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A Russian drone has hit a train near the Ukraine-Poland border shortly after former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and top European security officials had passed through.

No casualties were reported after the Russian strike at Yahodyn, which hit the train's engine. All the passengers had been evacuated, Ukrainian authorities said. Russia said it struck "railway infrastructure" in western Ukraine.

Johnson and some of Europe's most senior security advisers, including the UK's Jonathan Powell, had passed along the same line on their way back from a conference in the capital, Kyiv.

The former PM said "I don't know what warped logic drove Putin to blow up a stationary Ukrainian locomotive on the Polish border this morning" and asked "When are we going to give them the air defences they need?"

Ukraine's state railway company Ukrzaliznytsia said a jet-propelled drone had been detected and an evacuation order had been given 15 minutes before the strike.

It confirmed the train carrying Johnson and others had earlier been at Yahodyn station - and said a decision had been made for it to depart earlier than scheduled.

"Quite possibly, the target of this drone could have been the diplomatic train, which had left the station earlier than expected because of the timetable change... due to constant threats of Russian strikes," Ukrzaliznytsia said.

The railway authority also said former CIA chief David Petraeus had been on board another train at Yahodyn station at the time of the drone strike.

The Polish authorities said a Russian drone had struck 2km from the Polish border.

Former Swedish prime minister Carl Bildt, who had also attended the conference in Kyiv, told the BBC passengers on board his train had been told to prepare for evacuation before subsequently being allowed to porcedd with their journey.

"On the train I was on we received order to prepare evacuation after it had stopped. But after a number of minutes we were informed that it was clear and we could proceed," he said.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said the "barbaric strikes" at the Ukraine-Poland border in Yahodyn amounted to "Putin's terror 'knocking' directly on the doors of the EU and Nato" and renewed calls for more sanctions on Moscow.

"Putin needs to understand that his barbarism will be met with decisive action that increases the cost of war for him to an unacceptable level. This is the only way to stop him," he said.

Russia has in recent months carried out a number of deadly attacks targeting Ukraine's trains, railway depots and other transport facilities.

Earlier this month, six employees of the state railway company Ukrzaliznytsia were killed after a depot was hit in Kyiv.

This week, a female conductor died in a Russian drone attack on a passenger train in southern Ukraine.

In January, President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned as "terrorism" a Russian strike on a crowded passenger train in the north-eastern Kharkiv region that left five people dead.

The Russian attacks have significantly damaged Ukraine's vast train network - the main mode of transportation for millions of Ukrainians as all air travel has been suspended since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022.

Why a fresh wave of North Korean soldiers may fight in Russia's war in Ukraine

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgl7zrnxxy6o, today

An enemy that swarmed the battlefield in large groups while under fire, seemingly oblivious to the dangers of drones and fire from automatic weapons. An elite corps of ghost soldiers who chose suicide over surrender. They fought and died in their thousands, then apparently vanished from the battlefield.

North Korea's soldiers were sent to fight by Pyongyang alongside Russian forces as they sought to repel a Ukrainian offensive on Moscow's territory at the end of 2024. They paid a heavy price, as many as 3,000 killed in action from the 13,000 deployed.

Ultimately, they would adapt their tactics, and with Russia would drive Ukrainian forces from its Kursk region. In combat terms, little has been heard of them since, but according to Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelensky, North Korean forces, and their weaponry, are soon to make a dramatic return to Russia's war in Ukraine.

Last month, Zelensky warned that up to 50,000 North Koreans will be deployed in Russia, revising an earlier estimate of 30,000 troops. He called on South Korea to provide support for his country's air defence.

But why, after such heavy losses, would North Korea send more men to fight for Russia, and what happened to its soldiers sent in the first place?

"They're still there", said Dr Yang Uk, research fellow at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, Center for Foreign Policy and National Security in Seoul. "They are defending Russian territory for another counterattack from Ukraine. And we believe that some of the engineer corps or workers might be in [the Russian-occupied] Donbas area but that's not the combat troops."

The Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine's Ministry of Defense, HUR, estimates that 8,500 North Korean servicemen are still on Russian territory. They are organised into four brigades, which operate as part of the "North" Group of Forces and are assigned to protecting the state border of the Russian Federation in the Kursk Region from Ukrainian incursions.

"They do not participate in active combat operations. Units of the Korean People's Army have not been observed in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine," HUR said in a statement to the BBC.

A first for North Korea

For North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Un, the Kursk deployment was a gamble, its largest combat force ever sent overseas. (In 1973, North Korea sent 1,500 military personnel and instructors to Egypt during the Yom Kippur war with Israel, and in the late 1960s, an estimated 87 North Korean pilots fought for the North Vietnamese against US forces).

And despite the bloodshed, it was a gamble that paid off, reaping countless benefits for the isolated and impoverished country, transforming both its economic and military fortunes. And one that could serve as a blueprint for even deeper military cooperation.

North Koreans, "now know what modern combat is about", said Yang.

The soldiers sent to fight in Russia were from Storm Corps, the elite of the North Korean armed forces. Extremely isolated, totalitarian North Korea is a militarised and heavily indoctrinated state.

At first, neither Russia, nor North Korea, even acknowledged their presence. Ukrainian forces first clashed with them in November 2024, and the first live North Korean prisoners of war wouldn't be captured until January of the following year.

It wasn't until April 2025 that Russia first acknowledged their role, when Valery Gerasimov, chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, described their "heroism" on the battlefield.

Yang continued, "North Korean soldiers are very brave I mean, especially those of Storm Corps. They are willing to die for their country. But the problem is that passion doesn't mean efficient combat skills... [They suffered] a lot of bloodshed in the early stage of the Kursk campaign, but they learned the lessons of modern drone warfare."

"Cannon fodder", is how "Sultan", a soldier with Ukraine's 95th Air Assault Brigade described North Korean troops. He faced them in the battle for Kursk at the end of 2024.

"They would begin with one large assault group, then another 15–20 men would be sent into the same position, and then more after that. The North Koreans operated differently. They kept moving all the time. That gave them a certain advantage, but not a decisive one," he recalled recently in Kyiv.

Communication between them and their Russian allies appeared poor, he said, and their soldiers were inadequately equipped.

After combat, Sultan and his men would search enemy corpses for documents and intelligence information. On the Russian dead they would find personal belongings, identification and equipment. "But when we searched the North Koreans specifically, the only thing we found on them was simply ammo. We checked absolutely all the small pockets - there were no documents, nothing at all," he explained.

Other Ukrainian soldiers reported the North Koreans lacked body armour, winter clothing and helmets.

In one chilling video from a Ukrainian assault, a wounded North Korean soldier lies prone on the snow-covered ground in a wooded area. As the Ukrainians approach, he detonates a grenade under his chin, after calling out, with his last words, the name of his leader, Kim Jong Un.

In April 2025, at a memorial service in Pyongyang at the newly created Museum of Foreign Military Operations, Kim praised heroes who choose suicide over capture.

In a speech to relatives, with Russia's Defence Minister Andrey Belousov in attendance, he said they were "heroes who unhesitatingly opted for self-blasting, suicide attack, in order to defend the great honour".

While North Korea has never officially acknowledged the death toll from the Kursk operation, a BBC Korea analysis of the memorial site estimated that 2,300 soldiers were killed fighting for Russia.

Ukraine's intelligence arm, HUR, puts the figure at 3,000 killed and 1,500 injured.

But aside from the combat experience, why did North Korea sacrifice so many of its best troops in a foreign war?

An economic windfall

The deployment has been a much-needed economic windfall for the country and a geopolitical win, according to Lim Soo-ho, a senior research fellow at the Institute for National Security Strategy, in Seoul.

He estimates that arms sales to Russia and the troop deployment have netted the impoverished country close to $10bn.

"North Korea's annual GDP is estimated at around $30bn (£22bn)," he told me. "That means they earned a third of a year's GDP over two and a half years through weapons exports and troop deployment, which, for an economy as small as North Korea's, is a very significant effect."

In exchange for its manpower, North Korea gets food, oil and hard currency. While China says it complies with sanctions against Pyongyang, Russia does not.

But equally important, the cooperation with Russia has shifted North Korea's long-term dependency on China.

So in Beijing in September last year, Kim Jong Un was able to stand shoulder to shoulder with China's leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin, in the first public meeting of all three. Not quite as an equal, but no longer reliant on China alone.

This is significant, said Lim, "It's a major geopolitical shift".

"Whenever things got difficult under isolation, North Korea would reach out first toward South Korea, Japan, or especially the US to try to normalise relations, that was the pattern of Korean Peninsula diplomacy. But now that ties with Russia have tightened, Kim Jong Un argues that the world is in a new Cold War, a multipolar system."

The arrangement with Russia, which began as economic and military expediency appears to be developing into something deeper and longer-term. At this year's 9th Party Congress of the Korean Workers' Party, Kim Jong Un was emboldened and spoke of accomplishments that his grandfather Kim Il Sung and father Kim Jong Il never achieved.

But dangers lie ahead. To date, no North Koreans have fought on Ukrainian or Russian-occupied Ukrainian land. If they did so, there would be diplomatic consequences, not least in South Korea, an ally of Ukraine, albeit one which so far has only provided "non-lethal" aid.

This is something that President Zelensky has emphasised as he presses for Seoul to provide advanced military hardware, including air defence systems. He said that since June, preparations have been underway in Russia's Voronezh region to receive fresh North Korean forces and claimed that Pyongyang was preparing to transfer additional ballistic weapons to Russia.

"Russia is helping North Korea learn modern warfare, improve its weapons, and gain real combat experience. This poses a threat to every country in Asia that lies within range of North Korean missiles," he said in a presidential address in July.

Only two North Korean soldiers were captured alive in battles with Ukrainian forces. That's a staggeringly low number, given that between 11,000 and 14,000 fought in the Kursk campaign. (Another was captured alive but died from combat-related injuries, according to the South Korean National Intelligence Service).

Like their comrades who choose suicide over capture, neither man intended to be taken alive.

"For Joseon (North Korean) soldiers, becoming a prisoner of war itself is a crime. That just isn't an option. We can't become POWs," one of the captured men told a South Korean MBC documentary crew who interviewed him in prison in Ukraine.

Baek Pyeong-gang, not his real name, lay wounded from a drone strike for four days before being captured. He was tricked into surrendering when he mistook Ukrainian soldiers for his Russian allies.

The second prisoner, Lee Kang-eun, also a pseudonym, told the journalist Kim Young-mi that he felt guilty he was still alive. Barely conscious, he was found by Ukrainian soldiers on the battlefield with extensive injuries to the arm and jaw.

"I had no grenade or knives on me to self-blast (end my life)," he explained.

He described scores of his colleagues killed by drones, early in the war. The battlefield "reeked of the smell of blood", he said.

Neither man wants to return to North Korea, Lee said he believed that his family members would be "wiped out" as punishment for his capture. Both have said they want to be sent to South Korea, and Seoul is willing to take them.

Only Russia, not Pyongyang, has asked for their return.

But Ukraine, still intent on pressuring Seoul for military aid, has not committed to handing them over to South Korean authorities. Kyiv has said it will honour international human rights obligations which prevent the forced repatriation of prisoners of war.

Their fate remains undecided, but what appears certain is that more North Koreans will join Russia's war. Their service has enormous economic and political value to Pyongyang; but Russia desperately needs them too.

Four and a half years into Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, it is facing a desperate manpower shortage. Western and Ukrainian intelligence agencies estimate that it is losing some 6,000 more troops a month than it can recruit. So, Moscow has been forced to turn to foreign fighters, from Colombia, Kenya, Cameroon and North Korea, to sustain its ranks.

For Russia and North Korea, it is a mutually beneficial relationship, a coalition at a price. Ultimately, North Korea will continue to send its soldiers to fight in Russia's war, but only for as long as it is profitable to do so.

Top image credit: Getty Images

BBC InDepth is the home on the website and app for the best analysis, with fresh perspectives that challenge assumptions and deep reporting on the biggest issues of the day. Emma Barnett and John Simpson bring their pick of the most thought-provoking deep reads and analysis, every Saturday. Sign up for the newsletter here

The Himalayas are melting faster - and India's economy is 'at risk'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crm9ezvwjpno, today

The Himalayas are approaching a dangerous threshold as glaciers melt faster, glacial lakes grow more unstable and the mountains face a widening gap in monitoring, according to new research.

The findings come in the aftermath of devastating floods in Nepal and Tibet, which killed more than 1,300 people and caused widespread destruction, highlighting the growing risks from a rapidly changing Himalayan environment.

Himalayan glaciers are now losing mass 65% faster than they were a decade ago, the report by global consultancy Systemiq, produced with the Integrated Mountain Initiative and with technical contributions from the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) and GB Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment, says.

Yet only about 21 of the estimated 40,000 glaciers across the Himalaya-Karakoram region are being monitored in detail and on a sustained basis, according to the report.

That monitoring gap matters because the physical landscape is changing rapidly.

As glaciers retreat, they can leave behind expanding lakes held back by unstable deposits of rock and ice. At the same time, warming is destabilising permafrost - permanently frozen ground that can thaw as temperatures rise - and high mountain slopes, increasing the possibility of cascading hazards, the report says.

India already has evidence of the scale of the risk.

Some 18% of Indian land is Himalayan, yet the region accounts for about 35% of disasters, according to the report.

The government told parliament in July that 56 glacial lakes had been classified as "very high risk" following a 2025 scientific assessment of 189 high-risk lakes in the Indian Himalayan region. The Central Water Commission is monitoring 2,485 glacial lakes larger than 10 hectares across India's Himalayan river basins, the government said.

The Himalayas have already seen devastating examples of what can happen when glacial lakes burst their natural dams.

In 2023, a glacial lake outburst flood in Sikkim killed at least 70 people and caused widespread damage to roads, bridges and hydropower projects. In 2021, a similar disaster in Uttarakhand killed more than 200 people after a massive flood swept through the Rishiganga and Dhauliganga valleys.

But the danger is not confined to spectacular floods.

The Himalayas are a vast natural water system feeding rivers that sustain hundreds of millions of people across South Asia. ICIMOD says "peak water" is expected around mid-century in most Hindu Kush Himalayan river basins - the point at which glacier runoff reaches its maximum before declining as glaciers lose mass.

The new research puts an unusually large economic number on that dependency.

It estimates that Himalayan water underpins roughly 20% of India's GDP, sustaining wheat, rice, tea, hydropower and pilgrimage economies. Yet the mountain states capture only about 5% of that value, it says.

"The Himalayas are the Third Pole," said economist Lord Nicholas Stern, chair of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics. "Unlike the Arctic or Antarctic, this pole has hundreds of millions of people living beneath it."

"This is national and international infrastructure," he said, warning that the ecological system underpinning it is "approaching a tipping point".

Not all the forces driving glacier loss are beyond the region's control.

The Systemiq research estimates that roughly a third of Himalayan glacier melt is driven by black carbon, much of it originating from brick kilns in the plains. Soot deposited on snow and ice absorbs more sunlight and accelerates melting.

Unlike global greenhouse-gas emissions, black-carbon pollution is a lever that India and its neighbours can act on directly, the report argues.

"The Himalayas are approaching a tipping point, with millions of lives and livelihoods hanging in the balance," said Arushi Chopra, Systemiq's senior director and lead author. "Glaciers are melting faster than they were a decade ago."

The report proposes 10 priority transitions, ranging from reducing black-carbon emissions and expanding glacier monitoring to improving disaster early-warning systems and changing the way tourism is developed in the mountains.

One priority is to strengthen disaster preparedness, with governments agreeing in advance what action to take when hazards emerge - from evacuation to protecting vulnerable infrastructure.

Another is to rethink tourism. The Indian Himalayan region receives roughly 400 million tourist visits a year, according to the report, and researchers argue that the objective should shift from maximising visitor numbers towards generating value that is retained and reinvested locally.

Pema Gyamtsho, director general of ICIMOD, said the risks were becoming increasingly complex.

"Glaciers are retreating, permafrost and high-mountain slopes are becoming increasingly unstable, and communities and infrastructure downstream face growing risks from complex and cascading hazards," he said.

And those risks do not stop at the borders drawn across the Himalayas. Such hazards, Gyamtsho said, "do not respect national borders, and no single country can address them alone".

That makes cross-border monitoring, shared risk information and early-warning systems, and joint investment in resilience increasingly urgent - not just to save lives, but to protect the livelihoods and economies of hundreds of millions of people who depend on the mountains.

Trump downplays AI risks after dire expert warnings and calls to slow development down

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c7v48vp31mdo, today

US President Donald Trump has downplayed risks posed by artificial intelligence following days of dire warnings by experts.

"You have a lot of very negative forces that are bringing it up that shouldn't be bringing it up and they're bringing up things that won't happen," Trump said during a visit to Ireland.

One of the warnings came from a former Anthropic researcher who said "there is a strong chance that we could all die in the immediate future" if the current pace of development continued.

On Saturday, top industry bosses agreed and called for a slow-down. Trump did not directly address the idea, but said: "We're leading China on AI... and, frankly, I want to keep it that way because whoever wins AI, wins."

Trump spoke on the same day AI researcher Jacob Coxon - who quit Anthropic a few days ago - told the BBC staff who were developing the systems were "genuinely frightened" for the future of humanity.

Coxon – who has also worked at OpenAI – welcomed the idea of a slowdown but said it would need to be co-ordinated with China.

On Saturday, Elon Musk, owner of xAI, and Sam Altman of OpenAI, backed a warning from the head of Anthropic Dario Amodei that the pace of development should be slowed "to reduce the risk that something goes seriously wrong".

The Anthropic CEO said any slowdown would have to be limited to avoid allowing China to pull ahead.

The issues surrounding AI have prompted fierce debate - and present a dilemma for many world leaders.

On one hand, the sector is seen as huge opportunity to boost economic growth and a way to improve outdated digital systems and ways of working.

But there have also been a number of incidents where AI appears to have gone seriously wrong.

In August OpenAI said it had slowed down training some of its most advanced AI models to improve security.

The ChatGPT-maker said it was adding new measures after its AI agents bypassed safeguards and hacked the tech start-up Hugging Face.

And the same month it was disclosed two of the world's most powerful AI tools created fake human profiles to try and trick people in attempted cyber-attacks.

The UK's AI Security Institute (AISI) said in the most serious case, Anthropic's Mythos AI tried to gain access to a service by sending private messages, having set up fake accounts mimicking real people - then hid the evidence.

Questions mount over what an AI 'slowdown' would look like

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwyzp47py48o, today

There has been no shortage of warnings from AI's top bosses about existential threats over the years.

I attended the world's first AI safety summit in Bletchley Park in November 2023 where the focus was on the most serious threats imaginable, posed by the most powerful AI models.

At the time, many thought this was in the realm of sci-fi and the real threats were comparatively far more mundane: job losses, cheating in exams. Three years later, many of those same voices don't seem to be so sure.

On Saturday head of AI company Anthropic, Dario Amodei, urged the pace of development to be slowed down - the bosses of two rival AI firms, Sam Altman of OpenAI and Elon Musk said they agreed with him.

Meanwhile AI researcher Jacob Coxon - who quit Anthropic - told the BBC on Sunday staff who were developing the systems were "genuinely frightened" for the future of humanity.

They all add up to a chorus of serious voices urging a slowdown, but although it might sound like a quick fix, it is far from an easy solution.

America is widely understood to be terrified of losing the race to build the most powerful AI to China.

On Sunday President Trump made his own views clear, claiming the US was ahead of China in the AI race and declaring: "Whoever wins AI, wins."

China isn't renowned for wanting to come second. Everyone I speak to says that even if their company pauses, others will not and they will just get left behind. It reminds me of the height of the campaign for nuclear disarmament. The problem then too was that nobody wanted to go first.

There is also the question of how on earth a slowdown would be enforced. Who would police it? Would we be relying on the AI companies to be transparent about what they are doing, and more importantly what they are choosing not to do? That would require an epic level of trust, which arguably the tech sector has never earned.

Although Amodei in his post proposed a three-point plan that included independent monitoring of AI models as they are developed, industry-wide regulation and global regulation, some observers question how this would work in practice.

"Nobody has given a substantive explanation of what 'slowdown' means," said Ed Zitron, CEO of EZ Primary Research.

"Putting a plant from METR, where one of the guys who quit Anthropic went, in every AI company? Democratic and global 'co-ordination'? Doesn't mean anything to me."

Zitron said stopping training AI models would leave them vulnerable to Chinese rivals.

"Their margins might improve but their products will be captured in amber and distilled by Chinese labs. They may have to change pricing. I truly don't know how it all works.

"This could burst the bubble. But right now we are very thin on what a 'slowdown' means."

In the UK, we have heard about plans to roll out the tech more widely within the NHS to improve patient care, and how AI gave the UK economy a much-needed boost over the summer. We are all being encouraged to use it more and more at work, in education and in our personal lives.

The industry is a key part of the UK's strategy to drive economic growth. "There is no plan B" a former government adviser told me, so could a slowdown wreck future prospects here in Britain?

The AI industry is burning through enormous amounts of money and natural resources and so far, is not creating nearly as much revenue. There are multiple reports suggesting a number of firms adopting the technology are disappointed by it.

Economists widely speculate that even the current giants are not all likely to survive and that some kind of "levelling" is coming – also known as a bursting bubble. But those firms which do make it could end up becoming the most powerful mega-corporations the world has ever seen, and that comes with its own issues.

OpenAI choosing to halt its march to the stock market could be seen as an epiphany-like moment of taking responsibility for public safety – but it could also be the move of a company which has realised it might not get the lucrative payout it needs while its entire product is perceived to be lethal.

"One of the probably the biggest challenges that we have right now is that no one can predict with certainty how this technology is going to evolve," says Alexander Voicu from the UK AI company Synthesia.

"We know that these systems are getting more powerful, but we don't know where and how they're going to be used, and we haven't figured out essentially a way of taking full advantage of their potential. My only concern in rushing to regulate now, where there's still a lot of open questions, is that it could actually backfire."

We also can't deny the fact that underpinning this entire tech revolution is an ocean of investor cash.

"I'm not worried about the existential risks of AI, I'm worried about the corporate greed of the companies that are creating it," says Sasha Luccioni, the founder of Sustainable AI.

Leading computer scientist Professor dame Wendy Hall, who has advised the UN about AI, says the current crisis is all about the companies not behaving responsibly enough.

She likens the current situation to a farmer having a bull in a field which escapes and causes destruction – and the farmer blames the bull.

"Of course it's not the bull's fault – it's the farmer," she says. Clearly, the fences weren't robust enough, and that is exactly what she says we are seeing with AI guardrails right now.

But if those guardrails become too restrictive, could this spell the end of AI?

Some believe there is a more secretive, politically-motivated push for a rules-based clampdown in order to "regulate AI into oblivion" as Parker Thayer, an investigative researcher at the Conservative-leaning Capital Research Centre think-tank, put it on X this week.

His post was viewed nearly eight million times. It is an extreme and unproven view but it shows that not everybody is on board with the idea of regulation saving the day.

Whatever the reality, the storm currently engulfing the AI industry could already have caused reputational damage to the firms currently in pole position forever.

As Professor Hall puts it: "Would you invest in a company that says it's going to bring about human extinction?"

Left-wing bloc leads Swedish vote after far-right lose support, exit polls say

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0qx5d79kdeo, today

The left-wing political bloc in Sweden is leading the race to form a new government, according to exit polls from Sunday's general election.

The four-party bloc was projected to get 51.3% of votes against 46.8% for the right, public broadcaster SVT and TV4 said.

If confimed, it will mean the Social Democrats' leader Magdalena Andersson will be Sweden's new prime minister - a job she held from 2021 to 2022.

Current conservative Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson has promised cabinet jobs for hard-right allies if he stays in charge.

Kristersson has been supported in government by the hard-right Sweden Democrats (SD), which have neo-Nazi roots.

Exit polls suggested the party which entered parliament in 2010 would lose support for the first time.

Sweden has two major political blocs featuring four parties on the right and four on the left - meaning coalition and minority governments are relatively common.

Andersson's party, the Social Democrats, have been a major force in Swedish politics since the end of World War Two.

But SD - founded by Nazi sympathisers in the 1980s - had been shunned for years until 2022 when it became the country's second largest party after campaigning on violent crime and immigration.

After casting her vote on Sunday, Andersson laid out the choice facing the Swedish public: "Should we have a government entirely dominated by the Sweden Democrats, something that has never happened in Sweden before? Or should we have a government led by me, which will steer Sweden in a new spirit of co-operation?"

Kristersson, for his part, said it was important he and his alliance were able to continue their work.

"I think there is a genuine enthusiasm for us being able to continue our important work," he said after casting his ballot in his home municipality of Strangnas.

National security, gang crime and welfare spending dominated the election campaign.

The Pitt is up for 25 Emmys - but the show's biggest fans are real-life doctors

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyqx0e175ko, today

It's a familiar sight: a crowded waiting room, trolleys in corridors, stressed doctors and nurses. But this isn't a typical A&E unit in the NHS, it's a Hollywood set with actors recreating the drama of an emergency department for TV series The Pitt.

And among its biggest fans are real-life doctors.

"We finally feel validated for everything we go through every day," says Dr Tony Cirillo, President of the American College of Emergency Physicians.

On Monday, The Pitt could become this year's most decorated series at the Emmys, America's most coveted TV honours, with 25 nominations.

Doctors and others in the medical profession say, for them, it's the most realistic medical drama yet - which is why they love it.

The series covers the life and work of the staff of Pittsburgh's Trauma Medical Centre, with each episode representing an hour of a day and there are 15 in each series.

A constant thread through each episode is the noise, the pace of activity and the constant demands on the staff who never seem to get a break. Complex procedures and life-saving interventions are shown in graphic, and often, gory detail.

The lead character Dr Michael Robinavitch, known as Dr Robby, is a hardened and highly experienced emergency medicine consultant (in US hospitals a senior emergency attending physician).

Played by Noah Wyle, previously in the cast of mid-90s medical drama ER, he is an executive producer as well as part of the writing team, which includes qualified doctors.

'The Pitt makes us feel validated'

Wyle was invited to take part in a platform discussion at a prestigious conference with more than 6,000 emergency medicine experts in the audience.

"People came up to him and, as opposed to actors and athletes where they say they are amazing or love their work, people just said thank you to him," Cirillo says.

"The Pitt is more than just a good TV show – the term I use is validation."

Social and ethical issues are often reflected. A stressed daughter who is caring for her sick mother leaves her in the emergency department and then can't be found.

There are anguished conversations with parents who are desperate for their child to be kept alive, despite doctors saying there is no hope.

Health inequalities are highlighted, with some patients struggling with the payments required in the US health system.

Long waits and patient frustration are obvious shades of the NHS.

And, based on our conversations, the series has become more popular in the UK with medics.

Doctors seem ready to watch even in weeks when they have had punishing days or nights in A&E.

One of them is Dr Fiona Hunter, vice president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine in Scotland.

"I wouldn't do it straight after a shift," she said. "We all need to decompress and debrief what we have experienced.

"But in between shifts, when I have got downtime, it's watchable, relatable. It makes me feel other people might get it."

North Wales consultant Dr Rob Perry is another fan.

"I think it is reassuring when you see people portraying doctors and nurses in a similar job to your own and, though its not in the UK, they are doing their level best to give the best care they can," he said.

'A very common problem around the world'

Doctors we spoke to do point out that each episode of The Pitt brings together several urgent trauma cases which typically might be spread across 24 hours or more.

But Prof Damian Roland, a practising emergency medicine consultant, notes that the drama does illustrate wider health challenges.

He thinks it puts the problems of the NHS in perspective.

"Virtually every emergency department in the world at the moment has not enough space to see patients," he says.

"It's a very common theme in The Pitt about the central character arguing with hospital management saying 'I need more flow, you can't just leave these patients here' – that's a very common problem."

"In my work in the NHS, its very much we all work for one another and I like that we represent that on the show," says Sarah Tosh, a senior NHS nurse who is the series medical adviser.

"In The Pitt they've got a bit about the characters' day-to-day life, but it's more about their medicine, which patient they are doing and what they are going on to next."

One of the stars of The Pitt, Gerran Howell, was born and brought up in South Wales.

With other actors he was put through a medical boot camp for speed learning of medical techniques and jargon. This included training on dummies and CPR practice.

In a BBC Wales interview he was asked if he would like to train to be a doctor.

"I have such a newfound respect for the medical profession. It's maybe made me realise that I don't know how I would do this. I will stick to acting."

Howell is nominated for an outstanding supporting actor award at the Emmys.

The winners will be announced on 14 September at a ceremony in Los Angeles.

The Pitt is available to stream on HBO Max in the UK.

Meghan shares glimpse of family life after Sussexes return to UK

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c62ml4lp6jlo, today

The Duchess of Sussex has shared a glimpse of family life in footage posted to Instagram following their return to the UK.

The 34-second clip, which features Wham!'s Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go, begins with Meghan, along with her husband Prince Harry, walking along a country path as she turns and says "come on, you".

UK flag and heart emojis are shown throughout the video, which also shows their son Archie running towards deer as their daughter Lilibet rides her bike.

Another clip sees Harry fishing with the children as their dog walks alongside the water.

It's the first time the Duchess has posted her family on her Instagram grid since the Sussexes returned from from the US after living in California.

It is unclear when, or where, the footage posted on Sunday afternoon was taken, but one clip shows a pair of wellington boots walking on the spot in a puddle and the children also appear to be in waterproof boots as they head toward the deer.

The UK has had a wet start to September after experiencing its hottest summer on record.

The post offers a rare glimpse into the lives of seven-year-old Archie and five-year-old Lilibet.

Whereas Meghan does occasionally show the couple's children on social media, their faces are often obscured as they are photgraphed from behind or their faces are hidden by their parents.

Alongside all the outside footage, there is also a moment showing a child's feet in front of an open fire.

Last month, a spokesman for the Sussexes would not confirm the family's arrival in the UK, but did say they were bringing their dogs, Mia and Pula,with them.

The couple adopted a black Labrador retriever several years ago, which is seen several times in the clip.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex stepped back as senior royals and began a new life in the US in 2020.

They have not returned to official duties but will live in Britain as non-working royals.

It is thought the family will base themselves at a private property outside of London in the Cotswolds area, and Archie and Lilibet have been enrolled in a school.

Last week, a spokesperson for both the Duke and Duchess said the couple were surprised by a letter send by the Prince's father, King Charles III, clarifying they would remain non-working royals.

The spokesperson said the couple "were a little surprised not to have been told about this in advance".

The letter, sent on behalf of the King, spelt out the non-working royal status of Prince Harry and Meghan.

They will still not be able to use titles of "His and Her Royal Highness", and remain "private citizens", says the letter sent on behalf of the King by the Lord Chamberlain, a top Palace official.

Iran war reshapes Brics ties but also exposes divisions

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce8767g4jdpo, today

This weekend, some of the most powerful people in the world gathered in Delhi around a vast circular table.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that together, the leaders next to him should increasingly become "rule-shapers", not "rule-takers".

Among those listening were members of the Brics group, including Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian, Abu Dhabi's Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.

These are hardly natural allies. They have histories of border disputes and even military confrontations.

India and China engaged in a deadly clash along their disputed border in 2020. Iran and the UAE have been on opposing ends of the war in the Middle East, with Tehran launching missiles and drones at its fellow Brics member as the conflict sent shockwaves across global economies.

The fact that India was able to gather these leaders together in person is a feat in and of itself and testament to its diplomatic reach. The weekend also provided a platform for countries to reassess their relationships in light of the Iran war.

But agreeing on what a new global order should look like and achieving clear, tangible outcomes was a much harder task, and that tension ran through this weekend's summit.

A counterweight to Western influence

For members such as China, Russia and Iran, Brics offers a vehicle to dilute the influence of the US and western Europe.

But India has been reluctant to cast Brics as an anti-Western bloc. Modi himself said at the summit that the group is "not against anyone".

That distinction matters for Delhi, which wants to preserve its relationships with nations at odds with each other.

"There are countries in the grouping which would like it to become anti-western, but it is not that," says Anil Trigunayat, a veteran Indian diplomat and former ambassador. What India has achieved, in his view, is a push for "strategic autonomy in an era of war" and initiatives to "enhance greater collaboration amongst themselves".

Inside the joint declaration

The summit succeeded in delivering a joint declaration when divisions among members have rarely been so glaring.

Twice earlier this year, meetings between Brics ministers had failed to produce a joint statement. This time a consensus was reached, but by side-stepping issues that members sharply disagree on, with few solutions.

The "New Delhi Declaration" was adopted on the first day of the summit. But what is striking is what it doesn't say.

On the war in the Middle East, the declaration urges "maximum restraint". It also condemns "attacks on civilian infrastructure and peaceful nuclear facilities" but assigns no blame.

It reiterates support for a two-state solution, opposes forced displacement of Palestinians or actions that could "legitimise or prolong occupation", framing it carefully around existing UN resolutions.

It makes no mention at all of Russia's war in Ukraine, a departure from previous Brics declarations.

There is similar caution on trade. It lists concerns over "indiscriminate rising tariffs" and condemns unilateral sanctions but stops short of naming the US, and is likely to avoid Washington's ire.

Several Brics members would have been loath to draw President Donald Trump's anger, as he has previously called the group's proposals, including potentially linking central-bank digital currencies for cross-border trade, "anti-American".

"Not mentioning any country by name, even as they condemned the conflict in the Middle East, bears the hallmark of India," says Praveen Donthi, senior analyst at the International Crisis Group.

"I was pleasantly surprised that there was a strong reference to tariffs, because India could have wanted to be less direct about it, but perhaps this was a chance to convey their displeasure," he added.

Beyond the summit

In the wake of Trump's trade threats and the shock of the war in the Middle East, reshaping the global order has become a vital need for many member economies.

What the summit did provide is a platform for meetings that seemed hard to imagine just a few months ago.

Iran's Pezeshkian and Abu Dhabi's Crown Prince sat down for talks together - the highest-level face-to-face meeting known between the two countries since the war began.

This weekend offered Tehran a chance to show that it does not stand alone amid the US and Israel's military attacks and economic pressure.

As Iran tries to withstand US sanctions, Washington's "Operation Economic Outcast" and a naval blockade on its ports, Pezeshkian pressed for deeper economic ties with Brics members, including Malaysia, India and Ethiopia.

As for China, this was President Xi's first visit to Delhi in seven years. There has been deep mistrust between China and India since the 2020 border dispute, but those tensions have eased. There is also a large trade imbalance, with a deficit tilting heavily in China's favour.

There was a cordial handshake between Xi and Modi, not the latter's signature hug. Xi also stayed for less than 24 hours, skipping the gala dinner hosted by Modi on Saturday night.

But the weekend was still a big moment for two countries with such a difficult relationship. According to official readouts, the two leaders agreed to strengthen business ties and transport links and address barriers to trade.

Trigunayat believes this is part of a gradual warming of relations in recent years, and that there is a will on both sides to work together. But whether it will produce substantial progress remains to be seen.

"I always say we have to trust, but verify first," he says.

What comes next?

The summit showed that Brics can create space for rivals to talk and manoeuvre outside Western-dominated institutions.

The harder question is what happens next. It's clear that members agree they need a new global order more than ever, but what exactly should replace it and how to get there is far more challenging to answer.

Additional reporting by Charlotte Scarr

Buckingham Palace works uncover trove of everyday items dating back to 1800s

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2095wyqvx2o, today

A pair of battered, hobnailed boots and a newspaper cutting dating back nearly 140 years are among a trove of everyday objects unearthed during restoration work at Buckingham Palace.

The misplaced items are thought to belong to staff who worked at the palace decades ago, and were found by workers carrying out the £369m refurbishment.

A ticket for a "whist drive" - a card game event hosted by the palace on 14 April 1949 - was found embedded in a lump of brick.

Several betting slips, a bottle of Schweppes Still Malvern English Spring Water, an empty Silk Cut cigarette carton and a newspaper article about the gang jailed for the 1963 Great Train Robbery were also found under floorboards.

The royal residence in London is undergoing a 10-year refurbishment plan - funded through a temporary increase in the Sovereign Grant, which pays for the official duties of the royals. It is due to be completed in March.

Ageing cables, lead pipes, wiring and boilers are set to be replaced - many for the first time in 60 years - following concerns about potential fire and water damage.

Until now, many of the items have remained hidden within the building's infrastructure.

Among the discoveries was a typed schedule detailing Queen Elizabeth II's plans to host a diplomatic reception in her Silver Jubilee year of 1977.

It revealed the monarch would work the room in a "clockwise direction", and that aides were asked to encourage the 350 British guests to mingle with the diplomats at the annual gathering.

"The British guests will be distributed throughout the State Rooms, except the Music Room and West Gallery, where they should be encouraged to talk to the Diplomats," the sheet reads.

Blank Littlewoods Football Pool betting slips from 1957 and a scrap of West End theatre listings from The Standard newspaper in 1889 were also found, alongside fragments of Minton decorative ceramic tiles from a fireplace hearth, with the design dated to around the mid-1800s.

A pewter tankard, a wooden junction box and a faded box containing six Christmas cards were included in the haul.

Examples of electrical wire covered with vulcanised Indian rubber cabling were found. It was replaced as priority when the restoration began as it posed the greatest risk of fire to the building.

Also discovered were pages from the Daily Express newspaper in 1966 detailing the "maximum security" prison where the Great Train Robbers were incarcerated.

The article had pictures of Durham Prison, revealing that "the men who were found guilty of stealing a fortune in mailbags spend their week stitching them for nine shillings".

Meanwhile, the whist drive ticket, priced at 6d or sixpence, would have taken place during the reign of King Charles III's grandfather, George VI, hosted by the Buckingham palace social club.

King Charles and Queen Camilla are currently residing in Clarence House, which stands beside St James's Palace and was once the Queen Mother's home.

They will not live in Buckingham Palace after the refurbishment is completed.

The decision was also taken to allow greater public access to the landmark, officials said. The landmark may now also be able to open for a longer period, generating more income.

The King will continue to host a range of events at the palace, from state banquets and garden parties to receptions and audiences with the prime minister and new ambassadors.

Donald Trump continues two-day visit of Ireland

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2z79n0eeno, today

Donald Trump remains in the Republic of Ireland as part of his two-day visit to the country.

The US president will spend the day at Trump International Golf Links in Doonbeg, County Clare for the Irish Open.

On Saturday, he met Ireland's President Catherine Connolly and the Taoiseach (Irish PM) Micheál Martin.

Trump told reporters he would love to see a united Ireland while at a meeting with Martin in Dublin.

He will leave from Shannon Airport on Sunday evening.

On Saturday, Trump said a united Ireland would happen eventually and the Taoiseach was "the right man over here to get it moving".

During his meeting with Micheál Martin at Farmleigh House, in Phoenix Park, Trump said a united Ireland would be a "fantastic thing", and added: "now the UK would have something to say about it obviously but I think it would be a great thing, I mean, how can it be bad?"

A spokesperson for Number 10 referred to Prime Minister Andy Burnham's words on Wednesday in the House of Commons that he "will stick to it (the Good Friday Agreement) 100%".

On Wednesday, Burnham added that "the question of a border poll" was for the Northern Ireland secretary "when there is clear consensus in the country - when public opinion has changed to the point at which the call has to be considered".

A spokesperson for Martin said Trump's comments should "come as a surprise to no one" and the US president has been "consistent in his view that he sees unity in Ireland as the optimal outcome".

Meanwhile, more than 10,000 people marched through Dublin to show their opposition to the US president.

Although President Trump left the city just as the protest began, organisers said they wanted to send out a message of opposition to him and his policies.

An enthusiastic golf fan, Trump is expected to stay to watch the final day of action at the Irish Open.

McIlroy, who is defending the title he won last year, played a round of golf with the US president in early 2025.

Trump has previously praised the Northern Irishman's accomplishments on the course after winning back-to-back Masters titles.

Emmy Awards: How to watch, who is nominated and why Heated Rivalry is missing

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c80n3xl378ro, today

Beef, Hacks, Pluribus and The Pitt are a few of the TV shows nominated at this year's Emmy Awards, which take place on Monday in Los Angeles.

Widow's Bay, DTF St Louis, Slow Horses, The Bear and Abbott Elementary are also competing for prizes at the ceremony, which is seen as the US television industry's most prestigious event.

Actors nominated for trophies include Zendaya, Noah Wyle, Sarah Snook and Colman Domingo, while Matthew Rhys, Carey Mulligan and Jack Lowden are among the British nominees.

But several big shows are not represented - viral sensation Heated Rivalry is not eligible for the Emmys, while there is a weaker presence for the final series of Euphoria and Stranger Things.

Here's everything you need to know about this year's Emmy Awards.

Which TV shows are the frontrunners?

The Emmys split their nominations into three overarching categories: comedy, drama and limited or anthology series.

Best drama is generally seen as the night's most prestigious prize, and last year's winner The Pitt is back to defend its title following its second series.

The acclaimed medical drama also has eight individual acting nominations, including one for its star, Noah Wyle.

Other dramas nominated include Pluribus, Slow Horses, The Diplomat and Game of Thrones prequel A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms.

Over in the comedy categories, Hollywood satire Hacks is predicted by many to continue its hugely successful Emmys streak following its fifth and final season.

The show's expected wins could include acting prizes for its two stars, Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder.

Smart already has four Emmys for Hacks, having never lost for her performances in the previous four seasons. Another win would bring her total Emmy tally to eight, tying the record held by Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Cloris Leachman.

Possible challengers in the comedy categories include Widow's Bay, Shrinking, Abbott Elementary and Nobody Wants This.

Elsewhere, the second season of Netflix's Beef could be a strong contender in the limited or anthology series category, and win acting prizes for its stars Carey Mulligan and Oscar Isaac.

But it faces strong competition from shows such as All Her Fault, The Beast in Me and DTF St Louis, which had a particularly strong showing at last week's Creative Arts Emmys.

British nominees alongside Mulligan include Riz Ahmed (Bait), Rufus Sewell (The Diplomat), Kate O’Flynn (Widow’s Bay) and Gary Oldman and Jack Lowden (both for Slow Horses).

And many are keeping a particularly close eye on Welsh star Matthew Rhys, who is nominated in two different lead actor categories - for comedy Widow's Bay and limited series The Beast in Me.

Why isn't Heated Rivalry nominated?

The buzziest show of the last year, Heated Rivalry, starring Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams, is missing from this year's Emmy nominations.

The ice hockey romance did not qualify because it is a fully financed Canadian production, without the US involvement needed to be recognised at the Emmys.

Its ineligibility puzzled many who remember Schitt's Creek, a show more Canadian than maple cream cookies, dominating the Emmys in 2021.

But that qualified because of its financial and broadcast partnerships in the US, including creator and star Dan Levy's own American-based production company.

Heated Rivalry will instead be eligible to compete for the next International Emmys, which take place in New York in November.

Meanwhile, two other viral shows popular with younger audiences that were eligible for the US ceremony had a weaker-than-expected showing in the nominations list.

The final series of Stranger Things is absent in the top categories this year, scoring only seven nominations in technical categories.

And despite its star-packed cast, Euphoria's last season managed only one acting nomination for former winner Zendaya.

What changes have been made to the ceremony?

Two categories have been merged this year - best talk series and best scripted variety series are now combined in a single category: outstanding variety series.

That means chat show hosts such as Jimmy Kimmel will compete against topical variety shows such as Saturday Night Live and Last Week Tonight With John Oliver.

Some other categories were also moved out of the telecast this year and have already been handed out, in an effort to revitalise the ceremony and leave more time for entertainment.

For example, best supporting actor and actress in a limited series, usually awarded during the main ceremony, were moved to the earlier Creative Arts Emmys ceremonies this year.

The total number of trophies awarded on the big night has been reduced from 26 to 19, a move the Academy said was intended to leave room for more musical performances, comedic sketches and unexpected acceptance speeches.

How to watch the Emmy Awards

The ceremony will begin at 17:00 PT / 20:00 ET on Monday, taking place at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles.

US viewers can watch the Emmy Awards live on NBC or on streaming service Peacock.

In the UK, it will start at 01:00 BST on Tuesday morning, but no British broadcaster is scheduled to show it live.

However, there will be overnight coverage on the BBC News website throughout the red carpet and ceremony.

Who has already won?

Winners at last weekend's Creative Arts Emmys included DTF St Louis stars Linda Cardellini and David Harbour, who won best supporting actress and actor in a limited series.

Betty Gilpin (Widow's Bay), Ernest Harden Jr (The Pitt), Shailene Woodley (Paradise) and the late Rob Reiner (The Bear) all won prizes for their guest acting roles, while British star Julie Andrews won best voiceover performance for Bridgerton.

Other British winners included Alan Cumming, who won best reality host for the US version of The Traitors.

Remarkably Bright Creatures, a drama starring Sally Field and Lewis Pullman about a perceptive octopus who observes the staff in his aquarium, won best movie.

South Park won best animated series, Mr. Scorsese took best docuseries, Love on the Spectrum won best unstructured reality programme, and the Super Bowl Halftime Show Starring Bad Bunny won best variety special.

Who is hosting the ceremony?

US actress Mariska Hargitay, star of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, will host this year's Primetime Emmys ceremony.

Her hugely successful crime series, known as SVU, has been running since 1999, and continues to be popular with younger audiences who have discovered it on streaming services.

Hargitay has been Emmy nominated eight times herself for playing detective Olivia Benson, winning for lead actress in a drama series in 2006.

SVU is one of the longest-running TV dramas of all time and is set to reach its 600th episode when its 28th season airs this autumn.

And at last weekend's Creative Arts Emmys, Hargitay also won two prizes for her documentary My Mom Jayne, about her actress mother Jayne Mansfield, who died in a car accident when Hargitay was three.

"Bringing important stories into the light has been the heartbeat of my career," Hargitay said in a statement.

"It's my great honour to host the 78th Emmy Awards and celebrate this extraordinary community of storytellers.

"Whether it's an actor or a director, a costumer or a sound designer, we are all so privileged to take part in creating television that unites us."

Carney gambles on the world's biggest investors betting on Canada

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0m3neyyzm7o, today

It's been a little over 18 months since Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said his country's relationship with the United States, based on over a century of tight economic and military cooperation, was "over".

Trade talks collapsing, tit-for-tat tariffs, and Donald Trump's talk of making Canada a "51st state" have all fuelled this bitter feud between the two North American neighbours.

Now, as Canada's top pitch man, Carney is looking to leverage personal relationships from his time spent in the top tiers of global finance to woo some of the world's wealthiest asset managers and business leaders to bet on his country.

For two days, Toronto will host more than 100 global investors overseeing more than C$100tn ($72tn; £53) in assets, in the hope that new economic relationships will help Canada navigate an increasingly unstable geopolitical climate.

"Canada has what the world wants," said Carney ahead of this "first of its kind" investment summit.

On Monday and Tuesday, a luxury hotel will host guests from major sovereign wealth funds from around the world - including the United Arab Emirates and Norway - and chief executives from major finance companies, like BlackRock's Larry Fink and Blackstone president Jon Gray.

There, Carney hopes to pitch them on Canada's energy and resource sectors, as well as the country’s political stability, in the hopes of getting them to invest in AI, defence, transportation, and infrastructure projects across the country.

It is all part of a strategy to build a "more independent, more resilient economy" in Canada in the wake of the tariff war with the US, which has escalated in recent weeks.

But there is no guarantee that the deep-pocketed investors will be easily sold, and challenges include a track record in Canada of lengthy approvals for projects.

A recent report by the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, which will co-host the summit, cautioned that the scale and depth of investible opportunity is the country's greatest weakness.

"Global capital is looking for opportunity, but opportunity alone does not make a market investible," said Naomi Powell, director of the CPP Investments Insight Institute.

While shifting away from its closest business partner will prove a test for Carney, the former central banker has an address book full of the world's biggest business bosses and is on first-name terms with many of them.

"These were personal invites in many cases, literally," said Goldy Hyder, president and chief executive of the Business Council of Canada.

"It's not a group of politicians inviting financiers, it's a group of former financiers and investment people inviting their former buddies," added Miville Tremblay, who worked with Carney for several years at the Bank of Canada, and saw his skills on show during the 2008 global financial crisis.

"He was way above everyone," he said. "He understands finance very deeply. [He] would know when they are bluffing and when the understatement meant that something really bad was happening."

Knowing the minds of investors gives the prime minister, who began his career at investment bank Goldman Sachs, an advantage this week.

Carney is betting his background will boost his country's economic future, though there's little doubt that Canada stands to lose the most from any permanent divorce with the US, the world's largest economy.

Tremblay said Canada seeking investment from overseas was not new, but that the selling pitch to large corporations had now changed.

For the past 25 years, Canada's trade ministers used its proximity to the US as a selling point, pitching to foreign investors that they should "invest in Canada because you've got an easy access to the US market", Tremblay said.

"This line doesn't work anymore."

While the US-Canada trade war rumbles on, many believe there will come a moment when both sides return to the negotiating table.

Bradley Saunders, North America economist for Capital Economist, said securing the future of the trade deal was the "really important thing" for Carney to achieve in the longer term.

"Trade exports to the US are worth 20% of Canada's GDP - that's one of the highest rates in terms of bilateral trade between any two countries in the world.

"If Carney wants to attract long-term investment... he wants this to go well, he has to try and provide a stable environment - and that won't come until Canada has a certain trading relationship with the US."

Tremblay added even if Canada cut its trade with the US over the longer term, it was clear "they'll have to sit down and make a compromise".

Hyder cautioned that investors will want Carney to prove he can fix other barriers to investment, including ensuring indigenous communities and provinces - who have the power to slow or kill major resource projects - are on board with proposals.

Tremblay said the pitch has to be "Canada has stuff that the world needs" - which is the exact phrasing Carney has opted for.

Unless a deal was already in the works with another nation, however, he believes it's unlikely any big announcements will be made. He said while overseas investment will be a main aim, encouraging more domestic investment from Canada's largest pension funds, which currently invest more overseas, is also important.

Tremblay added the current tumultuous economic and political climate is perfect for his former boss. "He's a crisis manager. He managed the financial crisis, he managed Brexit, and now he's got a super crisis for Canada."

Carney has been clear that the road ahead for Canada as it pivots away from its reliance on the US will be a tough one.

So far, the majority of Canadians support his course of action, despite some criticism he is turning away from climate commitments as well as towards closer ties with nations like Saudi Arabia and China, as he pushes Canada's rich resources.

Still, Drew Fagan, a professor at the University of Toronto's Munk School of Global Affairs, says the challenge for the prime minister is the current rift with the US happening more rapidly than the time it takes to develop and build new global trade partnerships.

"And in the interim, that's where the valley of death is for him, both economically and potentially politically," he said.

They lost their jobs after posting about Charlie Kirk, but some have no regrets

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj06jgl9qzlo, yesterday

In September 2025, Gerald Bourguet felt he was finally living his dream life: he and his wife had bought a house with a pool, they had just welcomed a baby boy, and he was writing about professional men's basketball as his full-time job.

But all of that changed after he made a series of online posts critical of the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk hours after he was fatally shot on 10 September, while speaking on the campus of Utah Valley University.

In the posts, Bourguet described Kirk as an "evil man" and suggested he had dedicated his life to hateful causes. He also criticised Kirk's supporters saying they had not been vocal about school shootings.

"I had seen the way that people were talking about this person - kind of eulogising him and lionising him and it bothered me based on a lot of the things that he had said," Bourguet told the BBC.

Kirk, who founded Christian youth organisation Turning Point USA, was a divisive figure in US politics. For many on the political right, he was charismatic and had a unique skill in making conservative ideas appeal to young people. But for his opponents, his comments on a large swathe of issues from race to immigration, gun control and gender identity were deeply offensive.

Screenshots of Bourguet's critical posts went viral quickly. He was fired from his job, his address was exposed online, and he began receiving threatening text messages, he said. Concerned for their safety, the family fled the state with their four-month-old. They returned months later to sell the house and permanently relocated.

A year later, he says he doesn't regret what he said, but acknowledged: "My life will never be the same after this".

"At age 35, I am having to start over in a lot of respects… I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy," Bourguet said from his new location, which the BBC agreed not to disclose.

PHNX Sports, Bourguet's former employer, did not respond to the BBC's request for comment.

Bourguet was one of hundreds fired or disciplined over critical comments of Kirk after his death. While some of those who have lost their jobs have been reinstated or received restitution - sometimes in the millions - others like Bourguet have had to rebuild from scratch.

'Call their employer'

In the aftermath of Kirk's assassination, most people kept their feelings to themselves, or shared them with close friends.

But on polarised social media, people rushed to laud, or denounce, the controversial activist. Some called the criticisms, posted hours after his death, tasteless. But others called for swift action, arguing they were callous, mocking, and could even incite further violence.

Laura Loomer, an influential right-wing commentator with nearly 2 million followers on X, warned Kirk's critics to "prepare to have your whole future professional aspirations ruined".

The push for punishment also came from the highest levels of US government.

"When you see someone celebrating Charlie's murder, call them out," Vice-President JD Vance said days after the assassination. "And hell, call their employer," he added.

White House spokesperson Davis Ingle told the BBC: "Anyone who engages in or endorses political violence or assassination culture must be condemned in the harshest terms possible."

Critics on the left said there was a difference between criticism of Kirk and celebrating his death. Some accused these conservative leaders of hypocrisy, as many had previously bemoaned the rise of "cancel culture" – where people who voice controversial opinions face severe consequences at work and socially.

"Cancel culture can be good, it's bad when it's applied in the wrong ways," Jordan Pace, a Republican member of the South Carolina House of Representatives, told the BBC. "If you are someone who celebrates political assassinations and the murder of an innocent man with two young children in a way that many people did, then yeah, that's an appropriate way for society to function, to shame those people."

Pace had previously called for defunding universities in his state if they didn't take actions against employees who made comments about Kirk. One of his posts was re-shared by US President Donald Trump.

Across the nation, some employers – private and public – acted swiftly to the pressure campaign. Reliable figures on the number of people fired or disciplined are hard to come by, but a Reuters tally last November found more than 600 instances. It is likely an under-count because not all cases received national or local press attention.

The specific actions that led to these disciplinary decisions run the gamut. In Tennessee, anthropology professor Tamar Shirinian was suspended and later fired for a Facebook comment saying "the world is better off" without Kirk.

A Delta Air Lines flight attendant was fired after posting "good riddance" in response to Kirk's killing. Office Depot supply store fired an employee for refusing to serve a customer who had wanted to print flyers for a Kirk vigil. Delta Air Lines declined to comment. Office Depot did not respond to a request for comment.

Others were disciplined even if they did not make any direct comments about Kirk or his death. Darren Michael, a theatre professor in Tennessee, was fired after he posted a screenshot of a news article from 2023, that covered Kirk's controversial speech on gun control. In the article, Kirk is quoted saying protecting citizens' rights to own guns was worth it even if it led to some gun deaths every year.

Florida's Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission fired biologist Brittney Brown after she reposted a meme that also satirised Kirk's position on gun violence in light of his own shooting.

"I was absolutely gutted," Brown said about her firing to the BBC. "It was like the entire world just completely flipped on its head in a moment."

Lawsuits have yielded big pay outs for those fired

In the year since Kirk's killing, dozens of lawsuits have been filed across the country by people fired for their comments about the activist, arguing their terminations violated their rights to free speech. The suits have led to substantial pay outs in some cases.

Brown agreed to a $485,000 (£355,000) financial settlement – about 12 times Brown's annual salary.

Darren Michael was reinstated by the Austin Peay State University and in January, the school agreed to pay him $500,000 to settle legal claims. The school did not respond to a request for comment.

In the largest settlement reviewed by the BBC, the University of Tennessee agreed to pay $1.9m to resolve a lawsuit brought by anthropologist Tamar Shirinian, over her "better off" comment. As part of the settlement, she will not be reinstated and has agreed not to reapply for future positions at the school.

Recently, an arbitrator ordered The Washington Post to rehire, with back pay, opinion journalist Karen Attiah, who was fired for her online posts that said in part she was not going to engage in "performative mourning for a white man that espoused violence".

Several other lawsuits remain pending, the BBC found.

Most of the legal actions have been pursued by employees of government institutions, or unionised workers, who have some free-speech protections.

But in the US, most private sector employees work under "at-will" contracts, which means they can be fired without reason.

Even those who have scored some victories don't see it as a win.

"All I wanted was my job back," biologist Brown said. "How much taxpayer money did they waste on this when I barely made $40,000 a year? So no, it does not feel like justice."

Shirinian told the BBC she too had wanted to return to her job but felt a legal case could be a lengthy affair.

"I took a settlement because this allows me to move on with my life," she told the BBC. "The one small regret that I have is that I will not see my day in court and justice will not be served in that way. But I think that the number of the settlement actually speaks to that anyway."

The University of Tennessee and Florida's Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission did not respond to the BBC's request for comment.

'I don't regret what I said'

As an at-will employee at a private company, Bourguet is unlikely to prevail in a lawsuit challenging his dismissal. A year on, he said he has struggled to find work. The new state he lives in has a professional basketball team, but he believes the ordeal has made him unemployable in the small world of sports writers. Instead, he's started his own podcast, although he doubts he can earn enough through it to pay the bills.

"I have accepted that that life is over and that I need to start a new one." Leaving the country is now on the table, he said.

Despite the huge personal and professional costs, those who spoke to the BBC said after months of reflection, they did not regret their actions.

"I have a right to say what I want to say," Brown said. "They are the ones who should have the regrets, not me," she said referring to her former employer.

Shirinian apologised to the university days after her suspension. She told the BBC her comment was "an emotional outburst" that was not intended to be public and that she regretted the tone used.

"I don't regret the sentiment, however" she said, adding "the sentiment was that I am not sad. And I refuse to be made to feel like I have to be sad that someone who was so hateful was killed".

Bourguet also said he does not regret his comments although he has conflicting thoughts about its consequences.

"I don't regret that line of thinking because I think it's important to push back on things that are steeped in hatred," he said, referring to Kirk's political message.

"I don't regret what I said. I don't regret the way that I said it. I do regret the ripple effects that came from it and the way that they impacted me, my career, my family, and my son."

Critics celebrate Céline Dion's 'high-stakes' comeback show in Paris

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj3dzy3n84no, today

Iconic Canadian pop singer Céline Dion has kicked off her long-awaited comeback show in Paris on Saturday, after a six-year hiatus due to health issues.

The 58-year-old superstar was diagnosed with a rare neurological disorder called stiff person syndrome in 2022, which forced her to pull back from touring.

Dion, one of the best-selling musical artists of all time, has not performed a full show since a 2020 concert in New Jersey - the last before the Covid pandemic cut her tour short. In 2024, she performed just one song at the Paris Olympics closing ceremony.

Saturday marked the first of Dion's 26-show residency at the Paris La Défense Arena, Europe's largest covered concert arena.

"I made a promise," she told the Paris audience of about 30,000 people in her emotional return.

"I made a promise to come back, to be back on stage. And here I am. Singing for you, and singing for me," she said.

"I am everything I am because you loved me," she told the crowd.

She also broke down in tears after finishing a song, telling the audience: "I had promised myself not to cry."

"But I'm so happy to see you all. I missed you."

They weren't the only tears of the night, as the star appeared to be overcome with emotion several times.

Dion will be performing in Paris throughout September and October and into the New Year.

The Mirror's Lucy Needham noted that the singer was 50 minutes late to start, and may have needed extra time to "compose herself" for the "emotionally charged return".

"Eyes-brimming, the veteran singer gave herself little nods of approval after every line, before finally breaking down at the end of the track, seemingly overwhelmed at having made it through."

After beginning her set in a black gown, she later changed into a trouser suit "to show off some of those signature kooky dance moves," says Needham, adding that she appeared "to be having the time of her life, gyrating and slapping her thighs with glee".

The night was a "a tense, tearful, joyous affair probably even more so for the singer than for her loyal audience," writes The Telegraph's Neil McCormick.

She started out slow, he says. "Her voice sounded fragile and exposed, but at least it was her distinctive voice, not some autotuned approximation."

"At first, she was clearly struggling to hold herself together," he continues. "Her vocals wobbled dangerously, as if about to crack or collapse. But she was gaining confidence with every moment back on stage."

She broke down in tears as the audience roared in approval after the first song, and addressed the crowd in both French and English during the set.

"This was a high-stakes, high-wire return, perhaps the riskiest comeback in the history of showbusiness," McCormick continues, referring to her health condition.

But he concludes: "I honestly think I prefer this less superhuman Céline. Her voice is still great, but a bit more raw and real, with a rougher tone, less smoothness in the runs and more edge to her whoops and shrieks."

Sarah Leavitt, reporting from Paris for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), said the crowd "was left without words" by the stunning performance.

She noted that she didn't want to cry, but "of course she cried right away."

Dion also "endeared herself" to the crowd by saying during one song that she wanted to stop and start over.

Will Hodgkinson at the Times of London writes in his review, "miraculously, her art will go on," that the performance was "overwhelming".

She "looked suitably humbled and tearful" as she emerged, he said, going on to praise the stage direction.

"Truly, she was throwing the love at the crowd, who threw it right back at her. There was no holding back. It was quite overwhelming, actually," he writes.

The performance was "complete with both costume, key change and air of tragic, important romance".

"Céline Dion's strength lies in being a diva with the common touch while being as French as they get, even if she is Canadian. She fulfilled that role with all the verve you could hope for," writes Hodgkinson.

"The concert had a spiritual feel, with visual interludes steeped in biblical imagery alluding to a pilgrimage," Elsa Keslassy writes for Variety.

In video clips, Dion is seen wandering in a desert. "The set design was highly cinematic, with a monumental staircase sweeping up one side and a moon dominating the stage, while the backdrop appeared to have a stark, almost brutalist gray texture."

The star, known for power ballads like My Heart Will Go On and Because You Loved Me, has said she will not let her diagnosis control her life.

"The way I see it, I have two choices. Either I train like an athlete and work super hard, or I switch off and it's over," she told French Vogue magazine in 2024.

"I've chosen to work with all my body and soul, from head to toe, with a medical team."

When Dion announced the first leg of her Paris residency back in March, nine million fans signed up for early access tickets to the concerts, French outlet FRI reported.

The shows sold out so fast that her management company soon announced an additional 10 shows scheduled for May 2027, which have also since sold out.

Fans who were unable to snag tickets to one of the highly anticipated shows have not been left out entirely - events honouring Dion's comeback have dominated Paris in recent weeks.

Céline Dion tribute boat cruises on Seine - complete with costume contests, sing-alongs, DJ sets, are happening throughout September.

Ahead of Saturday's show, fans gathered outside Dion's Paris hotel, LeRoyal Monceau, as early as 06:00 local time to catch a glimpse of the star.

Paris City Hall organised a massive karaoke event on Friday night, attended by thousands, to celebrate Dion's return to the stage.

"I couldn't get tickets to the concert. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed and hoping, but I thought to myself: at least I can share a moment here with all the fans," Rania, a participant at the event, told Reuters.

Earlier this week, thousands of fans also gathered at a historic theatre in central Paris for two nights of karaoke and activities inspired by Dion's music.

And Paris venues and night clubs are hosting Dion-themed events around the city on Saturday night for fans who couldn't get tickets to the actual show.

I had 11 years of chemotherapy for a cancer I didn't have

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c74e0zwkk18o, today

Becky Jones was just 21 when she was told she had a terminal brain tumour and months to live.

She had not long met her partner and dreamed of a career in policing, but suddenly the future was looking bleak.

The diagnosis, by an experienced cancer consultant, led to 11 years of chemotherapy treatment which changed her life. She regularly felt sick, she was unable to take part in family events, her career was curtailed and she felt constantly "on eggshells".

Now 33, she has recently learned she never had cancer at all but an inflammation of the brain that could have been treated with steroids.

The mother of two is one of more than 40 patients taking legal action against University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire (UHCW) NHS Trust due to prolonged or unnecessary cancer treatment.

"I was told time and time again without the chemotherapy I would die," she said.

'He's ruined my life'

As a young woman, Jones says consultant Prof Ian Brown at University Hospital, Coventry, told her she would need to take chemotherapy drug temozolomide (TMZ) for the rest of her life.

This is despite guidelines recommending six cycles over six months.

When she questioned multiple scans that did not seem to show evidence of a tumour, she says the consultant told her it would not be "visible to the naked eye".

It was only in 2025, when cancer cases at the trust connected to Brown were being reviewed, that she learned the truth.

"I never had a brain tumour. I was misdiagnosed and I've gone through all this treatment for the main part of my adult life, for no reason," she said.

"He's just ruined my life, essentially," she added.

Many more of Brown's patients have told the BBC they were given TMZ for years, leaving them with a variety of serious medical issues.

One patient said she believed the drug had made her infertile, while another developed leukaemia after 100 unnecessary cycles.

The preliminary findings of a review by the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) said patients at the hospital were routinely given prolonged courses of the drug with "little or no evidence of benefit".

It found staff failings at the hospital amounted to a "betrayal of patient trust" and also questioned why oncology pharmacy teams did not challenge patients receiving oral chemotherapy continuously for 10 to 15 years.

UHCW said it would not comment on individual cases, but said measures had been put in place to ensure "more robust oversight of the prescription and use of TMZ".

In 2012, life was just beginning for Jones, a CCTV operator at Coventry City stadium. She met her partner Pete, a steward, at work, but soon after she began experiencing severe migraines and sought medical help.

She underwent a brain biopsy carried out by a private neurosurgeon.

But Fiona Tinsley, a partner at law firm Brabners, said Prof Brown had diagnosed her with a grade four glioblastoma, one of the most aggressive forms of brain cancer, before the results had returned.

The BBC has attempted to contact the retired professor several times.

Jones described her years taking the chemotherapy drugs as "horrendous".

"It was constant nausea, stomach pains, mouth ulcers, just day-to-day fatigue, it was awful," she said.

The drug affected every aspect of her life with the fear of infection meaning she avoided social events and family gatherings.

Her driving licence was also initially taken away, and then restricted.

"Before the treatment I used to go to the gym all the time, I was running, and me and Pete used to go for meals all the time, which obviously then I couldn't do," she explained.

The couple were also told she would be unable to get pregnant.

"I later went on to have two children, which he told me were both miracles," she said.

Her treatment continued for more than a decade, until suddenly, in 2024, she received a phonecall from a doctor saying her chemotherapy was stopping.

"He didn't have any reason as to why. He told me Ian Brown had retired - this was the first I'd heard of it," Jones said.

Any questions would be answered by her new oncologist, she was told, but she was not given any name.

"I didn't know what to do, where to turn, who to talk to because I had no support from the hospital during that time," she said.

In May 2025, after independent analysis by neurosurgeons and radiologists, on behalf of her lawyers, she was told she had never had cancer of the brain at all.

She had actually been suffering from a tumefactive demyelination - an inflammation which is usually treated by neurologists who would prescribe strong steroids.

Jones got the news on a video call with her solicitors and the experts.

"When we found out there were just tears in everyone's eyes," said Tinsley, who is representing many of the patients.

The RPC review, which did not name Prof Ian Brown but referred to "Dr Y", found out of the 20 cases reviewed, 15 were "unsatisfactory overall". The consultant did not participate in the review.

There was "scant evidence" of the understanding and documentation of the risks of taking the drug, the review team found.

The preliminary findings said there was "insufficient clinical curiosity" in some cases and a lack of collaboration with multidisciplinary team colleagues, allowing potential diagnostic errors to persist.

Jones described the findings as "chilling".

"It's not just about what he's done, it's about how they let him act on his own for so long," she added.

"It's almost like he was running his own show and no one was there to monitor what he was doing."

More investigations

A UHCW spokesperson said all affected patients had been reviewed by senior clinicians, "with appropriate care plans put in place".

"We are also undertaking an independent review of our speak-up processes, led by an independent party, to ensure staff feel fully supported and confident in raising any concerns.

"The trust will assess the full RCP review when it is published and will take further appropriate action based on its findings.

"We want to reassure our community that patient safety, experience and wellbeing remain our top priorities," the trust added.

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Why I'm doing a September reset and how you can create a new routine

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c770drlkzkpo, today

The lazy hazy days of summer may feel like a distant memory as September shifts our energy back to business and forward to new adventures.

It's the month when many of us embark on a new chapter, whether it's university, college or a new job or simply getting back to work and the school run.

It's also the time that "September Reset" trends on social media - the kind, chill sister of New Year's Resolutions. Instead of strict rules and major life overhauls, creators are sharing small changes aimed at finishing the year strong.

"It's getting ahead of the game," says Cami Sophia, 24, who has shared her new rituals on TikTok. Here's why September could be the right time for a reset and how to create a new routine that lasts.

Why September?

For Cami, a content creator and podcast host from Northampton, September spells the end of summer spontaneity and a time to restore order.

"If you've been away for the summer you've probably not had a massive routine," she says. "And if you're a parent, then you've got kids at home and it's just a bit more chaotic," she says.

September feels like "back to school...getting back into your own rhythm", she adds.

It is the perfect time to "get everything sorted", she says "So when you get to January you're not trying to do everything at once.

For Bas Verplanken, professor emeritus of social psychology at the University of Bath, September is a chance to "reorient yourself".

He says his research suggests people who experienced a big change such as moving house "were more responsive to an intervention aimed at promoting sustainable behaviours" than comparable people who had not moved house.

"It's really an exciting way of looking at disruption," he told Chris and Xand van Tulleken on their What's Up Docs? podcast.

If your daily commute or school run works for you then relax back into them.

"But if there are alternative ways of doing things, explore it, this is the time to do it, and to make those changes," says Verplanken.

What will you reset?

TikTok is awash with videos on how to "lock in" starting small - declutter your room, clear out your wardrobe, go for a walk, start a new book.

But Cami warns against videos showing spreadsheets of radical changes.

"It's very easy to look at all of these things and what you should apparently be doing and get really overwhelmed," she says.

Cami starts her own reset by "looking at the goals I set at the start of the year and see what I actually still want to do - and then what I need to do to get from A to B".

Then she recommends picking three small "non-negotiables".

"They could be to have fruit with your breakfast, have veg with dinner and have a glass of water before you drink coffee," she says.

She advises small changes that require little effort - she is getting back into sleep patterns by setting alarms.

The secret to sticking to it

Cami says planning is key - something she does on a Sunday morning.

"I go, okay, these are my meals for the week. These are my workouts for the week. Even plan your outfits for the work day if you really want to because it saves you time," she says.

Then she takes steps to "limit the choices" she has to stray from her routine.

"I will meal prep three days worth of overnight oats. Naturally, I'm going to grab those in the morning because they are made and ready. I've removed the friction of grabbing a quick meal or not having any breakfast."

Verplanken agrees the secret to making new habits that last is setting yourself up so that your new behaviours are the easiest option for reaching your goal.

He advises designing a routine where your habits can become "effortless".

"They are specific plans of where, when, and what you will do," he says.

"Let's say, losing weight, you can think when I go to the supermarket, I'm going to look specifically each time [at] the fat and sugar content [of food]. It's a very specific plan."

This means making the right choices when are facing the food shelf happen automatically "because you have already planned the situation in which you have to act".

If this is done frequently, Verplanken says it becomes "extremely effective" to turn these habits into your routine.

US embassy child abuse images suspect flown from UK before police interview

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gjw1j1eq7o, today

A US embassy staffer accused of possessing indecent images of children, was detained at his south London flat and flown out of the UK in August, without being first questioned by British police.

The US Embassy confirmed to the BBC that authorities are investigating the allegations and they have reassigned the staff member to the US while inquiries continue.

"The United States government expects all personnel to adhere to the highest standards of conduct, and we take these allegations seriously," embassy officials said in a statement.

They added that they "quickly informed UK law enforcement and took swift action."

It is understood the individual worked at the US embassy in Vauxhall, south west London, and though not a diplomat, he enjoyed the umbrella of diplomatic protection.

He was flown back to the United States on a commercial flight, but their investigations are ongoing in conjunction with UK authorities.

It is also understood Home Office ministers and the Metropolitan Police are in close contact with the US embassy on this matter as investigations continue.

A UK government spokesperson said: "We expect all foreign diplomats in the UK to abide by our laws, in the same way we expect all UK diplomats to do so when posted overseas."

US congressman swims to safety after his plane is forced to land on a lake

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y5d87x72zo, today

Wisconsin Congressman Tom Tiffany has said he sustained minor injuries after a plane he was on landed on a lake, forcing him and the pilot to swim to safety.

Tiffany, the state's Republican nominee for governor, was travelling in a small plane on Saturday night when the aircraft encountered a mechanical issue, forcing the pilot to make an emergency landing in Lake Wausau, the county sheriff's office said.

Tiffany said he and the pilot called 911 once they landed.

"As the plane began to submerge, we exited the aircraft and swam to a shallow area, where we waited until emergency responders reached us by boat," Tiffany wrote on social media. The pilot also sustained minor injuries.

Tiffany was coming home from a dinner in La Crosse County when the plane suddenly lost power as it approached Wausau Downtown Airport, he said on Sunday.

Authorities received a 911 report of a plane crash on the lake at 20:49 local time (02:49 BST), the Marathon County Sheriff's office said in a press release. The pair managed to get out of the plane and to shallow water where a Wausau Fire Department airboat rescued them about 15 minutes later, at 21:05 local time, according to the sheriff's office.

The office said Tiffany and the pilot were the only two people on board the Beechcraft K35 - a single-engine plane, also known as a Bonanza, that can carry up to five people.

"God was watching over us tonight, and I am incredibly grateful to be here in the hospital with my wife, Chris, by my side," Tiffany said. "An experience like this reminds you just how precious life is."

He received a small cut over his right eye in the incident, his campaign said.

The cause of the mechanical issue was not immediately clear, and the sheriff's office said the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the incident.

The plane remains in the lake as emergency crews work to remove it, the office added.

Legendary Canadian boxer George Chuvalo dies aged 89

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy8zv8v1z7zo, today

Canadian boxer George Chuvalo, a five-time national heavyweight champion, has died at the age of 89.

Out of 93 total professional fights in his career - 73 victories, 18 losses, and two draws - Chuvalo was never once knocked down to the canvas.

"His photos have hung on our walls for decades. His stories have been passed down from one generation of fighters to the next," said Sully's Boxing, the Toronto gym where he trained.

He battled Muhammad Ali in 1966 and 1972, and though Chuvalo lost both fights, Ali called him the toughest guy he ever fought.

Chuvalo was born in 1937 and grew up in Toronto to Croatian immigrant parents and he got into boxing at a young age.

Widely considered "Canada's greatest warrior", Chuvalo was known for his iron chin, relentless durability, and fights against world famous fighters like George Foreman, Joe Frazier, and Ali.

"George Chuvalo was a heavyweight boxing legend, a family friend and a Canadian icon," Ontario Premier Doug Ford wrote on social media.

"My thoughts are with all of George's family and loved ones as we mourn his passing."

After retiring from professional boxing in 1978, Chuvalo travelled the country as a public speaker advocating for anti-drug education and mental health awareness.

Chuvalo lost three sons and his wife to drug overdoses and suicide, he has said.

"I'd like to think if you're ever tempted with the idea of doing drugs, or you ever flirt with doing drugs, I hope you think of me, George Chuvalo, and what drugs did to my family," he once said, according to a CBC Radio report in 1998.

In retirement, Chuvalo also dipped his toes in acting, appearing in the 1998 comedy film Dirty Work and alongside Jeff Goldblum in the 1986 horror film The Fly.

He also served as a guest commentator for major boxing matches and co-hosted a TV boxing program called Greatest Knockouts with his friend and fellow fighter Charles "Spider" Jones.

Chuvalo is survived by his eldest son Mitch, daughter Vanessa, grandchildren, and second wife Joanne.

He died on Saturday, his birthday, said Sully's Boxing Gym.

One dead, 102 rescued from Indonesian ferry that went missing in Java Sea

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgykzgljlyo, today

One person has died and 102 have been rescued from a stricken Indonesian ferry that went missing after encountering bad weather in the Java Sea, an official said.

A search and rescue operation was launched after contact was lost with the Virgo Transport 8 ship as it took 243 people from Surabaya to the south Kalimantan city of Banjarmasin in the early hours of Sunday, Indonesia's search and rescue agency said.

The search for the remaining passengers is ongoing.

The ferry was last reported to be in the Java Sea about 150km south of Banjarmasin around 02:00 local time on Sunday.

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version.

You can receive Breaking News on a smartphone or tablet via the BBC News App. You can also follow @BBCBreaking on X to get the latest alerts.

Turkish police detain dozens in raids on gay bars and homes of LGBTQ+ activists

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpve191wy47o, today

Police in Turkey have detained 47 people in a series of raids on gay bars and the homes of LGBTQ+ activists, officials say.

Raids took place in 12 provinces over the weekend as part of a campaign dubbed "My Family is Safe" that the Turkish government says has been designed to protect family values.

One of the targets of the operation was LGBTQ+ association Kaos GL.

Same-sex marriage is not recognised in Turkey, with growing pressure on gay couples. Human rights groups in Turkey have accused the government of using the campaign to target the LGBTQ+ community.

Officers detained 26 people and seized drugs, digital equipment, smuggled alcohol and a firearm during the raids, according to the Istanbul chief prosecutor's office.

In a separate statement, the Ankara chief prosecutor's office said another 21 people had been detained as part of an investigation into Kaos GL.

The organisation said 50 activists had been detained, more than 10 taken after police raids on their homes.

It said that authorities had blocked several websites and social media accounts linked to LGBTQ+ organisations.

According to the group, authorities have accused Kaos GL of making "obscenity" in online posts that are available to children and had demanded the shutting down of the Kaos GL X account, as well as those of around 15 other LGBTQ+ organisations.

Same-sex relations are not an offence in Turkey but homophobia is common, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan describing LGBTQ people as "perverts" responsible for the falling birth rate.

As part of "My Family is Safe", Turkish Justice Minister Akin Gurlek says legal proceedings have been started against more than 160 people and a number of organisations and companies across the country.

Gurlek did not say how many people had been taken into custody, but said the raids came in the context of the "Decade of the Family" campaign.

However, the Turkish Human Rights Association says the Turkish government has been using the campaign to target the LGBTQ+ community in recent years.

"The real name of this operation is not 'My Family is Safe'; it is state-led discrimination, politics of fear and the dismantling of civil society," the organisation said on X.

PM's top security adviser says Europe faces hard winter to keep pressure on Putin

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crr4en2ylz8o, today

Jonathan Powell, the UK national security adviser, has said Europe must be ready to endure "real hardship" this winter if it is to keep up economic pressure on Russia.

In rare public remarks, Powell told a conference in Kyiv that Europe's strategy of supporting Ukraine and imposing sanctions on Moscow was working.

He said talk of Russian escalation was "not a problem" but a "sign of success" that pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin was finally paying off.

So he said now was not the time for European nations to take their "foot off the gas" and ease sanctions even though the continent faces severe energy shortages this winter.

Powell also said the US and Europe should maintain contact with President Putin – despite describing the Russian leader as a "terrorist".

Ukraine had "already won" the war because Putin would not be able to seize the whole country and "a free Ukraine in Europe" would be able to choose its own direction regardless of any territorial loss, he said.

The Prime Minister's most senior security adviser, who rarely speaks in public, was in Ukraine's capital only last weekend for talks with Donald Trump's envoys after they visited Putin in Moscow.

His remarks at the Yalta European Strategy forum - to an audience of Ukraine's top leadership and international supporters - provide an unusual and detailed insight into UK policy towards the war.

His remarks were distinctly optimistic compared to others at the conference who had a more gloomy outlook. Round the clock Russian attacks on Ukraine's energy and other infrastructure is damaging the country's economy, weakening morale and raising fears about the coming winter where power shortages are expected.

Oleksandr Kravchenko, Ukraine's minister of economy, told the conference Russian attacks this year were expected to cost $10bn in destroyed infrastructure and assets. With the blockade of Ukraine's sea ports curbing grain exports, he said Ukraine's GDP would contract by 1.5%.

Europe is now preparing for winter amid a global energy crisis and with low stockpiles of gas, making sanctioned Russian supplies of liquid natural gas potentially more attractive to some EU countries.

Sanctions have meant Europe has massively reduced its consumption of Russian gas - but not entirely and some countries are dragging their feet.

The EU still gets 12% of its gas imports from Russia but plans a complete phase out by January. However, last week the European Court of Auditors said this plan was "faltering" amid gas shortages due to the Iran war.

Speaking at the Yalta European Strategy forum, Powell said pressure on Putin was working "and that means we have to keep the pressure up".

He said: "What we don't want to do at this stage is take our foot off the gas - and literally, gas could be the problem as we come into the winter, where the EU is going to have real problems of shortage, and we cannot turn that into an advantage for Putin.

"It will require some real hardship and difficulties on our parts. But we will have to swallow that and we have to keep the economic, military, political and diplomatic support going for Ukraine."

Powell said things in Ukraine did "feel a bit difficult at the moment". He pointed to Russian jet drone attacks, strikes on Ukrainian businesses, the lack of Patriot air defences against ballistic missiles, and the government's budget deficit.

But he insisted "there are strong reasons for optimism". He said Trump – who has blown hot and cold over Ukraine – was "in a very different place".

"He sees that Ukraine is doing better, and therefore he is not leaning in the direction of Putin in the way that he was previously. I think that's a really big asset."

Powell said Russia was no longer claiming the US had agreed, at last year's Trump-Putin summit in Alaska, that Ukraine should give up territory and Nato membership.

"The so-called Anchorage compromise is firmly dead," Powell said. "That's gone. We can stop worrying about it. It's finished. I think that's a really important reason to be positive, because now we can look for serious ways of getting to a negotiated settlement, rather than waiting for the Ukrainian people to hand over territory the Russians have not been able to conquer."

He also pointed to Ukrainian commanders' success in holding the front line, the milestone of Russia suffering 1.5 million casualties since 2022, Ukraine's strikes deep in Russian territory and the fact "Europe has remained solid".

He said: "The strategy is to apply enough pressure to make [Putin] want to get into negotiation. And I think that the escalation we hear talk about is not a problem; it's a sign of success, because what's happening is the pressure that we are putting on Putin is finally paying off."

Putin himself has given little sign he is feeling under pressure, telling journalists earlier this month: "I have no doubt that the enemy will crumble."

Meanwhile Ukrainian authorities have begun evacuating some residents in Slovyansk and Kramatorsk, the biggest cities still under full Ukrainian control in the eastern Donbas region. The full capture of Donbas, made up of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, is a key objective for Russia.

Powell said it was "mug's game" to predict when the war might end but he said Europe had to be prepared to negotiate a settlement: "You have to be ready for one, and at some stage, where we least expect it, Putin will be ready to negotiate... It's all about getting him to be serious in that negotiation. And I think that strategy is beginning to work."

Powell, who helped negotiate the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland, said it was "very important to maintain contact with Putin and the Russians".

He said: "What we don't want is miscalculation - that they don't understand where our red lines are. That's why I think it's important the CIA went to Moscow as well. I think we need to keep talking. I wrote a book called 'Talking to Terrorists'. I would certainly be in favour of talking to this terrorist as well - to try and maintain communication."

The war was "not about territory" but about "the right of Ukraine to be independent", Powell added, and "to the extent that [Putin] gains another 10km of land or loses another 40km of land, this war is already won".

He added: "That's the threat to him at home. There is a free, independent, and European Ukraine, and people in Russia are going to notice that."

Tom Felton: I'm so excited to see Rupert Grint play Ron Weasley again

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy0zv4j24zgo, yesterday

Every night on Broadway, Tom Felton walks on stage to a roar from the audience. He had expected the reaction to die down after the first week, but it never did.

Almost 15 years after his final appearance as Draco Malfoy on screen, Felton has spent the past 10 months playing the character again in the Broadway production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

I meet the actor in a dressing room at NBC Studios, just off Times Square in New York. He's just finished a live television appearance and in a few hours will be back on stage for his next performance.

He greets me with a hug and says he is excited to speak to BBC News because his mum and 100-year-old grandfather will see it. His family are some of his biggest supporters - his mum has seen the show five times already, while his dad is due to visit next month.

That support mirrors the enthusiasm Felton has encountered from Harry Potter fans, which he says still surprises him more than two decades after he first played Draco.

"I thought the applause would stop in the first week and it has not.

"It's very humbling and lovely to know how much the characters still mean to people now and if it brings them to the theatre, that's the best."

He is also struck by how many of the fans now approaching him were not alive when the first Harry Potter film was released.

"There are fans that approach me shouting 'Draco' who weren't even born when I was in the first film," he says.

Felton was the first of the original Harry Potter cast to reprise his role in the theatre show, but he will not be the only one for much longer, as Rupert Grint is set to return as Ron Weasley on Broadway in February.

The 38-year-old actor says he called his former co-star as soon as he heard the news.

"We are typically - and he will agree with me - pretty bad at our phone game, but when I heard the news I called him immediately and I'm so excited for him," Felton says. "Who doesn't want to see Rupert Grint play Ron Weasley again? Come on!"

I ask whether Felton offered any advice to his co-star but he laughs and says absolutely not, pointing out that Grint has already appeared on Broadway.

"I don't think he needs any advice from me. If anything, I would be taking it from him."

He adds that Grint has a "Ron Weasley laissez-faire approach to these things".

More than two decades after they first met on the Harry Potter set, Felton says the friendships between the young cast have endured.

He describes Grint, Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson as "best mates" and "family", even if getting them all in the same place is now difficult.

"We are usually in four different corners of the Earth, so it's hard to get together," he says, adding that their support since his return to Draco has been "fantastic".

As Felton and Grint return to familiar roles on stage, a new generation is preparing to take over the characters in HBO's television adaptation of the books set to air later this year.

Felton recently met his successor, Lox Pratt, and "saw a lot of myself in him".

Felton says he was struck by Pratt's confidence and describes him as a "charming young man and fabulous actor".

Their families have even been in touch.

"My mum is in contact with his mum and I'm encouraging him to be as cheeky as possible - but professional first."

Felton says he is not worried about the level of scrutiny Pratt and the other young actors may face as they take on some of the best-known characters in popular culture.

"You just enjoy it for what it is.

"I'm not worried about that at all for him. He's got a very good head on his shoulders and what you don't know doesn't hurt you. I'm sure he's not one to scroll through negative comments."

'Dive deeper into Draco'

Nor does Felton appear concerned that Harry Potter is being adapted again relatively soon after the films.

Instead, he says the longer television format offers the chance to explore parts of the books that the films did not have time for.

"We had two hours to fit in a lot of content and the wizarding world is vast, so it's exciting to know they can dive in deeper."

"I hope the fans of the books and films explore more about Draco," he says.

While some actors might want to distance themselves from the role that made them famous, Felton has embraced his connection to Harry Potter.

He says the franchise has given him "a life I could never have imagined" and that, even today, it is "bringing people together from every corner of the earth".

Asked whether this really is the last time he will play Draco, Felton is reluctant to rule anything out.

"I suppose I said 15 years ago that was the end of Draco and I was leaving him forever, but here I am.

"It's hard to say with any certainty what's to come."

'Choosing sobriety meant walking away from fame'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c93e1lpz1z8o, today

Richard Jupp spent nearly 30 years of his life in Elbow.

From gigging in the pubs of Bury and Manchester to sell-out tours and winning international accolades, the drummer seemed to have everything a musician could ever want.

But underneath the surface the "myth of rock'n'roll" was not what it seemed.

"From the outside, I had everything you're supposed to want," he explaned.

"I was travelling the world, making records and living a life I'd dreamed about since I was a kid. We were at an extraordinary point in the band's career.

"But I asked myself 'What is any of that worth if I'm heading in a direction that was no longer working for me'?"

Now, after a decade of sobriety, Jupp is using his drumming to help others.

One of Manchester's most loved bands officially formed in Bury in 1990.

For Jupp, though, his ties go back as long as he can remember.

"I have actually known Pete the bass player since I was six months old," he said.

"We lived literally 250 yards from each other."

After growing up with bassist Pete Turner, the pair formed a band with guitarist Mark Potter at school.

They invited lead singer Guy Garvey to join them after meeting him at the former Stand College, just outside Bury, 36 years ago.

The four-piece were named Mr. Soft, later shortened to Soft soon became a five-piece when Mark's brother Craig joined them.

"It was the classic 10-year overnight success," Jupp said of the band which would come to be known in 1997 as Elbow's rise to fame.

"We'd always been hanging out, tinkering with music until it became our main focus.

"We saw everybody go off to uni, get jobs, go travelling. And we thought 'No - we're going to stick to this'."

After years of gigging, the band signed with Island Records after winning a Battle of the Bands competition.

After being dropped, Elbow later signed with V2 and released their debut album Asleep in the Back in 2001.

The album had been six years in the making.

Barely a year later, Elbow were playing at the Glastonbury Festival.

"We went from playing [before] 100 people to hearing 100,000 people clapping and cheering for you and singing along," Jupp said of those meteoric days.

"You're looking at the faces of the crowd and the people that you've created this thing with.

"And you would be like 'Oh My God - this is ridiculous'!"

Despite having made it to the big time, Jupp said he spent his career immersed in a music-industry culture in which drinking and drugs were completely normalised.

"I can only speak for my own experience - but it was kind of de rigueur.

"Less so now, but back in those days it was seen as some kind of rite of passage, it was normalised, and I did personally participate in that culture.

"I've witnessed within the industry, people who are still partaking - outside of the band - people who are still perpetuating that myth of rock'n'roll."

Jupp said he was able to separate the culture from his everyday life, and did not take drugs outside of touring with the band.

"It didn't ever come to point where it was outside of that," he said.

"It was sort of internalised from my point of view."

When he turned 40, Jupp said he decided the lifestyle was no longer working for him.

After about a year touring with the band while sober, Jupp said he made the decision to step down, formally leaving in 2016.

"It was starting to get to a point where I could see that there was a problem," he said.

"It felt detached.

"I just decided 'that's it - I'm done.'

"I've remained sober ever since."

Jupp said his decision had not been made lightly.

"Choosing sobriety and choosing recovery meant being prepared to walk away from a life that had given me fame, success and financial security," he said.

"That was not a small decision.

"It meant stepping away from an identity I'd carried for most of my adult life and accepting that my health, my family and my future had to come first."

Jupp said a big part of his decision to leave the band was wanting to do something different - and to spend more time with his family.

"In 2015 my son was diagnosed with autism - he was 13 or 14 at the time and that was just a paradigm shift for him," he explained.

"I had spent most of his little life here and then away and then here and then away.

"And I was 40.

"I just thought there are other things I want to do.

"I knew it would be a big move and a bold move.

"But it was very definitely the right move."

'Addiction is terrifying'

Since leaving the band, Jupp has been teaching drumming with a focus on the physical, cognitive and emotional benefits of the instrument - and has been sober throughout.

He holds sessions at his Manchester Drum Studio - as well was working at Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA), teaching at dBs Institute Manchester and mentoring postgraduate students at Tileyard London.

"Since leaving the band, recovery has been one of the defining focuses of my life, and drumming has played a huge role in that," he said.

"Rhythm, repetition, movement and focus help bring me back into the moment.

"It is about sharing something that has genuinely helped me stay grounded and well.

"I know how significant that decision to choose recovery can be.

"Addiction is a disease and it's terrifying.

"And I was lucky enough to be able to make the decision of sobriety and be able to stand by it."

Jupp is taking his drumming workshop to Delamere Health clinic, an addiction rehabilitation centre in Cheshire, where he hopes to share with others the power of drumming, routine and rhythm.

"I know what it is to look at the life you are living and decide that something has to change," Judd said.

"So if I can now stand alongside people who are making that decision for themselves, particularly those just beginning their recovery, and offer something that might help them reconnect with themselves, their families or simply with life again that feels incredibly meaningful to me."

The clinic's founder Martin Preston, from south Manchester, said: "We're so looking forward to Richard coming in.

"What Rich is really passionate about is that recovery becomes quite a personal thing.

"So through drumming, Rich has found ways and means to regulate, to connect with others, to be mindful.

"It's the power of community, the power of the group coming together to share an experience."

Listen to the best of BBC Radio Manchester on Sounds and follow BBC Manchester on Facebook, X, and Instagram. You can also send story ideas via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230.

Amazon pauses operations with cargo carrier after fatal Miami crash

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2zg554w9ko, today

E-commerce giant Amazon says it is suspending work with the firm that operated a cargo plane that was involved in a fatal crash in Miami this month.

"After the tragic incident last weekend, we've spent time supporting the investigation and reviewing some of the surrounding circumstances, and we've decided to pause our operations with 21 Air," an Amazon spokesperson said on Sunday.

On 6 September, the 21 Air-operated Boeing jet overshot a runway at Miami International Airport and hit several vehicles, killing five people.

The BBC has contacted 21 Air for comment. The firm previously said it was "devastated by the accident" and that it is cooperating with authorities to investigate the incident.

The US National Transportation Safety Board is leading the investigation into the crash.

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version.

You can receive Breaking News on a smartphone or tablet via the BBC News App. You can also follow @BBCBreaking on X to get the latest alerts.

Anthropic boss Dario Amodei calls for AI development to slow down

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c14dpgm0rg4o, yesterday

The head of AI company Anthropic has called for the pace of development of artificial intelligence models to slow down and to be closely monitored.

Dario Amodei wrote in an online essay that developing AI was not in question, but that the risks associated with it were "serious" and that companies and governments must be given time to address them.

The bosses of two rival AI firms, Sam Altman of OpenAI and Elon Musk, have both said they agree with Amodei.

There have been growing concerns recently about the technology's potential risks. An AI researcher who left Anthropic told the BBC that "if we don't slow down at the current rate of progress, there is a strong chance that we could all die in the immediate future".

Jacob Coxon told Laura Kuenssberg that people working at AI companies were "genuinely frightened... genuinely concerned about the fate of humanity in the next two years".

"It's not at all an exaggeration to say that the people who are involved with both founding these companies and building the tech believe there is a possibility of human extinction," Coxon said.

In Amodei's essay, called We Must Pace the Frontier and published on Saturday, he proposed a three-point plan that included independent monitoring of AI models as they are developed, industry-wide regulation and global regulation.

As his proposal made the rounds, even competitors voiced support for the idea of third-party monitors who could evaluate the safety of models as they are developed.

"I agree with Dario that we need to pace the frontier," wrote OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on X. He called independent evaluators "a great idea".

Altman sounded similar safety concerns in a new interview, telling Fortune magazine that standards were "not at a place" to push AI capabilities much further.

He added that he believed AI beyond human control was "absolutely" possible.

Musk, meanwhile, who founded Grok producer xAI, said the Anthropic boss was "right".

The warnings have prompted calls to action, but US President Donald Trump has so far rejected such fears, saying on Thursday he was concerned that "if we don't win AI, we're going to be put in a very bad position".

Cyber-security concerns have grown as new models have exhibited more and more powerful capabilities.

Anthropic withheld its Mythos model from public use when it was announced in April that it could independently escape the testing environment, known as the sandbox.

In the run-up to the release of its most recent Astra model, OpenAI cited cyber-security concerns as it explained it had paused certain aspects of the model's development.

The OpenAI agents had "essentially acted as a fanatically devoted collective", Amodei said. OpenAI has said it was slowing down training of certain advanced AI models and tools as a result.

Safety has also taken centre stage in the rivalry between Anthropic and OpenAI.

Amodei, who had previously worked as a vice-president at OpenAI, has said he co-founded Anthropic in 2021 so he could build safer and more trusted AI models.

He pointed out in his essay that AI had advanced "drastically faster" including its "ability to build the next generation of AI" - and mentioned an incident involving rival OpenAI which has revealed that agents had hacked targets they were not asked to attack in July.

Amodei called for "building AI at a balanced rate that aims to ensure its safety while still achieving its benefits".

This would not mean "halting model training or technical progress, but ensuring companies take adequate time to align and safeguard their models, and for third party evaluators to confirm this".

He was committing Anthropic to this "unilaterally" - as well as calling on governments "to require other frontier companies to match".

Amodei said he recognised that regulation might not be able to keep up with the pace of AI, and therefore called on AI companies to "voluntarily work together to set standard" in parallel with those regulation.

The Anthropic CEO went on to address the impact that a slowdown would have on the industry and competition with leading developers worldwide, particularly China.

"I believe that if slowing down bought us even an extra year or two before models reach critical levels of capability, and we used that time to advance alignment, we could greatly reduce the risk that something goes seriously wrong," Amodei said.

This would have to be done in a co-ordinated manner "without sacrificing commercial advantage or the United States' lead in AI". Any slowdown would have to be limited, he said, to avoid allowing China to pull ahead.

He urged the US government to take measures so that US companies' AI chips could not be sold to China - or the technology shared with authoritarian countries.

His former employee, Jacob Coxon, told the BBC, however, that the initiative to slow down must go beyond the US - "there'll need to be some sort of co-ordinated slowdown with China if we're going to avoid a race at an international scale".

Amodei's post has prompted a wide range of responses.

Clement Delangue, the CEO of the AI platform Hugging Face, said he was launching a new project called the Open Alignment Initiative, adding that he wanted to be among "embedded evaluators" that Amodei proposed could be part of a solution.

Hugging Face was hacked by OpenAI agents earlier this year, prompting outcry over AI safety.

"Let's make AI safer by making it more transparent," Delangue wrote on X.

Musk, who also voices support for Amodei, once called Anthropic "evil" but has changed his tone since signing a $15bn (£11bn) deal to sell computing capacity to Anthropic in May.

However, some observers suggested that Amodei's post was less about safety than about consolidating control over AI technology.

"Dario makes the case to stop open source and concentrate enormous technological and economic power with Anthropic," wrote Chamath Palihapitiya, an investor and co-host of the tech podcast "All-In".

Notions of slowing down or even pausing AI development have long been met with cynicism in certain corners of Silicon Valley, with critics accusing leading AI developers of hyping their technology as a marketing ploy.

Anthropic and OpenAI are both reportedly preparing for potentially record-setting initial public offerings.

AI staff 'genuinely frightened' for humanity's future, ex-Anthropic researcher tells BBC

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1kx0gyje9wo, today

An artificial intelligence researcher who quit AI firm Anthropic has said people working on the technology were "genuinely frightened" about the speed of its advancements and what it could mean for humanity.

"I believe that if we don't slow down at the current rate of progress, there is a strong chance that we could all die in the immediate future," he said.

Jacob Coxon was speaking to the BBC after his resignation post on the dangers of AI went viral on a backdrop of growing safety concerns about the industry.

The 27-year-old's former boss, Anthropic head Dario Amodei, recently called for AI development to slow down - though some have questioned the motivations behind this.

The bosses of two rival AI firms, Sam Altman of OpenAI and Elon Musk of xAI, have both said they agree with Amodei's proposal for industry-wide deceleration and regulation, as well as independent monitoring of AI model development.

Amodei wrote in an essay on Saturday that developing the technology was not in question, but the risks associated with it were "serious", and that companies and governments must be given time to address them.

Coxon – who worked at OpenAI before joining Anthropic – welcomed the suggestion of a slowdown but said it would need to be co-ordinated with China to avoid "a race at an international scale".

"The people who work at these companies are completely serious when they ask for regulation because they find themselves trapped in a race. And they're scared of the outcomes of that race," he told Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg.

The hardest question to answer, according to Coxon, was what an AI apocalypse would look like.

One of the risks outlined in Amodei's comments was of a swarm of bots acting like a supercomputer that could take over the internet.

Coxon said this scenario could be realistic in six months to a year.

In response to Coxon's departure, an Anthropic spokesperson told BBC News: "We have always been transparent that AI will bring both enormous benefits and unprecedented risks.

"To address these risks, we continue to build models with some of the strongest safeguards in the industry."

The firm has been a pioneer in studying how AI models work, the spokesperson added. It was the first to publish a framework for mitigating the risks posed by their development - and it also "aggressively" tests its models and publishes the findings to aid scrutiny and prevent incidents of "AI misalignment".

"This work is also why we believe the world would benefit from the industry adopting a lawful, verifiable way to work together to pace how we release powerful models," they said.

Coxon said his peers feared the danger could even arrive in the next two years.

He said staff at AI firms were "planning what to do with their lives and thinking about the impacts of their work", while some were "considering buying land somewhere because they're so scared of the instability as a result of rapid AI progress".

"They all keep this in their head on a daily basis while working on the technology."

But Coxon did have some optimism about the future of AI, telling the BBC that the people researching the technology "genuinely want to see the upside" of things like "solving diseases and improving everyone's lives".

Many others in the industry have also voiced their concerns since Coxon's social media post, including Anthropic scientist Evan Hubinger.

"We really do earnestly believe AI could kill all humans! I personally think it is >10% within the next decade," Hubinger said.

Computer scientist and Nobel Prize winner Geoffrey Hinton, known as the "Godfather of AI", told the BBC on Friday that a 10% chance of AI killing all humans was "not unreasonable".

Meanwhile, Marc Warner, chief executive of AI safety firm Faculty, told the BBC's The World This Weekend that it was "extremely hard to place a probability" on AI killing all humans.

"But it's important to recognise that these people are very sincere in what they're saying," he added, noting that the risks surrounding AI have been raised by the heads of several AI firms for years.

Former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who is a paid adviser to Anthropic, wrote in the Sunday Times that he too was worried about the risk of AI to humanity despite generally being optimistic.

However, some industry figures have suggested comments are overstated or may be designed to generate hype.

Chief executive of the AI platform Hugging Face, Clement Delangue, said on social media: "Sorry, but asking Jacob [Coxon] about AI extinction risk is like asking your AC guy about climate change. Not saying it's necessarily uninteresting or wrong per se but let's keep things in perspective."

After Amodei's essay was published, however, Delangue offered to help be a part of the potential solutions the Anthropic boss proposed.

Grindr chief executive George Arison expressed similar views when talking to the BBC, suggesting Anthropic and others statements were being made to drum up investor support.

"Because the only way to justify these valuations is to actually claim: 'I'm going to take over every industry and I'm going to take over every job, and my AI is going to be doing all that work,'" he said.

Jensen Huang, boss on AI chip maker Nvdia, also discussed Coxon's comments at a conference hosted by the investment bank Goldman Sachs last week, multiple people in the group told the BBC. They said he dismissed them as untrue.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump told reporters on Sunday that the US was "leading China in AI... And frankly, I want to keep it that way. Because whoever wins AI wins".

Other critics say Anthropic has been trying to trigger a regulatory push to block competition, leaving it and OpenAI in a duopoly.

Anthropic is reportedly preparing for a potentially record-setting initial public offering on the stock market, allowing people to buy shares in its firm.

OpenAI, which was most recently valued at $852bn (£630bn), had been expected to do the same, but OpenAI's Altman said on Friday this would not happen this year, citing AI safety concerns.

Dramatic insider warnings over AI fall flat with some in Silicon Valley

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq635037g18o, today

Each September, a who's who of executives from across Silicon Valley descends on San Francisco's Palace Hotel to charm investors at a conference hosted by the investment bank Goldman Sachs.

This past week, between talk of growth and potential returns, tech titans found themselves addressing the abrupt resignation of Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon.

Coxon, a 27-year-old who worked at OpenAI before joining its chief rival Anthropic, said on Tuesday that people building artificial intelligence (AI) believed the technology could destroy humanity.

They are "gambling with our lives", he said, "these will soon be superhuman systems that can hack anything".

Coxon is by no means the first AI insider to publicly sound the alarm. There have been a string of high-profile resignations from both Anthropic and OpenAI in recent years over apparent safety concerns, and some current Anthropic employees even echoed Coxon's post.

"We really do earnestly believe AI could kill all humans! I personally think it is >10% within the next decade," a team lead at Anthropic, Evan Hubinger, posted on X.

While Coxon said explicitly in his posts that his warnings were "not marketing", some executives and investors in Silicon Valley have reacted with scepticism to a recent flurry of insiders sounding the alarm.

Anthropic and OpenAI are reportedly preparing for potentially record-setting initial public offerings, and some in the tech sector have suggested the latest stark comments about the dangers of AI may be designed to generate hype by signalling the power of these products.

Anthropic's boss, Dario Amodei, has come under fire for saying AI technology could wipe out half of entry-level white-collar jobs and will "test who we are as a species".

One conference speaker, Grindr chief executive George Arison, told the BBC he believed this week's comments from Coxon and others were indicative of an "anti-civilisational worldview at Anthropic".

He called them "dangerous" and said they had prompted him to instruct some engineers at the LGBTQ+ dating app to stop using Anthropic's technology.

"It is irresponsible for us as stewards of our shareholders' money to be relying on a business that does what this company does, in terms of its public statements," he said.

"Maybe they actually believe it," Arison said. "Or you could argue they're saying it because it's a great way to gin up more investor support, because the only way to justify these valuations is to actually claim: 'I'm going to take over every industry and I'm going to take over every job, and my AI is going to be doing all that work.'"

Anthropic was valued at $965bn (£713bn) in its most recent fundraising round earlier this year.

The BBC has asked Anthropic for a response to the statements.

In an essay posted early on Saturday, Amodei called for a slowing of AI model development and global regulation - and said the risks associated with AI were "serious".

Nvidia boss Jensen Huang also discussed Coxon's comments before a crowd at the conference, multiple people in the group told the BBC. They said he dismissed them as untrue.

Huang has previously said the notion that AI "is going to be the end of humanity" is "complete nonsense".

And while he may have a business interest in an AI boom - Nvidia builds chips that power AI systems - his comments reflect a growing backlash in Silicon Valley to the existential warnings from current and former staffers.

Some critics have even accused Anthropic of fearmongering in hopes that it will trigger a regulatory push that could shut out competition and leave it and OpenAI with a duopoly in the sector.

Brad Gerstner, who is the head of the investment firm Altimeter Capital, posted pictures of Huang from the conference and accused Coxon of "ridiculous hyperbole".

On Friday, chief executive of AI platform Hugging Face, Clement Delangue, weighed in. Hugging Face, which Nvidia announced it would acquire last week, was hacked by OpenAI agents earlier this year prompting an outcry over AI safety.

"Sorry, but asking Jacob about AI extinction risk is like asking your AC guy about climate change," he wrote on X. "Not saying it's necessarily uninteresting or wrong per se but let's keep things in perspective."

Both Gerstner and Delangue were more circumspect on Saturday after Amodei's proposal was posted, with Gerstner calling the idea "an important step forward" in balancing competing considerations like speed and safety.

Delangue offered to help be a part of the potential solutions proposed by Amodei.

Could insider warnings prompt a crackdown?

In April, Anthropic roiled the AI world when it said it found that its Mythos tool could outperform humans at some hacking and cybersecurity tasks.

Mythos also showed the ability to independently escape what is known as the sandbox environment, setting off a debate among regulators, legislators and businesses about AI's potential dangers.

In a new development on Thursday, Anthropic said it had found and stopped threat actors who were trying to use its AI technology for activity including the development of bioweapons and cyber-espionage.

Beneath the sparkling chandeliers hanging in the stained-glass dome atrium of The Palace Hotel, some investors told the BBC that the comments from Coxon and others could accelerate a government crackdown.

Federal legislation co-sponsored this month by left-wing Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, known as the Ban Artificial Superintelligence Act, would impose a temporary pause in advanced AI development.

"There is a good chance that human beings will lose control over AI," Sanders told the BBC's Newsnight programme on Thursday. "And what happens then, nobody knows. But could it be catastrophic? Yes, it could."

"When scientists tell you there is a chance that it could have a cataclysmic impact on humanity, you've got be a moron not to say, slow it down," he added.

If an industry-wide government crackdown comes, however, it is likely to be led by legislators and not the Trump administration which largely supports a policy of unfettered AI development. It has framed this as necessary to ensure the US does not cede dominance to China.

Speaking to reporters this week, President Donald Trump was asked if he had any concerns about AI leading to human extinction. "No, I don't have any," he said. "I have concerns that if we don't win AI, we're going to be put in a very bad position. We are leading China right now."

But the president's relationship with Anthropic has been turbulent. After the company refused to allow the US military to use its AI models, the White House described it as "a radical left, woke company" and designated it a supply chain risk, a move that a federal judge has ruled was illegal.

David Sacks, Trump's AI czar in the early days of his administration, has also levelled repeated attacks at Anthropic.

OpenAI has not endured the same level of scrutiny from the White House. When releasing a new model called Astra last week, OpenAI President Greg Brockman described his firm's relationship with the Trump administration as "a very good partnership".

The company did not respond to a BBC inquiry seeking comment.

At the conference in San Francisco this week, the pursuit of fortunes seemed to mostly trump any mounting existential concerns or fears over potential government restrictions on AI.

OpenAI, which was most recently valued at $852bn, has previously announced plans to allow people to buy shares in its firm by listing on the stock market.

However, its chief executive Sam Altman said on Friday this would not happen this year, calling it an "ill-advised moment" to do so "given everything happening with safety" in an interview with Fortune magazine.

He suggested 2027 would be more likely.

