Russia launches ‘massive attack’ on Kyiv and surrounding region – Europe live

• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is leading recovery efforts in Venezuela following a series of earthquakes and floods. • OCHA is currently coordinating support across 80 local and international organizations, working alongside government authorities to provide relief.

• Israeli airstrikes killed at least seven Palestinians in Gaza, while a Palestinian American traveled to the West Bank to protect their home from settlers. • Tensions escalated between the U.S. and Iran after Donald Trump posted a map labeling the Strait of Hormuz as "New U.S. Territory," despite Iranian claims that the U.S. is seeking talks.

Improvements in fire management however could mitigate increases by more than 70%, study showsWildfires are projected to burn 39% more of Europe by the end of the century even in the best-case scenario for stopping the planet from heating, a study has found, unless action is taken to manage them better.The increase in hot, dry and windy weather that leads to small fires turning into raging infernos is to engulf more of Europe as carbon pollution pushes temperatures higher. In the worst-case scenario the researchers modelled, which would see global heating reach 3.6C above preindustrial levels, the burnt area would almost triple. Continue reading...

Inflation deterring shoppers from spending, especially in the US, says sportswear fashion chain Sports fashion retailer JD has slashed its profit forecasts as cost-of-living pressures, fuelled by the US war on Iran, weighed on sales of trainers.JD Sports, which sells a range of sports brands including Nike and Adidas, said widespread inflation had hit shoppers’ wallets, resulting in falling sales across important markets such as the US, where it struggled to quickly shift trainers and other footwear. Continue reading...

The prime minister has promised a crackdown on criminal gangs making money from dumping waste Hello and welcome to the UK politics live blog.The days of criminal gangs making easy money from dumping waste are “over”, the prime minister will say on a visit to a waste site in Yorkshire later today.These toxic dumps have blighted communities for too long. I said we would clean them up – and that’s exactly what we’re announcing today.These mountains of rubbish have been a clear sign to communities that politics hasn’t been working for them or their area.This government is going to tackle the issues that have been ignored by Westminster for too long and bring back hope.Andy Burnham has said government money alone may not be enough to get rough sleepers off the streets by Christmas, as he issued a “rallying call” for councils, charities and communities to help solve the problem. Speaking on a visit to the north-east of England, he said he felt “very passionately” about tackling homelessness and wanted the wider society to play a part in wiping it out.Burnham is “too chicken” to approve the controversial Jackdaw and Rosebank oil and gasfields, the Tories have claimed. Production had been approved by the previous Conservative government, but those decisions were quashed after a legal challenge by Greenpeace, leaving Labour ministers to decide whether drilling should go ahead.Labour could lose dozens of seats to the Green party if the government allows new drilling in the North Sea, according to internal research shared with the Guardian. Green party analysis suggests up to 50 Labour MPs – including key Andy Burnham ally Louise Haigh – could lose their seats at the next election if the government fails to make urgent climate action a priority or allows new drilling for oil and gas in the North Sea.The Tories believe they can cut energy bills by £540 a year for the next two decades by prioritising cheap energy over net zero. Speaking in London, the shadow energy secretary Claire Coutinho said, when she was a minister, civil servants had been unable to prove to her that wind and solar energy was cheaper than fossil fuels.Burnham has warned of the dangers of open-water swimming as he called the deaths of a mother, father and their teenage daughter who got into difficulty in water off Sussex “a terrible family tragedy”. The prime minister expressed his sympathies as a young girl from the same family remained in a critical condition in hospital. Continue reading...

In a strongly worded statement, the Australian woman’s family says IDF announcement is an ‘insult’ to her memoryGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe family of the slain Australian aid worker Zomi Frankcom has described a decision by the Israel Defense Forces not to open a criminal investigation into her death as deeply disappointing, and called on the government to push for the release of evidence, including audio from the drone strike.Israel’s decision prompted outrage from Australia on Thursday. The country’s ambassador to Australia, Hillel Newman, was called in by the foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, while the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, expressed “outrage” and insisted he would press for justice for Frankcom and her colleagues. Continue reading...

Overall results slightly better than last year, with share receiving grades 7, 8 and 9 rising by 0.1 of a percentage point to 23.1%GCSE results – latest updatesAlmost one in four boys in England received top grades in maths while results in English improved across the board, helping to propel improved GCSE results for this year’s cohort of 16-year-olds.The stronger performances in maths helped pupils taking GCSEs in year 11 reach a record level for higher grades in England outside the Covid pandemic years, when exams were replaced by teacher assessments. Continue reading...

Joanna Boydell steps down after widespread criticism over company’s handling of guest safety issuesThe boss of Travelodge has resigned after widespread criticism of her handling of security failings at the hotel chain, including a shocking case where a domestic abuser was given a key to a woman’s room before assaulting her.In a brief company statement on Thursday, Travelodge said Joanna Boydell had stepped down and temporarily replaced by its finance chief, Ray Reidy. The company has launched a formal search for a permanent substitute. Continue reading...

South Australian premier Peter Malinauskas says there have still been no detections in poultry or livestock and no mass deaths involving mammalsSouth Australian premier Peter Malinauskas has declared a “significant escalation” in H5 bird flu in the state after the detection of three mass mortality events involving more than 1,000 greater crested terns.Malinauskas said the cause of the deaths was presumed to be H5 bird flu. Continue reading...

Former archbishop of Canterbury also has ‘awkward questions’ for activist Tommy Robinson on his claimed faithA former archbishop of Canterbury has accused Nigel Farage of misusing the UK’s Christianity “to channel anti-Muslim feeling” and said he also had “some awkward questions” for the far-right activist Tommy Robinson.Dr Rowan Williams, who was the archbishop of Canterbury for 10 years until 2012, said there was an “inevitable scepticism these days about some claims to religious conviction”. Continue reading...

A ‘capacity for despair’ forged by political oppression has long been consider a Magyar national trait. But after Orbán, writers in the country remind us that melancholy must not always be bleakA lone visitor looks for a garden outside an empty monastery. A morose housekeeper won’t let anyone behind the door of her own home. A retired general living alone on a crumbling estate waits 40 years to confront the only friend he ever had. Melancholy, an affinity with oblivion without a concrete cause, suffuses the Hungarian fiction translated for foreign audiences over the past 30 years, from the tortured tales of Sándor Márai to the taut novels of Magda Szabó.In his book In Praise of Melancholy, essayist László F Földényi tells the story of an Englishman who monomanically decides to teach himself Hungarian. For Földényi, the commitment to studying a language with 26 cases and with no connection to any other language, from a culture besieged by centuries of invasion, is to embrace melancholy, a seductive “capacity for despair”. To read Hungarian literature as an outsider, the poet János Pilinszky claimed in 1972, is to acquire unique spiritual insights that come from centuries of rootlessness, alienation and strife. Continue reading...