Extreme weather and disaster dominated the global picture, as heatwave-driven wildfires tore through Italy, France and Spain, forcing thousands to evacuate and killing three firefighters while crews battled dozens of blazes in searing, wind-whipped conditions. In Venezuela, the scale of recovery from June’s twin earthquakes came into sharper focus, with the World Bank estimating nearly $20 billion in direct damage—about 18% of GDP—underscoring the immense strain on homes, hospitals and infrastructure after thousands of deaths and injuries. Elsewhere, questions of accountability cut across very different stories: former BBC journalist Vincent Kearney won damages after a tribunal found MI5 and Northern Ireland police unlawfully accessed his phone data, while in California, lawyers for singer D4vd pressed investigators over limited DNA testing in a teenage girl’s killing. In culture, Sony leaned into horror spectacle with a fresh trailer for Zach Cregger’s new Resident Evil adaptation.