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Europe heatwave live: Temperatures of 40C expected in Spain, with amber heat health warning in place across large parts of UK

More than 135 million people – particularly in France, Italy, Spain and the UK – are set to experience temperatures over 35C on Thursday as the continent’s latest heatwave intensifies, according to AFP calculations. Temperatures are set to surpass 30C for nearly three out of five European residents (excluding Turkey), amounting to around 340 million people. That’s according to an AFP analysis based on German weather service forecasts and 2025 population projections from the Joint Research Centre, with results consistent with the Austrian NGO Klimadashboard.

Pentagon official and former Aukus sceptic says deal is ‘full steam ahead’, echoing Trump

Elbridge Colby, the third-highest-ranking official at the Pentagon and formerly an avowed Aukus sceptic, has mirrored his president’s language on the nuclear submarine deal, saying it is “full steam ahead”. Colby, a US under secretary of war, was the author of the Trump administration’s review of the Aukus deal, which would see the US sell three in-service Virginia-class submarines to Australia, before the development of Australia’s domestically built Aukus-class submarines. The original draft of Colby’s review was understood to be sceptical about the Aukus agreement’s prospects of success, but was rewritten – on some accounts twice – to more closely align with the president’s position that Aukus was “full steam ahead”. Colby told an Asia-Pacific press briefing on Thursday “we’re very pleased to say that Aukus is – as the president said – full steam ahead”. He said the Pentagon was “very pleased with the progress that has been made since the conclusion of the Aukus review which … has provided a roadmap for the success of the Aukus program. “We all know this is an historic endeavour on the part of both countries, but particularly for Australia.” The first Virginia-class submarine is slated to be sold to Australia in 2032. “We remain optimistic but also clear-eyed about what we all need to do,” Colby said. “We will just keep knocking down the targets on our side. We have every expectation the Australian side will do the same.” Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email He said the US had “no better ally” than Australia, and that the US and Australia enjoyed a “deep alignment of thinking”. “Australia really sees things through the lens of collective defence and a strategy of deterrence by denial designed to sustain a balance of power in this key region.” Colby was asked about production rates of Virginia-class submarines, and also the potential presence of nuclear-armed submarines at Australian ports. US boat-building rates have remained stubbornly laggard. It is currently manufacturing Virginia-class submarines at a rate of 1.1 to 1.2 a year. That rate needs to be lifted to two boats a year to service US needs alone, and 2.33 boats a year in order to sell any to Australia. Colby said the Pentagon was “very focused on submarine production, submarine maintenance, and making sure that that’s in as strong a place as it can be”. He said the Pentagon and broader Trump administration had “a very clear understanding” with Australia about its expectations under the Aukus agreement. “They know what is required, we’ve been very clear in private with them. “[Those discussions were] designed to give everybody a reasonable, stable and realistic set of expectations to achieve this historic ambition that will put us all in a stronger place.” Colby did not comment on the potential of nuclear-armed US submarines docking at Australian ports. The US maintains a policy of “strategic ambiguity” around its nuclear capabilities, refusing to confirm or deny whether its nuclear-capable platforms – including aircraft submarines – are carrying nuclear warheads. The Australian Department of Defence says it respects the US policy and does not ask whether platforms – such as B-52 bombers landing on Australian soil – are nuclear-armed. Colby’s comments came in the same week an inquiry into Aukus held public hearings in Sydney, Newcastle and Port Kembla. The former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull told the inquiry Australia’s blind faith in the Aukus submarine deal was “stark staring bonkers”, and argued the asymmetric deal with the US would likely result in no submarines at all for Australia. Giving evidence to the inquiry in Sydney, Turnbull said the US was prevented by its own legislation from selling any submarines to Australia if that would “degrade” its own fleet.

