JCVI decision comes two weeks after body recommended against routine vaccination of children

John Eyers had been climbing mountains four weeks before his death in intensive care

Sudesh Amman, 20, was shot dead by police after injuring two people in stabbing rampage in south LondonA convicted terrorist who went on a knife rampage in south London that ended with him being shot dead by police told a mentor just days before that he had changed his ways, an inquest has heard.Sudesh Amman, 20, was shot dead by police after he ran up Streatham High Road on 2 February 2020 randomly stabbing members of the public and injuring two people. Continue reading...

A Covid-19 cluster in a Sydney aged care facility has highlighted the sluggish vaccination rollout for aged care workers, with recent figures showing only one in four are fully vaccinated. Many in the sector say the federal government’s plans to vaccinate workers have been confusing and beset by delays. But the government has put the onus back on staff – telling them to get at least one jab by mid-September or be barred from work.Reporter Christopher Knaus explores what went wrong with the rollout and the dangers of having a largely unvaccinated aged care workforceRead more on this issue:

Since 1999 the rate of women aged 40–44 giving birth has almost doubledOne-quarter of Australian women giving birth are aged 35 or over, with 29% of those being first-time mothers.The number of babies born to older mothers has been increasing over time, data published by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare on Thursday shows. The latest data, from 2019, shows there were more than 76,000 babies born to mothers aged 35 or over, compared with almost 69,000 in 2009, and 42,000 in 1999.

Thinktank says longer wait for treatment since Covid pandemic is main reason, in study of 11 countriesThe NHS has lost its prestigious ranking as the best health system in a study of 11 rich countries by an influential US thinktank.The UK has fallen from first to fourth in the Commonwealth Fund’s latest analysis of the performance of the healthcare systems in the nations it studied. Continue reading...

Fees for ‘Wagatha Christie’ legal fight between Rebekah Vardy and Coleen Rooney to top £1mLeicester City footballer Jamie Vardy has been dragged into his wife’s “Wagatha Christie” legal battle with Coleen Rooney, after a high court judged ruled his phone and computer could be searched for relevant material.The long-running legal case centres on allegations that Rebekah Vardy leaked stories about fellow footballer’s wife Rooney to journalists at the Sun. The court heard details of the enormous costs that have been run up by both sides in the case, which are already on track to top more than £1m. Continue reading...

Umbrella singer’s estimated $1.7bn fortune owed largely to success of Fenty BeautyRihanna, the singer of hits such as Umbrella and We Found Love, is officially a billionaire and the world’s richest female musician.However, most of her fortune, estimated on Wednesday by Forbes magazine to be $1.7bn (£1.2bn), does not come from chart-topping singles, but from the success of her cosmetics empire. Continue reading...

Delay means new licence will start six months later than plannedThe competition to win a 10-year licence to run the National Lottery has been postponed for a second time, signalling a potential £42m windfall for the incumbent operator Camelot, which is already under scrutiny over the amount of profit it makes.The Gambling Commission said it had extended the timeline after “representations” from the bidders, which include Camelot, the media tycoon Richard Desmond’s Northern & Shell, Czech-owned Sazka Group and Italian firm Sisal, which is working with BT. Continue reading...

Dr Peninah Murage says the unjust traffic light system penalises poor countries even though some have relatively low numbers of cases. Plus Dot Mornington-West on being under house arrest after returning from FranceCan the Guardian please investigate the rationale behind the Covid travel restrictions relating to “red list” countries? Some of the countries on the red list, such as Kenya, have very low Covid cases and deaths, but are among the world’s poorest and with little influence on government policy.Essentially, the UK government is using this list to appease the public who need to see the government doing something – but at the same time the government is assured that the backlash will be minimal because these countries have very little voice. Continue reading...

