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Friday briefing: How a grassroots film is turning climate anxiety into action
Good morning. Here we are, stumbling into an oddly warm autumn and with the aftermath of a ceaselessly dry summer all around us in our parched parks and fire-ravaged forests. With the change in season, the headlines are no less gruelling. At the start of the week, more than 450,000 people are predicted to die from an unprecedented El Niño over the next six months. At the end of the week, a report by UK intelligence chiefs reveals the extent to which the collapse of natural systems threatens security and defence around the world – a report which, as the Guardian revealed, was suppressed under former prime minister Keir Starmer’s leadership. Meanwhile, as Hettie has written about in a previous newsletter, right-leaning climate sceptics continue to seed doubt about the glaring reality wherever they may. Overload, silencing and misinformation can generate fear, suspicion, grief, helplessness, a compulsion to look away or to focus on paying the next bill. But this summer, I’ve been hearing about another climate briefing – in film form – that aims to engage all of those emotions. It’s as much about giving people the information they deserve as it is about helping them deal with it once they have it. You won’t see it on Netflix, but your neighbour might be screening it at the local scout hall this weekend: for today’s newsletter, I spoke to Nick Oldridge, co-founder of the People’s Emergency Briefing, about how a film about the end of the world became a grassroots movement. First, the headlines. Five big stories UN general assembly | Benjamin Netanyahu delivered an inflammatory address to the United Nations, decrying what he said was a global anti-Jewish conspiracy and swatting aside criticism of Israel’s war in Gaza. UK news | Far-right agitator and anti-migrant activist Daniel Thomas has been arrested after he filmed himself appearing to slash the side of a dinghy while a rescuer was onboard. Iran | Iran says it has told Trump it is willing to open the strait of Hormuz in six days, and to start talks on its nuclear program the day after, so long as the US lifts sanctions on Iran’s oil exports, ends the war on all fronts – including in Lebanon – and releases some frozen assets. Ukraine | Ukrainian refugees fear they could be left homeless after the government quietly axed 70% of funding for hosts of the Homes for Ukraine scheme, reducing monthly “thank you” payments. World news | Xi Jinping has called for extensive cooperation with Washington to avoid the “Thucydides trap” that could put the US and China on a military collision course amid rising tensions over AI, trade and Taiwan. In depth: ‘It’s clear evidence that this model works for engaging politicians’ Have you seen that climate film yet? You know, the one you read about on the Guardian website and then a friend of a friend emailed you about it, but other things got in the way until your best pal watched it and said you absolutely had to see it and then you looked it up and realised there were screenings happening all around you. That was my experience, at least. The People’s Emergency Briefing began life, in real life. Last November, nine climate experts delivered a “first-of-its-kind national emergency briefing” to an audience of MPs, civic and business leaders in Westminster. It was, by all reports, a galvanising event. The organising team – including pioneer in carbon footprinting Prof Mike Berners-Lee and TV environmentalist Chris Packham – then crowdfunded to turn the in-person briefing into a film, which anyone can register to screen in their local village hall, faith centre, workplace or wherever else they can get bums on seats. I watched the briefing myself at an arts centre in Paisley on a sunny Friday evening last month. The 50-minute film felt like 15, as the roster of experts set out in plain language how global heating is affecting all aspects of life in the UK: the economy, food, healthcare, nature, national security. It’s a hard watch. The alarming – but never alarmist – message is that the climate is changing much faster than expected, and that we are woefully unprepared for it. The grinding frustration of these experts – who have been repeating these stark facts to a sclerotic government and a sceptical public for years – is evident, but there is also hope. The aim is to demand that the prime minister convenes a Covid-style primetime emergency briefing on the climate and nature crisis, led by independent experts. As Packham says as he introduces the film: “I understand it’s human nature to prefer not to know, to try to bury our heads in the sand. But if we all take a breath and watch this together, well first of all that’s a huge relief and second we can figure out what to do about it.” *** Do it like Gogglebox What’s unique about the film is both how it’s framed and how it’s watched. “We knew you can’t just film people talking at podiums,” Oldridge explains, “so we decided: ‘We’ll do it like Gogglebox’.” Spliced between the expert commentary, members of the public sit on a sofa across from Packham and talk about what they’ve just watched. “This is the nub of it,” says Oldridge. “This film has got to be watched in groups, people who experience it together and then talk about it, instead