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UK must end all trade with Israel, says co-founder of BDS movement

Britain’s legal and ethical obligation to stop a genocide in Gaza requires it to take bigger steps than halting trade with illegal Israeli settlements or imposing further sanctions, Omar Barghouti, the co-founder of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement has said. He described sanctions against individual settler groups or extremist ministers as a “smoke and mirrors cop-out and distraction” from the UK’s legal obligation under international law to end all support for Israel, including arms exports, trade deals and academic relations that “may directly or indirectly enable Israel’s illegal occupation” of Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The British foreign secretary, Ed Miliband, promised on Tuesday to introduce a “comprehensive reset” of the UK’s policy on Israel in the coming weeks. It has been reported that the UK is preparing to ban trade with illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Miliband told the Commons the government was looking at how to stop British companies “financing, constructing or advertising new settlements”. Miliband has called plans for the E1 settlement, which would involve the construction of 3,400 houses through the heart of the West Bank, unacceptable and destructive, adding that, by cutting across the territory, critics say it will render a two-state solution impossible. Tenders for the settlements are due to be handed out, potentially irreversibly, days before the Israeli elections on 27 October. The Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Jewish Leadership Council have warned Miliband that a UK ban on trade with settlements may fuel antisemitism in the UK. A third group of British Jews, Yachad, also met Miliband to highlight “the growing concerns of many British Jews about the entrenchment of occupation and effective annexation of the West Bank”. Barghouti, an influential advocate for Palestinian rights for more than 20 years, said the litmus test for human rights law and the west still lay in Palestine. He said: “In July 2024, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) said Israel’s entire occupation of Gaza, and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is illegal and amounts to a violation of the racial segregation and apartheid prohibitions under international law. “Dozens of UN human rights experts have said to fulfil those obligations a set of minimal steps are required: a full military embargo, export import, dual-use transfer and transit. “They also said you have to end all trade, diplomatic and economic relations and academic relations that enable Israel’s illegal occupation.” Barghouti added: “Further in January 2024, the ICJ said there is a plausible case of the violation of Palestinian rights under the Genocide Convention. “The ICJ decided there is a plausible risk of genocide that is sufficient to trigger third state responsibilities. But UK government lawyers seem to ignore that part of the ruling and say the court has not ruled on genocide. “But the genocide convention is very clear – where there is a risk, the obligation to prevent is triggered, and how do you prevent a genocide? You stop enabling it. You end all forms of complicity.” The Israeli embassy referred to the warning by Gideon Sa’ar, Israel’s foreign minister, who said: “If Britain acts against the state of Israel, the state of Israel will act against Britain. We have the tools.” He added: “The period is over when people act against the state of Israel and the state of Israel doesn’t respond.” Explaining why he regards UK sanctions as “totally performative”, Barghouti said: “They have no concrete effect in holding Israel to account or pressuring it to comply with international law.” He added: “Israel has de facto annexed the occupied Palestinian territory, making it near impossible [to] differentiate so-called settlement goods and services.” Pressed whether the BDS movement is trying to change the minds of Israelis through economic force, Barghouti insisted sanctions have to be legal and ethical. “They have to target the perpetrators, whether entities or individuals that are involved in crimes, especially international crimes. They are actually measures of accountability, not sanctions that simply say settlers shall not have vacations in London.” Despite South Africa feeling forced to return to the ICJ to point out Israel is not complying with court orders, he said he retained his faith in international law – for all its colonial origins – arguing it was not something engraved in stone, but dynamic. “Humanity has agency to evolve and expand international law. We in the BDS movement have been pushing the envelope of its interpretation.” Barghouti added: “So, in the BDS movement, we try to hold states, corporations and institutions accountable to end their own complicity in genocide rather than just wait for the messiah of international law to come and save us. “We definitely need international law, just as we need to maintain the ethical high ground. Both are necessary, but not sufficient. We need people power to achieve liberation. There is no other way.”

Wednesday briefing: What’s behind the global backlash against datacentres?

