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Europe heatwave live: UK sees temperatures of 38.1C, the hottest day of 2026; Greece battles wildfires after gale force winds

Famous for its pine forests and turquoise water, the Chalkidiki peninsula is teeming with tourists this time of year. Now, many have been forced to flee the peninsula by land and sea. Videos seen by Reuters showed people boarding dinghies and fire brigade boats in Siviri as the blaze ate through nearby forest and smoke enveloped the sky. More ‌than 140 firefighters, nine aircraft and seven helicopters were deployed to battle flames raging on both sides of the main road, the local fire brigade said in a statement. One firefighter was injured, Reuters reported. “Our effort is focused on extinguishing the fire and the safe transport of people,” fire brigade spokesperson Giannis Artopios told Protothema news portal. Two ⁠fire boats, private boats and the coastguard were involved in the evacuation, he said.

The west turns a blind eye to Xi Jinping’s repressive regime in China | Letters

In his article on China’s latest tool for suppression of minorities, the “ethnic unity” law, Simon Tisdall seems to take it as read that western governments will continue to pay lip service to notions of human rights in China while pursuing short-term economic goals, ultimately destructive to their own productivity (President Xi never wastes a good crisis. As Iran, Ukraine and Palestine distract the world, he tightens his grip, 8 August). This has been the pattern since June 1989, the Tiananmen Square massacre. His faint hope that the young urban Chinese might overturn Xi’s regime is a judgment on the failure of western governments to show any foresight, integrity, effective diplomacy, joined-up thinking or action. They rely on the self-sacrifice of individuals such as Jimmy Lai, Lobga Rangzen and countless – often to us nameless – individuals who put their lives on the line while we wring our hands and weep crocodile tears. Their response to this latest abuse of power seems to be limited to a change in their extradition policy to protect their own citizens. They should understand by now that the law alone will not protect critics of Xi’s regime, wherever they are. Meaningful diplomacy on an international level is well overdue, but just as Europe has had to wean itself off dependence on the US for defence, so it will need to wean itself off China for trade. Jennifer Hubbard Burton-in-Kendal, Cumbria • Very striking is what Simon Tisdall’s article concedes and then ignores. It notes in passing an American administration displaying “disdain for international law and national sovereignty (as seen in Venezuela and Greenland)”, tariff wars against allies, and partners who now have to regard Washington as unreliable. Every charge laid against Beijing’s ambitions applies to conduct the article treats as merely regrettable background. Tisdall asks us to imagine a British prime minister banning the Welsh language from schools. It is an unfortunate choice. Britain did precisely that – the Welsh Not was an instrument of state policy, Gaelic was suppressed, and Irish self-determination was resisted by force for centuries. The analogy does not illuminate China’s conduct so much as remind us that the moral vantage point being claimed is a recent acquisition. The repression in Xinjiang and Tibet is real and deserves condemnation. But condemnation is weakened, not strengthened, when it is deployed selectively as an instrument of strategic competition. Britain’s silence is not the “debilitating fatalism” Tisdall diagnoses; it is the ordinary conduct of a state that raises human rights with rivals and sets them aside with customers. Further, quoting a statement from a US admiral without criticism – from a rogue nation engaged in economic and political warfare against China – shows a bias I did not expect to find. Geoffrey Dixon Burston, Norfolk • Simon Tisdall writes “imagine what would happen if a British prime minister in London told the Scots they could not have their own parliament”. We don’t have to imagine – it happened in 1979. In the referendum that year, a majority of those voting said yes to a Scottish parliament. But because of the Cunningham amendment from an MP representing Islington in London, which required 40% of the electorate to vote yes, we had to wait another 20 years for our parliament. Had this rule been applied in the Brexit referendum, we would still be in the EU. Val McDermid writes about this in her novel 1979. Jane Renton Edinburgh • Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.

Italian businessman admits organising bomb attack ‘to boost friend’s security’

