendary studios and a 70-piece orchestra. Finally there's the promotional campaign, which involves costumes designed by Hedi Slimane, billboards on Sunset Boulevard and a series of playfully ingenious teasers starting in March with an enigmatic commercial during Saturday Night Live. Set against most of the year's "big" releases, Random Access Memories resembles Gulliver in Lilliput.

"The first thing I said when I heard it was: 'Can I see it again?'" Paul Williams says in awestruck tones. "That's an interesting slip of the tongue. The best way I can describe it is Kubrick's 2001. They take you back in time and then they take you into the future."

Five years ago, Daft Punk surveyed the music industry's diminished landscape of slashed budgets, shuttered studios, MP3s and Garage Band loops and decided to do the exact opposite, inspired by the musical Everests that dominated their childhood, from Dark Side of the Moon to Thriller. It's significant that the final track on Random Access Memories, "Contact", samples the voice of Captain Eugene Cernan, the last man to walk on the moon, because the album betrays a fervent longing for the days of giant leaps.

"The music that's being done today has lost its magic and its poetry because it's rooted in everyday life and is highly technological," Thomas says with a sorrowful expression. "Then you have this classic repertoire of great music that feels like it's coming from this other, timeless place. We wanted to say that these classic albums that were ambitious in scope don't just belong to the past."

It is a grand throw of the dice for a pair of shy, stubborn Frenchmen who started out making noisy techno in their bedrooms. They could have saved themselves a great deal of time and money (they funded it themselves, only later partnering with Columbia Records) by making an album of catchy dance-pop, but they chose the hard way. If their 1997 debut, Homework, reshaped dance music and the impact of 2001's Discovery, a love letter to disco and soft-rock, is still echoing through pop now, then their hope for Random Access Memories is to inspire other artists to dream big. "It's only a state of mind to globally change," says Thomas.

Before I met Daft Punk I spoke to Giorgio Moroder, the 73-year-old producer behind such electronic milestones as Donna Summer's "I Feel Love". "I don't know very much about Guy-Man because we barely spoke, but Thomas is an incredibly intellectual guy," he told me. "He explains things in a metaphysical way. Sometimes it's a little difficult to know exactly what he means."

According to Thomas, Random Access Memories is like a movie, a painting, a fashion collection or "going on a journey in a small boat but you don't know if you're going to reach the other shore". Guy-Man, meanwhile, says precisely nothing for the first half-hour, preferring to sip his espresso, text, stare at the ceiling and generally pretend that I'm not there, his face naturally arranging itself into a weary scowl.

Thomas says that, when they were composing the score for 2010's Tron: Legacy, he wrote the "good guy" themes while Guy-Man handled the "bad guy" music. This makes a lot of sense.

Eventually, in desperation, I ask Guy-Man if he agrees with Thomas last answer. "Yes," he says witheringly. "If I disagree I will tell you." I ask him why he's stayed silent. "Silence is better," he shrugs, and Thomas laughs.

Daft Punk have never relished talking about themselves. In early interviews they came across as suspicious and aloof. "It's because you're 18 and you feel maybe guilty: why are we chosen to do these things?" says Thomas. "There's definitely reasons to feel less uncomfortable now. It's one thing to say you're going to do it and another to have done it for 20 years."

The duo met in 1987 at Paris's Lycée Carnot, prestigious alma mater of Jacques Chirac and Dominique Strauss-Kahn. "We were still children so we formed each other," says Guy-Man, finally surrendering to the interview. "There's so much that is unspoken. It's like an odd couple. Some couples will argue until they die, but some don't speak and enjoy looking at the sunset, you know?"

Thomas's father, Daniel Vangarde, produced French disco hits in the 70s – "DISCO" for Ottawan and "Cuba" for the Gibson Brothers – and Guy-Man's worked in advertising; they shared a privileged upbringing. Their first loves were Jimi Hendrix, the Velvet Underground and Phantom of the Paradise, the bizarre 1974 musical horror movie that Brian De Palma made with Paul Williams. "It covered everything we liked when we were teenagers: horror, rock, musicals, glam," says Thomas, glowing with fandom. "Listening to Led Zeppelin songs backwards, watching Texas Chainsaw Massacre on VHS and getting KISS and David Bowie albums. It synthesised all of these elements."

In 1992, they formed a lo-fi rock band called Darlin' (after a Beach Boys song) with their friend Laurent Brancowitz, who now plays guitar in the successful French group Phoenix. Darlin' released just a handful of songs, which were dismissed as "daft punky thrash" by the music paper Melody Maker. Tweaking this insult into their new name, Thomas and Guy-Man switched to basic electronic equipment purchased with Thomas's 18th birthday present of £1,000, and released three singles on the Scottish dance label Soma, including the groundbreaking "Da Funk".

"Thomas did all the talking," remembers Soma founder Dave Clarke. "For the first six months I knew him Guy-Man kind of pretended he couldn't speak English. They liked being out but they weren't big drinkers. They were quite frugal. They didn't have a desire for wealth and glamour. They had a relaxed confidence that their music was going to get out there."

This was a period when the likes of the Prodigy and the Chemical Brothers were proving that dance music could transcend clubland to deliver big-selling crossover albums. When major labels came running, they were made to feel that they needed Daft Punk more than Daft Punk needed them. "Our career is defined more by the things we didn't do than by the things we did," says Thomas. "A lot of young kids come to us and say, 'What can we do to be where you guys are? We'll do anything.'

"And the answer is just the opposite. We haven't done anything that we didn't want. The only secret to being in control is to have it in the beginning. Retaining control is still hard, but obtaining control is virtually impossible."

Daft Punk's outsider mentality owed something to coming from France, whose pop music was then the butt of condescending jokes in the UK press and whose rave scene was hounded by the authorities. "Initially electronic music was anti-establishment, as punk rock and rock'n'roll were," says Thomas. "The music was shut down, the police were against the parties." He sounds like a soixante-huitard fondly remembering the barricades. "Now it's the opposite. It been totally accepted so there's nothing to fight for."

Daft Punk's 1997 debut album, Homework, recorded entirely in Thomas's bedroom, filtered house and techno through a love of classic rock. The cover displayed a logo patch sewn on to a black satin jacket, while the inner sleeve depicted a desk cluttered with adolescent artefacts, including a 1976 KISS poster and a Chic single sleeve. It was like a superhero's origin story: Peter Parker's bedroom before he became Spider-Man. Guy-Man, who designed the artwork, says that Thomas is the "hands-on technician" while he is the "filter": the man who stands back and says oui or non.

The hit single "Around the World" displayed a then-unfashionable love of disco which attracted the attention of Chic guitarist Nile Rodgers. "The genius is never in the writing, it's in the rewriting," says Rodgers. "Whenever they put out records I can hear the amount of work that's gone into them – those microscopically small decisions that other people won't even think about. It's cool, but they massage it so it's not just cool – it's amazing."

For the next few years, Daft Punk could do no wrong. They commissioned striking videos from Spike Jonze, Michel Gondry and Roman Coppola. "Music Sounds Better With You", the Chaka Khan-sampling 1998 single by Thomas's side project Stardust, brought disco fever to house music. Madonna and Kylie had number-one hits that sounded uncannily like Daft Punk. In 2001 the retro-futurist Discovery revived appreciation for the kind of glossy soft-rock and sentimental 80s pop that most bands deemed too cheesy. "Homework was really to show the rock kids that techno is cool and Discovery was to show the techno kids that rock and soft-rock can be cool," says Thomas. It worked. They were sampled by Kanye West (whose forthcoming album they've worked on), celebrated as the gold standard of hipster cred in LCD Soundsystem's "Daft Punk is Playing at My House" and energetically homaged by younger artists, such as Justice.

The robot helmets, which are redesigned for each new project and are famous enough to have been spoofed on The Simpsons, enhanced their mystique. "People initially thought it was just marketing," says Thomas. "It was never that. The robots in some sense were as important as the music itself." Of course, it was also great marketing and an excellent way of preserving their privacy. At last month's Coachella festival, while the crowd went wild to a short video clip of "Get Lucky", Daft Punk watched from the sidelines, blissfully unrecognised.

There was a downside to the unbroken acclaim though. The more that other people sounded like Daft Punk, the harder it become for Daft Punk to do something new. Their third album, 2005's rough, ornery Human After All, was poorly received and left Daft Punk unsure what to do next. "Usually a band 20 years into its existence doesn't put out its best records," says Thomas. "That was something we had in mind – to try to break that rule. It's not intimidating, but it takes time."

So Daft Punk stopped thinking about albums. Instead they mounted a groundbreaking world tour, their first since 1997, that did for live dance music what Pink Floyd did for stadium rock. They made an inscrutable, wordless art movie called Daft Punk's Electroma. They scored Tron: Legacy for Disney. They both started families: Thomas has a second home in LA with his actor wife Élodie Bouchez. They reluctantly agreed to be made Chevaliers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, having controversially turned down the prestigious honour several years earlier, just because they didn't want to cause another fuss. "You feel like you're going to get even more attention," Thomas says with an embarrassed sigh.

In the absence of any new Daft Punk music, their back catalogue nourished America's EDM (Electronic Dance Music) explosion. Key producers, such as Skrillex, trace their love of dance music to that 2006-7 tour. "Everyone I've talked to who's seen that show counts it as one of their all-time favourites," says Ryan Dombal, senior editor of influential US music website Pitchfork. "And its uniqueness and relative scarcity makes it easy to mythologise. When a lot of artists are trying to get an audience's attention by any means necessary – Twitter, sponsorship deals, commercials, playing festivals – it's automatically appealing when an artist seems above all that."

Daft Punk, who prefer the likes of James Blake and Bon Iver to most club music, pull faces when I mention their influence on EDM. "Pthrrrrt," says Thomas. "On one hand we're flattered. On the other hand we wish people could be influenced by our approach as much as our output. It's about breaking the rules and doing something different rather than taking some arrangements we did 10 years ago that have now become a formula."

Thomas blames the machines. For a man who has spent 12 years pretending to be a robot, he takes a remarkably dim view of digital music. "Computers aren't really music instruments," he sniffs. "And the only way to listen to it is on a computer as well. Human creativity is the ultimate interface. It's much more powerful than the mouse or the touch screen."

As an antidote to those wretched machines, they recorded Random Access Memories entirely live, with dozens of musicians, in studios in Paris, New York and Los Angeles. That sounds expensive, I say. "Yes, it got expensive," Thomas nods with some pride. "But we started with just £1,000 and everything since then has been financed by the audience. It was expensive in the same way that movies are expensive, because hundreds of people work on them. We feel fortunate to be able to experiment on a large scale. There's a lot of experimentation now in alternative music, but it feels like there's no money. The people with the means to be ambitious are usually the ones who are experimenting less."

Enjoying the Hollywood analogy, Thomas says Daft Punk were the album's screenwriters and directors while the guest performers were the actors, but actors who were given licence to write their own lines. "I didn't feel like I was being brought in to add wallpaper to a house that already existed," says Paul Williams. "I felt part of the process from the very beginning."

The way individual collaborators describe their understanding of the record recalls the fable of the blind men and the elephant: each one grasped only a fraction of the whole. "They didn't tell me anything," says Moroder, who spent four hours talking about his life for the extraordinary disco history lesson "Giorgio By Moroder". "Zero. I had several dinners with the boys and I didn't even ask because I knew they wouldn't tell me."

"What I worked on was quite bare bones and everything else grew up around me," says Nile Rodgers. "They just wanted me to be free to play. That's the way we used to make records back in the day. It almost felt like we'd moved back in time."

Perhaps that's the key to Daft Punk's current mission: using their privileged position to reinvent old methods pour encourager les autres. "We're not in a golden age of audiophile excellence and craftsmanship," complains Thomas. "But there's maybe a way to put back a certain optimism. There's things that can be done with music. It's an invitation to variety."

As for where Daft Punk go from here – will they make another album? Will they ever tour again? They'd really rather not say. "The projection of the future is kind of useless," shrugs Thomas. He thinks a tour, however lucrative, would be a distraction at this point. "We want to put the spotlight on the record. That's what we are sharing with you. There's nothing else." He holds out his empty palms. "That's it."

Guy-Man points out that, after all, they have not got this far by blabbing about their plans. "We don't actively try to feed people and annoy them with what we're doing," he says, leaning back. "We are not craving to be known. If we don't have this or that we are fine. You have to be self-content. The art is the first and only priority." He reclines like a cat in the sun. "We don't have to rush things."

Random Access Memories is out on Columbia on 20 May

Concerns that firms' rights to hold patents on genes linked to breast cancer is pushing up cost of testing for disease

Angelina Jolie's decision to speak out about her decision to have a preventive double mastectomy was intended to highlight the terrible risks of breast cancer. But the film star's move also cast a spotlight on the far less known arena of patent battles over genetic technology which could have far more impact than Jolie's widely applauded move.

Before the end of next month the US supreme court will issue a landmark decision in a case brought against the biotech firm Myriad Genetics, which is based in Utah, by the Association for Molecular Pathology.

The firm owns a patent on the BRCA1 gene, which Jolie carries and which is believed to carry a high risk of causing breast cancer. It also owns a patent on the similar BRCA2 gene.

It means that Myriad has the exclusive right to develop diagnostic tests for those genes – a fact that has implications for other firms, who thus might be prevented from developing innovations in the field.

It also has some serious hard-money business implications: in the wake of Jolie's announcement, Myriad's share price shot up. That has worried some commentators. In a New York Times column describing her decision, Jolie acknowledged she was lucky to be well-off enough to easily afford to take the test for the culpable genes.

Some have complained that the lengthy court battle over Myriad's patents has kept the price of the tests too high and have asked whether patents actually sacrifice patients' interests in favour of protecting corporate profits. "How many more women – and men – might have been able over the past four years to afford BRCA1 or BRCA2 testing in the absence of those protective patents?" wrote Andrew Cohen in Atlantic magazine.

The issue of patents and genetic technology is one of growing importance as a flood of companies enter the booming sector and scientific advances allow more and more advanced genetic manipulation. So far the supreme court has shown a willingness to side with big business. Earlier this month it ruled in favour of agricultural firm Monsanto in defence of a patent it holds on soy beans that dominate the US farming sector.

Stuart Heritage: Ukrainian giants! Romanian vampires! Greek men in skirts! Yes, it's time to stop bickering with our European neighbours and start ridiculing them instead. Join us here from 7.30pm, ready for an 8pm kick-off

Conservative co-chairman taking legal advice following online rumours that he made remark about party activists

The co-chairman of the Conservatives has denied describing party activists as "swivel-eyed loons" after rumours circulated on the internet that he was the source for remarks widely published over the weekend.

Lord Feldman said he was taking legal advice after posts on Twitter implied he was the senior Tory quoted anonymously in several national newspapers. The mystery Tory made the remarks at a party dinner event – allegedly in earshot of journalists – after being asked about the decision of 116 party MPs to defy the prime minister and vote in favour of an amendment regretting the absence of an EU referendum in the Queen's speech.

The unnamed figure is reported as saying: "It's fine. There's really no problem. The MPs just have to do it because the associations tell them to, and the associations are all mad, swivel-eyed loons."

In a statement Feldman, who was a friend of David Cameron at Oxford University, said: "There is speculation on the internet and on Twitter that the senior Conservative party figure claimed to have made derogatory comments by the Times and the Telegraph is me.

"This is completely untrue. I would like to make it quite clear that I did not nor have ever described our associations in this way or in any similar manner. Nor do these alleged comments represent my view of our activists. On the contrary in the last eight years of working for the party, I have found them to be hard-working, committed and reasonable people. They are without question the backbone of the party. I am very disappointed by the behaviour of the journalists involved, who have allowed rumour and innuendo to take hold by not putting these allegations to me before publication. I am taking legal advice."

The remarks threaten to inflame the incendiary row between Conservative grassroots and Cameron's inner circle, including its many former Eton schoolboys, who are criticised as being "out of touch". Feldman was at a dinner of the Conservative Friends of Pakistan on Wednesday at the Intercontinetal hotel in Westminster where the remarks were said to have been made. However, those sitting near him are said by sources close to Feldman to be willing to publicly deny hearing anything similar to the comments reported.

The Conservative party went on the attack on Saturday, suggesting similarities between the Twitter rumours around Feldman and the defamatory claims wrongly connecting former party treasurer Lord McAlpine to child abuse allegations.The case of former chief whip Andrew Mitchell, who is contesting claims that he called police officers at the gates of Downing Street "plebs", was also cited.

Grant Shapps, the co-chairman of the Conservative party, said: "He [Feldman] works very closely with the party volunteers. I believe him when he says that he did not say that about our fantastic volunteers," he told the BBC. "We have seen these rumours flying around the internet, we have seen it with Lord McAlpine and Andrew Mitchell, both of whom were later in the clear."

James Kirkup, the Telegraph journalist who reported the remarks, tweeted: "I have seen Lord Feldman's statement. I stand by my story."

Mitchell, now on the backbenches, appeared on Sky News to offer his support. He said: "It looks to me tonight as if there's a full-on media storm staring on all of this and we should bear in mind that the man at the centre of it, Lord Feldman, says it is untrue and if Lord Feldman says it is untrue then I believe him. We should avoid a rush to judgment.

"None of us think what has been suggested in the media today. Having worked with Lord Feldman I can tell you that this is not his view about activists and I would be very surprised if he did say such a thing.

"It is all very well making these points by innuendo, pointing the finger at the man who has made it clear he didn't say those things. I don't think anyone around David Cameron thinks these things.

"I don't think there is anyone senior in the party or junior in the party who believes anything of the sort about our activists.

"If anyone said such a thing I thing it would be a disgraceful thing to say, completely untrue, and Lord Feldman has made it clear that he didn't say it."

The Ukip leader, Nigel Farage, seized on the remarks allegedly made by a senior Tory. Farage, who claimed to know the identity of the Tory, tweeted on Friday: "If you are a Conservative supporter who believes in Ukip ideas then your party hates you. Come and join us."

"

Those posting comments on the Conservative Home blog on Saturday were unforgiving. Sandy Jamieson wrote: "We activists are all 'mad, swivel-eyed loons'. Of course we are – we elected David Cameron as leader."

Another poster, with the username Doppel1800, wrote: "The cliquey Cameroons are on a completely different planet which even their choice of insults betrays."

Downing Street is under pressure because the Tory is said to be well known to the prime minister for many years. He or she is due to play a significant role in the party's preparations for the general election. The Times, Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mirror, which all reported the remarks and which say they know the identity of the Tory, declined to name the senior member of the prime minister's circle."

The publication of the remarks, which were made during the week that the prime minister was in the US, is particularly embarrassing for Cameron. They come after No 10 aides expressed fury with Philip Hammond, the defence secretary, who criticised the government for devoting so much time to gay marriage legislation.

A Downing Street spokesman said: "It is categorically untrue that anyone in Downing Street made the comments about the Conservative party associations and activists reported in the Times and the Telegraph."

Police say member of Imran Khan's Movement for Justice party ambushed by two bikers

A senior female member of Imran Khan's Movement for Justice party (PTI) was shot dead outside her home in Karachi on Saturday.

Reports suggested that Zahra Shahid Hussain, who was senior vice-president of the PTI, was killed while resisting an attempted robbery in the upmarket Defence neighbourhood of the city. Police said that she was ambushed by two people on a motorcycle. "The assailants opened fire on Zahra, 60, as soon as she reached the gate of her residence. Apparently they were there to target her only," an official said.

An eyewitness said that she handed the attackers her belongings, but was then shot, according to reports. Police superintendent Nasir Aftab said that initial findings suggested the killing was a purse snatching that went wrong. He said that, according to Hussain's daughter, her mother got into their car to leave. The driver drove the car out and was locking up the gate when two men on a motorcycle pulled up and tried to snatch her purse. "When she resisted, they shot her."

Hussain died on her way to hospital, it was reported. Imran Khan blamed the city's dominant MQM party, a claim the party has denied, and the British government, for Hussain's murder in a series of tweets. "I am shocked and deeply saddened by the brutal killing of Zara Shahid Hussain, Zara apa to us, in Karachi tonite. A targeted act of terror!

"I hold Altaf Hussain directly responsible for the murder as he had openly threatened PTI workers and leaders through public broadcasts.

"I also hold the British Govt responsible as I had warned them abt Br citizen Altaf Hussain after his open threats to kill PTI workers."

MQM television said on its facebook page: "As per Zahra Shahid Hussain's daughter and driver, the eyewitnesses, it was a street crime related murder. She got killed resisting a robbery." MQM leader Altaf Hussain has also condemned the killing.

Dr Arif Alvi, the former secretary-general of PTI, tweeted: "I condemn the murder of Zahra Shahid Hussein my dear colleague & demand the arrest of the killers immediately. May her soul rest in peace."

Hussain's murder comes on the eve of a highly contested partial rerun of the vote in the area following last Saturday's general election.

