Oprah Winfrey spoke at a Democratic convention for the first time on Wednesday night, giving an enthusiastic endorsement to Kamala Harris while encouraging independents and undecided voters to turn out for the Democrats.

In a forceful, vigorous speech that ranged from school integration to childless cat ladies, Winfrey sought to encourage voters to cast their ballot for “the best of America”.

Winfrey said she was a registered independent and called on other independents and undecideds to vote.

“Values and character matter most of all. In leadership and in life. And more than anything, you know this is true, decency and respect are on the ballot in 2024.

“I’ve actually travelled from the red wood forests … to the Gulf Stream waters,” Winfrey said, referring to the Woody Guthrie song This Land Is Your Land. She said she had seen sexism, inequality and division, and been on the receiving end of it, but she had also seen that more often than not, people will help you when you are in trouble.

“They are the best of America, and despite what some would have you think, we are not so different from our neighbours.

“When a house is on fire, we don’t ask whose house it is,” Winfrey said, adding that “if the place happens to belong to a childless cat lady, well, we try to get that cat out too”.

Winfrey’s comments were a reference to the Republican vice-presidential nominee, JD Vance, who has faced criticism for saying that the US is run by “childless cat ladies”.

“Civilised debate is vital to democracy, and it is the best of America,” Winfrey said.

In her Wednesday night appearance, Winfrey also spoke about Tessie Prevost Williams, who, at age six, was part of the first two desegregated classrooms in New Orleans. Williams died in July this year.

The New Orleans Four – as Williams and another three students became known – paved the way for a “girl, nine years later, to become part of the second integrated class” at her school in California, Winfrey said in reference to Harris, who was part of a bussing programme in Berkley.

“Soon, and very soon, we’re going to be teaching our daughters and sons about how this child of an Indian mother and a Jamaican father, two idealistic, energetic immigrants … grew up to become the 47th president of the United States,” Winfrey told the crowd.

Winfrey endorsed Barack Obama in 2008, Hillary Clinton in 2016, and Joe Biden in 2020, but Wednesday was her first appearance at a Democratic convention. Her appearance was kept secret and, according to her friend Gayle King, when Winfrey entered the convention centre for a rehearsal she wore a hat, sunglasses and face mask to hide her identity.

In 2012, researchers at Northwestern University and the University of Maryland tried to establish the correlation, if any, between celebrity endorsements and votes.

They used Winfrey’s endorsement of Barack Obama ahead of the 2008 Democrat primary to examine whether it had any effect on the polls.

The researchers concluded that Winfrey’s endorsement was worth about a million votes for Obama, who beat his main primary challenger, Hillary Clinton, by about 270,000 votes in the states used in the sample.

Robert F Kennedy Jr is set to drop his maverick campaign for president, it has been reported, amid speculation the independent and environmental lawyer will throw his support behind Donald Trump.

The ABC network, citing “sources familiar with the decision”, reported that Kennedy would formally leave the race on Friday. The report followed an announcement on his campaign website that he would make a statement that day “about the present historical moment and his path forward” in Phoenix that would be live-streamed on X and other social media.

Speculation that Kennedy could abandon his presidential bid intensified after his running mate, Nicole Shanahan, revealed on a podcast on Tuesday he was considering that option – and considering endorsing Trump, the Republican nominee. Shanahan suggested Kennedy’s continued candidacy risked diverting support away from Trump, thereby helping to elect Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee.

Her comments were immediately welcomed by Trump, who told CNN that Kennedy – who he denounced as recently as April as a “Democrat plant” and a “radical left liberal” – was “a brilliant guy”.

“I didn’t know he was thinking about getting out, but if he is thinking about getting out, certainly I’d be open to it,” said Trump, who, perhaps not coincidentally, is also due to speak in the Phoenix area on Friday, at a campaign rally.

In truth, the pair seem to have been in contact for weeks amid an apparent rapprochement.

A leaked recording of a telephone call between them emerged last month during the Republican national convention – just days after Trump survived an assassination attempt – when the former president solicited Kennedy’s support and the two discussed the possibility of Kennedy joining a future administration.

Trump also appeared to endorse some of the anti-vaccine theories, for which Kennedy has become noted, during the call.

In an interview with NBC News, JD Vance, Trump’s running mate, acknowledged there had been a stream of “communication” between the two campaigns.

“I haven’t spoken to RFK personally, but I know there’s been a lot of communication back and forth between RFK … [and] this campaign,” he said. “Our argument to RFK, and I’ll make it right now, because, of course, he hasn’t dropped out yet, is, look: if you want a Democratic party that protected American workers and stood for strong borders, maybe disagreed with Republicans on things like tax policy, that party doesn’t exist any more.”

Kennedy initially sought the Democratic nomination before abandoning that attempt to launch an independent campaign.

His presidential bid has been hit by a spate of damaging stories that have undermined his efforts to present himself as a serious figure.

An allegation surfaced in a Vanity Fair article that he had groped a family babysitter, to which Kennedy responded not with a denial, but by saying: “I am not a church boy.”

He added: “I said in my announcement speech that I have so many skeletons in my closet that if they could all vote, I could run for king of the world.”

A further embarrassing disclosure was unearthed by the New Yorker, which described how Kennedy once left the carcass of a dead bear cub in Central Park and placed a bicycle next to it to make it look like an accident.

Kennedy pre-empted the article by posting a video on X of him admitting the episode in a conversation with Roseanne Barr, as the pair sat in a spacious kitchen.

The campaign has also run into money troubles in recent weeks, as Kennedy’s poll standing has dropped. It reportedly ended July $3.5m in debt, while Shanahan – who has contributed her own funds to it – was recently given a $1m refund.

Harris campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon said she did not have any concerns about Kennedy potentially dropping out and endorsing Trump. “We are very confident that the vice-president is going to win whether she’s running against one candidate or multiple candidates,” she said at a CNN-Politico grill event. “I don’t think it’s really going to interfere with the race too much.”

Appearing in a bulletproof glass pen, Donald Trump took the stage in Asheboro, North Carolina, for his first outdoor event since he was injured in a shooting at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, last month.