Good morning. This summer, datacentres have become targets of resistance across the world. Ever since the arrival of ChatGPT, big tech has been lobbying for the creation of enormous new facilities. Many governments claim they’re essential in any country that wants to cash in on AI. Campaigners argue datacentres drain resources and exacerbate the climate crisis. The Scottish National Party has backed a moratorium on new developments; so has the Greens. The boom has been immense, and so has the backlash. Today’s newsletter explains why. At First Edition, we’re keen on pushing the boundaries of frontier technologies (no luddites here), so today we’re trying something new: we’ve produced a video to accompany this newsletter, which you can watch on the Guardian’s Instagram page. Let us know what you think by replying to this email. How’s that for innovation? Before you do, here are the headlines. Five big stories UK politics | Andy Burnham has blamed Brexit and Margaret Thatcher for a decade of low growth in the UK, arguing that Britain needs to be brutally honest about having taken “a series of wrong turns” in the last 40 years. Nepal-Tibet | A week on from the flash flooding disaster, authorities are urging relatives of the thousands of missing and dead to provide blood samples. Middle East | The US has launched new airstrikes on Iranian targets, prompting counter strikes by Tehran targeting American interests in Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan and Iraq, fuelling concerns about a ⁠wider renewal of hostilities. Ukraine | Russia has opened a deadly new phase in its war against Ukraine by deliberately targeting the country’s railway network, with six employees killed on Tuesday in the latest strikes on Kyiv. US news | Mark Carney has rebuked Donald Trump’s administration and urged officials in Washington to “start being serious” amid escalation trade tensions between the US and Canada. In depth: ‘We’re in an extremely anti-democratic moment with AI’ In August I attended a meeting of campaigners and councillors in the east London borough of Tower Hamlets, where the government has recently approved plans for a 5,200 sq metre datacentre on the site of an old brewery off Brick Lane. The meeting, held on a sunny Monday evening, went on for three hours, in a stifling hall so packed that organisers had to create an overflow room. It’s a testament to how divisive the subject has become. The new east London datacentre won’t be anywhere near as large as the “hyperscale” datacentres that power AI, which are typically 10,000 square feet or more. Neither is it the first to be built in the area (there are already three similarly sized developments nearby). But attenders I spoke with shared the same concerns as other campaign groups globally. They worried about the amount of energy the building will consume (5.2MW, according to a local campaign group, which is enough to power 15,000 homes), about its use of water (projections for this haven’t been released), and about the noise and heat it could emit. They have good reasons to be concerned. The IMF estimates that by 2030, datacentres will consume more energy than all but the world’s three largest state emitters (China, India and the United States). They are already driving up electricity prices: one analysis found that wholesale electricity prices rose 267% over five years in locations near datacentres in Virginia. And although the industry argues that technology in newer AI datacentres consume less water than older facilities, not even the Environment Agency knows how much water datacentres use. It’s one of many unknowns. Much of the anger here centres on how it’s been approved. Despite fierce opposition from local residents and Tower Hamlets council, which wants the site to be used for hundreds of homes, housing secretary Angela Rayner intervened, overruling the council to approve the application, citing its creation of 44 homes (only six of which will be socially rented) as a “significant” public benefit. “When you have Andy Burnham talking about devolution and democracy, this feels like a slap in the face,” Henna Khanom, a Tower Hamlets resident, told me. “To me, it feels like many of these are springing up in places where low-income, ethnic minority communities just don’t have the power to resist these changes.” This reflects a feature common to many of these battles: locals feel that datacentres are being forced on them against their will, with very little transparency or democratic oversight. *** How many datacentres exist? Globally, the number of “hyperscale” datacentres has nearly tripled since 2018. The UK had 52 datacentres in 2000, and today there are an estimated 520, roughly 48 of which are “hyperscale”, though it’s impossible to get exact figures, since nobody (not even the government) knows the total number that have been built. In the US, where local governments have signed NDAs with tech companies, information is shielded from scrutiny. In the EU, Microsoft and other American tech companies successfully lobbied to conceal the environmental impact of their developments. Secrecy is power, particularly when your industry devours massive amounts of energy, much of it powered by fossil fuels. Because developers can wait years for an electricity grid connection, many are now opting to build their own gas-fired power plants instead. In the UK, more than 100 datacentres intend to burn gas to generate their electricity. It’s possible that some may do this permanently. These are reasons you might expect more scrutiny of these developments, not less. “We’re in an extremely anti-democratic moment with AI,” the Guardian’s tech correspondent Aisha Down tells me. It’s no wonder, then, that so many protests are kicking off. Several weeks ago, police in Scotland warned one developer that public anger over these buildings was so great it now poses a security risk. *** Why does the