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The media billionaire Richard Desmond will begin a bitter courtroom battle with the Gambling Commission this week that could cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of pounds in a row over the licence to run the National Lottery.

Northern & Shell and The New Lottery Company (TNLC), owned by Desmond, are suing the gambling regulator for up to £1.3bn, alleging “manifest errors” in the labyrinthine competition process for Britain’s largest public sector contract, the lottery licence.

Allwyn, a new vehicle ultimately owned by the Czech billionaire Karel Komárek, won the 10-year licence in 2022 and has run the draw since 2024, the first time in the lottery’s 30-year history that it had been run by a company other than Camelot.

Dubai-based Desmond – the former proprietor of titles including the Daily Express, Asian Babes and Readers’ Wives – has since launched a series of legal challenges linked to the decision.

Sources close to Desmond said he felt he was needlessly strung along, wasting millions on a bid process that was pre-determined.

Lawyers for his companies will make two main claims. The first is that the bid competition itself was flawed, for multiple reasons.

They will argue the Gambling Commission wrongly deemed TNLC’s bid to have failed to fulfil crucial criteria, that the commission imposed undisclosed criteria and the regulator failed to provide feedback after the first phase of the competition, which might have allowed the company to improve its bid.

Lawyers for the Brexit-backing billionaire, who has invoked EU law to pursue his claim, will point to alleged conflicts of interest that might have affected the regulator’s impartiality.

They will also say Allwyn should have been disqualified because it breached strict rules against briefing the media and alleged that the commission failed to consider links, revealed by the Guardian, between Allwyn’s Czech owner and Russian banks.

Desmond’s lawyers claim his companies wasted £17.5m on the bid process as a result.

The second strand of his claim is the commission adjusted the terms of the contract after it had been awarded, meaning the competition should have been rerun, giving Desmond another chance of winning.

It is this part of the claim that seeks damages of up to £1.3bn for earnings that Desmond’s companies could have made.

In practice, any payout is likely to be smaller as the judge can adjust it based on an assessment of how likely Desmond would have been to win.

But a victory for the media mogul could have a significant cost for charities and the taxpayeras any payout would have to come from a lottery pot of money set aside to fund good causes.

If the payout is larger than the fund, which is understood to receive about £30m a week from lottery ticket sales, the taxpayer would have to foot the bill.

Earlier this year, Desmond rejected a settlement offer from the commission, understood to have been worth about £10m.

The Gambling Commission will defend its process as robust. It has argued in legal submissions that Desmond’s bid was “fanciful” and scored “extremely badly” in a rigorous competition process.

Allwyn is also a party to the case, in effect on the commission’s side, on the basis that its reputation would suffer if Desmond’s lawyers succeed in convincing a judge that it should not have won the bidding process.

Both sides have won various minor victories in the phoney war prior to the case beginning.

Desmond dropped the part of his case relating to how the bidding process was scored, leading to an order by the judge to pay some of Allwyn’s and the commission’s costs in disclosing documents. This is thought to have cost the billionaire several million pounds.

But the Gambling Commission also tasted defeat after a blunder by its lawyers, who accidentally disclosed thousands of documents, most of which a judge ruled could be used by Desmond.

The billionaire also obtained internal emails that he claims shows the regulator was “revelling” in negative coverage of him, allegedly providing evidence of bias, according to the Financial Times.

The Gambling Commission, Allwyn and a representative of Richard Desmond all declined to commentbefore the case, which begins on Thursday at the high court.

The populist billionaire Andrej Babiš has won the Czech Republic parliamentary elections, preliminary results show, but fallen short of the overall majority.

This win marks a political comeback for Babiš, who was prime minister from 2017 to 2021. He is expected to put the country on a course away from supporting Ukraine and towards Hungary and Slovakia, who have taken a pro-Russian path.

With the votes from almost 98% of polling stations counted by the Czech statistics office, Babiš’s ANO (YES) party captured 35% of the vote, followed by the pro-western coalition of the prime minister, Petr Fiala, with 23.0%. The coalition defeated Babiš in the 2021 election.

The two-day election filled 200 seats in the lower house of the Czech parliament. A group of mayors known as STAN, also a member of Fiala’s government, received 11.1% of the vote, with another ally of Fiala, the Pirates party, getting an 8.7% share.

Babiš, a self-proclaimed “Trumpist”, was all smiles and hailed the “historic result” as “the absolute peak” of his political career. Voter turnout for this election was high, at almost 69%.

As Babiš’s ANO did not win the overall majority, the 71-year-old is expected to be invited to lead talks in forming a new coalition. He has already ruled out cooperation with any of the parties that have been in the government after the 2021 election.

His potential partners include the fringe parties Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD), an anti-immigration party that won 7.9% of the vote, and a rightwing group called the Motorists, which received 6.8%.

He may need to form an alliance with both parties to be able to hold the overall majority. “We will definitely lead talks with the SPD and the Motorists and seek a single-party government led by ANO,” Babiš said.

During its election campaign, ANO advocated for increased welfare spending and a reduction in foreign aid, including donations to Ukraine. It also promised higher wages and pensions, and lower taxes and tax discounts for students and young families – all in hope of ending austerity.

An ally of the Hungarian leader, Viktor Orbán, Babiš has teamed up with a number of far-right parties in the Patriots for Europe group in the European parliament to challenge the mainstream direction of Europe’s policies, including decarbonisation.

Australia’s largest online bookmaker texted customers offering a guaranteed share of $1m in bonus bets if they gambled on the morning of the AFL grand final.

The messages were among a series texted to a Victorian man’s phone by Sportsbet during the AFL finals series in an apparent attempt to entice him to gamble more.

More than two years ago a bipartisan parliamentary inquiry led by the late Labor MP Peta Murphy recommended all online gambling inducements be banned “without delay”, citing evidence of harm to customers. The federal government is yet to formally respond to the report.

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The offer of “a guaranteed share of $1m in bonus bets” was only provided if the man copied one of Sportsbet’s suggested same-game multi bets. These allow gambling on a combination of outcomes during a game, and all must succeed for the bet to be paid out.

Analysis has shown that multi-bets have a high fail rate for gamblers and leaked documents have shown the AFL receives a higher percentage of each bet placed on these products.

In early September the man, who declined to be named, was offered an “exclusive deposit match” offer. If he bet up to $50, Sportsbet would increase his stake by up to 400% with $200 in bonus bets.

He was subsequently sent four text messages over two days saying “TIME IS RUNNING OUT (…) your deposit match expires soon. Don’t miss out!”.

Weeks later, after the offer had expired, Sportsbet sent him a more generous offer in a text message saying “EXCLUSIVE 600% DEPOSIT MATCH” with up to $300 in bonus bets.

On the morning of the AFL grand final, the man was sent another text saying “TIME IS RUNNING OUT!”. Within 90 minutes, he received another text saying “copy any AFL GF SGM [grand final same-game multi] from the Feed and get guaranteed share of $1m in bonus bets”.

The Feed is Sportsbet’s online portal that includes suggested bets from former players associated with the bookmaker.

Shortly before the season began, Sportsbet pulled ads for same-game multis from free-to-air television after listening to “strong community sentiment”. But ads for the product were splashed on the AFL’s official website a few months later.

The independent MP Kate Chaney, who was a member of the parliamentary inquiry, criticised the use of inducements on grand final day.

“Inducements encourage higher bets and more risk taking,” Chaney said. “The evidence shows a clear link between inducements and increased gambling harm, which is why our inquiry recommended an immediate ban.”

The independent senator, David Pocock, said inducements including these text messages were “designed to encourage risky behaviours and research shows it’s working”.

“Researchers from the ANU this week showed levels of risky gambling are reaching levels never seen before,” Pocock said. “The Murphy review recommended we put a ban on inducements, but to date the Albanese government has still not even responded to any of its 31 recommendations.”

A Sportsbet spokesperson said the company “takes seriously its responsibility to be a leader in safer gambling culture and technology”.

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“Our customer communications include safer gambling messages and are in line with all legal and regulatory requirements. These communications also come with the option to easily opt out of receiving further communications.”

The Northern Territory Racing and Wagering Commission, which licenses and regulates Sportsbet, declined to comment on the series of text messages because the person who received them had not formally written to the commission .

The Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission (VGCCC) said it needed more information to determine whether the text messages could be a breach of state regulations.

“The VGCCC is generally concerned with the marketing of inducements because they are associated with an increased risk of gambling harm by leading to increases in expenditure and riskier betting, distracting people from harm minimisation messaging, engaging or re-engaging people in gambling when they would otherwise not be participating.”

The Alliance for Gambling Reform has launched a campaign calling for wagering ads to be banned before next year’s grand finals.

Before the AFL grand final, the alliance’s chief executive, Martin Thomas, said children would see “more gambling ads than goals” over the weekend. “That’s not sport, that’s grooming the next generation of punters.”

The campaign has been supported by the former Western Bulldogs premiership player Tom Boyd, who said he was worried about the impact of gambling ads on young Australians.

In Australia, Gambling Help Online is available on 1800 858 858. The National Debt Helpline is at 1800 007 007.

Sydney and Brisbane are in for a hot public holiday on Monday, with temperatures set to pass 30C in both capitals.

The warm weather comes after a soaking September on Australia’s east coast smashed monthly rain records across 21 places in Queensland and six in New South Wales following a record-breaking rain in August.

Sydney and Brisbane are forecast to swelter through 31C and 32C respectively on Monday, a public holiday in NSW and Queensland. Monday is also a public holiday for ACT and South Australia, with showers forecast for Canberra and Adelaide.

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As parts of the south-east enjoy their warmest weekend since autumn began, data from the Bureau of Meteorology confirmed many in Queensland and NSW have just come through their wettest September on record.

Topaz, in Queensland’s Tablelands, was the wettest place in Australia overall last month. About 700mm of rain fell during September, more than doubling the town’s previous record (305mm in 2020), and more than six times its average (106.8mm).

It was a similar story in other parts of the region. Millaa Millaa, a 30-minute drive away, more than doubled its previous rainfall record of 137mm (set in 2023) reaching 313mm for the month. Ravenshoe received 174mm, breaking its previous record of 85mm (2010).

Farther north, Mulgrave Mill south of Cairns recorded 174mm in September, breaking an 89-year-old record of 110.5mm set in 1936. Cairns Aero set a new record after 83 years, with 148.4mm falling in September (breaking its 1951 record of 103.2mm).

Sixteen places in the state topped daily rain records for the month. They included 379mm in 24-hours in Topaz on 17 September (more than tripling the previous top of 100mm on 1 September 2021). And Willis Island nudged 0.2mm above a 92-year-old record, setting a new high of 72.8mm.

Queensland’s rain was “variable”, according to Weatherzone’s Ben Domensino, with healthy totals in the south-west and north-east, but dry in the south-east.

“Brisbane only collected 0.8 mm of rain through the entire month, making it the city’s driest September in 38 years.”

Six sites in NSW broke monthly rain records for September – including Albion Park, Nowra Boat Shed, Menangle Bridge, Touga, Hampden Bridge and Kiama.

As a low pressure system crossed the state on 10 and 11 September, daily rainfall records tumbled in more than 40 places.

Sydney stations collected more than a dozen daily records in September, after the city’s third wettest August since 1858.

Marrickville Golf Club recorded 81mm on 11 September, breaking a previous record of 73.7mm in 1916. The city’s wettest site was Cronulla South Bowling Club, where 147mm fell, breaking a 1949 old record of 90.9mm.

Meanwhile South Australia and Victoria were much drier, with September rain 44-45% below the 1961–1990 average.

On Sunday, widespread rain and isolated storms were expected for southern parts of the country as a cold front and cloud band moved eastwards from Perth, according to the bureau’s senior meteorologist Sarah Scully. Showers were expected to develop in southern parts South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania and linger into Monday.

The weekend was the warmest since autumn began for many in the south-east, Scully said, with the peak of the heat expected to reach Sydney on Monday.

“A lot of heat has been dragged down over south-eastern Australia in the gusty north-westerly winds ahead of the cold front,” she said, and significantly cooler conditions following in its wake.

Monday’s forecast for the capital cities:

• Sydney – sunny, minimum 20C, maximum 31C

• Brisbane – sunny, minimum 15C, maximum 32C

• Melbourne – shower or two, minimum 12C, maximum 16C

• Adelaide – shower or two, minimum 11C, maximum 17C

• Canberra – shower or two, minimum 11C, maximum 23C

• Perth – sunny, minimum 8C, maximum 21C

• Hobart – possible shower, minimum 7C, maximum 14C

• Darwin – partly cloudy minimum 25C, maximum 35C

Australia’s climate has warmed by 1.5C since the bureau’s continent-wide records started in 1910.

The destruction of Western Australia’s northern jarrah forests for bauxite mining will push a threatened black cockatoo “to and beyond the brink of extinction” if governments allowed it to continue, conservationists have warned.

Mark Henryon, a volunteer with Birdlife Western Australia, said there was a clear choice that would decide whether the endangered Baudin’s black cockatoo would survive. “Baudin’s or bauxite – we can’t have both,” he said.

Henryon has spent years advocating for better protection of what he describes as the state’s “forgotten” black cockatoo.

The dark-feathered, white-cheeked bird with a call like a squeaky gate is endemic to the state’s south west.

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Compared with the higher profile Carnaby’s black cockatoo, the Baudin’s has a longer, narrower bill, which Henryon said it used like a surgical tool to extract the seeds from the marri nuts it fed on, without destroying the whole nut.

BirdLife WA nominated the species for “uplisting” to critically endangered in 2023 under the state’s laws after research found the species’ population had declined by 90% in 40 years.

The proposal would have brought the state conservation status into line with international bodies such as the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, which lists the Baudin’s as critically endangered.

But the state’s threatened species scientific committee rejected the nomination, citing insufficient data.

Conservationists now fear the species is under greater pressure than ever due to planned expansions of bauxite mining in WA’s northern jarrah forests.

The US aluminium giant Alcoa has two proposals to expand its bauxite mining operations that would clear more than 11,000 hectares of the heavily mined forest, roughly equivalent to bulldozing Perth’s Kings Park 27.5 times over.

Metals company South32 has also been given the green light from the state and federal governments to clear more than 3,800ha for the expansion of its Worsley Alumina bauxite mine.

Baudin’s black cockatoos rely on old trees and hollows in the northern jarrah forest in the Darling Range south-east of Perth as their primary winter habitat.

Most of the state’s Baudin’s population breeds in the state’s far south-west and migrates to forage in the northern jarrah forest between the months of March and September each year.

Mining companies in the area have a long history of what the Conservation Council of WA describes as “strip mining” – completely clearing parts of the forest in order to get to the bauxite underneath.

“I’ve seen images of football fields-worth of clearing, and there will be one tree left,” Matt Roberts, the council’s executive director, said.

Roberts said to secure the Baudin’s future, “we need to end mining in forests and [the] clearing of forests for mining”.

“These tree hollows can take hundreds of years to develop. They’re in very old trees. They can’t be rehabilitated or brought back at the pace that the Baudin’s needs them to be.”

The state’s Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) recently opened up Alcoa’s proposals for community consultation; the first time the public has had a chance to scrutinise the company’s operations in the area in 60 years.

It received more than 59,000 submissions – the highest number ever through a consultation process. Almost 90% were template responses, pre-written as part of an organised campaign, and the EPA said the record volume of responses highlighted the public’s interest in the assessment.

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In its submission to the authority, BirdLife WA said the consequences of further mining in the global biodiversity hotspot would be “irreversible and catastrophic” for Western Australia’s birds, including the Baudin’s, the Carnaby’s and the forest red-tailed black cockatoo.

It told the authority the Baudin’s would become functionally extinct within 50 years or sooner if the expansions went ahead.

The organisation wrote that much of the clearing proposed was in the highest quality habitat, which included old, mature trees.

The EPA’s chair, Darren Walsh, said the authority would provide a summary of the submissions to Alcoa for a response before completing its assessment of the two proposals in the first half of next year. The authority would then deliver a report with its recommendations to the state’s environment minister, he said.

An Alcoa spokesperson said the company believed environmental factors should be “purposefully considered and responsibly managed in conjunction with development activities necessary to produce the aluminium required to meet growing global demand, largely driven by requirements for decarbonisation”.

“In both our current mining areas, and in future mining areas before the WA EPA – a proposal which involves clearing less than a 1 per cent additional area of the Northern Jarrah Forest over the next 20 years – we have avoidance measures in place to protect areas of high conservation value,” they said.

“Our environmental review documentation outlines the mitigation measures that Alcoa considers will ensure there are no significant impacts to threatened species including black cockatoos.”

The spokesperson said proposed mitigation measures included avoiding known and potential black cockatoo nesting trees and having buffer zones around them.

Henryon said Baudin’s were so familiar to Western Australians, “we almost take them for granted”.

“We have these birds flying around; they are part of the south-west’s identity. Are we happy for them to just fade away?” he said.

“If we want to protect them, we need to look after their homes. If we’re fair dinkum about this, we actually have to do something.”

A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from deploying the national guard to Portland, Oregon, according to court documents.

Donald Trump had announced on 27 September that he would deploy troops to Portland, “authorizing Full Force, if necessary”, ignoring pleas from local officials and the state’s congressional delegation, who suggested that the president was misinformed or lying about the nature and scale of a single, small protest outside one federal immigration enforcement office.

A coalition of 17 mayors in the state had opposed the deployment. Oregon’s attorney general, Dan Rayfield, filed a lawsuit on Monday fighting the activation of 200 federalized members of the Oregon national guard.

In the restraining order released on Saturday, US district judge Karin Immergut – nominated by Trump – concurred with Oregon’s assertion that Trump deploying federalized national guard troops to Portland would likely inflame rather than calm protests, just as it did in 2020.

The plaintiffs say the deployment would violate the US constitution as well as a federal law that generally prohibits the military from being used to enforce domestic laws.

The stark divide in how the two sides described the situation on the ground in Portland was evident at a Friday court hearing before Immergut.

US Department of Justice attorney Eric Hamilton said “vicious and cruel radicals” had laid siege to the Portland headquarters of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice). The decision to send 200 troops – just 5% of the number recently sent to respond to Los Angeles protests – showed restraint, Hamilton said.

Caroline Turco, representing Portland, said that there had been no violence against Ice officers for months and that recent Ice protests were “sedate” in the week before Trump declared the city to be a war zone, sometimes featuring fewer than a dozen protesters.

“The president’s perception of what is happening in Portland is not the reality on the ground,” Turco said. “The president’s perception is that it is world war two out here. The reality is that this is a beautiful city with a sophisticated police force that can handle the situation.”

For years, Trump has promoted an inaccurate narrative that Portland is a “war-ravaged” city with anarchists engaging in chronic chaos. In late September, the president designated antifa as a “major terrorist organization”. Antifa, short for anti-fascist, is not a centralized organization in the US but closer to an ideology with a loose network of activists.

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“Today’s ruling validates what Oregonians already know: justice has been served, and the truth has prevailed,” Oregon’s governor, Tina Kotek, said after the restraining order was granted. “There is no insurrection in Portland. No threat to national security. No fires, no bombs, no fatalities due to civil unrest. The only threat we face is to our democracy – and it is being led by President Donald Trump.”

The ruling by Immergut in Portland is a setback for Trump as he seeks to dispatch the military to cities he describes as lawless over the objections of their Democratic leaders.

Trump has deployed or threatened to deploy troops in several US cities, particularly ones led by Democrats, including Los Angeles, Washington, Chicago and Memphis. Speaking Tuesday to US military leaders in Virginia, the president proposed using cities as training grounds for the armed forces.

Robert Mackey and José Olivares contributed reporting.

The environmental campaigner Greta Thunberg has told Swedish officials she is being subjected to harsh treatment in Israeli custody after her detention and removal from a flotilla carrying aid to Gaza, according to correspondence seen by the Guardian.

According to the correspondence, Israeli forces are also reported by another detainee to have taken photographs where Thunberg was allegedly forced to hold flags. The identity of the flags are unknown.

In an email sent by the Swedish foreign ministry to people close to Thunberg, and seen by the Guardian, an official who has visited the activist in prison said she claimed she was detained in a cell infested with bedbugs, with too little food and water.

“The embassy has been able to meet with Greta,” reads the email. “She informed of dehydration. She has received insufficient amounts of both water and food. She also stated that she had developed rashes which she suspects were caused by bedbugs. She spoke of harsh treatment and said she had been sitting for long periods on hard surfaces.”

“Another detainee reportedly told another embassy that they had seen her [Thunberg] being forced to hold flags while pictures were taken. She wondered whether images of her had been distributed,” the Swedish ministry’s official added.

The allegation was corroborated by at least two other members of the flotilla who had been detained by Israeli forces and released on Saturday.

“They dragged little Greta [Thunberg] by her hair before our eyes, beat her, and forced her to kiss the Israeli flag. They did everything imaginable to her, as a warning to others,” the Turkish activist ErsinÇelik, a participant in the Sumud flotilla, told Anadolu news agency.

Lorenzo D’Agostino, a journalist and another flotilla participant, said after returning to Istanbul that Thunberg was “wrapped in the Israeli flag and paraded like a trophy” – a scene described with disbelief and anger by those who witnessed it.

Thunberg is among 437 activists, parliamentarians and lawyers who were part of the Global Sumud flotilla, a coalition of more than 40 vessels carrying humanitarian aid whose goal was to breach Israel’s 16-year maritime blockade of Gaza.

Between Thursday and Friday, Israeli forces intercepted all the boats and arrested every crew member onboard. Most of them are being held at Ketziot, also known as Ansar III, a high-security prison in the Negev desert used primarily to detain Palestinian security prisoners, many of whom Israel accuses of involvement in militant or terrorist activities.

In the past, activists detained by Israel were not criminally prosecuted and instead their presence was treated as an immigration matter.

According to lawyers from the NGO Adalah, the rights of the crew members have been “systematically violated”, activists denied water, sanitation, medication and immediate access to their legal representatives “in clear breach of their fundamental rights to due process, impartial trial and legal representation”.

The Italian legal team representing the flotilla confirmed those detained were left “for hours without food or water – until late last night”, with the exception of “a packet of crisps handed to Greta and shown to the cameras”. Lawyers also reported instances of verbal and physical abuse.

During a visit to Ashdod on Thursday night, Israel’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, was filmed calling the activists “terrorists” as he stood in front of them.

“These are the terrorists of the flotilla,” he said, speaking in Hebrew and pointing at dozens of people sitting on the ground. His spokesperson confirmed the video was filmed at Ashdod port on Thursday night.

Some activists were heard shouting: “Free Palestine.”

Ben-Gvir has previously called for the activists to be jailed rather than deported.

After their arrest, the flotilla’s legal team expressed concern over the treatment the crew members might face, particularly those who had previously been detained by Israeli authorities after attempts to break Gaza’s naval blockade. This marks the second time Thunberg has been arrested alongside other flotilla members, after a similar attempt earlier this year ended with the activists’ arrest and deportation.

Baptiste André, a French doctor who was on one of the boats of the flotilla in June, told reporters upon his return to France that he witnessed Israeli border agents mock and deliberately deprive passengers of sleep, in particular Thunberg.

The Swedish official said in the email that Thunberg was asked by Israeli authorities to sign a document.

“She expressed uncertainty about what the document meant and did not want to sign anything she did not understand,” reads the email. The Swedish ministry’s official wrote that Thunberg has had access to legal counsel.

Adalah said in an earlier statement about the legal process that although Israeli authorities would have a record of repeat participants in aid flotillas, activists, such as Thunberg, were generally treated in the same way as first-time participants, subject to short-term detention and deportation.

The Guardian contacted the Israel Prison Service, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the Israeli ministry for foreign affairs but none have yet responded to a request for comment.

The Swedish foreign ministry said its embassy officials had visited nine detained Swedes on Friday: “The Swedish embassy in Tel Aviv remains in contact with Israeli authorities to stress the importance of swift processing and the possibility of returning home to Sweden. Based on discussions with detained individuals, the importance of addressing individual medical needs was also emphasised.

“Moreover, the embassy stressed that food and clean water must be provided immediately, and that all detainees must be given access to Israeli legal counsel, if desired.”

The Israeli embassy said the allegations were “complete lies”. “All detainees from the Hamas-Sumud provocation were given access to water, food and toilets; they were not denied access to legal counsel, and all their legal rights, including access to medical care, were fully upheld.

“Israel is and will remain a state governed by the rule of law, committed to upholding the rights and dignity of all individuals in accordance with international standards,” it said.

St Helens were forced to leave Hull KR’s Craven Park under police escort after what the club called a “terror threat” was sent to their Instagram account during their 20-12 Super League playoff semi-final defeat.

A police cordon surrounded the team coach as players and staff boarded it, with the vehicle then given a police escort as it left the area. Their head coach, Paul Wellens, held talks with officers immediately after the game.

A spokesperson for the club said: “The club had a terrorist threat sent to the Saints’ Instagram account. It was reported to the St Helens ground safety officer and they spoke to Hull KR’s ground safety officer. They are treating it with the utmost seriousness.”

Neither the Saints nor Hull KR are expected to comment further at this stage, with the matter now in the hands of the police, who are investigating the threat – but both clubs are believed to be taking the matter seriously.

Rovers won the game to progress to a second successive Super League Grand Final, where they will face the defending champions, Wigan Warriors, at Old Trafford next Saturday.

Illinois governor JB Pritzker announced that Donald Trump plans to federalize 300 national guard troops in the state at the same time US border patrol agents reportedly shot a woman in Chicago amid an aggressive immigration and militarized enforcement operation in the city.

Pritzker, a Democrat, revealed the president’s intent to deploy troops despite the governor being firmly opposed to the move.

“This morning, the Trump administration’s Department of War gave me an ultimatum: call up your troops, or we will,” Pritzker said in a statement. “It is absolutely outrageous and un-American to demand a governor send military troops within our own borders and against our will.”

He added: “They will pull hard-working Americans out of their regular jobs and away from their families all to participate in a manufactured performance – not a serious effort the protect public safety. For Donald Trump, this has never been about safety. This is about control.

“This demand follows unprecedented escalations of aggression against Illinois citizens and residents.”

Trump’s plan to deploy troops comes just as a severe crackdown on immigration by Ice is happening in Chicago, with the operation being met with fierce outrage from local civic groups and opposition by local Democrats.

The exact circumstances of the Saturday morning shooting incident and the health of the woman remain unclear.

Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, told the Chicago Sun-Times that the shooting happened after patrolling agents said they felt threatened by approaching vehicles and that the gunfire had been “defensive”.

In a statement, DHS said that the woman had been named in a Customs and Border Protection intelligence bulletin last week for allegedly doxing agents and posting threats against Ice online. The woman’s name has not been released by the agency, and nor have any further details to corroborate these claims.

The statement added that no agents had been injured during the incident.

The shooting comes after federal immigration agents last month shot and killed a Mexican immigrant in a Chicago suburb after he allegedly attempted to flee a traffic stop and struck an officer with his car.

Chicago is one of a slew of US cities were Donald Trump has deployed or threatened to deploy the national guard and other troops in order to help police the immigration crackdown – or, in some cases, to respond to inflated claims about crime levels.

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Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, and Gregory Bovino, a border patrol sector chief, on Friday visited the Broadview Ice facility in suburban Chicago, which has become the site of escalations by federal agents against protesters and journalists.

Noem vowed on social media Saturday afternoon to send additional troops to Chicago: “I am deploying more special operations to control the scene. Reinforcements are on their way. If you see a law enforcement officer today, thank them.”

The Trump administration has targeted Chicago with federal law enforcement starting in August, falsely claiming there had been a rise in crime in the city in recent years.

Since then, there have been reports of increasingly aggressive Ice enforcement in communities, including helicopters hovering over apartment raids and arrests of local officials and candidates for office who protest against the operations.

Trump has also repeatedly deployed national guard troops to cities across the US, from Los Angeles to Washington DC, despite federal law generally prohibiting the use of the military for domestic law enforcement. The continuous pattern of military occupations on American soil has raised widespread concern about the politicization of the US military.