In the wake of the shooting, which left Trump with a bloodied ear, injured two rallygoers and killed one man, the Secret Service issued a temporary recommendation that the former president hold indoor rallies only. Then, last week, the Secret Service said it would use bulletproof glass to protect him at outdoor rallies.

Trump’s event in North Carolina formed part of the campaign’s counter-programming to the week of the star-studded Democratic national convention in Chicago, which has so far featured a lineup of Democratic politicians and celebrity cameos.

The rally opened with brief remarks from JD Vance, the embattled Republican vice-presidential candidate, who was granted less than a minute on stage. Trump went on to invite to the stage a parade of sheriffs, plus the North Carolina Republican gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson, who, Trump remarked in an aside, had “lost a lot of weight over the last couple of months”.

The group shuffled in and out of the bulletproof pen quickly before Trump launched into his speech focused on national security, featuring a series of well-established Maga talking points on Nato, Afghanistan and Russia, and attacks on his Democratic opponent, Kamala Harris.

Trump repeatedly called her “Comrade Kamala”, doubling down on his claim that Harris is a far-left candidate, and claiming in his opening remarks that under a second Trump presidency, the country would experience economic prosperity.

Trump brought back his false assertion, a mainstay of his foreign policy rhetoric over the years, that Nato countries have failed to pay “their dues” as members of the alliance. In fact, Nato members are not legally obligated to pay the 2% of gross domestic product on defense that the alliance outlines as a target contribution.

Trump’s claim that Nato allies have somehow defaulted on their monetary obligation has generated outrage. “Oh, the fake news gave me a hard time for that,” said Trump, perhaps anticipating the response his inflammatory comments would elicit. “The press went crazy.”

He repeatedly claimed, without clear evidence, that Russia’s war in Ukraine would not have happened had he been in office rather than Biden in 2022. At least one other world leader would back him up, Trump said: “If you look at Hungary, very strong country, very strong leader, Viktor Orbán – he said the only thing that’s going to save the whole world is Trump has to be president again.”

Apparently unable to abandon his election lies, he offhandedly commented, speaking about the Democratic party, “they’re great at cheating in elections”, in the middle of his remarks on Russia’s war with Ukraine, which he said he will get “settled” if he is elected.

On the topic of the chaotic withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan in 2022, Trump vowed to “fire” the military personnel responsible and invoked gruesome descriptions of wounds suffered by American soldiers during the operation.

Trump’s campaign has reportedly pushed the former president to stick to policy issues and stay on message during his rallies. That has proved difficult for Trump. Apparently needled by Barack Obama’s jabs at him at the convention on Tuesday, Trump revisited Obama’s remarks repeatedly.

“Now, he was very nasty last night,” said Trump. “I try and be nice to people, you know, but it’s a little tough when they get personal.”

Instead of responding directly to Obama, he launched into a rambling discussion of whether or not his 2016 opponent, Hillary Clinton, should be imprisoned.

The development of a Tesla gigafactory near Berlin has resulted in about 500,000 trees being felled, according to satellite analysis.

The building of the German factory has been highly controversial and attracted significant protests, as well as prompting a debate about the trade-offs involved in developing a green economy.

Elon Musk, Tesla’s owner, has criticised local police for letting off “leftwing protesters”.

Satellite images show 329 hectares (813 acres) of forest were cut down at the site between March 2020 and May 2023, according to the environmental intelligence company Kayrros. That is equivalent to approximately 500,000 trees.

Since May, climate activists have protested against the planned expansion of the gigafactory, occupying tree houses in a nearby camp and attempting to storm the site. One group set fire to an electricity pylon and stopped the factory’s production for a few days in March.

Karolina Drzewo, from the campaign alliance Turn Off Tesla’s Tap, said the analysis showed the company’s production of electric vehicles had caused local destruction of nature as well as global damage through mining for metals. “In one of the driest regions in Germany, too much of the environment has already been destroyed,” she said. “An expansion and thus even more destruction of forests and endangerment of the protected drinking water area must be prevented.”

Tesla did not respond to a request for comment.

Antoine Halff, the chief analyst at Kayrros, said: “The Tesla factory in Germany has led to quite a bit of cutting down of trees. Of course, it has to be put in perspective, against the benefit of replacing internal combustion engine cars with electric vehicles.”

Halff said the lost trees were equivalent to about 13,000 tonnes of CO₂, the annual amount emitted by 2,800 average internal combustion engine cars in the US. “So that’s a fraction of the number of the electric cars that Tesla produces and sells every quarter,” he said. “You always have trade-offs, so you need to be aware of what the terms of the trade-off are.”

In July, a plan to expand the Tesla plant to double production to 1m cars a year was approved by Brandenburg state’s environment ministry.

Dozens of environmental incidents have been reported at the site – where millions of battery cells are also produced – including leaks or spills of diesel fuel, paint and aluminium.

Tesla did not respond at the time but later said there had been several incidents on the factory site during construction and since the start of the operations. It said none caused environmental damage and that if necessary, corrective measures were implemented.

Kayrros measures deforestation using optical images from the satellite Sentinel-2, which have a resolution of 10 metres and are publicly available. This data is automatically processed but checked for quality by remote-sensing experts.

Kayrros said its deforestation detection tool was being developed to help companies comply with EU deforestation regulations, which from the start of 2025 will ban the import of goods linked to forest destruction. The tool could also be used to independently monitor forests being used as carbon offsets in the voluntary carbon market, the company said.

Heat deaths in Europe could triple by the end of the century, with the numbers rising disproportionately in southern European countries such as Italy, Greece and Spain, a study has found.

Cold kills more people than heat in Europe, and some have argued that climate change will benefit society by reducing those deaths. But the study, published in the Lancet Public Health, found that the death toll would respond slowly to warming weather and may even rise through people growing older and more vulnerable to dangerous temperatures.

If global heating reaches a catastrophic 3C or 4C, the researchers concluded, the rise in heat deaths will greatly outstrip the fall in cold deaths.

The researchers said the results suggested climate change could pose “unprecedented challenges” to public health systems, particularly during heatwaves.

