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Japan’s defence minister heads to Australia to meet Marles in wake of melon-gate controversy

Japan’s defence minister will visit Canberra this week, the highest level engagement with Australia after controversy over Anthony Albanese’s comments about a gift of melons from prime minister Sanae Takaichi. The defence minister, Shinjiro Koizumi, will meet his counterpart and deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, on Tuesday, with discussions focused on Australia’s acquisition of Japan’s Mogami-class frigates and enhanced security cooperation. Koizumi is considered a potential future prime minister of Japan. His father, Junichiro Koizumi, was prime minister from 2001 to 2006. Koizumi’s visit comes after a week in which Albanese defended himself over comments made on the Bush Deep podcast, released last month. He was discussing a pair of Japanese melons presented by Takaichi during a visit to Canberra earlier this year, and, while appearing to make hand gestures in front of his chest, said “she brought two, as you do”. Host Nikki Osborne joked: “She came in looking like Pamela Anderson.” Facing days of criticism from the opposition and in the media, Albanese has insisted his hand gestures and a comment about melons were misinterpreted and were not innuendo about breasts. The opposition criticised Albanese for putting at risk close relations with one of Australia’s most important partners in Asia. Public comments from Japan’s ambassador to Australia on Wednesday suggested Takaichi’s government wanted to avoid a diplomatic incident over the comments, which were initially not controversial but soon sparked strong criticism, including by a former envoy to Australia. Japan’s government refrained from public comments on the issue until Wednesday, when its current ambassador to Australia Kazuhiro Suzuki released a statement not raising any further issue with Albanese’s conduct. Suzuki noted Takaichi had visited Australia in May – shortly before the interview in question – and had been hosted for dinner by Albanese “in a very relaxed atmosphere, and we believe it helped build a personal trust relationship between the two leaders”. Albanese had earlier apologised for comments about Australian signer Kylie Minogue made in the same appearance. A Japanese diplomatic cable sent in July, and leaked during the controversy, blamed “sensationalised reporting in the Australian media” and said Tokyo believed there was no “ill intention” in Albanese’s actions. The visit comes as part of a five-day trip which will include a stop in India. “Our relationship with Japan continues to go from strength to strength, and I look forward to welcoming my good friend, minister Koizumi back to Australia this week,” Marles told Guardian Australia. “Together we will progress efforts to enhance defence cooperation and support our shared commitment to regional security, building on the joint statement announced by our prime ministers in May. “This includes in the areas of co-developing and co-producing defence capabilities, advanced weapons testing, enhanced training and exercises, and increased information and intelligence cooperation.” Takaichi has faced mounting political challenges, including on policies to help with the cost of living, and has seen sliding support in opinion polls in recent months. Koizumi was criticised by China at the weekend for visiting the Yasukuni Shrine, dedicated to Japan’s war dead. Visits to the shrine by senior politicians are regularly criticised by Japan’s neighbours including China and South Korea, who suggest they are symbolic of a lack of remorse for Japan’s actions during the second world war. In August last year, Labor agreed to buy Japan’s Mogami‑class frigates for the Royal Australian Navy. Australia will spend $10bn over a decade to buy three of the frigates, with the first expected to be delivered in December 2029.

Ukraine war briefing: Kyiv faces missile barrage after Zelenskyy targets Russian satellite network