government want more of them? The Starmer government tended to proselytise about the benefits of big tech. In documents outlining the UK’s AI strategy last year, it argued that datacentres were “the engines of the AI age”, and set out its plans to accelerate construction. So far, Burnham’s government seems to agree: last week, he rejected the Green party’s proposal for a moratorium on new developments, arguing this would “send investment and good jobs abroad”. Since the start of this year, the government has allowed datacentres to opt into Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPS), where the secretary of state rather than local councils make planning decisions, enabling developers to bypass local scrutiny. Two of the first datacentres to opt into the NSIPs scheme are applying to build new private gas power stations to fire up their operations, which will together be responsible for more than 4.5m tonnes of carbon emissions. “Most people don’t want diesel generators running constantly near where they live,” Aisha says. “That sort of thing is upsetting to communities.” *** What are they good for? With all the recent attention on datacentres, it’s worth noting many have existed for years, quietly whirring away and processing information you need to send emails or read newsletters like this one. Clearly, we need some datacentres. The question is whether we need the “hyperscale” variety. There has been lots of noise among policymakers about the UK being an “AI maker, not an AI taker” that can’t afford to be left behind in the AI “race” or lose its AI “sovereignty.” But nobody seems to agree on exactly how datacentres achieves these vague aims. Will they rejuvenate post-industrial areas with shiny new jobs? Probably not. Will they help the UK “shape the AI revolution”? It’s hard to see precisely how, when US tech companies building many of the datacentres on UK soil retain control over infrastructure, IP and profits. “People in the highest echelons of power seem to be making policy based on AI Fomo and vibes,” Aisha says. We’ll return to this vibes-based strategy and the risky financing of the AI boom in future newsletters. For now, it’s clear these fights reflect a feeling that datacentres are something done to communities, regardless of whether they consent. The Burnham government hopes to reignite people’s faith in democracy by giving them more control. The battle over datacentres will be a major test of that commitment. What else we’ve been enjoying Having written about the True Love Waits Christian purity campaign in the 90s, I wasn’t overjoyed to see its latest iteration in Girls Gone Bible. Alaina Demopoulos explains why it makes sense for so many Gen Z women. Libby I spent a childhood summer in France convinced I could communicate (via hee-haws) with the donkey in a nearby field. Decades on, I feel vindicated by this episode of Science Weekly on human/whale interspecies dialogue. Michael If the notion of an on-demand scotch egg excites you as much as it does me, Joanna Partridge has written about farmers using vending machines to bring fresh milk and local produce to rural locations that lack nearby shops. Libby After learning yesterday about the US non-profit Leaving Maga which helps people step away from the far-right, I found these reflections from four former Trump voters to be particularly thoughtful. Michael As a former Scotland correspondent, I was interested to read First Edition alumnus Patrick Greenfield on how the SNP is setting up yet more constitutional fisticuffs with the UK government over supermarket price capping. Libby Sport Football | Manchester City have equalled the British transfer record with a £125m deal to sign midfielder Enzo Fernández from Chelsea. Tennis | The Wimbledon semi-finalist Arthur Fery lost 6-3, 6-3, 7-5 to Lorenzo Musetti while Elena Rybakina sailed into the second round with a 6-3, 6-2 success. Cricket | Maia Bouchier hit 104 to power England to victory in the first ODI against Ireland, as they won by six wickets in Leicester. The front pages “Brexit and Thatcher to blame for UK’s era of low growth, says PM”, is the Guardian’s front page headline today, while the Times has “Burnham lays blame on Brexit for UK’s woes”, the Mail writes “Britain’s problems? I blame Thatcher and Brexit, says Burnham”, and the Telegraph says “Markets turn on Burnham”. The i Paper leads with “Burnham pushes welfare cuts into 2027 – as he plans bolder devolution”, the Express says “Kemi: New PM wants to take us back to 70s” and Metro’s take is “historic battle”. Elsewhere, the FT splashes “Russia secretly helping Iran develop advanced supersonic cruise missiles”, and the Mirror writes “A fresh start versus Farage farce”. The Latest British activist abducted by West Bank settlers deported by Israel A British activist who was forcibly abducted by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank has been deported to the UK. The treatment of 22-year-old Finn Joughin comes after a surge of settler violence against Palestinian people in the West Bank that has been widely condemned internationally and also by many prominent figures within Israel. Lucy Hough speaks to the Guardian’s chief Middle East correspondent, Emma Graham-Harrison – watch on YouTube Cartoon of the day | Ella Baron The Upside A bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all bad From Waxahatchee and Ratboys in the US to Westside Cowboy and Little Grandad in the UK, Michael Hann sat down with some of the bands bringing new life – and new audiences – to country music. “I think there’s a genuine desire among young people,” Ratboys singer Julia Steiner tells him, “to embrace earnest storytelling and our humanity, in the face of this monolith of corporate suits drooling over AI and the internet and trying to tell us what’s cool.” 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. Quick crossword Cryptic crossword Wordiply