“Many more heat-related deaths are expected to occur as the climate warms and populations age, while deaths from cold decline only slightly,” said David García-León from the Joint Research Centre at the European Commission, a co-author of the study.

Deaths from warm weather could kill 129,000 people a year if temperatures rise to 3C above preindustrial levels. Today, heat-related deaths in Europe stand at 44,000. But the yearly death toll from cold and heat in Europe may rise from 407,000 people today to 450,000 in 2100 even if world leaders meet their global warming target of 1.5C, the study found.

The research comes on the back of a series of scorching heatwaves that have wreaked havoc across the continent. Its results challenge arguments from climate deniers that global heating is good for society because fewer people will die from cold.

Even in Europe, the coolest inhabited continent, the lives lost to stronger heat will offset those saved by milder cold, the study found. Countries across Asia, Africa, Oceania and the Americas are baking in even deadlier temperatures.

“This research is a stark reminder of the number of lives that we are putting at risk if we fail to act quickly enough against climate change,” said Madeleine Thomson, the head of climate impacts and adaptation at the health research charity Wellcome, who was not involved in the study.

The predicted tripling of direct heat deaths in Europe was “not even the full picture,” she added, pointing to research that links extreme heat to miscarriages and worse mental health. “And then there are the indirect impacts. We have already seen how extreme heat events can cause crop failure, wildfire devastation, damage critical infrastructure and hit the economy – all of which will have knock-on effects on our lives.”

The researchers modelled data on 854 cities to estimate deaths from hot and cold temperatures across the continent. They found that heat would kill more people in all parts of Europe but that the heaviest burden would fall on southern European countries such as Spain, Italy and Greece, as well as parts of France.

They projected the death toll from uncomfortable temperatures would rise by 13.5% if the planet heats 3C – a level of climate breakdown slightly higher than policies are expected to cause – leading to 55,000 extra deaths. Most of those who die will be older than 85.

Gary Konstantinoudis, an epidemiologist from the MRC Centre for Environment and Health, who was not involved in the research, said the study was of high quality and provided valuable insights, but cautioned that predicting temperature-related deaths was complex and would always contain uncertainty.

The analysis was based on a previous study that assumed the effect of temperature on death rates was constant between 2000 and 2019, he said, but other studies have reported a decrease because of factors such as improved healthcare and changes to infrastructure. “Not accounting for this is expected to overestimate the future impact of heat on mortality,” he said.

The study also extrapolated heat mortality data from cities to rural regions, which face less heat stress.

Elisa Gallo, an environmental epidemiologist at ISGlobal who has studied heat mortality in Europe, and who was not involved in the study, said it was “increasingly essential” to adapt to rising heat.

The researchers encouraged governments to consider policies to reduce death tolls, such as investing in hospitals, creating action plans and insulating buildings. They highlighted that the projected rise in deaths was driven by changes to Europe’s population structure and climate.

“If we want to avoid reaching the worst-case scenario, it is fundamental to tackle the root of the problem by addressing emissions of greenhouse gases,” said Gallo.

The researchers concluded that efforts to adapt should focus on regions with high unemployment, poverty, structural economic changes, emigration and ageing populations. They said such areas were less able to adapt to climate damages and also hit harder by the rise in heat deaths.

Ukraine has carried out one of its biggest drone attacks on Moscow, as Ukrainian troops continue to advance in Russia’s Kursk region, with probing raids on frontline towns and villages.

Russia’s defence ministry said it had intercepted 11 kamikaze drones before they reached the capital. Several were shot down over the city of Podolsk, 24 miles south of Moscow and not far from Domodedovo international airport. Residents heard a buzzing in the night sky followed by loud explosions.

The ministry said it had destroyed 45 drones over Russian territory, including 23 in the border region of Bryansk and six over the Belgorod region. Two more were intercepted above Kursk province, where Ukraine launched a surprise invasion just over two weeks ago. Three more were downed over Kaluga. Others were spotted in the northern Murmansk region, apparently heading for an airfield used by strategic bombers.

“This is one of the largest attempts to attack Moscow using drones ever,” the city’s mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, wrote early on Wednesday on the Telegram messaging app.

On Monday Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, called for allies to lift restrictions on the use of western weapons against airbases and other strategic objects within Russia. These ballistic and cruise missiles, including the UK’s Storm Shadow, can be used only up to Russia’s border areas.

Zelenskiy said that red lines – imposed by the Biden administration because of fears of nuclear escalation – were now meaningless, as the war spread further and deeper into Russia. So far the US, UK and France have not been willing to update their policy.

In response, Kyiv has developed an increasingly ambitious drone programme and a new drone command. Speaking in July, the commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said “about 200 critical infrastructure sites” had been attacked. All were connected with “military logistics”. They included factories, fuel dumps and refineries.

The strategy appears to be working. Fires continued to burn on Wednesday at a major oil depot in Proletarsk, a town in Russia’s Rostov oblast, four days after it was struck by drones. Another storage tank exploded. Firefighters have been unable to put out the blaze. At least 13 of them have been hospitalised.

Russia makes extensive use of drones and regularly bombards Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities. In a briefing, Syrskyi said that Moscow had fired 11,879 missiles and drones at Ukraine since the beginning of the 2022 invasion. Only 43% were shot down, he said. He added that around half were aimed at civilian targets.

On Wednesday Kremlin military bloggers said remotely operated drones destroyed four Ukrainian armoured vehicles heading towards Glushkovo, a village in the Kursk region. The settlement is on the edge of the existing Ukrainian incursion. This “buffer zone” covers more than 1,250 sq km, according to Zelenskiy.

As many as 3,000 Russian troops are believed to be trapped in the Glushkovsky district, which Ukraine is likely to try to seize. Over the past week Ukraine has bombed three bridges and a pontoon across the Seym River. It has also blasted a Russian border post in the town of Tetkino, farther west.

Video released on Wednesday showed US-supplied Himars rockets were responsible for the attack on the pontoon crossing, next to Glushkovo. The river and embankment erupted in dozens of explosions.

Separately, first-person-view drones were seen to chase after and destroy Russian engineering equipment and a truck.