Russian forces launched a missile ⁠attack on Kyiv early on Sunday, sparking fires in ⁠at least ⁠two districts of the Ukrainian capital, the city’s mayor said. Kyiv’s ⁠military administration said one person had been injured. Witnesses reported explosions in the city amid air alerts that sounded after 2am. Mayor Vitali Klitschko, writing on ⁠Telegram, said falling debris had ‌caused a ‌fire in a non-residential part of ‌a northern suburb. Several cars were on fire, and another fire had broken out in an area just south of the city ‌centre, he said. Unofficial Telegram channels posted photos of what were described as market stalls ablaze. Russia ‌has in recent weeks been staging intensive air attacks on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities. Ukraine says long-range strikes hit a Russian military airfield and a rocket centre ⁠that supports ⁠Russia’s nascent Starlink-style satellite internet network. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday said Flamingo cruise missiles struck the rocket facility, about 900km from Ukraine’s border, as part of Kyiv’s campaign to pressure Moscow to end ⁠the war by targeting sites deep inside Russia.“It is important that Russia’s war potential be reduced. Peace is needed, and this must be evident in Russia – through concrete damage ⁠to specific facilities,” Zelenskyy wrote on X. He said the airfield hosted aircraft used to attack Ukraine. Ukraine’s armed forces said direct hits were ‌recorded at the airfield in Russia’s ‌Nizhny Novgorod region and the Progress rocket centre in Samara region, sparking fires ‌at both sites. The Samara plant produces rockets used to launch satellites for the Rassvet broadband network, which Russia is developing as an alternative to SpaceX’s Starlink. Starlink operates in Ukraine but not in Russia, giving Kyiv an advantage in drone operations and battlefield communications. In Samara region, local officials said air defences had repelled a “massive missile attack”. “Samara’s industrial infrastructure ‌sustained localised damage,” Ivan Noskov, head of the regional capital, said in an online post. Emergency services were working at the scene, he said. Russia has ⁠asked Washington and ⁠Ankara ⁠to explain reports of possible plans ⁠to transfer to Kyiv a “substantial ⁠arsenal” of ‌US weapons ‌and ammunition ‌held by Turkey, a spokesperson for Russia’s foreign ministry said ‌on Saturday. Such a transfer would cause “serious harm … to our bilateral relations ⁠with Washington and Ankara,” the spokesperson said in a ‌statement. A Russian strike on an apartment block in south-eastern Ukraine on Saturday killed a three-month-old baby and wounded 11 people, local officials said. Drones hit the building in the town of Marhanets, said Oleksandr Hanzha, head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional military administration. Russia’s defence ministry on Saturday said in the ‌past 24 hours its drones and missiles had struck Ukrainian logistics centres and energy and transport infrastructure used by the Ukrainian army, as well as assembly workshops for long-range drones and drone boats. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has told Russian president Vladimir Putin in a letter that he was “proud” of their countries’ strong ties, state media reported. North Korea has become a key ally of the Kremlin, sending troops to support Moscow’s war effort in return for economic benefits and military technology, analysts say. Kim added that he had a “firm belief” that Russia would thrive and defend its “territorial integrity” under Putin’s “wise leadership”. In a letter to Kim delivered on Friday to mark Korea’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule at the end of the second world war, Putin said relations between the two countries had reached the “unprecedentedly high level of comprehensive strategic partnership”. “Our states are actively cooperating in all the sectors while making concerted efforts to ensure the regional security and stability,” the Russian leader said. The exchange of letters follows Ukraine’s accusation this month that Moscow had launched North Korean ballistic missiles in a strike that killed at least nine people and wounded dozens. Kyiv has also recently said that up to 50,000 North Korean troops are due to deploy to Russia, although it has provided no evidence to back the claim or a timeframe for the deployment.

Zimbabwe boat accident death toll hits 68 as 22 more bodies recovered

Twenty-two more bodies have been recovered after a boat accident in Zimbabwe, taking the death toll to 68, police said on Saturday. The ferry capsized on Tuesday on Lake Kariba, on the border with Zambia. An investigation has suggested it was overloaded when it turned over during heavy winds. Eighteen children were among the people killed, Zimbabwe’s police said, in what is believed to be the country’s deadliest such disaster. Most of the passengers are believed to be villagers and fish traders who lived around the lake. Officials said the vessel was authorised to carry 90 people but was packed with 114 adults, five crew members and an unspecified number of children. Lt Col Joseph Muchechesi, commander of the boat regiment involved in the search operation, said: “So far today we have managed to take 22 bodies. We are confident that we will manage to retrieve all the bodies.” The civil protection unit said on Wednesday that 77 people had been rescued. Hundreds of people gathered at the district hospital in the lakeside town of Kariba to identify the bodies of their relatives and loved ones. A public memorial service was held in Kariba, nearly 280km (175 miles) north-west of the capital Harare, on Thursday before the burials started. Survivors said they pleaded with the ferry driver to turn back as the vessel had begun taking on water soon after departing. Chance Siyamavhu, 45, told Agence France-Presse: “Thank God that a wave pushed the sinking vessel and we managed to climb on top. “When the boat capsized, most of the people scrambled to get the lifejackets but most of them did not even know how to use them. “Most people could not make it.” Lake Kariba is the world’s largest manmade lake by volume. It stretches more than 200km (124 miles) and is up to 40km (25 miles) wide in places. It was created in the 1950s during British colonial rule, when the Zambezi River was dammed, displacing about 57,000 people. In 2014, 26 people, 24 of them children, drowned in Zambia’s part of the lake, when the boat meant to transport them to independence day celebrations capsized. On the Zimbabwean side, five passengers drowned in a 2021 incident.