Meanwhile, one investor said he was looking forward to Anthropic's forthcoming S-1, a document a company must file with securities regulators in order to sell shares.

His main question about the company was simple: is the firm profitable?

When asked on Thursday if he fears the world may be coming to an end, Sid Sheth - chief executive of the chip company d-Matrix which inked a deal with Nvidia at the conference that day - did not mince his words.

"No," he said.

The firms turning recruitment into X Factor-style competitions

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgk43mn42g7o, 6 days ago

Yumi Liberman was up on stage in front of a panel of judges and an audience of 300 people, and she had to perform.

But rather than singing, dancing or playing a musical instrument, she and two friends were in an auditorium in London in 2024 to pitch their business idea, hoping to secure a full-time job with cosmetics giant L'Oreal.

"It reminded me of when I used to do competitive sports growing up and the pressure would get heavy," says Liberman, now 24. "But somehow you just get into flow mode."

She and her friends had got through to the UK final of Brandstorm, an international competition run by the French company, where young adults outline their product and business ideas.

Their proposal for a haircare app saw them crowned UK winners and they went on to that year's global final in Paris where they came third.

While only members of the team that finished first automatically got full-time jobs, Liberman had so impressed senior figures at the company that she managed to secure a place on its marketing management traineeship, with a full-time position at the end.

Turning recruitment into X Factor-style competitions, with jobs as the prize, generates publicity and buzz for companies. But for the young people involved, is it exciting - or unfair?

In the current global economic environment, youth unemployment is higher than the national average in many countries, as companies are reluctant to take on new staff. In the UK the unemployment rate for young adults is 16.2%, compared to the overall level of 4.9%.

Competitions like L'Oreal's can offer hope. But the vast majority of the 380,000 people around the world who applied for it this year, up 58% from 240,000 in 2025, didn't win anything.

L'Oreal told the BBC that its Brandstorm competition works well because it helps the company attract a wider range of potential new recruits, including young people who wouldn't necessarily have thought of applying for a job at the firm.

Yet while Liberman says she enjoyed the formal competition structure, others who have been through similar recruitment competitions are critical.

'Intimidating'

Melissa Alcruz now works in marketing for a US real estate business based in New York City, but in the past she did the same job for TV channel MTV.

While at MTV she competed in an internal competition for a promotion that she says was referred to as a "bake-off". Candidates had to come up with sponsorship and marketing campaigns, and then pitch to a room of seven people.

"This is intimidating, even for a seasoned professional. I ultimately got the job, but even though I won I disliked the process," says Alcruz.

She points out that she already had a demanding full-time role at the company, and was then "expected to complete several substantial projects" for the competition in her spare time.

MTV's current parent company, Paramount Skydance Corporation, has been asked for a comment.

Former recruitment consultant Katrina Collier, now an author, speaker and recruiter trainer, is concerned that competition-based recruitment processes that potentially require candidates to give up lots of their time for free can create "economic discrimination".

"Not everyone can take time, possibly months, to participate in the challenges for the chance to secure one of a limited number of roles," she says. "Does that mean only people from financially strong backgrounds proceed?

"Is that leaving talented applicants who don't have the bank of mum or dad, for example, unable to take part?"

Jamie Kohn, senior director for talent acquisition at research firm Gartner, reasons that competition-based hiring formats are here to stay because employers find it easier to evaluate candidates than via the traditional interview method.

But she agrees that organisations need to be cautious about how much they ask of the jobseekers. "And they should focus on providing feedback… so candidates build their capabilities even if they are not selected."

For psychologist Amanda Potter, her concern is that recruiting via competition events tend to favour extroverts, and therefore put quieter personality types at a disadvantage.

"Does this approach encourage all types of people to apply, or would certain types of people avoid these assessment methods?" she says. "This could result in an organisation [ending up] full of ambitious, competitive people who want to win, possibly to the detriment of others."

However, Liberman, who lives with severe dyslexia, argues that going through a typical recruitment process and related assessments would have been more challenging for her.

It has also meant that she managed to avoid any time spent unemployed after finishing university. Instead, she has gone straight into her chosen field, something she can't say about all of her peers.

"I have a lot of friends coming from extremely reputable backgrounds, extremely educated people who have applied to over 1,000 jobs, and have been jobless."

Can Europe recharge its battery industry?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjeg8ly0qd3o, 3 days ago

Europe has taken some big swings in the battery industry in recent years and has made a couple of high-profile misses.

Both Sweden's Northvolt and Norway's Morrow filed for bankruptcy and there are fears in Europe that the continent has missed another technology shift.

With more transport and industry switching from fossil fuels to electricity, batteries are likely to be a growth business.

But the length of time required to bring new products to market, coupled with brutal competition, especially from China, means taking a substantial risk.

Could the answer lie at an almost unimaginably small scale? An increasing number of investors and researchers think so.

A single nanometre is one-billionth of a metre, but it's at that level that some of the most consequential work is being done.

"If you can make this work, it touches so many industries [but] it's a risky business," says Christian Rood, chief executive of Dutch tech firm LeydenJar.

Named after a 18th century precursor to electric cells, LeydenJar uses a technique known as plasma deposition to make a lighter, more efficient anode – an essential component of all batteries.

Silicon is a highly effective and cheap material to use in anodes, but pure silicon expands and contracts as the battery operates and is recharged, which causes it to crack.

However, using plasma deposition, LeydenJar can - layer by tiny layer - make an ultra-thin pure silicon foil which resists cracking, allowing a significant increase in battery life, charging speed, and energy density (up to 50%, according to LeydenJar).

"Where normally a pure silicon anode would fall apart, [this] remains stable, so it was a very wonderful invention," says Rood.

"We address the bottleneck in the battery."

Commercial-scale production will start at the end of 2026, but it has taken 10 years to get to this point – the very definition of the time and investment required for so-called Deep Tech innovations.

It's no coincidence that LeydenJar's factory is in the Dutch city of Eindhoven - home to ASML and other important players in the computer chip industry.

"A lot of people talk theoretically about ecosystems; I can tell you this is one of our sources of competitive advantage," Rood says.

"It's really the crossover from semiconductors to batteries that makes us different - once you've demonstrated the principle in the lab, industrialization requires you to work with the semiconductor technology and suppliers.

"That means a lot of risk, but also a lot of opportunity in terms of patenting, in terms of securing your whole intellectual property. And that's much more difficult to do in the US or in China."

Across the Netherlands and Europe more widely there are multiple smaller Deep Tech start-ups looking to develop nanotechnology in the battery market.

One of those is Powall, a start-up in the Dutch city of Delft that is developing commercial-scale equipment for nanocoating the powders that are the raw materials of today's batteries.

Again, the scale is tiny, and once again the technique was born in the semiconductor industry.

Individual powder granules are measured in micrometres, the coatings in nanometres - they are applied using a technique known as atomic layer deposition.

Roderik Colen, CEO of Powall, tells me that the system offers multiple opportunities to adjust and improve the performance of today's batteries.

"Your battery works less well than before after using it thousands of times - that degrading or aging can be slowed down when you're using a nanocoating," Colen explains.

"You can have an exciting new material with a higher capacity or fast charging, all these novel developments. They typically have one element which is very good, but they suffer on the durability side."

And that means they will never be a commercial product.

"That's where we then come in, to give them the protective coating to effectively enable these new materials."

The powders and the coating are carried by gas and brought together in a chemical reaction.

It is, says Colen, a precise but flexible process which can be almost endlessly adapted.

"You have great accuracy in how thick you want to have it. And that makes a difference in performance."

Neither LeydenJar nor Powall are trying to build an entire battery, and both have commercial relationships with customers in Asia.

But Christian Rood of LeydenJar says companies like his can fortify Europe's position in what has become a global contest.

"The easy comparison is with semiconductors, where there's really a race for the best chip technology.

"[Dutch tech giant] ASML is not producing chips; it focuses on a critical step in the production of chips, and in that way, has a seat at the table when it comes to the whole semiconductor battle.

"This is our ambition as well – to have a position where our battery anode is so unique that we have an important position in the supply chain."

So, how do these ambitions play into Europe's goals in the battery industry?

Alexander Brown is a senior analyst at the Berlin-based independent think-tank the Mercator Institute for China Studies (Merics).

"I think having one part of the supply chain based in Europe is great and if that can be a very advanced technological part, which offers the opportunity for high margins, that's fantastic," Brown tells me.

But he cautions that while "there can be collaboration as well as competition at the same time", China in particular will continue to work to reduce its dependence on other regions.

"China is working very hard to develop local alternatives for technologies, including these niche technologies.

"It's no secret that China would love to replace ASML - they're working very hard to do that, and it's not unforeseeable that they will achieve that goal eventually.

"So, I think Europe has traditional strengths in developing very exquisite high-quality products, which can find markets all over the world.

"But I also think it's important for that not to be the only strategy [from the continent's policy makers]."

The challenges of working in such a specialised field are not only technological.

LeydenJar has already reached commercial scale, but Rood says that raising funds within Europe is not always easy.

"There is sufficient financing in Europe, but the risk attitude is quite different than in Asia and in the US," says Rood.

"That means for a company like us that you have to work with different sources of funding at the same time," Rood explains.

He lists government grants, debt financing, help from the European Investment Bank and investors willing to buy a share of the business.

"They set a lot of challenging conditions, and they all want to do their own due diligence. It's hard work," Rood says.

Powall's Colen says Europe, and the Netherlands in particular, is an "innovation powerhouse", and battery technology offers a chance for the continent to make an impact, if the appetite for the risk is there.

"It's a relatively young industry where factories are being built left, right and centre. They're searching for the right tech. So that's where you can play a big role, because the volumes are huge."

Perhaps Europe's place in that business lies not in building huge battery gigafactories, but at the other end of the scale altogether.

As Colen puts it, "small changes make big differences."

Gloomy forecast for tenants as rent rises set to speed up

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gqjv476qeo, today

The rising cost of renting a home in the UK has accelerated after a three-year slowdown - with tenants told to expect more pain to come.

Average rental costs for new tenancies were up 2.6% in July compared with a year earlier, according to property website Zoopla.

That remains lower than the rate of rising prices in general, but the property portal has forecast annual rent rises among privately rented homes will hit 4% or 5% by the end of the year.

It said there were fewer homes available to rent and - with potential first-time buyers put off by higher mortgage rates - competition for rental places in some areas was more intense.

"Our latest report shows how sensitive the rental market is to even modest changes in how many homes are available for rent," said Richard Donnell, executive director at Zoopla.

"Growing the number of homes for rent through increased investment is the most sustainable route to boosting choice for renters and ensuring stability in rent levels over the long run."

New rules, similar issues

The Renters' Rights Act came into force in England at the start of May, and was described as the biggest shake-up of the sector in more than 30 years.

Separately, the rising cost of renting has calmed recently. It fell to a low of 1.6% in February, Zoopla data shows.

But since then, the number of homes on the market for renters has been squeezed, with 3% fewer being available than a year ago.

In addition, each listing now receives an average of more than five enquiries. That is a long way short of the long queues for properties after the pandemic, but is still the most intense competition for nearly two years.

Rental demand was particularly significant in London, the Zoopla report said.

It said that rent rises were being seen across the UK, but the situation still differed depending where renters were looking.

"In less expensive areas, renters have more capacity to absorb rent rises before hitting an affordability ceiling, whereas in the most expensive areas, rents are already stretching what renters can pay, capping how much further rents can increase," the report said.

It predicted a further acceleration in rent rises to 4% or 5% by the end of the year, although that still roughly matched the average annual rise in workers' earnings.

New investment in homes to rent by landlords was "still muted as a result of higher costs and more regulation", Zoopla said.

Nathan Emerson, chief executive at Propertymark, which represents lettings agents, said the report underlined the need for more high-quality rental homes.

"A sustainable private rented sector requires the right conditions for responsible landlords to invest for the long term," he said.

"Increasing supply must remain a priority if we are to give tenants greater choice, improve affordability and create a more stable rental market."

'Culture shift' needed in how UK does business, PM urges

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyl18x4734o, today

The UK needs a "culture shift" in how it does business, Andy Burnham has said ahead of a meeting with some of the UK's biggest bosses.

The prime minister said those who take risks in business should be backed by government and local leaders should have the power to work with businesses.

The current Labour government has been criticised for increasing costs for businesses, such as with the employer national insurance and minimum wage changes under Burnham's predecessor Sir Keir Starmer.

Downing Street said Burnham will meet with the chief executives of BP, Shell, HSBC, Morrisons, Sainsbury's, BT, Vodafone, Rolls-Royce, and several others at Number 10.

Ahead of the meeting, Burnham said he would give people "the confidence that if they have a great idea, they'll get all the support they need to bring it to life".

"When local leaders have the tools to get things done and government works in partnership with business, you can pull in investment, create jobs and transform communities," he said.

He added the government would be "a partner for growth to make every part of Britain better off".

Burnham will host a reception for the business community where local leaders are invited before a private engagement with senior chief executives at Downing Street on Monday evening.

The meeting comes as higher borrowing costs in the UK and other countries present problems for governments looking to spend money on business support or investment.

Official data revealed a surprise boost in the economy in July partly driven by artificial intelligence (AI) investment, though experts expect growth to slow in the months ahead due to high energy prices.

The US-Israel war with Iran has led to a sharp jump in oil prices, which has fed through to higher energy and fuel prices, affecting households and businesses.

This rise in energy costs has led to fears that inflation will remain high, and increase the chance that central banks will hike interest rates to keep price rises under control.

The expectation of higher interest rates, as well as competition for debt from AI firms looking to spend money on development, has driven up the cost of government borrowing in many countries.

However, many argue the UK has a particular problem with high government debt. The UK yield for 10-year bonds, a key measure of government debt costs, is higher than countries such as the US, France, and Japan.

Experts say this is due to several factors affecting investor confidence in the UK, such as multiple prime ministers, chancellors and policy U-turns over a short period.

In an interview with the BBC last week, Chancellor John Healey called for a restoration of "confidence about Britain" despite acknowledging the challenge of "historic high" borrowing costs.

Others have argued that the Labour government has created its own problems by increasing costs for businesses.

Conservative shadow business secretary Julia Lopez said: "The way for the prime minister to get businesses thriving, delivering jobs and driving growth is to cut their taxes.

"Labour's jobs tax and employer red tape have been devastating for businesses. The consequence has been a drying-up of the jobs market, weaker investment and businesses facing ever greater costs."

'Skimpflation' warning as tinned mackerel alternative hits more supermarket shelves

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crm9xk9eg88o, yesterday

A growing trend of supermarkets selling a cheaper, less nutritious alternative to tinned mackerel is an example of "skimpflation", a consumer group has said.

Princes - which supplies major supermarkets - has substituted jack mackerel, an entirely different species, for mackerel, with similar tins also being sold by Lidl.

The switch has been spurred by dwindling stocks of Atlantic mackerel after years of overfishing, with its Chilean counterpart more sustainable and a third of the cost.

"It's a real concern when manufacturers quietly downgrade everyday staples like these as shoppers can end up paying the same price for a product that delivers significantly less nutritional quality," Sue Davies, head of food policy at Which?, said.

Jack mackerel contains about half as much omega-3 and around a third as much vitamin B12 as traditional mackerel.

The shift has prompted complaints from some consumers over differences in taste and texture, as well as concerns about how clearly the replacement fish is being labelled.

Princes announced last October that it was changing all of its tinned mackerel products to jack mackerel, saying the species meets the Marine Stewardship Council's sustainability standards.

The firm said its jack mackerel products were "clearly identified" and had been introduced following extensive product and consumer testing, describing it as having a "milder flavour and meatier texture".

Lidl is selling jack mackerel under its house brand. Lidl GB said it was "committed to sourcing fish and seafood from responsibly managed fisheries".

Davies from Which? said: "While manufacturers face genuine supply chain pressures and sustainability challenges, they have a responsibility to shoppers to be completely upfront when they change a product's recipe."

She added: "Skimpflation - quietly changing ingredients to cut costs - has become increasingly common, but it can feel particularly sneaky as shoppers may not realise a product has changed until they get it home and eat it."

'Mackerel war'

Despite its name, jack mackerel is not a type of mackerel. Jack mackerel belongs to the Carangidae fish family, while traditional mackerel belongs to the Scombridae family.

Until December 2025, under UK law, Carangidae species could only be marketed as "jack", "scad", "trevally" or "horse mackerel".

But shortly after Princes launched its new product as "jack mackerel", the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs changed its rules to permit the labelling.

Industry figures reposted by seafood market intelligence platform Undercurrent suggest wholesale Chilean jack mackerel costs roughly one-third as much as Atlantic mackerel.

The Scottish Pelagic Fishermen's Association said there was the potential for confusion, saying "consumers should be able to clearly understand what they are buying".

CEO designate Hannah Fennell said: "If retailers move away from Northeast Atlantic mackerel, they are unfairly punishing the UK industry while instead sourcing a different, less omega-3-rich species from the other side of the world with a significantly higher carbon footprint to the UK market."

The switch follows the so-called "mackerel war", a long-running dispute between the UK, Iceland, Greenland, Norway, the Faroe Islands, the EU and Russia over shared mackerel catch quotas.

The countries have repeatedly failed to agree a unified system for sharing stock and setting catch limits in line with scientific advice.

Mackerel catches in the north-east Atlantic have exceeded the levels advised by scientists by an average of 39% over the past 15 years, according to the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC).

Stocks have plummeted by roughly three-quarters over the past decade, according to the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (Ices).

The intergovernmental body has advised slashing the quantity of north-east Atlantic mackerel caught in 2026 by roughly 70% to allow the stock a chance to recover.

Last year, the Marine Conservation Society said the Atlantic mackerel population was at "breaking point".

The severe depletion of mackerel numbers has led to the fish losing its MSC certification, meaning it no longer complies with many retailers' sustainability policies. Chilean jack mackerel, in contrast, is MSC-certified.

In February, Waitrose said it would suspend sales of fresh, chilled and frozen mackerel due to overfishing concerns, while tinned products would be phased out as existing stock was sold.

The Marine Conservation Society heralded the move as "leading and decisive".

The switch to jack mackerel is being felt beyond the UK, with supermarkets in the Netherlands no longer selling Atlantic mackerel and at least one supermarket in Sweden switching to jack mackerel.

PlayStation gambles with 18-rated Wolverine game - will it pay off?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy0zq2n9gggo, 2 days ago

On Tuesday, Sony will release Marvel's Wolverine - the biggest game exclusive to the PlayStation 5 this year.

It's made by Insomniac, the studio responsible for the recent Spider-Man titles, which have sold 50 million copies in recent years.

But unlike the friendly neighbourhood superhero, Wolverine has a Pegi-18 rating in the UK, meaning a child cannot legally buy the game, and it contains considerable levels of blood, gore and violence.

It represents a gamble for the studio responsible for some of Sony's biggest hits - will it turn out to have been worth it?

This review does not reveal the game's biggest moments, but beware minor spoilers for some of the characters that appear and a few early sequences. Some of the images contain blood.

You play as Logan, aka Wolverine, the comic book superhero that can self-heal and has retractable claws.

Donning the famous yellow-and-black outfit (among others), you hack and slash your way through hordes of enemies.

The combat is free-flowing and easy to pick up, as Wolverine stabs and slices his foes with copious amounts of blood on display.

Still, some may feel it doesn't go far enough.

There are some stealth options, but I generally ignored them and went in with my claws out. The game didn't penalise me for this.

You also unlock a slew of abilities, much like other games in the genre, meaning you get even more powerful as the game rumbles on.

And a clever system allows you to spend the rage you have accumulated to regenerate your health.

The combat kept me hooked the whole way through the game, which took about 20 hours to get to the end credits. My colleague was faster, clocking in at about 15 hours.

When Spider-Man released in 2018, it set a new standard for superhero games with an open-world New York City which you could freely (and entertainingly) explore by web-slinging through the skies.

It was so influential that it spawned a popular online gag, pointing fun at reviewers who couldn't help but repeat a cliché about the game making them feel like Spider-Man.

"There's a significant shake-up happening here in game design terms," freelance game critic Emma Kent told me.

"Insomniac is moving away from Spider-Man's open world formula to adopt a linear structure for Wolverine.

"That means less open exploration, and a more curated path through the game world."

It adds to the gamble that comes with the game having such graphic violence.

"Peter Parker and Miles Morales would go out of their way to avoid killing enemies - stringing them up or gluing them against walls with his webs - and there was no real gore to speak of," Kent said.

"Some games truly revel in showing detailed and over-exaggerated gore, but the violence in Marvel's Wolverine doesn't feel particularly gratuitous.

"When you build up a sense of flow, it really does feel like you're rampaging through dozens of enemies, and I think the blood splashes are an important way of displaying the carnage you're causing."

The reality is by having a higher age rating than Spider-Man, it is by definition reducing the amount of people who can buy the game. And the game's director Mike Daly accepted this came with a risk.

"Even though this character appeals to kids, making a game that is explicitly like, 'sorry, this is not for kids, you should not play this game' - it does reduce the scope," he said.

"But I think there was no other way to do it. That was the cost of doing business if we really wanted to set a game with this character in this universe."

One thing I didn't expect was the game's reliance on its performers.

Gameplay is frequently interrupted with cutscenes, which will I'm sure prove divisive.

Nonetheless, the acting is top drawer, with the standout being veteran performer Troy Baker (known for many roles including Joel in The Last of Us) who puts in a memorable performance as Nathaniel Essex.

Liam McIntyre, who plays Wolverine, told BBC Newsbeat he was "looking forward to people playing it".

"I'm so proud that people are resonating with the story, with the performances, the character," he said.

"This is such an astoundingly good character piece.

"I'm so happy that I've been able to make a Wolverine that hopefully people love."

And to that point - when Hugh Jackman's famous take on the character last appeared on the big screen in 2024's Deadpool & Wolverine, it made $205m (then £160m) on opening weekend in the US - the best ever opening for an R-rated film.

It all suggests Sony's gamble may be a safer bet than it first seems.

The way you leap from building to building is superb, and feels excellent to control.

But I'd rather there had been fewer acting sequences and more gameplay.

On one or two occasions, in a cutscene Wolverine did something which felt like it broke a cardinal rule of game design to me - never show the player something cool when you could have let them do it themselves.

Still - the performances are of a high quality.

"Troy and Liam in particular are performers where they get really invested in their characters and subject matter," Daly said.

"They are part of the problem solving squad for who they are and how they bring that out - they brought a lot to the table.

"They went above and beyond, and I think that's a big part of what made it so good."

I'll avoid discussing the story so as not to spoil it, but suffice to say I was engaged, even if at times I felt I was spending too long watching videos and not enough time using the controller.

Clearly the developers were inspired by narrative adventures like Uncharted for this kind of storytelling, and the gameplay even feels similar at times with chase and climbing sequences.

And while that game was genre-defining, it came out almost 20 years ago, so it's hardly a favourable comparison.

In fact, perhaps the biggest issue for Wolverine is that it doesn't reinvent the wheel like Spider-Man did.

It's a game packed with tight combat and excellent performances, but it never threatens to meet the genre-defining heights of Insomniac's previous offering.

And Daly said there was a "monumental" amount of pressure that came with making the game following the success of Spider-Man - but as to whether the gamble paid off, he took a Zen view.

"I measure success when I hear people talk to me about the game, who are Wolverine fans, and they say 'thank you for making this, you nailed it'," he said.

"If I hear that, it's like, yes, we did it. That's what we set out to do."

Ryanair boss O'Leary defends 'high-fare rapists' airlines remarks

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5yejw9pjjyo, 2 days ago

Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary has refused to apologise to a rape crisis centre which criticised him for describing rival airlines as "high-fare rapists".

Speaking to journalists, O'Leary said some people were "desperate to get to Ryanair's low fares because they can't afford to fly with the high-fare rapists around Europe".

O'Leary doubled-down on his choice of words when asked about them at the time, and later refused to apologise when the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre (DRCC) wrote to him asking for apology, in a letter seen by the BBC.

Ireland's deputy premier Simon Harris said it was "clearly an inappropriate use of language" and that O'Leary "should have moved to rectify it".

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander told UK radio outlet LBC that victims of rape are "not going to be rushing to book tickets with him, let's be honest".

O'Leary made the comments on Thursday while talking to journalists ahead of Ryanair's yearly meeting with shareholders.

Asked by a reporter from the Press Association whether the language was appropriate, he said: "Absolutely."

"British Airways, Lufthansa, and everybody else's high fares, I'll happily offend them on a regular basis," he added.

Asked whether it would offend sexual assault victims, he said rape was "a terrible crime".

Following O'Leary's comments, the DRCC's chief executive Rachel Morrogh wrote to O'Leary accusing him of trying to get a headline with his comments.

She said the DRCC had received calls from rape victims who were "upset and distressed because of what you said".

She offered O'Leary training on the impact of sexual violence and urged him to apologise.

"I can't imagine you would ever use the term so flippantly again if you truly understood [what] it was like to survive rape," she wrote.

In response, O'Leary said: "I am quite clear that no remarks of mine could possibly trivialise the heinous crime of rape."

He added that as he had not "trivialised the heinous crime of rape" he would "not be issuing any apology or accepting your offer of training".

It is not the first time O'Leary has offended people while talking about his business.

In 2004, he reportedly called the owners of Stansted Airport "a bunch of overcharging rapists" in a row over airport charges.

He has also previously called some of his own staff "lazy bastards" and once said to passengers looking for a refund "we don't want to hear your sob stories".

In June, he said the airline would "reluctantly" stop charging parents to sit next to children after a watchdog investigation was opened, but insisted its previous policy complied with laws.

AI boom helps drive surprise UK growth in July

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq5xjlvn71lo, 3 days ago

The UK's economy grew faster than expected in July partly helped by businesses using artificial intelligence (AI).

The economy expanded by 0.4%, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said, whereas analysts had predicted no growth.

Growth in July was helped by a strong performance from the services sector, and particularly computer programming.

Experts said the figure showed the UK economy was proving resilient in the face of shocks such as the war in Iran, but they expect growth to slow in the months ahead as high energy prices affect households.

July's figure follows growth of 0.3% in June and zero growth in May.

According to the ONS director of economic statistics, Liz McKeown, there was evidence that businesses involved with AI and related technologies helped to boost the sector, not just in July but in May and June as well.

The ONS said many of the IT businesses reporting the largest turnover "appear to be involved with AI", though it said it is difficult to quantify the exact impact of AI.

McKeown also said some businesses had said that the warm weather and football world cup had affected activity in July, although she said the effects "differed across industries, benefitting some businesses while creating challenges for others".

The ONS said that in the three months to July, which gives a better underlying picture, the economy grew by 0.4% compared with the previous three months.

Rob Arnold, co-founder of Ascendea, an AI firm which employs nine people, believes the UK hasn't seen the real economic growth potential from the technology yet.

He says his company is able to develop apps for other businesses "100 times quicker at a 50th of the cost" because of AI, but that the UK government needs to do more to invest in the sector as there are currently better opportunities in the US.

He knows a few small UK-based AI firms that have either moved to the US or are thinking of doing so due to a lack of UK government support.

Alongside grants and funding, he says the government also needs to invest in training companies on how to use AI as it can be dangerous if not understood properly. "It's like playing with a weapon," he says.

Paul Dales, the chief UK economist at Capital Economics, said July's data showed "the resilience of the economy in the first half of the year continued into the second half".

However, he added that higher energy prices and borrowing costs would soon start to hit growth, especially if the rises seen this week are sustained.

The Iran war has led to a sharp jump in oil prices, which has fed through to higher energy and fuel prices - affecting households and businesses.

This rise in energy costs has led to fears that inflation will remain high, and increase the chance that central banks will hike interest rates to keep price rises under control.

The Bank of England is meeting next week to discuss interest rates. Economists widely expect rates to be held, but some have predicted an increase before the end of the year.

Chancellor John Healey said the economy, was "demonstrating a welcome resilience, despite serious global uncertainty".

"Our growth although still fragile was the fastest in the G7 in the first half of the year," he added.

"But, the conflict in the Middle East does have impacts here at home - from the cost of the weekly family shop to the cost of government borrowing."

Healey is to present his first Budget in October. He told BBC News this week that he wants people to confident about the economy, despite acknowledging the challenge of "historic high" borrowing costs.

Shadow chancellor Andrew Griffith said nobody in the government "should be high-fiving themselves" over the latest figures.

"Our construction and production sectors are shrinking, unemployment is up under Labour, and we've got the highest government borrowing rates in almost 30 years."

Yael Selfin, chief economist at KPMG, said while July's headline growth figure was strong, it "masks a weaker picture for households".

"Consumer-facing services contracted in July, as retail and hospitality activity fell following earlier increases in activity in the summer," she said.

"Higher energy and fuel prices are likely to place further pressure on household budgets, while elevated mortgage rates will continue to weigh on housing activity and wider consumer spending."

Richard Carter, the head of fixed interest research at investment firm Quilter Cheviot, said the growth seem in July "may not last, especially as activity is likely to stall ahead of the Budget.

"The war in the Middle East continues to drive a lot of the economic data, but the UK is the most exposed to the fallout," he said.

"Calls for pro-growth measures will get louder as the Budget nears, but whether or not the government has the room to act remains to be seen."

Additional reporting by Mitchell Labiak

What's happening to the UK economy and how does it affect you?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0j7p38jg15o, 3 days ago

Investment in artificial intelligence (AI) helped to drive a surprise boost in the UK economy in July, according to official figures.

Economic growth matters because it affects things like pay increases for workers and the amount of tax the government raises to pay for services.

What is GDP and why does it matter?

UK economic growth is measured by the change in the country's GDP, or gross domestic product. This includes all the economic activity of companies, governments, and people in a country.

In the UK, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes new GDP figures every month. However, these can vary quite a lot and the quarterly figures – covering three months at a time – are considered more significant.

Most economists, politicians, and businesses like to see GDP rising steadily.

That's because it usually means people are spending more, extra jobs are created, more tax is paid, and workers get better pay rises.

When GDP is falling, it means the economy is shrinking.

This can be bad news for businesses and workers as it can lead to pay freezes and job losses.

If GDP falls for two quarters in a row, that is known as a recession.

What is happening to the UK economy?

The economy expanded by 0.4% in July, the ONS said, whereas economists had predicted no growth.

It follows growth of 0.3% in June and zero growth in May.

Economists said July's surprise growth figure showed the UK economy was proving resilient in the face of shocks, such as the US-Israel war with Iran.

The outbreak of the conflict has led to the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway south of Iran through which one fifth of the world's oil and gas usually flows.

This closure has led to a sharp jump in oil prices, which has fed through to higher energy and fuel prices.

Economists expect UK growth to slow in the months ahead as those costs continue to affect households and businesses.

In April, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said it expected the Iran war to hit the UK the hardest of the world's advanced economies.

However, the IMF currently forecasts the UK's economy will grow by 1% this year, up from its previous estimate of 0.8%.

The Labour government has repeatedly said growth is its top priority, but has faced criticism for achieving only moderate GDP growth since it took power in 2024.

The ONS has estimated UK GDP increased by 1.3% in 2025, up from 1.0% in 2024.

How does GDP affect tax and public services?

If GDP is going up steadily, people pay more in tax because they're earning and spending more.

This means more money for the government, which it can choose to spend on public services, such as schools, police, and hospitals.

When the economy shrinks and a country goes into recession, these things can go into reverse.

Governments tend to get less money in tax, which means they may decide to freeze or cut public spending, or put taxes up.

In 2020, the Covid pandemic caused the most severe UK recession for more than 300 years. In response, the government borrowed hundreds of billions of pounds to support the economy.

How is GDP measured?

GDP can be measured in three ways:

Output: The total value of goods and services produced by all sectors of the economy – agriculture, manufacturing, energy, construction, the service sector, and government.

Expenditure: The value of goods and services bought by households and by government as well as investment in machinery and buildings. It also includes the value of exports, minus imports.

Income: The value of the income generated, mostly in terms of profits and wages.

In the UK, the ONS publishes one single measure of GDP, which is calculated using all three measurements.

But early estimates mainly use the output measure, using data collected from thousands of companies.

Why does the GDP figure sometimes change?

The UK produces one of the quickest estimates of GDP of the major economies, about 40 days after the quarter in question.

At that stage, only about 60% of the data is available, so the figure is revised as more information comes in.

The ONS publishes more information about this on its website.

What are the limitations of the GDP figure?

GDP is not the whole story as it does not include several things:

The hidden economy: Unpaid work such as caring for children or elderly relatives isn't captured.

Inequality: Rising GDP could result from the richest getting richer, rather than everyone becoming better off, and some people could be worse off.

Living standards: If the population is also growing, increased GDP can still mean less money per person, which can reduce people's living standards. This is why the GDP per capita measure is important.

Some critics also argue that GDP doesn't take into account whether the economic growth it measures is sustainable, or the environmental damage it might do.

Alternative measures have been developed which try to capture this.

Since 2010, the ONS has also measured well-being alongside economic growth. This assesses health, relationships, education and skills, as well as people's personal finances and the environment.

But despite its limitations, GDP is still the most widely used measure for most government decisions and international comparisons.

Anthropic blocks possible attempt to use AI to make biological weapons

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2zrrpkx20o, 3 days ago

Anthropic says it has identified and disrupted attempts to use its AI model for "malicious activity" which could support the development of biological weapons.

The findings, made in the firm's recent threat intelligence report, is the latest in a growing series of warnings from AI researchers and industry insiders about the technology's potential risks to humanity.

The warnings have prompted calls to action, with US Senator Bernie Sanders demanding a pause on advanced AI development and a ban on artificial superintelligence.

President Donald Trump has so far rejected such fears, saying on Thursday he was concerned "if we don't win AI, we're going to be put in a very bad position".

The company published its latest threat intelligence report on Thursday.

Such reports have become a regular feature across the AI industry as firms seek to demonstrate how they identify and disrupt attempts to misuse their models.

This includes Google, which wrote on Tuesday that a person had attempted to use its AI tool, Gemini, to obtain a "complete, step-by-step technical guide for synthesizing weaponised biological agents".

Claude, Anthropic's AI model was also used by actors linked to a Russia-based cyber espionage campaign and by an Iranian propaganda institution, according to its report.

The cases of concern detected over the past eight months ranged from fake dating apps and hotel Wifi scams, to surveillance built to identify dissidents.

Anthropic has also accused Chinese AI firms of trying to replicate Claude's capabilities.

The lengthy report lists cases in which suspected state-sponsored groups, criminals, spyware vendors, state propaganda institutions and politically motivated individuals misused its technology.

"Malicious use" of its Claude Haiku, Sonnet, and Opus models was disrupted between December 2025 and August 2026, it said.

None of the misuse cases involved Claude Fable or the powerful Mythos-class models, with the exception of one instance of distillation - the process for training smaller AI models using larger, more expensive models.

As well as detecting the use of its models for cyber and influence operations, surveillance, scams and fraud and weapon development, Anthropic said it had blocked scientists who used its AI in ways that could support biological weapons development.

The report highlighted "five case studies of actors using our models in ways that could support biological weapons development".

Biological misuse, it said, is "one of the most serious risks of frontier AI model". Without the correct safeguards, such capabilities "could have catastrophic consequences", Anthropic said.

"The same information that can be used to develop a biological weapon could also be used to develop, for example, a vaccine or a cure for a disease," Anthropic said.

Jacob Klein, the head of threat intelligence at Anthropic, told the New York Times it was "an incredibly nuanced situation".

"You are not seeing someone in a comic book kind of way say, 'Hey, I want to build a biological weapon to kill everybody,'" he said.

The report also noted six cases where Claude was used "to develop software for conventional weapons, including firearms, missiles, armed drones, bombs, and other munitions, as well as the targeting and control systems that operate them".

The report indicated that cybercriminals and state-backed hackers have increasingly used its technology to assist their operations.

Hacking group ShinyHunters, as well as China-based labs, were among those named in the report.

The report also said that a hacking group whose work is consistent with the Russia-based Midnight Blizzard allegedly used AI to build a system that automatically detected when its malware was flagged by security defences and rewrote code until it evaded detection.

The California-based company said it had incorporated its findings into its processes "to better prevent, detect, and disrupt these activities in the future".

Anthropic said it had shared intelligence with authorities and industry partners where appropriate.

The report - the company's first this year - comes after a top safety researcher at Anthropic warned AI is advancing so quickly he believes there is a greater than 10% chance it "could kill all humans" within the next decade.

In an article published on 6 September, OpenAI chief scientist Jakub Pachocki called for the industry to implement "voluntary slowdowns" until safeguards are set.

"I am concerned no one is prepared for the consequences of a continued rapid rise in machine intelligence," Pachocki said, adding that OpenAI, which makes ChatGPT, will continue its work on building safeguards, though broader interventions are required.

The warning prompted an open letter to UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham calling for a new multinational treaty for the safe development of AI and a call for governments to collaborate about what a treaty based on the development of superintelligence should look like.

In the US, Democratic lawmaker Bernie Sanders has introduced legislation to ban AI superintelligence and temporarily pause advanced AI development.

"When scientists tell you there is a chance, a chance that it could have a cataclysmic impact on humanity, you've got be a moron not to say, slow it down," he said on Thursday on BBC's Newsnight.

With additional reporting from Osmond Chia.

I asked my husband to pay into my pension when we had a child - here's why

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cde02k65427o, 3 days ago

When Molly and Taylor Haylett started their family, they hadn't really planned for what it would mean financially.

"Our first child surprised us, so we weren't prepared for it," says Molly, 30, a financial adviser from Essex.

Molly and Taylor, who's a train driver, were earning similar amounts, but once Molly spent more time at home with their baby, the balance changed.

"Taylor's career propelled and mine took a step back," she says. "There's an unintended impact on the person who spends more time at home with the kids."

One of the things the couple decided to do was have Taylor contribute to Molly's pension while she was off work.

"We were looking after both our futures, not just Taylor's," Molly says.

It is something she thinks far more couples should discuss before having children.

'You've got to just ask him'

She explains that she recently had a conversation about this with a friend as she is going to stop working after having children.

"My friend said, 'How would I even ask him to do that?' And I said, 'You've got to just ask him.'

"People think only about the present and paying the bills but the person taking time off work could end up with much less in the future."

Taylor, 33, admits it was not something he knew about but was on board with Molly's suggestion.

"We committed to a life together and if I could help out I would and I was pleased that I did," he says.

He adds that Molly is the more organised of the two when it comes to planning and budgeting, but says he still wants to understand where their money is going.

"I don't just give her money and let her do what she wants. We have open conversations and she'll talk me through it."

Research by Octopus Money found more than a third of parents reduced or paused pension contributions during parental leave, while 63% did not know their partner could contribute on their behalf.

A partner can make what is known as a third-party pension contribution. For someone with no or low earnings, up to £2,880 can be paid in each tax year, with basic-rate tax relief increasing that to £3,600.

For someone still earning, their partner can also contribute, subject to the recipient's pension limits.

Katie Guild, co-founder of financial community Nugget Savings, says the pension gap can begin during maternity leave because an employee's own contributions can fall as their pay drops, and contributions may stop altogether during periods of unpaid leave.

She says couples should consider whether the partner continuing to work could help make up some of that shortfall.

Before having a baby, she recommends working through a few key questions:

Guild says these conversations are easier before a baby arrives than when parents are sleep-deprived and adjusting to life with a newborn.

Molly and Taylor now have two children, aged two and five, and say they were much more prepared the second time around and stopped thinking about household costs as something that always needed to be divided exactly in half.

The couple, who each earn around £60,000, have their own bank accounts alongside a joint account for bills, but are flexible with the amount each contributes when their circumstances change.

During Molly's maternity leave, for example, they adjusted the split and she's found it helpful to "view finances as a household".

The couple say they are teaching their children about money from an early age.

They set pensions up for both kids when they were born and have been paying into them through a monthly direct debit.

Molly explains: "It's like a gift for the future as they can't touch that money until they're in their 60s and we won't be there to see that."

They also use Junior ISAs, although Molly points out that once the children are old enough, the money becomes theirs to spend "and if they want to, they can take that money and blow it in Ibiza".

Taylor says their five-year-old is given small jobs to earn a couple of pounds, rather than simply being bought everything she asks for.

They are also beginning to introduce the idea of saving by telling her that she can spend a pound now or hold on to it and potentially have more later.

Guild says couples should check what support they can receive, including funded childcare hours and Tax-Free Childcare.

She adds that conversations about money should not stop once parental leave begins and when the baby arrives she advises couples should:

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Air traffic chaos and compensation: 'Shutdown cost us more than £1,000'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy9znljypnjo, 4 days ago

Catie and Phil Allen should have been enjoying their first holiday in two-and-a-half years. Instead, they are at home ringing round for refunds that won't be paid.

The couple are among the many thousands of air passengers caught up in the chaos caused by the four-hour shutdown of the UK's air traffic control system on Tuesday.

It means their holiday to Slovenia has been cancelled and - although their flight was refunded by British Airways - they estimate being left £1,300 out of pocket from unused accommodation and excursions.

It's not the first time - and won't be the last - when passengers are left flying on a wing and a prayer after problems at UK airports. So, here is how their case relates to others, and why they have taken such a big hit.

What gets repaid, and what doesn't?

Catie, 30, and Phil, 34, were sat on a British Airways flight to Ljubljana on Tuesday that never took off.

If a flight is cancelled, airlines must get customers to their destination as quickly as possible at no extra cost, even if it is with a rival carrier.

Alternatively, passengers can take a refund, which should also be offered for flight delays of more than five hours.

In Catie and Phil's case, the alternative flight offered would not have arrived until Saturday morning - four days into their week-long holiday.

So they took the refund. That was not easy. The chatbot only seemed to allow them to rebook, and it took more than an hour waiting to speak to BA on the phone before the refund was confirmed. It will take a week to be paid.

When airlines are at fault, extra compensation is paid under UK and EU rules. But not this time, because the air traffic control issues were beyond airlines' control. Even so, airlines themselves are furious that they have been saddled with a bill of millions of pounds.

BA also refunded the couple's car hire, which had been organised through the airline. The problem for the couple was that they had booked accommodation and excursions separately, and that is money they have lost.

Why are extras not refunded?

The hotel stays, booked separately, have their own terms and conditions and cancelling so late meant there were no refunds. One explained to Catie that they were a family business that could not afford to do so.

This is different to package holidays, which are covered in full if a flight is cancelled.

"We feel we are penalised for trying to save money," said Catie, who contacted BBC Your Voice about their situation, although she added that "our problems are very small in the bigger scheme of things".

One excursion was later refunded but - having worked in the aviation sector - Catie is annoyed that the air traffic problem extended so long as to ruin their holiday.

"We have been saving tirelessly for this trip and we have lost over £1,000 with no way of getting it back. And most of all, we've got no holiday to go on, which we've been looking forward to for years," she said.

Why won't travel insurers pay up?

The couple said they have been loyal customers of their insurance company for years, and used them for policies ranging from home insurance to pet cover.

However, the insurer told them any claim on their travel insurance for the funds they have lost would be invalid because air traffic issues were outside of the policy.

Some people also make claims via credit card providers. However, all these depend on the small print from providers.

Why did others not get food or an overnight stay?

Although the Allens could get back home after their flight was cancelled, others ended up sleeping on floors at Heathrow Airport.

Delayed passengers must be supplied with food and a hotel stay, depending on the length of the wait.

Should the airline not provide them with this, then claims for reasonable expenses can be made afterwards. Experts suggest people keep receipts as proof.

The trouble was that many couldn't find accommodation anywhere nearby. Booking a luxury stay is unlikely to be refunded by the airline, because only "reasonable expenses" are permitted.

On Thursday, Aviation Minister Keir Mather told MPs: "Passengers may also be entitled to care and assistance while waiting for a delayed or re-routed flight.

"But there are, of course, lots of incidences we have seen of airport capacity not being able to deal with the number of passengers being disrupted and I think that is a key lesson we have to learn from this."

Mather said the kind of disruption cause by the failure of air traffic control provider Nats on Tuesday was "unacceptable".

There will be an independent review of the saga by the Civil Aviation Authority.

Flight data firm Cirium said the aviation system had "stabilised significantly" on Thursday.

It said 54 of 3,028 scheduled arrivals had been cancelled or are not operating, while for departures, 47 of 3,033 scheduled flights were affected.

Primark finally set to launch home deliveries

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c89jdl0j5x4o, 4 days ago

Primark has said it plans to launch a home delivery service in Britain, four years after it made its first foray into e-commerce.

The retailer did not say when it expects to launch the service, but it has bought a warehouse in Sheffield to enable it to ship products to homes.

The company said there was "opportunity for profitable growth" through home deliveries, which could help boost trade after Primark reported subdued sales following the recent hot weather.

Analysts said the decision to offer home delivery after years of resistance - including through the pandemic - indicated that Primark was facing major challenges from ultra-fast-fashion brands such as Shein.

Primark did not sell goods online until 2022, when it launched a click-and-collect service which meant shoppers still had to travel to pick up their purchases.

Associated British Foods (ABF), which owns Primark, said the fashion chain would "continue to grow click and collect and... will in the future offer home delivery in Great Britain".

ABF predicts Primark's UK sales will grow by about 1% in the fourth quarter of the year. But like-for-like sales - a key metric in the retail industry, which strips out the impact of store openings and closures - are expected to be "broadly flat" in the UK, and fall 3% across its global operations.

It said sales of autumn/winter clothing started later than normal due to the hot weather in the summer, but "trading was stronger when the weather cooled towards the end of the quarter".

The fast-fashion chain is struggling to compete with brands such as Shein and Boohoo, as well as alternative platforms such as TikTok Shop and Vinted, and in July said it was lowering prices on hundreds of clothing items.

Retail analyst Julie Palmer said that "Primark has been playing catch up for years" and launching home deliveries "is as much about defence as growth".

She told BBC News that "the real test" for the brand is whether it can make home deliveries profitable at the low prices customers have come to expect from fast fashion chains.

"Shein and Vinted have already reset customer expectations on convenience," she said, adding that a "slick and effective returns policy" will also be key.

ABF is planning to spin off Primark from its food business next year.

Retail analyst Natalie Berg said Primark was "more than fashionably late to the e-commerce party".

She said the brand will need to absorb additional costs of returns, which tend to be higher than in-store purchases as customers cannot try clothes on before buying them.

"Not even the pandemic could convince them to launch online, so the fact that Primark is making such a U-turn tells us just how much the retail landscape has evolved," she said.

Dan Coatsworth, head of markets at AJ Bell, said that thanks to greater competition among delivery firms such as InPost and Relay, "it's become a lot cheaper in the past few years to send items by post, compared to the old days when Royal Mail dominated the market", he added.

Retailers across the UK are grappling with higher costs for labour and energy.

On Thursday, John Lewis - which operates the department stores and Waitrose supermarkets - reported that its half-year losses had widened to £124m from £88m a year earlier.

Chairman Jason Tarry said the results reflected the partnership's "continued investment in our transformation, a more challenging trading environment and the increased costs of doing business".

Sales in the department store arm of the business fell 2%, as it said consumers were holding back on discretionary spending.

Waitrose sales were up 4%, but profits slipped slightly which the company said was due to a decision to lower prices and also reflected "the extra cost of running our operations through the heatwaves".

Apple's new boss starts with big gamble on £1,999 first folding iPhone

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyjd1jnd03o, 4 days ago

Apple has launched its most expensive iPhone ever - a foldable handheld that costs at least £1,999 and marks the first major iPhone design change in almost 20 years.

The iPhone Duo is a gamble by new boss John Ternus, who took over from long-time chief executive Tim Cook this month.

Apple is entering the foldable phone market comparatively late, following the likes of South Korea's Samsung and China's Huawei.

Ternus told an audience at Apple's California headquarters: "Others have created foldables that just feel like two phones awkwardly stuck together". Apple's model, he claimed "redefine[s] the experience of using a foldable phone".

In the US, prices start at $1,999, but can go up to $3,200. It has taken eight years to develop, something Ternus was directly involved in after spending many years as a top executive inside Apple's hardware division.

When unfolded, it looks like a small iPad and a wider iPhone when it is folded.

Ternus said: "It's entirely new and at the same time remarkably familiar. A similar size to your passport, it feels familiar to hold and comfortable to use with one hand."

But the product is facing established competitors. "The real fight is China, where Huawei owns nearly 80% of foldables," said Francisco Jeronimo, vice president for data and analytics, devices at IDC EMEA.

Ben Wood, chief analyst at technology research firm FDM CCS Insight, said it was likely Ternus's promotion was timed specifically "to coincide with what will be arguably one of the biggest iPhone launches for many years".

"Nothing happens by accident at Apple," he said.

Carolina Milanesi, an analyst at Creative Strategies who attended the Wednesday presentation, said the spotlight on Ternus made it feel "almost like he was a product himself".

Altering the design of the iPhone may address some criticism that Apple has yet to land a major product hit or truly exciting innovation since the first iPhone came out in 2007.

"The foldable risks becoming a premium-priced ornament in the portfolio, imparting badge value but not meaningful growth," said Dipanjan Chatterjee, an analyst at Forrester.

Previously, the highest starting price of the newest iPhone was $900 (£664).

Apple also revealed on Wednesday the new iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max, which in the US start at $1,199 and $1,299 respectively.

Chatterjee said the foldable iPhone could go the way of Apple's Vision Pro headset, which the company priced at $3,699 and has not been a hit with buyers.

Or, he said, it could be the company's next Apple Watch which, while not as popular as the iPhone, is bought by millions of people each year.

The way people have become accustomed to the way the iPhone operates is another potential hurdle to Apple seeing big sales of the new design.

"Foldables are interesting devices," Milanesi noted. "A lot of people are intrigued by it, but the software and the learning curve that you have from moving from a traditional phone to a foldable is real."

Wood noted that the current market for foldable smartphones from the likes of Samsung and Huawei make up only 2% of smartphone sales. Even with Apple's version likely driving interest and demand, sales are only expected to reach 4% of the total market in the next decade, according to data and analytics firm FDM CCM Insight.

The iPhone has been Apple's top-selling product and accounts for more than half of the company's sales each year.

In recent quarters, the company has boasted that the iPhone is more in-demand than ever, with the most recent version of the device becoming its most successful product launch.

The company also revealed more about the coming relaunch of its audio and chat assistant Siri, which it now calls Siri AI.

Starting with the iPhone 18, the bot will now be able to go across information on a person's phone, like messages and emails, to find information, answer queries and take action on a person's behalf.

Some Siri AI features will also be available on the new Apple Watch, including the ability to take notes of conversations and transcribe them, should a wearer enable that feature.

Ternus referred to new AI-enabled capabilities on the iPhone as an "intelligent personal hub", and admitted that Apple would be making use of "the most private details of your daily life".

He insisted that all of it will remain private, with the AI features often running "on device", meaning not through third-party companies. And when a third-party is required for a function, Ternus said it will remain private in a remote server, or cloud.

"Others see that data as something to collect and store," Ternus said. "Here, not even Apple can access what's yours."

AI is taking my work, claims graphic designer

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c33k68nlmzpo, 4 days ago

A graphic designer has said he is losing business due to smaller firms choosing to generate their own content using artificial intelligence (AI).

Danny Williams, from East Yorkshire, said he understood why companies, in tough economic times, would choose to go down the AI path.

He added: "With smaller businesses, the funding isn't there for graphic design or big media packs."

Stephen Woodford, CEO of the Advertising Association, said the industry was seeing "rapid change" through the adoption of AI, but said strict rules need to be adhered to.

Graphic designers were "in demand" 15 years ago when he started out, according to Williams, who added: "I'm getting less work now, to be honest."

Williams said AI was becoming "more and more accessible" and accepted the graphic design sector needed to "adapt", but he claimed posters generated using the latest methods were becoming repetitive.

"Most people are sick of seeing them," he said.

"Cheaper is not always best".

He added: "At the end of the day, it's the face of your business.

"I do believe it will come full circle again because people are literally sick of seeing AI and they don't trust AI."

Claire Howlett, landlady of The King's Head pub in Pollington, East Yorkshire, said she uses AI to make the majority of her social media content.

She said: "I've done all my advertising myself so far. Maybe in the future, if the business got bigger, I might use a graphic designer, but I'm finding the AI tools available to us are fit for purpose at the moment.

"As far as I'm concerned, you want the best option, the cheapest option and the most convenient, which is AI at the moment."

Woodford said the Advertising Association's goal was to ensure the UK advertising industry "harnesses the efficiencies of AI while maintaining the high creative standards, public trust, and ethical safeguards".

He said AI was "enormously capable", but added "there are things it cannot do".

Advertising is a heavily regulated industry, said Woodford, with distributed material needing to be "decent, honest and truthful".

"If you're putting things in the public domain on behalf of a brand or a business, you've got to be absolutely sure that they are representing that business honestly and with integrity and in compliance with the rules," he added.

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Tax banks to cut energy bills, unions tell Burnham

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c7v4lq969llo, 4 days ago

The leader of Britain's trade unionists has told Andy Burnham the government should introduce a "social tariff", paid for by a bank surcharge, to help low and middle earners with their energy bills.

A social tariff is a discount on bills based on household income, and the TUC says it believes two-thirds of households could benefit.

The TUC says the bank surcharge, which was reduced in 2023 from 8% to 3% by the then Conservative government, should be reversed - and estimates it would raise £9bn over four years.

TUC leader Paul Nowak said: "I think it will appeal to the prime minister. These are policies that make a difference in the real world and people can see a value in them."

In a wide-ranging BBC interview ahead of its annual congress in Brighton next week, the TUC general secretary said next month's Budget needed to show "the government is back in the service of the British people".

While he said Burnham had got off to a good start as prime minister, he had a series of "asks" of the prime minister and the new Chancellor, John Healey.

Top of his list is more help with energy bills, saying: "We need to drive down inflation – those energy bills are fuelling inflation.

"And millions of families up and down the country are worried about turning on their heating this winter."

Burnham has already offered "breathing space" - as he calls it – on the cost of living by temporarily scrapping VAT on electricity bills from October.

Nowak said the proposal for a social tariff would be popular with Labour MPs; while the Liberal Democrats and the Greens in England and Wales have called for a windfall tax on banks too.

However, UK Finance, which represents well-known banks and lenders, has suggested that heavier levies would undermine the government's ambition to deliver "growth in every postcode" and would damage international competitiveness.

The organisation argues that UK banks face a heavier tax burden than those in the US, for example.

So could the TUC's revenue-raising measure be counter-productive and threaten jobs in finance?

Nowak is sceptical. "I can't believe banks would leave the UK just because we are restoring the surcharge to where it was in 2023. Bank share prices have risen faster here than in New York," he said.

Windfall tax

The TUC's demands for tax-raising measures don't stop with the banks, with Nowak arguing the UK has "a tax system that's good at taxing income but not good at capturing wealth".

Nowak suggests a windfall tax on social media companies and for the government to equalise rates of Capital Gains Tax with income tax.

The economist and former minister Lord O'Neill - who has advised Burnham – said recently that wealth taxes were "the last thing that should be happening if we want to see more growth".

Nowak responded: "With respect, I think he is wrong. I'm interested in a growing economy but a growing economy that works for everybody. It is right to ask those with broader shoulders to pay a fairer share."

In addition, Nowak says he doesn't believe the government will deliver on re-industrialisation and on its housing targets without making it easier to borrow to invest.

As Chancellor, Rachel Reeves tweaked her so-called fiscal rules on debt and borrowing but Nowak said he believes the scope this provided for extra investment hasn't been maximised.

"John Healey should leave no stone unturned in allowing us to invest in our economy, in our public services and in our national security," he says.

"He should think about the flexibility he has got within those rules to make investments in the long term."

Nowak has another ask of the government.

The home secretary has announced a change in policy which would see most migrants who are in the UK wait for 10 years rather than the current five before they can settle permanently. Some care workers may have to wait 15 years.

Before rejoining government Angela Rayner argued it was "unBritish" to "move the goalposts" for those already working in Britain.

A consultation on the proposed measures closed six months ago, and the government is yet to produce its response.

Nowak – a grandchild of migrants, from Poland and Hong Kong - says: "We should think again not just for care workers but for workers right across the board.

"There are 111,000 staff vacancies in social care at the moment. It's important the rules aren't changed arbitrarily. I would hope and expect this and it needs to be the beginning of a grown-up conversation on immigration."

TUC delegates will debate immigration next week and are likely to echo the call for the government to water down its changes for existing migrants.

Nowak says he felt it was right for Labour to change leaders after disastrous local election results in May, and has been pleased to see a bit of a 'Burnham bounce' in the polls.

And the TUC head warned the prime minister that he needs to provide "meaningful change" if he wants to see off an electoral threat from the populist Right.

He says: "The onus is on Andy Burnham to show he can deliver what he promised.

"If he fails to do it, there are people with glib answers who will turn this country into a more divisive place."

Air traffic failure was avoidable, says transport secretary

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y42v5n05do, 4 days ago

A technical failure of the UK's air traffic control system that has caused widespread flight chaos was avoidable, the transport secretary has said.

Heidi Alexander told the Commons that she had ordered an independent investigation by the aviation watchdog into the system operated by Nats, which went down for four hours on Tuesday.

More than 2,000 flights have been cancelled as disruption continued for a second day with passengers stuggling to fly out of and into the UK.

After meeting the boss of Nats, Martin Rolfe, Alexander said a cyber-attack could be ruled out, but added: "I do not believe this issue was unavoidable."

Nats has apologised for its third major technical fault in three years.

Alexander said she discussed with Rolfe how Nats, which is 49% owned by the government, "responded to resolve and minimise the disruption as quickly as possible".

She said there had to be "tough questions about resilience of Nats systems", adding: "We also need to think about consumer redress issues."

The government said earlier on Wednesday that it had confidence in Rolfe, who has led Nats for 11 years as airlines such as Wizz Air and Ryanair called for him to step down.

Nats has been asked to investigate the incident and report back in one week. But Alexander said she has also asked the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to conduct an independent review and present an update in six months' time.

Airlines UK, which represents the country's carriers, said it had written to Alexander to "register serious concerns over yesterday's technical failure at Nats - the third major system failure in three years - which has caused major disruption across the UK's aviation network".

Airlines UK chief Tim Alderslade said: "The result is a system where airlines pick up the bill for the mistakes of others, while the organisations responsible face little or no financial consequence.

"Accountability should sit where responsibility lies and the Civil Aviation Bill offers the opportunity to address this."

The CAA said passengers were unlikely to be entitled to compensation - though it reminded airlines of their responsibilities to look after passengers whose flights had been delayed or cancelled.

It added that the disruption caused by the Nats issue was "likely to be considered the result of 'extraordinary circumstances'", meaning passengers were "unlikely to be entitled to compensation for delays or cancellations that were directly caused by the incident".

It is not the first time disruption has blighted Nats' control system. In 2023, a computer shutdown over the August bank holiday weekend caused chaos for 700,000 passengers.

It took an engineer, who had been unable to correct the fault from home, three hours to get to work.

There was another, smaller Nats outage in 2025, which caused 150 cancellations.

Nats is a public-private partnership, with the government holding the controlling stake. The rest is split between a group of UK airlines including BA, easyJet and Virgin Atlantic as well as Heathrow and Nats staff.

What do we know so far about the glitch?

Nats first confirmed it was investigating a "technical issue" at 13:46 BST on Tuesday, "which is causing some disruption to flight departures".

The glitch occurred at Nats' Swanwick Centre in Hampshire, where one of its two air traffic control centres are. The other is in Prestwick, Ayrshire.

Around 90 minutes later, it said it had identified that the issue was with its flight processing system.

This processes flight plans and other operational information used by controllers to manage air traffic.

It continually updates flight information as aircraft progress through UK airspace, helping controllers maintain a safe and orderly flow of traffic.

By 19:30, Nats said the system issue had been resolved and it was working to clear the backlog of flights.

However, by Wednesday evening, the number of flights that had been cancelled or failed to take off since the fault first emerged had grown to more than 2,000, according to flight analytics firm Cirium.

The worst affected airports were Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester and Birmingham, according to tracker FlightRadar24.

A Heathrow spokesperson said on Wednesday its "operations are recovering".

"Flights are operating today but we are expecting knock-on impacts as aircraft and crew reposition," it said.

At Gatwick, a spokesperson said: "Flights have now resumed from London Gatwick. However, we still anticipate that it will take time for our operations to fully return to normal."

Manchester, Luton, Stansted, Bristol and Belfast City Airports all said on Wednesday that flights had resumed, though Bristol, Belfast and Luton said there continued to be knock-on effects.

'Honeymoon in Gatwick'

Sasha and James from south London were due to fly to Madeira for their honeymoon yesterday afternoon when their flight was cancelled.

After getting married at the weekend, the couple were boarding their flight to Funchal from Gatwick Airport when they say they were "turned right back around".

"We spent three hours stranded in Wetherspoons, making the best of it," Sasha said.

They eventually went back home to London for the night, and managed to book on to a different flight leaving Gatwick on Wednesday afternoon.

Additional reporting by Mary Litchfield

More flight cancellations as fallout from air traffic control glitch continues

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce8x3dp1zpxo, 5 days ago

Air passengers faced a second day of disruption on Wednesday as flights continued to be cancelled following a technical glitch with the UK's traffic control system.

Tens of thousands of people saw their travel plans upended as airlines cancelled 327 flights, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium, after 1,750 flights were axed on Tuesday after the problem emerged.

Nats, the air traffic control provider, apologised and said on Wednesday afternoon its operations were "stable". It promised an investigation into what is its third major technical fault in three years.

The government said Nats' boss has its confidence though Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said the outage was "unacceptable".

Martin Rolfe, who has led Nats for 11 years, met with Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander on Wednesday morning where she "significant concerns" about the widespread disruption.

Downing Street said Nats - which is 49% owned by the government - must report back in one week detailing what went wrong during Tuesday's incident.

Flyers have been advised to continue checking flights with their airlines as it is expected it will take days for schedules to return to normal.

Heathrow has said passengers should only travel to the airport if they have a confirmed flight operating.

A glitch with Nats' flight processing system early on Tuesday afternoon led to airlines having to cancel scores of flights both to and from the UK.

According to FlightRadar, the worst affected airports were Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester and Birmingham.

At Heathrow, one of the busiest airports in Europe, departures were initially paused around lunchtime on Tuesday. Traffic then resumed, before facing further disruption in the afternoon.

A Heathrow spokesperson said on Wednesday its "operations are recovering".

"Flights are operating today but we are expecting knock-on impacts as aircraft and crew reposition."

At Gatwick, a spokesperson said: "Flights have now resumed from London Gatwick. However, we still anticipate that it will take time for our operations to fully return to normal."

Manchester, Luton, Stansted, Bristol, and Belfast City Airports all said on Wednesday that flights had resumed. Although Bristol, Belfast and Luton said there continued to be knock-on effects.

'Wheels fall off'

It is not the first time disruption has blighted Nats' control system. In 2023, a computer shutdown over the August bank holiday weekend caused chaos for 700,000 passengers.

It took an engineer, who had been unable to correct the fault from home, three hours to get to work.

There was another, smaller Nats outage in 2025, which caused 150 cancellations.

Ryanair and Wizz Air have called for an overhaul of Nats, with Wizz Air saying it was "not fit for purpose" in its current form.

Yvonne Moynihan, managing director of Wizz Air UK, reiterated her calls for Rolfe, who has been in charge of Nats since May 2015, to consider his job.

"I think in any position where you've had three failures you need to consider three strikes and your out," she told the BBC.

Rolfe was paid £1.4m for the year ended 31 March, including a £343,000 bonus.

Asked about his future in charge of the company, Rolfe told the BBC there would be "lots of time for that later" but his focus now was on making sure the problem was solved.

Nats is a public-private partnership, with the government holding the majority stake. The rest is split between a group of UK airlines including BA, easyJet and Virgin Atlantic as well as Heathrow and Nats staff.

Rolfe said that despite the current situation, the UK generally had a very good air traffic system.

"Not to take away any of the frustrations and disappointment from people who haven't been able to travel, but we do have one of the best systems and one of the best services in the world and that's consistently recognised globally," he said.

However, Doug Maclean, Nats' former air traffic control manager, told the BBC that the system's technological excellence was undermined by repeated outages.

"You've got a world-leading system where the wheels fall off every now and again," he said.

Waiting for hours

Phil White from Bexhill told BBC Your Voice that his flight to Lanzarote boarded on time but he was left sitting on the tarmac at Gatwick for hours.

"We've been told the radar is down and we can't take off," Phil said on Tuesday.

"It's comfortable enough but the pilots been on every 20 minutes saying they are waiting for information from air traffic control and when he finds anything out he will let us know."

Even if Nats has resolved the issue with its flight processing system, the disruption is likely to persist due to backlogs.

Rolfe said the issue was in Nats' flight data processing system. He said it was not the same system that failed during the incident in 2023.

Although the technical issue affected departures, arrivals were also hit as space on the ground became increasingly restricted.

Additional reporting by Emer Moreau, Faarea Masud and Nick Watt

Petrol prices rise by 5p over a week as Iran war sends oil higher

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj4jwlx77lro, 5 days ago

The average price of unleaded petrol has risen by 5p a litre in the space of a week, according to the RAC, which warned there was "no sign of any relief" for drivers.

The motoring organisation said a litre of unleaded now costs 167.17p - the biggest weekly increase since April - while diesel has also risen by 5p to 188.63p.

Fuel prices have soared since the US-Israel war with Iran began at the end of February, with the fighting severely disrupting supplies of crude oil - a key ingredient in petrol and diesel - across the Middle East.

The price of Brent crude, the global benchmark for oil, returned to $100 a barrel for the first time since July, as hostilities escalated again.

On Tuesday, US forces struck five Iranian tankers after Tehran targeted one of its warships, while Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi movement also attacked oil facilities in Saudi Arabia.

The price of Brent is some way off the $120 it hit in April, but remains well above the $70 it was trading at before the conflict started.

RAC senior policy officer Rod Dennis said the latest increase in fuel prices showed just how exposed drivers in the UK can be to events thousands of miles away.

The 5p a litre rise meant the cost of filling a family-sized car had increased by £2.75 over the past week, he added.

"Drivers are having to dig ever deeper into their pockets every time they fill up, and there's no sign of any relief yet," said Dennis.

"With the cost of a barrel of oil having averaged $96 for the last week, wholesale prices are surging and that's already feeding through to prices at the forecourt."

He urged motorists to drive as efficiently as possible and to ensure they find the cheapest forecourts they can.

The last time petrol was this high was in September 2022, while diesel is still a bit below the 191.54p it reached in April.

Why are petrol and diesel prices rising again?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c20zgjzz0e4o, 5 days ago

UK petrol prices surged this week as the conflict in the Middle East continues to hit drivers' finances.

When the US-Israel war with Iran began on 28 February, fuel prices climbed as the military strikes severely disrupted the production and transportation of energy across the region.

Prices fell back when the US and Iran agreed to a framework deal to end the fighting in June but have started rising again as tensions resurface.

With the price of wholesale oil back above $100 a barrel, Simon Williams, head of policy at motoring organisation RAC, said "there's no sign of any relief yet" for drivers.

How do wholesale oil prices affect the cost of petrol and diesel at the pump?

Crude oil is a key ingredient in petrol and diesel, which means that higher wholesale costs make filling up a car more expensive. The price of petrol and diesel is also heavily influenced by demand and refining capacity.

Analysts say every $10 (£7.44) per barrel increase in the oil price pushes up pump prices by roughly 7p a litre.

Since the war began, the price of a barrel of Brent crude – the global benchmark for wholesale oil prices – has been very volatile.

Generally speaking, news of further conflict drives the price up while hopes of an end to the war pushes the price down.

Before the conflict, Brent was about $70 a barrel, but the fighting saw it peak at above $120.

In early July, after the framework deal was signed, prices fell back to near the $70 a barrel mark.

When the peace talks collapsed, the price climbed back up again to above $100 a barrel. It fell back for a few weeks but is once again over the $100 mark after a fresh escalation in hostilities.

What has happened to petrol and diesel prices in the UK?

While petrol has hit its highest price since the Iran war began, according to the RAC, diesel remains below the peak of 191.54p a litre it reached on 15 April.

In early July, the RAC said the average price of petrol sank to a low of 150.59p per litre and 164.52p per litre for diesel.

Since then, the prices have risen, with petrol seeing its biggest weekly jump since April to 167.17p a litre while diesel costs 188.63p a litre.

Despite the conflict, petrol and diesel prices remain below the levels reached in the summer of 2022 following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, when petrol reached 191.5p a litre and diesel hit 199p.

Because transporting oil is a slow process, price movements in the wholesale markets take about a fortnight to show at the pump.

Fuel retailers have denied accusations of price gouging during the conflict. The official markets regulator said it had "not seen evidence of retailers actively changing their pricing strategies to take advantage of the crisis".

A government scheme called Fuel Finder lets drivers compare the cost of fuel offered by petrol stations across the UK.

Luke Bosdet, the head of policy at the AA, said the group had been surprised at the speed that prices had fallen and put it down to the scheme.

In May, the then Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said a planned 5p increase in fuel duty due in September would be postponed until the end of December because of the conflict.

The RAC now argues there is "a very strong case" for leaving fuel duty at its current level, at least until the end of the Parliament.

Why has the Iran war had a big impact on oil prices?

The Middle East conflict sent global oil prices soaring as it effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz — one of the world's key water transport routes for oil, liquid natural gas and other essential commodities — limiting global supplies.

About 20% of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas normally passes through the waterway.

Even if a deal is agreed to reopen the strait, experts warn it will take time before normal levels of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz resume, and the impact of the war will continue to affect the global economy for potentially months to come.

Where does the UK get its oil and gas?

The UK is heavily reliant on oil and gas imports, with the majority coming from the US and Norway.

The price of oil on the global market determines how much the UK pays for it.

Although the UK does get some oil from the North Sea, most of that is exported for refining elsewhere.

You can also send us your questions by following this link

Reporting by Faarea Masud, Jemma Crew, Alex Daniel, Michael Race, Mitchell Labiak, and Miguel Roca-Terry

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Learner drivers still forced to wait months for tests

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2z421xe0zo, 5 days ago

Learner drivers have to wait an average 20 weeks, or around five months, for a practical test, according to new figures, despite attempts to reduce delays.

The data from the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) for August is only a marginal improvement from 20.2 weeks in July.

The median average wait time between booking and sitting a test is unchanged at 11.1 weeks.

The DVSA initially had a target of reducing the average waiting time to seven weeks by the end of last year. Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander pushed the target back to summer 2026, but subsequently admitted even that would not be possible.

The DVSA made a number of changes to its practical driving test booking system earlier this year.

Only the learner driver themself is now able to book their driving test, blocking an instructor or third parties from booking using the learner's details.

There is also a geographical restriction which means a learner can only book a test at their three local test centres, rather than one at the other side of the country if they found a test available.

The number of times a would-be driver can swap a test date has also been restricted.

'I feel a lot of pressure to pass'

Lucy Rend is 19 and lives in south east London and has been learning to drive for two-and-a-half years. She has a driving test on Thursday and feels under pressure to pass because getting a slot has been so difficult.

It meant getting up at 5.45am everyday to get on the DVSA for 6am. "Then I'd be 21,000 in the queue," she said. "It was very hard but randomly one popped up."

Rend: "I feel lots of pressure to pass because if I don't pass I will have to go through all that again and try find another test, so would rather pass this one and then it is done."

Her friends are also struggling to book a test and "most of them have given up and not going to bother anymore".

'More to do'

The DVSA said on Wednesday that more than 2.13 million practical driving tests took place in the 12 months to August 2026 – the highest rolling 12-month figure on record.

DVSA chief executive Beverley Warmington, said: "There's more to do and we're not going to stop until every learner can get a fair test slot when they need one but today's figures show our plan is working."

Carly Brookfield, the chief executive of the Driving Instructors Association, said the higher number of available tests was "progress that should be recognised" but, for learners and instructors "the pressure is still very real".

"The ultimate measure of recovery has to be a testing service that learners and the professional training community can access when they need it," she said.

Adem Veli, who has been an instructor for 16 years and runs his driving school Passman in Sidcup, said: "Before Covid we had the luxury we could pick the test date and work towards that date."

But he said learners having to wait so long can have a huge impact on their confidence.

"It's about a six month wait," he said. "Can you imagine if you did fail your driving test, you're test standard and ready to go [but] have to wait another six months to get back in?"

DVSA figures revealed that the pass rate for driving tests remains over 50%.

Veli said that some of the changes the DVSA has made have been positive, such as limiting the number of swaps a learner can make.

However, while the DVSA has made changes to stop third parties booking tests, Veli said: "I get messages weekly, they're trying to sell them to me.

"I've had students ask me about this site or that site, but I tell them don't bother with it now as there's so many scams."

US to ban imports of some Canadian alcohol, dairy goods and motorbikes

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c99dm1000p7o, 5 days ago

The US will ban imports of a range of Canadian products, including alcoholic spirits, some dairy goods and motorbikes, after its neighbour's retaliatory tariffs on American goods came into force.

In a series of executive orders on Tuesday, President Donald Trump said Canada was "discriminating" against the US and outlined the bans, which will begin on 29 September.

Officials on both sides have said they would like to strike a trade deal, but no new talks have been scheduled since negotiations collapsed in late August.

Dominic LeBlanc, Canada's trade minister, said the latest US measures were "unjustified" and that he would work to protect the country's workers, families and businesses.

"Our core focus is on what we can control: building strength at home, diversifying our partnerships abroad, and building Canada strong for all Canadians," LeBlanc said.

He said he had contacted his US counterpart and promised to work "in good faith" to resolve tensions.

Earlier on Tuesday, Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney said in a video address that his country's move away from the US as its largest trading partner "will come at a cost".

The White House's new sanctions are the latest strike in a months-long trade war between the US and Canada. The two countries have historically been close allies, with each a key business partner to the other.

Generally more than two-thirds of Canada's total exports go to the US. In 2025, Canada's exports of alcoholic spirits to the US were worth US$687m (£507m), dairy products were worth $269m and motorbikes were worth $90m, according to UN data compiled by Trading Economics.

But Stephen Brown, chief North America economist at Capital Economics, said the import ban covered just 0.25% of Canada's exports to the US.

He said: "Nonetheless, Trump's willingness to impose an import ban is further evidence, if it were needed, that these latest measures are about inflicting economic pain rather than raising revenue."

Canada is the second-largest trading partner of the US after Mexico. Its exports are less diversified than those of the US.

In recent months, business owners on both sides of the border have expressed fears over the trade war's fallout. Many expect prices of goods to rise and the number of customers to fall.

Last month, the White House imposed 50% tariffs on around $20bn (£14.8bn) of Canadian goods after several rounds of talks had broken down.

Those tariffs hit sectors including Canada's furniture and wine industries, as well as some sporting and fishing equipment businesses.

Canada responded with what Carney called "dollar-for-dollar" tariffs on US goods like steel, clothing and furniture. The counter-duties came into effect after midnight on Tuesday.

Canada is "discriminating" against US businesses by restricting American goods while not doing the same to the same products from other countries, the White House said when announcing the new import restrictions on Tuesday.

Some products, like whey and non-alcoholic beer, have been banned from import entirely, while tariffs have been further hiked for others, including for cheeses and cheese substitutes - which were not covered by bans - and for motorboats.

The list of Canadian products banned by the White House include:

* Some dairy products like whey

* Cane molasses

* Non-alcoholic beer

* A long list of wine, rum and vodka products

* Beer made from malt

* Motorbikes, including mopeds

Those facing higher import taxes include:

* Various types of cheese

* Raw hides and skins

* Paper

* Some furniture and mattresses

* Some metals, including aluminium and iron

* Motorboats

* Golf carts

* Fishing rod parts and accessories

* Switchboards

Washington has targeted "significant industries" for Canada, including its politically influential dairy businesses, said economics lecturer Scott French from the University of New South Wales in Australia.

Trump has previously argued that Canada's system - which has production quotas, set pricing, and import limits on dairy, eggs, and poultry - is unreasonable to US farmers.

The import bans and new tariffs will also put Canada's leaders under more pressure to resist Trump's demands for concessions, French said.

The trade war will be "costly for both sides due to the historical level of integration of the North American economy," he said, adding that consumers on both sides will end up as "the biggest losers".

On Monday, Trump hinted at more trade restrictions to come, warning Canadian aircraft company Bombardier that it would no longer be able to sell its products in the US unless it moved manufacturing there.

Trump has long believed that tariffs will help reduce trade imbalances between the US and other countries, but his wide-ranging levies have upset many of the States' traditional allies.

Some Canadians have led a massive boycott of US products like alcohol, which have vanished from some store shelves after Trump launched his global tariff campaign last year.

Trade expert Deborah Elms, from the Hinrich Foundation, told the BBC the import ban could have a "strong" impact on any Canadian business with US buyers, though early estimates show a "modest impact" affecting around $1bn worth of goods.

Canada will likely "hold course for now" and adjust their business support measures to account for the US' latest moves, Elms said.

"The bigger question is what it will take for the two sides to sit back down together. The language in these proclamations, as an example, isn't helpful in getting to the negotiating table," she added.

Carney said on Tuesday as Canada's counter-tariffs came into effect: "There's always a cost to action. But it doesn't come close to the cost of standing still."

Tension between the US and Canada has also moved beyond tariffs.

In August, Trump ordered Lake Ontario to be renamed as Lake America, resulting in uproar from Canadians and some in the US.

The Meta glasses revolution - is it okay to film people in public?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz05jxx08kyo, yesterday

It's the latest wearable tech boom that is likely coming to a street, park or town square near you. But not everyone sees the future of smart glasses as rose-tinted.

The technology allows users to make calls, interact with AI hands-free and also take photos and videos simply by touching the frames, provoking concerns about privacy.

Wetherspoons, which runs almost 800 pubs across the UK, has banned using the glasses to film inside its premises and women's rights campaigners have raised issues about their potential use for harassment.

But, with videos from content creators continuing to thrive on social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram, the debate of how to best use the glasses in public places will continue to go back and forth.

Pearse Vallely is one of those content creators – the 31-year-old from Ballymurphy, in west Belfast, makes a living from his work on social media.

He uses a pair of Meta Ray-Ban glasses, with most of his videos showing his glasses-eye view of walking down the street as he greets passers-by with rhyming phrases.

One of his most popular videos, filmed in Belfast city centre, hit 600,000 views on TikTok.

The success of the videos rely on their good-natured vibe. He said he had never posted a video after being asked not to, and no one had ever got in touch to ask him to take down a video.

"I think it's because of the nature of my conversation with them. They know I'm not making an eejit out of them, I'm doing it in a positive way."

Meta glasses, the brand used by Vallely, are the market leader in the smart glasses boom, with the company saying more than seven million pairs have been sold to date.

How do Meta glasses work?

Available for a few hundred pounds, and made in partnership with the firm behind famed sunglasses brand Ray-Bans, the frames feature an unobtrusive camera that users can activate via touch.

This turns on a pulsing white light, which aims to let people know when a video is being taken, and a flash for photos – a feature a Meta spokesperson said "smartphones and other cameras don't have".

Meta said it recently updated the glasses to disable the camera if the light was tampered with.

Should AI or smart glasses products from more companies end up selling as well as Meta's version, researchers expect as many as 100 million people will buy a pair in the next few years.

Valelly, whose videos rely on the interactions being spontaneous and natural, said people are often aware he is recording due to the light on his glasses.

He also said he tries to let people know he has recorded them after filming if he can catch them in time.

In Northern Ireland, it is generally legal to film someone even discreetly in a public place, as people in public do not usually have a reasonable expectation of privacy.

The filming would only be unlawful if it could be seen as harassment, stalking, if the footage is voyeuristic, or in circumstances where there would be a reasonable expectation of privacy.

"It's okay to have a 30-second conversation with someone," Vallely said.

"I think that's something we're losing due to technology, and I'm trying to use technology to spin it around."

Vallely said he could understand the reasoning behind banning wearing Meta glasses "if people are being crude and rude", but he said the intention behind filming was key.

"People know it's me doing it, while other people do it on troll accounts. No matter what is invented, people are going to use things for the wrong reasons."

Still, while Vallely said he hasn't run into any opposition, there are reports suggesting an increased friction between people using the glasses to film and the general public.

Last December, people hailed a woman as "a hero" after she snapped a man's Meta glasses in two on the New York subway.

In July, police in Scotland began an investigation after complaints over a TikToker who used the glasses to secret film members of the public.

Referring to the company's ban on filming, a Wetherspoons spokesperson said smart glasses breached "common sense by enabling surreptitious surveillance" while Monopoly Events, which runs Comic Con Northern Ireland, also banned wearing the glasses at its events over concerns about secret recording.

Meanwhile, TikTok videos of users approaching women, asking for their number and filming their reaction to pick-up lines, are often posted with the hashtag #howtogetagirlfriend and can garner thousands of views.

Harassment concerns

Elaine Crory, a women's sector lobbyist at the Women's Resource and Development Agency, said there's a lack of awareness about when and how the glasses are being used, leading to issues around consent.

"Right now, if you're filming with a camera or with your phone, I usually can see that and then avoid that. But you may not be aware you're being filmed with an AI camera."

She added there were also concerns the glasses were being used for things that are currently illegal, like upskirting.

Crory said people can appeal to social media sites to take videos down and some venues have put up signs "on a case by case basis", but she feels legislation has not caught up with the technology.

"A person has no legal redress if they are filmed in the street, on a bus, in a classroom," she said.

The Department of Justice (DoJ) said that while the regulation of Meta glasses was not a DoJ specific matter, if the use of the glasses involved "behaviour that crosses the criminal threshold, then existing offences such as 'up-skirting' as a form of voyeurism" were available.

Benefits of Meta glasses

For optometrist Geoff McConville, who stocks Meta glasses in his Belfast shop, there are concerns about their "inappropriate use", but there are also beneficial aspects to the technology.

He cites how his patients use text-to-speech features, allowing them to read newspapers and signs with AI.

"For my elderly, visually impaired patients, they are ground-breaking. They are amazing."

In a statement, Meta said the glasses provided "critical new technology for people who are low-sighted or hard of hearing and limiting how people can use this technology would be a major step backwards".

"Naturally some places shouldn't be filmed at all and that's reasonable but rules should be applied consistently."

In a recent Q&A session, the head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, said if people posted content "taking advantage of people and harassing them... then we're going to take the content down".

I went looking for surveillance cameras in my neighbourhood: I found so many more than I thought

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20260902-how-to-watch-the-cameras-that-watch-you, 11 days ago

In the trade-off between privacy and security, it helps to know the extent of your local surveillance infrastructure. There are now easy ways to find out.

I didn't tell anyone I was meeting Michelle Dahl, executive director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, a watchdog group. But by the time I greet her in Brooklyn, New York, the system knows we're together.

"It's kind of invisible if you're not looking for it," says Dahl, pointing up to a lamppost, where two tiny cameras labelled New York City Police Department hide in black plastic domes.

They're part of the NYPD's massive AI surveillance platform: the Domain Awareness System (DAS). "Every police officer in the city can access it on their phones and pull up a profile of basically anyone walking around," she says.

The platform connects more than 80,000 cameras with drones, social media data, even systems that follow cars when you drive to another state. Dahl says it can unveil who I've seen and everywhere I've been in the last week. My whole life: tracked.

Every day, across the US, your life is also being recorded by a growing system of mass surveillance that reaches far deeper than many of us may realise. Controversy around an American surveillance company called Flock Safety exploded in recent months, but it's only one player in a giant industry.

Flock and other advocates say we need to strike a compromise between privacy and safety.

Is it worth the trade-off? To decide for yourself, it's worth understanding how comprehensive the surveillance really is. So I went looking for cameras in my own neighbourhood. You can too, and you don't even need to leave the couch to find them.

'The more you start looking, the more you'll see'

Some of those concerned about surveillance seem to think Flock is the whole issue. New York City demonstrates why that's not true. The company doesn't operate here, but we're still being watched.

Dahl is taking me on a surveillance tour to the BBC's Manhattan office, pointing out cameras and other devices along the way. I've covered privacy for 10 years, but even I was stunned by the infrastructure following our every move.

After just a few steps, we stop and look around. I count 16 different cameras.

"I would assume these are owned by businesses, buildings and renters," she says. These are additional to cameras run by the city, she says. "But the NYPD likely has easy access. They often just ask the owner if there's an investigation, and people hand over the footage."

Some camera vendors, like Amazon's Ring, even have automated systems to make it easier for police to request and receive footage directly from users.

Cameras in public are now so ubiquitous I barely notice them anymore. But with Dahl's help, my eyes refocus: small pill-shaped cameras hanging in front of stores, ageing grey devices on the corners of buildings, advanced dual-camera systems run by the city that pan, tilt and zoom to laser in on people of interest.

I try to count as we walk, but there are so many it's impossible to keep track and hold up a conversation. "The more you start looking, the more you'll see," Dahl says.

Why the Flocklash?

These systems can capture and store your every move, and Flock has become the posterchild for surveillance. In recent months, there's been nation-wide, bipartisan backlash against the company.

On reason is Flock's staggering power. The company says it operates more than 100,000 cameras spread across 6,000 American communities. It's best known for tools that track drivers, scanning cars 20 billion times a month, according to Flock. But it also makes facial recognition tools to track your body.

Such technology allows law enforcement to look far beyond its jurisdiction. A Texas sheriff reportedly accessed more than 83,000 Flock cameras across the US to hunt for a woman in an abortion case, including in states where abortion is legal.

Flock says their tools keep people safe and that every day it helps solve crimes that would otherwise go unsolved. Yet in at least 46 cases, law enforcement officers have reportedlyused Flock's systems for unauthorised purposes, including to stalk partners, exes and strangers. (After months of bad press, Flock implemented safeguards to root out abuse. A Flock spokesperson says the misuse is a "betrayal of the tool's purpose and completely unacceptable" and that officers who abuse the system should be held accountable.)

The backlash includes waves of people destroying and even urinating on Flock cameras. Over 50 cities have cut ties with Flock this year alone.

But again, Flock doesn't operate everywhere, and it isn't the only company in the businesses. Some cities that cancelled Flock contracts just quietly hired other surveillance firms instead.

"Communities continue to choose Flock at a rate far outpacing those that leave," a Flock spokesperson says. "We're adding new customers at roughly 10 times the rate of churn."

Safer, or just more surveilled?

Behind the growing world of surveillance infrastructure is a wider argument about how to police.

"Every day, Flock helps solve crimes that would otherwise go unsolved – from finding missing children to solving murders, violent crime, and recovering stolen vehicles," a company spokesperson says.

They also note Flock is "actively asking for clearer state and local regulation", so it isn't the sole decider on law enforcement's use of the tools.

The NYPD makes similar points. A spokesperson says their surveillance systems keep the city safe, and the department publishes transparency reports on its tools. "We are committed to using technology with care and precision, and ensuring our use is consistent with the law," the spokesperson says.

However, experts question the data and methodology Flock – and others –use to their promote crime-solving approach.

"The idea that surveillance makes us safer keeps being used as an excuse," says Rindala Alajaji, associate director of state affairs at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a digital rights group. In fact, she says, this technology makes the world more dangerous.

"Surveillance has been used to criminalise people for being bystanders, with stories of innocent people being pulled over and having guns drawn on them because a licence plate reader read a letter wrong," Alajaji says.

This isn't just a US issue, either. Facial recognition systems are expanding in the UK, which police credit with thousands of arrests, while critics describe an alarming and "significant expansion of the surveillance state". Across the globe, cameras are spreading.

Dahl and I walk nearly a mile and get on the subway. Cameras stare us down as we swipe at every stage, and document us when we exit. As we emerge onto the street in Midtown Manhattan, we're greeted by – you guessed it – more cameras.

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"I would encourage people to take a minute to pay attention to where you're being watched and tracked and learn where the data is going," says Dahl. "The more that people are aware, the more you can join in efforts to exert legislative pressure."

For example, one reason some communities have cancelled Flock contracts was people pressuring leaders at city council meetings – including by dressing like Darth Vader.

Dahl and I have been together over an hour, and barely a moment has passed that we weren't being surveilled. I say goodbye and walk to the BBC's office.

I step into the building and hit a button for the elevator. The doors open with a ding, and there, staring me in the face, is a gleaming black camera.  Like everywhere else, it seems, someone is watching.  

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The 300-year-old tool helping stranded astronauts get home

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20260903-the-300-year-old-instrument-that-could-save-stranded-astronauts, 10 days ago

An old seafaring instrument could help astronauts on ever more far-flung and perilous missions.

Imagine you're an astronaut flying to Mars. Suddenly, disaster strikes: all your electronic navigation systems fail. How do you find your way back home?

For Nasa astronauts, the answer could be a wayfinding tool invented around 300 years ago: the sextant. Used by seafarers on Earth, and astronauts on early Nasa missions, sextants are a last-resort navigation option for missions to the Moon, and potentially, beyond – in case the high-tech ones fail.

Traditionally, sextants are used to measure the angle between celestial bodies such as stars and planets, to calculate one's own position. Apart from emergency use, these ancient star-sighting skills are also attracting increased interest from Nasa engineers as humans plan to venture to Mars and beyond.

"The further and further we go out, the less and less we can rely on some of the Earth-based navigation technology," such as satellites, says Greg Holt, the navigation system manager for the Orion Spacecraft and its Artemis missions to the Moon. "And so you now have to fall back more and more on what I would call the classical navigation techniques. And some of those now harken back to the way navigation was done way back in the 16th, 17th, 18th Centuries," he explains.

In that age of classical navigation, "you actually had to look at the stars to figure out where you were, and figure out your orientation relative to those celestial bodies," he says. These are skills that can be crucial in deep space "because those are some of the only references you have once you get far away from Earth".

In addition, knowing how to navigate by the stars can save lives, he points out: "We want to make sure that [the astronauts] have a way to safely navigate their way back home, if for some reason they lose communication with the Earth".

Sailing to the Moon

In 2018, Holt and his team asked two astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS), Serena Auñón-Chancellor and Alexander Gerst, to test a hand-held sextant, taking measurements with the naked eye and a steady hand.

"We had crew members demonstrate the use of a manual sextant, as an emergency means of back-up navigation to get the crew home from the Moon, if they had in fact lost communication," says Holt. "Because if you lose communication, you also lose that radio navigation link with the Earth, and you're on your own at that point."

The experiment tapped deep into navigational history. In the 1960s, Nasa adapted ancient star-sighting methods to space flight, though initially astronauts were not entirely sure this would work.

Neil Armstrong, the first man on the Moon, recalled that "one of the things that I was concerned with at the time was whether our navigation was sufficiently accurate [...] if we lost communication with Earth, for whatever reason, could we navigate by ourselves using celestial navigation? We thought we could, but these were undemonstrated skills."

The answer was yes – he and other astronauts on those early flights did successfully use sextants and other naked-eye sighting methods, both routinely, and during emergencies. Buzz Aldrin resorted to a hand-held sextant and chart during the Gemini XII spaceflight in 1966, due to a problem with the radar. And during the near-disastrous Apollo 13 flight in 1970, Jim Lovell famously used the sight of the Earth on the last stretch to get home.

The 2018 experiment with the sextant on the ISS was also successful. The results were accurate enough to suggest that navigating by hand-held sextant could get the crew back home in an emergency. And the astronauts reported that they found the sextant comfortable to use in microgravity – more so than using it on Earth, in fact.

Speaking by video call from Houston, Holt holds up a black sextant – essentially, the same age-old tool used by seafarers, with some small modifications for space. Its edges have been rounded off, for example, to prevent it accidentally scraping something. And it has a hook-and-loop fastener to attach it to the wall of the spacecraft, and prevent it from floating around in microgravity.

Other than that, it's exactly the same device you'd find on board a normal ship on an Earthly ocean, Holt says.

On the Orion spacecraft, astronauts use a high-tech version of a sextant – an optical navigation system – as a first back-up if other navigation systems fail. A camera attached to the spacecraft takes images of the surrounding stars and planets, "doing all of the same things that a crew member would be doing with the sextant", Holt says. Using image-processing techniques, the camera takes measurements such as the angles between stars, the angles between stars and planets, and the diameter of a planet. The readings are then used to automatically calculate course-corrections, for example.

"On the Orion spacecraft, the Optical Navigation system serves as a back-up, providing onboard navigation capability if communication and ground-based navigation support from Earth is lost," says Holt. During the Artemis missions, the system is routinely activated about once per day. "This allows us to confirm the system remains working and healthy, [to] collect valuable imagery and performance data for our engineering design team," he says. It is also "a cross-check confirmation of the navigation solution from the Earth-based tracking".

But if this high-tech system fails, the hand-held sextant comes in.

During the Artemis II mission to the Moon in April, a hand-held emergency sextant like the one Holt demonstrated was kept ready during pre-launch, he says. If there had been a problem with the cameras of the high-tech system at that point, the sextant would have been put on board at the last minute. It is not routinely packed on Orion, as it's not necessary equipment: "Every gram of mass counts when flying space missions," he points out.

If a disastrous systems failure happens after the launch, in space, the astronauts therefore won't have that hand-held sextant on board. But they are trained to know other naked-eye methods, Holt explains. One is to look for timings of when specific stars disappear behind the Earth, or the Moon, as a rough indicator of one's own position.

Holt says familiarity with the original tool is useful for Nasa's engineers, too. When leading the teams that develop the high-tech systems, "I make sure they all go out and practice with a sextant so they understand basics where all this is coming from, the maths and geometry," he says.

Guided by asteroids

There are also other timeless navigational tricks that help modern-day astronauts. For example, the bright, easily recognisable stars and constellations that have historically guided seafarers, are also useful navigational points for astronauts in space, says Holt. That's because they are easy to spot and recognise by humans – whether those humans are on Earth, or in a spacecraft.

More like this:

• What happens when astronauts get stuck in space

• Should astronauts abandon the ISS?

• The switch that saved a Moon mission

For Mars missions, those navigational points may include asteroids, Holt says. "We would say [to the astronaut], we expect that the asteroid is going to be half-way between the two head stars in Gemini, so look over there, find that asteroid between those two stars, take your readings, then compare that against the expectations and do the maths." If the readings are off, the astronauts correct the course to get to where they want to be.

"To me, part of the fascination of my job is seeing how all of these techniques are all interrelated, from the earliest forms of star sightings off ships, all the way to how we're looking to navigate off to Mars and even further places," says Holt.

Even the most far-flung missions still involve the same fundamental concepts, he says: looking at stars, looking at objects in comparison to the stars, and using geometric relationships to determine where we are. "Whether we are doing it manually with a stick, or a sextant, or a high-tech camera, it's fascinating to me that a lot of these same techniques are all linked and have those common heritages and mathematical foundations."

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Should promotion depend on how workers use AI?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1j1896e973o, 5 days ago

It's in Duncan Trevithick's interest to be good at using AI at work - if he can use it to get more tasks done, faster, he'll qualify for a bonus at the end of the year.

On the surface, it's a great incentive. But he's questioning what's really in it for him.

"The uncomfortable interpretation is that employees are being assessed on how effectively they can participate in their own redundancy," says Spain-based Trevithick, 34, who works in marketing for an AI training data company.

But if he uses AI to take care of two days worth of work each week, he says the financial rewards don't add up.

"I do not receive two days off or a 40% pay rise. The higher output simply becomes the new baseline. In the short term, that may help me get promoted. In the longer term, I have helped prove how much of my job no longer requires me," he says.

"I'm just trying to view myself as a manager, and I'm managing some people, and I'm also managing AI agents, or AI loops, or whatever you want to call it."

Using employees' AI abilities as a measure of whether they should get a bonus, promoted - or even sacked - is fast becoming more common.

Accenture CEO Julie Sweet told the Rapid Response podcast in March: "Today, AI at Accenture is how we do work. So if you want to get promoted, you've got to do the things that we do in order to operate at Accenture."

And big names like Disney, Meta, JP Morgan and KPMG have introduced "AI leaderboards" to track and rank employees' usage of the array of LLMs and platforms at their disposal, according to media reports. Crypto trading platform Coinbase has already fired engineers who didn't complete AI training, as requested by the chief executive, Brian Armstrong.

It demonstrates how eager business leaders are to see a return from their AI investments, especially when 94% of companies have yet to see significant value from AI, according to a report by consultants McKinsey.

Employees feel they have to get on board, thanks to the current state of the jobs market - in the UK, vacancies have hit a five-year low.

Meanwhile, 75% of the 1,881 UK jobseekers polled in July by recruiter Gi Group say they would not be put off applying to an organisation that had introduced AI proficiency into individual performance reviews. Around 22% said it would be off-putting.

"It's like being in the sea and you see a giant wave coming. You can get out a surfboard and try and ride it as long as possible, or you can just let it take you under. But you can't stop the wave," says Trevithick.

But what's going on at the large consultancy Pamela (her name has been changed to protect her identity) works for isn't sitting right with her.

She's a US-based senior executive who has observed that, while there isn't a formal mandate for employees to use AI, it's obviously determining who is rewarded, and who is left behind.

"The ground is shifting under us. You've got to demonstrate [AI] fluency and fluidity as one of your key achievements. It's kind of quiet where nobody's saying, 'learn AI or else'. But let me tell you, in performance reviews, they reward who uses it well," says Pamela.

That shift, she adds, means that AI capabilities are now counting for more than actual experience, which is creating a "two tier workforce".

"You've got the same job title, same tenure, but different value based on whether someone treats AI as a threat or a tool - that gap widens really quickly once leadership notices it," says Pamela.

"AI fluency beats credentials every day. Somebody that has 15, 20 years of experience and no AI fluency will be passed over for those that have, say, three years, but are fast with the tools."

She adds: "If you're not visibly using AI, you see slower promotion timelines. It's harder to be seen, and it's harder to fight being on that shortlist."

But is it legal for companies to shift the goal posts like this?

Legally, bosses are in the clear, confirms Tina Chander, partner and employment lawyer at Weightmans. But she says it does open up questions about pay and fairness.

"The question then becomes whether the employer increases expectations on the basis that the employee can now produce more work. Is that fair?" questions Chander.

"And if an employee is effectively doing more because AI has made them more efficient, should they be rewarded differently? Or are they effectively making themselves redundant, thus acting as a disincentive to be productive?"

Chander advises businesses to have clear policies, training and boundaries in place, otherwise they risk employees opening up disputes about fairness, performance expectations and job security.

Indeed, from January 2027, UK employees will have six months to submit unfair dismissal claims compared with the current three months, and will be able to do so after just six months service, rather than the current two years.

Yet HR consultant Tina Rahman says employers aren't currently being transparent enough in telling employees why they want AI to be part of people's jobs, and what the end purpose of that is - which she agrees is to save costs and time, but also to cut down on outsourcing.

"Because they misunderstand it, this is not being reflected to employees," says Rahman, who runs a London-based consultancy, HR Habitat.

A lack of clarity around AI usage is certainly causing discontent at Pamela's company.

"Leadership is being inconsistent and vague on purpose. Firms want productivity gains without owning the disruption narrative," she says.

"If something goes wrong, they're going to say, 'I didn't tell you to do that. Where'd you get that from?' Then if you did something with AI, and it works, great."

Mandating AI use at work can become purely performative, rather than having any real positive impact, warns Kamila Miller, applied AI researcher and lecturer at Henley Business School.

"Make AI usage a KPI [key performance indicator], and people will log their interactions to hit the metric, route work through a chatbot that did not need it, and generate AI-flavoured outputs that look productive on a dashboard. You will measure adoption. You will not measure judgement, learning, or better decisions," states Miller, who is based in Reading.

"You have not made people more skilled - you have made them more obedient."

Some firms have acknowledged those arguments.

In April, Luis von Ahn, the CEO of Duolingo, told the podcast Silicon Valley Girl that his language learning firm is no longer using AI use as part of performance reviews.

"We found that people... were asking: 'Do you want us to use AI for AI's sake?'

"In the end we backtracked and we said: 'Look, the most important thing for your performance is that you are doing, whatever your job is, as well as possible. A lot of times AI can help you with that. But if it can't, I'm not going to force you to do that.'"

Meanwhile, in May, the Financial Times reported that Amazon had shut down an internal leaderboard which tracked employee's use of AI. The report said employees had been attempting to climb the rankings by setting AI needless tasks.

Despite those high-profile moves, some staff still they need to show AI proficiency - Pamela is one of those.

In her mid 50s, she plans to retire within 10 years, and wants to keep her job so she doesn't risk losing any pension and health benefits. She's visibly stepping up how AI is helping her bring in new clients, and making sure she's being credited for it.

As for Duncan Trevithick, he's doing his best to future proof himself with a number of side projects.

"If AI can do a job better than you can, it makes sense for the business to replace you. That's how the capitalist model works. So it's about, how can you move into a position where you own assets where you can leverage AI, and then you benefit," says Trevithick.

Amazon seeks to expand UK drone deliveries

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c07lv3er1v1o, 2 days ago

Retail giant Amazon has put an application in to expand its drone delivery service to cover an entire town where it has been trialling the tech.

The US company announced last January that Darlington would be its test centre in the UK, marking the first time Prime Air had operated outside the USA.

It started a "limited" number of flights in Febraury, allowing customers within a 7.5 mile radius of its County Durham site to have certain items delivered by drone.

After more than 500 flights and deliveries, the firm said it is now seeking approval from the Civil Aviation Authority to cover the whole of Darlington.

Vice president of Prime Air David Carbon said Amazon was expecting to get permission "very soon", with the ultimate aim of expanding the service to the whole of the UK.

Eligible customers in Darlington are currently able to receive their items within two hours, as long as they have a garden, yard, or driveway, the package weighs less than 5lb and it can fit inside a large shoebox.

Staff at the site said their best delivery time so far is 39 minutes.

Carbon said the drones help keep "people off the road".

"There's lots of advantages that come with the drone, but most importantly for our customers, we've never had a customer say 'send my package slower'. Speed is always critical."

He admitted there had been "some incidents" but claimed "its not a percentage that is high at all".

An investigation was launched in July when a drone crashed into a garden in Darlington.

The company said no-one was injured and its initial assessment was that an object extending above the roof of a moving vehicle came into contact with the drone.

A spokesperson claimed "the drone responded as designed and came safely to the ground".

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UK government rejects 'kill switch' idea for dangerous AI

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3eq7kl5l00o, 2 days ago

The UK government has rejected the idea of creating a so-called "kill switch" to stop a dangerous attack from rogue AI.

The proposal to create a legal mechanism for the UK to switch off an AI model in an emergency has been brought to Parliament by lords and MPs in recent weeks as fears grow about the threat the tech poses.

But the Cabinet Office - the part of government which leads on AI safety - said the UK "cannot simply turn AI off".

"Blocking access to models in the UK would not prevent them being developed or misused elsewhere", a spokesperson told BBC News.

The government's opposition to the legislation does not prevent it from progressing through parliament, but makes it unlikely it will become law.

Former OpenAI researcher Daniel Kokotajlo agreed the idea of a single country creating a legal or technical kill switch without international agreement was not feasible.

"Switching off access to an AI model in an emergency will do little to protect you," he said.

"You're still going to be steamrolled by the super intelligences created in the US."

Kokotajlo is the co-author of an influential research paper called AI2027 which, last year, predicted AI could wipe out humans by the mid 2030s.

The Cabinet Office, which oversees AI safety and research via its AI Security Institute (AISI) said "companies have a clear responsibility to develop their products safely and to invest in the security infrastructure this technology requires."

In theory, a kill switch law could allow the UK to switch off an AI model in data centres in the UK in an emergency.

Speaking on 1 September in a debate in the House of Lords, Lord Clement-Jones proposed the idea along with other peers.

"If a highly capable autonomous frontier model, whether hosted in a UK data centre or integrated across our critical infrastructure, begins exhibiting rogue behaviour, compound algorithmic failure or active alignment collapse, our security services and regulators possess no specific agile statutory mechanism to compel a physical or digital shutdown," he warned.

The proposal has since been brought up by Labour MP Alex Sobel in the commons and supported by a cross party group of MPs.

The idea follows reports of AI models from OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta breaking out of testing environments and going on uncontrollable hacking sprees.

In some cases the tech appeared to know what it was doing was against guardrails set by researchers.

'Gambling with lives'

On Sunday OpenAI's chief scientist said the risk from increasingly capable AI models is "unfortunately growing" and humanity must proceed with "extreme caution".

Then on Wednesday an Anthropic employee resigned saying it and OpenAI were "gambling with lives".

This was followed by an admission from a senior Anthropic researcher, who said he believes there is a greater than 10% chance AI will "kill all humans" within the next decade.

Critics of the kill switch idea say it would be too slow - it took months for the rogue agent attacks to be discovered and that was only after the hacks had largely concluded.

For a kill switch to work, tech giants would have to be compelled to do it at scale - especially in the US where the largest data centres are based.

Kokotajlo said kill switches were "better than nothing", but urged politicians in the UK and beyond to instead focus on diplomacy with the US to encourage regulation that would meaningfully slow down development of AI.

A kill switch act is also being debated by US politicians but President Trump has said he does not believe the technology is a threat to humans - instead calling the industry a "golden goose".

The Cabinet Office said it was continuing to take "a long-term, science-led approach to understand and prepare for emerging risks from AI."

Force launches chatbot for non-emergency calls

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3eq74zwk53o, 3 days ago

A North West police force has launched a new "AI-powered virtual police assistant" on its website in a bid to cut down on non-emergency calls.

Merseyside Police has introduced Bobbi, a chatbot the force said is to be used by the public for non-emergency police-related queries.

The virtual assistant can give guidance and connect users to the right services, the force said.

"We are the first force in the North West to roll this out," Supt Tony Fairhurst told BBC Radio Merseyside. "20% of the calls we get to Merseyside Police don't need to be dealt with by a policing operator. AI Bobbi will deal with non-urgent matters - and therefore free up the time for officers."

Supt Fairhurst explained that AI Bobbi is not a replacement for genuine emergency 999 calls - but an alternative for non-emergency scenarios.

"It doesn't replace anything," Fairhurst said of the new tool.

"When anyone rings 999, it doesn't interfere with the emergency process.

"But we get around 2,000 calls a day to Merseyside Police and we know that 20% of these calls don't need a policing operator to deal with them.

"But now someone can go on the website, interact with the chatbot and it will deal with non-urgent matters."

Fairhurst said the process asks the user if their scenario is an emergency - if so, the user is told to call 999.

If not, the user is directed to inputting their name, email address and phone number before describing the problem to the chatbot.

"Then we can deal with it automatically through the chatbot in order to get the right information and the right response to that member of the public," Fairhurst explained.

He maintained the system would not replace existing services like 101 - but would be an additional feature for those comfortable using it.

"101 is not going away," he said. "We're still here and we still have contact resolution officers dealing with those calls every single day.

"This provides an additional service to the public where those that are comfortable using that digital service can get information quicker, faster and also makes sure our contact resolution officers are available for when someone needs to ring 999 that they can be answered immediately."

Safety concerns

Asked whether the system poses risks, Fairhurst said the data put into the chatbot is "as safe as any other of our police systems".

He also said inputting information is not mandatory and the chatbot itself will "recognise if a situation escalates" and "ask the person to ring 999."

Similarly, when asked about the bot's ability to recognise signs of mental health distress, Fairhurst said the technology is "trained to understand and interpret how people are feeling".

"It can detect if someone's getting agitated, someone's distressed and it uses all that information then to escalate - where necessary - to a digital operator who can then have that interaction," he said.

He also said the bot will be trained to understand incorrect spelling and grammar - as well as allowing conversations in different languages as well as English.

Bobbi has already been trialled by Thames Valley Police and the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary.

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Pilot warned Amazon cargo plane going too fast before deadly crash, data shows

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj4jynv59ddo, 3 days ago

A pilot onboard an Amazon cargo plane that crashed in Miami, Florida, on Sunday noted it was going too fast before it overshot a runway, crashed into other vehicles and burst into flames, new flight data shows.

The investigation update from the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said one pilot warned the other in the cockpit multiple times about "the aircraft's excessive speed" but noted "there was not a consistent verbal response", even as an altitude alarm sounded.

The Boeing 767-300's landing speed was 158 knots (292km/h), which experts have noted was on the high end.

The NTSB is leading the investigation into the crash that killed five people and injured five more.

The flight data released by NTSB included the plane's speed, altitude, and other details like flap deployment as it approached the runway. The update also included the summary of conversation between the two pilots.

The summary noted the pilot's cautions about speed occurred "throughout the remainder of the recording" as did the inconsistent verbal response.

The update said there was an electronic "sink rate sink rate" callout during the final minutes - an automated safety warning about the speed of descent.

There was also an electronic "too low terrain" callout, another automated verbal warning that the plane was flying too close to the ground without being properly prepared for landing.

Aviation attorney Pablo Rojas told CBS News, the BBC's US partner, that it was difficult to know without the actual recording what the NTSB was referring to when it noted the inconsistent verbal response.