Two weeks ago Ukrainian forces seized the town of Sudzha. They are now close to capturing another urban settlement, Korenovo, which had a prewar population of 5,500 people. Reports say they have reached its north-east outskirts. They have also suffered losses.

The Kremlin has scrambled reserves to the frontline to halt Kyiv’s progress and has transferred some units from their bases in Ukraine’s occupied south. The Kremlin has sought to downplay the Kursk mini-invasion – the first attack on Russian soil since the second world war, 80 years ago – dismissing it as the work of “terrorists”.

Zelenskiy’s surprise offensive has so far not stopped Russian troops from making further gains in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk oblast. They reportedly took control of two more villages, Komyshivka and Zhuravka, after the capture earlier this week of the town of Niu-York. Soldiers in Zhuravka filmed themselves with a Russian flag in the yard of an abandoned house. “Glory to Russia,” they shouted.

The frontline is now 3 miles (5km) away from the town of Myrnohrad and about 7 miles (11km) from the city of Pokrovsk, a Ukrainian military hub. The authorities have urged civilians to get out. About 16,000 people are still in Myrnohrad. Some families were hiding their children to avoid compulsory evacuation, officials said.

“Life under constant shelling. Maybe without water and without light. Therefore, I appeal to the residents of Myrnohrad and the Myrnohrad community: don’t wait,” the acting mayor, Yury Tretyak, said.

Russia has been advancing in the eastern Donbas region since its capture in February of the Ukrainian city of Avdiivka. Its tactics are brutally effective. War planes drop powerful guided bombs on Ukrainian positions. Small groups of infantry then go forward, with round-the-clock sorties. There are large numbers of casualties.

Ukraine said on Wednesday that its military repelled more than 40 attacks from Russian forces hoping to break through the front in Pokrovsk during the day.

Kyiv said 238 Russian troops were killed or wounded in the attacks but did not disclose Ukrainian losses.

Ukraine has carried out one of its biggest drone attacks on Moscow, as Ukrainian troops continue to advance in Russia’s Kursk region, with probing raids on frontline towns and villages.

Russia’s defence ministry said it had intercepted 11 kamikaze drones before they reached the capital. Several were shot down over the city of Podolsk, 24 miles south of Moscow and not far from Domodedovo international airport. Residents heard a buzzing in the night sky followed by loud explosions.

The ministry said it had destroyed 45 drones over Russian territory, including 23 in the border region of Bryansk and six over the Belgorod region. Two more were intercepted above Kursk province, where Ukraine launched a surprise invasion just over two weeks ago. Three more were downed over Kaluga. Others were spotted in the northern Murmansk region, apparently heading for an airfield used by strategic bombers.

“This is one of the largest attempts to attack Moscow using drones ever,” the city’s mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, wrote early on Wednesday on the Telegram messaging app.

On Monday Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, called for allies to lift restrictions on the use of western weapons against airbases and other strategic objects within Russia. These ballistic and cruise missiles, including the UK’s Storm Shadow, can be used only up to Russia’s border areas.

Zelenskiy said that red lines – imposed by the Biden administration because of fears of nuclear escalation – were now meaningless, as the war spread further and deeper into Russia. So far the US, UK and France have not been willing to update their policy.

In response, Kyiv has developed an increasingly ambitious drone programme and a new drone command. Speaking in July, the commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said “about 200 critical infrastructure sites” had been attacked. All were connected with “military logistics”. They included factories, fuel dumps and refineries.

The strategy appears to be working. Fires continued to burn on Wednesday at a major oil depot in Proletarsk, a town in Russia’s Rostov oblast, four days after it was struck by drones. Another storage tank exploded. Firefighters have been unable to put out the blaze. At least 13 of them have been hospitalised.

Russia makes extensive use of drones and regularly bombards Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities. In a briefing, Syrskyi said that Moscow had fired 11,879 missiles and drones at Ukraine since the beginning of the 2022 invasion. Only 43% were shot down, he said. He added that around half were aimed at civilian targets.

On Wednesday Kremlin military bloggers said remotely operated drones destroyed four Ukrainian armoured vehicles heading towards Glushkovo, a village in the Kursk region. The settlement is on the edge of the existing Ukrainian incursion. This “buffer zone” covers more than 1,250 sq km, according to Zelenskiy.

As many as 3,000 Russian troops are believed to be trapped in the Glushkovsky district, which Ukraine is likely to try to seize. Over the past week Ukraine has bombed three bridges and a pontoon across the Seym River. It has also blasted a Russian border post in the town of Tetkino, farther west.

Video released on Wednesday showed US-supplied Himars rockets were responsible for the attack on the pontoon crossing, next to Glushkovo. The river and embankment erupted in dozens of explosions.

Separately, first-person-view drones were seen to chase after and destroy Russian engineering equipment and a truck.

Two weeks ago Ukrainian forces seized the town of Sudzha. They are now close to capturing another urban settlement, Korenovo, which had a prewar population of 5,500 people. Reports say they have reached its north-east outskirts. They have also suffered losses.

The Kremlin has scrambled reserves to the frontline to halt Kyiv’s progress and has transferred some units from their bases in Ukraine’s occupied south. The Kremlin has sought to downplay the Kursk mini-invasion – the first attack on Russian soil since the second world war, 80 years ago – dismissing it as the work of “terrorists”.

Zelenskiy’s surprise offensive has so far not stopped Russian troops from making further gains in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk oblast. They reportedly took control of two more villages, Komyshivka and Zhuravka, after the capture earlier this week of the town of Niu-York. Soldiers in Zhuravka filmed themselves with a Russian flag in the yard of an abandoned house. “Glory to Russia,” they shouted.

The frontline is now 3 miles (5km) away from the town of Myrnohrad and about 7 miles (11km) from the city of Pokrovsk, a Ukrainian military hub. The authorities have urged civilians to get out. About 16,000 people are still in Myrnohrad. Some families were hiding their children to avoid compulsory evacuation, officials said.

“Life under constant shelling. Maybe without water and without light. Therefore, I appeal to the residents of Myrnohrad and the Myrnohrad community: don’t wait,” the acting mayor, Yury Tretyak, said.

