Kafka in paradise: Hawaii fire survivors in bureaucratic trap as US says no more mail delivery

• At the 2026 SCO Summit, member states issued the Bishkek Declaration, which explicitly rejects unilateral sanctions and the application of "double standards" regarding global terrorism. • The declaration supports a negotiated two-state solution for the Israel-Palestine conflict, though it contains less detailed language on Gaza's humanitarian crisis and ceasefires compared to the 2025 Tianjin declaration.

Fragmented infrastructure and reliance on US continue to hinder ‘defence readiness’, says European court of auditorsEurope live – latest updatesThe EU’s ability to respond to a foreign invasion by 2030 remains in doubt due to a continuing reliance on the US and fragmented national defence systems, according to a report from its official auditor.The European court of auditors (ECA) said the EU was much better prepared than before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine of 2022, but achieving its goal of defence readiness by the end of the decade would be difficult. Continue reading...

Government lawyers tell coroner disclosing intelligence would pose serious risk to national securityMinisters are seeking to block intelligence material from being heard at an inquest into the death of two men killed in the 2025 Manchester synagogue attack.Lawyers for Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, told a coroner on Thursday that disclosing the MI5 files would pose a serious risk to national security. Continue reading...

Guardian reporters in Nepal have witnessed first-hand the scenes of destruction and grief after the flash floods. Plus, a not-to-be-missed interview with the legendary Mr TGood morning. Thousands remain missing and the delivery of aid has been hampered by treacherous conditions in communities almost wiped out of existence by the flash flooding in Nepal and Tibet. A week after the disaster, survivors who fled up mountainsides are still being collected by army helicopters and evacuated.The mountain village of Syabru Besi was among those destroyed, with even the road to the village gone. According to local government officials, at least 500 people there are missing, a quarter of the population. The village resembles nothing more than a muddy riverbed, with just one building left standing.What have Guardian reporters witnessed? Hannah Ellis-Petersen and Gaurav Pokharel have been in Betrawati and Rasuwa districts with the photographer Ahmer Khan. In this video, Ellis-Petersen explains what she has seen alongside haunting footage of the debris. They have spoken to multiple survivors in a region now full of human suffering. Continue reading...

Bureau of Meteorology suggests El Niño has already broken records, with Pacific ocean temperature change exceeding 2C in six monthsFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesSign up for climate and environment editor Adam Morton’s free Clear Air newsletter hereThe growing El Niño weather phenomenon to Australia’s east is already breaking heat records, with forecasts showing it will likely easily surpass previous events, according to Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology, as seperate research suggested climate change had greatly shortened the odds of the event hitting record extremes.On Thursday the UN’s weather agency said the event in the Pacific was continuing to strengthen and would probably persist until early 2027, warning it had the “potential to deliver a massive blow to communities and economies across the world”.Sign up to get climate and environment editor Adam Morton’s Clear Air column as a free newsletter Continue reading...

McDonagh’s new film, Wild Horse Nine, stars John Malkovich as an agent in 1970s Chile who feels ‘guilt and regret’ over his role in global interventionsThe US’s history of intervening in democratic processes around the world deserves more attention in the light of current political developments, playwright and film-maker Martin McDonagh has said, as his Oscar-tipped film about a rueful CIA agent premieres at the Venice film festival.“I’ve been very interested in the truth of what the CIA has been doing over the last 60 years, and the awful things they’ve done all around the world,” McDonagh said about Wild Horse Nine, his first film since his 2022 tragicomedy The Banshees of Inisherin. “I think maybe something that’s not talked about enough. We know what the KGB are like, but we probably don’t question the CIA’s activity as much as we ought to.” Continue reading...

Futuro Nazionale’s speedy rise in polls prompts questions over whether PM will return to her roots before electionEurope live – latest updatesGiorgia Meloni’s government has become the longest-running in Italy since the second world war – a milestone the prime minister is determined not to let pass unnoticed.In the port area of Bari, capital of the southern Italian region of Puglia, where Meloni hosted the G7 in 2024 and where she spends her summer holiday, preparations are well underway for a festival-style showcase of her rightwing administration. Continue reading...

President said Howard Lutnick had Venezuela operation on his mind when he was discussing Iran war on CNBCDonald Trump has claimed his commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, erroneously stated that no Americans had been killed in the war with Iran because he was thinking about a previous US operation, in Venezuela.The claim, at odds with the Pentagon’s count of 18 US service members dead in the US-Israel war on Iran, sparked a swift backlash as Trump struggles to end the conflict after six months. Continue reading...

Billionaire financier, who previously walked out of a deposition, instead launches lawsuit against the committeeBillionaire financier Leon Black did not appear Thursday in front of the House oversight committee for a scheduled deposition about his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, and has instead launched a lawsuit against the committee arguing that it does not have the authority to compel him to turn over non-disclosure agreements.Black was a top Epstein client over several years, and the committee is investigating the men’s relationship as well as the existence of any NDAs that Epstein may have helped Black craft. Black, whose name has come up repeatedly in the Epstein files, has denied wrongdoing. Black also said that he regrets dealing with Epstein. Continue reading...

Air bases used by US in the UAE and Kuwait hit as the Israeli defence chief says Iran’s regime fears collapse due to economic pressuresIran has continued to demonstrate an ability to target bases in the Gulf used by the US despite six months of war and a new sanctions regime described by the Trump administration as an “economic D-day”.As Iran’s military targeted US bases in the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, despite threats of further strikes by the US president, Israel’s defence chief warned that economic pressures from the sanctions could lead Tehran to escalate to more “extreme measures”. Continue reading...

Domestic security service says clash with military intelligence directorate ‘definitely shouldn’t have happened’Several people have been injured in a shootout in central Kyiv between two branches of Ukraine’s security services, in an incident Volodymyr Zelenskyy described as “disgraceful”.The shootout, which took place on Wednesday morning in a downtown area of the capital, was between officers from the domestic security service, the SBU, and the military intelligence directorate, the HUR. Continue reading...