‘My fear is that – without urgent action – the worst is still to come’: Sadiq Khan has said climate fears must be addressed. Photograph: Yui Mok/PA
London mayor points to ‘terrifying scenes’ this summer amid speculation Burnham may back Jackdaw and Rosebank projects
Sadiq Khan has called on the government to commit to revamped climate action and to reduce the UK’s reliance on oil and gas, as the UK endures a summer of drought, wildfires and heatwaves.
Writing in the Guardian, the mayor of London said that Andy Burnham’s administration must reaffirm its commitment to net zero and make clear it will continue to reduce the UK’s reliance on oil and gas “to get Britain back on track.”
There is growing concern among Labour MPs and climate experts that the new prime minister may support renewed drilling for oil and gas in the North Sea; since arriving in No 10, Burnham has remained largely tight-lipped on climate and environmental concerns despite speaking out about them during his time as mayor of Greater Manchester.
Last month, Burnham said he would be “pragmatic” about oil and gas and that decisions on new drilling would be made “in due course”. “The question isn’t whether Britain will still be using oil and gas, the question is where does it come from,” he said.
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Shrivelled sunflowers near the village of Kovilj, Serbia. Photograph: Andrej Isaković/AFP/Getty Image.
Slovakia reaches new high of 42C as authorities in Poland forced to shut down Kozienice and Połaniec power plants
Temperature records have been broken in several countries across central and eastern Europe as the extreme weather that has caused wildfires and droughts across the continent continues.
Countries including Slovakia, Austria and Hungary registered record temperatures. On Thursday, the Slovakian hydrometeorological agency said a new high of 42C (108F) had been reached in Dolné Plachtince.
Authorities in Poland were forced to shut down the Kozienice and Połaniec coal-fired power plants after critically low water levels in the Vistula River limited cooling water supplies. The disruption removed about 1.3GW of capacity from Poland’s power system.
In Germany, climate activists demanding an end to the use of fossil fuels demonstrated outside the chancellery against the lack of government action to keep people safe from extreme heat. An estimated 11,900 people across the country have died from heat this summer, according to new estimates from the Robert Koch Institute.
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A Palestinian man walks past a portrait of imprisoned Kamal Adwan Hospital Director Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, painted by Palestinian artist Abu Karsheli on the rubble of the Italian Tower, which was destroyed in Israeli attacks in Gaza City, Gaza, Palestine, on June 27, 2026. Photo by Ahmed Jihad Ibrahim Al-Arini/Anadolu via Getty Images.
The escalated abuse against Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya following a legal challenge to his detention has sent a chilling message to the families of detained medical workers in Gaza.
GAZA CITY—Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, the former director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, suffered multiple injuries, including fractured ribs, after enduring severe beatings by Israeli prison authorities on July 27, according to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Media Office. The group described it as the “most difficult day” of his imprisonment since being detained without charge over a year and a half ago.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, the office said Abu Safiya, who suffers from heart disease and high blood pressure, has been subjected to “brutal torture” since June 24, when he was transferred to Rakevet—an underground detention facility within the Ramla prison complex in central Israel—including spending 21 days in solitary confinement.
Previously, Abu Safiya told his lawyer, Nasser Odeh, during a prison visit on July 2, that following an appeal filed with the Israeli Supreme Court at the end of April, the assaults and abuse against him escalated dramatically. Abu Safiya told Odeh that after a court hearing in June, where he appeared via a video link looking gaunt, several prison guards entered his cell and beat him with batons and a hammer.
Abu Safiya’s son, Elias, 27, told Drop Site News that Odeh found his father in extremely critical condition during the July 2 visit—unable to breathe normally and speaking with great difficulty, with marks of beatings and torture visible on his face and body.
According to Elias, Abu Safiya told Odeh that this might be the last time he would see him. For the family, it felt like “a farewell message from a human being who feels his life is nearing its end,” said Elias. “Since that moment, we have been living every day in genuine fear of receiving the news of his martyrdom at any moment.”
The apparent repercussions against Abu Safiya in prison following the legal challenge to his detention and similar cases involving detained medical workers have sent a chilling message to the families of Palestinian detainees—particularly doctors—that seeking justice, either through legal means or public campaigns, can have severe consequences.
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Gaza health chief urges action to ‘save’ Dr Abu Safia before it’s too late
People lift placards bearing portraits of Palestinians detained by Israel, including Hussam Abu Safia, during a protest in solidarity with them in Ramallah, occupied West Bank [File: Zain Jaafar/AFP]
Fears mount for life of Hussam Abu Safia detained by Israel amid reports of torture and lack of medical care.
The director general of Gaza’s Ministry of Health has called for urgent action to “save” the life of detained Palestinian doctor Hussam Abu Safia before it is “too late”.
