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Australians missing in the Nepal floods: what we know so far

The number of Australians missing in the Nepal-Tibet flash flooding disaster fell from 43 to 42 on Tuesday, with the announcement that one of the unaccounted for people had made contact from Tibet. Pilgrims trekking to a holy site in Tibet make up the majority of Australians who have been reported missing after deadly flash floods and landslides tore through valleys on the Nepal-Tibet border on Wednesday last week. Most were travelling with Himalayan Glacier Adventures, Kailash Journeys and the Isha Foundation. The announcement that a second Australian had been found alive on Tuesday comes after Sydney woman Cara Severino, 25, was safely located last week. Due to privacy obligations, Dfat has not provided further details about the second Australian to be found alive. Across Nepal and Tibet, thousands of people have been reported missing and Nepali and Chinese authorities have confirmed hundreds have died. Here’s what we know about the Australians who remain missing. This article will be updated as more information becomes available. Venkatraman Balakrishnan and Chitra Venkatraman New South Wales couple Venkatraman Balakrishnan, 52, and Chitra Venkatraman, 46, were among 15 Australians travelling to Mount Kailash on a spiritual trip with the Himalayan Glacier Adventures tour group. Their son, Akash Venkatraman, said his parents had planned to leave their riverside accommodation in Syabrubesi before it was devastated by flood waters. Muralitharan family Shylaja Muralitharan, 42, Chandresekaran Muralitharan, 47 and their children Ashwin, 14, and Aarush, 11, were also taking part in the Himalayan Glacier Adventures spiritual tour to Mount Kailash when the flood hit. The parents and two children had been training together for the long walk, Shylaja’s younger sister Vaishnavi said. She lost contact with the family shortly after their breakfast on the morning of the flood. Iyer family Sreedharan Iyer, 52, and Lakshmi Iyer, 50, and their adult sons Rishab Iyer, 23, and Rudhra Iyer, 20, were taking part in the spiritual pilgrimage to Mount Kailash with Himalayan Glacier Adventures. The Iyer brothers are medical students at the University of Newcastle and members of the West Pennant Hills Cherrybrook Cricket Club in Sydney’s north-west. Karan Bhardwaj, Arpan Mithalal Kothari and Bhavin Raval Karan Bhardwaj, Arpan Mithalal Kothari and Bhavin Raval were travelling together on a Kailash Journey tour of the region. Bhardwaj’s family says the three men have known each other since 2009, when they met at university. Raval’s wife, Bhavinkumar Raval, has told the ABC she believes her husband is still alive and is making plans to travel to Nepal. Bhardwaj is a 40-year-old Brisbane-based member of the Royal Australian Air Force. Bhardwaj’s family member Jen said: “Karan is a dad to my beautiful seven-year-old nephew, as well as a brother, uncle and brother in law. He is so desperately loved by his family and right now we are desperately praying, hoping and believing that Karan is safe, alive and somehow making his way back to us.” Narayan Panthi Narayan Panthi, from Brisbane, has been listed by Nepali police as travelling with operator Kathmandu Holiday Tours and Travel. It is understood Panthi had been carrying out independent volunteer charity work in Kathmandu earlier in the week before travelling towards the border region. Panthi’s cousin, Amrit Bhusal, told Guardian Australia his family were devastated but “holding on to hope and praying for positive news”. “We are still hoping,” Bhusal said. “We are still searching. We are still praying for Narayan to come home safely.” Bhusal said Panthi had been “helping disadvantaged children in Nepal reach their full potential through education”. Bharat Mangwani Bharat Mangwani, 42, was travelling with the Isha Foundation as part of a pilgrimage to Lake Manasarovar when his family lost contact with him on Wednesday morning. He was last seen at Gyirong before the group was set to depart for Kathmandu. “All of us are praying for him and hopefully he comes back to us soon,” close friend Kushagra Tiwari said. Mangwani’s family, including his nine-year-old son and three-year-old daughter, have travelled to India with a family friend, while his wife has flown to Nepal to look for him. Sumi Adhikari Sumi Adhikari, 41, was at the Gyirong Port crossing with the Isha Foundation group when the flood hit. Her husband, Nava Pandey, has travelled to Nepal seeking information about her whereabouts. “We still have no clear or official information about Sumi or the other members of her group,” Pandey said on Saturday morning. Renee Spry A Sunshine Coast disability support worker, Renee Spry has been described as a “deeply spiritual” person who travelled to Nepal on a pilgrimage. “She had two degrees, and she chose to do something that was … a completely selfless vocation. Her priority was always other people,” her sister Clair Spry said. “Every person she touched, they knew her love and kindness. She would be so uncomfortable with all this.” Clair Spry has set up a GoFundMe so her family can travel to Nepal to look for signs of Renee. Suhasini Kandimalla A mother of two from Springfield, near Brisbane, Suhasini Kandimalla was hiking with another Springfield local, according to her sister, Supreethini Kandimalla. While she was a New Zealand citizen, Suhasini had been approved for Australian citizenship, her sister said. She had planned to attend a citizenship ceremony for it to be granted soon after she returned. “I don’t know if it was a religious calling for her to do it,” Supreethini said of the Nepal trip. “But she certainly loved the treks in New Zealand too, and would go on lots of long hikes.” Reshma Patel Newcastle woman Reshma Patel, 46, was in the Isha Foundation group. She didn’t know Sumi Adhikari beforehand, but the pair had become friends on the pilgrimage, Patel’s family friend Chin Valsan says. “They were talking to each other, and they were supposed to come back on the same flight on Thursday,” he says. He describes Patel, who has two children aged 10 and 14 and works casually for Canterbury-Bankstown council, as “full of life” and a “kind soul” who loves her family and friends. Kanagamah Sundrasan The mother of two from Springfield, near Brisbane, was part of the Kailash Journey trek to Mount Kailash. Her daughter, Swaatika Kanniah, said her mother had been excited about the hike. “It was a pilgrimage, she really wanted to go and have that experience.” A photograph of her on the trip shows her smiling with five other members of the tour; all are now missing. “I feel like everyone is trying their best, but yes we don’t know much about what’s going on,” Kanniah said of the recovery efforts. Michael Keats The family of 37-year-old Michael Keats, from Mollymook in NSW, said on social media that he had died. Keats’s partner, Emily Boyd, said on Instagram on Sunday that he had been on a pilgrimage to Mount Kailash, which had been his “dream for many years”. “Mike went on a pilgrimage to Mt Kailash seeking enlightenment,” Boyd said. “There’s a bittersweetness knowing that there was nothing more that Mike wanted [than] to know God, and to merge with the divine. “He was a mystic, a medicine man, a teacher, leader, partner, father, brother, son, uncle and dearly beloved friend. He showed up for so many people in so many ways. A heart of pure gold. We love you forever and always.” On Tuesday, the foreign minister, Penny Wong, said the Australian government “has not yet received official confirmation of Mr Keats’ passing. He does remain unaccounted for in terms of the information we have. But … we respect the rights of the families to make the statements they have”. “Our thoughts go out to his family and to every Australian family who is hoping that the many who are missing can be located,” she said.

