Strength through unity to face fears
Welcome to the ITV News digest bringing you the best of our original journalism, insight and analysis from across the nation and regions.
Hello, I’m Shehab Khan, a political correspondent with ITV News. Riots in the United Kingdom are not a common occurrence and as suspected members of the far right took to the streets targeting people of colour and Muslims in particular, some communities around the UK have been frozen with fear.
Mosques have been attacked, people pulled out of cars by mobs and public disorder to a level we have not seen in some time.
Speaking to a range of people from all over the country, alongside the concern was a strong sense of resilience. You can see my report on ITVX.
People keen to get on with their lives, not to be deterred by rioters. Still going to work, still seeing friends and family and crucially organising together to help clean up the mess that is often left behind after a demonstration.
This story, as awful as it is, has developed quite quickly from one that is purely about the division in our country, to one that is also about the strength we find in unity.
Thanks for reading - and there’s more great reporting from my ITV News colleagues below…
After the rioting comes the reckoning
More than 400 people have now been arrested in the wake of disorder around the country, according to police sources, with the number expected to continue to rise in the coming days.
After a week of escalating unrest which has left communities reeling from acts of criminal damage and assault, courts have been working overtime to process dozens of rioters.
ITV News has been covering the trouble up and down the country - here’s just some of our reporting featured on ITVX, our website and social channels:
How polluted is your local river?
The stories of sewage polluting the UK’s rivers and streams have been well documented. But new research by ITV News this week reveals something even more alarming is happening.
A cocktail of almost 500 chemicals, some of which are banned and almost half of which are classed as "very toxic" or "harmful", have been found in English waters.
One of the substances found was a banned, carcinogenic "forever chemical".
Watch ITV News Science Correspondent Martin Stew’s report on ITVX.
40 days is a long time in US politics…
Forty days is a lifetime in American politics, writes US Correspondent Robert Moore.
On June 27, President Biden was on stage in Atlanta debating Donald Trump.
This week, Kamala Harris was on the stage at a rally in Philadelphia as the official Democratic Party presidential nominee - and introducing a barely-known Minnesotan Governor as her running mate.
You can watch Robert’s report on the latest developments in the race to the White House on ITVX. And our weekly Talking Politics USA podcast draws on commentators in the US to give their insight into the election.
Why e-bike fires are rocketing across the country
Instead of ringing in the New Year in 2023, Maria Frasquilho Macarro found out her 21-year-old daughter had died.
Portuguese bartender Sofia Duarte was sleeping in her second floor flat in Southwark, London, when the lithium battery of her boyfriend's e-bike exploded in their hallway, causing a raging house fire.
Her boyfriend jumped out of the window and lived, but Sofia took the stairs - and was never seen again.
Consumer Editor Chris Choi and Deputy Content Editor Sophia Ankel report on what’s behind the 204% increase in the number of e-bike fires across the country over the last two years.
Tick-borne Lyme disease risk rising from climate change
For 15 years, researchers from the UK Health and Safety Agency have been tracking the spread of ticks and monitoring in a lab how many carry diseases, writes ITV News Science Correspondent Martin Stew.
They're noticing the geographic spread of areas in which ticks live and how long they're active for are both increasing.
They have linked the rise to an increase in wild deer, which are at their highest number in 1,000 years, and our changing climate.
Watch his report on the explosion of ticks on ITVX.
Inside the fast fashion factory
Guangzhou is the garment making capital of China and it is there that most of the cheap clothes sold on Shein and Temu are made.
ITV News Asia Correspondent Debi Edward has been inside one of the factories churning out the fastest of fashion for markets across the globe.
But success has come with scrutiny and questions about labour rights in the larger Chinese factories. Catch up on Debi’s report on ITVX.
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‘I changed my name to Mick Jagger to escape my gambling past’
A recovering gambling addict who legally changed his name to Mick Jagger has laid bare the price he paid.
The 62-year-old spent decades on the streets after placing his first bet on a horse race when he was just 12.
His addiction cost him hundreds of thousands of pounds. His family has disowned him and he has never met his grandchildren, he told ITV News Anglia reporter Rob Setchell - you can watch the full interview on ITVX.
The 'star talent' who's just become First Minister of Wales
"The grey suits are out!", Eluned Morgan told the Senedd chamber as she embarked on her debut speech as the first woman to become First Minister, writes ITV Wales reporter Hamish Auskerry.
As her predecessor Vaughan Gething found, being a trailblazer brings an extra dimension to a difficult job.
You can read more on the challenges she faces in Wales on our ITV Wales website and you can get an insight into who is Eluned Morgan here on ITVX.
What’s coming up…
Saturday August 10: Manchester City take on Manchester United in the Community Shield
Tuesday August 12: Perseid meteor shower peak. The Perseid meteor shower is active between July 17 and August 24
Friday August 16: Opening fixture of the new Premier League season - Manchester Utd vs Fulham
And finally… meet the Molar Explorer…
"This is what I've always wanted to do, so I don't see it as crazy. It's taken a long time to get here. I think I'm just ready to go now."
Dentist Cat Burford is in training to swap the ‘dental desert’ of Cornwall for Antarctica - aiming to travel 700 miles across the frozen continent while hauling all her kit.
Cat, who is also known as The Molar Explorer, will be totally alone for 50 days as she battles -50°C temperatures and 60mph winds.
Take a look at her training regime on ITV News West Country’s Instagram page.