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Dubai offers tourists benefits worth £610 as numbers plummet amid Iran war

Dubai is offering to pay family and friends of residents to visit in an effort to revive tourist numbers that have plummeted since the city was drawn into the US-Israel war on Iran. The Dubai Invite scheme, an initiative of the department of economy and tourism, allows residents of the United Arab Emirates to nominate friends and relatives to receive benefits worth more than 3,000 UAE dirham (about £610) for their visit. Visit Dubai’s website says nominees will receive a “benefits package” including hotel stays, dining deals and attraction tickets. Eligibility terms state that each resident is eligible for a maximum of three benefit packages for visitors arriving before 31 October, but benefits can be redeemed until December. The visitors must be non-UAE residents, arrive on a valid tourist visa and can only be nominated once. The scheme comes as the UAE’s tourism sector experiences a significant downturn, with international passenger numbers falling sharply after the Gulf states became drawn into the US-Israel war on Iran. In February, Iran retaliated by firing missiles and drones which hit the world-famous Fairmont hotel and Dubai’s international airport, shattering the image the city had sold influencers and the ultra-rich of a gilded playground, safe from the volatility of the wider region. In 2025 Dubai welcomed nearly 20 million tourists, a record. However, since the conflict the number of airlines operating at Dubai airports has halved as many planes were turned around due to missiles and tourists eschewed routes over the Middle East. There are reports of massive hotel vacancies and businesses suffering declines in revenue of more than 50%. Some of Dubai’s most famous hotels have shut entirely, many bringing forward plans for renovations and refurbishments such as the sail-shaped Burj Al Arab, which will close for 18 months for a major restoration. Other hotels and businesses are leaning into the government’s new scheme, offering discounts of 45% and free nights. Local media on Thursday reported that within the first 48 hours, the scheme had attracted more than 10,000 applications.

New EU sanctions will ‘hit Putin where it hurts most’, says foreign policy chief Kallas – Europe live

Meanwhile, the Kremlin said that it was not overly optimistic about the ⁠prospects of ⁠a quick deal to end the conflict in Ukraine ⁠following a meeting between Russian and US foreign ministers in Manila, Reuters reported. But Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that he hoped US peace envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner would come to Moscow when they are ⁠available, and that Russia would continue dialogue with the US. Washington’s efforts on Ukraine peace have largely ‌stalled as it has become distracted by its war in Iran, Reuters noted.

Yemen’s Houthis claim attacks on Red Sea tankers as US launches 12th night of strikes on Iran – Middle East crisis live

Elsewhere, Egypt is still hopeful that the US and Iran could return to peace talks. The country’s foreign minister Bard Abdelbatty said Egypt is in daily to contact with regional partners as well as the US and Iran, in a bid to end the tit-for-tat attacks that have taken place in the last few weeks. “There is a specific proposal now under discussions, and we hope that this proposal will contribute to de-escalation,” Abdelfatty said in an interview with Bloomberg.

