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UK sees temperatures of 38.1C, the hottest day of 2026; Greece battles wildfires after gale force winds – as it happened

And that is where we will leave our live coverage of Thursday’s extreme weather across Europe. Thanks for following along. Here are the main headlines: The UK recorded its hottest day of the year so far as temperatures reached 38.1C in London’s Kew Gardens (14.24). A former chief scientific adviser to the UK government warned this summer’s “shattering” heat was only a sign of things to come (11:54). Several homes caught alight and two people received treatment as firefighters battled a grassfire in England’s West Midlands (18.39). Temperatures exceeded 40C elsewhere in Europe. France’s heatwave reached a 17th day, marking the third-longest period of extreme temperatures ever recorded in the country (12.35). In Greece, a fleet of small boats evacuated more than 250 tourists and locals from the resort village of Siviri, in the country’s north, as a large wildfire bore down on homes and holiday villas. Many were still wearing bathing costumes (19:41).

Israeli troops force families from homes amid settler terror campaign in West Bank

Israeli troops have forced two Palestinian families to leave their besieged West Bank homes, the day after a top Israeli commander personally promised he would end a violent settler campaign to drive them out. Israeli soldiers also took over eight other homes in Qusra early on Thursday, telling the village’s mayor, Abdul Azim Wadi, that the buildings were needed for a days-long operation to remove the settlers. They later relinquished six. Settlers still roam the village. The Palestinians’ ordeal began on Sunday when Israeli settlers and soldiers set up a tent blocking the entrance to three homes on the edge of the village. They severed water and electricity supplies and prevented an ambulance from reaching a sick toddler. Amid mounting international pressure over the siege, Maj Gen Avi Bluth, who commands all Israeli troops in the occupied West Bank, visited Qusra on Wednesday to meet the trapped Palestinians and committed to “evacuate” the settlers from the village. Bluth’s troops later removed the tent but left the militants, their bedding and other equipment. Soldiers retreated after a failed attempt to drive out the Israeli settler group with riot control techniques. The siege continued into a fifth day on Thursday, with the impact on the village only expanding after Bluth’s visit. “The army arrived at around 10am and asked us to evacuate the houses because of a military operation in the area that would last for three days. We refused to leave,” said Qusai Ridi, one of the besieged Palestinians. “The army then moved us all into one house.” He was allowed to return home in the afternoon, where he found Israeli soldiers had damaged a security camera system and stolen some equipment. They are still occupying the home of his neighbour Yousef Hassan, who is staying with Ridi. Settlers are still patrolling outside in the area 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. “I am afraid and do not trust that the army will actually evacuate the settlers. But I sincerely hope they do,” Ridi said. His brother is an American citizen, and the US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, who is generally supportive of Israel’s settlement project, described the siege as a “horrific act of terror” carried out by Israeli terrorists. On Thursday afternoon, Israeli soldiers left six homes they had taken over in the morning. The returning Palestinian families reported damage including a Qur’an with pages torn out and destroyed decorations. Israel’s former prime minister Ehud Olmert said the siege was a “concerted and meticulous attempt at ethnic cleansing”, which left him disgusted and ashamed. “These are crimes against humanity which are actively supported by the Israeli government and are assisted by the indifference and total lack of action by the IDF and the Israeli police. It’s unforgettable and unforgivable.” The same terror tactics were used to force another Palestinian family out of their home in the neighbouring village of Jalud in July. Soldiers and settlers were filmed playing with a football together on the terrace of that house on Thursday. An Israeli military spokesperson said soldiers had been ordered not to displace Palestinian residents of Qusra and would not operate inside the besieged homes. “The soldiers were instructed that the Qusra residents will remain in their homes,” the military said in a statement. The spokesperson declined to comment on why those orders were being violated. The chief of the general staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Eyal Zamir, has ordered a battalion of infantry reservists back from leave to reinforce troops in the West Bank. Domestic critics said the army’s failures in Qusra were more the result of a lack of will than shortage of forces. “Yesterday’s events in Qusra illustrate the impotence of the IDF, the police, the GSS [Shin Bet] and other security organizations in the face of a group of bullies,” the commentator Avi Ashkenazi wrote in the Israeli newspaper Ma’ariv. “Instead of bringing a police van [and] arresting the criminals … [security forces] have been trying to negotiate with them. They are thugs. They believe themselves to be the lords of the land.” 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. Sufian Taha contributed reporting

