At least 17 Palestinians have been killed and 50 wounded in a fresh Israeli assault on Gaza City, rescuers and health officials have said, as Hamas was reported to have withdrawn from ceasefire talks.

The attacks in the early hours of Sunday morning occurred less than 24 hours after Israeli forces say the Hamas military chief, Mohammed Deif, the mastermind of the 7 October attack on southern Israel, was the target of a strike in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, which, according to the territory’s emergency services, killed more than 90 people and injured 300 more.

At least four distinct Israeli airstrikes targeted houses in various parts of the city on Sunday.

Deif, 58, who has been on Israel’s most-wanted list since 1995 and escaped multiple Israeli assassination attempts, is believed to be the chief architect of the attack that killed 1,200 people in southern Israel and triggered the Israel-Hamas war.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Rafa Salama, another top Hamas official, was also targeted in the strike.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, said: “There is still no conclusive certainty that the two have been foiled, but I want to assure you that one way or another we will reach the top of Hamas.”

Hamas’s deputy leader, Khalil al-Hayya, told Al Jazeera TV that Deif had not been killed in the strikes and, addressing Netanyahu, said: “Deif is listening to you right now and mocking your lies.”

Another Hamas official told AFP the group’s military leader Mohammed Deif was “fine” and working despite Israel’s huge bomb.

Deif, known as “guest”, has frequently changed locations to elude Israeli detection. Engaged with Hamas from a young age, the former science student orchestrated a series of suicide bombings targeting Israeli civilians in the 1990s and then again a decade later.

On 7 October, Hamas issued a rare voice recording of Deif announcing the “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation.

Gaza’s health ministry said Israel’s strike on a camp for displaced people in Khan Younis killed at least 92 Palestinians and injured more than 300 others. Residents said they witnessed at least five “big warplanes bombing in the middle of al-Mawasi area, west of Khan Younis”.

Hamas says Israeli claims of targeting leaders of the Palestinian militant group are “false” and are aimed at “justifying” the attack. A senior Hamas official told Agence France-Presse on Sunday that the Palestinian militant group had withdrawn from talks on a ceasefire in the Gaza war because of what it called Israeli “massacres” and its attitude in negotiations.

Two Egyptian security sources told Reuters on Saturday that Gaza ceasefire talks had been halted after three days of intense negotiations failed to produce a viable outcome, blaming Israel for lacking a “genuine intent to reach agreement”. The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the behaviour of the Israeli mediators revealed “internal discord”.

A few hours before, Hamas’s political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, accused Netanyahu of seeking to block a deal to end the war with “heinous massacres”. He said Hamas had shown “a positive and responsible response” to new proposals for a ceasefire and prisoner exchange, but “the Israeli position taken by Netanyahu was to place obstacles that prevent reaching an agreement”, Haniyeh said in a statement.

Thousands of Israelis took to the streets across the country over the weekend, accusing Netanyahu of sabotaging the negotiations. Among the demonstrators were families of hostages, who made a symbolic march from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Relatives of those still held captive in Gaza by Hamas fear that the recent escalation of bombings in the strip may hinder the safe return home of their loved ones.

“In light of recent events in the Gaza Strip, the families of the hostages remind Prime Minister Netanyahu that there can be no victory until all 120 hostages are returned home,” read a statement from the Hostage and Missing Families Forum. “The proposed deal is in its final stages. We have been waiting for them for 282 days. Time is of the essence; there’s not a moment more to lose.”

David Lammy is to call for an immediate ceasefire during talks with Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, on his first visit to Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories as foreign secretary.

Lammy said he would push for the release of all hostages as well as an increase in aid into Gaza, announcing a new £5.5m humanitarian and medical assistance package.

Echoing the calls for a ceasefire made by Keir Starmer to both Israeli and Palestinian leaders upon entering No 10, Lammy said the UK wanted to play a “full diplomatic role” in bringing about a lasting end to the conflict.

Labour came in for heavy criticism for its early response to the conflict in the aftermath of the 7 October attacks by Hamas inside Israel that led to a significant loss of votes in some areas with high numbers of Muslim voters, including the election of four pro-Gaza independent candidates in seats held of targeted by the party.

Lammy will also raise the issue of Israeli settler violence settlers in the West Bank when he meets Netanyahu. Lammy is to meet the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, as well. The British aid package will go to UK-Med, a frontline medical aid charity that includes many NHS medics who are in the region to support field hospitals in Gaza and the emergency department at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis.

“The death and destruction in Gaza is intolerable,” Lammy said, before the visit. “This war must end now, with an immediate ceasefire, complied with by both sides. The fighting has got to stop, the hostages still cruelly detained by Hamas terrorists need to be released immediately and aid must be allowed in to reach the people of Gaza without restrictions.”