‘Cockroach’ protests: India’s Modi promises to punish officials over exam leaks

Narendra Modi has vowed to set up “fast-track courts” to speed up the punishment of officials accused of leaking examination papers, as the Indian prime minister seeks to quell a youth-led “cockroach” protest movement that has rocked Delhi and posed one of the biggest challenges to his government. In his first public remarks on the movement, Modi posted on X: “Nothing is more important than the welfare and future of our youth … Those who try to harm the future of our youth will not be spared.” The offer of faster justice than usual from India’s clogged judicial system, which can take decades to deliver a verdict, was swiftly rejected by the Cockroach Janta party (CJP), the satirical name the youth protest movement coined after India’s top judge called unemployed youths “cockroaches”. Saurav Das, a CJP spokesperson, said: “It’s a Band-aid. That’s not giving us accountability. There have been zero convictions so far all these years, so this measure is of no use.” A core demand of the movement is the resignation of the education minister, Dharmendra Pradhan, as well as reform of the education system. An estimated 50,000 people protested in Delhi on Monday, after police denied them permission to march on parliament. Officers later mounted baton charges and fired teargas. By Wednesday, more than 1,000 people remained camped at the CJP’s protest site in central Delhi despite the gruelling heat and humidity. Many had travelled long distances to be there. Renuka Chowdhury, an opposition MP with the Congress party, told the news channel India Today that no one could fathom why Modi would not sack Pradhan. “Honestly, is this one minister more valuable or more important than restoring harmony and order to the country?” he said. Modi’s statement follows signs the government may be softening its stance. Ministers have insisted they are willing to talk to the CJP but have refused to discuss Pradhan’s resignation. The protest site at Jantar Mantar has drawn crowds of supporters eager to show their solidarity. Unable to fit inside the enclosed area, many have spilled on to the surrounding roads. Some organise donations of food and water sent by wellwishers, while others distribute meals – including to the police on duty – fan those wilting from the heat or collect litter. Young people across India have also rallied behind the CJP’s demands, with three consecutive days of demonstrations in Mumbai and solidarity protests in Chennai, Indore, Hyderabad and Patiala. At a press conference on Wednesday, the opposition leader Rahul Gandhi escalated his criticism, demanding that in addition to Pradhan resigning, Modi should apologise for failing to provide a fair education system. Gandhi said there had been 152 exam paper leaks across the country over the past decade without a single conviction. “Somebody, or a group of people, are destroying our education system, India’s most valuable asset, destroying the lives of our students. What does the government do? Zero convictions,” he said. The health minister, JP Nadda, accused Gandhi of exploiting the protests for political gain. “Your concern is not to improve the education system, enhance the quality of education or ensure justice for students. Instead, you are trying to use students’ issues and their demands for political mileage. You are trying to derive political benefit from them, and that is unfortunate,” he said. CJP leaders were deeply disappointed after Monday’s meeting with Nadda – the first in over 60 days – ended without a breakthrough. Its founder, Abhijeet Dipke, has since said that if ministers want to speak to them, they will have to come to the protest site and do so in public. Many in India are asking why Pradhan will not resign. Anish Gawande, an opposition politician, said Modi viewed backing down as a sign of weakness, particularly now that he no longer commands the parliamentary majority he enjoyed during his first two terms. “He is facing global headwinds that prevent him from executing any major reforms in agriculture, energy, the economy. The unemployment rate is climbing to levels not seen in three decades,” he said. “A show of weakness now will give an entry point for the opposition to move in and build a similar momentum around other issues […] Before you know it, things have spiralled out of control.”

The latest US troops killed in Trump’s Iran war are remembered for lives of service