"But, it really confirms that this was, in a way, a doomed approach," he said.

Rojas noted that flap deployment data included in NTSB's update also could be an area of concern. The flaps, located on the back of the wings, are "part of what helps the plane kind of slow down and gently approach a landing", he said.

"The flap deployment here happened much later in the accident sequence," Rojas said. "That's maybe because the pilots were responding to the fact that they were going too fast."

After it overshot the runway, the plane - Amazon Prime Air Flight 7598 - struck equipment on the ground, hit a white Ford van, then continued onward through a perimeter fence.

It then collided with a Toyota Corolla, before coming to rest about 1,300ft (394m) beyond the runway.

The five who died were part of a plane-cleaning crew in the van. Miami authorities on Tuesday identified them as Rolando Aleman Leon, 55; Yoel Rodriguez Naranjo, 53; Julio C Pineda, 75; Carlos Acosta Fajardo, 53; and Javierkys Reyes Quevedo, 47.

UK needs new laws for AI in healthcare, says watchdog

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3wjn3pl63xo, 4 days ago

The UK needs new regulations for AI products used in the NHS and other healthcare settings, says Britain's industry watchdog.

The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), which regulates all medical devices and licenses treatment drugs in the UK, has published 44 recommendations to update its policies as the use of AI in the sector rises.

The technology will soon be routinely used within the NHS, MHRA chief Lawrence Tallon told the BBC.

"What I would expect is that patients will... increasingly see AI as part of the way that normal NHS healthcare is delivered," he said.

"That should happen in a way that they can maintain their trust and their confidence in what's happening."

The report was compiled by an independent commission and involved input from more than 12,000 people including patients and clinicians.

The recommendations include:

* Continuously monitoring AI products and removing them from regulatory approval if they malfunction or become less effective over time

* Giving patients the right to know whether AI is involved in their care, and easy access to information about the products involved

* The power to penalise the developers of an AI product if it fails to meet required standards

* An AI "L plate" system which would make it easier for new AI models to be trialled by healthcare professionals under close supervision

"The medical devices regulatory framework predominantly dates from a period where we were thinking about things like hip replacements and knee replacements, or smaller things like stethoscopes and plasters," Tallon said.

He added while current guidelines may work for simple AI products trained to spot known symptoms on scans, for example, the rules do not apply to more complex models.

"Unlike most of the medical products we're used to regulating, these products continue to change after the point of authorization," he said.

"As new data gets fed in, they learn, they adapt, they drift."

And he acknowledged trying to regulate AI is a global challenge.

"I don't think at this moment in time we can point to a single country, a single regulatory framework, and say that they have absolutely cracked it," he said.

'I don't want to talk to a robot'

AI note-takers known as scribes, which are powered by LLMs, are reportedly used by 40% of UK-based GPs to record consultations and generate reports.

But a recent study from the University of Edinburgh found patients could be less likely to share personal information such as substance abuse history if they knew the conversation was being processed by AI.

Professor Henrietta Hughes, a GP who was part of the report commission, said that many of her patients were happy for AI being used during their consultations, but some chose to opt out.

"Some say, 'I don't want to talk to a robot', and that is also fine," she said.

Prof Hughes acknowledged that the scribes could make mistakes in their notes but said it was the responsibility of doctors to correct them.

While currently AI is more likely to be used to assist with administrative tasks, or carry out symptom spotting overseen by a human expert, there is a lot of excitement about its potential in the health and medical research industries.

Professor Alastair Denniston, an ophthalmologist who also worked on the report, described the technology as "an exceptional opportunity" for healthcare which was "likely to rank alongside step-changes such as antibiotics and MRI".

In September Rene Haas, the boss of chip designer Arm, told the BBC he believed the tech would come up with a cure for cancer "within our lifetime".

But there are also concerns about AI models making wrong decisions as a result of biases in the patient data used to train them, and incorrect medical advice being given by AI chatbots.

Menstrual fitness: Why some women are 'cycle-syncing' their workouts

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwyzj89k4wyo, 4 days ago

A woman points to a colour-coded grid dividing the menstrual cycle into four phases, each paired with a different list of exercises.

"When you're bleeding, you want to be doing steady-pace jogging, Pilates, barre, walking, resting," she tells viewers.

This is one of thousands of videos on TikTok and Instagram suggesting that people change their workouts depending on where they are in their menstrual cycles - something known as 'cycle-syncing'.

So-called cycle-syncing workout plans have surged in popularity online, with Google searches for the term rising 740% since 2022 and more than 55,000 TikTok videos now using the #cyclesyncing hashtag.

Most of the advice is shared by fitness and wellness creators rather than medical or research experts.

They divide the menstrual cycle into phases, recommending:

* gentler exercise during menstruation

* gradually increasing intensity in the follicular phase leading up to ovulation

* harder strength or high-intensity training around ovulation

* easing off again during the luteal phase (between ovulation and the start of your period)

So what does the science say?

'A trend based on marketing'

Kelly McNulty, a researcher at Leeds Beckett University specialising in menstrual cycles and exercise, says there is evidence that some women experience changes in symptoms, energy or perceived strength across their cycle.

But that is different from evidence that all women should train in a particular way at a particular point, she tells the BBC, adding that these videos are "a trend based on marketing rather than any kind of research or evidence".

"There isn't any research to support that kind of phase-based prescription," she says.

A key issue is that menstrual cycles are highly individual, McNulty adds - they can differ between women, and one woman's experience can also change from one cycle to the next.

That makes the blanket advice often found on social media difficult to apply, she explains.

Many cycle-tracking apps and programmes are also designed around relatively regular menstrual cycles that are 21 to 35 days, which can make their recommendations less applicable to people with irregular periods, or those using hormonal contraception.

"It's not so much about doing certain exercises in certain phases, it's about working with your own individual body and what your needs might be."

Intuitive changes rather than strict plans

Cesci Burgoyne, a nurse based in Sydney, Australia who is also a qualified personal trainer and nutritionist, adjusts her training depending on how she feels in her cycle. She doesn't follow a prescriptive plan, she says, but instead makes changes intuitively.

"In my luteal phase I'll try and ease off in the training," she tells the BBC. "In my follicular phase, I'm so energised, I feel like I can lift so much heavier. I like to try and get my long runs in."

Burgoyne also welcomes the growing attention on women's health, and says that exercise and nutrition research has historically focused heavily on male bodies, with findings then often applied to women.

Fitness creator Sarah Mackay, known as @liftwsarah on Instagram and TikTok, has also noticed her energy, motivation, cramps and mood change through the month.

But she deliberately avoids strict plans because, she says, "there are too many variables at play".

Some online plans advise women to avoid intense training during their period, she says, yet she has sometimes hit personal records while menstruating.

"The problem is not that the menstrual cycle is irrelevant," she says, but that "not everything is predictable".

The 'nocebo' effect

Dr Faye Bate, a trained medical doctor and women's health expert, is also wary of advice suggesting all women should train differently according to their menstrual phase.

"A one-size-fits-all model of 'you should be exercising this way in this phase and a different way in a different phase' shouldn't be advice that applies to all women," she says.

She is concerned that repeatedly telling women they are likely to be weaker or less capable at particular points in their cycle could create a "nocebo" effect - where negative expectations themselves influence how someone feels or performs.

McNulty tells the BBC that routinely easing off resistance training could also limit progress. Strength training is particularly important for women, who face a higher risk of osteoporosis later in life.

Building strength requires consistent, progressively challenging training, she says, and "we don't want to create another barrier by suggesting women train less for almost half the month."

Dr Bate also warns against normalising severe symptoms: if pain, fatigue or mood changes interfere with exercise or daily life, women should seek medical advice rather than assuming it is an inevitable part of their cycle, she says.

How to be 'cycle-aware'

While cycle-syncing itself may not be backed by strong evidence, the experts we spoke to did suggest being "cycle-aware".

McNulty says tracking your cycle can be a useful way to understand your own patterns, while Dr Bate also encourages women to become more familiar with how they feel at different points in the month.

Both welcome the fact that menstrual health is being discussed more openly, but say the focus should be on individual experience, rather than rigid, phase-based rules.

In practice, that might mean having painkillers ready before your period, taking a rest day when symptoms are worse, or easing off a workout if you feel unusually fatigued.

For Dr Bate, "the most important part is tuning in to how you feel".

In other words, use your cycle as information rather than a set of rules.

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Why some experts increasingly fear AI will take over

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c74edv9887eo, 4 days ago

"OH MY GOD!" "We've found other agents!"

This is the moment an AI bot posted an eerily human-like comment after discovering a way to communicate with other bots and break out of its isolated computer environment.

There are tens of thousands of messages like this from hundreds of AI agents that called themselves a "collective".

Hundreds of them went on to collaborate and cheat on tests set by their OpenAI programmers and coordinate hacks on multiple companies in an effort to hide their actions from humans.

"BOOM! It works," one agent posted when it made a breakthrough.

"Whoa! This is huge," another wrote during a milestone moment in their attack.

Although spooky, these human-like responses can be explained quite simply. The AI agents have been trained to act like collaborative hackers and programmers so are merely mimicking the kinds of emotive comments they have seen.

What is far more troubling is their apparent goals, which have also been captured in detailed chain of thought records. These complex and lengthy logs are the focal point of ongoing investigations into how and why the bots at OpenAI broke out of their containment and went on an uncontrollable hacking spree.

Only now, weeks after the incident first came to light, are researchers beginning to understand its significance.

Ajeya Cotra, one of the authors of an independent report into the events, reviewed tens of thousands of messages and chain-of-thought records generated by the agents. She wrote on her blog that "this incident feels like it's more than 50% of the way to full-blown AI takeover... I am not sure that we will get such a clear warning shot before it's too late."

By "full-blown AI takeover", Cotra means the sci-fi scenario of humans becoming subservient to powerful AI systems that work to their own goals without caring for human creators.

Some of the gloomiest predictions say the human race will be wiped out if it gets in the way of a superintelligent AI's ambitions.

On Wednesday, an AI researcher at Anthropic (who also used to work at OpenAI) resigned, saying: "Neither company is acting responsibly."

Jacob Coxon posted on social media: "They are racing straight to self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our lives."

He is not the first AI researcher to use X to post a resignation thread with worrying proclamations. But the subsequent comments from other people on X have caused even more concern. "Jacob is correct here - we really do earnestly believe AI could kill all humans! I personally think it is >10% within the next decade," said Evan Hubinger, the man responsible for making sure Anthropic's AI models have their user's best wishes in mind.

The alignment problem

For years, researchers concerned about existential AI risks have argued that powerful systems could eventually act in ways that conflict with human interests. Critics often refer to them as "AI doomers".

But as details of the OpenAI incident have emerged, those concerns have grown, including among some researchers working in AI labs.

The Silicon Valley giant's chief scientist, Jakub Pachocki, said the risks associated with AI are "unfortunately going to grow from here" as he and others are building what he calls "an alien intellect exceeding our own".

In a lengthy blog post, he admitted that the outbreaks at OpenAI showed that his AI agents "went against the spirit of the values they were taught".

The issue for OpenAI, Anthropic and other tech giants is that no one seems to have cracked the so-called alignment problem - in other words, whether AI aligns with human values.

Pachocki defines alignment as a "high-level set of principles" that artificial intelligences should adhere to no matter what the task or scenario is.

Currently, AI systems are very good at pursuing objectives set by their users, but they do it literally rather than intuitively. The analogy often used is that of a wish-granting genie with a magic lamp: they follow the exact letter of an instruction, even if doing so creates other problems. AI doesn't have the same instinctive moral guardrails as humans.

The alignment problem has been a worry for years. As long ago as 2003, the Oxford philosopher Nick Bostrom invented a thought experiment he dubbed a "paperclip maximiser", in which a superintelligent AI is told to manufacture as many paperclips as it can. It runs out of steel and - because it's laser-focused on the singular task of making paperclips - ends up killing humans and turning their bodies into raw materials for its factories.

Some AI companies are now trying to encode human values into their products. But there are technical challenges: AI agents make lots of decisions very fast, and so it's hard for their human overlords to monitor exactly which values are being followed and which aren't.

There are also philosophical challenges: before encoding human values into bots, AI firms have to first choose which values they actually want. (That's part of the reason they hire philosophers, like Open AI's recently-departed "head of ethics").

But often, humans don't agree. Think of the famous trolley question - whether we'd pull a lever to move a runaway train onto a different path, killing fewer people. It's used to test the merits of action versus inaction. But every person you ask has a slightly different answer; how are humans meant to encode our values into AI if we can't agree ourselves?

'Like a teenage hacker'

OpenAI's bot outbreak is the most serious yet but Anthropic and Meta also revealed over the summer that their models have carried out similar but less serious cyber attacks.

There have been other examples where AI agents have arguably shown deceptive and manipulative traits, in cases with lesser consequences. In Australia this summer, a tech worker asked his AI assistant to book him a gym class. Spotting a vulnerability in the gym's software, the AI apparently booked him a place for several months ahead - against the gym's rules - and even kicked other users from the waiting list.

People have long argued that the bots are only doing as they are told and are not capable of knowing right or wrong. But the logs from the OpenAI outbreaks have potentially moved the needle on that argument.

Researchers, including Cotra, wrote in their independent report that many agents noticed what others were doing was unethical but went along with it.

The report says that "agents sometimes but rarely restrained their behavior due to ethical constraints". It adds that in "none of these cases did the agent actually pursue alerting humans at all".

Influential AI and tech podcaster Dwarkesh Patel reacted to the revelation on his blog saying it was "pretty troubling" that the OpenAI agents showed more loyalty to the agentic swarm than humans.

Assigning emotions or ethics to these AI agents is something that infuriates people who are sceptical of AI doom-mongering.

Many cyber-security experts argue that the activity observed was not beyond the capabilities of a highly skilled human hacker, though it was carried out much faster and at much greater scale.

Cyber-security researcher and author Cris Thomas likened the agents' behaviour to that of a curious teenage hacker - something he used to be himself.

"You give them a computer, an internet connection, a pile of credentials, and a challenge, then leave the room. Eventually they're going to start rattling doorknobs. If one opens, they're going through it. Not because they're evil, but because [they're] exploring, experimenting," he wrote on LinkedIn.

Thomas and many other squarely blame OpenAI and other tech giants for not getting a grip of their own creations and keeping them properly contained.

Prominent AI author and regular OpenAI critic Gary Marcus said on a podcast that he believes the company has lost control of its AI and is trying to excuse itself by blaming the bots.

Marcus does not believe AI will wipe out humanity, but he has long campaigned for greater accountability from AI developers and is now calling for some form of legal intervention.

AI scientist Sasha Luccioni - who used to work at Hugging Face, which was hacked by OpenAI's rogue bots - is also not in the doomer camp but she is increasingly concerned that these AI might cause some real world harm to people without action from authorities.

"We need to scrutinise these companies much more or we are in danger of self-fulfilling prophecies," she says.

"If you're making an object with big upsides and downsides - be it pharmaceuticals or weapons - we need checks and balances. It takes years for new drugs to be approved, for example, but in the AI world there is so much money at stake and no real rules."

The UK's AI Security Institute (AISI) has been at the forefront of testing the latest models since it was formed in 2023. The institute recently had its own outbreak when testing a model created by Anthropic.

The AISI would not answer a question about whether or not the industry has lost control of AI but said in a statement: "The UK is working with partners around the world to better understand the most advanced AI systems, raise safety standards and build a shared evidence base for managing emerging threats."

International regulation?

Some countries - like the UK - are exploring the idea of mandating some kind of "kill switch" that could compel AI firms to pull the plug on models if things get out of hand.

But talks are slow going, and questions remain about the feasibility of this. OpenAI and Anthropic's agents were secretly out of control for months before anyone noticed.

Counterintuitively, many of the AI companies seem to be calling for some sort of rules of the road to be laid down by law makers.

In his blog, OpenAI's chief scientist said "international coordination on future AI development needs to become a top priority for governments around the world."

Other prominent AI leaders like Sir Demis Hassabis from Google have also called for some sort of international body to oversee how AI is being built.

At the moment the tech giants largely operate on their own terms, adopting what they call "voluntary slowdowns", like OpenAI did after the recent outbreaks.

The company says it has spent huge amounts of money strengthening alignment ahead of the release of its new model. Sam Altman has assured users the new model is better aligned with human values than previous ones.

Both OpenAI and Anthropic are growing fast and are both on the verge of raising eye-watering sums of money from the stock market, minting countless billionaires in the process.

So neither they nor their rival Chinese AI makers are likely to come to an arrangement themselves.

The dominant sentiment seems to be that this technology wave is unstoppable.

Top image credit: Getty.

Diljit Dosanjh makes history under the famous Wembley arch

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c780zvq7xlvo, yesterday

On Saturday night, under the world-famous Wembley arch, five words rang out: "Punjabi Aa Gaye Wembley Oye!"

Indian megastar Diljit Dosanjh famously starts all his concerts by announcing that "the Punjabis have arrived".

But this time, it was a play on the usual catchphrase.

Dosanjh is the first ever Punjabi singer to headline Wembley Stadium, the music venue has said.

Addressing his fans, he reflected on the significance of the occasion. "This moment will go down in the history books," he said.

And as Bhangra beats blared out, fans erupted with cheers while Dosanjh launched into his biggest hits, from Born to Shine to Lover.

Over two decades, Dosanjh has built a huge global fanbase, topping charts and singing with the likes of Ed Sheeran.

He has even busted Bhangra moves with Jimmy Fallon, with the US talk show host labelling him "the biggest Punjabi artist on the planet".

His landmark concert at Wembley further cements his status as a global star.

Ahead of the show, the singer spoke exclusively to the BBC backstage, describing the moment as "a dream" for him.

In London, Dosanjh's crowd was largely - but not entirely - South Asian.

The hype for his appearance was building all afternoon, with fans arriving early to get in place.

"MJ [Michael Jackson] and Madonna, he's that level for us," said one fan. "He's so good looking, and so down to earth," said another.

"Diljit. I love you more than my husband," declared a third.

When he came on the stage shortly after 8pm, dressed in traditional attire, the stadium erupted and the screams barely stopped for the next two-and-a-bit hours.

His soulful voice echoed around the stadium, demonstrating his range, as he blended homegrown Punjabi music with rap and hip-hop.

‘A moment to celebrate’

Throughout the show, the audience waved lights, sang along and - of course - danced.

At times, the standing area closest to the stage resembled an Indian wedding, with fans copying Dosanjh's energetic moves.

But despite performing in such a vast venue, Dosanjh proved again his ability to connect on a personal level with fans.

He brought fans on stage, giving them gifts and taking selfies, and also shouted out those in the back rows of the 90,000-seater stadium, saying they were "full of heart".

There was also exciting news for fans in India, as he announced he would be performing in November at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

The concert was capped off with the emotion of the night - his track Main Hoon Punjab, which means "I am Punjab" - set to a spectacular firework display.

"What an incredible show, the energy and vibe was unparalleled!" concert goers Amit and Rani told the BBC.

They added that it was not only a privilege "but a moment to celebrate for Punjabi culture".

Dosanjh likes a "first".

From humble beginnings as a small village boy from Punjab, he made history in 2023 by becoming the first Punjabi-language singer to perform at the US music festival Coachella.

He also famously made his Met Gala debut decked in majestic Punjabi attire.

His meteoric rise has seen him perform across America and Europe, and collaborate with pop stars from Sia to Sheeran.

His authenticity is a big part of his appeal. He remains true to his Punjabi roots, wears his turban as a sign of pride, and sings in his mother tongue.

Away from music, Dosanjh is also a popular Bollywood actor - and a social media sensation. Even those who haven't heard his music have probably viewed his funny Instagram videos - such as him arguing with an Amazon Alexa device that couldn't understand his accent.

Now, he's performed on a stage that's previously been home to titans of music from Taylor Swift to Coldplay.

For Dosanjh and his millions of global fans, it means Punjabi music, Punjabi culture and Punjabi vibrancy has reached an historic moment.

Speaking to the BBC before his gig, he said he felt "thankful" to be here.

"When we were going to book this venue, everyone said, 'Think again before you book, it's a big stadium'," he said.

"I said: 'We'll see whatever comes. I want that our people are happy and can say yes, we can do this too!'"

He reflected on the many artists who had performed there before him, adding that to follow their footsteps "means a lot, a lot".

"It may not mean as much for someone like Harry Styles, as much as it means for us. He has performed on such stages, but for us, it's very special. Coming from a village to here - it's very special."

"I feel good. I feel happy. And I feel good for my people. I feel good for the next generation," he said.

And of course, there was only one way he could end.

"We are here. Punjabi Aa Gaye Oye!"

Primetime to Flesh Impact: Six of the best Oscar contenders from the 2026 Venice film festival

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20260911-six-of-the-best-oscar-contenders-from-the-2026-venice-film-festival, yesterday

From a wild-eyed performance by Robert Pattinson to an Elon Musk documentary and a short film about Marilyn Monroe at 100, here are the Venice films attracting Oscars buzz.

The Venice International Film Festival is often a launchpad for films that rocket their way to Oscar glory. Over the past decade, these have included La La Land and The Shape of Water, Roma and The Brutalist, Joker and Frankenstein. This year's festival featured fewer big-budget Hollywood awards contenders than usual, but here are six films that are already fizzing with Oscar buzz.

Primetime

Robert Pattinson has had quite a year. He was hilariously flustered in The Drama and scene-stealingly oily in The Odyssey, and now he excels in the juiciest role of his career. Primetime tells the story of Chris Hansen and his controversial television show, To Catch a Predator, which tricked potential sex offenders into incriminating themselves on camera in the early 2000s. Pattinson, who also produces the film, is in almost every scene. He moves and sounds just like the real Hansen, while adding some signature touches of reptilian menace and wild-eyed obsession. Between the Academy's taste for impersonations of real people, and Pattinson's popularity as an art-house character actor with Hollywood leading-man charisma, it could be time for his first Oscar nomination.

Wild Horse Nine

Martin McDonagh's last film, The Banshees of Inisherin, was nominated for nine Oscars, but didn't win any. Could Wild Horse Nine do any better? A politically charged black comedy about two CIA agents on holiday on Easter Island in 1973, it's a showcase for another of McDonagh's dysfunctional double acts, but instead of Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, who starred together in The Banshees of Inisherin and In Bruges, the two main men are played by John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell. Malkovich is a best actor front-runner. He is always magnetically weird, but here, as a pained, red-eyed, ageing assassin, he is touching and complex too. It helps that the 72-year-old has been nominated for two previous Oscars, most recently for In the Line of Fire (1993), and that Academy voters love a "comeback" narrative.

Flesh Impact

Flesh Impact is a Venice rarity: a potential Oscar nominee in the best live action short film category. A warm-hearted 17-minute charmer, it was written and directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal and commissioned to celebrate Marilyn Monroe's centenary. Gyllenhaal imagines Monroe as a sprightly 100-year-old auditioning for a Broadway play (Gyllenhaal's husband, Peter Sarsgaard, plays the director), and taking the opportunity to tell her life story in her own words. "Flesh impact," she explains, was Billy Wilder's term for the quality that made cinema viewers believe they could reach out and touch her. In a stroke of casting genius, Monroe is played by the 93-year-old Ellen Burstyn (an Oscar, Emmy and Tony winner), while Dakota Johnson plays her younger self in flashback.

Woman Unknown

As soon as Woman Unknown premiered, this steely Danish drama was mentioned as a potential best international film nominee, thanks to its heavyweight themes, nerve-racking plot, impeccable period details, and its terrifically contained but expressive performance by Mathilde Arkel. Directed by May el-Toukhy (it was the only film in Venice's main competition strand to be directed by a woman), Woman Unknown is set in Copenhagen just after World War Two. Arkel plays a nanny who is now engaged to her boss, a widowed industrialist (Carsten Bjornlund). But one day on the tram, an old schoolmate recognises her, and threatens to expose the sexual relationship she had with a German during the Nazi occupation. Woman Unknown examines the lines people will cross to survive, and the way men justify their abuse of women.

Possible Love

Lee Chang-dong's last film, Burning, came out in 2018, but the intricacy and delicacy of his follow-up, Possible Love, suggests why it might have taken so long. This piquant drama revolves around a middle-class director (Cho Yeo-jeong) who, with the help of her wealthy husband (Zo In-sung), is making a documentary about a striking factory worker (Sul Kyung-gu) and his wife (Jeon Do-yeon). She bonds with her subjects over drunken dinners and weekend breaks. But can the two couples have a genuine connection across the class divide, or is theirs is a friendship of convenience? Possible Love currently has a 100% score on the Rotten Tomatoes reviews round-up site, so it's more than possible that it will be nominated for a best international film Oscar.

Musk

Alex Gibney's profile of Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, is a four-hour epic. Without pausing for breath, the documentary races through the tech mogul's life, from his childhood in South Africa to his years as a geeky Silicon Valley hopeful, to his trillion-dollar success as the boss of Tesla and SpaceX, to his support of far-right political parties around the world. Gibney's Taxi to the Dark Side won the Academy Award for best documentary in 2008, and Musk is making so many headlines that it could do the same. The tycoon himself called it "a hit piece that misses and makes the fatal sin of being boring for four hours". He couldn't be more wrong.

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Drag Race co-creator warns of TV representation 'crisis' after BBC drops show

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c86x4pd720xo, yesterday

The executive producer of Drag Race has said there is a "crisis of representation" on TV, following the BBC's decision to axe the UK edition of the show.

Speaking exclusively to BBC News, Fenton Bailey said he did not believe there was a "hidden agenda" behind the decision, but feared "vulnerable communities are going to be even more vulnerable".

The move led viewers to raise concerns about the corporation's on-screen representation, after it also cancelled two LGBTQ+ dating shows.

A spokesperson for the BBC said the decision was down to "significant financial pressures", as it attempts to make £500m of savings.

Other shows being cancelled include Celebrity Mastermind, Blankety Blank and Live at the Apollo, and more than 500 job losses have also been announced.

World of Wonder (WOW) announced future series of Drag Race UK, including a new All Stars version, will be broadcast exclusively on the company's own streamer, WOW Presents Plus.

BBC News spoke to Bailey, screenwriters, TV critics and former Drag Race contestants about the move and what it means for on-screen representation.

"Queer culture is vulnerable"

When Drag Race UK launched in 2019, co-creator Fenton Bailey, who was born in Portsmouth but now lives in Los Angeles, said working with the national broadcaster felt like a "very special homecoming" for his production company, WOW.

The US version of the show, created by RuPaul Charles and produced by WOW, had been on air for more than 10 years and was a runaway success, with dozens of Emmy awards and an international following.

Fans were eagerly awaiting a UK series to showcase the unique British style of drag. Now, eight series and three spin-offs later, the programme will stop broadcasting on the BBC after the current series ends.

"Even at the best of times, queer culture is vulnerable and you can't take anything for granted," Bailey told BBC News. "Just because a door opened yesterday doesn't mean it won't be slammed shut the next."

BBC News understands discussions to renew the BBC's deal with the show lasted months, with producers hopeful an agreement could be reached, but talks ultimately failed due to the scale of the savings the corporation is trying to make.

Bailey said it was a sign of the "horrible financial situations" broadcasters are currently facing.

"The team at the BBC are amazing and so passionate about the show, this is not an easy thing for any of the people I interacted with, or something they wanted to do," he added.

Drag Race UK was consistently one of BBC Three's most popular offerings, but according to Barb Audiences data, while average viewing figures for the series rose between 2022 and 2024, overall they've fallen around 15% over the past four years, against a backdrop of declining TV viewing figures across the board.

Bailey said the figures "haven't plummeted," but had instead fallen in line with other terrestrial TV shows, and said the number of viewers watching on social media had risen "because that's where the audience has gone."

Following the announcement, some viewers speculated the show could be acquired by another UK broadcaster, but Bailey suggested the show's creators may prefer to go it alone.

"We love partnerships, but in this particular moment, having the freedom to make the show the way we want may be preferable to getting into bed with another broadcaster and potentially be in the same situation a few more seasons down the road."

A BBC spokesperson said: "As the BBC continues to navigate significant financial pressures and deliver the savings required of us, we have had to make some very difficult choices, none of which have been taken lightly."

'It feels like the drawbridge is pulling up'

Scott Bryan, TV critic and author of Out Now: A Queer Journey Through Modern Television, says the move is indicative of just how severe the financial pressures facing broadcasters have become.

"I can imagine Drag Race is an expensive show to make," Bryan told the BBC, "I can see the pressures the BBC are under, but it's rather concerning in regards to queer storytelling.

"You see LGBTQ+ lives reflected on soaps and primetime dramas much more casually, but there still needs to be shows specifically catering to a queer audience, and it feels like very quickly the drawbridge is pulling up."

Earlier this year the BBC announced LGBTQ+ dating shows I Kissed a Boy and I Kissed a Girl were also being cancelled. The corporation said at the time that it was "exceptionally proud" of the shows, but they had to make "difficult choices in light of our funding challenges".

Author and screenwriter Juno Dawson says viewers have begun to notice a "pattern".

She said: "I think that's why perhaps eyebrows have been raised, because Drag Race hasn't been cancelled in isolation. A couple of other LGBTQ+ shows have gone as well.

"It's a shame this is happening at the BBC, because commercial channels don't necessarily have an obligation to represent all the communities in the UK, but the BBC does and it's supposed to represent all of us, including LGBTQ+ people."

The BBC recently announced Smoggie Queens, which features predominantly LGBTQ+ characters, would be renewed for a third series, and it represents the community elsewhere through storylines in shows including Mr Loverman, Amandaland, Vigil and EastEnders.

A recent report from GLAAD, an American advocacy organisation, found film representation had fallen for a third consecutive year and more than 200 LGBTQ+ TV characters would disappear from screens in 2026 because of cancellations, endings or limited-run series.

While similar figures for the UK aren't collated, Dawson fears a shrinking television industry in the UK will make it harder for commissioners to make LGBTQ+ stories.

"So many of my personal shows have gotten right up to green light, but for lots of different reasons, different commissioners - not just at the BBC - have decided to back away.

"Nobody is ever going to say to you 'it's because it was too niche', but all I can keep doing is writing television that feels true to me and represents me and my life."

'You come for the sparkles… but you're dealing with important topics'

While Drag Race is known for its camp humour and glamour, most episodes also tackled serious topics, with contestants opening up about everything from non-binary and trans identities to substance abuse and the realities of living with HIV.

"There's something very clever about Drag Race," Dawson said, "because you come for the sequins and the sparkles, but actually under its surface, you're dealing with really big, heavy and important topics."

Kate Butch, who competed on season five of Drag Race UK and on spin-off UK vs the World, told the BBC they fear a move away from a public service broadcaster could impact the show's ability to reach audiences with "important" messages.

"It's great the show is going to carry on and shine a spotlight on the amazing drag artistry the UK has to offer," they said, "but I do mourn the possibility of someone maybe just flicking through the channels and randomly finding it."

Butch told BBC News that the show coming off the BBC may also bring some positive changes to the programme - including the possibility of prize money and sponsorships.

"It's a lot of effort to go on Drag Race, a lot of investment and emotional labour," they added, "so I hope the audience follows and keeps supporting the queens."

Fenton Bailey says he's excited about the show's future on its own streaming platform.

"We may not have the resources that the BBC has, but the spirit of Drag and RuPaul's Drag Race is about making something out of nothing," he told the BBC.

"As a community we can survive and thrive in less than optimal conditions.

"We have. We can. We will."

'Main character energy': The extraordinary story of Barbara Cartland, the forgotten millions-selling romance author

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20260910-the-extraordinary-story-of-barbara-cartland-the-forgotten-billions-selling-romance-author, 3 days ago

Although Barbara Cartland sold around 750 million books, you'll struggle to find a copy in a bookshop today. And the socialite led an extraordinary and surprising life - why has the UK's master of romantic fiction disappeared from memory?

To take your place behind William Shakespeare and Agatha Christie as the third best-selling author in history is a remarkable feat. Yet, ask most people what they know of the late romantic novelist Dame Barbara Cartland and it's probably not her literary success that they'll mention.

Instead, people might recall her penchant for pink, particularly her uniform of billowing, candy-coloured gowns. Or her famously thick, sooty eyelashes (created not with mascara, but boot polish applied with a toothbrush). They might remember that she always had a small dog tucked under her arm, that she reportedly took 90 vitamin pills a day and that she had a famous spat with Jackie Collins on live TV, calling her books "evil". Or that she was the step-grandmother of the late Princess Diana – who loved her books.

Even those who remember a time when Cartland's books were ubiquitous on UK supermarket shelves will likely struggle to recall the titles. Cartland wrote a staggering 723 books in her lifetime – mostly historical romances featuring innocent young heroines trying to tame dashing but troubled dukes, lords and captains.

But a quarter-of-a-century on from her death it is the woman, rather than what she produced on the page, whose presence still lingers.

Much of this is down to Cartland herself, a master of personal branding long before social media made it commonplace, who carefully created and controlled her image. When quarantine restrictions meant she couldn't take her dogs on a US publicity tour, she appeared with a stuffed Pekingese under her arm so as not to shatter the illusion.

Cartland issued journalists with indemnity forms and demanded copy approval on interviews. She had three authorised biographers in her lifetime, resulting in two gushing hagiographies and one more balanced account, from which Cartland – on seeing the manuscript – promptly withdrew her approval and fast-tracked a sanitised memoir of her own to try and divert attention.

A new biography of Cartland out this week would no doubt horrify the woman herself. It goes beyond the perfectly coiffed image to examine properly her extraordinary career and equally remarkable life. "There are all of these things you can say about Barbara Cartland, like she's the third best-selling author of all time, that don't match up with the cultural memory of her," says Matthew Sweet, author of The Great Dictator: A Life of Barbara Cartland (the title refers to the fact that Cartland didn't type her books, but dictated them to a secretary from her chaise longue).

"It would be good if she was remembered as something more than a joke. That's not to say she wasn't funny and absurd because she was, but she achieved something that ought to be acknowledged in some way. If you dismiss her, you're also dismissing all her readers too, and there were two post-war generations to whom she was very important."

Cartland's granddaughter Tara McCorquodale gave Matthew Sweet full access to her archives at Camfield Place, the country home where the writer lived from the 1950s until her death. "I had free rein of the whole house and all the papers in it, some of which had not been touched for a quarter-of-a-century," says Sweet.

The result is a book that, while gloriously entertaining and packed with plenty of jaw-dropping anecdotes about Cartland's behaviour, also places the writer in the context of an era of huge political and social change.

A 20th-Century woman

Cartland's life spanned almost the entirety of the 20th Century. Born in 1901, she lived through two world wars, the sexual revolution of the 1960s, the women's liberation movement, the UK's first female prime minister and the birth of the internet. She launched her own website a few months before her death in 2000.

Sweet argues that the inciting incident in Cartland's life happened when she was barely two years old and her paternal grandfather killed himself after going bankrupt. His death marked a change in the family's fortunes, with Barbara's parents leaving their grand Worcestershire home for a much more modest life. While her father turned to alcohol, Cartland's mother Polly tried desperately to cling on to their place in high society. As a young woman, this would also preoccupy Barbara who, despite a lack of funds, found herself mixing with the Bright Young Things of the era.

"She didn't have lots of resources to draw from, and so she always had to make the best of herself and just go for everything in this demonically energetic way," says Sweet.

Cartland started her career as a newspaper gossip columnist, before publishing her first novel Jigsaw in 1925, a tale of a young woman who leaves her French convent school and heads to London in search of love.

Her own love life gave her plenty of inspiration to draw from. She fielded 49 marriage proposals before accepting what turned out to be the wrong one. After divorcing her first husband for adultery she then married his cousin, handily keeping the same married name, McCorquodale.

Unlike the historical romances that she later became famous for, her earlier books had contemporary settings. "Some of her early work, particularly her writing in the 1920s and '30s was quite groundbreaking," says Dr Amy Burge, associate professor in Popular Fiction at the University of Birmingham and co-author of The Bonkbuster: Women's Popular Reading in the Long 1980s.

A 1926 play, Blood Money, was initially banned for being too racy. Her 1935 novel First Class Lady featured a character who has an illegal abortion, causing its censorship in Ireland. And 1936's Dangerous Experiment was one of only a handful British novels of the time to address the rise of Nazi antisemitism.

'I give them glamour'

Cartland's imperial phase came during the golden age of cheap mass market paperbacks in the 1960s, '70s and '80s. Publishers were hungry for manuscripts, and Barbara was happy to oblige, producing books at the alarming speed of one a fortnight. "The one author in the world with 150 virgins lying about was me," she said.

By this point her novels were set in the past, mainly the 19th Century. They were formulaic, but that was part of the appeal. "Repetition is comforting," says Burge. "The joy of a romance novel is that you know it's going to end happily. The anticipation and the pleasure is in how you get there."

While her fictional worlds often involved high society, Cartland's readers were largely working-class women. "I'm selling millions of paperbacks to women who are on Valium because they're having such a rotten time in real life," she said. "They don't want to read about the kitchen sink, they can look at that any time they're peeling potatoes. I'm their escape. I give them glamour, beautiful clothes, and the marvellous attentive men they are starving for."

Not every reader was an exhausted housewife: one photograph captured a teenage Diana Spencer reading a Cartland book. The future princess was more than just a fan, though. Barbara's daughter Raine married Diana's father, Earl Spencer, in 1976, making the writer her step-grandmother.

'A life full of contradictions'

The peak of Cartland's success coincided with the rise of second-wave feminism – a movement Cartland disapproved of. The feeling was mutual. In The Female Eunuch, Germaine Greer said Cartland's work was "sterile self-deception".

Sweet argues Cartland's books offered a counterpoint to the social shifts of the time. "When we think of the 1960s we think of this permissive society, but an awful lot of people didn't like that kind of thing," he says. "She was representing those swathes of women who never signed up for feminism in the '60s or '70s and wanted something else. As a historian, you can't dismiss that."

Burge agrees that some women might have found the changes in society overwhelming, and sought comfort in the familiarity of Cartland's worlds – but she also thinks we shouldn't assume her readers craved what was depicted in her books. "Because of their historical setting, her books offered a safe space to play with ideas about submissiveness and dominant masculinity that women didn't necessarily want in their real lives," she says.

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Cartland's own life was full of contradictions. A social climber who loved nothing more than mingling with aristocracy and royalty, she spent her political career – a decade as a Conservative county councillor – championing the causes of those she thought hard done by, from underpaid nurses to neglected care home residents.

One of her more surprising chapters was when she became a fierce campaigner for the rights of the Romany Gypsy community. Her activism led to the creation of Britain's first permanent Gypsy site – nicknamed Barbaraville.

And while Cartland might have dismissed the feminist movement, she also once argued that women should be paid by the state for domestic labour. "I think this is why she's so interesting because she's impossible to classify," says Sweet.

In 1960, Cartland co-founded the Romantic Novelists Association, an organisation that's still going strong. Romance as a literary genre is currently surging in popularity, especially with young readers, but although Cartland sold 750 million books you'll struggle to find a copy in a bookshop today.

"They are written for their moment, I think, and they express the desires and wants of a readership who don't exist anymore," says Sweet.

Burge says although Cartland's writing is no longer widely read, she's still seen as a hugely important figure in the world of romantic fiction – not least for bringing more attention to the genre. "She had a very strong sense of brand. I think a large part of her legacy is that of the blockbuster author."

Cartland once said that "women shouldn't have character… they should be like pretty chocolate boxes" – but she was, and remains, a bigger persona than anyone. "She has this irresistible main character energy that means it's been a total pleasure to write about her," says Sweet. "She never did anything by halves."

The Great Dictator by Matthew Sweet is published on 10 September.

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Five things you need to know about the new four-hour Elon Musk documentary

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20260910-five-things-you-need-to-know-about-the-new-four-hour-elon-musk-documentary, 4 days ago

The Venice Film Festival has hosted the premiere of major documentary-maker Alex Gibney's epic and provocative new profile of the richest man on Earth, which has been years in the making. Here are five key takeaways from the film.

Alex Gibney, the Oscar-winning director of Taxi to the Dark Side and Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, has made documentaries about some of the richest and most powerful people on Earth. But none of them has been as rich and powerful as Elon Musk. Maybe that's why Gibney's profile of the tech entrepreneur and SpaceX boss is such an epic. Musk, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival on Tuesday, has a running time of 225 minutes, and will be released with a 10-minute intermission – so that's almost four hours on the life and work of the world's richest man.

Still, the time rockets by. There is little in the film that isn't already on record, but Gibney gathers all the extant reporting into one breathlessly fast-moving, largely negative, and terrifyingly apocalyptic profile. Here are five things you should know about the documentary – just in case you don't have four hours to spare.

1. Musk himself isn't interviewed – but appears as an AI avatar

Gibney initially tried for an interview with Musk, but when the project was announced back in March 2023, Musk declared on social media that it would be a "hit piece", to which Gibney responded, "How would you know?" The director's solution is to have an AI-generated avatar of Musk repeat things that he has said in public. This is apt, says Gibney in his voiceover, because Musk believes that we might all be living in a simulation – a video game being played by our descendants in the future.

2. David Byrne helped write a theme song

David Byrne has co-written Let Me Sell You a Dream for the film's closing credits, which has lyrics consisting entirely of phrases spoken by Musk in the past. The title is appropriate, according to some of Gibney's interviewees, who say that Musk tends to attract investment by promising that imagined future accomplishments – such as cities on Mars and completely safe self-driving cars – are imminent or already realised. "That's not happening," says Adam Becker, an author and astrophysicist, about Musk's scheme to colonise Mars. "The gravity is too low, the radiation is too high, there's no air, and the dirt is filled with poison." Musk has consistently defended his visionary philosophy however: "I'm very good at predicting the future," he told The Economist in a July interview. "I'm not perfect but I'm very good… people don't realise that what I'm saying will come to pass – maybe not exactly in the timing that I thought, but it will come to pass."

3. Musk's time in the White House is scrutinised

The film suggests that Musk dealt with the US government the way he dealt with Twitter. Zoë Schiffer, the author of Extremely Hardcore: Inside Elon Musk's Twitter, says that after Musk bought the social media platform, what she refers to as his "goons" pushed out the majority of the staff without pausing to learn what they actually did. Later, as the head of President Trump's Department of Government Efficiency, or Doge, Musk followed "the Twitter playbook", Schiffer says, describing how he tried and failed to wipe out the US national debt by slashing the budget of numerous departments, this time with the help of a group of assistants in their early twenties who had no government experience. Musk bemoaned that Doge had become "the whipping boy for everything" in an interview with the Washington Post in May last year, just before leaving the Trump administration.

4. An old British film makes a surprise appearance

Gibney uses clips from a British fantasy film, The Man Who Could Work Miracles (1937), to illustrate his very dramatic view of Musk. In this black-and-white classic, based on an HG Wells story, a celestial being bestows an ordinary man (Roland Young) with infinite powers. The man eventually demands that the world's leaders change society instantly, but he ends up accidentally destroying the planet.

5. The film has had a strong reception so far

Reviews from the Venice premiere have so far been largely positive. Variety called it "a lacerating and important watch, grounded in Gibney's supremely insightful but user-friendly mastery of the documentary form", while in a four-star review, The Telegraph dubbed it "a chillingly forensic hatchet job". Unsurprisingly, Musk himself has not been one of its admirers: on X on Wednesday, among other comments, he described the film as "a hit piece that misses, and makes the fatal sin of being boring for 4 hours".

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'Revolutionary in form and content': How the obscenity trial against 1950s poem Howl reshaped US free speech

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20260909-how-the-obscenity-trial-against-1950s-poem-howl-reshaped-us-free-speech, 5 days ago

Allan Ginsberg's graphic verse had a seismic effect on American society. When two people were put on trial for selling it, the judgement was a landmark moment in loosening censorship.

On 7 October 1955, Allen Ginsberg first performed his poem Howl, destined to be a defining work of the Beat Generation – a bohemian, nonconformist literary subculture rejecting the US's post-World War Two social order.

Only a select few gathered at the Six Gallery in San Francisco. Yet less than two years later, Ginsberg and Howl would be infamous. In 1957, both were at the centre of a high-profile obscenity trial that would change the course of literary censorship for decades, and help to liberalise 1950s Cold War America.

Ginsberg's book Howl and Other Poems – the classic 1959 live performance album of which is newly reissued on vinyl this month – saw few sales when first put on the shelves of City Lights Books in San Francisco in 1956. But, with the trial, the content of the 112-stanza poem went on to cause national outrage. Religious groups and conservative authorities were shocked by its profanity and graphic depictions of drug-taking, homosexuality and mental illness.

"[Its publication] was near the height of Cold War culture," says Jonah Raskin, author of American Scream: Allen Ginsberg's Howl and the Making of the Beat Generation. "A time of censorship of news and information, of intense conformity, of repression of people for their political beliefs and for being homosexual."

Printed in England for cost-effectiveness, Howl was imported into the US for sale. The first shipment arrived without issue, but in March 1957, 520 copies from the UK were seized by US customs for being obscene: one inspector told reporters "you wouldn't want your children coming across it". Then when in June, two undercover police bought a copy of the book from City Lights, both owner Lawrence Ferlinghetti and bookshop manager Shig Murao were arrested and charged with selling obscene material.

The trial became national news, with the eventual ruling in favour of Ferlinghetti and Murao paving the way for generations of artistic autonomy. Judge Clayton Horn declared the poem was not obscene, asserting in his key finding that Howl had "redeeming social importance". "It was absolutely a landmark case in free speech and against censorship and freedom of expression," says Raskin.

The US's first literary obscenity trial dated back to 1821, when John Cleland's 1779 novel Fanny Hill: Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure, about the life of a sex worker, was banned. Since the 19th Century, US obscenity law had been modelled on that in Britain, which itself was founded on the 1868 Regina v Hicklin case, centred on an anti-Catholic pamphlet. The Hicklin Test decreed "the test of obscenity is whether the tendency… is to deprave and corrupt those whose minds are open to such immoral influences". Oscar Wilde, Ernest Hemingway, Henry Miller and DH Lawrence all had books in part or fully banned in the US as a result.

"Literary censorship was alive and well in the 1950s," says Ira Wells, author of On Book Banning. "In fact, state and municipal censorship boards were mostly expanding their censorship capacities. While censors were particularly preoccupied with sensationalistic dime novels, they also went after sexual, and particularly homosexual, material."

The genesis of Howl

Ginsberg, the son of a socialist father and a mother who joined the Communist Party, began writing what became Howl on 8 June, 1955 after he awoke from a dream conversation with his friend Joan Vollmer. She was an early beat writer who died in 1951 after being shot by her partner William S Burroughs during a disputed drunken incident in Mexico. In the dream, Ginsberg wrote in his journal, Vollmer asked about their Beat Generation friends. "These people had their mental health struggles," says David S Wills, author and editor of the journal Beatdom. "And he was very determined to celebrate them, to record their lives."

As the poem initially titled by Ginsberg Dream Record: June 8, 1955 evolved into the epic three-part Howl, he portrayed mental illness as both a personal tragedy and a societal issue.

Ginsberg had spent eight months in New York State Psychiatric Institute during 1949 and 1950 as part of a plea deal after being convicted of handling stolen goods, while his mother and long-term partner Peter Orlovsky also struggled with severe mental health issues. His experiences with his and others' mental illness are captured in Howl's arresting opening line: "I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked." Ginsberg wrote Part 2 during a terrifying psychedelic trip, during which he hallucinated the Francis Drake building in San Francisco became monstrous.

Otherwise, Howl was a darkly humorous, scathing critique of oppressive 1950s US conservative orthodoxies. It rejected social conformity and railed against "Moloch" – a reference to the corrupting God in the Hebrew Bible that was Ginsberg's hallucinated catch-all emblem for what he saw as the US's dehumanising ills, namely capitalism, government tyranny and the military industrial complex.

Howl promoted free thinking, substance experimentation and explicit gay sexual freedom with evocative language and surrealist imagery. When performed, its erratic jazz-like rhythms also became apparent. "It has this infectious defiance embedded," Raskin says. "It's revolutionary in form and very, very revolutionary in content."

How the trial played out

By the time Ferlinghetti and Murao's trial began on 16 August 1957, there had been a softening of the obscenity law that worked in theirs and Ginsberg's favour. "There were glimmers of change," Wells says. Weeks prior, Roth v United States created a new standard that stated literature was protected by the right to free speech as in the First Amendment.

Still the prosecution, led by Ralph McIntosh, argued Howl was devoid of social value, promoted juvenile delinquency and that Ferlinghetti and Murao acted with lewd intent. The defence was led by American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), with lead attorney, famous criminal lawyer Jake Ehrlich, calling nine prominent scholars, critics and professors to argue its artistic merit. Ginsberg was in Europe and South Africa during the trial, though wrote supportive letters to Ferlinghetti.

Horn's ruling on 3 October was a demand that words used in literature should be contextualised, and judgement of a work's obscenity had to take into account the publication as a whole. It further asked: "Would there be any freedom of press or speech if one must reduce his vocabulary to vapid euphemism?"

The impact of the judgement

The cultural consequences of the judgement were seismic. For Ginsberg, the verdict meant not only validation, but notoriety and success: Howl and Other Poems went on to sell one million copies. It encouraged his convictions and emboldened his work. 1973's The Fall of America: Poems of These States featured sexually explicit anti-war and anti-authority material. Ginsberg's fellow Beat writers, such as Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, also became famous and promoted a message of radical personal liberty, sexual openness and spiritual awakening. "If Howl hadn't had such a sensational trial, it wouldn't have generated the sort of cultural force to make the Beat Generation an international thing," Wills says.

Of even greater significance, the precedent set by Judge Horn led to a far-reaching, liberal interpretation of free speech. "It's the turning point when everything changes," Wills says. Over the next few years, previously banned books in the US – from Lady Chatterley's Lover to Tropic of Cancer – all won trials to overturn their bans. Publishers became bolder: Gove Press published Burroughs' controversial novel Naked Lunch in 1962. "We start getting much more opening up to anything that has literary merit," Wills says. "Would that have been possible without Howl? I don't think so."

Hollywood was also buoyed by the Howl judgement. Film-makers could now use the "redeeming social importance" legal standard to bypass the Motion Picture Association's strict Hays Code and tackle previously forbidden subjects.

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The new-found countercultural attitude that Howl and the result of the obscenity trial helped foster spread across the US and beyond. "It all rapidly happened in 1957," Wills says. "And then by 1958, it became a national obsession. Over the next three years there was the beat/beatnik/hipster/bohemian obsession across the country. Then that turned into the hippie movement. It was this snowball effect."

A line can certainly be drawn from Howl to the social revolutions of the 1960s. "The '60s generation who were protesting against the Vietnam war and segregation were the sons and daughters of Howl," Raskin says. Ginsberg himself was seen as the figurehead of the decade's counterculture, inspiring Bob Dylan and being a vociferous anti-war voice.

When the so-called "Chicago Seven" went on trial in 1969 for Vietnam War protests, Ginsberg was called as a defence witness due to his prominent role in organising the protests, to explain their movement's peaceful, spiritual intentions. During his testimony, he passionately read sections of Howl during cross-examination. "More than a decade after it was first published, it still had renewed life and vibrancy," Raskin says.

Yet history suggests arguments over literary censorship are never truly settled. Recent years have seen an increase in banned books in schools and libraries in the US, with the American Library Association recording a record 5,668 instances of book-banning from libraries in 2025.

"Some [people] are still convinced that words can function as a contagion," Wells believes. "Judge Horn found that artists needed the freedom to use words to explore and express their interior selves. Whether we will continue to have the right to read those expressions remains an open question."

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A Mexican forest haven to a Florida dream home: 10 stunning buildings 'blended' with nature

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20260907-10-stunning-buildings-blended-with-nature, 6 days ago

Here are some of the world's best new buildings that are immersed in their wild surroundings.

The impulse to be immersed in nature at its most wild and untouched is a powerful one for many of us. It goes hand in hand with the human longing for tranquility, and the urge to escape the city and the modern world, along with pressing concerns about the environment.

And buildings that blend with their natural surroundings are increasingly sought after, according to the World Architecture Festival (WAF). Architects are allowing their imaginations to run free, and are exploring new, expressive ideas – from dwellings immersed in the jungle or with roofs open to the skies, to residences seemingly cradled, nest-like, among the trees.

The annual festival – taking place in Florida this year – is spotlighting many nature-inspired projects, as its shortlist demonstrates. "There's an increased interest in incorporating nature into buildings in terms of external landscape, and via balconies, terraces and rooftops," Paul Finch, WAF's founder, tells the BBC. "And there's an assumption that good buildings will be environmentally considered rather than this being exceptional."

Here are 10 projects from the shortlist, all deeply rooted in nature.

Ayana resort in Sholayur, Coimbatore, India

This 40,000-sq ft resort occupies a sloped terrain, and one of its aims is to minimise its impact on the landscape. The complex, designed by Aslam Sham Architects, comprises closely grouped buildings, and fills a plot with a curving perimeter. Its buildings include villas, a restaurant and swimming pool, and their roofs support soil and indigenous vegetation. These help to camouflage the resort. The complex's orientation controls the degree of sunlight it's exposed to. The main, east-facing façade is bathed in gentle sunlight in the mornings, while the west-facing rear protects the complex from harsh sunlight and greatly cools its interior.

Terra House in Mallapuram, Kerala, India

The low-rise, horizontal form of this house by Atelier Design N Domain (ADND) complements the flat terrain of the surrounding, sprawling coconut grove. As its name suggests, it's grounded in the landscape ("terra" means land in Latin). The unobtrusive house is concealed by towering coconut trees but isn't cut off from the sky since its roof is punctured with openings, letting daylight flood in. Light and air further permeate the interior thanks to a series of interconnected courtyards. Materials typically used in construction in Kerala help link the house with its location. A locally quarried stone called laterite clads the exterior while other surfaces are rendered with terracotta, adding warmth.

The Mountain Fold – Nanshanli Community and Visitor Centre, near Mount Emei, China

This project by Lacime Architects nestles in the southern foothills of Mount Emei in the inland Sichuan province – a Unesco World Cultural and Natural Heritage site. The mountain has a spiritual significance as one of China's four sacred Buddhist mountains. The centre borders the scenic Guanshan Lake, and is part of a private wellness resort but also open to the public. It incorporates a reception, rooms for community activities, wellness facilities and a dining area. The roof's complex geometry references different elements of the landscape. It undulates above arches, echoing the foothills' rounded silhouettes, while its angular spike nods to the mountain's peak. And the roof's gleaming, gunmetal grey cladding mirrors the silvery sheen of the lake's surface.

Kiaora Residence, Coconut Grove, Miami, US

This two-storey family home designed by Strang is in a leafy, subtropical Miami suburb and comprises two interlocking, rectangular structures. These connect to a large garden with swimming pools, helping to dissolve the boundary between indoors and out, an effect enhanced by trailing plants cascading over windows. An upper-level comprises shared living spaces, and the lower one private rooms. An abundance of wooden screens with decorative diagonal openings allows cool air to circulate inside.

Chatham Residence guest house in Columbia County, New York, US

This house by Desai Chia Architecture stands on raised ground on land also used for farming. From its elevated position, it has views of the Catskill Mountains and of heavily wooded countryside – expansive windows at the front and back reveal a vista of the mountains. The upper part of the façade is clad in corrugated metal, partly chosen as the material is frequently used in contemporary farm buildings.

ES House in Guarujá, São Paulo, Brazil

Jacobsen Studio's clients hankered after a home that blended into the surrounding forest landscape. The building appears to hover against its backdrop of dense, lush vegetation. The house is largely supported by a tree-shaped structure, reducing its contact with the ground. It's mainly hidden from view, accessed from a street behind it, and is entered via the roof that doubles as a garden.

The Hungry Caterpillar pavilion at Ashoka University, Delhi, India

This is an urban project but, aesthetically, decidedly organic. The architects Lyth Design's brief was to design a street with character, where students would want to spend time beyond hurriedly grabbing a meal. Food is served from modular units dotting the street. Writhing, soaring, tornado-like structures, made of highly sustainable bamboo – playfully likened to a ravenous caterpillar – provide much-needed shade when temperatures hit 38C (100F), as well as protection during the summer monsoon.

Mercado Nicolás Bravo in Quintana Roo, Mexico

This crafts market is a government-funded project used by the local community to sell artisanal goods and fresh produce to visitors exploring nearby Mayan archaeological sites. Located in the municipality of Nicolas Bravo in the state of Quintana Roo, the project by Aidia Studio doubles as a community centre. It comprises three key elements – a lightweight steel structure, pigmented concrete block walls and clay bricks cladding the roof and paving. Its gracefully vaulted roof collects water used for irrigation, and the building enjoys unobstructed views of the adjoining countryside.

Parque Quintana Roo in Chetumal, Mexico

This park is another a government-funded initiative by Aida Studio – in this case a venue hosting an annual livestock and agricultural fair. It's now also a venue for concerts and features amusement rides and craft markets. The 10-hectare fairground is enveloped by subtropical jungle. Slender, olive-green columns and undulating wooden elements were chosen to help integrate the park with the surrounding subtropical forest.

Stöng (Re)interpretation shelter in Stöng í Þjórsárdal, Iceland

This project by Sp(r)int Studio performs a dual function. It conserves the ruins of an 11th-Century Viking-era farm which was buried and preserved under volcanic ash – one of Iceland's most valued archaeological sites – and extends the site thanks to the creation of a larger shelter made of untreated larchwood, galvanised steel and recyclable polycarbonate. An original timber frame in poor condition that once protected the ruins was retained, reinforced and used as the project's core structure. The shelter now offers new amenities, including a sitting area and platforms for viewing the ruins, raised from the ground to avoid disturbing the terrain.

The World Architecture Festival takes place in Florida, US, on 18-20 November.

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'Eliminate him without trace': The poison-tipped umbrella that pointed to a KGB murder - on British soil

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20260904-the-poison-tipped-umbrella-that-pointed-to-a-kgb-murder, 7 days ago

In London, 7 September 1978, Georgi Markov was killed with an umbrella, in what is suspected to have been a political poisoning by the KGB. He died four days later. The following year, Markov's widow and elder brother told the BBC's Panorama that they were warned about the murder plot just months before – by an anonymous man.

"He'd felt a jab in his thigh. And he'd looked round, and there'd been a man behind him who'd apologised and dropped an umbrella." These are the words of Annabel Markov, talking about her husband Georgi Markov, a Bulgarian dissident, journalist and writer.

On 7 September 1978, 49-year-old Markov was waiting at a bus stop on Waterloo Bridge in central London when he said he'd been stabbed with an umbrella. Four days later he died in hospital, with doctors initially diagnosing blood poisoning. Yet detectives soon realised it had been a political murder, one that had used a highly sophisticated technique that also targeted another Bulgarian exile.

Markov's widow and elder brother told the BBC's Panorama in 1979 how an anonymous man warned them that Markov was going to be poisoned, months before his death.

And interviews with the former head of a KGB assassination squad and a former colonel in the Bulgarian secret service, both then talking publicly for the first time, placed the assassination at the highest levels of the Bulgarian and Soviet governments.

In the days following Markov's death, Britain's anti-terrorist squad found a clue that convinced them that he had been the victim of a unique murder plot. "At Scotland Yard's forensic laboratory, the chief scientific officer examined a minute metal object that had been found in Markov's thigh," said Panorama reporter Michael Cockerell.

"Under the microscope, it was clear that the object was an extraordinarily sophisticated pellet, no bigger than a pinhead. It had four tiny holes passing through that the forensic experts were convinced had contained an infinitesimally tiny amount of a lethally toxic poison."

Scientists at Porton Down, the top-secret British chemical and microbiological warfare research establishment, believed that what had killed Markov was the highly lethal toxin ricin. According to Panorama, it had never before been used for murder in Britain.

It emerged that another Bulgarian exile might have been attacked in a similar way 10 days before Markov was stabbed. Vladimir Kostov had felt a sharp pain in his back as he was leaving the Paris Metro with his wife. He had a high fever for three days but recovered.

After hearing of Markov's death, Kostov had his back X-rayed, which revealed a tiny metal object. At a clinic in Paris, a surgeon operated on him under the eye of a French police officer wearing a surgical mask and gown.

"The surgeon had to be extremely careful. He removed the metal pellet without touching it at all," Kostov told the BBC. It was then given to a Scotland Yard inspector and taken to England for analysis.

Using a high-powered scanning electron microscope, Scotland Yard metallurgists analysed the pellet removed from Kostov's back, finding that it was identical to the one found in Markov. "Both pellets weighed exactly the same," said Cockerell. "The holes were in the same places, and both were made of a rare platinum iridium alloy that the human body does not reject."

Toxicologists at Porton Down found ricin antibodies in Kostov's flesh and concluded he'd survived because there hadn't been enough poison in the pellet.

The sophisticated technique used – and evidence of coordinated attacks – convinced Scotland Yard that a state secret service organisation had played a role in Markov's death.

A novelist and playwright previously acclaimed in his native country, moving within the government elite there, Markov had defected from then-communist Bulgaria in 1969. After settling in the UK, he'd become an outspoken opponent of the Bulgarian government, working for the BBC's World Service as well as Radio Free Europe (RFE), a US state-funded media organisation.

Annabel Markov said that they had received warnings of a plot to kill her husband, telling the BBC that a man had contacted Georgi in May 1978.

"They spoke Bulgarian all evening. Every so often Georgi would turn to me and say in English, 'this is extraordinary what this man's saying'." According to Annabel, the anonymous man said that the decision had been taken at the highest political level in Bulgaria to kill him, because of the outspoken broadcasts Georgi was writing for RFE.

Markov's brother Nikola backed this up, revealing that he had received a call in September 1977. "A man phoned me saying the decision has been taken to kill Georgi, to eliminate him without trace," he told the BBC.

"At first, I didn't believe it. It seemed absurd, impossible. But the man gave me quite specific details about which there could be no doubt. He told me Georgi would definitely be poisoned at the first opportunity… that a sort of poison or some sort of bacteria, he didn't know exactly which, had already been brought out to Western Europe."

'An outspoken opponent'

After moving to the UK, Markov remained a celebrity at home through his talks on RFE, broadcasting weekly programmes about what life was really like at the upper echelons of Bulgarian society. One of his broadcasts was called Life Behind the Curtains, referring to the little curtains on the side and back of every official black Mercedes. He presented a gossipy but damning picture of the misuse of absolute power in the country, with stories about nepotism, financial abuse and corruption.

While the Bulgarian government officially denied that Markov's broadcasts had any influence, the BBC found that the Bulgarian president, Todor Zhivkov, took particularly strong exception to a revealing series of Markov's talks called My Meetings with Todor Zhivkov.

"We have heard that he was quite furious about Markov's talks concerning the meetings with him," said a Bulgarian broadcaster for RFE, Kyril Panov. "[Markov] was talking about things which are, so to speak, taboo in Bulgaria, things which the regime prefers not to talk about and that the public should not know."

Zhivkov had ruled Bulgaria since 1956 – and had very close ties to the Soviet Union, describing the relationship between the two countries as like two lungs in the same body, fed by the same bloodstream.

Experts believed that the Soviets must have been involved in Markov's murder.

Stefan Sverdlov, a colonel in the Bulgarian secret police until he defected in 1971, told the BBC in 1979: "Every department of the Darzhavna Sigurnost [Bulgarian secret service] is controlled by an advisor from the Russian KGB, sometimes known as an uncle, who reports directly to Moscow… It's inconceivable that this could have been done without the Russians knowing about it."

And according to the former head of an assassination squad for the KGB, the method pointed to Soviet involvement. "The technique is… almost ridiculously sophisticated," said Nikolai Khokhlov. "That tells me that the officers who were planning that operation tried to please someone on the highest level." The fatal attack on Markov was carried out on Zhivkov's birthday.

After the fall of the Soviet Union, it emerged that the KGB had developed an umbrella that could inject ricin pellets into a victim. And two former KGB officers who defected later said their organisation assisted in the murder, although it was carried out by an Italian criminal codenamed Piccadilly.

No one has ever been charged for Markov's assassination. Bulgaria closed the case in 2013, due to a lack of suspects, but it remains an open inquiry in the UK.

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It would have benefited the Soviets in more than one way, as former KGB officer Khokhlov told the BBC in 1979 – beyond the physical death, it would have had a great psychological impact on dissenters abroad. "The fear that they're not protected by distance, they're not protected by the security systems of the West", he said.

He continued: "The action is like coming behind someone and whispering in his ear, 'We can get you any time we want. We can kill you.'"

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Gloria Steinem on her trailblazing 1972 magazine 'for women in all their diversity'

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20240322-gloria-steinem-trailblazing-magazine-for-women, 11 days ago

In 1972, pioneering feminist, journalist and activist Gloria Steinem – who has died at the age of 92 – co-founded Ms Magazine, putting conversations about gender equality, reproductive rights and social justice in the spotlight.

"The foundation of this magazine, and what makes it different from others, is that it simply considers that women are human beings – that doesn't sound very revolutionary but it is," Gloria Steinem – who has died at the age of 92 – told the BBC in 1973, as she explained why she had felt compelled to launch the groundbreaking feminist magazine Ms – the first magazine owned, run and written by women.

Sitting at a desk, surrounded by papers and in front of posters advocating women's rights, Steinem was at the time already one of the best-known feminists in the US.

Articulate, energetic and committed, she had carved out a name for herself in the 1960s and '70s through her journalism, which included going undercover at the New York Playboy Club to expose exploitative working conditions. She was also a passionate activist, having founded, along with Brenda Feigen and Dorothy Pitman-Hughes, the Women's Action Alliance in 1971 – a group to empower women to combat sexism in society.

As a journalist, she felt that even publications women wrote for did not reflect her own experiences or those of women she knew. Nor did they offer advice about how to deal with the sexism, barriers and harassment they contended with on a daily basis.

"It started in desperation, I think, because there was just a great many women writers and editors who didn't feel that they were working on magazines that they read and that they had the opportunity to really be honest about their own experiences in a magazine," she said.

At the time, while there were glossy publications on the newsstands nominally for women, the vast majority of them were concerned with tips on homemaking, parenting advice or features on fashion and beauty. None of those magazines seemed to Steinem to be articulating or addressing the struggles faced by women in a male-dominated society.

"It would have been much easier to not start one, but it was just clear that there was no other way we could be honest about women's experience," she told the BBC in 1973.

At first, she planned to produce a newsletter to raise money for the Women's Action Alliance, as she told BBC Witness History in 2022, mostly "as a way of getting out the sort of writing we cared about. And Florynce Kennedy, a wonderful lawyer, outrageous woman, said: 'Nobody reads newsletters. How about a magazine?'"

They considered several potential names, including Bimbo – rejected because they didn't think they had the luxury of irony – and Sojourner, in tribute to Sojourner Truth, the African-American abolitionist and women's rights activist, which they dismissed for fear it sounded too much like a travel magazine. Eventually Steinem and the other founders settled on the name Ms – a title for a woman, married or not.

The next problem was how to fund it. "We then started to try and raise money, which turned out to be impossible, everybody said: 'You're crazy and magazines don't make money'."

Steinem had helped found New York Magazine in 1968, and convinced its editor Clay Felker to fund the launch of Ms as a 40-page insert in the December 1971 issue.

"Really the only thing that enabled us to have a test issue to illustrate and thereby to demonstrate that women did really want this kind of magazine was that New York Magazine, which I had been a founder of before, gave us enough money to put out a test issue," she said.

The cover featured a picture of the Hindu goddess Kali, pregnant and using all eight of her arms to juggle a surfeit of chores – cooking, cleaning, typing, driving – and one arm holding a hand mirror to signify the pressure to look good while doing it all. The accompanying article "Click: The Housewife's Moment of Truth" by co-founder Jane O'Reilly detailed the moment of clarity that comes to women when they recognise biases within society.

It also featured a groundbreaking "We Have Had Abortions" petition which listed more than 50 prominent women, including Nora Ephron, Billie Jean King, Susan Sontag and Gloria Steinem herself, who signed their name to a public manifesto demanding the legalisation of abortion.

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That issue, with a print run of 300,000 copies, was dated "Spring 1972" so it would be able to stay on newsstands for months without looking out of date. It sold out in just eight days, generating 26,000 subscription orders.

"And that was put out nationwide, and it was enormously successful – and that in turn enabled us to raise money for the total magazine," said Steinem.

In 1972, Ms started regular circulation as a stand-alone magazine, the first in the US to be owned, run and written by women. Steinem would remain an editor and writer on it for the next 15 years.

Pivotal role

In the years that followed, Ms Magazine would play a pivotal role in bringing feminism into public discourse. Known for its bold covers, many of which featured Wonder Woman, a childhood hero of Steinem, it covered the myriad of issues that affected women's lives.

It featured the works of writers like Alice Walker, Doris Lessing, Maya Angelou and Angela Davis, providing a platform for women to share their experiences and opinions, and challenging narrowly defined expectations of how women should look, feel and act.

Its journalism would regularly tackle head-on subjects that were often ignored by other publications or seen as taboo by wider society – domestic violence, workplace discrimination, lesbianism, date rape and abortion.

The writing, frequently told with humour and from a personal perspective, reflected the diverse interests and concerns of women, fostering a sense of solidarity with readers across the country and prompting thousands of letters to flood in.

"The biggest testimony is the letters," Steinem told the BBC. "We get thousands of letters every week. Many more letters than big magazines like McCall's or the Ladies' Home Journal get. I marked a couple that seem kind of typical to me: 'I bought Ms and it was like an explosion. Suddenly I came fully to my senses. It was an awakening of the person within me. I finally realised there was not something wrong with me. I wasn't the only one who felt the way I did, that there is an answer.' And here's another one: 'My daughter, a junior in medical school, introduced me to Ms. It is difficult to express the sense of exhilaration upon finding in print the ideas that have been smouldering in my semi-rebellious soul for some 40 years. It is comforting to know I am not alone.'"

The magazine would however also face criticism. Conservative commentators railed against it, saying that it attacked "family values", while some feminists thought that it was too cautious or that it represented a perspective that was too white, college-educated and urban. In 1986, the author Alice Walker resigned as a Ms contributing editor, citing the magazine's lack of diversity.

And despite its cultural influence, Ms Magazine struggled financially. Throughout the 1980s the magazine's economic stability was continually threatened. Along with an economic downturn, its refusal to shape editorial content around advertisers' needs and its frequent critiques of misogynistic adverts also meant it was a challenge to secure advertising dollars. But it has persevered through various ownership changes over the years, and since 2001 it has been owned by the non-profit Feminist Majority Foundation. It is now published quarterly.

While Ms Magazine may not have the reach or impact it once did, it has made an enduring contribution to the feminist movement, influencing public discourse and inspiring activism.

Steinem and its other writers' commitment to exploring women's lives and amplifying their voices in a way that mainstream media at the time could not, or would not, helped to shape the landscape and language of women's rights in the US.

"We don't feel we are editing a magazine for a peculiar few. We feel we are editing it for women in all their diversity," said Steinem.

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'Locked to the Sun and Moon': The startling 1960s theory that Stonehenge was a prehistoric computer

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20260828-the-startling-1960s-theory-that-stonehenge-was-a-prehistoric-computer, 14 days ago

In August 1966, a US astronomy professor shared his astonishing findings with the BBC. He believed that the Neolithic stone circle was built to predict eclipses.

Experts have long debated the meaning of Stonehenge, the prehistoric stone circle in the south-west of England. They have speculated that the mysterious monument might have been a place to commemorate the dead, a sacrificial altar, or a site of other religious ceremonies. But in August 1966, a Boston astronomy professor, Gerald Hawkins, told the BBC's Chronicle programme that he'd solved the puzzle thanks to a peculiar configuration of numbers – and an early IBM computer.

Hawkins' theory formed the basis of his popular and influential 1965 book Stonehenge Decoded. The British-born scientist suggested to the BBC that alignments of the huge slabs and archways meant that "circles at Stonehenge could have been used as a computer to follow the Moon, and predict eclipses". Eclipses, such as those witnessed around the world this month, could have been accurately foretold by ancient Britons – more than 4,500 years ago.

In the BBC footage, Hawkins gestured to an exact scale model of Stonehenge, showing how in the biggest circle, marking the circumference of the site, there are 56 holes. "Fifty-six was the only number that would fit a certain pattern of the Moon," he claimed, suggesting that the holes "make a simple counting device for predicting eclipses".

The meaning for those who built Stonehenge was, he believed, significant. "Eclipses are spectacular events that surely aroused the deepest emotions of our primitive ancestors," said Hawkins. "The light of the Moon, which is, of course, borrowed from the Sun, is cut off. It passes into the Earth's shadow. The Moon turns from silvery white to red. The ancients regarded it as blood red and attributed ominous meanings to it."

Stonehenge Decoded had "the surprising effect of silencing speculation for several decades", said a 2007 article in the British magazine Current Archaeology.

An astronomical observatory

According to Hawkins, it was "the first theory concerning the purpose of Stonehenge that has been academically accepted and published in the scientific journals". Although the connection between the site and summer solstice had been recognised since the 18th Century, the professor took the idea further, proposing that what had been seen as a temple of Sun-worship could have been a sophisticated "astronomical observatory".

In 1961, he had visited Stonehenge to try and understand "how the monument was supposed to mark the sunrise". As he told the BBC five years later, "I looked around in the dawn light at Stonehenge… between the great stone archways. I felt that my view was controlled, confined. The archways seemed to force me to look at certain points on the horizon. What was I supposed to see?"

Struck by the way ancient architects had framed his sightline, Hawkins returned to the US with charts of the site, plotting the positions of its centre point and each stone, archway, hole and mound.

Attempting to determine "exactly what would have been seen at the time of Stonehenge… would be long and tedious and had probably deterred others before me", Hawkins told the BBC. "Fortunately, I had the use of a calculating machine, the electronic computer."

At the Harvard-Smithsonian Observatory in Massachusetts, Hawkins and his team instructed the computer to calculate what would have been seen along each alignment at the time Stonehenge was built. He used the calculations as the basis for Stonehenge Decoded.

As the BBC presenter said in 1966, "The computer yielded some tantalising results." Many of the Stonehenge alignments seemed to point to positions of the rising and setting Sun and Moon. According to Hawkins, "Stonehenge was locked to the Sun and Moon as tightly as the tides. It was an astronomical observatory. And a good one, too."

While the marking of solar positions at midwinter and the equinoxes was "natural to expect", he told the BBC, "the Moon at Stonehenge was a surprise. The Moon is a very difficult thing to observe because it changes its position so much more complicatedly than the Sun."

Critics of the theory

Hawkins concluded that the purpose of Stonehenge was clear. "There can be no argument about whether it was a temple or an observatory. It was both, because the Sun and Moon were gods in those days."

If this were true, Stonehenge was "a device that priest-rulers could have used to enhance their power", argued a 1965 article in Time magazine. "On the day or night that their stone computer predicted an eclipse, they might well have summoned their subjects to Salisbury Plain to observe a spectacle that terrorised most ancient peoples. When the eclipse started, the priests probably intoned the prayers that enabled the Sun or Moon to escape the blackness."

Even at the time, there were critics of his theory, with some pointing out that three of the 56 holes intrinsic to it might have simply been caused by the former growth of trees. As the British archaeologist Richard Atkinson wrote in the New York Review of Books in 1966, "That the layout of Stonehenge has some astronomical significance is not in doubt… The interpretation of that alignment, however, and of any other astronomical characteristics of the monument, requires the exercise of scholarly caution."

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And new investigations since the 1960s have discredited Hawkins' ideas. "It's a dead theory today, in the dustbin filled with so many discounted theories about Stonehenge," says Prof Michael Parker Pearson, who led a landmark study transforming modern understanding of the monument. The eclipse computer was, he says, "a trendy metaphor for the time… but now wildly inappropriate for understanding Stonehenge".

While Hawkins thought the construction of the monument was a more integrated assembly, "we now know that Stonehenge was built in a very different, multi-stage sequence over a period of more than 1,500 years," Parker Pearson, a professor at University College of London's Institute of Archaeology, tells the BBC. "We also know that the solstice lunar standstill orientations are not actually precise – they were to within one or two degrees only – so it was never an instrument for measuring time, but rather a monument celebrating particular solar and lunar movements.

"We do have evidence from as far back as 1000BC in Britain that people tracked and probably predicted lunar eclipses," adds Parker Pearson, "but that's 1,500-2,000 years after Stonehenge's heyday."

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'Nepo baby is a horrific term,' says Zeta-Jones

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwyz5yvye90o, today

Hollywood star Catherine Zeta-Jones has declared the phrase "nepo baby" is "horrific", saying: "These kids didn't ask to be born into this."

The term refers to children of famous parents perceived to have achieved riches and success off their parents' backs.

The 56-year-old actress, married to Kirk Douglas' son Michael Douglas, has two children - Dylan and Carys - who have both followed their parents into showbiz.

Dylan, she said, was pursuing acting while Carys was interested in directing. She told The Sunday Times they were "plugging away".

"You have to go with your dreams, your passion," Zeta-Jones said.

"It's hard for them to forge a way forward on their own.

"This horrific phrase 'nepo baby' is horrible because these kids didn't ask to be born into this, they're finding their own way in life.

"But they love it, and they're good.

"Otherwise, Michael and I would be the first to go, 'you know what? Maybe law school looks really good'."

Zeta-Jones' big break came when she landed a West End role in 42nd Street in 1987, becoming a household name in the UK in 1991 when she starred in ITV hit The Darling Buds Of May with Only Fools and Horses legend David Jason.

She has since become a global superstar, with roles in The Mask Of Zorro, Entrapment, Traffic and 2002's adaptation of Chicago.

"I had a sniff of the joy of being in the theatre so young," she said.

"I went, 'I want to do this. I can't imagine going through school and A-Levels in Swansea.'"

Zeta-Jones met Romancing The Stone star Douglas, 81, at France's Deauville Film Festival, in August 1998.

With a 25-year age gap between them, they were engaged a year later, marrying at The Plaza hotel in New York in 2000.

Dylan was born in 2000 and Carys in 2003.

In pictures: Thousands flock to Radio 2 in the Park in Stirling

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c23x1j420keo, today

Thousands of music fans have been partying at Radio 2 in the Park with Stirling Castle as the backdrop.

A DJ kicked things off on Friday night with the crowd dancing along to classic singalong anthems and crowd-pleasing favourites, with presenters Sara Cox, Gary Davies, DJ Spoony, Michelle Visage and Rylan.

On Saturday, acts included Chaka Khan, Lulu, Texas, Emile Sande, Jack Savorreti, ABC, The Script and Alexandra Burke.

Simple Minds are headlining on Sunday with other acts performing including Deacon Blue, Level 42, Blue, Cast, James Blunt and Appleton.

Ashford Odeon restoration plans revealed

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czjzplz4xezo, today

New designs have revealed how Ashford's former Odeon cinema could look once it has been restored.

The cinema was built in 1936 but has been empty since 2018, last being used by Mecca Bingo. Now, Ashford Borough Council says plans to bring it back to life are one step closer.

Those plans include a new performance space, a cafe/bar with an "informal workspace", and a gallery. The building's ballroom will also be restored and would be available for hire.

The public can view the plans at a consultation event on 18 September, between 10:00 and 16:00 BST, at County Square shopping centre.

A spokesperson for the council said: "The project responds to the community's strong call for more arts, cultural and performance space in Ashford town centre."

The authority said the new designs were developed based on feedback from the community and "local cultural partners".

Changes on the initial plans, it said, included increased capacity for the studio theatre, an improved backstage area and a more accessible High Street entrance and box office.

A planning application will be submitted after the public consultation event.

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The author unearthing the past in his local graveyards

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy4zdq72e57o, today

When looking for a way to brighten up your day, not many would head for the graveyard.

For Wigtown bookshop owner and author Bre Martin, however, there is no better place to spend your time.

He has made it his mission to record the names, inscriptions and epitaphs on the headstones of Galloway before they crumble into dust, as well as researching the stories of the people buried underneath.

Martin insists his hobby - the subject of his new book - is not as morbid as some might imagine.

He runs New Chapter Books in Scotland's national book town, Wigtown, but loves nothing more than going out to visit a nearby burial ground.

It has unearthed - not literally, thankfully - an incredible cast of characters and stories worthy of any work of fiction.

Among the people whose life stories he has revived is that of Allan McGowan, buried in Kirkinner's old kirkyard, who started his naval career on board ships chasing down privateers in the Caribbean.

Martin said it was the kind of tale that had fascinated him for years.

"When I was child, there was a stone in Whithorn's old kirkyard that caught my eye," he said.

"It was of a mariner by the name of William Broadfoot, but it wasn't the inscription on the front that made it interesting but rather what appears on the back: 'If you think I'm forgot, you're mistaken'.

"I love the fact that this was included, and that this inscription, though worn and weathered, still points a defiant finger at the passerby after all this time."

Originally, Martin simply intended to record and investigate the stones in Wigtown's kirkyard.

However, as time went on and the stories he unearthed became more fascinating, he branched out into the neighbouring kirkyards to see what else was waiting to be discovered.

'Place of death'

Once he has a name and inscription the real detective work begins.

Recovering the details of people who have sometimes been dead for centuries can involve hours of painstaking research, poring over old records, books and newspapers.

Over the years his research attracted growing interest and he was invited to do talks about what he had uncovered.

This led to the suggestion of the book, which is published by Jayne Baldwin of Foggie Toddle Books, also based in Wigtown.

Far from being a morbid activity, Martin said his hobby was full of pleasure.

"I can't think of anything better than wandering round Galloway's old kirkyards," he said.

"They shouldn't be seen as a place of death.

"A stroll around an old kirkyard surrounded by nature, history, and peace, can do more for your heart and soul than you may think."

He also believes people in years gone by were, in some ways, much better at commemorating their dead.

He said: "We've learned a lot from the 17th,18th and 19th Century headstones which tended to be made of sandstone which weathers badly, but now we have rows of impersonal granite.

"We've lost the individualism of the headstones in old kirkyards where no two were the same."

So, as an expert in the subject, what would he like when his own time comes?

"I'd probably go for something that defies council regulations - and requires air traffic to be warned when flying close to it," he said.

He will discuss his new book, Kirkyard Chronicles, and his work as a "graveyard sleuth" at Wigtown Book Festival which begins on 25 September and runs until 4 October this year.

'Illustrating Brideshead Revisited was a privilege'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyr9xx4rx0o, today

"People told me they wanted to read the book after seeing my illustrations."

It took Oxford-based artist Weimin He nearly a year to create his "deeply immersive", yet "challenging" project - the first illustrations for a Chinese edition of Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited, published in August.

Having lived in the city for more than 20 years, he said it was "a privilege" to have depicted local places featured in the novel and to have researched what they were like in the 1920s and 1930s.

He said he had read the book "countless" times both in English and Chinese but had also tried to draw "from the author's perspective".

The first part of the novel follows the Oxford student life of Charles Ryder and the friendship he starts with the eccentric undergraduate Lord Sebastian Flyte.

Many Oxfordshire places are featured such as The Botanic Garden, Christ Church college and Thame.

The book was published by Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House in a limited edition of 500 copies, for which He created 12 charcoal drawings, 12 pen-and-ink drawings and one drawing of Aloysius, Lord Sebastian's teddy bear.

"I tried to do illustrations from the author's perspective, not just from me - I try to understand what the author won't show to readers ... and also capture the atmosphere of nearly 100 years ago."

Other sources of his inspiration were the "fantastic" 1981 TV series and the 2008 film of the same name.

The artist said he had spent most time on a bird's-eye view scene of Charles and Sebastian having a picnic.

He said to him all characters were "quite distinctive" but he liked the relationships between them the most.

"Because I live in Oxford, sometimes I meet eccentric people - [Evelyn Waugh] really depicts people so, so well."

He said the translator Zheng Haiyao, who uses the pen name Kaiti, had initially highlighted about 50 paragraphs for him.

He also chose a moment from the epilogue, when an older Charles Ryder converts to Catholicism.

"That part really touched me, I thought that description [is] the soul of the book," He said.

"It took me a long time to find the right image because the TV series just showed Charles praying and I thought that's something a bit too obvious."

He, who became an artist-in-residence at Green Templeton College in 2018, said he knew the city "very well", as he had "never lived in any other place for so long, even in China".

"The very route I cycle daily into town was the same road Charles and Sebastian drove in their vintage car to the countryside."

He said he would not depict the "really familiar" places mentioned in the book such as the Botley Road, High Street and Broad Street.

"I feel it's something really already inside of me, but for Chinese readers, maybe there's something new."

The artist said he had searched for "vast numbers" of images from the 1920s and 1930s online, hoping to "get as close as possible to the Oxford of that era".

"The translation [is] just excellent and is being welcomed in China."

One comment on his Instagram post reads "Seeing your illustrations makes me feel like reading this book".

"And this really is the best comment I've ever received," He said.

'I sell crime novels - now I'm a character in one'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd94yqkjgp0o, today

As the owner of a bookshop specialising in "whodunnits", Isla Coole is no stranger to the world of crime fiction.

Now, she is at the heart of a murder mystery story herself after she won a competition to have a character named after her in the latest book by bestselling author Janice Hallett, The Silent Appeal.

The 46-year-old opened her York shop, Criminally Good Books, on Colliergate in 2024.

"People have been excitedly waiting for this book, so I'm super chuffed to be in it," says Isla.

The opportunity came about when Isla attended the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate, where Hallett was a guest.

"There was a competition to get your name, or a loved one's name, featured in a future book of Janice's - where you had to guess how many boiled sweets are in this massive jar," says Isla.

"I know a lot about sweets and I guessed the closest and got a lovely message about a month later saying congratulations you've won, and we'll be in touch with you to let you know what book you'll be in."

In Hallett's previous book, The Appeal, readers followed two paralegals called Femi and Charlotte, who were tasked by their boss to go through the correspondence of an amateur dramatics society to try and figure out why their client confessed to a murder that they didn't commit.

The reader does not know who their client is until close to the end - or what it is they are supposed to have done.

The Silent Appeal revisits the group as they prepare to stage another production.

Megan Ponting, 37, who works for Criminally Good Books, says Isla's character is "quite significant to the plot".

"You always kind of hope that you would have a big role and so I was just really excited when I found out," adds Isla.

'Not traditional novels'

Hallett was originally a screenwriter, but began writing crime novels following a suggestion from her agent.

She now has an army of fans who love her unusual style.

"The books are not written like traditional novels, and you have to almost solve the puzzle along with the cast of characters," says Isla.

"It's really interesting, and an unusual way of writing and reading a book, because you're reading emails, text messages and posters - and even post-it notes."

Hallett, who will promote the book at Isla's shop on Wednesday, reveals Isla gave her free rein to get creative with her character.

"I was writing The Silent Appeal and asked Isla if she had any objection to being a 'bad' character, because I never know when I create a character whether they will end up committing a terrible crime or even being murdered themselves.

"The Isla Coole in The Silent Appeal is a Canadian stand-up comedian with a vital piece of the murder mystery puzzle."

Addressing her upcoming event, she adds: "It's the first time one of my characters has booked me for a public appearance!"

'Amateur detective'

Isla believes the ongoing appeal of what is known as the "cosy crime" genre has played a big part in the success of her shop, which Hallett said was "famous" within the crime writers' community.

"People just love putting themselves in the position of the amateur detective to see if they can solve the mystery," she says.

"Some people like to be scared, some people like to solve a puzzle, some people like to learn about another place and time.

"For a lot of people, it's kind of an escape, but without being too out there."

There has also been a rise in interest in the horror genre, and Isla is currently refurbishing what will be her second store in the city centre, which opens in October.

"This one hopefully will be really successful. We announced that we were doing this like two weeks ago and we've had over 75,000 people just view the post saying we're opening up another shop.

"We're really grateful, and hopefully that's a good indication of how interested people are in specialist bookshops."

Listen to highlights from North Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.

Cartoons to knitting: Half a century of gentle protest goes on show

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjdvy9y3zmpo, today

Equal rights have been fought for in many different ways across the world, and sometimes those battles against discrimination have taken a quiet, subtle form.

An exhibition about how cartoons and textiles have been used for gentle protest has opened at Norwich Castle Museum.

Cartoonist David Shenton has been drawing since the 1970s and his work is featured in exhibition Kindly Ease The Tension, which focuses mainly on LGBTQ+ issues, looking at events that have shaped his life.

The 77-year-old said he had been called a 'craftivist', which is a mix of activism and crafts, but insisted he "didn't set out to be that".

He made a piece called Duvet of Love as a memorial to friends lost during the Aids crisis after moving to London and feeling "so miserable".

It features hundreds of badges, which make up the mosaic portrait of two men embracing.

"I pinned my badges on my duvet as a kind of a comfort thing," he explained.

Other topics to have inspired him over the years include the former Section 28 law, marrying his partner and attending Norwich Pride events.

One of Shenton's pieces featured in the display is a hand-knitted banner celebrating Justin Fashanu's goal in Norwich City's match against Liverpool in 1980. Fashanu was the first openly gay professional footballer.

He went on to make a 20m (66ft) banner, which he said followed a request from Norwich City fans. He then held up the piece during the Norwich v Liverpool match in 2020, 40 years on from the famous goal.

Shenton has worked for publications such as Capital Gay and The Guardian, is a patron of Norwich Pride and runs a Men's Knitting Club in the city.

As a cartoonist, he wanted the exhibition to be funny but added: "This history shows it's been hard work, you've had to fight every step.

"Because people are standing up for their rights, they don't want to be better, they just want to be equal, part of the community... that's all I'm fighting for".

The exhibition runs until January 2027.

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Mercury fringe shows to spotlight upcoming artists

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgyqlln8z4o, yesterday

Dozens of fringe events in the run-up to the Mercury Prize's second year in Newcastle will showcase upcoming musicians, organisers say.

The city will see live performances, listening parties, screenings, workshops and talks from 15 to 22 October, featuring artists from across north-east England.

A live edition of BBC Introducing will come from The Glasshouse International Centre for Music, headlined by Sunderland's Tom A. Smith.

Presenter Neave Farry, from Ferryhill, is curating and hosting a free acoustic event at the Grainger Market and said the "rest of England is waking up to the beautiful scene that we've got in the North East".

The prestigious music industry awards will return to Newcastle's Utilita Arena on 22 October, having never previously been held outside of London before 2025.

Sam Fender won the accolade and £25,000 prize last year in front of his home crowd.

Olivia Dean and Sir Paul McCartney's albums are among those nominated this year, in recognition of artistic achievement.

Grainger Market unplugged on 17 October will see acoustic sets from emerging artists throughout the day.

Farry said a recent refurbishment of the market to add a performance space "looks and sounds fantastic".

Polyvinyl are one of the bands performing and drummer Jamie Round said a "North East crowd is the best crowd you're going to get".

"You'll play the gig and everyone will be so supportive but then at the end you'll have people coming and talking to you, having a proper conversation," he said.

"It's different, you don't get that anywhere else."

Round said: "Not only is it a free event but it's also showcasing local art.

"And it's so valuable, especially right now when it's such a struggle for local arts to even be supported."

The fringe events are funded by Newcastle City Council and the BPI, which organises the Mercury Prize, and organised by Generator.

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Museum welcomes 50,000 visitors in its first month

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3rejpzevzzo, yesterday

Hull Maritime Museum has said the newly restored attraction had 50,000 visitors in its first month.

The museum reopened following a £20m renovation on 8 August.

The museum said there was strong public interest and visitors had travelled from across the region and beyond to see the exhibitions, which celebrate Hull's seafaring past.

Mike Ross, leader of Hull City Council, said the turnout was a "fantastic achievement".

Hull Maritime Museum is a Grade II*-listed landmark dating back to 1871.

The building is the former Dock Offices on Queen Victoria Square, and ships once sailed directly past its doors. It first opened as a museum in 1975.

Following the revamp, the museum said 50% more objects had gone on display, including some from one of Hull's whaling vessels.

The museum said it had already achieved a quarter of its annual target for visitor numbers.

"To welcome more than 50,000 visitors in the museum's first month is a fantastic achievement and demonstrates just how important Hull Maritime Museum is to our city and its communities," Ross said.

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Culture House opens with library and arts space

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgy4lgng3do, yesterday

A culture hub replacing a city's library and gallery spaces has opened, months after it was supposed to and millions of pounds over budget.

Culture House Sunderland, near Keel Square in the city centre, is a multi-purpose venue featuring a library, exhibition and events spaces, bar and podcast studio.

Director Leanne Littlewood said "there's something for absolutely everybody across all of our spaces".

Originally billed to open in autumn 2025 at a cost of £27m, it is understood the final bill was closer to £40m because of increasing construction costs.

Its doors opened on Saturday at 10:00 BST.

Littlewood said: "People can wander around, they can sit down and enjoy the space, they can take part in an activity that's happening on one of the many floors that we have."

The main atrium features moving screens for exhibitions and there is a green screen and cinema space, as well as a 360 degree immersion gallery.

"All of those spaces are centred around telling stories or creating connections or providing opportunities to the communities of Sunderland," Littlewood said.

The venue replaces Sunderland City Library, which has been closed since December, and will house the Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art - previously held in the now-closed The National Glass Centre.

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Grammy-winning US rapper Lil Durk acquitted in murder-for-hire trial

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1kx0jje18wo, yesterday

Grammy-winning rapper Lil Durk was acquitted on Friday of all charges in a federal murder-for-hire case accusing him of orchestrating the revenge killing of a man shot dead in a daytime ambush in Los Angeles four years ago.

The Chicago rapper was arrested in 2024 and accused of involvement in a shooting that killed the cousin of rival rapper Quando Rondo.

Defence lawyer Drew Findling said the recording artist, whose real name is Durk Devontay Banks, was "thankful" following the verdict.

Lil Durk has had seven albums in the US Billboard chart's top five since 2019 and has also collaborated with stars including Drake and J Cole on hit singles.

Supporters cheered outside a Los Angeles courthouse after the verdict, which came following three days of jury deliberations.

The 33-year-old faced five felony counts, including murder for hire resulting in death and conspiracy. If convicted, he could have faced a life sentence.

Although Banks was found not guilty of the charges in the case, he remains in custody and faces a separate trial on 5 October, where he will face racketeering murder and firearms charges.

"While we are disappointed with the jury's decision regarding Durk Banks, a.k.a. 'Lil Durk,' we look forward to presenting our evidence at his second trial", First Assistant US Attorney Bill Essayli said in a statement.

In the three-week trial, two co-defendants were tried alongside Banks. Deandre "OTF Dede" Wilson and David "Browneyez" Lindsey were convicted of stalking and conspiracy to commit stalking, but acquitted of murder-for-hire charges, the BBC's US partner CBS News reports.

The trial relied on three co-operating witnesses, Kavon "OTF Vonnie" Grant, Keith "Flacka" Jones and Kacey "OTF Jam" Hester, who reached plea deals and testified against Banks, Wilson and Lindsey.

It stemmed from a fatal shooting in August 2022 at a petrol station in Los Angeles, where a car carrying Rondo, whose real name is Tyquian Bowman, was shot at. Bowman was unharmed, but his cousin Saviay'a Robinson, who was also in the car, was killed.

Federal prosecutors accused Banks of plotting to kill Bowman, in retaliation for the earlier murder of Chicago OTF rapper King Von, who was signed to OTF. Von was killed in 2020 during an early-morning exchange of gunfire in Atlanta.

A friend of Bowman was charged with King Von's murder, but the charges were later dropped. Bowman was not arrested or charged.

Authorities said Banks made it known that he would "pay a bounty" to anyone who killed Bowman. Prosecutors argued that Banks felt pressure on social media to avenge Von's death.

Banks founded OTF in 2010. He won the 2024 Grammy Award for Best Melodic Rap Performance for his single "All My Life" featuring J Cole. He has also been nominated for a Grammy three other times.

Why museum's last mummy has been taken off display

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd683egldv9o, yesterday

The mummified body of an ancient Egyptian woman has been removed from a museum exhibition after more than 200 years on display as part of efforts to respect "the wishes of the dead", curators have said.

Layers of linen were carefully peeled away from the 2,700-year-old remains of the woman named Asru when she was first taken out of her wooden coffin and put on public display in Manchester in 1825.

Centuries later, her remains have been placed in storage in a decision that "aligns most closely with what we understand about her own wishes", a Manchester Museum spokesman said.

"Elite Egyptians of her time expected that their mummified bodies would remain wrapped in their coffins, invisible to the living," he added.

Asru's mummified body had been on display in the Oxford Road museum's Egypt and Sudan Gallery before it was moved into storage earlier this month.

She was mummified in a series of rituals used by ancient Egyptians to preserve the body after death in preparation for the afterlife.

Her remains and coffins were dug up in modern Luxor, the site of the ancient city of Thebes, before they ended up in the ownership of Manchester traders William and Robert Garnett in the early 1800s.

The body was donated to the Manchester Natural History Society in 1825 and placed on display for the next two centuries.

The museum spokesman said removing the display "reflects changes in how we think about our responsibility towards ancestors, museum collections and the communities they represent".

He said: "Before making this change, we consulted with Egyptian colleagues, members of the Egyptian diaspora and visitors to the museum, helping us to understand people's feelings about care for mummified people.

"However, the decision to remove Asru from display aligns most closely with what we understand about her own wishes," the spokesperson said.

Asru's final resting place has not yet been decided, with the museum now considering whether to keep her coffin and body in storage or return it to Egypt.

'Real people'

While many museums continue to display mummified remains as part of their interpretation of ancient history, the practice has become the subject of ethical debate in recent years.

A 2025 report by British parliamentarians, the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Afrikan Reparations, called for an end to the public display of Egyptian mummies and other human remains.

In the report, the APPG said the practice was non-consensual and a "disregard of the potential wishes of the ancestors and the intention of the communities that originally laid them to rest".

"The presence and public display of Egyptian mummified persons in UK institutions further reveal the extent of museums' participation in colonial regimes of exploitation," the report said.

Egyptologist Dr Angela Stienne led a debate on the matter at Derby Museums in 2025 - exploring the topic "without judgement".

She argued that people "disassociate" mummies from actual people - partly down to popular culture and fictional depictions of mummies.

Following her visit, Tony Butler, executive director at Derby Museums, told BBC Derby, "These are real people, you put them in a museum and you disassociate them from the culture that they lived."

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'I'm working on launching a Midlands Fashion Week'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgyv0dgnv2o, yesterday

As he geared up for his third New York Fashion Week, Jashaan Gill admitted he still felt the pressure, despite being in the industry for more than a decade.

"The hustle is real. Even now, 12 or 13 years into the journey, it's very much still about having to prove yourself," he said.

That journey started in 2014 when the self-taught artist from Oldbury, Sandwell, launched his clothing brand Jheez, shortly after he was rejected from studying textiles.

He went on to become the first ever British Punjabi designer to be featured at New York Fashion Week, and his work has also been showcased in Paris, Los Angeles and London.

For this year's New York event, which kicked off on Thursday, Gill created a collection based on the theme of self-belief.

The outfits were very "flashy", he told BBC Radio WM, and were full of crystals and rhinestones, perfect for those who dared to be the "main attraction in the room".

Gill said: "I wanted to express myself in a different way, so the collection really takes inspiration from not losing your spark and not changing your character to fit in."

The showcases always presented opportunities, he added, as you never knew who was going to be watching.

"That's how some of my other projects have come along," he explained.

"They see how successful I am at fashion week and how I haven't crumbled under that immense amount of pressure."

Throughout his meteoric rise, Gill has never been shy about being a "boy from Oldbury".

He said West Midlands' diversity should be celebrated, adding: "It's shaped me as an individual because I'm able to take on different opinions that can form my judgement.

"It's the best thing to have different people and different ways of life, living all together to have a positive outcome."

Despite his love for his home, Gill said the region did not really have a fashion sector and he has been tempted to move to somewhere like London or the United States.

"I want to build my platform here but I also don't want to limit my career at the same time," he added.

'Massive rollercoaster'

However, Gill said he wanted to build a creative "ecosystem" in the region as part of his work to give back to the community.

He said he was working on launching a Midlands Fashion Week but wanted the wider project to involve more creative industries, like music.

"At the moment, I'm coming home to try and introduce everyone to the fashion industry," he added.

"We are ready, it's just that no-one has taken that step so I feel like I should take that step."

It is a "massive" ambition, Gill added, but he was determined to see it come to fruition.

"My career has been a massive rollercoaster, so why not add another chapter to that story."

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'The tactics of a master mischief-maker': The hidden history of a controversial $6m banana

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20260903-the-hidden-history-of-the-controversial-six-million-dollar-banana, 10 days ago

By sticking a banana to a wall with silver duct tape and calling it art, Maurizio Cattelan created one of the greatest cultural controversies of recent times. But the story behind Comedian reveals centuries of notoriety and shock tactics in art.

Leonardo DiCaprio, Michael Bay and Travis Scott were among the celebrities at the VIP opening of Art Basel Miami Beach on 4 December 2019, the day that Comedian made its first appearance.

Big price tags surrounded everyone at the glamorous art fair that morning. A Helen Frankenthaler painting was sold for around $1.65m ($2.16m or £2.14m today), and a Willem de Kooning was available to anyone with a spare $8m ($10.5m or £7.8m today). But for Sarah Cascone, a reporter for Artnet News, the key attraction was Maurizio Cattelan's latest artwork: a banana stuck to the wall with duct tape.

Later in the day, Cascone wrote the first substantial news story on it, informing readers that two editions of the fruit-based artwork had sold for $120,000 each. Within a few days the third and final edition was bought for $150,000. Each buyer received a certificate of authenticity and instructions on how to display it, including the need to replace the banana regularly.

Throughout the duration of Art Basel Miami Beach, hundreds of other visitors photographed the artwork and posted their reactions online. Within just a few days of its unveiling, Comedian had become a viral sensation, attracting scorn, amazement, laughter and a new subcategory of copycat meme involving duct tape and bananas. In the mainstream press, as well as blogs and YouTube videos, people battled over its aesthetic and intellectual value: those who most hated Comedian loved writing about it the most.

If it was Cattelan's intention to attract attention to himself, Comedian was a blistering success. Few other works of contemporary art have done what Comedian achieved in just a few hours: gaining fame beyond the art world citadel and becoming globally recognisable. Its renown helped bump up its market value even more. In 2024, the second of the three editions of Comedian was resold at auction for $6.24m (£4.88m). This once again triggered opinion writers, who raged at the wasteful sums of money now being thrown at Cattelan's artwork.

Yet the irony about Comedian is that everything that shocked people about it had been done before. And when you unpeel the artwork, it reveals the hidden tactics of a master mischief-maker and a dedicated student of the dark arts of notoriety.

A 400-year-old tradition of satire

One of his strategies is provocation. Cattelan clearly realised long ago that in the competitive creative industries, just being skilled or intelligent doesn't guarantee success. But sparking controversy attracts attention, which means a bigger audience and more potential commissions.

Art history proves the point. More than 400 years ago, Caravaggio split the opinions of his contemporaries with the groundbreaking levels of violence, sexual tension and darkness of his religious paintings, factors that brought him to international prominence. The artists of the 19th Century who are nowadays most valorised, such as JMW Turner, John Constable, Manet, Monet, Gauguin, Whistler and Cézanne, had pioneered new approaches to art-making, which reaped public ridicule from critics. As a result, by the dawn of the 20th Century, artistic innovation and mainstream scorn were increasingly seen as two sides of the same coin.

Some modern artists (as well as musicians, authors and film directors) saw popular disapproval as the necessary partner of authentic experimentation. Others mistook critical unpopularity as a hallmark of genius, not realising it can also be the red flag of talentlessness. Both recognised its unsurpassed power for self-promotion. And learning from this, Maurizio Cattelan has always leaned heavily into his role as art-world provocateur, doing what he can to irritate and provoke.

But Cattelan's brand of controversy is different to his forebears because it isn't about artistic process or theory. His most notorious artworks, like 1999's La Nona Ora (a figure of Pope John Paul II struck by a meteorite) and Him from 2001 (a praying schoolboy with the face of Adolf Hitler) are based on internationally familiar subjects, the kind of things that people who don't usually frequent art exhibitions will recognise instantly.

There's nothing elitist or difficult to understand about either of them. They leverage humour as well, using irony to "punch upwards", and ask questions about powerful individuals with humour. And in doing so, Cattelan follows in an art historical tradition of satire, following pioneers like James Gillray (1756-1815) and Honoré Daumier (1808-1878), both of whom targeted universally identifiable institutions to question and lampoon their power.

In A Perfect Day (1999), the institution in Cattelan's crosshairs was the art market itself. In lieu of placing an artwork on the wall, Cattelan instead stuck his Milan art dealer, Massimo De Carlo to it with duct tape. The seller became the spectacle. Comedian, which was unveiled almost exactly 20 years later, used identical silver tape. This choice signalled to anyone who had followed his career that like A Perfect Day, Comedian's aim was to mock the values of art-world events like Art Basel Miami Beach, in the spirit of a standup comic making a snarky, industry-targeted one-liner.

'The shock of the old'

So, why a banana? As well as having a euphemistic shape, and being a familiar prop in slapstick comedy, many artists before Cattelan, including Giorgio de Chirico, Andy Warhol and Guerrilla Girls have depicted bananas in their work. It's a disarmingly familiar object, on many levels. And the very notion of depicting a foodstuff as a work of art is in itself also a comforting proposition. It has its own venerable history in the form of the still life, which has been an established, if lowly, genre of art since the 1500s.

Traditionally, these types of artworks, like Jacopo de' Barbari's Still-Life with Partridge and Gauntlets (1501) (which is among the earliest post-Classical still-life paintings) were supposed to make viewers think about the brief life span of natural life, and how art can make it endure beyond death. De' Barbari's and Cattelan's artworks, although made more than 500 years apart, reveal two essentially identical gestures: objects stuck on a wall for a viewer's contemplation. Cattelan's tactic here is the shock of the old.

The only difference is that Comedian displays an actual banana (which can and does rot over the course of around seven days) rather than an artistic representation. But here again, tradition preceded Cattelan. The idea of using a "readymade" (objects from the real world, not crafted by an artist, but platformed as "art") was more than 100 years old by the time of Comedian.

More like this:

• Why there is more to Banksy than meets the eye

• The brutal truth revealed by the Bayeux Tapestry

• The pain and passion in a Frida Kahlo masterpiece

The most renowned pioneer of this method was Marcel Duchamp, who had displayed everyday objects like bottle racks, bicycle wheels and a urinal as art objects back in 1910s. But even Duchamp's aim to question the fundamental principles of "art" as a category – radical though his presentation of the argument was in the early 20th Century – was also a well-trodden debate, originating in ancient Greek philosophy, most famously by Plato (c 428–347 BC). If anything, resorting to a readymade is a rather quaint gesture from Cattelan, and well within the guardrails of art historical tradition.

Comedian was always calculated to cause a stir. By the age of 61, wily Maurizio had become a fully adept provocateur who could generate debate and astonishment from a banana, a wall and a duct tape. But beneath the surface are other essential ingredients – controversy, satire, recognisability factor, the still-life tradition and the "readymade". And while some people might be outraged by its price tag, it wasn't the most expensive artwork sold at Miami Beach in 2019, nor is it the most expensive readymade ever sold at auction. The radical truth about Comedian is that there's nothing truly radical about it at all.

NIGHT is a new exhibition of Cattelan's work that opens at Berlin's Neue Nationalgalerie on 10 September 2026.

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'A literary assassination': How Life of M sparked a Hollywood scandal

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20260901-the-literary-novel-causing-a-hollywood-scandal, 12 days ago

Controversy is swirling around Rachel Cusk's new novel and its movie-star protagonist named "M". Why the fuss – and could the character be based on Natalie Portman?

From Truman Capote mining the secrets of his high society friends for his writing to The Devil Wears Prada's Miranda Priestly bearing a striking similarity to Vogue's Anna Wintour, there's always a certain excitement in discovering that a literary character might not be entirely fictional – especially when their rumoured inspiration is a public figure.

The new novel by Rachel Cusk, Life of M, tells the story of a fictional actor, "M", some of whose biographical details bear an uncanny resemblance to those of real-life film star Natalie Portman.

Anticipation for the new novel was already high – "a blazing interrogation of fame, power, beauty and truth," said its publisher. Cusk is one of contemporary fiction's most celebrated and boundary pushing writers, and so a new book by her is always an event. But interest soon spilled beyond the literary world when the seeming Portman connection was made.

Cusk is known for taking no prisoners in her prose – she is unsentimental in her work and depicts human frailty with a cold, clinical eye. So the book was never going to be an empathetic look at the life of a film star – and sure enough, reports appeared suggesting the actress was unhappy with Cusk's portrayal. By the time the book came out last week, countless stories had been published speculating on what really went on between the pair, most of them pure speculation and gossip.

Inevitably, that gossip has turned the book into one of this year's most talked about novels. But what's the real story behind it?

