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Greek wildfire kills two people as aircraft deployed to blaze at Belgian nature reserve

Two people have died in fires on the Greek island of Salamis as firefighting aircraft were called on to help tame the biggest blaze in Belgium in more than a century in the latest wave of European wildfires. The bodies of two people were recovered from the Peristeria beach area of Salamis on Sunday after two fires broke out on the island, a fire department spokesperson told Agence France-Presse. Hundreds of people have been ordered to evacuate. In Belgium, a wildfire that broke out on Friday in the High Fens, a large nature reserve that is popular with hikers, had ravaged about 3,000 hectares (7,400 acres) of land and was encroaching on the border with Germany by early Sunday morning. About 600 people in the municipalities of Waimes and Bütgenbach, in Liège province, were told on Saturday to evacuate from their homes, and tourists were also advised to leave, as winds shifted and smoke spread. Of those who followed the order, about 20 spent the night in a sports hall, while others sought refuge with family and friends. Hervé Jamar, the governor of Liège, said more than 250 firefighters and emergency staff were involved in the operation, including firefighters from Germany. Farmers have also been helping to battle the blaze, using their tractors to pull in water from Lake Robertville. Air support, provided by two water-bombing aircraft from Sweden and four helicopters – two from Belgium and two from the Netherlands – is crucial owing to the nature reserve’s complex and fragile terrain, which is made up of dense forest, peat bogs and raised wooden boardwalks where heavy firefighting vehicles risk sinking. Access to Lake Bütgenbach was prohibited on Sunday in order to allow the aircraft to refill. Authorities described the conditions as still challenging, although two fire fronts towards Jalhay and Monschau were now under control, said Belgium’s interior minister, Bernard Quintin, after visiting the crisis centre in Vottem on Sunday afternoon. “On this third day of fighting the fires, all resources remain mobilised on the ground,” he wrote on X, and thanked all those involved. “We can also count on the solidarity of our European partners … Thank you to everyone who mobilised to fight the fires. United, we are stronger.” The fire, described by officials as the largest in Belgium’s modern history, began in an area that was ravaged by massive wildfires in 1911 during a drought. Human-caused climate breakdown is supercharging extreme weather around the world, driving more frequent and deadlier disasters from heatwaves to floods to wildfires. Much of Europe is experiencing a new period of intense heat, creating conditions conducive to wildfire outbreaks. On Friday, a fire engulfed ⁠homes in a Croatian holiday resort, 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 historical relics in Spain.

Taliban threaten former Afghan police worker after MoD leak reveals identity

A man has received threats from the Taliban after his work for the Afghan police was revealed by a Ministry of Defence leak and the UK refused his application for resettlement. Hamid* worked for the Afghan national police special unit and received certificates for his work signed by senior British figures praising his “dedication, unparalleled service and leadership”. His details were also included in an accidental 2022 leak by an MoD official that identified 18,700 Afghans who had worked with or for the British government. Hamid said he had received a number of threats from the Taliban, including a video he shared with the Guardian in which a man cradling a rifle and sitting below a Taliban flag threatens to pursue him and cites knowledge of his previous movements. The MoD, however, has rejected his application for resettlement under the Afghan relocations and assistance policy (Arap) scheme. His most recent rejection, received on 31 July, stated that Hamid had not provided evidence of “working alongside, in partnership with or closely supporting a UK government department”. It gave him 28 days to appeal. Hamid said: “This is extremely painful because I have already submitted every document available to me proving my service. Furthermore, many of my former colleagues who served in exactly the same department and performed the same duties have already been relocated to the UK through the Arap scheme. “Despite this evidence, my case continues to be refused. I believe my case raises serious questions about how some former Afghan partners of the UK continue to be treated despite years of loyal service.” Hamid’s plea for help comes five years after the Taliban retook power in Afghanistan on 15 August 2021 after the withdrawal of US and Nato forces. The UK government launched the Arap scheme on 1 April 2021 and closed it to new applications on 1 July last year. Pre-existing applications continue to be processed. Under Arap, high risk of death or serious injury are only taken into account if the rest of the criteria are deemed to have been met, which they have not in Hamid’s case. “Must I wait until I am captured, tortured or killed by the Taliban before my service and the danger I face are finally recognised?” he said. “Following the Ministry of Defence data breach, my personal information was exposed, placing me at even greater risk. Since then, my life has changed completely. I cannot safely leave my home to work. I live in constant fear of being recognised or targeted.” After the leak, the then defence secretary, John Healey, said the dataset included people who had made speculative applications under Arap and had not worked with British forces. He said being included in the leak “doesn’t give them a right to claim access to Britain”. “It doesn’t give them a right to claim asylum. It doesn’t make them eligible for the special [Arap] scheme that Britain put in place for those who’d worked alongside or served with our forces,” he said. Hamid said that because he was in hiding he had no reliable income and relied on his wife, who supports the family by doing small jobs from home. “This is our family’s only source of income, and even then we struggle simply to survive,” he said. “The emotional impact has been devastating. My wife and I have become deeply exhausted, depressed and hopeless after years of fear, uncertainty, repeated refusals and financial hardship. “I am not asking for special treatment. I am only asking for a fair review based on the evidence I have already provided.” An MoD spokesperson said: “Each application is considered on a case-by-case basis, assessed against the evidence provided, such as how they supported the UK mission in Afghanistan, and in line with the publicly available eligibility criteria. “Since the Taliban takeover, the UK has resettled almost 39,000 Afghan men, women and children through Afghan resettlement schemes.” Name has been changed

Bus carrying Polish pilgrims crashes in Hungary, leaving 12 dead

Twelve people have died after a bus carrying a group of Polish tourists overturned on the M3 motorway in Hungary on the way back from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Local police said the bus crashed near the town of Mezőkeresztes after it “went off the straight road into a ditch and overturned” at 1am local time. Early reports suggested the driver had probably fallen asleep. He survived the crash and was taken into custody. The bus was carrying a group of pilgrims from Poland’s south-eastern Podkarpackie region who were returning from a pilgrimage to the Catholic shrine in Međugorje, in southern Bosnia and Herzegovina, with 57 passengers and two drivers onboard. Poland’s foreign ministry said “virtually all” passengers were transferred to local hospitals in Eger, Debrecen and Miskolc, and 10 people were in a serious condition. The Hungarian ambulance service said 37 people sustained minor injuries. Polish and Hungarian leaders expressed their condolences after the crash. Poland’s president, Karol Nawrocki, said: “With deep sorrow, I received the tragic news of the accident involving a Polish bus in Hungary, in which so many of our compatriots perished. “In the face of this unimaginable tragedy, which has touched us all, I join in prayer and profound compassion with the families and loved ones of the victims.” Hungary’s prime minister, Péter Magyar, expressed his “sincere condolences to the families of the victims” and thanked the emergency services involved in the rescue operation. Poland’s infrastructure minister, Dariusz Klimczak, said the general inspectorate of road transport would conduct enhanced checks on all buses and drivers’ working hours. The owner of the bus company involved in the crash told Business Insider Polska that the vehicle “was driven by two experienced drivers”. The investigation into the crash will be led by a group of Polish prosecutors from the south-eastern town of Krosno, the prosecutors’ office said in a statement. Međugorje, despite some doubts about its religious history, is a popular summer destination for Polish Catholics. In 2022, 12 people died and 30 were injured when a bus carrying Polish pilgrims to Međugorje crashed in Croatia. In 2002, 20 Polish pilgrims died and 31 were injured in a bus crash in Hungary.

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.