A 30-year-old husband and father of two. A 25-year-old officer just weeks away from earning his MBA. A 19-year-old recent high school graduate. And a 28-year-old from Queens, New York, with a “radiant smile”. The Pentagon this week identified three American service members who were killed, and a fourth believed to have been killed, in the Middle East over the past week amid an escalation in attacks between the United States and Iranian forces. Their deaths bring the number of US troops killed since the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran in late February to 18, and hundreds of troops have also been injured, including nearly 100 since 7 July alone. The Pentagon has said that 96% of the nearly 100 injured since early July have since returned to duty. On Wednesday, Donald Trump attended the dignified transfer of the US service members at Dover airforce base in Delaware. Here’s a look at the four service members who the Pentagon identified this week: Michael Swinton, 30 On Tuesday, the Pentagon announced the death of Sergeant Michael Emmanuel Swinton, 30, of Fayetteville, North Carolina, who officials said was an active-duty soldier who was “supporting overseas operations in Iraq”. The Pentagon said that Swinton was killed in action in northern Iraq over the weekend during the disposal of what the military described on Sunday as a “downed Iranian one-way attack drone” at Erbil airbase in Iraq. The incident, which officials described as a “controlled detonation”, is under investigation. The Pentagon said that Swinton was assigned to D battery, 2nd battalion, 55th air defense artillery regiment, 108th air defense artillery brigade at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. His wife, Mia Gonzalez-Swinton, described him in a message to the Guardian as “an amazing man”. “He had an impact on anyone that crossed paths with him,” she said. “He was an amazing father, and amazing leader. He cared and loved hard for everyone in his life.” Swinton leaves behind two children: a four-year-old daughter, and a six-year-old son, she said. The military said that Swinton enlisted in the US army in 2017 as a 14H air defense early warning system operator, and that he reclassified as a 14E patriot fire control enhanced operator/maintainer. The US army said that Swinton will be posthumously promoted to staff sergeant. Swinton’s mother, Christel Swinton Andujar, told the Guardian that her son was the kind of person who could “light up any room”. “He had a contagious laugh, an incredible sense of humor, and loved making people smile,” she said in a message. “He was a true jokester who believed life was meant to be lived to the fullest.” She described him as “adventurous and fearless” and as someone who was “always ready for the next challenge”. “He embraced life with courage, confidence, and a willingness to take risks,” she said. “But beneath that adventurous spirit was a man of unwavering loyalty and strength.” Above all, she said, “Michael’s greatest love was his family,” adding that his wife, Mia, and two children, “were the center of his world”. “Michael was the most patient and loving father I have ever known,” she said. “He cherished every moment with his children, making them feel safe, valued, and deeply loved. He carried that same gentle heart into being an uncle. His nieces and nephews adored him because he always made time for them, encouraged them, and made them laugh.” To so many, she said that “Michael wasn’t just a hero because he wore the uniform – he was a hero because of the way he loved, protected, encouraged, and inspired everyone around him.” “His legacy will live on through the countless lives he touched, the laughter he shared, the strength he gave others, and the unconditional love he poured into his family. He will forever be missed, forever honored, and forever our hero,” she added. Tyler Feehan, 25 First Lieutenant Tyler James Feehan, 25, of Ewa Beach, Hawaii, was supporting overseas operations in Jordan and was killed in an Iranian attack at Muwaffaq Salti airbase in Jordan last week. The US Army said Feehan enlisted in the US army in 2019 as a 12B combat engineer with the Hawaii army national guard and later commissioned as an active-duty air defense artillery officer in 2024, and was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 55th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, 32nd army air and missile defense command, as a platoon leader at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The US army said that Feehan will be posthumously promoted to the rank of captain. Southern Utah University said in a statement that Feehan was both a SUU graduate and current student in the school’s MBA program. The university said that he was just weeks away from earning his MBA from the school. His degree will be awarded posthumously. In a statement sent to the Guardian, Feehan’s parents, Shari and Stephen Feehan, said that their hearts “are shattered”. “Our son, our ‘Tivo,’ was taken from us far too soon – alongside other American heroes lost or wounded in this same tragic attack,” they said. “In just 25 years, Tyler packed in more living than most people manage in a lifetime.” “He chased adventure relentlessly, whether it meant reaching Everest Base Camp or walking the Camino de Santiago across France and into Spain,” they said. “As a leader, he never wavered in putting his soldiers first – mentoring them, sharing his love of finance, and pushing the value of education every chance he got.” His parents said Feehan “believed deeply in the power of military service, especially what it builds in a person: discipline, leadership, character. Everyone who knew him loved him”. “Behind him, he leaves a family in mourning – his parents, his fiancée who was to become his wife upon his return from deployment, four sets of grandparents, and a wide circle of aunts, uncles, and cousins who adored him,” they added. “Law school was next on his list, a goal he talked about with the same confidence he quoted from Legally Blonde: ‘What, like it’s hard?’