Day 4 of Cop promises to be quieter, with world leaders flying home after their Tuesday and Wednesday speeches. Events today will focus on climate finance — the key issue for the negotiations.

Parties are working to broker a deal ensuring developing countries receive funding to help cope with climate disasters and phase out fossil fuels. It’s urgent, since a 2009 agreement to contribute $100 billion annually — which was only fulfilled in 2022 — expires this year.

The journalist Mélissa Cornet and the photographer Kiana Hayeri met more than 100 Afghan girls and women in seven provinces, and found resistance and defiance but also despair

Earlier this year, I spent 10 weeks travelling with the photographer Kiana Hayeri across seven provinces of Afghanistan, speaking to more than 100 Afghan women and girls about how their lives had changed since the Taliban swept back to power three years ago.

Hayeri and I both lived in Afghanistan for years, and remained here after the Taliban took control in August 2021. In the past few years, we have seen women’s rights and freedoms, already severely curtailed, swept away as Taliban edicts have fallen like hammer blows.

Mitra plays with children in Yamit district, near the Wakhan mountains. Her daughter and her cousin, who were both grade 11 pupils aged about 17, took their own lives in these pools last year

Bedfordshire farm was saved through public donations after a successful £1.5m crowdfunding campaign

A unique farm that was “accidentally” rewilded 35 years ago and is now a haven for endangered nightingales and other rare wildlife has been saved, thanks in part to the generosity of Guardian readers.

Strawberry Hill in Bedfordshire has been successfully bought by the Wildlife Trust for Beds, Cambs and Northants (BCN) after a crowdfunding appeal raised £1.5m.

Whether you want to bolster your home’s security or simply make sure you know when someone is at the door, the latest generation of smart doorbells will help put your mind at ease

Doorbells have evolved. Today, they watch us as we approach, let the people inside the home know we’re coming sooner than our finger can hit the button, and give them a good look at our faces before they open the door. They’re essentially security cameras with a chime function.

If you haven’t already installed one of these handy tools, there’s a huge array available. Choosing the best video doorbell can be a bewildering task, with various factors to consider, including how much of your doorstep you want to see or whether you’re prepared to pay for a subscription. To help make the decision a little bit easier, I’ve tested eight popular video doorbells to find the best.

Best overall video doorbell:
Google Nest (battery)
_{£139 at Currys}

Best budget video doorbell:
Blink + Sync Module 2
_{£69 at John Lewis}

Best subscription-free video doorbell:
Eufy E340
_{£155.17 at Amazon}

Pharmacy owners to reduce hours and make fewer home deliveries of medicines unless there is better funding

Pharmacies have said they will halt a number of services within weeks, including the end of free medicine deliveries and extended opening hours, unless the government drastically boosts funding for the sector to stem an “escalating crisis”.

In a high-turnout ballot run by the National Pharmacy Association (NPA), which represents independent community pharmacies, 99% of pharmacy owners said they were willing to limit their services in the interests of patient safety if improved funding was not forthcoming.

Serve notice on opening hours above the minimum required by their contract – meaning fewer pharmacies will be open in the evenings and at weekends.

Stop making free home deliveries of medicines that are not funded.

Withdraw from locally commissioned services, including some local addiction support services, emergency contraception and smoking cessation support.

Refuse to cooperate with certain data requests above those required for patient safety and contractual minimums.

Withdraw from supplying free monitored dose systems (medicine packs) that the NHS does not pay them to provide, other than those covered by the Disability Discrimination Act.

Exclusive: former Brexit negotiator seen as probable favourite to take over from Simon Case as cabinet secretary

The former Brexit negotiator Oliver Robbins is one of 10 applicants on the longlist to take over from Simon Case as the UK’s most senior civil servant, the Guardian understands.

The candidates, who have their first round of interviews for the job this week and next, are predominantly internal applicants, with several permanent secretaries believed to have thrown their hats into the ring.

The prime minister has finally grasped that Downing Street must control the narrative. But is it too late to undo this summer’s self-inflicted damage?

Sue Gray’s departure matters. But not in the way some may assume. Gray became famous because of three things: her Partygate investigation under Boris Johnson, her recruitment to Keir Starmer’s team in opposition and for having once run a pub in Northern Ireland. It all turned her into just about the only British civil servant whom people beyond Whitehall might recognise on the news.

It was therefore predictable that her fall from power would also be depicted in personality terms. Sure enough, Gray’s original ousting in October was attributed to a turf war with Morgan McSweeney, now her successor as Downing Street chief of staff. Or to the fact that Labour special advisers were disgruntled over their pay differentials. Gray’s final exit this week was also reportedly triggered by Starmer’s frustration that she had not started work on the job to which he demoted her five weeks ago.

Martin Kettle is a Guardian columnist

Dutch appeal court ruled in favour of oil and gas company over judgment telling it to limit emissions

A court ruling in favour of Shell does not spell the end of climate litigation against companies, legal experts have said.

The oil and gas company celebrated on Tuesday when it won an appeal against a landmark climate judgment by a Dutch court.

Voting temporarily suspended amid disruptions including a Maori party MP ripping up a copy of the bill

New Zealand’s parliament erupted into fiery debate, personal attacks and a haka over a controversial bill that proposes to radically alter the way New Zealand’s treaty between Māori and the Crown is interpreted.

The treaty principles bill was tabled by the libertarian Act party – a minor partner in New Zealand’s coalition government – and passed its first reading on Thursday, amid scathing speeches and disruptions.