Tuesday briefing: Scotland has promised on violence against women – now it needs to deliver

Good morning. Violence against women and girls, in all its myriad forms – physical and mental, blatant and insidious – is a global challenge. It reaches back through millennia and, lately, it has been turbo-charged by technology, which offers abusers new ways to shame, harass and monitor victims. What would it take to eradicate it? Scotland’s first minister John Swinney wants to find out. Today, he will set out his programme for government (the Holyrood equivalent of the King’s speech), and Swinney surprised many when he pledged to put ending violence against women at the heart of his government’s ambitions for the coming year and beyond. But haven’t we been here before? Scotland has produced a raft of radical strategies, as well as legislation hailed as the international gold standard on domestic violence. So what hasn’t changed? For today’s newsletter, I spoke to equalities campaigner Talat Yaqoob, who co-chaired the Scottish government’s National Advisory Council on Women and Girls after four years until last month. I asked her what government – and societal – action constitutes meaningful change, and what other countries can learn from Scotland. But first, the headlines. Five big stories Nepal-Tibet | Rescue teams are working to reach more than 900 missing hydropower workers, who are thought to be trapped in underground areas in Nepal, after the devastating flash floods. Iran | The new US sanctions campaign is expected to push many Iranians into deeper poverty as food inflation soars. UK | The British Museum privately hosted Palantir founder Peter Thiel in a private viewing of the Bayeux tapestry, the Guardian understands. Slavery | Countries are legally obliged to consider reparations for the transatlantic slave tried, and address the legacy racial discrimination, a UN committee has said. US news | A Las Vegas jury has found former South Side Compton Crips gang leader Duane Keith Davis guilty of the murder of Tupac Shakur, bringing the case to a close nearly 30 years after the famous rapper was gunned down. In depth: Why Scotland’s pioneering laws aren’t enough We’ll find out later today the detail of the measures John Swinney is proposing, but the SNP leader’s preliminary talk has been big: pledging his personal leadership, acknowledging that alongside resources to protect those most at risk of violence right now, his government needs to address underlying economic inequalities – and hinting at the need for focused prevention when he says that lasting change requires all of society to play our part. The context for Swinney’s vow is bleak: a steady increase in misogyny and violence against women and girls across the world. In Scotland, both domestic abuse and sexual crimes are on the rise – crimes recorded by Police Scotland including rape and attempted rape, sexual assault and communicating indecently were up 10% last year and are now at their highest level since 1971. Rape Crisis Scotland has pointed out that these figures reflect a significant rise in historic offences and that, despite the best efforts of Reform in Scotland to link them with immigration, the vast majority are perpetrated by people known to the victim. Moreover, as Yaqoob tells me, technological advances have “enabled an entirely new field of violence against women and girls – deepfakes, ‘revenge porn’, online coercion and control of women through things like GPS tracking” – while the now-quotidian misogyny of the manosphere is saturating playgrounds and classrooms. A survey of Scottish secondary school boys last year found a third believed that girls who wear revealing clothing were “asking for trouble”, while a third of female teaching staff, in a separate study, reported sexist abuse from children as young as eight years old. “We also know that when there is recession, when there is poverty, there is a rise of the far right, there’s a rise of anger, and women are often the victims of that anger,” Yaqoob says. The Guardian’s own research last year found that two out of every five people arrested after participating in the 2024 summer riots had been previously reported to the police for domestic abuse. Recession hits funding too: many services are on their knees, according to campaigners, while the post-pandemic court backlog and ongoing crisis in the legal aid system continues to deny victims access to justice. *** Haven’t we been here before? When I returned to Scotland to report for the Guardian just over a decade ago, there was a new female first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, one of three women heading the main political parties at Holyrood, and you could taste the change in the air. This visibility of women in top jobs – necessary, of course, but never sufficient – was accompanied by a raft of ambitious strategies and bills. Equally Safe, launched in 2014, was a plan across central and local governments to act together on tackling gender-based violence. The National Advisory Council on Women and Girls, established by Sturgeon in 2017, brought forward radical proposals to offer two months of paid paternity leave and establish a world-leading process for complainants of sexual violence. In 2018, the Scottish parliament passed legislation to criminalise coercive control for the first time, hailed by international experts at the time as “the gold standard”, and three years later added further powers with domestic abuse prevention orders. There’s been funding for sexual violence prevention programmes in schools and universities, and a national advocacy service to support victims as they navigate the justice system. And, in 2025, a landmark justice reform bill abolished the Scottish verdict of “not proven” – a global legal anomaly thought to be a key factor in the country’s significantly lower convictions rate for rape and sexual assault. These offer a useful case study of what Yaqoob describes as “the implementation gap”. While the 2018 Act was undoubtedly radical, campaigners say it hasn’t achieved its full potential because the institutional change demanded of police and prosecutors – including the training of officers and shifting of mindset over charging decisions – hasn’t happened. Only 4% of domestic abuse crimes were prosecuted under the new legislation last year. Meanwhile, many of the 2021 powers are gathering dust because poor drafting has rendered them too difficult to implement. “There is a theme here,” says Yaqoob. “There’s no shortage of inspiring rhetoric and in some cases good strategy and legislation. What there isn’t is the priority and resources when it leaves the desk of the Scottish government and that means a lack of tangible change in women’s lives.” *** What needs