• Updates on the series opener at TIO Stadium in Darwin

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5th over: Australia 60-3 (Green 25, David 18) So the run rate’s up and the wickets are falling. David doesn’t mind the latter, he maintains the former, thrashing Corbin Bosch’s first ball over backward point for four. It was full and wide but David has the reach to fetch what Travis Head couldn’t earlier. Bosch, tall and blond and built, looks annoyed, bowls the next into leg stump, and has David hitting to his outfielder at deep backward. That’s more the plan. No plan is containing Green though, who makes it look so easy slotting another six over long on. He’s 24 off 7 balls! Then races a single. He’s six foot seventy-three but he’s also quick enough. One ball to come, and David drives it over cover for six!

Oh boy. Three down and they’re going at 12 an over. The ground DJ is playing Chappell Roan. Hot to Go.

Protesters took to streets in Tel Aviv on Saturday night to oppose plan to seize control of Gaza City; wider Israeli cabinet expected to approve plan as soon as Sunday

• See all our Middle East crisis coverage

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is to hold a press conference with international media in Jerusalem at 4:30pm local time (13:30 GMT; 14:30 GMT; 15:30 BST).

He will likely be asked about the security cabinet’s decision on Friday to expand its assault on Gaza and take control of Gaza City.

Following the alerts activated in the Gaza Envelope, it is likely that two launches from the Gaza Strip crossed into the country’s territory, interception attempts were made, and their results are under review.

World’s lowest fertility rate leaves Seoul 50,000 troops short of maintaining defence readiness, report warns

South Korea’s military has shrunk by 20% in the past six years, largely due to a sharp decrease in the population of men of enlistment age for mandatory service in the country with the world’s lowest birthrate, according to a report.

The sharp decline in the pool of men available for military service is also causing a shortfall in the number of officers and could result in operational difficulties, the defence ministry said in the report.

After a decade together, Zara and Max now have the freedom for work-from-home quickies and experiments with sex toys

• How do you do it? Share the story of your sex life, anonymously

We probably have sex less now than when we lived apart, but it’s amazing that when the mood strikes, we can just do it

Donald Trump’s second term has seen a sustained assault on democratic institutions – political, judicial, media, cultural, academic – that appears to be only accelerating

The anger was raw and resolute. Speaking at the Republican congressman Mike Flood’s town hall in Lincoln, Nebraska, a woman pointed to the estimated $450m cost of “Alligator Alcatraz”, an immigration detention facility in Florida. “How much does it cost for fascism?” she demanded. “How much do the taxpayers have to pay for a fascist country?”

The crowd erupted in applause and whoops. In the week that Donald Trump marked his 200th day in office, few mainstream political commentators are bandying around terms such as “fascist”. But many are warning of a societal march towards authoritarianism that, far from losing momentum, appears to be gathering pace.

Tenants with smallholdings on estate, seen as a crucial stepping stone for young farmers, are being served with notices to quit by the council

Farmers and agricultural unions are fighting to save a large farming estate owned by Powys council amid sell-off plans that tenants say will affect the rural Welsh-speaking community by taking away a crucial stepping stone for young farmers.

A total of 19 tenants living and working on 130 smallholdings, or about 15%, have been served with notices to quit since the local authority began sending eviction letters in February this year. The Guardian understands at least one was in arrears.

New convertible sales have plunged in the UK as drivers fall for the SUV, but for some, the love of the open-top lingers on

The number of new convertible cars sold in the UK has nearly halved in the last 25 years, with only 16 models for sale across the UK’s top 30 carmakers, according to a new study.

CarGurus UK found that in 2024 there were only 12,173 new convertibles registered in the UK, compared with 94,484 in 2004. The decline is partly due to SUVs becoming a popular choice for people in Britain with many favouring bulkier vehicles with higher seating positions and more boot space.

It’s Never Over offers a new look at the short life of the musician and the importance women played in his life

In the years since Jeff Buckley’s shocking death at age 30 in 1997, his estate has sanctioned the release of 10 studio compilations, eight live collections, one box set, eight singles and five video recordings. In addition, there have been a rash of documentaries, produced in various countries around the world, as well as a dramatic depiction of him played by actor Penn Badgley in a movie whose title alludes to his musical father, Greetings from Tim Buckley. Collectively, that places him in the realm of other departed stars, including Jimi Hendrix, Miles Davis and Eva Cassidy, whose catalogues have been mined for every ounce of gold they can possibly produce.