Former chancellor launches scathing attack on David Cameron and says Euroscepticism is 'infecting party soul'

Lord Howe, the former Conservative chancellor who triggered the downfall of Margaret Thatcher, has launched a scathing attack on the prime minister, accusing him of running scared of his backbenchers and endangering Britain's future in Europe.

The Tory grandee says David Cameron has opened a Pandora's box by opposing the current terms of the UK's membership of the European Union and now appears to be losing control of his party. The prime minister's actions, Howe writes in the Observer, have turned an internal Tory problem into a national one.

In a highly significant intervention over Britain's future, Howe laments the "new, almost farcical" level of debate over Europe in the Tory party, and says that Labour and the Liberal Democrats may need to bear the burden of retrieving the situation. Howe, Thatcher's longest-serving cabinet minister, whose resignation speech in 1990 is widely considered to have precipitated the then prime minister's downfall, writes: "Sadly, by making it clear in January that he opposes the current terms of UK membership of the EU, the prime minister has opened a Pandora's box politically and seems to be losing control of his party in the process.

"The ratchet-effect of Euroscepticism has now gone so far that the Conservative leadership is in effect running scared of its own backbenchers, let alone Ukip, having allowed deep anti-Europeanism to infect the very soul of the party."

Howe, who was also a former foreign secretary and deputy prime minister under the late Baroness Thatcher, adds that the events of recent days, in which the prime minister has been forced to offer more and more to satisfy his Eurosceptic MPs, were "more like the politics of the French Fourth Republic than the serious practice of government".

Citing the intervention of President Obama, who last week championed reform of the EU over Britain's exit, Howe laments: "The Conservative party now needs a US president to tell it what it once had the confidence to proclaim as common sense itself."

Howe's savage attack on the prime minister's leadership and the actions of his party follows the successful attempt by Eurosceptic backbenchers to bounce the prime minister into the publication last week of a draft referendum bill on EU membership.

Cameron had already been forced in January, against his stated will, to promise an in-out referendum before 2017, but the prime minister's backbenchers have since been demanding further assurances in the form of legislation. Eurosceptic Tory backbenchers have been energised by Ukip's success in the recent local elections, and a huge rise in national polls.

A new Opinium/Observer poll has Ukip attracting 20% of the vote, with Labour on 37%, the Conservatives on 27% and the Liberal Democrats down to 7%.

Howe states that the risk for the Conservative party, as Europe rises ever further up its internal agenda, is that it loses the next general election and moves to a position of "simply opposing Britain's continued membership, with or without a referendum".

In stark contrast to the view of his friend and former cabinet colleague Lord Lawson, who wrote recently that Britain should leave the EU, Howe believes that the UK is unlikely to hold anything like the position of power to which it aspires without the vehicle of the EU, unless the country was to join the United States. "Leaving the union would, by contrast in my view, be a tragic expression of our shrinking influence and role in the world – and the humbling of our ambitions, already sorely tested by the current crisis, to remain a serious political or economic player on the global stage."

Describing a withdrawal from the European Union as a "very dangerous choice indeed", the peer says Britons have hugely benefited from greater competition, lower prices and wider choice, due to membership of the EU.

Howe adds that much of the UK's inward investment depends on easy access to the £11 trillion EU economy. He writes: "Does anyone think that the UK's revival as a motor car manufacturing nation is based on the appeal of the British market alone to foreign investors?"

In a withering assessment of his party's long-standing preoccupation with Brussels, he adds: "This week has shown that the Conservative party's long nervous breakdown over Europe continues, and what is essentially a Tory problem is now, once again, becoming a national problem, too."

He continues: "A number of serious mistakes have been made but the situation is not irretrievable. What is needed is a mixture of clear thinking, strong leadership and an overriding concern for the national interest – not party management or advantage.

"If the Conservative party is losing its head, a heavy responsibility now rests with Labour and the Liberal Democrats."

Labour leader urges David Cameron to work with G8 countries to force corporate giants to pay their fair share

Ed Miliband has vowed to rip up the rule book as prime minister and go it alone if there is no international consensus to tackle multinationals engaging in massive tax avoidance.

In an interview with the Observer, the Labour leader urged David Cameron to find agreement at the G8 summit of leaders next month around an ambitious agenda forcing corporate giants to pay their fair share.

He said that, if Cameron fails, he himself as prime minister would unilaterally act to make multinationals operating in the UK more transparent about the money they make here, the movement of cash around their corporate structures, and the justifications for the tax they pay.

He would also increase the resources of HM Revenue and Customs to strike at tax cheats.

Miliband, who will speak at a Google event in Hertfordshire on Wednesday, said he believed some multinationals, including the internet giant, were not living up to their responsibilities to society. Google was accused by MPs last week of being devious, calculating and unethical after it emerged that it paid just £3.4m in tax on £3.2bn of sales taken from UK customers last year as the sales were technically "closed" in low-tax Ireland.

Miliband said: "Now, what is the politicians' responsibility: change the law. But it is also to talk about the kind of society we want to create and what the responsibilities of a company like Google are. I don't think they are living up to their responsibilities at the moment, and I will be very clear about that on Wednesday.

"It is part of a culture of irresponsibility. If everyone approaches their tax affairs as some of these companies have approached their tax affairs we wouldn't have a health service, we wouldn't have an education system. And actually the point I will make at Google is that will undermine Google."

Meanwhile Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google, writing in the Observer, has given his first reaction to last week's criticism of his company by MPs on the public accounts committee. He says tax avoidance is rightly a "hot topic" in difficult economic times and urges genuine reform, but adds: "Politicians – not companies – set the rules."

But, in a major policy announcement, Miliband says a Labour government would engender a more responsible capitalism in the UK by changing those rules with or without international agreement. Miliband would:

■ Pursue a new global system where multinationals must publish their revenues, profits and other key corporate information useful to revenue authorities in each country in which they operate.

■ Force multinationals to publish such information in the UK even if international agreement cannot be found on the issue, as they do in Denmark.

■ Make it a legal requirement for multinationals operating in the UK to disclose details of any tax avoidance schemes they are using globally.

■ Seek reforms to "transfer pricing" rules to stop companies from shuffling money to other parts of their firm based in tax havens in return for spurious services.

■ Open up the ownership of companies sited in Britain's tax havens to the UK revenue authorities, but also seek to allow developing countries access to such information.

Miliband said the government was "dragging its feet" on the issue of tax avoidance. "They have got to act. If they don't act, we will act in government. This is an absolutely massive and serious issue.

"I think it is a pro-business agenda to say that people should pay their fair share at the top. The head of a big British retailer came to me recently who was outraged by some of the things going on. He was saying he pays his taxes. The business world feels strongly about this.

"This has an impact on people in their daily lives. The less the big companies pay their fair share of tax, the higher tax others will have to pay, the worse the services they will receive."

Foreign Office sponsored surveys investigating impact of CIA drone campaign in Pakistan, minister Alistair Burt tells MPs

Britain has been forced to admit that it has been funding surveys in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas that reveal US drone strikes in the region are causing deep resentment among the local population.

In an answer to a parliamentary question, the foreign minister, Alistair Burt, confirmed that the Foreign Office had "supported" surveys which showed the proportion of respondents in the tribal areas who believed drone strikes were "never justified" had risen from 59% in 2010 to 63% in 2011.

It appears to be the first time that the government has revealed it has carried out opinion polls on the CIA drone campaign in Pakistan – a programme on which it has refused to comment publicly. Previously British ministers have said: "Drone strikes are a matter for the United States and Pakistan."

However, there have been claims that the government has been complicit in the programme, sharing locational intelligence with US agencies to help them target the strikes.

"The UK should not need to carry out polling to determine that a campaign of illegal killing is wrong," said Kat Craig, legal director for the charity Reprieve, which campaigns for human rights around the world.

"But what this does show is that even British government surveys find that the drone campaign is increasingly unpopular.

"Ministers must come clean on the role that UK intelligence is playing in supporting drone strikes, put a stop to it, and put pressure on the US to end its campaign."

People with conditions such as heart disease or Parkinson's could benefit from tissue grown with their own DNA

Lorraine Barnes suffered a heart attack in 2005 and has lived with the consequences – extreme exhaustion and breathlessness – ever since. "I was separated from my husband and so my children, Charlotte and James, had to grow up overnight because suddenly they were caring for me," she says.

Charlotte agrees: "It turns your world upside down. I worry about my mum day and night, 24/7."

Heart failure leaves Barnes, 49, "drowning and gasping for air", she says. What really preys on her mind, though, is not her present difficulty but her future. "It scares me, as obviously I want to be around to see my children grow up."

There is no cure for heart failure, the aftermath of a heart attack, and the condition is common. Every seven minutes a person has a heart attack in the UK, and some victims are left so weakened they can hardly walk a few metres.

It's a grim scenario. But the prospects for patients like Barnes last week took a dramatic turn for the better when it was revealed that human cloning has been used for the first time to create embryonic stem cells from which new tissue – genetically identical to a patient's own cells – could be grown.

Scientists have been working on such techniques (see box) for some time but their work has been hampered by the difficulties involved in cloning human cells in the laboratory. But the team led by Shoukhrat Mitalipov, of the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, got around this problem. By adding caffeine to cell cultures, their outputs were transformed. "We were able to produce one embryonic stem cell line using just two human eggs, which would make this approach practical for widespread therapeutic use," said Mitalipov.

The development was hailed as a major boost for patients such as Barnes, who might benefit from tissue transplants – and not just heart attack patients but those suffering from diabetes, Parkinson's disease and other conditions.

But the announcement was also greeted with horror. "Scientists have finally delivered the baby that would-be human cloners have been waiting for: a method for reliably creating cloned human embryos," said David King of Human Genetics Alert. "It is imperative we create an international ban on human cloning before any more research like this takes place. It is irresponsible in the extreme to have published this."

Several tabloid newspapers also carried banner headlines warning of the human cloning "danger". Such reactions have a familiar ring. When the cloning of Dolly the Sheep was revealed in 1997 there was an outpouring of hysteria about the prospect of multiple Saddam Husseins being created in laboratories.

"At the time the chances of these horrors occurring – when scientists had not even created a single clone of a human cell – were remote," said physiologist Professor Colin Blakemore of Oxford University. "Not that this worried the alarmists. The crucial point is that we should have spent the intervening time thinking about how we should react sensibly to the concept of a human clone when it does become possible. We have not done that and, although the science is still far off, it is getting closer. We need to ask, carefully and calmly: under what circumstances would we tolerate the creation of a human clone?"

At present such a creation is banned in Britain. No human embryo created by cloning techniques is allowed to develop beyond 14 days. "The research is very tightly regulated and I think there is little chance of a rogue laboratory creating a human clone," said James Lawford Davies, a lawyer who specialises in health sciences. "However, many US states which, ironically, banned therapeutic cloning work because of their strong anti-abortion stances have laws that would permit human clones to develop into foetuses."

Experts such as Professor John Harris, director of Manchester University's Institute for Science, Ethics and Innovation, see positive benefits in reproductive cloning which could have a place in society. He said: "If you take a healthy adult's DNA and use it to create a new person – by cloning – you are essentially using a tried and tested genome, one that has worked well for several decades for the donor. By contrast, a child born naturally has an 8% chance of succumbing to a serious genetic abnormality because of the random selection of their DNA. You can avoid that with a clone."

In fact, most arguments against human cloning are foolish, said Harris, adding: "It could be used in medically helpful ways. If a couple find they are carriers of harmful, possibly fatal recessive genetic illnesses, there is a one in four chance they will produce a child who will die of that condition. That is a big risk. An alternative would be to clone one of the parents. If you did that, then you would know you were producing a child who would be unaffected by that illness in later life.

"Or consider the example of a single woman who wants a child. She prefers the idea of using all her own DNA to the idea of accepting 50% from a stranger. But because we ban human cloning she would be forced to accept DNA from a stranger and have to mother 'his child'. I think that is ethically questionable. Just after Dolly the Sheep was born, Unesco announced a ban on human cloning. I think that was a mistake."

This point was backed by Blakemore. He said: "Many people react with horror at the thought of a human clone, yet three out of every 1,000 babies born today are clones – in the form of identical twins. These twins share not just the same DNA but have grown up in the same uterus and have had the same parenting – features that only intensify their similarities. Society is quite happy about this situation, it appears, but seems to find it odd when talking about cloning."

However, a note of caution was sounded by Ian Wilmut, who led the team that created Dolly the Sheep. He said: "The new work may encourage some people to attempt human reproductive cloning but the general experience is that it still results in late foetal loss and the birth of abnormal offspring." It would be cruel to cause this in humans until techniques had been vastly improved, he added.

However, most scientists see Mitalipov's work as encouraging. If nothing else, the prospects for Lorraine Barnes – and countless other patients whose lives could be transformed by transplants – have greatly improved in the long term.

How it works

The nucleus is removed from a human egg cell and the nucleus from a skin cell is inserted.

An electric shock fuses the skin cell nucleus inside the egg and it begins to divide into new cells. An embryo starts to form.

After a few days the growth of the embryo is halted and cultures of its constituent stem cells created.

By treating stem cells with different chemicals they can be transformed into specialised cells such as those that make up heart muscle, brain, pancreas and other organs. These cells are genetically identical to the original skin cell and can be used to create tissue for transplanting into the skin cell's donor .

www.bhf.org.uk

NHS Direct staff 1,200 smaller in number than in 2009-10, resulting in 120,000 more hospital referrals in the past year

The NHS Direct health advice service referred an extra 120,000 patients to accident and emergency departments in the past year, compared with the final 12 months of the Labour government.

The increase in the number of calls to the 0845 service that were considered to require "urgent or emergency" assistance came as staffing levels dropped significantly. More than 1,200 fewer people worked on NHS Direct in 2012-13 compared with 2009-10, according to figures from the service. The numbers appear to offer an explanation for at least some of the huge increase in people attending A&E departments and a crash in performance there in the last year.

Of the 143 trusts that have large A&E units, only 18 have hit the target of treating 95% of patients within four hours, with the goal being missed by a widening margin in recent months.

Jeremy Hunt, the health secretary, has claimed that this is due to an extra 4 million people a year attending A&E compared with the numbers under the last government. He has blamed doctors' contracts in 2004 allowing GPs to opt out of offering out-of-hours services for pushing people into hospitals. However, the figures suggest that other factors are at work. The coalition has been running down the NHS Direct service, about 40% of whose staff were nurses, since announcing in summer 2010 that it was to be replaced by a 111 helpline run by private call centres.

However the 111 service, introduced nationally on 1 April, has been beset by major serious problems, with many patients unable to get through for hours or being given poor advice and arriving at A&Es in frustration. The figures revealed today show that, as the NHS Direct service has been winding down, it has been pushing more people to hospitals. The proportion of calls referred to A&E in 2009 was 24% of the 4,864,035 calls, up to 36.5% of 3,585,954 calls in 2012. Suresh Chauhan, of the campaign group 38 Degrees, who obtained the figures, said he feared the 111 helpline, run by staff who lack medical training, was sending more people to A&E than NHS Direct, compounding the problem. "The real cause of this crisis is a policy decision made by this government when it came to power in 2010," he said. "They decided to dismantle the NHS Direct service which triaged out-of-hours calls for medical aid.

"This service, called the 0845 line, had been working for a few years then and had an impressive record of processing the calls by listening to actual problems and giving appropriate guidance." Alan Milburn, who negotiated the GPs' contract changes in 2004, said it was "complete nonsense" to claim that reforms introduced nearly a decade ago to improve GP recruitment were hitting performance levels in emergency wards today. Milburn, an adviser to the coalition on social mobility, said ministers needed to explain why performances in A&E departments had improved in the latter part of the Labour administration, only to worsen since 2010.

"It's complete nonsense and totally spurious to claim a deterioration in accident and emergency performance which only took effect in the last 18 months can somehow be tracked back to a GP contract change from 2005," he said. "Jeremy Hunt is blaming the wrong government. He has to explain how the NHS managed to improve accident and emergency performances despite an increase in the numbers of people attending up until 2010, but has since failed to do so."

Local officials say vehicle carrying suspected militants near Aden was struck in an attack by an unmanned aircraft

At least four people were killed and a number of others wounded in a drone strike on a vehicle carrying suspected al-Qaida members in southern Yemen, a local official said on Saturday.

The official said the strike took place at dawn on Saturday on a road to the north of Jaar in Abyan Governorate, near Aden. He did not say who was behind the strike, but previous drone strikes have been carried out by the United States. Washington does not usually comment on drone strikes.

Yemen is home to an al-Qaida wing that has planned to attack international airliners and was once described by Washington as the movement's most dangerous branch.

Impoverished and turbulent, Yemen is located next door to the world's top oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, and major crude shipment routes. The United States has stepped up attacks on al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). Yemeni officials said at least six suspected militants were killed in two drone strikes last month.

Six suspected al-Qaida members were killed in January. Militants allied to AQAP took advantage of Arab Spring chaos in Yemen in early 2011 to seize control of some towns in the country's southern provinces, including Jaar. Although they were pushed from the towns last year, they continue to fight government forces.

Aurora Academies Trust is challenged over use of patented 'Paragon curriculum' that has been criticised by Ofsted

An academy running four schools is paying its US parent company £100,000 a year to use its patented global curriculum, which has been criticised by Ofsted for lacking a "local" focus.

Aurora Academies Trust insists that the Paragon curriculum is transforming the fortunes of the primary schools in East Sussex. But unions and local Labour activists question whether the licensing deal represents the first step in plans to allow private companies to run schools for profit. Tory modernisers are said to be keen on the idea.

Aurora's progress will be studied closely by education experts. It has "lead sponsor" status with the Department for Education, meaning it is consulted on policy decisions and is likely to run more schools in the future.

Aurora's decision last autumn to take over the four schools – King Offa and Glenleigh Park in Bexhill and Heron Park and Oakwood in Eastbourne – came after education secretary Michael Gove criticised the local authority for "failing actively to pursue sponsored academy solutions".

Aurora was established by Mosaica Education UK, a subsidiary of Mosaica Education Inc, an American company which describes itself as a "global leader in education reform" and runs schools in 12 US states, the United Arab Emirates and India.

Aurora pays Mosaica £100 per pupil per year in royalties to use its curriculum. There are about 1,000 children at the four schools, meaning Mosaica receives about £100,000 a year from the arrangement.

Aurora insists Mosaica does not profit from the deal. But Christine Blower, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, the largest teaching union, questioned the transparency of the arrangement.

"This is taxpayers' money, which should be targeted directly at children's education in the classroom," she said. "What is most shocking is that no accountability mechanism exists to prevent this, nor is there any form of quality assurance."

Parents of Aurora pupils will consider the money well spent if it produces good results. Mosaica claims that its schools produce superior academic results by "utilising a unique school design which combines a proprietary curriculum, Paragon, with state-of-the-art technology".

However, a study of Mosaica's achievement scores by the American Federation of Teachers union, suggested that the company's self-evaluations inflated student scores, claims that are denied by the company.

Under the humanities-based curriculum, students "learn about character, ethics, empathy and self-esteem, implicitly by studying the world's great heroes, both canonical and unsung, and by stepping into the shoes of great historical figures, both real and imaginary".

The approach appears at odds with Gove's views of how history should be taught in the national curriculum. He wants pupils to learn more about British history, complaining that one teenager in five believes Winston Churchill was a fictional character, a statistic drawn from a survey carried out by Premier Inn.

He has also been critical of teachers using imaginary figures to help understand history, recently denouncing the use of Mr Men characters to teach 15- and 16-year-olds about the second world war.

Several parents have praised the Paragon curriculum for giving their children a "more international perspective". A recent Ofsted inspection found that the King Offa school, which had been in special measures, "is making reasonable progress in raising standards". But it noted, "that teachers are not sufficiently confident in adapting teaching materials to the needs of their pupils. Moreover, the curriculum currently lacks a distinctively local element." A study conducted by Arizona State University suggested that many US charter schools that had been run by Mosaica end up severing their links with the company.

Last year, a school in New Orleans took legal action to break its contract with Mosaica. The organisation that took over the school complained that the curriculum was not aligned to state standards, resulting in students failing tests. The school won the lawsuit, but had to pay Mosaica $100,000 to break the contract.

Tim McCarthy, chief executive of Aurora, said that US charter schools regularly switched education providers. He said that Aurora was making significant progress: "We're looking at some little green shoots. We've got a school out of special measures within seven months and we're getting fantastic engagement with pupils and parents."

McCarthy said that Aurora was now tailoring its curriculum to include local history, such as the Norman invasion. "It's a living, breathing resource that is always changing," he said of the curriculum. "The thought that this is something off the shelf is wrong."

He said that "all of the money from the schools is put into running the schools" and that Aurora provided teachers with 90 hours of professional development training.

But Paul Courtel, a local Labour activist, questioned whether Aurora and Mosaica were playing the long game: "I think the substantive financial gain to Mosaica would be the introduction of 'for profit' free schools in the event that the Conservatives are re-elected, with an overall parliamentary majority, in 2015."