‘I want to live’: the disabled people unable to go abroad because of care funding refusal

Disabled people are being blocked from travelling abroad by NHS care boards and local councils that refuse to let them use their care funding outside the UK, the Guardian has learned. Campaigners warn of a “postcode lottery” in England where the right of a disabled person to travel overseas depends on where they live or the whim of local officials – even when there is no extra cost to the taxpayer. Disabled care users report having to abandon travel plans at the last minute, or go for years without a break, when authorities refuse to pay for their care abroad, even though they have agreed to meet all the travel expenses. The Guardian is aware of instances where individuals have had requests for care and support for overseas travel turned down by NHS officials – only to have the decision reversed when they threatened legal action. Lucy Robinson, 38, told the Guardian she had been prevented from attending international work events and going on a holiday because health officials in Oxfordshire had refused to allow her to use her care package abroad. Robinson, who is quadriplegic and has a team of 24-hour personal assistants, is often required to travel in her role as the president of the European Spinal Cord Injury Federation. She has received NHS support for some trips. She said the experience had caused huge stress: “Travel is one of the things that defines my life, in terms of most of the work I do, but also because I like travelling. My quality of life is based around that. I want to live, not just to exist.” The cases have led to calls for national guidance amid concerns there are no clear or consistent NHS or council-wide rules clarifying the right of disabled people to take their carers abroad. Their care packages typically provide them with personal assistants for help with dressing, movement and night support. Campaigners have emphasised this is not about “holidays on the NHS”. There is no extra cost for the health service or local authorities, which are already paying for the care. In almost all cases, the care recipient is expected to pay for their assistant’s expenses and arrange their insurance. “Refusing to pay for care and support abroad does not deliver any financial savings for the taxpayer,” said Carol Barraclough, the advocacy and support manager at the Spinal Injuries Association. “We’d like to see national guidance on this that is effective and clear on the rights of all disabled people to take their carers outside the UK.” Robinson said the Thames Valley NHS integrated care board (ICB) told her in April it had rejected her care request to attend a conference in Germany because “NHS funding responsibilities cease at the UK border”. As a result, she was forced to abandon planned work events in Norway and Albania. She was able to go to Germany only because her 69-year-old mother stepped in as her 24/7 carer. The care board made a rapid U-turn in June when Robinson threatened the health board with legal action, arguing it was acting unlawfully. It then agreed to fund her care overseas on condition she dropped plans for a judicial review. Analysis by the Guardian shows a wide variety of policies across councils and the NHS. Some are explicit that overseas care is possible, while some agree in principle but attach a string of conditions. Others say overseas travel is allowed only at the discretion of their officials. “There’s a postcode lottery in NHS care and support policy to allow recipients of funding to take their assistants with them outside the UK,” said Barraclough, who added she was aware of several cases where disabled individuals had been turned down for care abroad. Giselle Hoad, the founder of the Adult Social Care Warriors campaign group, said: “There’s a concern that cultural prejudice about disability – that we don’t have families, partners, or jobs – means the care system sometimes assumes disabled people should be satisfied with opportunities closer to home.” Disabled people in England can get care funding through two main sources: NHS continuing healthcare, which provides support for daily living for people with the highest needs, and social care paid for by local councils. Anne-Marie Irwin, a solicitor at Rook Irwin Sweeney who represented Robinson, said NHS care boards had a legal duty to meet a disabled person’s assessed needs. As long as the care user remains a resident of the ICB’s area this duty does not stop if they temporarily leave the UK. Thames Valley said it did not comment on individual cases. It added that where a patient requested temporary travel abroad an ICB “may consider if it’s appropriate to continue commissioning care to meet their assessed health needs while they are outside the country”. It said its decisions were informed by considerations of patient safety, practical care delivery factors and risk assessment and insurance issues. Local authorities hold a similar duty to ICBs, previous court judgments suggest. Chelsea Pettitt, 25, and her parents, have been in dispute with Lancashire council over her entitlement to care on holiday. Chelsea, who has cerebral palsy, quadriplegia and learning difficulties, wants to return to Spain where she had a week-long break in 2022 accompanied by two assistants. Like other twentysomethings, she loved the sun, the swimming, food and culture. “I felt like I belonged there,” she said. But her parents, Barbara and Alison Pettitt, said they were told by a social worker that she was no longer eligible for care abroad as she now lived in supported accommodation. Her care plan specifies two-to-one care for seven nights a year for trips outside Lancashire – but the council stipulates the care must be used by Chelsea to “maintain … important relationships” with her birth family and friends. A lack of national guidelines means the family is unsure where this leaves Chelsea’s right to choose whether – or where – to travel. All Chelsea can do is savour her memories of Spain. “She had an absolute blast,” said Barbara, “and she’d like to do it again.” The council said it did not object in principle to Chelsea using her care package on a holiday abroad and it was “working closely with the individual, their family and care provider to understand the issues that have been raised and support a positive resolution”. A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “This government is committed to making sure all those who are eligible for NHS continuing healthcare receive the support they need to live independent and fulfilling lives. “Integrated care boards are responsible for planning a package of care that meets each individual’s needs. We expect them to fulfil this duty in line with national policy and legislation.” Additional research by George Francis Lee