.” “Tyler, we are proud of you beyond words – devastated, yes, but prouder still,” they said, adding that “no parents could have asked for a better son, and carrying your legacy forward is now our purpose.” They concluded their statement, saying that “we ask only this: that in remembering Tyler, people pause to see the good this country still holds, rather than what divides it” and said that they are are building a scholarship in their son’s name, “one meant to open doors to education for those who serve or hope to”. Isabella Gonzales, 19 Private Isabella Gonzales, 19, of Carrollton, Texas, was also killed in the Iranian attack at Muwaffaq Salti airbase in Jordan. Gonzales was assigned to 1st battalion, 57th air defense artillery regiment, 52nd air defense artillery brigade, 10th army air missile defense command in Ansbach, Germany, the Pentagon said. Gonzales graduated from Hebron High School in Carrollton, Texas, in 2025, and joined the US army after. In a statement to the Guardian, the Lewisville independent school district said:“She gave her life in [army] service, and our district is heartbroken by her loss.” Anthony Tapia, 21, told the Guardian that he and Gonzales met in Germany in the soldier barracks and began dating in February of this year, “when I asked her to be my girlfriend on a snowy night in Stuttgart”. “She was one of the most incredible people I had ever met, funny, playful, charismatic, and so full of life,” Tapia said in a message. “She had a way of making everyone around her smile, and even in the most serious situations, she could somehow find a reason to laugh, make a joke, or put that beautiful smile on her face.” Tapia said that while they were apart, they would “talk whenever we could” and that they had been looking forward to taking a trip together to Tapia’s hometown in Washington state. “We talked about it so many times, saying how it was going to be one of the best trips of our lives,” he said. “My family was so excited to finally meet her, and I was so excited to show her the place where I grew up.” “We had so many plans,” he continued. “We talked about marriage, our future, traveling together, growing older together, and building a life filled with love and laughter. I truly believed we had so much time ahead of us.” Tapia said: “there are no words that can fully describe the pain of losing someone I loved so deeply.” “She was so much more than my girlfriend,” he said. “She was my best friend, the person I wanted to marry, the person I imagined my entire future with, and someone who brought so much happiness into my life.” “When I think of her, I don’t want to only remember the way we lost her,” he said. “I want to remember the girl who was always laughing. The girl who could make a joke during the most serious moments. The girl who was playful, funny, charismatic, and impossible not to love. I want to remember her beautiful smile, her laugh, her energy, and the way she could make an ordinary day feel special just by being herself.” “I loved her more than she probably ever truly understood,” he said. “I would have given anything to see her one more time, hold her one more time, and tell her again just how much she meant to me.” According to ABC News, Gonzales was posthumously promoted to private first class. Angel Rampersad, 28 The Pentagon announced that Sgt Angel S Rampersad, 28, of Ozone Park, New York, was also “believed to have been killed in action” during the attack at the Muwaffaq Salti airbase. The Pentagon said Rampersad was assigned to 1st battalion, 57th air defense artillery regiment, 52nd air defense artillery brigade, 10th army air and missile defense command in Ansbach, Germany. In a statement on social media, Pesach Osina, a state assembly candidate in the district where Rampersad lived, said that Rampersad was “truly a gift to everyone who knew her”. “She never sought attention or recognition,” Osina said. “She simply wanted to serve, protect others, and do her duty with courage and humility.” “Since learning of this tragedy, I have remained close to Angel’s mother, Carol Acevedo, her father, Basdeo Rampersad, and their family,” he added. “There are no words that can ease the pain of losing a child, but our entire community stands beside them during this unimaginable time.” Deonne Jinkins, who is also in the US army, told the Guardian she met Rampersad in 2024 while they were stationed in Germany, and that the two were introduced through mutual friends and quickly became friends. “We just hung out like every weekend,” Jinkins, 22, said. “She truly was an angel. She was just the sweetest person ever.” Jinkins, who said that Rampersad had a “radiant smile”, recalled that on her birthday in 2024, she didn’t really have any plans or that many friends around, and said that Rampersad took her out for dinner, and “we went out, and we just had fun.” “I’m gonna miss her so much, so much,” she added. New York governor, Kathy Hochul, said in a statement that “Sgt. Rampersad lived a life of courage and selflessness. May we honor her memory, remember her sacrifice, and keep all who loved her in our prayers.”