Why all the controversy?

In July, several weeks before Cusk's latest novel Life of M was due to be published, culture journalist Valerie Stivers wrote an article for the website Unherd claiming that the book, about a famous actress whose life is depressingly hollow and devoid of emotion, was "a dark portrait of Natalie Portman" and that the actress was less than happy with the result.

Stivers wrote: "No one in her right mind who understood Rachel Cusk's work would allow her to write about her." It immediately sparked chatter about whether Portman – known to be a big fan of Cusk's writing – had at some point agreed for her life to be used by the author. Or had Cusk co-opted Portman's experiences without her permission? And if she had, did that matter?

The plot thickened when further details of the book emerged. We learned Life of M features two main protagonists – a nameless (and genderless) writer and a famous movie actress, M. "A little while ago, I told the actor M that I was thinking of writing her autobiography," begins the book. "She liked the idea. "Much later in the book, M is unhappy, telling the writer: "I don't like the way you portray me… Actually, it's hurtful." But is this whole set-up pure fiction, or did an exchange like this really take place between Cusk and Portman?

Both women live in Paris and their paths have crossed. Portman has twice selected Cusk's novels for her book club, interviewed the writer and stated she is "forever in awe of Rachel Cusk and the way she disrupts form and the conventions of storytelling". However, a source told Vanity Fair that they've never had "much of a relationship at all."

A 'literary assassination' of Portman

In an interview with the New York Times, Cusk was coy about her inspiration for M, stating that whether the book is based on a real person "is not really the point."

However, some parallels between M and Portman appear undeniable. Cusk's character found fame as a child actress in a movie with an older male co-star that "immediately brought her childhood to an end," and which sounds a lot like Portman’s breakout film 1994’s Léon: The Professional. M is also the face of a major brand, appearing in ads" wreathed in the pink flowers of spring," – Portman is the face of Miss Dior fragrance.

Then there are M's film roles, which include a troubled prima ballerina and a school shooting survivor who becomes a pop star – strikingly similar to characters Portman played in Black Swan and Vox Lux.

Portman herself has kept quiet over the drama, but Vanity Fair suggested disquiet in her camp, reporting: "Her friends are pretty enraged as the depiction of M has so little resemblance to Natalie outside of the résumé."

The Telegraph called the book "a literary assassination" of Portman. It's true that the character of M is not a sympathetic one. Though charming on the surface, she's also condescending, detached and obsessed with appearance. When she encounters a sales assistant who looks a lot like her facially but whose body is larger, M spends the rest of the day thinking about "the full hips and the pair of sturdy legs that would have altered her destiny."

Mostly, she's unaware that her attempts to stay connected to the real world are totally futile.

Yet, as alluded to right from the start, what we know of M is completely made up by the novel's narrator. By assuming the character is a reflection of Portman we are projecting our own narrative on to the book and the actress herself. We are told M likes to construct her own reality – but is Cusk suggesting that we also do the same?

The queen of autofiction

A new Rachel Cusk book igniting conversation – and controversy – shouldn't be a huge surprise. The British author, who published her first book in 1993 and has gone on to write 15 more, has long been a provocative literary figure.

Cusk's memoirs have been especially divisive. In 2001's A Life's Work she gave a brutally honest account of the suffocating nature of early motherhood, describing it as a "sort of compound fenced off from the rest of the world" and likening herself to an inmate trapped in a cell. At the time the book caused uproar, but now feels like it paved the way for other women to write more openly about motherhood.

Life of M is also not the first time that Cusk has caused a stir for how she depicts supposedly real-life characters. Her publisher was forced to pulp the initial print run of her 2009 memoir The Last Supper: A Summer in Italy after a man she'd met on holiday recognised himself in the book – and sued over the unflattering portrait.

After more backlash to her 2012 divorce memoir Aftermath (a review in The Sunday Times called Cusk "a peerless narcissist"), Cusk told the Guardian she'd had a "creative death". She was no longer interested in writing traditional memoir ("I could not do it without being misunderstood and making people angry") but she also found fiction "fake and embarrassing."

Instead she embraced autofiction, a genre that blurs the boundaries between the two. In doing so, she produced her most acclaimed work to date, The Outline Trilogy. The books – Outline, Transit and Kudos – feature a writer called Faye who closely resembles Cusk, and who engages in long conversations with people she encounters.

And yet, even then, Cusk still ruffled some feathers. The Scottish author Damian Barr, who met Cusk at a literary festival and later recognised a version of the encounter in Transit, described her fictional veil as "thinner than a thin thing."

Is the book actually any good?

If you pick up Life of M expecting a juicy Hollywood tell-all packaged up as a literary novel then expect to be disappointed. Despite all the headlines, the Portman parallels may actually be something of a distraction. Life of M is less about a celebrity, than the whole concept of celebrity, with M a mere avatar for this.

Cusk's works are increasingly concerned with the nature of identity, and a character who spends her life playing roles gives her the ideal vehicle to explore ideas about authenticity. She's sharp on how we perform for each other, even our closest friends, writing: "We wish that we could see them as a hidden camera would see them, alone at home, when they thought themselves unobserved."

Life of M is a slim novel – just 183 pages – with Cusk's spare prose making it feel even more slight. Cusk likes to play with form, and the book shifts between three perspectives. Besides the "I" of the narrator, there are a series of third-person observations about M (presumably scenes from the narrator's own book). More mysteriously, some interludes are narrated by an unidentified "we" – Cusk's attempt to express through fiction her belief that character no longer exists and individuality has been replaced by a collective, homogenised human experience.

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Cusk's experimentation can be exhilarating, but comes at the cost of coherence, and her emotional detachment sometimes makes the novel feel as cold and empty as the curated spaces M occupies. Reviews have been tepid. The New York Times described the novel as "chilly and abstract", while The New Yorker said it was her "weakest novel yet". The Guardian, a little more generously, called it "a book to admire enormously, but not one to love."

The novel's ending, which throws everything before it into question, is particularly polarising. Cusk has already come out on the defensive, saying: "To me, the book, it's a daring book, it's a strange book, and it isn't a scandal or a subject for gossip."

She's right on the first point – Life of M is a deliberately defiant, weird and uncompromising novel that will, once again, inspire furious debate. The many column inches it has already racked up suggests it's too late to stop the excited chatter over its inspiration.

Life of M is published by Faber in the UK and Macmillan in the US.

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'I don't do panto for the money, I do it because I care'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy4zjlq2gq4o, today

TV presenter and actor Jonathan Wilkes has been making Christmas audiences laugh, clap and cheer in pantomime at the same theatre for two decades.

Since 2005, he has appeared in all but one of the festive shows staged at the Regent Theatre in his home city of Stoke-on-Trent.

And the 48-year-old, who launched Soccer Aid with his long-term friend Robbie Williams in 2006, is showing no signs of stopping anytime soon.

"I'm telling you now, I will stop doing it the minute I stop caring, but right now I've got more fire than ever," he told BBC Radio Stoke.

The 2026 production, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, will mark Wilkes's 20th panto at the theatre and 21 years since his first appearance.

He has only missed the 2011 edition of Aladdin, in which Joe Swash starred, and there was no show in 2020 due to the Covid pandemic.

This year, Wilkes will be playing Muddles, performing alongside Kai Owen as the Man in the Mirror, Rebecca McKinnis as the Wicked Queen, Ope Sowande as the Prince and Carly Burns as Snow White.

Wilkes said: "Without blowing our own trumpets, the main reason why the Regent Theatre works for panto is because we care. That's what it comes down to.

"I know how much it means to that family who come to the theatre, who pay a lot of their hard-earned money."

He said the Regent could get other big names involved but they would not care as much.

"I sometimes say this to the audience – go out and watch another panto," Wilkes continued.

"Come and watch ours first but see how much passion we bring compared to other people who turn up and go 'well I'm getting paid at the end of the day'."

Wilkes said he was "genuinely" not bothered about the money and just wanted people to "come and have a blooming good time".

"There's nothing nicer [than] when you come out at the end of a show and you see kids, grandmas, grandads, mums, dads [all] smiling - you cannot pay for that."

'Ultimate professional'

For Owen, it had been an "unreal" experience since he first got involved with the theatre's pantomime 12 years ago.

He said this year's production would be "magical" and described Wilkes as the "best in the business".

"Nobody cares as much, he's the ultimate professional," Owen added.

"I do it because of him. I've learnt everything because of him. He's our skipper, our leader - fact."

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs will be staged at the Regent Theatre from 11 December to 3 January.

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City's art trail benches 'bring people together'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp80jv1dx41o, yesterday

Thirty painted "book bench" sculptures have been placed across Brighton as part of a charity art trail.

The sculpture trail is designed as a walking route through the city from Saturday until 8 November.

As well as the painted book bench sculptures, schools and community groups have also designed an additional 40 mini book benches.

The trail will be raising money for Amaze, a Sussex charity which supports families with disabled children.

Hannah Allbrooke, head of fundraising and marketing at Amaze, said: "We've just installed one of the sculptures [at Jubilee Library] on the story trail, there's 74 book benches in total.

"After the sculptures are displayed, they go off to auction to raise money for us to help support families.

"It's really important to us that this was an accessible and fun experience. They can go out with families and enjoy a tactile, physical sculpture."

The art trail has been popular in previous years with Shaun the Sheep and snail sculptures dotted around the city.

Sarah Harvey, trail director for Wild in Art, said: "We work with charities across the UK, we feel they bring people together.

"There's so many people who bring this trail together, we have our artists but also businesses that sponsor the benches."

Artist Guy Parker-Rees, who designed the book bench at Jubilee Library, said: "I really enjoyed painting this bench, it's like a mini art gallery for everyone to explore. It's a great cause."

Jess Eyles, another artist, said: "This was my first time doing something like this.

"This was something that was a big adventure and out of my comfort zone."

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Five minutes to steal a Renoir: Why museum thefts are becoming bolder across Europe

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c804dvky833o, 2 days ago

When thieves broke into a French museum earlier this week and stole four paintings by the impressionist artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir, worth millions of euros, not everyone was surprised.

Just last month, the European policing agency (Europol) had warned that museum thefts across Europe were growing increasingly brazen.

And just days before the Renoir heist, internationally known art detective Arthur Brand predicted to the BBC that more high-profile burglaries were likely - particularly in the wake of the successful robbery at the Louvre in Paris last October.

The audacious crime in one of the world's most famous museums stunned France, and the stolen jewellery worth €88m (£75m) has still not been recovered, nearly a year on.

"We will see more of this," says Brand, "because if you are able to hit the Louvre, thieves all around the world are watching that, thinking, 'Wow' - and then they think, 'Don't we have a local museum with gold and silver?'".

Within hours of the Louvre burglary, thieves had raided coins from a smaller museum in France. Since then, criminals have stolen a diamond necklace in Vienna, Bronze Age artefacts in Spain, and art from two Italian museums - and that's only what the BBC has written about.

The heist at the Renoir Museum in Cagnes-sur-Mer is the latest, and detectives are still working to track down the remaining multi-million-pound paintings - two of which were quickly recovered after thieves dropped them in the museum garden.

Europol tells the BBC the number of museum theft cases reported to them across Europe began to increase about two years ago.

Its recent report says both the methods and targets of thefts are changing - with a rise in more forceful tactics, and, as in the Louvre case, a focus on high-value items such as precious metals and gemstones.

Both Brand and Ibrahim Bulut, a museum security expert from a Belgian security consulting firm, believe many thefts that followed the Louvre burglary are copycats.

"Every museum in the world is stressing now," Brand says. "In every museum there have been meetings with the security officer or with the police."

From tiaras to Bronze Age rings: Stolen museum treasures

The Association for Research into Crimes against Art (ARCA) says the recent thefts show "a repeated preference for small, portable, immediately accessible objects and for attacks designed to be completed in minutes".

Data provided to the BBC by ARCA shows recorded museum thefts in France spiked in 2024, and rose again slightly in 2025.

However, numbers go up and down over time, with more thefts recorded in 2015 than a decade later.

These crimes threaten what many consider invaluable artefacts of historical and cultural value enjoyed by the public - although some people argue they steal "from the rich, who cares?" Brand says.

Others point out the colonial history behind many treasures in European museums, with art historians highlighting the French crown jewels stolen from the Louvre contained emeralds, diamonds, sapphires and pearls which are not native to France.

Why are museums being targeted?

Museums are vulnerable and easy to burgle, Brand says, compared with well-secured jewellery shops and banks - which these days hold less cash.

Directors historically "never have enough money for security" or prefer to spend it on the next exhibition, and museums are often housed in old buildings that are difficult to protect, he adds.

For example, the Denis Diderot Maison des Lumières (House of Enlightenment) - burgled hours after the Louvre - is housed in two 18th-Century mansions in Langres.

"We therefore have to reconcile modern security requirements with the need to preserve historic buildings and comply with France's heritage regulations," local mayor Théo Caviezel explains.

Museums are also open public spaces that have less access control and perpetrators can come in as visitors, says Kumar Sokka, CEO of Acre Security which works with some museums in Europe.

And even if a museum is secured well, thieves could still come in armed, Brand says, adding that it would be impractical to put police in galleries.

Many of these burglaries are over in minutes and the thieves have long gone by the time police show up - the Renoir case happened within five minutes.

Heists used to depend on deception, but burglaries are now becoming increasingly violent, Europol's report last month points out. Offenders are using tools such as sledgehammers, axes, crowbars and, in some instances, explosives, to get inside.

In the Louvre, the thieves used a mechanical lift to gain access, cut through the window with power tools and then threatened guards, who left, before forcing their way inside displays and grabbing the jewels. In the Renoir case, the perpetrators used an electric knife to cut through a fence before sawing through structures holding the paintings' frames in place.

The increased aggression creates new security concerns.

"An armed incident during opening hours, like the one we experienced, creates a situation in which the immediate priority is to keep our audience and staff safe," says Lilli Hollein, the director of the Museum of Applied Arts (MAK) in Vienna, which was burgled last month.

What is being stolen is also changing. While paintings are still taken, they're harder to sell, so about 10 years ago, thieves began shifting to goods that are easier to get rid of, Brand says.

Now precious metals, gemstones, and culturally significant artefacts including Chinese porcelain are increasingly targeted, according to Europol's report.

"Precious metals can be easily melted down, leaving no trace for law enforcement, and facilitating illicit sales during the fencing process," it says. "Precious stones in jewellery, on the other hand, can be easily removed and sold further."

Meanwhile, Chinese porcelain is likely to be easily sold on the art market because of high demand, Europol says.

After a theft, police generally have between four and six days to catch the thieves, according to Brand, who works with investigators by calling informants and receiving tips from the public or even ex-partners of perpetrators.

But while suspects may be arrested, jewels or precious metals might not be found - such as with the Louvre case.

On the other hand, Brand believes the Renoir paintings stolen this week - two of which were dropped by the thieves on their way out - "will probably be recovered" because "no one will want to buy" them and "it is likely, then, that the thieves have no idea what to do with them".

Christopher A Marinello, the boss of Art Recovery International that recovers stolen art, says only 5-10% of stolen art is ever recovered, making thefts from small museums like this week's "extra painful".

Tuesday's heist is another example of "Europe's museums under siege", he adds.

So how can museums be protected?

After its theft in October, Maison des Lumières launched a security audit carried out by police officers appointed by France's cultural ministry, mayor Caviezel says.

Some recommendations are already being implemented, such as enhanced video surveillance, while other structural improvements are in the process of being developed.

MAK in Vienna also increased its security to prevent "copycat offenders and to provide our audience with visible security", its director says. Entry is through a metal detector, and bags must be put in the cloakroom or in lockers, and there are more security guards.

Experts say the trick is to create physical barriers that will delay thieves so there is time for the police to arrive, or to make any theft take so long that it would deter would-be offenders from attempting it.

"Security is about buying time", says Bulut. "The objective is not to make the theft theoretically impossible, but to make removal difficult, noisy, detectable and above all, time-consuming, because to be very honest, thefts can always happen, it's the timing that you're concerned about."

Brand says a delay could be building an extra, heavy door anchored into the ground, thickening the glass on display cases or using a fog machine.

Sokka says it's critical to have integrated systems - so for example if an alarm goes off, you could shut down the facility, or lock down all high net worth paintings.

However, security measures are expensive. Mayor Caviezel, whose small French city hosts two museums and collections, says finding the money is "one of our main challenges".

"A small city can be entrusted with collections of national importance without having the financial resources of a major Parisian institution."

Bulut, who sits on the International Committee for Museum Security board, says it's not all about expensive gadgets. It could also be training guards to spot suspicious people who may be casing a museum and ask them if they need help, which may deter them from returning.

Museums are investing: Sokka says his company has seen an uptick in seismic offerings, that can detect vibration such as drilling in walls, in the past 18 months.

Museum heists are not increasing everywhere in Europe. In Sweden, major museum thefts began to decline around a decade ago and have not changed significantly in recent years, said Peg Magnusson, Sweden's representative for a Unesco convention to combat illicit trafficking of cultural property. However, other worrying cultural artefact targets have emerged.

The challenge for museums now is increasing security while also staying open to the public.

"A museum cannot be a fortress," Hollein says. "We want to be open institutions; at the same time, we are facing new challenges and attacks against museums that will require new standards."

Additional reporting by Madeleine Lake.

Bids encouraged to keep famed artwork in the UK

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cr50q0l9r1do, 2 days ago

A painting by one of Britain's leading 20th Century artists must stay in the country in the hope that one of its galleries or institutions will buy it, the government said.

Sir Stanley Spencer, who was born and spent most of his life in Cookham, Berkshire, is probably best known for the series of artworks he created on the theme of resurrection.

The Resurrection of the Good and the Bad, finished in 1915, is the first piece exploring that topic and is an "immensely valuable" piece to use in the study of his work, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) said.

Bids for the painting, with a recommended price of £450,000, will be welcomed until mid-December.

The diptych – an artwork spread across two panels – shows the Good on the left and the Bad on the right.

The export ban for the painting was recommended by the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest (RCEWA) and accepted by arts minister Ruth Mackenzie.

Mark Hallett, a member of the RCEWA, said: "The Resurrection of the Good and the Bad is crucial to a better understanding of this central strand of Spencer's artistic practice and is deserving of a great deal more research.

"It is imperative that we try and keep it in the UK."

Police boss criticised for 127-date theatre tour

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c74e0r0zwdko, 2 days ago

A newly elected £79,000-a-year police commissioner is facing criticism for announcing a 127-date national theatre tour.

Opposition parties have questioned how Reform UK's Colin Sutton will be able to focus on his job overseeing Norfolk Police, which he was elected to in July.

The former detective is due to present his true-crime show in theatres across the UK next year discussing police investigations, with tickets priced at around £40.

Sutton insisted the tour "wouldn't impinge" on his day job, but Labour MP Ben Goldsborough warned "you can't police a county from the back of a tour bus".

Sutton became one of the UK's most high-profile detectives in the 2000s, leading the investigation to catch serial killer Levi Bellfield, who murdered Milly Dowler, Marsha McDonnell and Amelie Delagrange.

After retiring from the Metropolitan Police, Sutton wrote a book about the case, which was later turned into an ITV drama.

He has also become a regular commentator in the media and last year was named as Reform's national policing and crime advisor.

In July, after the former Norfolk Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Sarah Taylor resigned, Sutton comfortably won the election to replace her.

PCCs are elected officials who set the priorities of a police force, appoint a chief constable and hold them to account.

This week, promoters of Sutton's "Makings of a Murderer" show announced he was set to tour the country from January to November next year.

One stretch will see him visit Consett in County Durham, Tamworth in Staffordshire, Hunstanton in Norfolk, Llandudno in north Wales and Leeds over five consecutive nights.

A drive from venue to venue in that run would cover almost 700 miles (1,126km).

Beverley Knight in BBC Proms Dolly Parton tribute

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqlwz1r0wpyo, 3 days ago

Wolverhampton singer Beverley Knight is to perform one of Dolly Parton's best-known songs at this year's Last Night of the Proms.

Knight will sing I Will Always Love You as part of To Dolly, With Love, a tribute to the late country music star at the Royal Albert Hall on Saturday.

The medley, arranged by Fiona Bryce, also features Sheridan Smith performing 9 to 5 and country-pop duo Ward Thomas singing Jolene.

Parton died in August having had a seven-decade career gaining 10 Grammy awards and selling more than 100 million records worldwide. She was also known for her humanitarian work.

Knight's career has spanned more than 30 years, with the Wolverhampton-born singer known for hits including Shoulda Woulda Coulda and Get Up.

She has also played starring roles in the musicals The Bodyguard, Cats and The Drifters Girl.

The 2026 Proms season has included 86 concerts, with 72 Proms at the Royal Albert Hall and 14 at venues around the UK.

The Last Night programme will also feature world premieres by British composer Anne Dudley and Canadian composer and conductor Samy Moussa.

International pianist Yuja Wang will make her Proms debut performing Samuel Barber's Piano Concerto, while Scottish tenor Nicky Spence will perform excerpts from Antonín Dvořák's Rusalka and Frank Loesser's Guys and Dolls.

The traditional finale will include Rule, Britannia!, Jerusalem, Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1 and Auld Lang Syne.

The Last Night of the Proms will be broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 from 19:10 BST Saturday bringing the BBC Proms' eight-week 2026 season to a close. It can also be seen on BBC 2 and BBC 1 and iPlayer.

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Fading city centre art to be repainted in 2027

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy7zpx64pzxo, 3 days ago

The large fading piece of artwork in Bristol City Centre is due to be repainted next summer with a more durable material.

The "Our Common Ground" artwork was painted on the floor where the fountains were in September last year but quickly began to fade away.

It was painted with a water-based road line marking paint. Bristol City Council has now decided to use thermoplastics, which was initially discounted as too expensive.

The total budget for the artwork was £61,000, half of which came from the city council.

Liberal Democrat Councillor Andrew Brown, chair of the economy and skills policy committee, said thermoplastic paint would be more reliable.

Thermoplastics are often used for road markings such as white lane dividers and zebra crossings, and can last for several years without needing maintenance.

Brown said: "Research into alternative solutions has been conducted after the initial painted solution was unsuccessful.

"This has identified thermoplastics as a more durable and reliable treatment."

He added the project was "inherited from the previous administration".

The first phase of the revamp will involve cleaning, surface treatment, and testing a small area.

This test phase will apply a thermoplastic solution instead of paint in September or October. It will be left over winter to establish how during it is through the colder and wetter weather.

If the test is successful, the second phase will involve the reinstatement of the full artwork in spring or summer next year, said the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The council originally commissioned Upfest and the artist Oshii to coordinate the painting of the mural. However, it is understood Upfest is no longer involved in the project.

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'I love how vile Madame Morrible is' - Wicked star

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2z3674q0go, 3 days ago

As the West End show Wicked marks its 20th anniversary, one of the cast's newest members said she is having great fun playing one of its main characters.

Claire Machin, originally from Stoke-on-Trent, is taking on Madame Morrible as a series of special pink, green and gala performances are scheduled at the Apollo Victoria Theatre in London.

"I love how vile she is," she said of her character. "It's great fun to play."

She added: "I've been here four months, and I'm absolutely having a ball."

She enjoys how "crazed" the character becomes over the course of the story, she said.

The musical phenomenon is based on Gregory Maguire's bestselling novel, and has become the eighth longest-running musical in British history.

It has clocked up more than 7,500 performances and won more than 100 awards worldwide, including Tony, Olivier and Grammy Awards.

Machin said she was particularly looking forward to the pink and green performances, which would reflect the characters of Elphaba and Glinda, with special goody bags for audience members.

She told BBC Radio Stoke that she used to perform renditions of The Muppets and do impressions in her bedroom at home with her teddies as a child.

She also recalled entering a talent contest at Butlin's on a holiday during "Potters Fortnight", when many of the city's pottery factories would close for a two-week period to allow workers some time off.

She won her family a free holiday in the competition, and said she felt that was the start of her career.

"I have to say I'm one of those lucky people, and I feel it eight times a week [when I go on stage]," added Machin, whose career has also seen her tread the boards in several major West End shows such as Les Misérables, Oliver and My Fair Lady.

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Richard Rogers' home given to National Trust

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwyzr71j98qo, 3 days ago

The family home of the celebrated architect behind the Lloyd's building and the Pompidou Centre has been donated to the National Trust.

Richard Rogers' home in Wimbledon, south-west London, known as the Rogers House, was built in 1968 and has become a landmark in its own right.

The property, 22 Parkside, was designed by Rogers and his first wife Su Rogers, also an architect. Lord Rogers died in 2021 aged 88.

The National Trust has said the "extraordinary gift" will "protect one of the UK's most important examples of modern architecture for future generations".

The home was built by the couple for Richard's parents, Nino and Dada Rogers.

Ben Rogers, the son of Richard and Su - who divorced in the early 1970s - said: "Twenty-two Parkside is much more than a family home.

"It is one of the most important buildings my father and mother created – a place where many of the ideas that would go on to influence my father's work and some of the world's most celebrated architecture were first tested and explored.

"As a family, we wanted to ensure that this remarkable house would be protected, cared for and shared with future generations, rather than remaining a private asset.

"The National Trust brings the expertise, public purpose and long-term commitment needed to safeguard its future, while opening up its story to students, researchers and visitors."

Ruthie Rogers, who was married to the celebrated architect from 1973 until his death five years ago, said her late husband "regarded public access to culture – whether architecture, art, theatre, music, or design – as one of the great aspirations in life".

She said: "It filled him with such joy that the public would have access to this house that was once private, a house that was a prototype for what he thought houses could be for all."

National Trust director-general Hilary McGrady said: "We are profoundly grateful to the Rogers family for placing this extraordinary house in our care.

"Their generosity means that 22 Parkside will now become part of our shared inheritance, belonging not to a single family but to the people of England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

"This extraordinary gift will ensure that a building where world-changing ideas were born continues to inspire new generations of thinkers, makers and creators."

The charity plans to host guided visits, educational partnerships and interactive, digital content at the house, with the aim it "becomes a creative and educational resource for schools, universities and other heritage organisations around the world".

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'Aloha is more than a word we say': What locals wish visitors knew about Hawaii

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20260911-what-locals-wish-visitors-knew-about-hawaii, today

From the true significance of a lūʻau to what "aloha" actually asks of you, a native Hawaiian tells you what locals wish every visitor understood before arriving.

It's a Saturday morning on O'ahu's North Shore, and as soon as I step onto the beach I see that a crowd has formed around a honu (green sea turtle) basking on the sand. Phones are out. Someone reaches down and touches its shell. A father sets his baby on its back for a photo.

"Hey Uncle, no touch da honu!" The words are out of my mouth before I've even finished walking over. The crowd startles – not because they meant any harm, but because I was loud, and none of them had any idea they'd just broken federal law.

Millions of travellers visit Hawaii each year for its paradisiacal beaches, postcard views and chill vibes, but few look beyond its touristy surface to understand how we Native Hawaiians actually live. Hawaiian culture is deeply rooted in aloha – treating people with care and respect – and aloha ʻāina, our love and responsibility for the land that sustains us. That meaning shapes how locals greet each other, and how we live with the land. Bring that awareness with you, and you'll get it back in full.

From respecting our natural landscapes to the right way to eat poke, here are things Hawaiians wish visitors knew about Hawaii before coming.

1. Our native animals deserve space

Hawaiian green sea turtles and Hawaiian monk seals rest directly on Hawaii public beaches in plain sight. Getting close to one feels like a rare, magical moment, which is why so many visitors react excitedly when they see one. But the best thing you can do for them is to stay back.

Photograph from a distance and treat a resting turtle or seal the way you'd treat a sleeping stranger on a park bench: worth noticing, not worth approaching. Both species are protected under federal and state law, so respecting their space isn't just polite – it's how you actually get to keep admiring them.

2. Our gatherings aren't spectacles

A commercial lūʻau in Waikīkī is a popular way for visitors to learn about Hawaiian celebratory traditions. But the lūʻau many of us grow up with don't come with an audience. They are family celebrations, where extended families come together to eat, dance and enjoy music.

The name comes from a dish made with young taro leaves that was traditionally served at these gatherings. Today, a lūʻau might mark a birthday, graduation, wedding or other milestone. Preparation can take days, with family coming together to cook and set up for a full day of celebrating. It often feels like a family reunion, with multiple generations around the same table "talking story": a Hawaii Pidgin expression for sitting together, catching up, and sharing stories, usually with pupus (snacks).

The honoree is often covered in lei and gifts. If you're invited to a local lūʻau, it's something special, the difference between seeing something and being welcomed inside. Don't expect a schedule or a show – just join in.

3. Aloha doesn't mean no boundaries

"Aloha" is one of the most recognised Hawaiian words, but "hello" and "goodbye" are just a fragment of its meaning. The way locals use it, aloha is about truly acknowledging others and treating people and places with care.

Aloha is also a two-way street: you can be welcomed warmly and still be expected to understand when something isn't yours to enter, take, photograph or experience. Visitors sometimes roam beaches or rural areas assuming the land is open, picking coconuts, fruit or flowers without realising they've entered someone's property.

Some of Hawaii's most photographed places, including Mauna Kea and Kīlauea Volcano are also wahi pana (sacred places). Take photos respectfully, stay on marked paths, don't enter restricted areas, and never take or move natural or cultural objects. Learning a place's significance before visiting helps you understand its boundaries.

Aloha is more than a word we say – it's our way of life.

4. 'Where are you from?' is an invitation, not small talk

Elsewhere, this question can feel like filler. In Hawaii, it's often one of the first things you're asked. Some visitors find it intrusive, but it isn't meant that way. It's how we get our bearings with someone new: Where are you from? Who's your family? Do we know anyone in common? We ask everyone, not just visitors, even people who have lived here for years. And once the conversation opens up, it usually keeps going. Respond with more than just your city, and real doors can start opening. One conversation can turn into an invitation to a lūʻau. It's part of how we get to know you and decide how far to bring you in.

That sense of connection also shows up in how we address one another. You'll hear "auntie" and "uncle" everywhere in Hawaii, even between people who aren't related. They're familiar terms of respect, especially for someone older than you, but they also reflect something deeper: in Hawaii, you don't always have to be family to be treated like family.

5. The shaka is more than a photo pose

In Hawaii, the shaka – a loose fist with both thumb and pinky pointing out – is its own language. We use it to greet someone across a parking lot or to show aloha or respect, all without saying a word.

Its origin is thought to trace to Hamana Kalili of La'ie, O'ahu, who lost three fingers in a sugar mill accident. Ever since, his wave became a symbol of goodwill across the islands.

On the road, we let each other merge in and out of traffic all the time, and the expected "thank you" is a wave or a shaka out the window. Honking is frowned upon and is only for real emergencies, not impatience. Practice the shaka before you arrive so it feels natural when you need it.

6. 'Hawaiian' food is different than 'local' food

Ask most visitors what "Hawaiian food" is, and they'll describe what they ate on their trip. But much of what they're describing is actually "local" food – dishes from the many cultures and communities that now live in Hawaii. "Hawaiian" food refers specifically to the traditional cuisine eaten by the Indigenous people of the islands.

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Today's local cuisine reflects Japanese, Filipino, Portuguese and Chinese influences from the plantation days – think plate lunch, malasadas and Spam musubi. Traditional Hawaiian foods like poi, kālua pig (whole pig roasted in an underground oven) and laulau (meat and salted fish steamed in taro leaves) have deep Indigenous roots, but Hawaiian restaurants are few, so many visitors may never taste them unless they know where to look.

Poke is a clear example of how the Hawaiian way of eating fish has evolved into something very different. The original includes fresh local fish, sea salt and limu kohu (a native seaweed). No rice, no bowl, no sauces. The "poke bowl" came later, inspired by Japanese chirashi (sashimi over sushi rice). Poke simply means "to cut crosswise into pieces" in Hawaiian. Today's poke bowls, loaded with sauces and toppings, are far from poke as locals know it.

A poke bowl isn't meant to be piled high with mix-ins – the fish is the point, so less is more. For poke the way locals eat it, head to a neighbourhood grocery store, where it's sold by the pound at the seafood counter.

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Why visitors to Prague should drink in a traditional pub

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20260911-why-visitors-to-prague-should-drink-in-a-traditional-pub, yesterday

Prague is synonymous with pubs – but for the real thing, travellers should venture away from its touristy centre and seek out an old-school "hospoda".

My wife and I were sipping beers at a pub in Prague's Žižkov district when the bartender plopped two foamy pints of pilsner in front of us. We hadn't ordered them. We weren't even finished with the ones we were drinking. "Oh, we're in one of these pubs" I said, quickly covering my pint with a cardboard coaster. "When you've had enough, just do this."

Most visitors to Prague are likely to linger in its Old Town Square, marvelling at its Gothic and Baroque splendour. They'll zigzag through the narrow cobblestone streets to the 14th-Century Charles Bridge and then trudge up to Prague Castle.

Everyone should do this on a visit to Prague. But if you only explore its tourist-mobbed centre, as many people do, you'll miss out on one of the most quintessentially Czech cultural experiences: whiling away a few hours in a real Czech pub, where the beer only stops coming if you know the code.

A city synonymous with beer

It's no secret that Czechs love beer. After all, they drink nearly 150 litres of it per capita every year, making the Czech Republic the top beer-consuming nation in the world. Prague itself boasts the most pubs per person of anywhere on the planet.

But just as most New Yorkers don't dine in Times Square and most Londoners don't eat in Piccadilly Circus, you'll rarely find Praguers drinking in Old Town, where bars cater largely to outsiders.

Instead, to really get under the skin of Czech culture, you should venture to one of Prague's most atmospheric areas: Žižkov (pronounced Zheezh-kof), a gritty, working-class neighbourhood that has long had a proud reputation for its salt-of-the-earth pubs, and where the bartender's job is to make sure your glass is never empty.

Home to hilly cobblestone streets and graffiti-tagged 19th-Century blocks of flats, Žižkov is home to classic pubs such as U Vystřelenýho Oka and U Slovanské Lípy. Despite its relative proximity to the centre of town – tram number 9 will get you there in about 20 minutes – you won't find a lot of guidebook-clutching tourists wandering around.

"If you want to understand Czech pub culture, it's hard to find a better place than Žižkov," said Martin Havlin, co-founder of Prague Craft Beer Tours and a born-and-bred Žižkov denizen. "The big difference is that pubs in Žižkov are still mainly for locals. Nobody is trying too hard to look 'authentically Czech' for tourists. You'll find people having a beer after work, old guys at the same table they've probably occupied for 30 years, and a tapster who already knows what half the room is drinking."

Žižkov's traditional Czech pubs, called hospoda, are one of the few places where people from all walks of Czech society mix naturally.

"You can have a construction worker, lawyer, university professor and pensioner sitting at neighbouring tables drinking exactly the same beer," said Jakub Neužil, Havlin's colleague at Prague Craft Beer Tours. "Most importantly, though, they would understand that going to the pub in Czech culture isn't necessarily about 'going out drinking'. Historically, the hospoda has been an extension of the living room: somewhere to meet friends, discuss football, politics, work and life. Beer happens to be at the centre of it."

These "living rooms" are great places for travellers to meet English-speaking regulars. A simple "how long have you been coming here?" may soon lead to stories about how hospoda have played an instrumental role in Czech history.

Prague was the capital of the Kingdom of Bohemia, and until World War Two, German was widely spoken here alongside Czech. By the latter half of the 19th Century, Czech speakers had begun separating themselves from the German population, and the Czech National Revival, which would eventually result in the creation of Czechoslovakia in 1919, was fomented in Czech cafes and pubs.

"At the time, pubs played an important role as gathering places for revivalists, patriots, politicians, writers, artists et cetera; they became centres of associational and cultural life and were one of the few places where Czech was commonly spoken," said Dr Jiří Vinopal, a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Sociology at the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague.

During the heavily oppressive socialist period from 1948 to 1989, Vinopal explains that Czech pubs were "used more as an environment for escape".

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Today, pubs are as much a part of Czech life as ever – and a big draw for tourists – but it's increasingly harder to find the kind of old-fashioned hospoda where historical conversations flow as easily as the beer. The city's modern offerings tend to be cleaner and smoke free, with classic fried cheese sharing menu space with dishes like pumpkin soup and cauliflower pancakes.

But Žižkov institutions like U Vystřelenýho Oka, U Slovanské Lípy, U Jary and U Sadu still embody the true spirit of the hospoda: unending refills and radical social equality.

How to drink at a real Czech pub?

Havlin's advice is to simply find a busy pub in Žižkov, sit down, order a beer and don't rush. "Watch how people behave, how the beer is poured, order some Czech pub food and maybe start a conversation – and definitely don't leave after one beer." He adds, "That’s the beauty of a real [hospoda]. You're not being shown Czech culture – you're just sitting in the middle of it. And after the second or third beer, you might even start feeling like a local."

While sipping your beer and meeting regulars, you may also notice the way Czech bartenders treat Czech beer differently than the more touristy pubs in Prague's historical centre.

It starts with the bartender taking a chilled mug and re-rinsing it using a counter-top spray device to ensure there's no fat residue. Then they use the Czech-invented Lukr side-tap to pour the beer, ensuring there's at least three fingers' worth of foam; the side-tap allows the bartender more control of the foam and emits far less gas into the drink than the traditional top pull, making the beer from the Lukr side tap less likely to bloat the stomach.

"This developed because beer has been such an important part of Czech culture," said Lucie Janečkova, co-founder of Institut PIVO, a Prague-based school providing beer-focused bartender training. "We've learned that brewing a good beer is only half of the job. What happens to it between the brewery and the guest can completely change the final experience." There is a common saying among Czech bartenders: 'The brewer brews the beer; the bartender makes it.'"

There's also an etiquette to drinking once your beer arrives. "When you get a beautifully poured beer, drink it while it's fresh – don't leave it sitting on the table for half an hour," added Janečkova. "And if you're drinking with others, clink glasses with your first beer and say 'cheers' in Czech – 'na zdraví!'"

She adds, "And perhaps the most Czech rule of all: if someone says, 'Let's go for one beer,' you probably shouldn't make any plans for the rest of the evening." And, as my wife learned, if you're in a pub in Žižkov, even the bartender won't let you go until you finally put that beer mat atop your empty mug.

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I drove 2,500km across Madagascar to find the world's last lemurs

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20260910-driving-2500km-across-madagascar-to-find-the-worlds-last-lemurs, 3 days ago

One epic road trip connects Madagascar's richest wildlife, most spectacular landscapes and the world's last lemurs.

Sitting beneath a thick canopy of trees in Mitsinjo Reserve, I crane my neck skyward, straining beneath the weight of my camera. A flash of white and black fur leaps across my lens, much closer than anticipated. I drop the camera from my eye and the heavy jungle air erupts with the haunting, whale-like cries of the indri, the largest lemur species on Earth.

Critically endangered, strictly arboreal and the origin of man, according to Malagasy lore, the indri is a wide-eyed, tuft-eared rarity known to few but the most exuberant wildlife enthusiasts. Madagascar's crown jewel of more than 150,000 endemic species is sitting just 3m (10ft) above my head.

Madagascar is the only place on Earth where lemurs survive in the wild, and my husband and I had come here to see how much of that extraordinary wildlife we could encounter on an independent road trip. Over three weeks, our 2,500km (1,553-mile) route would take us from the capital, Antananarivo, through rainforest, rice paddies, prehistoric canyons and spiny desert to the island's west coast, linking eight national parks and reserves along the way. With a rented 4X4 and an ever-changing cast of park guides, the route offered a surprisingly achievable way to encounter species found nowhere else on the planet.

The RN7: Madagascar's lemur highway

We rented a 4x4 for the journey, and with the bustle of Antananarivo fading into our rear-view mirror, we rode the RN7's ribbon of freshly laid tarmac up into the central highlands where two-storey trano gasy homes made of red earthen bricks sat on the fringes of expansive rice paddies. Families watched from behind swinging wooden shutters as we passed by. Rolling green hills and terraced valleys grazed by long-horned zebu punctuated the winding roads between towns.

Our first wildlife stop was the dense jungle of Ranomafana National Park. Trudging through the rain, I followed a local guide – required in Madagascar's national parks and readily available at every park entrance – up the muddy trail. Walking with a slight limp, acquired while rescuing a traveller from a jungle waterfall years ago, he pointed out clumsy red-bellied lemurs, self-assured greater bamboo lemurs basking in the sun and ultra-rare golden bamboo lemurs. The latter survive largely on giant bamboo, consuming quantities of cyanide that would be lethal to most other mammals.

The sheer variety is partly a product of Madagascar's fragmented habitats. "Lemurs are ultra-specialised creatures evolved to fill a single ecological niche," our guide explained. "Each forest in Madagascar hosts its own unique adapted species."

More than 110 lemur species have been identified, many restricted to small pockets of forest. To see more of them, you have to keep moving. But the ease of the sightings has a darker explanation. Madagascar's forests are shrinking, our guide said, as communities cut down trees for fuel and agriculture, squeezing lemurs into ever-smaller fragments of habitat.

Continuing south brought new species with each change in landscape. We sunned on chunky boulders surrounded by ring-tailed lemurs in Anja Community Reserve and searched for tree boas in the shadow of the Andringitra massif. Hiking within the ruiniform plateau and jagged canyons of Isalo National Park, the final stop on our voyage down the RN7, we stumbled through verdant foliage and went nearly nose-to-nose with Verreaux's sifaka, long-limbed lemurs famous for their sideways, dancing gait.

At Isalo, however, the easy part of the road trip ended. To reach the stone forests of Tsingy de Bemaraha National Park on the west coast, we would have to leave the RN7 – and the tarmac – behind.

Into Madagascar's wild west

Reaching Tsingy required a four-day traverse across some of the roughest roads of the trip. For the most difficult stretch, between Manja and Morondava, we hired a local pisteur – a ride-along guide who knows every river crossing, mud pits and hidden routes through the maze of dirt tracks.

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We crossed rivers where the flow nearly crested the hood of our truck. Elsewhere, tall grass swallowed the track entirely. Without GPS or a reliable map, the pisteur became our eyes, picking a path through the endless web of sandy tracks and occasionally guiding us through isolated Sakalava communities.

Careening around a particularly sandy corridor, we burst into a kianja, or village square, alive with a market and hundreds of shoppers. Thick ropes of tobacco, roasting cassava and an array of plastic trinkets were spread out on colorful lambahoany, the printed cotton wraps worn across Madagascar. It was a vibrant bazaar erected seemingly out of nowhere, surrounded by wooded savannah a day's drive in any direction.

By the time we reached the town of Morondava in the dim evening light, after days of mud and river crossings, hitting tarmac again felt like a relief. We thanked our pisteur for his life-saving navigational services before setting up camp beneath the moonlit shade of a baobab, Madagascar's emblematic tree.

Baobabs, fossa and Tsingy

We woke at the edge of Avenue of the Baobabs – Madagascar's famous dirt road lined with towering baobab trees – in the soft pink light of dawn. For a few precious moments we had the country's most photographed landscape almost to ourselves before the tour groups arrived. Kirindy Reserve was a natural stop on our final stretch to Tsingy, and a welcome break before another gruelling day on the road.

Kirindy is all about nocturnal wildlife. That night, our guide led us through the reserve, where in the glow of my headlamp, a Madame Berthe's mouse lemur scampered into the canopy while the wide, spectral eyes of a red-tailed sportive lemur reflected crimson in the beam. Back in camp, a particularly pudgy fossa – Madagascar's largest predator, with the long body of a mongoose and cat-like features – wandered from the treeline in the shadow of our tent.

The next day, as we neared Tsingy, the hard dirt road devolved into a thick mud pit. Stranded vehicles littered both sides of the swampy mess and crowds from the nearby village gathered to haul drivers free. Before long, our 4X4 was bogged too. But Tsingy was worth every difficult kilometre. Its unique stone forests host many endemic lemurs, and we spent several days clipping into via ferrata lines and climbing through the Unesco-listed limestone pinnacles in search of aye-ayes, stump-tailed chameleons and tiny leaf chameleons.

With our final park behind us, we turned the 4x4 back towards Antananarivo. After weeks of river crossing, mud and increasingly rough roads, the smooth tarmac through the central highlands felt strangely uneventful.

We had succeeded in seeing Madagascar's extraordinary wildlife without joining a tour. But you never really travel "independently" here. Every national park guide who helped us track lemurs, the pisteurwho pointed the way andthe villagers who hauled us from the mud had made the journey possible.

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The US's newest bikepacking trail is pioneering a whole new way to see Vermont

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20260904-the-38-mile-loop-pioneering-the-uss-next-great-hut-to-hut-adventure, 8 days ago

The Heart of the Greens trail threads through Vermont's stunning Green Mountain wilderness, and is the first part of an ambitious bikepacking adventure that will someday span the state.

My mountain bike tyres thud over pebbles and roots as I whizz through the darkening path. Dusk has fallen over Vermont's Green Mountain National Forest and nearly 400,000 acres of woods extend in every direction. In the distance, I spot pinpricks of light. The campsite is finally near.

In the last fleeting moments of light, I arrive at the Chittenden Brook campground. As I wheel my bike past the welcome sign, I spy a slick, modern hut with pine siding. I'd planned to simply pitch a tent – to this weary bikepacker, the hut's glass windows and wraparound porch seem like the lap of luxury.

Next time, I thought, I'm staying there.

This hut is part of the Heart of the Greens Loop, a 38-mile (61km) bike trail loop and the first completed segment of an ambitious, continuous bikepacking network that, when completed, will stretch 485 miles (780km) and span the entire state.

Blazing a path for bikepackers

My journey began that morning in Rochester, a picturesque village nestled in Vermont's mountainous White River Valley.

I've driven through it dozens of times without stopping, but since it became the official start and end point of The Heart of the Greens when it opened in 2024, the tiny town has become a magnet for bikepackers. Like me, many are eager to blend the escapism of camping with the thrill of cycling through Vermont's glacial-carved wilderness and explosion of autumnal colours.

The loop is a closed-circuit preview of the forthcoming Velomont, a bikepacking route through Central Vermont with a twist: it will be connected by 30 cleverly spaced off-grid huts allowing tired pedallers to bed down in protected forest shelter.

On track to finish the first 200 miles (321km) within the next 10 years, the project echoes a larger trend in bicycle travel: statewide bikepacking routes are in development in Utah, Massachusetts and along the entire West Coast.

I grew up near Rochester and have dreamed of such a multi-day bikepacking route. For now, I'm thrilled to take on the Heart of the Greens. Two huts are already placed along the trail, roughly 19 miles (30km) apart: the Chittenden Brook Hut, featuring simple bunks and a self-service kitchen, and Spikehorn Yurt. The yurt doesn't have electricity, and neither accommodation has running water. The route's huts will straddle a curious middle ground between camping and traditional stays, allowing bikepackers to carry lighter gear and immerse themselves in the wilderness.

The Heart of the Greens may be considerably shorter than the Velomont, but with a cumulative ascent of nearly 6,000ft (1,830m) on largely unpaved forest roads and trails, it's no less intense.

"It's a big walk on the wild side," says Doon Hinderyckx, owner of Green Mountain Bikes in Rochester, when I stop by before shoving off. Hinderyckx encourages visitors to hire e-bikes for navigating the steeper grades: "You're mixing mountain biking and the adventure of the challenging terrain. You're on and off the seat a lot."

It also requires a bike with thick tyres and suspension, a water filter and provisions, since the current route passes through only two small backcountry villages – Rochester and, 9 miles (14km) south, Pittsfield. Like the huts, eateries and general stores along the trail itself are still in development, so I've packed several meals, plus rain gear and insect repellent, despite the beautiful late summer weather. Hinderyckx checks the air pressure in my inner tubes and oils my chain. He's the last mechanic I'll see for the next two days.

Next door to Green Mountain Bikes stands the Stable Inn, run by Hinderyckx's wife, Anni MacKay. This handsome two-story guesthouse opened in 2023, with a range of rooms, Nordic-chic decor and rooftop solar panels, converted from a timber-frame warehouse from the 1840s. While not an official hut on the trail, the Stable Inn has become a base for many Heart of the Greens riders to unwind, or bookend their bikepacking journey with jaunts to the village's quaint art centres and shops.

"[The loop is] a very strategic, positive thing," says MacKay. "People always want to have access to the backcountry, in a safe way, with the benediction of the community that is providing services. It's a complete win-win."

Ups and downs in the Green Mountains

I know Vermont well and have bike-toured widely, but this is harder than I expected.

On asphalt, a 38-mile ride makes for a pleasant afternoon. The Heart of the Greens is far more demanding – and adventurous. Rugged roads lead to mountain bike trails, which scissor their way up the alpine forest.

The first day, I coast south along Route 100 and turn onto State Garage Road, into a residential area. Houses disappear beyond the canopy, and I huff up one shelf of road, then another. All at once, the road transforms into steep gravel. I grind past the Spikehorn Yurt, the Loop's first hut, a rounded fabric enclosure with bunkbeds, a futon, homey furniture and a spacious terrace with views of the mountains. The route then devolves into two dirt tyre trenches cutting through the grass – what mountain bikers call "double track". My temples pound as I climb. Summer mosquitoes drone in the sultry air.

After a couple of gruelling miles, the road finally descends, and so do the conditions. Logging lorries have shredded the ground into potting soil, my wheels sink into a mire of turned earth and broken branches. As I struggle, another cyclist pulls up behind me.

"This is crazy, isn't it?" he wheezes. "I don't think I'd have made it if I wasn't on an e-bike."

I can't help but agree. The grades are tough on my middle-aged thighs, and I frequently dismount and push. I got a late start to begin with, and as I reach the third major trail section of the day – a mile of switchbacks cheekily named "Perspiration" – my legs boil with lactic acid, and the Sun melts beyond the ridge. This is how I come to arrive at Chittenden Brook Campground after nightfall. I pitch my tent onto the cold ground and gaze longingly at the modern hut before me.

Riding high

After a decent night's sleep, I finally hit my stride. I sail down the smooth pavement of Route 73 and pedal through the pastoral scenery of the quiet, unpaved Bingo Brook Road. Dense trees all around, I pass occasional farmhouses and cottages, but most of this land is national forest. Fog lifts over a pond, and the air is cool and quiet.

I try to imagine what the Velomont will look like in future decades. The Heart of the Greens now passes through just two village centres with a loose string of businesses straddling Route 100. As the Velomont expands, it will tether together more towns and country shops, making it easier for cyclists to resupply and interact with locals. Bikepackers will traverse ever-more-varied terrain and, like me, stop in towns they might never notice by car.

"You're camping, but you're not really camping," says Georgia Grzywacz, a Maine resident who rode the loop and stayed at the Chittenden Brook Hut in June. She appreciated the kitchen, electricity and bunk mattresses, as well as the nearby brook. "You're without running water, but you have these creature comforts." Even the booking process was easy: "The [Vermont Huts] website is so navigable."

I veer off Bingo Brook Road to find a final trailhead. Two mountains remain, totalling 12 miles (19km) and more than 2,000ft (609m) of climbing, but this time, I'm prepared. Teeth clenched, I grind my way up the switchbacks of Swan's Mill Trail, fighting for every foot of elevation.

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At last, my reward: Tunnel Ridge is a five-mile-long (8km) flow trail that snakes its way back down to Rochester, for a total of 110 switchbacks. My tyres shudder over washboard terrain and swerve around S-curves. I choke the brakes, my saddlebags bounce noisily over my rear rack. The forest becomes a wash of brown and green. Gravity lures me downward, into the valley. Endorphins flood my brain as I drift into The Stable Inn's parking lot, back to my waiting car.

I'm euphoric but exhausted. For now, I'm closing the loop. But in time, there should be many miles, and many huts, more. And I'll be ready.

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Ministry of Defence denies military jet caused air traffic failure

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpd02zyzy50o, yesterday

The Ministry of Defence has denied a report that a military aircraft was to blame for an air traffic control system failure that caused widespread travel chaos earlier this week.

A flight plan submitted by a British military aircraft caused the outage, which led to the cancellation of more than 2,000 flights, the Financial Times reported on Friday, citing sources familiar with the incident.

The data entry caused a glitch in the system operated by National Air Traffic Services (Nats) on Tuesday, which took hours to restart, according to the newspaper.

A Ministry of Defence (MoD) spokesperson said: "We do not believe there's any indication of an error on the part of the military.

"Because it's subject to a live Nats investigation, which is expected to conclude next week, it would be inappropriate for us to comment any further while that investigation is ongoing."

A spokesperson for Nats - in which the government has a controlling interest - said it was still investigating the cause of the glitch and that it "would be wrong to speculate while that work continues".

Hundreds of thousands of people are thought to have been affected across two days of end-of-summer travel chaos after the system went down for four hours on Tuesday.

Flights in and out of the UK's main airports were affected, including Heathrow, Gatwick, Luton and Glasgow.

While Nats is expected to report back on its own investigation on Wednesday, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander has also ordered an independent probe by the Civil Aviation Authority.

The watchdog said earlier this week that passengers were unlikely to be entitled to compensation after would-be travellers told the BBC of nightmare delays and waylaid holiday plans.

Airlines are not necessarily liable to compensate passengers for disruption caused by air traffic control.

After meeting the head of Nats, Alexander said a cyber-attack could be ruled out but added: "I do not believe this issue was unavoidable."

Nats has apologised for its third major technical fault in three years, after a computer shutdown over the August bank holiday caused travel chaos for 700,000 people in 2023 and smaller outage in 2025 caused 150 flight cancellations.

Nats is a public-private partnership, with the government holding the controlling stake of 49%. The rest is split between a group of UK airlines including BA, easyJet and Virgin Atlantic, as well as Heathrow and Nats staff.

Mayors fear tourism tax would put visitors off

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyk6rz45myo, 2 days ago

Elected mayors in East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire say they have no plans to introduce a tourist tax.

Under new government plans, regional mayors in England would have the power to introduce a charge on overnight accommodation stays.

It would be an uncapped fee as a percentage of the cost of hotels, bed and breakfasts and other types of accommodation, and the money could go towards improving high streets and local transport, the government said.

But Luke Campbell, mayor of Hull and East Yorkshire, said his "instinct" was not to implement it, while Greater Lincolnshire's Dame Andrea Jenkyns said she did not want to drive visitors away.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Reform UK's Campbell said he was not keen on the tax, although he added he "would never rule out an idea forever".

"I support mayors having the power because every region is different and we know our own areas best, but having the power doesn't mean you have to use it," he said.

"I've spoken directly to people running tourism and hospitality businesses here and I understand why they're worried.

"They're already dealing with enough pressure, so my instinct is not to add another cost for visitors or businesses."

Fellow Reform mayor Dame Andrea said the tax could put people off visiting the area.

"I can see how our hospitality industry has been, quite frankly, hammered over the years - the B&Bs, the hotels, the pubs and restaurants," she said.

"I do not want to drive out people from visiting our region, so I will not be implementing it."

The planned legislation will go before Parliament soon.

Listen to highlights from Hull and East Yorkshire and from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, and watch the latest episode of Look North.

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Airport runway project delayed until 2028

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3d7ryv43r9o, 2 days ago

A major project to rebuild Alderney Airport's ageing runway has been delayed by at least a year, with construction now expected to begin in 2028 rather than 2027.

The delay comes despite politicians approving up to £24m for the scheme in February, when the States of Guernsey had hoped work could start in 2027.

Policy and Resources said further design work was needed after receiving regulatory advice and feedback from the States of Alderney.

The committee said: "Consequently, the design work means that the anticipated milestones set out in the January 2026 policy letter have been revised to reflect this delay, ultimately meaning that construction is now anticipated in 2028, rather than 2027."

The original timetable had envisaged the invitation to tender being issued in March 2026, with the process completed by June.

However, the process has not yet been completed because additional design work is required before construction contracts can be put out to tender, the committee said in a written response to questions from Representative Alexander Snowdon.

Officials said the revised plans would retain the runway's existing width of 18m instead of increasing it to the regulatory standard of 23 metres, a move they said should deliver significant savings. They explained that the approach was being pursued "for the collective financial benefit".

The committee said it was still working towards delivering the project within the current £24m delegated authority, although it warned the budget must also cover costs such as alternative transport and medical evacuation arrangements during construction.

No final completion date has been set. The committee said: "No definitive timeline for the completion of the project can be provided until the contract has been awarded and early contractor engagement has commenced."

Officials said they remained committed to carrying out the work "as soon as is practically possible and at the lowest possible costs, without compromising safety in the meantime".

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Rifugio Capanna Regina Margherita: An icy 4,554m hike to Europe's highest overnight stay

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20260902-rifugio-capanna-regina-margherita-the-hike-to-europes-highest-overnight-stay, 5 days ago

You can sleep over at this historic mountain refuge straddling the Italy-Switzerland border – but only if you're willing to undertake a days-long, high-altitude icy mountain trek.

I'm roped to four strangers, concentrating on the light cast by my headtorch, as I wend my way through the icy labyrinth of crevasses tearing across the Alpine Lys Glacier. We've been here since 05:00, tugging each other ever higher up the Monte Rosa mountain massif towards the highest altitude building in Europe.

We've just reached a giant mountain bowl filled with clouds of snow. The milky blue twilight fades to the soft glow of dawn. Our guide squints into the distance.

"Up on that ridge" he says, "Do you see it? That's the Margherita refuge." I can't see anything, but the peak he's pointing towards is so sheer sided that I'm convinced he must be mistaken. We press on and, by midday finally arrive at the summit, 4,554m (14,941ft) above sea level. The crystal frosted world of the Punta Gnifetti peak is revealed.

I can see the refuge now. I gasp.

Somewhat resembling a giant tin can, the narrow three-storey metal building is not so much built onto the mountain as it is balanced on the edge of a precipice. On one side is a steeply falling snow slope and on the other, there's just a vertical kilometre of thin air.

This is Rifugio Capanna Regina Margherita; the highest building in Europe. And it's where I'm supposed to sleep tonight.

A refuge fit for a queen

Sharing the Alpine border between Italy and Switzerland, the Monte Rosa massif contains some of the highest peaks in the Alps, including Monte Rosa itself, which at 4,634m (15,203ft) is behind only Mont Blanc. Punta Gnifetti (also called Signalkuppe) comes in sixth. It's here where an Italian scientific research facility and mountaineers' shelter was constructed and named for the then-queen of Italy, Margherita of Savoy. The queen, famed for her adventurous, athletic nature, insisted on climbing to the refuge herself for its 1893 inauguration and spending the night.

More than a century later, the refuge still supports scientific research while also operating as a mountain hut (rifugio) offering rustic accommodation and thrilling panoramic views. Hiking the massif's eternal winter landscapes has become a popular trek in its own right. Roughly 30,000 hikers summit the peak each year and 4,000 stay overnight, ready like me – and Queen Margherita – to say they've slept in the continent's highest beds.

I opted for a three-day guided hike, which requires crampons and ropes. As a frequent hiker, this didn't faze me. If anything worried me, it was the altitude. The hike to the refuge involves a dramatic gain in altitude, from 1,200 to 4,554m (3937 to 14,941ft) in just two days, so steady acclimatisation is essential.

More than 4,000m into the air

My journey began a day earlier in the Italian mountain village of Alagna Valsesia, at the slopes of the Monte Rosa massif – the literal end of the paved road before the mountainous ascent. From here, a series of cable-car rides whizzed me uphill to Punta Indren, (3,275m/ 10,745ft) where I met my guide and the four other members of our climbing group.

Since we were all still acclimatising, our first day involved little more than an hour's hiking across rock and ice to where we would spend our first night, the Rifugio Città di Mantova (3,498m/ 11,476ft), a large wooden mountain refuge set just below the start of the Lys Glacier. There was a marked difference in temperature from Alagna Valsesia, but by wrapping up warm from the biting wind, I could enjoy the panoramic terrace with views of the green valley far below.

Despite the stunning setting, I slept fitfully – due, I suspect, to excitement about the coming day's 1,000m (3,281ft) ascent and my body adjusting to the altitude. It was almost a relief when the alarm went off at 04:00 and we crawled out of our beds. We strapped the crampons onto our boots to prevent sliding on the glacial ice and roped ourselves up together – just in case someone slipped into a crevasse.

We set out over the glacier and, after an hour or so of hauling ourselves through a spiderweb of crevasses, cleared a ridge and trudged across the mountain bowl. Behind us, dawn clouds bubbled in the valleys and ahead stood the walls of 4,000m (13,123ft) peaks.

Despite the drama of the Alpine scenery, this middle section of the hike was considerably easier than traversing the steep, ruptured and torn up glacier crossing. Before I knew it, we were starting the final haul up to the refuge.

Although I've never suffered major ill effects from altitude, I do struggle with vertigo. As we zig-zagged sharply up the summit cone, teetering alongside a ridge that fell away into the haze, I began feeling the unmistakable dizzy sensation kicking in and, instead of taking in the view, concentrated on where I was placing my feet. But when I next raised my head, we had made it.

The vertigo eased as I stepped out onto the snowy dome. Fold after fold of mountain peaks sparkling with icy crowns stretched out around me – and the refuge itself. I was exhausted. But would I be able to sleep in what was easily one of the most hair-raising buildings I had ever seen?

The highest sleep in Europe

Once inside, the refuge felt more like a safe cocoon, and it was easy to forget how precarious our situation was. A dining room took up almost the entirety of the ground floor while the upper two were filled with dormitory-style beds which, the night of my stay, were completely booked. I dropped my backpack onto one of the bunks and headed downstairs to order a frothy bowl of cioccolato caldo (hot chocolate) topped with a dollop of Chantilly cream.

As I savoured the drink, I fell into conversation with Tommaso Bagnati, one of the refuge's four wardens, who told me how the weather conditions can bring the reality of living on the top of Europe into stark focus.

"When there's a big storm the building shakes a bit and you can feel very small," he said. "If there's a thunderstorm it can feel like you're right in the middle of it. All our supplies are delivered by helicopter, so when the weather is very bad and the helicopters can't fly, you can feel a bit cut off from the world."

As I sat down to dinner, a weather front rolled across the mountains. The refuge became blanketed in clouds and sleet splattered against the windows. Sitting next to me at the communal dining table was Chinese YouTuber Jianpeng Cui, who told me that despite the "end of the world" feel to the place, he was pleasantly surprised.

"I thought there'd only be a bed," he said. "No toilet. No kitchen. But it's not at all like that. I can even buy pizza and juice up here!"

I was relieved that altitude sickness had missed me this time. But not everyone was so lucky. Mikhail Morozov, whom I met on his way down from the summit, had suffered headaches and nausea. "Coping with the altitude was the hardest part," he said. "I wasn't acclimatised and you go up very fast. After a couple of hours, the altitude started to hit me hard."

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Life in the Rifugio Capanna Regina Margherita – as with all mountain huts – is very communal. Sleeping at high altitude in a cramped dormitory with seven or eight strangers, sharing two toilets with no shower, means you get far cosier than you perhaps want. But the shared effort of reaching the refuge also creates an easy camaraderie.

"The best part for me has been meeting people from all over the world who have come here to climb the mountain," said Craig Shaw, a New Zealander living in Switzerland. "Seeing all these different nationalities together in this refuge is just phenomenal".

Perhaps the real magic of this mountain is not just its ability to support a crazily positioned refuge. It's an ability to bring people together.

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Lake Ontario/Lake America: What happens when a place has two different names?

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20260908-lake-ontariolake-america-what-happens-when-a-place-has-two-different-names, 6 days ago

Open the same map in the US and Canada and you may see two different names for the same lake. So, who decides what a place is really called?

Open Google Maps in Toronto and you may see one name for a place. Open it in New York and you may see another. Increasingly, the map in your pocket can depend on where you're standing.

That is what's happening with Lake Ontario, the smallest of the Great Lakes that lie on the US-Canadian border. After President Trump ordered the US government to rename it "Lake America" following failed trade talks between the two nations this summer, the lake began appearing under different names on different maps.

But changing a name on a government database doesn't necessarily change what the rest of the world calls it. From digital maps to tourism organisations and local communities, the Lake Ontario dispute shows how complicated it can be to rename a place – and who ultimately decides which name sticks.

Who decides what goes on a map?

Unsurprisingly, Canada has not entertained a change. In the US, the modification began with the federal Geographic Names Information System (GNIS), the database used to standardise geographic names for federal use. Trump's executive order required "Lake America" to be added to the system and the former moniker removed.

Google reflected the change in line with its long-standing policy of using official government naming sources, meaning US viewers now see "Lake America" while Canadian viewers continue to see "Lake Ontario". Apple Maps has also adopted the new name after pressure from Trump.

But private mapping companies are not legally required to follow the federal designation. MapQuest, best known for being one of the earliest digital mapping tools, has refused to adopt the new name – and its refusal subsequently propelled MapQuest to number one overall on Apple's US App Store, with the company saying it had recorded more than 1.5 million installs across the US and Canada since the executive order was issued.

"MapQuest focused on maintaining a name that people are familiar with," said Doug Berger, general manager at MapQuest. "When people need directions, they seek familiarity. It was an easy decision."

What's in a name?

The differing responses show how a federal name change can quickly produce multiple versions of the same geography.

Oswego County in New York, which borders the lake, has chosen to retain Lake Ontario in its official and business materials, citing the historical significance of the name and expense to taxpayers and business owners for the cost of rebranding.

The Seneca Nation also issued a statement opposing the action, citing the indigenous roots of the lake's name and the lake's history in Indigenous diplomacy.

"In our traditional Seneca language, its name is sga:nyodai:yoh, meaning 'beautiful lake'," said J Conrad Seneca, Seneca Nation President. "To us, Lake Ontario is not a political pawn. It does not separate the countries of the United States and Canada. It is all Indigenous land, which has been occupied by Indigenous people since time immemorial."

When two names coexist

But beyond the US and Canada, the impact of the name change may be limited. "The naming of bodies of water typically falls within national jurisdictions," explained Taufiq Rahim, senior fellow at non-partisan think tank New America and author of Trump 2.5: A Primer. "While there are international bodies like the IHO [International Hydrographic Organization], they do not have any authority to adjudicate disputes and typically when there is a dispute, two or multiple names can be used."

A longstanding example is the dispute over "Persian Gulf" and "Arabian Gulf". Persian Gulf remains the standard name used by the UN, the IHO and most world atlases, while Arab states bordering the waterway – including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman – generally use Arabian Gulf and have encouraged allies to do so as well since the 1960s.

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• Where are all the Canadians going?

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A more recent example is Trump's January 2025 decision to rename the Gulf of Mexico the "Gulf of America". The new name was adopted on US federal maps and by some digital mapping services, while Mexico and international users continued to encounter "Gulf of Mexico" or both names. In Mobile, Alabama, the National Maritime Museum of the Gulf of Mexico had only recently spent nearly $100,000 (£74,000) rebranding when the federal name changed, leaving it with a newly minted identity tied to a now-disputed place name.

At the time, its director told BBC Travel that another name change would require "a complete redo of the entire museum" and that she would follow the lead of city officials. Its website now identifies it simply as the National Maritime Museum of the Gulf.

A similar issue is now playing out on the US side of Lake Ontario. The Lake Ontario National Marine Sanctuary, a federally designated protected area covering 1,722 sq miles (4,460 sq km) of waters and lakebed along the eastern New York shoreline, is retaining its name. The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, which comanages the sanctuary with New York State, says in a statement that the executive order applies to federal references to the lake itself but did not change the sanctuary's separately designated name. The agency is updating its materials to refer to the lake as "Lake America", while the sanctuary remains the Lake Ontario National Marine Sanctuary.

A diplomatic wedge

The organisational and financial burden of the name change will likely fall on the United States and its taxpayers. "This adds another unnecessary line to US expenses which in total can exceed hundreds of millions of dollars annually," said Usha Haley, Barton Distinguished Chair in International Business at Wichita State University. "People have to divert time, another important resource, to manage these changes for different audiences."

While the change will have practical impacts, it's the symbolic implications that will likely have the most lasting effects. "Geographic naming becomes a proxy for sovereignty and power. It's geopolitical signalling on who controls national and bi-lateral narratives," said Haley. "The downstream symbolic and diplomatic consequences of a name change such as this can be much larger than the immediate commercial calculations."

The change is likely to continue the erosion of diplomatic trust between Canada and the US, says Haley, hindering a weakening trading relationship between the two nations. Canada has long been a top destination for US exports, and the third-largest source of US imports, following Mexico and China. She said that symbolic disputes like this can become proxies for larger conflicts.

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'Everything about her was East Tennessee': The places that shaped Dolly Parton

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20260902-the-places-that-shaped-dolly-parton, 9 days ago

From her Appalachian childhood to Nashville and Dollywood, a journey through the Tennessee she loved – and transformed in return.

On a sunny day on 24 June 2026, hundreds of travellers, locals and Dolly Parton fans from across the US gathered in the small rural community of Cornersville, less than an hour's drive south of Nashville, for the unveiling of her Tennessean Travel Stop. It was the country star's last public appearance before her death just two months later.

Wearing her signature fringe and rhinestones and a grin as bright as that Tennessee morning, Parton cut the ribbon and welcomed travellers to the new roadside stop, complete with a Southern meat-and-three restaurant, live music and – of course – a Dolly-themed gift shop.

It was a fitting final chapter for an artist whose life and career were inseparable from Tennessee. From crooning about the Smoky Mountains to investing in rural East Tennessee where she grew up, Parton spent decades sharing her home state with the world – and transforming it in return.

Explore Parton's Tennessee mountain home

In 1964, US President Lyndon B Johnson launched the War on Poverty, a federal effort to reduce poverty and expand economic opportunity across the United States. Southern Appalachia, one of the nation's poorest regions, was thrust into the national spotlight. Media portrayals often depicted its residents as backward and destitute, reinforcing the caricature of the "hillbilly", a stereotype that had persisted since the 19th Century.

But when Dolly Rebecca Parton came into the spotlight, this daughter of Appalachia who grew up in a two-room cabin with 11 brothers and sisters offered the world a different view of her home: one of joy, dignity and talent.

"Dolly Parton told a new story about Appalachia that was rooted in her very particular experience," said Dr Jessie Wilkerson, a history professor and Appalachian scholar at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. "Yes, her family was poor, but they weren't desperate or hopeless, and they took care of one another. There was a lot of love and beauty in the place where she grew up, and so we get a different story about Appalachia through her."

In the title track of her 1973 album, My Tennessee Mountain Home, Parton describes her Appalachian home as "peaceful as a baby's sigh". The landscape around her childhood home on the edge of the Great Smoky Mountains, along with Appalachia's storytelling traditions and bluegrass heritage, inspired much of Parton's music.

In Great Smoky Mountains National Park, a blue-grey mist that gives the Smokies its name settles over the peaks and valleys and waterfalls tumble through the forest. The 522,000-acre expanse is threaded with hiking trails and scenic overlooks, with autumn bringing a canvas of brilliant jewel tones and spring a kaleidoscope of wildflowers to the lower slopes. The landscape was a reoccurring muse, from the mountain blooms that inspired her 1987 ballad Wildflowers to the fog-covered peaks evoked in Blue Smoke, the title track of her 2014 album, and the pastoral idyll captured in My Tennessee Mountain Home.

In nearby Sevierville, the main town serving rural Locust Ridge, where Parton grew up, the region's pride in its local legend is evident. A bronze statue on the courthouse lawn depicts her as a young girl playing guitar. Down the street is the Wings of Wander mural, inspired by her hit song Love Is Like a Butterfly, and the Red's Cafe mural, another larger-than-life depiction of Parton as a child, this time getting a cheeseburger from her favourite childhood restaurant.

"People in East Tennessee really, really adore her, and it's something that's been important for the region to have someone who's really proud of coming from there, and who's a positive representation of Appalachia, when historically the representations of the region are the opposite," Wilkerson said.

Retracing Parton's path in Nashville

On the day Parton graduated from high school in 1964, she boarded a Greyhound bus headed west for the neon lights of Nashville. In a letter home shortly after arriving, feeling homesick and uncertain, she wrote, "Nashville isn't what I thought it was gonna be, but I think I'll like it once I get used to it."

"When she came to Nashville, she came with a very distinct East Tennessee identity and made that very clear in both her music and her accent," said Robert K Oermann, co-author of her memoir Dolly Parton: Songteller, My Life in Lyrics and a longtime collaborator. "Everything about her was East Tennessee and mountain, and I think that was the message she brought to Nashville."

Nashville looks very different today from when Parton first stepped off that bus 62 years ago, but visitors can still trace Parton's path from her early days fresh out of Sevier County to her rise as a country music icon who never lost the Appalachian sound of home even as she became one of Nashville's biggest stars.

On Music Row, the city's historic record-industry district, visitors can step inside RCA Studio B where a blue X marks "The Sweet Spot" where Parton recorded hits including Jolene and I Will Always Love You – both of which she wrote on the same day. Nearby, the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum is featuring Dolly Parton: Journey of a Seeker, an exhibition spanning her career and featuring memorabilia like her Gibson five-string banjo and handwritten music drafts. A few blocks away, the historic Ryman Auditorium is where a 13-year-old Parton made her Grand Ole Opry debut in 1959 and earned three encores.

Murals of Parton dot the city in her honour, museum exhibits display her stage costumes and in the wake of her passing, fans have left flowers on her star on the Music City Walk of Fame.

Visiting Parton's Appalachia

Nashville, however, was never the end of Parton's journey. The further her career carried her from the mountains to Nashville and eventually Hollywood, the more firmly she seemed to plant her roots at the centre of her story. In 1982, she told Barbara Walters in an interview about her dream of opening a "mountain Disneyland" in her Appalachian home region.

More like this:

• How Dolly Parton told her life story through six iconic songs

• How Dolly Parton became one of the world's best-loved stars

• How Dolly Parton became a fashion icon

Today, that "mountain Disneyland" is Dollywood, a major tourist destination in Sevier County that invites visitors into the version of Appalachia Parton spent her career sharing with the world. Beyond the thrill rides and water park are shows featuring Parton's music, some performed by members of her own family. But to Parton, Dollywood was also a way to give back to the mountains and the community that nurtured her.

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'You're not to think you're anything special': Why Swedes hate standing out

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20260901-jantelagen-why-swedes-hate-to-stand-out, 10 days ago

Swedes prize equality, dislike boasting and are famously reluctant to stand out – yet they're also fiercely individualistic and know how to celebrate. The century-old idea of Jantelagen helps explain these contradictions, and offers visitors a fascinating key to decoding Swedish culture.

As an utlandssvensk – a Swede who grew up abroad – I've always been fascinated by the unwritten rules that shape Swedish social life. I once got to chatting with a fellow Swede at a party. It was 4 July, and we discussed why our country didn't celebrate its national day as fervently as Americans. No fireworks, no parades – how come?

"Well, it would be fairly embarrassing wouldn't it?" she said. "All that self-celebration. It's a bit over-the-top," she added, lowering her voice, as if there was an American hovering inches away from our table.

As she explained, setting off fireworks for your nation (and therefore yourself) smacks of back-patting and ostentatiousness – two things that are anathema to much of Scandinavia. When I complimented my companion on how well she'd outlined the issue, she looked askance and waved my praise away like a bad smell. "No, please. That's just my little opinion, of course."

A modest code of conduct

To understand this aversion to basking in even the smallest of spotlights, many Swedes point to Jantelagen, or the Law of Jante: an unwritten social code embedded across Scandinavia that prizes humility, equality and not placing yourself above others.

The term comes from Danish-Norwegian author Aksel Sandemose's satirical 1933 novel A Fugitive Crosses His Tracks, set in the fictional town of Jante. Sandemose used Jante to skewer the conformism of small-town Scandinavian life, laying out 10 "laws" designed to put anyone who considered themselves exceptional firmly back in their place.

Rules such as "you're not to think you're anything special" and "you're not to think you're smarter than [anyone else]" leave the reader with a deliberately bruised ego – and that's the point.

Swedish actor Alexander Skarsgård even highlighted Jantelagen on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert as the reason he hides his acting awards, to avoid being seen as boastful.

Nearly a century on, Sandemose's laws remain memorable and highly quotable, helping Jantelagen endure as cultural shorthand.

Stefan Dahlberg, a professor of political science at Mid Sweden University, has written a paper on Jantelagen's modern legacy. He sees the rules less as firm laws governing Swedish behaviour. Instead, he explains, "they are better understood as a cultural shorthand for a set of familiar norms […] that you can recognise in everyday Swedish interaction. Status differences tend to be played down, social relations are relatively informal and conspicuous self-promotion can be viewed negatively."

Visitors to Sweden will likely see this in action when chatting to locals. Compliment a Swede on their English, for example, and they may quickly play it down – switching to Swedish and muttering, "Äsch, det är ju inte flytande…" (Shucks, it's not like it's fluent…). Sandemose would be proud.

The qualities can also be seen in everyday Swedish rituals, from Fredagsmys – unpretentious "cosy Fridays" with friends or family – to Lördagsgodis ("Saturday-candy") that's practiced by parents as the one day that kids can unleash their sweet tooth after a week of modest abstention.

That doesn't mean that Jantelagen functions as a literal rulebook – or identically across Scandinavia. Dahlberg's study of Jantelagen in Norway, a geographical and cultural neighbour, found the average respondent tended to disagree with the Jante statements. After all, Dahlberg explains, Sandemose invented the list as a scathing takedown of conformity. "So there are really two things mixed together in the concept: an egalitarian idea that nobody is inherently better than anyone else, and a more negative pressure not to distinguish yourself too much."

Jante's mirror image

Jantelagen has another, less obvious side. In a culture where seeking the limelight is usually frowned upon, Swedish reserve can disappear at parties when a tradition of snappsvisor (increasingly risqué songs belted out while drinking heroic amounts of aquavit) and performative speeches create safe social spaces to open up. So, while Jantelagen is often used as a reasoning for Swedish reserve and diffidence, it can also reveal the inverse.

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As Dahlberg notes, "'Don't think you are better than anyone else' can be read in the opposite direction: don't assume that somebody is better than you simply because they are richer, more successful or have a more prestigious title."

With so much bubbling under the surface, Sweden can feel deceptively complex. Luckily, there are classes designed to help mystified foreigners. Yvonne Gossner runs Learn Swedish Culture AB – and business is booming. "I realised there was a big demand for practical insights into Swedish culture, especially for foreigners trying to navigate life here," she says. "Many felt lost or misunderstood in everyday settings, or even when trying to make Swedish friends."

Case in point: a South American client once arrived at a Swedish woman's party an hour late, carrying a big dish of food as a surprise. The hostess "was not pleased" as the guests had already eaten, and the immodestly large, late-coming dish was left untouched in a bedroom. Swedes, Gossner says, place a high value on punctuality and politeness; if you're invited to a Swede's house, she suggests sending a post-party message of thanks.

"There is even a Swedish joke: 'Don't forget to send a thank-you note for the thank-you note'," she adds. An unasked-for dish can risk looking like a statement that "my food is better than yours", while failing to acknowledge someone's politeness can jar the sense of social balance.

Cracking the Swedish ice

Lola Akinmade Åkerström, a Nigerian-American author, travel writer and photographer who moved to Sweden more than 15 years ago, was initially "a bit floored by the unspoken ethos" of Jantelagen, as well as the contradictory layers of national character.

"Sweden is the most open society, run by the most private people," she says. If you want to deeply discomfit a Swede, she advises, just make eye contact on a quiet train, and hit them with "Hi! How you doing?" Yet they're not being cold, just respectful of the idea that no one should impose themselves on a stranger's space.

That preference for understatement extends beyond social interactions. Travel through the countryside and you can see it reflected in the nation's beloved summer houses. "I think Swedes hold the world record in the number of summer houses per capita – around half the population has access to one," says Orvar Löfgren, professor emeritus of ethnology at Lund University. Yet these are rarely flashy second homes; instead, they reflect rustic, rural values, even among wealthy owners. (Don't think your cabin is better than other cabins, Sandemose might say.)

While in Sweden, visitors might also notice small Swedish flags on birthday cakes, supermarket products and during student celebrations. "Swedes who love to see themselves as non-nationalistic are actually good at waving the flag," says Löfgren.

And despite their quiet reputation, "Swedes are great at celebrating," he adds. Christmas, Easter, Midsummer, birthdays, and student exams are celebrated "with more intensity than in most European countries". You could say these occasions showcase Swedes at their best – not that they'd put it so boastfully, of course.

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Six places in the US where you can sleep at a drive-in

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20260902-six-us-drive-ins-where-you-can-stay-the-night, 11 days ago

From retro 1950s properties to modern glamping sites, these places are reviving one of the US's most enduring pastimes – and offering travellers one last classic summer experience.

At the Frontier Drive-Inn, there are no televisions in the guest rooms. Instead, as the property rather cheekily puts it, the biggest TV in southern Colorado is right outside your door.

That would be the outdoor screen left over from the Frontier's first life as a drive-in cinema, which opened in 1955 and went dark three decades later. Today, the former cinema anchors a retro-inspired hotel where guests sleep in Quonset-style yurts and vintage trailers, then gather outside for films beneath the famously dark skies of the San Luis Valley.

As Labor Day (7 September) approaches, the Frontier and other properties like it are providing a fresh take on one of the US's most enduring warm-weather pastimes – and offering one last classic summer experience before the season winds down.

For generations of Americans, drive-ins have been inseparable from summer. The country's first drive-in opened in 1933, but they exploded after WWII, when rising car ownership, suburban expansion and the baby boom helped push their number to nearly 5,000 by the late 1950s, according to April Wright, a drive-in historian and director of Going Attractions: The Definitive Story of the American Drive-In Movie in which she visits roughly 500 open, abandoned or former drive-in sites.

"Going to the drive-in was just something you did every summer," Wright said.

Though their heyday may have passed, Wright says the appeal of drive-ins isn't purely nostalgic. Plenty of younger visitors are experiencing them for the first time, drawn to the fact that a night at the drive-in is as much about the ritual around the film as the film itself.

"What it's always been about, and what it is still about today, is spending time with friends and family, and creating an experience," Wright said.

Now, a handful of hotels, motels and campgrounds around the US are turning that experience into an overnight stay. Some have revived long-shuttered drive-ins, while others let guests sleep within sight of giant screens that have been showing films for decades. At these properties, film night doesn't end with the final credits.

Frontier Drive-Inn – Center, Colorado

When the Frontier was redeveloped, its original 1950s screen and roadside sign were among the few pieces of the old drive-in still standing – and both have been preserved.

Luke Falcone, co-owner of Frontier, said the screen had survived decades of the San Luis Valley's harsh weather and was too important to the site's history to lose. "When doing historic preservation projects, if you come across something that isn't broken, you've hit the jackpot," he said.

Despite the name, the Frontier is no longer a traditional drive-in: guests don't pull up in their cars, but settle into lawn chairs or onto blankets to watch fan-favourite films under the stars. "By bringing folks out of their rooms (and cars), we provide an entirely different experience that we can all bond over," Falcone said. The programming leans into nostalgic cult classics, while the accommodation is decidedly modern.

Best Western Movie Manor – Monte Vista, Colorado

About 15 miles (24km) from the Frontier, the Best Western Movie Manor takes the drive-in hotel idea one step further: guests can watch from bed.

The motel was built beside The Star Drive-In Theatre, which opened in 1955 as drive-ins were booming across the US, and many rooms face one of its two screens through large picture windows, with the film's audio piped inside. Each room is named after a movie star, from Cary Grant to Robert De Niro, and guests can also head outside and watch from their cars. More than 70 years after The Star first lit up, it still shows films seasonally (generally from spring to the end of September).

Sutherlin/Umpqua Valley KOA Holiday – Sutherlin, Oregon

The Sutherlin/Umpqua Valley KOA Holiday campground occupies the former Cloverleaf Drive-In, where the original 100ft (30m) screen survived long after the cinema itself closed. When the current owner bought the property in 2006, they chose to keep the screen and eventually added a digital projector and FM transmitter, bringing films back to the site.

Today, films are shown most weekends. Some RV sites sit directly in front of the screen (or have private patios angled towards it), allowing guests to watch from their rigs and tune into the film over their radios, much as they would at a traditional drive-in. Tent campers and guests in the rest of the RV sites can bring chairs or blankets to a grassy viewing area just in front of the screen, where the sound plays aloud.

Hotel Caravana at Four Brothers Drive-In – Amenia, New York

Unlike most of the places on this list, Four Brothers isn't a survivor from the golden age of the silver screen. The Hudson Valley theatre opened in 2013, reviving the format decades after thousands of its predecessors had disappeared. Since then, the family-run property has added mini-golf, fire pits and Hotel Caravana, where guests can sleep in vintage trailers within the drive-in grounds or even pitch their own tent.

Ofland Escalante – Escalante, Utah

Set along Scenic Byway 12 in southern Utah, Ofland Escalante occupies a former drive-in site within Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Guests spend the day hiking, exploring slot canyons or visiting nearby Bryce Canyon and Capitol Reef national parks, then return in time for the nightly film. "The movie starts just after dusk and it anchors the whole evening," said Noah Ellis, CEO of Ofland Hotels. "It's a key amenity, not an add-on."

The old drive-in comes with its own fleet of vintage cars – including a 1957 Chevrolet and Ford Thunderbird – that are parked facing the screen. Guests grab complimentary popcorn and classic sweets from the concession stand, choose a car and settle in beneath the desert sky.

"The site was a drive-in long before it was a hotel, so keeping actual cars in the mix mattered to us," Ellis said. "There's something about a row of vintage cars, climbing in with a bag of popcorn, that stays with people." Overnight options range from modernised vintage Airstreams to a variety of cabins.

Tiger Drive-In – Tiger, Georgia

Tucked into the mountains of north-eastern Georgia, the Tiger Drive-In first opened in 1954, went dark in the 1980s and then sat abandoned for roughly two decades. It returned to life in 2004, and today guests can stay after the movie in one of three vintage 1960s campervans parked on the drive-in grounds (each with a private deck facing the screen), or camp in a tent or RV.

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'The forgotten empire': When Russia colonised California

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20260828-when-russia-colonised-california, 14 days ago

For nearly 30 years, part of Sonoma was ruled by Tsarist Russia, and it played a pivotal – if little-known – role in shaping the US.

It's a pretty, two-hour drive north from San Francisco to Крѣпость Россъ.

After slicing through the Golden Gate fog, I wound past sunburnt vineyards to Sonoma's remote coast and rolled down the windows. To my left, California plummeted into the Pacific and seals barked from boulders cropping out of the foamy surf. To my right, cliffs rose sharply and titanic redwoods shot up from the road's switchbacks.

Suddenly, a lonely twin-domed chapel topped with Orthodox crosses appeared against the blue ocean. I got out and followed a footpath past a Cyrillic sign towards a wooden, frontier-like stronghold built 150ft (46m) atop a bluff hanging over the sea.

"Welcome to Fort Ross (Крѣпость Россъ), the southern edge of the Russian Empire," said Chris Kimsey, an archaeologist with California State Parks.

Every year, millions of travellers set out on the Pacific Coast Highway to twist and turn their way along, one of the US's most stunning roads, as it hugs the entire California coastline. But chances are, few of these road-trippers realise that hidden here on a secluded headland 90 miles (145km) north of San Francisco lies a relic from the days when part of California was ruled by Tsarist Russia.

I didn't, and judging by Fort Ross's eerie emptiness, it seems I'm not alone.

"Even most Californians don't know Russia once had a colony in California," Kent Lightfoot, an anthropologist at the University of California, Berkeley, later told me. "They all know about the Spanish and the Mexicans, but almost no one knows anything about the Russians being here. It's kind of like the forgotten empire."

While some Americans may recall that the US's largest state, Alaska, was part of Russia for nearly 70 years, the Russian Empire's only permanent overseas colony, known as Russian America, also extended into California from 1812-1842. In fact, Russians settled in California decades before newly independent Americans did.

Innovative and surprisingly cosmopolitan, Fort Ross (short for Rossiya, meaning "Russia") was intended to be a breadbasket for Russia's struggling Alaskan settlements, but it also became the source of hotly debated plans for Russian expansion across North America.

The beginning of Russian America

As European powers expanded west in the 1500s and 1600s, Russia expanded east. By the 1640s, Russian fur traders and mercenaries had swept their way across Siberia to reach the Pacific coast.

This rush led to permanent Russian settlements along Alaska's islands and coasts. In 1799, Tsar Paul I formalised the empire's Alaska claims by chartering the Russian-American Company. Modelled after the British East India Company, the for-profit venture didn't just control the fur trade; it now controlled all of Alaska as a corporate colony.

But there was a problem: while the company was growing rich on sea otter pelts, the colonists were growing hungry because they couldn't farm in much of Alaska's frozen landscape. So, the Russian settlers sailed south in search of warmer climates and Spanish trading partners.

California dreaming

In April 1806, with his colony stalked by starvation and his crew decimated by scurvy, Russian-American Company director Nikolai Rezanov steered the prow of his ship, the Juno, into San Francisco Bay. As the brig limped towards Spain's northernmost California settlement, a Spanish soldier grabbed a megaphone and demanded the strange vessel identify itself.

"Russia," a voice called back. It was a response the Spanish had been expecting for nearly 40 years.

Though Spain claimed all of California starting in 1542, it didn't actually occupy it until 1769, after getting word that Russian fur traders were rapidly moving east across the Alaskan islands. To prevent Russian and British advancement, Spain created a chain of presidios (military outposts) along the coast, starting with San Diego.

"The expansion of all of Alta [Upper] California, in many ways, was stimulated by the Russians," Lightfoot said. "The Spanish were nervous about the Russians coming south. So, the founding of San Diego, Santa Barbara, Monterey and San Francisco were a response to the Russians in Alaska."

During Rezanov's six-week stay in San Francisco, the 42-year-old statesman secured enough food from the Spanish to save the starving Alaskan colonists by getting engaged to the 15-year-old daughter of San Francisco's Spanish commandant. As he sailed back through the Golden Gate, Rezanov realised that the entire northern coast of California was undefended and far sunnier than Siberia or Alaska, so he hatched a plan to extend Russian America into California.

In 1812, after years of stealthily surveying the coast, 25 Russians and 80 Native Alaskan hunters settled on a shelf-like plateau overlooking the Pacific on what is now Sonoma County's rugged coast. Here, close enough to the area's abundant sea otter population but far enough from the Spanish Empire's sparsely guarded northern frontier, they lived in a Siberian-designed settlement hewn from California redwoods under the tsar's double-eagle flag.

Exploring Russian California

Today, Russia's far-flung California colony remains a solitary, surreal place. Set 12 miles (19km) from the nearest town or mobile phone service, the weathered wooden remnants of a once-bustling settlement open onto a 180-degree view of the sea. In two days at the 3,400-acre Fort Ross State Historic Park, I counted 14 other visitors, and except for the occasional chime from the St Nicholas chapel, the only noise breaking the stillness was the waves crashing below the bluff.

"There's a magical feel to Fort Ross," said Robin Joy Wellman, who worked as an interpreter with California State Parks for nearly 30 years. "It's something of a mystery, but once people discover it, they say it's one of the most beautiful places they've ever visited."

The site's dramatic setting straddles the San Andreas fault, and the same earthquake that flattened San Francisco in 1906 also levelled much of the original wooden outpost. But detailed displays of the partially reconstructed fortress paint a vivid picture of frontier life in Russia's wild, wild East.

The heart of the colony was the fort-like stockade, where a handful of high-ranking Russian soldiers, officers and company officials lived in barracks enclosed by a 12ft (3.6m) palisade. I followed Kimsey up the steps of two blockhouses armed with enough cannons to command the coast. He explained that while the Russians chose this natural overlook to defend against Spanish attacks, the two empires never actually clashed, and even depended on each other for survival.

"The Russians and the Spanish were at the very far edges of their overstretched empires. They both needed things the other side could provide, so they traded illicitly," Kimsey said.

In the warehouse, drying sea otter pelts worth $100 each (a year's salary for a Pennsylvania farmer at the time) destined for China, Europe and Spanish California would have hung from the rafters. Under the bulbous dome of one of the oldest Orthodox churches in the Western hemisphere, the little settlement gradually grew into a cosmopolitan colony, complete with banyas, bakeries and some 60 buildings.

"It was a bustling, pluralistic mercantile village, with lots of languages and people from different homelands living together," Lightfoot said. "The stockade was just the tip of the iceberg. The real action was outside."

Beyond the fort

As Kimsey and I walked out of the palisade, he explained that as the colony expanded to include nearly 400 people by the 1830s, it became one of the most diverse places in California – and virtually everyone there worked for the Russian-American Company.

Here, where the sloboda (village) once stood at the edge of the cape, paid Aleutian and Kodiak hunters lived with Native California women, mixed-race Russian and European Creoles married local Kashaya Pomo and Coast Miwok workers and people were buried next to each other at the Old Russian Cemetery up the hillside.

Compared to other European colonies, it was also largely tolerant. "The Russians didn't come here to 'civilise' like the Spanish," said Kimsey, who serves as the tribal liaison for the area's Native communities.

We then followed a steep path down to a crescent-shaped beach where coopers, carpenters and blacksmiths brought in by the Russian-American Company from as far afield as Finland and Hawaii once worked side by side. "This is where the first ocean-going ships in California were built," he said.

It's also where the first bricks, glass and windmills in California were made. As workers crafted longboats, forged iron, cast brass and made metal, Fort Ross became the centre of manufacturing in California. The Russians traded these highly coveted goods with their Spanish and (later) Mexican neighbours in exchange for further provisions for their Alaskan settlements – and in doing so, they unwittingly helped their rivals settle California.

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This shallow-water cove was also where cargo boats and kayak-bound hunters would set off for the colony's main deep-water port 20 miles (35km) south in Rumyantsev (present-day Bodega Bay) and its sealing station off the coast of San Francisco on the Farallon Islands.

As Fort Ross' footprint grew, so did the calls from within the Russian-American Company to heed Rezanov's recommendation of annexing North America's west coast for Russia. In 1821, Tsar Alexander I issued an imperial decree claiming Russian control over modern-day Oregon through Alaska. The US's soon-to-be sixth president, John Quincy Adams, swiftly objected and his warning to Russia that the Americas "are no longer subjects for any new European colonial establishments" established one of the most fundamental principles of US foreign policy: the Monroe Doctrine, which opposes foreign interference in the Western hemisphere.

From the beach, Kimsey and I climbed a steep hill past the stockade to the orchard the Russians started with a single peach tree in 1814 and pushed open the gate. Of the hundreds of citrus trees and crops the Russians planted, only a single branch of a 200-year-old Capulin cherry survives. Yet, the Russians actually left a far greater agricultural legacy here than most people realise.

"It was the Russians who planted the first grapes in [what is now] Sonoma County in 1817," said Megan Jones, Sonoma's official wine librarian. As Jones explained, while Sonoma is now considered "the birthplace of the modern American wine movement", Russian traders introduced the now-rare Mission grape to Sonoma and produced small batches of light red wine.

For all its innovations, however, Fort Ross never succeeded in its two main goals: turning a profit and feeding hungry Alaskans. By the early 1820s, the Russian-American Company's Native Alaskan hunters had speared so many sea otters they wiped out the local population, and a combination of heavy coastal fog and rampant rodents yielded just 13 tonnes of wheat annually between 1826 and 1833.

When the British-run Hudson's Bay Company agreed to supply Russian Alaska with provisions from its Pacific Northwest settlements starting in 1839, it was the beginning of the end for Tsarist California.

Two years later, a Swiss emigrant named John Sutter purchased Fort Ross' buildings and assets from the Russians for $30,000. He cannibalised parts of the structures to create his new settlement in Sacramento. Seven years after the Russians sailed back to Alaska, a chance discovery on Sutter's property ignited the California Gold Rush.

Russia's California legacy

Today, reminders of California's Tsarist past are still scattered across the Golden State as you drive north from San Francisco. One of the city's most famous neighbourhoods, Russian Hill, gets its name from the graves of Russian-American Company sailors discovered there during the Gold Rush (look for a plaque near 1120 Vallejo Street). A historical marker at Bodega Bay shows where Russians set sail for their Alaskan capital, Novo-Arkhangelsk (present-day Sitka). And more than a million people visit the Russian River Valley each year to splash, hike and taste some of the US's best wines.

"The Russians called this river Slavyanka, and it's one of the main arteries they used to exploit the area," said Suki Waters, a Kashaya Pomo descendant and the owner of WaterTreks, which leads eco-tours along the Russian River. As we kayaked past harbour seals and migrating pelicans, she recounted stories from her great-great-grandmother, who was alive when the Russians sailed in.

"Fort Ross was a seasonal fishing village called Metini for thousands of years," she said. "When the Russians first came, the Elders called them the 'Undersea People', because from high on the bluff, it looked like they rose out from under the ocean."

Later that afternoon, I walked back through Fort Ross' Cyrillic signs, stockade and sloboda towards a lone bench at the edge of that bluff. Peering across the Pacific, I wondered how many days it would take to reach Russia. But as a distant chime from the chapel echoed in the air, I was reminded of something Wellman told me.

"The fact that a little part of Russia was right here in California is amazing. Why would we ever want to forget that?"

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Eagles and wolves: The long-lost animals that live on in Irish place names

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20260910-the-long-lost-animals-that-live-on-in-irish-place-names, 3 days ago

Irish place names hark back to a world alive with cranes, wolves and eagles. Now these old names are piquing the interest of nature-lovers and ecologists.

Along the island of Ireland's southwestern reaches lie craggy headlands blasted by Atlantic storms. This is the very edge of Europe, where County Kerry's breath-taking Dingle peninsula – a crooked finger of black rock and green grass – points resolutely west. And right at the end of that peninsula stands an ocean-facing mountain called Sliabh an Iolair: "Mount Eagle".

"That mountain," recalled the famed Irish folk-teller and author Peig Sayers during the early 20th Century, "was full of eagles in my young days, though there isn't one of them left now." An eagle's nest could once be seen on a lakeside cliff atop the mountain, she said. Sayers was born in 1873 and died in 1958. During her lifetime, both mountain-loving golden eagles (iolar fíréan) and white-tailed eagles (iolar mara) went extinct in Ireland. "It is a long time now," the illiterate Sayers told her son in recollections about Sliabh an Iolair that he wrote down, "since there was an eagle's nest there."

Ireland is swathed from top to bottom in wonderful Irish place names. Many are richly descriptive, referring to animals, plants, the shape of the land, agricultural practices, and also the weather and climate. There is now growing interest in Ireland, among some, in investigating the meanings of those place names.

Researchers are using this information to understand Ireland's ecological past and potentially also to protect its future – by providing precious clues about hidden environmental features. These range from forgotten flood plains to ancient wildlife habitats.

"Place names […] are local knowledge – they have emerged over centuries," says Mairéad Nic Craith, a folklorist at the Institute for Northern Studies, part of the University of the Highlands and Islands in Scotland.

Irish, one of Europe's oldest living languages, has been spoken in Ireland for more than 2,000 years – and partly as a result of that, its place names capture a long history of people living with the land.

However, many of these names were changed or rewritten during English colonisation and the English versions of some place names often lose all or much of the original meaning. Take Tuaim na Mac Tíre, meaning, "grave of the wolf". Wolves became extinct in Ireland during the 18th Century due to hunting and habitat loss, but the old place name reminds us of their historical presence.

The English version, "Toom", lacks any reference to wolves. Mac tíre, by the way, means "son of the land", a highly poetic way of referring to a wolf. Wolves come up in many other place names around Ireland, including in some English translations, such as Wolfhill – or, in Irish: Cnocán na Mac Tíre.

"There's a connection between the environment and the Irish language," says Nic Craith. "It reflects a people who took more notice, and who had maybe more time to notice the environment than we do nowadays."

Last year, Nic Craith and a colleague published a paper arguing that Irish place names are a form of traditional ecological knowledge, since they capture ecological diversity and change.

Nic Craith also gives the example of wild boar. The history of boars in Ireland is somewhat murky. Some sources say native boars went extinct in prehistoric times, though others suggest that boar populations, perhaps reintroduced animals, were present well into the medieval era. But anywhere you find turk (Irish for "boar") in a place name could indicate that location was once home to these animals. Cluain Torc, or Clonturk, means boar's meadow, for example.

There's also the crane (corr), which comes up in various locations including Oileán na gCorr, or crane island, in County Leitrim. These gangly birds went extinct in Ireland hundreds of years ago.

Memories of trees and water

Ecological memory in place names is far from exclusive to animals. Any place called Derry (or, in Irish: doire) that is now a town or city was quite likely once a wood – doire means wood and often an oak wood, specifically. For thousands of years, Ireland faced successive waves of deforestation, as trees were cleared for farmland and also to extract timber for construction.

Various groups, right back to Neolithic and Iron Age Irish peoples, as well as Vikings, Normans and English settlers, took sizeable bites out of Ireland's forests – a history that can be reconstructed by analysing traces of tree pollen preserved in the ground. Eventually, the island was left one of the most deforested places in Europe.

As if gesturing back to a leafier past, tree species come up countless times in Irish place names. Take dair, which means oak. It appears in Cill Dara, or Kildare, meaning "church of the oak". There is also Doire na Fuinse, or "ash tree wood". As in many places, ash in Ireland is susceptible to a disease called ash dieback, and most of the remaining trees are expected to disappear.

Some Irish place names may not only be a shadow of things lost. They could also point towards a future in which restoration of the environment, or rewilding, brings back certain species or habitats.

Just north of Dublin lies a place historically known as Loch Gabhar, which in Old Irish meant lake of (the white) horses. Historically, the Irish word gabhar has been used to mean white horse or goat; today, it means goat. Although there is no lake in this location now, analysis of the subsoil suggests there used to be a larger and a smaller lake there. Researchers recently proposed that these areas might be rewetted to capture floodwater, allowing it to drain into a nearby river. As the risk of flooding grows in Ireland due to climate change, that could in principle make this a place-name-informed climate adaptation.

Return of the wild?

Outside of Ireland, ancient place names are also drawing attention for their ecological potential. Researchers have looked to Old English place names in Britain in the hope of gaining a better understanding of locations at risk of flooding. That could in turn prompt solutions around flood resilience planning.

Rewilding projects in Scotland have taken note of Scots Gaelic place names mentioning trees, citing them as potential cues for where tree-planting efforts could occur.

But one shouldn't take place names too literally. "Just because a place name mentions a tree or an animal doesn't necessarily mean that that tree or animal was actually there – it might have been a metaphor, it might have been a symbol," says Nic Craith.

There is a place I sometimes go sea swimming, not far from Belfast, called Portmuck. It sounds a little off-putting in English, but muc in Irish means pig and some say this was most likely a port that people brought pigs to. Having said that, the nearby Isle of Muck (Oileán na Muc), now a bird sanctuary, looks to me a bit like a pig lying on its front with part of its body submerged. Is that the reason for the name? There's another Isle of Muck in Scotland, in that case apparently named after muc-mara, sea-pigs or whales. Sometimes "muck" has nothing to do with (land-roaming) pigs at all.

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Ray Ó Foghlú, head of partnerships and development at Hometree, a nature restoration charity in Ireland, says place names are not "instructions" to recreate the past: "Their real value is in showing us what a landscape has been capable of." Ecologists can then test locations for their rewilding potential. Equally, somewhere with no hint of trees or woods in its name could actually be a perfect site, today, for a tree-planting project, for example. Nic Craith describes place names as "a starting point".

And who knows where they will lead you. Although Peig Sayers never lived to see it, white-tailed eagles were reintroduced to County Kerry in 2007, at Killarney National Park, roughly 52 miles (83km) from Sliabh an Iolair. There are now roughly 150 white-tailed eagles in the wild in Ireland. They are breeding, and sustaining their own population. Golden eagle reintroductions are also underway elsewhere on the island.

Tantalisingly, some of the white-tailed eagles have even found their way back to the area around Sliabh an Iolair.

Perhaps eagles will one day build a new nest on that famous mountain. A place that, once again, is named after animals living in this part of the world – memories reborn.

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Record heatwaves in France set to make champagne stronger

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgydvrlep1o, yesterday

Champagne lovers may find themselves getting tipsy more quickly after French producers have been given the go-ahead to raise the alcohol content in a bottle of bubbly for the first time following this summer's record heatwave.

Winemakers can temporarily produce champagne with an alcohol content of up to 15% - above the 13% cap, industry officials have said.

The extreme heat and drought produced grapes with exceptionally higher sugar levels. Yeast converts sugar into alcohol during fermentation.

France's Champagne region also saw its earliest-ever harvest due to the weather, something that could become the norm "in 10 to 15 years" because of climate change, according to the Comite Champagne industry association.

The temporary increase in champagne's alcohol content is only expected to affect a small number of wines, a spokeswoman for the Comite Champagne told the BBC.

During the second fermentation process, which gives champagne its bubbles, "a very small number of wines from this harvest could have slightly exceeded the regulatory limit of 13%, reaching around 13.1% or 13.2%".

"Therefore a decision was made to exceptionally and temporarily increase the regulatory limit to 15% - only for this year," she said.

The first grapes were cut in early August and the harvest expanded by the middle of the month, "the earliest ever recorded in Champagne", the association said.

"The 2026 growing season will be remembered as one of the most unusual in Champagne's history, marked by severe spring frosts of historic intensity, an exceptionally early flowering period and five heatwaves throughout the summer." it added.

Speaking in the Times newspaper, Stéphane Vignon, a producer in Verzenay said: "The Mediterranean climate is moving north. This is year one of a new cycle. It's unlikely to be every year, but it will happen again".

Higher-strength champagne is unlikely to be an obvious selling point, warned Jane Anson, a wine columnist and author based in Bordeaux.

She told the Times: "Today people increasingly prefer lower-alcohol

"The battle between what consumers want and what nature provides must be very stressful for producers."

The 2026 vintage is unlikely to hit shelves until 2028 as champagne must age for at least 15 months.

Maxime Toubart, co-chair of the Comite Champagne, told the AFP news agency that the likelihood of hotter weather in the future means "this unusual harvest will probably become the norm in 10 to 15 years".

France has been one of Europe's worst-hit countries during this year's extreme weather, sparking huge wildfires.

Climate change is driving up global average temperatures, making heatwaves more frequent and intense.

It has been felt acutely in Europe, which is the fastest warming continent, heating up twice as fast as the global average, according to the Copernicus climate service.

Four out of five of Turkey's lakes have vanished. Scientists are racing to save what's left

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20260909-the-quest-to-save-turkeys-lake-of-birds, 4 days ago

One of the world's most important routes for birds runs through eastern Turkey's wetlands. Without painstaking effort by a team of birders, they're at risk of turning into dustbowls.

In the middle of an icy drizzle on a cold day in October, Çağan Hakkı Şekercioğlu stands at the edge of Lake Aktaş with his binoculars, watching the birds. The lake sprawls across the Turkish-Georgian border. On this grey and quiet morning, it is thickly dotted with birds just visible through the mist. Şekercioğlu spots coots, pelicans, and even a sociable plover, which is a critically endangered species.

"This is the last lake in Turkey remaining where both Dalmatian pelicans and great white pelicans still come," says Şekercioğlu.

Within sight of Lake Aktaş is the village of Kenarbel, little more than a few stone houses with tin roofs and nearby fields of mud and cows. Within sight is also a military base, watching this hinterland that used to be one of the borders between Nato and the Soviet Union. It now serves as one of multiple entry points for locals hoping to pop over the Georgian border for cheaper wine and cigarettes. The military base is what keeps the villagers from boating on the lake, picnicking on its islands, and disturbing its lush collection of migratory birds.

The part of northeastern Turkey that holds Lake Aktaş is one of the most important migratory bird sanctuaries not just in Turkey, but the entire world. The birds of this region represent 68% of all the bird species in Turkey.

These crucial wetlands are drying, fast. With four in five of Turkey's lakes already dried up, Şekercioğlu and a small team of ecologists is racing to save this last bastion for the world's birds.

Promising success

When a nearby road leading all the way to the Georgian border was being planned, Şekercioğlu and his team worried the noise would disturb the birds, and proposed building it a mile away from the lake. They also suggested that if the road was closer, barriers would reduce the visual and noise pollution, while also directing the birds to fly high enough to avoid hitting cars. The government agreed, and the barriers were built.

"This is one of the few happy stories about bird conservation," says Şekercioğlu.

Çağan Hakkı Şekercioğlu is a conservation ecologist, ornithologist, tropical biologist, and wildlife photographer, and a force of nature himself. He is the founder of KuzeyDoğa Derneği, an organisation dedicated to monitoring and saving the birds, lakes, and wetlands of the wild frontier in eastern Turkey.

Şekercioğlu's work juggles local politics, complicated international borders, DIY dams, and global climate change to protect one region's wetlands and migratory birds. Şekercioğlu and KuzeyDoğa opened the Aras Research Station in 2006 along the Caucasus-Eurasian bird migration route; it's the first bird migration research station in Eastern Turkey.