of the isolated way we usually consume media.” Since the first community screening on 7 April, the film has become a word-of-mouth phenomenon – so far 2,789 screenings have taken place, with a further 1,395 planned. Readers across the country, from the south of England to north-east Scotland, have contacted the Guardian’s Environment desk to tell us about their involvement. Anna Taylor, trustee of Wendover Climate Action, who organised a packed screening in the Buckinghamshire village after reading about the original Westminster event in the Guardian, told me: “It’s spurred me on so that, if nothing else, my kids will know I tried to make things better for them”. Any group can register to host a screening, and will receive a carefully scripted guide for steering the discussion afterwards as viewers process some difficult material. Organisers have told me how essential it felt for people to sit together and share their immediate reflections on what was a shocking film for many, even those who considered themselves familiar with climate science. That was my experience: the lump in my throat got smaller as I listened to other people talking about their visceral shock, anxiety and plans to take action. Groups are also encouraged to invite local politicians – not to put them on stage to shout at but so they can sit among the audience as another community member. (Eleven were invited to the Paisley screening, none came – you know who you are!). *** Will it burst through the eco-bubble? One of the threads we unravelled in the discussion after my screening was how to normalise climate conversations: “How do we reach people who don’t even believe climate change is happening?” asked one woman. (It’s worth interjecting here that tracker polling suggests this summer’s extreme weather has prompted a big jump in voters’ ranking of the environment as an issue.) But it’s a question that the People’s Emergency Briefing team have wrangled with extensively. Inevitably there’s an element of self-selection with community screenings, but there’s ongoing work to bring the film to wider audiences at Quaker meeting houses, churches and cathedrals, the Women’s Institute, hospitals, school staff rooms, the national lottery, the V&A, Channel 4, and even here at the Guardian. All the organisers I heard from had plans to run more screenings and diversify audiences, while viewers reported feeling more hopeful, better informed and more motivated to act. “We first realised something was happening when we watched the booming community screenings,” says Oldridge. “But now all these big brands are doing it too. You’re always trying to break beyond the eco-bubble and I think we’ve got a very good chance of doing that now”. *** What difference can it make? In recent years, the orthodoxy around climate communications has tended towards telling only hopeful stories, with a recognition that the public were beyond capacity for bad news. “But we felt quite strongly that we need to reset the baseline of understanding,” says Oldridge. “Most surveys show people are worried, but they see it as a far away problem. And they don’t have all the facts that relate to the UK and their own lives.” This is especially salient when the right weaponise net zero as a threat to the economy. Mindful of this context, the film is trenchant in its optimism. It avoids finger-wagging; there’s no scolding of those of us who still fly or eat cheese. There’s a recognition that – however helpful individual effort can be – climate change isn’t a problem that isolated action can solve. Rather, it calls for an emergency response equal to that rolled out during the pandemic, or a war. “Our effort is focused purely on change driven by government, helping the public understand that they are one of the pieces of the jigsaw that enable the government to be bold enough to make those changes,” says Oldridge. A major academic study of the film’s impact will be published next month and early findings suggest that every screening in a constituency makes its MP more likely to back a televised emergency briefing. “It’s clear evidence that this model works for engaging politicians.” There is engagement too at the top of government, according to our environment editor Fiona Harvey. She reported this week how Ed Miliband brought the national security warnings to global attention at the UN general assembly in New York, with the backing of Andy Burnham. It marks a growing openness from the prime minister towards climate action, she believes, encouraged by Miliband and that goes beyond campaigning pragmatism ahead of the Holborn and St Pancras byelection, where Labour is taking on Green leader Zack Polanski. Perhaps there is room for guarded optimism, as there is in this devastating film about the systemic collapse of society that is paradoxically hopeful. As one member of the public says on screen: “It’s not as if we need to go off and invent all the solutions. They’re right there. We just need to use them”. What else we’ve been enjoying Our politics and graphics desks teamed up on this exclusive report into how, as it stands, tactical voting could push Reform into fourth and leave Labour clinging to a thin majority at the next election. (And here’s a bonus read on the five progressive groups they will need to satisfy to even have a chance). Charlie Lindlar, newsletters