• 17-year-old not wearing neck guard when fatally hit in practice nets

• Cricket officials say priority is Ben Austin’s family and boy who threw ball

Australia’s cricket community have begun to put their bats out in a gesture to remember teenage cricketer Ben Austin after he was killed by a ball hitting his neck in a practice session, in an incident in Melbourne on Tuesday described as similar to the death of former Test player Phillip Hughes in 2014.

The 17-year-old was wearing a helmet but not a neck guard, and while the incident is likely to trigger calls to make such protection mandatory at the community level – as it already is among elite players – cricket officials said the priority must be around supporting Austin’s family and the boy who threw the ball with a training tool known as a sidearm or “wanger”.

How did an obscure district in a neglected state become India’s byword for digital deceit?

On the surface, the town of Jamtara appeared no different from neighbouring districts. But, if you knew where to look, there were startling differences. In the middle of spartan villages were houses of imposing size and unusual opulence. Millions of Indians knew why this was. They knew, to their cost, where Jamtara was. To them, it was no longer a place; it was a verb. You lived in fear of being “Jamtara-ed”.

Over the past 15 years, parts of this sleepy district in the eastern state of Jharkhand had grown fabulously wealthy. This extraordinary feat of rural development was powered by young men who, armed with little more than mobile phones, had mastered the art of siphoning money from strangers’ bank accounts. The sums they pilfered were so staggering that, at times, their schemes resembled bank heists more than mere acts of financial fraud.

When Nicola Thorp was growing up in Blackpool, the ‘kebab girl’ who had gone missing less than a mile away, aged 14, was spoken of as a cautionary tale. But what really happened to her? For the last three years, Thorp has been finding out

It has been more than 20 years since 14-year-old Charlene Downes went missing in Blackpool. Last captured on CCTV on a Saturday night in November 2003, Charlene still hasn’t been found, and the truth of what happened to her remains unsolved. Nicola Thorp, an actor, writer and broadcaster, who grew up in the town, describes Charlene’s disappearance, considered to be murder, as “a wound for Blackpool”. Over the last couple of decades, the case has been clouded by rumour, far-right rhetoric and police failures. In a new podcast, she has set out to clear up some of the speculation, and expose how Charlene was repeatedly failed by those around her.

Many in the town, she says, still believe the two men who were first tried in 2007 – a retrial was ordered, which then collapsed amid “grave doubts” about the evidence – got away with murder. That in itself, she says, is an obstacle to finding out who is really responsible.

We have no crown jewels: the Louvre panic is a distraction from the real threat the far right poses to our democracy

According to some international commentators – and France’s perpetually doomsaying conservatives – the break-in at the Louvre was much more than a burglary; it was the latest chapter in a grand narrative of national collapse. Never mind that it was probably carried out by a couple of chancers with a crowbar: for some of the pessimists, it’s civilisation itself that’s being prised open.

Funny how the same people who decry France’s alleged dysfunctionalism probably marvelled at the Paris Olympics of summer 2024 – that brief, dazzling interlude when the city actually worked, the trains ran on time, and millions around the world fell a little bit in love with France again.

Patrick Boucheron is a French historian and author, and professor of history at the Collège de France; Pierre Singaravélou is professor of history at the Université Paris 1 Panthéon- Sorbonne.

As he prepares to host The Game of Wool, the Olympian diver talks about trying to get murdered faithfuls resurrected on Traitors – and the time he knitted himself a woollen chandelier

In The Game of Wool, Channel 4’s quest to find Britain’s best knitter, you can’t take your eyes off Tom Daley’s outfits. One of his goals for the series, he says, is that “what I was wearing would get progressively more interesting”, which is ridiculous because in the very first episode he’s wearing a vivid, asymmetrical shawl that in some places reaches the floor, and he looks like a wizard who might seem chaotic but is actually very powerful.

“Sheila [Greenwell, one of two judges, along with Di Gilpin] made that for La Fetiche,” he says, referring to the avant garde house of knitwear. “Later on I wear some stuff by Hope Macaulay, a Northern Irish textiles designer, then Boy Kloves, right out of Central Saint Martins, then towards the end, two archival Stella McCartney looks.”

Conservationists hail ‘remarkable’ rediscovery after 40 years, at nature reserve only accessible by boat

A tiny spider thought to have vanished for ever from the UK has been rediscovered on a remote area of a nature reserve accessible only by boat.

The Aulonia albimana, a member of the wolf spider family with orange legs, was found on the Isle of Wight in a spot grazed by a flock of Hebridean sheep.