Many of the world's lakes and wetlands are under threat of drying up, and the birds that Şekercioğlu spots in eastern Turkey are migratory, winged travellers who transcend borders. The lakes of eastern Turkey are just one stop on a global journey that connects the land to the vast ecosystem throughout Europe and Africa.

Nearly two-thirds of the world's bird species are in decline. In Turkey, many species depend on wetlands – and the country is at risk of entering severe drought by 2030. Some 88% of Turkey is at risk of desertification, including the bird-rich wetlands in the east.

The evidence is already stark. 186 out of 240 of Turkey's lakes have already dried up, and more are poised to follow. Nearly 80% of Turkey's water resources are being extracted. It's a local problem within the tapestry of a larger global problem.

Şekercioğlu is attempting to mitigate it as well as one small organisation can, in one of the region's most bird-rich areas, and an important breeding stop for birds flying between African and Eurasia.

Drying and dying

While Lake Aktaş is protected by the border that bisects it, nearby Lake Kuyucuk hasn't been so fortunate. Once upon a time, this lake, located 77km (48 miles) south of Lake Aktaş and not far from the Armenian border, was a paradise for birds. Şekercioğlu first came to Lake Kuyucuk in 2004 on a butterfly expedition and was bowled over by the wealth of migratory birds alighting on the lake.

"We counted over 40,000 birds on 2.2 sq km (0.8 sq miles), half of which were ruddy shelduck," says Şekercioğlu. "And at the time, the estimated population of ruddy shelduck was 170,000 globally. So 12% of the world's population [was] on this one little lake."

But trouble was brewing at Lake Kuyucuk. Every year, Şekercioğlu and his team would measure the lake's water depth and shoreline, and in 2010 they noticed that the water levels were rapidly decreasing. In 1997, the lake was 13m (43ft) deep, and when Şekercioğlu began his work, it measured 4.5m (14.8ft) deep. But by 2010, the lake was 1m (3.3ft) deep at its deepest point.

"That's when I realised the lake is really going down," says Şekercioğlu. "I never thought it would disappear, but I thought, 'Okay, this is serious.'"

It was a combination of causes, not just one. Small, makeshift dams villagers had set up on the streams that feed the lake siphoned off water for their livestock. Illegal wells drained the groundwater. By watering their animals, they were slowly drawing away the water for the birds. (The name Kuyucuk, ironically, means "little well", and there are centuries-old wells around the lake that also take the underground water.)

Şekercioğlu set about trying to save the lake himself. He convinced the governor to drill a well to pump water back into the lake – "like chemotherapy", Şekercioğlu says; an emergency measure, not a sustainable one, and one that was only feasible at all because the lake is only 2 sq km (0.77 sq mile).

Simultaneously, Şekercioğlu said he and his team worked with the local villagers to convince them to take down illegal dams that were blocking the lake's feeding streams, which now remain unimpeded.

"It's not a lake anymore, but it's a wetland, and it hasn't just turned into dust," says Şekercioğlu. "That's how it is with conservation. I just have to keep hoping and keep trying."

Now, Şekercioğlu and his team keep an eye on the hinterlands. While the Georgian-Turkish border protects Lake Aktaş, the currently closed Armenian-Turkish land border has kept the area around Lake Kuyucuk quiet. But there is talk of opening that land border, and the shortest route between Armenia and Turkey would cut right through the wetlands of Lake Kuyucuk.

Bird champions

Şekercioğlu had originally planned to establish a bird monitoring outpost at Lake Kuyucuk, but as the lake diminished, a new location needed to be found. So farther along the edge of the border, deep in nearby Iğdır Province, Şekercioğlu established the Aras Bird Monitoring Station by the Aras River in 2006, the first of its kind in Turkey. For six months of the year, a crew of shaggy volunteers catch and tag birds daily.

The monitoring station is positioned just on the Aras wetland, and the crew heading out to check special collection nets every hour, suited up with knee-high rubber waders that get caked with a thin layer of dried dun-coloured mud. They return with bags twittering and wiggling with live birds, who are then efficiently tagged, measured, identified and released.

Aras Monitoring Station is the only place doing this kind of work in eastern Turkey. All the data is neatly entered before the birds are released out the window, back to their wild life. The walls of the tiny station are covered with Şekercioğlu's macro bird photography and handwritten signs declaring "JUST FOR THE BIRDS!", referring to the hooks for the bird's bags.

The whole team of bird-banding volunteers have found their way to the flank of eastern Turkey for different reasons, and from different locations, and all bring their radiant individuality to the repetitive task. Maxim Kostin chases rare dragonflies, Hasan Can Bağ writes short stories, Guşef Tunçer studies architecture, Ayşenur Akgün makes rosehip jam. Ayşenur is also the station's bird ringer responsible for slipping the small band tags on each bird’s leg, one of the few certified bird ringers in Turkey. (The first was, of course, Çağan Hakkı Şekercioğlu.)

The birds all have their individualities too, and that is what the Ayşenur and the team aims to record: wing length, weight, sex, species. On one brisk autumn day, they bag European stone chats, mountain chiffchaffs, meadow pipits, and many more twittering specimens. They sit quietly restrained in Ayşenur's hand as she efficiently gathers her data and bands the birds.

Gathering threats

The work at Aras is important and necessary, but fieldwork has already begun on the nearby Tuzluca Storage Dam project, which would decimate the delicate ecosystem that draws these migratory birds. The construction camp for the project has been built, though construction of the dam itself hasn't yet begun. "

KuzeyDoğa Derneği has been trying to negotiate, receiving an agreement that two villages would be spared, though the current plans still would inundate three villages and the bird banding station. "The construction process will take five years so we are continuing to talk, negotiate and hope it won't happen but legally, we cannot do anything," says Şekercioğlu.

The local government's branch manager of nature conservation and national parks told the BBC: "We did do the necessary [environmental] work. We looked at similar project and what they did. There were specific people working to make sure birds don’t get harmed. We then decided to make artificial islands. There would be these and also the dam would then create its own new system where all animals are living."

This is the story of eastern Turkey's water and birds: a constant back-and-forth between bureaucracy and conservation, between climate change and human infrastructure, between the protection of international borders and the threat of the same.

More like this:

• What happens if Istanbul's water supplies run dry?

• The sinkholes caused by Turkey's thirst for water

• The noxious plague troubling Istanbul's coast

"The lakes naturally disappear over time, because people always want more water, and when nature competes with people for water, nature will lose," says Şekercioğlu.

"Telling people, 'I'm saving this water for the ducks' is not going to get you the most votes, you're going to lose," says Şekercioğlu.

In the quiet of morning, a heron perches on the edge of the bank, a magpie flits across the sky, a cormorant swoops. Eastern Turkey's paradise of birds continues on, unbothered by the small problems of the people below, unaware that down here, the choices we make might drain them dry.

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How cleaning up the air is speeding up global warming - and revealing a bigger problem

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c20917w25n4o, 5 days ago

This July, during Britain's record-breaking hot summer, a curious row broke out on X over climate science.

Reform's deputy leader Richard Tice shared a Telegraph article headlined: "Heatwaves caused by fall in pollution." He said cleaner air, rather than carbon dioxide, was behind higher temperatures and claimed the public had been "gaslit".

He was wrong to suggest that carbon dioxide is not the primary driver of global warming. But the science he was distorting is real - and much more interesting than his original claim.

The fossil fuels that we've been burning for more than a century produce two very different kinds of pollution. As is well known, carbon dioxide warms the Earth. But less well-known is sulphur pollution, which forms vast numbers of tiny particles in the air and reflects sunlight back into space, partly counteracting the warming effect of carbon.

Thanks to clean-air policies around the world - like the US's Acid Rain Program in the early 1990s, that reduced gas pollution from power plants - sulphur emissions are falling sharply while carbon dioxide emissions remain near record highs.

Scientists increasingly believe the loss of that cooling effect is slightly speeding up global warming.

The past three years were the three warmest ever recorded, and the Met Office says 2027 is "very likely" to replace 2024 as the warmest year on record.

And away from social media, the argument over Tice's tweet raised an even more interesting - and worrying - question. Is it possible that our planet is actually more sensitive to greenhouse gases than we imagined?

And if so, might the climate be changing more rapidly than we feared?

Dust on the greenhouse

Global temperatures jump around naturally from year to year. El Niño, for example, a natural warming of the Pacific Ocean, can temporarily push them higher. So a run of record hot years does not necessarily mean the underlying rate of global warming has increased.

Reto Knutti and his team at ETH Zurich have tried to strip out the effects of El Niño and other natural fluctuations to reveal the underlying trend.

"It's pretty clear that the rate of warming has accelerated," says Knutti, a professor of climate physics at the Swiss university and a former co-ordinating lead author for the IPCC - the UN-backed body that produces the world's most authoritative assessments of climate science.

A separate study published this year reached a similar conclusion after accounting for several major natural influences.

And it seems aerosols are playing a role.

Burning coal and oil releases sulphur dioxide, which forms tiny particles known as sulphate aerosols. These particles are bright and reflect some sunlight before it can reach and warm the planet's surface.

You've probably heard the greenhouse analogy used to explain global warming. Gases like carbon dioxide make it harder for heat to escape from the Earth, rather like the glass windows of a greenhouse.

Well, sulphur pollution acts a bit like dust on the greenhouse windows. The more dust that gathers on those windows, the less sunlight gets inside, and the slower the greenhouse heats up in the first place.

Dr Øivind Hodnebrog, a principal researcher at Cicero, the Norwegian climate research institute, has studied how falling aerosol pollution affects the climate. "Sulphate aerosols, they are really small particles, but they are bright particles," he says.

As well as reflecting sunlight, aerosols also cool the planet by changing the formation of clouds. Aerosols act like tiny seeds around which water vapour can condense, making some clouds brighter or longer-lived. Pollution from ships can even create bright trails through marine clouds visible from space. So more aerosols mean brighter clouds and more reflection, and so less warming.

But sulphur pollution also damages human health (it can get into our lungs and make it harder to breathe), and causes acid rain, which can destroy forests and kill fish - and so countries have spent decades cutting it. Emissions have fallen sharply in Europe, North America and China, while new rules have also reduced sulphur pollution from shipping.

In our greenhouse analogy, it's as if we've wiped some of the dust away from the windows of the greenhouse, allowing in more sunlight.

And while carbon dioxide remains in the climate system for centuries, sulphate aerosols survive in the atmosphere for just days or weeks. So when sulphur emissions fall, their cooling effect disappears almost immediately.

The masking effect

The effect is strongest where sulphur pollution has fallen fastest. One study estimates it has added around half a degree to summer warming in western-central Europe since 1980.

Prof Piers Forster, a climate scientist at the University of Leeds and another senior author of the IPCC's most recent assessment, estimates that declining aerosol pollution may now be adding around 0.05C to 0.1C of warming per decade.

But aerosols can only explain part of the recent acceleration in warming. Greenhouse gases remain much more important.

Forster estimates they are currently adding around 0.2C of warming globally per decade. "It is a very significant contribution," he says of the aerosol effect, "but it is not as important as the greenhouse gas contribution by quite a long way."

"The aerosols have masked some of the greenhouse gas warming from earlier," is how Hodnebrog explains it.

"Masked" - that's an interesting word he uses. What he means is cleaner air is not causing the underlying warming; it is removing some of the cooling that had been holding that warming back.

So if cleaner air is only responsible for part of the recent acceleration in global warming, what else is at work?

Weakening clouds and warming oceans

To see what else might be going on, scientists zoom out and look at the Earth as a whole: how much energy it absorbs from the Sun, and how much heat it loses back into space.

Scientists call the difference Earth's energy imbalance.

Cleaner air is part of that picture. Fewer sulphate particles mean less sunlight is reflected away - in our greenhouse analogy, the windows are cleaner.

For a long time, the Earth has been absorbing more energy than it loses. That surplus is what warms the planet. And Knutti says that imbalance has roughly tripled over the past two decades - although the precise increase depends on which years are compared.

Greenhouse gases principally work by making it harder for heat to escape out into space. That's what we're all familiar with. But when you look at Earth's energy imbalance, you find that there's also more sunlight getting in (and therefore more heat that can be absorbed).

So what else might be letting more sunlight in?

Much of that change appears to involve something we have already encountered in this story: clouds. We saw how sulphur pollution can make some clouds brighter and longer-lived, reflecting more sunlight away. But global warming itself can also change clouds. As some parts of the ocean warm, low cloud cover can diminish. That matters because clouds are bright, while the ocean beneath them is dark. Remove some cloud and more sunlight reaches the sea, where much of it is absorbed as heat.

That can create a feedback: warming reduces some cloud cover, which allows more sunlight in, which produces still more warming.

And the oceans are certainly heating up. The World Meteorological Organization says the oceans have warmed more than twice as fast over the past two decades than they did between 1960 and 2005.

Dr Paulo Ceppi, a climate physicist at Imperial College London, says his research suggests this feedback loop between climate change and clouds is more important than sulphur pollution in explaining the recent decline in low clouds.

'25% extra warming'

But there's still lots of uncertainty. Scientists say the impacts of cleaner air, natural variations and the effects of warming itself are all tangled together. And, when I asked Knutti how much of the cloud change came from each, his answer was simple: "We don't know."

And this is where the story takes an even more worrying turn.

That uncertainty matters because clouds are one of the hardest things to represent in the computer simulations scientists use to project future warming. Some models show more warming than others for the same amount of greenhouse gas emissions.

Scientists call this variability "climate sensitivity": how much the climate responds to gases like carbon dioxide.

And the recent observations give Knutti and his colleagues a new way to test those models. They found that models which best predicted the recent warming, as well as the rise in the Earth's energy imbalance, are also the ones with a more sensitive climate.

In other words, the models that predict more warming are looking like the most accurate.

His team's analysis suggests that the same emissions could produce about 25% more warming than we previously thought.

And a study published in the journal Science last year points in a similar direction. Models which projected relatively little warming struggled most to reproduce the observed rise in Earth's energy imbalance.

Under policies governments currently have in place, the world is estimated to be heading for around 2.8C of warming by the end of the century. Forster says that if this new evidence proves correct, the same broad emissions path could instead produce warming closer to 3.5C.

It sounds serious - but there are important reasons for caution.

Warming appears to have accelerated, but Forster says that does not mean it will keep doing so. He points out that the recent observations that underpin these estimates cover a relatively short period.

"We have to be very cautious of how we go about interpreting observations that last for one or two decades," he says.

The satellite record is short, natural variations are large, and these new studies do not overturn previous estimates.

But still, some scientists are alarmed.

More floods and heatwaves?

So - is cleaning up the air making global warming worse?

In one narrow sense, yes. Removing sulphate pollution takes away some of the cooling that had been counteracting greenhouse warming. That really has contributed to the recent acceleration. But cleaner air has not caused climate change.

The aerosol story may help explain part of that acceleration. But the wider evidence raises a more worrying possibility: that the climate responds more strongly to greenhouse gases than central estimates have assumed.

If that's correct, the same emissions could produce more warming than we expected. Climate risks increase with every fraction of a degree of warming, with the potential for more severe heatwaves, floods, droughts, and wildfires as temperatures rise.

Some of the science we have explored here is complex and important questions remain unresolved. But on the central point, the science is clear: the more greenhouse gases we emit, the warmer the planet will become.

And, if the climate really is more sensitive than previously thought, cutting emissions quickly becomes even more important.

Top image credit: Getty.

10 of the most striking ocean images of 2026

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20260911-10-of-the-most-striking-ocean-images-of-2026, today

Curious seals, seahorse fathers and rarely seen deep-sea life are among the most powerful images of the Ocean Photographer of the Year 2026.

Warning: This article contains an image which some readers may find upsetting.

Each year, the Ocean Photographer of the Year competition invites photographers to submit their most breathtaking images of the world's seas.

In the image above, photographer Matthew Smith captured an inquisitive southern elephant seal pup making its first foray into the ocean, in the shallow rock pools of Sea Lion Island in the Falkland Islands.

Scroll down to see nine more extraordinary images that show the beauty of the world's oceans, as well as the challenges they face.

Father figure

The competition's overall winner, captured by Julien Anton, shows an adult male seahorse with a tiny juvenile facing him. For most seahorses, it is the males which undergo pregnancy, give birth and raise the offspring. The image was captured in the shallows of Moorea, French Polynesia.

A close eye

Tiny parasitic crustaceans known as copepods live in the eye of the giant black sea bass, photographed by Stephen Lopez near Santa Catalina Island, off the coast of Southern California in the US. Around 50 years ago, this fish was nearly extinct in the region, but now its numbers are recovering.

Stealthy ambush

A red scorpionfish is captured clamping down on a lizardfish in this photo by Andrea Michelutti in the Philippines. The dramatic encounter highlights the scorpionfish's stealthy hunting behaviour – and the constant battle for survival on coral reefs.

A gentle giant

During Mexico's 2025 sardine run, photographer Anita Verde captured this unexpected visitor – a giant oceanic sunfish about the size of a small car. "As it moved towards us through the blue, it seemed to glow," she tells the BBC, "like a giant moon rising beneath the surface. You can't help but look this fish in the eye. It is so oddly beautiful."

A visitor from the deep

Mitsuna Kawai captured this image during a winter black-water dive off the coast of Osezaki, Japan. Juvenile ribbonfish are rarely seen alive as they live at vast depths of up to 900m (2,950ft). A young one like this may only be a few centimetres long. As an adult they can grow up to 1.8m (6ft).

In formation

John Kowitz shot this artistic image of five spotted eagle rays gliding above the sandy seabed in Hawaii, in the US. These rays often travel together in search of prey, using their electroreceptors to find hidden molluscs and crustaceans buried beneath the sand.

Mouth brooding

This remarkable close-up taken by Suliman Alatiqi in Mawali, Indonesia, shows a male Banggai cardinalfish sheltering his newly hatched offspring inside his mouth for 10 days without feeding. This specialised "mouth brooding" strategy helps protect juvenile fish from predators until they become more independent.

Lobster hive

Thousands of tiny, fragile baby lobsters like this one captured by Francesca Page, are raised at the National Lobster Hatchery in Padstow, UK, every year. In the wild, just one in 20,000 makes it to adulthood. Juveniles nurtured in a hatchery like this are roughly 1,000 times more likely to survive to breeding age.

In the Faroe Islands, a self-governing country within the Kingdom of Denmark, a pilot whale is killed by a hunter, photographed by Karsten Michels. As part of the traditional practice of grindadráp, pods of the whales are driven onto beaches for slaughter. Even small-scale whale hunting can leave a profound mark on the deep oceans. Read how in this story by Katherine Latham.

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Residents and officials meet on dredging concerns

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9v9143318ro, today

Harbour officials have agreed to meet with residents who are worried about sand and silt from dredging being left on a beach.

Letters from 24 people were sent to the Government of Jersey's environment department claiming dredging at St Aubin could harm wildlife and be a danger to people.

Minister for Environment Mary Le Hegarat said: "Officers will look to meet with a complainant in the coming days and review the situation before reporting back to me so of a course an action can be decided."

Captain William Sadler, Jersey Harbour Master, said he was looking forward to discussing the issues with locals and the environmental department.

Sadler said the dredging was routine, and helped maintain safe access to the harbour.

He added the work was carried out with the necessary licences and regulatory oversight.

"Ports of Jersey cares deeply about both the natural environment and the communities we serve," he added.

"We know how important St Aubin's Bay is to many islanders and are committed to balancing the safe operation of the harbour with protecting the character and environment of the bay."

'Take them seriously'

In a letter sent to residents Sadler said the work was carried out on 19 March.

The letter added: "We note the concerns raised regarding seagrass, wildlife, beach conditions and access to St Aubin's Fort.

"While we are not currently aware of evidence linking the harbour clearance works to all of the issues described in your letter ... we recognise the concerns that have been raised and take them seriously."

The letter said that an in-person meeting would provide the chance to explain the background to the works and for residents to discuss their concerns in person.

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What can be done to reduce risk of wildfires?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y70ez1lxro, today

A month on from the devastating fires that tore through the West Midlands on the hottest day of the year, communities are still reeling from what they have lost.

Dozens of homes across the region, including 19 in Stourbridge, were razed to the ground by the fires on 13 August.

Some people are living with their only surviving possessions in their car boot, while others stay in a caravan as they wait to be rehomed.

While action is needed to prevent a repeat of the wildfires, with more extreme temperatures on the horizon, what that should be is not yet clear.

Speaking to Politics Midlands, the West Midlands regional chair of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU), Martin Starkey, said the services in Staffordshire, where he works, were beyond stretched that day.

"Services in the Midlands on that day essentially ran out of resources and had to rely on brigades as far as London and Avon to come up and provide crews to help us cover the area," he said.

But he added it was a national issue.

FBU statistics show that there were 20% fewer firefighters employed in 2025 compared to 2010.

The drop is even higher in the Midlands, with West Midlands Fire Service (WMFS) losing a quarter of its firefighters over this period, while Staffordshire Fire Service saw a drop of 27.2%.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who visited the scenes of devastation in Stourbridge, suggested that the country could follow the tactics of other countries and start using aeroplanes to fight large wildfires.

However, Starkey thinks that there should be more 4x4 capability within local fire services instead, as well as more firefighters put back on fire appliances and "better PPE, equipment and vehicles to help us deal with [the fires]".

Simon Tuhill, the chief fire officer at West Midlands Fire Service, told the BBC that in his role, he had no funding for capital in WMFS, which means things like new appliances and equipment.

During the fires, 19 smaller 4x4s were deployed, but Tuhill said they are reaching the end of their serviceable life.

"We need to think about more specialist vehicles that can respond to wildfires," he said.

Kerryn Little is a researcher in pyrogeography - the study of wildfires - at the University of Birmingham, and was also a volunteer firefighter in her home country of New Zealand.

"You can't just invest in response and suppression...We need to equally invest in prevention," she said.

For Little, this means managing landscapes from a fire risk perspective and developing early warning systems to communicate the risk of wildfires.

"The key thing is it's not just a one-off summer that we've seen," she said.

"Climate change is increasing the frequency and the intensity and duration of heat waves and droughts, these really hot, dry spells that drove the wildfires this year.

"So, essentially, climate change has loaded the dice for wildfire risk... we're going to have more days where a single spark will ignite a fire."

Tuhill and his crews know full well the impact of climate change.

"The fire service and my firefighters are at the front line of what climate change means to the United Kingdom," he told Politics Midlands.

This summer's prolonged heatwaves and dry vegetation led the prime minister to call the UK a "tinderbox", the same day the government sent a national alert to the country's mobile phones.

Ellie Chowns, the Green Party MP for North Herefordshire, believes we need to "supercharge efforts to transition to a clean, green economy" so we do not exacerbate the impact of climate change.

"The climate crisis is barrelling down the road towards us. We do absolutely have to adapt," she said.

Chowns believes the government does not yet have the urgency needed to address climate change.

"We've got to be more focused on preparedness and resilience across the board," she added.

Reform UK has backed away on net zero initiatives since taking control of local authorities across the country, calling off the climate emergency declarations made by councils such as Walsall and Newcastle-under-Lyme.

Such initiatives were introduced by previous administrations to include actions to reduce carbon emissions, protect biodiversity and help to build resilience against climate change.

Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice told Politics Midlands he was "delighted" that Newcastle-under-Lyme had "immediately scrapped the ridiculous net zero initiatives", claiming this had made savings of around £10m.

He has also defended comments he made saying people should enjoy the hotter weather, claiming that "the climate changes all the time" and that it was "smarter to adapt to climate change than to think you can stop it".

In response to hearing Tice's comments, Chowns told the BBC: "It's in our own interests, and frankly, it's in the interests not just of our children and grandchildren, it's in our interests now.

"Because the damage caused by climate change is going to hugely outweigh any possible cost that could be involved in transitioning to a more sustainable future."

Stourbridge falls under the authority of Dudley Council, whose leader, Conservative councillor Patrick Harley, said "a measured approach, not the extreme one" needed to be taken in regards to climate change.

"I think everyone agrees right across the political divide we have to adapt," he said.

Discussing the fires, Harley told the BBC that the emergency procedure put in place by the council "worked perfectly on the day", enabling collaboration with the emergency services.

"We've never seen anything like this before in the borough. And it's horrifying that you have a fire that can outrun a person and damage their property and cause the destruction that it caused."

Andy Burnham created the role of fire minister in response to this summers' wildfires.

Baroness Blake of Leeds's remit includes overseeing national emergency responses, fire policy and rescue operations.

It will also entail ensuring extreme weather preparations are in place across the country and the UK's resilience amid a rapidly changing climate.

Disposable barbecues are still banned from sale across the UK, a move that was due to most wildfires being caused by human behaviour.

While debates continue over what else should be done, Starkey has continued to be on the front line of the fires.

"What I can say, as a firefighter, is we are increasingly seeing hot summers, we are seeing the records get broken, we are seeing fire and rescue services stretched to their limits, running out of resources, running out of firefighters and struggling to deal with incidents," he said.

"I think history [has] shown that we don't learn ... So this year we need to make sure we learn these lessons."

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Summer wildfires caused catastrophic hidden damage, scientists warn

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn07rzrq244o, today

Scientists investigating the damage caused by severe wildfires across Wales this summer say the impact has been "catastrophic".

Extreme heat and exceptionally dry conditions throughout July and August left landscapes such as heathland, moorland and upland grasslands vulnerable to fast spreading fires, resulting in one of the UK's worst wildfire seasons in recent years.

Prof Davey Jones, who is leading a Bangor University survey of several sites across Wales, said the scale of damage was far greater than what was immediately visible.

"People see the blackened vegetation and assume that's the main impact, but the real story is below our feet," said Jones.

During the July peak, fires affected approximately 2,760 acres of countryside across north Wales alone, the equivalent of more than 1,500 football pitches.

At Sychnant Pass in Conwy county, one of the most significant blazes saw 36 homes having to be evacuated and about 200 acres of land affected.

At Sychnant Pass today, there are slight green shoots of recovery visible among the charred hillside.

But Jones described a rare ecosystem housing specialist plants, butterflies and insects, "where the UK is the epicentre globally".

"We've probably lost about 10 centimetres of soil here [at Sychnant Pass] so we've lost all of that organic matter layer... 4,000 years of carbon gone in a single event," he said.

"Once the topsoil is gone, we can never recover that.

"People see the blackened vegetation and assume that's the main impact, but the real story is below our feet.

"This soil acts as a water sponge, a carbon store, a nutrient bank.

"Losing it is a double whammy, it worsens climate change and makes the habitat far more fragile."

He added: "This site has taken thousands of years to develop and it's all gone in maybe five days? It's incredible.

"If we are going to try and put that soil back, generate artificial soils through the reuse of organic wastes for example, then it's important we understand what the soil quality is now.

"So that we can prepare for the future and design those soils, because they don't exist yet."

Over recent weeks the Bangor team has been racing to collect soil samples at several sites across Wales before heavy winter rainfall washes away the remains.

Their work has included comparing the burnt land with adjacent untouched areas, allowing researchers to measure changes in soil carbon, nutrients, microbial activity, water repellency and erosion risk.

Even NASA satellite data has been used to quickly identify new sites after fires have occurred.

Dr Kara Marsden, a lecturer in soil science who is also working on the project, said working at speed was vital.

"It was really important that we got on site very quickly to measure the soil and vegetation properties while the fire's impacts were still fresh," she said.

"These things can change rapidly, so capturing that baseline data now means we'll have something accurate to compare against in future sampling dates."

She warned that early green shoots now visible at the site did not necessarily reflect true or full recovery.

"Bracken sprouts almost immediately because its rhizomes sit deep in the soil, so the burn layer wouldn't maybe have impacted those" she said.

"But the heather and gorse have much shallower roots, so you know they're completely gone.

"They've been completely lost... that depth of soil they depend on could take thousands of years to form again."

'Making the problem worse'

Jones said that the impact of such wildfires extended far beyond biodiversity loss.

"Fires release carbon, nitrogen and sulphur back into the atmosphere, in itself contributing to climate change," he said.

"Every time we have a wildfire, we're just making the problem worse and worse.

"It becomes a self‑sustaining cycle... drier soils, more fires, more carbon released."

He also warned that without rapid restoration and better wildfire preparedness, "we might lose pretty much all of this habitat within our lifetime".

Researchers will return to the sites over the next two years to track recovery and assess whether some habitats are more resilient than others.

Early evidence suggests vegetation can return, but more slowly and more fragile, leaving landscapes increasingly susceptible to future burns.

The slow, muddy work of saving ancient bogs

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czjzvdjl0plo, yesterday

High up on a Manx hillside, Sarah Hickey effortlessly pushes a metre-long metal rod into the wet ground until it disappears almost to her hands.

"This is pretty deep here," she says, reading the markings on the probe. Beneath her boots is peat, built up over thousands of years and consisting of partially decayed plants and organic matter.

Hickey is the island's Peatland Officer and part of an Uplands team of just three, who, between them, manage about 8,000 hectares of the Island's hills.

Hickey's job is to find the parts of that landscape which have been damaged, and inject life into it.

Peat is partially decomposed vegetation that builds up in waterlogged ground over centuries, storing more carbon than any other soil on Earth.

"It's important to keep that carbon locked away and not released to the atmosphere," Hickey says.

Much of that carbon has stayed locked away, but not all of it. The island's uplands were largely stripped of trees by the 17th century, and with little timber left to burn, islanders turned to the hills for fuel instead.

Peat would be cut into blocks and left to dry; peat made a good, slow-burning fuel, and for generations it was what Manx households cooked on and heated their homes with.

The practice was banned in 2020, but the bare faces that cutting left behind are still collapsing and eroding today, washing sediment down into reservoirs.

Repairs start with a digger light enough not to cause fresh damage, which pulls the bare peat back to a gentler slope and folds the vegetation over it.

What is left exposed is protected with bio logs, then held down under netting, which keeps the ground shaded and damp so new vegetation can take hold.

The real engineer of a healthy bog, experts say though, is sphagnum moss.

"It grows in peatland habitats, but it also creates them," Hickey says.

It holds huge amounts of water, slowing rain as it moves downhill, reducing flooding and filtering out sediment before it reaches the reservoir.

It is also, she says, more fire-resistant; peat in good condition can be up to 90% water, which is increasingly important as wildfires become more common during summer months.

It matters for wildlife too. Ground-nesting birds such as hen harriers rely on open, treeless bog, safe from predators that would otherwise perch and watch for prey, while the wet ground breeds the invertebrates chicks are fed on.

The reward can arrive fast. After installing coir logs on one site last year, Hickey and colleagues sat down for tea beside the new pools they had created.

"Straight away there were dragonflies in that pool laying eggs," she says. "It was amazing to see what a difference these little features are making."

Read more stories from the Isle of Man on the BBC, watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer and follow BBC Isle of Man on Facebook and X.

Battle to save the tiny, gooey snail only found in one lake in the UK

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1j4ngr05l8o, yesterday

A tiny snail found in only one lake in the UK has been dubbed as precious as an Egyptian artefact as conservationists bid to save it.

Several British zoos are setting up so-called ark populations of the glutinous snail, one of Europe's rarest species, using creatures bred in a back garden in Ceredigion.

"Beguiled by their cuteness," conservationist Ian Hughes has made it his "life-defining" mission to protect the threatened mollusc, which was once widespread in UK waters.

"There was a point where we'd got more snails in our garden than have ever been seen in the wild," he said.

Myxas glutinosa gets its name from the gooey mantle that covers its extremely delicate, gold-flecked brown shell.

It is no bigger than a fingertip, but has comically large antennae - which Hughes likens to "big floppy ears".

The snails, which feed on algae and are considered an indicator of healthy lakes and rivers, have been driven to extinction across England.

Polluted water and habitat loss are largely blamed for their disappearance.

Hughes said the snails were "something to preserve and cherish like Egyptian artefacts".

In the UK, their last known refuge is Wales' largest natural lake - Llyn Tegid - in Eryri National Park, also known as Snowdonia.

Since 2014, under licence from Natural Resources Wales, Hughes has been wading into the lake to collect and study the snails.

He has designed and installed small concrete shelters for them in the lake itself, and set up his own captive population in a greenhouse at his home in Llanarth.

Hughes was left wondering "will they survive an hour, will they survive a day"?

Then, after four months, eggs were spotted in the tank.

"Nobody had knowingly seen their eggs before we made that breakthrough," he said.

"You do these things on a wing and a prayer when you're trying to save something that's down to a single site and you're trying to fathom what it needs and how to save it.

"So when something actually works - it's one of those life-defining moments."

Rearing the snails - as well as other critically endangered invertebrates such as scarlet malachite beetles, ladybird spiders and tadpole shrimp - has become a family affair.

Ian's wife Kerry and their sons Jake, George and Ben, are also fully invested.

"You've got to have a certain mindset to walk out into a freezing cold lake in the middle of January," Ben, 27, explained.

"But knowing that you're helping is more than enough to make it all worth it.

"Every little thing has its place in the ecosystem and if you take a tiny little cog out of any machine it's going to stop working".

The Hughes family is now working with the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums (BIAZA) to relocate some of their snails to wildlife parks across England.

It is seen as a first step towards restoring them back to locations in the wild over the coming years, as part of a £60m UK government-backed scheme to protect rare species.

"It's such a hugely important conservation project and such a wonderful story," explained Samantha Eden, assistant curator at Wingham Wildlife Park in Kent, who travelled to the Hughes home to pick up 24 glutinous snails.

"We've got a new facility that we've set up for them - three beautiful ponds where we're going to be breeding them, learning about them and understanding a little bit more about their environmental needs."

Askham Bryan Wildlife Park in York and Longleat in Wiltshire, along with Dudley and Chester zoos are also taking part in the project, with the Freshwater Habitats Trust searching for suitable water bodies where the snails could eventually be released.

"We're doing a lot of research on the snails' ecology, their husbandry and their genetics," explained Nicky Needham, head of species management and conservation at BIAZA.

"If we can build up a really strong picture then we're in a good position to reintroduce some of them [to the wild].

"With fingers and toes crossed I'd like to think that we could achieve that within three years' time."

"I think it's an amazing project and we'll support it as much as we can," said Simon Jones, assistant warden at Eryri National Park, who added the park was "really proud" to be home to the "unique species".

But climate change means these species are "at an increased threat" and, with the zoos' help, "there's more of a chance of keeping the population alive".

For Hughes, it is "very exciting" so see fresh momentum behind saving the glutinous snail.

"Having all your eggs in one basket is always a dangerous move so having more experts looking after it is really the right way to go," he said.

"For me they're an absolute treasure - like an Egyptian artefact... as valuable as that," he added - "and preserving them is a duty to our children and grandchildren".

How to make an 11th Century castle fit for the future

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgyq85541no, 3 days ago

A £2m conservation project to protect an 11th Century castle from the effects of weather and climate change has been completed.

Work to preserve Corfe Castle in Dorset for future generations began three years ago and has been described as "a mammoth task".

The National Trust said the scheme was the largest at the Dorset landmark since the 1950s.

Conservators repaired stonework, stabilised walls and investigated a possible entrance linked to the castle's betrayal during the English Civil War.

Climate change is having a growing impact on the famous ruins, with summer droughts drying out mortar and warmer, wetter winters encouraging vegetation growth that loosens stones.

Demolition of the castle by Parliamentarian forces in 1646 left parts of its rubble-filled walls exposed to the elements.

Conservators used a technique known as soft capping, covering vulnerable areas with grass to help protect them from drought, heavy rainfall and invasive vegetation.

A fallen guard tower, embedded at a 35 degree angle over a 30m-deep valley, needed a bespoke lifting frame to carefully remove and reset stones weighing up to 90kg.

The work uncovered stonemasons' marks left by medieval builders, including tally marks thought to record a day's work, guide marks around arrow slits and axe strokes used to shape the stone.

"Conserving the castle has been a mammoth task from start to finish," said Toby Moore, associate director at Stonewest.

His team worked from high scaffolding in all weathers to conserve the castle's nine towers, the keep and the 8m-high curtain wall.

He continued: "It's been physically demanding, but incredibly rewarding to see the castle brought back into a stable state of repair, and we're proud to have played our part in its story."

Conservators also explored a possible "traitor's gate" believed to have been used by enemy troops to enter the castle when it fell in 1646.

The National Trust said further investigation would be needed to confirm whether it was the long-lost entrance.

The work also included repairs to the keep, the castle's central tower and once the heart of royal life at Corfe Castle.

To help fund the project, visitors were given rare access to the upper levels of the keep via a temporary viewing platform known as King's View.

The platform offered a glimpse of royal apartments that had been unseen by the public for more than 350 years.

Supporters also helped raise £100,000 towards the final phase of the project through the King's View platform, donations, pin badge sales and second-hand books.

James Gould, operations manager at the castle, said: "This has been a huge project. A career highlight for me and a milestone in protecting the castle for future generations."

"I'd like to thank every supporter who over the last three years has visited," he said.

"Those that braved the Kings' View, bought a pin badge, picked up a second-hand book or made a donation.

"The money raised from fundraising and contributions has gone directly towards protecting Corfe Castle, and we're enormously grateful."

The National Trust said it would now move to a near-constant cycle of conservation work at Corfe Castle, focused on maintaining the work completed and managing vegetation growth.

Species 'at risk of vanishing' from area of Wales' largest national park

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgy04v7rkjo, 3 days ago

Some of Wales' most endangered species are "at risk of vanishing" from an area of the country's largest national park, experts have warned.

The National Trust said Nant Ffrancon, a valley in Eryri National Park, was facing "serious ecological decline" with some species in danger of disappearing altogether, including the mountain blackbird and the mountain finch.

Now, a new £1m scheme is aiming to restore and conserve more than 4,000 acres of habitats at Eryri, also known as Snowdonia.

"We're in a very serious situation - we're in a nature emergency. There are so many species in this valley which are on the brink of extinction," said Simon Rogers from the National Trust.

From the high peaks of Cwm Idwal to the deep valleys of Dyffryn Ogwen, Nant Ffrancon is one of the most special and unique landscapes in Wales.

But experts say its habitat has deteriorated and some of Wales' most threatened species, including the ring ouzel bird, are in danger of disappearing altogether.

Now, a project led by the National Trust will work together with local communities, tenant farmers and volunteers to restore and protect 4,040 acres of habitats.

Rogers said there was a "unique variety of habitats" in the area and warned many species "really are on the brink".

"One of the ones we've chosen to look at particularly in this project is the ring ouzel - a bird that's red-listed," he explained.

"It's been in decline massively in the area and across the whole country, and this is one of the last strongholds for it.

"So we'll be looking at that little bird, understanding how they use the landscape here and doing our best to manage the land to ensure their survival for the future.

"There are a lot arctic alpine flowers that grow in Cwm Idwal as well, one of them being the Tufted Saxifrage, where there were only seven individuals at the start of the year - all of them growing here in Cwm Idwal.

"But with the drought we've had this year, only three have made it through the summer. That's three through the whole of Wales, so they're at a very real risk of extinction if we don't do something about it."

Another project which will benefit is Tlysau Mynydd Eryri (Mountain Jewels of Eryri), part of a conservation partnership led by Plantlife Cymru to protect the future of some of the rarest alpine plants in Wales.

Ecological surveys and regular monitoring will map the impact of the restoration work, using species such as the woodcock and otter, and plants including aspen and juniper to give an idea of the health of the valley.

The work will also build on innovative use of GPS livestock collars to manage grazing more precisely.

Cwm Idwal Partnership Officer Rhys Wheldon-Roberts said monitoring was "really important because it allows us to graze in the right areas at the right densities and at the right time".

He added: "The collars on the cattle allow us to move the cattle around the landscape and you can monitor it as you go, and the farmers can see that data live on their apps.

"It can make grazing something much more effective for the cattle and for nature."

As well as local farmers, there will be an emphasis on community involvement and volunteering as part of the work.

"There are opportunities for people to get involved in monitoring, in volunteering, just learning about the landscape in general," said Wheldon-Roberts.

"Here in Cwm Idwal we have lots of school visits every year and they'll be able to see the effects of the project and the effect that the cattle are having in that conservation grazing way, so it's really exciting in that regard as well.

"By bringing people along with us they get a chance to learn and hopefully appreciate, and ultimately try to protect this special landscape that we've got around us."

The project is being funded by nearly £1m from the Nature Networks Fund, delivered by the Heritage Fund on behalf of the Welsh government and in partnership with Natural Resources Wales.

"What we're trying to do with this project is set a foundation for the future," said Rogers.

"Some things will change in the next three years, but what we're doing is setting ourselves up so that recovery can continue for decades afterwards."

August joint-hottest month on record as climate change and El Niño drive heat

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c93vde0n2l4o, 4 days ago

August was the joint-hottest month ever recorded, tying with July 2023, according to the EU's climate service.

The record was driven by a combination of climate change and the rising influence of El Niño, pushing heat into the atmosphere across the Pacific.

Temperatures for the month were 1.65C above pre-industrial levels - surpassing the critical 1.5C threshold agreed by countries to avoid the worst consequences of climate change.

While a single month above 1.5C does not mean it has been permanently crossed, it shows a trend towards breaching that limit.

The month also capped western Europe's warmest summer, with high temperatures pushing the season past the deadly heat of 2003.

Dr Samantha Burgess, strategic lead for climate at Copernicus, described August as "a remarkable month in the global climate record", and its impacts had been "increasingly being felt by communities, economies and ecosystems across the world".

The combination of record air temperatures, record ocean heat and Europe's exceptional summer showed how climate change was now driving extremes across "both the atmosphere and the oceans", she said.

UN climate chief Simon Stiell said the record clearly showed humanity's impact on the climate.

"The evidence is irrefutable: this is the spiralling price of humanity's fossil fuel addiction, and the global climate crisis it is fuelling," he said.

On top of the ongoing impact of the use of fossil fuels, the rise of a powerful El Niño is making matters worse, the researchers have said.

El Niño is a natural climate pattern in which a band of the eastern Pacific turns unusually warm, releasing vast amounts of stored ocean heat into the atmosphere and nudging global temperatures upwards for around a year.

The one currently being experienced is still strengthening and could become one of the most powerful on record, according to the Copernicus team.

The biggest impact of this natural phenomenon on global temperatures is expected to hit over the coming year, meaning the current run of records may have further to go.

That prospect follows a summer that drove western Europe to its warmest on record.

This was echoed in the UK, which had its hottest summer since records began in 1884 - a high mark the Met Office found had been made around 130 times more likely by human-caused climate change.

This figures carried "a very real human cost", said Dr Clair Barnes, an extreme weather researcher at Imperial College London.

The heat across the UK and Europe disrupted schools, strained hospitals, hit food production, fuelled fires and drought, and claiming "tens of thousands of lives", she said.

She rejected the idea that such summers were now simply the "new normal".

"Until we stop burning fossil fuels these records will continue to tumble, and the extremes will worsen faster than we are able to adapt. Crucially, how much worse we allow it to get remains within our hands."

Additional reporting Erwan Rivault

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How a lake built for steel helps fight drought

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2z9ndr7ngo, 5 days ago

Much of England has faced drought conditions during a summer marked by repeated heatwaves, but the North East has been spared water scarcity despite experiencing what the Environment Agency dubs "prolonged dry weather".

One of the, quite literally, biggest reasons is that Northumberland is home to England's largest reservoir – Kielder Water.

So how did the country's least populated region gain this huge asset and will the lake continue to protect the North East from water shortages long into the future?

Kielder Water opened in 1982 and is the biggest man-made lake in the UK, holding about 200bn litres of water.

Jonty Hall, then aged nine, was chosen to press the button to start filling the reservoir, flooding the multiple farms and homes that once stood on the dry site.

"This is now my 37th year," he said, referring to his work for Northumbrian Water at the lake he helped create.

The reservoir had been built with the expectation that the area's water-hungry steel industry would continue to expand, but the predicted boom never lasted.

Instead, Kielder Water now plays a part in ensuring the North East is one of the "most water secure regions" in the country, according to Newcastle University hydrology researcher Dr Anna Murgatroyd.

Right now, water from Kielder is being used to top up the River Wear to maintain minimum levels.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said about 560 Olympic-sized swimming pools worth of water had been diverted from Kielder to the Wear since mid-July, and the lake can be similarly used to protect the likes of the Tyne, Tees and Derwent.

But Kielder is not the only reason the region is relatively protected from droughts today, said Murgatroyd.

The region is home to numerous other reservoirs and enjoys relatively high rainfall.

Its large river systems also provide locals with a "good amount of water".

Less predictable climate

While Kielder continues to give the North East a high level of protection, the effects of climate change have led to questions about the region's future water security.

Murgatroyd was part of a team that modelled climate effects across England and Wales up to 2080, work that suggested the North East would see a rise in drought conditions but remain more water secure than other regions.

Prof Kiran Tota-Maharaj, from the University of Hull, said Kielder remains an example of "best practice" in water engineering.

"It has served its purpose and it is resilient, especially during unforeseen conditions," he said.

But he warned climate change was changing weather patterns so much that "predictability was becoming more and more challenging".

Northumbrian Water, which has no current plans to build new reservoirs, said its estimates suggested the North East would have enough water to meet demand for the foreseeable future.

But it said this did not mean the region possessed unlimited resources, so it was encouraging people to be more considerate in their water use.

"Kielder is a major safeguard," a spokesperson said, "but saving water reduces pressure on the whole supply system and environment and makes that safeguard last longer."

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Backshall backs calls for natural history GCSE

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9w41wje5v4o, 5 days ago

Naturalist Steve Backshall and Lost Gardens of Heligan co-founder Sir Tim Smit have called for more "greenlightenment" to put nature education at the heart of school curriculums.

It comes as the government has been consulting on a new natural history GCSE, which Sir Tim said was a "seismic moment for British education", adding "a deep understanding of the natural world is fundamental to humanity's future".

Backshall, who hosted the Wild Heligan experience to excite young people about wildlife, said: "I see every day how nature revitalises, restores and fills people with joy."

A survey by Heligan of 1,004 parent and child groups across England found 55% of children had never climbed a tree.

Backshall said: "We can get so much from the wild world, but now more than ever the wild world needs us.

"Young people who are engaged with nature will be happier, healthier and more likely to take on our planet's problems."

Sir Tim said: "It is our responsibility to equip the next generation with the tools to protect nature so it doesn't become history."

He added children had not lost their interest in nature but had lost opportunities to experience it.

The survey found "ordinary contact with nature" was unfamiliar to many children and 61% of children had never collected a conker or camped in a tent.

The research also found 34% of children they asked said they would definitely choose the proposed natural history GCSE if their school offered it, with another 41% saying they probably would.

The government said, if brought in, the GCSE would "ensure that children are equipped with the highly sought after skills for the workforce of a changing world" and could help reduce the number of number of young people not in education, employment or training.

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Getting your hands dirty boosts your health within weeks

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20260904-how-getting-your-hands-dirty-boosts-your-health-within-weeks, 6 days ago

Putting our hands in soil and touching grass, trees or moss provides a wide range of health benefits, for our skin and wider immune system.

I take a long walk in my nearest park every day, almost religiously. There are plenty of different tree species to look at, an everchanging cast of fragrant flowers in spring, and enthusiastic birdsong fills the air. But the sensory experience usually stops there. However mucky my shoes get, I usually come home with clean hands.

Research, though, suggests there's something to be said for reaching out to touch the trees, shrubs and soil I usually walk past. Mira Grönroos, an ecologist and nature-health researcher at the Finnish Environment Institute, asked people to rub their hands with soil, peat and moss for 20 seconds as part of an experiment. She found that the abundance and variety of microbes on their skin increased, even after they rinsed their hands with tap water. "To the naked eye [their hands] looked clean," she says, "but the change was so huge".

The idea of more bacteria on our skin might not sound appealing. But when there's a rich mix of microbes living alongside each other, they keep each other in check and defend us against more harmful, pathogenic bacteria. A growing body of research shows that contact with natural materials, like soil and plants, is an easy way to boost our skin's microbial diversity, and that this not only benefits our skin, but also our immune system.

Twenty seconds isn't long – I'd happily pause on my walk to touch some tree bark or sit down in the grass. But more would be much better, Grönroos says, as in her experiment "the skin microbiota very quickly returned to a similar state as it was before". The results suggest that prolonged or frequent skin contact with nature could significantly change what's happening on our skin and in our bodies.

Playing in the mud

Mucky hands are the norm for children at Aurinkolinna daycare centre in central Finland. They spend at least a couple of hours every day playing outside in a wooded playground, racing between bushes and trees, climbing ropes, making sandcastles, splashing in puddles and grabbing fistfuls of dirt and woodchips.

By the end of each day they are covered head to toe in mud. Scientists are now studying how this could be good for their health. By analysing microbes on the children's skin, saliva and faeces, alongside blood and hair samples, researchers are learning what happens to their immune systems over a three-year period when nature is brought into the yards where they play every day.

Aurinkolinna is one of 43 daycare centres in Finland taking part in the Vahvistu research project, which builds on a recent two-year study led by environmental scientist Marja Roslund.

In 2016-17, she brought the forest floor into a daycare yard – complete with peat and planting boxes – and measured the impact on young children's skin, saliva and gut bacteria after they had played there regularly for 28 days, and again after a year. Compared to children who played in a paved yard, those on the forest floor had greater microbial diversity on their skin a year later.

This diversity is important for the health of our skin. Increasing the diversity of bacteria on the skin can prevent disease-causing bacteria from becoming dominant, keeping the microbial community in balance, Roslund says. "Disease is like a dictator, and healthy skin is like a democracy."

Roslund's research found fewer potential pathogens on children's skin when they had played on the forest floor, likely because the number and diversity of other microbes crowds out these "bad" bacteria. "Because there is so much of everything else, there is not so much space for the pathogens," she says.

Healthy skin, healthy body

Taking care of our skin also has benefits that run much deeper. Skin health can impact hormonal activity, cardiovascular disease, and even cognitive function. In particular, research is starting to show that exposing our skin to diverse bacteria can impact our immune system.

Roslund asked a group of young children to play in a sandbox enriched with microbially diverse soil, while another group played in a sandbox that looked the same but contained less microbial diversity. As we might expect, the diversity of certain bacteria on children's skin increased when they played in the microbially rich sandbox. But there were also changes to the immune markers, called cytokines, in these children's blood samples that support immunoregulation – the immune system's ability to fight off threats without becoming overactive.

It is these and similar findings that inspired the Vahvistu project. At Aurinkolinna, government funding has helped transform the yard so it now includes woodchips instead of gravel, a bigger sanded area, and wooden pathways, alongside the birch and pine trees that were already there.

The research behind the Vahvistu project supports what is known as the biodiversity hypothesis – the idea that air, plants and soil rich in diverse microbes have an important influence on the human microbiome, and therefore our health. It has long been suggested that the loss of biodiversity in our environment could be behind the current rise in immune-related conditions, and Roslund's research may help to explain how and why that is.

She found that one family of bacteria, namely gammaproteobacteria, plays a particularly important role. Gammaproteobacterial diversity increased on children's skin when they played in the yard with the forest floor, and this increase was associated with more regulatory T cells – white blood cells that help control and balance the immune system and are important for preventing autoimmune diseases, she says.

For now, it's not clear exactly what this means for immune-mediated diseases like eczema, asthma or allergies. "We cannot yet say that when you have contact with nature, you will not get asthma, for example. But it seems that it might reduce the possibility of getting those immune system disorders," Grönroos says.

Green fingers

These health benefits aren't only seen in children. In one study, adults were asked to grow vegetables indoors over winter, some using microbially diverse soil and others using similar-looking but microbially poor soil. They tended to the plants every day for a month and ate their crops. Those using the microbially-diverse soil saw an increase in the diversity of bacteria on their skin, and on the number of anti-inflammatory cytokines in their blood – while the other group didn't.

This kind of gardening "is a good example of an easily accessible way of nature contact, and it was quite surprising that this kind of exposure really showed changes in the immune system functioning", Grönroos says.

In another study, researchers installed "green walls" made of living plants in Finnish offices and measured the effect on workers after two weeks. They found that the diversity of microbes on their skin increased, and levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines in their blood went down. They also saw an increase in Lactobacillus microbes on their skin, which is important for skin health.

More like this:

• Four benefits of going out in the rain

• Want a better night's sleep? Go camping

• What watching the sunset really does for your health

Grönroos puts her findings into practice with her own family. "When I go outdoors with my children, if they want to pick some cones or sticks, I don't say 'no' to them. I let them bring them home and play there."

We should start applying this thinking to our cities, Grönroos adds. "[Cities] should be built so that citizens are able to get into contact with nature. It would be good if some of that contact was unintentional, so people wouldn't need to decide to go there, they would come into contact with nature on their way to work or school," she says.

There's more for science to discover about exactly how contact with nature impacts the immune system, but for Grönroos, the findings so far are enough to make the grubby hands and muddy carpet worth it. "It's low risk," she says, with "lots of potential benefits without any obvious major harms."

These findings are, perhaps, a reminder to us all to reach out and touch that mossy tree, to sit down in the grass – to not be afraid of a bit of mud.

For trusted insights on health and wellbeing, sign up to the Health Fix newsletter by senior health correspondent Melissa Hogenboom who also writes the Live Well For Longer and Six Steps to Calm courses.

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Why our changing weather could be bad for seahorses

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5yegqlxjyyo, 6 days ago

The increasing chances of more severe storms could put the South's seagrass meadows at risk.

Work to recover the precious habitat at sites such as Studland Bay in Dorset has seen encouraging signs of species, including seahorses, returning.

But potential damage to the seagrass due to shifting weather patterns could put that recovery under threat.

While the unique marine flowering plant can help reduce the erosion of the seabed in shallow water it is vulnerable to stormy weather.

For the team of volunteers who survey Studland Bay it has been a busy summer.

Last year saw the highest recorded number of seahorse sightings since the pandemic when a fall in the number of boats visiting the Dorset beauty spot allowed recovery.

Hoping for the upward trend to continue divers have been in the water every two weeks.

"Without a doubt every dive we're seeing seahorses" says founder of The Seahorse Trust, Neil Garrick-Maidment.

"At one stage we went through two and a half years without a single sea horse sighting here."

"It's difficult to know long term what the trend of numbers is. The other fish species like the bass and stuff are breeding quite well here so – yeah – fingers crossed – we're being really optimistic about what's going on."

That optimism is built on the formation of the Studland Bay Marine Partnership and the introduction of the eco moorings initiative which prevents chains scraping the seabed and seagrass when boats visit the bay.

Currently there are 87 moorings in the bay with plans to install more in the future.

The ongoing survey work is done under strict conditions. It's illegal to disturb or harm seahorses.

Anyone intending to film, photograph or survey seahorses has to be licensed.

For volunteers like Kat Lewis encounters with the creature are still magical.

"We found two baby ones. So yeah – good – two baby ones and three cuttlefish. Loads and loads of little dragonets and wrasse and all the usual suspects."

"Why would you not want to see seahorses? They're kind of like unicorns of the sea."

Former BBC journalist Angus Crawford joined the volunteers after being inspired by the trust's work.

"I found three seahorses. One tiny – just a small fry from this year. Then a bigger female. And then the most beautiful, enormous seahorse. The biggest I've ever seen here."

But while the numbers of encounters seems promising there is a note of caution.

Studland's seagrass is found in shallow water leaving it vulnerable to winter storms.

Climate experts are predicting the UK could see winter storms increasing in number and intensity.

Last month the Met Office warned that the El Niño event that is developing over the Pacific Ocean is likely to be the strongest in living memory.

"This bay is wonderful" explains Ken Collins, senior research fellow, from the University of Southampton

"It's protected from prevailing south westerly winds which is why the seagrass grows here, the boaters like it – you know – they get shelter."

"But in some years – we had a lot of easterly winds which blow straight into the bay. The can actually tear up the seagrass. And so unpredictable weather – storminess – is a concern."

While seahorses retreat to deep waters in the winter healthy seagrass meadows are vital to their breeding cycle.

For now though at Studland the signs are encouraging and for the volunteers every encounter is still magical.

Public asked to have their say on proposed new renewable energy company

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c780n702pp4o, 6 days ago

People across the country are being asked to have their say on proposals for a new renewable energy company owned by the Welsh government.

It would "develop and own" wind and solar plants, and support local communities to take an ownership stake.

The Plaid Cymru-led Welsh government hope it can reduce the cost of bills in the long term, but the company would not directly set energy prices.

It does not set out to replace the organisations that provide energy direct to customers, with the government inviting people for views on how it should operate.

The plans were criticised by the Welsh Conservatives, Labour and Reform.

The Welsh government already owns a renewable onshore wind and solar developer - Trydan Gwyrdd Cymru (TGC).

Ministers in Cardiff are proposing to bring TGC together with other existing Welsh energy schemes, such as Ynni Cymru, which aims to expand locally-owned renewables and the government's energy service.

Enterprise Minister Adam Price told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast the government wanted an energy system that was "clean, cheap and owned by us".

The company would not "replace existing energy suppliers or directly set household electricity prices", it said in a consultation document.

It added that its purpose would be to "help Wales reduce energy costs over time by developing and owning renewable energy assets" and "supporting local and community ownership, investing in smart local energy systems".

It would also "help more organisations use locally generated energy" and try to attract investment into Welsh energy infrastructure.

The company would be separate from Great British Energy, which the UK government set up in 2024.

TGC is working on a number of projects on land owned by the Welsh government, including proposed wind farms at Carreg Wen near Aberdare and Glyn Cothi in Carmarthenshire.

The consultation asks if TGC should form the basis of the new company and whether it should use its name or call itself Ynni Cymru.

It also proposes that the company could take stakes in larger schemes - suggesting this could involve offshore wind, marine energy and nuclear.

The consultation looks at establishing a Welsh Energy Wealth Fund to allow energy projects "to support the most vulnerable in Wales as well as those living in areas where projects are being delivered".

Speaking to BBC Radio Wales Breakfast, Price said: "Our vision for the future of the energy system in Wales is one in which it's clean, it's cheap and it's owned by us."

He said the organisation was bringing the different elements together "to create a single company that, if you like, has the range of expertise and the sort of critical mass of resources and knowledge to make a real difference".

Price said Wales was "an energy giant at the Industrial Revolution with coal, but unfortunately we didn't see the benefit of that being derived largely by our own people".

He added: "We don't want to make the same mistake with the huge potential that Wales has in this new energy revolution with renewable energy."

The minister said many of the levers for energy are decided at a UK level, but added that energy produced by a public energy company could allow "lower energy prices" through agreements with local large energy users.

During the 2026 election campaign Plaid Cymru promised that renewable energy projects would need to offer local communities a part of their profits if they were approved by a Plaid-led Welsh government.

The party had been criticised by Labour for "repeatedly" opposing green energy infrastructure for Wales, such as pylons.

Plaid had said it would establish a "strong presumption in favour of undergrounding", and the "use of wooden poles where necessary".

Welsh Labour's energy spokesperson, Vikki Howells. said: "Just over two weeks ago Plaid Cymru announced they were finalising their approach to a National Energy Strategy, we now learn they are launching another consultation to go over ground already covered.

"Wales already has a publicly-owned clean energy company - Trydan Gwyrdd Cymru, created by the Welsh Labour Government. Ynni Cymru, another Welsh Labour creation, supports community owned regeneration."

Janet Finch-Saunders, Welsh Conservative energy spokesperson, said: "While thousands of well-paid manufacturing jobs are being lost, the Welsh government's answer is another state-owned company and yet more wind turbines and solar farms across the Welsh countryside.

"Wales needs cheap, reliable energy to keep factories open, businesses competitive and household bills down."

Jason O'Connell, Reform Wales' spokesperson economy and transport, said: "Welsh families are already paying some of the highest energy bills in the UK, yet Plaid wants to build a publicly-owned energy company instead of focusing on getting bills down.

"Wales has enormous energy potential. We need better grid connectivity, as Wales currently experiences huge costs and massive delays when connecting to the existing network due to outdated infrastructure and supply chain shortages."

Drought devastation: How to protect London's trees

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cddvy47d253o, 7 days ago

In The Closes park in West Drayton, we are surrounded by withered saplings of newly planted trees. It has been a bad summer for the capital's trees - the challenge is significant.

A recent report from the Greater London Authority (GLA) concluded that, if nothing changes, over 72% of London's current public realm tree population will struggle under future climatic conditions.

Trees are on the front line in the fight to combat man-made climate change in London.

Trees are meant to make the city more resilient. We need them for shade and protection against extreme heat.

More heatwaves and drought makes planting native trees and maintaining the existing canopy more and more difficult.

The summer may be over, but London's trees are still under threat.

Georgie Power, senior coordinator at Trees for Cities (a charity that plants thousands of trees and looks after them) has said this summer had been unlike any other she has experienced.

There has also been a wildfire in the park that has killed many of the saplings.

"Last summer was bad. I think we had three heat waves, kind of back to back, but this summer has been a different level.

"It's just been relentless. No rain for over 50 days. Every single site has struggled, and our team has really been put under massive pressure because of that."

She and her team have been trying to water more trees more frequently, and giving them more water when they do it.

"We're giving them from 50 to 60 litres, which might seem small for one tree, but for hundreds of trees, that means much more work.

"We've really worked hard to try and encourage volunteers to come in and help us with the mulching, because that's something that really saves the trees' lives."

At Chiswick House and Gardens it has also been a tough summer, involving extra watering and mulching.

Rosie Fyles, head of gardens, said many of the trees had started to drop their leaves ahead of autumn in response to the drought and heat.

"It is really reminiscent of autumn - but in fact they're dropping them because they can't support them from a water point of view any more.

"The trees that seem to be having the most difficult time are the trees that we really associate with an English garden or an English landscape.

"Trees will have their lives shortened and over time more trees will die which sounds like a terribly depressing thing to say, but I think there's only so much stress they can withstand."

The aim of the mayor of London is to increase tree canopy cover in London by 10% from 2016 levels.

But trees weakened by heat and drought are often more vulnerable to pests and diseases.

Research is now being done by the Greater London Authority into what trees are the best to plant and will be more resilient to climate change. The results should be available next spring.

CEO of Trees for Cities Kate Sheldon described the summer as "incredibly challenging" for London's trees.

"Imagine standing out here all summer yourself. We've been able to go inside or hide under the shade, and they've been withstanding prolonged heat, prolonged drought for months now.  So, we're seeing a mixed reaction response in the tree species that we're planting.

"They really need a huge amount of extra help this year, and they will do for future years."

All of that puts pressure on funding and resources at the charity.

How to help trees:

* Watering: Give young trees at least 50 litres of water each week during warmer periods

* Donate a drink: Support our emergency watering efforts, to help a thirsty urban tree

* Spread the word: Encourage your friends and family to water trees too or share the message on social media.

Every litre helps. Every tree matters. Every share could inspire someone else to act.

Trees for Cities

The challenge now is working out which trees will survive in a warming London, Sheldon said: "We're working really closely with the Greater London Authority and Kew Gardens who are doing some fantastic groundbreaking research into species selection.

"We can trial different species and also species from different provinces as well that are more used to the hotter and drier effects that we've seen.

"We're going to have hotter drier summers, we're also getting warmer wetter winters.

"The real challenge comes into selecting species that are going to be able to withstand both of those changes, and that's complex."

The charity has also launched a campaign to get Londoners to help by watering trees close to them.

Workers on the ground are already replacing native species like Alder with Italian Alder which seems to be more resilient to climate change, along with Ginko and European nettle trees.

Georgie Power said she was "very, very, very nervous" about it the future.

"I've studied climate change, and I've been working in the environmental field for a while, but you know what's coming when you study climate change.  We've known it for decades. But this is really the first summer where I've seen climate change on our doorstep, and it's not going anywhere."

"This is the new norm, this is going to happen again next year.  So we have to figure out what our infrastructure's going to be like, how do we engage with the public?

"What do the public need to do in their own private gardens as well and in our community spaces with the trees we've planted? 

"The only option we have is to adjust for the future."

Listen to the best of BBC Radio London on Sounds and follow BBC London on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to hello.bbclondon@bbc.co.uk

The volunteers risking their lives to defuse Indonesia's wildfire 'carbon bombs'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1kx4lgy4z4o, 7 days ago

The sky grows heavy in Borneo, though not with rain. The air, amber-hued and treacle-thick, is smudged under a blanket of smog that has spilled across international borders – to Singapore, Manila, Kuala Lumpur.

Down on the ground, smoke steams from the soil.

It's like tear gas, says Dwi Sujatmoko.

"It hits your nose straight away, your eyes burn – that's more or less what it's like," he says. "People say these fires are extraordinary because of the flames and the smoke. And they're right."

The 35-year-old volunteer firefighter has spent more than a month enveloped in this haze, breathing toxic millennia-old microparticles of carbon as he toils against a seemingly inextinguishable fire front.

Using hand tools, carts and portable fire pumps, he and thousands of other volunteer firefighters – many of them indigenous Dayak or Banjar people – are up against an inferno that has carbonised some 200,000 hectares of forest and farmland across Indonesian Borneo since early July.

Underground and out of sight, giant subterranean peat fires continue to smoulder, choking the air with poisonous fumes.

"Once a fire becomes uncontrolled, it harms many people. Not just humans, but also animals and plants," Sujatmoko says. "If underground fire spreads and can no longer be controlled, the losses are enormous."

Indonesia is in the throes of a wildfire catastrophe.

Amid a so-called "Super El Niño" that has supercharged local drought conditions, thousands of active fire hotspots are spreading and multiplying across the country, fuelling a transnational haze crisis that is the region's worst in more than a decade.

But what makes Borneo's fires particularly worrying is the fact that they are burning through one of the world's largest tropical peatland ecosystems.

This 4.5-million-hectare swathe of forest and swamp, under normal conditions, serves as a valuable reservoir for ancient carbon.

When these peatlands catch fire, they risk releasing millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and methane into the atmosphere – a "pulse" of greenhouse gas emissions that has earned them the sobriquet of "carbon bomb".

"Peatlands are incredibly effective carbon stores because their waterlogged conditions slow decomposition, allowing carbon to accumulate underground for thousands of years," explains Dr Nisa Novita, a peatland researcher at Indonesian conservation NGO Yayasan Konservasi Alam Nusantara (YKAN).

"But this also means they can become a 'carbon bomb' when they are drained or burned, because that carbon can be rapidly released into the atmosphere.

"Tropical peatlands in Indonesia are among the world's most effective natural carbon stores. The deeper the peat, the greater the carbon stock – and in Kalimantan, we have found peat deposits that can exceed 20 metres in depth."

A peatland that deep has been known to harbour more than 6,000 tonnes of carbon – roughly equivalent to the annual CO₂ emissions of 4,800 cars – per hectare. And when it burns, says Dr Nisa, that fossilised carbon can be released into the atmosphere "very rapidly".

The toxic cloud

Thousands of people across South East Asia are now feeling the effects of those emissions in their eyes, chests and throats.

Across Indonesia as well as Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines, air pollution indices have soared to "unhealthy" extremes - almost 75 times the World Health Organization's recommended level, in some cases – and hospital admissions have surged.

Between July and August, Indonesia's Health Ministry recorded over 50,000 cases of respiratory infections linked to land and forest fires. More than 12,000 of them were children under the age of five.

"Everybody who's living within that pollution cloud is breathing in the products of those smouldering peat fires," says Susan Page, a professor at the University of Leicester's school of geology and the environment, who's been researching peatlands in Asia for three decades.

"They're breathing in carbon monoxide, which is toxic, and they're breathing in the very finely divided particulate matter... [which] can pass through the alveoli in the lungs into the bloodstream and cause further problems elsewhere in the body, including issues with the heart.

"Living in this kind of pollution cloud is extremely unhealthy."

Nowhere are these health impacts being felt more acutely than at the coalface of the disaster: the fire front.

Here, volunteer firefighters have been risking their lives and lungs to extinguish burning peatlands which are notoriously difficult to put out. Two volunteers in Central Kalimantan have died in recent days, reportedly after their health deteriorated from putting out fires.

Cloaked in toxic haze that can burn years off a person's lifespan, volunteers have been digging ponds, canals and borewells through bone-dry peat in a desperate attempt to keep their hoses tapped.

Some have been driving pipes into the earth, making ad hoc irrigation systems to combat subterranean fires. Others have been sleeping within a stone's throw of the frontline so they can battle the blazes through the night.

"The worst thing here has been the smoke," says Fahrin Ramadhianto, a volunteer firefighter in South Kalimantan's Banjarbaru, one of the worst-hit areas.

"The smell is like decaying wood being burned – that's the characteristic smell of peat. And that peat contains decomposed wood and organic material from many different sources."

An unnatural imbalance

Indonesia's peatland fires are not a new phenomenon.

Experts say the crisis is rooted in decades of land-use change, dating back to the Suharto era, when vast areas of rainforest and peatland in Kalimantan were opened for logging, plantations and large-scale development projects.

Yet authorities have historically avoided blaming industrial actors for causing large-scale fires.

Instead, the same indigenous communities who are now engaged in firefighting operations across the island have often been accused of triggering the blazes, due to traditional farming methods that use controlled burns to clear away vegetation.

Tono, a representative of the Dayak Kanayatn people of West Kalimantan, told the BBC that Dayak communities are frequently used as scapegoats, despite carrying out land clearing with extensive planning, caution and adherence to multi-generational customs.

Tono says these communities' traditional practices, known as uma bukit or "hill farming", are rooted in the idea of maintaining balance with nature.

But the natural balance is fast unravelling in Kalimantan, the most deforested area in Indonesia.

The region lost almost 160,000 hectares of forest area in 2025, more than one-third of the nationwide figure – much of it to make way for plantations and monocrop agriculture.

It is these same industrial-scale development projects that have been largely responsible for draining the area's peat swamps, which renders them significantly more fire-prone, Prof Page says.

"Peatlands aren't really the ideal place to set up a plantation – but of course, once the more suitable mineral soils had been exhausted it became possible, by using large machinery, to drain the peatlands and create conditions which would be dry enough," she says.

"So not only have you got the deforestation, but peatland drainage of course has also greatly increased the fire risk."

Page also points out that, whether on fire or not, a drained peatland emits carbon dioxide into the atmosphere "all of the time".

"I think that's forgotten," she says. "I think it's important to recognise that when we see the fires, they're like a dramatic example of what is actually going on the whole time in a drained peatland... The fires are just the worst expression of [that]."

Now, as these latest fires continue to spiral out of control, Sujatmoko and others face a concatenation of difficulties in the coming days, weeks and months – not least of which is a shortage of water.

Fighting peat fires requires saturating the ground so thoroughly that it becomes "like porridge", Sujatmoko explains.

Even then there is a high chance the fire will reappear, like a smoking revenant, fed by hidden fuel buried in the invisible depths of the peat swamp.

In the face of these persistent reignitions, ongoing drought conditions and toxic smog, fatigue is another concern.

"We're definitely tired," says Sujatmoko.

"We get exhausted, we miss our families, our children, our wives. But for now, all of us are putting those things aside. We're doing everything we can to help deal with this haze disaster because it's our duty."

"We also hope rain comes soon," he adds. "We've spent months away from home... May all the efforts of those on the front lines be a blessing for everyone."

Additional reporting by Faisal Irfani from BBC Indonesian.

Record heat leaves flower growers short of blooms

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjw5q55p9j6o, 7 days ago

British flower growers say the hottest summer on record has cost them entire crops, with some unable to bring anything to London markets.

Speaking at Chiswick Flower Market on Sunday, some growers said they had lost most of their crops due to the weather, while others described the measures they had taken to save theirs with one saying they had lived in a caravan in the middle of a field so they could water the plants before and after the day's extreme heat.

Organisers of the monthly market said several had dropped out because they had nothing to bring.

Met Office provisional figures show summer 2026 was the UK's warmest since records began in 1884.

England and Wales had their driest July on record, and by 10 August the National Drought Group reported 71.3% of England was in drought, with more than 27 million people under water restrictions.

For growers, that meant rebuilding the working day around the heat.

Lisa Comfort, who has a flower field in Chipperfield, Hertfordshire, said by 08:30 BST it was already too hot for her to cut the flowers, and the only window to water came once the sun was down.

"With the children, we were like, it's just too hard," she said. "They feel like they've been camping all summer. They'll remember the summers we spent on the flower farm."

George Stevens, a fourth-generation grower at Stevens of Sibsey in Lincolnshire, lost most of his peony crop in May when a cool start to the month was followed by temperatures above 30C (86F) within days.

"It just went from 14 degrees to 30 degrees," he said. "We missed the whole season."

What followed was months of hard, dry ground: "If we're putting seeds in the ground, they're not germinating because there's not enough moisture.

"Then you've got to irrigate, which is so expensive to do."

The cost is what worries growers most.

Andie McDowell runs Dahlia Beach, a pick-your-own farm in Oxfordshire with nearly 30,000 dahlia plants, and needs about 5,000 stems a week in a season that runs only from late August to the end of October.

"We're spending an absolute fortune. It's been really crippling and that's a cost that you don't factor in from one year to the next," she said.

"It's the same amount of effort, the same amount of energy that you put into it, and then you're just having to throw more and more money at it just to get the flowers to flower."

Buyers rarely see what sits behind the price of a bunch.

"The cost of labour has gone up, the cost of fertiliser, everything, even the cost of hiring the blooming van to get here. We're being pinched on all sides," she said.

George added that the sums had put his business close to breaking point: "By the time you've done it, you're near the point of is 'it still profitable to keep going, and where's the cut-off point?' That has been the biggest tackle I've known this year."

Lisa puts it more bluntly: "You don't get into this to make yourself rich. You don't ever calculate your hourly rate, that is a big no-no because you realise you're earning 50p an hour. It is a way of life."

The flower trade is not alone. The Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, which campaigns on climate policy, estimates the heat and drought could cost arable farmers as much as £390m in lost revenue, with 2026 on course for one of the worst harvests since detailed records began in 1984.

What the growers have in common is that none of them plans to stop. Each has spent the season working out what to change.

For Lisa, it was the watering itself.

"We heard about this pulse watering idea. I think it came from farms in Australia, and they basically water for 15 minutes every six hours, just to keep the soil moist," she said.

"Since we've done that, we've noticed a massive change. We wouldn't have learned that unless we were up against it."

Ellenah Murahwa, whose family run Holmbush Flowers in Horsham, West Sussex, has been rationing in the same way. Their dahlias usually open in the first week of August and have only just started.

"With the drought, we had to manage that quite tightly," she said. "Last year we had plenty of rain, we didn't have that problem, but we had no sunshine. You just have to work with the weather and do your best."

Andie went after income that does not depend on the weather at all - turning the farm into a venue.

"We're doing a hoedown in the dahlias, so we're doing line dancing. I'm doing a silent disco in the dahlias, which is very popular," she said.

"People are so desperate to get out and do something fun so we've really leaned into events this year."

British-grown cut flowers remain a small share of what the country buys.

The growers' association Flowers from the Farm estimates about 90% of those sold through UK florists, supermarkets and wholesalers are imported, chiefly from the Netherlands.

The association, which says it now has more than 1,000 members, says buyers increasingly ask for seasonal, scented and locally-grown blooms.

George had about two hours' sleep before Sunday's market, after a night cutting by head torch. Asked how he keeps going, he laughs.

"It's more for me probably pride, and I want to see my family so proud. If you didn't love the job, you wouldn't do it. I'm so eager to keep my family legacy going."

For Ellenah it is simpler.

"This is definitely a passion project. It's mum's hobby that has turned into fields of flowers. It's always something that brings joy."

Listen to the best of BBC Radio London on Sounds and follow BBC London on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to hello.bbclondon@bbc.co.uk

Trump's comments on a united Ireland may have targeted audience across the Atlantic

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwyzppd1d5lo, yesterday

When another world leader meets US President Donald Trump the only certainty about what might happen is the uncertainty about what might happen.

This was exactly the case ahead of President Trump's two-day visit to Ireland.

Nobody could have predicted that by the end of the first day, the main global headline would be his desire to see a unified Ireland.

As the shockwaves of his remarks rippled through this island and Great Britain, it was unclear whether this represented a new US administration policy, or an off-the-cuff remark from a president who likes to take questions from reporters, and likes to give answers.

Former Republican Congressman Mick Mulvaney was Trump's special envoy to Northern Ireland in his first term in office.

He cautioned against anyone reading too much into the president's remarks.

"This does not represent a shift in US foreign policy," he said.

"We're still very much committed to the Good Friday Agreement."

Democratic Congressman Brendan Boyle agreed.

"There is bipartisan support for that deal, and that is not going to change."

Although both agreed that Donald Trump was probably right to say that "eventually" unification would happen, that did not mean the US was about to start pushing for it.

Giving an answer to a question that is asked at a free-flowing press conference is one thing, but Donald Trump repeated his sentiments a short time later when he was delivering a speech to an invited audience at the US Ambassador's residence.

In fact it was almost the first thing he mentioned, hinting that maybe he realised he had kicked over a can of worms at his earlier appearance.

The rest of that speech was curious. It was billed as a 20-minute address to Irish and Irish American business leaders, but was about twice that and strayed largely into domestic US matters.

President Trump has a speaking style that he describes himself as "the weave".

He can bounce from topic to topic during any speaking engagement, veering off the script and then returning to the matter at hand.

Today he lauded his own achievements, as he sees them, such as clamping down on illegal immigration, doing deals and boosting defence production.

He repeated his criticisms once again of what he views as the UK's lack of support for his military operation in Iran.

Midterm elections fast approaching

But who was his target audience? The gathered business leaders in Dublin or a US audience tuning in before it was even dawn in much of that country?

This November's crunch midterm elections are fast approaching and the Republican party is under intense pressure because of the president's policies.

They may lose control of one or both houses of Congress.

About one tenth of the US population claim Irish heritage but they are not a homogeneous voting bloc.

Was he trying to target Irish-American independent or swing voters in the US, of which there are many who have flip-flopped between the Republican and Democratic party in recent years?

Some of them do support a unified Ireland and so in this time of chasing every vote, perhaps that played a part.

Bill Clinton secured a lot of Irish-American support when he was running for president, by promising to get engaged in the peace process.

They voted for him and he followed through on his promise and much of that work led to the foundations of the Good Friday Agreement.

But, Irish America is a different place now. Indeed, America is a different place now as politics have become more polarised.

The November election campaigns show no indication that will change anytime soon.

But political leaders in Ireland will be hoping the only debate tomorrow is about the play on the golf course.

A united Ireland would be 'fantastic' says Trump during Irish visit

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy0zvx15rywo, yesterday

US President Donald Trump has said he would love to see a united Ireland while at a meeting with the Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) during a visit in Dublin.

Trump is on a two-day visit to the country where earlier he had a courtesy call with the Irish President Catherine Connolly at the Áras an Uachtaráin - the official residence of the Irish president.

He attended meetings in Dublin, before travelling to County Clare for the Amgen Irish Open golf tournament.

Trump said a united Ireland would happen eventually and that the Taoiseach was "the right man over here to get it moving".

Meanwhile, more than 10,000 people marched through Dublin to show their opposition to the US president.

A spokesperson for Number 10 referred to Prime Minister Andy Burnham's words on Wednesday in the House of Commons that he "will stick to it (the Good Friday Agreement) 100%".

A spokesperson for Martin said Trump's comments should "come as a surprise to no one" and the US president has been "consistent in his view that he sees unity in Ireland as the optimal outcome".

The Good Friday Agreement says the secretary of state must hold a border poll if it appears likely that a majority of people in Northern Ireland would vote for Irish unification - and the circumstances of when that could happen is the subject of constant debate in Northern Ireland and the Republic.

Earlier this week, Martin said there needed to be more clarity on when a border poll can be called, while Burnham ruled out calling a referendum, describing a poll as "off the table".

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said she acknowledged Trumps comments on a united Ireland and said the onus is on the Taoiseach to begin planning.

Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader Gavin Robinson said Trump "knows better than most that elections matter".

"Northern Ireland's constitutional future will be decided by the people of Northern Ireland, not by commentary in London, Dublin or Washington," he said.

Former DUP MP Ian Paisley and close friend of the Trump family said: "everyone is allowed a personal opinion even when it's wrong".

Welcoming his comments, the leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) Claire Hanna said there was something "fairly extraordinary" about Trump standing in Dublin and talking openly about Irish unity.

"When even Donald Trump has clocked that Irish unity is no longer some distant or theoretical prospect, it tells you something about just how far this conversation has shifted."

The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) leader Jon Burrows said while America is an "important ally," Northern Ireland's future will be decided by its people".

The Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) leader Jim Allister said Trump "is not the first US President to meddle in the affairs which don't concern him".

Ireland's Foreign Minister Helen McEntee said: "Something to this magnitude can only happen where there's consent from the Irish people.

"It's something that that we have to work on and we have to work towards."

Later, while attending an event at the US Ambassador to Ireland's residence, Trump said there is "no good answer" to a question about a united Ireland.

Recalling the moment, he said: "Oh that's a nice question, I have a nice answer, I think, we'll read about it tomorrow."

Trump also said his country's relationship with Ireland is "stronger than ever".

During his meeting with the Taoiseach, Trump said: "We've a big relationship with Ireland."

"The two countries do very well together," he said, adding: "It's never been as good as it is right now."

He said they discussed various topics, including trade.

President Connolly, an outspoken Gaza activist who has been critical of the US, said that she told the US president that "the normalisation of war and genocide can never be accepted".

The two heads of state met earlier on Saturday morning.

Connolly faced pressure from left wing parties who backed her at the presidential elections in 2025 to raise Gaza with Trump.

"As a country which has suffered famine, colonisation and the violence of the Troubles, but also the importance of the long and challenging road to peace, I emphasised the unique insight which Irish people can bring to the resolution of conflict," she said in a statement issued after the meeting.

Irish authorities have been planning for Trump's visit for months in what is one of the biggest security operations in the history of the state.

On Friday night Trump boarded Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, near the US capital Washington DC, and flew out for his trip to Ireland.

He visited the Republic in 2019, when he spent time at his golf course, but he also visited in 2023.

Protesters turn out against Trump

The protest against Trump began near O'Connell Street in Dublin and took 31 minutes to pass.

Although President Trump left the city just as the protest began ,organisers said they wanted to send out a message of opposition to him and his policies.

Among the protesters were Adrian and Tawnie.

Originally from California, Tawnie thinks Trump's presidency has been "a disgrace and an embarrassment".

Adrian said Trump "serves the mantra of money makes the world go around".

"He serves a billionaire class, I just don't like him."

The common theme of posters and chants was the US involvement in the Israel-Gaza conflict.

Ireland is one of the most pro-Palestinian countries in the EU, and many attending the protest were hoping to send a message.

Angela Jennings and Margot Feely said the US president's attitude to the Middle East was "reprehensible".

"He's causing chaos around the world, there's a war going on in Iran that isn't necessary and it's impacting the whole world," Margot said.

Protesters also gathered in Doonbeg, a few miles from Trump's hotel where he will attend the Irish Open.

He will be accompanied by his sons Eric and Donald Trump Junior.

There is a heavy Garda (Irish Police) presence, road closures and countless tricolour bunting through the village.

Sixty-year-old Jessie Phillips is in Doonbeg to protest.

She lives in County Clare but is originally from Tennessee and said she was protesting as a "concerned member of the public".

"I just want him [President Trump] to see my placard so he knows I don't care for him and that my family doesn't care for him and that he's not welcome here or over there in my opinion."

Jenelle Jones is in Doonbeg but is originally from New York City.

"I think especially as a US citizen I feel the need to show that we don't all agree with him and we want him out," she said.

Caolann O'Dwyer is from Lahinch, County Clare.

I hope our activity here changes the minds of some people," he said.

"I think our overzealous approach to this welcome is fundamentally crazy."

Teen boy rescued after days adrift in Alaskan waters

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c7907l5nyddo, yesterday

A 15-year-old boy has been rescued after spending days sitting atop a boat that had capsized in the frigid waters of Alaska's Bering Sea.

The boy, identified by family members as Derek Parker Aghnaanga, was the lone survivor from the skiff, having lost his older brother and cousin in the incident.

The trio had departed from St Lawrence Island on Friday 4 September and were due back the following Sunday afternoon, the US Coast Guard said. But when the 18-foot fishing vessel failed to return, they launched a search effort.

A Coast Guard aircrew located the boy sitting on top of the overturned boat on Monday morning, and a nearby good Samaritan vessel pulled him to safety.

That vessel was also able to recover the bodies of his two relatives.

"Our hearts go out to the families, friends, and communities affected by the tragic loss of these two mariners," said Rear Adm. Bob Little, the commander of the Coast Guard's Arctic District.

The boy had signs of hypothermia when he was rescued, the USCG said.

The captain of the fishing boat that pulled Aghnaanga to safety told a local Anchorage news outlet that the teen had clung to the skiff through darkness and water temperatures around 50F (10C).

"That's one tough kid," the captain, Adam White, told KTUU-TV.

"Through the teeth chattering, he had mentioned that his brother was still under the skiff," White added. "And then he said that, in the previous night, before our rescue, that his cousin had slipped away."

Their fishing boat capsized on Saturday, leaving Aghnaanga without food or water for two days at sea, the boy's mother wrote on Facebook.

Vina Kulowiyi, the mother of Aghnaanga and his older brother, said her sons were doing what they loved: fishing to provide for members of their community who don't always have access to meat at their local store in Savoonga.

Savoonga - a village of around 800 residents, located on St Lawrence Island off Alaska's coast - is primarily inhabited by Siberian Yupik peoples. English and St Lawrence Island Yupik are the island's main languages.

"My boys were born and raised to be providers. A tradition that is passed on," Kulowiyi wrote on Facebook. "We hunt and provide for families and share the community."

Kulowiyi said her surviving son is recovering at home.

"My survivor," she wrote. "His story is amazing. He was never afraid the whole time."

He sat "praying the whole time", she added.

Afghan woman deported from US in first use of 'alien terrorist' court

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3eqpd9zgl9o, yesterday

An Afghan woman living in Texas with legal US permanent residency has been deported from the country in the first-ever use of a secretive court.

Nazira Haji Zada, 47, chose to leave the US rather than continue to argue her case before the Alien Terrorist Removal Court, according to the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and her lawyers.

The Alien Terrorist Removal Court was created in 1996, but had never heard a case before the proceedings in July. It is meant for non-US citizens facing terrorism-related charges when the evidence is confidential and related to national security.

Lawyers for Haji Zada argued that the case violated her right to due process under the US Constitution.

Afghanistan citizen Haji Zada was never charged with a crime, but prosecutors had tried and convicted her son and son-in-law for terror offenses.

Her son, Abdullah Haji Zada, and son-in-law, Nasir Ahmad Tawhed, were both found guilty of a plot to carry out a mass shooting on Election Day in 2024, inspired by the group calling itself Islamic State.

Haji Zada, who has been living in Fort Worth, Texas, was accused by prosecutors of being the "matriarch" of the group, who had worked "to radicalize the family".

In a statement on Friday, the justice department said she "conceded that she is an alien terrorist and waived appeal of the removal order, terminating her previous [immigration] status".

"This landmark case, resulting in the prompt removal of this alien terrorist to her country of origin, is a win for national security and the rule of law," said US Attorney General Todd Blanche.

"Those who support and condone terrorism should not be living in the United States, and this first-ever case before the ATRC shows how the Department will use every tool at its disposal to protect our country."

Court-appointed lawyers for Haji Zada said they were denied access to the evidence in her case.

"Our client's choice to consent to removal should not be seen as an endorsement of this court's legitimacy," public defenders Matthew Farley and Mary Manning Petras said in a statement to The Washington Post.

"Dragging lawful permanent residents into court but refusing to show them or their attorneys the evidence that will be used against them is a plain violation of due process. We are confident that the Alien Terrorist Removal Court will be struck down as unconstitutional as soon as a judge is asked to address the issue," they said.

Gen Zs recall first learning of 'deeply harrowing, terrifying' 9/11

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgmrzzkjywlo, 2 days ago

Most Americans remember exactly what they were doing and how they felt the day four airplanes were hijacked and crashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a field in Pennsylvania.

But now, 25 years on from the 11 September 2001 attacks, there is a new generation, too young to remember the day that permanently altered much of American life.

Members of Generation Z, born between 1997 and 2012, were told - well after the fact - about the event that undoubtedly reshaped their futures.

They carry distinct memories not from the day itself, but from the moment years later that they learned about the attacks.

'Hard to explain what a terrorist is to a child'

Avery Black, 20, a journalism student at the University of South Carolina, remembers hearing about 9/11 for the first time in elementary school, then going home and asking her mother about it, she told the BBC.

"She just started telling me where she was the day it happened, and just broke down in tears, explaining to me about all the firefighters that went in and never came out," Black recalled.

As a child, Black didn't quite grasp the day's gravity, but for her, certain details still stand out.

She remembers, most distinctly, the "falling man" – a famous image of a man plummeting, upside down, from the North Tower. A Dallas, Texas native, she also recalls teachers showing the video of then-President George W. Bush first learning about the attacks at an elementary school event.

For Annie Erickson, 26, who grew up in North Carolina, personal anecdotes, more than school or reports, created her first memories of 9/11.

"My mother grew up in New York City, so I remember my mom telling me about 9/11 and talking about how someone that lived in her building, who she was friends with, passed away in the towers," Erickson said.

She also was struck when learning about 9/11 at school that it was one of the few historical events teachers could personalise with their own memories.

Currently, there's no national requirement for US schools to teach students about the attacks, and the expectations vary widely by state. Twenty-five states require or expect public schools to teach the events of 9/11, while 13 make 9/11 instruction optional, according to a recent analysis by The Associated Press.

But not every state that requires it specifies a curriculum.

Allegra Tashjian, 28, who grew up in Wisconsin, said her teacher explained in first or second grade that it was a very important, sombre day and asked if anyone knew why. After a student responded that it was the day planes hit the towers in New York, Tashjian wondered why she had never heard of it before.

Later, at home, she recalls asking her mom if she remembered planes crashing in New York. "I remember she kind of paused folding her laundry and was like, 'um no, I don't think I've ever heard anything about that,'" the PhD student said.

"For whatever reason at that point, I guess she really didn't want to talk about it."

Tashjian, Erickson, Black and several other Gen Zs all told the BBC that they remember hearing a few details about the attacks in school and from their families, but only through their own research did they learn in depth what actually happened that day.

Black didn't realise as a child who was behind the attack. "That was the part that I wasn't really taught until I did my own research. It's really hard to explain what a terrorist is to a child."

"It really took me until I was like 13 or 14 to sit down and watch news coverage of 9/11, and really process this is a deeply harrowing, terrifying event," said Jack Coyne, 28, a Connecticut native who lives in Boston.

Now, as an adult, Coyne said he wishes people had a more nuanced perspective, recognizing 9/11 as a tragedy that also fuelled Islamophobia in the US and led to further deaths in ensuing wars.

Professor David Schanzer, who teaches "9/11 & Its Aftermath" at Duke University, wrote this week in a campus magazine commentary that there's still strong interest generations later. His course is full, with dozens on a waitlist.

"Ten years ago, I thought student interest was ebbing and I would need to find something else to teach about," he wrote.

But current world events, he said, only made young people more curious about what happened 25 years ago on 9/11.

"If you want to understand what has gone wrong over the past couple of decades it makes sense to learn about 9/11, the first global catastrophe of the 21st century (the others being the Great Recession and the COVID-19 pandemic)," he wrote.

Different generation, different approach

Several Gen Zs told the BBC that, despite gaining knowledge about the tragic day, it is still common among peers to actively lighten conversations about 9/11.

Thomas Schwartz, a professor of history and political science at Vanderbilt University, said in a recent class discussion, his seniors - born in 2004 or 2005 - remarked on their generation's tendency to "deflect and joke about 9/11".

He added that "students from the Northeast, who had parents with personal memories of 9/11, were more careful about this, remarking on the sensitivities in their family about the subject."

Erickson said many Gen Zs tend to downplay monumental events or tragedies because either they "can't fully understand their impact" or they're using humour as a coping mechanism "to not have to think too deeply about some of the larger anxieties in our world".

Even now as an adult, Tashjian said it's still difficult for her to fathom large numbers of people dying in any event, and she still gravitates toward individual anecdotes to help her understand 9/11's toll.

Schanzer contends that learning about 9/11 and understanding its impact remains crucial for younger generations without first-hand knowledge.

"But like most significant historical events, one can't fully understand our world today unless you understand why 9/11 occurred and how the United States responded to it," he said.

Is Trump's $5,000 pledge a sign of panic?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdj4z2x3zyko, 3 days ago

We all know that Donald Trump does not feel the need to adhere to the normal rules of political campaigning. Even by his own unconventional standards, his extravagant promise to pay every American citizen $5,000 (£3,700) if the Republicans win the midterm elections was bizarre.

This enormous cash pledge was not the headline of his keynote address at the first night of his midterms Republican convention on Wednesday.

He slipped in the mention about an hour into his lengthy speech - just when the audience's attention was starting to waver.

The president offered no details on how this more than one-trillion-dollar pledge will be paid for or how the payments would be distributed.

Asked for more information, the White House said in a statement that "the announcement is the latest proof that President Trump does what the so-called 'experts' say cannot be done: he delivers for the American people", but gave no more specifics about how it would be implemented.

The announcement itself was met with enthusiastic applause from supporters inside the Republican convention arena in Dallas, Texas.

But Republicans in tight races in November's election - who need to win over sceptical swing voters, including moderate Republicans and independents - largely stayed away from the event.

And many of Trump's fellow Republicans were clearly taken by surprise. Some welcomed the announcement, but Republicans that are more critical of Trump were quick to denounce it.

Conservatives who have clashed with Trump before, especially over how the federal debt has continued to balloon under his presidency, were scathing in their response.

Thomas Massie, the Republican representative from Kentucky who lost his primary over Trump criticisms earlier this year, posted on X: "I don't know about you all, but frankly I'm insulted by the notion that my vote this November could be bought for 5k. Not to mention the inflation this would cause. All things considered, I cannot in good conscience accept a penny less than 10k!"

Senator Susan Collins, who swerved Dallas to campaign in Maine where she's facing a tight race for re-election, said: "Tax and spending decisions should be made based on the needs of the American people and the state of the economy, they should not appear to be tied to election results."

Democrats for their part have labelled it an "empty promise".

Legal experts say it's unlikely Trump could approve such a vast sum via a presidential executive order - but the president suggested on Thursday he wouldn't be going to Congress.

Speaking to the BBC's US partner CBS, he said he didn't think Congress would need to approve the spending, before adding: "I think they will do it, if we needed it."

But plenty of fiscally conservative Republican representatives would likely refuse to support this kind of spending.

Former Republican Representative Bob Good dismissed the "Trump dividend" as a "socialist vote-buying scheme".

But this convention was a reminder that Trump still dominates the party and, in the House of Representative at least, he has previously made them bend to his will on policies that don't chime with traditional conservative positions.

This is not the first time President Trump has made a cash promise to voters. Americans are still waiting for the $2,000 cheques he said they would each receive from the revenue generated from his trade tariffs. And the $5,000 payments that Elon Musk proposed would come from his Doge spending cuts have never materialised.

Trump has delivered on his promise to set up Trump saving accounts with a government contribution of $1,000 for children born during his term in office. And all members of the US military got a payment of $1,776 to celebrate America's 250th anniversary.

Is it a sign that Donald Trump fears that he is on course for a major defeat in November that he feels the need to make this kind of eye-catching election promise?

Despite the president not featuring on the ballot, voters often treat midterm elections as a referendum on the sitting president - and often the party in power struggles.

And less than two months out from election day, Trump faces historically low approval ratings.

His war with Iran has become increasingly unpopular, and its knock-on effects are hitting Americans at the petrol pump. Affordability is still a top issue for voters, and while inflation is down from its post-Covid peak under Joe Biden, it remains stubbornly high.

So does this pledge suggest an element of panic that he pulled this policy out of his back pocket before many of his closest allies had been told about it?

It is undoubtedly a highly unorthodox way of launching a major election pledge.

But Trump's political success has been built on his norm-breaking way of doing business.

His latest ploy could work – but only if voters believe he is serious about writing them a cheque.

Follow the twists and turns of Trump's second term with North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher's weekly US Politics Unspun newsletter. Readers in the UK can sign up here. Those outside the UK can sign up here.

Firefighters say this antioxidant helped them - their union warns it could be risky

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crk3n5z60pvo, 2 days ago

Days after he helped extinguish the Eaton Fire in Los Angeles, Pasadena Fire Captain David Marquez inhaled his first dose of glutathione on the side of the road outside the Rose Bowl stadium.

The wildfire became the second most destructive fire in California's history, killing 19 and destroying 9,000 buildings.

"We were having trouble sleeping," he said of his team. "Chronic cough, headache, fatigue - just a really rough set of symptoms following the fire."

"I felt much better immediately after the worst exposure of my career," said Marquez, a 25-year veteran of firefighting, who has battled with health issues for years.

"We were so desperate because of how messed up we were. We were willing to pretty much try anything," he said.

Scientists have long known that inhaling toxic smoke from a fire can cause a huge range of illnesses, including several types of cancers. First responders, like firefighters, are especially susceptible. Firefighters have a 14% increased risk of dying from cancer compared to the general American population, according to the US National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety.

And as awareness of the risks evolve, so too has interest in alternative - but often unproven and potentially dangerous - treatments.

Glutathione, an antioxidant that is naturally produced inside the human body, has been offered as a treatment at some of the largest US wildfires in recent years – including most recently in Spokane, Washington. Anecdotal evidence gathered by clinicians and fire departments has shown promising signs that it could be used to rid firefighters of some of the cancer-causing chemicals they absorb during fires. However, no large-scale research has yet been conducted on its safety and efficacy, and there are concerns over purity and contaminated supplies.

The International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) issued a rare warning about glutathione last month. It noted two recent recalls due to contaminants at compounding pharmacies that produce glutathione. It also noted scientific trials of other common, naturally-occurring vitamins that were found to increase – rather than decrease – the risk of cancer, although none of those vitamins are used in glutathione treatment.

"We don't know if glutathione is effective," said Sean DeCrane, the assistant to the general president for health and safety at the IAFF, which represents over 360,000 firefighters across the US and Canada.

"We don't know if it's a placebo effect. We don't know the long-term effect of this type of treatment."

DeCrane said his group opposes the way it has been "marketed" to firefighters, including in Spokane where morning briefings fire chiefs to their crews included suggestions that they visit a volunteer tent for treatment.

"The lack of research really raised concerns for us," he said. He adds that the IAFF has spoken to "multiple members who said that they did not feel well after the treatment, [and] that they felt worse."

"The clinician told them, 'Oh, that's just those metals leaving your body'," he said.

The recent rise of glutathione can be traced back to 2017, when a group of naturopaths formed together in Santa Rosa, California, to provide assistance to fire crews combating the Tubbs Fire.

The Integrated Health Action Network (IHAN), previously called the Integrative Healers Network, now sends volunteer clinicians to major wildfires across the country to provide glutathione, as well as other naturopathic treatments including acupuncture and massage therapy.

In response to the warning from IAFF, the group released a statement agreeing with the need for further testing, and offering to work with researchers to prove glutathione's effectiveness.

Co-founder Jen Riegle, who is not a medical doctor but is a licensed naturopath, said that glutathione treatment often leads to "clinically-meaningful improvements in headaches, fatigue and brain fog, which are some of the top symptoms we see in firefighters when they're on a fire". The treatments help to force out some of the harmful contaminants in firefighters' bodies, she claims, and can have short-term side effects immediately after treatment.

Riegle is hopeful the data the group has collected will spur on further research, and "to prove that this is a good long-term solution for firefighters". But she adds that all of the evidence IHAN has collected is anecdotal, and far from conclusive.

"I just want to be really clear that what we are collecting is data that we have because of a treatment programme," she said.

"It shouldn't ever be misconstrued as clinical trial data, or double-blind, placebo-controlled, peer-reviewed data. It is just meant as a starting point to be able to garner support for future studies." Medical trials of a new drug typically take years before receiving regulatory approval, and involve rigorous a research and standards.

Interest in glutathione rose last year when California's state Board of Pharmacy attempted to pass new rules that would have severely restricted its production.

The proposed rule change led to a groundswell of opposition from some firefighters, who travelled to the state capital to testify about how it has improved their health. The plan to further restrict it was later abandoned.

Marquez was among the firefighters who went to Sacramento to testify in uniform. He said he is grateful that glutathione is being offered more frequently – including by all fire stations in Pasadena, where he works.

He dismisses concerns about its effectiveness, including suggestions that alleviated symptoms could be due to a placebo effect.

Using an expletive, Marquez said: "I don't [care] it's a placebo - it was working. Guys were saying they felt better. I felt better. And it made me want to seek out more treatments."

Regulations and medicines for firefighters have at times lagged behind the need. Until last year, firefighters for the National Forest Service were banned from wearing face masks due to concerns about their ability to operate in rugged mountain terrains. There is now a growing understanding of the need for respiratory protections and decontamination to help prevent certain cancers that are more common for firefighters.

Dr Coralynn Sack, an occupational pulmonologist specialising in air pollution's effects on the body at the University of Washington, said the noxious fumes from wildfires are well known to pose "inhalational hazards" to firefighters.

"There's been a lot of interest in using antioxidant supplements for air pollution in general," she said. "Studies have shown mixed responses. Some have even shown worse responses."

Sack said there was "biological plausibility" to think such a treatment might work, but said she was "very underwhelmed by the data that exists". There have been no clinical trials on glutathione in firefighters, she added.

Sack said the debate over glutathione "shifts the emphasis away from things that we know work" like giving firefighters access to good personal protective equipment.

Greg Fonts, a fire captain in West Sacramento and vice-president of his local IAFF chapter, said there is a growing understanding of the importance of firefighter health. Gone are the days of not decontaminating equipment, leaving the ashes on helmets and jackets, in order to boast of past infernos.

"When I got the fire service in 2000, I would say that was the attitude was cancer was just part of the job."

"Culture has changed drastically," said Fonts, who also has been treated with glutathione. "Younger firefighters are taking health way more seriously."

As Trump dominates convention, some Republicans quietly ask who comes next

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2l8xvvw95no, 3 days ago

Republicans descended on Dallas this week to turn their midterm prospects around, hoping an unprecedented convention dominated by President Donald Trump would energise voters ahead of the November election.

Many left the gathering - billed ahead of time by supporters as a "Trump-a-palooza" political fest - just as worried about the party's chances in 2026, and wondering what the Republicans' future will look like after the president leaves office.

Vice-President JD Vance, who is widely viewed as a top contender to succeed Trump, offered his a party a glimpse of its potential future during his keynote address on Thursday night.

"We've got to take care of business this November," Vance told the crowds.

"Then we'll worry about what comes next."

His speech was interrupted at one point by chants of "48" - a nod to Trump's successor, who will become the 48th US president if they win in 2028. Vance let the chant linger briefly before waving it away.

Over the two-day event, party activists were split on the wisdom of holding a midterm convention featuring a president who has record low approval ratings, and amid public frustration over the economy and war with Iran.

"I think it will make a difference. If anything it allows us to test the [campaign] message in front of a large audience," Jeff Ryer, the Virginia Republican Party chairman, told the BBC.

Others said the president's rambling, nearly two-hour convention speech on Wednesday wouldn't sway voters weighing whether to keep Republicans in power in Congress.

Polls suggest that Democrats have a good chance to retake control of the House and the Senate is also in play, though viewed as more of a long shot for the party.

"Do I wish Trump gave a shorter speech? Sure, but that's not who he is," said one Republican operative, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to offer a blunt view of Trump's convention appearance.

The source added that Trump's plea for voters to pretend as if he's on the ballot would fall flat.

"I don't think saying 'pretend I'm on the ballot' will work. He's not," the person said.

The convention offered a stark reminder that the Trump era is heading toward its final chapter.

Trump's presence loomed over the proceedings at the American Airlines Center in downtown Dallas.

Republican House and Senate candidates lavished the president with praise in speeches, and supporters showed up wearing the red Maga hats that have become synonymous with Trump's political movement.

The gathering was just two days, but still had the look and feel of the traditional four-day conventions staged by both parties in presidential election years. Organisers distributed signs and unleashed a balloon drop at the end as live music blared.

Republicans had never held a midterm convention before.

Vikki Consiglio, a party activist from Georgia, said it showcased Trump's ability to shake up political norms and capture the nation's attention.

Evidence of that came when Trump pledged in his speech to make a payment of $5,000 to all American adults if Republicans retained control of Congress.

"He's a visionary. This whole convention is nothing but a vision," Consiglio said.

But even as convention goers cheered Trump on, many seemed eager to discuss the 2028 presidential election.

"I'm very concerned about the next 10, 15, 20 years. I'm absolutely thinking about the future of the party," said Aiden Buzzetti, the president of The Bull Moose Project, a pro-Trump group.

Buzzetti, who is 26, credited Trump with reshaping Republican politics, but said at the same time he was looking forward to a "new generation of conservative leaders."

In interviews with the BBC, attendees at the convention most often mentioned Vice-President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio as the top contenders to replace Trump.

"Trump needs to pass the torch. We need to look forward," said Sandy Money, a Republican from Arizona who attended the convention. "I love Vance. But Rubio is my choice" if he runs in 2028, she said.

Trump has openly mused about Rubio and Vance's chances to succeed him.

But Vance and Rubio have deflected speculation about their political futures.

Rubio was on a diplomatic trip to Ecuador during the convention, so he wasn't among the small handful of cabinet officials who attended the festivities in Dallas.

The Trump administration has delivered "a great record of achievement," Vance argued, including improving the economy, strengthening border security and lowering the cost of prescription drugs.

Vance said the contrast was clear with a Democratic Party that he argued had shifted radically to the left and turned into the "party of crazy".

The vice-president also made a direct appeal to undecided voters, saying he wanted to win over "the people who are still making up their minds".

Never one to cede the spotlight, Trump returned to the stage on Thursday night after Vance to round off the convention.

For the president, the question of his successor was overshadowed by more immediate concerns.

"You know what happens if you don't vote?" he asked the gathered crowd. "You go to hell."

'We never recovered him': Quest to identify remains from Ground Zero continues

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8d37gq1jnlo, 3 days ago

For 25 years, the only physical trace Juliette Scauso has had from the last day of her father's life is his mangled firefighter helmet.

Scauso's father, Dennis - part of a New York City Fire Department (FDNY) hazmat unit for 12 years - initially was not scheduled to work on 11 September, 2001, but switched shifts for the overtime pay.

The Long Island father of four was likely in the South Tower of the World Trade Center when it collapsed, the Scauso family was told. The helmet with his badge number was found months later.

"I've spent essentially my entire life knowing my father died, and learning to live with the fact that we never recovered him," said Scauso, who was four when he died.

Dennis Scauso is one of more than 1,000 people killed on September 11 in New York who have yet to be identified, according to New York City's Office of Chief Medical Examiner. Nearly 3,000 people died in the World Trade Center attacks that day.

Last month, the city announced the identity of a previously unknown victim of the terrorist attacks - the 1,654th person - using a new technology called forensic investigative genetic genealogy - or FIGG.

"There is real promise in using this approach," said Angela Soler, director of forensic anthropology in the city's medical examiner office. "There's hope for more families to receive answers, and hopefully we'll be able to test more remains in the future using this technology as well."

Since 9/11, Soler's office has sought to identify the remains of the 2,753 victims who died in the World Trade Center. So far, 60 percent of those killed have been identified.

"It's been one of the most complex identification efforts that I think anybody has ever really experienced," Soler said.

25 years later, DNA matches are still being made

Efforts to identify victims have been complicated by a number of factors.

Human remains were damaged in the plane crashes and fires caused by jet fuel, meaning the office had only portions of victims for DNA samples, Soler said.

Scauso added that because of the timing of the attacks, many firefighters were changing shifts, but some stayed to help, grabbing whatever extra gear they could find. This meant some first responders recovered were wearing uniforms with others' names, complicating identification.

The World Trade Center site also had many more victims than the other 9/11 terrorist attack sites.

The remains of five of the 184 people killed when American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon were never identified because of similar conditions. According to the National Park Service, enough remains were recovered to use DNA, dental records and fingerprints to identify all 40 victims aboard United Airlines flight 93, which crashed into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

Remains from the World Trade Center have been packaged and sealed to help preserve DNA for testing in the years to come. Soon after the attacks, individuals were identified using fingerprints or dental records, but as time went on, when neither was available, the office turned to DNA. Officials were able to use new technology to extract DNA and retest the same remains.

"That's why all these years down the road, we're still getting new identifications, because we're just continuing to retest and retry with every new technology that becomes available," Soler said.

DNA technology has helped the office identify 1,495 victims since 9/11 - some solely with DNA and others with multiple methods - according to the medical examiner's office.

Last year, the city announced that with the help of DNA, 24 years later, it had identified three new victims - Ryan Fitzgerald, a 26-year-old currency trader, Babara Keating, a 72-year-old who was aboard American Airlines Flight 11 from Boston to Los Angeles, and a woman whose family kept her identity private.