Israeli militants besiege two Palestinian families in their West Bank homes

Israeli militants have besieged two Palestinian families in their homes since the weekend, aiming to take over their properties in the West Bank village of Qusra through a campaign of terror. A group of settlers and soldiers set up a tent outside the home of Yousef Hassan’s family on Sunday afternoon, trapping him inside with his wife and two young daughters. The Israeli men gathered just metres away from the spot where 28-year-old Amir Moatasem Odeh was killed by a settler in March. Another attacker stabbed his father. No one has been arrested over the murder and assault. “Every night, the settlers throw stones, use obscene language and shout during the night. We are living in a state of terror,” Hassan said. His mother, brother and sister, and three neighbours have also been blockaded inside, and their power and water have been cut off. Settlers used the same tactics to steal another Palestinian home in neighbouring Jalud village, driving the al Tubasi family out in July after a months-long siege. They cut off water and electricity to the homes, although a solar panel allows Hassan to keep some devices charged in Qusra. They have also blocked medical care. When his younger daughter, aged two, fell ill with vomiting and a high fever on Monday, settlers blocked an ambulance from reaching the house. The girls and their mother were eventually evacuated on Tuesday. Hassan said those in the house were short on food and were drinking water and juice delivered by the ambulance that came to collect his daughter. “The situation is extremely dire.” On Wednesday morning, the commander of Israeli forces in the region, Gen Avi Bluth, visited the families and promised to lift the siege, an Israeli military spokesperson said. Hassan confirmed the visit. “Today, the area commander came and spoke with us and assured us that he would evacuate the settlers. For the first time, I feel that there is some seriousness on the part of the army in dealing with the settlers,” Hassan said, but added that it had not yet produced tangible results. Soldiers removed the tent but not the bedding and other possessions and, after brief clashes with the settlers, withdrew. “The settlers are still there in front of the house, and we are still unable to leave.” An Israeli military spokesperson said commanders were “gravely concerned” about the settlers’ actions and that soldiers who supported them would face disciplinary action, but declined to give a timeline for lifting the siege. On Wednesday evening, the chief of the general staff of the Israel Defense Forces, Eyal Zamir, met other senior commanders to discuss the situation in Qusra. He ordered a battalion of infantry reservists back from leave to reinforce troops in the West Bank. “The battalion, which is currently undergoing a period of refreshment and training, will be deployed to the sector in order to strengthen operational control. Furthermore, additional soldiers will remain on standby for deployment as necessary,” a military spokesperson said. The military was working with the police to bring “those responsible for the disturbances to justice”, the spokesperson added. The incident has become an international issue for Israel. On Thursday, the US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, who supports the wider settler movement, called the group who surrounded the homes “Israeli terrorists”. Israeli militants target Palestinians with near total impunity in the occupied West Bank. Since 2020, Israeli civilians and soldiers have killed more than 1,100 Palestinians there, and there has been only one indictment over those deaths. Violence is deployed as part of a broader campaign of ethnic cleansing. Israel has forcibly displaced 64 Palestinian communities over the past three years, the rights group B’Tselem said. Fifteen other communities have lost residents, with more than 4,800 people driven from their homes. “What is happening in Qusra is not an isolated incident,” said B’Tselem’s executive director, Yuli Novak. “Settler militias, backed by the Israeli military, are expanding their attacks into Palestinian villages and towns – seizing land, attacking homes and forcing families out. Israel’s ethnic cleansing of the West Bank is accelerating and expanding in plain sight.” Dozens of Israelis from the country’s security, political and cultural elite have threatened legal action against their government over its failure to tackle “Jewish terrorism” in the occupied West Bank. As the occupying power in the West Bank, Israel is responsible under international law for ensuring the safety of Palestinian civilians and meeting their basic needs. The Israeli military has declared the area a closed military zone and blocked journalists from approaching the Palestinian homes. Israeli settlers are subject to the same orders but have not been removed. Sufian Taha contributed reporting

Thursday briefing: What happens after an asylum hotel closes?