Born into an independent Ukraine, the lives of these young women changed for ever when Russia invaded their country, forcing them to shoulder huge burdens of responsibility

• Photographs by Julia Kochetova

Ukraine is increasingly a country held together, behind the military lines, by women. Those in their 30s – millennial women born into an independent Ukraine, raised in economic turbulence and thrust into adulthood on the wave of revolution and war – are shouldering huge burdens of responsibility. They are fundraising for the army, or sometimes serving in it. They are running civil society organisations, advocating for their country abroad and becoming activists.

At the same time, unlike their male counterparts who are forbidden from leaving the country and are eligible for conscription, they have choices – to join the army, or not; to stay in the country, or not. For some, the question of whether to have children, when the war shows no sign of abating, looms large. For many of them, exhaustion, stress and grief are constant companions. We spoke to six Ukrainian women aged between 29 and 40 about their lives.

US president makes threat in Truth Social post in wake of Russian nuclear-powered weapons tests, and shortly before meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping

• Trump meets Xi in South Korea – latest updates

Donald Trump has instructed the Pentagon to immediately start matching other nuclear powers in their testing of nuclear weapons, specifically citing Russia and China.

In a Wednesday post to Truth Social, Trump said that “because of other countries’ testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis. That process will begin immediately.”

Russian president proclaims test of Poseidon which would launch from submarine and carry nuclear engine and warhead. What we know on day 1,345

Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth gives approval for troops to remain in US capital past November end, CNN reports

National guard troops sent to the nation’s capital will reportedly remain there through at least February.

The order was set to lapse at the end of November but was extended by Pete Hegseth, who leads the US Department of Defense. As of Wednesday, there are nearly 2,400 national guard troops in Washington DC, according to CNN. The network also notes that their presence costs about $1m daily.

The Australia head coach insists the time is now for the emerging side to rise above expectations and ‘go very far’ at a men’s World Cup

When Tony Popovic was finally able to assemble his first Socceroos squad, the new coach laid out a series of expectations. Most were clear and to the point – ideal given the upheaval surrounding his sudden arrival, following Graham Arnold’s resignation, and with less than three weeks to prepare for crucial 2026 World Cup qualifiers against China and Japan.

Popovic insisted that any player who aspired to pull on a Socceroos shirt would need to adopt an “elite” mentality to earn, or continue to earn, that honour. But there was another message. Less a demand and more an evocation – and one that has been brought sharper into focus with every step taken on the road towards the World Cup in North America.

There’s an assumption sex in the throes of new lust is hot, but in long-term relationships it’s three humps in missionary. Does married sex need a rebrand?

In my youth, when my friends and I first started dating people, nothing was off-limits when it came to talking about our sex lives. But now, after being married for 17 years, the closest I’ve come to discussing my sex life is with my obstetrician. Not hot.

Sex talk isn’t off-limits when we’re with friends who are single, dating or in new relationships. So why is mentioning anything about sex in long-term relationships kind of cringe?

Summit on sidelines of Apec was the first between the leaders of US and China since 2019, and comes after tensions have been strained by Trump’s trade war

In the days leading up to the Trump-Xi meeting, American officials signalled that the US president did not intend to make good on a recent threat to impose an additional 100% import tax on Chinese goods.

Also that China had shown signs it is willing to relax its export controls on rare earths as well as revive buying soybeans from the US.

The relationship with China is very good.

Because of the tremendous destructive power, I HATED to do it, but had no choice! Russia is second, and China is a distant third, but will be even within 5 years.

Because of other countries testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis. That process will begin immediately.

Richard Solomon, mayor of Black River, describes terror of 16ft storm surges and hours of fierce winds when storm hit, as focus now moves to aid and rescue efforts

• Hurricane Melissa hits Cuba after turning Jamaica into ‘disaster area’

The mayor of Black River – a town that Jamaica’s prime minister called “ground zero” for Hurricane Melissa – has described the monstrous storm surges and devastation the storm has wrought on its residents.

Speaking to the Guardian, Richard Solomon recounted the traumatic experience of riding out the Category 5 “storm of the century” at an emergency operating centre.

Former PM says he has not seen party ‘soaring in the polls as a result of saying what rubbish net zero is’

Boris Johnson has warned the Conservatives they will not win the next election by “bashing the green agenda”.

The former prime minister said he had not seen the Conservatives “soaring in the polls as a result of saying what rubbish net zero is”.

Suzanne Rees, 80, was found dead on Lizard Island a day after her cruise ship the Coral Adventurer left without her

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The family of an 80-year-old who was left behind by her cruise ship and died on a remote Queensland island has alleged there was a “failure of care and common sense”.