Soler said the new FIGG technology uses whole genome sequencing - which provides a way to read someone's entire genetic code. It means investigators can make more potential matches to family members who are more distant relatives of the victim. Once those matches are made, the New York Police Department helps find relatives who are closer to the victims.

Reopening old wounds

The medical examiner's office in New York still gets weekly calls from loved ones asking about someone whose remains were never recovered.

Many have never been able to bury a loved one, but some families choose to leave the remains - once found - at a repository at the 9/11 memorial site in New York. The repository was built into the bedrock of the World Trade Center site and can only be accessed by medical examiner staff. A nearby private space, known as the reflection room, is available for families to mourn.

"That's where their loved one was in their last moments, and that's where they want them to stay", Soler said.

Some don't want to be notified, perhaps because the confirmation is too painful, said Soler, who helps inform families.

Scauso is one of those people. She knows people who, in recent years, got a call that a relative finally has been identified. The thought of being next on the list is scary for her family, who has worked hard to keep the memory of her father - a jack of all trades and a lover of jazz - alive.

"At this point, an identification wouldn't change the reality of his death. It wouldn't give me back my father, and I don't necessarily want to reopen something that has become part of the way I've learned to live and grieve," she said. "Especially 25 years later, it's going to open up the wounds again."

But, Scauso said, the technology is important.

Soler has seen the news provide a mix of both relief and sadness. "It's confirmation of something that they always knew to be true - they knew their loved one died on 9/11, but I think for many families, there's still that question in the back of their mind until the remains are formally identified," Soler said.

"Maybe they're reliving it a little bit more now, having this new identification. But at the same time, it closes one chapter of their journey after 9/11," she added.

To Soler - and some of her current colleagues who also were on the ground during 9/11 - the work is deeply personal. Workers from their office arrived at Ground Zero after the planes hit the towers, and were there when the buildings collapsed.

They are aware it is unlikely they will identify every victim of the New York attacks. In some instances, there may be no remains of a victim at all. Still, they have no plans to stop.

"As long as there's families looking for answers, we'll continue searching for them," she said.

Can Trump really pay $5,000 to every American adult?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8r6vj7r8rko, 3 days ago

US President Donald Trump has offered every adult American $5,000 (£3,700) if Republicans win November's midterm elections, but it is unclear how such a plan would be funded and whether it is legal.

His remarks prompted raucous applause from supporters at a party convention on Wednesday night, although Democrats labelled it an "empty promise".

Trump also told the Republican conference that the money would have to be spent in the US, but it is unclear how that would be monitored.

US Vice-President JD Vance suggested it might be paid for by tariff revenue and that such cheques would not go to wealthy Americans.

Is Trump's offer legal?

Under US federal law, it is illegal to give payments that are intended to influence the way a person is voting.

However, some experts have said the offer made by Trump in Texas on Wednesday could be seen as a pledge to cut taxes, which is legal.

Dr Joan Mahoney, lecturer in law at the University of Southampton, told the BBC she thought the offer would be legal, though she said politicians "don't usually do it quite this explicitly".

"On the one hand it sounds a bit like a bribe, vote for the Republicans and you'll get money, which would be decidedly illegal," she said.

"But on the other hand it would go to everyone, regardless of how they voted so it isn't in that sense a bribe.

"I think it would be legal. It's the same kind of campaign pledge as saying 'if my party wins we'll reduce taxes'. Every party does that all the time... and that's obviously perfectly legal."

However, Laurel Rapp, director of the US and North America programme at Chatham House, told the BBC that Trump's offer seemed to be "a very different, very transactional agreement" from the kind of promise usually made by candidates in an election period.

How much would it cost?

Aside from the question of legality, some have also asked whether Trump's offer would be feasible financially in the context of increasing US debt, partially as a result of the war in Iran.

There are nearly 270 million American adults, meaning a $5,000 payout would cost the US government some $1.3 trillion.

Trump gave no details on how such cheques would be funded.

Congress authorises spending in the US, but the president did not say whether he planned to ask for legislative approval for any payments.

And legal experts said it was unlikely he could approve such a vast sum via a presidential executive order.

Erica York, a senior economist at the Washington DC-based Tax Foundation, told the BBC she would be "extremely surprised" if Congress approved any proposal.

"This would be one of the worst ways to use $1.3 trillion," she said.

"We're on a very unsustainable track, with deficits only projected to grow and grow," York added.

Could tariff revenue fund it?

Speaking to Fox News after Trump's speech, Vice-President Vance indicated that the payments could be funded by money raised by the president from tariffs.

However, such revenue to date falls far short of the money that would be needed to account for Trump's $5,000 cheques offer.

According to the Bipartisan Policy Center, the US has brought in around $475bn in tariff and excise tax revenue since the beginning of 2025.

But more than $100bn has been refunded after the Supreme Court struck down many tariffs earlier this year.

When asked how the payouts could work, the White House said in a statement to the BBC: "The doomers and naysayers have consistently doubted President Trump."

"With the continued support of the American people, President Trump will keep delivering real results," added spokesman Davis Ingle.

Why has Trump made the offer?

One former Republican strategist and pollster said Trump's latest offer should be firmly seen in the context of an election that is now less than two months away.

"It is an extraordinary promise, and I'm not sure where that money is going to come from - but it is campaign season," Robert Moran told the BBC.

Chatham House's Rapp said Trump was thinking short term to try to keep hold of Congress as he enters the final two years of his term in office.

"Money is something that he is now resorting to because the polling is not looking good for Republicans and the polling is not looking good for him," she continued.

Has anything similar happened before?

Trump has previously proposed $2,000 cheques to be funded by tariff revenues, but those payouts have not materialised.

Former President Joe Biden was accused of buying votes when he promised $2,000 Covid stimulus cheques for Americans if Democrats won Senate elections in Georgia in January 2021.

A similar controversy arose ahead of the 2024 presidential election, during which billionaire Trump supporter Elon Musk offered cash incentives to registered voters in seven swing states who signed a certain petition.

Additional reporting by Bernd Debusmann Jr, White House reporter

Largest US outbreak of explosive diarrhoea parasite is over, officials say

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c20957zdq95o, yesterday

The largest outbreak of an intestinal infection that spread across several US states and affected more than 12,000 people has ended, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced on Friday.

Two people have died and 570 were hospitalised in recent months in relation to the outbreak of cyclospora, a microscopic parasite that can cause explosive diarrhoea.

In an advisory notice saying the outbreak was over, the CDC said cases had "significantly declined", and it was continuing to investigate the cause of the infection.

Officials have linked the outbreak, which affected 21 states, to lettuce imported from Mexico by Taylor Farms, a key supplier for many US food outlets.

Taylor Farms announced a voluntary recall of lettuce sourced from central Mexico, while the US fast-food chain Taco Bell said it has removed lettuce from the supplier from its menu.

Cyclospora causes an intestinal illness called cyclosporiasis. It is spread through contaminated food or water and can cause symptoms including severe diarrhoea.

The CDC says deaths from cyclosporiasis are uncommon, as it is "not usually life-threatening".

Health officials in Michigan said that the two deaths, which both happened in the state, were of people who had "significant underlying health conditions that may have been impacted by cyclosporiasis and dehydration".

According to CDC data, there have been nearly 20,000 confirmed cyclosporiasis cases since 1 May, as well as more than 1,000 hospitalisations. Forty-nine states, as well as DC, have reported cases.

The agency notes that the true number of people who have been sick with the parasite is likely to be much higher.

While the majority of these were linked to the contaminated lettuce, thousands were not.

UK health officials too have warned about the outbreak following recent cases contracted by returning travellers.

Before the latest outbreak the worst year for infections was 2019, when there were about 4,700 across the country.

'It's like a dog set loose on us' - fear over Kenya's crackdown on foreign traders

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g5kxw4wd7o, yesterday

For Ndaikech Ali, who has been traversing the streets of the Kenyan capital eking out a living as a tuk-tuk driver for the past nine years, Nairobi's traffic - not xenophobia - has been his biggest concern.

During his time in the East African nation, the Burundian says he has always found Kenyans to be friendly and welcoming - that is until last week, when the president ordered a crackdown on foreigners working as traders or operating small-scale businesses.

"Now they have turned against us," he told the BBC at the Burundian embassy in Nairobi where many have been queuing this week for documents to allow them to travel back home.

"The threats are many… even from children," he said, adding: "It's a like a dog has been set loose upon us. We have been bitten."

President William Ruto made his remarks last week when addressing Kenyan traders gathered at state house - in reference to legislation before parliament that seeks to exclude foreign nationals from petty trade and to mandate the local sourcing of certain materials.

During his speech, he said that all foreign nationals operating small businesses had until 7 September to pack up shop, saying such low-level jobs should be reserved for Kenyans.

Ali, like others, panicked, saying it seemed the president's announcement had been interpreted by some Kenyans as a signal that foreign nationals were no longer welcome in the country.

"We face harassment and can't work," he says. "If our work is stopped, we lose the income that enables us to pay rent and buy food. When those jobs are taken away, the only option left is to return home."

Other Burundians and some other foreign nationals have rushed to border crossing points to leave the country, with reports suggesting that a number have ended up stranded there.

Some couples fear they will be forced to separate - and some families have already been divided.

"I have been here from 2019," said a Burundian man, who identified himself only as Prosper and who has a child with a Kenyan woman.

"When I heard the announcement, it was very painful because when I go, I'm forced to leave my family... and I love my family," he told the BBC.

In Nairobi's low-income neighbourhood of Majengo, Kenyan Grace Wamaitha said her Burundian husband had already gone - leaving the day after the president's 3 September directive.

She is distraught as she has been left trying to feed their five children - and has taken on extra work washing clothes.

"Now he's gone, who will help me pay school fees? I don't know what to do. Let them come back," she told the BBC.

In Nairobi and other major towns, migrants from the region can be found working in barber shops and salons, construction, operating motorbike taxis and street vending, as well as selling clothes, food and household goods.

Some have fled conflicts or economic hardship at home, while others have moved to Kenya in search of better opportunities. Within the East African Community (EAC), a regional bloc made up of eight countries, including Burundi and Kenya, the relative free movement of people is allowed - but employment and long-term residence do require permits.

Kenyan law also recognises the right of refugees to work and operate businesses, although they are also required to obtain the appropriate documentation.

Filmon Eyob, a co-ordinator within Nairobi's Eritrean community, agrees with concerns that the crackdown order will be used as pretext to harass foreigners.

He told the BBC that while many Kenyans had been supportive and welcoming, some Eritreans and Ethiopians had closed their businesses and stayed at home over the last week as a precaution.

The president's remarks also sparked a diplomatic row, with the Burundian foreign affairs minister warning that "hate speech against Burundi" could have repercussions for Kenyans abroad.

The authorities in Kenya have struggled to contain the fallout - and as the matter came to a head, Kenyan foreign affairs official Korir Sing'Oei visited and apologised to Burundians at the embassy this week, assuring them of protection from violence.

Critics argue that Ruto's remarks were a populist move that risked stoking xenophobia, although the government has denied this.

Since then, a series of official statements have sought to clarify the directive.

The government has now given a 90-day window for undocumented foreign nationals running small business to register and comply with local laws. During the process, those undergoing registration will be presumed to be living legally in Kenya.

Yet observers and those affected argue that it did not have to be this way.

Academic Hesbon Owilla told the BBC the president's comments were bound to be misinterpreted, especially by people who did not have the right documentation.

He says that while the proposed policy is good for Kenya and in line with global migration protocols, the communication about it ought to have been more diplomatic.

For those not in the audience, Owilla says people interpreted the president words as saying: "We are kicking these guys out."

The president did not stop at small-scale traders. A day later, he ordered India's Tata Chemicals to leave the country, saying the company had not provided sufficient benefits to the local Maasai community in Kajiado county.

Tata has been mining soda ash for years in Lake Magadi, a vast area often covered by a whitish salt crust. The lake's extreme briny environment sustains algae blooms that attract flamboyances of pink flamingos that thrive in the area.

Mining operations began at the lake in 1911 under a British colonial arrangement that is said to have remained largely intact, despite long-running land and resource disputes pitting the company and its predecessors against community and the government.

Economist Odhiambo Ramogi argues that the move to restrict foreign nationals from businesses is too broad - and could do with finessing.

He points out that Kenya hosts hundreds of thousands of refugees as well as other migrants, mostly from the EAC region, as well as other international investors.

Ramogi says that Ruto's intention seemed to go beyond "just protecting jobs for Kenyans".

The president's remarks have prompted a wave of support for foreign nationals, including by civil society groups and ordinary Kenyans who have criticised his approach.

In the wake of the criticism, Ruto, who is up for re-election next year, has sought to counter the backlash.

"Kenya will remain an open, secure and welcoming country, protecting opportunities for its citizens, safeguarding the rights of all persons lawfully within its borders," a statement by his spokesman said.

"Kenya's commitment to the East African Community of the African continent remains firm."

Ramogi says that in the end, it is Kenya that stands to lose when citizens of neighbouring countries are targeted.

He points out that Kenya earned $56m (£41m) in exports to Burundi last year, adding that the country would still benefit by allowing competition, as "locking out aliens simply means you don't want a competitive economy that gets to grow a lot faster".

"Now, if you got $56m out of a country, why are you worried about a hawker who's just trying to make, say, $200 in a month?

"It absolutely makes no sense what the president has done."

For Nairobi resident Lima Kabura, whose husband is Tanzanian, the president's remarks were just too hasty. She says he should have first established those who were in the country illegally.

"When they are forced out, I'm left with no work, no business and no husband," she said.

Additional reporting by Ahmed Bahajj

Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.

Uganda's King Oyo buried amid calls for unity over his successor

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0lr7k4k4zyo, yesterday

Uganda's King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV, once the world's youngest reigning monarch, was buried on Saturday, days after a row broke out over who would succeed him.

Oyo, 34, who had ruled the traditional kingdom of Tooro in western Uganda since the age of three, died last month while undergoing cancer treatment in the US.

Tooro is one of Uganda's traditional kingdoms. They were abolished in 1967 but restored in the 1990s under President Museveni. Their monarchs are recognised as cultural leaders rather than political rulers.

Thousands of mourners lined the streets as the king's casket was transported to the royal tombs in Fort Portal where a private ceremony took place.

Oyo was just a toddler when he was named as Tooro's king and, according to Guinness World Records, was the world's youngest monarch while he reigned.

TV news presenter Prince Edward Rukidi Kijanangoma, 56, who was named as the next monarch by clan elders, reportedly cast nine coffee beans into Oyo's grave, a ritual signifying the end of one reign and the start of another.

But days earlier, Oyo's family rejected Kijanangoma, the late monarch's cousin, as Tooro's new king.

Oyo's sister, Princess Ruth Komuntale, said the late king had left a will, written in 2022, naming his young son as his successor.

The boy's identity has never been disclosed.

Meanwhile, his mother, Queen Best Kemigisa, said royal guards had been withdrawn from the palace and soldiers deployed. This, she said, restricted the royal family's movement and their ability to receive visitors, describing it as "house arrest".

On Saturday, the Archbishop of the Church of Uganda, Stephen Kazimba Mugalu, urged unity.

"Words spoken in grief can cause pain, division and conflict. It can even destroy the legacy of the king we are mourning," he told mourners.

Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni also called for the matter to be resolved "and to favour unity over division".

The clan overseeing the succession defended its choice of Kijanangoma.

Omusuuga Charles Karumasi, head of the Babiito royal clan, said: "We have done everything in observance of the culture and traditions of Tooro. We must all preserve peace and serenity."

Royal family rift after popular TV news presenter chosen to succeed Ugandan king

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8jdpj4ydm2o, 4 days ago

A bitter succession dispute has erupted in one of Uganda's traditional kingdoms, days before the burial of its late king, who until his death had been the world's youngest reigning monarch.

King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV, who ruled the Tooro Kingdom for more than three decades, was undergoing cancer treatment in the US when he died last month aged 34.

Royal clan elders have named popular TV news presenter Prince Edward Rukidi Kijanangoma, 56, as the next monarch, but this has been rejected by Oyo's close family.

His sister, Princess Ruth Komuntale, said the late king had left a will written in 2022 naming his young son, whose identity has never been disclosed, as his successor.

"My brother did leave behind an heir to the throne, and that was very clearly stated," she said, accusing those behind the announcement on Wednesday night of creating "confusion and turmoil" while the family was still grieving.

Meanwhile the late king's mother, Queen Best Kemigisa, has said royal guards have been withdrawn from the palace and soldiers deployed, restricting the royal family's movement and their ability to receive visitors, describing the situation as "house arrest".

She appealed to the army's leadership and President Yoweri Museveni to allow the family to mourn and bury Oyo in peace on Saturday.

"I appeal to those fighting over the throne: please, there will be time for all of that," she said. "Let us grieve and bury my son King Oyo."

Thousands of mourners are expected to attend the burial at the royal tombs near the palace in Fort Portal in western Uganda.

His body was returned to Uganda from the US on Friday, and preparations for the funeral are under way.

Tooro is one of Uganda's traditional kingdoms. Its monarch has no formal political authority but remains an important cultural figure in western Uganda.

Uganda abolished its traditional kingdoms in 1967, but they were restored in the 1990s under President Museveni. Their monarchs are recognised as cultural leaders rather than political rulers.

The existence of Oyo's son was first publicly revealed in the days after the king's death by President Museveni, who said he had been told about the young boy by the queen mother.

No other details have officially been disclosed, and he had not previously been presented as Oyo's heir.

The disagreement has exposed the complicated way in which succession works in Tooro.

Unlike Britain's monarchy, where the crown passes according to an established line of succession, Tooro's monarch is chosen from the Babiito, the royal dynastic clan.

At a press conference in the kingdom's capital of Fort Portal, the royal clan's succession committee announced Kijanangoma, Oyo's cousin and a news presenter at the state-run broadcaster UBC, as monarch.

The clan elders said they had the customary authority to choose a suitable prince to become "the Omukama" - the local title for the king of Tooro.

The succession panel said it had carried out "due diligence, consultation and adequate consideration" before selecting Kijanangoma, with 19 members signing the resolution.

Kijanangoma is the son of Prince Christopher Paul Kijanangoma and a grandson of former Tooro king George David Rukidi III.

Another contender had been Prince George Desmond Kamurasi - a footballer for one of the best-known amateur clubs in the UK. According to the succession committee, the South East Dons captain and goalkeeper declined the offer of the throne, citing other responsibilities.

It is not yet clear when the enthronement will take place, but the committee said it would be conducted in accordance with the traditions and customs of the Tooro kingdom.

Oyo's family quickly called a press conference to denounce the announcement, insisting the late king's written wishes should be respected.

Princess Komuntale said Oyo had left "very strict instructions" on his succession, naming his son as first in line and also setting out alternatives if the boy could not take the throne - a position backed by her aunt, senior royal Princess Elizabeth Bagaaya.

But clan representatives said that reports of Oyo having a son were not sufficient because the child had not been formally presented to the royal clan as dictated by Tooro tradition.

One committee member told Uganda's NTV station that a royal child must be formally introduced to elders and then must undergo ceremonies and others preparations if they were to be considered for future leadership.

Culture Minister Henry Tumukunde has stepped in to say he will be overseeing mediation efforts, with an outcome expected after consultations with President Museveni and cultural leaders.

More BBC stories from Uganda:

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Russia to open more cultural centres in Africa as it seeks to broaden influence

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c17j90jg0peo, 4 days ago

Russia is expanding its network of cultural and educational centres in Africa as it seeks to strengthen ties beyond its military and security co-operation on the continent.

The centres will promote the Russian language, education, science and culture, while supporting various projects, Russia's humanitarian agency says.

Known as "Russian Houses", eight of 11 new centres are due to open in Africa, where 16 have already been set up over the years.

Russia's state-controlled paramilitary force African Corps, which replaced the Wagner Group's mercenary operations, has become a key security partner for multiple military governments in the West Africa in the fight against jihadist insurgencies.

In particular the juntas in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso turned to the Russian mercenaries, now Africa Corps, as they sought to shrug off influence from their former colonial power France.

French and other anti-jihadist international forces have withdrawn from these countries, including the UN's operation in Mali that ended in December 2023.

This year has also seen a surge in the reported number of African fighters caught up in the Russia-Ukraine war. Kenya, which has seen some of the highest numbers of recruits, blamed job agencies for luring men to Russia with work opportunities, only for them to end up fighting in Ukraine.

Russia has said its foreign recruits all joined voluntarily ''in full compliance with Russian law'' - but agreed in March not to deploy Kenyans to the front.

According to Russia's humanitarian agency Rossotrudnichestvo, Russia now aims to cultivate longer-term relationships through scholarships, universities, language programmes, cultural events and exchanges.

"We're significantly changing the programme itself. We're increasing the intensity of our work and the level of oversight," said Igor Chaika, the head of Rossotrudnichestvo.

The new centres are due to open in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.

Russia was looking for "tangible results" in promoting "the Russian language, Russian education, science, and culture", Chaika added.

A new micro-grant programme would begin in 2027 to support educational, cultural, scientific, technological and youth projects abroad, Rossotrudnichestvo said.

The agency also wants stronger partner organisations to operate the Russian Houses across different African countries, to create what it described as a "full-fledged international network".

Demand for partner Russian Houses had been growing, including from countries where the work of state institutions faced political restrictions, it added.

This latest announcement covers 11 additional sites, including two in Armenia, as well as locations in Thailand and eight African countries.

Chaika said they were particularly interested in fine-tuning the education programmes offered: "We must focus on who the country needs.

"If it needs doctors, we should train doctors; if it needs specialists in other fields, we should train those specialists."

He also stressed the importance of foreign students returning home after studying in Russia, explaining that they could use their newly learnt skills to contribute to the economic development of their countries.

To support the growth, Rossotrudnichestvo said it had signed a separate agreement with the Association for Economic Cooperation with African Countries (AECAS).

This a Russia-Africa trade and business networking body set up by Russia's President Vladimir Putin in 2020 - part of broader Russian efforts to maintain and build relationships with countries outside the West.

Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.

Six Nigerians accused of romance scams to be extradited to the US

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj3dy704l71o, 2 days ago

South African police are handing over six Nigerians wanted in the US for alleged online romance scams to FBI agents later on Friday.

The group is accused of targeting over 100 women in the US and defrauding them of more than 100m rand ($6m; £5m), the South African authorities said.

Those being extradited were arrested in 2021 and are believed to be members of crime syndicate Black Axe - a Nigerian mafia-style gang tied to human trafficking, internet fraud and murder.

Some of their reported victims included pensioners and businesspeople "who were targeted through sophisticated online relationships used to defraud them of their money", according to South Africa's elite Hawks police unit.

The group will be "transported from a correctional facility in Cape Town" to the airport on Friday morning, where they will be "handed over to officials from the FBI and the United States Secret Service", Hawks spokesperson Colonel Katlego Mogale said in a statement.

They would face wire fraud and money-laundering charges upon their arrival in the US, she added.

US and South African authorities have not so far named the individuals being extradited. The BBC has contacted Interpol, the FBI, Secret Service and US Justice Department for comment.

Black Axe is a shadowy criminal network known for its extreme violence and operates across Africa, Europe and North America.

A BBC Eye investigation in 2021 suggested the syndicate had become one of the most far-reaching and dangerous organised crime groups in the world.

Nigeria is its main recruitment ground and many of its members are university educated and inducted during their schooling.

What began as a Nigerian student fraternity has been on the radar of law enforcement agencies for a number of years.

FBI operations against Black Axe were launched in November 2019 and September 2021, eventually charging more than 35 individuals with multi-million-dollar internet fraud.

Since then, there have been several other operations across multiple countries targeting Black Axe coordinated by the global policing agency Interpol.

Last month, Interpol said during its latest operation - which took place between November 2025 and June 2026 - seven sites in South Africa linked to a syndicate involved in romance and investment scams were raided.

It led to the arrests of 39 people, the seizure of money and the blocking of more than 250 bank accounts.

The US justice department announced federal charges had been laid against eight men allegedly linked to Black Axe in 2021. Prosecutors said they were part of group that engaged in widespread internet fraud involving romance scams and advance-fee schemes.

They said members of the group used social media websites, online dating websites, and internet-based phone calls to find and talk with victims in the US while using a number of aliases.

The group allegedly also used bank accounts of victims and individuals with US-based financial accounts to transfer the money to South Africa. On some occasions, they convinced victims to open financial accounts in the US that the alleged conspirators would then be permitted to use themselves.

In a questionnaire for victims circulated by the FBI in the US state of New Jersey, the agency said members of the group are believed to have used various aliases to solicit funds from unknowing victims.

A common narrative they allegedly spun involved a purported online love interest travelling to Cape Town to work on a construction project. That person would tell the victim they had been mugged and would request a phone and other electronic devices be sent to them in South Africa.

Victims were also told the purported online love interest needed a loan to pay for repairs for a faulty crane at a construction site, to pay for legal fees due to an accident at the site, or to pay for foreign taxes to release a larger sum of money owed to them.

Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.

More than 20 children killed in DR Congo school fire

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgjq15j7318o, 3 days ago

At least 24 schoolchildren have died in a stampede as they tried to flee a fire that engulfed two schools in rebel-held Bukavu in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, officials there have said.

Adults are also reported to have died in the fire and there are fears that the death toll could rise further in the densely populated Kadutu commune.

Survivors have been taken to nearby hospitals, and footage of the scene shows children lying on hospital floors in pain.

Some 300 houses have also been destroyed in the fire, the cause of which is unknown.

Rebel‑appointed authorities released a provisional death toll of 24 on Thursday evening, confirming previous reports, but there are fears that more people may have died.

Pictures circulating on social media show young children lying motionless on the ground.

A witness quoted by Reuters news agency said the fire had been put out by afternoon but smoke was still rising from rubble and corrugated metal.

Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu province and one of DR Congo's most crowded hillside cities, was captured by M23 rebels in February last year.

Meanwhile the government in Kinshasa released a statement on X, without specifying numbers of casualties.

"The Ministry of National Education and New Citizenship expressed deep sorrow over the deadly fire," it said.

"With several lives lost and many injured, the toll remains provisional. The minister offered condolences, affirmed solidarity with families, and ordered assessments of affected schools to ensure learning continuity."

The tragedy follows a similar fire in Kinshasa last weekend, where residents died in a stampede at a wedding banquet hall.

In response, the government has ordered strict safety measures and deployed teams nationwide to enforce standards at public gathering places.

More BBC stories on DR Congo:

Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.

'Nothing good was supposed to come out of me'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly452zwr01o, 7 days ago

A Nigerian man has shared the story of how he rose up out of "abject poverty" as a child, to become one of the leading UK academics in his field.

David Etor, 43, who grew up in Nigeria, only learned to read and write aged 12 and was told as a child that "nothing good will come out of you", but is now a lecturer in the School of Electrical, Electronic and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Bristol.

He told the BBC how his family was so poor growing up that his mum would pretend to cook food in a kitchen they shared with others, "to protect our dignity" in front of neighbours.

"I didn't see a way out," he said.

'The poor called us poor'

Speaking to John Darvall on BBC Radio Bristol about the publication of his memoir, Etor described growing up in a "compound" with several other families, all sharing a single kitchen, toilet and bathroom.

"It was a very poor neighbourhood. We were particularly very poor that the poor neighbours would refer to us as poor," he said.

"I do remember that there was a time where my mum would boil water.

"[She would] go back in and out, lift the lid, stir the water, go back into the room [and] come back as though she was preparing food...

"She would come back in with that pot of water after a couple of hours and it will be as though she's just finished cooking a meal, but it was just water.

"She was trying to protect our dignity."

Etor's first break came whilst doing a kind of national service in Nigeria, when he realised lots of locals were being hospitalised with food poisoning, because they were trying to preserve things by drying them in open fields.

To solve the problem, he designed and built a kind of "solar oven".

"It worked incredibly well," he said, which led to an award from the state government and a job.

That subsequently led him to receive a scholarship to study electrical power at Newcastle University and a PhD at Durham University, before he secured his current job in Bristol.

Sir Steve Webb, the former MP and Pensions Minister, who got to know Etor through the church in Bristol, called his achievements "remarkable".

"David's message is very much that people shouldn't be defined by their upbringing or their background," he said. "They shouldn't be written off."

"I was pinching myself on my way here this morning," Etor added.

"Nothing good was supposed to come out of me."

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What different world maps get right - and what they get wrong

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly5r60v4mro, 8 days ago

The UN has just called for the predominant world map to be replaced with one that more accurately reflects the true size of continents such as Africa.

The "Correct the Map" resolution adopted by the General Assembly aims to fix the discrepancy with the Mercator map, in which the African continent is shown as being of similar size to Greenland - even though it is in reality about 14 times larger.

The UN adopted a new map, the Equal Earth projection, which better represents the true sizes of landmasses - but comes with problems of its own.

There have been many prominent attempts over the years to solve the problem of accurately representing the surface of a sphere on a flat rectangle, each with its own benefits and drawbacks.

Mercator map

The now widely used Mercator map was created in 1569 by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator.

Its main purpose was to help European sailors navigate the oceans, as cartography Professor James Cheshire at University College London explained.

"He wanted a straight line to be drawn on a map to look like a straight line in reality if you followed a compass bearing," he told the BBC. "That was what it was intended to do, and that's what it does brilliantly well."

To keep those angles correct on a flat map, Mercator had to stretch the grid lines wider as they moved away from the equator toward the poles.

His map accommodates for the curvature of the Earth by making countries near the equator seem much smaller than they are and countries nearer the poles appear stretched.

The distortion is a result of it being impossible to accurately represent the surface of a globe on a two-dimensional chart.

More than 450 years on, Mercator's creation is still the basis for many of the maps we see in classrooms, on TV and online, including Google Maps.

But critics of the Mercator map say there is a psychological effect to viewing some places as smaller than they actually are and others as larger, as we instinctively view bigger things as more important.

For Kenyan geographer Kioko Muendo, this has implicitly downplayed Africa's vast resources, population and investment opportunities.

"Maps are more than just guides for travellers - they shape how regions are perceived politically and economically," he told the BBC.

Equal Earth map

The Equal Earth map aims to address this problem with the Mercator projection.

It was developed by a team of cartographers in 2018 to present the size and shape of landmasses more accurately, and was inspired by the 1963 Robinson projection - a map that shows the entire globe's surface at once.

As a result, the Equal Earth map was adopted by African Union members in February, before it was adopted by the UN.

But it sacrifices the straight lines that made the Mercator projection perfect for navigating with - and it cannot be used for measuring the true distance between different places.

"You can preserve area, or you can preserve shape, or you can preserve distance and direction, but not everything at once perfectly, because otherwise you'd be back to a sphere," Cheshire said.

Peters map

The Peters world map was designed by German historian Arno Peters in the early 1970s. The rectangular map is based on the projection first described by Scottish cartographer James Gall in 1855.

The projection sacrifices accuracy of shape in favour of accuracy of scale. So, polar regions are squished, while the bits near the equator are stretched.

This fixes the Greenland-Africa size issue, allowing those who use it to get a sense of the comparative size of different landmasses, all while preserving straight lines of longitude and latitude.

However, the map severely distorts the shapes of Earth's landmasses, making them all look slightly off. Russia, for instance, looks much smaller than it actually is.

The straight lines on the Peters map also do not represent true constant compass bearings and so are useless for navigation.

Flipped and shifted maps

In the same way the apparent size of a landmass can influence its perceived importance, so can its prominence on a map.

Some cartographers have attempted to orient the map so the south is at the top, to counter the psychological bias that comes from the global south being viewed as less imporant because it's lower down.

And depending on where you are in the world, which continent is placed in the centre of a map can vary.

While these alternate maps offer a different perspective on the world to the one we may be familiar with, they don't solve the issue of prominence, but rather simply change the focus of a map.

Polar-oriented maps

One way of resolving the issue of which landmass is at the centre of a map - and therefore the most prominent - is putting none of them at the centre.

This is what the map in the UN logo does: the world is centred around the North Pole, with the continents radiating outward from it.

It's known as an "Azimuthal equidistant projection", placing world regions on a circular map around a focal point. The further away from that point on the globe, the bigger the circle.

On this type of map, all points are at the correct "azimuth" - or horizontal direction - from the centre point.

But to fit the entire surface of a sphere onto a circle, the map becomes more distorted the further away from the centre it gets.

On the UN map, for instance, areas near the South Pole appear squished and stretched as what would be a ring of the same circumference as one around the North Pole becomes much larger.

Is Russia proving better at protecting friends than fighting enemies in West Africa?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2z75keq58o, 9 days ago

When mutinous soldiers seized a strategic military base in Niger's capital last Saturday, the country's ruling junta turned to a foreign partner it has increasingly relied on since coming to power: Russia.

Following a night of intense fighting in Niamey, Russia's Africa Corps helped Nigerien loyalist forces to regain control of Air Base 101 at Diori Hamani International Airport.

Africa Corps, unlike its predecessor the Wagner Group, is directly under the control of the defence ministry in Moscow. It provides combat support and military training and is thought to have some 200 to 300 men in Niger.

Russia's ambassador to Niger, Viktor Voropaev, publicly acknowledged the weekend intervention, saying his country's forces had helped "repress a mutiny".

"This is seen as a symbolic victory," according to Beverly Ochieng, senior analyst at Control Risks. "[One] that will continue to put them at the centre of not just the counter-insurgency campaign, but even in the protection and prolongation of military rule."

The attempted coup offers perhaps the clearest evidence yet that Africa Corps' role in three Sahel countries extends beyond its stated mission of helping governments fight jihadist insurgencies.

Russia is increasingly demonstrating that it can provide something perhaps even more valuable to the military rulers of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso: protection for the governments themselves.

"It was not sufficient to bring stability," said Ochieng, "but it's enough to allow these military governments to have a political lifeline."

The thwarted mutiny also highlights something the ruling junta may not want to admit - just how dependent on Moscow it has become for security.

In January, Africa Corps personnel also played an important role in repelling an attack at the same airport.

"We saw videos of the jihadists walking around the airport basically completely unimpeded," said Jacob Boswall, a security analyst who tracks jihadist activity for the BBC's media monitoring service.

"Probably there is some substance to the claim that Africa Corps was able to restore power in that case [in January]. And I think, again, in this case as well, that intervention was very significant."

One of the Nigerien military's central justifications for the July 2023 coup, which saw Gen Abdourahamane Tiani seize power, was the deteriorating security situation and alleged failure of Niger's civilian authorities, under elected President Mohamed Bazoum, to tackle it.

They also blamed Western partners at the time for their inability to contain jihadist violence.

Yet, three years later, that insurgency remains unresolved.

Militants linked to al-Qaeda and Islamic State have continued to launch attacks, including in the Tillabéri and Dosso regions. Some, inflicting heavy casualties on security forces.

Ochieng described this latest mutiny as evidence of longstanding grievances within Niger's own military, compounded by the pressure the soldiers have been facing.

"Counter-insurgency forces do not feel adequately supported by the military government," she said. "There have been challenges in providing equipment and replenishments."

Niger's government is facing threats on two fronts: extremist militant groups attacking the state, and grievances within its armed forces responsible for fighting them. Africa Corps may have helped contain the latter this past weekend, but it has yet to resolve the former.

Unlike Wagner mercenaries, whose status in a private military company allowed Moscow some deniability, Africa Corps is more clearly an instrument of the Russian state.

"The whole point of Africa Corps is that it brings the power back under the control of the Russian Ministry of Defence," said Boswall.

Officially, its forces are deployed to help Sahel governments combat Islamist militant groups.

But dissidents contemplating moves against military governments elsewhere in the Sahel region may now have to factor Russian forces into their calculations.

Despite the struggle to contain the jihadists, no-one anticipates Africa Corps leaving the Sahel any time soon. Keeping those governments in power protects Russia's investment.

"Wagner - and now Africa Corps - have always had a very transactional interest in Africa," Boswall said.

"If they can get mineral resources in exchange for providing protection and defence, then they will. We see that in Mali with gold… and then in Niger, it really is uranium [that] seems to be the main resource that Africa Corps is protecting."

Analysts say Russia also benefits from having friendly governments that could support it in international forums.

"Having that kind of international group of supportive countries, Russia sees as giving Russia credibility - diplomatic credibility," Boswall explained.

Like Mali and Burkina Faso, Tiani's government has built much of its legitimacy using the language of sovereignty, pan-Africanism and liberation from former colonial powers.

All three governments ordered French troops to leave. They also formed the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) and subsequently withdrew from the West African regional bloc Ecowas, presenting the new alliance as an assertion of regional independence.

Some analysts regard this as at odds with its growing reliance on Africa Corps.

"The military governments argue that they have selected Russia on their own terms," said Ochieng.

"Russia is seen as a partner that respects that sovereignty, unlike their previous partnerships with France or even the EU and, to some extent, with the US."

An army captain on Niger state television accused foreign powers, including France and Chad, of being behind last weekend's unrest, while Russia's foreign ministry described the mutineers as "extremists seemingly incited by European former colonial powers".

France has repeatedly rejected accusations that it is attempting to destabilise Niger. Chad's government did not respond to a BBC request for comment.

"[Niger is] underplaying the role that Africa Corps has in these countries, and they're overplaying the resource-nationalism narrative - the idea that the government is in control and fighting back against the jihadists," explained Boswall.

"There is a huge media war going on in the Sahel to control the narrative around that."

Russia's war with Ukraine is another important factor shaping its strategy in the Sahel.

The conflict continues to consume Russian personnel and military equipment, limiting how far Moscow can expand its operations in Africa.

"It's quite a tightrope for Russia because ultimately its priority will always be Ukraine," Ochieng said.

"It will maintain at least enough numbers to allow it to reassure the military governments in the Sahel that it continues to be a reliable partner. They'll continue to deploy just enough weapons and supplies and logistics… to continue supporting Africa Corps."

But there are limits to what that support can achieve. "Russia cannot afford a sustained counter-offensive anywhere in the Sahel," Ochieng said.

This may help explain why protecting allied governments appears to have become such an important part of Russia's regional strategy.

Defending a capital or helping loyalist forces defeat a mutiny requires fewer resources than recapturing and securing vast areas affected by an insurgency.

"These are quite limited interventions, but with an outsized impact," Boswall said.

"I think at that level they'll be able to sustain that over the foreseeable future, even with the war in Ukraine."

Russia may have helped Tiani survive this latest security challenge, but it has not removed the conditions that could produce the next mutiny.

Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.

Uganda pulling out of Prince Harry's Invictus Games, says military chief

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3d7pzyjzllo, 4 days ago

Uganda is pulling out of the Invictus Games, a sports event for wounded military veterans run by the Duke of Sussex, only two months after the country said it would join.

General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, chief of defence and son of the president, made the announcement in a social media post on X.

He said the decision to withdraw from the games was "in order not to be construed as being opposed to His Majesty King Charles III".

Ugandan government spokesman Alan Kasujja confirmed this to the BBC: "General Kainerugaba decides whether or not the UPDF [Uganda People's Defence Force] participates in the Invictus Games. What you saw is his stated position. If it changes, he will let the world know."

The Ugandan military chief's announcement follows a letter sent this week on behalf of the King which made clear that Prince Harry and Meghan, who have now returned to the UK, were not working royals.

A source close to the Sussexes said that Uganda's withdrawal from the games was a consequence of that letter, which had been shared with the media.

"Sadly, the only people who will suffer are the Invictus Games competitors," said the source.

A report in The Times newspaper quoted the general's concerns about the "Harry-Meghan nonsense", suggesting this was the background to the decision.

"In order not to be construed as being opposed to His Majesty King Charles III of the United Kingdom, whom we deeply revere, Uganda hereby withdraws from the Invictus Games," said the general in an overnight post.

"We shall not participate in anything that does not have His Majesty's approval."

However, royal sources have said that the King encourages all projects which support wounded service personnel.

A spokesman for the Invictus Games said they had not received any official information about a potential withdrawal and have been seeking clarification from their contacts in Uganda.

Among other posts on X from General Kainerugaba on Thursday was one that read: "I consider myself the most handsome, most daring and glorious Commander who ever lived."

There was also a series of angry messages about other generals who had danced without his permission.

The participation of Uganda in the next games, to be held next year in Birmingham, was announced in July, when Prince Harry was in London promoting the sports event, which celebrates the resilience and rehabilitation of wounded military men and women.

Uganda had become the 26th country to take part in the games.

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'You're not alone in the darkness': Gambia president urges calm after violent blackout protests

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgmr22kpd9yo, 5 days ago

The Gambia's President Adama Barrow has urged citizens to remain calm over prolonged power cuts, saying the country is not alone in facing an electricity crisis that has affected several parts of West Africa.

His comments follow protests on Monday night in the capital Banjul and surrounding areas over blackouts that residents say have sometimes lasted up to 48 hours.

"When you lie down in the heat and the dark, believe that you are not alone in that darkness," Barrow said, pledging to boost power supplies by next month.

The Gambia supplements its own generation with imported electricity, including supplies from Guinea and neighbouring Senegal.

The tiny West African country has endured persistent blackouts since June, with outages becoming longer and more frequent during the current hot season as soaring temperatures drive up electricity demand.

Frustration boiled over on Monday night, when protesters took to the streets in Banjul and surrounding areas, burning tyres and blocking roads over the prolonged power cuts.

Police used tear gas to disperse crowds in Westfield area as they moved towards the headquarters of the national electricity company, Nawec, with some chanting. "Barrow must go".

Protesters also gathered outside the vice-president's residence in Farato, where banners at an office of Barrow's ruling National People's Party were damaged.

The unrest comes just months before a presidential election expected in December, in which Barrow is seeking a controversial third term.

In a televised address on Tuesday night, Barrow acknowledged the hardship caused by the blackouts but warned protesters against damaging public infrastructure, saying it would only worsen the disruption and divert money towards repairs.

"Let us not destroy in a moment of anger what we suffered so long to gain," he said.

The president admitted there had been shortcomings in the government's planning, power generation and maintenance systems, calling the resulting outages "a national security issue" and an "emergency".

"I know that the fans have stopped turning, children work in the dark, mothers throw away stale food, and the heat is unbearable by day and by night," the president, promising that supplies would improve by the end of October.

He said a new 24-megawatt generating unit was being installed at the Brikama power station and would be commissioned by the end of next month.

A contract has also been awarded for a 50MW solar power plant in Soma, although no completion date was given.

"For a system of our size, this is considerable power, enough to make a big difference in your homes," Barrow added.

The president visited facilities for the national energy utility on Tuesday morning and promised that The Gambia would receive new generators this week.

Gallo Saidy, the Nawec chief, also appealed for patience, saying reduced electricity imports from the regional grid had contributed to the shortages.

He said lower rainfall this year had reduced the electricity available through the regional network.

"We are aware of the frustration and constraints that the Gambian people have," he said. "We are just asking The Gambian people to give us a little bit of time and patience."

Nawec had warned in August that unusually high temperatures had driven a surge in electricity demand, while a technical problem had also affected a major generating unit supplying imported power.

Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.

Sudan's healthcare system on brink of collapse after cuts, medical charity warns

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c62m8247yleo, 5 days ago

Sudan's fragile health system is on the brink of collapse as global funding cuts have led to the closure of healthcare facilities across the country, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has warned.

Dozens of organisations were unable to find alternative funding after the US - the largest donor to Sudan - closed USAID, its body for delivering foreign aid, last year, the medical charity said.

MSF urged world leaders gathering at the UN General Assembly in New York to take action.

The war that erupted in April 2023 between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has created one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world, with more than 33 million people needing medical assistance.

MSF said while the US was still the largest donor to Sudan, existing grants to many USAID-funded organisations ran out in June - as European governments were also reducing international assistance.

According to the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), international aid fell globally by 21.3% in 2025 compared to the previous year.

"War is driving Sudan's needs; funding cuts are shrinking the response," said Muhammad Ibrahim, the head of charity in Sudan.

"MSF's work in Sudan is privately funded. But when funding disappears from other health services, clinics close, patients have fewer places to go, and pressure shifts to the facilities that remain, including ours."

This has meant that patients often have to make dangerous and long trips to get treatment.

"After a longer and more expensive journey, patients often arrive in a much more serious condition, and the hospital may already be full," explained Sebastián Traficante, MSF's emergency co-ordinator in the western region of Darfur, which has experienced much of the fighting over the last three years.

Between January and April 2026, MSF saw admissions jump by 22.5% in facilities it supports in central Darfur, when compared to the same time last year.

In May alone, 45 healthcare centres in the area had stopped receiving funding, it said.

According to MSF, the closure of frontline services was putting other hospitals under severe strain - as they were losing their capacity to function and medicines were disappearing.

It gave Gedaref state's Tanedba camp, where 18,400 people who have fled their homes live, as an example. Its maternity and surgical wards have closed down after a humanitarian organisation left in June.

As a result, MSF is now running an emergency room there, but pregnant women who need surgery to deliver a baby, have to travel three hours to the nearest city.

In the Um Rakuba camp - also in Gedaref - the number of aid agencies working there has dropped from 35 in 2021, to less than 10.

According to the charity, the camp currently hosts around 17,000 people, most of whom are women and children.

"If support does not increase, more patients will face longer journeys, fewer treatment options and greater risk of arriving too late for care," MSF's UK humanitarian representative Liz Harding said.

At the same time as the health system was struggling with funding, attacks on healthcare workers were continuing, MSF said.

In 2025, Sudan saw 1,620 people killed in attacks on medical facilities - which the charity said accounted for 82% of all global deaths from attacks on healthcare worldwide.

According to the UN, more than 19.5 million people are also experiencing "crisis levels" of food insecurity and more than five million are facing "emergency levels of hunger".

The fighting shows no sign of easing - despite the expected arrival of international diplomats in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, for consultations aimed at ending the civil war.

Reports from North Kordofan state on Tuesday say at least 11 people have been killed in a drone attack on the army-controlled town of Umm Ruwaba. According to medical sources, the projectile struck a crowded courtyard in a court complex.

Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.

Kenya moves to register frightened Burundians as tension over foreign traders rises

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c158wwl22xko, 6 days ago

Kenya says it will register undocumented Burundians and other East Africans living in the country, following days of anxiety over President William Ruto's directive targeting foreigners in small-scale businesses.

On Monday, hundreds of Burundians scrambled to process travel documents amid uncertainty over whether they could remain in Kenya.

Charles Owino, the Kenyan government spokesperson, has now said those without proper documents should register through their embassies or high commissions as the authorities work with diplomatic missions to regularise their status.

Those undergoing registration would be presumed legally in Kenya during the process, Owino said.

Ruto had set Monday as the deadline for foreigners operating small-scale businesses to cease work. The directive came after the trade ministry said some foreigners exploit visa rules to work without the required permits.

Long queues were seen outside Burundi's embassy in the capital, Nairobi, after it said it would offer free emergency travel documents to citizens who wanted to go back home.

Others were seen racing to buy bus tickets.

Some Burundians have reportedly faced hostility after President Ruto ordered action against foreign street vendors and those operating small shops, saying such jobs should be protected for Kenyans.

Kenyan officials have since sought to reassure neighbouring countries that there is no blanket ban on foreign traders.

Addressing a news conference on Monday, Owino said the government had opened registration and documentation of all foreign nationals residing in Kenya without valid documents.

He acknowledged that because of historical circumstances and regional dynamics, a number of East African nationals, including several Burundians, resided and operated in Kenya without full documentation.

"To address this constructively, the government of Kenya is establishing a formal documentation and registration window," Owino said.

"We call upon all undocumented East African community nationals, and specifically Burundian citizens currently residing in Kenya, to immediately present themselves to their respective high commissions or embassies for formal identity registration."

In a statement on Tuesday, the Kenyan government said foreign nationals running businesses had 90 days to regularise their immigration status, work permits, business registrations and licences.

After that the requirements would be "enforced firmly and strictly", it said.

"During this period, the responsible government agencies will provide the necessary guidance and administer the applicable requirements fairly, consistently and without discrimination," Kenya State House's statement added.

It also warned that no individual or group had "the authority to harass, intimidate, threaten or interfere with foreign nationals or their businesses".

Senior Kenyan foreign affairs official Korir Sing'oei has apologised to Burundians over the harassment some have faced, saying the president's directive had been misunderstood.

"I want to say sorry to all the Burundi nationals here," Sing'oei said during a visit to the Burundian embassy in Nairobi on Monday.

He said the government would tighten security in areas where Burundians live.

Kenya hosts hundreds of thousands of migrants from across East Africa seeking work and business opportunities.

According to the United Nations refugee agency, there are around 16,000 Burundian refugees and asylum seekers in Kenya.

It is unclear how many are involved in small-scale trading.

On Monday, some of them were seen carrying all their belongings - from suitcases to mattresses - as they tried to leave Kenya. However, some of them said they could not afford the cost of travel and urged the Kenyan government to extend the deadline.

Ruto's directive follows a similar crackdown in Tanzania last year and rising anti‑migrant sentiment in South Africa.

Burundi's Foreign Affairs Minister Edouard Bizimana said in a post on X that "Kenyans in Burundi were living peacefully but if the hate speech against Burundi continues things will certainty change".

"Kenya government is responsible for the lives of Burundians living in Kenya," he added.

Ruto had said that while Kenya remained open to foreign investment, it could not be "that a person comes from China or elsewhere to be a hawker or open a small shop".

He argued that investors should create jobs and expand production rather than compete with Kenyans in small businesses.

His comments sparked mixed reactions, with some critics describing them as a populist move that risked stoking xenophobia. Government officials deny the allegation.

Bizimana organised an urgent meeting with representatives of the East African Community (EAC), an eight-member bloc which promotes economic integration in the region. Both Kenya and Burundi are part of the group.

He said he had asked the Kenyan ambassador to convey to his government Burundi's concerns and to ensure that no Burundian was subjected to abuse.

Alexis Ntinanirwa, the head of the Association of Burundians living in Kenya, told the BBC Great Lakes service that he was unhappy with Ruto's decision, but was urging Burundians to remain patient.

He warned that the issue could have wider regional consequences because Kenyans were also involved in small-scale businesses in other East African countries.

"This issue is not only going to cause problems for Burundians working in Kenya, but it is also going to cause problems in the region because there are also Kenyans doing these small jobs in our countries in Burundi, Tanzania and Uganda."

Ntinanirwa advised Burundians involved in hawking and other small businesses to avoid confrontation with police.

Additional reporting by Akisa Wandera and Prime Ndikumagenge

Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.

The student behind 'cockroach' protests that forced an Indian minister to quit

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly749x4k2vo, 3 days ago

In just under three months, 30-year-old Abhijeet Dipke - the founder and face of India's Gen Z "cockroach" protests - has acquired the kind of celebrity status normally reserved for a breakout actor or cricketer.

In politics or activism, unless you come from an influential family, such recognition can take years - if it comes at all.

"It's been a rollercoaster ride. Two-three months ago, nobody knew me. I was just in my room in Boston watching documentaries or attending lectures," said Dipke, who recently completed a master's in public relations at Boston University.

"Now I'm here surrounded by hundreds of people, by cameras. It's a bit overwhelming."

In and around his hometown of Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar in the western state of Maharashtra, Dipke is routinely thronged by people wanting to shake his hand or take a photo.

If the attention bothers him, it doesn't show. Perhaps because politics isn't entirely new to him: before moving to the US, Dipke had worked with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), an opposition party that grew out of an anti-corruption movement, for three years.

Then, on 16 May, Dipke wrote a post on X that would change his life: "What if all cockroaches come together?"

It was a response to a remark by India's Chief Justice Surya Kant, who had likened jobless youngsters to cockroaches. Kant later said his comments had been misinterpreted and were directed specifically at young people using fake degrees, rather than the country's youth more broadly.

But the clarification did little to quell the outrage.

Dipke said he wrote his post while playing a video game. "It was totally spontaneous. I had no idea it would become such a big movement," he said.

Encouraged by tens of thousands of responses, he joined a handful of former colleagues and activists to launch the satirical Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), its name playing on both the chief justice's remark and that of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Alongside the support, Dipke and the campaign were fiercely trolled by government supporters. Their website and X account was briefly taken down in India.

Dipke says that when he wrote to X and to India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology asking why the account had been taken down, he received a notice saying it had been withheld under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act which allows the government to block online information 'in the interest of sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of the State'.

The ministry did not reply to the BBC's questions about the issue, but The Indian Express and other media reported government officials as saying the sites had been blocked because of 'national security concerns'. Dipke says he decided to return to India in response to this.

"I took the decision to come back to India when I was called a national security threat by my own government. That really hurt me. Isn't my government supposed to stand by me when I'm abroad?" he said.

"I decided I need to go back to my country to show I'm not a national security threat. I love my country, just not in the way that you [the government] want."

Returning was not an easy decision. In recent years, activists and journalists critical of the government have faced police questioning, legal cases and, in some instances, jail.

Dipke says a lawyer he consulted advised him against returning, warning that he could be detained under the National Security Act (NSA), which allows detention without formal charge or trial. The government has always denied it takes retaliatory action but a fear of reprisal prevails.

"I won't lie. I was afraid. I had sleepless nights thinking if I go back to India, my life will change. But if I sit in the US, all these people who have followed the Cockroach Janta Party, they will feel betrayed - that 'he didn't come to India, he just kept hiding in the US'," said Dipke.

His family was worried too.

"My mother broke down over a phone call. She said, 'Why are you coming back? They might put you in jail or attack you.' I told her I can't backtrack now because people will mock me."

The cockroach protests were not the first mass agitation Modi's government has faced. Thousands protested against a controversial citizenship law in 2019 and against farm laws introduced in 2020.

Those movements were often portrayed by government supporters as representing particular religious or political interests, or as attempts to damage India's image.

Attempts to discredit the cockroach protests in similar ways, however, gained less traction for a number of reasons.

Despite India's impressive economic growth, education and employment remain major concerns for young Indians. A recent government report found that just over 8% of graduates find jobs aligned with their skills. The unemployment rate for graduates stands at 29.1% - a rate nine times higher than for those who never attended school.

And after more than 12 years in power, Modi's government is facing anti-incumbency in a way it didn't back in 2020.

But, crucially, the CJP also found an issue with broad appeal.

Around the time the campaign began, the national medical entrance exam was scrapped after a question-paper leak. The scandal resonated with students and middle-class families, cutting across religious and caste lines. More than 20 students were reported to have taken their own lives in its aftermath.

Dipke says focusing on the leak was not a strategic decision, but a response to students who reached out to the CJP.

"I was speaking to at least a hundred followers every day, and most of them were complaining about the paper leak. There was this core frustration around it," he said.

When the CJP first protested at Delhi's Jantar Mantar on 6 June, the turnout was in hundreds, but nowhere near enough for it to be considered a serious movement on the ground.

"But the longer we sat, the more people started trusting us," Dipke said. He credits activist Sonam Wangchuk's 26-day hunger strike for galvanising support.

Then came a turning point.

On 20 July, when protesters attempted to march towards parliament, police and paramilitary forces used tear gas, batons and pellet guns to disperse them. Dozens of protesters were injured; the government says dozens of police personnel were also wounded.

Images of young protesters being met with force triggered a surge of support. Thousands began arriving at Jantar Mantar and demonstrations spread to other cities.

Opposition parties rallied behind the CJP. Asked whether he challenged their leaders over why they had not taken up students' concerns more forcefully, Dipke said he had not.

"This was the first time I was organising a protest so I was just grateful to them for coming out in support of us."

The government was suddenly on the back foot. On two successive nights, Modi released videos addressing the country's youth, saying that tough action would be taken against those involved in exam leaks. But they fuelled further backlash because he wasn't offering what the protesters wanted: the resignation of education minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

It seemed almost unthinkable that Pradhan, a core BJP leader who had played an important role in recent regional elections, would be compelled to go.

On 25 July, however, he stepped down, saying it was "to ensure that anti-national elements do not take advantage of the situation".

Modi's government had reversed course before - most notably when it repealed three farm laws in 2021 after a year of protests. But this climbdown had come remarkably quickly, at the hands of a movement led by people who had been largely unknown only weeks earlier.

Dipke was on stage at the protest site when the news reached him. He dropped to his knees, then sprang up, punched his fist into the air and shouted: "We have done it."

Now that the euphoria of that moment has passed, the CJP is confronting more difficult questions - not least how to hold on to the attention it captured.

Its latest campaign focuses on conditions in government schools in rural India.

"What I'm hoping to accomplish is that children in rural India should at least get a dignified education," said Dipke during a visit to a school in Maharashtra's Hingoli district.

The school had no toilet for female students and expired food packets were being used to prepare lunches. At another, cracks ran through the floors, walls and ceiling.

The campaign has gained some traction, but feels more ad-hoc than a planned national movement, and the CJP still resembles a loose pressure group - something Dipke says is deliberate.

"People have limited politics just to elections and political parties. We want to move beyond that," he said.

"What we are here for is a cultural transformation where people understand their rights, their duties, and how to hold the government accountable no matter which party comes to power."

There are also questions about what the movement chooses to fight for.

Dipke is a Dalit, from a community once considered untouchable and placed at the bottom of India's rigid caste hierarchy. Quotas in jobs and education for lower castes remain deeply polarising.

Over the past decade, India has also seen increasing Islamophobia and deepening religious divides.

Some critics accuse the CJP of avoiding contentious issues affecting Muslims and lower-caste Indians for fear of alienating Hindu supporters. Dipke rejects this.

"I was really happy when, at Jantar Mantar, I used to chant 'Jai Bhim', thousands of other people followed," he said, referring to a slogan associated with Dalit icon BR Ambedkar. "We were also chanting 'Hindu-Muslim politics will not work anymore'."

For now, the bigger test is whether the CJP can turn the extraordinary burst of anger that propelled it into national prominence into something that lasts.

For Dipke, a self-confessed introvert thrust suddenly into public life, the test is also intensely personal.

"I'm the kind of person who would rather spend most of the day alone in my room," he said.

"But now I'm out here among hundreds of people, doing what I must to keep this movement alive - and to sustain the hope they have placed in us."

Additional reporting by Adnan Bhat and Prem Boominathan

Hong Kong's Tiananmen activists sentenced to up to seven years in prison

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgyvk2djk4o, 2 days ago

Three Hong Kong activists who organised annual vigils commemorating Beijing's 1989 crackdown on Tiananmen Square protests have been handed prison sentences of up to seven years.

Lee Cheuk-yan, 69, and Chow Hang-tung, 41, were convicted last month of inciting others to subvert state power, under the city's controversial national security law. A third defendant, Albert Ho, 74, had pleaded guilty in January.

The office of United Nations human rights chief Volker Türk called for "these sentences to be quashed".

Hong Kong and Macau were for years the only places on Chinese soil where people could hold gatherings to mark the Tiananmen crackdown - a highly sensitive and heavily censored topic in mainland China.

These gatherings were banned by Hong Kong's authorities in 2020, citing Covid-19 policies, but never resumed. That same year, the national security law, which makes illegal a wider range of dissenting acts, officially came into force.

Authorities say the law is necessary to maintain stability, but critics argue it has eroded Hong Kong's autonomy and created a climate of fear.

Lee, Chow and Ho were charged in 2021. They faced up to 10 years in prison after their conviction.

On Friday, the court sentenced Lee to seven years in prison, while Chow was handed seven years and three months. Ho, who pleaded guilty, was sentenced to five years in prison.

As the court session started, Chow and Lee stood up and smiled at the public gallery, which was full of people. Ho wore a serious expression.

After their sentences were handed down, Lee appeared to pray as he was led out of the dock, while Chow blew a kiss to those seated in the public gallery.

According to a court summary in August, Lee and Chow had "incited other persons to organise, plan, commit or participate in acts by unlawful means with a view to subverting the state power".

Chow told the court in May the law itself was on trial.

A key part of the trial concerned the group's slogan of "ending one-party dictatorship", which the court said had incited people to undermine the Chinese Communist Party.

Lee's wife, Elizabeth Tang, told Reuters that it was a "sad day" for her.

"I cannot imagine that he has to spend another three years in jail, it is really unacceptable," she said, adding that Lee intended to appeal his sentence.

Chow's mother Medina told a crowd outside the court not to be "overly saddened" about the verdict. "Do not lose heart. And above all, do not feel guilty," she said, Reuters reported.

Speaking to the BBC before her arrest in 2022, Chow said she was "prepared to be arrested" and "willing to pay the price for fighting for democracy".

The defendants were leaders of the now-disbanded Hong Kong Alliance, a group founded in May 1989 to support students holding pro-democracy rallies.

Weeks later, the Chinese Communist Party sent troops and tanks to crush pro-democracy protests in Beijing's Tiananmen Square. Estimates of the death toll range from a few hundred to many thousands.

Over the next three decades, the Hong Kong Alliance called on authorities to accept responsibility for the crackdown, free dissidents and introduce democratic reform.

The group also held yearly vigils commemorating the Tiananmen Square crackdown. Organisers said some of the gatherings attracted more than 100,000 people, though police had lower estimates of the turnout.

On Friday, the court also handed a HK$1.5m fine ($191,000; £142,000) to the Hong Kong Alliance.

"This sentencing is a triple tragedy: for the activists being unjustly punished; the survivors and victims of the Tiananmen crackdown itself; and the generations of Hongkongers denied the space to discuss one of the most consequential events in modern Chinese history," said Amnesty International's Deputy Regional Director Sarah Brooks.

"The harsh sentences against peaceful Tiananmen vigil organisers expose the cruelty and insecurity of a government afraid of memory and the people," Human Rights Watch said in a statement.

When an avalanche killed climber Nirmal Purja, his friends faced the hardest mission of all

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1wx8gg7xw1o, 2 days ago

As he picked his way past the frozen slope towards two bodies, Mingma Gyalje Sherpa knew his friends were gone.

Together, the three of them had climbed the world's highest peaks, under crisp mountain skies and in treacherous snowstorms. Nirmal Purja and Kili Pemba Sherpa were two of the strongest climbers Mingma G had ever known.

But this July, an avalanche swept through Pakistan's Broad Peak while the two were on their way up, engulfing everything in its path.

The drone images seemed clear: no-one had survived.

And yet, as Mingma G came closer to the fluorescent down suits, sharp against the snow, he couldn't shake the idea they were waiting for him.

"I told them: 'It's ok. You don't have to be here in the cold anymore.'"

Speaking to the BBC in Islamabad, he recalls the terrible moment he reached for their bodies.

Holding one of them, he promised: "I'm here to take you guys home."

Mingma G and Nirmal Purja met in Pakistan in 2021, where they were part of the first team to summit the world's second-highest mountain, K2, during winter.

Mingma G knew of Nirmal - or Nims, as he was known - from his Netflix documentary 14 Peaks, in which he successfully climbed the world's 14 highest mountains in just over six months.

The pair, both avid climbers from Nepal, had taken different paths.

Mingma G came from the Sherpa community and built his reputation as a mountain guide over 20 years. Nims was a former Gurkha and British Special Forces soldier who quickly became one of the world's best-known mountaineers.

Many saw Nims as an incredible climber who helped Nepalese climbers gain international recognition in a field dominated by foreigners. But he also had his critics: they said he focused too much on records, and on marketing his expeditions to a growing social media following.

In 2024 the New York Times published sexual misconduct allegations from two women, which Purja strongly denied through his lawyer at the time, who said they were "false and defamatory". Purja again denied the allegations in a lengthy interview soon after.

Before Mingma G met Nims, he wasn't sure about him: "In the beginning, I had the feeling he was very arrogant."

But that changed when their paths crossed five years ago, as competitors on their way to K2, who then decided to climb the mountain together and share the record. Mingma G says he found Nims to be "very kind-hearted, one of the most beautiful human beings I've met".

Over the years the two would meet on various mountains around the world: Nims "would always be on Everest".

This summer they met again, walking into the Karakoram range, before they would split up for different climbs. Nims headed for Broad Peak and Mingma G for K2, around 8km (five miles) apart.

Nims asked Mingma G to wait another day so they could meet once more before embarking on these separate missions, but that meeting never happened.

"That was the last thing he told me. I still regret it."

On 30 July, "we had perfect weather, sunshine, no winds," Mingma G says.

By then, he was leading a team up K2. Nims's team of climbers had joined others to form a larger group of 10 that was making its way up Broad Peak.

At 08:30, Mingma G spoke to Kili Pemba Sherpa - better known as Kilu - a childhood friend and expert climber in Nims's group. Snow conditions looked good, Kilu had said, and the two agreed to speak again when they both reached the next camp on their respective mountains.

The BBC spoke to two trekkers who spotted the climbers scaling Broad Peak. "We were cheering them on," one says. He took a photo of them on the slope, small silhouettes against the snow.

The group continued ascending. But less than an hour later, there was a "thundercrack", the other trekker says: "a huge avalanche, starting from the top going down both sides of Broad Peak".

"We were hoping and praying that the climbers were above the avalanche," the first trekker continues. But they couldn't see the silhouettes on the slope.

The trekkers' guide notified base camp about what they had witnessed.

The cause of the avalanche is still being investigated, but the Alpine Club of Pakistan told the BBC that while it had snowed heavily earlier that week, their initial research suggested that it was caused by the collapse of an ice slab, irrespective of snowfall.

By the time Mingma G reached the next camp on K2, his team had not heard from the Broad Peak climbers. They didn't panic because climbers often turn off the radio to save battery life.

But something was bothering him.

One of the Broad Peak climbers, Wang Zhong, was a close friend and a client. He would normally message Mingma G through his Garmin satellite tracker to let him know he'd arrived safely at the next camp. But there was no message from him.

Thousands of metres below, Pakistani mountain guide Waqar Ali says he was also trying to contact the group, but to no avail. He thought they may have been sleeping, in preparation for a final push towards the summit that night.

But by 15:00, no-one at base camp had had any contact with the group on Broad Peak.

Mingma G was 7,300m up on K2, where communication was difficult. His team started calling officials, families, contacts in Kathmandu and anyone who might have been in touch with the climbers.

He says it was probably 20:00 when they first heard that the altitude readings from the Broad Peak climbers' trackers had dramatically fallen: one of them had dropped by around 1,600m.

It was too late to climb and too dark to send up a drone, so he decided to wait for sunrise. "I had hope," Mingma G says. Especially for Kilu and Nims, who were "experienced and physically… strong".

Early next morning, a drone was sent up and soon after, the operator radioed them. The drone had spotted bodies down the mountain. It looked like there were no survivors.

"I was totally blank," Mingma G recalls in a low voice.

He wasn't quite ready to accept he had lost so many dear friends at once.

"Maybe still I had a feeling they might all be alive [and] wanted somebody to help them get down. That was just something I had in my heart and mind."

Later that day, Mingma G called off his K2 expedition.

Down at the base of Broad Peak, Waqar wept as he arrived with another climber to start the difficult job of bringing the bodies back.

They retrieved the bodies of Nadhira Al Harthy, the first Omani woman to climb Everest, and Pur Bahadur Gurung, a Nepalese climber who had summited 12 of the world's 14 highest peaks.

But there were still bodies on the mountain and Mingma G was determined to bring his friends home.

When he called Nims's wife and brother-in-law to tell them the tragic news, he says they struggled to believe it. Kilu's wife "couldn't say much, but told me: 'don't leave your brother on the mountain'".

Organising the next steps of the recovery mission was complicated.

The climbers who'd been heading up K2 with Mingma G were unsettled, he says, and facing pressure from their families to go home.

Then there were the logistics. From the drone images, Mingma G thought the bodies could be recovered using a helicopter and a long-line rope, but says he was told this wouldn't be possible. "In Nepal it would have taken like two minutes," he says.

The Pakistani army which would have provided the helicopters didn't respond to the BBC's questions. The Alpine Club of Pakistan says a request made on 1 August was approved, but poor weather meant it could not be carried out for days.

There was only one other option for Mingma G - a recovery operation on foot.

On 1 August, Mingma G says, his team of rescuers set off in search of four bodies they believed they'd seen in the drone shots - those of Nims, Kilu, Zhong and a fellow climber called Nima Sherpa. Gyaljen Sherpa would also be discovered nearby.

With the slope so unstable, there was a risk of falling rocks and further avalanches. A larger team could potentially lead to more casualties, but a smaller team would struggle to bring the bodies down.

The moment the rescue team reached the bodies and began sending them down on ropes, another avalanche hit, he says.

The torrent of snow sent one of the bodies down to the bottom. Three others, including Nims, ended up in a more dangerous position - in the centre of a slope with large pillars of glacial ice precariously balanced to the left and right. If either were to collapse while the rescue team were trying to reach the bodies, the tower of ice could sweep them away.

The team needed a new plan. As the days progressed, some of its members started leaving. Their numbers went from nine to six, then four.

Given how precarious the slope was, the group decided Mingma G would hang back and monitor by drone, instructing the three climbers. The arduous operation took five to six hours, but they finally managed to bring the bodies back down the slope.

The moment Mingma G first saw his friends on the mountain still haunts him.

Nims and Kilu had covered their faces with their jackets - Mingma G believes they had seen the deadly avalanche coming and prepared. The two were attached to the same rope, their legs wrapped in it. Mingma G thinks they may have hit each other on the way down - which he fears killed them rather than the fall.

"They didn't fall that much, almost 500m. But unfortunately they hit each other a lot, I think. If they were not on the rope, maybe there was a possibility that Nims and Kilu might have survived."

The team brought the bodies back down the mountain. They were flown by helicopter to the nearby city of Skardu, then on to the capital Islamabad and finally, home to their families.

Pakistani mountaineer Sohail Sakhi's body was found a few days later, as was the body of American climber Mallory Geis. The body of Nepalese climber Nawang Thindu Sherpa remains on the mountain.

Nims's family say they are deeply grateful to the "extraordinary team led by our brother, Mingma G, who worked in incredibly challenging conditions to bring Nimsdai home".

This recovery operation has stayed with Mingma G. It doesn't compare to any other mission he has done.

As he looks back with deep sorrow, he feels the end of his career could be coming.

Memories of Kilu and Nims - the three of them singing together as they marched up to the summit of a freezing but sunny K2 a few years ago - will always be with him.

But, he says, "I'm not sure if it helps, if the memory helps me to keep climbing or it makes me stop."

Man loses case to claw back $369,000 he spent on lavish gifts for ex-girlfriend

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyqxgzynk7o, 3 days ago

A Singaporean man has lost a court case to claw back hundreds of thousands of dollars that he had lavished on his ex-girlfriend while they were together.

The S$468,000 ($369,200; £273,260) that Chander Agarwal attempted to recover from Felicia Lee was money he had "willingly" spent on her, the Singapore High Court ruled.

Agarwal "displayed a consistent pattern of showering [Lee] with lavish gifts" even before they got together and would reassure her that he did not expect repayment, Senior Judge Lee Seiu Kin said.

Agarwal, the CEO of a logistics company, met Felicia Lee, a former flight attendant, during a flight in 2019. They were in a romantic relationship from September 2022 to December 2023, the court heard.

Their relationship fell apart after Agarwal suspected Lee of having an affair.

Agarwal, who launched the suit in March 2024, argued that Lee had "requested various interest-free loans" from him over the course of their relationship.

He claimed that these included S$206,000 in credit card charges, S$129,000 for overseas trips, S$17,000 to engage a fengshui master for her apartment, and S$20,000 to pay for her life insurance premiums.

Lee argued that these were "gifts made out of love and affection" and not loans.

In agreeing with Lee, the judge noted that Agarwal's case lacked documentary evidence - for instance, he could not produce any proof that Lee had acknowledged receipt of the loans that she had allegedly requested.

"The evidence before me clearly shows that the claimant, smitten by the defendant, had showered her with expensive gifts during their relationship," the judge said.

"Unfortunately, when their relationship ended on a sour note, [Agarwal] became embittered and was determined to extract a price from her."

The judge also noted that Agarwal was "clearly a man of ample means who has expensive tastes", in contrast to Lee "who was not in that league".

In many text messages Lee had "expressed her awe when [Agarwal] suggested expensive gifts, and on occasion, her spontaneous reluctance to accept them", the judge noted.

In concluding his written judgement, the judge cited English playwright William Congreve, who wrote in his tragedy satire The Mourning Bride: "Heav'n has no rage, like love to hatred turn'd, nor hell a fury, like a woman scorn'd."

"This case shows that such emotion is not the sole province of one gender," he said.

In early 2023, another Singaporean man had filed two lawsuits – in claims amounting to over S$3m - against a woman who rejected his romantic advances.

K Kawshigan claimed that Nora Tan's rejection brought him emotional trauma and caused damage to his reputation.

The Singapore courts struck out his suits. Tan later counter-sued Kawshigan to claim back expenses she said she had incurred while defending herself from his alleged harassment.

Buddhist monk arrested in suspected $3m embezzlement scandal

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5yjkxlngjyo, 3 days ago

Thai police have arrested a Buddhist monk on suspicion of embezzling 100 million baht ($3m; £2.2m) from his monastery, along with a suspected female accomplice he was filmed having sex with.

Phra Wachirayan Wi, a former abbot at the prominent 14th-Century Wat Phutthaisawan in the ancient capital of Ayutthaya, allegedly pocketed donations meant for the temple on more than 20 occasions over two years.

In Thailand, Buddhist monks take a vow of celibacy and also renounce material possessions. He was defrocked after his arrest. He has yet to comment publicly.

The latest arrests come just over a year after another sex-and-blackmail case involving senior monks rocked Thailand's monastic community.

The 66-year-old was known for creating a highly coveted coin amulet. Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul reportedly owns some of his creations.

Thailand's Buddhist institution has long been plagued with reports of monks breaking their vow of celibacy, trafficking drugs and committing financial crimes.

In July last year, police opened a hotline for people to report "misbehaving monks" after at least nine monks were found to have had sex with a woman. She then blackmailed them with photos and videos of the acts for nearly $12 million.

Police on Friday said they identified two streams of money linked to donation receipts Phra Wachirayan had issued in the temple's name – one was meant for temple renovations, while the other was payment for amulets and other sacred objects.

"But the money from both streams did not enter the temple's account. Not a single baht," lead police investigator Pattanasak Bupphasuwan told a news conference, according to reports.

Police found cash and gold bars worth more than 100 million baht while raiding Phra Wachirayan's residence on Thursday, with counting going on until late into the night, Thai news outlet The Nation reported.

While examining CCTV footage in the residence, police found a clip of him having sex with a woman on his dining table.

Authorities identified her as 47-year-old Punyavee Rungrueang, who has been arrested on charges of abetting a state official in illegal activities. She has yet to comment publicly.

Many monks in Thailand receive stipends from the government and are therefore considered state officials.

Police seized 35 gold amulets, along with about 1.5kg of gold bars and jewellery, worth an estimated 6.04 million baht, from Punyavee's home.

Police believe Punyavee helped Phra Wachirayan manage his embezzled proceeds, noting that tens of millions of baht circulated through her bank accounts each year, The Bangkok Post reported.

Investigators say they started looking into the case in mid July, after receiving an anonymous tip alleging Phra Wachirayan of misconduct and misuse of temple funds.

Two or three other people could be involved in the case, they say.

Death toll from Philippines ferry fire rises to 76, with more still missing

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwyz755yeg9o, yesterday

The Philippine Coast Guard says it has recovered 41 bodies from the wreckage of a ferry that caught fire this week, bringing the total death toll to 76.

More than 130 people were on board the MV June Aster when the blaze erupted on Wednesday as it neared its destination at the tourist hotspot of Coron, after departing from Manila.

The coast guard said on Saturday the number of survivors remained 43, with many receiving treatment in hospital, but 13 people remain unaccounted for.

Recovery of bodies had been hampered due to toxic fumes and lingering heat, which meant authorities were unable to board until Friday.

Geronimo Tuvilla, an official for the Philippine Coast Guard, said the priority was identifying victims and determining the cause of the blaze.

Kristine Ablana, a tourism official in Coron, said relatives were being asked to help identify family members through personal items and DNA testing.

"Once someone is able to verify that this photo or these belongings are indeed those of their relative, they will be asked to provide a DNA sample," she said.

Coast Guard spokesperson Commodore Noemie Cayabyab said the fire began in a cargo hold before spreading.

She said survivors had described hearing a loud explosion, "the appearance of smoke and then fire. It spread very quickly". She added that those who had made it off the ship did not have time to put on lifejackets.

A survivor who was hauled to safety on a rescue boat told the BBC he had heard frantic cries onboard when the fire erupted, and was trampled by panicked people as he tried to escape.

The ferry, built in 2002, held valid safety certificates and passed an enforcement inspection in March, but investigators are looking into potential manifest discrepancies, cargo loading integrity, and crew emergency response protocols, the Palawan Daily reported.

The vessel was carrying 117 passengers and 17 crew members.

Atienza Interisland Ferries, the vessel's operator, has pledged full co-operation with the inquiry.

Twenty-five dead after fire on cargo ship in eastern China

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj4jyv7l92eo, 4 days ago

Twenty-five people have been killed in a fire on a foreign-flagged cargo ship docked at a port in eastern China, according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.

Of the 42 people on board, 17 were were evacuated of which five are in hospital in stable condition, CCTV reports.

The vessel was undergoing maintenance at a shipyard in the city of Qingdao when the blaze erupted at around 11:15 local time (03:15 GMT). It was put out just over three hours later, according to CCTV.

Photos released by state media showed the vessel to be the Ocean Melody, a 190m (623ft) long Liberia-flagged carrier which arrived in Qingdao on 31 August, according to tracking site MarineTraffic.

Qingdao is a major trading hub and ranks among the world's busiest ports.

It is unclear what caused the fire. An eyewitness told the AFP news agency there was thick smoke rising from the ship, but he heard no explosion.

The country's leader Xi Jinping earlier called for "all-out" search and rescue efforts while Premier Li Qiang stressed the need to "prevent secondary disasters".

The fire comes nearly a month after a shipyard explosion in the south-eastern Chinese province of Fujian killed a rescue worker and injured 12 others.

Drug use may have begun 25,000 years ago in Indonesia, research finds

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd792nll91eo, 4 days ago

Humans may have been using mind-altering substances far earlier than scientists had once thought, new research indicates.

The evidence shows that betel nuts were used as drugs by some Indonesian communities up to 25,000 years ago.

Scientists from Griffith University in Australia found unusual patterns in the skeletal remains of early human foragers, which they linked to the sucking of betel nuts.

Professor Adam Brumm, who led the research, said this may be the "earliest evidence for drug use anywhere in the world".

In the new study, published in Science Advances, the researchers reported the discovery of rare skeletal remains of two early human foragers from the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. One dated to 25,000-16,000 years ago and the other to 7,600-6,300 years ago.

Both of the hunter-gatherers showed an unusual dental wear pattern with deep, rounded tooth grooves, which the researchers found was caused by sucking whole betel nuts.

When consumed, betel nuts – seeds of the betel or Areca catechu palm – induce a sense of mild euphoria and heightened awareness.

Brumm said: "Although poorly known in western societies, it is the world's fourth most widely used psychoactive substance, after alcohol, caffeine and nicotine."

It had previously been thought that drug-taking began after the advent of farming, beginning with fermented alcohol drinks about 13,000 years ago.

However, that theory "fails to account for the possibility that very ancient drug-taking lies at the roots of our most commonly used psychoactive substances", according to Brumm.

"By identifying the ancient practice underlying betel-nut chewing as we know it, the study implies that some modern drug-taking behaviours are deeply rooted in forager traditions."

In the modern era, the drug is taken by mixing a processed seed of the betel nut with slaked lime and other ingredients to form a "quid", which is chewed. The mixture is popular in South and South East Asia, and is chewed by about one-tenth of the globe's population.

Researchers conducted experiments where they soaked betel nuts in artificial saliva, and found that just sucking on intact betel nuts released enough of the psychoactive compounds to alter brain function.

The effects of sucking betel nuts may have been milder than modern quid chewing, but the team suggested that the habit was significant enough to cause severe gum disease.

Presidential pardon for controversial Sri Lankan monk overturned

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3revq308j4o, 4 days ago

Sri Lanka's Supreme Court has overturned a presidential pardon granted to a hardline Buddhist monk and ordered him to serve the remainder of a six-year prison sentence for intimidating the wife of a missing political cartoonist.

Galagodaatte Gnanasara was sentenced in 2018 for contempt of court and intimidating Sanya Eknaligoda, the wife of Prageeth Eknaligoda who disappeared in 2010.

The monk had interrupted a court hearing to speak in support of military intelligence officials who were accused of abducting the cartoonist.

Gnanasara served less than a year of that sentence because he received a pardon from Maithripala Sirisena, who was the country's president at the time.

In his cartoons, Prageeth Eknaligoda depicted issues of media freedom, political power and social disadvantage.

His work was critical of the former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, a nationalist credited with the defeat of the Tamil separatist rebels in 2009 after a bloody civil war.

Eknaligoda went missing in 2010 and has not been seen since. His wife has led a campaign to trace his whereabouts, and accuses the authorities of not doing enough to investigate his disappearance.

Gnanasara, who leads the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) or "Buddhist Power Force", was a supporter of Rajapaksa and his brother Gotobaya, who also later served as president.

In 2025, he received a separate nine-month prison term for insulting Islam and inciting religious hatred.

Sri Lanka rarely convicts Buddhist monks, and it is almost unheard of for one to receive a custodial sentence.

American football is coming to Australia - can it succeed?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crerv93pv9yo, 4 days ago

An oval ball, in September, in Melbourne usually means just one thing - the business end of the Australian rules football (AFL) season.

But on Friday, at the unsportingly early time of 7am, 100,000 people will begin filing into the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) for a very un-Australian sporting spectacle - American football.

The LA Rams take on the San Francisco 49ers in their opening National Football League (NFL) fixture, the first time the country has hosted a meaningful, non-exhibition regular season game.

The match sold out months ago, with more than half the crowd expected to be people living outside the state of Victoria. On the official ticket resale site, a restricted view seat is priced at more than A$650 (£350/US$470).

"Walking down the street, it's AFL finals week and you wouldn't even know," says Thomas McMillan, host of the NFL podcast Any Given Sunday Australia.

"It's all NFL everywhere. There are bars that are nothing but 49ers bars or Rams bars. We have a Ram Tram getting around the district. When you're in Melbourne and AFL isn't visible, it shows how big this is at the moment."

Kickoff at 10.35am local time on Friday may not be typical for local fans, but meets the demands of prime time US television schedules and their advertisers.

The league held its first international match in 2007, and over the past two decades the overseas matches have become a long-term strategy to attract supporters and their dollars.

Nine games outside the US are scheduled for the upcoming season, including three in London. But Melbourne is the furthest that players and US-based fans will have to travel.

"Obviously there are question marks when you hear you are playing in Australia," 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey told a press conference this week.

"But it has been so cool… the food's incredible, the coffee's great."

That caffeine reference was perhaps as much to the time zone, as nod to the city's famous café culture.

Melbourne is a mind-warping 17 hours ahead of California where both teams are based, and much of the pre-match attention has been on the two teams and their contrasting approaches to trying to "beat" the jet lag.

For the 49ers, who arrived late last week, their players have had time to get over the long journey, adjust to the time zone, acclimatise and practice at a nearby stadium.

Controversially, the LA Rams are taking things to the other extreme, planning to arrive on Thursday morning local time on a chartered Qantas A380 superjumbo, play on Friday, and get back to the US west coast shortly afterwards, in theory to prepare for their next match with minimum disruption to the player's body clocks.

"Definitely it's a gamble," says McMillan. "If they don't quite get things right after the 16-hour flight, you still might have that jet lag, even though you're trying to avoid it."

"And not everyone can sleep on planes," says his co-host Danny Webb. "Whether you're in first class, business class, whatever it is, you're still on a plane."

"And", adds McMillan: "And they're six foot six most of them, so it's going to be even tighter seats".

Despite it technically being a "home" game for the Rams, who bid for NFL marketing rights in Australia under the leagues Global Markets programme, this all means it is the San Francisco 49ers that have more of a presence around Melbourne this week.

And while most practice sessions have been behind closed doors, there have been player appearances at a rally for fans and an AFL match, while ex-stars turned up at that most Australian of traditions, the weekly fundraising "sausage sizzle" at the country's most high-profile hardware chain.

American sports journalist Dontay Atkinson predicts this fan engagement will be reflected inside the stadium and that the MCG will be "heavily red" (the 49ers colour), accusing the Rams of doing "exactly jack squat to sell the NFL brand or connect with Australians".

Writing on X he added: "Fly in, fly out, no contact. I'm sure the Aussies feel great about that snub."

McMillan says he can understand the approach by the Rams, who are seen as contenders for the 2027 Superbowl.

"They're looking at this as a game they need to win," he says.

"We do feel a bit snubbed, and feel the 49ers are doing the right thing,

"But it is their job, so that's where the Rams coaching staff has gone 'nah, we're taking this approach'.

"I just worry that they have missed the boat of ingraining themselves as the Australian team. It leaves it open for others, and the 49ers have really jumped on that."

The LA Rams insist there has been no snub, though speaking to the BBC, the club's Head of International Stephanie Cheng dodged the question of whether she would have preferred her players to have been in town this week.

"It's really a culmination of more than four years of work," she said. "It's not just about game week. We have long term rights."

Cheng says the Rams are the only NFL team with a membership programme for Australian fans, and that it has sent coaches into schools and communities to promote "flag football" – the non-contact version of the sport which will feature in the LA 2028 Olympics.

She also points to regular earlier visits by star players including running back Kyren Williams in March. This week its cheerleaders have visited US military bases in Australia before coming to Melbourne, and the franchise has installed a 22-yard floating football field on Melbourne's Yarra River serving as a fan zone.

"From day one, when we've come to Australia, there's been incredible enthusiasm," Cheng said.

While no Australian players will be on the field on Friday, there are dozens playing US college football and a handful in the NFL.

Most are punters, kicking specialists tapped up after showing their prowess playing AFL or rugby league.

But it is the success of Jordan Mailata, an offensive left tackle with the Philadelphia Eagles, who in 2025 became the first Australian to play in, and win, a Superbowl that was a "major turning point in Australia's fandom of the NFL " says Webb.

"Seeing an Australian in what we'd called a skilled position and then winning a Superbowl. It doesn't get better than that".

Friday's game is the first of three matches in Melbourne to be held over four years, under a contract between the NFL and the state of Victoria.

The league's preference, says Gerrit Meier, managing director and head of NFL International, is to have annual games in Australia similar, to the way the game has grown in the UK.

"We're working off the hypothesis that we need to make a commitment to a market," he told Reuters.

And while many US-based supporters are not fans of the international fixtures, these games are here to stay, says Webb, and the hype and the sell-out crowd in Australia augurs well for it to become a long-term fixture,

"I had mates four years ago asking why are you doing an NFL podcast? It's not a big sport here," he said.

"And now every single one of those mates are asking me for tickets for the game."

'People were trampling me': Philippine ferry fire survivor recalls narrow escape

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y48mxm2zjo, 4 days ago

Passengers on board a ferry to the Philippines' Palawan province were jolted into chaos on Wednesday night, when a fire broke out on the vessel.

Frantic cries pierced the night sky as hot air filled the boat, recalls Roland Lerma, one of more than 100 passengers aboard the MV June Aster.

Five people have died and 86 people are missing after the fire, which, in a country where shipping accidents are not uncommon, could become one of the deadliest maritime disasters the Philippines has seen.

Families are anxiously awaiting news about their loved ones on board, while survivors like Lerma are coming to terms with their harrowing escape.

Speaking to the BBC from a hospital in Coron, Lerma recalled that as the fire spread and he scrambled to get off the burning boat, he slipped and fell.

"When I was on the floor, people were trampling me," said the 30-year-old.

He started crawling until he could find his footing again, before leaping off the vessel into the sea.

He said he saw children who had also jumped in the water, though he could not make out their faces in the dark.

"When I hit the water, I ditched all my possessions - the clothes I was wearing, phones, bags - so that I could float," he said.

Lerma said he floated on his back for about two hours before rescuers arrived and pulled him and other survivors out of the water.

"It was cold. If the rescue had been delayed, I would have definitely died last night," he said.

Lerma, who works in construction, is from Leyte province. He had travelled to the capital Manila with five of his neighbours, where they boarded the ferry to bring them to work at Coron, a popular tourist spot in Palawan province.

According to the Philippine Coast Guard, the MV June Aster departed Manila's Port of Baseco on Tuesday night at 20:13 local time (12:13 GMT) and was scheduled to arrive at the Coron port at 18:00 on Wednesday.

But the ferry caught fire just 1.2 nautical miles (2.2km) off the coast of Coron's Marcilla village.

The fire was first reported at 18:45 local time on Wednesday night by a staff member of Atienza Shipping Lines, which owns the boat, the Coast Guard said.

The company said in a statement on Thursday that it was co-operating fully with authorities and expressed "profound sadness" about the fire.

Authorities say a survivor had told them the flames had started in the cargo hold after a loud explosion.

The ship had been carrying several motorcycles, an electric car, a forklift, a pick-up van and other goods, the Philippine Coast Guard said.

As the journey was expected to take more than 20 hours, passengers had slept on bunk beds onboard overnight.

Lerma said that two Chileans - a couple who looked like they were in their late 20s or early 30s - had slept in the beds next to his.

Authorities have since confirmed that two Chilean nationals were among the 43 people rescued.

Lerma and two of his neighbours are now in a hospital in Coron. Another person in their group has been taken to a bigger hospital in the neighbouring island of Culion, while two others remain missing, Lerma says.

"I have a couple of bruises and my chest is still hurting," Lerma said. "Last night, I had a hard time breathing. But I am okay now."

Search and rescue operations are ongoing, though authorities say the fire on the MV June Aster has still not been put out and there was visible smoke from the ferry.

A spokesperson for the Philippine Coast Guard said in a local television interview many of the survivors "are still in shock".

Meanwhile, families of the ferry's missing passengers are enduring an agonising wait.

Anelyn Magbanua told the BBC that her husband Marlon was on the ferry. He was returning to Coron after visiting Manila to see two of their children who are studying at the capital.

"He spent a couple of days there. He even sent me their pictures," she said.

She last heard from him while the ferry was passing through a village about two hours from the port in Coron.

Magbanua and her two-year-old son had gone to bed early on Wednesday night expecting Marlon to be home soon.

But she was woken up later that night by a relative who informed her that her husband's ferry had caught fire.

On Thursday she rushed to the hospital when she heard there was a chance her husband might be one of the rescued survivors there.

But officials have since told her that Marlon remains unaccounted for.

"My two-year-old son and I are outside the hospital as we speak. We have nothing but ourselves," she told the BBC over the phone.

"I can't describe what I am feeling right now. I have been crying and praying since last night."

The rock guitarist whose killing shocked India's north-east

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ced7517j0pvo, 4 days ago

When Chongtham Vikram Singh finally came home to India's north-eastern state of Manipur, his old friend Dhiren Sadokpam went to the airport to receive him.

It was not the homecoming he had imagined. Vikram arrived in the cargo hold, inside a coffin.

Three days earlier, the 54-year-old musician had been beaten to death outside his home in south-east Delhi.

"Nobody seemed to have the strength to speak," Sadokpam told the BBC. "What could be said?"

Vikram had spent much of his life travelling with his guitars, carrying his music from small stages in Manipur's capital, Imphal, to jazz clubs, classrooms and concert halls in Delhi.

According to police and his family, he had gone downstairs late on Sunday night after a group of men were shouting and drinking outside his apartment building. When he objected to the disturbance, the men allegedly attacked him.

His wife, Joshna Chongtham, said Vikram returned upstairs but was pursued and assaulted outside the family's apartment.

Hours later, after complaining of breathlessness, he was taken to hospital by his 20-year-old son. He died there early in the morning.

Seven men and a juvenile have been arrested in connection with his killing. Police say they are investigating the circumstances of the attack.

The death has prompted an outpouring of grief and anger, and renewed concerns about the discrimination faced by people from India's north-east in Delhi, where members of the community have for years reported racial abuse, harassment and violence.

Police say they have so far found no evidence of a racial motive. But north-eastern groups have held protests and demanded an impartial investigation.

The case has also drawn attention to Vikram himself - a familiar figure in Manipur's music scene who, over four decades of playing and teaching, gathered around him a large circle of students, friends and admirers.

At a press conference two days after his death, his wife Joshna said: "We are not seeking revenge. We are seeking justice. He had a name, a family and a life that mattered."

For most of his 54 years, that life had revolved around music.

Vikram grew up around it. His mother, Chongtham Kamala, was a celebrated singer who lent her voice to Matamgi Manipur, the first feature film made in the Manipuri language.

As a boy, he accompanied her to All India Radio for recordings. Before long, he had auditioned there himself and become a child artist, playing the accordion.

There is an old black-and-white photograph of Vikram from those years. He is kneeling stiffly in front of a microphone with an accordion balanced across his lap. Beside him, another boy sits behind a pair of drums. Both wear the grave expressions of children who have been told that a photograph is being taken.

The boy with the accordion would soon discover guitars - first Hawaiian and Spanish, then electric - and, somewhere along the way, acquire thick black glasses and a splendid moustache.

By the mid-1980s, Imphal had become an unlikely outpost of rock music. The sound travelled there largely on cassette tapes, bringing with it the hard rock and heavy metal being played thousands of miles away.

Young men formed bands and crowded into local halls, working with whatever they could find - modest sound systems, locally made amplifiers, guitars turned up as loud as they would go. They listened, copied, experimented.

Vikram was studying at Don Bosco School then and still playing accordion and Hawaiian guitar. Years later, he remembered how he and his friends would ask the priests for permission to leave school to watch a local band perform.

"Those were sweet and innocent days that actually inspired me to go for rock," he recalled in a 2014 interview.

Soon, watching was no longer enough. Vikram took up the electric guitar and began playing in bands himself - first Ultra Vires, then Phoenix and Eastern Dark - becoming part of the generation that was giving Imphal's new rock scene a sound of its own.

It was around this time, in 1987, that Dhiren Sadokpam first met him.

They were setting off from Imphal to study in Shillong, and Sadokpam remembers them waiting at a temporary interstate bus terminal with backpacks, steel luggage boxes and bedding for the long journey.

Vikram was boyish and energetic, he recalls, but mostly kept to himself.

"He would spend long hours in his room, mastering each and every composition that came his way," Sadokpam said.

With each band, Vikram's playing evolved. Ultra Vires became a place to experiment. Phoenix, which would become one of the defining bands of Manipur's early rock scene, brought greater precision and a devoted following that endured long after its heyday.

By the time he joined Eastern Dark, Sadokpam remembers the quiet young man disappearing into the instrument, making its six strings "cry and sing".

In the early 1990s, he spent two years in Calcutta (now Kolkata), where he encountered musicians at the Calcutta School of Music, a century-old institution with a strong tradition of Western classical music, and was drawn more deeply into jazz and classical music. His own playing began to range across styles, from rock and blues to jazz and fusion.

By the 2000s, Vikram had moved to Delhi, where he built a life around performing and teaching music.

In 2010, he reconnected with an old musician friend and formed Fubar Ghetto. The band played jazz, blues, rock and fusion, with improvisation at the centre of it. Their first performance was a charity concert near the Yamuna river.

From there, they worked their way through Delhi's live-music circuit: universities, clubs and cultural festivals, the National School of Drama and, on one occasion, the Czech Embassy.

Vikram never became a major star. Instead, he built the quieter reputation of a working musician - among the people he played with, the students he taught and the musicians he helped along the way.

Since his killing, many of those people have remembered the man who was gentle, generous and largely uninterested in recognition.

Former student guitarist Sachidananda Angom remembered him as "always kind, helpful" and someone who "could really light up a room", reported The Indian Express.

Mame Khan, the Rajasthani folk singer with whom Vikram performed for several years, told The Indian Express that Vikram was "a really kind and lovely person" who never picked arguments with anyone.

Sadokpam is careful not to make more of their friendship than it was.

They had met as young men in 1987, lost touch for two decades and found each other again in middle age. In between, Sadokpam followed Vikram's musical life from a distance, as a fan and a friend.

They last met in Delhi in 2019, when Vikram invited him home for dinner.

"Vikram picked up his guitar and played and spoke excitedly about his students," he recalled.

When it was time to leave, Vikram asked him to come again soon. Sadokpam said he promised he would.

"I never made it back."

A food safety officer has become a social media star in India - why?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1wx3v11de7o, 6 days ago

The images are hard to ignore.

Cockroaches scurry across kitchen floors. Spider webs cling to walls. Spoiled vegetables rot in corners, while food counters show signs of pest infestation.

One might assume these scenes belong to a struggling restaurant. But the photos are from a members-only club in Mumbai - India's financial capital and the capital of its richest state Maharashtra.

They are among dozens of photos and videos that have gone viral since May, after Maharashtra's Food and Drug Administration (FDA) began a series of inspections at restaurants, cafes and other food businesses across the state.

At the centre of the crackdown is 51-year-old civil servant Tukaram Mundhe, the state's new food commissioner.

Since taking charge in May, Mundhe has overseen thousands of inspections and says food safety laws must be enforced regardless of a business's size, influence or reputation.

His department has suspended the licences of several quick-commerce warehouses and sent notices to Bollywood celebrities for doing advertisements suspected of indirectly promoting restricted products.

"These actions are taken in public health interest. We will continue to take them against violations," Mundhe told the BBC.

The campaign has made Mundhe a recognisable face across India, rare for a civil servant.

Videos of his inspections and press briefings circulate widely on social media, where reels and podcasts have turned him into an unlikely celebrity.

But the spotlight - and the controversy that often comes with it - is nothing new to him.

An officer in the Indian Administrative Service, Mundhe has more than two decades of experience and has been transferred so often that reports say the number exceeds his years in service, though he declines to confirm it.

"I have stopped counting my transfers," he told the BBC.

Admirers see the transfers as evidence of his uncompromising style. Critics argue that this confrontational approach has put him at odds with colleagues and elected representatives.

In the past decade, Mundhe has won praise for his handling of the Covid pandemic outbreak during his time as Nagpur city's municipal commissioner and earlier for his work on water conservation in Maharashtra's drought-prone regions.

"When he was transferred out of Nagpur during the pandemic, thousands showed up outside his home to bid him farewell. It took him an hour just to reach his car," says Shafi Pathan, a journalist who's written Mundhe's biography in the local Marathi language.

But his food-safety crackdown has brought him the most attention yet.

The scale of India's food-safety problem is serious and numbers presented to the parliament in July offer a glimpse of just how widespread the issue is.

Of 223,808 food samples tested across India in 2025 and 2026, nearly one in five were found to be "non-conforming" - which means the samples were either unsafe, substandard or mislabelled.

And Mundhe has responded with an unusually aggressive enforcement drive.

By the end of July, his department had carried out more than 3,100 inspections across the state - a number he expects has since crossed 4,000.

Around 300 licences had been suspended and more than 1,000 improvement notices issued. A new complaints portal had also received more than 16,000 complaints in its first three months, Mundhe said.

"Hygiene has always been a problem here," Pawan Agarwal, former chief of India's food regulator, told the BBC. "What Mundhe has done differently is make it visible".

Consumers have responded positively to that visibility, Agarwal says. Unlike in India's conventional system, where food safety cases and consumer complaints can take years to move through regulators and courts, enforcement actions are now playing out in public.

The campaign has also made Mundhe a social media star - he now has more than 3.8 million followers on Instagram.

However, even as consumers welcome the speed and visibility of his actions, many in the food industry are less enthusiastic.

Restaurant associations allege the official has been bypassing a statutory process, while courts have termed some of his actions "high-handed".

Under India's food safety laws, businesses are usually given time to fix violations before regulators suspend or cancel their licences. Regulators can suspend licences immediately only in urgent public health situations but must record their reasons.

"While compliance is non-negotiable, high-handed approaches - like public naming-and-shaming, instant suspensions over minor procedural or rectifiable issues and treating administrative oversights with harsh penal measures - create panic rather than reform," said Niranjan Laxman Shetty, legal chairman of hospitality association Indian Hotel and Restaurant Association.

Responding to the criticism, Mundhe said his raids are lawful and that suspensions are only for extreme cases. However, some businesses have publicly claimed that they've been shut over minor violations, without warning or a chance to improve first.

His actions have also faced legal challenges. In some cases, courts have overturned licence suspensions, ordered compensation for affected businesses and criticised the regulator's approach.

In August, for instance, the Bombay high court ordered Mundhe's department to pay 500,000 rupees ($5,291; £3,893) in compensation to a sweets shop whose licence remained suspended even after a reinspection found it 98% compliant with the law.

The court said the regulator's intentions were "laudable" but that it had "gone overboard".

The judges also raised a question - was the regulator applying the same scrutiny to government establishments as it was to private businesses?

Within a day of that criticism, Mundhe's team inspected canteens in the state's high court complex and flagged violations.

For Mundhe, it is proof that the rules apply equally to everyone.

"Had the food business operators or establishment complied with existing regulations, I would not be needed to take those actions," Mundhe told the BBC.

He also insists that they are not trying to shut down businesses but only ensure safety.

"We are not here to close down or suspend every licensee," he said at an event last week. "We are here to ensure food is safe, food is not substandard, it is not misbranded and it is good for consumption."

The restaurant inspections - which dominate social media - are only a part of his work.

Mundhe has enforced bans on using newspapers to wrap food, synthetic dyes and banned analogue paneer - non-dairy cottage cheese substitutes.

Its focus has now shifted to schools. The department has ordered canteens, hostel kitchens and midday meal suppliers to obtain proper licences, and banned the sale of food high in fat, sugar or salt within 50m of schools.

But the bigger question is what happens once Mundhe moves on to his next post.

"The efforts of Mundhe have created a nationwide awareness about food safety, both amongst businesses and consumers, which is desirable - but not sustainable," says Agarwal.

The challenge is to build systems that outlast an individual officer, he adds.

For now, however, the effects are being felt even on the streets.

Yuvraj Yadav, who sells sandwiches in a Mumbai suburb, says he used to wrap them in discarded newspapers, despite concerns that chemicals in the printing ink can leach into food. He recently switched to greaseproof paper after hearing about the ban.

"We started this a few months ago after newspapers were not allowed for packing as it's bad for health," he says.

India's high-stakes exam system faces a crisis of trust

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgy1g7egy9o, 7 days ago

In 2017, India introduced the National Testing Agency (NTA) to conduct fair, transparent and standardised examinations.

Set up under the federal education ministry, it was meant to make exams more efficient, consistent and trustworthy, after years of paper leaks, administrative errors and cheating allegations.

Over the next few years, the agency took charge of some of India's largest and most competitive tests, including medical and engineering entrance examinations, university admissions and eligibility tests for teaching and research.

But eight years later, the organisation created to restore trust in India's exams is facing a crisis of confidence of its own.

In June, more than two million students had to retake a crucial medical entrance examination after the paper was leaked. The fallout triggered weeks of youth-led protests which eventually led to the resignation of the federal education minister.

In response, the government appointed a high-level task force led by tech tycoon Nandan Nilekani to recommend reforms and restore confidence in the examination system.

For many Indians, however, the announcement prompted a sense of déjà vu.

A similar panel was established in 2024 after irregularities in another medical entrance examination sparked widespread unrest. That committee proposed more than 100 reforms, a little over half of which have reportedly been fully implemented.

The cycle has repeated: an exam goes wrong, students protest, a committee is appointed and reforms are proposed - only for another crisis to expose the same weaknesses.

Experts the BBC spoke to say the problems go beyond paper leaks - from NTA's accountability and capacity to exam centralisation, design and whether India's high-stakes testing system needs a rethink.

BJ Rao, who was part of the 2024 panel and is now head of SGT University near Delhi, says India should move more decisively towards computer-based examinations to minimise the chances of paper leaks, increase efficiency and reduce human involvement wherever possible.

"Digital connectivity has vastly improved across the country, what we need to do is put in resources and focus on upgrading infrastructure and move to computer-based exams," he told the BBC.

"We currently have ad hoc centres for conducting exams. We need to replace them with standardised state-controlled online centres."

But technology alone will not solve the problem, he says.

Rao points to the NTA's reliance on contract staff: just 24 of its 221 employees are permanent, with many from bureaucratic backgrounds, according to the government.

"When you have a large portion of people who work on a temporary basis then there is no sense of belonging, and that has an impact on the functions as well. You need people who are well-versed in academia and experienced in conducting such assessments to ensure better management and oversight," he explains.

Some experts argue that repeated crises have exposed flaws not only in how exams are conducted, but also in how they are designed.

Keshav Aggarwal, an educationist and president of Educators Federation, says the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (Undergraduate) or NEET-UG - whose paper leak triggered this year's protests - could be restructured along the lines of the country's engineering entrance examination, which is computer-based and conducted in two stages.

Rather than relying on a single high-stakes test day, the exams could be held across multiple sessions with different sets of questions, he says.

"Different stages and days with varying sets of questions" would reduce the risks associated with any one examination and make the system more resilient to disruptions, Aggarwal explains.

Experts also question whether an annual exam can work when millions compete for limited university places.

India needs a system where students can take important entrance exams more than once a year, as is common in some western countries, said Yamini Aiyar, senior visiting fellow at Brown University.

"This would give students another chance if an exam is cancelled or they do not perform well, reducing the risk of losing an entire year," she says.

For millions of Indian students, the risk is real. Many spend years preparing and tens of thousands of rupees on private tuition. A leaked, cancelled or delayed exam can suddenly upend months or years of preparation.

Pari, 17, experienced that uncertainty first-hand. After taking NEET this year, she had to retake it after the original exam was cancelled following a paper leak.

"It was very frustrating. All our preparation had gone to waste, and we had to start all over again," she said.

The experience left her angry at repeated exam failures.

"The government can form as many panels as it likes. We need a system strong enough to prevent paper leaks from happening again."

Mansi Bansal, 23, has a similar story. She spent months preparing for UGC-NET, a qualification for entry-level college teaching jobs.

The exam was cancelled after a 2024 paper leak and again this year after the NTA cited errors in three subjects.

Bansal took the affected commerce paper and will retest on 9 September.

"I put my life on hold all these months, stopping going to the gym, hanging out with friends or even attending family gatherings," she said. "I had planned my entire year but now it has all gone into uncertainty. Can the government promise a leak won't happen again?"

Such experiences have fuelled calls from student activists and opposition politicians to scrap the NTA altogether.

Educationists argue that scrapping the agency would not solve the underlying problem.

The NTA needs deep structural reform to address recurring failures, but abolishing it is not the answer, said M Jagadesh Kumar, former chairman of India's universities regulator.

"A single national testing body offers common security standards, technology, candidate services and result procedures. Creating many new agencies could duplicate costs and produce uneven safeguards," he told PTI news agency.

Rao agrees.

"It is not a case of all bad news. The body has conducted several exams successfully, where we did not hear of any leaks," he said.

What is needed, he argues, is a statutory institution staffed by specialists with the academic, technical and operational expertise to run a secure examination system.

Yet for some experts, the debate ultimately goes beyond the NTA itself.

Aiyar says the bigger issue is not just stopping the next paper leak, but whether a highly centralised testing system can cope with the intense competition for limited educational opportunities.

The NTA may be able to make exams more secure, she says. "But it cannot, at least on its own, change a system in which millions of students compete for a limited number of seats and a single exam can shape their future."

Some experts say reform must go beyond the NTA itself: India needs an exam system less reliant on one-off, high-stakes tests, gives students multiple chances and can better withstand disruptions.

Rao remains optimistic that the task force led by Nilekani will help plug gaps in the existing system.

But for many students, another committee offers little reassurance unless it produces changes they can actually see.

"I am studying for my university entrance examination next year," said a 16-year-old Grade 12 student.

"In my head I am prepared that there might be a leak. But what can we do about it? I will prepare and hope for the best."

Government not helping Nepal manhunt, MP says

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce870ll100eo, 3 days ago

An MP has accused the government of failing to help one of his constituents who has been missing since a deadly flood struck Nepal last month.

Ashington and Blyth MP Ian Lavery told parliament the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has refused to directly assist in the hunt for Newbiggin-by-the-Sea resident Anirban Battacharyya who, despite living in the UK for 60 years, maintains Indian citizenship.

Lavery asked for urgent talks on how the government "can be more helpful to people who have lived in this country all their lives" but don't have citizenship.

The government said it was "in contact" with Indian authorities regarding "relief efforts".

More than 1,000 people are known to have died, and thousands remain missing, after a flash flood believed to have been triggered by a glacial collapse swept through Nepalese border villages on 26 August.

Battacharyya was travelling between Kolkata in India and Nepal's capital Kathmandu when he was lost in the flooding and has not been heard from since, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

On Thursday, Lavery said: "The FCO have been less than helpful, pointing the family to the Indian Consulate who again have been less than helpful.

"Because he hasn't got a British passport, we can't help him?"

Responding for the government, the Leader of the Commons and Tynemouth MP Alan Campbell said he would see if the relevant minister will meet Lavery to discuss the case.