Body found in Romania believed to be missing British hiker George Smyth

A body has been found in the search for an 18-year-old British man who went missing last year while hiking in Romania, UK police said. George Smyth, a geology student at the University of Bristol, went missing in November. On Saturday, Avon and Somerset police said a body found in the region of the country is believed to be that of Smyth. His family have been informed and are being supported by a family liaison officer, the force added. Smyth’s family said: “We are all devastated by George’s death. “He was the best of us and is deeply missed by his younger brothers, family and friends. “We want to thank Salvamont mountain rescue, who have worked tirelessly since November searching for George, despite very difficult and often dangerous conditions. “They are an amazing team, and have remained in constant communication, helping us greatly throughout this awful time.” Efforts will be made to return Smyth’s body to the UK once formal identification has taken place. The family’s statement added: “We would also like to thank Avon and Somerset police and University of Bristol, who have gone above and beyond to try and find George, and to support us as a family. “Although this latest news is incredibly painful, the torture of waiting is finally over, so we can now focus on bringing George home and saying goodbye. “We would appreciate privacy while we continue to come to terms with this loss.” On Wednesday, mountain rescue teams said they had resumed their search in “previously indicated areas, under rock walls, in grates and in the hard-to-reach sectors” but without success. The student, from Newport in Shropshire, is believed to have left Poiana Brașov heading to Bran. He reached Țigănești, where he made an emergency call for help. At the time, rescuers said he was in a “very isolated and hard to access mountain area” and the weather conditions were extremely severe with strong winds, heavy snowfall and dense fog. The search and rescue operation also involved a canine unit, drones and helicopters being deployed. Sebastian Marinescu, from the area’s mountain rescue service, previously told the BBC the 18-year-old “was disoriented, physically exhausted, and already showing signs of hypothermia” when they received the emergency call.

Alarmed by the alarm: people react to ‘severe alert’ on phones over UK wildfires

On Friday at 7pm, Thérèse Coffey was nine miles away from a nuclear power station when her phone made a loud, piercing and very worrying sound: it was a “severe” emergency alert. “Was expecting [a] much more specific alert, not a generic message on wildfires,” the former Conservative cabinet minister said on X. She wasn’t alone in being alarmed by the alarm sent to phones in England and Wales. In the aftermath, thousands of social media users expressed their shock at the alert. Some shared funny memes and others lamented what they viewed as lack of government action on decarbonisation. Academic John Ritzema called it a “massive overreach” and said the alert system should be “for ‘drop everything and prepare for something terrible’ situations”, something Coffey echoed, saying alerts should not become commonplace to avoid “Peter cries wolf situations”. Even broadcasters were taken by surprise. The alert sounded live on the BBC’s The One Show, with the host Ronan Kemp saying: “We’ve got some form of fire alarm going on.” Chris Packham used the alert to plug a parliamentary petition calling for a UK-wide briefing on climate and nature risks. The alert on Friday night came on a day Andy Burnham spent time in Stourbridge in the West Midlands where homes were destroyed and residents left injured by a series of fires. The prime minister warned that Britain “is a tinderbox right now”, with the public set for a “difficult weekend”. It has been a record year of wildfires in England and Wales: the number so far has passed the 1,017 recorded in 2025. Fire services declared 11 major incidents in a 24-hour period starting on Thursday. People have been urged not to light barbecues, campfires, fireworks or anything else that could spark a blaze while the wildfire risk remains high. They have also been urged to call 999 immediately if they spot a fire. The wildfires have also prompted calls within the Labour party to accelerate action against the climate crisis. Sadiq Khan warned Burnham not to “slow down on net zero” and said the heatwave and wildfires showed the need for action on climate change. The London mayor described the planet as being in a “deeply precarious position”. “We need reassurance from the government that they won’t slow down on net zero or reducing our reliance on oil and gas and that they’ll continue accelerating the green investment we need to get our country and planet back on track,” he said. Burnham announced a temporary national ban on the sale of disposable barbecues, to be enforced immediately. The ban will remain in place as long as the risk of wildfires remains high. The military was called in to assist stretched emergency services in south Wales. About 100 personnel were deployed, with about 100 more due to arrive to distribute water and provide logistical support. Burnham also announced £65m of extra ⁠funding for ⁠farmers hit by a drought. He said on X: “Today we’re putting £65m more into ⁠supporting farmers through this drought and preparing for the ‌summers ahead. They’re ‌on the frontline of a ‌changing climate and they shouldn’t be left to face it alone.” “The ability to grow our own food is ‌national security. I’ll treat it that way,” he said. Britain’s cereal harvest is on track to be the ‌worst since comparable records began in 1984, according to an analysis published earlier this month.