He said it was the UK’s “ambition and commitment” to play a role in securing a ceasefire deal and a renewed path towards a two-state solution. “The world needs a safe and secure Israel alongside a viable and sovereign Palestinian state,” Lammy said.

“Central to this is to see an end to expanding illegal Israeli settlements and rising settler violence in the West Bank. Here, in what should be a crucial part of a Palestinian state, alongside Gaza and East Jerusalem, we need to see a reformed and empowered Palestinian Authority.”

In Israel, Lammy will also meet the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, and families with links to the UK whose relatives still being held hostage in Gaza or have been murdered by Hamas. The foreign secretary will say there are more than 680 tonnes of UK aid waiting to enter Gaza, including medicines, shelters and hygiene kits – and the Foreign Office said he would push for a rapid increase in aid being allowed into the territory.

The government has stopped short of saying the UK will unilaterally recognise a Palestinian state. Lammy said he would acknowledge the recognition of a Palestinian state was an “undeniable right of the Palestinian people”. He added that the UK would recognise the state as part of a renewed peace process, as well as condemning settlements in the West Bank as illegal and harmful.

During the very short amount of time he has spent at the top of his sport, Carlos Alcaraz has already enjoyed a career with few comparisons. Alcaraz is winning big titles at a rate that few 21-year-olds ever have yet it still seems like he has barely scratched at the surface of his talents. Every win brings him closer to the possibility that he will soon be the dominant force in his sport.

He took another leap forward in his blossoming career by producing an incredible performance under pressure and holding off his late nerves to defeat the seven-time champion Novak Djokovic 6-2, 6-2, 7-6 (4) and triumph at Wimbledon for a second time in a row. Alcaraz has now won four major titles and counting and he joins Roger Federer as the only men to win their first four grand slam finals.

With this monumental victory, Alcaraz also joins a rare group of six players who have wonat Roland Garros and Wimbledon in the same year, nowadays sometimes known as the “Channel Slam”. This is also Alcaraz’s first ever grand slam title defence and it marks the first time he has won multiple grand slam titles in the same year.

After tearing his meniscus during the French Open and quickly undergoing surgery, Djokovic’s run to the final alone was incredibly impressive in itself. But the 37-year-old had also reached the final without facing a single top 10 opponent – the ninth seed Alex de Minaur withdrew before their quarter-final match – meaning he had not been tested by one of the elite.

More importantly, nothing in Djokovic’s path to the final prepared him for the excellence of Alcaraz. A year ago, the Spaniard demonstrated his mental strength and nerve in a delirious five-set comeback victory over Djokovic to win his first Wimbledon title in an instant classic. The start of the sequel suggested that another long afternoon could be on the cards as Alcaraz wrestled a mammoth 13-minute opening game from Djokovic to immediately break serve.

The winner of the final point of that first game turned out to be far more significant. While Alcaraz settled immediately and constantly looked to take the first strike, Djokovic seemed to be terrified of trading with his opponent from the baseline. He was determined to shorten points by approaching the net as early as possible and throwing in numerous serve and volley attempts. Alcaraz easily picked Djokovic off whenever he tried to approach and by the time the Spaniard led 6-2, 2-0, Djokovic had won just four of his 14 net approaches.

Even as he established an early lead, it took a while for Alcaraz to reach his top level. Every game on the board seemed to free him up a little more as he worked through his arsenal of shots, launching himself into nuclear forehands, closing down the net and keeping Djokovic guessing with a steady helping of drop shots.

While Djokovic’s movement has been solid during the fortnight, he has been cautious about sliding and pushing back off his right knee when forced out wide on his forehand side. Time after time, Alcaraz made Djokovic scramble in his forehand corner and he struck his down-the-line backhand well. As he rolled through to establish a two-set lead, he had made Djokovic’s life so uncomfortable.

Even when he trailed by two sets, Djokovic searched for solutions, served well and he put Alcaraz under considerable pressure. It was not until Alcaraz reached 5-4, 40-0 and triple championship point, though, that he finally balked. After a double fault and a fine forehand return from Djokovic, an excellent serve from Alcaraz set up a forehand drive volley. Just as he was about to strike the ball, a spectator screamed out from the crowd. Alcaraz missed that forehand and two more as he quickly relinquished the game.

To his credit, even when Djokovic followed up the break by holding easily to lead 6-5, Alcaraz did not panic. He held serve, forced a tiebreak and then he played an outrageous drop shot winner at 5-4 as he found the courage to force himself back onto the front foot to close out a brilliant win the hard way.