Good morning. This week, immigration minister Anna Turley announced, with minor fanfare, the government will stop using a further 13 hotels to house asylum seekers across the country. It brings the total shut this year to 44, in pursuit of Labour’s manifesto pledge, now reiterated by Andy Burnham, to cease hotel use completely by the end of this parliament. Doing so would remove what have become highly visible symbols of an increasingly toxic debate about migration. Less than 160 to go, according to the Home Office. There was a risk the announcement might be drowned out by howls of rightwing outrage after the prime minister dared suggest that middle-class areas also ought to house asylum seekers. “We cannot have a situation where it’s only the poorest communities in the country that receive all of the dispersal of refugees and asylum seekers,” Burnham said. “I do believe all parts of the country need to play their part.” (In England, asylum seekers made up 0.29% of people in the most deprived local authorities, compared with 0.05% of people in the least deprived.) But what becomes of residents, protesters and communities after these hotels are emptied? I spoke to specialist reporter Diane Taylor, who has followed shifts in immigration policy and the individuals who must live through them for decades. First, the headlines. Five big stories Solar eclipse | Wednesday’s eclipse began in Russia’s remote Arctic north, going on to trace an arc over much of western Europe. From the UK to northern Italy, tens of millions of people turned to the sky as the light of the setting sun was almost completely blocked out. UK news | Nurses are collapsing during shifts amid “inhumane and impossible” conditions caused by extreme heat, their union has warned, as Andy Burnham promised to grapple with “the bigger questions” of climate adaptation. US politics | Karoline Leavitt will step down as White House press secretary at the end of August, Donald Trump announced. Science | Astronomers claim to have discovered a new kind of cosmic object, a black hole “star”, which is the size of the entire solar system and glows with a brilliant red light. Middle East | Israeli militants have besieged two Palestinian families in their homes since the weekend, aiming to take over their properties in the West Bank village of Qusra through a campaign of terror. In depth: ‘You can’t just magic away the intense protest and counter-protest and division’ Hotels were used as an occasional, temporary housing fix for asylum seekers pre-Covid, but became the default option in place of flats at the very start of the pandemic. The home office justification was public health – but I spoke to hotel residents back in 2020 who told me about cramped living conditions, limited access to food, drink and financial support, alongside spiralling mental distress. I still remember running through Glasgow city centre in June 2020 to reach the scene of a mass stabbing, and how my stomach dropped when I realised I was heading to a hotel housing asylum seekers. Badreddin Abdalla Adam Bosh, a Sudanese man, had stabbed six people including a police officer at the Park Inn hotel before being shot dead by police. An inquiry into his death is ongoing. To be clear: politicians across parties, support agencies and the far-right all agree that these hotels need to shut, though for different reasons. For the past six years – counter to the far-right “life-of-luxury” narrative – Diane has reported on life inside these hotels: rat infestations and food so abysmal it causes nutritional deficiencies. She has also exposed the vast profit made by private accommodation providers thanks to Home Office cash, such as Clearsprings, equating to £146 a minute over five years – yes, you read that right. *** What happens when a hotel closes? When a hotel closes, asylum seekers are moved – often at short notice – to houses of multiple occupancy (HMOs), former military barracks or other, usually more basic, hotels. People may have been living in the same hotel for years, and the new accommodation may be several hundred miles away, forcing people to re-build their lives – language classes, legal support, friendships – from scratch. Two barracks – Wethersfield in Essex and Crowborough in East Sussex – are now full, with planning permission being sought to turn three more into accommodation for asylum seekers: RAF Linton-on-Ouse, RAF Barnham and Bicester Garrison. Residents in the Oxfordshire village of Piddington, close to Bicester, will – in an eccentric move – hold a referendum on seceding from the UK, in protest against plans to house more than a thousand male asylum seekers in the disused army barracks. The government estimates these new sites could eventually house about 3,750 people. According to the National Audit Office, barracks are not necessarily cheaper to fund than hotels, because of hefty set-up costs. The current estimated hotel cost per night is £144, compared with dispersal accommodation such as HMOs estimated at £23.25 per night. Although cheaper than hotels and barracks, there simply aren’t enough to meet demand; however Diane suggests “you also don’t get the same punishment optics with a rundown terrace in East Ham”. Some have found the transition gruelling. Huda is a 41-year-old engineering graduate who fled death threats in Tunisia with her two daughters, one of whom has serious health conditions. When their London hotel closed last month, the family were moved to another hotel that Diane describes as “extremely basic”. There are no facilities for Huda to cook for her children, and limited storage for essential medicines and equipment. When I asked Huda, via Diane, about this new accommodation, she described mashing up food with her hands so that her daughter can swallow it. Her daughter’s seizures have intensified since the move, she sleeps on the floor and Huda is painfully blunt: “My daughter is dying slowly.” *** Closures, protests and transformation Where asylum seekers go, far-right protesters often follow. Crowds of several hundred continue to throng at Crowborough every Sunday, and HMOs are now a growing target. Last Sunday in Kent, men in T-shirts bearing the logo “Christ is king” chanted “don’t unpack, you’re going back” outside an accommodation block in