Suzanne Rees was on the second day of a luxury 60-day circumnavigation of Australia when she disembarked the Coral Adventurer at Lizard Island on the Great Barrier Reef on Saturday morning. She and other passengers had intended to hike the island’s Cook’s Look mountain.

Almeida theatre, London
Jack Holden has elegantly adapted Alan Hollinghurst’s Booker winner about class envy, gay culture and political scandal in 80s Britain

How to adapt a novel as big and shimmering as Alan Hollinghurst’s 2004 Booker prize winner? It’s a book that captures not just the hypocrisies of one elite, Thatcher-loving family but the hypocrisies of a whole era, with power and politics bristling beside the hedonistic explosion of 1980s gay culture.

Maybe it needs an entire series (as in the case of Andrew Davies’s TV adaptation), but Jack Holden, whose 2021 play Cruise traversed similar ground, makes a robust go of it here. He arrives at the dark heart of the book while filleting and mixing the order of things so that the timeline of the central three sections is shorter and slicker, but also less intensely lived.

New study found screening can reduce deaths by 13% but that overdiagnosis and subsequent overtreatment remain concerns

Prostate cancer screening can reduce deaths by 13%, a study suggests.

Cancer screening experts are assessing whether the UK should introduce a screening programme for prostate cancer, with a decision expected before the end of the year.

Half-measures would have little or no meaningful impact on child poverty rates, Resolution Foundation analysis finds

Failure to abolish the two-child benefit limit would wreck the government’s child poverty ambitions and risk creating levels of hardship not seen under a Labour government for more than half a century, an analysis warns.

The Resolution Foundation said political courage was required for ministers to show they are serious about reversing trends that, if not addressed, would push the rate of child poverty to a historic high by the end of the decade.

• Landry bars AD Woodward from LSU coach search

• Governor rips $95m Brian Kelly deal, $54m buyout

• Calls for accountability and ‘no more blank checks’

Louisiana governor Jeff Landry has said he will not allow LSU athletics director Scott Woodward to choose the university’s next football coach, saying he would “let President Trump pick it before I let him do it” after what he called a series of reckless contracts that have cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars.

The governor’s remarks came days after LSU fired head coach Brian Kelly, who was lured from Notre Dame less than four years ago on a 10-year, $95m deal that has now imploded. Kelly’s dismissal followed a 49-25 home loss to Texas A&M that dropped the Tigers to 5-3 and capped a collapse from early-season title hopes to frustration.

• Hearts stay top after battling 2-2 draw at St Mirren

• Danny Röhl’s Rangers win 1-0 against Hibernian

Martin O’Neill celebrated his Celtic homecoming with a thumping 4-0 win over Falkirk at Parkhead. The 73-year-old former manager was installed along with the former Celtic player Shaun Maloney as the interim management team after the stunning resignation of Brendan Rodgers on Monday night.

Celtic fans continued their protest against Dermot Desmond, the club’s major shareholder, and the board outside the stadium before the game due, in part, to a perceived poor summer transfer window. Desmond sat in the directors’ box and watched his fellow Irishman Johnny Kenny fire Celtic into the lead after half an hour and then head in a second 10 minutes later, before goals from Benjamin Nygren and Sebastian Tounekti in the second half increased the fun factor.

Tech company brings in record quarterly revenue but major tax bill dampens earnings per share

Meta reported mixed financial results for the third quarter of 2025. The company brought in record quarterly revenue but reported a major tax bill that dampened earnings per share, the company announced on Wednesday. The financial results come as Meta ends a multibillion-dollar hiring spree focused on artificial intelligence talent.

The tech giant earned $51.24bn in quarterly revenue, beating Wall Street expectations and the company’s own projections for third-quarter sales. However, it reported earnings per share (EPS) of $1.05, far below Wall Street expectations of $6.70 in EPS. The major drop was due to a one-time non-cash income tax charge of $15.93bn. The EPS would have been $7.25 without this one-time charge, the company said.

• Former captain says defensive questions will be asked

• Freeman switching from more familiar role out wide

The former Australia captain George Gregan says they will target Tommy Freeman’s defending at outside-centre for England on Saturday.

Steve Borthwick’s side kick off their autumn campaign at Twickenham against opponents who consigned them to a dramatic late defeat last year, and the head coach has made some notable selectorial calls.

Ferntree Gully cricket club confirms death of 17-year-old Ben Austin after incident in cricket nets on Tuesday

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A Melbourne teenager has died after reportedly being struck in the neck with a ball during cricket practice earlier this week.

Emergency services were called to Wally Tew Reserve in Ferntree Gully, in Melbourne’s east, on Tuesday at about 4.45pm, where 17-year-old Ben Austin was practising before a cricket game.