Aziah ‘Zola’ Wells’s viral story of her crazily dangerous 2015 trip to Florida in search of pole-dancing money is brought to the screen with seductive comedyIn 2015, a part-time dancer from Detroit called Aziah “Zola” Wells went viral with a cheeky Twitter thread purporting to tell the pulp-factual tale of her recent, crazily dangerous road trip to Florida with someone called Jessica, whom she’d only just met. This woman had persuaded Zola there was big money in pole-dancing for rich clients in Tampa, but Zola had to share the car with Jessica’s creepy boyfriend and even creepier pimp, and soon it was clear that Zola was going to have to do much more than dance. She was in way over her head.Or was she? Followers of Zola’s posts loved them at least partly for how outrageously unreliable they were: Zola was clearly embellishing, or pre-emptively giving her side of the story before Jessica did the same. Now this has been turned into a very entertaining lowlife crime comedy from director and co-writer Janicza Bravo, a film that preserves the fishy flavour of the online original – if perhaps only semi-intentionally – and has interesting things to say about the exhaustingly performative and self-promotional world of social media. Continue reading...

UGTT union body urges president, Kais Saied, to form government, nearly two weeks after he sacked PMTunisia’s powerful UGTT trade union body has urged the country’s president, Kais Saied, to form a new government, nearly two weeks after he assumed executive power and sacked the prime minister.Saied also suspended parliament for 30 days on 25 July, and has since dismissed four ministers and other top officials. Continue reading...

Islamist group escalate insurgency with assault on Green Zone in Afghan capitalA suicide-bomb and gun attack in Kabul’s Green Zone that targeted Afghanistan’s acting defence minister and killed eight people on Tuesday was claimed by the Taliban, as the hardline Islamist group continued to escalate violence across the country.The suicide bombing, which targeted the house used by Bismillah Mohammadi, was one of the most significant in the Afghan capital in recent months. It came amid heavy fighting in the south and west of the country as the Taliban has sought to take three key cities. Continue reading...

A year on from the devastating explosion, people are struggling to sleep and PTSD is widespread – amid economic chaosRayan Khatoun has been dreading 4 August. She has been constantly on edge as the anniversary of the port explosion in Beirut approached.The blast threw Khatoun into a wall as she came home from work and left her with a head injury, a fractured cheekbone and torn tendons. Since then, she has suffered from recurring nightmares, insomnia and anxiety attacks. Continue reading...

Government is expected to disclose Lord Bethell’s correspondence relating to award of £85m of contracts for Covid tests

There are many quick, easy and delicious ways to eat an aubergine. Here are some of the best options, including salads and shakshukaThe aubergine hasn’t always had the most pristine reputation. There was a time when eating one required a complicated dance of slicing and salting and draining to remove its unpleasant bitterness. Luckily, though, most mass-market aubergines available in the UK have now had the bitterness bred out of them, so aubergine dishes are no longer so frustratingly time-consuming.Once society has managed to find an alternative sexting emoji, the aubergine’s rehabilitation will be complete. In the meantime, let’s look at the ways aubergine can be utilised in all manner of global dishes. Continue reading...

Holland Park school governors launch investigation after 26 former teachers’ claimsGovernors at Holland Park school, a top London academy, have launched an independent investigation into allegations about the school’s “toxic” working environment under one of England’s most highly paid headteachers, and the incendiary claim that critical staff questionnaires were hidden from Ofsted inspectors.Twenty-six of the school’s recently departed teachers have written to the chair of the governing body at Holland Park, whose recent parents include the cabinet minister Michael Gove and the former Commons speaker John Bercow, and separately to the government’s academy regulator, the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA), setting out detailed examples of what they describe as abuses of power by the headteacher, Colin Hall, and his senior team. Continue reading...

Confirmation comes as British navy says armed group has left Panama-registered Asphalt PrincessOman has confirmed that a tanker boarded off the coast of the United Arab Emirates by a group of armed men was the target of a “hijacking incident”.The incident, involving eight or nine armed men, ended after the group left the ship on Wednesday morning, according to a statement from the British navy. Continue reading...

Replica of iceberg that sank ship collapsed at Tennessee visitor attraction on MondayThe curse of the RMS Titanic has struck again – this time not in the middle of the North Atlantic, but at the Titanic Museum Attraction in Tennessee. An ice wall, representing the iceberg that caused the unsinkable ship to sink in 1912, collapsed on Monday at the museum in Pigeon Forge.In a message posted to social media, the owners of the Titanic attraction said: “Our iceberg wall collapsed and injured three guests, who were taken to the hospital. At this time, we do not know the extent of their injuries, and our thoughts and prayers continue to be with all who were affected, including the first-responders.” Continue reading...