Ukraine ‘offering Russia deal to halt attacks on civilian ships in Black Sea’

Ukraine has proposed a deal with Russia for both sides to halt their attacks on civilian ships in the Black Sea in an apparent attempt to reopen a crucial grain corridor, Reuters reports. Kyiv is said to have made the offer through a third party. Moscow has yet to respond, the news agency added. The busy waterway is a key export route for both Russia and Ukraine, used to transport grain and other vital foodstuffs worldwide. Since July Ukraine has effectively closed the route for commercial Russian shipping. Its drones have hit nearly 220 vessels in the Sea of Azov and Black Sea, including oil tankers, grain cargo ships and passenger ferries. The campaign has forced Russia to suspend shipping through a canal that connects the Caspian Sea with the Sea of Azov via a Russian river network. The route goes through the Kerch strait between occupied Crimea and Russia, and leads on to the Bosphorus strait in Turkey. During the same period, Russia has escalated its attacks on Ukraine’s southern ports, dealing a severe blow to the country’s agricultural sector. About 90% of grain and sunflower shipments leave from Odesa, and the neighbouring harbours of Chornomorsk and Pivdenne. In July Russian drones killed 10 sailors soon after their Turkish-owned grain carrier, the Golden Leo, set off from Odesa. Many of the victims were from Syria and India. Another 16 port workers and sailors have died in other recent strikes. Kyiv’s reported overture appears to be pragmatic, allowing both sides to resume shipments that are crucial to international food security. It comes as the country’s harvest season begins and with shipping from Ukrainian ports at a virtual standstill. The offer also follows a report in the FT that the US vice-president, JD Vance, had asked Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy to cease some attacks on the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk. In a phone call on 31 July, Vance complained that Ukrainian strikes on tankers carrying oil from Kazakhstan were hurting US companies and destabilising oil prices. He told Zelenskyy to stop them, the newspaper said, citing unnamed Ukrainian officials. Zelenskyy’s office has not commented, but Kyiv is in the middle of delicate negotiations with the Trump administration. It is seeking US-manufactured Patriot interceptors to defend Ukrainian cities from rampant Russian ballistic missile and drone swarms. Since the phone call, Ukraine’s unmanned systems forces have not attacked ships carrying oil from Kazakhstan via the Caspian Pipeline Consortium terminal. But they have continued to pound other targets in Novorossiysk, which is home to Russia’s Black Sea naval fleet. On Wednesday Zelenskyy hailed a “massive” combined attack on the port, featuring rockets, jets and sea drones. He said Ukraine had taken out Russian warships, including two frigates, a large landing ship, a corvette and other vessels. They had been “hiding” in Novorossiysk Bay, he wrote on Telegram. Other targets included two major grain export terminals, it was reported. Russian officials said three people, including a child, were killed. “It is entirely justified that Ukraine is responding to Russia’s war, and it is Russia that can and must bring this war to an end,” Zelenskyy posted. The two sides have previously signed an agreement, brokered by Turkey and the UN, to stop maritime attacks. The Black Sea grain initiative lasted from July 2022 to July 2023. It ended when the Kremlin refused to renew it, complaining that western sanctions were damaging Russia’s agricultural sector. Ukraine subsequently reopened the route unilaterally, using sea drones to sink Russian ships using the north-west part of the Black Sea. Most vessels in Russia’s Black Sea fleet were forced to relocate from the exposed occupied Crimean port of Sevastopol to Novorossiysk.

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 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. The planes were 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 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. Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email 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.