team This gallery of shots from French photographer Martine Barrat, of people in Harlem and the Bronx in the 70s and 80s, is beyond beautiful. Barrat had a deep love for these neighbourhoods, and their communities, and it radiates from every tender photograph. Lucinda Everett, newsletters team Fascinating piece for this week’s Moving the Goalposts newsletter by Elizabeth Payne on whether the time has come for separated home and away seating at women’s football. Charlie Before you write off this year’s Oscars battle as a one-(Trojan)-horse race, have a read of Benjamin Lee’s excellent run down of the contenders who might stop The Odyssey sweeping the boards. Lucinda For the Filter, Bay Garnett has an authoritative guide to secondhand shopping in 2026 – “Wear and tear isn’t necessarily a reason to put something back,” she rightly urges. Charlie Sport Football | Joao Felix scored the only goal as reigning Nations League champions Portugal opened their campaign with a 1-0 home win over Wales; and a stoppage-time equaliser rescued a 1-1 draw for the Netherlands against Germany. Cricket | Sri Lanka pulled off a dramatic 16-run win over England in the second one-day international at Headingley to level the three-match series despite a heroic effort from injured Jos Buttler. Rugby union | Harlequins, Northampton and Gloucester are attracting serious interest from overseas investors with Prem Rugby entering an expansionist phase before its first season as a closed league begins on Friday. Something for the weekend Our critics’ roundup of the best things to watch, read, play and listen to right now TV The Great British Bake Off (Channel 4) | ★★★★★ The culinary competition’s newest judge, Nigella Lawson, is a soothing presence, bringing a streak of romance that perfectly complements Paul Hollywood’s ever-practical approach. Read Lucy Mangan’s full review. Music Gilla Band: Pugnello | ★★★★★ Your favourite band’s favourite band unleash a thrilling and relentless 42 minutes of monstrous noise whose precise instrumental source always remains discomfitingly unclear. Read Alexis Petridis’s full review. Film Remake (in cinemas now) | ★★★★★ Sherman’s March director Ross McElwee revisits footage of his late son for this magnificently affecting film and meditation on making art. Read Leslie Felperin’s full review. Art Amar Kanwar (Serpentine North) | ★★★★☆ Having made lyrical films for over 40 years, about everything from the end of empire to sexual brutality, the unflinching Indian artist’s new exhibition continues his focus on the parts of gruesome stories that are often missed. Read Ben Eastham’s full review. The front pages The Guardian splashes on “Two-year delay in assessments of autism due to pressures on NHS”. The FT leads with “Xi urges rivals to ‘coexist in peace’ as Trump hosts White House visit” and the Independent has “Trump and Xi clash over AI at tense state visit”. Top story at the Times is “Met chief: Stop putting offenders before victims”, the Daily Mail has “Labour’s army of migrants” and The i Paper leads on “NHS corridor care killing 550 people every week”. The Telegraph reports “Fiennes kept in care home illegally”, the Sun goes with “Fergie’s squeaky bum time for royals” and the Mirror has “I was sexually assaulted by celeb at home” – in relation to the former England striker Andy Carroll. The Latest Rogue AI hacks government system for first time A government database has been hacked for the first time by a rogue OpenAI agent, which infiltrated part of the Australian healthcare scheme in June. OpenAI became aware of the hack in August, but only informed the government in September. Australia’s prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has expressed his “extreme concern” about the hack, which raises serious AI security concerns for governments around the world. Lucy Hough speaks to the Guardian’s UK technology editor Robert Booth. Cartoon of the day | Ben Jennings The Upside A bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all bad It’s officially autumn, but you will have noticed that it’s also sometimes summer and sometimes winter. That can make it hard to figure out what to eat every day, but have no fear: for this week’s Feast newsletter, Honey and Co’s Itamar Srulovich and Sarit Packer scribbled down some ideas. From rice salads to red pepper orecchiette and roasted squash, dig in and find something comforting, no matter the weather. And for yet more inspiration, sign up here to get our free weekly food newsletter every Thursday. Sign up here for a weekly roundup of The Upside, sent to you every Sunday Bored at work? And finally, the Guardian’s puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until Monday. Quick crossword Cryptic crossword Wordiply
Nepal’s PM says flash flood was ‘warning to world’ as he scolds leaders at UN over climate change