Pride organisers vow to march in Romanian city that has blocked event four years in a row

Campaigners in a Romanian city have vowed to go ahead with a Pride march after local authorities denied permission for the fourth consecutive year. Since 2023, campaigners in the western city of Oradea, which has a population of about 180,000, have sought permission to hold Pride events. However, each year they have faced opposition, making Oradea the only major city in the EU where local authorities have repeatedly blocked Pride marches. “Every year the local authorities have managed to find legal or technical excuses to ban Oradea Pride events,” said Iulian Dițiu, the co-founder and president of Ark Oradea, the local organiser of Pride. In 2024, they were told none of the city’s parks were available at the times requested, he said. The following year, campaigners submitted 12 potential routes for the march, only to be told that none was suitable. In the run-up to Saturday’s proposed march, organisers submitted more than 100 possible routes. On Wednesday, the city authorities said none of them was viable because they clashed with other events or public infrastructure works. The mayor, who belongs to a party that describes itself as liberal, conservative and Christian democratic, did not respond to a request for comment from the Guardian. Dițiu said the repeated refusals sent a broader message. “It feels like the message that they are trying to send our way is that we’re not welcome here,” he said. “They have never said out loud that they are banning Pride for LGBT reasons. They’re always hiding behind technical reasons.” The dispute has attracted growing international attention. More than 152 organisations from 30 countries have signed a statement calling on officials to allow the march to take place “in complete safety” and in line with EU law. “After four consecutive years in which the Pride march has been unable to take place, there can be no question of administrative or logistical difficulties,” the statement said. “When an authority consistently prevents a community from assembling peacefully, a principle that concerns all citizens is undermined.” Their appeal, delivered recently to the local administration in Oradea, drew comparisons between Oradea and Budapest, where Hungary’s former prime minister Viktor Orbán and his rightwing populist movement had sought to ban Pride events. “In recent years, the restriction of Pride marches has become, in several European states, an indicator of democratic backsliding and the weakening of the rule of law,” the statement said. Dițiu said organisers intended to proceed with the march on Saturday despite the lack of official permission, repeating last year’s approach. In 2025, between 500 and 600 people attended an unauthorised march, with nine participants later fined the equivalent of about €4,000 (£3,420) he said. This time representatives from several diplomatic missions have said they will take part, along with Romania’s ombudsman, he added. Dițiu described the situation as both “encouraging and disappointing”. “The institutions that are supposed to protect the rights of every community are trying to use our community as a scapegoat. But many more people are behind us. Many more people understand what the stakes are,” he said. “This is not an LGBT issue. This is a democratic issue. It’s about the freedom to public assembly. And if the local LGBT community here in Oradea can be denied this basic human right without any repercussion, it can happen pretty much anywhere in Europe, for pretty much any community.”