Organisers in Kiev determined to go ahead after cancellation of last year's event, despite rise in homophobic attacks

Efforts are going ahead in Ukraine's capital Kiev to stage a gay pride march next week in the face of data showing a sharp rise in the number of homophobic attacks reported in the city.

Organisers were forced to cancel the celebration last year, hours before it was due to start, after police said they could not guarantee the safety of participants in the face of threats from far-right and religious groups.

A report published this weekend by Amnesty International revealed what it called "endemic discrimination" by both the Ukrainian authorities and members of the public towards the country lesbian, gay, bisexual transgender and intersex (LGBTI) community, and is calling on the government to drop proposals to introduce two pieces of legislation which would further entrench homophobia by making it illegal to promote "propaganda" about homosexuality in the arts.

Ukraine faces a deadline from the European Council to show progress towards reform in human rights, including key judicial and electoral reforms, in order for Ukraine to move towards European integration. Among them is the release of key political prisoners, including its former prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, currently being detained and facing murder and embezzlement charges.

Gay rights campaigners hope the pressure will further their own cause in the face of the growing violence. One non-governmental organisation in Kiev has received 29 reports of violent attacks and 36 of threats against LGBTI people in the last year alone.

Amnesty International's Ukrainian researcher Max Tucker said: "People have been beaten and in one case murdered because of their real or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity. Most of these crimes have not been investigated properly and have gone unpunished."

He said the violence was now being used by the authorities as a reason to further restrict human rights. "It adds insult to injury: the possibility of attack is routinely used as an excuse to deprive LGBTI people of their rights to express themselves and to hold public events in a peaceful manner."

The pride march is planned for Saturday 25 May, and although campaigners do not predict a mass turnout, it would be an important first step for Ukraine, said Stas Misthenko, one of the organisers.

"It's really important because it gives a signal that something will change and that something can change," he said. "Not just in Ukraine, but for Russia, for Belarus, for Moldova.

"The situation here makes everyday life very complicated. Maybe 90-95% of the LGBT people in this country will keep who they are a secret, even from their families. People are scared of being fired from their work or being beaten in the streets. So people do not want to show or express themselves; they hide in their apartments.

"Even on the dating websites, maybe only one in 10 gay people will put up a picture of themselves. And blackmail is rife: there are many sad cases that people will arrange to meet and then blackmail the person over their sexuality.

"LGBT people are very vulnerable. This is why seeing something like a pride march go ahead – to see other people like them on TV – is so important for the LGBT community."

Organisers in Kiev determined to go ahead after cancellation of last year's event, despite rise in homophobic attacks

Efforts are going ahead in Ukraine's capital Kiev to stage a gay pride march next week in the face of data showing a sharp rise in the number of homophobic attacks reported in the city.

Organisers were forced to cancel the celebration last year, hours before it was due to start, after police said they could not guarantee the safety of participants in the face of threats from far-right and religious groups.

A report published this weekend by Amnesty International revealed what it called "endemic discrimination" by both the Ukrainian authorities and members of the public towards the country lesbian, gay, bisexual transgender and intersex (LGBTI) community, and is calling on the government to drop proposals to introduce two pieces of legislation which would further entrench homophobia by making it illegal to promote "propaganda" about homosexuality in the arts.

Ukraine faces a deadline from the European Council to show progress towards reform in human rights, including key judicial and electoral reforms, in order for Ukraine to move towards European integration. Among them is the release of key political prisoners, including its former prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, currently being detained and facing murder and embezzlement charges.

Gay rights campaigners hope the pressure will further their own cause in the face of the growing violence. One non-governmental organisation in Kiev has received 29 reports of violent attacks and 36 of threats against LGBTI people in the last year alone.

Amnesty International's Ukrainian researcher Max Tucker said: "People have been beaten and in one case murdered because of their real or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity. Most of these crimes have not been investigated properly and have gone unpunished."

He said the violence was now being used by the authorities as a reason to further restrict human rights. "It adds insult to injury: the possibility of attack is routinely used as an excuse to deprive LGBTI people of their rights to express themselves and to hold public events in a peaceful manner."

The pride march is planned for Saturday 25 May, and although campaigners do not predict a mass turnout, it would be an important first step for Ukraine, said Stas Misthenko, one of the organisers.

"It's really important because it gives a signal that something will change and that something can change," he said. "Not just in Ukraine, but for Russia, for Belarus, for Moldova.

"The situation here makes everyday life very complicated. Maybe 90-95% of the LGBT people in this country will keep who they are a secret, even from their families. People are scared of being fired from their work or being beaten in the streets. So people do not want to show or express themselves; they hide in their apartments.

"Even on the dating websites, maybe only one in 10 gay people will put up a picture of themselves. And blackmail is rife: there are many sad cases that people will arrange to meet and then blackmail the person over their sexuality.

"LGBT people are very vulnerable. This is why seeing something like a pride march go ahead – to see other people like them on TV – is so important for the LGBT community."

Review by Organisation of American States on illicit drugs 'could mark beginning of the end' of prohibition

European governments and the Obama administration are this weekend studying a "gamechanging" report on global drugs policy that is being seen in some quarters as the beginning of the end for blanket prohibition.

Publication of the Organisation of American States (OAS) review, commissioned at last year's Cartagena Summit of the Americas attended by Barack Obama, reflects growing dissatisfaction among Latin American countries with the current global policy on illicit drugs. It spells out the effects of the policy on many countries and examines what the global drugs trade will look like if the status quo continues. It notes how rapidly countries' unilateral drugs policies are evolving, while at the same time there is a growing consensus over the human costs of the trade. "Growing media attention regarding this phenomenon in many countries, including on social media, reflects a world in which there is far greater awareness of the violence and suffering associated with the drug problem," José Miguel Insulza, the secretary general of the OAS, says in a foreword to the review. "We also enjoy a much better grasp of the human and social costs not only of drug use but also of the production and transit of controlled substances."

Insulza describes the report, which examines a number of ways to reform the current pro-prohibition position, as the start of "a long-awaited discussion", one that experts say puts Europe and North America on notice that the current situation will change, with or without them. Latin American leaders have complained bitterly that western countries, whose citizens consume the drugs, fail to appreciate the damage of the trade. In one scenario envisaged in the report, a number of South American countries would break with the prohibition line and decide that they will no longer deploy law enforcement and the army against drug cartels, having concluded that the human costs of the "war on drugs" is too high.

The west's responsibility to reshape global drugs policy will be emphasised in three weeks when Juan Manuel Santos Calderón, the president of Colombia, who initiated the review, arrives in Britain. His visit is part of a programme to push for changes in global policy that will lead up to a special UN general assembly in 2016 when the scenarios of the OAS are expected to have a significant influence.

Experts described the publication of the review as a historic moment. "This report represents the most high-level discussion about drug policy reform ever undertaken, and shows tremendous leadership from Latin America on the global debate," said Kasia Malinowska-Sempruch, director of the Open Society Foundation's Global Drug Policy Program, which has described its publication as a "game-changer".

"It was particularly important to hear president Santos invite the states of Europe to contribute toward envisioning a better international drug policy. These reports inspire a conversation on drug policy that has been long overdue."

The report represents the first time any significant multilateral agency has outlined serious alternatives to prohibition, including legal market regulation or reform of the UN drug conventions.

"While leaders have talked about moving from criminalisation to public health in drug policy, punitive, abstinence-only approaches have still predominated, even in the health sphere," said Daniel Wolfe, director of the Open Society Foundation's International Harm Reduction Program. "These scenarios offer a chance for leaders to replace indiscriminate detention and rights' abuses with approaches that distinguish between users and traffickers, and offer the community-based health services that work best for those in need."

In a statement, the Global Commission on Drug Policy, which campaigns for changes in drug laws and is supported by the former presidents of several South American states, said that publication of the review would break "the taboo that blocked for so long the debate on more humane and efficient drug policy". The Commission said that it was "time that governments around the world are allowed to responsibly experiment with regulation models that are tailored to their realities and local need".

■ The open letter from the Global Commission on Drug Policy is signed by George P Shultz, the former US secretary of state; Paul Volcker, the former chairman of the US federal reserve, and the former presidents of Mexico, Chile and Colombia

Investigation launched after pilot makes successful emergency landing as plane's landing gear fails to deploy

A US Airways flight made an emergency landing on its belly at Newark Liberty International Airport early on Saturday, after the plane's landing gear failed to deploy. No one was injured, airline and government officials said.

Piedmont Airlines flight 4560, operating for US Airways from Philadelphia with 34 passengers and three crew members on board, landed safely at 1am. Passengers were evacuated and transported to the terminal, a Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman said in an email.

Belly landings are unusual and dangerous because of the threat of fire from the plane fuselage skidding on a hard surface, according to aviation experts.

The airport was closed for more than an hour and the runway was closed for more than eight hours following the incident, officials said. The National Transportation Safety Board said in a Twitter post that it was investigating. A US Airways spokesman said the plane was a Dash 8-100 with a capacity of 37 passengers. The plane was made by De Havilland of Canada, which is owned by Bombardier Inc.

The plane left Philadelphia late on Friday night and the pilot made an emergency declaration after the left main landing gear failed to deploy, according to airline and FAA officials. The pilot circled the airport and then decided to land with no gear deployed.

The incident comes nearly three weeks after a Scandinavian Airlines plane with 252 people on board clipped the wing of an ExpressJet, operated by Skywest Inc and carrying 31 passengers, as they were preparing to take off from the same airport. There were no injuries.

England closed on 180-6, 205 runs ahead, after a late clatter of wickets kept New Zealand in contention on an intriguing day

The fictional family were acclaimed when they hit our screens 10 years ago. As the final series ends, it's the right time to leave

A derelict, dipsomaniac addict, addled by breakfast-time, at the mercy of his rampant libido, driven by the hunt for the next free drink or drug, flogging his baby's milk for a lager. This is the life of benefits baron Vernon Francis Gallagher, useless single parent to six of his eight children by two women, resident of 2 Windsor Gardens on the fictional Chatsworth Estate, Manchester. Frank and his supporting cast of offspring, mates and mistresses were introduced to the British viewing public in January 2004. Nobody had seen anything quite like Shameless before and, initially at least, Channel 4 audiences and critics alike couldn't get enough.

Created by the award-winning and gifted Paul Abbott (who wrote Clocking Off and State of Play), this was a portrait of an underclass with élan; a joyful celebration of free-spirited ne'er-do-wells whose every activity is a two-fingered salute to those who live plodding, respectable lives. Apart from Frank, beautifully played by David Threlfall, they were grafters all, looking out for each other and the long arm of the law, not to mention social workers, bailiffs and anyone resembling an employee of Jobcentre Plus.

The first series began with a view of a council estate, an abandoned car in flames and Frank's voice telling us: "Now nobody is saying the Chatsworth Estate is the Garden of Eden, least I don't think they are, but it's been good to us …" It's been a blast, but 10 years and 11 series later, the final episode of Shameless is broadcast next week.

During those 10 years, as Frank led a charmed life on the run from responsibility, the debate surrounding his real-life equivalents has hardened and soured – especially over the last three years, as austerity Britain turned on a supposed "benefits culture". When the Conservative leadership looks to dismiss Labour as the "welfare party", it means to damn the opposition by association with the Frank Gallaghers of this world. The benefit cap has been introduced to prevent abuse of taxpayers' generosity. George Osborne's budget references to the curtains of the workshy, which remain closed as honest people go to work, has driven home a supposed distinction between "strivers" and "shirkers", or the deserving and the undeserving poor.

Frank once memorably mocked the audience – us – by chanting: "We are worth every penny for grinding your axes … We're off our 'eads but you pay the taxes." That no longer seems quite so funny or mischievous. Perhaps it's the right time for Shameless to bow out as altogether harsher winds blow across the social landscape.

Some might say that reality has trumped the Chatsworth estate. What began in Shameless as the depiction of a unique non-working-class family – fallen angels or, depending upon your point of view, spirited experts in survival – has been outstripped by alleged real-life moral turpitude of a depressingly high order. When Frank abandons his children and moves in with agoraphobic Sheila so he can milk her benefits, then sleeps with her daughter,who also happens to be the girlfriend of Frank's son, it seems small beer compared to the antics of those who appear on the repugnant Jeremy Kyle Show or, more cruelly, the rare cases of chaotic lives that end in violence and death. Nine-year-old Shannon Matthews was kidnapped and drugged by her mother for money and fame. Tia Sharp was murdered by Stuart Hazell, her grandmother's boyfriend. And, notoriously, Mick Philpott, an aggressive long-term sponger and father of 15, was assiduously courted by the media until he became a child killer.

The right points to the rise in cohabiting couples (3 million) and the growing numbers of lone parents (2 million) as indicators of breakdown. But changed family formation is not a vice. Dysfunctional families undoubtedly exist – as do those parked on benefits because work doesn't pay – but what's missing in this false analysis of a society-wide malaise promulgated by ministers such as Iain Duncan Smith is a sense of proportion; a healthy ministerial respect for statistics and policies that go to the root of the matter.

Shameless is not a prophetic vision of a large swath of society in imminent danger of collapse, but it does have at its roots a very personal truth – the exceptionally difficult upbringing of its creator, Abbott. Born in Burnley in 1960, he was the seventh of eight children. Both parents abandoned the family by the time he was 11. They lived in an unheated house with no running water, guarded by the eldest, a 16-year-old girl. Abbott was raped at 13 and "went turtle", as he put it, and had a breakdown at 15. In an interview five years ago, he described how, at the same age, he won his first award for writing. A woman who ran a corner shop with "teeth like a graveyard offered him the use of her electric typewriter and spare room. She smelt of boiled ham and nylon because after cutting the meat she would wipe her hands on her overall. He could smell her coming.

"She used to fuck the brains out of me to use her electric typewriter … Oh God, it was gruesome," he recalled. "But it was worth it … I couldn't go back to manual."

Abbott's intimate acquaintance with dystopian horror inspired Shameless. And as it found its way on to C4, the series had the perfect PR backdrop in the shape of New Labour's "social exclusion agenda". Even as the plots of cocaine dealing, gay prostitution, teenage pregnancy and lesbianism ducked and dived through one series after another, making stars of Maxine Peake, James McAvoy and Anne-Marie Duff among others, Tony Blair was launching New Labour's campaign to correct working class behaviour.

Anti-social behaviour orders in 2005 were followed by the Respect Action Plan, offering carrots and sticks relating to housing, parenting, truancy and juvenile offending. Then came Think Family, supposedly identifying 140,000 families – 2% of the 18 million total: hardly an epidemic – who were costing the public purse billions by behaving exactly like the Gallaghers.

Now, even as the TV family bids their last farewell, the hunt for their clones is still going on. Louise Casey is overseeing the reform of 120,000 "troubled families" by 2015. Each apparently costs the public purse £75,000 a year. A significant part of that sum is run up not by welfare dependency so much as by professionals duplicating each other's tasks and nobody really knowing what works or what doesn't. The government itself admits it's not clear how the figure of 120,000 was arrived at – and some local authorities are finding it difficult to actually identify their own cohort of dysfunctional Gallaghers. But the notion that our communities are divided between leeches and worker bees has taken root.

The result is that blame is increasingly directed at individuals who are, in many instances, handicapped by an economic system that can no longer deliver sufficient unskilled and semi-skilled jobs at a wage that works. Two-thirds of children in poverty, for instance, live in households where at least one person works. And those who claim that Shameless-style fecklessness has become a feature of our poorest estates should look at the work of academic David Gregg. He analysed some earlier intervention projects and discovered that many of the "feckless" were not exercising indulgent lifestyle choices but had chronic mental health, housing and disability problems that were not being addressed.

The rhetoric continues regardless. "When I took this job, I discovered there were some people who got £100,000 a year in housing benefit," Osborne said last month. A Freedom of Information request reveals that there are indeed families on benefits living in mansions and receiving almost £2,000 a week – a total of between five and 14 in the whole of the country.

The main issue is not moral depravity: a chronic housing crisis is principally to blame for the soaring housing benefit bill. The welfare state needs remodelling, as Frank would be the first to advocate in his own way: "Make poverty history – cheaper drugs now!" But the current manipulation of statistics amounts to an unpleasant bullying of the poorest.

So farewell, Frank. He will live on, immortalised in all his manic, politically incorrect glory on the internet. "Bringing up kiddies," he reflected memorably once, "you can't remember their names." But as Abbott says of his fictional family, glued together with love: "No one should have to live that." And that's the truth.

Eight policemen abducted on highway to Jordan and Syria, following three days of violence that killed 130 people

A string of attacks killed at least 16 people in Iraq on Saturday while gunmen abducted eight policemen guarding a post on the country's main highway to Jordan and Syria, as a wave of violence continued to grip the country.

The shootings and bombings follow three days of attacks that killed 130 people in both Shiite and Sunni areas in scenes reminiscent of retaliatory attacks between the two groups that pushed the country to the brink of civil war in 2006 and 2007. The spike in bloodshed in recent weeks has raised fears the country may be heading toward a new round of sectarian conflict.

Tensions have been worsening since Iraq's minority Sunnis began protesting what they say is mistreatment at the hands of the Shiite-led government, including random detentions and neglect. The mass demonstrations, which began in December, have largely been peaceful, but the number of attacks rose sharply after a deadly security crackdown on a Sunni protest camp in northern Iraq on 23 April.

Majority Shiites control the levers of power in post-Saddam Hussein Iraq. Wishing to rebuild the nation rather than revert to open warfare, they have largely restrained their militias in the past five years or so as Sunni extremist groups such as al-Qaida have frequently targeted them with large-scale attacks. But the sharp jump in attacks on Sunni areas, including bombings on Friday that killed at least 76 people, has fueled concerns of renewed retaliatory killings.

In Saturday's deadliest attack, gunmen broke into the house of an anti-terrorism police captain in the southern suburbs of Baghdad, killing the officer and his family in their sleep. Police officials identified the dead as Captain Adnan Ibrahim, his wife and two children, aged eight and 10. The attackers fled the scene, and killed another policeman who tried to stop them at a nearby checkpoint.

In the western Sunni province of Anbar, gunmen kidnapped eight policemen who were guarding a post on the main highway linking Iraq to both Jordan and Syria, according to two police officials.

Earlier in the day, security forces and gunmen clashed in the area after police tried to arrest a Sunni tribal sheik suspected of being behind the killing of three army intelligence soldiers who were stopped by gunmen near a protest site in the city of Ramadi last month. Iraqi authorities had offered a bounty for the arrest or information leading to the arrest of the sheik, Khamis Abu Risha, and two other people they say were linked to the killings.

The fighting near Abu Risha's house north of Ramadi left three people wounded. No arrests were made. Later, gunmen deployed near the main entrance of Anbar Operations Command headquarters in Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad. Hours later, Ramadi police said a bomb placed under stalls in a small stadium exploded, killing four people who were watching a local soccer match.

Shortly before sunset, a car bomb went off near a small market in in the town of Latifiyah south of Baghdad, killing three people and wounding 12. In the predominantly Shiite city of Basra in southern Iraq, gunmen shot and killed a Sunni cleric, Assad Nassir, as he was leaving his house, police said. Two Iraqi soldiers were also killed and two others wounded when a roadside bomb struck a group of soldiers arriving to inspect the scene of a blast that took place earlier in the northern city of Mosul. A security official said a roadside bomb hit a police patrol in the northern suburbs of Baghdad, killing one policeman and wounding two others.

Health officials confirmed the death tolls. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to talk to the media.

Raha Moharrak, who was among a party of 64 climbers, becomes first female from the country to scale the mountain

A Saudi Arabian woman has become the first woman from her country to climb Mount Everest.

Raha Moharrak was one of 64 climbers who scaled Mount Everest from Nepal's side of the mountain on Saturday.

Tilak Padney of Nepal's mountaineering department says 35 foreigners accompanied by 29 Nepalese sherpa guides reached the 29,035ft (8,850-metre) peak on Saturday morning after climbing all night from the highest camp on South Col.

May is the most popular month for Everest climbs because of its mild weather.

Moharrak, 25, is originally from Jeddah but lives in Dubai. She is part of a four-person expedition that also includes the first Qatari man and the first Palestinian man attempting to reach the summit. Their Twitter page states that they are "working with Reach Out to Asia to raise money for Nepali education". The "Arabs with Altitude" group includes Mohammed Al Thani, a member of Qatar's royal family; Raed Zidan, a Palestinian property businessman and Masoud Mohammad, an Iranian living in Dubai who owns an ice-cream franchise.

The first people to climb Mount Everest were Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay on 29 May 1953.

Complaints of Vatican whitewash as O'Brien leaves Scotland for penance in exile

The four men whose accusations of sexual misconduct led to the dramatic resignation of Britain's leading Catholic cleric as archbishop have attacked a Vatican announcement last week that he will leave the country for a period of "prayer and penance". The three priests and one ex-priest, whose complaints were first reported in the Observer in February, say Cardinal Keith O'Brien should have been sent for psychological treatment instead.