Nepal’s prime minister scolded world leaders at the UN on Thursday, saying last month’s catastrophic deadly flood was a reminder that climate change keeps hurting people who didn’t cause the crisis. The disaster “was a warning to the world,” Balendra Shah told the general assembly. “And I ask you today: Have you really heard that warning?” International scientists have connected melting permafrost caused by changes in the climate – linked to burning coal, oil and gas – to the instability of the glacier, which partly collapsed and triggered a massive flood that killed at least 1,400 people. Shah said that Nepal contributed less than one-tenth of 1% of the heat-trapping gases behind climate change. “We did not create this crisis, yet we are paying a colossal price for it,” said Shah, 36, a former rapper and engineer, who wore a traditional Nepali hat and dark sunglasses, which he uses for medical reasons. Shah said that Nepal’s recovery and reconstruction needs were estimated at about 10% of gross domestic product following the flood that struck four weeks ago, and argued that vulnerable countries should not be forced to take on additional debt to rebuild from catastrophic climate events. “When a climate-driven disaster destroys infrastructure of a poor country, the answer cannot simply be another mega loan or a patchwork of small grants,” he said. “We need adequate grant-based support from the world.” He urged closer cooperation between Nepal, India and China on climate resilience, calling for an urgent Himalayan mechanism to share satellite data, monitor glacial lakes, strengthen early-warning systems and coordinate disaster responses across borders. Shah didn’t ask for a specific amount in international aid, but he called the financial aid system inadequate and too bureaucratic. The Nepalese leader said the flood had swept away roads, bridges, schools, homes and livelihoods, interrupting Nepal’s development progress. Weeks later, search and recovery operations were still under way, with more than 6,000 people remaining missing in the area. Shah said many of them may never be found. The World Bank earlier this week made available up to $170m in emergency financing to help Nepal respond to the disaster and begin recovery efforts. Over the past 75 years, the US has emitted about 1,500 times more carbon into the air than Nepal, according to the Global Carbon Project, a group of scientists that track greenhouse gas emissions. The US this week announced $31m in aid to Nepal for flood recovery, which brings America’s total financial help up to $36m. Shisir Khanal, Nepal’s foreign minister, said Wednesday at the UN climate summit: “What happened in Nepal is not an isolated disaster but a preview of what awaits many vulnerable nations.” Speaking to the Guardian earlier this month, Khanal said Nepal had written a joint letter to the UN’s fund for responding to loss and damage – set up in 2022 in line with the Paris climate agreement – to request $20m in climate-related damages.
Lula says Trump wants to ‘colonise’ and capture Brazil’s resources by meddling in election
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s presidential campaign has accused Donald Trump of wanting to “colonise” Brazil in order to capture its natural resources by meddling in next month’s presidential election. The accusation came in a campaign advert that was published on social media on Thursday night by Lula’s team and will air on television on Friday amid growing fears over the impact alleged US interference could have on the vote. The TV spot claims the US president is trying to sway the election in favour of Lula’s far-right adversary in the election, Flávio Bolsonaro, in order to advance Trump’s interests in the South American nation. “Flávio Bolsonaro is Trump’s candidate and what Trump wants is to colonise Brazil, take our riches, steal our future and leave us in the dust,” the female narrator tells viewers in the minute-long video. The state department has denied claims the US is meddling in Brazil’s election. “Any insinuation of a ‘ploy’ to undermine a democratic nation’s election is a baseless lie,” it said last month in a statement. Writing on X, Lula accused Bolsonaro of wanting to “hand our natural resources over to the United States”. “If it’s up to him, Brazil will become a colony again,” the incumbent leftwing president added. With just over a week to go until the 4 October first round vote, Lula and Bolsonaro are neck and neck in the polls. A second round run-off will be held on 25 October if no candidate secures more than half of the votes. In recent weeks, there has been growing alarm – both in Brazil and overseas – about Washington’s apparent attempts to influence the result, with a campaign of diplomatic and economic pressure, including 25% tariffs on Brazilian imports. Speaking at the UN general assembly in New York this week, Lula indirectly criticised the US’ perceived meddling, telling delegates: “We will not allow the enemies of democracy – internal or external – to attack the will of the people. Brazilian democracy belongs to the Brazilians.” Earlier this week, dozens of Democratic party congresspeople wrote to secretary of state, Marco Rubio, to denounce the Trump administration’s “apparent effort to interfere with, and potentially undermine” Brazil’s elections through what they called a “sustained, multifaceted campaign of interference and destabilisation in Brazil”. The narrator of Lula’s campaign ad cited a series of recent media stories relating to alleged acts of US meddling. They include reports about the alleged interference of Big Tech companies as well as a confidential document sent to electoral authorities by Brazil’s intelligence agency warning of a “critical level” of risk of US interference. The campaign video also highlighted recent claims about links between