British man deported from Sweden despite living there since childhood

A 34-year-old British man who has lived in Sweden since he was 10 has been deported in the latest of a series of Brexit-induced catastrophes for UK citizens in the country. John Sellers was told to leave despite living in Sweden for 24 years, having been educated in the country and newly married to his Swedish partner, Caroline. “It is time people know how people are being treated here, and it is time to show what Brexit has caused,” he said, as he described his near seven-year struggle to remain in the country. “Quite frankly, we have been holding our tongues too long. I am very well aware that different countries have different rules on immigration, but none of this would have happened were it not for Brexit,” he said. His parents moved to Sweden from Essex under the free movement rights that came with the UK’s membership of the EU because they liked the education system and thought it was a “good place to bring up children”. His father died when he was 16, and his mother moved back to England once he finished a college course to become a teacher. He was deported in January after three failed attempts to remain in the country and is still fighting to return to Gothenburg, where he was hoping to build a family with his new wife. “Whenever I come to England, I feel like a tourist. Sweden is my home,” Sellers said. “It is horrible. Not only do I feel like I’ve let down Caroline, I’ve let down my family, let down myself. I’ve been ripped from the love of my life, my other half. “The pain is … I wish people wouldn’t have to go through this kind of pain, because you’re not whole. You’re broken.” Hit with the cost of fighting deportation, and lack of work due to the deportation, he said he does not know how long it will be before he can physically hold his wife in his arms again. Caroline, who has chronic conditions including fibromyalgia and symptoms of long Covid, including chronic fatigue, is trying to get back on her feet to return to teaching, but the case has caused a huge level of stress and upset. She said: “It’s just horrible – the feeling of finally having someone to help you with things, someone to lean on and someone who is always there for you and then having to spend so much time, effort and money on fighting the government just to be able to continue that relationship. “There are so many things we want to do. We just want to spend our lives together, and it’s so hard having to fight for that, especially when I am not well to begin with.” Sweden’s migration minister, Johan Forssell, is poised to respond to Swedish MP Håkan Svenneling’s demand for a review of the approach to British residents in the country post-Brexit. Svenneling intervened last month after it emerged one of his constituents, 78-year-old widow Joyce Thomas, who has been in the country for 21 years, was told to leave. Thomas has until 7 September to leave, but her friends and supporters are pleading with Forssell to freeze removals and review a policy critics have said is not consistent with the Brexit withdrawal agreement. Another elderly British citizen, George Mason, who is in full-time dementia care, was told to leave the country in August but has won a stay of execution until 28 September while the migration authorities consider the “obstacles to enforcement”, his son said. The Guardian is aware of another British man detained by police on Tuesday and told he will be deported. Caroline Sellers said she and John decided to go to the media because it was important for politicians and officials in Brussels to see how Sweden’s interpretation of Brexit was “crushing people, crushing families” rather than protecting them, as politicians promised. Eurostat data shows that Sweden has the highest number of Brexit-related deportations of Britons of all EU member states. About 2,500 British nationals have been ordered to leave the country since Brexit, one-third of the entire number of removal orders issued across the 27-member bloc since Brexit in 2021. The problem centres on the Migration Agency’s apparent refusal to allow late applications from people who were not aware they had to formally apply to remain post-Brexit – a process used in only 12 other EU countries. Before, Brexit deportation of an EU national to another member state was only permitted in exceptional circumstances involving threats to national security. But in the post-Brexit scenario in Sweden, deportations of Britons have been ordered even when no crime is involved. The UK Foreign Office has expressed concern on multiple occasions about Sweden’s approach to late applications. It is understood that senior officials at the European Commission are also watching with interest. David Milstead, an activist with the Brits in Sweden group, wrote in the Guardian last month that complaints about the Swedish approach had first been made years ago. Part of the problem, he says, stems from the lack of communication to registered British people living in the country, causing missed deadline applications. He said the Sellers’ case was “yet another example of systemic failings in Sweden’s implementation of the withdrawal agreement”. He added: “There are welcome signs that the Swedish government is taking these problems more seriously, although it is too early to know what will follow. Any remedial action needs to come soon, because people are suffering now.” Sellers was aware that Brexit might affect his right to stay in the country and, without any communication from government authorities, he considered his best option was to apply for Swedish citizenship. This he did in September 2021, before the Brexit deadline of 31 December that year. Not only was his citizenship rejected, but two subsequent attempts to remain in the country under family rights in national migration laws via his partner, now his wife, were also turned down. The latest adjudication, after he appealed against the first decision to refuse him residency on the grounds of a family relationship with Caroline, whom he had yet to marry, was that they had “not lived together abroad for an extended period of time”. The migration court had noted that other evidence of a durable relationship was “insufficient”. The Sellers are now appealing for a review of the judgment with fresh evidence.