Broadstairs, rumoured to be earmarked for asylum seekers. And last week, over several nights of unrest in the Norfolk town of Thetford, crowds attempted to storm other suspected HMOs. Fifteen people were arrested. It’s worth noting that not every hotel has become a flashpoint. “It’s a mixed picture,” says Diane. “There are four asylum hotels near me, in a fairly middle-class area of London. Local residents and asylum seekers have lived together in a very low-key way, and I’ve never seen the slightest bit of trouble. “In the media, we always write about the extreme examples, understandably, but we don’t write about the hotels with zero problems.” The government claimed yesterday that closing hotels would have a transformative effect on local communities: “These hotels can once again attract visitors, support local jobs and drive footfall to nearby cafes, shops, restaurants and attractions, helping town centres and local economies thrive”. I put this to our resident Essex specialist Tim Burrows, who meticulously reported on a year of protests outside the Bell hotel in Epping. The Bell remains boarded up behind security fencing, with no apparent plans for reopening, and the effect on the community is clear: “While the closure of the Bell hotel has been welcomed by many in Epping, you can’t just magic away the past year or more of intense protest and counter-protest and the division that has caused.” The hotel, Tim says, “will long symbolise to one side of Epping ‘invader’ asylum seekers they blame for many of the UK’s problems, and to the other the concerning rise of far-right ethno-nationalist politics.” *** Where should asylum seekers be housed? The recent targeting of HMOs suggests that, as Diane tells me, where asylum seekers are housed is “almost irrelevant”. “There are people who don’t want asylum seekers here. If we put them in the sewers they would protest.” After Burnham’s comments about the distribution of asylum accommodation, Diane reminds me that there has been a fairly successful push to disperse people more widely in recent years “but, as the data shows, distribution is still not entirely equal”. It’s also the case that housing is more expensive to provide in middle-class areas. The government might also try changing the conversation to one that extends beyond houses, barracks and hotels to the people inside them. “Would it not be easier,” Diane says, “to ‘rebrand’ asylum seekers away from the scrounger, rapist stereotype into people who are grateful to be here and want to contribute any way they can – by doing work for the British community while claims are being processed.” Diane has written about some of the ad hoc volunteering initiatives already happening thanks to NGOs, but argues that having government in charge of them would mean wider and more efficient rollout. Better yet, says Diane: “Pay minimum wage for keeping streets clean, planting civic flowerbeds, growing free food for the whole area by tending community allotments. Deduct part of that to pay for accommodation. It would cut the cost to the taxpayer and boost integration.” What else we’ve been enjoying I spoke to Nesrine Malik about the Jason Arday story for First Edition last week. Her wider reflections in The Long Wave are as insightful as you’d expect. (And sign up here to read more from her.) Michael I felt utterly uplifted reading Natasha Walter’s considered, hopeful and very urgent challenge to feminists everywhere to reunite from the grassroots up. Libby After reading Peter Bradshaw’s review of the new Amy Goodman documentary, Steal This Story, Please!, I’ve booked a screening ticket. Michael It’s not only because we share a moniker that I’m enjoying Stephen Libby’s new fashion column. Here he writes about the sustainable joys of using your local dry cleaner to tailor vintage finds. Libby This exclusive by Sandra Laville is jaw-dropping given the temperatures, drought and fires we’re experiencing: just 20 of 6,600 Defra staff are working on climate adaptation. Terrifying. Michael Sport Uefa Super Cup | After Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s opener was cancelled out by the teenage striker Brian Madjo, Désiré Doué curled in a second-half winner to give PSG a 2-1 victory against Aston Villa in Salzburg. European Athletics Championship | British runner Matt Hudson-Smith stormed to a historic third gold in the European Championship 400m to delight the home supporters in Birmingham. Cricket | Joe Root has abolished the midnight curfew for his England Test side, telling his players to “be adults” after a string of late-night incidents. The front pages “PM vows to tackle climate as nurses warn of heat toll”, is the Guardian’s front page today. The Telegraph has “Burnham prepared to spend more on housing asylum seekers”, the Times runs with “Firms’ fury at zero hours reform”, the Mail says “Rewilding link to record fires”, and the Express writes “Using stairs may cut risk of early death”. The FT’s headline is “Ukraine ceases strikes on oil tankers using Russian port after Vance request”. On the eclipse, the Sun writes in its masthead font “The Moon”, the i Paper splashes “Once in a generation”, and Metro says “Here’s blot all the fuss was about”. Today in Focus The 21 million women and girls the world forgot Five years after the Taliban retook power, women inside the country explain how they have been silenced, while the Afghan journalist Zahra Joya asks why the world has looked away. Cartoon of the day | Ella Baron The Upside A bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all bad Ioan Marc Jones has always hated running – he found it painful, boring and monotonous. But, an old football injury forced him to take up the sport properly. After conventional running advice failed, he turned to more unconventional tips from seasoned runners, including taking a shot of pickle juice, wearing nipple tape and listening to Hamlet. For the first time, Jones managed to run consistently for more than a month and discovered his own “running personality”. He may not love running yet, but he is enjoying the journey and, more importantly, starting to see himself as a runner. 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 tomorrow. Martin Belam’s Thursday news quiz Quick crossword Cryptic crossword Wordiply