The Princess of Wales is attending the Wimbledon men’s final with her daughter, Princess Charlotte, in her second public engagement since announcing her cancer diagnosis.

Catherine, who is a patron of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, will present the trophy to the winner of the clash between Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz.

She arrived at the tournament in SW19 less than an hour before the final was due to begin on Sunday afternoon.

The princess has been undergoing chemotherapy and made her first public appearance since announcing her cancer diagnosis in March at the trooping the colour ceremony in London last month.

She did not attend the women’s singles final on Saturday, and the Wimbledon chair, Debbie Jevans, presented the trophy to Barbora Krejčíková on her behalf.

The actors Tom Cruise, Zendaya and Hugh Jackman were among the celebrities attending Centre Court as the Czech player fought off the Italian Jasmine Paolini to win 6-2 2-6 6-4.

Earlier in the tournament, Catherine paid tribute to the two-time Wimbledon men’s singles champion Sir Andy Murray, saying he should be “so very proud” after he missed out on a final chance at the tournament.

In a personally signed message on social media, the princess wrote: “An incredible #Wimbledon career comes to an end. You should be so very proud Andy Murray. On behalf of all of us, thank you! C.”

Muray was due to play mixed doubles with Emma Raducanu but the former US Open women’s singles champion pulled out of the match, citing stiffness in her right wrist.

Catherine visited the championships several times last year and presented Alcaraz with his first Wimbledon trophy after watching him battle Djokovic in the men’s singles final.

On Friday, she missed a charity polo match as her husband, the Prince of Wales, took to the field to raise funds for good causes at Guards Polo Club in Windsor Great Park.

In a statement released last month, the princess revealed shewas making good progress but was “not out of the woods yet” and had “good days and bad days” as she continued her treatment.

Prince William will be in Berlin later on Sunday to attend England’s Euro 2024 final against Spain as president of the Football Assocation.

Some spectators at Wimbledon could be seen wearing white England football shirts at the championships on Sunday morning.

Four people died in a shooting with multiple victims at a Birmingham nightclub late Saturday, while an earlier shooting outside a home in the city killed three people including a young child, police in Alabama said.

Officers responded shortly after 11pm to a report of multiple people shot outside a nightclub on the 3400 Block of 27th Street North, Birmingham police department officer Truman Fitzgerald said in a video posted on social media.

Birmingham fire and rescue personnel pronounced one man dead on a sidewalk near the nightclub. Two women were pronounced dead inside the club, Fitzgerald said.

A second man was pronounced dead at University of Alabama at Birmingham hospital, where at least nine additional victims were being treated for gunshot wounds, he said.

Victims were transported by emergency medical personnel or traveled to the hospital on their own, Fitzgerald said.

Investigators believe at least one suspect fired shots into the nightclub from the street, Fitzgerald said. Federal law enforcement authorities are assisting Birmingham police with the investigation.

Separately, police responded around 5.20pm to a report of a vehicle accident in the 1700 block of Indian Summer Drive in Birmingham. Police found a car that appeared to have been shot into located in the front yard of a home, Fitzgerald said.

Inside the vehicle were a man, woman and a small boy believed to be as young as five years old who had suffered gunshot wounds. Birmingham fire and rescue pronounced all three dead at the scene, he said.

Investigators believe they were victims of a “targeted shooting” before the suspect fled in a vehicle, Fitzgerald said.

Police asked area residents to provide footage from home surveillance cameras to assist the investigation.

Shannen Doherty, star of Beverly Hills 90210 and Heathers, has died at the age of 53.

A statement from her publicist Leslie Sloane, cited by People magazine, said: “It is with a heavy heart that I confirm the passing of actress Shannen Doherty. On Saturday, July 13, she lost her battle with cancer after many years of fighting the disease.”

The actor had been first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015 and underwent a mastectomy. In 2020, she said that her diagnosis was then terminal, calling it “a bitter pill to swallow” in a Good Morning America interview.

In June 2023, Doherty shared an Instagram post that revealed news that cancer had spread to her brain alongside a video of her receiving treatment. “My fear is obvious,” she wrote.

Doherty started working at a young age with small-screen roles in Father Murphy and Little House on the Prairie and big-screen roles in The Secret of NIMH and Girls Just Want to Have Fun all before the age of 15.

In 1988, Doherty starred in the dark comedy Heathers alongside Winona Ryder. While it wasn’t a financial success at the time, it since became a cult favourite, widely seen as one of the best high school films ever. She later made a cameo appearance in the pilot of a TV adaptation.

Two years later, Doherty found success as Brenda Walsh in hit teen drama Beverly Hills 90210, which averaged over 21 million viewers by its fourth season. “We get accosted in malls,” said Doherty of the show’s success in 1992. “Basically, it takes over your life.”