Hundreds arrested on suspicion of arson in France as wildfires rage across Europe

Almost 500 people have been arrested on suspicion of starting wildfires in France since the start of the summer, authorities have said, as firefighters in half a dozen European countries tackle ferocious blazes amid a record-breaking heatwave. A fire engulfed ⁠homes in a Croatian holiday resort on Friday, killing one person, injuring 40 and forcing 1,200 to evacuate, officials said, as the EU warned that pockets of “very extreme” wildfire conditions stretched across the continent. Hundreds more people were evacuated from villages in western Germany and south-west France, while stranded holidaymakers were picked up from beaches threatened by flames in Greece, and the army rescued historic relics in Spain. Residents in Belgium’s Liège province were also asked to evacuate their homes on Saturday afternoon, as the biggest fire on the country’s record burned through the High Fens, Belgium’s largest nature reserve. With three in five Europeans facing temperatures of at least 30C on Friday and about 150 million enduring 35C or more, France’s interior ministry said 474 people, including 183 minors, had been detained over wildfires in the country since 1 July. About 70% of those arrested were suspected of deliberately starting fires and the rest of doing so accidentally. French media said a 15-year-old boy had been detained in connection with a fire near Bordeaux airport that killed two firefighters in July. French authorities on Friday evacuated more than 525 people from the village of Luglon in the south-west region of Landes after a new wildfire tore through almost 1,100 hectares (2,700 acres) of tinder-dry pine forest in less than 24 hours. “The situation is unfavourable and the fire remains raging,” Gilles Clavreul, a regional official, told reporters, adding that 500 firefighters were tackling ‌the flames and six water-dumping aircraft ‌had been sent to assist. Roads to the village were closed. Luglon is about 62 miles (100km) south-east of the popular holiday destinations of Arcachon Bay and the Lège-Cap-Ferret peninsula where two huge wildfires destroyed more than 50,000 hectares in late July, forcing the evacuation of as many as 220,000 people. Scientists say climate breakdown is causing more frequent and more extreme weather events, evaporating soils and waterways, fuelling wildfires and leading to thousands of excess deaths in France. Europe is heating at about twice the global average rate. The EU’s Copernicus climate change service warned in its weekly outlook of “very extreme” conditions across a large area of central and eastern Europe, with other pockets over southern Britain, Ireland, northern France and southern Sweden. The average high across western Europe on ‌Friday was forecast to be 31.2C, which is 8C above what was typical from 1961 to 1990, data from the Reuters Climate Monitor showed. The temperature for Europe as a whole was 1.6C above the 1961-1990 norm. In western Germany, more than 2,000 people fled their homes early on Friday morning to take shelter in a nearby primary school after a ⁠wildfire in the nearby Hürtgen forest spread to within a few hundred metres of the village of Gey. “This forest fire threatens to hit the local ‌community hard,” Mona Neubaur, the deputy premier of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, posted on social media. Unexploded second world war ordnance was also hampering firefighting efforts. The news agency dpa reported explosions could be heard as munitions detonated in the flames, forcing firefighters to stay out of the area, not far from the Belgian border, for safety. German army tanks and helicopters were providing support. In Croatia, a wildfire driven by strong winds descended on the tourist town of Lokva Rogoznica on the Dalmatian coast overnight. Police said they had located the body of one person while searching burned areas on Friday afternoon. Emergency shelters opened in several nearby towns. Of 36 people treated by ambulance services in the city of Split, about 15.5 miles to the north, 14 were admitted to hospital and seven had life-threatening injuries, local health officials said. “It was a strong fire, it swept everything on ‌its way … there has been huge material damage,” Slavko Tucaković, the regional chief fire commander, said on Friday, adding that the blaze appeared to have calmed by Friday morning. The country’s prime minister, Andrej ‌Plenković, said on a visit to nearby Omiš, where the evacuees were sheltering in a sports hall, that the blaze was “one of the worst fires in recent years” but “most importantly” there were no confirmed fatalities so far. In north-east Spain, an army unit removed the remains of three 11th-century Aragonese kings from the San Juan de la Peña monastery after it was threatened by a wildfire and took them to a museum in nearby Huesca. The fire, which began on Monday, intensified on ⁠Thursday, authorities said, driven by higher temperatures and strong winds that have enabled it to burn through more than 9,000 hectares, forcing the evacuation of 16 towns and villages. A much larger wildfire in southern Spain also worsened on Thursday. It has so far burned 31,000 hectares in the province of Huelva and forced the evacuation of about 700 people. In northern Greece, a fleet of small boats evacuated about 500 holidaymakers from beaches on Thursday as a forest fire threatened Siviri and Fourka, two popular resorts on the Halkidiki peninsula, south of the city of Thessaloniki. The 2-mile-long fire front, with flames up to 30 metres (98ft) high, was brought under control later in the day, the regional civil protection chief said, though crews remained on alert for flare-ups. Two injured firefighters were taken to hospital, the fire service added. A maximum level-five alert for fires was issued for much of the Greek mainland and officials in Halkidiki have banned access to the region’s dense pine forests. Winds of up to 62mph were forecast for Friday. In the UK, wildfires raced across the West Midlands, burning several houses to the ground in “one of the most significant” incidents the region’s fire service has ever had to deal with, the regional fire chief, Simon Tuhill, said. Reuters and Agence-France Press contributed to this report