Key Japan war shrine bans military cosplay ahead of second world war anniversary

Tokyo’s controversial Yasukuni shrine is banning military cosplay on its grounds, after the site become a focal point for displays by ultra-nationalist groups, often dressed in replica army uniforms or military-style dress. The clothing ban comes in the lead-up to the anniversary this weekend of the defeat of Japan in the second world war, also known as VJ Day, although the shrine has said the ban applies year round. The shrine honours 2.5 million Japanese soldiers and civilians who died in wars in the 19th and 20th centuries, but it has become a symbol of Japan’s militarism and wartime brutality, particularly in China and South Korea. Among those honoured are 14 men convicted by the Allies as class-A war criminals after the second world war. “While visits by people who actually served in the military, wearing the clothing of the time, have largely disappeared as 80 years have passed since the end of the war, people with no relevant affiliation or qualification have increasingly been seen visiting in military uniforms,” read the statement on the shrine’s website, which described it as a “solemn and sacred place”. Yasukuni initially issued the announcement forbidding the wearing of military attire last week, provoking a backlash from some who said it would stop serving members of Japan’s Self-Defense Forces from worshipping at the shrine. In response, Yasukuni issued an additional statement on Wednesday clarifying that serving personnel, and members of military forces from overseas, were exempt from the new rules. Past visits to the shrine by Japanese leaders and lawmakers have provoked angry responses from Beijing and Seoul. It was reported in domestic media on Thursday that prime minister Sanae Takaichi is not planning to visit the shrike on the anniversary of Japan’s defeat in the second world war this Saturday. Known for her hawkish views, Takaichi did visit last year. Wartime emperor Hirohito stopped visiting Yasukuni after the war criminal enshrinement controversy. Since then, the imperial family has paid its respects to the war dead at Chidorigafuchi national cemetery, near the Imperial Palace. • This article was amended on 13 August 2026. An earlier headline suggested Japan had banned military cosplay at the site; war shrine officials imposed the ban.

