Libraries face closure around the UK. A week of events and a nationwide celebration of libraries on 6 February is supported by campaigners and writers highlighting the importance of the public service. Bestselling author Ann Cleeves has urged people to go out and join their local library next week. She said that she wouldn’t have been a writer without a library and that lots of authors will tell you the same thing. There should be equal access to books, information and facts for everybody. Campaigners will lobby Parliament on 9 February calling for ‘a port of call’ for books, local information, human contact, internet access, newspapers and magazines; a safe and quiet environment, help with form-filling, advice, and the countless other little things that all add up to bigger things. More than 100 libraries closed last year; the public library service is in the middle of its worst-ever crisis.

A video released by al-Qaeda features a militant with a British accent claiming responsibility for kidnapping Swiss nun Beatrice Stockly in Mali. She was taken on 7 January when armed militants surrounded her home in Timbuktu. Beatrice is accused of ‘declaring war against Islam’. A man with a British accent said, ‘We, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, declare our responsibility for the kidnapping of this Christianising kaffir Beatrice Stockly, who by her work drove out many from the fold of Islam by seducing them with crumbs of this worldly life.’ The sister was previously kidnapped in 2012 but broke her conditions of release by refusing to stop preaching the gospel. Beatrice appears in the video wearing a hijab and next to a flag. The group also claimed responsibility for the terror attacks two weeks ago on a hotel and restaurant in Burkina Faso when thirty people were killed.

The Government has been defeated in the House of Lords over plans to cut the benefits of people with illness and disabilities. Ministers wanted to cut Employment Support Allowance (ESA) by £30 a week to spur new claimants to return to work. But Labour, Lib Dem and independent peers joined forces to block the move, arguing it would make it harder for those affected to pay for the support that might allow them to find work. The Government may try to overturn this decision at a later date in the House of Commons. Mencap's Rob Holland, who is chair of the Disability Benefits Commission, said: ‘The Government wants to get more disabled people into work, but as a sector we have warned that cutting ESA and Universal Credit will directly undermine that commitment, whilst pushing disabled people further from work and closer to or into poverty.’

English and Welsh health leaders say, ‘Older people in need of urgent help are being failed by the NHS’. Too many over-65s end up in Accident and Emergency unnecessarily because of a lack of help when they fall ill. Once in hospital, they face longer stays and losing some of their independence. The leaders call for radical steps, including providing urgent care at home and getting doctors to carry out ‘ward rounds’ in care homes. They say that older people need more help navigating the complexities of the health and care system. They point to an Age UK scheme in Cornwall, where the frailest people have coordinators helping to organise their care. Their report also highlights a scheme in north-east London where hospital and ambulance staff are working together to provide emergency care in people's homes. Nurses and paramedics assess and treat older people who have fallen but not suffered a fracture. Equipment such as walking frames can be arranged.