Thursday briefing: Now he has the power to do it, can Andy Burham really end homelessness in the UK?

Good morning. On 29 June, as the media gathered in Manchester at the People’s History Museum to hear Andy Burnham set out his blueprint to transform the UK, over in Westminster the 1824 Vagrancy Act was quietly repealed. It ended two centuries of criminalising people for the typically blameless fact of not having a home. While this largely symbolic move away from punishment to prevention was welcomed by charities, it did nothing to tackle the scale of the problem. The number of people sleeping rough on a single night in the autumn of 2025 in England – the most recent snapshot – was at a new record high of 4,793, exceeding the previous peak of 4,751 in 2017 and the fourth annual increase in a row. This is despite UK government spending on homelessness more than doubling in the past five years. On Monday, addressing the nation for the first time as prime minister, Burnham said his first instruction in office would be “to end rough sleeping in our country”. It was a familiar refrain for Burnham watchers – he made a similar pledge on his first day as mayor of Greater Manchester in 2017, after spending the early morning in the city’s Albert Square with people who had slept out there overnight. And he’s by no means the first Labour leader to be thus moved: the “scandal” of citizens forced to sleep outdoors in all weathers was one that Tony Blair vowed to end in 1999 – an aim his government came close to achieving before progress unravelled under successive Conservative governments. It was a commitment that Jeremy Corbyn had planned to announce if elected prime minister. I spoke to Dr Maya Singer Hobbs, of IPPR North, about the Manchester rough sleeping case study, and what lessons it holds for a national effort. But first the headlines. Five big stories Middle East | The US has signed a landmark nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia that could allow the kingdom to enrich uranium in the future. UK news | A political lobbying firm founded by the former electoral strategist for Boris Johnson secretly pays journalists to write pieces for British newspapers that are favourable to their clients. UK politics | Andy Burnham is immersed in a deepening political row after ordering a review of plans for the early release of thousands of killers, rapists and sex offenders from prison in September. Environment | Extreme heat supercharged by the climate crisis is sucking Europe dry in summer and intensifying the drought hitting the continent, a scientific analysis has found. World news | A modelling scout who recruited women for Jeffrey Epstein has been found dead at his home near Paris, French officials have said. In depth: ‘It’s not easy sitting on the ground with people walking past you’ Whenever I write about rough sleeping, I remember Mark Starr. I spoke to him in 2019 when Glasgow city council was piloting a scheme to help homeless people with digital exclusion. We talked about what it was like to have his first email address at the age of 53, but also his childhood in Kent, his work as a teenager at the local stables and his love of horses. “Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I’d end up on the streets,” he told me. “It’s not easy sitting on the ground with people walking past you.” The article was never published because Mark died on those same streets after we met. A few months later my colleague Simon Hattenstone talked to Mark’s family for his devastating series on The Empty Doorway. I mention this now as a reminder to myself, as much as anyone else, that every rough sleeper is an individual, quite likely with friends and family who miss them, and certainly with memories and dreams of better days. Rough sleeping – and homelessness more broadly – have risen to record levels in recent years, and the reasons are many and various: a chronic shortage of social and affordable housing, local initiatives derailed by the pandemic, inadequate support for prison leavers or those fleeing domestic abuse. Young people especially become vulnerable when tenancies end, and housing benefit can’t keep pace with soaring private rents – especially in city centres like Manchester. And then there is hidden homelessness, sleeping in a car or on a friend’s sofa and abruptly tipped into crisis when circumstances change. Charities working with migrants describe a funnel effect as individuals granted asylum have nowhere to go after their 42-day “move-on” period from home office accommodation. Add to this the growing numbers whose immigration status gives them no recourse to public funds – perhaps someone who has exhausted their appeal process or who has conditions attached to their visa – meaning they are barred from homelessness services but also have no right to work. On Monday, IPPR North published a report, co-authored by Singer Hobbs with the charity Crisis, calling for a genuinely “housing-led” approach to homelessness. As reported by our north of England editor Josh Halliday, it predicts current levels of homelessness could rise by 25% to more than 230,000 people by 2030 without radical action from central government. We know that Burnham was paying attention: he had been due to write the foreword for the report before he launched his bid for re-election to the Commons. *** The Manchester model The report recommends the national rollout of two Manchester-tested initiatives. Burnham’s “A Bed Every Night” programme expanded emergency overnight accommodation to anyone who needed it, not just to those with “priority need”, like pregnant women or people with children, to whom councils already owe a statutory duty. Alongside this, Housing First is a model that targets the most entrenched rough sleepers, who usually have very high support needs on account of addiction, mental illness or other challenges. It works on the assumption that people make most progress when based in stable housing rather than a hostel or B&B. Following success in the US and Finland, Housing First has been piloted in the West Midlands and Liverpool too, as well as across Scotland. What can’t be underestimated is the significance of Burnham making rough sleeping his immediate mayoral priority. “He expended political capital,” says Singer Hobbs, “and people working in the sector told us that made it easier because they knew exactly what he wanted.” This forced much more effective collaboration across boroughs and agencies, for example, sharing data on who was rough sleeping in different areas. *** Scaling up Although rough sleeping numbers in Manchester fell every year from 2018 to 2021, post-pandemic they have crept back up. Local charities interviewed on Monday after he made his pledge argued that a nationwide approach was needed to tackle many of the systemic drivers of rough sleeping, something IPPR North, and Burnham himself, have likewise identified. “As the mayor of Greater Manchester, he had no control over many of the things that drive homelessness,” says Singer Hobbs, “the welfare system, the home office or the Ministry of Justice. As prime minister, he has those levers.” The challenge now is what she describes as “the eternal balance of any kind of devolution”. For frontline services, it makes sense to have coordination at hyper-local level – where many rough sleepers are already well known. But prevention sits nationally, ensuring “you don’t end up with a policy being made in one department inadvertently driving homelessness up somewhere else”. One preventive act, for example, would be increasing the “move-on” period for those recently granted refugee status. And criticism has been levelled