Beaches in Bexhill and Normans Bay in East Sussex have been closed after untreated wastewater was released into the sea at the shoreline. Hastings borough council also advised people against swimming at Pelham Beach due to pollution. Southern Water said they were ‘deeply sorry’ and understood ‘the distress this causes’. The liquid, including sewage, was released when the primary power and back-up system failed on 17 August. A member of Bexhill SeaGals sea-swimming group believes water companies should be ‘held accountable’, adding, ‘It is unbelievable and outrageous that they can continue to get away with this’. The head of Surfers Against Sewage said, ‘Years of underinvestment are now in plain sight. It is time that huge water company profits were diverted to properly managing water and sewage and protecting people and planet. Our rivers and beaches should not be subject to this type of industrial environmental vandalism.’

NATO is the latest international organisation calling for UN inspectors to be allowed into Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, saying its seizure posed a serious threat to Ukraine and neighbouring countries. For two weeks there has been heavy shelling on and around the plant, with both sides blaming each other. Officials say Zaporizhzhia could be cut off from power. Moscow is redirecting electricity to Crimea. Ukraine says the situation is ‘approaching critical’. Unable to force the Russians from Europe's biggest nuclear power plant, Ukraine is preparing for the worst. At a supermarket car park emergency workers wearing yellow hazmat suits are practising cleaning drills in the event of radioactive contamination. The car park is also where Ukrainians fleeing Russian-occupied territories first arrive. There are queues of cars with people and full suitcases.

Swathes of the Rhine riverbed are exposed, while a few commercial vessels slowly navigate the channel of water that is left in one of Europe's great working rivers. Industry relies on barges to fetch and carry raw materials and finished products to and from the power plants and factories that line the riverbank. Germany’s main industry lobby group has warned that factories may have to limit production or halt it completely because plunging water levels on the river are making it harder to transport cargo. The water is already too low to allow some of the larger vessels through. Others have reduced their cargo to lighten the load so that they sit higher in the water. Experts warn that the low water could significantly damage Germany's economy.

Hervé Trentin, a veteran firefighter, stood on the edge of a charred section of forest wiping tears from his cheeks. It was the second time he had cried that morning. He and his team were moving around an area south of Bordeaux trying to stay ahead of a megafire. Their job was burning the forest, to create firebreaks - a tactic they are trained to master. They are the only ones in the region capable of doing the job. Trentin grew up there, and setting his home soil alight was disturbing. He said ‘The forest needs over thirty years to recover.’ In July a megafire appeared to be under control, but the heat remained in the earth, creating a ‘zombie fire’ that re-emerged and accelerated new fires in the dry conditions.