Zambia elections haunted by ghost of incumbent president’s arch-rival

As Zambians go to the polls on Thursday, the ghost of the current president’s predecessor hangs over the elections. Hakainde Hichilema, 64, is bidding for a second term leading the southern African country after defeating his arch-rival Edgar Lungu by a landslide in 2021. A feud between the two men, their families and supporters has dominated Zambian politics, to the extent that the quarrel has continued even after Lungu died in South Africa in June 2025. Zambia’s government went to court to try to stop the burial of Lungu by his family, who did not want Hichilema presiding over a state funeral. In June, South Africa’s supreme court of appeal ruled in favour of Lungu’s family, overturning a previous high court decision in favour of the government. In this election, Hichilema is facing the Tonse Alliance of opposition parties led by Brian Mundubile, 55, who was a government chief whip under Lungu. Mundubile’s running mate Makebi Zulu acted as the Lungu family’s spokesperson during the burial row, and on the campaign trail the two men have promised to bring Lungu’s body back to Zambia for a dignified burial. The way death is dealt with is very important in Zambia, said Christopher Vandome, a senior research fellow at the thinktank Chatham House. “Even Hichilema supporters want to see due respect given to those that have died,” he said. “When it appears things get messy, it just makes the incumbent look disrespectful.” The shadow of Lungu has also hung over allegations by the Tonse Alliance that Hichilema has deployed authoritarian tactics during the election campaign, including raiding its offices and detaining 36 members of Mundubile’s team. Hichilema’s team furiously denied the claims, invoking Lungu’s treatment of Hichilema during the last election. “Zambians know what repression looks like. In 2021, the opposition leader [Hichilema] had been arrested 15 times, Prime TV [a private station] and the Post [a newspaper] had been shut down, and on election day the internet was switched off,” said a spokesperson for the ruling United Party for National Development. “Today the opposition campaigns freely across all 10 provinces, no media house has been closed and the airwaves are open.” Transparency International Zambia monitors have recorded incidents of police interrupting opposition rallies, said Tamika Halwiindi, a coordinator at the organisation. “Disruptions from the police citing issues to do with safety have been noted to be more biased against the opposition and independents, as opposed to … the ruling party,” she said. During Hichilema’s term, activists have also reported having peaceful demonstrations shut down. Mputa Ngalande of the Fight Inequality Alliance said he was among a group detained for more than 12 hours in July 2024 when they were protesting against the state power company during a period of 22-hour-a-day blackouts. Vandome said: “[Hichilema’s] prospects of winning are very high. But his … personal lived experience of how complicated Zambian elections can be has given him this insecurity which is actually counting against him … denting his image in a way he doesn’t have to.” Zambia’s economy has stabilised since an economic crisis, which was triggered when it defaulted on its debts in 2020 under Lungu. Annual inflation is now 6.5%, compared with 24.6% in July 2021. The government made primary and secondary education free in 2022. Meanwhile, Zambia has attracted more international investment in recent years due to its huge deposits of copper, a key material in green technologies. At the start of the month, in a giveaway to young voters, Hichilema, also known by his initials HH and nickname Bally (a slang word for an elder), told a crowd of jubilant university students that he was increasing their accommodation allowance by 50% with immediate effect. However, the cost of living could still count against Hichilema in the elections, in which almost 8.8 million registered voters will also choose MPs and local councillors. The average annual income rose from $1,127 to $1,318 between 2021 and 2025, according to World Bank data. But prices almost doubled over the same period. “What people are asking is: ‘If we are doing well economically, why are we not feeling impact on the ground?’” said Ngalende. “Because you will find on the ground that it is very difficult to access three meals a day.”

Ukraine war briefing: ‘With precision, as planned’ – Kyiv outlines battlefield gains

