Deadly violence not random as staff have endured ‘months of mistreatment, neglect and vilification’, says union

A union representing US Centers for Disease Control employees has demanded that the federal government condemn vaccine misinformation after a man who evidently blamed the Covid-19 vaccination for making him depressed and suicidal aimed gunfire Friday at the CDC’s headquarters in Atlanta.

The 30-year-old shooting suspect, who killed a police officer and died during the attack, had also tried to get into the CDC’s headquarters – but he was stopped by guards before driving to a pharmacy across the street and opening fire, a law enforcement official told the Associated Press on Saturday.

Former art teacher Jen Pawol, 48, says applause from the crowd was ‘very emotional’ when she took to the field

It was, she said, the day “the dream came true”. Jen Pawol, a 48-year-old former art teacher, made US sporting history at the weekend when she became the first female umpire of a Major League Baseball game during the regular season.

Pawol, whose debut came on Saturday in a game between the Miami Marlins and Atlanta Braves, was given a standing ovation as she arrived on the pitch. Supporters held up signs reading “Pawol making HERstory” and “the time has come for one and all to play ball” – a nostalgic reference to A League of Their Own, the classic sports film about a women’s baseball league during the second world war.

• British No 1 excited to take on world No 1 in third round

• Raducanu in first big match since taking on coach Roig

Emma Raducanu has underlined her excitement before what she describes as a “fact-finding match” against the world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka as they prepare to battle in the third round of the Cincinnati Open on Monday.

“It’s always exciting for a player like me to play the very top, because it’s like a fact-finding match,” Raducanu said. “You see where you are in comparison to the top. And I also think form fluctuates so much on the day. So you can lose two and one [6-2, 6-1] one day, you can win or you can make it close the next day, and it can be down to a few points. So I’m excited.”

Martí Cifuentes has cleared his first hurdle as Leicester manager. The former QPR coach took the time to do a lap of the King Power Stadium while his players warmed up, introducing himself to the home supporters. A late header from his substitute Wout Faes ensured that those fans went home happy – but for much of a testing opening game against Henrik Pedersen’s Sheffield Wednesday, who have had to face plenty of obstacles before a ball was even kicked this season, that looked an unlikely outcome.

For Wednesday, it was an achievement to even be here. Placed under a transfer embargo by the Football League because of late payments, they have only 15 senior first-teamers on the books and cancelled their final pre-season fixture, against Burnley, after the players refused to play. They and the staff were paid their outstanding July wages on Friday after solidarity payments from the Premier League came in.

The populist right sees the European convention as a soft target in a longer campaign to degrade democratic checks and balances

Most British citizens have little contact with human rights law, which is as it should be in a mature democracy. Widespread anxiety about basic freedoms is a feature of more repressive regimes.

Many people will only have heard of the European convention on human rights (ECHR) in the context of the last Conservative government’s failed attempts to dispatch asylum seekers to Rwanda, or in a handful of incidents where convicted criminals or terrorist suspects have avoided deportation to jurisdictions where they might face inhumane treatment. Such cases are amplified by politicians who are hostile to the whole apparatus of human rights law. The Strasbourg court that adjudicates on breaches of the ECHR is denounced as an enemy of British sovereignty.

Voluntary climate commitments were supposed to be a step towards progress. A change in political climate has revealed their weaknesses

Earlier this month, as Nordic countries were hit with an unprecedented heatwave and wildfires in the US began spurting “fire clouds”, Barclays pulled out of the net zero banking alliance. The story may have seemed less alarming than extreme weather, but it has existential implications, as the finance sector quietly surrenders its former climate commitments.

The initiative forms part of the Glasgow Finance Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ), a voluntary network of banks that Mark Carney, formerly the UN’s special envoy on climate action and now Canada’s prime minister, launched in 2021. At the time, the alliance, which encourages banks and asset managers to work towards the goals of the Paris agreement, seemed like an optimistic step in the right direction. Mr Carney described it as a “breakthrough”.