Doherty left before season five but later returned for the 2008 reboot and 2019’s meta BH90210, where she played herself.

She also found major success in witchcraft drama Charmed, which she starred in for three seasons. She also directed a number of episodes. Her film roles included Mallrats and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back for the film-maker Kevin Smith.

When Doherty shared her latest update in June 2023, Smith wrote: “You have been such a fearless fighter your whole life, so it’s understandable to be a little scared from time to time. But when those moments pass, let that indomitable Doherty spirit take over anew. I love you so much, my Mallrat.”

Doherty was often positioned as a troublemaker in the press, with People magazine once referring to her the “iconic Hollywood bad girl of the 90s”. Addressing her reputation in 1992, Doherty pushed back on being difficult.

“If you consider ‘difficult’ being a strong woman who sticks up for herself, yeah, I admit to it,” she says. “I’m open to different ideas, but if you get on my bad side and don’t listen to me and you don’t treat me with as much respect as you treat a man, you’ve got a problem.”

In 2010, Doherty addressed it again: “I have a rep. Did I earn it? Yeah, I did. But, after a while you sort of try to shed that rep because you’re kind of a different person. You’ve evolved and all of the bad things you’ve done in your life have brought you to a much better place.”

A city in northern Germany has become the first to issue an all-out ban on the use of a hand gesture used to encourage silence in the classroom because of its close resemblance to a far-right Turkish gesture.

The “silent fox” gesture – where the hand is posed to resemble an animal with upright ears (the little and forefinger) and a closed mouth (the middle fingers pressed against the thumb) – has long been seen as a useful teaching tool by educators in Germany and elsewhere. It signals to children that they should stop talking and listen to their teacher.

But authorities in the port city of Bremen say the symbol is “in danger of being mistaken” for the right-wing extremist “wolf salute”, from which it is indistinguishable.

The salute was recently the focus of a diplomatic and sporting row, when the Turkish national football player Merih Demiral used it to celebrate scoring a goal in Turkey’s round of 16 match against Austria at the Euros earlier this month.

While the symbol not banned in Germany as it is in neighbouring Austria and France, its use was condemned by interior minister Nancy Faeser, who said “to use the football championships as a platform for racism” was “completely unacceptable.”

After the summoning of Turkey’s ambassador to Berlin and Germany’s ambassador to Ankara, the European football governing body Uefa issued Demiral with a two-match ban.

Protests over his ban led to calls among Turkish fans for the symbol to be used even more widely as an expression of their anger at what Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan called an “unfair and biased” reaction.

“Does anybody ask why the German national jersey has an eagle, or the French jersey a rooster?” he asked reporters ahead of Turkey’s quarter-final encounter with the Netherlands in Berlin.

Erdoğan said the ban was politically motivated, insisting that Demiral had merely used the gesture to show his excitement.

Germany is home to an estimated 3 million ethnic Turks, who make up the country’s largest single ethnic minority and form the largest Turkish diaspora globally.

Patricia Brandt, a spokesperson for Bremen’s education authority, said that the topic of the silent fox gesture and whether to ban it had long been under discussion but the city felt it now had no choice. “The political meaning of the hand gesture is absolutely incompatible with the values of the city of Bremen,” she said.

But she added that increasingly teachers had anyway considered the gesture to be “pedagogically outdated”, and its “regulatory style” too dogmatic and condescending.

The wolf salute is the symbol and identifying logo of the Grey Wolves, which is classified as a rightwing extremist group and has an estimated 20,000 members in Germany and many more outside the country. Grey Wolves is described by extremism experts as hardline nationalist and Islamist, with hatred shown to Kurds, Jews, Christians, Armenians, Greeks, the EU and the US. The group, which has a long history of terrorism dating back to the 1970s, has been blamed for bomb attacks in Paris and Bangkok, and the attempt on the life of Pope John Paul II in 1981.

The silent fox symbol is used not just in Germany but by teachers around the world, and is known variously as the whispering fox, the listening fox, and as the quiet coyote in the US.

The Bremen ban follows a wider debate in Germany. The president of the German Teachers’ Association, Stefan Düll called last week for teachers to show greater sensitivity in its use at primary schools and kindergartens. He insisted there were other ways of encouraging children to be quiet.

Some schools have reportedly started using gongs and other sign language or picture symbols instead.

A city in northern Germany has become the first to issue an all-out ban on the use of a hand gesture used to encourage silence in the classroom because of its close resemblance to a far-right Turkish gesture.

