From the 1:1 scale Colosseum to the marauding model rhino, Ridley Scott’s forthcoming sequel screams conspicuous spending – but how bullish is Hollywood feeling, and what do we know about the film so far?

An actual-scale model of the Colosseum, flooded and filled with longboats. A two-tonne, eight-wheeled, lifesize rhino that can spin, snarl, wag its head and do 40mph. And as much minced beef, sweet potato and personal training as Paul Mescal can stomach. Such were some of the huge costs involved in the production of Gladiator II, which comes to cinemas next month, 24 years after Ridley Scott’s blockbusting original.

Such conspicuous spending might be assumed to be making studio executives sweat, but Hollywood is banking on the film being a commercial success – particularly given the calamitous box office returns for another recent sequel, Joker: Folie à Deux, Todd Phillip’s follow-up to his $1bn 2019 hit, now fast-tracked to streaming and projected to lose $200m.

Motorist accused of deliberately targeting 27-year-old Paul Varry in road rage incident on Tuesday

A motorist accused of deliberately running over a cyclist in a Paris road rage incident has been formally put under investigation for murder and remanded in custody.

The 52-year-old SUV driver, named only as Ariel M, is accused of deliberately targeting the cyclist, who was named by the Paris public prosecutor’s office as Paul Varry, 27.

Judges’ decision on 12 men held in Italian migration hub in Albania also casts doubt on EU’s hardline plans

The last 12 asylum seekers being held in a new Italian migration hub in Albania must be transferred to Italy, a court has ruled, in a heavy blow to a controversial deal between the far-right Rome government and Tirana aimed at curbing migrant arrivals.

The decision casts further doubt on the feasibility and legality of plans by the EU, discussed on Thursday, to explore ways of establishing migrant processing and detention centres outside the bloc as part of a new hardline approach to migration.

With their perfect hair, kindly demeanour and songs about thrilling romance, boybands such as One Direction induce feelings that have much to teach us about life

The first time I fell in love, I was 13. Butterflies fluttered in my stomach constantly. I took any opportunity to mention my love, no matter how tangential to the conversation. If the subject came up organically, I felt as if I could burst with joy. I never met them, but that didn’t make the feelings any less real. That I was in love with Take That was irrelevant: it was love all the same.

When the British boyband split up in 1996, the press conference was broadcast live. During the Q&A, a journalist from BBC Manchester told the sombre group: “We’ve just had a 14-year-old fan phone in tears. What’s your message to her?” Looking a little befuddled, Mark Owen replied: “Erm ... we’re sorry, I suppose.”

Presidential candidates need at least 270 electoral votes – more than half of the total – to win an election. Chris Michael explains which states Harris and Trump need to win in order to reach 270

Dysphoric milk ejection reflex or ‘D-MER’ may be as common as mastitis. Why don’t more people know about it?

It was 2017. I was 40, and I’d just had my son, my first and only child. It was overwhelming: the extravagant newness of becoming a parent, meeting my kid, the travesty that is American postpartum care.

But there was something else I couldn’t identify. Multiple times a day, I was hit with a sudden and intense wave of sadness. I lost the ability to speak and to think clearly. If I was eating, I lost my appetite; if I wasn’t, I felt nauseous. All I could do was stop, close my eyes and wait for the feeling to pass, which it always did after a minute or two.

Jenny Pritchett, AKA Jenny True, is a copy editor at the Guardian US and the author of You Look Tired: An Excruciatingly Honest Guide to New Parenthood

Liverpool midfielder on learning the game with his older sibling in Amsterdam and his rise to prominence at Anfield

The Gravenberch boys are not afraid of change. While Ryan’s relatively short career has taken in three of Europe’s most historic clubs, older brother Danzell has ticked 13 different teams in a nomadic existence. And for the former, an eight-year age gap is to thank for propelling him to the heights he has reached.

Ryan Gravenberch’s CV contains spells at Ajax, Bayern Munich and now Liverpool. Danzell Gravenberch’s CV started the same before Universitatea Cluj, Reading and Karmiotissa were added to the lengthy list to bring a very different collection of experiences that started with intense schoolboy kickabouts in Amsterdam. This season, the younger sibling has become an integral part of the team who sit at the top of the Premier League thanks to a fine start under head coach Arne Slot, playing as the team’s highly-impressive No6, a role that will be tested when Chelsea visit Anfield on Sunday.

Democratic presidential nominee has raised alarm about Trump’s plans but has not said much about her own

• US politics – live updates

As the US south-east struggles to rebuild after two deadly and climate-fueled hurricanes, some environmental advocates are demanding Kamala Harris flesh out a strong climate plan.

