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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 suffering from 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, Kostas 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. They family signalled it would be pressing charges. “The current mayor faces huge criminal responsibility,” their lawyer Stelios Voudouris told Open TV.

First Australian death of little penguin with H5 bird flu confirmed on Phillip Island

Australia’s first case of the deadly H5 bird flu in a little penguin has been confirmed on Victoria’s Phillip Island, only days after the state government announced it would begin vaccinating the species. Confirmation of the virus in the little penguin will spark a race to vaccinate thousands of birds, with the government announcing on Saturday it would begin the rollout on Monday. The government did not provide the exact location where the bird was found, but said it was not inside the island’s famous penguin parade area. A spokesperson confirmed the little penguin had died. There are about 40,000 little penguins on Phillip Island, making it the world’s biggest colony of the species and a major tourist attraction. Environment advocates have been concerned about the potential for mass deaths of little penguins if the virus reached the island. Euan Ritchie, a professor in wildlife ecology and conservation at Deakin university, said the detection of H5 bird flu in the much-loved little penguin population was “devastating”. “Phillip Island is home to a diverse array and significant populations of native wildlife, including Australian fur seals, eastern barred bandicoots, and recently reintroduced bush stone curlews,” he said. “Governments must provide whatever resources are needed to help wildlife survive through and recover from this bird flu outbreak.” Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email On Wednesday, the Victorian government announced plans for the world’s largest H5 bird flu vaccination program of wild birds. The government said it would vaccinate up to 5,000 little penguins across populations at Phillip Island and at Melbourne’s St Kilda beach. While vaccinating wild birds is challenging, it was considered possible in Victoria’s wild little penguins because they generally return to the same burrows at Phillip Island and St Kilda each night. But vaccination requires the delivery of two doses with a gap of a few weeks between each dose. The detection on Phillip Island will spark concern that it may be too late for some little penguins to develop immunity. Victoria’s chief biodiversity officer, James Todd, said he understood Victorians would be worried about the detection of the deadly virus in a little penguin. “We know that the detection in a little penguin on Phillip Island is of concern,” he said. “But we are proceeding with vaccination of the little penguin colony on Phillip Island and at St Kilda as a meaningful way in which it can help mitigate the impact of H5 on those populations. “We know that little penguins are iconic and highly valued by Victorians, and for that reason, we are working as a priority to protect those colonies.” The state’s chief veterinary officer, Dr Graeme Cooke, said Agriculture Victoria and Phillip Island Nature Parks “activated plans” to vaccinate little penguins as soon as the federal government authorised the vaccines for priority native bird species. “Agriculture Victoria is working closely with Phillip Island Nature Parks to support vaccination of little penguins from Monday,” he said. “While the first detection in a little penguin is a concern, vaccination of little penguins on Phillip Island remains a meaningful way to help protect this important colony.” The Victorian government said there had been two further detections of H5 in greater crested terns, one at Lakes Entrance and the other at Dromana on the Mornington peninsula. Todd said the Lakes Entrance detection was significant because it showed the virus was continuing to move through wild bird populations across Victoria. On Saturday, the NSW government also confirmed the fifth detected case in the state, in a tern found at Eden on the far south coast. The government said it would increase surveillance in the area as a result. There have been two other confirmed cases in local birds in the state, one at Narooma on the state’s south coast and one at Wentworth in the far south-west. All of the confirmed cases in local birds have been in greater crested terns.

