The ObserverDramaInterviewNafessa Williams: ‘As a young black girl I didn’t have a superhero like me to look up to’Rob WalkerNafessa Williams, who plays Thunder in Black Lightning, hopes her character will be an inspiration It’s a genre dominated by white, straight males, so American actress Nafessa Williams admits she was moved to tears when she pulled on her costume for the first time to play a black, lesbian superhero. “It was a moment,” she says.

CultureObituaryRay ConniffHugely successful bandleader and arranger who defied rock 'n' roll with his easy listening soundRay Conniff, who has died aged 85, was a highly successful popular musician who defied rock 'n' roll and lived to talk about it. Equally well known as a bandleader and an arranger, he blended together sweet choruses and soothing strings, creating an easy listening sound that encouraged his audiences to sit back with eyes closed, and allow the orchestra to do the work.

Espionage This article is more than 12 years oldSpanish superspy Francisco Paesa, 75, gets out of yet another scrapeThis article is more than 12 years oldSierra Leone escapade follows a lifetime of intrigue including years on Interpol's 'most wanted' listFrancisco Paesa bamboozled terrorists, laundered money, entrapped crooked police chiefs, became mixed up in a dirty war fought on French soil, fooled Interpol and placed a death notice in a Spanish newspaper asking monks to pray for his soul.

South Australian police are preparing a report for the coroner after a shark attack on the Yorke Peninsula. Photograph: The GuardianSouth Australian police are preparing a report for the coroner after a shark attack on the Yorke Peninsula. Photograph: The GuardianSouth AustraliaTeenage boy killed in fatal shark attack near Ethel Beach in South AustraliaBody recovered from ocean off Dhilba Guuranda-Innes national park on the Yorke Peninsula Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates A teenage boy has died after a shark attack near Ethel Beach in South Australia, police say.

QueenslandDeadly brown snake bites Queensland woman in her bed while another serpent seen in fridge ice dispenserPatient in her 20s in a serious but stable condition after being airlifted to Toowoomba hospital A Queensland woman has been bitten in her bed by the world’s second most venomous snake, the state’s ambulance service says. The eastern brown snake bit the woman, who is in her 20s, on her hand in the early hours of Friday on a rural property in the Western Downs, two and a half hours west of Brisbane.