In that context, the title of the new Jeff Buckley documentary, It’s Never Over, could easily read like a threat. Luckily, nothing could be further from the truth. The film winds up giving a largely familiar story a holistic reach like no project before it. However picked over the bones of Buckley’s story may be, director Amy Berg has found fresh flesh by emphasizing the crucial role women played in his life starting with his mother, Mary Guibert, and fanning out to various girlfriends, most of whom are fellow artists who sometimes doubled as spiritual collaborators. Together, they show how a female spirit not only shaped Buckley’s early life, it also provided a foundational part of his art. The earliest songs he sang as a kid were voiced by women, from Diana Ross’s yearning reading of Ain’t No Mountain High Enough to Judy Garland’s self-immolating take on The Man Who Got Away. “I wanted to be a chanteuse,” Buckley says in a vintage audio interview used in the film. “Secretly, I think I wanted to be Nina Simone.”

The Guardian has obtained surveillance images taken by hired spies whose goal is said to have been identifying sources and gaining ‘leverage’

• Is surveillance by private operators legal in the UK?

Oligarchs whose business empire was under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office spied on lawyers who ran some of the UK’s most sensitive criminal cases.

The Guardian has obtained surveillance images of former SFO prosecutors taken by hired spies. Their goal is said to have been gathering information on the agency’s activities, identifying its sources and gaining “leverage”.

What single film best represents a nation? Here, 12 writers choose the one work they believe most captures their home’s culture and cinema – from a bold cricket musical to a nine-hour documentary, gritty crime dramas to frothy tales of revenge

It is often said that there are two religions in India: cinema and cricket. Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India blends the two with such panache that, upon its release, movie theatres became stadiums, with audiences cheering and dancing in their seats when the underdogs (a ragtag team of Indian villagers) defeat their masters (a far superior British team led by a tyrannical racist captain who wants to inflict a ruinous land tax on them).

TikTok workers in Berlin are striking over mass layoffs amid company’s global push to replace moderators with AI

TikTok workers in Germany are holding strikes over mass layoffs of the company’s trust and safety team. The social media behemoth said it is planning to dismantle its entire Berlin moderation team, which removes harmful content from the platform, and outsource the work to artificial intelligence and contract workers. This means the dismissal of 150 employees.

The trade union that represents the TikTok workers, ver.di, has been pushing to negotiate with TikTok over the past few weeks. Kalle Kunkel, a ver.di spokesperson for the Berlin-Brandenburg region, said the union sent a list of demands to TikTok regarding severance for the affected employees and an extension of the layoff notice period to one year. So far, he said, TikTok has refused to come to the table.

Yes, they can be hard to spot – but this find highlights how little we know about creatures crucial to our ecosystem

• Gwen Pearson is adjunct professor at Michigan State University Department of Entomology

Scientists recently announced they had found an enormous new stick insect in Australia. At 41cm in length and weighing 44g, the main question I heard was: “Why didn’t scientists notice something that big before now?”

The short answer is: it’s a stick. Stick insects spent over 100m years perfecting their cosplay as leaves, branches and moss. They are diabolically difficult to spot, even with fairly acute human vision. If you disturb a stick insect, its usual response is to fall to the ground and lay still. So now you are looking for a stick lying on the ground … among all the other sticks.

Gwen Pearson is adjunct faculty at Michigan State University Department of Entomology. She received the Entomological Foundation Medal of Honor for her work in education and science communication

Monkey Barrel, Edinburgh
Amusing vignettes about arrogant consultants and undignified poos keep things light as Phillips documents a harrowing hospital experience

Expectations and reality don’t always align when it comes to childbirth. Lily Phillips (not that one, she assures us, getting good mileage from her porn star namesake) thought she was well informed. She’d gone through a long process of IVF to get there, attended NCT classes, and, when labour started, she was ready for the if not serene then empowering birthing experience and magical moment of immediate love that would follow.

Instead, she discovered that “birth is barbaric and early motherhood is brutal”. Yet even her NCT WhatsApp group, where she turned after a harrowing hospital experience, requested “no negative birth stories, please”. Crying does a lot to redress the balance and cuts through the “toxic positivity” surrounding childbirth that left Phillips feeling alone.

The actor has a soft spot for Olivia Rodrigo and can’t listen to any of her exes’ music, but which wintry Christmas hit did she sing at a summer karaoke?

The first song I fell in love with
When I was a kid, my mom gave me her iPod, and I fell in love with all her music from the 70s and 80s. I’d sing Call Me by Blondie at the top of my lungs, jumping on the bed. What a great song.

The first single I downloaded
I was in [Disney sitcom] Shake It Up when I started falling in love with hip-hop. I went on a binge and discovered BedRock by Young Money. I was so obsessed that I ended up writing an essay about why I admire Lil Wayne for school.

Elvis, Grease and Traitors Live are all the rage this summer. But could audiences be tempted to try something a little different?

This is the summer of the live immersive experience – Elvis, Grease, Traitors Live – but the biggest shows are expensive and tickets are already selling out. Never fear: there are plenty of other experiences out there for anyone looking to get immersed on a budget, or to try something a bit different. But what? We had a look at a few we could imagine happily queueing for. Book now, while places remain.