Concerns grow over increased global ties with Taliban in Afghanistan

The Taliban in Afghanistan have launched a diplomatic effort to end their isolation as major regional and international powers show a readiness to engage more closely with the repressive regime despite its systematic human rights abuses. Five years after the Taliban took power, an increasing number of countries are renewing ties or scaling up diplomatic contacts with the hardline Islamists, who seized power in Kabul in 2021 after 20 years of brutal insurgent warfare. Campaigners fear that the individual contacts by different countries risk undermining “coherent, consistent” demands for an improvement in human rights in return for any diplomatic concessions. The United Nations described a recent “cascade of [Taliban] edicts and laws” that have banned women from universities and most employment, denied teenage girls education and imposed strict dress codes. Minorities have been persecuted, while activists and journalists face repression. Afghanistan has become a “graveyard for human rights,” the UN said in March. India, Qatar, China, Iran and several central Asian states all recently welcomed Taliban officials or opened new channels of communication. Russia, which recognised the Taliban government in Kabul just over a year ago, signed a military cooperation agreement last month. In June, the European Union held talks with Taliban officials in Brussels about returning failed asylum-seekers to Afghanistan. Individual European countries have also deepened their own contacts with Kabul. “There is no doubt there has been an evolution. The Islamic emirate is now in a confident position. They have realised they are indispensable for regional countries right now and even with Europe and the US they have identified how to engage,” said Shivam Shekhawat, at the Observer Research Foundation in Delhi. “The Taliban see any kind of contact as a diplomatic win and they have been able to capitalise on that as a sign granting legitimacy to the regime.” A strict policy of isolation imposed after the Taliban seized power in 2021 towards informal or “de facto” recognition is now fragmenting. Some western commentators have suggested more countries recognise the regime. Others want intensified “back channel” engagement. “We are not against any engagement … There is a need for engagement even if just for aid agencies to mitigate the ongoing humanitarian crisis but we are worried about the end goal of these contacts and the discussions that are taking place,” said Fereshta Abbasi, Afghanistan researcher at Human Rights Watch. “There should be a consistent and coherent message from the international community to the Taliban that they will not have any friends if they do not show real progress in terms of the women’s rights and human rights situation … and that is not happening.” The new contacts stem from a combination of regional security concerns, pressure in the west to reduce illegal immigration and a general recognition that the Taliban are unlikely to be forced from power in the foreseeable future. The European Commission downplayed its discussions in Brussels with a Taliban delegation, the first such formal encounter since 2021, as merely “technical” and focused on returns, but a Taliban spokesperson claimed it was a historic visit that was a step towards regularising consular relations with EU countries. The meeting prompted outrage. “You cannot condemn Taliban abuses in one breath and then announce talks on immigration in the next … The Taliban are telling their constituency back home that they are now accepted by the international community,” said Abbasi. This year officials from Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan have all visited Kabul or other Afghan cities, seeking trade routes and pipeline deals that would allow their landlocked countries access to seaports or third countries beyond. India too has moved to reinforce relationships that were