Bolsonaro’s campaign and the conservative donor network Rockbridge, which was co-founded by Trump’s vice-president JD Vance. Éden Valadares, the communications secretary for Lula’s Worker’s party (PT), said the campaign ad was part of efforts to “alert the Brazilian people” to the ideologically-driven US campaign. “We don’t believe it will work but nor will we sit back and do nothing,” Valadares said. “President Lula has instructed us … to mobilise Brazilian society … [and] to react in the streets,” added Valadares, who said a nationwide series of events were being planned for this Sunday. Fears over US meddling are not confined to the Brazilian left. This week, another of the right-wing candidates in Brazil’s election, Renan Santos, also denounced Trump’s behaviour and said he did not want Brazil to become a US vassal state. “They want to interfere in Brazil’s elections to secure satisfactory contracts involving rare earths,” Santos claimed in a social media video. Recalling the US invasion of Venezuela in January, Santos added: “I don’t want to see Latin America become an American protectorate.” In the letter sent to Rubio on Friday, the Democratic lawmakers wrote that “rather than helping defend Brazilian democracy”, the US was “acting as an agent of interference and destabilisation – using diplomatic, economic and political pressure in ways that risk weakening the country’s democratic institutions, undermining confidence in Brazil’s electoral process, and inflicting further damage on our relationship with a strategic US ally and trading partner”. They asked Rubio if Trump’s administration would commit to respecting Brazil’s electoral process and requested a response by 1 October. The state department has not yet responded to a request for comment.
Saudi Arabia intercepts wave of Houthi missiles as oil climbs to one-week high
Saudi Arabia says it intercepted six ballistic missiles fired by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis, with the latest attacks pushing oil prices to a one-week high over fears of spiralling supply disruptions. The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said the missiles were aimed at Taif in western Saudi Arabia and the Yanbu area on the Red Sea, with the Houthis claiming their attacks were aimed at “a sensitive target” in the capital Riyadh and on Saudi Aramco facilities in Tanbu. Oil prices climbed about 3%, but trade was volatile and prices came off session highs after reports the US and Iran discussed reopening the strait of Hormuz. The escalating attacks threaten Saudi Arabia’s ability to export oil through the Red Sea at a time when the strait of Hormuz is disrupted and the kingdom’s east-west pipeline is only now resuming operations after drone strikes earlier this month. The Houthis declared a naval blockade on the kingdom in July, opening a second theatre in the US-Iran war. It was not clear whether there was any damage or casualties in either Taif or Yanbu, the main alternative route for Saudi oil. The Houthis seized the whole Yemeni western coast in a lightning offensive nearly two weeks ago that brought them to the shores of the Red Sea’s strategic Bab el-Mandeb waterway. Yemen’s internationally recognised government pressed world leaders on Thursday for help defeating the militants, saying that their new perch along one of the world’s busiest waterways presents an international economic risk. While claiming that their blockade only applies to Saudi shipping and there remains no threat to commercial shipping on the Red Sea, the Houths have also warned other nations not to get involved. But the vice-president of the internationally recognised government council urged world leaders at the UN general assembly not to trust the Houthis’ assurances – and to see a bigger picture in the crisis around the strait. “The Houthi militias’ use of the safety of navigation as a tool for blackmail threatens not only Yemen. It is taking hostage the entire global economy,” said vice-president, Abdullah Abdulkader al Alimi-Bawzer. Arguing that protecting the strait “is the responsibility of every economy that depends on secure supply chains, energy security and freedom of navigation,” he urged the international community to keep weapons and technology from getting into the rebels’ hands. The Saudi-backed government’s forces had earlier repelled overnight attacks by the Houthis on a key supply route to Yemen’s third-biggest city Taiz from the southern port city of Aden where the internationally recognised administration is based, government sources said. The Houthis have kept up pressure along a steep, winding mountain pass known as Hejat al-Abd, a lifeline for government forces and the only route for goods and residents to reach Taiz and travel abroad. Seizing parts of the road could allow the Houthis to tighten their grip around the city and deal another blow to the government, which has struggled to regain the initiative since losing the western coast. Riyadh’s foreign ministry said on Friday that Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan would hold an urgent meeting of their chiefs of staff to discuss ways to support repel the Houthi attacks under their joint defence agreement. Under the defence pact, all three countries agreed that an armed attack on any one of them would be treated as an attack on all three. Officials in Pakistan are said to be deeply worried about being dragged into the never-ending war unfolding across the Middle East. With Reuters and the Associated Press