at A Bed Every Night. The offer could be a bare minimum of a sleeping bag on a hostel floor, and night shelters have little capacity to move people out of their current circumstances, sometimes escalating their vulnerabilities. The UK government is already spending billions on expensive and regularly sub-standard temporary accommodation, with growing numbers getting stuck at this stage because of the lack of available housing. Research for the Children’s Commissioner for England last year found that 520 families in England had been living in a B&B for over a year. IPPR North has examined some innovative approaches: Wigan has leased long-term empty homes at lower rates from private landlords; Waltham Forest has repurposed council-owned buildings. But this is another pinchpoint for Burnham: can he do enough at the end of the housing chain to ensure temporary accommodation is just that – a brief emergency provision on the way to a settled home. If Burnham really does “oversee the biggest council housebuilding programme since the postwar period”, as he outlined in June, that will also go some way to ease the pressure on local authorities. But his predecessor Keir Starmer’s efforts to tackle the crisis by building 1.5m homes over five years stalled because of a perfect storm of high interest rates, rising construction costs, and the impact of Brexit. *** Look north Here it is worth taking a detour through Scotland, where Holyrood’s homelessness legislation has been lauded as some of the most progressive in the world. But it has failed to deliver because of a catastrophic mismatch between ambitious legal rights and the practical resources required to fulfil them. The vast majority of Scottish councils already have the Housing First programme Burnham favours, but, like in England, rough sleeping has been on the rise since lockdown. Campaigners in Scotland suggest that, despite the standout early success of the pilots, momentum was lost after Covid, with the Scottish government failing to provide the long term oversight and vision required. And unlike England, in Scotland – and recently in Wales – the concept of priority need has been abolished. But at a time when local government is struggling financially, this universal duty to house anyone who is unintentionally homeless added a huge additional burden on councils. It has also attracted people newly granted asylum in other parts of the UK to the country, something Reform were swift to weaponise during the Holyrood election campaign earlier this year. Nevertheless, IPPR North and Crisis argue this move is fundamentally fairer, and have urged the UK government to roll it out nationwide, albeit with a timeline in place and additional resources. Charities in Scotland believe this would at least balance the system, reducing the incentive for people in need to move across the border. *** An end to rough sleeping? Can Andy Burnham end rough sleeping across the country? “I’d like to think so,” says Singer Hobbs, with the immediate caveat that the funding he announced on Monday is unlikely to be enough. It has been substantially reduced before: Blair’s rough sleepers’ unit was spearheaded by the cast iron problem-solver Louise Casey who also coordinated ‘Everyone In’ at the start of lockdown, which gave local authorities across England just three days to move all rough sleepers into emergency accommodation. That showed what could be achieved if homelessness was treated as a public health crisis. Most people – fortunately – won’t ever experience homelessness, and yet it is becoming an increasing public anxiety. According to polling ahead of May’s Holyrood elections, one in three Scots were worried they could lose their home in the coming years, while 61% were more likely to vote for parties who prioritised action on homelessness. “People sleeping rough is a really visible sign of our public realm not being fit for purpose,” says Singer Hobbs. Burnham already understands that homelessness is a political choice. Now facing an electorate weary of broken promises, he has staked his government’s reputation on it. What else we’ve been enjoying This Guardian investigation exposes how the ultra-processed food industry is copying the tactics of big tobacco: when all else fails, sue (even if you’ve no chance of winning). Hettie If you haven’t tried this already, use our new analysis tool to discover how different voting systems return wildly different election results in your local area. Libby How do you solve a problem like the Treasury? Burnham’s first week as PM showed just how much power it holds, and as Larry Elliot writes, his chancellor has a challenge on his hands. Hettie We’re big fans of feedback on First Edition, so I’ve taken time to read and digest what Guardian readers say they want from Andy Burnham’s premiership. Libby Tate needs a total rethink, a fresh pair of eyes, and should maybe even start calling itself “the” Tate. I enjoyed reading our art writer Jonathan Jones on the job facing the institution’s new director. Hettie Sport Cycling | Anti-doping authorities at the Tour de France have rejected accusations of preferential treatment towards Paul Seixas, the teenage French rider and home favourite who is placed fourth overall. Football | Southampton’s manager, Tonda Eckert, is facing a lengthy suspension from all football activity after being charged with three counts of misconduct by the Football Association. Football | The Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has held talks about joining the consortium that is seeking to buy 30% of Liverpool. The front pages “Burnham steps in to order review in row over early prisoner release”, is the Guardian’s front page today. The Times leads with “Prison chaos as Burnham calls halt to early release”, the Mail also goes on “Burnham forced to review early prison release”, the Telegraph’s take is “‘It is deplorable that freeing prisoners early is acceptable’” and the Express splashes “My Andrew and every victim deserves better”. Elsewhere, the FT writes “Fear for winter supplies drives gas prices near Iran war peaks”, the i Paper has “Water execs face criminal charges, accused of major conspiracy to fake sewage tests”, the Sun leads on “Stig: I nearly died in Freddie crash”, and Metro says “Andy Tap!” on Burnham’s transport plans. The Latest Zelenskyy ousts Ukraine army chief after protests Volodymyr Zelenskyy has fired his commander-in-chief, Oleksandr Syrskyi, in Ukraine’s biggest military shake-up in two years. Nationwide protests broke out after Zelenskyy sacked Mykhailo Fedorov as defence minister, who the Ukrainian president says will now be brought back into government in a ‘prominent position’. Lucy Hough speaks to the Guardian’s senior international correspondent, Luke Harding. Cartoon of the day | Nicola Jennings The Upside A bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all bad Ray Exworth created one of Britain’s most extraordinary bodies of sculpture, but almost nobody has even seen it. He had just one major exhibition in his lifetime, at the Whitechapel Gallery in 1975. But then he disappeared almost entirely from public view, retreating to a labyrinth of sheds in remote Cornwall, where he spent the following decades working on his sculptures. Now, a new book, “Ray’s Sheds,” provides unprecedented access to this work for the first time. It documents his unwavering dedication and asks what the purpose of art is when it’s never publicly seen. Sign up here for a weekly roundup of The Upside, sent to you every Sunday Bored at work? And finally, the Guardian’s puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow. Quick crossword Cryptic crossword Wordiply