One of the priests warns: "Keith is extremely manipulative and needs help to be challenged out of his denial. If he does not receive treatment, I believe he is still a danger to himself and to others."

The four men are demanding an investigation into O'Brien's "predatory behaviour" and say that stripping him of his cardinal status should not be ruled out. Despite making statements to the papal nuncio three months ago, they have heard nothing about a formal investigation into the cardinal, who was a vociferous public opponent of homosexuality.

"Removing O'Brien from Scotland might temporarily reduce the embarrassment to the church authorities but this story has not been fully told yet," says Lenny, the ex-priest complainant. "We have been patient but I'm still waiting to be told what, if any, process the church has in mind."

"They're all passing the buck on this," agrees one of the priests. "It's a smokescreen. We need an investigation and Keith needs to be challenged by professionals to acknowledge the damage he has done to people, himself and the church."

The Vatican's statement followed O'Brien's recent return to Dunbar, in his old diocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh, where he was due to retire. Peter Kearney, director of communications for the Catholic church in Scotland, told the Observer that no one in Scotland had the authority to challenge O'Brien's behaviour, his return to Scotland or his residence in church property. "We are part of the Roman Catholic church and the ultimate authority for the way the church functions in Scotland lies in Rome. The only person who is senior to the cardinal is the pope."

"That," says one complainant, "is farcical." "I don't care about red hats," says another, "but if the red hat is shoring up his perceived power, it has to go."

Although there is no official investigation by the Scottish church, behind the scenes Bishop Joseph Toal of Argyll and the Isles has been asked to talk informally to the complainants. "It's been hard listening to what's being said," he admitted to the Observer. "But it's important we hear what they're saying and the gravity of the situation. If I can help in some way, I will."

Calls for an investigation have been backed by Catholic theologian Professor Werner Jeanrond, master of St Benet's Hall at Oxford University. "Instead of dealing with issues we are constantly presented with this half-baked solution of removing people. It is not a grown-up church handling this case. I am in favour of investigation on the personal level, so that he can own up to his concealment and own his own life again, but because he was in the clerical life it also has to be a formal investigation. We also have to have an investigation into why we are in this mess."

O'Brien's downfall reveals a bigger tragedy, argues Jeanrond. "As a church, we have failed to come to terms with homosexuality. Once and for all we have to face up to the fact that there are homosexuals, gays, lesbians and transsexuals." Jeanrond has been shocked by the absence of an organised laity in Britain compared with other European countries. "As soon as something happens on the clerical side, the whole church is paralysed. That's ridiculous. Is the whole of Jesus's mission coming to an end because Keith O'Brien has sinned?"

The four complainants say an investigation is about justice, not vengeance. "I will give forgiveness if asked," says one, "as long as the damage has been recognised. At times, we don't do ourselves a lot of good by throwing pardon around like confetti without a change of heart. I am angry at the system that licked his boots and allowed him to get on with it."

In a rare interview, the Syrian president says a divided opposition could not uphold a peace deal and that he has no intention of stepping down

Syria's embattled leader Bashar al-Assad has used a rare interview – carried out amid the sound of artillery fire resounding through his presidential palace in Damascus – to warn the United States and Russia that their efforts to bring about talks will do little to halt the civil war laying waste to his country, and that he has no intention of stepping down.

In an exclusive interview for the Argentinian newspaper Clarín, shared with the Observer, Assad says he welcomes attempts at dialogue, but believes that western states are looking for ways to fuel the violence, rather than stop it, and are seeking to topple his regime regardless of the toll.

Moscow and Washington have been in dispute over the anti-Assad uprising since it began in March 2011 but are now trying to find common ground to quell the bloodshed and destruction as its effects continue to reverberate across the region. If successful, there are hopes talks could take place at the end of this month and lead to a multilateral summit attended by key protagonists.

Assad, speaking to Clarín's reporter Marcelo Cantelmi from the library of his palace, said that a continuing lack of unity between the myriad rebel groups meant that opposition leaders would be unable to implement any ceasefire measures agreed at a summit, such as surrendering arms. "They are not a single entity," he said. "They are different groups and bands, not dozens but hundreds. They are a mixture and each group has its local leader. And who can unify thousands of people? We can't discuss a timetable with a party if we don't know who they are."

Asked about the possibility of stepping down, he said: "I don't know whether [US secretary of state] John Kerry or anyone else has received a mandate from the Syrian people to decide whether someone should stay or go. Any decision about reforms in Syria will come from Syria and neither the US nor any other state can intervene. In any case, to resign would be to flee."

Attempts to consolidate a cohesive opposition force which is committed to Syria continuing as a pluralistic state have largely been unsuccessful. The war is now into its third year, sectarian positions are hardening and regional stakeholders are being drawn ever deeper into a conflict that threatens to also consume them. Assad again blamed Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey for driving the insurgency, insisting that ending such support for the opposition must be a priority if the summit goes ahead. "There cannot be a unilateral solution in Syria; two parties are needed at least. In practice, the opposition forces are linked to foreign countries and cannot make a decision for themselves. They are one and the same, and it is they who announced that they don't want a dialogue with the Syrian state, most recently last week. Believing that a political conference will stop terrorism on the ground is unreal."

The Free Syrian Army remains nominally the umbrella rebel military group, but its power has been diminished by the rise of regional warlords and opportunists – and the creeping ascendancy of al-Qaida linked groups, which are now at the vanguard on numerous fronts. With central authority disintegrating, Syria is descending into an ungovernable domain of warlords, fiefdoms and militias, some of whom are fighting not for nationalistic aims but as part of a global jihad in the name of fundamentalist Islamist doctrine.

On both sides of the war, faith in the international community to bring about a solution has been evaporating rapidly. And in the opposition-held north of the country, there was growing frustration on Saturday at what is perceived as a disconnect between faltering global diplomacy and searing on-the-ground reality. "This is a fight to the death for the Sunnis," said Abu Hamza, a commander of a Free Syrian Army-linked brigade in Idlib province. "The regime has fired at least 200 ballistic missiles into the north against civilian areas. And the world wonders why we attack their villages? They are trying to eradicate us. We must get to them first."

Sectarianism, for so long a subcurrent in the Syrian conflict, is now a driving force for substantial elements on both the regime and opposition sides. A series of web videos posted in recent weeks chronicling atrocities committed by both sides reveals the growing depth of enmity and the willingness to lay claim to crimes that in the early months of the war would have been subject to interminable dispute. Assad denied credible reports that fighters from Lebanon's Hezbollah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards had travelled to Syria to fight alongside his regime, but acknowledged that some members of both groups had been in the country.

"We do not have fighters from outside Syria," he said. "There are people here from Hezbollah and Iran, but they have been coming and going in Syria since long before the crisis." He again denied his regime had used chemical weapons, a claim regularly made by rebel groups and partly supported by western officials. He suggested that the use of such weapons could be used as a pretext to directly intervene in the crisis.

"It is probable that the issue would be used," he said. "The west lies and falsifies evidence to engineer wars, it is a habit of theirs. Of course, any war against Syria would not be easy, it wouldn't be a simple excursion.

"[Intervention] is a clear probability, especially after we've managed to beat back armed groups in many areas of Syria. Then these countries sent Israel to do this to raise the morale of the terrorist groups. We expect that an intervention will occur at some point, although it may be limited in nature."

He also rejected claims that his troops had used excessive force. "How does one define excessive force? How can one decide whether excessive force has been used or not? What is the formula to be applied?

The debate is not about the extent of the force used or the type of weapon … the issue really centres on the nature and extent of the terrorism we have suffered, and thus, what is a proper response."

Of the recent Israeli attacks, he accused Israel of doing the bidding of rebel groups, which he alleged had in turn bombed a Syrian military radar site, which allowed the Israeli jets to carry out their attack."Israel is directly supporting the terrorist groups in two ways, firstly it gives them logistical support and it also tells them what sites to attack and how to attack them. For example, they attacked a radar station that is part of our anti-aircraft defenses, which can detect any plane coming from overseas, especially from Israel."

Union delegates declare that Michael Gove's policies are not in the best interests of children, parents or schools

Headteachers have passed a vote of no confidence in the government's education policies, declaring that Michael Gove's policies are not in the best interests of children.

Delegates at the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) conference in Birmingham raised concerns about the new national curriculum, major test and exam reforms and schools being forced into becoming academies.

Tim Gallagher, proposing the motion, said: "Enough is enough. This motion's intention is to send the strongest message possible to this government that many of their education policies are failing our children, their parents and the very fabric of our school communities."

The NAHT is the first headteachers' union to pass a vote of no confidence in the government's education reforms.

The UK's three biggest teachers' unions, the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), the National Union of Teachers (NUT) and the NASUWT passed similar votes at their Easter conferences. The NUT and the NASUWT are planning regional strikes in the north-west next month in a continuing row over pay, pensions and workload, with the prospect of a national strike later this year.

Bernadette Hunter, the NAHT president, told Gove, who attended the conference, that the morale of headteachers was low.

"You cannot fail to be aware that the morale of the profession is at an all-time low. Many are angry at what is happening to the education system. Those of us in education, leaders and learners, have never had it so bad. It is within your power to put this right," she said as she introduced him to the conference.

NEW Gove told the conference: "If Ofsted causes you stress, then I'm grateful for your candour, but we are going to have to part company. What I have heard is repeated statements that the profession faces stress, and insufficient evidence about what can be done about it."

"What I haven't heard over the last hour is a determination to be constructive, critical yes, but not constructive." ENDS

Earlier, Hunter described Gove as being like "a fanatical personal trainer" in urging schools to jump higher and run faster.

She said Gove ignored the damage he was causing to the education system as he bullied headteachers into turning schools into academies.

Hunter, who represents most primary school headteachers, also attacked inspectors, saying they reduced rather than enhanced educational standards.

"The reality is that Ofsted is no longer fit for purpose, if it ever was," she said. "It costs an enormous amount of money, demoralises schools and staff and does nothing to improve the quality of education.

"It is leading to many good heads taking early retirement and many young teachers reluctant to work in more challenging schools, let alone taken leadership in those establishments.

"We're not afraid of proper and rigorous accountability but the current regime is damaging schools, not making them better."

Before her speech Hunter told the BBC that headteachers were also unhappy about the "constant churn of educational change" and negative rhetoric from the government.

"We know that UK schools are amongst the best in the world," she said. "They are highly regarded by other countries, but to hear the Department for Education you would think we have a failing system."

The NAHT conference also heard claims that brokers employed by the DfE had been pressuring schools, particularly those that face the biggest challenges, into becoming academies. More than half of secondary schools in England are now academies, but the vast majority of primary schools retain their links with local authorities. Many academy schools are part of chains, while others are run individually.

"What we cannot tolerate is the completely unacceptable bullying of heads and governors to turn their schools into academies, to meet a political target set by the secretary of state," Hunter said.

A DfE spokeswoman said: "We are clear that the best way forward for an underperforming school is to become an academy with the support of a strong sponsor. Academy sponsors have already turned around hundreds of struggling schools across the country, and academy results are improving far faster than the national average.

"Academy brokers help us to identify the best possible sponsor to turn around failing schools and ensure pupils are given every chance to fulfil their potential. We expect the highest levels of professional conduct from academy brokers and any allegations of misconduct are fully investigated."

Preliminary injunction suspends law due to come into effect in August, pending legal challenge from pro-choice groups

A federal judge has temporarily blocked an Arkansas law that would have prohibited abortions in the state from 12 weeks of pregnancy, pending a legal challenge from pro-choice groups.

US district judge Susan Webber Wright granted a request Friday for a preliminary injunction against the introduction of the ban, which was set to take effect in August. It is the latest twist in the passage of the law, which opponents claim amounts to an attempt by conservatives to outlaw abortions in the state entirely. In March, the state's Republican-led legislature pushed through the measure, overriding a veto from Democratic governor Mike Beebe.

Weeks later, attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas and the Center for Reproductive Rights sued the state on behalf of two Little Rock abortion providers and sought an injunction to block the ban's enforcement. Pro-choice advocates have asked Wright to block the law permanently, claiming it is unconstitutional and contradicts the Supreme Court's landmark 1973 Roe v Wade decision, which legalized abortion until a foetus could viably survive outside the womb. A foetus is generally considered viable at 22 to 24 weeks.

Wright did not rule on the constitutionality of Arkansas' ban – that is due to be decided at a future session. But the issuing of a temporary injunction means the law can not be enforced for the time being. Following the judge's decision, the ACLU said it would continue to push for a permanent shelving of the proposed ban.

"This law is an extreme example of how lawmakers around the country are trying to limit a woman's ability to make the best decision for herself and her family," said Talcott Camp, deputy director of the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project. She added: "Far from safeguarding women's health, these laws are designed with one purpose – to eliminate all access to abortion care."

The Arkansas law is tied to the date when a foetal heartbeat can typically be detected by an abdominal ultrasound. The measure includes exemptions for rape, incest, the life of the mother and highly lethal foetal disorders. Arkansas had for a short time the most restrictive law in the US. But it was overtaken by conservative lawmakers in North Dakota, who have passed legislation that would outlaw the procedure as early as six weeks. Abortion rights advocates are expected to challenge the North Dakota law in the courtroom.

Cardinal Keith O'Brien has been told to leave Scotland for 'prayer and penance', after resigning over charges of sexual misconduct. But his accusers still wait for a proper inquiry

When news came last week that Cardinal Keith O'Brien was being exiled from Scotland for "prayer and penance", memories came flooding back to Lenny, the former priest who has accused O'Brien of inappropriate behaviour.

He remembered being a young priest in the 90s and telling O'Brien, then an archbishop, that he could not pledge allegiance to him and was leaving. The cold chill of O'Brien's disapproval followed him down the path of the archbishop's official residence and seeped into him in the dole office where he queued for benefits.

Years later, the two were forced to meet again. O'Brien was a cardinal. Lenny reminded him of an unfortunate prank O'Brien had organised when he was spiritual director at Lenny's seminary. Ah, the cardinal admitted, other staff had later chastised him for bad judgment. "But these days," he smiled, "I can do what I like."

In February, O'Brien resigned after complaints of sexual misconduct, not just from Lenny but from three serving priests in his own diocese. His statement admitted inappropriate conduct "as a priest, archbishop and cardinal", a clear indication that his sexual choices had been a lifestyle and not isolated indiscretions. Three months on, there has been no official Vatican investigation and is no prospect of one. Some interpreted last week's statement of O'Brien's exile as Vatican "action". To the four complainants, it was another smokescreen. So what has really been going on for the last three months, behind the scenes of the Catholic church?

The trigger for the four complainants going public was not, as some suggested, the resignation of Pope Benedict and the ensuing papal conclave. Their statements were with the nuncio on 8 February. Benedict resigned on the 11th. It was, instead, a message from the nuncio, via an intermediary, that the cardinal would retire to a life of "prayer and seclusion". It was "Vatican-speak". The complainants knew that everything was about to be swept under the clerical carpet. Last week's statement was uncannily familiar. The cardinal would undergo "a period of prayer and penance". But if the Vatican really wanted that, why had they not insisted on it immediately? Clearly, it wasn't his sexual misconduct that triggered this statement. So what was it?

Key concepts govern Catholic church behaviour: authority, obedience, cover-up, secrecy and clericalism. Clericalism is about deference, a demand for respect without scrutiny.

These traits have been seen often in church history. The protection of the institution rather than victims in abuse cases. The movement of paedophile priests from parish to parish in an "out of sight, out of mind" policy. The astonishing admission by the Scottish church that the child abuse audits it promised back in 1996 had not been carried out. There is a reason why the Catholic church is weak in processes and procedures, why things are "fixed" in dusty corners. The hierarchy demands authority, without offering accountability.

After the cardinal resigned, church secrecy created a vacuum. The nuncio's office refused to give information about any investigation. "Not even whether it exists," the Observer was told.

The four had to break the silence by battering individually on the Vatican's doors. Lenny even phoned Rome, asking to speak to Cardinal Ouellet, head of the Congregation for Bishops, who would be expected to investigate any matters relating to cardinals. "You think I can speak on the phone?" demanded Ouellet. "I don't think so." Well, write to me, said Lenny. Ouellet wrote a perfunctory letter. His department was considering Lenny's testimony "very carefully". But in future, please contact the nuncio. To this day, the formal statements of the four have been met only with offers of informal "chats".

Media stories became inaccurate and contradictory. There was an investigation. There wasn't an investigation. (There wasn't – at least not a meaningful one.) Bishops' appointments were on hold. (They weren't – they just couldn't be filled.) Where was the cardinal through all this? A letter sent by O'Brien shortly after he resigned had a Scottish postmark. Then he turned up in a church property in Dunbar, where he had been due to retire and where his close friend, John Creanor, is parish priest. His appearance became public, courtesy of the Sun.

It was an obvious set-up. O'Brien was photographed moving in and gave a brief interview. The drip, drip of stories became a flow. The Catholic media office was supposedly furious – and largely unavailable for official comment. The director of communications, Peter Kearney, said only Rome could handle this. Nobody in Scotland had authority to challenge a cardinal. When O'Brien resigned, archbishop Philip Tartaglia was appointed temporary leader of St Andrews and Edinburgh. But Tartaglia failed to confront the issue, and behind the scenes those "church insiders" were critical. "He is completely lacking in leadership qualities," one told me. Last week Peter Kearney told the Observer there could be no Scottish investigation because the nuncio had – rightly – not divulged the names of the complainants. But the nuncio had. What Kearney didn't know, apparently, was that Joseph Toal, bishop of Argyll and the Isles, had been given names and asked to be a contact point.

It was into this chaotic scrum that last week's Vatican statement was lobbed. O'Brien's cardinal sin was obvious. Not sexual misconduct. Being visible. The four hardly cared if he was in Scotland. "He's got to live somewhere," one told me. What they wanted was an official investigation.

There were several ironies. Firstly, O'Brien had been painted as the elderly repentant gent who just wants "a quiet retirement". In fact, he is still Britain's most senior Catholic. His power is such that nobody would challenge him – and let's not forget that abusing power led to his downfall.But this is no longer about personal failure. It's about systemic failure. "As a church, we have failed to come to terms with homosexuality," says Professor Werner Jeanrond, a Catholic theologian who held the chair of divinity at Glasgow University, before becoming the first layman to run the Benedictine hall, St Benet's, at Oxford University. "The highest clerical representative of the church is himself a victim of the system which didn't allow him to own his homosexuality."

But O'Brien is not the main victim in this. If people knew what the four's statements contained, they might not dismiss the accusations so readily and call for easy forgiveness. This is not about vengeance. It's about transparency and an end to clericalism. "You cannot forgive," Jeanrond points out, "if you do not know what is to be forgiven."

O'Brien is a timebomb. Anyone who thinks this is only about his behaviour – or just the behaviour of Scottish clergy – is naive. It is about clergy worldwide. But the scandals behind at least one other Scottish bishop are legendary. Sexual "misconduct" is rife among the priesthood. Heavy drinking is common. Payoffs have been made to cover scandals. Serious abuse has been concealed. O'Brien knows where the bodies lie. And the hierarchy knows he knows.

But he is not the only timebomb. While writing this, an email arrived from one of the priests. He had been called to a dying woman's house. She would die before midnight, he thought. But this family he met had hope. The word hope was touching. It put everything in context. Perhaps, said the priest, Pope Francis represented hope. Perhaps he would instigate an investigation. And if not? Well, despite what the cardinal once thought, no person or institution is untouchable. Those who know what those four statements contain know they include information that could blow this scandal even higher. That is not a threat. More, a prophetic warning.

Daft Punk's new album is astoundingly ambitious, creating a frenzy even before it has appeared. On the eve of its release – and 20 years since they made their first record in their bedroom as teenagers – Dorian Lynskey gets beyond the helmets to talk to the notoriously shy French duo

It is a peculiar experience meeting the most famous faceless musicians in the world. Daft Punk are certainly well known. Eight years after their last album, their influence can be felt throughout dance music and beyond. Their fourth release, Random Access Memories, is the most hysterically anticipated record in years: every tidbit disseminated online over the past two months has been scrutinised like a fragment of the true cross. At a point in their career when most bands are on a downward slope, Daft Punk have just celebrated their first number one single, "Get Lucky", and are somehow bigger than ever.

"They're two of the greatest innovators in popular music and we're as excited to hear what they are doing as we are about David Bowie," says Chris Price, music editor of industry trade magazine Record of the Day. "I think they're as enigmatic and pioneering as Kraftwerk," says Dave Clarke, whose Soma label discovered Daft Punk 20 years ago. "They drop out and disappear and their fanbase grows."

