Morning mail: refugees denied medical transfers from Nauru Monday: Almost 50 people prevented from receiving overseas treatment in defiance of doctors' recommendations. Plus, Julian Cadman, seven, confirmed dead in Barcelona attack Children playing near a fence at the Nauru detention centre. Photograph: Amnesty International/Reuters Eleanor Ainge Roy @EleanorAingeRoy Good morning, this is Eleanor Ainge Roy bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Monday 21 August. Top stories Almost 50 refugees and asylum seekers held on Nauru – including at least three women seeking to terminate a pregnancy – are being prevented from accessing overseas medical treatment, in defiance of doctors' recommendations. Terminations are illegal on Nauru, a devoutly Christian country, and last month the Australian immigration department ordered that all requests for transfer had to be approved by a Nauruan committee. Previously, urgent or sensitive medical transfers were directly arranged between the Australian Border Force and the Australian government's health contractor, International Health and Medical Services. Staff on the island say the changed procedure is a political effort to obstruct medical transfers. The overseas medical referral committee meets irregularly, keeps little paperwork, repeatedly defers decisions and often cancels meetings. The seven-year-old Australian boy Julian Cadman has been confirmed as one of the 13 killed in the Barcelona attack. Cadman's family have paid tribute to the "energetic, funny and cheeky'' schoolboy who always brought "a smile to our faces". In the immediate aftermath of the attack it was unclear what had happened to Julian, who was separated from his mother. She remains badly injured in a serious condition in hospital. Family members shared pictures of Julian in an attempt to locate him, while his father and grandmother travelled to Spain from Australia. Cadman was a dual British national and Malcolm Turnbull, Theresa May and Boris Johnson have all expressed their sympathies to the family. The man suspected of driving a van into crowds at Las Ramblas in the Barcelona attack, Younes Abouyaaqoub, continues to elude police despite 800 vehicle checkpoints and increase in counter-terrorism officers. Catalan police do not know whether Abouyaaqoub has crossed the border into France or is still at large in Spain. The Catalan interior minister, Joaquim Forn, played down the risks to the public, saying police actions had "neutralised" the ability of the jihadis to cause more carnage. But the limits of the security forces to identify dangers have become apparent as it has emerged that intelligence agencies had no prior warning of the 12-man cell that was planning a large-scale bomb attack before an accidental explosion forced a change of plans. Monday's Newspoll shows the Coalition's primary vote has fallen to 35% and it now trails Labor 54-46 on two-party-preferred, confirming the widening trend shown in Guardian Essential poll results. But 41% of respondents still prefer Malcolm Turnbull as prime minister, while only 27% believe Bill Shorten would be better in the top job. Elon Musk has led 116 tech experts from 26 countries in calling for a ban on killer robots. In an open letter signed by the Tesla chief and Google's Mustafa Suleyman, the group has urged the UN to block the use of lethal autonomous weapons to prevent the third age of war. The UN has voted to begin formal discussions on such weapons which include drones, tanks and automated machine guns. The founders wrote: "Once developed, lethal autonomous weapons will permit armed conflict to be fought at a scale greater than ever, and at timescales faster than humans can comprehend." Sport At the moment Australian rugby looks dysfunctional, delusional and just about dead and buried. But maybe, just maybe, there is a flicker of hope – on the same day as the Wallabies' unacceptable performance against the All Blacks, the ARU announced work would begin on a new model for high performance. Bret Harris investigates. Plucky heroes, villains, cliches and fetishes – we asked three authors and two screenwriters to pen a finale to the AFL season befitting an already random 2017. The Canterbury Bulldogs' upset of Manly fails to mask the club's listless NRL season, writes Matt Cleary. Des Hasler's charges finally played like their roster suggests they should at the weekend but the club's malaise this season has shortchanged their diehard fans. Thinking time From Country to Couture at the Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair. Photograph: Murray Hilton The years leading up to 1861 saw polarised politics, paranoia and conspiracy theories. Sound familiar? "For historians, Trump has been the gift that keeps on giving" writes the pre-eminent US historian David Blight in this long read. "His ignorance of American history, his flouting of political and constitutional traditions, his embrace of racist ideas and groups, his egregious uses of fear, his own party's moral bankruptcy in its inability to confront him, have forced the media to endlessly ask historians for help." Blight reflects on America's Disunion, and why it seems to be coming back to haunt a fracturing country. In a revealing interview the actor Rupert Everett says he spent much of the 1980s living in fear of Aids. "So my whole world, lots of people that I'd been with, were dying. And dying in a most terrifying way. Everybody was terrorised by the disease. Even people who loved you, your family, you'd notice them taking your plate and washing it separately." Now starring in the British comedy Quacks, Everett talks to the Guardian's Zoe Wiliams about the refreshing, non-PC humour of British comedy and the horror of the current political climate. The From Country to Couture fashion parade is one of the high points of the Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair, and featured bold prints, loose, flowing silhouettes and the Yolngu model and Miss World Australia finalist Magnolia Maymuru. Our gallery captures the magic on the catwalk and backstage. Media roundup The majority of Australian newspapers splash with the tragic death of seven-year-old Julian Cadman, one of the 13 people killed in the Barcelona attacks. "Always in our hearts," says the Herald Sun. "Goodbye beautiful boy," says the Courier-Mail and the headline at the West Australian is: "Tears for Julian." The NT News's front page reveals that the territory's police force is in decline, with 60 police officers quitting last year, and fears that the government will be unable to replace them, putting more strain on an already stretched force "in crisis". And the ABC says a decade of rising house prices, low interest rates and relatively easy credit has left Australians carrying the second highest level of household debt in the world. Coming up The case of Dylan Voller v Northern Territory government is back in court. Voller's lawyer is seeking leave for an application for Justice Judith Kelly to recuse herself on grounds of bias. Betty Cuthbert's state funeral will be held this afternoon at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Supporting the Guardian We'd like to acknowledge our generous supporters who enable us to keep reporting on the critical stories. If you value what we do and would like to help, please make a contribution or become a Supporter today. Thank you. 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