The “silent fox” gesture – where the hand is posed to resemble an animal with upright ears (the little and forefinger) and a closed mouth (the middle fingers pressed against the thumb) – has long been seen as a useful teaching tool by educators in Germany and elsewhere. It signals to children that they should stop talking and listen to their teacher.

But authorities in the port city of Bremen say the symbol is “in danger of being mistaken” for the right-wing extremist “wolf salute”, from which it is indistinguishable.

The salute was recently the focus of a diplomatic and sporting row, when the Turkish national football player Merih Demiral used it to celebrate scoring a goal in Turkey’s round of 16 match against Austria at the Euros earlier this month.

While the symbol not banned in Germany as it is in neighbouring Austria and France, its use was condemned by interior minister Nancy Faeser, who said “to use the football championships as a platform for racism” was “completely unacceptable.”

After the summoning of Turkey’s ambassador to Berlin and Germany’s ambassador to Ankara, the European football governing body Uefa issued Demiral with a two-match ban.

Protests over his ban led to calls among Turkish fans for the symbol to be used even more widely as an expression of their anger at what Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan called an “unfair and biased” reaction.

“Does anybody ask why the German national jersey has an eagle, or the French jersey a rooster?” he asked reporters ahead of Turkey’s quarter-final encounter with the Netherlands in Berlin.

Erdoğan said the ban was politically motivated, insisting that Demiral had merely used the gesture to show his excitement.

Germany is home to an estimated 3 million ethnic Turks, who make up the country’s largest single ethnic minority and form the largest Turkish diaspora globally.

Patricia Brandt, a spokesperson for Bremen’s education authority, said that the topic of the silent fox gesture and whether to ban it had long been under discussion but the city felt it now had no choice. “The political meaning of the hand gesture is absolutely incompatible with the values of the city of Bremen,” she said.

But she added that increasingly teachers had anyway considered the gesture to be “pedagogically outdated”, and its “regulatory style” too dogmatic and condescending.

The wolf salute is the symbol and identifying logo of the Grey Wolves, which is classified as a rightwing extremist group and has an estimated 20,000 members in Germany and many more outside the country. Grey Wolves is described by extremism experts as hardline nationalist and Islamist, with hatred shown to Kurds, Jews, Christians, Armenians, Greeks, the EU and the US. The group, which has a long history of terrorism dating back to the 1970s, has been blamed for bomb attacks in Paris and Bangkok, and the attempt on the life of Pope John Paul II in 1981.

The silent fox symbol is used not just in Germany but by teachers around the world, and is known variously as the whispering fox, the listening fox, and as the quiet coyote in the US.

The Bremen ban follows a wider debate in Germany. The president of the German Teachers’ Association, Stefan Düll called last week for teachers to show greater sensitivity in its use at primary schools and kindergartens. He insisted there were other ways of encouraging children to be quiet.

Some schools have reportedly started using gongs and other sign language or picture symbols instead.

A heatwave that impacted the US west coast over the past week is now moving east into the midwest and south-east, as millions of Americans have been under a heat alert at some point in the past week.

“Numerous near record-tying/breaking high temperatures are possible over the central High Plains and Southeast Sunday, and along much of the East Coast by Monday,” reported the National Weather Service.

Cities on the east coast such as Baltimore and Washington DC will experience temperatures up to 100F (38C) this Tuesday. Temperatures in the west are expected to fall to typical summer averages.

New York City is expected to experience temperatures as high as the mid-90s on Tuesday, with a forecasted heat index between 95-100F from Monday to Wednesday. while some areas around the city could expect heat index of up to 105F.

Over 245 million Americans are expected to experience 90F temperatures between Sunday and Wednesday this week, with at least 30 million to experience temperatures of 100F or higher, according to forecasts by AccuWeather.

Daily records in Charlotte and Raleigh, North Carolina, are forecasted to possibly face record break temperatures. St Louis, Missouri, is anticipating temperatures near or above 100F through Monday.

“Keep in mind that the elderly, small children, people on medication, or with weight or alcohol problems are most susceptible to heat related stresses,” cautioned the National Weather Service ahead of the heatwave shifting to the east. “This is especially true during a heatwave in areas where a more moderate climate prevails, such as Wisconsin. It’s a good idea to periodically check in with those most susceptible to the heat and help them obtain relief from the extreme heat and humidity.”

June 2024 was the hottest month of June on record and the 13th consecutive hottest month on record, with 14.5% of the world’s surface reporting record heat, beating June 2023 by 7.4%.

Las Vegas, Nevada, recorded a record-breaking seven consecutive days of temperatures 115F or higher this past week, and recorded its all time highest temperature of 120F on 7 July.

Some 37 heat-related deaths in the US have been reported so far in July 2024, which is likely an underestimate due to the time it takes for investigations into deaths to be completed.

