• Saudi Public Investment Fund pays for programme
• 320 players can take up to 12 months off and access IVF

The Women’s Tennis Association has become the first international sports body to introduce up to 12 months of paid maternity leave for players, in what it has hailed as a defining moment for women’s sport.

Under the new policy, funded by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, players will also get access to grants for fertility treatments, including egg freezing and IVF.

From dancers breaking bones to camera crews forced to take terrible risks, stage and screen jobs can be hugely hazardous, says a scathing new report. We meet workers who feel ‘disposable’ – and the groups pushing for change

‘Every time I think about starting a new job,” says Lucy, a documentary maker, “I feel triggered. Because every job I’ve done in the last five years, bar maybe two, I’ve had some kind of absolutely horrendous experience. I now expect to be put in danger at work.”

Lucy (not her real name) is by no means an isolated case. According to new research into “the human toll and economic impact of injury”, nearly 80% of cast and crew members working in stage or screen productions have been injured at some point in their careers. The survey, conducted by the Injury Prevention Consultancy and shared with the Guardian, found that almost half of stage and three-fifths of screen performers have been placed in unsafe situations. Among crew, nearly three-quarters said that adhering to a show’s creative vision had compromised their safety, while only a quarter felt their wellbeing was regarded as a priority.

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

• Idea raised at Fifa council meeting on Wednesday
• Move would see more than a quarter of members qualify

Fifa is to consider a proposal to expand the 2030 men’s World Cup to 64 teams, an adjustment that would mean more than a quarter of its 211 member associations would take part.

The idea was raised at a meeting of the Fifa council on Wednesday as part of any other business. According to reporting in the New York Times, the delegate was Ignacio Alonso, the president of the Uruguayan Football Association. Uruguay will be one of three South American countries to host a “centenary celebration match” in 2030. Fifa’s president, Gianni Infantino, agreed to explore the idea further.

Kyle Clifford, 26, had already admitted murdering Louise Hunt, her sister Hannah and their mother, Carol

A former soldier has been found guilty of raping his ex-girlfriend before murdering her with a crossbow in a “final act of spite”.

Kyle Clifford, 26, shot dead Louise Hunt, 25, and her sister Hannah Hunt, 28, with a crossbow and fatally stabbed their mother, Carol Hunt, 61, during a four-hour attack at their home in Bushey, Hertfordshire, on 9 July last year. The women were the wife and daughters of the BBC racing commentator John Hunt.

Nigel Farage calls Rupert Lowe ‘utterly completely wrong’ after Reform MP criticised his leadership style

Reform is facing a split at the top after Nigel Farage branded one of his most prominent MPs “utterly completely wrong” for calling him the “messianic” leader of a protest party.

Farage hit out at Rupert Lowe after the Great Yarmouth MP and former Southampton FC chair criticised his leadership publicly in an interview.