The roll-out of a new affordable vaccine, combined with breakthroughs in the genetic modification of mosquitoes, means that a world free of malaria is "finally within sight". 

That's the view of Adar Poonawalla, chief executive of India-based drugs manufacturer the Serum Institute, as this month babies in the Ivory Coast and South Sudan became the first to receive a dose of the R21 vaccine. Hailed as a game-changer by scientists, it could see the complete eradication of malaria within a decade.

How does the new vaccine work?
R21 targets the first stage of the parasite's life cycle before it gets to the liver, and is combined with an immune-boosting agent, or adjuvant.

Trials have shown it to be 79% effective at preventing the disease in young people, and its production capacity and low price give it a "huge advantage" over the only other malaria vaccine, RTS,S, which was released earlier this year, The Times said. "If this was a $10 vaccine, just forget it, you wouldn't be able to reach the kind of countries we have because the budgets just wouldn't allow it," said Poonawalla. 

Having launched in the Ivory Coast and South Sudan, targeted at children under three, the vaccine roll-out will expand to a further 30 countries in Africa.

What else is being done?
The WHO Global Malaria Programme goal is to reduce cases of malaria by 90% before 2030.

Measures in place to achieve this include the "early detection and diagnosis of malaria cases", said Al Jazeera, as well as "the use of insecticide-treated nets and indoor residual spraying".

Can malaria be eliminated?
Despite huge strides made in recent years, the WHO warned that some challenges remain. "Countries, sub-national areas and communities are situated at different points along the path towards malaria elimination, and their rate of progress will differ," it said in a recent report.

Nevertheless, the WHO remains optimistic that its ambitious objectives can be met, going so far as to classify malaria as being in the "final stage" of elimination.

"I think the whole thing is doable, not in the next five years, but maybe in the next 10," said Adrian Hill, director of the Jenner Institute at Oxford. For the first time in history, "eradication is beginning to look really credible".

The UK has elected "the most openly secular House of Commons in history", according to a new study.

Two in five MPs taking their seats in Parliament opted not to swear an oath to God, including the prime minister, said Humanists UK.

For some Christians, this signals a "post-Christian society in which the undeniably secular world of Westminster is the vanguard", said Church Times.

'Dirty secret?'
Although many UK politicians are Christian, it's long been argued that "talking about religion can only alienate and damage your prospects", said Fraser Nelson in The Telegraph, so faith needed to be kept as a "dirty secret" in Westminster.

In the West the "barriers between politics and religion have been disappearing", said the Financial Times in a leader article, and a "traditionalist" reaction "can be seen in phenomena as superficially different" as the "nostalgia of Europe's populist right" or the "undermining of abortion rights in the US".

In fact, said Church Times, there is more religion in the new Labour government than the Humanists UK study suggested. Foreign Secretary David Lammy is a Christian and he is "far from the only" believer "at the heart" of the new administration. Wes Streeting, Rachel Reeves, Douglas Alexander, Jonathan Reynolds, Stephen Timms, Bridget Phillipson, Pat McFadden, Sue Gray and Matthew Doyle are among the key Labour figures who believe in God. So Christian faith "might influence decision-making among certain ministers", it added.

'Reflects the attitudes of the nation'
Politicians who evoke God certainly still risk being mocked. Following the recent assassination attempt on him, Donald Trump said he was "not supposed to be here" at the Republican National Convention, adding: "I stand before you in this arena only by the grace of almighty God."

But Trump's "grasp of theology is bizarre", said Freddy Gray in The Spectator, because "if an all-powerful God wanted him to survive, surely he was meant to be there"?

The secular nature of the current House of Commons is "a good thing, in one respect", said Theo Hobson in The Spectator, because "it is, on the whole, good for democracy if MPs reflect the attitudes of the nation" and it now seems that "over half of the nation are non-religious".

Spending time by water all but guarantees a relaxing break. Whether you're being buffeted by wind on a bracing seaside walk or watching waves ripple on a tranquil lake, there's something inherently calming about expanses of blue.

If you want to go one step further and leave dry land behind (at least temporarily) here are five floating hotels located in some of the world's most beautiful destinations.

Taj Lake Palace, India
It's easy to see why this "huge spectral white mansion" in the middle of India's Lake Pichola was chosen as the backdrop for the 1983 James Bond film "Octopussy", said Nosmot Gbadamosi on CNN. Built in 1746 as a pleasure palace for Prince Maharana Jagat Singh II, it was "restored to its opulent former glory" in the 1970s. You can only reach the swanky hotel by boat; guests are greeted at the private jetty by "attendants with embroidered umbrellas". There are just 65 rooms and 18 suites, many of which offer spectacular panoramic views across the lake.

King Pacific Lodge, Canada
If you're keen to "really go off the grid", said Chelsea Bengier in Architectural Digest, it's worth making the somewhat tricky journey to King Pacific Lodge. Situated in the Great Bear Rainforest on a secluded archipelago in British Columbia, it means a 90-minute flight from Vancouver to Bella Bella before boarding a chartered boat, seaplane or helicopter. Overlooking Milbanke Sound, the "massive floating adventure lodge" is the perfect base for exploring; from hiking to fly-in fishing, there is plenty to do nearby.

Fingal, Scotland
Permanently berthed on Edinburgh's waterfront, this 237-foot floating hotel is the former royal yacht of Queen Elizabeth II. Following a hefty £5 million renovation, it opened to guests in January 2019. There are just 23 "posh cabins" on board, said Architectural Digest, each with a sleek, art deco feel: expect dark wooden panelling, brass accents and soft lambswool throws. The hotel is also home to an elegant cocktail bar and restaurant on the top deck.

What the Harehills riots said about Britain
Rakib Ehsan in The Spectator
The Harehills disorder is "a fine example of people projecting their biases onto complex social events", writes Rakib Ehsan. Nigel Farage labelled the riot as a "destructive manifestation of subcontinental politics in inner-city England". But "this is wide of the mark" and similar reactions "demonstrated how some are only too eager to unleash their anti-Muslim bigotry". In fact, the unrest "primarily involves Roma communities", which "much of the British political classes and social commentariat have relatively little knowledge about".

Could Biden's exit turn out to be Ukraine's gain?
Charles Moore in The Telegraph
Despite "all the bad things" Donald Trump has said against Ukraine, the "latest exchanges" between the Republican and President Zelenskyy have "encouraged Kyiv", writes Charles Moore. The "two great political showmen", first "made famous by their television shows", seem to have "got on well". Until now, Trump has "felt the need to assail any Biden-associated policy" but now the president has "left the electoral scene", one hopes he may see "political advantage" in taking a lead to help Ukraine.

Bat Crave
The Times editorial board
For "image-conscious petrolheads", the "uncanny absence of insects splattered on a car windscreen" is a "welcome perk", says The Times, but for bats it is "a matter of life and death". This year's "sodden summer" and decades of pesticide use have "annihilated the butterflies and moths on which bats rely for breakfast, lunch and dinner". To lose Britain's bats would be a "tragedy of biodiversity and an entirely avoidable loss", so "volunteers feeding the malnourished bats and tracking their dwindling numbers should be saluted".