to happen now? Removing this block between declaration and delivery doesn’t have to be onerous, Yaqood argues. Partly it’s about making gender equality a priority across the public sector. “Gender equality is always on the periphery of interventions. Until it’s at the centre, you can have as many big commitments as you want, but it will not make a difference enough to women and girls’ lives”. And placing gender equality at the centre is the beginning of the systemic change demanded of the police and prosecution service, as well as resourcing the tailored, often grassroots, projects that can make a difference in schools and communities – especially those designed by and for men – like the Many Good Men project which takes the conversation into football clubs. “We don’t have to reinvent the wheel,” says Yaqoob. “There are years of well-evidenced practice that we need to scale up.” Credit where it’s due: Police Scotland has done some very decent work in recent years with Don’t Be That Guy – a campaign that has young men talking directly to their peers about problematic behaviour. But the force has struggled to take on misogyny and racism within its own ranks. In recent years in Scotland, the discussion around violence against women has been dominated by arguments around women-only spaces – the UK’s most influential gender critical group, For Women Scotland, is based in Edinburgh – and unfounded claims that Scotland’s asylum population is responsible for an increase in sexual violence. Yaqoob is clear: “Anyone who tries to position themselves as protectors of women and girls, but does not have an agenda that is focused on tackling poverty, putting money back into communities for women and girls, or the need for consent and sexuality education in schools, is selling you a lie.” (For more, that broader agenda of tackling gender inequality in all its forms is the subject of a new book of essays, co-edited by Yaqoob.) *** The solution is global – and also local A global problem demands, in part at least, a global solution. As I’ve written in previous First Editions, change at street levels demands that all of us engage in small acts of solidarity. Yaqoob puts it this way: “Whether you’re calling out misogynistic language in the pub or you’re the leader of a local council allocating resources, there are so many different facets of society where people need to take more responsibility for the space they occupy.” So much of this conversation applies beyond Scotland, but back at Holyrood it’s fair to say that, while there’s a bit of eye-rolling as yet another male politician “discovers” violence against women and some head-scratching over precisely what reforms he intends to unveil, there’s also wary optimism to hear this focus at the beginning of the SNP government’s five year term. As one campaigner told me yesterday: “This is an opportunity to kick the door down for bigger changes”. What else we’ve been enjoying Rebecca Solnit is on form in this column lambasting Donald Trump’s plan to “sell off” chunks of Yosemite national park. “The US is being sold for parts or just handed over to the oligarchy,” she writes. Charlie Lindlar, newsletters team I found Ben Quinn’s acute analysis of what’s gone wrong for Reform this summer a useful primer ahead of their party conference later this week. Libby I loved this perceptive piece from Tanya Aldred on the short shelf life of football shirts. For more from Tanya on the intersection of climate change and sport, sign up to The Hotspot. Charlie The story of how Jackson Pollock’s masterwork Blue Poles became Australia’s most controversial painting takes in Gough Whitlam, the Shah of Iran and Paul Hogan – and Guardian Australia’s political editor, Tom McIlroy, tells it brilliantly in this Full Story podcast. Libby Our Laura Snapes’s music coverage is indispensable, yet not even her Taylor Swift opus can compete with this vital piece against the term “picky bits”. “It’s the Boaty McBoatface of dinner time,” she correctly argues, “exposing our once-repressed nation’s surprisingly twee core and total disregard for shame”. Charlie Sport Football | Argentina’s Lionel Messi announced his retirement from international football, following his father’s death and the World Cup defeat by Spain. Tennis | Carlos Alcaraz beat Roman Safiullin 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 in the first round of the US Open in his first match since April. Football | Bukayo Saka scored the only goal of the game as Arsenal held off a much-improved Aston Villa to make it two wins from two in the Premier League. The front pages “Public control of utilities is key to growth – Burnham”, is the Guardian’s front page today. The Times leads with “Healey: I’ll prove I’m no hypocrite on defence”, the Telegraph writes “SAS chief: Army witch hunts put UK at risk”, and the Mail has “Kemi gets Tories battle ready with ruthless reshuffle”. The i Paper’s splash is “Killer kitchen dust: victims’ loved one to receive higher compensation”, the FT says “Crunch warning for consultants as clients harness AI to cut IT spending”. The Express has “Million OAPs hit with top-rate tax bills”, and the Sun’s headline is “Prem’s £10m crypto cash frozen”. The Mirror leads with “Maxwell to beg Trump for freedom”, and Metro’s front page is “Dad’s gift of life”. Today in Focus War of words: my language lessons in Ukraine For Charlotte Higgins, the Guardian’s chief culture writer, visiting Ukraine and meeting the artists, novelists and poets under fire changed her life. “It was even before I went home that I decided I needed to learn some Ukrainian,” she tells Helen Pidd. She talks about why she was inspired to learn Ukrainian and what it taught her about its people. Cartoon of the day | Ben Jennings The Upside A bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all bad Rachel Aroesti has always loved podcasts, especially the kind that can be described as ‘Two Men Talking (In Excessive Detail About Their Lives)“. Initially drawn to them for their humour, she began to find them hugely comforting – sometimes falling asleep listening to Adam and Joe’s BBC 6 Music show. But, as her consumption increased, she became aware that she used podcasts as a psychological crutch, to prevent being alone with her thoughts. After a silent, tech-free train ride across the East Anglian countryside, Aroesti felt she was undergoing a mental reboot. Her mind flooded with ideas, plans, insights and reflections at a speed and intensity she had not experienced for years. Nowadays, she savors silence and boredom, and has successfully reduced her listening by at least 80%. “I’ve given my mind permission to wander – both productively and pointlessly – again,” she writes. 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