Russia has been advancing in the eastern Donbas region since its capture in February of the Ukrainian city of Avdiivka. Its tactics are brutally effective. War planes drop powerful guided bombs on Ukrainian positions. Small groups of infantry then go forward, with round-the-clock sorties. There are large numbers of casualties.

Ukraine said on Wednesday that its military repelled more than 40 attacks from Russian forces hoping to break through the front in Pokrovsk during the day.

Kyiv said 238 Russian troops were killed or wounded in the attacks but did not disclose Ukrainian losses.

• Western suppliers should let Ukraine fire their powerful long-range weapons at targets in Russia, Josep Borrell said on Wednesday. Borrell – who, as the EU’s foreign policy chief, counts as its top diplomat – argued for “lifting restrictions on the use of capabilities vs the Russian military involved in aggression against Ukraine, in accordance with international law”. It would “strengthen Ukrainian self defence by ending Russia’s sanctuary for its attacks” as well as saving lives and advancing peace efforts.

• Borrell said the matter would be on the agenda for discussions during back-to-back meetings of EU foreign and defence ministers taking place on 29-30 August in Brussels, involving Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s foreign minister. After speaking with Kuleba, Borrell also said Ukraine’s Kursk counteroffensive had dealt a “severe blow” to Vladimir Putin’s war narrative.

• Ukraine said on Wednesday that to defend the frontline of its Kursk invasion it had destroyed Russian pontoon bridges with US-made Himars rockets. Video posted by Ukrainian special forces showed strikes on several pontoon crossings in Kursk region, where Russia has reported that Ukraine has destroyed at least three permanent bridges over the Seym river as it seeks to hold the pocket of captured land. More on that from the Guardian’s Luke Harding and Dan Sabbagh.

• The Ukrainian defence minister, Rustem Umerov, told a visiting delegation of US congressmen on Wednesday that the attack on Kursk aimed to “clear the border from Russian military threats and make enemy shelling and attacks on our towns and villages impossible”.

• Ukraine’s foreign ministry said Kyiv’s advance into the Kursk region has made bigger territorial gains than those made by Moscow in Ukraine this year. Russia, though, has claimed it controls the Ukrainian settlement of Zhelanne, less than 20km (12 miles) to the east of the Donetsk transport hub Pokrovsk, according to the Russian defence ministry.

• Ukraine’s military said its forces came under repeated attack on Wednesday around Pokrovsk but were inflicting losses on the attackers, claiming 238 Russian troops were killed or wounded in the same area. Those numbers could not be independently confirmed. The Ukrainian military general staff said there were 46 Russian attacks on the Pokrovsk front over the course of Wednesday; of these, 44 were repelled and two were still underway as of Wednesday night. It did not disclose Ukrainian losses.

• Volodymyr Zelenskiy said his forces understood what Russia was attempting on the Pokrovsk front and Kyiv was strengthening its forces accordingly. Ukraine’s president urged allies to keep to the agreed timetable for supplying munitions to the Ukrainian military. Roman Kostenko, secretary of the Ukrainian parliament’s national defence committee, said that while Russia was pulling some troops out of Ukraine to send to Kursk, “they have a principal position – not to withdraw troops from the Pokrovsk direction”.

• The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said on Wednesday: “Ukraine has prepared its military operation in the Kursk region very secretly and without feedback, which is certainly due to the situation. This is a very limited operation in terms of space and probably also in terms of time.”

• Scholz said Germany would continue to be what he said was Ukraine’s biggest supporter in Europe – a remark that comes amid a struggle within Scholz’s three-way German coalition government to reach a deal on its federal budget. Germany plans to halve its Ukraine aid next year, betting the shortfall will be made up by a G7 plan to loan Ukraine $50bn backed by proceeds from Russian assets frozen in the west.

Hezbollah has launched more than 50 rockets and a swarm of drones towards northern Israel, hitting a number of homes in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights and wounding one person.

The strikes on Wednesday by the Lebanese militant group came the day after the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, met mediators from Egypt and Qatar, even as Hamas and Israel poured cold water on any prospect of any imminent pause in the fighting in Gaza.

On Wednesday, the US president, Joe Biden, spoke to Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, by phone.

The White House said afterwards: “The president stressed the urgency of bringing the ceasefire and hostage release deal to closure and discussed upcoming talks in Cairo to remove any remaining obstacles.”

As more details emerged on Wednesday of a proposal meant to bridge gaps between Hamas and Israel, Egypt expressed scepticism about the positive noises being made by the US.

“The Americans are offering promises [regarding the ceasefire], not guarantees,” an official told the Associated Press. “Hamas won’t accept this, because it virtually means Hamas will release the civilian hostages in return for a six-week pause of fighting with no guarantees for a negotiated permanent ceasefire.”

The official also said the proposal did not clearly say Israel would withdraw its forces from the Philadelphi corridor and the Netzarim corridor, which runs east to west across the territory. “This is not acceptable for us and of course for Hamas,” he said.

Blinken’s efforts and initially positive comments, in the midst of a Democratic party convention that has drawn pro-Palestinian demonstrations in Chicago, appeared designed in part to demonstrate to sceptical voters that the Biden administration was making efforts to end the violence.

Relatives of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza have continued to accuse Netanyahu of attempting to undermine a ceasefire-for-hostages deal through his insistence that Israeli troops should remain in the Philadelphi corridor.

That is one of several conditions that Hamas says Netanyahu has added to a previous draft agreement, making it unacceptable to Hamas. Netanyahu has denied the claim.

The left-leaning Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz reported comments by an anonymous official involved in the talks accusing Netanyahu of trying to “sabotage” any deal. The official said: “[Netanyahu’s] statements indicating that Israel would not withdraw from the Gaza-Egypt border, at a time when sensitive negotiations are under way for finding a solution there, only make it more difficult to find a solution, increasing suspicions, signalling to Hamas and the mediators that Netanyahu is uninterested in a deal”.

What is clear is that Blinken’s latest effort has replicated previous rounds of talks, with the secretary of state once again appearing to emerge from meetings with the Israeli prime minister making optimistic comments that have been quickly shot down. Hamas called the latest proposal presented to it a “reversal” of what it had agreed to previously and accused the US of acquiescing to “new conditions” from Israel.