• Minute-by-minute updates on the EFL Championship game

• Email Daniel | Championship roundup: Bristol City stun Blades

Some thoughts on the regulator from someone who should know:

It’s worth remembering that the threat of a points deduction still hangs over Leicester.

The rest of the Premier League take note: Liverpool may have spent almost £300m on new players this summer but that doesn’t make them unbeatable.

Goals from Hugo ­Ekitiké and ­Jeremie Frimpong and an ­impressive performance from Florian Wirtz had looked like being enough to seal a narrow victory against Crystal Palace in the Community Shield, as Arne Slot’s summer signings made an instant impact for the Premier League champions. But even with the possibility that they could still add Alexander Isak to the array of attacking talent already on the books, Oliver ­Glasner’s well‑drilled side showed that the Reds’ new‑look defence is fallible and ­Palace deserved to take this game to penalties after equalising for the second time in the afternoon, thanks to Ismaïla Sarr.

Duke of Sussex ‘absolutely committed’ to supporting children and young people in Lesotho and Botswana

Prince Harry is considering establishing a new charity after a dispute that led to him leaving Sentebale, a spokesperson has said.

It comes after the Duke of Sussex was criticised by the Charity Commission for allowing a row with the chair of Sentebale, which he co-founded in 2006, to “play out publicly”.

Actor who portrayed commander in 1995 Oscar-winning film says Lovell dared to go to places most wouldn’t go

Late Apollo 13 astronaut Jim Lovell has received a tribute from Tom Hanks, the actor who brought him to life in an Oscar-winning movie and said he had gone places most wouldn’t dare.

“There are people who dare, who dream, and who lead others to places we would not go on our own,” Hanks said of Lovell in a heartfelt Instagram tribute post published after the astronaut’s death was announced Friday. “Jim Lovell, who for a long while had gone farther into space and for longer than any other person of our planet, was that kind of guy.”

US carmaker makes move for licence that would allow it to provide energy to domestic and business premises

Elon Musk’s Tesla is gearing up to launch a household electricity supplier in Great Britain in the coming months.

The US electric car manufacturer run by the world’s richest man has formally applied to the energy regulator for Great Britain, Ofgem, for an electricity supply licence, according to a notice published on the watchdog’s website.

Paulo Palado’s pitch-dark production opens up possibilities by putting unsighted and sighted in the same position

In the intimacy of a blacked-out theatre, the smell of freshly made coffee, cheap perfume and stuffed peppers becomes more pronounced. The weight of each character’s footsteps become recognisable.

Welcome to the Blind Theater from Brazil, where every scent is a prop, and an actor’s breathing and tread are their character’s signatures.

Two months after my single mastectomy, I felt sore, sad and scarred. Looking for a suitable bra, I became completely overwhelmed

• Read more in the kindness of strangers series

I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2019 and immediately had to have a single mastectomy. Told by the doctors I needed to wear very soft bras for a while, two months after the surgery I went to my local department store to find something suitable.

I was hobbling around and feeling really awful about myself – sore, sad and scarred, and as though I’d never look attractive again. Somewhere deep in the racks of bras I became so overwhelmed by it all that I just broke down and started sobbing.

Yvette Cooper wants guidance to change after row over claims police ‘covered up’ status of two men on charges relating to an alleged rape

Anti-racism campaigners have criticised proposals to allow police to reveal the ethnicity and migration status of suspects, after a row triggered by claims police “covered up” the backgrounds of two men charged in connection to the alleged rape of a child.

The home secretary, Yvette Cooper, this week told the BBC she hoped the Law Commission would “accelerate” a review of contempt of court and that “guidance needs to change” about information released when a trial is pending.

• Australia 178; South Africa 161-9 | Australia win by 17 runs

• David scores 83 to lead Australia to win in Darwin

Australia have dominated South Africa’s largely unknown batting lineup to secure an unlikely victory in the first match of a three-game Twenty20 series in Darwin.

South Africa lost by 17 runs in at Marrara Oval on Sunday, bowled out for 161 after Australia were dismissed for a disappointing 178 from the final ball of an innings rescued by Tim David’s 83.