frosty after the fall of Kabul to the Taliban in 2021, in part to exploit new tensions between the movement and the Islamist movement’s historic sponsors, Pakistan. New Delhi secured a sanctions waiver last year so that Amir Khan Muttaqi, the Taliban foreign minister and a veteran official who has spent decades at the heart of the movement, could travel there. In June, India’s UN envoy suggested a rethink was necessary on sanctions, such as travel bans, asset freezes and arms embargoes, that target dozens of Taliban members. “The political reality of Afghanistan has changed in the last five years, and the current UN sanctions regime must take that into account,” said Harish Parvathaneni. Afghan authorities’ diplomatic strategy has involved hosting envoys in Kabul, including those from China, Japan, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. Last year, Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, made the first visit by an Iranian foreign minister to Kabul for almost a decade. The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan “seeks relations with all countries”, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said, though “the countries of the region and our neighbouring states have particular importance, because our economic ties and interests are closely linked”. Anna Borshchevskaya, a senior fellow at The Washington Institute focusing on Russia’s policy towards the Middle East, said Moscow had multiple reasons for recognising the Taliban regime and seeking closer relations. “One likely objective is simply having allies … Afghanistan is also very significant for Russia geographically and Russia just wants influence in that part of the world. There was an opening and they were able to take it,” Borshchevskaya said. “It’s a very cold, cynical calculation. It’s part of a very simple zero-sum view that for Russia to win the US has to lose. From the Kremlin perspective, this is a global battle and whether you are looking at Europe or Afghanistan or wherever, it’s one geopolitical chessboard.” Britain has said it pursues a policy of “limited and pragmatic” engagement with Taliban officials, largely through the UK Mission to Afghanistan based at the British embassy in Qatar. Discreet meetings with the Taliban have also repeatedly been held by other western countries in Qatar. In Germany and at least four other western European capitals, key consulates are now controlled by the Taliban, not representatives of the former Afghan government. Taliban officials have also sought cross-border infrastructure projects to boost the country’s fragile economy and diplomacy. Natural resources are another lure for overseas powers. Kabul has expanded the mining sector, attracting firms from neighbouring China and elsewhere. China, which is worried about Islamic militancy on and around its south-western borders, has welcomed Taliban officials in recent years, and hosted talks when Afghanistan and Pakistan went to war earlier this year. The Taliban are split, with deep disagreements on the ban on women’s education among other issues, but remain dominated by the most conservative factions. Recent laws have further reinforced repression, designating many religious minorities, including Shia Muslims, as heretics and imposing strict punishments to silence dissent. Other new laws recognise only “excessive” beating as domestic violence against women and facilitate the marriage of girls without their consent. Analysts do not believe the Taliban are likely to moderate their position in the near future and point to the continuing authority of Hibatullah Akhundzada, the reclusive and authoritarian cleric leader. Ramin Mansoori, a researcher at the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Endowment who studies Afghan politics, said the Taliban’s priority was its domestic agenda. “They are not going to make any significant concessions. Most of them don’t have an international perspective,” Mansoori said.

