An armada of boats carrying athletes along the Seine, dangling dancers and parading drag queens – all under torrential rain

The Paris Olympic Games opened on Friday night with a high-kitsch, riverside spectacle, as an armada of boats carried athletes along the Seine, dancers dangled from high poles, drag queens paraded on bridges and the Olympic rings lit up the Eiffel Tower – all under unrelenting, torrential rain.

France had promised its opening ceremony would be the biggest open-air show on Earth. More than 300,000 people watched from the riverside and bridges – and hundreds more stood at windows and balconies – as a show of dance, live music and acrobatics unfolded along more than 6km of river from the Pont d’Austerlitz to the Eiffel Tower.

Singer, who cancelled tour dates as a result of stiff person syndrome, makes comeback with Edith Piaf rendition

Céline Dion made a triumphant return to the stage at the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics.

The star, who has been diagnosed with the neurological disorder stiff person syndrome, sang Edith Piaf’s Hymne a l’amour at the Eiffel Tower for a global audience of millions, her first live on-stage performance since early 2020.

Five highlights of an innovative, and very wet, Olympic opening ceremony in Paris

The opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games – the first ever to be organised outside a stadium – has unfurled on the Seine River against a spectacular backdrop of the capital’s most celebrated monuments. Here are some takeaways:

Arsonists used crude methods but disruption to opening of the Olympic Games in Paris was severe

It was about 1.15am when the SNCF maintenance workers, carrying out repairs by moonlight, spotted the group of people a little further down the railway line near a signal box outside the sleepy village of Vergigny, in the northern French department of Yonne.

They were concerned enough by the unlikely sight at such an hour to approach the intruders, and then to make a call to the local police as those they had interrupted ran off into the dark.

Olympics opening ceremony creates sporting armada of world’s top athletes but locals bemoan lack of access

“C’est Zizou!” went the cry as one of France’s most beloved sons appeared on the screen next to the Seine – and with a blaze of red white and blue, they were off.

As a procession of boats carrying more than 8,000 of the world’s top athletes in a sporting armada along 6km of the River Seine began their journey, the visitors to Paris 2024 not among the 300,000 people allowed to watch from the bridges and riverbanks crammed into bars and restaurants to cheer as their team went by.

Rachel Reeves is expected to accept pay review body recommendations in move that could cost up to £10bn

Millions of public sector workers are set for an above-inflation pay rise due to be announced by Rachel Reeves next week after more than a decade of austerity.

The chancellor is expected to accept the recommendations of public sector pay bodies for pay increases on Monday – a move economists believe could cost up to £10bn.

Exclusive: Higher limit reflects longer race, while cash-strapped party seeks £50,000 from candidates to cover costs

The Conservatives have set the spending limit in their leadership contest at £400,000, as the beaten and skint opposition party tries to use the race to cover costs.

Robert Jenrick, a frontrunner who has been preparing for the contest for some time, had pressed for a higher cap. The £400,000 limit is £100,000 more than it was in the last contest, two years ago.

Over 160,000 attendees in a key demographic ‘answered the call’ on Thursday, with nearly $8.5m raised for Harris

Following the success of a virtual call to mobilize Black women voters for Kamala Harris, a similar event with more than 160,000 attendees was held on Thursday aimed at white women, and appeared to break records.

White women will be a key demographic for the Democrats to win over this election.

Danielle Carr-Gomm fell fatally ill when she stopped taking insulin during Wiltshire workshop run by Hongchi Xiao

• Profile: the healer convicted over two deaths

An alternative healer who promoted a “slapping therapy” taken up by millions of people across the world has been found guilty of the gross negligence manslaughter of a British woman who died at one of his workshops.

Danielle Carr-Gomm, 71, who had type 1 diabetes, fell fatally ill in 2016 after she stopped taking her insulin and fasted during a paida lajin therapy retreat run by Hongchi Xiao at a country house in Wiltshire.

Acasia Welburn pleaded guilty to three charges of sexual activity with child by person in a position of trust

A school worker has been jailed for sexually abusing an autistic boy who was under 16 at the time, police said.

Acasia Welburn, now 26, had been working at a school in North Yorkshire in a “trusted care position” when she abused the child.