Relief as Australian missing in Nepal-Tibet flood disaster found alive

An Australian believed to be missing after floods ravaged the Nepal-Tibet border last week has been found alive. The person made contact with officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Dfat) on Tuesday from Tibet. They are receiving support from Australian consular officers and has spoken with their family. This brings down the number of Australians missing in the flash floods from 43 to 42 and comes after another Australian, 25-year-old Cara Severino, was safely located on the weekend. “We’re incredibly thankful another Australian, who had been unaccounted for, has now been found,” the foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, said. “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.” Due to privacy obligations Dfat was unable to provide further details about the individual. 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 are missing on the two sides of the border. 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 Nepal-China border. 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.

Singapore asks the $70,000 question: who wants to start a family?

With leafy cycle paths, rooftop water parks and child-friendly restaurants, Singapore’s east coast is one of the best places in the island city-state to raise a family. Finance worker Lee lives in an apartment here with his wife and two cats, but like an increasing number of Singaporeans they do not intend to have children. They worry about the challenges of bringing them up, and the disruption to their lives. He knows his parents want grandchildren: “They brought it up a couple of times when we were younger, but now they don’t bring it up any more.” The 34-year-old, who requested his last name only be used, says he and his wife feel the same. “We are happy with our lives right now, so adding a kid will kind of complicate that,” including giving up travel and not being able to go out to restaurants. A survey released this month by YouGov has found that many Singaporeans feel the same, with one in four saying they don’t plan to have children. Grappling with a historically low birthrate, the city-state announced sweeping measures to encourage couples to have children, but it is unclear how successful those measures might be. The prime minister, Lawrence Wong, has said the government will provide almost S$70,000 (US$55,048; £40,647) in direct financial support for every child by the time they turn 17. The policy begins at birth with a S$10,000 baby grant, and two separate $5,000 grants for medical and educational expenses. Other provisions include S$2,000 in “child credits” from ages one to 16, lowering government-subsidised preschool fees to S$150 a month, and giving people more parental leave. “Singapore’s future will only be as strong as the families that build it,” Wong said. Singapore’s birthrate for women of reproductive age – known as the total fertility rate – is a record low of 0.87. A rate below the “replacement level” of 2.1 is the norm around the world today, but Singapore is part of a cluster of countries in Asia with the world’s lowest rates, alongside the likes of South Korea and Taiwan. For governments, the demographic trend poses a major economic challenge, leaving a smaller proportion of working adults to support a growing elderly population. Singapore is projected this year to reach a “super-aged” status, which the UN defines as having more than 21% of its population aged 65 and above. The prime minister’s measures have received a mixed reception, with those interested in having children still worried about the expense of raising a family. The cost of living in Singapore is “insanely high” says Iqbar Hisham, 27, who works as a coordinator in the construction industry, but the new policy has given her and her fiance some hope for starting a family in the future. “These supports do encourage me to have children as soon as possible once I’m married,” Hisham says, noting in particular the help for childcare. Social pressure, including a highly competitive education system and demanding workplaces, and the need for childcare support due to both parents working are also playing into a growing reluctance among some Singaporeans to start a family. As an indication of the times, the pressure around academic results has fuelled a huge private tutoring industry as parents try to ensure their children get ahead. Teo You Yenn, a sociologist and author of Unease: Life in Singapore Families, told the Straits Times she was struck during research for her book by how consumed Singaporean parents were with extracurricular study, starting as early as preschool. In his speech, the prime minister acknowledged that many Singaporeans “worry about the future their children will inherit, and whether they are doing enough to help them succeed”. Lee says financial support from the government isn’t everything. “I think there will be a large portion of time that me and my partner will need to take out in order to raise a child correctly,” he says. “That is something that we are not able to provide at the moment.” Planning manager and mother of three Shu Rong Teo, 41, says having children has always been important for her. But having a family and retaining her job at the Singapore Chinese Orchestra was only possible with the support of a domestic helper, and by living with her in-laws. “Our experience is a testament that it takes a village to raise a child – and that family support remains indispensable for working parents navigating the demands of parenthood.” She welcomes the reforms, in particular increased childcare leave, which will allow her to spend more time with her children. “I used to have two days of childcare leave. Outside the two days, I had to take my annual leave to take care of my children, but with the new measures [my husband and I] have 12 days each. “The biggest difference will be having more time.”