Since Hurricanes Helene and Milton ravaged parts of the country, the vice-president has slammed Donald Trump’s climate record by airing a new campaign ad showing the oft-criticized moment the former president redrew a hurricane’s path with a marker, and taking aim at Trump’s spread of climate misinformation and history of withholding disaster aid.

Exclusive: More than 100 nurses write to Wes Streeting after being accused of cheating in tests to practise in UK

• ‘I feel like I have failed everyone’, says Nigerian nurse accused of cheating after arriving in UK

A group of more than 100 Nigerian nurses have called on the health secretary to help them correct “a significant injustice” after the nursing regulator accused them of cheating in tests to practise in the UK.

The nurses said their lives were destroyed when the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) accused them of fraud, having concluded that the computer-based tests in numeracy and clinical practice were completed implausibly quickly.

In this week’s newsletter: Once deemed ‘too niche’ for telly, the adaptation of Bernardine Evaristo’s novel signals an exciting chapter for diverse, imaginative shows

• Don’t get the Guide delivered to your inbox? Sign up to get the full article here

This week the BBC released Mr Loverman, an eight-part drama that features two septuagenarian Caribbean Londoners who have been engaged in a homosexual love affair since they were teens in Antigua. Perhaps you think nothing of this. But a series with scenes depicting two Black, greying men reflecting on their forbidden romance, declaring themselves “cocksuckers”, and bending themselves into sexual positions occupying a primetime Monday evening slot is worth reflection. Not purely because of discussions about the constraints of compulsory heterosexuality on a generation of Black men, but also the specificity of this drama – the freedom for Black British television to be what it wants to be.

That the show is an adaptation of Booker-prize winner Bernardine Evaristo’s novel would have helped it over the line of “marketability”, not to mention the all-star cast of Lennie James, Ariyon Bakare, and Sharon D Clarke. But the idea that Mr Loverman could find a billing and an audience has never been a given. Particularly since the show is not about the interplay between Windrush-era migrants with a hostile, white society but a more complex and internal exploration of the Black family, class mobility, and secrets. Evaristo herself had been told on publication that Mr Loverman was too “niche” for TV.

Founder of polling firm that conducted survey says: ‘That language is straight out of Mein Kampf … it’s Nazi rhetoric’

• US politics – live updates

A new poll has revealed that more than one-third of Americans agree with Donald Trump’s warning that undocumented immigrants in the US are “poisoning the blood” of America.

A significant 34% of the respondents to the poll, conducted by the Brookings Institution and Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI), agreed with the statement previously made on the election campaign trail by the former US president and Republican party nominee for the White House, Donald Trump.

Scientists say using the drugs to get people back into work could carry logistical and ethical problems

Weight loss jabs are not a “quick fix” and the health secretary’s plan to use them to help people get back to work could backfire, experts have warned.

Wes Streeting announced a real-world trial of the medication’s impact on worklessness this week, saying that “widening waistbands” were placing a burden on the NHS. He suggested that as well as bringing benefits to the health service, the jabs could help people get back into employment.

Hamas leader’s discovery in Gaza camp may not have been a random twist of fate – his DNA was found in the area in September

• Middle East crisis – live updates

The Israeli soldiers who came across Yahya Sinwar and his two bodyguards were trainee squad commanders from an infantry school unit.

The fact it was a platoon from the infantry commanders and combat training school (Bislamach) that found the Hamas commander and mastermind of the 7 October attacks is all the more ironic in light of the year-long fruitless manhunt conducted by the cream of Israel’s special forces and intelligence units.

Todd Phillips’ superhero sequel might have been a box-office flop, but some readers see a lot to cherish in the performances of Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga

I thought that this was a daring, subversive, melancholic and thought provoking film. Phillips’ decision to avoid simply churning out a repeat of the first film is admirable and Joaquin Phoenix adds more layers to the character of Arthur Fleck. Lady Gaga was captivating as Harley Quinn and together the two leads offer a compelling portrait of loneliness, yearning and human frailty. Once again, Hildur Guðnadóttir’s masterful score adds gravitas and underlines the despair at play. It’s certainly not a perfect film, but its ambition should be applauded and I’m really surprised by the coverage it has received. I’m sure it will come to be seen in a more positive light. David Markham, 37, Sheffield

The Guardian’s picture editors select photographs from around the world

• Ireland and France oppose new law over player safety
• Premiership coaches want change to keep players on field

The 20-minute red card will be employed during next month’s autumn internationals – the first time they will be used in the northern hemisphere – despite opposition to its permanent introduction from Ireland and France.

Six Nations Rugby – which oversees the 21 fixtures during the Autumn Nations Series – has announced that the law will be trialled throughout November, including England’s four matches against New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and Japan.