‘Overdue reunion’: aviation hero’s long lost granddaughter uncovers secret past

In the spring of 1944, Elsie Barber, a member of the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force, had a fling with a Royal Air Force pilot named Arthur Brown, known as Buster. The liaison at the RAF base near High Ercall in Shropshire was clandestine. She was 24 and single, he was a recently married 21-year-old. Buster died months later, on D-day, when his Mosquito fighter plane crashed in the Netherlands, leaving Elsie with a lonely dilemma. She was pregnant, and after giving birth to a daughter, made the decision to give her up for adoption. The girl grew up unaware of her origins – until, decades later, she decided to investigate and discovered a tale of family secrets, heartbreak and glory. Judy Bain is now 81 years old and a living link to a legendary figure in aviation who was born on 23 July 140 years ago. Buster’s father – Judy’s grandfather – was Arthur Whitten Brown senior, who with John Alcock completed the first nonstop transatlantic flight in 1919, crossing 1,950 miles (3,138km) from Canada to Ireland in 16 hours and 12 minutes, a feat that astonished and enthralled the world. For aviation enthusiasts Brown’s birthday, 23 July 1886, has a melancholic tinge because when he died in 1948 – grief-stricken after the loss of Buster, his only child – it was believed he had no descendants. In fact he has seven: Judy, her two children and four grandchildren. “One of the things that saddens me is that when he died, and his son died, there was no other family,” said Judy, speaking from her home in Perth, Australia. “Neither of them knew about me and there were no other relations at all.” Piecing together her family’s story proved bittersweet, but discovering the touch of celebrity was a welcome surprise. Alcock and Brown’s flight in a first world war Vickers Vimy biplane from Newfoundland to Clifden in County Galway was an exploit that showed the potential of long distance air travel and won acclaim and knighthoods for both men. Buster followed his father into the RAF, married in 1943 and had his fling with Elsie while posted to the training base in Shropshire from January to March 1944. He was on a scouting mission when he was killed. Later that year, Elsie gave up their baby for adoption to a couple in Cornwall. When Judy was about 10, the couple told her she was adopted, then shunned the topic. It was not a happy childhood, she said. “I didn’t fit into that family. I was adventurous and they weren’t.” After studying social science at the University of Liverpool, Judy married a Scot, Andy Bain, and they moved to western Australia in the 1960s. Andy died of a brain tumour, leaving Judy to raise their son and daughter while juggling different jobs, including teaching. In the 1990s, Judy, through a researcher, identified and traced her birth mother to Cornwall. Elsie was in her 70s and married with two adult children to Tom Salmon, a retired BBC TV journalist. Mother and daughter met in Cornwall in 1994, said Judy. “We got on really well.” However, Elsie misidentified Judy’s father. She appeared to think the father was another RAF man with whom she had a relationship in 1944, and she died in 2000, at the age of 81, without identifying Buster. Elsie’s daughter-in-law Elizabeth Salmon had a passion for genealogy and DNA research and with Judy’s permission investigated her parentage. “I’m like a jack russell, once I start, I never let go,” said Elizabeth. After establishing that the other RAF man was not the father, she identified Buster in 2020. “It was the eureka moment.” Judy had never heard of the doomed young pilot but as a schoolgirl had learned about his famous father. “It was exciting to discover that I had a historical grandparent,” she said. One of her four grandchildren – Brown’s great-great-grandson – has visited the biplane at London’s Science Museum. Brendan Lynch, an Irish author who chronicled Alcock and Brown’s feat in a 2008 book, Yesterday We Were in America, published by the History Press, helped Salmon with her research on Brown and has forged a bond with Judy. He hopes she will attend a commemoration of the landing in Clifden. “At previous events there was an Alcock and I felt the absence of a Brown relative very acutely. It would mark a long overdue reunion and a fitting conclusion to one of aviation’s most daring feats.” Illegitimate children bore a stigma in the 1940s, but Lynch believes the aviation pioneer would have embraced Judy had he known about her. “As well as being a fearless flyer, Arthur Whitten Brown was known to his contemporaries as a thoughtful and considerate man. I am convinced that he would have braved the controversy of his son’s escapade and welcomed his granddaughter.” Brown was still mourning Buster when he died in 1948, aged 62, from an overdose of sleeping tablets. Some say it was an accident, others suspect he took his own life. “I like to think that if he had met Judy he would have given her a good home, that it might have been a plus for him,” said Lynch. Judy has inherited her grandfather’s taste for adventure. She drove a camper van across Australia and scuba dived into her 70s and despite a recent hip operation still adores the ocean. “I enjoy snorkelling. There’s a really good spot just down the road from me.” • In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123. In the US, you can call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org