Strong public support for change in law not shared by MPs, with only 35% agreeing, YouGov survey findsThree-quarters of Britons support doctor-assisted dying for people who are terminally ill, compared with one in three MPs, according to a poll.The fresh evidence of overwhelming public backing for a change in the law comes as a private member’s bill on assisted dying is awaiting its second reading in the House of Lords. Continue reading...

Rising Covid cases across greater Sydney means plan for 16 August return to face-to-face teaching all but abandonedThe New South Wales government’s plans to have year 12 back to face-to-face teaching by 16 August appear to be in tatters, amid rising Covid case numbers among younger people and resistance from all parts of the school system.The government is now urgently working on an alternative plan that is likely to involve different approaches for different parts of the greater Sydney region. Continue reading...

A romantic surprise has unexpected consequences in a gentle comedy channelling Éric Rohmer crossed with Carry on CampingHere is a terrifically fresh, funny and gentle film from director and co-writer Guillaume Brac, which takes quite seriously something that’s always getting dismissed or patronised in pop culture: the holiday romance. The French title is À L’Abordage!, more properly translated as “Attack!” and the film is about seizing the day, going on the offensive and fortune favouring the bold.Newcomer Eric Nantchouang plays Félix, an easygoing young guy in Paris with a naturally smiley open face; he has a moment with Alma (Asma Messaoudene) and when she says she’s going on holiday with her parents and sister in the beautiful valley of Die in south-eastern France, Félix secretly resolves to go there himself and give her what he is confident will be a wonderful romantic surprise. But he brings along his buddy Chérif (Salif Cissé) for moral support and using a ride-sharing app, they bamboozle nervy young Édouard (Édouard Sulpice) into driving them there in his mum’s car. Soon it becomes clear that Alma has rather complicated feelings about seeing Félix again quite so unexpectedly; meanwhile, Félix and Chérif become mates with uptight Édouard and it seems like self-effacing Chérif has feelings for Héléna (Ana Blagojevic), a single mum he meets at their campsite. Continue reading...

This man was well endowed, highly sexed and lasted longer than me. Is our relationship doomed?I have been with my partner for three years, and a month ago she cheated on me. We discussed the matter and from that I discovered that this guy she cheated with is well endowed, lasted longer than me and has a huge sex drive. She now wants us to fix things, but I am uncomfortable knowing all of this. I am afraid that I will not satisfy her and she may end up going back to this person and that I’ll be hurt. What can I possibly do to overcome all of this?Don’t believe your partner’s description of the other guy. It sounds spiteful. Is there a reason why she would try to hurt you? Is she angry or resentful of you for some reason? It’s time for a calm talk to try to understand each other far better and to have a chance to express your true feelings without resorting to blaming or name-calling. Tell her honestly that you feel uncomfortable and afraid and say: “Please help me to understand your feelings too.” After a breach of trust it takes time to repair a damaged relationship and the hazy spectre of a rival’s dimensions is really the least of your worries. Continue reading...

A new book showcases self-taught photographer John Alinder’s extraordinary and compelling portraits, discovered in the 1980s, of his Swedish neighbours – revealing their humanity and his artistic brilliance Continue reading...

Hundreds of mostly Roma women were threatened, tricked or bribed into being sterilised until 2012Women sterilised without their consent are to be offered compensation in the Czech Republic after President Miloš Zeman signed a bill into law this week.The women, most of whom were Roma, will be awarded 300,000 Czech crowns (£10,000) from the government as compensation. Continue reading...

Hundreds of thousands flock to cities as government allows manufacturers to reopen, with exporters citing fears Western brands would divert orders

What is really going on with virtual sex and identity politics - and when did people stop caring about snooker? Four people born in 2000 offer their advice to people in their 50s, 60s and 70sWhen interaction between the generations is interrupted – and there doesn’t even have to be a pandemic; sometimes we just forget to call each other – it is easy for misunderstandings to flourish. Negative perceptions can build to such a pitch that, even if you had your grandchildren standing right in front of you, you possibly wouldn’t want to tackle them head-on. Or perhaps your perceptions aren’t negative – there are just pockets of puzzlement.Four zoomers – Patrick Baggaley, Freya Scott-Turner, Rachel Ayo Ogunleye and Aidan Nylander, all born in 2000 – are here to clear up everything. Baggaley is a chef based in London; Scott-Turner is studying journalism and living in Cambridge; Ayo Ogunleye is studying medicine and based in Beckenham, south London; and Nylander is between two degrees and lives in Newcastle. Continue reading...

China’s regulators are on the march again but moves to restrict children’s access may be welcomed by manyChina’s regulators are on the march again, pushing one of the country’s most valuable technology companies, Tencent, into announcing fresh curbs designed to limit the time children spend playing its computer games. The announcement may have led to a collapse in Tencent’s shares, but the measures will be eyed with mild jealousy by many western parents.Minors playing the company’s hit title Honor of Kings will now only be allowed to play for a single hour each day, and two hours on holidays. It will also block children under 12 from spending money in-game. Continue reading...

Lebanese capital remains a shell of a city as efforts to find who is to blame for tragedy have made little progressWhen his workplace blew to pieces, dockworker Yusuf Shehadi was waiting to hear back from colleagues who had scrambled to help firefighters extinguish a blaze in the port of Beirut. The fire was bad and getting worse, they told him in their last conversation before a giant explosion killed them, and 210 others, a year ago today.The catastrophic blast laid to ruin the place Shehadi had worked for a decade. And he immediately knew its cause. “I had taken the nitrate from the dock to the hangar six years earlier,” he said of the massive stockpile of military-grade fertiliser that he had helped move from a freighter to a nearby hangar in 2014. Continue reading...

Queensland deputy premier Steven Miles has announced there were 19 new cases of Covid-19 recorded, making it Qld's biggest outbreak since the first wave last year. Of the 19 new cases, 16 are linked to the western suburbs outbreak. In response to the outbreak, the Ekka public holiday 'will be rescheduled to some time later in the year. We have not yet determined when’, Miles said.

Polls this week suggest the glacial speed of the Covid vaccine rollout is starting to affect Labour’s support, even as PM remains personally popularAn unbeatable leader in times of crisis, New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern’s soaring popularity has teetered on the country’s slow road to vaccination.This week, polling in New Zealand indicated some of the gloss may be fading from the Ardern government’s second term, which has enjoyed soaringly high popularity over the past year. The poll, conducted by Newshub/Reid Research, put Labour at 43%, down 9.7 percentage points. The results followed a similar trend line polling by TVNZ from May. Continue reading...

London mayor Sadiq Khan among large crowd gathered at Fryent Country Park to remember the sistersLarge crowds lit candles and laid flowers at a vigil to remember murdered sisters Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman on Tuesday evening on what would have been Nicole’s 29th birthday.Family, friends, campaigners, politicians and well wishers gathered at Fryent Country Park in Wembley, north-west London, to honour the sisters and all women lost to male violence. The proceedings kicked off with Brent North MP Barry Gardiner singing Amazing Grace. Continue reading...

What was delivered was a watered-down version of what we called for – it will do little to dismantle systemic racismWhen the Polynesian Panthers (PPP) activist group began calling for an apology for the dawn raids two years ago, we went into the process with eyes wide open. Government lobbyists seldom get everything they ask for, but our intent was honest and real and fuelled by our Panther legacy and love for the people.We believe that the apology was, and is, a necessary step towards the healing and restoration of trust and relationships between the Pacific peoples and families who were adversely affected by government actions during the dawn raids and the government. Continue reading...

The 19-year-old was shot on the street by a man hired by the owner of a car-wash business to kill a rivalSeven men have been found guilty of murdering a law student, Aya Hachem, in Blackburn last year after a longstanding feud between two tyre firm owners.The men were convicted of murder at Preston crown court and a woman, Judy Chapman, was convicted of manslaughter. Continue reading...