The Israeli assault on Gaza, which has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, has continued in tandem with a conflict with Hezbollah along the border with Lebanon. Hezbollah considers an end to the conflict in Gaza a prerequisite to ceasing its own fighting.

Hezbollah said the attack on Wednesday was in response to an Israeli strike deep into Lebanon on Tuesday night that killed one person and injured 19. Also on Tuesday, Hezbollah launched more than 200 projectiles towards Israel after Israel had targeted a Hezbollah weapons depot about 50 miles (80km) from the border, a significant increase in the daily skirmishes.

Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in 1967 and later annexed it, saying it needed the strategic plateau for its security. The US is the only country to recognise the annexation, while the rest of the international community considers the area to be occupied Syrian territory.

Israel killed a senior member of the Palestinian Fatah movement in Lebanon on Wednesday, accusing him of having orchestrated attacks in the West Bank. In response, the Fatah party accused Israel of seeking to “ignite a regional war”. Khalil al-Maqdah was killed in a strike on his car in the southern Lebanese city of Sidon, according to Fatah and a Lebanese security source.

The Israeli conflict with Hezbollah has killed nearly 600 people in Lebanon, mostly Hezbollah fighters but also at least 130 civilians, according to an AFP tally. On the Israeli side, including in the annexed Golan Heights, 23 soldiers and 26 civilians have been killed, according to army figures.

A commercial ship travelling through the Red Sea came under repeated attack on Wednesday, leaving the vessel “not under command” and drifting ablaze after an assault suspected to have been carried out by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, the British military said.

Agencies contributed to this report

Nearly three-quarters of Britons are worried about rightwing extremism after anti-migrant riots, polling has found, with increasing numbers concerned about societal divisions.

The survey also found that while people generally believed politicians did not react especially well to the wave of disturbances, they generally felt Keir Starmer responded well – while Nigel Farage did not.

In one part of the polling where people were asked to name worries, public services and the economy were still of the greatest concern, with 84% and 83% respectively saying they were very or fairly concerned about these.

Below this, 73% of people said they were concerned about rightwing extremism, 11 percentage points higher than when the same questions were asked in March this year.

The findings come amid the worst unrest seen in the UK for a decade in a series of towns and cities after the fatal stabbing of three young girls at a dance class in Southport on 29 July.

With the 17-year-old boy charged with their murder, Axel Rudakubana, initially not named due to his age, far-right agitators helped to spread online misinformation about the attack, with some claiming the perpetrator was a Muslim refugee.

The Ipsos polling also found an increase in worries about leftwing extremism, up 7 points from March to 59%, and about religious extremism, with 74% citing it as a concern, 9 points higher than before.

Overall, 85% of those asked said they believed British society is very or fairly divided, the highest such level since 2019, with only 11% disagreeing.

Quizzed on the response to the riots, 57% of people said they thought the police had done a good job, with 19% disagreeing.

While for politicians 21% backed their response against 42% opposing, for Starmer the verdict was more supportive, with 39% saying he had done a good job versus 29% believing the opposite.

In contrast, the polling showed that only 21% of people thought Farage had responded well to the disorder, with 48% believing otherwise.

Farage faced criticism during the riots after he released online videos firstly asking if the police had withheld information about who had carried out the attack, and then challenging the argument that the disorder was largely the fault of the far right.

The verdict on social media companies was even more damning, with 60% of respondents saying they had done a bad job in connection with the riots, and just 12% supporting their actions.

One of the other notable features of the polling was the way that people took a notably more gloomy view of concerns about crime on a national level than when it came to their own area.

When asked if crime and antisocial behaviour are a big problem across the UK, 86% said this was the case, up from 79% in June. But when asked about the situation where they lived, this fell to just 40%, 1 percentage point lower.

Similar, when asked if they believed crime had risen in the past 12 months, 72% said this was the case nationally, against 41% locally.

Suicide risk is significantly higher for female doctors compared with the general population, according to an analysis of evidence from 20 countries.

The researchers said that while suicide rates among doctors have declined over time, and risk varied across different countries and regions, the results highlighted a need for continued research and prevention efforts.

Their findings were published in the BMJ journal.

According to previous estimates, one doctor dies by suicide every day in the US, and about one every 10 days in the UK, but evidence on suicide rates for physicians is inconsistent across countries.

To address this, researchers led by the University of Vienna in Austria analysed the results of observational studies published between 1960 and 2024 that compared suicides rates among doctors with the general population.

A total of 39 studies from 20 countries were included. The researchers found no overall increase in suicide risk for male doctors compared with the general population. For female doctors, however, suicide risk was significantly higher (76%) than the general population, the BMJ reported.

While there was no overall increase found among male physicians when compared with the general public, a separate analysis of the data revealed male doctors did have a higher risk of suicide compared with other professional groups with “similar socioeconomic status”.

Analysis of the 10 most recent studies compared with older studies showed a decline in suicide rates over time for both male and female doctors.

“Overall, this study highlights the ongoing need for suicide prevention measures among physicians,” the research team wrote in the BMJ.

“We found evidence for increased suicide rates in female physicians compared with the general population, and for male physicians compared with other professionals.

“The recent Covid-19 pandemic has put additional strain on the mental health of physicians, potentially exacerbating risk factors for suicide such as depression and substance use.”

In a linked editorial, experts from Doctors in Distress, a charity offering support to healthcare workers, wrote: “Persistently high rates of suicide among female doctors need particularly urgent attention from researchers, health leaders and policy makers, including studies to explore likely contributors such as discrimination and sexual harassment, to characterise those at highest risk and to develop and evaluate gender specific interventions to protect female doctors’ mental health.

“All doctors must have access to early intervention and confidential treatment services so that they do not suffer in silence.”

Katie Hardcastle, a senior research manager at Samaritans, said: “We’re concerned this new global evidence suggests an increased suicide risk in female doctors, as it builds on what we know from national data about risk among female health professionals, particularly nurses.

“It’s vital that all health workers who might be struggling are encouraged and supported to seek help when needed.”

In the UK, the NHS said staff wellbeing was a crucial part of its workforce plan.