Four members of family from Thetford, Norfolk, died after car collided with another vehicle in Alentejo region

A UK family have been killed in a car accident while holidaying in southern Portugal, local authorities have confirmed.

Domingos Serrano, 55, his wife, Maria, 51, and their 20-year-old twin sons, Afonso and Domingos, died when their car collided with another vehicle on Saturday on the IP2 motorway near Castro Verde, in the Alentejo region.

Report for DVSA proposes move to lessen ‘potential anxiety’ and bolster pass rates among female candidates

Having a mardy person sitting next to you in the car can be a distraction at the best of times, but it is all the worse when the grump is your driving examiner.

In an effort to avoid additional “potential anxiety” during tests and bolster pass rates among female candidates, a report commissioned by a government agency has suggested asking people taking a test whether they would like their examiner to be “chatty” or “formal”.

Total of 532 arrests at London protest on Saturday, most for displaying placards or signs in support of proscribed group

Half of the people arrested during the protest in relation to Palestine Action in London on Saturday were aged 60 or above, according to police figures.

A total of 532 people were arrested at the largest demonstration relating to the group since it was proscribed last month. All but 10 were under Section 13 of the Terrorism Act for displaying supportive placards or signs.

Police say ease of re-selling, twinned with growing demand, has encouraged gangs to target luxury leather goods

A series of million-euro robberies of luxury handbags from boutiques and brand headquarters in Paris has shown that high-value leather goods are now a bigger target for organised criminals than jewels or cash, as French police pursue sophisticated gangs targeting designer bags.

Paris has been the scene of several high-profile robberies of handbags over the past year, fuelled by the growing global demand for designer leather goods, which are increasingly being displayed by influencers on social media. As designer handbags sell for record prices at auction – with the late singer Jane Birkin’s Hermès bag fetching €8.6m (£7.4m) this summer – prices are rising in boutiques and secondhand bags are gaining value as collectors’ items.

Move comes as Germany warns White House against any deal hatched ‘over heads of Europeans and Ukrainians’

Europe’s leaders have raised the pressure on Donald Trump to involve Ukraine in a planned summit with Vladimir Putin, as Germany warned the White House against any deal hatched “over the heads of Europeans and Ukrainians”.

Speaking before a bilateral meeting expected to take place between the US and Russian leaders on Friday in Alaska, the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said he hoped and assumed that Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, would also be involved.

• Minute-by-minute updates on the action at Wembley

• Have Liverpool changed too much? | Glasner fearful

Wirtz named Germany’s player of the year

Liverpool’s Florian Wirtz has been voted Germany’s player of the year for 2024-25 after another standout season at Bayer Leverkusen while Freiburg’s Julian Schuster has won the coach’s accolade. Germany teammates Giulia Gwinn and Ann-Katrin Berger have to share the women’s player of the year award after both received 608 valid votes from members of the Association of German Sports Journalists (VDS) in the yearly poll organized by Kicker magazine.

Palace’s planning has been severely disrupted by the uncertainty surrounding which European competition they will play in. STeve Parish spent most of Friday at the court of arbitration for sport in Switzerland as the club attempt to have their demotion from the Europa League to the Conference League overturned. Oliver Glasner again revealed his frustration during the Austria tour, saying he had been “promised that we would be more active and bring in the new players earlier this year”.

Woman claiming the late singer is her father speaks out after some of his inner circle cast doubt ahead of new book

His performances defined an era, and his life story has been dissected in tell-all books as well as on the big screen.

But now further revelations may open up an unknown chapter in the life of Freddie Mercury.

• South Korea star wins penalty in substitute appearance

• Son joined LAFC in record transfer earlier this week

South Korea star Son Heung-min made his MLS debut for Los Angeles FC on Saturday, providing a burst of energy as a second-half substitute in a 2-2 draw with the Fire in Chicago.

Son drew a penalty in the 77th minute that Denis Bouanga converted to clinch the draw in the 81st minute – VAR confirming the spot kick after the referee initially let play continue.