• Auditors’ review said to have shown missing expenses
• It would put losses for year to 30 June 2023 at $25.4m

The Confederation of African Football’s audit and compliance committee has claimed that more than $16m of “unrecognised expenses” were not included in official accounts, meaning it should have posted losses of more than $25m.

A letter sent to members of Caf’s executive committee last Saturday and seen by the Guardian alleges that its review of a report compiled by the external auditors EY had revealed the apparent discrepancy in the accounts for the year ending 30 June 2023.

A clever and classy balance of bittersweet, chocolatey notes to reach for on a chilly autumn evening

This twist on the boulevardier merges the bitterness of Campari with the deep, rich notes of dark chocolate. The result is a harmonious blend of bitter, sweet and chocolatey goodness that is perfect for a cosy autumn evening. You’ll need to wash the bourbon a day ahead.

Michele Gadaleta, bar supervisor, Bibo, London EC2

Sign up now! Sign up now! Sign up now? Sign up now!

It seems pretty likely that history will look back on the career of Andy Carroll (if at all) with a certain amount of puzzlement and confusion. Terrifyingly effective £35m goal trebuchet? Knack-prone serial flop? The final flourishing of the English Big Man? The great what-might-have-been of the Capello/Hodgson England eras? A wasted talent whose international caps only arrived because the alternative was Jay Bothroyd?

Re: the Thomas Tuchel hoo-haa (yesterday’s Football Daily letters). I recall no such fuss in Scotland back in 2002 when Berti Vogts was appointed Scotland manager. The bother only started after his departure in 2004 when he resigned, Scotland having plummeted to 77th in the Fifa rankings. I will be watching Tuchel’s tenure in his new post with interest. Bearing in mind he only has 18 months in the job, the question is how far England might tumble in that time?” – Bob Colman.

Following on from Harriet’s mail in yesterday’s letters, the Chelsea-to-international-management path isn’t just a recent phenomenon, indeed it’s a route well travelled. Further examples include: Glenn Hoddle; Tommy Docherty, who left Scotland before the 1974 World Cup campaign; Big Phil Scolari, who went back to Brazil; Claudio Ranieri, who managed Greece; Guus Hiddink, who had stints at Turkey and Holland between his two interim gigs, and Curacao after his final one; Dave Sexton, who managed England under-21s; and Avram Grant, who spent three years in charge of Ghana and who is now managing Zambia. It’s harder to find an ex-Chelsea manager who didn’t then venture into international management at some point” – Alex Metcalfe.

Re: the Bolivian air being ‘so thin visiting teams might as well be trying to play in outer space’ (yesterday’s Football Daily). Reminds me of a marvellous comment by Teddy Sheringham when, for who knows what reason, he was asked about playing against a team from Mars. ‘Tricky,’ he replied. ‘They’d be good in the air’” – Mark Dawson.

This is an extract from our daily football email … Football Daily. To get the full version, just visit this page and follow the instructions.

Sara Duterte makes threat against remains of Ferdinand Marcos’s dictator father in searing verbal attack

The Philippine vice-president, Sara Duterte, has threatened to dig up the remains of President Ferdinand Marcos’s dictator father and throw them into the sea, launching a scathing attack on her rival.

Duterte was once allied with Marcos Jr, and ran on a joint ticket with him in the 2022 election, winning a landslide victory. However, she resigned from the cabinet in June and the two powerful dynasties are now engaged in a bitter struggle for power before next year’s midterm elections, with both also preparing for presidential polls in 2028.

Senators upheld five of 11 charges in unprecedented vote while Rigathi Gachagua was treated for chest pains

Kenya’s senate impeached the deputy president, Rigathi Gachagua, while he was in hospital on a day of high political drama in Nairobi.

Senators upheld five out of 11 charges against Gachagua in a vote late on Thursday, making him the first deputy president in the country to be ejected from office through impeachment.

The Israeli PM could cite the Hamas leader’s death as a ‘total victory’, but his far-right partners would revolt and his ally Trump would not be happy

A good day for the world, said Joe Biden. The best day of my life, said Mohammed, a 22-year-old Palestinian in Gaza, who refused to give his last name to the New York Times for fear of being punished by Hamas for speaking out. A day of celebration, said countless Israelis.

They were reacting to the death of Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas and architect of the 7 October massacre of 1,200 Israelis that unleashed this last year of devastation, a war that has turned Gaza into rubble and taken the lives of thousands upon thousands of Palestinian civilians. As Mohammed put it: “[He] started the war, scattered us and made us displaced, without water, food or money … He is the one who made Israel do this.”

Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnist