As Paul Robinson, he was one of Ramsay Street’s most notorious scoundrels. Now, he’s hoping to dazzle on the dancefloor. Here, he talks about the loss of his brother, leaving soap acting and his wildest storylines

Stefan Dennis joined the cast of Neighbours as Paul Robinson, the git, for its first episode in 1985. He declines to tell me how old he was then. “See,” he says, with a glint of that Paul cunning: “That’s gonna give my age away if I tell you.” If I were to take a guess – looking at him today, in Boxpark in Wembley, pin neat and ready for anything (he could nip to the shops or go clubbing) in a Lacoste polo shirt, leaping on and off high chairs as gracefully as a cat, I would say early 60s. Wikipedia says he is 67 in October. My first and enduring impression is not his age, but the fact that he must, in some bigwig showrunner’s imagination, be this year’s Strictly Come Dancing crown prince. That’s just how it works – there are some irredeemably bad dancers who are fun to watch, there are some perfect physical specimens in their prime who look like the obvious contenders but then flame out, and then there’s the person who thinks they can’t cut a rug but has some inner dancer, that’s waited a lifetime to be activated, like a sleeper agent. Sorry to spoil it, everyone, but he is definitely that guy.

Anyway, back to his age, which he insists is undisclosed. “The reason is, I was doing Flying Doctors …” This is the Australian drama about the outback. It was on in the daytime, if you were at school in the 80s you only watched it when you were ill, and I wonder how much the memory of it – very high drama, slightly terrifying, wide-open scenery, absolutely millions of sheep – was coloured by having a temperature. Anyway, Dennis was in the original miniseries but didn’t return for the series because, by that time, he was already Bad Paul in Neighbours. “And in the green room, I’m reading a magazine, and there was my wife on the cover, my first wife.”

Allies indulged the US president on the basis they wouldn’t be bombed or suffer economic damage. So much for that idea

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All over the world, political leaders are gathering in hastily convened summits and meetings. Last week, after Israel’s strike against Hamas leaders in Doha – a colossal violation of the sovereignty of a country that is not only a close ally of the US, but an anchor of Gaza peace talks – Gulf leaders sprang to show solidarity. The president of the United Arab Emirates, Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, arrived on an unscheduled visit to Doha and embraced the Qatari emir. It was a public show of fraternity that would have been unfathomable only a few years ago when the two countries were locked in a bitter feud. Qatar’s other adversary in that feud, Saudi Arabia, called after the Israeli strike for “an Arab, Islamic and international response to confront the aggression” and Israel’s “criminal practices”. On Sunday, heads of Arab and Muslim states were en route to Doha for an emergency summit.

A little more than a week before, another gathering pointed towards other new coalitions. The leaders of India, China and Russia met in Tianjin, producing an image of smiling warmth that is likely to be an artefact of this era. The summit was convened in the wake of Donald Trump’s alienation of another ally, Narendra Modi. After Trump’s second election, Modi was one of the first leaders to visit Washington DC, where he was called a “great friend”, and the two countries set the target of doubling their trade to half a trillion dollars by 2030. A few months after that, Trump slapped India with a 50% tariff on the country’s imported goods, a tariff doubled as punishment for India’s purchase of Russian oil. He then proceeded to call the Indian economy “dead”, and commented on the Tianjin summit by posting: “Looks like we’ve lost India and Russia to deepest, darkest, China.” He is now lobbying the EU to impose tariffs of up to 100% on India and China.

Nesrine Malik is a Guardian columnist

In her apocalyptic new film, everything’s sorted – but you have to die at the age of 50. The actor talks about tech shocks, doomscrolling and the agent who told her to go back to Canada

This summer, Sandra Oh stood behind a lectern at a graduation ceremony in New Hampshire, preparing to give university-leavers words of hope at a time of permacrisis. She rose to the challenge, opening up about her past battles with depression and anxiety, before making a heartfelt case for embracing discomfort and kindness “so we can meet cruelty again and again and not lose our humanity”. This was increasingly important, she explained, when many world leaders “claim power through fear and oppression”. And then came the moment that would go viral. Oh instructed everyone to stand up and do something Cristina Yang, her career-making character on Grey’s Anatomy, used to do when times got tough. “Dance it out!” she exhorted as David Guetta’s Titanium washed over the crowd. “Remember this feeling!”

“I was very, very, very nervous about it,” says Oh. “I worked really hard.” She had been putting herself into the mindset of 20-year-olds not just worried about their own futures but about the larger picture. “The world is burning!” she says, imagining their dark thoughts. “There’s wars all over! My heart is so heavy, so all I’m going to do is doomscroll.” But, crucially, Oh wanted her audience to find their way to joy – thus the dancing. “Sitting there trying to bear the pain in the world,” she says, neatly summing up the philosophy she shared that day, “will help you figure out how to be in the world.”

Those trying to report a death can face bureaucracy, costly delays and other shocking mistakes

Ella Stevens* had steeled herself for the painful task of informing a string of companies that her mother had died.

She notified her mother’s insurer, Direct Line. It responded by sending a letter to her late mother thanking her for letting it know of the change. When Stevens complained, Direct Line dispatched its apology and a goodwill cheque to her mother.

The clandestine networks were almost decimated by Covid border closures and are now under threat from a crackdown in South Korea

When Park Seung-hwan* has a moment to himself, he opens Google Earth and searches for his family home. The 30-year-old has been able to check that the roof was repaired and that crops are growing – tangible proof that the money he sent home had reached his family safely.

“Sending money was the simplest way for me to feel connected to my family,” Park says, adding that he worries that without it, his brother might be drafted and sent to fight in Russia because his family will not have enough to pay bribes so as to be exempt.

The ‘Hitman’ was extraordinary in his fleeting prime with his career bringing adoration and the demons of fame

Ricky Hatton used to look like a ghost-faced urchin as he slipped into an old hat factory on the edge of Stockport. It was easy then to imagine him in a past life, stealing through Victorian Manchester as a gaunt fingersmith, his nimble hands relieving rich men of their excessive wealth. But the gory marks on his face always brought us back to the jolting present and his bruising reality as a young and aspiring boxer.

In 2003, when I interviewed him for the first of many times in the atmospheric setting of that converted factory turned into a boxing gym, Hatton was 24 years old. The troubles of the future lay deep in the unknown because everything Hatton did then burned with an immediacy and urgency. He didn’t care that his gaunt and sickly face was mottled with dark blue bruises and crimson nicks which had yet to scab over and start to heal. “Basic wear and tear,” he said with a little grin, “and my skin’s abnormal”. “When I go out into the sun, no matter how long I spend outside, I stay deathly pale. I change colour in the ring. I mark up and I cut.”

Nigel Farage announces defection of MP for East Wiltshire and puts him in charge of preparing party for government

Nigel Farage has announced that Danny Kruger has defected to Reform UK from the Tories. Kruger, MP for East Wiltshire, is a leading social conservative, and co-chaired the New Conservatives group in the last parliament with Miriam Cates.

Farage said that Kruger would be in charge of preparing the part for government.

Netflix drama dominated limited series categories while first season of Apple TV+ satire became most awarded comedy ever

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Netflix’s breakout drama Adolescence has triumphed at this year’s Emmys, winning six awards.

The series, which became the streamer’s second most-watched show ever, won for limited series, directing and writing and also picked up three acting awards.

Scotland Yard made formal request to interview Christian Brueckner, due for release from seven-year rape sentence

The prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann has refused to be interviewed by the Metropolitan police before his pending release from prison in Germany, the force has said.

The Met confirmed it had submitted a formal international request to question Christian Brueckner, the 49-year-old German national who has long been under investigation in connection with Madeleine’s disappearance, but the suspect declined.

Agreements include plan to build 12 reactors in Hartlepool with Centrica, creating 2,500 jobs, and fast-tracking UK and US safety checks

Labour’s plans for a massive expansion of nuclear power have been given a boost with a string of transatlantic deals for new modular reactors announced before Donald Trump’s visit.

The UK and US governments have promised to fast track safety checks, and announced several new private sector investment deals, with Labour emphasising the potential benefits for jobs and growth.