A hundred years ago, the plant scientist Arthur Watkins launched a remarkable project. He began collecting samples of wheat from all over the globe, nagging consuls and business agents across the British empire and beyond to supply him with grain from local markets.

His persistence was exceptional and, a century later, it is about to reap dramatic results. A UK-Chinese collaboration has sequenced the DNA of all the 827 kinds of wheat, assembled by Watkins, that have been nurtured at the John Innes Centre near Norwich for most of the past century.

In doing so, scientists have created a genetic goldmine by pinpointing previously unknown genes that are now being used to create hardy varieties with improved yields that could help feed Earth’s swelling population.

Strains are now being developed that include wheat which is able to grow in salty soil, while researchers at Punjab Agricultural University are working to improve disease resistance from seeds that they received from the John Innes Centre. Other strains include those that would reduce the need for nitrogen fertilisers, the manufacture of which is a major source of carbon emissions.

“Essentially we have uncovered a goldmine,” said Simon Griffiths, a geneticist at the John Innes Centre and one of the project’s leaders.

“This is going to make an enormous difference to our ability to feed the world as it gets hotter and agriculture comes under increasing climatic strain.”

Today, one in five calories consumed by humans come from wheat, and every year the crop is eaten by more and more people as the world’s population continues to grow.

“Wheat has been a cornerstone of human civilisation,” added Griffiths. “In regions such as Europe, north Africa, large parts of Asia, and subsequently North America, its cultivation fed great empires, from ancient Egypt’s to the growth of modern Britain.”

This wheat was derived from wild varieties that were originally domesticated and cultivated in the Fertile Crescent in the Middle East, 10,000 years ago. Many of these varieties and their genes have disappeared over the millennia, a process that was accelerated about a century ago as the science of plant breeding became increasingly sophisticated and varieties with properties that were then considered of no value were discarded.

“That is why the Watkins collection is so important,” said Griffiths. “It contains varieties that had been lost but which will be invaluable in creating wheat that can provide healthy yields in the harsh conditions that now threaten agriculture.”

The project’s other leader, Prof Shifeng Cheng of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said: “We can retrace the novel, functional and beneficial diversity that were lost in modern wheats after the ‘green revolution’ in the 20th century, and have the opportunity to add them back into breeding programmes.”

Scientists had wanted to pinpoint and study the wheat genes in the Watkins collection after the development of large-scale DNA sequencing more than a decade ago, but faced an unusual problem. The genome of wheat is huge: it is made up of 17bn units of DNA, compared with the 3bn base pairs that make up the human genome.

“The wheat genome is full of ­little retro elements and that has made it more difficult and, crucially, more expensive to sequence,” said Griffiths. “However, thanks to our Chinese colleagues who carried out the detailed sequencing work, we have overcome that problem.”

Griffiths and his colleagues sent samples from the Watkins collection to Cheng and were rewarded three months later with the arrival of a suitcase crammed with hard drives. These contained a petabyte – one million gigabytes – of data that had been decoded by the Chinese group using the Watkins collection.

Astonishingly, this data revealed that modern wheat varieties only make use of 40% of the genetic diversity found in the collection.

“We have found that the Watkins collection is packed full of useful variation which is simply absent in modern wheat,” said Griffiths.

These lost traits are now being tested by plant breeders with the aim of creating a host of new varieties that would have been forgotten if it had not been for the efforts of Arthur Watkins.

A shy pioneer

Arthur Watkins’s introduction to agriculture was unusual. At the age of 19, he was sent to fight in the trenches in the first world war. He survived, and for several months after the armistice he was ordered to remain in France to act as an assistant agricultural officer, tasked with helping local farmers feed the troops who were still waiting to be shipped home.

The post triggered his interest in agriculture and he applied to study it at Cambridge when he returned to Britain, said Simon Griffiths of the John Innes Centre. After graduating, Watkins – a shy, reserved academic – joined the university’s department of agriculture, where he began his life’s work: collecting wheat samples from across the planet.

“Crucially, Watkins had realised that, as we began breeding new wheat varieties, genes that were then thought to be of little use and which were being deleted from strains might still have future value,” said Griffiths.

“His thinking was incredibly ahead of its time. He realised that genetic diversity – in this case, of wheat – was being eroded and that we badly needed to halt that.

“Very few scientists were thinking of this issue in those days. Watkins was clearly thinking well ahead of his time, and we have much to be grateful for that.”

Toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” used in lithium ion batteries essential to the clean energy transition present a dangerous source of chemical pollution that new research finds threatens the environment and human health as the nascent industry scales up.