‘I’m 100% natural’: how Japan’s 90-year-old bodybuilder is still winning titles
Toshisuke Kanazawa is reminiscing about his long and illustrious career when he pauses and makes an unusual offer: “Shall I take my top off now?” He strips to the waist to reveal a smooth, bronzed upper body, pecs that most men can only dream of, and cable-like veins extending the length of his arms – the result of countless hours in the gym. There is something else that makes Kanazawa’s physique even more remarkable: last month, a day before he won yet another major competition, the champion bodybuilder celebrated his 90th birthday. Today, as he sips green tea at the gymnasium he runs in Hiroshima, Kanazawa’s eyes twinkle mischievously when he recalls his victory over seven other men in the 85+ category at the Japan Masters Bodybuilding Championships – his 19th national title and, he insists, not his last. Born in Shimane prefecture on the Japan Sea coast in 1936, Kanazawa was a gifted swimmer who excelled at the 1500m freestyle as a high school student. After a muscular issue crushed his dream of competing in the Olympics, Kanazawa set his sights on becoming a professional bodybuilder. “My mother was sceptical but supportive, but my father was dead against it – he thought young men should work, he says. “I told them I wanted to be the best in Japan but would need a few years to achieve that.” He spent the next five years living as a near-recluse, training for six hours a day and surviving on simple meals cooked by his mother. The cash he earned from an occasional job delivering electric appliances went on milk and cheese. At the age of 24, Kanazawa kept his promise to his parents, winning the Mister Japan title, a feat he repeated three years later. He would go on to win many more medals, and compete in the 1967 Mr Universe competition in Montreal alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger and the winner, Sergio Oliva. Kanazawa, who finished fourth in that event, has won six World Masters championships since turning 80. He is far from alone – other Japanese athletes and adventurers continue to defy the passage of time. At 59, Kazuyoshi Miura is the world’s oldest active professional footballer, while swimmer Shoko Yonezawa is setting world masters records at 91. The sailor Kenichi Horie announced on his 88th birthday this month that he would attempt another nonstop solo voyage across the Pacific Ocean next spring; last year, Shintaro Okuyama completed a certified marathon in a time of eight hours, 43 min and 46 sec. He was 96. Kanazawa credits clean living for his longevity and his ability to complete sets of pull-ups and leg presses. He has never smoked or drunk alcohol, and gave up meat and fish decades ago. His meals comprise mainly brown rice with a sprinkling of furikake, natto and miso soup into which he cracks a couple of raw eggs. “I used to have six protein shakes a day but now I have three. As I get older, it’s harder to stomach that much liquid.” He has had to make other concessions. He no longer performs squats or bench presses, and sticks to machines rather than free weights. “I do what’s best for me and my body at this age.” He has never been seriously ill and says his most recent health check produced data usually associated with a much younger man. “It takes longer to recover from weights sessions than it used to, so I make sure I rest properly between sets and get around seven hours’ sleep a night,” says Kanazawa, who trains for two hours a day, six days a week at his Hiroshima gym, a short walk from the peace memorial park devoted to victims of the atomic bombing. “And I’m a 100% natural,” he adds – a polite way of establishing that his success has come purely from hard work, not performance-enhancing drugs. Then he smiles. “And I haven’t lost my marbles, right?” With two Mr Japan titles to his name, Kanazawa retired in his mid-30s, only to return to competitive bodybuilding aged 50 as a way of encouraging his wife, who suffered from chronic illness. “My wife had always supported me but she was often sick,” he says. “I saw how I had let myself go since retiring, so I wanted to show her that anything was possible.” Seven years later, he finished first in the masters championships for bodybuilders. “That was when I was at my physical peak.” Japan’s status as a super-ageing society often generates negative headlines about depopulation, economic decline and the burden on younger people of ballooning health and social care costs. Almost 30% of the country’s 123.7 million people are over 64, and figures released last month showed the number of centenarians now exceeds 100,000, almost 90% of them women. “Older Japanese people are doing incredible things, but I worry that too many of them give up on the things they did when they were younger,” says Kanazawa, who this month took fourth place in the mixed pairs category at the Japan Open Championships with Asuka Miyamae, 39 years his junior. “It’s like when the muscles in your legs start to weaken and you just let it happen because you think it’s inevitable. I never wanted to be like that, which is why I do what I do. “I want to be a bodybuilder until the day I die.”