An Italian businessman has admitted to masterminding a bomb attack at the home of Sigfrido Ranucci, a prominent investigative journalist, claiming it was intended to boost his security protection. Valter Lavitola, who was friends with Ranucci, the host of Report, an investigative programme aired by the state broadcaster, Rai, made the confession to investigators after his arrest earlier this week in connection with the case, the businessman’s lawyer, Sergio Cola, told the Italian media. It was originally thought that the mafia had been behind the attack in October last year when a rudimentary but powerful bomb was detonated outside Ranucci’s home in a town near Rome, almost destroying his car and another owned by his daughter. Four other people allegedly commissioned by Lavitola were arrested in late June on suspicion of carrying out the attack. Cola said Lavitola had orchestrated the attack in order to boost Ranucci’s security detail amid threats to his life from the mafia. “He did it for Ranucci’s good, because he was a target of attacks,” he said. Lativola denied allegations that the motive had been to enhance Ranucci’s popularity with the aim of him entering politics, something Lativola allegedly hoped to benefit from too. The allegations were outlined in an investigative report, seen by the Guardian, which included telephone conservations including one allegedly from Lavitola telling Ranucci “you will be prime minister in two years”. There has been no suggestion from investigators that Ranucci, who previously expressed shock over Lavitola’s alleged involvement, was aware of the plot. Ranucci, whose investigations for Report focus on alleged crime and corruption, often involving government ministers, is suing unnamed commentators and politicians who accused him of staging the attack for his own benefit for defamation. His lawyer, Roberto De Vita, said that if the allegations of Lavitola’s motive were correct then Ranucci was “a victim three times over”. “He is a victim of a serious, dangerous attack, of betrayal, of being exploited by a friend in a delirious show of madness and, last but not least – and perhaps most seriously – of a massive and persistent campaign of media and political lynching that, through conjecture and insinuations, has sought to portray the victim as the more-or-less-willing beneficiary of the attack.” The case has unfolded amid a broader debate about press freedom in Italy and journalists’ safety. Ranucci has been outspoken about the alleged interference in Rai by Giorgia Meloni’s far-right government. The broadcaster opened an internal audit into his journalistic methods after it emerged in early July that Lavitola was being interrogated in connection with the bomb attack. The deputy prime minister, Matteo Salvini, has called for him to be suspended. There have been questions over Ranucci’s relationship with Lavitola, a former journalist who owns a restaurant in Rome. They became friends in 2019 after Ranucci conducted an investigation into Lavitola, who has been embroiled in several legal proceedings in the past, including one resulting in a conviction for extorting the late former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. Ranucci told Corriere della Sella in early July that he had “never hidden” the friendship, describing it as perhaps a case of “Stockholm syndrome”.

‘Absolutely unacceptable’: Japan condemns visit by Vladimir Putin to disputed Kuril Islands

The Japanese government has reacted angrily to Vladimir Putin’s first visit to the disputed Kuril Islands, which are claimed by both Tokyo and Moscow. Japan’s foreign minister, Toshimitsu Motegi, summoned the Russian ambassador Nikolay Nozdrev, while the prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, called Putin’s actions “absolutely unacceptable”. Known in Japan as the Northern Territories and by Russia as the Southern Kurils, the islands were seized by the then Soviet Union in the closing stages of the second world war and have been a source of contention ever since. The Soviet Union declared war on Japan in August 1945 as Tokyo was about to surrender, and the dispute has prevented the two nations from signing a formal peace treaty. Takaichi told reporters in Tokyo that the islands, which are just off Hokkaido, were “both historically and under international law” a part of Japan and called the visit by the Russian leader “incompatible with Japan’s consistent position” on the territory. Japanese television showed footage of Putin on the island of Etorofu, or Iturup in Russian, visiting a hospital, meeting residents and trying caviar at a processing plant, as well as comments condemning the visit by former Japanese residents who were deported when Russia took control of the islands. About 17,000 Japanese formerly lived on the islands, which today are occupied by about 20,000 Russian citizens. As well as its strategic significance, the island chain – consisting of Etorofu, Kunashiri, Shikotan and the Habomai islet group – provides access to rich fishing grounds and valuable mineral deposits. On Wednesday, Putin travelled to the nearby Russian island of Sakhalin, where he inspected navy drills and declared that the four disputed islands were recognised as Russian in international documents. Shinzo Abe, the late Japanese prime minister, had reached an entente with Putin over the territory, with visits by Japanese citizens to family graves resuming and talk of a future peace treaty. However, Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine prompted Japan to impose sanctions on personnel and entities linked to Moscow, souring bilateral relations. The Russian president acknowledged Abe’s actions in his remarks on Wednesday and went to call the recent sanctions “unprovoked”. He said: “Japan has identified Russia as a major source of threats. I would like to point out that we are not threatening Japan. On the contrary, it has territorial claims against our country.” Though it is Putin’s first visit to the islands, Dmitry Medvedev went to Kunashiri in 2010 when he was president. Medvedev was widely seen as loyal to Putin, who was prime minister at the time.