So, yes, Daft Punk are very famous indeed, but the two Frenchmen sitting side by side on a sofa in a luxurious Paris hotel suite – Thomas Bangalter, 38, and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, 39 – are very much not. Their last unmasked photo shoot was in 1995 and, for the past decade or so, they have hidden inside the helmets of their robot alter egos. But helmets would look, well, daft in an interview so here they are in the reluctant flesh. With his receding hairline, grey jacket and lean, thoughtful face, Thomas has a professorial air, delivering smoothly erudite monologues in a voice rather like Vincent Cassel's. Slumped beside him, in black jeans and a T-shirt advertising Italian prog-rock band Goblin, Guy-Man looks and acts at least a decade younger, long-haired and taciturn, like a problematic exchange student. It feels as if a hip TV academic has, for his own quiet amusement, decided to bring his surly nephew to work for the day.

Of course, Daft Punk would argue that any impression of them as people is irrelevant. "The robots are part of the fiction and it's not really interesting to see what's behind it," argues Thomas. "When you look at C-3PO and Darth Vader and then look at the actors behind them you can't really make the connection. It kills the magic. I feel the robots are the same." Guy-Man grunts in agreement. "They're more interesting than us for sure."

Five years in the making, Random Access Memories is a fabulously, heroically, sometimes ridiculously ambitious enterprise. First there's the cast of guests, which includes disco pioneers (Giorgio Moroder, Nile Rodgers), indie-rock stars (the Strokes's Julian Casablancas, Animal Collective's Panda Bear), house producers (Todd Edwards, DJ Falcon) R&B royalty (Pharrell Williams) and a singer-songwriter who wrote songs for Bugsy Malone and the Muppets (Paul Williams). Then there's the sheer sonic opulence, attained by snubbing computers in favour of veteran session musicians, legendary studios and a 70-piece orchestra. Finally there's the promotional campaign, which involves costumes designed by Hedi Slimane, billboards on Sunset Boulevard and a series of playfully ingenious teasers starting in March with an enigmatic commercial during Saturday Night Live. Set against most of the year's "big" releases, Random Access Memories resembles Gulliver in Lilliput.

"The first thing I said when I heard it was: 'Can I see it again?'" Paul Williams says in awestruck tones. "That's an interesting slip of the tongue. The best way I can describe it is Kubrick's 2001. They take you back in time and then they take you into the future."

Five years ago, Daft Punk surveyed the music industry's diminished landscape of slashed budgets, shuttered studios, MP3s and Garage Band loops and decided to do the exact opposite, inspired by the musical Everests that dominated their childhood, from Dark Side of the Moon to Thriller. It's significant that the final track on Random Access Memories, "Contact", samples the voice of Captain Eugene Cernan, the last man to walk on the moon, because the album betrays a fervent longing for the days of giant leaps.

"The music that's being done today has lost its magic and its poetry because it's rooted in everyday life and is highly technological," Thomas says with a sorrowful expression. "Then you have this classic repertoire of great music that feels like it's coming from this other, timeless place. We wanted to say that these classic albums that were ambitious in scope don't just belong to the past."

It is a grand throw of the dice for a pair of shy, stubborn Frenchmen who started out making noisy techno in their bedrooms. They could have saved themselves a great deal of time and money (they funded it themselves, only later partnering with Columbia Records) by making an album of catchy dance-pop, but they chose the hard way. If their 1997 debut, Homework, reshaped dance music and the impact of 2001's Discovery, a love letter to disco and soft-rock, is still echoing through pop now, then their hope for Random Access Memories is to inspire other artists to dream big. "It's only a state of mind to globally change," says Thomas.

Before I met Daft Punk I spoke to Giorgio Moroder, the 73-year-old producer behind such electronic milestones as Donna Summer's "I Feel Love". "I don't know very much about Guy-Man because we barely spoke, but Thomas is an incredibly intellectual guy," he told me. "He explains things in a metaphysical way. Sometimes it's a little difficult to know exactly what he means."

According to Thomas, Random Access Memories is like a movie, a painting, a fashion collection or "going on a journey in a small boat but you don't know if you're going to reach the other shore". Guy-Man, meanwhile, says precisely nothing for the first half-hour, preferring to sip his espresso, text, stare at the ceiling and generally pretend that I'm not there, his face naturally arranging itself into a weary scowl.

Thomas says that, when they were composing the score for 2010's Tron: Legacy, he wrote the "good guy" themes while Guy-Man handled the "bad guy" music. This makes a lot of sense.

Eventually, in desperation, I ask Guy-Man if he agrees with Thomas last answer. "Yes," he says witheringly. "If I disagree I will tell you." I ask him why he's stayed silent. "Silence is better," he shrugs, and Thomas laughs.

Daft Punk have never relished talking about themselves. In early interviews they came across as suspicious and aloof. "It's because you're 18 and you feel maybe guilty: why are we chosen to do these things?" says Thomas. "There's definitely reasons to feel less uncomfortable now. It's one thing to say you're going to do it and another to have done it for 20 years."

The duo met in 1987 at Paris's Lycée Carnot, prestigious alma mater of Jacques Chirac and Dominique Strauss-Kahn. "We were still children so we formed each other," says Guy-Man, finally surrendering to the interview. "There's so much that is unspoken. It's like an odd couple. Some couples will argue until they die, but some don't speak and enjoy looking at the sunset, you know?"

Thomas's father, Daniel Vangarde, produced French disco hits in the 70s – "DISCO" for Ottawan and "Cuba" for the Gibson Brothers – and Guy-Man's worked in advertising; they shared a privileged upbringing. Their first loves were Jimi Hendrix, the Velvet Underground and Phantom of the Paradise, the bizarre 1974 musical horror movie that Brian De Palma made with Paul Williams. "It covered everything we liked when we were teenagers: horror, rock, musicals, glam," says Thomas, glowing with fandom. "Listening to Led Zeppelin songs backwards, watching Texas Chainsaw Massacre on VHS and getting KISS and David Bowie albums. It synthesised all of these elements."

In 1992, they formed a lo-fi rock band called Darlin' (after a Beach Boys song) with their friend Laurent Brancowitz, who now plays guitar in the successful French group Phoenix. Darlin' released just a handful of songs, which were dismissed as "daft punky thrash" by the music paper Melody Maker. Tweaking this insult into their new name, Thomas and Guy-Man switched to basic electronic equipment purchased with Thomas's 18th birthday present of £1,000, and released three singles on the Scottish dance label Soma, including the groundbreaking "Da Funk".

"Thomas did all the talking," remembers Soma founder Dave Clarke. "For the first six months I knew him Guy-Man kind of pretended he couldn't speak English. They liked being out but they weren't big drinkers. They were quite frugal. They didn't have a desire for wealth and glamour. They had a relaxed confidence that their music was going to get out there."

This was a period when the likes of the Prodigy and the Chemical Brothers were proving that dance music could transcend clubland to deliver big-selling crossover albums. When major labels came running, they were made to feel that they needed Daft Punk more than Daft Punk needed them. "Our career is defined more by the things we didn't do than by the things we did," says Thomas. "A lot of young kids come to us and say, 'What can we do to be where you guys are? We'll do anything.'

"And the answer is just the opposite. We haven't done anything that we didn't want. The only secret to being in control is to have it in the beginning. Retaining control is still hard, but obtaining control is virtually impossible."

Daft Punk's outsider mentality owed something to coming from France, whose pop music was then the butt of condescending jokes in the UK press and whose rave scene was hounded by the authorities. "Initially electronic music was anti-establishment, as punk rock and rock'n'roll were," says Thomas. "The music was shut down, the police were against the parties." He sounds like a soixante-huitard fondly remembering the barricades. "Now it's the opposite. It been totally accepted so there's nothing to fight for."

Daft Punk's 1997 debut album, Homework, recorded entirely in Thomas's bedroom, filtered house and techno through a love of classic rock. The cover displayed a logo patch sewn on to a black satin jacket, while the inner sleeve depicted a desk cluttered with adolescent artefacts, including a 1976 KISS poster and a Chic single sleeve. It was like a superhero's origin story: Peter Parker's bedroom before he became Spider-Man. Guy-Man, who designed the artwork, says that Thomas is the "hands-on technician" while he is the "filter": the man who stands back and says oui or non.

The hit single "Around the World" displayed a then-unfashionable love of disco which attracted the attention of Chic guitarist Nile Rodgers. "The genius is never in the writing, it's in the rewriting," says Rodgers. "Whenever they put out records I can hear the amount of work that's gone into them – those microscopically small decisions that other people won't even think about. It's cool, but they massage it so it's not just cool – it's amazing."

For the next few years, Daft Punk could do no wrong. They commissioned striking videos from Spike Jonze, Michel Gondry and Roman Coppola. "Music Sounds Better With You", the Chaka Khan-sampling 1998 single by Thomas's side project Stardust, brought disco fever to house music. Madonna and Kylie had number-one hits that sounded uncannily like Daft Punk. In 2001 the retro-futurist Discovery revived appreciation for the kind of glossy soft-rock and sentimental 80s pop that most bands deemed too cheesy. "Homework was really to show the rock kids that techno is cool and Discovery was to show the techno kids that rock and soft-rock can be cool," says Thomas. It worked. They were sampled by Kanye West (whose forthcoming album they've worked on), celebrated as the gold standard of hipster cred in LCD Soundsystem's "Daft Punk is Playing at My House" and energetically homaged by younger artists, such as Justice.

The robot helmets, which are redesigned for each new project and are famous enough to have been spoofed on The Simpsons, enhanced their mystique. "People initially thought it was just marketing," says Thomas. "It was never that. The robots in some sense were as important as the music itself." Of course, it was also great marketing and an excellent way of preserving their privacy. At last month's Coachella festival, while the crowd went wild to a short video clip of "Get Lucky", Daft Punk watched from the sidelines, blissfully unrecognised.

There was a downside to the unbroken acclaim though. The more that other people sounded like Daft Punk, the harder it become for Daft Punk to do something new. Their third album, 2005's rough, ornery Human After All, was poorly received and left Daft Punk unsure what to do next. "Usually a band 20 years into its existence doesn't put out its best records," says Thomas. "That was something we had in mind – to try to break that rule. It's not intimidating, but it takes time."

So Daft Punk stopped thinking about albums. Instead they mounted a groundbreaking world tour, their first since 1997, that did for live dance music what Pink Floyd did for stadium rock. They made an inscrutable, wordless art movie called Daft Punk's Electroma. They scored Tron: Legacy for Disney. They both started families: Thomas has a second home in LA with his actor wife Élodie Bouchez. They reluctantly agreed to be made Chevaliers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, having controversially turned down the prestigious honour several years earlier, just because they didn't want to cause another fuss. "You feel like you're going to get even more attention," Thomas says with an embarrassed sigh.

In the absence of any new Daft Punk music, their back catalogue nourished America's EDM (Electronic Dance Music) explosion. Key producers, such as Skrillex, trace their love of dance music to that 2006-7 tour. "Everyone I've talked to who's seen that show counts it as one of their all-time favourites," says Ryan Dombal, senior editor of influential US music website Pitchfork. "And its uniqueness and relative scarcity makes it easy to mythologise. When a lot of artists are trying to get an audience's attention by any means necessary – Twitter, sponsorship deals, commercials, playing festivals – it's automatically appealing when an artist seems above all that."

Daft Punk, who prefer the likes of James Blake and Bon Iver to most club music, pull faces when I mention their influence on EDM. "Pthrrrrt," says Thomas. "On one hand we're flattered. On the other hand we wish people could be influenced by our approach as much as our output. It's about breaking the rules and doing something different rather than taking some arrangements we did 10 years ago that have now become a formula."

Thomas blames the machines. For a man who has spent 12 years pretending to be a robot, he takes a remarkably dim view of digital music. "Computers aren't really music instruments," he sniffs. "And the only way to listen to it is on a computer as well. Human creativity is the ultimate interface. It's much more powerful than the mouse or the touch screen."

As an antidote to those wretched machines, they recorded Random Access Memories entirely live, with dozens of musicians, in studios in Paris, New York and Los Angeles. That sounds expensive, I say. "Yes, it got expensive," Thomas nods with some pride. "But we started with just £1,000 and everything since then has been financed by the audience. It was expensive in the same way that movies are expensive, because hundreds of people work on them. We feel fortunate to be able to experiment on a large scale. There's a lot of experimentation now in alternative music, but it feels like there's no money. The people with the means to be ambitious are usually the ones who are experimenting less."

Enjoying the Hollywood analogy, Thomas says Daft Punk were the album's screenwriters and directors while the guest performers were the actors, but actors who were given licence to write their own lines. "I didn't feel like I was being brought in to add wallpaper to a house that already existed," says Paul Williams. "I felt part of the process from the very beginning."

The way individual collaborators describe their understanding of the record recalls the fable of the blind men and the elephant: each one grasped only a fraction of the whole. "They didn't tell me anything," says Moroder, who spent four hours talking about his life for the extraordinary disco history lesson "Giorgio By Moroder". "Zero. I had several dinners with the boys and I didn't even ask because I knew they wouldn't tell me."

"What I worked on was quite bare bones and everything else grew up around me," says Nile Rodgers. "They just wanted me to be free to play. That's the way we used to make records back in the day. It almost felt like we'd moved back in time."

Perhaps that's the key to Daft Punk's current mission: using their privileged position to reinvent old methods pour encourager les autres. "We're not in a golden age of audiophile excellence and craftsmanship," complains Thomas. "But there's maybe a way to put back a certain optimism. There's things that can be done with music. It's an invitation to variety."

As for where Daft Punk go from here – will they make another album? Will they ever tour again? They'd really rather not say. "The projection of the future is kind of useless," shrugs Thomas. He thinks a tour, however lucrative, would be a distraction at this point. "We want to put the spotlight on the record. That's what we are sharing with you. There's nothing else." He holds out his empty palms. "That's it."

Guy-Man points out that, after all, they have not got this far by blabbing about their plans. "We don't actively try to feed people and annoy them with what we're doing," he says, leaning back. "We are not craving to be known. If we don't have this or that we are fine. You have to be self-content. The art is the first and only priority." He reclines like a cat in the sun. "We don't have to rush things."

Random Access Memories is out on Columbia on 20 May

Concerns that firms' rights to hold patents on genes linked to breast cancer is pushing up cost of testing for disease

Angelina Jolie's decision to speak out about her decision to have a preventive double mastectomy was intended to highlight the terrible risks of breast cancer. But the film star's move also cast a spotlight on the far less known arena of patent battles over genetic technology which could have far more impact than Jolie's widely applauded move.

Before the end of next month the US supreme court will issue a landmark decision in a case brought against the biotech firm Myriad Genetics, which is based in Utah, by the Association for Molecular Pathology.

The firm owns a patent on the BRCA1 gene, which Jolie carries and which is believed to carry a high risk of causing breast cancer. It also owns a patent on the similar BRCA2 gene.

It means that Myriad has the exclusive right to develop diagnostic tests for those genes – a fact that has implications for other firms, who thus might be prevented from developing innovations in the field.

It also has some serious hard-money business implications: in the wake of Jolie's announcement, Myriad's share price shot up. That has worried some commentators. In a New York Times column describing her decision, Jolie acknowledged she was lucky to be well-off enough to easily afford to take the test for the culpable genes.

Some have complained that the lengthy court battle over Myriad's patents has kept the price of the tests too high and have asked whether patents actually sacrifice patients' interests in favour of protecting corporate profits. "How many more women – and men – might have been able over the past four years to afford BRCA1 or BRCA2 testing in the absence of those protective patents?" wrote Andrew Cohen in Atlantic magazine.

The issue of patents and genetic technology is one of growing importance as a flood of companies enter the booming sector and scientific advances allow more and more advanced genetic manipulation. So far the supreme court has shown a willingness to side with big business. Earlier this month it ruled in favour of agricultural firm Monsanto in defence of a patent it holds on soy beans that dominate the US farming sector.

Stuart Heritage: Ukrainian giants! Romanian vampires! Greek men in skirts! Yes, it's time to stop bickering with our European neighbours and start ridiculing them instead. Join us here from 7.30pm, ready for an 8pm kick-off

Conservative co-chairman taking legal advice following online rumours that he made remark about party activists

The co-chairman of the Conservatives has denied describing party activists as "swivel-eyed loons" after rumours circulated on the internet that he was the source for remarks widely published over the weekend.

Lord Feldman said he was taking legal advice after posts on Twitter implied he was the senior Tory quoted anonymously in several national newspapers. The mystery Tory made the remarks at a party dinner event – allegedly in earshot of journalists – after being asked about the decision of 116 party MPs to defy the prime minister and vote in favour of an amendment regretting the absence of an EU referendum in the Queen's speech.

The unnamed figure is reported as saying: "It's fine. There's really no problem. The MPs just have to do it because the associations tell them to, and the associations are all mad, swivel-eyed loons."

In a statement Feldman, who was a friend of David Cameron at Oxford University, said: "There is speculation on the internet and on Twitter that the senior Conservative party figure claimed to have made derogatory comments by the Times and the Telegraph is me.

"This is completely untrue. I would like to make it quite clear that I did not nor have ever described our associations in this way or in any similar manner. Nor do these alleged comments represent my view of our activists. On the contrary in the last eight years of working for the party, I have found them to be hard-working, committed and reasonable people. They are without question the backbone of the party. I am very disappointed by the behaviour of the journalists involved, who have allowed rumour and innuendo to take hold by not putting these allegations to me before publication. I am taking legal advice."

The remarks threaten to inflame the incendiary row between Conservative grassroots and Cameron's inner circle, including its many former Eton schoolboys, who are criticised as being "out of touch". Feldman was at a dinner of the Conservative Friends of Pakistan on Wednesday at the Intercontinetal hotel in Westminster where the remarks were said to have been made. However, those sitting near him are said by sources close to Feldman to be willing to publicly deny hearing anything similar to the comments reported.

The Conservative party went on the attack on Saturday, suggesting similarities between the Twitter rumours around Feldman and the defamatory claims wrongly connecting former party treasurer Lord McAlpine to child abuse allegations.The case of former chief whip Andrew Mitchell, who is contesting claims that he called police officers at the gates of Downing Street "plebs", was also cited.

Grant Shapps, the co-chairman of the Conservative party, said: "He [Feldman] works very closely with the party volunteers. I believe him when he says that he did not say that about our fantastic volunteers," he told the BBC. "We have seen these rumours flying around the internet, we have seen it with Lord McAlpine and Andrew Mitchell, both of whom were later in the clear."

James Kirkup, the Telegraph journalist who reported the remarks, tweeted: "I have seen Lord Feldman's statement. I stand by my story."

Mitchell, now on the backbenches, appeared on Sky News to offer his support. He said: "It looks to me tonight as if there's a full-on media storm staring on all of this and we should bear in mind that the man at the centre of it, Lord Feldman, says it is untrue and if Lord Feldman says it is untrue then I believe him. We should avoid a rush to judgment.

"None of us think what has been suggested in the media today. Having worked with Lord Feldman I can tell you that this is not his view about activists and I would be very surprised if he did say such a thing.

"It is all very well making these points by innuendo, pointing the finger at the man who has made it clear he didn't say those things. I don't think anyone around David Cameron thinks these things.

"I don't think there is anyone senior in the party or junior in the party who believes anything of the sort about our activists.

"If anyone said such a thing I thing it would be a disgraceful thing to say, completely untrue, and Lord Feldman has made it clear that he didn't say it."

The Ukip leader, Nigel Farage, seized on the remarks allegedly made by a senior Tory. Farage, who claimed to know the identity of the Tory, tweeted on Friday: "If you are a Conservative supporter who believes in Ukip ideas then your party hates you. Come and join us."

"

Those posting comments on the Conservative Home blog on Saturday were unforgiving. Sandy Jamieson wrote: "We activists are all 'mad, swivel-eyed loons'. Of course we are – we elected David Cameron as leader."

Another poster, with the username Doppel1800, wrote: "The cliquey Cameroons are on a completely different planet which even their choice of insults betrays."

Downing Street is under pressure because the Tory is said to be well known to the prime minister for many years. He or she is due to play a significant role in the party's preparations for the general election. The Times, Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mirror, which all reported the remarks and which say they know the identity of the Tory, declined to name the senior member of the prime minister's circle."

The publication of the remarks, which were made during the week that the prime minister was in the US, is particularly embarrassing for Cameron. They come after No 10 aides expressed fury with Philip Hammond, the defence secretary, who criticised the government for devoting so much time to gay marriage legislation.

A Downing Street spokesman said: "It is categorically untrue that anyone in Downing Street made the comments about the Conservative party associations and activists reported in the Times and the Telegraph."

Police say member of Imran Khan's Movement for Justice party ambushed by two bikers

A senior female member of Imran Khan's Movement for Justice party (PTI) was shot dead outside her home in Karachi on Saturday.

Reports suggested that Zahra Shahid Hussain, who was senior vice-president of the PTI, was killed while resisting an attempted robbery in the upmarket Defence neighbourhood of the city. Police said that she was ambushed by two people on a motorcycle. "The assailants opened fire on Zahra, 60, as soon as she reached the gate of her residence. Apparently they were there to target her only," an official said.