Ukrainian forces have ⁠recaptured 745 sq km (288 sq miles) of Russian-occupied land in a key sector this year, Volodymyr Zelenskyy ⁠has said. “This offensive operation of ours was carried out with precision – exactly as planned.” Ukraine’s president outlined gains broadly in line with assessments from the well-regarded Ukrainian open-source group DeepState. Russia’s battlefield advances have slowed this year across much of the front, analysts say, though Russian ‌forces still threaten cities in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region. The Russian military still regularly announces the “capture” of villages, though observers say these are often shortlived flag-raising incursions involving a handful of troops. “From January to August of this year, our warriors of the airborne assault forces and other units carried out an effective offensive operation in the Oleksandrivskyi sector … Russian losses amounted to at least 9,550 people killed and more than 6,600 people wounded.” Ukraine’s “exchange fund” was also replenished, Zelenskyy said, referring to Russian prisoners of war who can be swapped for Ukrainians held by Russia. The Oleksandrivskyi sector is a 60km (37-mile) stretch of the front taking in parts of Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Donetsk oblasts where they meet. Zelenskyy said 26 ⁠settlements there had been brought back under Kyiv’s control. DeepState, which tracks both sides’ positions on the front, said in its ‌latest assessment that Ukrainian forces had restored control over 19 settlements along the frontline, and pushed back Russian troops in six more settlements. The US-based Institute for the Study of War said in an assessment that Russian online sources were likely using AI-enhanced video footage to support Moscow’s claims of advances. A major Ukrainian attack on Russia’s Black Sea port city of Novorossiysk hit warships at a naval base and forced two major grain terminals to halt operations ⁠on Wednesday, according to Russian and Ukrainian officials as well as grain industry sources. Zelenskyy said two frigates, a large landing ship, a corvette and other vessels were hit. Describing the attack as having “strategic significance”, Ukraine’s SBU security service said ⁠Kyiv’s forces hit the Novorossiysk naval base with drones and missiles. The Russian regional governor, Veniamin Kondratyev, said the attacks killed at least two people including an eight-year-old child. Novorossiysk also hosts oil export infrastructure, including for the Caspian Pipeline Consortium owned partly by US ‌oil companies Chevron and Exxon Mobil, and carries Kazakh oil exports to market. The Financial Times (paywall) reported on Wednesday that after a request from JD Vance, the US vice-president, Ukraine agreed not to target CPC infrastructure and non-Russian vessels, as long as they were not under Ukrainian sanctions or carrying Russian oil or other cargo. Ukraine needs 5% of US Patriot interceptors to get through the winter and 10% to destroy all the ballistic missiles fired by Russia, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has told CNN. Ukraine this year “had two and a half times less interceptors than we had in 2025 … Russia has two times more ballistic missiles per month than they had before. This year, I’m asking American partners to sell me 5% of missiles [that] they have in their stocks.” As of today he had “1%”, Zelenskyy said. “From 1% to 5%, I have some months and millions [of] phone calls and anything else. I do some things which I can’t even share. It doesn’t mean that it’s out of the law. But I can’t speak about it.” Ukraine’s air force said on Wednesday it would stop publishing detailed figures on Russian ballistic missile strikes. Real-time warnings would continue unchanged, and the air force would keep providing generalised figures on Russian missile launches. Russia’s Orenburg region has introduced ⁠fuel rationing after a ⁠Ukrainian drone strike on the Orsk refinery this week in the Urals mountain ⁠province. “Dear residents of our region, I ‌will be ‌frank: a difficult fuel situation is ‌developing in the region,” said Yevgeny Solntsev, the regional governor. He announced restrictions on gasoline sales, including a ban on filling up containers, limits on ‌sale volume, and sales on odd or even days based on licence plate numbers. Other ‌Russian regions were already under similar restrictions. A group of Ukrainian soldiers appealed to their military leadership for help in a video where they told of spending four months on the frontline without rotation and drinking urine during a 12-day stint when drone-dropped water supplies did not arrive. Ukraine’s 121st Brigade command confirmed the social media video’s authenticity and said the brigade “continues to take all necessary measures to properly supply the servicemen” in what it described as “extremely difficult” battlefield conditions. Platoon commander Anatoliy Saichuk accused senior officers of lying to soldiers’ families by assuring them the men were fully supplied. “Some of my servicemen were semi-conscious for several days due to lack of water and food,” he added, saying he had eventually decided to abandon the positions when circumstances allowed. The South joint forces group, which commands the area, said the platoon was fighting in a “difficult and dynamic sector of the front”, adding the video showed “an isolated fragment of a complex operational environment”. Moldova has agreed to give Ukraine a 50% discount ⁠on rail cargo ⁠shipments until the end of the year, according to both governments. Ukraine, a major grain exporter by sea, has sought the alternative route because of Russian attacks on its ports and shipping. Russia ⁠struck Ukraine’s Izmail ⁠port ⁠area in the southern Odesa ⁠region over Wednesday night, causing ⁠damage and ‌fire, local ‌authorities said. Izmail, close to ‌the Romanian border, is home to ⁠Ukraine’s largest Danube port, handling grain and other commodities. Russia’s agriculture ministry has also said it is ‌working to redirect its export flows to alternative routes because of Ukrainian attacks in the Black Sea.

