After the giddy public highs following Hasina’s departure, the interim government has admitted that weight of expectation is enormous

Like so many of Sheikh Hasina’s political rivals, Amir Chowdhury was in jail the day that the prime minister fled Bangladesh.

Chowdhury, a senior leader in the opposition Bangladesh National Party (BNP), had been picked up by police three weeks earlier, in July, as mass protests began to engulf the country and a violent crackdown began in response. It was Chowdhury’s third stint in prison since Hasina took power 15 years ago and began a campaign to destroy his party.

The PM should be enjoying his political honeymoon but, explains Anushka Asthana, his wide but fragile majority is proving difficult to navigate

With his first party conference as prime minister coming up and a huge majority in parliament, Keir Starmer should be riding high. Instead his popularity has taken a hit, the mood in the Labour party seems to be downbeat and he is answering a stream of questions about gifts to him and his wife.

Anushka Asthana, the former Today in Focus presenter turned ITV’s deputy political editor, has been following Starmer closely since the start of his political journey. She tells Helen Pidd why Labour is so focused on spending restraint and discusses the problems that the fragility of the party’s majority is causing. But she says with the junior doctors’ pay disputes resolved, GB Energy and rail nationalisation going ahead there are also reasons for traditional Labour voters to be optimistic.

For couples in the US mid-way through the adoption process, news of an end to international adoptions has been crushing

Americans Lauren and Harrison Smith met in China as students, and discussed their desire to adopt from the country early on in their relationship. As soon as they reached the minimum age of 30, the couple put together their applications and submitted for inspections of their home in Kunming, the capital of south-west China’s Yunnan province, where they lived with their two-year-old daughter.

“In September 2019, we saw our son’s picture for the first time and were able to submit a letter of intent to adopt him,” Lauren told the Guardian.

Contentious government funding package championed by Mike Johnson was voted down 202-220

A government funding package championed by Republican House speaker Mike Johnson failed to pass on Wednesday, with less than two weeks left to prevent a shutdown starting 1 October.

The final vote was 202 to 220, with 14 House Republicans and all but three House Democrats opposing the bill. Two Republican members voted “present”.

Other perks including nine-day fortnight and more planning time at home offered to attract recruits

• ‘A brave new world for educators’: teachers respond to nine-day-fortnight proposals

Teachers in England are being offered a range of incentives to make the job more appealing, including two free periods a week to give them a lie-in, a nine-day fortnight and more planning time at home to help with work-life balance.

An escalating crisis in teacher recruitment and retention is forcing schools and academy trusts to come up with novel ways to attract new recruits into the profession and keep experienced staff in front of classes.

Council of Europe also calls for more support for Cornish, Scots, Scottish Gaelic, Welsh and Manx Gaelic

The UK is being urged by Europe’s leading human rights organisation to push ahead with strategies to promote the use of Irish and Ulster Scots languages in Northern Ireland despite continued tensions over the issue.

The Council of Europe experts also want to see the strengthening of teaching of all minority languages in the UK including Cornish, Scots, Scottish Gaelic, Welsh and Manx Gaelic in the Isle of Man.

After making real progress last season, Tottenham signed Hayley Raso as the manager Robert Vilahamn seeks to build further

Guardian writers’ predicted position: 6th (NB: this is not necessarily Suzanne Wrack’s prediction but the average of our writers’ tips)

Last season’s position: 6th

CQC issues damning report on maternity services in England as minister admits anxiety over ‘risk of disaster’

Maternity services in England are so inadequate that cases of women receiving poor care and being harmed in childbirth are in danger of becoming “normalised”, the NHS regulator has said.

A Care Quality Commission (CQC) report based on inspections of 131 maternity units sets out an array of problems, adding to the sense of crisis that has enveloped an NHS service that cares for the 600,000 women a year who give birth and their babies.

Some women, frustrated at facing such long delays in being assessed at triage, discharge themselves before they are seen.

65% of units are not safe for women to give birth in, 47% of trusts are rated as requiring improvement on safety and another 18% are rated as inadequate.

Some hospitals do not record incidents that have resulted in serious harm.

There is a widespread lack of staff and in some places a lack of potentially life-saving equipment.

Hospitals do not always consider women’s suffering after receiving poor care.

• City playmaker taken off in Champions League match
• Guardiola pleased with draw against Italian champions

Kevin De Bruyne is an injury doubt for Manchester City’s showdown with Arsenal on Sunday after suffering what appeared to be a groin injury in the Champions League goalless draw with Inter at the Etihad Stadium.

The Belgian was hurt when running in on goal and being challenged by Yann Sommer, the Inter No 1, during the first half, afterwards seeming to clutch his groin area. Following treatment De Bruyne continued until the break but was then taken off.