An eyewitness said that she handed the attackers her belongings, but was then shot, according to reports. Police superintendent Nasir Aftab said that initial findings suggested the killing was a purse snatching that went wrong. He said that, according to Hussain's daughter, her mother got into their car to leave. The driver drove the car out and was locking up the gate when two men on a motorcycle pulled up and tried to snatch her purse. "When she resisted, they shot her."

Hussain died on her way to hospital, it was reported. Imran Khan blamed the city's dominant MQM party, a claim the party has denied, and the British government, for Hussain's murder in a series of tweets. "I am shocked and deeply saddened by the brutal killing of Zara Shahid Hussain, Zara apa to us, in Karachi tonite. A targeted act of terror!

"I hold Altaf Hussain directly responsible for the murder as he had openly threatened PTI workers and leaders through public broadcasts.

"I also hold the British Govt responsible as I had warned them abt Br citizen Altaf Hussain after his open threats to kill PTI workers."

MQM television said on its facebook page: "As per Zahra Shahid Hussain's daughter and driver, the eyewitnesses, it was a street crime related murder. She got killed resisting a robbery." MQM leader Altaf Hussain has also condemned the killing.

Dr Arif Alvi, the former secretary-general of PTI, tweeted: "I condemn the murder of Zahra Shahid Hussein my dear colleague & demand the arrest of the killers immediately. May her soul rest in peace."

Hussain's murder comes on the eve of a highly contested partial rerun of the vote in the area following last Saturday's general election.

Former chancellor launches scathing attack on David Cameron and says Euroscepticism is 'infecting party soul'

Lord Howe, the former Conservative chancellor who triggered the downfall of Margaret Thatcher, has launched a scathing attack on the prime minister, accusing him of running scared of his backbenchers and endangering Britain's future in Europe.

The Tory grandee says David Cameron has opened a Pandora's box by opposing the current terms of the UK's membership of the European Union and now appears to be losing control of his party. The prime minister's actions, Howe writes in the Observer, have turned an internal Tory problem into a national one.

In a highly significant intervention over Britain's future, Howe laments the "new, almost farcical" level of debate over Europe in the Tory party, and says that Labour and the Liberal Democrats may need to bear the burden of retrieving the situation. Howe, Thatcher's longest-serving cabinet minister, whose resignation speech in 1990 is widely considered to have precipitated the then prime minister's downfall, writes: "Sadly, by making it clear in January that he opposes the current terms of UK membership of the EU, the prime minister has opened a Pandora's box politically and seems to be losing control of his party in the process.

"The ratchet-effect of Euroscepticism has now gone so far that the Conservative leadership is in effect running scared of its own backbenchers, let alone Ukip, having allowed deep anti-Europeanism to infect the very soul of the party."

Howe, who was also a former foreign secretary and deputy prime minister under the late Baroness Thatcher, adds that the events of recent days, in which the prime minister has been forced to offer more and more to satisfy his Eurosceptic MPs, were "more like the politics of the French Fourth Republic than the serious practice of government".

Citing the intervention of President Obama, who last week championed reform of the EU over Britain's exit, Howe laments: "The Conservative party now needs a US president to tell it what it once had the confidence to proclaim as common sense itself."

Howe's savage attack on the prime minister's leadership and the actions of his party follows the successful attempt by Eurosceptic backbenchers to bounce the prime minister into the publication last week of a draft referendum bill on EU membership.

Cameron had already been forced in January, against his stated will, to promise an in-out referendum before 2017, but the prime minister's backbenchers have since been demanding further assurances in the form of legislation. Eurosceptic Tory backbenchers have been energised by Ukip's success in the recent local elections, and a huge rise in national polls.

A new Opinium/Observer poll has Ukip attracting 20% of the vote, with Labour on 37%, the Conservatives on 27% and the Liberal Democrats down to 7%.

Howe states that the risk for the Conservative party, as Europe rises ever further up its internal agenda, is that it loses the next general election and moves to a position of "simply opposing Britain's continued membership, with or without a referendum".

In stark contrast to the view of his friend and former cabinet colleague Lord Lawson, who wrote recently that Britain should leave the EU, Howe believes that the UK is unlikely to hold anything like the position of power to which it aspires without the vehicle of the EU, unless the country was to join the United States. "Leaving the union would, by contrast in my view, be a tragic expression of our shrinking influence and role in the world – and the humbling of our ambitions, already sorely tested by the current crisis, to remain a serious political or economic player on the global stage."

Describing a withdrawal from the European Union as a "very dangerous choice indeed", the peer says Britons have hugely benefited from greater competition, lower prices and wider choice, due to membership of the EU.

Howe adds that much of the UK's inward investment depends on easy access to the £11 trillion EU economy. He writes: "Does anyone think that the UK's revival as a motor car manufacturing nation is based on the appeal of the British market alone to foreign investors?"

In a withering assessment of his party's long-standing preoccupation with Brussels, he adds: "This week has shown that the Conservative party's long nervous breakdown over Europe continues, and what is essentially a Tory problem is now, once again, becoming a national problem, too."

He continues: "A number of serious mistakes have been made but the situation is not irretrievable. What is needed is a mixture of clear thinking, strong leadership and an overriding concern for the national interest – not party management or advantage.

"If the Conservative party is losing its head, a heavy responsibility now rests with Labour and the Liberal Democrats."

Labour leader urges David Cameron to work with G8 countries to force corporate giants to pay their fair share

Ed Miliband has vowed to rip up the rule book as prime minister and go it alone if there is no international consensus to tackle multinationals engaging in massive tax avoidance.

In an interview with the Observer, the Labour leader urged David Cameron to find agreement at the G8 summit of leaders next month around an ambitious agenda forcing corporate giants to pay their fair share.

He said that, if Cameron fails, he himself as prime minister would unilaterally act to make multinationals operating in the UK more transparent about the money they make here, the movement of cash around their corporate structures, and the justifications for the tax they pay.

He would also increase the resources of HM Revenue and Customs to strike at tax cheats.

Miliband, who will speak at a Google event in Hertfordshire on Wednesday, said he believed some multinationals, including the internet giant, were not living up to their responsibilities to society. Google was accused by MPs last week of being devious, calculating and unethical after it emerged that it paid just £3.4m in tax on £3.2bn of sales taken from UK customers last year as the sales were technically "closed" in low-tax Ireland.

Miliband said: "Now, what is the politicians' responsibility: change the law. But it is also to talk about the kind of society we want to create and what the responsibilities of a company like Google are. I don't think they are living up to their responsibilities at the moment, and I will be very clear about that on Wednesday.

"It is part of a culture of irresponsibility. If everyone approaches their tax affairs as some of these companies have approached their tax affairs we wouldn't have a health service, we wouldn't have an education system. And actually the point I will make at Google is that will undermine Google."

Meanwhile Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google, writing in the Observer, has given his first reaction to last week's criticism of his company by MPs on the public accounts committee. He says tax avoidance is rightly a "hot topic" in difficult economic times and urges genuine reform, but adds: "Politicians – not companies – set the rules."

But, in a major policy announcement, Miliband says a Labour government would engender a more responsible capitalism in the UK by changing those rules with or without international agreement. Miliband would:

■ Pursue a new global system where multinationals must publish their revenues, profits and other key corporate information useful to revenue authorities in each country in which they operate.

■ Force multinationals to publish such information in the UK even if international agreement cannot be found on the issue, as they do in Denmark.

■ Make it a legal requirement for multinationals operating in the UK to disclose details of any tax avoidance schemes they are using globally.

■ Seek reforms to "transfer pricing" rules to stop companies from shuffling money to other parts of their firm based in tax havens in return for spurious services.

■ Open up the ownership of companies sited in Britain's tax havens to the UK revenue authorities, but also seek to allow developing countries access to such information.

Miliband said the government was "dragging its feet" on the issue of tax avoidance. "They have got to act. If they don't act, we will act in government. This is an absolutely massive and serious issue.

"I think it is a pro-business agenda to say that people should pay their fair share at the top. The head of a big British retailer came to me recently who was outraged by some of the things going on. He was saying he pays his taxes. The business world feels strongly about this.

"This has an impact on people in their daily lives. The less the big companies pay their fair share of tax, the higher tax others will have to pay, the worse the services they will receive."

Foreign Office sponsored surveys investigating impact of CIA drone campaign in Pakistan, minister Alistair Burt tells MPs

Britain has been forced to admit that it has been funding surveys in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas that reveal US drone strikes in the region are causing deep resentment among the local population.

In an answer to a parliamentary question, the foreign minister, Alistair Burt, confirmed that the Foreign Office had "supported" surveys which showed the proportion of respondents in the tribal areas who believed drone strikes were "never justified" had risen from 59% in 2010 to 63% in 2011.

It appears to be the first time that the government has revealed it has carried out opinion polls on the CIA drone campaign in Pakistan – a programme on which it has refused to comment publicly. Previously British ministers have said: "Drone strikes are a matter for the United States and Pakistan."

However, there have been claims that the government has been complicit in the programme, sharing locational intelligence with US agencies to help them target the strikes.

"The UK should not need to carry out polling to determine that a campaign of illegal killing is wrong," said Kat Craig, legal director for the charity Reprieve, which campaigns for human rights around the world.

"But what this does show is that even British government surveys find that the drone campaign is increasingly unpopular.

"Ministers must come clean on the role that UK intelligence is playing in supporting drone strikes, put a stop to it, and put pressure on the US to end its campaign."

People with conditions such as heart disease or Parkinson's could benefit from tissue grown with their own DNA

Lorraine Barnes suffered a heart attack in 2005 and has lived with the consequences – extreme exhaustion and breathlessness – ever since. "I was separated from my husband and so my children, Charlotte and James, had to grow up overnight because suddenly they were caring for me," she says.

Charlotte agrees: "It turns your world upside down. I worry about my mum day and night, 24/7."

Heart failure leaves Barnes, 49, "drowning and gasping for air", she says. What really preys on her mind, though, is not her present difficulty but her future. "It scares me, as obviously I want to be around to see my children grow up."

There is no cure for heart failure, the aftermath of a heart attack, and the condition is common. Every seven minutes a person has a heart attack in the UK, and some victims are left so weakened they can hardly walk a few metres.

It's a grim scenario. But the prospects for patients like Barnes last week took a dramatic turn for the better when it was revealed that human cloning has been used for the first time to create embryonic stem cells from which new tissue – genetically identical to a patient's own cells – could be grown.

Scientists have been working on such techniques (see box) for some time but their work has been hampered by the difficulties involved in cloning human cells in the laboratory. But the team led by Shoukhrat Mitalipov, of the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, got around this problem. By adding caffeine to cell cultures, their outputs were transformed. "We were able to produce one embryonic stem cell line using just two human eggs, which would make this approach practical for widespread therapeutic use," said Mitalipov.

The development was hailed as a major boost for patients such as Barnes, who might benefit from tissue transplants – and not just heart attack patients but those suffering from diabetes, Parkinson's disease and other conditions.

But the announcement was also greeted with horror. "Scientists have finally delivered the baby that would-be human cloners have been waiting for: a method for reliably creating cloned human embryos," said David King of Human Genetics Alert. "It is imperative we create an international ban on human cloning before any more research like this takes place. It is irresponsible in the extreme to have published this."

Several tabloid newspapers also carried banner headlines warning of the human cloning "danger". Such reactions have a familiar ring. When the cloning of Dolly the Sheep was revealed in 1997 there was an outpouring of hysteria about the prospect of multiple Saddam Husseins being created in laboratories.

"At the time the chances of these horrors occurring – when scientists had not even created a single clone of a human cell – were remote," said physiologist Professor Colin Blakemore of Oxford University. "Not that this worried the alarmists. The crucial point is that we should have spent the intervening time thinking about how we should react sensibly to the concept of a human clone when it does become possible. We have not done that and, although the science is still far off, it is getting closer. We need to ask, carefully and calmly: under what circumstances would we tolerate the creation of a human clone?"

At present such a creation is banned in Britain. No human embryo created by cloning techniques is allowed to develop beyond 14 days. "The research is very tightly regulated and I think there is little chance of a rogue laboratory creating a human clone," said James Lawford Davies, a lawyer who specialises in health sciences. "However, many US states which, ironically, banned therapeutic cloning work because of their strong anti-abortion stances have laws that would permit human clones to develop into foetuses."

Experts such as Professor John Harris, director of Manchester University's Institute for Science, Ethics and Innovation, see positive benefits in reproductive cloning which could have a place in society. He said: "If you take a healthy adult's DNA and use it to create a new person – by cloning – you are essentially using a tried and tested genome, one that has worked well for several decades for the donor. By contrast, a child born naturally has an 8% chance of succumbing to a serious genetic abnormality because of the random selection of their DNA. You can avoid that with a clone."

In fact, most arguments against human cloning are foolish, said Harris, adding: "It could be used in medically helpful ways. If a couple find they are carriers of harmful, possibly fatal recessive genetic illnesses, there is a one in four chance they will produce a child who will die of that condition. That is a big risk. An alternative would be to clone one of the parents. If you did that, then you would know you were producing a child who would be unaffected by that illness in later life.

"Or consider the example of a single woman who wants a child. She prefers the idea of using all her own DNA to the idea of accepting 50% from a stranger. But because we ban human cloning she would be forced to accept DNA from a stranger and have to mother 'his child'. I think that is ethically questionable. Just after Dolly the Sheep was born, Unesco announced a ban on human cloning. I think that was a mistake."

This point was backed by Blakemore. He said: "Many people react with horror at the thought of a human clone, yet three out of every 1,000 babies born today are clones – in the form of identical twins. These twins share not just the same DNA but have grown up in the same uterus and have had the same parenting – features that only intensify their similarities. Society is quite happy about this situation, it appears, but seems to find it odd when talking about cloning."

However, a note of caution was sounded by Ian Wilmut, who led the team that created Dolly the Sheep. He said: "The new work may encourage some people to attempt human reproductive cloning but the general experience is that it still results in late foetal loss and the birth of abnormal offspring." It would be cruel to cause this in humans until techniques had been vastly improved, he added.

However, most scientists see Mitalipov's work as encouraging. If nothing else, the prospects for Lorraine Barnes – and countless other patients whose lives could be transformed by transplants – have greatly improved in the long term.

How it works

The nucleus is removed from a human egg cell and the nucleus from a skin cell is inserted.

An electric shock fuses the skin cell nucleus inside the egg and it begins to divide into new cells. An embryo starts to form.

After a few days the growth of the embryo is halted and cultures of its constituent stem cells created.

By treating stem cells with different chemicals they can be transformed into specialised cells such as those that make up heart muscle, brain, pancreas and other organs. These cells are genetically identical to the original skin cell and can be used to create tissue for transplanting into the skin cell's donor .

www.bhf.org.uk

NHS Direct staff 1,200 smaller in number than in 2009-10, resulting in 120,000 more hospital referrals in the past year

The NHS Direct health advice service referred an extra 120,000 patients to accident and emergency departments in the past year, compared with the final 12 months of the Labour government.

The increase in the number of calls to the 0845 service that were considered to require "urgent or emergency" assistance came as staffing levels dropped significantly. More than 1,200 fewer people worked on NHS Direct in 2012-13 compared with 2009-10, according to figures from the service. The numbers appear to offer an explanation for at least some of the huge increase in people attending A&E departments and a crash in performance there in the last year.

Of the 143 trusts that have large A&E units, only 18 have hit the target of treating 95% of patients within four hours, with the goal being missed by a widening margin in recent months.

Jeremy Hunt, the health secretary, has claimed that this is due to an extra 4 million people a year attending A&E compared with the numbers under the last government. He has blamed doctors' contracts in 2004 allowing GPs to opt out of offering out-of-hours services for pushing people into hospitals. However, the figures suggest that other factors are at work. The coalition has been running down the NHS Direct service, about 40% of whose staff were nurses, since announcing in summer 2010 that it was to be replaced by a 111 helpline run by private call centres.

However the 111 service, introduced nationally on 1 April, has been beset by major serious problems, with many patients unable to get through for hours or being given poor advice and arriving at A&Es in frustration. The figures revealed today show that, as the NHS Direct service has been winding down, it has been pushing more people to hospitals. The proportion of calls referred to A&E in 2009 was 24% of the 4,864,035 calls, up to 36.5% of 3,585,954 calls in 2012. Suresh Chauhan, of the campaign group 38 Degrees, who obtained the figures, said he feared the 111 helpline, run by staff who lack medical training, was sending more people to A&E than NHS Direct, compounding the problem. "The real cause of this crisis is a policy decision made by this government when it came to power in 2010," he said. "They decided to dismantle the NHS Direct service which triaged out-of-hours calls for medical aid.

"This service, called the 0845 line, had been working for a few years then and had an impressive record of processing the calls by listening to actual problems and giving appropriate guidance." Alan Milburn, who negotiated the GPs' contract changes in 2004, said it was "complete nonsense" to claim that reforms introduced nearly a decade ago to improve GP recruitment were hitting performance levels in emergency wards today. Milburn, an adviser to the coalition on social mobility, said ministers needed to explain why performances in A&E departments had improved in the latter part of the Labour administration, only to worsen since 2010.

"It's complete nonsense and totally spurious to claim a deterioration in accident and emergency performance which only took effect in the last 18 months can somehow be tracked back to a GP contract change from 2005," he said. "Jeremy Hunt is blaming the wrong government. He has to explain how the NHS managed to improve accident and emergency performances despite an increase in the numbers of people attending up until 2010, but has since failed to do so."

Local officials say vehicle carrying suspected militants near Aden was struck in an attack by an unmanned aircraft

At least four people were killed and a number of others wounded in a drone strike on a vehicle carrying suspected al-Qaida members in southern Yemen, a local official said on Saturday.

The official said the strike took place at dawn on Saturday on a road to the north of Jaar in Abyan Governorate, near Aden. He did not say who was behind the strike, but previous drone strikes have been carried out by the United States. Washington does not usually comment on drone strikes.

Yemen is home to an al-Qaida wing that has planned to attack international airliners and was once described by Washington as the movement's most dangerous branch.

Impoverished and turbulent, Yemen is located next door to the world's top oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, and major crude shipment routes. The United States has stepped up attacks on al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). Yemeni officials said at least six suspected militants were killed in two drone strikes last month.

Six suspected al-Qaida members were killed in January. Militants allied to AQAP took advantage of Arab Spring chaos in Yemen in early 2011 to seize control of some towns in the country's southern provinces, including Jaar. Although they were pushed from the towns last year, they continue to fight government forces.

Aurora Academies Trust is challenged over use of patented 'Paragon curriculum' that has been criticised by Ofsted

An academy running four schools is paying its US parent company £100,000 a year to use its patented global curriculum, which has been criticised by Ofsted for lacking a "local" focus.

Aurora Academies Trust insists that the Paragon curriculum is transforming the fortunes of the primary schools in East Sussex. But unions and local Labour activists question whether the licensing deal represents the first step in plans to allow private companies to run schools for profit. Tory modernisers are said to be keen on the idea.

Aurora's progress will be studied closely by education experts. It has "lead sponsor" status with the Department for Education, meaning it is consulted on policy decisions and is likely to run more schools in the future.

Aurora's decision last autumn to take over the four schools – King Offa and Glenleigh Park in Bexhill and Heron Park and Oakwood in Eastbourne – came after education secretary Michael Gove criticised the local authority for "failing actively to pursue sponsored academy solutions".

Aurora was established by Mosaica Education UK, a subsidiary of Mosaica Education Inc, an American company which describes itself as a "global leader in education reform" and runs schools in 12 US states, the United Arab Emirates and India.

Aurora pays Mosaica £100 per pupil per year in royalties to use its curriculum. There are about 1,000 children at the four schools, meaning Mosaica receives about £100,000 a year from the arrangement.

Aurora insists Mosaica does not profit from the deal. But Christine Blower, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, the largest teaching union, questioned the transparency of the arrangement.

"This is taxpayers' money, which should be targeted directly at children's education in the classroom," she said. "What is most shocking is that no accountability mechanism exists to prevent this, nor is there any form of quality assurance."

Parents of Aurora pupils will consider the money well spent if it produces good results. Mosaica claims that its schools produce superior academic results by "utilising a unique school design which combines a proprietary curriculum, Paragon, with state-of-the-art technology".

However, a study of Mosaica's achievement scores by the American Federation of Teachers union, suggested that the company's self-evaluations inflated student scores, claims that are denied by the company.

Under the humanities-based curriculum, students "learn about character, ethics, empathy and self-esteem, implicitly by studying the world's great heroes, both canonical and unsung, and by stepping into the shoes of great historical figures, both real and imaginary".

The approach appears at odds with Gove's views of how history should be taught in the national curriculum. He wants pupils to learn more about British history, complaining that one teenager in five believes Winston Churchill was a fictional character, a statistic drawn from a survey carried out by Premier Inn.

He has also been critical of teachers using imaginary figures to help understand history, recently denouncing the use of Mr Men characters to teach 15- and 16-year-olds about the second world war.