Potatoes ‘boil’ in the ground as record heatwave sweeps across swathes of Asia

In a potato field in Yanggu county, 80 miles (130km) north-east of Seoul, Lee Sang-hyuk dug into the soil and found nothing worth saving. A week earlier the crop, located in Gangwon province, had looked fine. Now the potatoes came up soft and collapsing, “like boiled potatoes”, spoiled by heat that had turned the ground into something closer to an oven. “It’s not just one or two fields like this. How can I even put it into words? It’s so upsetting,” he told local broadcaster SBS. His ruined harvest is one thread in a punishing summer across east Asia, as record heat swept through South Korea, Japan and Hong Kong in recent weeks. On 2 August, the south-eastern city of Yangsan recorded a temperature of 42.5C, the highest registered in South Korea since modern weather observations began in 1904. The heat has since been blamed for at least 31 deaths nationwide, according to the country’s disease control agency, while more than 900,000 livestock and 1.4 million farmed fish have died. Authorities issued a heat warning, urging people to “immediately stop all outdoor activities”. South Korea’s president, Lee Jae Myung, told his cabinet the extreme weather was “unlike anything we have experienced before”. “We need to make efforts for a fundamental overhaul of the national crisis system,” he said, “since this extreme weather is becoming the new normal.” In neighbouring Japan, temperatures reached 40C or higher at multiple locations and the country recorded its first ever “kokushobi”, or “cruelly hot day”, a new category introduced this year by the country’s weather agency for temperatures above 40C. In Tokyo, three lions died of suspected heatstroke at a city zoo. Scientists say the extremes are part of a wider pattern. Researchers working through Japan’s Weather Attribution Centre found that the country’s intense July heat would have been “virtually impossible” without global warming. Without the warming caused by human activity, they calculated, a heatwave of this scale would occur on average once ever 10,000 years. The heat struck even as an El Niño event was under way, a natural climate pattern that has in the past been associated with a lower likelihood of extreme summer heat in Japan. In Hong Kong, its observatory posted an official temperature of 36.9C, the highest recorded there since records began in 1884, as the outer bands of Typhoon Dolphin swept hot air over the city. The record heat also exposed the failings of the city’s heat stress warning system for outdoor workers, which remained at its lowest tier even as temperatures reached a record high. “The threshold for the red warning is clearly set too high”, Lam Chiu Ying, a former head of the Hong Kong Observatory, wrote on Facebook. “If even a record-breaking temperature can’t trigger it, isn’t it just a display piece used to decorate a shop window?” Hong Kong’s Labour Department has since said it is reviewing the warning system with the observatory. In China’s western Xinjiang region, a weather station recorded a 50C reading in July and heatwaves gripped the country’s north-east, while North Korea reported a run of tropical nights in Pyongyang, with temperatures failing to fall below 25C. June-Yi Lee, a climate scientist at Pusan National University and a coordinating lead author of the UN’s most recent climate assessment, said the regional heatwave may have been shaped by a mix of atmospheric circulation patterns and a warming climate. A strengthening ridge of high pressure over the Tibetan Plateau and western Pacific, layered on top of this year’s El Niño, may have helped create conditions for the heat, she said. The World Meteorological Organization said in its latest State of the Climate in Asia report that the pace of Asia’s warming between 1991 and 2025 is roughly twice that of the preceding three decades. About 160 miles (257km) south of Seoul, in Gwangju, watermelon farmer Hong Kyung-hee watched fruit that would normally sell at a premium turn to mush. “The inside was good, the sweetness was good, everything was fine”, he told KBS from his farm. “But after three days it changed overnight like this. In my 50 years of farming, this is the first time.” Strawberry farmer Yoon Woo-ha in Damyang county, South Jeolla province, lost seedlings that she had cultivated for three months and won’t be covered by insurance. South Korea’s crop insurance scheme covers only designated crops, growing methods and regions, leaving farmers exposed when losses fall outside those boundaries. “When the insurance can’t cover this,” said Lee Jun-kyung, head of the Gwangju chapter of the Korean Peasants League, “it goes straight into farm household debt.” Prof Lee warned that heatwaves were expected to become more frequent and intense as the climate heated up, while compound extremes, such as consecutive heatwaves and heavy rainfall, were becoming more common. “There is an urgent need for rapid, large-scale reductions in greenhouse gas emissions to limit further global warming together with well-planned adaptation measures to address the climate change that is already occurring,” she said.