‘In the heatwaves, it’s crucial’: the fight to save France’s rural swimming pools

Suzy Bernard took a breath and jumped into the deep end of her village swimming pool with a splash. “There’s a wonderful feeling of wellbeing in the water,” said the former hospital healthcare assistant, who recently learned to swim aged 75 and was now gliding along with her daughter and grandson. The municipal swimming pool, bordered by shady oak trees in the village of Châteauneuf-sur-Sarthe, in western France, has been the Bernard family’s daily refuge from the sweltering heatwaves this summer. Bernard is a member of the village collective, Touche Pas à Ma Piscine (Hands Off My Pool), campaigning to defend the Châteauneuf-sur-Sarthe facility and calling for more government support for rural swimming pools. “We’ll fight to make sure this pool survives and stays open,” she said. As a summer of record temperatures parched much of the French countryside, local village swimming pools, with cheap entry tickets, have often been the only shelter from the heatwaves for rural families on low incomes who cannot afford to go on holiday or who live in heat-trap homes. The pools are also crucial for teaching rural communities to swim. A total of 274 people died from drowning in France between 1 May and 15 July this year, with most deaths occurring when people jumped into rivers and waterways to cool down. But France’s ageing rural swimming pools, many of which were built in 1970s, are in crisis as village mayors with shrinking budgets struggle to pay the high running costs and some pools are forced to close owing to lack of funds. In Châteauneuf-sur-Sarthe, a village of 3,200 people in Les Hauts-d’Anjou, a farming area of the Pays de la Loire, the new mayor, Véronique Langlais, said she was determined to keep running the village pool that opened in 1973, despite an annual cost of at least €100,000 (£85,000) to the town hall’s modest budget. Three other rural pools had closed in the surrounding countryside, making this the only pool in a radius of about 20 miles. “This pool is a treasure that we have to protect,” Langlais said. But any sudden need for a costly new part or major repair could force the pool’s closure owing to lack of funds. “There’s a sword of Damocles hanging over our head.” In 1969, after France’s poor swimming performance at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, and a series of tragic drownings across the country, the government under Georges Pompidou launched a plan to build 1,000 pools in mainly rural areas to encourage swimming. Over 600 were built, but those still in use – as well as later 1980s pools – are in urgent need of costly renovation. François Gernigon, a centre-right lawmaker for the Maine-et-Loire, has petitioned the government for a funding plan. He recently surveyed rural mayors, finding more than 75% feared their village pools risked closure in the short-term. He said the heatwaves made it essential to protect pools as “the only place of leisure to relax in rural areas”. He said village pool closures “make residents feel abandoned”. Emma-Özlem Kaya, 45, is a printmaker whose Turkish father moved to Châteauneuf-sur-Sarthe in 1972 when the local tannery recruited artisan leather-workers from Istanbul. “We didn’t go on holiday because my parents didn’t have the budget,” she said. “So every day in summer, I’d grab my swimming bag and walk to the pool with my siblings and friends and we’d spend the afternoons there with our towels laid out.” She now attends water aerobics classes there and campaigns to protect the pool. Nadine Lemonnier, a local teacher who is also part of the collective, remembered childhood summers at another local village pool: “whole days spent diving for objects and having deep teenage conversations at the edge”. For her, protecting rural pools that offered children swimming lessons was crucial because her three-year-old cousin died from drowning in a private pool. Across France, there are dozens of rural village collectives mobilising to protect local pools: campaigning, volunteering to help run them and even painting and carrying out maintenance work. In Rochefort-sur-Loire, a village of 2,400 people near Angers, members of the local pool support group gathered at the water’s edge. In recent years, they had decorated the village with flippers and rubber rings to convince a visiting government minister to secure funds for reopening the indoor teaching pool. They hosted a poet in residence at the pool and run theatre performances there. “It’s about making our village pool the focus of life in the community,” said Nicolas Robin, a sociologist. On 18 July 1969, at nearby Juigné-sur-Loire, 19 children drowned in the River Loire on an outing from a school holiday club – one of many tragedies that led the government to improve swimming teaching facilities. Swimming lessons remain key. There are three rivers in the area and the village is often hit by flooding in winter. “People need to know how to swim to protect themselves in the flooding season too,” said Guillaume Lusteau, the pool’s lifeguard and swim coach. The pool sits beside the River Louet, a branch of the Loire that is usually a paddling spot. But the summer heatwaves have left the river level too low for a dip, increasing the number of swimmers at the pool. The mayor, Didier Le Gall, said that in this area, with a large proportion of organic farming, health was a priority and the pool was essential, particularly for families on low incomes. “It’s important for children learning to swim, but also for the social lives of people who don’t go away on holiday,” he said. “The pool is part of our village’s identity, and in the heatwaves it has become a crucial place to cool down. The pool’s impact on mental health and physical health is considerable.” Le Gall said the town hall wanted to keep the pool open, despite the €100,000 basic running cost. “But we need help in the long-term,” he said. Bruno Cheminat, 73, a former special educational needs teacher and one-time competitive swimmer, clocks up 2,000 metres every day, and has also helped with painting and maintenance work as a volunteer. “It’s beautiful to be the first in the water in the morning,” he said. Estelle, a former flight attendant who works on the pool reception, said it boosted her mood to be in the water, looking out at trees towards the church: “It’s like swimming in a picture postcard.”

Ukraine war briefing: Zelenskyy warns Egypt of food supply threat caused by Russian strikes in Black Sea