Madrid residents brace for noise and disruption from new F1 circuit

Opponents of Madrid’s newly constructed Formula One circuit have accused the regional authorities of putting profit before people’s wellbeing after tests for the inaugural Spanish Grand Prix at the track later this month yielded noise levels that were almost twice the legal decibel limit. The regional government of Madrid and the city council are hoping that the 5.4km-long (3.3 miles) Madring circuit – which has been built in the north-east of the Spanish capital at a cost of €83m (£71m) – will attract visitors, boost the local economy and put the city firmly on the motor racing map. The Madring bills itself as “a perfectly connected circuit: just 20 minutes from the city centre”. But recent track tests using Formula Three cars have worried local people who are taking legal action over the construction of the circuit and the noise it is expected to generate. The Stop F1 Madrid platform, which was formed a year ago, said neighbours had recorded average noise levels of 102.7 decibels during the tests, with peaks of between 107.7 and 109.1 decibels. The maximum noise level permitted in residential areas is 55 decibels. “It’s not just about the dust and the noise,” said Antonio Ibáñez, a spokesperson. He said there had been complaints from people who argued it was impossible for them to work remotely during the tests, adding: “We’ve also spoken to people who have children with autism and they had to get them out of the area because of [all the distress].” One of the group’s biggest worries is the huge numbers of people expected to descend on the area for the grand prix itself, putting an enormous strain on public transport and the local area. “An urban Formula One circuit is just a bad idea,” he said. “It’s a nonsense idea.” Regional and city authorities have sought to reassure residents and are attempting to stress the economic benefits of the track. Borja Carabante, Madrid’s city councillor for urban planning, mobility and the environment, said measures, such as acoustic panels, would be put in place to minimise noise during the grand prix on 11-13 September. He also said that the Formula Three cars used to test the track “make and emit more noise than Formula One cars, so there’ll be less noise on 13 September than there was during the tests”. Carabante said the city council would work to ensure traffic disruption was kept to a minimum. But he called on the people of Madrid to celebrate the arrival of Formula One in the city: “We should be congratulating ourselves that Madrid is hosting such an important and significant event that will put us at the epicentre of great sporting events. It’s amazing news for all the people of Madrid and it’s putting Madrid on the map.” The regional minister for housing, transport, and infrastructure, Jorge Rodrigo, said the event would be of huge economic benefit for Madrid, and well worth one weekend’s disruption. “It’s worth a little bit of sacrifice from all of us … given the profitability of this event for the Madrid region and the city of Madrid, and, above all, given how it’ll position us internationally.” A spokesperson for the Madring said it was taking “all measures within our reach to minimise the disruption caused by the construction work and the event”, adding: “Protecting the wellbeing of local residents and reducing the environmental impact are a priority for the organisers, and we are therefore working continuously with the relevant authorities and various stakeholders to implement mitigation and improvement measures.” But environmental groups have questioned the wisdom of building a grand prix circuit in a city where summer temperatures can exceed 40C (104F). According to Stop F1 Madrid , more than 700 trees have been felled or moved to make way for the track, while María Ángeles Nieto, a spokesperson for the Madrid Environmentalist platform, said a seasonal wetland that was home to amphibian species had been destroyed. “Madrid is a city with significant temperature increases during the summer months – the entire city is a heat island,” said Nieto. “We’ve pointed out that this just exacerbates that heat island effect.” Nieto said was “no justification whatsoever” for a track that would subject residents to “a living hell” for the duration of the grand prix and other possible events there. “The people in charge of the city are prioritising the economic interests of Formula One over the wellbeing of the citizens in such an absolutely absurd and unnecessary way,” she said.