Ukraine war briefing: Finland urges Elon Musk to expand Kyiv’s Starlink coverage over Russia
Finnish President Alexander Stubb has said he pleaded with SpaceX owner Elon Musk to expand Starlink satellite internet coverage for Ukraine so it can strike Russian ballistic missile launchers located inside Russian territory. Ukraine has an acute shortage of air defences to repel Russian ballistic missiles and Kyiv believes that turning on Starlink over Russian territory would help it target the launchers that fire the missiles. Musk switched on the Starlink satellite internet service over Ukraine shortly after Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. It has become the lifeblood of Ukraine’s battlefield communications and a tool for piloting drones, but it does not work over Russian territory. Volodymyr Zelenskyy has met with senior Wall Street executives on the sidelines of the UN general assembly in New York, as Kyiv seeks to attract investments to help finance the country’s rebuilding efforts. The meeting focused mainly on areas such as helping Ukraine get through the winter and supporting its economy, the Ukrainian government said. Ukraine faces a brutal winter as stepped-up Russian strikes on its infrastructure and key export industries deepen the country’s budget crisis. The daily cost of the war grew to about $190m this year. The meeting, attended by more than two dozen US companies, was facilitated by US banking giant Citigroup and the US chamber of commerce. Russia could launch a limited military attack against a Nato country in the coming months, Danish intelligence said, in one of the starkest warnings yet by western security services. In a report published on Thursday, the Danish defence intelligence service warned of a “low but growing risk” that Russia could launch long-range strikes on Nato infrastructure supporting Ukraine, or carry out a limited incursion into a neighbouring country with a small number of troops, potentially operating without insignia. The report came hours after a fire at a Starlink satellite station in central Poland that local authorities described as an “act of sabotage”. Nato is capable of handling sabotage and drone incidents in Europe and has good action plans in place to deal with them, the alliance’s secretary general said after the warning from Danish intelligence. Secretary-general Mark Rutte said he believes the rising number of hybrid incidents in Nato countries shows that Russian President Vladimir Putin is losing the war in Ukraine. He said that citizens of the 32 Nato countries can remain calm. “Putin is in a bad place,” Rutte said. “He is not winning the war in Ukraine.” Russian drone and missile strikes on Kyiv and Ukraine’s north-east killed eight people on Thursday in attacks that included a maternity hospital and a farm, officials said. Two people died in the assault on Kyiv, Zelenskyy said. “As people were sleeping, flashes from explosions lit up the sky,” the president said on Telegram. Police said nine homes, a post office, warehouses and dozens of cars were also damaged in Kyiv. A separate Russian attack on a vegetable storage facility at a farm in a village of the north-eastern Kharkiv region killed six people and injured a further 12, prosecutors said. Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey had stepped up efforts to re-establish the Black Sea grain corridor. “We have now increased our efforts to re-establish the grain corridor. We are also accelerating our diplomatic steps for this,” Erdogan told a group of Turkish journalists in New York. Erdogan said he had discussed the issue again with Zelenskyy and received a positive response.