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned Egyptian counterpart Abdel ⁠Fattah al-Sisi of possible food supply shortages caused by Russian strikes on ⁠cargo vessels in the Black Sea. “Ukraine is one of ⁠the largest food suppliers to Egypt and to ‌a significant number ‌of other countries in Africa ‌and the Middle East. These supplies are now under serious threat because of Russia’s war,” Zelenskyy said on X. “We are already seeing ‌a significant reduction in supplies, and this could have very unpleasant consequences due to rising prices and shortages,” he said, adding that the two countries had agreed to ⁠work on solutions. Russia on Friday dismissed the idea of a ceasefire ‌with Ukraine in the Black Sea, saying it saw no grounds for “half-measures” that would offer a respite to the other side. In a statement, foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova accused Ukraine of “brazen acts of terrorism” against shipping, while making no ⁠mention of Russia’s own attacks. “We view these attacks (by Ukraine) as a deliberate policy aimed at destabilising civilian ‌shipping in the Black ‌Sea region,” Zakharova said. “At the same time, we see no signs of improvement in the situation and, consequently, no grounds for half-measures that merely grant the Kyiv regime a temporary breathing space.” Both Russia and Ukraine have stepped up attacks in recent weeks against commercial ships in the Black Sea, driving world grain prices higher. Zakharova’s comments followed an earlier Ukraine proposal for both sides to halt their attacks on civilian ships in the Black Sea in an apparent attempt to reopen a crucial grain corridor. Kyiv is said to have made the offer through a third party. Russia has intensified its online disinformation campaign in Poland, using a dispute between Warsaw and Kyiv over second world war massacres ⁠to inflame tensions between Ukraine and ⁠its key ally, Polish officials and researchers say. The messaging, mostly posted on social media accounts in Polish, also tries to foment anger in Poland against refugees, as opinion polls show support for the far-right growing ahead of closely contested ⁠parliamentary elections in 2027. The long-running second world war dispute between Poland and Ukraine centres on the Volhynia massacres, in which Poland says Ukrainians killed about 100,000 Poles between 1943 and 1945. The dispute intensified after ⁠Zelenskyy named an army unit after insurgents who perpetrated the massacres, prompting hard-right president Karol Nawrocki to strip his Ukrainian counterpart of a top Polish honour in June. Russian authorities acknowledged Friday that some regions face new petrol shortages, as Ukraine continues to attack the country’s oil refineries to blunt Russia’s capacity to pursue the war. Russia has shut down one big refinery at Orsk – about 1,300km (810 miles) from the frontline – for six months after it was attacked this week. “The situation remains tense in several regions of the country regarding fuel supplies to service stations,” the government said in a social media post. Oil companies are “taking the necessary measures to increase deliveries to the most vulnerable regions”, it said. Russian jet-powered drones have struck a home in northern Ukraine, killing a 29-year-old woman and her 9-year-old son. This attack comes after the United Nations reported that July was the deadliest month for Ukrainian civilians since the early weeks of Russia’s invasion. At least 437 civilians were killed and 2,610 wounded last month. Meanwhile, Ukrainian drones have targeted Russian infrastructure, including a major port north of Moscow. Romania found ⁠a second drone in national ⁠territory on ⁠Friday, in the south-eastern village ⁠of Plauru near the Danube border with ⁠Ukraine, the defence ministry said ‌on ‌Friday, after a ‌low flying drone undetected by radar systems crashed earlier. The ministry did not specify ‌the origins of the drone. The Nato state has seen Russian drones repeatedly breach ⁠its airspace over the last four years. Russian president Vladimir Putin told North Korean ⁠leader Kim Jong-un that Moscow and Pyongyang were cooperating across all areas to ensure ⁠regional security and stability, North Korean state media KCNA reported on Saturday. Putin said in a message ⁠to Kim marking the anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule that he was confident Russia and ⁠North Korea would continue “constructive joint work” on bilateral and international issues, KCNA said. Kim had ‌visited Pyongyang’s Liberation ‌Tower on Friday to pay tribute to Soviet soldiers who fought ‌Japan in the second world war, KCNA reported.