USS Abraham Lincoln arrives at Thai port after gruelling 270 days at sea

The USS Abraham Lincoln, an US aircraft carrier at the centre of a row over conditions on board after months at sea as part of Donald Trump’s war against Iran, has arrived off a Thai port. Reports of deteriorating living conditions and poor mental health on the vessel, including attempted suicides, have made headlines around the world, provoking criticism of the president’s actions in the Middle East. A heavy security presence was in force at Laem Chabang port near Pattaya, south of Bangkok, where the 5,000-strong crew of the USS Abraham Lincoln arrived on Wednesday morning after more than 270 days at sea. The huge nuclear-powered ship left California in November 2025 for duty in the South China Sea and was rerouted to the Middle East before US-Israeli attacks on Iran that began six months ago. The Lincoln left California in November 2025 for duty in the South China Sea and was rerouted to the Middle East before US-Israeli attacks on Iran that began six months ago. The resort city of Pattaya, a rest-and-recreation destination for US troops since the Vietnam war, has stepped up security as it prepares to welcome the sailors and Marines. The sailors will disembark in groups of approximately 50, according to police colonel Anek Srathongyoo, a superintendent of Pattaya city police station. Once a quiet fishing village, Pattaya was transformed into one of the most infamous red light districts in the world with the arrival of American troops using military bases in Thailand during the Vietnam war. At its peak, tens of thousands of US military personnel came through each year, said Pipatpong Fakfare, an associate professor specialising in tourism at Bangkok University. “In my opinion, it’s really the founding influence for the town. The US military turned a quiet fishing village into a global destination for an international nightlife and entertainment hub in about 15 years,” he said. Pattaya is now hugely popular with foreign tourists, known for its beaches and a nightlife scene that has long drawn scrutiny over sex tourism. Although the American troops left by the mid-70s, the sex industry infrastructure continued to grow, with European tourists taking their place, and more recently waves of Chinese and Russian visitors, Pipatpong said. Sex work is illegal in Thailand, but authorities often turn a blind eye, said Pattarachit Gozzoli, a sociologist at Mahidol University in Bangkok. Pattaya’s mayor, Poramase Ngampiches, has downplayed the city’s past, saying there had been a recent crackdown on sex workers but denied it was linked to the US arrivals. Local police arrested 25 women for soliciting on the beachfront promenade a week before the ship arrived. The mayor said buses had been arranged to transport the sailors between the ship and Pattaya until the carrier departs on Sunday. Outside one bar, a sign said: “Welcome all US military personnel. Thank you for your service.” Poramase said in a Facebook post: “They come to relax. Our preparations will focus on safety and ensuring fair pricing, so we don’t take advantage of them.” He said they had been banned from water sports such as jetskis, and from taking advantage of Thailand’s lax cannabis laws, but encouraged them to enjoy the city’s many other attractions, from malls to religious sites.

As Nepal’s morgues fill, Parkrit hopes her DNA can be used to find her mother

An army official calls out a name. A young woman stands, two pieces of identification in her hands. She fills out a form, takes another and moves to the back of the hospital to give a vial of blood. With so many people killed by Nepal’s floods, and hundreds of bodies being buried because the morgues are full, there is now a push to identify victims through DNA. The woman, Prakrit Gurung, 19, is hoping her DNA will be linked to her mother’s body. Her father’s has been found – her brother recognised his picture on a wall outside the hospital. At the government’s request, Gurung is one of dozens lining up on Tuesday morning. Earlier, an Australian citizen was one of the first 14 people to attend. He had flown over to be with his family – his brother, a Nepali citizen, is missing. Authorities are asking relatives abroad to have their DNA profiles sent over. Several Australian families have already had samples taken. “We are collecting the blood samples here, from their siblings, or direct relatives,” says Rameshwor Adhikari from the army. “People are coming from all over the valley to give blood, and from different places all over the country.” Adhikari adds: “It is a disaster. A natural calamity.” The first day they set up 37 people came through but numbers are growing – and the army brings out more shade tents for people to sit under. Adhikari wants as many people as possible to come forward. There are now more than 1,000 people confirmed dead and nearly 4,000 reported missing. As of Wednesday morning, 38 of them are Australians. In a statement this week, family members of 25 missing Australians called for more government support to “bring our friends and loved ones back home”. Nepali families from the worst-hit area, the upper Rasuwa district, have been campaigning for their government to do more to get boots and rescue equipment on the ground. It has been a week since the floods and contact has still not been established in some places along the Chinese border. Lhakpa Gha’s village, Timure, is one of them. Standing outside a Buddhist monastery on Tuesday afternoon, the 53-year-old says that if she talks, the tears will come. And as she lists her relatives who were washed away, they do. Her father, brother-in-law, son, daughter-in-law, their four-year-old daughter, her daughter and her sister’s brother. All seven, gone. Gha and her husband survived because they were in Kathmandu, looking after two of their grandchildren attending school here. “I lost my whole family,” she says through a translator. “We’ve lost everyone.” The monastery is housing about 200 people from the upper region who managed to survive – they were higher up on the mountain when the flood hit. Many watched as their loved ones were swept away, their towns flattened. “The army has not been able to reach the village,” Gha says. “They keep saying our village is high risk but we don’t understand. We are fighting with them. If it’s high risk, you need to act. But they have just said they can’t get in.” Her son and daughter were doctors in the village – they stayed in Timure so they could keep providing for the family. “We have nothing,” Gha says. “We depended on my son for money.” On Monday a UN report into the conditions in the country’s far north said it could take weeks to reach the upper areas – there are hardly any roads left in, and bridges have been washed away. If the army cannot get in, nor can the aid groups. Amy Sagitta Lefevre from Save the Children says: “Aid is definitely getting through, but to a point.” Speaking from the agency’s warehouse in Kathmandu, she says its teams have reached Rusawa by road. Aid they can’t get further is stored at the army barracks. “The challenging bit for rescue workers is the same challenging bit for aid organisations, because we have the same access issues as they do,” she says. Save the Children is getting kits up the valley that include makeshift tents, so people have somewhere to shelter. It’s also setting up mobile toilets. “On the ground we’re giving out non-food items,” Lefevre says, “which are blankets, ropes, tarpaulin sheets – because a lot of people are sleeping exposed to the elements, so just sheets in case they need to be protected from the rain.” Many of the shelters up the valley are overcrowded, so families are being sent farther afield. “We’re also giving out things like buckets, just so people can carry things or wash, if need be. “And then we have what we call dignity kits … they’re aimed at women, but specifically pregnant women – they have an extra sari, some of the mothers need clothes because they’re still wearing the same clothes they were wearing the day of the disaster.” About 2,600 children are expected to need medical treatment for “severe wasting” and more than 100 may have been separated from their parents. Lefevre says it’s impossible to put a timeline on anything. But recognising that the full recovery process could take over a year, Save the Children has set up a field office. Its workers are worried about the spread of disease, water contamination, overcrowded shelters and the potential, in the chaos of the recovery, for children to be trafficked. “This area of Nepal has historically been a hotbed for child trafficking of girls,” she says. “We’ve heard anecdotally that it may have lessened in recent years, but because of this disaster we are now very concerned about the fact that children or girls … could be trafficked.”