Iran awaiting response from Trump on proposal to open strait of Hormuz in six days
Iran said it has told Donald Trump it is willing to open the strait of Hormuz in six days, and to start talks on its nuclear program the day after, so long as the US lifts sanctions on Iran’s oil exports in return, ends the war on all fronts – including in Lebanon – and releases some of Iran’s frozen assets. The proposal is designed to accelerate the steps first laid down in the memorandum of understanding signed by the US and Iran in June, particularly by helping the talks on Iran’s nuclear program start much more quickly than previously agreed. Iran says a deal on the temporary route through the strait of Hormuz has been agreed with Oman, describing it as a done deal, and is ready to register the details with the International Maritime Organisation. Abbas Araghchi, the Iranian foreign minister, said he was waiting to hear a response from the Americans to the proposal. He added that he had consulted on the plan with China, which fully supported the proposal. Saudi Arabia had been expected to endorse the Oman-Iran route through the strait last week, but pulled back partly due to anger that Iranian-backed Houthis had started attacking Saudi Arabia as part of their dispute over the future of Yemen. Iran claims it has urged the Houthis to cease the attacks on Saudi Arabia but that it does not have control over Houthi decision-making. Araghchi, speaking to reporters in New York, said: “We have introduced a plan to the US through the mediators that if certain conditions are met, the strait will be open within seven days and talks will start.” He said the Iranian preconditions were not new, and were contained in the Islamabad memorandum of understanding that was signed by Trump. The advantage of the proposal, apart from opening the strait and lifting the chokehold on the world economy, would be bringing the US to the talks on Iran’s nuclear program much more quickly. Talks on the nuclear program under the MoU would not have started for 60 days. Araghchi said he was staying in New York over the weekend to await an American response, but added he was not in a hurry. Privately, Iranian officials believe they could reach a deal with the Americans, and the Saudi hurdle over aspects of the route could be overcome, but fear Israel will use its influence to pull the US president away from the proposal. Araghchi added he would like the deal to go through before the midterm elections, by which he meant that the strait of Hormuz could be opened and energy prices thereby reduced, something Trump badly needs for the Republican party to survive a political mauling. For the US, there are difficulties in the plan related to forcing Israel to end the war in Lebanon. Israel may object to giving Iran such clear control over the route through which ships would travel through the strait of Hormuz. Iran also wants to retain control of shipping to prevent some US military shipping going through the strait. Issues such as whether tolls or navigational fees could be imposed by the littoral states Oman and Iran would be settled later in the process. Earlier in the day, the UK foreign secretary, Ed Miliband, met Araghchi, his Iranian counterpart, for the first time in New York. It was also the first meeting between UK and Iranian ministers for a year, and the first exchange since the UK in July proscribed the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organisation, a move that has worsened the already sour relations between the two countries. Miliband made clear that the UK was committed to freedom of navigation in the strait and wanted a diplomatic solution, also stressing support for Saudi Arabia, a UK ally in Yemen. He warned Iran about its behaviour in the UK, including threats to Jewish communities, and called for the UK to be given consular access to the British couple sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment in Tehran. Araghchi and the US’s special envoy Steve Witkoff also met earlier this week on the sidelines of the general assembly to discuss Iran’s terms for reopening the strait and the speed at which that may happen, as well as the time the US had been given to respond. A faction inside Iran is arguing that Tehran should seek to escalate the conflict with a vulnerable US president, rather than let the crisis drift in its current deadlock. Brent crude was trading at about $107 (£81) a barrel on Thursday. Some IRGC officers have also linked the strait of Hormuz issue to the closure of the Bab al-Mandab strait, the narrow waterway close to the south-west of Yemen now under control of Iranian-backed Houthis. Maj Gen Rahim Safavi, a senior Iranian military figure, said: “If the Americans start a new war, a new front centred on the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab strait may open before their eyes. Are they ready to enter the battle on this front? This is a question that they should pay more attention to.” Domestically, Pezeshkian’s defiant message to the UN general assembly on Wednesday was deemed a success overall in that it balanced a refusal to bend the knee to “the US bully” with a willingness to seek diplomatic talks. He also proposed a new security architecture for the future in partnership with Gulf states, including those it has been bombarding in an effort to dislodge the US from its military bases. Maj Gen Ahmad Vahidi, commander-in-chief of the IRGC, praised Pezeshkian’s speech, saying: “We are not afraid of war. It is the loud and firm call of the Iranian nation – a call that resonated from the United Nations podium, through the words of the esteemed president, and reached the ears of the world.”