Iceland’s close ties with EU mean no vote is not a Brexit-style rejection

Iceland’s 52.8% to 47.2% vote against reopening EU accession talks is, undeniably, a blow for Brussels. But claiming it as a Brexit-style victory for “national sovereignty” or evidence of broad rejection of the EU misrepresents the reality of the island’s relationship with the bloc. For the EU, Iceland was a dream candidate: small, stable, prosperous and strategically located in an increasingly contested Arctic. Eager as it is to wield more geopolitical clout and revive flagging momentum around enlargement, a vote in favour would have given Brussels a very welcome boost. Instead, Iceland’s rejection handed Eurosceptics another stick with which to beat the bloc. France’s Marine Le Pen said the result showed the appeal of a Europe of “free, sovereign nations” rather than closer integration, while Reform UK’s Nigel Farage congratulated Icelanders on “voting to keep their independence”. But Iceland is a very special case. Its situation bears precious little relation to Brexit or even to a broader EU-critical movement. Icelanders did not vote to isolate themselves from the EU, tear up any treaties or “take back control”, they voted to preserve a close, customised and largely successful relationship. Unlike accession candidates in the western Balkans or eastern Europe, Iceland does not need EU structural funds to build infrastructure or boost living standards. High per capita wealth generally insulates its population from the economic pressures that can make EU membership an attractive financial proposition. As part of the European Economic Area (EEA) and Schengen passport-free travel area, Iceland is already solidly within the European fold. It accepts free movement of goods, capital, services and people. Its markets – financial services, energy, transport – are EU-regulated and its social and environmental standards are those of the EU. That means it adopts roughly 75% of EU law and directives into domestic law and there is no question of changing that. Icelandic citizens already enjoy full EU single-market rights without full EU membership, and that, a narrow majority decided, was, on balance, good enough. Although the official reaction in Brussels was muted, some acknowledged EU dismay. “The EU doesn’t inspire people any more,” said the Belgian Green MEP Saskia Bricmont. The centrist MEP Sandro Gozi, who represents France, called it “a warning Europe should take seriously”, adding that the bloc’s “power of attraction” should not be taken for granted. Opposition to full membership was focused heavily on the country’s fishing industry, which accounts for 15% of its GDP and 40% of export revenues and which the no campaign claimed would inevitably be threatened – as during the 1960s and 70s “cod wars” with the UK – were Iceland to join the EU’s common fisheries policy. The vote also revealed a stark divide between people in the capital, Reykjavík, who largely saw membership as an additional form of security for a geographically isolated country in the age of Trump and Putin, and those on the rest of the island, many of whom are fishers and farmers, who overwhelmingly voted against. But if Iceland’s particular circumstances mean the “no” victory cannot be compared to Brexit, it nonetheless holds lessons for Brussels. The first is that existing EEA/EFTA states are probably harder to persuade to join the EU than countries outside the single market. For non-EEA nations, joining the EU offers transformative individual and economic benefits – unrestricted access to the world’s biggest trading bloc, freedom of movement, huge financial aid. For citizens of EEA states such as Iceland (and, for that matter, Norway), most of those already exist. When the status quo provides 80% of the benefits of membership and poses no threat (real or imagined) to vital national industries, the incremental gains of full accession become a hard sell. What should worry the EU more is that despite growing doubts about the US and Nato security umbrella, Icelanders were not won over by the bloc’s protection offer. For all the talk of the bloc “stepping up” as a defensive force, its mutual defence clause, which provides for solidarity if a member state is attacked, did not convince. There is, clearly, work to be done there. But as the EU law professor Alberto Alemanno argues: “Iceland’s referendum result does not reject European integration … It shows that close integration [with the EU] short of membership can be stable, credible and politically attractive.”