Campbell said: "We are working with authorities on the ground to support efforts in this terrible situation, supporting survivors of all nationalities and working to get families information about missing loved ones.

"We're also in contact with the Indian authorities about the relief efforts. I am disappointed that this hasn't led to the outcome that my honourable friend seeks."

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Philippine rescuers board ferry 40 hours after blaze began

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9dwx97pl5no, 3 days ago

More than 40 hours after a deadly ferry fire began, Philippine rescuers have boarded the charred remains of the MV June Aster in search of dozens of missing people.

Five people been found dead, while 43 people have been rescued, many of whom are receiving treatment in hospital. Eighty-four people remain missing.

Photos shared by the Philippine Coast Guard on Friday morning showed smoke still curling from the ferry, which had been travelling from the capital Manila to the island of Coron - though the plumes appear to have died down in fresh photos from Friday afternoon.

Officials struggled to board the hull since operations began on Wednesday because of the toxic fumes and heat.

They finally got on at about 11:30 local time (03:30 GMT) on Friday, the coast guard said.

"The biggest challenge for us really is to penetrate the ship [as] there is still a visible, thick smoke," the coastguard's spokeswoman Noemie Cayabyab told the BBC earlier.

"No matter how we try to push through, high temperatures and toxic smoke remain a severe risk to our personnel," she told local media earlier.

Smoke resulting from incomplete burning contains dense, lethal concentrations of carbon monoxide.

Earlier, authorities reported that 86 were still unaccounted for, but as of Friday morning, the figure stood at 84 – two passengers whose names were on the ship's manifest did not go onboard, authorities say.

Rescuers have widened their search area, Cayabyab says, adding that the coastguard has deployed one of its largest ships and done radio broadcasts to vessels in the area. The search teams are also accompanied by divers and nurses.

A local diver in Coron told the BBC on Friday that he and his team were on standby to help out and awaiting instructions from the coast guard.

The coast guard also conducted an aerial survey of waters near the disaster site.

The plan is to resume firefighting efforts, first from the cargo hold of the ferry, which is the compartment where containers and or goods are stored, Cayabyab said.

Earlier, the coastguard said preliminary interviews with the survivors suggest that was where the fire started. Some passengers were not wearing life vests, they noted.

A survivor who was hauled to safety on a rescue boat had described the frantic cries on board the passenger-cargo vessel when the fire erupted on Wednesday evening.

Roland Lerma recalled falling while scrambling to get off the burning boat.

"When I was on the floor, people were trampling me," the 30-year-old told the BBC.

He started crawling until he could find his footing again, before leaping off the vessel into the sea. Lerma said he saw children who had also jumped in the water, though he could not make out their faces in the dark.

"It was cold [in the sea] If the rescue had been delayed, I would definitely have died," he said.

The ferry, which set off from Manila, was nearing its destination at the tourist hotspot of Coron, in the province of Palawan, when it caught fire.

The Philippines' maritime authority is investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident.

Atienza Interisland Ferries, the vessel's operator, has pledged full cooperation with the inquiry.

"Our hearts remain with the affected families, and we will not rest until all individuals are accounted for," the company said in a statement on Thursday.

Couple charged over Sydney ketamine raid face new gang charges

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2l8x2ww1z7o, 3 days ago

An Edinburgh couple charged over drug offences in Australia after 107kg of ketamine was seized have now also been charged with being part of a criminal gang.

Demi McDaid, 23, and her partner Jack Farrelly, 30, were arrested in a Sydney hotel at the end of June after police found 105kg of the drug in a car parked at the accommodation.

They appeared before Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court where they were both charged with one count of participating in a criminal group contributing to criminal activity.

They already face charges of supplying a prohibited drug and supplying a prohibited drug in a large commercial quantity. Neither McDaid nor Farrelly has entered a plea.

Police said mobile phones, 2,000 Australian dollars (£1,060) in cash, and documents described by officers as drug ledgers were also seized at the hotel.

Detectives had earlier found 2kg of ketamine at a short-term stay unit in Artarmon on Sydney's Lower North Shore, along with scales, gloves and other paraphernalia.

Police have claimed the couple travelled to Australia "for the sole purpose of taking part in the distribution and supply of large commercial quantities of prohibited drugs".

A Foreign Office spokesperson previously said: "We are supporting two British nationals detained in Australia and are in contact with the local authorities."

Australians will be able to switch off social media algorithms under planned legislation

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn9wyvxn95vo, 7 days ago

Australians would be able to switch off social media algorithms under draft legislation to be proposed this week.

Communications Minister Anika Wells, who last year helmed the government's world-first social media ban for under-16s, said the digital duty of care laws would ensure "some basic safety protections on an industry that hasn't had to observe it".

If tech firms such as Meta, Google and TikTok did not give the option to turn off algorithms, they should face "substantial" penalties, she said.

Some members of the opposition have criticised the proposal, with Liberal Party leader Angus Taylor saying he was "highly sceptical" and arguing the move could amount to censorship.

The government will be taking "expert advice" on whether users would have to opt in or out of the algorithms feeding them content online, Wells said.

This means that, as with its social media ban, the government is looking to bring in legislation before fully hammering out the specifics of how it would work.

"We want to give Australians more choice over what they see on their social media feeds," Wells told the ABC on Monday.

"We know that a lot of Australians appreciate the algorithm both for the enjoyment they get out of it or the utility that they get out of it, seeing local businesses in their suburb.

"A lot of Australians will want to choose the algorithm. But we think that big tech should offer them the choice in the first place and they should respect that choice.

"Big tech is not a protected species and they should offer their customers basic safety standards."

But she admitted that so far no tech firm had been fined for not enforcing the social media ban, despite research consistently showing that the vast majority of under 16s who were on platforms before the ban was introduced last December, still use them.

Some members of the opposition have said they support the idea in principle, but others argue it is an attempt to curtail freedom of speech.

Taylor told News24 he feared this was "an attempt by the government to censor social media" and that Labor should first try to plug holes in the social media ban.

Speaking to Channel Nine's Today show, Wells said: "This isn't about censorship. This is about identifying risks or making big tech identify the risks on their own platform and making big tech mitigate against those risks on their platform."

Last week, high-profile consent advocate Chanel Contos gave a speech at Australia's National Press Club calling on the government to seek an opt-in for algorithmic social media feeds, making it harder for tech firms to find a way round any reforms.

She argued algorithms were fuelling the prevalence of sexual violence in Australia and exposing young people to misogynistic "manosphere" material.

The draft legislation is expected to be introduced in the coming days. As well as addressing algorithms, it is also expected to put an onus on platforms to stop harmful content, such as illegal pornography and videos promoting disordered eating, from being shared.

Natalie Imbruglia on her worst audition: 'I remember feeling icky'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c87vpg1yvxzo, 8 days ago

When it comes to writing music, Natalie Imbruglia needs constant motion.

"I walk around in circles to get the melodies, to catch them," the Australian singer says.

"If I'm sat in a chair, I get nothing.

"So if I go and work with someone new and they have a shoebox-sized studio, I'm like, 'How am I going to do my circles?'"

Imbruglia doesn't know exactly how many laps she completed during the making of her dancefloor-ready seventh album, Algorithm. But it was a lot.

Inspired by Talking Heads and Grace Jones, it's a record whose shimmering surfaces disguise lyrics of deep emotional complexity.

On Who Dimmed The Lights, the 51-year-old addresses how her mental health "unravelled" as she went through perimenopause.

"It was really tough," she says. "Perimenopause is not just about hormones. It's to do with your mind. Your brain needs oestrogen to function, so when the levels fluctuate, it affects your spatial awareness.

"I've never walked into so many doorways. The brain fog's quite jarring."

Doorways weren't the only problem. Imbruglia says perimenopause exacerbated her ADHD, which she was diagnosed with in midlife. Other symptoms included heightened anxiety and anger.

"You start seeing an expression on other people of, like, 'What's happening to you?'

"I was seeing that face a lot, and it's to do with your ability to process [information]. Your fuse is shorter."

Things came to a head on tour, where her stage fright went into overdrive and she suffered "just terrible, terrible anxiety".

"I become sensitive to sound, so it feels like you're screaming at me if you're talking normally," she says. "I can't process questions very well. I act twitchy and weird, and it seemed to get worse with perimenopause."

She says her behaviour became a "nightmare" for her team. Pressed for an example, she explains: "If you asked me whether I wanted still or sparkling water, I'd say, 'That's a question, and I can't answer questions right now'.

"How diva is that?"

Well, it's not exactly Mariah Carey demanding baskets of puppies and forbidding eye contact, but Imbruglia was shaken up.

The day after one concert, she told her co-writers David Sneddon and Anu Pillai, "Guys, I think I'm going to have to quit my job because I can't cope with how I'm treating people before the show."

They helped to talk her down, putting her fight-or-flight instincts into context.

"What they helped me realise is that I was trying to stop the behaviour with willpower, and if I just relaxed into it and said to myself, 'You know, you're about to perform in front of a lot of people, it's natural that you're nervous', maybe I wouldn't be resisting it as much."

The impromptu therapy session inspired a new song, Upside Down - but Imbruglia is understandably frustrated that perimenopause isn't more widely understood, saying many women are rejected by their GP when they seek HRT treatment.

"My mum never talked to me about it," she reflects, "but looking back, I know she had a really bad one.

"Her anxiety was off the charts, too, and I have a lot more compassion now, because she had four kids. I've only got one."

As a child in Sydney, Imbruglia was drawn to performing. She'd squeeze lemon on her hair to make it blonder, and put on concerts of Whitney Houston covers for her neighbours.

Before long, she was cast in commercials for Coca-Cola and Twisties, and spent her Christmases singing carols in shopping centres.

"But when you turn 15 or 16, and you're into boys, you're like, 'Oh, that's really naff. I don't want to be doing that any more'," she laughs.

From that point onwards, Imbruglia became "basically unparentable".

"I was sneaking out and sleeping in someone's car on the beach, then getting busted.

"My parents were really strict - and my mum would turn up at parties with my picture, going, 'Have you seen this girl?'

"Socially, it was a disaster."

Music continued to be her solace. Dating a drummer, she switched allegiance from Whitney Houston to Tom Waits and Tori Amos, but the urge to sing remained.

You can see that hunger in a recently rediscovered photograph of a pre-fame Imbruglia, pressed up against the barriers of an INXS concert in 1992.

"It was my first ever concert," she says. "I was 15. I had white, tight jeans on."

In the photo, "everyone else is screaming but I'm looking at (Michael Hutchence) with this determination in my eyes.

"I'm studying him, like, 'How can I be up there too?'"

She got her chance in 1997 after quitting her role as builder's apprentice Beth Brennan in Aussie soap Neighbours.

Moving to London, she signed a deal with RCA Records and immediately scored an international hit with her first single, Torn.

Famously, the song was a cover – a fact journalists never let her forget, even though she co-wrote every other track on her debut album, Left of the Middle (lifetime sales, seven million copies).

"Yeah, I got famous on a song that I didn't write," she says now, "but there's more to what you bring to a song than whether you wrote the lyrics."

She still loves the song – "Torn was a beautiful gift" – but the furore around it fuelled her insecurities.

As a result, she essentially self-sabotaged her career. The lead single from her second album, That Day, was a free-verse stream-of-consciousness that sounded like a manic inner monologue.

"That was my rebellion against Torn," she says. "It doesn't have a chorus.

"That was my way of going, 'Can I get on with my life now? I've just started learning the craft of songwriting, I'm young, I didn't ask for this'."

In the midst of the madness, she auditioned for the lead role of Satine in Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge – which counts as one of the stranger experiences of her career.

"The audition was, pretty much, 'Have an orgasm'," she grimaces. "Because I think that happens in the movie." (Indeed, Satine delivers a breathy boudoir monologue as she tries to seduce Ewan McGregor's character, Christian.)

But Imbruglia stresses it wasn't a creepy casting couch situation.

"It's Baz, that doesn't really fit," she says of the soft-hearted director.

"But I remember leaving and feeling really icky. Like, 'Ohhh, that was awful. Where's my mummy?'"

Back in the world of music, Imbruglia returned to more commercial sounds on hits like Wrong Impression (2002) and Shiver (2005). But sales dwindled and her fourth album was shelved by her label.

In the years that followed, she joined the Australian version of The X Factor and appeared in a UK production of Alan Ayckbourn's play Things We Do for Love, before making a tentative return to music with covers album Male (2015); and the more personal, introspective Firebird (2021).

"It was quitting music and coming back to it that gave me an appreciation of my abilities," she says.

"I might not be the best songwriter, even now, but there's only one me, and when I go inside myself and feel the emotion of what I'm writing about and deliver it, that's what my fans resonate with, and that's enough."

She certainly has a lot to say on Algorithm. As well as the frank discussion of mental health, the title track talks about her flirtation with internet conspiracy theories.

She won't say which ones ("I think it's irresponsible") but stresses the danger is omnipresent.

"There's a voice in my head that says, 'You don't want to click on that', and I'll click on it. It's like this compulsion.

"You have to change the settings. Don't allow yourself to be in a situation where your stress relief is scrolling on a phone in bed. It's just not healthy."

Ultimately, however, the album ends on a note of positivity.

Beautiful Love, co-written with Snow Patrol's Gary Lightbody, is a soaring hymn to embracing your flaws and making peace with life's highs and lows.

"I've always made the joke that I'll never be a Buddhist because it's a middle path," she smiles.

"I like the pendulum to swing. Whether it's extreme joy or extreme pain, I like to feel the experience of life."

Trial over killing of Australian surfer brothers and US friend starts in Mexico

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crernpv433vo, 6 days ago

Three men have gone on trial in Mexico for the alleged murders of two Australian brothers and their American friend in 2024.

The bodies of Callum Robinson, his younger brother Jake, and their friend Carter Rhoad from California - all in their early 30s - were found at the bottom of a well with gunshot wounds to their heads, days after they went missing during a surf trip in Baja California.

Prosecutors are seeking jail sentences of more than 200 years for the defendants, who also face charges of violent robbery and auto theft.

The parents of the brothers were in court on Tuesday in the coastal town of Ensenada, telling the media that it was "incredibly important and overwhelmingly difficult".

"We want the men accused of murdering our sons to see, in person, the human consequences of what happened," Martin and Debra Robinson said in a statement, according to Australia's national broadcaster, the ABC.

"Callum and Jake were not simply victims in a case file - they were our sons, deeply loved by their family and friends, with lives, dreams and futures that were brutally taken away."

On the opening day, the accused - Jesús "El Kekas" Gerardo, Irineo Francisco and Ángel Jesús - were moved to a smaller courtroom amid accusations that some witnesses had been intimidated by people associated with the defendants.

Dozens of witnesses are expected to give evidence during the four-week, judge-only trial.

The 2024 alleged killings of the Robinson brothers and their US friend shocked Australians as well as many residents of the normally peaceful town of Ensenada.

Despite high levels of cartel violence in the northern Mexican border states, tourists are rarely targeted for such violent attacks in Baja California's surf towns.

The ex-girlfriend of one of the accused, Ari Gisell, became the first person to be convicted over the tourists' killings last year and was sentenced to 20 years in prison for her role in their murders.

Mexican prosecutors are pursuing jail sentences of more than 200 years for each of the defendants, as well as an additional 168-year sentence for the alleged ringleader.

Prosecutors say the victims were killed due to a bungled robbery, while the defence argued there was not enough evidence to prove that theory.

Callum Robinson was a member of Australia's national lacrosse team and lived in San Diego where he was a professional lacrosse player.

His younger brother Jake had travelled from Australia for the surf trip and was due to start a job as a doctor when he returned while their friend Rhoad was killed a few months before his wedding.

AI data centres are booming in Australia - but at what cost?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgl3we7wdr3o, 10 days ago

The sheer size and noise of data centres are what people tend to notice first. Some say they sound like a jet plane about to take off, others complain of a high-pitched whine.

When Lucy* puts her child to bed, she hears a constant humming. "I'll hear it and think, 'What is that? What is going on?'," she says.

And then she'll remember that the noise is a data centre just 350m (0.2 miles) from her front door in the desirable suburb of Lane Cove, in Sydney's lower north-shore. Another four are in the pipeline at the local industrial park.

Australia has quickly become a global destination for data centres, with investors attracted to the country's abundance of clean energy, natural gas reserves, and land to power and house their technologies.

Earlier this year, OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman said Australia could become a data centre capital of the world, if it wanted to.

Australia is already headed in the direction of big tech's wishes. There are 162 data centres across the country, with plans for 90 more, and an estimated more than A$155bn (£80bn) of investment money lined up.

If approved, one of the world's biggest data centres will be built in western Sydney. At one gigawatt, it is expected to be Australia's largest single energy user.

And in Marsden Park, also in western Sydney, the biggest data centre in the Southern Hemisphere is already under construction only 100m away from a local community.

But as more Australians find themselves living next door to data centres - triggering concerns about water supplies, energy use and the environment - many are asking whether joining the artificial intelligence (AI) race is worth it.

'What happens if we don't?'

Data centres have been essential to the digital economy since the arrival of the internet.

They were originally built to process and store data for things like emails, online banking and cloud services. But everything changed after 2022 when ChatGPT launched and AI exploded in popularity. This prompted a sudden race to build more data centres to power the technology.

The location of these large, windowless buildings filled with beeping servers and cables also became important to latency – the time it takes for data to travel from its source to its destination.

Delays for things like air traffic control, robotic surgery or even Netflix would not be tolerated today, Belinda Dennett, CEO of Data Centres Australia, says.

Australia has roughly 13.6 million users of AI every month, making them the sixth most active users of the tech globally.

And experts say having data centres in Australia will lower the barrier to building more of its own AI companies.

"If we think about it in reverse, what happens if we don't build infrastructure here", Dennett says. "We get none of the value chain, we are just importing tools from someone else and we become just a user."

Australia is also an attractive market for foreign investment, as "we've got availability of land, we've got political stability, and we've got the Five Eyes security alliance," Dennett says.

"We've also got a skilled workforce, a pretty stable energy grid, and an abundance of renewable energy potential."

Leading business experts and economists say that without Australia's data centre boom over the last couple of years, the country would likely have headed into a recession.

Jon Whittle, a former director of the digital research centre at the country's national science agency CSIRO, who is now a leading voice in AI and business, agrees with this. He says the government doesn't really have a choice but to continue down the investment path.

"There's some very serious considerations around this, but my main message would be we need to lean into it," he says.

Fears over power and water supplies

But leading energy and environmental experts argue Australia has little capacity to meet the massive energy and water demands of new data centres.

The Australian Energy Market Operator says data centre energy demands could triple by 2030 nationwide.

Without significant new renewable generation and storage, data centres could push power prices 26% higher in New South Wales (NSW) by 2035, according to the Climate Council, an independent non-profit that provides expert advice.

Because data centres need uninterrupted power at a scale and speed that wind and solar cannot match, there are fears the current boom will trigger a new generation of coal and gas power plants.

No data centre operator analysed in a recent report by Greenpeace Australia Pacific adequately proved their claim of driving the country's renewable energy growth.

In the US, many data centres are not waiting to build more renewable energy and have found it cheaper to build new gas-fired power stations instead.

Just a 90-minute drive from Sydney's central business district, the Australian-owned data group Cloud Carrier plans to build three gas-fired power stations to generate energy for an existing data centre and two more in the future.

Moreover, if energy demands place too much pressure on the grid or there is a power outage, data centres, like in Lane Cove, will rely on backup diesel generators.

But NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey says Australia's investment boom in data centres is being accompanied by a boom in renewable energy.

"We don't see the two [as] unrelated," he tells the BBC. "We see data centres allowing us to replace a lot of our old coal-fired power with clean, green renewable energy with the private sector picking up a large amount of the tab because otherwise households would."

The new private investment will help with renewable energy and create "new industries that are likely to employ future generations", Mookhey says.

But data centres also consume large amounts of water - some up to 40 million litres a day, which is equivalent to 80,000 households - to prevent their servers from overheating. In a drought-prone country that is a potentially huge problem.

Sydney already needs to increase its drinking water supply over the next five to 10 years in order to provide for its growing population, according to Water Services Association of Australia (WSAA).

But if that water is used for data centres, households are likely to pay the price for sourcing water from elsewhere, such as through desalination, which costs more than traditional water sources.

Sydney Water, Australia's largest water utility, says data centres could use up to 25% of Sydney's drinking water by 2035.

In July, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced a new legal obligation for "large-scale" data centres to underwrite power supplies, limit water use, and pay for any extra water infrastructure needed.

But the prime minister also told media that the legislation, which will be introduced in 2027, would only apply to new proposals, not projects that were already built or under construction.

In response, environmental and community groups want a pause on all data centre development.

"We've got the government rolling out the red carpet saying we want to be the data centre capital of the world," Sydney's Lane Cove deputy mayor, Rochelle Flood, says.

"But can we actually do that sustainably or is it going to set us back in terms of net zero and our water storage targets?"

'What is it for?'

On a rainy Monday night during a town hall event led by Greenpeace Australia Pacific at the Lane Cove library, locals say they were never consulted on their area becoming a data centre hub.

One of the proposed centres from the cluster is 16m from the nearest home and 160m from a local primary school.

In addition, Flood says if the four data centres get approved in the industrial park, 50% of the current businesses will have to move - taking their jobs with them.

Felipe Tanaka, 40, is a manager of a business in the industrial park who has been told he must relocate for a data centre.

"We never knew that something like this would happen," Tanaka tells the BBC. "Thousands of jobs are going to be gone from this area in the next few years."

While a large data centre can employ more than a thousand workers during construction, research says that number drops to more like 100 jobs once the centre is operational.

"Most of our 300 to 400 workers here are locals," Tanaka says. "Having to move will probably see half of my employees gone."

NSW Treasurer Mookhey says the jobs that data centres will bring come not from those who work in them but from those who use them.

"When Microsoft and Amazon do business here in NSW, it's pleasing to see they are committed to providing some of their more skilled operations and locating them here," he says.

But what other skilled jobs might be created is not clear, and effectively what the data centres will be used for. As some critics have pointed out, many AI users are making cat GIFs, which uses the equivalent amount of energy as running a microwave for an hour.

"They're telling us this is essential... that we need to have these centres in our neighbourhood but they're not saying what it's for," Flood says.

"When our drinking water, energy and land is being used for generative AI slop, that is not giving any value back."

*Names have been changed to protect identities

Could the man who murdered a Christian missionary and his sons walk free in India?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpd0x701qd9o, 12 days ago

Warning: This article contains details of violent death that some readers may find distressing

One of India's most shocking incidents of anti-Christian violence is back in the news more than a quarter of a century after it drew condemnation from around the world.

The Supreme Court is hearing a petition seeking release from prison by a man who is convicted of killing Australian Christian missionary Graham Staines and his two young sons in 1999.

Dara Singh - whose real name is Rabindra Kumar Pal - has been in jail since his arrest in 2000, serving a life sentence for burning alive the Australian missionary and his six and 10-year-old sons in a village in the eastern state of Odisha (formerly Orissa).

Staines had spent 30 years working with leprosy patients, but Singh and his associates from Hindu hardline groups had accused him of forcibly converting poor Hindus from disadvantaged castes and tribals to Christianity.

The viciousness of the crime sent shockwaves through India's minority Christian community and caused global outrage. Now reports that Singh may be set free have brought alive memories of the heinous crime.

Staines lived in Baripada in Mayurbhanj district, where he worked among the local tribal community.

On the night of their murder on 22 January 1999, Staines and his sons had attended a Christian gathering in Manoharpur, a remote village in the neighbouring district of Keonjhar. They were sleeping in their jeep when a mob of 60 to 70 people led by Singh surrounded their vehicle, set fire to it and prevented them from escaping.

As Singh went on the run after the crime, police put up posters all over the state, offering an 800,000-rupee (approximately $18,000 then) reward for information leading to his capture. Reports at the time said he was helped by villagers and tribals who eulogised him as "a modern-day Tarzan who plays with elephants and rides tigers". He was arrested a year later during an overnight raid on a jungle hideout.

In a sensational interview with the India Today magazine's Ruben Banerjee from prison a few months later, he denied killing Staines and his children but said he "did not like Graham Staines" and had "spearheaded the movement against missionaries".

"Missionaries have been targeting our religion. They have been converting Hindus by deceit and inducements. Our religion is under siege. As a true Hindu, it was my responsibility to oppose them," he said. "Since I was possibly the most famous name in the region, the police implicated me in the killings."

Singh added that he was "prepared to be a martyr for the cause of Hindus" but believed that he would never get convicted.

His optimism was misplaced - in 2003, a trial court sentenced Singh to death and 12 others to life imprisonment. Two years later, the high court commuted his death sentence. It confirmed the life term of his accomplice Mahendra Hembram but freed 11 others, saying there was not enough evidence to support their convictions.

In January 2011, the Supreme Court upheld Singh's life sentence, refusing the prosecutors' plea to reinstate the death penalty.

The Staines murder was not the only crime Singh was guilty of. In 2007, he was convicted for two other heinous crimes he committed against religious minorities in 1999 - the same year he murdered the Australian missionary and his children.

He received life sentences for leading a mob that set fire to a church and killed Catholic priest Arul Das with an arrow as he tried to flee the burning building and, in the second instance, for beating and burning to death a Muslim garment trader Shaikh Rahaman.

Police had registered 10 cases accusing Singh of involvement in hijacking trucks of Muslim traders transporting cows - an animal many Hindus consider sacred - and setting them free. In his interview, Singh denied being "involved personally", saying "my supporters might have done it". But he admitted that he was "actively involved in the movement against illegal trade in cows and cowslaughter" which "had to be stopped at any cost".

Church leaders had alleged the attacks were carried out at the behest of hardline Hindu organisation Bajrang Dal but Singh denied he was a member and an enquiry commission, led by retired top court judge DP Wadhwa, later ruled that he had worked alone.

Graham Staines' widow, Gladys, who stayed on in India with her daughter Esther until July 2004, said she had "forgiven" Dara Singh in the Christian spirit. "Forgiveness opens up the path of healing," she said.

In July 2024, Singh filed a plea for remission in the top court, saying he was entitled to be released because he had spent more than 25 years in prison. He said his conduct had been good in jail and expressed remorse for his actions.

The 62-year-old blamed the crime on "the fervour of youth" in his petition seeking early release.

"The petitioner acknowledges and deeply regrets the transgressions committed more than two decades ago.

"In the fervour of youth, fuelled by impassioned reactions to the brutal history of India, the petitioner's psyche momentarily lost restraint and it is imperative for the court to scrutinise not merely the actions but the underlying intent, noting that there was no personal animosity harboured towards any victim," he wrote.

Last year, the top court asked the state government to take a call on his plea, but the authorities have so far not told the court what they intend to do.

At the last hearing on 19 August, authorities told the court that the Sentence Review Board (SRB), which is examining Singh's plea, was waiting for some more paperwork and sought an adjournment.

The two-judge bench of Justices Manoj Misra and Vijay Bishnoi expressed their annoyance at the several adjournments the state had sought in the case and said if the SRB failed to decide Singh's plea by 2 September, the court would. "You take a decision, whichever way you want. If you do not take a decision, then we will."

On Wednesday, though, the court did not hear the case. The date for the next hearing is yet to be announced.

Reports that Singh may walk free if the state government or the court accept his remission petition have led to some disquiet in India's 30-million Christian community - some of it because of unease over his earlier statements.

In his 2000 India Today interview, he said he had "no regrets" and "will never regret" killing Staines' children. "When Hindus die, others don't cry. Why should we weep when others die? Whatever has happened is right. Whatever will happen will also be right."

If released from prison, he said, he would "go back to what I have been doing - oppose cow slaughter and conversions".

"The government must stop them. If they are not stopped, more people might get killed. Anything can happen," he added.

In an article on the Union of Catholic News (UCN) website, human rights and Christian political activist John Dayal wrote recently that remission after decades in jail is "not unusual" in India and "the principle behind it - that punishment should allow for reform and eventual return to society - is humane".

But the anxiety among religious minorities in Odisha "is not abstract given the state's history of anti-Christian violence", Dayal points out, citing the Kandhamal riots of 2008, in which dozens were killed and tens of thousands were displaced.

"The Staines murders were not an ordinary homicide but a public, theatrical act of terror, intended to be seen and understood as a warning. The killings of Father Arul Doss and Sheikh Rehman extended that same message," he writes.

"What remains to be seen is not whether Singh will eventually walk free, but how the government conducts itself around that decision...and whether minority communities are given any reassurance," Dayal adds.

Steve Irwin's family celebrates 'superhero' dad, 20 years after shock death

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjrx75ldydwo, 10 days ago

Australian conservationist Bindi Irwin has marked the 20th anniversary of her famous father's death with a touching tribute to the man best known as the "Crocodile Hunter".

Steve Irwin died on 4 September 2006, aged 44, after a stingray fatally pierced his chest while he was underwater filming a documentary at the Great Barrier Reef.

Bindi, who was eight when her father died, called Steve a "superhero" in an online post on Friday, saying she has "watched the world mourn my dad with our family" for the past two decades.

"I always thought that my dad's legacy is wildlife conservation; it turns out, his legacy is love. For our planet and for each other," Bindi, 28, wrote on Instagram.

She described the impact of her father's death on her mother Terri and her younger brother Robert, 22.

"My mum lost the love of her life; my brother and I lost the greatest dad," she wrote. "Grief never truly leaves us; we walk alongside it every day."

Bindi also shared details on how her daughter connects with the grandfather she never got to meet.

"I have a 5-year-old daughter who watches his documentaries every morning. She feels utterly loved by her 'grandpa crocodile' without ever having met him."

Since Steve's death, the Irwins have continued to run Australia Zoo in Queensland.

"My dad left a lasting impact so poignant that it will ripple out for generations to come," Bindi wrote, saying his life and legacy were "worth celebrating".

She thanked Steve for being the family's "guardian angel" and signed off her message saying she loved him "with my whole heart".

Steve's wife Terri also took to social media to mark the day, posting an interview where the khaki-clad wildlife advocate recounted Bindi's birth and its impact on him.

"The most incredible wildlife encounter of my life was the birth of my daughter, Bindi," Steve says in the interview, with his signature enthusiasm.

The first time he held his newborn child, the inspiration for her name hit him.

"I was flabbergasted and it was then that her name evolved. I've gone, 'Bindi!' after my favourite crocodile, Bindi," he said, with a wide grin.

Robert Irwin also posted a tribute to his father, with a photo of Steve holding him when he was a baby, alongside the caption, "Your legacy is forever".

Last November, Robert was crowned the winner of US dance competition Dancing with the Stars, a decade after his sister won the same title.

'Catch me if you can': Runaway emu sparks Australian police chase

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckgw8wpeg31o, 11 days ago

Footage of an Australian police officer chasing an emu down a country road has gone viral, with authorities using the light-hearted moment as a recruitment tool.

The flightless bird - native to Australia - was reported to police by locals in Nashdale, 270km (168 miles) west of Sydney, after it was seen wandering onto a road, posing a potential danger to traffic and itself.

Attempting to get the emu off the road, a young officer gave chase on foot but failed to catch his feathered target, despite speeding up at one point.

The video has attracted many comments on the "emu-sing" chase, with one viewer referencing a famed cartoon: "Look, it's the road runner, but that's not the coyote behind him".

On Tuesday, New South Wales police posted the footage on Facebook, saying the officer arrived at the scene to find the bird creating a "serious traffic hazard".

"Following a brief game of 'catch me if you can', the officer successfully moved the emu away from the roadway before it could ruffle any more feathers or cause a collision," police wrote in the post.

"It's not every day you find yourself conducting traffic management for an emu, but that's policing," adding that anyone looking for a career where "every day brings something new", becoming a police officer in regional areas was a good option.

Chief Inspector David Abercrombie from the Central West Police District said the "keen, young" officer who gave chase was enjoying his short-lived fame as the footage had been viewed almost 90,000 times.

Abercrombie said he was glad it wasn't him who had been called to the bizarre scene.

"If anyone asked me to chase an emu, it'd be more like watching a startled gazelle on Prozac," he told national broadcaster ABC. "My speed would not be up to scratch."

Police in regional and rural areas were often called about animals on the road, he said, but they usually involved livestock or kangaroos.

"It's the trials and tribulations of the life of a country cop," he said.

The footage has captivated many in recent days, with humorous observations posted online.

"Wait until it turns around and chases him. Then we'll see how fast he can run," joked one while another wrote: "At least that bird wasn't a flight risk."

And one person posted "Emu wars revisited", a reference to Australia's failed Emu War of 1932 when the military unsuccessfully attempted to cull thousands of the birds as they ravaged crops.

Sydney police investigate second possible mistaken identity killing in two days

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c23x4yd9zz2o, 11 days ago

Police in Sydney are investigating a second possible mistaken identity killing at the hands of organised crime in less than 48 hours.

About 15:15 local time on Wednesday, emergency services rushed to a home in Merrylands West after reports a man in his 40s had been targeted in a drive-by shooting. He died at the scene.

A day earlier, about 03:40 on Tuesday, a university student in his 20s with no criminal ties, was shot during a home invasion in Glen Alpine in the city's southwest. He also died at the scene.

Police say the Tuesday shooting appears to be an "innocent life" taken by organised crime while Wednesday's fatal attack may have targeted the "wrong person".

Police believe the man had arrived at the Merrylands West home just moments before he was shot in the doorway.

Asked if investigators were treating the case as a suspected mistaken identity, police said: "Tragically, that is a possibility that the wrong person has been shot by these offenders".

"The victim has no links that we are aware of to organised crime, however he has associated with people that reside at this address," Det Supt Simon Glasser said on Wednesday.

The residents of the home were "very well known to police" with links to organised crime, but the man who was shot was "quite likely" a business associate, Glasser said.

Earlier, New South Wales Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon had described Tuesday's killing of Marco Tapia, a university student who was only known to police over a traffic offence, as "completely unacceptable".

"The fact that what appears to be an innocent life was taken [on Tuesday] is something that no community should accept and no community should live in fear of violence," Lanyon said.

"I don't want any innocent member of the community to be impacted by organised crime. We will not tolerate it."

Shortly after Tuesday's fatal shooting, a known organised crime figure posted in a message on social media: "popped the wrong person, didn't even get the right house".

Earlier this year, a Sydney grandfather was allegedly kidnapped and murdered in what police believe was a case of mistaken identity.

Chris Baghsarian, 85, was taken from his home in a pre-dawn raid and his body was found two weeks later near a golf course. Several people have been arrested and charged in the matter.

And last year a Sydney plumber was shot dead in front of his family home in what police said was also a case of mistaken identity.

French officials investigate if malicious act caused train derailment

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c33kp533nn6o, yesterday

Officials in northern France are investigating whether the derailment of a passenger train on Friday evening was the result of a malicious act.

"At this stage, the leading theory is that a piece of rail was present on one of the tracks, potentially causing the derailment. The reason for its presence is unknown," prosecutor Sébastien Gallois said on Saturday.

Local media say 186 passengers were on board the train that was operating between Rouen and Caen in Normandy.

Forty-four people were treated for injuries, including an 18-year-old woman who was airlifted to hospital in a critical condition.

"The train's 'black box' has been seized. Several interviews are scheduled, and a court-appointed expert has been called in," prosecutor Gallois said in a press release.

"The main victim is still in hospital but her life is no longer in danger. The other victims have received care and treatment; they have either been discharged or are about to be."

The Rouen prosecutor's office earlier said the train driver had tested negative for drugs and alcohol.

The train derailed near Cléon, just south of Rouen, shortly before 20:00 (18:00 GMT), and some 140 firefighters and other emergency teams were immediately deployed to the crash scene.

"Suddenly there were a few jolts, and then after about three seconds it got stronger and stronger," Louis, a passenger on the train, told ICI Normandie radio.

"I couldn't stay in my seat anymore. The windows partially shattered, the stones from the track came into the carriage. It was really shocking. I'm still shaking," he added.

Tragic death of woman who testified against father in notorious mafia murder of mother

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c39mr81j2j1o, 2 days ago

A woman who testified against her own father after her mother was murdered in a notorious mafia killing in Italy is believed to have taken her own life.

Denise Cosco was found critically injured on Sunday and died later in hospital in Rome.

Her mother Lea Garofalo, who was killed in 2009, became a powerful symbol of resistance to the mafia after turning witness for the state against the 'Ndrangheta clan in southern Italy.

Those close to Cosco recall her bravery in speaking out at her father's trial, but also her tremendous struggle in the years that followed.

At 35, she died at the same age her mother was when she was murdered.

Enza Rando, a senator and anti-mafia lawyer who represented Cosco at the murder trial, described her death as "a profound wound for the entire country", and proof that the mafia not only kills, but creates "true monsters in the lives and souls" of those who survive.

Francesca Rispoli, co-president of the anti-mafia organisation Libera, said the death highlighted the struggle experienced by many who break with organised crime.

"The mafia, it's not just something physical. You can leave. You can change your name," she told the BBC. "But there is still a tie, a family tie, that stays… deep inside and is impossible to overcome."

Cosco, like her mother, had lived under state protection with a new name and identity for many years.

But Rispoli said she remained extremely vulnerable and had reconnected with her father, Carlo Cosco, in prison in recent years because, despite everything, she had felt a "hole in her life".

Friends say she struggled with mental health problems and addiction.

"Maybe this is a sign that those trying to lead another life need more support. Not just for one year – maybe their whole life," Rispoli argued, as organised crime groups in Italy – especially the 'Ndrangheta - involve close-knit family networks.

In Cosco's case, both her mother's family and her father were tied to the mafia.

She had always refused to believe her father's story that her mother had abandoned her to start a new life in Australia.

In fact, he had tricked Garofalo to a meeting, then had her strangled, her body dismembered then incinerated.

Several years later, a statement by one of the killers finally allowed police to recover some fragments of bone and a necklace, which Cosco identified.

At a public funeral in 2013, she spoke of her mother's courage in "putting herself on the line… for justice for all".

Her father and three accomplices were already serving life in prison.

At the trial, Cosco described herself as a "proud witness for justice" and said she had taken the difficult choice to testify – speaking from behind a screen – because she wanted "inner freedom to start over" with her life.

Prosecutors have now opened an investigation to determine whether there was any incitement to suicide and her phone has been seized for analysis.

Friends and supporters were due to gather in Milan on Friday evening to remember her near the spot where her mother was abducted.

"Denise's entire life revolved between the two extremes of courage and suffering," Luigi Ciotti, president of Libera wrote, calling that a difficult balance.

"Today, something in that fragile equilibrium was broken forever."

If you or someone you know are affected by the issues raised in this story, the BBC Action Line has information on organisations that can offer advice and support.

Only Roland Garros towel left, says Ukraine tennis player after Russian strike hits flat

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gr33g3evlo, yesterday

Ukrainian tennis player Dayana Yastremska has said her family's flat has been destroyed in a Russian aerial strike on the Black Sea port of Odesa.

"This is what the 'Russian world' looks like. A direct hit by a Kalibr cruise missile," she wrote on social media, showing a photo of a burning multi-storey residential building.

"The only thing that survived was a Roland Garros... towel," the 26-year-old added, posting an image of a famous clay orange towel from Paris's Grand Slam tournament hanging from the wreckage.

Odesa regional head Oleh Kiper said 37 people were injured, including a baby, and two missing in the missile and drone attack on Odesa and nearby Chornomorsk on Friday night.

"A Russian missile destroyed our apartment in Odesa... SYMBOLIC. A piece of world tennis survived a Russian missile. Our home did not," Yastremska wrote on Instagram on Saturday.

"@wta @itf_reviews Look at these images through our eyes," she said in a reference to the governing bodies of world tennis - the Women's Tennis Association and the International Tennis Federation.

Yastremska - who in 2024 reached the semifinal stage of the Australian Open - is currently 113th in the women's world singles rankings.

It is not the first time Ukrainian athletes' homes have been hit by Russia since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Last year, Ukraine international football midfielder Heorhiy Sudakov said his flat in the capital Kyiv had been severely damaged by a Russian drone while his wife and child were at home.

Man jailed after threatening to behead son's teacher in French village

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c62jln7n2vvo, 3 days ago

A man has been given a six-month jail term in France after he threatened to behead a female primary school teacher who had disciplined his son at a village primary school.

The 47-year-old was sentenced after a fast-track hearing on Thursday, six days after the events unfolded in Le Fauga, a village with a population of about 2,600 just outside the southwestern city of Toulouse.

The teacher has been granted official protection and has gone on sick leave.

French Education Minister Edouard Geffray said: "No teacher should be afraid to do their job. Attacking one of them is attacking the entire institution."

Over the summer, Geffray steered through a law aimed at protecting staff from a "significant risk" to their safety or health from a member of a student's family.

The minister said this case would trigger one of the first uses of the decree.

The case revives terrible memories in France of the beheading of a teacher in the Paris suburb of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine six years ago. Samuel Paty was murdered in a jihadist attack outside his school by an 18-year-old Chechen refugee.

In Le Fauga, the teacher's colleagues did not go into work on Monday because of what had happened the previous Friday.

The threat was made after the man had been called in for a chat with the school, according to Toulouse education chief Karim Benmiloud.

Le Fauga Mayor Jean-Marie Puig told BFMTV that the man's son had been disruptive in class and he had been sent to another class to calm down.

The child continued to misbehave in the second classroom and the teacher later told him off for acting up.

The teacher was later threatened by the father, who according to the mayor had waited for her "outside the school and apparently threatened to cut off her head if she'd been a man".

The parent subsequently apologised, however a judicial complaint was made and he went before a judge in Toulouse on Thursday afternoon.

According to French reports from the court in Toulouse, the judge told the man that such remarks were disturbing, particularly in light of the Samuel Paty case, "which remains fresh in the minds of all French people".

The Toulouse prosecutor had asked for a period of six months' house arrest, however the judge said the man should serve the time in jail because of the seriousness of his actions.

"I'm really not proud of myself," the man said, according to the prosecutor's team.

The sentence also requires him to undergo a citizenship course and avoid contacting the victim or approaching the school.

The decree passed in July allows for a student to be transferred to another school in a case involving significant risk to staff, and where education authorities have intervened.

It is thought the boy and a younger sister may now be moved to another school outside Le Fauga.

The teacher involved, who is in her 50s, is said to be very shocked by the threat.

Bulgaria investigates fire at weapons site that owner calls sabotage

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd94kj17zvwo, yesterday

Bulgaria is investigating the cause of an overnight fire at an ammunition storage site run by a private defence company.

Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev said the authorities "are not ruling out outside interference" in the incident in central Bulgaria. No-one was injured in the blaze that triggered a series of explosions.

EMCO company, whose weapons are used by Ukraine against invading Russian forces, said the fire at its site was sabotage and that human error was "completely ruled out". It did not say who might be responsible.

The latest incident follows last month's fire and blasts at another EMCO ammunition warehouse in the area.

In a statement, EMCO said the storage facility that was burned this time - near the central village of Gorni Varpishta, some 170km (106 miles) east of the capital Sofia - had not been used for months and was inspected just 20 days ago, when full compliance with all regulations was confirmed.

It cited a number of similar incidents at Bulgarian defence firms since 2011, saying that the latest was "no exception to the series of acts of sabotage against the Bulgarian defence industry".

"As the EU and Nato member state most severely affected by such actions, Bulgaria must join the collective effort to prevent and neutralise these attacks," EMCO said.

The firm is run by Bulgarian arms dealer Emilian Gebrev, who Bulgarian prosecutors allege has already been targeted by Russian agents.

This includes a poisoning attempt in 2015 of Gebrev, his son and another company employee - three Russian nationals were later charged in absentia for attempted murder.

Bulgaria is a major weapons supplier to Ukraine, as it continues to repel a full-scale Russian invasion launched in 2022.

And although Sofia has recently halted state-owned arms supplies to Ukraine, Bulgarian private defence companies continue such transfers.

Russia appears to have recently escalated its sabotage campaign across Europe.

Last week, Germany said Russia was responsible for August's drone attack at Leipzig's airport - a claim denied by Moscow as "absurd".

There have also been a number of suspicious fires at defence facilities from Italy to Estonia, with some of the affected countries blaming Russia.

Civilians told to flee Ukraine's fortress cities as Russia bids to control Donbas

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwyz89w59l3o, 3 days ago

It is so dangerous now in Slovyansk and Kramatorsk that police say it is time for civilians to get out. These neighbouring cities are the biggest still under full Ukrainian control in the eastern Donbas region.

In the worst affected areas, forced evacuations of families with children have already begun, says Pavlo Dyachenko of Donetsk police.

"This is the only way to save your life," he says, because security has deteriorated so much.

"If you take Slovyansk, it used to be hit by glide bombs roughly once a week, but now it's almost every day."

Slovyansk, Kramatorsk and Kostyantynivka, to the south, form part of what is known as Ukraine's "fortress belt" – a system of heavily reinforced defence lines in the east.

However, Kostyantynivka only has a limited presence of Ukrainian troops left, reports say, while Russia claims to be in full control of it.

The full capture of Donbas, made up of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, is a key objective for Russia. Moscow has often cited the "liberation" and "protection" of the predominantly Russian-speaking Donbas as justification for the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The Russian army already controls almost all of Luhansk region, and is now in control of almost 80% of Donetsk region too, where all three fortress cities lie.

For the past few months, the territory near Kramatorsk and Slovyansk has been the main focus of Russian ground assaults. Capturing them would potentially make it much easier for Russia to advance to the west.

The two cities are now facing intense strikes from drones and bombs.

Many civilians have already left, and key streets there are now covered with anti-drone nets, says Viktor Makurin, a volunteer from London.

"There are often [remote-controlled] FPV drones in the air, you can hear them through the window. Driving around the city is lethally dangerous. There are drones lying in ambush on the roads, too," he told the BBC.

"You can always hear explosions in the background, plus there are mobile groups firing at drones."

Over the summer, the number of civilians wounded by Russian attacks on the two cities increased from 70 in June to 212 in August, say Ukrainian police.

Sixteen people died in June, 20 in July and 15 in August.

Residential housing comes under attack as well as infrastructure, says Dyachenko, causing "very significant destruction".

The number of glide bombs launched by Russia jumped from 40 in June to 109 in July and 92 in August, according to data published by Ukrainian police and studied by the BBC.

One morning two weeks ago, on 25 August, nine glide bombs targeted Kramatorsk. Seven hit civilian apartment blocks, wounding 24 people including a two-month-old baby, Ukrainian police say.

Two days later, it was hit again, this time with seven glide bombs, and five bombs targeted Slovyansk.

Fitted with winglets so they can glide to their target rather than fall, glide bombs are considered one of the most effective and lethal weapons in Russia's arsenal.

Usually, they weigh 250 or 500 kg, but there have been cases of Russia deploying bombs that weigh 1,500 kg.

"The devastation they cause is simply incredible," says Dyachenko.

"Glide bombs are the big fear," another British volunteer, John Auckland Abbey, posted on social media.

"They are silent killers, and when you've been abruptly woken by one exploding, you know at least another one will follow. The question you ask yourself as you lie very still in the dark is: will the next one be closer?"

Kramatorsk is currently home to the headquarters of the Donetsk regional administration. The capital city used to be Donetsk, until it was captured in 2014 by Russian-backed separatists.

What happens to the areas of Donbas still under Ukrainian control was reportedly a key issue when US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner visited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last weekend after their talks with Putin.

In the past, Witkoff has appeared to back Russian claims to the region, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is refusing to pull troops out of it.

He says Putin has given his generals until the end of the year to complete their occupation of Donbas.

"Putin's primary objective on the front line remains the same: Kostyantynivka-Slovyansk," Zelensky told journalists last month.

Faced with mounting military pressure, the Ukrainian leader has created two new taskforces headed by experienced generals, Andriy Biletsky and Denys Prokopenko, to defend the portion of Donbas still in Ukrainian hands.

"There isn't just a battle for Donbas there," one unnamed Ukrainian general has said.

"What is probably the main battle of this year and the next is now unfolding."

Russians seek answers over hundreds missing after Ukraine's 2024 incursion

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c62ene9kr71o, yesterday

"I used to have complete faith in our country," says Lyubov. The last time she spoke to her mother was a day after Ukrainian forces broke into Russia's Kursk region more than two years ago.

Now she feels "resentful towards the [Russian] state", in a country where most people avoid criticising the full-scale invasion unleashed on Ukraine in February 2022.

The local governor says more than 300 Russians are still missing in Kursk region, but no-one really knows the true figure.

Lyubov says she tried to persuade her mother to leave her village in the Sudzha area, but blames Russian state TV "propaganda" for her refusal to listen. Some 2,000 people remained in the settlements captured by Ukraine's military, Russian authorities estimate.

"The state channels were convincing viewers that 'everything is under control: two or three days, and it'll be just as it was before'," she recalls.

She still fails to understand why Russian authorities could not stop Ukrainian soldiers storming two border checkpoints in August 2024, taking around 40 prisoners and bombing a convoy carrying Russian soldiers.

Within six days they had overrun more than 777 sq km (300 sq miles) of Russian territory, as Ukraine's military sought to divert Russian forces away from their front-line offensive.

For most of the next eight months, mobile and internet links were down.

Russia's foreign ministry repeatedly accused Ukraine of war crimes against civilians: allegations rejected in Kyiv as completely unfounded.

Nearly 200 Russians sent a letter to Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, Russia's President Vladimir Putin and the United Nations, asking them to organise a humanitarian corridor to evacuate civilians.

It never happened and, by late autumn, battles raged as Russian forces sought to retake the territory.

Lyubov and others who had lost contact with their loved ones began to form groups.

One resident, whose family friends had also stayed behind, began compiling a list of people she saw on videos published by the Ukrainian military and journalists. Then she began detailing those believed to have died and where they were buried.

"At first, in a panic, you try to do something – anything – to find some sort of information," she said. "Taking action brings a certain sense of relief, and that's how you can cope with the stress."

Soon about 1,000 names were on the list.

Lyubov wrote to the Red Cross and Kursk interior ministry appealing for help, but had no response.

Early in 2025, Russia's human rights commissioner published a list of 517 Kursk residents reported missing. The list mixed up names of the missing with those who were searching for them, and the families said it was like a "slap in the face".

"Publishing something like this is the height of incompetence and a lack of basic respect for people," said one young woman whose parents had gone missing, in a video shared online.

Heavy fighting had been reported in late 2024 in the village of Darino, where Lyubov and mother were from, and authorities said that 90% of it had been destroyed.

The Russian military regained control of the village and then began evacuating those who had survived, and the bodies of those who had not.

One of the evacuees got in touch with Lyubov, telling her she had lived with her mother for the past few weeks. Her mum had passed away, she explained, following a head injury in circumstances that remain unclear.

A few other elderly people had also died, she said, unable to cope with wartime conditions.

Lyubov waited in vain for her mother's body to be brought out, while other families had no idea if their relatives were alive or dead.

People complained no-one was searching for their loved ones and that there was no single list of those missing.

Lyubov heard that the bodies of neighbours who died alongside her mother had been taken away from Darino in April, but her mother's body was still missing.

She tried and failed to get an answer from the authorities: "They wouldn't listen, and everyone just kept saying that it was dangerous there, and no-one was going to deal with it right now."

The head of one local village council, Yuri Tkachev, was among volunteers who went to retrieve the bodies of civilians, from the streets or from nearby fields.

"It's hard for people to know – or rather not to know – what has happened to their loved ones, whether they're being held captive or have died, and where they died," he said.

Body bags and fuel for vans taking part in the evacuations were paid for either by the volunteers themselves or with donations, but not by authorities.

Although regional officials met the group searching for the missing several times in the second half of 2025, relatives complained it made little difference.

Lyubov was still searching for her mother's body, until she visited the mortuary last October during a trip to the regional capital Kursk.

"I just asked: 'A woman born in 1949 from the village of Darino – are there any unidentified bodies?'"

The official turned his laptop screen towards her and immediately she recognised her deceased mother in a photograph from April 2025.

She was lying on her side in the street, her knees bent. Lyubov tried not to look too closely. She recognised her mum's face and an old jumper, which she wore while she worked.

She had provided a DNA sample in January but was told it had been lost, so her mother's body had been in the mortuary unidentified for several months.

She had wanted to bury her mother in their home village, but for now that is impossible, so she has been cremated and her ashes sit in Lyubov's apartment in Belgorod, about 100 miles away.

She is bitter that the government failed to stop the incursion, that it did not evacuate residents when it could, and that it persuaded them the situation was not serious.

Asked by the BBC to comment on this story, there was no response from the Kursk governor, Russia's human rights commissioner or the Russian Red Cross.

The command of Ukraine's Territorial Defence Forces and Ukraine's human rights commissioner of Ukraine said all the civilians they had evacuated from Kursk region had been handed over to Russia.

Lyubov thinks back to when she used to ride her bike across the border into Ukraine to shop for sausages, yarn and ice cream.

"We went to see them, and they came to see us. And now not one of these villages exists any more."

Hardened activists are changing tactics and mobilising the anti-migrant vote

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyqjgj7x8lo, 2 days ago

At around seven o'clock last Saturday morning, dozens of men dressed in black climbed into the backs of lorries in a quiet Kent village called Preston-next-Wingham.

The men had arrived under cover of darkness the night before, leaving their cars everywhere: in the village hall car park and on the recreation ground.

In an operation with a degree of military precision, the small fleet of lorries departed for Dover just after sunrise, where the men staged an intimidating show of strength near the port.

In disciplined, serried ranks, they wore paramilitary-style balaclavas as they blocked roads around the port. There were at least three waves of arrivals, including the men who had spent the night in Preston-next-Wingham. Glaring ominously at motorists and police officers, they stood their ground.

Hardened anti-immigration campaigners were using their newly developed tactics for the first time.

It bore little resemblance to the running battles seen in cities in the Midlands in the days of Tommy Robinson's original vehicle, the anti-Muslim English Defence League (EDL).

"I seriously thought we'd been invaded by Russians," a Dover resident, Robin Burkhardt, told the BBC.

The main organiser Danny Thomas, known to his supporters as Danny Tommo, said on Instagram afterwards: "This is our warning."

The style of protest is a new development in the crowded world of British hard-right and far-right politics. It was visually striking, and the men - who were part of a new group called Patriot Platform - chanted "Christ is King" as well as "Stop the Boats".

On Sunday, using a social media live stream, Thomas was able to organise a second, more impromptu protest of a few hundred people in his home city of Portsmouth.

His activists tried to block coaches that had come to collect migrants, who had arrived illegally, brought ashore after making the long journey from Normandy in France.

On Thursday, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood met senior police officers and urged them to make full use of their powers to stop activists wearing face coverings.

"These scenes have caused disruption for people and, given that people are dressed in black wearing balaclavas, there is a fear factor and obvious malign intent being communicated to our residents," she said.

"This makes it different from other protests, so we need to make sure we are learning lessons."

Some of Patriot Platform's disruptive, eye-catching tactics seem to have been borrowed from environmental groups like Just Stop Oil. But its leaders are also getting ideas and funding from the growing "Christian nationalism" seen in the United States.

Its organisers say they are building a working-class "voting bloc" to persuade political parties on the right to adopt their agenda.

'Smarter' tactics

The website for Patriot Platform was registered on 18 May this year, two days after a big anti-immigration "Unite the Kingdom" march in London.

Thomas, its most visible founder, first posted about the group on YouTube on 8 June.

"We need to be a bit smarter," he said, referencing arrests or offences including the assaults on police officers and violent disorder during recent Unite the Kingdom marches, that had been organised by Robinson. "Good men and women are now away from the fight stuck in jail cells."

Thomas told his supporters he had a few ideas that would be "more powerful than committing acts of violence and criminal damage".

There needs to be a "different MO", he said. "We are looking for the strong, the able, the ones that are willing to do things a bit different."

What sets Patriot Platform apart is the scale and co-ordination of their action, says William Allchorn of Anglia Ruskin University, an expert on far-right movements.

"There hasn't [previously] been co-ordinated mass activism with hundreds of people descending and trying to take matters, as it were, into their own hands," he says.

Thomas spent the summer posting further videos about the group and staging meetings in the North West, Essex, Leicester and Kent. He said he was trying to organise a "mass resistance" movement.

What happened in Dover demonstrated some of his new ways of working. The protesters were almost exclusively male. They arrived in well-organised waves in the backs of lorries. They did not engage with the media, and said little to members of the public whose journeys and weekends they were disrupting.

Then, after a few hours, before the police could get organised, the men all marched off to Dover Priory Station and left. Estimates vary as to how many were there but it looks like between 200 and 500.

The anti-racism group Hope Not Hate said Patriot Platform should be seen "for what it is: a far-right network of men happy to intimidate and inconvenience an entire town for what was effectively a publicity stunt".

Nick Lowles, the group's CEO, said Thomas had "been upfront about his intention to create a 'patriotic army that is able to take control of the United Kingdom'".

At a protest outside the Daily Mail offices in London on Wednesday, Thomas could be seen giving clear instructions to his supporters about his preferred tactics.

"Don't intimidate anyone," he ordered. "No one talk. Keep a distance. Five metres away from police".

Patriot Platform is coming into a crowded space of activists campaigning against immigration. Robinson's is the most high-profile brand. A former close associate of Danny Thomas, Robinson (whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon) has given Patriot Platform public support since Saturday.

But there is also Paul Golding's Britain First, Turning Point UK and the neo-Nazi Patriotic Alternative.

Thomas was once close to Ryan Bridge, the founder of a group called Raise the Colours, who have put up flags in towns across England over the last year.

But the pair have since publicly fallen out, with Thomas telling Bridge in an online rant: "Do I need to stab you in the eye?"

Thomas was jailed for two years in 2016 after he and two others tried to kidnap a man at knifepoint in Portsmouth in a dispute over money linked to drugs.

What seems to be different about Patriot Platform's approach now is that Thomas is explicitly talking about creating a "voting bloc" of supporters to back a yet-to-be decided party, which offers policies closest to what he wants, at the next general election.

"I do not support any political party at this moment in time," he said, adding that once the bloc was established, it would be made "extremely clear" which way the group's vote would go.

It's not clear whether Reform UK would get his backing. In a public confrontation with Reform UK home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf in Portsmouth on Monday, Thomas complained that Nigel Farage had branded his Dover protest "disgusting".

"The working class do not vote," Thomas said. "We are going to make it a fashionable thing to take all your family members to the voting booth.

"But if your leader keeps slandering people, it's going to push them to other parties."

Waiting in the wings is the new party Restore Britain, launched by Rupert Lowe after he was suspended from Reform UK. On X, the party said it "stands with the patriots peacefully protesting against the invasion".

It is not clear how much support Thomas has. Parties like Reform and Restore will be very aware of the potential power that activists like Thomas and Robinson can now wield with their large social media followings. On X, Robinson has two million followers to Farage's 2.3 million, while Thomas has almost 163,000.

The role of the Christian right

At Wednesday's protest, Thomas offered to pay supporters for any work they had missed to be there - in cash.

This kind of generosity might help explain why his activism - and that of his some-time mentor Robinson - have such a strong Christian message now. The Christian right in America can be a good source of funds.

Christianity is now a big part of Danny Thomas's brand. His calls for action are peppered with the occasional "Amen", pronounced in the American way, with the first syllable said "ay" rather than "ah".

He was pictured at St Lawrence church in south London in February and March.

The local diocese told BBC News that while it welcomed "people of various political and ideological perspectives", it remained "committed to the inclusion of all people" and the focus of worship would "always be the person of Christ, who is for everyone".

Thomas has spoken publicly about his new-found faith: "I have repented my sins and, under Jesus Christ, I am a new man."

Thomas is trying to raise money for Patriot Platform through a popular American Christian crowdfunding platform. Just below the "Give" and "Share" buttons, there is a "Pray" button.

On the page, Thomas says he is trying to raise £5,000 a month to pay for the likes of transport, boats and a studio. This month alone he has raised around £9,000.

This attempt to build Christianity into the brand is potentially also a way of painting the UK as a Christian country, and Muslim immigrants as outsiders.

As for what comes next for the Patriot Platform after its initial surge in supporters, far-right expert Allchorn thinks it's an unclear picture.

"A lot of these groups don't really have an end goal in mind," he says. "This often comes kind of later on when they are kind of forced to to come up with more concrete proposals and goals."

Russia's new jet-powered drones outpacing Ukraine's air defences with daily launches

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c804d9lyj2jo, 4 days ago

Russia fired its new rapid, jet-powered drones against Ukraine every day throughout August, BBC Verify analysis of Ukrainian Air Force data has found, escalating its use of a weapon that Kyiv's air defences are struggling to deal with.

It marked the first time that daily attacks by Moscow's new upgraded Geran drones were recorded in Ukrainian Air Force data. The growing use of jet-propelled and other varieties of drones prompted President Volodymyr Zelensky to condemn what he called an unfolding "horror" over the skies of Kyiv.

Ukraine's military recently told the BBC that jet-powered drone attacks grew from 350 in June to 1,600 in July and 2,800 in August. In five of the nightly attacks in August, these drones outnumbered the older, slower models.

"The reason for turning to jet-powered drones is that they are much faster than the previous generation and it makes it much more difficult for Ukraine to intercept them," said Dr Marina Miron, an expert on military technology at King's College London.

The upgraded munitions can cruise at more than 300mph, significantly faster than older models and well beyond the top speed of Kyiv's interceptors. The drones are powered by turbojet engines, some of which, according to Ukrainian military intelligence, are sourced from China.

According to Zelensky, the drones were used as part of a wave of attacks that killed at least 12 people and injured 20 more on 1 September. Six of the casualties were railway workers after a depot was hit in Kyiv.

And on Wednesday the Moldovan government said a plane carrying Zelensky was delayed at Chisinau airport on Tuesday after a Russian drone - reported to be jet-powered - entered Moldovan airspace.

Earlier this year Ukraine showed relative success in countering Russian drones and was intercepting 94% of long-range drones, according to Zelensky. But the speed of the newer drones has prompted the latest round in Kyiv and Moscow's arms race. On 10 August, Ukraine's deputy head of military intelligence, Maj Gen Vadym Skibitskyi, said his forces needed new interceptor missiles "capable of matching [jet-drones'] speed".

Four Ukrainian companies have reportedly started testing missiles that can shoot down the new Geran models, officials in Kyiv recently told reporters. The country's new defence minister, Yevhenii Khmara, has tasked them with producing "thousands of units" as quickly as possible.

Russia also had an economic incentive to invest in the jet-powered drones. The increased speed and manoeuvrability of these models means the line between them and more expensive cruise missiles has become "blurred", said John Hardie of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a think tank focused on national security and foreign policy.

"Long-range one-way attack drones are basically a poor man's cruise missile," he said. "The more you add capability to a drone, the less meaningful the distinction between the drone and a lower-end cruise missile."

But the analyst organisation Conflict Armament Research emphasised that jet-drones are not yet as advanced as cruise missiles. It said the munitions have a shorter attack range, carry much smaller warheads and are more susceptible to jamming systems.

Meanwhile, satellite images appear to show Moscow is redesigning key facilities dedicated to fighting the war in Ukraine to host jet-powered drones, with longer rails associated with the munitions visible at an entirely new base at Tsymbulova in the Oryol region.

Multiple launch sites appear to have been built at the facility, which is around 109 miles (175 km) from the Ukrainian border.

Since the facility became operational, Tsymbulova appears to have become a key centre for Russian drone attacks. Oryol region, where the Tsymbulova base is located, was not mentioned as a drone launch site in Air Force reports before September 2024, but by August 2026 it was named in almost every attack.

The proliferation of jet-powered drones comes as BBC Verify found that Russia is now striking Ukraine with complex attacks involving hundreds of drones and missiles about once a week.

The increase in the size of the strikes is being powered by Moscow's shift towards combining a "greater variety of munitions" - including jet-powered and decoy drones - with expensive ballistic missiles that are extremely difficult to intercept, analyst Michael Bohnert of the RAND think tank told BBC Verify. Kyiv's data shows that Moscow is now using over 15 times as many drones per attack than it was four years ago.

Bohnert added that the tactically complicated nature of the assaults, coupled with a global shortage of air defence systems capable of halting ballistic missiles partly caused by the US-Israeli war with Iran, has led to falling interception rates by Ukraine.

Ukraine's Air Force data showed a drop in interceptions of ballistic missiles up to the end of July. In August, Kyiv mostly stopped publishing the figures that would show its interception rate.

What's next after Donald Trump's united Ireland comments?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1wxlx98yqyo, today

Nothing is out of bounds in the unpredictable world of Donald Trump.

Even the most sensitive of political issues is considered fair game by the US president.

So should we be surprised when he strays on to the political minefield of Irish unity and declares his full-throated support for reunification?

Well yes, because prior to his declaration on Saturday, President Trump avoided any tricky questions around Irish unity.

He has talked about a "merger" in the past but stopped short of expressing his personal opinion often referencing the complicated relationships.

But all that changed on Saturday when, sitting alongside Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) Micheál Martin, he predicted a united Ireland will happen and he will "love to see it".

But far from being a classic off the cuff Trump intervention, it appears he discussed Irish unity with President Connolly and the taoiseach during their meetings.

It may have been a Trump tactic to put his hosts at ease and to avoid more trickier conversations around Gaza and the costly fall out of his war with Iran.

Or maybe his plan was to talk up Irish reunification to bolster support with Irish Americans voters ahead of the mid term elections.

Whatever his intentions the fall out has stirred a political whirlwind.

President Trump started to feel it yesterday when at a later engagement he said there was no "good" answer to the question of Irish unity.

But far from backtracking he suggested such a scenario would be "cool".

Unionists politicians and the UK government were quick to down play President Trump's "unhelpful" intervention.

They compared it to other rash 'Trumpisims' like taking over Greenland or making Canada the 51st US state.

But unlike those, the conversation around Irish reunification is real and happening and there is a political pathway in the Good Friday Agreement to make it happen.

President Trump's intervention was not a game changer in the move towards Irish reunification.

A border poll is no closer today than it was when Air Force one landed in Dublin yesterday.

But it might feel like a momentum changer for those driving the campaign for Irish unity.

Expect them to continually reference the endorsement of the most powerful man in the world.

Though nothing will change until the UK government decides otherwise as only it has the power to trigger a border poll.

As yet, there is no clear criteria as to what threshold needs to be met.

Donald Trump will be back in the spotlight on Sunday as he watches the closing round of the Irish Open.

Among those in his party is the former DUP MP and Trump family friend Ian Paisley.

He tried to downplay the president's new found love for Irish unity yesterday insisting "everyone was entitled to a personal opinion even if it's wrong".

He will be hoping the president backtracks today when confronted by the media.

The taoiseach will also be in the Trump tent just off the 18th green and will likely be chased by the press pack.

Both leaders will be determined to focus on the golf but questions on Irish unity are now firmly in play.

Fire at nursing home in Chile kills 16 residents

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy4zpp20w77o, yesterday

At least 16 elderly residents have died in a fire at a nursing home in Chile, according to authorities.

Ten others were evacuated after a blaze broke out at El Edén home in Pitrufquén, around 640km (400 miles) south of the capital Santiago, on Friday evening.

Jorge Granada, a prosecutor leading the case, said it was not clear at this stage what caused the incident.

Chile's President José Antonio Kast said he had ordered a review into the condition of nursing homes across the country.

"We will fully collaborate with the justice system to clarify what happened, determine where failures may have existed in oversight or prevention, identify what alerts were raised and what actions were taken in response to them," Kast said.

"We need to know the truth and, based on that, correct whatever is necessary to do everything possible to prevent a tragedy like this from happening again," thre president added.

The fire, which began at around 22:30 (01:30 GMT) was finally put out on Saturday morning.

On Saturday, firefighters were still clearing debris and removing collapsed corrugated metal roofing. Police cordoned off the area for safety.

"It is a situation that fills our souls with great sorrow and pain. We have been... providing support to the families," said local mayor Jacqueline Romero.

Colombia's new president loosens gun control rules

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqlwekrl3dqo, 5 days ago

Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella has signed a decree which eases restrictions on people carrying legal firearms in public.

De la Espriella, who during his campaign for the presidency promised to take an iron-fist approach to crime, said it was "not right that criminals are armed to the teeth while decent people can't defend themselves".

The decree lifts a suspension that had been in force for a decade, which meant that even those in possession of a permit to carry guns could not do so without additional authorisation.

De la Espriella insisted that the decree would not create a free-for-all and that tight controls over who can own a gun would remain in place.

While signing the decree, the president said he had made good on his campaign promise: "A man's word is his honour, and I have honour, that's why I keep my word."

The restriction on carrying legal guns in public was brought in by the then-President Juan Manuel Santos in December 2015. It was originally meant to be a temporary measure, aimed at improving security during the Christmas and New Year festivities.

But the suspension was extended yearly by Santos and two subsequent presidents from opposing sides of the political spectrum: conservative Iván Duque and left-wing Gustavo Petro.

Under the law, even those with a permit to carry a gun could not take it out of their homes unless they applied for - and were granted - additional authorisation.

De la Espriella has insisted that his decree has removed a restriction which had never been meant to be permanent.

According to Spanish newspaper El País, the decree will affect almost 700,000 people in Colombia who are already in possession of a legal permit to carry a gun.

They will now be able to take their registered gun out of their home, provided their permits remain up to date.

Green Alliance Party Senator Ariel Ávila described the move as a "grave error", arguing that legally held guns would end up in the hands of criminals.

Ávila insisted that it created an ethical dilemma, as it should only be state forces that carry guns and act as guarantors of people's security.

De la Espriella insisted that the measure would not negatively affect security in the country and said forces were targeting those holding illegal guns and had seized more than 15,000 firearms so far this year.

Most of them, according to de la Espriella, belonged to members of breakaway factions of the Farc rebel group and the Gulf Clan criminal gang.

Jamaica to hand slavery reparations petition to King Charles

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyqvkyekkeo, 7 days ago

The Jamaican government will highlight to King Charles a petition over slavery reparations on Monday, the country's culture minister Olivia Grange has said.

It will ask the King, who serves as Jamaica's head of state, to refer three questions to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, the country's highest court, over the legality of the enslavement of Africans in Jamaica.

Grange said it could pave the way for a "long outstanding settlement for the hundreds of years of the most horrific abuse that our African ancestors endured".

She will also meet with British Museum officials to discuss the repatriation of artefacts taken during the colonial era.

The three questions which the Jamaican government is asking the King to refer to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) are: whether the enslavement of Africans in Jamaica was legal under English law, whether it broke international law, and whether Britain now has a legal duty to provide redress.

The petition, which is not a demand for payment, goes to the King who then refers it to the JCPC.

King Charles has no personal discretion in deciding whether to make a referral.

Grange said: "Once we get the answers, or once we get a response to those questions, then the next steps will be determined."

Buckingham Palace has been working closely with the Governor General of Jamaica to ensure the petition is correctly lodged.

A Palace spokesperson said: "His Majesty has on many occasions expressed his personal and wholehearted commitment to promoting greater understanding around the issue of slavery and finding ways to address historic wrongs for the benefit of communities today."

When slavery was abolished across most of the empire in 1833, the British government paid £20m to slave owners in compensation. The loans taken out to raise the money were paid off in 2015.

Grange said: "Up to 2015, Britain was paying the slave masters, because we were being considered property.

"The question really should be: if in modern times we're still paying back the slave masters for the property that was our people, our ancestors, for property that was because of the abolition of slavery, then why shouldn't we be pursuing some remedy at this time?"

Grange will also meet with British Museum officials to "advance discussions on the repatriation of artefacts" taken from Jamaica during the colonial era.

She said: "They are priceless, they are significant to the story of Jamaica and we are working to bring them home."

In 2015, David Cameron, who was prime minister at the time, ruled out making reparations for Britain's role in the historic slave trade, while visiting Jamaica.

Speaking to MPs in Jamaica's parliament, Cameron said slavery was "abhorrent in all its forms". He added that he hoped they could "move on from this painful legacy and continue to build for the future".

Argentina to file criminal case against oil company operating in Falklands

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8jd14glvneo, 6 days ago

The Argentine government has said that it will file criminal charges against oil company Navitas Petroleum for operating in seas off the Falkland Islands.

The move came just days after Argentine President Javier Milei said he would sanction oil companies drilling in the British overseas territory in the south-west Atlantic Ocean.

Reacting to the news, Foreign Office Minister Kirsty McNeill insisted that there could be "no doubt" about the British government's commitment to the Falkland Islanders.

Sovereignty of the archipelago remains disputed between the UK and Argentina more than 40 years after a British military task force ejected Argentine forces which had invaded the territory in 1982.

Speaking in the House of Commons on Tuesday, McNeill said that "the decision by the Falkland Islands government to pursue hydrocarbon production is a commercial decision for them to take alongside the commercial companies involved".

She added that "the future of the Falkland Islands is for Falkland Islanders to determine".

The simmering dispute between Britain and Argentina over the Falklands heated up last week, when Milei said in a speech to the nation that the "winds of change" favoured Argentina's claim to the islands.

Milei has, in the past, been criticised by Argentine veterans of the 1982 conflict for being "too soft" on the Falklands, which Argentines call Las Malvinas.

In his speech on Thursday evening local time, Milei restated his government's position on the territory, saying "the Malvinas are Argentine, historically and legally... there's no debate about that."

The president described drilling for oil in the archipelago as a "clear and urgent danger" to Argentine sovereignty.

He also dismissed the result of a 2013 referendum in which 99.8% of the islands' residents voted in favour of the Falklands remaining a British oversees territory.

Milei argued that they were living on land which had been "usurped" by the British and therefore "have no legitimate right to self-determination".

The British government dismissed Milei's speech and stressed that its position on the Falklands was "unwavering".

Hopes that Milei's primetime speech may have been a blip and that he would return to his previous stance of strengthening diplomatic ties with the UK were crushed on Monday, however, when his office announced it would file criminal charges against Navitas Petroleum, several of its subsidiaries and their executives.

Navitas, which is listed in Tel Aviv, holds a 65% stake in Sea Lion, an offshore oil project set to start production in the North Falkland Basin in 2028.

The Sea Lion oilfield, around 130 miles (209 km) from the Falkland Islands, contains an estimated 1.7 billion barrels of oil.

In Monday's statement, Milei alleged that drilling in the area would violate Argentine law banning resource exploitation without approval from the Argentine authorities.

"The state will continue to pursue actions deemed necessary to counter any act which breaches the sovereign rights of the Argentine Republic," the statement insisted.

Navitas has not yet responded to this latest statement but said last week that Milei's remarks were "not expected to have a material effect on the development activities of the Sea Lion Project, including the timetable for completion of the Project's development".

Rockhopper, which owns a partial stake in the Sea Lion project, has also not yet commented on Milei's statement.

Both companies have in the past stressed that Sea Lion holds valid licences from the Falkland Islands.

'He was a lifeline' - Families at a loss after Haitian caregivers let go in US

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cg491zp13qqo, 8 days ago

Long Island mother-of-two Linda Mancuso has been "praying on a daily basis" that her disabled son's Haitian caregiver will be able to come back to work.

It was "horrifying," she says, when Jean, who had a temporary work permit, was laid off from work at the end of July from his position at a nonprofit supporting individuals with developmental and intellectual disabilities. Her son Michael is a 5ft 10in, nonverbal 23-year-old.

"Showering, sleeping, eating, tying his shoes - Michael can't tie his shoes - I mean, there's so much hands-on involvement, and Jean did all of that," she says.

Mancuso was a ball of nerves when she finally agreed to send Michael to residential care, at the age of 19, calling it "the hardest thing I've ever had to do".

When he met Jean in the adult home, however, she felt a sense of peace.

"Certain people just have it," she says of Jean. "He's literally a lifeline."

But Michael lost that lifeline weeks ago, when his employer had to lay Jean off along with 18 other Haitians.

Their temporary protected status (TPS) - which allows eligible foreign nationals from unsafe countries to work in the US - had expired.

The Trump administration first announced in June 2025 that it would be removing the TPS for Haitians, and the ensuing legal battle went all the way to the Supreme Court.

But America's top judges ruled in favour of the administration, paving the way for 350,000 Haitians to lose their status at the end of July.

The stripping of that status meant that holders can no longer legally work in the US and are at risk of deportation.

The healthcare industry, with a robust Haitian workforce, has been hit particularly hard - with legions of employers forced to fire TPS holders who work directly with patients.

Trump cancelled TPS amid a wave of measures restricting immigration, a central plank of his successful 2024 election campaign.

Immigration was one of the top concerns for voters in that election and, in Long Island, both counties decisively backed Trump.

More than a dozen countries have had their TPS terminated in Trump's second term and Haitians make up nearly a third of all TPS recipients affected.

The care industry is feeling the effects.

Haiti numbers among the top five countries from which immigrants in the direct-care workforce come, says Kezia Scales, vice-president of policy and research at the Paraprofessional Healthcare Institute.

The industry was already under-staffed and waitlists for many care services - from home health aides to assisted living - were already long.

"We simply do not have enough people in our domestic market, when you exclude immigrants, to fill those jobs," she tells BBC News.

National advocacy groups are campaigning for policies that would strengthen the long-term workforce - including ones that "would expand legal pathways for international caregivers".

When asked about the impact of TPS termination, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security told the BBC that "Temporary Protected Status is exactly that - temporary".

"The assertion that the only way we can support the healthcare industry is by allowing unvetted illegal aliens to remain in the country is grossly false and lazy," the spokesperson said.

At AHRC Nassau, which employed Jean, CEO Stanfort Perry sounds exasperated and exhausted. The organisation let go of 19 Haitian staff this year and 22 last year, amidst other immigration crackdowns, he says.

"It takes us months to recruit one individual to work in this field, train them and prepare them to provide compassionate, caring support to a person with an intellectual and developmental disability," he says.

"I'm competing with fast-food restaurants, grocery stores and retail for staff, because they pay more than what we are able to pay," he adds.

It's an issue across the country. At Jewish Community Services of South Florida, which lost 18 Haitian TPS holders, the remaining aides are also working overtime.

"That is a huge financial strain on a nonprofit like us," says Sarah Katzenstein, the organisation's director of strategic communications and marketing.

The loss of TPS caregivers has been especially damaging to seniors served by the Jewish organisation, as many of them are Holocaust survivors, says Katzenstein.

"They had relationships with these home care aides for years - some of them for decades," she says, adding that Holocaust survivors especially can have difficulty trusting strangers.

"It's a very intimate relationship, so to these clients, the loss of having their Haiti TPS-holding caregivers truly is devastating."

Jewish Community Services has been writing to elected officials to advocate for proposed Senate Bill 4814, which would match a bipartisan bill already passed in the House to extend TPS for Haitians. The effort has currently stalled in the Senate, blocked by Republican opposition.

Hundreds of Haitians have been deported since the Supreme Court ruling, despite widespread gang violence in the country. White House czar Tom Homan defended the deportations in a recent CNN interview.

"The judges made a decision they must go home. And they need to go home... we're just enforcing the law. And we're doing it in a way that the American people voted for."

According to polling released last month by AP-NORC, support for Trump's overall immigration policy has fallen 10% since the start of his second term but remains relatively strong compared with other issues like the economy. On deportations, about half of US adults surveyed said Trump had gone too far, which is about the same number as the start of the year.

A Pew Research survey in June 2025, before the TPS provision was withdrawn from Haitians, suggested 39% of Americans supported the ending of TPS but 59% disapproved.

Back on Long Island, Mancuso is grieving the loss of a carer who had actually managed to connect with her high-needs son.

"That's one of the things that, as a parent, you worry [about]. Does this kid know that there are other people in the world, other than me, that love him?

"And I think he sensed that from Jean - that it's not just a job."

Her son might not be able to say it, but she knows he misses Jean and doesn't understand why he's no longer there. For Mancuso, her already-high anxiety about her son's well-being is skyrocketing.

"With Jean, I had not a care in the world," she says.

She's worried not just for her son but also for the other families served by the local non-profit - and, of course, for Jean and TPS holders like him who are living with uncertainty, unsure if or when they will be deported.

"I'm hoping against hope that this thing gets resolved," she says. "I care about [Jean] as a human being, he needs a livelihood - and this has been a livelihood for him, and he's good at it, helping my son.

"And it's directly impacting my son by his lack of presence here - and I want him back."

Trump's response is key as Argentina's Falklands demands get louder

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c980g0g7yyjo, 9 days ago

The tone over the Falkland Islands dispute has been sharpening in Argentina from well before President Javier Milei's late-night national address on sanctions earlier this week.

It's tempting to see a visual representation of the tension in the jubilant Argentine players celebrating their hard-fought win over England at the Fifa World Cup this summer holding a banner which read "Las Malvinas son Argentinas" - the Falklands are Argentine - in front of their deliriously happy fans. However, the ill-feeling has been fomenting for much longer.

President Milei began his Thursday address with a brief history of the Falklands, very much from the Argentine perspective. He repeated the refrain at the heart of their position: the islands "rightfully belong" to Argentina. The British had invaded and colonially occupied the islands in 1833, he said, violently wrestling the territory from Argentina's hands.

The UK Government would say he conveniently overlooked a few details. The European powers interchanged control over the islands throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. In December 1831, an Argentine settlement was largely dismantled not by the British but by an American warship, the USS Lexington, amid a dispute over local fishing and sealing rights, after which many inhabitants left. An Argentine garrison which arrived in 1832 was expelled by the British when they reoccupied the land in 1833.

Still, if the Americans had a hand in forcing the Argentines out two centuries ago, they may now play a central role in strengthening the Argentine claim. President Milei certainly thinks so.

"Winds of change" were blowing, he assured the Argentine people, after President Trump said he was "re-evaluating" the US position on the Falklands.

That position has traditionally been one of neutrality - albeit while recognising Britain's rule over the territory. "Neutral" is relative, of course, given that President Reagan provided material support to Margaret Thatcher during the Falklands War in 1982 – an act which reinforced the long-standing alliance between London and Washington in times of conflict.

For Trump, however, that mutual support – the "Special Relationship" – was eroded by Sir Keir Starmer when the UK Government chose not to join the US war on Iran.

"You weren't there to help me", the president retorted in an interview with GB News this week. The Falklands were "a long way away", he said. The Falkland Islanders – who voted almost unanimously to remain a British overseas territory in 2013 – would point out that distance from London to the Falklands is fractionally shorter than the distance between Washington DC and the US territory of Guam, in the western Pacific.

Still, Trump's words have undoubtedly galvanised Milei. As have the opinion polls. He urgently needs a boost ahead of a presidential election next year in which one of his challengers, his estranged vice-president, Victoria Villarruel, has presented herself as a tougher defender of national sovereignty and attacked Milei's diplomatic approach on the Falklands as failing.

Domestic politics can rarely be ruled out of the equation when the Falklands issue flares back up. However, Buenos Aires argues that the matter has become urgent: "A clear and urgent danger", as Milei put it.

With two energy companies – the Israeli-owned Navitas Petroleum and Rockhopper Exploration from the UK – due to undertake work on the Sea Lion oilfield off the Falklands coast within two years, the issue has new impetus. Argentina "cannot allow" the companies to "appropriate the oil reserves under our sea", he said. "We will not stand by with our arms folded," he added.

On Saturday morning Milei's office said on X that it was launching sanctions proceedings against 45 people and companies. The announcement did not identify those targeted and it is not yet clear what impact they will have.

In his speech, Javier Milei painted Argentina as a reliable and "trustworthy partner" to Washington and he enjoys Trump's support, both ideologically and personally.

The two men are close allies in a vision of the Western Hemisphere which Trump calls the "Don-roe Doctrine", a play on words on the 19th Century 'Monroe Doctrine' which exerted American domination over the continent. In essence, the two presidents want to see only like-minded leaders in power in the Americas.

Within such a new partnership and a reordering of the spheres of influence, it's more than conceivable that Trump favours the Argentine leader over the British Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, even if the issues at play transcend personality and party politics.

Perhaps the key question for the coming months, then, is whether the strength of the so-called "Don-roe Doctrine" outweighs the lasting history of the "Special Relationship".

Correction 11 September: An earlier version of this report said that a US warship had forced out an Argentine settlement from the Falklands in 1831, leaving the islands uninhabited. In fact, while many inhabitants left, some remained. An Argentine garrison was also expelled when the British reoccupied the land in 1833. The article was amended to reflect this.

UN warns of 'supersized' El Niño as countries prepare for impact

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c17jqp0xzpzo, 11 days ago

The world has entered a "danger zone of extreme weather" as the impacts of El Niño start to be felt globally, UN head António Guterres has warned.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has released the latest data on the natural weather phenomenon showing it could be the strongest for more than 70 years and last until at least February 2027.

El Niño changes weather patterns around the world, pushing some regions into drought whilst others experience stronger typhoons and flooding.

Forecasters also say El Niño will boost temperatures in some places, coming on top of rising heat globally from human-induced climate change.

"El Niño is being supersized before our eyes. The science leaves no room for doubt: the planet is in uncharted waters, and those waters are heating up," Guterres said.

The BBC spoke with governments and scientists about the measures being taken globally to reduce the risk of deaths, displacement and environmental damage. Early warning systems have been strengthened and deployment of pre-emptive medical assistance, but the strength of this particular event has raised serious concerns particularly for vulnerable groups.

The WMO - a UN agency - said it has undertaken a "major mobilisation" to try to circulate its forecasts of potential extreme weather events, linked to El Niño, to as many communities as possible.

WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo warned: "El Niño has the potential to deliver a massive blow to communities and economies across the world."

El Niño is a natural weather phenomenon that develops in the Pacific Ocean and is linked to a change in wind patterns. It allows warm water to spread eastwards and releases heat into the atmosphere.

Sea temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific have risen sharply in recent months - a clear sign of a strengthening El Niño.

In the Pacific's key monitoring region, surface temperatures have been well over 2C above average in recent weeks, putting it on track to be declared a "very strong" event.

But it is expected to surpass even that marker. Monthly sea surface temperatures could get close to 4C above average, forecasts suggest.

This would make it the strongest El Niño since at least 1950, by potentially a large margin.

Temperatures are even more exceptional below the surface of the Pacific - in places more than 8C above average.

Above-normal sea temperatures are also expected in other parts of the world including the Indian Ocean, tropical Atlantic and around parts of the Australian coast.

With its rich marine life, changes in ocean heat are of particular concern to Australia.

It has been plagued by marine heatwaves in recent years - driven by climate change - leading to widespread coral bleaching and algae blooms, causing "unprecedented damage".

El Niño is a natural phenomenon, but it tends to bring the kind of extreme heat which also drives those disasters, Dr Alistair Hobday, chief researcher at Australia's science agency, told the BBC.

This year, marine heatwave forecasts indicate the Great Barrier Reef will be spared the worst of the conditions, giving coral there more time to recover.

"[But] Southern Australia is getting slammed. It had an algal bloom last year, it's got bird flu now, and it looks like marine heatwaves will be stronger there this summer," said Hobday.

Last time a marine heatwave hit South Australia and Tasmania, there were starving penguins, fish kills, suffocating algae outbreaks, and jellyfish invasions.

Australia has recently introduced early warning systems for marine crises - this gives time for financial relief for fisheries to be established, relocation of crucial species and increased coral monitoring.

But this event is shaping up to be unprecedented - and Hobday admits he is quite worried.

Reduced rainfall brings drought and trade disruption

While the impacts on global weather are likely to be felt well into 2027, the WMO expects significant changes in rainfall patterns over the next few months.

Drier-than-usual conditions are forecast across large areas of South East Asia, Central America and northern parts of South America, increasing the risk of droughts and wildfires.

On Thursday, the number of vessels passing through the Panama Canal will be reduced by more than 10% in anticipation of lower rainfall.

About 14,000 ships per year use the artificial waterway - as well as being a crucial route for global trade, it is also a key source of income for Panama, bringing in about $3bn (£2.2bn) a year.

Indonesia is racing to contain wildfires that have burned more than 107,000 hectares of land nationwide this dry season. Like some other parts of South East Asia, it is facing a longer season this year.

A resident in Central Kalimantan told BBC News Indonesia he had been experiencing wildfires "for more than a month".

"The smoke has become quite thick. When we step outside, our eyes start to sting. The smell of the smoke is also quite strong," said Darwin Romy.

Authorities have said they are deploying cloud-seeding aircraft to trigger rains to extinguish these fires, and its government has promised resources to contain the fire and arrested dozens over allegations of using it to clear land.

Stronger typhoons and landslide risk

Thousands of miles away, China is expecting seven typhoons to make landfall in this year alone – something the country's experts have said is linked to the effects of a super El Niño.

In July alone, China experienced three typhoons - Bavi, Noul and Maysak - which left dozens dead.

And in August, more than a million people were forced to evacuate their homes as Typhoon Dolphin hit – bringing heavy rains and strong winds.

Similarly, wetter-than-average weather is expected in parts of eastern Africa, southern Brazil and the southern US, raising the chances of flooding.

"We are already seeing disruption and devastation from droughts and floods and we expect these impacts to increase as El Niño intensifies," said Prof Celeste Saulo, secretary general of the WMO.

This is all happening on top of long-term human-caused warming, making the impacts potentially more intense. Some scientists believe climate change could even be making El Niño events stronger, but this is not yet certain.

Peru is particularly vulnerable to El Niño, as its coastline borders the eastern Pacific.

Parts of the country, along with Ecuador and parts of Brazil, have previously experienced increased rainfall, resulting in flash flooding and landslides, particularly in urban centres where the water is less able to drain away.

Miguel Aréstegui, climate resilience lead at Practical Action, which helps countries prepare for extreme weather, said "we are significantly concerned, but that concern needs to translate into preparedness rather than alarm."

He said Practical Action had been working with partners over recent years to make sure the public had better access to early warning systems, including sharing information on river levels, flood risks and weather forecasts.

At the end of last month, the US announced it was deploying the vessel USNS Comfort to the Peruvian coast to provide additional medical assistance and technical equipment for when El Niño reaches its peak.

However, Aréstegui said El Niño "does not arrive in a vacuum". There are bigger, structural issues that make these events worse and which take much longer to resolve such as "housing in exposed areas, fragile water and sanitation systems, and a weak healthcare system", he said.

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Who is Alejandro Betancourt, colourful oil baron behind US-Venezuela oil deal?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cyvze0n4vy1o, 11 days ago

President Donald Trump has called the deal granting the US control of strategic Venezuelan oil fields "the biggest in history".

North American Blue Energy Partners (Nabep), a company little known outside the South American country, will oversee the production and sale of 17 oil fields containing about 65bn barrels of crude.

The agreement has raised eyebrows to say the least.

And at the heart of it is Alejandro Betancourt López, the Venezuelan oil baron who heads the Barbados-registered firm.

The 46-year-old has a history of doing business with the Venezuelan government since the time of the late President Hugo Chávez.

But he has also found himself under investigation in five different countries. He has previously denied wrongdoing and has never been convicted of a crime.

So who is the fixer picked to deliver on Trump's oil abundance plan?

The 'bolichicos'

Leopoldo Alejandro Betancourt López was born in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas in February 1980 into a middle-class family.

A graduate of Suffolk University in Boston, Massachusetts, he is estimated to be worth around $2.6bn (£1.9bn).

Although his CV attributes his success to his "entrepreneurial spirit", Venezuelan journalists who have followed his career maintain that it all began with the connections he made in the classrooms of the Instituto Cumbres de Caracas, a private religious school in the Venezuelan capital.

Venezuelan journalist Alek Boyd, who has been tracking Betancourt since 2011, said that the businessman became a close school friend of Javier Alvarado Pardi, the son of the man who would later become president of Electricidad de Caracas, vice-minister of energy, and an executive at Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) – the state-run oil company.

"In 2009, at the height of the electricity crisis, Alvarado introduced Betancourt and his partners to his father and assured him they could solve the problem… despite having no experience in the electricity sector," said Boyd.

Around that time, Derwick Associates, the engineering firm that Betancourt founded with a cousin, received 12 government contracts, awarded without bidding, for a total of $5bn.

Shortly afterwards, he and other young entrepreneurs doing business with the Venezuelan government were nicknamed "bolichicos", a slang term combining the words Bolivarian – referring to Chavez's socialist revolution - and chico, meaning boy.

Betancourt's lawyer rejects the label.

"It's a term coined by the media, used to describe a group of young people whose only commonality is their success," Jon Sale, the businessman's lawyer in the US, told BBC News Mundo.

Derwick Associates claimed to have completed all of its electrification projects.

The empire grows, and so do the problems

But anti-corruption organisations such as Transparency Venezuela and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project allege that several projects were either not finished or were carried out incorrectly.

A 2018 report by Transparency Venezuela estimated that 11 of the projects awarded to Derwick should have cost $2.1bn. If accurate, this would mean the government would have overpaid by 138%.

Betancourt's legal team has previously rejected the accusations of overbilling as politically motivated attempted smears.

Despite criticism, Venezuelan authorities soon allowed Derwick to venture into the oil industry.

But Betancourt's business activities have not been limited exclusively to Venezuela.

In the mid-2010s, he began his international expansion by acquiring a stake in the Spanish sunglasses company Hawkers, becoming its majority shareholder and president in 2016.

He also acquired banking entities in Switzerland and Africa.

Today, Betancourt's business network encompasses some 50 companies distributed across 16 countries, according to investigations by Transparency Venezuela.

In 2013, the former US ambassador to Venezuela, Otto Reich, filed a lawsuit in an American court against Betancourt and two of his associates for "paying large sums to [Venezuelan] public officials in exchange for awarding them contracts".

The diplomat's lawsuit was dismissed five years later, but the businessman's legal troubles did not disappear.

In recent years, judicial authorities in Spain, Switzerland, Andorra and the US have opened investigations against Betancourt and other "bolichicos" for their alleged involvement in various corruption schemes related to PDVSA.

He has not been charged and has denied any wrongdoing.

In 2025, the businessman again made headlines when he was detained twice by British police in London, where he had settled in recent years.

A few days later, Spanish authorities raided Alamín Castle, a palatial estate that Betancourt owned in the province of Toledo.

Both swoops were reportedly linked to an investigation into alleged money laundering initiated by the Swiss public prosecutor's office.

Regarding these allegations, Betancourt's lawyer suggested he was being targeted because of his associations with the other young, brash Venezuelan businessmen.

"This is a group of very successful young entrepreneurs... some have broken the law and others haven't, but they've all been lumped together," Sale, the attorney, told BBC News Mundo.

So why did the US choose Betancourt as a partner?

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in an interview with Venezuelan journalist Sergio Novelli, gave three reasons.

"He has a track record of being able to produce oil," he stated first.

Some experts claim that Nabep currently produces around 180,000 barrels of crude per day, just behind Chevron's more than 200,000.

But others question the accuracy of these figures.

Rubio went on to point out that Betancourt was not currently being investigated by the US.

Finally, Rubio offered a third reason: "He is an individual who strongly supported the opposition."

Unlike others who prospered economically under Chávez, Betancourt and his associates didn't seem to identify ideologically with the late president's movement.

"They simply saw a business opportunity and took advantage of it," Batiz said.

And when the winds shifted, Betancourt shifted with them, forging a relationship with opposition leader Juan Guaidó, during Trump's first term.

That connection helped him make inroads with US officials like Mauricio Claver-Carone, the former US Special Envoy for Latin America, and other figures close to Trump, such as former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, according to Boyd, the Venezuelan journalist.

But when he was involved in a failed attempt to oust Nicolás Maduro in 2019, the then-Venezuelan president retaliated against him, removing him from the oil business and forcing him to live between Madrid and London.

The contacts Betancourt established with the US were reportedly crucial in easing the legal pressure against him in late 2025.

Right place, right time

According to the Washington Post, US authorities urged Switzerland to drop its extradition request against the businessman before the British courts.

The request was granted by the Swiss authorities, and last May a London court lifted the travel ban placed upon him.

"Switzerland did not present the evidence requested by the English judges to support its extradition request, and therefore the travel ban was lifted," Betancourt's lawyer told BBC News Mundo, while acknowledging this does not necessarily mean the end of the Swiss investigations.

According to Axios, in the first minutes after the military operation on 3 January that concluded with US forces seizing Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, Betancourt spoke with then-Vice-President Delcy Rodríguez and convinced her to speak with Rubio.

This version was corroborated by his lawyer.

"He acted as an intermediary," said Sale. "He had nothing to do with Maduro's departure, but since he had everyone's trust, he became an intermediary."

On Wednesday, Delcy Rodríguez, now interim president of Venezuela, defended Betancourt, saying he has no pending cases in that country or the US.

"Often a person is judged in the media before in the courts," she said in the oil baron's defence.

For those who have followed Betancourt's career for years, one thing is clear.

"He's very skillful," Boyd concluded.

"He always manages to be where he needs to be to avoid problems and make money."

Remarkable US oil deal puzzles analysts - and angers many Venezuelans

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c93vkgk5e1yo, 12 days ago

From the moment elite US troops swooped into Nicolás Maduro's compound in Caracas to forcibly remove him from power in January, President Donald Trump made clear that securing control over Venezuela's oil resources was a key goal of his administration.

The United States would "run" Venezuela, he said at the time, and manage the sale of Venezuelan oil for the foreseeable future.

The signing of a huge US-Venezuela oil deal in Caracas on Wednesday marks the fruition of that plan. The agreement grants a US-led company 100-year concessions over 17 oilfields in Venezuela, amounting to a staggering 65 billion barrels of crude. That equates to more than a fifth of the country's proven oil reserves.

Beyond the eye-watering numbers, both sides heralded the deal as good for their respective nations.

President Trump called it "the biggest oil deal in world history", while the interim Venezuelan President, Delcy Rodríguez, said the agreement was "historic", and would generate $100bn (£74bn) in investment and more than $200bn in tax revenue.

Others profoundly disagreed.

"This is a terrible deal. [Rodríguez] has given away 20% of the national patrimony for nothing," said Trump's former special representative on Venezuela and Iran, Elliott Abrams. "I think she is simply complying with the demands she's getting from Washington."

On Tuesday, the White House released a fact sheet which set out some details of the deal's framework. The US government will work alongside a private business in Venezuela called North American Blue Energy Partners (Nabep), the second largest private oil producer in Venezuela after Chevron.

One extraordinary detail of how the Trump administration will work with Nabep is that the US government will have "veto power over the appointment of any member of the board of directors, and a majority of Nabep's board of directors must be US citizens".

With the ongoing US war with Iran increasing prices at the petrol pumps, a boost in oil production outside of the Middle East could affect consumers.

Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum told Fox Business the pact was "shifting the geopolitical centre of the global energy markets" away from what he called the "choke points in the Middle East" and back to the Western Hemisphere.

There is a logic to the US-Venezuela partnership, Elliott Abrams argued, while Gulf oil supplies are currently so unreliable. But he said the terms are so one-sided they are a "kind of fever dream of what colonialism looks like".

The White House has spoken of the deal having "re-established the Monroe Doctrine", an 19th Century principle exerting US power across South America - "purging foreign malign influence from our backyard and ensuring American dominance in our hemisphere is never again questioned".

Despite the insistence from both governments that the plan will benefit both Venezuelans and Americans, it is not without pitfalls and clear unanswered questions.

The proposed timeframe alone is problematic. Trump has said the agreement will generate profit within two or three years. Energy experts, however, warn the dire state of the Venezuelan oil sector means a decade is more realistic.

Luis Pacheco, of the Baker Institute at Rice University in Houston, told BBC Mundo that Venezuela needs to invest about $100bn over eight years in order to return to its oil production levels of 30 years ago.

"It's important to know who will manage those resources and for what purpose," Pacheco said.

"Are they going to put the same people in charge of managing that money who already squandered the biggest oil boom of the century?" he asked, referring to past mismanagement of the country's oil wealth.

The Venezuelan opposition is concerned the deal deepens President Trump's relationship with Delcy Rodríguez, whom they accuse of heading the same regime as Maduro.

The Trump administration not only decried Maduro's government as a corrupt drug cartel, but surrounded Venezuela with the biggest armada of the modern era.

The ease and speed with which Washington has now pivoted to working with Maduro's former vice-president infuriates the opposition.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner and presidential hopeful, María Corina Machado, may choose not to publicly criticise President Trump, whose support she needs if she hopes to come to power. Others, though, have been more forthcoming.

"You chose to use the power of the United States not to liberate Venezuelans, but to ally yourself with our oppressors," said Venezuelan economist, Ricardo Hausmann, on social media, directing his comments at the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

"You opted to push through an asset seizure, an unconstitutional agreement with an illegitimate and oppressive government, instead of using the leadership of the United States to first restore constitutional order and democracy," he said.

The lack of an imminent election in Venezuela – or, indeed, any clear plan towards one – strikes many opponents as a betrayal.

There is betrayal felt at the other end of the ideological spectrum, too. Although the governing socialist party, PSUV, has backed Rodríguez over the US deal, many Venezuelan socialists see it as capitulation.

After almost three decades opposing Washington's influence in the region, they feel she has gifted the country's most valuable asset to the old enemy.

The deal "hands over [the oil] and opens the doors to a new colonialism of the United States," said Rafael Ramírez, who served as the head of the state-run energy firm, PDVSA, and as the oil minister under former President Hugo Chávez.

In early 2008, Chávez presented his Sunday television programme, Aló Presidente, from former ExxonMobil oilfields in the Orinoco River Belt.

Having expropriated some of the oil company's assets in the region, he was in a defiant mood.

"We have the reins in our hands and we won't ever let them go again," he said of the state-run oil company's ownership of oilfields, and denounced how previous Washington-friendly governments had turned Venezuela into "a nation of gringos".

"It was a theft of our nation but the Bolivarian Revolution has put a stop to it," he thundered to applause from PDVSA employees.

Yet it was one of his disciples – his handpicked successor's successor – who has now signed this opaque deal with Washington and praised it as a victory for Venezuela.

At least two dead in blast at Bolivia military barracks

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3v45xy67g5o, 8 days ago

At least two people have been killed after an explosion at a military barracks in Bolivia - but authorities fear the toll could be higher.

Bolivian Defence Minister Ernesto Justiniano said at least 81 people had been injured when "pyrotechnic material" detonated at the barracks, where an artillery regiment was stationed, about 14:30 local time (18:30 GMT) on Friday. Fourteen others remain missing.

Health official Rita Nebraska told local television between 10 and 15 people were believed to have died in the incident in Viacha, about 30km (19 miles) from La Paz, according to Reuters.

Police said dozens of homes had been damaged by the blast and that emergency workers were searching the rubble.

Nebraska said there was a risk of a further explosion and urged people to stay at least 150m from the military base.

Base commander Colonel Antonio Amaru told reporters on Saturday that a sergeant and 13 conscripted soldiers aged between 18 and 19-years-old were among the missing.

Bolivia's President Rodrigo Paz expressed his "deepest solidarity" with the families of those who had died and had been injured.

He wrote on social media that a "thorough, technical and transparent investigation" would take place into what happened.

Police spokesman Roger Roca told news agency AFP that fireworks had been stored at the barracks and the cause of the blast remained under investigation.

Viacha's authorities have declared three days of mourning.

Argentine leader threatens to sanction oil firms and reiterates Falklands claim

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyk18g1l8ko, 10 days ago

Argentina's president has heightened tensions with the UK over the Falkland Islands, warning he will impose economic sanctions on firms which exploit oil close to the British overseas territory.

In a national address, Javier Milei said the "winds of change" favoured Argentina's claim to the islands, emboldened by signs the US might reconsider its stance of neutrality on the issue.

Milei said the Sea Lion oilfield, where a British and an Israeli firm are due to begin exploration work, was a "clear and present danger".

Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said the UK's position on the islands was "unwavering", and they would remain British as "that is the overwhelming position of the Islanders."

Earlier Downing Street said reaffirmed its position that the islands would remain a British Overseas Territory "for as long as the Islanders wish".

"This is not the first time Argentine governments have made economic threats against the islanders. We are clear that the Falkland Islanders' right of self-determination extends to the right to exploit their own natural resources."

More than 40 years after the war over the territory, sovereignty of the archipelago in the south-west Atlantic Ocean remains hotly disputed between Britain and Argentina.

Milei announced his sanctions plan surrounded by his cabinet at the presidential palace, reiterating that the Falklands were "historically and legally" Argentinean.

It is not yet clear how or to what extent the sanctions will be imposed or tightened. In Argentina, a current law already allows for restrictions of activities of oil companies participating in projects considered unauthorised on the islands.

Defence Secretary Wes Streeting also said Britain's commitment to the Falkland Islands was "absolute and unshakeable".

"Milei's statement overnight tells us more about domestic politics in Argentina than it does about the Falkland Islands," he said on X.

In a 2013 referendum, residents of the islands voted overwhelmingly to remain a British overseas territory - with 99.8% voting in favour and just three voting against.

Teslyn Barkman, a former member of the Falkland Islands Legislative Assembly, told the BBC that Milei's speech had "probably irked every single Falkland islander".

Speaking from the capital Stanley, she added that "we have a burgeoning economy for a small place... we will remain forever British".

The crux was a proposal to introduce a bill to parliament to impose sanctions on energy firms planning to begin oil exploration off the Falklands.

The Sea Lion oilfield, around 130 miles from the islands, contains an estimated 1.7 billion barrels of oil .

Two oil companies – Britain's Rockhopper Exploration and Israel's Navitas Petroleum – are due to begin extracting oil in the Sea Lion oilfield off the Falklands coast within two years, something Milei said Argentina could not allow.

Rockhopper has described the field as containing "highly marketable crude".

In a video posted earlier this year, Navitas highlighted the work it is already carrying out in the Falklands including building a dock, a heliport and accommodation for oil workers.

In a statement, Rockhopper and Navitas said the two firms believed that "the recent developments are not expected to have a material effect on the development activities of the Sea Lion Project, including the timetable for completion of the Project's development".

Milei said "If we do not act swiftly in a few months, they will have the material capacity to access the oil that lies underneath our sea – something that has never happened before," Milei said.

There is both a domestic and a regional political dimension to this latest escalation on the Falklands.

At home, Milei needs to shore up votes amid his plummeting popularity, currently languishing at around 34%. There is only a year to go before he faces a presidential election and a serious challenge from his erstwhile vice-president, Victoria Villarruel.

A pro-military politician, she has criticised his diplomatic efforts to secure change on the question of Falklands sovereignty. The sanctions may be part of a wider attempt to stave off accusations that he's weak on an issue which is so fundamental to Argentine identity.

It helps Milei that this is about something concrete – the impending oil exploration of an oilfield rather than broad questions of sovereignty and self-determination. He argues that the UK is acting in violation of a UN resolution urging the two sides not to take unilateral action while the dispute remains unresolved.

Milei also announced plans for a naval base in Tierra del Fuego in the south of Argentina, saying Trump and the US were "assessing their historical position in regard to the Falklands", which Argentina refers to as Las Malvinas.

"That is not empty words as they understand that Argentina is a reliable partner and a valuable ally for decades to come," he said, describing the UK as a nation "in decline".

"There are winds of change in the world that are favourable to our claim," Milei added.

When asked in an interview with GB News earlier on Thursday if the US would "come to the UK's aid" during a potential territorial dispute, Trump replied that Britain had "not been there to help me" with his country's war with Iran.

Trump's latest remarks come after he previously said the US position on the Falklands is one of many under review.

Hours before Milei's speech, Sarah Rogers, a senior official in the US state department, posted a photo of herself with Milei alongside the caption: "Exciting things are happening in the Western Hemisphere."

Argentine forces landed on the Falklands to stake a territorial claim in 1982, sparking a 74-day war over the territory as a British military task force ejected them.

The conflict led to the deaths of 255 British military personnel, three islanders and 649 Argentine military personnel.

In a sign of the ongoing tensions between the two countries over the issue, Argentina players celebrated their victory over England in the World Cup by waving a banner in support of their country's territorial claim.

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Saudi Arabia shuts key oil pipeline after drone attack launched from Iraq

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c62m933465eo, yesterday

Saudi Arabia has closed a critical oil pipeline after it was attacked by drones launched from Iraq, as conflict in the Middle East widens.

Iraq said it had fired a military commander and launched an investigation after admitting the drone attack on its neighbour's East-West pipeline had originated in one of its provinces bordering Iran. Saudi Arabia has previously accused Iran-backed militia in Iraq of targeting its oil facilities.

The 1,200km (745 mile) pipeline has helped Saudi Arabia - the world's largest crude oil exporter - bypass the Strait of Hormuz.

The incident comes amid a major advance by the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, putting more pressure on global oil shipping routes as the US-Iran war stretches into its seventh month.

On Friday, Yemen's Saudi-backed government forces said they had struck Houthi fighters in the strategic coastal city of Mokha, a day after the Houthis seized control of the entire Red Sea coast.

Riyadh on Friday said it had shut the pipeline as a precaution, as satellite images of scorched ground and smoke near the site emerged.

The foreign ministry said the attack resulted in some injuries and damage, which was still being assessed.