Ontario free to axe Toronto bike lanes, region’s top court rules

The Ontario government is now free to rip out Toronto’s bike lanes on its busiest streets after the region’s top court ruled in favour of the province on Friday, overturning a lower court’s decision that decreed removal would violate constitutional rights. The win is significant for Ontario’s premier, Doug Ford, and his government, who have long railed against Toronto’s bike lanes, blaming the protected zones for the city’s traffic ills. In 2024, the Ford government passed legislation that would allow Ontario to axe Toronto’s lanes, despite the recent installation of the infrastructure by the municipality. But the effort to tear up the lanes covering 19km (12 miles) of road was paused after cycling advocacy organisations levelled a legal challenge against the province. Their challenge was supported in July 2025, when a superior court judge ruled removing the lanes was unconstitutional, as it would create a heightened risk of death or injury, in turn violating the right to life and security of the person. Those rights are protected under Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Friday’s decision from the Ontario court of appeal reverses that ruling. Michael Longfield, executive director of Cycle Toronto, one of the groups that launched the legal challenge, said he is disappointed in the decision. “This isn’t just about keeping people on bikes safe. It helps pedestrians. It helps other drivers. It has a very strong traffic calming effect that we need in major cities,” he said. The court of appeal judges in their decision wrote that there is no charter right to bike lanes and the government is free to change legislation on the lanes if it wishes. They explained that courts cannot find legislation unconstitutional because experts predict the government’s policies will fail. “Neither the government nor the legislature is under any obligation to accept policy advice,” wrote Justice Huscroft in the decision. In reaction to the ruling, Toronto’s mayor, Olivia Chow, said she has been working with the province to negotiate a path forward “that keeps every road user safe”. There’s hope the municipality will negotiate an alternative with the Ford government that still makes room for cyclists, said Longfield. Ontario’s transportation minister, Prabmeet Sarkaria, said in a statement the top court’s decision is a “victory for common sense”. The government has not yet announced when or if they plan to remove the lanes. It was estimated by a city report in 2024 that ripping up the lanes would cost taxpayers an additional C$48m (£26m). Internal briefings obtained by the Trillium also found the province’s own staff reported that bike lane removal would not reduce congestion and could make it worse. Those staff members also warned Ontario may be seen as encroaching on municipal decision-making. Fundamentally, Ford targeting bike lanes is a gross overreach of the provincial government into city affairs, said Longfield. It is “frankly ridiculous”, he said, to believe the key to solving urban congestion is barring bike lanes. “The more we can focus on real, evidence-based solutions … the better it will be,” he said.

Emergency alert warning of wildfire risk sent to phones in England and Wales

Millions of people across England and Wales received an emergency alert to their phones on Friday as the government warned against activities that could start fires. The deputy prime minister, Louise Haigh, said it was the most extensive use to date of the emergency alert system, with phones beaming a siren noise about 7pm, with the warning: “There is a serious risk of wildfires nationally.” 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. Andy Burnham spent time in Stourbridge in the West Midlands on Friday after homes were destroyed and residents were 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”. He 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 on Friday evening, distributing water and providing logistical support. It has been a record year of wildfires in England and Wales: the number so far this year has passed the 1,017 recorded in 2025. Fire services have declared 11 major incidents in a 24-hour period starting on Thursday. Haigh said: “In response to the continued risk proposed by wildfires, the government has taken the decision to issue an emergency alert to England and Wales. “This is the most extensive use of the UK’s emergency alert system in response to an active incident, and reflects the seriousness with which the government is acting to safeguard people and property. “During this period of extreme heat, we are asking people to take simple steps to limit the risk of further fires. “By following the safety guidance, everyone can play their part in protecting local communities and supporting our frontline services who are working around the clock to keep people safe. “The government will continue to provide every assistance to communities being impacted by these fires, including the deployment of 100 additional military personnel in major incident areas.”

Israeli military plans to transfer law enforcement in occupied West Bank to police