Several parents have praised the Paragon curriculum for giving their children a "more international perspective". A recent Ofsted inspection found that the King Offa school, which had been in special measures, "is making reasonable progress in raising standards". But it noted, "that teachers are not sufficiently confident in adapting teaching materials to the needs of their pupils. Moreover, the curriculum currently lacks a distinctively local element." A study conducted by Arizona State University suggested that many US charter schools that had been run by Mosaica end up severing their links with the company.

Last year, a school in New Orleans took legal action to break its contract with Mosaica. The organisation that took over the school complained that the curriculum was not aligned to state standards, resulting in students failing tests. The school won the lawsuit, but had to pay Mosaica $100,000 to break the contract.

Tim McCarthy, chief executive of Aurora, said that US charter schools regularly switched education providers. He said that Aurora was making significant progress: "We're looking at some little green shoots. We've got a school out of special measures within seven months and we're getting fantastic engagement with pupils and parents."

McCarthy said that Aurora was now tailoring its curriculum to include local history, such as the Norman invasion. "It's a living, breathing resource that is always changing," he said of the curriculum. "The thought that this is something off the shelf is wrong."

He said that "all of the money from the schools is put into running the schools" and that Aurora provided teachers with 90 hours of professional development training.

But Paul Courtel, a local Labour activist, questioned whether Aurora and Mosaica were playing the long game: "I think the substantive financial gain to Mosaica would be the introduction of 'for profit' free schools in the event that the Conservatives are re-elected, with an overall parliamentary majority, in 2015."

Organisers in Kiev determined to go ahead after cancellation of last year's event, despite rise in homophobic attacks

Efforts are going ahead in Ukraine's capital Kiev to stage a gay pride march next week in the face of data showing a sharp rise in the number of homophobic attacks reported in the city.

Organisers were forced to cancel the celebration last year, hours before it was due to start, after police said they could not guarantee the safety of participants in the face of threats from far-right and religious groups.

A report published this weekend by Amnesty International revealed what it called "endemic discrimination" by both the Ukrainian authorities and members of the public towards the country lesbian, gay, bisexual transgender and intersex (LGBTI) community, and is calling on the government to drop proposals to introduce two pieces of legislation which would further entrench homophobia by making it illegal to promote "propaganda" about homosexuality in the arts.

Ukraine faces a deadline from the European Council to show progress towards reform in human rights, including key judicial and electoral reforms, in order for Ukraine to move towards European integration. Among them is the release of key political prisoners, including its former prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, currently being detained and facing murder and embezzlement charges.

Gay rights campaigners hope the pressure will further their own cause in the face of the growing violence. One non-governmental organisation in Kiev has received 29 reports of violent attacks and 36 of threats against LGBTI people in the last year alone.

Amnesty International's Ukrainian researcher Max Tucker said: "People have been beaten and in one case murdered because of their real or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity. Most of these crimes have not been investigated properly and have gone unpunished."

He said the violence was now being used by the authorities as a reason to further restrict human rights. "It adds insult to injury: the possibility of attack is routinely used as an excuse to deprive LGBTI people of their rights to express themselves and to hold public events in a peaceful manner."

The pride march is planned for Saturday 25 May, and although campaigners do not predict a mass turnout, it would be an important first step for Ukraine, said Stas Misthenko, one of the organisers.

"It's really important because it gives a signal that something will change and that something can change," he said. "Not just in Ukraine, but for Russia, for Belarus, for Moldova.

"The situation here makes everyday life very complicated. Maybe 90-95% of the LGBT people in this country will keep who they are a secret, even from their families. People are scared of being fired from their work or being beaten in the streets. So people do not want to show or express themselves; they hide in their apartments.

"Even on the dating websites, maybe only one in 10 gay people will put up a picture of themselves. And blackmail is rife: there are many sad cases that people will arrange to meet and then blackmail the person over their sexuality.

"LGBT people are very vulnerable. This is why seeing something like a pride march go ahead – to see other people like them on TV – is so important for the LGBT community."

Organisers in Kiev determined to go ahead after cancellation of last year's event, despite rise in homophobic attacks

Efforts are going ahead in Ukraine's capital Kiev to stage a gay pride march next week in the face of data showing a sharp rise in the number of homophobic attacks reported in the city.

Organisers were forced to cancel the celebration last year, hours before it was due to start, after police said they could not guarantee the safety of participants in the face of threats from far-right and religious groups.

A report published this weekend by Amnesty International revealed what it called "endemic discrimination" by both the Ukrainian authorities and members of the public towards the country lesbian, gay, bisexual transgender and intersex (LGBTI) community, and is calling on the government to drop proposals to introduce two pieces of legislation which would further entrench homophobia by making it illegal to promote "propaganda" about homosexuality in the arts.

Ukraine faces a deadline from the European Council to show progress towards reform in human rights, including key judicial and electoral reforms, in order for Ukraine to move towards European integration. Among them is the release of key political prisoners, including its former prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, currently being detained and facing murder and embezzlement charges.

Gay rights campaigners hope the pressure will further their own cause in the face of the growing violence. One non-governmental organisation in Kiev has received 29 reports of violent attacks and 36 of threats against LGBTI people in the last year alone.

Amnesty International's Ukrainian researcher Max Tucker said: "People have been beaten and in one case murdered because of their real or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity. Most of these crimes have not been investigated properly and have gone unpunished."

He said the violence was now being used by the authorities as a reason to further restrict human rights. "It adds insult to injury: the possibility of attack is routinely used as an excuse to deprive LGBTI people of their rights to express themselves and to hold public events in a peaceful manner."

The pride march is planned for Saturday 25 May, and although campaigners do not predict a mass turnout, it would be an important first step for Ukraine, said Stas Misthenko, one of the organisers.

"It's really important because it gives a signal that something will change and that something can change," he said. "Not just in Ukraine, but for Russia, for Belarus, for Moldova.

"The situation here makes everyday life very complicated. Maybe 90-95% of the LGBT people in this country will keep who they are a secret, even from their families. People are scared of being fired from their work or being beaten in the streets. So people do not want to show or express themselves; they hide in their apartments.

"Even on the dating websites, maybe only one in 10 gay people will put up a picture of themselves. And blackmail is rife: there are many sad cases that people will arrange to meet and then blackmail the person over their sexuality.

"LGBT people are very vulnerable. This is why seeing something like a pride march go ahead – to see other people like them on TV – is so important for the LGBT community."

Review by Organisation of American States on illicit drugs 'could mark beginning of the end' of prohibition

European governments and the Obama administration are this weekend studying a "gamechanging" report on global drugs policy that is being seen in some quarters as the beginning of the end for blanket prohibition.

Publication of the Organisation of American States (OAS) review, commissioned at last year's Cartagena Summit of the Americas attended by Barack Obama, reflects growing dissatisfaction among Latin American countries with the current global policy on illicit drugs. It spells out the effects of the policy on many countries and examines what the global drugs trade will look like if the status quo continues. It notes how rapidly countries' unilateral drugs policies are evolving, while at the same time there is a growing consensus over the human costs of the trade. "Growing media attention regarding this phenomenon in many countries, including on social media, reflects a world in which there is far greater awareness of the violence and suffering associated with the drug problem," José Miguel Insulza, the secretary general of the OAS, says in a foreword to the review. "We also enjoy a much better grasp of the human and social costs not only of drug use but also of the production and transit of controlled substances."

Insulza describes the report, which examines a number of ways to reform the current pro-prohibition position, as the start of "a long-awaited discussion", one that experts say puts Europe and North America on notice that the current situation will change, with or without them. Latin American leaders have complained bitterly that western countries, whose citizens consume the drugs, fail to appreciate the damage of the trade. In one scenario envisaged in the report, a number of South American countries would break with the prohibition line and decide that they will no longer deploy law enforcement and the army against drug cartels, having concluded that the human costs of the "war on drugs" is too high.

The west's responsibility to reshape global drugs policy will be emphasised in three weeks when Juan Manuel Santos Calderón, the president of Colombia, who initiated the review, arrives in Britain. His visit is part of a programme to push for changes in global policy that will lead up to a special UN general assembly in 2016 when the scenarios of the OAS are expected to have a significant influence.

Experts described the publication of the review as a historic moment. "This report represents the most high-level discussion about drug policy reform ever undertaken, and shows tremendous leadership from Latin America on the global debate," said Kasia Malinowska-Sempruch, director of the Open Society Foundation's Global Drug Policy Program, which has described its publication as a "game-changer".

"It was particularly important to hear president Santos invite the states of Europe to contribute toward envisioning a better international drug policy. These reports inspire a conversation on drug policy that has been long overdue."

The report represents the first time any significant multilateral agency has outlined serious alternatives to prohibition, including legal market regulation or reform of the UN drug conventions.

"While leaders have talked about moving from criminalisation to public health in drug policy, punitive, abstinence-only approaches have still predominated, even in the health sphere," said Daniel Wolfe, director of the Open Society Foundation's International Harm Reduction Program. "These scenarios offer a chance for leaders to replace indiscriminate detention and rights' abuses with approaches that distinguish between users and traffickers, and offer the community-based health services that work best for those in need."

In a statement, the Global Commission on Drug Policy, which campaigns for changes in drug laws and is supported by the former presidents of several South American states, said that publication of the review would break "the taboo that blocked for so long the debate on more humane and efficient drug policy". The Commission said that it was "time that governments around the world are allowed to responsibly experiment with regulation models that are tailored to their realities and local need".

■ The open letter from the Global Commission on Drug Policy is signed by George P Shultz, the former US secretary of state; Paul Volcker, the former chairman of the US federal reserve, and the former presidents of Mexico, Chile and Colombia

Investigation launched after pilot makes successful emergency landing as plane's landing gear fails to deploy

A US Airways flight made an emergency landing on its belly at Newark Liberty International Airport early on Saturday, after the plane's landing gear failed to deploy. No one was injured, airline and government officials said.

Piedmont Airlines flight 4560, operating for US Airways from Philadelphia with 34 passengers and three crew members on board, landed safely at 1am. Passengers were evacuated and transported to the terminal, a Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman said in an email.

Belly landings are unusual and dangerous because of the threat of fire from the plane fuselage skidding on a hard surface, according to aviation experts.

The airport was closed for more than an hour and the runway was closed for more than eight hours following the incident, officials said. The National Transportation Safety Board said in a Twitter post that it was investigating. A US Airways spokesman said the plane was a Dash 8-100 with a capacity of 37 passengers. The plane was made by De Havilland of Canada, which is owned by Bombardier Inc.

The plane left Philadelphia late on Friday night and the pilot made an emergency declaration after the left main landing gear failed to deploy, according to airline and FAA officials. The pilot circled the airport and then decided to land with no gear deployed.

The incident comes nearly three weeks after a Scandinavian Airlines plane with 252 people on board clipped the wing of an ExpressJet, operated by Skywest Inc and carrying 31 passengers, as they were preparing to take off from the same airport. There were no injuries.

England closed on 180-6, 205 runs ahead, after a late clatter of wickets kept New Zealand in contention on an intriguing day

The fictional family were acclaimed when they hit our screens 10 years ago. As the final series ends, it's the right time to leave

A derelict, dipsomaniac addict, addled by breakfast-time, at the mercy of his rampant libido, driven by the hunt for the next free drink or drug, flogging his baby's milk for a lager. This is the life of benefits baron Vernon Francis Gallagher, useless single parent to six of his eight children by two women, resident of 2 Windsor Gardens on the fictional Chatsworth Estate, Manchester. Frank and his supporting cast of offspring, mates and mistresses were introduced to the British viewing public in January 2004. Nobody had seen anything quite like Shameless before and, initially at least, Channel 4 audiences and critics alike couldn't get enough.

Created by the award-winning and gifted Paul Abbott (who wrote Clocking Off and State of Play), this was a portrait of an underclass with élan; a joyful celebration of free-spirited ne'er-do-wells whose every activity is a two-fingered salute to those who live plodding, respectable lives. Apart from Frank, beautifully played by David Threlfall, they were grafters all, looking out for each other and the long arm of the law, not to mention social workers, bailiffs and anyone resembling an employee of Jobcentre Plus.

The first series began with a view of a council estate, an abandoned car in flames and Frank's voice telling us: "Now nobody is saying the Chatsworth Estate is the Garden of Eden, least I don't think they are, but it's been good to us …" It's been a blast, but 10 years and 11 series later, the final episode of Shameless is broadcast next week.

During those 10 years, as Frank led a charmed life on the run from responsibility, the debate surrounding his real-life equivalents has hardened and soured – especially over the last three years, as austerity Britain turned on a supposed "benefits culture". When the Conservative leadership looks to dismiss Labour as the "welfare party", it means to damn the opposition by association with the Frank Gallaghers of this world. The benefit cap has been introduced to prevent abuse of taxpayers' generosity. George Osborne's budget references to the curtains of the workshy, which remain closed as honest people go to work, has driven home a supposed distinction between "strivers" and "shirkers", or the deserving and the undeserving poor.

Frank once memorably mocked the audience – us – by chanting: "We are worth every penny for grinding your axes … We're off our 'eads but you pay the taxes." That no longer seems quite so funny or mischievous. Perhaps it's the right time for Shameless to bow out as altogether harsher winds blow across the social landscape.

Some might say that reality has trumped the Chatsworth estate. What began in Shameless as the depiction of a unique non-working-class family – fallen angels or, depending upon your point of view, spirited experts in survival – has been outstripped by alleged real-life moral turpitude of a depressingly high order. When Frank abandons his children and moves in with agoraphobic Sheila so he can milk her benefits, then sleeps with her daughter,who also happens to be the girlfriend of Frank's son, it seems small beer compared to the antics of those who appear on the repugnant Jeremy Kyle Show or, more cruelly, the rare cases of chaotic lives that end in violence and death. Nine-year-old Shannon Matthews was kidnapped and drugged by her mother for money and fame. Tia Sharp was murdered by Stuart Hazell, her grandmother's boyfriend. And, notoriously, Mick Philpott, an aggressive long-term sponger and father of 15, was assiduously courted by the media until he became a child killer.

The right points to the rise in cohabiting couples (3 million) and the growing numbers of lone parents (2 million) as indicators of breakdown. But changed family formation is not a vice. Dysfunctional families undoubtedly exist – as do those parked on benefits because work doesn't pay – but what's missing in this false analysis of a society-wide malaise promulgated by ministers such as Iain Duncan Smith is a sense of proportion; a healthy ministerial respect for statistics and policies that go to the root of the matter.

Shameless is not a prophetic vision of a large swath of society in imminent danger of collapse, but it does have at its roots a very personal truth – the exceptionally difficult upbringing of its creator, Abbott. Born in Burnley in 1960, he was the seventh of eight children. Both parents abandoned the family by the time he was 11. They lived in an unheated house with no running water, guarded by the eldest, a 16-year-old girl. Abbott was raped at 13 and "went turtle", as he put it, and had a breakdown at 15. In an interview five years ago, he described how, at the same age, he won his first award for writing. A woman who ran a corner shop with "teeth like a graveyard offered him the use of her electric typewriter and spare room. She smelt of boiled ham and nylon because after cutting the meat she would wipe her hands on her overall. He could smell her coming.

"She used to fuck the brains out of me to use her electric typewriter … Oh God, it was gruesome," he recalled. "But it was worth it … I couldn't go back to manual."

Abbott's intimate acquaintance with dystopian horror inspired Shameless. And as it found its way on to C4, the series had the perfect PR backdrop in the shape of New Labour's "social exclusion agenda". Even as the plots of cocaine dealing, gay prostitution, teenage pregnancy and lesbianism ducked and dived through one series after another, making stars of Maxine Peake, James McAvoy and Anne-Marie Duff among others, Tony Blair was launching New Labour's campaign to correct working class behaviour.

Anti-social behaviour orders in 2005 were followed by the Respect Action Plan, offering carrots and sticks relating to housing, parenting, truancy and juvenile offending. Then came Think Family, supposedly identifying 140,000 families – 2% of the 18 million total: hardly an epidemic – who were costing the public purse billions by behaving exactly like the Gallaghers.

Now, even as the TV family bids their last farewell, the hunt for their clones is still going on. Louise Casey is overseeing the reform of 120,000 "troubled families" by 2015. Each apparently costs the public purse £75,000 a year. A significant part of that sum is run up not by welfare dependency so much as by professionals duplicating each other's tasks and nobody really knowing what works or what doesn't. The government itself admits it's not clear how the figure of 120,000 was arrived at – and some local authorities are finding it difficult to actually identify their own cohort of dysfunctional Gallaghers. But the notion that our communities are divided between leeches and worker bees has taken root.

The result is that blame is increasingly directed at individuals who are, in many instances, handicapped by an economic system that can no longer deliver sufficient unskilled and semi-skilled jobs at a wage that works. Two-thirds of children in poverty, for instance, live in households where at least one person works. And those who claim that Shameless-style fecklessness has become a feature of our poorest estates should look at the work of academic David Gregg. He analysed some earlier intervention projects and discovered that many of the "feckless" were not exercising indulgent lifestyle choices but had chronic mental health, housing and disability problems that were not being addressed.

The rhetoric continues regardless. "When I took this job, I discovered there were some people who got £100,000 a year in housing benefit," Osborne said last month. A Freedom of Information request reveals that there are indeed families on benefits living in mansions and receiving almost £2,000 a week – a total of between five and 14 in the whole of the country.

The main issue is not moral depravity: a chronic housing crisis is principally to blame for the soaring housing benefit bill. The welfare state needs remodelling, as Frank would be the first to advocate in his own way: "Make poverty history – cheaper drugs now!" But the current manipulation of statistics amounts to an unpleasant bullying of the poorest.

So farewell, Frank. He will live on, immortalised in all his manic, politically incorrect glory on the internet. "Bringing up kiddies," he reflected memorably once, "you can't remember their names." But as Abbott says of his fictional family, glued together with love: "No one should have to live that." And that's the truth.

Eight policemen abducted on highway to Jordan and Syria, following three days of violence that killed 130 people

A string of attacks killed at least 16 people in Iraq on Saturday while gunmen abducted eight policemen guarding a post on the country's main highway to Jordan and Syria, as a wave of violence continued to grip the country.

The shootings and bombings follow three days of attacks that killed 130 people in both Shiite and Sunni areas in scenes reminiscent of retaliatory attacks between the two groups that pushed the country to the brink of civil war in 2006 and 2007. The spike in bloodshed in recent weeks has raised fears the country may be heading toward a new round of sectarian conflict.

Tensions have been worsening since Iraq's minority Sunnis began protesting what they say is mistreatment at the hands of the Shiite-led government, including random detentions and neglect. The mass demonstrations, which began in December, have largely been peaceful, but the number of attacks rose sharply after a deadly security crackdown on a Sunni protest camp in northern Iraq on 23 April.

Majority Shiites control the levers of power in post-Saddam Hussein Iraq. Wishing to rebuild the nation rather than revert to open warfare, they have largely restrained their militias in the past five years or so as Sunni extremist groups such as al-Qaida have frequently targeted them with large-scale attacks. But the sharp jump in attacks on Sunni areas, including bombings on Friday that killed at least 76 people, has fueled concerns of renewed retaliatory killings.

In Saturday's deadliest attack, gunmen broke into the house of an anti-terrorism police captain in the southern suburbs of Baghdad, killing the officer and his family in their sleep. Police officials identified the dead as Captain Adnan Ibrahim, his wife and two children, aged eight and 10. The attackers fled the scene, and killed another policeman who tried to stop them at a nearby checkpoint.

In the western Sunni province of Anbar, gunmen kidnapped eight policemen who were guarding a post on the main highway linking Iraq to both Jordan and Syria, according to two police officials.

Earlier in the day, security forces and gunmen clashed in the area after police tried to arrest a Sunni tribal sheik suspected of being behind the killing of three army intelligence soldiers who were stopped by gunmen near a protest site in the city of Ramadi last month. Iraqi authorities had offered a bounty for the arrest or information leading to the arrest of the sheik, Khamis Abu Risha, and two other people they say were linked to the killings.

The fighting near Abu Risha's house north of Ramadi left three people wounded. No arrests were made. Later, gunmen deployed near the main entrance of Anbar Operations Command headquarters in Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad. Hours later, Ramadi police said a bomb placed under stalls in a small stadium exploded, killing four people who were watching a local soccer match.

Shortly before sunset, a car bomb went off near a small market in in the town of Latifiyah south of Baghdad, killing three people and wounding 12. In the predominantly Shiite city of Basra in southern Iraq, gunmen shot and killed a Sunni cleric, Assad Nassir, as he was leaving his house, police said. Two Iraqi soldiers were also killed and two others wounded when a roadside bomb struck a group of soldiers arriving to inspect the scene of a blast that took place earlier in the northern city of Mosul. A security official said a roadside bomb hit a police patrol in the northern suburbs of Baghdad, killing one policeman and wounding two others.

Health officials confirmed the death tolls. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to talk to the media.

Raha Moharrak, who was among a party of 64 climbers, becomes first female from the country to scale the mountain

A Saudi Arabian woman has become the first woman from her country to climb Mount Everest.