Kākāpō rising: 90 chicks swell population of the world’s heaviest parrot

The population of the world’s heaviest parrot, the kākāpō, has surpassed 300 birds for the first time in 75 years, after a record breeding season triggered by the mass fruiting of a native New Zealand tree. Ninety chicks were officially added to the population of the critically endangered birds on 1 September, pushing the total to 325 – a record high since recovery efforts began. “The last time the population is thought to have exceeded 300 birds may have been as long as 75 years ago,” said Deidre Vercoe, the conservation department’s kākāpō recovery operations manager. “We had a four-year gap between breeding seasons, so it’s fantastic to finally see the population increase after all that time.” Kākāpō, the world’s only nocturnal and flightless parrot, were once abundant across New Zealand. But their population plummeted after the introduction of predators such as cats and stoats. By the 1900s, they were nearly extinct. A recovery programme was established in 1995 with a population of just 51 birds and has battled challenges with genetic diversity, infertility and poor chick hatching rates. There are three kākāpō breeding populations, all based on predator-free islands off the South Island. Kākāpō breed only every two to four years when the native rimu trees produce large numbers of berries, so repopulation is slow. This year, after a four-year wait, a bountiful harvest of rimu berries prompted the birds to breed and produce a record number of chicks. “In the early years of recovery, it took 16 years to produce that many chicks,” Vercoe said. Kākāpō are thought to live between 60 and 80 years, can weigh up to 4kg and are famously entertaining. More than 100,000 people tuned in to watch a live stream of a kākāpō sleeping, eating and attending to her nest and chicks during breeding season. The parrots have unusual mating rituals. Male birds gather in a “lek” to produce a distinctive booming sound, emitted from air sacs in their chests while sitting in a dugout bowl in the ground. The deep boom, which can travel up to 5km, sounds similar to a softly plucked cello string. After choosing a partner and mating, females typically lay one to four eggs. The females become solely responsible for their eggs and hatched chicks for roughly six months. At 150 days of age, the chicks are fledged and considered independent enough to be added to the total population. The youngest chick of the 2026 breeding season was female Awarua-A3, who hatched on 30 March. Modelling indicated the next breeding season could occur as soon as 2028, Vercoe said. “So, while we’ll take a moment to stop and reflect on this remarkable year, we’re already looking ahead to 2028 and preparing for what could come next.”

Ukraine war briefing: Pressure stays on Russian economy until war is over, says Bessent