Israel’s defence minister wants to transfer law enforcement powers for Israelis in the occupied West Bank over to the police, a plan that Palestine’s vice-president described as a “flagrant violation of international law” and step towards full Israeli annexation. Israel Katz announced that he had ordered the military to draw up plans for the handover of responsibility for policing Israeli settlers amid domestic and international criticism of the army’s failure to tackle militants besieging three Palestinian families. The Palestinian vice-president, Hussein al-Sheikh, called for international intervention to enforce international law and stop a move that would “entrench the illegitimate annexation of Palestinian land”. Katz unveiled his plan as a settler siege in the Palestinian village of Qusra entered its sixth day. The Israeli army has proved unable or unwilling to remove the group of militants trying to drive out Palestinian residents through a campaign of terror. Michael Sfard, a leading Israeli human rights lawyer, said a transfer of law enforcement powers could constitute a major step towards formal annexation. “The military can delegate enforcement but not responsibility [of the law],” Sfard said. “If they want to create a normative legal framework that absolves the army from responsibility and transfers it to police, that would be another brick, a very major one, of annexation.” However, Israel could also legally expand police powers in the occupied West Bank under the current occupation framework, he added, and the lack of detail in Katz’s statement indicated it may have been driven more by politics than clear policy. “This is a cowardly statement made by a minister of defence who is under scrutiny, because the army that reached Syria, Iran and Lebanon and annihilated Gaza cannot evacuate a few Jewish terrorists that invaded a Palestinian home in an area under occupation for six decades.” There has been a surge in attacks on Palestinians and construction of new settlements across the occupied West Bank, as extremists backed by the most far-right government in Israel’s history intensify a campaign of ethnic cleansing ahead of national elections set for October. On Thursday Katz celebrated the re-establishment of a settlement evacuated by Israel in 2005, under then-prime minister Ariel Sharon’s disengagement plan. “Here, this is the land of Israel. Here, we are staying forever,” Katz said at the ceremony in Ganim, where two dozen prefabricated homes have already been installed, and the hillside is being levelled to make space for more. On the road that leads to the settlement the army had levelled Palestinian property and used piles of rubble to block access roads for Palestinian communities. On Friday the commander of Israeli forces for the occupied West Bank, Gen Avi Bluth, made a second visit to Qusra. Two days earlier he told Palestinians the army would remove the settlers, but soldiers retreated from confrontation with the group. Instead they forced one of the Palestinian families out of their home, saying they needed it as a base for the unsuccessful military operation against the settlers. One of the homes is owned by a US citizen, and US ambassador Mike Huckabee described the Israelis besieging it as terrorists, and said he had requested the Israeli police and army act to remove them. Huckabee, who supports the settlement movement’s vision of establishing a “Greater Israel” on land seized from Palestinians and neighbouring countries, said the militants in Qusra represent a “very small minority” of the settler movement. State and settler violence has driven a surge in displacement of Palestinian communities in the past three years. Since October 2023, Israel has forcibly displaced 64 entire Palestinian communities and parts of 15 additional communities, affecting nearly 5,000 people, according to data from Israeli rights group B’tselem. On Friday Israeli gunmen opened fire at a group of unarmed Israeli and Palestinian activists as they attempted to peacefully reclaim Palestinian land seized by settlers in Beit Sahour, just outside Jerusalem. A Catholic bishop and journalists covering the event were also targeted by the attackers. Israeli settlers had put a large Star of David and Israeli flags on the roof an old, dilapidated house, owned by Palestinians, just 500 metres from a Palestinian family home. Mia Biran, from the group Combatants for Peace, said: “They are all the time threatened by the settlers. We were about a hundred activists, our goal was to clean the area, plant some trees, to show presence and to stand with the residents who are very scared. We were on private Palestinian land.” A few minutes after they started work, the group heard gunfire from the settler outpost and were forced to take cover. One gunman moved close to the group, opened fire in the air and aimed the gun at activists, in an attack videoed by the group. He was later joined by three or four others. “We screamed in Hebrew ‘do not fire’ and then they understood there are Israelis among the crowd,” Biran said. “I called the police to tell them we are threatened by settlers, the activists who were at the roof saw there was a military Jeep all the time in the area who did nothing.” After they withdrew from the area, settlers visited the nearby Palestinian home and threatened to burn it down, she added. Settlers regularly launch arson attacks on Palestinian homes. One such attack in 2015 killed a baby and his parents, orphaning their only surviving son. Quique Kierszenbaum and Sufian Taha contributed reporting