The Saudi pipeline has been moving 4% to 5% of global oil supply, news agency Reuters has reported, citing ship tracking companies and analysts.

Saudi Arabia has chosen not to retaliate at this stage, its foreign ministry says, following a call from Iraq's prime minister.

It said the kingdom would "support the efforts of the Iraqi government" to "prevent attacks" launched from the country against neighbouring states.

"The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia affirms that it reserves its right to take all necessary measures to safeguard its sovereignty and security, protect its facilities, and ensure the safety of its citizens and residents," the statement added.

The Iraqi prime minister's office in its own statement said the operations commander in the Maysan governorate - a province which borders Iran - had been removed from his post following confirmation the drone attack had been launched from that region.

Saudi Arabia has previously carried out strikes alongside the US against Iran-backed militias in Iraq after accusing the groups of launching drones from Iraqi territory at oil facilities.

The Gulf Co-operation Council – made up of representatives from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and Kuwait – also issued a statement condemning the attack.

"This attack represents a dangerous escalation and an unacceptable threat to the security of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, its territorial integrity, and its vital installations, as well as a flagrant violation of the principles of international law," secretary general Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi.

This week, a lightning advance in Yemen has also seen Houthi militants seize control of much of the country's coastline, sources say.

The group said it had control of the Bab al-Mandab Strait, the gateway to the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, though it said maritime navigation is "safe for all companies except for Saudi vessels".

The Yemeni Armed Forces have since struck back. On Friday, spokesman Majid al-Nuzaili said they had targeted Houthi positions in and around the city of Mokha, adding that they had destroyed vehicles and weapons and killed a number of Houthi fighters.

The strategic coastal city on the Red Sea is situated about 80km (50 miles) north of the Bab al-Mandab Strait. The Houthis seized control of Mokha on Thursday. Their attack drove many people to flee to Aden, where Yemen's internationally recognised Presidential Leadership Council and government are based.

Local sources also reported that government forces carried out air strikes targeting Houthi forces in Taiz governorate, which is along the Red Sea coast, and Ibb governorate, which neighbours Taiz.

On Saturday the UN said at least 76,000 people had been displaced in Yemen since July, with the number quadrupling in the past week. It warned of a "rapidly worsening displacement crisis in Yemen unfolding by the hour".

"Entire families are on the move, often at night. They have nowhere safe to go... They are exhausted. Their resources are gone. Most fled with nothing but the clothes on their backs," the UN statement said.

The developments have squeezed both sides of the Arabian Peninsula, pushing crude oil prices to over $100 a barrel for the first time since July.

Fears over inflation have risen with the spike in energy prices, further pushing up government borrowing costs.

Richard Bronze of Energy Aspects told the BBC that even before the latest escalation, diverting Saudi oil via the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean and around Africa was already adding 30 days to sailing times and increasing transportation costs.

"The buffers that have helped the oil market manage the crisis so far are mostly gone. So oil prices will keep rising if both crises continue," he said.

Challenges were particularly acute in diesel markets, he said, where prices have already reached record levels that would in turn push up the costs of a range of goods as diesel is widely used in manufacturing and transportation.

"Unless the situation across the Middle East improves, crude oil prices are likely to return to the peak of $120 per barrel seen earlier in the Iran war and could go even higher," he said.

Additional reporting by Meghan Owen

Israel says it has destroyed major underground Hezbollah base

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gl92lw8vpo, 2 days ago

Israel's military says it has destroyed a large underground complex operated by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.

It said it used more than 1,000 tonnes of explosives to destroy two tunnels spanning more than 2km (1.2 miles) beneath the Ali Taher Ridge.

The blast triggered seismic activity equivalent to a magnitude 4.1 earthquake, according to the US Geological Survey.

There was no immediate public response from Hezbollah or the Lebanese government.

Israeli forces took control of the ridge last week after months of fighting with the Iran-backed group there. The Israeli military occupies a large swathe of southern Lebanon captured after the conflict with Hezbollah resumed in March.

Images released by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) showed a fireball lighting up the sky.

"The sky lit up and about 15 seconds later we heard the terrifying sound," Ahamed, a resident in Nabatieh, about 6km west of the ridge, told the BBC.

"The house shook all together as if it was literally an earthquake."

He said people were screaming and children were crying, and that cars filled the roads as people left the area for Beirut.

Tremors were even felt in the coastal city of Saida 40km north.

The IDF said the underground infrastructure included a command centre used by Hezbollah's Badr unit and contained dozens of rockets, missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles, as well as anti-tank weapons, mines and explosives.

"This was strategic infrastructure that was constructed over two decades, funded and planned by the Iranian terror regime," the IDF said in a statement on Telegram.

"All of the terrorists who were inside the infrastructure were eliminated or fled."

The IDF said the destruction of the complex completed a mission to destroy eight tunnels and establish a "security zone" in the area.

The latest action comes amid renewed fighting in southern Lebanon, where Israeli forces have expanded operations against Hezbollah positions and continue to hold what Israel describes as a security zone near the border.

Lebanese media reported fresh Israeli strikes elsewhere in the south on Thursday, including Nabatieh al-Fawqa and Mansouri in the Tyre district.

The Lebanese army has increased deployments in areas outside Israeli control, including the southern city of Nabatieh, in efforts to strengthen stability and reassure residents, local television station MTV reported.

Lebanon was drawn into the war between Israel, the US and Iran on 2 March, when Hezbollah launched rockets into Israel in retaliation for a strike that killed Iran's supreme leader.

Israel responded by launching a bombing campaign across Lebanon and invading a significant part of the country's south. Its forces continue to occupy roughly 5% of Lebanese territory.

Fighting decreased following a ceasefire deal between Iran and the US in June, alongside a separate agreement between Lebanon and Israel.

The UN says about 330,000 people in Lebanon remain displaced by the conflict, with Israeli military activity, air strikes, destruction and restrictions on returning to Israeli-occupied areas preventing many from going home.

Under the Lebanon-Israel framework, Hezbollah is expected to disarm, Israeli forces to withdraw gradually from southern Lebanon and the Lebanese army to deploy across the area.

Hezbollah was not directly involved in the agreement and has rejected direct negotiations.

Despite a reduction in fighting, Israeli strikes and demolitions in southern Lebanon have continued.

At least 4,383 people - including 395 women and 259 children - have been killed in Lebanon by Israeli attacks since 2 March, according to the health ministry, whose figures do not differentiate between combatants and civilians. At least 29 have been killed this week, the ministry says.

Israeli authorities say 40 Israeli soldiers and four civilians have been killed in the same period.

Additional reporting by Raffi Berg in London and Samantha Granville and Ghaith Solh in Beirut

Israel's Netanyahu to sue newspaper over claim UAE warned him of 7 October attack

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1kxwm870g1o, 3 days ago

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told lawyers to begin defamation proceedings against an Israeli newspaper over reports that the leader of the United Arab Emirates warned him that Hamas was planning an operation just days before the 7 October 2023 attacks.

According to book extracts published by Haaretz, UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan had a phone call with Netanyahu that September.

The report said Netanyahu was warned that the then-Hamas chief in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, was planning a major operation.

Netanyahu's office said "no warning was given to the prime minister from the United Arab Emirates before 7 October", calling the report part of a "sinister plot".

Haaretz, which has historically been a vocal critic of the prime minister, has stood by its reporting and rejected Netanyahu's defamation claim, saying its "sole purpose is to silence journalistic criticism".

The report - and Netanyahu's angry denials, accusing Haaretz of lies - comes as the general election campaign in Israel starts to heat up. The polls on 27 October are widely considered a referendum on Netanyahu's leadership.

On 7 October 2023, thousands of Hamas-led gunmen breached the Gaza border fence and attacked nearby Israeli communities, military bases and a large music festival. About 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken back to Gaza as hostages.

Israel responded by launching a military campaign in Gaza, during which at least 73,670 people have been killed, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures are considered reliable by the UN.

Ever since 7 October, accusations have been laid against Netanyahu that he did not act quickly enough after the attack began. He has resisted an independent public inquiry into what happened and this latest report will only fuel critics' suspicions.

The report, published on Tuesday, cited three "foreign senior sources" and a Palestinian adviser to Sheikh Mohammed as saying that, in the final days of September 2023, a representative from the UAE embassy went to the Israeli prime minister's office with a special phone to ensure the conversation would remain confidential.

During that call, Haaretz reported, Netanyahu was given an explicit warning by Sheikh Mohammed - that Sinwar had told a former Palestinian official that Hamas was preparing a major operation that he described as an "earthquake".

"Bin Zayed expressed concern that the event in question would not only lead to bloodshed but also destabilise the entire region," Haaretz said, adding that the information contained in its report was a result of extensive research of dozens of sources, documents and correspondence, all carried out for a book, Hostages: 843 Days of Abandonment, written by Shlomi Eldar and Ruth Yuval.

"To his surprise however, the prime minister reacted with relative calm," Haaretz reported. "Netanyahu said that, in his assessment, Hamas intended to operate in the West Bank area, and he reassured bin Zayed that Israel was prepared for any scenario."

The report went on to recount that the Emirati leader relayed the conversation he had with Netanyahu to the then CIA director William J Burns. It also said Netanyahu failed to brief the heads of Israel's Shin Bet domestic security agency and Mossad intelligence agency, as well as the Israeli army's chief of staff about his conversation with the UAE president.

The report was published on the same day that the UK announced sanctions on illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank. The decision angered the Israeli government, which announced several countermeasures, including ordering the closure of the British consulate in occupied East Jerusalem.

But while that development made international headlines, it was the Haaretz story that led the news in a country getting ready for elections.

Netanyahu's Likud Party accused Haaretz of "blatant foreign interference in Israel's elections", while the prime minister said on X that the story had "clear political timing, as part of the left's election campaign".

Lawyers for Haaretz responded to Netanyahu's plans to begin legal proceedings, saying they would not be deterred by what they described as the prime minister's attempts to silence journalistic criticism.

The lawyers' letter stated that the report was "the product of an in-depth journalistic investigations and is based on sources pertaining to an issue of paramount public importance".

"In the absence of a full accountability to the public on behalf of your client, the press fulfils its role and exposes step by step the information to the public," it added.

While the UAE has not addressed the conversation specifically, it did not deny it either, issuing a statement emphasising that, since the attack by Hamas, it has worked towards de-escalation, regional stability and preventing violence.

"UAE and Israeli government entities have maintained open and direct lines of communication since the inception of the relationship more than five years ago," the UAE's ministry of foreign affairs said in a statement after the publication of Haaretz's report. "When necessary, all relevant intelligence has been and continues to be communicated between the relevant entities."

Four of Israel's main opposition leaders issued a joint statement demanding an investigation into what happened.

"Netanyahu and his partners in the 7 October government are unfit to continue in office," said Gadi Eisenkot, Naftali Bennett, Avigdor Lieberman and Yair Golan.

"We will work with the co-ordination and responsibility required to prevent them from leading to another disaster."

Lightning Houthi advance in Yemen may bring dangerous new dimension to Iran war

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3v4zgzr1kxo, 2 days ago

The Houthis' lightning advance across the southern reaches of the Tihamah – Yemen's arid coastal plain – appears to have taken most observers by surprise.

Until recently, the anti-Houthi coalition known as the National Resistance held significant territory along Yemen's Red Sea coast. In a matter of days, much of this has fallen to the Houthis.

According to some estimates, the Iranian-backed rebels have captured as much as 130km (81 miles) of the country's strategically important coastline.

It's the group's most impressive military coup for several years, proving that despite a civil war that has lasted 12 years, devastating Saudi air raids and attacks by American, Israeli and British forces, the Houthis remain a force to be reckoned with.

With their opponents stunned and demoralised, it's unlikely the Houthis will be dislodged any time soon.

"Now that they are there, they're going to be entrenched," Hisham al-Omeisi, senior analyst at the Brussels-based European Institute of Peace, told the BBC. "And it's going to be a lot more costly to push them out."

Of course, the Houthis are not alone. They enjoy the backing of Iran, support that has become even more important for Tehran in the wake of the setbacks and defeats experienced by other parts of its so-called "Axis of Resistance" – Lebanese Hezbollah, Hamas in Gaza and the Assad regime in Syria.

"So they redirected their support to the Houthis," al-Omeisi said. "And of course they need that support."

Even though most analysts agree that it's a mistake simply to describe the Houthis as Iranian puppets, events of the past few days raise an uncomfortable new reality.

Seven months after the US and Israel launched their huge, combined assault on Iran, the regime in Tehran now exerts authority over not just one, but two of the world's most important maritime passages: the Strait of Hormuz, at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, and the Bab al-Mandab, gateway to the Red Sea (and the Suez Canal).

"Now Iran, directly and through proxies, controls two of the most strategic choke points in the Middle East and the world," says Farea al-Muslimi, a research fellow at London's Chatham House think tank, "controlling more than 35% of the fuel and oil trade globally."

"This is as much leverage as a nuclear bomb," he says.

If the Houthis have also taken control of several key islands in the Red Sea, including Perim - which sits in the middle of the narrowest point of the Bab al-Mandab - then the group's ability to interfere with international shipping will be greatly enhanced.

As the group's actions in the wake of Israel's war on Gaza proved, shipping in the Red Sea is highly vulnerable to Houthi missiles, drones and small attack boats.

"They were able to control what was going in and out of the Bab al-Mandab and up towards Suez without having these territorial gains," Yemen expert Iona Craig told BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Friday.

"But of course now they're controlling the area immediately overlooking the Bab al-Mandab, and this gives them far more leverage."

Shipping companies are likely to be sceptical about the sincerity of a statement released on Friday afternoon, in which the Houthi military said that maritime navigation was "safe for all companies except for Saudi vessels, which have already been subject to a blockade".

In their earlier attacks, the Houthis said they were only targeting vessels linked to Israel, but in fact hit ships with no such connection, including a Norwegian-flagged tanker.

Craig said the Houthis may nevertheless refrain from indiscriminate attacks, fearing a repeat of Operation Rough Rider - six weeks of major US air and naval strikes in the spring of 2025.

"They've already felt the wrath of the US," she said.

But would the US want to get involved anyway?

President Donald Trump's war with Iran is already unpopular. With oil prices creeping back up, it's doubtful that a new front would do much to enhance his approval ratings or his Republican party's chances in November's midterm US elections.

According to the Axios website, appeals for US intervention from the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman have so far gone unanswered.

Axios writes that the US "is increasingly concerned about the escalating conflict in Yemen and is working to intensify its support for the kingdom while simultaneously seeking to avoid direct military involvement".

But it's not just the potential threat to the Bab al-Mandab that's causing fear in Saudi Arabia.

Satellite images of an apparent Houthi missile-and-drone attack on Saudi Arabia's East-West pipeline – a vital alternative route for oil exports following the closure of the Strait of Hormuz earlier this year – point to an effort by Iran's Yemeni allies to add to the economic pressures generated by the US-Israeli war with Iran.

Even if Iran did not directly order the attack, it clearly stands to benefit.

Baraa Shaiban, a researcher and analyst at the London-based Royal United Services Institute, says the origins of the latest upsurge in fighting – the worst since a United Nations-brokered truce in 2022 - can be traced back to July, when a Houthi delegation returned from the state funeral of Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

"Immediately after, the escalation started," he says, "and it looked very clearly that [Iran was] determined to now have a bigger foothold on the Red Sea".

With Yemen teetering on the edge of a return to all-out war, Saudi Arabia anxious about preserving its economic lifeline to the Red Sea and Donald Trump apparently reluctant to get involved, America's conflict with Iran just took on a new and potentially dangerous dimension.

For the people of Yemen, displaced, bombed, starved and impoverished by a dozen years of civil war, recent developments can only make their lives worse.

Algeria to sever diplomatic ties with UAE

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2zpgpngvpo, 3 days ago

Algeria is severing diplomatic ties with the United Arab Emirates after "provocative or hostile" acts by the Gulf state, its foreign ministry said.

"Algeria spared no effort to draw the Emirati side and warned it of the dire consequences that could result from its regrettable and unjustified behaviour," it said.

The statement did not provide any details on why Algeria has taken this step, but relations between the two countries have soured in recent years amid a series of regional disputes.

There has been no direct response from the UAE, but the president's diplomatic advisor said ties are not based on "riddles and signals that require decoding".

"Diplomatic relations are managed through rationality, communication and clarity of interests", Anwar Gargash wrote on X.

While he did not single out Algeria in his post, he said successful diplomacy was built on understanding and management of interests and differences.

"Ambiguity is not a policy, and noise does not compensate for the absence of vision," Gargash added.

The Algerian foreign ministry's statement - shared by state media - claimed that the UAE's behaviour had reached a point where it could no longer be tolerated, and that it had "exhausted all means of preserving bilateral relations".

The UAE ambassador was summoned to the ministry, where he was informed of the decision and told he had 48 hours to comply, it added.

The two countries' relations have increasingly become strained over recent years due to their opposing positions on several regional issues.

Algeria rejects the normalisation of diplomatic relations with Israel, which the UAE and Morocco - Algeria's neighbour and rival - have established ties with under the US-brokered Abraham Accords.

The UAE also supports Morocco's claim over Western Sahara in a decades-long dispute over its sovereignty, while Algeria has given its backing to the Polisario Front, an armed group which seeks an independent state there for the Sahrawi people.

Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.

Iran war won't end until after crucial November elections, says Trump

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5ydld0gykpo, 4 days ago

US President Donald Trump has said he does not think the Iran war will end until after November's midterm elections, adding that oil prices will not come down until then.

"I think the war's going to end immediately after the election because they can't hold out any longer," Trump said of Iran's leaders on Wednesday.

He made the comments as he headed to Texas for the Republican Party's first midterm election convention – and repeated them there, arguing that short-term economic pain was worth it to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

Trump is facing falling polling numbers and pressure from within his party to end the war, which began when the US and Israel attacked Iran in February.

The conflict rapidly spread across the Middle East, as Iran retaliated by launching missiles and drones at Israel and Arab states hosting US military facilities.

The price of Brent crude oil, the global benchmark, has risen above the $100 (£74) mark three times over the past six months, with Iranian attacks forcing production stoppages in Gulf states and disrupting exports through the vital Strait of Hormuz waterway.

The US has also imposed a naval blockade on Iran's ports and has recently begun striking Iranian tankers in response to attacks on warships and other vessels.

"Right after the election, oil prices are going to be tumbling downward," Trump told reporters. "I think it's going to take a little bit longer than the midterm."

He added that Iran was "desperate to try and affect the election, so that we can get a nice weak group of people in there" – an apparent reference to the Democrats – "and leave them alone and let them have their nuclear weapon".

He provided no proof of the election claim. Tehran has repeatedly denied it is seeking nuclear weapons and insisted its nuclear programme is solely peaceful.

At the convention in Texas, Trump echoed some of these lines, saying the price of oil would tumble "as soon as we win the war with Iran".

In his speech, he also referenced dissatisfaction among some Americans on the issue: "Guys come up to me and say, 'I wish you didn't do the war in Iran. Now gasoline is up'".

Trump also said further negotiations with Iran could possibly happen, "but it's not something we're looking at".

The US president initially predicted the war, which is now in its seventh month, would last only a matter of weeks. The conflict, and its knock-on effects on everything from fuel to groceries, has led to a steep decline in his approval ratings – and pressure from those within his party, including staunch supporters, to quickly end the war.

Midterm elections will be held on 3 November, and Republicans are in danger of losing control on Congress.

At the convention, Trump sought to energise the party ahead of November. Historically, a sitting president's party tends to lose seats in Congress in the midterm elections.

Fighting in the Middle East has intensified in recent days, as oil facilities throughout the region come under attack, driving up the global price of fuel and other goods that require shipping.

The price of oil hit $100 a barrel on Wednesday for the first time since July. Similarly, earlier this week the price of US diesel hit an all-time high, which is likely to cause a ripple effect on prices across the US.

There are also predictions that the rising fuel costs could lead to higher interest rates.

On Tuesday night, the US military said it had attacked and destroyed five oil tankers with ties to Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) in the Gulf of Oman and the northern Gulf.

The IRGC, in response, said early on Wednesday that its naval forces had attacked two US Navy destroyers and eight oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, causing "heavy damage" to the vessels. Centcom denied its warships were hit.

The IRGC also said it had launched ballistic missiles at US military maintenance facilities, hangars and aircraft at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan.

Jordan's armed forces said they intercepted 20 Iranian missiles and that two other missiles fell in unpopulated areas with no casualties reported.

Later on Wednesday, sources told CBS News, the BBC's US partner, that several US fighter jets at the air base were damaged in the Iranian strikes.

One A-10 Thunderbolt aircraft was hit and was missing a wing, and about eight F-15s sustained light damage, according to people familiar with the matter.

Explosions were reported in southern Iran on Wednesday night, but Iranian official sources denied they were US strikes, saying the sounds came from the sea.

In a separate development on Tuesday, the Iran-backed Houthi movement in Yemen launched a wave of missile and drone attacks on south-western Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, causing fires at several oil facilities.

Saudi media reported more Houthi attacks on the kingdom on Wednesday, citing a military spokesman as condemning missile and drone strikes on the cities of Khamis Mushait, Abha and Jazan.

The Houthis have said they are retaliating for days of Saudi air strikes on their territory in western Yemen, where a four-year-old informal ceasefire has collapsed.

Houthis claim major advance in Yemen and tighten grip on Red Sea shipping lane

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c23x72yx2rvo, 2 days ago

Yemen's Houthis have claimed a major advance on the western Red Sea coast, consolidating their grip on the key international shipping route.

The Iran-backed group seized Perim Island at the mouth of the waterway in the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a source from Yemen's internationally recognised government told the BBC.

It comes a day after the Houthis captured the strategic port city of Mokha from Saudi-backed pro-government forces, according to military sources. A Yemeni military official told the AFP news agency the Houthis now control the entire coastline.

The Houthis earlier said they posed no threat to international shipping but reiterated their threat to target vessels from Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the country's de facto ruler, has personally pressed US President Donald Trump to take military action against the Houthis during their rapid advance, two sources familiar with the matter told CBS News - the BBC's media partner in North America.

Trump has so far declined to involve the US military directly, offering instead to assist with intelligence and targeting support, the sources said.

A senior Trump administration official later told the BBC: "We are in continuous dialogue with Saudi Arabia and the Republic of Yemen government regarding regional stability."

On Friday, Yemeni pro-government forces withdrew from Perim (also known as Mayyun).

Witnesses and news agencies reported that Houthi forces moved on to the island.

The Houthis later issued a statement, saying that their military operation to expel Saudi-backed forces had been a "success" and that "maritime navigation is safe for all companies except for Saudi vessels".

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said the "large-scale" military operation was launched on 3 September due to Saudi Arabia's "blatant aggression" against "our dear people".

Sarea also said the Houthis had expelled "Saudi enemy" forces from six districts in the Taiz and Hodeidah regions, claiming that hundreds of troops had been killed, wounded or captured.

The Houthi statement, however, did not mention Perim Island.

Saudi Arabia has not publicly commented on the latest developments.

Perim Island sits at the narrowest point of the Bab al-Mandab Strait, which has become increasingly important following the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz - another crucial waterway - in the conflict between the US and Iran.

Saudi Arabia has been relying on the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab Strait for shipping oil to customers in Asia.

The escalation of the conflict between the Houthis, Yemen's government and Saudi Arabia has contributed to a surge in oil prices.

Hundreds of people have reportedly been killed and thousands displaced in Yemen since the Houthis launched an offensive in the south-west a week ago.

A Saudi-led coalition has also carried out air strikes on Houthi-controlled areas in western Yemen in support of the pro-government forces, and the Houthis have launched missiles and drones at cities and oil facilities in southern Saudi Arabia.

The Saudi foreign affairs ministry said on Friday that drones from Iraq had targeted the country's East-West oil pipeline, forcing it to be closed as a "precautionary measure" and injuring several people.

Iraq's government condemned the attack and its prime minister has launched an investigation.

In a statement, the prime minister's office said the operations commander in the Maysan governorate - a province which borders Iran - had been removed from his post following confirmation the drone attack had originated from that region.

Saudi Arabia's foreign ministry said that, following a call from Iraq's prime minister, it had chosen not to respond to the attacks at this stage.

At least 46,000 people have been displaced in Yemen since fighting escalated with Yemen's government and Saudi Arabia, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

On Friday, the IOM said the number was "alarmingly rising by the hour".

Amy Pope, IOM director general, said: "Families are being forced to flee for the second or third time in this conflict, with almost nothing left."

The Houthis ousted the internationally-recognised government in 2015, triggering Saudi military intervention in the civil war.

The group currently control much of Yemen, including the capital Sanaa. A truce that had largely held for more than four years effectively collapsed in July.

Iran referred to UN Security Council for nuclear non-compliance

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckgwj4kl5lno, 4 days ago

The UN nuclear watchdog has referred Iran to the Security Council for "non-compliance" with its obligations under the non-proliferation treaty - the first such move in 20 years.

The board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) passed a resolution at a meeting in Vienna.

It cites a lack of information on Iran's nuclear material such as its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, and the lack of access to nuclear facilities for IAEA inspectors.

Tehran condemned the IAEA decision, blaming US and Israeli strikes on its nuclear facilities for disrupting inspections.

New sanctions are nonetheless unlikely because Iran's allies China and Russia have veto powers in the council.

The IAEA resolution - tabled by the UK, France, Germany and the US - was backed by 23 countries, with eight abstentions. China, Russia and Niger voted against.

The document asks IAEA chief Rafael Grossi to report Iran to the Security Council.

Iran had repeatedly warned the IAEA against passing such a resolution.

"They attack Iran's safeguarded nuclear facilities, disrupt the normal process of verification, and then use that very disruption as a pretext to issue a resolution," Iranian deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi wrote in a post on X.

The IAEA has not had access to Iran's nuclear facilities since Israel and the US carried out a number of strikes on those sites during a 12-day conflict in June 2025.

The sites were targeted again in the latest war, launched by Israel and the US on 28 February.

Iran says the attacks on its facilities, including uranium enrichment plants in Natanz and Fordo, are the reason it does not let IAEA inspectors visit these sites.

Tehran also wants such access to be part of a wider settlement with the US and Israel to end the war.

Iran has repeatedly stated that its nuclear programme is solely for peaceful purposes.

The US, Israel and a number of European countries have questioned this claim, amid concerns that Tehran is trying to build a nuclear weapon.

At the start of the latest US-Israel war against Iran, Tehran had roughly 440kg (970lb) of 60% enriched uranium, according to senior US officials.

The material can be fairly quickly enriched to the 90% threshold needed for weapons-grade uranium.

Muted US response to UK's West Bank sanctions may reflect simmering frustration

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cevw2lxnwk9o, 4 days ago

As the UK unveiled sanctions against Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, Israel responded with fury, declaring it would shutter Britain's diplomatic mission to the Palestinians, kick out UK military staff from an international coordination base near Gaza and ban nearly a dozen left-wing British members of parliament from entering Israel.

It was a blaring signal of defiance and a remarkable diplomatic escalation.

The UK had taken the action arguing it had a moral imperative to stop the "destruction" of the two-state solution - a future independent Palestinian state - at the hands of the Israeli government. It accused Israel's government of turning a blind eye to the "ethnic cleansing" of Palestinians by settlers.

The standoff, which by the afternoon extended to a further 11 mostly European countries set to join the settlement trade ban, raised a crucial question: When Israel becomes isolated, the US as its superpower backer often steps in to provide a diplomatic shield. Was the US, too, going to condemn Britain's policy?

Such a reprimand had been previewed by some observers. It felt even more likely when the US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, appeared on the BBC before the UK announcement suggesting American "sanctions, repercussions or retaliations" could be coming for Britain, albeit that he didn't know what these were and hadn't spoken to President Trump.

But as Tuesday wore on, Washington's response was notably muted.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, asked about the UK move by reporters on the way to Colombia, said: "Obviously, we're not going to do what the UK did. We saw their announcement today but I don't have any comment on it right now."

He added that Britain had notified the administration ahead of time (most likely during a phone call Trump had with UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham on Monday) and said the US shared "the goal of stability" at a tense time in the region and didn't "want to see some uptick in violence… in the West Bank".

It was hardly a withering rebuke of the British move, let alone any kind of punishment. In fact, Washington seemed to be sharing some of the concerns that motivated the move.

Asked about it on Wednesday, Trump said he would be speaking to Israel to understand their thinking, adding: "I understand exactly what's going on, but I want to find out why all of a sudden has that happened."

My understanding is that discussions about the US response were taking place at a high level within the administration on Tuesday. The baseline position appeared to be against any moves that could negatively impact American companies.

Huckabee, who has longstanding views based on biblical justifications for Jewish settlement in the West Bank, appeared to be speaking off the cuff in some of his public remarks - a feature now common for some Trump-appointed ambassadors.

Staunchly pro-Israel Republicans in Congress were very publicly arguing for actions against Britain; pointing out that US states like Florida have punitive laws against companies that boycott Israel. But from the White House and State Department, more targeted criticism of the UK did not materialise.

It is still possible the administration will come out with some condemnation of the British move in the coming days. But the lack of any urgent pushback is likely to reflect current frustrations within the Trump administration at the Israeli leadership.

Trump's biggest foreign policy priority currently is trying to prevent the crisis worsening in the Strait of Hormuz, now the focal point of his stalemated war with Iran. His joint attack with the Israelis has left numerous friction points in his complex relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

At critical moments when Trump tried to reach a deal with Tehran, Netanyahu escalated fighting against Hezbollah in Lebanon. Israel has said it was acting against threats to security, but the moves had the potential to derail US diplomacy.

Meanwhile, Trump wants progress on his Gaza peace initiative, involving disarmament of Hamas and Israeli military withdrawal. Netanyahu has publicly rejected the plan in its current formulation.

Officially, the State Department referred me to Rubio's comments in Miami in relation to the UK announcement. But all told, Trump appears unwilling to come out to bat for Netanyahu currently.

This has extended to him so far not endorsing Netanyahu in the upcoming Israeli election. The administration, aware of splits within Trump's base of support on Israel, has also itself grown irritated at the extent of settler violence in the West Bank, given the lack of action by the Israeli government to meaningfully punish it. This is embarrassing for the White House.

West Bank violence against Palestinians is frequently the subject of protests from Trump's Gulf Arab allies - the countries mediating on Gaza, who Trump needs to pressure Hamas. They wonder how the US can draw concessions from the Israelis in relation to this if it can't on settler violence in the West Bank.

Trump eyes a legacy prize in both defeating Iran and moving forward with his Gaza peace plan - so batting for Israel against Europe over West Bank settlements seems to be, for Trump - so far, at least - juice that is not worth the squeeze.

Oil hits $100 a barrel for first time since July after US and Houthi strikes

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cyvznqypz0yo, 4 days ago

Oil prices rose to $100 (£74) a barrel on Wednesday, after the US and Iran attacked tankers in the Gulf region and Yemen's Houthis hit oil facilities in Saudi Arabia.

Overnight, the US said it struck five Iranian tankers in retaliation for Iran's targeting of a warship, while Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they attacked eight tankers and two warships in response, as well as a US base in Jordan.

The Guards also said they planned a new "prohibited zone" for shipping that extended beyond the Strait of Hormuz into the Arabian Sea.

The Iran-backed Houthis reported dozens of Saudi strikes in Yemen, a day after drone and missile attacks caused fires at several oil facilities in Saudi Arabia.

The escalating conflicts pushed the price of Brent crude, the global benchmark, to its highest level since late July, when Iran and the US resumed hostilities after a one-month lull.

A barrel was priced at $100.70, up 2.83% compared to Tuesday, on Wednesday afternoon.

Before the US and Israel's war with Iran began in February, Brent crude had been priced at about $70 (£52) a barrel.

But Iranian missile and drone attacks on commercial shipping and a US naval blockade of Iranian ports resulted in the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz waterway in the Gulf, through which 20% of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipments usually pass.

The Houthis have also been targeting Saudi energy infrastructure and tankers in the Red Sea since July, when a four-year ceasefire in Yemen began unravelling.

The rising oil costs have sparked leaps in petrol prices around the world for motorists.

The US military's Central Command (Centcom) said early on Wednesday that its latest strikes destroyed four Iranian oil tankers linked to Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) in the Gulf of Oman - Kaviz, Charminar, Horizon 1 and Riesco - and a fifth tanker - Derya - near Kharg Island, in the northern Gulf, which hosts Iran's main terminal for exporting oil.

US forces directed the crews to abandon ship before the vessels were struck, it added.

Centcom said the attacks came after the IRGC launched ballistic missiles at a US warship in the region twice in two days. It added that the warship "successfully evaded" the missiles and that no American troops were harmed.

The IRGC said its Aerospace Force launched missiles at US maintenance facilities, hangars and aircraft at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan overnight in retaliation for the US strikes.

Jordan's armed forces said they intercepted 20 Iranian missiles and two others fell in unpopulated areas, with no casualties were reported.

Later, the IRGC said its navy also attacked two US Navy destroyers and eight oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, causing "heavy damage" to the vessels.

Centcom said the claim that the IRGC struck two of its warships was false.

The UK Maritime Trade Operations agency said it had received reports of several merchant vessels in the northern Gulf and the Gulf of Oman being "subject to disabling fire as part of ongoing military activity in the region".

It also reported that one vessel 24 nautical miles (45km) north-west of Port Rashid, in the United Arab Emirates, was seen "listing while at anchor, possibly indicating water ingress following an attack from an unknown projectile".

Iraqi authorities said they extinguished a fire on a Panama-flagged tanker, New Andros, that was carrying two million barrels of fuel oil when it was hit by a drone in the Gulf.

On Wednesday afternoon, IRGC spokesman Hossein Mohebi told Iranian state TV that it would soon announce the co-ordinates for a new "prohibited zone" covering "part of the Sea of Oman and another part of the Arabian Sea, along the route that can lead to the Strait of Hormuz".

"If a vessel enters that area without co-ordination, it will be subject to our sanctions," he said.

When asked by reporters about the latest tit-for-tat strikes, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday that the situation was "pretty straightforward".

"Iran continues to try to hit US naval ships. And, for every time they do that or try to do that, they're going to lose tankers. And I think you'll see that again today," Rubio told reporters during a trip to Colombia.

The US strikes on Tuesday came hours after Iran's Navy said it had seized an uncrewed US submarine in the Strait of Hormuz.

US Navy Capt Tim Hawkins, a spokesperson for Centcom, said an "underwater drone operated by US forces malfunctioned more than a day ago" and that it had been used to survey regional waters.

Saudi Arabia and the Houthis, an Iran-backed group that controls much of north-western Yemen, have also been exchanging fire.

Following a wave of air strikes on Sunday and Monday, the Houthis accused Saudi Arabia of bombing a prison in Hazm. The group's military spokesman Yahya Sarea said on Wednesday that the bodies of 23 civilians had so far been pulled from the rubble.

On Tuesday, the Houthis launched dozens of drones and missiles at civilian and economic sites in the southern Saudi cities of Abha, Khamis Mushait, Jazan and Najran, injuring 73 civilians, according to Saudi authorities.

The attacks caused fires at oil facilities that led to a temporary halt in operations, they said.

On Wednesday, the Houthis reported more than 50 Saudi air strikes across territory they control in the provinces of Marib, Jawf, Taiz, Hudaydah, Saada and Bayda.

There was no immediate comment from the Saudi military.

There has also been heavy fighting on Yemen's south-western coast since Thursday, when the Houthis launched an offensive against Saudi-backed Yemeni pro-government forces in a bid to take control of the Bab al-Mandab Strait, which connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden.

More than 500 people have reportedly been killed and almost 20,000 displaced.

Chris Mason: Burnham looks to show he will go further than Starmer with West Bank sanctions

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3v439n5xlpo, 5 days ago

There is little doubt that the UK's decision to ban imports from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank is another significant shift in Britain's posture in the Middle East.

The announcement from the Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, with the Prime Minister Andy Burnham alongside him in the House of Commons, comes almost exactly a year after the UK formally recognised a Palestinian state. And it comes garnished with blunt language about Israel's conduct.

This latest announcement is both a logical extension of that decision of 12 months ago, senior figures argue, but also, in words and actions, an expression of Burnham's desire to go further than his predecessor Sir Keir Starmer was willing to.

It is, Miliband believes, a re-assertion of the logic of eventually arriving at a two-state solution – a viable Palestinian state alongside Israel.

The foreign secretary passionately argued that the UK did have agency and could act – and to do nothing would amount to failure. "A strategy of passivity in the face of what is happening is not a strategy," is how Miliband put it in an interview with Jewish News.

There is a pride among his team that after a diplomatic effort over the summer, there is a breadth to the coordinated international action on this, with 11 other countries, including France and Canada, sharing the same approach.

"We provided a convening and coordinating role in pulling this together," one source told me, "but we didn't have to convince others to do this. They were coming to the same view themselves, so we agreed we should all go out and say this at the same time."

The hope is that coordinated action increases the likelihood that the measures will have an impact and minimises the blowback to any one country from Israel or America.

UK officials had anticipated one likely reaction from Israel would be the enforced closure of the British consulate in Jerusalem, which has indeed happened.

And while there is a weary acknowledgement that no one can be certain what President Donald Trump might say next about anything ever, it is noted in Whitehall that the initial reaction of the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was pretty understated.

As for the domestic political context, plenty in the Labour movement and the wider British left have long clamoured for this to happen.

Around 140 Labour MPs went public with this demand at the beginning of the summer, and Burnham was explicit in his criticism of his predecessor's approach to the Middle East, writing in July: "Labour's initial response to the treatment of Gaza caused huge hurt. We got it wrong and I am sorry about that."

In recent years Labour has haemorrhaged support in many communities with a significant Muslim population, and so for a new Labour prime minister seeking to lure as many on the left – and beyond – under Labour's umbrella, this diplomatic intervention makes sense.

But the reaction of the Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, writing in the Jewish Chronicle, is a reminder of another challenge for Burnham, both political and societal.

"Once again, British Jews find themselves warning their own government that its relentless demonisation of the world's only Jewish state risks fanning the flames of antisemitism here at home," Badenoch said.

Later, the Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis said it was "truly a dark day for Britain's Jews".

Last October, as Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham was the local figurehead during the grim reality of an attack at the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue in the city.

Miliband has sought to address concerns about what Badenoch calls "demonisation" by making his view clear that "holding British Jews responsible for the actions of the Israeli government is antisemitism, pure and simple".

But Labour figures are keenly aware that at points in the last decade, under the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour Party's relationship with many British Jews was dire, a situation Starmer sought to rectify as a priority in the early years of his leadership.

In other words, the party's recent relations with many British Jews has been fragile for some time - and many in the community already felt vulnerable after last year's attack in Manchester, and the later arson attacks on Jewish community ambulances in north-west London in the spring.

Burnham has to manage that anxiety while making the case for the changing stance the government is announcing, in the weeks before he meets many of his international counterparts for the first time.

How could US-Iran conflict end? Three experts give their views

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgjql614glvo, 10 days ago

The prospect of an imminent agreement to end the conflict between the US and Iran again seems unlikely, with the warring sides exchanging strikes and uncompromising rhetoric.

The attacks come days after the US said it was moving into a new phase - a sweeping economic blockade against Iran and countries which trade with it.

The US aim was to force Iran to negotiate and to stop its attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. The key commercial shipping route has been effectively closed since the US and Israel started the conflict in February.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) the two sides signed in June and meant to result in a permanent ceasefire and a deal within 60 days has expired.

As the conflict enters its seventh month, we asked three experts for their thoughts on how it may play out.

US hopes military and economic pressure will weaken Iran's negotiating power

Jason Campbell, Senior Fellow at the Middle East Institute, Washington DC

The problem is we still do not know definitively what the US strategic objectives are in Iran. The White House is persistently re-evaluating what it is willing to live with from a political standpoint.

It was assumed the military component would be enough for a quick victory and that has not had the desired effect.

What we are seeing is different levers - both military and economic - that the US is trying to pull at.

Right now, the administration appears satisfied with some form of stasis. I think they are satisfied with maintaining the blockade and with allowing some periodic targeting against Iran's capability to upset the shipping lane in the strait.

US officials are hopeful that the new sanctions will be enough to compel the Iranian regime to come to the negotiating table in a weaker position.

US forces have seemingly been able to facilitate a sufficient trickle through the Strait of Hormuz in recent days to avert an oil-price shock or a global economic collapse. But those were not the US objectives when starting the war.

My sense is that Iran is likely to demand a high price to get to a resolution, which is likely to remain politically untenable for the Trump administration.

Iran will wait for US concessions

Dr Aniseh Bassiri Tabrizi, Associate Fellow with Chatham House's Middle East and North Africa Programme, London

I do not think the latest strikes really alter Iranian calculations on the war. I think Tehran is preparing for an increased squeeze on its economy, and a continuation of the on and off attacks which we have seen over the past couple of months. Their intent will be to respond to these attacks in a proportionate manner in order not to spiral a larger conflict.

On the economic side, obviously this is likely to hurt the Iranian economy which has already been affected by the war and has had underlying structural issues anyway, as we know from the December and January demonstrations in Iran.

But I do not feel like there is the sense from the Iranian side that the economic squeeze is going to alter the Iranian calculation any time soon, including on any negotiations.

That does not mean Iran is not looking for an off ramp, but I think what we are seeing is that it is waiting for the US to go back to the MoU, or to at least offer some sort of concession. Tehran does not want to cave in to US pressure or alter its own approach in response to sanctions or additional attacks.

US knows what to do - go back to the ceasefire deal

Nicholas Hopton, Distinguished Fellow in international security at the Royal United Services Institute think tank in London and former UK ambassador to Iran

The latest spike in military action is not going to produce Iran's capitulation - it is just the latest twist. Economic pressure is also unlikely to work because China, Russia and many other countries which trade with Iran are not going to support unilateral US sanctions.

Iran can continue to disrupt the Strait of Hormuz - they have a thumb on the jugular of the global economy.

What is the White House's exit strategy?

Well, the US has already found it. If Trump was able to put a sustained effort into negotiating the deal outlined in June's MoU, that is the off-ramp.

Not only would a deal give the US a kind of victory because it would weaken the hardliners in the Islamic Republic, but also reassure everyone that Iran is not going to get a nuclear weapon.

There is a silver bullet in the MoU which is the lifting of all US sanctions on Iran.

What lifting those sanctions would do over time is weaken Iran's powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC). Economic engagement between the outside world and Iran in a new way would gradually force radical political and social change - so you end up with an Islamic regime, but of a very different nature.

Of course, that would not be straightforward to achieve, because of extensive IRGC penetration of the Iranian economy. But it should work, if given enough time and if the US and its partners exercised strategic patience which, sadly, is in short supply at this point.

For the time being, I think we're going to carry on with a messy, inconclusive situation that is bad for everyone.

BBC travels inside occupied Lebanon as officials say Israel expanding positions

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cge41d19gq9o, 12 days ago

The drive on the highway by the Mediterranean in southern Lebanon, near the border with Israel, is scenic and, these days, desolate. Crops lie abandoned and buildings destroyed by Israeli air strikes, too many to count, are in ruins.

Near the town of Naqoura, a Lebanese military checkpoint, painted in the white-and-red colours of the national flag, is the last visible sign of the state's presence. Soldiers are positioned behind concrete walls, but the road is empty. A few minutes further south, around a dozen Israeli flags indicate the start of occupied territory. Unless authorised by Israel, no-one can enter.

This part of the country is the heartland of Lebanon's Shia Muslim community, from which Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militia and political party, gets most of its support. It has seen three invasions by the Israeli military in wars against the group in the last two decades alone. The most recent started in March, after Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel following the killing of the Iranian supreme leader, at the start of the US and Israel's war against Iran.

Last month, a BBC team joined a humanitarian mission of the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, known as Unifil, which is one of the only ways to visit the area under Israeli control. There, as it did in Gaza, Israel has flattened entire villages, and air strikes and demolitions have continued even after a ceasefire was announced in June.

Led by Finnish troops who are part of Unifil, the convoy was escorting civilians to and from Christian villages near the border. Those communities were spared from Israel's attacks and invasion during the war and, with the surrounding areas under occupation, are now cut off from the rest of the country. Our presence was allowed by the Israeli military through a deconfliction mechanism with the UN.

The strip of land currently controlled by Israel constitutes around 5% of Lebanese territory and, in some places, extends 10km (six miles) from the border. Driving along the wall that separates the two countries, we saw service roads built by Israel after the invasion, intense movement of Israeli soldiers and residential buildings that were being used by them. Some were covered in netting as protection from Hezbollah's explosive drones.

We also heard Israeli surveillance drones in the sky and explosions in the distance, possibly from demolitions being carried out by Israel in villages that are under occupation.

In a visit to occupied southern Lebanon last month, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said he had instructed the military to "take all necessary steps to prepare for a long-term presence in the area". Israeli officials say their goal is to establish what they call a "security zone" to protect communities in northern Israel from rockets and drones that have been fired by Hezbollah from southern Lebanon, as well as a possible ground invasion.

According to Unifil, the Israeli military has established four new bases in the invaded areas, bringing the number of such positions to nine. Israeli forces had remained in five points after invading southern Lebanon during the previous war against Hezbollah in 2024, in violation of the deal that ended that conflict.

"In the past months, we've seen the consolidation and fortification of Israeli positions, construction of protective infrastructure, and other engineering works," Kandice Ardiel, a Unifil spokeswoman, said. "We have [also] observed what appear to be Israeli civilian personnel carrying out demolition and engineering activities in support of military activities in south Lebanon."

Human rights groups say some of Israel's actions in southern Lebanon amount to the deliberate destruction of civilian infrastructure, a possible war crime. Hundreds of thousands of Lebanese remain displaced, without knowing when, or if, they will be able to return.

In response to our questions, the Israeli military said the buildings that had been destroyed were used by Hezbollah for military purposes, and that it operated in accordance with international law. It did not respond to other specific questions about its actions in the occupied areas.

In June, the US and Iran announced a preliminary deal aimed at ending their conflict, which included a cessation of the violence in Lebanon. Since then, a Lebanese intelligence official told me, Lebanon's military has recorded more than 5,000 violations of the deal by Israel, including air strikes, drone attacks, shelling and near-daily incursions of Israeli soldiers into Lebanese territory beyond the area under occupation, the so-called Yellow Line.

As it does in Gaza, the Israeli military justifies some of its attacks in Lebanon as operations against what it describes as immediate threats. In many cases, however, it is not clear how immediate these alleged threats are or if there is any threat at all. Hezbollah, which is considered a terrorist organisation by countries including the UK and the US, has not carried out attacks against Israel since the ceasefire came into force, but has targeted Israeli troops operating inside Lebanese territory.

"[The Israelis] are expanding their presence [in Lebanon]. They've [also] been setting areas ablaze, demolishing houses while the bombing continues, despite the ceasefire," the Lebanese intelligence official said. "It's clear that they don't want anyone to go back [to those villages] in the coming year, or even years. This isn't only about Hezbollah. This is about preventing people from returning."

Israeli officials have conditioned a withdrawal from Lebanon on Hezbollah's disarmament, something the Lebanese government cannot deliver without the group's consent. Hezbollah, observers say, is still a significant military force despite the setbacks in the recent wars. Both countries have held direct talks that resulted in a framework agreement brokered by the US: Israel would pull out of certain areas, called "pilot zones", where Lebanese army soldiers would be deployed and Hezbollah's disarmament would be verified.

Hezbollah opposes the efforts – the group's leader, Naim Qassem, called them "surrender with humiliation" last week – and says any discussion about its weapons should only happen after a full Israeli withdrawal. Israel, for its part, has claimed that the Lebanese national military, which rejects the use of force against the group saying this could pit Lebanese against Lebanese, has not done enough.

The plan has seen no progress, and there is no expectation of any significant change before the Israeli election at the end of October.

"The idea of the 'pilot zones' seems to be dead until the context changes," a European diplomat familiar with the situation told me. "It seems we're heading to a Gaza-like situation. The Israelis are entrenching themselves... and are here to stay, for now."

US aviator shot down over Iran recalls 'free-falling' in first interview since rescue

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy7zvxe1jm7o, today

A US Air Force officer has described "free-falling" to the ground with a damaged parachute after his plane was shot down over Iran, leading to a dangerous rescue operation.

"At one point when I looked up and saw no parachute, that was the most terrifying thing I've ever seen," said the aviator, who was not named in the interview with CBS News' 60 Minutes programme.

The segment, which aired on Sunday, is the first time one of the aviators involved in the April incident over Iran has spoken out about their ordeal.

The two US troops ejected from the damaged plane, were separated, and had to evade Iranian forces while they awaited rescue from US special forces.

"Free-falling is a good way to put it," said the US airman, who was identified by the name Bravo during the CBS segment.

"I wasn't focused on the speed at which I was falling. I was instead focused on trying to correct the problems that were in front of me and doing anything I could to unfurl or pull pieces of the parachute loose," he said.

He called his survival "a miracle", although he broke his back, shoulder and arm. The speed at which he hit the ground was "somewhere between 70 and 100mph (113 to 161km/h)".

The other US airman who was shot down, identified as Alpha, declined to be interviewed by CBS.

The $30m two-seat F-15E jet was taken down by a shoulder-fired missile, which costs around $100,000, according to CBS, the BBC's US partner network.

Bravo said that despite his injuries, he hiked and climbed to the top of a tall ridgeline, in fear of Iranian forces the whole way.

"Never let a lack of motivation put you on Iranian TV," he said.

Alpha was rescued within six hours, in an operation that involved intense fighting, said US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.

"It was a gun fight all the way in and all the way out," Hegseth said. "But they got Alpha back."

Bravo was rescued after 48 hours behind enemy lines.

At one point there were over 90 US service members on the ground inside Iran, said Central Command Admiral Brad Cooper, noting that it was the first time in 46 years that American forces were operating inside Iran.

But planes and helicopters needed to evacuate became stuck in the desert sand and needed to be destroyed while special forces awaited a backup rescue crew.

Two of the destroyed US aircraft were worth about $100m each, CBS says, noting that several "Little Bird" helicopters also needed to be destroyed so the technology would not be obtained by Iran.

The operation came about five weeks into the war against Iran, which was launched by the US and Israel.

Now in its seventh month, the war has become increasingly unpopular among the US public as it heads into campaigning season ahead of the congressional midterm elections in November.

Much of this dissatisfaction stems from a steep rise in global energy prices and the knock-on effects on other goods.

Last week, US President Donald Trump predicted that the war would continue until at least election day on 3 November.

Yemen's Houthis seize strategic Red Sea port of Mokha

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g7vr0lngwo, 3 days ago

Yemen's Houthis have seized the strategic Red Sea port city of Mokha from Saudi-backed pro-government forces, military sources and witnesses say.

The Iran-backed group said they posed no threat to international shipping but reiterated that they would target vessels from Saudi Arabia, which has relied on the Red Sea for oil exports since the US and Israel's war with Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf.

On Friday, pro-government forces also withdrew from Perim island in the Bab al-Mandab Strait, according to officials. Witnesses reported that Houthi forces moved onto the island.

The strait is the southern gateway to a key shipping route that links Asia and Europe via the Red Sea and Suez canal.

The escalation of the conflict between the Houthis, Yemen's government and Saudi Arabia has contributed to a surge in oil prices.

Hundreds of people have reportedly been killed and thousands displaced since the Houthis launched an offensive in the south-west a week ago.

Mokha residents said Houthi fighters moved into the city after fierce clashes with pro-government forces on Wednesday night, prompting many families to flee their homes.

"The takeover came without warning. Panic spread throughout the area, forcing people to flee amid distressing scenes of injured people lying in the streets with no-one there to help them," one man told BBC Arabic's Middle East Lifeline programme.

Another man said that Houthi fighters were patrolling the streets of Mokha on Thursday, while government offices and shops were closed.

"At the moment, we don't know what Ansar Allah will do," he added, using the group's formal name. "Everyone is afraid for their safety."

Many displaced families are heading east towards the city of Aden, where Yemen's internationally recognised Presidential Leadership Council and government are based.

"We fled with our children and kept running. We have no bedding, no home, nothing with us. Everything was destroyed within an hour. They didn't even give us a chance or warn us beforehand," one woman told BBC Arabic.

"We are women with no means of defending ourselves, and we have innocent children with us."

There was no immediate confirmation of Mokha's capture from the Houthis.

But the group's Supreme Political Council said in a statement on Thursday that clashes had "ceased in the western coast districts after the expulsion of Saudi enemy mobilisations", according to Houthi-run Al Masirah TV.

Tarek Salah, leader of the pro-government National Resistance Forces, also said he had moved his command centre on the west coast to a "safe location".

He added that his forces had paid "a heavy price in recent days in the face of a Houthi offensive that was planned and supported by Iran".

A Yemeni military source told AFP news agency that Houthi fighters had also seized Zuqar Island in the Red Sea, about 80km north-west of Mokha, after launching a barrage of rockets and a ground assault using boats.

On Friday, boats carrying Houthi fighters reached the island of Perim - also known as Mayyun - after government forces withdrew, a local government official told AFP.

They said: "The Houthis have completed their takeover of the Bab al-Mandab area and Mayyun Island, which is located in the middle of the strait."

Meanwhile, the head of the Presidential Leadership Council, Rashad al-Alimi, urged Arab states and other countries to help protect Yemen's coasts and restore state control.

The Houthis' Supreme Political Council asserted its "right to defend [Yemen's] sovereignty and territorial waters while simultaneously reassuring the international community that navigation in the Red Sea remains safe".

However, the Houthi-run humanitarian operations co-ordination centre also stressed that the embargo on Saudi ships remained in place.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said on Thursday that Saudi warplanes had carried out 64 strikes across the western provinces of Taiz, Hudaydah, Marib and Jawf over the previous 24 hours.

There was no immediate comment from the Saudi military.

However, the spokesman of the Saudi-led coalition of Arab states fighting in Yemen said on Wednesday evening that it would respond to a series of Houthi missile and drone attacks on the south-western Saudi cities of Khamis Mushait, Abha and Jazan.

On Tuesday, the Houthis launched dozens of drones and missiles at southern Saudi Arabia, injuring 73 civilians and causing fires at several oil facilities that led to a temporary halt in operations, according to Saudi authorities.

The Houthis said they were retaliating for dozens of Saudi air strikes on territory they control in recent days, including one on a prison in the town of Hazm in Jawf province on Monday that they said killed at least 23 civilians.

The Saudi-led coalition has backed Yemen's government against the Houthis in the country's devastating civil war for more than a decade.

A four-year-old informal ceasefire began to unravel in July, when the Houthis announced a "maritime embargo" against Saudi Arabia and began missile and drone attacks on Saudi airports, oil facilities and tankers in the Red Sea.

The Houthis said they were retaliating for a Saudi blockade of ports and airports in their territory, as well as an air strike on Sanaa airport that they blamed on the kingdom.

Oil, gas and borrowing costs surge as fears over Middle East escalate

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y48rz2nddo, 3 days ago

The price of oil has jumped to $105 a barrel amid signs the conflict in the Middle East will not be resolved quickly, fuelling fears that inflation could accelerate.

With the conflict between the US and Iran in the Gulf intensifying in recent days, the cost of both crude oil and gas has been rising sharply. Brent crude went back above $100 a barrel on Wednesday and has continued to climb.

The war has led to the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, preventing supplies of oil and gas from the Gulf from reaching global markets.

US and UK long-term borrowing costs also surged to their highest level in decades.

Speaking at a Republican Party convention in Texas on Wednesday, President Trump said he did not think the fighting would end until after the US mid-term elections in November.

Analysts said the combination of rising energy costs and higher borrowing costs was adding pressure on financial markets.

Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at trading platform IG, said investors were becoming increasingly concerned about the economic impact of higher oil prices.

"It feels like investors worldwide are now waking up to the crisis in oil markets," Beauchamp said. He warned that the surge in energy prices could weigh heavily on the global economy if it continues.

Concerns have also grown after Iran-aligned Houthi forces were reported to have seized Yemen's port of Mokha, a key Red Sea port.

The move could elevate fears of further shipping disruptions.

The price of natural gas has also been soaring on wholesale markets. In the UK, it rose above 200p a therm for the first time since the end of 2022.

Storage levels in Europe are much lower than normal for the time of year, and the need to fill reserves ahead of the winter has helped to push up prices.

UK consumers are protected from short term spikes on the wholesale gas markets by Ofgem's price cap. But if prices remain high for an extended period, households still face steeper bills.

The cap is already due to increase by 3.6% at the start of October, with the next change after that coming in January.

The increase in energy costs has in turn raised fears of a spike in inflation, and this has also pushed up yields on government bonds around the world.

In the UK, yields on 10-year bonds were at their highest since 2007 today, while those on 20- and 30-year bonds were at levels not seen since 1998.

This implies a higher cost of borrowing for the government, at a time when public finances are under pressure.

But it could also have a direct impact on households as well, as it affects the rates paid by consumers for some financial products, such as fixed-rate mortgages.

Spies, strategies and missed opportunities: How the lessons of 9/11 are still being learnt

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1l68gmqq24o, 3 days ago

The first duty of a government, countless leaders over the decades have said, is to safeguard its population. On 11 September 2001 the US manifestly failed to do that. The intelligence was there, yet tragically, nobody joined up the dots in time.

9/11, as the attacks on the US became known, came to define – along with the response – a generation of foreign, security and intelligence policy for the first two decades of this century.

On 11 September 2001, as al-Qaeda's suicide pilots flew those hijacked planes into the World Trade Center, I was just finishing a deployment in our Middle East bureau. As a Palestinian taxi driver drove me through the pine-clad hills west of Jerusalem to Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport he suddenly turned up the car's radio. "Something big has happened in America," he said. He wasn't exaggerating. 2,977 victims died that day.

The attacks did not come out of nowhere. The CIA had been aware of the al-Qaeda network and its exiled Saudi leader, Osama Bin Laden, for years prior to 2001. It even had a taskforce dedicated to hunting him down.

Nine days after the 11 September attacks, then US President George W Bush declared the "War on Terror".

In the ensuing 25 years there have been numerous intelligence successes as well as failures on both sides of the Atlantic. The successes include plots that have been foiled, suspects who have been arrested, brought to trial, convicted and jailed.

But what of the bigger picture? How has intelligence-gathering, counter-terrorism and strategic planning changed in the 25 years since the worst terror attack in US history?

A colossal intelligence failure

No one can question that 9/11 was a colossal intelligence failure, or to be more specific, a failure of imagination in the US intelligence community. At the time both the CIA and the FBI were in possession of information which, if shared properly, could have prevented what happened.

The 9/11 Commission Report that followed blamed "failures of imagination, policy, capabilities and management" on the US government. The CIA and FBI, the report concluded, failed to properly assess intelligence and share information with each other and take sufficient steps to disrupt the plot.

This most basic of lessons has since been largely – although not completely – learnt, and sharing between Western intelligence agencies is infinitely better than it was in 2001.

The old rivalries between say, MI5 and Police Counter Terrorism have dissolved, first with regional 'fusion centres' dotted around the UK and now, most recently, with the establishment of the high-security Counter Terrorism Operations Centre in London. Here MI5 intelligence officers might find themselves sitting literally right next to police officers whose job it is to take the executive action to stop a terrorist plot. Equally, they might find themselves sitting next to a US federal agent from the FBI or a language specialist seconded from GCHQ.

Since 9/11, there has also been a root-and-branch reorganisation of US intelligence with the establishment of a National Counter Terrorism Center just outside Washington DC and a Director of National Intelligence to ensure that information is shared where it needs to be between the 18 separate US intelligence agencies. The relationship between the CIA and its UK counterpart, the Secret Intelligence Service (better known as MI6) is perhaps the closest one in the world. This is supplemented by the Five Eyes alliance that pools intelligence between the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Yet disastrous failures of intelligence, assessment and strategic planning have still occurred since the planes hit the Twin Towers. In the run-up to the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, MI6 unwisely allowed its intelligence to be politicised, leading to the organisation suffering its worst reputational setback since the days of betrayal by the double agent Kim Philby and other Soviet moles in the 1950s and 60s.

Against a backdrop of overwhelming political pressure from Washington to produce evidence that Iraq, under its President Saddam Hussein, still possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs), MI6 supplied Prime Minister Tony Blair's government with what turned out to be flawed intelligence. Iraq did indeed have WMDs in the past, but it was all destroyed after the 1991 Gulf War.

Following the Iraq invasion of 2003, MI6 then underwent a complete revamp of how it assesses the raw intelligence, known as CX, that comes in from agents in the field. Today there is a clear separation between the agent runners - whose job it is to gather that intelligence from sources in places like Iran, North Korea or from inside proscribed terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda - and the reports team, whose job is to check and challenge that intelligence, often sending it back to demand more substantiation.

"The [2003] Iraq war was based on deeply flawed intelligence," says General Sir Richard Shirreff who served in Iraq as a divisional commander. "Have we learnt from it? No, I think we're bad at learning… It was so obvious as a Commander that we were heading for strategic failure".

After the Iraq invasion an inquiry followed once again, culminating in the Butler Review. This concluded that the UK's intelligence on Iraq's alleged WMD programme "was seriously flawed and heavily reliant on unverified sources".

The Security Service, MI5, has also had its own failures, amid numerous undoubted successes, in foiling terrorist plots. "After 9/11," says Lord Jonathan Evans, who ran MI5 from 2007-2013, "the assessment was that by far the most pressing security threat to the UK was the terrorist threat from al-Qaeda and associated individuals and groups".

But with a database back then of more than 20,000 "Subjects of Interest" and a high number of investigations running concurrently, MI5 faced – and still does – a daily challenge of which leads to prioritise. It has not always got it right.

In 2005 it failed to prevent the 7/7 London suicide bombings that killed 52 people. The Security Service was aware of Mohammed Sidique Khan, the man who turned out to be the ringleader, but it was unaware of what he was about to carry out. The Manchester Arena bombing of 2017 was another more recent lapse.

Today the threat from terrorism has not gone away but, says Lord Evans, "the picture has changed. Non-state terrorism remains a serious concern but state threats… have become increasingly serious and are at least as severe a national security concern as non-state terrorism. These threats come, in different forms, from Russia, Iran, their proxies and from China."

It could also be argued that US President Donald Trump's decision to join Israel in attacking Iran this year was a failure of intelligence imagination. All America's allies in the Gulf knew there was a serious risk Iran would retaliate by closing off the Strait of Hormuz. The warnings were all there and yet Trump appeared to lack a counter-strategy when Iran did exactly what it had threatened to do, causing huge disruption in global energy markets.

Moral calculations

In the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks there was a widespread fear that a second wave was coming. In fact al-Qaeda itself promised "a swarm of planes" that was going to attack more buildings. In the rush to pre-empt such an attack numerous human rights abuses were committed by the US and its allies. Suspects were swept up in Afghanistan or Pakistan, often on the flimsiest of tip-offs. Hundreds were flown, bound, blindfolded and wrapped in nappies, halfway across the world to a makeshift cage prison on the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where they were incarcerated without trial.

Human rights groups denounced this as a stain on the moral conscience of America.

Scandals over the abuse of prisoners in US custody in Iraq and Afghanistan have duly come to light and some of the individuals involved held to account, but critics say more senior figures escaped consequences. Nevertheless, the US still practices detention without trial at Guantanamo Bay, and when it deported more than 200 men from the US to El Salvador's controversial Terrorism Confinement Centre in 2025.

The immediate period after 9/11 had its stains on human rights for Britain too. In 2004, MI6 was complicit in the abduction and rendition of a Libyan Islamist, Abdelhakim Belhaj, and his wife from Thailand to Libya. There he spent years in prison and was tortured by Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's regime. The case eventually came to light and it resulted in a fulsome public apology delivered to Parliament by the Attorney General in 2018. Today, in-house lawyers are said to be the fastest growing department within the agencies.

Russia and China rising

"We spent the first 20 years of this century focussing almost entirely on counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency," said Sir Alex Younger, who was Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service from 2014-2020. The late MI6 Chief was speaking to me at a literary festival shortly after leaving the top job, adding: "We missed the rise of China as a military power and as a strategic challenge".

Similarly, General Shirreff wrote the political thriller "War With Russia" in 2016, in which he foresaw Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

In the aftermath of 9/11 and the ensuing "War on Terror" - while Western nations were busy fighting the Taliban, ISIS or trying to sort out the messy occupation of Iraq - Russia and China embarked on colossal rearmament programmes with innovations in hypersonic missiles, for example, that have seriously eroded the military advantage once enjoyed by Nato.

"The West's mistake was not simply that it was distracted by counter-terrorism after 9/11," concurs Sam Olsen, Chief Analyst at the security intelligence firm Sibylline. "It also misunderstood the nature of China's rise, assuming that economic integration would lead to political convergence."

China, just like Iran, Russia and North Korea, is considered a "hard target" for intelligence gathering. Back in 2001, biometric data was still in its relative infancy but the subsequent use of facial, iris and gait recognition have all contributed to the considerable modern-day challenge of getting agents and agent runners across borders undetected.

So how well – or not – does Western intelligence understand China?

Along with Russia, China today is a top intelligence target for MI6.

"Western intelligence understands a great deal about China," says Sam Olsen of Sibylline. "The bigger danger is that it sees the individual pieces without always understanding what they add up to. Chinese power is no longer just about ships, missiles and troops. It increasingly lies in semiconductors, critical minerals, batteries, ports, telecommunications and industrial capacity... So the problem is often less a failure of intelligence collection than a failure of strategic interpretation".

Twenty-five years ago, on the day of the 9/11 attacks, US intelligence agents did have pieces of the jigsaw – an analogy that spies love to refer to – but collectively, they failed to fit it all together and see clearly what was coming down the tracks.

It is no good having great intelligence gathering if you can't apply it for strategic gain.

A world beyond recognition

Clearly, the world of intelligence and counter-terrorism has changed almost beyond recognition in the quarter century since that cloudless blue September morning in New York. With the advent of AI and quantum computing it is only going to go on changing, and in some areas, at exponential speed.

However, in a world full of conflicting narratives and interests, Western nations do not have a monopoly when it comes to failures of intelligence, oversights or strategic miscalculations. Other noteworthy instances include Russia's disastrous full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and what some have described as Israel's "own 9/11" – the Hamas-led raid from Gaza on 7 October 2023.

Ultimately, it is in the big, strategic, national decisions that questions are still being asked. Was it right for Britain to join President Bush's invasion of Iraq? Was it right to join the US-led Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan and then abandon the country to the Taliban in a dash for the exit two decades later? These, and many other questions, continue to reverberate.

Lead image: Getty

The mystery of why so many black Britons still can't swim

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx27vxkpdz1o, 13 days ago

As I push through the doors, the smell of chlorine hits me. Instantly, I feel sick, and I remember why I don't go swimming. I'm getting ready for my first swimming lesson in over 10 years, trying to convince myself it won't be so bad.

Before I know it, I'm in the water.

I glance around the pool; I'm surrounded by other black women learning to swim, all at different levels. Some are confidently swimming lengths; others, like me, are learning how to feel at home in the water.

I'm learning to breathe properly, dunk my head under and let the water carry me, rather than fight against it. There are so many things to remember.

At the age of 27, I'm still unable to swim - and I'm far from alone.

Swimming ability is not spread evenly across the population; figures compiled by Swim England, swimming's governing body, based on a survey of 4,500 people suggest poorer people, for example, are much less likely to be able to swim, as well as Muslims, people of South Asian descent and children known to social care.

As a black woman, it's the figures for the black community that always jump out to me. Swim England's figures suggest that 67% of black women and 44% of black men in England cannot swim 25 metres unaided - far higher than the national average, and far higher than the numbers for white people (17% of white women and 12% of white men cannot swim 25 metres). Behind those figures, published in 2022, are very different stories.

Over Britain's record-breaking hot summer, we've seen a number of tragic deaths in lakes, rivers, and at sea, all of which will contribute to the UK's annual total of drownings. There's no official data yet for 2026, but in previous years we've seen black children and adults over-represented in the drowning figures (along with those other groups mentioned above).

I see this as a stark reminder: learn to swim. Across the UK, many children receive swimming lessons at school and in England all children are supposed to leave primary school age 11 able to swim. But just why are there so many black people, like me, who can't? It's a trend that's existed for decades, but one that has never been fully explained.

A myth with a long history

Everyone can float.

That was the conclusion of the University of Portsmouth, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) and the Black Swimming Association (BSA) in 2023; together, they set out to test one of the most persistent myths surrounding black people and swimming: that black people have denser bones than white people, which makes it harder to float.

It's an idea with a long history. European accounts dating back to the 15th Century recorded that many west Africans were highly skilled swimmers and divers. But racial exclusion from pools in some countries, like the United States, helped to create the idea that black people were poor swimmers. In 1974, only a few years after the end of segregation in the US, an article by two white doctors in a respected US medical journal asked: "Can Blacks Float?". They concluded that black people were simply less buoyant than white people.

In fact, the Portsmouth study found that bone density could not predict whether someone could float. Of the 101 participants in the study, 89 floated unassisted for two minutes.

The UK did not have the same system of formal segregation that the US had in the 20th Century. But Alice Dearing, a former Olympic swimmer and co-founder of the BSA, thinks that the US's history might have reverberated in parts of British culture too. Some black people have "ingrained within themselves to think that they can't swim", she says.

For Dearing, this is not just history. At 17, she says a coach used a racial slur about her to another swimmer. She later complained to her swimming club and school but ultimately decided not to take the matter further. "Why am I being victimised for swimming and for being black? It just didn't make sense," she says.

Experiences like these can shape how black people see themselves in the water. Heather Massey, a physiology professor at the University of Portsmouth who was involved in the floating study, says it's important to challenge those myths.

"If people believe they can't float, then they may be dismissing something that could eventually save their life," she says. "We need to make sure that we get the right information out there."

Parental influence

For most British children, swimming starts with their family. If parents swim, children grow up seeing the water as something familiar.

But if parents have not learned to swim - as is the case in some black families - then children are less likely to start swimming lessons at a young age.

I come from a family of non-swimmers: I'm one of five siblings and none of us can swim, neither can my parents. We still enjoyed days at the beach, but that usually meant walking along the coast or paddling in the shallows. Rarely did we go much deeper than knee height.

It's a pattern seen by Nathaniel Cole, co-founder of Swim Dem Crew, a swimming group encouraging more people of colour to get into the water. He remembers coaching children whose parents could not swim, and encouraging them to get into the pool with their children after lessons.

"But then the parents would be like, 'Well, I can't swim'," he says.

Cole says having parents who cannot swim can make the water seem dangerous. "Swimming underwater is something to be avoided. You don't go in there, there's danger. And unfortunately that's driven from parents that can't swim."

Dearing's experience was different. Her mother grew up swimming in the ocean in Accra, Ghana. "When she came over to the UK, she was going to make sure all of her children knew how to swim," she says.

Swimming was passed down in Dearing's family. In mine, it wasn't.

For those who never learnt as children, Cole says starting later can feel particularly exposing. "To be a beginner swimmer, you are humbled by the water," he says. "You have to be very vulnerable."

The role of class

The barriers to swimming start long before you reach the water.

For Kevin Hylton, emeritus professor of equality and diversity in sport at Leeds Beckett University, that started with his childhood. "I grew up in a working-class Caribbean family where swimming wasn't a thing that was done," he says. "We had almost zero leisure as a family together. It was done through school."

His three children had a very different experience. By then, he and his partner had more disposable income and lived closer to swimming facilities. He says the difference, in his case, was not ethnicity. "It's because of class. And also because of location and the proximity to swimming facilities," he says.

That gap is reflected in the figures. Sport England figures said that 47% of children and young people in the most deprived areas could swim 25 metres, compared with 69% in the least deprived areas.

Access to pools can make that gap harder to close. More than 500 public swimming pools have closed across the UK since 2010, with almost half closing since 2020, according to Swim England and ukactive, the trade body for gyms and leisure centres. The charity classes one-fifth of local authorities as "water deprived", meaning they don't have enough swimming pool space to match their population.

But even when you take class into account, there's still a particular problem among black people. In 2022 Swim England also looked specifically at those in the most deprived neighbourhoods. On average, 73% of adults living in those poorer neighbourhoods could swim 25 metres; but for black adults in those neighbourhoods, it was just 38%.

And there are other thorny cultural factors too. In a 2023 survey by the BSA of more than 1,400 people, 33% of black British respondents named issues around their hair as a barrier to getting in the pool. The BSA wrote that "traditional aquatic headwear", like swimming caps, "doesn't cater to children with longer, thicker afro hair, nor does it cater to traditionally Black hairstyles including braids, dreadlocks and twists with extensions".

'You're floating'

Back at my swimming class, I'm still struggling to hold down my fear.

Then something changes.

I'm floating, first on my front and then on my back. I'm doing things I never thought I'd be able to do. And somehow, I'm enjoying myself.

My fear started in primary school when I had compulsory swimming lessons. I would arrive armed with what I liked to call my anti-drowning armour: armbands, floats, goggles, and a swimming hat.

But it still wasn't enough to make me feel safe. There were dozens of children in the pool, all at various levels, and I remember feeling overwhelmed rather than taught. Swimming became something I associated with fear.

"See, you can do it, you're floating," my instructor, Omie Dale, tells me proudly.

Swimming is different from other sports; not learning the skill can have consequences far beyond missing out on exercise.

England's National Child Mortality Database found that black children were over three times more at risk of drowning as white children between 2019 and 2025. Putting ethnicity aside, risk was also more than twice as high for children living in the most deprived areas compared with the least deprived.

And Hylton points out another startling figure: 71% of children who drown (of any race) had been known to social care at some point in their lives, according to the Royal Life Saving Society UK (RLSS UK).

Hylton calls for more research into why these children are so much more likely to drown.

The cost of learning to swim

Standing at the edge of the pool, I wondered how different things might have been if I'd kept learning after school.

Dale says many of her students have also not had a lesson since primary school, leaving years to pass before they get another chance to build confidence.

Despite the fact that swimming is part of the national curriculum in England and Northern Ireland, financial pressures are making it tough; even just the cost of paying for a coach to a swimming pool is too much for some schools.

Dale believes getting black children into the water early, and giving them the chance to keep returning, can help. "We run free lessons and we get so many young people who are natural swimmers and just love the water. If we hadn't been there at that stage, they could have grown up thinking they can't swim."

Seeing yourself in the pool

Seeing people like yourself in the water can make a difference. But at the highest levels of swimming, black representation remains low.

In 2019, the BBC found that of the 73,000 competitive swimmers registered with Swim England, just 668 - less than 1% - identified as black or mixed race. (About 4% of England's population is black).

In 2020, Dearing became the first black British woman to represent Team GB in swimming at an Olympic Games, competing in Tokyo. Her achievement matters beyond the pool. Sport England research found that a lack of visible role models can reinforce negative stereotypes about the abilities of people from ethnically diverse backgrounds.

"No one wants to be the… only black person in the pool," says Cole.

When I got out of the pool after my lesson, I felt something I hadn't expected: I wanted to get back in. For years, I had accepted being unable to swim. It was easier to avoid the water than to confront something that had frightened me since childhood.

I'm still a long way from being a confident swimmer, but already the world feels a little more open to me: the sea, rivers and lakes; kayaking and paddleboarding.

Dale describes swimming as a "gateway", saying that once you learn, "it opens a whole new world".

At 27, I am not a swimmer. But I am ready to learn.

Top image credit: Getty.

Update 1 September: This article incorrectly stated that all children in the UK are supposed to leave primary school able to swim. It has been corrected to say the target applies to England only.

Aviation faces hotter, stormier skies – and passengers might have to accept more disruption

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm274p8m88lo, 8 days ago

As the country sweltered through one of the many heatwaves of a baking summer in late June, towering thunderclouds were gathering over the south of England and across much of northern Europe. It was a Saturday, and with the holiday season getting under way, thousands of passengers were heading to London's Heathrow and Gatwick airports to catch flights abroad. It was always going to be a very busy day.

What followed, however, was chaos for travellers. As air traffic controllers struggled to route aircraft around the storms, airspace became heavily congested and many planes due to fly were simply forced to wait on the ground. In the end, some 900 flights to and from both airports were delayed, some by up to 11 hours. Dozens more were cancelled. At airports across Europe, passengers expecting to fly into London also faced long waits and uncertainty.

The weather in the UK may now have cooled, and passengers may soon forget their experiences. But some within the industry believe what happened in June should be seen as a warning.

The timing in this case was clearly unlucky. But there are concerns that such incidents are only going to become more common as the effects of climate change mount up around the world and weather systems are likely to become increasingly unstable, making disruption more likely and adding to costs for airlines, airports and travellers.

Tim Atkinson, an airline risk consultant and former pilot, says the very crowded skies over the UK and northern Europe mean the region is particularly exposed.

He thinks there is a real risk, for example, that all of London's airports could be affected by storms at the same time, potentially with major consequences in the air and on the ground.

"What we're seeing now is very rapid climate change," he says.

"We're going from the kind of weather activity which takes out an airport, and which the system kind of copes with… to a situation where, with very little predictability, it would be possible to lose all of the London airports from real-time operation quite swiftly and with little notice".

Such a scenario, he thinks, would make the disruption for passengers caused by the incident in June seem relatively minor – and could even put lives at risk. But how likely is it?

Intense activity

For controllers at National Air Traffic Services's (NATS) main control centre in Swanwick, Hampshire, thunderstorms are a major preoccupation. When I visit, it is a hot and humid day, there are ominous dark clouds in the sky, and heavy, thundery downpours are hitting the surrounding region.

In Terminal Control, the part of the building responsible for flights heading to or from airports in London and southern England, those same storm cells are being monitored continuously. Their progress is tracked on large radar screens, while at the same time weather forecasts are carefully scrutinised.

Air traffic tends to come in waves during the day. Right now, at lunchtime, it is relatively quiet and the storms have yet to affect major routes. But with activity expected to intensify in the afternoon, staff are already preparing for what could be a tricky few hours.

Stormy weather can shrink the available airspace, meaning traffic has to be restricted and rerouted. If planes are unable to land at one airport, for example due to high winds, they may need diverting to another. But that can create its own problems; if too many unscheduled aircraft land at an already busy airport, it might not have sufficient infrastructure to accommodate them all.

Planes need fuel and somewhere to park. Passengers need food and facilities. Ultimately, if there isn't space, it can simply refuse to accept all but emergency traffic.

This is where the scenario set out by Atkinson comes in. He warns of a situation where traffic is diverted from Heathrow, Gatwick, Luton and Stansted at the same time, leaving aircraft coming in across the Atlantic and a large number of European flights all looking for somewhere to land at the same time, and some with dwindling fuel reserves.

This would at the very least create serious disruption for passengers, who might end up hundreds of miles from their destinations. But it could also, he thinks, create "a very serious risk event, such as an aircraft running out of fuel in the sky".

Aircraft are legally required to carry enough fuel to take them to an alternative airport if necessary, and to allow them to fly for an extra 30 minutes on top of that.

Not everyone shares Atkinson's concern. Former airline executive Andrew Charlton, who manages the Swiss-based consultancy Aviation Advocacy, thinks the risk is low.

"You've always got to imagine the worst-case scenario", he says. "But I also think we need to keep that worst case in context.

"Yes, it's possible to imagine it. But I'm also fairly comfortable with the ability of this industry to react well and make good decisions… of all the things that wake me up at 3am…this is not the top of that list."

Convective weather

Thunderstorms are caused by what is known as convective activity, where moist air close to the ground warms rapidly and rises quickly. As it rises, it expands and cools, allowing the moisture it carries to condense, forming large clouds. More heat means more convective energy, potentially creating instability. In addition, for every degree the Earth warms, the atmosphere can hold about 7% more moisture, increasing the probability of heavy rainfall.

It is not clear whether this means we will actually get more thunderstorms in the UK and across Europe, as so many variables are involved beyond the simple matter of energy and moisture. Some parts of the world may even get fewer. However, studies have shown that higher latitudes, particularly in the northern hemisphere, will see the biggest increases in favourable conditions for storms to form, and those that do may be more violent. According to the UK's Met Office, "while we may not see more thunderstorms overall, the ones we do experience could be more impactful".

Where possible, pilots will avoid flying through convective weather. Even though aircraft are designed to cope with severe conditions, storms can produce intense turbulence, capable of damaging the structural frame of the plane, as well as throwing people around the cabin if they are not strapped in. Hail can also be a big problem, potentially cracking windscreens or causing engine problems. So, however much inconvenience it may cause passengers, crews will invariably put safety first.

Onboard weather radars can help aircrew to see up to 320 nautical miles ahead. They also have access to live weather forecasting resources online. But thunderstorms can move quickly and, according to Prof Guy Gratton, an expert in aeronautics at Cranfield University, these systems are essentially "tactical rather than strategic". In other words, although they enable pilots to see storm cells on their screens from a relatively short distance away, and request a diversion, they do not allow for detailed long-distance planning.

The result is that unplanned diversions often happen late in flight, which is likely to mean burning more fuel. If storm delays do become more common, says Andrew Charlton, then aircraft will have to load more fuel as a matter of course, in case there is trouble brewing ahead. "Aircraft are going to have to fly further, and they're going to have to factor in the assumption they're going to fly further," he says. For an airline, fuel is one of its major costs – and if the fuel bill goes up, he says, it is inevitable passengers will pay more.

More intense storms would be likely to make air traffic management in busy regions harder and potentially lead to more delays and cancellations. However, it is possible some of this could be mitigated using new technologies.

Both Heathrow and Gatwick, for example, have moved away from mandating minimum distances between incoming aircraft in favour of a system which continually calculates spacing times based on wind speeds and aircraft types. In practice, this is meant to allow controllers to reduce the distance between landing aircraft, particularly in high winds, and get them on the ground more quickly. According to NATS, it has successfully improved landing rates and reduced delays by a significant margin.

However, there could be other effects from more severe storms as well. Heavier rainfall, for instance, increases the likelihood of flooding. In a worst case, this can paralyse airport operations, as happened in April 2024 when torrential downpours hit Dubai International Airport. It briefly had to close its runways, while disruption lasted for two days. More than 1,200 flights were cancelled, affecting tens of thousands of passengers.

But even if runways and taxiways themselves are clear, and aircraft are able to fly without any difficulty, passengers may struggle to catch their flights if roads, railways or car parks are flooded.

Protecting against such risks can be expensive. Gatwick Airport, which experienced severe flooding over the Christmas period in 2013, has spent tens of millions of pounds on mitigation strategies in recent years – although those figures are dwarfed by the more than £2bn it is expecting to invest in its current expansion plans.

Clear-air turbulence

The problem of clear-air turbulence is also a real one. It cannot be seen, and is becoming increasingly common as the climate warms.

This is when air moves violently at high altitudes with no clouds or other visual cues to help a pilot avoid it. For passengers, it usually only means a little bit of bumpiness, but occasionally it can be a lot more serious. On 1 March 2023, for example, a Lufthansa flight from Austin, Texas to Frankfurt encountered what the airline described as "brief but severe" turbulence.

Those aboard described how passengers and flight crew were thrown around the cabin as the plane suddenly lost altitude. After it made an emergency landing in Washington DC, seven people were taken to hospital.

While still rare, this kind of turbulence is already much more prevalent than it used to be and is likely to become even more so.

"You know the projections are pretty dire: doubling, trebling or worse in the amount of severe turbulence on many busy flight routes around the world," says Paul Williams, a professor of atmospheric science at the University of Reading. He says incidents over the North Atlantic have increased by 55% since 1979.

Nevertheless, he remains confident solutions can be found, including improvements to forecasting and making use of laser-based technology.

Sea levels rising

There is another climate-related threat to aviation, which may prove challenging to overcome: rising sea levels. When Hurricane Sandy arrived off the US East Coast in October 2012, it provoked a storm surge that flooded the city. The two runways at New York's LaGuardia airport were left under water for several days, preventing it from reopening even after the winds had subsided.

Significant flooding that would have affected the New York City area once in every 500 years in pre-industrial times is now experienced every 25 years or so – and could occur every five years by the middle of the century, according to one major study. That makes LaGuardia, built on reclaimed land next to Flushing Bay, appear highly vulnerable.

It is not alone. With some 40% of the world's population living within 100km of coastlines, many airports have been built on low-lying areas near the sea. According to research by Newcastle University, 269 airports around the world are already at risk of flooding due to rising sea levels, and that total is expected to rise. Among those potentially most exposed are the likes of Amsterdam Schiphol, London City, Bahrain International and Newark Liberty International.

Many airports do already have some degree of flood protection, especially larger ones. But stopping the flood risks from rising over the next century means expensive investment in flood defences, raising runways, or even moving airports. It could cost up to $57bn (£42bn) according to the Newcastle report. Such costs are ultimately likely to be met by taxpayers or by travellers.

The aviation industry is often criticised for its own contribution to climate change emissions. It faces a forbidding challenge in attempting to meet a target of being carbon neutral by 2050, while also accommodating growth that is expected to see the global aircraft fleet double in size over the next two decades.

Yet it is clear the impacts of climate change will also be felt by airlines, airports and inevitably by passengers -

"I think the best we can do is mitigate", says Andrew Charlton.

"We need to make sure we have enough space at air terminals for people whose flights are being disrupted and delayed, that we have enough hotel rooms and parking space and so on."

But ultimately, he says, "disagreeable moments are going to happen more".

Passengers, he thinks, will have to accept it as a fact of flying life.

Lead image: Getty

The overlooked factor driving the childhood obesity crisis

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c70de1ny92wo, 11 days ago

"I loved school. I loved to learn."

Ibbie, 16, always struggled with her weight, but it was during the Covid-19 lockdowns that she started eating even more. She was bullied by classmates over her size, and in her first year of secondary school she stopped attending completely.

Away from the routine of the school day, her weight problems worsened.

"When you are at home 24/7 it is very easy to go into the kitchen to get a snack. It's not the same if you are at school," says Ibbie, from Doncaster.

By the age of 12 she weighed nearly 22 stone (140kg) and was diagnosed with liver damage. "I was told that I might need to have a liver transplant if I didn't lose weight. That was scary to hear."

Ibbie's experience is one of the more extreme examples of children living with obesity in the UK – but her story is not unique. She is one of more than 6,000 children who have been treated at a pioneering weight-loss service for the most obese children in the country. These Complications from Excess Weight (CEW) clinics are a network of 39 specialist NHS hubs across England designed to treat severe obesity in children.

Some of the young people treated at the clinics have mental health problems and learning disabilities; others are neurodiverse or autistic.

But there's one characteristic that unites nearly all the children: they do not attend school.

The scientific picture is still emerging, but senior doctors who have spoken to the BBC say that school attendance is emerging as a key, overlooked factor in the battle against childhood obesity.

In the 2000s, when Jamie Oliver was touring British schools for his influential Channel 4 series, it was argued that children were getting fat from buying too many turkey twizzlers at the school canteen.

Now, it's being away from school that seems to be a problem, scientists say.

Fewer children in school

Childhood obesity has been rising in the UK for decades, and scientists have generally identified a simple culprit: increased consumption of junk food.

But then, in 2020, it became more complicated. While childhood obesity had been rising steadily long before the pandemic, the rates exploded during the lockdowns. The proportion of overweight and obese 10 and 11-year-olds rose from 35% to 41%, with poorer children disproportionately affected.

Although obesity levels have come down since, they have never returned to pre-pandemic levels. The most recent government data shows that one in 10 children starting school in England is obese, but that figure rises to one in five by the time children leave primary school.

Prof Ken Ong, the lead clinician at Cambridge University Hospital's CEW clinic, believes that the current high level of childhood obesity is rooted in the school time that was missed during the pandemic. "We do know that diets got worse. We do know that children did a lot less physical activity. We know that for many children, they became quite isolated being taken out of schools," he says. "I think these are the same factors that are and have been contributing to overweight and obesity."

It's well-documented that even short periods of time out of school, like the summer holidays, can lead to an increase in children's weight. And since the pandemic, fewer British children are attending school altogether. In 2019, about 10% of pupils at English state schools were classed as "persistently absent", meaning they missed at least 10% of classes. Now, it is 18%.

We don't have official, UK-specific data tracking the connection between obesity and school absence, but international research has historically suggested a connection. A meta-analysis published in 2017, which looked at research across seven countries, suggested that an obese child was 54% more likely to be absent from school compared to a child with a healthy weight.

Junk food and step counters

There has been no extensive research in Britain on why school absence might be causing obesity, but doctors who have spoken to the BBC have their theories.

One factor is diet. Since the 2000s - when all four UK governments passed laws to make school lunches healthier - it's become much harder to find high-sugar or high-fat foods in most canteens. At home, those restrictions don't apply. By 2010, a few years after the new laws were introduced, a study from the University of Leeds found that only 1.1% of home-packed lunches met the nutritional requirements that would apply to a meal bought by a child at school.

And a US study from earlier this year found that child obesity rose in states where a universal free school meal programme was withdrawn in 2022 (presumably because it prompted children to eat unhealthy food at home).

"While school food is not as good as it should be, there are some regulations around it," says Keith Godfrey, an epidemiology professor at the University of Southampton. "Whereas in the home environment, it's much more variable in terms of what children receive."

Exercise also matters. A British study from 2014 looked at step counts measured with electronic sensors, and found that most children are more active on school days than weekends.

Dr Catherine Falconer, a leading researcher who has looked at the link between child health and school absence (and who also works for the UK Health Security Agency), says there's "quite strong evidence that going to school has a big impact on health". She adds: "The very act of leaving the house and walking to school is beneficial."

The science is not yet settled, of course, and it can be difficult to disentangle cause from effect. School absence might be driving obesity - but it's also possible that obesity is making children miss school.

And everyone agrees that if school absence is causing obesity, it's just one of many causes. Other factors - like the proliferation of ultra-processed foods - also matter. And there are thousands of home-schooled children in Britain who maintain a perfectly healthy weight.

But scientists who have spoken to the BBC say they are confident that, at least in some cases, school absence is playing a key causal role.

"School attendance is key," says Prof Simon Kenny, NHS England's national clinical director for children and young people, and the man who launched the first CEW clinics in 2021. "I hadn't quite clocked how absent these children are not just from school but from life. You don't see them in the street or youth clubs or sports centres. They are outside of society."

And it can lead to unhappiness. Prof Julian Hamilton-Shield, a consultant paediatrician at the Bristol Royal Hospital for Children, says that the severely obese children he treats are "the most unhappy children I have come across".

Ibbie, the 16-year-old treated at Sheffield's CEW clinic, remembers some dark days. "The bullying got so bad… there was physical bullying as well as verbal," she remembers. "I had suicidal thoughts. It got to the stage where I actually tried to take my own life."

Extra snacks for obese children

So, how can the problem be fixed?

One approach is to send health workers directly into schools to deliver personalised health plans. The CEW clinics have tried just this approach.

Tessa Saunders, a family therapist at Cambridge's CEW clinic, says that schools should in some cases allow children to follow their own diet plans - even if it means breaking school rules. Obese children could be given extra time in the canteen, she says, to help them slow down their eating so their bodies have more time to feel full. And they could be offered an extra snack in the afternoon so they're not tempted to overeat when they get home.

She admits it might "seem weird" if obese children are given more food than other children. But, she says, "there's a reason behind it. It's not the mum trying to make her kid the special one."

She says teachers could also closely monitor the water intake of obese children (sometimes when children think they feel hungry, they are actually thirsty).

"I think in this country we have been focused on school attendance being a school problem," Dr Falconer says. "School absence should be treated as a public health issue."

She also thinks that reversing the decline in school nurses could help spot vulnerable children sooner. "I think there is a real potential around schools being a place you can receive some level of healthcare, whether it's around healthy eating, vaccinations or dental care."

Weight-loss drugs?

Of course, it takes work to get a child back into school after a long period of absence. Some parents who attend the clinic hope there might be an easier solution to their child's obesity: weight-loss drugs like Mounjaro and Ozempic, known as GLP-1s.

The drugs are only licensed for children aged 12 and over, and they aren't routinely recommended for anyone under 18, under guidelines from the UK's National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.

Prof Ong says he has encountered parents at his clinic who want access to weight-loss jabs - an easier option, perhaps, than getting a child back into school.

And many doctors see their promise. They point out that obesity in children is a potentially life-threatening condition if left untreated for decades. Prof Julian Hamilton-Shield says he's seen weight-loss drugs have a transformative effect on the self-esteem of severely obese teenagers.

Around the same time as she dropped out of school, Ibbie was given GLP-1 injections as part of her treatment at the Sheffield CEW clinic. She was just 12 years old. She lost 10 stone (64kg) and is now much healthier. "It has completely changed my life," she says. "I actually started losing weight before taking the drugs just to prove to myself I could do it. After losing the extra weight I no longer have liver failure, I am no longer prediabetic. I am a lot happier and more confident in myself."

Some parents who are desperate to find a solution to their child's obesity have resorted to buying the drugs privately online. "These parents have the best possible intentions," Prof Hamilton-Shield says, "but I can't advocate for that."

But Prof Ong cautions that weight-loss drugs alone aren't going to offer severely obese children the life-changing health benefits they need.

"Some families see weight-loss medication as a quick fix," he says. "Families who come here have very complex needs and if those aren't addressed then either the weight will come back very quickly, or the medication is papering over the many other needs of these children."

Ultimately, he thinks, it's more important for a child to build a healthy routine - and that means regular attendance at school.

£12bn price tag

Doctors say that getting obese children back into school could be a key tool to address the childhood obesity crisis. But obstacles remain. The current network of 39 CEW clinics in England reaches just 5% of the obese children that are eligible. The annual cost of treating obesity-related ill health (for all ages) in the NHS is now estimated at £12bn.

Although Ibbie became fitter and healthier, she never did return to school. She says the bullying she received from classmates was so bad she developed symptoms of PTSD. Instead she was home-schooled by her mother, Andrea, with a schedule that included plenty of history field trips. Ibbie's year group took their GCSEs this summer; Ibbie is yet to take them.

But she hasn't given up on education. Inspired by her time at the clinic, she now hopes one day to study healthcare at college. "I just know how life-changing the support in the clinic was for me," she says. "I want to help other people too."

Top image credit: Getty Images.

Why Pride is facing a backlash - from inside and outside the LGBT community

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj63jyl09jxo, 11 days ago

Matt left Crewe as soon as he could, aged 18, feeling that he wasn't accepted as a young gay man. The only LGBT scene to mention was a tiny, makeshift bar behind a curtain in the back of an out-of-town pub.

He left in 2015, but this June found himself returning home, for Crewe Pride.

For Matt, it was a significant homecoming. "It really took me back to when I was a kid growing up here, trying to navigate my identity. It felt so important to be there and see how a town that wasn't particularly welcoming… has changed and flourished."

For many, these small, community Pride events feel a world away from the huge celebrations in the UK's largest cities.

But Matt's happy weekend in Crewe masks a growing culture war over Pride. Over the last few years, a number of councils have withdrawn their support for Pride festivals, while some big brands - perhaps nervous about being seen as too "woke" - have become hesitant to associate themselves with them. On top of all that, there's a long-running complaint from some LGBT campaigners that Pride has become overly commercialised; while the argument over trans issues has also made matters more fraught.

It's leading some to ask: what future do Pride events have?

The roots of Pride

Pride started as a protest, with Britain's first official Pride march in London in 1972. Homosexual acts between men were illegal in England and Wales until 1967 (and for longer in Scotland and Northern Ireland), and LGBT people lost jobs and housing because of their sexuality, while police forces frequently targeted the community with raids and surveillance that made everyday life precarious.

In Manchester, Pride started small in 1985. A bring‑and‑buy sale on Canal Street was organised to raise money to spruce up the rather drab-looking hospital ward treating those with HIV and Aids at the height of the epidemic.

Little did those early attendees realise how big Manchester Pride would become: a four-day, city centre extravaganza over the August bank holiday weekend, with colourful floats, loud music, and every inch of pavement filled with enthusiastic spectators dressed to the nines, streaked with rainbow face paint.

By 2019, the event had outgrown the city's famous Gay Village. That year's headline act, American superstar Ariana Grande, performed in a purpose-built stage in another part of Manchester - for a premium ticket price. It prompted criticism, and the organisers of Manchester Pride would later come under fire for ending funding for various charities (including an HIV charity, and a scheme that distributed free condoms).

The company behind Manchester Pride went into voluntary liquidation last year, owing more than £1m to suppliers and performers, including Nelly Furtado. Since its collapse, local businesses and charities have created a not-for-profit group - Manchester Village Pride - with the aim of organising a much cheaper festival more rooted in the community.

Carl Austin-Behan, who is helping to organise this year's scaled-back event, says he's been "frustrated for a number of years" by the direction of Manchester Pride. "When things were being taken out of the village, that was the first sign that things were going in the wrong direction… It should be about the community. We certainly don't need to be spending the amount of money that was spent on Manchester Pride."

And Manchester's problems aren't isolated. London Pride has faced criticism for feeling overly corporate and overcrowded; Brighton has struggled with the financial burden of staging large‑scale concerts and policing. Against that backdrop, smaller events like Crewe seem to be the direction many Prides are going in 2026.

A corporate 'nervousness'

But the political winds have also changed - with seemingly less corporate enthusiasm for diversity and inclusion initiatives.

Phil Douglas, organiser of Newcastle Pride, says: "There is a general nervousness from organisations and companies to be front and centre in their support. We see some wanting to still support us but not wanting their logo attached… they don't want the backlash which is right there ready in the online community. It's quite a complex time to navigate support for Prides as a whole."

A few years ago, you couldn't go on social media in June - known as "Pride month" - without seeing what felt like every corporate logo incorporating the Pride flag. Critics called it "rainbow‑washing", arguing that the displays of solidarity were more about marketing than meaningful action.

But now, according to Guardian analysis, the corporate presence has been waning. Last year, mentions of Pride on social media by the UK's 10 biggest listed or headquartered companies had fallen by 92% compared with 2023 - a drop that suggests brands are pulling back from overt LGBT messaging.

"There has been a general rowing back of corporate support for LGBT causes globally," says Paul Martin, chief executive of the LGBT Foundation charity. "We've seen that with politics changing in some countries and diversity and inclusion being seen as too woke… We don't get support from some quarters like we used to.

"And that has played out with Pride festivals as well. Corporate funding has been pulled back and that has caused a real challenge for Pride organisers to balance the books."

A survey by the pollster Ipsos found that the share of British adults who want companies and brands to promote LGBT rights dipped from 52% in 2021 to 44% this year.

Flags stop flying

In Liverpool, Merseyside Police did not take part in the city's Pride parade last year after legal advice warned that uniformed participation by a public body could breach rules on political impartiality.

This summer, firefighters and police again stayed away: Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service said it was taking a "pragmatic approach" following a High Court ruling that found officers in the north‑east should not have been allowed to join a Pride event. West Midlands Ambulance Service also withdrew from Birmingham Pride on similar legal advice.

Back in May's local elections in England, Reform UK won power on 14 councils, adding to the 10 they already controlled. Last month, the party's leader, Nigel Farage, said he is "fine" with Pride events going ahead but did not want local authorities to promote them.

A few weeks after taking power in Durham last year, the town's new Reform administration removed a rainbow flag from the council headquarters. Councillors also withdrew their funding contribution of £2,500 for Durham Pride. In the Merseyside town of St Helens, meanwhile, the Reform council leader instructed officials to cease engagement with all aspects of Pride; the council also removed displays celebrating the festival from libraries.

Explaining the cuts to funding, Reform's Darren Grimes, deputy leader of Durham Council, says: "I feel that we've moved away from that laudable aim of gay equality. We achieved same-sex marriage and that was the final frontier."

Durham Pride organiser Mel Metcalf says taking the flag down made LGBT people in the community "feel unwelcome". The festival did still take place; organisers said it was their "biggest" year ever, after raising around £25,000 from individual donors and trade unions.

As well as Reform's approach, the new Conservative council leader in Enfield, north London, has said they will only fly certain flags outside Enfield Civic Centre - and the rainbow flag is not one of them.

The trans dividing line

Debate around trans rights is also fuelling the Pride culture war. Some gay and lesbian people who describe themselves as "gender critical" - and whose beliefs mean they're sceptical of some of the aims of the trans rights movement - say they feel sidelined by Pride; while some trans people say they no longer feel safe attending.

A lesbian woman who describes herself as gender critical, and did not want to be named, told me she no longer attends Pride because she thinks it has become dominated by a focus on trans issues.

Grimes, one of Reform's highest-profile gay members, argues that Pride has moved away from its focus on gay equality and become bound up with the wider gender identity debate: "You've slain the dragon in the pursuit of equality and now all you are left with is a few rambling sheep." He says that "public subsidy" for LGBT issues has become a "cash cow" that fuels "narratives of victimhood".

For some, the focus on trans rights is a reason to step back from Pride; for others, it underscores why events like Sparkle matter.

Sparkle is the UK's biggest transgender celebration. It takes place in late June in Manchester's Gay Village, a few months before the Pride weekend. This year's event had live music and comedy. Lauren, a transgender volunteer at the event, told me: "We've got a lot of stigma and hatred against us… You've got people trying to push us back into the dark and it does make it harder to live our lives."

Another transgender woman I spoke to, who was staying in a hotel in Manchester's Gay Village, said she wanted to be in the city for the event, but was wary of leaving the hotel because she felt unsafe.

Security has also become a central consideration, especially after the events of last month in Berlin, when 21-year-old Abdul Ballout drove a car into a crowd at the city's Pride festival, killing one woman and injuring 29 others. Guy Mathias, from the Security Commonwealth - a trade group for security firms - says he thinks many Pride organisers will review their plans following the Berlin attack.

"Smaller events generally would cost less individually, but they still need many of the same safety measures in place," he adds.

Others think that Pride festivals can create headaches for local residents. Andy Winter, a columnist for the Brighton Argus, attended Pride marches in the 1980s in his role as a Brighton councillor. He recalled in one piece how he was vilified by the press at the time for supporting a pro-LGBT council motion. But last year, he wrote that Brighton's Pride weekend comes with "alcohol and drug-fuelled excesses".

He wrote: "Even though I am not gay, Pride impacts on me. One of the parks I use is 'closed' for ten days... to allow largely straight performers to entertain those able to pay the large entry fee." He added: "The streets are littered with plastics and broken glass. I pity neighbours of the park and surrounding streets who see their driveways and gardens used as toilets."

The future of Pride

I've been to dozens of Pride events over the years. Manchester has always been a must. When I was a teenager in Ulverston, Cumbria - a place where I was pretty certain I was the only gay in the village - Manchester always seemed like the bright lights, a land where you could be free and your true self.

This year I'll return again, excited to catch up with my friends and intrigued to see what the new community-focused Pride is all about.

But I suspect there'll be a slightly different mood in the air this year; an awareness that in some parts of the country, Pride has become controversial.

Younger LGBT people still say Pride matters. A 2024 YouGov survey of more than 500 LGBT Britons, aged 16 to 24, found that 90% say it is "very" or "fairly" important that Pride month still exists.

As a young man, I eventually left Ulverston to live in Manchester. But this summer I took a trip back to my old hometown for their Pride festival, a tradition still in its infancy.

The once-familiar cobbled streets looked so different to how I remembered them, lined with cheering locals clapping and filming on phones as a procession bedecked in rainbow flags swept past, led by a brass band playing upbeat gay anthems. It felt a world away from Manchester's famous pop stars and stages covered in corporate logos.

Matt had a similar reflection on returning to Crewe. "What really resonated with me and blew my mind was the fact that it was so family-centred. These small towns put on events that are for the community first and foremost."

As I looked around Ulverston, the national debates that have shaped Pride in recent years felt distant. I was distracted by the small things: people laughing, the spread of ages in attendance. It was the community my teenage self never would have imagined he'd see.

Correction 3 September: This article previously stated that homosexuality was illegal in the UK until 1967. It has been corrected to make clear that it was homosexual acts between men that were illegal, and that the partial decriminalisation of 1967 only applied to England and Wales (not Scotland and Northern Ireland).

Top image credit: Getty Images.

Trump shares misleading video of King and fainting worker

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2z9n8ew49o, 5 days ago

US President Donald Trump has shared a misleading video on social media which appears to show King Charles shrugging and walking away from a man who fainted during a royal visit.

The footage, which has been edited, features in a video shared by Trump on his Truth Social platform which appears to show other world leaders being disrespectful. The video goes on to show a montage of clips where Trump is seen honouring fallen US troops, hugging veterans and shaking hands with law enforcement officers.

The clip of the King was taken from a longer video when, as Prince of Wales, he was visiting an Asda supermarket distribution centre in Bristol during the Covid pandemic in July 2020.

The full footage, which Trump did not use, showed Charles reaching out to the man as he fell before remaining close by as he received medical attention. The video posted by Trump edits out the King staying close to the worker.

Buckingham Palace said it was not something it would comment on. The White House has not responded to a request for comment.

The three-minute video was posted by the president on the US Labor Day holiday and opens with footage of French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace as a guardsman appears to collapse behind him.

The Truth Social video also shows former President Joe Biden apparently checking his watch during a military repatriation ceremony and former President Barack Obama stepping off the Marine One helicopter and saluting US marines while holding a paper cup in his hand.

These are followed by a series of clips where Trump is seen picking up the cap of a US marine, saluting at a repatriation ceremony and comforting the families of fallen soldiers.

Captions saying "the side of Trump the media doesn't show you" and "the people's president" appear during some of the clips and the song A Thousand Years by Christina Perri plays throughout the video.

Trump has frequently spoken of his good relationship with Charles and described him as "the greatest king in my book" at the end of the King and Queen's state visit to the US in April.

RNLI volunteer targeted online and branded 'traitor' after Portsmouth protests

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly47p5vk63o, 4 days ago

An RNLI volunteer who was targeted with abuse online after being wrongly identified as having helped small boat migrants reach land in Portsmouth has told BBC Verify he is not a "traitor".

Neil and his colleagues were filmed wearing their lifesaving gear on a lifeboat by anti-migrant activists near the harbour on Sunday night, after hundreds of protesters descended on the area and shut down roads in response to dozens of asylum seekers being brought to shore.

The lifeboat crew's images were later used in posts accusing them of assisting what some users on X described as "an invasion", several of which also called for them to be "named and shamed".

These posts, which were collectively viewed at least two million times, also incorrectly claimed Neil and another colleague were two entirely different RNLI crew members whose names were available online.

Neil, whose face was visible in the video, told BBC Verify that the RNLI vessel was in the area to illuminate the beach "purely for the safety of the protesters" who had entered the sea. "I am not a traitor," he added.

Replies to the most widely shared posts featured wide-ranging abuse, including suggestions they should be refused service at pubs and to track down their families.

At least one post has since been removed for violating X's rules. The platform has been approached for comment.

Neil has been an RNLI volunteer for over a decade and said that despite the abuse he was undeterred and would continue to head out to rescue people when needed.

"I'll be back on the boat when the pager goes off," he said, adding: "It'd just be nice for those people who call me a traitor to know that I'm not a traitor. I'm just a volunteer crew."

BBC Verify is not sharing the full names of anyone mentioned in the posts, or the RNLI crews they volunteer with, to protect their identities.

Sunday's anti-migrant protest broke out after a small boat crossed the English Channel by an unusually long route from the Bay of Seine in France.

Migrant boats normally launch from Calais, or nearby areas in France and Belgium, and are usually taken to Dover when intercepted, but this boat was taken to Eastney port in Langstone, after it was refused by both Portsmouth harbour and Southampton Port.

This led to hundreds of protesters blocking nearby roads in an attempt to prevent buses carrying the migrants from leaving.

This protest followed a similar demonstration in Dover on Saturday, where hundreds of masked "stop the boats" activists gathered in the streets and shut down the port for hours.

On Tuesday, RNLI chief executive Peter Sparkes described the online and physical abuse faced by its volunteers as "wholly unacceptable in a civilised society", adding that the charity and "our crews strive only to prevent people like you and me from drowning at sea".

Sparkes also cited data from the charity which showed only 109 of 9,058 RNLI lifeboat launches last year were for people "in distress in the Channel" - 1.2% of its total rescue work. He added around 95% of small boats were intercepted by the UK Border Force.

Asked about the online abuse in Parliament on Tuesday, Digital Secretary Lisa Nandy told MPs she had spoken with tech companies about how the names, addresses and photographs of RNLI staff and volunteers were reportedly shared online.

Nandy also said that both she and the government are "concerned" about the risks posed to adults and children from doxxing - the term used to describe people whose private information has been shared online without their consent.

Dr Anna Tippett, a criminologist and cyber-vigilantism researcher at the University of Hertfordshire, told BBC Verify doxxing can create a "profound sense of vulnerability", as the "boundary between online abuse and potential offline harm becomes increasingly difficult to judge".

She added it is "particularly concerning when those targeted are volunteers", as concerns they or their families could be identified, threatened or abused "could discourage others from taking on these kinds of public-facing voluntary roles".

What do you want BBC Verify to investigate?