No economic relief for Russia is ‌possible ‌until its war in Ukraine ‌ends, the US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, has told a Russian counterpart. Bessent met with Anton Siluanov, the Russian finance minister, at a G20 finance leaders’ meeting in Asheville, North Carolina, where Moscow’s representatives were a surprise and unwelcome presence. A source told Reuters that Bessent said no agreements of any kind were ‌possible ‌until the war ended. The Russian finance minister’s ⁠first in-person G20 appearance since Russia invaded Ukraine has irritated European officials ‌who are working on more sanctions against Russia. Britain on Monday ramped up pressure on ⁠shadow financial systems underpinning Russia’s war economy, doubling penalties for sanctions breaches, the UK treasury said. Fines would increase from 50% of the value of a sanctions breach to 100%, said John ⁠Healey, the UK finance minister. The UK’s National Crime Agency issued a nationwide ‌alert targeting the Kremlin-backed A7 network, which the British government has said was used to route funds and evade restrictions. Four people ⁠were killed and more than a dozen injured in Russian air attacks on the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv and the surrounding region on Tuesday, local authorities said, as a sixth day of strikes began. In Kyiv, three people were killed ⁠and another five wounded, and a fire broke out in a non-residential area. In ‌Boryspil in the wider Kyiv ‌region, one person was killed and another nine, including a child, were injured after missiles and drones ‌damaged an apartment building and a business, said the governor, Tymur Tkachenko. Odesa in Ukraine’s south came under heavy attack on Monday night, including by glide bombs, local officials said. It comes as Kyiv endures hours of daytime air raids and air raid warnings, Dan Sabbagh writes from the Ukrainian capital. Russia fired 800 jet-powered drones into Ukraine in the previous four days. Past versions of the Iranian-style Shahed drones were propeller-driven. In response, Ukrainian engineers are racing to make faster interceptor drones. “Four companies have developed the relevant interceptor drones, and one company has the most successful technology,” said Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s president. Nato ⁠fighter planes were scrambled, Latvia’s military said early on Tuesday, after ⁠a warning ‌of a ‌possible air ‌threat near the town of Ludza, close ‌to the Russian border. Separately, Russia’s north-western Leningrad region issued a drone ⁠threat alert, according to the governor, ‌Alexander Drozdenko. More than a dozen drones heading for Moscow were shot down, claimed the mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, on Tuesday morning. Ukrainian drones also caused damage in the Samara region, home to ⁠a number of major oil refineries about 800km (500 miles) south-east of Moscow, the local governor said. Finland restricted air ‌and maritime traffic close to Russia, armed forces of both countries said, as Russia’s north-western Leningrad region, home to major export ports, came under drone attack. Ukrainian drones have hit another Wildberries warehouse, this time in Ekaterinburg, Russia. The Russian local governor confirmed the strike ‌on Monday, claiming that drones ‌and debris ‌also struck residential buildings. There were no casualties, he said. The suspected Russian “shadow fleet” oil tanker MV Sun was boarded ⁠by the ⁠European Union’s naval mission in the Mediterranean on Sunday, said Kaja Kallas, the EU’s ⁠foreign policy chief. “The oil ‌tanker MV Sun, suspected ‌of sailing under false flag in breach of international maritime law, was boarded on August 30 in the ‌Mediterranean by Operation Eunavfor Med Irini forces for flag verification,” Kallas posted. The war in Ukraine must end for humanity’s sake, India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, told Vladimir Putin as the two met in Kyrgyzstan. “Every day that the war continues, humanity is, in effect, set back a step, whilst every step towards peace gives all of humanity real hope for peace,” Modi said. “We need to move from endless war to an end to the war, to a cessation of hostilities. And we will need to move precisely in this direction.” Despite international condemnation and sanctions, India, along with China, has remained one of the biggest buyers ‌of Russian oil, which has helped Moscow fund its war against Ukraine. Modi and the Russian president met on the sidelines of ‌the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit where Putin ⁠and his Chinese counterpart, Xi ⁠Jinping, also met and briefly discussed ⁠the Ukraine war, the Kremlin said. Indonesia said it was investigating claims that several citizens had joined the Russian military to fight in the war in Ukraine. Information from Ukrainian authorities was being checked, the foreign ministry in Jakarta said. It did not say how many Indonesians were under suspicion, but they risk losing their citizenship. “If the involvement of Indonesian citizens in the armed forces of a foreign country is verified, it is an individual act and does not represent the policy or position of the Indonesian government,” the foreign ministry said. Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday that he ⁠held a “detailed ⁠and constructive” call with US envoys ⁠Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. Both sides were ⁠working to finalise dates for their visit ‌to Ukraine. “I ‌also informed them about the situation on the battlefield, where Russia’s gains have been sparse and at the cost of ‌huge losses, and about the strikes,” Zelenskyy said. “We shall see what the US president’s representatives manage to achieve. September ⁠could bring about a lot of changes. And we, together with our partners, must do ‌everything we can to protect people.” Polish prosecutors are investigating a fire at a drone factory as an act of terrorism arranged by a foreign intelligence service. The fire at the WB Electronics factory in the central city of Skarzysko-Kamienna was started deliberately using a “device containing flammable materials”, a prosecution statement said. Several countries in eastern Europe have said they have been the target of spying and sabotage as part of a “hybrid war” by Russia. Ukraine’s top sanctions official, Vladyslav Vlasiuk, will visit Washington this week to urge members of the US House ⁠of Representatives to approve sweeping ⁠Russia sanctions legislation. It would enable the president to sanction Russian officials and authorise tariffs on China, India and other countries for buying Russian oil and gas. Some US lawmakers and industries are wary, though, that Donald Trump might abuse the powers that the legislation contains. The House has not yet scheduled a vote on the legislation.