Raha Moharrak was one of 64 climbers who scaled Mount Everest from Nepal's side of the mountain on Saturday.

Tilak Padney of Nepal's mountaineering department says 35 foreigners accompanied by 29 Nepalese sherpa guides reached the 29,035ft (8,850-metre) peak on Saturday morning after climbing all night from the highest camp on South Col.

May is the most popular month for Everest climbs because of its mild weather.

Moharrak, 25, is originally from Jeddah but lives in Dubai. She is part of a four-person expedition that also includes the first Qatari man and the first Palestinian man attempting to reach the summit. Their Twitter page states that they are "working with Reach Out to Asia to raise money for Nepali education". The "Arabs with Altitude" group includes Mohammed Al Thani, a member of Qatar's royal family; Raed Zidan, a Palestinian property businessman and Masoud Mohammad, an Iranian living in Dubai who owns an ice-cream franchise.

The first people to climb Mount Everest were Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay on 29 May 1953.

Complaints of Vatican whitewash as O'Brien leaves Scotland for penance in exile

The four men whose accusations of sexual misconduct led to the dramatic resignation of Britain's leading Catholic cleric as archbishop have attacked a Vatican announcement last week that he will leave the country for a period of "prayer and penance". The three priests and one ex-priest, whose complaints were first reported in the Observer in February, say Cardinal Keith O'Brien should have been sent for psychological treatment instead.

One of the priests warns: "Keith is extremely manipulative and needs help to be challenged out of his denial. If he does not receive treatment, I believe he is still a danger to himself and to others."

The four men are demanding an investigation into O'Brien's "predatory behaviour" and say that stripping him of his cardinal status should not be ruled out. Despite making statements to the papal nuncio three months ago, they have heard nothing about a formal investigation into the cardinal, who was a vociferous public opponent of homosexuality.

"Removing O'Brien from Scotland might temporarily reduce the embarrassment to the church authorities but this story has not been fully told yet," says Lenny, the ex-priest complainant. "We have been patient but I'm still waiting to be told what, if any, process the church has in mind."

"They're all passing the buck on this," agrees one of the priests. "It's a smokescreen. We need an investigation and Keith needs to be challenged by professionals to acknowledge the damage he has done to people, himself and the church."

The Vatican's statement followed O'Brien's recent return to Dunbar, in his old diocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh, where he was due to retire. Peter Kearney, director of communications for the Catholic church in Scotland, told the Observer that no one in Scotland had the authority to challenge O'Brien's behaviour, his return to Scotland or his residence in church property. "We are part of the Roman Catholic church and the ultimate authority for the way the church functions in Scotland lies in Rome. The only person who is senior to the cardinal is the pope."

"That," says one complainant, "is farcical." "I don't care about red hats," says another, "but if the red hat is shoring up his perceived power, it has to go."

Although there is no official investigation by the Scottish church, behind the scenes Bishop Joseph Toal of Argyll and the Isles has been asked to talk informally to the complainants. "It's been hard listening to what's being said," he admitted to the Observer. "But it's important we hear what they're saying and the gravity of the situation. If I can help in some way, I will."

Calls for an investigation have been backed by Catholic theologian Professor Werner Jeanrond, master of St Benet's Hall at Oxford University. "Instead of dealing with issues we are constantly presented with this half-baked solution of removing people. It is not a grown-up church handling this case. I am in favour of investigation on the personal level, so that he can own up to his concealment and own his own life again, but because he was in the clerical life it also has to be a formal investigation. We also have to have an investigation into why we are in this mess."

O'Brien's downfall reveals a bigger tragedy, argues Jeanrond. "As a church, we have failed to come to terms with homosexuality. Once and for all we have to face up to the fact that there are homosexuals, gays, lesbians and transsexuals." Jeanrond has been shocked by the absence of an organised laity in Britain compared with other European countries. "As soon as something happens on the clerical side, the whole church is paralysed. That's ridiculous. Is the whole of Jesus's mission coming to an end because Keith O'Brien has sinned?"

The four complainants say an investigation is about justice, not vengeance. "I will give forgiveness if asked," says one, "as long as the damage has been recognised. At times, we don't do ourselves a lot of good by throwing pardon around like confetti without a change of heart. I am angry at the system that licked his boots and allowed him to get on with it."

In a rare interview, the Syrian president says a divided opposition could not uphold a peace deal and that he has no intention of stepping down

Syria's embattled leader Bashar al-Assad has used a rare interview – carried out amid the sound of artillery fire resounding through his presidential palace in Damascus – to warn the United States and Russia that their efforts to bring about talks will do little to halt the civil war laying waste to his country, and that he has no intention of stepping down.

In an exclusive interview for the Argentinian newspaper Clarín, shared with the Observer, Assad says he welcomes attempts at dialogue, but believes that western states are looking for ways to fuel the violence, rather than stop it, and are seeking to topple his regime regardless of the toll.

Moscow and Washington have been in dispute over the anti-Assad uprising since it began in March 2011 but are now trying to find common ground to quell the bloodshed and destruction as its effects continue to reverberate across the region. If successful, there are hopes talks could take place at the end of this month and lead to a multilateral summit attended by key protagonists.

Assad, speaking to Clarín's reporter Marcelo Cantelmi from the library of his palace, said that a continuing lack of unity between the myriad rebel groups meant that opposition leaders would be unable to implement any ceasefire measures agreed at a summit, such as surrendering arms. "They are not a single entity," he said. "They are different groups and bands, not dozens but hundreds. They are a mixture and each group has its local leader. And who can unify thousands of people? We can't discuss a timetable with a party if we don't know who they are."

Asked about the possibility of stepping down, he said: "I don't know whether [US secretary of state] John Kerry or anyone else has received a mandate from the Syrian people to decide whether someone should stay or go. Any decision about reforms in Syria will come from Syria and neither the US nor any other state can intervene. In any case, to resign would be to flee."

Attempts to consolidate a cohesive opposition force which is committed to Syria continuing as a pluralistic state have largely been unsuccessful. The war is now into its third year, sectarian positions are hardening and regional stakeholders are being drawn ever deeper into a conflict that threatens to also consume them. Assad again blamed Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey for driving the insurgency, insisting that ending such support for the opposition must be a priority if the summit goes ahead. "There cannot be a unilateral solution in Syria; two parties are needed at least. In practice, the opposition forces are linked to foreign countries and cannot make a decision for themselves. They are one and the same, and it is they who announced that they don't want a dialogue with the Syrian state, most recently last week. Believing that a political conference will stop terrorism on the ground is unreal."

The Free Syrian Army remains nominally the umbrella rebel military group, but its power has been diminished by the rise of regional warlords and opportunists – and the creeping ascendancy of al-Qaida linked groups, which are now at the vanguard on numerous fronts. With central authority disintegrating, Syria is descending into an ungovernable domain of warlords, fiefdoms and militias, some of whom are fighting not for nationalistic aims but as part of a global jihad in the name of fundamentalist Islamist doctrine.

On both sides of the war, faith in the international community to bring about a solution has been evaporating rapidly. And in the opposition-held north of the country, there was growing frustration on Saturday at what is perceived as a disconnect between faltering global diplomacy and searing on-the-ground reality. "This is a fight to the death for the Sunnis," said Abu Hamza, a commander of a Free Syrian Army-linked brigade in Idlib province. "The regime has fired at least 200 ballistic missiles into the north against civilian areas. And the world wonders why we attack their villages? They are trying to eradicate us. We must get to them first."

Sectarianism, for so long a subcurrent in the Syrian conflict, is now a driving force for substantial elements on both the regime and opposition sides. A series of web videos posted in recent weeks chronicling atrocities committed by both sides reveals the growing depth of enmity and the willingness to lay claim to crimes that in the early months of the war would have been subject to interminable dispute. Assad denied credible reports that fighters from Lebanon's Hezbollah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards had travelled to Syria to fight alongside his regime, but acknowledged that some members of both groups had been in the country.

"We do not have fighters from outside Syria," he said. "There are people here from Hezbollah and Iran, but they have been coming and going in Syria since long before the crisis." He again denied his regime had used chemical weapons, a claim regularly made by rebel groups and partly supported by western officials. He suggested that the use of such weapons could be used as a pretext to directly intervene in the crisis.

"It is probable that the issue would be used," he said. "The west lies and falsifies evidence to engineer wars, it is a habit of theirs. Of course, any war against Syria would not be easy, it wouldn't be a simple excursion.

"[Intervention] is a clear probability, especially after we've managed to beat back armed groups in many areas of Syria. Then these countries sent Israel to do this to raise the morale of the terrorist groups. We expect that an intervention will occur at some point, although it may be limited in nature."

He also rejected claims that his troops had used excessive force. "How does one define excessive force? How can one decide whether excessive force has been used or not? What is the formula to be applied?

The debate is not about the extent of the force used or the type of weapon … the issue really centres on the nature and extent of the terrorism we have suffered, and thus, what is a proper response."

Of the recent Israeli attacks, he accused Israel of doing the bidding of rebel groups, which he alleged had in turn bombed a Syrian military radar site, which allowed the Israeli jets to carry out their attack."Israel is directly supporting the terrorist groups in two ways, firstly it gives them logistical support and it also tells them what sites to attack and how to attack them. For example, they attacked a radar station that is part of our anti-aircraft defenses, which can detect any plane coming from overseas, especially from Israel."

Union delegates declare that Michael Gove's policies are not in the best interests of children, parents or schools

Headteachers have passed a vote of no confidence in the government's education policies, declaring that Michael Gove's policies are not in the best interests of children.

Delegates at the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) conference in Birmingham raised concerns about the new national curriculum, major test and exam reforms and schools being forced into becoming academies.

Tim Gallagher, proposing the motion, said: "Enough is enough. This motion's intention is to send the strongest message possible to this government that many of their education policies are failing our children, their parents and the very fabric of our school communities."

The NAHT is the first headteachers' union to pass a vote of no confidence in the government's education reforms.

The UK's three biggest teachers' unions, the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), the National Union of Teachers (NUT) and the NASUWT passed similar votes at their Easter conferences. The NUT and the NASUWT are planning regional strikes in the north-west next month in a continuing row over pay, pensions and workload, with the prospect of a national strike later this year.

Bernadette Hunter, the NAHT president, told Gove, who attended the conference, that the morale of headteachers was low.

"You cannot fail to be aware that the morale of the profession is at an all-time low. Many are angry at what is happening to the education system. Those of us in education, leaders and learners, have never had it so bad. It is within your power to put this right," she said as she introduced him to the conference.

NEW Gove told the conference: "If Ofsted causes you stress, then I'm grateful for your candour, but we are going to have to part company. What I have heard is repeated statements that the profession faces stress, and insufficient evidence about what can be done about it."

"What I haven't heard over the last hour is a determination to be constructive, critical yes, but not constructive." ENDS

Earlier, Hunter described Gove as being like "a fanatical personal trainer" in urging schools to jump higher and run faster.

She said Gove ignored the damage he was causing to the education system as he bullied headteachers into turning schools into academies.

Hunter, who represents most primary school headteachers, also attacked inspectors, saying they reduced rather than enhanced educational standards.

"The reality is that Ofsted is no longer fit for purpose, if it ever was," she said. "It costs an enormous amount of money, demoralises schools and staff and does nothing to improve the quality of education.

"It is leading to many good heads taking early retirement and many young teachers reluctant to work in more challenging schools, let alone taken leadership in those establishments.

"We're not afraid of proper and rigorous accountability but the current regime is damaging schools, not making them better."

Before her speech Hunter told the BBC that headteachers were also unhappy about the "constant churn of educational change" and negative rhetoric from the government.

"We know that UK schools are amongst the best in the world," she said. "They are highly regarded by other countries, but to hear the Department for Education you would think we have a failing system."

The NAHT conference also heard claims that brokers employed by the DfE had been pressuring schools, particularly those that face the biggest challenges, into becoming academies. More than half of secondary schools in England are now academies, but the vast majority of primary schools retain their links with local authorities. Many academy schools are part of chains, while others are run individually.

"What we cannot tolerate is the completely unacceptable bullying of heads and governors to turn their schools into academies, to meet a political target set by the secretary of state," Hunter said.

A DfE spokeswoman said: "We are clear that the best way forward for an underperforming school is to become an academy with the support of a strong sponsor. Academy sponsors have already turned around hundreds of struggling schools across the country, and academy results are improving far faster than the national average.

"Academy brokers help us to identify the best possible sponsor to turn around failing schools and ensure pupils are given every chance to fulfil their potential. We expect the highest levels of professional conduct from academy brokers and any allegations of misconduct are fully investigated."

Preliminary injunction suspends law due to come into effect in August, pending legal challenge from pro-choice groups

A federal judge has temporarily blocked an Arkansas law that would have prohibited abortions in the state from 12 weeks of pregnancy, pending a legal challenge from pro-choice groups.

US district judge Susan Webber Wright granted a request Friday for a preliminary injunction against the introduction of the ban, which was set to take effect in August. It is the latest twist in the passage of the law, which opponents claim amounts to an attempt by conservatives to outlaw abortions in the state entirely. In March, the state's Republican-led legislature pushed through the measure, overriding a veto from Democratic governor Mike Beebe.

Weeks later, attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas and the Center for Reproductive Rights sued the state on behalf of two Little Rock abortion providers and sought an injunction to block the ban's enforcement. Pro-choice advocates have asked Wright to block the law permanently, claiming it is unconstitutional and contradicts the Supreme Court's landmark 1973 Roe v Wade decision, which legalized abortion until a foetus could viably survive outside the womb. A foetus is generally considered viable at 22 to 24 weeks.

Wright did not rule on the constitutionality of Arkansas' ban – that is due to be decided at a future session. But the issuing of a temporary injunction means the law can not be enforced for the time being. Following the judge's decision, the ACLU said it would continue to push for a permanent shelving of the proposed ban.

"This law is an extreme example of how lawmakers around the country are trying to limit a woman's ability to make the best decision for herself and her family," said Talcott Camp, deputy director of the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project. She added: "Far from safeguarding women's health, these laws are designed with one purpose – to eliminate all access to abortion care."

The Arkansas law is tied to the date when a foetal heartbeat can typically be detected by an abdominal ultrasound. The measure includes exemptions for rape, incest, the life of the mother and highly lethal foetal disorders. Arkansas had for a short time the most restrictive law in the US. But it was overtaken by conservative lawmakers in North Dakota, who have passed legislation that would outlaw the procedure as early as six weeks. Abortion rights advocates are expected to challenge the North Dakota law in the courtroom.

Cardinal Keith O'Brien has been told to leave Scotland for 'prayer and penance', after resigning over charges of sexual misconduct. But his accusers still wait for a proper inquiry

When news came last week that Cardinal Keith O'Brien was being exiled from Scotland for "prayer and penance", memories came flooding back to Lenny, the former priest who has accused O'Brien of inappropriate behaviour.

He remembered being a young priest in the 90s and telling O'Brien, then an archbishop, that he could not pledge allegiance to him and was leaving. The cold chill of O'Brien's disapproval followed him down the path of the archbishop's official residence and seeped into him in the dole office where he queued for benefits.

Years later, the two were forced to meet again. O'Brien was a cardinal. Lenny reminded him of an unfortunate prank O'Brien had organised when he was spiritual director at Lenny's seminary. Ah, the cardinal admitted, other staff had later chastised him for bad judgment. "But these days," he smiled, "I can do what I like."

In February, O'Brien resigned after complaints of sexual misconduct, not just from Lenny but from three serving priests in his own diocese. His statement admitted inappropriate conduct "as a priest, archbishop and cardinal", a clear indication that his sexual choices had been a lifestyle and not isolated indiscretions. Three months on, there has been no official Vatican investigation and is no prospect of one. Some interpreted last week's statement of O'Brien's exile as Vatican "action". To the four complainants, it was another smokescreen. So what has really been going on for the last three months, behind the scenes of the Catholic church?

The trigger for the four complainants going public was not, as some suggested, the resignation of Pope Benedict and the ensuing papal conclave. Their statements were with the nuncio on 8 February. Benedict resigned on the 11th. It was, instead, a message from the nuncio, via an intermediary, that the cardinal would retire to a life of "prayer and seclusion". It was "Vatican-speak". The complainants knew that everything was about to be swept under the clerical carpet. Last week's statement was uncannily familiar. The cardinal would undergo "a period of prayer and penance". But if the Vatican really wanted that, why had they not insisted on it immediately? Clearly, it wasn't his sexual misconduct that triggered this statement. So what was it?

Key concepts govern Catholic church behaviour: authority, obedience, cover-up, secrecy and clericalism. Clericalism is about deference, a demand for respect without scrutiny.

These traits have been seen often in church history. The protection of the institution rather than victims in abuse cases. The movement of paedophile priests from parish to parish in an "out of sight, out of mind" policy. The astonishing admission by the Scottish church that the child abuse audits it promised back in 1996 had not been carried out. There is a reason why the Catholic church is weak in processes and procedures, why things are "fixed" in dusty corners. The hierarchy demands authority, without offering accountability.

After the cardinal resigned, church secrecy created a vacuum. The nuncio's office refused to give information about any investigation. "Not even whether it exists," the Observer was told.

The four had to break the silence by battering individually on the Vatican's doors. Lenny even phoned Rome, asking to speak to Cardinal Ouellet, head of the Congregation for Bishops, who would be expected to investigate any matters relating to cardinals. "You think I can speak on the phone?" demanded Ouellet. "I don't think so." Well, write to me, said Lenny. Ouellet wrote a perfunctory letter. His department was considering Lenny's testimony "very carefully". But in future, please contact the nuncio. To this day, the formal statements of the four have been met only with offers of informal "chats".

Media stories became inaccurate and contradictory. There was an investigation. There wasn't an investigation. (There wasn't – at least not a meaningful one.) Bishops' appointments were on hold. (They weren't – they just couldn't be filled.) Where was the cardinal through all this? A letter sent by O'Brien shortly after he resigned had a Scottish postmark. Then he turned up in a church property in Dunbar, where he had been due to retire and where his close friend, John Creanor, is parish priest. His appearance became public, courtesy of the Sun.

It was an obvious set-up. O'Brien was photographed moving in and gave a brief interview. The drip, drip of stories became a flow. The Catholic media office was supposedly furious – and largely unavailable for official comment. The director of communications, Peter Kearney, said only Rome could handle this. Nobody in Scotland had authority to challenge a cardinal. When O'Brien resigned, archbishop Philip Tartaglia was appointed temporary leader of St Andrews and Edinburgh. But Tartaglia failed to confront the issue, and behind the scenes those "church insiders" were critical. "He is completely lacking in leadership qualities," one told me. Last week Peter Kearney told the Observer there could be no Scottish investigation because the nuncio had – rightly – not divulged the names of the complainants. But the nuncio had. What Kearney didn't know, apparently, was that Joseph Toal, bishop of Argyll and the Isles, had been given names and asked to be a contact point.

It was into this chaotic scrum that last week's Vatican statement was lobbed. O'Brien's cardinal sin was obvious. Not sexual misconduct. Being visible. The four hardly cared if he was in Scotland. "He's got to live somewhere," one told me. What they wanted was an official investigation.

There were several ironies. Firstly, O'Brien had been painted as the elderly repentant gent who just wants "a quiet retirement". In fact, he is still Britain's most senior Catholic. His power is such that nobody would challenge him – and let's not forget that abusing power led to his downfall.But this is no longer about personal failure. It's about systemic failure. "As a church, we have failed to come to terms with homosexuality," says Professor Werner Jeanrond, a Catholic theologian who held the chair of divinity at Glasgow University, before becoming the first layman to run the Benedictine hall, St Benet's, at Oxford University. "The highest clerical representative of the church is himself a victim of the system which didn't allow him to own his homosexuality."

But O'Brien is not the main victim in this. If people knew what the four's statements contained, they might not dismiss the accusations so readily and call for easy forgiveness. This is not about vengeance. It's about transparency and an end to clericalism. "You cannot forgive," Jeanrond points out, "if you do not know what is to be forgiven."

O'Brien is a timebomb. Anyone who thinks this is only about his behaviour – or just the behaviour of Scottish clergy – is naive. It is about clergy worldwide. But the scandals behind at least one other Scottish bishop are legendary. Sexual "misconduct" is rife among the priesthood. Heavy drinking is common. Payoffs have been made to cover scandals. Serious abuse has been concealed. O'Brien knows where the bodies lie. And the hierarchy knows he knows.

But he is not the only timebomb. While writing this, an email arrived from one of the priests. He had been called to a dying woman's house. She would die before midnight, he thought. But this family he met had hope. The word hope was touching. It put everything in context. Perhaps, said the priest, Pope Francis represented hope. Perhaps he would instigate an investigation. And if not? Well, despite what the cardinal once thought, no person or institution is untouchable. Those who know what those four statements contain know they include information that could blow this scandal even higher. That is not a threat. More, a prophetic warning.