Exclusive: MP and niece of ousted Bangladesh prime minister says allegations against her are ‘completely absurd’

“There’s no extradition treaty, I looked that up myself actually,” says Tulip Siddiq, the MP for Hampstead and Highgate and a Treasury minister until her resignation in January.

Just over a week ago, Siddiq, 42, a Keir Starmer loyalist, learned via a journalist who had contacted her lawyer that she had been formally indicted in Bangladesh for corruption.

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Liverpool fans are in optimistic mood ahead of their season curtain-raiser today.

Are we really going full José Mourinho and counting it as a trophy?

Whistleblowing complaint warns Alan Turing Institute is in danger of collapse due to government threats over funds

Staff at the UK’s leading artificial intelligence institute have raised concerns about the organisation’s governance and internal culture in a whistleblowing complaint to the charity watchdog.

The Alan Turing Institute (ATI), a registered charity with substantial state funding, is under government pressure to overhaul its strategic focus and leadership after an intervention last month from the technology secretary, Peter Kyle.

Self-administering Innotox, which is not licensed for use in UK, can lead to eyelid droops, infection and even botulism

People seeking cheap Botox-like injections have been warned by experts against doing it themselves due to the risk of “eyelid droops”, infection and even botulism.

There are growing concerns over the availability of medication called Innotox that is being sold illegally online in the UK. Unlike Botox, which comes as a powder that must be reconstituted for use in an injection, Innotox is a ready-to-use liquid – making it easier to self-administer.

The Guardian’s fans network looks ahead to the new season: fresh talent, weak links, and who will be sacked first

Optimism abounds in London N5. I had some doubts about Arteta’s ability to keep motivating this group, but this summer’s heavy spend should fix that, reinvigorating the squad. Only time will tell whether the new faces can gel and develop chemistry, but it’s a relief to have the clamour for a centre-forward answered at last. Hopefully come May we’ll be lauding Victor’s veni, vidi, vici Premier League triumph.

Bernard Azulay onlinegooner.com; @GoonerN5

Jonathan Pritchard (With thanks to Ozzy and all the Holte Enders in the Sky.)

Saddling up for summer? Here’s the kit to keep you cool, comfortable and chafe-free

• Hit the road with the best bike panniers and handlebar bags

Cycling is one of the most rewarding activities around. It’s good for your physical and mental health, offers a carbon-free way of getting from A to B, and can often be the quickest and most cost-effective form of transport – particularly if you live in a city.

Once you’re hooked, there are a few bits of kit that will improve your experience immeasurably, whether that’s comfortable clothing to curtail chaffing, or a water bottle to help you hydrate without stopping. In summer, the longer days and generally favourable conditions mean you can forgo additional accessories such as bike lights, mudguards and head-to-toe waterproofs – although they can’t be avoided forever if you become a year-round, all-weather rider.

Lewisham MC Fekky went from collaborating with Skepta to buying his own farm – without ever having set foot on one. Hood 2 Farm sees him trying to learn the skills, and turning his wild, slapstick journey into hilarious TV

In Hood 2 Farm, a 76-year-old shepherd is explaining his daily routine. “There’s only my wife and I, and when she gets out of bed, I get in, and when I get out of bed, she gets in,” he says. The south London rapper Fekky pauses, before saying: “If you don’t mind me asking, if she’s getting out of bed, you’re getting in bed, when are you … hugging up, man?” The farmer laughs and replies: “It’s not happening, chap!” to Fekky’s clear horror.

This kind of interaction is common on Hood 2 Farm, a unique and genuinely inspired YouTube series about the rapper’s attempt to become the steward of his own farm. Across eight 30-minute episodes, he meets farmers from around the UK and learns basics such as milking cows, shearing sheep and driving tractors.

My mother’s own dedication to parenthood has always floored me, but I realised I hadn’t understood where it came from

To me, my mother is Mummy and Mum; the fount of all knowledge and the source of love; the keeper of the rulebook and the holder of the cheerleader’s pompoms. She’s all of those things, but she is also a madwoman, who on her first night out in England from Zimbabwe was shocked by how cold it was after leaving her flat in a short skirt and heels, no jacket. She was pushed into hockey, literally, by her friend, who shoved her out of the line when the coach asked for a volunteer. I am named after that friend. My mother is both a protester and a nurturer; she has been teargassed at least twice (that I know of) while protesting in the name of human rights. Her life is a series of near misses and question marks, which I enjoy learning about and am sometimes horrified by.

Given the obvious richness of her experience, I have asked her many times why she decided to have children. I couldn’t figure out why somebody who had such a full life would want to risk changing it for anything. When I was a teenager, she jokingly responded that she was bored. But as I get older, my curiosity has only grown. Because of her difficulties with endometriosis, the chances of her having children were slim. Becoming an older, black mother sounded even harder, with the risks associated with so-called geriatric pregnancies and systemic racism within maternal health settings.

Michaela Makusha is a freelance journalist