Wednesday: Operation Covid Shield could have 80% of Australians fully vaccinated by December. Plus: Australia’s men’s hockey team into gold medal matchGood morning. A new Covid vaccination timeline could be the light at the end of the tunnel for Australia’s pandemic battle but whether it rolls out as intended remains to be seen. In Olympic news, the US gymnast Simone Biles has returned to the stadium and Australia’s men’s hockey team are into the gold medal match, but Australia’s football players are in hot water over alleged bad behaviour on a flight home.Australia could fully vaccinate 80% of its adult population by December under a “vision” outlined by an updated Operation Covid Shield plan, released yesterday. The new timeline envisions a rapid increase in the delivery and distribution of vaccines, with drive-through vaccination clinics up and running by mid-October and workplace and retail hubs operating by the end of the year. Under the plan, Australians over 30 will be offered vaccines from September when 10m doses of AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Moderna could be available, with those aged 16 and over included from October when the available supply jumps to 15m doses for the month, with increasing availability of Pfizer. Continue reading...

Bryan Nellist’s white gooseberry won the growers’ prize by a fraction of a gram at the tense Egton Bridge competitionAn 85-year-old awarded the trophy for heaviest gooseberry has expressed his pride, saying he thought his “winning days had come to an end”.Bryan Nellist’s victory, in the Yorkshire hamlet of Egton Bridge near Whitby on Tuesday, went to the wire, decided by a “berry-off” that came down to fractions of a gram between his white gooseberry – of a variety known as Belmarsh – and its rival. Continue reading...

In this extract from a new biography, Gregor Paul tells how the legendary coach prepared for the 2015 World Cup final against the WallabiesIf it were possible to measure confidence on a device with a scale, Hansen’s numbers would have been off the charts in the week of the final. He wasn’t complacent, or arrogant – he simply knew that his side had the measure of the Wallabies in every way.He respected them, knew the dangers they posed and was aware that Australia had emerged through the so-called pool of death and were in great form, battle hardened and a different team to the one they had been a few months earlier at Eden Park when the All Blacks thumped them. Still, they left none of the residual doubt in Hansen the way the semi-final fixture against the Springboks had. Since Hansen had been elevated to the top job, the All Blacks had beaten the Wallabies eight times, drawn twice and lost once. Continue reading...

Onlookers bring deckchairs and binoculars to see the 400m-long Ever Given arrive at FelixstoweThe container ship that caused global disruption after blocking the Suez canal earlier this year has finally docked in the UK – four months later than planned.The Ever Given finally arrived at the Port of Felixstowe on Tuesday after gaining notoriety for becoming stuck against a bank of the major shipping lane in Egypt for six days from 23 March. Continue reading...

Residents north of Greek capital evacuated, while 42C heat forces Acropolis to reduce opening hoursThousands of people have fled their homes north of Athens after a forest wildfire reached residential areas. The hurried evacuations took place just as Greece grappled with its worst heatwave in decades.The blaze sent a huge cloud of smoke over Athens and prompted multiple evacuations near Tatoi, 13 miles to the north. Residents left their homes in cars and on motorcycles, heading toward the capital in a blanket of smoke. Continue reading...

Sudesh Amman was automatically released from prison 10 days before knife rampage despite police concerns, inquest jury hearsA convicted terrorist who was shot dead by police after going on a stabbing rampage had signalled his intention before he was released from prison to “commit jihad” and “kill the Queen”, an inquest has heard.Sudesh Amman, 20, was killed by undercover police on Streatham High Road in south London on 2 February 2020 after stealing a knife and injuring members of the public at random in broad daylight. Continue reading...

Hundreds take to streets of Indian capital after latest case of sexual violenceThe alleged rape and murder of a nine-year-old girl from India’s lowest caste has sparked a third day of protests in the capital, in the latest case to spotlight the country’s high levels of sexual violence.Hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets in Delhi on Tuesday holding banners reading “Give justice to the little girl” and demanding the death penalty for the four men accused of the crime. Continue reading...

