Denounced as giving a ‘veneer of legality to slaveholding’ and despite claims of reform, kafala laws persist, allowing bosses to abuse women, who vanish from society. This is their testimony, gathered over two years in a Guardian investigation

Condemned as dangerous and abusive, the kafala labour system not only disregards migrant workers’ rights but depends on exploitation. But 10 years after Qatar was advised by the UN to abolish kafala (“ sponsorship”) entirely and replace it with a regulated labour network , the system is thriving across Lebanon, Jordan and the Gulf states – with the region’s most vulnerable migrants hidden behind closed doors.

Over two years, the Guardian spoke to 50 women who are or were domestic workers in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar or Jordan. Their testimony reveals asection of society operating under appalling conditionsfacilitated by the state’s employment apparatus.

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Tit-for-tat attacks present Sunni monarchies with complicated choices over region’s future

Iran’s missile and drone attack on Israel had, by the end of this week, become one of the most interpreted events in recent modern history. Then, in the early hours of Friday, came Israel’s reported riposte . As in June 1914, when Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife were assassinated in a moment which ultimately led to the first world war, these shots were heard around the world, even if few can agree conclusively on what they portend.

By one de minimis account, Tehran was merely sending a performative warning shot with its attack last Saturday, almost taking its ballistic missiles out for a weekend test drive. The maximalist version is that this was a state-on-state assault designed to change the rules of the Middle East. By swarming Israel with so many projectiles, such an assessment goes, Iran was prepared to risk turning Israel into a mini-Dresden of 1945 and was only thwarted by Israeli strategic defences and, crucially, the extraordinary cooperation between the US, Israel and Sunni Gulf allies.

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Campaigners warn Fifa over risk of death toll rising once 2034 preparations start, after Guardian investigation reveals most of the thousands of Bangladeshi workers’ deaths are unexplained

• Another World Cup will be tainted by worker deaths if Fifa fails to act, say rights groups

An ambulance is weaving through the chaos of the cargo depot at Dhaka’s international airport, navigating a careful route through trolleys stacked high with boxes, men hauling rolls of cloth and trucks reversing into loading bays. It stops and, shortly afterwards, from between the towering piles of goods, a coffin is wheeled out. Then another. And another. On this one day, the bodies of 10 migrant workers are being returned from Saudi Arabia back home to their families in Bangladesh.

Among those present to meet the coffins is Khadija Begum, whose 35-year-old husband, Abdul Jalil Shaikh, had gone to work in Saudi Arabia at the beginning of 2023. He left with his family’s dreams on his shoulders and now is coming back in a wooden box, most of his 500,000 taka (£3,750) debt – the price he paid a recruitment agent for his job – returning with him.

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Officials at Cairo talks say list is first step in truce deal as Hamas demands aid into Gaza and allowing displaced people to return

Egyptian and Qatari officials are putting pressure on Hamas negotiators in Cairo to produce a list of hostages to be released as the first step in a phased ceasefire agreement with Israel, according to officials familiar with the talks.

Israel has not sent a delegation to the second day of talks in Cairo , demanding that Hamas present a list of 40 elderly, sick and female hostages who would be the first to be released as part of a truce that would initially last six weeks , beginning with the month of Ramadan, the officials say.

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• Jordan 1-3 Qatar
• Hosts retain continental title after trio of spot-kicks

Qatar successfully defended their Asian Cup crown after beating Jordan 3-1 on Saturday at Lusail Stadium where Akram Afif converted three penalties to become the tournament’s top scorer as the hosts won their continental second title.

Jordan were playing in their first Asian Cup final and seeking their first major trophy, but it was Qatar who prevailed in front of 86,492 fans including Qatar’s ruler Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani and Fifa’s president, Gianni Infantino.

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Hanan Elatr fled to America after the Saudi journalist’s murder in Istanbul and wants to speak out on his behalf

New York. Friday, 7 September 2018. Hanan Elatr, a flight attendant for Emirates, had just landed at New York’s JFK airport and was in the shuttle on her way to the hotel. Her husband of three months was meeting her there and she messaged him on WhatsApp: “Hello Jamal. I’m on the bus on my way to the hotel, where are you beautiful?”

“In the hotel lobby,” came the reply. Although they’d known one another for a decade, her short marriage to Jamal Khashoggi had so far amounted to stolen hours between trips; of two people tethered to time zones – he due to his work as a journalist; she as cabin crew for an international airline. But that night they had discussed their future; they’d keep the condo in Virginia he had owned for some time, and maybe buy a flat together in Istanbul so they could meet more frequently. The next day Khashoggi left for Washington DC, after which he would travel on to Turkey. It was the last time Elatr saw her husband alive.

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• Asian Cup final updates, 3pm GMT kick-off at Lusail Stadium
• Get in touch! You can email Taha with your thoughts here

And before we get properly going, feel free to check in on some Premier League action, with Manchester City currently on their way to three points against Everton.

Here’s John Duerden’s excellent preview, laying out how we got to this point:

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Weeks of precarious talks finally led to Friday’s releases of captives. Here’s the inside story

The footage of hostages, many of them teenagers and younger, being seized and driven away crying and pleading with their captors, was as harrowing as the sight of the corpses Hamas left behind.

The slaughter of Israeli civilians on 7 October was intended to strike terror into the Israeli psyche and inflict a lasting wound. The hostage-taking was done for other reasons: as a brake on Israeli retaliation and to trade for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. Seven weeks later, it has clearly worked better as a bargaining chip than as a deterrent.

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Yocheved Lifshitz, a grandmother and Israeli peace activist, was kidnapped, beaten and held in tunnels built by Hamas for 17 days.