Safety check calls after Irish teenager electrocuted taking shower in Greece

The death of an Irish teenager, electrocuted while taking a shower in a holiday home in Greece, has led to calls for tighter checks on appliances at tourist accommodation. Alex McKee, 17, is said to have died instantly when picking up the showerhead in a bathroom described as “outdoor and rudimentary” on Kimolos. “We are lucky there weren’t two deaths as a result of electrocution,” Agapitos Xanthis, a doctor on the island told Greek TV, recounting how the boy’s mother had described feeling a similar surge when she called him for help. “I told her to immediately turn off the mains.” McKee, from Cork, had been on the island barely three days when the tragedy occurred on 9 August. As the birthplace of his mother, Iphigenia, he and his family visited regularly, staying in the same stone house built more than 50 years ago. Greek police told the Guardian an inquiry was now focused on the building’s water heater and a possible fault in the wiring. “The house has been cordoned off and we have requested an independent expert to come and inspect the wiring,” said an officer based in Syros with oversight of the Aegean. “It is thought the fusebox may not have had a safety valve.” The teenager’s body was transported to the mainland where a postmortem conducted at a hospital in Piraeus had attributed the cause of death to electrocution. McKee, a fifth-year student in Cork, had won plaudits in Ireland for developing an innovative communication system, with two of his classmates, for people with nonverbal autism. Colm Burke, the Irish Fine Gael politician for Cork North-Central paid tribute to the teenager saying: “It is extremely sad to hear that someone so young has died so tragically. He was a really talented young person with his whole life and huge career ahead of him. Earlier this year, he put a huge effort into getting to that stage in the Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition and was awarded for his efforts.” In a nation so dependent on tourism – and with visitor numbers expected to, once again, soar this year – the incident has also shone a light on electrical standards in accommodation rented out seasonally on the Greek islands. The mayor of Kimolos, Konstantinos Vendouris, expressed profound shock over the tragedy saying it had plunged the less than 1,000-strong island into mourning. It later emerged, however, that as a professional electrician he had signed off on the property’s electrical installation certificate in 2024 – a document that police said was also being investigated. The family signalled it would be pressing charges. “The current mayor faces huge criminal responsibility,” their lawyer Stelios Voudouris told Open TV.