The multipronged, peer-reviewed study zeroed in on a little-researched and unregulated subclass of PFAS called bis-FASI that are used in lithium ion batteries.

Researchers found alarming levels of the chemicals in the environment near manufacturing plants, noted their presence in remote areas around the world, found they appear to be toxic to living organisms, and discovered that waste from batteries disposed of in landfills was a major pollution source.

The nation faces “two critical challenges – to minimize aquatic pollution and increase our use of clean and sustainable energy, and both are worthy causes”, said Jennifer Guelfo, a Texas Tech University researcher and study co-author.

“But there’s a bit of tug-of-war between the two, and this study highlights that we have an opportunity now as we scale up this energy infrastructure to do a better job of incorporating environmental risk assessments,” she added.

PFAS are a class of about 16,000 human-made compounds most often used to make products resistant to water, stains and heat. They are called “forever chemicals” because they do not naturally break down and have been found to accumulate in humans. The chemicals are linked to cancer, birth defects, liver disease, thyroid disease, plummeting sperm counts and a range of other serious health problems.

Public health advocates are increasingly sounding the alarm over the need to find alternatives to the toxic chemicals for clean energy technology, such as batteries and wind turbines, as the transition progresses.

The paper notes that few end-of-life standards for PFAS battery waste exist, and the vast majority ends up in municipal dumps where it can leach into waterways, accumulate locally or be transported long distances.

It looked at the presence of the chemicals in historical leachate samples and found none in those from prior to the mid-1990s, when the chemical class was commercialized.

The study noted previous research that bis-FASI can be reused, though as little as 5% of lithium batteries are recycled. That could yield a projected 8m tons of battery waste by 2040 if battery recycling is not dramatically scaled up with demand.

“This says that we should be taking a closer look at this class of PFAS,” Guelfo said.

Since very little toxicological data on bis-FASI exists, the study also checked for effects on invertebrates and zebrafish. It found effects at low exposure levels, which suggests toxicity in line with other PFAS compounds known to be dangerous.

Researchers also sampled water, soil and air around a 3M plant in Minnesota and other large facilities known to make the chemicals. The soil and water levels were concerning, Guelfo said, and detection of the chemicals in snow suggests the chemicals easily move through the atmosphere.

That may help explain why the chemicals have been found in Chinese seawater and other remote areas not close to production plants.

While the most commonly used PFAS definitions globally include bis-FASI, one division of the EPA does not consider it to belong to the chemical class, so it was not included on a list of compounds to be monitored in US water. The EPA has drawn criticism for using a narrow definition of PFAS that public health advocates say has excluded some chemicals at the industry’s behest.

However, the new research, taken with previous evidence, shows bis-FASI are persistent, mobile and toxic like most other PFAS, noted Lee Ferguson, a Duke University researcher and co-author.

“That classification combined with the huge ramp-up in clean energy storage that we’re seeing should at least ring some alarm bells,” he said.

OpenAI whistleblowers have urged the US financial watchdog to investigate non-disclosure agreements at the startup after claiming the contracts included restrictions such as requiring employees to seek permission before contacting regulators.

Non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) typically bar an employee from sharing company information with outside parties but a group of whistleblowers are arguing that OpenAI’s agreements could have led to workers being punished for raising concerns about the company to federal authorities.

San Francisco-based OpenAI is the developer of the ChatGPT chatbot and a key player in the artificial intelligence boom, which has been accompanied by expressions of concern from experts about the potential dangerous capabilities of the technology.

“Given the well-documented potential risks posed by the irresponsible deployment of AI, we urge the Commissioners to immediately approve an investigation into OpenAI’s prior NDAs, and to review current efforts apparently being undertaken by the company to ensure full compliance with SEC rules,” the letter to Gary Gensler, the chair of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), said.

The letter from whistleblower representatives was sent on 1 July and published by the Washington Post on Saturday after the news organisation obtained it from the office of the US senator Chuck Grassley. The letter states that a formal complaint has been filed with the SEC alleging “systemic” legal violations at the startup. The whistleblowers’ names are redacted.

“Artificial intelligence is rapidly and dramatically altering the landscape of technology as we know it,” Senator Grassley told Reuters, adding that “OpenAI’s policies and practices appear to cast a chilling effect on whistleblowers’ right to speak up and receive due compensation for their protected disclosures”.

Allegations in the letter include claiming that employees have been required to sign agreements that waive their federal rights to whistleblower compensation.

The whistleblowers claim OpenAI’s employment contracts, severance agreements and non-disclosure agreements violate SEC rules, including requiring employees to notify the company if they communicate with regulators.

“There is an urgent need to ensure that employees working on this technology understand that they can raised complaints or address concerns to federal regulatory or law enforcement authorities,” they wrote.