Officials confirm all but one district of Lashkar Gah is under hardline Islamists’ control after fierce fightingTaliban fighters appeared to be on the brink of overrunning the key Afghan provincial capital of Lashkar Gah, as officials confirmed all but one district of the city was under the hardline Islamists’ control and residents were ordered to evacuate.Majid Akhund, the deputy chairman of the Helmand provincial council, said the Taliban had taken control of nine Lashkar Gah districts, as the Afghan government and US aircraft pounded their positions with strikes. Continue reading...

More than 50,000 hospitalized in US as of Monday, similar to rates seen last summerCovid-19 hospitalizations are surging across the US and stretched hospitals are warning that the overwhelming majority of coronavirus patients are unvaccinated and their serious sickness preventable.More than 50,000 people were hospitalized across the US as of Monday, according to the US health department. This is significantly fewer people than during the peak in cases, deaths and hospitalizations this January, but similar to the rates last summer when coronavirus vaccines were still in development. Continue reading...

President has stepped up crusade against Brazil’s electronic voting system – prompting counter-attack from superior electoral courtBrazil’s top electoral authority has launched a counter-offensive against Jair Bolsonaro’s Donald Trump-style campaign against the country’s voting system by announcing it will investigate his potentially criminal propagation of groundless vote-rigging claims.Related: Lula 2022? Brazil poised for sensational political comeback Continue reading...

French president’s TikTok session about Covid vaccine overshadowed by speculation over bird designWas it a bird, a subliminal message or a secret sign? Or was it just a logo of an owl on a T-shirt?Hours after Emmanuel Macron’s attempt to persuade French youngsters to get vaccinated on Monday, the buzz across the country was less of Covid shots and more of mysterious clothing symbols. Continue reading...

Angus Lapsley’s promotion not ruled out despite his mislaying secret documents in KentThe senior civil servant who misplaced 50 pages of classified Ministry of Defence documents, which were later found at a bus stop in Kent, was being lined up to be appointed the UK’s ambassador to Nato at the time of the incident, according to two government sources.The elevation of Angus Lapsley is now understood to be unlikely but not definitely ruled out in light of the unfortunate episode, in which the mislaid paperwork – some of which was marked secret – discussed sensitive deployments in Afghanistan and the Black Sea. Continue reading...

Barcelona city council opposes €1.7bn plan under which passenger numbers would reach 70 million a yearThe Spanish and Catalan governments have agreed a controversial plan to expand Barcelona airport that would increase passenger numbers from 55 million to 70 million a year.The €1.7bn plan, funded by Aena, the Spanish airports authority, is opposed by Barcelona city council. It will have to be approved by the European Commission, which has already condemned an earlier expansion carried out in the protected wetlands of the Llobregat delta. Continue reading...

PM gives full support to Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya and others’ efforts to bring down Lukashenko regimeThe UK is on the side of Belarusian opposition leaders trying to bring down the tyrannical regime led by Alexander Lukashenko, Boris Johnson has said.The prime minister gave his full support to Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who is at the forefront of efforts to restore democracy in the face of a crackdown on civil society in the eastern European country. Continue reading...

Members of far-right group in Scotland displayed ‘white lives matter’ sign atop UK’s highest peakRacists have been warned to stay away from Ben Nevis after a far-right group unfurled a “white lives matter” banner at the top of Scotland’s highest mountain peak on Sunday.Politicians, anti-racism campaigners and mountain rescue experts united to condemn the action by Patriotic Alternative, a UK white-nationalist group founded by Mark Collett, the British National party’s former director of publicity. Continue reading...

Charities warn of a public health emergency after data shows 4,561 deaths in 2020 – up 3.8% on previous yearDeaths from drug poisoning in England and Wales have reached a record high, with a growing number of people dying after using cocaine and opiates, data shows.Charities said the figures showed there was a public health emergency, with the pandemic negatively affecting those with addiction problems. In 2020, 4,561 people died from drug poisoning – the equivalent of 79.5 deaths per million people. This is 3.8% higher than figures for 2019 and the highest number since records began in 1993. Continue reading...