Transport watchdog investigates third near miss at Sydney airport

The transport safety watchdog is investigating a a third near-collision between two planes at Sydney airport – the latest incident occurring hours after one that made national news and raised concerns about air traffic control. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) said on Thursday night that it was investigating a second “runway incursion” on Sunday 9 August. It is the third safety incident at Australia’s busiest airport in less than three weeks. All three are being investigated by the ATSB. The latest incident involved a Virgin plane that was forced to abort take-off when a Qantas plane began to cross the runway in front of it, the ATSB said. Virgin Australia flight VA555 from Sydney to Perth, Western Australia, and Qantas flight QF728 from Sydney to Ayers Rock Airport, Northern Territory. Both were Boeing 737s. The ATSB said the Qantas crew reported having received a clearance from air traffic controllers at Sydney to cross the runway. The crew on the Virgin flight saw the plane moving in front of them, reduced thrust and brought their aircraft to a stop. The incident took place just a few hours after a Jetstar plane narrowly avoided colliding with a Qatar Airways plane on the tarmac, prompting nationwide attention on the severe shortage of air traffic controllers at Australia’s busiest airport. There was another another near-miss relating to air traffic control at Sydney on 27 July, when a Qantas flight was cleared to cross a runway in front of another of the airline’s planes that had just landed. On Thursday night, a spokesperson for Airservices Australia – the commonwealth-owned organisation responsible for the management of the country’s skies - said it was working with the ATSB as it investigated all three incidents. “Safety is Airservices’ top priority and we are committed to working with all stakeholders including airlines, ground handlers, regulators and airport operators to keep the travelling public safe,” they said. Travellers flying in and out of Sydney airport had already been dealing with delays, which Airservices has blamed on a dearth of controllers. Much of the problem is tied to a pandemic-era program that incentivised a significant number of experienced staff to leave in 2021. Soon after, Airservices embarked on a large recruitment drive but hirings have failed to keep up with demand, in part because new recruits face a difficult aptitude test and must train for 18 months in Melbourne. Airservices has said it is under additional pressure due to the new Western Sydney Airport and its recent takeover of airspace management at Ballina airport in northern New South Wales. As a result, air traffic controllers are short-staffed and exhausted, according to their union. After calling in the Airservices chief executive, Rob Sharp, for a meeting in Canberra on Monday the federal transport minister, Catherine King, said the disruptions were “unacceptable”. Nevertheless, the minister said she was confident that Airservices Australia was “doing everything they can to get on top of this”, including changing its rostering practices in the short term. An additional 95 people were expected to be endorsed as air traffic controllers by the end of the year, King said.

South Korean airport becomes busiest in world for global traffic amid Iran war

South Korea’s Incheon airport has become the world’s busiest airport for international passengers, in part owing to disruption in the Middle East caused by the Iran war. The airport, South Korea’s main gateway, about 30 miles (48km) west of Seoul, handled 38.39 million international passengers in the first half of 2026, according to preliminary figures compiled by the Airports Council International (ACI), the global trade body for airports. Heathrow in the UK was second, with 37.79 million, followed by Changi airport in Singapore with 34.53 million. It is the first time Incheon has topped the international passenger rankings since opening in 2001. The airport was 10th in the world in 2002, rising to fifth in 2018 and third in 2024 and 2025. Part of the increase was attributed to disruption caused by the US-Iran conflict, which weakened the role of Middle Eastern hubs such as Dubai and diverted some transfer traffic to alternative routes through east Asia, Incheon International Airport Corporation (IIAC) was quoted as saying by the Yonhap news agency. Incheon’s international passenger traffic was up 6.3% year on year overall, with rising numbers of foreign visitors also contributing to the increase. Foreigners accounted for 39.3% of Incheon’s passengers in the first half of the year, up from 35.2% for the whole of 2025. The proportion reached a record 44.4% in the second quarter, with IIAC attributing the increase largely to growing numbers of visitors from China and Japan, according to local media. Heathrow, in west London, recorded 40 million passengers in total in the first half of the year, including both domestic and international travellers, its busiest first half on record. Passenger traffic to Asia-Pacific rose 7.9%, while capacity to the Middle East reportedly fell 16.5% owing to the regional conflict. Earlier this week Istanbul overtook Heathrow as Europe’s busiest airport by total passenger numbers. Figures published on Tuesday showed 7.9 million passengers passed through Heathrow’s terminals in July, compared with Istanbul’s 8.15 million. Incheon has also expanded its role as an international hub. It serves 101 airlines flying to 183 cities, including 158 international passenger destinations. A four-phase expansion completed in late 2024 increased the airport’s annual capacity to 106 million passengers. Kim Beom-ho, the acting president of IIAC, said the ranking reflected “the support of the government, the public’s encouragement and the hard work of everyone stationed at the airport”. South Korea also lays claim to the world’s busiest air route. The domestic corridor between Gimpo airport and Jeju island had 14.4 million seats scheduled in 2025, according to the aviation data provider OAG, more than any other route in the world.

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