A spokesperson added: “There is a range of mental health support available for staff, including access to 24/7 confidential support services, coaching and flexible working options, but we know there is much more to do to ensure everyone working in the NHS feels comfortable asking for help and receives the right support when they do.”

• In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org.

Suicide risk is significantly higher for female doctors compared with the general population, according to an analysis of evidence from 20 countries.

The researchers said that while suicide rates among doctors have declined over time, and risk varied across different countries and regions, the results highlighted a need for continued research and prevention efforts.

Their findings were published in the BMJ journal.

According to previous estimates, one doctor dies by suicide every day in the US, and about one every 10 days in the UK, but evidence on suicide rates for physicians is inconsistent across countries.

To address this, researchers led by the University of Vienna in Austria analysed the results of observational studies published between 1960 and 2024 that compared suicides rates among doctors with the general population.

A total of 39 studies from 20 countries were included. The researchers found no overall increase in suicide risk for male doctors compared with the general population. For female doctors, however, suicide risk was significantly higher (76%) than the general population, the BMJ reported.

While there was no overall increase found among male physicians when compared with the general public, a separate analysis of the data revealed male doctors did have a higher risk of suicide compared with other professional groups with “similar socioeconomic status”.

Analysis of the 10 most recent studies compared with older studies showed a decline in suicide rates over time for both male and female doctors.

“Overall, this study highlights the ongoing need for suicide prevention measures among physicians,” the research team wrote in the BMJ.

“We found evidence for increased suicide rates in female physicians compared with the general population, and for male physicians compared with other professionals.

“The recent Covid-19 pandemic has put additional strain on the mental health of physicians, potentially exacerbating risk factors for suicide such as depression and substance use.”

In a linked editorial, experts from Doctors in Distress, a charity offering support to healthcare workers, wrote: “Persistently high rates of suicide among female doctors need particularly urgent attention from researchers, health leaders and policy makers, including studies to explore likely contributors such as discrimination and sexual harassment, to characterise those at highest risk and to develop and evaluate gender specific interventions to protect female doctors’ mental health.

“All doctors must have access to early intervention and confidential treatment services so that they do not suffer in silence.”

Katie Hardcastle, a senior research manager at Samaritans, said: “We’re concerned this new global evidence suggests an increased suicide risk in female doctors, as it builds on what we know from national data about risk among female health professionals, particularly nurses.

“It’s vital that all health workers who might be struggling are encouraged and supported to seek help when needed.”

In the UK, the NHS said staff wellbeing was a crucial part of its workforce plan.

A spokesperson added: “There is a range of mental health support available for staff, including access to 24/7 confidential support services, coaching and flexible working options, but we know there is much more to do to ensure everyone working in the NHS feels comfortable asking for help and receives the right support when they do.”

• In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org.

Starbucks’ incoming CEO, Brian Niccol, is facing environmental criticisms following the company’s offer for him to commute from his home in Newport Beach, California, to its headquarters in Seattle via a private jet instead of relocating.

In Starbucks’ offer letter to Niccol, the company said, “During your employment with the company, you will not be required to relocate to the company’s headquarters … You agree to commute from your residence to the company’s headquarters (and engage in other business travel) as is required to perform your duties and responsibilities.”

Speaking to CNBC, a Starbucks spokesperson said that Niccol will be expected to work from Starbucks’ Seattle office at least three days a week in line with the company’s hybrid work policies.

Starbucks will also offer Niccol, who was the former CEO of Chipotle, a “small remote office in Newport Beach, as well as an “assistant of your choosing for such office”. Starbucks added that this “office location will be maintained at the expense of the company”.

Following reports of Niccol’s super commute, people were quick to point out the apparent hypocrisy in the use of private jets in the context of the company’s sustainability efforts, including its ban on plastic straws.

“The new Starbucks CEO is ‘supercommuting’ 1,000 miles to Seattle on a private jet to work, so don’t be too harsh on that waitress who gave you a plastic straw when you didn’t want one,” one user wrote on X.

Another person wrote, “Absolutely wild that it cost $85 million in cash/stock to pry this guy from Chipotle and then they’ll just let him thrash the environment to commute 1000 miles 3 times a week on a corporate jet instead of having him move to the PNW,” referring to the Pacific north-west.

Meanwhile, someone else said, “NPR reported the new @Starbucks CEO will commute from his So. Cal home to Seattle & back on the corporate jet three times a week. What a bunch of performative hypocrites with their enviro friendly branding. No company who truly cares about the climate would agree to this.”

Another user echoed similar sentiments, writing, “If this man is commuting regularly on a private jet, do not let @Starbucks convince you they are environmentally conscious. They get on us commoners about our cars but things like private jets and yachts do way more damage to the environment per unit.”

According to a report released by Oxfam last year, the carbon footprint of the 0.1% – including their use of private jets and superyachts – is 77 times higher than the upper level required for global warming to peak at 1.5C. Moreover, private jets are up to 14 times more polluting, per passenger, than commercial planes and 50 times more polluting than trains, according to a 2021 report by the European Federation for Transport and Environment.

The Guardian has reached out to Starbucks for comment.

Antarctic ecosystems could be disrupted by animals, diseases and rubbish floating from Africa and Australia as rising temperatures melt sea ice buffers, new research suggests.

The study, published in the journal Global Change Biology, used a simulation of ocean currents to track the paths of virtual objects released from different locations.

Simulations showed objects from Australia, South Africa, South America and New Zealand reached Antarctica every year, while objects from islands in the Southern Ocean made landfall even more frequently.

“Things can drift to Antarctica from much further north than we previously thought,” said Dr Hannah Dawson, the study’s lead author.

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While foreign species have not yet settled on Antarctic coasts, the study suggests that waves and currents have carried objects from around the southern hemisphere to Antarctica’s coasts for thousands of years.

“If things are getting there frequently, it must be the cold waters and the icy conditions that are preventing them from actually establishing,” Dawson said. “But these conditions are changing.”

Plants and animals that have previously drifted toward Antarctica may have been destroyed by the floating sea ice that constantly crushes and scrapes against the coastline. Alternatively, they may have been unable to survive the cold.