The whistleblowers call on SEC commissioners to investigate OpenAI’s past non-disclosure agreements, which they argue broke the law by requiring employees to sign “illegally restrictive” contracts.

The letter added that restrictive NDAs are “particularly egregious” given the potential for advanced AI systems to threaten humanity. It urged the SEC to take four actions: to make OpenAI produce every NDA it has issued and ensure none of the signatories have had their rights affected; remind past and present OpenAI employees that they have the right to whistleblow; fine OpenAI for each improper NDA; and to order OpenAI to correct the “chilling effect” of its past practices.

An OpenAI spokesperson said: “Our whistleblower policy protects employees’ rights to make protected disclosures. Additionally, we believe rigorous debate about this technology is essential and have already made important changes to our departure process to remove nondisparagement terms.”

The SEC has been contacted for comment.

To screenwriters in the 1950s, she was a major power player, fighting for pay rises and striking rights. To the Hollywood studio heads, she was “the meanest bitch in town”.

Now, a new book aims to restore Mary C McCall Jr’s reputation as one of the film industry’s most important figures, a trailblazer who was airbrushed from history after getting on the wrong side of movie moguls.

Prof J E Smyth, whose book, Mary C McCall Jr: The Rise and Fall of Hollywood’s Most Powerful Screenwriter, will be published in September, said: “[McCall] was targeted by right-wing men who didn’t like the amount of power she had had during the 1930s and 1940s and they were going after her …

“The Hollywood blacklist cleaned a lot of women out of the industry, and she was one. Then historians and film critics erased her, because all they’ve ever cared about is great male directors … At McCall’s death in 1986, aged 81, archives did not even want her papers, and she has simply been forgotten. Material relating to women was just deemed not worthwhile.”

Smyth, professor of history at the University of Warwick, discovered material in the archives of Warner Bros, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Writers Guild Foundation, as well as private collections, that shed new light on McCall, who became the first female president of the Screen Writers Guild in 1942.

Smyth unearthed letters and an unpublished memoir that McCall wrote for her children about her career, as well as records of the work she did for female screenwriters who were having difficulty maintaining credit, or getting paid equally by producers. She said: “The material was there, but … none of the people who were writing about the Hollywood studio system wanted to actually deal with it.”

Smyth added: “We’re so wedded to the narrative of the golden age of Hollywood being about gorgeous women who do what they’re told, and the male moguls who were running the show, that between 1920 and 1960 women were only ever talked about if they were objectified on screen … There was also an assumption that most of the scripts were written by men. “But it’s total rubbish. Half of all cinematic employees within Hollywood were female and they could do just about anything in the business, including being producers. A quarter of all screenwriters were women – more than now.”

As a screenwriter, McCall wrote for Warner Bros, Columbia Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Her films included Craig’s Wife, a 1936 box-office success about a woman who marries for money not love – a nuanced critique of marriage and sexual inequality – and she was friends with actors including Bette Davis and Humphrey Bogart.

She also launched the successful Maisie series in 1939, writing or co-writing eight of the 10 films about a wise-cracking working-class showgirl, played by comedian Ann Sothern, a role that turned her into one of the biggest stars of the 1940s.

Smyth said: “It was an early franchise that became really popular. While major Hollywood films – for example, Gone with the Wind from 1939 – played primarily in lavish cinemas in big cities, Maisie played primarily in small-town cinemas and had a loyal fanbase, driven by women who finally were seeing a woman on screen who was like them.

“Maisie didn’t wear designer clothes, she didn’t have a top hairdresser, she didn’t have perfect makeup. She had to put up with a lot of crap from men – and women loved it.” McCall also campaigned for fellow writers, said Smyth.

“She [led] a fight to unionise the industry’s writers and secure the first contract guaranteeing a minimum wage, credit protection and pay raises, as well as the right to strike. She was a power player. To studio heads she was, in the words of Jack Warner, ‘the meanest bitch in town’.”

In a legal case against mogul Howard Hughes, the head of RKO Pictures studio, McCall defended a writer he had fired for being subpoenaed to appear before the House Committee on Un-American Activities, which conducted investigations during the 1940s and 1950s into alleged communist activities.

McCall said: “I did not intend to permit Mr Hughes to trample on a labour agreement with muddy tennis shoes.” But in 1979, she spoke of her belief that Hughes had played a part in destroying her career, persuading other producers not to hire her. “As a consequence … I was unable to find work.”

Smyth hopes to put McCall back in her rightful place in the history books. “Historians that started to write about Hollywood in the 1960s were the ones who really cut women out of the story of Hollywood,” she said.