Relief as five Australians missing in Nepal-Tibet flood disaster found alive

A total of five Australians missing after devastating floods ravaged the Nepal-Tibet border last week have been found. Of the five Australians confirmed safe, one was found in Nepal, one in Tibet, and three outside the crisis-hit area. The total number still missing is 38. These Australians had not spoken to families and next of kin since the disaster struck seven days ago. There were “grave concerns” for the dozens of citizens still missing in the disaster, the minister for multicultural affairs, Anne Aly, told the ABC on Wednesday morning. “There are real logistic issues, including communications to find out where people are,” she said. “For those families that are still waiting, those 38 individuals unaccounted for, we understand that it’s a really concerning time, and we’ll continue to do what we can to try and locate those people.” Earlier, the minister for the Pacific, Pat Conroy, told Radio National the government was “focused on establishing their whereabouts and supporting their families”. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Dfat) has received nearly 800 calls in relation to the floods, with 18 Australian personnel having travelled to Nepal to join staff on the ground. More humanitarian and disaster relief from Australia was due to arrive in Nepal on Wednesday afternoon. Another Australian, 25-year-old Cara Severino, was safely located last week. After an Australian in Tibet made contact with family and Dfat yesterday, the foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, said the government was “incredibly thankful”. “It’s hard to imagine the sense of relief their loved ones must be feeling after what will have been an incredibly harrowing few days.” The death toll from the ⁠unprecedented deluge of ice, rock, mud and debris on Wednesday last week has risen to 939 people, with 16 more dead reported in Tibet. More than 4,400 people are missing. Wong said the government needed to “remain realistic” about the days ahead. “Communications remain difficult, infrastructure has been destroyed and many areas are still difficult to reach,” she said. “As each day passes, our grave concerns for those still unaccounted for inevitably grow. “Our thoughts remain firmly with all those waiting for news of family and friends, and with the search and rescue teams working in extraordinarily difficult circumstances.” Australia has sent a $8m assistance package for affected communities on the border between Nepal and the Chinese region of Tibet. Nepal has deployed nearly 20,000 security personnel to support search and rescue, and Chinese state media has reported that 2,141 emergency personnel have been deployed. This story was amended on 2 September 2026. An earlier version misstated the number of people who had been found.

Germany blames Russia for drone attack at Leipzig airport

The German government has blamed Russia for the drone attack on Leipzig airport last month, calling it “dangerous behaviour” and part of a systematic and concerted effort by Moscow to “cause great damage” through a large number of hybrid attacks. The interior minister, Alexander Dobrindt, and the foreign minister, Johann Wadephul, ended weeks of speculation and the government’s hesitancy to blame Russia, saying in a brisk 10-minute briefing in Berlin that all indications were the Russian state had provided the knowhow and equipment for the planned attack and “low-level agents” were recruited to carry it out. A drone loaded with explosives was discovered at Leipzig/Halle airport on 4 August near a Ukrainian Antonov cargo plane used to transport weapons to Ukraine. It failed to detonate but could have caused a catastrophe, authorities said. Russia will face a package of penalty measures, Wadephul said, adding that the German government saw “a need for appropriate and necessary action in this situation”. It would respond “to this hybrid attack in Leipzig with proportionate and measured, yet equally resolute, action”, he said. “We are not at war, but we are a daily target of hybrid warfare.” He added: “The dangerous behaviour of the Russian Federation is part of attempts at destabilisation, disinformation, threats, sabotage and aggression.” Berlin regretted the abysmal state of its relations with Moscow, he said. The EU expressed “full solidarity” with Germany over the attack, and Nato assured Berlin that it would defend its members. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, supported Germany’s move and the new round of European sanctions, saying: “These hybrid attacks are multiplying in Europe. They cannot go unanswered. “In the face of this escalation, we must be united, determined, and strengthen our support for Ukraine. France will continue to play its full part.” Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s prime minister, said: “The security of our allies is the security of us all. Attempts to intimidate us or to drive a wedge between allies will not succeed: hybrid actions against any one of us are a matter of concern for all of us, and will be met with a united response.” The Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, said: “Attacking a Ukrainian cargo plane on German soil was an egregious attempt by Russia to weaken our resolve and our collective defence – and it will fail. Our support for Ukraine in the face of Russia’s aggression is unshakeable.” The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, called the sanctions “another mistake,” suggesting the restrictions were aimed at currying favour with voters. “I think it’s another mistake, a serious one,” Putin said during a press conference broadcast by the Russian state news agency Tass. “And in my view it clearly runs counter to the interests of the German people.” The Russian ambassador had been summoned to the foreign ministry at that very moment to be informed of the consequences, Wadephul said. The Russian consulate in Bonn will be closed later this month, and Russian House, a sprawling cultural and science institute in the centre of Berlin, which is alleged to house Russian spies and to have been the launchpad for a number of hybrid attacks carried out in Germany over the past few years, is to be turned out of its rented building. A clampdown on Russia’s shadow fleet – illegal ships carrying Russian oil and other supplies in the Baltic and North seas – is also planned. Sweden and Finland track and disrupt the shadow fleet but Germany does not, so vessels regularly opt to sail via German waters in its foreign economic zones. New lists of people on a blacklist would be drawn up and tighter border controls of Russians entering Germany would be carried out, Wadephul said. Parallel to these moves, Berlin is also backing the European Commission’s 22nd package of sanctions, to cover a further 1,600 companies and organisations with a Russian connection. The government has previously said it does not intend to directly involve Nato by invoking article 4 of the alliance. However, its Nato and European partners were informed about the investigation and agreed on the planned consequences, Wadephul confirmed. The Nato secretary general, Mark Rutte, and the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, promised “full solidarity” with Berlin. Rutte said Berlin had put forward clear evidence of Moscow’s role in the “hybrid attack” and welcomed the measures announced in response, while von der Leyen vowed to “keep the EU united despite these escalating and serious acts”. Tuesday’s announcement marks the first time the German government has concretely named Russia as responsible for the attack. It marks the lowest point in decades for relations between Russia and the EU’s largest member, which had already plunged after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. This weekend will see a critical election in the eastern states of Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg Vorpommern, in which the war in Ukraine and relations with Russia have been a focal point. The far-right populist Alternative für Deutschland, which is pushing a pro-Russia agenda as it seeks to win an absolute majority in Saxony-Anhalt, has accused the government of double standards over its treatment of Russia. Urging the government to prove Russia’s involvement in the Leipzig incident earlier this week, it said the same rigour should be applied to investigations into the attack on the Nord Stream pipeline, for which Ukraine is alleged to have been responsible. The drone in the Leipzig incident was carrying 600g of explosives and was discovered in the security area of the airport close to Ukrainian Antonov cargo planes on the night of 4-5 August. The explosive device detonator appeared to have failed. A second drone was believed to have been part of the planned attack but investigators have since thrown doubt on that theory. Traces of the military explosive hexogen were found on the edge of the airport on 14 August along with a further drone, investigators confirmed. Had the devices exploded they could have caused a catastrophe, German officials said. The chancellor, Friedrich Merz, who last week said whoever was behind the attack “will pay”, did not attend the briefing to the press and public on Tuesday. Konstantin von Notz, the Green party’s security policy expert and commissioner for intelligence oversight, criticised the government before the announcement for what he described as its failure to stand up to Putin in the face of the growing hybrid threat from Russia. “The federal government must finally stop being hesitant, reticent and timid. Things must be called by their name, and decisive action must be taken,” he said in an interview with the RND network. Even within his own Christian Democratic Union party, Merz has faced calls to be tougher towards Russia. On Tuesday, the party’s foreign policy expert, Roderich Kiesewetter, urged the chancellor to take a tougher line against Russia, accusing successive governments of exercising “extreme caution with regard to Russian state terrorism on German soil”. Citing sources in German intelligence, Bild Zeitung said direct connections had been made by investigators between other drone and explosives finds and incidents in Germany and across Europe, including in Romania, Italy, Poland, Bulgaria and the UK. A cache of weapons discovered recently in a Berlin forest are thought to be connected to Russian activities in Romania. Investigators in various countries are believed to be working in parallel with each other.