But as temperatures rise and sea ice melts, foreign species would have a greater chance of colonising the coastline. Antarctic sea ice has fallen to alarming lows for three years in a row.

Rising plastic pollution also means there is more debris the animals can float on to travel south, after the number of plastic particles afloat in the world’s oceans was found to have surpassed 170tn in 2023.

Floating plastic could bring ants and diseases such as bird flu, while drifting kelp and seaweeds could transport crabs, sea stars and slugs, according to Ceridwen Fraser, the study’s co-author and a biogeographer at the University of Otago.

“It’s really worrying for the species of Antarctica,” she said. “If foreign arrivals travelled and successfully settled the warming Antarctic coast, they would have a survival advantage over native species, which tend to be slower to grow.”

Dawson said: “They might out-compete local species and those local species would probably then have nowhere else to go.”

The study also found the Antarctic peninsula would be most vulnerable to colonisation, with the vast majority of simulated items making landfall at the continent’s northernmost point.

By some climate change models, the peninsula would be the first part of the continent to rise to temperatures that would enable overseas life to settle, according to Andy Hogg, director of the research facility ACCESS-NRI.

Hogg said the paper’s advanced modelling showed scientists needed to investigate which organisms from other continents could survive in Antarctic conditions and survive on the coastline.

Jordan Pitt, an ocean mathematician at the University of Sydney, said the peninsula’s west coast was already routinely free of sea ice in summer and would be a key spot for researchers to watch out for species arrivals.

Lionsgate has withdrawn its trailer for Francis Ford Coppola’s self-funded epic Megalopolis after it was criticised for including false and misleading quotes, saying: “We screwed up.”

The video, released on Wednesday, starts by going back in time to show negative quotes from established critics for acclaimed films from Coppola’s past such as The Godfather and Apocalypse Now. “Genius is often misunderstood,” says the accompanying narration.

Vulture’s Bilge Ebiri pointed out that many of the quotes were manufactured and could not be found in the original reviews. He noted that the New Yorker’s Pauline Kael’s alleged Godfather quote – “diminished by its artsiness” – is nowhere to be found in her glowing reviews of the first two films.

While the Village Voice’s Andrew Sarris was not a fan of The Godfather, the quote used in the trailer – “a sloppy, self-indulgent movie” – is also not in his review. Similarly, while Daily News critic Rex Reed did also not like Apocalypse Now, the quote being attributed – “an epic piece of trash” – is also nowhere to be found.

“Lionsgate is immediately recalling our trailer for ‘Megalopolis’” a spokesperson for the company said in a statement to Variety. “We offer our sincere apologies to the critics involved and to Francis Ford Coppola and American Zoetrope for this inexcusable error in our vetting process. We screwed up. We are sorry.”

Roger Ebert is accused of claiming that 1992’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula is “a triumph of style over substance” yet it was also not in his very positive review.

Variety’s Owen Gleiberman was also featured and misquoted in the trailer. “Even if you’re one of those people who don’t like critics, we hardly deserve to have words put in our mouths,” he said in response.

Megalopolis premiered at this year’s Cannes film festival to mixed reviews with the Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw calling it “a bloated, boring and bafflingly shallow film”. The film, described as “a Roman epic set in modern America” starring Adam Driver, cost Coppola a reported $120m and was bought by Lionsgate for US distribution.

The film is set to be released in September.

“Taking on critics might be an exciting and cathartic marketing tactic, but I suspect Megalopolis will need critics championing it when it actually comes out,” Ebiri writes. “And making up fake quotes from our heroes is probably not the best way to get us on your side.”

Last month, footage also emerged of Coppola trying to kiss female extras on the set of the film with sources claiming unprofessional behaviour from the director on set.

The Guardian has reached out to Lionsgate for comment.

Taylor Swift has spoken for the first time about the three Vienna shows on her blockbuster Eras tour that were cancelled earlier this month after a foiled terror attack, saying she felt “a new sense of fear” and a “tremendous amount of guilt”.

The planned terror attack was uncovered by Austrian authorities who eventually arrested three teenaged suspects – aged 17, 18 and 19 – for allegedly planning an Islamist attack in the Vienna region, with Swift’s shows being the “focus” of the plot.

The 19-year-old suspect intended “either today or tomorrow to kill himself and a large crowd of people”, said the head of state protection and intelligence at the Austrian interior ministry, Omar Haijawi-Pirchner.

The police said the suspect had pledged his allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) group “in recent weeks” and had become radicalised on the internet. Bomb chemicals were seized at his house.

In an Instagram post on Wednesday night celebrating the end of the tour’s European leg, which concluded with five London shows this past week, Swift shared her “rollercoaster of emotions”.

“Having our Vienna shows cancelled was devastating,” she wrote. “The reason for the cancellations filled me with a new sense of fear, and a tremendous amount of guilt because so many people had planned on coming to those shows. But I was also so grateful to the authorities because thanks to them, we were grieving concerts and not lives.”

The singer thanked her fans for their “love and unity” and said all her energy went into protecting “the nearly half a million people I had coming to see the shows in London” in the aftermath of the Vienna cancellations.

“My team and I worked hand in hand with stadium staff and British authorities every day in pursuit of that goal, and I want to thank them for everything they did for us,” Swift wrote. “Let me be very clear: I am not going to speak about something publicly if I think doing so might provoke those who would want to harm the fans who come to my shows.”

The Instagram post was the first Swift had shared since the Vienna incident. She acknowledged her silence in the intervening weeks, calling her silence a form of “showing restraint, and waiting to express yourself at a time when it’s right to”.

“My priority was finishing our European tour safely, and it is with great relief that I can say we did that,” she said.

Swift’s Vienna shows were planned for 8 to 10 August at the Ernst Happel stadium. Initially authorities said they could continue with additional security, but the concerts were later scrapped owing to an “abstract danger”, according to Vienna police chief Gerhard Purstl.

Swift will return to North America in November and December for a string of Canadian shows that will conclude the Eras tour – a mammoth spectacle that has become the highest grossing tour in history, generating well over $US1bn as well as seismic activity on more than one occasion.