The paediatrician has been held by Israel since 2024 and “serious concerns are mounting” over his life and health, Dr Muneer al-Boursh posted on X on Saturday.
He noted reports that Abu Safia has been assaulted while in an Israeli detention facility and has sustained injuries to his eye, head and chest.
Abu Safia’s ongoing detention and lack of medical care have made his health condition a “source of extreme alarm that demands urgent action not postponed statements,” al-Boursh added.
Abu Safia was the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital who led the facility, one of the last functioning in northern Gaza, through an 85-day siege before Israeli forces raided it and detained him on December 27, 2024.
He has been held without charge under Israel’s unlawful combatant law, which permits indefinitely renewable detention; Israel’s supreme court rejected an appeal for his release in June. His lawyer, who visited him last month, reported new signs of beatings and torture. Rights groups, including Amnesty International and the United Nations Commission of Inquiry, have warned that his life is in imminent danger.d
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Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr. [Photo/AA]
Iran’s top security official said Saturday that the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed until the US changes what he described as its hostile policies and meets a set of Iranian demands, Anadolu reports.
In a statement, Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said Washington must “correct its behavior” before the strategic waterway can reopen.
He listed six conditions, including ending what he called threats against Iran’s supreme leader, permanently halting military action against Iran and its regional allies, withdrawing US naval and air forces involved in what he described as the blockade of Iran, compensating Tehran for damage caused during the recent conflicts, lifting US sanctions and releasing Iran’s frozen assets.
Zolghadr said the demands reflected the will of the Iranian people, citing nationwide rallies over the past six days.
“The Supreme National Security Council will not retreat from these demands, whether in war or in negotiations,” he said.
Separately, Iranian army spokesman Brig. Gen. Mohammad Akraminia said the “Iranian order” governing the Strait of Hormuz was “irreversible,” adding that the US had “no choice but to accept the existing reality” or face “far greater costs than before.”
The remarks come as negotiations over the future of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz remain at an impasse.
Iran and the US signed a memorandum of understanding on June 18 through Pakistani and Qatari mediation, ending active hostilities and launching negotiations toward a broader agreement. The memorandum envisaged a gradual restoration of commercial navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, but implementation later stalled as both sides exchanged accusations of violating its terms.
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Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian delivers remarks during a meeting with officials from the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development in Tehran, Iran on July 26, 2026. [Iranian Presidency / Handout – Anadolu Agency]
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Saturday said that now is the “best time” to reach an agreement with the US, Anadolu reports.
“When people talk about reaching an agreement, I believe now is the best time, because there is cohesion, strength and unity in the country. As far as I know, Iran is regarded as having emerged from this war and this conflict victorious and strong,” Pezeshkian said at his second news conference since taking office.
He said the current situation provided an opportunity to pursue an agreement and resolve outstanding issues through dialogue.
According to the semi-official ISNA news agency, Pezeshkian said Iran could pursue its rights through dialogue and that it sought “nothing beyond the rights of the country and its people.”
He said wars alone could not resolve disputes and reaffirmed his government’s commitment to pursuing peace under the memorandum of understanding signed with the US in June.
“The issues cannot be resolved through war alone,” he said. “We are trying to move toward peace based on the provisions of the memorandum.”
“We are determined to make the memorandum the basis of our approach, provided the United States abandons the atmosphere of distrust it has created and trust can be rebuilt,” Pezeshkian said, adding that Washington remained “untrustworthy” in Tehran’s view.
In other remarks carried by the official IRNA news agency, Pezeshkian said dialogue had not altered Tehran’s long-standing position toward Washington.
“The US is colonialist, the US is criminal, and the Islamic Republic remains the Islamic Republic. There is no doubt about that,” he said.
Pezeshkian, however, argued that diplomacy had compelled Washington to negotiate with Tehran.
“The very fact that we held talks and pursued diplomacy forced the US to come to the table and reach an agreement and understanding with Iran,” he said.
He rejected criticism of the memorandum, saying it contained no provision requiring Iran to relinquish any of its interests or positions.
“You will not find a single clause in the memorandum in which we gave anything away,” he said, adding that Tehran “stands firmly” behind what it signed.
Pezeshkian accused Washington of violating the memorandum by pursuing alternative shipping arrangements in the Strait of Hormuz instead of adhering to procedures to be jointly agreed by Iran and Oman.
He said disputes over the alleged violations should be addressed through mechanisms established under the memorandum and expressed hope the implementation process would continue “with dignity and honor” for Iran.
Pezeshkian also defended Iran’s negotiating team, describing its members as “dedicated, expert and hardworking,” and said criticism directed at them was unfair.
He also said his administration was working with the heads of the three branches of government and the Supreme National Security Council to ease internet restrictions while taking security and infrastructure considerations into account.
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